Ruth

I started teaching a bible study at my house. We are going through the book of Ruth. Oh how, I love her story. Redemption, love and grace!  I am going to share this week on here. So this is just a little teaser of what is to come.

I love that it is finally raining and cold by the way :)

Psalm 139:14

I am wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14
We have been learning this verse for the month of May for Sunday School.
Kira wanted to write it out and we sounded out the letters using Zoophonics.

The kids are constantly quoting movie lines and I know I do it too. They will remember a line from a movie after only seeing it once. I thought why not use that memory for good. So each time they quote a movie then we recite our memory verse. Within a day Enzo knew the verse! We are onto another verse that they picked.


But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,


gentleness and self control. Gal 5:22
 
I love it and it is good for me too!

Feeling Anxious?

I do not know about you, I definitely struggle with being anxious. I consider myself to be doing better and better everyday. It is a daily battle. I have to continually lay it down and I continually pick it right back up, dah. His mercies are new every morning and I am thankful for that! In my devotion I was reading this:

"It is not so much the events that make you anxious
 as it is your thoughts about those events"

Wow, I totally agree and came to the realization I do this all the time. For example, finances are the number one thing I worry about, in fact I think it is the only thing I really truly worry about. This last year has been the hardest but the best. We have been squeezed and stretched in ways I would never imagine. Each time I actively waited on the Lord and did not worry, was a total blessing to see how He works. I can remember numerous times where I would look at the budget and scratch my head wondering how it would all work out. We would get a generous gift from a friend just because, Eric would not have to drive around for work(saving on gas), the accounts can go on and on. The best is that even the times I did worry, God still blessed us and showed us His grace, getting what you do not deserve.

"Your mind engages in effort to take control of a situation,
 to bring about the results you desire."

We think that if we worry enough it might change something, has it really ever helped? NO, it just makes us sick to our stomachs thinking of all the possible ways the events will occur.

"Your thoughts close in on the problem like ravenous wolves. Determined to make things go your way, you forget that I am in charge of your life."

We spin around and around in circles trying to figure out the solution when we are not even able to really change anything about it.

"The only remedy is to switch your focus from the problem to My Presence.
Stop all your striving, and watch to see what I will do.
I am the Lord!"

Truly, the only time we feel at true peace is when we know He is in control. I am a control freak and this is very hard for me, but when I let go and truly let Him do His thing, wow, what a blessing and a relief!

Early Bird Gets the Worm

I have read a few posts lately about the benefits of rising early. I was really good for about a while, going to bed early and rising in the wee hours of the morning and then the Winter Olympics came and I was up late watching them. The next time was working like a charm too but then traveling and getting sucked into Law and Order (I love that show!) next thing I know I am waking up at 7:30, huh? Well this great gal, Ruth over at GraceLaced just posted about the 5:45 Club. I was again encouraged to make an effort. She asked a simple question. I responded and now I feel held accountable. Even though I know she is not going to call me at 5:46 to make sure I am up, but rather it is the fact of keeping your word, even if it is out there in cyber space.

So why wake up early you ask? You are already exhausted from being a full time mom with a full time job (so actually you have two full time jobs), you are a college student cramming late at night, you are a newly married wife with all sorts of commitments, or you are someone who just LOVES their sleep. I can only tell you the benefits that I have received.

Reason #1
THE HOUSE IS QUIET
It is almost guaranteed that no one else is going to be up. Yes, there are mornings that one or both rugrats is up early but 95% of the time it is just me and my refrigerator humming.

                                                                                                photo by Latente

Reason #2

COFFEE

Okay, so I am still in love with my coffee and I do go back and forth about drinking this delicious elixir. For me it is not about caffeine but rather the ritual. The smell, the warmth, the cup, the first sip, that is what I love about coffee.

Reason #3

A PLETHORA OF TIME

If you plan it out right you are able to make this time in the morning so sweet and useful, it is wonderful.

I wake up to not only the alarm but the beeping of my coffee maker telling me to come hither, it is ready. I have my devotion and prayer time. I then get on the computer, checking emails, blogs and write a post or prep for a post. Look at what needs to be accomplished during the day; laundry, cleaning, dinner etc.

Reason #4

TIME WITH MY SAVIOR

By far the best reason ever! I find that I am way more useful and pleasant if I start the day with my best friend. Getting to know Him, reading about Him, learning His ways, listening for His voice. I wish I could spend hours in the quiet with Him but it is not going to happen. So I embrace the quiet time I have and cling to it all day or as long as I can. As you know I am no way perfect, I have issues, I am sinful, I grumble to myself, and I miss the mark daily if not every minute or so. However, if I start out my day on the right foot, I tend to not go down that path as quickly.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path

Psalm 119:105

I hope to encourage not frustrate. If 5:45 does not work for you just try fifteen minutes earlier than normal. Try it for a week and then slowly try fifteen minutes earlier than that. Rome was not built in a day and you are not going to magically wake up at 5:45 when you have always woke up at 8:00. Give yourself grace and know that whatever time you commit to Him, He will bless you richly.

Proverbs 31- Uprightness

I have always loved the Proverbs 31 woman. I have read books on her and felt inspired to take a deeper look on my own. I know a lot of women feel intimitaded by her and feel that they could never live up to the standard she left. I do not not think God wants us to feel that way. He obviously wants us to learn from her and not feel daunted by her. To be encouraged by her and strive to have her characteristics. I know quite a few women who strive to be like her and by no means are they her. No one could on their own accord, however with the grace of God we can aspire to be our own version of her. Hopefully this series will bless you and encourage you as it has encouraged me. I plan to take it verse by verse and give a modern look to it.

Proverbs 31:10
Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies

Virtuous is such a fabulous word and here are some Strong's Concordance Hebrew references.

When looking at the specific word "virtuous" for this particular verse I found these:

1. Virtue
2. Uprightness
3. Integrity
4. Fitness

Without writing down all the dictionary definitions, I want to explore how we as women can be the virtuous women God wants us to be. Taking one word at a time.

http://www.photo.net.ph/albums/userpics/10910/wc%239_The_domino_effect.jpg

Uprightness

Honesty is an important character. I think honesty is something so many people lack in the day and age. Right now with Kira and Enzo, I am having a difficult time teaching them the importance of honesty. They are more concerned with not disappointing me or having consequences then telling me the truth. I think we are the same no matter what age we are. We are afraid to disappoint others. We tell a little "white lie" that seems to not hurt anyone directly but it does in the end. I have been trying to teach them about the trust that is broken when the kids lie. It makes me sad when they lie. How much more does it make Our Father in Heaven sad when we lie. It is in our nature and I understand that but we can train ourselves to be truthful. We will see consequences when we are honest. Maybe initally it will be unwanted consequences but as we get in the habit of being truthful we will enforce our ability to be trusted. Trusted with matters we would never imagine to be trusted with.

Now I am not talking about being brutally honest here people. Like when your girlfriend asks if the jeans make her look fat and you reply " Of course!" I am talking about being as the word says upright. Stand tall and vertical in what you say and do.

How can you be more upright in your life as a wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend and woman?

Do you struggle with honesty?

Let Go

Enzo's Left Hand

I was reading my devotion yesterday and thought of Enzo. She talks about letting go.
Letting go of all the things you are trying to control.

"As you relax more and more, your grasping hand gradually opens up, releasing your prized possession into My care." from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

One of the verses she refers to:

For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying "Fear not I will help you"
Isaiah 41:13


Enzo's left side is weakened due to Cerebral Palsy.
He has a hard time relaxing his left hand. When he is concentrating on something, he tends to fist his left hand. It is common in people with CP. I have to tell him to relax and slowly he will, opening his hand and then I can take whatever is in his hand. A lot of time he does not even know that he has something in his hand. He forgets and I am not quite sure of the sensation/feeling he has on the left side.

This reminded me how often do we forget we are even carrying a burden, holding onto loved ones, trying to keep in control or caring about our possessions. We do not even know we are doing it. We have grown numb to the sensation of the weight or pressure of what we are holding onto.

God wants us to let go. We need to relax. We need to have confidence and faith in Him. We can feel secure with Him on our side. He is here to help, He WANTS to help. We need Him to help us. We clearly can not do it on our own.


The picture above is of his sweet left hand open. I slowly placed it on mine. I caressed it softly, encouraged him to open it and to relax. He was so sweet and listened, did not question and honored my request. We sat there hand in hand for a few seconds. He looked up at me and smiled. What a tender moment of trust.

Preparing for the Day

I just read my little devotional and had to share about it.


"I have prepared this day for you with the most tender concern and attention to detail. Instead of approaching the day as a blank page that you need to fill up, try living it in responsive mode: being on the lookout for all that I am doing"
From Jesus Calling By: Sarah Young

Easier said than done huh? We have to have complete trust in God knowing that His ways are perfect.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.
And He delights in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not utterly cast down;
For the Lord upholds him with His hand.

Psalm 37:23-24

As for God, His way is perfect;
the word of the Lord is proven.
He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
For who is God except the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?
...He makes my feet like the feet of deer.
And sets me on high places.

Psalm 18:30-31 & 33


How awesome to know that His ways are perfect. We don't have to be and could not possible be perfect. If we trust in Him and remember constantly that He has our hand. We are like the little toddler in a parking lot. We have no idea that there are cars moving forward and backwards. We do not know the direction we need to go. We are at the height of the wheels and only see a percentage of the big picture. We are not paying attention, all we are looking at is the pink bubble gum on the ground or the occasional puddle. We HAVE to hold onto His hand in order to survive.

He has created each day new. I am so thankful for that. It is a blank day, I always want to fill it up with every possible thing. However this last week has shown me that my plans mean absolutely nothing. Here are some examples:

Sunday: I notice Enzo's eye was really red in the outside corner on the white of his eye. We go the ER and the doctor says it is just an irritation and will go away.

Monday: Enzo had his therapy in the morning. We took the bus both ways and had a great morning. I was planning on getting the laundry done once I was home and clean parts of the house. Instead Enzo's eye was worse than Sunday, it is red almost all the way to his iris. We go to the ER again. This time on the bus, Enzo is crying bloody murder because we are going to the doctor, the WHOLE WAY (seven minutes). Luckily, there are only about seven college students on the bus. We get there and the doctor tells me he DOES have a scratch on his sclera (the white of the eye), like the doctor last night noted. Umm, he did not tell me that. They give up drops and sent us on our merry little way.

Tuesday: Eric's day off. He is planning on working on the cars. I am planning on cleaning house, prepping for our weekly dinner with neighbors. He takes his paperwork in to his job and his motorcycle won't start back up. I have to pick him up in the middle of my routine. It throws the whole day off.

So you see, you can plan all you want but it does not always work out that way. If we look at the day through God's eyes then we might be able to see what He wants accomplished, not what we want accomplished. How hard is that. I am going to try today to really be aware of His plan for the day. Do I really need to take care of ALL the household duties? No, I can do a couple of things and really enjoy time with my kids and talk with them and relish in the moment of this season. That is all they want out of the day, your attention, your unconditional love and hugs, lots of hugs.

I fall victim to this all the time, I do things that drown out His voice. It is my own fault. I know the enemy contributes to it as well but I need to own up to what my habits are.

How do you prepare for the day?
Do you listen for His voice?
Or is His voice drowned out by the cell phone, t.v., babies crying, boss hassling you, or the computer?

Day 21

Okay I am done with my drastic detox and I feel so much better. I was going to to seven but I did six and a half. I actually love eating this way. Basically you graze on fruit and veggies all day, mostly fruit for me and then have a salad/raw veggies and a cooked starch of potato, brown rice, polenta or quinoa. This is our goal to continue to eat this way. I am excited to make it more of a lifestyle and hopefully it will not fizzle out after six months, like I have tended to do. I think I have to be more inventive with recipes and try new things but don't over make something too much too and burned out on it. I think that was the biggest thing I did the last couple times.

Today we went to church at the 9 am service and it was really good. He was talking about how John was told to eat the scroll in Revelation chapter 10.

Rev 10:1011 Then I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. And he said to me, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.
Now Byran was saying that John probably did not literally take a fork and knife to the scroll and begin eating it. But if you think about how His word, the bible is our daily bread it makes more sense that he was mentally digesting if that makes sense.

Bryan's three points to it were this:
1. Sweetness in the Mouth
When we read the scriptures it is sweet to our soul.

How refreshed do we feel when we have been in His word before the day starts. It is like we are ahead of everyone else and prepared for the day. John Piper said something to the effect that, We love scriptures because we love our eyes. We love to see God's beauty. How true is that we love living in beautiful places, love beautiful things. God's Word is beautiful and sweet.

2. Bitterness in the Stomach
Yes, God blesses us but disobedience hurts the relationship.

When we sin we put distance between our relationship. I sometimes think sin is like eating junk food. It tastes so good and you know you shouldn't eat. But you eat it anyway and then it tastes so good you just keep eating until you look at the empty box of chocolate donuts and think to yourself, did I just do that? Then about twenty minutes later when you stomach catches up with your mouth you think to yourself what was I thinking I feel awful. *Okay so maybe I did not eat all of the donuts in one sitting but I did eat most of them and I was sick as a dog for two hours.

That is how sin is. We think, oh we can do that it isn't a major sin, like looking at a Victoria Secret magazine for guys or wanting a house, car or clothes for us girls. But what happens? The guy ends up dwelling on the photos and then might move to another type of magazine or searches out certain websites. Or for us girls we like someone's house, car or clothes and we get dissatisfied. We start grumbling and mumbling and are not thankful for what we have. This is covetousness and it is a sin. We may start our innocently but end up in a real debacle. We feel sick to our stomach.

I remember the week before I came back to the Lord. I was in an awful state. I was literally sick to my stomach over the choices I had made for the last eight years. They started out not so bad and over the years I did not even recognized who was staring at me in the mirror. God's redemption is amazing and I know I am white a snow now. But I have to be careful not to slip into the same pattern as before.

Joel 2:25 "So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten
Thank God for this promise!

3.Commission to Proclaim its Message
Where is your joy? Why are we not excited about sharing the Gospel?

Why are are we not sharing? I ask myself that a lot. I really try to get know people and get involved in their lives and try to share the gospel and use words if necessary. But I know there are times to evangelize. I just hope that I step up to the plate when they arise.
What are you doing to share your faith?

Spending: Zero

Menu:
Breakfast:
Fruit Smoothies

Snack:
Big raisins-dates
regular raisins

Lunch:
Bananas
Sun butter roll-ups

Snack:
nuts
bananas
big raisins

Dinner:
banana-Kira and tomatoes-Enzo
Rice Noodles and tomato sauce

I am excited we are going down to OC on Tuesday on the train. It will be so much fun to see everyone. I am working Friday and Saturday at the restaurant and I know I am going to love every minute. Tomorrow I am cleaning, doing laundry, packing and prepping some meals for Eric. Busy, Busy!

Trusting Him More

In my devotion today I was so blessed and wanted to share with you.
I am really loving this little book and never thought it would encourage me as it has.

"Don't waste energy regretting the way things are or thinking about what might have been
Start at the present moment--accepting things exactly as they are--and search for My way in the midst of those circumstances.

Trust is like a staff you can lean on, as you journey uphill with Me.
If you are trusting in Me consistently, the staff will bear as much of your weight as needed.
Lean on, trust, and be confident in Me with all your heart and mind."


How often do I sit there and think if only we did not do this or we should have done that.
I do not live in the moment and in the moment is where He wants us. I also know He wants us to think of the future too. Do not foolishly live each day without planning. That is not what He wants. In Proverbs 30:25 "The ants [are] a people not strong. Yet they prepare their food in the summer." He wants us to plan and He will direct our feet.
I love how the author reminds us of the staff. If we truly trust Him and allow Him to bear our burdens we can give Him everything and walk in confidence.
I am so blessed by these words of encouragement. I hope it will encourage you to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him." Proverbs 3:5-6

Enjoy your Saturday

Seek My Face

My mom got this little devotional for Eric and I called "Jesus Calling" By: Sarah Young. I started reading it the other morning and it has a little devotion for each day and I really like it.
Especially today's devotion was great.


"Seek My Face, and you will find more than you ever dreamed possible.
Let Me displace worry at the center of your being.
I am a supersaturated cloud, showering Peace into the pool of your mind.
My nature is to bless. Your nature is to receive with thanksgiving.
This is a true fit, designed before the foundation of the world.
Glorify Me by receiving My blessing gratefully.
I am the goal of all your searching.
When you seek Me, you find Me and are satisfied.
When lesser goals capture your attention, I fade into the background of your life.
I am still there, watching and waiting; but you function as if you were alone.
Actually, My Light shines on every situation you will ever face.
Live radiantly by expanding your focus to include Me in all your moments.
Let nothing dampen your search for Me."



I love this! How often do we lose sight to the idea that God is ALWAYS there. We know that He is there but do we really believe it? He wants to bless us and we so desperately need Him do so.
We often search out false blessings and like the passage said He fades into the background. He is still there but we are not allowing Him to do what He wants to do for us. I also love the "supersaturated cloud showering Peace in the pool of our mind" WOW! Do I ever love the rain and especially today while we are in the middle of a storm. I know having grown up in Washington State I love the rain, love it, love it. The sound, the smell the feeling of just standing underneath it and being showered on is all amazing. Now imagine that is God's Peace and He is just waiting to shower you with it. Making your mind have the peace that surpasses all understanding. Now I will take that any day and by my understanding of our Heavenly Father, He wants to give that to us every minute of every day, we just need to seek Him.
I already feel refreshed and ready to think and dwell about this all day, at least that is my hope. My hope to turn to Him and seek Him during the day. So often I have a great devotional only to turn around and ten minutes later I am short with my kids or get frustrated and lose my cool. Today I am going to try to seek Him more than I have before. I sure hope you do.