A Little Change...For the Better I Hope

When I started this blog, I had no idea where I was going with it. I just knew God was leading me to share some things that had been going on in my life. In the beginning, it was just a bunch of rambling about us moving away from our hometown and how God brought us through that ordeal with renewed faith. It soon evolved into very "simple" devotions - just things that God laid on my heart from time to time.

If you'll notice, I have three blogs. Well, I'm a little addicted to organizing, and I thought I needed separate blogs for separate thoughts. My family blog was for family happenings and projects around the house, this one was for "things a little more spiritual" and then there's my blog shop. I'm starting to feel like I have a multiple personality disorder. In addition to being organized, I also strive to live a simple life and frankly, maintaining three blogs isn't conducive to simplicity! I have a hard time deciding what needs to go on which blog sometimes.

Since I have but ONE God given, blessed life and I want to share all parts of it in one central place, I'm no longer going to post here. I'm merging this blog into my family blog. It was never my intent to hide away the spiritual stuff here, my organization just kicked into overdrive a little! I'm an early riser and the rest of my family members aren't, so I usually have some nice quiet time on Saturday mornings! Starting this Saturday morning, I'm going to post "Simple Devotion Saturdays" each week.

I appreciate all of you that follow this blog, and I know that most of you already follow our family blog but if you don't, I would love to have you join me over on A Mayberry State of Mind!

Go!

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Matthew 28:16-20

Easter has come and gone once again. We've celebrated the resurrection of Jesus - now what? Jesus' last command on earth was simply "go"!

But I'm just a stay at home mom with tons of responsibilities - where can I go? I can go to my knees and pray. I can go to my neighbor and be an example of the love of Christ. I can go to my talents and see if they can be used to bring glory to God. I can go to my wallet and give sacrificially to missions. I can go to my church and get involved!

We sometimes feel like we aren't doing enough. There are so many lost, hurting people in the world that I find myself overwhelmed, wanting to just do something . . . anything to help them all. Perhaps one day God will call me to physically go out into the world for Him, but for this season of my life, I feel that God is using me right where I am.

If you feel led to do your part in fulfilling the Great Commission but you aren't sure what to do, first of all, pray. Pray for direction, listen and watch for opportunities . . . and then GO!

Barbara at Beyond Still Waters has given me the sweet Sisterhood Award. She had some truly beautiful, humbling things to say about my blog. She is a talented writer and she loves the Lord with all her heart. Hop on over and pay her a visit for a true blessing. Thank you so much Barbara!

This Too Shall Pass

If I can endure for this minute
Whatever is happening to me,
No matter how heavy my heart is
Or how dark the moment may be-

If I can remain calm and quiet
With all the world crashing about me,
Secure in the knowledge God loves me
When everyone else seems to doubt me-

If I can but keep on believing
What I know in my heart to be true,
That darkness will fade with the morning
And that this will pass away, too-

Then nothing in life can defeat me
For as long as this knowledge remains
I can suffer whatever is happening
For I know God will break all of the chains

That are binding me tight in the darkness
And trying to fill me with fear-
For there is no night without dawning
And I know that my morning is near.

...Helen Steiner Rice

Hidden in My Heart

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11

I've always wanted to know that God's word was hidden in my heart. Sure, I do Bible studies and try to memorize scripture, but I've NEVER been good at memorization so I've always been a little unsure of myself in that area.

I feel a little differently now. This morning I woke up at about 5:00 (I assure you I'm not in the habit of being awake at 5:00 on a Saturday morning!) with lots of things on my mind. Nothing serious, we just happen to be facing several little decisions right now and they all decided to roar through my head at once! It was still dark, the house was quiet and I wanted desperately to be asleep, but that wasn't happening. I prayed for peace and guidance and without even realizing it, scriptures started coming to mind in my prayer. I did fall asleep and when I woke up again at the more respectable hour of 7:00, I felt completely calm. Those silly little worries were gone and life was good again. I had almost completely forgotten about the whole thing - like it was a dream.

Well, it was no dream and I'm so thankful that I had that experience. It was almost like a parent soothing a child back to sleep after a nightmare. The Lord soothed me back to sleep with His own words that I didn't even know were a part of me. I feel led to step up and get more serious about scripture memorization now, and I challenge you to do the same - I really believe it can change our lives!

A Post From My Family Blog

I posted this on my family blog and felt that it belonged here as well. Sometimes I feel torn when trying to decide what to post on which blog - as if only the spiritual things can go here and only the family stuff can go there. I have but one life and all that I have in this life is because of God.

The Power of Words

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me . . . unless I'm a living, breathing human being. We're good at pretending that old saying is true, but odds are at this very moment you can remember the most hurtful thing that was ever said to you. You know who said it, what day of the week it was and what you had for breakfast that morning!

Words have more power than we realize. A simple spoken word can crush a spirit, end a marriage or even start a war. Proverbs 21:23 says "He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity." More truthful words were never spoken. Oh, if I could only take back some of the things I've said! We may never know the impact we've had on someone by opening our mouths without thinking.

Just as we should guard our mouths from speaking harm, we should also look for opportunities to use uplifting, encouraging words. Proverbs 25:11 says "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver." Our words can be precious when chosen carefully and prayerfully. Here again, words have more power than we realize - on the flip side, we may never know the impact we've had on someone by opening our mouths and speaking words of truth and wisdom!

Don't Give Up!

"...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

I woke up with this scripture on my mind this morning. We rarely watch the news now because . . . well, frankly I see no point in watching it anymore. We do watch FOX news and we read headlines to make sure we know what's going on, but that's about it. I'm not getting into politics here, because I'd be in way over my head, but I think I do know the difference between right and wrong. I guess that's my question - what happened to right and wrong?

Most of you know we homeschool. A couple of weeks ago, Zach was studying about our founding fathers and this sentence in his book really stuck with me: Our founding fathers attempted to write a document which would protect men of character from those having selfish purposes. Government can only be as strong as the character of those who govern and those who are governed. I read that over to myself and was truly saddened to see just how far we have strayed from those principles.

True, there's not much good news across our "land" right now, but we as Christians know the ultimate good news! We have to step up now more than ever. We simply cannot throw our hands up in the air or duck our heads in the sand and give up. God knew these days were coming, but His word proves itself faithful over and over. There has never been a time that God hasn't kept His promises, but He has conditions attached to many of those promises: IF you will pray, IF you will seek my face and turn from your wicked ways, THEN I will heal your land.

I don't know if this once great nation founded on Godly principles can ever be the same again, but I do know that God has been so amazingly faithful to us . . . doesn't He deserve the same in return?