Freaky Friday . . .

I know this is supposed to be 'Faithful Friday' . . .but this is mostly just to freak out a very special friend that has been a faithful reader of nothing for the last 7 months. . . .Here is to you LeAnn! I plan to be back in full force!!!

On a 'Faithful' note . . God has been answering prayers for me left and right, and it blows my mind how amazing His grace is! Looking forward to sharing . . .

XOXOXO

~sarea~

Faithful Friday

I have recently started reading several books by CS Lewis (Clive Staples Lewis that is) . . .I am reading "The Essential C.S. Lewis" and "The Great Divorce" (which incidently has NOTHING to do with divorce as we know it). I am enjoying it, as they are forcing me to use my mind which I feel has atrophied a little bit due to lack of use. . . (Let's just keep that little comment to ourselves)

Things have been crazy around here, what with everyone coming and going, but it is such a relief to know who really is in charge! I look forward to sharing more of what I read in the near future!

On a totally different note, here is the newest addition to the family. . .

Marbles

Isn't he adorable? He is a 6 week old blue heeler pup . . .Madison is ate up with him and the boys love how cute he is. If only I could create a drug to keep puppies . . .well, puppies! LOL I would be RICH!!

Here are a few of the pictures I took of an amazing sunset the other night . . .It was storming and it was beautiful!








We have a ball tournament for Garrett all day tomorrow and then a birthday party at the pool. The kids will be worn out! (Thank goodness!) LOL

Truthful Thursday . .

. . has come and gone, so I am not able to share what I planned this week! ;-)

So, that brings us to Faithful Friday!
The verses that have been coming to mind and giving me peace this week are:

II Corinthians 10:5B . . ."Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ"

and

Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind . . ."

This world (as well as other people) make it so difficult to keep your focus on what is " . . .his good, pleasing and perfect will." My life choices are mine, and I live with those (as do my children when those choices affect them). The only thing you can truly do for someone else is to pray for them and trust that God will take care of the rest!

HOWEVER . . .I must admit that a few of my pet peeves are:

• Those people that casually say "Oh, I will pray for you." and don't follow through (I am guilty of this on more than one occasion unfortunately, but have resolved NOT to allow this to happen anymore, Lord willing.)

• Those people that say "I am praying for you" but include the tone and voice inflection that REALLY says "This is NOT the right thing in my opinion for you to do, so I am going to manipulate you by saying this and making you feel like there is NO possible way for you to call yourself a Christian and follow through with this choice!"

The most effective way to allow someone to make good choices is to actually pray for them (and not necessarily tell them that is what you are doing) and say "I support you even if I don't always agree with you, and I am here if you need anything" To emulate God's unconditional love is one of the most difficult things to do, but so necessary to allowing others to see what our God is capable of!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!