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!