Missions Monday- What is your mission?

I know that finding your purpose in life can sometimes be overwhelming. Trying to hear what GOD wants you to do can be frustrating, sometimes. So, during those overwhelming frustrating times, what is your mission? Your mission is to LOVE.

Why love?  Well, because GOD says. :) John 15:12  in the NIV says, "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." That's pretty clear.  GOD commands us to love. Sounds easy, right. Yeah, sure it is. It is easy to love those that are easy to love. That's not really what GOD is talking about, though. We ALWAYS have to love. Even when we don't feel like it. Even when it's hard. Even when people seem unlovable. We still have to love. 

Loving is not always easy. It can be one of the most difficult things we do. Sometimes is seems like GOD places us in the paths of what we consider the 'unlovables'. Every one's 'unlovable' is different and our reasons for avoiding love are different. Maybe we've been hurt in the past. Maybe those 'unlovables' remind of us that hurt. Maybe we have built protective walls that we are just not willing to tear down. Whatever our reasons for avoiding love, we have to get over them. We have to move past the hurt, or the issues and get to lovin'. :) 

Once we really grasp the reality of GOD'S love for us, how can we not want to love like HE loves? He gave HIS son, HIS life, HIS everything for us. The sacrifices HE has made are tremendous, can we not make the commitment and small sacrifice of loving our 'unlovables'?

GOD has left explicit instructions on what love is, what it means to love, and how love works. Take these words to heart and work on sharing love with your 'unlovables'.



1 Corinthians 13

1 If I speak in the tonguest of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,t but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Things I Love Thursday (TILT)- My Lap Band

Yep, it's true. I LOVE that thing. It has been a life saver for me. I was heading down the road of self destruction, and this little bit of plastic really helped me. Now, I am not saying Weight Loss Surgery (WLS) is for everyone. However, it was a good choice for me. You don't have to agree with me. I know that there are some dead set anti-WLS people out there, and I don't have to agree with you, either. :)

It will be 3 years in November since I had my surgery. My weight loss has been slower than I have liked, but then again, I haven't worked as hard as I should have all the time. Totally not a LapBand issue, but a Denise issue. :) I have a lot of people aske me about the Band. The photo above shows how it is placed in your body. Yes, it stays in there forever, unless there is a serious complication. Yes, my new stomach is really that tiny. Yes, you can feel that port. Yes, I would do it again. Yes, I would recommend it to people. However, if you are considering WLS, you really need to do your research and find what works for you. There are many WLS options out there and different people have different needs.

So, that's my short but sweet post this week. :)

Things I Love Thursday (TILT)- FRAMILY

Framily. Yep, that's right. Not a type-o. Framily. It's that thing thing every military family longs for every time they get a new assignment. Friends so close that they become your family.

 I wouldn't trade my life for the world, but military life isn't easy. Now, we have had it relatively easy because my husband has had 3 assignments so far in his career. ( We're praying this is the last.) We spent 7 years at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma. Then we spent 8 years at RAF Lakenheath, England. We have spent almost 4 years here at Dyess AFB, Texas.

 With the exception of Tinker (which was 'only' a 5-6 hour drive home depending on potty breaks and rest stops) we haven't lived close to family for a LONG time. I love my Air Force framily. Not everyone I have met or gotten to know during my husband's almost 19 yr career get the privilege of being called my framily, but quite a few do. Not only do we have that Air Force bond thing going on, we also have a faith bond. We all have the same values and morals. It makes a big difference.
This framily fills in the gaps that you get when you don't have your 'real' family close. It provides sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers,  aunts, uncles, brothers, cousins, grandmas, and grandpas when you need them. My kids have been blessed by having a great group of framily cousins here in Texas and in England before that. I have been blessed by my framily through the years as well.

 So, I figured I'd share a few photos from my framily album. :)
This is in no way a complete album. These are just photos I had handy when I typed up this post.



Solid Rock Ladies 2004
My RAF Lakenheath Framily



Erin and I 2006-ish (We really need a post WLS pic)
My RAF Lakenheath Framily

Solid Rock Ladies 2006-ish
My RAF Lakenheath Framily

My crazy boys and some of  their Dyess framily.

Steph, Julie, Me, Crystal, Tracee, and Elaina
Some of my Dyess Framily

The Harman and Banks Framilies
More Dyess Framily



My Dyess AFB Framily

Women of Hope Christmas 2009
Dyess Framily



Things I Love Thursday (TILT)-

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

Ok, I couldn't resist. That song pops into my head every time I think about writing a Things I Love Thursday post and I just had to get it out. :) I suppose I should get back on track. Easier said than done for this ADD lady.

This week I have a lot of things I love. Well, I have a lot of things I love all the time, but you know what I mean. It's hard narrowing it down and writing a post on just one thing. I tend to go off on rabbit trails and lose focus and totally forget what I was writing about...like right now. Anyway.

 My LOVE for this week is spring time weather.  It has been beautiful the last few days. We've had windows open. Fresh air is flowing through the house (without too much West Texas dust). The birds are singing outside. It has been fabulous. I love the Spring.

Spring is my favorite season. I love the newness of it. The freshness of it. The...Spring of it. It reminds me of everyday with God. Each morning is like Spring. We get to start out fresh and new. The mistakes of yesterday are forgotten and behind us. God loves us where we are for who we are and his compassions are made new each morning.

Lamentations 3:21-24

NIV

21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."

Things I Love Thursday(TILT)- My Family

Harman Family- 2005-ish, I think...

There we are in all our glory.(Many years and many lbs for me ago.We really need a new family picture.) This is precisely why I love these people so much. They are nuts, just like me.  We're pretty much a what-you-see-is-what-you-get group of people. We have changed over the years in many ways, but that's how life and family goes.

So, what is it that you are lovin' this Thursday?