Scripture Memory Verse Week #21

Blessings to you this Sunday afternoon...wherever you are!
I have friends and loved ones out of the state and out of the country this day, more of them than normal, so my greeting is appropriate! And as I think of them, I remember them all in prayer this afternoon.
Our verse for this week is more instruction:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ~Romans 12:14

I have not been physically persecuted, and God willing, I hope that I never am. However, I have had some moments recently when people have teased me for my faith, or been sarcastic in regards to the way I try to live my life. Does it hurt? Eh, a little. It makes me sad more than anything else, I guess. But, The Message version of this verse hits a little closer to home:

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath.

Hmmmm....how often do I remember in the moment to bless my enemies? Or, more accurately, how frequently do I bless them before I choose to curse (or scold, or disparage) under my breath? That's much more convicting.
So, this week in our spiritual faith building, we will work on blessing our enemies before anything negative crosses our lips or minds. Ok?
Have a blessed week! Hopefully there will soon be some updates from Tom in Haiti. I haven't spoken or communicated with him since I dropped him off at the airport yesterday morning at 5 am. Close to a record for us...and I miss him greatly!
Live like a child of royalty this week as you strengthen your spiritual muscles!
~kimberly

celebrate!

Yay! The new blog design is done! Much thanks to my new long-distance friend that I've never met...Kelly from Fabulous K Creative! She has been patient with my ever eager desire to get the new blog design done, and since Christmas, she has been so busy because she is SO talented!
So, Kelly, my hat's off to you!

Thanks for everything you've done and all that you have taught me! I'm loving this photo! source

Summer.

I just wanted to take a minute to remind you to take a deep breath and relax. God is good.

 All the time. Summer is beautiful. Relax and enjoy a moment. source

Happy Father's Day!

To the most amazing father ever...my husband, Tom.

Scripture Memory Verse Week #20

Good Afternoon and Happy Father's Day!

I pray that this day finds you enjoying your father, husband and/or all those special father figures in your life, but I also pray that you are celebrating the love the your Father, the King, lavishes on you each and every day!

This week's memory verse is a continuation of the passage from Romans that we have been studying for the past several weeks. We are given instructions on how to live our lives, and this week we commit to memory:

Share with God's people who are in need, practice hospitality. ~Romans 12:13

So, let's put this in perspective by looking at what we've been told to do so far:

love sincerely
hate evil
cling to good
be devoted
honor one another
be zeal-y
have spiritual fervor
serve Him

and now, this. Give to those in need and practice hospitality. Hmmmm....

If I look at this list and think about my life, this is a good list to carry around with me as reminders of who and what I should be from the moment I get up in the morning. How about you?

I love this! Do I do it? Some of it. Sometimes. When I'm not too hungry, crabby, tired, selfish or unaware. Which is most of the time, I think.

So, for my faith and life workouts this week, I'm putting this list on a sticky note and into my planner. I manage to get done most of what I put in my planner, and am wondering why this list hasn't been there before.

I hope you'll join me. We all have to do some strengthening in some part of our lives, don't we?

blessings,
kimberly

Scripture Memory Verse #19

Hello princesses,

I have been re-reading some of my recent posts and I chuckle and smile at my typos. I am such a perfectionist that these would normally embarrass and frustrate me, but because I am aware that I am moving at warp speed these days AND because I am aware of God's hand shaping me to accept myself (in some small ways) as imperfect, I can just smile and chuckle. Of course, it also makes me wonder why none of you have corrected me or commented on them...could it be that you read in as rushed a manner as I type? Or, you are just showing God's grace to me each time they happen? Part of me thinks that no matter how many times I proofread my posts before I click on "publish" there will be a typo missed just to keep me humble. You know what? That's now okay with me. Probably the first time in 40+ years. So, when I have that typo or glaring error, please just smile along with me and remember your own humanness in whatever it exhibits itself in your life! :)

This has been a week of amazing and wonderful things! Last week I posted about yearning for open and closed doors and this week there have been opened doors and closed doors revealed to Tom and I in such a fashion that all we can do it sit back and be amazed. I can't reveal all of these to you at this time, and I'm very sorry, but know that our Father the King is quickly and miraculously revealing His purpose in our lives to us now! What an amazing thing to behold! I just sit back, look to the heavens and say, "Wow. What's next?

And, I am a little saddened because there are people that are near and dear to me in this life that I don't think have ever experienced this. It is my hope and prayer that you, my sisters, my fellow royalty under Him would have a time in your life where you can clearly see God guiding you. It certainly puts that whole "Creator and created" thing into perspective! I wonder now why I ever question Him...why I ever look at what I think should happen with these eyes of sight and become critical or questioning of Him. Does it really take moving to a third world country to have this happen? Or am I just one of the more stubborn ones? Probably the latter...sigh...good thing there is grace!

Onto our verse for this week. I know that I have been so convicted and blessed by this current series of verses! I hope that you have too! I have seen some strained relationships turn for the better by His grace allowing me to put into practice some of these words.

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Romans 12:12

Wow. Wow. If these aren't words that I need to hear and commit to memory, there aren't any! Yes, I know that you could be thinking that I selected these verses ahead of time, so I can't really be surprised. But, I picked them out a LONG TIME AGO! And from week to week I am challenged enough living this life that I am not thinking about the verse that is coming up next.

So, how this week in our spiritual strength training are we going work in these exercises? Joyful in hope. I could write pages about that and how I have failed at it. Patient in affliction. Huh. I believe that I am anything but. Faithful in prayer. Well, well, well. I would love to end up this trilogy of "be's" by telling you that at LEAST I do this one well. But I can't. I try...and sometimes I just don't have the words, or the willingness, or the faithfulness. That's really what it comes down to, right? Faithfulness. The qualities of my 76 lb. lab/poodle mix named Max are missing in me more often than I care to admit.

I don't want you to think that this post is about beating myself up, because that's NOT what I want you to take from it. But, it is about honesty. And, to be honest, I need to be more joyful in hope, more patient in affliction and more faithful in prayer. Not that I don't do any of these things, I just need to be more of them.

That's what strength training is all about, right? Being able to do more...
Join me in working out in joyfulness, patience and faithfulness this week, would you? You will be a huge encouragement to me!

blessings,
kimberly

Scripture Memory Verse Week #18

Good Afternoon, almost evening!

How are you today? How is your spiritual healthy? How is your spiritual weight training going? I'll be honest...I've had days when I've felt like I've been completely in the game and others where I have felt on a distant and faraway planet, spiritually speaking. I have allowed stress to get the best of me at moments, and turned my back on all I know to be true in my heart at others. There are times that I practice my memory verses and I feel that I am just going through the motions...other times I feel like they renew my spirit in a new way with each one that I practice.

How about you? Am I alone in this journey? I told someone this week that with all that is happening in our lives right now, I feel like the hills and valleys have leapt off the pages of being rolling and have moved straight into craggy, steep rocks as we ascend and descend. There are times that we see God clearly opening a door...not only a door, but a warehouse rolling door, and waving bright flags to show us through it. At other moments or situations, I don't always see a door...or one that I desperately wanted to believe was open is clearly closed. I can't help but know that He is in control, but I really want to see the other side of this tapestry. Anybody hear me on this?

Updates on the girls (since they aren't doing it themselves!)...

Kati arrived home last Monday, and we have been greatly enjoying our time with her! She and I went to lunch the other day and it was just so much fun to talk with her about her plans for the future. An awesome young woman that I am blessed to be related to...

Stephani has completed her 2 weeks of training for Group Workcamps in Estes Park, CO. Rough assignment, right? And today, she and her team of 3 others left Colorado to seek their first workcamp in China Grove, NC. They will spend tonight in Salina, KS, and apparently the Ryder truck they are using overheats about every 60-90 minutes....sounds like an exciting trip already! Here's a couple of photos from her:

and...

I think she had a great time there and will be anxious to get back there at the end of the summer. By the time the summer is over she and her team will have traveled from Denver to the east coast to northern Idaho...and many spots in between! What fun!

Adrianne is doing great! She and her friend Julie have a single focus: Haiti. Everything they do is planning for their trip to Haiti, planning their events with the children, planning the blog that is going to be soon redone...all Haiti, Haiti, Haiti. Here is a photo of her from yesterday at the Bowling for Haiti fundraiser that Amanda and Megan organized:

It was great fun and a big success!

So, there's a little catch up for you. As for me, I am struggling to keep up with:
1) Where my children are at a given moment
2) Where they will be the next day
3) Trying to keep up with my grad class
4) Trying to help Tom get ready to leave for Haiti on 6/26
5) Trying to plan for my trip with Kati to Delaware on 7/5
6) Planning for my 6 weeks in Haiti beginning 7/12 with Adrianne and Julie
7) And the other miscellaneous details of working full time, managing a home and being a wife a mother!

So prayers would be greatly appreciated for all of us as we travel somewhere in the next month, and not just a trip up north!

Let's get to this week's memory verse, shall we?

Several of you have shared with me how you've been blessed by the recent verses. Thanks for letting me know how our Father is working in your life...it's such an encouragement and blessing to me! You have no idea...

This week we continue that same passage of instructions:

"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord." 

Romans 12:11

I sort of feel like there is no explanation needed here, but give me a moment. If you read the first few paragraphs of this post, you know that I've have moments of lacking in zeal, fervor has been waning, and frankly, when that's happening, can I truly be serving? I think not. Not to my full capacity.

So, my sister-princess, this week we rise up with new energy, knowing Who is the strength behind our energy, and are renewed in zeal, spiritual fervor, and side by side, we serve the Lord. Who knows where our spiritual fervor and service will take us!? I invite you to share your stories here.

And please, if you are still reading, consider commenting here with your gmail address. It is so encouraging to me...and I am trying to make a plan for the future (not so distant) when I will be in Haiti and your responses will be my connection to my royal family here. I know it's a pain to get logged in, and, I may be changing that while I'm in Haiti to a different blog host, but for now, let's practice doing it here, if you don't mind. I'd also like to know that you continually encouraging each other...

Blessings...
kimberly