Deer Hunting with Jesus

I’m sitting in total darkness, the cool air of morning in my face. I hear the rustling if leaves, things moving below me. I wait in anticipation of day break. Soon the foggy haze reveals squirrels playing in the leaves below, turkeys make their way in. Rays of sunshine stream through the trees onto the freshly fallen blanket of snow below. There’s nothing more magical and spiritual that witnessing the world come alive! All of God’s goodness and glory become extremely apparent as the animals begin their daily routine.
I await the arrival of a big buck while nestled in my stand with a big goose down blanket across my lap and a warm cup of coffee in my hand. I bow my head to pray. I thank God for safety into the woods and all of his glory he has bestowed upon us. I pray if he allows us to see one of his magestic deer that he steadies my aim and allows me to make a clean kill or a clean miss so not to waste his wonderful bounty. As I look up from my prayer, I see a doe peaking her head across the ridge looking to see if it’s safe to come on in and have a bit of breakfast. She comes to eat and leaves peacfully. I had just had our son and was breast feeding so i used this quite time to express milk for my son. My dad, who I’ve hunted with since I can remember, says “Wouldn’t it be funny if 2 deer walked out while you were pumping and we got to shoot them at the same time?” Of course, I said jokingly “Funny yes, but maybe they’ll wait until I’m done.” As I begin to finish up I look at the top of the ridge and notice something odd looking. There in the thicket, stands a buck. I make sure he has at least 6 tines on one side. My breath begins to quicken, my heart begins to race. So i quickly laid down the bottle and removed my nursing cover….daddy always taught us not to look at the horns before we shoot, but it was too late I had already seen this was a monster! I raise my gun to get ready for the shot. As he steps into the clearing, with his head thrown back, I pull the trigger. He’s down! But as I pull the lever to reload, he raised his head back up. At this point my heart is beating out of my chest! Then I look where he was standing, and see another buck watching him. I alert my Dad whom I always have hunted with and he shoots the second deer. He’s down also! So not to let my deer suffer, I shoot him again. This time he’s dead. As I sat there shaking with excitement I thank God for our bounty.

– Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me [some] venison; Genesis 27:3 (KJV)

Deer season is coming up in a couple of weeks here in NC and I’m stoked! I always get excited this time of year! There are so many things I love about fall, but I’ll have to say, deer season is my favorite!  Growing up, my dad worked 2 jobs to allow my mom to stay home with my brother and I. While it was great having Mom at home to help us learn and grow, we really missed our dad. When deer season rolled around he would take a week off of work to take us deer hunting. At first it was a great way to spend time with him (and still is), but he instilled his love for hunting in us during that time. We could hunt separately now, and have at times but we enjoy the fellowship too much to hunt separately most days.
I am very thankful for the opportunity to learn how to hunt from my dad and that he made us aware that God is who controls our hunts.
If you are a child of God you take Jesus with you wherever you go. But when you are riding a 4wheeler up the side of a cliff praying you make it without flipping, this makes you much more aware of the reality that old age is not promised. So I challenge you to ‘take Jesus’ with you every where you go!
Whether you get that big 8pt buck or come home empty handed, always remember… in all things PRAISE HIM!

God Bless!

Blue light special!

So I’ve had a dead tag on my car since July. It is now November. I guess it’s about time for that one to catch up with me. Yesterday while on my journey to work I finally got pulled over.

Everyone suddenly becomes a great driver who is extremely safety conscious at all times…. why is this? I do it myself, you see the police, you check your speed and sometimes some people are trying to buckle up settle the kids down, put their phone up and so on… we even pray they don’t notice we have a dead tag….

How many times do we do the same thing when we see the preacher out in public? Or church folks? How many times are we careless until we feel someone is watching us? Then we try to clean up and look like everything is right real quick like they’ll never notice.

Friend, the harsh reality is unlike a state trooper, God watches us always. He knows our every move, our every thought, even when we are asleep, he sees ALL.  The good news is, he knew how rotten we were BEFORE he walked up Calvary BUT he did it ANYWAY!

I know my last post was extremely similar but I’ve had this on my heart for a while, God has shown me I need to clean up my life more and live every day like it’s my last because it just may be. This thing is not going to last much longer!

How clean is your bathtub?

While sitting here drinking my coffee and getting my day in order this morning, my mind wandered back….
I remember talking with a friend. It was a great conversation, about visiting family members and how no one has time for much of that any more… then she said something that shocked me.

“When I use someone’s bathroom I always pull the curtain back to see how nasty the bathtub is.”

My first thought was, why in this world would you do that? And who cares?
Now, I’m sure I’m the only person who does this, but if unexpected company shows up at my door and my bathroom is a mess I throw the towels, toys, and/or dirty clothes in my bathtub and close the curtain. It never occurred to me that someone would pull that curtain back and look to see what’s in there.
This made me wonder as Christians, how many times do we try to hide our ‘pet’ sins from others. Of course God knows all and sees all but how many times are we the only Bible some people read? And they see those things that we think we have hidden? but they’re peeking around the curtain looking to see how clean we really are?
I’m afraid I fail at this daily. We all say and do things that we shouldn’t on a daily basis….let’s face it, we’re imperfect.  But we all have those things that we know are wrong or are getting in the way of us doing right that were not so keen to remove from our lives…
We need to make a conscious effort to always keep our lives in a shape so that we don’t have to try to hide the clutter. This made me very aware that I can try to hide the clutter in my life but there will always be someone pulling back that curtain to see what’s there….

Now, as far as my bathtub goes…yeah I’ll probably still be hiding stuff there 🙂

The Greatest Gifts cannot be wrapped.

“On that resurrection morning, when all the dead in Christ shall rise. I’ll have a new body. Praise the Lord, I’ll have a new life, eternal.”

I’ve contemplated starting a blog for sometime now. I feel like this would be an effective way to de-stress and relax in the evenings while keeping me sane all at the same time!

I am first and foremost a child of God, then a mother, then a wife, and finally a nurse.

I am a pretty random person, so to say this blog will have a specific content, I cannot. But I can say that it will include my random crazy thoughts, personal beliefs, and general child rearing struggles….along with whatever else may pop into my mind! 🙂

So to begin this wonderful journey, I would like to share my testimony.

I was in the 11th grade, I felt like I was on top of the world! A+ student, dual enrolled at the local community college and getting a jump start on my career. I thought I had it all… I was taking  a psycology class at the college which was currently teaching totally and completely against my raising. I had been raised in church somewhat, but not consistently until about the 7th grade. I thought the Lord had saved me when I was a young child, but I had never felt conviction, just someone asking me to repeat after their parayer and BAM! you’re in. I was also in an English class with a new teacher who made fun of Christians. She actually requested that the class hel her make fun of Christians one day. I was under conviction…. if you’ve ever been there, you know what I’m taking about.

I questioned the very existance of God. I wondered if these teachers were right while simultaneously being scared to death that I would die at any given moment. If I were to die I would inevitably lift my eyes in a firey Hell, because nothing I had ever done could warrant going to Heaven. I had nightmares for a week. I was afraid to sleep for fear I wouldn’t awaken. I sat through church that Wednesday night scared and what I thought at the time ‘confused’. Sunday morning was no different. By the time sunday night rolled around, I was a nervous wreck. I dont remember what the preacher preached on. All I remember was them singing “I’ll be waiting at the River for You”. I tried and tried to visualize that river, but nothing….My heart was beating out of my chest and I knew it was the Holy Spirit telling me I was lost and I had to be saved. It felt like an eternity standing there gripping the back of that pew. The first step to that alter was the hardest to make. After the first step I really couldnt tell you how I got there. But I did. I knelt in the alter and begged God to save me. (I dont know about you but Heaven was just a plus for me at the time all I wanted to do was avoid Hell).On that Sunday night in the Spring, Jesus saved me. This is the greatest gift I have ever recieved in my life. It didnt cost me a dime, and no one can take it away. Without my Jesus I would have no hope and no purpose for my life!

Since this wonderful night, there have been ups and downs in my life. God has blessed me with a Husband and a wonderful little boy (years later of course).  We go through hard times just like everyone else, the only difference is, we have the Lord to help us through it all. He has never let me down!