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Love, True Love

Published April 15, 2010 Books , Faith , Family , POTD 3 Comments

The Princess and the Three Knights by Karen Kingsbury

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13:4, 7

My mom gave this book to Chelsea for Easter, and I was very impressed by it. I have found most books about princesses to be kind of cheesy, but this is a great story, and it provides a good way to introduce your little girl to what true love really looks like.

The book is based on the verses above. In the story, the king stages a competition to find “the one knight with a heart as beautiful as that of his daughter.” I think Kevin and I will have to stage our own competition when Chelsea gets older!

The publisher recommends the book for girls aged 4-7. Chelsea has looked at the pictures, but she won’t let me read it to her because one of the knights on the cover looks a little scary. I think she would really like the book, but I think girls aged 6-7 would understand the true love concept better than the four and five-year-olds. The younger girls would probably be more interested in the horses, castles, and pretty dresses.

Resurrection Day

Published April 4, 2010 Faith , Holidays , POTD , Salvation 2 Comments

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.” Luke 24:5-7

If you are a believer, this is my prayer for you on this Resurrection Day:

“…that you may know him better….that you may know the hope to which he has called you…and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms…” Ephesians 1:17-20

The same power that raised Jesus from the dead resides in you! You have the power to overcome any obstacle you face. You have the power to break any chain that binds you. You have the power to dispel any fear that imprisons you. You have the power to say no to any temptation that entices you. There is nothing that God cannot do in and through you!

If you are not a friend of Jesus, my prayer for you this day is that you will be still and know that He is God. May you follow Him when He whispers your name.

I Will Not Forget You

Published April 3, 2010 Faith , Family , God Lessons , Holidays , POTD , Salvation 2 Comments

I’m not big on the whole bunny, chick, dyed egg, candy deal at Easter time. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do those things at your house. By all means, have a blast! I’m just saying we don’t do them here. Our kids do egg hunts at school and at church, and we enjoy those fun times, but at home we try to focus on Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

For the last few years we have used Resurrection Eggs to talk about Easter. I highly recommend them. Yesterday, I saw a great idea on Marla Taviano’s blog. I think it will become an annual tradition in our family.

I drew red dots on Caleb and Chelsea’s hands and told them the dots represent the place where the nails pierced Jesus’ hands. He shed His blood for us. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5

Then I read Isaiah 49:15, 16, which says, “I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” God loves us so much that our names are written on His hands. He will never forget us.

Jesus died for Caleb.
Jesus died for Chelsea.
Jesus died for Kevin.
Jesus died for Lisa.
Jesus died for You.

Good Friday

Published April 2, 2010 Faith , God Lessons , Holidays , POTD , Salvation Leave a Comment

Caleb drew this a couple weeks ago.

Chelsea had to be like big brother and drew her own version.

These pictures are sunny and cheerful, but Good Friday was actually dark and sorrowful. Jesus Christ was beaten, spat upon, mocked, whipped, insulted, and nailed to a cross. Willingly. For you and for me. He could have easily refused to go through with it. “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53) But He chose to die a cruel and agonizing death so He wouldn’t have to live without you and me for all eternity. If that isn’t a picture of true love, I don’t know what is.

He was sinless, but He chose to take our sin upon Himself and be punished for us so we won’t have to be punished. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Imagine I am crossing a busy street, and I don’t see a car coming straight at me. A man jumps out and pushes me away from the car to save me. The man is struck by the car and killed. I would be eternally indebted to that man and his family for saving my life and dying in my place. Would I keep his good deed to myself? No way. I would tell everyone. You wouldn’t be able to shut me up. I would live to honor him, and I would do everything I could to make sure his family was loved and cared for.

That’s what Jesus did for me. He died in my place. How can I not live for Him?

Why Health?

Published March 24, 2010 Faith , Health Leave a Comment

Why am I so passionate about my health and my family’s health? As a follower of Jesus Christ, I believe God calls me to be a good steward of my health and my body. “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 own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” I Corinthians 6:19, 20 (NIV)

God wants me to take care of my body not only because it is His home but also so I can serve Him to my fullest potential. It is much easier to serve God and my family when I am not sick and tired all the time. The link between my mind, body, and spirit is so important. If I neglect one, the others suffer.

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.” Proverbs 3: 7, 8 (NIV)

Robbing My Brothers and Sisters

Published March 23, 2010 Chiropractic , Faith , Friends , God Lessons , Purpose , Sunday School 3 Comments

I mentioned doing a series of posts about lessons I’ve learned in the past eight months (since I became a chiropractic patient). This post is the first of three. 

My recent trip to the ER was a blessing in disguise because it led to a friend calling me last week, which led to God driving home a BIG lesson: I have been robbing my brothers and sisters.

I’ve been very hush-hush about the struggles with pain I have had recently with my chiropractic journey. I know the reasons why, but I won’t go into all of them here. You don’t have time to read a novel. I’ll just boil it down and say pride and fear of what people will think are at the root.

So last Wednesday my friend Amanda (from Sunday School) called and asked how I was feeling. I opened up, took off the mask, and shared with her my doubts, fears, frustrations, beliefs, and hopes. She listened. She shared some of her own personal struggles. We prayed for each other over the phone. She ministered to me big time. (Amanda said a couple things in her prayer that brought two major breakthroughs–more on that in the next post.)

My willingness to share my true thoughts and feelings allowed my friend to help me. And in return I helped her. When I refuse to reveal the difficult stuff in my life, I rob my brothers and sisters of the opportunity to minister to me. I prevent them from using their gifts and fulfilling their purpose.

Most of the time I am a self-sufficient, I’ll-handle-this-myself-thank-you-very-much kind of person. I don’t want to burden others with my problems. But that 45-minute phone call proved to me that we are not made to handle things alone. We are made to lean on each other. I don’t want to steal the joy that a friend could experience from helping me or my family.

I am asking God to humble me and give me a willing heart to accept help. By His grace, I will choose to be real and allow others to walk alongside me, sharing the burden.

Of Pigs and Pancakes

Published March 5, 2010 Faith , Family , POTD 2 Comments

Thursday was “Pancakes for Parents Day” in Chelsea’s K-3 class. I expected to see her teacher making the breakfast, but I was surprised to see the superintendent and the principal flipping pancakes when I arrived. Now that is true service to the teacher!

After eating our delicious pancakes, the children said the pledge of allegiance and prayed with their teacher, Mrs. F. Kevin and I had tears in our eyes when Mrs. F said a little poem to prepare the children for prayer.  The last line of the poem was ”Let me talk to God for you.” Then Mrs. F prayed for the assistant teacher who was out sick and praised God for the substitute teacher who was helping.

I pray I will never take that school or its staff for granted. Caleb and Chelsea’s teachers (and the whole staff) have blessed me beyond measure for the past two years. One day last year, Caleb’s teacher saw me walking past her class. She stopped her teaching and stepped out into the hall to tell me that she had prayed for me that morning–at home, before school. What!?! There was nothing major going on in my life, and yet, she took time out of her busy morning (she had a two-year-old at the time) to lift me up to God. That blew me away. Forever grateful.

Okay, back to pigs and pancakes. After the sweet prayer time, the children put on a “Three Little Pigs” skit except they modified it to include many pigs and many wolves. It was precious. I love how the teachers give the children many opportunities to become comfortable speaking, singing, and acting in front of an audience–great preparation for school, work, performing, and serving in church.

Have a great weekend, friends!

Goals Revisited and New Year’s Theme

Published January 12, 2010 Books , Faith , God Lessons , Holidays 2 Comments

Looking back…

What’s the point of having goals if you don’t evaluate how well you met them? Here’s how I did:

My Goals For This Christmas Season

I will NOT…

1. stay up until 1 a.m. on Christmas Eve wrapping presents. I finished all my wrapping by 9:30 and spent the rest of the night reading and blogging. Woohoo!

2. spend over my budget. I overspent by $34. This is a huge improvement for me. In the past I overspent by hundreds each year, so yay me. Next year, I need to get it down to zero or less.

3. pull out every decoration I own. I only put out about 50% of my decorations and about 75% of my ornaments. It was much quicker and much less overwhelming.

I will…

1. watch the Nativity Story (great movie!). I watched it on Christmas night after the kiddos went to bed. I am so amazed by Mary. That woman rocks. I can’t wait to meet her one day.

2. read Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas by John Blase. I read half of it. Great book. I looked at many Christmas books this year. I didn’t want one about Five Ways to have a Better Christmas. I wanted one about the incarnation. Just give me Jesus. This book did that. The only reason I didn’t finish it is was because I was reading another book at the same time and couldn’t put it down. I finished “Same Kind of Different as Me” on Christmas Eve–a Christmas gift from God:

This incredible book deserves a post of its own, but for now…If you have a heart for the poor and homeless, read this book. If you struggle with stereotyping, prejudice, or favoritism (like me), read this book. If you love a true story, read this book. If you want to see how God uses ordinary people to do amazing things, read this book. You’ll thank me.

3. spend time daily in the Word (especially in Matthew and Luke) looking for new nuggets of truth about Christmas. Check.

4. spend lots of time snuggling on the couch under a warm blanket with my two little munchkins reading Christmas books. Lots and lots of time. Wonderful memories. Thank you, Jesus.

5. be like Jesus’ friend Mary and sit at Jesus’ feet listening to Him. “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41 I’m becoming more and more acquainted with Mary’s ways and less and less with Martha’s. Spent lots of time sitting, reading, and listening to Jesus.

Looking ahead…

I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions. I have tried in the past, and I never kept them. A long list is too much to keep up with. Instead, I ask God what He wants the theme of my year to be–something that He wants to teach me. I got this idea from my friend Jenny F a few years ago.

This year’s theme is breaking my approval addiction. You know…the obsession with what people think of me instead of total dependence on and security in God. My self-esteem is also tied up in this addiction, so that needs an overhaul too. I’ve struggled with this for several years. I distinctly remember it in college, but it probably started before that. I’ve tried and tried to overcome it in the past, but it keeps sneaking back up to the surface. It’s been particularly ugly in the past six months, so I wasn’t surprised when God said, “We’re going to put an end to this in 2010.”

So that’s it. I’ll meet you back here at the end of 2010 and let you know how it went.

And I’d love to hear your goals and themes (or resolutions) too. If you want to share, leave a comment.

Finding Christmas

Published December 25, 2009 Faith , Holidays 2 Comments

This has been the best Christmas season for me in at least seven years. Why? No stress. I determined to scale back this year, and for the first time in nearly a decade I did just that. Less shopping, less decorating, no crafts, no baking, and (gasp!) no Christmas letter. I intended to write a letter, but I ran out of time, so instead of stressing about it, I decided to put it off until later. Freedom!

In past years I was all Martha: doing, doing, doing all December. There were years when I picked up my Bible one or two times the whole Christmas season. No wonder Christmas had become empty to me. This year I was all Mary: sitting, reading, and listening to Jesus. God has given me some of the greatest blessings this December.

–I did not find Christmas in my Hallmark Keepsake Ornament collection.
–I did not find Christmas in green and red wrapping paper covering toys my kids don’t need.
–I did not find Christmas in a sales flyer or at the mall.

–I found Christmas in a guitar solo of The Little Drummer Boy at church.
–I found Christmas in Caleb reading scripture during a chapel service at school.
–I found Christmas in Kevin when he said something he appreciated about every person in our Sunday School class on Sunday.
–I found Christmas in the teary eye of a single mom when I handed her a gift.
–I found Christmas in Caleb when he bought twelve baby chicks for a family in a developing country.
–I found Christmas in quiet moments reading God’s Word.
–I found Christmas in snuggly moments reading Christmas books to Caleb and Chelsea.
–I found Christmas in Chelsea when she made up a song and sang, “We have lots of presents, but it’s not about presents. It’s all about Jesus.”

Thank you, Jesus, for helping me find peace and love in Christmas and for showing me how to truly enjoy the season instead of just surviving it.

Rediscovering Christmas

Published November 28, 2009 Faith , Holidays 1 Comment

A few weeks ago I was dreading the coming of the Christmas season. In the past I have enjoyed decorating, buying gifts, and making goodies for family and neighbors, but I usually went overboard. The season would turn into one big stress, and I would come to the end of December feeling like I had missed the whole point. I was letting a bunch of ”good things” take the place of the best thing–time with God.

This year I asked God to show me how I could enjoy the season and not get caught up in the stress. He told me to spend time with Him. Take time to marvel at and discover the wonder of Jesus’ birth. Make that the priority this season. I have very little desire to decorate or make treats or buy gifts. Although I will do those things, they will be minimized this year.

My Goals For This Christmas Season

I will NOT…

1. stay up until 1 a.m. on Christmas Eve wrapping presents.

2. spend over my budget.

3. pull out every decoration I own.

I will…

1. watch the Nativity Story (great movie!).

2. read Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas by John Blase.

3. spend time daily in the Word (especially in Matthew and Luke) looking for new nuggets of truth about Christmas.

4. spend lots of time snuggling on the couch under a warm blanket with my two little munchkins reading Christmas books.

5. be like Jesus’ friend Mary and sit at Jesus’ feet listening to Him. “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41

How do you prevent the holidays from becoming too stressful? What goals do you have for keeping Christ at the center? I’d love to hear your comments!

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