Things Revealed

It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. Galatians 2:20

Our trip to Galveston Texas has left me in a dark room of self examination.

Oh God, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Psalm 51: 10-12

He used this experience to bring me into a brokeness that I have never trully called my own.

The sacrafices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51:17

God has revealed to me some things within my heart that I have truly been ignoring and through this experience has brought them to the surface not allowing me to stomach them anymore.

If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10

I can not serve both sin and God, both self and Christ and I have been trying to live between them in my serving. I have only one master that I am a slave to and that is Christ and His righteousness.

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. Romans 6:17

I long only to serve God and His righteousness, to live by the Spirit, to crucify the flesh, live for Christ, have an undivided heart, labor constanly in love, live consistently in devotion to the love of Him who died for me giving me daily breath and strengthening me to glorify and please only Him and no one else in this world.

"The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?" Hebrews 13:6

JOYfully in Him,

What's going on....

Today we are going to be finishing (hopefully) up the paint job we started on Wednesday. It has turned out to be a lot more work than we first thought, imagine that! Go figure that painting 4 massive walls in 4 different ways would be difficult :0). I think it will be awesome when it is all done if it is done correctly. Tonight the youth group is coming over for our Taste and See Friday gathering which is always a great time. Tomorrow we are going to spend the day shopping, just the girls, at Ikea and various other places! It may end up just being me and 1 or 2 other ladies but it will still be a great time.

Other things going on is that we will be leaving on Thursday for Mission GTX, which is a small mission trip to Galveston, Tx where we will be seriously laboring in love with a ministry down there. It is going to be an experience for us all.

We are anxiously waiting for our picture and information on our sponsored child, Olupot. I can not tell you how much my heart is already connected to this little boy. We decided to find a little boy around the same age as our oldest son, so he is 7 and he lives in Uganda. Our prayer is that God will use us and Compassion to transform this little boys life along with his family and bring him to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. We are also very hopeful that God will send us one day to Uganda to this precious little boy.

Other things that fill our days are a twice a month women's prayer group, weekly devotional in A Heart Like His, David by Beth Moore, Soul Cafe... Wednesday night youth class, Thursday young ladies bible study and of cours Sunday, the Lord's day along with every 1st and 3rd Sunday being set apart for a Romans study at our house for a young marrieds group. It is good to be serving the Lord!! That is all I can say :0).

World Vision with Compassion

The Celebrate Freedom festival we went to last week encouraged us to look into sponsoring a child through World Vision. Shane and Shane talked a little about it on stage and we looked at the booth that they had set up there. I knew immediately that this is something that was not only worthy but urgent of our attention as a family. When we got home I looked up World Vision and a few days later I found another place you can sponsor poverty stricken children through called Compassion. Tomorrow we are going to sit down as a family and choose a child to sponsor each month. Thise eving while visiting Compassion I found their blog and was greatly convicted further and encouraged by THIS article written by a mother. I also found these little Youtube videos about sponsorship....

Jeremy Camp

Rich Mullins

Rebecca St. James

It is so easy to block our minds from thinking about these serious situations going on around the world but we have a chance to make a difference in a cihld's or family's life for just 30-40 dollars a month. Let us love one another not with just words but in action!

JOYfully in Him,

The Prayer

I love this song by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli:

Prayer Reflection

Prayer is the breath of the Christian life.

Martin Luther

(Don't forget to breathe today)

JOYfully in Him,

Surrender

Lord, I am no longer my own, but Yours. Put me to what You will, rank me with whom You will. Let be employed by You or laid aside for You, exalted for You or brought low by You. Let me have all things, let me have nothing, I freely and heartily yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are mine and I am Yours. So be it. Amen.

John Wesley

JOYfully in Him,

A Musical Thought

I still remember the first time I began listening to christian music, I was in my car and decided to check out the christian radio station and I have to say that I wasn't all that impressed by what I heard. Not sure why, probably because I wasn't sure what to expect and I may have expected to much. Music has always played a huge part in my life reflecting my emotions and stirring them with in me and it wasn't and hasn't always been a good thing. There was music I listened to when anger was stirred up with in me and the music only made it grow deeper. I have learned since then to not feed my anger in those moments with music but to counter act it with a message to redirect my emotions.

Last night we had a chance to experience some music live from a few bands we enjoy at Celebrate Freedom in Frisco Texas, we had an awesome time. It was a free event that we thought we would take advantage of but of course as with all things... NOTHING is free! It was free to get in but not free to park, drink water, eat and play on the GIANT bounce houses and slides that you can see from the road. In all we spent close to 100 to enjoy our freedom, :0). It was a blast and well worth it to see the bands and talk to one of them and to see our littles have a blast with all of the activities.

I was personally siked about listening to Tenth Avenue North who I just recently have become familiar with, they are very encouraging. After we listened to them we ran into the autograph table and asked them if they were going to be there and sure enough in 10 minutes, so we waited. It was very cool when they arrived. Now I have to kind of remind myself that these guys are just normal people who God has placed in the industry of music to spread the gospel and encourage His flock. Rick and I were able to snatch a moment or two with Mike the lead singer and Scott the bass guitarist. They were so laid back and very personable. At the end that humored us by allowing us to grab a memory shot of our meeting.

Later in the evening we were able to listen to Shane and Shane and The David Crowder Band which was such a blessing. I loved being in the presence of the Lord worshiping Him with my family and with so many other beleivers and non believers, I prayed that God would send His Spirit on those who didn't know Him last night.

I love music and around here the radio is usually on. I find it encouraging and very motivating as I go about my calling as a homekeeper and mother.

The boys waiting anxiously in line.

Jason the drummer.

Mike the lead singer.

Jeff the electric guitarist.

The family with Tenth Avenue North.

The fun "monster slide" that they did at least 10 times in a row!!

Superman on his first rock climbing experience.

Shane and...

Shane


Butterfly enjoying a little bounce house with a friend that she later poked in the eye upsetting her mother, I apologized 4 time.

The coolest and biggest slide ever!! Or so they said :0)

The amazing David Crowder Band.

Tenth Avenue North gave a little message before their Love is Here song that I found very encouraging and relative in the moment as we were extremely dehydrated and so thirsty! It made me think about how we become so spiritually thirsty when we deny it the Living Water.

JOYfully in Him,