Make a difference!

For many, Lent is a season of self-denial and self-reflection.  A person chooses to give up something and spend the next 40 days (excluding Sundays) focusing on their relationship with Jesus.  Lent is a tradition, not a Biblical command, that began around the 4th century-so there are no hard and fast rules as to how to celebrate. 

I choose to do Lent a little differently.  Rather than give up something during this time, I choose to do something.  Yes, Jesus did spend 40 days in the wilderness fasting and being tempted before he began his ministry.  For many that is what this period is modeled after and that is GREAT.  However, I choose to focus instead on Jesus ministry during this time.  

Jesus came to change the world.  He came to show the world what real love and forgiveness is, and He did it through actions.  He didn't just walk around telling everyone what they should do, He showed them too.  He reached out to the lepers, the untouchables, the outcasts and He helped them.  THAT is what I choose to focus on during this season before Jesus ultimate act of giving, and that is why I began the 40 hats in 40 days challenge several years ago.

I prayed and asked God to show me how I can help others, what I could do.  As a stay at home mom who now homeschools I don't have a lot a free time and many avenues of service are unavailable to me because I can't bring my children due to age restrictions.  But I can knit and crochet, and I had already been working off and on with a local organization that donates preemie and newborn items to hospitals around the country.  God impressed it upon me to focus on what was around me, to use the talents He had provided to serve, and thus the challenge was started.

It goes so far beyond just making a hat a day for 40 days though.  During the time I am knitting or crocheting I am praying for the person and the family that will be receiving the hat.  I will probably never know who they are, but God does, and He knows their needs long before I pick out the pattern for the hat.  So I pray for the child to come to know God, to be shown His love.  I pray for the family to let Jesus guide them in their roles as parents, siblings, grandparents etc, that they open their hearts, listen and obey.  I pray that if they don't already know Jesus that someone close to them tells them about Him.  I pray for protection for the family.  Sometimes there is more, sometimes there is less...I let God lead the prayer.  

Yarn crafts may not be your thing, but I promise you - you do have a thing, a special talent that God wants you to use to make a difference in the lives of others.  Perhaps you have felt Him nudging you in that direction and you have been afraid to step out, consider this confirmation.  Perhaps you aren't sure what you should be doing, take some time to pray and open your heart to listen.  You won't regret it.  Whatever IT is, won't you join me for the next 40 days and work towards making a difference for Jesus?

 Until next time,

Easter baskets shopping...

I procrastinated this year.  Usually I try to get all of my Easter shopping done at least a week early.  Actually, I'm like that for most everything.  I don't function well under pressure and nothing says "pressure" like a crowded aisle of picked over holiday candy thrown on store shelves.  But in case you haven't noticed, I've been kind of busy.  Which is also why you haven't seen any recent updates on my 40 in 40 project.

I have been trying to get my husband to replace my 15+ year old, originally white carpet for at least 10 years now.  After surviving 4 toddlers and now 3 teens it has definitely seen better days.  When my husband finally agreed and we ordered new floors ( a really pretty mahogany laminate) I wasn't about to stand in the way when he began working.  What we weren't prepared for was for a simple day long project to turn into two weeks of major home renovation.  Still, that post is for another day.  Suffice it to say that I am currently typing while sitting on a couch in the middle of a room in which I was able to move things around and create a small space in which to sit.  I have been able to manage to continue to make a hat a day for the 40 in 40 project, just not get pictures or post.  I promise they are coming!

Which leads me to Easter candy.  Yesterday I braved my local store.  At this point I really just wanted to grab whatever I could shove in their baskets or a plastic egg.  God, however, kept laying it on my heart that my plan just wasn't going to happen.  I knew I didn't want the typical chocolate bunnies.  (That Veggie Tale song kept going through my head from Rack, Shack and Benny - "the bunny, the bunny, whoa I love the bunny")  I wanted a chocolate cross.

 I don't know if it was due to my procrastination or if it were simply a lack of production, but I had the hardest time finding any.  When I finally found a small box of chocolate crosses it was on the bottom shelf, nearly hidden by the massive amounts of hollow chocolate bunnies.

What have we done to Easter, my heart whispered?  And I knew then that anything I bought had to have a meaning.  It had to point my children to the true meaning of Easter.  And so I began looking at this plethora of sugary treats with new eyes.  How could it point the way to the cross?

Here is what I finally brought home for the baskets.  I wish I had time to make cute little tags to put with them and to share with you, but my house still needs to be put back together so instead I'll just share the items and the meanings.  Perhaps when life returns to normal I'll come back to them.

Chocolate coins - Jesus was betrayed for a few coins, Matthew 26:14-16

Twizzlers - to remind us that Jesus was scourged, John 19:1

chocolate cross - Jesus gave His life on the cross, Luke 23:46

Plastic egg with pop rocks in them - Jesus was laid in a tomb and a rock placed in front of it, Mark 15:43-46

Ring pops - We are precious to God, He loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for us, Romans 5:8

Lifesavers - Jesus is the ONLY one who can save us, Romans 10:9

 My house may be in chaos, I'm behind on blog posts, and I will be attempting to cook in a kitchen filled with items from my dining room, but I am okay with all of that.  Why?  Because ultimately none of that matters.  What matters is that I point my children to Jesus and make sure they understand how much He loves them and what He has sacrificed so that they have an opportunity to spend eternity with Him.

"Fix these words of mine in your hearts and mind...Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deuteronomy 11:18-19

Until next time,

The Ugliest Doll ever

Meet the ugliest doll ever!

For more than 6 months every time Princess and I go to the craft store, she has picked up this doll and carried it around with her.  Even when Princess first found her, she was ugly.  She had a blue tinged face, wiry hair, and was naked other than her shoes.  She was in a display box with other dolls - pretty dolls - dolls that I felt were much better than this one.  But Princess was drawn to her.  Princess named her Cinderellabella the very first time she saw her.  Over time, sitting in that display box, the doll had lost most of it's hair and one of her sleepy eyes.  Still, Princess would seek her out every time we went in. I  warned her as we entered the store each time that perhaps she would not be there.  Cinderellabella always was.

Yesterday, she finally asked if we could bring her home.  My first instinct was to say "no way." After all, the doll wasn't worth paying for- it was broken, used up, defective.  But I saw the love in my daughter's eyes and couldn't say no.  What I did say was that she would have to ask the price of the doll  and she would have to pay for it herself.  If she truly wanted this ugly doll then she would agree.   She did.

The store owner told her it was a dollar.  My opinion was that it wasn't worth that much.  The owner would never be able to sell this doll in it's current condition to anyone other than my daughter. But my sweet 4 year old agreed and brought Cinderellabella to our home.  

 

  She rushed to show this rag tag doll to her siblings.  When dad arrived home, this was the first thing she told him about.  It now goes everywhere with her.  This unkempt, broken, marred doll has become her prized possession.  I didn't get it... 

Until I did.  This morning God showed me something special about this situation. I am sure you have already seen it.  I'm a little slow sometimes.   I had seen only an ugly doll, while my daughter saw something of great worth.  Much like God sees the worth in each of us.

We are all less than perfect.  We have our own versions of an off color face, an eye that doesn't see. We  are each flawed  in some way. We are less than beautiful, even if only on the inside.  Many may view us as less than desirable, choosing to walk on by, to overlook us in favor of something they deem somehow 'better'.  Jesus, however, sees our true worth, much as my daughter saw worth in this doll. 

 He seeks us out at every opportunity and loves on us.  He values us so much that he paid a price that was much to high just so he could give us a home.  Jesus is proud of us and loves us unconditionally.  While the world may see the ugly doll, Jesus sees each of us as a beautiful treasure.

It's days like this that I wonder if God gives us children so we can teach them, or so they can teach us.  I learn so much about Him through them!

Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God is in your midst,  a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness;  he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.


 

Until next time,

Thank you Lord

Yesterday felt like a very long day. It started out on a bad foot and seemed to just get worse as the day went on.

I woke up later than I wanted to in order to get H and J to Summer Academy which meant we were all rushed trying to get ready to go. The kids function even worse under pressure than I do so that made getting out the door lots of fun. On top of that it was raining. That meant that I wasn't going to be walking with my new friend which really bummed me out as I enjoy spending that 30 minutes talking with her in the mornings.

I returned home after dropping of H and J, put a load of laundry in the washer and had just settled down with a cup of coffee to catch up on emails and attempt to work on the church website when I got a phone call from Summer Academy. I won't go into details but lets just say that I had told J that if he had any more problems in school that he would not be returning the previous day and now he does not get to finish summer academy. The initial problem was not his doing but his reaction to it was and it was not acceptable in my household for him to have behaved that way.

Baby A wouldn't sleep until just before I had to leave to pick up H from school. So I left her at home with K and quickly ran out to pick up H. That afternoon seemed to drag on. J was supposed to be cleaning his room and didn't do it correctly which meant when my hubby arrived home he was not in a good mood and really wasn't happy with J. Baby A woke up and was inconsolable. When I was feeding her she got food all over her new outfit and then her bowl of food spilled all over the carpet. At that point I quit. I looked at my hubby and informed him I was done and I walked away from it all.

I didn't want to go to church that evening. I wanted to stay home and hide in my bed under the covers and feel sorry for myself. I was embarrassed at my son's behavior, frustrated that Baby A was crying and I couldn't figure out what to do to console here, aggravated at myself for the mess I had created. I truly wanted to just call the day off, go to sleep and start over in the morning. However, I packed up Baby A's diaper bag, pulled myself somewhat together, and with my husband I packed my children into our van and went to church. I, after all, had obligations. I had things I needed to pick up and questions to ask a few people that I knew would be there that evening.

I went into the building carrying all of this emotional baggage. I didn't feel like worshiping God. I didn't really want to be there. I am sure that you have been there at some time or another yourself. Our Wednesday night services are different than those at any other church I have been to. We have a simply prayer and praise service in which we sing 3 or 4 songs, our pastor gives a "Pipe Tobacco Sermon" (one that is short, sweet, and you can stick it in your pipe and smoke it!), followed by prayer, and then more singing. The first few songs I sang the words but really didn't feel it. Doug gave his sermon, which I missed part of due to Baby A deciding that she needed to have her diaper changed. But during the last set of songs, this one came up:

Don Moen "Thank You Lord" -

And as I sang the words, I felt my emotional baggage start to fade. Yes it had been a difficult day for me, but in the grande scheme of things, I had so much to be grateful for. Rather than feeling sorry for myself, I began to count my blessings. H leaned into me and put her arm around me, reminding me that even though my children may not always make the best choices, they are really good kids with great big hearts. I looked beside me and saw my husband, who has time and again shown me that he would do just about anything for me and my children and that he loves me with all of his heart. I looked around the sanctuary and saw all of the people that God has allowed into my life that have started to mean a lot to me. I had a new church family that was honest, sincere and really cared about each other. It truly felt like family. God has blessed my family with financial security, new friends in my neighborhood for both me and my children, and a wonderful, happy life.

I left church last night with a renewed spirit. God used my little church and that little song to show me that I am truly blessed, even when it seems like everything is going wrong. There is a reason that He tells us not to give up meeting together (Hebrews 10:25). He knows our hearts and knows that there will be times that we feel overwhelmed, depressed, alone or many other negative emotions. He also knows that we can encourage each other, through song, through His message, or even the simple act of fellowship. So I share this with you so that you will know you are not alone. Each of us have bad days, but know that God knows how you feel, and that even in the dark times, you still have much to be thankful for!

Love,

Psalm 119:37 and discount bakery

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
and give me life in your ways.
Psalm 119:37

I don't know about yours, but my local grocery store has a section for day old bakery items to be sold at a discount. Half of the display is bread, but the other half...ahh the other half! That side has cream cheese danishes, glazed doughnuts, decorated cupcakes, chocolate ganache covered cakes, and lots more yummy, tempting, succulent goodies.

It isn't like these items are at the front of the store and you have to walk past them. They are hidden away at the back of the store. How do I know? Every time I walk in the store that rack is my first stop. I can ignore the expensive junk foods, I can avoid the aisle with Little Debbie waving at me, beckoning me in for a taste. But this rack is cheap, this rack calls to me.

Problem is, this rack is worthless and actually robs me of life. The food has no nutritional value. It is full of items that can raise blood sugar and clog arteries. It creates a brief energy rush that ends with negative thoughts and a "crash" when the sugar wears off. I know this, and yet I return to it again and again. Proverbs 26:11 says, "Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly." That puts it in a new perspective.

The way this verse was explained to me is, dogs like the taste of vomit. Think about it, they do. If a dog pukes it at least sniffs at it, if not eats it again. That is a pretty good analogy for me returning again and again to this discount pastry rack. I go back because I like the way it tastes. Like a dog and it's vomit, it can't be good for me.

So the next time I enter my grocery store and I find myself standing beside that discount pastry rack, I am going to picture it as vomit. I don't want to be the fool. Is this going to work? I sure hope so. I pray that God will turn my eyes from it, that He will remind me that it isn't good, and I will choose to not be a dog/fool.

So, what is your vomit?

Love,

Answers from God

It still amazes me when God chooses to answer a prayer request. Last night at church one of the men shared one such answer with us. A woman at another church had been in pain for more than a year. She had no insurance and she couldn't afford to go to a doctor to see what was wrong. It finally got to be an unbearable pain so she was forced to get medical attention. An ovarian cyst was discovered and biopsied. It was determined to be cancerous. Where it had been left to grow and spread for so long the doctor told her there were only two outcomes a that time. First, she could not have the surgery and would not live very long, or second, she could have surgery and they would attempt to remove the cancer. Then she would undergo chemotherapy and would still probably not live out the year as they did not think they would be able to remove all of the cancer from her body as it was very advanced. She told them she had a third option still. She called her pastor who came and prayed with her at the hospital.

The doctors prepared her for surgery and told her family and pastor that it would be lengthy due to the spread of the cancer. They took the woman back and after a relatively short time the doctor came into the waiting room shaking his head. The cancer had not spread and they were able to get all of it. The invasion was not as bad as it should have been given her level of pain and how long she had experienced it. Our God is amazing!

On the heels of this very large answer, He also chose to answer my own prayer in another way. For more than a week now I have had a lot of pain in my heels every time I walk. In the mornings when I get up to get Baby A, I almost cry with the pain of attempting to walk across my room and up the stairs to get her. For the last two days, the pain has been moving up my legs. Tuesday my family and I went grocery shopping and I ended up having to leave and sit in the van while my family completed the shopping because I was in pain every time I took a step. It was like that at church last night also, so I prayed for relief.

No, I don't have a story of instant healing. But I did get an answer. It came, as many of my answered prayers seem to be coming lately, through a devotion from Proverbs 31 ministry that I get daily in my email. I know why my feet and legs hurt, I am severely overweight...again. I have tried losing weight again several times within the last 2 months. I seem to do well for a few days or weeks and then it all falls apart. In the devotion from Proverbs 31 titled Honestly, I got my answer from God. Like Lysa I struggle with food and am stuck in that wonderful cycle of eating, feeling bad for eating and gaining weight, eating to soothe the feel bad feeling, feeling bad for eating and gaining weight, eating more. I have listened to others say that food was a form of idol for them. I have even admitted that myself when I lost 40 lbs before baby A surprised us. Now though, I seem to be full of excuses.

I don't have time to exercise because baby A isn't napping well. It's easier to just grab something than it is to make something healthy. Eating junk is less expensive than eating healthy (Darn Little Debbie!). I am to tired to exercise today. My feet hurt. And there is my answer. My feet and legs hurt because I weight to much. Sure, God is definitely able to point at my feet and legs and heal them, but what purpose would that serve? I would still be turning to food rather than to Him for comfort. I would still be putting food first. Like Lysa, I don't want to spend the rest of my life in this cycle.

It's funny, this morning my feet didn't hurt nearly as much as I came up the stairs. Yeah, they still hurt, but I think they hurt so that I would be aware of them when I sat down to check my email. I think they hurt just enough that I would get His message to me today. It was like He was saying, "I don't want you to hurt, but you have to see what you are doing. If I take away all of your pain, I know you won't see it."

So thank you God, for the pain in my feet and legs. Thank you for the answers you give - from the miraculous healings to the small whispered answers. Thank you most of all for caring about each of us enough to take the time to answer.

I pray you enough...

I read this on a craft bulletin board that I am a member of and wanted to share it with you.

I pray you enough ... sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.
I pray you enough ... rain to appreciate the sun even more.
I pray you enough ... happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I pray you enough ... pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I pray you enough ... gain to satisfy your wanting.
I pray you enough ... loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I pray you enough ... hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

Everything that comes into our life does so for a reason. It may not be something God wanted for us, it may be entering your life because you chose not to follow God's lead, or because you are being tested, or to prepare you for something else. Not everything that enters your life is going to feel good, sometimes it is going to hurt. The above prayer reminds us that sometimes the bad things enter to make the good things better. If you never experience any loss, any tragedy, any pain, what reference do you have to see just how good the good things are? God tells us that

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

I pray that you turn to God during the rough times and praise Him, giving Him thanks, during the good. And I pray you enough...

The only thing that counts

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love
Galatians 5:6b

I was studying my bible yesterday while sitting in the van waiting for my children to get out of school and this verse jumped out at me. In context, Paul is writing to the church in Galatia because they are falling back into trying to live according to the law because some in the community are teaching them that they must. This verse specifically deals with circumcision and Paul is informing the readers that as far as Christ is concerned, circumcision has no value, that all that does matter is faith. This really struck home with me.

I did not make the decision to follow Christ when I was a child, I waited until I was in my late 20's. At the time I felt like there were just to many rules to follow and I wanted to live my life. I can see these same thoughts rolling around in the head of one of my children as well. When I became a Christian I still felt that I was supposed to be following a set of rules. No one told me what they were and I couldn't find a list in the Bible either so I started to make my own based upon what I read. It became a long list of Do Not... That became very discouraging. Like the Israelites in the Old Testament I couldn't live under the law. I failed often. Sometimes it was something little and others it was something big. I was living my Christian life feeling like a failure and missing out on the best part of being a child of God. I felt like I was constantly disappoint God by failing. If I was the disappointment I thought I was, how could He possibly love me?

The pastor at the church I attend now has been preaching that God knows we can't follow the rules, and He loves us anyway. That our salvation is a free gift, and our actions after we take the gift won't cause Him to take it back. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. All He wants from us is love. We show this by spending time with Him. By trying to make Him happy. My list of don'ts were not a pass/fail test in which God says if you don't do it right I'm outta here. Rather, God says, "If you do these things they are going to cause you pain and I want to protect you from that." We do the same as parents with our children.

Our rules are not created to make their life harder. We don't stop loving them when they make a mistake, make bad choices, or rebel against us. We stll love them, we are still their parent. We may tell them that we don't accept what they are doing and that it is not allowed with us, but we will still be there when they turn away from it...waiting with open arms. If we as people are capable of that, how much more is our Heavenly Father capable? His pain seeing us make wrong choices must be greater than our own. By the same reasoning His love must be stronger than our own also! What a comforting thought.

So I have given up my list of rules. Now I only have one rule to live by - act as if I am doing everything for someone I love. The truth of the matter is that if I do this, every other rule I had is taken care of.

Have a wonderful day!

Beauty

I Peter 3:3-4 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

I was standing in the check out line yesterday and glanced at the rack of magazines. On one of them was a HUGE picture of a former actress that had recently been a spokesperson for a weightloss program. They type beside the picture indicated that she had gained 83 lbs. It was portrayed very negatively. Beside it was a magazine promising a loss of 20 lbs if you used their walking program. And beside that one was one promising the right hairstyle to make you look great. It seems like everywhere I looked it was all about appearance, beauty. America has become obsessed with how we look.

You only have to look at the magazine aisle, or watch a few commercials to see it. It is easy to fall into the belief that we have to look a certain way to be beautiful. The reality is that God isn't looking at our bodies for beauty. God specifically tells us that beauty isn't something we can put on and take off. I believe the God also isn't looking at the numbers on the scale or counting your scars, or looking at your acne and counting that against you on His beauty scale. God is looking within us, He is looking at how we treat others, how we behave, our actions, in search of our true beauty.

It is important, especially as a Christian mother, to teach our children this. With 8 million Americans suffering from eating disorders in an attempt to be beautiful, and 95% of them under the age of 25, we as Christian mothers need to be sure that our children know what REAL beauty is and teach them to look for it not only in themselves, but also in others. This is even more true for those of us that are losing weight ourselves.

If our children only see us struggling to beautify our physical body, and don't see us beautifying our spiritual body they will get the wrong impression. I know that it is hard finding time to fit everything into our lives. However, you need to remember your priorities, I wanted to remind you that first and foremost you are a CHRISTIAN mother. Please take time to show your child that spiritual beauty is more important than physical. Let them see you studying God's word, or study with your child. Demonstrate a gently and quiet spirit. Treat others kindly. Don't neglect the true beauty that God is looking for in pursuit of a thinner you. Don't get so wrapped up in what the world sees that your forget what God sees - the beauty in your heart, you ARE beautiful.

Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart ~ I Samuel 16:7b

Never Alone

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

Mother's Day is this weekend. My daughter decided last night that she would like to sing in church on Mother's Day. This isn't unusual for her, singing or deciding at the last minute. She has been blessed with a beautiful voice and very much enjoys singing praises to God. However, she decided to sing a song that we had sung as a duet several years ago at our previous church - and she volunteered me to sing it with her!

Don't get me wrong, my voice isn't horrible. I sang in show choir in high school and I can carry a tune. I just don't like singing in front of people anymore, probably due to the fact that I feel like everyone is staring at me (imagine that!) and I don't like the image that I picture them seeing anymore. That is one of the downfalls about being overweight and VERY conscious of the fact. I picture negativity when I think of people looking at me. While I realize that the congregation would not in a million years be looking at me that way, that is what I see, my own personal hang up. It makes it difficult to focus on the singing. So when she told me she wanted me to sing with her, (after she had volunteered me to do so) my immediate response was NO WAY! But I decided to consult someone else about it, and I prayed. Then I listened to the song again.

The song is "Never Alone" by Jim Brickman and Lady Antebellum. The first time we sang it together I pictured it as a song of love where a mother promises her daughter to always be there for her and gives advice and a daughter promises her mother to stand with her through the years. A wonderful message to be sure. So I pulled out the CD and looked up the words again and sang it a few times. Then I realized...

This song is also a promise from God. Take a look at the lyrics of the chorus alone:

Never alone
I'll be in every beat of your heart
When you face the unknown
Wherever you fly
This isn't goodbye
My love will follow you, stay with you
Baby you're never alone

God will be with us always. What a powerful message. We are truly never alone. Scripture promises over and over that when we accept the gift that was freely given to us, He will be with us, He will help us, He will strengthen us. When you finally realize that God is on your side, how can you not face the things in your life that once appeared to big, to scary, to hard. What can't He overcome?

I don't know about you, but that makes me feel a lot better! I can lose the weight again, with the help of God, even when those cream cheese danishes call to me from the discount rack at Wal-mart! I can quit focusing on my own hang ups and start focusing on the more important things in life. And guess what. I can stand up in front of the church and sing this song with my daughter this Sunday. Looks like I better start practicing again!

Day 1

Ezra 10:4 "Arise, for this matter is your responsibility. We also are with you. Be of good courage, and do it!"

Ezra was a priest at a time when the Israelites were marrying women they were told by God not to. Ezra was very upset by this and was praying, obviously upset. One of the men approached Ezra and basically said, "yeah, we have messed up pretty good and we know it. We should put away the pagan women and the children we had with them. You're the priest, the one who speaks for God, you know what we are supposed to do. Stand up and do what you are supposed to do, tell us what to do!" Ezra did. Ezra had to stand before all of Israel and tell them they had done wrong, that they needed to turn away from it completely to make it right. I bet that was hard for him. Probably a lot harder than it is for me to turn away from the cheese danishes sitting on my kitchen counter right now.
Can you tell that this one is about being overweight? I wasn't always. Once I was thin and full of energy. Then my parents got divorced. I gained weight. Then I lost weight. Then I gained weight, had a baby, gained weight, had another baby, gained more weight. Do you see the picture developing here. There always seemed to be something that triggered weight gain, but my weight is MY responsibility. I gain weight because I choose to allow it. I am an emotional eater. I get upset and reach for food to comfort me. That is not what I should be doing. Jesus is the ultimate comforter. I should be turning to Him with my problems and talking to Him about them rather than ranting and raving and eating. So today is Day 1, again. I need to rise up to the challenge and just do it, again. So I am back on www.sparkpeople.com This isn't my first time on Spark, it's my 4th. The first time I wasn't very serious or into the program. I was trying to do it on my own, not using the support system there. I failed. The second I was a little more serious, but still didn't use the support system. I failed again. The third time I jumped in whole heartedly, I made friends on there that not only encouraged me but I took time to know and encourage them also. I lost 40 lbs before I became pregnant and had to stop dieting for obvious reasons. Why did it work? I believe it was because I connected with others, and I started turning to God for comfort. The "we are with you" helps strengthen our courage, knowing we aren't alone. We aren't the only ones who feel the way we feel right now. It never ceases to amaze me how God finds a way to reach me no matter how I feel or what is going on in my life. He sent His Son here so that He could experience all of it. He knows what it is like to be rejected, to feel alone, to feel different. That is why He is such an awesome comforter. This verse came to me when I needed inspiration and encouragement, and on my first day back at spark, weighing 10 lbs more than I did last time I started, I really needed it. I share it hoping it will inspire someone else to arise and take responsibility knowing that WE are with you. You CAN do it! If you want to follow me on Spark I am Sunflowers4Me. If you want to begin your own weight loss journey, please scan the bar on the right hand side of the screen and click the link to sparkpeople. It is totally free and I get absolutely nothing for telling you about it, but it does work!

Thoughts for Tuesday - following God

I hope that each of you are having a wonderful week. Have you been doing my challenge this week? Did you spend a few minutes each morning listening and waiting for God to lead you? In my personal studies I was reading Exodus 38 which ends with God descending like a cloud upon the Tent of Meeting that the Israelites built according to God's instructions. When the cloud was upon the tent, the Israelites stayed where they were (at this point they are still in the desert and not yet at the promised land). When the cloud lifted, signifying God's departure, the people moved on their journey. What a wonderful visual of Monday's Scripture card. The cloud was filled with fire (light) by night. They were content to stay where God was and left to search Him out when He wasn't with them. We should also be willing to drop what we are doing and search Him out when we find ourself without Him. In addition, I can't imagine the desert being a pleasant place to be under normal circumstances. The Israelites had left Egypt, a land where there was plenty of food, water, entertainment and riches, to live in a desert in which food must have been scarce if God had to provide them with quail in the evenings and manna in the mornings at one point. Granted, at this time they had herds of animals as evidenced by God's command to make sacrifices of bulls, goats, and sheep, but I doubt it was as plentiful as they may have been used to. How many times have you found yourself in a position that isn't as comfortable as you were used to?
For me it has been this past year. My husband was laid off of work at a job he really enjoyed. One that had excellent benefits, good hours, and allowed him to occassionally meet with me for a lunch date. However, due to the economy there were cutbacks, and he was one of the newest employees and as a result one of the first to go. At first I was upset. We had just found out we were expecting another baby and I didn't know how we were going to survive. I started looking for ways to make things work. Was I going to have to go back to work? Was my husband going to have to work more than one job again and put a strain on our marriage because we didn't see each other? Finally I stopped worrying and put my trust in God. I was going to be where He was. From that point on I didn't worry. I asked God to show us what He wanted and then we did what He asked. During this past year we went on more dates with each other than ever before. My marriage was strengthened. The money we had seemed to keep growing, to the point that we were not only able to take care of our own family for the year, but we were able to financially help another family as well. That could only be the work of God. I stayed where God was, in unemployment, in faith. As a result He took care of us.
Are you looking for where God is? Are you following Him? Trust me, life is much better if you are! After all, He tells us, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" (Matthew 6:25-26) If God takes care of the birds, and we are more valuable to Him than they, He will take care of us also. You just have to be where He is so that He can take care of you.