Praise the Lord!

Hey all! Happy Spring! Although, the weather man has been wrong the past few days....does anyone else ever wonder HOW they come to those conclusions about weather when they never come about!!! Well, I should be used to it, seeing as how it has been this way since I can remember- the weather never does what they think it will!

Well, as some of you all know, I just got back from a MASSIVE road trip to Kentucky last night. It was a lot of fun, but a very long drive. I left at 7pm on Friday night, and drove all through the night and didn't get lost! Once we got into Kentucky at 4am, we actually got lost and couldn't find the hotel for the girl that I was riding with- we drove around for 30 minutes! We could see it, but we couldn't get to it. We finally got to it, but I was supposed to go to my hotel- I nixed that idea and slept in Jenna's room. We got about 2 hours of sleep and then headed over to the conference. It was so amazing. God really spoke to me and I was blessed to hear the speakers. A little tired, but I had XS energy drinks and rhodiola (an awesome vitamin with energy!). I honestly didn't get tired until like 3pm as we were eating lunch/dinner at Outback....yummm.

But really, I was so encouraged and blessed by all of the speakers: I think my favorite speakers were a couple named Terri and Lorri Taylor. Lorri spoke about a recent tragedy that happened to them. Their 8,000 square foot house burned to the ground while they were 9 hours away on business- they rushed back, but they couldn't put it out. It burned for 13 days before going out and all their possessions were lost. Every picture, every book, every childhood memory was gone. As Lorri and her daughters dug through the ashes, one of the people helping with the mess ran over to her and handed her a little plastic card that they had found in the ashes...before I go on, let me just tell you that they discovered through analysis that their house had burned at 5,000 degrees! And this little card that was plastic had remained. The card said "The greatest gift that we have is the gift of Jesus." Lorri wept as she told us that even when all we have is lost, our greatest treasure is not a thing, but the gift of Jesus. This was moving for me and made me think about all the things I have to be grateful for. A home, but more importantly, the greatest gift, the gift of salvation. I hope this can help you pause and think about the goodness of God in your life as it did me. May the glory of the Lord be praised!

"Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices ; My flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol ; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life ; In Your presence is fullness of joy ; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever." Psalm 16. 9-11

* And a big thanks to Cait, who provided the photo!