Listen and Be nice.

Listen and be nice. Sounds simple, right? When creating boundaries, the child must understand what is expected of them, and there must be consistent consequences for when they do not demonstrate what is expected.  Noah is 20 months old. It's hard to discern if he has the capacity to fully understand some of the expectations I want him to achieve. My daily plea is for guidance from the Lord to know how to create firm but loving boundaries for Noah. I know that my failures will probably have an impact on his behavior, so I need lots of help.
I have learned throughout my education that it is best to create the most simple set of rules, so it doesn't become daunting for the child.  I began to think of what our rules could be, and so clearly the Holy Spirit says, "Obey and Love."  Wow, the same thing that God expects from me! 
"And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 
 I should not ask anything different from Noah. If we love God, we will love others. If we love God we will want to obey Him. To put these in a way a 20 month old could understand, I decided that Listen (obey) and Be nice (love) is the best fit.  No matter what the situation listen and be nice always fit. Even though this seems like the simplest of rules, it applies to me. Am I listening to the Lord? Am I obeying Him? Am I being nice? Am I loving my "neighbor" as I love myself?
What I love most about what God expects from us, is that its not about a list of Cans and Can't. It truly is to simply LOVE... If we love God we will want to obey Him. But I can't simply decide to love God more. I have tried... I have said, "God help me to love you more". God has shown me that in order to love Him more, I have to give him my heart more. I have to surrender my thoughts, my desires, and my inner most parts.  I love the song 'Empty Me' by Jeremy Camp,  "My desire of anything that is not of you and is of me I want more of you and less of me". David wrote Psalm 139 and said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." 
Speaking of searching me and knowing my heart... We joined Liberty Baptist Church yesterday.  We have known since September that this is where God wants us. I have missed Immanuel, our church in Hattiesburg, so much I think that it has taken us this long to finally be willing to move our membership.  I still miss my dear friends at Immanuel, but I have begun to develop some new ones at Liberty.  I'm very excited to see what God has in store for us there. He has called me to minister to other mothers and to our own generation.  "I've a feeling we're not Kansas anymore" gains a whole new meaning for me. I have only been a christian since March 6, 2007, but in those 5 years I have mainly worked with children. I love children and I have a heart for teaching children, and its comfortable for me there. I was involved with GA's , 5th and 6th grade sunday school teacher, and a leader, then director for Sparks.  I was able to help little ones hide God's word in their hearts, and present the gospel every sunday. It was amazing to see God change so many young hearts, and teaching them truths so that they will not be "tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting" (Eph 4:14). 
 I have always had such a passion for teaching children, but God has placed a burden on my heart to reach out to my own generation.  There are so many young people who do not have a church family.  I have been asking God to help me relate to their feelings so that I could minister to them. Why do they not want to commit to meeting together with the body of Christ? (Heb 10:25) Is it because someone has hurt them? Is it because we are hypocrites? Is it because they are tired of the "church" faces? Is it because preferences and tastes cloud their ability to worship in spirit and truth? It is because some churches put tradition before bible truths? God only knows...  Maybe my generation wants to come to a church with real people, not "churchy" people.  I believe I should be putting my "best" face forward, but I think that my generation is looking to meet the real me, with my real problems.  Maybe they are tired of the cliche things, and simply want to develop relationships with people who are going through the same things they are. God is still working with me on these things, I am left with more questions than answers. In this process, I am trying to empathize with my generation, and hear why they no longer want to go to church... So far, the command I am receiving is to create relationships first. Because it's one thing to tell someone, "God is good, do you want to come to church with me?.." and another to develop a relationship with someone so they will see there is something different in me.  But how does this carry over into building up the body of Christ for my generation?? This has to be put into action at church too. When I'm there I need to minister to those around me and invest in relationships. Then, my generation will be impacted by the love of Christ. I know I will fail at this, but may the Lord give me strength to love my neighbor as myself! Thank the Lord that even though I fail, it doesn't change the unchangeable truths of God's word. 

Lord,    I love you. Thank you for loving me first. Thank you looking into my heart and changing it. Thank you for your Son. Thank you that I am forgiven and counted righteous even though the very best thing I have to offer you is still counted as dirty rags compared to you and your greatness. Thank you that you have blessed me with a wonderful husband who loves you, and two beautiful children.  Help me to use these blessings to honor you and bring glory to your name. Thank you for sending me to Liberty and allowing me to become part of their family. Help me to know the plans you have for me. Give me your eyes so that I can see the needs of others and not be so consumed with the craziness of motherhood. Give me discernment concerning ministry, help to me to know where you are working, and how I should move accordingly. Oh Lord, training my children and teaching discipline is one of the hardest things I have ever done, and it's only the beginning. Teach me to love and obey so that I can teach Noah and Anna how to love and obey. Thank you for the gift of Jesus, it is in His name that I pray. Amen.

The view I love the most...

Here is a glimpse of my sunday...

I was laying on the couch watching Friends, and I was thinking of how I wish I could wrap some presents. Only I haven't bought any yet...minus the power wheels jeep that we bought for Noah. I can't wait to see the excitement on his face whenever he sees it! 

Lately, I have been noticing that life is full of uncertainties! Our renters are two months behind on rent, and that creates all sorts of financial uncertainties, especially twenty days before Christmas. It seems that financial uncertainties are common among a lot of people that I know. So many people are dealing with uncertainties like small bank accounts, divorce, drug abuse, loneliness, brokenness, sickness, change, and more.  All of these are mothers. How do we "deal" with these uncertainties while we wait on the Lord? Isaiah 40 it says, "but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength..." How is the Lord going to renew my strength? I believe that it is knowing that I can rest in the things that are certain.  I may not know if the renters are going to ever pay us. I may not know if we are going to have to kick them out. I may not know if I will need to get a job. But I do know that "My God will supply all my needs according to His riches in glory."Phil 4:19- I also know that God is for me. If I could only tell you how many times I have heard that this week!  God has been sending that word to me through everyone and everything!  God is for me, so who can be against me!? (Romans 8) Some of our uncertainties are not "bad" things. Some of our uncertainties are a change in ministry. I know what God is calling me to do right now, but I don't quite know what that looks like.  There are so many questions, but I know that my God is faithful, He is my sustainer, He is the lifter of my head, and He loves me!  

Speaking of loving me... that seems like such a "childish" saying, but it is TRUTH. God loves me! I am always anxious about the things that are uncertain in life, but what am I gaining from it? God has been telling me all week that I need to cling to the things He has promised me. I like this, because these are things I can count on.  Here is a list of certainties our faithful God has promised us.

Romans 8:31

 "What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

Philippians 4:19

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus."

Romans 8:37-39

No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Psalm 54:4

"Surely God is my help; The Lord is the one who sustains me."

Psalm 3:3

"But Thou O, LORD are a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter of my head."

Titus 2:11-13

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ"

Isaiah 41:10

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

(Turn music off at the bottom of page)

A Parenting Manifesto of Joy

I saw this online and I had to share! It's a free printable from Ann Voskamp http://www.aholyexperience.com/2010/11/10-point-manifesto-of-joyful-parenting-free-printable/

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2010/11/10-point-manifesto-of-joyful-parenting-free-printable/

1. Today, I will make our home a house of prayer. I will pray at set times. And I will invite our children to come move into an interior space that lives with God.

2. Today, I will transfigure all things into beauty, and I will refuse to see anything else.

3. Today, I will not have any emergencies. There are no emergencies! Only amateurs hurry.

4. Today, when stress mounts, I pray to dismount it with gratitude. My stress management plan will be intervention with verbal thanks. I can only feel one feeling at a time, and I choose to give thanks at all times. Fight feeling with feeling!

5. Today, I will pray to speak words that are only STRONG words, words that make these children feel strong. Grace words. Grace is the only non-toxic air. All other words I breathe are death words.

6. Today, I will pray to be consistently consistent. I will create safe rhythms that our children can find security in. I will create daily ceremonies because everyday we are CELEBRATING the gift of now!

7. Today, the moment when I am most repelled by a child's behavior, that is my sign to draw the very closest to that child.

8. Today, I will hug each of my children as many times as I serve them meals -- because children's hearts feed on touch. I'll look for as many opportunities to touch my children today as possible --- the taller they are, the more so.

9. Today, my priorities will be all Things Unseen.

10. Today, I will laugh! And I will let the little children laugh! I will create a culture of JOY!

Why do I blog?

I was lying in bed last night thinking... Why do I blog? I wonder how many people have looked at my blog today? I wonder if anyone likes my blog? The Holy Spirit completely convicted me; I am not blogging for approval or for how many people look at my blog. I am blogging because God has laid compassion on my heart for other moms. He has given me two children, and He knew when He gave me Noah that I was way in over my head. So, now that I have two I'm very much in over my head. The only way that I can stay sane is through Christ alone. So I had a ticker on my blog and I took it down. I do not want to be tempted to seek the approval of others. I want to simply write because I want to share my story and my life with others.

There are many things that contributed to me starting this blog. I'll give you a little peep into my world...

I am standing in my laundry room folding clothes. I am yearning for joy while buried behind the laundry baskets, kids are screaming, my marriage is desperate for attention, we have debts, the constant battle between being content and always wanting more. Some days it was even hard just getting out of bed, but thankfully I have a comforter. I just want to be real with my fellow moms because I think that a lot of us just need to know we are not alone in our struggles.

I graduated in May of this year. Noah was 13 months old and I was 7 months pregnant with Anna. The weekend after I graduated, we moved to Birmingham. After living with my parents for 6 weeks, we moved into our LOVELY house on July 11th. On July 17th, Anna Caroline Lee was born 7 pounds, 13 ounces, 20 inches long. Lance was working at his new job, which is more demanding of his mind and energy than his previous one. Plus, traffic makes him get home later. When we first moved here we originally went to Liberty, where I had gone when I lived in Chelsea before. After a few weeks of going we felt that there was something missing. We bounced from church to church for about 6 weeks and still....nothing. We weren't trying to find a "perfect" church, we are well aware that there is no such thing. You know the saying, "Don't try to find a perfect church, and if you do find it, don't go there because you will mess it up!" After much prayer, we realized we were trying to find a church exactly like Immanuel (our church in Hattiesburg). We went through more changes in 4 months than we have been through in our entire lives.  One of those nights, when Lance was out of town, I had a poor pitiful me party. Even though my pity party was not deserved it led to some great prayer time and me just being still before the Lord. I realized that my faith lacked diligence. 

That week I attended Moments for Moms for the first time at Liberty. They welcomed me with open arms, and I had a great conversation with a fellow mom about her church hunting struggles. I love going to Moments for Moms now! It is such an intimate time of worship for women. Especially since we have such heavy burdens of parenting laying on our hearts. These are burdens that we need to place at the feet of Jesus. After all, He says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30). A wonderfully sweet woman that led worship last month said something that was so profound to me. God has a name that is a name above all names, its a name above all our diseases, our struggles...His name is greater than parenthood! Her words were so perfect and used by God at that moment to comfort a worn out Mom like myself.

Now that the Lord is my comforter, and I can go to Him when I'm worn out...now what? The Lord wasn't finished..well He never really is, is He? He started to reveal to me how little time I actually devote to him. I'm so busy with the kids, how can I spend more time with the Lord? Well, I can always spend more time with the Lord in my quiet time... Jesus would go for a great while before the day as he departed to a solitary place and prayed (Mark 1:35). I started reading this book given to me by a dear friend called, The Beautiful Fight by Gary Thomas. It's about allowing the Holy Spirit to transform my whole body to serve the Lord. A revelation came upon me, not really something that I had never thought about, but this time it was different...

Holiness is not about what we do or don't do. Holiness is about letting myself be transformed into a vessel for the Lord. Thomas says this,

"Today's believers often lose touch with this sense of the glory of being a Christian. We settle for so little—a tame religion, a few rituals, maybe even an occasional miraculous answer to prayer—and so pass our lives without understanding our true identity in Christ, embracing our calling as God's children or fulfilling our divine purpose."

What does this mean for me? Well, should I be spending time with the Lord as I am doing the laundrY? While I am consoling the kids' cry? While I am missing Lance? Surely! I have so many things to be thankful for, how could I be so frustrated with my life?

We woke up 15 minutes late this morning, and it turned into us rushing around the house to leave on time for church. On top of that its RAINING! Thanks to the book, One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, it occurred to me that when I stop to consider all that I have to be thankful for, it's hard to be so frustrated! We left only 5 minutes late, and we have an awning at our church so I didn't even have to get wet. Just the fact that we have a car and the wonderful church building is enough to take away my frustrations.

Now that I am spending more time with the Lord and trying to live in thankfulness. I have noticed that one minute I'll be filled with the Holy Spirit and everything seems well, then one.little.thing. will happen and I'm in a frenzy! Why is that? Why do I fail so much? Well, right now I'm just going to take it one step at a time. I have to remember what Thomas says, its not about what I do or don't do, its about a relationship.  Continue growing in the Lord and remain thankful, and when the going gets tough; don't give up!

Why do I blog? To glorify HIS name, to spread HIS praise and honor!

While you are decorating...

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it is officially the Christmas "season". However, I always get too excited and put up my decor early. Each year I go to Hobby Lobby with stars in my eyes to see the new Christmas decor. Often times we get so preoccupied with the ornaments and wreaths and such that have so much pizzaz, that we overlook the humble manger scene. It is the perfect picture of what Christmas really is. God so loved the world that he gave his only son. Jesus, who is God, has been seated in heaven since the beginning of time. He is God who reigns in heaven! He came from royalty to this earth. That demotion might be something we think lightly of because we live here. However, for Jesus to step down from heaven, and to be a humble servant to the people he would die for is so humiliating. Love actually came down on Christmas, for me and for you! So when we put up our manager scenes we can remember that it stands for when God intervened on our behalf; He sent his son to earth. You cannot get that kind significance from a Christmas tree.


Great worship song for you and your family!

You are Special-Children's Literature

Last week I tried out the library at Liberty. I got five books; that way we will have a book for every night (Wednesdays and Sundays we get home pretty late so he normally falls asleep in the car). Last night, we read You are Special, by Max Lucado. This was an amazing book, and now on my favorite list for children's literature. This book was great for children especially since kids are always wanting to "fit in", and want the approval of their peers. I can relate to this so much as a Mom. We never want anyone to think we are less than perfect. I try my best to seem like I have everything "together", but the truth is that most times it's pure chaos. I am so forgetful and absent minded (my husband would second this!). I have weaknesses but where I am weak, He is strong (2 cor 12:10) and God has made me wonderfully and fearfully (Psalm 139:14). Along with these weaknesses, He has given me strengths and talents.

We do not need to walk around letting the world tell us what we are worth, or give us "stars and dots" as the Wemmicks did in the book. God says that we are made with a purpose and are His workmanship, created to do good works. Let's go to God and let Him decide what are worth.

Gary Thomas says " Your weaknesses means nothing in the light of God's equipping call. In fact they can bring more glory to God by making it clear that you are God's instrument and you have been transformed" (paraphrase)

Power of Prayer-Sweet Dreams

Noah has always been a great sleeper. He started sleeping all night at 6 weeks old, and was sleeping in his own bed at 8 weeks. The only time he ever wakes up in the night is when he is sick. About a month ago, Noah started waking up in the middle of the night frantically calling, "Momma!! Momma!" When my grandmother passed away we spend an entire week on the road hopping from relative to relative. This reinforced the interrupted sleep pattern that he had formed. When we returned home, he learned how to open door knobs. His frantic habits became panic for me! One night, he left his room and fell asleep in my floor. When I woke up to feed Anna, I did not see him. I checked in his room and he wasn't there. Needless to say, I panicked!!

While all of this was happening in Noah's world, Anna started waking up in the middle of the night wanting a bottle. I went to Moments for Moms on Nov 4th. While I was there, Leigh Ann brought up that while her daughter was having nightmares, she started playing Amazing grace on repeat while her daughter was sleeping to prevent the nightmares. Immediately, I knew this was more than Noah going through a phase! This was a direct attack from the enemy. Last Friday I prayed over Noah, his dreams, and his room. I played Jesus loves Me on repeat all night, and PRAISE GOD he slept soundly the entire night. I have repeated this each night, and tomorrow will be 1 week of no waking up!

I am so thankful to have godly moms around me to encourage me and to give me advice. I am so thankful that God is faithful. I know that a month of sleepless nights is a far cry from being in a "valley" however with other circumstances involved, I must say that the song Blessings by Laura Story fit perfectly to what God has been doing in my life.