Many Christians have expressed hatred toward Westboro Baptist Church in recent times. Here are my thoughts on the matter:

Westboro Baptist Church is simply stuck in the Old Testament, more specifically in Leviticus. Before Jesus Christ came to pay for our sin (as written in the *New* Testament), there was all the happenings in the Old Testament, where God was not just punishing men for their sins, but was also punishing entire nations for the sin in their lands. He brought on all kinds of plagues and illness. Jesus came, and took the punishment for us. However, we are still living in a world that is not perfect. Disease and terrible things still happen, but the reason God sent His own Son to die was so that He could rise again, so that we may share in His resurrection! If we believe, we are His sons and daughters too and will share in His death, but also in His LIFE.

This is what it's all about, friends! The only thing God hates is death. He was willing to go through it to deliver us from it eternally.

HE IS CRAZY ABOUT YOU!

HE WANTS YOU!

EVEN THE PICKETERS AT THE FUNERALS HE LOVES!

Instead of showing hatred toward them, why not show them the LOVE of Christ and pray that God would move their hearts from hatred to love?

Church:

John 3:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Matthew 22:34-40 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Dear Church:

When we get to Heaven, what will we see?

Will there be one section for Lutherans, another for Baptists, another for Catholics, and yet another for every other denomination? Will there be some people worshipping in their own section because they were on one side of a debate within the faith about ______? While the others from the opposite side of the debate are in a different section?

What is worth debating? It is good to debate for the sake of Christ.

But PLEASE be very careful!

In the setting of a "debate" you are already known to be on two different sides of the discussion. Both parties are very knowledgeable of what they've chosen to believe and why they believe it. Both parties have great and believable reasons behind their beliefs.

Do not be disrespectful of the time and energy these individuals have put in to shape their beliefs. Everyone is searching for what it is that is truth. Many have been deceived. But the thing about deception is to be deceived means you BELIEVE a lie. One or both parties of a debate are deceived. Both think they are not the ones deceived. This by itself causes friction. If you are both believers, it is then causing friction within the body of Christ. If you are both legs and one tries to go one way and the other goes the other, what good is that? If you're not building up the body and seeking TRUTH together, what good is the conversation?

Instead of becoming full of pride and needing to be right, we need to humble ourselves and ask God for His truth to be made known. If we seek truth wholeheartedly, we will find truth. If you are not seeking truth but just to be right and to have enough "information" to be right, deceit will follow you. You may convince many that you are right, but in the end, the light of Truth will shine down like a spotlight on your deceitful ways.

I believe my Bible in context. I do my best to study my Bible in context. Looking up the direct translation of the Greek words in my Bible make for great studies and expand upon what the verses say and mean. I trust the scholars that had the tedious job of translating the original manuscripts into our languages so that we could have the Word of God. I read His Word in my own language and when I seek more understanding, I look up the Greek.

Do not expect people to know the Greek meanings in every scripture of the Bible! If you do have understanding from doing such studies, please SHARE what you've learned. Do not belittle people (especially other believers) if you believe they do not have as much knowledge on a certain topic.

If you disagree about a Scripture, duke it out with Christ, not each other. Seek truth on your own. Going back and forth over these things does not build up the body, but tears it apart.

If we ever want to find unity in the Body of Christ, we must let go of our pride and realize that:

"...the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." -1 Corinthians 1:25

tonight.

Bekah put a piece of bread in her mouth,

took it out,

put it on her fork,

took it off the fork,

put it back in her mouth,

back on the fork,

back in her mouth,

back on the fork,

THEN finally pulled the fork to her mouth, bit the bread and got SO excited, she didn't even notice it fall out of her mouth!

She then proceeded to pretend to eat off her empty fork and did a little happy dance:

fork proudly in the air, both arms flailing wildly, big cheese grin and scrunched nose..

These are the moments I live for!

On the menu tonight: Mac n' cheese, sweet peas, and buttered bread :)

Prior to this eventful dinner, we played outside for awhile and I engulfed her in sunscreen. Her head was part of this, so her hair became a gooey mess :) After swimming and romping around in the grass and a snack, I put her down for her nap. You can imagine what her hair looked like after her 90-minute nap.. in case you can't, I shall add pictures to this post tonight. I only wish I had the camera rolling for her fork dance, but pictures of the peas n cheese covered face with the wild-woman hair will have to do! ...stay tuned!

I am blessed because my hubby is the BEST!

For MOTHER'S day, he took me to make an appointment to get THIS (which I had done today!)

Also today, I found out he is buying me a 2002 JEEP Grand Cherokee!! It will be my first car in my name :) PLUS I will be an SUV mom! :) yessss!

THEN He let me get a spa pedicure and I got the prettiest shoes in the whole wide world :)

ahhh. Good day.

Spring.

A time for new things. A refreshing season of rain as temperatures begin to rise bringing forth a beautiful relief after such a long, cold winter. The grass is green, flowers are growing, and buds are covering our bare trees. Birds are nesting and singing praises everyday. A time to remember and celebrate the resurrection of Christ and be filled with the truth and hope of His glorious return.

.I. .L o v e. .SPRING.

As this is my very first post in almost a year now, I'm sure you all know I am not 17 months pregnant (praise GOD) but I have a beautiful 8 month old little lady that I am blessed to spend every single day with!

Isn't she the sweetest?? :)

Props to Anji (Auntji) for the CUTIE flower headband!

^link to her awesome Etsy shop! :)

That's her with her adoring Grandpa B :)

more pics to come..

I went off on a limb this year for Easter and decided to cook Easter dinner for the Brooks side of the fam. Of course all day the day before I decided to go on a spring cleaning spree while Brian was working, and forgot to make the chicken! SO, after Brian got home and helped me finish cleaning, we started to prep the chicken. At 1:30 in the morning.. we finished and had everything cleaned up around 3AM and decided to just stay up since we were afraid we wouldn't wake up at 6 to make it to our church that is 45 minutes away by 8.

sidenote:(Brian was in the drama this year which was AWESOME! Great job, honey! Brought me..and many others to tears. It was very powerful and God was glorified in our lives. Also, awesome job CJ Breedlove, whom authored and directed the drama in submission to the Holy Spirit! It was truly Awesome.)

back to the early morning of Easter:

So while Brian went upstairs to pick out a movie, I decided to give our foster-cat some water.. and spilled an entire pitcher of water all over her food dish, the trash can, and the floor. I fell asleep during the movie and got a couple hours of sleep, but Brian stayed up all night. The next day, I am convinced that we had a divine energy from the Lord.. a second wind of sorts until we got to my mom's house to crash. We had lunch there (SO good! Thanks mom and Shelly!!) and visited with family before heading back home to the gathering of family there.

The chicken, and potato dish that I left for my wonderful mother-in-law to tackle, turned out so incredibly good! (phew!) It was a recipe I picked up from the kitchen in Minnesota at Bethany College of Missions.. I volunteered there as a requirement for my internship with the Honor Academy which shared the same campus for the year. We served this dish on special occasions and weddings ONLY, so it seemed fitting for Easter :)

Here are the recipes! These potatoes MUST be served alongside the chicken, or it is NOT the same whatsoever!! And, both should be served piping HOT! :) Enjoy!

What are some of your favourite family recipes or traditions for Easter?

Lost and Found

So... It has been awhile, eh?

Sorry about that.

Quick update, Lost and Found style:

-Lost: my innie belly button
-Found: An extreme appetite for bacon, fruit, cheeseburgers, and lemonade.

-Lost: Jiffy Mix
-Found: a recipe for blueberry muffins using bisquick :)
http://www.allrecipes.com search for bisquick blueberry muffins!

-Lost: Lots and lots of Brain cells due to what they call "Placenta Brain"
-Found: an old MasterMind game at a garage sale, which makes me feel smart again when I stump my hubby :)


That's all for now.. I want to get these muffins in the oven before my nephews wake up! :) Playing Auntie DayCare today. woohoo!

Man do I struggle with yearning and longing for Him lately! I don't quite understand how this happens, but it DOES. I have prayed in the past, and this was also prayed over me when I was baptized, that outside of His presence I would be miserable.
Praise the Lord because it is SO true. When I do not purposefully enter into time with Him, and have constant communion with Him throughout the day, I am a MESS. The "funny" thing is, when this is happening, I never seem to realize it as being the reason I'm feeling so down!
Take yesterday for example:
I got up kind of late, took Brian his lunch, drove around aimlessly for awhile (with hopes of finding some random ice cream shop along the way--which I did, but it was :( clooosed!) Then I just came home feeling very down as I hadn't even showered yet, it was raining and I just plain didn't have any drive in me to do anything. So.. I sat on my butt and surfed the web for awhile. A long while. Bored and sad, I started to think maybe my hormones were to blame for my sluggishness and not caring about anything type of mood. I was miserable. DUH. Helloo?!? Anybody home? Of course you're miserable- you ASKED to be miserable outside of Him.. duurrrr da duurrrr!
At this point I realized it was 5:15, and my lovely sister in law was coming over between 5:30-5:45 for a haircut. SO I hurried and got a shower, and cut her hair. She paid me with a new toaster since mine got infested with ants and I threw it away earlier this week. :) Then I made some dinner for me and the hubbsy. The rest of the evening I made it a point to immerse myself in prayer as we went about our evening. WHAT a difference. Sheesh. If you are going to pray this prayer of being miserable outside of his presence.. mean what you say, and realize when you are miserable that this is most likely the reason why! It is meant to help keep your eyes focused on Him and to find joy in Him before anything else. I tried cheering myself up with the fact that there's a beautiful baby growing inside of me-- but without the joy of the Lord's presence, even the miracle of this little baby was not enough to be my joy. Granted, it made me smile, but that deep inner joy was not even stirred. The things you have to be thankful for- would not be there without Him. Plain and simple "ALL good things come from God." The joy that comes with them is included in that ;)

TODAY.. I woke up and made some muffins and lunch for my dear, sent him on his way, made some tea for me and baby snuggled up on the couch and spent some REAL time with the Lord. Ahhh.. what a difference! I would be so depressed without him in my daily life!
So..
I turned on some "Shane and Shane" on Pandora, and the song Yearn came on. I'll put it on the music player so you can hear it :)
The lyrics and scripture references that I found on shanebweb.com are here, as well.
PS- I promise I'll upload the pics.. It is on my list of things to do-- that list is large today since I was such a bummm yesterday! Sorry :P

yearn

by shane barnard

holy design
this place in time
that i might seek and find my God
my God

Lord i want to yearn for You
i want to burn with passion
over You and only You
Lord i want to yearn

Your joy is mine
yet why am i fine
with all my singing and bringing grain
in light of Him

oh You give life and breath
through Him You give all things
in Him we live and move
that's why i sing

This next passage is spoken through Paul in Athens while describing the one true God to the Athenians and some foreigners, as they had been serving what they called "an unknown God" as inscribed in the altar they had created; Acts 17:25-28:

"And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'"

Hebrews 12:28-29:
"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe for our "God is a consuming fire.""
(vs. 29 is also referenced in Deuteronomy 4:24)