DISQUS

Wow, great post Ben. I have the same problems. And there's a thread of pride winding through the whole thing, so when I give, I feel all good about it like it was my generosity. Oh, and watch out for those times when I give more than 10%. God REALLY better notice me then...

Ben.

I have to admit that you really did have me going. My co-worker had to come in and push my jaw closed and wipe up the pool of spit.

You are such a dork!

I think one of the keys here is to "Get some fear of God." Along with the above comments of worshiping God, etc., there is real power in that fear.

I have found it literally impossible to keep on sinning once I have asked the Lord for, well, the fear of the Lord. All of the sudden committing the sin that yesterday I felt I was getting away with has become a HUGE DEAL. Borderline cursing has become out of the question. Reading morally questionable literature--out the window.

I didn't know you could even ask for that or that you SHOULD ask for it until my pastor said one time that he started asking for it, as it says in Proverbs--the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Well, I can see the practical applications of that staring me right in the face now that I have some fear of the Lord. Simply put, it is FOOLISH to think that we can sin and get away with it. It's wisdom for our spiritual, emotional, and physical health to fear the Lord.

LOL, I used that "sweet spirit" line just the other day! It's a sure thing! Kinda like "bless his heart" covers a multitude of insults in the South.

Definitely the orange. :) I agree with Heather on the header...it's too "generic motivational poster."

Congratulations! Looks awesome :)

P.S. Heather I hope you feel better!!

I love it!! I tried to catch the moon the other day but I couldn't...I guess Eliana and I were going for it at the same time. She's a fast one. :)

Wow Heather, you really hit the nail on the head here. Thanks for sharing your heart. The verse I keep coming back to with regard to pride is again from Paul in Romans 7:15: "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." And I HATE living out of pride. The kicker is, when I'm that deep into it, I don't even know it! It takes getting my feelings hurt or something equally difficult for me to realize that I'm not so humble as I think!

These are really convicting questions. Actually, idolatry is a subject that God has brought up with me recently. I can date it to when I first determined to start professing the ten commandments daily. Your posts on the subject have been really helpful.

Thanks for the update Heather! Your family is awesome...I was just noticing everyone has the same hair color (that has hair, anyway...) :)

Hey Heather! Pesky pounds indeed! :)

You know I had to comment on this one because of all my weight loss struggles. I love WW, and I lost 25 pounds in about 4 months the last time around. I've since gained 10 of that back, but I'm back on track now for the umpteenth time. This time I have a short term goal of losing 25 pounds before our Disney World trip in February. I just wish it was only about the weight, and not about all the underlying junk the weight represents...you know?

Oh, okay. Cool :) I just bought a bunch of shrimp on sale so I'll give it a try. Yay, I love new recipes :)

This sounds awesome...but the shrimp doesn't get all tough and chewy from cooking it for so long? I always have a hard time with that aspect of shrimping.

What a great post! I've got tears in my eyes myself to hear that :)

BTW, I hope you're feeling better. Thanks for the yard sale comment :)

No kids here, but I remember my mom sending us to school, but not letting us participate in halloween. She talked to our teachers and made them give us "alternate activities" during halloween. On the actual day I don't think she kept us at home. I don't remember ever dressing up either.

It was kind of embarrassing being the only kid in class not doing the halloween thing, and sometimes the teachers were mean about it (mostly because they were being inconvenienced). But I would say, talk to your daughter's teachers and see what they have to say. I also remember Jehovah's witnesses skipping out on Christmas activities and other things that contradicted their beliefs, so it's not unheard of.

I love the Love Languages book. Every once in a while my hubby will come up to me in all seriousness and say "Is your love tank full?" It's sweet :) I don't know if it's this way with all couples, but we both have to make a concerted effort to speak each other's love language. It's just not a natural thing for either of us. I guess God intended it as a way for each of us to lay down our lives for the other.

Great post Heather. I'm totally with you on not using your limitations as an excuse. One word that came out of the retreat was "If we step out in faith, not seeing the open doors, Jesus will come and obliterate the walls and barriers." Sometimes it requires action on our part, not because God needs it, but because we need it. Live expecting healing and deliverance. Confess the word. But like you said, live the life you were called to live.

How exciting! I love reading your stuff Heather. You have some great insight. Sorry to hear about the crash, but I like the theme of the site and the title. I think it'll be so powerful for the two of you to do this together.

Ben, you are a nerd. I don't know if Kernersville is fully aware of this fact....do they REALLY know what they've bargained for here?!? :)

I used the music box!!!

Oh well, I guess it is walking on the shady side of copyright law or something.

Great story :)

Ben, I don't know how I have missed this story until now. Umm, have you had a little visit from homeland security since its posting?!?

Sell out!!

Actually, I've always looked at ads on sites as a sign of success. A popularity indicator, if you will. I say go for it!

I dare you to submit this to Reader's Digest. Try to put a plug in there for Bethel :)

Ben, you are awesome. The most daring thing we ever did was sneak out and spy on this guy we had a crush on, but we weren't wearing shoes and got grossed out when we stepped in some ivy.

Girls are wimps.