Can I have some breakfast?

My daughter walks into the kitchen almost every morning and asks, “Can I have some breakfast?”  This is her home.  It’s breakfast time.  She is old enough and capable enough to fix food on her own.  There is even food in the kitchen.  And yet, she asks this question almost daily.

After she asked it this morning, I thought about the words Jesus told us to pray to our Father in heaven, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Jesus told us to look to the Father as our faithful Provider.  He will supply all of our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.  (Per Phil. 4:19)

We don’t have to worry or fret about our physical needs.  In fact, Jesus specifically told us not to.  We are God’s image-bearers.  He will care for our physical needs so that we can pursue needs higher than those.

We just have to ask Him to provide for those physical needs, be grateful for and content with what He gives us, and be willing to move on and pursue the higher calling ahead of us.  Our lives are about more than food and clothing.  There is a much higher calling placed upon each of us.

After breakfast, it’s time to get to work.

Eat up!

jamie

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Failing?

I put the location into my GPS and hit start.  “Take the 3rd exit,” she said.  Huh?  I don’t think that’s right.  I didn’t know exactly where I was going, but I knew the general direction.  Now I was headed the wrong way and I was stuck in traffic.

As soon as I was able I turned around, and I re-keyed the location.  It was coming up wrong.  No wonder.  As I tried again I realized that it was no use…the location I needed wouldn’t come up.  34 minutes from my arrival time now, and I was at a standstill.  Ugh!  I had to make a phonecall and get some help.

I finally made it to my son’s longest, most intimidating karate test of his entire life.  (thus far) We made it right on time, and I was then horrified to realize that I had forgotten to bring him a drink.  Seriously!?  He was going to be in there sweating and working for over 2 hours, and I didn’t even bring him a drink!?

Within the next minute, I realized that I had additionally left his sparring gear at home when he also should have brought that.  NO!!

Epic mom fail!

Yes, I made sure he had his GI on, and that it was ironed, and I fed him and got him there…not to mention the fact that we stretched together earlier and I took care of him most of the day, but was I thinking about those things?  Nope.  Just the fails.

It’s so easy for us to see the fails, defeats, and disasters in our lives.  Often those look so much larger than the wins, the rights, and the achievements… especially when they are in the everyday things.  It’s in the wins and the rights; however, that our heart of gratitude and our spirit of thankfulness comes.

It’s in those things that we find God’s hand on our lives, working faithfully, amidst the fails that look so large.  He never left us, He never stopped looking out for us, He never quit working His plan.  He has been there, blessing all along.  He has been there, giving us wins, helping us achieve all the way…did we notice?

I had many mom achievements today.  My list of mom achievements today would way outnumber those couple of things I didn’t get done this evening.

The things that we fail at in our lives, in light of all the things where we win, are nothing in comparison to all those wins.  We are abundantly blessed.  We just need to take notice, and perhaps even begin to literally take note, if that’s what it takes.

God still goes before us, behind us, beside us, and He dwells within us.  He will not forsake us.  How do I know?  Not only did He promise it, but He has proven it to me over and over again.

Winning,

jamie

My praise for rising up!

Pr. 6:9:  “How long will you slumber, O sluggard?  When will you rise from your sleep?”

All I can do today is praise God!!  Lord, I’m so thankful that today You have given me the provisions to not be a sluggard.

I am so grateful that by God’s grace I was able to wake up at the same time as my husband this morning.  I was able to get ready for the day before my kids ever got out of bed.  I was able to do Bible studies with both of them.  I was able to get lunch in the crock pot, and make breakfast.  And I still have the strength and energy for the rest of the day!

These things may not seem like a big deal to most people, but trust me…THIS IS HUGE!!!

While I have not been a sluggard by choice, I have still felt like one for quite some time.  Illness has kept me from a normal, functional life for a long season, but on this day where I feel like I truly rose from my sleep, I am grateful.  I am overwhelmingly grateful to be able to function!

Thank you, God, for Your provisions.  Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to serve my family and teach my children more about You.  Thank you for this chance to show my children what my idea of responsibility looks like.  Thank you for this chance to invest more than just my existence into those that I love the most!  Thank you that I was truly able to model the “we put God first” truth into my kids with our Bible studies this morning.  Thank you for a clear mind that was not surrounded by fog.

God, I cannot stop praising You today for these gifts.  I am grateful and do not take one single one of them for granted.

I don’t want to sound as though I’m only praising God for something good.  He is worthy of my praise every day, but I would be remiss if I didn’t take this time to praise Him for something I’ve asked for in prayer for the past 4 years.

What an amazing gift I have been given today, and Lord I know its only by your grace that this has occurred.  I praise Your Holy name and give You all of the glory!

All I can do today is praise You and send out this worship to others.  You are worthy!

If any one of you reading this have found yourself being a sluggard by choice, I pray this praise report will inspire to do more while you’re able.  Each day you have is truly a gift.  Don’t take your abilities for granted.  Rise up from your sleep, feed on God’s Word, and serve.  You will never regret those choices.  You will only regret it if you don’t.

Praising the Lord!

jamie

For all these blessings…

The Bible says we should comfort one another with these words.  I pray they not only bring comfort, but cause our grateful hearts to rejoice this Thanksgiving. 

“For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.”  1 Th. 5:9-10

“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life…”  Jo. 3:36

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”  1 Th. 4:16-17

Happy Thanksgiving!

jamie

 

Growing up for a reason

“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.”  1 Cor. 3:1

Pr. 11:30 reminds us that, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.”  It is hard to win souls when we’re still babes in Christ.

Babies need almost constant attention.  When they’re not sleeping they need to be fed, held, cleaned, and kept safe.

There comes a time in our spiritual journey that we must make the decision to grow up.  We must begin feeding and caring for ourselves, not depending on others to provide us with everything.  We must learn to trust God to hold us and clean us up, not expecting others around us to be the ones who do so.

Of course, we all have moments when we need the love and care of those around us; however, when we find that we need that almost constantly it is an indication that perhaps we are still behaving as babes.

Jesus commissioned us to go into all the world preaching and baptizing.  Solomon reminded us that winning souls is the wise thing to do.  In order to do these things, we must have something to offer.

Babies are born helpless and have almost nothing to offer others.  They have to learn and grow so that they can begin contributing to the world around them.  Likewise, we must continue to grow in our trust in God and in our knowledge of Him so that we have something to offer those around us who are truly in need.

The best place to start is…drum roll, please…the Word.  When we begin feeding ourselves the Bread of Life each day, we are beginning to grow up and care for ourselves.

Once we get used to feeding ourselves, we can begin cleaning ourselves up through prayer.  Asking God for forgiveness and direction cleans us up and gives us wisdom for our next steps.  Thanking God for His blessings causes us to become grateful, which is a very grown up attribute.

With these skills, we will then find ourselves running to God to be held.  We will have grown in our understanding of who our Provider, Comforter, Helper, Deliverer, and Savior truly is.  We will know that when we need help the most, the safest, most dependable place to run is to the arms of our Father in heaven.

Armed with all this knowledge, we can then teach others that these same things are true.  We can point them to the same Father, who gives us the safety to be His baby, and the wisdom to grow into spiritual adults.

Growing up alongside you,

jamie

CAN EVERYONE HEAR ME!?

Pr. 27:14:  “He who blesses his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it will be counted a curse to him.” 

I’ve always been a ‘morning person.’  I have no problem being loud first thing in the morning.  I used to walk in to work having already been up for 2 1/2 hours, so I was peppy, singing, etc.  Not everyone appreciated that, though.  ha!  We’re all wired differently.

This verse is talking more about “blessing” someone for the sake of others.  It speaks to making a show of blessing or praising someone, so that all will not look at that person, but rather at you.  As if you’re saying to everyone else, “Please listen to me as I praise this person!  I am 1st in line.  I am so eloquent.  I am compassionate and wise.  I am a wonderful human being.”

If that is the intention of the praise, then has the recipient truly been blessed?  Nah.  The one who we claim to be blessing will probably understand the true motive and therefore count it as a curse.

We should bless those around us, but not so that we can receive the credit or attention.  Instead it should be from a heart of true thanksgiving, understanding, and gratitude.  It should be for the other person’s sake, and not our own.

Look for a reason to bless someone.  We all need that.  But make sure that it’s not done so that you are actually the one receiving the praise.

Trying to whisper,

jamie

 

 

 

Is your trough too clean?

Pr. 14:4:  “Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; but much increase comes by the strength of an ox. “

At times we think life would be so much easier without kids running around messing up the house, without having to make more trips to the store for food, without people constantly emailing, texting, or dropping by, or without people requiring us to visit and spend time with them.

However, as we see in this verse, that is just not so.  Well, ok…maybe the house would be cleaner if no one was messing it up.  Maybe we would have more money if we weren’t having to restock the refrigerator or entertain guests.  Perhaps we would have more time on our hands if we didn’t have so many people contacting us or counting on us.

Our lives, however, are increased by those around us.  Having people in our lives that care enough about us to come around gives us strength.  Having a family to care for us when it matters is an amazing gift from God.  Having friends reach out and help when we are weak or unable is a blessing like no other.

Sure, our home may be cleaner without little ones leaving messes, but without those little ones, we wouldn’t have giggles, unexpected hugs, imaginative play, or as many trips to the zoo.

Not having people reach out to us may indeed free up our time, but without friends and family who care, we wouldn’t have affection, unexpected gifts, meals when we’re down, or reactions to the new recipe we want to try out.

There is strength in numbers.  There may be a little more work in it for us, but it’s worth any sacrifice on our part.  Without others in our lives, we would simply find ourselves in a very clean, very unscheduled world…all alone.

Let’s make sure to be grateful for the oxen in our lives.  (And I mean that in the very best of ways).   Without them our lives sure would be boring and a lot more lonely.

Grateful for all those messing up my trough,

jamie

Remembering His works

Pr. 27:1:  “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”

What a fitting verse for Thanksgiving Day.  Truly we do not know how many days, hours, or minutes we have left here on earth.  No need to boast about things that have not yet taken place.

We do, however, know what has happened in our past.  Today is the day to remember and give thanks for the many blessings in our lives.  We can certainly boast about all the amazing things our Lord has done or provided in our lives.  He is so faithful.

This month our family made a “Thankful Jar” and filled it with things for which we are thankful.  Pasting our slips of gratitude into our Thanksgiving journal last night was a privilege, as I looked back over the things for which we chose to be thankful.  Our blessing truly are endless.

“Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.  Glorious and majestic are His deeds, and His righteousness endures forever.  He has caused His wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate. 

He provides food for those who fear Him; He remembers His covenant forever.  He has shown His people the power of His works, giving them the lands of other nations.  The works of  His hands are faithful and just; all His precepts are trustworthy.  They are steadfast for ever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness. 

He provided redemption for His people; He ordained His covenant forever–Holy and Awesome is His name.  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have good understanding.  To Him belongs eternal praise.”  Ps. 111

I pray you have a wonderful Thanksgiving today.  No matter where you are, who you are with or not with, and what you have planned, just remember all that the Lord has done and give Him thanks today.  Great are His works!  And they are steadfast forever and ever!  Now THAT makes a Happy Thanksgiving!  🙂

Thanking Him,

jamie