Zephaniah 3:17

"The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save , he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in His love, he will joy over thee with singing."- Zephaniah 3:17

"The Lord your God is with you.  He is mighty enough to save you. He will take great delight in you. The quietness of his love will calm you down.     He will sing with joy because of you.”- Zephaniah 3:17, New International Readers Version

When Caleb was little, this was one of my favorite verses.  I especially loved it in the NIRV translation, which was what his Adventure Bible was written in.

My favorite part was the "quietness of His love will calm you down."

Caleb needed a lot of calming down... but so did his Mama.  Maybe his Mama needed it more.

As I think about this verse, I am overcome.  First of all... He is in the midst of you.  Is with you.  Is encamped around you.  He's everywhere you are, He's everywhere that I am... He's before us, after us.  He knows where we are headed.  He's promised never to leave us or forsake us.  He's not just sitting in the room with us, not even listening... He's completely committed to journey with us, leading the way and carrying us when we can't take another step.

And He is mighty.  Stop and think about that.  I am weak.  I cower in the face of many things.  I let my fear paralyze me, keep me from moving.  But He is not afraid.  He is mighty.  When I think of the word mighty, I think of an army. Or a lion.  Our God is mightier than those.  He is strong, powerful, and full of whatever we need to overcome.

He will save.  Not maybe.  Not might.  But will.  Every.  Single. Time.  The Work has already been finished for us.  He will save us physically.  He will save us financially.  He will save our heart, our minds, and make us a new creature. All we have to do is aks.

He will take great delight in you... He will sing with joy because of you... oh, wow.  How I need someone to "delight" in me.  I mean, Wallace and Caleb love me, but sometimes they tolerate me... and that's ok, because I'm the same way.

But God?  He's infatuated with me.  He loves me.  I make Him happy.

We make Him happy.  When I think about delight, I think about the exhilaration of roller coaster rides, dripping ice cream cones on hot sunny days, the giggle of a baby.  Joy you just can't hold in.

And God delights in us just like that. 

All those sappy love songs?  They're nothing on what God writes... about us.

The quietness of His love will calm you down.  When you are scared, nervous, angry... just be still and know He is God. When we do this, our blood pressure drops, our breathing slows, and things begin to seem possible.

His calmness is enough.

Just stop and think of what this verse means to you.  Our God is so great... but He is quiet about it.  He's not bossing us.  He's loving us. 

And reminding us that we can truly live a limitless life, if we just pause and let Him take control, and trust Him fully.

Thank you, Lord.

Linking up with the awesome bloggers on the P31 OBS Blog Hop. Y'all rock!

A Story Worth Reading

"The only people who truly know your story are the ones who help you write it."- Unknown

These past couple of days I've been thinking a lot about family.

These past few months, actually.

Today, I sat in a church in Dayton, Ohio, and celebrated the life of my 93 year old great-aunt.  It was a touching service, complete with I'll Fly Away, I Can Only Imagine, and memories from her daughter and grand-daughter.

They knew her story, because they helped her write it. 

She also wrote a lot of their stories, too. 

The pastor spoke of her Christian heritage that started with Poppy and Mam. 

That same heritage that my Grandma Na's story was written with.

As her grand-daughter talked about Aunt Virginia, the stories she shared made me laugh, partly because Aunt Virginia was so spunky, but also because the stories were somewhat familiar, because the same thread that was weaved through her family was weaved through mine.

It's funny how two women, separated by 10 years and many miles, could be so alike, yet so different.

Aunt Virginia was the last sibling living in my grandma's family.  She was the second oldest daughter.  My Grandma Na was the youngest daughter. 

But even though 10 years separated them, they were raised with the same values.  Above all, Jesus. Then family. Then serving others.

Today, the pastor preached about our legacy, and how to live is Christ and to die is gain.  As I sat and listened, I thought of how for Aunt Virginia and for Grandma Na, that verse was just as true as it was for Paul.  Their day to day existence was living for Christ.  They loved Jesus.  You knew it when you spoke to them.  And to die, just meant for them to be with Him.  

Jesus should be palpable.  He should be oozing from our very being.. and I'm not so sure that is true for me. There are a lot of times I don't love people like I should.  There are many times when I am impatient and judgmental and crabby.

But the great thing is that He knows that.  After all, He's the author of my story.  If anyone knows how it goes, it is Him... and He loves me completely.  He's also the perfecter of my faith... so if my story doesn't look so great now, He's just not done with the editing.

Keep writing, Lord Jesus... and hopefully people will keep reading and find their way to You.

Give my Mamaw a hug, Aunt Virginia... and since I didn't see you again on this side of Heaven, I'll see you in Heaven. 

Relay Snapshots

There are some moments that you want to freeze and remember in your mind like a picture. 

Those "firsts", "lasts", the most memorable times that you are sure you'll never forget.

And sometimes, in the moment, you don't even know they are important. 

This is one of those moments.

Today, as I sat at Douthitt Park getting ready for this year's Relay For Life of Breathitt County, I pictured this in my mind. 

I couldn't remember what Grandma was wearing, but I knew Papaw had on this jacket, and I knew he'd have a smile on his face.

This time last year, my Grandma and Grandpa stayed at Relay later than I did.  Memories were made with my cousins and aunts.

We never really thought we wouldn't be able to snap a picture like this again...

but isn't that how life works?

For so many individuals who fight cancer day in and day out, they appreciate each and every moment.  They know that tomorrow is not promised, yet they never give up hope.  So many of these individuals come to my mind as I type this.  I'll see many of them tonight, decked out in their purple survivor tee-shirts, circling the track and going to the middle of the stage to allow us to celebrate their lives.

As Holly reads the names of these survivors during the luminary ceremony, I'll think of their faces, and the faces of their loved ones.  I'll focus on what they went through or may still be going through, and think of survivors in other counties, such as my inspiration, Debbie Hogg.  For many of them, their stories are a part of me... maybe only in third person, but still close, because one good thing about small towns is that we know each other and most of the time love each other, especially when tragedy strikes. 

As the luminary ceremony goes on, I zone out as I read the "In Memory" names. Names that are as familiar to me as my own.  Family friends like Todd Noble. School year friends like Brad Lockard and Kevin Rice.  Family like my aunt Jo. 

And this year, Mamaw Na... who beat vocal cord cancer but lost a battle with heart failure.

I usually do pretty well reading those names.  I'm not going to lie, it's emotionally exhausting, because for so many of them I know how hard they fought.  I remember how their families grieved. For some of them, I might have cared for them as they lost their struggle.

Tonight, though, I can't promise that I won't cry, because I've been teary eyed all day...

and that's ok.  The spirit of Relay is Celebrate, Remember, and Fight Back.  Tonight, I'll celebrate my Papaw Jr. as he circles the track for the Survivors Lap. I'm pretty sure in his head he'll hear Mamaw say, "Come on, June."  By Relaying, I'm fighting back, providing hope.  Relay dollars support cancer research. Our committee support the work of Hope Lodge, to provide cancer patients and their caregiver a free place to stay during cancer treatments.

And I'll remember.  I'll remember my Mamaw, and I'll also remember that life isn't about the temporary.  I don't think it is coincidental that three books I've been reading this week have quoted the verse from Revelations about no tears or death in Heaven, and how He will wipe away our tears. 

And as I face tonight, I'll focus on those memories, and try to save them in my mind.  As my Aunt Nora posted on Facebook, I'll cherish dancing in the field with my family, holding hands with Caleb sometime through the night, winning Name that Tune, listening to my cousins laugh, watching Papaw try not to fall asleep in the chair...

Remembering that joy and sadness can go hand in hand... and this first Relay without Mamaw, though emotional, will be special as my family continues to heal. And I'll know that Grandma will be looking down, and will be saying, "Will someone please make Junior get up and walk a lap around that track? "

Diet Coke vs. Living Water

There's nothing like a good Diet Coke in the summertime... or anytime, for that matter.

My son would say this about a Mountain Dew.

Millions in the south would say this about a sweet tea.

But sometimes 8 oz isn't enough. Or a 12 oz can.  Or a 16 oz bottle, for that matter.

And only that beverage of choice will do.

Especially if you are Wallace Bates, who believes that Diet Pepsi is poison to the system.

As the coach's wife, I'm responsible for certain things.  One of my responsibilities includes making sure Wallace is hydrated. This begins before we get to the gym.  Wallace knows what kind of pop every gym in southeastern Kentucky sells in their concession stand, and he will remind me to stop and pick him up a couple of bottles of Diet Coke if the gym sells Pepsi products.

At around 8 minutes before the game, Wallace and his girls head back to the locker room.  If the gym sells Diet Coke products and I haven't bought the pop in advance, I head to the concession stand and get a Diet Coke.

Another Diet Coke is purchased at halftime.

And usually he needs to stop on the way home and get another bottle.

I do this because I know Wallace. I know his routine.  After 14 years of marriage, I know what he expects and anticipate his needs...and the biggest need that he usually has during basketball season is a continuous supply of Diet Coke, clipboards, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

But even if I'm on my A game and have those Diet Cokes ready before he asks, he eventually drinks them up, and gets thirsty again...

Because as wonderful as Diet Coke is, it is temporary.

This week in Limitless Life, we talk about the woman at the well. This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible, largely because it gets personal and highlights the love of Jesus for all of us. In this story, Jesus comes to a well where a nameless woman is drawing water.  Jesus is thirsty and asks her to give him a drink.

Let me pause here and retract my earlier statement about there being no drink like a Diet Coke.  If you've ever drunk out of a gourd water straight from a hand-dug well, you've drank a small piece of Heaven.  My great-aunt Emma had a well like this on her porch, and when I was little, I can remember lowering the bucket, pulling it up, slowly, because it was heavy and full of water, and then using a dipper to drink that cool, refreshing water...

The woman needed refreshment like that.  I need refreshment like that.

The Samaritan woman was shocked that Jesus was even speaking to her, much less willing to drink water out of her dipper.

Jesus answered her question with an unclear answer, at least one that didn't make any sense to her.  Basically, he told her she should be asking him for water.

The woman was confused. Jesus was probably dusty, tired-looking.  He had no bucket, no dipper, no way to access water.  But he was promising her living water.

"How?" She asked...

"Whosoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whosoever drinks of the water I shall give him shall never thirst.... a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

The woman was astonished.  Jesus wasn't finished, yet.  The woman in need of refreshment was beat down in life.  She was ashamed, and was at the well in the middle of a hot day, trying to avoid anyone who knew anything about her.

And then she met Jesus, who knew everything about her.  As he told her of her life, she became more amazed.

"Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ?"

The thing about Diet Coke is- sometimes it makes me more thirsty, and eventually I run out of substance in that bottle.

The thing about Jesus- sometimes He makes me more thirsty, too... thirsty for His Word, His presence, His acceptance, His love... but He always has more.

Living water.... out of a well that will never run dry.

Snap It- Fellowship with Him

Quiet time- fellowship with Him.  My Bible study books (Limitless Life is on my Kindle), my Bible, my notebook...

The sound of the pool pump.  Birds  chirping.  The wind blowing.  Frogs croaking. 

Every now and again sunshine peaking through the clouds.

And sometimes, I just sit...

But not nearly enough. 

Being in fellowship with Him means seeing Him everywhere.  Sometimes I don't get my quiet time in.  Sometimes I have days, like the day when this was taken, when quiet time was interrupted and my plans changed.

The storm clouds rolled in and thunder rolled in the background.

But always... He is there.  No matter where I am. 

Summer Reading =)

So, my goal for June is to read a book a day. I'll update this post occasionally with the books that I have finished.

As for what I am currently reading:

A Team of Rivals, about Abraham Lincoln and the men who surrounded him.  It's thick, about 900 pages according to my Kindle, and each chapter takes about an hour to read, so most likely I'll be reading this one all month long, but I love Lincoln and love this time period. 

Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, a novel about an emancipated black lady who made dresses for Mary Todd Lincoln.  It's a nice complement to the other Lincoln book I'm reading, because it seems to be very historical, and a lot of the characters are discussed in the non-fiction book.

They Almost Always Come Home is a novel I'm reading on my Kindle.  I got it free, but it seems to be pretty good.  It's about a woman whose husband has gone missing on a wilderness adventure. Their marriage was in turmoil before he left, so she's not sure if he's missing or if he just decided not to come back.  She decides to go to the wilderness to try to find him.  She's on her first day where I'm reading right now, and it is actually pretty crazy to think about.. I know I'd have no clue about how to survive!

For the Bloom Book club, I'm getting ready to start Pursue the Intentional Life, which is something I really need to do.  I love the Bloom book club on Incourage Me, because Angie and Jessica are so down to earth and funny! They always pick really good books, too. 

With Proverbs 31 OBS Ministries, I'm reading Limitless Life by Derwin Gray.  So far, it is really good.  It's about changing labels we may have placed from our past and replacing them with labels from God.  Yesterday's chapter was about going from a Mess to a Masterpiece- I can really relate to that one!

I'm reading Dan Brown's Inferno.  It's the follow-up to The Lost Symbol I read last month, which was a follow up to the DaVinci Code.  I love his books because they have historical information in them, and are fast moving, hang on to the edge of your seat type reading.  I don't read them at night, much, though...

I'm also reading AMMA: The Life and Writings of Amy Carmichael.  Carmichael was a missionary in the early 1900s in India.  I'm just getting started on it, but I can tell that it's one of those books that is going to make me think.

I'm still reading Ask Me Anything, Lord, by Heather King. Heather is a friend on Facebook and I love her writing.  This book is just taking me a while because I get to the end of the chapter  where there are questions and have to pause to reflect on those questions, and also trying to stay caught up in the book clubs I'm participating in... but it is so good.  And I'm always amazed when something I'm reading in one place shows up somewhere else, which is what happened in two of the chapters of this book I've read so far.

And last, but certainly not least, The Antelope in the Living Room by Melanie Shankle.  You might remember that I suggested her book Sparkly Green Earrings, about her having a little girl... and it was awesome.  I read it in one sitting.  This one, though, may be even better. Perhaps it is because I can relate so well.  While she may be in Texas and I am in Kentucky, her life is just spot on... complete with the husband who thinks a Cabela's magazine is quality reading material.  I have laughed so hard that I cried, and several times Wallace has asked me what is wrong. And she's got an antelope in her living room. At least I won the battle and the coyote, deer, and turkey are upstairs... Seriously, get this book.  Married or not, you'll not regret reading it.

To read books: Blossom Street Brides with another book club, The Ones Who Hit the Hardest (about the Steelers... duh), Uncle Tom's Cabin, Gone with the Wind, A Season to Remember (Also a football book), Gone Girl, Takedown Twenty, Silver Girl, A Framework of Poverty, Without a Word...

And sometime I plan to write an IRB application that may or may not be due in a week and I haven't even started on. 

But first I think I'll go finish a book today.  I'd love to hear what you're reading in the comments!!!

June 1- A Beautiful Offering by Angela Thomas
June 2- Starting New (Blossom Street #9)- Debbie Macomber
June 3- What Women Fear- Angie Smith
June 4-  The Antelope in the Living Room
June 5- Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker
June 6- They Almost Always Come Home
June 7- To Love Me
June 8- The One Who Hit the Hardest
June 9- To Forgive Me
June 10- Takedown Twenty
June 11- A Season to Remember
June 12- Ask Me Anything, Lord
June 21- Whence Came a Prince
June 23- Inferno
June 25- Limitless Life
June 26- Silver Girl
June 28- Blossom Street Brides

You Done Good, Caleb

It all started going downhill with a flip-flop.

Yesterday was a LONG day. 

I rode to Louisville and back with Wallace so he could turn some stuff in at his Reserve unit. I'll never turn down a trip, especially since I thought I could convince him to drop by the Cheesecake Factory and let me get a piece of Heaven to go...

So, I sat in the car and read while he packed his stuff in.  Then, we swung by the Cheesecake Factory, only to find the doors to deliciousness would be locked for thirty more minutes. Normally, I would have sweet-talked Wallace into going into the mall for the measly thirty minutes, except we had to get back to Jackson because Caleb had an awards banquet at Highland-Turner, so I accepted that I wouldn't get my cheesecake and settled in for the ride.

We stopped at a gas station, and when I walked in the smell of Cinnabon filled the air.  I hadn't brought my wallet in, probably because God was telling me that I didn't need those cinnabon delights that I could almost taste as I walked to the back of the store to go to the restroom. I figured I could get Wallace to buy some when he paid for his pop, only to come out and find him in the car, on the phone, pop already paid for and car already in drive.

I might have cried a little on the inside.

Then, at Logan's Roadhouse, I ordered nachos, only to have them delivered to realize that they had changed their cheese and the nachos really weren't that great.

Out of that disappointment, I got a rare treat at Cold Stone Creamery. Wallace said three disappointments deserved a good ice cream, but personally I think he just wanted ice cream for once in his life.  Or maybe twice.

We made it back to Jackson and the fun really started.  Banquet #1 at Highland Turner, where the flip flop comes into play.

Caleb was looking good in his dress shirt and blue jeans... and his blue flip flops did perfectly match.  Until he realized walking in that they were broken.  A fact he had also realized the day before at church. Not sure why those babies hadn't been thrown in the trash, but now they were on his feet and the flop had quickly come loose from the flip. 

An easy fix, you say... until it came loose again as he walked out to accept his awards.  I would have gotten mad at the lady in front of me who kind of laughed, but I'm quoting the verse, "As much as possible, live at peace with all men." in my head this week. And also, it was funny. And also, he knew it was torn up.

So... at the end of his banquet we had 10 minutes to get from HTS to Jackson for the girls basketball banquet, which is exactly how long it takes to get to Jackson if I am driving slightly over the speed limit and spinning my tires and burning my brake pads (hypothetically, you know.  I assure you that I am a very safe driver. Most of the time.)

Except we had to stop at home to change shoes.  And Caleb couldn't get the door open. And he also could not just put on another pair of sandals... he had to pick a pair of shoes that tied.

And then he was convinced he lost his $20 out of his pocket at Highland-Turner.  I was convinced it would be lost forever if that were truly the case, but being the good Mama that I am (and also because I didn't want to be distracted while I raced to town) I turned around, headed back to Highland Turner, and cautioned him to check his pockets one more time before frantically returning to the gym to look for his money.

Frantic is something he inherited from me.

The $20 was in his other pocket.

We made it to the banquet in plenty of time, as they were still eating and we all know how football players can eat. And also girls basketball players. 

Sitting through speeches from the coach of the football team and the boys basketball team, and finally Wallace, I thought about how maybe I don't need to be in a rush all the time.  And that for once, one time out of one million, I really wasn't late for an event.

And when the audience laughed as Wallace said, "Caleb is just... well, Caleb..." I got to thinking about how blessed I am that he is mine.  And how maybe I don't say that enough.  And also how maybe I am a little too impatient with him.

Then, a "quick" trip to Walmart reminded me that maybe he's just a little slow and deliberate.

But he tried to tip the cashier $6 when he left (after paying for his own stuff) and gave out several hugs to people, and when we got home, he posted this status on facebook:

"I try to live in a way which when I lay down at night, I hope God can say "You done good today, Caleb."

I'm not God, buddy... just your Mama.  And I have so many things that I fail at daily with you.  I am imperfect on so many levels, and I recognize that and wish that I could change it.  But yesterday was one of those days when I am almost 100% positive that God said you done good today, Caleb... now if we could just work on your Mama.