For The Love Of Everything

Observations From "My Little Section" at Church of the Highlands

Well. I wanted to take a second and share something really cool I noticed tonight at church. First, just FYI, if you come to church on a WEDNESDAY night, you BETTER get there 30 minutes early. They literally had to have everyone move in to the center of their aisles to make room for others....HOW COOL. The parking lot was FULL....ahhhhh, I just love it!

Anyway, back to my "observation" tonight.

Jer and I sit in the same little section week after week after week after week. For the last two years I have watched a family that have been desperately praying for their son. I have seen the tears of the mother. I have seen the harden face of the son. I have watched....week after week after week.

I've been missing Wednesday nights a good bit because of work, (I'm about to nip that in the bud...is that how you spell that saying???) ANYWAY....I've been back the last three weeks in a row, and I noticed something. That young man. He looked different. He was smiling.....

Now, fastforward to tonight.

I noticed during worship that this young man was FIRED up. I am talking, you could tell that he was EXCITED about the Lord. I've never seen this before...EVER. I watched them take communion as a family, pray together, THEN the final worship song of the night came....if you've never been to Highlands, the worship time might freak you out a bit...it's fantastic....ahhhh....I mean, you will see people clapping, lifting their hands, some might even bounce a bit, kind of like you were at a concert or something....hey, it's not weird at football games and clubs, so it shouldn't be that weird at church.....ANYWAY....

During the last song, I was watching him worship, and nudged Jer, and said, wow....that is just SO cool, then I looked at his mother, and it was like I could just sense her excitement, that her years of praying had been heard. The love she had for her son was undeniable. She was overjoyed, relieved...and I thought, ahhh, the love of a mother, look at her, how excited she is, and it was like the Lord just said, that's how excited I get too...

And the floodgate of tears rose up in my eyes. The Lord LONGS for us to just GIVE up. Throw in the towel. Turn to Him. Let HIM have control. He desires SO deeply to have us for His own. He KNOWS we aren't perfect. If we were, Jesus would not have given His life for us. That mother knew her son's past. The Lord knew that young man's past....do you think that mattered to either of the two? Not one bit. They were overjoyed. Excited. Jumping up and down....

I will tell you...I know this sounds really crazy. But I really really felt like I was suppose to share that story. Not sure if it's for a mother who has just been praying like crazy for one of her kids, or someone who just needs to know how much the Lord is CRAZY in LOVE with them....either way, I hope it encourages you as much as it encouraged me.

Hope you have a fantastic rest of your week!

Monique

Are You A PLOTTER or PLANNER?

The verse on the sidebar for the day is....

Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.

Proverbs 14:22

Look at the words there....PLOT and PLAN. To plot and plan something, you have got to be THINKING OF IT BEFORE HAND.

Funny, when you think how true this is....have you ever had someone make you mad, or do you wrong. If you are like me, do you sit there and think, hmmmm, I am going to say this, or that, or PLOT your next action back? I know when Jer and I argue, (I know, I know, shocker that ever happens)....I very rarely STOP and plan something GOOD to say.

So it's my goal to be a planner of GOOD things...not a PLOTTER of Evil. Why not go ahead and PLAN ahead of time something GOOD to do today. A thoughtful comment to someone, a hug, a smile....I think I'm going to bring some cherry lifesavers to work to brighten the day, a way to a nurse's heart is her stomach! If you don't believe me, the next time you are in the hospital for something bring some cupcakes or something...the nurses will LOVE you!

Alright, back to making grits, yummmm, gotta love living in the south!

Hope you have a fantastic day!

Monique

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Just registered to have this sent to me....it's going to the first 5,000 who register....hurry, go get you one!!!!

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Hope you are having a fantastic weekend!

Monique

Such a Great Husband, And Adding to My TV Portfolio.....

I sure do love my husband. He created a link in the post below so you could go right to the message from Wednesday night. Did you listen to it yet, huh? WHAT? You haven't???? Hurry, go do it now. I promise it will be a great start to your day!

If you have absolutely no clue what I'm talking about, read the post below. 

Okay, now to spend some time with my hubby. He's off work today. WoooHoo. Too bad for me that one of his five is going to the gym. Sigh. That is NOT one of mine, lol.....but I am being a good wife and going with him before I go into work. Speaking of work. MTV is taping a show and guess who the nurse was last night. FOR THE LOVE. Cameras and MASSIVE microphones hanging over my head freak me out. All I know is I am praying that what all was recorded last night NEVER makes it to TV, knowing my luck though....sigh....I told Jer we ought to go ahead and try out for Amazing Race, we've always wanted to do that, and for some reason I am on a winning streak when it comes to TV stuff. Now THAT would make some REALLY good T.V. Jer and I racing around the world. Him yelling at me for leaving my passport in a taxi, me crying...I can see it now. 

Alright, have a fantastic day.

Monique

I'm BEGGING You to Read This Post!!!!

Why hey there. :) I know, I know, it is so not 2011. But my goodness. I just could absolutely NOT contain myself to post about last night's message at church. I have got to say that Pastor Chris totally brought a rockin' message on worship. I have a huge heart for worship. I love it. I can not even begin to tell you how it can change my day in an instance. I could listen to worship music all day, everyday, and nothing but that.

Okay, okay, so you HAVE GOT to listen to the message. On Wednesday nights we don't have a video of it, but you can download a podcast on iTunes or Go Here

I am always amazed when verses I've always read are seen in a whole new light. I was writing like crazy all in my journal, my bible, I kept thinking of how I was going to have to RElisten to it again to make sure I didn't miss anything.

We were MADE to worship the Lord. Did you know that is what you were made for? The Lord wanted nothing more than to have someone to LOVE Him, He wanted a "bride", He created us to WORSHIP Him. Worship, is LOVE EXPRESSED, intimacy. He gave HIS life, even AFTER WE rejected Him, just simply to have us worship Him. There is nothing as hurtful as rejection. Have you ever been "rejected" by someone. It cuts deep. It's hard to get over. But the Lord, even after we rejected Him, He STILL gave His life FOR us. No questions asked. No hesitation. No list made of pros and cons to help make His decision. He did it. FOR US TO WORSHIP HIM. He just wants us to love Him back. 

Here are some of the songs I've been listening to over the past few weeks. I turn the music on every morning while cooking breakfast for the girls (i have been making some ROCKIN' chocolate chip pancakes here lately) and it's so cool because the girls are singing and humming these songs through out the day, man, worship, there's nothing like it!

The first one here. If you don't feel the presence of the Lord like never before, my goodness. Wow. wow. Wow.

So there you have it. Just a little on my mind. Hope you enjoy the message as much as I did. MY GOODNESS....SOOOOOOO good! Love ya. Monique