We're moving again

I know, moving is a pain. Change is tough. But this will be the last time, hopefully, at least for a while. This blog is moving. I've combined the blog with my website to simplify my life. So here it is: the new address: http://www.biblemoms.com/ Click on the blog tag and you're there. Half of the old posts are up now, and the rest will be posted in the next few days. I'm updating the website, too, but it's not all done yet. Thanks for your patience!

Motherhood is tough

Several times today I wondered if maybe being a brain surgeon would be an easier job then what I was facing as a mother. That, or say a combat specialist, CIA agent, fighter pilot. I can do my part ok. I'm totally fine washing everyone's clothes, I'm ok making the meals, I'm even ok being an encourager. The part that's hard about being a mom is that I can't control how anyone else acts. I can't make my children not complain when I ask them to do something. I can't make my kids get along. I can't make them be productive. And, though I can prod, I found today I cannot actually make them play the piano. They may sit on the bench, but that's not quite the same as playing. What is a mother to do in such a circumstance?
The best part of the day was when we made some popcorn, crawled on the couch, put in a movie, and after the initial complaints of Mom's choice of movie died down, other than the occasional grunt for more popcorn, it was QUIET.
When the kids were all settled into bed, I opened the Bible to where we left off: Matthew16:24. It says, "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering;embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?"
Ok, I get it. These days will come. The question is, how will I react? Will I endure, will I trust, will I remain calm, even though the turbulent waters hit me.
I didn't make it through the day perfectly. But I did make it through. And more importantly, at the end of the day, we sang hymns and read the Bible together as a family.
There were more complaints as the light went out, but I'm hoping the message of the gospel will work in their little hearts, and I'm praying for grateful hearts, that learn to avoid complaining and spend more time thanking.

We can't all sit in the same chair

I have four children. We have six chairs around our dining room table. The two younger children mostly like to stay in the same chairs for every snack and every meal. The other two prefer to mix it up sometimes. This of course causes problems, especially when three people end up on the same chair.
I'm so thankful we weren't all created to sit in the same chairs in life. A few people were meant to be national recording artists. Many more people are gifted musicians who keep their worship services at their church beautiful every week. There's a few of us that can just add a tiny bit to that worship service on special occasions.
Jesus told the parable of the talents. (A talent was worth more than a thousand dollars.) He said a master was going away so he gave one servant five talents, another two and another one. Then the master went away. The one with five talents put those talents to work and gained five more. The one with two talents put them to work and gained two more. The one with one talent dug a hole and put it in it. When the master returned he was pleased with the first two servants and furious with the third.
God has given each one of us gifts. Some people are gifted in many facets of life. They are leaders, speak well in front of others, play instruments, sing, write songs, you name it. Many more of us could never write a song, but we may be gifted enough to play it on the piano or organ if we get the music. There are a few of us who couldn't even do that, but we're happy to sing along, a little out of tune when we hear it played.
Put your gifts and talents to work. Don't hide behind the pews at church pretending you aren't good at anything. You know you are. Many gifts, like speaking in public, can be refined with use. The more you do it, the easier it gets.
We can't all sit in the same chair. But God has given us each gifts to fill all the chairs around His table. Have a seat and use what you have!

Rededicate Yourself

I'm just in from the Aaron Shust concert. I took my nine-year-old daughter. I don't know how much she'll remember of it, other than that it was loud and she stayed up way past her bedtime. But for me, it will burn like an Olympic torch. His light ignited mine. One person on fire for the Lord can set his world ablaze.
I confess I had serious reservations. I like Aaron's music, but I hate the concept of making more of a person than they are. Let's face it, before the Lord, you and I and Aaron are all equals. I don't care much for the world's way of dealing with fame. But this, my five friends who are reading this, is the deal. He wasn't into sharp duds. His guitar players didn't bend and cringe as they played. They sang along. They played their guitars. They admited they were nervous. But more importantly than any of that, when Aaron talked about why he wrote a song or what the lyrics meant, it was obvious that this was a man who read his Bible and who loved his LORD. He made me want to go home and read my Bible.
During intermission, he told us not to buy his "junk" (CD's, shirts,etc), but instead to feed the children of the world, children who are starving not only for lack of food, but who need to hear about their Savior.
For me the most poignant moment of the night was during a song when Aaron sang something to the effect of laying all his plans at Jesus' feet. I for one am tired of making plans or trying to make things work that apparently are not in line with what God's decided is best for my life. It is time to switch off the co-pilot button and give all control to the Master.
2 Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
Rededicate yourself today to following the only One worth following. And I'm not talking about Aaron.

It's all about perspective

Our four-year-old came home from the ER excited.
"I got to ride in a tube," she said, referring to her CT scan. "It was like a roller coaster."
"Well I hope you don't ride on that roller coaster again," I said.
"Why?" she asked, deflated.
"Because you have to be hurt to ride on that roller coaster," I said.
Oh, to be four and ride the waves of life so joyfully! Why can't I face adversity with the same sort of attitude?
Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
That's a bit of a tall order, isn't it? I can understand be joyful most of the time. I can understand be thankful more often then not. But here we're told to be joyful always and give thanks through it all. Why? Nothing can change what Christ has done. No matter how cruel the circumstances, Christ lived the perfect life required so He could die and pay the price. His sacrifice opened heaven for us and no one can take that away. While in this world, we'll feel the effects of sin, but thanks be to God it doesn't have to get us down. The battle's o'er; the victory's won! We are not defeated. Don't let circumstances make you act as if you are.

The tree wins this time

Last night, just before dark, my kids decided to go sledding. They put on their outside clothes knowing they only had twenty to thirty minutes. It had been less than fifteen when my husband carried my screaming four-year-old in. She had hit a tree. Her face was red with blood and cuts, but it was the blood splot soaking through her hat that concerned me the most. In all honesty, I was scared to take the hat off for fear of what I might see.
We brought her into the bathroom and cleaned her up, settled her down, got the ibuprofin on board to start numbing the pain. When we moved the blood-matted hair and started cleaning her head, the cut was not all that bad. It was about the size of a quarter, but the worrisome part was that it was dented in. My husband, an RN, watched it and wondered why it didn't swell. Obviously it was blunt force trauma. Something (a branch, a nub on the tree, who knows?) had hit her there.
After watching her for a few hours and trying to determine if she needed to go to the ER or not, we looked skull fractures up on the internet. What we saw and read was encouragement enough to let the experts decide what damage had been done.
She had a head CT and two staples put in her head before returning home a few minutes before midnight.
Last night the tree won. In the garden of Eden, the devil, posing as a snake in the tree, won. All of us have felt the effects of a sinful world ever since. If Christ had not rose from the dead, the devil would have won again. By all accounts Christ must have looked pretty weak hanging on the tree. Thankfully the story didn't end there. If that was it, and our Jesus, who claimed to be true God, hung dead on a tree, he was no different then anyone else. But He didn't stay on the tree. He didn't even stay in the grave. Hundreds of people saw him alive again in the days following his death. He was alive, with the nail holes still in his hands and the spear hole in his side, to prove it was not some impostor.
Last night the tree won. How much worse it would have been for us if the tree had won two thousand years ago.

Gardening in God's Kingdom

This is the time of year that gardeners get antsy. The seed catelogs show enough produce to make your mouth water; the big berries, tomatoes, ears of corn. At the same time our stock of canned and saved goods is running low. I just used the last jar of tomatoes. The potatoes that are left are small, and some are starting to sprout, as if they know planting time is approaching.
Our best gardening year was the only year we gardened with my father-in-law. We had cabbage and beans and cucumbers, peppers, pumpkins, tomatoes, eggplants and herbs. Our cherry tomato plants were huge bushes that produced hundreds of bite size tomatoes. My husband and I couldn't believe how much the garden produced with seemingly so little effort.
My father-in-law died before we could plant our next garden. After he was gone we realized how much work he put into our garden. We prepared the soil, we planted the seeds and plants, we watered sometimes, but he weeded and watered inbetween our visits.
Our work in God's kingdom is that way. We may plant a seed, or we may water it, or we may pull a weed or two, but God is the one doing most of the work. Behind the scenes he's preparing hearts, preparing messages for those hearts, working in those hearts. And He's the harvester, determining when each plant is ready and has produced to it's full capacity.
As for us, we keep tending the garden. Once we're home, we'll share in the harvest.

Refreeze

All the snow that was melting in the yard yesterday left little puddles along the driveway. This morning all the puddles were frozen again.
I find my heart in the same condition. I spend time in the Word and I commit to righting all the wrongs. I will not disrespect my husband again. I will not waste another minute of my life being lazy. I will not overindulge in desserts. I will be exhaustively loving to my children. God has melted my sinful heart.
Then life happens. We oversleep. One of my children has forgotten to do a page of their homework, another hasn't put their dirty clothes down the laundry chute, and we all trip over it. The dog has to go out, but her rope is frozen in that refrozen snow next to the front door. Don't get me started on the cat. My heart, warm with God's love only hours ago, now acts as if it resides in Antarctica. All my intentions of the previous night are left there frozen in time.
Paul said in Romans 7 "For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing."
The eternal thaw is coming. In the meantime I will keep trying, but I can not live as I want by my own power. Christ has to live through me. The apologies are out and forgiveness is evident. As the kids got out of the car this morning at school after our hectic-not-the-way-it-was-supposed-to-be-morning I told them I loved them. The morning's worst offender smiled back, then skipped into school.

What's on your plate?

This weekend a friend used the metaphor of a person having a heavy plate to hold and another helping carry that plate for awhile. We all have our plates. During some phases of our lives we are in situations that make that plate very heavy. Sometimes we really are at the point of dropping it unless someone comes and gives us a hand, or at the very least the encouragement we need to keep going. What does your plate look like today? Is your heart heavy? Have you been given an illness or suffered a loss that is all but breaking you down? Or are you on the other end of the spectrum? Did you wake up today being able to move all your limbs, being able to breathe well, fortified and built up in the Lord? If so look around. Whose plate can you help carry today? You can't bring someone's loved one back, but you can call them or visit them for an hour to help them through their day. You can't heal anyone, but you can pray for them and send them a note and point them to their Great Physician. We can't conquer someone's addictions, but we can pray Satan's bondage in their life would be broken. Lord, use us today to be your hands and feet, to help carry someone's plate. And if it is my plate that is heavy, Lord send someone to help me carry it.

Don't think, just follow God

Tonight I was running the water in the bathtub and my four-year-old came in and announced it would be her last bath because she had just grabbed the last pair of clean underwear from her closet to put on after her bath. Sounds reasonable right? No more underwear, no more baths.
We, in our sinfulness, seem to come up with some very reasonable ideas, too. The disciples came to Jesus trying to figure out the reasonable amount of times to forgive a person. Was once enough, two for good measure, then oh well, they had their chance? Ah, but Jesus said seventy times seven. In other words, just don't keep track. We think we don't have time to help out at church or all those other good causes, but Jesus said, seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will fall into place. I can't tell you how often I've found that to be true. We think we don't make enough money to give anything to church, but God says, give me my portion and you won't be able to handle the blessings I give you. When a friend or co-worker cuts you down, talks behind your back, or makes false assumptions about you, it seems reasonable to do the same back. But Jesus says to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Blessings come when you do things God's way. Get in the Word and get it in your head, or your mind will be too polluted with sin. Forget reason, just follow God.

Why give something up for Lent?

I gave up sweets for Lent...again. The first few days the cravings for sugar were almost unbearable. I had a headache. I was tired without my sugar highs. I would look at my children's frosted mini wheats (which I never buy, but they talked me into the strawberry ones that were on sale) longingly.
I don't have to give something up. I never did in my younger years. My church doesn't mandate it. Somehow me thinking about sweets and making a conscious choice not to eat them makes it more real to me that at any moment when Christ was being spit at, or beaten, or hanging on that cross...at any moment he could have stopped it all. But He didn't. He didn't so my sin doesn't need to control me anymore.
I want to crave God the way I crave sweets. I want to feel weak and unable to go on if I havent spent time with Him today. I want Him to truly be my bread of life.

Don't miss out

Two days from now I'm giving a presentation on "when God doesn't give us what we want." I've been feeling a little inadequate, like maybe this isn't my thing. I worked on my presentation on and off all day. Tonight we had one of our two monthly Bible studies. For most of the day I was planning on skipping the Bible study to get my presentation nailed down. Forty-five minutes before the study, pressed by my mom for an answer as to whether or not she needed to babysit, I decided to go.
Our study was on 1 Timothy 4. We go around the table and each take a paragraph. Mine started at verse 11. "Command and teach these things. Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given to you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you."
I know Paul wrote this message to Timothy. I've never had elders lay hands on me. But tonight I felt God giving me an affirmation, an affirmation I nearly missed. When we skip out on Bible study we miss out on all that God wants to tell us. We miss out on Him telling us that He sees us, that He would never leave us or forsake us. We miss out on all the Biblical accounts showing how He was with the saints who walked before us. Make the most of every opportunity to get into the Word. Otherwise, you might just miss the encouragement He intended for you.

The sting of a cat scratch

My husband went to the doctor yesterday. A week or so ago, he had been playing with the cat and the cat won. Now, a week later his hand started to swell, so he went in and was put on medication.
Sin can work the same way in our lives. What starts out small can fester into a stronghold for the devil. Being unwilling to totally forgive someone can work itself into hatred, until we can't find anything good about them. The second or third or fourth glance at the appealing member of the opposite sex can easily turn into lust. Discontent can leave us wanting, hoping for more, until the blessings the Lord has given us seem diminished and underappreciated.
Thankfully Jesus is the balm that takes the sting away. We can lay all our sins at the foot of the cross. He can take our hurts and our trials. He can handle what we can't, even the temptations. He knows your thoughts. Be honest with him and pray for His strength to help you with the sin in your life.

Wallpaper

I've spent the last two days taking down a wallpaper border my husband and I put up ten years ago or so. We put it up to last. When I called our local paint store to let them know I was having a terrible time getting the border off she asked if we had put glue on the wall in addition to soaking the wallpaper. I said I thought we had. She assured me we had cemented it on, and it would take great pains to get it off. She was right.
God intended certain things to last in our lives, too. He intended to cement us to Himself, so that our sin, our guilt, and the world's temptations wouldn't pull us from Him. God intended our marriages to last. He intended that our spouse and us and Him would become a cord wound tightly together that would not easily unravel. He intends for us to live with Him, forever, in eternity. Our fate, with our faith in His son Jesus Christ, is cemented, and no one can tear that away from us.
I'll go back to my wallpaper now, remembering how great God's love is.

Addy's second birthday

Last night Addy fell asleep in her dad's arms. We thought of how quickly the time has gone since our first born, now 9, until our baby, now 2. One night they fall asleep in your arms and you carry them to their crib and the next night you put them in their new "big girl bed" and they learn to sleep on their own. Another milestone, letting us know time moves on. We try to keep up. Addy won't remember her second birthday, but I'll try to remember those little blond curls and the smile as she downs the last of the birthday cake leftover from Sunday's party. What treasures a mother's heart holds. And how quickly it can mean nothing if we haven't shown our children their Savior. We have taught Addy how to walk, now we need to teach her to walk in His ways. We are teaching her to talk, then we'll need to teach her to use her words to glorify God. She will learn to read, and then to read God's word, to do math, and to calculate (if and when that's possible)God is behind something. Happy birthday, Addy!

when God doesn't give you what you want

First post: Six days from now I'm giving a presentation to a group of ladies titled, "when God doesn't give you what you want." It seems when a group of women get together we turn so quickly to complaining....I can't keep up, the kids don't listen, where do those extra pounds come from? I'd like to start a new trend. How awesome would it be to call up your friend and say, "praise God, my husband still has his job, the kids are healthy and energetic, and I didn't get around to exercising today because I was so busy living!" I am going to try to be an encourager. Hopefully my mood rubs off on my kids.