Major... Bloggy Give-Away

Over 700 800 generous bloggers are giving away AWESOME gifts! You DO NOT want to miss this like I almost did. I can not believe how many bloggers are joining in this fun give-away. Don't you just love those 2 words placed so delicously together, give-away? Oh, I do!

I wasn't sure if I was going to do this little GIANT give-away but thought what the heck! After rading my home for something that could pass as an unused nice gift (sorry) I remembered a book, wait not one but two, I have on my shelf just waiting to be given away. Perfect! Never used and in mint condition. I must admit that I have not read either of these but love the authors, anything by them is good.

Beth Moore, Believing God

John Piper, The Passion of Jesus Christ

Let me assure you that these are not my "reject" books from my library just books that I have double of for some reason or got for a study that failed and now realize I will not read on my own. Just leave me a comment and you will automatically be entered! I will draw a name on Saturday evening! Good Luck, which I don't believe in btw.

Babbling On and On (sorry)

My baby angel is going to be turning 1 in less than 2 months! I am in utter shock and just can not understand how this has happened, where did the time go? A year.. unfathomable and as whats his name from Princess Bride would say... Inconceivable! I sat and looked at her today and couldn't get over first of all how absolutely A-dorable she is but also how ENORMOUS she is. 20 pounds now I am sure! Almost time to invest in a new frontward facing carseat :0), that is a little exciting. She is pulling up on everything and practicing her balance as she lets go to stand alone, it will not be long before she is walking. Butterflies will be her birthday party theme, of course, and I can't wait to have oh so MUCH fun with it!

Other things floating around in my brain is the enormous amount of "things" taking up space in my backyard. I can hardly think of anything else. It is... just... a monsterous mess, that is all and I am anxious to get rid of it all. We have company coming in town Thursday night some of my lovely in-laws. It will be a wonderful time, as always.

Life for me is always a never ceasing cluttered mess. Not life itself but all the things in my life or really in my house. I can not seem to "get it together" for the life of me. I clean, deep clean, schedule, declutter, organize, set out routine after routine and yet day in and day out I always feel like I am still lagging behind. I know, I know it is all about creating better habits and some how encouraging my family to in that direction. We are happy though in our never ceasing cluttered mess. One day... One day...

Okay, so I am not sure where this babbling post came from. I couldn't think of anything important to post about and then just decided to be me for a moment, the me my husband knows, the babbling me after all the kids are in bed.

Hypocritical Parenting

Lately parenting has been constantly on my mind. I don't always react to my children's ungodly behavior in a godly way, I find that I react more from a personal offense. I have been looking over Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp for encouragement and found plently of it along with conviction of my own sin. God has pointed out to me yet again that it starts with me, with my sin. How can I rebuke my children for the same sins that I seem to be continueing in day in and day out.

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
Matthew 7:5

Can they see past my hypocricy? The cloud that overshadows all of my correction? Before I go to my son about his anger issues and lack of self control need I check my own heart? For I know what the Lord says:

Be angry and do not sin, Psalm 4:4

But how does that play out in the heart and mind of my child if I unrighteously become angry with him for his sin of anger and then preach against the very thing I practice?

For they preach, but they do not practice. Matthew 23:3b

This idea of hypocritical parenting will not bring about the righteousness of God! A discpline that is routed in anger only feeds the flesh of both the child and the parent and the hypocricy that follows slowly destroys the righteousness of God.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

Praise, God that my children's salvation is not left solely up to me for I fear that I would surely lead them astray but it is the grace of God that leads them. All I can do is pray and ask that He teach me His ways and enable me to walk down them.

Pails on Fire

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeats

What happens when you fill a pail? It sits there. It sits there and waits to be poured out. As a teacher I do not desire to just fill a pail full of water knowledge to just sit in waiting to be poured out. I believe education is more than that it is or rather should be that of lighting a fire, a burning desire for the knowledge not a passive inferior cistern. I believe that just filling the pail, the mind of our children with information we are failing to supply them with a real education. They will not come out of it thirsting for more but dry and weak, or at least this is how I "see" it. All I know is that they attempted to fill my mind for 9 years and I didn't come out thirsting for anything other than water.

It's easy to think that is all we are doing here, filling pails. We are filling pails but the way I think of it is we are also setting these pails up over a fury flame My children, I hope to fill their minds with exciting knowledge but also in the process I hope to set their little minds on fire for not only more knowledge but also and most importantly to extend their minds and the knowledge imparted to them for the glory of the Lord, the center of all knowledge and life. We have the amazing experience and privilege of setting their minds on fire.

So now the questions is "Just how do we light the fire and not just fill the pails?".

This was an extremely encouraging quote for me to think upon tonight and I am anxious to read other's thoughts on it, visit The Heart of the Matter to read them as well.

Perspective

It is a special gift to be able to view the world through the eyes of a child.

Ollie Up!

Visit Tiany today to enjoy more Wordless Wednesdays.

~Memory Verse~

Romans 11:34-36 "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Previous Verses:

Deuteronomy 7:9 "Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations."

Deuteronomy 19:12-13 "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord you God, to walk im all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statures of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?"

Take the word of God with you everywhere, join us, visit In Light of Truth.

Be obedient

Romans 1:1-5 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake.

Every other Sunday we are hosting a small group at our house directly following church, where we come together for fellowship over a good meal and then dwell in the word together in good discussion lead by my husband. This last Sunday was our reunion from a winter break, we came together ready to dive into His word through the words of Paul in Romans. We walked slowly through the first chapter soaking up so many awesome truths, some that seemed unreachable for our limited minds, some that were encouraging and others that were difficult to hear, grasp and swallow that convicted our hearts in our walk with Him and that prayerfully will coninue with us through out the days, weeks and months to come constantly revealing to our stubborn hearts and ways more of His direction for our lives, things of grace, righteousness, faith and obedience.

My husband shared something that he fournd to be deeply encouraging in his faith through his own personal study of the tex and one that has now found its way into my heart and that I can not seem to leave. The obedience of faith... what does this mean? Profoundly a lot more than you think.


Whatever we do should be done out of obedience of faith which means that our lives our every decision is not based on our own personal desires but rather on the basis of our faith, and it is done for His names sake... nothing more! When we are making a decision today think... "Is this in obedience of faith?" Something that is amazing about this text is the power of grace that enables us to have this obedience. The relationship is profound this morning to me. Don't rely on your own power today, it will run dry and proove to be superficial and weak, but relyon THE power, the power of GRACE and your faith will be strengthened and victorious as you live in obedience of it. So when you bake bread today... do it in faith. When you vacuum... do it in faith. When you do the laundry, clean the bathroom, play with your children, discipline and train them, speak to your husband... do it all in faith. Examine yourself as you walk through this day, for His names sake, don't just simply walk, for your names sake.

Be encouraged... what you are doing every day though it may seem mundane, pointless and unimportant at times it is profoundly not, what you are doing is walking daily in His grace, His power, that He has given specifically to you for your specific calling, He has enabled you to do what you do each day and I believe we have a wonderful way to bring Him honor through our calling. May each step we take today be in obedience of the faith.... which is only possible because of the GRACE He has supplied us with...

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9

Repent

“It seems to me that every morning when a man wakes up still impenitent, and finds himself out of hell, the sunlight seems to say, ‘I shine on thee yet another day, as that in this day thou mayest repent.’ When your bed receives you at night I think it seems to say, ‘I will give you another night’s rest, that you may live to turn from your sins and trust in Jesus.’ Every mouthful of bread that comes to the table says, ‘I have to support your body that still you may have space for repentance.’ Every time you open the Bible the pages say, ‘We speak with you that you may repent.’ Every time you hear a sermon, if it be such a sermon as God would have us preach, it pleads with you to turn unto the Lord and live.” (Spurgeon)

Tips and Tricks of a Homeschooler

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With homeschooling it is easy for others to casually think that we can take off at any time since we are home and all. The idea is that we can simply put school on hold for a few hours or even a few days to comply with new plans and this is acceptable in some cases but not always. I have taken school on the road before and in Walmart but when the whole day is going to be sabotaged what do you do? We live out of town and so I want to try and allow both visitors and school to co-exist. Trying to compile all of our subjects into a very small amount of time can be to stressful on all of us and can take away from the in "depth" learning of each subject when we have to do this but it is do-able. I sometimes wish we had our own building that we could run out to and that way we are not "home". This would help with a lot of things such as daily distractions such as phone, cleaning, computers, toys, and cooking and it would take away the casual idea of school because you must actually "go" to school which gives the illusion somehow that it is more important and can't be interrupted. Maybe not but it seems like that is the way it would work.

When considering the daily distractions I am realizing these...


1. That I need to commit a designated amount s of time strictly to homeschooling. During that time if the phone rings then it will just have to ring, it is not vital that I answer every call in case of an emergency. There is such thing as a message that I can check just for that reason.

2. Cleaning must take a back row seat in our classroom even though the classroom is it's domain. In order to help relieve the temptation of picking up the broom or vacuum I must have a cleaning routine that allows me to have a clean house before we begin school. And then if I allow it to slip and not follow it then I must be disciplined in putting homeschooling as an absolute first.

3. Cooking again needs to have a specific time of its own so that it does not call me away from my priority of teaching my children.

4. The computer and tv. These 2 distractions need to be highly supervised and restricted during any and all school hours. The computer can become a major distraction for me personally and the tv can play a big hindrance in the obtaining of and enjoyment of learning. I hope to give myself an open pass to "play" on the computer or blog at a specific time in the morning only with absolutely no exceptions can my time run over, a bodyguard would be nice to escort me out if I do decide to resist. The tv is restricted until Friday in which they are given 2 hours of time to watch either individual cartoons or 1 select movie.

5. Always start somewhere near your scheduled time otherwise the clock can cause havoc.

6. Self can really get in the way to if she is aloud to rein the emotional pool. Let's face it we don't always "feel" like enforcing school on our children because it drains a lot from us and causes us to pour all of the energy that we have out just to get through it all. She is always with you and she is hard to silence sometimes but there is another that is gently guiding you… But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:16

And with encouragement I am realizing these...


1. It is extremely important in this journey. My littles need A LOT of it as well as me! Stickers and stamps are awesome ways to encourage a job well done on worksheets, tests and copywork. MySuperman responds really well to this.

2. I have scripture printed out and posted on our refridgerator to encourage a right mind as we travel through each subject. Whenever I can see the rotten fruit of idleness during math I point to Colossians 3:23 on the fridge and gently remind him of this wisdom. And whenever I can feel the struggle of patience coming on I look to my sheet and am reminded of His wisdom and am encouraged.

3. Enthusiasm and a good attitude! When I am enthusiastic I can see that my children often reflect the same and having a good attitude and keeping it encourages them in the begining of school and through out!

Something else that I recomend is to have a nice quiet time in the afternoon where you can all relax and enjoy eachother. What we do, and I look forward to it each day, is turn on some classical music, Bach and this cd are our favorites, grab books and all sit on the couches in our living room and just ENJOY! It is always a truly wonderful time. We usually enjoy our own books for about 30 minutes and then snuggle together for our read aloud. Snacks are often provided.

That is it! These are just some things that I am learning as I walk this path of homeschooling. It has been an amazing experience for me and I am looking forward to the many years ahead and for what God has planned for us. Visit The Heart of the Matter today for more tips and tricks from other homeschoolers, be encouraged!

Early Morning Collision

Last night was treacherous and today I am tired and the right side of my head is throbbing. From 3-4:30 Butterfly couldn’t sleep, I believe she is cutting her 8th tooth. When I go in to get her the first time at 3:00 she is standing in her little playpen, which is all she will sleep in for some unknown reason to me. I pick her up and rock her in expectation that she will quickly fall back to sleep but when I look down at her she is staring around the room and at one point tries to lift her head to look around but I would have none of that! I decide to lay her down awake in hopes that she would go to sleep on her own. I gently close her down so to make little noise as to call attention to my retreating and as I go through my door I decide to close it half way. I snuggle back into my bed and await my next call but have high hopes that I can drift back to sleep until morning, well later morning. It isn’t but 20 minutes or so that I am called back out of my sleep and bed, I get up feeling my way to the door forgetting that I closed it half way and I nail it directly in the corner on my right eye. I was shocked! Oh my gosh…what just hit me! Expresso alarmed sits up in bed and turns the light on, I now realize what happened as I open my eyes to see the door before me. I have to say I was worried that blood was going to start seeping down my face but thankfully it wasn’t that bad. Anyway Butterfly and I continued our early morning dances 3 more times and by the 4th dance I surrendered to the idea of getting up at my usual 5:00 which was only 30 minutes away. We all slept until 8:00 and have a hard time recovering since. These days are rough… so many demands that I can not back out of… I must keep going but I don’t see how and the throbbing isn’t helping any. Right now we are crawling through school looking ahead to the joys of this evening when all will settle down some and we are all able to come together and just relax.

On my kitchen blackboard I have this written… The JOY of the LORD is you STRENGTH… and I press on.

Also... read this, reflect, remember and be moved.

Baby Chef...

Visit Tiany today to enjoy more Wordless Wednesdays!!

Weekly Memory Verse

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all youir soul, and to keep the commandments and statures of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good.?"

Last Weeks Verse...

Deuteronomy 7:9 "Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations."

I started again with my weekly memory verses again... I have been out of it lately and have been able to tell spiritually. These are our family verses that we memorize at each meal. Walk In the Light of Truth this morning to join and be encouraged.

Enjoying Them

I hope my children look back on today,

And see a mom who had time to play.

There will be years for cleaning and cooking,

For children grow up while we're not looking.

Each Day's Journey

Have you seen this? I have been sadly ignoring it for weeks and now after finally taken a moment to read what it is all about am going to join!! The Heart of the Matter is hosting this little Friday meme which is going to be very encouraging and fun. I am coming in a little late, as usual.

This last Friday the theme was A Day in the Life. I must admit that we have not had very many typical days lately due to just a lot of rush. I have however made a new schedule that I very roughly followed this last week when we were able to. My devotion to the mornings went fairly well, I got up each morning earlier than I have been so + for me and I have been really enjoying my alone time with the Lord.

At last here is our Daily Schedule:

Each Day's Journey...

5:00 – Quickly obey the call of the alarm, slip into the bath, get dressed with makeup, grab a cup of coffee, throw in laundry and then be STILL as I come into the presence of the Lord in worship, praise, prayer and in His word.
6:30 - Switch laundry and straighten and prepare as the sun rises before my Littles arise from their sweet slumber, fold laundry with Revive Our Hearts.
7:00 – Get the boys up and dressed, begin breakfast as family reunites from their separation.
7:30 – Breakfast devotional, catechism, memory work and goals for the day. Quick kitchen clean up, brush teeth, chores and anything else left in preparation.
8:30 – Begin our school day with prayer. During this time T-Rex is playing in his room with various toy and Butterfly is just waking up. I will get her dressed and feed her during:
 First Language Lessons/Copywork
 Horizons Math
 Spelling Workout
9:30 – Break!! Enjoying Books together and a quick clean up *vacuum and put clothes away*
10:00 – Come together for 2nd half of school:
 Science
 History
 Read-Aloud
11:30 – Finish any extras and then enjoy some free time before Lunch!!
12:30- Just enjoy the gift of time in relaxation(not cleaning!)
1:30 - Classical Reading time together, grab some books and sit on couch as we independently enjoy a good book or 2 or 3
2:00- Exercise/Play time
3:00- Prepare dinner and Daily Chores
4:00- Mandatory Outside playtime if not to cold otherwise inside play
5:00- Begin dinner, eat and then clean up as a family and then have some Family Time!
6:45- Start calm music as we all prepare for bed with quick clean ups, pjs, teeth brushed, get water.
7:15- Begin bedtime routine: poetry, songs of worship,prayer and kisses (lots of kisses) goodnight
After the littles are all in bed my evening begins:
Detailed straightening of each abandoned room, preperations for tomorrow, time with hubby, some computer time, reading time, study time and then prayer and lights out by: 10:00 or 10:30.

That is it! This is my hopes for each day's journey but they very rarely walk directly down this path, they are often detoured and sometimes even dead end but the main hope is that while we all walk in our day's journey we will do it in a manner worthy of the LORD, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (1 Corinthians 1:10-11)

Listen...

Father, I love Your patience toward me.

I love it when You describe Yourself as slow

to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Oh, to be more like You!

Have mercy on my easily angered heart!

Forgive my many peeves and murmurings.

Grant that I would be saturated with grace,

and let me show it to others as

I desperately need it for myself.

Because of Jesus,

Amen.

(Life as a Vapor, John Piper)

Today....

Almighty God,
as I cross the threshold of this day
I commit myself, soul, body, affairs, friends, to Thy care.
Watch over, keep, guide, direct, sanctify, bless me.
Incline my heart to thy ways.
Mould me wholly into the image of Jesus,
as a potter forms clay.
May my lips be a well-tuned harp to sound Thy praise.
Let those around see me living by Thy Spirit,
trampling the world underfoot,
unconformed to lying vanities,
transformed by a renewed mind,
clad in the entire armour of God,
shining as a never-dimmed light,
showing holiness in all my doings.
Let no evil this day soil my thoughts, words, hands.
May I travel miry paths with a life pure from spot or stain.
In needful transactions
let my affection be in heaven,
and my love soar upwards in flames of fire,
my gaze fixed on unseen things,
my eyes open to the emptiness, fragility, mockery of earth and its vanities.
May I view all things in the mirror of eternity,
waiting for the coming of my Lord,
listening for the last trumpet call,
hastening unto the new heaven and earth.
Order this day all my communications according to Thy wisdom,
and to the gain of mutual good.
Forbid that I should not be profited or made profitable.
May I speak each word as if my last word,
and walk each step as my final one.
If my life should end today, let this be my best day.

Living Intentionally in 2008

And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Ephesians 5:2

My hearts most yearning desire is to not just simply walk through each moment of 2008but to walk intentionally in love and not just any love but the same love that was displayed for me on the cross through our Savior. That love... self sacraficing... a fragant offering to God. I did not make any "resolutions" per say but here are 8 things that I want to change for the better, that I plan of commiting to in 2008...

1. I want to KNOW God, I want Him to be an extreme reality in my life, in my thoughts and deep in my heart. I want His reality to be with me everywhere, I don't just want to continue to walk through each day with an inconsistent and unrealistic and distorted view on God, I want to walk radically in love and in the knowledge of the One who made the universe and breathed life into Adam and me. This will be conceived through a disciplined and consistent time with Him each morning, I am devoting my early mornings to the Lord... completely giving Him my first hour in each new day to dwell with Him in the word, through prayer and in adoration and praise. My first steps will be taken with Him, this is not negotiable...

2. To crucify my fleshly desire to be over my husband and to disrepect him when we disagree or clash in thoughts. To grow with him, to daily find ways to encourage him, support him, show him undivided attention and affection, to love him more than myself and give all of my energy to him.

3. Oh to be a fun loving mother! I just want to play with them more... and enjoy them where they are. Set up 1 day each week for me to have some alone time with them seperately.

4. Make it a consistent habit of sending cards to family to let them know that we are thinking of them and that we love them even though we live miles away.

5. Set up a childrens bible study for our neighborhood kids at our house every week or every 2 weeks.

6. Surrender to the Spirit's leading in showing hospitality and being in peoples lives through prayer and daily thoughts and actions.

7. To prayer for God to lead me in earning a little extra income.

8. Find a daily cleaning and exercise routine that will work for me and my family and to drink more water with my coffee.

Lord, please enable me to commit to these and glorify you through them. Lord, I have attempted at these almost weekly and failed, Lord I can not do anything with out you... walk with me, stay with me, don't let me go anywhere with out you by my side, continually give me the strength that I so need.

Visit Extravagrant Grace, an inspiring santuary I stumbled upon the other day, for more Living Intentionally in 2008.

Living Diligently with our Time

Here, then, is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God's Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy.

R. C. Sproul

We each have been given the gift of time, a jar representing each God given day if you will, to fill, what is in your jar? Diligently live, seek Him in your day and glorify His name as you labor in love.

To Bed... To Bed...

11:47 and I am still awake at my computer. It is work that calls my fingers to tap this time. I have finally made a nursery worker schedule. I am the Nursery Cordinater at our church and for the many months that I have taken this job I have been the main worker in our charming little nursery. I don't mind all that much but it does become very draining to ones spiritual thirst. This schedule will allow me to enjoy some spoken words of God through His mighty vessel Marq Toombs and I can not tell you how excited I am about that! I pray that everyone will be pleased with the schedule. I really struggled with this because I have a phobia of upsetting people and so the idea of assigning people to work on certain Sundays just makes me a little lot uncomfortable. This is something that I would really like to get over. I have never enjoyed being an extremely passive person. Alrighty, I have set my printer for 20 copies and now I must finish up my last Saturday night preperations for the madness of Sunday morning.

Be blessed... Good Night!

Trust in the Lord: Create in me a Clean Heart devotional

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and he shall make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5

Relax! The Lord is worthy of your trust... He always keeps His promies. When you hear this verse do you feel comforted and secure? I know it is hard sometimes to trust the unseen with certainty, but think about this: how many times has the Lord failed in keeping His promises? The road you are traveling may appear to be heading into a dead end to your limited eyesight but I tell you to stand firm in your faith and hold tight to His promises for He will make your path straight, now to you it may not and probably will not appear so straight. Their may even be a few sharp turns and even some u-turns but I am certain that in the eyes of the Lord they are straight for you see He has a plan for the path that you are traveling and it is good, he says so. Trust Him with all of your heart no matter how difficult or against your natural instinct and advice of others, though it is well intended and He the maker of time will make your path straight.

This verse is very close to my heart and my husbands. 5 years ago we were living a normal life. Expresso was a computer tech or nerd (it has a professional name but I can't think of it) at a local paper mill where we lived, I was a stay at home wife, homeschooling mother and we were Sunday church goers. I was growing continually and quickly in my faith while Expresso was lingering behind stille grapeling with some unsorted things in his mind. Life was good. I prayed nightly for the Lord to open the eyes of my husband's heart and to bring him to repentence. 2 years went by and things only seemed to get worse. Life wasn't as good as it once was but I held on to hope and continued to pray. It wasn't long before God anwsered my prayer, not exactly how I had imagined it but it was perfect. There was a lot of pain and healing that was experienced in those days but I held on with all I had to the Lord and trusted in Him. A few months later my husband was called into the ministry, I still remember the shock of hearing him tell me what he felt he was being called to do. We began discussing things with our preacher/friend and the decision was made after much prayer and thought. My husband only had a heart to serve the Lord, He had given him a new heart. Oh, praise God!! A new heart, one that no longer desired the pleasures of this world but that yearned to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We began making plans, ha! We... they were all soon detoured. We had decided to leave a life of comfort and security from the world and dive into the unknown comfort and security of the Lord. We were headed to Dallas Texas and seminary school! Crazy... that is what family thought of us and some of our friends, but we were completely okay with that because God put Proverbs 3:5-6 in our hearts and it was not leaving our side. Many things happened like out of the clear blue the school Expresso was going to attend shutting down only weeks before we were to leave, our house not selling and the money that it would cost to attend another school was to much for us. Dead end! Or so it seemed to our feeble eyes, we held on and stood firm knowing that God hadn't brought us this far to forsake us now. Amazingly it all fell directly and perfectly into place just like jagged puzzle pieces. The school that shut down ended up giving us plus a few cents almost exactly the amount we needed to attend the other school and our house sold right in time. Here is a quote that I love that pretty much sums up our every expereince with God:

I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.

Hudson Taylor

Nothing is impossible with God. No matter what is going on in your life whether it is something great or something very small know that God is with you and that if you trust in Him, He will make straight your path. I believe that will all of my heart, that doesn't mean that it will be easy. He doesn't say anything about the terrain of the straight path just that it will be straight! God is GOOD... believe it, believe Him and trust in His word for your life.

This post is to go along with my personal journey through the Create in me a Clean Heart Devotional that can be found at Dandelion Seeds, be encouraged!

The Bible

But when I come into God's presence and hold His word in my hand, I feel so very ignorant, insignificant, and needy of His instruction. Further, I feel an incredible sense of awe that He would stoop to reveal the secrets of His heart to me. Surely such riches are worth whatever time, discipline, and sacrafice are necessary to mine them from His treasure store. (A Place of Quiet Rest, Demoss)

Oh that we would feel this way about the living word of God! The LIVING word of God. How we have become numb to the awesome fact that our bible is the WORD of God, it is His words spoken to us. Do you realize how blessed you are to own a bible and if your home is anything like ours you probaly own more than one. Imagine living deprived of the word, it is no where to be found. We have grown to take the abundance of the bible for granted, we do not know what it is like to be with out it. It has been apart of our lives since we began to know God and for some even before. Oh... do we realize how precious and infinitely valuble our bibles are! Listen to to the story of Mary Jones and Margaret Nikol and cherish your bible for what it is, the word of God living and active.

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.

Psalm 33:6

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.

Psalm 119:97

I want the heart of the Psalmist! Oh how I love your law! so much that I am willing to make the sacrafices needed just so that I may abide in it! If I must give up sleep so be it, it is well worth it.

Rationally Complaining?

I did 4 loads of laundry today and put one of them away! Woo hoo for me. There is a basket of folded socks and hanging clothes on the couch, a basket on the floor under it with t-shirts, a blob of clean boy shirst, pjs and socks on the dryer, some clean shirts and pants in their room on the floor (where it can't be seen of course or tripped over) and sitting in the dryer is Butterfly's bedding. I am still playing catch up from our trip. While in my room I was thinking well, the clothes are clean... and I grabbed an assumed dirty shirt of Expresso's off the bed to toss in the dirty hamper only to find it grossly overflowing... sigh. I wonder where oh where do all of these hideous clothes come from... not my house. I can hear the comment now, "Do I have any clean jeans?". Will it ever stop? Will I ever catch up? I want to rip through everyone's drawers pulling out all of the items that are cluttering up and causing havic in my laundry room/kitchen. Really, do we really "need" all of these clothes?

Do you ever do that? Just complain until you have found some rationality. I write a lot of invisible post like these only to delete them or have them sit in "drafts". I decided to allow this one to pass through the gates of publish. I am sitting at my kitchen table with my bible opened to Genesis 6. I wasn't going to blog right now... how I started I can't really tell you my fingers just started dancing.

Early to Rise

The best time to converse with God is before wordly occasion stands knocking at the door to be let in: the morning is, as it were, the cream of the day; let the cream be taken off, and let God have it. Wind up thy heart towards heaven in the beginning of the day, and it will go the better all the day after. He that loseth his heart in the morning in the world, will hardly find it again all the day.

Thomas Watson.

I struggle every morning to arise early before the rest of my world. I am a nightowl who desires to be an earlybird. I love to be alone in the presence of the Lord in the dawn of the new day before the demands begin and the duties call, just a time to enjoy and bathe in the awesome word of God. To give thanks, praise and to be lead through His paths and truths. Now if only I could remember that when the alarm goes off and I pull the covers back up and yearn for just a "few more minutes". A few more minutes of my morning idol sleep, those few more minutes never satisfy my heart of it's longings and it does not equip me with the armor needed for the day approaching.

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Psalm 90:14