Weekend Update!

A quick-ish life update:  My awesome mom came to Tulsa last Monday and Tuesday and helped me decorate for fall... Rach made a new wreath for me (love it - order your own HERE!) so Mom brought that, along with pretty flowers and candles and glittery pumpkins and all sorts of fall fun! lol  I really love the finished product - here's hoping I won't kill the mums!!  She also made strawberries and dip and fruity-pebble-rice-krispie treats since I was hosting Lifegroup on Tuesday, so that worked out really well! :)

Wednesday night, my FBC mentor, Kelly, came over and we talked about signing up for Fellowship's Biblical Counseling Impact class which starts next week! :)  I'm excited for that!

Then I went to Sarah Elizabeth's condo for a fun girls night with Sarah and Laura... Sarah made salad, garlic bread, and lasagna rolls (which were awesome) and I brought yellow cake with chocolate icing!  Also, how fun is her apron - I love it - I need to get one now that I cook occasionally - not because I'm messy, but because they just make you feel cute and fun!!  Anyway, we watched the new "Have courage and be kind" Cinderella (love it) -- and Sarah bought the Blue Ray DVD that also had a regular DVD with it, so she gave one to me! #awesomesauce

Sarah's potholder made me happy - she'll have to bring it to the Wilson gathering in November. :) And here's a pic of the lasagna rolls all done... cheesy goodness!

This one is from last Saturday - I signed up at the last minute for the individual simulcast, so I got to hang out in my PJs with my journal, some Kleenex, and Beth Moore from about 9 to 4 that day!  It was a fantastic message, and an encouragement to hold fast to God's Word in the midst of a culture that wants to downplay and ignore it!!

Last night was the wedding of Michael Wilson and Baylee Cakes! :)  It was a pretty day to be outside, I got to sit with the wedding party at dinner (where most of my friends were), and I got to do my favorite line dances plus two-step and shuffle with TK! :)  It was a really fun time, in spite of me arriving a little late and my shoes breaking on the dance floor. lol  Here are a few pics:

The wedding party chalkboard on the right. Then the bride and groom walking into the reception.  All the groomsmen during the wedding. And they used the globe as their guestbook, which was a cool idea, especially since they're going to be missionaries! They also had a Bible and asked people to highlight their favorite verse(s), which I liked!  (I went with Hebrews 6:19, in case you were curious. lol)

Michael and Baylee at their table at the reception.  Me and Kelly.  The flower table as we were cleaning up.  And a fun pic of Kelly and JEM, who loses all inhibition the moment the music starts playing! lol :)

Kelly and Karli with their flowers (we got to take them home after helping clean up). Chettles dancing whilst carrying the huge "Make your own s'mores" sign.  And JEM helping clean by pulling the little red wagon back into the barn - it was just too cute to not take a picture!

My sad boot after it broke - I'm thankful that I didn't hurt my ankle, and that it broke during a pop song when I was barely moving instead of a jumpy line dance!  It was late in the reception, thankfully, but I took off my boots and danced in my socks the rest of the night! lol  Bottom pic is the food table, and the right pic = Chet and Kevin belting out Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody!" lol

Finally, here is a pic from one year ago today... (the seven of us at Jeff's house celebrating Kelly's 26th b-day a little early.)  I was so thankful to be there that night...

I remember very well that this was the day after I walked out of the "prayer ministry" that tried to convince me that I was indwelled by an "ancestral demon."  It was/is truly the craziest and most surreal thing I've ever been through -- seated across from three people who were waiting for something demonic to speak through me and answer their questions, and having a man look into my eyes with anger and seriously say, "You can let her blink so that she doesn't suffer, but if you break eye contact with me, I release the angels in this room to inflict pain on you."  I haven't written much about it here because of the strange nature of the entire thing, but I was in an extremely vulnerable position, and I am thankful that God gave me the wisdom to walk away and stay away.  I'm sad that it affected one friendship that I really cared about, but I don't have any regret over anything I did there.  The church associated with this ministry handled the situation very poorly in that they chose not to listen or address it at all, which was really difficult and frustrating for me as well.  I poured my heart out and was absolutely dismissed and unacknowledged, while the head of this ministry (who just happens to be a heavy tither there) continues to intimidate and deceive people, backed up by a major church.  I'm as certain as I've ever been that they are deceived and in the wrong here, but I've done my best to give it to God and to pray that he will open the eyes of those who lead and all who participate in and endorse this "ministry."

"Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone.  Yet I am NOT alone, for the Father is with me.  I have said these things to you that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."  ~Jesus, John 16:32-33

Sometimes those we are closest to fail or abandon us in our time of greatest need.  It happened to Jesus, and it happens to many of us.  It is easy to feel alone when something affects you very deeply and other people leave or just don't seem to care at all how you feel.  But regardless of what people do, we are NEVER alone, because God our Father is with us.  In the midst of knowing that His disciples were about to scatter and desert Him, Jesus spoke words of comfort to them, assuring them that troubles will come here on earth, but in Him, they could have peace and take heart!

"You will be scattered and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone..."  
I love that perspective.  That church does not have to value or acknowledge me for me to feel validated here, because God is with me, working in me and through me.  And He will never leave me or abandon me!

"But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God... But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because THE SPIRIT WHO LIVES IN YOU IS GREATER THAN THE SPIRIT WHO LIVES IN THE WORLD."  ~1 John 4:3-4

"We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ!"  ~Ephesians 4:14-15 

Amen!  ...Sunday sermonette's over. ;)