God Provides a Bouncy Birthday Wish!

It was Mari's Birthday and because she is turning 4, we didn't do a "big" party.  She was a bit disappointed because she had a list of things she thought all birthdays should have.  I let her pick out the important ones (within reason) and tried to make her day special.  I realized with my first two kids that having a big birthday party every year wasn't the wisest choice for us.  It was too time consuming, exhausting, and expensive.  Now the kids get a "big" party at 5, 10, 13, 16, 18 and 21.  Then they are on their own.  The other birthdays, they are allowed to have cake and presents with our immediate family and maybe a date with a friend.

Letting Mari choose her party supplies took an extreme practice of patience on my part.  I had to completely let go of my controlling nature.  Nothing matched, but she was happy.  I even did "goodie bags" for her cousins and siblings.  We decided to go to the park for cake and gifts since I had had a bad cold the week before.  I was still feeling run down.  All the way to the park, Mari was trying to make sense of what her party would be like.  The only thing she wanted that she didn't have was a "jumpy house."  I have never ordered one before, but I understand they can be expensive.  I had a little tiny bit of guilt about not doing more for her party, but I was determined that I was going to teach the kids to focus on the eternal things and not the material things of this earth that we get so carried away with.  I talked about how fun it was going to be just playing with her brothers, sister and cousins. 

I hadn't thought to reserve a place at the park since it was only us, but when we got there, the only table area near the play structure was reserved.  UG!  I had been praying about trying to be a better steward and had felt guilty about spending money on frivolous stuff.  When I saw that the area was reserved, I started to wonder if I shouldn't have tried to buy my way into a nice day by throwing the big party that most people expect.  I then remembered that God has been teaching me about considering what I do.  I have felt that I need to weigh each thing with the things that are eternal and I realized that a picnic style party would be just as good.  I am fighting against my consumerism training!   I told Kevin to wait in the car for just a min. while I asked someone in the group if they were using the whole area.

The area was very large and most of the people were at the first few tables.  I went up to a small group at the front and excused myself right into a conversation.  Who should be in that group, but the person in charge of the party.  It was a corporate party for Smile Office Supplies.  I had no idea at the time that I was talking to the person in charge, but I asked if we could use one of the tables.  She said yes because their party was just about over.  Not only that, but she said the kids were welcome to jump in the Jumpy-house that they had rented because the man was late picking it up!!! 

The kids played in that bounce house for about a half hour and then went to play on the park.  The man came a few minutes after that to pick it up!!  God is so good!!!  I was trying so hard to honor HIM and not spend needlessly.  I am so guilty of putting my kids wants first that I sometimes put them in front of God!  YIKES.  I never want to do that and I realized I needed to make this a simple party, but what does God do??? He sees the desire of my daughter's heart and honors her with the one things she wanted anyway. 

What an amazing blessing!!!  She had a great day.  The weather was perfect, She got the presents she wanted most of all and she even got the bounce house until she was tired of it!  What an awesome God we serve!

While I Wait on The Lord

As I have been reading through the books of the Prophets in the Old Testament, I have been asking God to show me what he has for me to learn.  He has been so amazingly faithful.

The latest lessons have been very helpful.  He has used his word and examples of Godly people in my life to teach me His ways. 

As I was reading through Zechariah, I came upon the verse:  'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty..."Who despises the day of small things?..."  (Vs. 4:6b and 4:10a)  I was thinking about how I have to completely rely on God to allow me to participate in His will for my life.  He has set into motion the things that need to happen so that I can do the thing I so badly desire to do.  I worry about the small things, but He has them all in control.  I look on small things and think that nothing is happening, but I will see them all come together and be glad!  Waiting on the Lord is not my greatest strength.  Even though I acknowledge that the best blessings come when I wait and I can always see the beautiful wisdom in HIS timing verses mine.  But, truly relying on HIS strength is difficult.  I am so glad that I want to.  I am so glad that I am making it my goal.  I am so glad that through HIS power I can change and do it.

As an added blessing, I realize that God does have work for me to do while I wait on Him.  Praise God for work for my idle hands.  Thank God that I have occupation.  And I am so very grateful to our LORD who allows me to participate in His work.  Knowing that He doesn't need anything from me, but allows me to get a glimpse of His glory so that I can praise Him.  It is so exciting.  I can't explain it and there is nothing that compares to it.  If I heard it from someone else, I wouldn't believe it, but I live it so I know it and I LOVE it.  I continued reading in Zechariah and found these verses about being strong and doing the Lords work.  I think this is a great example to me that I am allowed to work!  Praise God that I don't just have to sit there.  It says, "let your hands be strong" in two places.  (Vs. 8:9 and 13)  I love that we are encouraged to work.  I know God makes us all unique for His purpose and I believe that although I know I am supposed to wait on Him, I also know that my propensity for excitement is ultimately for His glory.  I thank Him that I am so wonderfully made and that he makes provisions for that!

I continued reading Zechariah and I came to a question about whether or not the people of Bethel should mourn and fast. (Vs 7:2)  I have made a point of setting aside a regular time of prayer and fasting.  I found that those days were particularly hard.  I was thankful for it because it reminded me to seek God through the tough times so I was eager to hear how God answered these people.  God said "The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah."  (Vs. 8:19) I realized that my times of fasting were becoming very grumpy times for me.  I had also read a twitter of Katie Davis from Amazima Ministries.  One of her girls had complained to her in a cute way and her response was, "Does it get any better than this?"  I realized that if I viewed all the things that my kids did with that attitude, I would truly feel like the most blessed person in the world.  Because, really, does it get any better than this???  Many of the things that make me cranky are really adorable!  The very next time I fasted and prayed, my day was a blast simply because I remembered to think, "does it get any better than this?"  And you know what?  I'm not sure it does. 

Thank You God for the amazing ways You choose to teach me Your lessons.  Thank You that I get to work with toward Your will!  Thank You for teaching me to wait and for giving me something to do in the mean-time.  Thank You for the joy of my children because while I am here on this earth, "does it get any better than this?"  Amen!

13 Blessings

One of the reasons I am keeping this blog is that I want to remember and praise God for the good works He does in my life no matter how insignificant or great.  I want to remember to give HIM glory for the blessings and provisions.  I want to remember to teach my children to rely on HIM for their needs. 

Friday, I was excitedly making dinners for the weeks ahead, feeling like I was finally on track with being a good steward of my time and money.  Because I didn't properly prepare for the two weeks leading up to this day, we had been wasting a lot of money by eating out.  I made Pork Chops and a Chicken dish.  They both cook at the same temperature, but the pork chops have a shorter cook time.  I was preparing another meal when I heard a zzzttt sound.  When I turned around, I saw small flames in the back of the oven.  This happened to be my day of fasting, and when I saw the fire, my first thought was to get the kids out of the house and I worried because Mari was napping.  The very next thought I had was peace.  I knew it was going to be fine.  I turned off the oven and prayed that the smoke didn't ruin the food.  I waited until the fire was gone and then waited for the very small amount of smoke to clear, then I opened the oven door.  The Pork Chops were done!  The chicken wasn't done and I started to worry that I would have to throw it away.  Then, I remembered our gas barbeque.  I quickly called Kevin to make sure I didn't have to do anything to prevent the oven from catching on fire again and to ask about the best way to bake in the barbeque and then got to it.  About a half hour later, the chicken was done as well!  The barbeque worked amazingly.

I was so thankful that all my hard work was not wasted.  I had one more task at hand, though , and I had accidentally burned my finger pretty badly when I pulled the pan out of the barbeque.  Thankfully, at that moment, my mom stopped by and finished up for me.  I just had to cut some meat to get into the freezer before it spoiled, but that job would have been really painful to do with my burned finger. 

So, now I have a broken oven and a burned finger.  It doesn't sound great, but I was praising the Lord.  I was so excited that He would have this happen at this time!  Kevin and I had just been talking about what to do with the kitchen if we move.  It has worked well for us, but it wasn't exactly what most people would want, and if we left it how it was, it would have made the house less desirable as a rental property.  (Which is what we plan to do with it if we move.)  So, we knew we needed to do something.  The oven was (at one time) a double wall oven.  When we moved in, the upper oven was missing so we put a broken microwave there to fill in the space and we used it as storage for dry goods.  The lower oven was the oven we used.  Also, the range top has been broken for years and the back burner is really the only one that works well.  As I said, it worked for us, but not everyone would call this the ideal kitchen.

We spent much of Sat. looking for a new oven and a better way to arrange the space.  I really didn't want to go too long without an oven, but knew it wasn't too much of a rush because I just cooked a bunch of meals!  The trouble was that our oven seemed to be a weird size.  We measured, called, remeasured, had other people measure, looked at instruction manuals, etc.  Finally we came to the conclusion that we were going to have to rebuild the cabinet. (NOT something Kevin feels confident doing.)  We found double ovens on craigslist and then we were blessed to find double ovens AND a range top for a third of what new double ovens would cost!  We picked them up Sunday afternoon and Kevin had them installed by Sunday night.  The best part (like all that isn't good enough)?  They fit perfectly!  Absolutely perfectly.  (And no, they are not the same ovens - not even the same brand!!!)  What an amazing blessing!  I am so thankful that God just saw us perfectly through all of this.  The ovens look great, I LOVE having two ovens. (I feel so spoiled.) And they were super cheap!  The only bummer is that I have cooked all of our meals for the next week or so, so I have no reason to use them!!!  HA!  Only God!  I did dig out a package of brownie mix last night.  I just couldn't resist.

Let's count the blessings:
1.  Was fasting and praying
2.  Was trying to follow God's will in being a good steward of my resources
3.  The food was cooked
4.  The food that wasn't cooked was able to be cooked on the barbeque
5.  My mom stopped by just at the right time to help me finish
6.  The fire was uneventful
7.  The food didn't get ruined by the smoke at all.
8.  The answer to "what to do with this kitchen" was crystal clear.
9.  Due to the size of everything, including our kitchen, without a major remodel, there was only one option
10.  We were able to find the ovens for about 1/3 of what it would cost new plus we got a range as well!
11.  They fit perfectly - even though every measurement and cut-out guide said they wouldn't
12.  We were not in a hurry because food was already made.
13.  Kevin is able to install these things willingly.

Just a note...as I was "counting" these blessings, I realized that I came up with 13.  Funny, because all of this happened on Friday, August 13th.  I love to see the way God shows Himself in every little detail.  He is so good to me! A passage from Ezekiel, repeated over and over again:  Then they will know that I am the LORD.  36:38

Praise God!  You are the Lord.  You make it known, over and over again.  Thank you for providing the small and great blessings.  In Jesus' name I pray!  Amen!

The Desert

I was just thinking...

So many times, we say something like "This is just my time in the desert." or "I must be in the desert."  Usually, this is "Christian-ese" meaning, "I am in a bad spot" or a "waiting period."  It implies that it is a time when God is distant and we are waiting on HIM to act on our behalf.

As you know, I have been pondering the image of success and affluence lately.  I am thought a lot about what it means to have plenty, be blessed, etc...  I have realized that although we have an abundance of material possessions, we are impoverished spiritually. 

These two thoughts entered my mind today and even before today and have been mingling together in there like a stew.  If we say "...time in the desert" to mean that we are waiting or hurting, how does that fit in Biblically with the actual reference.

In Exodus, the Israelites were jammin' out of captivity.  God provided for them the Pillar of Fire by night and a Pillar of clouds by day.  Then, after a lot of whining, God provided food that they had to simply pick up and eat. 

I realize that wandering through the desert would be tough  I personally know how it feels to wait for the Lord to reveal something.  I also know now that in the desert, life wouldn't be comfortable.  How much better would it be to already be in the promise land, the land God had for them! 

But, when I think about it again, when I am too comfortable, I may not "see" the pillar of clouds by day or the pillar of fire by night.  I rely on myself to get food instead of looking to God as the provider.  How easy it becomes to be self-reliant.  I realize again that I am living in spiritual poverty.  How much better would it be to give up the physical comforts to have God's daily presence!  To actually SEE HIM!  To be fed by HIS hand!  To daily experience the miracles He chose to perform.  And yet, they complained.  I know I would have too.  I already do and I have so much.  It seems impossible, but it is true. 

I realize that some people are referring to the time after the rebellion (Numbers 14) when the Israelites are in big trouble for doubting, but I think I like to reflect on the time of wandering from Egypt.  I Pray Pray Pray that God would choose to reveal Himself to me today and everyday.  I pray that I am willing to give up the physical comforts for HIS presence!  What could compare?