When Sin Eats Away, and OYHT Linky

We have been captivated by the story of the 24-year-old graduate student who is fighting for her life due to Necrotizing Fascitis, a flesh-eating disease.  She has already had her leg amputated and stands to lose much more.  All this resulted from an accident while zip lining.

Necrotizing Fascitis has a mortality rate of 73 percent and is caused when a bacteria enters your body from a wound like a cut, burn or insect bite.  It can also happen when an open wound comes into contact with saltwater or saltwater fish.  It is crucial, according to the CDC, to treat this disease immediately if one hopes to survive.

The Nation is following the story of this young woman, Aimee Copeland.

I cannot help but relate this to sin in our lives.  Many times we have open wounds caused by hurts, abuse, gossip, betrayal and more.  When these wounds are not given over to Jesus for healing, the bacteria of sin enter our hearts.  We feel resentful, angry, or jealous. This sin eats away at our hearts and bodies until we feel like we are dying inside. Sometimes we die a bit spiritually as we let sinful thoughts take over our minds.

As this bacterium grows inside us and sin takes hold, it leads to more sin. We turn to gossip, hurt others and build walls of defense around us.  Until we come to Jesus and ask for healing and forgiveness, we will become sicker and sicker.  Sin eats away at our souls just as Neocrotizing Fascitis eats our flesh.

Sometimes we just have to let things go. The more we carry around our hurts, the further we become from living healthy lives.

Aimee Copland may not have a choice in whether she lives or dies but we all have a choice if we want to thrive and be healthy spiritually, or have our souls slowly dying. 


"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and will cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

I don’t want sin to eat away at my heart.

I don’t want Aimee to die a physical death either and pray for her healing.


Linked with Titus2sdays, Teach Me Tuesday,  Soli Deo Gloria, 
Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Works For Me Wednesday, Women Living Well,

The Fine Line

It’s a fine line. Pastors and other paid Church workers can either become workaholics and neglect their families, or they determine to put their families first and stick to a forty hour work week.

We all know the dangers of pastors who put the church before their families.  Their top priority is the church and often there is little left over for home life. Spouses feel neglected and children feel resentful to the parent, to the church and sometimes to God.

Then there are those who insist that they will put family first and not work over their forty hours a week.

I also have a problem with this attitude.

The church asks and even expects its members to volunteer their time.  They teach Sunday School, youth group, serve on the worship team, plan events and much more.  These jobs require not only time during Sunday services but all the preparation time as well.  Many put twenty hours or more a week into serving at church.  They do this out of love for God and commitment to their local congregation; never resenting the time they spent serving.

If the church expects its members to volunteer their time, after putting in forty to fifty hours in at their own jobs, how can their staff not do the same?  I think church staff should be required to volunteer hours as well as their ‘paid’ hours at the church.

Servant leadership involves leading by example.  We cannot expect our people to do anything that we are not willing to do ourselves.

I realize that most church staff falls into the first category but this is still an issue that needs to be addressed.

Let’s provide examples on how to put family first, while still serving the church as volunteers.


Linking with Ann, I thank God for:
two days with no migraines
being able to exercise today
the elders at my church who anointing me with oil and prayed for healing from migraines
the sweet elder's wives who prayed with me afterwards, affirming their love for me
God's presence and power as I spoke at a Women's Tea on Saturday
a new friend who asked to go with me and for three hours spent sharing and bonding
my daughter who fixed Mother's Day dinner for me
my sweet mother who has been such a godly example in my life
my daughter and her sweet girlfriends who cleaned the house after their party
so so many who affirm their love and friendship and their support of my ministry

Random Things About Me

Sharita at 7 Days Time blessed me by giving me The Versatile Blogger Award. She is one of my 'newest' friends so this warms my heart.  Please drop by and check out her wonderful blog!

This means I have to share 7 random facts about myself!  Hummmmm.....

1. I trained for Miss Zimbabwe Body Building Competition.  Yep, I had a rock hard body and muscles many men would die for!  I ended up backing out two weeks before the competition because my father didn't want me to compete.  I was 24 and still listened to him!!!! I had second place in the bag!

2.  I have a bumper sticker on my car that says, "I kiss my dog on the lips"

3.  I'd be horrified if some of you 'homemaker' bloggers came to my home because I have clutter everywhere.

4.  When I was in college I diagnosed my sister and I with Hepatitis A and took us to a Dr.  He was so impressed that he arranged a full scholarship for me to study at the Center For Diseases Control in Atlanta.  I didn't take it because I wanted to be a missionary.  I have regretted it many times since though because I could have used the knowledge on the mission field.

5.  My legs are bigger than my husbands.  And he is a foot taller than I.  How bad and embarrassing is that???  (You can tell I am getting desperate to come up with 7 things when I get this honest!)

6. I'd rather eat desert and maybe save room for food.

7.  I once put my face under a high powered hand blow dryer in a restroom and this is what I looked like!

Now I get to share five of my favorite blogs:

Steph at Hope Unbroken
Stacy at Heartprints of God
Joeline at The Alabaster Jar
Patsy at HeARTworks
Janette at Janette's Sage

Have a great weekend!!!  Again, thank you, Sharita
Linking with BARBIE at Fresh Brewed Sunday because today, she says to take some time for ourselves, have some fun and celebrate who we are.  It is ok to be who we are!  God loves us.

Baby Ground Squirrel

The righteous care for the needs of their animals, 

    but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.

Proverbs 12:10

He's so cute, I had to kiss him. I know I shouldn't because he is a baby and I wouldn't want to give him a disease. But I couldn't help myself.  At least it was on top of the head instead of on the lips!!

My sister found this little guy about a week ago.  He was lost outside of his nest and she brought him home, not knowing if he'd make it.  He is doing well and will soon go to a vet's office were they prepare them to return to the wild.

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Linked with Sunday, Scripture and a Snapshot, SOOC, Weekly Top Shot, Still Saturday, Sunday Snapshot, and Oh Snap

A Chosen Identity

I didn’t choose to be much of who I am.

I am a missionary kid

a third culture kid

           I don’t  belong anywhere

Nor identify with any particular people

I chose some of who I am

I chose to be a wife and mother

to live my live overseas

           to get a degree in Bible and Christian Education

to dedicate my life to missions and full time ministry

I choose who I am now

I am a Christ follower

a friend,

a wife and mother

a minister of the Gospel

a teacher/ speaker, blogger

Pretty much all of who I am is because I was chosen:

chosen to be a child of God

chosen to die for

chosen to minister

chosen to declare His praises

Is it wrong to be happy with whom I am?

Does that mean there are not some changes I would like to make?

Definitely not!

But I am happy to be me

Because God chose me.

Joining Lisa Jo on Friday for Five Minutes of writing.  We don’t edit, we don’t proof read. We just write from our heart and then post!  Join me today as we write on the word “Identity”.  Then link your post here.

Also linked with Caffeinated Randomness, HeartPrints , Bless and Be Blessed, 

Pointing Out The Bad

Trust you to point out all the bad things I am doing!!!!

I thought I was being helpful and giving good advice. But it wasn’t taken that way. The minute I offered my suggestion, I was met with, “Mom, you always criticize us!”  I didn’t even think it was criticism. I was just offering a different way of handling a situation that I thought would be met with better reception!

Do you have that one person in your life that points out your faults?  Some have a way of doing it in a way that makes you appreciate them while others make you defensive and bitter!

Much as it is hard to take criticism, often we learn and grow from the experience. I know I have.

I want God to show me what is wrong with my heart and life as well. That is why I often pray,

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting.

(Psalm 139:24)

It never fails that when I pray this prayer, then sit quietly to listen, that God always reveals wrong motives, areas where I have sinned, and changes I need to make in my attitudes.  I may not like what He reveals to me, but I am always grateful that He is with me, wanting me to grow and be a better woman.

I love Philippians chapter three.  Paul speaks of how we are to continually press forward towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called us: that of heaven.  He says we should have a mentality that we are always moving forward, drawing closer to God and focusing on eternity. Then, he says in verse fifteen, “All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, God will make that clear to you.”

Paul is saying that if we do not have the right mentality and focus in life, then God will show us!  I love that!

Just as I try to point out things to my children to help them have better attitudes and success in life, so God will point out things to us. He does it out of love so that we will be more like Him and live ways that better glorify Him.  He doesn’t just leave us floundering but encourages us, plods us along, and points out the things that need to change.

I’m so thankful that He never stops guiding and teaching me

What Do You Say To The Homeless? OYHT link open

I walk by, moving to the other side of the sidewalk. My heart is tearing inside but I don’t know what to do. We are crossing a bridge over a river that borders Thailand and Berma (now Miramar).  We have been told not to give money and given the reasons. They all make sense in my mind but there is a conflict going on between my mind and my heart.

I hold back, zoom in from afar, and snap this photo as my husband walks by, his heart breaking and his eyes welling up. He has a huge heart and can hardly bare not to give. The children break him down and he quietly slips them a coin when he thinks no one is looking. But I see. For, there is tension in my heart as well. My mind is strong and I follow at a distance, my eyes drinking in the scenes that my camera cannot capture.

So, I hold my head up and walk by her as well, refusing to catch her eye. I cannot even speak her language to tell her I am sorry, to tell her……what could I tell her? 

Last week, as I pulled in to the parking lot of Big Lots, I saw two homeless people on the street corner with two dogs in their shopping carts. I went out of my way to approach them.  We talked about dogs.  They love their dogs and I love mine. We found something in common.  We laughed about the cute things they do and spoke of how much joy they bring our lives. They weren’t ‘homeless people’; they were just fellow dog lovers.

As I walked away, I thought, “Really, you talked about dogs?”  When I came out of Big Lots, with dog food in my bag, they were gone.  There was no opportunity to speak of more than our canine friends.

Yet, I tell myself, I didn’t just walk by them. I didn’t avoid their eyes.

My heart did not ache as it did on that bridge.