Update & Food for Thought

Thank you for the prayers for my oldest daughter. She's doing well. (I don't think having her wisdom teeth out was as bad as she had feared.) :)



We were blessed last week by a trip to the beach. (Thanks to some wonderfully generous friends of ours who allowed us to use their condo.) It was a wonderful time of refreshment. While there it was such a blessing spending time together, enjoying God's creation, & special times with the Lord. I was not looking forward to coming home to reality but had to keep reminding myself that reality is why God put me on this earth - to glorify His name in the midst of reality. :) (Mind you, I have a wonderful life and am extremely blessed. Just who would want to leave the beauty of the beach?) :)




While there, I was blessed to read some great books. One of my new favorite books is The One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven by Mark Cahill.
By the way, do you know what that one thing is? Witnessing. When we breathe our last this side of heaven, we'll have no more opportunities to share Christ with the lost. We need to redeem our time well. One of the points that I really appreciated in the book was the perspective on witnessing. He said that, while a counselor at a Christian summer camp, he felt God lay on his heart that he needed to discuss witnessing with the teenagers. They discussed it and decided that when they witnessed, they would either win someone to Christ (win), plant a seed (win), or be rejected (lose). (Your odds are pretty good.) The next day during his quiet time with the Lord, the Lord led him to verse after verse saying that when we're rejected for Christ's sake, we're earning rewards in heaven. That means that when we share Christ with others we will either win them to Christ (win), plant a seed (win), or be rejected (still winning rewards for ourselves in heaven). That means that sharing Christ with others is a win, win, win situation. Those are odds that can't be beat. The only way to lose is to not do it. The book was a very easy to read book, full of great wisdom, and quite a few ouches for me. :) Witnessing is something that I want to do, but haven't really had a lot of background or practice with. I know that God's working on me. I love Him and should be sharing Him with others. How can I love them without sharing this all important new with them?



I'll leave you with a Charles Spurgeon quote from the book (food for thought), "Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter."



Have a wonderful week living for Him.

What’s Important?

“If it doesn’t matter on the day you die, it doesn’t matter.”  Mark Cahill in the book The One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven

He went on to say that it won’t matter how much money you made or material possessions you have, but eternal things – our relationship with Christ, prayer, people – these things will matter.

Most of the stresses of my everyday life won’t matter.  (Please know that I have a great life and should be embarrassed that I get stressed at all.  However, I still get stressed over little things: such as responsibilities I’ve taken on, schedules, etc.)  Anyway, these stressed won’t matter on the day I die.  However, sharing Christ with people, loving Him through loving my sweet husband and girls and other people, time spent with Him in prayer and in His word, these things will be very important on the day I die.  So why on earth do I allow the temporal to take my focus, my time, and my energy?!?  I need to deal with the temporal (my family does need to eat) :)  but I should not stress about those things as if they are the important things.  I need to ask God to focus me on what’s important to Him so He can use my life as He wills.  (After all, I’ve given it to Him.)

“We must, as believers, live lives that have eternal value, not just temporary value.”  Mark Cahill

In the parable of the sower, the 3rd seed: “they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.”  Luke 8:14b

“Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.”  Luke 12:31

Our Week - Fun & Not So Fun Events

Our family celebrated another birthday last Monday – my sweet second daughter celebrated her 14th birthday. Boy, time flies by in a heart beat. My girls are growing up. Although I’m often making a pouty face, telling my girls they’re growing up too quickly; in reality it’s such a blessing to see God leading them and to see them growing closer to Him as they are growing. I love being their mom. Happy Birthday my sweet girl!

So our week began with a birthday milestone and ended with a not so fun rite of passage – my oldest daughter had all four of her wisdom teeth removed today. Not fun. She did really well, but is not feeling very well this evening. I appreciate your prayers for her recovery.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Try Try Again

Our youngest daughter just celebrated her 8th birthday last Monday. It's so hard to believe our baby is 8!

In lieu of a party she decided she'd like to have a fun family night of go-karting. We planned to do that for a week or two and, finally, the big night arrived. The Saturday before her birthday we had a busy day and planned to celebrate with her that night; so we went be-bopping up to our local go-kart/mini-golf location to find that, according to the size of the weeds, we were a couple months too late. Ooops! We didn't have a plan B that night, so we had to go home to think of one.

We came up with two options, a local roller skating rink that also has inflatables or a hands on science museum in another town. She told us that she was "stressed out" trying to make a decision (she'd decide one way and then change her mind to the other), but finally she decided on the roller skating rink because she wanted to play on the inflatables. So, plan B, after church on Sunday we waited for the rink to open and went over for the skating and, mainly, the inflatables. We arrive to find that she's grown to tall to play on the inflatables! :0 Strike two.

I believe the lesson she/we were learning is flexibility!!! :)

Meanwhile, she had a great birthday last Monday. She and her sisters made and decorated her cake (their own design, including the diving board) . She enjoyed having two friends (and siblings) over to swim that afternoon.

Finally we went to the science museum yesterday to celebrate as a family. We had a great time. (It hadn't closed down and she wasn't too tall!) It was a great family day! :)

Daddy & K waiting patiently while sisters play. :)

Some brave souls tried this bicycle type activity. Check out how high it is! :)

The other brave soul.

The birthday girl decided that was just a bit too high for her. This was a far as she got! :)

Hope you're all having a great holiday weekend.

Hold His Hand in the Storms

I love how God will reveal Himself more and more as we continue to read His Word. Sometimes I will have read a portion of Scripture multiple times before, but I love how God will show me something new. :)

This morning as I was reading in Matthew, I was reading the section in chapter 14 where Jesus was walking on water. Peter asked Him, if it was really Jesus, to tell him to get out of the boat and walk to Him. Jesus told Peter to come and he was fine until he saw the wind, became afraid, and began to sink. Of course, Jesus rescued Peter and took him to the boat. What I never really noticed before was verse 32 “And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.” I guess in my minds eye, once Jesus took Peter by the hand, the storm stopped. In reality, it continued to storm but Peter was safe with Jesus in the midst of the storm. The wind didn’t stop until they got into the boat.

Just a little further, in chapter 16, verse 24, “Jesus told His disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

I tend to like to imagine a “Disney” type of world. You know the one, where everyone is really nice. (It is a small world after all.) :) A world where we’re all here for fun and to be happy. (I like happy.) However, that is not real life. We live in a fallen world. Storms come. Really hard things happen; things that take our breath away and make us weep. Jesus knows. He’s in the midst of the storm with us. He will be with us and save us, but that doesn’t mean that the storm will immediately stop. He’s promised us as His followers that we will have trouble. (“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33) As His followers we are to take up our crosses and follow Him. We are to die to ourselves (again and again, -it seems I keep trying to go my own way). The storms will assuredly come, but when we seek Jesus and look to Him, He will hold our hand in the midst of the storms. He asks us to follow Him. He’s gone before us and will sustain us. He will use us. What a promise from such a precious Savior who bought our salvation with His own blood.

Hold His hand in the storms.