Heart full of thanks...

I am thankful for...

... little socks in my dryer that I find after I've done the laundry...

...cheerios under my cushion of my chairs...

...tiny finger prints on the coffee table...

...toys, toys, everywhere...

...family that comes by the house and makes our lives busy and full and meaningful...

...friends that love me...

...everything.

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, (whoooo hooooo!!!!)
let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe..."
~Hebrews 12:28

...inadequate...

Sometimes I feel inadequate. I'm sure I'm not unique in my feelings, as every mom goes through times like this. Luckily, with Christ, these thoughts don't consume me. I'm more BOTHERED by them. Little things will just bug me and I think to myself, BIG DUMMY... and then I'll insert whatever I did or didn't do. For example...
Why didn't I remember to....
....put wipes in the diaper bag...
....put a sippy cup in the car before we left to go shopping...
... buy her a winter coat...

Or sometimes someone will say something, and I'm like, Oh... yeah, we do that... and I am like OH GREAT!!! I am not doing that yet!!! And I'll freak out about it and go rush home to start whatever I think is missing from her life. (side note...if you know Hannah, she is not lacking anything in her life). I just feel like a putz when I don't pack an extra bottle or when I forget to put food in her diaper bag.

I have about twenty baby books, and I subscribe to TWO baby magazines, and I get several online emails weekly about my baby's development. I know what milestones she should be reaching by eleven months (and every month prior). I can tell you what month each tooth should come in, and I can give you an ear full about Hand/Foot/Mouth disease, baby flu, ER visits, hospitalizations, and cellulitis. But I don't even know what to feed her. What's that about.

I digress. The real point of this entry is to say this: "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered."~ Psalm 32:1 Thank goodness we serve a God that forgives us for our sins. With that assurance, I know no matter what I do (or forget to do) with Hannah, she will love me just the same. Just like our God loves us just the same. With or without wipes.

Saddleback Article

This is a posting on a email from Saddleback Church's Purpose Driven Life campaign. I get emails from them each week, and a few are worth reading over and over. Read on and give me some feedback on what your thoughts are about this article.

Planet earth: Late but still great
by John Fischer

The Lord is coming back. Christ’s return is imminent. Every generation believes theirs will be the one to see it. I certainly did, having been a young adult during the Jesus movement in the early 1970s. We were sure the return of Christ was right around the corner. We wrote songs about it. Hal Lindsay wrote a book about it – Late Great Planet Earth. Larry Norman wrote a song to leave behind after we were gone – “I Wish We’d All Been Ready.”

And here we are, 30 years later, aging Jesus people, going to work and trying to provide a future for our children and grandchildren. Believe me, the Lord has heard from me a few times about this. There was something very glamorous about being part of a revival that would usher in the last days and the return of Christ, especially when you were 24 years old and single with nothing more than a backpack and a guitar. Besides, we were part of a generation that prided itself in being anti-establishment, anti-mortgage, anti-credit card, anti-insurance. We were going to just be one big love-in, living off the land and taking care of each other until Christ returned, which wasn’t supposed to be more than two or three years, max.

I reflect back on those years sometimes and see how selfish we were. Had we gotten our wish, many of you who are reading this right now would not have existed. You wouldn’t have even gotten to be the proverbial gleam in your parent’s eye, since they never would have met. I think in some ways, every generation wants to be the last, especially when we face the dark side of our existence and long for heaven where there will be no more pain or sorrow.

But it’s not about us. It’s about all those who haven’t joined the fold – haven’t yet come into the family. “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent.” (2 Peter 3:9 NLT)

Shame on us for thinking only of ourselves. We’re so quick to scramble on the ark and then close the door and let the rains come. God is more concerned about those who might be left behind than we are, or else he would have returned years ago. We can get so wrapped up in this. We can spend an inordinate amount of time poring over Scripture trying to figure out exactly when this will happen, and then get into arguments with each other over exactly how we think it will happen, when the only reason it hasn’t happened yet is standing outside our door, waiting to be loved.

John Fischer resides in Southern California with his wife, Marti and son, Chandler. They also have two adult children, Christopher and Anne. John is a published author and popular speaker.

Shoulda stayed in bed...

I'm thinking I should have stayed in bed this morning.

1. My sister calls at 7:30 this morning and tells me that she was in a car accident on her way to work. It happened on Verot School Road near Heleaux's Grocery Store. Someone with a big truck hit her from behind and she flew into the car in front of her. Luckily, she wasn't injured. But her Mitsubishi Eclipse was.

2. My baby girl has to have an MRI on her ankle. No big deal... MRIs are simple tests, right? Wrong. Since she's little, she can't be still for the MRI, so they have to put her to sleep. Mama is freakin out right now.

3. My aunt called and said that at noon they had to put her beloved doggie Noah down. He had been sick for a few weeks, but other than that, he's been perfectly healthy, so this is coming out of nowhere. She is very sad over the loss. And this is only noon...

4. 3:30... I leave school and go by the bank to cash a check. While I'm there, some guy in the next lane waves at me and says, "You're engine is smoking." I'm like OKAY someone shoot me. What is the deal with today??!!! So I had to go to Hampton Mitsubishi (side note- I would NEVER buy from Mark Hampton again, but that's another story...) to let them service the car. Turns out that it was some hoses that had cracked and were leaking cooling fluid all over the engine. $130+ for parts...

So I decided I better get home before the sky falls. I stopped off at Wal-Mart to get Hannah some more bananas and rice cereal (yes, she still has rotavirus...) and as I was walking to the checkout area, there was an elderly lady walking past me with a shirt on that caught my eye. It said "Get Over It." I took this as a word from God and decided I need to get over it and not fret. Things could be so much worse.

Then when I got into my car, the song "God of All" came on. Look at the lyrics:

God of all... we come to praise You
We lift Your name on high in all the earth
God of all we come to praise You
We lift Your name on high in all the earth

God of glory
God of majesty
God of mercy
We lift Your name on high
God of all

God of holiness
God of righteousness
God of heaven
We lift Your name on high
God of all

God is the God of ALL. Of EVERYTHING. Even the God of all the turmoil and frustration that my family is going through. I praised Him for that gentle reminder.

"Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." ~ Ephesians 6:10

God keeps giving me this scripture. I guess I haven't gotten it yet that He really does have the power to get us through everything. He is the God of all, after all...

The Bait of Satan

If you are a Christ follower, a believer in Jesus, and you work at a church or are heavily involved in one or more ministries, I encourage you to read the book "The Bait of Satan" by John Bevere. It is the BEST book I have read yet on how satan aka the PUNK will use just about ANYTHING to rip apart a church. This book is about how we, as a christian group, are an offended people. We are offended when the pastor talks about tithing. We are offended when someone else gets asked to do something or go somewhere that we weren't invited to. We are offended when someone looks at us a certain way or when someone says something that might hit too close to home.

Satan will use all of these offended feelings to make us resentful, proud, and haughty. Next thing you know, we're either talking negatively about the ministry we are in, or we leave our ministries completely. I have been in this very situation, and I shudder to think what the punk could have acheived if I had let him. But thank God, the veil was lifted from my eyes after reading this book. Now I can see where satan would use simple things to get me to feel offended. One time, I wasn't invited to something that would have meant a lot to me. So I got offended. And then satan backed away and let me run with my negative feelings, and we won't even go into how much sewage poured from my mouth about it all. What I didn't know is that I wasn't asked because school had just started and my church leaders knew I couldn't get out of school. And they didn't ask me for a second reason- HANNAH. They knew I wouldn't leave my little baby girl. Instead of realizing this from the start, I clung to my anger and allowed it to seap into my ministry and it affected everyone I work with.

Looking back now at the last four years that I've been in ministry, I see just how much satan had a grip on me through the use of the emotion of offense. I'm so glad I read this book. Now when I do things at church, I am working on seeing the good in al people so that I do not allow satan to get a foothold.

"Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." ~ Ephesians 6:10

Thank God I don't have to depend on my own power!

Struggling

I struggle. It may just be me who does this, but it is really frustrating how much I struggle with things. I stuggle with keeping a consistent quiet time alone with God. I struggle with my weight. I struggle with my temper when the traffic is backed up. I struggle with my thought life. The list goes on and on. And it dawns on me... I've been a Christian for over 14 years now. Shouldn't I be "getting it" by now?

Perhaps that's the point.

Ephesians 6:12 ~ For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

No matter how long we've known God, no matter how mature you are in your faith, you will still have struggles. God didn't come down in the form of a man and tell everyone, "believe in me, and I'll make it easy on you." I just have to keep reminding myself of that. At this stage of the game, I expect that I would act a certain way, think a certain way, etc. Frustrating.

Romans 15:30 ~ I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.

I'd appreciate that!