Faith Today

Over the past couple of weeks some of my closest family members, friends, and I have endured a lot. The statement that bad things usually happen in groups has always proven itself to be true. Why is that? Why must we go through so much at once or even endure some of the suffering we do?  It is hard to wrap your mind around it when you feel you did nothing to deserve those things. I try to always remember the verses that tell us to rejoice in our suffering and how the hard times will give us strength. 

I believe most of us would agree that during those times it is very difficult to even think we are actually "strong" or have the abilty to see the light at the end of the tunnel. If most of us are honest, it usually isn't until after the rain that we look back and feel a sense of relief, growth, strength, and hope. 

I can be honest and say my heart aches. Not just over one particular thing, but over several things. I wish I could fix those things and understand why they have happened or keep happening. Of course, God always puts "my heartache" into perspective and shows me just how blessed we are, how it could be worse, and that I am not alone. However, this does not take away from the hurt. We are human and we don't have to all pretend that life is perfect, full of daisies, and sunshine. 

(This is a side note- But it makes me truly happy to see that there are still honest people (even on facebook ) who are not afraid to be real and say hey, life just sucks sometimes.)

With all that being said, I feel that it is in our weakest and darkest moments that God speaks to our hearts. He uses those painful moments to really speak so loudly that we can't help but listen like eager children to gain help and guidance. As I was driving home tonight, I heard on the Christian radio station an artist speak about a difficult time in his life. He spoke about how blessed we are that we don't have to worry about tomorrow or the next day or the day after that. God only asks us to have faith for today. That is all. So when the future seems overwhelming, dark, or out of reach...He says just for us to have faith in all that HE IS today. one second, one minute, or even one moment at a time. 

So today, I have faith in all You are, God. That You will restore what is broken, provide healing for a hurting family, take away pain, prevent someone's cancer from returning, and give us strength when we need it. I celebrate so much today that it provides me with hope. I celebrate someone's life that changed dramatically all because you came and took over their heart. Not because of anything we did or didn't do to help. Now that person is changing lives and leading them to You! I celebrate the family I have and our little angel who has no idea the amount of joy she gives us. 

Matthew 17:20- " He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there', and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you"

Even if this helps no one else, but me...I feel better already focusing on the fact that I don't have to worry about tomorrow, a week from now, or even a month from now. I feel better knowing that we serve a "suddenly" God. He is much bigger than our circumstances and can change anything in the blink of an eye. Tomorrow may be hard too, but I will renew my faith and allow God to do His work. When we worry...we are basically telling God we don't believe he can handle what we are going through. Easier said than done...but hopefully this will help and encourage some who needed it just like I did. 

6 months - gone by too fast

Well baby girl- 6 months has flown by. 

You are becoming more beautiful every. single. day. You are smiling, laughing, cooing, drooling, sticking that tongue out nonstop, and grabbing your daddy's face as much as possible. It must be the beard. You love to feel it and pull his nose too. You are quite fascinated with hair. Luckily mine is not as long so you can't quite get it to your mouth.  

You can sit up on your own. You act like you are about to crawl, but you just push up and down. Today I noticed that you can turn yourself around in a complete circle. I am sure any day now you will be crawling everywhere! 

Your favorite foods are sweet potatoes, pears, green beans, avacado, butternut squash, and apples. It is so fun to watch you eat! You make this grunting noise with every bite and it is so cute. 

You saw your great grandparents (Al & Barbara) this month and we celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary. Everyone enjoyed seeing you and holding you. We were most certainly missing your grandpa, Tom that day very much. Your great grandaddy bought your daddy and I a video camera so we wouldn't miss any moments. He wanted us to be able to capture everything! 

Unfortunately, this month you did get sick. Very sick. Dr. P and I believe you had the Rotavirus. It started on a Monday evening and progressively got worse. You had constant diarrhea and it got everywhere. I had to keep doing loads of laundry just to keep things clean. You weren't drinking or eating hardly at all. Concerns of dehydration were setting in.  I took you to the doctor twice. Dr. P believed since I was a nurse that I could handle it and we were doing all the right things. I have to admit, I was not thinking as a nurse. I was first being a mother and all I wanted was to fix things and make you feel better. By the 8th day, you finally started to show signs of feeling better. Your daddy and I were so thankful. You were smiling and laughing, so we knew you were getting back to yourself. 

I thought I had experienced all the diarrhea in just about every area of our home, but you decided you needed to go in the bath tub tonight. It got everywhere and I had to get you out of the tub fast. It didn't seem to bother you one bit. haha. 

Snuggling with you is one of my favorite things to do at night. I give you your night time bottle and then

I sing you songs until you are almost asleep. Your daddy and I always kiss you goodnight and tell you we love you. Each time I place you in your crib to sleep, my heart just fills up with so much joy. Sometimes it feels as if my heart is going to burst!! There is nothing in the world I could even compare to having you in our life. We are so blessed. 

There are exciting things to come during your next milestone of 7 months. We are very very excited about these changes and cannot wait to share them with everyone. On that note, I just want you to know that once again your daddy and I asked God to show up in big ways and He really did. Pastor Perry is always saying that "you can't out give God" and I am seeing that every single day. So we pour into Him and he is pouring out to us in so many ways. 

     Celebrating their 60th Wedding Anniversary! 

   Enjoying your walker! 

  Gamecock season has begun!!! 

This is one of my favorite pictures!! 

Feeling very sick while daddy tries to comfort you. This one breaks my heart. So thankful you got better and didn't end up in the hospital!