Encouragement For Today...

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh i do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, admonishting every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

Colossians 1:24-29

Wow! What a day! The Lord has revealed some things through these Scriptures that I really needed today. I wrote many notes in my notebook of the things He has shown me. Hopefully I can write them so they make sense to you as an encouragement to all you moms out there. Well, here it goes. :)

Paul starts out by saying rejoice in your sufferings....he must have had a great sense of humor, right? Why would he write that? He said that there was a purpose for this. When I rejoice in my sufferings, I am to do it for the sake of others. It is for my benefit, the building of my faith, as well as for those watching me. They watch how I react to my suffering and they see my faith in action. That it is a genuine faith. Seeing this encourages others in their walk too.

As a mother, I've done alot of suffering and I continue to suffer. If you are doing things the way the Lord calls you to, you will suffer, lots. I have been able to rejoice in my sufferings some of the time, but lately, I've not been so great at it. The Lord reminded me that I need to do this in order to be a living example to them.

Why?

Well, the next verse tells me that I was made a minister. A minister,eh? I know what that means to mean, but I looked it up to see how the dictionary defines a minister. Minister=server/giver..hmmmmmmm....I am a server/giver...never looked at it quite that way. God gave me the awesome priviledge of being a mother to serve and give and to teach my children how to serve and give. You see, this is for their benefit too, if I do my job correctly.

Paul goes on to say that I am to preach the Word of God. That to me is two fold. I am to seek the Lord myself and in turn give it to my children, in word and deed. It's not enough for me to seek the Lord and keep it all to myself or to share it with other adults in need. I must share these truths with my children too. I must apply it to my life so that they can see the Word of God lived out in my life. I need to show them Christ in me to be an effective teacher/ mother.

I am not only to tell them about Him, but I am to use the Word of God to admonish them. What does admonish mean? Well, according to the dictionary, it means to warn gently, but seriously. WoW! That is not easy for me, to warn them gently, especially when I see the trouble they are headed into. But the Lord has shown me that I must warn them gently. Why? He was gentle, but firm. He always admonished out of love. If I love my children, which I really do, I need to gently guide them when I see them walking the wrong way. If I am always firm with them, it sounds as if there is no love at all, only condemnation. I had to repent of this one. Some times I get so passionate in my love for them that I sound like I'm being harsh, when I'm just so broken about what I'm seeing that it comes out that way. I lived my entire life with this kind of "admonition" and I know how it made me feel. I don't want to do that to the children God has entrusted to me. My parents didn't know any better, but, Praise the LORD, He has shown me so that I can change this pattern, thus changing the pattern for the generations to come.

I am to teach (instruct) them with all wisdom (insight) so that they may be presented complete in Christ. As I stated before, I need to instruct them in the things that the Lord shows me. This must be pretty important since it was brought up more than once. You see, without proper instruction they won't know how to love, forgive, be self-sacrificing, etc. and they won't be able to share the wonderful truths with those who are, and will be, in their lives.

The Lord has already shown me that this task won't be easy.

I will have to labor. What does labor mean? It doesn't just mean work. It means to put forth physical and mental effort, especially when hard times come.

Don't give up!! It will be worth all the painful labor put forth in fulfilling the very important job of raising the children God entrusted to you in a Godly manner

. Are they going to be perfect? NO! Sorry, but if you will persevere in the God given priviledge of raising your children to love the Lord your God with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their mind, and with all their strength( Deut 6:5; Matt.22:37;Mark 12:30;Luke 10:27), then you can rest, knowing that whatever they do, you did what you were called to do. Remember, you are to train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6) He will make mistakes, you did too. But He will remember Who and what you poured into His life and He will come back. Sorry, got off on a tangent...it's really easy to do..lol...but I thought it was important.

I will have to strive (struggle and contend), isn't that the truth.

You mothers know what I'm talking about. The great thing is that I don't have to do it in my own strength. I am not alone! Neither are you by the way :) With the Holy Spirit living in me, it is possible to rejoice in my suffering. He is my Helper. In fact, I can't parent my children in a Godly way on my own. It's impossible. I need the Holy Spirit to direct and guide me every step of the way. I need Him to help me interpret and reveal what I need to do through the Word of God. Then it's up to me to be obedient to what He shows me. I need Him to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. I need Him for peace that passes all understanding and joy unexplainable during those trying times.

Important note:

(When you ask the Lord Jesus to come into your heart, to be the Lord and Savior of your life, the Holy Spirit comes in and is your Helper.John 15:26-27))

I must be committed to the spiritual well-being of my children so they will become complete in Christ, and they can further the kingdom of God throughout their lifetimes, as well as be an example to the generations to come.

You see, moms, you and I have an extremely important job. We must'nt give up! We have the power of the Living God living inside of us!!

This was such a timely lesson for me in so many ways. I have been discouraged in my parenting. It's the hardest job in the world when I'm doing it in the flesh. The Lord has shown me the error of my ways and I now have a new fire, a new zeal, a realized meaning to my existence.

I am a mother.

I pray that this has encouraged you. I'm sorry if I was all over the place. I tried to keep my thoughts straight, but I'm so excited about the things the Lord is showing me that my brain has a hard time catching up some times. :)

Love, peace, and grace to you all.

<3

The First Snow of the Year in SC

I woke up to 8 inches of snow and still some falling from the sky. What a great way to wake up this morning. Of course, I had to go outside and take some pics of the white stuff. It was absolutely gorgeous!! I went out even before my children woke up. It was great! We've since been out a couple of times and I'm sure we'll return out there again. We need to take advantage of it while it's here...this is definitely a rare occassion :)

My eldest daughter had a great idea. She brought out my laundry basket and all of the girls took turns sledding in it, down every steep hill they could find. They had a blast! When they were tired of that, they started rolling themselves down the steepest hill they could find.  Thank You Lord for this beautiful day and for the wonderful time I was able to spend with my kiddos in the snow...just like when I was a kid. <3

A Purpose

When I was younger, all I ever wanted to be was a singer/actress. I know, surprise, surprise...lol..Those who personally know me could believe that easily. After all, I'm not called the Drama Queen for nothin. :)

I can remember sitting for hours, listening to the radio or playing records(uh oh..I just dated myself...lol) singing my heart out and dancing all over my room pretending I was on stage and all the people watching (in my mind) loved me. In high school, I was in Show Choir, Drama Club, and Chorus...I loved being on that stage...I would feel sick to my stomach EVERY time, but as soon as I sang a couple of words or said a couple of my lines I would forget about my fears, forget about all the people, and be in my own little world. It was amazingly wonderful!! I so wanted to be in the bright lights forever, but I guess that wasn't the plan for me, because if it was it would've happened, right?

During my teen years, I decided that I was going to be a counselor. Why wouldn't I? I already had friends calling me constantly at the wee hours of the morning telling me their problems. It got so bad that my parents actually put  my own phone line in my bedroom so that the phone calls wouldn't wake them up. I had many sleepless nights, but they were all worth it. If I could make even just one of them feel better and have some hope I would stay up all night. I remember a time when I saw a young girl sitting on the ground outside a building late one night. I drove by her, but my heart made me turn around. I didn't know that girl and had never seen her before, or since, but I just had to stop and talk to her to see if there was anything I could help her with. We spoke, she was encouraged, I went along my way hoping that she would be alright. I think that dream ended when I couldn't even help my little brother, who ended up committing suicide at the age of 17.

As I got older I had less and less dreams. I was just hoping to survive each day. You see, I had been in countless horrible relationships. I also had 2 children by 2 different men 4 years apart from one another (one when I was 24 and the other at 28). I was struggling to keep a roof over our heads, food in their bellies, and diapers and clothes on them. It was hard, but I accepted it as it was and just did what I had to do to take care of them. I finally understood why my mother used to tell me not to have sex before marriage. She wasn't trying to be a "kill-joy". She was trying to protect me. Now that I'm a mother, I completely understand.

I always wanted to be  someone that made a difference in the lives of those around me. I did it because I hated seeing people hurt the way I was always hurting. I hid behind my smile. When I would help someone it would take my mind off of my own issues, problems, and heartaches. So I continually focused all my energy on others; friends, family, my kids...everyone but me. It was too hard to think about me. If I did that then I would have to admit that my life was a mess and I made it that way. I would rather pretend I was someone else, put an "H" on my chest and Handle it. After all pretending would make everyone else happy too. I knew I made my life what it was by the choices I made but I wanted everyone to believe that I was strong; that I was all right, while inside I was crying desperately for someone to save me from myself.

I moved to SC and found Jesus again. He had never left me, but I had left Him long ago. I rededicated my life to Him and determined that I was no longer going to be the pretender, but I have to admit, that process was longer than I'd of liked it to be. While reading my Bible, the Lord showed me who I really was when I left Him behind and started living life for me. All I could do was break down and sob. What I saw was something I never thought I was, but there it was in black and white staring me in the face. That was the beginning of a new journey for me. Was it easy? Not at all. Was it worth it? Most Definitely!! Now I saw myself as I was, I repented, and I turned back to my first true Love, Jesus. Since then, He gave me a husband who I don't deserve and has blessed me with 2 more beautiful children. It's been 12 years since that day and I am more in love with Jesus than ever.  Am I still going through changes? Of course. I will never stop learning until I'm with Him in heaven. It is painful sometimes, but He always leads me to the other side where there is growth.

Jesus is:

my Lord

my Savior

my Friend

my life

my Love

my peace

my joy

my Counselor

my Healer

my Guide

etc

etc

etc

I know that the only reason I'm still living today is because He brought me through for a purpose.

My purpose:

to love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength

to obey Him in all aspects of my life

to love everyone that comes in my path

to worship Him with my life, not just my voice

to adore Him and to teach my children to adore Him

to tell everyone about Him

to live my life in such a way that people would want to know Him

I lived a long time with dreams, but no purpose.

Praise the Lord, now I have a purpose worth living for.

He has blessed me beyond measure;

a husband I thought I'd never have

4 exceptionally wonderful blessings from heaven (the children He's entrusted me to care for)

but most of all.....Hope of eternal life that He freely gave to me in which I received

(which is also available to you too :) )

I may not have a house, or lots of material things, but I have more than all the treasures of the world.

The ultimate treasure....JESUS!!

Romans 8:28-39

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.  For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestine to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom He did predestine, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

 He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies.
 Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God who also makes  intercession for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
 As it is written, For Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
But in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
 For I am convinced, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Well, the new year is quickly approaching.

What do you want this year?

 That is a question I've been pondering.

The answer...

I want to be more like Jesus!

I want Him to mold me and shape me into what He wants.

I want Him to continue to grow my faith.

I want Him to use my life to bring Him glory.

I want to be a better servant of all.

I want to be a better wife to the wonderful husband God has so graciously given me.

I want to be a better mother to the children that God has entrusted me to care for.

I want to love more.

I want to forgive more.

I want to see everyone as Jesus sees them, not through my physical eyes, but spiritual.

I want to fade into the background.

I want people to see Jesus when they look at me and glorify Him.

I want to give Him all the worship and adoration that only HE deserves.

I want to love the Lord my God with ALL my HEART, ALL my SOUL, ALL my MIND, and ALL my STRENGTH.

I want to laugh more.

I want to play more.

I want to make EVERY day count!

The great thing about all these things is that I know each one of them can be fulfilled in my life.

As I seek Him in His Word and obey His calling on my life it will happen!

Thank You Lord for the life that YOU alone have given to me.

My hearts desire is to be set apart for You.

 Help me to make the most of this life for Your glory.

Please give me Your strength to endure the hardships, trials, tribulations, and persecution that come my way,  with rejoicing, for I know they will come, but it will be worth it in the end.

My hearts desire is to hear You say, when I meet You in heaven,

"Well done my good and faithful servant."

I've been reading in Jonah this morning, and it occurred to me that people try to run from the Lord all the time. They try to escape what He has for their lives. Does this make any sense to any of you? It doesn't to me, considering, how can one hide from the God who made the universe?

We all must be a bit prideful to think that we can hide from the One who sees all.

What arrogance on our part!

The Lord also has shown me that when we are told to do something for Him and we don't, we willfully rebel against the Lord as Jonah did, we put others in jeopardy.

Jonah tried to flee from the presence of the Lord (Jonah 1:3; 1:10). He paid to board a ship to get as far from the Lord as possible...While he was on the ship, a great storm came and threatened everyone on board. You know what? While everyone else was calling out to their (false)gods, Jonah was sleeping below deck as if he had not a care in the world.

 How does that work? His disobedience caused the problem for the rest of the passengers, yet he slept like a baby. He wouldn't even call out to God, and He believed in the One True Living God, or so he said. Why? Because  He knew why this storm was raging and threatening all of their lives. He knew it was his fault, but he didn't care. He pretended as if the storm didn't exist.  He didn't care that his disobedience was putting others through great turmoil and stress.

That is so like the person who is living in willful rebellion against the Lord. They could be living in lala land, pretending that everything is alright. They act as if nothing is wrong when everything around them is crumbling away, and the people that they say they love are getting hurt. They take no responsibility for their actions which caused the catastrophe they're in.

Jonah had finally taken responsibility, after the storm had gotten so bad that it looked like they  would all die, and after the others on the ship confronted him.(better late than never) He told the men that the only way to calm the sea was to throw him overboard, because he was the cause of their troubles. (Jonah 1:12-15)

Interesting...

Jonah disobeys God. Others suffer. He ignores the problem.Then, when he can't take it any more, he finds a quick fix to it. Did his quick fix end the suffering of the people? Yes. They saw that when they through him overboard. God  calmed the sea....they had to give Jonah to the Lord and then they had peace!

 Did the quick fix help Jonah? Well, it wasn't exactly instant. It took him a few days in the belly of the fish to come to the place where God could speak to him.

There are a couple of lessons in this for us....

When there is someone in our lives that is rebelling against the Lord, we must give them into His hands in order to have true peace. If we don't we will suffer, unnecessarily I might add, right along with that person. God wants us to give them to Him so He can work in their lives.

AND

Change isn't always instant. We need to give our loved one/s to the Lord and continually lift them up in prayer that the Lord can do a work in them His way and in HIS time. We need to stay out of the way and let God do what ONLY HE CAN DO!

 

After Jonah was thrown  overboard, the Lord sent a great fish to swallow him up. You see, being in the great fish gave Jonah lots of time to reflect on his actions and attitude toward the Lord, the One in whom he said he feared (Jonah 1:9).He had a chance to be alone and be quiet so that the Lord could speak to him once again.

We need to look at our lives and take account of what is going on in it, evaluate why these things are happening, take responsibility for any part we may have played in getting to this point,  seriously look at the pain and suffering we are causing others by living our lives in this manner, and repent to the Lord.

When we rebel against the Lord, we aren't the only ones being hurt. We hurt those we say we love.

While in the great fish, Jonah became broken. He realized what he was doing, rebelling against the Lord, and he repented to the Lord. He realized that God could've let him die in his rebellion, but He didn't. He saved him from an everlasting separation from Himself. He praised the Lord and acknowledged that his salvation came from the Lord only. Only after he acknowledged his sin and repented of it did the Lord save his life (physically and spiritually).

In conclusion....

Our God...

 is a MIGHTY God!!

is JUST!!

is LONGSUFFERING!!

is FORGIVING!!

is LOVING!!

HE IS A GOD OF SECOND CHANCES!!!!

If you are in the place where Jonah was, in rebellion against the Lord and hurting yourself and those you love, know that the Lord Jesus is calling to you and wants to restore you back to Himself. He loves you and will forgive you of ALL your sins(EVERYTHING you've done wrong) and rebellion. All you need to do is  cry out to Him. Confess that you are a sinner and the things you have done, repent (running away from those things that you have called sin) from those things, and ask Jesus to come into your heart. He is ready, willing, and able to save you! That is why He willingly died a brutal death, on the cross. He did it because He loves you and He wants you to be with Him for eternity in heaven. Jesus is the only way to heaven! Only through Him will you find salvation and true peace.

If you are someone who is feeling the effects of someone you love who is running from the Lord, rest in the Lord. Give your loved one to Him continually and watch what He does. He is faithful! He will reveal Himself in His time.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians4:6-7

My weight loss in a nut shell...

At the beginning of the year I posted about my weight problem. I didn't follow through the way I intended to, but here are some details.

I tried, I failed, I tried some more, I failed, I tried even more, I failed, I gave it to God, I succeeded!!!

Basically, what that means is that I tried to lose weight the way I've always learned, by the wisdom of the world. I know soooooooo much about nutrition, exercise, calorie intake, etc, etc, etc...yet putting that wisdom into action gave me little to no positive results at all. Then my aunt let me know about this Bible study that is about dealing with Feasting on Jesus instead of food...The main idea of the study was to view food and the sin issues of your heart that lead one to overeat, starve themselves, binge and purge, etc in the light of the Word of God. To focus on Jesus and His wisdom instead of the world's wisdom. What a wonderful ride that was!!

Not only was I confronted, encouraged, and strengthened, but I was transformed from the inside out. What an amazing experience! In less than 3 months I lost 27lbs. That was all focusing on Jesus. I did exercise, but it was only really walking  or doing a 30-45 minute dvd once  a day, sometimes not even that. God showed me that it wasn't what I was eating, or how I was eating, or the kind of exercise I did or didn't do,  that was the problem, it was my heart that was the problem. I was looking to fill my soul with physical food instead of spiritual food from the Word. When I stopped trying to fill my soul that way I noticed changes, spiritually and physically...it was amazing. I have since gained about 7 lbs back, b/c the last part of the study was a 20 day fast, and that was expected, but I feel fabulous and am continuing on my journey. My goal is to get to 130 by summer of 2011...I believe that whether I succeed at that or not doesn't really matter, but that, as I continue this journey, the more important thing will be accomplished..that is I will be blessed with a more intimate, deeper, relationship with Jesus than ever before..I will have an abundance of His peace throughout this sometimes very chaotic life of mine, and  I will be blessed with joy unexplainable. All praise and glory to my LORD!!

If you're interested in the study that I did, go to;

http://www.settingcaptivesfree.com/ and click on The Lord's Table. It is a free online study (you can also purchase the study and have the books sent to your home...i chose the online study...they are both the same..) I encourage everyone to check it out...you will be so blessed that you did :)

If you do the study, I would encourage you to keep a journal of your journey. I kept one in a notebook...it's great to go back and review what you've learned. <3

A Question

I was asked a very reasonable, normal question about a week ago, and I've been pondering it ever since. "What's the question?" you may be asking
. "What do you need for your birthday?"
Quite simple, isn't it? Most people would love to be asked this question. It's the chance to get something you really want, but maybe wouldn't buy for yourself, right? I have been probing my mind to find something I need so I can answer this question. You know what I came up with?

I don't NEED anything!

In fact, I don't even want anything.

I have everything I need already.

I came upon this Scripture this morning that confirmed this to me...

"For the Mighty One has done great thigns for me; And holy is His name. And His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him. "Luke 1:49-50

You see, I don't need anything because He has given me everything I need. He has blessed me beyond measure. I'm not talking about financial or material blessing, but something even more blessed. He has given me life, eternal life with Him! What more could one need?
Beyond that, He has given me a wonderful family, immediate, extended, church, friends, etc. He has blessed me with a husband who loves me and is always looking out for me. I'm not worthy of that. He has blessed me with four awesome children who have changed my life forever. He has blessed my husband with a job that pays the bills. I have a place to live, food on the table, clothes on my back, my health...it's not perfect, but I know it could be sooooooo much worse. He has blessed me with so much more than I can ever express, and for this I am truly thankful.

I'm not concerned with material or financial gain...it profits me nothing in the end. The only thing I really need noone but God can give to me; That is a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him. A greater understanding of His will for my family and my life. Godly wisdom and discernment would be a great gift too. So what would help me on my quest for these things?
I know what I need...a new Bible!!! Mine is falling apart from being so loved...Praise the LORD!! I NEED a new Bible :)
And now I have an answer to that question. Thank You Jesus <3

2 Peter 1:2-3
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us [fn] by His own glory and [fn] excellence.