Third Day- Creed

forgive the Portuguese subtitles, but this video was so powerful!

Microfiction Monday

The Picture

The Story

(in 140 characters or less)

Looking @ us now u can barely imagine
how we were once a couple of delinquent 18yr olds.
That tragic night & a body @ the bottom of a bridge

Hosted by Stony River

It's its Silent Song I Hear

There's a buzzing in here tonight.
A gentle stir right at the bottom of me.
And i've decided to let it ring.
I want it to move.
Move until I have something to show.
Move until I have no other option
but to let it carry me away.
Humming deeply into my ears--
It is brushing its rhythms against my thoughts
And I'm tip-taping
Its subtle tones.

Fragmenting my Friday

Went to the dentist on Tuesday... They told me I had to get my wisdom teeth pulled Wednesday. YUMMY. So i've been dealing with that. But surprisingly it doesn't hurt really. The most uncomfortable thing for me is not being able to eat everything I want. That is truly torture because I LOVE TO EAT!!!!!!!

Got our first hit on the house yesterday. I spent all day running errands--buying things for the house. Lee came home and we worked like maniacs to get the house just right..... They never showed.

Our church had its first service last night in the newly built 30 million dollar arena. It was incredible, and I can't wait to experience the new souls getting saved. More space for more people! God is great!!
VIEW PICTURES


I kept my daughter out of school last week for 4 days (Monday through Thursday) because I heard some very disturbing things were happening in the class ie yelling by the teacher, hitting from other students... just not nice behavior. I spoke to the teacher and principal and they assured me that the accounts are greatly exaggerated. I don't know who to believe, but I've prayed on it and I've sent her back this week. I'm taking it day by day and so far so good! Please send prayers :)

Here's what I'm listening to this week!

"Sometimes we don't realize that God is all we need until God is all we have."

Our home is soon to be officially "on-the-market." The realtor came this weekend and dropped off the For Sale sign and took pictures of our home. We signed the contracts and handled all the legalities.... And now it is time to surrender the rest to God.

I have decided to have as much faith as I can muster. I have faith that He will provide for us the perfect buyer. I have faith that the future will be bearable. That whatever is in store will only make me stronger in my quest for Christ.

It is so hard not to be skeptical.  The homes in my neighborhood are selling for about 20,000$ LESS than what I purchased my home for originally. This is super duper stressful and disconcerting. But faith isn't faith until it is tested.

  Salvador DALÍ, The angel of Port Lligat 1952

Mark 11:22-24 (New King James Version)

²² So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. ²³ For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. ²⁴ Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.


Has anyone read The Secret?? Its all about believing in what you want and surely receiving it by your positive thinking. HmmmMmmm I guess that's not a very new idea but it is inspired. so AMEN! I'm having faith. 


Are there things in your life that are requiring you to surrender? Pray for positivity. Pray for success. The less doubt you have in the LORD, the more you will receive!!!

Psalm 23

A Psalm of David.

 ¹ The LORD is my shepherd;
         I shall not want.
 ² He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
         He leads me beside the still waters.
 ³ He restores my soul;
         He leads me in the paths of righteousness
         For His name’s sake.
      
 ⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
         I will fear no evil;
         For You are with me;
         Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
      
 ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
         You anoint my head with oil;
         My cup runs over.
 ⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
         All the days of my life;
         And I will dwell^[a] in the house of the LORD
         Forever.

Microfiction Monday

The Picture

The Story (in 140 characters)

Faces! She saw them everywhere.

Her earliest memory was as a lil girl facing the window

& a sinking feeling that someone was looking at her.

Hosted by: stoney river

Give me that milk gallon...Back up off me.

At HPC Women last night, our lead pastor Dino spoke because his wife (our regular women's pastor) is on vocal rest for 3 WEEKS! ouch!

Anyway... he came in to learn us something about the differences between men and women.

He preached on how God made us in His image. He made us different. And He blessed those differences. He taught how important it is for our men to feel respected. He spoke how you should only come to your man with a problem if you're expecting him to fix it. This is how their minds work.

Then he went on to speak to the single women in the room. Here's the jist of that sermon:

If you are confident in Christ. If you allow the Holy Spirit to change your man, instead of trying to do it yourself.  If you try to be the best version of Jesus you can be, you won't spend the rest of your life living on "BAYOU SELF!"

School Pictures

My daughter is taking her Pre-K3 school pictures today. And it had me thinking back to grade school and taking my own school pictures.

My missing teeth and big glasses... Thick straight-cut bangs... uniform always too small on me.

Needless to say, I was an awkward-looking kid. But I was always an extrovert and loud and obnoxious (all  of these not in a good way)

(yep you guessed it! thats me on the far right)

Everyone looked back at the turn of the decade and asked.... where was I 10 years ago? Well, I was 14 and a freshman in high school! A FRESHMAN! The epitome of awkward years.

It really was not until I was a sophomore that I became un-ugly. You know what I mean. That ugly duckling you've been since you were 10 or so....Well that went away at 15 for me. And I got slimmer glasses and my braces were off and my flat chest finally started to show signs of life and growth!

At 17 I finally chilled out and lost a bit of my obnoxiousness. I started to mature. I was really a late maturer. But once I got the hang of it.... I took off flying into mature land. Thinking I was much more grown than I really was.

(Bottom Left)

And now I'm 24 and life is so grown up now. It is a very real world for me--at times a very surreal world! But I've come a long way, and I've not forgotten a single step in the journey. 

--I remember the painful rejections, The break-ups, The plays I performed in, The songs I blasted on the radio, The kisses, The F's, The awards, The classes, The stresses, The laughs, The love... and it all got me here:

Microfiction Monday

The Picture

The Story (in 140 characters)

When her agent said she'd been cast opposite a handsome up-&-comer, he never mentioned it was for an unsightly underarm hair commercial!

Hosted by: StonyRiver

Into the Valley of the Shadow of Death

I've had this theme in my mind this Monday morning and thought I would share it with you in the 3 different aspects it has popped into my head.

The valley of the Shadow of Death came to me while surfing through one of my favorite websites www.Biblegateway.com  with Psalm 23:

Psalm 23 (King James Version)

 ¹The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

 ²He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
 ³He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
 ⁴Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
 ⁵Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
 ⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.


Then as I previously posted with Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade, the literary value of this theme and finally with its connection to LSU and Tiger stadium. Why is this on my mind? No clue, but for some reason the Spirit has been guiding me here, and I will keep reflecting. I hope that any one of these references to Death Valley has interested you.  

Death Valley

Charge of the Light Brigade

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

'Forward, the Light Brigade!

Charge for the guns' he said:

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'

Was there a man dismay'd?

Not tho' the soldiers knew

Some one had blunder'd:

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die:

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them

Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of Hell

Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,

Flash'd as they turned in air

Sabring the gunners there,

Charging an army while

All the world wonder'd:

Plunged in the battery-smoke

Right thro' the line they broke;

Cossack and Russian

Reel'd from the sabre-stroke

Shatter'd and sunder'd.

Then they rode back, but not

Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon behind them

Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell,

They that had fought so well

Came thro' the jaws of Death,

Back from the mouth of Hell,

All that was left of them,

Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?

O the wild charge they made!

All the world wonder'd.

Honour the charge they made!

Honour the Light Brigade,

Noble six hundred!

—Alfred, Lord Tennyson

The 600 came charging into sure-death because of a mistake by their leader.  For honor's sake, they asked not why they marched, but instead charged forward though totally surrounded by enemies.

Tiger Stadium, officially recorded as the loudest stadium in college football @130 decibels, is nicknamed: Death Valley. Here you are truly surrounded... by your enemy.

Its 10:20 on a saturday night

and I'm home alone. I opted to stay home alone tonight because I'm tired. I worked on my house with my family ALL DAY LONG till 7PM!!!!!! AHHH

But I've had a revelation tonight.

Like I said in my previous post, I've been debating the existence of God with someone for several days now. And I feel that both of us came well prepared with arguments. Neither of us agreed with a SINGLE THING the other said and TONIGHT the LORD spoke to me!

He said:

Jillien, you cannot argue me into someone's soul!  What are you doing???? You have to live, breathe, exist, eat, shower, work, write with my Spirit guiding you. You have to be my temple. You have to be the living Church, and they will see Me in you, as My faithful daughter.  Don't argue. Just LOVE!   Love others as I love you. 

Friday Fragments

--I've been in a charged debate with someone over the existence of God. Loving every minute of it and love how much thought this young man has put into his world. I hope to put more thoughts and different thoughts into it.


--I've been ridiculously busy trying to get my home sell-ready. Its a mess and dirty and needs a paint job and has so much work it doesn't even make sense.


--I've run out of books to read and am (-) this close to running to Barnes and Noble right now to pick one up! I've already packed up about a hundred books and feel like theres nothing left to entertain me.


--I'm wondering how much longer until I feel like I've got mothering down packed. When will I become the mother than I aspire to be?


--I can't wait for Church on Sunday. I've had to surrender my burdens to the Lord in the past, but right now it seems like I'm surrendering my whole life..... As a mother, friend, wife, writer, person, Christian. I need help with it all right now.


JM

So Sad but true

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Look at those slippers!!!!! oh goodness. I don't own slippers, but I have my own personal version of this :/

Haiku! New

This weeks theme: Chrysalis

My leafy green tomb

hugs me tightly as I sleep--

dreaming of new life.

Find out your love language!!!!

If you listen to K Love in the morning, I'm sure you've heard them talking about Love Languages.

Anyway... they've posted on the Lisa and Eric page, a quiz to figure out your love language. It is very powerful stuff to know! Imagine never feeling loved as a child because your family never wanted to hug you or cuddle with you--you never realizing that that was just not the way they expressed love, and them never understanding how important it was for you to receive affection through personal touch?!

Click Here to take the quiz and try to figure out the love languages of your family. It may just be the helping hand in making your children, husband, wife feel truly loved.

Here's my love language:

Acts of Service

Can vacuuming the floors really be an expression of love? Absolutely! Anything you do to ease the burden of responsibilities weighing on an “Acts of Service” person will speak volumes. The words he or she most want to hear: “Let me do that for you.” Laziness, broken commitments, and making more work for them tell speakers of this language their feelings don’t matter.