Real...or not Real?

Have any of you read The Hunger Gamestriology? Oh my...one of my favorite reads. Anyway...you know how later in the story, Peeta has to ask at times, “Real...or not real?”
I think that is what this post is abouttoday, and I think its what i'd want you to consider as you read myblog.(for the record...this is real!  i took this pic the other day out of our back door)
I'll tell what prompted me to startthinking about this today:I love when my readers comment or sendme encouraging emails. I really do. I think encouragment is a giftthat we can give one another, a gift that we all need! Your commentsare often so very timely...almost like words spoken from God himself,deep into my heart, encouraging me in the call I feel like He's givenme. Please keep asking questions. Please keep commenting. In myinsecurity, I need them :) so thank you!But its got me thinking. I wonder ifi'm putting off the wrong message on this blog?
When I first started it, I chose thename “A Small Snippet” for a specific reason. What you see onthis blog is just a very very very small glimpse into a much biggerstory. Truth be told...i don't think I give you a very clear andrealistic picture of what life is really like most of the time aroundhere. You are only getting the small snippets, and since i'm the onewriting the blog, those small snippets are most often things that Ifeel comfortable sharing with the world. Which means you are missingthe bigger picture, because lots of things that go on around here i'd prefer to keep hidden.For example: I don't often take norpost pictures of the many many times a day that my house is incomplete shambles...or when my kids are fighting and screaming and hittingeach other, or i'm crying over something that's frustrated me. Idon't often tell you about the nasty things I say to the Hubs duringarguments......or the many many many times (which I hate, but its true)that I raise my voice at my precious kids.Or the roaches that runthrough our little place on (too often) occasion....like thebrave little stinker that decided he was gonna come nibble on theBug's leftover banana this morning, sending screams all through ourhouse once he was discovered. one of the few negatives about living where we live.  
I don't show you the piles of sand onmy floor this very minute that I don't feel like sweeping...andprobably won't until tomorrow...or the next day....or the next day...and only then because people are coming over.  I don't show you inside my closets, where things topple out thesecond you open the door because they are stuffed so darn full. Idefinitely don't show you pictures of me without makeup on...orwithout some kind of outfit I like. Which is why you don't seepictures of me that often on here...cause most of the time i'm in myPJ's, unshowered, and the sight of my face might cause you to ask meif i'm feeling sick.
I also don't tell you that we considerswimming in the pool to be bathtime, wearing the same PJ's for 3, or4, or more nights in a row still counts as clean, that I definitelydon't wash our bed linens as often as i'm supposed to (not evenclose) and that I often forget to wash the boy's football uniformuntil Saturday morning when its time to get dressed for his game. Idon't tell you how my kids disobey...alot...and sneak off and dothings they are not supposed to do...and then don't feel one bit badabout it when they get caught.I also don't advertise the fact that I forgot to pick up my child from school the other day. Yes...forgot...on only the third day of school. And he had to wait for 40 minutes, wondering where I was, before the idiot that is me figured out that it was early release day. (thankfully, he was totally fine with it, and only began to tear up when he saw me unable to control my sobs for the next 45 minutes)I don't show you the overflowing trashcans, the piles of laundry on my couch that need to be folded, or myslimy, fingerprinted back doors that almost never get wiped. I don'ttell you about our bank account that is every bit short ofimpressive...or full...or even kinda full....or even kinda kinda full:) in fact, sometimes its downright empty!  Or that we haven't picked up that cute kids devotional that webought with the best of intentions in weeks. I haven't yet told youthat one of my all time favorite shows to watch is theBachelor/Bachelorette, that I just might be following 5 or 6 or 7 ofthem on Instagram (you can make your own assumptions about me now) orthat I have yet to miss an episode of the Bachelor Pad. Trash, Iknow. But I love it. (And i'm not recommending it, so don't gothinking that I think you should watch it too!  but if you do, i can talk your ear off about it.)
I don't tell you what a strugglefriendships are for me, and that I live many many days feelingmassively lonely. I don't tell you that I am a grudge-bearer, andabout the bitterness I harbor in my heart towards specific people whohave hurt me. I haven't told you about a story that is going onright now, that is not mine to tell, but that has completely devastedme, and given me a very real picture of how Satan is out to kill,steal and destroy. And its left me feeling hopeless and angry and outof control, begging Jesus to please come back soon. And I don't tellyou that even though we live right on the beach, in the most amazingsituation that we absolutely cannot afford but that God has figured out for us, with the ocean as our back yard, my heart is stillunrestful, and still longs for bigger and better. Ugh. My point is this: you don't really seeme for who I am. And if you are not seeing beyond the small snippetson this blog, then i'm not sure i'm doing what I set out to do. Andi'm not sure i'm doing what Jesus has put on my heart to do. My goalfor this blog is summed up in my tagline “a snapshot into the smallsnippets of life, to expose the Bigger Picture.”
and I have to ask myself...is theBigger Picture being exposed? Or is the focus simply on the neat andtidy small snippets?
the burning desire in me with thisblog is for you to see Jesus, in spite of me. I am afraid that allyou see is me and my family, and even then, not the real us. And I don't wantthat.
I have awakened just recently to thefact that I am an Image Bearer of the King. In other words, simplybeing who He's made me to be means that I'm bearing the image of Godto the world. I love that. I especially love that because itdoesn't mean that I have to be this super spiritual girl to show theworld Jesus. Good thing, cause i'm anything but super spiritual. Iall too often feel dry, spiritually, and distant from God, because i'mway too distracted with the things of this world. I all too oftenfind spending time with Him to be a chore, instead of a joy, and ifthat doesn't make me super un-super spiritual, then I don't know whatelse would. I am good...really good...at going through the motions,while my heart is far from Him.
And yet...He works in spite of me. Which is why I continue to pursue this blog...and the “job” i feel like He's given me to do.
I know that part of writing a blog isto write about things that people want to see.  So i'm not saying i'm gonna stop postingabout the things i've been posting about. There will still berecipes, and sewing projects, and house stuff, and DIY, and Clean Eating, andphotography, and a slew of randomness thrown in. it'll look thesame.  cause that is life for me in many regards:But those things bear the mark of the King, because He is the Ultimate Creator...there is no creativitiy in me that does not come from Him. I do believe that the contents of this blog can relect His very nature, and it doesn't have to be only in a long diatribe about Scripture. He can be reflected in a homemade maxi dress, or in a thai noodle recipe, or in an Elf on a Shelf or in a 5 year old's birthday party. That's what's so amazing about Him. He can shine through in very, everyday, un-extrodinary things...and then He can make them extraordinary because of His very Presence.
but I guess I wonder if you see Him?
I am hoping to ramp up this blog a bit. I'm passionate about it, I get excited about it, and think theremight be a calling on my life through it. I think God is giving me aunique opportunity, one that fits me well. I want to be faithful. But I want to be honest. So just know that when you come here, youare only getting a very small glimpse, a very small picture, and askyourself, “Real or not real?” not because i'm lying to you, ortrying to give you a picture that is untrue, but to remind yourselfthat there is a much bigger story going on beneath the surface, beneath the small snippets, andto ponder how we all are so very similar, so deeply in need of aSavior, and that Jesus might very well be in the midst of it all....in all the small snippets, as well as at the center of the Bigger Picture.