Wonderfully Made

The human body is an amazing thing. I have always been fascinated with how it works. (you would never know this if you looked at my high-school science grade) I questioned everything. why do we hiccup? Why do they call that spot on your elbow a funny bone? What would happen if you didn't close your eyes when you sneezed? (I heard your eyeball might pop out) All of these questions and so many more would keep my mind spinning when I was a kid. But not this generation, you see they have this wonderful tool, the internet, and all of mans questions about this universe can be answered in moments.


The other day I was wasting time asking "Wikipedia" some of the above questions (there is an answer for everyone) and I stumbled onto this one amazing fact that I never knew. The human body regenerates itself every seven years. The cells in your body and mine are not the same cells they were when we were 7 years younger. They are new. This got me asking the question why did God design us this way? Guess what? Wikipedia didn't have an answer. I don't think it's an accident that it happens every 7 years. That number is significant to God. So why are we made new every 7 years and what is God trying to teach us? I don't know the answer to this one yet, maybe I never will but this intersting fact reminds me of the following verse. I will now look at it in a new way.

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

Does God speak to you?

I had often heard people say things like......"The Lord told me......" or "God spoke to me and said......" or "Jesus said for me to......". This used to bother me because I was never sure what people meant. Did they mean that the actual voice of God spoke in an audible tone? Maybe they just meant through God's word the Bible they received some significant direction in their life. Or did God send an actual messenger to speak to them. I was always confused and admittedly upset by words such as these. I guess I was sorta jealous and judgemental and felt like if it didn't happen to me than these people must be crazy. I must not be spiritual enough or maybe I just wasn't worth His time. But what did these people have that I didn't and if this is real, how could I get God to speak to me? So I tried to figure out, for a long time. I started taking informal polls of people asking them How they really knew if God was speaking to them. Some of the peoples answers surprised me. Some actually told me they heard a voice. Some said God speaks to them through the Bible. Some even said that God will lay it on someones heart(friends, family even strangers) to deliver His message to them. Well all of this sounded great, but there was no tried and true formula. Everyone had a different scenario of how God spoke to them. So I began to understand something for the first time. God is personal!!! He speaks to all of us on our own level and understanding if we are His.
There was one common bond between all the people who claimed that God spoke to them.............They were all listening.

God spoke to me for the FIRST time, not long after that. He sent a message to me in a very strange way. He used a torn piece of a laffy taffy wrapper. Who said God doesn't have a sense of humor? Yes God spoke to me, not in the conventional way, but make no mistake.... He was talking and I was listening. Now if someone asks me the question of "How does God speak to you?" I have to tell the "laffy taffy" story and trust that they won't laugh. Sometimes we are to quick to pass judgement on someone else and their relationship with the ALMIGHTY ONE. God can speak to you in an infinite number of ways, and I believe He wants to.

"Are you listening to me, really listening" Matthew 11:15 the message

Sometimes I'm wrong

Sometimes I will hold to a belief even if it seems completely ridiculous. I don't usually share my thoughts with others, because of moments like this one. A few days ago I engaged in a debate about Penguins and their ability to fly. I took the affirmative. I insisted that they could, and persisted a while before a moment of clarity overcame me and I was completely embarrassed. Blame it on a blond moment or whatever you will but the fact of the matter was I persisted because I BELIEVED I was correct.

This situation reminded me of a dark time in my life when (before I realized the truth) I persisted in my own way of thinking because I BELIEVED I was right. For many years in my life I "believed" I was going to Hell. Yep you caught that right, Fire and brimstone, the whole nine yards. This wasn't just a passing thought, I really believed it. I was sure that I had went to far, that I had made to many poor choices and that If God was a just God, a Holy God, a Perfect God, He would want nothing to do with me. I believed that a person had to earn their way to Heaven and I was a few bucks short. This made sense to me so I believed it and I lived like it. I figured if I am destined for an eternity in flames (like I had heard so many preachers say) than what was the point of life? If I continue to live, than I am just prolonging the inevitable. The only problem with this scenario is that I WAS WRONG!! Thankfully, I had a friend who shared something with me that I had never understood before. GRACE This meant that even though I deserved every bit of what I thought I had coming to me, God had a different plan in mind for me and for you. You see, I did deserve Hell, and still do. But Grace is a funny thing, a concept that was hard to believe, but absolutely TRUE. (Why is always easier to believe a lie?) God wanted to make a way for me, so He sent someone who was Holy and who was Perfect and who didn't deserve Hell to take my punishment. Why??? Because He loves me. And He used Laffy Taffy (the candy) to teach me this. I'll get to that at a later time.

Bottom line:

Penguins can't fly
God loves me, a sinner

From the mouth of Belle

This is my youngest daughter, Anabelle. She is 4 going on 35 and quite a challenge. She likes to give advice on life, even when you don't ask her. I have heard her telling other little girls things like "when you wear a hat it makes you taller and it will keep you from getting brain freeze." Great advice from a great girl. She has a BIG personality and keeps us smiling quite a bit of the time but the moments I cherish the most are right before bedtime when she talks to Jesus. She is so honest, as most children her age are and she doesn't hesitate to tell Him just how she feels. The other night this was her prayer...........

"Dear Jesus,
I wish you didn't die on the cross. It makes me sad that you did that. I know that you did that for me, but I wish you didn't have to. Thank you for doing that. I love you Jesus, goodnight."

"oh and thank you for the ice cream you are going to give me because it's so yummy and healthy."

Isaiah 10:6
The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.

What is a laffy taffy moment

So this is my first official blog and I have no choice but to explain my title. Laffy Taffy? Yep. Of all the topics in the world why would I start there? Well, this particular candy and me have a connection. You see to me it's more than a candy it serves as a reminder of the moment when my life was transformed forever. I will over the course of time explain myself further, but for now I will simply say that a "Laffy Taffy" moment is when you realize that you are not an accident and that there is a God who loves you to much to leave you where you are.

My name is Michelle and I happen to work for the creator of the universe. Although I consider myself His servant, I am one..... by choice. (He wouldn't have it any other way) I am a director of children's ministry at a fantastic church. Kids are important to me, because they are important to my master. I believe there are three fundamental things that kids need

1. To know that they have a Perfect Father in Heaven who loves them unconditionally

2. To know that they are here on earth for a purpose and not just to suck up oxygen

3. To have parents, grandparents, and/or legal guardians that love Jesus all week long not just on Sunday.

Other things are great too, like food....shelter....clothing but somewhere way down on list.