Midweek Motivation - Praying your ABC's

I'm over at Writer Interrupted today for Midweek Motivation. Come join me.

My daughter has been learning the sounds for the alphabet and how to write her letters in preschool. The ABC song is now the song of choice in our car every morning. We pray every morning on the way to school too. Recently she said, “Mommy, let’s pray our ABC’s this morning.” Not a bad idea.

To read the rest of this devotion, click here.

Sweet Blessings,

Amy

Playing Catch Up

Whew! It's been a crazy few weeks. We've had so much going on, it seems I haven't been able to catch my breath. Where do I begin? I've been promising pictures and other updates for weeks, so this is my catch up post.

A couple of posts ago, I told you guys I was headed to Women of Faith in Atlanta. It was incredible. I had a great time with three of my best buddies, Carol D, Janet and Carol H.

We not only enjoyed the conference, but we headed to The Cheesecake Factory at midnight on Friday night. Oh the stories we could tell :-)

Sweet Times, Sweet Food and Sweet Friendships. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend! And Carol H and I have decided this is our new theme song.

Right after WOF, I left for Canton, Georgia for CLASS. It is a speaker training program started by Florence and Marita Littauer. I attended a few years ago in Texas, but I wanted a refresher course, so I attended as an alum since it was being held so close to where I live.

It was a great conference, but what made it even more fun was I got to meet and room with Melissa Mashburn from Mel's World. We had a blast! She is the sweetest, coolest girl! We definitely hit it off and hope to make plans to get together again soon. It's so cool when our bloggy world friends become our real life friends too.

When I returned from CLASS, I finally got to see the movie Fireproof. I loved it. If you haven't seen it, go see it. I highly recommend it! And if you have seen it, go see it again! We need to support movies like this. I think it kind of shocked people that it ranked number 4 on opening weekend in limited release theaters. I hope the numbers will hold and it will continue to do well.

You could probably tell from my Faith Lifts post yesterday we are trying to make some decisions about Spencer's healthcare. We are trying to determine if we want to pursue having epilepsy brain surgery and if so, where to have it done. I covet your prayers during this time of trying to make the best choices for him and his future. We have had one small seizure in three weeks so he is definitely doing better. He is still really tired from his medication increases though.

And in the middle of all of this craziness, I am trying desperately to get ready for the Glorietta Christian Writer's Conference. Carol and I are presenting this year and are finishing up the last touches on our workshops. We are also busy trying to get the stuff we want to pitch to publishers completed. If you think about it, lift up a prayer for us and for our families while we are away.

By the way, I have been very neglectful of passing along awards given to me on this blog and actually completing any tags I have. I'm so sorry if you have awarded me or tagged me and I didn't pass it on. Like I said, it's been kind of crazy.

I do want to thank Michele at Michele's Morsels Beelieve for this award. I will eventually get around to passing it along I hope.

I hope you all have a great week. I will be back tomorrow for Midweek Motivation with Writer Interrupted.

Sweet Blessings,

Amy

Decisions, Decisions

Have you ever been faced with a tough decision? I'm not talking about where to go to dinner, which movie to see or which color shoes to buy. I mean the kind of decision where you truly do not know what to do because it affects your or someone you love's future. What do you do when you are faced with such a decision? When you need wisdom? Many people will tell you to weigh the pros and cons. They will say you should choose whatever has the  greatest potential for a good outcome. But what are we to do as Christians?

To read the rest of this devotion,  click here and come join me over at Faith Lifts.

Sweet Blessings, 

Amy

Then Sings My Soul Saturday - Still Calls Me Son

I saw this song on Leila's site this week and I just can't get it out of my head. Aren't we all prodigal children at times?

Luke 15: 11-24

11Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
13"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.[b]'
22"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

When will we come to our senses? He's waiting with open arms for us to return.

If you don't really want to know the answer... don't ask your kids.

This morning as we were getting ready for school I casually asked Mary Lyndsey if I'm a good mommy. Heavens, I don't know why I asked this.  Maybe it's because I recently read Lysa TerKeurst's post about good mom, bad mom. Anyway, I wondered how my five year old would answer and the curiosity got the better of me. 

Here is what she said: " You are good when you let me do what I want to do, but when you yell or make me follow the rules you're not so good."

Hmmm... I wonder if this is sometimes how I feel about my Heavenly Father. My human nature wants to do what I want to do. And when He doesn't allow it or disciplines me, then I sometimes wonder about His goodness.

Friends, God is Good. All the time God is good. He only disciplines because He wants what is best for me. Sometimes I am hardheaded (read stiff necked)  and don't listen... during those moments, it may seem like He has to yell to get my attention. If I had only done what He asked in the first place and didn't always have delayed obedience, things would run much more smoothly I think.

When I reminded Mary Lyndsey of all of the wonderful things I do for her and provide for her (you know like taking her to Build-a-Bear and Olive Garden for her birthday, making her chocolate cupcakes, playing Hungry Hungry Hippos - things that rank way up there on the list for a five-year-old) she said she forgot I did all those good things. Then she said, maybe you are a good mommy.

I'm signing off now to go list in my journal all the good things God has done for me, His bountiful blessings, to remind me how good He is. I don't want to forget them.

Psalm 100:5  For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Sweet Blessings,

Amy

Oscar Meyer Weiner revisited

You might recall I was at Women of Faith last weekend. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was seeing Nicole C. Mullen perform. I love her music and it's so fun to watch her dance on stage with the group of teenagers she mentors. One of the teenagers is her daughter and another is her nephew Andrew Thompson. Here is a clip of them dancing and singing.



When they introduce the kids, they always have Nicole's nephew sing the Oscar Meyer Weiner song. In 1997, when he was four years old, he beat out 65,000 kids from across the nation to sing the Oscar Meyer Weiner song. He was a guest on Oprah to sing then and again in 2007. Take a look.



All that talk about Oscar Meyer weiners made me hungry. It also made me want to revisit this post from January.

You guys know this song… “Oh I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner that is what I really want to be. Cause if I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner, then everyone would be in love with me.” (I know - now you are going to have this tune in your head all day… but at least it isn’t “It’s a Small World.”) I’ve decided that there is truth in this song. I’ll explain more in a moment.

Did you know that a recent survey showed Americans consume 20 billion hotdogs each year? That equals 70 hotdogs per person a year. I don’t know about you, but somebody is eating my hotdogs. I really don’t care for hotdogs all that much; however, sometimes when I am watching television at night with my husband, a commercial for Sonic will come on and they will show a foot long coney with cheese and chili and mustard… or a Ballpark Franks commercial will come on and some little kid will be smiling while eating a hotdog…and right at that moment…I REALLY WANT A HOTDOG! Sometimes that commercial is then followed by a Coke commercial. You know the one where you hear the ice tinkling in the glass, then you hear the familiar pop of the can or of the lid being unscrewed, then you hear the pouring and fizzing of the Coke over the ice and then the person gulping. Well then, I REALLY WANT A HOTDOG and A COKE!

The power of suggestion is amazing isn’t it? Advertisers use it to their advantage all the time. One night several years ago my husband and I were watching television and a “Be like Mike” Gatorade commercial came on. Greg got up, went to the refrigerator, got a Gatorade and sat back down. He did it without even thinking about it. I made fun of him that he was too easily manipulated; but the reality is when we see someone else enjoying something; we often want that thing too.

Wouldn’t it be great if we as Christians used the power of suggestion to advertise Jesus? If others saw us enjoying Jesus so much that they wanted Him too? If our lives were so changed by the presence of the Holy Spirit, that others wanted to be like us? I am currently teaching an Angela Thomas study called “Living Your Life as a Beautiful Offering” and in it she says: “When I am empty or without spiritual hunger, if I can come alongside someone who desires God, then I feel my spirit being renewed in their presence… After I have been with a spiritual giant, my heart is renewed. My spirit longs for more of God. She has sloshed out Jesus and made me thirsty.”

This is where the truth in the song comes out. I kind of want to be an Oscar Meyer Weiner so everyone would be in love with not me but Jesus in me. Changed so much by my Redeemer that people want to know what the difference is. I want to have people come alongside me and hunger and thirst for Christ because I have “sloshed him out” all over the place. I want them to see Him in me and then want to taste Him too. Christ says in the Sermon on the Mount “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) In this day and time when so many people are searching for something to fill them because they feel so empty – shouldn’t we be advertising Jesus as much as possible with our lives? We should let them know that He is worth hungering and thirsting for (much more than a hotdog and a coke). Let’s let our lives make others want to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8)

Gotta run. Sweet Blessings. I think I'll fix hotdogs for dinner tonight.
Amy

Then Sings My Soul Saturday - Audio Adrenaline

Sorry I haven't been around this week. It's been kind of crazy. As soon as I returned from Women of Faith, I left for a conference. I've been playing catch up the rest of the week. I promise to post some pictures from WOF and from CLASS soon. I had a great time and learned a lot! Thanks for all of your prayers for Spencer. We are almost two weeks seizure free. Keep praying!!

Heard this song on the radio today and just had to sing along. I forgot how much I liked this one!

Enjoy! Have a blessed weekend.

Amy