Faith Journey

I grew up in a Christian home, on a farm, near a rural town as the youngest of four girls with amazing parents. Our family attended church and Sunday school each week. I went through confirmation classes with the rest of my grade could recite almost the entire service responses by heart, 10 commandments, and other bits of information when asked. However, at that time I did not think about salvation or having a relationship with God.

Everything changed for me in high school when I attended summer bible camp. I had been to camps before but not one like this. It was the first time I had heard that you need to ask God for salvation (a gift that is freely given) and you have to invite God in. As it turned out God wanted to have a relationship with me. That was the summer that I gave my life to Christ. I came home on fire for the Lord, sharing his love and reading the bible.

Over time, I did not keep this discipline of scripture reading up and fell into my own selfish sinful nature. Over the course of the following few years, I would have said that I was a Christian, but didn't not show that by the way I lived as well as the lack of time seeking God. Don't get me wrong, I still considered myself a "good" person, but just wanted to do things my own way.

I had a boss that told me one day that she did not believe in God, just a higher power and if you live a good life you will go to heaven or a better place. She started asking questions and challenging me on what I believe. The alarms were going off in my head. Of course there is a God. This was a wake-up call for me to once again seek God in my life, beg for forgiveness, and help her and others see that they need Him in theirs as well. God was calling me. I had spent to much time conforming to this world. Romans 12:1-2 says "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." I was done conforming. It was time to make a change.

Chris and I have 3 energetic boys, Noah, Jacob and Jonah. Noah and Jacob are in swimming lessons. A couple weeks ago one of the other moms who has 2 boys in the same classes as 2 of our boys asked about homeschool. She stated matter of fact, "I cannot believe you homeschool. They seem normal."  I got home to tell Chris about the conversation and we both got a good laugh out of it. But the more I thought about it and let is settle in my heart the more I am reminded that I don't want to be "normal" I don't want our boys or family to conform to this world. I want our hearts and minds to be focused on things that are not of this world. And if that makes us seems different, Lord I want to be different!

I think about my faith journey and see that the times I am closest to God are the times when I am in the bible daily. The times when I can hear God are the times that I am still and listening. The better you know God the better you can hear God. I can feel his presence and peace every day.

When we were asked as deacons to share our faith journey, my first thought was, "I don't have a great story like some of the others." I am broken and a sinner. I feel overwhelmed and inadequate many days. Those are the times when God speaks to the quiet place in my heart and says, "Jesus died for you. He died for you." My story is not awesome, but God is. I fail him time and time again. I am a sinner and still he loves me and wants to have a relationship with me. AWESOME! The Assurance of Salvation is found in 1John 5:11-12, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.  Friends, He died for you as well. Invite Him in.
Audio version from church spring 2012

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

I had time to reflect this morning while out on my early morning run (you know, the one that you don't want to get out of bed for, but know if you don't you will regret it all day).  As I was running I was thinking about gifts. I thought about how glad I am to have my reflective vest. I got it from my brother-in-law Clayton for Christmas a couple years ago. I wear it several times a week. To say that I love it would be an understatement! I got a pressure cooker from my husband and boys that I will use year after year. These are the kind of gifts that I LOVE to get, and also the type of gift that I enjoy giving. They may not always be the most popular gift when opened (except by like minded givers), but I hope that the person receiving will get more than a one time use.

Guessing the idea of gifts was spurred on by the date. You see tomorrow is my birthday. It is not a date that I look forward to as I did when I was a kid. Don't get me wrong, I feel great and I love life, but the idea of getting another year older is no longer exciting to me. It is just another day. But I was asking myself, what are other gifts that I use over and over? What gifts keep giving time after time after time?

It only took a few steps when I was nearly knocked off my feet with the realization.... Of course, forgiveness. The gift is from God. You see, I am a sinner by nature. I try, and try, and I try but I just keep on failing in so many ways. No matter how many "right" moves I make I am never totally free from sin. God in His overwhelming grace keeps on forgiving me and loving me. Amazing! All we have to do is ask.

Jesus suffered and died on the cross for you and for me. Have you asked for forgiveness? Have you asked Him to be Lord of your life?  He wants to have a relationship with you if you will open the door. It is the best gift that anyone could ask for or receive. Thank you God for the gift of Jesus! Don't wait another day. Here is a place to start...

God in heaven, I acknowledge to You that I am a sinner. I am sorry for my sins and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe that your Son Jesus Christ shed His precious blood on the cross and died for my sins. I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. I accept Jesus as my own personal Savior. Thank you Jesus for your unlimited grace. Transform my life so that I may bring glory and honor to you alone and not myself. Thank you Jesus for dying for me and giving me eternal life. Amen

4 Weeks and Counting....

4 weeks is how long we have into the journey with our new diet. Jacob has had health problems for some time (noticeably for almost a year). Through the course of time, we have had several tests run and come up short until 4 weeks ago. We found that his body cannot digest certain foods (they tested well over 100 of the most common "problem" foods). The recommendations came back to cut out dairy, gluten, and eggs for 8-12 weeks. After that time we can reintroduce 1 item every 5 days and see how he reacts.

I love to bake and cook. One of the ways that I show love to others is by making them their favorite foods.  I get that from my mom. She always makes people feel special by spending the day preparing your favorite dishes when you are coming to visit. And every time they taste amazing. To hear that we had to change our diet was a blow to all of us. But one that I will gladly make. I would do anything to make our son feel better.

He responded almost right away. Some of the improvements include his face clearing up, his tummy was not hurting every time he ate and he seemed much happier. There were other improvements, but not ones that need to be posted ;). I could not believe it. It had only been 3 days. Shopping and meal planning have been difficult, but worth every second to help him feel better.

A week had gone by and the improvements we had seen early on were going backwards. I was keeping a journal of his food, the way he felt, monitoring everything I could think of. What were we doing wrong? I poured over his results, library books, and blogs. It did not make sense.

Last week (after reviewing all our notes) we decided to cut out corn as well, even though his results said he was OK with corn. This left us with very few (in my mind) options for eating, but we wanted to see what would happen without the corn. Once again we started to see amazing results. We have several weeks to go, but given the improvements I am not sure that we will be returning to our "old" diet. Thank goodness for fresh fruit, vegetables (except corn), nuts and meat!

Shopping, cooking, and just plan eating is so hard when you are not including eggs, dairy, gluten and corn. I am using ingredients that I have never heard of and utilizing my food processor more than ever before. We are looking forward to a garden! Dining out is not even an option any more. I have found some great recipes at Maid in Alaska , Gluten Free Home Maker, my dear friend Holly, and we love these bars at Kitchen Stewardship. The more I read, the more I realize we are not alone in our diet. I am so thankful for those that are willing to share their recipes with everyone. It has made cooking fun again. Each day is getting better, PRAISE GOD!

Fresh Starts

I finally got around to getting a new family desk calendar last week. I am not sure why I waited so long, because getting a new calendar or planner is an exciting thing for me! I am not sure why I get so excited. Perhaps it is the crisp paper or the white sheets with no scribbles/marks etc... I get to sit down with my pen, pencil, and highlighter and fill in the activities for the month and year to come. I take time to make it neat and blemish free. I love it! After working on it for a little while, the kids come over to see what mom is working on. Why is she so happy and excited about this blank paper? What is it about what she is doing that is fun?

This first time sitting down with it is the only time that it is neat and clean. I try to keep things in order, but flipping pages, changing dates, and kids scribbles make it a mess by the end of the year.

As I sit and reflect on that blank sheet of paper without blemish I think about Easter. God sent his one and only son to live among us, to have a perfectly sin free life and to die on the cross for you and for me. He is the perfect, clean, blemish free, son of God.

We can go to Him and repent of our sin and become new! Romans 10:9 "Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Is that awesome or what?! It tells us in 2 Corinthian 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

Maybe that is why I get so excited about a new calendar. We can be that clean sheet of paper. It reminds me of fresh starts, new beginnings, of forgiveness, of Jesus! I am overwhelmed with love for the one who gave everything so that I may live.

Love

I have always thought of February as the love month. Of course I am sure it is because of Valentines Day, even though I have never been one to "celebrate" Valentines Day. I will admit, the past 2 years we did get into it a bit more as the kids were involved in parties, but I still have not gotten that into it.

This year I felt God really pulling at my heart to slow down in February and think about love. As I meditated on it I am reminded that we are to 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.' Mark 12:30-31. Are we doing that? What could we do to love on others and really make an impact? Are we really  loving our neighbor as our self? And are we really loving God?

Chris and I got together and as a family decided to do a couple things. First, through the recommendation of a dear friend we came to Family From Afar, where we were able to begin the process of sponsoring a child from Africa.  Oh, my heart sings when I see a photo of Dirbe. We headed to the store as a family and picked out as many fun/necessities we could fit into the required size bag and on Valentines Day shipped it off to the group of people that will be able to hand out the "treasures" to the kids.

Second, last weekend we were able to pack food with Feed My Starving Children through a Community Food Packing Hunger Initiative. The goal, 1,000,000 meals packed in 1 day. We started the day off with the first shift and in just 2 hours were able to pack enough food to feed almost 70 children for a year. Children that would otherwise starve to death. In a day the goal was met the and exceeded  and thousands of lives will be saved. What an impact for not only those people but also for our family. We (the boys included) are looking forward to doing it again.

The last item on love was a personal decision. It was time for a hair cut, a big hair cut. Locks of Love is a wonderful organization and donating some hair was a way to bless someone else that needs it.

Before the cut and after.....

As I reflect back on the month of February I am reminded to love your neighbor as yourself.