Families

"Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands; Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table." Psalm 128: 1-3

Psalm 128 was written with a focus on the family. It describes the blessing a family can receive from God. We are all part of a family here on earth. We may have a good relationship with our families or we may struggle at times.

Family relationships take hard work and time to make them grow and prosper. But more than any effort we give, our families need the Lord more than anything else. These verses illustrate the blessings God will pour out when He is first in the home.

Christians have their earthly families, but they also have a family of faith as well. God is our Father and other Christians are our brothers and sisters in Christ. The Bible emphasizes the importance of family relationships within the body of believers as well as with our earthly families.

Let me encourage you to thank God for your families! Pray for the people in your family and encourage each other in Christ on a daily basis.


---Side Note: I just had to show you some of our trick-or-treating pictures from last night! Luke was a pirate. Julia and Olivia were kitty cats! The kids had fun. Olivia and Julia were fussy for some reason and Luke just wanted CANDY!

Read Titus 2

Titus is one of those books in the Bible that if we flip through the pages too quickly we will fly right past it. It is a very short book in the New Testament, right after 2 Timothy and right before Philemon. (Now you are wondering where Philemon is!)

Just because Titus is short and not as frequently referenced does not mean that its words are any less important. A friend of mine sent me something yesterday that made me read Titus chapter 2. One verse in particular explains the importance of what older Christian women should teach younger Christian women. Take a look:

"That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, [To be] discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed." Titus 2: 4-5 KJV

I would consider myself a younger Christian woman, and I would like to take the opportunity to encourage the older Christian women to pour forth the wisdom that God has given you over the years. I think that many older women today think the younger women are not interested in being taught by an older generation. But younger women do want the leadership and teaching older women have to offer.

Maybe God is asking you to teach. Maybe God is asking you to learn something new. No matter what He is calling you to do, women of all ages can help each other fulfill God's purpose in our lives.

Tell Someone

"Sing praises to the Lord, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done." Psalm 9:11

What has God done in your life?

You should be thinking of many things right now... If nothing is coming to mind you need to reevaluate because you have probably overlooked God's hand working in your life.

God is often very subtle when He works. Sometimes we don't see the changes as they are happening. And then one day we look back at what has happened in our lives and we say, "Oh my! Thank you God for doing all of that!"

Are you telling anyone what God has done in your life?

When you tell others about what the Lord has done you are praising God and encouraging other people all at the same time. Others are encouraged to hear about God's works because it strengthens their own faith. Let's get more excited about the things God does for us, and tell more people about it!

Jabez's Prayer

"Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, 'Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.' And God granted his request." 1 Chronicles 4:10

Did you noticed that the words"God granted his request" are at the very end of this verse?

Now look at this verse:

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:7

Jesus spoke these words that are recorded in Matthew 7:7. -- Jabez's prayer is a good example of asking for God's will in our lives, and the Lord answering our prayer. We can't read verses like these and start praying for anything and everything just because God has promised to grant our requests. God is not a fairy godmother that is granting wishes. He wants to pour out blessings into our lives when our requests align with His perfect will for our lives. When we start praying how the Holy Spirit leads us, and not just how we want things to go, we better watch out, because our requests are going to be granted. That is God's promise to us many times in the Bible!

Avoid the Conversation

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden?'
The woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'
'You will not surely die,' the serpent said to the woman. 'For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." Genesis 3: 1-6

Have you ever had a conversation that you wished would have never occurred? You ended up wishing that you go back because your conversation caused you to get involved in something that you had no business with. Well, Eve surely felt the same way.

Eve should have kept her mouth shut and walked away from that serpent. Sounds easy to do, right? Well, that's the thing, its not always that easy. When satan came to her as a serpent he started the conversation in a way that challenged Eve's understanding of the rules given to her by God. She probably felt like she was doing the noble thing in answering the serpent to set the record straight of what God's rules actually were. However, when she became engaged in a conversation with the serpent she got in way over her head.

The best option is to never start the conversation. The enemy attacks our thoughts all the time and we have to refuse the thought instead of starting a mental dialogue that is going to end up causing sin and pain.

The Lord's Work

"Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58

Have you ever done work that was in vain? What if you planted a garden and someone came along, dug it up and destroyed it? You would feel like your work was in vain. All those hours of planning and planting were a waste because your work is gone. When our work is done in vain it makes us feel useless and discouraged.

Well, here's some good news! Anything and everything the Lord asks us to do will not be in vain. Woohoo! Now that is a promise I can stand on. Our hearts desire to serve the Lord and do the work of His kingdom. What a promise it is to know that the work God has us do will always generate a good result.

I hope that you are encouraged now, because here comes the part that will require some faith and strength. When we do the Lord's work we don't always get to see the fruit of our labor. Sometimes we do and that is great! But most of the time we don't. Bummer, I know.

But don't be discouraged. Remember that garden you planted? That mean person came along and dug it up and destroyed your work. Well, those seeds that you so carefully planted were tossed somewhere. A bird may have eaten one and fed her babies. Others may have been scattered and took root in a different place. The point is that you didn't see your work grow and develop into something beautiful or meaningful, but just because you don't see the results doesn't mean it never happened.

When we don't get instant results we have to flip open our Bible and read 1 Corinthians 15:58 and say, "Ok Lord, I may not know why you had me do that but I know it was for Your perfect purpose."

Lightning

"When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses." Jeremiah 51:16

It stormed at our house last night. When I was a child I was very scared of thunderstorms. Thunder and lightning would cause me to freeze in fear. I am thankful that I have overcome that fear, but intense storms still rattle me a bit.

Now that I am older, when a storm makes me nervous, it is because of a reverential fear of Almighty God who has created the storm. Sometimes it sounds like God is unleashing his wrath on the world when it storms so loudly! God is in control of the weather and I think that the weather is an excellent example of the power that God has over men.

People get caught up in their day-to-day lives that they forget how powerful God is. This has happened to me at times in my life when I got busy with kids, responsibilities, work, family, friends, or anything else that requires my time and attention. Sometimes it takes that one storm to watch God light up the night sky with streaks of lightning, and the thunder to boom as if God were speaking to us directly to make us stop and remember just how powerless we are. That is when we say, "God, You are so great and mighty! Thank You for being my Lord!"

I have included a music video called "Light Up the Sky" by a group called The Afters. They are a Christian music group and I absolutely love this song. Listen to it and let me know what you think!

Heaven's Grocery Store

"Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35

We eat food and drink to sustain our human bodies because we cannot live without food and water. Well, our spiritual bodies are similar because they are dead without Jesus. Jesus is the food and drink that keeps our spiritual bodies alive and healthy and gives them eternal life.

No matter how much food and drink we consume on earth, our human body will die at some point. However, consuming the spiritual bread that is Jesus will prevent our spiritual death from ever occurring.

I saw this little poem yesterday and I just had to share it with you because it got me thinking about how thankful I am that Jesus is our bread of life! (I did not write this poem, and I do not know who did, so we'll call it anonymous.)

Heaven's Grocery Store

I was walking down life's highway a long time ago,
One day I saw a sign that read "Heaven's Grocery Store."
As I got a little closer, the door came open wide.
And when I came to myself, I was standing there inside.

I saw a host of angels, they were standing everywhere,
One handed me a basket and said, "My child, shop with care."
Everything a Christian needed was in that grocery store,
And all you couldn't carry, you could come back for more.

First, I got some patience, love was in the same row,
Further down was understanding, you need that wherever you go.
I got a box or two of wisdom and a bag or two of faith,
I just couldn't miss the Holy Ghost, for it was all over the place.

I stopped to get some strength and courage, to help me run the race.
By then my basket was getting full, but I remembered I needed some grace.
I didn't forget salvation, for salvation, that was free,
So I tried to get enough of that to save both you and me.
Then I started up to the counter to pay my grocery bill,
For I thought I had everything to do my Master's will.

As I went up the aisle, I saw prayer and just had to put that in,
For I knew when I stepped outside, I would run right into sin.
Peace and joy were all plentiful, they were on the last shelf,
Song and praises were hanging near, so I just helped myself.

Then I said to the angel, "Now how much do I owe?"
He just smiled and said, "Just take them everywhere you go."
Again, I smiled at him and said, "How much do I owe?"
He smiled again and said, "My child, Jesus paid your bill a long time ago."

New Pictures!

Hey Everyone!

I have added some new pictures to "My Pictures" page!

Have a great Saturday.

The Blessed Nation

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord" Psalm 33:12

Our nation was founded on Christian principles and by Christian leaders. Election time in our country usually stirs up feelings from the left, right and everywhere in between, and it rightfully should. Maintaining our Christian heritage is a fight worth fighting.

Have you noticed that our nation doesn't seem as blessed as it used to be? The U.S. is struggling financially, people are losing their jobs and homes, and there is just an air of discontent because people are tired of struggling.

Well, I can put two and two together and get four just like I know that you can. A nation cannot turn its back on its Christian foundation and expect to get the blessing. The blessing is promised when the Lord is God of the nation. This means that people and leaders serve the Lord, worship Him, look to Him for guidance, and devote all prosperity and praise to His kingdom.

I have added a web link to my list of favorite sites. It is called Vision America. Check out this link because it expands immensely on this topic. Vision America is encouraging Christians to vote. Voting is so easy, yet so many do not use their vote. November 2nd is coming upon us quickly and we all need to use our vote that day!

What's Your Gift?

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully." Romans 12: 6-8

Do you know what your gift is? This passage of scripture lays out quite a list. You may look at this list and have no idea where your gift is. You may look at this list and see that you have multiple gifts. You may see that you have one gift.

Feeling uncertain about the gift God has given you does not facilitate peace. God has designed each of us with gifted abilities that He gave specifically to us. If you don't know what your gift is ask God and He will let you know.

Can you imagine the radical changes in the Christian community if each Christian started operating in the gift God designed them to use? Wow! What a impact that would have on the world! The gifts from God are given for a purpose: to spread the gospel and give everyone an opportunity to know Christ! Let's get proactive and start operating in our gifts and watch the changes begin to happen all around us.

Jesus is Coming

"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.
Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." 1 Thessalonians 4:16 thru 5:2

I used to get really scared when I thought about Jesus coming back! The idea of the sudden noise, light and rapture was enough to make me shake. I remember one time when I was a little girl a very loud train woke me up in the middle of the night and I thought for sure that Jesus was coming back right then!

My mother told me a story about when she was a little girl. Her cousin had come to her house to spend the night with her and before they went to bed he casually said, "Well, Jesus may come back tonight!" Her cousin went to sleep quickly and I think my mother slept with one eye open.

I have learned that as we mature in our faith Jesus' return becomes more of a comfort than anything to be afraid of. Not to say that it won't be a shock...the Bible says He will come like a thief in the night, so it will be shocking.

People who have given their heart to Christ will be taken up in the clouds with the Lord. Those who have not will be left behind. If you have never given your heart fully to Jesus, now is the time to do it. We don't know when our last breath will be. Putting off Jesus is too great a risk. --Check out the page called "Becoming a Christian" on the homepage if you are unsure. Get things right with God, and if I don't see you soon, I'll just see you in heaven. We'll have plenty of time to talk then!

Wait & See

"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!" Isaiah 30:18

Doesn't it just blow your mind that the Lord longs to be gracious to us? The God of all creation wants to be gracious to us and show us compassion. We don't deserve it one bit, but we are His children and He wants to do these things for us.

When I consider this from the perspective with my own children it helps me to understand. Bart and I have three children. We love them immensely! We want to give them things, buy them stuff, show them love, help them, protect them, teach them and make them feel valued beyond belief. Why do we do this?... Because we love them and they are our children. Our kids did not do anything to earn or deserve this love from us. We give it to them because they are ours. --- Now, we are God's children, so why wouldn't He do the same for us? (And God's scale of love, graciousness, and compassion cannot be compared to what we offer!)

If we keep Christ first in our lives, we just have to wait and see all the wonderful things God has in store for us!

Happy Birthday!

I have to make a special post just to tell my wonderful husband Happy Birthday! Bart is 28 today. I love you so much!

She Laughs

"A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies... She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come." Proverbs 31: 10 & 25

A wife of noble character is a true rarity these days, and she obviously was during the time this Proverb was written as well. I want to be a wife of noble character, I would conclude that most women do. Check out Proverbs 31 some time when you are reading your Bible. I read through the list and it is pretty tough work to be a wife of noble character. She is responsible for a lot of things and people and she handles everything really well. Her success abounds and everyone sees her beautiful heart.

No, she is not super woman. She is just any old gal like me and you with Christ living on the inside of her. Her strength is not her own. I love verse 25 because it says that she can laugh at the days to come. Most people are uncertain and fearful of the days to come because we naturally fear the unknown. No one can predict the future, but God can, and here we have a wife of noble character sitting back and laughing at the future. "Why is she doing this?", you may ask. Insanity, no. She just knows with all of her heart that God's plan is going to work out for her good. She knows that no matter what happens she serves a God that has saved her from her sin and loves her because of her devotion to Him. This gives her the strength and courage to laugh at the future because her fate is already sealed in Christ Jesus, and that is really all that matters.

I Will...

"I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High." Psalm 9: 1-2

I have been reading some of the Psalms lately and these two verses really caught my eye. I noticed that the psalmist wrote "I will" four times in two verses. Each sentence begins with this declaration. I don't think this was a coincidence that "I will" occurred four times in a row. The psalmist used the monotony to make a point.

The point that is being made here is that we have to make a choice to do all of these things. Just because we are a Christian does not mean that we will choose to praise God no matter what happens in our lives. Stuff happens in life that is not so great, but no matter what we have to make a choice to praise God privately and publicly.

No one said this would be easy. The Bible doesn't say it will be easy. The fact of ingraining the "I will praise, rejoice, be glad, tell" attitude on your heart reflects your commitment to serving the Lord through thick and thin. And trust me, it delights the Lord!

Rest for the Weary

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

I love this verse. Jesus spoke these words. I need these words. Don't you?

The past few days of our family's life have been extremely eventful. We have been out of town visiting family in Ohio since Wednesday. On our way to Ohio Wednesday one of our twins started feeling sick in the car. Needless to say, Olivia's condition worsened and we ended up at Children's Hospital in Ohio on Thursday. Bart also became very sick during this time. Luke and Julia, our other two children, ran circles around me while I tried to play nurse to Bart and Olivia. I am thankful for all of the family we had around us to help!!!

It is during times like these that I become weary. Don't you? When we are stressed and tired our bodies and minds are overloaded by our circumstances. This overwhelming tension and stress opens the door for wearisome feelings. Taking care of other people is hard work physically, mentally and emotionally. Once all of this mounts up against us, we have to make a decision. Either we are going to allow our circumstances to defeat us because we cannot muster the natural strength to handle them. Or, we are going to let the Lord take the lead and give us the supernatural strength (which is impossible for us to understand) to make it through.

We have to remember this promise that Jesus made to us. It will make all the difference in our lives. We have such a wonderful gift available for us to take advantage of. And my suggestion is to not wait for the brink of the breakdown. We've got to go to God sooner instead of trying to carry the load ourselves for a while.

--Side Note-- Olivia is doing better. She is not well, but she has improved. This virus has been extremely tough on her little body and respiratory system. Please pray for Olivia and for Bart to heal. Bart drove nine hours straight yesterday to get us home. (And don't look at me like that, I did offer to drive!!! Bart said that he would rather drive sick than have to deal with sick and unruly children for nine hours!)

Chosen Instrument

Don't you just love Paul? He started out as Saul persecuting and killing Christians. Then he was confronted by the Lord on the road to Damascus where he underwent his conversion to become a follower of Christ. After his conversion he becomes known as Paul and he spreads the gospel of Jesus Christ over a vast area for many years.

Look at what the Lord said about Paul:

"This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel." Acts 9:15

Wow! Paul was the Lord's "chosen instrument." That is an amazing gift and honor to be selected by the Lord for such an important responsibility. We all want to be a "chosen instrument" for the Lord. -- The exciting part is that we are the Lord's chosen instruments, we just have to be willing to serve Him.

God has given us gifts that are meant for furthering His kingdom. You may not be sure what your gift is. The best way to find out is to ask God to reveal your gift to you. However, once you ask Him to show you what it is, you need to be prepared to start using it! (A "chosen instrument" is not doing any good sitting on a shelf!)

Ever Get Discouraged?

Do you ever get discouraged about all of the sin in our world? Sometimes I watch the news and have a hard time finding any good in everything that is going on. Then I fall into the pattern of thinking that the world is just getting worse and worse by the minute. I often think that people who lived a hundred or more years ago lived by a higher Christian moral standard than our culture does today. But then I see this verse...

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Matthew 7: 13-14

Jesus spoke these words two thousand years ago and they reflect the same way the world is today. This is eye-opening because we always want to say, "Its just so hard to be a Christian in the world that we live in today." Well, it was hard to be a Christian in the world no matter what year or century it is.

There may be many more people on the wide road, but I am so glad that I am on the narrow road. And the Lord has lit a fire in me to tell everyone I can about how good it is to be on this road. -- Don't be selfish and keep it a secret!

Complacency

Christians have become so complacent in recent years. We often want to complain about what is going wrong in our nation, but we aren't proactive about making changes that will honor God.

Psalm 2: 10-11 says: "Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling."

The decisions that our leaders make need to be in alignment with the word of God. We know this... but we aren't doing anything about it. Our disagreeing and complaining are not going to do any good unless we start becoming a prominent voice for reclaiming our Christian heritage.

Let's start with praying fervently for our nation, its leaders, and its people. Prayer is absolutely critical, but we don't need to keep our expectations and hopes for our country a secret. Let's get out there and start talking about it!

While You're Waiting

"I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry." Psalm 40:1

This verse describes how the waiting begins. We experience a situation where we call on the Lord for help. God doesn't always give us an instant answer, so we start to wait. This is when things get tough. Remember how we talked about perseverance yesterday? Well, the perseverance has to kick in at this point as well. However, life goes on while we wait on God. We have to get up every day, go to work, take care of kids, and do everything else that is in our busy schedule. In the midst of doing all of these things we are still waiting on God.

Now let's look at another verse:

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope." Psalm 130:5

This verse gives us some insight as to what we should be doing while we are waiting. Our focus needs to remain on the Lord and his written word -- The Bible. Waiting can get lonely and boring when you don't have something to focus your thoughts upon. Don't let life and all its responsibilities steal your focus away from reading your Bible. The Bible will encourage you to endure the wait because God won't leave you waiting forever. (And so many times God uses His word to give us the answers we are waiting for!)

Perseverance

"As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy." James 5:11

Perseverance is not something we get excited about. It's all about enduring something that is not easy. We want the easy route and then we want to get the blessing. It's kind of like having our cake and eating it too! Well, life doesn't often work that way and neither does life as a Christian.

People who persevere are blessed. The Lord blesses them with spiritual growth and strength. Other blessings also come as a result of persevering. Look at Job... he persevered the infliction placed upon him and remained faithful to God throughout the process. This is what the Lord gave to Job, "The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters" Job 42: 12-13

I am so thankful that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. Aren't you? The Lord knows our trials. He knows how we struggle to persevere. When we are trying our best to persevere everything in our flesh is telling us to quit. When we start thinking about quitting we need to call upon our Greatest Encourager to give us the strength to persevere. God knows just what we need to keep us going.

Sisterly Love

"Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble." 1 Peter 3:8

Yeah, this verse says to "love as brothers" but sisterly love is the same thing! Let me tell you a cute story about sisterly love.

One Wednesday night at church Bart went to the nursery to pick up our 20-month-old twin girls from their class. When he got there the teacher said that during class Olivia had crawled over to their diaper bag and dug her pacifier out of the pocket. However, once Olivia had her pacifier she kept digging in the bag and she pulled Julia's pacifier out. Olivia then crawled over to where Julia was playing and handed her sister her pacifier! Then they went about playing like it was no big deal!

This story about our girls loving each other and taking care of each other is so special to me. Olivia's love for Julia created a desire in her heart to take care of her sister. This is what the love of Christ does when it is embedded in our hearts. It makes us want to love people and take care of their needs. The love and compassion we show shouldn't be a big production. That kind of love and compassion is not valued as genuine. The love that melts everyone's heart is when your sister hands you your pacifier and she thinks no one is watching her!

Waiting

"My soul is in anguish, How long, O Lord, how long?" Psalm 6:3

God has given us the Bible for many reasons. One of those reasons is to remind us of the promises that He has made to us. God gives us the promises, but He does not give us the timeline in which He will fulfill His promises.

We know that God is faithful and just. We know that God will not leave us nor forsake us. We know all of this, but yet we struggle with waiting. Human nature is not very patient. And on top of an impatient human nature we also live in an impatient society and culture. People want instant results because it has become the norm for our society.

Sometimes God operates quickly in our lives. Other times we have to wait, and wait, and wait some more. Waiting is no fun, but we grow during our time of waiting. This verse in Psalms reflects the struggle that is experienced when waiting. It is encouraging to know that our waiting is not in vain. We will grow spiritually as we wait and if we persevere and remain faithful to God during our time of waiting He will bless us exceedingly for our faithfulness.

The Purpose

Everything needs a purpose, or what's the point? "First Thing..." has a purpose to start the day focusing on Christ and Biblical principles. The Bible mentions seeking God in the morning time. (Now, don't get me wrong, we need to seek God during the whole day!) But there is something special about the morning time.

"In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation" Psalm 5:3

When we first wake up we are starting a fresh new day. We have to make a choice of whether we will seek God first, or fit God into our schedule when it is convenient for us. I honestly think that if we try to fit God into our schedule we will not make time for Him. Since God is the most important part of our life we need to structure our schedule around Him.

Let's use our first moments in the morning to seek the Lord and give our day to Him. Starting the day this way is much more proactive than the alternative. The alternative involves not seeking God, operating outside His will, and having to do damage control throughout the day. I heard a speaker once say that, "Your worst day with Christ is much better than your best day without Him!"

Chaff

Chaff is something that I have read about in the Bible for years. I knew that when the Bible referred to chaff it was not a good thing. But I never really had a literal understanding of what chaff was and why it was so worthless.

I did a little research and I found out that chaff is the thin, filmy layer that surrounds grains like wheat and rice. Humans cannot eat chaff so it has to be removed from the wheat or rice through a process called threshing. Threshing involves tossing the grain so that the thin layer of chaff becomes loose, falls off, and is blown away. Threshing ultimately collects the valuable wheat or rice and discards the chaff.

Take a look at what John the Baptist says in Matthew 3: 11-12:

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

When John the Baptist spoke these words he was talking about Jesus coming to the earth in human form to live and teach people of God's kingdom and how God's people should live on earth. Jesus came to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins when He died on the cross for us. Those who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior are the wheat that will be gathered into the barn. Those who do not are like the chaff.

Each person decides whether he or she will be the wheat or the chaff. God has given us a free will to accept Him or not.

Isn't it amazing how God uses something insignificant like chaff to teach us about eternity?

Role Models

Our culture and society put a great deal of emphasis on role models. Not only are we told to have a role model, the world also wants to tell us who the "perfect" role models are. Take a peek in any secular magazine and you will see what I mean. Media and society in general tell us who to dress like, who to act like, who to look up to... the list goes on and on.

There is one common denominator that all of the world's role models have: they aren't perfect. At some point they will disappoint you and not uphold the ideal you mimicked your own life after.

Well, don't despair! We do have a perfect role model that we should pattern every aspect of our lives after because He will never disappoint us. He is Jesus! Jesus walked this earth and experienced life through human form and He never once sinned! Now that's the ultimate role model!

Leviticus 18: 3-4 says, " You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the Lord your God."

These were the Lord's instructions for the Israelites He just delivered from bondage in Egypt. God was telling them directly who to pattern their lives after. God understands that it is human nature to emulate other people's behaviors. That is why it is so important for us to seek God's strength to help us make Jesus our one and only role model.

Riding Shotgun

If a car represented your life who would be driving? Would you be driving? Or would God be driving with you riding shotgun? Hmm... Let's think about this for a minute.

-Some of us are driving and we didn't even ask God to get in the car. We just took off without Him and went our own way. Maybe we forgot God, or maybe we just didn't want Him in the car to see how we really act.

-Some of us know that we are busy driving and make God ride in the back seat. (We don't even let Him sit up front with us!)

-Some of us are driving and God is riding shotgun. We want God to be prominent in our life so we put Him up front where everyone can see Him. However, in the end we are the ones making all the decisions, which include a lot of wrong turns.

-Some of us let God drive. We ride shotgun because we want to be all over the action of our lives. We sit in the front seat and call out demands like a backseat driver. We want God to be in control, but we have a hard time actually relinquishing the control.

-Some of us let God drive and thank Him for driving. We ride shotgun and talk to God and tell Him how much we love Him and how much easier our life is with Him making all the decisions. We know that we are safe and loved with God driving.

So, who's driving?

"Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory." Psalm 73: 23-24

Stars

I did something the other night that I never do. As I was standing outside with my dog at 10 o'clock I looked up at the stars. (Just in case you are wondering my dog was using the restroom, I don't usually stand outside at night!)


I am not the type of person that gets all mushy gushy about the stars. I guess you could say that I am not a "lay out under the stars" kind of girl. But as I was looking up I realized that I should get excited about the stars because they are God's creation.

When Jonah was fleeing from the Lord he got on a boat with some sailors headed for Tarshish when he should have been going to Nineveh. The Lord sent a violent storm because of Jonah's disobedience. The other sailors were scared to death because of the storm. They figured out that Jonah was the reason for the calamity and questioned him about who he was. This is what Jonah said: "I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."

Even though Jonah was rejecting God's will at this point, he still knew the power and majesty of the God he served. Jonah didn't simply say that he worships the Lord who is the God of heaven. He went further than that to say God is responsible for creating everything we see around us. Jonah knew that God's creation should be praised and acknowledged.

Let's not look at the stars and forget to stand in awe of God's creation.

Making a Decision

Did you know that when you avoid making a decision about a matter you are uncomfortable with, you end up making a decision through your avoidance. The decision to avoid the decision is not a good decision! (Ha! Did you get that?)

Or here is another example that I am guilty of all the time. --- God will give me direction to make a decision and I ignore His leading and avoid the decision in the hopes that God will change His mind! For instance, God has told me that I should have carpal tunnel surgery on my wrists, but I am avoiding making that decision because I am hoping God will change His mind. I guess I am hoping for a miraculous healing... but how can I hope for a different outcome when God has already determined the path I should take?

Look at Psalm 25: 4-5: "Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."

Guidance is being requested in this verse. I ask the Lord for His guidance all the time when I am making decisions. However, once the Lord has given us that guidance we need to be faithful and use it. Heeding the Lord's guidance demonstrates our dependence on His will and perfect plan for our lives.

Immediate Results

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree that is planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season." Psalms 1:1-3

These verses are very encouraging to a Christian who has modeled their life after Biblical teachings and God's will for their life. A person is going to be blessed when they abide by these scriptures.

However, the last part of the verse mentions something interesting that Christians should pay attention to. When we plant a tree it does not yield immediate fruit. There is a growing period before any fruit appears. We want "immediate results" and often don't want to wait on the blessing that God has in store for us.

When psalmist writes that the fruit will appear "in season" he is speaking of God's perfect timing. (God's perfect timing is not usually our timing!) But don't be discouraged because the blessing is a part of God's promise and He never breaks a promise.

Reading but Not Retaining

The purpose of reading is to gain information. When we read our brains have to compute the words to make sense of them so that an understanding is acquired. This is how the process works, but how many times have you read something and your eyes did the reading but your mind did not pay any attention?

For some reason, this happens very often to Christians when they are reading the Bible. It happened to me a few days ago. I read a short passage in Psalms and I stopped because I realized I had no idea what I just read! We could list many different reasons why our minds drift and neglect to focus during our Bible reading. Our minds drift to our schedules, other people, our responsibilities, etc... However, no matter what the reason may be, there is one common denominator and that is the enemy. Satan wants to steal the joy and fruit that comes from our time in the Word by enticing our minds to focus on other things.

In Mark 4:12 Jesus spoke about being, "ever hearing but never understanding". That is not what we want to be doing. We want to have our hearts and minds open to God's word so that it creates an understanding within us that leads to spiritual maturity. How do we do this? Well, my best answer is to ask the Lord to help you understand and to seek Him in prayer before reading your Bible so that your heart is right before you ever start reading. (That is my plan!)

Wanna Be a Kid Again?

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." 1 Corinthians 13:11

Last night Bart and I tucked our three-year-old son in bed. We said bedtime prayers, gave hugs and kisses, but I did something I don't usually do... I stayed in his room for awhile and sat next to his bed while he was falling asleep.

As I was sitting there I kept thinking about how our little boy doesn't have a responsibility or a worry in the world. I am thankful that he is blessed not to have those burdens at such a young age. However, on days when I am so busy with responsibilities, schedules and worries I find myself wishing that I could experience that carefree living that kids do.

Growing older isn't easy, but it is worth it. As our chronological age increases we become more educated and experienced. Older age offers us more opportunities in life. Christians grow older in age just like everyone else, but they should also grow up in their faith as well. Growing up in our faith is so much better than staying a baby in our faith. The Lord will use us mightily when we grow up in Him.

Even though we have moments when we wish to be young and carefree again, the responsibilities we have are really blessings from God. God never said His work would be easy. He will give us the grace and strength to do it, but it is going to be a lot of work. This verse that Paul wrote shows the progression of growing up and being better off as a mature Christian adult.


Side note: Bart and I met a wonderful missionary couple tonight named Jonathan and Erin Matthews. The Matthews are from the U.S. but are serving in Brazil. I am putting a link to their website so you can check out their missions work. They have three children with their fourth on the way! I felt a special connection to Erin tonight because her youngest is a little girl that is very close in age to our twin girls. This is a very special family with a beautiful story: http://www.brazilforchrist.com/