Not Good if Detached...

Not Good if Detached is a book by Corrie Ten Boom, in which the title relates to when her father would not give her the train ticket until she needed it to get on the train. In his own way he was teaching her that God doesn't give us things that we want until we need them. I experienced this a little bit this week. I had ordered personalized gifts for my family around the first of November, expecting them to be here by Christmas. Well my husband's family Christmas is Saturday and I had 2 gifts in that shipment that I needed by Friday when I left work. I have been "worried" about this shipment because I was going to have two people that would be left out of gifts, at least until I received them. I tried and tried to get ahold of the consultant, she tried to call the corporate office and could not get them to up the shipment. As of Thursday at 3pm, my order would either be shipped that afternoon or Friday morning and it supposedly takes 2 days to get to the receiver. Well...much to my surprise and joy, my order arrived with UPS this morning. If only I had been patient and trusted that God would give me my "ticket" right when I needed it! My worrying did no good. So, I'm thrilled because I have presents to give all my family tomorrow...thank you Lord. Forgive me for not being patient!

One of My Favorites Scenes from White Christmas

Long Time

In honor of Christmas I have changed my look! Since my last post, 2 things have happened in the Jackson family:

• we have moved to a new apartment...closer to our wonderful church family, closer to friends, and closer to Shane's work
• I have lost close to 50 lbs and still losing - it's been SUCH a blessing!

God has been so gracious to our family this fall. We have had a wonderful Thanksgiving and look forward to spending time with our family. I'll try to keep blogging this December!

Lifehouse's Everything Skit

I stumbled upon this video a couple of weeks ago and have watched it several times since then. Watch and be encouraged at how God saves us! Oh and get your tissues ready...

K-A-R-I-S

1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of their middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.
4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

K- Kansas is the furthest state I have been to that is west of the Mississippi--at least I think so. I know I've been to Texas but Kansas might sound better! :-)

A - Abby is my first name and the name I go by, unless I'm in trouble, then it's Abigail.

R - Riley is the last name that I had for 22 years of my life. It is a good name and hopefully the first name of one of my children...if my sister doesn't beat me to it!

I - Ice, I absolutely love ICE in my Diet Coke. If it doesn't haven't ice and it's not freezing cold, what is the point of drinking a Diet coke?

S - Shane"man". That is my husband, the love of my life, the man to whom I am so thankful to God. He makes me laugh when I least expect it, I love him so much!

Ok...so now I tag my favorite sister, Beth...I know, you are my only sister! :-)

Happy Birthday to my Dad!

Happy Birthday to my dad, not my father, my dad! He turned 53 Thursday! I think he had a good day! We got him a chain saw...he called and said thanks for the scissors. LOL He has been such a blessing to me. God has used him in my life in a tremendous way. I'll never forget my dad calling me on a Sunday during my first week of college and said "I looked out in church today and didn't see your smiling face, I teared up! I miss you!" Thank you God for giving me such a great example of what You are like!

It's a week of birthdays for our family...tomorrow (Saturday) is Shane's b'day so I am in full party mode! I decided to put one together last Sunday after church so I've been planning all week! It's SO much fun...I think! I'll post some pictures tomorrow!

Deflating the Puffed Up Church

No, this is not my own original title. It is the title of CJ Mahaney's message that he preached back in March. I tend to read his wife and daughter's blog, GirlTalk, and yesterday they had a very dear family in their church lose their young son. In this sermon he talked about this family. I decided to listen to the sermon and boy was I blessed and challenged. I encourage you to download it and hear his words, I pray it will unpuff you and challenge you to share it with your friends. Some major points that he made were:

#1) Grace produces humility and
#2) Grace prepares us for suffering.

One thing that he said really gripped my heart and just made me tear up because of my inadequacy in living this way. He said "The genuinely humble are not surprised when they suffer. Humility recognizes God’s sovereignty and trusts His goodness." He then said "When suffering comes, you don’t have to have all the answers. Being perplexed is a part of life. But what you do understand, understand fully: that God is sovereign and God is good." This latter quote made me smile because that is the one truth that we can cling to when we don't have all the answers. I pray that I will continue to see God's grace in my life and that I will call it and thank God for it. I pray that I will be humble and see suffering in a different light.