A typical Thursday night...

This is how we roll in the Shuler household!

*meet the crew*

Yo, Yo, Yo...

You may be wondering what I am teaching these girls huh?!?!  We have been studying THOROUGHLY what it looks like to love others over the last few weeks.  Have you ever thought about the fact that the law would not even be necessary or needed if we simply LOVED GOD and LOVED OTHERS?  Father clearly says over and over that those are the two greatest commandments.  If we loved others the way Father does - we would NOT committ adultery, murder, steal, covet, and the list goes on. 

It's been fun processing with these girls what it really looks like to LOVE OTHERS - all the time - no matter what.  If someone stabs you in the back - LOVE THEM.  If someone steals from you - LOVE THEM.  If someone talks about you - LOVE THEM.  If someone just gets on your nerves - LOVE THEM.  As I am praying for these girls and what I am teaching and what we are learning together - I am constantly asking Father to help us APPLY what we are learning.  It's one thing to meet together, study God's Word, and understand what Father is saying about loving others but it's a different story to actually APPLY THE WORD.  There is often times a disconnect between the two and what is the point of meeting together if we never apply what Father is teaching us?!?! 

The other night, Father gave us the perfect opportunity to change things up a bit and instead of studying some more about loving others - WE ACTUALLY GOT TO PUT IT INTO ACTION.  One of the girls in our group recently moved and she was having a hard few days and the Holy Spirit was so clear to me to take the time that night to LOVE ON HER.  When the girls arrived at the house - we ate dinner as usual but then I told them we were doing something a little different that evening.  We put our creative sides together, put on our bandanas and sunglasses and SKYPED (thank you Jesus for technology) with this precious girl by doing a little GANGSTA remix.  I'm not sure if she enjoyed it as much as we did but by the end of our "show" - we were all laughing hysterically.  We sang Lean on me, O Happy Day, In the Light, and Autumn did an original McDonald's rap (which I am still rapping BOOM BOOM BIG MAC in my head to this day). 

After an hour long skype date and a lot of laughs - I thanked Father a million times for changing up our study that night and being able to build up a Sister in Christ TOGETHER. 

Feel free to contact us anytime you need a good laugh :)

April 6 - OPENING DAY

Last Saturday was opening day for fishing in Graham County which means the creeks are stocked!  You better believe Rance and I had a date by the creek Saturday morning.  The weather was gorgeous and the fishing was a blast.  I love learning from Rance exactly how to cast, the spots to look for (b/c that's where the fish are), and how to make sure you do NOT LOSE the fish once he bites (like I did last year...still not over that). 

Got my rod - I'm ready to go!

DADDY let me catch my first big brown trout!

Boo got a rainbow trout!

He's very good at this...

Guttin my trout!

After a fun morning fishing - we spent the entire afternoon working in our yard.  I don't think I realized how large our yard is until we began picking up sticks and raking leaves and all that good stuff.  It's unbelievable the amount of leaves that were in our flower beds and yard. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our Saturday in the outdoors!

*Indiana*

Rance and I took our first road trip ever to Zionsville, Indiana (15-20 minutes outside of Indianapolis) a couple of weekends ago.  Father has been up to some crazy stuff over the last couple of months but let's face it - God is crazy!  He is God therefore He does not have to explain Himself to us - He can do whatever He wants, whenever He wants.  The question is - are you/I willing and ready to say YES - no matter the costs?! 

What I do know is I want to be a YES girl no matter what that looks like and I know Rance wants to be a YES boy no matter what that looks like also. Will it always be easy?? Nope. That is not what Jesus promises. But what greater privilege or purpose can we have on this earth except saying YES to Abba Father, Yahweh, Creator of the Universe?!  


Over the next few months, Rance and I will be assisting with a new church plant in Zionsville, Indiana.  We will be moving there over the summer to work more effectively as a team, to live life among the people there, evangelize, and invest time in those families in the church.  The goal is to train up a strong leadership team that is committed to Father's plan, the Holy Spirit's leading and who are willing to follow Him, no matter the costs.  We are excited and consider it a privilege to be a part of seeing Father in all of His glory and Jesus passionately pursuing His Bride, the church! 


More to come on this sweet adventure with Jesus!


The pictures below were taken in the church in Indiana and the AMAZING teams (both Thacker clans!) we will be working alongside. 

Meet Anna!  David & Dana's youngest daughter!

Melissa - the oldest Thacker youngin!

Some of the Thacker clan - they have moved to Indiana (from Robbinsville) until the end of August!  Yep, I told you God is CRAZY.

Dana lovin' on her husband :)

Colin - an obedient disciple-maker still making disciples at 75 years old!

Dana & David adoring one another!
Thankful to be a team with the Thacker's!

SO blessed by a new friendship and teammate - JESS!
Jess & her husband Ben (the other Thacker bunch!) live in Indiana
but will be moving to Robbinsville in May to join a ministry
(Eternal Truth Ministries) committed to disciple-making!

An amazing weekend of team bonding!

Rance, Ben & David
Fun memories with the coffee-maker on a Saturday night!

At church Sunday morning :)

love these kiddos!

Dana - my bff!
*IRON SHARPENS IRON*

Matthew 28:19-20

Continuing my thought from the post here on Matthew 28:19-20 - what is the Great Commission and why make disciples?

¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
 

Jesus modeled this perfectly for us during His life here on earth.  He poured His life, His time, and His energy into teaching and training 12 men.  Yes, Jesus performed miracles and healings while on earth but primarily He spent His time investing in 12 ordinary men (His disciples).  These men would disappoint Him, hurt Him, and even one would reject Him (Judas) yet Jesus still focused all of His energy in teaching them of His Father's plan, training them, and modeling in front of them what it looks like to love God and love others.  He labored over these men and He loved them deeply.  Jesus knew He would eventually die on the cross leaving the gospel message in the hands of these 12 (really 11) men.  Did He invest so much time in these men for them to keep quiet and never train others?  Absolutely not. 

Before Jesus ascended into heaven in Acts 1:8 - He commanded them to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, and all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.  What if these men had not been obedient to Jesus' commands?  What if they never taught others and invested in others the way Jesus invested in them?  What if they refused to be Jesus' witnesses to the ENTIRE world?  Would we have the gospel message today?  In Acts 17:6 - it says they turned the world UPSIDE down for Jesus!   That is obedience! Jesus modeled for us what it looks like to make disciples.  It goes much further than sharing the gospel.  It means teaching and training others on Father's plan - how to love God, love others, serve others, and make disciples.  Often times, the gospel is shared but then there is no training on how to live this life for the Lord?! 

In the Greek, verse 19 reads this way, "Therefore as you go, make disciples..." A lot of times I think people take this verse as GO - go to another country, go overseas, go far far away and make disciples of all nations which is why I love to point out what this verse says in the Greek. As you go, wherever you are going, wherever you are, MAKE disciples.  That means your home, your community, your church, your work place, and for some it may be other states or countries!

Why make disciples?  For me it's simple - Jesus commanded it - it's the GREAT commission.  Not only did Jesus command it but He modeled it - He did it Himself.  He is not asking us to do anything that He hasn't already done.   Investing in the lives of others will never be a waste of time - it's an eternal investment.  It's not always easy and those you invest in aren't guaranteed to become disciples or disciple-makers but it's still worth it.  It's not my job or your job to produce obedient disciples of Jesus - leave that to the Holy Spirit - it's just my job and your job to be obedient to what Jesus commanded.  I cannot imagine where I would be had someone not invested in me spiritually - teaching me and loving me enough and Father enough to show me what it looks like to live this life for Him no matter the costs.  Thank God for obedient disciple-makers!


What do you say?


I say we do what Jesus commanded & did Himself!

*Home for the SQUIRRELS*

Since school was closed Monday & Tuesday of last week because of the snow - Rance spent most of his time studying but of course venturing outside was a must which usually means a project of some sort he has on his mind to accomplish!

As I was finishing up work on Tuesday - I glanced outside and Rance is up in a tree in our backyard with a newly built home for the squirrels.  Yep, I cannot help but love my husband more every single day.  He finds delight in the smallest things and he successfully built a house and placed in the tree just for the squirrels.  I told you he loves our backyard fun and maybe he thought the squirrels felt left out since they didn't have a home like the birds :)

Of course I grabbed my camera to capture this moment...

He is special and all mine :)

*March Randoms*

March has been full of all kinds of weather from snow to beautiful spring days!  Just thought I'd post a few RANDOM pictures from our Sunday afternoon bike roads through the mountains to a few snapshots of the snow to other fun moments in March!

March was full of snow

Snow cream bowl :)

Let the snow cream makin' begin!

COLD snow cream and a warm fire!

And as I said earlier...
March was full of beautiful spring-like days too!

I love bike riding on this road!

At least this little part is flat...

LOVE the red barns and cow pastures!

This is less than a mile from our house!

*Hot date at Bojangles with these lovelies*

Check out the moon!!!

Special surprise through the mail from a sweet friend I worked with years ago that was my MENTOR!  So thankful that we still keep in touch years later!

Goodbye March, HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOO April!