The Curse of Never Measuring Up

The curse of never measuring up...the first time I ever heard that phrase was in a sermon almost 15 years ago. It struck me then and I've never forgotten that phrase or the message given that day. The curse of never measuring up is the curse of the law. It is the opposite of grace. The sermon was from the book of Romans and laid out law vs. grace as I had never really heard it before. I've dealt through the years with situations that have reminded me often of that phrase...that conflict between law and grace, and I truly thought I had overcome that curse. I guess I had taken huge steps away from living under the curse, but I had never really become free as The Lord intends for me to be.

Well, The Lord has been faithful to teach me so much lately in this area of struggle, and my heart feels an urgency to share that with you! I am writing this today to say that I no longer choose to live under that curse! I've already been freed from it through the blood of the lamb but have been living like a captive to it!! No longer! Freedom!!! I will no longer live as one who has to please man...under the fear of man. I've believed IN it for years and made every attempt to live in freedom, but finally for the first time ever I am choosing by the power if the Holy Spirit that resides in me to live like I believe it! To walk it out by His strength. To submit to His Spirit, allowing Him to do a work in and through me in this area.  NO human being will ever have hold of me again under the grip of fear. I reject all such nonsense in the name of Jesus, and by His blood! I now BELIEVE. I receive the freedom already given to me through Jesus Christ to never again live under the curse of never measuring up. My audience is one and ONLY one! I live for HIM and Him alone! I'm done cowering around in my soul as a weak, fearful slave who is afraid of the whip about to crack down on her back from who knows where next. Done!!! I am no longer a slave. I am a free, much loved child of God! I am victorious through Him, not because I say so or any other man says so, but because HE says so! Not by MY might but by HIS power! I'm ready to start living passionately and freely again. No more of the devil's nonsense...he has NO authority over me or my family!! Break every chain, Lord!! No more wasting my energy and my life, as the enemy would have me do, on pleasing others and trying to gain favor. I so desire for everyone to understand me, to be at peace with each other, and for every motive of my heart to be understood. Those are not all bad traits, but can become absolutely consuming if the enemy takes advantage of them and cripples you through them.  It's an uphill, losing battle, and accomplishes nothing more than making you a weary warrior. I've wasted so much time and strength trying to fight battles the enemy loves seeing me fight, because he knows I will never win them, but they will make me worn out for the REAL battles that I need to be engaged in by the power of the Holy Spirit that DO produce fruit and bring victory for the sake of the kingdom. It is Finished! Freedom! I crush the head of the enemy by the authority given to me through Jesus Christ! No more! I don't expect to please every man. I know I will not, and as challenging as that is for me, I am not accountable to man...I am accountable to my Father in heaven who created me, loves me, and has never once given up on me...or you!

I know I am not alone in this. My challenge to you today is to allow the mighty power of the living God to break every chain in your life holding you back from moving forward and living freely in Him as He intended! He never intended for us to walk around with our heads hanging down, feeling empty and ashamed, feeling we will never be good enough or ever do good enough. He came to redeem and He will never, ever stop  being in the business of redeeming no matter what. Jesus Christ came that we might have life and have it to the fullest!!! Life that is truly life!!! No more hiding behind fear of man, the curse of never measuring up, or any of that nonsense. Life is too short for that. Jesus is the giver of life and the giver of freedom no matter what comes your way! Our Redeemer Lives! Now let's help one another live in the freedom He offers!

Here We Go...Again

It is more frustrating to me than I can tell you that I haven't kept the blog going for most of this year.  I've taken lots of pictures (just ask my facebook friends!) and done plenty of writing, but for a number of reasons I haven't kept up with the blog this year. I've decided that rather than backtracking I'm just going to pick up from here and share as I have time and as I'm led.  As I wrote back when I started this a few years ago, I don't guess I really have one sole purpose for blogging.  Partly to share our own family journey through pictures and experiences, partly for sharing ways the Lord is moving in my own heart and what He is showing me to share with others, and, truthfully, partly for whatever other purposes He may have down the road that He wants me to share.  I don't really know.  Regardless, I'm back.  If you haven't been a follower of my blog before, I'd love to have you follow.  If you're an old friend, thanks for stopping by again.  I'll remind you that if you're looking for a blog by a wonderful, educated, grammatically correct writer, you probably want to stop reading now...I make no attempt to act like that's what I'm here for. (See...I just ended that sentence with a preposition  (:  ) I do a lot more writing in the flow of how I think, how my heart and mind process things.  I guess I honestly write here the same way I would write in my own journal...just free flowing and sometimes even a little random. 

I need to take time sometime soon to update my photos on my homepage, my info, etc.  For now though, here we go.

Thanks for reading. Glad to be back.

Our Little Reds

Just looked out on the deck after church one November Sunday afternoon while making lunch and saw this...

 

 Not sure any picture sums up these two more than this one right here!  Absolute LOVE!

 

 

 

 

I love my red headed babies!!!  We always say these two are either gonna' make us old quick or keep us young!!!  They make me smile! (:

It's Wrestling Time!

Wrestling Season officially began, and as I mentioned before, this was new to GCA...their first year adding wrestling into their winter sports. Super exciting!!  Here are some pictures from the first meet.  The guys did a great job, with four young men medaling that day from Grace!  We were so proud of Jake, because he won his very first "First Place" medal ever that day!  Jake ended up having a tremendous season overall, which I'll post more on later, but I love, love, love seeing that boy's hard work pay off.  Those who knew him when he started wrestling just a few years ago would tell you he had a LONG way to go back then.  Now, no one would work harder than he did, but he didn't win very many matches in that first year.  It's been gradually improving year after year, and he has put in tremendous hard work and determination toward getting better, and this year he was quite a force out there!  He absolutely loves this sport, and I think he, as well as several others, really grew in a huge way from this opportunity at Grace this season. So proud!!

 

 

I love all the guys by the mat rooting for their teammates!! (there's my man in the black helping coach a little during the match)

No, this isn't one of my fellas, but I can't leave him out!  Coltyn was the first wrestling win that day...the first win in GCA history!!! Way to go, Coltyn! (notice his proud Mama in the background!-Love it!)

Is that my little boy??!!

 

Jake on the mat, about to pin

 

 

 

Coach Ian congratulating Jake after his big win!

 

Awesome!!

I absolutely LOVE this picture! (:

Veteran's Day Chapel

So thankful for our Veterans and their sacrifice and service to our nation!  GCA's chapel was a sweet time honoring our military.  Caleb and a young lady at Grace sang the National Anthem.  They did a beautiful job...wish I had a picture to post!  Also, Jake was part of the group of young men who folded the flag for part of the ceremony. Proud of our young men, and incredibly grateful for the freedoms we have, and the individuals who have given of themselves so freely.

 

Home of the free, because of the brave!!

 

Jake is the second from the right, holding the folded flag

Elly's First Tooth

Well, if I'm being the "family historian" here, as one of my friends calls it, then I can't leave out this short but sweet post...

 

Elly officially lost her first tooth!!! (Actually this was while the Gilkesons were visiting!!) See what happens when you get behind in your posting?!  In case you're wondering, yes, she pulled it herself.  That's the way we roll in the Dallas house...decided way back with child #1 (who was 5 years old at the time, and already the oldest of 4) that this was gonna' be one busy household, and an awful lot of teeth were gonna' be needing pulled over the years...decided right then that if all they ever knew was "you pull your own teeth" that's just what they would do!  So far, so good!  We'll see!!

Either way, here's the lovely lady with the missing tooth! (:

 

A Little Wrestling Fun

Well, wrestling got started full speed, and after Elly's ballet lesson one afternoon, we went down to the wrestling room to meet Daddy...just a glimpse of life in the background as Mom and Dad are talking.  I love my family (:

 

 

PAST Time for a Haircut

So, 95% of the time, I give the haircuts around here.  Yep...that's why sometimes they look better than others, but it saves a pretty penny when it comes to adding up the many heads that need clipping! There is the rare occasion where there's been an exception to that rule, but usually not! 

 

Caleb's hair...well, let's just say...it was time!!! PAST time!!  And I can't even blame it on him.  It was me!  Somehow days kept passing, even weeks, and I still hadn't gotten to him, even though he had been asking.  He decided for basketball season, he wanted to go with a short cut...he's had them before a few times here and there, but it's been a while.  SO, below is the process!

 

Thankfully, Caleb, aka Cousin It, didn't usually wear it this much in his eyes,

but for the full effect, it made a nice "before" picture!  (:

Hair, hair, and more hair

 

The finished product...I think he's cute as can be!

 (and I think he lost about 10 lbs!!!) 

Friends from Georgia!

We were SO excited when our friends, the Gilkesons, got to come visit for the weekend! Fred and and Kenny worked together at Landmark for 11 years, and he and his sweet wife, Sheila, were two of the first people we met when we moved there several years ago.  We became fast friends, and for most of the years we were there, we not only knew them closely through Landmark, but also went to church with them, as well...so many great expieriences and memories together!!

 

Fred has been a highly successful wrestling coach for Landmark for years, and since Kenny was starting up wrestling at GCA, who better to come and kick our guys off here than, Coach G?!  The guys here figured out real quick the many similarities between these two! It was a great start for the program here, and we had a lot of precious time together just hanging out once the work was done!

Gracie and Elly playing outside

Sheila is an incredibly talented artist and art teacher, so, naturally, we wanted to take her down to the galleries in Leipers Fork, just down the road.  You see where the two men ended up by the third gallery?  (take note:  there are peanuts sitting there by the fireplace...took theese two about 2 seconds to find them and plant themselves!)

 

 

Had to take them to check out Sweet Cece's!

I'm not sure Zech let go of Fred's hand the whole time they were here! (:

 

My guys with us at Sweet Cece's enjoying the entertainer that night

 

 

Nothing like old friends...so thankful we got to have some time catching up in person!!!

Love you, Fred and Sheila!

There's Something About Little Girls

 

I have to say that a little girl in the midst of all these boys adds a dimension this house would not have known otherwise!  It still cracks us up the way girls naturally have the posing thing going on, and boys, at least most of the time, just do not! Snapped these few shots as we were heading out one day.  Love this dress on her...her daddy picked it out himself (and we, literally, NEVER buy new clothes!! Can you say, "thrift store", "consignment"??? ) But when he saw it, he said it was so Elly, he couldn't wait to give it to her.  As you can tell...I think she liked it just a little bit, too! (:

 

 

 

Rollin Roar and Rap Off

My husband's done a lot of crazy things in his day, but this is one I never saw coming!!  GCA does a big fund raiser every fall called Rollin Roar, and this year the big reward for raising all your money was to get to come to the big showdown between R-Mac and K-Dawg (for those of you who don't know, R-Mac is the headmaster at GCA...he and Kenny have known each other for somewhere around 17 years)  Well, needless to say, the fundraiser was a HUGE success (made right at $65,000...amazing!!!) and the rap off was definitely a hit!  Here is one of the signs that hung in the hallways at Grace for 6 weeks before the big day came...can't explain how hilarious it was walking down the halls seeing this everywhere you went!! I will say, these two were GREAT sports, and really made the day so exciting from the start for all the kids (and adults, for that matter!)

 

 

Here are several fun pics of the day...starting with the big rap off battle, and then lots of outdoor fun for the day!! 

 

 

 

 

 

And the winner is....K-DAWG!!!  (he-he!)

 

My cuties ready to rollin roar!

 

I was helping with the twins class all day, so I didn't get any pics of my older kiddos and all the events they had going on!  Great day for the family and for Grace!

The Dallas Hillbillies

No, I don't know them...that's all I have to say (:

Hillbilly Day at GCA 2012