Conviction.

Well friends I've got a ton to say and I really don't want to ramble, so stay with me. My hopes are to say what I need to say (just for you, John Mayer) and not jump from topic to topic in  such a way that will cause me to be difficult to follow. Of course the way my mind jumps around I'm probably always hard to follow.

First of all, had a doctors appointment on Friday. The doc says NO to the track your cycle idea & hooked me up with a discount card that will make my BC $24 instead of $71. That will make a huge difference! She also gave me 2 months worth free to lighten the bill even more. Maybe its too soon to say after only two visits, but I love my doctor! I'm glad that she's the one who will be seeing me through the variety of woman issues that are to come. I have another appointment with a family doctor on Tuesday regarding my odd chest pain...will keep you updated.

Now onto church. We're into part 3 of the Time of Your Life series, called Compounding Minutes. As usual, I encourage you to listen here once the message is posted, which should be tomorrow. But, given that I was especially convicted and moved by this message myself, I'll give you a little more than a recommendation to listen on your own.

Whether you're a Christian yourself or have never darkened the door to a church in your life, you will still take something from this message. As the entire series is on the subject of Time, we started out discussing just that. And the first point Randy (that's the pastor) made is something we all know but dont put much thought into on a regular basis. There is a cumulative value to investing small amounts of time in certain activities over a long period.  Basically (these are the notes I added) give things a little bit of time consistently and it will pay off in the end. Spend a little bit of quality time with your husband each day and it will enhance your relationship. Duh, right? But are you thinking of this when you're sitting side by side playing on your separate laptops but not actually speaking? I say that as its what T & I are doing at this very moment. Randy said that there are 2 reasons we neglect to do this: 1. there are no immediate benefits (if you exercise one day no one can tell) and 2. there are no immediate consequences for skipping it (if you skip said exercise on a Wednesday no one will know). And isn't this all terribly true? Stop and think for a minute and you'll be able to see it in your life.
His second point was Neglect is cumulative as well. Unfortunately, neglect oftentimes reaches a point of no return--once you've neglected a relationship so long, its difficult to revive it to the strength it once had. Same goes with money and your health and, as Randy painfully reminded me, your GPA. You don't think of things like GPA's being mentioned at church do you? Just one reason I love my church--it's real! 
There is no cumulative value to the random things we opt for over the important things. This is when God stood up in my brain and screamed (for the 239847293847 time in the past week might I add) FACEBOOK! Whoa. Slap in the face by the Big Man Upstairs (should slang names for God be capitalized too?). What important things do you give up/neglect in order to do other unimportant things? What do you do that keeps you from your daily time with God? Of course you know what I do. I always plan to have daily quiet time with God in the morning but do I always get up in time? Absolutely not. Do I always find time in the morning to check Facebook? Absolutely. Do you wonder why I feel convicted? I hope not.

"Be very careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore don't be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."

Ephesians 5:15-17 NIV

Powerful isn't it? What's leaving you foolish? Randy ended up the message with 3 basic questions for us to think about. Where do I begin? What's my biggest obstacle? What am I willing to do about it? And that segues into my next point...(**Before I go on, PLEASE check out the message! My sad interpretation doesn't do it justice & I think we can all benefit from better using our time!**)

What am I willing to do about it? I am, officially, taking a facebook hiatus. I do not possess the self control to handle keeping it and staying on for a set time each day, so I am deleting it for awhile. I'll probably be back once I get my priorities in order, but I do feel this is something I need to do for my relationships as a whole...specifically those with God and my husband. I don't want to neglect those that matter most just so I can be updated on the happenings 5.5 hours away. I hope you'll keep reading and maybe shoot me a comment or an email about my posts...I really love your feedback. My email is hannahlipsey87@gmail.com and I do want to stay in contact, I've just gotten out of control on fb. 

Before I go on hiatus though, I want to invite you to church with us on Easter Sunday if you don't belong to a church somewhere already! If you're out of town that's ok, we've got extra beds! If you're in Thomasville then you've got to come! Our services will be at 9am and 11am on April 24 at the Best Western in Thomasville. Please come! And if you are coming, let us know which service so we'll be at the same one! The message series that we'll kick off that day will certainly be interesting and we would love to have you be a part of it! Oh and they're giving away an iPad at each service, so come for a chance at one of those!!

Well darlings that's all for now. Send me your email address on fbook if you want to keep in touch once I get rid of mine! Please pray for us and for our Easter services and go check out the message! You'll be glad you did. I'll leave you with a link to a video we watched/listened to at church tonight which reinforces this message and is a beautiful song on its own. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJULo_zW9hA

I do have a tiny prayer request for a nice guy named Tony that we met at Waffle House on a "romantic date night" tonight. He's traveling all over going to Rainbow Gatherings and we didn't get to talk too much, but he's on my heart tonight.

Hope to hear from you soon!

XOXO,
Hannah