Circumstances. I am not sure why I let them decide my mood. But they do and I am not sure why?
- I know who I am in Christ.
- I know who I belong to.
- I know who holds my future.
- I know who suffered and died for me.
- I know I am forgiven even when I mess up.
- I know that there is a (clean) mansion waiting for me.
- I know I will see my loved ones who believe in Christ again.
- I know who is lurking around to destroy me.
These are truths. I know them and read them daily. Then why this great inner dilemma of letting my circumstances set my mood? I try to remember this time on earth is temporary and will pass away.
I think it is a cycle for me I read through this list starting at the top. I need to reverse the order of my thinking so I don't give the lurking one any power.
- I know who is lurking around to destroy me.
- I know I will see my loved ones who believe in Christ again.
- I know that there is a (clean) mansion waiting for me.
- I know I am forgiven even when I mess up.
- I know who suffered and died for me.
- I know who holds my future.
- I know who I belong to.
- I know who I am in Christ.
Another Jodi FAIL!!!
Two years ago around Christmas time I mentioned Alvin and the chipmunks in passing to my kids. They all looked at me like I was from another planet. So I wanted them to have the same silly joy and love of Alvin, Simon & Theodore that I had growing up.
So we ran into to the computer and I you tubed a version of the Christmas song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hAUWyp0qzs&playnext=1&list=PL69C81CBD38A1A815&feature=results_video
Well the link I provided is the original. But that day I clicked on the 1st one I saw. Needless to say we got to the chorus and Alvin started cussing and being a very foul mouthed chipmunk.
My kids mouths dropped and they were in shock that mom would like such a song. I grabbed the mouse and clicked on everything I could to shut it down.
After the trauma, I apologized to the kids and said I should not just clicked on the 1st one I saw and it was a good lesson on, not everything is safe on the internet.
So at dinner they proceed to tell their dad about Alvin and the Chipmunks and my littlest one chimes in and says "Yeah but he cusses! We should not click on him anymore"........
Lesson learned by this momma. :)
It is the hardest job I have ever had. It the job I love and hate. If ever I act or look schizophrenic it is because I am a MOM!
Knowing when to let go, ask, or even push is a daily quandary with 3 kids. I can not even fathom how Bobbi Mc Caughey or Mrs.Dugger do it.
I love so deeply that this job is REALLY hard for me. So today I was looking at the example of Mary and I can see it was not easy for her either.
She was an obedient wife and traveled on a donkey, miles from home, in labor, to give birth in a barn.
NOT ME!
She moved at the drop of a hat with a toddler to a very foreign city.
I hate moving.
Then when her son was about 12, she lost him and left him behind.
Wow! I haven't lost a kid yet.
She was a pushy mom, who wanted her son to perform a miracle at a wedding.
I would like my kids to miraculously unload the dishwasher.....
As her son leaves the home and goes into the world, she is rejected, "who is my mother"?
She knows he must go out into the world.
This one is hard for me. It hits a tender spot in my heart. I can not fathom not having my kids here.
(the words EMPTY NEST make me cry uncontrollably)
Then we hear nothing of her for quite a while.
She is still there......
The last we hear of her,she is standing at the cross watching her son die.
(I can not imagine this either)
But some of His last words are, that she be cared for. He loved her enough to take care of her future, on earth and on the cross.
Through all of this I see Mary instilled what she could in her son and sent him off to do God's work.
That is what I am called to do also. Mary was not perfect and I do not need to be either.
Grace abounds for all of us mom's whether we loose our patience or cling on to them too long.
Mary accepted the call to be the mother of the MESSIAH and did a fine job.
I accepted the call to be a mom and God told me today: BE THE BEST ONE YOU CAN BE.
In June of this last year so much changed in my life. It was not a status change, or a parenting change. It was a HEART change.
Our calendar for the summer was a challenge in early spring and we needed to make a decision on going on the summer mission trip and various camps for the kids. It worked out my middle daughter would go to camp in early June and the boys would do a scout camp at the end of the month.. But with how travel worked for the boys they would not be able to go on the mission trip we go on each summer. The girls wanted to go really bad as they missed the Navajo people. So I conceded that the girls & I would go this trip alone and the boys would go to scout camp. I hated the idea and it nagged at me all the way there.
It felt weird to be on the trip without my spouse and my son. I had not been without my husband for more than a day or two since he got out of the military, so 2 weeks was gonna be a lot. I decided to pray about our relationship and ask God to show me where I could help improve it and where I could change.
Well my 1st lesson: DO NOT ASK if you are not SERIOUS!!
My marriage was okay, but nothing to brag about. So I prayed where to start.... 2 days went by and God said the Song of Songs. OK this was going to be a stretch. I was already married for 20 years. This seemed like a juicy harlequin novel. It felt weird to read it, like I was a third person watching in a bedroom!
All this time my daughter has started a relationship back home via texting a boy she had been an aquaitnce with for years. I thought maybe I was reading it for her/their benefit.
But the very next day I read John 21. Those crazy disciples were fishing and having no luck. They were out away from the people (probably hiding out) when Jesus appeared and said.... caught anything yet? No, was their response. He hollered back, TRY IT MY WAY. Throw your nets on the other side. DO IT MY WAY
OKAY that came through LOUD & CLEAR. I was doing this marriage thing my way with God thrown in on the side. The wrong side. I need to have God be back at the center and He would make my marriage like that juicy novel again.So the rest of the mission trip I read and prayed to be a more devoted wife who would humble before God then my husband.
I have seen God transform my heart and make non existent parts of my marriage bloom and grow. Through this we have become a better example for our children and a much funner couple to be around.
So if you feel stuck, try casting your net God's way. He will give you the BEST CATCH for your life. IT WORKED FOR ME!
Loss has hit us in a couple ways this past weekend. One is loss of life of our dear friend. And as the shock of this tragic accident is setting in, I can see God working in so many ways.
Our friend was an amazing man of God who married his sweetheart and together they raised 4 girls. He was an elder at his church but more importantly he lived his faith out for all to see. It was a shock to us but not to God. God did not say oops I dropped the ball and this man of God is now in heaven. He knew our friends days and each one of them were fulfilled in God's time and with His purpose in mind.
The second loss was more the loss of a dream for someone who is close to us. When a person chooses a destructive path of addiction and not the way of the Lord it can bring ruin and sadness to a family. In doing so, this person has shattered the dreams of their whole family by not being what God has called them to be. But this is also fulfilling God's purpose.
Each one of these situations has a heart wrenching pain that can linger for years to come. But each situation will change all involved and should make us look at our lives through the lens of God and ask:
WHAT AM I DOING ON THIS EARTH TO FULFILL GOD'S PURPOSE? HOW AM I USING WHAT HE GAVE ME?
God has provided us with a great deal and blessed us with so much. But using it for HIS GLORY to FURTHER HIS KINGDOM is our call. Being selfish and squandering the blessings make us look like spoiled brats in his eyes and discipline will follow.
When I arrive in heaven I want the Lord to say "well done my good and faithful servant:".(Matt. 25:21). Not," what did you do with what I gave you." (Matt.25:29)
So Full!
There is so much to be THANKFUL for. I am rereading The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman and it could not come at a better time.
I highly recommend this book! I have read this book before and am reading it again for training purposes and think it is something we all need to hear again and again.
We fill each others emotional tanks day in and day out. With Thanksgiving yesterday and a week filled with family,
MY TANK IS FULL!
As events have played out this week, I have seen that there are people in my life who tanks are low or just running on vapors. I am called to by God, to help fill their tanks with encouraging words and love so they can in turn do the same for others.
Dr. Chapman says "At the heart of mankind's existence is the desire to be intimate and loved by another."
Not only our spouses,our children, friends, but even the clerk at the store, your waitress, and your co-workers. All are longing to feel loved and to be needed.
Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thes.5:11
Loving others is so EASY for me! Giving time, things, and emotional love are things I do daily.
I LOVE GIVING! I have been told I give too much. But looking at my Biblical mandate, I see why the Lord and given me this gift.
Yes there are those people in our lives that need EXTRA GRACE. And at times, I am one of those people and so are you.
Our CHALLENGE is to rise above ourselves and put on LOVE. Just as Christ did for us.
And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:13-15
Happy Thanksgiving!
Amazement.... Pure Amazement! And not in a good sense either. I can not decide if it is lack of responsibility or lack of respect?
This blog might sound more like a rant, so I am apologizing up front.
So sorry!
Or should I say I feel sorry, sorry to the girl who is going to marry a guy who has no manners and expects to be waited on. Sorry to a young man, because a girl has made excuses instead of being responsible for doing what she said she would do. I feel sorry for the generation of my children who have found themselves not responsible, but ENTITLED!
Where did this entitlement come from? Who put this idea in their heads that just gracing the earth is enough and they need not do more?
Satan is the only one who has tried that. And look where that got him. Thrown out of heaven and down here on earth. And now his goal is to "roam around" and see who he can lead astray. He is very successful and leading droves of kids to an abyss. He will slowly devour all the morals and virtues that you have instilled in a matter of a semester at school.
It use to be, that this occurred when a child of 18 or so went away to college and was slowly indoctrinated by peers and university professors over a matter of years. But not so anymore.
I have had several instances in my home, church, and in public where these children, junior high and high school age, show their true nature.
So my question is...WHAT ARE YOU DOING????
All through out the book of Ezekiel God not only calls US to be accountable, but to HOLD each other accountable.(Eze 34:10) I am asking that you PLEASE do as God commanded. CORRECT my children, if I am not there and they are biblically in the wrong.
When did we come a society that is afraid of a good swift SWAT to the butt & RED PENS??
Now before I get turned into child protective services, I would like to suggest we look at it from the top down.
God disciplines us when we need it..... and we should do the same for our children. Not to Lord over them and control them, but to mold them like the potter does to the clay.
(Jer 18:6)
Change... Who likes change. I am not talking money, but things being different than "the norm".
Thinking back on it, I have had quite a bit of change since I got married. Part of that is due to the fact I married someone in the military so the first 5 years of our marriage was constant change.
But when we moved back to Iowa the change kept coming. No home, new jobs, schooling, years of infertility, home buying, children being born, staying at home and going to one income, private schooling, then homeschooling, death of family members, and on & on.
Some was easy and a no brainer, but some of the other stuff was hard.
In thinking about this I read in my quiet time that God told Joseph and Mary to leave and flee, move to Egypt with a infant/toddler.... Now I am pretty sure, no accounts in the gospel told Mary that because she was giving birth to the MESSIAH that her life would be easy and free of change. So if Mary did not receive an easy road why should I??
I am uncomfortable when plans change for family holiday get togethers, I am sad when my Dad is not at the head of the table anymore....These changes can drag you down.
Just as God provided for Mary & Joseph a place of refuge in Egypt, a safe place to return to once Herod died. HE PROVIDES FOR ME!!
The NEW faces around the dinner table, the abundance of LOVE & FOOD around that table. All those provisions need to be louder than my sadness or me being uncomfortable.
I find it rather ironic that our presidents motto was hope and change...... I see hope and change but not in a man or in worldly things but in JESUS CHRIST, who gives me real HOPE in the midst of all my CHANGE.
In my quiet time this morning God spoke again through one of the stories I had heard 100's of times. In the story of Jesus healing the sick woman I am amazed at the grace throughout the story. See Luke 8:40-48
First of all who wants to bleed for a week, let alone 12 years......Next this chick must have had a terribly hard life for the last 12 years. Custom would be, because she was bleeding, she would have been removed from her household till she was "clean". She had to live in a tent outside her home. Now there is no mention of a family, but there had to be someone she would have been removed from.... So she was more than likely lonely. She was more than likely mocked or at least the "talk" of the tents. And she must have been desperate. Desperate enough to take matters into her own hands.
It seemed like she had encounter with Jesus planned out. A "touch and go" if you will. After that she would be on her merry way and returned to her normal life. First emerged herself as part of "the crowd" then she went in for the move. I need to give this girl credit, 1st she was hanging with other believers, 2nd she knew who could heal her. Her down fall was that she wanted all this on HER terms.
OH how many times have I done the same. My idea, my plan, my manipulating the circumstances so everything is just so...
She was called out. Not only called out but, HEALED and called out.
"Who touched me?"..... really?
Like Jesus really needed to ask this, He is Mr. all knowing.
But that question moved her to a place of fear.
And that FEAR and ADMITTANCE of her plan to touch Him to be healed was where her healing became COMPLETE.
I am usually pretty happy and maybe even smug when a "plan" of mine goes as I planned. It is when it does not go according to my plan when I get upset. During that time, I need to hear Jesus calling ME out.
Now I am not saying I am giving up planning things, (NO WAY!) but what I need to do is check my heart and make sure that what I am planning is for God's glory and not my own.
God will never give you more then you can handle.... BULL!!
I hear this over and over again from well meaning church going people and it drives me CRAZY! People refer to 1 Corinthians 10:13 as where they get this faulty quote.
God continually gives us more than we can handle to make us stretch, grow, and lean on Him. I have had this happen many times in my life. And it is all through out the Bible. Look at Abraham, Job, Mary, Martha, and Paul as a few examples.
When my oldest daughter was 6 months old she was sick and the doctor could not figure out what was wrong with her. She had run a fever off and on, it would spike then recover. They drew blood and found nothing. One night as I consoled her as she was crying for the 5th night straight, I started crying out too.
After I got her to sleep and literally crawled into bed I heard a CRACK and a THUD. My husband and I jumped out of bed to find the 50 year old tree in our front yard had fallen across our driveway and on the sidewalk. We were in shock.
In the morning as the baby woke up with a high fever and a doctor appointment looming we considered how to get out. My husbands 1st call was to work, 2nd call to the city, 3rd call to the doctor.
The city came in a matter of an hour and had the tree removed from across the drive way and sidewalks. I did not say they hauled it away.... they are only liable to clear a path for pedestrian and motor traffic.
So we head off to the doctor's office and have no further insight on the cause of our daughters illness with a HUGE tree laying in our front yard. The doctor decides to admit her to the hospital because she is now getting dehydrated and not eating well.
By the afternoon we are in the hospital and getting fluids awaiting test results. I stay at the hospital and send my husband home that night to sleep. As the morning dawned we got the test results of ecoli. I thought it was the straw that would break my back....
Then my cell phone rang. It was a tree service my husband had called to remove the tree. It would be $946 to remove the tree and haul it away. I told them okay figuring we would have to get a loan or charge all these unplanned expenses.
As I am hanging up the phone, my husband comes in the room and I lost it! I bawled like my daughter had the night before uncontrollably. After about 10 minuets of a good hard cry, my husband reaches into his pocket and pulls out his handkerchief and a $950 bonus check from his place of employment.
God DID give me WAY MORE than I wanted to handle. But today I can look back at that and see how the Lord provided for me in my time of need. These struggles made me STRETCH in my faith, GROW in endurance and LEAN on HIM.
He is Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord God our PROVIDER.
I am by trade (haha!) a stay at home/homeschool mom and have been now for over 17 years.. As the years have past, I decided to keep me from hurting my children and to make sure I can still carry on an adult conversation, I took on a very part time job at a local University. As this was only 1-2 days a month it was good for all.
I have the most WONDERFUL in-laws who came and played with my kids while I was gone on those afternoons. My mother in law, former teacher, would always show up with a game in hand. Which was great for teaching the children different aspects of life. Taking turns, counting money, and even what a house note was. THANKS LIFE!
One aspect she taught them came back to me very loudly this week, and you know what they say sharing is caring.
The children would get so excited it was there turn and they would just start counting and moving their token around whatever game they are playing. She would lovingly recount with them and get everyone to the right spot. After doing this several times, she has the patience of a saint, she decided to implement a new saying to help the kids start moving the token at the right time. She would say SITTING.... 1..2...3 ect.
It is the word SITTING that is screaming in my head!!! God speaks so loudly. Especially when he wants to make sure I am listening.
I need to practice the SITTING. Resting and thinking before doing. In Luke 10 Mary was caught SITTING. It ticked Martha off, bad. But Jesus said she had chosen what was better!
I am such a Martha. WOW!!! Sitting is okay. This is a radical! Not only that but Luke is telling the story... a doctor? coincidence?? Then you have the GREAT PHYSICIAN saying it is ok.
So if you need anything today and find me sitting, my MASTER says it is ok for me to rest in HIM.
Deciding to write a blog.... what do I have to say that anyone would want to hear.
Well even if this is just therapy for me it will be effective. I am not making any promises to write once a week, month, I might write 2-3 times a day. I will be prompted by Spirit, the Word and God.
Sweet aroma.... that is what we are to be. All through Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus it references the "aroma" of offerings to the LORD.
In my quiet time the other day in Mark 14 right before Jesus was to die, a woman took expensive perfume and poured it as an "offering" on his feet. The disciples questioned her wasting it, but Jesus said "leave her alone".
I have been struggling with this for several weeks now with someone in my life who does not see value in how I "pour" out my offering. God has given me many gifts. I am BLESSED with a very giving spirit and love to do things for others as a service to Him.
My goal this week has been to hear Christs words as He says "she has done a beautiful thing for me", and remember that it is Him I am bringing glory to, not others.
And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:14
