Time for People

This coming month holds lots of exciting events for both our family and our church. May is always just a little bit crazy around my house. This year is will be even more so for several reasons...all good ones. I am excited about what God has planned for the next few weeks; however, if I dwell on all that will happen in the next four weeks, I start to hyperventilate just a little bit. I. need. a. plan. My Dad (who is Mr. Organized...) taught my sister and I the value of a good plan. Somehow, she caught onto the execution part of it a little better than I did. :) So, after a day of feeling like we are a ship taking on water I have settled on a plan. Want to hear it? I am going to make time for people! There...that is the bulk of all that my plan entails. Now my dad is hyperventilating. :) Just kidding!!!

Sometimes we are so busy in ministry that we do not have time to minister. As my Mom is fond of reminding me, Jesus was never too busy for people! We are trying not to let that happen this May. As mentioned earlier, May is an intensely busy month, but it also holds several unique ministry opportunities. We are going to try and capitalize on each one.

In just a few days, some friends that serve on the mission field of the Northwest Territories of Canada will be here to spend some time with us. We are so excited to open our home to them. While they were on deputation, they were frequent guests at our home in Tennessee. The Bayou is a little out of their way, but they are making a special trip to see us. We want to enjoy every  single moment of our limited time together. During the week that will be here, in addition to our normal schedule, we also have a funeral, teen fundraiser, a graduation, and a recital. During all of the busyness, I do not want to lose sight of the few days God has given us to encourage our friends. So please pray with me that I can balance it all in a way that glorifies God. How do you juggle an extremely busy season of your life?

Who Am I?

While visiting family recently, my boys (especially my little guy) found a new game. My Mom, a.k.a. Grammy, started playing Who Am I? with them. Gram thinks of a Bible character and tells a little bit about the story and sees who can guess it first. Sounds simple, and it is; however, it is a blast! After a few short minutes we exhaust the "easy" people (like David and Goliath, Joseph, and Moses) and find yourself reaching to the back of your memory for  characters a bit more obscure. It is a fun way to get the family involved in talking about the Bible! Many times the little ones get to learn a Bible story they've never heard before or do not remember. It can even spark a healthy debate which must be settled by looking into the Bible. :) I am all for talking with my children about God's Word every chance I get. This is an entertaining way to pass a long car ride or wait somewhere, while still following the Biblical principal found in Deut. 6:5-7,"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

What ways do you diligently teach your children God's Word?

Family Time

We were so blessed to be able to see family this weekend! It is always a joy to spend time with our family. We live quite a distance from all of our family so each trip is special. This weekend we were on a trip to speak at a church in GA (more on that in a future post) and we detoured to FL. We enjoyed one evening of family fun with my parents, my sister, brother-in-law and two nieces. I love you all! We ate the most delicious steaks ever (Thanks Dad!), told stories, and laughed until our sides hurt. Family time is like taking a vitamin. I feel better afterward and it is good for me. I am so blessed to have a family that is still so close. We even had a "surprise" birthday party for my little guy who will be seven this Saturday. My sister made a cake with the best frosting ever! (Thanks, Em!)

Being a close family takes work! We have some basic principles we all try to live by which make remaining close a possibility. As our family has grown and distance now separates us, staying close can be a challenge. We talk every day...that helps. :) We do lots of communicating (Eph. 4:15)  and forgiving (Eph. 4:32). We do lots of loving one anothe r (John 15:12). I miss them all so! My two nieces are growing up far too quickly. I treasure each moment with my family! I am so thankful my husband loves them all too. :)


My heart hurts each time we back out of the driveway; however, I am thankful. We leave simply to obey the Lord. There is great joy and contentment that comes from serving God. So as mile after mile passes on the Interstate, I am thankful we are going home. Home to our church family. Our church family has become so dear to us. In the absence of "real" family, our church family stands in the gap. In fact, my boys are blessed with "family" all over the world. God has blessed us with not only a family by blood, but a family of the heart. This weekend we were able to visit some of them in GA. Another such family will be arriving here to spend a week in just a few days. Some are serving on the mission field in faraway lands like Africa. We are blessed to have such a "big" family! God is good!

I am capturing my two nieces (I hope!) this summer for a few weeks. We are trying to get schedules to coincide. I will have several weeks on non-stop fun activities to plan, What is your favorite family activity?

Random Thoughts...

Hello. Sorry that I have been MIA lately. It has been an incredible busy few weeks. God has blessed in many ways (more about that later) but whew...I am tuckered! I would love a day to sit with my feet up and read a good book. Thank you all for your continued support during my absence.

Once again inspired by my sister's blog, www.runningwiththeramondettas.blogspot.com, I am going to do a completely random post. So here goes...

~We are only a few weeks away from completing another school year. That makes me so very happy and sad all at the same time. :)  :(  :)  :( 
~We get to see some family very soon. We live quite a distance from either set of parents/siblings. It has been too long! I cannot wait to see my family!!!
~My husband has been working some crazy hours trying to get a new website up and running for our church.
~I have been privileged to do one-on-one discipleship lessons with two ladies the past few weeks. I absolutely love spending time teaching them from God's Word! It is so much fun to watch them learn and grow. They have been so faithful doing their lessons and learning their verses. I am thankful for the opportunity.
~My heart is full with all of God's blessings lately.
~My heart is heavy/prayerful  for three families that I love dearly, who are going through some challenging times in their ministries.

Today, I'll close with a verse that I am claiming for the afore-mentioned families. 

Jeremiah 33:3~"Call unto me,  and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and might things which thou knowest not."

While I was preparing for our women's Bible study tonight, I came across a quote from Warren Wiersbe that I found thought provoking. He said, "Immature people talk about their beliefs, but the mature person lives his faith. Hearing God's Word (James 1:22-25) and talking about God's Word can never substitute for doing God's Word."

I find this statement to be so true. I pray that today I am a mature Christian who lives out my faith! My dad always said, "Your walk talks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than  your talk talks." Today I pray my walk is talking loud and clear, and that it is bringing God glory.

My help in times of trouble

Today has been gloomy, rainy, and stormy. There have been bolts of lightning and loud rumbles of thunder. As the storm surrounded our little corner on the map, my insides mirrored the outside. I have had a rough day physically and that often leads to discouragement emotionally.  While mentally giving myself a pep talk, the Lord brought Psalm 46:1 to my mind. It says, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Today I just want to praise God for the encouragement that verse is to me! That verse ministers to me right in the middle of both a literal and figurative storm. God is good!

What verse has God used to encourage you lately?

The Law of Kindness

Today hit a few rough patches. We were redecorating my Littlest Guy's room. We have spent hours patching walls, painting, painting again, and moving furniture. This "little" project has taken us far too long because of our crazy busy schedule lately. My Little Guy has been as patient as can be. As a mom I was proud of his long-suffering with us, knowing how excited he was, yet he did not nag or complain.

We were on a field trip on Monday with some very dear friends. We learned survival information for the Bayou. It was good information to know. I have no desire to become gator bait or worse yet, actually have to eat one! I now know of several edible plants around us if I ever have the unfortunate experience of getting stranded in the Bayou. : ) Sorry, I digress...back to the redecorating...

While the boys and I were away, my sweet hubby used his Monday off to not only wash and wax his car, cut the grass, run errands, and get parts to fix my bathtub; he also, bought more paint to finish the bedroom makeover. As we arrived home late that evening, he was putting the curtains and blinds back up in the window. Yesterday we were away all day, so this morning brought us our first opportunity to finish up the room.

After days of waiting patiently, I could not look my little blue-eyed Cowboy in the eyes and refuse his plea to "finish his room." We were having a great time until I took out the cute western looking vinyl "stickers" for the walls.

It began with our dismay to find that someone had used all but 22 of them and repackaged them and returned them to the store. Had they not been purchased "quite" some time ago, I too would return them! That was disappointing.

Then we moved onto actual placement of the stickers. Let's just say, that for this decorating-challenged Mom, they were too much!!! I became so frustrated at trying to get the cactus scene to line up correctly, all-the-while calmly trying to explain to my extremely focused (read: stubborn) Blessing that "No, it really did not look nice going diagonally across the wall.", that at some point (which was after my big Blessing came in to help)  I forgot the words of Proverbs 31:26: "She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness." For a span of a few moments I am not sure there was any wisdom and not much kindness coming out of my mouth. In fact, after hearing myself ask one of my Helpers to "PLEASE get OFF of the bed and LOOK to see if this is STRAIGHT!!!", I just closed my mouth so nothing came out at all. : ( At that moment I heard my Mom and Sister in my head saying, "Use the Law of Kindness."

Growing up, the Law of Kindness, was a scale by which we often measured our speech. Many times we girls would remind each other to watch our speech. I may not have been as thankful for those reminders at the time they were given, but I am very thankful now. Exercising self-control over the tongue is such a challenging thing sometimes. I find, for me, it is not always what I say that is unkind, but rather the way I say it. Far too often a curt and impatient sounding tone overshadows whatever words are being said.

Today, sitting on the bed, with a sore neck and arm from trying to accurately place those "easy-to-use" stickers, I had to silence my unkind tongue, ask for forgiveness from my boys, and try again. This battle with our tongues is not a one-time-only thing, it is daily! Today, I am choosing wisdom and kindness. How about you? How do your practice the Law of Kindness in your home?