I'm amazed at how my Savior can take any and every circumstance around me to show me more about him. My prayer has always been that this journey of life I'm on would continually bring honor and glory to him, so by using every opportunity; my mistakes, my successes, and my day-to-day adventures, he teaches me how to use it for his glory. This life he blessed me with is ALL about him! So, these are my thoughts, my heart cries, and my lessons from his glorious Word. These are the teachable moments from my Savior!

Psalm 25:4-5 "Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."

Saturday, August 15, 2015

And They're Off...Again!

What a glorious morning on the front porch with Jesus! The temperature is perfect and with each sip of my coffee I utter praise to my amazing God for His sovereignty and grace!

On my heart this morning....mamas! This is the time of year when the summer dies down and we moms are getting so teary and sentimental as we prepare to send our babies out into the world for another year of school. Preschool, kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school and in my new world....college. Some mamas are even experiencing the newness of their "babies" heading out of school and into "real life". The world is scary. The world is dark. Anxieties can be high because our babies are growing way too fast.

So what are we to do?

We pray! We trust! We prepare them! We have faith in God!

I look at those precious faces of my three blessings and praise God for the honor and privilege of being their mother. I celebrate each phase of their lives because as God entrusted those blessings to Matt and me years ago, He did so with the understanding that we would train and guide them to eventually leave our nest and begin nests of their own. So every year is preparation for that. Yes, even in preschool!

It does go by fast! As Ben prepares for his first day of college I know that our time with him in our nest is getting shorter and shorter. Callie is beginning her high school years and Caleb is on the brink of middle school. The years go quickly but I don't want to live in tears of what is going by. I want to live in celebration of all our time gone by, the present time and of all that God has for them in their futures!
So, we savor every moment and we tuck each blessed memory into our souls. We grab hold of opportunities to instill God's Word in every portion of their lives because when they know the truth, they will be better equipped to face the lies. We teach them about this dark world and train them how to arm themselves with God's Word to maneuver through and be shining lights in the darkness. We teach them the power of prayer and how it is the lifeline to develop their personal and intimate relationships with their Savior. We teach them life skills so they can, one day, be able to manage their own families. We teach them to love and be kind. We teach them about respect for authority and for others. We model servanthood so they can also serve. We encourage them to learn from their mistakes and how to handle disappointments. We teach them that there are consequences for every choice they make, both good and bad. We teach them about grace and mercy as we learn every day from our Heavenly Father. We show them the faithfulness of God in our every day lives. We teach them that though life is not always fair, God is always good. We teach them that though bad things do happen to good people, God is still sovereign and He is still on His throne.

O, there is so much to teach, to train, to love. What an honor it is! So, on those days when I want to freeze time because it goes so quickly, God reminds me that it will all be okay. Amazing days are still ahead. Yes, they may be hard. (Teenage years are no joke.) But every day of looking into the eyes of my children and seeing God at work in their lives gives me great joy and hope. God reminds me of the incredible blessing I have of being a part of the wonderful human beings they are and are becoming. I celebrate each phase of their lives. Though some phases are more difficult than others, I celebrate the journey because it makes them part of who they will become. I trust their Maker because they belong to HIM first and foremost and then I fall on my knees in awe of the blessing of motherhood.

My babies...precious souls!

Thank you, Lord, for those three incredible blessings. Thank you for the high honor of being mom to Ben, Callie and Caleb. Help me to grasp hold of the moments and not live in the past. Help me to guide them through this life through your Word and celebrate their passage in every season. Each day prepares them for the next and wonderful days are ahead. Even through the storms, you bring beauty from them. Even through the dark days, light is on the horizon. Motherhood is tough but it is the greatest job in the world. So, help me as we begin a new school year. Help me be their encourager, their cheerleader, their counselor, their guide, their prayer warrior, but most of all...help me to be the mom that you would have me be. Protect them as they go out and prepare them for the journey. They are YOURS, precious Lord. I trust them to YOU and have faith in the days ahead. Amen and amen!

For you, sweet mama reading this, YOU have been prayed for today! Hold on to each special memory and celebrate each day ahead. You are doing a GREAT job and God will see you through. Hold fast to His Word and cling to Him through prayer!

"Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV)

"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

Genesis 2:24 (NKJV)

Friday, August 7, 2015

Unsettle us today, Lord!

Today, let’s pray that God would unsettle us. Let’s pray that we never get too comfortable where we are that we miss the assignments that God is calling us to. Let’s pray big, bold prayers of obedience to God and then lay all our mess at His feet. Let’s surrender it all to Him and walk fully in His will. Let’s allow Him to turn our mess into a message and our hurts to songs of praise. Let’s step outside our little boxes of comfort and onto His fields of purpose and grace. Let’s be people of great faith as we trust our God and shout HIS goodness to a world in need!

Today is before us!

God have YOUR way in me! 

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Sunrise on the Ocean

A morning sunrise prayer and praise with two sweet Jesus girls was on the agenda the other day. I’m not much of a beach girl but I love the beautiful sunrises and sunsets and of course the majesty of God’s amazing creation. It was the perfect morning to head out before the sun woke up and take these two precious girls who are running after Jesus to the ocean to share a time of prayer as God breathed life into another blessed day for us.

There were more people there than the last time I had gone for sunrise but it was still quiet and unrushed. We set our towels down, snapped a few pictures of the sun beginning to peak over the ocean and then spent some time in worship and praise of our God in all His splendor and majesty. As we sat down on our beach towels to open God’s Word we noticed a young man standing in front of the water with arms outstretched in praise. It blessed our hearts to see another soul praising our God!

A little bit later this same young man came and in all humility shared with us how he was blessed to see us out there praising God and felt led to come and encourage us in Christ and pray with us. He was in town for business training and desired to come to the ocean and worship God at sunrise but almost gave up on the idea because it was so early. He had called his girlfriend on the phone to share the experience and said he was blessed to see other believers there in worship as well.  So together, we bowed in prayer, hand in hand, to lift high the name of Jesus and encourage one another to continue living life in Christ and stand in unity as we seek HIM. I asked his name, Timothy, and thanked him for his prayers and encouraged him as well as he left to stay strong in Christ.

What a blessed morning! In a world that seems to be moving further and further away from Christ, God encouraged our hearts with another brother in the Lord. Timothy blessed our hearts and we will continue to pray for him as well.

Today is a new day to give God praise! Wherever you are, whatever your schedule holds this day…give God praise and worship Him in all you do. You never know who is watching your life and who will need encouragement in Christ. Today, let’s commit to sharing with the world the greatest news of all…Jesus, and let’s encourage our brothers and sisters in the Lord!

To God be the glory, great things HE has done!

“So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.”
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NLT)

“Great is the LORD! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness.”
Psalm 145:3 (NLT)