As I sit here and wait for the "storm of the century" I am contemplating what today is.
Good Friday
I always thought that was an interesting name for what it means. Today our Lord and Savior was put to death on the cross me us, for me. I am that worth it that he died a painful and humiliating death for me.
The earth became dark and the curtain tore in two.
I can't imagine what the people felt when that happened. I can't not fathom what God felt... he must have felt his heart ripping in two! But he did this for us so that we could have a relationship with him!
How fitting that it's dark and dreary today. We're expecting a windstorm that is unusual for this time of year. It could cause us to lose power.... just like those many years ago....
Sunday can't come quick enough!
Friday, April 2, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Princess...
I came across this shirt at JC Penney's while waiting to pick Emma up from Awana.
The sad part is that I came across it in the girls section of JC Penney's... little girls. Not teens, not adults but little girls.
I just came home from teaching women that they are God's princesses! He loves us to much and wants to show us his love. We are all his princesses full of his love!
There were women there in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond who still have a hard time believing that they are his princess. That his love for us is immeasurable!
Well I wonder why women don't feel loved?!? These ladies didn't have these types of shirts when they were kids... but OUR girls do! Why in the world would you want your little girl to wear something like this?!? I understand that the movie was popular and is supposed to be good. But not for a SEVEN year old or even a TEN year old!!
If these are the messages our girls are receiving now... I can not fathom the wounds they will be dealing with when they are in their 30s, 40s, 50s, etc...
Lord I pray that you help me show my daughter that she is YOUR PRINCESS! I pray that she never ever ever wants to be a vampire rather than a princess!!!
The sad part is that I came across it in the girls section of JC Penney's... little girls. Not teens, not adults but little girls.
I just came home from teaching women that they are God's princesses! He loves us to much and wants to show us his love. We are all his princesses full of his love!
There were women there in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond who still have a hard time believing that they are his princess. That his love for us is immeasurable!
Well I wonder why women don't feel loved?!? These ladies didn't have these types of shirts when they were kids... but OUR girls do! Why in the world would you want your little girl to wear something like this?!? I understand that the movie was popular and is supposed to be good. But not for a SEVEN year old or even a TEN year old!!
If these are the messages our girls are receiving now... I can not fathom the wounds they will be dealing with when they are in their 30s, 40s, 50s, etc...
Lord I pray that you help me show my daughter that she is YOUR PRINCESS! I pray that she never ever ever wants to be a vampire rather than a princess!!!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Lost for words...
I knew God would show up at our retreat... I just didn't realize just how much he would show up! I am at a lost for words for what happened over the weekend.
These ladies have been set free. Some of them have been working on their recovery through CR for years and were set free over the weekend. It just blows me away.
The Lord is so good and faithful. I went into the weekend scared that these ladies were going to think it was all crazy. I figured a lot of them wouldn't come back, would go off shopping. They not only came back but they wanted more.
There is so much more yet to come... There is an unstoppable change that has just been unleashed in the lives of these women in our church... I can't wait to see what is next...
These ladies have been set free. Some of them have been working on their recovery through CR for years and were set free over the weekend. It just blows me away.
The Lord is so good and faithful. I went into the weekend scared that these ladies were going to think it was all crazy. I figured a lot of them wouldn't come back, would go off shopping. They not only came back but they wanted more.
There is so much more yet to come... There is an unstoppable change that has just been unleashed in the lives of these women in our church... I can't wait to see what is next...
Saturday, March 20, 2010
What is the point...
For several months I've been planning a Women's Retreat for our church. It's been months in the making actually years, God knew the plan all along. For the last few months I've been trying to explain what the retreat is about. How to explain it in just a few sentences without going through each session.
Well the retreat is next week. And it started to stress me a little not being able to articulate it. The other night I got to bed pretty late after getting home late. All of the sudden God gave me the words. I wasn't even thinking about it at the time!
"We are designed for relationship with one another. God knew it wasn't good for Adam to be alone. But until you allow God to access your heart, you cannot make yourself available to others. He wants to give you a full and abundant life but he needs your heart to be touched before that process can begin."
That is it in a nutshell... Less than one week to go! I'm so excited to see what God has in store!
Well the retreat is next week. And it started to stress me a little not being able to articulate it. The other night I got to bed pretty late after getting home late. All of the sudden God gave me the words. I wasn't even thinking about it at the time!
"We are designed for relationship with one another. God knew it wasn't good for Adam to be alone. But until you allow God to access your heart, you cannot make yourself available to others. He wants to give you a full and abundant life but he needs your heart to be touched before that process can begin."
That is it in a nutshell... Less than one week to go! I'm so excited to see what God has in store!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Filling in the blanks...
You know when you get that feeling that God is up to something? What usually happens next? I know what I do. I usually end up filling in the blanks and moving forward without waiting to hear what he has next.
This happened to me this past week. Fortunately I don't think I caused any damage this time! But I hate when I do this. All I am doing is taking the control away from God. I am say in essence "I don't trust you to make it happen." And sometimes this leads to blow up or collapse.
Instead I need to ask him what does he want me to do next. And wait for his answer...
Patience... a fruit of the spirit... Galatians 5:22
This happened to me this past week. Fortunately I don't think I caused any damage this time! But I hate when I do this. All I am doing is taking the control away from God. I am say in essence "I don't trust you to make it happen." And sometimes this leads to blow up or collapse.
Instead I need to ask him what does he want me to do next. And wait for his answer...
Patience... a fruit of the spirit... Galatians 5:22
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Just for a moment...
Just about every morning I get up about an hour or so before my family. This is my time to spend with God, to journal, read the bible and sometimes read the news. (Yes I am a news junkie!) During my time with God, I usually ask him to show me his love today. This morning was no different though I had a great reminder to not let moments slip away.
Once my family starts getting up, I go into Mom/Wife mode. I make breakfast for them, make lunches, pick up the house, start some laundry, etc. Basically I start the day. This morning was like that especially since it's out day where we are gone all day with Emma's activities.
I walked into the living room to pick up some dishes that were left there since I was loading the dishwasher. I look out the window... I see a few brilliant streaks of pink and purple just above the treetops straight in front of me! It was BEAUTIFUL! The sky is filled mostly with gray clouds but the sun rising has turned them a shade of purple. It was amazing! I knew that it was a sign of God's love for me!
So I hurried back into the kitchen to get my coffee and wait for my bagel to finish toasting. I wanted to sit with my breakfast to watch it. By the time I came back not more than 2 minutes later.... it was GONE! The sky was back to blueish gray. I was disappointed that it was gone without a trace.
It was then I realized that I needed to take that moment that God was giving me. Because it was only for a moment that he made just for me.
Sometimes I hate having to learn the hard way....
Once my family starts getting up, I go into Mom/Wife mode. I make breakfast for them, make lunches, pick up the house, start some laundry, etc. Basically I start the day. This morning was like that especially since it's out day where we are gone all day with Emma's activities.
I walked into the living room to pick up some dishes that were left there since I was loading the dishwasher. I look out the window... I see a few brilliant streaks of pink and purple just above the treetops straight in front of me! It was BEAUTIFUL! The sky is filled mostly with gray clouds but the sun rising has turned them a shade of purple. It was amazing! I knew that it was a sign of God's love for me!
So I hurried back into the kitchen to get my coffee and wait for my bagel to finish toasting. I wanted to sit with my breakfast to watch it. By the time I came back not more than 2 minutes later.... it was GONE! The sky was back to blueish gray. I was disappointed that it was gone without a trace.
It was then I realized that I needed to take that moment that God was giving me. Because it was only for a moment that he made just for me.
Sometimes I hate having to learn the hard way....
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Obedience & Respect
What do these mean? Well from the Merriam-Webster dictionary they mean the following...
Obedience - an act or instance of obeying b : the quality or state of being obedient.
Ok so what does obey mean?
Obey - 1 : to follow the commands or guidance of. 2 : to conform to or comply with
Respect:
Our children are told to be respectful and obey us as parents. We as Christians are to do the same thing with God. We are to obey God's commands as the bible tells us.
Ok but why? Just because "I said so"?
Tonight Emma was being disrespectful and disobedient. This is becoming more of an issue as she gets older. I'm not a spanker nor will I ever be. So this has caused me to try other methods of discipline which sometimes seem harder but usually work. The only one that hasn't is this respect/obedience thing.
There have been times when I want to slap her then scream at her "because I said so"! But I don't and try to come up with other alternatives. They usually involve some yelling, taking something away, etc. So far nothing that has worked completely.
But tonight God gave me an answer. It's something that I have learned recently in my walk with him.
It's not about obeying just because "we're supposed to". It's not about just following the rules because that's the way it is.
It's about doing it out of love.
A few weeks ago I was telling the Christmas story to my class at church. Some of the kids honestly thought I was referring to the movie when I said I was going to tell the Christmas story. How sad is that?
When I finished, I asked what the story was all about. A kid who is very troubled and has a really sad story raised his hand and said "it's about God's love". This was huge! So huge that I can't go into it right now.
But it's so true. Jesus is all about Love. God sent his one and only son here because he loves us that much. Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him. Finally when Peter had answered three times yes, he said "Follow me".
He wants us to follow him because he love him. Not just because we're supposed to. Not because he said so. But because we love him so much we don't want to hurt him. We want to WANT to follow him because we wouldn't want to not to.
I realized tonight this is the same thing with parenting. We want our kids to be obedient. We want them to be respectful and productive adults. Part of being a productive adult at times is about being obedient. But if they are only being obedient because they feel they need to, that is going to backfire someday.
There needs to be a deeper level of understanding when it comes to obedience. It needs to be focused on love not on the disciplined act of obedience.
So now that I have this piece... I just need to figure out how and where to being in teaching this to my 7 year old...
Obedience - an act or instance of obeying b : the quality or state of being obedient.
Ok so what does obey mean?
Obey - 1 : to follow the commands or guidance of. 2 : to conform to or comply with
Respect:
Our children are told to be respectful and obey us as parents. We as Christians are to do the same thing with God. We are to obey God's commands as the bible tells us.
Ok but why? Just because "I said so"?
Tonight Emma was being disrespectful and disobedient. This is becoming more of an issue as she gets older. I'm not a spanker nor will I ever be. So this has caused me to try other methods of discipline which sometimes seem harder but usually work. The only one that hasn't is this respect/obedience thing.
There have been times when I want to slap her then scream at her "because I said so"! But I don't and try to come up with other alternatives. They usually involve some yelling, taking something away, etc. So far nothing that has worked completely.
But tonight God gave me an answer. It's something that I have learned recently in my walk with him.
It's not about obeying just because "we're supposed to". It's not about just following the rules because that's the way it is.
It's about doing it out of love.
A few weeks ago I was telling the Christmas story to my class at church. Some of the kids honestly thought I was referring to the movie when I said I was going to tell the Christmas story. How sad is that?
When I finished, I asked what the story was all about. A kid who is very troubled and has a really sad story raised his hand and said "it's about God's love". This was huge! So huge that I can't go into it right now.
But it's so true. Jesus is all about Love. God sent his one and only son here because he loves us that much. Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him. Finally when Peter had answered three times yes, he said "Follow me".
He wants us to follow him because he love him. Not just because we're supposed to. Not because he said so. But because we love him so much we don't want to hurt him. We want to WANT to follow him because we wouldn't want to not to.
I realized tonight this is the same thing with parenting. We want our kids to be obedient. We want them to be respectful and productive adults. Part of being a productive adult at times is about being obedient. But if they are only being obedient because they feel they need to, that is going to backfire someday.
There needs to be a deeper level of understanding when it comes to obedience. It needs to be focused on love not on the disciplined act of obedience.
So now that I have this piece... I just need to figure out how and where to being in teaching this to my 7 year old...
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