In Everything

As I'm preparing for Thanksgiving and the beginning of the holiday season, I was looking for some scriptures to read and reflect and came across this one. In Everything...interesting the choice of words ... it's not FOR everything give thanks...it's IN everything. Paul is writing that through everything we must give thanks, we must be joyful and pray without ceasing. So I thank God now for all he is doing in my life, I am thankful for where I am right now and I know he's still working on me.

Wishing everyone a joyful and thankful Thanksgiving!

With Love,

Summer

Holiday Season begins

It's that time of year...one I used to look so forward to spending time with family and friends. Part of me still looks forward to it but then there is that tug at my heart. It's not the same. Marc won't be here again. It's been 4 years since I saw his smiling face. ...funny...I don't know which blog I should be writing this one under...I want this to be a joyful season. A season of Remembrance, A season of Life. My prayer for this holiday season is just Peace. Peace in my heart, Peace in my family, Peace for all those that are suffering. Pastor Steve talked today in his service about Living to Give. I want that to be my new mission in life. God is my number 1, he is my boss, he is my everything. As soon as we put anything before him, we are cursed. He is the One and Only and we can find comfort and peace in him. So, I'm starting now, looking for opportunities, God's opened doors, for me to give to others. Not just at the holidays and I'm not talking about simple gifts. Giving of yourself for others.

In Prayer

With Love,

Summer

Light and Giggly

ok, so I got to go see my teenage pop idols New Kids on the Block last night and had an absolute blast. I went with my friend Ashley and 2 of her friends - also lifelong blockheads. It was a time to let loose and laugh, smile, and act like giddy 13 year olds...along with thousands of other screaming thirty somethings. The arena got smart and converted most all of the men's restrooms to women's for the night. Joey Joe totally made eye contact with Ashley and I...Seriously he sang right to us and they like said that like they were our husbands so I am like totally unavailable now. :) If felt so good just to let loose and have fun and they actually put on a great concert. I was actually a bit surprised of how good they were and the show they put on was awesome. I am also totally loving their new CD now. Don't hate on NKOTB -check out some of the lyrics from the new cd. These will stand the test of time!


DIRTY DANCING
Ooh, she's so crazy
She's like baby, I'm like Swayze
I said, ooh, and I'm burnin' up
So let's turn it up
I said "turn it up, now"

CLICK CLICK CLICK

And I'm like stop (stop)
Let me take a mental shot of this moment (moment)Yeah
Oooh baby drop(drop) everything ya doing right now and just hold it
(Hold it)

Click Click Click

Pose for Me, Pose for Me, come on and Pose for me, Pose for me
My camera loves you

2 IN THE MORNING
Now it's 9 o'clock and I thought
We could talk but you ain't givin' in
Through this hoverin' girl, it's almost 10
I wanna know if you're mad at me, before Grey's Anatomy
'Cause we could drag this out all night

This is just a classic oldie:

FUNKY FUNKY CHRISTMAS
Have a funky funky Christmas, have a funky funky Christmas.
New Kids On The Block, let's rock, it's Christmas time.
We're gonna celebrate it with a rhyme.
Danny D, are you ready? - Ready as I'll ever be
Steady - you know, Joey Joe is ready
Jordan and Jon, yeah, come on, we got a funky, funky Christmas going on.

Forever a BLOCKHEAD -

With Love,

Summer

Immersion - A night of praise and worship

Message notes from Immersion Oct 2 -- http://www.churchoftheking.com/


We must draw into God's prescense. We are in dark times right now, but we must let God's light shine through us. We have to be filled with the Glory of God. It will only get darker, but God's people will be brighter, stronger, living by his scripture. It is easy in the circumstances that we are living in....an unsettling election, financial crisis, war, catastrophic storms... we must draw closer to God.

Psalm 91:2, James 4:8

Jude 1:20 (New Living Translation)
20 But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit

Isaiah 60
1 “Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you. 2 Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth, but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you. 3 All nations will come to your light; mighty kings will come to see your radiance.

19 “No longer will you need the sun to shine by day, nor the moon to give its light by night, for the Lord your God will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. 20 Your sun will never set; your moon will not go down. For the Lord will be your everlasting light. Your days of mourning will come to an end. 21 All your people will be righteous. They will possess their land forever, for I will plant them there with my own hands in order to bring myself glory.

Light

The theme light is one of the most common themes through out the bible, starting in Genesis 1:3 - Let there be light. It is interesting for me as I continue on this journey and delve deeper into my relationship how the Holy Spirit is moving things in my life, opening my eyes to see things I have never seen before, opening my heart to feel things I have never felt. This was the scripture from last week's service...

Ephesians 5:8 14
8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

New Living Translation - my Bible

8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.


Light is mentioned 237 times in the Bible...NKJV

How does a house get so dirty?

Well, I've weathered Gustav. I am sick of hurricanes --I hope he is the last one we see for sometime. We were without power and now we don't have direct tv ---so I hope Hannah and Ike are heading somewhere else. I don't know and at this point don't want to know...haven't had an update in days. So I've had a lot of time to think and analyze things the past couple of days. Even through the wind and rain, I have had some very peaceful times. Alot of quiet time just listening to the generators hum. But I was struck with such a thought and wanted to put it down...ok that sounds like I don't have many thoughts and this was a revelation....but anyway...it just really made me think today. When the power came back on today - our house was so dirty. I cleaned alot before the storm, just to burn off some anxiety, because I had made the decision to stay and ride out the storm. We'd been through Cat.2 and 3's before...no big deal. Ok, so I washed every towel in the house, every blanket, cleaned the oven, cleaned the stove. But when the power came on today - our house looked like a hurricane had hit it. Spills on the cabinet, blankets and pillows on the couches in the living room-this was our command center- dog bones everywhere, dog accidents everywhere. It can be tough pouring a drink by flashlight, I guess you don't see the little spills here and there. But when the power comes on they are everywhere. You can see all the spills -all the accidents. I compared it to our life with Christ. Without him, the Light, we are unclean and don't even realize all the sin in our life. He brightens our life and he cleans us --he sees the spills and wipes them clean. He doesn't want us to live in darkness. Spilling things, living life as a hurricane. Yes hurricanes and storms may come - but he is the Light, He is the calm in the storm. He wipes us clean. This new blog is very different for me. I'm used to just blogging when I miss Marc, but am trying to do it more often.

John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

I am thankful that I have power on today because the past few days have been rough. I am thankful that I have Christ as the Light in my life because the past few years have been rough.

Praying for all those that need Light in their life today.

With Love,

Summer

random and random

I don't think I was really prepared for how big a new job can shake things up. It's been a shakin' and crazy month or so. But it's getting better. You know the wide-open sales road is very different from my past position. It has been very freeing and allowed me to breath for the first time in a while. I truly do believe everything happens for a reason and I am where God wants me to be. North Oaks was where I was supposed to be for the past 3.5 years. I was able to heal during my time there and also still grow professionally. I enjoyed management very much - it is very different from sales - but I managed a great group of professionals and they each taught me so much. I think that is where so many managers get it wrong -- they think they have the answers for everything and miss out on alot. Good managers should surround themselves with talented individuals - they should all bring something to the table. If they don't --- they shouldn't be there. You have to trust your team and you have to earn the trust of your team. Otherwise --- it can get ugly.

Ok --- I don't know where that came from --- I am enjoying my new job. It is fun to be out in the field, meeting new people, pounding the pavement. It brings me back to some of my HealthSouth days. Good Times! I had a training session in Tampa at the end of July and it was a blast! I don't think I have ever had such a fun training session. We went through several big binders and had some long days but the people were great and we laughed a ton! My new job has also given me some freedom to get back to me and have some fun!

ok--random thoughts for tonight.


Much Love,

Summer