With each turn of my head, pairs of eyes were on us. Some eyes were smiling, some were glaring, some appeared puzzled, and some danced with laughter. Others appeared a bit weary and tired, but the eyes still stared. We could no longer simply hide out in our little corner of the local Dairy Queen. The hyena type laughter was simply too much to be ignored. Our presence was known! We had the giggles (actually – beyond simple giggles). We were laughing so hard – the tears poured! When was the last time you laughed like that? It’s certainly been awhile for me.

We just returned home from a pre-Thanksgiving gathering with family in Virginia. We spent a couple days visiting, talking, eating, and laughing! The intense laughter, however, really began when we journeyed to the Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, TN to see the race track all lit up in Christmas lights.

My husband, his sister, her husband and I piled in the car and began the 4 miles drive-through trek to see over 1.5 million lights. It was absolutely beautiful and so much fun to see, but we seemed to find something funny about everything that night. You know how that is when stupid things all of a sudden become hillarious? Like the fact that I couldn’t dim my headlights to park like the speedway wanted us to do, because I have a daytime running light system that won’t shut off. OK…so what? But…that became the basis for almost all of the jokes the rest of the night. We really did have a great time, but we were quite silly.

Aside from the laughter, the highlight of the speedway adventure was actually getting to drive on “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile” (the actual racetrack). Granted – I did get a little crazy when my car felt like it was going to flip over, but it was still a blast!

We finished off the night at the Dairy Queen, and that’s when the laughter grew to the point that the “eyes” I mentioned earlier began to follow us. I don’t even remember everything we laughed at, but I do know that it felt extremely good to do so.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a rather difficult month with various issues. I’ve learned to praise God through those storms, but often-times that’s much easier said than done. However, sometimes the storms seem a little calmer and perhaps not as alarming when we’re able to invoke a little laughter into our day! I challenge you to allow yourself to be silly sometimes…even when you don’t feel like it. Open yourself up to the kind of laughter that might even make you cry! Even more, allow those around you to get a glimpse of it – it might even make their eyes dance a bit too!

Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” Psalm 126:2

I’m a numbers girl. I dig numbers. I love them. I study them. I often find even the silliest of significance in them. OK – I might be a little odd, but I like even numbers too. Ha! Seriously…I especially love how numbers are important to God. He’s so purposeful and orderly in everything He does. Several numbers have great significance in the Bible…7, 12, 70, to name just a few, and my personal favorite: FORTY! Forty has long been recognized biblically as a very important number, generally signifying a period of trial, probation, and testing. The beauty of the biblical forty is that this period generally ends with a promise or blessing. The tribe of Israel experienced the blessing of the promised land after 40 years of wandering in the desert. Forty days of flooding eventually brought God’s covenant, symbolized by the rainbow. Jesus was tempted by the Devil while experiencing a forty-day fast in the desert. Christ appeared after His resurrection for forty days on the earth. I could go on and on, but the point is the number forty is very significant.

So, what’s a numbers girl like me supposed to do with this knowledge? Use it! I prayed that God would use that number in my life in some significant way. What would 40 days or 40 weeks or perhaps 40 years reveal for me? What discipline do I need to be obedient in for the Lord to do a mighty work in me? I thought about another time of fasting, but I don’t think that’s it just yet. I thought about refraining from something (i.e., TV, Facebook, Twitter), but I don’t think He’s calling me to do that YET. It hit me this past week. There’s one thing that I’m struggling to keep doing, but I feel like it’s something that I’m supposed to be doing: blogging! That might sound insignificant to some of you, but it’s huge to me! First of all, I’m notorious for having all kinds of “great” ideas. I start many of them and finish few of them. Completion is very difficult for me, partly due to my perfectionistic personality where I’m constantly trying to make something better than it already is, creating many incomplete projects. I’ve seen that carry over into my blog writing quite often. But this is something that I’m determined to keep doing. It’s a place of release for me. I love being able to remove some of those crazy thoughts from my head and put them in written form. I’ve been told by some of you that this blog is something you count on reading for encouragement or laughter or even conviction. While I’m very humbled to know that…I also feel a huge burden to keep it up.

So, that leads me to today…Day 1 of 40 days of continuous blogging. I haven’t pre-written any, so I’m relying completely on God to help me do this. I just feel it’s something that I have to do. I’m not sure if I’m trying to prove something to myself or simply to watch God work through me. He certainly knows that this season in my life is usually quite chaotic, so maybe that’s exactly why He wants me to do it now. Who knows? But, I know this…I’d love to have you on this 40-day journey with me. I love reading your comments, emails, and Facebook and Twitter entries. Keep ’em comin’. They certainly keep me motivated. And…just maybe…somewhere within the words that I write…just maybe…someone will be blessed. So, here we go…until tomorrow…be blessed, dear friends!