Oh what a rare moment!  I am sitting ALONE right now.  Babies are finally in bed and Aaron and Lydia are at church.  Emily has had a bad cough for several days and Elijah has picked it up too, so we stayed home tonight.  But I am listening to church right now.  What a feeling it brings out.  I can close my eyes and be about 5 or 6 playing under the seat.  I can be 16 or 17 and struggling with committing my life to the Lord, and then feel the joy of finally submitting to Him.  I can be newly married and sitting next to my husband.  I love the feeling of "home" that it brings. 

 

Anyway, not much going on here.  I did some professional education today online.  It was such a blessing to sit in my house and get some of my credits taken care of.  Julie came to baby-sit.  Last year I had to leave my house by 6:30 am to drop off the kids and be down in Brentwood in time for class.  I'll probably have to do that just once this year. 

 

This is kind of a Hodge-podge of a blog, but I had so many thoughts going through my mind last week about what the Lord wants to accomplish in our lives.  I was thinking of that scripture in 2 Corinthians 10 that says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty to the pulling down of strongholds.  Sometimes when I think of that scripture I think, "Yeah, mighty weapons, point me to the battle!"  So ignorant on my part.  I felt so strong last week that I MUST know what the real battle is.  Who is the real enemy?  In this carnal world we live in it often seems like the battle is with other people over specific circumstances.  But it really isn't.  People, you and me, are a flower quickly fading, a vapor, withering grass.  And Paul said that he had learned how to be abased and how to abound.  So circumstances aren't really the battle.  The battle is for my heart.  The battle is for my devotion to God.  The battle is whether God is going to receive glory in my life or not.  And the enemy does not care HOW my heart is divided or turned.  It only matters that I become discouraged, depressed, eyes off Jesus, downcast, bitter, jealous, proud, or whatever.  Because those things in my life don't glorify God.  So I am encouraged because it makes the difficult things seem less threatening when I realize that nothing here has the power to destroy my relationship with Christ.  And no matter what the circumstances "his eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me."  God bless.

Lydia had her first dentist appointment today.  When we walked in the waiting room and I smelled that "Dentist Smell" my stomach started to clench up.  I hate going to the dentist.  It makes me so nervous.  But Lydia was so excited.  When we first went back with the hygenist, I told her she might have to call Child Protective Services on me after she saw Lydia's teeth.  She looked at me kind of funny.  I don't think you joke about that with healthcare professionals.  Oops.  Well, Lydia's teeth were perfect.  Yea!  I was shocked.  We do make her brush her teeth, but we are not consistent with it, and I was afraid of what we might find in there.  The hygenist told me later she was expecting to find major decay after what I said.  Lydia did so good with the exam and tooth cleaning.  She sat perfectly still, but when the polishing would start, she would start shaking her feet back and forth.  At the end the dentist came over to look at her teeth.  He asked her how old she was.  She said, "Three."  Then he asked her when she would be four.  She answered, "After three."  LOL It took him completely off guard.  Then he asked when her birthday was, and she says, "Remember."  Meaning November.  Oh my.  Then she got her picture taken with the dentist where she totally posed like she's a little star. 

 

It is funny to start seeing the kids' different personalities.  Elijah is very outgoing and vocal like Lydia.  Now when the phone rings at home he calls out, "Hi!"  He is throwing a tennis ball around the house too, and yells "Ball!" as he watches it roll.  Emily is reminding me of Grandma Megaw in that she is small but mighty.  She is so agile and active.  She was trying to climb up into the high chair the other day.  But the poor thing doesn't talk much.  I've been reading articles on speech delays in multiples because I've gotten kind of worried about it.  But most of them say you can't tell until they are at least 2.  She is probably looking at all of us and thinking to herself, "Morons, imbeciles, go do my bidding!"  Okay, time to make dinner.  God Bless.

He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength as our labors increase;
To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials he multiplies peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

Annie Flint

This poem was sent to me about this time last year by Sarah AND Julie on the same day.  God is so good.  My favorite part is "When we reach the end of our hoarded resources/Our Father's full giving is only begun."  We can have such a temporary view of this life, and when we do, we can justify hoarding what has been given us.  If this is all there is, I'm getting mine while the getting is good.  But that is not the way it is for a child of God.  When we come to the end of ourselves, and there is nothing left, He is able to come in with His fullness.

1 Corinthians 12:9   But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

Yesterday in my reading I came across some scriptures that give SO much insight to human nature.  It is in 2 Kings 17:14-15

 But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the LORD their God. 15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.

 The children of Israel WERE offering the sacrifices to God they were supposed to, but they were also offering sacrifices to idols.  It struck me that they wanted an insurance policy that they would be taken care of, because they did not trust in the Lord their God.  It is so human to think we have one up on God.  "Yes, I know you created the heavens, earth and plan of salvation, but just in case you can't help me solve my problems, I'm going to turn to A, B and C to help out too."  Now, I do believe that God helps them who help themselves.  If you are hungry, you work, bottom line.  But it is an attitude of the heart to know that your help comes from the Lord and not any earthly pursuit.  There is a scripture in 2 Kings 18 that compares depending on Egypt to taking a hold of a splintered staff that pierces the man's hand that tries to lean on it.  I love that image.  It explains so well the facade that the world presents.  So many times we hear that this wonder product or that vacation or this seminar or whatever will bring contentment, happiness and success.  But if we follow worthless idols we ourselves become worthless. 

 A couple of weeks ago I was frustrated with myself in a certain area.  I was complaining in my mind about how I just have no faith in myself to overcome this problem, so why even try.  Instantly I thought, "but I have absolute faith in God."  So here is me with no faith in myself, and there is the Lord who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we ask or think.  Then I asked myself, "how much faith do you have in your connection to the Lord?"  That is it!  It is my relationship, my communion with Him that is going to make the difference in my life.  Do I have enough of a relationship to base a marriage on?  A good friendship?  Or just an acquaintance?  That is the conduit of His power.  How much of His spirit and power is manifested in my life is totally dependant on my choosing to connect with Him on a regular basis.  And that is something I CAN do.  I can choose to spend time with Him, but I can't choose to move a mountain and cast it into the sea.  It is really liberating to think about.  We don't have to grit our teeth, muster up all our strength and go running headlong into the brick wall of our problems.  That is His job.  My job is to present myself to Him in all my frailties and ask again for Him to come in with His love, power and awesomeness.  I love the Lord so much.  I am so thankful for this life.  What peace and joy He has given and wants to give more and more.  God bless.

With MSN changing our blogs all the time?  Weird.

 

Anyway, I feel I'm starting to recover from last week.  Lydia absolutely loved VBS.  She had such a good time.  I had fun too, monitoring the 7-8 year old girls with Sis. Rhonda.  The babies did good in the nursery, and I got some awesome 3 hour naps after we came home in the afternoon.   It was a bittersweet time though, of course, with Bro. Mears' passing.

 

I've had a couple thoughts floating around in my mind the last few weeks.  I was thinking about our state before we know Jesus, before we are saved.  I know we are "dead" spiritually, alone, empty and being driven about by our carnal nature.  Horrible picture, and of course I wouldn't want to go back there.  But I was thinking about 2 things that are true about humanity even in that state.  One is that each of us is created in the image of God.  To me, that is big.  The other idea is that it was in our fallen state that Jesus loved us so much as to die for us. 

 

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

 

I thought about how people are looking for self-esteem, and blame so much on the lack of it.  What is your value?  What is your worth?  Only Jesus' blood.  Your worth to God was settled a long time ago.  You are loved enough to be ransomed by His blood.  Isn't that awesome?  And that's even before you became His child, which is unfathomable itself.  I honestly haven't been trying to give myself a Dr. Phil pep talk, but I have been trying to appreciate this in myself and others.  Housework calling, have a blessed day.