Life Happens……

Posted on by Mary

…..and you embrace it.  But sometimes SOMETHING has to give.  For me over the last two months, I have had to set aside my blogging in order to do things well!  To be a good wife, a good mom, and a good ministry leader, and most importantly a good Princess…I am a child of the King after all..  

So this is my return.  I am refreshed and renewed.  I have soaked in God’s word (as I continue to do so).  My house is clean…(mostly) and my kids are all snug in beds….ok so I am sitting outside of a bedroom as I type this struggling with a special needs kiddo who thinks sleeping is old fashioned!

These last two months of veritable silence  here in my little home sweet home has not just been full of busyness (and it has) but it has been a time of peace, renewal, a time of wrestling with God(more on that in a bit) and a time of new insight, not just into my heart but into the lives of my hubby and children.

Does this all mean that my life is any less crazy right now???   Not a chance!  I will ALWAYS be busy!  That is quite ok though.  I would rather have a gazillion things on my plate than to be absorbed into a fake world that leaves me with countless hours of wasted time, money and brain cells.  

So what just has happened over the Last two months

Well Hubby finished his M.A. In Linguistics

      So for those keeping track

         Associates in Wood Products engineering

          Bachelors of Religious Education Pastoral/Languages Emphasis

           Master of Divinity

            Master of Theology

             Master of Arts in Linguistics.

Words cannot express at just how proud of him I am.  Not because he has 5 pieces of paper, but because of his diligence to what God has called him to do, always willing to better himself to help others!  It makes every single second worth it!

Then there is the end of the school year activities

Along with picnics, awards ceremonies, 2 zoo trips, 

A drive across the state for a retirement recognition for hubby’s parents

And THIS…..

We were so saddened to hear of the death of a dear mentor of hubby’s.  This actually pushed back my original restart date by two weeks as my dear husband grieved the hardest I have ever seen him grieve. And even though he has done over 20 funerals in five years he was still touched very deeply by this loss!  But we can rejoice that he is with God in Heaven learning even more of the ins and outs of Greek and God’s word than ever imaginable, he is still greatly missed!

And you might as well

Because I too have engaged in a wrestling match with God over the contents of a book I am working on.  Thankfully no dislocated hip was endured, but a process of dealing with stuffed emotions for many years has culminated in a recurring theme. A friend (ok MORE THAN ONE FRIEND) has been repeating themselves, “share your story you’ve been given,” as they encourage me. Sometimes we don’t want to for whatever reason, but I have laid down my preferences, I have cried uncle and I will press forward.  I don’t know how I am going to do this BUT, in all of it, I will trust God to hold my hand!

So in a VERY abbreviated nutshell this is what has consumed our life over the last few months!  

It’s not been easy but the refiner’s fire gets rid of the impurities so we may shine all the brighter for the one who died such a radical death for me.  So here I am ready to run this race again.   Be watching for some changes and encouragement .

With much love,

 

 

 

hi guys!

Posted on by Mary

Hello!  Do you remember me?  Oh good…

I just wanted to let you know YES I am still alive!

Over the last few months life has been hectic to say the least AND. I had a major finger infection!

ICK!

But hubby is now done with school AND has passed!  He will receive his diploma some time in mid June AND the two oldest children will be done with school within the next week and a half….at that point I will return to my normal blogging schedule.  But have no fear I have a huge list of fun things to talk to you about AND there are going to be some new stuff around here as well.

We will refer to it as BLOGGY SPRING CLEANING! 

So if you will just bear with me and we will see you soon 

Love,

Reflecting Jesus

Posted on by Mary

Today, as I sit on my couch, just after sending my three older children off to school and the youngest watches Jake and the Neverland Pirates, I scroll through my Facebook newsfeed, I see lots of neat things, but in the midst my heart really breaks for a group of moms. In understand that the Nigerian culture may not celebrate Mother’s Day they may not even know it exists here in our comfy country, but I like them have something in common…..we ARE moms. We labored many hours bringing this children into the world. We have sacrificed greatly to provide our children the basic needs, and we entrust our children to a school to be educated.

Let me say this, it’s not the schools fault.
It’s not God’s fault.
It’s not the parents fault.

My heart breaks for these 200 moms who don’t know where their daughters are. BUT GOD DOES.

My prayer is that these moms will have their stolen daughters returned. My prayer is that God will be glorified through this unthinkable act. My prayer is that these girls will trust God, that they will not waiver from their faith and that lives will be changed. My prayer is that these wicked men will see Jesus through these girls and MOST of all my prayer is that these girls will be rescued quickly!

As I brushed my 7 year old daughters hair this morning……I felt blessed to not need to fear for the faith of my child. I have no idea what the future holds for her…or for any of them for that matter! I have been reminded constantly lately that being in constant prayer for my children is so necessary!

Be present
Be kind
Be loving be a good listener
Be ready
Be available
Be focused on them

I need constant reminders, God knows this. I’m easily distracted by all the noise of this world, by everyone’s opinions of me, but they are people too! What are their perceptions of me?

If I care for everyone else’s needs but forget theirs, the rest is in vain. I’ve failed them and God for they are great treasures given for me to take care of and to polish! So they reflect, not my image but that of Jesus.

So won’t you join me in not only praying for our own children but also for those 200 girls stolen. That they too may shine with the reflection of Jesus!?!

A Heart Lesson From Lot

Posted on by Mary

 

This morning as I sat and did my devotions I was  confronted with  a verse that chiseled pieces from my heart.  It’s not something I struggle with consistently.  It stems from low points, those valley moments.  Sometimes valley moments leave me wanting to hide in a storyline…I Love a compelling story!  It’s the girl in me.  It kind of tykes me outside of my circumstances and allows me to enter a land that has happy endings.   

It’s been a rough couple of weeks with our 6 year old.  I can’t fix the issues he struggles with.  I just can’t .  It’s not like a splinter.  You remove the foreign body, put  an antibiotic ointment and a bandaid on it and in a few hours it is forgotten….for a healthy 6 year old anyway.  And this week has been even worse because they have had no school, no school = no rigid routine.  No rigid routine= mass chaos inside this little boys head!   I’m still relatively new to this so it was a great insight into the possibilities for summer!

But all of that said, sometimes we need to step outside of our reality.  That’s why people like TV, MUSIC, MOVIES AND FICTION BOOKS.  and in and of themselves, they aren’t bad things

BUT. Sometimes, sometimes we get blinded by a good storyline and get sucked in.  We get blinded to all the peripheral sin going on.  And that is dangerous territory and that is exactly what happens to Lot as well.  Though his circumstances are slightly different.   The land he goes to is “good” but the people surrounding him are not!

2 Peter 2:7and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8(for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);

Pondering all the false prophets I let into my life.  They may not just be spiritual teachers, but those I am following in my day to day life.  Do those people live like God commands or do they pay lip service and live another way OR does it blatantly go against God’s word and I allow it into my life to  numb my mind and heart to what God calls sin.  Lot does this by living in a city rampant with sin, he offered his daughters to the crowd, he had a husband chosen from the horrible city to marry his daughter. COMPROMISE, doesn’t just affect us, but our families as well.  We can see the effect of compromise on Lot’s daughters.  

 In our everyday life we make compromises.  Compromises aren’t necessarily bad.  It’s when compromise hurts ours our others walk with God, that it becomes horrible.  And recognizing it quickly is key.   It’s amazing at how fast this can happen especially at your lowest points!   

So here are steps to help combat this moments

1. Be in Gods word daily!  A new thing I added recently is listening to the Bible.  Some days are just too insane to add sitting for 10 minutes.  I can hide God’s Word in my heart by listening to it while I wash dishes, fold laundry or make dinner!

2. Memorize these verses

1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
AND
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

3. Put Pure things in!  Get lost in the Chronicles of Narnia, or Anne of Geen Gables, Little house on the Prairie.   There are positive alternatives out there. You just have to make the effort.  And if you are thinking oh those things are hokey or out of date, Well I promise you this in 10 years so will  the stuff you are into now!the point isn’t graphics, animation, cool effects.  Thats changes in this world so fast these days.  What matter is purity.  TRUTH.  

4.ask yourself  If the kids can’t watch it, Why? And then  should I be watching this?   And if the kids should walk in while I am watching this what would it communicate to them?   Would it communicate a double standard?   There are something’s that young children should not see…the news for instance, some documentaries.   Adult conversations.   (We didn’t let our kids watch the Bill Nye/ken Ham debate,not because it was bad but because there were sensitive adult subjects that an 8,7,6 and 3 year old are not capable of processing yet)

5. This new one I added after reading Courtney Joseph’s book Women Living Well!   Would I invite these people into my house to have sex on the couch in front of me and my children?   Seriously think about this!  This IS what we are doing!

It all comes down to this: : it’s a perspective change. We try not to let false teachers in but every once in a while one sneaks in. It’s a good reminder that despite a “great storyline”. Sometimes we need to shut off a TV show or movie, put down that book, and change the radio station! Because it may have a great beat, or a funny or compelling storyline but if the circumstances surrounding the storyline or lines laced into that great beat go against God’s word thaen we are not guarding our heart! This is not easy and convicted my heart as I am constantly reviewing why we do what we do in our family……does this fit into 1Corinthians 10:31 and Philippians 4:8-9

1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
AND
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

If it goes against these then we are in danger! Our children are in danger, because hypocrisy jeprodizes faith in the greatest of ways.

BOOK REVIEW:Thrive by Mark Hall

Posted on by Mary

This book  has two sections

DIGGING DEEPER

and

REACHING OUT

Mark Hal, lead singer of the band Casting Crowns paints a beautiful picture of what Thriving looks like!  Like the tree on the front cover Mark challenges every single believer to grow deep in your faith, but it’s only when you have that deep ness that you can then reach out and give from those roots!   

Reaching out as Mark states “is the way we  sow the world we belong to Jesus”

I would be lying if I said this is an easy read!   Not that is horribly written or biblically unsound, BUT, that it challenges cut to the inner struggles we all face!  Each chapter takes some working through.

One of my most favorite quotes  from the entire book (and there are Soooooo many gems) comes right from Chapter 3 Unknowns

The more I looked at Scripture the more I found broken people rather than whole people-people like Moses, David,Peter, and Mary. I see how the weak overcome the strong. The poor have an easier time getting into heaven, than the rich.  Everything the world calls success I didn’t find in the Word, and I learned that God takes you just as you are.

When you finally get your brain wrapped around that one statement, your perspective changes, and so does your life!  This book gets five stars!    It’s challenging to the core, but the amount of growth it invokes is amazing!