Ugh...Then There Was Submission...

Do you ever feel like you're doing a pretty good job? Like, yeah, I've got this down. I have definitely had some moments where I have gotten proud, and been humbled quickly. For example, anytime my children are being well-behaved in the store and someone comments, I get proud. Enter the screaming child. I feel like I was doing that to myself with my stance as a follower of Christ. I'm giving freely, I'm spending quiet time with Him, I'm talking to my children about Him, I'm learning so much from His word, I'm, I'm, I'm....oh...there's that pride. Enter the screaming child...which is actually me. It's me being totally disrespectful to my husband. It's me being controlling, argumentative, childish at times, and flat out selfish. It's me claiming my rights, instead of obeying my Lord and submitting to the authority of my husband. It has been brought to my attention (and you know how He does it) via the radio, morning devotions, bloggers (who actually blog more than a dozen times in a 3 year span), Bible study, my husband himself...over and over and now I think I'm starting to actually hear it! It isn't all about my wants and needs, it's about the place God put me and how he wants to bless me. If I'd just zip my lips, change my thoughts and therefore change my ATTITUDE, He'd be able to bless my marriage so much more! My husband would be so much happier! My children would be so much more at peace...and I'd imagine respectful! Lord, I don't have this...I need your help! Seriously! I'm a sinking ship here on my own, I need you to continue to show me the places I'm messing up, and the ways to make it right! Thank you for the chance to do it again and again until I get it right. You're so awesome! In Jesus' name Amen.
So grateful that I have a God that loves me personally and knows my faults and shows them to me so that I can grow and be better. What a blessed life I have!

Prayer for Family

Oh Holy Father in Heaven,

You are the Lord...there is nothing that I can do without you. I can try and try, but it will be a failure if I try to do it without you. You don't need me to do anything...you made all of the universe without me, you created life without me. You are so beautiful and amazing and powerful! How amazing it is to see your people be the hands and feet of your son, Jesus. What a blessing it has been to step out in faith and see with new eyes. Lord, seeing with new eyes I see my family. I see you there. I see you as a hobby, on the backburner...you are something that they "do" and it breaks my heart. I can't stand to watch them drifting farther and farther and I don't have the courage to stand out and speak truth to them Lord. I don't have the words for them Lord. I need your grace...your Holy Spirit...I need you to get through to them. Lord, just let there be revival in the hearts of my family. Let them reignite the passions that they once had...the fires that were burning for you Lord. Let them seek you, and question what would be glorifying to you. And Lord, just forgive me. Forgive me for holding back, and not speaking truth to them time and time again. Help me to be able to stand out in faith with my family Lord, and hope that they accept what I have to say. Help me Lord to be strengthened by your word. Lord help me to accept the loss of relationship if they don't accept what I need to tell them. Help me to deal with it without becoming bitter. Thank you so much for them Lord, because they raised me and helped mold me into who I am today Lord, thank you so much for that! Thank you for every breath that they breathe Lord. Just help them to burn for you and to desire a real, intimate, personal relationship with you Lord.  Help them to not just know your word, but to desire and try to live it daily! Help them Lord, and help me. Lord I'm really just praying for revival of their hearts and minds...for my family, for our country.  Help them to be lights unto the world. Help them to desire to actively seek you Lord.  You are so amazing, and you are the only one who can do this. You are all knowing and all powerful and so loving. It's in the precious name of your son who died to save me, Jesus, that I pray Lord. Amen.

Give Thanks!

So this Thanksgiving I am so keenly aware of what seems to be a million things that I need to be grateful to God for. So I have been sure to give thanks. But oh do I need to purpose to thank Him for everything so much more! Daily, hourly, in every situation...give thanks! So here are just a couple of verses (a handful, really) about giving thanks! Hope you all had a fantasic Thanksgiving day!

"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

-Phillippians 4:19

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

-1 Thessalonians 5:18

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."

-Philippians 4:6

"Let there be thankfulness to God."

-Ephesians 5:4

"Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;

make known among the nations what he has done.

Sing to him, sing praise to him;

tell of all his wonderful acts.

Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

Look to the Lord and his strength;

seek his face always.

Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,

O descendants of Abraham his servant

O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones.

He is the Lord our God;

his judgments are in all the earth."

-Psalm 105:1-7

"Praise the Lord.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

his love endures forever."

-Pslam 106:1

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all generations."

-Psalm 100

Remember to thank Him today!

An Attitude of Gratitude

I have been getting smacked in the face all day today with the same verse. Does that ever happen to you? It's like the Holy Spirit telling you, "Hey! Are you reading this? This is important and you keep missing it! Read it again!" (imagine Holy Spirit flicking you in the forehead). It really could not be more evident that there is something you really need to hear that you just aren't getting. Wake up, it comes up in my quiet time. Check my email, it comes up in my daily devotion. Read the book I'm reading and the chapter I'm on starts with the same verse! Okay, okay...I get it...I'll look deeper, break it down word for word...oh wait! I never noticed that before! So here's the verse...it's a pretty familiar one.

"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 your minds in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:6-7

Did you catch that? 2 little words my mind had never focused in on, or really even heard before when reading this verse. "With thanksgiving." How many times did I miss that? How many times did I pray about a financial situation, a health issue, a broken down car, a child...and not do it with thanksgiving? How many times did I forget about all of the blessings that I have and start to worry about things that I had no control over anyway?

You have to choose to use a grateful attitude. Make a conscious decision that I'm going to thank you for all that I do have instead of lingering over that one thing that I want/want to happen. Flip the switch in your head and praise Him for all that's been given. It isn't always easy. But what was the reward from that? The peace of God, which is beyond all understanding...peace. How many times in our world do we here someone say "I just want peace." I wonder how many of them know that without Christ, without giving thanks, there will be no peace? What if the world started giving thanks? What an amazing change could occur!

This past week, my husband and I had an issue come up that could have destroyed our world. Broken down everything we have.  I took 20 minutes to be angry...not to act angry but to feel angry. Just 20 minutes. I took the next hour searching scripture and listening to some good music. I then took the next 30 minutes to give thanks. I thanked the Lord that he brought up issues from my past that I had pushed to the side, because now I could work through them with Him as my guide and my counselor. I thanked Him that we could have full disclosure and my husband could be totally honest with me in our marriage without fear of reprecussion. I thanked Him for lifting the shadow of guilt from our marriage so that my husband could be led by the Holy Spirit whole-heartedly. Nothing is holding him back. And most importantly for me, I thanked Him for helping me to hold my tongue and not lash out in anger, and for allowing me the grace to work through my anger quickly so that I could deal with the issue at hand with a clear mind. Can I just tell you that at the end of this time of thanksgiving, I felt so much peace about the issue. I was able to forgive and let go. What a freeing moment in my life. I couldn't quite figure out what I had done differently this time that allowed me to so quickly come to peace with this until today. There it was in black and white, over and over. I didn't just ask God to help me get beyond the situation, I thanked Him for it. I recognized what I did have now because of this, and I thanked Him for what it was doing in my life. What freedom we have when we enter his presence with an attitude of gratitude!

I hope that this was helpful for someone else needing a good thump on the forehead!

Have a glorious day digging deeper into those "same old verses" and learning something totally new!

All For the Glory of God

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

1 Corinthians 10:31

   This verse is always so convicting every single time I read it.  Do it ALL for the glory of God. All. Everything. How challenging is that? When I wake up in the morning, am I grumbling? That doesn't glorify God. When I get dressed am I wondering if what I'm choosing to wear is glorifying to God? Am I having my quiet time with Him out of a desire to know Him and His word better, or because it's something I have to do? What is my tone with the kids? How am I using my time? What is my attitude while I go about my chores? Did I lose my temper with the kids? Did I quietly encourage them to do the right thing, or did I tell them harshly what they were not doing right? Do you see my point?

 

  It's barely 8:30 and I've already failed to glorify God in all of these little choices. It isn't just about the big things. It isn't about making one or two big choices in your day to day life. It is about making every individual decision throughout the day. It's about forcing yourself to be held accountable for every single thought and decision, and if it isn't going to glorify Him, changing your way of thinking. Changing your attitude. Making a decision that I am going to glorify Him in this as well.

Hard to do? Yes. Worth it? Definitely!

Have an amazing day making the decision to glorify Him in everything!

Worst Blogger Ever!

I am so sorry for anyone that was waiting for my next post! You waited a long time! We have made it over the hump, however, and we now have 4 beautiful children! We were extremely blessed to welcome a beautiful and healthy baby boy on October 10, 2011.  Titus James was 7 lbs 15 oz and 21" long! He is growing wonderfully and to quote my mother-in-law he is filling out beautifully. God has totally blessed us. I cannot imagine where we would be without Him right now. We have been able to witness so many people working as His hands and feet these past couple of months it is just truly amazing and inspiring. God has been moving in our lives in wonderous ways.

The past few days have been rough. The Holy Spirit layed some things on my husband's heart that brought up many of the issues of self-doubt and so many others that I had never really dealt with since I was a teenager. There came a day where I knew I was pregnant with Will and I had no choice but to forget those things, pushing them to the back of my mind but never really dealing with them. So when Jimmy came to talk to me on Sunday evening alot of those feelings and emotions came flooding back in. Praise the Lord for it though, because I am now having the opportunity to work through them with God guiding me and helping me. What fabulous grace I have been given! Such an amazing and awesome God we serve!

I have really been encouraged, convicted and especially challenged by the book Not A Fan by Kyle Idleman. Fabulous read! I recommend it to everyone. Period. God has really been using it to change things up around here, and it is crazy! I'm excited to see where things proceed from here, and even more excited to share these things with you all as they unfold!

How great and amazing is our God!  As I look into the face of any one of my children, I am overwhelmed with love and cannot imagine giving one of them up for anyone. God loved us so much that He gave His son to die for us...while we were strangers to Him, when we were refusing Him and turning our backs, He gave His only son...ONLY son to die fore the people that hurt Him the most.  Now that is love that is uncomprehendable while we are still here on earth! Crazy, unbelievable, awesome love!  We totally do not deserve it!  And all that He asks is that we believe and follow Him! Gives me chills just thinking about it. Amazing and wonderful grace!

So sorry that my first post in months is so random and scatterbrained, but I am just so excited! Know that there are many more things to come from my blog in the near future. I am so excited to share them with you, and so blessed to have the opportunity!

PRAISE THE LORD!

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
1 Corinthians 10:31

Can You See It Coming?

So I just have to get this all off of my chest.  My husband is so eagerly awaiting the world's end...just to be called up to live with Jesus for the rest of eternity! He talks about it so frequently Grace actually asked me the other day if today was the day we got to "fly up with Jesus"! I was careful to make sure to tell her that no one knows the time or day, except for God. She continued on to ask about different family members and if they would be flying up with us.  That thought almost broke my heart.  How do you tell a 3 year old that certain loved relatives would not be going with us if they didn't make a decision for Christ?  Not an easy conversation!  That led me to think, though.  Everyone keeps saying the end is near, and the signs are there more and more each day.  So what on earth are we all waiting for?  I want my loved ones with me for eternity, and if we don't make a real effort, it could be too late!  Why would we say "Oh that's a topic for another day!" when we know that it could happen in 5 minutes, or in 5 years! NO ONE KNOWS!  So why do we put off telling others? Why do we let them live their lives with no interference? They need interference!  I do not want to see a young niece or nephew on their way to Hell asking me why I didn't tell them. Why I would let them go to Hell.  There is no child too young...if they understand it, they can ask Jesus into their heart.  I've heard stories of 2 5 year olds this week alone that made professions of faith and repented and asked Jesus to save them.  There is no adult too old! That crabby old man next door who is well into his 90's could accept Jesus as his savior just as easily as that small child!  I just have to ask, why wait? Why put it off? I can see it coming, can you?

I know that this post may irritate some people, but this is my personal opinion and I felt strongly that it needed to be written.  Maybe someone out there needed this reminder!  I certainly know I did!
Have a blessed day, and tell someone about the saving grace of Jesus!