i love being married to michael don wiggins.  i love everything about it!  i love that i still get butterflies in my stomach when i see him walk into the room.  i still get all giggly inside when he holds my hand.  i still bubble up inside when he tells me that he loves me.  i am still taken back when he looks me in the eyes and we are only inches apart.  

i love that we are more than husband and wife...we are very best friends.  we talk, not just small talk, but real life discussions, prayer concerns, burdens, jokes, needs, desires, problems, everything.  i am so glad that i have a husband who is more than willing to pray with me and for me.

i am so thankful that God is always our focus and that every aspect of our relationship always centers around Him....is it a perfect marriage?  absolutely not.  we fuss, we miscommunicate at times, but at the end of the day, we repent and ask forgiveness of one another and viola! back to where we started.....being co-laborers for the cause of Christ.

i love the fact that we finish each others sentences or say the same thing at the exact same moment!  i love that we share many interests and that we also enjoy individual  interests.  im glad that we still 'date' and that we love spending time with one another.  

im glad that we never raise our voices to one another and that we laugh like best friends at a sleep over.  im proud of the man he has become and i am thankful to God for molding him each day.  im glad He counted us faithful...calling us into the ministry.  i enjoy getting super sweet hugs in the morning and pats on the back as i drift off to sleep at times.

i love going fishing with him and riding along in the boat.  i love our version of tennis and watching him wrestle with our children each nite in the floor. i love that he spends time individually with our children and enjoys their company.  i love that he sees the need for 'mommy time' and sees to it that i get that.   i love to hear him preach, knowing how much time he has invested in prayer and study.  i love to hear him sing....it melts my heart every time.  i love to hear him play the piano and guitar, singing to bailey all of her favorites.  i love that he is always whistling, everywhere he goes.  

im so glad God blessed me with him.  he really is the world to me.  im glad God called me to be a help...meet for him.  im so glad He showed me mercy and grace before i was saved.  i know that God was terribly longsuffering toward me until He gave me michael.  i do not take this man for granted.  i do not take lightly his love for me and our children.

anyway, i wanted to share that...no one may care except me.  but i do honor my husband and will brag on Christ for working through michael.  Thank You again Lord!

sometimes in the chrisitian life, or at least in mine, satan can be hard at work rite under our noses and we are so carnal that we dont even realize whats goin on.  we become backslidden and cold and we ALLOW satan to control our everyday dealings.  we become quite comfortable letting him row our boats while Jesus stands on the shore...left behind...because we were so sure we could do it better ourselves.

the christian takes advantage of Gods grace, mercy and forgiveness.  Although I know that 1 John 1:9 is so very true....i could certainly understand if God were to just give up on us all at times.

i know that i fail Him in some sort of way each day.  i dont mean to, i dont plan to, i dont start my day intending to....but thats exactly what happens.  a thot of bitterness or an attitude of self righteousness and weve opened the door to allow satan on in.  im not saying 'the devil made me do it.'  i dont believe that at all.  we give him way too much credit.  the bible says we sin when we are drawn away of our OWN lusts.

pretty soon the snowball effect takes place and weve gotten ourselves into quite a mess. 

Lord, help me not to 'do it on my own'.  Help me to trust You for each step taken, each thot that enters my mind, every image i allow my eyes to see, every word my mouth utters, every sound taken in by my ears, and everything i put  my hand to do.

well, i have been sick since january.  at first i thought it was just allergies.  had stuffy nose and all.  well, days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months.  of course everyone told me to go to the dr.  but i was not about to do that.  i got worse and worse.  not to mention i think i have sleep apnea, have gained 100 since marriage (did i just admit that publically to the whole world?!), etc.

i didnt wanna go to the dr for many reasons.  well, i havent been to a dr (except to have babies) since i was 15.  thats right, 16 years have passed since ive been to a regular dr.  that scared me.  why?  because i knew that the day i went i was gonna hear news that i was in denial of:  high blood pressure, cholesterol probs, thyroid probs, weight issues, etc.  who wants to go hear some phd tell me how bad ive been at taking care of my 'soul carriage'?

sleep has never been an issue with me, i have always been able to sleep well.....love me some sleep....but lately the snoring was worse and i was waking several times in the nite feeling like i couldnt breathe.  i would wake up tired and fatigued.  well, nite bf last, michael was working ems and i was still terribly sick.  i couldnt sleep at all.  i woke up drenched in sweat.  i was breathing terribly hard.  i began to panic.  i was hacking out my lungs coughing up things that are not meant to be spoken of....i immediately rolled over to my left side to maybe bring down my bp if it was up.  i tried to calm myself and regulate my breathing.

needless to say, when i woke up i immediately found me a dr to go see!  conclusion:  i have an infection so have a zpac and cough med.  my bp was 158/106.  i knew it would be high.  the pa came in and fussed me out about not going to dr..blah blah blah..and for my weight gain...blah blah blah...and said i should look into a sleep study..booooo!  so she got me some bp meds as well.

i feel horrible.  i think going to the dr made me worse than i was before i went.  i am drained, tired, barely breathing, hacking, snotting, wheezing, aching, coughing up awful phlem...

pray for me.....i hate being sick and have always prided myself on the fact that i never do get sick.

black/white
yes/no
Satan/Jesus
right/wrong
up/down
in/out
hot/cold

....to me, the choice is obvious.  too many christians living in the gray zone!  the gray zone is for the one who wants christianity his way.  a little world here, a pinch of Christ there, a smidgen of self on top.  just enough Christ to say we are saved and just enough world to make us popular.

it becomes confusing trying to figure out whose side each person is on.

there should be a VERY distinct difference in the christian and the world.  can you be picked out in a crowd as being a christian?  does my mouth, my attitude, my dress, my actions point to Christ?  they should. 
all.  the.  time.

Im glad...

im glad that i am still a daddy's girl.  100%, without a doubt, proudly spoiled rotten.  and everyone knows it.  and it's accepted (especially by me).  i will always be his precious princess angel little girl!

im glad that my mom is my best friend (outside of my hubby of course)  she still takes care of me like im 10 years old. 

im glad my big brother is also my best friend, that without question he would punch someone in the face if it meant taking up for his little sister, that we can be brutally honest with each other and still walk away friends, that he found a wife that makes him happy.

im glad that i have 4 nephews.

im glad that i have wonderful in-laws, that they treat me as if i am their own daughter, that we talk often, that they love me.

im glad that i have a Godly husband who truly loves me, that has high standards, that protects me, the shields me from things, that he puts his family first.

im glad that i have shelby, that she is such an awesome big sister, that she is so much like me, that she is super funny, that she is so mature for her age.

im glad that i have bailey, that she has come so far, that she makes me smile, that she enjoys everything about her life even when i dont.

im glad i have a son, brody, that he is 200% all boy, that he is rough and tough but still likes to cuddle with me.

im glad i have a church family who supports me, loves me, serves the Lord with gladness, is friendly.

im glad there are a handful of friends from highschool who are now serving Christ.

im glad that Jesus loved me enough to give me extra grace and mercy for so many years that i rejected Him, that He never stopped convicting me of my need for salvation, that to this day He still convicts me of sin, that He dumps truck loads of blessings on me that i most certainly do not deserve, that He is perfect and holy, that He is coming back for His church and that i am part of it, that I know i have an eternal home in heaven!

im glad....

brody has been asking some funny questions lately.  he was petting chloe (our dachsund) on her belly last night when he piped up with, "Mom, when will my boobies get big?" HA!

today i pick him up from school and he says "I have something stuck in my throat.  i have a note.  i went to the nurse."  me, "Did you swallow something?"  brody, "i think so.  it must be a fingernail because it's pokey."

useless information that i am sure no one cares about, but if nothing else, one day i will re-read this and get a little chuckle!

well, it is sunday morning.  church day, woohoo!  so how have i begun my day?  just like any other, with prayer.  especially on sundays.  how do i pray?  glad you asked....

first i thank God for His many (undeserved) blessings and the mercy He has shown to me; for saving me; for loving me; for Who and What He is, etc.

i repent.  i ask Him to search every crevice of my heart until I find no more to repent of.  then i even ask Him to forgive me for anything i am not aware of.  i ask Him to convict me, to reveal sin.

i pray for my husband who is also my pastor.  i ask God to bring strong convition upon his heart in order to make sure he is ready to preach.  i ask God to help michael repent of any and all sin...to be a clean and empty vessel that God can use.  i ask God to be with michael as he preaches.  i ask Him to fill him with joy and love and compassion, yet with boldness!  i ask for liberty as he preaches. 

i pray for the congregation.  i begin naming names:  people who have quit coming, those who are slacking, the backslidden, the lost, the bitter, the wordly.  i ask that there be no distractions during the service that would hinder them from receiving the Word.  i ask that hearts are soft even before coming to church.  i ask that we see new faces in our services.  i ask that the Lord save a soul.  i pray for the Holy Spirit to be evident in our services.

i pray for every aspect of services:  sunday school, childrens church, nursery workers, congregational singing, special singing, offering, preaching.

in Jesus' name, Amen.

now all i have to do is have faith that God can, will and wants to do all of those things!  harder than it sounds.  but im just crazy enough to believe that God will do something miraculous among us at VBC today!