Multitude Monday

This summer I challenged by Sunday school kids to memorize a passage of Scripture. I chose Psalm 27. I think God had me chose it more for my sake then for theirs. I have been amazed at how hard they have and are working. My class is full of boys with a few girls sprinkled in. They are 8-11 years old, and they are memorizing 14 verses this summer. 1 has already completed the challenge, said the whole passage with just 3 helps!! I love listening to young ones etch Scripture on their hearts, God always honors those who hide His word in their hearts.These young ones are not aware of the great rewards that come with memorizing and meditating on Scripture.

Listening to them say their verses has also made me feel quite guilty. These young children are much better at memorizing Scripture then I am. I need to change this. I came upon a passage of Scripture in Isaiah that I have just fallen in love with. The wording is so beautiful and a great description of His power. I think it is a very fitting passage for Multitude Monday as it is a reminder that He is the ultimate gift-giver. I need to spend more time sitting in awe of His beauty... His power.

Isaiah 10:6-16

No one is like You, O Lord;

You are great, and Your name is mighty in power.

Who should not revere you, O King of the nations?

This is You due.

 

Among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like You.

They are all senseless and foolish; they are taught by worthless wooden idols.

Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish 

and gold from Uphaz.

What the craftsman and goldsmith have made is then dressed in blue and purple - all made by skilled workers.

But the Lord is the true God; 

He is the living God, the eternal King.

When He is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure His wrath.

"Tell them this, 'These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.' "

But God made the earth by HIS power; 

He founded the world by HIS wisdom

and stretched out the heavens by HIS understanding.

When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar,

He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.

He sends lightening with the rain and brings out the wind from HIS storehouses.

Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. His images are a fraud; they have no breath in them. They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.

HE who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for HE is the Maker of all things. including Israel, the tribe of HIS inheritance - the Lord Almighty is HIS name.

This passage gives me chill bumps. I can't help but feel small after reading it. That's MY Father.... my daddy. He who makes the earth tremble is the one I call Abba Father. 

I am His... you are His...

I am the daughter of the Almighty, the Maker of all things.

I am loved, not just one of His many children. No, He knows my name, knows my heart, loves me. He thinks I am special. He cares for me, and not just the big things... but the little things too. Every little detail, He knows and cares about.

#255-271

My Maker

Sweet gifts sent from above

Open doors

New opportunities

Extra days at work

A fun evening, making new friends

Snuggles with Ben (can you tell I LOVE being an "aunt")

Ice cream run with my mom

Reading time with the nephew

Watching the shy one in class, who struggles with memorizing, say more then he thought he could and the smile on his face when he hears the words, "I'm proud of you"

Hearing those sweet, but loud, children complain because we have run out of time and they will have to wait till next week to hear the end of the story of Ruth.

A ride from a friend, which saves me gas

Gas below $2!!!

Peaches hanging from the tree

The sweet juice tickling down my face

The what seemed like the never-ending canning process, that yielded 2 dozens jars full of sliced peaches

A sticky floor, sticky counter tops, sticky stove, and sticky jars full of peaches

Adventures with 5 children

Today I am tired.

My usual two cups of coffee are not enough... working on my third now and might keep this up all day.

Thank you Father for coffee... besides it's marvelous capability to give me energy it taste sooo good:) I just love it!!

Yesterday I was a stand-in-mom to five children. I never mind looking after the Pavatt children, they are pretty much my nieces and nephews. It saddens my heart that my "big sis" needs help occasionally. Thankfully medicine has helped her and her flares are not as often anymore but yesterday was a bad day so Kaffer (my name given to me by the at the time 3 yr old KK) to the rescue! We had a fantastic day. We ran into town, picked blackberries, ate snow cones, weeded the front flower beds, and even piled on mom's bed and watched a little t.v., then quickly ate dinner and climbed in the car for church. By the end of the day I was exhausted!! I don't think I am quite ready for a household full of children (at least not yet...lol).

I don't know how you mom's do it. How do you balance discipline with encouragement? I was so exhausted physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I felt like I had been in battle all day. Your emotional state is constantly changing. Firm with child 1, encouraging child 2, comforting child 3, lecturing children 4 and 5, and all the while trying to prepare dinner and review in my head the lesson I'm going to be teaching at church that night. Whew.... can it get more chaotic??

I will say that I learned quit a bit from my adventure... as I always do when I spend any length of time over at that fabulous house.

1. There is something about a good cup of coffee... a comfy chair... a pretty view... and the Word of God early in the morning

2. Sweet cuddles from my fav children make getting up early worth it... no matter what time I went to bed the night before.

3. Every moment is a teaching moment... even making breakfast.

4.Sometimes you have to hurt feelings to get a point across... but it never feels good.

5. The sound of a 4 yr old singing praise to Jesus is amazing!!! Even if she is off key:)

6.I accomplished a great feat: I cleaned up throw-up (without throwing up myself).... maybe I'm closer to being ready to be a mom then I thought(-:

7. Eating snow cones is still a great way to spend a hot summer afternoon.

8. Cooking dinner, getting rooms cleaned, cleaning kids up for church and planning a lesson for church are all easy to do on their own but all at once makes you feel crazy!

9. There is something very precious about a young boy worrying about his mom.

10. I want to be a mom and I foresee sometime in the future having a family somewhat like this one... however I think that I will be content in my current situation... for today at least(-:

Blessings from above

So I am sitting here at the lot catching up on my blog reading and wondering what I shall write about next. You see usually I come to this place with a head full of ideas, but today not so much. I feel as though for the past few weeks I've been living on auto-pilot. As if I am watching my life go by instead of living in each moment. Summer has been slightly crazy and already so full I' m not quite sure how I'm going to do everything. I figure that's a problem to have.... I'd much rather have too much to do rather then too little.

Last night we kicked off our summer kids program at church. What a blessing the whole day turned out to be. I volunteered along with a few other people to help make the set for the event. It was so much fun... I think my sister's creativity is beginning to rub off on me:) It turned out really good... much better then I thought it would be. I'll have to take a picture of it and post it here so you can see it.

I am once again just amazed at the blessings that God has sent my way. I never ever thought I would fall in love with church again. Too many bridges burned there I thought. I have never completely stopped going, however the motivation was more along the lines of my obedience then out of love for the church body. A while back a professor reminded me of a truth I knew deep down but had forgotten about: it's not about what the church can do for you, it's about what you can do for the church. I wrestled for awhile with that statement, not because I thought it was false but because I wanted it to be false. Those days I am sad to say were days wrapped up in self and not in the Father.

One of the things that God has shown me since my breakup is to empty myself of me.... which I have spent much time talking about here in older posts. I will admit that one of the reasons why I chose to get involved in the children's ministry at  church had some very selfish reasons but I also like to think that God was pushing me into an area of selflessness. I was looking for a way out of the Sunday school class that I was in, partly because it was a college class (which is hard to be in when you are out of college) and mostly because my ex was there every week. They just so happened to need a teacher for the 8-10 yr old class. I don't think that was just a coincidence. It was planned out in advance by my Father who knew just what I needed in order to fall back in love with the institution of the church.

I am so thankful that He did what He needed to do to get me back to this place. It amazes me just how lost I can get in my own self and the misery that goes along with that. I often wonder how we can be so settled and so peaceful in God's will yet struggle to stay there. Why do ever leave that place? What causes me to think that there is any peace or joy outside of His will? Why do I constantly fight what seems like the same battle over and over again?

On another note.... let me tell you about the beautiful blessings of late.

First off I finally mustered up enough courage to ask an old friend over for dinner. It had been too long... partly my pride... partly being too busy... partly who knows what. I am so glad that I did. We talked for hours.... till 1 am and laughed and cried and had a wonderful time renewing a friendship that thankfully was lost only for a season.

Next has to do with making new friends. Yesterday I made 2:) Both go to my church, one for along time and one just decided to call Grace home. On one hand I'm pretty proud that I had the courage to initiate conversations with both. I often am not one to seek out people but this new found confidence I have has helped me to step out of my comfort zone. One of these girls seems to be an answer to prayer. I have been asking for some more single friends for awhile.... after all I can only handle my married friends for so long. Not because there is anything wrong with them it just makes me feel as though I am missing out on something and makes finding joy in my singleness even harder. 

I am not sure what God plans on doing with me this summer but I am anticipating a crazy one. One full of memories, laughs, tears, questions, hopefully some answers, and I'm sure more waiting.... lessons in sitting still.

Another rainy Saturday

So its another rainy day at the lot. Last night another series of storms came thundering across the state. Another night of peaceful sleep while the rain fell all around. There is a strong chance of another line coming again tonight. Have I mentioned that I LOVE rain, especially thunderstorms. I could do without the tornadoes that destroyed some parts of the state, leaving many without homes this morning. I am so thankful that the storms stayed clear of Greenbrier.

I was a little late to work this morning. When I arrived at my parents house I was gratefully surprised by a little voice yelling "Kaffer!!" My three year old nephew had spent the night at Poppy's and Mimi's. I LOVE that little boy more then I ever imagined that I could love a child. He is a very special boy and the best reminder of just how amazing God is. He is the joy of our family and spoiled to the core:) He was so excited to see me.. and immediately decided that we had to go play with his toys. I sadly had to tell him that I couldn't, that Kaffer had to go to work. I was rushing to get out the door, because of course I kept lingering around, soaking up every moment with this sweet little boy, I remembered that I needed to borrow a book from my mom to take with me to the lot. Ryan jumped up off the couch and ran over to his pile of books and said, "Here Kaffer, you can take my book!" It is moments like that which make your heart melt. Simple statements of a giving heart from one who is only been on this earth for a short while. There was no hesitation in his voice, he was excited at the chance to share his book with his aunt. He heard me voice a need, saw that he could help me, and immediately jumped up to do so.

Isn't that how was as Christians should be? Shouldn't we jump up at the opportunity to help others? Not just help but do so with an excited, joyful attitude. So often we help others out of obligation. After all Christ told us to help one another. It's one of those things that has crept onto our "Christian check list," just another way that I have done my Christian duty for the month. We as Christians, as followers of the One who never hesitates to help us, we need to develop an attitude more like that of my nephews. Even if it is something as simple as a book.