Hello Again

Hello again everyone! It certainly has been a long time since I've posted anything. Almost two years since my last post. As I sit on my bed typing this, I am at war within myself as to what to say to you, my readers. Where have I been for the last two years? What's been going on? Why the sudden stop? How about my call to tithe the time the Lord gave to me; have I succeeded? Did I even try? Where am I at in my life right now.

I think the best thing I can do right now is to start over completely. So, in a nutshell, here's what I've got planned. Along with a daily devotion (or maybe weekly at this point), I will reveal little by little how things have been going since I last sat down to blog. Some things, I'm not going to lie, are very painful. Other things are the source of great joy. I guess it all depends on the day, the devotion, and what God lays on my heart to type out. As for tonight, it's been a very long day and we're all coming off of a very long and stressful week here at the house. Tonight, I'm going to read my Bible and try to go to bed as soon as my son finally falls to sleep.

I look forward to catching up with all of you. Comment with any questions you have. And yes, this blog is still going to be about Christ-Centering our families. It may take a minute to get around to it, but we will, I promise. Until then, rest well and God bless you and yours.

A Calling... A Stay-at-Home-Mom's Call to Tithe Time.

It's almost 9:00 am. Austin is at school. Michael is at work. Mom just left for work about 30 minutes ago. I finally have some quiet time (minus the occasional barking dog). This is one of my most favorite times of the day. A couple of weeks ago, Window World came and installed some new windows in our house. I especially love the new one in my bedroom, as it's a nice big bay window that opens on both sides. I can now sit in my room with the windows open and listen to the birds chirp and sing while I have my daily quiet time with God.

Speaking of that... I recently fell under some conviction. I realized that I wasn't (and haven't for some time) been devoting enough time to my relationship with God. He's supposed to be our top priority, right? We're supposed to love him more than anyone or anything else on this earth! Do you neither spend time with nor talk to nor try to get to know this person better if you truly love him/her? For those of you who don't know, my current occupation is a stay-at-home-mom, house-wife, and home-maker. I realize that I'm very privileged to have this opportunity and I assure you I do not take it for granted. Although, I don't want you to think I just stopped at high school, got married, had a baby, and just sat back and decided to be what I am today. I did graduate from Southwest Mississippi Community College in May 2011 with an Associate's in Medical Billing and Coding, but haven't been able to find a job in this area yet. I'm thinking of returning to school for Early Childhood Education (what I wanted to do in the first place).

Now that I've chased that rabbit back into its hole (sorry!), I'll get on with it. So, I recently felt the Holy Spirit convicting me that something about my relationship with God wasn't right. I wasn't sure what it was, so I kept on praying. Last week, a piece of the puzzle was revealed when I realized that I wasn't putting time into my relationship with God (or rather not much) outside of church on Sunday and Wednesday. Then I began thinking about tithing. As Christians, we know it ALL belongs to God. He just allows us to use it while we're here on earth. Giving a tithe is just giving back to God what's already His. For those of you who don't know, a tithe is 1/10th of something.

We as Christians are called to tithe. But here's the thing. A tithe can be more than just money. You can tithe your time, your talents, anything, to God. In a way, tithing is an act of worship and thanksgiving and praise to God for giving us the things He has given us, because He has given us all that we have!

Usually, when we hear the word tithe, we think of money. However, this time, it wasn't about money at all. It was about the time I should be devoting to God, but wasn't. So, I set out to find out just how much time per week would be a tithe (with much help from my husband, because I stink at math). After a few calculations, here's what we came up with.

There are 60 seconds in a minute. So, 6 seconds of every minute belong to God.
There are 60 minutes in an hour. So. 6 minutes of every hour belong to God.
There are 24 hours in a day. So, 2 hours and 24 minutes of every day belong to God.
There are 7 days in a week. So, 16 hours and 48 minutes of every week belong to God.

Whew! That's like a part-time job!! But, it's only 2 hours and 24 minutes per day. Then I started to ponder what that would look like in my life...

Our family attends Sunday School and Church services on Sunday mornings. I'll just count that as two hours. Then, we attend Sunday evening services, as my husband and I teach the youth group (we just started a study on the book of Job). So, one hour of teaching and 30 minutes of church service.. So far, that's 3.5 hours just on Sundays. On Wednesday nights, we teach the youth again, but only for an hour. So, all week long, I only spend 4 and a half hours at church. That still leaves me with 12 hours and 18 minutes throughout the week. So what do I do with it? Am I being a good steward of the time that God has so graciously given me? In all honesty, no. I haven't been. Since I have been blessed with being a stay-at-home mom, I feel that God is leading me to tithe my time to Him, since I bring in no income. I know doing so will improve my relationships with my husband, my son, my mom and uncle (who live with us) and with everyone else I come into contact with. So, with that in mind, I laid out a small plan.

Every morning at 6:00 am, I get up to begin packing my 5 year old's snack for school, writing out any checks he needs for breakfast/lunch money, signing anything I need to sign, and sending any notes I need to send. I double check his homework folder and pack his book bag. Michael gets him dressed and together we get him out the door and the bus picks him up at 6:40 am. After that, I fix breakfast for Michael and I. Usually, he has to run out the door by the time I'm done fixing breakfast, so he eats on the go. What if I slowed down just long enough, or even woke up a few minutes earlier or had things more prepared and organized in the mornings so that I could take 10 minutes to read our Open Window daily devotion and have a few minutes of prayer? I once heard a saying, "You should always kneel before you stand." How would my life change (or my attitude for that matter) if I would just take a few minutes when I first wake up to thank God for another day and ask for His guidance?

How can I take it a little further? Sure, an Open Window devotion and some prayer in the mornings are good, but we need more!! The next step comes in reading and studying God's Word. Doesn't God call us to study to show ourselves approved? That means diving into the Scriptures. We as Christians are obligated to know what's in that Book, so that if need be, we can give a good defense. How can anyone expect to defend their faith, if that person doesn't even know the basics? More to the point, how can we lead other's to Jesus if we don't know how to witness to them because we haven't taken the time to study the Scriptures and as a result can't give any answers for their questions? For beginners, I recommend a Kay Arthur study! She is awesome! On another note, isn't the Bible our love letter from God? He is our heavenly Father and he loves us beyond anything you could ever imagine! How would you feel if you were to write a love letter to someone and that person set it upon a shelf to do nothing more than collect dust? More than a love letter, the Bible is our manual for life. If you could write a manual for life for your children and gave it to them as soon as they were able to read, yet they tossed it aside to do things their own way, how would that make you feel? Oh, how we must hurt the heart of our Father sometimes!

As I mentioned earlier, my husband and I teach youth group at church. We have an amazing group of boys (and an occasional girl or two)! Since we're teaching two different lessons on two different nights, a great deal of study time goes into each lesson. On Monday nights, we attend a study on the book of Revelation. It is a Kay Arthur study called Revelation Revealed. It's amazing and we're learning so much! Each week, we have at-home studying to do, which also takes up some time. It's got to be more than that though. A Christian's life is more than just studying God's word and being obedient to the Scriptures; it's about love. The Bible very clearly tells us that God is love. We ought to show others that love. Jesus calls us to be the the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Just something to think about as you go about your Monday. 

Revival is coming

Today, I just want to share with you some of the things that God has pointed out to me via our revival services. Our church's revival kicked off last night with our annual chitterlings supper. Now... for those of you lucky enough to not know what chitterlings are and have never had the misfortune "pleasure" of tasting this fine southern cuisine, well, have not a clue what you're missing out on. BOILED, BATTERED, AND FRIED PIG INTESTINES PEOPLE!!! EW!

Now that that's out of my system... We had a wonderful band called New Grace that came to sing gospel music to us. One of the singers mentioned to us that he had never seen true revival. As he said, "that ought to scare us and break our hearts all at the same time. Sadly, it won't. We'll go right on having a good time this week during revival and then we'll leave Jesus right there on the front pew and walk away." That statement really troubled me. I left with the feeling of knowing in my heart that we'd been in the presence of God that evening, one of only two or three times I can tell you that I know for 100% sure that I've tangibly felt His presence. Is it because He hasn't been there all those other times? No! I just haven't had my focus on Him and haven't been tuned into Him like I should have been.

Today, as Bro. Messer shared a message with us, several things hit me. I'd like to share them with you and I'd like for you to meditate on them as well.  

The Scripture was Matthew 7:24-27 though we touched on some other verses leading up to it as well. It's a familiar old story that all of you probably know. We even sing a little tune about it as kids. "The wise man built his house upon the rock..." 

To begin with, notice that these verses are red which means Jesus is talking. The preacher made mention of this to make this point: You can disagree with me, you can disagree with your pastor, you can disagree with anyone else, but you cannot disagree with Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is truth. He has never told a lie and he will never tell a lie. What he says is absolute truth. Considering this, notice that verse 24 starts off with a word that gets us into a lot of trouble. That word is, "therefore". What does it mean? The way Bro. Messer explained this to us is that the word "therefore" means "Based on what I just told you". Jesus was referencing the sermon on the mount. These last few verses in Matthew 7 are the wrapping up, the ending, of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. You can go back and read all of it if you like before continuing. It might help make sense of the rest of what I'm about to put here. 

Jesus said, "Therefore....or in our terms, 'Based on what I just told you,' ... everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the wids blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

Hearing and obeying God's Word is wise. Hearing and obeying... Wisdom, not worldly wisdom, but wisdom in God's eyes comes from hearing God's Word, believing it, and putting it into practice. Doing this is doing God's will. Here's where I'm probably about to make quite a few of my readers mad. 

Did you know, there are going to be more people in hell than there are in heaven. There are a lot of people on the church roll that aren't going to make it there. Where's my proof? Let's back up a bit. Take a look with me at Matthew 7:13-14. Jesus tells us the way we ought to go. He says we must enter through the narrow gate, why? Because wide is the path and broad is the way that leads to destruction and MANY there will be who find it. But small is the gate and narrow the path that leads to life and only FEW will find it. Discern for yourself.. is many more than few... is few less than many? YES!! Now, as for the point that not everyone on the church roll is going to make it there. Let's jump forward just a little bit to Matthew 7:21-22. It says, "Many (and notice this is most likely the same "many" who followed the wide path to destruction), will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?" In this verse, the word prophesy can be roughly translated in modern terms as, "preach the gospel, witness, etc." and miracles can be roughly translated as "good deeds." Let me say this, there are a lot of great people, a lot of kind and excellent people out there that aren't going to heaven! They may think that they are, but they're not. I'm not doubting anyone's faith in Jesus here or discrediting their relationship with him. All I'm saying is, (and I'm saying it as much to myself as to you) good works won't save you! The very best..top of the line..that you can produce in your life. All you can bring to the feet of Jesus is a filthy rag..empty hands. Where in the Bible does it say this? Turn over to Isaiah 64:6 and read what the prophet of God, Isaiah, has to say. FILTHY RAGS! The best that you can bring to feet of Jesus is filthy rags! The best that I can bring to the feet of Jesus is FILTHY RAGS! When it speaks of filthy rags here, it's referring to those nasty pus and blood filled strips of cloth that a leper wrapped their skin in. THAT is the best that we can bring to Jesus. But you know what? He loves us anyway. Isn't that amazing?! Good works, preaching the gospel, witnessing to everyone you know... those acts won't save you. They are the RESULT of Salvation, not the PROOF of it. 

Jesus says that only those who do the will of His Father in heaven will enter the kingdom. What is the will of the Father? Let's flip over to 2 Peter 3:9. It says that God wishes none would perish, but that ALL would come to repentance. What is repentance? It's a military term. It means to turn around and go the opposite direction. Repentance is a change of not only the mind, but also direction. You must come to true repentance. Really mean it when you tell the Lord that you're sorry for the sins you have committed, even the ones you don't realize you've committed. This is kind of what our Sunday School lesson was about this morning.. or at least partly. King David wrote most of the psalms in the book of Psalm. Go back and read Psalm 19 and take note of verses 7-14. In verse 12, King David was asking the Lord, "Who can discern their own errors?" and asking for God to "forgive my hidden faults." or unintentional sins. He went on to pray that God would keep him from willful sin,( better known as rebellion for those of you who have children like I do), so that they would not rule over him. David sought to be found innocent in the sight of God. He wanted to be right with God. The ending of this psalm says, "May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be PLEASING in your sight, my Rock and my Redeemer."

I know that's a lot to take in, but those are some of the things that God revealed to me through the sermon that our revival preacher is speaking. He challenged us to tell one person this week how much we love Jesus. I issue that same challenge to you. To all of you, may God pour out His rich blessings on all of you and the situations in your lives. Feel free to leave comments.

A Heart-wrenching Goodbye

Hi to all of you again,
I'm sorry I have not posted in the last couple of days as I said I would. I'm not sure I will be posting for the next couple days as my family and I try to cope and grieve over the loss of our beautiful 4-legged baby Cody. He was perfectly healthy all Saturday, and then around midnight of Sunday morning, he started rapidly deteriorating and was violently ripped away from us all too soon at 4:50 am that morning. Our son is heartbroken, and our lives are, for the moment, at a standstill, our whole family, shattered and still reeling from the mysteriously violent happenings of last night. I was up for about 25 1/2 hours, unable to fall asleep due to haunting images of his last moments. We didn't know what had caused his death then, but today, our vet said it was a pulmonary aneurysm. It was something that was going to happen no matter what precautions we took. Unbeknownst to us, he was born with this condition. It was in his genetics. Unless we had specifically had his DNA tested as a pup, we'd have never known, and even then it might not have shown up. We had him 4 wonderful years, and for that, I'm so very thankful; thankful beyond words.
For those of you who don't know, let me put it like this: My fur babies are just as much my "babies" as the one I gave birth to. I love them as much as I love my own flesh and blood. You may think it's creepy, but that's just my feelings. I feel like I lost a son yesterday morning. We first got Cody in November of 2008. He was a present to my husband, but also a "first pet" for our soon-to-be born bundle of joy. Cody and Austin have grown up together, and Cody has been by Austin's side always. From the terrifying worst of times..when we almost lost Austin to the pyloric stenosis at 2 months old, to the best of times..when Austin took those first teetering steps. Austin was in turn by Cody's side when we frantically rushed him to the vet just a couple months ago over a copperhead bite that nearly took his life. Best buddies, through thick and thin. He was always waiting for the next sneaked bite of food Austin passed him under the table, always patiently sitting by my side as I waited on Austin's Head Start bus to pull up, the first to give Cody bear hugs and tons of slobbery kisses when Austin got home from school, and the biggest snuggle bear you've ever seen. His personality was so quirky, but smart, adorable, and silly all mixed into one. All I can say will never be able to describe how much he meant to us. Here is a picture of our dearly departed Border Collie, Cody.

Cody and Austin about 2 yrs ago. They always slept in the same room, so one night as I went in to check on them, this is how I found them.
Rest in Peace my sweet 4-legged baby.
September 17, 2008 - January 13, 2013

A Long Overdue Introduction

I suppose I ought to start this off by introducing my family and myself to all of you. So, here goes nothing!

A little bit of background:
At the time my husband and I met, he lived in Mississippi and I in Illinois. Talk about a long-distance relationship (700 miles)! God brought us together, we became friends, fell in love, and started our walk with God together in May 2008. It was a long road and a tough one, but God guided us each and every step of the way!

Ok, now on to the present day!

Michael and I have been married for almost six years! It's amazing how far we've come in that short of a time frame. Here is a photo of us on our wedding day in May 2008.

We have a rough and rowdy 5 year old little boy who keeps us on our toes! His name is Austin. 

My mom also lives with us. She moved in with us in August 2012 because she lost her home to foreclosure. 

Michael works on computers for a living. That is something that I could never do, because computers seem to hate me because I simply haven't got the patience for computers that he does.

For now, God has called me to be a stay-at-home mom for my son. I may be homeschooling him next year, but that all depends on how God deals with my heart between now and August. 

We are part of a very active church body and love every minute of it! We just settled on a missions trip to KY this year (they went to Thailand last year).  Moving to this church has been one of the best things to ever happen to me. I have come alive and feel more on fire for God and feel more purpose in my life since we've been going to our current church than I ever have before! God is moving and let me tell you my friends, it's an awesome sight to behold! 

Well, I think that about sums it up. I can't think of anything else to really tell you about my family. Nothing more important than our love for God, our desire for serving Him, the love she share for our church and church family, and our love for our family. Maybe it's because that's all that really matters, or maybe it's because my sleep deprived brain isn't really functioning at full capacity tonight. Until next time!