Good find

Starting junior high also meant starting youth group.  My brother told me something then that I have found to be beneficial.  Our youth pastor always had hand outs with fill in the blanks for us when he was giving a message.  My brother told me to keep these because they would be good to look back at someday.  Well, I did keep them, a LOT of them.  I have since weeded out many things but I still do have several pages that I received as a student in the youth group.  This past week I found something from a bible study I went to with my youth minister's wife.  It's amazing how it can speak to me now as much as I'm assuming that it did then.  When my brother gave me that advice to keep my stuff from youth group, neither of us had any idea that I would one day be a youth minister's wife.  I have used those handouts to create my own studies and lessons for the girls in our ministry.  They truly are a priceless resource from people I trust and have seen walk life with Christ for many years even after I graduated.  I thought I would share in case someone else needed to hear these words too.

In the series of statements the first one describes a "natural inclination that leads to lack of purpose".  The second describes "principles of wisdom that lead to fulfilling achievement".

1. Making a distinction between full-time Christian work and secular vocations.
2. Wisdom is recognizing that, whatever my job is, I am to work as though God were my employer and expect that my real reward for labor will come from Him.

1. Considering the learning of practical skills in a variety of areas to be unnecessary.
2. Wisdom is remembering that God will use whatever natural skills I develop in the ministry to which He calls me and that often they will be the very means of directing me in service for Him.

1. Believing that since I do not have too many talents or special abilities I cannot expect to do any significant work for God.
2. Wisdom is realizing that God uses the weak things of the world to confound the mighty and the foolish to confound the wise, because His strength is made perfect in my weakness.

1. Assuming that the will of God for my life involves finding a particular job or having a particular title.
2. Wisdom is discerning that the will of God involves both the forming of Christ's character within me and the resulting message which I can share with others.

1. Neglecting unwanted family responsibilities to have more time for other things, like serving the Lord.
2. Wisdom is understanding that difficult family responsibilities are actually God's way of building essential character in me and that a far bigger ministry can result through the lives of those for whom I am responsible.

1. Expecting that  God will bless my efforts in Christian work with acceptance and appreciation from those whom I serve.
2. Wisdom is preparing for unexpected misunderstandings and rejection from those I try to help so that I can identify with new sections of scripture and experience a more effective ministry with others.

1. Plodding ahead in order to fulfill a vision that I know God has given me to accomplish.
2. Wisdom is planning for the death of my vision during which time I will be forced to learn the character of Christ and wait for his timing in the fulfillment of the vision.

1. Looking for the opportunities of leadership in Christian service.
2. Wisdom is seeking to serve Christian leaders because of the awesome responsibility which they have and higher standards by which they will be judged.

So, there ya go.  I thought it was just a great reminder to keep my perspective through a Christ focused lens.  No matter what we are doing, we do it for the Lord and he uses every situation in life to develop us into the person he created us to be.  Nothing is wasted or pointless when we live life with Christ.

My testimony

This year I joined on as part of the leadership team for our MOPS group.  I was asked to prepare a brief testimony for our next leadership meeting.  I thought I should share it here too.

My Testimony

     I consider myself lucky to have grown up in a Christian family.  My parents always were very involved in church and therefore, I was too.  My grandparents and extended family also played a significant role in introducing me to a healthy picture of what a walk with Christ looks like.  I asked the Lord into my life as a 6 year old.  I very clearly remember my parents putting me to bed one night.  I’m not sure why, but that night I asked them all kinds of questions and I told them I wanted to ask Jesus to be my Savior.  I prayed that night, with my parents by my side, that Jesus would be Lord of my life.

    Early on, my relationship with the Lord was mostly about wanting to please Him.  Of course I would make bad choices as all kids do, but even at a young age I felt the need to go to the Lord to make things right.  Beginning in 7^th grade I was introduced to having a “quiet time”.  I began this practice of meeting personally with the Lord and spending time in His word, but it wasn’t until my sophomore year of HS that I truly enjoyed it and met with God because I wanted to rather than because I thought I had to.  My senior year of HS my best friend’s brother died in a car accident and through that situation I understood that God is always good and is always in control.  Even in a horrible circumstance that was completely unexpected God proved Himself to me and I have never again doubted God’s control and God’s goodness. 

     Now that I have lived a little while, I see why God wanted to cement those two truths into my life at that age.  As an adult you see the suffering of the world and of those around you clearer than as a child.  You also face demands and responsibilities that deplete you mentally and physically.  Praise be to the Lord that through the power of His Holy Spirit I am able to draw on His strength and trust His guidance through all of life’s circumstances.  He has proved himself always faithful to His word.  He has shown me He’s able to provide financially.  He has encouraged and satisfied my weary heart over and over again.  My longing is to show the world around me that God through his son Jesus Christ is the only remedy to the brokenness they feel, no matter what it looks like. 

     “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth.  He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.  He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”  Isaiah 40: 28-31

     So what are you hoping in?  Your good deeds, your money, your popularity? All our worldly things will leave you spent and wasted.  It is only placing your hope in the Lord that will sustain you through all of life’s journeys.  

Come praise the Lord with me!

The prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective. James 5:16b

I know I've heard the verse a million times, but God is just showing me the truth of it over and over recently.  Not only am I seeing this personally in my life, but also in the lives of others as men and women join together, sometimes from all over the globe, and pray.  Should I be surprised?  Our God is a good God and He loves the prayers of His children.  I guess, I just feel so blessed to witness his mighty power so much.  There was a time, probably about 6 months ago, when I was talking to God and I just said, I know you are God and if you want to be silent then I am going to keep trusting you, but I feel like I've prayed and seen nothing.  If you see fit, please make me aware of when you answer my prayers.  I tell you what, I never expected that He would answer that prayer so obviously.  I just wanted to publicly give Him thanks for blessing me with answered prayers, and give Him praise for being such an awesome God.  That verse in James would still be as true as ever had God decided not to respond the way He did in my life, but I am so grateful for the glimpse of His glory!  I've got to go get my child from MDO, but to give you a short list of answered prayers...
- The Godwin family and Isaac waking up from a 2 week + coma 
- Providing financially for our family and the fact that we are expecting a new baby in July and were able to get pregnant
- Easing my worry over the babies development and the physical pain I've been struggling with this pregnancy
- Restoring a marriage of people we love that was very near ending
- The spreading of God's glory and fame through the situation Matt Chandler's walking through
Obviously I could keep on listing, but you get the idea.  "The Lord has done great things for us.  And we are filled with joy!"

Just what I needed

       Well, the holiday season is coming to a close and secretly I am relieved. :)  This past week was a crazy one, but that will make it a Christmas I am not soon to forget.  First of all we left all our presents at the house so no one has received a gift from us yet.  But I'm trying to move on past that frustration so next, it almost never snows in Wichita Falls.  If it does it rarely sticks and accumulates but this Christmas Eve was a SNOWY one.  I think they got 8-10 inches of snow.  Therefore, traveling was a huge hazard and even impossible at some points.  They closed the highway between my parents house and my Nanny's house so I didn't get to see the family like I have done for the past 27 Christmas Eve's.  Driving to Clovis took a really long time too, but what can you do but just try to be patient and pray for safety.  Which God obviously graced us with since I am here to tell the story. :)  Despite all that it was a nice Christmas week, exhausting YES but all things considered it was good.
     To change the subject totally, last night I was thinking a lot about how much this new baby is going to cost.  I got the first bill in the mail for the blood work they do on the very first appointment.  Our insurance was better when we had Ansley, not to mention we didn't pay for insurance because our church did.  Anyway, I started feeling very overwhelmed and I said to the Lord.  I know you are God in Heaven and own the cattle on a thousand hills, but I am here in Taylor Texas wondering how this is all gonna work out.  Guess what He did today!  In my time with him it was all about God's providence, which was defined as God's provision for people's needs.  I mean what kind of timing was that?!  One of the verses from the lesson that I decided to claim during this time of change in our lives is  Phil. 4:19.  It says, "And my God is able to meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."  AMEN!
       Now, for a cute Ansley story.  Yesterday we were watching one of the Hermie videos that Jay's parents got her for Christmas.  The catepillars were praying to God and God spoke back.  Ansley said, "I didn't know God could talk.  I can't hear him....see."  I told her about how we can't actually hear God, but he speaks to us.  He speaks to us through the bible, and in our hearts.  I told her you know the feeling in your heart when you know right from wrong, that is God speaking to you, and that God could also speak to us through things other people say to us sometimes.  Then she somehow starting talking about Jesus.  She said that one time she went to her grandpa's house (the stories about "grandpa" is a whole other story) and Jesus was there.  I said, "REALLY!" She said, "Yes, he was REALLY there."  I told her if Jesus came back he better take me with him as I kinda laughed.  She said. "You were there too, Mom."  HA!  Oh good, I wouldn't have wanted to miss that.  :)    She is so silly.  Right now she is taking a nap and she got her bible out and put it in bed with her.  She said, "I need my bible so I can read about Jesus."  I said, "good idea!"  :)  That little three year old mind sure is entertaining.

       This one and the one up top is from the WF Blizzard of 09 :)

Veterans Day

     In honor of Veteran's Day I want to thank everyone who has taken part in maintaing the freedom's we have in America.  Today I was reminded to do my part in protecting those freedoms by handing down my spiritual heritage.  In the past, people have thought it so important that they gave their lives for me to worship the Lord freely.  Not only do I want to honor their sacrifice but I am commanded to pass it on to my children.
    Lately, I've been really trying to think of ways to show Ansley how important walking with the Lord is.  Because Jay is a youth minister (and Ansley's MDO is there) we are at church all the time.  I don't want her to think lightly of that heritage just because it is just where we go.  I guess the best description is like comparing it to going to the grocery store (because we go there A LOT too). I don't want her to think we just have to go to church like we go to the store.  I want her to know it's a choice and to appreciate the reasons WHY we choose to always be there.  On the other hand, I am so grateful that for now my child LOVES church.  I pray that it will always be a place she desires to go and as she grows hopefully the reason for that desire will be her hunger for the Lord and a heart that longs to please Him with her life.     

    Kind of on the same note as spiritual heritage and passing things on, Ansley helped fill her first shoebox for Operation Christmas Child. She helped pick most of the items out.  When I picked things out, like soap and wash rags, it was such a cool experience to tell her why we were packing this box.  At night we pray that our family could  be a blessing to others and maybe she can understand the concept of being a blessing by helping fill this box.  She was so good about realizing these things were not for her even though she picked things that she would enjoy.  When we were finished she asked when we were going to take it to the little girl.  I loved her heart of wanting to deliver the items.  Obviously, I had to explain how we just fill the box and someone else will deliver it for us.  One cool thing Kathleen told me about today was that you can pay your shipping for your box online and it lets you print out a label that will be scanned so you can track your box.  I think we will do that so we can show Ansley on a map where our box went.  At MDO they gave the kids a page to color and include in their box.  After Ansley colored her picture of Veggietales we wrote a note on the back for the child who opens the box.  It talked about how old Ansley is and what she likes to do.  Then we talked about how the picture was of Veggietales and  Bob and Larry always say God made you special and loves you very much.  The picture above is of Ansley, her picture, and her shoebox.

My first blog!

I decided to blog today because recently everyone keeps telling me I need to write stuff down, and I know that will never happen. Maybe if I type it I can keep up with it. Also, today the Lord was showing me some stuff and I thought a blog would be a good place to report His goodness.

We were talking about Elijah today and how he had a time of discouragement after the Mt. Caramel experience and he ran from Jezebel. I thought of so many times I could identify with Elijah's lonliness and disillusionment. What hit me most was the way Elijah snapped out of it was obviously meeting with the Lord but THEN he picked himself up and kept obeying the Lord. I can look back on times in my life when I felt discouraged and wanted to throw a pity party and say why is this happening to me, and the Lord in his gentle compassion waits for me to get all that emotion out. Then he says, if you're done, lets get back to work now. He picks me up and says just keep following me, Jamie. Remember I am with you and I am in control!

We also talked about Ahab who also experienced the Lord in a time of need, but Ahab responded with rebellion and selfishness and it ultimately caused his destruction. Seeing this contrast between the two was interesting. We have the choice to respond with obedience they way Elijah did, or respond in selfishness like Ahab. (if you want to, refer to 1 Kings 19 and 20 for the whole story)

I am so thankful that I am not at a point of discouragement right now in my life, but I have been so many times. I think writing this down will help me remember to refer back here next time. Keep your eyes focused on the Lord and not yourself and your emotions.