Is that all you've got?

My main focus for the last several weeks has been ME! Not in a good way. I wished I could say I finally decided to take care of myself by exercising and eating right. No, this is clearly the wrong kind of ME. We are trying to sell our house in FL and can not do much of anything but sit as a family in our apartment in AR and wait. All I have thought about is what if, maybe, and pretty much, POOR POOR PITIFUL ME. I did the right thing. I gave it over to God and decided this could put me over the edge. It was already settling in and trying to keep me in the bed. So, I said, "Lord, this isn't my burden to carry it is yours and I am going to let you take care of it." There. Done. Everytime the thought came to my mind, I just prayed about it. The problem was, it kept coming over and over and over. "Lord, please do something about my house." , I prayed. "God, I know you are going to send the right people." Then finally on Thursday the phone rang. "House Showing!!", appears on my caller id. "How cool is that?" I wondered, "I was just praying about that while talking to the realtor and examining my competition. " Well it was then that the Spirit of God spoke to me and said, "Christy, that is all you have talked to me about for weeks," That was no coincidence. "Is that all you've got?" It hit me like a ton of bricks. could you think about someone else for a change? You have friends with their requests and supplications, there are children dying in Africa, a new president.....could you just think of anyone except yourself? WOW! In one way, that call on Thursday was no doubt a call of hope from the Father. But at the same time it was a wake up call! Gently, He reminded me there is more going on than ME and MY house. Thank you God for that sweet reminder.

I have been ignoring the call of the Lord for several months now to write. I am not a writer. I need to just start doing it, right? How many times have I denied the call to do what he has asked me to? The answer is unknown to me. I will know one day when I meet him face to face! But this is one thing I know he has asked me to do and I will do it. Did you ever think of where you would be if you had taken the time to listen? Sometimes, I think I hear him asking me to do something but I ignore it thinking, "nah, he couldn't be asking me to do that".

This past week, we had planned on meeting Valerie and Lorna (plus kids) in Little Rock for the Winter Jam. The way it was working out it would mean me driving back to Bentonville after the show on Friday. All of a sudden, I was having serious doubts about it. I had planned on this trip for 2 months and all of a sudden it was falling apart. It had been a year and a half since I had sat down to visit with my dear Lorna. It was heartbreaking to decide that this was not going to be the best thing. I did get to have a 1 hour lunch with her on the way to Memphis on Thursday. Valerie and I still got to see the concert in Memphis on Thursday and had a nice visit with my mom on Friday night instead. Saturday morning as we were getting ready to go to lunch at the Cracker Barrel, Valerie called with word that Lorna had gone into the hospital and for what we did not know. It was all starting to make sense. It was going to work out perfectly for Valerie and I to take a quick trip up the road to Searcy to see Lorna in the hospital. Fortunately her antibiotics had started doing the trick so we could have a good visit. It was what God had planned and I was so thankful THAT time to be able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit guiding me in my decisions. Lorna is home now, and hopefully doing better. As she would say, "It's probably just the African horse flu".

It is the Third Day of August!!

Well, it is the Third Day of August and I have been meaning to set up a blog for a long time. Many of my friends at www.thirdday.com/boards have blogs and I find them so cool. They inspired me to start a blog and share thoughts and feelings stories about life, God, and my family. I went to set this blog up and got lost and tired in the process, went to sleep and forgot where I put it. As JanetRN was just filling me in on the Third Day blogging contest (http://www.thirdday.com/markblog.htm)for prizes and this is the Third Day of August, I came back to start a blog, only to find out that my title Orange Suede Shoes was taken!

Here is the meaning behind my beautiful blog title. I, Christy, am from Memphis, and have landed her e in the Sunshine State of Florida, where my favorite band is Third Day. If you are a big fan of Third Day, you are a Gomer. Like every team, you have to have a color and that color is Orange. We have many oranges here in the sunshine state (need I explain that part?) and well, most everyone has heard of Elvis and his Blue Suede Shoes so there you go.

I would like to include that the new CD Revelation came out in stores on Tuesday. If you didn't get a chance to get that heck of a deal that Lifeway was offering, I promise you it will be well worth whatever you pay! My favorite song is Otherside. I am still perfecting how to get the scream in at just the right place in the beginning. I will not easily tire of the single playing on radio right now, Call my name. Third Day got to preform that on the Jay Leno show, July 29th. Yes, that was the day of the 5.4 earthquake. Perhaps they should have put "Shake" on the cd after all. That is ok, I will still consider it perfection regardless. This one will be on my favorite CD list for awhile.

When is the next show for me? August 30th, Wild Adventures. Taking the girls and hoping for Third Day to bring down the house. Sky Falls Down would be an awesome one to do that with. We have a little Gomer petition going!

I look forward to blogging more in the future. I have even started thinking in blogging lately! Thanks to all the bloggers for the inspiration to document God's presence in my life and all the Blessings that go with it.

PS. This site is under construction. I am a little slow in the figuring out process so bear with me for the cosmetics!

Christy