GREAT WEEKEND!

Well, I've had a couple of busy weeks. Not with work, but with taking care of my sick friend, who is presently getting better, and I had a birthday on the 12th that just had to be celebrated, and then this past weekend some ladies from our church and surrounding churches in our community went to a Women of Faith conference in St. Louis, Missouri.

I'll start with my sick friend. Praise the Lord it's not Lymphoma. I just knew she had cancer. I am relieved to find out that it's a very rare virus called CMV. There's a longer name for it, but I'm not going to look it up and spell it out for you. Just go to webmd.com if you want to find it out. Adults get it from kids, and in kids it's just a lingering cold. In adults, it can be much more serious. This is her fifth week of it, and she's still feeling the effects, although she's much, much, much better. There is a very dangerous thing about it, though. We have another friend who's pregnant. Now, CMV can only be passed through fluids so it's highly unlikely that this other friend has it, but if a pregnant woman gets CMV, the baby will certainly be affected. This is their first child. Please pray that there is no trace in her blood for the virus when she gets tested for it.

Now for my birthday! Boo-yeah! I had a great weekend. One of our friends from our young adult Bible study got some of my friends and I tickets to go see the Cardinals and Yankees in St. Louis during the last season at Busch Stadium. Now, I am a Cubs fan, but since I'm closer to St. Louis than Chicago I like to go to Cardinals games. And since they were playing for the Yankees, that's like a once-in-a-lifetime thing! We just had a really great time! Also, since I turned 25 my car insurance went down $240 a year!! Can I get a B00-YEAH!?!

Now, finally, Women of Faith. This is a yearly conference held at the Savvis Center in St. Louis. This year there were over 16,000 women there. It's always a reviving, refreshing, and renewing weekend for me. When I go there, I know that God is going to show me something and I can't wait to find out what it is. This year, as some of you know and have read, I've been struggling with money problems, big time, and it's been weighing on me mentally, physically, and spiritually. I just keep trying to come up with new ways to make some money so I can just get this all paid off. Of course, most of my ways require spending more money and a gamble that you won't make it all back, so there's a chance I could lose more money in the process. I just want to get out of debt as quickly as possible, but as a wise man once said, Getting out of debt is not like something being cooked in a microwave. It's being cooked in a crockpot. It's a slow process, and sometimes a painful one.

So what did God reveal to me this year? "Give it up. We've tried it your way, now let's try it Mine. I know it's going to be hard. I know it's going to hurt, but that's why I'm here." Also, a lot of what I heard from the speakers was about fear. Don't let fear define your life. Don't just be comfortable. Sometimes you just have to close your eyes and jump. So I think both of the "revelations" go together. I think I've just been scared to let go, scared of how much it's going to hurt, scared of what I'm not going to be able to go out and do with my friends, scared of the sacrifices I know I'll have to make, but I'm going to do it.

Pray for me that I may be faithful and stay on course, 'cause once I'm out of debt and started saving, I can't wait for the time I'll be able to pay cash for my kids to go to college!

Grace and Peace be with you!
Jules