Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Generosity Wins

This weekend marks one year since we saw a HUGE miracle in our lives. We won a Brand New Car!



Now, let me tell you the whole story....
When Chuck and I got married one of the things we decided as a couple, was that we would be generous. We have been on the receiving end of other's generosity and we have watched on the sidelines as others in our life have been the ultimate example and given BIG to people around them. Plus, God GAVE his only son for us. What more of a reason do we need?

On top of all that, the Bible says in Proverbs 11:24-25 "he who gives freely, receives even more!"

Knowing and believing this, we want to be givers. In the past three and a half years, Chuck and I gave away two of our cars. First, my car that I had when we got married to a wonderful family of five we knew that needed it more than us; and then Chuck's car he had when we got married, to another sweet family of five who needed it more than us. We had seen this family walk to church...in July...in Houston. It was a no-brainer. We gave.
And, we still had one vehicle left.
Then, we decided to start a family of our own and knew SOON we would need a second car...a family-mobile.
Our son Wrenly was born in the beginning of October, just as our church began a series called "The Circle Maker" based on the book by Mark Batterson. In this series, we were challenge to dream big and pray specific prayers, "circling" them with consistent prayer and faith. We decided to write down these things we were praying for. And on this list we wrote:  A brand new car w/ no payments.

We began to pray and believe but still needed a car asap. So a couple weeks went by and we found a used SUV for a great deal and decided to purchase it. We went to a new branch of a Credit Union near us and opened the account. Inside the lobby was a giant poster of a red Chevrolet Camaro and promotion for a giveaway to celebrate their 75 year anniversary. Interesting...

A couple weeks later (toward the end of November), Chuck received a call from the Credit Union. "Mr. Martin, we wanted to let you know that in honor of our 75th Anniversary, we are drawing a monthly winner every month this year and you are our November winner! You have won $1,075 and are one of twelve monthly winners to be entered into a drawing to win a brand new 2012 Camaro!"
When Chuck got off the phone, he was excited but looked and me and said " I feel like we are going to win but I'm sure everyone thinks they are going to win." I replied, "Maybe, but not everyone wrote it down in their prayer journal and has been praying for it!"

That very day Chuck facebook'd and tweeted a picture of a 2012 Camaro and posted "By the Grace of God, this is coming our way January 26th, 2013." Then, in the coming days he called the Insurance Company and got a quote for our rate adding the Camaro. You see, these are acts of faith. We began to ask in faith, believing! ( Matt 21:22; John 14:13)

Needless to say, January 26th rolled around and we went to the Camaro Giveaway Event. About 150 people or so gathered in anticipation. That morning Chuck had asked me what I was going to say when we won and I wasn't sure so I turned the question on him. He replied with emotion, "I'll say that it may look like chance won, or that this random guy won, but really God wins. Generosity wins. He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." and then he said he'd continue with the story of us giving our cars away and trusting God that he would provide.

After "randomly"  selecting a car key from a basket and then waiting while the winners from months January through October tried their keys in the ignition, it was finally Chuck's turn. He decided he wouldn't just barely sit in the car and lean in, he was getting in and shutting the door! And he did, and the ignition started! The crowd went crazy. We, along with others, balled our eyes out. To this day, I tell people it was like watching water be turned to wine - a modern day miracle!



As we reflect on this anniversary date of winning the car, we are grateful and still in awe at the faithfulness of our God. Whatever you need, our God can supply it. He still answers prayers.


Here's a video of the actual win!






Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Vision Wall

A while back my Chuck and I sat in a seminar session by Dr. Dave Martin. Amongst a lot of other great nuggets of inspiring advice on living your best life, Dr. Dave began to talk about Vision. He said he and his wife had some big dreams in the back of their minds; things they wanted to see if their future, desires in their hearts - some crazy and others quite obtainable. In order to see those dreams come to pass, they decide to post them in their home. They hung actual pictures of things they were dreaming for or envisioning for their future. He mentioned that they put them out in a high-traffic place, where they would see them and be reminded of them daily.

Chuck and I were inspired by this because we too want to see those big dreams, wishes, hopes, prayers, actually happen in our lives.  So, we started on a little project: A Vision Wall.

You see we have this blank stretch of wall between our master bathroom door and our bedroom door. It's just at the foot of our bed and well, we see it all the time. This, we thought would be the perfect place.

We first ran to good ol' Homegoods and grabbed some frames that go with our style in various sizes to do sort of a "gallery wall." As we prepared to hang them, however, we got to thinking that it needed a little more "texture." So, in our garage, we gathered a few scraps of wood and began laying them out in a way that we thought would look good on the wall.
     

Then, we started hanging them - making sure to anchor the larger boards into a stud.
                                      

 
                                 
   
 




Then, we began arranging the frames on the floor, the way we wanted them to go up on the wall.





And, then, we hung the frames! Now, we just need to print our dreams and post them up there!
 


Habakkuk 2:2 says "Write the vision and make it plain..."

Friday, January 17, 2014

Why I Decorate

I have a love for decorating. Decorating our home, our church, my office, events, anything really. And, I feel this is something I am gifted at. A while back, I saw this gift as common, not really a gift at all. In fact, I dismissed it as something small that a lot of people could do. I didn't regard it as all that special. But, someone told me a couple of years ago, after I had decorated for a large women's event, "What you do is not common. You see it as that, but not everyone can do what you do. This is your gifting." It made me stop and think. Maybe this is my gift?

Then, I heard this passage below. It's in the bible and it's about, of all things a woman who I feel was a decorator. Probably the first decorator mentioned in all of history!


2 Kings 4:8-37 (MSG)
8 One day Elisha passed through Shunem. A leading lady of the town talked him into stopping for a meal. And then it became his custom: Whenever he passed through, he stopped by for a meal.
9-10 “I’m certain,” said the woman to her husband, “that this man who stops by with us all the time is a holy man of God. Why don’t we add on a small room upstairs and furnish it with a bed and desk, chair and lamp, so that when he comes by he can stay with us?”

Did you hear that? She said let's add on to the house, and create a space for this special person. And then, she began her Homegoods shopping list! I'll need to get a bed... a desk, a chair, a lamp... Oh, it has to be the right lamp - Lighting is everything! 

When I read this, I immediately put a mark on that page in the bible and said, "I'm in here!"  So many times, we hear of the great prophets and the Abrahams, Moses's, John the Baptists' and we may not identify. But here is a girl, who knew the importance of an inviting space. She was like many of us and said "This. This is what I can do."

You see, there is power in your environment. I'll probably say this a lot in the future, but your environment, your home, your space, matters. Making a space feel comfortable, beautiful, tranquil, inspiring, warm, fun... you name it... effects and honors the people in it. Think about your home for example, you are creating the backdrop for your family to grow up in, it's the scenery for all your memories. Décor is important!

And, in the case of this lady from Shunem, she was creating a place of honor which ultimately ushered in miracles for her community and her own household. (Keep reading through verse 37). She saw that a person God was using in her life needed a comfortable and nice place to stay, so she prepared a place for him. And when she did that, she won favor with him and with God. You are sewing a seed of love into the people you decorate for. It makes their life better and in turn, yours will be too.

Decorating....
This is what I can do and I shall do it with love.
 

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The Hook Up



In order to start 2014 off a little more organized, Chuck and I decided to do a small project in the breakfast room, just inside our back door. You see, this spot is the drop-zone. I'm not talking about cell phone coverage, I am talking about the place where all the "stuff" gets dropped. Usually, we drop the diaper bag, extra toys from the car, shoes that fell off Wrenly's feet, coats, purses, computer bags, you name it. So we needed a few wall hooks. There are some seriously cute wall hooks out and about these days! A couple Christmas's ago, I saw on Dear Genevieve, on HGTV, where Genevieve's team hung all sorts of mix-matched hooks in a somewhat random pattern on a small piece of wall that wasn't serving any other purpose. So, having loved that idea, we did the same. There's a small wall in our breakfast room, right where we stash our high chair, that had nothing on it, and is conveniently not visible from the kitchen or living area, so we felt this would be the perfect place for some organization, via the wall hooks.

I went to good ol' Hobby Lobby and found our five hooks, which we scored on sale for half price. I like the idea of having them all "go" together but not being too matchy-matchy. Plus, when they are a little random, it will be easy and fun to add to the collection as time goes on. So far we love it and it's working out great! Make sure if you are going to hang heavy bags or other items, to have 'anchors' put in the wall beforehand, then use the appropriate size screws.

The above hooks are all from anthropologie.com