Why I Love my Friends...

There are many reasons why I love each of my friends. But this week I want to highlight one of the reasons I love love love my friend Amanda.

I could say that I love Amanda because of how great she is with my kids or because of how sacrificial she is with her time. I could talk about how funny she is or how thoughtful. I could point out what a great sounding board she is with just the right amount of sympathy and challenge. I could talk about the many things I love about this great lady including that she is a GREAT teacher and has a deep heart for her students.

But this week the main reason I Love Amanda is because she introduced me to "SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE!"

Have you watched this amazing show? I mean really watched it. It is incredible. The dances that these kids learn and execute each week are diverse and difficult. And the most amazing part is that a good number of the dancers aren't "classical" dancers. They come from an assortment of backgrounds like Hip-hop and Latin. The things that they pull off blow my brain!
This week there was a Hip-hop dance that I LOVED! You should check it out below.
The first part of the video introduces you to the dancers, Chelsie & Mark and then they show the dance. I hope you love it as much as I did.

A few weeks ago there was another Hip-hop routine that was amazing as well. The video skips the intro section, but the story is about a man who gets called to the war and his wife's reaction.

Leading Small Group and Loving Every Minute of It!

This summer I have the wonderful privilege of leading a Small Group Bible Study for ladies in my community. The study is on Tuesday nights at 6:30 at Grace Covenant Presbyterian and we are looking at different types of Psalms.

This week we kicked off the group by digging into Psalm One. God has been tickling my life with this psalm for a few months now, using it to feed my spirit and calling me to choose holiness and wisdom over laziness and my own understanding of life. I was wondering if there was anything else God could squeeze out for me during the Bible Study, and He did not disappoint!

The small group ranges from women in their early 20's to women who, let's just say, are in or past their 50's. This and other differences lead to some heated and exciting discussions. It was so much fun to hear how these different ladies read this Psalm--what drew their focus and questions, where they were convicted, and where they were blessed. We talked about being trees and if we were feeling very tree-like in our lives right now. We talked about how we delight in the Lord and how we can meditate in our relationship with Him. We talked about what it meant to be blessed, which took on such a deeper value when a woman battling cancer talked about God's blessing in her life. It was fun and full and deep and good.

I love talking about the God of the Bible with a group of women who love Him. I couldn't sleep that night when I got home. Not because I wasn't tired--frankly leading all these women was a bit of an exhausting task, but because I was so excited and thrilled that I got to be there when the Spirit showed up and led us to some cool things in the Word of God!

Personally, my butt got KICKED by one of my good friends. She made a great observation that in verse one the Psalmist takes us from walking with the wicked, to standing and then to sitting. This is a progression of investment--skirting sin, hanging out with sin and then just settling down with it...getting comfortable in sins living room, by sinking into a big comfy arm chair...ouch! This mirrors my own stupidity when it comes to bad choices. I'll allow myself to walk around with laziness or selfishness and it's no big deal. Then I'll just stop and hang out in my bad choices. That's not too bad either(I tell myself), but pretty soon I'm moving in with them and I've got serious problems on my hands! I need to cultivate better bud nipping!
I love that I serve a God who adores for us to be in community around His Word. And if you are reading this and are not involved in a Small Group Bible Study...GO GO GO & FIND ONE! It will feed you and your soul like nothing else!