Intentional Living! 8 in 2008!

Intention-

a determination to act in a certain way!

It's that time again to look over my list and see how far I have come in my determination this month! I'm always amazed that I start out going gangbusters, then, well I don't know what happens!!! Time to evaluate!

1. To learn to WAIT on God! I really love what God is showing me here! He is teaching me so much! He is opening my eyes to opportunities because of waiting on Him! There are many questions I have, but I know that all will be answered in time! I'm finding I have more peace also!
2. To practice better hospitality! Each month God shows me and encourages me in ways to be more hospitable! Baby Steps! I still haven't gone to the Nursing Home like I want to. I've gotta grab Mari or Melissa at church to talk about some questions I have. Guys if you see me tomorrow and I'm not running around like a chicken with my head cut off, can we talk?


3. To speak truth in love and stop gossip where it starts! Ya know this one is hard to gauge. I feel like I need others to tell me how I'm doing, but since no one is here right now I guess I'll have to. I have fail a little at this. I did speak truth, but I was not all that happy when I did, and the air was a bit thick in the room! Not good timing or attitude! Gossip (hummm), I think I'm O.K., I try so hard to examine my conversations! If any of you that I talk to see me doing or saying something that is gossip, please feel free to correct me!


4. To pray for others more. To pray for the salvation of my family (extended)! Again Baby Steps! We have a wonderful Prayer e-mail list that comes through from our church, and I find I am stopping more to pray instead of going "I'll have to pray later"


5. To take better care of God's temple! Failing miserably!!!!! I feel there are so many reasons behind this, but probably number one is my love of food, lack of self-control, and not giving complete control to God. I have to say I am worried about my health! To many young (relatively) people I know have died recently and I so want to be here for my family! Much prayer needed!


6. To study 8 books of the Bible! I will be finishing up my study on Acts this week! I have so enjoyed it! I have loved getting to know Paul better, and really getting into his missionary journeys. I am so torn on what books to do next! I want to do them all, but I have to choose! I think maybe I'll try an OT book, like Nehemiah and maybe a NT book from Paul's Journeys. I also want to do a study of the letters to the 7 churches! Oh, I can't decide!!!!!!!


7. To memorize 8 verses! I have memorized two! Isaiah 26:3 "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you" and Romans 12:13 "Share with God's people who are in need, practice hospitality" I am also having to memorize for EE so that will help.


8. To organize all the closets, bookshelves and storage areas in my house! OK this I'm really proud of. We have this bookshelf by our computer that cannot really be seen because of the computer cabinet. I would just drop things there and never really look at it. It was a mess! I should have taken a before and after shot, but forgot to. I have to say again, it was a complete mess! Now here is the after shot!
   Thanks for stopping by and keeping me accountable! Check out the other ladies at Extravagant Grace who are seeking to be intentional this year!

Thankful Thursday!

John 17:17 says:
17Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.

Another Thankful Thursday is here, and I thank God for His word! I thank him that His word is true! That in it we find healing, instructions, correction, LIFE!

I am also thankful for:

• My son's first Boy Scout troop meeting going well! He seemed to really enjoy himself.


• I am thankful that earlier this week, we left the house a little late (God appointment), and were able to help a young girl who had missed the bus! (She was only in the 5th grade, and was home alone, that is another story for another time). I just know that God has us there to help her. Otherwise she would have never made it to school on time. It was a cold morning, and she had a long way to walk.


• I am thankful for the sun shining the last few days, and alot of the snow is melting!


• I'm thankful for thoughts of Spring!


• I'm thankful for my husbands job. So much is uncertain these days!


• I am thankful for our upcoming trip to California to visit Steve's brother! We got a great deal on tickets, and are looking forward to July 19th!! Well all of us except Jeremiah, he's not to hip on airplanes, but he'll just have to get over that!


• I've been thankful this week for the Cardinals singing outside my bedroom window in the morning!

Thanks for stopping by! Stop on over at: Sting My Heart to see others who are thankful too!

Persecution!

It seems like when it rains it pours with my blogging! Sometimes I feel I have nothing to write then all of a sudden 3 or 4 things come to mind at once, and I have to unclutter (hence the description of my blog) my mind of all that is in there!

The other day I was reading an article in the "Today's Christian" magazine. It is called the "Persecution Report", and it speaks of persecution of believers around the world. The article was about a man in Turkmenistan (has anyone ever heard of this place?!). Long story short he was arrested in March of 2007 by the secret police, charged with illegally crossing the border in 2001. He was sentenced to 3 years in a labor camp this spring. He has a wife and 5 children who will be without their father. In the last paragraph it says "Although church growth has stabilized over the last 4 or 5 years, the number of believers continues to increase steadily."

As most of you know I've been reading in the book of Acts lately. Acts starts out with persecution (after the Holy Spirit's arrival of course). The new Christians are persecuted - they escape, go to another place and preach the gospel. In just about every chapter it mentions some kind of persecution, usually lead by some very angry Jews! SIDE NOTE: I am amazed at how anger can turn people towards violence, when hearing truth!

Paul did not flee in the face of persecution! In fact in Chapter 21 his disciples try to talk him out of going to Jerusalem because the Holy Spirit told them he would be jailed. Paul knowing this already sets out with determination! He was willing to suffer for the gospel of Christ!

This got me thinking. Are we ready and willing to be persecuted for the cause of Christ?! Here we sit in the wealthiest country on this planet, with all our stuff around us, while across the sea there are many Christians who are being imprisoned or being killed for the cause of Christ. Do we realize that things for us are not going to get better, but worse! In this upcoming election God's person will get in! He has a plan for the future, and it calls for things to get worse before we will see the Lord's return! Are we prepared, or has our wealth made us apathetic? I am reminded again of the verses I used yesterday from Ephesians 5:
13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." 15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

I do not say what I say to scare people, but to rouse them to action! Know the Word of God! Be prepared in season and out, as it says in:
2 Timothy 4:1-3
1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

We need to be prepared and we need to prepare our children! Let's not be so comfortable that we are surprised when persecution starts! It will, but WE WIN! Praise God!

Our Children's Ministry Team Retreat

I've had a couple people comment wondering how the Retreat went that I mentioned in our Super Word Saturday post! Thanks so much for your interest!

I think the retreat went great! I work with a wonderful group of Christ loving, and Christ serving women, who love Children and want to serve the Lord! We had a wonderful home that was opened up to us, and we were made to feel right at home! These retreats are days that we set aside to pray and discuss where we feel the Lord is directing us in our roles at Lighthouse Community Church.


God laid it on one heart to challenge the rest of us to pray for:

The church body to become full of passion
The leadership to be passionate for these kids
The kids to be passionate about God's Word

I believe we came away from the retreat knowing that God wants us to diligently teach our children, starting in the home, and being encouraged and supported at church!

I read from Deuteronomy 6,

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates

and had other passages in Duet. to read but God brought me to Eph 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

While there I looked over and saw this verse:

Eph 5:14 for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:

"Wake up, O sleeper,

rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you."

I saw this and then thought to read around it, so as not to take it out of context. Here is the context from verse 8-20:

8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."
15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We the church and parents need to wake up! We are living in increasingly evil times! Our children are bombarded everyday with all types of evil things in school, on TV, possibly even in our homes! We need to make a point of knowing God, knowing His word, and being authentic in our life!

We as the Children's Ministries of Lighthouse and as parents pledge to be faithful to God in all He calls us to do! That's really it in a nutshell! Now comes the part of putting feet to the words!

God bless!

A very sweet award!

My dear friend Mari over at My Little Corner of the World gave me this wonderful award that Maria at Free to Fly (Oops, earlier, I said Monkey Giggles, sorry for the mix up, your both great by the way!!!) started. It reads like this:

I have wanted to be able to make an award that I could share with some of those blogs that consistently make me laugh, make me think,and inspire me to grow and to reach.The types of blogs that do this for me have a few things in common.Like a butterfly becomes beautiful,by living a quiet life, hidden for a season,while beauty develops on the inside.That same butterfly has to go through a season of struggle before it is Free to Fly!Once it IS Free to Fly,that butterfly NOW has a beauty we all are blessed to see.Everywhere the butterfly goes,it spreads pollen and makes it possible for flowers to bloom and fruit to be developed.You could say it leaves a trail of life in its wake!What a beautiful thought!Butterflies don't go around trying to be beautiful.They don't say "hey, look at me".They just ARE, they just DO, they just LIVE.All that time spent hidden in a cocoon,was not wasted.The time and effort spent struggling to get out of the cocoon made the butterfly strong and ABLE to fly!I have been blessed to find many women through blogging,who have allowed the struggles of a hidden life,serving in ways that are often unseen and seemingly inconsequential(judging from their lack of entourage, paparazzi, and assistants!That IS what our culture uses as the standard for recognizing importance, right?)to make them strong, make them able to find the humor,able to see the big picture and to find the purpose in the everyday matters of investing in the lives around us.Their ability to focus on the things that REALLY matter,and to allow the struggles of life to strengthen them,leaves everyone they come in contact with a deposit of "pollen".A little dose of the grace that is unique to them,which adds wisdom, humor, truth and just a little whiff of the fragrance of Christ that is unique to them!They are some wives or mothers, grandmothers, daughters, and nieces.They fulfill all sorts of roles in and outside the home.In their church and outside their church.The world is a more beautiful and abundant place because of the daily choices they make.There are two scriptures for this - they work together:"He has made everything beautiful in its time.He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds[a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy],yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."Ecclesiastes 3:11&John 10:10"The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy.I came that they may have and enjoy life,and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."

Now I need to pass it on to 5 wonderful people who inspire me:

Joanne at One so Blessed You should see her new blog remodel!

Lisa at The Preachers Wife

Denise at Shorty Bears Place She is an inspiration!

Diane at My Journeys Path

Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee

Thanks Mari!

Kind 5 Meme!

Denise at http://shortybearsplace.blogspot.com/ has tagged me for the kind five meme.
Here are the rules:

1. List five kind things you do for yourself. List five kind things you do for your closest friend, partner or child. List five kind things you have done for a stranger.


2. Tag five people.


Five kind things I do for myself:

1) Once a year I go up to Traverse City

2) I spend time with God just about every morning

3) I make myself a good cup of coffee

4) I blog and read blogs

5) I stop to enjoy beautiful sunrises and sunsets



Five kind things I do for my husband:

1) I make his lunch every morning

2)I make him Omelettes on Saturday, unless we are both too busy

3) I tell him what a great husband and father he is

4) I keep his life interesting (how can it not be with a wound up piece of work like me)

5) We laugh alot together



Five kind things I have done for a stranger:

1) Pray for them

2) Smile at them

3) Sponsor a child in Haiti

4) Open the doors for them

5) Welcome them

I don't know who to tag, but if you would like to think about being kind to yourself, someone you love and showing God's love to strangers, I'd love to see your post!

Super Word Saturday!

Good Morning! Thought I would quickly post our Super words for the day before the Children's Ministry Retreat! Please say a prayer for us as we discern God's will for the children of Lighthouse and beyond! O.K., now for the Words:

Jeremiah's word - Remiss - 1 : negligent in the performance of work or duty : careless 2 : showing neglect or inattention : lax

Sentence - I am remiss in Computer Lab.

Verse - Psalms 119:16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.

Bekah's Word - Nitty Gritty - what is essential and basic : specific practical details nitty–gritty of the problem

Sentence - Animals are nitty gritty to my life!

Verse - Psalms 119: 93 I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life.

Have a great Saturday!

Kim, Jeremiah and Bekah