Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Holding your husband's hand

Ok, so you read the title and you think, this is going to be a lovey, dovey entry. Wrong!! Your husband may or may not be like my husband. Display of affection is made either after a conscious effort or a strong nudge from myself. He tries and has such great qualities, but that is just not his strongest. No, I am talking about something totally different.

There is a story in the bible that is one of my favorites. It is found in Exodus (yes, exodus) 17:8-13. In this story the characters include Moses, Joshua, Aaron, and Hur. God's team (Israelites) were fighting a group called Amalek. Moses told Joshua he would go up to the top of the hill and stand with the staff of God in his hand (vs.9) while Joshua went and fought the Amalek. Starting in verse 11 it says, "Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew tired, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword."

I love that!!!! That is the best story and such an amazing picture of friendship, family, and the spouse relationship. Ladies, whether you are in your husband's season or you are preparing for your husband's season, there IS going to come a time when he gets weary and tired and you are going to have to hold his hands up. He may be tired of his team-hold his hands up. He may be tired of the media-hold his hands up. He may be tired of losing-hold his hands up. How do you do that: Pray and Words of Encouragement. There is nothing that makes a man stronger than a wife that prays for him daily. There is nothing that builds a man up than words of encouragement from the one person that knows him better than any one else.

And believe me I realize you are tired, heck, I am tired, but that is why we have each other. Wives, to pray for each other and build each other up so that we can in turn hold our husband's hand.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Believe God

Hello my friends!!!

Can I just tell you how excited I am to have such new friends from all over the country brought together by 3 things: faith, family, and football (and/or any other sports-they just didn't start with "F").
First, I want to let you know I received a prayer request from Heather in Kentucky and I want to ask all of the readers to please pray for the Gunner Gillespie family. Gunner was an 8 year old boy who lost his battle with a brain tumor last week. His father is a HS Basketball coach in Kentucky.
God,
We ask that you would please be with the family of Gunner. I know they are hurting right now but I also know that your Word says you are "close to the brokenhearted and save those who are crushed in Spirit." Be their comfort and peace right now. If there is anyone who knows what it means to lose a son it is you Father.
Amen.

I want to share with you a thought that I often speak about. The difference between believing in God and believing God. There is such a huge difference between the two and I hope by the time I share them with you-you are challenged and encouraged.
Let me start by saying, Believing in God will get you about as far as believing in Santa Clause. Not very.The bible tell us in James 2:19 "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder." Those are some powerful words. They teach us that we can't just believe in God we must believe God. So what do I mean by Believe God?

First, Believe God when he says he has a FUTURE for you. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a Future." In the life of sports you never know where you are going to be, where you are going to live, but He does. He has plans and a future for your family. Believe Him!!!

Second, Believe God when he says he is FAITHFUL! In 2 Timothy 2:13 it says, "if we are faithless, he will remain Faithful, for he cannot disown himself."
There is an old Indian legend that says that in order for a boy to become a man, he has to sit outside on a tree stump, in the forest, all night long with his eyes closed. No matter what he hears or feels, he can not open his eyes or he fails. For those boys who succeed they get to open their eyes when they feel the sunshine and what they find is their father was standing beside them the whole night, watching and protecting. They didn't see him-but he was there. They didn't hear him-but his was there. They didn't feel him but his was there! Whatever you are going through right now, remember, you may not feel God, but He is there. You may not see God, but He is there! And you may not hear God-But He is there. Believe HIM!

Third, Believe God when He says you are FORGIVEN! Psalms 103:12 says, as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins from us." You may say, "but Sarah, you don't know what I have done." And I will say, God Forgives you! No matter what. You may say, "So why do I still feel guilt and shame." That is not God not forgiving you-that is your spiritual enemy (Satan) not letting you forget. You are Forgiven! Believe Him!!

Lastly, if you miss this part then you have missed the entire message. Believe God when He says, "This is my son whom I am well pleased". . . nobody comes to me except through Him. You see, we don't get to experience God's future, His faithfulness, or His Forgiveness without experiencing His Son, Jesus Christ! This is exciting! We have hope, we have peace, and joy like we never knew before!
I was the biggest Michael Jordan fan growing up. I had his shoes, his posters, his book etc. I knew his stats, career etc. But if I were to walk up to Michael Jordan today and said, "Hey Mike." He would say, "I don't know you." That is the difference. I know of him, but I don't know him.

Believe God today and all that He has in store for you, your husband, and your family!!!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Encouragement to you

Hello Friends,



I can call you my friends because we already have an instant connection. Sports! If you are not at a game you are preparing for a game and if you are not preparing for the game, you are talking about the game, and if you are not talking about the game, you are thinking about the game. It doesn't matter if you are in your husband's season or not: There is no off season!



I wanted to address a comment from a coaches wife that is so true, but the desperation in her heart pierced mine. She commented, "I once had a parent tell me that it is just a GAME. I turned and started crying. It's not "just a game," it's our life. It's whether I get to stay in my house one more year. It's whether I get to keep my job, or move my family, or leave my friends. It's NOT just a game for any of us." There is so much truth to these statements, but one of the things I found most intriguing was not the desperation in her words but the devotion to her husband and her family. Even though we are devoted to our husbands this is a hard profession for the exact reasons she mentioned. The thing I want to encourage each of you is, though it looks like our husband's profession is the hands of teenagers, parents, and/or administrators we need to be reminded (myself included) it doesn't! Where we live, where we coach is in the hands of the God Almighty! The bible says in Proverbs 21:30, "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord." As Christ followers, God's plan includes your family! What the enemy means for harm, God will always make good come out of it somehow. How awesome is that! We have been given the promise that "He works all things to the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose." That includes losing seasons, disgruntled parents, uncooperative adminstrations.

Be encouraged, God is your offensive coordinator. He is in the booth able to see things we can not see on the field. He is in control!!!!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Big News!

I know I am writing on the same day, but i needed to make this a completely different entry. Today was a great day. So you will understand how great of a day it was I have to tell you our story from the beginning. As you can see, we have 2 beautiful children which we love dearly. Unfortunately, we were not able to get pregnant on our own (I have issues). I had to have surgery to get pregnant with both children. We had always wanted 3 children because I come from a family of 3 girls and my husband comes from a family of 3 boys so when we got pregnant on our own, we were elated. We just knew this was a miracle from God! The bad news-at 8 weeks I miscarried. We were so sad, but as the Natalie Grant song says, "We will not be moved." Two months later I found out I was pregnant again! We couldn't believe it. We knew God was faithful and He was going to give us the desire of our hearts: a third child. We went in for an ultrasound and we saw a heartbeat, a faint one, but there was one. We were pumped! At 11 weeks we went in for a follow up and this time there was no heartbeat. Our hearts were crushed. We couldn't do this again. But in that small room, my husband and I, weeping so hard, made a promise: We were going to praise Him when we win and we were going to praise Him when we lose. Spoken like a coach and his wife:) It was hard, don't get me wrong. I had good days, bad days, and even worse days, but I clung to the verse in Psalms that says, "He is close to the brokenhearted and he saves those who are crushed in spirit." That was us and He kept his promise!

That was September of 2007 and in September of 2008 I had made an appointment with my Dr.'s office because I was having some "issues" again. God does things in a mighty way, let me tell you! I made the appointment content with thinking I would never have another child and we were going to get this taken care of permanetly and left the Dr. with a confirmation that I was pregnant!

So why was it a great day today? We had an ultrasound this morning and we got to see our third child's heartbeat, beating at 162 beats per minute which is great!!! They said everything looked normal and perfect! Scripture tells us that "He will remain faithful, even when we are faithless."
Praise God!!!! Please pray for Roberts' family (all 5 of us:))

I'm Back!

Hello ladies,



I am back!!! Thank you so much for your sweet messages and and your patience. As you can see, my blog has been under a makeover! I love it and I hope you do to! I have had so much to tell you and just couldn't wait to get back on line. First, let's talk about the season. We are doing pretty good right now in the win/loss column. We are 5-2 which is pretty good compared to some, but (you knew there was a but coming on), but as for young men I am afraid some of them just don't get it. We have guys inelgible every week because they just don't care about the classroom. They could care less they are letting their team down. We have guys jumping other guys in the lockerroom after practice. They don't get to play, but they don't care. Hopefully, there is some of you out there who know what I am talking about. It is just crazy how you can have teams that win on the field, but lose off. And then you have teams that win off the field, but lose on. Unfortunetly, it is only what they do on the field that our husbands get judged. OH Sports! Gotta love it! Any comments on this would be awesome!!!!!