Good Gifts

Have you ever received a gift from your parents?  I mean a significant gift that was unexpectedly terrific?
Maybe they gave you a car when you were 16 or maybe they paid for your college.  Maybe they gave you money for the down payment on a house or helped you finance an entrepreneurial pursuit.
My father in law has financed several vacations for us and we are about to embark on the largest one yet, a cruise to Bermuda.
As an adult it’s a wonderful thing to have parents that will do things like this to bless your life.  They do so much when you are growing up and we expect it as kids.  But when you are grown and they continue to bless your life with unexpected, amazing gifts it puts you in such a humble place of thanksgiving.
Last night as I was reading before bed a scripture came to me in the text on this very thing.  Matthew 7:11 says, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”  And then it happened, that strange and wonderful moment when you know God is trying to get something across to you that you just have not been getting.  He showed me that if my father in law can give us this wonderful thing how much more should I be expecting my Heavenly Father to give to us.  After all, doesn’t He love us so much more?  Isn’t He the giver of all good and perfect things?  Is He not LOVE itself?
I had been trying not to concern myself with some financial shortcomings we were having and as He showed this to me I realized, all I need to do is ask Him and it will all be taken care of.   I need to believe, just as a child does, that my Father is going to make everything okay.  That my DAD is going to meet my needs.
I will repeat it from my last blog, Trust God!!  Come to him as you would your own dad and just simply ask.  He loves you so much; He wants to give to you.
On the flip side, as a parent, I love to give my kids things.  From their favorite breakfast food to the coolest birthday gift ever, I just love to see the look on their face and get that “Thank you, thank you, thank you mommy!!!”  It is just so much fun.  I can imagine how fun it is for God to give gifts to His kids and see their eyes alight with thanksgiving over His generosity and abundance!  

Don’t Loose Heart, Don’t Loose Hope, Trust God

I had the opportunity recently to fellowship with a wonderful individual from our church, a Godly woman who has been through a great deal.  We discussed the things in our lives in which we have had to wait.  Months and sometimes years pass as we wait on something we know God has shown us.  We wait on promises, on provision, on healing, believing that we will see it come to fruition.  We try not to become discouraged as time seems to drag on.  We try not to doubt but we grow weary and we start listening to the voices that lie to us about our blessing.  We start to wonder what we could have done wrong in order to miss the blessing.  We wonder what we need to do to open the door for it to finally come about.  We sometimes start to make plans, “just in case” plans, or “what if” plans.  What if we didn’t hear God right, what if we missed it, what if our timing is off, maybe we should try this other way “just in case” that is not what God meant.

 Faith is not enough to get through; you have to couple faith with trust.  “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, lean not on your own understanding.”  We have to trust that what God said is His very word and since He cannot lie it will happen.  We can examine the promise we feel that God gave us and if it doesn't contradict the Word of God than we can rest in knowing that what God promised He will supply.   

 I had been feeling like the waiting was just becoming too much but what is my waiting compared to that of Abraham and Sara or Joshua and Caleb or Joseph or Moses or Job.  We have to hold on to God's promises and trust Him.  Trust that He will always bring His promises to manifestation.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA3MSqufJP4&feature=related 

The inconvenience of parenting

I had a situation occur tonight that was not new to me.  As a matter of fact it has happened more frequently than I would like to admit over the past 5 years. 

It was late and I figured I would be off to bed in a timely fashion, without mishap, but I was wrong.  Instead a found myself cleaning up after an accident and thinking to myself, “How inconvenient”.   I stopped there.  Did I really just indicate that parenting was inconvenient?  

How many of you have thought that?  You had your plans, you had ideas of how things were going to work out and then “BAM”, inconvenience strikes.  Is life ever so easy as to  have no obstacles or hurdles?  Well, I guess tonight, I thought so.   If parenting is anything it’s inconvenient, it’s difficult, it’s unpredictable, it’s unrewarding, it is such a tough job.  Why do you think God wanted to start over so many times, His children drove him to annihilation.  Thank you Jesus for Grace and Mercy.  

Where is my grace and mercy on nights like tonight.  Nights when I was so tired and had to deal with unpleasantness to the degree that it has kept me up even longer to write about it.  How can I extend my arms of grace to my child when they have done something to disturb my schedule, my plans?  I must look to the loving Father who used sacrificial love to extend His grace to me.  My love must be sacrificial, I must crucify my inconvenience on the cross of mercy and let it flow through everything that I do.  So what if I go to bed 45 minutes later than planned if I can lovingly tuck my child in bed after a most unpleasant episode and wrap my arms around his little body and tell him I love him even in the midst of my frustration.  Isn’t that what the Father did for us?

God sent His son in the midst of our sin and He required a sacrifice to save us.  It wasn’t the original plan and I would say it was most inconvenient for Jesus to leave heaven, become a man, live among us, be betrayed, beaten and hung to die.  But He did it, because He loves us.  What is our inconvenience compared to His?

The Blessing of Working with Children

This past Sunday a parent of one of our two year olds came to me with a report that blessed me so much I had to share it with all of you.

First, I want to say that every one of my volunteers needs to understand the important role they have in the little lives that they spend one Sunday with each month.  Be encouraged that the work that you do is going much further than you think.

Here is my confirmation:

This parent came to us with a praise report like I have never had before.  They started out by saying that we may not think a two year old understands what we are teaching them (by faith we believe that they do understand).  They went on to say how their child shares what they've learned that Sunday, not just with the parent that is at church, but with the parent that is unsaved at home.  This little evangelist goes straight to it's parent and retells each story, shows the craft completed and (this is my favorite) expresses that Jesus is in their heart.

That's not all though, this child has family in another country and when talking to them on the phone tells of Jesus and the heart that He filled.  This little one talks about Jesus all the time, constantly ministering to that unsaved parent and extended family.

Friends, please understand, you are not just teaching children, you are raising up evangelists, teachers, preachers, prophets and the like.

You are so important to the lives of the children you touch.

May God continue to bring the volunteers like you, who have a heart to share the love of Jesus with all the little ones in our congregation.

I love and appreciate all of you so very, very much!

Working Together

This past week my cousins came to help build a tree house for the boys in our back yard.  After days of rain we finally received beautiful weather which left us only three days to complete the task.  We worked continually to get it done, the men did most of the labor but the women and children (when they were not playing) assisted as best they could.  It took all of us to make it happen.  

Even though the men did most of the heavy labor that doesn’t mean that the others were not important.  Any carpenter will tell you that working with an assistant makes a job go so much smoother.  Besides that, someone has to feed the workers!    As we were finishing up one evening it occurred to me how important all of us were to this project.  We functioned fluidly toward the end, knowing how to hold this board or measure that rail.  If we were to go on for days it would have been fun to see how much more we could have done now knowing just how to help each other.

It is like this in the body of Christ as well.  We all have different jobs and if we do them together, working toward one final goal we will successfully bless the world with the love of Jesus.  

1 Corinthians 12:12-27 says this:

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 

 ¹⁵ Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 

 ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 

 ²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 

We are all needed in the body of Christ, we are all important.  The nursery worker is as important as the one leading praise and worship and the one teaching the children is as important as the one teaching the adults.  We all work together for the glory of Christ.  Blessing Him with our love for others and our willingness to do the small jobs in order to love our Big God!

Stop Trippin'

One of my husbands favorite preachers said this once and it just stuck with me, “Stop Trippin’ ”.  The Bible says to be anxious for nothing.  This is usually thought of as worry and I very much agree with it, however,  I don’t consider myself a worrier.   Although, I  come from a long line of worriers and could lean that way if I am not careful to check myself.

I do, however, get anxious about the list of “to do’s” that I have incurred.  This morning as I was trying to spend time with God, that list was rolling over and over in my head.  I would get a few words of prayer out and then my thoughts would turn to the grocery list and the repairs that still need to be completed before company comes on Monday.  Then I would realize how I wasn’t praying anymore and go back to conversing with God. 

 All of the sudden I started to feel the pressure of my upcoming agenda and instantly God said: “Stop Trippin' ”, or something like that.  He said:  “Rest in me, spend time with me, and I will make sure that all these things will be taken care of.” 

 

 I felt a release, the pressure was gone and I knew the most important thing I can do is put Him first!  If I rest in Him, spending time with Him in His Word and in conversation with Him then “all these things will be added unto me”.   

A few years ago I remember Todd telling me that God had basically told him the same thing.  He was in church on a Wednesday night and as he sat in the service he started concerning himself with all that he needed to be doing, for work, for our home, for our business.  Then suddenly God said:  “That’s why you are here, when you come here to Worship Me, I am taking care of all of those other things that you are concerned about.”  Stop Trippin’.

We are so good at overwhelming ourselves with our “to do” lists, when all God wants is our time. 

 Recalling the story of Mary and Martha:   Martha was concerning herself with the tasks at hand, she was so upset about it that she forgot to spend time with Jesus.  She was ticked off at Mary for not helping her and I am sure she was taken aback when Jesus said: "Hey Martha stop trippin’,  Mary is spending time with me, I wont be around long, this is more important". 

If we give Him our time, He will take care of our day and all that lies beyond.  

Moving On

Todd and I enjoyed a wonderful evening with great friends last night.  Friends that unfortunately will be moving in a short period of time.  They will be greatly missed.

As the conversation took turns and twists and we talked about a myriad of topics; children, home improvements and things of spiritual significance, one of  the hardest things to discuss was the fact that they are leaving.

Change is usually difficult but the change of moving a family from a familiar city to one of uncertainty is certainly a challenge.  

God told Abram to go to a place that He would show him, talk about uncertainty.  Abram didn’t even know where he was going.  I bet that was an interesting conversation between Abram and Sarai, “God told you WHAT?”

Then Moses moves the Israelites out of Egypt and into a land of the unknown, wow.  Remember where all the grumbling got them?

Looking back over my own life and the moves that we have made have brought both heartache and joy.  When I was young we moved a lot and now I see how those moves strengthened me and my sister.  

As adults, Todd and I moved to Ohio, leaving our families in Colorado to go where we believed God was telling us to go.  Ours was a migratory journey into a land as Egypt was to the Israelites.  For us it was seven years that, although were painful, were the greatest teaching years we could have had.

Our move to the south was less distressing but not in the area of leaving behind friends who we cared for dearly.

  

It is hardest to leave individuals.  Houses can be replaced, jobs and even churches can be exchanged from what you had, but people are difficult and, in many ways, impossible to recoup.  Every friendship is like a connecting point in a spider web.  Each life touching another connecting the whole thing together creating a strong, beautiful piece of unique artwork.  We are bound together, knowing that no matter how far the miles are between us we are connected.  United by joy, sorrow, pain and triumph.

I know that as my friends embark on their journey a part of me goes with them, woven into the web of their lives, contributing to them the strengths that we can impart.

Never look at a move as a loss but an opportunity to grow, to learn, to follow God’s call to the next great thing He has for you!

We love you, dear friends and know we will be together again--Heck, you’re gonna have to put up with me for all eternity!