Freedom?

So the last few days I have been struggling. Struggling with freedom. God has given us freedom in Him; freedom to eat what we want, freedom to make choices for ourselves, freedom from sin (I like that one). Yesterday was the final day of a 40 day fast and I feel sad. Sad that I now have to make MY own food choices again. I liked dedicating my food choices every day, every meal to HIM. Eating only what I promised Him I would eat. Now I have freedom again. Freedom is great but I am a rule follower. As a rule follower, freedom is hard. Couple that with no self control and I can have problems. If food is there, I eat it. Thank you, Lord for freedom. Help me to make wise choices when it comes to food and to life. Lord, thank you for these past 40 days to connect with you in a different way than I have ever done before.

How about you? Is freedom a blessing ALL the time for you or can it make things difficult because of your flesh?

Great God

Today I have been mulling over our great God. He truly is amazing. Every night I pray for my kids that they will know how great it is to have Him as our God. I mean, think about it. He made the world and everything in it. AMAZING! He has no beginning or end! INCOMPREHENSIBLE! He sent His Son to earth to save us, even though we are sinners, HUMBLING! We get to have a personal relationship with Him when we ask Him to be our Savior and Lord. WOW! You amaze me God. Thank you for being my GOD. Help to serve you all my days!

for His glory!

Little Child

Matthew 18:2&3 He(Jesus) called a little child to him, and placed the child among them(disciples). And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

This point was so truly spoken to my heart today. My oldest daughter has been saving her money from the tooth fairy, collecting donations from friends and Daddy with the desire to purchase Bibles for those you don't have one. Today was the first day she was able to buy one and she was thrilled. We walked into Lifeway, picked out a nice Bible, and she went up to the counter with her dollar bills and coins. It was so precious. When we got out to the car we prayed together for the person God had appointed to receive the Bible. I asked Ginny which way we should drive to "find" our gift recipient and we were off. We found a man holding a sign asking for "anything" so Ginny decided to give him the Bible along with a bottle of water and a gift card to McDonald's. I pray I will "become like" her.

Thank you, Lord for Ginny's heart for the lost.

for His glory!

Debt, the way of the world?

Okay, so some of you are definitely going to think my family is crazy but we are about to embark on a new adventure. You see, about two years ago I graduated with a BA in Spanish. That was a pretty exciting time to me since I was was almost 10 years overdue. Most people graduate at 21 but I was at the ripe old age of 30. Well, to make a long story short, we are STILL paying for my schooling. We try to be wise and frugal with our money but we have not been able to pay off this debt and it is weighing heavily on us. My husband and I made the decision (with the permission of my parents) that we would move in with my Mom and Dad for about 6 months so we could hit our debt hard. Brian and I have been listening to Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University CDs which have lit a fire under us to get going on our debt. We pray, with the Lord's blessing, that we will be able to pay off my school loans in six months. As Dave Ramsey says, "Live like no one else so later you can live like no one else!"

My family covets your prayers as we pack, move, live with my parents, try to pay off our debt and look for a new home.

Debt free, here we come!!!!

for His glory!

Measuring up

Have you every set up "rules" for yourself when starting something new and failed to follow them? I did. I quit after I saw that I couldn't keep up with my made up rules or with others who participate in the same activity, blogging. Everyone else seems to write so well. Everyone else seems to write so often. Everyone else seems to have better topics. Everyone else... Over the past few months I have had so many good ideas for a blog entry but have ignored God's call to write them because I feel like a failure. God has used a few things in my life to bring me back to this blogging thing He has called me to. The main thing He used is the Daniel fast. My husband and I are on our 17th day of a 40 day fast (from just a few food groups). God has been AMAZING over these days showing us things from His Word and through prayer. God showed me through His Word that He can use anyone. He chose Moses even though he stuttered, He chose Rahab even though she was a harlot, He chose Joshua even though he was really old, and the list goes on.

I am so blessed to serve a God you can use "failures" or those who don't measure up!

Orphans are Gifts from God

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

I know this won't be news to most of you but our God is amazing! He has a perfect timing for everything. Nothing is given to us too soon or too late. So "what" you might ask has God given me? A heart for the orphans. I feel like God woke my husband and myself out of a deep sleep. We both felt completely oblivious to our Christian duty to be involved in some capacity with orphan/widow care. James 1:27 isn't the only verse where God places the responsibilities connected to orphan/widow care on the church.
He is clear,
Get involved.
Do something.
We are all given different gifts. Use your gifts to serve. Not all of us are called to adopt a child but we can support others who do adopt or foster a child.

Please pray about what God would have you do and then do it!

An opportunity to find out more information is coming up in the Triad. Westover Church is hosting a workshop on Saturday, November 20th called
If You were Mine .

Matthew 25:35-36 ...I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.

Thankful ("nay new") Heart

Some of you may not know this but I have an adorable 20 month old son. He is a precious gift from God and a delight to be around. He loves to mimmick everything we say. One of our latest phrases is, "thank you" when he's given anything. Now of course when he says it the phrase doesn't sound exactly like that. It comes out sounding more like "nay new" but he usually says it while also doing the sign language for thank you so it is completely precious! The last two days he has been repeating "nay new" at the oddest times, while laying in bed or while we drive in the car. No one has done anything which would make him say it but he continues anyway. I pray that I am like my son. I pray I learn to have a thankful heart and continually say thank you to my Savior for everything that He has done for me. Even saying thank you when others can't see what I could possibly be thankful for.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus