Anniversary - Take Two

So, Saturday morning I blogged about Jeff & I's anniversary. It started out so great and then it got bad. :( I had some sort of 12 hour stomach bug and was throwing up the entire day. I completely ruined our day. It broke my heart, but yet my AMAZING husband was awesome. He took such good care of me. I got me a washcloth for my forehead while I was puking!! He got me crackers, medicine, and chicken noodle soup. No one but my mom has ever bought me chicken noodle soup. I'm so blessed to have such an awesome guy. I've learned a lot about God's love for me through Jeff. As I went to bed Saturday night, I was thanking God for loving me enough to send Jeff into my life.

Encouraging Words

These are the encouraging words that went out to the people I work with at LifeChurch.tv.
What an amazing place we work!! Have you ever stopped to think about how many people yearn to be on staff at LifeChurch.tv?? How fortunate are we that we work in a place where we can talk about our faith freely? We can talk about our struggles and our successes within all aspects of our lives. We have amazing rules on accountability that keep us safe from a physical and/or spiritual attack. We are getting paid to make a difference in the Kingdom of God. Here we are in this awesome atmosphere where we can stop and pray at any moment, but do we? I’ve recently been convicted about praying. I’ve gotten to know quite a few people on staff and I know the struggles and the heartache that we walk around with on our backs. I talk to people and hear their very intimate struggles and I have to ask myself why am I not praying for the people that I work with, aren’t we all working to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ?? I recently stumbled on James 1:5, so I decided to look it up so I could get the full context of the verse.
James 1:2-6
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
God, wants us to come to him. He wants to be involved in the details of our lives. My encouragement to you this morning is that you would seek God in every detail of your day. I would also challenge you to find out what is going on in the lives of those around you. Find out how you can pray for people and then do it. What would happen if we took time out of our work day and prayed for 3 or 5 or 10 people?

Happy Anniversary

Today is Jeff & I's sixth wedding anniversary!! Happy Anniversary, Honey. I love you! This past year has probably been one of the hardest and most marked by change. Man, we have been through a lot this year. Not all of it bad, but most of it could be labeled such. Everything that has happened to my family, Jeff's health, our marriage, my career etc. has instigated such emmense growth in me. It's been a great year, hard but great. I have really become more comfortable in my own skin this year than any other year on record. The funny thing is I really feel like I've only scratched the surface of seeing the potential God has for me and my family. I'm super excited and looking forward to the next year as Mrs. Jeff Buchanan!

North Carolina

Jeff & I along with my very best friend Allyson and her husband took our annual January vacation. The past few years we have gone to Vegas, but this year we opted not to go to Vegas, but instead went to North Carolina. You, like me are probably thinking that's a little random and you would be correct. But my husband had an opportunity to go to a training class up there so we just made a go of it and I'm glad we did. I have to say I took the trip rather lightly thinking there wouldn't be much to do especially since I gave up my Vegas trip to go. Well, not really, but sort of. We were all pleasantly surprised. It was beautiful there and so rich in history. The great thing is that most of the stuff we did was free or very cheap (who doesn't like that)! Although we did manage to see a movie every night we were there which made up the difference for our daily activities being free!! :) The other thing that surprised me about NC is we had some of the best Mexican food ever! In fact, we ate it three times and each time it was excellent. Who knew?

Migraines

So, if you have known me over the past 18 months you know that I started getting migraines at the age of 31-ish. They came on fast and furious and tried to take me out. I struggled to find medication that would keep them from coming while still trying to rid myself of a constant migraine that lasted over 6 months. I was in and out of the hospital for rounds of IV drugs and then finally admitted to the hospital for three days for round the clock IV drugs. Today, I am finally managing my headaches with daily medication and prayer. I've gone a good 6 months now without a migraine and then over the past month I've been struggling. What happens with me is I get just a little headache that I barely notice but it just won't go away and it just starts to get worse - like ebs and flows. Any way, I've had a headache and it won't go away. I can't tell you how much I HATE going to the hospital to get IV drugs. I dread it. It is the worst feeling in the world being drugged and trying to function and counting on people to (my husband) pick up the pieces I drop when I am debilitated with a headache. I just pray that this in not the beginning of a new chapter in the book of Erica's migraines. Will you pray with me??

5 Steps of Attentive Listening - From Group Publishing

1. Look and listen—Pay attention to both actual words and nonverbal clues, such as body language, tone of voice, and inflection. When a person's words and their body language disagree, the body language is more likely to be communicating their true feelings.

2. Project interest—Sincere acknowledgment, even a nod of the head or an encouraging "uh-huh," can reassure the other person you're following what's being said. Looking around the room, allowing your eyes to glaze over as you think of other things, or checking out the text message on your mobile phone will communicate the opposite.

3. Invite expansion—Don't jump in with a response at the first opportunity—no matter how much you think you've got the perfect comment. When there's a pause, prompt the speaker to continue with what he or she was saying with open-ended things like, "Tell me more about that."

4. Clarify information—Ask for specific details or examples to help fill in missing information. This is especially important if the person has a tendency to use words like "always"—you want to know if in this case that really means once every six months. Again, remember open-ended questions like "Why?" do the most to prompt open communication.

5. Summarize—Repeat in your own words the main points of the conversation. Ask the other person to confirm whether you understand accurately. "So it sounds like you're saying...is that right?"

Habakkuk

We are starting a new series at church that I feel is extremely relevant to the many cries I make to the Lord. "Why do you 'let' bad things happen to good people"?, I often wonder when conversing with God. Not really understanding that He doesn't give us anymore than we can handle on this Earth. I think we often get confused. This is not our home. Our come is in Heaven with our Wonderful Maker.
No one is exempt from trouble; the Bible is clear on that. Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble" (John 16:33). But the Bible also gives us good news about trouble. God has promised that although there will be trouble, we will "pass through" it ( Zechariah 10:11); he will be with us not matter what—nothing will separate us from his love (see Romans 8:35-39). And God will strengthen us again when the trouble is past ( Zechariah 10:12).