Signs

NOTE: This blog has moved!  So, when you're finished reading this post, be sure to head over to www.StillLearningToFollow.com! :)

Over the past year, we have stayed at A LOT of RV parks!  Some better than others and each one has it's own quirks.  The past two weeks, we've been at the same RV park and we have really enjoyed our time.  It is a well kept, pretty little place and we have no complaints.

That being said, I will say that I have never seen soooo many rules posted in such a small area!  It's hysterical!  They take their signage VERY SERIOUSLY and it cracks me up!!!

Check these out...

Okay, let's just get the basics out of the way

No white washed tombs here!

 You may not wash your RV (see previous pic) but you may wash your clothes...during the day...but not during your smoke break!

 And only if you're paying for an RV spot

 Let's get this straight, RV's must stay dirty, laundry may be cleaned (with proper detergent), dishes must stay dirty, lint screens must be cleaned!

Shoes may be washed, but must stay wet!

 We know you tried to walk out without cleaning the lint screen, so here's your reminder.  By the way, money doesn't grow on trees!

What do you think this is, the Ritz?!

We don't want fires in our trees or pee on our bathroom floors!

We do not allow multi-tasking.  We mop our floors constantly because we know that even if your kids don't pee on the floor, you might.  AND please do your business quietly after hours!

So, because I am and always have been a rule follower, we have done our best to respect the rules.  But let me tell you, I am so glad there was plenty of room on our site to park our truck, because this next rule would have been particularly tricky to obey...considering everything I've shown you above.

Hmmmm, that definitely complicates things!

Life.

Not just the state of being a living human being.  

Not just blood pumping, lungs breathing, heart beating.

Life.  

True life.  

Life that wells up from within and overflows out of your soul.  

Forever life.  

Transcendent life.  

Refreshing, satisfying, fulfilling, inspiring life.

That is what I need.  In order to be more than the walking dead.  

Because this world sucks the life out of me.  And it's just plain not worth it.  

And I'm not strong enough, or good enough, or determined enough to go on without it.  

I need life. I need Life!  

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life..." (John 14:6)

He who has the Son has life... (1 John 5:12)

So, if I have Jesus then I have life!  I have The Life!

And yet, sometimes...sometimes I don't feel very alive.  

Satan wants to steal my life.  He wants to suffocate me with discouragement, frustration, stress, and disappointment. 

BUT

Ah, the body of Christ!...Yep, there it is.  Refreshing, satisfying, fulfilling, inspiring life.  It's found in the body of Christ.  It's found in fellowship with the Father and with His people.  "For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them." (~Jesus, Matthew 18:20)

If Truth defeats Lies  

http://www.stilllearningtofollow.blogspot.com/2014/05/my-battle-with-father-of-lies.html 

Then Fellowship defeats Death. 

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. (Romans 6:8)

Tonight I will go to bed feeling full of life.  I had the privilege of worshiping with fellow followers of Christ with abandon.  We raised our hands and our voices, glorifying the only One worthy of praise.  I had the joy of hearing God's Word, His life giving Word, taught with wisdom and passion....And to top it off, I had the delight of sipping a Root beer float, while laughing and sharing with brothers and sisters in Christ...My cup overflows (not the float, I drank every last sip of that)

A Day at Glacier

Today was such a gift!  The weather was perfect and we spent the day in arguably one of the most beautiful places on earth!  I am grateful for God's incredible creativity and brilliant artistry!  I'll post a few pics, but sadly they are taken with my cheap smartphone.  You'd be better off looking up Glacier National Park on pinterest! :)

These next two are my favorites!

 Love!  Love!  Love!  these kiddos!

My guys!

A couple little notes on Snodgrass vacations/hiking:

1) Josh and I are workaholics!  We have to keep each other accountable regularly saying things like "You're not checking your email are you?!"  or "Hey!  That looks like work!"

2)When hiking in Grizzly Country (as we were today), we carry bear spray, just in case...However, in spite of the many large signs warning about bears and mountain lions and the attractive advertisements promising sightings of deer, mountain goats, etc...the only wildlife we have seen on our hiking adventures have been large slugs and a tree frog!....Any guesses as to why?....Well, let's just say, my boys take the whole "make noise so you don't surprise a bear" thing, very seriously!  I'm pretty sure we scare away all the wildlife within a mile radius of anywhere we go
Hiking = beautiful? yes!....peaceful? not so much!

3)You would not believe the amount of times we have had to cut a hike short because someone had to go to the bathroom!?!  It's amazing we ever get anywhere!

4)My sister Leah has often found great amusement in the bizarre instructions/responses I have to give my little boys.  Today would not have disappointed her.  Just a sample from today : "Don't swat at the butterfly!"  "Don't flick the frog!" "Get your head out of the garbage can!"  and my personal favorite (in response to the repeated climbing, hanging, balancing, leaning way too close to the rushing rapids) "DO YOU WANT TO DIE TODAY?!?"

Tomorrow, we shall do it all again!

My Battle with the Father of Lies

Have you ever felt stuck?  I mean really, really stuck!?  Like, no matter how much you want to move, despite your extreme desperation to be free, you just can't seem to break loose?

Yesterday I was confronted again with a sin issue in my life.  I say "again" because this is not a new struggle. This was however the first time it was pointed out to me so clearly, so lovingly but firmly, that there was no denying it.  No excusing it.  No escaping the conviction and heartbreak and disappointment with myself.

Before I write any more, I want to tell you upfront that I'm not going to be specific.  So if you find your curiosity making you crazy and you're tempted to skip ahead to get the juicy details, you will be disappointed.  The details are between me and God.  And frankly, If I write about them then this becomes all about me, and your reading this becomes about nosiness and gossip!  And I know you aren't interested in that nonsense, right?  If you were, you'd be reading "People" or "Entertainment Weekly" instead of this blog...No, I'm not sharing for the sake of providing entertaining reading material.  I'm sharing for three reasons.  First, because it is helpful for me to think, pray, and process through written word.  Second, because I hope that in some way this will encourage and challenge you in your own struggles.  And third, because I am a struggling woman bound to this broken planet and I need your prayer.

Historically, my sin is greatest in my heart.  Maybe that is the case with everyone?  It is interesting that the sins in our heart are the easiest to ignore or justify.  If you are, for example, a thief or an adulteress, your sin will usually find you out quickly.  However, if you harbor bitterness, anger, selfishness, etc... in your heart, those can linger for years without anyone but God knowing.  They take root in your heart and little by little over time they squeeze the life out of you.  Or perhaps, they squeeze the TRUTH out of you.

Satan is the inventor of sin and the father of lies.  Sin and lies always go hand in hand.  If I believe a lie, that is sin.  More significantly though, when I choose to sin it is always because I believe a lie.  Maybe the lie is something as simple as "No one will know" or "It's not that big of a deal".  For me, though, the lies are more weighty.

I'd like to tell you exactly what the lies are that I believe.  There is always freedom in admission.    My problem is that I cannot clearly identify my lies.  I guess I've believed them for so long that they have taken root in my soul and squeezed the truth out.

I now have the difficult task of sifting through my thoughts, my perceptions, my worldview and discerning what is true and what is false in this particular area....and I'm not sure where to start.

This morning as I was contemplating all of this, I thought about my post from a week or so ago where I talked about turning up the truth in my life. Obviously, I didn't turn it up loud enough...Or maybe I did and that's how I ended up here, now?  Perhaps that was the Holy Spirit preparing me for this?  I think that if I cannot clearly identify the lies in my life, the best thing to do is turn up the truth again...and then when I begin to recognize them, I have to turn off the lies.

"O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways...Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
Psalm 139:1-3,23-24

Beauty, Brokeness, and the End of the Road

It's easy to show the beautiful.  Even a non-photographer with a cheap cell phone can at least capture a glimpse of the breathtaking wonder of nature. And who doesn't enjoy looking at the splendor of God's creation, right?  Snow covered mountains, rushing waterfalls, lush green forests...And there is so much beauty out there.  Our God is an artist that puts all human artistry to shame.  

And yet, it's not all beautiful out there.  As I sit clicking away on my laptop, thinking about what I will prepare for dinner, listening to Josh practice his guitar, watching my boys play LEGOS...children are starving.  More than twenty-six thousand five hundred in fact died today, and yesterday, and the day before from preventable, poverty related causes... Many of them never learned that Jesus loves them.  Never knew peace or joy or hope.

Heartbreaking? absolutely

Hopeless? Not a chance!

"...If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and the malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday.  The LORD will guide you always..." Isa. 58:9b-11a

Someday I will reach the end of my road.  My life on earth will be over.  The beauty and the brokeness of this life will pass away and I will enter Glory.  My perspective will change in an instant and my days will be called into account.  How will my moments have been spent?  Will they have mattered?  Is enough ever enough?  If I have reveled in beauty while others suffered in hopelessness, will that have been enough? 

I've decided that there will never be a time in my life when I will have done enough.  Not as long as children are hungry...not as long as thousands are dying without the hope of Christ. 

I pray that I will run this race to win the prize.  

May my every moment, my every day have an impact for eternity.

Movin' On

It's been fun visiting family here in the Billings area, but it's almost time to move on again.  Friday we'll say our "Goodbyes" and hit the road again.  We're heading back through northwestern Montana and then on to the Seattle area - get to spend some time with family, church family, and see my baby sister graduate high school! 

Rock Creek ("It's pronounced 'crick'" insists Josh!)

I'm always in awe of the "Big Sky" out here!

a few pics, just for fun

Me and My Man Hiking

 Flathead Lake

 Flathead Lake again (pictures certainly don't do it justice)

 Hiking with my kiddos at The Rims

 Afternoon Family Walk

 Brothers!

 More Running 

And here are a few of our humble abode...

Be sure to head back to my new blog when you finish this post! :)  Follow this link!

Turn Up the Truth

NOTE: This blog has moved.  So, when you finish reading this post, be sure to head over to www.StillLearningToFollow.com! :)

One of the times when I find myself particularly grateful for the gift of spending extensive time in rural areas is when I'm running.  Let me tell you, running in Joliet, Montana sure beats running through a Seattle suburb.  Of course, I have to be alert for rattlesnakes, mountain lions and grizzlies, but it's well worth the view! ;)  Don't worry, the scariest animal I've encountered running out here is a cow that was a little closer to the fence than I'd like and was watching me with a disconcerting level of interest! (Honestly, he was probably wondering why someone running sooo slow could be breathing sooo hard!)
Anyways, the views during my runs lately have been breathtaking!  I set my ipod to play Chris Tomlin, Paul Baloche, Hillsong and the like and find myself grinning ear to ear as I watch the beauty of God's Creation roll past (rather slowly). 

This morning, I was thinking about how encouraged I feel when listening to music proclaiming the goodness and mightiness of my God.  Then I was wondering if that makes me too impressionable and fickle.  I mean, why is it that I can feel stressed, impatient, and down one minute, but if I turn on worship music or open up the Word or talk to a sister or brother in Christ, I find my attitude dramatically shift.  Is this just an emotional "high"?  Am I too easily influenced?   Maybe, but the conclusion I came to this morning is that this world is loud and in your face.  I can't even grocery shop without magazines screaming lies to my eyes.  Everywhere we go, the enemy is watching for an opportunity to trip us up with temptation and discouragement.  BUT where light is there can be no darkness, right!?!  And where truth is there can be no lies!  With this in mind, I've determined that the only reasonable response is to turn up the truth in my life.  If I fill my eyes, my ears, and my mind with whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable...excellent or praiseworthy" (Phil. 4:8) then the voices of the enemy and of this world will be much harder to hear!

P.S. - Passport applications are all submitted!  Now, we just pray that there are no hiccups and we receive them without any complications.  Can't wait to be the hands and feet of Christ in Guatemala!

I Love You Too!

Recently I listened to a devotional by Beth Moore.  In it she talked about how the enemy takes advantage of times when she is very exhausted and he tempts her with words of accusation.  Satan reminds her of sins of her past and she becomes overwhelmed by feelings of discouragement.  After a particularly grueling speaking engagement, she arrived home feeling broken and found herself weeping and asking God why he loves her so much.  She spoke in the devotion about God’s response to her.  God told her that until she could get it through her head that He loves her because He is love, she was not to ever tell God “I love you”, but instead He wanted her to say “I love you too!”

Isn’t that beautiful!?!  1 John 4:16,19 says, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.  God is love.  Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in him…We love because he first loved us.”  We can never love God without He having first loved us! 

Yesterday, I was overwhelmed by God’s sweet tender kindness toward me!  I was struggling with discouragement.  Josh and I are so excited about what God is doing in and through Potter's Field Ministries!  God brought them into our lives in such an amazing way that there is no denying it was His hand.  We are privileged and beyond grateful that we get to partner with them.  However, the first couple of times that we have shared about Potter's Field, we have not had the enthusiastic response we've hoped for.  Now, there are plenty of logical reasons why.  First of all, we've only shared three times so we're still learning how best to communicate about PFM.  Second, each of the times we've shared it has been for a very, very small group.  Nevertheless, I was disappointed and full of doubt.  

I have also been feeling really insecure in my own overall ability to share anything of value at our concerts.  The enemy has been having a "hay day" with me and I'm sad to admit that I've allowed him to really beat me down.

Yesterday, Josh and I spend a long time talking and praying about God's direction for our ministry.  We continue to feel super enthusiastic about Potter's Field and are excited to share with others the opportunity to be a part of that ministry, but we were still feeling a little discouraged about whether we could actually be successful in inspiring the same enthusiasm in others.

Last night, we arrived at our concert and the first thing we saw were large signs for Compassion International's Compassion/Sponsor a Child Sunday.  Now, don't get me wrong!  I don't know a lot about Compassion, but I believe it to be a great organization!  I know they're doing amazing things for hurting children all over the world and I think that's wonderful.  However, Josh and I both felt that if the church was in the middle of a Compassion "campaign", it wouldn't be respectful to introduce another ministry that has some similarities.  I was so disheartened.  We didn't even bring in our PFM pamphlets for our table.

Well, God had other plans!  Through a "random" conversation, Josh ended up telling the pastor about Potter's Field before the concert.  I walked up in the middle of the conversation and joined in sharing some additional details and my own uncontainable excitement...The pastor was so excited about what we told him that he asked me to please share about PFM at the concert.  He also requested that I come do a presentation on Sunday morning during their service AND he intends to talk to the church mission board next week to see how they can get behind the ministry as a church!!!  

Let me tell you, I walked away last night feeling so very, very loved by my Father.  He saw my discouragement and poured out great mercy and kindness.  "Oh, Lord, your love is beyond my understanding.  Thank you for loving me.  Thank you for your compassion and your concern for every aspect of my life....I love you too!"