"She"

Hey, everyone!  Lisa-Jo has a new 5-minute Friday topic for today's post, and the word is "She."  This one is SO easy for me for one good reason - the minute I hear the word "she" stand alone, I immediately think of the movie "Notting Hill."  It's one of my favorite movies, and I wasn't sure why at first - well, other than the Hugh Grant element!  It wasn't until I was partway through my 3rd viewing (NOT marathon viewing), that I realized that this was one of the few movies told through the eyes of the British - there's no American viewpoint at all.  Maybe that's why it's so refreshing.  There's a scene where Hugh Grant's character meets a minor (to me, anyway) character who's American, and the encounter is just jarring - all brash American humor and lack of class.

ANYway, the reason "she" brings this movie to mind, is that they use the Elvis Costello song "She" to great effect during the movie.  It's a great song, and what they do with it in the movie is just stunning.  And the movie has one of the most romantic endings I've ever seen.

Crud!  Time's up!  Go & view the video from Notting Hill.  I've checked, & there are no spoilers, so enjoy

Marriage (in)courage-ment!

GOOOOD morning all you beautiful people out there!  This is a very special post, with an invitation for you to join us!  If you have read my blog at all, you'll know that the people at (in)courage are very near & dear to my heart. For the past year or so, they have been hosting break-out community groups, through Facebook mainly, to allow women to connect in an area specific to their needs. You can read all about that here.

But, don't feel limited to only Facebook - they're also working through email, Skype, Google Chat, and regular blogs. 

Here's what I want to tell you: I am, for the first time, co-hosting one of the community groups (insert squeal of excitement here)! The group I am helping with is called (in)courage Your Marriage, and I'm co-hosting it with my NEW friend, Amanda Farris.

But don't take my word for it!  Go on to the (in)courage community groups site and look around.  There are lots of community groups to choose from - even within the marriage (in)couragement area, there are different groups, such as military wives and law enforcement wives.  There are also wives without children, over-50 wives, empty nesters, single ladies - take my word for it - there's something for EVERYONE!

I'm telling you all this, not to get lots of comments or attention, but to get you involved in this group of God-loving, God-serving, women-helping workers.  Their only motivation is to bring God's love and care to others.

Why am I doing this?  I'll tell you:  because God healed my marriage.  It's now my duty/responsibility to bring this message of hope and healing to others who may be struggling.  I want them to know that if God could (and did) bring healing to what was a marriage in trouble, He can - and will - do the same for you.

You can find the (in)couragers Community groups here on Facebook - look & see just how excited they are to get this going!

Here are some details:  registration runs from Sept. 16 - 20 - that's Monday through Friday!  The Fall session begins Sept. 23 and runs through Nov. 8.  We'll have a wrap-up week Nov. 11 -15, and be finished just in time to get ready for Thanksgiving!

Now, doesn't this sound like SO much fun?!!!  Please join us next week (in)couraging each other.  I know there is the perfect spot for you - there was for me!

Mercy

(one of these days, I'll figure all this blog-code out, & it'll be brilliant!  Until then, I do the best I can.  Please bear with me)

Today's 5-minute Friday post is entitled "Mercy," as always sponsored by Lisa-Jo.
  So here we go! 
Mercy is one of those things that you never know to ask for, but that you always get.  Just like "grace,"we need a lot of mercy to go through life.  Think about it - you yell at your kids for making a mess, THEN you find out that the dog did it.  While it is always hard, I try to ask for forgiveness - when they do, they give you mercy.  When you have empathy (not sympathy) for someone, you're showing mercy to them.  This is not a bad thing.  Showing mercy humanizes the other person - for example, when you give a donation to someone - all of a sudden, they're a person, not an object of sympathy.  Try to remember that as you go through your day - I know I will.

Time's up - later!

Red

Hey, everyone - it's Five Minute Friday again, as sponsored by Lisa-Jo, and today's word is:

Red

When I hear that word, the first thing I think of is the American Heart Association's "Wear Red for Your Heart Day," a day set aside to bring awareness the heart disease in women.  I have some experience with this - 15 years ago, I had my first experience with tachycardia.  I thought I was having a heart attack (at 40!), but it turned out to be a much more benign thing.

BUT, my mother-in-law did have a heart attack around the age of 40.  While it didn't kill her, it did enough damage to make her "frail" for the rest of her life.  Not the way I want to live - I want to be much more "robust" than frail.  You know, water skiing at 75, pillow fights, making things blow up in the kitchen (dinner's ready!).

All this to say, take care of your heart, and your heart will take care of you.  We'd like to have you around for a L*O*N*G time.

Time's up!  Have a great weekend!

Worship

{This is a prompted, 5-minute Friday Free Write sponsored by Lisa-Jo at (in)courage}

Worship - the word stands alone as one guaranteed to create all kinds of dissention within the ranks of Southern Baptists everywhere.  What is worship to you?  I can say without argument that it is different from one person to the next.  To one, it's prayer.  To another, it's music.  To a third, it's singing or playing an instrument.  To yet another, worship is praising God aloud.  And not one of these is wrong, or better than another.  It's an intensely personal thing.

What is worship to me? It's music - specifically praise music.  Although - nothing can bring down my proverbial house like an all-male chorus of "A Mighty Fortress is Our God!"  I LOVE singing & participating in musical praise - it's what makes worship, worship (to me).

I'm on hiatus right now from that kind of worship.  And I'm floundering, trying to substitute another form of personal worship that will "feed my soul" while praising God.  Prayers would be helpful...

Time's up - gotta go!

Encouragement & a Giveaway!

Update:  we have a winner!  Out of 7 comments, random.org chose #2 to win the Dayspring card pack.  SO, congratulations to Randi!  I'm contacting her by email to get her address.  Of course, if I don't hear from her w/in 24 hours, I'll be forced to choose another winner.  Let's hope not - I'd hate to hurt anyone's feelings!

In our church recently, there have been several families who have experienced heartbreaking, tragic losses.  While I will not go into details, I will say that I wouldn't wish these things on my worst enemy, much less on fellow Christian brothers & sisters.  That's why I love Dayspring so much!  Just in time, I received some cards to use to encourage others.  It's no coincidence that Sept. 12 is/was the National Day of Encouragement.  I've used Dayspring cards before, on this day, to encourage others, with great joy to all (including me). I got this set from (in)courage's Inspired Deals page, where we can review a product or share a story of using a product, to encourage others.

This time, I received cards from Dayspring's Compassion line.  If you don't know what Compassion is, just look over to my right sidebar, down a bit.  I sponsor a little boy in India; lots of (in)courage bloggers sponsor children in lots of other countries.  The backs of the cards give a link to Compassion's Child Survival Program - this is priceless, to me.

Several of the card captions are straight out of the mouth of my favorite encourager, Holley Gerth.  She has a way with words like no other, and I LOVE her cards!  What better cards to use than hers, when someone needs a little bit of encouragement.  So I did.  Send encouragement, I mean.  To others.  With these cards.  You should, too.  Bless someone else.  By doing so, I guarantee you will be blessed as well! 

Oh, and guess what!  Dayspring is letting me give away a set of both cards to one of you!  So here's how it works:  IF you live in the U.S., and IF you leave a comment right here (I've set it so you can comment anonymously, and not have a blogging account), I'll choose ONE commenter to receive the cards.  I will choose using random.org, contact you via email, and get your shipping information.  Dayspring will ship the cards to you themselves!  What a deal!

I'll let this go until 6:00 p.m., CDT, until next Friday, Sept. 21.  Then I'll close commenting, draw a name & notify the winner.  Need a "theme" for the comment?  How about this?  Tell us how you've been encouraged, somehow, sometime, in the past.  Easy!  So ready?  Set?  Go!

P. S.  Lawyer's chorus:  Dayspring & (in)courage provided me with these cards for free.  How I used them, and what I thought of them is the personal opinion of my very own self!

Eleven Years

The funny thing is, this weekend I watched a movie "about" 9-11:  "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close."  Even after eleven years, seeing those images still makes me ache.  Even though I lost no one, it was close - my sister was on a plane traveling that morning.  Even after eleven years, lives are still shattered.  Even after eleven years, we haven't forgotten.  We will NEVER forget!

"Tonight, I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a Power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you are with me.

This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.

Thank you. Good night. And God bless America."  George W. Bush 9-11-01