We have been a content family of four for nearly 4 years now & I see no change to our little world anytime soon. Of course, it's totally up to the Lord so I don't say that with full confidence or anything, just where we're at is all. God could interrupt our family any old time He wanted to, and we would be perfectly content with that as well.
Every now and again I like to see what the girls would think about God interrupting or family, so to speak. So at dinner tonight I posed the infamous question: "Would you girls want us to have another baby, a little brother or sister?"
Kate immediately responds with a "Not a little brother, they grow up to be drama!" Ok, dually noted. I'll remember that it's the boys that are dramatic the next time your room is colorful, not because of decoration but because of clothes that have fallen victim to the latest fashion crisis. Gotchya.
Lily decides that she would like one boy baby AND one girl baby because "it's not a lot, it's only two." Oooookkkk. Tell that to any mom with newborn twins. It's not a lot. It's only two.
Then we were discussing how daddy would love another girl, he does love having girls and has said numerous times he would like many more. And when I say many, I don't really know how many we are talking, but he would like many. I dare not ask.
Lily was not too keen on that as she said, "no he already loves us girls! He can't love another!"
Oh kids are fun. Some days I think I could handle more. Other days I thank God for giving me all I can handle.
It's always fun when God interrupts though, isn't it? Maybe it may not seem so fun at the time, depending on your interruption, but I love the promise given in Romans 8:28 - nothing we face will work against us. Everything we face will work for us. It has to. We love God, and that's His promise, to work all things for the good to those that love Him. So whatever interruptions you face today, perhaps they are not as cute as a sweet newborn babe, but no matter the interruption in life, you can be sure of one thing, it HAS to work for good. Somehow, someway, it has to work for good.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Don't step back!
Acts 27:13-15 (NIV)
13 When a gentle south wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. 14 Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the Northeaster, swept down from the island. 15 The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along.
In this passage of scripture Paul was on a boat with other prisoners. He had warned the leaders that the way they were sailing was going to end in destruction of their ship, their belongings and cause harm to themselves. But they did not listen.
Until verse 15 came along, and they finally realized that they could not fight the wind any longer, so they just gave way to it.
After the fighting, and trying to take matters into their own hands, they gave up and let the winds take them where they were going to take them.
Do you ever feel like that? Like you are fighting to get to something, and it just is not working out like you planned?
Maybe you are in that place today. You have done all you can. You have prayed. You have believed. And yet, nothing has changed in the situation.
There comes a time when we need to do like verse 15 says, and give way to it. Relinquish control. Let the storm take you where God wants you to go. God will never take you someplace that He wont sustain you.
We can choose to say God, I trust you. I don’t know where this thing is headed, but I trust you. Control these winds God. As long as they are pushing you forward, then that is where you are supposed to be.
The storm is not a surprise to God. We have to turn loose the sails and let His wind blow us where He wants us to go. The winds may be blowing, they may be raging tougher than ever before. But if we take the step of faith, and trust Him today, we will get the victory every time.
We all face situations that don’t turn out the way we had hoped they would. We all have prayed for something that did not get answered the way we wanted it to. It’s easy to allow yourself to fall backwards in those moments, to get negative, to get bitter, to give up on your dreams.
I heard something years ago that has stuck with me, and that’s this:
In your setback, don’t step back, because God’s got a comeback!
Don’t allow yourself to step back. Not for a second! Don’t give way to doubt, and fear and confusion. Don’t do it!
That battle is not yours, the battle is the Lords! Let God shift those winds for you. Instead of blowing you back, it will push you forward.
13 When a gentle south wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. 14 Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the Northeaster, swept down from the island. 15 The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along.
In this passage of scripture Paul was on a boat with other prisoners. He had warned the leaders that the way they were sailing was going to end in destruction of their ship, their belongings and cause harm to themselves. But they did not listen.
Until verse 15 came along, and they finally realized that they could not fight the wind any longer, so they just gave way to it.
After the fighting, and trying to take matters into their own hands, they gave up and let the winds take them where they were going to take them.
Do you ever feel like that? Like you are fighting to get to something, and it just is not working out like you planned?
Maybe you are in that place today. You have done all you can. You have prayed. You have believed. And yet, nothing has changed in the situation.
There comes a time when we need to do like verse 15 says, and give way to it. Relinquish control. Let the storm take you where God wants you to go. God will never take you someplace that He wont sustain you.
We can choose to say God, I trust you. I don’t know where this thing is headed, but I trust you. Control these winds God. As long as they are pushing you forward, then that is where you are supposed to be.
The storm is not a surprise to God. We have to turn loose the sails and let His wind blow us where He wants us to go. The winds may be blowing, they may be raging tougher than ever before. But if we take the step of faith, and trust Him today, we will get the victory every time.
We all face situations that don’t turn out the way we had hoped they would. We all have prayed for something that did not get answered the way we wanted it to. It’s easy to allow yourself to fall backwards in those moments, to get negative, to get bitter, to give up on your dreams.
I heard something years ago that has stuck with me, and that’s this:
In your setback, don’t step back, because God’s got a comeback!
Don’t allow yourself to step back. Not for a second! Don’t give way to doubt, and fear and confusion. Don’t do it!
That battle is not yours, the battle is the Lords! Let God shift those winds for you. Instead of blowing you back, it will push you forward.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
My little Super Girl!
Here is my little Super girl Lily! She came across the cape yesterday and is obsessed with it. I love this photo of her, wish I had used my regular camera rather than my phone but such is life. She is running free, not a care in the world, except protecting it of course. She is, after all, a super hero. And apparently she comes from a family of super hero's. She has one brudder and three sisters, and they all wear capes. She works at Starbucks, because "in her world there are TONS of Starbucks." That's a world I want to live in Lily. Oh wait, I do.
She has been running around the house today asking what she can help me with; of course regular chores like cleaning up are far too mundane for her powers. And in case you wondered where she gets the power from, she gets it from her thigh. It goes into her skin and she just takes off with full force.
At one point her thighs began to fail her (Oh honey that's only the beginning of thigh woes) and she was feeling weak and without power. So I told her that God would give her power...she went into the kitchen, and in her sweet little 3.75 year old voice said, "God, please give me more power, Amen."
And with that she came running back declaring she had power from God and was ready to take on the world again! You go Lily!
If only it were that easy.
But wait, it is. Acts 1:8 says that "you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." I like that! I need power.
I need power to raise my girls in this corrupt world. I need power to be a Godly wife. I need power to be a good friend to my friends. I need power to maintain my cool when I really would like to say what comes to mind. I need power to encourage those I come in contact with on a daily basis, to hope that the love of Jesus would shine through all I say and do. I need power.
So, if Lily does not mind, I think I will don her cape for awhile. After all, I could use some power...and Starbucks!
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Living Epistle
I read a great devotional today that just allowed scripture to jump off the page at me, love when that happens. Although I've read this particular passage of scripture before, I never saw it in this light.
2 Corinthians 3:7-8
"But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the spirit not be more glorious?
Oh man, I gotta continue to vs. 9. "For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, (notice HAD glory, past tense, not present tense, it HAD glory) the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory."
What jumped out at me was the law being referred to as "the ministry of death." And indeed it is. I'd never thought of it like that. However, I've met numerous people that have spiritually died as a result of the law being forced upon them. Rules & regulations to follow in order to supposedly gain God's approval. Don't watch this, don't wear that, don't say this, don't go there, don't think this, don't think that...do this, do that, wear this, wear that. Rules. Law. Death.
But the ten commandments were given for a reason right? God gave the law to Moses & he in turned shared the law with the Israelites, and of course with all who have read the Old Testament, right? Right.
But if you go to the prior verse in chapter 3, we are told in vs. 3 that we are a living epistle, that we are "not written with ink but by the Spirit of the Living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart."
So how do we reconcile the two then? How do we hold true to the law of the Lord, but yet live in the freedom that the Spirit brings?
By being a living epistle. When I become a living epistle for Christ, then the will of God becomes my delight. My hearts desire becomes pleasing the Lord, and in so doing, the law of the Lord flows out of my life, hence being an epistle. I will automatically live by the commandments of the Lord, because it will hurt my heart not to do so. Murder, deceit, adultery, theft - you can go down the list of the commandments, they won't be something that even appeals to the person made new in Christ. Not because you are told by a religious leader or an authority figure, but because according to Phil 2:13 "God is working in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."
When we accept Christ, our old nature is out the door. It dies. We take on this new nature, and as we feed this new nature with the Word, with prayer, by serving, by doing the things of the Lord, we can truly come to a place of delight in the Lord. We begin to live a life of righteousness, not because we are ordered to, but because our hearts cry is to please the Lord. Out of our love for Him, and for what He did on the cross, our hearts yearn to express our gratitude. Our lives are epistles.
I dress modestly because I love the Lord and don't want to ever offend with my clothing. That, and I am extremely modest by nature. If I could rock a turtleneck without looking like a turtle, I would! That being said, I love clothes! And I'm thankful that God looks passed what I'm wearing to my heart, He sees the intent of my heart in what I wear. I'm not out to draw attention to myself, I just like clothes. God loves me just as much right now as I sit in my jammie pants as He does when I feel that I'm looking my best. Perhaps I'll just wear my jammies to church Sunday. Or not.
I go to church because I love church! I've loved church ever since I accepted the Lord. Ps. 122:1 is a favorite verse, "I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." Love me some church! Not because I'm told to be there, but because my heart delights in the Lord and there's no place I'd rather be.
I share those examples because they are often rules placed on people, BY people. There are many other examples I could share but I'm getting all jittery from my coffee now and this could go real bad, real quick ;)
This new covenant we have with the Lord is so cool. The old covenant was written on stone. The new covenant is written on our hearts. The old covenant was death. The new covenant is liberty & life through the Lord. The old covenant brought condemnation. The new covenant brings righteousness, out of hearts cry to serve God. The old covenant was passing away. The new covenant remains forever.
The Israelites could not look on God without a veil in the old covenant. But in the new, we can look upon the glory of God. We have instant access to Him! This new covenant is ever increasing. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that we are being transformed from glory to glory...we are ever changing, ever growing, ever falling in love with the Lord. Not because of a rule, but because of pure love.
In the devotional I read today by Smith Wigglesworth it said this: "In this new life in the Spirit, in this new covenant life, you love the things that are right and pure and holy, and you shudder at all the things that are wrong. Jesus was able to say, "The ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me." (John 14:30) The moment we are filled with the Spirit of God, we are brought into a wonderful condition like this."
Oh wow! May we be able to say the same thing; that old filthy devil aint got nothin in me. Because I am the redeemed of the Lord. Because I'm set free from me. Because I'm a lover of Jesus. Because I'm in the new covenant. Because I'm a living Epistle.
Amen and amen.
2 Corinthians 3:7-8
"But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the spirit not be more glorious?
Oh man, I gotta continue to vs. 9. "For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, (notice HAD glory, past tense, not present tense, it HAD glory) the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory."
What jumped out at me was the law being referred to as "the ministry of death." And indeed it is. I'd never thought of it like that. However, I've met numerous people that have spiritually died as a result of the law being forced upon them. Rules & regulations to follow in order to supposedly gain God's approval. Don't watch this, don't wear that, don't say this, don't go there, don't think this, don't think that...do this, do that, wear this, wear that. Rules. Law. Death.
But the ten commandments were given for a reason right? God gave the law to Moses & he in turned shared the law with the Israelites, and of course with all who have read the Old Testament, right? Right.
But if you go to the prior verse in chapter 3, we are told in vs. 3 that we are a living epistle, that we are "not written with ink but by the Spirit of the Living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart."
So how do we reconcile the two then? How do we hold true to the law of the Lord, but yet live in the freedom that the Spirit brings?
By being a living epistle. When I become a living epistle for Christ, then the will of God becomes my delight. My hearts desire becomes pleasing the Lord, and in so doing, the law of the Lord flows out of my life, hence being an epistle. I will automatically live by the commandments of the Lord, because it will hurt my heart not to do so. Murder, deceit, adultery, theft - you can go down the list of the commandments, they won't be something that even appeals to the person made new in Christ. Not because you are told by a religious leader or an authority figure, but because according to Phil 2:13 "God is working in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."
When we accept Christ, our old nature is out the door. It dies. We take on this new nature, and as we feed this new nature with the Word, with prayer, by serving, by doing the things of the Lord, we can truly come to a place of delight in the Lord. We begin to live a life of righteousness, not because we are ordered to, but because our hearts cry is to please the Lord. Out of our love for Him, and for what He did on the cross, our hearts yearn to express our gratitude. Our lives are epistles.
I dress modestly because I love the Lord and don't want to ever offend with my clothing. That, and I am extremely modest by nature. If I could rock a turtleneck without looking like a turtle, I would! That being said, I love clothes! And I'm thankful that God looks passed what I'm wearing to my heart, He sees the intent of my heart in what I wear. I'm not out to draw attention to myself, I just like clothes. God loves me just as much right now as I sit in my jammie pants as He does when I feel that I'm looking my best. Perhaps I'll just wear my jammies to church Sunday. Or not.
I go to church because I love church! I've loved church ever since I accepted the Lord. Ps. 122:1 is a favorite verse, "I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." Love me some church! Not because I'm told to be there, but because my heart delights in the Lord and there's no place I'd rather be.
I share those examples because they are often rules placed on people, BY people. There are many other examples I could share but I'm getting all jittery from my coffee now and this could go real bad, real quick ;)
This new covenant we have with the Lord is so cool. The old covenant was written on stone. The new covenant is written on our hearts. The old covenant was death. The new covenant is liberty & life through the Lord. The old covenant brought condemnation. The new covenant brings righteousness, out of hearts cry to serve God. The old covenant was passing away. The new covenant remains forever.
The Israelites could not look on God without a veil in the old covenant. But in the new, we can look upon the glory of God. We have instant access to Him! This new covenant is ever increasing. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that we are being transformed from glory to glory...we are ever changing, ever growing, ever falling in love with the Lord. Not because of a rule, but because of pure love.
In the devotional I read today by Smith Wigglesworth it said this: "In this new life in the Spirit, in this new covenant life, you love the things that are right and pure and holy, and you shudder at all the things that are wrong. Jesus was able to say, "The ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me." (John 14:30) The moment we are filled with the Spirit of God, we are brought into a wonderful condition like this."
Oh wow! May we be able to say the same thing; that old filthy devil aint got nothin in me. Because I am the redeemed of the Lord. Because I'm set free from me. Because I'm a lover of Jesus. Because I'm in the new covenant. Because I'm a living Epistle.
Amen and amen.
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