Sunday, May 03, 2009
Are you willing?
I was reading in Isaiah this evening.
I came across this
Isaiah 20
"....the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, "Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet." And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot. Then the LORD said, "Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years....."
Naked and barefoot for 3 years to obey God!!!
I sometimes wonder if God asks us to do outrageous things and we think... "God wouldn't really ask that of me." it makes no mention of what Isaiah felt, just that he obeyed.
Anyway, it made me think.... so I thought I'd share the pleasure. ;0)
Friday, April 17, 2009
Goals
The closest I come to that is probably the occasional "to do list" which probably comes down to the fact I really like crossing things off the list!
I was thinking however, that I do have some set goals that I continually work toward.
We have set (long ago) some traditions that are important to us, things we want to pass on to our kids, or at least make memories they will enjoy for years to come. Those things we make a purpose to add to our lives now, which is the process of reaching our goals.
We want to teach our kids about money. How to tithe, save, spend; how to avoid the pitfalls of being miserly or frivolous. We use a standard Deut 6 approach
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Last evening I had the chance to allow my kiddos to spend their money in a God honoring way and that's when it hit me that I actually do have goals, and things we are working toward...whether or not I write it down. ;0)
Maybe you, like me, get discouraged by others who say you need to do things this way or that.... scheduling, writing down goals, or whatever it may be...
I say follow God as the person He made you. He made us all different for a reason, and no it isn't just to bug those Type A's who thing we should all be like them.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Praise
1 Praise the LORD.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD.
Psalm 149 :3 Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with tambourine and harp.
Is it just me or do you get the feeling that the psalmist wants us to praise with everything we've got?
Ever feel like your church doesn't?
Good News! You don't have to be in a "church" to worship "in Spirit and in truth!"
You are the church! Hallelu Yah!
Do it every where, all the time, and with all you've got!
Psalm 103
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
22 Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.
Speaking in tongues?
As she crept across his pillow he said, "Hey. You weren't invited into my prayers. It's not your turn. You know, Mom, I help Sasha pray sometimes in her own cat language."
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The Divine Frying Pan
Sometimes I think I am in need of God's Divine Frying Pan to smack the sense into me!
This surrender issue, is the heart of most of my issues in life. I once again have visited the anxious part of myself and had a revelation.
There I was in Walmart...(where all great thinking is done) catching up with some friends who are trying to leave for the mission field soon, when out of my mouth come anxious words I didn't know were in my heart until then.
"Under the current administration, we may be out of a job at some point soon." :O There was a meeting at work that day.... I was thinking somewhere inside of me that it may be lay offs (which the company had just announced 700 layoffs in another area) and I was unaware that it was even there until I suddenly said it to them!
Thankfully we have recently memorized Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the Peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Please forgive the punctuation...I didn't memorize that! (0; ) The Spirit spoke that out of my mouth directly after the above confession. I'd almost say regurgitated is the best description. LOL. So after all that, I keep going..."God knows we will feel anxious at times, but gives us the instructions, go to God in prayer and He will help you not to be anxious." It seems so simple, and yet for me it was so profound! I'm still thanking Him for bringing that to me!
There have been lots of those moments, of needing to remember not to be anxious. It's tough to learn a new trait.
Psalm 116
5The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.
6 The LORD protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me.
7 Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.
17 I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the LORD.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the LORD— in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD.
Monday, March 16, 2009
To catch a Pumpkin
Tonight, as I relax on the sofa nursing Brianna; Aliyah sits beside me "reading" a book. I notice on the other side of the room a very strange occurrence. A baby doll, attached by a shoelace to a hanger is bobbing up and down repeatedly in the doorway.
**Imagine the carrot on the end of a stick.**
It continues a while as I hear muffled laughs and snorts from the culprits.
Apparently, they were "baiting" her to come and play again! Unfortunately, it did not manage to get her attention. Maybe they should've made crying sounds to go with it?
I found it hilarious, but you may have had to be there.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Lessons from the Seasons : Spring
We have 15 fruit trees, 13 other trees, several Yucca and roses, and plans for a veggie garden.
The trees have needed some proper pruning for about a decade, so it is a lot of work. The first one I did took 2 days with an hour to two hours invested each day! just on the cutting.
As I am out there in God's beautiful handiwork, watching the bees pollinate the plum tree as I decide which branch to cut and which to leave, my heart thought of the different work of the different seasons.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
"1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."
Spring is a time of new growth, and lots of it... which is about where I've been feeling I am in life, right now. The trees are putting out new buds and branches in every direction, and where they are good things to have, not all of them are growing in a good direction. And too many aren't good either. So I cut away unnecessary growth, and choose the best ones in the right directions to leave to grow.
I've been praying as I do for God's direction in how things should be; and then the thought came that God's wisdom is needed for the direction of my new growth too. Maybe there's too much going on and I need to thin out, or maybe some things are growing in a direction that wont be best. He knows and will help me to thin and grow in the ways He sees best.
The other seasons aren't as developed in my head as spring is since it has been shown to me recently, but here is a brief idea. I'll continue searching.
Summer is a time for maturing and bearing fruit.
Fall is the season of harvesting and reaping what you've sown.
Winter is the time to "Be still and know."
I think I happen to be in a spring time in my life during spring this year, but that you can be in any of the spiritual seasons regardless of the climate. ;0)
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Everyone wants to go to Heaven
I've had several thoughts I've wanted to share here, then by the time I get here, it's all gone! Gotta work while I can remember. :-D
So Heaven. Everyone wants to go there right. Well I've started to wonder.... why?
You hear people who want to go there because they don't want to go to hell.
Because Dad, Grandma, my kitten, whoever is there.
Because they don't believe there's anywhere else to go.
Because it's supposed to be a really great place where the list of adverse things I don't like are gone....forever.
But I wonder, isn't there really only one reason to truly want to go?
To be with God.
As I thought of this an analogy came to my mind.
Suppose someone said they want to come to your house, but only because they really don't want to go to jail. or because someone else is going to be there that they want to see. or because you have really great food and your house is amazing.
Do you really want that person, who obviously doesn't care about you, to come to your house?
What is our attitude about it? Are we in it to avoid negative consequences? To see someone we knew here on earth and loved? Do we love God for "His stuff?"
Let that not be true!
Let us love God who loved us so much to leave His heavenly throne to die to bring us to Himself!!! And let us desire to be in His presence eternally.
When my kids talk about going to heaven and seeing each other there, I tell them. "You know, when we are there in the very presence of God, I don't think we'll care about much else. Yes, I'll be there, you'll be there, but the most important of all God is there!"
Mine Ebenezer
Like Much Afraid in Hind's Feet on High Places, I have my memorial stones; though unlike Samuel I haven't named any... yet.
I've been feeling the need to "raise mine Ebenezer" lately. I have been moving forward toward the prize at a faster pace for a few months, and I feel that "hither by Thy help I'm come." Everything truly does seem to be "working together," which I know it always has and yet seems so much more really happening. Everything pointing in the same direction, in all areas of my life, to bring me closer and closer to Him.
So Here I raise mine Ebenezer. My memorial blog, carved out somewhere (lost) in cyberspace.
For Hitherto hath the Lord helped me overcome myself.
Amusing (to me)
So she hears me tell hubby that I will "show her what it's like on the receiving end" and she thinks that will be cool.
So tonight she asks to "play" the game again.
I repeat what she says. When she starts to ask me questions she really wanted an answer to, I simply repeat her question. I repeat her laughs, snorts and chortles. I'm thinking that I'm pretty annoying, but that doesn't quell her fun.
She starts replying to her questions for me.
Ysa: "Mommy is this fun?" I: repeat
Ysa: "Yes Ysa. This is fun. We should do it every night" I: repeat
So after we do that a few times she really thinks she's got it...
Ysa: "Hey Ysa. We should go eat all the candy canes in the candy cane holder!"
That's about where I tackled her with tickles until she couldn't talk any more.
This may be the best option for stopping the parrot game.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Pride, goeth!
Please don't send me messages saying you don't think I'm prideful, this only adds to it!
It seems even when I try to be less prideful I find I am only more self focused trying to fix it! **Arg**
I may be defining more things as pride than are technically considered pride. But arrogance, conceit, vanity, disdain of others, inordinate self-esteem are all synonymous with pride, so I don't think I'm stretching the definition too far. Being self focused, IMO, is pride.
Straight from www.merriam-webster.com
synonyms proud , arrogant , haughty , lordly , insolent , overbearing , supercilious , disdainful mean showing scorn for inferiors. proud may suggest an assumed superiority or loftiness. arrogant implies a claiming for oneself of more consideration or importance than is warranted
Any time I question God, really I'm showing arrogance. Who am I to think He should have to answer to me?
Needing to be right or to correct someone else; the need to be understood; the need to have the last word; a "my rights" attitude; all prideful behaviors.
What about those times when you find someone else's company a little "beneath" your IQ? Conceit. And, after all, your IQ wont get you to Heaven!
I was recently in this position at a fellowship, when the Spirit smote me:
1 Samuel 16:7
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
I thought again and said, in matters of the Spirit, I am far less mature!
James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5; Prov.3:34 :
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
Now check out these definitions of humble:
1: not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive
2: reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission <humble apology>
There it is again that word submission, or as I often use it, surrender.
I decided to share this all here (for all three of you who read it) because pride loves to have others only see the good, presentable side. If pride is to be slain, he must first be stripped of his power. (Mark 3:27...sort of)
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
A message from my heart
It came to me that the Lord was grieved also, that His compassion for her was far greater than mine and that my compassion was a gift from Him. Then as I was thinking how those responsible for her death should be beaten to death; it occurred to me that my sins also deserve death! That the Lord feels compassion for them so much so that He died a horrible death, and that they really need to know that forgiveness. The only thing separating me from them was Jesus' forgiveness.
So I thought I had two special messages from the Lord and that I should share them with you.
One, we cannot fathom how wide and high and long and deep is the love of God; that He is of tenderest compassion. The other, that each person, regardless of our view of them, is precious to Him; so much so that He died to save them! A truth I sometimes need reminding of.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Tis greater to give
They have the food, they just need to ship it there, and that's what a donation can help.
10 cents ships a meal.
How many dimes do you have lying around?
When I challenged my kids, they ransacked their change jars and bear banks and came up with
515 meals!
They can't wait to change the lives of those kids with hope, and the food they need for body and soul!
You can give online here.
Or by mail to:
Campus Crusade for Christ
PO Box 628222
Orlando, FL 32832
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." James 1:27
Signs of strength or of weakness
Some find this to be a strength, will power or discipline.
As I was talking with Ysa yesterday though, I suddenly had an epiphany.
It is no sign of strength, but a sign of weakness.
I do absolutely NO chocolate because I cannot do moderation.
All things in moderation.... for me that does not include chocolate!
So since I cannot discipline myself to only do a little, I do none.
It really is easier, for me.
And thus, I find it to be a weakness.
Monday, December 01, 2008
Wherever I go...... there I am
Just a little rant about mirrors.
I've never been overly fond of them; at our last home we only had the small medicine cabinet mirror.
Here however, I can't escape them... in my room anyway.
Both closets have double sliding mirror doors, the chest of drawers has a large mirror on it, the dresser has a small mirror on it, and there's a standing mirror (was my hubby's growing up) up against the wall facing one of the closets. Then there are two more in the master bath.
Just about anywhere in here I see me, sometimes multiples of me! It's really weird to see every move you make. A couple of times I have turned away from one only to be facing another, and with more than one side of me showing at the same time! ugh.
I'm sure I'll get used to it with time.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Two Months Already!
Wow.
It really makes me wonder how time can fly by and stand still all at the same time!
She saw her Dr for her 2 month check today.
All is well. She has had a small cold courtesy of her siblings, but that aside she's a healthy little sweetie!
She is now 10 lbs. 15 oz. and 23 1/2 inches long.
That's 4lbs 5 oz. gained in the last 2 months!
Her face is rounding out quite a bit, but not too much of that has touched her thighs ;0)
Thursday, November 20, 2008
meant for you (and me)
On our first Sunday being back after Brianna's birth, we covered John 16. Verse 21 struck me.
I had repeated it to myself (sometimes aloud) during labor.
"A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for the joy that a human being has been born into the world."
Like I said, I was reminding myself of it over and over.... "we're almost through"....." you wont remember this part when it's over".......
Then when we were in class and we read it, I got to thinking.
Jesus is talking to his disciples....men!.... and he is using a birth analogy.
For me this meant one important truth.
This passage was a statement for me! (and maybe you too (0; )
All of the bible is really God's love letter to His children, so it shouldn't be surprising to have something that seemed to be spoken directly to me. A wonderful reminder for me though that the Living Word is true "yesterday, today and tomorrow" as true for me here and now as it was for the disciples then.
But I do kind of wonder how much head scratching was done when Jesus spoke these things to these men. ;)
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Couldn't resist linking this one up for the blog and share too. ;)

Monday, November 17, 2008
The potty song
With her history we often check on the kidneys whenever there is a tummy trouble, to rule out any kidney issues.
So since it was late on a Friday, we didn't get her pee pee in the bag in good time.
The following Wednesday she had her ultrasound anyway, so trying to get everything done in one trip, I put her new bag on before we left. That was sometime around 11AM.
The ultrasound was at 1PM and still an empty bag, but we saw a full bladder on the screen soooo any time now...right?
Nope.
So we traveled to the other side of town to the doctor's area..... nothin'
We went to WalMart to kill time. Still no pee pee.
Off we go to the Drs bathroom to try for some inspiration.
There she tells me if I take the "sticker" (the bag) off she'll go in the potty. (and the cup)
After trying this for some time, I gave up entirely!
Fast forward to the next morning.
A sweet little Aliyah face peeks over the bed with her usual wake up call.
Then she sits comfortably next to the bed to play and sing.
"I not pee in da bag" she sings.....
LOL
I couldn't believe she was singing about that silly bag and her will to avoid using it!
One battle I'm not going to fight.
*W*I*N*
it's an acronym for What's Important Now.
I've been thinking about this a lot.
What is most important for this moment.
For daily and weekly tasks this can be as simple as it's time to get dinner ready or plan the center piece for Saturday's Boutique.
Even bigger though is this place in history.
With everything that's going on around us I am reminded that we are only here temporarily. I need to be "about my Father's business" continually.
That's always been true, but I am one of those people who need reminders about WIN.
Anyway, just wanted to share.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
My life as a ping pong ball
Lately, I've started to feel like change would be pretty nice if it slowed down a little. Soooo many changes in such a short time leaves me feeling a bit like a ping pong ball. Always being smacked back and forth with no real break in between.
Along with all the changes I've mentioned in recent blogs, we have had changes in my hubby's work schedule too. In February he changed "temporarily" to second shift; in September the hours of that shift were changed to 2 hours earlier. Now we are changing to days again, but it may only be for a couple of weeks. I've changed bed times, meal times, school times, etc. twice already in the last 8 to 9 months, it will be changing back again starting Monday.
We have looked forward to changing back to days, but I don't like the indefinate part of this change. I know nothing lasts forever and all, but I'd like to know a ball park figure on the duration of this one.
Ahhhhh, there I go again being a stick in the mud.