Farmgirl Paints Winner!

Before we get to announce the next Christmas in July

winner, I wanted to take a moment and ask for your

prayers. Yesterday I heard about a family in the Raleigh

area where my sister lives who lost their 5 year old son,

Elijah, in a drowning accident at a pool party. Their 7 year

old son apparently found his brother but was paralyzed

with fear and shock to even tell anyone for several minutes.

It's tragic and scary and painful for all of us to hear about.

The parents names are David and Melissa. They also have

a 1.5 year old. My heart has been breaking for this family.

I can't imagine the loss. The grief. The despair.

Please pray for comfort, healing and peace.

I heard the song "Held" by Natalie Grant yesterday

on the way home and, while it touched me deeply to

think of this family, it is such a beautiful reminder of

how in our darkest times of grief God holds us:

This is what it means to be held, how it feels,

when the sacred is torn from your life

and you survive.

This is what it is to be loved and to know

that the promise was when everything fell

we'd be held.

How awesome is our God.

Here's the video of "Held" in case you've not heard it.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for David, Melissa and

all the others grieving the loss of precious Elijah.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Now for some happy news.

The winner of the Farmgirl Paints "Blessed" necklace

is Shannon from Moving Mommy!

Shannon's #24 comment was:

Shannon, please email me (button to the left)

so I can pass along your address to Becky.

Thanks all! More winners announced tomorrow!

Have a GOOD day.

Thy Will Be Done

We've got something big brewing over here. Things that have me feeling a bit introspective. My adorable, talented hubby just interviewed for a pretty big-deal job....and did well. We won't know for possibly two weeks whether or not he gets the job, so we're waiting.

I've been having mixed feelings. Most of the time I an thrilled and want to scream from the mountain tops how fabulously proud I am of my sweetie just for being considered for such an awesome job. (I promise there will be more to tell about the job once we know for sure.)

However, I'm also feeling apprehensive every now and then. You see, this job would take my husband away from home traveling the better part of a year or two. Wow, right? I'm so committed to helping Eric make this dream a reality - but it would mean so much change for our family. Would Emma do OK without her dad around for a while? Am I strong enough to be a single parent for that long? How would this effect our relationship? So many questions.

So while we wait for an answer, we've been praying fervently a very specific prayer. It's not long and complicated or even specific. But it IS what I believe to be the most profound and important prayer. "Thy will be done." At church, our pastor has recently referenced this prayer often. I think God's trying to tell me something - He's good at that, isn't He? If we're listening.

We don't have control over many things in life. We aren't the ones who ultimately decide whether Eric gets this job. But, I do have control over trusting God. By praying this prayer, I am trusting God to lead us in the direction He wants us to go. If we strive to align our actions with God's will for our lives, how can we possibly go wrong?

This is comforting. If it's God's will for my hubby to get this job, then I have to trust He'll give us the strength to survive it...maybe even thrive because of it.

So, while we wait, we pray for God's will be to clear to us. But I'm still going to smile a little bigger, squeeze my sweetie's hand a little tighter, and tell a friend here and there the exciting possibilities on our horizon.

Photo courtesy of FreeFoto (Ian Britton)

Dear God...

My full time job is doing media/publicity/design for

my church.  One benefit: uplifting spiritual stuff at my

fingertips.  Case in point is this beautiful prayer

someone left on my desk this morning.