Two Trees and Tibb

Have you ever had friends who were just too great for words? I have those! A lot of those actually, but two stand out that I want to tell you about. My Peggy and my Jennifer!

I met them both around the same time in 1998 at our home church named Spirit of Praise at the time. Peggy was a freshman in college and Jennifer was her best friend that she would drag along to youth group with a chubby little fellow named Matt that was just too cute for words. Matt, now Adrienne's husband, is Jennifer's brother. He serves no point in this blog other than he's just tooo cute for words and now has a daughter with those same little cute cheeks you still want to pinch even though he's all of 23 years old now.

Peggy was a snob! Let me rephrase that...a SPIRITED YOUNG THING (who thought she knew it all!) We bumped heads immediately, me being on the LOL...colorful choir i was in could see every MOCKING face she would make from center stage. I sure didn't like her and she sure didn't like me.

I recall being in a play where i played a DOG! But a dog named...PRINCESS ;) LOL I remember being in the back room dressed and ready to go on and she came to me saying..."I owe you an apology!" Blew me away!!! ME??? AN APOLOGY??? OK! I still don't like you...but OK! LOL. Her mom would beg me to call her..."You need to call Peggy. You should get together." Oh...OK! As to say...THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! But smile and nod politely and move on.

I remember a few years passing and she really needing someone to be there for her. Seeing as Jennifer had become my new found best friend of two years and no longer hers, i reached out to her, she hugged me as if i knew her for years. As i began to speak with her i realized we had more in common than even she had thought! Aw heck, this girls done experienced everything i've been through...SHE'S MINI ME!!!! AS IF TO SAY...Crap now i have to like her. ;p

Her and Jennifer immediately rekindled their friendship and Peggy was given a job with me in Houston. Yup...I taught her how to turn on a computer! Glory days, glory days i tell you!!! That lasted all of 9 months and she began the position she still holds till today at another company. But she will always be a little tree of righteousness planted by the waters whose leaves never wither! Me...well, she calls me BIG OAK! LOL So that makes me a BIG TREE of Righteousness!

Jennifer was a wild child. She came with Peggy like i said, but usually reaking of smoke! No bueno in the Christian world. As i got to know her i just fell in love with her positiveness! She's amazing, loving, giving, wise. She was the bomb from the get go, of course still reaking of Smoke! LOL

I say she became my best friend of two years (RACHEL DON'T FREAK YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN MY BEST FRIEND SINCE THEN, BUT KAY AND HER WERE BEFORE YOU!) but really, she was everyones best friend. I like to call her the Networker...you know those Verizon Commercials with the whole networks behind the spokesman??? Jennifer's that spokesman, "can you hear me now??" LOL Just a very caring person who gives the best hugs! We call her Tibbs cause she's so irresisTIBle...but i like to spell it with two B's. (so sue me!)

For a long time, i needed no help, (ok, i'm going to wink that other eye.) I was the counselor, the strong one if you will, the go to girl for prayer. For a long time I held such a high position (probably only in my own little mind) that if i hung around any of the youth, they would stop respecting me, you know once they saw how immature i really was! ;) ok, now you wink your eye too! So i felt seperated from the flock...I like to think of it as EAGLE status! (pfff) So somewhere along this path, I must have lost all respect in GOD's eyes cause i'm now just a regular old Joe with a bunch of friends i don't even have enough time to hang around! haha...wink again!! (And i mean that!)

These two girls have seen and prayed me through so much! Whenever i was lonely, they went out of their way to make me feel loved. Whenever i was hurting all they had to say was...ITS GOING TO BE OK!!! And that's all i needed to hear! Everytime my dad went into that hospital...well they joined together in there only little Corporate prayer and BELIEVED! I love them so much and am blessed the LORD gave them to me (AND YOU TOO RACHEL...No te pones selosa!) ;p But seriously, i don't know where i would be without two such wonderful people in my life!

YOU'RE THE BEST!!!!

Just want to Screeeeeeeeeeam

Have you ever felt like just so frustrated? Like your promise was just right there but there was nothing you could do in your physical power to make it happen? ? ? I'm telling you...I'M RIGHT THERE!!! There is nothing I can do but be still (remaining in place or at rest; motionless; stationary: to stand still) and know HE IS GOD! =)...hmmmm...OK! I lay down frustration and all anxiousness Lord!! (Is Anxiousness a word?!?? idc!!)

Yesterday Balta gave a demonstration of how the Lord will help you get your gifts. And he had Pastor Robert and Juan hold up a scarf full of gifts. Then he had Tony Q, Tony E and Kat be the people trying to get their gifts but obstacles stopped them (in this case it was Jorge and Ram) Kat slipped through got on her knees and prayed the gifts came down to her and she reached in and got hers. Tony E. was next and he pushed his way through and had to step on a chair to be able to reach his gift. Then there was Tony Q…after all the pressing it just wasn’t going to happen for him…his enemy was too strong so the Lord had mercy, the enemy was destroyed and he got to get on a step ladder to help him reach for his gift.

This morning I woke up thanking GOD for my step ladder! LOL

Are You Loved???

As far as I can remember my parents have bought me jewelry from Helzberg Diamonds. I remember everytime I would go to the mall I just had to stop and put on one of those I Am Loved Buttons. No rhyme or reason...I just loved them! My family didn't say I love you much...they were more of the 'I buy so you know' kinda people. So Helzberg was my source for affection you could say??? LOL...jk.

About two years ago wow...almost 3 now! I was having a self esteem issue because someone was treating me poorly. I thought one day..."Come on!!! If my FATHER in HEAVEN loves me and doesn't treat me this way, why should I let anyone else treat me any differently??" So after crying and coming to the conclusion of what I had to do, my cousin and I headed to the mall...passing the Helzberg Diamond Store I said..."If no else loves me, I KNOW I love myself!! And fersho I know GOD Loves me" and I stuck on the button. I can not explain how a silly little button helped boost my confidence, but it did! There is a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt probably addressing women or racial minorities about attitude and self esteem (I got it from the Princess Diaries LOL)

" No one can make you feel inferior without your permission." --Eleanor Roosevelt

I'm partial to the Old Testament, my favorite stories are of David. I've come to the realization his life was favored, but he always did something to screw up the instructions (i'm probably related to him!) LOL He had to encourage himself in the Lord...and often! Especially if faced with death, I think most of us would of crawled in a corner balled up and lie there waiting to die, but not David...read the Psalms, a majority of them were songs he wrote to encourage himself while facing anguish. Someone was always out to get poor David or he was repenting like the dickens cause he just done sumpin bad! LOL...I feel like that sometimes.

Point is, theres a new mercy everyday, a new beginning on the horizon, a break at the dawn of the new day! Hold on to who you know you are! Do not give someone permission to make you feel inferior...You are HIS and HE loves you and someone else will too. Pick up a button and wear it till you believe it!

LOL just thought i'd share where I get the I am Loved from (let you know its not coming from concete!) LOL...later!

So Happy!!!

Have you ever felt like the tides were turned in your favor and G-D was just swooping in blessings ocean wide? I feel like that is exactly what is happening right now in my life. I'm in the 'favor' season! Its like before i even ask for it the thoughts are being published! Its an awesome feeling!

This past year has been hard! I mean, new job, lost love, unanswered questions, lots and lots of stress...yet, the Keeper of the Stars has never once told me He was not with me and working things out together for my good. For those of you who don't know...yes...i am a big country buff! Its like in the midst of everything He was telling me, Hold On...Just Believe...Do Not Fear, Go, Go, Go...YOU'LL MAKE IT...I PROMISE! And guess what...I did! PRAISE BE TO GOD!

This past month has been awesome! I injured my achilles tendon not at dance class but at church mind you and I was unable to walk for a week! The following Sunday morning, contemplating how I would sit or not do praise and worship at church at all, I was listening to Rod Parsley interviewing Darlene Bishop, a Cancer Survivor, and she said while washing blood out of her night gown Praising G-D, tears splashing in bloody water how if her breast rotted and fell off and fell in that water she would still preach and proclaim that He was Jehova Raffi! I was tearing up thinking wow...thats FAITH! She also said...while praying for another couple who were going through a hard situation that the Lord told her..."Tell them when I get my Praise, they'll get their promise!" That interview blew me away...so on the way to Walmart I was speaking to our Father saying, "You know...I thank you for my healing in advance and when I get off this truck, i'm just going to walk as if nothing is wrong with me!" So I got off and my immediate reaction was...OW!!! LOL...I reminded myself, no...your HEALED by those STRIPES! and as I headed for the aspirin isle I sensed the pain leaving, by the time I got to the Aspirin I looked at them and said, "I don't even need them anymore!!!" Praise GOD!!! He healed me on the way to the Pain Reliever! LOL...One of my favorite songs is Love Heals your heart by Third Day...well, he heels your Achilles Tendon too! ;)

I'm just like really blown away...Not only that...but the week before I got blessed with a $100 by volunteering at a Christian TV program, I turned around and planted it, cause unexpected money is called SEED money. A week later still limping across town I got favor picking up my camera that had been held captive for three months with no problem and when I left the Lord put on my heart to go to Marshalls, me the debater I spoke back and said, "I don't want to go to Marshalls I was just in there Sunday and there was...N O T H I N G!" But as my Pastor Linda would say (to me only) (over and over and OVER again) "Obedience is better than Sacrifice!!" So I said..."Ok Lord...I will." I went in and N O T H I N G! "See Lord, I told you there was going to be nothing here..." So I immediately repented and said, "Maybe you just protected me from a car accident...thank you Lord, NOW ON TO THE GALLERIA!!!" See I had a date with American Eagle Outfitters that had been prolonged all week! So here I am on Black Friday at 2pm, traffic crazy, hitting every stop light Westheimer and Richmond had to offer, parking garage outrages, cars lined up for miles and I see the door at Macy's and think man that walk is going to HURT! Low and behold a shopper leaving with 12 bags in their hands (see the good deals stop at one...had I not had an injury, I would of been done by 10 am!) They are on the 2nd level 5 parking spaces away from Handicap! WOW...an attendent comes and lets them leave and instructs me to park there...YES...PRINCESS PARKING!!!! Praise you G-D, Praise you G-D, OW...I still thank you for my healing...no time to stop and look at jewelry, you need to go to American Eagle...do not stop at handbags...you can smell perfumes on your way back...I get to American Eagle and heres a lady handing out scratch offs..."Scratch off and win an extra 15, 20 or 30% on your entire purchase! Everyone's a winner." I scratch it off and it says see attendant. I say, "Excuse me, what does this mean? He rushes me to the front counter and says, "we have another one!" YOU JUST WON A $100 SHOPPING SPREE!!! My G-D, My G-D, MY G-D...tears welt up and I was the happiest girl hobbling through the store for TWO hours!!!

Needless to say...I PRAISED HIM ALL THE WAY HOME!!! ;)