What’s In A Name?

Jan6

I will never forget when Cheyenne (my granddaughter) was almost 3 years old and we had been working in the flower beds (oh how that child loved to dig) when she decided it was time for a “Popsicle Break”. So, of course I stopped what I was doing and the popsicle break became the priority. As we were sitting on the glider near the back door having our popsicle and chatting, a HUGE clap of thunder came from out of nowhere. Immediately I yelled “JESUS”, grabbed her up, and ran into the house. As you can imagine it took me several minutes to calm her down and get her to stop crying.

About three months had passed and Cheyenne and I were hanging out. She was playing on the back patio and I was making us a cup of coffee (we took many types of breaks…LOL) when I heard thunder in the distance. Almost immediately Cheyenne walked thru the back door and announced, “Meme, Jesus is back”. What a Doll that girl is!!!

Ya know, I have endured some thunder in my life; some distant rumblings, and other outrageously loud shaking me to my core. I have had heartbreaking events in my life when I thought I would never recover, times when my heart hurt so bad I didn’t know if I would be able to breathe again. But I can say through those times when my world was rocked or I hurt to the core I always called out one name…

JESUS

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

I call out His name frequently and I say it out loud. I say His name in times of happiness and in times of devastation, in times of loneliness, celebration, and loss.

The song by Martha Munizzi says it all…

Say The Name of Jesus

My Friend, Just Say His Name…

Love Lee ♥

Who’s Your Daddy

Jan5

In a recent conversation with a friend we discussed the effects of growing up without the presence of her father in her home. In-fact she did not even know who her father was. Life was challenging and many of her emotional needs were not met resulting in poor life choices, acting out, and feelings of insignificance.

Statistics show that children who grow up in a fatherless home are:

5 Times more likely to commit suicide
32 Times more likely to run away
20 Times more likely to have behavioral disorders
14 Times more likely to commit rape
9 Times more likely to drop out of highschool
10 Times more likely to abuse chemical substances
20 Times more likely to end up in prison

Wow…this is mind-boggling and is so dismal.

Fatherlessness is not only those who grew up without a father but also those who had one he did not meet the emotional needs of his family. The father that is consumed with his own personal wants and desires without regard to the effects it will have on the family.

Growing up my home life was less than perfect…I was not fatherless but on the other hand did not receive the unconditional love and acceptance a daughter seeks from their dad. My parents divorced when I was 16 and my mother remarried. My Pappy is a wonderful man and as an adult provided me, my sisters, and brother with unconditional love and acceptance. He loves us and would go to the moon and back for us.

When it comes to my childhood…

Am I bitter….NO
Am I sad…A little
Do I miss him…at times
Would I change anything…NEVER!!!

You see, it was during those times of feeling like I didn’t measure up or feeling I had been abandoned by my earthly dad that my Heavenly Father made Himself known to me. He showed me that He:

Loves and adores me
Wants to spend time with me
Cares about what concerns me
Celebrates my successes
Knows what makes me tick
Disciplines me when I need it
Takes care of all my needs.

If you are fortunate enough to have an earthly father who has met your physical and emotional needs growing up…Yeah. But for those of you who have not please know all is not lost and you my precious one are not fatherless and you do not have to be a statistic.

The Lord your God is with you He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

My Daddy is God… Who’s Your Daddy?

My friend, you have a Daddy God! I encourage you to crawl up in His lap and let Him comfort you, love you, delight in you and let Him sing you a lullaby!

Love Lee ♥

Whose Opinion Defines You

Jan4

My Sister Cheryl recently posted the statement below on her Facebook Status which lead to a quite lengthy list of comments…Because I am very passionate about the subject matter I just crawled up on my soapbox…

I share this because just this morning I realized Cheryl and I are not the only ones who have or are dealing with the opinions of others…

This New Year, stop listening to others’ opinions… about who you are, what they THINK about you, about who you are or what they think YOU should do or be! Stop speaking things over yourself that contradict who God’s Word says you are. Open His Word to see what He says about you. He’s a LOVING Father & wants His best for you. Don’t believe me: believe HIM. ~Cheryl Kimbrough Fairbank~

Lee’s Soap Box Session

I have sayings that helps me deal with those who attempt to steal my joy and suck my spirit out of me.

I am not warring against flesh and blood: If people say or do things that contradict God’s nature …then it is not of God…Satan knows he can best get to us through those we love. By using them to whittle away at our spirit his mission is accomplished. My prayer is I will stay prayed up, read up, and filled with forgiveness and love so I am never that person for someone else.
I am not the enemy: If Richard and I get crosswise. I remind him I am not the enemy. This helps us recognize exactly who the enemy is.
On my list of opinions that count…Your Name IS NOT on my list: This one can get tricky…As an over achiever and a people pleaser, I have always valued the opinion of others especially those who I call family or friend. But as one who DETESTS conflict, lies, cheating, stealing, laziness and spirit suckers (Negative Knit Pickers) it helps me get the right perspective when making my list.

My list is a static list and names are added or removed as needed. God has blessed me with the Spirit of discernment so it becomes very easy to add and remove names due to the sensitivity to He has given me.

Sister, I so proud of you! You are so right…God is a good and LOVING God but He is also a JUST God. Everyone will be accountable for their actions and woe be to those who allow themselves to create conflict, speak lies, cheat, steal, waste their life away, or attempt to suck the life out of others…They will be accountable before the Lord on judgment day! People may think they have the world fooled but God ALWAYS knows!

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 1 John 4:7

OK can you give me a hand and help me get down off my soap box but before I do…I ask…

Whose Opinion Defines You?

Love Lee ♥

Happy Birthday Lindsey Beth Carleton!!!

Jan4

Our Sweet Lindsey Beth,

From the moment your mom announced she was going to have a baby we have loved you! You have made us laugh and you have made us cry from laughing so hard. You bring so much joy to our family and we adore you!!!

You have always been such a “Shutter Bug” so what better gift to give you than a slide show… And Sister YOU are the STAR!!!

We Wish You…

A Happy Birthday…Enjoy!!!

Love,

Your Family ♥

They Danced Their Little Hearts Out

Jan3

In a recent post The Gift That Keeps Giving, I mentioned I have been downloading pictures from my girls’ childhood. This has been a daunting task transferring old photos to electronic format. While it has been a lot of work it has also been very pleasurable too.

Some of my fondest memories of my girls were centered around their involvement in dance. They both were enrolled in tap, ballet, and jazz and were passionate about each. In addition to their group routines they both performed solos. So for the dance recital each year they both performed group tap, group ballet, group jazz and a solo. This meant eight costumes per recital. Needless to say, things were always a little hectic trying to get their solo costumes adorned with sequence and beads. You know, I just realized this may have been where my love of bling began. LOL!!!

It was amazing how they never tired of dancing. Their feet were going 24/7. And to this day Brandi reminds me of the time I wacked her in the head with a hair brush so she would stop tapping long enough for me to get her hair into a pony tail. They would tap on the coffee tables, perform jazz in the driveway, and ballet in front of the TV (during the climax of the movie of course).

Make-up, hair, costume, lights, camera, and action…The curtain rises and they would begin to dance their little hearts out as if no one was watching…

After hours of lessons, practice, and competition they have a huge sense of accomplishment, friends, memories and I have pictures!!!

ENJOY!!!

Love Lee ♥

The Invisible Woman

Jan2

Feelings of Worthlessness or Inferiority…Perhaps Others Treat You As Though You are Invisible…

After viewing this video, Every Woman will want to be an Invisible Woman!!!

Love Lee ♥

There is a Plan

Jan1

2011 is Here and people everywhere are making New Year’s Resolutions while others have no clue or plan for their future. For those of you who have no goals or plans for your future there is great news you are not free-floating out there in oblivion… there is a plan for your life. And even if you don’t know what that plan is at the moment God does!

God’s plan may not be the same as your plan but as you assess various situations and set priority as to how you spend your time energy and money you definitely want to get in touch with what God wants for you.

It’s comforting to know that He is involved in your life and cares about what you do and how you spend your time. He isn’t trying to hide His plan from you, but you will need to a exert some effort to discover it. Spend some time with God asking for His direction and guidance in making goals for your future.

Having a Goal to work toward is very important. The purpose of having goals includes:

Providing a focus
Defining a beginning and end point
Providing a vision for things to come

When you have vision it affects your attitude. Your attitude is optimistic rather than pessimistic. Chuck Swindoll

During my research I found an article on eHow which does an excellent job of explaining the how to’s of setting life goals. “How to Set Life Goals”.

Everyone has a success mechanism and a failure mechanism. The failure mechanism goes off by itself. The success mechanism only goes off with a goal. Every time we write down and talk about a goal we push the button to start the success mechanism.
Charles ”Tremendous” Jones

Set your goals wisely and align them with God’s word. Then if the plan changes be flexible and know God is large and in charge!

“For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you a hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

There is a Plan…

Love Lee ♥

I’m Posting every day in 2011!

Dec31

I’ve decided I want to post something on A Love Lee Place every day.

I know it won’t be easy, but it might be fun, inspiring, awesome and wonderful. Therefore I will make use of the community of other bloggers with similar goals, to help me along the way, and will ask for help when I need it and encourage others when I can.

If you already read my blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and good will along the way. I also encourage you to share the content from my website with others; passing on a message of hope, healing, and restoration..

There are several ways in which you can show your support for “A Love Lee Place”.

On the Home page of “A Love Lee Place” you can find several options for supporting my website.

Then below every post there are options available for sharing that particular post…

By clicking on one of these and showing your support for “A Love Lee Place” you will be promoting the call which God has placed on my life. So thanks for visiting and please come back often.

God’s Blessings to You and Yours in 2011

Love Lee ♥

New Beginnings

Dec31

As we look to start a new year, many people build lofty resolutions only to fail. Remember that you can acheive anything you truly want but don’t wait until conditions are “perfect” as perfection rarely comes. “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ~Theodore Roosevelt~

Perfection

“Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly.”~Robert Schuller~

Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable. However, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come much nearer to it than those whose laziness and despondency make them give it up as unattainable. ~Lord Chesterfield~

We are often ineffective and immoblized due to fear and there are two fears which exist in the world.

Fear of Success: That which will happen if you succeed; the changes success will create; not only for you personally but for those you love and are close too. Will your success change your life style, draw attention to you, or create a change you are not able or willing to deal with.
Fear of Failure: That which will happen if you fail; the changes failure will cause such as embarrasement, depression, and possibly loss of self esteem or motivation.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18

“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” ~Jesus~

Hmmm…puts a whole new spin on perfection doesn’t it

Do What You Can, With What You Have, Where You Are

What a profoud statment! I can not tell you how many times I’ve heard, “I don’t have —” or “My—is too small or not good enough. To that I say HOG WASH!!! God has placed you right where you are…given you what He has seen fit to give you…so get off your pitty pot and embrace what you have with a heart felt since of grattitude and appreciation. You will never have more until you learn to appreciate and care for what He has already given you.

So, while you sit and contemplate what your New Years Resolution will be this year perhaps you should resolve to be grateful for

Who you are in Christ
The talents He Has blessed you with
The possessions He has entrusted to you
Those whose lives He has surrounded you with

Resolve today to give Him the Glory and Honor He is due rather than complain about what should, could, or would have been…

With Jesus Every day is a NEW BEGINNING so resolve to begin anew and…

Choose to Live, Love, Laugh TODAY!!!

Love Lee ♥

Let Others See Jesus In You

Dec30

Where have you come from? The person you were before Christ came into your life should be gone. The habits and attitudes that defined you then should be changed. You are a new creature!!!

When you opened the door of you heart and asked Jesus walked in so did love, compassion, forgiveness, concern for others, honesty, justice, and self-sacrifice. Every characteristic found in Christ now dwells in you.

You are no longer defined by the old you but by Christ who dwells in you.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17

Does that mean you are perfect? NOPE…old habits die-hard!

So, begin each day by asking God to allow Jesus to shine in you; for others to see Jesus in you. As Jesus begins to shine, His light will illuminate the darkness and you will be known as a child of Light…His Light!