Celebration

My brother and I went to a funeral a couple of weeks ago for my great uncle. It was a "nice" funeral and we actually decided we liked some of the things they did. Like putting an embroidered bass (fish) jumping out of water on the inside of the coffin lid. You might laugh, but I kind've thought that was a nice, HONEST touch. He loved fishing. Why not put that on there for him to stare at for all of eternity?

So that got me thinkin'- what would my husband put on the inside of my coffin lid? A picture of my kids? Something to do with bootcamp.....what dumbbells embroidered? Maybe a picture of Blue Bell Pralines N Cream ice cream or a box of sweetarts? Cuz these are all of the things I love........... well, hopefully not.

I think I'd like a Bible verse embroidered on the inside of my coffin lid. Not that i will be looking at it. But for all of the people at my funeral to see. I even know what verse: Matthew 5:16 "Let your light shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your FATHER in heaven." Hopefully all of the people at my funeral will read that verse and agree that they could see Christ in my life. It was evident.....by my words and actions.

I also want upbeat, happy music. This should be a celebration if we really, truly believe we are going to spend ETERNITY with OUR LORD AND SAVIOR!!! My husband can play one tear-jerker - "I can only imagine" and the rest need to be songs like, "Strong Tower", "Revelation", "Born Again", etc. Oh, maybe two tear-jerkers cuz I love David Crowder's "Never let Go".

Anyways, then I want the Gospel told. If there is anyone at my funeral that doesn't know Christ as their personal Savior, I want them to accept HIM right then and there. Wouldn't that be awesome?

So, I'm not planning on dying soon or anything. I just want to make sure that when I do, my funeral is not some morbid, depressing affair. I want everyone there to know that I am with My Jesus.

Oh, and one last thing. Do it as cheaply as possible. We just finished Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. I do not want my funeral to cause any debt!!!

Lady with one earring

I was sitting in church Sunday morning listening to the campus pastor start his service when my attention was drawn to the lady sitting two rows in front of me. You know how you scan the rows all around you and check out who's in church? Anyways, I realized that this lady (guessing from the back of her head she was about 40-something.....short hair and sitting next to a teenage daughter) was missing an earring. She had one large black hoop in one ear and nothing in the other. For some reason I could not let this go. And look, here I am 5 days later blogging about it.
I started wondering what happened to the other earring. Did she just forget to ever put it in? Did she put it in but forget the back so then it fell out unbeknownst to her? Did she put both in but then talk on the phone so she pulled the one out and forgot to put it back in? Was it her cell phone? So was the earring in the car or at home? Maybe the earring was on the sidewalk on the way into church? Whew.......lots of possibilities about where the missing earring was and how it went missing.

Anyways, this led me into thinking about how we are all just like that lady with her missing earring. We all get ready and try to look "put together", but we are really not. Put together, I mean. Everyone has something "not perfect" in their life. It might look perfect on the outside, but I guarantee it is not.

And you know, I think Church is one of the worst places where everyone tries to act "put together". You know Sunday morning my four children fought in the car the whole way to church over the seating arrangement in our suburban. You know, a REALLY IMPORTANT thing to fight over.....It ended with Chris getting frustrated and yelling at "the instigator" of the fight. I tried to calm everyone down (I'm putting that in here because it is usu. opposite - I'm usu. yelling and Chris is calming). Anyways, we get out of the car, all paste on our smiles, and tell everyone "Good Morning". Nobody knows that World War 3 was just going on in our suburban. Then, we sit in an awesome service, pick up the kiddos from their classes, get back in the suburban and guess what? Yep, you guessed it. The STUPID FIGHT RESUMED! So, this time normalcy reigned and I was the one yelling.

So, I guess my point of this whole thing is that we are all missing an earring. It's just that
some of us are more open and honest about these "missing earrings" than others, but nobody has it all together. Thank goodness that Christ loves us no matter what.

Jeremiah #2

First let me say that Jeremiah is a LOOOOONNNNNNGGGG book with LOOOONNNNGGG chapters. I have had to amp up my Bible reading or I will never get through it I'm afraid. Also, I read the commentary after every chapter so it is taking me doubly long. However, if I were not to read the commentary I wouldn't understand half of what I'm reading.

That being said, I am truly amazed at those crazy OT people. Chapter 34. So Jeremiah has been warning King Zedekiah and all of the people of Jerusalem OVER AND OVER that they will not succeed in fighting against the Babylonians. God had already determined to hand over the city of Jerusalem to the Babylonians. In vs. 8 - 11, Jeremiah brings to light the evil practice of the enslavement of Israelites by their own people. This was a violation of God's law (Ex. 21:2-11). Perhaps in a desperate attempt to win God's favor, King Zedekiah grants all of the slaves their freedom. Everyone was to free their Hebrew slaves in accordance with God's law. So, after the people had made the covenant in the temple before GOD, sure enough, the Babylonian army broke off its attack. They had to break their attack to repel an attack on them by the Egyptians.

So now the people of Jerusalem start hoping for an Egyptian victory, and then they start thinking "hmmmm... if the Egyptians are successful and take down the Babylonians, we are gonna' have some major rebuilding to do here. So we probably need to get our slaves back!" So the people reneged on their promise to God and took their slaves back.

WHAT???? Seriously. They make vows before God in His temple that they will let their slaves go in accordance with HIS Law.......amazingly the attack from the Babylonians stop.........did they not think maybe they should be THANKING God for this reprieve? For another chance? But, NOOOOO, they forget all about God again (seems to be a general theme of the OT) and take their slaves right back to start rebuilding! Truly amazing.

So, as you can imagine, they pay the price for this. Vs. 12-20 shows God rebuking the people for their inconsistency. When they rescinded their promise they profaned God's reputation because the covenant had been made before God in His temple. God's punishment matched their sin. By revoking their covenant, the people had not proclaimed freedom for those Israelites who were wrongfully enslaved. Therefore ironically God would give them freedom to die by the sword, plague, and famine. Uh-Oh. BIG MISTAKE PEOPLE!!!

So I started thinking about how we do this exact same thing really. We tell God we will stop doing certain sinful behaviors "if only He will (insert your request here)". But then once our prayer is answered, most of us continue about our sin like nothing ever happened. At least I think just about everyone is like that. I know I have done that exact thing. Maybe not as fast as the Israelites reneged on their promise, but.......over time. It might be a slow, gradual fade back to the sins, but it happens.

COMPASSION

Last week sometime I heard the phrase "be the hands and feet of Jesus". Could be a song. Could've been from something I read. Not really sure. But that phrase has gone through my head a lot over the last week. You know, it would be a lot easier to lead a "self-filled" life, rather than trying to be Christ's hands and feet. It means putting other's needs before your own. It is the opposite of what our culture tells us today. There are so many needs all around us.......many greater than our own. We need to have compassion. God has taught me compassion in numerous different areas in the past year. Compassion for those with addictions. Compassion for those going through financial hardship. Compassion for single mothers. Compassion for those with loved ones in hospitals. Compassion for those with cancer. Compassion for mothers with really sick children.... So, those are just SOME of the areas I can think of right off the top of my head. Guess you have to go through some hard things to gain compassion. Or at least it has worked for me.

C - caring about/for others
O - offering to help
M- meeting needs
P - prayer for those in need
A - acts of kindness
S- serving
S - sharing the burden
I - not about I
O- owning the problem
N- noticing needs

God's Word

Man, how I love God's Word. I am happy to be able to say this because just a short few years ago this was definitely not the case. I truly thought it was boring. Now I am just fascinated by what I read. God definitely "opens the eyes of your heart" the more you delve into His Word. I only wish that I had a better memory at this point in my life. So many times I find myself fascinated by something in my morning reading and by afternoon I can't remember what it was! Sad, I know.

Right now I'm in Jeremiah. As my dad said the other day, God really commands Jeremiah to do some weird things. Like going to the city gate and yelling out a doomsday message. Or wearing the yoke around his neck. In today's society, we would be calling the authorities and that person would end up in the nuthouse, right? Really, imagine if God told you to go to your local church or courthouse (or Wal-mart for that matter) and stand outside and yell "Repent! Quit your sinning. Turn to God. Don't worship all of your idols (today's world: money, stuff, money, other people, celebrities, money, your job, money, etc....). If you don't God is going to pulverize this whole place. Oh, and go ahead and let yourself be taken by the enemy, because if you do then you will end up being blessed. But if you run and hide, forget about it. You will suffer extreme hardship and DIE!!!

Hmmmm.... I'm pretty impressed that Jeremiah had the guts to do all that God wanted him to do. Would like to think that I would, but probably not anywhere near those extremes unfortunately. Just being honest. It's hard enough for me to hold my hands up while we are singing in church. I'm up to one hand now. Pretty big for me really. Pathetic, I know.

I like this verse from Jeremiah 15:16 "When Your Words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty."

Anyways, I'm now praying that God will give me understanding and memory when it comes to His Word. This is a prayer from Paul in Eph. 1:17-19 - "I pray that you, Father, will give me the spirit of wisdom and revelation , so that i may know you better. I pray that the eyes of my heart may be enlightened in order that I may know the hope to which you have called me, the riches of your glorious inheritance in your people, and your INCOMPARABLY GREAT POWER for us who believe." Amen. Awesome.

So much more I could write on this, but gotta' run....well, spin. I'm teaching a Thursday morning spin class now.

Isaiah and Prayer

Well, I'm finally to the book of Isaiah. It is definitely one of my favorite books of the Bible. Lots of really good verses. Actually several of my favorites.

Isa. 40:11; 40:28-31; 42:16; 43:1-5; 46:3-4; 55:11 .....just to name a few.

In the past year I have grappled with the concept of "Why Pray".... now, now, before you start yelling at your screen, let me explain. Since I believe God is sovereign, and He already knows everything that is going to happen, what good does a prayer from little ole' measly me do?

In all my research on prayer over the past year, I have come to realize that we pray because God wants us to! We are being obedient to Him when we pray. Prayer is our communication with Him. Two good acronyms I've learned are P.U.S.H: Pray Until Something Happens and P.R.A.Y: Praise, Repent, Ask, and Yield.

I've learned you can pray for BIG things, minor things, specific things, and just about EVERYTHING. In fact, He wants us to!

So, sorry to have rambled here, but back to Isaiah. This is what I read a couple of mornings ago and it just showed me why I should pray. In ch. 38, Hezekiah, King of Judah, "became ill and was at the point of death..." The Lord tells Isaiah to go tell him to get everything in order because Ole' hezzy is going to die. Vs. 2: "Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 'Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.' And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 'Go and tell Hezekiah, This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life."

So, this is pretty insightful for us, don't you think? Several things struck me about this.

1. God heard him and saw him. If he heard and saw Ole' Hezzy, then he must see and hear us!

2. Hezekiah prayed earnestly and fervently - this was not just a close your eyes and quickly whisper a rote "bless me Lord" prayer....this says that Hezzy reminded God of his faithfulness and devotion...and he "wept bitterly" which obviously showed God that he was sincere in his plea.

3. God will change the outcome based on our prayers. Now, this part gets tricky for me. Obviously God really does know the final outcome. He is God. He knows everything. So, does that mean He has a whole lot of different endings. For instance, is He sittin' up there saying, "well, if susie chooses option A then her ending will be outcome B, but..... if Susie chooses option B then her outcome will be option C"..? But He already knows what option I will choose. And He gives us free will. HMMMMM..... Is anyone following me on this, or is it just me?

All of this makes me wonder what blessings would be in my life if I would just pray for them. Earnestly and fervently. I've actually been reading the "Prayer of Jabez" and the author gives an illustration about a man that goes to Heaven and is being given the grand tour by Peter. There is one building Peter won't take him in, but the man keeps persisting and finally Peter takes him in. In this building are rows of containers with people's names on them. The man finds his container and upon opening it finds all the blessings that God had wanted to send to him on earth, but for which he had never asked....... Makes you think, huh?

Prayer is quite possibly the MOST IMPORTANT action of our whole day, but which we probably dedicate the smallest amount of time. Even when I have good intentions of praying it seems like something (could be satan?) happens to distract me. Well, if praying is our communication with God, then of course satan would want to stop that from happening. Makes total sense.

So, there you go. My random musings on prayer. I have actually just caused my own head to ache.

Whew!!!! My husband made it home....after 12 days it is really nice to have another adult in the house. It is so nice to say, "I don't know...go ask your dad." And last night, I started dinner, got in the shower, and when I came out dinner was ready!!!

And we got through all the "back to school" stuff this week....... 4 kiddos, three different schools, HUGE amounts of school supplies, etc. The only thing left now is to put money into their lunch accounts (which you can do online now...and I am forcing myself to learn how to do) and get them to school on-time on Tuesday. Oh, well, one more freshman orientation Monday night, too.

I never knew how insanely crazy life with four kids would be. I guess it is a good thing I didn't know :) Not that I would change any of it for an instant, but I'm just sayin'.... it's crazy! And expensive. I haven't officially tallied up what we spent this week on school supplies, all the stuff you have to buy at all three schools, and back-to-school clothes, but.....I know it is alot. And, just for fun, the middle school and highschool teachers all send home their own school supply lists the first week of school. You know, when its hard to find anything! And, I have from a very good source, that my high-schooler is going to need a calculator that costs $100. Really? For 9th grade?

Can't imagine when we get to cars and college................

"Single-momming It" part 2

Well, I have pretty much felt sorry for myself for a good two days now. I am so tired. I don't know how "permanent" single mothers of four do it. This is HARD. It is all on me. Nobody else. My heart really goes out to those mothers who do this ALL OF THE TIME. That must be why the Bible talks about us helping widows so much.

So, my husband has been out of town for 9 days now. I'm realizing as I write this what a wimp I must be....military families do this for months at a time, sometimes even years. Wow. I really can't imagine how they do it.

Also, not only is it physically tasking, but mentally and emotionally also. I miss having an adult around to talk to.....cell phones definitely help, but it is not the same. And, I can't use my favorite line, "Go ask your dad"............

So, if you know a single mom, give her a pat on the back.....an encouraging word....invite her and her kiddos over for dinner and companionship! It will mean the world to her!

"Single-Momming" It

Well.......the Lord keeps showing me more ways to be compassionate.

My husband is having to travel pretty much Mon-Fri. right now, which leaves me alone with four kiddos. One of those being a teenage boy who is now bigger than me and the second one 12-1/2....need I say more? And they are all home every day because it is still summer. I am counting down the days until school starts at this point.....12 days!!! And, this is with me teaching fitness classes 3 mornings a week (got rid of one a couple of weeks ago), and working from home for my other job. Luckily, I can do that job whenever I want, or have time.

And another interesting phenomenon is that I'm realizing we have been in some sort of honeymoon phase with our kids. They were past the hard infant/toddler phase and in the phase of just being happy playing outside with friends, swimming, fishing, etc. But, not anymore....in the past two weeks I have found my 14 yr. old diving off a cliff into our neighborhood pond (strictly no swimming allowed, of course) with his friends and VIDEOTAPING it and putting themselves on YOUTUBE! And then, a week later doing front flips off the drain-thingy into the other pond...apparently, I wasn't clear enough the first time... Then, I walk down the street the other night and find him on top of my neighbor's house. The ROOF!!! When I asked what they were doing up there, the response I got was, "just hanging out...."

So, now I know......the teenage years are going to be interesting... If I can just keep them breathing. I now know that I have to give them instructions like: "no getting on the roof, no taping things for Youtube, no diving into ponds, etc." Wow.

And all of this with no husband home. So, my compassion is growing by leaps and bounds for single moms. There is something about the power of a dad's authority that scares kids way more than their mom who they tower over!

However, one answer I have found to solve alot of these problems is: TAKE THE CELL PHONE AWAY. This is an incredible power that every mom (or dad) should be aware of. It is like their lifeblood or something. So, I have made a big powerplay in the last couple of days and taken my 14 yr. old's phone away because he was 7 min. late on curfew....I told him a week, but so far we are at about 36 hours and I'm realizing it is sort of a punishment on myself, too. I can't get hold of him every second when he doesn't have it. I will at least make it till tomorrow though.

So, if you know a single mom out there....pray for her. It is an extremely challenging job.

Financial Peace

Well, what can I say about financial peace? We've never had it, I can say that. I look back at my childhood and see how blessed I was then. Money was never something I had to worry about. It wasn't until I meant my husband (he was living in an apartment in Norman) that I knew you even had to pay for water and electricity. I learned that quickly when he had the cut-off notice on his apartment door! Also, I just assumed everyone had a Texaco card like me........(that my parents paid the bill for! )

Anyways, we got married at very young ages. I was 19 and my husband was barely 21. We instantly went out and got in as much debt as possible. The American Dream, right? What 19 and 21 year old shouldn't have an $84,000 mortgage and two new cars? We both had paid-for cars when we got married, but were so excited when the car dealership GAVE us a loan for a pathfinder...along with 14% interest. Weren't they sooo nice? Oh, and because they apparently had to justify the HUGE profit they were making on us, they "threw in" a warranty. Later on my husband went to work for a car dealership - we learned nobody ever just "throws in" a warranty!!!

Anyways, we have been married now 16-1/2 years and I wish I could say that we learned from those early mistakes and moved on. However, that is not the case. We have been the absolute worst money managers alive. No matter if we made a lot, or very little, it has never been enough! Now, after reading Dave Ramsey's books and going through his Financial Peace University, we are finally attempting to turn the financial tide!

A budget seems to be the most crucial key to success. Oh, wait, INCOME is probably the #1 key....then the budget. We are finally making one at the beginning of every month. This is tricky, though, because my husband is self-employed and we never know how much he will make.

We finally got our $1000 emergency fund together, too. However, satan knows our weaknesses and has caused our air conditioner to go out TWICE in the last month!!! TWICE!!! For a total of $1,100! And, because that wasn't quite enough, he also killed the fuel pump on my 2005 suburban. (this following my transmission going out a few months ago.....what? not a good ad for chevrolets, huh?) So, chalk up another $600 or so. So, our $1000 emergency fund is now LONG gone. However, as Dave Ramsey would say, "at least you had it.....that's what the emergency fund is for." Now, I am cleaning out closets and attics to have a much-hated garage sale to try and build our fund all over again. And, even though I am blogging about this, I am trying very hard not to have a bad attitude about it. I will not give satan the pleasure. (I'm also fervently praying nothing else breaks.....)

So, we have learned a lot. We no longer have any credit cards. If we don't have the cash, we don't buy it. We have a budget...... a very tight budget. We are working on the income. We are working on the emergency fund. Hopefully, God-willing, this will turn out some financial peace for us afterall.

Life with no God?

Well, yesterday my hubby and I were taking a walk, enjoying the 78 degree weather God gave us on July 5th!!! What a gift! It was just such a pleasant walk. We spotted a huge carp wading by the edge of the pond and a bullfrog whose eyes were peering up over the water. So cool. The sky was beautiful with pink, white, and purple swirls. All I could think was "God is so good". It was one of those "life is perfect" moments.

But that got me to thinking (out loud to my husband)........what would life be like if I didn't believe in God? This has been plaguing my thoughts lately because we are actually friends with some very intelligent people that don't really believe in God. They might admit to a "higher power" if really pressed, but they don't really think there is God, the Lord, the First and Last, the Beginning and the End, etc.

I just really can't fathom life without God. It seems like it would be really depressing and bleak. What would be your hope? or your moral compass? or your driving force? What would be the point of "all this" really?

It just makes me so sad to think of all the people out there that don't have a personal relationship with Christ. That don't love the Lord. That don't know the perfect love and grace of our Lord and Savior!

Well.... Summer has arrived, hence the reason it has been almost a month since my last post. Life is CRAZY! With all four kiddos home, teaching fitness classes four mornings a week, and working on my other project in the afternoon, I don't even have time to think not to mention POST a blog!

I'm currently reading Psalms and Song of Solomon (simultaneously). I just love Psalms. The more I read it, the more I love it. David is just so darned eloquent. Imagine if we went around speaking like that these days. People would think we were off our rocker! A verse I read this morning was Ps. 18:32 "It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure." I love this verse, but I was particularly excited because I knew that verse from 2 Sam. 22:33 - it says the same exact thing. I just love that I am starting to know the Bible well enough that I would recognize that! A year ago I never would've picked up on that!

Anyways, Song of Solomon is also interesting. Pretty sure if I told Chris (my hubbie) that he was "like a gazelle or young stag...leaping across the mountains...." or called him "my beloved", he would think I had officially lost it!

But, thanks to my commentary, I did learn some interesting things so far from this book (I've only read the first two chapters ).

1. Three things are crucial to a successful marriage: -protection of the wife by the husband
-intimacy between spouses
-obvious displays and expressions of love

2. Also, the point was made that a characteristic of genuine love is to be ALONE with your mate. An easy thing while you are dating, but not so easy once you have a herd of kiddos (we have 4)! But, if love is to grow, you must find time to be alone!

So, I have things to work on. Being affectionate does not come naturally to me. (And my husband really likes affection!) Also, displaying my love. This shouldn't be that hard, but I told you at the beginning of this post just how crazy-busy my life is, so it is hard. Sometimes, at the end of the day, I just don't have anything else to give. I just want to climb in my bed with my sweetarts and book and not think about anybody else's needs! And, last, making time to be alone with him. This is a hard one for us. Even if we plan a date, we are usually both so tired we just decide to stay home and order Chinese food. We gotta' make the effort!

Job #2

Okay - I just finished reading Job ch. 10 this morning. I have to say I have been a little disappointed with the last few chapters. It has been dialogue between Job and 3 of his friends who came to "console" him in his misery.

But, I had a breakthrough revelation after reading ch. 10 this morning. I wish I could credit myself with what I learned, but it really was from Philip Yancy. My Bible has these devotionals scattered throughout and today's was over ch. 10. Here are some of the points that he made that I found fascinating:

First, Job suffered a crises of FAITH not of suffering. - we have all gone thru times like these - like, for instance, a friend with a terminal illness, or the loss of a job, so we ask? "Why God?" Or "Why him?" or "Why me?"

Yancey says, "At such times we focus too easily on circumstances - illness, poverty, bad luck - as the enemy. We pray for God to change those circumstances. If only God would change these circumstances, then I could easily believe God. Job teaches, though, that we need faith most at the precise moment when it seems impossible."

Second, (still quoting Yancy) "... the view behind the curtain in chs. 1-2 reveals that Job was being exalted, not spurned. God was letting his own reputation ride on the response of a single human being. At the time when Job felt most abandoned, at that very time God was giving him personal, almost microscopic scrutiny.God seemed absent; in one sense God had never been more present.

Third - (Yancy) - "Job convinces me that God cares more about our faith than our pleasure."
I've also read where Rick Warren said, "God cares more about our character than our comfort."

So, these were all pretty interesting points I thought. Especially where he points out that Job was actually being EXALTED! It kind of turns your thought process around thinking about this. If you are going through something hard maybe satan is watching and waiting for you to fail! And maybe God is telling satan that you won't! HMMMM..........food for thought, huh?

Job

Well, I started reading Job again for the second time. I'm not sure why, but my second time reading the Bible through is just so much more fascinating. So, there are several things that really struck me about ch. 1.

First, I find it fascinating that some angels came to see God and satan just "tagged along". That alone is just weird to me. And, then, when God asks satan where he has come from , satan answers "from roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it." By God's answer, we can deduct that satan was looking for people he could get to sin or turn from God, because God says "Have you considered my servant Job? .....he is blameless, upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."

So secondly, God basically throws Job under the bus here! You can kinda see where this might make people today NOT want to be too righteous!!! So, then God goes on to tell satan he can do anything to Job except "lay a finger" on him. So, satan really rises to this challenge. He takes away his wealth (livestock and crops), and then kills all ten of his kiddos. Satan obviously knows how to hit hard.

Third, after all of these horrible things happen to Job, you know what his reaction was? He WORSHIPPED THE LORD! Now, I don't know many people who immediately turn to worshiping God in response to multiples tragedies.......... But, Job says "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away: may the name of the Lord be praised." Wow......

The fourth thing that really struck me was the very last line in the chapter - vs. 22: "In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing." HMMMM..... how many times have we or other people said "why would God do this?" So, this verse tells me that we are sinning by charging God with doing bad things. Interestingly enough, my 7 yr. old just asked me this week what our friend "did" to get sick. I had to try and explain to him that God didn't cause this sickness, but that is a hard thing to explain to a 7 year old.

Anyways, looking forward to learning more lessons in Job!

Magic Trick

Well, Monday was a typical day in our family. My 7 yr. old woke up with a sore throat and breath that would burn your eyeballs, so I immediately called the Dr., thinking it was probably strep throat. I actually had a class to teach that morning, so it fell to my husband to take him to the Dr. After giving my husband several other questions to ask, I went off to my class.

After my class, I had to run to Wal-Mart because after TWO trips to different grocery stores on Sunday, we were OUT of several necessary items. (How did they do it back in the "little House on the Prairie " times when they only made a trip to town for groceries once a month or so? I seem to be at Wal-mart at least 3 x's per wk!) Anyways, I'm in Wal-Mart when I get this phone call from my husband: "Hey....what have you been cleaning Maddox's ears with?"

Me: "well......q-tips, of course, duh......why?"

Chris: "Well, he seems to have some sort of object stuck in his ear. The doc thinks maybe corn....no, now he thinks paper....." (He waits like I might have some earthly idea what this object might be...)

Me: "Well, I have gotten the q-tip wet on occasion to get all the brown gunk out of his ears..." (sorry, I know that is gross, but for some reason Maddox has alot of wax and it really
bugs me)

Chris: "well, hmmm. They are really working on getting it out, but every time he grabs it with his little tool, it just disintegrates....oh, by the way, he does have strep."

Me: "yes, I knew it. But what is in his ear?"

So, fast forward an hour: Me to my son: "What do you think is in your ear? Do you have any ideas?"

Him: "no...... but, wait a second. Remember when I told you I did a magic trick and got paper stuck in my ear?"

Me: "no...........well, wait....maybe I do remember something about that.....WHEN was that? Hasn't that been a long time ago?"

Him: "I don't know, but I TOLD you I got paper stuck in my ear!" (that was a very emphatic "I Told you so from a 7 yr. old")

Me: (in my head) - crap. when was that? was that 1 month ago? two months? three? very vague recollection of looking in his ear and saying, "You have NOTHING in your ear! You can't get paper stuck in your ear!")

So, I call the pediatrician's office back, and have to tell them that "ummm.... i have now remembered a day when he came home from school and told me he did a magic trick and got paper stuck in his ear.....but I have no earthly idea WHEN that was...." (This was a surprisingly embarrassing thing to admit! and makes me feel slightly crazy!)

So, a couple of hours later, we were at the ENT (Ear, nose, throat dr.) getting a rather large piece of paper extracted from his ear canal. The Dr. informed me that we were quite lucky it hadn't harmed his hearing PERMANENTLY or that it hadn't gotten INFECTED!

I told him that in 14 years of raising kiddos, THIS was a first for us! He said that life just wouldn't have been complete without one of our kids getting something stuck in his ear!

So, I guess my point in telling this story is that you should LISTEN to your kids! I will definitely be listening a lot better from now on!!!

Godsequence #2

Thanks toLori, I have titled this Godsequence #2.

So, you have to read my previous blog to get this, but here goes:

I just finished reading the book of Esther in the Old Testament. I was going to move on to Job, but then my brother emailed me his pastor's teachings on the book of Esther. So, every morning for the last 5 days or so, I have been listening to him on my computer. It has been very informative and eye-opening. I have learned WAY more from him then I did from just reading the book on my own.

So, this morning I was on ch. 6 which is where suddenly Mordecai is being honored and Haman has to honor him. Pretty funny irony! And that is where the pastor took this. He said that he thought Ester ch. 6 is the best ex. of God's Providence in the whole Bible. And there are alot of examples of God's providence in the Bible! The definition of Providence (by this pastor) is "the hand of God in the glove of human events". I love that.

Anyways, he talks about the 10 "coincidences" in this book which I don't have time to go into. However, one of these was that King Xerxes had insomnia - so he called for the book of Chronicles to read. This book was what tipped him off to the fact that Mordecai had actually saved his life 5 years ago and was never properly rewarded. The irony of this is that Haman was just on his way in to tell the king he wanted to kill Mordecai and all of the Jews. But that never happened because God led Xerxes to READ THE BOOK!

So, this pastor's point was "Can God direct someone to read a book?" The answer of course is yes, as seen by the above-mentioned story. He goes on to give other examples of people that were led to read books that changed their lives - C.S. Lewis, Augustine the Bishop, etc.

Anyways, I just find this hugely "ironic" that I would hear this message this morning right after I post last night how I feel that God was communicating with me thru His written Word. And the fasting book that led me into this whole last couple of blogs! God is good and He certainly does have a good way of getting His points across!

In the past few days I have had several discussions among friends and family about Prayer. Namely, how if God already has a plan and knows what is going to happen, then why, exactly, do we pray? Well, over the past year I have learned quite a lot about prayer, but I think the biggest thing I learned is that praying is being obedient to God's Word. He tells us over and over in scripture to pray - about little things, big things, specific things, and without ceasing... Also, it is the way we communicate with God. And I learned that God can communicate with us several ways: through reading His Word, through music, through discussions with other Believers, through Church, through "feelings", and even, to some, audibly and/ or visibly.

So, having said all of that, I think God communicated the last couple of days with me directly through His Word. Let me explain.

If you have read my previous two blogs, then you will know that we (a big group of us) were holding a 24 hour prayer and fast for my friend's little girl that was diagnosed with leukemia two weeks ago. Our specific prayer was that the amount of leukemia cells in her bone marrow would decrease significantly from the week before when they were at 86%.

Well, I have one of those "read the Bible in a year" bibles in my bathroom. Lately, I have been looking at the Psalms andProv. for the corresponding day while I happen to be in the bathroom. (But other than that I never read this Bible, and it is not an everyday thing, just occasionally) So, the morning of the fast (May 1st) and a few hours before getting Kennedy's results, this was the Psalm:
Ps. 102:1-28 - "Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry for help come to you. Do not hide your face from me when I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly. For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers. My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food. (and then skipping down to vs 18-22) "Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord: The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death."

So, yesterday about lunchtime, i got the awesome, incredible news that her leukemia cells were less than 5% - which means she is officially IN REMISSION!!! So, we went from 86% to less than 5% in a week. This was better news than I even dreamed of!!!

So, I'm in the bathroom again today (sorry, but that IS the setting of my story :) ) and decide to see what today's (May 2) Psalm was - ready for this?
Ps. 103:1-22 "Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all our diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. vs 8: "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love....(11) For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him....."

So, how funny is that? The morning of the fast compared to the next morning after we had gotten the good news? Crazy!Anyways, thought yall would enjoy some more of God's "irony" - "coincidences" or as I happen to believe, His communication thru His Word to me!!!

God is So Good

Well, today was one of the best days I've had in a lONG time! We found out that Kennedy, my best friend's daughter diagnosed with leukemia 16 days ago, is officially in remission! Last friday her % of leukemia cells in her bone marrow was 86% and today, 1 wk and 1 day later, it was down to less than 5%!!! Which officially makes her "in remission".

What is truly amazing is that her mom and I decided we should do a 24 hour fasting and prayer time before they found out the results this morning. So, we started the fast yesterday at 1:00 and went until today at 1. I emailed tons of people, as did she, and then those people emailed tons of people, etc. I'm not really sure how many people participated in the fast, but personally I knew of around 20 - but I think the number was far greater than that.

What is interesting is that I never knew until recently that we are actually CALLED to fast in the Bible. Matthew 6 says that the three things Christians are required to do are: pray, give, and fast. How did I never know this all my life? God obviously took notice of the large amount of people praying and fasting in this instance. However, I will say that I was ready to praise God even if her # wasn't down. Although it would've been much harder than praising Him for the awesome news we got today.

The thing that I have learned is that even though God has a plan and He knows what is going to happen, He still desires us to pray. This is our way of communicating with Him. And He wants to answer our prayers.

So, to God be the glory, great things He has done!!!

Okay.....well if anyone read my blog yesterday, they are probably thinking I'm quite the petty, self-centered person. But, as I said at the end of my blog, I'm done with that. It is almost a relief for my birthday to be over so I can move forward! (at least until Mother's Day and that is a whole 'nother story!)

So, probably part of the reason I was down yesterday was due to my week. One of my best friend's daughters (age 8) was diagnosed with Leukemia on Wednesday. It was shocking and life-changing news.

To let you know how close I am to my friend, she is my "go-to" buddy. She is the one I call on when I need help or vice-versa. She is the one I call when I find a really good Bible verse because I know she will appreciate it. She is the one that I will talk to for an hour about absolutely nothing and everything. Do you know what I mean?

She is also one of the most compassionate people I have ever known. She actually cried when she saw me after my nasal surgery a couple of years ago. (I did look like I had been ran over by a train.) For this reason, my heart is breaking for her. Of course, my heart is breaking for her child, but I guess I'm looking at this whole thing from a MOM'S point of view. It is absolutely the worst thing I can think about going through as a mom. Feeling helpless, while watching your child suffer.

The good news is that the drs. have given them a 96% cure rate for her kind of leukemia. That is great news because in the 80's the cure rate was 22% or something along those lines.

However, this still does not change the fact that my friend's daughter has blood cancer. And, it doesn't change the fact that she will undergo chemotherapy and many painful procedures the next year to 3 years. I just wish that I could jump in and help my friend as she goes through this. The most that I can do is pray, be there for her whenever she needs me, and pray harder.

The great news is that her and her husband know Christ as their personal Savior. They know that "He works everything to the good of those who love Him" (Rom 8:28). In fact, I feel quite sure that God will use this experience in their lives to reach a lot of people for His kingdom.

Well, today is my 36th birthday. I pretty much felt sorry for myself all day.

My well-meaning husband, who is currently out-of-town, sent me a "happy birthday" text at 6:30 am. Usually I would be up by then, but I happened to sleep very poorly and was probably getting the best sleep of the night about then. Then, I couldn't even do my morning devotion because one of my children slept on the couch, and the other one was in my bed. So, there was no comfortable place for me to go. Next I decided to check my checking account online and then pay bills. Probably not the best idea to do on your birthday morning. I then started on washing the never-ending laundry that 6 people living in one household create. During all of this, my 5 and 7 year olds (finally awake) never acknowledged my birthday (of course not!) which made me feel even sorrier for myself. Pathetic, I know.

Next, I went to run errands - bank, post office, dollar store, etc. Nothing fun and nothing for ME!!! During this time my husband called and asked me if I was having a "good birthday morning". Well, I resonded with "it's just not that big of a deal", which he responded with "wow, your finally getting it"......what? He actually was agreeing with me? Didn't he know that he should've responded with "Don't be silly.......it IS A BIG DEAL"....So, then I got huffy and ended that call.

So, the rest of the day got better. I went to my daughter's soccer game, took a nap (that was the best part of the day), and then went to church this evening. It was an awesome service, but, none-the-less, I still felt slightly sorry for myself.

Here's the reason and my dad pointed this out to me yesterday. When I was growing up, BIRTHDAYS were a BIG DEAL. And I made my family celebrate my birthday for the WHOLE week!!! I really thought it was pretty special that this was the day I was BORN however many years ago. But not anymore. I have four kids. I have lots of obligations. They don't just stop and marvel at the fact that I happened to be born 36 years ago.

I should interject here that I had lots of friends and family call me and text me a happy birthday....which was really nice!

So, as of right now, I'm pretty much over this whole deal. Not that next year I probably won't feel sorry for myself again, but for '09 I'm done. I'm going to go crawl in bed with my box of sweetearts and read........now that's a pretty good way to end my birthday!

Oklahoma on Fire

Well, yesterday our state was on fire. Literally. I have lived in Oklahoma all of my life and I have never seen it so windy......and I've seen LOTS of windy days. To make matters even more exciting, my four children all had outdoor sporting events - from 5 pm till about 9 pm. So, we got to have the dirt blowing in our eyes for a good four hours. I actually wondered if the wind gusts could pick up my 5 yr. old and blow her away?!

So, after finally coming home from the ballpark and getting everybody's teeth brushed, books read, showered, etc., I finally flipped on the news. I could not believe what I was seeing. Fires everywhere!!! And, unfortunately, within 5 miles of my mom's house. I called and checked on her and, sure enough, they had bags packed in case of an emergency evacuation. Luckily, they never had to evacuate and their house is still standing!

Anyways, I was just thinking of all of the catastrophes that have been occurring........tornadoes (our own neighborhood was hit in February), floods, earthquakes, fires, etc. It is quite frightening, really, when you see some of these things happen so close to home (in the case of the devastating tornadoes - about 2 blocks!).

But, then this passage from Isaiah came to mind:

Isaiah 43: 1-5

"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior...Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give nations in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid, for I am with you...."

I am just so glad that I have God's Holy Word to remind me that He is ALWAYS with me. I never have to be afraid because He is right there by my side.

Well, I finished 2 Chronicles this morning. Pretty glad, but as I've said in previous posts, I got more out of it than I would've thought. This morning was really no exception.

After reading all about how good King Josiah was (chs. 34 - 35) and how he truly sought the Lord, once again we move on to the kings that forget all that their predecessor had worked for. So, Josiah's sons become kings that once again set up pagan worship, followed "detestable practices", and "defiled the temple of the Lord".

Now, this is where I got interested this morning. Ch. 36, vs. 15-16, say that "The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through His messengers again and again, because He had pity on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked God's messengers, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against His people and there was no remedy." So, it ends up that God brings up against them the king of the Babylonians who killed a bunch of them and the rest were delivered into the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar.

So, I started thinking.....what about now? In the present time? Do you think God is getting fed up with us? It says that He tried again and again and that He had pity on His people, but to no avail. If God was sick of them, I can't imagine how He must feel about our world now. With unspeakable crimes, terrible greed, perversity like never before, and just a general not caring about God's Word in our society, what must He be thinking?

However, I will say this. Back in ch. 36, vs. 11 - 14, it talks about a bad king named Zedekiah. It says that he "became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the Lord.." Due to his actions, "all the leaders of the priest and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord..." So, if one person can have such an effect on all of those people (even though his was for the bad), it shows us that we, as individuals, can have an effect on lots of people, too. So, it is up to us to spread God's Word, teach others about Christ, and, in general, "let our let shine before others that they may see our good deeds and glorify our God in heaven." We can make a difference if we just show others Christ's love.

Read this if you want to be powerful and successful

Well, for not liking 2 Chronicles much, I sure am getting some good info. out of it! This morning I read more about the good kings/ bad kings. There were 3 main points I got this morning:

1) You need to WHOLEHEARTEDLY do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
This come from 25:2 where the chronicler is telling about King Amaziah. He did some things
that were right in God's eyes, but some were not. And, as soon as he quit following the Lord,
he was killed! So, this tells me that God wants me WHOLEHEARTEDLY. Pretty simple.

2) As long as you seek the Lord, He will give you success.
This was in Ch. 26, talking about King Uzziah (vs. 5). Eventually, Uzziah became prideful
which is what led to his downfall (vs. 16). He tried to burn incense in the temple, a privilege
reserved only for the Levites (descendants of Aaron), and the Lord afflicted him with leprosy
(vs. 20). He then lived in isolation until he died and couldn't even be buried with his ancestors
but in a cementary near them instead.

3) You will grow powerful when you walk steadfastly before the Lord your God.
Moving on to ch. 27 - talking about King Jotham. Vs. 6 says that "he grew powerful because
he walked steadfastly before the Lord his God." Wow. That is pretty good information. This
was one of the few kings that stayed on course with God. No leprosy or sudden death for him.

So, from these 3 verses this is what I can gather: I will be successful and powerful if I walk steadfastly with God and wholeheartedly do what is right in His eyes!!! Pretty good recipe for success, but a little harder to carry out!!!

Fully Committed

Well, I'm reading 2 chronicles again. I'm actually reading through the Bible for the 2nd time and am amazed how much more I have gotten out of it this second time through. If you don't have a good commentary, GET ONE! It has made all the difference in understanding for me. However, 2 Chronicles for the most part retells 2 Kings and it is kind of boring me. With that said, I actually thought this morning about skipping on ahead to Ezra, but decided against it. much Glad I did, because I found some very good nuggets of information in my reading this morning.

First, I love all of the verses in the O.T. about seeking God and finding Him. I have actually started a list of all of these different verses - there are alot! So, 2 Chron. 15:2 "...The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you SEEK Him, He will be FOUND by you, but if you FORSAKE Him, He will forsake you." And then again, vs. 12 "They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul." Vs. 15 "...They sought God eagerly, and He was found by them..." Wow. I love those verses. I don't know about you, but I am actively seeking Him. I am eagerly seeking Him. I want to be found by Him!

Second, this verse really stood out to me. 2 Chron. 16: 9 "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are FULLY committed to Him..." So from this verse we can gather that a) He wants our FULL and TOTAL committment; and b) He will strengthen our hearts once He has our full and total committment. Isn't that awesome? Just picture God sitting up there scanning the whole earth (I picture Him with binoculars, but that is kind of silly, I know) for His children whose hearts are Fully committed to seeking Him! Can't you just see Him, looking from left to right "...nope, nope, nope, Oh, wait....there's one...bam! Heart strengthened...nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, Oh, wait! Another one! bam! Heart strengthened! I really hope when His scan gets to me He says "Bam! Heart strengthened!" How about you?

"Come with me and see my Zeal for the Lord."

ZEAL - that is my word for the day - it struck me while I was doing my morning devotion. I was reading 2 Kings 10:16 "Come with me and see my ZEAL for the Lord." The definition of zeal is: eager and ardent interest in the pursuit of something; fervor; and the synonyms are: enthusiasm, passion, ardor.

Wow. How many people do you know that are "zealous" for the Lord? I know some, but the majority of people I know are FAR from this. They don't even THINK about God. Ususally only when they need something. This makes me so sad. I was just like this a couple of years ago. God was certainly nowhere near the top of my priority list. But, through a series of difficult times, I started turning to God and His Word. It is funny how God does use bad things to bring us to Him. But, Rom. 8:28 says, "in ALL things God works for the GOOD of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." I really wouldn't trade any of the bad things that have happened over the last couple of years to go back to a life without God as my #1. I have come to depend on Him and His Word so much. His Word has become my "guidebook" and my "sword".

Now, having said all of this, I feel like I am growing more and more zealous for the Lord. I would love nothing more than to sit around and talk about Jesus and the Bible all day. The problem is that this makes a lot of people very uncomfortable. They think I'm a little crazy, I think. I can just hear "oh....she has gotten very religious..." What's funny is people can run around with sports team shirts, watches, car flags, cheeseheads, etc., and nobody thinks anything about it. Also, people can scream, cheer, and chant for their favorite athlete, movie star, singer, etc., and that is A-Okay. But, are we going around screaming, cheering, and chanting for the LORD of the Universe? Our God, our Savior? Our Healer, our Deliverer? For the One who gave HIS LIFE so that we may have eternal salvation?

The enemy, satan, is doing a great job in the world today of distracting people from the Truth. We have so many "things" to keep us occupied: computers, cell phones, everybody working all the time to pay the debts we all think we "have to have", etc. I hear a lot of people use the excuse that they just don't have time to read the Bible or even go to church. But, I think these same people have all the time in the world to check email, send texts, watch American Idol, watch sports, etc. I can't imagine what God must be thinking. He is probably so disgusted with us by now that He is seriously reconsidering the "flood" promise. The only thing is, Christ came and died for US.

As I have been reading in the Old Testament, it has hit me hard that here these people had actual signs of God - like fire, clouds, His voice, burning bushes, walls falling down, huge rivers being parted, etc., and they still fell away from worshiping God over and over. He actually dwelled WITH them! Just look at Adam and Eve.....they were in Paradise! Look at the Israelites.....God delivered them from slavery in Egypt and then they still grumbled and complained while in the desert. None of the Old Testament people had computers, cell phones, televisions, etc., to even distract them from God and they still turned from Him and worshiped other gods. So, how much harder for us to focus on God and not put any other idols before Him.

I hope no one thinks I'm casting judgement here. I am just as big of a sinner as the next. God views all sin equally. I, also, spend a lot of time checking emails, texting, watching t.v., etc. God knows all of our thoughts, He knows our hearts - we cannot hide anything from Him. God has taken me on this incredible journey the last couple of years, however, and boy how my "zeal" for God has changed. I didn't used to have hardly any, and I can only hope that I will continue to be more "zealous" for the Lord. But, the key to all of this, is that God has been working in me. I haven't really done anything. The only thing I did was make a decision to spend a little bit of time every morning reading the Bible and praying. At first, it was really very boring. Now, 2 years and 3 mos. later, I can't wait to dig into my Bible and learn more about my Savior. Phil. 2:13 says "For God is working in you, giving you the desire and power to do what pleases Him."

Baseball Season Begins

Well, this weekend was the opening weekend for our family for BASEBALL Season. Tanner, my 13 yr. old had a school game at 4:00 on Friday in Deer Creek, and then Sat., Macy (5 - 1/2) had a 10:00 soccer game; at the same time, Tanner had a 9:00 baseball game and Carson (12) had a 10:30 game. Then both boys had 6:30 games, but true to any tourney, they both started late - so we weren't home from the ballpark until about 9:30. The time change made getting up and going to church yesterday morning extremely difficult, but we did manage. And then we had baseball games from 1:30 until about 9:00 last night, because we kept winning! That's the crazy thing about winning........you are there the latest! So, sometimes its kind of nice to be the loser and get to go home early, but don't tell anyone else in my family I said that. Really, you can tell by this schedule, that we need another parent or two in the mix. Having four kids all playing sports is tough. Now I can kind of understand polygamy. As long as I could pick the wife........and only if she was willing to cook, clean, and drive kids around all day. Not sure why anyone in their right mind would sign up for that gig! It is kind of funny when you consider that polygamy doesn't go the other way. Notice there is no sane woman that wants more than ONE husband - Ha. Ha! That's because they are as much or more work than the kiddos! Sorry, all you husbands that might be reading this, but it is TRUE! I really am kidding about the whole polygamy thing - just a joke!

My husband and I had some good laughs while watching the 7 yr. old parents and coaches go crazy over their games. Now that our kids are older, we look back at how competitive we were when they were so little and we just laugh. You definitely get wiser as you get older. I used to be so competitive and thought it was such a big deal - win or lose. Now, I am just so grateful that my children are healthy and God has given them the ability to play sports at all! This knowledge has come through watching some of my friends' kids have illnesses that prevent them from playing. Last year there was a 12 yr. old boy at one of my son's games that was in a wheelchair with both arms and legs amputated (from elbow down and knees down) - He was in a uniform and cheering on his team. We found out that just the year before he had been one of the star players on their team and during the year (post season) he had gotten strep throat. They put him on antibiotics but apparently it was a different strain of strep that started attacking his main organs - heart, lungs, liver - so they had to give him something that directed the strep bacteria to his limbs, knowing that they would have to amputate. But this was the only way to save his life. Wow. To go from being a perfectly healthy, even athletic, 12 yr. old to a quadraplegic. Can you imagine how heartbreaking? But there he was, in his wheelchair, cheering all his teammates on! It brings tears to my eyes even thinking about it. That is why I am not so competitive anymore. Who cares if we win or lose? All that matters is that my kids are healthy and happy and able to play at all. I'm sure that the Lord has a very special plan for that little boy and his family. I bet they have touched so many lives and don't even know it. I know that they have definitely changed my outlook on life!

Well, it's funny, now that I'm a "blogger", I am constantly thinking about things I should blog about. Unfortunately, I just don't have the time......I'd like to say something about my profile. I have on there that Christ has taken the #1 priority spot in my life. I feel like I should expound on that.

My life has taken some completely unexpected turns in the last couple of years. I think nobody is prepared for just how hard "life" can be. The really wondrous thing is that God uses all of the hard things in life to bring us closer to Him. In retrospect, I wish that I had just been constantly seeking the Lord and then maybe wouldn't have had to go through some of the circumstances I've gone through. However, some of them were completely out of my control, and obviously we are going to go through hard things in life - that's just life! There is sadness, sickness, death, and a multitude of other things that will happen to EVERYONE! All as a result of SIN! Thanks Adam and Eve!

Recently, my mother was in the hospital with a marathon (45 days and I think 25 were in intensive care)"should-be-dead" scenario and I have never relied so completely on God's grace and His Awesome Word! My Bible became my constant companion, my guidebook, my source of comfort, and definitely my "Sword". My brother and I were constantly texting each other Bible verses to comfort one another. These kinds of things are so hard while you are going through them, but it is amazing the way your relationship with the Lord grows if you lean on Him. I am just so grateful that I have had Jesus by my side during all of my recent trying circumstances.

However, I have noticed that when I am NOT in the middle of a "trial" in my life, my focus on God seems to waver some. I still get up in the morning and do my devotion; I still pray; I still go to church and talk about God with my friends, BUT other things seem to creep into my life that take up time and attention.

So, with all this being said, what I am trying to get at is that I WANT Christ to be my number one priority. I said that He is in my profile, but that is not ALWAYS the case. However, that is what I hope will happen. Just in the last 2 years, I cannot believe the difference in my relationship with the Lord. Before, we were just casual acquaintances......you know, I said "hi" to Him at church on Sunday and usually before meals throughout the week (or if I really NEEDED something), but over the last couple of years I'd say we have moved up to truly great friends. In fact, there is a verse, John 15:15 that says "I no longer call you servants, because servants do not know their master's business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything I learned from the Father I have made known to you." The more that I get to know God through His Word, the better friends we become.

Ravens and a Widow

Well.....I was doing my devotion this morning and came upon the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 17:1-24. It really struck me how God loves to use the most impossible ways to show His Sovereignty. In this story, God tells Elijah that there is going to be a drought for the next few years and that he needs to go tell mean ol' King Ahab that news. (Ch. 16 told us that King Ahab was the most evil king so far...) So, Elijah tells Ahab the bad news and then the Lord tells him he better run and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. Then he tells Elijah that he will be able to drink from the brook and that the ravens will bring him food. I don't know about you, but I would have a hard time believing that some bird was going to be responsible for FEEDING me! But, Elijah did what the Lord told him, and sure enough, every morning and night RAVENS brought him bread and meat. Wow. What you might not know is that ravens are notorious for not even caring for their own young! So, if they won't even worry about feeding their own babies, it's pretty remarkable that they would bring food to this strange guy twice a day for 3 years, huh?

Now, if that is not enough to show God's absolute Sovereignty, he tells Elijah to go from the Ravine to Zarephath where a WIDOW will provide him with food. First the ravens, now a widow. Back then the widows were the poorest people around and would be the first to run out of food during a famine. But, once again, Elijah trusted the Lord and made the 90 MILE trek to find this widow that was apparently going to feed him. Don't you know that Elijah must've been thinking "Lord, can't you find me a widow that is like 5 miles away.....90? That'll take me FOREVER!" Well, that's what I would've been thinking anyways! So he finds this widow and asks her to bring him a drink which she does. Then he asks her for some bread and she tells him that all she has left is a tiny bit of olive oil and a handful of flour, and that, in fact, she was going to make that into bread for her and her son as their last meal because then they would surely die from starvation. Well, Elijah tells her to not be afraid and to go ahead and make the bread for him, her son, and herself, and that the Lord would never let the flour or olive oil run out until the drought ended. So, the widow does what he asks. Verse 12 shows that the widow did believe in his God. Now that took some faith on the widow's part, huh? To give the rest of what she has to some strange man........But, sure enough, they never ran out of food. God did provide!

Ch. 17 ends with the widow's son dying (not from starvation, but it doesn't say why), and Elijah prays over the boy PERSISTENTLY and he is actually raised from the dead. This happens to be the first recorded incident in Scripture of one being raised from the dead. Wow.

So, isn't that whole story truly remarkable? I truly pray that God will give me the faith of Elijah and that widow. It really shows me just how shallow my own faith is. And I just love how God uses two of the most improbable sources to take care of Elijah during the drought/famine: RAVENS and a WIDOW. Now that, my friends, shows God's Absolute Sovereignty.

Okay, now my real 1st post!

Wow......Never thought I'd be in the "world of blogging"..........But, I'm actually pretty excited about it! I've been thinking for awhile about the Jerry Maguire movie and how he comes out with his infamous "mission statement". I've decided that I need my own mission statement!

Matthew 5:16 says "Let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your God in Heaven." Wow. When you stop and think about that verse it is humbling to know that your actions, words, deeds, etc., might be what influences a person to accept Christ or not. I am working really hard on remembering that verse throughout my daily activities. The funny thing is, it is easier to "let my light shine" around everybody but my own family! And by "my family" I mean my four kiddos and my husband. Why is it so much easier to be kind, compassionate, loving, patient, etc., with everybody but those you are closest to? God has been kind of letting me know lately that they are exactly the ones I need to be showing God's love to!

So, I am working on that. However, I fail just about on a daily basis. For example, last week I got a call from the playground "duty monitor" at my 7-yr.-old's school. Luckily, she is a friend of mine, or this call would've been even more horrifying. Seems as if my 7-yr-old, Maddox, (he is the youngest of three brothers and also has a sister 19 mos. younger than him) has been involved in some "bullying" incidents. Now this is not the first time I have had to deal with him this year on this issue. Unfortunately he has been kind of "mean" to a really good friend of mine's son. I don't know if it is better or worse for it to be one of my FRIEND'S son. To make a long story short, I told my husband that he was going to have to deal with this because I was so angry and knew I wouldn't handle the situation appropriately. So my husband told me to put him in his room when he got home from school and he would deal with it. Sounds like a great idea, right? Well, I'm not really sure what happened to me. Apparently, the devil invaded my body, and the minute my son walked in the door all happy and smiley (with his front big tooth missing, no less), I lost it. He asked me if he could go play at his friend's house and I responded with "are you kidding me? Do you want to tell me what happened at school?" He really had no clue what I was talking about.......but about 20 minutes later, after hearing me RANT AND RAVE at him, he was in tears, and my 13 yr. old informed me I had probably scarred him for life. I won't go into all of the details, but why did I have to act like that? I knew that would happen and had even made precautions against it, but unfortunately there I was...screaming and acting like a mad woman......certainly not "letting my light shine" to my gap-toothed little 7-yr-old. My brother had told me recently that he thought his life verse was probably Rom. 7:15 "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." So, there you have it, I was doing exactly what I did not want to do.

And now I have Dr. Phil in my head saying "it will take a 1000 'atta-boys' to make up for that one screaming incident". So, anyways, I guess my point is that Matt. 5:16 is what I would like my mission statement to be, but I am just a sinful human and Rom. 7:15 is probably more like it!

My First Blog Entry

This is my first entry.