Comfortably Numb...

I have learned to never get comfortable. God wants me to be always ready for change, always prepared. Well, you can bank on that as soon as I get comfortable in a particular area of my life, God comes in and shakes things up. Comfortable=numb. And numb is the farthest place He wants my heart to be. Anything but numb.

So, here I am once again. I guess God thinks I need some humbling. My heart is heavy and I find myself on my knees asking for His forgiveness in an area that I just can't seem to get a hold of. Just when I think my spiritual life is hunky dory and everything is peachy, this thorn keeps popping up. I can't seem to prune this thing. Probably because God is the ultimate "pruner" and I have a hard time letting Him at this one.

He wants control in this area, and I want desperately to give it to Him. Or do I? Why do we want to be somewhere where God doesn't want us to be?? Why can't I just realize that He wants better for me. If I can relinquish control to Him, I would be much better off. Uncomfortable.

The lyrics to a song keep coming into my head when I get uncomfortable with what God wants me to do.

"Sometimes my life just don't make sense at all...I'd rather fight you for something I don't really want, than to take what you give that I need."

These words bring me to tears. Why can't I just get out of my comfort zone and know that He wants better for me. I can't get myself out of the way. Insecurity creeps in, and I fall into the same predictable pattern.

I love my Lord. He knows me and knows these areas that are overgrown in my heart. He loves taking those hedge trimmers and going to town. It hurts, but oh the beauty afterwards!

Slowly, but surely, I will get there. Step by step, prayer by prayer...He will see to it.

Rich Mullins song "Hold Me Jesus":

Sometimes my life just don't make sense at all

When the mountain looks so big

And my faith just seems so small

So hold me Jesus, 'cause I'm shakin' like a leaf

You have been King of my Glory

Won't you be my Prince of Peace

When I wake up in the night I feel the dark

It's so hot inside my soul

I swear there must be blisters on my heart

So hold me Jesus, 'cause I'm shakin' like a leaf

You have been King of my Glory

Won't you be my Prince of Peace

Surrender don't come natural to me

I'd rather fight you for something I don't really want

Than to take what you give that I need

And I've beat my head against so many walls

I'm falling down, falling on my knees

God please

And the Salvation Army band is playing this hymn

And your grace rings out so deep

It makes my resistance seem so thin

So hold me Jesus, 'cause I'm shakin' like a leaf

You have been King of my Glory

Won't you be my Prince of Peace

slowly surrendering,

Jill

The Wild, Wild West Part Two......





a female moose!

thank goodness this grizzly is stuffed! wow!

elk antlers make pretty picture





a close encounter with this bear..

the Grand Tetons in Jackson Hole



the most beautiful sunsets out West



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peek-a-boo we see you, mr. bear

hiking on a five mile trail!

posing as we take a break from hiking

lem made me do this..

presley napping after our hike!

so glad someone offered to take this pic of all of us..

this elk was right in the middle of the road

yellowstone~this place was unbelievable

a  coyote...in the parking lot!

one of my faves...the kids waiting for old faithful to erupt~

me and pres...love this girl

another bear!

my little country girl

can you believe this sunset?

Our hotel in Yellowstone..The Old Faithful Snow Lodge

Yellowstone was like no other place I have ever seen before. We stayed at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge.  I highly recommend this place to stay if you plan to visit Yellowstone. It is right across from the Old Faithful Inn.

Of course, when we visited it wasn't covered in snow like this picture, but it was still very beautiful. I hope to go one day when there is snow covering Yellowstone!  I bet that would be quite a site!

Hope you enjoy the pics..we have so many more. I will try and post more soon.....

Again, if you haven't been out West to see these places, you MUST put this on your bucket list. Fun for the whole entire family!

The Wild, Wild West...

Well, the Hill's just returned from a fabulous Fall break trip to....YELLOWSTONE!! Let me just say...if you have not been to this part of the country....you really need to GO. The skies were so clear and denim blue. The air was crisp like freshly pressed linen. My children ooohed and ahhhhed the whole entire trip. We saw wild animals walking on the side of the road. If we wanted to we could have easily slipped our hand out the window and petted these beautiful creatures. God's handiwork is scripted all over the state of Wyoming.

Let me start from the beginning. We flew into Jackson Hole last Wednesday morning. This was Presley Jane's first airplane ride. Do you think she was nervous? Presley? Have you met her? She didn't bat one pretty eyelash. She walked onto that plane looking like she could have flown it if she had so desired. She confidently walked to her seat, sat down, and just like an old pro she casually buckled her seat belt. The next thing she said was.."Okay, I am ready. What's taking this thing so long to get up in the air?" Oh, I love this girl. She has every bit of the grit and determination that I so lack.

We finally took off on the first leg of our trip. Three hours later we landed in Salt Lake City, Utah for a layover. After a quick bite to eat at the airport we loaded on a smaller plane to fly us into the mountainous land of Jackson Hole. If you have ever been to the JH airport  you know that you don't have the luxury of walking through a covered hallway off of the plane. Nope. You walk straight off of the plane, just like you see in movies. We walked down a steep flight of steps onto the ground. It was actually pretty cool. I felt like we had just chartered our very own private jet. Presley and Joseph both thought this was very, very neat.

As soon as we stepped onto the ground, I said my usual..."Thank you Lord for getting us here safely. You know how i hate to fly and you made the whole affair uneventful. Thank YOU!"

I looked around me after stepping off the plane, inhaled the crisp, cool, mountain air and smiled. I could get used to this. Lem must have read my mind, because he looked at me and said..."We are not going to want to go back home." I smiled, knowing full well that he was right. We both love to dream about what it would be like moving somewhere like this...surrounded by God's beauty at every corner. Every sunset being worthy of a Kodak moment.

After picking up our rental car, we headed out to see this picturesque town. Picture after picture we snapped. In about one hour's time we saw buffalo, antelope, and moose. We were all mesmerized by these creatures just walking about unfazed by our cars. Unbelievable.

 ~We made it!~

 ~Our airplane into Jackson Hole~

 ~Oh yeah..we met Dominique Wilkins (ex Hawks star) at the airport on the way out. Lem recognized him right away and shook his hand. Such a nice guy. ~

 ~Getting ready for take-off~

~Lem and Joseph sat right behind us...looking dapper as usual. :-)

More to come...stay tuned.