Christian Momma

I have been stalking following Pete Wilson (and his wife Brandi) for some time now (via Facebook, twitter, and blog).  Pete is a Pastor at Cross Point Church in Nashville, I’ve never been there, but have learned so much from both him and his wife!

Pete is doing a 31 Day Challenge (you can read about it here) but basically, 31 chapters in Proverbs = 31 days!  There’s a blog set up specifically for the 31 Day Challenge.

I just joined (a few days behind, but I can catch up), are you in?

Our Monday night ladies Bible study has started a new study…it’s a journey really, 90 days to be exact!  We are studying the book:  Becoming the Woman God wants Me to Be by Donna Partow

We are on day 9.  To be honest, I’m enjoying the study, but me being the kind of person who likes to see what’s coming up next, I’m a bit nervous about week 3.  It’s all about diet and food.  This is something HUGE that I struggle with.  I know I need to work through and at least try, but part of me just wants to skip the whole week 3.  I won’t though…I will try, as hard as it may be…I guess that would be the time that I need to lean more on God.  But that’s something I’m not going to worry about, because, frankly, I need to learn what we are doing NOW, and not worry about what tomorrow will bring.

As the book says in the beginning:  “…if at any moment you are discouraged, stop and focus on what you are learning.”

So what have I learned…I’ve committed to setting my alarm for 6 am and not hitting snooze for an hour getting up at 7 am.  I have been able to memorize Proverbs 31: 10-11 (by the end of the journey I should have Proverbs 31:10-31 memorized).

A wife of noble character, who coud find?  She is worth far mor than rubies.  Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.  Proverbs 31: 10-11

Yep, that was from memory?  Impressed?  I know I am!  I wasn’t sure if I would be able to memorize it or not, but apparently when you read the same verse every day for a week, it sort of sticks!

I am learning to be positive…an optimist thinker!

“A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.”  Proverbs 17:22

When we lived in CO, we used to sing a song in church based on that verse.  I can only remember the chours of the verse though.

I am excited to be learning to be the woman God wants me to be.  1 day at a time, I’ll learn something new each day.  I will be a changed person…I will become the woman God wants me to be!

2008 has come and gone already.  It sure seemed to go by quickly…sometimes a little too quickly!

January

The year started out with me beginning to work on Power Lab VBS (Ah Ha!).  I was also homeschooling Michael.  We were pretty on top of our schooling and things were going pretty smoothly at the time.  I was also beginning to work in the K-1 Sunday School class room at church.  That, wasn’t going as smoothly as I had wished.

February

VBS started to consume my thoughts.  I was having dreams about not being ready, and just an overwhelming sense that I’ve bitten off more than I could chew.  AKA…I wasn’t relying on God to help me, I was relying on my own strength to do it.

February also brought about Daniel & Andrew’s 3rd birthday as well as my 34th birthday.

Michael entered his first Science Fair and ended up with a Superior rating!  I was proud, but knew full well that if he had applied himself earlier in the month, but he decided to wait until the last minute to do it.  Then we hit a rough patch in our homeschooling…a bad one.  Causing me to question my ability to teach him not to mention my basic parenting skills.  But, through the Grace of God we got through it with help from some friends in our church.

March

March brought in a lot of saddness.  My grandmother’s health begain to fail drastically.  And a friend of mine lost her child in a horrible accident. My heart ached in ways I never knew it would.  Things in me shined trhough as well.  I didn’t realize how “in tune” I was to other’s saddness.  Michael had a meeting with the staff from his online school and things turned out so much better than I had originally anticipated.

April

In April, I took a blogging break…school slipped behind and I had to push Michael to get as much done as possible a day!  Spring seemed to bring out the worst in his schooling abilities and slowly we fell behind.

May

I won this Word Press blog…I’m ever so greatful to Lisa for hosting the giveaway that allowed me to win! The final push to get VBS was upon us.  VBS was scheduled for the 2nd week of June.  My grandmother passed away that month as well.

June

VBS week came and went without too much problems.  Yes, there were a few bumps in the road, but overall things turned out GREAT!  I was elated that things went as well as they did and relieved that it was all over with as well.

July

We celebrated Michael’s 11th birthday in July along with Kevin and I’s 14th wedding anniversary.  In between those 2 events, we threw my mom and dad a 60th Birthday/40th Wedding Anniversary party.  We were very impressed that we were able to pull it off!  Mom and dad had only suspected that we were planning on all going out to eat together, not that we would have all of their friends and family at a hall waiting for their arrival!  We even got one of their friends from High School to travel from Chicago to Ohio to celebrate with them as well!

We also got to see Extreme Makeover Home Edition in our town.  My mother drove down the night before to stay overnight and we headed out to the new house to watch the bus move.  That is a day that was HOT, but I wouldn’t have missed for the world.  To see something like that is a once in a lifetime thing.  Michael still claims to have High-Fived Ty!

August

We went for our 1 and only camping trip of the year.  We had so much fun, and would love to go back to the Michigan Dunes again.  Our church also had a Worship Night.  Something changed in me that night and I have been forever changed!

September

School started right after Labor Day!  We decided to send Michael back to public school since things weren’t working out the best for us at home.  We are happy to report that he is doing wonderful in the public school!

We celebrated Noah’s 8th birthday in September.  We also found out that an eight year old child, when given $20 in cash and not watched very closely at the grocery store (because mom and dad were busy ringing/bagging groceries), will spend the whole $20 on lottery tickets!  And before you ask…YES it’s illegal for him to purchase them, but when they have a “vending machine” of lottery tickets just sitting over by the bubble gum machines, it’s just calling for a child to play with it!  And he only wond $2!

October

In October, Kevin and I started going to a new Bible Study.  I was elated that Kevin wanted to go to one since he has never really showed any interest in going before.

We also walked, for the first time, in the JDRF Walk for a Cure for my Niece.  We were so proud of her, she ended up getting 2 awards…one for the amount of money raised and the other for the T-Shirt design!

November

We celebrated Kevin’s 38th birthday.  How?  Well, I went to a Arbone party and he watched football…now that’s love!

We had our traditional weekend after Thanksgiving shopping adventure.  My parents’ took Michael, Noah, Daniel, & Andrew for the weekend (it ended up my parents had Daniel & Andrew and my sister had Michael & Noah).  We always enjoy that weekend away from the boys.  It’s nice to pretend we are childless…even if it’s just for the weekend!  But we are always so excited when they return.

December

We spent most of the month either running from Christmas Program to Christmas Program or from Christmas to Christmas.  However this year it seemed to be a little less travel than usual.  We only spent 1 night up at my parent’s house and we actually had Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home for the first time in a long time!

For 2009, I’m sure there will be new things that God shows us along the way, new challenges to overcome and new friends to meet, but I trust that God will be joining us along this journey and we will rest in the knowledge of Him.

Are you a servant of God?  Do you serve in church in hopes someone will notice?  What exactly is a True servant?

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.  Colossians 3:23

A true servant shows selfless love towards others.  Being willing and available to meet the needs of those that need help; to see the needs that need to be met; to do it with enthusiasm and dedication.

So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.  1 Corinthians 15:58

Some observations that breaks my heart.  While I was at church today, I noticed how many empty positions there were.  We were lacking quite a few teachers this morning.  Yes, it’s getting close to the Holiday season, so some people are traveling, however, as a servant of God, shouldn’t there be someone willing to fill into those places that are in need?  I know God has called each of us into our own roles to help the church thrive, where are those willing to do their part?

I can tell you from experience, I am not called to work in the nursery – toddler room, however, when there is an need and I’m available, I will be there, why?  Because I know that in doing this, I am serving God.

Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.  Galatians 6:10

It was hard for me to see some parents missing out on the sermon today because their child’s room was closed because there wasn’t a teacher.  They could have put their child into another room, but their child wanted to be in the room he was used to.

I would be lieing if I said that hearing “Thank you for stepping up and doing this” or “What would I do without you” makes me feel good, but to be honest, that’s not why I’m there.  I do what I do, because it’s pleasing to God.

Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant. Galatians 1:10

How do you serve?  Do you step into some roles that you aren’t comfortable with because you see a need and fill it temporarily?  Do you do it out of obedience to God or are you looking for some recognition?

Kevin and I have been going to a Bible Study on Wednesday nights.  The first question that was asked…

How would you define your faith?

The Bible defines faith as:

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ~ Hebrews 11:1

I have pondered this question in my head for the past 2 weeks.  I know what I believe, but how would I present my faith to an unbeliever?  I’m not sure how to do that, the only thing I can offer is examples.

• It’s a feeling of overwhelming peace in the midst of turmoil
• It’s knowing beyond a shadow of doubt that I am saved by the Grace of God and will go to heaven when my life on earth is over
• It’s not worrying about the “financial crisis” that is going on in the world because I know I will be taking care of
• It’s believing that I was destined for a purpose
• It’s knowing that the only thing that can fill the hole in your heart is God because you’ve tried other things and still felt empty
• It’s knowing that 2 different times in my life I should have died, but God has brought me through to see another day
• It’s not worrying about things that I have no control over

Even after reading the above responses, I still feel like I haven’t really explained what my faith is.

Kevin described it this way…

If you strip away all worldly things and feel like you have nothing, you have no faith, but if you feel like you still have something (after all worldly things are gone) that’s where you will find your faith.

So how would you describe your faith?

School starts around here.

Michael & Noah are excited…Mommy is nervous!

This year we are trying something new.  Something that we should have been doing all along, but haven’t.  Why, no other reason but us being lazy.  We will begin doing evening family devotions.  I’m excited about that!  I’m hoping that it will help our boys to keep their focus on God and not the world.

Kevin and I went out and purchased a devotional book called The One Year Devotional For Boys (figuring to chose the boys since the one for Girls really wouldn’t be the best choice for our family of boys).

It’s geared for boys ages 4 – 8, now we have boys ages 3 to 11, so I figured it would work well for us.  I didn’t want to get something that was too difficult for our twin 3 year olds to understand, but I also didn’t want to get something that Michael would consider being boring and too childish for him.

After reading one devotion before purchasing the book and comparing it to a couple others, I like the way this book asks questions for the boys to answer.  Something I specifically was looking for.

Tonight, we didn’t get to it…to be honest, we just forgot.  We remembered after the boys were already sleeping and didn’t want to wake them since they start school tomorrow.

Please pray that we will make this a priority in our household and that it will continue throughout our children’s lives!

I also started reading (again) The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie O’Martain.  I started this book once before and got overwhelmed with having “homework” in 2 different Bible Studies I was in.  Now, I’m going to really work on this.  I’ve set reminders to do this and by the end of September, I should have the book completed…only doing 1 chapter a day!

The last few days I have been feeling like God is moving in my life, calling me to something more, freeing me up from something that has been holding me back from the fullness of God.

Last night as I was preparing for Bible Study (we are reading Beth Moore’s book, Get Out Of That Pit together…which, by the way, is a great book!), I felt the Lord tugging on my heart.  I knew that I was on the brink of some sort of breakthrough.  I instantly emailed my worship leader mentor friend, and told her what I was feeling, she lead me to this scripture…

1 Samuel 3:9-11 (New International Version)

9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

11 And the LORD said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.

For so long I have felt like I have ADD and only when it comes to sitting down to spend quiet time with the Lord.  I just can’t quiet myself down to stop and listen to what God has to say for me.  I have been really struggling with finding my quiet time.

The feeling that the “flood gates of Heaven” will open if I just surrender and spend some quality time with God.  How do you do that with a house full of boys and a dog that likes to bark at the cat?  There are so many distractions in my house!

This morning sealed it when I came across a post from Pete (the Pastor of Cross Point Church in Nashville) on Without Wax.  Yep, that confirmed what I have known…I have a self problem, I need to stop focusing on myself and start focusing on God!  Thanks Pete for the confirmation this morning.

A quote from Beth Moore’s Book, “Get Out of that Pit”

“…inauthentic people are ineffective people….Liberty cannot exist apart from transparency.”

Just something to ponder!

We started a new Bible Study in our Monday night Bible Study. We are doing Beth Moore’s Get Out Of That Pit.   We usually have a group on Monday nights of 6-9 women…last night we had 20!

I’m excited to be getting into another Beth Moore study…the last one we did (Jesus, The One and Only) , I learned a lot!

Do you attend one? What are you studying? If you attend one, would you encourage others to attend? Why?

We are having a Ministry Fair on Sunday which also includes our Small Groups in our Church. Our Monday Night Bible Study is having a “booth”…I (along with everyone else in the group) was asked to give a statement as to why we attended that group. Our leader is making a poster board for it.

Here is what I sent in…

Why do you attend Monday Night Ladies’ Bible Study?

For me, Monday is my “Girls Night Out”. Coffee…Talk…and a Bible Study all wrapped up in one! I get to meet other women in our church and really get to know them. How many times I have felt all alone, I go to Bible Study, share with the ladies there what is on my heart and realize I am NOT alone! It has been such a blessing to me to get to know this group of women. I can call them my friends! I love this group!!!