His Princess!

I want my daughter to know that she is a princess!
Not just my princess.
Not just her daddy's princess.
A very special princess to a very special prince.
This past week we had prom preparations going on at our house. I have a son who has been to a prom before and a daughter who was going to her first prom. The preparations for my daughter were quite different then with my son. For my son we bought the ticket and rented the tux. The time total was less than 30 minutes! For my daughter we tried on dresses, shopped for shoes, went through 4 or 5 dress fittings, looked for jewelry, make-up and on and on. On the day of prom my daughter and I had a regimented plan of attack for getting ready that started well before the prom started! My son went fishing, came home, showered and dressed. AND don't get me started on the difference between dad's response to his daughter going to prom verses his son...let's just say she may not realize it, but she is his princess.
When it was all said and done my daughter looked lovely.
I wanted her to feel like a princess.
She looked like one to her mom. But she looked like one to me before she had her pale blue beaded dress on.

My heart was just touched at how lovely she looked, but as the night went on I had a prayer on my heart.
Lord, I pray she knows that she is your princess.
Everyday. All the time. To the One King. To Jesus.

Last year my daughter attended our annual women's conference with me. I was filled with joy to have her beside me singing, praying, taking in the Word. I spoke at the conference about beauty. The beauty that God sees in all of us. How we should use His Word as our mirror and not look into the world's warped mirror.

 

 "All beautiful you are, my darling. There is no flaw in you."~ Song of Solomon 4:7.  

 

I know my daughter heard the verse, knows the verse (because she reminds me when I am feeling less than beautiful) and now I want her to live the verse!

 

This year my daughter will attend our annual women's conference with me again. I am so thankful to have this time with her. This year I will speak about having an overflowing cup for Christ. A cup flowing with his love and his word. The more we sit with Jesus, the more we will realize that we are all a princess to Him.

We are loved.

We are cherished.

We are His.

His Princess!

Can I take a moment to encourage you to come and bring your princess with you also? It promises to be a special time. All the lovely ladies of the land should come! (For conference details look under the tab, This One's for the Girls, Yesterday and Today and Forever)

Blessings,

Jodie

God Provides

I put off my run this morning. Not because I think that I don't need to run anymore (I have a 10 mile race coming up on Saturday) but, because I felt God calling me to my chair in the corner of the room. See this weekend was an emotional roller coaster for me. We spent time on Saturday with dear friends that we have not seen in almost a year which was wonderful; however,  on the way home I received an e-mail from Cailee's dance teacher that she would be closing her studio at the end of this dance year because she is expecting a baby. Joy and sorrow hit me at the same time. While I understand the desire to stay home with your children and raise your family (I, too, quit working so much to do the exact thing), I am also now on the other end of the spectrum. As I held my baby girl last night while she cried over losing not only her dance teacher but, the only dance studio she has ever known, I physically hurt on the inside and shed a few tears myself before going to bed.

I assured Cailee that we would pray about the situation, specifically that God would provide a new owner for Progressions, but deep inside I was struggling with whether or not it could happen. My mind was reeling with how I could fix the problem. How I could make it all better for my little girl. And then I saw this prayer posted by a friend on facebook:

"Dear Lord, I pray You will use every disappointment in my life for good. Show me how to use my struggles to make me better, and not allow my difficulties to make me bitter. I know I have a choice. Help me choose the right one."~ Girlfriends in God 


and God got my attention really quickly. And then this morning, in the quiet of my corner chair with music playing and the fireplace going, I opened my book "The Greatest Gift" by Ann Voscamp to December 7th: God Provides.

"When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Issac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven. "Abraham, Abraham!".......... Abraham looked up and there in the thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the lamb and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide."

Genesis 22:6-14 (paraphrase)

The literal translation of "to provide" means "to see". God always sees - and He will see to it. But Abraham also had to have faith and Issac had to trust that his dad knew what was best. Having faith and trusting that God will provide leads to peace. Peace is belief that exhales. Peace is believing that God's provision is everywhere. Peace is knowing that God will provide a way....even in the little struggles of life. Peace will provide grace for the gaps......when you don't know how they are to be filled. Peace provides more....it provides God. What better gift could God give us than Himself? Romans 8:32 gives us a glimpse of the lamb that God gave us -

"He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"

So today, I am thankful that God provides, especially when I cannot. See I cannot fix Cailee's heartache, but I know the One who can. I cannot take away the disappointments that will come in the future, but I can teach her Who to turn to when they come. I can choose the right choice. I can choose joy and I can help others around me to do the same. "God gives God, and we only needs to slow long enough to unwrap the greatest Gift with our time: time in His word, time in His presence, time at His feet." I put off my run this morning.....and I am so glad that I did.

~Donna