So Close but Not Quite

We had the opportunity to attend a banquet last Thursday night for the Lifetoday organization. Check out www.lifetoday.org. It was held at the JW Marriot Resort in North Phoenix. Gorgeous Resort - the grounds were magnificent!

Anyways at the banquet, we were given table 4 as our seating arrangement but I had been asked by my mom to see if we could get a table towards the back of the room.
So, being the dutiful daughter that I am I asked the woman who assigned the table reservations if we could get a table towards the back of the room. She then preceeded to write a zero after the 4 so that we would be sitting at table 40.

As we were waiting for them to call out the tables for seating, they called table 4 first! Interesting we all thought. We then decided to give my mom a bad time telling her that was probably the table that received the free trip to Ireland, or the prime rib dinner instead of chicken, etc.

Table 40 was finally called and we were able to sit down and enjoy a wonderful meal -Yes, it was chicken but delicious! Ask Scott about diving into the dessert first! It worked in his favor as the banquet manager gave him a "hard" time in fun and they brought him out another dessert and another entree! He worked that one right:) The creme brulee was THE BEST!

Well, as we are starting to eat we see Jim and Betty Robison enter and what table do they sit at you might ask? Yes, that's right table 4! After dinner during Jim's speech he also mentioned that the Diamondbacks owner and a scientist were at the table he was sitting at that night. Wow, what a wonderful table of dinner quests. That would have been amazing to visit with them. However, I will say I had some wonderful dinner companions myself! You can bet we sure enjoyed giving my mom "heck" about asking for a table towards the back of the room! What was she thinking? LOL

FRIENDS - They are one of our greatest blessings on earth. It's hard to walk on the path of life without them and I certainly wouldn't want to try. They have been support, encouragement, shoulder to cry on, lifter of my spirit, & my prayer warriors! I am so very grateful for friends!

I love having Scott and my best man from our wedding, Ray, here from Tulsa visiting us for the weekend! He's a buddy of Scott's from prior to "Kim days" - playing high school football together. So, we are talking OLD! I did that for emphasis in case Ray reads this:) Love you Ray! It's exciting to hear about their dream home being built and hearing about their kids, Scott (guess who he's named after?)and Danielle doing well. Walking down memory lane is a delight!

2 TIM 2:15 - Study (be diligent, be zealous) to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, "rightly" (with precision and accuracy, cutting it straight) dividing the word of truth.

Ron Webb

Please pray for Ron Webb and his wife, Mary who are a brother and sister in Christ from Palm Valley Church! He went through a heart transplant and recently went home from the hospital after an extensive stay. However, he's was admitted yesterday due to pneumonia. Please check out his blog for more details and remember to lift his family up in prayer.

Kairos

I had the wonderful opportunity to work with several ladies from our Home Team at a Kairos ministry today. It was a blessing to work beside these wonderful women and having the opportunity to serve the ladies who were on this special retreat over the weekend.

The Kairos retreat is for women who have a loved one who is in prison. The whole weekend is spent ministering to them and helping them work through the painful and tough moments as a result of having their loved one behind bars.

Lifting all of you up in prayer before our Heavenly Father!

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

I'VE BEEN TAGGED

Okay, here is the latest "tag" game coming down the pike. You have to tag 5 people that you would like to get to know more. Thank you beboldjen.blogspot.com. Here it goes!

My 5 favorite snacks:
1. Popcorn - the "lite" kind or as my kid's tell me the "gross" kind!
2. Cookies N Cream ice cream - Dryer's - total comfort food.
3. Chips/Salsa
4. Fudgecicles
5. Strawberries when they are in season! Delicious!

If I were a billionaire what 5 things would I spend my money on:
1. Give back to the Lord - big time!
2. Help New Hope Orphanage in a great way
3. Help a young person that I am working with right now
4. Set up an account to make sure the money continues to make money so that I can would be able to help people continually
5. Buy my parent's a home and deck it out!

My last 5 jobs:
1. Working with my husband in our business - Welding Inspection Services
2. Realtor - DPR Realty
3. Corporate Trainer - Express Personnel Services
4. Customer Retention Manager - GE Capital
5. Customer Service and Installation Manager - GE Capital

Three habits
1. Make my bed everyday
2. I don't know if I would call it a habit but read the Word everyday
3. Slather on lotion everyday

Five places I've lived:
1. Goodyear, AZ
2. Tulsa, OK
3. Shawnee, Ok
4. Ottawa, KS
5. Napa, CA

5 people I would like to get to know better
1. wearemadetolove.wordpress.com
2. pinkribbonupdate.blogspot.com
3. pray4sarah.blogspot.com
4. laughwithsherry.blogspot.com
5. webbsiteupdate.blogspot.com

VACATION IDEAS

Looking to find out about your best vacation ever! Please share with me where that location was and any good travel tips you might have. You're the best!

HALL OF FAITH

I would love to be in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews with some of the great giants of the Word. To know that without faith it is impossible to please God is a powerful motivating factor.

The more I learn about the character of God, the more I fall in love with Him, the more I want to honor Him and the more I want to show reverence for Him by obedience in my life. God gives tests to try our faith. I look at the test I'm currently in as one that tries my faith to reflect that I believe that my God is "the" sovereign God who is Jehovah Shammah (God is Present), who is my Jehovah Jireh (My provider), who is my Yahweh Tsuri (The Lord is My Rock).

I know that with every test or fiery trial there is always a purpose! Comforting to recognize that you don't go through "pain" for no purpose. There is always a specific goal - to grow your faith, to grow your endurance and to have you become more Christlike in character.

I praise God that he is my loving God like it says in Psalm 144:1-2, 7-10

Praise be to the Lord my Rock,
who trains my hands for war
my fingers for battle.
He is my loving God and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer. . .
Reach down your hand from on high;
deliver me and rescue me
from the mighty waters,
from the hands of foreigners,
whose mouths are full of lies,
whose right hands are deceitful.
I will sing a new song to you, O God;
on the tenstringed lyre I will make music to you,
to the One who gives victory to kings,
who delivers his servant David from the deadly sword.

I have an awesome amazing God who doesn't fail to astound me with His mighty hand!

ZEPHANIAH 3:17 The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, he will rejoice over you with singing.

CHRISTIAN?

I'm afraid many people call themselves Christian and are deceived because they said the "prayer" thing when they were younger. I know in my own life I thought I was a Christian for years because of that "fact."

Fortunately, God sent a wise woman who challenged me to test my faith to see if I did in fact know Christ. She suggested reading 1 John. I remember praying and asking God to show me without a doubt whether I was or was not saved because I was tired of "feeling" saved sometimes and not "feeling" saved at other times.

As I started reading 1 John, it gave strong litmus tests showing me very specifically things that were not evidenced in my life. I didn't "love" other Christians, I didn't keep His commands, I wasn't eagerly awaiting His return, etc. Lightbulb moment - I knew then that I would have been one of those who would have cried out to Jesus, Lord, Lord and He would have said depart from me I never knew you.

I'm so grateful for God's grace and mercy in opening up my spiritual eyes to my deception and realizing I needed Him as my Savior and Lord! So no matter if you said the "prayer" thing way back when, ask yourself if there is some spiritual inventory that will be reflective of a "true" believer in Christ.

Do you enjoy fellowship with God and Christ? Are you sensitive to sin in your life? Do you obey the Scriptures? Do you reject this evil world? Do you love Christ and eagerly await His return? Do you see a decreasing pattern of sin in your life? Do you love other Christians? Do you receive answers to your prayers? Do you experience the ministry of the Holy Spirit? Can you discern between spiritual truth and error? Have you suffered on account of your faith in Christ?
If you pass those tests, you can have confidence before God. Test your faith to confirm your relationship with Christ.

DONATE LIFE

Are you a registered donor? If not, check out the website http://www.azdonorregistry.org/ to register and save a person's life. It's quick and simple - don't procrastinate!!! Do it today!!!!

AMAZING STORY

Please check out the story of Tricia and her battle with CF. She's possibly facing a double lung transplant today! I pray that if it's a "go" it will be smooth and successful for her. Please remember her, her family and the donor's family in your prayers today.

Her husband, Nate, has a beautiful blog http://www.cfhusband.blogspot.com/ detailing all they have faced within the past few months. Including the birth of a miraculous beautiful daughter, Gwyneth. She was born in January and arrived 15 weeks early weighing in at a little over 1 lb at birth! Beautiful real life story!!!!