Blessing Me Sweetly

Discipline and Commitment

2010-12-20T08:49:00.000-06:00

Today is a new season for me. Yes it is Christmas and the new year is only 11 days away, but sometimes the commitment for something needs to made immediately. It cannot wait; there is a sense of urgency that demands attention. The urgency that rises up from your gut and says the time is now, it cannot wait any longer. That is where I am today. A new week, a new day, and new season. This new season has been on the horizon for sometime now. Everything I pick up to read is quietly speaking of discipline and commitment. Not just in one area, but the kind of discipline that begins to define a persons life, the kind of discipline that sets the apart the extraordinary from the average. This kind of discipline is not glamorous or heroic, but is born out of hard work done everyday.

In May of this year Kendall and I began a home based business with Beachbody, makers of P90x, Insanity, and Shakeology. We got busy working out, making better eating choices and the results were amazing. I must confess I have not made that same commitment with our business. We dream of being in a place of financial freedom, but I have not made the time nor been nearly as committed as I want to be. Even my working out/eating habits have slipped as of late. That is not to mention the discipline I want to see spiritually.

Today, I am drawing a line in the sand and I am stepping over it. I am leaving the past in the past. I have learned some amazingly valuable lessons, but today is a new day. Today is a new season. My someday is today. I am making some commitments. I am committing to a new 90 days of healthy eating and exercise (a P90x/Insanity Hybrid) I am committing to reading through my bible in 90 days. I am committing to following the game plan for success that our company says will build the foundation for a 6 figure business over the next 90 days. I am committed! You see this is discipline. Planning out what we are going to do and then allowing our fleshly, instantaneous attitudes to rule our moments is not a disciplined life. NO! Disciplined people make a plan of action and keep at it until they see results. THEN, they do it more! Even if the face of rejection, disappointment, and no immediate results. The results will come. It is the age old idea of sowing and reaping.

I am excited! I can't wait to see the change, not just outwardly, but inwardly. Hard? To be sure! But NOTHING worth going after is EVER easy! It was once said that the journey of 1000 miles began with one small step. Here is my one small step...

Thankful!!

2010-11-25T07:16:00.000-06:00

Enter Into His Gates with Thanksgiving

And into His Courts with Praise.

Be Thankful to HIM, and Bless HIS name.

Psalm 100: 4

Thankfulness and Blessings is what is the on the minds and hearts of most people as we celebrate Thanksgiving. Like everyone else, I wanted to make my list. Here it is. Although it is not exhaustive it is what my heart is most passionate about on a daily basis, it is the LIFE my Abba Daddy has called me to walk. I am blessed beyond imagine, beyond the scope of mere words. For words cannot adequately express the depth of feelings for these precious gifts in my life.

My Abba Father, giving me life and breath, giving me passion, ability, giving me mercy and grace.

My Kendall, the man of my hearts desire, the one I dream with, the one I work with, the one who loves me unconditionally.

My sweet children, the blessings of my womb. Caitlyn with her quiet, gentle, sweet spirit. Nathan with his tender, hearing, loving heart. Joshua with his joyful, laughing, passionate spirit.

Our extended families, our parents, our sisters and brothers, our nieces and nephews. The ones that care for us and love us the most.

Our Messiah's House Family. The family God chose for us to worship with, to grow with, to learn with.

The blessing of Homeschooling our Children. The honor of training them in the way they will go, of investing each day into them.

Our Beach Body Business. The vehicle the Father has used to teach us about ourselves and ministry, given us the ability to dream, and helped us physically, as well as financially.

I have a challenge to issue for you, for me. For your family, for my family...

take time to make two different lists this year and a daily commitment:

1) an exhaustive list of all that you have been blessed with THIS year

2) a list of what you want to be thankful for this time next year.

Write down next year's Thanksgiving list today,

Now, commit to taking sometime everyday to reflect and journal about what you are thankful for. Don't wait till this time next year to remind yourself of your blessings. Do it everyday.

Take the challenge, our family is. We have already dreamed and listed what this time next year we will be thankful for. Now go out and make it happen for your family, for you!

With Many Thanksgiving Blessings,

Heather

How to Journey the Path of Remembrance

2010-11-23T10:16:00.000-06:00

There are many ways to Remember...

Isaiah 11:1 "A Shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, a branch out of his roots."

The Jesse Tree is a vehicle to connect the Old and the New Testament, 4000 years of history. The prophecy of Christ to the fulfillment of Christ, the story of the Faithfulness of a Loving, Holy God. The branch is a biblical symbol of newness out of discouragement, it holds great Messianic promise. Throughout the history of the Israelites there is always a longing for the Messiah, a king that would rescue them from oppression. They yearned for freedom and deliverance from the tyranny of the world. From their extreme rebellion, to the years of walking in the commandments of God, the promise stood true. For God is in the business of Covenant Keeping.

So how do we go about Remembering?

Daily readings from Scripture take us down the path of recalling the faithfulness of God.

Symbols, that turn into ornaments, for small or large tress, or maybe even a branch collected in your own back yard. Use your imagination, ask your children their input. It doesn't have to be hard, simple is sometimes the very best. The visual connection between the symbol and the story is very powerful.

Now, pick a time of the day that you and your family can commit to doing this from the Sunday after thanksgiving until Christmas. It may be the morning at breakfast or before bedtime at night. Make the commitment, it is worth the memories! It is worth the remembrance! It is worth the anticipation!

There are some amazing places to visit to find more detailed information from people more knowledgeable than this homeschooling mom.
Jesse Tree Readings
a complete overview, as well as the daily readings, theme, and symbol to be used in a chart form
Parent Devotionals
a great daily devotional for you, as the parent, to understand and be equipped to share with your precious children the blessing of this story
Devotions from Faith Magazine for the Jesse Tree
Another set of dynamic devotions for the family
Ornaments you can print
Faith magazine has a set of ornaments that you can print for your own creative use, for free! Although you can buy ornaments, we are choosing to make our own. Remembrance is more powerful when our own hands are used to create!!
A Holy Experience
Ann has written an ebook for Jesse Tree Devotionals for the Family, it will be available for download this Sunday. She is an amazing writer, the book will be fabulous. You can also find Jesse-Tree Devotional books on-line and at your local Bible bookstores. Do what works for your family, what is easy for you, what will insure your commitment!

I plan to blog each morning with my own written devotions that you are free to use!
Won't you join me? Come, let's take a journey together!

2010-11-22T08:41:00.000-06:00

A visual reminder to us and our children of the faithfulness of God.

A way to illuminate your Holiday Season by Rememberence.

A timely tradition that will keep us longing for the Bridegroom.

The Jesse Tree

In years past our family has read an "advent type" devotional beginning the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Being partial to all things Jewish, we stumbled across a set of books by Arnold Ytreeide. Mr Ytreeide yarns a wonderful story of 3 Jewish children (3 separate books) that are living in Israel longing for the coming Messiah. The books climax with the birth of Jesus. Although they are a work of fiction, the historical and cultural details, as well Scriptural accuracy has brought our family to a new understanding of our Savior and the olive branch we have been grafted into.

This time every year the children begin talking about pulling the books out of the school closet, dusting them off, and preparing to read them again. Memories made that cannot be stolen or broken. Although each of them can tell you every detail of each story, it is a tradition now, a part of our season that keeps us ground in who we are, what we are longing for and the gift of redemption we have been given.

This year, I have decided to add a little something. So with much anticipation I pray that this "new-to-me" idea will become as beloved as the stories of Jotham, Bartholomew, and Tabitha.

Enter the Jesse Tree. It is the act of remembering, of going back through the Grand Story God has knitted together since the beginning of time itself. It is hearing again the story of HIS faithfulness to His people, to our family, to each of us as individuals. In the busyness of this life, especially the holiday season, we are so often distracted and, hard as it is to admit, forgetful of this wonderful, amazing story. Of this LOVE story our Father God has written to us, this fabulous mercy he has, this unrelenting passion for His Children. We must never forget, we must tell it to our children, we must pass on this legacy because if we do not, then who will? This grace so unfathomable, it must be told, over and over. We must never be SO busy that we cannot stop and do what Moses commanded the Israelites, to talk about it when we sit, when we rise, when we lie down, when we walk and when we eat.

Can you do that with me this season? Can you NOT forget? Can you remember with your children? Can you stop and give thanks? Can you look forward with anticipation to the return of our Bridegroom? This is no little thing, this is life changing and life giving. This is family altering and perspective shifting. This is the gift to be had this season.

Come, lets take our children's hands and follow to see where the Lord is going to lead. I cannot promise that it will only take a little time, for questions and discussion may arise that need answering. I can promise that you and your children, the dynamics of your family will NEVER be the same. All for a small commitment of time. It is worth the investment.

Tomorrow, I will share more in detail how we will remember, the devotions we will use, just what it is all about and again I will invite you. This journey is not to be missed!

In the busy...always gratitude, ALWAYS!

2010-11-19T05:31:00.000-06:00

The way to live a life full of gratitude to my Father

is to always have my eyes and heart open to the blessings, both big and small,

that surround me every moment of everyday.

The way to combat the cares of this world

is by being ever aware

of the LARGENESS of my God's LOVE for me!

I home school my children, I would not trade it for anything...what precious times I have shaping and molding their hearts and minds. One of the habits we are cultivating is a thankfulness journal. I have one as well, so I share...

#11 The seasons first batch of potato soup

#12 Movies with my children on a snowy, cold day

#13 a warm home

#14 Kendall's job

#15 Ability to buy any groceries I need and want

#16 Homeschooling my children, shaping hearts and minds

#17 Visit from Nahanny and Granddaddy

#18 Laughter of my Children as they play

#19 Stephanie Striley

#20 Jessica Harbour

#21 full, stocked pantry

#22 anticipating thanksgiving

#23 a fun evening with Janne Peters and her sweet girls

#24 Thanksgiving baking

#25 making plans, dreaming

#26 learning about creation

#27 amazingly brilliant moon

#28 Feasting with family

#29 Organizing

#30 unconditional love of a BIG God

#31 The Father's amazing provision, every time!

#32 Funny movies

#33 reminders of my fridge of good ways to live life

#34 hugging my children

#35 the LOVE of a good man

#36 My God's word's "will by no means pass away."

#37 Covenant Relationships

#38 Sharing homeschooling

#39 Beautiful fall days with 9 playing children in the yard!

Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.~Henry Ward Beecher

Begin a thankfulness journal, add your list to mine, and let's be amazed together how great our Father's love is for us!

Fasting and Feasting

2010-11-17T06:50:00.000-06:00

I cannot fast without feasting. I cannot attempt to give something up without filling myself with something else. As I give up that which consumes me, I must fill myself with that which sustains me, not my body, but my spirit.

"Man cannot live on bread alone, but on every word that proceed from the mouth of the LORD." Deuteronomy 8:23

My day always starts with grand intentions. And I do well, until the words of my father get lost in the loudness of the world. I slip, I rationalize, I decide to start again tomorrow. You see I can only continue to give up what I enjoy IF I continually replace it with something I desire far more. I desire this intimacy that draws me to my Abba Daddy.

The question is why? Why in the tough moments do I give up the BEST, give up what is COMPLETELY satisfying, for what is mediocre and can only satisfy for but a moment? I have lost sight of HIM.

I must meditate on HIS word, listen for HIS voice...moment to moment. Without HIS filling, failure is guaranteed!

Failure is not my desire in this moment, in this season. I want HIS strength to be my strength, where I am weak I want HIM to come in and fill me with HIS strength. That is his promise to me. Intimacy with my Father is the greatest longing of my heart. It is in this true fasting that I learn to feast in the realm that is far superior than the one that demands me to fill my fleshly desires. It is in the act giving up that my heart learns to tune in to the rich, often quiet, sound of my Abba's voice. The voice that I long to hear sing over me and whisper His love for me and lead me in the way that is everlasting.

My spirit will never go hungry for My Father is my complete feast!

Thankfulness

2010-11-12T07:09:00.000-06:00

It is the season for thankfulness. All over face book and twitter people are posting what they are most grateful for. I love this time of year! So many times gratitude is bound by circumstances and then lives become bound to bitterness. Bitterness is not the place where I want to live. Most people do not want to live there but wake up in the mornings to find themselves shackled and unable to get free.

Thankfulness begs us to run free, unfettered, everywhere! Why not unleash this JOY?

So I issue a challenge, one that I am challenging myself to as well...why not be obviously thankful the whole year through? Why not post on our Social Media and our Blogs thankfulness regularly so that it become a habit not a seasonal activity? Starting NOW, I am going to blog one day a week on what I am thankful for, all the ways I have been blessed! When this kind of gratefulness knows no limit, LIFE enlarges!

So join me as I take a journey of thankfulness, a path of gratitude and let's discover together how the boundaries and perspectives of life change! Let's watch together how this overflowing of gratitude spills onto others; how gratitude changes lives one thankful thought at a time!

1. Abba Daddy's AMAZING grace!
2. New Beginnings, New Mercies everyday!
3. Strength to do the hard things
4. Learning and living discipline in spiritual and physical matters
5. Coffee on a cold, snowy November morning
6. Thunder Snows
7. An amazing, loving husband who often forsakes sleep and home to provide so well for our family
8. Sleepy Joshua cuddles in the middle of the night
9. A warm bed
10. Abundance of food

It's your turn...what are you thankful for? Comment below or post on your face book or twitter. Guaranteed, your life will never be the same!

Time

2010-11-11T08:50:00.000-06:00

Time is a great commodity. We all have the same amount of time in our day, 24 hours...not one second more or one second less. How is it that some people seem to get so much more done with their 24 hours while others get hardly nothing done it all?

I am pondering this thought this morning as I plan out my day and my to do list. So often it has to do with what we prioritize in our lives. Do we do what is most important first or do we do the little insignificant things first? What steals my time and productivity?

It all begins with a plan and a list! However, it is also being sensitive to the Holy Spirit as He may put things in our path that is not on our "plan and list." Today, as I go about my day...I want to follow my list while being sensitive to the little "interruptions" that may make for the greatest highlights of my day!

The power of words

2010-08-21T11:34:00.000-05:00

Death and Life are in the power of the tongue,

And those who love it will eat its fruit.

Proverbs 18:21

Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,

Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.

Proverbs 16:24

...the words of the pure are pleasant.

Proverbs 15:26

Have you ever thought about the words you speak? God created the world with his words alone. We are created in God's image and carry great power in the words that proceed from our mouths. I am challenged every day to speak life. The Bible also says that from the outflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Watch your words. What are you words saying? In light of the verse above, does it make you ponder what is in your heart? I want to challenge us to really think about each word proceeding from our mouths. Make those words be full of life and watch how the world around you changes!

Wow!

2010-08-20T05:31:00.000-05:00

Wow! It has been a long time since I last blogged. It is now the end of summer, we are 10 days into our 200 days of home school. It has been an amazing summer, after an amazing spring. God just continues to take my breath away with his love, faithfulness, and beauty! I want to just jump right into all that has happened since I was last blogging, but I feel strongly that some gratitude is in order! Henry Ward Beecher once said that gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul. I would have to agree, on the days that I give thanks first, it changes my focus...takes it off me and my circumstances and moves it to the FATHER, who deserves the praise, honor, and love. It is a gentle reminder of all the ways I have been blessed. Gratitude is the way to live a life. It is always having my eyes and heart open to the blessings, both big and small, that surrounds my every moment of everyday. Gratitude most certainly combats the cares and distractions of this world by helping me be ever aware of the largeness of God's love for me. I am going to journal my thankfulness and gratitude right here and continue weekly, if you care to join me, leave a comment and share what you are thankful for. Once you start, you will find that the list quickly builds and your focus changes!
#1 My Abba daddy who loves me so much
#2 Words of life spoken by my Daddy and God
#3 The start of a new day, new beginnings
#4 Kendall
#5 Grateful, sweet children
#6 Fresh revelation
#7 Being my children's teacher, I love homeschooling
#8 morning hugs
#9 our home
#10 a good cup of coffee and my bible in the quiet of the morning

Blessings for this new day! May you find the joy and gratitude that is all around you just waiting for you to notice!

Time

2010-05-27T05:57:00.000-05:00

"The most powerful force for change is time."

Jeff Olson

People are fooled everyday around the world with the idea of right now. Everyone knows about instant gratification, we have become a generation where even the mircrowave and the line at the local fast food stop is NOT fast enough. The Bible teaches what you plant, you must cultivate and then harvest comes. This is a concept that works everytime, however, most people don't have the patience for the cultivating, they want to move straight from planting to harvesting.

These are our tomato plants. We love homegrown tomotos, nothing in the world taste quite like that! Planting and watching a plant grow until you can harvest is an amazing process. We found flowers on ours yesterday. Isn't God just so creative! I love it! But we have to wait, we have to be patient for the growth to come and then the harvest. It is this way in everything. Let's use fitness as an example. We get out of shape, our health declines based on small bad choices made on a daily basis in regards to our diet and exercise. When we are told we need to get into shape, we do it for a while, but when they don't see the immediate change we want to see we quit. We have no patience for the cultivation. We go back to the bad choices. Isn't it like that with our money as well. What about our intimacy with our Abba Daddy? Sadly, it is an epidemic that is spreading in our lives, taking over in our society. I have done it, until now. No more small bad choices that eventually add up. I am choosing daily to make good small decisons that I will not be able to see the results of for a year or more--invisible results they are called. Choices add up over time to be good or bad. So I am choosing the good choices. I am choosing to cultivate my intimacy with my abba daddy, I am choosing to cultivate my health, I am choosing to cultivate my finances I am choosing to cultivate my time. People may be skeptical, that is fine. In a year...or two...or three, the invisible resutls will become visible and I will be LIVING, instead of merely surviving. So, who is with me? Who wants to make the good choice?

It's been a long time!

2010-05-26T07:58:00.000-05:00

Wow, it has been a long time since I have last posted a blog. We have been around the world and back. I had great dreams of blogging each day while we were living on the other side of the world, but it was too overwhelming and honestly, I don't think I could have put into words what was happening, what we were experiencing. Life changing for sure! As my amazing husband continued to say "our flashdrives were full!" Now we have been home a month, life is returning to somewhat of a routine, processing is occuring and I am about ready to burst with all I want to share. But then, where to begin? So I am going to start with NOW, this very morning.

God is just simply amazing and good always. He is always teaching and molding us, drawing us into a more intimate relationship with him. One thing the Father has been teaching me is that renewing my mind is critical to walking in the kingdom. I am not talking about positive thinking, I am talking letting Abba daddy change my thinking. We have no power to change it in our flesh. He changes and renews our thinking by redefining who we are. When we define ourselves, His kingdom, our day, our very moments by HIS truth, we are renewing our minds to live with kingdom power. Our truth puts limits on us that was not intended by God. His truth brings freedom and power in such a way that the powers of darkness are dispelled and HE is released into the situation. THEN, we EXPERIENCE the power of Christ! That is what I want. That is what I am going after. You see as we pursue who our Daddy says we are, we are free to pursue to our destiny and purpose in changing the world.

We have made some exciting decisions over the last few weeks that we know are answers to prayers. We are pursuing the Father with a new intensity and running hard after our dreams of changing history; bringing Christ, the only HOPE, to the people we come into contact with daily as well as the nations! Stay tuned...this life is exciting!

The Nations for an Inheritance

2010-03-29T07:41:00.000-05:00

"Ask of Me, and I will give you The Nations for your inheritance.

And the ends of the earth for your possession."

Psalm 8:2

This is my deepest hearts desire. The nations for my inheritance. We are on the final hour countdown, just over 24 hours and we will be leaving the place we know, for a people, a city, a nation that we do not know. A people and a nation in need of Christ, the HOPE of glory! A people and a nation that is KNOWN by my Abba Daddy, whom He loves, He sent Jesus for them! They hear His small still voice in Mandarin, just as we hear Him in English.

I have asked the Father several things over the last months. I have asked to speak Mandarin, to hear Him in Mandarin, to prophesy in Mandarin. Yes, just like the day of Pentecost when everyone heard the gospel in their own language. God is just as powerful now as He was then...so yes, I am asking for the tongue of Mandarin.

I have also asked Abba Daddy, how is it that I am to pray for this place that I do not know, this culture I cannot even begin to fathom, and He has said time and again, ask for it for your inheritance. So I ask, no, I must say I am on my face crying out for these who do not know him and yet I already love. How is that? How does HE desposit that kind of love in me? But you see it is not me, it is HIM in me that loves a people I have never met and a country that I long to call my home.

I have asked God for the rains to fall, for the harvest to be ready.

"then I will give you the rain for your land in its season,

the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, your oil.

Deuteronomy 11:14

During worship Saturday night a very dear friend came up and said she was praying for rain to soften the land of China, that we would walk in power and plant seeds, see the white harvest. Then she said something that was amazing and crazy...so like God, she said I am praying for rain in the natural on the day you arrive to prophesy the rain in the supernatural that will occur. We have been checking the weather there and there was no rain in the forcast. When I got up this morning to see, there is now a 40% chance...

Rain God, bring your rain! Bring your power! Bring your Hope of Glory! Give me the nations for my inheritance and the tongue of Mandarin! We want to work where you work, do what we see you doing, say what we see you saying! We want more of you!

Peace

2010-03-27T16:08:00.000-05:00

There is a scripture that I have always known and most of us can quote:

"and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:13

Our China journey has brought me to a place where I finally really understand the peace of God. Sure, I have always thought I knew about it, but I still worried about this situation or that issue. Never have I felt the peace that I feel sitting here 3 days before a trip that will change the course of the life of our family.

It has been a busy, busy time for us. We have made trips to see family, last planning for China, countless trips to Walmart (each time I say this will be the last time). It is a challenge to prepare what to take to a place you have never been and don't know what's available.

I had the honor of being a part of a most beautiful wedding ceremony for our dear friends' daughter. I created the cake.

Without a doubt it was my favorite. It turned out exactly how the bride and her mother wanted. I think it was my favorite because of the love I have for the family I got to serve. The Stricklands are the picture of Christ--in their marriage, in their giving, and in their family, their parenting. Their lives reflect our Father in a georgeous way. It is amazing. They, like us, are called to "Go". They are headed to Mozambique. And, like us, love China. Their 3 young sweeties are adopted from there. The wedding was an amazing, blessed night!

I had so many people leading up to the wedding ask me if I was "ok?" And my only answer was a smile and a yes. You see, God planned this week for me in the most spectaular of ways. I returned home from New Mexico in time to recieve a very special envelope that revealed to some very dear friends the gender of their upcoming baby. I was to make the cake to reveal to them along with our small group.

It is a BOY!!! Stephanie and Joseph have 2 other boys and have the honor of rasing these young men into warriors to take the kingdom of God to the nations! To Bring Heaven to Earth! We are so excited for them!!

Then the wedding was next. But God, in his mercy and grace, blessed me with a fun busy week that has flown by. One that, in the midst of what some would deem as stressful, for me was full of joy, rest, and peace!

My fleshly nature is one of control and planning, one that likes to know what is next. And yet in the natural what is going on in this season of my family's life is full of questions and very few answers, where I have no control whatsoever. However, I have more peace than I have ever had in my life. It is supernatural, it is peace that can only come from my Abba Daddy. I am confident that He knows the next step when we get off that plane in China. He knows what the next month holds. He KNOWS, so I don't have to know. I just have to take the next step and trust, in faith that He will work it all out because he loves me and my family so very much. We are the apple of His eye! So, I have no stress...I am blogging instead of cleaning, doing laundry and packing. This peace that truly surpasses understanding is guarding my mind. It is keeping out the fears. It is fully allowing me to trust that my Daddy is NOT going to let us stumble or go astray. I have learned that this kind of walking is the way I want to walk the rest of my life so that HE can work His good will in our life without my "help"- just my obedience to his every word.

So I leave you with this scripture - Colossians 3:15:

"And let the PEACE of God rule in your hearts..."

And the challenge to really let that peace rule in your heart, nothing compares!!

Now, stay tuned...the trip is literally, just around the cornor.

Homecoming

2010-02-22T10:37:00.000-06:00

We all know the old saying "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." I have to admit, I have thought it a cheesy saying from time to time. But after a week of being my love being gone, I am not sure I will say that ever again. It has been an amazing week for Him and the rest of the mission team, it has been an amazing week for me. The Father has taught me so many things, one of the most important is that my husband and I, we are ONE. I have missed him more than I thought possible, on several days, my heart hurt with the intensity of the longing. I can hardly wait to see the joy in his eyes as he tells the stories and cry with him as he shares the deep emotions that he is bringing home. One thing is for certain, these 9 that left last Monday, are not returning the same. I pray that I have the grace to handle the new heart that is returning to me. For this week was ordained since the beginning of time and is really the beginning of an amazing journey that is going to take Kendall and I (and our children as well) a life time to live out. I have never been more thankful for technology that kept us close...email, facebook, skype...I thank you. While he was living an adventure, I got to live it thru the beautiful words he blogged and posted on facebook. I have enjoyed good times with sweet, new friends, been totally attached to my computer as I did not want to miss a post or blog coming from Kendall or anyone who was with, I have had something special to do with my kids each day, stayed up too late watching the olympics, spent more time on facebook than I thought imaginable...I could not be more ready for my beloved to be home! Although I don't believe life will ever return to normal after this trip, I can hardly wait for what is waiting around the next corner! Isn't God good!!! I love that His dreams are bigger than mine...I want your BIG dreams Abba Daddy, don't ever let Kendall and I settle for anything less !!

Welcome Home Beloved, I am Blessed to call you mine!

Leaving Home

2010-01-28T17:35:00.000-06:00

As I sit in my cozy home and watch the snow falling outside my window, I am mindful of those who have no home. How blessed I am to be warm, have good food to eat, a roof over my head. My mind drifts to leaving this home, to the path that strecthes out before us, what the Father is calling us to do. What will home look like this time next year? Will it be the same, will it be different? I remember Jesus saying that He had no place to lay his head and again I am struck how very blessed I am. Yet there is a conflict in me because I am also ready to put a sign in the yard and GO; go to the place he called us, begin the journey. Waiting is a hard thing, deciding when to sell and what the next step is always creates a tension that begs to hear clearly from the Father who sees it all, who plans the path of our life. We long to walk the path HE is preparing, not going to the right or the left.

Last night, after the children were tucked into bed and all was quiet, I picked up a book I had gotten at the library and there, on the front page was Hebrew 11:8.

It was by FAITH that Abraham obeyed

when God called him to leave home

and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance.

He went without knowing where he was going.

It was sweet manna for me. Leaving requires a FAITH and an OBEDIENCE; A TRUST in the ONE who sees it all and has a plan. Even if it is not clear in my natural abilities to understand. He KNOWS. How refreshing, how peaceful. Isn't it amazing that we can walk with Faith and also walk in His PRESENCE. When we do, we miss nothing--not the miracles or the intimate relationship!! When Jesus called his disciples to come, the came not knowing what it would look like and yet they left ALL and followed. I sometimes wonder...when we step onto the soil of that distant land, will I look around and say "how can I feel like I have come home, when I have never been here before?"

I'm ready Father, ready to leave home...I will go where you say, when you say. I know that provision is already there, I know that the path is being laid out as the day draws near. I praise you because you are the I AM!!

Meditating on the WORD

2010-01-26T11:36:00.000-06:00

Psalm 1:1-3

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

But his delight is in the law of the LORD

And on HIS law he MEDITATES day and night.

He shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water,

That brings forth its fruit in its season,

Whose leaf also shall not wither;

And whatever he does shall prosper.

In Hebrew culture, meditating was to quietly repeat the Scriptures in a soft, droning sound, while utterly abandoning outside distractions. I love the idea of utterly abandoning outside distraction. How often do we choose to really do this? For me, I must get up early while it is quiet and the demands of my day have not started. As I began to read Psalm 1 this morning, I noticed there was a reward to delighting in the law of the Lord and meditating on it. The word says that we would be like a tree planted by streams of water, bringing forth seasonal fruit, no dead leafs, everything prospering. That is what I want, I want to delight in the law of the Lord and become just like HIM. I want to be so close to my Father that His will is my will, His thoughts my thoughts, where He is working, I will naturally be working.

I am meditating on pursuing relationship with Father above all else, all other distractions, falling so much in love with him, that it would be natural for my life to grow and bloom. What do I need to get rid of to take away distractions? Where do I need to discipline myself that I get time to meditate on His word, to sit still in His presence?

Oh Abba, that I would wake up and be like you, that I would long for the quiet still moments, listening, meditating, growing, blooming, looking like you...I want more and more of YOU!

Grace

2010-01-15T07:42:00.000-06:00

Law demands. Grace bestows.

Law commands but gives no strength to obey. Grace promises and performs, doing all we need to do.

Law burdens and casts downs and condems. Grace comforts and makes strong and glad.

Law appeals to self to do its utmost. Grace points to Christ to do all things.

Law calls forth effort and strain and urges us toward a goal we can never reach.

Grace works in us all of God's blessed will. ~Andrew Murray

As 2009 ended I was continually pondering fasting: its benefits, what the WORD says about it, Jesus did it and I want to be like him, so I should do it to. They were great thoughts! But everytime I tried, I failed. I came across a great e-book and the author (Mike Bickle @ Internation House of Prayer in Kansas City) said something that turned my fasting world upside down. Grace...Grace for fasting. I know about the whole grace vs law issue, but I had never thought to pray for grace in the specific areas in my life I knew that my Abba daddy was calling me to walk in. I just thought "I walk in grace." Obviously, I did not or was not walking in the fullness of it, or maybe the specificness of grace.

At the beginning of the year the Lord said to me, "Tithe to me the first 37 days of 2010 from sugar and begin a weekly fast for one 24 hour period. BUT, ask for MY grace to do it. I have a well of grace for you as you learn to walk in this discipline." I am on day 15, and I have discovered that I am not fasting, when I fast it is a work, but HE is fasting thru me by the result of HIS grace, NOT my works! Wow, that was great revelation.

Last night I made a commitment, crazy probably considering all my daily responsibilites, but I made it none the less. Kendall and I commited to get through the whole P90X (extreme homework out, for those of you who don't know what it is) before we leave for China in April. As we began, one of his friends told him he had a blog called The Ultimate P90X Group and was challenging people to read the whole bible in that same 90 day period as you are doing P90X. For our body it tempory but our soul is eternal. Yes, we need to take care of our earthly temples but NOT at the expense of our spiritual health. I woke this morning and as I was drinking my coffee, the Lord said, "Ask me for the grace for this as well, it is a good thing...when it is your works it becomes legalistic, but it is grace that sustains, it draws you into more intimacy with me." I want to walk in specific grace, grace for the moment, grace for the day...abundant, vibrant grace. Things, that with my natural eyes I have no ability to do, with GRACE I can do. It is no longer a burden, an addition to my "to-do list," NO it becomes a JOY! "Grace undertakes to work our whole life in us, and actually give us strength for every moment for whatever Father would have us be and do." ~Andrew Murray

A New Year!!

2010-01-05T20:07:00.000-06:00

It is a new year! I love new starts, there is such anticipation. In our lives we have much anticipation this year. We are excitedly looking forward to what God is going to do. China awaits us in the spring. Kendall is off to Nicaragua in February. I am starting a new business on Etsy (a webstore that sells homemade items). It will be fun to watch God bless the work that I enjoy doing and make a thriving business out of it! So with much joy and excitement...

Welcome 2010!!

Come Abba Daddy and do YOUR work thru us this year!!

As we celebrate Christmas...

2009-12-23T07:26:00.000-06:00

...please remember and interceed for our brothers and sisters all over the world who are being persecuted for claiming Christ. Especially in China and the Muslim Nations.

Hebrews 13:3 "Remember the Lord's people who are in jail and be concerned for them. Don't forget those who are suffering, but imagine that you are there with them."

For more information check out Voice of the Martyrs

Thankfulness

2009-12-23T07:02:00.000-06:00

Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion.

Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception.

Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude.

Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road."

-John Henry Jowett

It is the eve of Christmas eve and as I sit and look at our tree that is beautiful and still smells wonderful I ponder my gratitude for the ONE in whom we celebrate this season. We choose not to do the Christmas craziness this year and just enjoy the moments, the hot chocolate, the good advent books, friends, family. Isn't that enough? I don't want to limp along a spiritual road devoid of thankfulness, striving to conform to the latest and greatest. No this season, I am thankful for the peace of simply sitting with my Abba Daddy. I am thankful that we don't have to conform any longer to ways of this world, even when those ways look good and inviting. I am thankful for a God, who loved me too much to leave me the way I was, so HE sent His son as a wee one, laid in a manager, to be my passover lamb. Isn't that enough of a gift? I am thankful to be content with the greatest gift, I am thankful that my spirit is no longer striving to find fulfillment in the things of this world, but is joyful in all the Father has blessed us with. God is so good and all my days I will remain grateful!

Day 6...the candles still burn

2009-12-16T21:00:00.002-06:00

1 Peter 2:9

You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nations, a peculiar people; that you should praise Him who called you out of darkness and into the marvelous light!

LIVE THE LIGHT!!

7 Types of Fasting

2009-12-16T07:27:00.001-06:00

There are several reasons we fast. Often these reasons are responses to the different circumstances that are surrounding us; unique motivations that call us into a season of pressing in.

#1 Experience the power of God in personal ministry (Matthew 17:21; Acts 9:9; George Whitfield, John G. Lake)

#2 Prophetic revelation of End Times (Acts 2: 17-21; Daniel 11:33-35; Jeremiah 23:18-20)

#3 Fulfillment of God's promises to our city or nation (Daniel 9:1-3; 10:1-3; Nehemiah 1:1-11; 9:32-3; Luke 2:36-38)

#4 To Stop a Crisis (Joel 1; 2:1-9; Jonah 3:3-9; Ezra 9:1-6)

#5 Direction (Acts 9:9; 13:1-2; Luke 6:12-13)

#6 Protection (Ezra 8:21-23; Daniel 6:18-23; Esther 3:13; 4:7; Acts 12:1-19)

#7 Intimacy; longing for Jesus (Matthew 9: 14-15; Ps 27:4; 35:13; 69:10)

Fasting accelerates the rate at which we receive revelation from God.

But it is written

Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,

Nor have entered into the heart of man

The things which God has prepared

for those who love HIM.

But God has revealed them to us through His spirit.

For the Spirit searches all things, yes the deep things of God.

1 Corinthians 2: 9-10

Give me your grace Abba, I need the grace to fast for it is so hard!

FIVE...

2009-12-16T07:00:00.000-06:00

In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:4-5

Then Jesus spoke again to them saying, "I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 8:12

Let your LIGHT shine, in you is the kingdom...the HOPE of GLORY!!

4 Candles tonight!

2009-12-16T06:56:00.000-06:00

Luke 11:34

The light of the body is the eye: therefor when your eye is single, your whole body is full of light also; but when your eye is evil, your body is also full of darkness.

Acts 26: 18

To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

As we were getting ready to light our candle this evening, some very dear friends dropped by and blessed us with a painting. We were in AWE...

"Jesus, Being Still...overlooking Jerusalem"

I love it!! Thank you Michelle!

Light the third Candle...

2009-12-16T06:47:00.001-06:00

Matthew 5: 16

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.

Luke 11:33

No man, when he lights a candle, puts it in a secret place, nor under a basket, but on a candle stick, that they who come in may see the light.

We are to reflect the LIGHT that came into the World to point us to the FATHER!!

Light the second candle

2009-12-13T01:35:00.000-06:00

A fun game played at Chanukah is called Dreidel. The dreidel is like a spinning top, but 4 sided. On each of the four sides are the Hebrew letters Nune, Gimel, Shin, and Hay. The letters stand for "Nes Gadol Hayah Sham - A great miracle happened there." An interesting side note, dreidels that are in Israel say "A great miracle happened here." Each player puts the same amount of something - we like to use M&M's - in the "pot". Each player spins the dreidel. The side the dreidel falls on determines what you get out of the pot.
   Hay.....you get half the pot
   Gimel...you get all the pot
   Nune....you get nothing
   Shin......you must put one in the pot
Whoever has the most at the end wins!!! When dreidel is played with real money, it is customary to give the winnings to charity since Rabbis are opposed to gambling games.

And so we light the second candle...

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Ps 119:105)

The entrance of your words give light; it gives understanding to the simple (Ps 119:130)

For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life

(Prov 6:23)

The nature of God's word is light, pointing to the ONE who would take our sins away and bring us into relationship with HIMSELF!!! Thank You Father, for your LIGHT!

Happy Chanukah...Night 1

2009-12-11T23:26:00.001-06:00

Do you know the Story of Chanukah? The Festival of Lights the Jews celebrate every year? Let me tell you a story...

Almost 22 centries ago, during the time of the second temple in Jerusalem, an evil tyrant from Syria, Antiochus IV, was ruling in Judea. He did not worship the ONE true God, but he allowed the Jews to worship YHWH. As the years passed, many Jews began to embrace the Greek culture and lifestyle. Antiochus decided to go into to Jerusalem and take treasures in the temple. As if that were not enough, he forbid the Jews to keep their Holy traditions, laws, and culture as prescribed by the Holy One of Israel. In a moment to define his power, he desecrated the Holy Altar by sacrificing a forbidden, unclean pig upon it. The temple was then dedicated to Zeus and the Jews were forced to bow Zeus under penalty of death. Many innocent people were brutally murdered and the surviving Jews were taxed heavily. Antiochus' power was not yet sated as he then declared himself a god, Epiphanes, meaning God manifest.

Many Jews resisted, refusing to follow Greek practices or to bow to the pagan idols. This ragtag group of common people, farmers, workers, and servants all banded together under the leadership of Judas Maccabee. By using guerrilla warfare they drove the Syrians out and regained control of the Holy Temple. Immediately they began the task of purifying it. They rebuilt the defiled altar, all new holy vessels were crafted, restored the interior and consecrated the Temple courts. The rededication date of the temple was set to be the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev (which usually falls sometime in the month of December on the Roman calender). The festivities for this rededication were to last 8 days. But as they soon discovered they only had enough oil to light the Menorah for one day. With an order for new oil to be made, they lit the first candle. Miraculously, the Menorah burned for the entire 8 days of the festival. The whole congregation of Israel decided that the rededication of the alter should be observed with great joy and gladness at the same season each year. The purpose of Chanukah is not just the retelling of the revolt, although it is a marvelously story. The biggest lesson is the power of the Spirit of YHWH, the ability of God's people to live by God's commands, the 8 days of miraculous oil.

"...Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit says the Lord of hosts." Zech 4:6

We light the first candle...

The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light to you: but the LORD shall be unto you an everylasting light, and your God the Glory! Isa 60:19

The LORD is my light and my slavation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my light; of whom shall I be afraid? Ps 27:1

Fasting is...

2009-12-11T06:30:00.001-06:00

Fasting is hard. There is no other way to say it. If someone says it's not, their lying! It is hard to give up the nature desires of our flesh. It is hard to say no to the gnawing of hunger in the pit of your belly when you still have to make food or serve food or be in the general vacinity of food. That is why there is GRACE for fasting. We have to ask for it, HE is always faithful to give it because fasting is a kingdom concept; one we all should embrace. The New Testament Church history records the early christian's fasting at least once a week, but most of them did it twice, usually on Wednesdays and Fridays. That is lifestyle, not just a "when the preacher calls a fast" type thing. That is the basics. It is not radical.

Fasting is an invitation by the Father. He is not going to make us, what kind of relationship is that? No, it is an invitation because He wants me to want MORE of HIM.
Fasting is a paradox. Food (and things) are used to stimulate us, they give us the illusion of strength. But as we begin to fast from food (things) our illusion of strength disappears and we stand raw and tender before the Father. Weak and hungry, our spirits are sensitive to the HOLY SPIRIT. And in that sensitivity, our Spirit is strengthened.
Fasting is a grace. As voluntary weakness is embraced, knowing our strength is coming only from the FATHER, we walk in more spiritual strength. His Grace is multiplied to those who seek it. (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18)
Fasting is humbling. Psalm 35:13; Psalm 69:10
Fasting is worship. It declares our need for HIM. As we fast out of our desire for him, we become better equipped to pour out our lives right back into His hands.

As we fast regularly, our paradigm changes and the rhythm of our body sets in. It could be compared to running. As you are building miles (or a mile, as the case may be), it is painful. But as the miles build, endurance is achieved and your body creates a pace. Does it become easy, NO. But it does become more a part of who you are.

Oh ABBA, daddy, that you would work this fasting lifestyle in me. That it would become a rhythm of who I am. That my heart would hotly pursue you above all else. I want more of you, so I come...meet me and give me the GRACE for this discipline.

A Lesson You Cannot Learn from A Book

2009-12-07T07:10:00.000-06:00

Where there is no cross, there is no crown. This lesson cannot be learned from books, and men do not usually taste this sweetness. This rich life does not exist in a comfortable environment. If the spices are not refined to become oil, the fragrance of the perfume cannot flow forth; and if the grapes are not crushed in the vat, they will not become wine.

FROM A CHINESE CHRISTIAN

Monday's are for Gratitude

2009-12-07T06:32:00.001-06:00

Gratitude brings us closer to the Father as our perspective is changed and we see that in even the smallest of details that HE is passionate about us!

So continuing on in my gratitude journal...

11. A Wonderful thanksgiving meal with family and friends

12. Waking up to snowfall (and especially sweet as that was the Christmas tree picking day!)

12. Boys building snowmen

13. Snowball fights

14. Candy Canes

15. A Hot Fire on a Cold Snowy Day

16. Good Friends

17. Winter Coats and Mittens that keep us warm

19. The Warm Home Provided for us

20. The Christmas Tree that helps us Celebrates the REASON for this SEASON!!

21. Sweet, Sweet Girls: Molly, Madelyn, and Caitlyn!

So as this new week begins, what are you thankful for? Where can you find the tresures hidden in the mundane of life? Join us at the Gratitude Community...A Holy Experience

May your Monday be Blessed beyond measure in all the Father has...

Happy Home

2009-12-07T05:54:00.000-06:00

Home is the true wife's kingdom.

Very largely does the wife hold in her hands, as a sacred trust, the happiness and the highest good of the

hearts that nestle there. In the last analysis, home happiness depends on the wife.

Her spirit gives the home its atmosphere.

Her hands fashion its beauty.

Her heart makes its love.

And the end is so worthy, so noble, so divine, that no woman who has been called to be a wife, and has listened to the call, should consider any price too great to pay, to be . . .

the light,

the joy,

the blessing,

the inspiration,

of a home.

The woman who makes a sweet, beautiful home, filling it with love and prayer and purity, is doing something better than anything else her hands could find to do beneath the skies.
A true mother is one of the holiest secrets of home happiness.
God sends many beautiful things to this world,
many noble gifts;
but no blessing is richer than that which He bestows
in a mother
who has learned love's lessons well,
and has realized something of the meaning

of her sacred callling.

~ J. R. Miller, "Secrets of Happy Home Life, 1894" ~

Fasting: not an if, but a when

2009-12-06T16:26:00.002-06:00

The idea of voluntary sacrifice is rare idea in our culture that is saturated with pleasure, instant gratification, and selfishness. Fasting by definition is abstaining from food. Many Christians think fasting is radical, however, Jesus said WHEN you fast (Matthew 6:16), not if you fast. So if Jesus said WHEN we fast, why are we not fasting? I believe most people don't understand it. My lack of understanding has lead me on a path of learning and listening because I want to understand. So these next few posts are going to be about what I have been learning about fasting.

Jesus has a burning desire for us, a firey passion. The depth of His love comes through to me by His tender mercy, His gladness of having a relationship with me, His zealousness. Until we fully understand our idendity in Christ, we won't understand our need to fast or even possess a desire to try it. Fasting positions our hearts to encounter Jesus as the Bridegroom. The purpose of fasting is to strengthen us in our quest to be preoccupied with God and His will. We fast in in order to encounter God more intimately, more profoundly, to change the world!

I read that and think, YES, YES, YES...I want that intimacy with my Abba daddy. I long for Jesus, so I fast. I want to fully embrace the discipline, the grace, the joy of fasting. So I challenge you, will you choose a day or two each week to say "I could eat that, but I won't because in my weakness, Christ strong, Christ is revealed." That is my hearts cry, deep, active intimacy with my DADDY. I want to experience HIS heart.

Abba, Father, draw me closer to your heart. Give me the grace to fast and to hear your voice!

How to begin your week right...Gratitude

2009-11-23T15:59:00.000-06:00

Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul

~Henry Ward Beecher

The only way to life a full of gratitude to my ABBA FATHER is to always have my eyes and heart open to the blessings, both big and small, both beautiful and ugly, both extraordinary and mundane that surround me every moment of every day. The way to combat the cares and worries of this world is by being ever aware of the largeness of God's love for me.

There is a blog I love to read for she writes about the substance of life, the beautiful moments, and the hard truths. Her name is Ann Voskamp. You can find her at A Holy Experience. She has begun what she refers to as the Gratitude Community. Each Monday she seeks to find the beautiful among the mundane, ordinary and ugly of life. It is transforming people, it is transforming me and my family. It is not hard once the FATHER opens your eyes to all HE has given you. The goal is about living a life of worship! How else can you come to the ONE who has given it all for for you? How else can the darkness flee but by continual praise? 1000 gifts, that was her challenge, that is my challenge. My family and I started our school year with Gratitude Journal. Now I am going to join her in the blogging world and I hope you will be encouraged! Come, join us!

1. My Abba daddy who loves me too much to leave me in my filth

2. The early morning sun shining on my face as I seek my FATHERS

3. The words of LIFE spoken by a GOD who pursues me and a daddy who loves me and thinsk I'm enough

4. The start of a new day, new beginnings

5. Fresh revelation

6. A straight path before me

7. Birds singing praises along with me

8. Grateful, sweet children

9. New, big kitchen

10. My hardworking husband

Something to ponder...

2009-11-23T08:13:00.001-06:00

John Adams said, "From all that I have read of history and government and human life and manners, I have drawn this conclusion: that the manners of women were the most infallible barometer to ascertain the degree of morality and virtue of a nation. The Jews, the Greeks, the Romans , the Swiss, the Dutch, all lost their public spirit and their republican forms of government when they lost the modesty and domestic virtues of their women."
Proverbs 14:1 "The wisest of women builds her house, a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands."

A new plan...

2009-11-21T16:14:00.000-06:00

For many years I have dreamed of the years I spent in the mission field as a child. Often yearning to return with an intensity that I could not explain or understand. After all I only felt that way because of my memories as a child growing up...right? That is what everyone told me, I had begun to set aside that deep desire. The Father had given me the other dreams HE had placed deep in my heart to be a wife and a mother and I was seeing those come to fruition before my very eyes. But why, on quiet occasions or while reading missionary stories to my children, did I have to tamp down the strong urge to GO? Recently I came to understand that that desire was there for HIS purpose, it was a dream HE did place in my heart, one HE intended for us to pursue.

Some months back in the spring of this year Kendall came to me and said the Lord had shown him something. Not telling me what it was, he wanted the Father to show me separately. A laying out of fleece so to speak, like Gideon did in the Old Testament. Then one early morning as I was reading through the New Testament I read this:

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?

And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not hear?

And how shall they hear without a preacher?

And how shall they preach unless they are sent?

As it is written:

How beautiful are the feel of those who preach the gospel of peace,

Who bring glad tidings of good things?

Romans 10: 14-15

AND I KNEW, the Father in HIS all encompassing presence and sweet, still voice, whispered in my spirit..."Yes beloved, I have lit that same flame in your husband, I am giving him the dream of taking ME to the nations! Your dreams will be a reality, for that was MY dream for you!!" So I ask do dreams come true?

Just as Joshua asked the leaders of each tribe of Israel to take a rock as they crossed the Jordan and set foot into the promise land so it would serve as a reminder for the generations to come what God had done. This blog has become my "rock" to bring Glory to my Abba Father. We are willing FATHER, send us where you want us to GO...

I'm Back!

2009-08-20T09:23:00.000-05:00

Wow, it has been a long time since I have been here. Preparing a home to sell, moving, and then preparing the new home to live in takes much time and energy. Life is returning to normal, our homeschool curriculum is ordered...we are anxiously awaiting its arrival!!! Kendall and I have a surprise trip planned for the children to end our tiring, hectic, and exciting summer before we start school on the 7th of September. I am hoping to be back to blogging now that I have a place to put my computer and we are not rolling out of bed to remodel and unpack. God has been so good to us. He is such an amazing, loving father. Our summer's journey will be my next post. God told the Israelites when they crossed over the river Jordan to take a rock to commemorate what the LORD had done. I am going to write, so not to forget the love the father lavishes on us, so not to forget the Hand that so lovingly provided us a new home in which to grow and share his greatness...looking forward to the new year and many new memories!

Abba's Love for Me

2009-05-08T06:53:00.000-05:00

Do I know that...

...the Father knows my name?

"I will go before you and level the exalted places...I will give you the...hords in secret places...I call you by name." Is 45:2-4

...the Father keeps track of the the smallest details of my life?

"Even the hairs of your head are numbered." Matt. 10:30

...the Father collects my tears in a bottle?

"You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?" Ps 58:6

...the Father has inscribed me on the palm of His hand?

"Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me." Is 49:16

...the Father's heart is stirred and aroused with compassion for me?

"The Father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him." Ps 103:13

...the Father has a cord of love tethered to my heart and is gently drawing me closer?

"When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son...It was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws and I bend down to them and feed them." Hos 11:1, 3-4

Abba wants me, he desires a deep, abiding love relationship with me. He wants my heart. He says, "How I would set you among my sons, and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful of all nations. And I thought you would call me, My father, and would not turn from following me." Jer 3:19

Do I understand His love for me? Do I understand His desire to hold me, sing over me, breath on me? His desire for me has nothing to do with my performance. But His sheer love and delight in me, His daughter. Praise God!!

Father, come! Sing over me, hold me, breathe your breath of life over me until only you run out of me...only you Abba Father!

"...He will rejoice over you with gladness,

He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing."

Zep 3:17

Mothering...a calling from the Father God

2009-05-05T07:27:00.000-05:00

As I sat in the quiet of the morning, dry, weary, listening for the Lord to say just one word to me. For I knew that just one word from him would water the wilderness I was feeling in my spirit. I was parched and needing just sit in the river of the Father so that when my sweet children awoke they would find a mama who was refreshed and ready to mother. The Lord is faithful, always! He sat with me this morning and ministered in such a way so I could minister to my family. What He said was not profound revelation, but simply a reminder. A reminder that most mamas need every now and again.

Mothering is a CALLING from the heart of our Abba Daddy. I am not "just" a mother, a domestic slave as our culture would trap us to believe. No, I was called, created for this very vocation from the foundation of the world. It is not just the fixing of the meals, keeping the children clothed, housekeeping and home managing. Mothering is a HOLY calling, one that rocks the foundations of the world, one that storms the gates of hell, one that brings the kingdom of God to the very present moment we are living in. What shows the love of God more profoundly than families that love and honor one another? Who, but a mother, can orchestrate that love and honor better by building her home with her hands; loving, serving, and helping her husband; mothering her children, the arrows in her husbands quiver; running her home efficiently and with care? These traits are what mothers are created with that effectively usher in God's kingdom and His amazing love to this world, a world that is so in need of a savior.

Sometimes as mothers we just need a bit of holy perspective in the midst of mopping up dog hairs and muddy feet prints, cleaning bathrooms and making dinner. This job of mothering is not "just" some job, but a Holy, Godly, foundation building journey. Allow the Father to remind you just who HE created you to be. For we need not another earthly present for this mother's day, only a sweet word from the Father whose love for us and our families is so deep and wide that he called and chose us to be A MOTHER!!!

What do you think on?

2009-04-28T07:49:00.000-05:00

Our lives are bombarded with stuff...sensory overload you could say. From TV to movies, from magazines to billboards, everyone wants you thinking about something. I am horrified at what is allowed to be printed or recorded not only for me to see but my innocent children. How to we combat this barrage of information that constantly takes our thoughts away from where they need to be? Paul says in Philippians 4 "to think on these things"....things that are:

TRUE

NOBLE

JUST

PURE

LOVELY

GOOD REPORT

VIRTUOUS

PRAISEWORTHY

How can we do that? By taking every thought captive and replacing it with thoughts that are true, lovely, noble, just, pure, virtuous, praiseworthy, good report. It begins with consciously doing it. One way we consciously do it is by not allowing evil to come before our eyes, as David says in the Psalms. As we begin to walk this path, really paying attention to what we see and think about, we make decisions on a moment by moment basis to think about some thing true (go to the word of God) or something Praiseworthy (sing praises to the Father). Then we will find that we begin to walk in a more intimate relationship with the father. Why? Because our minds are continually focused on HIM. I don't know about you, but that is my hearts desire!

Who do you strive to please?

2009-04-21T07:38:00.000-05:00

"For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ" ~ Apostle Paul, Galatians 1: 10

This begs the question to ponder, "Who do I strive to please?" So many times every decision and action I make throughout the day comes from the root of who will be pleased. Often it is not a conscious decision but one breed out of habit, the desire to be important to someone, worthy of something or someone. I believe that if I change the motive of my decisions, actions, words to how would Christ have me respond, it would radically change my life. Supernatural living because my flesh is crucified and Christ is living through me, loving through me. I want to be a bondservant of Christ, not a man pleaser. It is not man whose blood covers all my sin. NO, it is Christ who died for me, who took on all my nasty, ugly sin so that I could live intimately with HIM. So again, who do I strive to please?

Oh Father that you would give me a heart that seeks hard after you, after pleasing you. That I would not be concerned with man's thoughts and desires and pleasures, but that you would be my only thought in each and every decision I make. It is the essence of supernatural living; the Holy Spirit indwelling in me.

The Garden in Daily Living

2009-04-20T07:14:00.001-05:00

As my family and I are preparing our garden, I found this quite fascinating...

Plant Three Rows of Peas

1. Peace of mind
2. Peace of heart
3. Peace of soul

Plant Four Rows of Squash

1. Squash gossip
2. Squash indifference
3. Squash grumbling
4. Squash selfishness

Plant Four Rows of Lettuce

1. Lettuce be faithful
2. Lettuce be kind
3. Lettuce be patient
4. Lettuce really love one another

No Garden Without Turnips

1. Turnip for meetings
2. Turnip for service
3. Turnip to help one another

And We Must Have Thyme

1. Thyme for each other
2. Thyme for family
3. Thyme for friends

Water freely with patience and cultivate with love.Remember, you will reap what you sow.

Author Unknown.

Belief

2009-04-15T08:18:00.000-05:00

God is not a belief to which you give your assent. God becomes a reality whom you know intimately, meet everyday, one whose strength becomes your strength, whose love, your love. Live this life of the presence of God long enough and when someone asks you, “Do you believe there is a God?” you may find yourself answering, “No, I do not believe there is a God. I know there is a God.”

~Ernest Boyer, Jr.

As the school year ends...

2009-04-07T08:14:00.001-05:00

I ran across this quote today: It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end. —Ursula K. Le Guin As we are quickly ending our "formal" school year, only 3 weeks left to go, I have been wondering about the journey we took this last year. It was not a good start, but it is ending as the best year yet! Praise the Lord!! We sometimes get so excited to be DONE, and yet the journey was amazing. We have all learned so much this year. My 9 year old who was stuggling to read picture books back in August, just came in and told me he has finished Robin Hood. My 6 year old who was not reading at all, is now devouring the Magic Tree House Books, in one morning, I might add. And of course my oldest, who is 11, wants to read the originals, not the abridged versions any longer. So the question I ask myself is...just how was our journey? Oh we had more valleys than mountains this year, but in the end, the journey was magnificent for the simple reason that my children are loving to learn. They want to be done with math and grammar, what child doesn't, but they want to continue History and Science...we may just not stop!! They are learning to self-educate themselves, like Charlotte Mason talks about. And as mom and teacher, I could not be more happier!!

New Crayons

2009-04-05T07:00:00.000-05:00

With the love of coloring in our home, crayons often break while we are coloring... but the broken crayons can still be useful. Here's how we've turned potential trash to treasure by recycling the old crayons into new crayons...great for gifts as well! Here's how you do it:

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees

Separate broken crayons and sort by similar color

Place crayons in a ziploc bag and, using wooden mallet or meat tenderizer, smash pieces into 1/2 inch or so sized pieces. A regular hammer will also work, but tends to smoosh crayons more.

Put crayon pieces into foil cupcake holders so as not to ruin your pans. Silicone works well also and the molds you can find are many... but I would only recommend using them just for this project and not for food.

Bake crayons for about 11 minutes.

When the crayons look melted but the colors are still intact, take pans out of the oven. Do not stir them to keep the colors. Let the pan cool for at least one hour

Remove foil liners from pans and let cool for at least 6 hours to overnight. If using molds, just leave overnight.

Unmold the new crayons and start creating!!

A Merry Heart, A Happy Home

2009-04-05T06:52:00.000-05:00

Proverbs 17: 22 "A merry heard does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones."

Our cheerful, merry heart determines much in regard to the way our day goes, how smoothly our home runs. Waking up on the "wrong side of the bed" is reflected in our home and our family throughout the whole day. Have you ever heard that the mother/wife is the thermostat of the home? That is a big responsibility. Praise God that "we can do all things thru Christ who strengthens us" (Phil 4:13). He is the one that can change us, mold us, shape us when we go to Him daily and allow Him to gently remind us that it is all about Christ and the Kingdom. He has called us into this walk as wife, mom, homemaker. He has promised us that he will give us all we need to fulfill this very calling. Let us rest in His arms as we go about our days, allowing His sweet presence and aroma to fill our spirits and our homes with love, peace, and joy!

Integrity

2009-03-31T06:37:00.000-05:00

"The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him."

Proverbs 20:7

Am I walking in integrity in all things? There are little feet walking beside me, behind me, all around me who are watching...I desire blessing for my children. Change me O God so there is integrity and godliness in EVERY detail of my life.

What do we speak?

2008-10-30T08:49:00.000-05:00

1 Peter 4:11 says "whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God." I have been greatly convicted by this verse because most of the time I just speak, I don't think to myself "is this something the Lord would have me to say"? Is this edifing or encouraging my husband, my children, my friend, my neighbor or the stranger whose path I cross? I am convinced that if we only spoke the utterances of God we could change the shape of our homes and our spheres of influnce. Jesus said that he does ONLY what he hears the father tell him to do and speaks ONLY what the Father says for him to say. Do we do that? Do we stop our busy lives and ask him before we chose our clothes for the day, our agenda or our words? Those things may sound trivial, but if we cannot hear him in the little things of our daily lives, how will we know HIS voice in the big things? We are called to be like Christ...this is what he did when he walked the dusty roads of Isreal. The Lord's desire for us is to hear him, walk with him so close that we only do and say what we hear the Father tell us.

Abba, that we would be still to listen and brave to do and say only that which you would have for us at this moment, for this day.

Thoughts from a Star Gazer

2008-10-27T18:43:00.001-05:00

I wrote this back in August 2007 when I woke early to veiw the total lunar eclipse. I pray it is an encouragement to you just as it was to me then and now as I re-read what the LORD revealed!

Yes, I woke up early to view the total lunar eclipse that the Lord allowed his creation to see. I thought to myself, how can one gaze upon the heavens and not be moved to worship and glorify the Lord of HEAVEN and earth. He is so good to us. How do we get so busy and so smart that we can compartmentalize the splendor of who He is and what he has done? When did we loose our child-like wonder in the glory and beauty that surrounds us, when did that not become miraculous? He said that even the heavens will proclaim his handiworks and that if we don't praise him the rocks and hills will cry out! I don't want that job to be left to creation. He created me to praise him, but what do we do so often? Worry about this, fret about that…NO, not anymore! Do the stars that he knows by name and placed in the very heavens worry about their existence…no, they only proclaim his majesty. They do what they were made to do, called to do.

As the moon slowly became covered by the shadow of the earth, turned a blood red, then black with only the shadow of the former moon…the song by Chris Tomlin "How great is our God" came to mind. How great is HE? That the God of the universe, who set life in motion desires to hear me, to meet with me, to know me intimately. What is my life that he is mindful of ME? Except, wait, he sent HIS Son to me, to know me, to save me, how great is Our God? That brings me to ponder, What is my calling, how do I live that brings his majesty and glory to the world that I live in…just at the stars reveal his love and glory…how do I shine like a star in the universe that all may see and know the love of my Father. I want to produce the fruit he has created me to produce. For me, that is being a godly wife and mother. Am walking in the ancient paths that he has set before me, raising my children set apart from the world so that when the time is right they leave this safe harbor to be the light in the world where God has called them? How blessed I am to feel that I am exactly where God wants me to be…I am not searching, but that I am here walking with God daily as he imparts the wisdom, knowledge, instruction to be who he has called me to be.

After 1 1/2 hours of a hidden moon, the sun began to rise and the earth's shadow slowly moved and allowed the moon to be seen, but as it did, the moon became brilliant as it reflected the light of the rising sun. The moon had changed, become bigger, brighter, then it made its slow decent and set…but the Sun remained! I was in awe, what a prophetic lesson! God wants to be the Shine that radiates out of my life until there is no me, but only him... Blessed Be the NAME of the LORD…How GREAT is our GOD! Shelah

Even more pumpkin fun...

2008-10-27T17:17:00.000-05:00

Check out this website

http://teachinggoodthings.com/blog/pumpkin-week-triva-quizes-gems-and-a-giveaway/#respond

She is a great encourager in the things that matter most...our homes and families.
Kathy is having a giveaway, as she often does...so check it out along with some more great pumpkin ideas!!

Blessings!!!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins and More Pumpkins

2008-10-27T14:17:00.000-05:00

Ever wonder what fun you can have with the pumpkins from the trip to the pumpkin patch...Here are some fun ideas that bring the family into the kitchen for some fun fall memory making!!!

To use the actual pumpkin for the pumpkin needed in the muffins or a pie, cut the pumpkin in half, take out the seeds, lay flat on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for one hour.Scoop out the pumpkin, can save the left over in canning jars.

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

1/4 c. margarine or butter, softened

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. brown sugar

2/3 c. pumpkin

1/2 c. buttermilk

2 eggs

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Streusel Topping:

1/3 c. flour

3 Tbsp. brown sugar

2 Tbsp. cold butter or margarine

For muffins: cream together margarine and sugars. Add all remaining ingredients and mix together. In a separate bowl, cut together streusel ingredients and sprinkle over muffin batter. Bake in prepared muffin tin at 375 for 20-25 minutes. Makes one dozen muffins. Original recipe from Quick Cooking May/June 2000.

Sugared Pumpkin Seeds

2 c. pumpkin seeds (from two pie pumpkins; rinsed and dried on a baking sheet for 48 hours)

1 egg white mixed with 1 Tbsp. water (save the egg yolk for your next batch of pancakes or scrambled eggs!)

1 c. sugar

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. salt

Mix seeds and egg white mixture. Add remaining spices and mix well. Spread on greased baking sheet and bake at 275 degrees for one hour stirring every 15 minutes.

The King of My Home

2008-10-27T10:43:00.000-05:00

Proverbs 21:1

The king's heart is in the hands of the LORD, as the rivers of water: He turns it wherever He wills.

Do you see your husband as the king of your home? If you do that makes you the queen! Isn't that an awesome thought! That means whatever we do, wherever we go, we do it with much purpose for we are effecting our kingdom...the kingdom of our home. I love this verse because I see my husband as the king of my home and that means God's promise to me is that my king's heart is in HIS hands and HE is directing our kingdom. If we truly trust the word of God, then we can rest safely in knowing that our husband is being lead by the Father; even if we don't understand the whys or the wherefore's. You see God put our husbands as the head, not us. So we must submit, lovingly, carefully, and with great diligence to our husbands leading for in it we are submitting and following the lead of our heavenly Father who loves us with abandon.

It is enough...

2008-10-13T07:35:00.000-05:00

Authentic gratitude grows out of the ground of specificity.

Sometimes we get so busy, so rushed, so hurried that life goes by with but an empty thank you here and there to a God that we claim as our own but do not act as if he is really GOD. Instead in our business we proclaim that if "I don't do it, no one will and it all relies upon me"...in essence we have become our own god and it is all about us. We are our own idol.

So this day, let us proclaim, shout to the mountains, let all know that it is enough just to BE. Even if God only gives you this day, this moment covered in the precious blood of HIS son, that is would be enough. That we would not aimless wonder the parched land looking for the thing, the experience, the person to fill us. We would joyfully say it is enough that a HOLY GOD not only allows me to be in HIS presence, but HE delights for me to be there. I will choose to be specifically grateful and write them down so my children will know with great detail the way our Father loves us so...

...I am grateful for the early morning school days that allow me precious time with my children, even though some days I would rather stay in bed.

...I am grateful for the 3 inches of rain in one day and a flooded backyard to water this parched land.

...I am grateful for a husband that loves the Lord and is the spiritual leader of our home.

...I am grateful for the TRUTH that God sent, the LIGHT so that I could know HIM, the one who created the heavens and the earth.

...I am grateful for 2 dogs that bring such delight to my home, even as they bring muddy paws to clean floors.

Abba, Father, teach us to be specifically grateful so that we leave a legacy of gratitude and submission to the one true God. That we would find even if today was all, that it would be enough. May we drink the cup of joy and gratefulness as a moment by moment attitude!

TIME

2008-10-11T09:53:00.000-05:00

What is time? In our world time is what we have become slave to. Running here and there, never savoring, never enjoying, just a madness that overcomes us as we strive to do one more thing before we crash into bed, unfulfilled, unhappy, always desiring more than we can every possibly attain. For the Greeks, there was two kinds of time...one is familiar, Chronos, it is the root of what we think time essentially is; a clock. Chronos was one of the minor greek gods in the Greek pantheon. His manner is interesting when we consider how we view time in this rat race that we call American life...He was a nasty glutton, a cannibal who gorged himself on his own children. Always consuming time, resources, people. Never having a sacred, consumated moment. He was to the Greeks the presiding god of the driven. Greeks also thought of time in another way, that is quite facinating as you consider it from the perspective of a child of God. That time was called Kairos Time. This time is a gift, a season, pregnant with opportunity and purpose. It is a servant to the HOLY. According to Ecclesiastes there is a "season for every activity under the heaven." Every moment is ripe with something, something God has already ordained. "Each moment enfolds transendence, lays hold of a significance beyond itself." says Mark Buchanan in The Rest of God. Chronos times takes and never gives back and yet leaves us with a desire for something that is not yet fulfilled in us. It is that same longing that every person is born with and can only be relieved when he feels the touch of God on his face, hears God whisper in his heart, smells the sweet fragrance of God's presence as he walks with HIM on a moment to moment basis. Chronos steals, kills, and destroys...sounds like the enemy that we have been directed to put on our armor to fight against. Chronos destroys the beauty we have the possibilty of beholding the our moments, days, weeks and years. We become like the man depicted in Ecclesiastes, running, chasing the wind, driven till we are sick and depraved from spiritual famine until we collapse, empty, forlorn, depressed.

But our God has a different way...he created us to follow the "scent of eternity in our hearts" with the knowledge and love that it would lead us straight to His heart. How do we do it? We santify our time. Eccl. 3:12-13 says "I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they life. That everone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil--This is a gift from God." God's gift to us is to "experience the sacred amidst the commonplace--to taste heaven in our daily bread, a new heaven and a new earth in a mouthful of wind, joy in the ache of our muscles or the sweat of our brows" Mark Buchanan. We need to recover the sancity of time and learn to savor each moment; to ask God "what do you have for me in the next moment?" He will lead us, he will speak, he will reveal to us His story for our life.

So I leave you with this thought...How do you redeem your time, how do you make it sacred? Consider your ways!!! Are we being a light on a hilltop to lure a fallen and sinful world to the loving Savior or are we running around looking no different than the world we have been called to be separate from. What are we looking forward to? Because what we look forward to is where our heart is...

Oh Father that I may redeem the time you have given me. May I set TIME apart as sacred so that I do not look like this world, but point the world to the ONE who gives life and gives it abundantly!

2008-09-21T21:00:00.000-05:00

You may place upon the brow of a true wife and mother the greenest laurels; you may crowd her hands with civic honors; but, after all, to her there will be no place like home, and the crown of her motherhood will be more precious than the diadem of a queen ~ Francis E.W. Harper, Enlightened Motherhood

2008-09-11T06:38:00.000-05:00

A woman's heart should be so close to GOD that a man should have to chase HIM to find her!

~CS Lewis~

May I cultivate a heart that follows hard after my Father so that I am submissive and respectful not only to my heavenly husband, but my earthly one as well. For in that manner I am living the gospel in the truest sense. In this way I am "exercising myself toward godliness" (1 Tim 4:7)

2008-09-09T10:08:00.001-05:00

"I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help Him.
I ended up by asking Him to do His work through me."
- J. Hudson Taylor

How often do we find our own agenda's taking precident over what God's will for us in our lives...Father God, help me today to wait for you, ask you before I even take one step, so that I will be walking moment by moment in YOUR will, not mine!

2008-09-09T07:44:00.000-05:00

More on Gratitude

When it comes to life the critical things is whether
you take things for granted or take them with gratitude. ~GK Chesterson

No tears in school this past week

New Mercies every morning!

The Smell of breakfast as I feed hungry bellies

Sleepy morning hugs from precious children

Gratitude is not only the greatest of all virtues but the parent of all others. Cicero, 106-46 BC

2008-09-08T20:35:00.000-05:00

Gratitude

How often do I go thru my day rushing from one thing to another, not stoping to notice the ways the LORD blesses me and my family. Gratitude is giving thanks for how well we are loved. I desire for that attitude to be my personal soul fixture. At any moment I can CHOOSE to have an attitude of gratitude, a posture of grace, commitment to joy. And what an effect that attitude and outlook has on my home as I go about the calling the Lord has placed on my life. Sometimes it simply and beautifully overwhelms me at how much my Abba Father loves me. I do not desire for those moments and memories to pass me by and so I begin a list...a list of things I am grateful for, so that I never forget and so the generations that come after will always remember.

My kind, merciful, loving Abba, daddy

The cool morning and waters drops on green grass after a early fall rain

The amazing, deep love and respect of a godly husband

The fresh and earthy smell of the rosemary growing in the garden

Watching my children's awe as they inspect the new growth each morning in the garden

Blessed friends to walk with on the journey of life.

2008-09-06T21:49:00.000-05:00

"Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly. We insist upon trying to modify Him and to bring Him nearer to our own image. The flesh whimpers against the rigor of God's inexorable sentence and begs for a little mercy, a little indulgence of its carnal ways.

It is no use. We can get a right start only by accepting God as He is and learning to love Him for what He is. As we go on to know Him better we shall find it a source of unspeakable joy that God is just what He is. Some of the most rapturous moments we know will be those we spend in reverent admiration of the Godhead. In those holy moments, the very thought of change in Him will be too painful to endure."

A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God