A Thirsty Soul

The past few days have been very hectic & really busy for me. I am on leadership in the Mom's Ministry at my church as every year we give the moms who participated all year in our program a Tea. It was a beautiful morning, but there were hours of planning and work that went on behind the scenes. There were meetings to go to, reservation lists and childcare lists to maintain and there were little things like name tags & bookmarks to make. These seemed little until it was time to make and complete everything and then I realized how many hours it would take to finish it all. But we all did it and it is over now!

In the midst of all the preparations and meetings there were a few mornings recently when I did not get my full quiet time in. Maybe all I had time for was to pray a short prayer or read a chapter of scripture. But it wasn't the full time that I am used to.

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you..." (Psalm 63:1)

Because of the habit of getting up early and spending concentrated time in prayer and study, when that couldn't happen I could feel it. I missed it, I was getting spiritually dehydrated. I longed to spend more than 10 minutes in prayer & meditation of His Word.

"I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory." (Ps 63:2)

I have experienced the power and glory of my God. I have experienced him in the sanctuary of my solitude and silence. It is a marvelous thing and one that I want to experience over and over again. It gives me a glimpse into the wonder of Heaven. When I miss out on my time with him, I miss out on experiencing his power and glory. Of course, He can still speak to me out of that sanctuary of silence I have in the mornings, he has many times. But that time set aside for Him at the beginning of my day always prove to be the sweetest time for He and I to communicate.

Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands." (Ps 63:3,4)

When you see God do great things in your life...don't keep it to yourself! Share it with someone. Praise him! When you experience his love & goodness you are getting a taste of God and what eternity will be like with Him. His love is better than life...it sustains and renews us.

My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you." (Ps 63:5)

There is an empty place in our heart that only God can fill. We can read all of the best books by the best authors, go hear all of the best preachers, but they cannot fill the void and empty place that God can fill. When we come to Him, praising Him for his love, repenting of our sin, acknowledging that He alone is God and believing that His son, Jesus Christ died for YOUR sins, your soul is satisfied. You can do nothing else, but praise Him because you are in awe of His love for you..the filthy sinner.

I had the best time with the Lord this morning. My soul was thirsty and he nourished and renewed me.

Are you thirsty?

Drink of His love and goodness. He has so much that he wants to pour into your soul.

Picture compliments of Liquid Sculpture

You Are God's Idea

When was the last time you read Psalm 139? Read Psalm 139 here

When I read this I am reminded that I am God's idea. He has put a great amount of thought into me and what he wants me to do for his kingdom. He thinks about you. Don't you just love that? The great Creator himself spends time thinking about you. Sometimes I think we only think of God in a "god" kind of way rather than a "father" kind of way. He is not sitting up there in Heaven casting his judgement down on us for all the mistakes we make. He is loving us & thinking about us.

God said, "I need this done." So he created you to do it.

How much time do you spend thinking about him?

Prayer:

Heavenly Father,

"How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts of me O, God" David once prayed to you. Your thoughts are beyond anywhere my simple mind could ever go, but to remember that in the midst of my chaos you are thinking of me brings such a comfort to my soul. You really do know everything about me and you still love me. Thank you. A~Men.

Praying for Our Children

Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift your hands toward Him for the life of your young children. Lamentations 2:19

What is prayer and why should we pray?

First, prayer is more than giving our list of wants and needs to God. It should not be a whining session or pity party. Prayer is acknowledging and experiencing the presence of God and inviting him into our lives. When we pray we are saying to God, “I need you. I can’t do this without you.”

Doesn’t God already know everything? Why should we pray for God to bring our children to early salvation or to protect them? Does it really make a difference? I think it makes a huge difference. I believe there are many reasons that we ought to pray. Jesus prayed. If he felt it was important to talk to God why shouldn’t we? Stormie Omartian said this about praying.

“God has so much to speak into your life. But if you don’t draw apart from the busyness of your day and spend time alone with Him in quietness and solitude, you will not hear it. Jesus Himself spent time alone with God. If anyone could get away with not doing it, surely it would have been Him. How much more important must it be for us.” -

Stormie Omartian, The Power of a Praying Wife.

That brings me to the next reason. Prayer is how we communicate with God and he has a lot he wants to say to us. Many times it is during our pauses of prayer for others that He speaks to us. We may be praying for our child to be honest while God may bring to mind a time when we were not honest and we need to repent. Another reason to pray for our children is because we cannot raise them alone. We need God’s guidance and wisdom. Through praying for our children we remind ourselves that they belong to God. Moments after each of our children were born, Scott & I prayed together, dedicating our precious blessing to the Lord and asking Him for guidance and wisdom in raising them. We tend to try and take them back as we try to handle their foolish ways ourselves. We should depend on God to give us what we need to raise our children.

And lastly, I don’t believe that prayer changes God, but I do know that it can change us. I have personally experienced a change of heart for someone just by praying for them. If you are dealing with a difficult or challenging child, pray for them. It will do at least 2 things. First, you remain aware of any positive changes you may see in the child’s behavior. You will see it when they begin to choose right over wrong. Second, you will develop a deeper love and understanding for that child that you didn’t have before. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to truly like a child that you have been at odds with for so long.

Praying for your children will be a life changing experience for you first of all and then your children also.

One of my many projects that I have started was to write 52 prayers to pray for your children using scripture. For January my topic of prayer is -Knowing Christ early & having a hunger for his word. Here is my first prayer that I am praying for my children. You can join me in this if you wish.

John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they might have life and have it to the full."

Father, I come before you knowing how eager the enemy is to attack my children. I pray that they might come to know you early in their life. I pray that they might hide your word in their heart and will hunger for your wisdom so they might experience your abundant life. Help me as their mother to lead them towards you and that I might sow seeds of desire for you. A~men

Did You Do School Today?

"Did you get your school work done?"

How many times have you been asked that question or asked it yourself? It is asked of me more than enough. Usually coming from a non-homeschooling friend or relative. We even have a kid across the street from us that asks my boys all the time if they did school that day.

What is school work in your house? Is it only workbooks, math videos, phonics or drills? Or is school life itself?

A few months ago my family had the pleasure of attending a political rally a few days before election day. We took our 7 older kids and the baby of course since he is still nursing. We had a blast. The kids saw many really important political figures including President Bush. That was the best part. After the rally we were faced with the rudeness of protesters. My kids were totally shocked at the things these people said about their president. It paved the way for some really great conversation. The whole night was great!

Then a few days later the kids & I attended a special Veteran's Day program at our church. My son spoke with two World War 2 veterans. He loved it. He told them about his grandpa who was in the Air Force during Vietnam & his 3 great-grandfathers who served during WW2.

That week, we didn't crack open one book but we learned more than any book could have taught us. We did pick up a pencil & write about what we saw, so that we coul remember it better. Does that count for school? You bet!