Yep...I'm still pregnant!

So the hubs and I laugh every time we walk into our local grocery store, juice shop or even church at this point...because everyone exclaims...Where's that baby? Or they give us a look...

So today we decided - I need a T-Shirt that reads - Yep! I'm still pregnant!!! LOL!

This is the closest I could find:

We just laugh it off though - but there's gotta be a market for this shirt - anyone want to launch? I want royalties! YEP! Still Pregnant!!!

Anyways - when it comes to birthing naturally, you may naturally have to wait. And waiting for this impatient lady is no fun for momma...

I hate waiting for anything, but what I do know is that patience is truly a virtue and that I am blessed because daily I have a husband that takes my frown and turns it upside down...He's amazing and has continually made me focus on all that is good, all that is true and all that is right! We pray, we refocus, he may do a little dance or sing a little song, anything to get my from navel gazing (literally) and gets me focused on goodness.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not depressed, angry, but I have been (from day to day) a little irritable...(pray for my husband).

While we can't wait to meet our baby girl - we are just blessed to know she's happy, she's healthy and she's going to be stubborn just like her mom and dad...

I can't tell you how thankful we are fall all the calls, texts, messages, etc that we receive daily - we have an amazing network of people who are sending us prayers, thoughts, gifts and pure goodness.

Baby girl - you are going to be so loved...and we can't wait to meet you! (41 weeks and 3 days ) - I just went to look at the days on my pregnancy app - and it cracks me up - it says:

"41 weeks and beyond...
"Baby is the size of a Pumpkin - you are officially overdue!"

Nah - really? - Everyday - I find something new to giggle about...and today it's this!
Oh and can I tell you - I've never had so many people tell me to have sex...I know it's all in love, and I'm thankful for the advice, but it cracks me up...strangers even...

Baby delivering is serious business! And we are ready to enjoy every minute of it...
Be blessed today!

Everyone has a testimony...

I had what my husband calls "a download" this morning...so let me share it here with you.

I know many people that have tremendous testimonies or stories...and as it says in the bible, I truly believe the scripture that says:

Revelation 12:11 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

And to that end, I love hearing stories of over comers...but here's the deal...I hear SO MANY testimonies and I hear the differences in where people are with their testimony - heck - even I am at a different stage with different parts of my testimony - because I'm constantly being renewed and refreshed and sanctified...

But there's something the Lord downloaded to me this morning...there are two roles in testimony sharing - the person sharing the testimony and the person hearing the testimony.

Both roles have a responsibility and we must be aware of this...gosh - my brain just went into a whole other sermon - there's multiple things to think about when you are sharing your testimony and maybe I'll make another post about that - but for now let's stick to this one.

When you share - you must think about where you are in your story and BE HONEST. I hear so many testimonies that are not sharing in order to GLORIFY GOD, but are sharing in order to GAIN SYMPATHY because they have not yet passed over or overcame the hurt in their story. I don't believe that this is what the Lord desires. This is, I hate to say, manipulative and selfish, and if I were free of this myself I would feel bad in saying it so harshly, but I can't in good conscience say I have never wanted peoples sympathy when I shared...but I need to ask this...

Why? Because I should not be sharing to get anything out of it...I should be sharing TO GIVE ALL GLORY TO GOD! And so should you - and I know some of you do - and you are the ones that inspire me...thank you! You are sharing from a humble heart attitude that knows God did this, this is God's story - not my story...it's his - ALL OF IT. And gosh I really need to do some self examination myself on this one.

But there's more - the way the Lord brought this to me is by listening to the hurt and heart ache in another's story - and I started to take on that hurt and take on that heartache and the Lord said STOP. This person sharing has not overcome this, has not handed this over to me, has not shared from a humble heart but is trying to manipulate you and others. Now I could have easily been upset with this person, but that's not what the Lord was trying to say. The Lord was giving me discernment to guard my heart, to guard my mind, to protect me for bearing a burden that was not mine.

WOW - that's insight, that's wisdom, that's discernment.

I think we all need to think about this - we need to hear each others stories and encourage each other to share, but we also need to be alert and know that what the enemy may intend for bad - GOD intends FOR GOOD...so we have to let it all rest with him, He is the burden-bearer...He is the one that is meant to be glorified through all things.

So I pray today that you set down any story you've picked up and that you examine your story as well, like I said, I need to look at how/when I tell mine and what is my motivation - is it for His glory or for my selfish needs?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this...

Winning or loosing (an incomplete blog post)

It occurred to me how important perspective can be on life...on days when I have a "good" perspective, I can appear to be "winning" at most things.  But then there are the days when I have a "bad" perspective and it appears that I'm "loosing" at most things.

So what's the difference?

What happens in that split second of a thought to taint/affect our brain with the idea that we are going to win/lose in that moment...

I ask, because, I have trouble with this myself.

So here are some thoughts:

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Stop the press - in my last post this was something I talked about - these random, incomplete posts...I decided to start looking at them and publishing them as I was led.

For the life of me, I have no idea what those next thoughts were going to be, nor do I know why I stopped mid-blog and didn't continue.

Feel free to add your perspective or chime in - I'd love to hear what you think - I think this topic is very valuable...and maybe in the future the revelation will come back, but for now, enjoy this incomplete post!