Yesterday was a great day for several reasons.
Reason #1
We had an awesome service at church. We had a guest speaker to begin our series called "iworship", and his focus was the verse from Hebrews 12 about worshipping God acceptably with reverence and awe because "our God is a consuming fire". He painted a picture for us of what a consuming fire really is. It was an amazing eye-opener for our congregation. We experienced God's presence like never before. I had the privilege of leading the worship team, and to close the service, I sang a duet with a friend of mine. We sang a song called "You Won't Relent". The words are powerful. Have a listen. (By the way, that's not me singing!) (Go to the bottom of the page and pause my player first.)
Reason #2
We had lunch with the guest speaker and his wife after church. She was very cute and at one point she said to me, "Seriously, do you read alot about parenting or how do you get your children to be this way because I really want my children to act like your boys." I was blown away. Had she just said that she thought my boys were well behaved? All I could think to say at that moment was , "I yell - a LOT!" When I recovered, I mentioned that we have always believed in first time obedience - that it's crucial that children understand that parents mean what they say and that you expect them to do what you tell them. Of course when I got home, I thought of all of these other wise words of wisdom for her. For example, children are a part of the family; they don't run the home. Too many homes are child centered, and we're seeing a world full of selfish children. (I could preach a message, but I'll spare you.)
Most of the time, I feel like I'm winging it as a parent. I guess we all do. Nobody ever told me that being a mom was the hardest thing I would ever do. And now I'm on that slippery slope of raising a pre-teen and all that comes with it like learning when to give him some freedoms and trusting his decisions about things and letting him make mistakes. It's scary, because the older he gets, the bigger and more costly the mistakes. Well, that's all another post. Let me just say I said a huge thank you to my Heavenly Father for filling in all the gaps where I messed up in the past. It's only by His grace and mercy that my children have survived my parenting. To have someone acknowledge and affirm the boys' behavior was very encouraging and humbling. They are very good boys!
Reason #3
When I got home from church, there was a beautiful box on my counter. My friend, Nichole, had stopped by and put it there. (I'm horrified that she saw the state of my house on a Sunday morning.) It had a note that simply said, "It was a pleasure to experience worship with you this morning." In the box were 300 (yes 300) sheets of beautiful scrapbooking paper. She knows I love pretty paper. (She also brought dinner over one night while Ken was in Indonesia.) What a gift her friendship is to me, and it's only just begun. I look forward to next Sunday, because her team is leading.
When your family is in full-time ministry, sometimes Sunday is not the best day. I mean you spend all morning readying the family without the help of dad who had to be at church two hours earlier. You spend all morning at church (and I mean "all" morning) chasing the baby and looking over your shoulder making sure the kids are behaving by yourself because dad is in the middle of his 15th conversation (with adults not children) and the baby falls asleep on the way home only to wake up totally rested (at least he thinks so) after the 10 minute car ride and refuses to take a nap. Some weeks you do lunch by yourself with the kids because dad has a meeting, or you grab a quick family lunch only to have dad go back to the office for some reason. I'm not complaining. It's just a fact of life. It's not always the best day in my week.
But yesterday was a good day! I worshipped. I was challenged. I had lunch with my husband. I made new friends. The kids behaved. My parenting was affirmed. I used my gift. My leadership was affirmed. Let me say after all those I's and My's, I know worship is not about me or what I need. And while Ken and I do not see Sunday as our Sabbath day (we protect Saturdays for that), God refreshed my soul yesterday in ways that I did not even know I needed. He's amazing that way!
Reason #1
We had an awesome service at church. We had a guest speaker to begin our series called "iworship", and his focus was the verse from Hebrews 12 about worshipping God acceptably with reverence and awe because "our God is a consuming fire". He painted a picture for us of what a consuming fire really is. It was an amazing eye-opener for our congregation. We experienced God's presence like never before. I had the privilege of leading the worship team, and to close the service, I sang a duet with a friend of mine. We sang a song called "You Won't Relent". The words are powerful. Have a listen. (By the way, that's not me singing!) (Go to the bottom of the page and pause my player first.)
Reason #2
We had lunch with the guest speaker and his wife after church. She was very cute and at one point she said to me, "Seriously, do you read alot about parenting or how do you get your children to be this way because I really want my children to act like your boys." I was blown away. Had she just said that she thought my boys were well behaved? All I could think to say at that moment was , "I yell - a LOT!" When I recovered, I mentioned that we have always believed in first time obedience - that it's crucial that children understand that parents mean what they say and that you expect them to do what you tell them. Of course when I got home, I thought of all of these other wise words of wisdom for her. For example, children are a part of the family; they don't run the home. Too many homes are child centered, and we're seeing a world full of selfish children. (I could preach a message, but I'll spare you.)
Most of the time, I feel like I'm winging it as a parent. I guess we all do. Nobody ever told me that being a mom was the hardest thing I would ever do. And now I'm on that slippery slope of raising a pre-teen and all that comes with it like learning when to give him some freedoms and trusting his decisions about things and letting him make mistakes. It's scary, because the older he gets, the bigger and more costly the mistakes. Well, that's all another post. Let me just say I said a huge thank you to my Heavenly Father for filling in all the gaps where I messed up in the past. It's only by His grace and mercy that my children have survived my parenting. To have someone acknowledge and affirm the boys' behavior was very encouraging and humbling. They are very good boys!
Reason #3
When I got home from church, there was a beautiful box on my counter. My friend, Nichole, had stopped by and put it there. (I'm horrified that she saw the state of my house on a Sunday morning.) It had a note that simply said, "It was a pleasure to experience worship with you this morning." In the box were 300 (yes 300) sheets of beautiful scrapbooking paper. She knows I love pretty paper. (She also brought dinner over one night while Ken was in Indonesia.) What a gift her friendship is to me, and it's only just begun. I look forward to next Sunday, because her team is leading.
When your family is in full-time ministry, sometimes Sunday is not the best day. I mean you spend all morning readying the family without the help of dad who had to be at church two hours earlier. You spend all morning at church (and I mean "all" morning) chasing the baby and looking over your shoulder making sure the kids are behaving by yourself because dad is in the middle of his 15th conversation (with adults not children) and the baby falls asleep on the way home only to wake up totally rested (at least he thinks so) after the 10 minute car ride and refuses to take a nap. Some weeks you do lunch by yourself with the kids because dad has a meeting, or you grab a quick family lunch only to have dad go back to the office for some reason. I'm not complaining. It's just a fact of life. It's not always the best day in my week.
But yesterday was a good day! I worshipped. I was challenged. I had lunch with my husband. I made new friends. The kids behaved. My parenting was affirmed. I used my gift. My leadership was affirmed. Let me say after all those I's and My's, I know worship is not about me or what I need. And while Ken and I do not see Sunday as our Sabbath day (we protect Saturdays for that), God refreshed my soul yesterday in ways that I did not even know I needed. He's amazing that way!
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