Derailed by Tim Irwin, PH.D.

Although I am no longer in the corporate world, I thought that this book would have great insight into life in general. We all have character flaws that not only impact how we relate to co-workers, but those same characteristics can also roll over to home, church, any organization that you may participate in. Derailed gives insight into how those character traits can make you or break you. The six executives that were profiled were not monsters of the corporate world, they were simply blinded by ambition and unable to see how their personality and in the long run character affected everyone around them. Everyday people can have the same character flaws, not necessarily ambition, but arrogance or many other flaws that prevent them from seeing how their behavior affects others. Tim Irwin presents the idea that those flaws are not necessarily setting you up for failure or derailment, but you have to be willing to see yourself beyond the end of your nose. Derailed was an excellent book that I would highly recommend to anyone in leadership, but also to anyone who has to deal with others on a regular basis. Employees, church parishioners, moms and dads will benefit from the information found on those pages. It will make a person look in on themselves to see just how they interact with others and realize that the whole idea of being a bull in a china shop gets you nowhere. You get more bees with honey than vinegar, so we all need to soften our tone and think before we react. I personally gained knowledge into myself and will try to apply it to my everyday life. I am thankful that I received this free copy from Thomas Nelson for review. It was well worth the read!

The Sweet By and By by Sara Evans with Rachel Hauck

I recently had the privilege of reading Sara Evans The Sweet By and By. I have had the book for awhile and life happened. No better explanation of why I haven't read it than that. Sara Evans with Rachel Hauck took us to a place that I think many people sit in life. They take the time to tell the fictional story of Jade Fitzgerald. Jade's story could be any of our stories. She had a hippie mother and father who seemed to be as much a hippie as her mother. Sadly their lives go different directions and they divorce. Jade and her brother Aiden are along for the ride, as most children of divorce find themselves. The story moves forward to Jade finding love and eventually having to face her past to even think about having a successful future. How true is that for all of us? The old saying of life just happens is a hard pill to swallow for so many. With out Christ in our lives, life can seem like an endless journey of pain and destruction. I related to Jade in so many ways. I never had panic attacks as her character experiences, but looking back I can see a huge difference in myself before I became a Christian and after I became a Christian. I am definitely not perfect, but life has been greatly improved by coming to Christ. Jade's character goes through so many ups and downs throughout the story, which makes the story feel even more authentic. Sara Evans and Rachel Hauck created a fictional story that could mirror so many different lives out there today. The realism in this story not only makes you feel for the characters, but also draws in you and keeps you reading to the end. I happen to be a child of divorce, so I could relate on a very intimate level with the main character Jade and how she felt relating to her father, but you don't have to be a child of divorce to relate to the story. All of us have trials and tribulations in our lives and how we overcome those challenges is what strengthens us and makes us examples of Christ to the world. God never said that become a child of his would be easy, but he did say that he would be at our side through it all, even if we have not professed our sins and ask for Him to come into our heart. He is always there, watching over us and guiding our steps. I would highly recommend this book to all of my friends that love to read and even to those friends that may not be avid readers. The storyline flows along well and keeps you wanting more. Just be sure that you have a box of tissues handy as there are times you will need them! The Sweet By and By is an excellent book, that can help even the hardest of hearts to grow closer to Christ!

Open and honest

This past week in my bible study we were learning about pitfalls that get in the way of Christian women delighting in serving God and making that service feel more like a duty! I will admit that 90% of the time I delight in serving my Lord. I love to sing, I love the opportunity to work with my husband in the sound booth and I am so excited to work along side the ladies of the L.I.G.H.T. ministry. I have been blessed beyond words. During our study Tammie Head taught us a new way to look at Satan. She had a GPS that had a female voice that sounded Australian. Her and her husband lovingly named her Sheila. While on a trip to LA, Sheila steered them wrong quite a few times. Well, her GPS became our visual on how we allow Satan to steer us wrong. So, she taught us all to name him Sheila and work towards overcoming our Sheila's. Each of us wrote down a Sheila that has been plaguing us and shared that card with another lady in the study, so that they can pray over our Sheila with us. What a blessing it is to have others praying for your weak spots. This past weekend was such a blessing. Jason and I were able to be a part of the Inside/Out weekend at church. We had 5 boys and their mentor in our home for the whole weekend. Honestly, I pray that my children are as faithful to God as these young men are when they are the same age! I was on such a high all weekend. Unfortunately, my weekend did not end as high. Sheila stepped in and I allowed her to steal my joy! I prayed over the situation, but in my weakness, I allowed Sheila to kick me down. Needless to say, I have done a lot of praying since Sunday and I feel much better now, but I felt like such a failure for a few days because I allowed Satan to steal my joy! He knew I was weak and he walked all over me. I know my God stands right next to me in everything I do, but every now and than there are people that Satan uses to knock us down. I look forward to learning more tools through my bible study over the next few weeks to hopefully have fewer days like Sunday!

Letting God Lead!

I have been approached by the ladies of the L.I.G.H.T. ministry to become the Photo Journalism/Publicity Committee Head. I of course, willing accepted the possibility to get to know the ladies of the church. As a new member to First Baptist Church of Griffith, it gives me the opportunity to interact with more of the ladies, than had I just been a member. My first major task is to start interviews with approximately 5 ladies, hopefully more, for the ladies banquet on April 28th. The goal is to meet with all the ladies and interview them. I am a confident woman, but we shall see. After that, my priority is to advertise, advertise, advertise all of the ladies events! We hope to get more of the ladies in the church involved and to join in the fun that is L.I.G.H.T! I go where God leads! I love serving Him and watching Him work in my life! To God be the glory! May I just be a humble servant! I also learned this week what L.I.G.H.T. represents. Ladies Intentionally Going Helping Touching = L.I.G.H.T. AND Always remembering to do "Something for Him" and "Something for Us". Pretty awesome to be apart of a group that is focused on the Harvest as Pastor Scott is currently teaching us! Its amazing what happens when we let God lead us!

Mending

So after a week of illness in our home I think we are finally on the mend. Two weeks ago Jacoba started with a mild cough. Honestly, it seemed like her allergy cough she gets when her allergy meds are either not being taken or they are no longer working. This winter did not give her a cooling off period, since we have not had a traditional winter by Mid-West standards. The stuff that would normally die because of the deep freeze has not died because it really has not frozen! Great for those without allergies, not so great for those with allergies who look forward to the winter months and not having to suffer! So anyways, Jacoba started coughing back in December so we put her back on her cingulair to help get her back on track. All was good until about two weeks ago. Of course, the up and down of the temps does not help with her allergies either. It was not until she had the cough for a week that it became noticeable different. At that point she woke up last Sunday saying her belly was upset and of course that meant no church for mom. Later that day she started to run a fever. Monday I took her to the doctor because she still had the mild fever and the cough had gotten much worse. For those of you that may not no Jacoba had strep throat 5 times last year followed up with getting her tonsils out. The five times was in five months. She missed 32 days of school in all with all that sickness! So, when the nurse said, "Oh, well we will get a culture for strep and go from there." I laughed! I said well, I know its possible for her to still get strep, but we did get her tonsils taken out last year because of strep and she has not had any issues since. She smiled and walked out. Needless to say a culture later, we find out Jacoba has strep again! As Jacoba's doctor so lovingly put it, because of her allergies she has all those boogers in there and the drainage going on that just make her vulnerable to strep. So, he added yet another allergy med to her regiment, only to be given for a few weeks at a time when her cough seems to come back and than we can stop it once things mellow out. If the allergens are high than she has the added med, but try not to use all the time he suggest. Luckily she has spring break in a couple weeks and I can take her to get her allergy blood draw to see exactly what she is allergic too. Honestly, it would be nice to get her the allergy shots, but the kid is deathly afraid of needless, so I think we are a few years off from that.

Jacoba seemed to be on the mend and sure enough, I got sick. I did not get strep like her, but I think I would have preferred it. I had the whole body aches, cough, fever just leave me alone feeling! I was really lucky though. Thursday I felt the worst and Jason was actually asked if he wanted to go home since they had too many workers that day. He came home and I slept the day away. I obviously need the rest. Jacoba's cough is pretty much gone and mine is getting better. Thankfully God saw fit for me to be well enough to be in church yesterday. I missed all of my church family and being able to worship with them!

Ladies Transformed Retreat

This weekend I had the privilege of attending the SBC Transformed Ladies Retreat in Indianapolis with the ladies from my church. It was such a blessing to attend this event. I came back feeling rejuvenated and on fire for the Lord! It gave me a renewed passion for serving my heavenly father. The keynote speaker Tammie Head was amazing. She mentored under Beth Moore, an amazing woman in her own right! Tammie was so passionate about us transforming our lives to be a reflection of Christ to the world and doing with joyfully!

I was able to attend 7 break out sessions. The first session I attended was called Transforming your Thinking. The concept of the session was guarding our thoughts and how we react to those thoughts. She told us to be PACRATs. P stands for Pause, going back to James 1:19 where he says be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. If we Pause, we can work through that slow to anger. A stands for analyze. Take in the whole situation before jumping to any conclusions. C stands for commit it to God. Pray over the situation and give it to God. R stands for respond. You are to respond in a loving Christ like way. A stand for and. lol Finally, T stands for thanking God for the situation, but most of all, thank God for being at your side and moving you through it to glorify Him!

My next session was Mercy in the Storm! Nicole Commer was an amazing woman of God! She was an missionary overseas with her husband for years and they felt lead to come back to the states as missionaries. They moved to Pontchartrain, LA in 2005. They had only been there for a few weeks when Hurricane Katrina hit and they were new parents living completely away from all of their family. They lost everything. Their church of 1200 was not 400 and they started questioning if they made the right decision or if this was God's way of saying that he wanted them elsewhere. It did not take long for them to learn that God had placed them right where he wanted them and through all of the relief efforts they were able to touch the lost in Christ's name! Nicole said that we as Christians need to learn how to persevere through the storms we come to in our lives. God never said that when we became Christians that we would be free of bad days, but HE did say that he would be there with us through it all. Its not a matter if we will come upon a storm, its a when we come to the storm and how we react to that storm which will either less God's glory or it will Glorify Him!

My next session was named Bless the Broken Road. The speaker was yet another amazing woman of God. As a child she had been molested. As many children who have been molested, she put the traumatic event in the back of her mind. Shortly after she got married she realized that she was a very angry person and she could not understand why she was so angry. She prayed over her anger for a long time and God finally showed her that she had never forgiven her offender and because of that she was not able to be happy in her life at that time. She worked through her anger and eventually forgave her offender. She said that if you are unable to forgive those that transgress against you, than God will not be able to forgive you transgressions. That does not mean that God will take back your salvation. Once you are saved in Christ's name, you are always saved. What she meant by that was any sins from that point forward will not be forgiven until you can forgive others. She also said that forgiveness is not a process, it is a decision. Getting to forgiveness is process, but once you decide to forgive, it a decision! Not forgiving lingers over your life and to be able to enjoy God's glory, you have to forgive those that offend you. One last thing she said was that just because you forgive, does not make the offense against you ok, it just allows you to move forward without that event hanging over your head.

At that point Fridays sessions were over. I felt so uplifted and excited. We went to dinner at that point and following dinner we had evening worship. We enjoyed uplifting music and great speaking by Tammie Head. After evening worship there were a few sessions available, but myself and a few other ladies decided to enjoy fellowship with each other.

Saturday started with a morning worship service. After morning worship I attended a two part session by Tammie Head called Duty or Delight? The session was geared around our service to the Lord. Do we feel that our daily service is a duty or do we delight in serving the Lord everyday? God does not want to be a burden to us, he wants us to find joy in everyday life and in serving Him. Tammie Head was an amazing speaker. She was an awesome example of how God can use anyone to spread his gospel. Tammie was from a broken home, like so many of us. She quit school in 9th grade. She was a mother at 19 and did not come to Christ until 21, like me! As she put it, in the eyes of most of the world, she is not an educated woman, but yet God is using her to reach the lost and to uplift those that know Him! So when you think you can't spread the good news, remember God can use anyone!

The next session I went to was Intimacy in Marriage by Amy Rardin. All of my sessions were inspiring, but this session was an eye opener and gave me a deeper love and respect for my husband. She had a lot of great points. We should think of our husband as a CEO of our home and we are the General Manager. We can give input into the decisions of our home, but ultimately our husband should make the final decision and we should be supportive of his decisions. We should pray for our husbands in everything that he does. We should build him up. One very important point was that we should never ridicule or diminish our husband in front of others. We should never do that ever, but men need their wives to respect them and uplift them and embarrassing him ruins that respect. Husbands and wives each have needs. I would highly recommend any couple wanting to grow closer should read together the book His Needs Her Needs. Average women need affection, conversation, honesty and openness, financial support and family commitment. Men need sexual fulfillment, recreational companionship, an attractive spouse, domestic support and admiration. Number one and two on the man's list can be switched. Number one on the list is pretty self-explanatory, but one thing that all women need to keep in the back of their mind is that no matter what, you should not deny your husband, because it crushes his spirit and if it happens too many times it could lead to your husband looking elsewhere. Infidelity is never your fault, but if a man finds himself rejected, it could lead to viewing of pornography or worse and extra-marital affair. Next is the recreational partner. Men want their wives to participate in things with them that the man loves. It does not meant that you can't have things that you like to do and that he can't have things that he likes to do, but you should find somethings that the two of you can do together. It makes your husband feel loved and that you are willing to put effort into him. You will be surprised that if you put in the effort to do that, he might put in effort in areas that you would like effort/change from him. Next is an attractive spouse, now this does not mean you have to change yourself. Hello, he married you for the woman that you are, but what it means is every now and than when he comes home from working a long hard day, make yourself up for him rather than sitting in your junk sweats and your hair up in pony tail! He wants to know that you care about him enough to take care of yourself for him! Domestic support is just as is sounds. In particular for stay-at-home moms, your husband wants to know that he can rely on you to care for the home and your children. That does not mean that he will not participate in choirs around the home or the upbringing of the children, but it gives him confidence in you that you will care for the needs of the home. Finally there is admiration. A husband wants to know that his wife holds him in high regard. I know, I know, many of you are probably thinking, I love my husband and I admire him as the Christian man that he is and I admire him as the father and husband that he is. When was the last time you told him? Men need reassurance. You need to make a point to tell your husband how much he really means to you. From there Amy told us to make TIME, T - ten to twenty minutes each day alone to strengthen your marriage. I - Invest in weekly date nights. If you can't afford to go out for a date, have a few hours without the kids at home. M - Make a monthly day away policy. Again, if you can't afford a hotel for a night way, have the kids stay at a friend of family members home. Finally E - escape quarterly for 48 hours away weekend. As the other dates, if you can't afford it, make a point to have grandparents or friends take the kids away so that you and your husband can focus on the two of you. Amy ended the session with the Marriage Golden Rule: Meet your spouse's needs as you would want your spouse to meet yours. That session had plenty of laughter, but you could tell that it touched a lot of women and it was so uplifting to see so many women wanting to improve their marriages in a Godly way.

My final session was success and failure. The speaker was teaching us that there are women in the bible who either succeed or failed. We have the right to choose to either succeed in Christ or to fail in Christ. We should choose to succeed in Christ.

We ended the weekend with another worship service. There is nothing like hearing a bunch of believers raising up praise to God! Tammie spoke again ending our weekend on just a high note reminding us that God wants nothing but the best for us and that we should live in the joy of the Lord!

I highly recommend if you have not attended a ladies retreat or a men's retreat for that matter, you should attend. Being with that many believers is just an awesome experience!

Valentine's Day

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. It was a great day here at the Babin's. Jason took the day off so that he could work a wedding tonight at church, so it was a nice break from the daily grind and time for him and I to enjoy time together. We are not the giving cards, flowers, chocolates or any gifts for that matter kind of people. Well maybe I should clarify that I am not much a of gift receiver. I know that Jason would love to give gifts to me to show me just how much he loves me, but I honestly don't need any kind of gift to know that my husband loves me. He shows me each and every day how much he loves me. If I were to get flowers, I would rather it be a special occasion in his opinion, rather than the card company telling me its a special day. More of a I was thinking of you rather than its your birthday or our anniversary or even Valentine's Day. I know, I am a spoil sport, but it is what it is!

I have never been one that received gifts well. I have personal reasons for why I am a bad gift receiver. I really just don't like surprises.

So with that, I hope everyone had a very nice Valentine's Day and just remember that God loves you every day, so we should love everyone every day as well!

God Bless!