A Cup of Tea With Me

No, not at the house. I still need to do that. LOL! However, after several interesting events, I was able to log on and clean up my side bar and links. I am sorry it took so long.

Hello! I know I have been gone for a while. Too long, really. I have a lot of “cleaning up” to do on my side bar.

Where have I been? Well, many of you know that I started working. I was temping at TAMU, and it was the perfect job. I loved it. I loved the people that I worked with. But the key word there is temp. The job was shorter than first thought, and when it was over, I started slipping into depression.

Between temp assignments, I started playing World of Warcraft again. I started out fine, timing my playing and assuring that I would not slip back into my addiction. I knew it was wrong, but I could not help it, I wanted to play.

I got another temp position, that I will not say where it was, as it was a VERY negative experience. Those that had to listen to me while I was there know all the details. All I will say is that my direct supervisor needed to work on his social skills. However, many of the people that I worked with there were wonderful, and I was able to find a little sunshine there, every day, even if it had to fight to come through the clouds.

I got called in to TAMU for an interview for a department that works closely to the department in which I had temped. 2 weeks after the interview, I learned that I had the job! So, I am at TAMU, permanently, in the Admissions Processing area. I just love it there. Things are really looking up.

I made the decision to close Faith Filled Wives. My life is not consistent enough to work at that ministry. I may reopen it some day. I am keeping the domain name, but the hosting is gone.

I realized that WoW had become an idol in my life, and I quit playing again, cold turkey. It is hard, and it is a battle every day, but I will resist.

I talked to God, asked Him to forgive me. I know he did. When I was pouring out my heart and soul to Him, asking for forgiveness,  I heard my theme song from Jeremy Camp in my mind. I know that God was the one reminding me of the song. He will always take us back, no matter how far we go, He WILL take us back. Once His child, always his child.

After recieving God’s forgiveness, the dreams started. I cannot post about them, but just know that I am in a very really demonic battle, and I know it is because I have let go of my strongholds, and the enemy will not give up easily. For days, I was afraid to sleep, even after praying, I did not let go of the fear. Last night, after prayer, I just kept saying outloud, “The Lord is my Shepard. He will lead me, I will follow Him. I will never be far from his side. God is by my side, and I am at His. He will protect me from all evil. God is my Shepard, my Saviour, my Salvation. He is all I need.” I repeated that until I fell asleep and when I woke up in the middle of the night, I repeated it again until I fell back asleep.

God will help me overcome it all.

My brother, rededicated his life to Christ, and was filled with the Holy Spirit in a wonderful way. I love how when He makes His home in you know, you feel it from the tip of your toes to the top of your head. It is amazing to hear someone you love describe that sensation to you. It reminds you of how you first felt.

Anyway, when it is slow at work, I can be on the internet, so I will be cleaning this place up, and working on posting more regularly.

I have no real reason for my hiding, other than I was dealing with internal and eternal issues, and I was dealing with them in my own, not so effective way.

My last day at my current job is Thursday, January 10. When I went to work there, in March, it was supposed to be temporary. A woman was out with Chemo and I was covering for her. Then it got to October, and I promised I would stay through Christmas. Now the boss is on vacation and will be back on the 1oth. I actaully gave my notice in early December, but I honestly did not think this day would ever come.

I am in the process of trying to find a 40 hour, Monday - Friday job, where I can be home with my hubby and kids on nights and weekends. It is my prayer that God directs my job hunt and that I end up where He wants me.

I know, Christmas is over, but the conversations that led up to this post took place on December 26th. Please bear with me on this.

I work retail, I know you all have read that a ton of times. My neighbors at work are mostly Muslim, a few Jewish, and one Hindu. I am the only Christian that talks to them about religion and such. It is my belief that if we do not know what and how they personally believe, then we cannot witness to them.

Anyway, while at work on December 26th, I had some interesting and eye opening conversations. Every Muslim and Jew that I work near asked me how my Christmas was. I responded with “Wonderful, I got to visit with my parents, whom I only get to see twice a year. How was your day off?” Most of them work every day the mall is open. It is closed three days a year: Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This got me to thinking. I did not ask any of my Jewish friends how their Hanukkah was. I only thought to ask one of my Muslim friends how her Eid al-Adha, was. Yet, they all asked me how my Christmas was. Yes, I knew the day(s) they were celebrating their holidays. Yet, it did not seem important to me to ask them.

So, one of my Christian friends comes by, while I am contemplating this and asks, “So, what did you get for Christmas?” This sent my thoughts into a spiral. The ONE person I spoke to that day, who was supposed to understand Christmas, was asking about my presents, while the ones who where not supposed to understand, where more interested in the day, itself.

Christmas is about more than the presents. Yes, the presents are nice, but it is about the greatest gift of all, God’s gift of His Son, to us, who died for our sins, so we could have fellowship with Him. I know my friends in the bloggy world understand this. I just had to share my thoughts and introspections.

God bless you all, and have a Happy and Blessed New Year! I pray that 2008 brings you joy and blessings.

I attend Central Baptist Church, and on Wednesday, Huntley Brown performed there. He and our Pastor had a great time, as you can see. (In case you are wondering, Chris is the shorter one)

A BIG thanks to Heather over at Girly Blog Designs. Not only is she the one responsible for this awesome blog design of mine, but she worked very hard on resolving my technical difficulties I was having with my coding.

Thank you, Heather! You ROCK!

I am posting this disclaimer, and I will link to it with every post I make about politics.

I do not discuss politics. I will not debate my beliefs. I know what I believe and why I believe it.

That being said, between now and the election, I will be posting a bit on my thoughts on the issues and the candidates. This is not a political blog. This will not become  a political blog.

All political comments must be posted on a political post. You may debate, but if you post is bashing I reserve the right to moderate it. Remember this is a family blog.

Look for my first post, on this, to come soon.

Oh my! Am I ever shocked.

Mathetes is the Greek word for disciple, and the role of the disciple (per the Great Commission) it to make more disciples.

The Rules: In the spirit of this award, the rules are simple. Winners of this award must pick five other “disciples” to pass it on to. As you pass it on, mention and provide links for:
(1) Dan King of Management by God as the originator of the award.
(2) The person that awarded it to you.
(3) Name and sites of the five that you believe are fulfilling the role of a disciple of Christ.

My dear friend Christina thinks that I qualify for this award, and I am speechless. Thank you, Christina. You thinking that I am deserving of this award blows my mind. You see, I look at your blog and what you do for the Lord, and it warms my heart. Your ministry is wonderful. Thank you so much for this award.

Thank you, Father, for all that you have given us. Your grace, Your love, Your salvation. God, sharing Your love is easy because You first loved us. I can hardly wait to sit at your feet and praise you, Father. I pray that my days until that time bring You glory.

There are several blogs that I think deserve this award. Many of the ones that come to mind have already been nominated, such as Becki, Christina (who gave me the award) Heather and Ang, so I am not nominating them. I am going to reach out further to other bloggy friends of mine who do a great job for Christ.

Lynn and Dineen over at Spiritually Unequal Marriage deserve this award. They have a ministry for people, not just women, who are in a spiritual mismatch. This blog is truly a blessing to any who are spiritually mismatched. I love this blog and encourage you all to read it.

Terri at In His Hands is another blogger who deserves this award. She touched my life with friendship, through blogging and is a wonderful Godly woman.

When I think of Christian women whose blogs are such a blessing to read, Iris at Sting My Heart always comes to mind. I just love reading Iris’s blog. She is a true blessing.

Angie at Proverbs 31 Wannabe also warms my heart with her love for the Lord and her family.

And last but not least is Liz over at LooneyBin4Sure. Liz was one of my first bloggy friends, besides the ones mentioned above, and her blog has been blessing me ever since.

I know some of you are shocked that I nominated you for the award. I just wanted to tell you that just because I do not leave comments much, does not mean I have not been keeping up with your blogs.

There are more that I would love to nominate, but I am stopping at five, so that those that I nominated may pass on the blessings to others.

I have been reading many of your blogs, through subscriptions. I have not really cut back my computer time as much as I had planned. My house is still a mess, but that is because I am working more hours at work, and having less time at home.

I am involved in two extensive Bible studies. Both of which I highly recommend. The first is with my Sunday School Class and it is Victorious Christian Living. I am learning a lot from this study. It is very convicting.

The other study that I am doing is Five Aspects of Woman.  I almost did not take this study, but the women’s minister at my church called me and suggested it. So, here I am. I am enjoying it.

Both classes have a lot of homework, but they also connect. It is great to see how God works, in getting His message across.

I am still working on getting my house, my life and my heart all “clean” but here is the beauty of it. I am HUMAN. I will never be perfect. The only way I can have fellowship with God, is not through MY perfection, but through the perfect sinlessness of the One who died for our sins, our Lord, Jesus Christ.

I will be back more, as I can. Hopefully I will be able to post and read more often, soon.

In Christ,
Melissa

I was given a message, this morning. I was not going to share it, but have been prompted by the Holy Spirit to share it. Maybe it will mean something to someone else, like it has me. Before I share the message, I would like to tell you this will be my last blog post for a while. I will be taking a “computing break” for a time. I will only be using the computer for finances and email. If you have my email address and would like to check in on me, from time to time, feel free.

Now for my message. This was whispered to me this morning at about 5:45 AM. This message has changed my out look:

“Your house is a mess. Your life is a mess. Your heart is a mess. All three of these need to be right for any of them to be right. One cannot be clean without the other two.”

I hope this speaks to the person that God wanted me to share it with…

God bless, and I will see you when it is time.
Melly