Back to the Basics....

Hey y'all,
Where I work, we are not supposed to say that we are busy, we are supposed to say that we are really popular. It has to do with not letting the patients know that we are super busy and they are not our top priority.... so this is my response to you. I have been really popular and have had no time to blog. No worries though... I am back in action.

I have been dealing with the idea of God being a refining fire recently. When I was in youth in 6th grade, we would sing this song talking about how our God was a refining fire and that it is how God is shaping us to be His children. We must go through this process in order to come out new, shiny, and ready to be used by God. I guess either I was too busy playing games with my friends or talking about boys during the sermon to hear the part about how this process is not a pleasant one.... that in fact it is a painful process that reveals some stuff that you have locked up deep deep deep in the spots of my mind and heart that I don't ever want to go.

As I was reading in the bible I came across this verse and decided that as God is ripping off the bandaid that is my life right now. I am going to claim this verse. Psalms 86:11

"Teach me your way, O Lord

and I will walk in your truth;

give me an undivided heart,

that I may fear your name. "

Just a little update on where I am.

Love ya,

Kris

Little Wisdom

Hey y'all,
Here is a little Oswald Chambers via Suzanne Wiley.... Wisdom for this season of life.

"Once you have the right relationship with God through salvation and sanctification, remember whatever your circumstances may be, you have been placed there by God. And God uses the reaction of your life to your circumstances to fulfill HIS purpose, as long as you continue to "walk in the light as He is in the light" 1 John 1:7"

Hope y'all are having a good week so far.

Joy,
Kris

Bring it on...

Hey y'all,

I started my online seminary courses this week. And I must say... I am liking it. Let me give you a little background....

Cue flashback music: I like to argue with people. I love a good healthy debate where no feelings get hurt, but opinions and views are expressed. Well, I am not sure if all seminary classes are like this, but I happened to sit through a year of people arguing with each other and if they would have stopped to listen to each other speak, they would have realized that they were always arguing the same point. I know what you are thinking... bitter much? :-) Listen now some people like this, but at 8:00am it is not my favorite thing to be doing.

Back to Present: Online classes you still discuss things and you are required to comment on other people's post, but if you realize they are just agreeing or commenting for the sake of commenting, I can push this wonderful little arrow button that moves me to the next post. Bliss :-) Also my facial expression tend to get me in trouble and in this situation no one can see.





I wanted to show you my new back to school outfit:

Joy,
Kris

Eat, Pray...Find Jesus

Hey Y'all,
I just went to the movies with my mom, sister, and mema. We went to see Eat, Pray, Love. I wanted to see it really bad because I read the book and actually enjoyed it. I am a person who likes movies that others don't like, my favorite movie is American President. I kid around saying that if a man can sing to "Groovy Kind of Love" by Phil Collins and sit through the American President without falling asleep, he will be the one for me. And if you are wondering, I have yet to find him, :-)

This movie was a little long and might I say to me a little silly. I am all about finding yourself by traveling and adventure. If you know me... I am what my mother describes as the "Free Spirited" one. After watching this movie the only thing I could think of is why in the world does she need to travel and complain, and be gloomy gus to find herself. My mom said it best... The movie would have been over in 30mins, if she would have just found what she really needs which is Jesus.

So, please go and enjoy the movie. Be entertained. Stare at the cuteness that is James Franco, but please do not believe that the methods that the character in this movie goes through. Get yourself some coffee, get a large print bible and find yourself in the one who created you.

Joy,
Kris

Green with Envy

Hey Y'all,

I am suffering from a severe case of Ministry Envy. This is probably not what you are thinking. If you walk into any meeting or seminary, a person is sure to hear people talking about the numbers of people they have, how many people they baptized this year. How the giving went up 5%. After this comparing of numbers and programs, you will witness what I call Ministry Jealousy. It is when one minister has been defeated by the other one when it comes to numbers and programs. I have seen the best ministers fail in this battle of Christians. You laugh now, but nothing is more important to a minister's ego than the ability to look good to their fellow ministers.

Don't get me wrong, when it comes down to it.... the only thing that matters are the people and bringing Glory to God, but we also like to feel good about ourselves. My Ministry Envy is different. I simply just want to be a part of a ministry. I naturally every Wednesday gear myself up to go to church. It was my routine for so long that now I just sit around and wonder about how much I am not doing. So, I am simply jealous of everyone who gets to do ministry right now. I know my time is coming, I just need to rest on the fact that it is HIS timing and not my own.

Okay, enough with my gloomy gus day... I need some lipstick.

Joy,

Kris

Ain't no sunshine

Hey Y'all,

No lie... I am not ready to be a mom. The only thing that I know how to juggle is how to hold my Starbucks, turn on my radio, and drive or my social schedule. Not that I can't multi-task, it is just that I have never had too. My parents took a trip to celebrate their 25th Anniversary. Woo Hoo. I was the personal driver, cook (although that was just putting stuff in the oven), guardian and all-around parent for the week.

My brother and sister are able to take care of themselves, but they are use to having my mom and dad to do different things for them. So, my days consisted of waiting for them to do things or needing me to do something for them.

I would like to dedicate this song to my parents.... One of my favorite songs.



Not that we can't make it without my Parents around, but we honestly don't want to have to do it. :-)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIdIqbv7SPo

Joy,
Kris

Not for the weak...

Hey y'all,

Being unemployed is not for the weak. I was thinking about this last night when I was going to sleep. How do people who are not Christians make it through unemployment. I struggle with feeling worthless, unwanted, and sad and I have a loving Savior who I turn to regularly to get me through the day. It then lead me to think about other things that would be completely different and hopeless if I didn't have the Love of God.

I just wanted to say how Thankful I am that I am not facing this by myself. I have the Lord to supply what I need through giving me parents that allow me to live in their house and take care of me and my dog. Also, I TRULY believe that the Lord has called me to do His work and that I am going to be doing His work no matter where I am.

Since I am at home.... Here are some pictures from the past month.

Kris

Negative Much?

Hey Y'all,
Last night, I spent time with one of my good friends from high school. She is one of those girls who just gushes happiness and positivity. I really don't know many people who don't like her. We used to spend lots of time together in the summers and one time when I was younger she asked me why I had to be so negative. That sometimes my negativity is hard to handle. At first I am sure that it made me mad, but as I look at it, I realize that it is the true.

We live in a culture that is naturally negative. There is probably a reason that my brother calls me "Negative Nancy". Although it is something that I struggle with everyday, I now know that my attitude about things makes all the difference. I don't believe in sugar coating things or making things seem fake, but not picking out the negative in everything is an important part of who we are and as women we should be careful.

So.... I was at my favorite LOCAL store a couple of days picking up a few things and I saw a shirt that made me think of the above situation. It said.... "YOUR AS FAKE AS YOUR TAN IS". All I could think was why do we as women do things that put other women down. There are plenty of things EVERYWHERE that put us down, why in the world would we take an active part in it.

Challenge: Be uplifting to everyone we see, even if it is a smile. Lets start making people feel good about who they are and show God's love to everyone.

Joy,
Kris

A flair for the dramatic....

Hey Y'all,
I was on facebook today and saw this video that me and the youth group from Lee's Summit saw at Falls Creek this summer. I remember seeing it for the first time and holding my breath. It was the most quiet I heard the camp be the whole week. The message of the fall of man, put into terms that the students not only understood, but it completely captured their attention.

I am a big believer in using all forms of media to reach young people. That is what they relate to the most. We are trying to reach the generation that can watch shows, listen to music, go to movies that not only are super dramatic, but when they are not totally fully entertained the effort that we put into things gets overlooked and called boring. I have a professor in seminary that takes the story of the bible and argues that it is the greatest, most dramatic, heart-wrenching, break-up story ever told.

More than Pride and Prejudice, American President (my personal favorite), Titanic, Bridges over Madison County.... The bible, which is really our story is about how we Broke our Savior's Heart and we spend the rest of our time on earth trying to get back together with him. Yes, as much as we love drama and we do LOVE IT, we are involved in the most dramatic story of all. Taking the time to involve ourselves in this and seeing our life as this love story that is sad but joyful, dramatic but exciting, and most of all we have a Savior that yearns for our love and that provides his love unconditionally.

Please don't hear me saying that God is like a teenage girl that gets broken up by her high school boyfriend, He desire our love because he made us for himself. We can't explain or even understand it, but we reject it all the time.

Watch this video and just listen to the words and think about how we are involved in the most dramatic story ever.

http://vimeo.com/11555977

Joy,

Kris

ROOMMATES.....

Hey Y'all

ROOMMATES

The time has come for one of my favorite things in the Whole Entire World.... I am getting ready to go to Dallas to hang out with my two roommates in College. These ladies are my favorite thing about College.

Tori, Me and Brittney in OKC in October, eating cupcakes and drinking coffee

Tori, Brittney, and Me in Chicago at the Elbo Room watching some live music

Here we are again in Chicago

I can't wait until we get together. I know we will have fun and can't wait to share some pictures and stories.

Joy,

Kris

You are what you say...

Hey Y'all,
I am back in my hometown of Bentonville. I have always loved being from here. It was an awesome place to go up. One thing that I love about my hometown is my home church. It is a place that you instantly feel good when you walk through the door. The youth were leading worship this Sunday and we were singing the song "Blessed Be Your Name". I have always loved this song. As we were singing the song the part came up that says....

"You Give and Take Away
You Give and Take Away
My Heart will Choose to Say
Lord Blessed Be Your Name"

As the congregation was singing this, I begin to think about what I have been going through and if this is something that I want to sing or if it is something that I can sing. The bible talks about how God hates for us to sing or say something that we don't actually believe or are willing to follow. I wondered if we as a society really do Praise the Lord when he takes something away from us. I know that I struggle with the concept of Praising Him for something that I want.

I know that usually we are better for the fact that we don't get what we want because God has something better for us. My challenge for us and especially for myself is to actually do what we say... to Praise God when He gives us what we want and especially when He takes something away.

Joy,
Kris

An update....

Hey Y'all,

I was trying to update my blog during my long wait for eclipse to start playing...Side note: It was totally worth it. Best one so far the the series. So since I haven't written anything about what is happening in a long time, due to the fact that I have be gone for most of the month of June.

On Saturday, I pack up all my stuff again to move back to Bentonville. I have served my year here and am leaving Lee's Summit. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't excited to see what is going to happen in my future, but I have a VERY SPECIAL Place in my heart for the people here. I really has been a story of how the Lord supplies everything that we need to survive and how our timing is not God's timing. I was telling Renee (my wonderful roommate) that if you had told me in October that I would miss living here, I would have laughed. I love my church family, who have served like a real family on many occasions, they have accepted me into their very little, close-knit family.

Renee: Thank you so much for who you are... for being able to push me to do things that I would not have tried. For being patient with me even when things were not going the way that I wanted. For inviting me to everything and understanding that I just like to have people around me. You are the best Forced friend that I have ever had and I know that you will be a big help to everyone that you will meet.

Marc, Ryan, Aaron, and Brandan: Thank you for putting up with me and for listening to me ranting about different things that I didn't like. I know that I am different than anyone you would choose to hangout with. Thanks for letting me watch you play many different sports and for encouraging me when I actually play. I cannot wait to see y'all in some kind of ministry one day and I really am serious about the mega company that we should start.

Interns: We have been through something that few would even understand. (I am not sure if anyone would even like too). Thank you for partnering with me to do God's work. We have had our differences, but when it comes to talent, the 5 of you are amazing and I am so thankful that you accepted the challenge of doing ministry. I love each of you in a different way and I look forward to hanging out in the future.

Jeff and Lesli: Thank you for inviting me into your home and for allowing me to work with the ministry that God has given you. Jeff, you have provided me with many different learning experiences and have taught me to work with different people. To pick and choose your battles and to sometimes just suck it up and deal with people. Probably the best thing that I have learned from y'all as a couple is the importance of doing ministry together. That you can actually have a ministry that is enhanced by a good relationship between a husband and wife.

FBCLS: Thank you for welcoming me with open arms. For allowing the interns to do our job and for backing us up when it got difficult. For feeding us and for allowing us to lurk around the church doing crazy things.

Okay: I am going to post some pictures of our various trips. Enjoy and I will write again.

Joy,

Kris

Hey Y'all,

I have this theory.... it involves my two favorite shows Dawson's Creek and Saved by the Bell. My first love has always been Saved by the Bell. There is something about how Zach endlessly chases Kelly and finally ends up marrying her. I can sing the theme song backwards and even perform the dance moves that Kelly, Jesse, and Lisa do in my favorite episode. I Love this show. Slater was my favorite guy, it was probably because he liked the smart girl, Jesse.

My second favorite show is Dawson's Creek, I never watched it when it was on, but when I went to college I had a break between 9-11 and guess what would come on.... Dawson's Creek. I really don't know why I continue to love this show. It probably has something to do with loving the teenage drama that I didn't have to experience when I was a teenager myself.

My theory is this you can answer all questions in life by watching Saved by the Bell or Dawson's Creek episode. You like someone without them knowing: you have choice between between Joey and Dawson or Screech and Lisa. Teen pregnancy, Drug problems, Broken heart, bad parent relationships... you name it and you can find the answer in these two shows. I absolutely love these shows. So, go and relax now that school is out or parties are over. Watch something that is funny requires no thinking and purely entertains you.

Joy,
Kris

Brooke-Week

Hey Y'all,

It is officially Brooke Week in the Helsley Home. My amazing, awesome, beautiful, compassionate, kind, sweet, sassy, wonderful, and most importantly Godly sister is graduating from High school. I will be going home for 5 days to celebrate this huge accomplishment for my sister. Without getting too mushy or sad, I just wanted to write about how much my sister graduating is really a testament to our faithful the Lord is and how much He Loves and cares for His Children. My sister and I are almost as opposite as one can get from someone. She truly holds all the characteristics that I don't and she carries them out beautifully. I hold pride in my family because if you know the Helsley's we are quite the family, meaning we have the best time with each other. There is nothing I love better than sitting in my grandparents house and talking, eating ice cream.

My mom has said it many times and the older I get the more I agree, Brooke is the one who indeeds holds us together. My sister loves hard. She takes things to heart and challenges me to love people that way. So Thank You Brooke for being my sister, for showing me how to love others, to work hard at something that doesn't come naturally to me, to focus on the positive when everything seems bad, to consider others before myself and how not to fear what is ahead of me.

The Lord knows exactly how to put families together and without my sister my family would not be as Awesome as we are. Congrats to my Sister and all of her friends. I look forward to seeing her next move and viewing how she is going to impact the World for the Lord next.
Joy,
Kris

Baby Names from a Single Gal

Hey Y'all,
I am taking a much needed paper writing break to answer Mrs. Kelly Stamps Friday Blog... For as long as I can remember I have been talking about baby names with people. My roommate in College has a GIANT list of names and I often use baby names for ice breaker. Nothing can get a room full of high school girls talking more than baby names.

Yes.... I know that I am not married and that my husband will probably want some say in it, but my list is about what I want as of now. I will compromise, Promise.

My favorite name for a boy is Asa... in my family you must have a name that can be shortened or made into a nickname. It is how my family shows affection. It is one of my favorite things that we do and I love to be called by mine. Asa is also a great king in the Old Testament and I like names that sounds very and strong for a boy.

My second name that I like for a boy is Bo/Beau... because when my dad was picking out my brother Jacob's name he was really close to picking this name. I know it is one of my Daddy's favorites. Also, if you go with the Bo option it can be short for Boaz, which is from my favorite story in the bible. Boaz plays such a beautiful role in the life of Ruth and also serves as a simple of how Jesus loves and cares for us.

My Girl name is a bit of a controversy in my family. I love the name Cornelia, but my mother absolutely can't stand it. If you bring it up, she just says that she will call her Grace. So... my other choices are Bernadette, Hannah, Constance, Millicent, Lydia, Mae. I love older elegant names.

Middle names I will try to find family names. I would love to name a little girl Helsley Kate or Lyn, because I love being a Helsley and because I am a good Southern girl, I will give up my name to take my husbands, I guess :-). It might be too rough though, so we would have to think about it.

Obviously, the little girl's name is a little harder for me, but how cute would a little Asian girl be with a old fashion beautiful name?

Joy,
Kris

God's Self Worth

Hey Y'all,

Working with girls for a while, there are a lot of things that I see that they struggle with. Luckily, I being a girl myself can always relate. The thing that I notice that all people really struggle with is the idea of Self Worth. I am doing the study Search for Significance with Miss Hayleigh Mack, one of the girls that I mentor. I have probably done this study more than 4 times. I find that it not only lays down Biblical Truth, but common sense about how we should feel about our self.

As I was going over it with Hayleigh, I started to realize something that I have never thought about before. My Self Worth if not found in God, which if I am truthful and if most people were truthful, it is not. Well then our Self Worth is never going to be what it needs to be. Because we seek it from something that is not perfect. So.... to receive true, pure, whole Self Worth we need to seek it from the one who is perfect and can provide perfect Self Worth.

This a part of a Shane and Shane song from their Pages CD... I think that it shows the lie that we believe on a daily basis.

Oh the devil’s singing over me
An age old song
That I am cursed and gone astray
Singing the first verse so conveniently
He’s forgotten the refrain
Jesus saves!

My Challenge to you is to find your Self Worth in the Lord and seek His Wisdom and Knowledge. Also please remember that the Lord loves you despite what we do and that you are valuable to him.

Joy,
Kris

Women of Faith

Hello Y'all,
So being in Seminary has really changed me.... My favorite thing that has happened is that I am able to look at worshipping the Lord in a completely different way. One of the other things that I have liked about going to Seminary is the ability to look at my life and recognize the strong women that have influenced me.

When I started at FBCLS, my boss was all about pushing the leaders to mentor students and at first I was like... Mentor I have no idea what that even looks like. I read the book Be-with Factor about mentoring and how it is an important part of ministry. I began to realize that I have been mentored my whole life by incredible women. Let me just say that there have been two very different women that have been in my life since the beginning. My Mom and Mema are two different women with two vastly different personalities but when it comes to examples umm... I just pray that I can influence someone as much as they have me.

A few other women that have had a huge impact on how I view a Godly women are: Ms. Martha who not only understood the importance of ministry, but showing me how a women could be used by God as a women. Mandy, my youth ministry wife that really just spent time with me and invested in my life and still to this day things she told me during Saved by the Bell episodes stick with me.

One thing my mom has taught me is to surround yourself with women who build you up and support you. My mother has an awesome group of friends that have all live differently and have showed me different aspects of being a wife and a mother. So... to Mrs. Goss, Byrum, Painter, Lyles, Knipple and many others Thank you for teaching me how to live a life that is of God and what He desires for our life. (Yes, like a good southern girl I still call them by their last name).

Last, Mrs. Suzanne Wiley who has served here in Lee's Summit as my friend and mentor. She has seen me in some scary situations and talked with me until very late at night about everything. My prayer for my future is that I am able to be an influence for Christ the way that these women have for me. Praise the Lord that He gives us people in our lives to help and love on us!


Joy,

Kris

Goin' to Church

There are few things that I like more than going to church... I am not sure what it is about church that I love so much? One thing that my WHOLE family loves is church music. My family is obsessed with good choir music. In the Helsley home, there is nothing we like more than listening to a CD by my home church and driving down the road. (especially if a dip cone is involved). We as a family, just love us a good worship song.

An example of this involves my dad. Some background on him: He has zero music talent/ability. This is something that he would tell anyone, he just can't sing/ dance/ clap on beat/ nothing. Don't worry he has many other talents that are awesome. We were driving back from Branson one day and true to form in my family my mom, sister, and brother fell asleep in the car.

Another little point of background: When my dad drives with my whole family in the car, he is crazy happy. I used to think it was weird that he loved it so much, but now that I am older, I find that it is something I love. It is probably when I feel the safest and I tell my youth girls that I know that for me to marry someone I have to be as comfortable in the car as I am with my Daddy when he drives.

Back to the story... I finally fall asleep and I always sit behind the driver in the back, so when I woke up my dad didn't know that I was awake. I realized that my dad was singing a worship song from the CD that we had been listening too. It was so precious to me to hear my daddy sing a worship song in the car while he was driving and it made me think that you don't have to be a awesome singer or a crazy good musician to Praise the Lord.

Take sometime to listen to a song that not only encourages you but lifts up our Savior.

Joy,
Kris

Douglas

As Promised

-Kris

Early Morning Debate

A couple of mornings ago I woke up early because my Mema and Pops were coming into town and HAD to clean my room. Do you ever have those mornings were it feels like Satan has been waiting for you to wake up just to start planting ideas and lies in your head?

So here I am needing to get up and prepare my apartment for my grandparents and I am thinking of all kinds of thoughts that I know are going to affect my moods and just in general how I am going to be that day. As I lie in bed, so starts the debate....

I won't get into the whole thing about the things that were popping into my head, but they generally consist of the fact that I am not good enough to do a certain thing or receive a certain thing. Come to think of it Satan probably doesn't have to put these lies in my head because of how long I have believed the lies. I was talking about this with one of my girls at church. We have believed what Satan has told us for so long that we don't have to wait for him to show up, we can take care of the character bashing ourselves.

I went back to sleep praying that the Lord would somehow defeat what thoughts that were in my head....So once I finally had to get out of bed, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace, that MY God came and not only won the debate, but was comforting me after the fight was over. Praise the Lord that we not only serve a loving father, but a great debator who goes into battle for His children and wins.

-Kris

Hosea 6:3

Hey Y'all,

I thought that since I read so many different blogs, I would try one on my own. Part of this is because my poor mother has to give reports of my status and although we all know that there is nothing she likes more than talking about her oldest child, I wanted to be able to fill you in for myself. Also I wanted you to be able to share with me what the Lord is doing in your life and to share how great our God is together.

My Blog title comes from probably my favorite passage in the bible. Hosea is a book that gets over looked a lot because: its in the Old Testament, it is about a man who is told to marry a "lady of the night" (that is what my Mema calls them) and because unless you have read "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers you probably have never given it a lot of thought. I never did until I heard a Shane and Shane song about it a couple of years ago.

Tucked away in Chapter 6:1-3, God is talking about His Love for Israel, His Beloved and how He had to discipline the people, but in the end He promises to restore her. Verse 3... says to "Press on to acknowledge Him. The Message Translation says... "Be Eager for God-knowledge. That is my prayer for everyone. That they become eager for God-knowledge. That we seek to find the knowledge that He wants us to know and that we don't get caught up in the politics of being a Christian. That our true source of everything is the one who can provide everything. That is my challenge for us all...seek after God-knowledge.

Also please don't tell anyone in seminary that I used the Message Translation, they actually might kick me out. :-) They also won't all be this heavy... the next post will have a picture of my mom's favorite granddog, Douglas.

Joy,
Kristin