Waiting on Romeo

I know several languages with which to say "I love you" to someone. Greek, Hebrew, Russian, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Dutch, German, Afrikaans, Creole, Gaelic, Mandarin Chinese, Hawaiian, Sign Language and, of course, English.

In the past I have rushed into love, or what I thought was love b/c I followed my impulses instead of waiting patiently for God's choice for that person in my life. In the past 2 years I have grown a lot...in the past several months I have grown exponentially in my faith, my walk and my obedience to God.

There's a couple of reasons why I've not had a relationship for a year now and have been completely celibate for going on 2 years now.

1. I want the best that God has to offer me and in the past I chose selfishly b/c it was MY choice and what *I* wanted and I know NOW that those relationships weren't what God had planned for me. I'm waiting for that ONE to be brought into my life and I know he's out there. But, especially now as a single mother of two precious children, I can't afford to bring the wrong person into their lives. So I'm being patient in my belief that God really does know what He's doing and that His timing is always right.

2. *I* was not ready and I still am not. I have been working on myself to be the person I need to be for the man that God has planned for me but I know that I still have a bit to go. I'll be honest. But I'm a long way from the person I once was and it's a good feeling!

I know that the man who will be in my life, and the children's lives, will put God first, instead of keeping Him as an afterthought or a "never thought" as have all of my past relationships been one or the other. There's a reason they didn't work out. I'm praying for a "Oneand2KindaBlue" for a Oneand2KindaMarriage. There might be some of y'all out there who know what I mean by this, and if not, I encourage you to check out Oneand2 Ministries.

I've come to realize it's all about trusting God and His timing instead of trying to force God's timing into my own frame. That just doesn't end well. Trust me. I know all too well.

Someday I'll have my "As you wish..." and it will be better than any storybook story. 

Put the paper down

"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."- Jeremiah 29:11 ...

We may not know what tomorrow holds but we know who holds tomorrow. The purpose of a horoscope is to gain insight into a person's character and foretell the future. The basic belief of astrology is that planets and stars exert an influence upon our lives. Those with special knowledge, "astrologers", can predict events in a person's life.

It is distressing that most major newspapers have a horoscope column, and even more distressing that many Christians read their horoscopes. I've been guilty of this. Seriously guilty of it. But God has done such a profound change in my life, the thought of bringing the occult into my life anymore, and yes, horoscopes are of the occult, brings cold chills to the back of my neck. When you dabble with the occult, you open doorways by which demons can creep into your life.

The Bible expressly forbids divination, sorcery, and hidden arts (Deuteronomy 18:10-14). God's people are to heed God only (Deuteronomy 18:15). Any other source of guidance, information, or revelation is to be rejected outright. (See also Acts 16:16-18.) The Bible points to Jesus Christ as the only proper focus of faith (Acts 4:12; Hebrews 12:2). Our trust is in God alone, and we know that He will direct our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Faith in anything besides God is misplaced.

Astrology, then, opposes biblical teaching in at least two ways: it advocates faith in something other than God, and it is a form of divination. We cannot determine God's will for our lives through horoscopes. As Christians, we are to read the Bible and pray to God in order to gain wisdom and guidance. Consulting a horoscope is a violation of God's means of communicating with His children. As a Christian, I strongly believe that horoscopes should be rejected by Christians.

It's about doing the right thing

You hear the sayings...probably have since you were a kid.

"Do what is right not what is easy"
"Wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it. Right is right even if nobody is doing it"
"Always do the right thing because it's the right thing to do...PERIOD!"
Let me ask you a question. Do you find it easier to do the right thing or the wrong thing?

If you find yourself struggling with that, rest assured, you're not alone. Doing what you know you shouldn't was a big burden for the Apostle Paul. In Romans 7:15-19 he says "I don't understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate, I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the wrong things I do not want to do...this I keep on doing."

I know that for me, the more I have grown spiritually, the harder it is for me to consciously do the things that I know to be wrong or displeasing in God's sight. It is almost like nails on a chalkboard to my soul. And my mind and spirit nags at me when I do consciously choose to do the wrong thing to the point where I'm miserable until I go and correct the wrong.

So why be miserable? Why do what you know to be wrong in the first place?

Yes, often it is easier to do the wrong thing but part of growing up and maturing...not just in spiritual matters but in life...means taking responsibility for your actions. It may be hard. It may not be popular. You may be the only one doing it. But do the RIGHT thing anyway.

Be the example you want your kids to see and grow up to emulate. Choose to do RIGHT always!

A life of transformation

God has really started a big work in me. The first weekend in January I went to a www.Oneand2.com conference in Dallas. What happened to me was nothing less than mind blowing. Suffice it to say, that weekend was one of the most significantly impactful, intense and transformative weekends of my life. I'm not sure exactly what my expectations for this weekend were...I will just say that they were shattered. This is one of THOSE moments in life where you know that everything you knew or thought you knew and everything that you had been about and lived for is forever changed. So many will never understand. It's ok. It's about living out the change in all areas of your life. It's about being different b/c you have become different. For those who it has happened to it is one of the most profound moments of your life. Everything's changed. Thank God... :-D Romans 12:1-2

39 years on this earth...35 of them in Christ...and this is the first time I feel truly TRANSFORMED and FREE! It was a heavy, heavy weekend with much discussion on generational curses, “soul ties” with others you have been sexually involved with etc. and breaking those. And my experience in the breaking of them in my life that Saturday evening was profound, absolutely chilling at one point and in the next freeing beyond anything I have ever known or felt! And there was a point in that experience where I had to fight from crying that ugly donkey cry in front of 200+ people. You know the one...you don't want to open your mouth for fear that your sobs will sound like a donkey braying. LOL!

My encounter with God that weekend was unlike anything I have ever experienced. Even Emily said when I got home, "Who are you and what have you done with my mom? You're different. Like really different. You're happy. Kind of giddy happy, but happy happy. You're just different." I feel lighter, but heavier at the same time. The heavier is more like a deep profound feeling and weight of increased awareness, but I feel the absence of the weight inside of the very center of my chest, that I didn’t even realize it was there until it was gone, and filled with the most buoyant, light, carefree feeling I’ve ever experienced. My mom said that it was the Holy Spirit truly dwelling in me and being given free reign instead of always fighting with Him and myself with my worldly desires and selfishness of what *I* wanted.

She said that this is the breakthrough that she’s been praying for for me for years and years. There is such a difference in the way that I am processing things, that I am responding and reacting to things and how I am treating others. I SEE them differently. I SEE my responsibilities differently. Was I saved before? Absolutely no doubt that I was...but I never had that OH MY WOW experience that others have talked about having until that weekend.

During that weekend I was told by 3 completely different people, only one of those who even knew me, that they saw me going into ministry of some kind and helping others. My mom has been saying the same thing to me over the past years.

How God works and His timing is incredible to me. Why not before now? I don’t know. I guess it just became where I got to the point that I had to willingly give up my own fight and truly lay myself down on the alter at His feet and just say, “I truly surrender all. I’m done. I don’t want to do this with only part of You. Not my will but Yours...and not just ‘Your will for my life’ but ‘Your will...period. End of sentence.’”. It’s incredible what happens when you stop trying to fit God into the box of your life. Even a couple of months later I still feel like crying over the profoundness of it all...but the good kind of cry. LOL!

Thank God REDEEMED

So, today...2 times each I have heard the following songs: Redeemed by Big Daddy Weave and East To West by Casting Crowns. I mean, really...what are the odds of that happening, 2 separate times I was in the truck between 30 minutes to 1 hour each time other than it’s a God thing? So here’s what I’ve been thinking about as a result, what has been brought to my mind...

Each of these songs reference the gift that was given to us at the Cross through the entirely selfless act of Jesus voluntarily taking on the sins of the entire world... Past, Present, Future – EVERYONE...mine, yours, the bully from 6th grade, the neighbor that purposely antagonizes you, the murder on death row, etc. He didn’t come to die for just specific people, He willingly gave up His life for all of us.

These two songs speak to me so much because I know what I’ve done and who I’ve been in the past. Who I’ve loved, lusted after, stolen from, talked about, hated and on and on. God says in the Bible that if you look at someone with lust in your heart, you have committed adultery with them. If you have hated someone, it is the same as having murdered them. As the man thinketh in his heart, so he is. (Prov 23:7) That is why it is so important to guard your thoughts and your heart and especially your mouth. (separate post coming on that one).

And there are days when I feel like I’m taking 3 steps back and zero steps forward and immediately I regret, I feel bad...I feel guilty. But you know what? Guilt and regret are NOT from God. God in His infinite Mercy and Grace doesn’t just forgive...He forgets. He erases the board. He deletes the file. He destroys the evidence. He doesn’t remember our mistakes. For all the things he does do, this is one thing he refuses to do. He refuses to keep a list of our wrongs. He just plain doesn’t remember.

But we do. You still remember what you did before you changed. Sins you’ve confessed; errors of which you’ve repented; damage you’ve done your best to repair. And though you’re no longer the same person, the ghosts still linger. They get in your face, whisper in your mind and rob you of your joy and remind you of moments when you forgot Whose child you were. They tickle your mind and say things like, “Are you really forgiven? Sure, God forgets most of our mistakes, but do you think He could actually forget the time you... (insert any instance that brings guilt/regret to your mind)” As a result, your spiritual walk has a slight limp. And when you begin to make headway in your spiritual walk, that specter of the past appears and causes you to start doubting yourself.

Be honest now, do you think God is the voice that reminds you of the dirt of your past? Do you think He was joking when He said, “I will remember your sins no more?” Was he exaggerating when He said He would cast our sins as far as the East is from the West? Do you actually believe He would make a statement like “I will not hold their iniquities against them” and then throw them in our faces whenever we ask for help?

Of course not! To love conditionally is against God’s nature. It’s against God’s nature to remember FORGIVEN sins. God is either the God of perfect grace... or he is not God. Grace forgets. He who is perfect love cannot hold grudges. If he does, then he isn’t perfect love. And if he isn’t perfect love, we are chasing rainbows. But I believe in his loving forgetfulness. And I believe he has a graciously terrible memory.

But with that grace, we need to show thankfulness for it. Grace does not mean we have a license to commit the same sin over and over. God has forgiven us. Given us His grace. We need to act like that means something. Because it does. It means that the innocent death of Jesus on the Cross paid the price for our sins.

God has promised us that if we ask forgiveness from our sins with a truly repentant heart He throws them as far as the East is from the West and remembers them no more. Period. End of sentence. Look it up. Psalms 103:12, Isaiah 43:25, Hebrews 8:12. How does He do this without having to have a high priest to intercede on our behalf, as it was in the Old Testament times?

Through the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus who is the ONLY High Priest and intercessor that we require to come to the Throne Room of God.

There is another new song that I heard today that is called “Hello, My Name Is...” by Matthew West and it is what all of us who are in Christ should say when faced with fear, defeat, regret, guilt, etc. over our sins.

“Hello, my name is child of the one true King
I’ve been saved, I’ve been changed, and I have been set free
“Amazing Grace” is the song I sing
Hello, my name is child of the one true King
I am no longer defined
By all the wreckage behind
The One who makes all things new Has proven it’s true”

So coming up on this Easter season, those of us who have found ourselves in Christ, who call Jesus our Savior, we can say “Hello, my name is child of the one true King. I’ve been saved, I’ve been changed, and I have been set free. I am, thank God, REDEEMED by the One who has thrown my sins as far as the East is from the West...through the span of one scarred hand to the other.”

Who are YOUR closest 5?

It is said that you are who your 5 closest friends are...your belief, your work habits, your income, and your family life....so the question is, Are you happy with that?
I absolutely hate to admit it, but this is why I no longer have the contact now with those I used to be very close to that I once had. While I still love them dearly, I find that my interests, my goals, my dreams, my life have all changed radically over the past couple of years and these past several months especially. I’ve changed. God’s really been working in me personally and what I once found enthralling and chased after, it matters not to me now.

I prefer to spend time with my children, who are at a stage in life where they need me to BE THERE for various reasons. My 11 year old daughter looks up to me and learns the example that I teach her, and I have to be careful that my actions are measuring up to my words if I want her to be a young woman of character and quality. Regardless of what the joke is...life with children IS a do as I do and not just what I say. Monkey see, monkey do. My 3 year old son needs quality and quantity time with his mommy. Boys need a mother who is engaged and interested in them, because, quite frankly, a mom is the most important person in a boy's life and these are his developmental years. Who I am is the kind of person he will end up looking for in a wife. As a general rule, the saying is true, girls look for their fathers and boys look for their mothers...though there ARE exceptions to this. As a single mother, my daughter may not have a great father to look up to, but she can learn the kind of woman to become by watching me.

The cuddles and hugs and laughter and memories made with my children are infinitely more important to me than going out to a bar. These are the memories and traditions that will linger on, long after I am but a memory. I’m good with being mostly a homebody these days b/c these times with my children can’t be taken back. Once they’re gone, they’re gone and as Aerosmith sings “I don’t want to miss a thing”.

Does that mean that I don’t take time for myself? Goodness no! I just prefer to do it in a more relaxed atmosphere once in a while or go out to listen to some great live music on occasion. And I absolutely love tubing with my friends during the summer. That’s some good Texas fun, right there!!! I might go out with friends one night a week a couple weeks in a row and others I might not go out at all for several weeks and, frankly, while I absolutely love to dance still, bars no longer hold the interest that they once did so my experiences in them is extremely limited now. Literally now only for a friend’s concert or a benefit event. I’m perfectly ok with that because I’ve changed. And I’m happy with the change in me. I’m content.

I have to be entirely honest and say that I don't even think I can count 5 friends who I am truly close to anymore. I have a lot of friends that I truly love dearly, as mentioned above...but genuinely CLOSE friends??? I can think of 3 off the top of my head. They're all diverse in their stage/station in life, and my mom is one.

People I look up to, learn from, take advice from and work on emulating, however...I have a lot more than just 5. And as I continue to work on myself and becoming a better person and building a better life for my children and a better future for us, I know that I will end up being able to say that those people I choose to have as my mentors will end up leading me to find like-minded people that grow in to the close friend category.

You are who you hang out with, what you listen to, what you read, who you look up to and learn from. Where you are right now, what does that say about where your future is headed? Be honest with yourself. When you look in the mirror, are you content and happy with the person you see staring back at you? If not, why not? (Rhetorical question there – answer to yourself). Me? I’m happy. I’m content. Finally. But I have a drive that is starting to build in me, a fire that has caught and is starting to burn for me to become better...more...GREATER. I will get there b/c it’s too important to me and not getting there is not an option for myself or my children.  

Why I make the choices I do:

So much on my mind

So, I have a lot to pray about and think about and work toward. As some of y'all know, my work is getting so stressful to the point where I dread getting out of bed every morning. But, I am thankful to have a job, in this economy, and I am thankful to have benefits and great co-workers...it's just other factors in it that are stressing me to the max and the fact that I am not able to be there for my kids as I would like. But...again...I am so incredibly thankful to have a job right now when there are so many who I know that are struggling to find one, and my prayers are with them that God will provide richly for them.

I love my secondary job with AdvoCare that I do from home right now and hope to turn that into full time within the next year or so. This past weekend they had "Success School" that I was unable to attend this time but they had over 13,000 people attend. On Sunday there was an optional church service in the Ft. Worth convention center. You might think that only a handful would show up. No, I was told that it was completely filled to capacity and I saw the pictures, and it was. Many of the key leaders in this company are very strong and committed Christians, several are pastors or involved in their church in some pivotal way. My team in Texas is extremely involved in their respective churches. I love that! They have tickets for 20,000 for the next Success School in February...less than 500 are left. Tickets just went on sale Sunday.

Additionally, when I went "home" to Iowa and Minnesota this past week for a family reunion – first one in 19 years that didn't involve a funeral – not only did Emily and Nate love it, I also started to feel the tug of maybe that's where we belong. Emily loved the small towns and wants to live in the country where life is slower paced, people know each other and everyone is more "God oriented" – this coming from a 10 year old who's lived in the big city all her life...shocking, right?! She loved it so much so, and the chance to be around family on the farms and in the small towns, that she started getting stomach issues (she has a nervous stomach) when we started heading back to Texas. She wanted to stay there. In fact, she wants to live in Dave's parent's farm house and on their farm. LOL!

Dave's family very much wants me/us/the kids up there, as well as my cousins...the ones who live in the area...and there are MANY. I think that all of us would seriously thrive up there, but it's scary as all get out thinking about it, especially when I've never moved from Austin and have lived there all my life. Then there's my church that I so greatly love... Plus, Dave just moved down to Texas, yadda, yadda, etc. While he and I are no longer dating, we are each other's absolute best friends, we do everything together, and yes, we still love each other with all of our hearts, it's just that the timing isn't right...but I'm pretty sure that if I moved somewhere else, he would follow. 

It seems that the older I get, the more mature I become, both spiritually and in life, and the less I find I have in common with my group of friends and I've been drifting from them for a while now. I don't love them any less, I just have much less in common with them than I did a few years ago. There's less tying me to Austin than there's ever been. The only negative is that my mom probably wouldn't move with us up there. She says she loves to visit, but she doesn't want to always have to "be on someone else's schedule".

I just have so much to bring before God in prayer...so much. And I have to make sure that I truly LISTEN to what He tells me. Who knows, maybe we'll be gone *in the blink of an eye* before then, but right now, I know that I have to do something to work on being able to be a work from home mom. The kids need me and I need to be there for them. Maybe that is here in Austin for the long(er) haul.

I posted the following on FB yesterday. I wanted to post it here too. It seems, to me that the more I talk about it, the more accountability I have, the more I am determined to make it a reality.

I have dreams...BIG dreams...that I've been thinking a lot about on this last week's family vacation and I have some hard work and dedication up ahead to turn those dreams into reality, but it WILL happen...make no mistake. I have my VISION, my GOALS, my DETERMINATION and most importantly my WHY. The only thing standing in my way is me. Change my mindset and I change my path. I change my path and I change my destiny. I change my destiny and I change my legacy and that of my family. Challenge myself, my mind, my body. Challenge myself to change my life.

I want that destiny and legacy for myself and my family to be a Godly one full of promise, and I feel maybe I'm being called from Austin to elsewhere in order to accomplish that in full. I just don't know where, but it might be back "home" to Iowa, specifically. At least that's where I feel a tug but God will guide me, I just need to listen, and listen with an open mind and an open heart, which is the hardest for me to do, when I'm so "self sufficient" because I've had to be in order to take care of myself and my kids. I have the utmost trust and faith in God that He will provide for us, but it's hard for me to step out on that faith because I can't see where it leads. 

A great analogy from a phone call that I was on last night at 9:00 with the national team put it this way. There is a difference between a front flip on a trampoline and a back flip on a trampoline. The front flip is so much more difficult, but that's the one that most people do because they can see where they're going. It's stable and predictable...but incredibly hard to do. The back flip is exponentially easier to do, but so few try it because they can't see where they're going.

It's the same way in life. So many people do the same thing, day in, day out because it's stable and that's all they know and they can see where the stable, predictable life will lead, even though it is harder to trudge through a job they hate, or a life that is lacking...life. They do it anyway. If they stepped out on faith, with God's help, even though it is scarier because they can't see where they're headed, it actually is easier to do the unknown and put that hard work into it in order to reap the rewards that will come.

Even when I was in gymnastics and did springboard diving, I always went for the back flips. So I guess I already have that ingrained in me. LOL! One thing I do know...If you don't focus on building YOUR OWN dreams for you and your kids and family, you will always be hired to build someone else's dreams. 

Just have to step out and do it if it is where God leads me. There are a lot of obstacles in the way to get there, but if it's where God is leading, then He WILL provide the way. 

Providing Solutions...

So, as you all know in my last post I did the AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge and was super excited to see the results I was getting after just 3 days.

In all honesty, I wasn't sure what to expect when I went on the 24 Day Challenge, but after finishing it, I'm a true believer in the AdvoCare products. After the 24 days was up I lost a total of 15 pounds and had an over all inch loss of 32.5"...and I'm STILL losing weight and inches and gaining energy 4 weeks after by continuing the products after the Challenge. I am now at a total of 18 pounds (and 4 dress sizes) lost and 35.75" overall gone from my body! 

I am NOT the kind of person who endorses a product, that is unless I TRULY believe in it, but I can't stop talking about the 24 Day Challenge and the other products that have me able to work out harder, longer and faster with better results than I've ever had. This is a product that I wholeheartedly endorse! Not only do I have the body back that I had 15+ years ago, but as a single mother of two kids with a full time job, I have more than enough energy to keep up with my kids when I get home and on the weekends...especially my extremely active 2 year old!

I decided to become a distributor and an advisor after several friends asked me about it from seeing my results so far. I figured why not help others get the same or better results than I did and catch the same excitement to live an EXTRAORDINARY life?! 

Along with the weight loss and energy increase, in 6 weeks I now have a debt-free business and made over $1,000.00 in profit (every little bit helps these days!), the person helping me is currently making an extra $1,200.00-$1,500.00 a month, and is on target to make well over $3,500.00 a month before the end of this year – doing this part time, I might add...and the person helping HIM went from making between $3,000.00-$4,000.00 a month in January of THIS year to making over $12,000.00 a month with the company, as of LAST month. That is how explosive the growth is behind these products and who doesn't want part of that?

AdvoCare provides solutions for what your goals are and gives you a way to reach them. My vision is to be able to have no more debt and be financially FREE and able to work as a single, work at home mom who can support myself and my children and AdvoCare is providing the way. If you are interested in the opportunity to do the same, please don't hesitate to let me know and I will be happy to talk more with you about how YOU can do it too. In this economy, the opportunity and ability to make money, be your own boss, be debt free and to help others is really a blessing!

Here are some links for you to check out if you are interested in either the Challenge, the Business Opportunity, or both:

Challenge Information: www.choosethechallenge.com

Business Opportunity Information: www.workwithchampions.com

If you have any questions about the products or the business opportunity to become financially free and be your own boss please email me at southaustinadvo@gmail.com and I will be happy to answer them for you! If you want to take a look at the AdvoCare products lines, you can view them online at www.southaustinadvo.com and order from there if you want to try anything out. And...they have a completely 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.

I KNOW where I'm going with this company! I'm looking forward to getting more out of AdvoCare in all ways and bringing others along for the exciting ride!

By the Way: Here are the final results!

And now for something I've never done before

Ok, so I never endorse a product unless I love, love, LOVE it! Especially anything having to do with a "diet" or anything like that, but it's getting to come up on tubing season AKA TOOBIN'...AKA bathing suit season. *CRINGE*

After 2 kids and a body where the hormones have gone out of whack for the past 9 years, I am in dire need of help. So...enter Advocare.

I have several friends who have taken it and have had fantastically amazing results on it. Not just women, but men too. Their weight is down, lost inches, BETTER cholesterol, heart function, lower blood sugars...all the stuff I need to work on.

One of my friends, who is my advisor these next 24 days, lost 7 inches from his waist alone and 25 pounds in that first challenge.

I will be posting pictures/stats for the next 24- days so you can keep up with my journey to a healthier me on the Advocare 24 Day Challenge. I'm SUPER excited about this. I started on Sunday and ALREADY there is a noticeable difference in my my stomach. It is not as flabby and looks more trim and flat...and it doesn't "done lop" over my jeans (as much) anymore.


                                                     Day 1                                                                       Day 3

                                                  

Legacies

In a Christian forum that I belong to, there has been some discussion about evangelism and what it means. Not all of us are called to evangelize like Billy Graham or Ray Comfort, in fact, very few of us have that amazing gift. Be we all can reach someone. Often times more than one person, without ever even knowing it.

I never thought I had an impact on anyone before, but last year a former boyfriend contacted me out of the blue. He was so involved in church when we were together. He participated in choir, and I think he was even a Sunday school teacher, Bible study leader, etc. I thought he was a very spiritual person and definitely a Christian. He grew up in the church, but it turns out all of his participation was just a front. He had never personally accepted Christ as his Savior.

When he emailed me, he let me know that by my example back then and my introducing him to the Left Behind series and talking about the Tribulation and the Rapture, etc. that he started really looking into things and studying the Word, not just skimming it, and realized that he was just paying lip service to Christianity and had no true heart service to it. It wasn't that he didn't believe - he definitely did...but he wasn't a Believer. And therein lies the crucial difference. It says in the Bible that even the demons believe...but obviously they are not Believers. He said that it was because of me and my love for God and passion for "the things to come" that led him to fully commit to God and finally become a Christian in deed and not just "name".

That probably is one of the most meaningful things I have ever been told because I know that I have not always lived a Godly life or set a Godly example, I still struggle daily, and I definitely didn't really think back then that I was any example to show anyone...but to him I guess I was. And I have to remember that I will always have someone watching my example and I pray to be worthy of living in accordance to the example God has required of me.

So, he is married now with 4 kids in 5 years (#4 is due in less than a month) and his legacy is leading a Godly life for his family and I can't think of a better one to leave them with. His wife and kids are blessed indeed because of that.

Sometimes we will never know until we reach heaven, but sometimes we will be able to know beforehand, and it doesn't have to be because we evangelize verbally, but it's in the way we live our lives daily. Often we may be the only example of Jesus that others see.

Legacy: leg·a·cy

n. Something handed down from an ancestor or a predecessor or from the past; practices that are handed down from the past by tradition; "a heritage of freedom"; heritage, inheritance, legacy, tradition

What will your legacy be? His is to show through his example to his children that a Godly life...a TRUE Christian life...is the only way to live so that, in the end, God willing they will choose the same.

What do you want to pass down to your children and to others? What do you want to be remembered for?

What will YOUR legacy be?

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I can't embed this right now, but here is the link to Nichole Nordemann's great song, "Legacy". I will try to embed it later:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KEe-dA3a4M

I don't mind if you've got something nice to say about me

And I enjoy an accolade like the rest

And you can take my picture and hang it in a gallery

Of all the "who's who's" and so-and-so's

That used to be the best at such and such

It wouldn't matter much

I won't lie, it feels alright to see your name in lights

We all need an "atta boy" or "atta girl"

But in the end I'd like to hang my hat on more besides

The temporary trappings of this world

I want to leave a legacy

How will they remember me?

Did I choose to love?

Did I point to You enough

To make a mark on things

I want to leave an offering

A child of mercy and grace

Who blessed Your name unapologetically

And leave that kind of legacy

I don't have to look too far or too long awhile

To make a lengthy list of all that I enjoy

It's an accumulating trinket and a treasure pile

Where moth and rust, thieves and such will soon

enough destroy

I want to leave a legacy

How will they remember me?

Did I choose to love?

Did I point to You enough

To make a mark on things

I want to leave an offering

A child of mercy and grace

Who blessed Your name unapologetically

And leave that kind of legacy

Not well-traveled, not well-read

Not well-to-do, or well-bred

I just want to hear instead

Well done, good and faithful one

I want to leave a legacy

How will they remember me?

Did I choose to love?

Did I point to You enough

To make a mark on things?

I want to leave an offering

A child of mercy and grace

Who blessed Your name unapologetically

And leave that kind of legacy

I don't mind if you've got something nice to say about me