The term healthy is used to describe many things these days. Healthy eating, healthy body, healthy relationships, Healthy this, and healthy that. So in my quest to be more....ummm well...healthy, I have made some small changes to my daily life. I gave up drinking pop, I am eating foods that are healthier for me and I started to work out. This change did not come from me making a new years resolution, I don't do new years resolutions. But this came from many years of me asking God to give me more self discipline in my life. The eating habits and working out habits are not the only area of my life that needed a make over. See my insides needed a make over too. I knew that I needed to do a better job of managing my time, managing my walk with Christ, managing our money. See I have found when I am lacking self discipline in one area of my life... there is usually several that need a pick me up.

So through the course of the last 2 weeks I have learned a lot about myself, my ministry and God. It took a small thing like giving up coke to bring some other pretty major changes in my life. I know I am only 2 weeks in and anything can happen. But I am praying that each day I realize the potential of the day when I practice living within my means, walking with the Lord, and eating what is good for me. I feel better, I interact better with those around me and I know I am doing my best.

Long story short- 2 weeks in I have lost 9 pounds, but I have gained so much more!  ( and I am not talking about weight! :) )

The news feed is constant about the devastation  in Haiti this week. This country has been hit with yet another catastrophic event. Yesterday all day I prayed for those I know who are over there not knowing if they were safe or okay. The word came in the night that yes indeed those 4 men of God who have such a heart for missions are safe and are trying to get home. I was so thankful for their safety and their families who had been anxiously awaiting to hear from them. And yet, their are still thousands of people over there, who are in need. I pray now for the recovery and rebuilding process. That those who don't know Jesus will find him in the midst of rubble and despair.

I also pray that we will remember all of those in need around us. I am guessing that right here in most of our backyards are people who are desperately needing some Hope. Some of them are without jobs, without food, without healthy relationships. Some without a knowledge of who Jesus is.

This is not an either or situation. We as Christians have a mission. We are to pray, help and preach the Gospel to all the world. Our hearts should break for those in Haiti, and if you can help them by sending funds to help with the relief efforts, you should. If you can go and help an organization helping the people there, then you should. And we should all pray for them. And we should also look beyond our own four walls and help those who are right in front of us hurting, seeking, searching, and wishing for some peace and Hope in their lives. Be the hands and feet of Jesus today to people in your community, your nation and your world!

We not only are starting a new year but a new decade. This year will be a huge year for us and our family. By the end of this year, our oldest will go to High School, and our youngest will turn 10. This time last year Jason lost his job. Last year was a year  we would not have scripted for ourselves but we learned so much about ourselves and about God. This year will be a new year for us and a lot of changes.

Last night I walked into this huge High School to find out all about what the process was to enroll my sweet innocent 14 year old girl. It was worse than taking her to kindergarten. I cried. I realized that we have 4 short years of her being a child. In 4 years she will be an adult, making her own choices. The choices she makes over the next 4 years will effect her the rest of her life. But she is a smart girl and I am so thankful for who she is and her desire to serve God.

This year we launched SENT 2010 at our church. We encouraged every member to move beyond themselves and reach out to their community, our nation and our world. You see just like Isaiah, God is asking whom can I send? Send me. Isaiah 6:1-8. I have personally in the last few days have learned so much about God and who He is. You see God calling me to be a Pastor is a miracle all by itself. God never gave up on me. He constantly encouraged, pursed and called me to be His. His grace that He extends to me is breathtaking. I understand a little more about the compassion of God. I have a new sense of passion and desire to serve Him better, to do all that He has called me to do. I don't want to be like Jonah who was called and ran. I want to embrace the people that God puts before me with authentic love and mercy and grace. Because everyday He embraces me. I may be the pastor but i am just another woman on a journey with an amazing Heavenly Father. I just like you need God's grace. I just like you need clear direction for the each step I take and I just like you need people in my life who give me godly, wise council. 

Being all that God called me to be in 2010 will I am sure hold many victories, failures and uncharted territories. I know that this year, I will preach my first message. I will start a new chapter of being a mom. I will grow closer to my husband of almost 15 years and I will grow in my knowledge of who God is. You see tonight, I have a new sense of who God is. He is mine and I am His, and even though that is not the newness of my relationship with Him. He never ceases to amazing me. His presence has been made known to me in a whole new way. He is faithful.

I pray that all of you will have an amazing 2010. That you will think beyond your 4 walls and take the gospel to those all around you.

Today is my first day off in quite sometime. I am so excited. I am going to clean my house, cook my family dinner, get my nails done and maybe start my Christmas shopping. Which I never do this early.
Yesterday was dedication Sunday at church and it was amazing. I am so excited to be part of BreakPointe. I would have never guessed that God would plant me here for this time. I am blessed to be part of a great church. I can't wait to see where God is going to take us.
Thankful today for a day off, great family, and a great church!

Tonight the kids planned a movie night with their friends. They had invited some from the youth group- but only a couple could come. So they invited friends from school. We went to see Christmas Carol. The movie was amazing. But what was more amazing was spending time with the kids and watching them laugh and interact with each other. Jason and I laughed so hard at them. I am blessed. The boys were being silly in the parking lot of DQ and play fighting with each other, and a cop saw them and stop to make sure everything was ok. I think it scared them. But all of Brooklyn's friends- and Jason and I- laughed. It was so funny. I am sure something we will all remember. I love my boys.

So tonight, was just one of those nights- where we focused on us as a family. It was great. I hope my kids know how much they mean to us. I hope that they understand how important they are. They are great kids. We love them.

I hope our next family fun night brings more laughs and more memories. It was great fun!

Lately, I have been thinking about how cool it would be to go to Israel and walk in Jesus' steps. To walk in the very places Jesus walked with his disciples. I am not much for world traveling- like I have never left the US so the thought of going that far away from home is a bit overwhelming. But none the less that is where my thought have been.
In the midst of these thoughts, I have been looking for those God moments in my life that are unexpected times when God shows up and reveals himself to us. I had one a while back on plane heading to Chicago. Maybe I blogged about it, I don't remember. But we will review anyway... So I get in the plane it is raining and as we take off and get higher and higher. The next thing I notice is that we are through the clouds and I am looking at a blanket of clouds below me and I am looking at Sun. And tears started streaming down my face. And the words to How Great is Our God came to my mind " the splendor of the King, robed in majesty..." See it was raining below me but here I was seeing that the Sun was still shining. God meet me on the plane in that moment. It was amazing.
Yesterday, I was headed to a meeting and for some reason I was thinking about going to Israel -which had nothing to do with my meeting- and again God revealed himself to me. As I took each step toward the door of that building, God was saying to me, "Gina, this might not be the actual steps that my son took, but none the less you are right now walking in my steps. You are walking in the steps of Jesus." I was overwhelmed. My eyes began to tear up and I was humbled before the Lord. Sometimes we forget that each day we are walking examples of Christ. Called to be Christ like in all we do. To show others Christ by our actions.
We or I have far too often put God in a box and not looked for those unexpected God moments. Now, I not only look for them but I crave them. I desire them. I want the unexpected God moments to  move  me to a place where I can truly worship my King! Where I can become the Woman he called me to be. He has confirmed and been faithful to me, now I give him me- wholly completly to be used for His k

I had this realization in the last couple of weeks. My family life looks different than it used to look and what I imagined it looking like. We rarely have meals where we all sit down together and eat. We rarely have the same schedule two nights in a row, and we are moving in more directions than I can count most of the time. Maybe you can relate? We have a plan in our head only to find out that more times that not, that isn't what is really taken place.
When I begin this journey as Gina Colburn, instead of Gina Swank. I was going to be a wife and a mom. I would have wonderful home cooked meals, clean laundry , and a clean house. I would have time to be the room parent for all of my children, the soccer mom, and the wife that was always ready for whatever my husband needed. This image of what I thought and what actually took place were very different. I adjusted and loved the life I had. We ate dinner together most evenings, we had a clean house maybe once a month, the kids went to bed at 8:00 every evening and Jason and I had time to watch our favorite shows. We adjusted.
Now it is time for adjustment again. Life is not like that anymore. The season of life we are in is full. Not busy- a good friend of mine pointed out busy is Satan's word and I should not use it...so life is full right now. We rarely have a homemade meal together, we never watch our favorite shows, and we run and we run until we collapse in our bed at night. This is not healthy. So I had been praying that God would show me something  I could do that would help us in this season of our lives. We are in the verge of having 2 teenagers, one who wants to get her permit and drive-yikes! The other, is just trying to figure out what it means to be a young man in today's world.
So, Yesterday, I did some soul searching and found that this season won't look like any other season of our lives. It will be full of great things that we will  only go through once with our kids. Bed time will probably get later and later, meals will be quick and on the go but we can still have the family I always dreamed of having.
You see my expectations and God's are vastly different. He doesn't require me to have a home cooked meal every night for my family. He does require me to nourish my family both physically and spiritually. He doesn't require my house be spotless, but that I am spotless before Him and I teach my kids what it means to be clean before Him. Life is Full, it is full of blessings, full of love, full of trials, full of life. But our Life is also full of GOD! We aren't a perfect family, we are just a family on an amazing journey with God. He hasn't let us down one time in the last 14 and  half years. I don't think he will now during this new season of our life.
it may look different for awhile, but on the other side we will see the wonderful memories, the lessons we learned and how amazing God was through it.
So, tonight I savor our evening at home, with homemade chicken noodle soup, leaves falling off the trees and my family all together around our dining room table. This is living the life God called me to live, for the right now!

Yesterday, I am innocently working in the kitchen. Minding my own business, preparing a meal for company. When my son, Jordan came to the Kitchen to get a drink. My husband says to me" Umm... Gina, I think Jordan is taller than you." I told him NO! He wasn't. Only Brooklyn was taller. Jason said " Stand back to back" I said " ok, but just so you know, he is not taller than me." Mean while, Jordan is laughing and talking smack to his "short" mom. We stand back to back... and the verdict is... Jordan is taller than me! How did this happen???? I now have two children who are taller than me! That is not suppose to happen! ok- well it is but already????? Time moves to quickly. Our babies grow up and the become men and women. We don't get to make all of their decisions anymore and we don't get to kiss away their hurts. I wish we did. I know that the next 10 years of parenting will probably be way harder than the last 10. Our kids will face things I can't imagine. Am I praying enough for them? Do they know that their mom and dad love them? Do they have the tools they need to be effective in the world today? Do they know my Jesus as their Jesus? I stand with all of you parents that are in the midst of raising your kids. We have an incredible God given job. I know that I can't do it without him. Kiss your little ones an extra time tonight. Hold them a little longer when they want to be rocked because soon, and I mean soon... they will be taller than you!

Today has just been one of those days, where I realize I need God. I mean there is so much going on in our lives that I don't understand and Is so much bigger than me. That I know that I need God. In ever aspect of my life, I need him to give me clear direction and guidance. I have  been doing a lot of thinking about prayer. And how vital that is to everything I do. I feel called to strengthen my prayer life. To engage in the spiritual warfare that is needed to protect my family, to lead the ministry that God has called me too, and everything else that is going on in my world and the world around me. The question was ask by my pastor, "do we believe in the power of the Holy Spirit? I have been really convicted by that. Because I think in my heart many times I have doubts about this thing or that when I pray. So, I am trying to be more intentional in my prayer life. I see the need for this to be a stronger area in my life. I want my kids to know that everyday, their mom lifts them up in prayer. That everyday, I pray for their protection, their futures, their choices. I want Jason to know that no matter what we are going through, I am right here beside him, praying for him and with him. I want those that call me Pastor, to know when they tell me their needs and request that I am really praying. I want my sisters, and other family to know that no matter what I am praying for them. Prayer- do we really believe in the power of the Holy Spirit? I have been challenged. I want to see some miracles in occur in my world. * Home, * Children * Church * Nation and all around me. I know that God is Great. He can do the immeasurably more. !

Time marches on and the beginning of another new school year has begun. I have can't believe that I have 3 kids in Middle school. 8th, 7th and 6th. It just doesn't seem possible. Kailyn is the only one left in grade school. I know that kids have to grow up, and I want them too but sometimes it just seems overwhelming. The kids like their teachers - at least so far. And getting back into routine is helpful for me because I can get a little more work done when they aren't at home. Last week, I started having the 3 older ones do their own laundry. This has helped me so much. I know it is still new so they are keeping up with it. So for now, I will just be happy they are doing their laundry, and I am only doing Jason's and Kailyn's.
Jason is still job hunting, this is taking much longer than we thought it would. We know that God has a plan and in his perfect time, he will make it clear, but sometimes it is so hard to wait.
The new building at church is almost done, and I will be so glad for it to be over. Working in a construction zone everyday is not easy or fun. There is alot of work to get done before the big day. I encourage you to come on September 13th, it is our first service in the new building.