Jesus Easter egg display

This is so neat. I was at Nicole's blog, and she always shares the cutest and neatest home decorating ideas, I'm thinking that's her "thing". Anyhow, she found this blog that had an Easter egg project that was glorifying the Lord, I think we'll do this this year-

Peace in times of crisis, part 1

When Jackson was in the first grade (he's in fourth now), the first week of school he broke his arm. Oh, but to know my overachiever child. He didn't just "break" his arm, he literally broke both of the bones in his right forearm in HALF. No he didn't mean to do it but we always pick on him when he does something he does it "big".

I remember that day so clearly, like it was yesterday. We were living in our apartment, and the playground was right across from our building. I could sit on our front balcony and watch the kids play. This day my nephew was over visiting, and being nine, I let both kids go with him to the playground. I was in the hallway sorting laundry, and our neighbor in the building across from us knocked on the door. It was August, so I had the big door open with the screen up in the storm door. He called my name as he was knocking.

I went to the door and he said "I think Jackson has broke his arm", and as he started talking I saw Jackson coming up the stairs with his cousin helping him, Hannah, three and a half at the time, tagging along behind them. Jackson was crying, but not outrageously crying at that point. He looked at me and as he said "mommy my arm" he went to lift it, and two inches from above his wrist, down, did not raise with the rest of his arm- his hand was separated from his arm, holding by skin, and the fact that the bones broke diagonally so there was that keeping the skin below the break and above the break from actually making a 90o angle.

I took one look, looked at our neighbor, and said "can you stay with him out here a minute?", he said yes, and that was when I went outside of myself and the Lord took over through my body. It sounds funny to read that, but really, that is what it was like. By myself, I would not have been able to stay calm as I saw my son's arm broke in half, already turning purple within minutes of the accident. The accident? His cousin pushed him as he was going across the monkey bars, he fell, and his arm was 90o to the ground, and the impact of his body on his arm caused it to snap.

As I turned around from my neighbor, I reached for my phone, called Jay and said "stop what you're doing, Jackson has broke his arm we're headed for the hospital right now". Jay, being Jay, says "are you sure it's broken?", to whcih I answer "I'm looking at it, and his hand is dangling from the rest of his arm", and he said "Okay, I'll meet you there". As I go to grab my keys and a towel, all I could say was "Lord, help me ...", and he did. By then our neighbor was helping him back down the stairs to my car, the mother of the other little boy they were playing with was taking my nephew and Hannah to her apartment, we get him settled in the back seat, and off we go.

I call my sister to tell her what happened, and God gave me the grace to have that conversation (may He have the glory for that), as that was not a time for conflict resolution between the kids, I just needed to let her know what was going on so she knew where her son was as I was babysitting while she worked. Jackson was crying louder now as the adrenaline was starting to wear and the pain was starting to settle in. I was captive in my own front seat driving when all I wanted to do was take him in my arms and "make it all better", maybe even cry with him a little.
However, as I was talking calmly to him, and he was still semi rational, it dawned on me. I needed to look at the road, instead of in the back seat. The whole time I know I was praying under my breath, I believe that was the only way I was really remembering to breath. As I was talking as soothingly as I could, the Lord led me to call one of my friends (a good friend) in another state. We had prayed a number of times on the phone and she has a VERY soothing voice, especially when she prays. I called her, and put her on the phone with Jackson. They had spoken before, she wasn't a stranger at all to him.

The sobs stopped as soon as he got on the phone with her. She prayed with him the rest of the ride to the hospital, about fifteen minutes. THAT is a good friend! He was SO calm, and SO settled after that, it was nothing short but the work of God.

It was peace, in a time of crisis, for this mother.
Stay tuned for part two this Wednesday :)

Message to our children

I love King David. Out of all of the people in the bible, I am drawn to David most. The Lord saw fit to show him at his best, and at his worst. Though David he shows the potential we have as humans to be righteous, pleasing to God, on the mountaintop, as well as in the valleys, at our worst with sin in our lives taking rule. Having clinical depression, I relate with David greatly because after reading about him you can see the same highs and lows in him that a Christian dealing with clinical depression would have in their own lives. David "makes it real".

I'm reading in Chronicles now, and run into David's charge to Solomon for when he will become King over Israel. I am wowed each time I read about David, and this time is no exception. David tells Solomon what we all should be telling our children (and remember for ourselves!):

1 Chronicles 28
9And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.

20And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.

What comfort and security is to be found in these verses! David in these verses was leaving a legacy of holiness to his child, assurance of the faithfulness of our God. He not only tells him how good God is, but how HOLY he is as well. Oftentimes we tend to forget to remind our children how HOLY God is.

Lately I have been reminding our children when things are not going well for them, how what they are experiencing could possibly be the result of unconfessed sin in their life that they have not repented from. In my own life it has been hard enough to keep that in the forefront of my own life, I want to train my children to have that thought second nature unlike their mom's experience. I don't want them to forget that our God will not tolerate sin in our lives, and when we walk in sin and with self centered prideful attitudes, we lose our fellowship with God and our prayers will be hindered.

Likewise, I want them to be confident of the faithfulness of our God. This is why it is important to always remind them when God's faithfulness is being revealed in our lives. We experienced the loss of an infant family member just a number of months ago, that we were very close with and spent an unordinary amount of time with. That tragedy was devastating to our family and I've felt as if I lost one of my own children. It's one thing to experience the loss of an infant as an adult, but imagine what goes through the mind of a tender 6 year old girl's heart when thinking about God allowing a baby to die. Imagine feeling helpless as you watch her go through the motions of grief, not really knowing what do to but praying without ceasing! Yet, time heals all hurts. It is when I see her able to look at the baby's picture, and not burst into uncontrollable tears, I am able to show her how God has helped her in her grief. How God has given her peace in her heart to be able to start thinking about how much she loved the baby, without having the overwhelming thoughts of how much she misses it.

God is so good, so faithful, and so true to us. We don't know why God allowed the baby to die, but we do know he done it for His glory. That, we can count on. He started a work in us the day the baby died, and one day we might be able to minister to another family that experienced the same thing we did. One day my daughter might be able to comfort a classmate that does not know Christ, who experienced the loss of an infant in their life. I want my children to understand and be confident that when they seek the Lord, they will find Him. That as long as they are seeking Him, He will finish the work He started in them until the day He returns.

*CG

Inheriting the wind

Sunday School Notes from 7-27-08, teacher R.S.

Proverbs 11:29-30
29He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.
30The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

Do you have a Christian family? Some cannot answer that question with a yes; because of that, when they make decisions for the Lord, it will naturally trouble his "house", his family. It is important to make the distinction that verses such as this are not speaking about troubling a house because of decisions for God, being a bad thing. NO, no one likes strife, and you want to live as peaceably as you can possibly live with all men. But we cannot shy away from making decisions for the Lord because the unholy in our "houses" might get upset.

On the flipside, what happens when a Christian in a family is the one who stirs up the strife? Oh that's not good at all, is it? We as Christians expect a higher level of behavior and standards from other Christians, realistically speaking. While we are all sinners, we are not to act like the ungodly. When we make decisions to follow the Lord in an area of our life, we are doing so in following His will for us, and other Christians should be in a position in their own walks to where they are able to support you, whether they would neccessarily make the same decisions as you or not.

What is family?
Well, if you are saved, you are part of the family of God. Usually you will be able to recognize your brothers and sisters in Christ in public, because there's a peace about them that surpasses normal, human understanding. I believe the verses above can apply to family in our home, and family as in the body of Christ. Sometimes within the body of Christ there seems to be people that others just do not want to listen to. I know in my own experience there have been people in whom I have tried to reach out to, to be a friend to, to counsel with, and they just do not want what I have to offer them. They may not even realize I see it, but it become obvious after a period of time, they did not want what I had. I have to say it hurt! Sometimes when we distance ourselves from our family, we are distancing ourselves from what our family has to offer us.

Proverbs 15:27
27He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live.

"Inherting the wind"- lets discuss the charactristics of wind, shall we?
Sometimes you cannot tell which way the wind is blowing. Our teacher spoke about golfers who will take a few pieces of grass and toss them in the air to see which way they blow to be able to see which way the wind is blowing. Wind can be elusive, destructive, or restless- but one thing you can count of, it is always on the move! Do we really want to inherit that for ourselves? being tossed to and fro, never knowing what direction we'll be going next?

The fruit of the spirit- something we all should be fostering in our walks with God:
Galatians 5:22-23
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

We must be striving for fruit, and not heading in a direction where we would be inherting wind like characteristics. Homes should have order. Some homes have invisible problems, even though they appear to have order on the outside. They might be burdened, or heavy hearted. Do you pray about the problems in your home, or do you complain about the problems in your home to the Lord (and others)?

We should be happy and content with what the Lord has given us.

Numbers 23:27
27And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.

King Solomon describes an unsettled home as a troubled home. What do you want to leave for your kids? I know we have a lot of work to do in our home if we are to leave a legacy of peace and order to our children!! A home inheriting wind will turn into a whirlwind, just like a hurricane builds speed.

Proverbs 11:29
"He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart."

The fool is always living for his sin, and rejects God's wisdom. Righteous people produce living fruit. If you had an apple tree tha did not produce apples, would you allow it to stay, or would you cut it down? Most people would cut it down in order to plant another tree in its place that would produce fruit. A wise person is a model for a meaningful life. People will reap the life they live in this world- no one sins and gets away with it. Your sin will always find you out, one way or another!

What sin do you have in your life that you have not dealt with yet? There are alwaus consequences for our sin, some consequences are bigger than others. Sometimes it takes years for those consequences to surface, but they will surface. When they do, it is going to hurt, too. The world is knocking on our door- we must strive to protect our families while reaching the world with the gospel of Christ.