Sunday, June 30, 2013

Sunday Morning Worship

 
 
 
"But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."  Romans 5:8
 
 
 
A song that, quite frankly, brings tears to my eyes.  "His kind of Love" by Group 1 Crew.  Enjoy and be blessed!

Saturday, June 29, 2013

A Ramble on Human Nature

The minions and I were visiting some new friends the other day when one of the kids began to cry.  Turns out that particular child has issues with taking turns which, let's face it, taking turns stinks.  After it was all said and done I made the remark that The Scientist has issues with not winning competitions, hell hath no fury like that girl not getting first!

I was randomly thinking on this later on and it reminded me of my reaction to Romans 11 and how it all boils down to, well, jealousy.

Let me explain:  in the book of Romans Paul is writing to the church in Rome (obviously) and in the particular chapter I reacted emotionally to, he is explaining where Israel fits in the whole salvation through Christ thing.  To paraphrase 11:17-32, Paul is saying that the tree of Abraham is holy and it's branches are the Israelites.  Since the Israelites rejected Jesus, their branches were cut away and the 'wild' branches of the Gentiles were grafted in.  Paul then writes that the Gentiles should not be proud of this because it will only last until the full number of Gentiles are saved and then the Israelite branches will be put back in.  He then goes on to write that Israel's heart is hard and this benefits us Gentiles, but that Israel is the one God loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Ouch, that kind of hurt a little...

Now Paul does go on to write about God's mercy being given to us and we know that "for God so loved the world he gave His one and only Son"  but when I first read Romans 11 my feelings were hurt a little, and yes, I believe God's Word should evoke more than warm fuzzy feelings.  There was a little 'that's not fair' going through my head.

Now I don't really have a point to all this other than to say, we are all human and we all have a sin nature.  As much as adults like to think we are superior to children, we are not, we're just better at hiding.

I leave you with this:  "Oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge!  How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His ways!"  Romans 11:33.

ps.  I haven't decided what song I'm going to post for Sunday but I would like to make it a regular thing :)



Monday, June 24, 2013

In Which We Hit the Pause Button

I skipped church yesterday and it was awesome.  There, I said it, I feel purged.  We were all up and getting ready to go, kids were eating breakfast while I fed the baby back in the bedroom...then Daddy laid down with us...then the kids crawled in and snuggled under the covers...then the music started.  We spent over an hour in that bed, all five of us, just listening to praise to our Father.  Now it wasn't some great spiritual experience that changed our lives and took all of our problems away, but it was counted as joy.  It was awesome to just stop and enjoy the life put before us.  There are so many times when we rush to get ready, get things done, that we miss the moments that could be spent cuddling.  Someday they will be too old to want to snuggle in bed with their momma and daddy but I thank God that He gave us the time right now and the wisdom to see it for what it was-joy.

Afterwards dh went and picked up a crib and signed the kids up for swimming lessons!  Last night I was able to sleep with my husband for the first time in four months and little love bug didn't put up a fight!  Also, when dh gets home tonight he gets to do what he loves best:  surprise the kids by taking them to their first lesson (I learned very early on that dh loves to surprise people, it's like his love language.  I also learned not to try to guess and ruin it-if I'm right it's like I kicked his puppy, lol).  Setting up the crib forced us to start organizing our bedroom, which hasn't been done since we moved in six months ago (and still isn't done but ya' know...). 

By the grace of God it's looking to be a pretty stellar week and when obstacles come (and they will-probably by lunch time) His grace will carry us.  So will His forgiveness when I don't always handle it well.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

A little something for Sunday

The Scientist and I recently bought a Britt Nicole cd, Gold, and we have been jammin' out!  I think it's so awesome to be able to listen to such positive music with my little girl, especially in a day and age where girls (and boys) are under so much pressure to fit in and have the right image.  It's also a great get up and go album!
 
 
 
 

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Not happy

So let's talk about expectations, specifically about changing them.  That has been my biggest struggle since... always.  I've been programmed to believe that you should never be happy where you're at, you should always strive for more.  Can I just stop here and call bull----?  Should people have goals and aspirations?  Absolutely, but let's have some boundaries people!  Paul writes in the forth chapter of Philipians "I have learned to be content with whatever I have.I have learned to live on almost nothing or with everything.  I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.  For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength."

Why is that truth so hard to grasp?!  When we decided I should stay home with the kids, we adjusted.  Went back to college, adjust.  Aspergers, adjust.  Homeschool, adjust.  So life has been one big adjustment after another and I strongly suspect everyone elses' life is too.  To be honest, those big adjustments are easy, a cake walk, compared to the everyday expectations we place on ourselves.

This year is a perfect example.  We had a rough start to the year, not bad-just rough, but that was okay because we're homeschoolers so we can make up the time.  Then a job opportunity came up and we moved in November.  Then the holidays and trying to make it special for the kids without being able to see their friends and family.  Then our little love bug was born, and the whole time I have been determined to plow through through and get school done.  I have done a fraction of what I set out to do at the beginning of the school year.  Not only that but my house is a disaster area and try as I might I cannot seem to get on top of it.  My husband has come home to see me in tears because I just wanted to get the dishes done and the laundry put away.  I just wanted.....dh would strike those words from my vocabulary if he could.  He gives me ten kinds of a hard time when our six year old says those same words she's heard her momma say. Add to the craziness I have what the books call a 'high-need' baby.  Very rarely can I put her down without her screaming. very very rarely will she fall asleep without nursing, and when I say screaming I mean back arching, ear piercing, head throbbing, screaming.  While I've tried wearing her to get stuff done, it just ends up being a pain so expectations get adjusted.  Maybe someday I'll learn to not be so hard on myself and be content but until then I'll just be content with my patient husband who, fortunately, doesn't care what the house looks like.  And since the dishes have to be done the kids and I have taken to looking at each other and saying, "she's not happy Bob, not. happy."

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

The little things

My little love bug has a stuffy nose.  While extremely irritating a stuffy nose is not that big of a deal, but when you're a week shy of four months it's huge.  After her Daddy and I alternated between holding her down and picking the boogies out, we had a restless night and a rough start to the day.

The point of this little story is that sometimes circumstances beyond our control come up and they aren't necessarily that big of a deal, but they keep us up at night and drag us down in the morning.  I can't count the number of times I've laid awake at night worrying about the things I wanted to accomplish only to be so tired the next day I either didn't get as much done, or I was a bit snappy with the kids while pushing through to get my to do list done- or both.  So what is to be done?

Pray, pray a lot.  Pray with your kids, it's good for them to see you struggle and turn to the Lord.  Read the Word, reread the same verse if you're so tired you can't help it, but read it anyway.  Adjust your expectations.  Ever notice when God's trying to tell you something you hear the same message over and over and from random places?  Yeah, that's been mine...

While it's easier said than done (sooo much easier said than done) let me encourage you to take a deep breath and talk to the Father about it.  Then go laugh with your kids, it's good medicine.
         "Let all who seek God's help be encouraged." Psalm 69:32b


Over the past couple years I have drawn a lot of inspiration and encouragement from God's Word and some really great writers.  I put a widget (I think it's called) on the side called 'blogs I dig' that I will add to so anyone who needs more encouragement (or just more reading material) can easily find it.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

He loves us

 
 
 
As We honor our fathers let us honor the Father of us all
 
 
Happy Fathers Day Everyone
 

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Complicated

So Stuart, the Scientist, love bug, and I were rollin' in our caddy with the top down listnin' to the preacher man on the radio when a thought struck me: 

we Christians make things way to complicated. 

I'm not sure who we were listening to but he was talking about the difference between the Holy Spirit being within a believer or upon a believer, I didn't know there was a difference!  I mean really, are we so hung up on our own intellect that we debate about whether the Holy Spirit is upon us or within us?!  Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't we be more concerned with saving the lost and living a life that is pleasing to God and is a testimony to others?  In 2Corinthians Paul writes "Our letters have been straightforward, and there is nothing written between the lines and nothing you can't understand." 1:13.  So why do we make it so complicated! 

Jesus taught us that He is "the way, the truth, and the life" no more, no less.  I am of the opinion that when we argue amongst ourselves about such trivial things we demean Christ.  We who are supposed to be the light of the world dim that light with confusion and if our light is dim how are the lost supposed to find their way?

I suppose it is human nature to insist on our own way thinking.  We are all right in our own eyes, but aren't there more important things?  1Corinthians 13 tells us that love does not insist on it's own way and several times we are told that the second greatest commandment is to love others as ourselves.  These are the ways we reach unbelievers but yet if we are too busy debating semantics how are doing that?

Let our faith be pure and undefiled.  Let us agree that Christ is Lord, son of our Father in Heaven, rose from the dead.  Anything else, let us agree to disagree and quit picking at each other.  I knew many people when I was younger that were so disgusted with the Christian faith because of the hypocrisy of professing faith in Jesus and His teachings but refusing to live in the way He taught us, instead living according to law which is exactly what Jesus warned us against.

Perhaps I'm looking to deeply into it.  Perhaps my thought process is too jumbled to make sense but I do know this:  "Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith."  Galatians 3:14  That is what is important.

(we actually drive an Xterra and we were in the parking lot where dh's work is but that doesn't sound as cool )

Thursday, June 13, 2013

....Hi

Hi, my name is Courtney and I'm a homeschool mom...

In all seriousness though (really? probably not but I can try) I figured now would be the time to tell you a little about myself.  Maybe one day I'll figure out what I'm doing and turn this post into a nifty little 'about me' tab!

I have been married to a wonderful man for ummm...seven years?  Yeah, seven-we had an unconventional 'courtship' and one I will not encourage our babies to have!  We started living together pretty much since our first date which will be nine years in October and that's the 'anniversary' I remember.  Big disclaimer here:  I am not perfect nor will I ever claim to be!!  My little boy was six months old then and dh adopted him when we got married.  I kinda like 'em, think I'll keep 'em ;)

When I told the kids I was going to start blogging we decided they could pick code names so that when I mention them I will use their super secret spy code names.  My oldest is 9 and his code name is 'Stuart', I don't get it but hey.  My tornado is 6 and her code name is 'the Scientist' which fits her well; perfect example is when she took down half of a display at her Daddy's work and she looks at me and says "sorry Momma, I just wanted to see what it looked like."  I hear a variation of that statement fairly often, see, feel, what it would do, so on and so forth...I don't think I've gotten smell yet though but give it time.  We also have a wee one that was born earlier this year that I will call 'love bug.'  We also have another wee one safe in her Father's arms, she would be seven now and her name is Abby.

We just moved to a town outside of Corpus Christi, TX last November from Oklahoma for dh's job.  We really like it here so far but people drive crazy! 
The. beach. is. awesome!!!

Well, that's my family!  We have fun together, occasionally give each other a hard time, and laugh at fart jokes.  Oh, and we homeschool too!  Feel free to comment and tell me who you are! 

Peace out yo...because I'm a goofball like that.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Why I'm Doing This

"Create in me a clean heart, O God.  Renew a loyal spirit within me."  Psalm 51:10 (NLT)

So, why have I decided to start posting in this blog I started a year and a half ago?  To help people?  To help myself?  My pride?  Who am I to think I'm important enough to have people listen to?  Will anyone actually read this or is it a lame attempt at relevance?

While I think it's important to ask these questions in order to stay humble it is of far more important to seek to hear God's voice.  "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else" Matthew 6:33.  This verse has been my mantra for 2013; knowing that if I seek Him, He has all under control.  Which brings me back to why, why this, why now?

Dunno, your guess is as good as mine!  The NIV translation says "create in me a pure heart" and that is my prayer.  Do I hope I help others, of course, but more than likely it is to help myself-an attempt to reach out and say...hi.

While I admit I have a Pink Floyd song going through my head, "hello, is there anybody out there? Can anybody hear me? Is there anyone home?" my greatest desire is to do the will of the One that sent me, whatever that may be.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Afraid to be a Jesus Freak

There is a Newsboys song called 'Jesus Freak' that was big when I first became a believer in 1999; the lyric I have going through my head goes something like this, "what would people say if they hear that I'm a Jesus Freak, what would people do if they find that it's true."  See I've come to realize something about myself...I am a Jesus Freak.  I love Him with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength.  I think about Godly things constantly.  The problem?  I stink at small talk because most people don't want to have spirit-filled discussions right when they meet you, people tend to quietly back away from the crazy person talking about Jesus.  It doesn't help that I seem to be an exceptionally strange and painfully shy person anyway-my idea of fun is playing with a microscope and reading physiology books, oddly enough most people don't get into that kind of thing...

While I'm beginning to be okay with who God made me to be it does become a bit lonesome at times.  My husband bears it well but I try not to make his head swim with all my ramblings ;)  I guess my point is that I am afraid to let my freak flag fly, I am human after all and enjoy making friends, however we are not called to be lukewarm but to let our light shine before all men.

Whelp, that's all I got, deep thoughts for a Monday afternoon.