The Bible Really is Relevant!

My last post was the turning point in a small life of a small piece of God's story (Louie Giglio "I Am Not But I Know I AM"). Now it's time to move on and try to figure out how to digest where God is working. We are faced with a new dillema. A church family is something that we've learned to depend on. How exactly do we go about looking for a new one? Where does God want to see us serving? What direction is he leading us in? And, what do we do in the meantime?


I hate the idea of "trying out" churches. I know God is moving and growing us...but how do I know exactly where we are supposed to go? This week I decided to turn to Acts. The disciples were faced with many of the same questions. Jesus had died and rose and according to ch 1:3 spent 40 days with them "speaking about the Kingdom of God". Then he was taken up in a cloud.

In chapter 1:4 Jesus tells the disciples what is to happen next: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about." That gift was the Holy Spirit which would allow them to do miraculous things in the name of Jesus.

The disciples were faced with the realization the everything was changed. Through no control of their own, their leader was gone and they had to decide what they would do with that. I can't imagine what they must have felt before Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus tells them to "wait" for a gift from His Father. I wonder what they thought that gift was! I wonder where God will take us next.

Moral of the story? The disciples went to Jeruselem. They waited where they were told to wait and they joined together with Mary, Jesus' mother and "the women" and they prayed, constantly. (vs. 14) And so, this is what we will do. We will pray constantly, and wait on God to give us the discernment to know what to do next.

Even the disciples would've liked to know what was coming (vs. 6). Jesus response was that it wasn't for them to know. We will continue to follow Christ, even though sometimes we follow not knowing what's next. I am anxious to see how God will work in my life next. I'm even more anxious to continue serving Him!

"It's All Gonna Be OK"!

Did you ever feel like you just couldn't catch your breath? I keep trying to get better at this blogging thing...but not so much, right?

I guess what I'm thinking about right now, is how comforting God can be. The last month has been a growing season for me. I guess you could say it's been a "shrinking" season, too! I've lost about 6 pounds pondering all the "growing" God has issued to me. The best part of God growing me is the understanding that He wants to grow Me! It is a comfort to know that God wants to use me enough to grow me.

I tend to want to look forward past the "hurting" part of that growth and into the "lesson" part. I'd much rather learn my lesson quickly regardless of the pain. Oftentimes, if we don't learn our lessons the first time God gives them to us to learn again. No thanks!

I've been drawing my strength from Paul. It is amazing to me how the Bible can be so relevant to everyday life. I've been reading Phillipians for the past month. Over and over again. It's like a bear hug from a loving parent reminding me that "It's all gonna be OK!".

So, off to a new beginning we go. God has a new ride for us. I feel like I'm waiting in a really long line for it to take off....hmmmm I wonder what this will be like! But, I draw my comfort from my Lord who provides and sustains me every minute of my life here on earth. So, in the Theresa paraphrase from Phillipians... Hang On..."It's all gonna be OK!"

Technology is GREAT ...WHEN IT WORKS!

We've been doing a little computer updating in our house lately. So far we've converted all but one computer from Windows XP to Windows 7 Ultimate N. We'd been putting off the updating on the main computer because of all the file transfering that would need to be done. Unfortunately, somehow I let a virus onto it forcing Adam to have to strip down the old system and go through the arduous process of loading everything on again. It's always such an ordeal but we'd been meaning to update it. My job last night was to move the files I wanted to keep from the computer to an external hard drive...so I did. I thought. Come to find out today...I forgot about my "favorites" list for the internet. The result of this amazing mistake? Having to remember a whole lot of web addresses and passwords. Oops!

Another challenge...Alex is in the middle of Rosetta Stone and today I had to reload that program. So now the question is...how does he get back to where he was (at least I know where he was at)? I'll be making a phone call to Rosetta Stone tomorrow. There has to be a way for me to tell that program where he is ...right? Oh, to understand technology!

I'm looking forward to having all of this "updating" done soon. I still have to load all of my Video and Audio software. Also, I need to move all my files from the external hard drive back to my C: drive. Oh Brother!

Reflections of Christmas Break....

I have so enjoyed having a break! This is the first year that we did not spend the whole Christmas break traveling. I never realized how nice it is to just stay home! I'm a "home-body" anyway...but this break has been so refreshing!


Austin is home and my family is complete once again. It's funny how good it feels to have everyone together. Last night, all the guys in the house put all the TV's and the computer monitor in the living and set up their game systems. Our family now owns 3 PS3's. They were playing capture the flag and other beat-em-up and kill-em games! They had a blast! It is refreshing to watch them play together and enjoy each other! I know I will soon be missing all of this.

All of these feelings make me realize that I've taken the love of my Parents and of Adam's Parents for granted. I'm now beginning to understand what it must feel like for them when we come for visits. I think they must still feel that "pleasure when the family is all together and complete"!  I need to make more of an effort to make the times that we are together more memorable for them.

Where we are now...is back to school! HaHa! It's taken me a while to get back into the swing of things...but I think I'm almost there. The fact that I'm actually blogging proves that. Now, to get the rest of it together. Aaron is back to complaining about math "not being fun". I'm back to getting people up in the morning saying, "There's a ton that needs to be done before you have to go here or there!"

Oh, how I fight the urge to wish for more quiet days. I know they are coming faster than I'll want them. I just haven't figured out how to slow the clock down and enjoy each minute I have with my children...whether in school, or in play.

I pray the Lord will give me a heart of contentedness as I continue to watch my children grow up and that He will remind me to enjoy every second of time I have with them. I also pray that my memory will stay vivid for a looooonnnngggg time to come!
 
Happy New Year!