Unknown So Far

I am warning you this is the longest blog I've written and probably my most passionate one. This is also one I have debated writing. I've debated writing it for a few reasons. My first reasoning is I don't have enough information to complete it. The story isn't finished yet, because it hasn't begun yet. I know it makes no sense whatsoever, but God doesn't always make sense right away. I'm gonna go back to when I was a kid with this one, and you'll see why.
One morning I was at my grandmothers house. We had slept over, it was a family affair, my cousins were there, my aunts and uncles, my brothers and sisters and parents. I remember we were all preparing breakfast. I remember I LOVED helping cook. It was so much fun, even more so I loved preparing the plates. Making them look pretty, setting them up beautifully. I felt like an artist. I was telling my aunt how much I loved doing this, as I made a plate of sliced peaches look pretty, and she said, "why don't you be a chef. Go into Culinary Arts." WOW....What a great idea. From then on, I knew what I was gonna be when I grew up.
My sophomore year of high school, we got a notice in the mail for Vocational School. A fairly new program was developed called the 2+2 program. It was only available for a few types of programs, one of them being Culinary Arts. The program is where you go to Culinary School through the vocational district for 2 years, your junior and senior year of high school, and your credits role over to Brookdale Community College. The credits you earn in high school are also college credits so you finish college in 2 years. It was a GREAT opportunity so I signed up. At the time I was 14, and I worked at a local bakery as a counter girl. I began Culinary School the following fall. I loved my teachers I love the students, I loved the fact that 1/2 the school year was spent in a kitchen at the Sheraton and the other half was at the school. I also quit my job at the bakery and began working as a waitress at Pizza Hut.
When I graduated high school, I continued my schooling at Brookdale to complete the program, I also got a promotion to shift manager at Pizza Hut. In this time frame I also was becoming a Christian. After I graduated college I decided that I preferred the business end of the restaurant business. I was grateful to have gotten the experience I did as a cook, and learn everything I learned, but I preferred the pressures of being a Manager. So I went into restaurant Management. I was also falling in love with God and coffee. My good friend, Sam and I were into bible studies and we often ( I mean every night) went out to eat. I always felt strange going to Applebee's to do a bible study and realizing there's no place to go other than church, where people won't look at you weird. I remember telling her one day, I wanna open a coffeehouse. I remember being 19, and saying I would love to have a Christian Coffeehouse, where the food is sooo good and cheap, where there's a place to hold bible studies, where each night could be themed differently and bands could come in a play, and oh how good it would be.
I worked my butt off in Pizza Hut, and by the time I was 22 I was a general manager. That's right, I ran my own restaurant. I was learning EVERYTHING from laws to board of health, to taxes, to dealing with people, to budgeting and making numbers. Every possible aspect of running your own business I was learning. I was taking it all in and loving EVERY SECOND OF IT. Here I am, 22 years old and really I can't go much higher, I am 3 levels below being an owner, at 22 years old. Phil and I had begun dating. In the midst of our dating I was still an on again off again Christian. I still believed, and still dreamt but I wasn't 100% ready to give up my old life. Phil was saying to me one day, how he didn't think I really had any friends. I agreed, and he said "why don't you be friends with Amy. Amy's so awesome." Amy is the assistant Pastor at our church. YEAH RIGHT PHIL, I'm thinking I WILL NEVER BE FRIENDS WITH A PASTOR. you see my view on Pastor's is this: They live and work and breathe church, and pray all day, and blah blah blah, (SO WRONG I MIGHT ADD PASTORS ARE PEOPLE TOO :))But instead I say " Yeah that sounds nice." Now at our church there is also a group forming, they are called The Door. I still don't even really know what it is cause I never went, I never had any desire to go.
I was telling him one day about the coffeehouse idea. He said "Cool, but that's kind of like what The Door is." Of course, keep in mind, I NEVER REALLY THOUGHT IT WOULD EVER HAPPEN. This coffeehouse thing was just a silly little hope, not a career path.
Well, Phil and I got engaged and were scheduled to be married September 29, 2007. In July I am relizing my job is getting HARDER AND HARDER AND HARDER. I was losing people left and right, my boss was really coming down on me, my wedding dress wasn't in yet, my car was getting towed to the tune of $400, I was having trouble getting days off, I mean I almost couldn't get off for my bridal shower. But, after all, this is the restaurant business. This is the career I chose. But I decided that I think it was time to start looking for another career path. I prayed and prayed and prayed to God what should I do. What should I do.
August rolls around, our friend Billy gets promoted at Ruby Tuesday's, and tells me he could get me a serving job if I was interested, my assistant manager just quit on me and I went to church and I prayed. I felt like if I stayed there, I was never gonna be able to build a family. I felt like I would never have the time to and to be honest, all signs point to quit. God tells me to quit. So I quit. I quit without a job lined up, I hadn't officially applied anywhere, we were getting married in one week and we were living off of the hope that we get a lot of money from our wedding. But I truly felt like God was calling me to apply at Ruby Tuesdays, and be a mother. I wanted kids so badly, and waitressing was the EASIEST job for a mother to have.
Phil and I got married and decided to try for a baby. We tried for a couple of months and I felt like I needed to be a manager for this Company. I thought we need benefits, more money, blah blah blah. I applied, went through the interview process, and made it to the second interview, but I will tell you, this process took close to a month. I applied in the beginning of December. It is now beginning of January, and I'm not making any progress here, things aren't falling into place, the interviewing manager is away on vacation, and we are having scheduling difficulties. I am talking obstacle after obstacle. On January 5, 2008, I find out I'm pregnant. I'm not having such a great feeling about being a manager either. I was ready to bail and tell them I was no longer interested, but they tell me I didn't get the job instead. WEIRD!!! But I am sooo relieved.
Anyway, So I am pregnant and I start going to hang out at Amy's house, on Thursday nights. It's a group of people from the church that get together for dinner, fun and games. I FALL IN LOVE WITH IT!!!!! I fall in love with the people, I fall in love with the time, I fall in love with the fellowship, I fall in love with Amy. (Yes Amy, the Pastor that I was so weird about before hahaha!!!) And Can I thank Phil for begging me to go every week, because my CLOSEST AND BESTEST FRIENDS are these people that meet at Amy's every week :)
After I have my son, PJ, I feel the need to find another job...AGAIN. I start looking. I mean I am making NO MONEY, benefits aren't good, times are tough. I search and get about three jobs, all of which didn't work out. After my last job at a very well known restaurant, I call Phil telling him how much I hate it. I remember saying these words exactly " I WISH I COULD JUST GO AND WORK FOR JESUS!!!!" In my naive mind, the only 'work for Jesus' jobs out there are Pastors and I don't wanna go back to school. Sorry God, but No. haahaa. About a month later, I went to a convention with my Greatest friend, Wendy. I'm not gonna lie. I DID NOT wanna go. I was debating calling her up top cancel, but I felt guilty. I went. Wendy and I walked in and there is a bunch of tables set up of....Missionaries. My first thought is OH NO, I DO NOT WANT TO LISTEN TO MISSIONARIES. God, I am not gonna be a missionary, I have no interest in missionary work, Why am I here?
We walk in, the worship team plays, now mind you, Worship is my favorite part of God. I love praising and worshipping. I hated this worship team. I am thinking "God, I am not getting anything from this worship team." (Notice how negative I am being from the start?) OK So there are about 10 missionary couples on the stage. All giving there stories. The last couple, about my age gets up. They are missionaries on there way to Uruguay. They are the youngest missionaries in the world. They tell there story, about how she never thought she would marry a pastors kid and She never thought she would be a missionary. There story was opening my eyes. "Cool," I'm thinking, " I'll be a missionary" So here I am ready to sign up for missions work. Than this lady gets up on stage. She gets up there with her Head bobbing back and Forth, and pointing her finger at the audience. "LISTEN," she says. " These men and women are up here giving their LIVES to the works of God, they live in grass Huts with dirt floors, they leave their friends and their families behind them to go bring other people closer to God, and all you do is complain. You complain about your jobs, you complain about not being able to buy the things you want. There are people in this world losing there jobs every day...." And she goes on and on and on. Another lady is speaking, and her speech thingy is discussing finding you spot in your church. Wether it be in nursery or in ministry or whatever, but she is discussing finding your place in your church. WOWOWOWOW!!!!!!! I truly felt like God smacked me in the face, because He has to do that to me every once in a while. I hear God speak to me and He tells me I am gonna be fine, I got the most calming message that day. He told me to stop looking for another job and to stay where I'm at at Ruby Tuesday doing what I do, and that He will take care of me and my family.
Even weirder, is the same weekend, Phil is away at a youth convention. He tells me when he gets home how some guy from the band (or something), sits down to talk to him about ME and OUR FAMILY and basically is telling him things are gonna be FINE. WEIRD and here goes even more WEIRDER Than that! Amy prays with PHIL for ME!!!! She said she didn't know why, but God was putting me on her heart to pray for (Of course I'm paraphrasing cause I wasn't there :) )!
A few months later we are at Amy's house all sitting around the table. And I forget how it started, but I begin telling everyone about my coffeehouse I wanna open. I tell them, my whole idea, and Amy looks at me and says " you know Heather, I have a dream. Ask Stephen, I have a dream" I tell her I have a dream too, and we end with, we'll have to talk about it. Over the next few weeks, Amy tells me about her idea for a cafe! SAME STINKIN IDEA!!! Same thing, God placed this amazing idea in both of our heads. But, she hits me with a whammy. "Heather, I want you to run my kitchen." My thought is NOOOOOOO I don't want to run a kitchen, I want to OWN a coffeehouse. I've already ran a kitchen. So I pray about it, and pray about it, and pray about it. You know what, I want to work for God. I want to run a cafe or coffeehouse or whatever FOR GOD!!!! Not for myself or Amy or anyone else, I told Phil I wanted to work FOR JESUS! If I don't agree to this, I am walking away from my chance to work for God. So, I decided I want to be a part of this. So now, weeks have gone by and we are still in the works of this whole cafe thing, but we are in the most important stage of it. The PRAYER stage. We are still praying about it. So I do really believe that this is what I am supposed to do with my life, I feel the same way Amy does. I feel that this is part of God's master plan.
I name this blog Unknown so far, because I don't really yet know how it's gonna end, because it hasn't really started so after giving out my part of what could be or is about to be a life and God changing situation I ask for everyone who reads this to pray about it!

The Four Men in My Life

I have four loves of my life. Yes, FOUR. These Four men have impacted my life sooo immensely, I can't even describe it. These four men, God, my father, Phil (my husband), and PJ (my son). I have listed these men in the order of their importance and relevence in my life. I feel the need to explain why:
My God:
My God is the numero uno in my life. This should be so self expainitory but somehow I feel it needs to be explained. God saved my life, saved me from myself, saved me for eternity. He is the reason I have all that I have and to Him I give the glory.
My Father:
My dad has set a precedence for what I want with my life. Everything I have ever done I have always thought of my father. If it was wrong, I thought of how disappointed he would be, if it was right I thought of hwo proud. When I played softball in school, My dad was the one I looked forward to watching my games, When I graduated high school, my dad was who I was most excited to see there, When I got married, I was soo excited to get my father's blessing. My father showed me how a wife should be treated, and without my father's blessing my marriage would not be so good.
My Husband:
I love my husband with all my heart. He is my rock, my better half, literally, and all that I am. My husband could not have come to me at a better time in my life, and always pushes to make me a better person. I know how strange it might be to some to see why my husband is listed before my kid, but without my husband, my son would not be. Phil, is the love of my life, my best friend, my 'favorite husband' hehehehe.
My Son:
My son is a piece of me. He is the reason I wake up in the morning (literally). My son was a true gift, a true blessing from God. Everyday I look at him and can't explain the feeling I get. He is the most amazing creature, I've ever seen. He is my Joy.
And that's just a little tidbit on me :)

"Soul Food"

Last night I went to my friend Amy's house to gather together with my friends. This is the typical Thursday night thing that we do, someone different cooks, we play games and just have a great time. Last night was a little bit different, we didn't just gather for food and games, we gathered for Soul Food (as Sasha would call it). The Lord had a different agenda last night for us. We prayed laughed and had some great holy conversation. You need that every once in a while and I think all of us were over due for that type of gathering. It was amazing and truly blessing :)

Don't Hate

When I was in third grade I met someone that would be my absolute BEST FRIEND IN THE WORLD EVER. She was literally my rock, my world. I loved her like my sister. We were inseperable until College. I would like to set the tone for the type of person I was BEFORE I became a Christian, before she and I were no longer friends. I was not a nice person. I treated people terribly. I would not like someone because of the color of their hair or because they weren't on my 'list.' I thought the world revolved around me, and in my group of friends, I wanted things to go MY way and that was it. I was disrespectful, made fun of people daily, and in a split second could turn on you just cause I didn't like you. My friend put up with this our ENTIRE friendship. She really just let me walk all over her. Until one day she just stopped talking to me. She didn't call me anymore. She didn't come over. She didn't answer my phone calls. She got a boyfriend, moved into an apartment with another friend, and literally cut me off. Can you blame her. Imagine having a friend like me. I was there for you when I wanted to be, I helped you only if I thought it was a good idea. I got mad at you because you didn't do what I wanted. I was a selfish friend. I wasn't a good friend. I wasn't a good person.
College was probably the worst two years of my life. I was depressed. My best friend didn't talk to me any more, my other best friend moved half way across the country, my grandmother and my great grandmother died. WOW. Talk about being alone. Thankfully God put s few people in my life that really helped me through it. I became a Christian. One day I woke up and I realized WHY She didn't want my friendship any more. Can I tell you how that was the BEST THING ANYONE HAS EVER DONE FOR ME.
It was a huge wake up call and I decided I needed to change myself before I can be the friend God intended me to be, the person God wants me to be, the person God MADE ME TO BE. I decided that hating people is not the way to go. EVERYONE in this world has trials, problems, bad days, and horrible situations that they go through. Why should I make their life any more difficult. Show them love. Show them niceness and kindness. God made me that way. God wants us to be nice and kind to people. I want to represent the God I serve with the utmost respect. I want to treat people the way Jesus would treat them. I want to love all people equally.
Second. Think about the prson you dislike the most in your life. Think about your enemy, someone you absolutely CAN NOT stand. Im gonna ask you this. How much energy do you WASTE EVERYDAY thinking about that person. How much time do you put into your reasonings for disliking them? It takes more energy to hatre or dislike someone thatn it's even worth. Trust me, I've lived it. I've hated people for no reason and I've hated people for such "good reasons" for things they did to me said to me, etc. Think about how you could channel that energy of hate into something else, a hobby a craft, a jog, a walk, spending time with your kids, helping your friends, or family, shopping , planning a vacation. Whatever you want to do. Take that Hatred and Use it to your advantage.
Last week, I sat in church, and Pastor preached this message that totally hit home for me. It was from the book of Ephessians and while, I dont remember the exact message or versus, I do remember thinking how true it was. I know it is sooo hard to love your enemy and love one another. But I can promise you your life will be so much more rewarding if you do this.
I am also gonna say how rewarding it is for me when I hear people tell me that I am the nicest, kindest person they ever met. I love hearing them tell me how I represent Christianity wonderfully, and I love thinking that God is SO proud of me for this.
I know this isn't easy to do, and I'm not saying that you are gonna be able to do this overnight. I am sure that there are people out there that just treat you so badly and maybe do make it easy for you to not like them, but why not just ignore them. Why add fuel to the fire, let them be, let them have their bad day or whatever they are going through. Kill them with Kindness. This might not be life changing for them and they still may give you the dirtiest looks and the worst snickers, but hey at least you are being the bigger person. And there may be ONE person out there that needs you to be nice to them. One person that NEEDS you to ignore them or stop talking to them because they aren't nice. God knows, I needed my best friend to stop talking to me, to ignore me. I needed her to do that for me. And Thank God she did!

"The Fear of Foolishness"

I decided to quote this from my NEW FAVE BOOK :) In a Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day, by Mark Batterson. No particular reason why, I just feel it is quote worthy.

"...If you aren't willing to look foolish, you're foolish. In fact, faith is the willingness to look foolish.
"Noah looked foolish building an arc in the desert. Sarah looked foolish buying maternity clothes at ninety. The Israelites looked foolish marching around Jericho blowing trumpets. David looked foolish attacking Goliath with a slingshot. Benaiah looked foolish chasing a lion. The wise men looked foolish following yonder star. Peter looked foolish stepping out of the boat in the middle of the lake. And JESUS ( I add my own caps because its sooo important) LOOKED FOOLISH HANGING HALF-NAKED ON THE CROSS.
" But thats the essence of faith. And the results speak for themselves. Noah was saved from the flood, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. The walls of JEricho came tumbling down. David defeated Goliath. Benaiah killed the Lion. The wise men found the Messaih. Peter walked on water. And Jesus rose from the dead."

God really made this part stand out to me. It is so quote worthy, so profound. It really is soo true. God put the most random situations on the most important people in biblical history. None of them were afraid to look foolish, and all of them were truly blessed by God!
On a more personal and relevent to my life side note. I began writing this blog and was sooo scared to do it!! I was afraid of what people would think of what I wrote, how people may react, and embarrassed about laying it all out there. Can I tell you so far, God has used this to touch sooo many people! I hada fear of looking foolish too and I put that fear aside and followed what God said to do. And I couldn't be happier that He used me to help soooo many people :)
Let's make Godly history. Let's undo the fear of looking foolish!

The Power of Prayer!

Now, I have this friend named Allison (I told you, she will pop up a lot in my blog!) There is a little something I have learned from her: SHE PRAYERS FOR ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING! I have so many times been with her when people will tell her of unfortunate situations they or someone they know is going through. Her response is alway, "Well, lets pray about it!" I know you can and should pray for whatever your hearts or God's desire is, but she really puts prayer into a class all its own. For example, she needed body wash and shampoo, her prayer consisted of (Lord, bring me shampoo and bodywash, thank you) She wanted new make-up "God, bring me make up, thank you." A friend of ours is scared to take risks, she urged me to pray on her "Just Roll With it" These prayers are SO extremely simple. They remind me that you DO NOT NEED to write out a story for the sake of prayer. Nothing is ever gonna be TOO big for God to handle, or TOO small for Him to not care about. All God wants you to do is put it in His hands.
I think that people misunderstand the meaning and the purpose behind praying . I know I have sometimes been ashamed of praying silly little prayers. For example, I would NEVER have prayed for God to send make-up to me, or to bring me bodywash and shampoo. I would've dealt with it or scrounged up change or borrowed money from my mom and dad. I would have felt so silly praying for something that ...easy. I think that Christians and especially non-Christians, think prayer time needs to be saved for when there is a major problem, death, sickness, rough times, etc. But I feel like God did not intend for prayer to be reserved for when times are tough. He wants you to bring EVERYTHING to Him. When people pray, they mostly pray for the serious, I say let's start a PRAYER REVOLUTION!!! Let's start praying for something so little you wouldn't even think about praying for it! I'm gonna make my prayer list out right now! Everything I hope that God will bring and do with my life! And I'm gonna pray for it. I can't promise that He will answer every or even any of these prayers, but I say what's the harm in trying!? PRAYER REVOLUTION HERE I COME!!!!!

OK GUYS CHECK THE BLOGS I FOLLOW SECTION!

I decided to add a new section to this!! Please look at the blogs I follow on the right! CHeck out the blogs I follow, they are VERY INTERESTING. But take special not of my friends have great stories too!! That's a blog I started that includes my friends stories!! All of my friends have stories that are worth telling and I (and them) are sharing them with you!!! please read, Comment, follow and pass on!! It's totally worth it, I promisE!!!

My Car broke Down :(

I don't really know what relevance this has to anything, but I figured I'd blog it anyway. I'm mad cause my car broke down. I don't know how its gonna get fixed or where the money is gonna come from, but I am car less. It really stinks :(

Fear

I am a Very fearful person. I fear soo many things, flying, speaking in public, Zombies (yes I know, you dont' need to say a word), death, God , Satan, making someone mad, being rejected by friends, taking risks, not being a ble to pay my bills, having more kids, and the list goes on and on and on. I really am so scared to put my life in the hands of the Lord. After all, I can not physically see Him, I can not physically touch Him. I can not physically hear Him. I have a trust issue with this. I am a very independent person, surrendering myself to God, someone I can not see, hear or feel, is so hard. I sometimes doubt Him. I am afraid to stand up in from of a group of people and give a testimony of why I am being baptised, do you know that's why I've never done it. I've missed out on an ENDLESS amount of vacations and trips because I am afraid to fly. I was soooo scared on my wedding day to speak in front of people, that I did not even recite my own Vows to my husband, I only said I DO, and repeated from a book. I was sooo afraid to die or get sick when I was pregnant, I almost wished I wasn't pregnant. I almost didn't post this blog because I FEARED that mentionin someone's name or telling a story would make someone mad. I have a debate in my head EVERY DAY about having more kids, and how I don't know if I should or not (I really want five but am SOOO scared to have two). I lost so many good good friends over the years, that whenever anyone got tooo close I pushed them away because I felt they may just leave me first. I am a FEARFUL FEARFUL person. I choose not to live my LIFE in fear anymore. Fearing the world, fearing situations, fearing circumstances, fearing God and fearing yourself can not help anyone. Live your life FEARLESSLY!!! Take on what God gives to you, and JUST ROLL WITH IT!!!!

The beginning of this blog!

I thought it be appropriate to tell the story of how this blog began.
It literally hit me like a bag of sand while I was sitting on my parents driveway about three weeks ago. Literally hit me. God kept saying write a book write a book write a book.

Hold on, Let me start over. A Really long while ago my friend Amy (hope you don't mind I used your name) gave me a book called "In a Pit with a Lion on A Snowy DAy," by MArk Batterson. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK. It has changed how I live my life. It has changed How I view my life. Even Non Christians that read this book, love it. This book is about overcoming your personal fears, taking risks, and living your life according to how God plans for you to live it. I am currently living my life by taking risks, I am putting my life in Gods hands, and I want to seize every single God opportunity that comes my way. Well, while Im reading this book, I am constantly reminded of how God has used my life, and the situations in my life. Since I became a Christian, I have always loved the stories God put into my life. I even loved the stories of how God used other peoples lives. Honestly, sometimes I got jealous of their God stories cause some of them were better than mine, hahahaha. So I reaolly have been searching for God's plan for my life. One day I'm reading this book, and it was at the Chapter where he talks about how God uses one person's pain for another person's gain. Now I full force belive this to be 100% true. I am an absolute believer that everyone in this world serves a Godly purpose, it's all about if you choose to follow it. While I'm reading the part of his story, and how he got saved, I realized I love love love love these types of stories. They get me excited. The type of excited like you wanna hop around excited. I realized I look at soooo many people, my friends and my family's and my co-workers, and because I am an over-analyzer I try to piece together why things happen, both good and bad, to certain people. Than I find that thread and "BOOM," theres a God story.
Ok so, while I'm reading this chapter, a little idea pops in my head. Write a book. It keeps coming to me, write a book. The more I read the more I hear write a book. I still remember, sitting in front of my parents camper. And Im being told to write a book. But of Course, I don't just listen to God. I like to take care of things myself. I need to be 100% sure that this is from God, the idea of writing a book of these silly little stories in my life is absolutely ludicrous. After all, I've never been through anything that serious that needs to be told (this si my thought process) So basically I'm telling God that He is crazy! I'M TELLING GOD HE IS CRAZY!!! I go to church the next day, and I'm talking to my friend Amy. I'm telling Amy how I feel like I need to write a book about little stories, blah blah blah. Her exact words and I quote " So do it, you may have gone through something that could help someone."
Cool, I am now 50% sure that I need to do this. A few days later, I am telling my firends, Sasha and Allison, how I need to write a book. They both tell me to do it. Thanks God, Im 95% sure I need to do this. I'm debating now though. Do I wanna write a book, or start a blog. Because in the midst of this debate with myself, I think of blogging. To be honest, I know nothing about blogging. This is new to me, my first time actually. I post a status update on Facebook, should I blog or write a book. Sasha, oh what a blessing she has been to my life, says, Do both. Now I go to my friend Wendy's house. I'm telling her the story of God's idea, and she urges me to do it. She says Do IT! So I'm doing it. Remember, God has to smack me in the face sometimes. And I am soooo glad I have done this. I am a planner by nature. I need to plan out every little thing that I am going to do, I plan my shopping list, my days, my weeks, my months, my life, I plan my situations, and my circumstances. God is breaking me down slowly. He has plans for me. My plans may be similar to His plans, but they WILL NOT WORK unless they come from Him. He humbles me. He humbles me everyday. This blog is a God Plan. It came from God, It is devised by Him. He puts these ideas in my head. I pray that it touches you!!

An interesting thread

One of the things about me that's knid fo strange is that I literally analyze everything, every situation. In my mind I NEED to understand all situations. It can sometime drive me nuts but at the same time is kind of fun. I love taking one situation and seeing how it has turned out years down the road. Which brings me to this post.
When I was a kid, I was introduced to someone who is now a great friend of mine, his name is BillyHis wife is an amazingly beautiful person as well. His parents are strong followers of the Lord. They attend the same church I do, and they are the people that introduced my family to this church. When I was 15, I was a normal rebellious 15 year old. I did drugs, started smoking, was obssessed with boys, snuck out of the house and one night I got RIDICULOUSLY drunk. Oh my goodness, I couldn't even tell ou what happened that night. All I know is I woke up the next day and was grounded, indefinately, and my parents no longer trusted me at all. Well, come the following Friday night, my mom sat me down and gave me a choice. I can sit in the house that Friday night, or I can go to youth group at the church. Now at the time, my friend was going to youth group as well, and my best friend at the time was allowed to go with me, so of course I opted to go. What 15 yr old wants to sit at home on a Friday night, and yeah, it may be church but at least Im out of the house. So I went. I don't remember what I did those Friday nights, but I remember meeting a guy there, his name is Phil. This guy is actually my husband now ;) He was 19, and I thought he was sooo cute. He was also my friends best friend. Because he attends this church I wanted to go to church on sunday. So for the entire time I was grounded I went to church and church functions only. My mom had planted a seed. My mom planted a seed that would grow in me for the rest of my life. My mother introduced me to Church.
Of course, after I became un-grounded, I stopped going to church. After all, Im too cool for church. Well, about a year later, I got a job at Pizza Hut. This job was lifechanging for me on soooo many levels. This was another tool God used in his plan for my life. At Pizza Hut I met some people. These people watered the seed that was planted in my life the year earlier. My friend, that I met at Pizza Hut was a devout Christian. Her Uncle was PAstor at a church. She invited me to go, and I went. I began going to church every weekend. Now there are a few other people that worked there, one of them attended that church, anther (Her name is Sam) started bible studies at her home. Man, was I surrounded by God and Godly people. Of course after a while, I stopped going to church again. I still worked at Pizza Hut, and Billyworks there now. Remember, Billy and PHil are best friends. So because of Billy working at Pizza Hut, I am reminded of Church and the church I attended when I was 15. So one Sunday morning I woke up and got ready and went to church. It was Palm Sunday, I walked in the building and so many familiar faces were there. I was greeted with hugs, and his and how are you's. I felt comfortable, I felt welcomed. The sunlight was shining on that seed. Phil still attends that church, he is still friends with Billy, and God set the presedense for a whole new group of friendships that would begin to develop. During this time when I wasn't attending church I lost two of my best friends, my grandmother, my great grandmother and was in a deep depression. I can say I hit rock bottom. Sometimes God lets you hit rock bottom before He is gonna lift you back up again. Attending this Church couldn't have happened at a better time in my life. Finding God couldn't have happened at a better time in my life. Through out the next couple of years, I was going to church on again and off again. I noticed whenever I hit a stretch of nto going to church, my spiritual battery began to drop, I started losing site of God and things started to get harder. Phil and I began dating, later to be married, even later to have a baby. God has brought an AMAZING GROUP of friends into our lives. And my spiritual battery is constantly charged, and that seed has grown immensly. I believe that things dont happen by conincidence. I believe that everything that happens in your life God strategically places there. He strategically placed Billy in my life, because He knew I would marry his best friend and attend that church. He strategically sent the manager (who is also a great family friend and Billy's aunt) to my house with an application for Pizza Hut when I wasn't even looking for a job. He strategically put this church on my mothers heart because he knew that I would attend there in the future. God works by strategy. God is working everyday to strategically plant all of those seeds in your life. Im sure if you think back to where you were and where your at now, you'd see the thread that God is sewing in your life as well.

15 years ago

So, as my son takes a nap (which is soo precious), I decide to skip housecleaning for a few minutes and catch up on my writing. The last two days have been sooo busy. As I rack my brain for what to write next, God puts this on my heart.
When I was 11 years old, my mother lost her job. She worked as an RN in a nursing home, made very good money, and lost it all due to herr back. She tore a few discs in it, and the doctors told her she wouldnt be able to work again :( Now hearing those words and having four kids at home all under the age of 11 was absolutely rough. I started babysitting when I was eleven. I got a job over the summer working for one lady as a helper 4 days a week, and I worked for another lady Friday afternoons, and also did a few jobs on fri and sat nights. I literally had a full time job. I learned to save money, and I learned to work for what I wanted. At this young age, I learned what it was like to have responisibility, to work a lot, and to earn what you want. This set the presedense for how my life would be as an adult. MY mother also taught me how to save, the importance of not spending more than you make, and how to shop based off coupons and sales. She taught how to "steal from Adam to pay Paul," how to sacrifice from yourself to supply for your family, and how to budget. My fatehr instilled in me the importance of working hard, doing a job right, and following through with things.
Most 11 yr olds, need to know how to play outside, read books, etc. ost 11 year olds are extremely impressionable at this age. Childhoods for everyone are so important. Adults relive their childhoods everyday. I think God blessed my family with this unfortunate situation for our adult lives. If this never happened to my family there are a few things I would NOT have been able to do with my adult life. 1. I would NOT have been able to handle going into the restaurant industry. I chose a field of work that REQUIRES long hours, long days, nights and weekends. MY parents, my mother and my father, instilled in me working is what you need to do to support your family. 2. After I quit my job as a restaurant general manager, I went into just waitressing. Of course, the pay cut was huge. If not for my mother teaching me those things, I would not know how to run our household. I think I would literally overspend on everything I buy. 3. My faith would not be as strong as it is today. I saw what my family went through I aw firsthand and you know what, God turned their lives around, God healed my mother so she WAS able to work again. By the time I was in high school, my parents were both living comfortably and my family's struggle was over. Becuase of that I know that my husband, my son and I will NOT struggle for ever.
Growing up, I was not poor, in my adult life, my husband and I are not poor. But we are learnign the meaning of having faith, trusting God, and being patient. And I thank God that my family went through those struggles when I was 11. Because if not for those struggles, I would not be the adult I am today!

Part 2, to the part1 of mistakes

OK, this blog doesnt really have anything to do with mistakes, but it has to do with VBS. Now on the first day of VBS we were all instructed to wear bracelets that say Watch for God. Each day ourselves and the kids were to keep an eye for God sightings. As you all know, I LOVE GOD sightings. I love watching the threads God sews in our lives, I love the things God creates and blesses each of us with. I LVOE IT! This week I have been taking extra close attention to God sightings. On the first day of VBS, I signed up to get subs for dinner. Well, I mis calculated a little and the subs ended up costing a little more than I had planned, so after ordering them, I prayed and prayed and prayed that the good cust service manager would get me a discount. Well, I went to pick up the subs and he didnt give me a discount. I was erked, I kindog gave the cashier a little attitude (Im not perfect, I get mad and give attitude sometimes, its def a flaw of mine I have to work on), and then I went to get those subs. I ordered 5 2-ft long subs with all the condoments on the side. The CSM, said "Im sorry, but I only had 2 2ft sub breads left, so I had to give 6-in subs in place of them." Than he said "and by the way, I can't count so you have a few extra six in subs also AT NO CHARGE!" Wow ,was that God humbling me. You see I have the personality that I dont hear God or see him when He speaks to me subtly. He literally has to slap me in the face and shout as loud as He can "HEATHER I AM HERE, YOU ARE GOING TO BE FINE, JUST LET ME BE GOD AND YOU BE YOU, AND I WILL TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING!!!!" And even then I still have trouble getting it. My point of this story is that I prayed that God will let this good man give me a discount so I could save a few bucks on these subs that I so graciouslly volunteered to get for the workers of VBS ( 40 workers by the way.) Now anyone who knows about catering knows that 5 2-foot long subs are gonna just barely feed 40 adults, and God especially knew that. So instead of the discount, which as you know, I got mad about because I didnt get one, He gave us EXTRA food, to feed all the workers because what I ordered wasn't enough. Kindof like how Jesus was able to feed the thousand people (or whatever the total) with one loaf of bread. This is probably exactly how it went down for Him too. God will feed EVERYONE! So I prayed a selfish prayer (which is absolutely fine, because no prayers are wrong), and instead of God answering that prayer He made sure everyone's needs were met, and humbled me at the same time.
Later that night, my friend Allison (you'll notice she typically has a lot to do with my God stories hehehe) and I went to CVS next door to get a drink. I was telling her about this story, and Im super excited of course. So we go up to the cashier to pay and my total was 2.25. So I hand the guy $2.00 and I say "I need a quarter" As Im saying this I pull out 2 dimes and a nickel. I pay for my drink and walk away, and I say to Allison, "God in our lives is like spare change. We are constantly looking for a quarter and mean while we have .25 right in front of us." You see we ask for so many things of God everyday, all day, and when we pray, we usually pray for a quarter. Think of all the different ways we can make .25, the same value just a different set-up. This is my God sighting. This is how I am going to watch for God. I may ask for a quarter, but Im not gonna rule out the possibilty that God has put .25 cents right in front of my face.

The Power of Mistakes (and what a beautiful thing they can be!)

Well, I decided to write a blog about a few things that happened this past week, as they are all very relevent.
First, this week I have been volunteering at our church's Vacation Bible School. It is one week long for a couple hours a night where each day kids learn a bible story, play games do crafts, etc. The goal is to bring kids closer to Jesus, and hopefully God will touch there hearts! Well, the two weeks before VBS started, I was helping as much as I can decorate the church and transform it into a Bayou (That is the theme for VBS this year.) One of the first things that was painted for the scenery was 'murky water.' Now of course when you are painting you test out a piece to make sure it looks right. Well, the first piece that was painted was to white and to light. So it was saved to possibly be used for something else. The following week we had to decorate the front of the sanctuary. We laid down wood for a dock leading out to the river, built a fishing hut, hung up trees and branches, laid a boat down in the water, etc. The wall behind the dock was kindof plain, so we were tossing up different ideas of how to decorate it, and a light went off, How about the messed up murky water. AMAZING idea. Next was the pilings that line the dock. They were round cardboard tubes cut to size, and threaded together by big rope. The original color painted was a taupy-beige color. Well we were trying to make them look like real wood, so I thought try using black chalk. That didnt work. So we tried black paint. That didnt work either. Well, my good friend, Allison, put some white paint on a sponge brush and decided to use the white to mesh the black together. PERFECT IDEA!!!! What was about to be another mistake ended up working out wonderfully. Now, two mistakes ended up adding an immense amount of beauty to this dock. In essence, I think that people make mistakes ALL the time. It's inevitable that mistakes happen. Now, you can take your mistakes two ways. You can let them go, and throw them away, forget they ever happened, like we were almost gonna do with the paper and the pilings. Or you can take these mistakes that you made, and use them. Transform those mistakes into the most BEAUTIFUL DOCK THAT YOU ARE BUILDING WITH YOUR LIFE!!!! Here's an even crazier thing about this mistake thingy. I came across a friend of mine who was going through a really rough time a couple of days ago. He actually had made a HUGE mistake. Because of this situation with the dock, I was able to tell him how beautiful mistakes can be. And let me just tell you something. This was a huge revelation to him as well!!! So now because of that dock, it now served two purposes. It was used for the most amazing week EVER, and was used to help out a friend in need. AMEN TO THAT!!! (PS, Ill have a pic of that beautiful dock in a few days so you can all see!)

Day One, Chapter One

I really want to just write about everything. Every single little detail that my brain has been constantly wording together for the last two weeks. I really love God. He is amazing at how He works. I love how He uses people and places and circumstances to literally shape you or your situation for His master plan. I really can say that I had a rough time a few times in my life. I can say that it has NEVER been as bad as many people's lives. I never lost a child, my husband or a best friend to death, but I did loose my best friend in general. I was never fired from my job or laid off, but I did quit a great paying job to be a waitress. I also never lost my house to fire or foreclosure or whatever, but I did move out of my apartment to live with my in-laws. I can promise you there are many, many, many things that I never did or never went through. But God put me through my own situations to follow through with His plan. Which may not seem that bad to you, but oh boy were they the pits for me. I can say I am an average girl, with an average life. Now, are you sitting there thinking "What does this really have to do with anything?" I have already said before, I don't believe you came across this page by accident, or by coincidence. I really believe that there is an exact reason why you are here. I believe whole-heartedly that God brings people to where they need to be at the exact time, place and situation. Therefore, I believe that you came across this because there may be something (some future posts or previous ones) that I have written that may be able to inspire, help, or motivate you or someone you know! Each day I plan on writing a blog (maybe even two or three.) They are gonna be about past experiences or situations and how God used them or me. I also hope to write these great little stories about my friends and family, they totally have great stories to tell also. I know I keep saying it, but I really LOVE these little God stories, and some of these stories arent even directly related to God or Faith or anything like that. They are simply Great Stories to Tell. So as I end my Day One Chapter One, I hope that you will get the most out of everything here!!! God Bless!