Balance

This photo captures the beauty of trees.

But what is wrong with this picture?

 

 

If you look closely ...

This is what you'll see ...

 

 

 

 

I often hear people discussing life issues that we

simply refuse to give to God.

Giving Him control.

I've always thought, "Not me. That doesn't apply to me."

I have given God my all.

And for the most part, I have.

But just this morning, God placed on my heart one little issue that

I haven't totally surrendered to Him ...

Something I have placed on a pedestal

and have unreasonably elevated in my life.

 

 

 

 

It usually rests in this very location by my kitchen sink (below)

and reminds me to take my

healthy daily vitamins!

 

 

 

 

And this is how I know it is "my" Diet Coke ...

do you see the lip stick?

And I never open my tab all the way.

Why? I do not know.

My husband pointed this fact out to me;

he opens his tab all the way.

So this is how we know which can belongs to whom.

This is mine.

 

 

 

 

Now, I'm not a big coffee or tea drinker, but

I love diet drinks.

I started drinking them when I was only in

the 6th grade ... took a few years off ... but started back.

I don't care what kind ... I love orange, grape, root beer ...

anything as long as it is diet.

And McDonalds has the very best Diet Coke, in my opinion.

They help me not eat as much. And as many as I drink,

they are better than the "real" thing,

as far as calories and the health of my teeth go.

Right?! I'm just saying sugar is not flowing

past my teeth all day long. Just acid.

And I've even taken to often drinking with a straw

to help prevent my teeth from staining too much.

I've thought this through.

Now, I'm not saying anything is wrong with them.

But here is where "my" problem lies ...

Here is the ratio of soda to water in my garage refrigerator,

reflecting my habit:

 

 

 

More Diet Coke; Less Water (Mini Size)

So, God was definitely sending me a little mail ...

And the message is this:

 

 

 

So, every now and then, we ("I") need to take a seat

and evaluate our lives ...

What are we giving God control of?

Are we giving Him our all?

What are we keeping from Him?

What areas in our lives are we saying,

"Private Property; Keep Out"?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, we need to take those areas and ...

Deflate them.

Remove them

from our hearts' pedestals.

And bench them.

And Balance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing distorting our lives.

Nothing wrong with the picture.

 

 Oh, the beauty of balance. 

 

 

 

 

 

 



"So" Loved

 

When life is tough, you just feel rough,

 

nothing goes right, money is tight,

 

you just feel low, not a thread to sew

 

... remember ...

 

you are

so loved

 

(John 3:16).

 

 

 

 

 

I ran over a curb today,

after digging through my purse at a stop sign to make a donation!

I can't do two things at once.

Karalee said, "Mom, I'm embarrassed."

I was just as embarrassed.

Then we all got tickled about it.

Praising God for a rainy day.

Love, Shelli  

 

 

Son Rise

Regardless of what we are enduring, I am reminded the Son will still shine.

 

The Son will still rays 

you

to your precious feet.

 The Son will still rise to the occasion to meet you ... 
 

 right where you are.

The sweet reminder and view from my swing this morning.




 

Life is a Gift

 

 

Once a baby
Tender locks of hair
What a blessed parent
To have embraced you there 

A little child
Hair twirling through air
What a blessed mommy
To have this day to share 


Young lady now
Hair rollers of blue
What a blessed sister
To have these years with you

Time has passed
The hair is gray
What a blessed daughter
To have had you today 

Face is thin
My heart will care
What a blessed grand-daughter
To comb your treasured hair   

Peace has come
Others comb your hair
What a blessed family
The loss is hard to bear 

-By Shelli Littleton
Copyright 2013 

My beloved grandmother's tea set from childhood.

 

The loss is hard to bear.
I will always cherish combing her precious hair.

 

 We often forget: we were all that little child.
Special to someone.
Special to God.

Inside our "Little House" on a County Road!

A very sweet friend asked what our house looks like on the inside.

So I thought I'd post a few pictures.

I wish I had a better camera.

But, come on inside!

 

 

Our entry from the front door to the living room

(see if you can spot the "eagle" from my book!):

Our living room from a few angles:

 

 

Do you see the chest/trunk below? By the chair?

It makes for a good drink holder. But ...

it houses all my Bible study books from since I was about 27 ...

when I really fell in love with Jesus.

There are some treasures in that chest.

A treasure chest.

 

 

Brian has a picture of John Wayne, his hero, beside the rocking chair.

Our curtain rod holders need to be moved out to the edges of the windows

(this is where they were when we bought the house) ...

but that may never happen. We may have

invented a new design.

 

 

That is Aslan, our boy kitty, on the ottoman:

 

 

Our dining room: 

 

Our small kitchen. We often run into each other in this room!
The girls love watching the "Property Brothers" so they
can figure out how to make this room better:

 

 

Kitchen/pantry/island area, with door leading out to

garage (that houses my washer/dryer ...

yes, I have no "laundry room"!):

 

 

Our bedroom:

 

 

 

I love these shutters in our bedroom and bathroom:

 

 

 

Karalee's upstairs bedroom (I love her sliding bathroom door!)

The first picture is the door leading up to her room ...

I love this door, too ... reminds me of a barn door:

 

 

Head up the stairs.

These are slick as can be with socks on:

 

 

Karalee has the biggest room in the whole house.

All my kitchen sq. footage is here:

 

Those two blue "laundry baskets" house all

Karalee's stuffed animals that she just can't part with!

And her closet is to the left ... attic access to the a/c is here ...

we have to pull everything out of her

closet just to change the

air filter.

 

 

Karalee has this little "nook" in the wall.

She can sit here with the cat and look out.

Another pair of boots! Those were my very first pair (age 19 probably).

It is the one wall that houses her precious, favorite "baby" things:

 

 

Katelyn's bedroom:

 

 

And if you walk out the back door, this is the girls' favorite room!!

 

 

We really love it here,

love living on this beloved Texas county road

... in spite of the many scorpions that check in.

I love that our two sheep like to be where we are,

and are smart enough to put themselves up in their pen at night,

without being led there.

I really love our walking trail.

We walk the sheep around the trail each night.

I'll try to post pictures of the outside area soon.

 

I hope you enjoyed the tour!

 

Psalm 16:2

 

And if you want to see what our house/property

looked like this last Christmas Day with SNOW,

look here: http://shellilittleton.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-texas-rarity.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truth is Pretty

Baby's busted lip after stumbling on a landscape timber in our
flower garden.
Watch out for life's landscape timbers!

“Momma, I didn’t mean to lie.” When my daughter Karalee was eight years old, a lie slid right out of her mouth. Learning the importance of truth, she realized it immediately and set things straight. I reminded her gently how, as a Christian, the Holy Spirit was guiding and leading her. And I was proud to see her owning up to the wrong instead of covering up; she owned it. The following day, she got up early from a nap. I told her that I didn’t think she had really slept, and she said, “Momma, my Holy Spirit told me that I did!”

She was the cutest - little - thing. I tried desperately to choke back the laughter; but I laughed out loud. We still laugh about it today. That was a definite journal entry if there ever was one. She may have been telling the truth, but I honestly felt that cutie-pie was lying right through her teeth and using the Holy Spirit for a crutch.

Surely, many have heard of the TV series Pretty Little Liars. Honestly, I have never seen it; but I have definitely heard of it. I can’t purchase groceries without passing the magazine rack of "gorgeous" girls labeled “Pretty Little Liars.” I won’t pretend to know what the show is about. It could be about girls speaking truth, for all I know; but the message I receive is: lying=pretty.

God has been working on my heart in this area. Recently, as the girls and I were grocery shopping, we placed powdered sugar donuts in the shopping cart. The first words out of my mouth were, “You don’t have to tell Dad about these.” They slid right out. In my heart, I knew my husband might hassle me about the donuts because they are unhealthy. So I’m telling my girls they don’t have to “volunteer” the information. In other words, I’m teaching them to lie. I want to defend myself over that “fine line.” But there is no fine line where God is concerned. A lie is a lie, whether in the heart or out the mouth.

A lie is a lie. Lying is one legacy I don’t want to inadvertently pass down to my beautiful girls. Not only was Jesus truth, but He also spoke truth. As believers, we must follow His example. Remember, we have the indwelling Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth (John 16:13). He is not our crutch for lies. Truth must be habitual. We must be intentional. The truth is: sin leads to death. Lie=Die. Own the mistakes–the sin; call it what it is. A lie is not pretty. Truth=Life. Truth is pretty.

“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:9-10, NIV).

Lastly, gratefully and boldly swallow and savor the taste of God’s mercy and grace.

 

 

WMU Articles

Hey y'all. I have a few more articles, interviewing missionaries across the globe, regarding times when God is silent.

West Africa

Peter Blackaby (relative to Henry Blackaby) in Canada

South Asia

Blessings,
Shelli

A Gift Worth Keeping: It Goes with My Décor!

I wrote a book! Friends, I am so excited to say that my book, A Gift Worth Keeping: It Goes with My Décor! is finally off my computer and into print! I wrote this book in 2007 and have been slowly editing and working on it through the years. This is my story of surviving hardships, and I pray it might encourage others.

My prayer is that one would walk away with at least two things: (1) a different way to view hardships and (2) a real course of action to take to survive them victoriously.

I was blessed to speak on my book to my wonderful San Angelo church family years back. I will never forget a precious lady coming up to me afterwards ... she wanted me to know that she had lost three children. Horrible tragedy. Yet, she was encouraged by this message. Though tragic, I cannot relay how my heart leapt with joy knowing God had used this simple message to encourage. To encourage her.

Please keep this little work in your prayers. I can't tell you how much I have prayed on my face over this work. And know this is no money-maker; I have a ton invested in it. But I am asking God to use it, and my heart's one desire is that God be glorified through it.

It is out on Amazon. If you find it worthy, I ask you to please pass it on to anyone you know struggling through hardships and needing encouragement (this would make an endearing Christmas gift with Jesus' birthday just around the corner).

Most of you know I went through infertility, the adoption process, a miscarriage (tubal pregnancy), and our youngest baby girl surviving a Wilms tumor (cancer, chemo, the works) at only 13 months old. This book describes how I personally survived, and how anyone else can survive hardships. One doesn't have to have gone through the exact hardships as I to be encouraged by this message.

Writing this book was the most amazing journey with God I have experienced to this point in my life. This work has my heart and my tears all over it. And it is girly in every way (sorry guys!)!

Blessed by you, and there is no way to relay what your support would mean to me.

Shelli

ps. If you read this book and are blessed in any way, I'd love to hear from you.

Finicky for the Good Life

Aslan and Lucy when they were babies.

This last week, our calico cat Lucy became ill. We had her tested. The blood work revealed she either had a parasite, heartworms, or an allergy. Boy, are those extremely different possibilities, or what? I was praying she didn't have heartworms because there is no treatment for cats, and I knew my daughters would be devastated. Praise God, no heartworms! We had recently put a liquid flea/tick medication on her ... she had an allergic reaction ... and I fully believe this all stems from that ... and that was about a month ago. At first, I thought she was sick because I was feeding her a different brand of canned food. She quit eating the Salmon flavor in the brand/box I was buying ... so I thought I'd try a different kind. She is so finicky.

Years ago, I had a hair-brained idea to buy a cheaper cat food for our two cats. I had always heard that cats could be finicky, but that had never been my experience. I had previously had a male cat for some thirteen years, and he would eat anything. We have two cats now, and our male cat will eat anything, as well. But I learned that female cats are a whole different breed! I'm not a veterinarian, and I'm not an animal professional, but from my experience, it is female cats that can be finicky. So, my "save money on cat food" experience was some 2-3 years ago, and it almost cost us Lucy's life (our female cat). She stopped eating. We had noticed that suddenly she was getting into any food we left out on the counter. She had never done this before. But she had stopped eating the dry cat food, and she was starving herself. Determined not to eat the dry food, she tried to get her teeth on anything we left out on the kitchen counter. When we noticed her getting thin, I tried going back to the normal dry food, but she wouldn't have it. Then, I tried wet, canned food. She loved it. Since that time, she has trained me and my girls to feed her breakfast, lunch, supper, and a midnight snack. It is so strange that she'll eat dry "treats," but she won't eat the dry food left out in their bowl. The little boy does, but she won't. She wants the canned food. And without the canned food, she would probably starve. And ironically, she almost starved to death as a baby because someone dropped them off at the "back" of the humane society building, and because it was Christmas time, no one found them for days. Three kittens became two, and these two almost didn't survive.

Because I was mistakingly the first to feed her the canned food in her time of starvation, she is totally enamored by me. She sleeps by me now. When she is hungry, she comes looking for me and cries to me. Non-stop, I might add. If I lie down on the couch, she will come try to lie on my tummy, faces me, and gazes deep into my eyes. It is the strangest thing. And the funny thing is that these cats are our girls' cats. I have no real attachment to them. They slept by the girls. They played with the girls.  And now, I have a shadow. A few minutes ago, I was working on the computer ... got to wondering where Lucy might be ... and turned around and saw that she was sleeping on the stool beside me. She is going to be near me, one way or another.

In the morning, when she is ready for breakfast, but I'm not ready to get up ... she'll come lie down on my side. Seriously. My husband thought that was so crazy. He said there is no way he'd let her do that to him. (In my defense, I'm half asleep, so it is really hard to find the strength to make her get off me, and she'd just come right back even if I made her move.) But my husband made the mistake of giving her a little food when he got up one morning for work, and now she has him trained, too! She goes from lying on my side, to lying on his side ... waiting for one of us to get up in the morning because she just knows we live to feed her.

Lucy's example reminds me of how finicky we need to be for Jesus. When we really realize His sacrifice for us ... when we really grasp the cost ... we won't want anyone or anything else. Without Jesus, we are slowly starving ourselves. And when we allow Him to meet that need in our lives ... we'll never be able to get enough of Him. We'll want to crawl up in His lap and gaze into His eyes daily because He met our desperate need. Don't grab anything. Don't grab just anything because you are starving. Don't grab what the world has to offer for comfort and life. Choose Jesus. Be finicky for the "good life."

Lucy and the good life.

WMU-Missions Mosaic Articles Out Soon & Lambs

Here I am with my Barbie doll case and behind me
is my much cherished farm! There would be
no possible way to count how many times
that farm door said, "Moo!"

Hey! Hope May brings you lots of flowers and sunshine. I just wanted to share that I have two articles out in the upcoming June issue of Missions Mosaic. One is on glorifying God through hardships, and the other is on surviving your parents' divorce. I definitely know a little something about both of those. And just to let you know my heart, I cannot read the one on surviving my parents' divorce without tears dropping from my eyes. Though God has healed my heart tremendously from that event at the age of 8, at times it is like a fresh wound. However, if you have endured the same, I pray you are blessed and your heart is touched through the article ... that the Lord will pour out healing on your precious heart.

Go here if you'd like to order a copy. Or call 1-800-968-7301. Remember, it is the June 2013 issue.

Just one more thing ... we have added two baby lambs to our family - Bindi and Sandy! You wouldn't believe the effort we have made to get two lambs, unused to human touch, to love on us and allow us to love on them. We have worked hard. And it has paid off. In less than a week, they are feeding out of our hands. Yahoo!

Katelyn and Sandy

Karalee and Bindi

Much love and "hay,"
Shelli

Colorful Easter

Girls at First Baptist Dallas

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. Jesus. Enough said. But I'm a little wordy today, so I'll add a few more. Grin!

We had the most wonderful Easter service at First Baptist Dallas.

We had decided to attend the early service, hoping that it might not be as crowded. On the way to church, we stopped for a quick bite at McDonalds for breakfast. Pouring rain came. We got wet. My skirt was completly soaked, but due to an umbrella, my hair barely got wet. I was so thankful, or we would have had to turn around and go back home. And with a seat-warmer and Kleenex, my skirt dried. When we arrived at the church, the early service was already full. But that didn't stop us. We stood first in line for the next service for over an hour! I wouldn't wait that long for a ride at Disney, but we knew the service would be worth the wait; and it was.

Way to go, Dr. Jeffress ... way to go, God! The new sanctuary is just beautiful. I felt as though I were sitting and soaking up a truly historical moment. And I was so thankful to be a part of it.




Girls at First Baptist Dallas, Easter 2013

Shelli and Katelyn

Shelli and Karalee

Before ...

After ...

Jesus, you color our world! And I thank you!

April 2013 Missions Mosaic-WMU

Hey sweet friends! Just a heads up that I have two articles in the April 2013 issue of Missions Mosaic (WMU). Go here if you'd like to order a copy. Or call 1-800-968-7301. My first article is a "Missionary Focus" article on a precious couple from Southeast Asia. I got to Skype them ... an amazing and fun experience! Y'all, they have been there since 1986, the year I graduated high school. Gracious! Amazing service and amazing people.

Then, my second article is on "how to cope through a child's life-threatening illness" ... if you know anyone with sick children, I think this article would really help and encourage them. I have lived it, you guys ... our daughter had a kidney tumor (cancer) back in 2001. She was just a year old then.

Much love,
shelli

My Beloved Ma-Maw

Ma-Maw about 26 years old

My beloved grandmother, Leola Stinson, has gone to be with Jesus, as of February 11, 2013, 11:35pm. My very favorite story that she used to tell me was about the first time I stayed with her. My mother and dad had gone to visit her and were going to let my older sister, Donna, stay with Ma-Maw. But I was too small to stay. As we were leaving, Ma-Maw said that I reached out my tiny arms to her. And I got to stay. I reached out my arms because I saw someone who loved me; and I wanted to go to her and stay with her.

 

On my grandmother's final day, numerous times in her ICU hospital bed, she looked up and reached her arms up. The nurse was concerned that she would pull her tubes out and would help lower Ma-Maw's arms. So when the nurse walked out, I followed in her footsteps, and when Ma-Maw raised her arms, I would help lower them. Though I kept looking up, wondering what amazing sight Ma-Maw was seeing. We got tickled later on, realizing that Ma-Maw couldn't go to be with the Lord until we all left the room and stopped lowering her arms. You see, she was raising her precious arms because she saw someone who loved her; and she wanted to go to Him and stay with Him. That someone was Jesus, her Savior.

 

Ma-Maw, I have adored you on this earth, and I will adore you in Heaven. I couldn't have asked for a better grandmother. You taught me everything you possibly could. I am broken-hearted; I will miss you terribly. But I'm so thankful you are not in pain anymore and that you are with Jesus.

 

You are my Ma-Maw.

Ma-Maw and Karalee

 

Ma-Maw and Katelyn

 

 

 

My beloved Ma-Maw and Pa-Paw; I will love you both forevermore.