Home again, home again and Happy Birthday!!

We are back from our whirlwind trip to Virginia. We had a grand time. First, let me show you our mode of transportation:




A wonderfully generous couple from our church own this great little plane. And they love to help people, and find excuses to travel. Hence a great weekend getaway to Virginia for the Rhynos and the Knights. We had a blast traveling together, attending the weekend events together and eating together at great restaurants that we don't find up here in the North.

The God-song event was great! I performed my song in the semi-finals, along with the other 9 songwriters, on Saturday morning and was chosen to be among the Top 3 to compete in the Finals that evening. (Pretty cool!) Then our day consisted of seminars, where we got lots of valuable information, and had great round-table discussions about songwriting, worship, studio recording, music business and the LORD. We were introduced to 2 local artists, Keith Elgin, and another whose name escapes me at the moment. Then the evening's performer came and talked with us for a while. Andrew Peterson was incredibly humble and transparent as he talked with us about songwriting, and his journey with the Lord as he has pursued his Christian music career. He was really refreshing, and his music was extremely creative.

The evening held the Finals and the Andrew Peterson concert. I fully expected Glen Green, to be the winner. However, we were surprised that it was actually the other girl who came away with the prize. We all had strong songs and performances, but it came down to a ballot vote. While I didn't expect to win, I felt a little disappointed for Glen, who I felt deserved the prize. He is a solid performer, loves the Lord, and his songwriting is excellent. Oh well...what can you do?

I was so glad to be able to go this weekend, and came away with a lot of valuable info., contacts, and resources. I was also greatly encouraged by feedback about my song, and challenged to really hone my craft of songwriter as an act or worship to my Lord.

We returned home ( after a few-hour stopover in Bar Harbour) to a newly established 4 year old. (In other words, yesterday was Grace's 4th birthday!) Since it was evening when we got home, we didn't really do anything for her birthday til today. She had her number 4 pancake for breakfast, opened a few gifts from family and friends, then opened her gift from us:




We spent much of the early afternoon learning how to ride it at the school playground, then visited some friends, then had an outing to the outdoor pool that's near our house. A great family birthday day for our princess. She has certainly turned our world upside down and our hearts inside out since she joined us 4 years ago!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEET GIRL!!

On wanting to win

I feel precariously balanced.

And unsure which way to step.

As many of you know, I entered some songs into 2 songwriting competitions, and one of my songs came in the Top 10 of one competition. I am headed to compete this weekend against the other 9 finalists.

I would be lying to say that I don't want to win. Of course I want to win. But, I desperately want my heart's main goal to be to further the Lord's reputation, not my own. I desperately want my desire to be more for glorifying the Lord than for winning.

Before I knew the Lord, competition was ordinary in my life. I was very often in music competitions, striving to be the best, to win. And now, here I find myself in this familiar and unfamiliar position...precariously balanced between wanting the Lord to be glorified through my music, and wanting to win an opportunity to have the music He's given to me heard by others.

Many people with loving hearts have told me lately that they're praying I'll win. And then my mind wanders back to the lady who once told me I hadn't won something because my faith hadn't been strong enough. Yuck. I know that the people who are praying for me are praying because they love me and want to see me encouraged. My prayer is that I'll find encouragement and discover exactly what the Lord's will is for this particular situation. And I pray that He shows me the way for the music He's given me to reach churches...to reach people. And I pray that my heart will be pure.

No deep conclusions here today, folks. Just musings on this tightrope which I've found myself on this week.

Pray for me please...and I'll keep you posted.

HAPPY DADDY DAY, SWEETHEART!

I am so blessed to have been given the husband I have. He is a treasure from the Lord...strong, fun, tender and wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord and to our precious family. I love him more every day.

This is Scott's 8th Father's Day, and how blessed our children are to have him as their daddy. He loves hard, plays hard and disciplines well. It is to him that our children will look to try to understand the love of their Heavenly Father.

Today, and every day I pray that the Lord would be all over Scott...that He would pour out Himself so that Scott's character would continually be transformed into the likeness of Christ. I pray that the Lord would so fill Scott's heart with love that it would be Christ's love that pours out over our family. I pray that his steps would remain on the straight and narrow way, so that as our children follow him, they would be guided closer and closer to the Lord. I pray that he would speak of the Lord to our children all throughout the day, helping the children to understand that the Lord it with them constantly. I pray that he would be supernaturally filled with patience, gentleness and humility, and that as he leads them with strength he would teach our boys to be strong protectors who are also meek and humble. I pray that he would speak such words of love and encouragement to our daughter that her confidence in Christ's love would never be shaken.

I thank the Lord for the priviledge of being wife to this man, and being able to parent alongside of him. May we not take each other for granted or forget to uphold one another in prayer.

HAPPY DADDY DAY, SWEETHEART!! I LOVE YOU!!!

Facing the Music on Facebook

So, I joined Facebook and now I'm hooked. Who would have thought there'd have been so many people come in and out of my life in the last 32 years that I'd forgotten about?? And, even though I had forgotten them, I'm amazed at how familiar they seem again. Funny. All of a sudden the 2nd grade nasty haircut and the flowery dress with the extraordinarily large collar seem so...recent. Yikes! I look at my third grade picture on someone's Facebook, then I look across the room at my son who's stepping-up to third grade today, and I think "How in the world did that happen so fast?" (I'm feeling a tiny bit old at the moment.)

I'm in my prayer group last night and the Lord reveals something to me. I've been praying for a mission field. The Lord has been stirring my heart toward missions, and so I've been seeking Him for a cross-cultural mission adventure. Except none so far has settled in my spirit as the one He's steering me towards. And so I've been looking at my life here...surrounded by believers, working with believers, with my exposure to the world fairly limited to Wal-Mart, the pool and my kids' school. A Mission field, nonetheless. And I've been praying that the Lord would make me more consistently aware of that fact.

Enter: Facebook. Suddenly, I am connected with dozens of people I knew way back then. And at my fingertips is the potential to connect with hundreds more. Suddenly my idea of what life looks like is drastically altered as I become so much more aware that so many people live without the Lord. Suddenly I am thrust into a new Mission Field. What will I choose to do with this? Will I simply spend time reminiscing about the good old days, or will I talk about how my old survive-for-the-weekend mentality has been replaced by a hope for eternity? Will I surface-chat or will I be diligent about re-building relationships? Will I be inentional about sharing how I've died and been resurrected in the last 10 years?

I must say, this is a little nerve-wracking. Without the face-to-face opportunity to re-build relationships with old friends, I am here wondering how do I go about this online, that the Lord would be glorified and not ignored? Yes, a little nerve-wracking. But, I see how the Lord has brought this about as an answer to my prayer for a mission field.

It's funny that He would use Facebook. I LOVE that He'd use Facebook.

I'm blogging about this as an act of intentionality...as a visible means of accountability. It would be so easy to ignore this mission. But....

Agggghhhh! Lord, help me! :)

My One Delight

We waved good-bye to our Laura today, as she headed off to follow the Lord's leading in Australia and New Zealand for the summer. We love our Lor, and we will miss her very much.

I so appreciate how Lor came into our lives and so quickly became part of our herd. I am constantly encouraged by her. We have great conversations about deep things. I am also constantly challenged by her life of surrender. She is a beautiful woman and a great sister.

Laura challenged me last night as we chatted. She asked me very pointedly about several unrelated conversations I've had with people in the last few months, where the individuals felt impressed by the Lord to tell me that the Lord is delighted in me, and that I need to "delight in Him." It seemed that the Lord was trying to get my attention, calling me into a deeper level of love with Him.

And so last night Lor asked me if I am walking in that.

I had to honestly answer her, "No...I don't think I am."

And so...here I am, meditating on what it means to delight in the Lord. I know there is so much more of Him that I have yet to discover. I know I am not yet walking in true and consistent delight of the Lord.

Tell me...what do you think it means to delight in the Lord?

P.S. Whenever the Lord calls Lor to your mind, pray for her. Let's keep her consistently upheld in prayer.