Monday, November 24, 2008

Sunlight


Have you ever had an A-ha moment?
I was driving home from work one day about two months ago with my son sitting in the back seat talking in his little gibberish way and I was just smiling at how cute he was. I then started to think…again…how unfair it was that I wasn’t able to be home with him and how I was missing out on so much. He is growing up so fast and I am missing a huge part of his life. There are many times I have felt sorry for myself because of this. This was one of those times.
As I looked up into the sky while driving I saw a white, puffy cloud with the sun peeping from behind -around the entire cloud. It really was a beautiful scene in the sky. Since I was driving on a highway I was able to view this scene for about ten minutes. My mind then started to think…the sun is so beautiful peeping out from behind that cloud. How much more beautiful is the sun when there is nothing to block it? It is gorgeous and inviting! My mind then started to move toward Christ. Is this not just like our Heavenly Father? God is so beautiful and perfect, yet how often do we let life bog us down and get in the way of God’s light? So often God wants to shine through us and we don’t let him. We place a big cloud right smack dab in the center!
I had a huge ugly cloud that was consuming my thoughts. On a daily basis I would pray and ask God why I couldn’t be home? Why are so many other women able to be home with their children, but not I? After all, aren’t women called to be workers at home? I truly felt that this was so unfair! I want to live that life! Why can’t I? This was my big ugly cloud.
So, I continued thinking that if removed my ugly cloud…just how beautiful would God’s light be that would shine through me to other people? Isn’t that why I am here…to be a disciple of God? To tell others the Good News? I have since then changed my attitude towards my desires. I now share my desires with God, but I also (humbly) tell him that His will is greater than my desires and that I want to be a part of His story. So, Lord, please create my life story: my marriage story, my motherhood story, my homeschooling story, my work story and I will submit to you whatever you ask of me. Whether I want to or not…God is in control and has a greater plan for me whether I know it or not. God is bigger than my life. I need to remember that – always!
So, I want to ask you, how much more beautiful would life be if we all removed our cloud that blocks His light and simply allow God to shine through our lives? Our lives would be what Christ desires for his children – a life living to solely glorify Him! What is your cloud? Can you remove it? Let’s pray….it is the BEST thing we all can do!

Sawee Mommy

Rock and I have done a total 180 with discipline in our home. We were basically disciplining Bean out of guilt since we aren’t home with him much. However, his attitude and behaviors were starting to show it.
We are trying to teach him manners; to say please and thank you and if he needs to, say sorry. Well, he is just so adorable. All weekend he would come over to me and just give me a hug and say, “sorry mommy!” What is even cuter is that his R’s don’t have a sound; Bean kind of skips over that sound in his words. At one point in the weekend I was correcting him and he looked me in the eye and just gave me a big fat wet kiss! How wonderful…even in my correction he still loves me so much. My heart just melted.
Those are the moments that I want to remember. Those are the moments that I am so thankful that I am a mom. I am so thankful that Rock and I were given Bean at the exact moment he came to us. God timed it perfectly…but then again He is God…He is Perfect!
Thank you God for Rock and Bean! I am so happy to be their wife and mom. Give me the strength to live daily for you and die to myself so that I can be a Christ-pleasing submissive wife and loving and disciplined mom!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

God's Presence is our Presents

Last year Rock and I were asked to go to a Marriage Encounter. Well, this weekend had completely changed our lives. Rock and I were able to talk to one another in areas of our life that we would have never discussed. This weekend exposes different ways to communicate with your spouse then your usual everyday discussions. During this time I knew that I needed to share with Rock some shameful issues that he did not yet know about me that were really affecting our marriage. Rock also found through this weekend that he needed to open up to me more as his wife. Throughout our communication with one another we both felt a presence front and center in our words and actions. One night something amazing happened. I was asked if I was saved and I had to finally admit that I didn’t know what being saved meant. I was able to have a conversation with an amazing couple about my beliefs. They explained to me who Jesus was and why he was my Savior. As we prayed I imagined that Jesus was sitting there holding my hands and hugging me instead of being some huge thing in the sky. The next morning while singing a song called Surrender I began to weep while reading the words. At that moment I could feel the Holy Spirit filling my body, heart and soul.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your won; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

I came to understand that Jesus and the Holy Spirit were there at work in mine and Rock’s lives. Their presence was very real before I even knew them. By the Grace of God, forgiveness was offered to me by Rock and our marriage was too, saved. I am very thankful for that time I got to spend with Rock, I am thankful for this couple who showed me the way to Eternal life with God, I am thankful for Marriage Encounter for offering this amazing weekend to reconnect with your spouse, and I am most thankful for Jesus Christ for dying for my sins and for calling me to be a part of His family.

Rock and I are now a part of the support team for Marriage Encounter and this past weekend we were able to witness God at work within other marriages helping them reconnect with one another. The Holy Spirit’s presence was there the entire weekend and was hard at work fighting off Satan who was trying to stop these couples from finding their love for each other. Many couples were able to come to Christ and many couples were able to save their marriage. Praise the Lord! Rock and I both look forward to the next Marriage Encounter where we can continue to serve our Lord in a way that is so precious to us. This is a ministry that my husband and I are really pouring our hearts into. This has become a passion and we encourage anyone who has not yet been to a Marriage Encounter to come!
Gifts are definitely fun to give as well as receive. Most people like to be on the end of receiving gifts. Well, take a deep breath because there is a gift that we can open day after day … Christ’s daily presence is our daily presents! Thank you Jesus!!!!!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Rock and Bean


Some of you may be wondering who Rock and Bean are or if you know me why I chose those names. Well, another blogger friend of mine has chosen to use nicknames for her family for security/privacy reasons. I feel very strongly that this is a great idea. Unfortuately, we don't live in a very trusting society. So here is my family:

Rock is my husband and my strength. He is loving and trusting and forgiving. He has been there for me in more ways than I could mention in this blog. He keeps me optimistic, he lifts my spirits up (or chin up as he would call it) and he has his own passion for Christ and our family. I was created to be his helpmate; "The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him"(Genesis 2:18). So, that is what I am striving to be...his helper.

Bean is our fun little boy. He is two and just the greatest kid on the earth. His nickname is Bean because when he was born daddy thought that his head was shaped like a bean :) He is growing so fast and learning so much. His vocabulary has just exploded. He came to me and Rock as a surprise and a huge BLESSING! Rock and I both live for Christ, each other and Bean. We are complete in our oneness.

God is my Heavenly Father and my Saviour. My husband may be my Rock and strength and Bean may be my Blessing, but I would have nothing if it weren't for Christ dying for my sins. Christ loves me more than anyone here on earth. He gives me the daily breath that I need to fight through this sinful world. All is possible with the Lord....it's a guarantee. I can't wait for the day when we all reside with the Lord in His New Earth!

My Full-Time's...


I have been thinking about starting to blog. Many people are doing it...but I wasn't sure what I would have to write about. However, the more I thought about it the more I thought there might be women out there who are struggling with the same battles as me. If I could at all help someone else with what I am learning then why wouldn't I want to share?!

So, here is my story/struggle. I am a full time worker outside of the home. I am a full time wife, a full time mother, a full time house keeper and most importantly a full time Christian. My struggle is that I do not know how to balance them all in my life. However, I need to learn because I can't do without any of those items. I can't decide to just up and quit my job, I can't choose to not clean my house, I can't give up on my husband or my son nor could I stop my relationship with my Lord and Savior who has blessed me to live this life. So, where does that leave me? In a funk. How do I go about having time every day to be there 100% for all of my full times? Well, one simple answer is, I pray about it. I have learned that I need to pray first thing in the morning. Give my day to God, who has graciously given me the day. I have not earned the day, I have not earned the right to live...Christ has given me these days. I need to make sure He is the one that I am thanking each day. I have been learning to wake up earlier to arrive at work earlier so that I can come home at an earlier time and that means more time with Bean. I am learning to juggle when I clean or tidy the house. After Bean goes to bed I try to make sure that I am sitting wherever my Rock to make sure that I have shoulder to shoulder time with my husband.

"Life is a dance...you learn as you go," John Michael Montgomery. The most important part of the dance though, is making sure Christ is at the center of all I do, think and say. "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith..." Hebrews 12:2