Knowing Him!

The retreat center entry lobby welcomed us with a beautiful display of the theme Knowing Him scriptures II Peter 1:1-12

The hospitality team scattered pretty reminders of our theme and verses in nooks and crannies throughout the center

The sanctuary where main teachings and worship took place

Pretty baskets served as centerpieces at meal times

The resource table where I bought an obscene amount of books

Glimpses of His splendor (pay no attention to the camera in the reflection :)

Is Anything Sweeter?

...than the sound of hundreds of women singing to our Lord?
...than the sight of these women praising God with abandon?
...than sensing that the woman with the guitar and the beautiful voice on stage is there to lead us into worship and not to glory in herself?
...than feeling His presence and His acceptance of our worship?

I arrived yesterday afternoon at a Pastor's Wives conference and will be here until tomorrow afternoon.  (I was invited by our pastor's wife.)  I am being so blessed!  Hearing the word, corporate worship, prayer, quiet time with Him, freedom from my responsibilities of wife and mother, rest.  I have two more posts outlined in my head already :)  But I had to stop by here quickly to share a little bit now.  At our church, the children are with us during praise and worship time and my husband is the worship leader so I rarely get to focus all of my attention on the Lord during that time.  But when I am free to do that, like I have been here, I am just caught up in it.  It's like a little window into Heaven, a sneak peek, if you will, of eternity, and I am hard pressed to think of anything sweeter.

Multitude Monday

Here are some of the things I was thankful for this week:

• 311. Joyful expectation for what He is going to do in the next few days
• 310. Peace in leaving after placing my family in His hands
• 309. A retreat
• 308. A fun, lively discussion with kids about living this verse
• 307. A new family verse
• 306. Lunch with extended family
• 305. Dance recital
• 304. Time on the weekend to rest
• 303. Hearing my children recite God's Word by heart
• 302. Teaching son's class Majestic and sign language
• 301. Time and freedom to volunteer at school
• 300. 300 Gifts!
• 299. Dance recital dress rehearsal for our little ballerina
• 298. Deep conversations in the dark at bedtime
• 297. Laughing while we work together
• 296. Pulled pork sandwiches for dinner
• 295. A clean house- even if it can't stay that way for long :)
• 294. A productive morning of work
• 293. Children playing together peacefully!!!

You can find my running list of 1,000 gifts in my sidebar and read why I got started here.

Praying the Psalms- Psalm 15

Jenny has begun a journey of praying her way through the Psalms that I have decided to join. Each weekend, we will pray through one psalm and post our prayer and/or meditations on that psalm as the Lord leads. Check out her journey and join us in Praying the Psalms.

 Psalm 15
Thank You Jesus for making me righteous, for making a way for me to dwell in Your sanctuary and live on Your holy hill.  Thank You for Your forgiveness when I do not do what it righteous, when I bend the truth, when I speak against others.  Because You gave Your perfect, sinless life for me, I have been ransomed from the punishment for these sins.  Help me to continue to walk with You, to learn from You and to become more like You.  In Jesus' name.  Amen

Conversations in the Dark

8:30 p.m.
Thursday night
Lights out
Tucked in Bed

9 year old T. (dejectedly):  "Mom, I don't think I am a good Christian."

Me:  "Why do you say that, T.?"

T: "Because I don't read the Bible so much in my free time."

Me:  "Well, you can change that anytime, honey.  I'll tell you what I try to do and you can see if that would help."

T:  "O.k."

Me:  "I try to get up a little bit before I have to start getting ready for the day and spend some time with the Lord.  I pray a little, read a little from the Bible and sing a worship song."

T:  "I never remember to do that."

Me:  "If you do it enough times, you will remember."

T:  "Oh, like a habit?"

Me:  "Yes, exactly."

A lull in the conversation gives Him time to remind me.

Me:  "T?"

T:  Yes, mom."

Me:  "I'm afraid I'm not a good Christian either."

T:  "Why?"

Me:  "Well, because no one is.  No one can be good without God.  That's why Jesus died for us."

T:  "Oh, yeah."

Me:  "He knows we will fail and fall short.  And He loves us anyway- that's what grace is.  He is not looking for a certain amount of time we spend reading the Bible or praying.  He looks at our hearts.  If we love Him, He knows that."

T.:  "Oh.  Can we do devotionals in the morning like we used to?"

Me (wincing inside):  "Yes, we can."

T.:  " I know where the book is."

Me:  "O.k., we'll get back to it again, then."

T:  "O.k.  Good night, Mom."

Two days before this conversation took place, I read this post by Joy at Memoria Arts.   God prepared me for this teachable moment with my son as I had been pondering this theme since I read that post of Joy's.  I'm still learning these things, are you?  There is no formula to being a good Christian. There is only the journey of following Him.  A journey that is different from anyone else's.  A journey of His design marked by low valleys, rigorous climbs and indescribable summits.  I pray I can teach my children this as they grow.  That they will throw off man's expectations for their Christianity and pursue Jesus down the path He has marked for them.

Multitude Monday

Here are some of the things I was thankful for this week:

• • 292. Husband getting the chance to do guy things with family and friends on Sunday
  • 291. pureNRG christian concert with the kids
  • 290. Spring baseball has begun
  • 289. Assisting in Sunday School
  • 288. Opportunity to teach children at our school worship songs and sign language
  • 287. Opportunity to labor in Women's Ministry planning
  • 286. Wireless internet almost EVERYWHERE!
  • 285. Celebrating a friend's birthday
  • 284 Answering some of my many questions
  • 283. Allergy medicine
  • 282. Professional baseball game with my boys
  • 281. Getting the house painted!
  • 280. Looking at an old problem with new eyes
  • 279. Dinner with a friend
  You can find my running list of 1,000 gifts in my sidebar and read why I got started here.

Praying the Psalms- Psalm 14

Jenny has begun a journey of praying her way through the Psalms that I have decided to join. Each weekend, we will pray through one psalm and post our prayer and/or meditations on that psalm as the Lord leads. Check out her journey and join us in Praying the Psalms.

Psalm 14 
Lord,
I confess my corrupt ways and my turning aside from You.  There IS no one good!  But, You, in Your love and grace have made a way for us sinners to be made clean and righteous.  Help me to keep a short record of my sins by quickly confessing and repenting before You.  Then I can receive Your cleansing and righteousness.    Make me to rejoice in Your salvation!
In Jesus name.  Amen.

Weekend Encourgement

Edited to Add:
I wanted to add this link to Trisha's blog to this post because it reminded me so much of the content of Ann's post below and went on to describe how Trisha remembers the importance of taming the tongue.


Original Post:
I was so blessed by this post by Ann Voskamp of A Holy Experience, I just had to share:
What Every Family Needs to Be Strong

I actually went into the dayspring shop and created a wooden plaque with this scripture on it to place in our home so Mommy, Daddy and all three children will remember!  I'll be sure to post a pic when it arrives.

Fresh Eyes

Do you have someone in your life who you love dearly but s/he also drives you batty?  I do!  Before I get into this post, I want to emphasize how much I do love this person and how I recognize his many wonderful qualities.  He is extremely generous, quick witted, hard working, helpful and fun.  I mean no disrespect to him and am sharing this here for two reasons: to sort out what God is teaching me and to give/receive support and encouragement from others in similar relationships.

My certain someone has that "I am always right" thing going on.  And nothing gets my goat more than the "I am always right" thing.  When I was younger, I felt it was my duty to let Mr. Always Right know when he was quite wrong.  But Mr. Always Right doesn't take criticism well.  (I know, big surprise, right?)  However, that did not deter me back in the day.  Now that I am older, wiser and most importantly saved by grace, I have done a 180 in this relationship.  I choose not to engage in debate with Mr. Always Right.  I choose to value relationship over truth when it concerns things that do not matter.  (Of course, with issues of faith, I still share the truth in love when I am led to do that.)  I choose to keep my mouth shut instead of becoming sarcastic and emotional.  This approach has served me pretty well for a couple of reasons.  First, I don't see Mr. Always Right too often.  Second, when I do see him, it is usually in group settings when he can spread his always-rightness around and so I only get a small dose.

However, for going on two weeks now, I have spent time with Mr. Always Right almost every day.  My threshold for always-rightness has been surpassed and my grin and bear it approach has been worn  dangerously thin.  Although I have not had a confrontation with Mr. Always Right in the course of these two weeks and have, for the most part, refrained from debate or sarcasm, I have felt totally stressed out in his presence.  He can be really relentless when he wants you to agree to something he thinks/wants to do and in the face of this constantly, I have been really angry and frustrated inside.  I've been confronted with the truth that I really have not resolved the tension in this relationship.  The peace that I believed I had achieved in the face of all the always-rightness was false.  When it was tested, it burned up in the fire.  It wasn't peace after all but denial.  It lacked power because I had been operating from the flesh and not the Spirit.

I shared this anger and frustration with several people this week.  One of the insights that was shared with me has stayed on my mind.  Perhaps Mr. Always Right, who is older, set in his ways and does not know the Lord, has little choice but to behave the way he does.  Being an unbelieving man from a generation that rarely seeks professional help for psychological/emotional issues, perhaps Mr. Always Right is a prisoner to his behavior, which appears to be obsessive and anxiety driven.  He does not have access to Power or even worldy tools to change.  But I do!  I have full access to POWER and GRACE and a PEACE that passes understanding.  So I am trying to look at Mr. Always Right with fresh eyes- with eyes of compassion.  I am trying to operate in the Spirit in this relationship and to seek after God's peace in it. 

Can you relate?  Do you have a difficult relationship in your life that needs fresh eyes?  If you've navigated one of these difficult relationships well, can you offer advice for the journey?

Multitude Monday

Here are some of the things I was thankful for this week:

• 278. Long hugs initiated by my nine year old
• 277. Celebrating the miracle of life with friends who "couldn't have biological children"
• 276. Lots of time to socialize with friends this weekend
• 275.  Getting a makeover at Mom's Night Out
• 274. Opportunities to trust Him
• 273. God's provision and perfect timing
• 272. Hearing the testimonies of other women
• 271. Sweet fellowship of my sisters
• 270. This journey of looking for God's hand in everything
• 269. Plowing through paperwork
• 268. Researching/pondering where to move
• 267. Playdates with sister and her daughter
• 266. Tackling a big, much needed home improvement project
• 265. Husband helping with the housecleaning before guests come

You can find my running list of 1,000 gifts in my sidebar and read why I got started here.

Praying the Psalms- Psalm 13

Jenny has begun a journey of praying her way through the Psalms that I have decided to join. Each weekend, we will pray through one psalm and post our prayer and/or meditations on that psalm as the Lord leads. Check out her journey and join us in Praying the Psalms.

Psalm 13

It's a matter of the will, isn't it?  Trusting.  Rejoicing.  Singing.  Remembering His goodness. I could pray every verse 1-4 of this Psalm without having to change a word to fit my circumstances.  We all have valleys of sorrow and wrestling and defeat.  Times and places when we are hard pressed to see God.  Circumstances when we feel forgotten and wonder if our prayers are bouncing back off the ceiling.

BUT.  Isn't that a wonderful word?  Immediately, the mind anticipates a change when it hears the word. 

"But I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation.                                  I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me."  Psalm 13: 5-6

It's precisely in our valleys, our wrestling and our defeat that we learn to trust Him.  When we cannot see God and are almost certain He has forgotten us, we learn to sing and rejoice.  It's only when we are hard pressed on every side and afraid our Enemy is declaring victory, we are given the opportunity to offer the sweet sacrifice of praise in remembering His goodness.  It's a matter of the will, isn't it?

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  Hebrews 11:1

More on Self Care

Have you met my friend Andrea?  The story of our friendship is funny, really, now that I think of it.  We have known one another for many years through our church but became friends on Facebook.  Then she let me in on her beautiful home in the blogosphere- The Flourishing Mother.  And God has just continued to knit our hearts together as sisters online AND in real life.  I just love her!  She wrote a post yesterday that just really spoke to me.  It's about what I called Self-Care here and she calls "Me Time."  Whatever you call it, I have come to know that it is a necessary and Godly activity for me as a mom, as I suspect it is for most moms.

I encourage you to read Andrea's take: Me Time

Back to Living Properly

"If it is I who determines where God is to be found, then I shall always find a God who corresponds to me in some way, who is obliging, who is connected with my own nature.  But if God determines where He is to be found, then it will be in a place which is not immediately pleasing to my nature and which is not at all congenial to me.  This place is the Cross of Christ.  And whoever would find Him must go to the foot of the Cross, as the Sermon on the Mount commands.  This is not according to our nature at all, it is entirely contrary to it.  But this is the message of the Bible, not only in the New but also in the Old Testament...
And I would like to tell you now quite personally: since I have learnt to read the Bible in this way- and this has not been for so very long- it becomes every day more wonderful to me.  I read it it the morning and the evening often during the day as well, and every day I consider a text which I have chosen for the whole week, and try to sink deeply into it, so as to really to hear what it is saying.  I know that without this I could not live properly any longer." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

My kids have been on Spring Break for the past week.  Our daily routine has been thrown aside in favor of sleeping later, taking the days more slowly and making opportunities for fun adventures with friends and family.  Of course, this is a very good thing and we have all enjoyed it very much!  But one thing that I have lost in the shuffle of this week was my quiet time with God.  I confess that I have not lingered in prayer or spent time in His Word.  And this has been apparent in my thoughts and actions this week.  So, even thought I have to rise early tomorrow morning and pick up the busy routines once again, I am truly looking forward to communing with my Father regularly again.  Without this I cannot live properly anymore either!

More to come on Bonhoeffer!

Multitude Monday

Here are some of the things I was thankful for this week:

• 264. One more day of vacation before we begin our regular routine again
• 263. Warm weather allowing for open windows and fresh air indoors!
• 262. Hosting the family here for Easter dinner
• 261. A joy filled service Easter morning
• 260. Resurrections Eggs
• 259. Resurrection Story cookies
• 258. Preparing our hearts for His resurrection
• 257. Remembering what He did to save me
• 256. Dinner out to celebrate my oldest's NINTH birthday
• 255. Backyard baseball
• 254. A playdate with my cousins and all the kids
• 253. An unexpected opportunity to shop with my mom for a few hours while Papa stayed with the kids
• 252. Bright warm sunshine after 4 days of RAIN
• 251. Zoo trip with friends
• 250. Quick, easy dinners this week
• 249. Taking in a science show and lunch with friends at Applebees
• 248. School vacation brings later wake ups and slower morning routines

You can find my running list of 1,000 gifts in my sidebar and read why I got started here.

Praying the Psalms- Psalm 12

Jenny has begun a journey of praying her way through the Psalms that I have decided to join. Each weekend, we will pray through one psalm and post our prayer and/or meditations on that psalm as the Lord leads. Check out her journey and join us in Praying the Psalms.

Psalm 12
Lord,
While my flesh wants to exclude myself from those described in this psalm and simply call for You to arise against such people, Your Spirit is gently reminding me of the times, even today as we prepare our home to celebrate Your Resurrection, that I have acted ungodly, faithless, deceitful, boastful, sharp tongued and oppressive.  And so in obedience to Your Spirit in me, I confess these moments to You.  I ask for Your mercy and forgiveness.  I remember the first words You uttered from the Cross, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do."  And I am thankful that I have another chance to walk with You and to press on toward the goal.  Yes, Lord, Your Word is flawless and it is also "living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."   Without it's conviction right now, I might have continued this day and these preparations in bondage.  But instead I will choose to allow Your Word to be alive and active in me!
In Jesus' Name.  Amen.