Are you Prepared for this Battle???

I can remember sitting in Dylan and Drew's room at night praying with them when they were babies. I remember asking God, "what in the world am I supposed to pray for them??"  Being a parent is such a tremendous responsibility and I knew I wanted my kids to know Jesus, but after that, what specifics should I pray for them? What magic words could I beg God for that would set them up for lives of prosperity and success? Good lives, how could I guarantee them good lives?

Oh man, I was such a baby. God has used my kids to grow me up in more ways than one. I had to learn how to pursue God myself before I could began to ask God for the things that matter in the lives of my kids.  Prosperity and success are not those things.

When I prayed for God to break my heart for what breaks His, and He did, that was part of the process of Him teaching me that what He wants is my heart. He wants all of it.  He wants theirs and He wants yours. Everything else is just icing on the cake.

I read a book called Shepherding A Child's Heart by Ted Tripp when Dylan was a baby. It started a paradigm shift in my thinking that has helped me as they have gotten older in regards to discipline and behavior issues.

Yesterday Dylan was making me crazy. He was whining and giving me trouble with every single thing. I sent him to Sarah's room to be alone. After a few minutes I went in and checked on him. I held him in my lap and asked him if I could pray for him. I started praying and when I thanked God for making Dylan, tears started streaming down his face. When I asked Dylan why he was crying, he said it's because God didn't make him nice. He went on to tell me that God made everyone else nice, but that he wasn't nice. He said, " I am not nice to my friends, I am not nice to Sarah, I am just not nice. My heart is not nice. "

It hit me like a ton of bricks that Satan is after my son's heart. He is the thief and He is a liar and many of times, I have heard him whisper those lies in my own head. "You aren't good enough, you aren't smart, you aren't pretty. You are fat. You are out of control."

We are in a spiritual battle friends. It's real and there is an enemy who wants to control the lives of our kids. It starts young. Dylan is seven.

You see, I could have missed this way too easily. I know there are times that I do. It may have been easier to discipline Dylan and to continue demanding good behavior from him, but what I may have missed was the cry of his heart. If I only reiterate to him his shortcomings and failures, then Satan has the advantage.  Dylan needed someone to hear his heart, he needed someone to tell Him the true things of God's word, and to teach Him to battle those lies on His own when I am not there to do it for him.

We are in a spiritual battle and whether we acknowledge it or not, Satan is after our kids. We have to stand strong for them. We have to equip them to engage in this battle and to fight for the one true God. Join me in pursuing the hearts of our children, will you?

We are going to be studying the armor of God now as part of our school day. This is me holding myself accountable by telling you all. I am going to order this book and I printed this picture off the Internet today. Then I wrote in the armor of God. I had Dylan help me pick out the coolest picture we could find because I didn't want it to be some cheesy cartoon character. I wanted it to look tough and masculine. When I printed it out and asked the boys what the knight was about to be doing, Drew said, "he is going to fight in a battle." Dylan said, "he is going to look so cool and all of the girls are going to want to kiss him!!!" WHAT?!?! I am SO not ready for that kind of talk!! Sigh. ( I am reminding myself that it is also God's plan and design for a man to marry a woman, and this is a natural thing, but God help me to tone it down for a while!! Oh, how I want to protect their hearts for their spouses, I digress...).

I am also stealing some explanations from this picture, although this is exactly the kind of picture that I don't want...

It's hard to see, but if you click on it, the explanations are great, and short and concise. I tend to ramble so that's helpful for me.

Speaking of rambling...I think I am doing so now...I hope this encourages someone and please pray for me and my kids as well if you think about it! We can't fight this battle alone, we need each-other!

Love,

Life's Healing Choices- Choice Eight

Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires.
Matthew 5:10

If I could sum up chapter 8 in one sentence, it would be this quote from the book.

God is bigger than anyone who hurts you. (or anything that has hurt you.) No matter what other people have done to you, God can recycle it and use it for good. God never wastes a hurt. But you can waste it, if you don't learn from it and share it. Others will be blessed and encouraged if you share the problems and struggles you've gone through. God can and will use your pain to help others, if you let Him.

(I added "or anything that hurts you" because sometimes life just hurts, pain is not always tied up in another person.)

I can't think of much worse than bottling up the things God has done for me and keeping it to myself. That's not how He works, and I certainly don't want to live that way. In fact, the only reason that I can think of keeping hurts, habits, and hang-ups completely to myself would be for the sake of keeping my pride and reputation in tact. I am almost over worrying about what people think of me. I am getting closer and closer to the point of only caring about the glory God receives, and less about myself receiving glory. The truth is that I don't ever want people to think that my faith, or my relationship with Jesus is any more sacred than the relationship that is available to all of us. I am nothing special. Well, I am special because I am a daughter of the king, but that is the only reason.  Jesus has freed me from things and he continues to and anything good that comes from me is only because of the work he is doing in me.

So like I said, I am almost to the point of not caring what other people think of me. But I have not arrived.  I have shared some on here and with friends, and I have gone to DEEP places with some people, but I thought surely that wouldn't happen again.  At least not anytime soon. But I was wrong. As I prayed about who God would have me recycle my pain for and share my story with, he pretty clearly brought a certain woman to my mind. I called her today and I just have to say that He is so faithful and so amazing.

I called my friend, not sure exactly what I would say, or exactly what I would share, but the conversation just flowed so naturally and she said to me, "it is so amazing that you called me today and are speaking to me about the thing that has been such a burden to me here lately."  Wow. Our stories are similar and I knew they were, but I didn't know how similar. We were able to encourage each other and now we can walk alongside each other as we heal from the pain in our pasts. Recycling pain. Beautiful. Amazing. Worth it.

I also want to REDUCE pain by sharing my story.  Because friends, doing things that God says not to do always, always, ALWAYS has a price tag. And it's not because He is a mean God, it's because He is an extremely loving God. So if you are choosing to live outside of God's will right now...STOP!!! Please, please, please. Seek God. Turn your life around and begin the path to healing. I know it is so hard to take that first step, and I know it's sometimes easier to stay in the land of what's comfortable and known, but in the end...IT"S NOT EASIER. And it's not worth it!! Sin always has a price, and you never know how much that price will be or how long it will haunt you. And if you are a parent, you never know what YOUR sin will cost your kids. Don't fool yourself and think you can separate them from it.  Believe me, I am paying the price for sin that was in my life many, many years ago and my hurts, habits, and hang-ups do not just effect me. They effect everyone that is close to me.

...and that, my friends, is the end of this book, but the beginning of a healthier life for me! Thank you for joining me!!

Choice 8
Yield myself to God to be used to bring this good news to others, both by my example and by my words.


Recap of the previous beatitudes that we have covered...

Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them! (This is about acknowledging our need for God.)

Happy are those who mourn; God will comfort them! (This isn't just about crying, it's about crying OUT TO GOD!!)

Happy are those who are humble; they will receive what God has promised. (This is about acknowledging that we are not in charge of the universe, Jesus is. It's about surrendering to Him.)

Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires; God will satisfy them fully.  (This is the continual, life-long choice to always seek after what God desires.)

Happy are those who are merciful to others; God will be merciful to them. ( Choosing to forgive because God has forgiven us, resentment doesn't work, and in the future I will need forgiveness.)

Happy are the pure in heart; they will see God. (Confess your deepest regrets, fears, and concerns to safe people. Satan likes to keep our secrets in the dark and that is where they grow!! Light exposes darkness for what it is and makes it dissipate!)

Happy are those who work for peace; God will call them his children. (Let's quit feeling entitled and causing bickering!! Let it go!! Strive for peace in your marriage, in your relationships, at your work, etc.!)



The Crossing's website where you can find encouraging messages that enhance the journey of this book and healing journey:)

Life's Healing Choices- Choice Seven

Can I just be honest? For some reason, I am having a really hard time recapping this chapter and what it has meant to me. It's so huge that I am tempted to elaborate way too much, and yet it is so simple that I feel like I could just write two sentences and be done with it.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Matthew 5:6

Reading my bible has changed me in many ways. Studying my bible has opened my eyes to a whole new world. Living out what I read in my bible has given me confidence. Finding others who believe the same things I believe has given me courage. Stepping out in faith has helped me to believe with total confidence that God's word really is true, no matter what my feelings are. Having a husband who loves the Lord, and others in my life who love the Lord, has caused me to hold fast when I've thought about throwing in the towel.  All of these together have been a safety net of a sort for my life, and I need them all because life is hard, and God didn't ask me to follow him in a vacuum .

As a baby christian, I knew so little of what it meant to live a life that was pleasing to the Lord. I had no idea how to develop a relationship with my father in heaven who loves me so much. So many times, I think we have been failed, and we fail others when we tell them that the "secret" to knowing God and to living a life of freedom is just to "read your bible and pray." Yes, reading God's word, and talking to Abba father are so critical to our lives as Christians. But this book, (Life's Healing Choices, which is a exposition of the beatitudes), is full of such a few powerful, yet life-changing truths that I believe will continue to equip me in the future, and that I hope to share with others as they are learning how to be freed from the things in life that constantly hold them down.

So I will share one thing that has changed for me since I started reading this book and meditating on these scriptures. Here recently, I have been freed from some things of my past that I think were causing me to be at this place where I was ready to attack and fire back when and if I started to feel threatened. Anger was my cue. In the past, I think I would just go with it and get way too riled up about whatever the mishap was. Now, I am watching myself get a little upset about something, but then I can take a step back, ask myself why I am feeling angry, and then I evaluate if whatever it is really is worth getting so upset about. 99.9% of the time, it isn't. Maybe something bothered me, but lately, I can just address that one little issue, without being all bent out of shape, and then just leave it be no matter the outcome, without getting all mad and defensive. It's beautiful.  And the issue can be the issue, instead of the hundred other issues that I had never dealt with. 

So how can I know that I will continue in this pattern? How do I know that this won't be just a season and then I will forget and go right back to where I was??

That's where chapter seven comes in,  it's about maintaining momentum and here is the truth, the second I start thinking I have got this in the bag, well that will be and is the second I fall on my face again. God has me in this sweet place right now, and the only way I can stay in this place of freedom, is if I continually stay connected to Him.  Staying connected to Him (through the ways I mentioned above...), maintaining momentum, and preventing relapses is my goal. A relapse for me is just going back to that yucky place where my heart is not in tuned to His and I get more and more pulled by the world and the things it has to offer (ie. false security, false ways of feeling accepted and loved, selfishness, being a consumer, etc.).

One really cool tool that Chapter 7 provided was this...it's an emotional check.

H- am I hurting?
E- am I exhausted?
A- am I angry?
R- do I have resentment?
T-  do I have tension?

I can go through this little check real quickly and pinpoint what's going on in my heart when I am feeling off. I love it.  Quick and simple.

Choice Seven
Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will.

Recap of the previous beatitudes that we have covered...

Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them! (This is about acknowledging our need for God.)

Happy are those who mourn; God will comfort them! (This isn't just about crying, it's about crying OUT TO GOD!!)

Happy are those who are humble; they will receive what God has promised. (This is about acknowledging that we are not in charge of the universe, Jesus is. It's about surrendering to Him.)

Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires; God will satisfy them fully.  (This is the continual, life-long choice to always seek after what God desires.)

Happy are those who are merciful to others; God will be merciful to them. ( Choosing to forgive because God has forgiven us, resentment doesn't work, and in the future I will need forgiveness.)

Happy are the pure in heart; they will see God. (Confess your deepest regrets, fears, and concerns to safe people. Satan likes to keep our secrets in the dark and that is where they grow!! Light exposes darkness for what it is and makes it dissipate!)

Happy are those who work for peace; God will call them his children. (Let's quit feeling entitled and causing bickering!! Let it go!! Strive for peace in your marriage, in your relationships, at your work, etc.!)

 

(Sorry if this is all over the place, again, I am having a hard time recapping this one!!)

Life's Healing Choices- Choice Five

Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires.
Matthew 5:6

Wahoo!! Chapter five is my favorite so far!! (Have I said that already about previous chapters?!)

So now that I have peeled back a few layers into examining my hurts, habits, and hang-ups, it's time to declare truth through scripture over those areas of my life.  With the help of the Lord, I have identified some of my issues and now, I need God's help to retrain my mind so that I can be free from those reactions and/or ways of thinking.

A friend worded it like this, she said, we can choose to ignore the junk that goes on within our hearts/minds, and we can choose to pretend that we have it all together by continuing to make the outside look pretty, or we can deal with the hard things that are in our hearts and find healing and truth through the hope of Jesus.

So this week, I got out some note-cards and wrote scriptures that are near and dear to my heart. On the back of each card, I wrote how that specific truth of God applies directly to MY life on a daily basis. In the mundane, seemingly small parts, of my life and in the big parts of my life. And the assignment is to read over the cards every morning and every night and allow my mind to be transformed by God's word. I am excited about this because I know how powerful it is to continuously be washed by the word. 

It's funny bc these same scriptures have been posted on my walls over the years, and as soon as I stop focusing on God's truth, my mind is swayed by other influences and I forget what God says about me and about my life. I am like a kid, I need CONSTANT reminders!! I keep hoping one day I will have this life figured out, but I am also becoming more and more ok with the fact that I never will, and that I think the biggest "secret" to a happy life is to continuously stay plugged into My God and Savior and the truths that I have access to through scripture.


Choice Five-
Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects.

God, please continue peeling away the junk in my life and removing the character traits in me that are ugly. Please replace them with more of you and your spirit. I don't want to be a source of discouragement for others in my life, but I want to be used by you to bring hope, joy, and peace into the life's of my family and friends and I know I can't do it when I am wrapped up in myself. Help me Jesus. I love you, Amen.


Choice One
Choice Two
Choice Three
Choice Four

The Crossing's website where you can find encouraging messages that enhance the journey of this book and healing journey:)

Dear Mommy

Dear Mommy,

Thank you so much for giving me food when I am hungry. You bless my body and my spirit in many ways through the physical sustenance that you give to me.  

Thank you so much for giving me something to drink when I am thirsty. How would I have the water that sustains me if it wasn't for you?

Thank you so much for welcoming me into your heart and into your life when I was a tiny, unknown, helpless baby. I was a stranger to the world, and to you, and you embraced me fully.

Dear Mommy, thank you so much for clothing me. Your protect me with your cloths. 

Thank you so much for taking care of me when I am sick. Thank you for giving me the things that I need to get well.

Dear Mommy, thank you so much for keeping a close eye on my heart. Thank you for praying for me and for helping me to navigate the terrains of life. Thank you for begging Jesus to give me a life of freedom.

Derived from Matthew 25: 35, 36

Dear Daughter,

Please know that when you do these things to the least of these, to those who are overlooked in the world, for their lack of so-called value, arrival in prestige, and/or contribution to society, please know that you did it for me. 

With Love,

Your Father in Heaven.

Derived from Matthew 25: 40

To Live is Christ

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the holy spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 5:4

In the past, I have looked at this verse and thought that in order for me to get to the hope part of this verse, I needed to endure and do a "good" job at suffering. I thought that I had to keep a smile on my face, and stay positive no matter what was going on around me and in me. Last year at this time, there were many days where I had no joy or hope. I felt defeated and I did not have the energy to pretend that I was enjoying the suffering that our family endured. At times, I was scared to talk to my friends because I didn't want them to hear how upset I was at our circumstances and that even though I loved the Lord, I didn't really trust Him at the moment, and in fact, I questioned His heart.

What I have learned is that God isn't afraid of those questions. He isn't afraid or intimidated by the hard questions that we sometimes ask of Him. He doesn't get offended and cower away from us for fear of being hurt. He is SO MUCH BIGGER than I ever gave Him credit for.

To me, I thought suffering well meant being a Polly Anna.

I feel like, in this season, I am to the hope part. I have learned that surrendering to myself, coming to the absolute end of myself, and seeking the Lord from a different angle other than the surface level "God is good and He has done so many good things in my life," HE brought me to the hope and endurance through suffering. It wasn't/isn't something I did. It was something Jesus did. He brought me through suffering and gave me endurance, character, and hope. It was 100 percent a work of HIM, not anything I was/am capable of doing.

I love how God did indeed, use suffering to strip me of my self-sufficiency and of my pride. He showed me that I was/am absolutely incapable of controlling my life. EVERY gift, from the breath I am taking right now, to the financial provision of our family, to the ability to love my family well, EVERY GIFT is indeed a GIFT from Him.

Thank you Jesus. This verse has been on my heart the last several days. I'm really trying to embrace what it means.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Philipians 1:21

I have a strong desire and excitement to be in Heaven with Jesus. I know everything about an eternal life with the Lord and my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ will surpass this world. I am excited about it.  Very excited about it. When I see all the things in this world that are falling apart, I am hopeful that the end is drawing near.  I want suffering and pain to come to an end.

However, as strong as that desire is, I am still here.  And I think the desire to leave is a little bit selfish.

So for me to live, is to do a work for Christ. Not because that is how I get Him to love me. Not so that I can prove myself to others. But because for me to live on this earth, is to be a servant of Jesus Christ. It is my joy and honor to cling so tightly to Jesus that others will benefit from it. It starts in my home, and I am so passionate about pointing my kids to their perfect father in Heaven. For me to die would be a personal gain, but for me to stay here...means to be disciplined in  the task I have before me. It's an honor, it's a privilege to serve the Lord.  And I want to be an agent here on the Earth that leads others to enter into a relationship with Jesus. I want to be used so that more and more people will have the security and hope of an eternal life worshiping our creator.

Dear Jesus, help me to remember, even when things are hard, that my time on this earth is limited. One day, I will be in Heaven with you, but until that day, please help me to be mindful of all the people in my life and in my influence, who do not yet know you. Please be working in the hearts around me and give me opportunities to share your love for them, with them. I love you Jesus. Amen.

The 2nd Annual Jumbo Hunt

The Annual Jumbo Hunt is this weekend! Invite your friends!

**reposted from the archives

While

we

were

still

sinners,

Christ

died

for

us

and

did

really

cool

things,

like

blessed

our

efforts

to

serve

the

community.

Amazing.

And

this

is

only

the

beginning.

I

am

excited!!

ps. we no longer meet at Spring Branch Middle School, we currently meet at Bill Brown Elementary and we have a great set-up going on there! Join us! Christ has risen!

Happy Easter

Well geez, I have just completely fallen off of the bloggy wagon! There have been a few times where I have thought about writing, but there isn't anything in this head of mine to spill out. (I blame it on the kids:).)  Ha! They take all of my words out of me.

So, this week I am pondering on the cross and how Jesus so lovingly chose to die so that we could know the Father.  Because of that, we can walk in freedom, have abundant lives, and look forward to eternity in Heaven with Jesus, and with all of our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ.  It's a gift that we are so undeserving of, yet it shows how worthy God thinks we are. He loves us and that is amazing to me. I am so thankful and so in love with Him.  Thank you Jesus.

I hope you too, are pondering on the gift of Jesus dying for you. Will you accept this gift? Will you receive eternal life and an abundant life NOW with full access to God the Father? It's my prayer that we all do and that we will live with an understanding that life is fickle, there is no guarantee for tomorrow, and eternity without God is going to be flat out horrible.  Do you live with confidence knowing that you will be in Heaven? It is possible you know. I have these dreams every now and then where I believe God gives me little glimpses of how bad eternity is going to be for those who do not choose to accept their brokenness and need for the Saviour. I had one last night, it shook me up and reminded me how important it is to tell everyone about the love of Jesus.  It isn't a game or a ploy, it's serious businness.

I hope you will be at your local church this weekend, and I hope that you will bring a friend, or a neighbor, and more importantly, I pray that everyone will know, believe, and accept the love of Jesus.  It's a tremendous gift. 

Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross. Thank you for taking all of my sins, and the sins of the world to the cross with you.  Thank you for rising again, for all the world to see that you alone can conquer sin. You are not bound by death, but you are the giver of eternal life.  You rose. You rose and now I can live. Thank you.

Death, where is your sting??

My heart is heavy these last couple weeks as I mourn for a young family in our hometown.  She has been taken off of her radiation treatments and hospice is being called in for the last stretch of her battle with brain cancer.  She has a husband who loves her and two precious little girls.  I hate Cancer.  I hate pain and suffering.  I hate the frailty of our bodies here on earth.  I hate sin and how it effects our lives.  Cancer is straight from the devil, the father of lies and of sin.   

Paul says in scripture, "For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better." I wholeheartedly believe this.  I believe that our time our earth, at it's absolute best, is only a glimpse of the eternity that is to come for those who follow Christ.  I am excited about living in eternity with Jesus and about being reunited with all of my loved ones.  (Some I have never met!)

I have mentioned before that I really wrestled with the thought of death over the course of the last year.  I realized that I had been holding on to this life on earth with a very tight fist.  My biggest thing was that I couldn't imagine how my kids and husband could survive without me!  It's really kind of egotistical if you think about it.  It's as if we are the god of their lives and that the REAL God in Heaven isn't capable of providing for them all that they would need without us. I also can not imagine not watching them grow up and/or not being a significant part of their lives here on Earth because I love them so much BUT I'm not afraid of death anymore.  I am confident that if I were to pass, I wouldn't being in Heaven crying about it.  I think I would be excited for my family to join me! And I know God could and would take care of my family. 

I think our culture has such a warped view of so many things, and this is one of them.  Why are we so afraid of death?  Really to die is GAIN.  In Heaven, there will be no more suffering, no more pain, and we will be with Jesus.  It's like our time on the Earth is only a pitstop to our eternal destination and THAT is the place we REALLY want to be.  Our hearts were made to worship Jesus, we were made to worship the Creator, and one day we will do just that without the ugliness of this world.  No MORE DEATH, no more SUFFERING!  Our lives will be rich and complete.  We will be lacking NOTHING!

Scripture also says, "death, where is your sting?"  It's like a punch in Satan's face. "HA!  You thought you could destroy us by suffering through death, but Satan, we've got your number!!  We KNOW that through our salvation in Christ, we will be reunited in Heaven, and it will be a perfect Earth!  A NEW EARTH!  With all the things we love, but none of the things we hate!  No more tears."  

To me,  the hardest part of death is the actual suffering that leads to death,  it's often unfathomable the amount of suffering that goes on in this lifetime.  Pain and sickness is horrible.  And then the thought of continuing on without a loved one.  If I were to lose Jason or one of my kids, I can't even imagine the pain that it would entail.  I can't imagine the hole I would have in my heart.

But here is one thing I know, GOD IS BIGGER.  GOD IS BIG ENOUGH TO GUIDE US AND LOVE US AND TO HEAL THOSE HOLES IN OUR HEARTS, IF NOT ON THIS EARTH, IN HEAVEN ONE DAY.  Can we ever be the same after such a great loss?  I hope not.  I hope through our afflictions and pain, we become more and more defendant on our father in Heaven who wants to comfort us.  I hope we realize more and more that our time on Earth is short and that it matters if we trust the Lord with our eternal destination.  It matters if we decide TODAY whether or not we will go to Heaven or Hell when we die.  It matters if we decide that we truly are helpless without the love and hope of Jesus Christ in our lives.  For our eternal destination, and for the strength and hope to thrive in this broken world. 

So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Jesus, please be with my friends who are suffering so deeply right now.  Please comfort them.  Please give them strength and hope to continue on.  Please be with sweet, sweet Cara as she endures.  Please take away any pain.  Jesus, come quickly!!  We NEED YOU!  Please help us to tangibly feel your love for us.  This suffering is more than our finite minds can handle.  

To my mommy friends, I am vowing in honor of Cara, to be the best mommy and wife that I can be.  Because the simple fact that I am able to is a gift that isn't to be taken lightly.  Join me! 

Love, 
 

Highly recommended reads...

http://www.amazon.com/Grace-Disguised-Soul-Grows-through/dp/0310258952/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298077787&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Heaven-Randy-Alcorn/dp/0842379428/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298077916&sr=1-1

 

 

Loving The Lord With Our Minds

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Mark 12:30

What does it mean to love the Lord with our minds?  I believe it means to nourish our minds and to use them for things that are of value.

In my own life, I have noticed seasons where I am filling my mind with basically just a bunch of junk!  I can get addicted to too much TV, Internet, and/or reading things that are of no use.  My mind starts to feed on things that are just keeping me busy.  Just occupying my time.

We can liken it to our diets.  God gave us a body and we are wise to take care of it.  We can take care of it by eating healthy, exercising, staying active, and by avoiding things that are harmful to our bodies.  Have you ever seen the movie "Wallie?"  The humans decide they would rather be scooted around in their lounge chairs rather than walk.  They also have their food brought to them, their attire is changed electronically, and the list goes on.  If you push one of them out of their chair, they can no longer walk.

Our brains are the same way.  We can feed them and exercise them, developing habits and always growing, or we can starve our brains.  With our brains and bodies alike, no care or bad care, both lead to malnutrition! 

So, one way to love God with our minds I believe,  would be to take good care of the gift He has given to us.  Feed it healthy food. Exercise it. Protect it. 

Again, I am excited about the new ways I have learned this week to engage the minds of my children.  I have also recently set some boundaries on myself to avoid too much JUNK food in my brain.  It takes a concentrated focus for me or else it's too easy to graze all day long feeling as though I learned/accomplished nothing at the end of the day!!

What will you read today?  What are you watching?  How are you exercising your God-given MIND? Let's get our minds into good shape! I think we will all feel significantly better and notice improvements in our life's.

Book Recommendations...

The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force 

Your Mind Matters

Honor Your Parents II

Here is the tribute I wrote to my mom a couple of years ago. Enjoy!

To my Mom. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to become a mother at such a young age. So many unknowns and uncertainties. Thank you for choosing to have me and for loving me wholeheartedly from day one. Thank you for stopping your life and making me your number one priority.  Thank you for marrying dad and following him to start our life as a family. I never doubted your love and commitment to me. I knew you would always be there.
Thank you for being so involved in my life. For all the dressing room pep talks, the relationship advice, the shoulder to cry on, the meals when I was sick, and the days I got to stay home and skip school to be with you! Thank you for letting me have friends spend the night and making it really cool by buying us special snacks; from chocolate pudding in a wine glass to ice cream and chips! Thank you for making every holiday extra special!  Thank you for spending time with me at the pool, on the beach, watching movies with me, and taking us skiing in Colorado! Thank you for all the Mexican food, pickles and ice, yahoo’s and cheese-its, banana snow cones, and laffy taffy’s!
Thank you for doing my laundry, for teaching me to appreciate a clean house, and for making me clean the bathrooms! I hated that, but now I pay close attention to behind the toilets! I had so much fun with my mom, my very best friend. Thank you for investing so much time into me. Thank you for being a mom who cared and who was highly involved in my life. Thank you for wanting to know all the details.
Thank you for taking so many pictures throughout the years. I can tell which things you were not at by the lack of pictures! Now I am the “annoying” mom behind the camera! I get it now. The days are fleeting and I want to capture each precious moment just as you did! This is just one of the things that I understand more about you now that I am a mother.
Thank you for sacrificing so much for me. You have always desired to put my needs and wants first. You are always so willing to serve me.  I pray that I will serve my kids unselfishly in the way that you do.
Thank you for introducing me to Jesus. The love of my life. Your faith and desire for Him eventually got to me! Thank you for pointing me towards Him. I now pray the same blessing over my children that you prayed over us, and there is nothing like hearing the boys sing, “This is the day, this is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice, let us rejoice, let us rejoice and be glad in it!”  I have an early bird around this house, and he reminds me of your joyful morning mood! He sings in the mornings too! I take the torch from you mom and am committed to doing all that I can, with the Lord’s help, to impress upon my children the truths of our God. Our common refuge and strength.
Thank you for praying endlessly for me and for the man I would marry. It is a great miracle to see how God answered that prayer and gave me Jason. It is the greatest gift of my adult life. You were a part of that. Thank you.
You are a good mom and I love you very much. To God be the glory, great things He has done!
With love from your daughter,
Mindy

Thankful,

Honor Your Parents

I'm wrestling with this whole "Fascinating Fridays," "Bible Trivia Fridays," etc. idea on my blog.  I guess it's sensitive to my particular week, but I still want to stick to the goal of sharing a biblical principle, or bible trivia weekly.  So anyways...

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 

Exodus 20:12

I've heard this verse all my life and didn't really know what to make of it.  Does it mean obey? What about when you become an adult and are trying to make your way that may be different from how your parents would like? How do you disagree and still honor? What if you are a kid who is being abused? What if your mom is a raging alcoholic? How do we honor our parents in the midst of turmoil, heartache, neglect, abuse, or any of the other horrible circumstances that some children are living in? How do they "honor their parents?" Honor your parents is mentioned all throughout scripture, so I knew it was important.


I wanted to honor my parents and I began asking God to show me how.  


Which is when I came across this book.  I'm not going to go into all that I learned from the book, because frankly, if you are reading this, and you are a child or adult who was abused, or who has issues forgiving your parents, you NEED to read this book.  It's too deep of a subject for me to pretend I have the answers, but I do have hope.  I have hope for those who walk around wounded from their pasts.  Honoring your parents in the midst of heartache will set you free from so many things.  It's a way to "let go, and let God." 


My parents have their tributes hung proudly in their room!  How cool is that? It makes me smile every time I see them, but I'm also considering doing an updated version in 10 years or so to honor them in the things I continue to recognize as I get older.  


So, here is my tribute for my dad, for all the internet to see:).  (For those who are interested, I will share my mom's tribute tomorrow)

To my Dad. Thank you for being my dad. Since I have become a parent, I have thought a lot about the things that I appreciate and respect about you. This is my feeble attempt to make them known.

I appreciate the way you worked hard and provided for our family. We never had a need unmet, at least not that I knew of. You are a hard worker and I am thankful for your work ethic. I would be proud if I could say I meet up to you.

I appreciate your loyalty to mom. I cannot think of one bad word that you ever said about her, besides calling her an “old lady!” That little phrase used to get me so upset! In all seriousness though, you have shown me time and time again that there is nothing that will make you stop being loyal to her first. You are committed to her and I appreciate that example. You and mom are the first ones in our family lineage to stay married. I am thankful that the generational tides are turning. Thank you for never leaving us. I never worried that you would. 

I am also thankful that you gave me a better childhood than you had.

I am thankful that you protected me from most of the stuff that you endured. I know it was out of your love for us. I remember you getting really angry when I was doing rebellious things and now as a parent, I realize where that anger came from. I understand that the height of your emotions was a reflection of the depth of your love for me. You wanted to protect me and for that I am very thankful.

You are dependable. Once I can tell if you are kidding or not, I know I can take you for your word! You will do what you say you are going to do at the time you said it would be done. 

There are a few things that I catch myself doing to the boys and I remember you doing them to me! Like popping my toes and wrestling or tickling! I now appreciate those little things as tokens of affection that you were giving to me. 

I loved our late night talks usually watching the Late Show. I liked it that it was our time to visit and chat. 

I will always be thankful for your willingness to take our family in when Jason was looking for a new job, and the compassion you had towards him. You helped me encourage him.

I am thankful for the trips to the beach, trips to the lake, the huge jar of beef jerky, the digital camera, passing on your sweet tooth to me; hence jolly ranchers, nerds, and sweet tarts! I am thankful for the sweet car when I turned 16 and I am just as thankful that you sold it a year later. I am thankful that you made me work hard to “earn” another car. 

They say that children study their parents. I have studied you a lot over the years. You don’t like to share your coke, you don’t like it when people double dip, you do the two finger wave every time! You love walks on the beach, hot baths, being outdoors, learning new things, and automobiles. You don’t like half way done jobs, excuses, or being in large groups of people. I don’t either! You get heartburn when you eat Nerds, you leave the strawberry ice cream behind in a tub of Neapolitan. You get woken up easily and watch tv until you cant hold your eyes open anymore. You like to do projects for the people you love. 

I like who you are. I think I picked up a lot from you. You are my dad and I am proud. 

I love you very much.
Mindy

Have a good weekend, and try to find a way to honor your parents! You will be blessed. 


Love,

 
 **Edited to Add...Just in case it came across as though my parents were abusive or anything of the sort, that wasn't my intention. They are great.  I know many people though who have lived in abusive situations.

Bible Trivia Fridays

A few years ago, I attempted to study the book of Isaiah on my own.  Its was great, I learned some amazing things, but by about chapter 15 or so, I realized I was in over my head. That book has sixty something chapters.  I'm glad I did it and one verse that I took to memory as I studied was this...

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.
Isaiah 40:8

The grass and flowers are us and the good things we do.  The are good and pretty for a time being, but they aren't eternal.  The only thing that is eternal is Jesus.  Think about it, how many famous people or good works do you know that have lasted the test of time?  Most good people and good works are forgotten almost as fast as they are buried in the ground.

I just love this verse and it puts things into perspective for me so often.  You might remember, I had Dylan memorize it when he was three...

So when I came across this scripture, and I saw this at Pine Cove family camp...

I just knew I HAD to decorate my daughter's room in a similar way.  So here is a picture of Sarah's room...

It's my prayer that she will write God's word on her heart, and that she will always know that beauty and things of the world are fleeting, but GOD remains true forever.  His truths and ways are timeless.

This is the scripture I picked for the boys' room.  I pray this for them...

(The writing is not perfect, but it only cost me $1.99 for the paint markers, and I think perfect is over rated!  Plus, it's the message that counts!)

This is a decal that I bought and I don't like it nearly as much.  But the verse does have special significance to me, so I couldn't pass it up!

Have a good weekend friends.

Love,