Update

I thought I would give a quick update on some of the things I have recently shared about.
We ended up trading Zippy (my car) in for a new Subaru Impreza that we get to pick up Wednesday night. We have had to wait to get a standard, we both wanted a manual transmission, so we waited patiently.
Yesterday we went to another open house at the house we have been praying about and thinking about. I fell more in love with the house this time and thought about how I would decorate and design and such. So now we are even more fervently praying about the house and making an offer. We would appreciate your prayers as well.
My job is continuing to go well. In just a few weeks I go back for some more training.
Russ and I are anticipating working with the youth at our church and praying on how God will use us there.
I think that updates the major points, oh and in case your wondering yes I am still on Kool-aid strike :) for those of you who know what that is :).
My puppy needs to go out and is looking at me like you said just a minute, I'm ready now, so I will go take him out and continue working on the laundry.

Abide in Me

"I am the vine and my Father is the gardener.

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,

while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes

so that it will be even more fruitful.

You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

Remain in me, and I will remain in you.

No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.

Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

If a man remains in me and I in him,

he will bear much fruit;

apart from me you can do nothing.

If anyone does not remain in me,

he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers;

such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you,

ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.

This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit,

showing yourself to be my disciples.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

Now remain in my love.

If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you

and that your joy may be complete."

John 15:1-11

We are having a revival at our church this week. It has been a great reminder of where our faith should be and examining ourselves to see if we are living the way that Christ has called us to live. Last night's message really spoke to me, it was the reminder I needed about abiding or remaining in God. To be quiet honest that is an area where I have failed most recently, and this was the reminder I needed of where I need to be and what I should be doing about it. The speaker, Luke Garrett, said that we are only as close to God as we want to be. That is so true and it got me thinking about how close am I to my God, what am I letting get in the way. He also gave us a challenge about praying every hour, not a long prayer, but just something simple like Lord, help me abide in you this hour. I tried today to do this, in the morning I did well, but as calls came in this afternoon unfortuantly prayer went by the wayside. I am determined to try again later. I am working on being sure that I abide in Christ. It was exactly what God knew I needed to hear, and I heard it.

spoonful of grace

I got to experience a spoonful of grace today at work and I wanted to share how God used one phone call I took today to impact my life. I take somewhere between 70-100+ calls each day, most calls I do not really remember as I help most members with similar things.
Today however I had a call that I hope that I do not forget anytime to soon. Because of security purposes I have to be extremely careful about what I share, so I will give just a general overview of the call.
I answer a call with Hello this is Joyce may I have your policy or certificate number please... and go on with the call. Today on this call a women answered told me the story of why she was calling. She was calling on behalf of someone else, she happened to go into a restaurant to get some soup, the owner not being able to speak very good English and asked her to call for him. By the end of the call I was able to help this family out.
I took this call right before lunch and quiet honestly it put me in a bit of a funk. I wasn't quiet sure what to think of the call and how the whole situation happened. I was able to tell my pod mate (one of the girls who sits next to me) about my call inbetween the calls we were getting. She commented about how nice it was that this lady called in. It got me thinking.
It got me thinking about how this lady went in for soup and she was able to help someone out in ways that she will probably not ever realize. I do not know if this lady goes into the restaurant all the time and knows the person well who she was helping or if she just happened to go into the restaurant today and was asked for help.
Regardless she was asked for and she gave it. She took the time out of her day to help this owner out. She could have very easily said no she was busy and had to go, and yet she didn't. It makes me wonder how many others may have been asked to help and said no. She said yes.
It made me think of grace. It also made me think that when someone asks for help and you assist you may never know what kind of impact it may have on them. It makes me think that I should not be so quick to say no. After all didn't Christ tell what we do to the least of these we do unto Him.
I know these thoughts are not very clear and a bit rambling. I however needed to share what I was thinking and what God is teaching me through one phone call I took today. I hope it makes sense and gets you thinking the next time someone one you may know and may not know asks you for help how you will respond. Thanks for listening to my thoughts as I process them out.

Trying again

Yesterday afternoon I tried typing out a long update for my blog and just when I had it all typed out I went to go post it and it was gone. So I will try it again.

It has been a long while since I wrote last- just about a month ago. So a quick update.... (or not so quick)
My job is going well, I am done with training until after tax season, then it is another 2 weeks of training. The calls have been going well for the most part. Thankfully we have a great help resource at ext 2012. I have used that quiet a bit and it is nice to have. It was nerve wrecking the first couple of days sitting out on the floor taking real calls from members. I have gotten some really good feedback from my manager, she says that I have a very professional sounding voice on the phone.
Russ's job is also going well. He has a lot of patience. It is a great blessing to have that amount of patience. I do not understand how he does his job, but I know that God has granted him this amount of patience so that he can work with these girls and help them. I know that this patience will also come into practice when we have children of our own (no not an announcement).
With our jobs going well we are beginning the process of looking for our own home. We have actually been looking for quiet a while just to see what is out there as options. We have seen a lot of homes that need a ton of work (which we don't mind) but cost more than they are worth, houses that are overpriced, houses that are not in the best of areas- my brother calls them the ghetto, and homes outside of our price range. So much to our surprise when we went to an open house on Sunday we saw a house that actually has potential. The house has character and is pretty much move in ready- we would want to change some paint and carpet, but no major projects before moving in. There are a few things that we would like to update and improve as time goes on like the bathrooms, kitchen and creating a master suite.
So now we are in the process of praying for wisdom about what God would have us do about this house. We are also looking into getting a mortage and seeing what all that entails. After that point we may proceed with an offer and all. We ask that you pray with us for wisdom. This is a huge purchase and it is a BIT overwhelming when I think of the enormousy of it all. The biggest purchase I have ever made was my car, which we are trying to sell (05 Hyundai Tiburon, 5 speed, 53K miles 7500 OBO- let me know if your interested or know someone who maybe). So I am very thankful to have Russ to walk through this process with. While I am excited to have our own place soon, it is a bit overwhelming. I am excited to see what God has for us and when in His timing it will all come into place. We will keep you posted on what happens.
I guess that pretty much updates everything. I will try to blog more consistently.