Selah!

It has been over a week since "the Well women" were "Selah-ing" at Hume Lake Christian Camps. As I reflect on what the Majestic Lord has done and continues to do in the hearts of those who attended the Women's Retreat I am in awestruck wonder of our Maker, Author, and Perfector of our faith. Glory Lord, we worship You alone! I had the privilege of serving the ladies I worship with in Fresno by teaching the Word for the weekend...what a joy it was and how humbling to minister to these precious ladies.

Selah (This was the name of our Women's Retreat)--a musical term which denotes a pause to reflect, an interruption, or a time to meditate so as to lift up the Name of the Lord...the Israelites would sing songs to the Lord about a variety of circumstances in life from great days to days they wished their lives were over, times of battle to times of peace, times waiting for the Lord to act to praising the Lord for working mightily...they would sing in the midst of their circumstances and include the Lord in their life, and selah, remember Him and exalt His name, even when they didn't understand what God was doing and why He was taking so long to do it.

My highlight of the weekend was witnessing the Body of Christ ministering to each other and working with one heart and mind to love all with the Love of Jesus Christ. As I walked around Hume, I watched ladies listening to each other, praying for one another, struggling together to know Christ more deeply, laughing together, and simply doing life together. It was thrilling to watch how God has graced each lady differently with gifts to edify the body, from worshipping through music, to administration, to organization, to exhortation, to encouragement...and...

Our theme: Jesus, Himself, is my abundant life! Once we understand that He is the One who loves us completely and has rescued us from death, then the Lord grows our hearts to believe that He works in and through us and overflows from our lives to enable us to love and forgive others by the power and grace of God. His will for every follower of Christ is that we live life to the fullest in Him. We will only experience this type of freedom and abundance, "a spacious place", when all people, places, and things in our lives are in line with the Lord. The Scripture we meditated on for the weekend was Psalm 18:16-19:

He reached down from on high and took hold of me;

He drew me out of deep waters.

He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.

They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support.

He brought me out into a spacious place;

He rescued me because He delighted in me.

Here are a just a few wonderful things the Lord did in the hearts of us ladies:

I will praise you O Lord with all my heart, I will tell of all Your wonders.

Psalm 9:1

*A new sweet friend decided to give up a show on TV that has inappropriate relationships

*(exerpt from an email from a small group leader for the weekend) "...in my small group alone I saw EVERY girl make a life changing decision. Decisions from alcohol use, to facebook deletions, to change of peer groups, to investing in Godly relationships, to getting rid of guys that are a cancer to their walk, to making the relationship with Jesus personal not a punch of a spiritual time card. God is so good!!
*(from a friend) There are no words to express what God did this weekend in my heart.
*Four ladies came to know and believe the Lord as Savior and received Him in their life! Yippie!!! Praise Him!!!
*(an email) Feeling fully content (and in a season of spring) I went up the hill under God’s direction, not knowing what He had in store. I left with such a bigger image of who God is.
*(From a conversation with a friend)...knowing she needed to destroy the idol of expectation in relationships

Countless times in the last week and a half I have heard "Selah" as a greeting or salutation again and again, at Chick-fil-A, church, my home...so I leave you now with SELAH, with the hopes that you would stop right now and remember the Lord in the midst of whatever circumstances you are in and exalt His name as the God Most High, Holy, Righteous, Loving...

It's Tuesday!

I was going to check my email quickly and decided to say hello to our beloved family and friends who keep updated on life via the blog. At this very moment I am sporting hot rollers in my hair because it's a quick way to make the hair look fairly good because I didn't wash it this morning. In an hour I am off to serve at Chick-fil-A and hand out lots of food and make sure the drive thru orders are accurate so peoples' tummies can be happy. This afternoon I head to Tulare to share with a sweet group of ladies about what it means to rest in God's tenderness. Upon arriving home I will be greeted by my family and the Schuler family who is staying with us tonight. I think I should be overwhelmed, but thankfully the Lord has given my heart strength for today, this moment, and every moment after. I have the joy of resting in the strong and gentle arms of our Sovereign Lord who carries me close to His heart. It is a wonderful Tuesday!

Randomnessof Spring Break with Grandparents

Ok well I just wanted to drop in and say hi. I don't have any pictures yet because my lovely sister not only forgot to charge the camera, but forgot to bring the charger. So three minutes in the car taking weird pictures, we find out there is no battery. So when my father drives up here, i think Friday, he will bring the camera charger, so you may see some picture from Friday and Saturday.
Well here is some sayings or events that are funny or just some fun memories.

We went swimming on Sunday, but ended up in the spa.

We went geocashing on Monday and Ashlyn found it, opened it, screamed, which made us scream, but it was just fake black spider.

On Monday, we went to the park and played badmition but it soon got hot so we went swinging. I had to swing in the small, high baby swing. and guess what, I got stuck because I buckled the safety belt. So now I am sitting in the swing typing this. Just kidding, it wasn't that hard to get out but it hurt.

Well sitting at the park and there were two big dogs. We started talking about why dogs get their tails cut off. Then I said that they could swat the flies away like when horse get their tails cut short. Ashlyn the said that dogs just sit on them ans squish them.

My grandma bought me ans Ashlyn some peeps. I had one box left and so I was saving it and put it on my bed. Well yesterday I came in and two were missing so Ashlyn (who loves peeps) said she must have walked in her sleep and ate it, but likely story.

Well that's it for now. If you want to talk or chat with me then you can email me at artcrazy.1@gmail.com .

Found some pictures...

Don't think for a moment Brian is emotionless...

Random pictures from Disney World in February. Normal family pictures...

Oh, and yet another...

I think Brian brings out the best in all of us...
Like Father, like Son...This picture doesn't seem to fit the them of the rest, but I just liked it...me with my gals.

Spring Break

I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of life in the last month, but I believe Ashlyn has the camera with the pictures on it and she is not where I am...so, no pictures this week. Brian's Dad and Mom have come down from Washington every year for the past 12 years, I think, and take the kids for the week. Ash, Ky, and Ju LOVE this time with their Grandparents. They are all at Angel's Camp, I am at home and will work, and Brian is at work through Wednesday and then will join the rest of the bunch on Thursday. Melody is traveling lots this week and doing homework.

It feels wierd to all be in different places for the week.

Maybe the kids will post pictures about what they are doing . (HINT, HINT)

Hope you all are having a wonderful week!