Rare Treat

This past Sunday we had a great service at church. Really every Sunday is great, but this one had an added bonus. Our pastor interviewed Rev. Clarence Jett. I think he said he was 94 years old!! The interview was about how to grow in your faith, live out your faith and share your faith.
Sadly this kind of wisdom from simply living life is hard to find in today's contemporary church.
So as someone embarking on the second half of this life (hopefully!), it was encouraging and inspiring to hear the wisdom of Rev. Jett.

My take away from him: God is there, all the time, no matter what. Simple, yet so profound for the busy life and world I tend to live in. Weed out the noise and listen for the still, small voice of God. He is there.

You can listen to the whole interview, Still Standing, Part 3 "Know", here.

Monday mornings

Monday's are hard for me. Monday mornings are disastrous! This morning I put coffee in my son's cereal. I guess we all know that milk is warm, dark colored and sitting on the counter!
Then when I totally thought of returning to bed, I put the kids in the car to take them to school. Unfortunately, I drove right past the street leading to the school and was headed to Curves to work out! I realized they were still with me at the next intersection. They never made a peep.
Crazy kids.....crazier mother!

Stay tuned, Tuesday has got to be better.

The Day After

Today was an odd day for me. I'm beginning to think for many of my friends and family too. All day either in conversation or e-mails there was a sense of dismay, disbelief and sometimes distrust. Mostly the feelings were around the presidential election outcome. Although I woke up today trying to let myself go into this abyss over all things political, I decided not to go there!

As I spent some time with God, my devotional led me to Peter's story of being tested in Luke 22. In verse 31, Jesus lets Peter know that he's about to be tested by Satan. The good news is in the next verse where Jesus also lets Peter know that He's prayed for him and that He believes Peter will be faithful. Jesus says, "And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." Jesus could have said if, but He didn't. Peter belongs to Jesus and He knows Peter's heart for him. And because I belong to Jesus, He knows me, He prays for me and He believes in me. That changed my outlook for today and off I went. God's word has a way of doing that if we let it.

Unfortunately not everyone I talked to or heard from had read Peter's story this morning! There are serious concerns about our future, the economy and the wars. So as I thought about all this more throughout today, several verses came to mind. Hopefully these will encourage you to remember that God was God yesterday and He is God today and He will be God tomorrow.

Psalm 42:5a "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God."NIV

Isaiah 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord."NIV

Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."NIV

Vote!

I voted yesterday. In the great state of Georgia, we have early voting. Since schools are closed on election day, I decided to take advantage of standing in-line by myself versus standing in line with two children for who knows how long!! Thankfully I had a short adventure; I waited about 90 minutes. My husband went on Monday and he waited...3 hours and 45 minutes.

It really didn't matter to me how long it took, because I am thrilled to have the opportunity to vote. I stood in the booth for a minute and just thanked God. No matter who wins the election, history is made. To be a part of that is an honor.

So no matter where you are, don't miss the opportunity. Go vote!

United Tour

Last Friday my husband took me to see the United Tour for my birthday. The Tour is a combo of Steven Curtis Chapman (SCC) and Michael W. Smith (MWS). Since the day I heard it was happening, I had been anxiously awaiting the night they would come through Atlanta.

We have been fans of their music for quite some time and as fellow 40 somethings, it was fun to see them on stage together, FINALLY!!! The night left me with a lot of thoughts and brought back some great memories of my days volunteering at their concerts. Steve and I actually got engaged one Saturday afternoon in Chattanooga and then volunteered at an SCC concert that night. Good times.

SCC was awesome and his message was such a living example of Philippians 4:13. "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." (NIV) My hope is that I never just rotely sing along with Steven's music again. The words have so much more meaning now for him and his family; I want to respect that, to honor God and His provision for them.

MWS blew me away! First what an incredible friend he is to SCC. I'm sure it's a mutual friendship. He was so gracious and supportive...it just left me with the impression that he would take care of his friend. Hard to explain it here...guess you had to be there!

Secondly, MWS shared about a transition in his life that occurred when he began to see God as his Abba Father. I actually pulled out a pen and started writing this down in the DARK! Thankfully it was legible.

Galatians 4:6,7 says "Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, Abba, Father. So you are no longer a slave, but a son..."(NIV)

MWS talked about realizing how much God, his Daddy, loved him, liked him, and was even fond of him. This allowed him to stop performing for God and to start responding to God. And then he sang some amazing new songs off of his new album, "A New Halleighlujah!"

It was a fun night and my favorite moment was seeing SCC and MWS on the stage together, playing each other's instruments, singing each other's songs. Amazing talents, amazing gifts. Thanks God for giving them a platform to share it with us.

Showering me with Love!

Hannah, our daughter, went on a 5th grade trip this past week, 3 days/2 nights. As I said in the last post, it was a trial for me, MOM! Hannah knows I get crazy when she's away, so she decided to show me some love. Tuesday morning we got a message on our machine. Don't miss it; it's short and sweet!

"HELLO...o-k, good bye."

I had to listen to it twice, to even realize it was her! She's not the "showering with love" kind of girl...a sprinkle at most. My husband and I cracked up. Hannah is true to her motto, "You get what you get and you don't pitch a fit!"

Mighty Warrior

One afternoon last week Joshua was out playing with some other neighborhood boys. He came home and I noticed he was upset. As I asked him what was wrong, I could see his lips quivering and he was holding his arm. During a Star Wars light saber fight, one of the boys had hit him several times on the arm and left quite a mark. The mother instinct in me, o-k animal instinct, came out and I lost it. Immediately I yelled out the front door for the kid, as he ran home. My son needed to be comforted, so I came back inside. But I couldn't let it go.


We sat down for dinner, and I was still fuming. How could someone hurt my son? When the other kids said to stop, why didn't he? Where was my daughter and why hadn't she defended her brother? Why wasn't my husband calling his parents? As you can see, I went a little crazy.


Later that night I was reminded of a verse I had studied earlier in the week.

"The Lord your God is among you, a warrior who saves. he will rejoice over you with gladness. He will bring you quietness with His love. He will delight in you with shouts of joy." Zephaniah 3:17 HCSB

In my notes I had written, God is with us, He is not on the sidelines. He's a mighty warrior in the battle, fighting for us. He will also quiet us and calm us with His love. I began to realize that as much as I trusted God to fight for me and to comfort me, I didn't trust Him to do that for our children.

So this week, I have round two of this lesson! My daughter is on a 3day/2night school trip and I'm not with her. Thankfully, she and our son know God and He is with them. He is their mighty warrior! Is he yours?