Uncategorized

Kate’s Cause Continued

I remember the day the doctor told me my diagnosis like it was yesterday. My mom went with me to the appointment. When the doctor gave us the news she immediately called my dad and siblings who quickly met us at the house. Not a lot of words were said between all of us at that moment, but I remember just being glad that they were with me while I nervously folded clothes that should have been put away days before.

I didn’t sleep much that night. Instead, I laid in bed and just prayed and asked God why I was going through this. The next morning I woke up with a peace that I cannot explain. I was no longer scared, and I was ready to get a plan and face this head on. From the very first day of finding out that I had cancer – having my family and friends’ support and prayers meant the world to me. Through every step – from my first appointment, chemo treatments, and shaving my head – them being there meant so much to me.

I wanted to find a way to do that for others, so while I was going through treatment I looked for a way to help. I started volunteering with a group called Cowboys Who Care. This group brings cowboy hats to children with cancer and other life threatening illnesses. During my time with them, I was able to bring children going through cancer treatment to rodeos and give them a fun experience during a hard time in their life.

During my first few appointments, I was told how my treatment should go and was given the option to have fertility preservation done before starting my treatment. I was fortunate enough to be able to do this because of the support system that I have. I will even have my identical twin sister be my surrogate when I am ready for a family of my own (seriously, how blessed am I??). During this time, I learned many women would not be able to do because of the financial burden.

This is why I began Kate’s Cause. I believe that no women should have to sacrifice having a family to have the treatment that will save her life. I want to be able to offer the support that I was given to as many women as I can!

I truly believe that God gives us hard times so that we can be a light for someone else going through a similar situation. Although these times were hard for me, I never felt that He was not by my side. I believe that he showed this so much through the compassion and support of the people He placed in my life. I am thankful for my experiences because I believe that it has given me such a different perspective. I am now able to give some of the love I received back to others.

Kate’s Cause

At 25 yeas old in November of 2018, I was diagnosed with Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma of the cervix/uterus. During my first few appointments, I was told how my treatment should go, and was given the option to have fertility preservation done before starting my treatment. I was fortunate enough to be able to do this because of the support system that I have. I will even have my identical twin sister be my surrogate when I am ready for a family of my own (seriously, how blessed am I??). During this time, I learned many women would not be able to do this because of the financial burden.

This is why I began Kate’s Cause. I believe that no women should have to sacrifice having a family to have the treatment that will save her life, and I want to be able to offer the support that I was given to as many women as I can!

Please follow Kate’s Cause on Facebook and Instagram. Pray for her non-profit to continue to grow and bless women in need.

You can read more about Kate’s story in the following article:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/cowgirlmagazine.com/infertility-cancer-kates-cause/

It’s love

There’s a difference in being a sassy woman and being a strong woman.

There’s a difference in being cocky and being confident.

There’s a difference in telling it like it is and speaking the truth in love.

The difference – well, it’s love.

The more Jesus you consume, the more Jesus you radiate. The more Fruit you take in, the more Fruit you put out.

Lord, help me never to be haughty but instead to be humble. Help me to be more like you.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

Turn it off

Turn it off.

Seriously. Turn it all off.

The news. The media. The worry.

The drama. The comparison. The opinions.

It’s all too much.

You owe it to yourself and to your family to unplug and unwind. Put it on the calendar if you have to – just make it a priority.

Sister, it’s ok to take a break so that you don’t break.

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2

Let’s Agree

We need to come together.

Our nation.

Our community.

Our church.

Our home.

We need to come together – instead of continuously severing ties with one another because of opinions, misunderstandings, or even disagreements.

We can disagree without totally disengaging. We can disagree without devastating relationships. A disagreement doesn’t have to be detrimental. It can simply be a disagreement.

All this disagreeing is causing division.

In our nation.

In our community.

In our church.

In our homes.

And the devil loves it.

So today let’s agree to hold our tongues when need be. Let’s agree to speak the truth in love when need be. Let’s agree to listen. Let’s agree to see other people where they are at. To be compassionate and sympathetic and empathetic and kind.

Let’s.

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

2 Timothy 2:15

Waiting

Guest Post by Dianne Timberlake

The Father is watching and waiting…

Luke 15 is a love story straight from our Lord. In this passage, Jesus tells us three parables with the central theme that God loves us and is moving to redeem the lost.

The parable of the lost son (prodigal son) is my favorite because it is also my story. It is the story of all redeemed sinners. I was lost, but now I am found. I was blind, but now I see. I have a Savior who reached down from heaven and washed my sin away with His precious blood. Amazing grace! Amazing love! Luke 15 tells us of a sinner coming to saving grace.

A man had two sons. The youngest demanded his share of his father’s estate and then spent it all in DISOBEDIENCE in another land. God sent (or allowed) a famine to come to that land, and the young man began to be in NEED. (It’s amazing what a little famine in our lives can do for our thinking.) 

The young man CAME TO HIS SENSES and remembered that his father’s hired men ate better than the pigs he was feeding (and whose food he was contemplating). He ran to tell his father that HE HAD SINNED against him and to ask for a job as a hired man.

The best part! The father saw him from a long way off and ran to hug and kiss his lost son who was coming home at last. The father had been watching and waiting. He didn’t rebuke the son or hire him to work in the fields. The father had compassion and REDEEMED THE LOST SON. In fact, he had a welcome back party. He gave the son a robe, a ring, and sandals to establish his position in the family. (The older brother wasn’t too thrilled. In fact, he was bitter and jealous, but that’s a story for another day.)

Our Lord is still watching and waiting for the lost to come home. His Holy Spirit is stirring and convicting even today. He may send/allow some tough times to encourage the lost to seek Him, but there is no sin that He will not forgive (except denying that Jesus is the Son of God sent to save the lost). Our Heavenly Father is not waiting with a big stick or a stern lecture. He is patiently waiting to forgive and redeem lost souls. Run home! The Father loves you and is watching and waiting to bring you back into His family.

I see you

Hey Educator.

I see you.

I see you walking into a war zone every single day. A war zone full of germs, opinions, budget constraints, and laws made by humans sitting in an office hundred of miles away.

I see you risking your health and your sanity. I see the ever changing guidelines. The emails. The unknown.

I see the long hours. The late nights. The lesson plans that will no longer work because of a change in protocol.

But most of all I see you loving those babies. I see you teaching your heart out. I see you risking it all. And I see you not giving up.

I see you trying to keep life as normal as possible for these kiddos in a very abnormal situation.

Because you love what you do.

Because you love them.

Because this is who you are.

I see you.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

The truth

🎶 Word of life

Speak to my weary heart

Strengthen my broken parts

Lead me to Your open arms

Word of truth

Illuminate all these lies

The enemy speaks inside

In freedom I will rise🎶

With information being flung at us left and right it’s hard fo know what’s true and what’s not. I’ll be honest – it’s just downright confusing.

But here’s the truth – God’s word.

Open it up.

Read it for yourself.

Meditate on it.

Memorize it.

Really study it.

That’s your best bet and our only hope.

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105

Sing over Me

Guest Post by Mrs. Mary Staggs

Zephaniah 3:17 NKJV

“The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing”

Have any of you every rocked their babies or grandbabies and sang to them – especially if they are crying and tired?

If you know me, you know I love babies. I love being Nana, and I love your babies, too. I think the most peaceful and comforting thing for me is to rock my babies and sing to them. Praying over them, asking God to comfort them, to give them opportunities to succeed, and to love God and know Him personally.  

I have also always enjoyed hearing my husband sing to our kids and our grandbabies; his beautiful comforting voice is a gift. Now I even get to hear my kids sing to our grandbabies. That is a blessing! Whether it’s a made up song or an old Hymn – it brings a soothing comfort.

As long as I can remember I loved climbing into my daddy’s lap. Even as a grown woman with kids of my own, I would gently lay in my daddy’s lap in his chair when I came to visit. I don’t remember him singing but he would hum, talk, and maybe tell me a story.

I memorized his hands – they seemed gigantic to me. I knew they were strong. They worked hard. I never saw them as dirty even though they were in fact oil and grease stained, often cracked and dry. But to me they represented safety, love, and provision.

The Lord loves us more than I love my babies, and more than my daddy loved me. God wants me to allow Him to sing over me, rest in His love and His safety, to be calmed by His still small voice, and His word that is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path! Psalms 119:105 (I was always afraid of the dark…)

I don’t know about you but there are days I still feel like that little girl – afraid, tired, cranky, insecure, and hopeless. But my Father God wraps His love around me and sings over me – refreshing my soul. He gives me hope, peace, and joy to face the next minute!

Sisters and brothers, allow the creator of the universe, who knows everything about you, who gave His only son for you – to rejoice over you. Spend time with Him. He loves you. Be quiet and rest in His peace.

Please if you don’t have a personal relationship with HIM, ask someone how to find that peace, that joy, and that strength in the midst of the world we live in.

Remember, God cares for you…1 Peter 5:7 and so do I.

Be Prepared

This past winter we had an unprecedented ice/snow event in Texas. It. Was. Cold. We are not built for weather like this. We the people nor our structures. Everything broke. We lost power, our pipes burst. We thought we were prepared. I watched customer after customer come into our little general store with pieces of PVC cut from their homes and witnessed my pipe fitter turned store keeper father in law, fit them a new joint of pipe and pvc fittings to fix their busted leak. They all said the same thing, “I thought I had this insulated well enough” or “this has never happened before”. We were not as prepared as we should have been simply because we didn’t know how.

But it made me think about preparing. And the parable of the virgins. Matthew 25:1-13

At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

2 Five of the virgins were foolish, and five were wise.

3 When the foolish ones took their lamps, they did not take extra olive oil with them.

4 But the wise ones took flasks of olive oil with their lamps.

5 When the bridegroom was delayed a long time, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

6 But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is here! Come out to meet him.’

7 Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.

8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’

9 ‘No,’ they replied. ‘There won’t be enough for you and for us. Go instead to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

10 But while they had gone to buy it, the bridegroom arrived, and those who were ready went inside with him to the wedding banquet. Then the door was shut.

11 Later, the other virgins came too, saying, ‘Lord, lord! Let us in!’

12 But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I do not know you!’

13 Therefore stay alert, because you do not know the day or the hour.

2 Peter 3:10 tells us:

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes, the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare.

We must always be prepared! Because we don’t know the hour of the Lord’s return. Are we teaching others? Are we sharing Jesus with as many people as we can possibly can?