Whats a person to do?

Get healthy and sanctified right in the middle of all of it and pray for the body of Christ to get educated and do likewise! We are not going to find a guaranteed safe place in which to hide. We are going to have to fund safety in Christ, hiding ourselves in Him, no matter what kind of place surrounds us. Anywhere He sends us, He is prepared to protect us. We just have to keep ourselves in Him through sanctification.~~Beth Moore (When Godly People Do Ungodly Things)

Another one for the Kingdom!!!

So the kids have begun going to this club after school. It is titled The Good News Club. Here they learn Bible stories, memorize verses, and play games. I stopped in yesterday to be a fly on the wall. I wasn't very successful in doing this because I had my 4 yr old with me and our tote of Girl scout cookies following behind.
Anyhow, they did a quasi alter call for the kids and my son stands up and says he prayed the prayer. Then follows the woman back to get a "new believers" guide and goes back to sit down.
Now we have been going to church every Sunday and everything that goes with that for gosh, 8 yrs now. We are hardly "new believers." I figured he just wanted the little book and whatever else was being dolled out.I knew I was going to chat with him later about getting the "handouts."

So while I was preparing dinner I found an opportunity to discuss that goings on during their meeting after school. I asked him if he knew what that meant to surrender his life the Jesus.
His response.."I want to follow Jesus and live according to His rules mom, just like you and dad."
I was jumping up and down, literally. I told him we must celebrate!!!!!
Hours passed us by and bed time approached. He asked if he could sleep in bed with me because my husband wasn't home. I said sure. While laying in bed he requested to be woken up at 6am to read the Bible with me. He sees me up every morning doing this and wants to join me!!!!
I feel so honored and privileged that I GET to lead and guide my son in His ways!!!

I will be buying some kind of devotional or study to do with him. I cant even stand to wait another moment!! His heart is for the Lord, at 9. He wants to study His word and grow in his knowledge of the Most High.......the angels are rejoicing!!!!!!!

With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of Salvation. Isaiah 12:3

Tonight I go to bed with a smile on my face.
It has been awhile since I have done that.
Sweet dreams I ask for.
Simplicity is always nice.
A new day will come.
Baby Steps.
Life, right now, at this moment, is GOOD!

Conversation with God

Me: God, this is impossible!!

God: Honey, thats when I do some of my best work!

From the mouth of Babes

So my daughter wakes up before the sun did this morning. I was already up making coffee for my dear husband. As she is wiping the sleep from her eyes she says to me,"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good mamma."
At 6 yrs old, she wakes with praises on her tongue!!

Truth

A wise woman builds her home,
but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.
Proverbs 14:1

Pride leads to conflict;
those who take advice are wise.
Proverbs 13:10

A gntle answer deflects anger,
but harsh words make tempers flare.
Proverbs 15:1

Mercy-compassionate treatment of those in distress





Grace-a virtue coming from God





Friend-one attached to another by affection or esteem





Forgiveness-allowing room for error or weakness





I think what I am feeling is great disappointment. In all of this,I think that is the most accurate emotion.


We cannot put neither man nor woman on a pedestal. There isn't anyone who is to be looked on as greater or better then anyone else. There are people, however, that are held to a higher accountability. People who have the know how to stop the sin or get the help needed to stop the sin as it encroaches. So it is there that my disappointment lies. The Bible warns us that sin is knocking at our doorstep waiting for the door to open. We have to be ever so careful to not even crack the door.





Sin makes you stupid though. It fogs up your goggles and turns your brain into mush. And its just like the Devil to make whatever it is that's going on feel good.





The Lord says that one sin is no greater then the other but some sins cause greater damage then others.


I suppose that God says that because all sin separates us from Him. We do have a friend in Jesus. When we screw up and hurt people, He will forgive us and restore us. It is Him who we can count on.


When all is lost, we can look to the sky and find this to be comforting...God smiling down on us with utter compassion, grace, and mercy. He is our friend.

A Must....

Grace and Mercy is a must in our walk with the Lord. Forgiveness is for us and not the party who has offended. When we hold onto the anger and bitterness it harms us, not them.
I am still very hurt and ALL trust has been broken. I am praying because that is what we are called to do and the only thing I know how to do in a time of crisis.
I am confident that what the enemy steels can be redeemed for Gods glory. Restoration for EVERYONE, all families, is Gods heart.
When we yield our heart to the Father it can be repaired. I am confident that with a willing heart, all things are possible.
Lord I pray that Your Grace and Mercy rain down Jesus. I ask that humility be ever present and that a yielding attitude will prevail. Jesus, anywhere where the enemy has a foothold, we break that in your name!! Damage has been done and I pray that no more will be done. Protect little ears from the destructive ways and give them strength. I pray that their trust would be restored. I pray that they would know that they can always trust in you!!

The Wedge

It seems as though Satan can drive his wedge into the strongest of rocks. This is because Rocks are imperfect and full of stress points that can fracture at any time. Jesus is our only perfect rock. It is on Him that we are standing now and forever!
I am sickened and sad at recent circumstances. I have run the gamut of emotions. I don't even really know if I have processed even 10% of whats happened.
I am trying to be careful with my words because I am praying for everyone involved. I have been greatly disappointed. To say I didnt see it would be a lie. To be right about it makes me sick! (btw, this post doesnt refer to me or my husband) . The Bible tells us that we will know a man by his fruits. Right now all I see is ugly and evil.
My God is Mighty though. He is bigger and stronger then any circumstance! We can rise above this, everyone involved. When we come Face to Face with God and exchange our truth for His is when the work begins. Draw them in Lord.
There is hope if you have faith. So, Lord, I pray now that you would just intervene. Invade them and bring Your light. Bring your Mercy and Healing Powers. Let your Spirit rain down now and wash clean what has been made so dirty.
We can be redeemed and restored and made even better!! Praise God for His compassion and grace. Help us to have your eyes Lord. Protect us from the Evil one. We pray for Humility.

To Be or Not To Be....

Do I encourage my son to be friends with a boy at school who was sent to the principals office for choking another boy or do I advise him to steer clear??
I think most parents would be justified in telling their child that this boy will only create trouble for their son. To stay away from him would be understandable, right?
Wrong...

I told my son that this boy probably needs a good friend. Something is probably really wrong in his life right now that is causing him to act this way. I told my son that this would be a different kind of friendship then he was used to. He would have to be a strong friend to this boy. This boy will most likely want you to do things that will cause you to get into trouble. You must try to help him find the right path.
Being grounded in Christ, he understood. I told him that we are called to love our neighbors and have compassion on them like Jesus did for us. That God puts people in our circle of influence so we can shower them and share with them the GoodNews. So I explained that this was an opportunity for him to love on this boy. We need to treat people the way we want to be treated, right....He said yes mom, I have copied that verse soooo many times...lol
I would have him copy this verse when he wasn't being very nice to others....
Anyhow, I hope and pray that he can be the light that he is called to be in this place....pls keep him in prayer....
Thanks!!

Change...

The winds are changing in our neck of the woods. It has been a bit of a cool breeze,pleasant in nature. It has allowed much needed flexibility and freedom. We have been in a position of choice.
We also have been feeling the pinch of the economy. I have been a stay at home mom for the last 7 1/2 yrs. My husband didn't work for about 7 months and upon returning, he took a large pay cut. Aside from the pay cut, we were just happy that he was back to work, PRAISE GOD!! We have been in prayer for the last few weeks and trusting that God would lead us in the right direction. The right direction being any that He would have us be in.
After fasting and much prayer we feel that we are entering into a season of change. We feel the Lord is leading me into full time employment. This of course means that I will no longer be able to homeschool our children. ::sigh:: I was a bit thrown to say the least. See, I feel its our responsibility to raise up our children and teach them biblical truths and make sure they are properly educated.
I feel like the Lord has been preparing me for this for the last few months, without my knowing of course....Because had I known the direction, I would've tried to change Gods plan, as if mine would be any better. Isn't that what we do, figure out a "Better" way. A few weeks ago I came to the realization that our kids don't belong to us. See, they are simply a gift from God, given to us on a temporary basis. They truly belong to Him on loan to us. Because of this I had to release them to Him. Man, talk about shedding some tears... That was probably one of the hardest things I have EVER done. To declare that they aren't mine but His and trust that He has their best interest at heart. It's a good thing the Lord catches our tears.
See it doesn't matter where the kids are, its more about who the kids' parents are. He picked us to be their parents. They can still learn the Biblical truths and go to public school. As difficult as it will be , for me, I know God has them all under His wing.
The world is the world and it is fallen. We cant escape that. It's my goal now, as it was before, to make sure that they are grounded in Creationism and the Truth!!
Pls pray for us as we seek out the right school and the right job for me.
Thanks in advance!!! And praise God...I know He has bigger plans that are just not yet revealed...remember, if we knew what it was we would probably try to come up with something better...lol
We are praying for His peace that passes all understanding!!!

We have arrived!

So we arrived this morning at 6 am into the beautiful country of Zambia. We made it with practically no hang ups. We had a 2 1/2 hr delay out of LAX due to "electrical issues." They borded us and then had us leave the plane. Not too comforting to have the plane you are about to spend the next 9 hrs on having "electrical issues."
All of our bags made it and so far so good. We don't think that there is anything missing from any of them. There are still 2 that we haven't even looked in yet but we are hoping its there. After we were all able to shower, we went to the arcade to have some breakfast and exchange our money. We know have a pocket full of Qwatcha.
The first person to greet us was Bishop Peter!!! Wow, so good to see him. He told Michaela and I that Leon and Robert would both be preaching tomorrow but not to tell them...lol. The 4 of us are going to the same church and the men are going to be sharing the preaching duties! I cant wait. I have yet to truly hear my husband preach..
Today we went to the property to see the orphanage. The team that preceded us were able to complete the playground that they came to set up. It looks amazing and I already know that the kids are going to love it. After that we came home and took a much needed nap. We are back at the arcade now after eating a gourmet meal prepared by Ted himself.
So here is what I have been focused on today:
Col. 3:2.....Think about the things of Heaven, not the things of earth.
2 Corin. 4:18......we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen,....but the things we cannot see will last forever
Isaiah 26:3....you will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thought are fixed on you.

I want to try to make sure that we are staying kingdom minded while we are here. We came to walk out Gods will for our lives in this season. Praise Him. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners..Romans 5:6
I will try to post again soon!!!

At the LAX airport

So far so good. We are waiting at the airport and our check in went very smoothly!! We have about a 3 1/2 wait and then we will be boarding our first flight. Uh oh...just checked our departure time and we are currenly delayed 50 min.
We just finished eating El Paseo mexican food. We are sitting next to some serious air-conditiong, wow. We are so excited. I hope to post some pics soon. We were lucky enough to be able to borrow a camera from a friend for our trip and I am still trying to figure it out.
Tata for now. I am saving our battery so Michaela can post too.

Isaiah 61 :1-3

Luv you all!!!

We leave tomorrow to Zambia!!!

So tomorrow night, just a bit over 24hrs away, we will be on British Airways Zambia bound. Wow...even now I am tearin up. The kids are packed up and ready to head off to stay with our dear friends and family. Oh man..I have been holdin it together for so long but I know tomorrow when we drop them off it will be hard. To leave my kids for 17 days, man. God grant me the strength. Grant me Your peace that passes understanding. It's only because I am confident that we have been called out that I can go.
I am super excited to go though. God has just been breakin my heart for these children that I haven't even met. There is no better place to be then smack dab in the middle of Gods will. My husband has been telling me the past few days that now all my dreams are coming true. See about 6 yrs ago, I started having dreams about bringing the gospel to the nations. God began to show me what we would be doing with the rest of our lives. See, we are the perfect example of His timing being perfect. It took about 6 yrs for this to be a reality. We have to be patient and wait on God for His divine timing. He made it very clear that He wanted us on this very trip with the kind of donations that came in. I have been to Mexico on a short weekend mission trip but this, this is the beginning of being in the center of Gods will. Hopefully we can organize another trip to Mexico in the fall. I will definitely be bringing the kids on that one!
I am going to try to post while we are in Zambia. I am bringing my laptop and will see what i can do. If nothing else I will be journaling and then post when we get back.
If you are a praying person, pls lift us up as you remember. We are going to need a wall of prayer around us while we are encountering the things of the enemy. We want to see people set free, healed, restored, and saved!! Our God is an awesome God who reigns from heaven!! There isn't anything that is too big for Him. Thanks for your support and we will chat again very soon, hopefully from Zambia, Africa!!!

Update on the last few weeks

So I am taking this idea from a dear friend of mine.....I want to catch you all up on the ongoings of the past few weeks. I just haven't had the time to post pics and blog about everything....so here we go...

Our trip to Vegas..mini vacation with the kids....We spent most of the time in the pools...We also met a real life robot!!!! Good times!

I caught our cat drinking from the faucet the other day. I thought it was funny because she usually drinks from toilet. Apparently she is switchin it up...lol

This is our Ladies night out last Friday night. Dinner and a craft...can you tell whats on my mind by what I created??

This was yesterday at the beach with friends...Ummm....Apparently I just have a head for a daughter..lol

Good time with friends and family is what life is about!!!

9 days til Zambia

So we leave in 9 days. We are so excited. To be right in the middle of Gods will for our lives is pretty freakin amazing. God has been preparing me for the last 2 months on things that I will be doing while I am there. I hope to accomplish many things through Him and for His glory. Pls pray as the last few days approach, all goes well. I have to not only prepare all luggage for my husband and I but for our children as well. They will be staying behind with some of our dearest friends and family. Pray that they will have comfort with both parents being away.
So much more I want to post but dinner calls.....

All I can really say is WOHOOO!!!!! :0)

Car Wash Success!!!

So we had our last fundraiser yesterday and it was a success, despite what the weatherman said. Isnt God the one in control anyway....lol

So we ended up raising $258. Yay!! We will still get a small check from Chik-fil-A from everyone who came and ate. We arent sure how much but everything helps! We forgot to bring a camera so I snapped a few pics with my phone. For some reason I didnt save some of the pics properly, bummer. But here are 2 that did make it!

We had lots of little hands to make the work lighter :0)

I love anything where the kids can help.

And then there was Jaimey, Michaelas sister, being silly when all was said and done...

A gift

So I feel like the Lord led me to this very verse this morning to minister to a dear friend but also to minster to me about my own children and the children we will be serving when we go to Zambia.
Psalm 127:3 Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Regarding my own family and my children, sometimes as mothers we get caught up in the things that "Need to be Done" around the house. I can get just as busy as the next one and put a movie on for the kids or have them go outside and play,not that either of those are bad options for kids.
In Luke 10:38-42 the bible gives us the ex of Mary and Martha. Jesus is coming to see them and upon His arrival, Martha almost frantically begins to prepare the feast. She gets so caught up in the things that "Need to be Done" that she misses the blessing of sitting at His feet. Mary sat at his feet soaking in all Jesus could teach her. Why do we get so caught up sometimes? Its a trap that the enemy sets for us. We completely miss out on the blessing. Let's not do that anymore.

So if children are a gift from God(psalm 127:3) then we really shouldn't pass up one minute that we could spend learning from them and teaching them.We should not be telling our kids "no" when we could say "yes."
How exciting is it to be able to tell the Orphans in Zambia that they are a "Gift." They aren't trash to be easily discarded or a book to be put on a shelf. They are the very tool that will shape our future!! They are not to be seen as a nuisance or distraction but they are to be regarded as a most precious gift from the Father, who makes no mistakes! The author of Creation itself.
Lord, help us to be more nurturing to ALL children. To our own and to others. Help us to not be selfish and say "Not right now" or "No" when we can say "Yes!" Put in us a passion to teach the Truth of your word and to nurture their spirit! Help us to love on them even more then we do now. Lord here our prayers. Help us to mold them and shape them into the very soldiers that will fight in Your army for righteousness!!
~~L~~

Gotta love the Psalms!!

So the Lord has been really impressing on me to meditate on Psalm 130 and Psalm 139. Its so rad that God everywhere, in everything, all knowing, and knew us before we even took our first breath...How rad is that!!!!

Psalm 130:8.....He Himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin.<~~~~~~Very nice!!

Psalm 139:5 You go before me and follow me.
Psalm 139:7 I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence.

That's the kind of God we serve!!! No matter how hard we try to hide "Our Stuff" we can't, so why bother. Bring it to the feet of the Father who knows ANYWAY!!!

~~L~~

Fast Approaching

So our trip to Zambia is fast approaching. We are exactly 7 weeks and 5 days from our departure date, July 2nd.
We are trying to tie up the bit of our fundraising events in order to purchase the last bit of needed supplies. Not to mention I still need to get my Typhoid shot, ouch!! Thanks to the Lord that our tickets are paid but there are still things that are needing to have funds raised for. We are still raising or the following....
~School Supplies
~VBS materials~~ Michaela and I are writing the curriculum ourselves to avoid extra cost
~Bibles
~Medical items such as my shots, all the rx's we ahve to take with us to make sure we don't get Malaria, Leons epi pin and other meds that go along with him getting stung by a bee, etc.
~balls, toys and other things we can bring over for the kids.
~ oh and money for food, theres always that, lol

So anyway, we are having a fundraising dinner at our house and then we are doing a car wash in June. Pls join us in prayer that we raise all needed funds in these last 2 events!!!
The kids know we are coming and from what I hear, they are super excited!!!!
We cant wait to get there....I miss Bishop Peter and cant wait to meet all the kids.
Thanks for all your prayers in advance. We know that God is in control and He will provide!!!

Pls also keep us in prayer regarding the Spiritual Warfare we are being faced with. As we step out in faith in the way that we are, the attacks can be somewhat severe at times. We are really trying to keep our focus on the Whole Armor of God( Eph. 6:11-17) to get us through this time. In case you don't really know what Spiritual Warfare is I will explain. See when you take a step for the Lord, the Evil one attacks. Satan is not a fan of us dedicated our lives to Christ. So things that would normally not get to you become a very big deal, an explosion possibly. So pls pray that the Lord would help to keep us focused and united!!