Easter Weekend

This year, Easter weekend was also Wedding Weekend for my extended family. On Saturday, my cousin Jessie got married in Weatherford and I had the privilege of being a bridesmaid. For me, though, the weekend started fabulously on Thursday night when I went with Kelley to themidnight premiere of "Water for Elephants." It was amazing, btw.

Blake and I headed to Desdemona on Friday for a quick hello to my parents and to pick up my cousin Emily, who was also a bridesmaid. We then headed to Weatherford where Emily & I would meet up with Jessie and her other bridesmaid and Blake would go visit his brother. The girls stayed at a hotel that night--lots of fun and laughter.

The wedding was at 5:00 Saturday evening at Willow Lake Gardens and it was beautiful. It was great, as always, seeing all the Hagoods (my mom's side of the family). I am so blessed to be a part of such a close and loving family. And it's not as if we hadn't just seen each other at Christmas, but we sure acted like it'd been a year. Haha! During pictures after the ceremony, it turned cloudy and threatened to rain, but it held off until we were all finished and in the reception. Thank you, Lord, for holding back the rain. :)

Emily dancing down the hall at the hotel.

On our way to Walmart (the first time)

At the rehearsal, after we had been appropriately caffeinated.

Before the festivities kicked off. (I LOVE the color of Blake's shirt.)

Ahh! She's married!! :)

brother & sister

In the middle of dancing, I made him stop and take a picture.

Understatement: My cousin Maggie is super tall. (She is Emily's younger sister.)

More cousins! Ryan & Garrett (brothers)

Father-daughter dance

Birthday Weekend

This year I had a fabulous birthday! Blake & I have recently made new friends from church, Jaci & Jeremy, and in the course of our conversations while hanging out over several months, Jaci & I discovered our birthdays are 2 days apart. Hers is the 1st, mine is the 3rd.

Jaci & me at Red Hana before the show

This past Friday I was invited to go see Legally Blonde the Musical for Jaci's birthday. We got all dressed up and went and ate before the show, then after the show (which was fabulous!) we went to a karaoke bar. We only got to sing 2 songs because of the large number of people there, but it was fun regardless!

On Saturday, I had made a checklist of things I wanted to do as part of my birthday weekend. For example--go to Sonic for Happy Hour, eat at Chick-fil-A, go to Barnes & Noble, etc. We started with lunch and then stayed in the mall for a couple of hours. Later in the day after we are home, Blake asks if I wanted to go to the drive-in that night and I said sure but when we look at the listings, nothing really appealed to me. I suggested we go to a regular movie, with movies starting between 7:10-7:30. By this time it's about 6:20, and Blake says that's

not enough time for him to go to Shallowater and get back in time. He has to go give a check to our friend Dusty for their softball team a and they won't be at church tomorrow and Dusty needs it by Monday morning. So that busts the movie plan. He suggests that I ride along with him to Shallowater then we come back and he'll grill some steaks and we can rent a movie on Netflix. I say okay.

When we get to the McDonald's house, I notice Jaci & Jeremy's car in their driveway, which is strange because they're supposed to be on a date that night for her birthday. When we walk in, people shout "SURPRISE!!" and I am totally shocked. I had no idea anything was going on & I was so excited to see all my friends there. Jeremy, Blake and Misty had planned this party for Jaci & me and we were both completely surprised.

It was a great night--we ate brisket, sat around the fire pit, played games (some of which turned slightly violent) and laughed and talked until almost 2 am.

Wearing our birthday tiaras.

"A friend loves at all times." Proverbs 17:17

"Every good and perfect gift comes from above."James 1:17

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. " Psalm 107:1

"I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High." Psalm 7:17

"Let them give thanks to the Lord

for his unfailing love and his

wonderful deeds for mankind."

Psalm 107:21

Kelley & me

Cake!

Fighting over spoons :)

This says it all... :)

Traci, Kelley, me, Misty, Kim, Jaci & Kirsty (standing)

Hosea and An Impossibly Patient God

My new favorite Christian fiction book is Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. My aunt & cousin told me about it last summer and I immediately went and bought it. It is a retelling of the story of Hosea set in California in the days of the 1850s Gold Rush. If you haven't read it, I encourage you do to so. It will make you cry, it will make you hope, it will make you want to become a character in the story so you can fall in love with a man like Michael Hosea, who is so in love with God that he will obey even when what God asks seems impossible.

Can you tell I love this book?? :) Writing this makes me want to go read it again. I think I will next week over Spring Break.

Anyway, I found this blog post on gospel.com and I love what it says about the book of Hosea. There is so much to learn from this short book in the bible.

Have you ever watched as someone you loved—a friend, a child, a spouse—made choices you knew were foolish and wrong? From your perspective, you could clearly see that their decisions would end in disaster, but they refused to listen and insisted on doing it their way?

If you’ve ever been heartbroken by a wayward loved one, you’ll find a lot to relate to in the book of Hosea. It’s a short book—easily readable in a single sitting—but Hosea is packed with insight into God’s character and love for us. It tells the story of a man stung by his wife’s repeated adultery and betrayal, but who actively seeks her out and forgives her long after even the most patient person would’ve given up on her.

Hosea’s life, and relationship with his straying wife, is a living metaphor for God and his love for his people. Hosea’s story is interspersed with poetic statements of alternating anger and love from God to Israel. The mingled anger at Israel’s rejection and promises of forgiveness if they would repent make for an emotionally powerful reading.

If you’ve never read Hosea, take a look—you might be surprised how interesting it is. In it, we learn all sorts of things about God’s love for us, like:

• --God is hurt when we choose to reject Him and follow our own ways. His love for us is like a father’s for his children—our actions may hurt and anger Him, but he never stops loving us.
• --God uses the natural consequences of sinful behavior to point people back to Him. He doesn’t force us to obey Him—He wants us to see the error of our ways and come back to him of our own accord.
• --God stands ready to welcome you back no matter how far you’ve strayed from Him.

Hosea closes with a beautiful call to repentance and promise of forgiveness:

Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God.
Your sins have been your downfall!

Take words with you
and return to the LORD.
Say to him:
“Forgive all our sins
and receive us graciously,
that we may offer the fruit of our lips.

“I will heal their waywardness
and love them freely,
for my anger has turned away from them."

Refuge 2011 - The Supremacy of Christ

Supreme - (adj) most important or most powerful

Supremacy - (n) the state or condition of being superior to all others in authority, power or status

It's been a year since last Refuge Weekend and my first post. It's crazy how fast a year has passed. The topic for Refuge this year was the supremacy of Christ. It is a concept from the book "Christ is All!" by David Bryant and Richard Ross. While studying for the weekend, I felt so ignorant. I had read many of the scriptures before but had never thought about them with the mindset of focusing on how supreme and majestic Jesus is. That sounds weird, but it's true. I know that Christ is the ruler of the universe and He is the reason we have a hope for everlasting life, but I had never really grasped the fact that He doesn't exist for me, but that I exist for Him. He doesn't just give me a plan for my life; it's not automatic. I am privileged to be a part of His plan for the universe.

The one illustration that really stuck with me from the weekend was said by Richard Ross, one of the authors of the book. He is a professor at Southwest Seminary (the youth pastor at PABC, Jeff Gilliam, is one of his students) and this is what he said (in a nutshell):

Jesus is not a "little Jesus" that you can stick in your pocket and whip out whenever you're in trouble or whenever you need something. He is the RULER OF THE UNIVERSE. He has conquered DEATH. He sits at the right hand of God. He is the ONLY one who has the authority to pass judgment on the world. How dare I reduce His authority and His worth? Who am I to diminish His sovereignty to the point that I think I can come to Him only when I need Him to do something for me?

I was totally convicted by that illustration and I have a feeling it will stick with me the rest of my life. I have made a vow that the first thing out of my mouth when I pray will not be about me. I will not ask for anything. I will not thank Him for anything. I will spend time praising Him for who He is. That's all. He deserves my praise and adoration first before I say anything else.

I invite you to read Colossians 1:15-20. If you have read this before, read it again, thinking about each verse and how it gives examples of how and why Christ is supreme. I have read this before and after this weekend, it blows me away that it never had this kind of impact on me.

Here are other verses about the supremacy of Christ.

Romans 9:5, 10:11-13 ~ He is the Lord of all

Hebrews 7:26-28 ~ He is completely holy

2 Corinthians 5:10 & 2 Timothy 4:1 & John 5:26-27~ Only He has the authority to judge the world

Revelation 1:4-8 ~ He's the Alpha and Omega

John 1:1-4 ~ He has been here from the beginning of time

Sadness

This past weekend my heart was broken. I learned that a couple I have come to love is getting a divorce. I have only known them for 3 years, since Blake and I have been married, but we connected with them almost instantly, this couple and one other - the 6 of us were inseparable for a while. We even took a trip together, the memories of which I will always cherish. Lately, though, we haven't been hanging out. I assumed the reason was because of everyone's busy schedules and limited free time. The reason turned out to be heartbreaking.

And so I am sad. Sad that they grew apart. Sad for their future that will never happen. Sad that we won't be able to share memories of our families growing together.

I have been praying continually for both of them and I ask that you do the same.

"But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord's praise for he has been good to me." ~Psalm 13:5&6

This verse reminds me of what I have to be thankful for. I must remember that even though I am sad, I must still remain thankful for what He has done for me.

3rd Anniversary

Today is our 3 year anniversary. :) Blake is such a sweetheart and got me two presents. This morning he gave me this ring from James Avery.

And then when I got home this afternoon, he had these wrapped and waiting for me.

If you're wondering what I got Blake, there will be pictures soon. We are going on Saturday to get it. Feel free to guess; I'll wait and put a picture of it when we get it. And NO, to those of you who know what Blake wants more than anything in the world, it's not a dog. :)

Mark of the Lion

On Monday, I finished reading the last book in a trilogy by Francine Rivers called Mark of the Lion. They are amazing novels and I could go on and on about them, but in the spirit of brevity, I will try not to. :) There are just a few things I want to share. And if no one reads this, oh well. I like writing down my thoughts.....

First of all, the books are set in the time of ancient Jerusalem, Rome and Ephesus. The first book begins about 40 years after Jesus' resurrection and I was fascinated by the historical elements of the books. I loved the story line, but the fact that its setting was this time period made me love it even more. Before these books, I really didn't have a clue about this time period in history. I probably could have told you that Jerusalem was where the Jews lived and Rome......well I couldn't have told you anything about Rome in that time. I didn't realize how much Christian history I didn't know. I am now a little embarrassed at my ignorance. But now, God has put (through these books) a hunger in me to learn about the history of Jerusalem and Ephesus and Rome and what Christians went through in the beginning ages of Christianity.

The second thing I want to share is that I have come to understand what "suffering for the Lord" really meant back then. I've seen the phrase in the bible many times, in Paul's letters to Timothy, etc. But the phrase didn't really have a whole lot of meaning to me. I didn't understand at all the context in which it was written. After Rome destroyed Jerusalem and tried to annihilate the Jews (they very nearly succeeded), the remaining Jews were either killed or sold in to slavery and sent all over the Roman Empire. At this point, it was the Christian Jews that Rome hated so much. The fact that they proclaimed there was one God and He was sovereign over all infuriated the Romans. They worshiped their emperor as a god and that man had power over all of Rome. Whenever it was made public knowledge that someone was a Christian, they were sent to the gladiator arena to be fed to the lions, which Romans gathered to watch as a sport. Many other horrible, unspeakable things happened to Christians and basically making it public that you were a Christian in those times was a death sentence.

I say all of that to say this: When reading 1st Timothy the other day, I read these verses in chapter 1, written by Paul to Timothy: "As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God's work - which is by faith." The name of Ephesus jumped out at me first and then the message of the verses took on a whole new meaning. The characters in the books had to completely hide their faith in Rome, and when they went to Ephesus, they still had to hide but not to the extent as in Rome. In Ephesus there were many people who preached false doctrines that were allowed by the officials only because they supported the idea of many gods, among other things. As long as "Christianity" looked like all the other religions and gods, it was okay to be public about it. This caused the characters great distress because it was their job, then, to denounce those false doctrines and minister to those lost people who had been deceived. And while I understand that that part of the books is fiction, and things didn't happen exactly word-for-word like that, the basic series of events is based in fact.

Here are some verses about suffering.

"Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." ~Romans 5:3&4

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." ~Romans 8:18

Paul wrote this to the Ephesians: "In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, do not be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory." ~Ephesians 3:12&13

"For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God." ~2 Timothy 1:7&8

As I said, I could go on and on about these books, and I fear I have gone on too long already. The main point I want to make is that I have a new found understanding of what it means to suffer for the Lord. Compared to the people who lived in the decades after Jesus' resurrection, I have never suffered a day in my life. Not once have I been in ANY kind of danger because I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. It makes me eternally grateful for the grace of God that placed me in this time period of the world. It seems, though, that it's just as hard to talk about Jesus today as it was back then. The risks aren't the same, and yet I some days I am still afraid. Afraid of being rejected. Afraid of being asked a question I can't answer. Afraid of being laughed at.....

Anyway, I hope I've said something you didn't know before. If not, well, you just got to hear it again. :)

"You, LORD, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry." ~Psalm 10:17