Dreams . . .

Have you ever had a dream so real and vivid and horrible that you woke up and wanted to hug your family tight to you? You knew it was a dream but it felt so real, it took a while to convince yourself that it was truly a dream? I had that last night. I dreamed that my beautiful little daughter was stolen from us. I don't know quite how she was stolen but she was. This horrible person did all kinds of horrible things to her. I knew every detail of the horrible things that were done to her because it was as if I were in her subconscious experiencing these things as well. We finally found her in a seafood restaurant and unfortunately the faceless bad guy got away. We took our daughter home, cleaned her up, washed her hair, held her and rocked her. She was listless and closed up. She didn't say much, she didn't need to, I already knew what had happened to her. I just held her. After awhile I started teaching her my Sunday School lesson from yesterday. I've been teaching through Mrs. Terri Chappell's Books, The Choice is Yours (Click Here for the Link). It is a book about the choices we make and how they affect us. Yesterday's choice was, "Choose to Be Strong". IT was talking how trials and temptations God allows into our life. It is Father Filtered and because of this we need to trust that if He allowed it, or even sometimes originated it then He is going to use it for our good and we need to choose God's strength not our own. Yesterday it was easy to stand up and tell the ladies that. I care for and love each of them and it was easy to tell them to choose God's strength . . . in my dream as I held my daughter I broke down and actually woke up sweating. It was hard telling my daughter that. I felt deeply as I told her that. It made it extremely personal and because of that very dynamic. I know God doesn't speak to us through dreams anymore but I do know He allowed that in my life to teach me something. One thing is when I speak in class next Sunday I'll be looking at them and thinking of them as my daughters and I KNOW that's going to change my passion and the way I tell them, it won't be a Sunday School Lesson I share, it will be a message I want to impact and hopefully use to shape their life! And another thing is I hope that when the time comes and my daughter does experience some great trial, I hope that I will be able to tell her to stand strong in the Lord. To take her burdens to the Lord because HE knows and not just that, He cares!

Saturdays in Hotels

I know we as a married couple need dates and I love my husband, I really do. I was looking at him in the car last night and I should have said it, but I thought, "Goodness I'm lucky. He is handsome, strong, godly, wise, and wonderful!" He could have had any girl at college I know, my roommate liked him and wanted to date him with the intent of considering him a marraige candidate and she would have been perfect for him, but instead he chose me! I don't know why, (he may have been delirious or on crack :o) but he did and now he's stuck with me. :oP. Seriously, I love him and I don't deserve him, but I'm sure glad I've got him. These past few days I have laughed with him, I have been myself, I have not had to worry about getting onto children or their emotional needs, I have been a kid at college in love with my man and find myself married to him. This has been the best gift I received this Christmas season. Husbands, Wives, whoever reads this blog, go on a date with your husband. Do an overnight thing. Trust someone to take your kids and then just enjoy your spouse. Laugh with them. Flirt with them. Kiss them long and hard. Watch tv together and get annoyed at how stupid the world is becoming. Rant and rave against idiots who don't want guns. Eat chocolate in bed together and don't care about the crumbs! Go out to eat together and look longingly in each others eyes. Find out something new about your spouse. Act like you're dating but realize you're married. ;o) Enjoy each other! Take time away from your kids. Your kids WILL survive, they may even like it and your marriage to their mommy or daddy will be better for it thus giving a great gift to your child as well! I told my husband that since my in-laws were so close I think we ought to do a all nighter a couple times a year! It has been the best time! You don't have to spend a lot of money either! Just enjoy each other! You won't regret it!

Merry Christmas

This year we find ourselves in Muncie, Indiana. I plan on dying here, just so you know! Last year this time I had my brother with me. We didn't even know Muncie, Indiana existed. We were plugging along and enjoying family and friends. We were planning our Candlelight service and looking forward to church. Last year Christmas was on Sunday. We still had a service, a short morning service. The church people did something most special. I think it was the most thoughtful thing they did the entire time we were there! They brought in presents and covered the front two pews with them for us. It was very special. We took home our presents and opened and opened and opened! I honestly don't remember what I got, I just know how special they made me feel.
This year, we are at Jackson Park Baptist Church. I feel home. We planned and executed our Candlelight service. The kids sang, Grace Has a Face and another dear man in our church sang O Holy Night. (He really ought to make a single, I'm sure he make a million!) Another lady sang, What Child is This (without practice and you would never KNOW it! I am cease to be amazed about her willingness to serve God and with such a sweet spirit!) This Christmas I am realizing afresh and anew that the best presents don't come wrapped. They are times with family laughing over a movie as you watch your children react to something you grew up watching. They are eating pb fudge from a lady in the church who accused you of trying to poison her because she tried to eat the fake ornamental cupcake jar that looked real! It is going to church and knowing you are loved and accepted with all your faults. It is being around people that aren't constantly critical but just love the Lord as you do and are just trying to serve Him to the best of your ability. It is listening to your kindergartener read! It is sitting on the bed explaining to your son how to be saved and watching as he bows his head and prays and asks God to save him! It is having a family over from the church to finish elfing them so you can reveal all that the church people did for them! Elfing is just giving someone gifts for several days before Christmas! The church people OUTdid themselves! Christmas is very special for us and it is even better being here in Muncie, IN, the best place IN THE WORLD!!!!!

Wifey Wednesdays . . .

I do believe this is my first time actually posting on Wifey Wednesday! LOL! I know, I know the road to destruction is paved with good intentions. I don't consider myself a complete failure in the blog department, I have been blogging more than when I didn't have a goal. So I didn't fully reach my goal yet, should I just quit? Of course not. Goals are good because they give you a direction. They give you something to measure. It's kinda like being a housewife. I have a lot of goals for my wifely jobs. I have this unreachable goal that my house is always clean all of the time, NO MATTER what is going on! I have a goal to be the help just meeted out for all my husbands needs. I have the goal to be the best, godliest Mom in the world. I look at people like Susana Wesley and think I want that and MORE! Sometimes I have goals and they are too big . . . but that's ok. Like the little boy who told the man after he asked him why he was shooting at the moon with his bb gun that he was never going to get it, "Well, I'm going to get a lot closer than you!" Goals are good. What are your goals? If you don't have any, go get some! If you have some and you've reached them set some more! If you haven't reached your goal, keep trying! There is still lots of time! Don't ever quit, don't ever give up!

How to Spot a Lady

I am posting about our Lady Bug Tea Party. I thought some of you might be interested. It can be tailored for any age. I did mine with girls ages 2 to 12. Most of my inspiration came from pinterest: My Lady Bug Tea Pinterest Board (click on me). Of course I didn't do everything on my board. And some things never made it to my board, they were from my head. I have uploaded the documents to http://www.scribd.com (click on me) that you are welcome to download. 

When the girls first arrived I gave them a card, Lady Bug Cards (click on me). I left one of the cards blank, so you could add your own text. The first card they received was "Proverbs 31:10 A Lady is Priceless." I printed these cards on red paper. At each station the girls collected a card. I took my daughters cards when she got home and every few days in her lunch, or on her bed, I write a note about the card on the back, thus extending the lesson they learned. I encourage her in the areas she is doing well and exhort her in other areas. That has really seemed to be encouraging to her! 

At one of the stations I had a lady who was painting nails. Here (click on me) are the instructions on page one. They were really easy and looked ever bit as good as the picture! She did an excellent job! The little girls kept going around admiring their nails and exclaiming how they were so pretty! 

At another station we had them paint a rock. Because of the time constraint I already had the rocks painted red and they added black details. Originally I thought they could blow on the spots with paint, but that didn't work as well as I thought so they painted with q-tips and it worked just fine! 

I don't have a picture of it on here, but we also did "Pin the Spot on a Lady Bug". I took pom poms, because by this time, I was tired of cutting out stuff, and tape, I made a large lady bug out of red poster board. Painted a black head, added HUGE googley eyes and a line. Then blind folded the little girls added the pom pom spots. It turned out really cute! This was also great for the toddlers. We didn't blind fold them, just let them pin on the spots!

Because a lady in Proverbs 31 is known for her sewing we did a sewing project. These ideas were not in my notes, because friday night before the party I started looking around and realized I didn't have enough for the girls to do. I went to the supply closet and prayed asking God for wisdom and free stuff! I found red and black felt. I pre-cut out red bodies, black heads, and black spots. They glued on the black spots, sewed the heads on and sewed two bodies together, adding stuffing to make a small lady bug pillow. I had a lady teach them the blanket stitch (click on me). I was surprised. This was probably their favorite part and they really seemed to get it! Several little girls went home asking their mothers to teach them to be a lady, to sew, and to cook! 

Because I am a photographer I took pictures and gave each little girl one 4x6. I then offered more 4x6's of their choice for $1 each. Unfortunately I couldn't offer every picture for free. These pictures are ones of my little girl. I let the girls take pictures with their friends as well as by themselves showcasing their outfits. 

This is my beautiful daughter, Abby. I wish I could show you every picture. Each little girl was so beautiful! 

OH YES! The outfits! I was really excited about this part! I don't know if it was I, but I think it was another mom who first mentioned doing outfits! But it morphed into a HUGE project. Yes I did end up making 6 more tutus and wings two days before the tea party, yes I was tired, but NO, I would NOT change it for anything in the world!!!!! Several little girls made red tutus, added black felt spots, and got red dollar store wings and added black spots to those! Some little girls, wore red dresses with polka dots and/or added polka dots! Every little girl came dressed so cute! Several little girls added head bands with black fuzzy wired things great for crafts - I've forgotten the name of them. We twisted them around and made them look like atenas. The little girls had a TON of fun dressing up! The dressing up part, really helped build the excitement and anticipation. I think it also helped drive home the point I was trying to make about how to spot a lady. I doubt several of these girls will forget this very soon, I know my daughter still talks about it. I made sure she has her tutu to play with in her dress up box so it can be a reminder to her to be a lady! 

This was one of the station's results. On the document (click on me) on page 1 there are lady bug thumb prints. I pre-cut everything due to time. They glued on wings, googley eyes and used a black ink pad on the red wings for the spots. 

Here is the menu, Lady Bug Menu (click on me) found on page 1 of this document (click on me). The orderves (I know it's spelled wrong, but I can't figure out the right spelling :o) turned out how the picture on my document showed them. They were very easy. I didn't have a recipe for them, I simply followed a picture. What I did was round crackers, cream cheese, red cherry tomatoes cut in wedges, an olive for the head, and fresh dill sprinkled on top. One lady went around telling the children not to eat the grass! All the children seemed to like them. And all the adults, including many of the children asked for more!    

The lady Bug pretzels didn't turn out as planned. Partly because I didn't have enough time. Partly because I didn't have enough red food coloring and I only had popcorn oil instead of regular vegetable oil to mix the white chocolate color in. Popcorn oil has an extreme bit of yellow food coloring to make the popcorn more buttery looking. As a result instead of red white chocolate, I had salmon colored white chocolate! If I had had time to dip the bottoms in brown chocolate. Then taking some brown chocolate and heating it in a plastic baggy with a little bit of oil and cutting off a small tip of the baggy I would have been able to add spots making them look a lot better. But as it was, they turned a nice salmon color and we don't stress over things that don't matter and we can't change! 

The cupcakes are missing their atena but I really didn't have time to make atenas and I thought they were fine the way they were. In the document (click on me) they show them much nicer but honestly, it got the point across and I'm not a professional cake decorator. I'm sure someone else could have done a much better job but I was content with how these turned out. The head of these are a whopper. Black or chocolate icing for the line and dots and there you go! a lady bug cupcake! 

You'll see the tables in the background. The center pieces were red poppy flowers from the dollar store - they were cheaper than gerber daisies, and although I thought I'd prefer the gerber daisies, they were just fine. Red plates, red plastic CHEAP cups, black and white polka dot napkins found at any party store, silver colored silverware from the dollar store, green table clothes for a pop of color. On each plate I added a lady bug hair bow I had made found in this document (click on me) on page 2 and 3. They were VERY easy to make, I only superglued 6 of my fingers together, (thankfully not at the same time) and hot glued the rest! 

I had grand plan to print these table tents off, or possibly use them for the lady bug cards, but that didn't happen. They are too cute to not share, so here you go: Lady Bug Table Tent Cards (click on me) and Lady Bug Water Bottle Wrappers (click on me). Instead of the water bottles, we had "Lady BUG Juice/Punch" It was a concoction I threw together, everyone was very nice and said it tasted good, but personally I thought it was bordering very close to the mediciney flavor. Just find a nice red punch and you'll be fine. 

OH! I was very excited about our black and white striped straws! I know, crazy but that was probably my favorite detail! A lady in the church ordered them for me. You can just google it and you'll get all kinds of ones you can buy! 

We tied black, red, white, and a lady bug balloon to each center piece. Not necessary but I liked the fun atmosphere it brought to the tea party. 

After we ate I took took the a stack of the 8 cards they had and went and sat in a circle with the girls. We looked at each card, read the scripture for it and I gave a little explanation for each card. I don't have that devotion for you because it was out of head. Well, not entirely I used the scripture and the cards were my points. I put it down on their level. I encouraged them to start learning to be a lady NOW. Start as children so when they are teenagers and soon, adults they will be what God wants them to be and they'll be able to teach their daughters. I explained that the time to learn to be a lady was not when they were supposed to have become a lady but yet that the time to learn to be a lady was as a child! I tried to make it very practical. I didn't do a lot of spiritualizing. Sometimes God wants us to realize He cares about every day life and how we live it! 

During this time, my husband conducted a Soldier Scavenger Hunt for the boys. I don't know all he did, you'll have to ask him! But I do know he did manly things with the boys, like jumping in bounce houses, going from clue to clue for the scavenger hunt, shooting a cross bow, painting their faces like an army man, and talking about how to be a man! 

Mondays . . . .

Mondays always come with mixed emotions. Getting back to work or in my case taking a break . . . starting a new week or recovering from the last! I love Mondays. I have two discipleship classes I have the great honor and privilege of conducting! I am able to slow down from the weekend and reflect upon what God has done!
This weekend we had our lady bug tea party and soldier scavenger hunt! I can't promise anything, but I hope to provide pictures and pdf files of what we did so if you want to, you can use some ideas for your own lady bug tea party! It was a HUGE success! There were lady bugs flying everywhere on Saturday, as well as red glitter and enough tulle to wrap around the world 3 times I'm sure! I wouldn't trade anything . . . it was a TON of fun, but more than that several little girls went home with the knowledge that God wants them to be a lady like the Proverbs 31 lady and that they can start now! Some even went home and immediately started asking their moms to teach them to sew! I thoroughly enjoyed myself but I was saddened at the same time. We simply are NOT teaching our children the things they need to learn to be the lady and gentlemen God wants them to become! Parents do NOT regulate that to government schools - they are failing miserably and on a large scale! Don't think that because you have put them in a good christian education whether it be christian school or christian home school that they are going to be fine. God has given YOU the responsibility to teach your children. But then the problem comes in, if you don't know it, you can't teach it. Get out there and learn. Get books, take a cooking class, do whatever it takes to be able to teach your children. Expect your children to be better than you because you have started teaching them sooner than you were taught. Unfortunately humanity is getting worse and worse but with Christ in our hearts and lives we ought to teach our children that they ought to be getting better and better. Let them and teach them to build upon the foundation you are laying for them and then DO NOT despise them or criticize them when they make better decisions than you made! Be happy that God is doing such a great work in your life, through your life, and in the life of your precious child!

What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?

This year, I really don't remember who said it, I do remember that it was a preaching service of some sort but I don't really remember which church I was at when it was said, but this preacher posed this question: "If you knew you could NOT fail, what would you do?" I do know we were at our old church when this question was posed to us and I remember the very first thing I thought was, I would build a GREAT work for God! It wouldn't be with 20 or 30 people. It would be with 2,000 or 3,000, each of those numbers representing a life that had been changed because of the Gospel of Christ! Each of those numbers would NOT be for numbers sake and certainly NOT for bragging rights but for the power of God at work and abounding in my generation and the one to come! The next thought that came to me was that I wouldn't fail with my kids. They would grow up to love God and do exactly what He wanted them to do! And the final thought came to my head is that my house would always be Martha Stewart clean and decorated every moment of every day. So if I get two out of three I won't care about the whole house thing!

I wrote down this question on my bible reading schedule. I'm VERY choosey what I write down on my Bible reading schedule ONLY things I REALLY want to remember. I wrote this between the months of April 3 and July 1. We came to the great Jackson Park Baptist Church at the end of July. This question I wrote down from the nameless faceless preacher I then put two references: Jeremiah 33:3, and Philippians 4:13. Jeremiah 33:3 says, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."  and Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." 

Next two the two references I wrote this little outline. I'm sure it came from the preacher:
1. We have the power of His promises
2. We have the power of prayer
3. We have the power of the Holy Spirit

As I look at Ministry Monday I think of all the wonderful things that have happened this weekend! The Lord gloriously saved a little girl at Sunday NIGHT church of all times, AFTER the evening service was completed and people were heading home! I remember the joy of Sunday school and all the fun I have teaching children. I remember the time of fellowship with those dear sweet ladies after the evening service while we waited for our husbands. I had a great sunday. I remember being able to FINALLY play the song, "Wonderful Grace of Jesus". That is a big deal! That is probably the hardest hymn I have ever had to try to play. It was good day. We don't have 2,000 or 3,000 people coming . . . YET. But as I look at this simple little outline from sometime this past year and more as I read those promises God has in his word, I realize with God ALL things ARE possible. I realize afresh and anew that is is ALL God! IT is God which worketh in you to will and do of his good pleasure. It is all about God.

I do know this, God put a dream in my heart years ago, as a teenager to reach my generation and the generation to come with the gospel. I know that in the last 3 1/2 years that dream, despite some people saying that their ministry to me from God was to temper me, that that dream has only been strengthened. The need is greater than ever. People need the Lord! I was put on this earth for such a time as this and Lord willing I am going to do everything I can to reach as many people as I can because after all, I have the power of God's promises, the power of prayer, and the power of the Holy Spirit!

Wifey Wednesday

Today I'm going to give my top three websites that I use for being a wife. I love the internet. I love that the internet is now in my home! I have found, now that it is in my home I have to actually choose to use the internet wisely, whereas before when I had to go to the internet and had limited time I planned out how I was going to use the internet. That's not a bad practice to keep up.

There are three main websites I go to. I started looking and I actually go to a lot of websites for a lot of things, planning ladies events, planning children's programs, looking for ideas for my home, etc. But for my own personal use as a mother and wife I go to three main ones.

The first one I want to talk about is Ministry 127. I love this website. I get on this website and read articles about the christian life but as a christian mother and christian wife, this website is good fuel for my fire. This website lets me know I'm not an island. In our christian walk it is so easy to feel like an island, like you are the only one doing something a certain way. Ministry 127 is a ministry of Paul Chappell's church Lancaster Baptist Church. I once asked him if I could use some articles, making sure to give the proper credit, for a newsletter I was composing and he told me that I could use whatever they have on their websites. They put good quality stuff up to help and encourage other churches because they are striving together for the cause of Christ! Isn't that great?

The other website I use is Sheila Gregory's Website. This is the best website for wives out there! Seriously. She is getting it right! If you are a wife or thinking of being a wife you ought to visit this website! She talks plainly but biblically. She tells it how it is and how it should be. She is very adept at taking cookies and putting them on the bottom shelf for all to have access to! You don't walk away from one of her blogs wondering what you should do or how you should do it! I know she isn't KJV and that may be a hangup for some of you. I don't care for it either but come thanksgiving time when I go to serve the turkey to my family I'm not going stop them from eating the turkey just because there are a few bones. So go read Sheila Gregory's website and every once in awhile come back and see how I'm doing! 

The last website is The Best Website on EARTH: Pinterest! I LOVE pinterest! It is my favorite website! My husband thinks its a cult! To which I dreamily respond, "Pinterest is not a cult, it has enriched our lives!" Pinterest is where I get inspiration for decorating my house. It is where I log my favorite articles on the web that help me. It is where I find ideas for cooking, and where I organize activities I plan! Contrary to popular belief I don't go to pinterest exclusively! I love that I can go to a website, see an article I like and "pin it" to my board. I can google something for an activity and "pin it" to my board. It is the best thing every created for the web. Surprisingly the man who created it was a lawyer and he was just doing it for fun! I honestly think God had a little hand in helping this website come about!

So there you have it! How I use the internet to help my life as a wife and mother!

Ministry Monday

I purposefully chose Mondays for this title. In the ministry, Sunday is usually your busiest day. Mondays are the day when most preachers resign. I once heard a preacher say the ministry truly is bitter sweet. But I have to say the sweet part is sooooo much sweeter than the bitter! The sweet far outweighs the bitter! I love our new ministry at Jackson Park Baptist Church. I felt like home the moment I first stepped through the door. I love the people at Jackson Park. I love playing the piano. I love planning ladies' activities. I love planning the children's church. I love making the Bible as exciting as it truly is. I LOVE seeing children at church! I love walking in our new building and seeing the people that will one day fill those halls! I love that my children love coming to church! I love having my children beg to come to church. I love doing my discipleship classes! That is probably one of my favorite parts! I loved discipleship classes at our former church and I love them now! I love going to the hospital to pray with people. I love cleaning the church - yes, even that! I absolutely positively LOVE our copier at church! So will there be bitter times to come at the Great Jackson Park Baptist Church . . . we do live in a sinful world, so yes, I think there might be. But already the sweet times are so overwhelmingly wonderful that even though there must be hard times, that grow us, that change us into what God wants us to be, I'm thankful that there are sweet times to counter that! I am so thankful for my church and church home! I love you Jackson Park Baptist Church!

Feelin' Good Friday

Today, on Friday, September 14th, I was going to blog about some amazing chocolate crinkle cookies that my family absolutely loves! They make approximately 4 dozen but are usually gone within 3 days. Other cookies will sit in the cookie jar looking sad and lonely with no one to eat them, but not these babies! But I didn't have time to make the cookies and actually take pictures at the same time . . . don't worry, we are enjoying eating them.
So what am I going to talk about on this Feelin' Good Friday? On Wednesday evening after we got home from church my daughter went into the bathroom to wash the "fellowship" off her hands and she came out smiling and exclaiming, "Praise the Lord, God provided soap for us!" She says that because when we lived in Ohio there were more than a few times that God miraculously provided things we needed and/or wanted on a regular basis. Some things we would pray about, some things I would mention in passing that they would be nice to have. One of those things was Bath and Body works hand soaps. I just love their stuff. It smells soooo good and it makes you feel soooo special to wash your hands with it. (Or I may be the only weird person out there who thinks that!) So the other day, my wonderful husband took me shopping at the mall and I remarked that Bath and Body Works was having a sale and he said, "Go pick out some soap!" That is not something he has ever said in our married life. We bought the big gallon of orange soap refill container and if someone gave me Bath and Body Works Soap I would sometimes refill those containers. It never had quite the same special effect. So go in to buy some I did. I bought, Creamy Pumpkin for the Bathroom and foaming Kitchen Lemon for the Kitchen.
I am very blessed to be at a church that provides for our needs and well beyond. Not being able to buy certain things is NOT everything in life. What meant more to me was that my child was able to recognize that GOD provided for us! Yes, there were very hard financial times in Ohio. NO, that is NOT why we left. Would I trade those hard financial times to be able to go back in time to buy whatever hand soap I desired? NO! Absolutely NOT! Those hard time strengthened my faith! I now know God won't let me go hungry, without a house, without electricity, etc. and He even provides my wants! Those hard financial times taught my daughter to say, "Praise the Lord, God provided soap for us!" Those "hard" times taught my daughter that there was a God in Heaven who knows our needs and loves us! Those "hard" times were some of the best things that ever happened to us!
I'm feelin' good this friday because as I say with my daughter, "Praise the Lord, God provided . . . " What has God provided for YOU this week? Take a moment to tell me!

To Blog or Not to Blog . . .

As with everything in life, I work better if I have a plan. I've been struggling with whether to even blog. There are good reasons to blog and there are good reasons NOT to blog!

Reasons to blog:
1. I have something to say, whether anyone out there is listening.
2. I can be a force for good on the internet.
3. If someone is listening I might have a little bit of influence for the cause of Christ over them.
4. Blogging enhances my own personal life. I love to talk . . . if you could not tell!
5. It is another way I can bring glory to my wonderful Savior!

Reasons NOT to blog:
1. I don't have time . . . that could be reason enough for all 5 reasons I'm going to give!
2. I don't think what I have to say is all that important.
3. I would have to plan for yet ONE more thing this week?!
4. I will be sitting at the computer blogging about all the things I should be doing instead of doing all the things I should be doing!
5. What if I make this challenge to myself and miss a day . . . am I a complete failure and will I just want to stop because of it? (uh, sorry about that, my inner self just popped out and blogged that!)

Reasons why having a plan is a good idea:
1. It will make me look for things to blog about.
2. When I have a brain freeze, I will have a plan to go back to.
3. One day, I'm going to look back on this part of my life and realize that I wasn't as busy as I thought I was! So having a plan will keep me on track and as my life continues to grow in busyness I won't have to wonder what I'm going to say next.
4. If I know I have to blog on certain days, I'm going to have to actually quit procrastinating.
5. I like to be organized and that organization brings a smile to my heart and will help me blog more profitable things!

What I'm going to blog about:
1. Ministry Mondays: On Monday I am going to blog about ministry, what I have done, ideas I want to do, ideas that were a complete flop so you should NOT do them!
2. Wifey Wednesdays: I think another blog out there already has this name and if it is copyrighted I will change it right away. I was trying to think of who I am and what I do and that would be what I blog about, you know, the whole idea of writing about what you know about - I am a wife. Not a very good one I'm afraid, but I am constantly trying to get better. I just spent $15 on kindle books (that I need to remember to tell my husband I spent) to hopefully make me a better wife. So on wednesdays I'm going to talk about wifey sorts of things, things I've learned, books I've ready, things I did with my family, etc.
3. Feelin' Good Fridays: On fridays as we look to the weekend I am going to write about things that make me feel good, possibly something in the scripture that I've read that week that really spoke to me, some kind of dessert, especially any kind of chocolate, that makes me feel really good, random acts of kindness that make me feel good, those sorts of things!
4. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be my, if I do something, extra days. Hey, committing to three times a week seems a little daunting! So I'm going to K.I.S.S. it as my mother used to tell me, Keep It Simple Stupid - funny she used to emphasize the "Stupid" (if she's reading this I can just see her shaking her head in the affirmative!)
5. I am going to blog about who I am, what I do, but most importantly I want to bring honor and glory to my wonderful God! He has been so good to me! He is Someone everyone ought to know! I hope that as I blog people out there will want to come to know Jesus in a personal way just as I do!

So that's that, to blog or not to blog . . . I guess I'm going to blog!

The King's Decree

II Chronicles 34 talks about the time that King Josiah found the Book. King Josiah was this little eight year old boy who was suddenly king. You know the phrase, "Out of the mouth of babes . . ." I imagine this phrase was coined during his reign. Before Josiah there had been one bad king after another. Now there is a good king. He doesn't know quite what to do but he's trying his best. In verse 2 we see that he  did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and he followed the way of David. Parents, grandparents, adults, it is SO important that was walk right. Future generations may not follow the right path, but anything done for Christ will last! and it could even come back and influence people we won't get to meet this side of glory! Live for God, it is always worth it! 

That was just a little commercial, on to the main event! In verses 3-7 we see that Josiah sought God. As he sought God it led him to purging the sin out of his life. As you see God for how great, and holy, and merciful He is, you see yourself for who you really are! The best response to this sinful self is rejection and pursing of this sin! Verse 8-13 we see that after we have sought God and purged sins, then this leads to building. The placing of good things in your life. In verse 20 we see that as this happens you see more of your sinful self, on a deeper level. We used to have the privilege of working with teenagers. They would go to camp and confess sins, i.e. not reading their Bible. The next year we would go to camp and they would confess, it seemed, the SAME sin! What we came to realize was that it was not the SAME sin, it was deeper. That first year they went to camp they were only reading their Bible at church. The next year, they had been reading their Bible a couple times a week on their own and they committed to reading it every day of the week. The next year they may commit to reading the Bible through. The building process in our lives it key to a deeper spiritual walk. And as we walk with God and let Him build the right things in our life, we see how far down that root goes. We confess and forsake that sin. As this happens you see in verse 27, 28 that the proper attitude towards sins leads to God's forgiveness and mercy. II Chronicles 35: 6, 7 then teach us that we need to sanctify ourselves to God. As we sanctify ourselves we see our need of sacrifice. Sacrifice of our worldly goods, sacrifice of our time and finally in II Chronicles 35:10 we see the need for service to God. Everyone who is saved has a job that God wants them to do and ONLY them to do. No one else can do it as good as they can. I once heard a preacher say, "You need to find out what God is doing in this world and find your place and do it!" That's good advice but service to God without these first steps is nothing more than having the form of godliness but denying the power thereof. On the flip side, these steps taken but service being left is like having power and hiding it in a box and never using it. Both sides, compliment each other. 

So we need to 1. Seek God, 2. Have our Sins Purged, 3. Build the Right Things in our Life, 4. More Purging of Sins, 5. Sanctify ourself to God, 6. Sacrifice to God and 7. Finally Serve God! God has something great for you, that ONLY You can do! Determine to serve God today! You won't regret it! I promise you!

Moved . . .

So this has been a busy few months. God has moved us and He got us to the place we are now, the great state of Indiana in the great city of Muncie, to the greatest church in the world, Jackson Park Baptist Church! If you follow my facebook you see that God has been doing some amazing things! We are so blessed! We are very excited about what God has done to get us here and what He is already doing! I already love being the Pastor's wife here! I already look forward to the many things the Lord has laid on my heart to do with the ladies. I love that my children cheer when we turn on the road to go to Jackson Park Baptist Church. I love that my husband is busy and out there doing things to serve the Lord several hours of every day! I love my house. I love that I look out my window every morning at horses, NOT people doing drugs, but good, wholesome, unassuming horses! I love that we can go to the mall, wal-mart, target, and do it all within an hour and that includes driving time! I love thinking of all the people who are going to get saved and all the people we are going to have the privilege of discipling! I look forward to posting all the wonderful things God is going to do through and for us here at the great church Jackson Park Baptist Church!

Wisdom . . . What is does for us!

Proverbs 8:11 says "For wisdom is better than rubies: and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it." Something else in scripture is better than rubies . . . the virtuous woman. That is not what I am going to talk about today, perhaps another day. But here we find wisdom. God so greatly prizes wisdom that basically He says, if you take everything you've ever desired, put it on a scale and put wisdom on the other side, wisdom would win out, by far! Wisdom doesn't even compare to the everything we have, do, or ever will desire!

In the first three verses of this chapter we see what wisdom does for us. Let's take a moment to look at those verses: "Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors." Wisdom does three things for us in this passage. We are going to explore these three things.

Have you ever had a problem beyond your control. You might have felt like you were in the dark, going through a misty fog and you weren't quite sure what you were to do next? Wisdom, first of all, helps us see afar. Have you ever been down in a valley? Can you see much more than the valley and the things close to you? Now think of being on a mountain. I lived with my husband in East Tennessee. There are mountains there. LOTS of mountains. As you go down in the valleys, you see the beauty of the trees, the tiny details of the flowers, but if you keep following that mountainous road you will eventually find yourself on top of that mountain. The view is spectacular! You don't see the bark of each individual tree, you see all the trees all at once! The rolling hills seems to go on and on. Being up high helps you see where you've been and where you are going. It gives you a perspective you need to make it through the valleys. It points you in the right direction so you don't get lost as you go down only seeing the individual problems, but knowing there is a greater purpose for whatever you are going through. We need those mountain top perspectives. Wisdom gives us that. It makes me think of another verse, "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." (James 3:17) All these things that high heavenly, mountain top, wisdom gives us, pureness, peace, gentleness, easy to be talked to, mercy, good fruits, makes us love each person equally, and we find ourselves without hypocrisy. All these things are things we need in life but especially in trials.

The next thing we find this wisdom does is it stands by the way in the places of the paths, crying unto us. With her voice and her presence Wisdom shows us the right paths. She doesn't just give us the right perspective but she shows us how to stay on the right paths. It would be easy to get down in the valley, lose sight of our perspective and forget the right way to go, getting lost, but Wisdom is there calling to us, showing us the correct path. Another Bible verse comes to mind, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and light unto my path." (Psalms 119:105) This begs the question, where do you think we get the wisdom we need? In James we see that it comes from God. Prayer, talking to God, yes, those things give us wisdom. In Psalms we see that God's word lights our paths. Wisdom cries to us from the path, keeping us on the path with her voice, her words, and with her presence, possibly her illumination. I think it would be safe to say that God's words should be the main source of our wisdom!

Then we see that last thing Wisdom does for us. She gives us the right mountain top perspective, she keeps us on the right path. and she helps us pick the right doors to enter (vs. 3).  Wisdom gets us to where we need to be but then sometimes we are presented with multiple choices . . . how do you choose. Some doors you definitely know are not right to walk through, but some doors the pros and cons are just as good. They aren't wrong, they aren't even merely good, they might both be "the best", but Wisdom helps us choose the right door. This is where another verse comes in handy, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all they ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:5, 6) God has given me this verse afresh and anew this year. Look at it closely. You probably already know what I'm going to say, but I was astounded when God taught it to me. I was wanting God to show me a specific route in our life that He wanted us to go and I was claiming this verse and reminding Him that if we trust Him, don't rely on our own finite, valley limited understanding, but acknowledge Him in every way, then he will show us the right door to pick. As I was reminding Him of His promise to us He reminded me of an area of I was refusing to acknowledge Him in. It was concerning a dress I thought I looked cute in and it needed the slit sewn up but I thought it wasn't that big of a deal. So I repented and as soon as I could I went and sewed the slit closed and within days, God revealed His will to us! Everyone will be faced with choices, some good, some bad, some best, and sometimes, multiple choices, which will you choose and how? The how will determine if you choose the very best choice God has for you!

Ask God to give you this wisdom. James 1:5 tells us He promised to give to each person liberally and he further went on to say that he won't upbraid us for asking for it! Meaning he won't say, "You stupid, I'm glad you finally ask. You are quite dumb!" God wants to give you all the tools you need to not only live for Him, love Him, and serve Him, but also be happy and have a fulfilled, joyful, Christian life that has eternal meaning!

What do you seek after?

What do you seek after? What do you love? What you are currently spending your time and money on is a good indicator of what you seek and love! Some people seek fame, prestige, etc. . . . through Facebook, blogs, looks, social engagements, etc. Some people seek love, so they have a bunch a babies. Some people seek companionship so they go out with friends. Some people seek things and they work to be able to buy those things. Whatever you seek, God tells us to seek Him!

I was reading in I Chronicles 28:8, 9 today. David is literally at the end of his life. He has handed the reigns over to Solomon and he's giving him a charge in front of the nation. He tells Solomon in verse 8 to "...keep and seek for all the commandments of the LORD your God:". We are not only to keep God's rules, but we are to be seeking them. That's kind of encouraging in a way. Think about it. When you were a young christian there were things you didn't know to do or not to do but as we seek God He continually reveals more of Himself to us enabling us, if we will submit, to become more like Him! I told a brand new christian just Sunday, "Baby Steps". That's what we desire in the christian life from every believer. You cannot change everything all at once, nor should you, because those decisions probably won't stick! Baby Steps! Little by Little. Etc.

David didn't stop there. He went on in verse 9 to give Solomon some instructions that if we were to heed it would do well! He says, "And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of the; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee of for ever." David gives Solomon some great words, that if we modeled our life after would never go wrong.

First, David tells Solomon to know God. How do we get to know God? ONLY one way, through His word! We must be in God's word daily! What are some ways we can get God's word? The obvious one is in our daily devotions. Every day, on our own, we open God's word and let Him speak to us. Another way is through the preaching of God's word. A warning here, if you only get God's words when you are church you will be spiritually weak. How else can we get God's word into our lives? Through godly books, NO "christian" romance novels are not godly! That's like saying there is "christian" rock music or "christian" drugs! Another way we can get God's word into our life is by making and developing christian friends! Be friendly to the world, but don't let them influence you. Seek out people who will challenge you with the Bible. Be friends with people who talk about the Bible, God, the things of God, as an everyday thing. Look for people who aren't afraid to tell others about Christ! We need to get to know God. The first and best way is personally through His word, if we don't do that, none of these other things will have much impact on our life!

Then David tells Solomon to serve God with two things. Look at those two things He mentions: "a perfect heart" and "a willing mind". Wouldn't you think if you have the one you would automatically have the other? The more I've been in the ministry the more I realize you can have one and not have the other. I have seen people who had a willing mind to serve God but they did not have a perfect heart, nor were they willing to make that right and visa versa. God requires BOTH! He wants our minds and our hearts! If He has that, He WILL have EVERYTHING else! Determine today to let God be God of your heart and mind. Give God your emotions, your intellect, your will and desires. Let God rule your life, the things He will be able to accomplish will never stop amazing you! But if you hold back, well, it's like having a $100 bill. You tell someone you are going to give it to them, but you tear off just one side of it. When that $100 has been ripped apart how much is it worth? Say you got 20% of it, does that mean you have $20? NO, YOU have nothing and neither does the other party! Give God EVERYTHING, you will never regret it!

As we go further in verse 9 we see that David tells Solomon that it is God that tries the hearts! and only He understands our thoughts and imaginations! Then there is a wonderful promise in the end of that verse: IF we seek God He will be found! This conditional promise comes with a warning. If we don't seek God but forsake Him, He will cast us off for ever! Now you are responsible for the truth you have read, choose to seek God! Again, I can't reiterate enough that you will NEVER regret it!

The New Testament put it this way: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

My God Didn't Just Save Me . . .

My preacher said something so profound this weekend. He said, "My God didn't just save me, He gave me himself." Song of Solomon says "I am His and He is mine" whenever it uses the word Beloved. Mrs. Caryn Bane at a ladies conference I went to reminded us that it is the God of the Blessing we should be seeking, not the blessing of the God. Too often I find myself asking God for things and thanking Him for stuff He has done, but forgetting to ask for Him and thank Him for who and what He is! Take a moment to consider how great my God is! He is wonderful! He is mighty! He made not just the rocks, and the trees, and the birds and the seas, but the mighty mountains, the smallest molecule up to the entire universe and HE holds it all in his hand! He made me! I read on pinterest the other day, "What if we woke up today with only what we thanked God for yesterday?" YIKES! That's all I could say, There would be days I would be stark naked, with no food, family, house, or friends, and let me tell you that would be frightening! Today seek God. Read your Bible with the intention of finding God in there. Thank God not for things, even though that's good, thank Him for who He is! Don't ask God for anything today except for Him! Seek the God of the Blessing and NOT the blessing of God. You want to know a basic truth? If we do that, then the blessing of God WILL follow! Isn't that amazing? All I can say is, God is SO good!

Sabbath Day Teaching

Please don't think from my title that I'm a Seventh Day Adventist, I am a saved, bible believing, christian Baptist, ALL the way! But if you would pull out your King James Version of the Bible and find yourself to Psalm 92, I have something very awesome I want to share with you! Now, as you read, make sure you don't skip over the heading, right under the chapter and before the first verse! It reads, "A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day." So that title tells us we're about to learn something about the Sabbath Day or in Old Testament times, their "Church Day" or their "Sunday"! Hold on, these principles we're about to learn are deep! Not really, but unfortunately the way some "church members" act you might think they were! So if you are one of those church members I might be talking to, please don't take offense! If you are one that fits all found in this passage, go teach this to someone else! These principles are things we need to be doing on the "church day" and in our case, Sunday:

1. Give Thanks to God
     (vs. 1) "It is good to give thank unto the Lord" 

2. Sing Praises to God
     (v. 1) "and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:" It was almost as if the Psalmist says, oh yeah and if you don't where to start in praising God start with O most High, and work your way down from there!

3. Find Ways to Be an Encouragement
     (v. 2) "To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning," I think God intentionally put a time of day here because often we have that "Sunday-Morning-Only" crowd. This is the crowd that need all the rest of the times of church the most but don't realize they do. This is also a time to bring in people like say, "bus kids". Underprivileged children that YOU have the privilege of bringing to church and telling them about Jesus! So, those who need encouragement the most, mostly come Sunday morning and we need to find ways to be an encouragement to them and show God's lovingkindness!

4. Be Faithful to EVERY service
     (vs. 2) "thy faithfulness every night" If you go to church Sunday morning, plan on going back Sunday night. So often we approach church with the attitude that "I'll choose if I'm going to go. Do you choose to wear clothes every day? NO, you just do, or at least I hope you do! Then church ought to be that kind of "choice" just something you do and don't think about not doing!

5. Play Instruments in Church
     (v.3) this whole verse is about playing instruments with a solemn sound. Sorry to all the "party churches" out there! Coming to church is a time for seriousness when it comes to music! NOT rock n' roll!

6. Work God's Work at God's Church with a Happy Attitude
     (v.4) "For thou, Lord, has made me glad through thy work, I will triumph in the work of thy hands." Some people have the mistaken idea that they only need to go to church to get fat and sassy, spiritually speaking! We need to go to church, yes to be fed, but this verse was put in there BEFORE verse 5, which we'll look at next! And even into verse 5 the first part it continues with, "O Lord, how great are they works!" We need to be working at church! Find out what God is doing in this work and find your place in it and DO IT! It is as simple as that! Hand out bulletins, commit to pray for the prayer requests you hear and tell them you are praying for them, clean the bathroom, pick up the trash, teach a Sunday School, keep the nursery, lead the singing, sing a special, etc! Work for God!

7. Listen to God's Word
     (v. 5) "and thy thoughts are very deep" When I was at a large ministry I started working so much I NEVER heard the preaching of God's word! I didn't last long, I had to have God's preaching! Listen to and LOVE the preaching of God's word. I always worry about someone who doesn't love preaching!

8. The Results of Doing these 7 things:
     A. (v. 13) Being planted in God's house leads to flourishing!
     B. (v.14) Being planted in God's house leads to producing fruit, in your youth and into your old age!
     C. (v. 15) Ultimately this leads to us being able "to shed that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him." WOW! We will get to show the world our Christ!

So go to church this week, EVERY time the doors are open! You will NEVER regret serving God!

Don't Turn Out the Lights!

I have been reading in I Samuel and I came to the part where the child Samuel is now living at the temple.  Chapter 3 and verse one tells us a little about the times: the word of the Lord was precious, there was no open vision, and then we see in verse 2 that Eli was getting old, his eyes had begun to wax dim and he could not see. Perhaps application wise, he was getting weary in well-doing and this was starting to affect his eyesight!

Jump down to I Samuel 3:3. Here we a phrase, just a small one, kind of insignificant, but nothing in the Bible is there by chance, so I think that it is worth taking a look at! The phrase, "ere the lamp of God went out in they temple of the Lord,:" Ok, so what's the big deal, why even mention it, because in that same verse it says, "Samuel was laid down to sleep;" So who doesn't put out the lights when they go to sleep? Oh yeah, all those who are protesting the green propaganda they are trying to shove down our throats! No, seriously, what's the big deal about turning out the lights when its bedtime? I'm sure you have that ONE person in your home as I do in mine, that you have to constantly be after to "TURN OFF THE LIGHTS"! But that is not what this is talking about.

If you jump back to Exodus 27:20, 21 you find a very interesting command given to the children of Israel!  "...command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always...it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations..." This lamp, the lamp that Eli and his sons were in charge of, the lamp of God, the lamp in the temple to be a statute to generations, this lamp was not to go out, EVER! Not for a minute. It was supposed to be constant. During sleeping, when you wake, wherever you go, this lamp was supposed to be burning!

Now go over to Psalms 119:105 and the Bible tells us something, I probably don't even have to write down, because you are probably already quoting it, but just incase you've fallen asleep as did Eli, you've become weary in well doing, let me write out this verse for you: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Hmmmmmmm...If I were writing a Psalms, I might use the word Selah. Do you see it? Can you draw the comparison? The lamp, the lamp of God, the Bible is never to go out of our lives! It is there to guide us, it should always be shining! It should be constant, wherever we go, whatever we do, God's word should guide and direct us!

But wait! There's more! I know, as if that's not good enough! But remember back in Exodus, what were you to use in this light? oil, and not just ANY oil, pure oil from olives! Do YOU know what oil is a picture of? Ding, Ding, Ding, yep you got it! The Holy Spirit! So not only is the Bible not supposed to go out of our lives, for a month, a week, a day, even a moment but we are to live in the presence of the Holy Spirit! I think God used this little insignificant passage to try to teach us an important truth, that if heeded and lived by would CHANGE our lives and possibly the world around us! We ARE to live our lives being Spirit filled! Every moment of every day God's Holy Spirit should guide us, drive us, lead us, determine our actions and reactions! We should be God's vessel, cleaned inside and out so God can do great and mighty things through us and often inspite of us!

I hope you find this post helpful. If you would like, please feel free to leave a comment about how God has worked in your life recently!

To Church or Not To Church . . .

"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple." ~Psalms 27:4

David wrote this as he was running from King Saul. David was distressed, his future looked bleak, his wife, home, family, etc. had all been stripped away from him. He had major problems! Yet, look at his ONE desire. The one thing he wanted more than anything in the world. Not to curl up on his bed and sleep away his troubles. Not even for his troubles to go away. He didn't need retail therapy to help with stress. He didn't have to call someone. No, he wanted to go to church. Be around church people. See the beauty of the Lord and to pray.

What do you do when confronted with a trial? Do you run, do you hide, do you cry, do you melt, or do you desire to go to church? Do you neglect church? Do you find reasons to stay home? The one place you should make sure you don't neglect when in the midst of a trial is the one place people often forsake first, Church!

Someone once said, you are either in a trial, coming out of a trial, or heading into a trial. Remember to not forsake church. Be faithful to church. God will reward you for it!

Things I Learned This Last Week . . .

On Monday and Tuesday we had the privilege of going to a Preacher's Meeting for this part of the midwest. I learned that I have a passion for starting churches. I would love to spend the rest of my life doing just that!

I started discipleship with a dear lady in our church and I learned all over again, I don't think I'll ever get over doing discipleship and I would love to spend many hours of many days of many weeks doing JUST that! Some people want lots of babies, I want lots of spiritual babies!

On a fun note, I learned from Dr. Earl Jessup that if you add the phrase, "in the bathroom" at the end of a Chinese fortune cookie, it actually makes it worth reading! Try it, you will never go back!

At the ladies' gala I attended on Friday and Saturday I learned, get this, there are 24 hours in a day! Now We know that . . . I also learned that there are 24 hours in a child's day . . . hold on, here is where it gets good: Children WILL fill those 24 hours with . . . as their parent you have the power to control and influence that! I know it is simple, but truly I had never thought about it that much. It's kinda like saying "a child left to himself, bringeth his mother shame . . . "

I also learned that you can get going and get to your destination completely forgetting why you were trying to get where you were going. Never lose site of why you are serving the Lord: to see souls saved, lives changed, people growing in their faith, etc.

I learned a whole bunch more, but I learned small chunks of information are easier to digest, so I'll post more later!

The Bible Tells Me So. . .

This past weekend I was working in the kitchen and my 3 year old son came in there to watch.  Andrew is my little boy. This sweet, little thing who loves to be around his mama. Yes I unashamedly admit he is a mama's boy. He still is his daddy's buddy but he is my boy. He recently got bit by the ornery bug. You know the kind that if it doesn't bite them at 2 it seems to bite them even harder at 3! He is currently testing the waters and trying to see how firm the boundaries we have put in his life are! So while I was cleaning he came in there singing "Jesus Loves Me". I love to hear my children sing. He stops in the middle of his song and says, "Mama, the Bible NOT tell ME so! Jesus Don't love me!" I quickly replied that yes the Bible does tell us so and furthermore Jesus loves him more than Mama or Daddy could ever love him! He cocked his little head to the side and said "Hmm". He trusted me. That was it the discussion was closed, yes the Bible tells him so and Yes Jesus will always love him! He accepted that fact and went on his merry little way continuing to sing the truth of God's word!

Later that day I was catching up on some Bible reading. It has been so good lately I'm going slower than I like, but getting so much out of it I don't mind the slowness. I sat down to read 10 chapters and all I got done was 1! I want to share those ponderings with you! At this point in the post you have several options: 1. I have better things to do so you stop reading, (bye bye, no feelings lost) 2. Keep reading but approach it like my son did, and say "No I am not going to let the Bible tell me so in my life". or 3 When presented with the truth, accept it, let it change or encourage your life whatever the case may be!

You are going to need your King James Bible for this! Actually I'll post it at the bottom of this. I don't want you accidentally reading a perversion of the Bible and getting confused. If you have a King James open it up to Deuteronomy 11. If you don't scroll to the bottom and you will find it there! I like outlines and ordered thought patterns. I really like alliteration because it helps me remember so if you'll grant me that little allowance I'll get to my ponderings.

We are first introduced to Deuteronomy11 with verse 1 saying, Therefore thou shall love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway. I love this, before God tells us to keep his charge, his statutes, his judgements, and his commandments we are commanded to love him! Our love for God should be our motivation for obeying God and our obedience to God is our demonstration of our love for God! It's neat how those two things are intertwined! If you need a N.T. example, you can head over to John 14:13-15 that says, And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything n my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. Don't you love in this passage how God doesn't put demands upon us without first telling us what He is willing to do for us! If you go back to our parallel passage in Deuteronomy you'll find in verses 1-7 that God tells Israel some of the things that He has done for them bringing them out of Egypt, destroying the scorning fools, etc. God doesn't make a demand without having first demonstrated His love towards them and it is still the same for us to day! Hallelujah that's shouting stuff right there!

Then we come to verses 8-12 and God starts off with verses 8 and 9 by saying, Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it; . . .  that ye may prolong your days in the land . . . Obeying God will prolong your days. I don't know about you but I have reached that ripe old age of 30. When I was in my  late teens and early 20s I used to call those people old and now I are one! I know this to be true for several reasons: 1. this last summer I learned I not only do I not love roller coasters anymore I'm extremely afraid of them. 2. I used to LOVE go carting . . . now I think it is the biggest waste of money! 3. I gave up my scrapbooking stuff for a photography business and didn't even cry. 4. the biggest reason of all I was looking at some people we knew from college on Facebook and I remarked to my husband how old they looked and he informed me that they were the same age as us, even down to the same birthday! So saying all this, I'm old now. I used to think I was going to live for a VERY long time and realizing I've almost reached half way I now know I have not lived that long at all! I want to live long so I'm going to obey God I want to possess all God has for me! I want to be strong as I do it and I want to prolong my days as longs as I can!

Secondly we come to verse 13-21. Obeying God will send the Presence of the Holy Spirit . . . You're going to have to think for a little bit on this one: verse 13 and 14 say, And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul, That I will give you the rain . . . Rain, water, is a picture of the Holy Spirit. A life surrendered to God, a life of obedience to God will brings the Presence of the Holy Spirit. Do you want to live a spirit filled life, growing grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? Then the question to ask is are you living a life obedient to God with love for God? Are you serving God? In verse 15 it goes on to say that I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. Having the Presence of the Holy Spirit bringing fulfillment to your life. It brings a filling to your spirit. It brings a future to your spiritual growth!
This passage is first applied inwardly and in verse 18 we are instructs to lay these words in our heart and in our soul. We are also command to put them on our hand and as a frontlet in front of our eyes. Now this does not mean we tattoo God's word to hand or as they did in Old Testament times to take a little box and actually bind it to our head. I think this was more application that literal. We are to remember that whatever our hand findeth to do to do it as unto the Lord and not for men. Whatever we do should bring glory and honor to Christ! As far as binding God's words to our foreheads, I think what God was meaning was that the Bible ought to control our thinking. It ought to dictate how we believe, what we believe, it out to be out in front and leading us as we go throughout our day!
It is interesting to note that you are not to stop with yourself. You are to teach these things to your children! There are two types of children out there, physical and spiritual. I personally don't think the ideas of large families is all that biblical. I didn't say there was anything wrong with them but trying to support the idea of having a large family with the Bible is a little out of context! I think as christians today we have the opportunity to have more children, spiritual children! I want spiritual children! I love my children and nothing can replace that but I want spiritual children as well! Paul told Timothy that he was his son in Christ. He also told him in II Timothy 2:1,2 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. In Dueteronomy it gives us some practical ways to teach our children.
First lets apply it to our physical children. As you go about your day talk about the Bible, how God has spoken to you. Tell your children. Let them hear you telling others about it. Don't make it a strict regimented thing. Let them think the Bible is as much a part of your life as say clothes are. You wouldn't go anywhere without clothes, I hope! Let them think the Bible is a natural part of your life! As you're sitting in your house, eating dinner, playing a game, talk about the Bible. As you are walking down the road of life and different life lessons pop up, don't give them JUST your own experience, don't give them JUST a little ditty, give them the Bible! Take the opportunity to teach them using the Bible! Use everyday things to point them to Christ! And lastly when you wake up and when you lay down have the Bible be part of that process. Se the example for your children!
For your spiritual children that God blesses you with, (these are people you have won to the Lord, those you have the privilege of discipling, those in your Sunday Schools, Bible Clubs, Ladie's meetings, etc.), teach them the Bible, yes, but let them know it is a constant part of your daily life. Have them over your house so they can see you're just a normal christian loving God and serving Him. Take them out to eat and casually bring up how God has spoken to you that week. Don't ask them if they've read their Bible giving them the perception that Bible reading is a thing you mark off your list, ask them how God has spoken to them specifically through His word that week. If He hasn't spoken to them, encourage them how to read God's word to have him speak to them. (If you need help with that you can go to my previous blog, specksfromgod.blogspot.com)
If you do this, letting the Presence of God be preeminent in your life, then verse 21 says, That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children. . . Imagine being able to multiply your days in the lives of your children, physical and spiritual! Think how much you can accomplish for the cause of Christ by having multiplied what God has taught you in them!

Lastly, verses 22-25 Obeying God wil help out Push Out the Bad. For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do the, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; Then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you and ye shall possess nations mightier than yourselves. Now we know this was not written to us as Gentiles but we know we can apply these things to us. We don't have nations that need to be driven out of your lives, but we do have bad habits, besetting sins, etc. Until last Sunday I thought besetting sings were something I had to deal with for the rest of my life. By the grace of God I have not struggled with that particular sin ALL week! I have been tempted with it but NEVER above that I was able! How might you ask? Well, one the Presence of God has been real in my life but I have realized that I am seated above all that in the very presence of God. That He has done a work in my life at salvation freeing me forever of the bind that sin had on my life and that now I have access to Jesus who is all powerful!  I simply ask and take, it truly is THAT easy! And I thank God. When presented with a sinful thought I remember that my Jesus is true and pure and I thank Jesus for being true and pure and ask him to make me true and pure. I don't apologize for the temptation I turn to God and thank him for how great He is! Daily the Holy Spirit has been driving out those bad habits from me! It has been amazing, liberating, and lovely!

In conclusion, we come to verse 26-32 and God speaking here says, Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curs; A blessing , ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I commanded you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God . . . This is a warning, You have been given truth. Will you, as my son did, accept the truth and live in the truth or will you reject it choosing to live a life say, "The Bible does NOT tell me So!"

Deuteronomy 11
1 Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway. 2 And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm, 3 And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; 4 And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day; 5 And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place; 6 And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel: 7 But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did. 8 Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it; 9 And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
10 For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: 11 But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: 12 A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. 15 And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. 16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; 17 And then the Lord 's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.
18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: 21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; 23 Then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. 24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be. 25 There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.
26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; 27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: 28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known. 29 And it shall come to pass, when the Lord thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. 30 Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh? 31 For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein. 32 And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.