Glorious Day!

Hello friends!

Hope you are enjoying this wonderful weather we are having! 70 degrees in January?!

Yesterday I had an absolutely wonderful day! Mom and I delivered Meals on Wheels, and then decided to have a picnic at the park! So we grabbed up our grilled chicken wraps and cherry limeade from Sonic and headed to the park. It was so great! We sat under a tree and ate our lunch, and then strolled around the park, feeding the cute but quite aggresive ducks our left over tator tots! :)

After that, we went to United, and Mom and I split the list so we could get done faster! And so I wandered the aisles of United looking over and over for shrimp and frozen chicken strips until Mom finally came to my rescue! hehe

Then I had a piano lesson, and went to the golf course to enjoy the weather and play a little!

The time outside was just AMAZING, and it really made me appreciate all God is, and His Creation and blessings He gives to us!

And finally, I got off work early-at 8 instead of 10! Hooray! :)

So yesterday was a glorious day!

But when I was sweeping the floor after supper, a song came on my mom's ipod that made me think. It was Glorious Day. As I listened to the song, I thought how glorious the day will be when Jesus comes back, WAY more glorious than any day on earth! So I looked up in Revelation last night more about that day.

Revelation 21:3-4 says, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

Wow! Now that will be a glorious day! :)

Today, thank God for all His blessings on earth, and also remember to prepare your hearts for the day when Christ comes! :)

To Horseshoe Bay We Go! :o)

Well, well, well, I have some exciting news!!

The THESA golf team is taking a trip in February to Horseshoe Bay for a weekend tournament!!!

Oh yes, and we get to stay in Sarah's friends, the Brown's condo!!

Thank you, Brown's!

But I am SO excited! This is going to be the ultimate golf tournament!

So Horseshoe Bay, here I come (in a month)!! ha

I am so thankful! God has blessed me with so much, too much to count! Aren't you thankful for a God that loves us, sinners, so much that He would care for us, send His Son to die for us, make us blameless in His sight, and shower us with favor! God is truly amazing! Remember today to say a prayer of thanks for all He has done, is doing, and will do in your life! :)

"But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God, may they be happy and joyful." Psalm 68:3

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Colossians 3:17 :o)

Golfing By Faith

Yesterday, despite the nasty wind, I decided to go golfing with Dad and get a tune up on my shots from him. And after 5 bags of range balls, my shot was quite nice! Hooray! :o)

But this post is not about that. Its about my golf in general and my struggles and lessons I have learned

So here goes. . .

Last fall, I developed a nasty problem with my golf game that I could just not find a way to fix! After several bad tournaments, I was exasperated! My mom helped a lot by encouraging me. "You're growing, which messes you up. One day's a diamond, next day's a stone." This helped, but as the problem stayed longer and longer, I drew closer and closer to God for my help. On the way home from Wichita Falls one evening, a song came on the radio that I knew came from God. "Before the Morning" by Josh Wilson says,

"Would you dare to believe,

that you've still got a reason to sing,

'cause the pain that you've been feeling

can't compare to the joy that's coming

So hold on, you got to wait for the light,

press on, just fight the good fight,

'cause the pain you've been feeling

its just the dark before the morning."

That night, that song just really hit me and I knew that God was in control over my golf and soon, I was going to experience joy far greater that any of the frustration I had been experiencing.

So I still had been having some problems, but I got them ALL fixed yesterday(WOO!), and I really believe that the joy is coming soon! :)

I may(and probably will) experience more problems in my golf throughout life, but I know that God is always there in control making good come out of the bad! Joshua 1:9 says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

And Deuteronomy 31:8 says, "The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

Through the golf struggles, I feel that I grew closer to God. Now, in any problem, golf related or anything else, I will know that God is totally in control, walking before me, and making good come out of every situation.

My devotional book, The Confident Woman, says "When we take steps of faith to make progress in life, there is no guarantee that we will not experience opposition. But we do have God's guarantee that He will always be with us, and that is truly all we need."

So today, if you are going through a struggle, or even if you aren't, remember Deuteronomy 31:8. God is guiding you always through life. His will is always right, so live life according to God's will, and if you feel like you are going nowhere in life, trust God and pray for His guidance. Something wonderful is about to happen to you. Believe it. God is going to bless you more than you could ever imagine. :o)

A Neat Fact about 2011

A homeschool mom emailed this to my mom, and I thought I would share it-

This year, we have 4 strange dates: 1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11, and 11/11/11! Man, that's a lot of 1's! :)

Secondly, if you add the last 2 numbers of the year you were born with the age you will be this year, it comes out to. . .

111!

This works for everybody, and if you were born in 2000 or later, your number will be 11! So cool! :)

Ross, Mom and I were discussing this cool fact, and Mom said something interesting. She said that numbers were somewhat spiritual. At first I thought this was kind of strange, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was true!

Take a moment and think of God's Creation that He designed, from the tiniest electron to the hugest galaxy-

God created ALL of this and everything in between! This means He also designed the number system and all the amazing numerical quirks in it! God is all powerful, all intelligent, and all loving for His children! :)

Psalm 8:3,4 says, "When I consider you heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"

But the wonderful thing is that our amazing, powerful God who made the entire universe DOES care for us! His spirit is with us every second of every day!

Psalm 3:3,4 says "But you are a shield around me, O Lord;

You bestow glory on me and lift up my head.

To the Lord I cry aloud, and He answers me from His holy hill."

So remember today that God is always with you in every situation lifting you up! Ask Him for His blessings and guidance, and He will graicously give it to you! Don't ever forget God's presence in you. Instead, remember it always and  put it first in everything, and God will bless your circumstances!

Matthew 6:33

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. :)

A Fun Night with Mom! :)

Tonight, Ross and Dad went to Ross's basketball game, so Mom and I wanted to do something special. . . .

And a movie together fit the bill!

Thank goodnes for Redbox! Mom and I dashed to United and rented Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue . And don't say that store product shelving techniques don't work, because when Mom and I saw the movie candy by the Redbox machine, we just HAD to have some milk duds! :)

We got all cozy in our pajamas and sat down with our milk duds to watch the movie! I had a fantabulous time! Don't you love just having a cozy movie evening?! :)

I thank God for these fun times with family! He has blessed me with SO much, and we don't deserve ANY of His love at all! God is a generous, loving, amazing Father, and I am reminded of it every day! :)

Psalm 117

Praise the Lord, all you nations;

extol Him, all you peoples.

For great is His love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord. :)

Sock Monkey Slippers and Some Great News!!!

Soo today I was sweeping the front sidewalk at our house, and I saw a package on our doorstep. . . .

And it was for me from the awesome Sarah Lunsford!!!

I knew it was my late Christmas present she was wanting to give to me, so I tore it open and inside was. . . .

The Little Red Book of Golf ! Thank you SO much, Sarah, because I wanted this book really badly, but I couldn't find it anywhere!

But that is not all that was in the white box with red and white houndstooth paper inside. . .

Mary Jane fuzzy socks too!!! With cute monkeys on them! EEE! :)

Plus. . . red and black (THESA golf colors) ribbons for my golf bag and hair for tournaments!!! :D

But I have saved the best present for last. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SOCK MONKEY SLIPPERS!!!!!!

Oh. My. Goodnes.

Aren't the little guys cute! I'm wearing them right now! haha :)

So thank you Sarah! You made my day!

And now for the great news (the box from Sarah was great news too, but this is the other great news). :)

I quit barrel racing about 6 months ago to try English riding. But it just really hasn't worked out. Riding turned into more work than fun. :P So I have been praying for peace and knowledge on what to do. And last night, God answered my prayers! :o)

He gave me the idea to go back to barrel racing (I love the excitement and the competition of it!) because when I do that, I really enjoy riding! But when I have a longing to pretend to ride English and imagine up riding stories, I can ride English for fun! But I don't have to worry about all the properness of perfect show form, because I will just be enjoying myself!

So back to the rodeo world I go, but I am really excited about it! God has the perfect plan for everything, and through this, He taught me to trust Him more!

So I am going to go ride today and have fun! :)

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

come before Him with joyful songs."

Psalm 100:1-2

35 Jars of Jam!

On Tuesday, I learned how to make something cool! And it was. . . . . . .

PLUM JAM!

My neighbor, Mrs. Upshaw invited me over to make jam with her from the plums she picked!

The plums were already cooked into plum goo, so we mixed the plums and pectin, and when that mixture(which, by the way, smelled SO good!) boiled, we added 8 CUPS!!! of sugar! Yes, 6 cups of plums, 8 cups of sugar! :P haha

We let the jam boil for a minute and meanwhile sterilized the jars in hot water. When the jam had boiled, we scraped the foam off the top and then poured it into the jars!

Next, we added the lids to the jam jars, and then left them to sit upside down for 5 minutes!

After that, we turned them over, and soon the jars started making popping noises which meant the jars were sealed to perfection! :)

The whole jam making experience was lots of fun! I felt like I was in the old days or something which is always awesome!

But along the way, Mrs. Upshaw said that her teacher once told her that the jam making process was a lot like being saved by Christ, and if you think about it, it really is!

The jars (symbolizing you) are sterilized by the blood of Jesus, and then the jam (the fruit and spirit of God) is put inside you! Your sins are forgiven, so no impurities are inside you with the fruit. Then the jar is sealed, which represents God's spirit never leaving you! The Holy Spirit will never come out of you, no matter what! :)

Then (I just thought of this) others can enjoy God's love and gifts through you, which is like people eating the jam out of the jar! An odd representation, but a true and encouraging one at that! :)

So I had an awesome time making jam, and I also learned a spiritual lesson too!

Job 39:19-24 :)

If you know me very well , you know that I am in love with horses!!! And God has blessed me abundantly to be able to own my own horse, Cinco. :)

Cinco and me!

Cinco is a great friend! He, even though he is a horse, has his own unique human-like personality. First and foremost, he is terrified of pigs! Strange, I know! :)

Cinco also has strict feeding schedule in his head, and if we are a little late feeding, he can be quite annoyed! You can tell when he's mad, because he stomps around, tosses his head, and makes quite ugly faces! :P

But best of all, Cinco is my friend! I enjoy spending time with him, noticing his quirks, and working together as a team when we ride. :)

I had never heard this Bible verse until I saw Secretariat a few months ago (by the way, if you haven't seen this, you NEED to! It is amazing! I saw it 3 times!), but now it has been added to one of my favorite verses!

Job 39:19-24

(God is asking this to Job)

"Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane?

Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting?

He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength, and charges into the fray.

He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; he does not shy away from the sword.

 The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance.

In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.

Oh, isn't this verse amazing? And the cool thing is, that we can be like the horse in this verse! If God gives all this to a horse, who has no soul, then he will most lovingly give all of this strength and bravery through Him to us!

God contains all the love, strength, bravery, peace, healing, and innumerable other amazing things inside Him, and He is just waiting to transfer them to us!

When God gives you a dream or purpose for you life, or in other words, your "trumpet sounds", don't be afraid to go for it! If what you want to do is God's will for you, nothing can stop you, so ask God for His guidance, strength, and peace through it, and pursue your dreams! :) With God's power within you, you will most certainly suceed!

A Piece of God's Masterpiece

On Monday evening, I dashed outside to get a picture of the amazing sunset! It was just in time too, because about 5 minutes after I took the pictures, the majestic colors were gone.

Whenever I look at God's beautiful masterpiece that He made for us, our earth, and everything in it, I always get a reminder of God's power and glory! He made everything, from the stars in the sky to the smallest insect to the amazing sunset only with simple words from His lips! Our Father is truly amazing, and I am reminded of that every day by our world He made for us to live in, as well as His love and guidance that is alive in my life every day!

"God saw all that He had made, and it was very good." Genesis 1:31

Happy New Year!

Its 2011!!!

I am so excited, because I know God has many blessings in store for this new year! He is with us all the time, and makes good come out of every situation, so I know 2011 is going to be awesome!

In my house, we have a framed sheet of the old, amazing hymn, "It is Well With My Soul." Today, I was reading it, and although I know most of you probably know it, take a closer look at the first verse:

"When peace like a river attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul."

Do you know why it is well?

Because God is with you every minute of every hour of every single day in your life! No matter what you do, or where you go, He is always right beside you through all things! Doesn't that give you peace? You are not alone!

And even in the bad times, God is always working things out for good! He doesn't cause the bad things to happen, but He sometimes allows them to, so you can grow in your faith in Him. And when the "storm" is over, God will have something magnificent waiting for you beside the rainbow! :)

So this 2011, whatever you go through, in happiness and hardship, remember that God is there, ready to comfort you and bless you with His love! He is the answer to all your problems! All you have to do is ask Him for His peace and blessings! He will never keep them from you! He is waiting to bless you, so go ahead and step out in faith! Ask God for His favor, guidance, and blessings today! :)