BLAMELESS AND FAULTLESS

This week's "Get the Picture?" post came to mind while doing something I do rather rarely these days, ironing. I have used the same brand of spray starch for years and a couple of weeks ago, when I was getting ready to do some ironing, I reached for the can, saw the name and the wonderful love of God came rushing to mind.



"Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen" Jude 1:24-25

OVER THE HILL

Today is Daddy's birthday. The Big One. He is Four-O. Yes, forty! The boys and I started the morning with a few renditions of Happy Birthday. We'll do dinner tonight a party tomorrow and on and on and on until about Monday or Tuesday. I hope to make it special for him. In the meantime here's 40 things about the 40 year old, known around here as "Honey" and "Daddy."

1. I have known him 12 1/2 of his forty years.


2. We have been married 7 1/2 of those 12 1/2 years.


3. He wanted two boys.


4. He got 'em and he is craaazy about them.


5. He is not the least bit interested in sports, excpet the pee-wee teams Chase has played on.


6. He is the middle of five children.


7. The other four say he's his mother's favorite.


8. He is serious on the outside, but really an absolute RIOT, when you get to know him.


9. He loves to travel.


10. His greatest attribute is that he totally understands unconditional love. He has taught me a thing or two, about it.


11. He snores. Loud.


12. He blames it on me.


13. He was baptised for the first time, the night before we were married.


14. He knew what he was getting into.


15. Just kidding.


16. He is the real-life Bob the Builder.


17. His favorite hang-outs are Lowes and Home Depot.


18. He broke his leg in a tractor accident, nine months after we were married.


19. I missed my first day on a new job, while he had it surgically screwed back together. Ouch.


20. He was raised on a farm. His family raised cattle.


21. He helped his father build their family home.


22. He still has (and loves) his college car.


23. He loves to grill.


24. He is a wine enthusiast.


25. He would rather fly than drive.


26. He would rather eat out than in.


27. He was shot with a BB gun as a child.


28. The BB was still lodged in his finger until it was removed about five years ago.


29. He knows every fruit tree there is.


30. He is an accountant - publicly and privately.


31. He picked our first son's name.


32. Larry is NOT short for Lawrence. He would want you to know that.


33. He said he would never move to Atlanta.


34. Almost eleven years ago we moved to Atlanta.


35. He says he will never leave Atlanta. Oh yeah, and "he means it this time!"


36. I met him in Dallas, Texas.


37. Favorite food - meat.


38. Least Favorite food - veggies.


39. He also loves fruit.


40. He plans to retire at 52.

LIVE LIKE IT

"Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ." Philippians 1:27 (NIV)

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58 (NIV)

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1-2

"So, I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live like the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking." Ephesians 4:17 (NIV)

'Nuff said.

A MAMA'S PRAYERS

I pray for my little boys everyday. Last week, the Holy Spirit placed on my heart that I should be more specific in my prayers and also pray unselfishly for them. I began to pray, not only for my desires but that God's sovereign will reign in their lives and that each of them would be led in his own way to advance God's Kingdom. Chase is so loving and is a giver to his very soul, he would rather give than receive - really. Bryce is a strong, leader type who is extremely charismatic and bright. I am blessed beyond measure to have them and I know God can and will use them. While on my nightly computer time, I ran across a blog written by another mom who was being led to do the same thing. God is so good. He brought Angie and I together, virtually that is, because I had a need to know and she - already knowing that which I desired to know more about - did not keep it to herself, but answered the call to share.

Angie wrote this awesome post listing seven prayers a day we can pray for our children, at seven different times of the day - "When they wake up, When they are getting dressed, While they are eating, When they go out of the house, While they are taking a bath, When they are going to bed and While they are sleeping" - making it easy to remember.

I was blessed by this. As the boys grow and do different things throughout the day, or I am led to different scriptures based on their personalities, gifts and challenges I will change it up, but I see it lasting a lifetime. My plan is to head to my local scrapbook store and make some nice little memo cards to keep in my purse, so I can look at them throughout the day.

With 390 (yes, that's three-hundred-ninety) comments on Angie's post, lots of other moms are praying 7 prayers a day for their little ones too.

MY HEART TRANSFORMED

First, we decided on a church home. The next decision (mine) was that, wherever we landed, we would “be more involved,” this time. Looking back, this wasn’t a real substantive decision just one that said we would strive for regular attendance of Sunday service and sign the kids up for something fun and biblically educational.

As it turned out, our church requires the completion of four new member assimilation classes; the four classes cover seven lessons. A week after joining we started. It was the second class that became the catalyst for a life-altering change in my heart and life. In short, one half of the class focused on spiritual disciplines for spiritual growth, emphasizing the importance of a quality relationship with God and identifying specific actions Christians should take to grow spiritually: Daily Quiet Time, Reading/Studying the Bible, Memorizing and Meditating on Scripture, Prayer and Stewardship. It changed my plan from what would have been a routine Sunday appointment to one of spiritual transformation that God intends. Even at that moment, I don’t think I was fully aware of the road I was about to take, but I was moved to set aside some time each day to read and study the Word of God.

The Lord led me to some devotional websites and I picked one to visit each morning. Before I started my day, Bible in hand, I visited the site, read the daily writing and studied through the scriptures outlined in that day’s devotion. Each day, I became more and more engrossed in the Word. I would often start to read a scripture and before I knew it, had completely read an entire book of The Bible. I recall studying in the New Testament and then, led by an interest in the historical events that were referenced there, I would flip to the Old Testament and read a book (or two) there. I read and studied and read and studied, progressively more each day. My heart was being transformed.

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12, NIV)

Even though I said I was a Christian, I began to see that there were things in my life that were not in line with the will of God. It had never been clearer to me, that while I professed deep conviction and love with my mouth, I did NOT love the Lord with my life. God was revealing things to me that were previously masked by my own self righteousness (i.e. “I’m a good person.”) And a burden was laid on my heart to change them. I realized the magnitude of my sins. I realized that they were completely disrespectful to such an AWESOME God and they robbed me of the life he promises. I began to pray, take ownership and seek forgiveness. These words resonated with me: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-10). I set out to make a change.

I decided to fast, as a mark of re-dedication as well as to petition God for his strength and continued revelation in my new walk of faith. I called up a friend who has always been a strong believer and inquired about a fast I knew she’d done some weeks prior. She did not ask me anything about my situation, but agreed to fast and pray with me (I am thankful for God-Friends!). That was a pivotal week. Things were revealed to me and people were sent to me, confirming what I was studying and reading in Gods’ Word, my prayers were acknowledged by God and I knew beyond any doubt that He was ready to move mightily in my life.

That was almost three months ago that I set out only to find a church and found God. He met me there. And to speak to his kindness and grace and mercy it was not with a fire-and-brimstone sermon, but rather, the meek and humble words of a teacher that set me on FIRE for HIM. I am reminded of one of my favorite songs in which he is called “Gentle Redeemer.” That lesson led me to The Bible. Once there, I was convicted by the Living Word. Once convicted (and repentant and willing to change), God began his redemptive work in my life.

My Heart Transformed.

HOT SMARTY PANTS

Chase loves to change clothes. No less than five outfits a day – if I’d allow. He claims he gets hot and when he cools off and is ready to get re-dressed, he can't find his clothes. This is like a sport to him. I have recently told him if he can’t find his clothes, he has to wait until I can help him. No new outfits without my approval. Tonight in the middle of what I thought was a perfectly normal rendition of Old MacDonald he paused to take off his pants. I had not heard of any bottomless 4 year olds on the farm. I said “Chase, stop! What are you doing? Why are you taking your pants off? And don’t say you’re hot.” The house actually had a nice chill. So, he paused, I guess waiting for the right words. Once the words came, he began to take his pants off again, exclaiming “Mommy, I guess my BUTT is on FIRE!”

Oh, my!

ONLY ONE WAY

I'm having a little fun with ScripICtures. I totally made it up. I actually think it would be a good way to teach scripture to the boys (with more age appropriate images of course), but I've got some other ideas for it here, so check back next Saturday for what will be my weekly "Get The Picture? " post. Here's this weeks:

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6, KJV)

SEASON OF TRANSFORMATION

I am in a season of total transformation - My Heart, My Home (the basement is almost finished!) and now My Blog.

Darcy, designer extraordinaire at Graphically Designing and My 3 Boybarians worked her magic on my little piece of the blog-o-sphere and I just love it. The finished product is so much prettier than I could've ever imagined. I'm amazed at Darcy's talent. She took little tidbits of information that I shared with her, put it with her own know-how and hooked.me.up.

Watching the design come together was such a fun process. So fun, that I'll surely do it again.

SOMETHING ABOUT ME

I am a 37 year old Christian, wife and mother of two. My journey, simply described, is this: raised in the Church, wandered in the world, returned to the Lord (recently). I now seek to live genuinely, by the principles set forth in God’s Holy Word. I have always believed The Bible to be the inerrant and infallible Word of God and the final authority in every matter on which it speaks. But until recently, believing and doing were two separate things. I now aspire to practically apply HIS words to my daily living. You can read about the transformation of my heart here. Though I often fall short, I take each moment as a new opportunity to align myself with HIS will. I find extreme comfort in knowing that God is my biggest fan, that he honors my diligence, and he loves me unconditionally.

Speaking of love, I am “mommy” to two little boys that I absolutely adore. At ages 4 and 1, they give me daily doses of what I like to call Son-shine, filling my heart and life with infinite loads of love, laughter and laundry. I can’t imagine life without them; however, nothing in my journey prepared me for life with them. The amount of work and patience required of a parent is beyond anything I would've ever thought I was capable of doing and even now, I am a true work in progress. I have chased “balance” all over The Peach State (Georgia) and only now do I know that you can never truly attain it (because life is always changing), but God can give you a peace in your situation that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7), so that’s where I am on that – peacefully unbalanced. I try to be intentional in my parenting, focusing on those things that are most important. I don’t give myself a failing grade for not living up to everything else. This has been extremely liberating when it comes to Mommy Guilt. I now accept (fully) that, yes, I am sometimes frustrated with my own children, I will always have loads of laundry that don’t get folded and hot dog night does not make me bad mother. I am growing in God’s grace in this and all other aspects of my life, which speaks to the total power of prayer.

One of my favorite things to do is talk to the Lord in prayer; Formal and informal, public and private, frequent and fervent. On my knees, on my feet, in my closet, at my desk, in my car and in my home I am thankful to God for this privilege. It has solidified my relationship with him. And since I believe the most effective prayers are those rooted in scripture it has increased my desire to study HIS word, one hundred fold. I love to talk with God about his promises and to have him talk back to me (through revelations from HIS Word) about HIS will. I go to him in prayer, he sends me to HIS Word, I go back to him in prayer he sends me back to HIS Word, and I go back to him…..well, you get the point. Our conversations are awesome.

Since, I know personally the struggles of balancing the Mother Load; I am so very compassionate towards women in this season of life, particularly those with children still in the home. I have blogged about it, social networked about it and have overcome many-a-hurdle by the testimony of others. A couple of months ago, I stumbled upon a ministry where seasoned moms minister to newer moms based on Titus 2. I look forward to learning more about it and one day sharing it with moms I know.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are blessed, entertained, enlightened and that you decide to come back.