Sunday, September 19, 2010

What Are You Known For?

Reading the opening statement of my son’s paper he wrote about himself in English class, made my jaw drop a little, and a tear come to my eye. “I want to be known as a devout Christian”, he wrote. He went on to mention several other qualities he wanted to be known for…being honest, kind and helpful, someone who’s willing to share, a good sense of humor, and good musicianship. He really blew me away. It was all the things I have taught my boys rolled up into one awesome paper. And he didn’t write those things because I told him to…he wrote them because that is what was in his heart, that is what he truly wants to be known for. It’s moments like these that you realize you actually did something right. He’s an awesome kid, and has never given me trouble, but with boys you just never really know what they are thinking. They don’t just spontaneously share their thoughts and feelings with you! So I knew I had tried to teach them good things, but not if it had all really sunk in yet. I cannot say enough about how important it is for parents to be involved together in a church. And, not just be involved, but have a real relationship with Jesus Christ. You want the best for your children. You want to keep them safe from every harm. If you’ve got a heart full of Jesus, there’s not room for the bad stuff. I am so thankful that I was raised in a Christian family. Recently, at my Grandmother’s funeral, as the family gathered to go out to the Chapel, the Funeral Director gathered us together. He is an old family friend and knows us very well. He said he’d like to pray for us because he knew we were a Christian family and that we had something many other’s don’t….we have hope and the knowledge that one day we will see her again in heaven. Not everyone has that assurance. That thought overwhelmed me standing there with all my family. I am so blessed to have been born into a family like that. Not everyone has that kind of family. Even in my family it had to start somewhere. What if my Grandparents hadn’t been faithful Christians? There’s a very good chance then that my parent’s would not have been Christians, and an even greater change that I would not be now. Where would that leave my boys? LOST. What I do today, what I teach my kids now, will carry on into the future to my grandchildren, my great grandchildren, and on and on. I want to be known as someone who is kind, generous, merciful, fun-loving, and perhaps slightly mischievous (in a good way), but most of all a devout Christian with a real, life-long relationship with my Savior…so that when my Grandchildren look back and remember me, and look around at their family, they will also be overwhelmed at how blessed they were to be born into this family. What about you….what do YOU want to be known for??


Thank you Lord Jesus for my children and for their real, honest love for You. Thank you for giving me the privilege of being their mom. Shower Your blessings on them, help them to grow into mighty men of God, and let them live long, honorable lives that bring many people to You. Amen.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9

“Love GOD, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got! Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates. “

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

I hate storms!

All this hurricane talk made me start thinking about the storms that come our way. Have you ever been through a bad storm? I don’t like them. I’ve been through some very scary ones. I think the thing that scares me the most is the lack of control you have over a storm. There’s nothing you can do but ride it out, and pray. The storms of life are like that too. There’s nothing you can do to keep them from coming, and nothing you can do to stop them. You just have to ride it out….and pray. One of the worst life storms I’ve ever been through was when I was 37 years old. I was the happy, healthy mom of three energetic boys when I had two mini-strokes, or TIAs, which then caused me to have seizures for about 7 months. It was a very scary, trying, and exhausting time in my life. I had gone from being a very strong, independent person, to being very sick and having to depend on everyone else. I was weak, frail, scared, depressed and exhausted. I went from taking zero medications to having a new one every week trying to control seizures and deal with depression. The side effects were often unbearable. After many months of tests, Drs., medications, hospitalizations, and different diagnoses I felt like God was leading me to a more natural approach. Never underestimate the power of prayer, or the power of God’s creation. With much prayer and research and mega doses of antioxidants & nutrients, I started feeling better, and within a few months I was seizure free and feeling better than I had in a very long time. Today I am happy to report I have been seizure free since then. I have to be very careful to get the proper nutrition my body needs, but I am healed! Through God’s grace, His constant love, and His marvelous creation, I am once again strong and healthy. I often look back at that time and think about what God taught me through it. I learned that I cannot do it all on my own, I have to depend on Him. I cannot control the storms that come my way, and one day I may have to go through a storm like this again, but this one thing I know; God will always be there with me. He will never leave me, no matter how strong the storm. I am His FOREVER, no matter what the storms may hold!  :)

From miracles to murmurs

I recently read an article about murmuring and it inspired a blog entry. Having been in the ministry with my husband for over 20 years, I’ve certainly dealt with it before. To Murmur….the definition of this strange word is to grumble or complain. It can happen anywhere. It often happens at work, frequently in churches, sometimes it even happens in our homes. The Israelites fell prey to it. They had just witnessed weeks – perhaps even months – of incredible miracles. They had seen the River Nile turned to blood. They had witnessed miraculous plagues of frogs, gnats, flies, the death of Egyptian cattle, plagues of boils, hail and fire, locusts and impenetrable darkness. They had witnessed the killing of the Egyptian firstborn and the protection of those who’s door frames were sealed with the blood of a sacrificial lamb. They had seen God going before them in an immense pillar of cloud and fire. They had seen the mighty Red Sea opened before them, allowing them to cross it on dry ground, then close behind them, drowning the pursuing Egyptian army.


And what was the first thing the Israelites did after all this? Two of them – Moses and his sister Miriam – did the right thing. They sang songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.

But many of their countrymen began to murmur! They complained about not having enough water to drink, about being hungry, about being tired of eating manna, you name it, they complained about it. Talk about amnesia! They had already forgotten all that God had done for them and all that He had promised them as well.

A study of the subject of murmuring in the Bible shows that the first result of murmuring is a diminishing of the truth. Murmuring turns into rumors which are then presented as truth which causes even more murmuring. Perhaps if we spent more time praying for God’s will, and less time fussing about our wants, we’d have less time to complain about things that, in the eternal view of things, don’t really amount to anything anyway.

Philippians 2:14-17 (New International Version)

“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…”

The Encouragement Gift

There can never be enough said about the gift of encouragement. Even if you aren’t born with it, you can learn to use it! “A gentle answer turns away wrath”…even children understand that concept. I can’t tell you how many times, when my boys were little, they would suddenly tell me they loved me…just as I was discovering the mischief they had been into. Think about it …has there been a time when someone said something nice to you that just really made you feel good, something that was completely unexpected and it made you smile when you hadn’t felt like it before? Have you ever had a nice thought about someone and then actually told them so? I don’t think those moments are accidents. I believe God is whispering in our ear. I believe those little encouragements are straight from God’s heart to ours. Of course sometimes it’s so hard to hear God whispering when we are so busy listening to the world tell us we should just look out for number one, and reach for all the glory ourselves. The secret to our own success, to our own happiness, is not grabbing all we can for ourselves…it’s in giving it away to others, for it’s in those moments when we are most like our loving Savior. You never know the impact your encouraging words can have on someone’s life. Encourage someone today… “Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.” - Mother Theresa


”Pretend you’re a star and poke a hole in someone’s darkness!”