On the Road Again. . .

I'm sitting here at a hotel in
Bakersfield, CA all by myself.
Lots of time to think, read, and
blog. Missing my hubby and kids
already but excited for all the kids
(students in High School) that I will
be meeting the next 3 days. I will
be speaking at 9 High Schools in
Bakersfield. It's another Sports
World week for me. Tonight I had
dinner with some men and women who
are the ones behind the scenes that
make these Speaking Engagements
possible. They raise the funds for
the athletes to come in and speak.
With Sports and God in common, what
else do you need?

Time has been VERY busy lately! I
have been traveling A LOT! Last month
was Ojai/Ventura, Michigan, Texas,
Arizona and this past weekend we took
a trip to Las Vegas (Tommy was working
and we decided to jump in the car and
go with him!). The boys love staying
in a hotel, and man, after 15 minutes
you would think we were there for a week
the way they take over the room. We
had lunch at the Top of the World
Restaurant at the Stratosphere and
had a fun game night at Circus Circus.
The boys are so crazy that they went
swimming in the pool even though it
was under 60 degrees out! Yes, they
were the ONLY ones in the pool!

So, I get to speak at a lot of different
places and my mind is constantly going
on different talks that I could give.
I have to tell you, they sound really
good when it's inside my head! It's
just a matter of remembering what I
said in my head and telling that to the
audience that's the hard part. But really,
I LOVE to encourage people. I love to
tell them the truth: there is a plan
for their lives, they have unique gifts
and talents, they make a difference in
the lives of those around them. I also
know that the whole reality of all of
that won't be understood apart from
knowing God personally. God radically
changed my life. Maybe it didn't look
like a huge change on the outside to
people around me, but the change on
the inside was monumental. The change
of mind that happened when I read God's
Word and understood it as truth
transformed me. God continues to work
in my life all the time. I walk through
each day wondering what God has in store.
I am constantly learning lessons and
asking forgiveness in the areas that I
stumble. God always picks me back up.

God loves us and Jesus Christ died for
us. Our part is to walk in obedience
to God's Word through the power of the
Holy Spirit. I recently heard somebody
mentioning that they liked "The Secret".
People need to know, the way to eternal
life is NOT a secret, it's through Jesus
Christ and Him alone. Offered to all,
though many will not choose what Jesus
offers us.

The other day I was thanking God in
prayer for how He CROSSES PATHS of
people. Nothing is an accident in
our lives. God knows all that will
happen. God reminded me that at the
same time, the CROSS is the PATH to
HIM!

Here are a couple thoughts that God
put on my heart when I spent some
time in prayer (I will write it how
I receive it- how God speaks to me).
I hope you will be blessed by it and
Him!

"I am a mighty water that rushes into
peoples lives and cleanses them. When
I am allowed access into the deep places,
the secret places, I clean them and
polish them and showcase them as a new
creation."

FCA President's Weekend Pictures

We stayed at a beautiful resort:
Westin Kierland Resort and Spa in
Scottsdale, AZ

Friday night we listened to Melinda
Doolittle (American Idol finalist)


Dan Britton, Co-Author of Wisdom Walks

Happy to have a weekend together

They call their 11 VP Regional Directors:
11 from Heaven

Les Steckel: FCA President and former
NFL Coach




Lisa Harper and me
I love her heart and her gifting to share
God's truth. She is authentic and so
friendly!

Donna Noonan (FCA), Lisa Harper (Women
of Faith, Speaker), me and Betsy King
(Legendary LPGA Golfer)

My and my man

Nancy Hedricks, FCA
I love FCA Staff!

Dr. Tony Evans: Amazing Teacher

I have been traveling a lot and I have
to miss church when I travel on the
weekends. It was so nice to be out
of town, with my husband and also
get A LOT of great messages from
the Bible. Dr. Tony Evans was
one of the speakers and he spoke
to us 3 different times. I took a
lot of notes but here are some I
wanted to share on his first message:

Foundation:

Bible Verses: Matthew 7:24-27
Your foundation determines your
future. The bigger you build, the
deeper your foundation needs be.

It's one thing to say you believe
something when it's not raining
and another thing to live what you
believe once it is raining.

You can't fix your foundation in
the middle of a storm. You need
to do it before or after.

God allows storms in our lives
to show us where we are and where
He is.

Throughout the Bible, right before
God did something really big, He
would allow a storm to hit (ex.
The Red Sea: Moses)

Don't just look at the rain or
you'll miss what God wants to do.

Don't try to fix the cracks in
the wall, fix the foundation.

***Let's all make Jesus the
foundation, after all, the Bible
tells us He is our ROCK!

I was so blessed by his teaching.
He is truly gifted by God and
speaking truth around the world.

Friends

“Don't walk in front of me; I may not
follow. Don't walk behind me; I may not
lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”
-Albert Camus

God has brought me friends throughout the
years that He knew I needed for the
different seasons of my life. I am
so grateful for those friends. There
were times that it was one person who
helped me through a certain time, and
other times that I was surrounded by
an entire TEAM of friends!

These days my TEAM of friends that I
see the most are those
in the same stage as me. Friends who
have families and kids around the ages
of my own kids. They love Jesus and
we study God's Word together. They
encourage me and allow me to be real
and honest. I am so grateful for all
the friends God has put in my life!
Here are just a few of them. . .





Proverbs17:17 NIV
"A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity."


Proverbs 13:20 NIV
"He who walks with the wise grows wise,
but a companion of fools suffers harms."

Tears: of sorrow and joy

I am sitting here in Barnes and Noble
(on the floor since all the chairs were
taken) next to my hubby and we both
are on our computers. What a way to
spend our alone time in Scottsdale,
Arizona!!! But really, our time
here for the Fellowship of Christian
Athletes (FCA) has been TRULY amazing!
It has been nice to spend some alone
time. We even watched a movie last
night and took a nap yesteday in the
middle of the day! Taking advantage
of the peace and quiet.

Thanks to my mom and my brother and his
wife who are watching my boys for us,
we were able to have this little getaway!
We drove out Thursday night and have
been poured intoso much with great worship,
powerful testionies/stories and
truly anointed Biblical teaching by
Dr. Tony Evans.

There have been tears of both joy and
sorrow. The sorrow, first of all, for
Brielle Murray's family. There is no
more sorrow, pain or sadness for Brielle
as she is in heaven with Jesus Christ
right now as I type and will be forever.
Although I never met Brielle, I have
been praying for her consistently for
the past 2 1/2 years. I have cried many
times for this family and pleaded for
her healing with the Lord. This family
has a strength and grace that can only
be from God. Their love and trust in
Him through such heartache and trials
have shown how God is ALWAYS near in our
weakest moments. I look forward to
meeting Brielle in heaven one day!
Please pray for her family and I hope
we can all strive to share Jesus with
others the way Brielle did in her short
life.

I also had tears of joy listening to
an FCA Area VP tell about how he left
a CEO position in a successful company
because God directed him. He didn't
have to obey and he could have stayed
in his comfort zone and made way more
money, but he left for the sake of the
CALL! His wife spoke of how God gave
her the same verse God gave her husband
and said they were to "go to the land
that God would show them" just like
God told Abraham. God spoke, they
obeyed, & God will use them in mighty
ways because they are living out His
will for their lives.

My cup is full this weekend- hearing
all about how God is moving through
student-athletes throughout this
country. I am beyond excited that
FCA is starting a sport specific
ministry for Softball! REACHING
the SOFTBALL WORLD for CHRIST! I
would love for you to contact me
if you have a heart for softball
and Jesus! I would love to share
more with you. Eternal investments
are being made when we partner with
FCA!

I also have pages of notes from Dr.
Tony Evans. He spoke 3 times and
after listening to him, I could listen
to him 100 more times! The Bible
knowledge and application is so
powerful in how he shares it. God
is moving! I will share from my
notes soon.

We also had Melinda Doolittle sing
last night. She was on one of the
only American Idol seasons that I
watched. She loves Jesus so much!
I'll share the picture with her
on here when I download it.

This is such a reminder that we
need to meet with other believers
to be encouraged, uplifted, & reminded
of the call to go and share!

God is good, even though we don't
understand the hard stuff. He has
a plan and we have VICTORY that will
last for eternity. Until then, we
need to live for God, love others
with His love and impact the world
for Jesus Christ!

JFSC Michigan

What a coaching staff (missing Jennie's
dad, Doug, who teaches pitching)

Toni Mascarenas, me, Jennie Finch,
Mackenzie Vandergeest and Caitlin
Lever (Monroe, MI staff): we missed
you Andrea Duran and we always
miss you Laura Berg!

Olympians, All-Americans, National
Champions: we learned from the best,
played with the best and now are
trying to pass along the best
instruction for the future of softball!

More pictures coming soon!

OPA

Last week I spoke at Oxford Prep
Academy in Chino. I shared with
these students about my Olympic
experiences and what it takes
to make it to that level. Key
points:

Word HARD in school

Have a positive attitude
and a good work ethic in
everything you do

Hard works pays off

Find out what your enjoy and
what your talents are: anything
is possible!

FCA Banquet: Rio Grande Valley

Last week I spoke at an FCA Banquet
in McAllen, Texas. They had a great
crowd and everybody was so friendly!

Before the banquet started, we did
a live shot interview for the 6 o'clock
news.

We had dinner and they honored High
School athletes who excel academically,
athletically and spiritually.


This is the FCA Staff that works in the
schools in the Rio Grande Valley. On
the far right is Barney Sarver, who
brought me out to McAllen.

Female Athlete of the Year, Jane.
When she won the award, she spoke from
her heart and you could see the joy of
the Lord in her! She loves Jesus and
I know God will use her in big ways in
college!

Male Athlete of the Year, Juan, and
his family. So great to see High
School athletes get the BIG picture!

Well known Coach for Baseball in the
area! He even has a bat for a cane-
I love it!

Future stars :)


Earlier in the day I spoke at Sharyland
High School to 250 female athletes.



We had to get a picture with the softball
team.

It was another great trip. I love Fellowship
of Christian Athletes! They are changing lives
of young student-athletes because they are true
servants.

Happy Heart Day

I hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day
yesterday! Ours was busy but it was
nice to be home with the family. Drew
and Luke had Valentine parties at
school and we had lunch at Red Robin
afterward with the whole family plus
Nana and Grandma. It was our last
day with Nana because she flew home
to Boston last night. We sure are
going to miss her!

She left us a lot of these:

And we went out for treats a lot
while she was here!

We love our family. The boys loved having
both their Grandma and Nana here all the
time!

I have been so busy, but we did spend
some time last week making some
Valentine crafts.





I have boys and boys aren't into crafts
as much as girls, but they did enjoy
using glue and paper to make these
cute hearts.

Happy Day after Valentine's Day!

How to be Happy

This was the title of our message at
church last night. We had a local
pastor, John Miller, speak because our
pastor is out of town. The verses we
went over were John 13:1-17. It
was the story about when Jesus washed
the feet of his disciples.

The three things he pointed out from
those verses were:

Humility

Holiness

Helpfulness

If we do these three things, the
Bible tells us that Jesus said,
"Now that you know these things,
you will be blessed (some versions
say "happy") if you DO them." v.17

Those things Jesus did and talked
about were:
1. Putting Himself in a role of
servant and acting it out
2. Telling Peter that He was
"clean" : spiritually holy
3. Told the disciples to wash
one another's feet. (Now this was
the custom of that day. Jesus
isn't telling us to wash someone's
feet, but to serve in ways to
show love and kindness to them.)

Here are a couple statements John
made that I really agree with:

"Sin leads to sorrow,
Holiness leads to happiness."

"We can be too big for God,
but we can never be too small for God."
D.L. Moody

Jesus will be Lord: either to salvation
or to condemnation.

Humility is simply not thinking of
yourself.

We are saved to serve (to glorify God
first, but then to serve).

The goal of Bible study is not just
for increased intellect, it is
TRANSFORMED CHARACTER.

We need to KNOW and DO:
Knowing is the easy part,
Doing is the hard part.

So just remember:

Happy is he/she who is:

HUMBLE, HOLY, and HELPFUL!

Shine

Let the Lord SHINE His love and truth
upon you and you will SHINE for the
Lord!



Numbers 6:24-26:
"The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine upon
you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace."

Matthew 5:16
". . let your light shine before men,
that they may see your good deeds and
praise your Father in heaven."

Lukey singing "The Way"

My boys and I sing at the top of our voices
(with windows up to save everyone's ears) in
my car. The CD we can't get enough of is
Jeremy Camp: We Cry Out. Two of our favorites
that we play over and over are:
1. Not Ashamed
2. The Way

Sometimes out of nowhere Luke will just start
singing part of the songs. I just had to
get it on video!

Patience

I always considered myself a patient
person.

Then I realized I am patient in many
areas

and NOT PATIENT AT ALL in other areas.

God used these boys to show me how much
I need Him to help me with patience!

I'm still learning :)