Welcome Y'all

Hopefully the name of this blog speaks for itself. I envision it being one of humor, exhortation, random musings, theological discussion, sports, and things that impact my life and could bless yours. Sometimes it might be a verse or a funny story, a sports score that has me up in arms or a profound truth that has hit me. I pray you find your visit here blessing your heart.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

"Wait on the Lord; Be Strong and Take Heart and Wait on the Lord." Psalms 27:14



"HEAR"


Debut CD release by Christi Harper


September 18th, 2009


Open to the public at 8 PM


Second Baptist Church - North campus

22770 Hwy 59 North

Kingwood, TX 77339
Please come celebrate with me the culmination of a life-long dream
and the launching of a new season of what is sure to be
full of joy and some sadness,
maybe a few disappointments and full on elation,
and, above all,
truth and grace beyond measure.
May God receive full honor and glory for
what He has done,
what He is doing
and what He is going to do.
Praise the Lord from Whom all Blessings flow...
I am blessed and humbled.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Speech Pathology Magic Words

Attention all SLPs:

An actual quote out of my mouth today to a mother as I was conducting a diagnostic assessment on a child with a tongue tie...

"In this particular case,
talking with his tongue tied is about as effective
as tweezing your eyebrows with salad tongs."

Tell me no stories, I tell you no lies.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

The Value of Clarity and Definition

I am having trouble reconciling in my mind a few things this evening:

1) That my 83-year-old Mamaw is on Facebook and is hyuckin' it up with people from the opposite side of the family every night. She's on it right now.

2) That she is actively farming on Farmville.

3) That she sent me a jello shot this evening.

To be clear, she doesn't know what it is....
but thought I,
a non-drinker and non-jello-er,
would enjoy it.

She doesn't know exactly what she is sending but she is passing it along to her "friends" and underage grandkids? She doesn't drink! Most of my family doesn't drink as a general rule. Why is the matriarch of this family lining the road of temptation with jello shots? I have no words.

Let me tell you what this is like... (Please bear with me as the situational details may not be exactly accurate due to poor memory, but the punchline definitely happened.)
A few years ago (like 20 -25), my family was preparing to take a family ski trip to Colorado. We would go for Spring Break every year and stay the week. We would stay in a condo and bring grandparents (you know, the one sending jello shots now) and have a grand time. Well, the week before we were to leave, my sister was at school and they were having a share time of discussing Spring break plans and it was her turn to discuss. She begins...

"Well, we are going to Colorado and we get to go skiing and I don't have to go to ski school this time and Mamaw and Papaw are going and the best part is that we get to stay in a condom."
That is not a typo.

This stemmed from the time that she heard the word "condom" and proceeded to ask Dad what it was. At her age, it was probably not the best time to share the exact function of that item. In the days leading up to that question, we had been talking about the trip to Colorado and been discussing the housing situation and inevitably the word "condo" came up and so...
He just went with it.
"Ummmm... that ..... ummmm.... is ahhhh.... that is the thing..... that is the ... PLACE THAT WE STAY IN COLORADO."
I know, you don't even have to say it. He wasn't really going to use that conversation as a teaching lesson but honestly, the bluntness of the question caught him off guard and he just said it.

Unfortunately, he forgot to say "just kidding" and she proceeded to tell her class that we were all going to get to stay in one.

Yeah for us!
The point... BE SURE you know what you are talking about and/or sending out before sharing with your friends or family. Also, be clear as to when you are joking and when you are not.
You never know when it will come back to haunt you...
This includes jello shots, Mamaw.

Questions to Ponder...

What is the legacy you want to leave here on this earth?
Is your life leading to that legacy that you want to leave?

What changes should you make?

What should you persevere in?

What sacrifices are necessary?

Whom shall you decide to love in spite of your feelings?

Whom shall you stand up to in spite of your fear?

Whom will you forgive when they don't deserve it?
Where are you going?
When are you going to quit?
How are you going to do it?
When are you going to start thinking about it?
When are you going to do it?

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

An Answer to Prayer

There has been an answer to prayer that I shared on here a while back in this post. Actually, there have been three answers to specific prayers from that post.

First of all...
our whole department got RAISES across the board!
Do not fall over.
Do not call personnel.
Just go with it.
The second and third miracle are too personal to discuss here in this public forum but I have to tell you that God has orchestrated details to come together in ways that I could have never imagined. Two of them happened within 7 days of each other. I am so blessed. I knew the Lord would completely take care of this situation and He, once again, has shown Himself to be more than faithful with my life and my heart and the things that I care about.
He is so good to me in all things. I cannot imagine my life without knowing the Christ. I don't know how to explain powerfully enough the difference it makes in your life when you depend on something else bigger than yourself. The security and the relief that comes from trusting that the Creator of heaven and earth loves me and knows exactly what I need is unmatched by any job, any relationship, any amazing event, any circumstance, any opportunity. Period. And I look to find substitutes - every day. Haven't found anything that fulfills like Jesus does. Nothing even close.
My life is not perfect. It will never be perfect and it will definitely not look like anything I dreamed it would look like. Yours won't either. It will, however, look like the exact picture God had of your life when He thought of you. He has your days numbered before you ever came to be. He says that His ways are higher than our ways. He is crafting the tapestry of your life, intricately weaving the delicate threads stitch by unique stitch, each section taking on a beauty that could only have been envisioned by the One who sees the potential in us, who loves us and created us to be faithful to Him.
I can't believe the blessings that I have received at the perfect time only because He wanted to. I did not earn these blessings by any stretch of the imagination. They are gifts of grace, things I don't deserve but receive all the time. You have your own storehouse of blessings specific to your life. Are you receiving these blessings? Why or why not? He has them. They are sitting waiting for you to reach out and take hold of them. Trust and believe and know that He alone is God and when it is time, He will give you nothing less than His best. Nothing less. Ever.
Be blessed, friends, and know
that when God chooses to move,
you will know...
... I have seen it and it is amazing.
Simply.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

An Opaque Vision Turning Translucent, Not Yet Tranparent

When I was a little girl, I was inevitably asked the same question by many people. When you were a child, you were asked the same question.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
I don't know what your answer was ... or IS. I guess some of us are still growing up. Maybe I am one of those people. I remember knowing somewhere in my "knower" that I was going to be a singer and a mommy and I went about telling people that these two things were my goal in this lifetime. Funny, that at my age, well into my 30's, I have yet to achieve either of those things. Less "funny" meaning "Ha! Ha!" and more"funny" meaning "odd" in my perspective. However, in God's perspective, I think that "funny" might mean "that girl is so crazy thinking that I have forgotten her." All in due time, friends.
I have mentioned on here that I am getting close to the CD launch in Houston. It is coming, FINALLY. I do not have a completely firm date but hopefully, I should find that out tomorrow afternoon and I will post as soon as I know. Here is the glory of God... it looks totally different than what I ever thought it would look like. Seriously. Totally different. I had no idea what it would look like because my vision was really opaque but a vision nonetheless. In some ways, might it be like the pictures you see in the clouds. When studying them, you really think there are images, concepts, pictures visualized in this ethereal world. And then, their gone. Were they even there at all?
Friends, it appears that the vision was real and the Lord is lifting some of the fogginess of the initial vision. What is so amazing is that while I was wondering if the vision was real or not, questioning the timing and situations surrounding it, the Lord has been orchestrating people, events, and circumstances to almost completely encircle the cloudy vision, just outside of my visibility.
Isn't that just like God?
Always working on our behalf and showing up at just the perfect time. Why do we doubt?
Through random (to me) and yet clearly God-ordained circumstances, the use of technology and a step of faith, I have been contacted by a national group who are basically a networking group/ministry who have presence in Christian media outlets from TV, radio, web based businesses, music, and written word. I have been asked to be part of the Nashville connection/Southeast US regional group. This is an opportunity that I was not looking for and honestly, had no idea anything like this was even out there. I will be on the task force for this area and work hard to bring other like minded women into the Nashville fold - those that are interested in becoming an integral part of media as christian women and furthering the cause of Christ through a means almost completely taken over by culture and a godless society.
I wanted to share this opportunity for a few reasons.
  • First, if I am completely honest, I am scared to death about this very clearly ordination of the Lord to move me in a different direction than where I have been operating on a day to day basis. It is what I wanted and what I want even now but I am still scared. Satan knows this is the area where I struggle and he taunts me day after day about the unknown and the illogical reasons why this should or could be happening. He is a strong foe but I serve a mighty God and I know that He has placed me in this position that I am in for such a time as this (Esther 4:14). I know that I know.
  • Second, I share this because I am requesting prayer for this new leg of the journey that I am travelling. I pray that fear would not paralyze me and not cause me to be disobedient to what the Lord has called me to do. I pray that I would walk by faith and not be sight. I pray that I would want what He wants for me rather than what I want for me. I don't even know what that looks like. I do know that I would hate to be caught wondering what it was that He wanted me to do while, in 20 years from now, I was still sitting doing what I knew I could do on my own and walked in the knowledge and power of ME. What a sad testimony for my life!
  • Third, I want to use this situation as an encouragement to you. Are you struggling with stepping out on faith? Are you holding on the dream of what may be instead of what is? "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things now seen". (Hebrews 11:1) I am not saying that God is a sort of "Sugar Daddy" but He is our Father and He loves to give us things that we desire that can be found in Him. He has storehouses of blessings stored up for us to disseminate to us throughout our lives. Don't think that He is finished passing out your blessings. He is not. Dare to dream outside of the reality you live in and know that God is the God of the "impossible". Move forward in faith. Take responsibility for your obedience and do not let fear keep you stuck where you are. He has called you to life and life abundantly.

Psalm 27:13-14:

"I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD

in the land of the living!

Wait on the Lord;

be strong and let your heart take courage;

wait for the LORD!"

Patience and perseverance are key. Wait for the Lord. Take the courage that has been prayed up for you. Do it today! Don't wait. Live abundantly. Even if it is one tiny step, MOVE! You have to. Don't take the easy way out. You pray for me. I'll pray for you. Let's move together and trust God with our very lives. Then, when the fog lifts and the opaque turns to translucence and the translucence turns to tranparency, WE WILL SEE GOD.

We will see how He has created the vision,

He has organized the manpower to help facilitate this vision to fruition,

He has orchestrated the symphony you will march to,

He has counted the seconds of time until the exact moment of revelation and

He has positioned Himself

in the greatest possible place of receiving glory

for the world to see.

We serve a great and amazing God of grace and glory! I am humbled and blessed.

I Wish You Could Have Seen What I Saw...

... this morning.

My roommate, holding Vivi, the adorable, peeing cavachon pup turning out very lives upside down, sitting on her settee before church and giving the pup a full on manicure. Oh, what I would give for a picture of this moment. We have made jokes before how Vivi is CLEARLY NOT a shelter dog. She is MOST DEFINITELY a "designer dog" and all that that implies. The picture is worth a 1000 words. There she is in all her glory... totally sitting there relaxing having her belly scratched and her toenails filed while watching FOX news.

Come on... She is a conservative, if nothing else.

Who wouldn't want to live like this?