Thrift Haul #1

I love thrifting and I'm so grateful to have a husband who is okay with this hobby of mine. He always makes sure to check for Goodwills and flea markets in every town we go to. So the other day when we were in LaPlace for a kitten adoption event (we foster kittens, I really need to make a post about that), we got there a little early and popped into the Goodwill across the street. It had so much awesome stuff and I only had about 20 minutes, but I came out with a great haul, including something on my thrift wish list!!

Patriotic blanket | I'm working on being more intentional with enjoying every season, and one of the ways I'm doing that is by incorporating seasonal decor into my home. I thought this blanket would be a nice patriotic touch since Independence Day is coming up.

Vintage pillowcases | My favorite section in the thrift store is the sheets and bedding. I love to search for cool sheets that I can use in sewing. I loved these precious floral pillowcases! One of them is in good condition and unfortunately the other is faded. That's okay though--it's still pretty! I don't know exactly what I will do with these, but I might turn one into a pillowcase dress for my niece.

Books | I can't help myself--I always have to check out the books. For a while, I bought all sorts of Middle Grade and Young Adult books for my teacher friend--she would give them to her students. But now she has a new job so I have no excuse to buy those books! I still love to browse though, and found these Boxcar Children graphic novels that I think her own kids will like. I couldn't pass up A Guide for Grown-ups with quotes from the author who wrote The Little Prince. I'm planning on giving this to my bestie who introduced me to The Little Prince.

Mugs | I do not need ANY more mugs... but. The one on the left was so cute and kept catching my eye. It was only a dollar, so I bought it because it makes me smile. The Cafe Du Monde mug has a special story!

A few months ago, Casey and I took the train into New Orleans for the weekend. We only live an hour's drive from NOLA, but thought it would be fun to go by train and be without our own transportation for the weekend. We had a blast. I wanted to buy a mug from Cafe Du Monde to commemorate our fun little trip, and Casey said, "I bet you could find one at Goodwill." Well, I took that as a challenge and I've been looking ever since. Three months later and I find a YELLOW one. I didn't even know they had them in fun colors--I was actually moving the yellow mug out of the way when I realized what it was. Anyways, I'm so happy Casey suggested I thrift it instead because I assure you, it means even more to me because I enjoyed hunting for it! (Plus I got it for a fraction of the cost of a new one.)

Meditation Monday: Do I really want to understand?

 I found this as a note in my phone written November 27, 2017. I'd completely forgotten about it, but really liked the message of it, so I decided to share it here. I'm pretty sure I didn't share it before, but even if I did, I think it's worth sharing twice.

Oh, how green you are, jealousy. This is something I’ve been dealing with lately. It’s something i dealt with in high school and pretty much overcame. But oh, it came back. Social media is the culprit. “Look, she started a blog.” “Look, she got engaged.” “Look, she’s traveling to this amazing place.”

Comparison is the thief of joy. I know this. The Bible says the devil comes to steal, but *I* am the one who compares myself to others. I can be the one who steals my own joy!

And I thought, “Well, I have an awesome life too.” And I do. I’m dating the actual greatest guy on the planet. I have the best friends a girl could want. The cutest puppy ever. I go to a fantastic church with an amazing pastor. My job is way cool and my coworkers are cooler.

Instead of thinking, “I shouldn’t be jealous,” my thoughts went to, “how do I show this off?”

Blogging.

I’ve always blogged, albeit very sporadically at times.

“God, give me something good to share. Give me understanding,” I prayed a silent prayer.

Then it hit me.

Do I want to understand Him and His Word only so I have something shareable? Or do I truly want to fall in love with Him and understand Him more?

Yikes. Looks like my priorities got out of line. Again.

And that’s life. Life is working hard daily to keep your priorities straight. Life is wondering how you fix them. Life is God repeatedly and repeatedly saying, “Me. You focus on me. The rest will fall into place.” And the rest will. But oh, it’s hard. I can’t deny that. It’s hard to keep your priorities right when millions of things are happening. When you have a cute boyfriend you’d rather talk to on the phone than pray. When you’d rather scroll Instagram than read your Bible.

Thank you lord for Your grace and mercy New every day. Because I need it. I can’t live without it. I fail daily. I’m merely human. But You are not. And You provided a way many years ago so my frail, failing self could find rescue and peace and love and freedom.

Mugs and Musings: Having a Martha Home the Mary Way

I forgot to grab a mug when I took this pic. So just use your imagination and pretend there's a tea cup in my hand. And meet our current foster kittens! Huey (all orange cat front and center), Dewey (behind him), Louie (climbing the couch), and Daisy (tabby). Donald is not pictured.

I picked up Having a Martha Home the Mary Way at the library yesterday. I actually went to that section for another book, but saw this one and had to grab it. It looked interesting and I love the concept--keeping a tidy home (Martha) but making room for God first (Mary).

Here's the thing--I'm naturally not a type-A, keep everything in order type of person. I'm more of the creative, I'll clean it up later, and then later ends up being later than it should type of person. 

Basically, my house is not perfectly clean. Like, ever. I try. I really do. But then I feel not good enough when I look around at the house I swept YESTERDAY and there is cat fur and litter all over the place, dishes in the sink, and you can't even see the settee in my office because it's under a pile of pillows and clothes that need to be ironed. And it frustrates me that a messy house frustrates me so much, because I don't want to spend my life cleaning cleaning cleaning. It would be my worst nightmare for the person speaking at my funeral to say, "She always had a clean house." Because if my house is always clean, it means I wasn't doing enough creating, entertaining, living.

Today as I read Day 1, the author talks about women being life-givers. Now, this is not a term I've ever used for myself. I feel like that's a term to be used for birth-mothers, and as we are planning to adopt, it's a term I never thought would apply to me. But the definition she gives to life-giving is elevating life above the mundane. And that, I feel like I'm good at. I love to find beauty in the everyday, and if I can't find it, I want to create it. I believe food should be eaten off the fancy china, favorite clothes should be worn just because, flowers don't have to be bought for a reason, and reading outdoors is time better spent than scrubbing baseboards. 

One of the things I pray often is that my home is a place of peace. For me, for my family, for anyone who stops by. I don't want to be so worried about the state of my home that I can't enjoy having a friend over or take time to enjoy making something. 

I think it's about balance and grace. I love that this book also doubles as a devotion--first, we put God first! Then we clean the house. And on the days when it's not perfect, we must give ourselves grace, just as God gives us grace when we come to Him unclean. He doesn't think we're any less than on those days. He welcomes us as we are, clean or dirty. 

Anyways, this wound up rambly (which is exactly the point of Mugs and Musings, if I'm being honest), but I'm excited to be doing this 30-day journey. That being said, we will have a 5-year-old visitor in a few weeks, so I may put it on hold during that time so I can enjoy spending time with my nephew. But I know I can give myself grace and pick it back up afterwards!

Also, I went ahead and bought this book because there are so many good parts I want to underline! So the library will have its copy back next week and I will have my very own copy to write in and underline to my heart's content!

Date Night: Old Town Slidell Soda Shop

Casey popped in for lunch the other day and said, "I was thinking we could go to Slidell for date night. I have a surprise for you... I found a mom and pop book shop and a cool restaurant for us to try." I was pretty excited because books and food are totally the way to my heart. 

At 3:00 we hit the road, aiming to get there around 4:00 since the book shop closed at 5:00. Unfortunately, we got caught in traffic behind a wreck and pulled into town right at 5:00, missing the window to go to the book store. Fortunately, Casey had a backup plan, so we went to Dirt Cheap and I got two new-with-tags Target dresses for $7 each. (I'm thinking of giving them a mini-makeover... we shall see.)

After Dirt Cheap, we headed to the restaurant -- Old Town Slidell Soda Shop. It was so cute! I love a 50s themed diner, and this one was painted PINK on the inside. All the decor was super cute--I loved all the fun vintage decor touches and the arcade. The homemade ice cream was AMAZING. I sampled like 5 flavors and ultimately chose Samoa. Oh em gee. It was so good. None of the flavors were too strong and they were perfectly balanced. It was so nice to get touches of coconut in my bites--so perfectly summer!

Ice cream in hand, we explored the arcade then went outside. The Soda Shop has an adorable outside area, with picnic tables under a plant-covered pergola, a cage filled with pretty birds, two fountains, a big red barn, and... a Little Free Library that looks like a Tardis!!! (It really is bigger on the inside.)

Then we enjoyed walking around the cute downtown. We love towns that have adorable, well-kept old downtown areas. I grew up in a city that had let many of the old downtown buildings crumble, and it always made me so sad. I love living in a town that has spent the last 20 years being purposeful to keep the old downtown alive, and I love visiting other towns that do the same.

Mugs and Musings: I'm Wonderfully Made

I've decided to call my random thoughts/rambles Mugs and Musings, so here's the first one! I'll share a pic of one of my (many) mugs... and some musings to go along with it.

When I was 12, I went to church one Wednesday night wearing my favorite outfit. A light pink tank top with frills, a deeper pink three-quarter length cardigan, a fit and flair denim skirt, and probably my clear pink heels. I felt so cute, which wasn't my norm. I'd always been the ugly duckling amongst my friends and very rarely felt pretty. But tonight I looked cute. Or at least that's how I felt until I ran into my "friends." They didn't tell me my outfit was cute. They told me my arms were hairy and I needed to consider shaving them. I was so ashamed and embarrassed. I was too afraid to shave my arms, so I started wearing long sleeves. Every single day. For three years.

I've always loved clothes ever since I can remember--putting together cute outfits, finding unique pieces. Even when I was like 8, I LOVED when Gramma would take me shopping. When I was 12, I would stand in front of my mirror putting together outfits until I came across one I loved.

But now I had to cover my hairy arms every day, so I rotated the same five jackets every single week. I quickly grew bored of wearing the same thing all the time and was a little ashamed that I wore the same five things every week. So I started wearing the same "Students of Christ" hoodie every day. For some reason that seemed less embarrassing. I tried to tell myself it was because "I don't care what others think, so I won't try to dress cute to impress them. And I want to be warm." I was totally lying to myself. I wanted to dress cute but I was afraid of what people would think if I wore clothes that were different than what other kids at school wore. I was afraid they would think I was trying too hard to fit in or be liked or be unique. I was afraid they would laugh at my hairy arms.

What changed? Obviously I love to wear fun clothes, especially when they are different from the norm. I love dressing uniquely. Where did that confidence come from?

It started when I decided I wanted to get closer to God. It was a few months before the end of my sophomore year of high school. I didn't really know how to get closer to God, but I decided I wanted to start with my clothes--I decided to try to dress in a way that I believed honored God. Maybe that sounds so silly. But clothes were something I loved, and I think God was truly honored that I wanted to give him something I enjoyed so much.

It was also around this time that my "friends" decided to stop talking to me. But God had already planned for that, because at the same time, I became close to the girls who are still my best friends to this day. They encouraged me without even knowing it. I was inspired by their style that was so beautiful and unique and honored God.

I didn't gain confidence over night. When school started back up, I was a little scared. The year before I had worn the same school hoodie, jeans, and converse every day. Now I was showing up to schools in ensembles that the small town had never seen before. Crazy colors and pattern mixing, fun hair accessories, quirky shirts and shoes. Every morning, I prayed that God would give me confidence and help me not be afraid of what other's thought of me. And, slowly, day by day, my confidence grew a little more.

As it turned out, people thought my outfits were fun and cute. When I graduated, I was voted "Best dressed" by almost every person in my grade. I remember the day we were all filling out the "superlatives" paperwork and the entire classroom started talking about how I was the best dressed in the grade and they were voting for me.

You know what the crazy thing was? None of them remembered that I used to wear the same hoodie every day. In fact, it was only a few weeks after I'd stopped wearing the hoodie that one of my classmates said, "JoyBeth, you dress so cute every day." I remember being stunned. How did she not remember that I'd literally worn the exact same hoodie almost every day of sophomore year?

I remember the day and the outfit that made me realize that I was made for this--this dressing weird, this being unique. I wore a black lace top from my Gramma (who is, to this day, more stylish than me), a white denim jacket, denim skirt, maroon and black striped tights, and black riding boots. It was weird and different and I loved it. I wanted to dress like this every day.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Psalm 139:14

I think it's so cool that God made every single person unique. That He gave us different talents and passions and skills that we can use to honor Him. One thing that makes me unique is my style, and I choose to celebrate it because God is the one who gave me the passion and creativity to put together fun outfits. It's a big part of who I am because that's how God made me. He made me a little bit weird in that way and I've come to love that about myself.

It's so easy to feel ashamed and embarrassed by the things that make us different and separate us from everyone else. But that was not God's intention when He made you. The Bible says, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." He wants us to praise Him and thank Him for making us exactly the way we are. Because it wasn't on accident. He made you the way you are for a purpose and a reason. You have the opportunity to honor Him and give yourself to Him in a way that is unique to only you.

I encourage you, look at the parts of yourself that are different. That set you apart from everyone else. Maybe even the parts that you try to hide because you feel like you are weird. How can you give those things to God? How can you honor Him with those parts of you? You can start by thanking Him for making you perfectly, uniquely you.

Taking the Scenic Route

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Whenever you’re going from one place to another, do you grab your phone and search for directions for the fastest way? See if there’s a shortcut? I do now, but I haven’t always done that. There was a time in my life when I searched for directions that kept me off the interstate--even if it took a longer time. The interstate scared me. All those lanes of traffic, so many cars and 18-wheelers. Instead of driving in fear and anxiousness, I preferred to take the longer route so I could drive in peace. Knowing I wouldn’t have to face my fear made it easier to get in my car, put it in drive, and go to my destination.

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. (Exodus 13: 17-18)

In the verses above, we see that God used this same tactic with the Israelites when he freed them from slavery in Egypt. God didn’t let them take the shortcut out of slavery. He made them go the long route.

When we were dating, Casey sent me this text and it was so special that I still have a screenshot of it. “We live in a time where we want to take the ‘fastest route’ but God likes to take the scenic route. Sometimes it feels like the long way and life gets pretty bumpy going God’s way, but we would miss out on so many beautiful things in the end if we go our own way.”

Why did God make the Israelites take the scenic route? Because He knew that if they went through the land of the Philistines, they would encounter war. And if they encountered war, they would be so disappointed that they would be driven back to Egypt and back to slavery before ever getting a taste of freedom. He didn’t let them take the shortcut out of slavery because it wouldn’t work. Only the long route would keep them out of bondage.

An old friend of mine suffered from pornography since he was a young teenager. Many times, he tried to give it up. But he wasn’t strong enough on his own to quit. He went back to it every time. He begged God to take the desire away from him. God didn’t do it. And so, eventually, he gave up trying. He instead made excuses for his behavior. If God didn’t want to take away his desire for porn, then maybe God didn’t care enough.

It absolutely broke my heart as I watched over time as he gave up completely on God. He was angry at God because God didn’t take away his desire to consume pornography. But, just like the Israelites, sometimes God won’t let us take the shortcut out of our own slavery. Instead of taking away our sinful desires, God wants us to instead learn to depend on His strength to deliver us from temptation. 

But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

God didn’t promise to take away temptation--instead He promised a way out. He may not take away your sinful desires, but He will help you overcome them if you allow Him to. Every single time you turn to God instead of giving in to that fleshly desire, you take a step in the right direction. Even if you mess up occasionally and find yourself going backwards, every time you give it to God, you are in the process of creating a new habit. Many steps make a mile, and one day, you will look behind you to see how many miles are between you now and where you came from. 

If you are a slave to sin (and we all are in different ways), don’t be disappointed in God when He leads you on the scenic route instead of the shortcut. He wants you to make a lasting change that will lead you out of slavery. Many times, the shortcut won’t work. It will lead you to disappointment, and you will run right back to your chains. Though God’s way oftentimes feels “inconvenient,” the scenic route is much more beautiful and satisfying than going your own way. Because of the scenic route, you’ll find eternal freedom.

SALT 2021

SALT (Student Action Leadership Team) is my heartbeat. I've told many people and I'll say it again, I'll be on SALT until God sends me elsewhere. Perhaps He'll provide something new for me next year, in 20 years, or maybe He will allow me to be at the Louisiana campgrounds for Kids Kamp every year for the rest of my life. No matter, I will always and forever have a special place for SALT in my heart.

ALL THE THINGS went wrong:

• planning was an actual pain in the booty (and I genuinely felt like quitting a few times)
• we found out a few weeks before camp that ALL the dorms had damage
• everyone had to take cold showers the first day
• I got sick during training
• half the SALT team, kitchen team, and office staff got food poisoning (we went through TWO bottles of Pepto Bismol in a DAY)
• both of the evangelists wound up hurt (one literally got stitches five minutes before he went up to preach)

BUT GOD!

• Over 250 children received the gift of the Holy Ghost evidenced by speaking in tongues for the first time. The total number including refills was over 550!
• Multiple miracles! At least 12 are recorded, including several people being healed immediately of pain they'd had for years AND a little boy in a wheelchair getting up and walking for the first time in his life! 
• So many beautiful testimonies from SALT about how God used SALT to show them He had a plan and purpose for them and wants to use them.
• A beautiful spirit of unity.
• Many learned how to listen to the voice of God and He spoke to them.

Nothing is too big for God. Yeah, we dealt with all the awful things, but God was working miracles throughout it all. He outshone the darkness. 

What a blessing it is to be a part of this team still. I've been part of this team for 11 years! I'm so grateful that God has allowed me to come back time and time again. SALT changed my life when I was a teenager, and I am here as part of the administration team because I want to give back and pass it forward. I want SALT to be the best it can be so more teenagers and young adults and children can come to camp and watch God change their life forever. Truly, all the glory is His.