The Weight of My Sin

Good Friday. Ordinarily I would be saying "Good! It's Friday!" but today I say-not so much! Today represents a victorious Friday!

It is good for me and you, yes, but what about Jesus?

I can't imagine carrying the weight of the sin of the entire world on my shoulders.  Often I have difficulty carrying the weight of MY sin.  But then I remember that I don't have to.

He did that for me a long time ago. 

So why would He?  Why did He?  There is only one reason.............

John 3:16  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

I want to share some lyrics of songs from Laura Story that has simply touched my heart lately from her song Grace:

At times I may grow weak
And feel a bit discouraged
Knowing that someone somewhere
Would do a better job


For who am I to serve You
I know I don't deserve You
But that's the part that burns in my heart
And keeps me hanging on


I ask You how many times will You pick me up
When I keep on letting You down
And each time I will fall short of Your glory


How far will forgiveness abound
And YOU answer, "My child I love you,
and as long as your seeking My face, you'll
walk in the power of My daily sufficient Grace."


As I walk with You I'm learning
What Your grace really means


The price that I could never pay
Was paid at Calvary


So instead of trying to repay you
I'm learning to simply obey You


By giving up my life to You
For all that You've given to me


I so do not live up to what I should and I am ashamed that I don't.  I am thankful that He chose me and loves me and that He died for me inspite of who I am and am not. 

I thank You Jesus.  I don't understand it and I can't repay you for it, but I do accept it.  I remember You this "Six Hours One Friday" so long ago. 

Satan's been defeated.................Jesus Is Alive!!!!!!

Signing.........

Okay, so I said I was an official "Follower of the Herd" but today my daughters spot on the Herd became officially official.  

Masquerade..........hopefully not

Senior proms..........fun stuff right?  Not always I'm afraid.  Often girls spend the day getting a hairstyle they don't really like, wearing more makeup than normal, wearing dresses that are uncomfortable and shoes that aren't the normal teen favorite-flip flops. 

Although these young teenage girls may look like a princess on the outside, for many they are completely miserable on the inside trying to walk around (or God forbid dance) in very high heels all while trying to keep everything covered that needs to remain covered (if you know what I mean.....and if you don't and you have a daughter you will understand when you attempt to find an age appropriate classy prom dress one day) 

But if that isn't enough they then put on smiles and have their pictures taken with people who aren't always very nice to them or that they don't necessarily enjoy being around.  It is suppose to be what great memories are made of..........Right? 

I imagine that many of you can think back to your own high school prom and remember that for yourself or someone you knew your anticipated special night wasn't quite what you had long hoped or dreamed it would be.

Just a masquerade..............

Well, as a mom, you want your child's prom to be filled with the stuff that great memories are made of.  Complete with a classy dress, a classy date, and a classy attitude. 

You want to trust that your children are going where they say they are going, doing what they say they are doing, and arriving home a few minutes before you expect them. 

You hope they laughed (the genuine kind) and smiled and enjoyed spending time with their friends........and coexisted with those they have little in common with.  You hope everyone in attendance is able to leave with smiles and return home safe and sound.

I am very fortunate to be able to say that my daughter had the time of her life last night. 

She had the (in my opinion.....it is okay to disagree) classy dress (check), she had a classy date who is one of her best guy pals (check), and she said it couldn't have been more perfect which = good memories (check) and I am so very thankful. 

I am very happy that my daughter and her date had a stress free and problem free night last night.  Complete with ribs they had at the prom (nope she didn't mess up her white dress) dancing and laughing, then laser tag to follow, and finally making home on time. 

JUST PERFECT! 

Everyone deserves that..........don't they?  I think yes.  I hope you agree that she looked absolutely beautiful.......


Brother and Sister

She and I

She and her dad

She and her date

and simply stated, my "Jewel" of a gal

 



 I thank you Lord for allowing her to have this much needed and much deserved night.........without a need or a desire for a mask. 

ilove

First let me share that my header, though simplistic, is a very special picture to me.  The heart is made from the hands of my daughter and nephew during their beach trip last year.  As I attempted to find a picture that best represented me, I kept coming back to it.  Then my SIL gave me pointers and voila……..It kind of got me to thinking…….

Love is obviously not an underused word in our society.  We love food, we love movies, we love clothing and sports and vehicles and gadgets and nature and on and on and on.

Did I mention flowers and pets and hairstyles and places and people and everything .........and also nothing?  We love that we love and sometimes we hate that we love.  It is both an over and under used word.

Me?  Well, I love that I AM a Love.  No, I am not saying that I am in love (but I am) and I am not saying that I am love (obviously only God IS LOVE) but, I am A Love.  And quite frankly, I LOVE that I am a Love.  I guess anyone who knows me would already know that though.  Have been married for nearly 19 years and still I tend to use or refer to myself as Love, because at my core I am.  My husband gets it and my kids get it so they aren’t upset or threatened by my overindulgence in my name.  The bottom line is……I was born a Love and a Love I will be always be.  But what does that even mean?

Hmmmm, L.O.V.E.........................It is more than just a name.  It is more than a word at the end of my family name……..more than a feeling……….  Love should be a verb….something that we show by our actions rather than something we say with our mouths.  God said, “I LOVE YOU” and He showed us His LOVE by sending His Son Jesus to the cross to die in our place.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

True love demands action………(John 15:13 New Living Translation) “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Would we, could we, or do we love as He commands.  Unfortunately, I would have to say that I don’t.  Oh, I want to…..and sometimes I am so “proud” when I feel I have been able to.  But I don’t Love, at least not always.  By the way, the call to Love doesn’t just include our friends and family.  Yes, I know, this one causes me to swallow hard too.  But He also says in Luke 6:27 (New Living Translation) “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you.”

Now I am really wondering if I should have ever brought this whole love thing up.  Well, not really, after all, I love….well….love!

I still want to LOVE my name (don't judge me okay) but I do want to live up to it too.  I want to love others as Christ loves me.  I don't want to simply SAY "I love you" I want to LIVE "I love you!"

My new goal with a modern flare

ilove

I Am A New Follower Of The Herd

I am very, very excited to confirm that I am officially the mother of an upcoming Women's College Basketball player.  My daughter learned that she will be receiving a scholarship to play for "The Herd" next fall.  More than anything, she is learning that anything is possible with hard work and determination.  We don't always get what we want in life but God is gracious to allow us to have all that we need and a lot of what we want and for that I am grateful. 

This hasn't been an easy road to say the least.  Playing on a college sports team is an amazing opportunity and achievement......whether it is with a small college or large university.  For someone who has overcome an injury as well as other hurdles it means even more. 

As a mother, we want to see our children happy.  We want them to have success in areas of their interests.  We want them to have goals and work hard to achieve them.  We realize that while they are growing up our kids’ dreams change almost as often as their clothes but we go along with it and smile and say, "Okay, honey that will be GREAT."  However, once they begin to voice the same goal, or dream, or hope on a regular basis we (as parents) do everything possible to ensure they have the resources available to them and instruction to help them with the skills they need to obtain their goal.  We understand their journey won't be easy and that they may stumble and fall; but we have to teach them that when they fall they have to stand back up, dust their "britches" off and keep on keeping on.  We cry when they hurt, we have pride when they succeed, and we continue to support them in good times and bad.  As moms, that is just what we do, right?

For me, I have truly understood my daughters love for basketball.  I, too, shared that love for the game.  I played myself and enjoyed a pretty successful career,  and my husband coached basketball so I feel that we had a pretty good understanding as to the skills she would need and have tried to provide her with the instruction.  She has worked really hard to learn the game and develop the skills and her ability has been promising. 

She was well on course to have a fantastic high school career……….all her hard work was paying off………until 7 games into her junior year.  She came down wrong on her knee and that was that.  I heard her scream out but still thought she would be fine.  She came out and wouldn’t reenter the game.  Afterwards a sports trainer and her uncle (a physical therapist) evaluated her and agreed that it appeared to be the unhappy triad tear (ACL, MCL, and Meniscus) and it was confirmed the following day by MRI.  She had also fractured the bone.  Surgery followed a week later and then she endured 8 long months of rehab.  She played volleyball and basketball this past year but has since entered physical therapy again due to having such a significant difference in muscle mass between her quads. 

In spite of the setbacks, heartbreaks, and disappointments, she still wants to play basketball.  Thankfully, the coach at the college she is attending feels that she has what it takes to play for his team.  There is nothing better than having a dream realized……….unless it is your child’s dream that is coming true.  I know her ability, I know her strengths, I know her knowledge, I know how hard she has worked, I know how bad she wanted this………………..and I am grateful that this coach values these qualities that I know she has.  Now it is up to her to continue to work hard and prove to him that she was indeed the right person for his team.

So, even though I typically don’t follow the crowd I am proud to say that I WILL BE A FOLLOWER OF THE HERD!!!!!!!!!!!

A Real Piece of Work I Suppose

Thank you sister in law or SIL!  I am getting there slowly but this whole issue of trying to make this page my vision and have it look good is a bit more than I have time to finish tonight.  I have a lot to learn but thank you for your assistance.
I have always been told that I am "a real piece of work" which may or may not be a good thing.  But for tonight I have decided that I am a "real piece of work in progress" so it may take me a while but I will get there. 
I have great news I want to share, and I will, but I don't have time to put my thoughts into words at this late hour.  So for now I will leave you with what I expect to be the title of my good news blog to come- "I'm A New Follower of the Herd."  Hope it will prove to be a worth the wait, it certainly has been for me! 


A very tired blogger................More to come-soon!
KLoveC

Little Act of Kindness Remembered

 My daughter and nephew have been after me to "BLOG" since I had them set this up for me so here goes.  First let me clear up one thing-I am not so fond of myself that I feel the need to have a poster (not completely poster size) size picture of myself on my blog.  Nope, not the case at all.....actually, my daughter can't yet figure out how to make it smaller so for now it remains. 

With that out of the way I think this first post will be short and sweet........very sweet.  Today, I was surrounded by members of my husbands extended family at a restaurant that is located about 90 minutes from our home.  There were a couple of people there that I didn't know and neither did my husband.  As we began to leave I noticed him talking to the two men and shortly thereafter the two men approached me.  The first gentleman (whom we learned was a relative of my husband) indicated that he knew my grandfather.....worked with him for years in fact. 

 My grandfather is in his 80's and though not in the best of health, he is not in the worst either. Anyway, this man shared that he had eaten at my grandparents home on several occasions and proceeded to share how much he thought of both of them. He said over and over what a great man my papaw is. 

The next gentleman indicated that he was actually from the area where my grandparents live and know them and my parents and other extended family members very well. Then he offered this, "I use to love it when your granddaddy was traveling home from work on day shift. He would always stop and pick me up and take me home. Other folks from the valley, who I won't name, would pass me by and keep on going." Then with tears in his eyes he added, "And I have NEVER forgotten it either."  I smiled with pride, as if I had been the one to pick him up, and said, "We never do forget do we?  We never forget people who have been good to us."  He ended by saying that the road that my grandparents lived on was a gravel road back then.  Okay, I am old enough (we will leave it at that) that I don't remember that road being gravel so it has been many, many, trust me-MANY years.  It meant the world to me for him to say that about my grandfather.  Is it earth shattering? No!  But I knew that my papaw's "Little Act of Kindness" meant a great deal to him even today. 

The lesson is very simple- You truly don't forget people that are good to you (or good to your kids) and whether you ever get to hear someone say thank you or not...........do the right thing!  Treat others as you would want to be treated, and maybe, just maybe, your story will be told to your granddaughter one day and she will be forever grateful for the man or women that YOU are!