Tag, You're it

Michelle tagged me with this lovely blog award. Thank you Michelle, so now I have to pass it on along with the game rules.

Answer these questions with one word answers

Where is your cellphone? Desk

Where is your signficant other? Home

Your hair color? Brown

Your Mother? Lost

Your Father? Deceased

Your Favorite Thing? Salvation

Your dream/goal? Israel

The room you're in? Office

Your hobby? None

Your Fear? None

Where do you want to be in 6 years? Retired

Where were you last night? Friends

What you're not? Holy

One of your wish items? Israel

The last thing you did? Work

What are you wearing? Clothes

Your TV? Off

Your Pet? cat

Your Computer? on

Your Mood? Good

Missing Someone? No

Your Car? Tahoe

Something you're not wearing but love to wear? Tshirt

Favorite Store? Mardel

Your Summer? Short

Love Someone? Husband

Your Favorite Color? Green

When was the last time you laughed? Today

When was the last time you cried? Just now reading Stacie's blog

Now to tag 7 other people. So I will pick Donna, because she gets to go see Ms. Beth again, Rachel, because I love her honesty, Missy, because she makes me smile, Nancy, because she makes me want to dig into the Word, Leigh, because she gets me on my knees, Lelia, because I want to grow up and be like her. And Stacie, because she needs our prayer support so very much right now.

Yes To God Tuesday

Thank you Lelia for hosting "BEHIND THOSE EYES" by Lisa Whittle. We are discussing and dissecting chapter 2 this week. Titled MS. PERFECTION.

I so wanted to be able to say this chapter does not apply to me, I really did, because in most areas of my life I am not a perfectionist. I do not have to have the perfect house, and I do not have to be totally together before I head out the door to work, if it's clean and no holes, I'm good. But, that's not the "real" part of my life. The real part of my life is Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Thursday evening Bible study. Now that is a whole different ball of wax. There I have to be perfect I have to fit in and have it all together ya know. Can't let any of the garbage from the rest of the week be hanging out, or smelling up the place. So I have done the "Great Sunday Morning Fakeout" as Lisa calls it. Madder than an old wet hen at my husband, but let us walk in the door and God has been good to me. We are attending a new church, so you have to have the "perfect suit" on and all the buttons buttoned so nothing can escape. The most freeing thing that has happened to us in the past couple of weeks, is that we have discovered, our Lay Pastors are not perfect, and if they are not perfect, that means that maybe I don't have to be, and maybe some of the junk from the week can be let out and prayed over, and they will not escort us to the door, and say thanks, but no thanks.

I think the saddest thing about trying to be perfect is that it gets heavy. You always have to be "on" you can never let your guard down, and it tends to put a wall up between you and other people, because let's face it, we all would like to be perfect, and we admire those that we think are and would like to be around them. But we tend to keep our distance because we just might not measure up.

Jesus is the only perfect one, and we are to strive to be like him, which means to reach some type of perfection here, but it's not the slap lipstick on the pig perfect. It is more of a perfectly imperfect type of perfection, that comes from being willing to be changed, to admit the faults and failing, and to run into His arms and allow Him to cover the imperfections with His perfection.

Lelia ask us to answer the question from the study guide "Search your heart. Is it more important for you to be seen as perfect in a certain area...or seen as real?" It is way more important to be seen as real in all areas of my life then perfect. I don't own a pedestal, I don't want one, and I don't want to be on one.

God is teaching me that it is better to play on the playground by myself, then to have fake friends that will teach me to be fake.

Chapter two has been very good. God is holding up a mirror and saying Sallye do you like what you see?

I am so blessed

I am working on an online study hosted by Lelia called Yes to God Tuesday. The ladies that are participating in this study run the spectrum from single to married, and no babies to grandbabies. I am very humbled to be included or allowed if you will in the presence of such Spiritual Giants.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

These ladies are that great cloud of witnesses. You read their blogs and you will find dishes in the sink, laundry that needs to be done, kids that aren't perfect, and while you might find some dust on the furniture, what you won't find in any of these ladies lives are dust on their Bibles. These are ladies that their Bibles are marked with ink, highlighter, and tears. If you look at their floors there is probably either a bare spot in the carpet or a smooth spot on the floor where they have been on their faces before God.

Funny thing is that they don't see themselves this way, and that is part of what makes them such Spiritual Giants, their humility, their willingness to be real, and their authenticity. These are ladies that have grown from the milk of the Word to the meat of the Word.

Oh, I so want to be like them when I grow up.

Sallye

And this is his happy face. I have to tell you how proud I am of my middle child. He paid very close attention to both his older and younger sister, and their choices so that at 23 years of age he is still a virgin. Girlfriend, well according to Tanner, she is just as big a prude as he is. And he is as happy as can be. I don't know if this is the one that God has chosen for Tanner, I am praying that she is, but trusting if not, that God has a plan. Tanner is not a dater. This is probably one of a hand full of girls he has dated, and is only the second serious one. He is a romantic, and she is so in love with her Jesus it just shines out of her. Tanner is my builder missionary. If he can go and build it, he will go just about anywhere. He's not real good in the backyard bible study department, but give him hammer and nails and he is good to go. Together, I think that they would be quite a team, but it's not up to me, it's up to my Father, and placing Tanner's future there can at times be very hard. For now school, work, and being with Girlfriend are large parts of his life, along with his four legged daughter "Whiskey" and yes she too is in love with Girlfriend. So I am trying not to push things, I won't tell them I have been looking at tuxs and such...I am just so glad he has found someone to put that look in his eye.

Sallye

Behind Those Eyes Chapter One

I have attempted to start this blog entry several times and have walked off from it because I am still the little girl on the play ground waiting for someone to come pick me to play with and afraid that I will be the last one picked again.



Lelia at Write From the Heart is hosting a new Tuesday Yes to God study. We are using Lisa Whittle's book BEHIND THOSE EYES.

Lisa started standing on my toes and messing in my life from the first words in Chapter One "The Truth Hurts" and continued right on through to the study guide.

Challenge Verse: "What you're after is the truth from the inside out" Psalms 51:6 MSG This verse scares me. Why? Because I am not sure that I am ready for the "truth". I have so lived the lie of being totally put together on the outside. Mouthing the right words, doing what is necessary to be accepted, that at times I do not know who the "real" me is anymore. From childhood to now, I have so wanted to fit and to be accepted that I have done whatever was necessary to fit, and that has included lying, cheating, and stealing, to name a few. These are not things that I am proud of, but is who I am and who I was, but not whom I want to be.

To pick a question from either the Truth Talk or Behind Your Eyes, is almost impossible, so I will sum up both of these sections and say this.

Authenticity is to be real, to be willing to put yourself out there, and to quit being so worried about whether or not you will be accepted by people, when the only one you have to please is God.

As I was writing this God gave me a quote that I like "Faith without scars, is textbook faith, and it will not hold water in a flood."

God keeps reminding me that I am to be holy, because He is holy. This is not self important, I am better than you self righteousness masquerading as holiness. This a holiness that comes out of love and humility, and a desire to please the One who died for me.

To be real enough to look someone in the face and say "you know what, you matter, You Heavenly Father loves you, and even if I don't have all the answers, I know who does" "I want to see the real you, because you do matter."

I have felt most of my life like I have lived on the edge of the crowd, more tolerated that accepted. At times the results of my own making, and at times not. But still on the edge. So the skin becomes thicker, and the mask goes on. And I turn into myself and not to God. I am hoping and praying that this study will change that, and that I will learn what true authenticity is, and how to apply it to my life.

Sallye

Gavin

This is Gavin, you can go here to read his story. Basically Gavin is a 3 year old fighting brain cancer. They found out on Good Friday that Gavin had cancer. Please be praying for this wonderful family, and leave a note on their blog.

Wouldn't you love to just leave lipstick kisses all over that little head?

Sallye

Sorry I couldn't resist

I found this story on KHOU.com and had me thinking of the old Ray Steven's song about the squirrel in the Baptist Church. I so do not think I would to a story like this to tell.

Sallye