A New Thing!

Never a dull moment! Angela's school uniforms were suppose to arrive today - UPS truck drove by - no delivery - not a pretty scene - first day of school Monday and we do not want to be out of place - emailed the principle - got online to find a school uniform store - Tim and Angela took off, they close in a little over an hour - they have a shirt, no skirt - what will she do? That is the delima - emailed the principle again (can she wear her own pants?) Praying that she still finds everything she needs for the first day. Whew!

Company coming tonight for a long weekend. Cleaning and organizing my house, planning meals and just wanting to nap really bad. After all the cleaning yesterday we can finally see the garage floor. That has been agrivating us way too long and feels so good to have done.

2010 is going to bring great things - I just know it. As I look back on 2009 I remember a lot of changes in my life. Many wounds needing healing, moving from our home, and now moved to Ohio. Through it all God has been wrapped all around. He has had his hand in every change that has taken place. I can see his hand in his provision for us and his incredible faithfulness to us. This amazing God that we worship is always faithful to us and will never leave us when we are facing difficulties. His hand has guided us through so much this past year. Through all the changes and challenges he was and is continually shaping us - molding us. It's not always been easy - some of it has just been plain hard and some of it has just been down right awesome.

2010
"Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:19

Let us all just bow down and worship the Almighty God. Lift your hands in worship to him. Hold nothing back. Close your eyes and listen to the song in complete surrender and worship to your creator. The one who gave you breath deserves your honor and praise. He reigns over all creation. I just absolutely love Jesus! He is all I need and I love being in complete surrender to him. It is so freeing.

Jump In!

So sorry to many of you who read my blog for not writing for a while. Life has handed us a boatload of things and I just have not had time to write. From moving into a new house and painting and organizing, to taking care of Emily after a horrible experience with wisdom teeth extraction, planning her and Jon's wedding, Angela moving here after finishing out her time at Luth. North it's been crazy times.

So God is amazing. It seems as though God has had us on a journey of incredible trust for quite a while now. We were watching the movie National Treasure 2 last night and one of the characters lines made me think of our life - "The last time I checked we make our living off crazy." Sure made me smile as I think that God asks us, all of us, to live a life expecting him to work in some crazy ways. Sometimes I want life to be more predictable yet God has a way of keeping us in places of trusting him and expecting his hand to daily be at work. Keeping me humble - a good thing - I love the scripture "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." I don't want to boast about anything except Christ alone.

I love how Paul puts it:

"For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."

God will use us in our weak areas to show his power. Paul knew his shortcomings, he knew that in himself he could not preach the message with power. It was only in the power of the Spirit. Yet those listening would see Christ through him and put their faith in Jesus. Boy do I ever want my life to refect this. I desire so much to be so filled with the Spirit of Christ that it shines so bright that others will see Christ. My weaknesses will always get in the way and every day I need to seek that washing over and filling up. It is only in his power that we can all move from uncertainties to victories.

The end of Psalm 27 says "I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

So we walk in confidence knowing that this amazing all knowing creator of the universe loves us with a love that we cannot even begin to imagine. He has placed each of us where we are in our life and does have a plan for each of us. May we all be confident of that.

This weekend we will have family visiting. Our church will be serving hot chocolate and cookies to over 300 people - The Polar Bear Club - taking their winter dip in the Maumee River. May Jesus shine through each of us. This should be an exciting day! :)

Sometimes God asks us to just jump in!

JUST DO IT!

Don't you just love it when you are around people that accept and love you just the way you are? I read this verse in Romans this morning: "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God." Think about youself for a minute - your failures, your mistakes, your attitudes...etc. Now think again about how Christ accepts you. Accepting of our sin - no - accepting of us - yes, despite our sin. Now by accepting another we are bringing praise to God. That is so cool to me.

"You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat." I am sure this is convicting for all of us. I challenge myself and you to make a conscious decision to pay attention to any areas in our life where we are doing this. Looking down on someone else...hmmm. I bet we have all done this. I heard the story of when a woman got on a plane. There was only one seat left and it was next to this big intimitating looking guy. He wore a leather jacket, rough looking appearance. She sat down next to him, trying not to let her arm touch him. She opened her bible to begin doing her work when he quietly said to her "Christian?" to which she said "yes". He said "me too, my wife and I lost our daughter and we travel around and telling people about Jesus." She realized she had judged him and they ended up having a great conversation the rest of the plane ride.

We will all stand before God so let us bring glory to him by loving one another forward as we want others to do with us. I love the verse later - "Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way." Make up your mind - those words make me think of JUST DO IT! Don't just keep thinking about it but make up your mind that you will. Since we are all brothers and sisters of Jesus and he loves us forward every day let us all do the same with each other, not passing judgement. I was thinking about the many things about myself in which others could easily judge. Pam is so...she...why does she...did you hear what Pam said...yuck! I even hate the sound of those words so why in the world would I put these thoughts in my mind about someone else, let alone speak them to someone else about someone else. I desire my mind to be Christ like and those things are not Christ like.

Let's all remember to accept one another just as Christ has accepted you/me and love each other forward.

Others first!

"Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Romans 12

I don't know about you but I fail miserably at the above. I was so convicted when I read this. First honoring others above myself. How pitiful I can be at this. How way too often I am thinking about myself instead of others. Sometimes I even allow the enemy to get me off track. What does this do? Well check out the verses following. To keep my spiritual fervor in serving the Lord what must I do. BE JOYFUL - PATIENT - FAITHFUL IN PRAYER! I just love it when my spiritual fervor (strength) is on fire. I just love it when the Holy Spirit so fills me that I am overcome with excitement, no matter what. When I think of zeal I think of excitement. To lack zeal means that I am not being faithful to what the Lord calls me to be. I am so thankful that God calls me quickly back to him. When the enemy wants to knock me off course his power and strength is what brings me to a realization of the truth. His truth far outweighs the enemies lies. Walking in the light is way more enjoyable than walking in the darkness. Praise God!

May we all serve the Lord with our minds focused on you Jesus. May we think of others better than ourselves and look to their needs first. When times are difficult, strengthen us Jesus, so that our passion for you does not lack. Keep our eyes fixed on you and not what is around us. It is your Spirit within us that I/we want to shine to others. Walking in your power.

My brother!

What to write about today. That is the question. It's been a few days and life has been extremely busy. Settling into a new home and a new area just takes time. For the most part our home is settled in. I have way too much stuff that I don't know what to do with. Hope to clear out a lot of that later.

Life looks a whole lot different for us now. Planning wedding #3 and watching our daughters begin lives of their own is a bittersweet feeling. Praise God for their lives and praise God for our relationships with them.

So as our family changes one thing does not change. I was reading in Mark 3 as Jesus was told that his mother and brothers were outside looking for him. His response was "Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.'" Our family is more than by blood - our family is to be our fellow christians around us. Do we see them as our brothers? I think that is a good question for all of us. I know it is for me. We have a new body of believers to gather with - to share life with - to grow together with - and to love. Our hearts should see them as our family. Jesus didn't put his own family above anyone else. He saw everyone as his family and that should be our example as well. Isn't it great to know that Jesus sees us that way? That he sees you and me as a brother or a sister. Wow - that is pretty amazing to me. This Jesus who we love and strive to live our life for, loves you and me like a brother or a sister. A faithful brother who will always look out for us. This Jesus who died on the cross for you and for me wants to stick close beside us. What do we do with this? Do we resist him? Do we really recognize his presence in our lives? This Jesus is even closer than any family that I have here. He doesn't judge me but loves me for who I am. He wants me to know that I am a beautiful daughter of the King.

Claim the truth of who you are in Christ.

Rescue :)

Do you ever wonder if the situation you are in will be resolved? If God will actually step in and fix things? Ever said "gee, how long is this going to go on?" I've been guilty of this as I am sure we all have at some point. We read about God's power in the old testament, the amazing things that he did yet so many of us don't expect that anymore today. I was reading about Asa King of Judah this morning. Asa went to take up battle against the Cushite's vast army. Hear his prayer: "Asa called to the LORD his God and said, 'Lord, there is no other like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army, O LORD, you are our God, do not let man prevail against you.' The LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah."

The first thing I thought of was "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." How God stepped in for Asa he will also do for you and for me. He does not change. The same God who Asa prayed to is the same God that we have. Believe in his mighty hand to save you. Believe that he can and will rescue you. I think that so many times we bring on our own pain. We look at a situation and get in a pity party. We think that everything is falling around us, yet when we stop and ask God to show us what he is wanting to teach us through it we often will find that our problem is ourself, our own selfishness and wrong motives. Not that other circumstances don't have an impact but how we handle them is the question. Do we take it to the Lord not just to ask him to fix it all but to reveal to our hearts if there is anything there that he is wanting to work out of us. He has worked out of me so much in my life, even through our transition time he is continuing to shape me. That is a never ending process! Always remember that his work in our lives is so worth anything we may go through.

For a couple of days I worked so hard painting in our new house that every muscle in my body hurt. So much up and down painting trim and walls. For a few days it hurt to get up and to sit down. Yet now, with all the furniture in the house I am so thankful for what I went through to get it done. The sore muscles were all worth it. That is what it is like when God does his shaping in our life. It may hurt for a while and there will be days when you just want to quit because it hurts too much. Don't give up because in the end you will absolutely love what he did in you. There are times when I look at myself and ask 'who are you'. That's how much he has done in me and I just love it.

SO GREAT

This morning brings a few things. I will get to the scripture for the day in a moment.

I am soooo sore. Everywhere...painting all day yesterday in our new house I woke up this morning barely able to move. I still have a day of painting ahead of me. Just hopeing that I loosen up as I get moving.

Then my scripture reading this morning was "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him." Just made me smile as I thought about how sore I am. This is for my good. Then my old testament reading was from 2 Chronicles 12 and the prophet had come to Rehoboam (the King) and to the leaders of Judah and said to them "This is what the LORD says, 'You have abandonded me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak." After hearing this "the king humbled themselves and said, 'The LORD is just.' When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the LORD said 'since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverence."

I was thinking about this amazing God that we have. His mercy is so great. I know that there are times when I don't realize that I have turned from him. Maybe I have thought more about doing things my way instead of seeking his direction. Then comes that pivitol point when I just fall down on my face in repentance, humbling myself before him and realizing that I need him every step of the way. I cannot step off the path he has me on and take off on my own. I love that he always leads me back and shows me when I have strayed off.

My first day here in Ohio was filled with so much emotion. within 24 hours we had a farewell party, went wedding dress shopping with Emily (found THE dress), and moved to Ohio. Yet now I look back a few days ago and am so thankful for it all. Those times are continual reminders of his goodness, his shaping, and most importantly, my need for him all the time. Yesterday Beth, from our new church, came over and brought a big pot of chili for us. That was just so great to me and it warmed my heart so much. We sat down on our chair, (the floor for now) in the living room and looked out the beautiful view and just chatted. That was so great to me. I love the words in the verse that "God works for the good..." He is always working for the good in our life. Even through the tough times he is working out something good for you. I sure see that and am so thankful for the outcome all the time.

Keep your focus on Him and humble yourself before him. Remember that we are but a speck in the great universe - and HE LOVES YOU! That just blows me away.

Blown away and humbled!

Today brings to close another chapter in my life. Tim and I head to Ohio today, Angela stays and finishes out the semester at Lutheran High North. Last night we were planning on going out to dinner with the family for one last family night out before we move. We stopped at Nicole and Eric's house and were getting ready to leave. Nicole seemed mad at me when I was going down her basement. That was odd, she must be having a bad day. Then as we were leaving the house to go she got a phone call. Something to do with her work and she needed to stop and pick up a check from someone. Making us later than we already were. Turns out this lady knew Tim from when he preached at her church over the summer. So we drove to the church, she was working late on something there and Nicole was insisting that we all go in to say hi. This was just annoying to me since I only met this lady one time and we were seriously going to haul the entire family inside. awkward. Most of us don't even know her. Nicole was seriously making me mad. So as she climbs out of the car, taking the baby and everyone I got out too, dragging behind with Tim. She walked around the back of the church and went into some doors, with us following behind. We stepped into the gym only to hear "surprise" and see a huge group of friends there - friends of ours and a bunch of Angela's friends. All there for to say goodbye. As tears filled my eyes I was blown away to look around and see the mix of people there. Blown away by the different friends that we have met from many different connections. There must have been 75 people there. God connects his people in so many ways - that is so cool.

I noticed all the teenageres and some adults working in the kitchen preparing food. The decorations that I am sure Angela's friends did. I felt so humbled that so many people would have come. I felt so blessed that daughter Nicole (and Eric too) would have put so much work into this. She rocks and I will miss her so much.

My life has been filled with so many changes, yet God is there in them all. He is there guiding and leading. Loving each of us forward. God is in your life too. God is directing you. I was reading in 2 Chronicles this morning - "When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying. 'He is good; his love endures forever.'"

May each of us kneel down and worship the Lord. May we each see his hand in our lives. We may not see fire coming down as in the above verse but let us all be aware of the Lord's presence in our lives. Maybe he will come to you through a friend sharing an encouraging word, an answered prayer, a new job, a scripture that speaks to you today, a song, a walk in the park...etc. God shows up in our lives and wants us to see him. Look around every day and he will be found. As I looked at the people there last night I could see God in every one of them.

God you are good and your love is forever!

Motives

Blogging has been more scattered lately. So much to do and little time to do it in. I have been reading through 1 Chronicles and having a very hard time getting through. Here and there are bits of wisdom but most of the time I couldn't wait to finish the book. This morning I was excited that I was completing 1 Chronicles then read David's words to his son Solomon. "acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts." As I read these words I couldn't help but think how pitiful I can be sometimes. How my motives are not what they should be. Do I have a wholehearted devotion and a willing mind to serve the Lord? Sometimes I feel like "really, again Lord", sometimes I just don't want to do it. Yet it is good to be reminded that the Lord searches my heart and knows my motives. Remembering this can help to keep our motives in check.

I think so often in life we pick and choose what parts of our life we will allow God to be a part of. Maybe not always consciously, but we do it anyhow. Serving God wholeheartedly also means that you are allowing him to lead your life, every aspect of it. I've been so busy these past few weeks that I confess I have allowed myself to take the lead in some areas, thus making me more stressed and frustrated. Then when God pulls some things together I go "whew, thanks Lord." When will we ever learn. Allow him the lead in the first place and stop trying to take it back.

Watch the following video - how many times is this you?



"O Lord know my heart, and know my anxious thoughts, if there is any offensive way in me in the way everlasting." God knows all our motives, all our thoughts - allow him to expose them in your life and to shape and refine you. His work is always good. When he shows you areas in your life that he wants to shape, even areas that you detest, remember that he still loves you - that is why he is always working on each and every one of us. As long as we keep sitting on the chair and making our own decisions we are keeping God from shaping us. Don't want the shaping? Afraid of what he will show you? Remember the bible verse "there is nothing hidden that will not be exposed." God knows it all anyway and he wants you to know that you are a forgiven and loved son/daughter. He wants to sit on the stool and make the decisions in your life. He will do a much better job than you and me.