God is beautiful

I love the scenery at the beach. You noticed, I'm sure, that I have a slight obsession with seagulls. I think they are so pretty and interesting.

We had such a nice time. The weather was perfect. Things have been so crazy around our house over this past year. It's been so easy to lose focus. So often I miss God. I found Him on Hilton Head Island. He was all around me.

Thank You, Lord, for allowing me to enjoy Your beauty this weekend. I needed to see You. What a precious gift...

We had a great time in Hilton Head! I will upload my pictures tonight or tomorrow! Stay tuned for pics of beautiful scenery!

If you are interested in pictures of my mom, my son and I, you can click here. If you own a time share or would be interested in reading a review of our resort, click here.

I hope everyone is having a happy Monday!!

This is a picture I took this summer while on vacation with my husband's family. I love the ocean. To me, it is one of God's most amazing creations. So strong and powerful, and yet peaceful and calming at the same time.

My son, JP, and I are heading down to Hilton Head tomorrow for the weekend. I am really looking forward to getting out of town for a few days. It is a much needed mini-getaway. While I am there, I plan on taking lots of pictures of the beach. I will post them on here for you to see. If you are like me, you love to marvel at God's artwork.

So, stay tuned and join me in praying for safe travel!

thankful

We've established that life can be hard at times. However, even during the rough times, I can usually find something to be thankful for.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I thought I would share with you some things that I am thankful for in my life.

God- Without Him, I do not know where I would be. Well, I do...I just don't want to think about it. I am so thankful for the sacrifice He made when He offered His Son for MY sins.

My husband- I've been with Scott for ten years now. It has been a very long and bumpy road. We've made it through financial woes, one medical trauma after another, adoption, and the normal day to day stresses. He is my best friend and I love him more now than I did ten years ago. (And he probably won't even read this, so I really do mean that.)

JP- Where do I begin? I remember sitting in the swing on my front porch crying my eyes out while waiting for this little guy. The anxiety and anticipation and pain that accompanies International Adoption seems, at times, unbearable. But, oh the joy that floods your heart when you have them in your arms. Finally. He is so smart. So thoughtful and kind. So unique. He is the bright spot in all my days. (And the reason I went back on my anxiety meds, but I digress...) Ha!

Family- To say that I am close to my family would be quite the understatement. I am not sure how I would "do" life without them. Let's just say I do not have to look too far to see God. He shows Himself daily in our lives. I wouldn't want to share this earthly journey with anyone else. We are crazy, and at times very dysfunctional, but I love every minute I spend with them. And this also includes my in laws, and my extended family! Each person holds a very special place in my heart and I am very blessed and thankful that there are too many to list. Thank You, God.

Friends- I do not take for granted that I have been blessed with great friends. Most people are fortunate enough to go through life with a best friend. At least one. Sometimes two. God has, once again, gone overboard in this department. I have several handfuls of REALLY GOOD FRIENDS and several I would consider BEST friends. These friends bring out the better part of me. I love each of them and the uniqueness they add to my world.

Church- I love my church. I love it because I have not been able to be as active as I would have liked to be over this past year and they understand. My church knows that Jesus is more important than activities and calendars. They understand that family is top priority and there are seasons in life when serving doesn't always take place within the walls of the church. There is a reason my church is growing by leaps and bounds. It's because it is good. Really good.

Well, there you go. Please understand this is not the complete list of things I am thankful for. I could go on. And on. I would like to encourage you to sit down and make a list of your blessings. You may be surprised at how many there are. When you're done, post it somewhere in your home and read it often.

I promise it will make you smile!

Ephesians 5:20
"Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ..."

Devotions will resume when I am feeling better! It appears that the stomach bug has hit me...UGH!

I have been trying for a WEEK now to post the lyrics to Laura Story's song, Blessings. Every time I've tried to copy and paste them, they disappear. It's weird. I will continue to try and post them, because it's worth the work! Have you heard the song? If not, I encourage you to go to You Tube and watch, or Google the lyrics. It is truly an amazing song.

At this point in our lives, the words in the song REALLY hit home with my family. With everything that's gone on physically with Laurie (my sister) and Scott (my husband), it is easy to miss the blessing. It is overshadowed by the pain. I'm sure you've been there. You may be there now.

I have no advice. No profound thoughts on the subject. All I can do is give you a homework assignment.

FIND THE SONG AND LISTEN TO IT. Today! You'll be very glad you did.

intersection of the unexpected

"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord."

1Thessalonians 4:16-17

I love this verse. It reminds me of the prize. The ending. It serves as a reminder that we were not created for this world. It should be no surprise that we do not fit in. Sure, we have friends, family and joyous times, but ultimately this world is harsh. Sad. And a lot of people are just plain unhappy. I've been there. I know people who are there right now.

Seasons of pain or unhappiness are never planned. I venture to say that no one wakes up in the morning praying that things will NOT go their way. No one I know prays for the accident to happen or the cancer to come back. No one goes to work each day in hopes that it is their last. But, nevertheless, it happens.

The unexpected.

The question is, how do we deal with it when it comes? Jesus told us in His Word to, "Cast all our cares upon Him..." Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. It's not easy at all. We want to handle things on our own strength. On our own time table. I know I do. Problem is, we were not meant to. Before Eve took a bite of the apple, our only job on this earth was to worship God. That hasn't changed. The only thing that did change was that sin came into the world. And boy did it mess things up!!

There is a reason Jesus woke up early in the morning to pray and spend time with His Father. All of us WILL find ourselves at the intersection of the unexpected. Could it be that when we are in constant communication with Him, it makes the drive a little less dreadful. Makes sense to me.

I enjoy traveling a lot more when I have someone to share the drive with.

Lord, help me to meet with you each morning before getting into my "car." It's been proven that I am a terrible driver. I need your help. Thank you for your Son and your Spirit. Amen.

Book Review

*While you are so patiently waiting for my computer to cooperate with the uploading of a devotion, I thought I would provide you with a book review. *



I STRONGLY recommend this book. I read it this summer while at the beach. It is a very easy read and VERY powerful. I read it in ONE day! Basically it is about a little boy who had a major surgery and went to Heaven while in the operating room. I do not want to share too much, but the book is filled with stories from his journey. If you do believe in Heaven, Christ and the presence of angels in our daily lives, this book will grab your heart. Heaven Is For Real will challenge your walk and your life will be blessed as a result. I promise.

My laptop will not let me upload the content I am using for my next devotion. I will have to use another computer. Normally it's no problem to use the one at my parent's house, but things have been crazy the past couple of days. Our little Preston (my nephew) has been sick and I have been pitching in to help with him.

So....stay tuned!

Shovelin' Dirt

My son, JP, loves to play outside. I love to sit on our porch steps and watch him run around the front yard. At some point, we usually end up playing a game of chase or hide and seek. Today, he wanted me to help him dig a hole in the dirt so that he could bury one of his toys. And by "toy" I mean a bundle of drinking straws. Don't ask! Being the lazy mom that I am, (after working all day), I protested. Being the persistent five year old little boy that he is, he won. He handed me a shovel and we began to dig. Once the hole appeared, JP threw the "toy" down and we covered it up. He was pleased.

I just stood there. No more hole. The ground looked as if it had never even been tampered with. No one would ever know that there was a toy buried beneath it's surface. If you were passing by, all you would see is dirt.

What do people see when they look at me? Would anyone ever guess that I had something, or in this case Someone, living beneath my surface? Or do I blend in with my surroundings. When we become children of God, He takes His shovel and cleans out all of our trash. He fills in the hole with His precious Son and covers us up with the Holy Spirit. A transformation takes place. We are different. At least we are suppose to be. That should be our goal.

When people cross our path, they should see more than just dirt.

Season of Blah

Ecclesiastes 3:1 "There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven..."

Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Out of the four seasons, I think my favorite is Fall. I love to drive through the mountains as the leaves are changing. That's part of the reason I love living in South Carolina. You can drive one way, three hours or less, and be on the ocean. OR, you can drive forty five minutes and be in the mountains. What a blessing.

There are also spiritual seasons. You've heard of them. Here are a few:

• Fired-up! This is the season in your walk when you are the closest to God. You set aside a specific time in your day when you spend one on one time with your Maker. You let nothing get in the way. You long for it. Your day is blessed because of it.


• Consistent- During this time, you may not be beating people over the head with scripture references, but you sit with God each day and pray without ceasing. You are able to hear God when He speaks, or see Him throughout your day to day activities. Although you're busy, you are reminded of Him often.


• Distant- Life gets in the way. We find ourselves drowning in our jobs, our families and sometimes even in church activities. Before you know it, you have floated so far away from God in the sea of life, you have trouble seeing Him. Unfortunately, when you find yourself in this season, it takes some time before you realize just how far you've drifted. You're too busy to notice.

Sound familiar? It does to me. I have lived in every single one. I would like to add one more to the mix. The season of BLAH. I'm there now. I'm not even sure how to describe it. I guess if I had to define this season using only one word, it would be nothing. I know how I ended up here. I flew in on the coat tail of my husband's recent illness. Due to his extensive medical issues over the past year, my family has gotten out of the habit of attending church and being involved each week. Don't get me wrong, I am not one that thinks church attendance equals salvation. It doesn't. However, for the first time in my life, I can see why it is so important to God for us to BELONG to a body of believers. When you allow yourself to drop the "habit" (for lack of a better word) of meeting together each week, satan will use that to slither himself into other areas of your walk.

So, spiritually I am in a very blah place. I do not like it here. It has to change. We will be at church this Sunday. Step one.

What season are you in?

Shhh!

"Be still and know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10

I have a five year old son. I love him with my whole heart. Sometimes it even physically hurts. He is the most precious thing. He is kind-hearted, mannerly, smart, handsome, HILARIOUS, and very spirited. My husband, Scott, and I prayed for him for several years, (before we knew who he was), and finally brought him home from Guatemala in the summer of 2007. He is the light in our lives.

Having said that, HE NEVER SHUTS UP! Seriously...never. He talks from the moment his little head rises from the pillow to the time it falls back down at night. Don't get me wrong, I love talking with my child. But what parent doesn't long for a moment of peace from time to time. Most of the time I wonder why I even bother speaking to him. He rarely hears what I have to say. In fact, pretty much the only time he crawls up in my lap and intently listens is when there is something in it for him, or when he wants something from me. I know, I know, we all know what this sounds like. Every 5 year old child in the world. Right?

Wrong.

It hit me tonight while I was getting him dressed and ready for bed. While this behavior IS typical of most 5 year old children, it is also very typical of most Christians. Think about it. How often do we shut up and really listen to God? I don't know about you, but I can tell you that I tend to "crawl up in His lap" and really listen when I need something from Him. Just like my son. I am always telling my husband that I would give anything if JP would just stop talking for ONE MINUTE and just listen to me.

I wonder how often God says the same thing about His daughter.

Father, I know that I am not a very good listener. Remind me, daily, to "be still.." in Your Presence and listen for Your voice.

Hello!!

Okay, here it is...my blog for devotionals! I have to say though, you are going to have to hang in there with me..it is a work in progress. I am playing with the design and I'm getting very frustrated because the blog site is different. I am not happy with the blog color, so that will definitely change.

Please be patient with me!

There are so many new things going on with me right now. I am aggressively pursuing different freelance writing jobs. I have several good leads that I am excited about. I say that because I am so busy in the evenings. Because of this, I do not have any type of schedule drawn up for this new site. I would love to tell you that I will post a devotion every single day, but as of now, I do not want to commit to that. For now, I will promise to update at least every couple of days. As I get my other jobs organized, I will hopefully post every day. That will be my goal.

This is new to me, so please let me hear from you. I would love to know who you are and how you learned of this site. You can also email me at andreabeam@live.com or abeam@greenville.k12.sc.us.

Thanks for clicking on and I look forward to "Walking in Grace" with you!