Sept. verse of the month

Serve with fear... rejoice with trembling - what a humbling picture. Our God is so awesome and mighty that we should come to Him with a reverent fear. Rejoice with trembling, that we may never take His grace for granted! I think also to point out from this verse, would be the basics of our relationship with Him must include both service and worship!

Psalm 2:11. This is the great duty of natural religion. God is great, and infinitely above us, just and holy, and provoked against us, and therefore we ought to fear him and tremble before him; yet he is our Lord and Master, and we are bound to serve him, our friend and benefactor, and we have reason to rejoice in him; and these are very well consistent with each other, for, 1. We must serve God in all ordinances of worship, and all instances of a godly conversation, but with a holy fear, a jealousy over ourselves, and a reverence of him. Even kings themselves, whom others serve and fear, must serve and fear God; there is the same indefinite distance between them and God that there is between the meanest of their subjects and him. 2. We must rejoice in God, and, in subordination to him, we may rejoice in other things, but still with a holy trembling, as those that know what a glorious and jealous God he is, whose eye is always upon us. (the Matthew Henry commentary)

Angel Food Ministries

Anyone ever purchase food from or participate in the ministry of Angel Food Ministries? I was reading their website and thought it'd be a great way to save some money on groceries. The variety of food sounds like a great supplement to my regular shopping and has basic enough food that even my picky family would eat everything. The additional meat packages look like a great deal! I mean, where else can you get 4 8oz. New York Strip Steaks and 4 8oz. Sirloin Strip Steaks for $18? See if they have a host site in your area or bring it up to your church to possibly become one. I might just be ordering from the one in my area this next month. Let me know if you know of them or have experience w/ them. Thanks.

more giveaways

Getting caught up on my reader and came across a bunch of giveaways that I've missed while offline this week -

Lands End giveaway at 5 Minutes for MomHP Photosmart printer giveaway at 5 Minutes for Mom
Ryka shoes giveaway at I Should be Folding Laundry
a bunch of things at Mod*Mom
a bunch of things at Rocks in My Dryer's giveaway blog

Go enter ~ have fun!

a week of giveaway

Check out this - a full week of giveaways! (click the pic)

when it rains, it pours

We have been buying parts for our one ('89) car and scheduled it to be in the shop this weekend. So, hubby and I are sharing one car - no big deal, until... I go out to start that one ('05) car and it won't start! Battery, you think, no problem, easy fix. Nope. Battery's great, it's something electrical, as we can't even get our code reader to work. Click click click. Here's the kicker - it's after 5pm on a Saturday. Not only is the service shop closed at our local car dealer/service dept. (so they can't get us a rental), all car rental places in the area are closed, so we couldn't even get one ourselves. We called our roadside assistance program to have it towed to the dealer for Monday, as our car's still under warranty, and they say it's the car dealer's responsibility to get us a rental. So, I ask, what happens in this situation when someone's traveling out of town and their car breaks down after hours? Has this not happened before? I guess you go to a hotel until Monday morning? I mean really. We were fortunate that we were at home and even more fortunate that we could borrow a car from a friend. In fact, once a second friend heard of our troubles, they lent us a car as well. Now we will each have a car on Sunday for church (hubby goes to both services, as he's on staff) and on Monday for both of our works. Our other car should be done by Tues or Wed. and we'll see when the "dead" car gets done. So, (looking for the "thanksgiving" here) praise the Lord for generous friends!

worn out

I'm spent tonight and am too tired to think about what I could even type, so I want to direct you over to Julie's blog, Living by Grace. Her post on Handling the Sorrow Issues of Life is wonderful.
Part of what I feel tonight is sorrow, so I'm going to Psalm 116 the rest of my night and "call upon the Lord" instead of feasting on chocolate or hibernating in front of the computer. Good night!

prayer + thanksgiving

(sorry for the font going crazy - I'm not sure why, but it's not displaying as I've selected...)


"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6)

I added italics to the above scripture references to point out what I'd like to talk about in this post tonight. Notice we are instructed to pray at all times, without stopping, during all occasions in our lives, before every decision we have to make, and so on. What gets a little tougher depending on the circumstances is the next part: giving thanks. We are supposed to pray and also give thanks at all times. Giving thanks for a crying baby at home all day, giving thanks for the guy that cut us off in traffic, giving thanks for the one more load of laundry to be done, giving thanks for the preschooler that just seems to love to talk back, or even harder, for the illness that won't go away, for the financial crisis we're in, or the death of a family member. Some of these are hard. We may not be able to thank God for a death, but we can thank Him for the incredible witness that was given during that person's life or even maybe during the funeral or better yet, someone coming to know Christ because of that person's testimony. Personally, I know there were times that all I could do was cry out to the Lord, "why" and "help" but the "thank you" always came, and usually after the hardship - God is faithful and is with us always. If you are having a "quicksand" day or a day filled with joys, I urge you to pray and give thanks to the Lord for His guidance and faithfulness. The "thank you" is just as important as everything else.

how do you speak?

"Love, prayer, and praise is the breath of every soul that is truly born of God. By these, spiritual life is not only sustained but increased day by day." -John Wesley

Do your words speak only of love, prayer, and praise? Consider how we speak to our children and family members. Do you affirm God's love and give Him thanks and praise for things He gives us? Do you model that to your children, daily? The rain that fell this morning caused my daughter and I to stop and give praise to God for His blessing of the rain we so desperately need. (If had lasted just a bit longer, we would've ran outside and danced in it) :-)

When we are far from God in our personal relationship, I think that it comes out in the ways we speak to our children and family members. We tend to have less patience. We are more authoritative and less likely to come alongside them to help, encourage, and reaffirm. Too often we resort to losing patience and yelling, breaking down their spirit.

Love, prayer, and praise should be as natural to us and breathing, if we are a Christian/filled with the Holy Spirit. I believe it does take work, though. Naturally, we tend towards sin and fleshly desires. But, the more we practice loving, praying, and praising, the more natural it will become, and as Wesley says our spiritual life will increase day by day.

That would be my goal - I want to not just sustain, but increase in my spiritual life daily. I want the breath of my soul (and words from my mouth) to be love, prayer, and praise!

this weekend: music & message

This weekend I'm going to go see Building 429, Overflow, and Tony Nolan (speaker). We'll be taking our youth group and I'm looking forward to having a great time! Click the links to check them out! Great music, great message!

free planner

Just in time for the new school year...


has agreed to sponsor Multi-Tasking Moms in a contest so that one of us can also own a fabulous momAgenda Desktop Planner!

Check out their contest here.

delightful!

I don't know how the weather is by you, but we had been suffering through some sweltering days last week and today was such a breath of fresh air (literally)! I went outside for lunch today. Talk about gorgeous! The hospital that I work for (well, across the street from) has a beautiful campus with many trees. I took my lunch across the street and found a nice shady spot and plopped down with my lunch. I need to pack a blanket next time... lol. I had to sit on the edge of a stone wall today. A little hard, but worth the fresh air. Praise the Lord for a gorgeous day - His creation is beautiful!

sleepless nights

*update (Sunday): She slept through the night last night! Thank you Lord, I am well-rested, and ready to go to church and worship You!

Uh, I feel like I'm back in newborn baby land. My four-year-old has, for some reason, begun waking up at night. She's a great sleeper, usually, but this past week has been torture. At first she was waking up asking to get a drink and asking to go to the bathroom. Now, it seems she's come down w/ a cough and wakes up complaining of phlegm in her throat. And we just went to the dr. mid-week for a well-checkup with no problems in the ear/throat/lungs areas. She did get a shot, so at first I was wondering if it was because of that (the night/day after the shot, she had a low-grade temp. so I know that made her uncomfortable). She wakes up two to four times a night for all this! This is nuts! I don't know what the best meds. are, but I've been trying just a cough med. before bed to try and help, but apparently it's not. errrr.

repetition

How can preschoolers watch the same movie or tv cartoon episode over and over again? My daughter will sit through something that she's seen a bazillion times and watch it w/ just as much interest as the first time. Do we lose patience as we get older? Or, as adults are we taking in so much during the day that we automatically filter out those things that "we know already" and don't waste time on it? Or am I the only one out there that doesn't like watching repeats? :-)

wake

Two definitions for the word "wake" are: 1. to emerge or cause to emerge from a state of sleep; 2. a trail of disturbed water or air.

I want to ask you today - is your faith active to such an extent that it is causing unbelievers to "emerge from a state of sleep"? Are you living out your faith for others to see the difference and to desire to turn from fleshly ways, repent, and accept the Lord as Savior in their life? To awaken to new life? Are you living your life that you have left a mark in the world around you? Have you made a difference in a person's life?

I want to encourage you,
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2

technorati

Caved in to peer pressure and joined the ranks of those already signed up w/ Technorati. Check out my profile here. If you read my blog often, mark me as a "favorite." See the bottom of my blog page. Thanks!

commuting

I now have a 30 min. drive to work and have been enjoying it some days and not enjoying it others. So, I am forcing myself to list the positives about it and not dwell on the negatives.
Here goes...
1. I can have quiet-me time. No work conversations, no family conversations - I can think about whatever.
2. I can turn up the radio really loud and sing really loud. This is my favorite positive. :-) Although, after a day at work, I'm usually quiet and reflective and don't feel like singing loud. (I don't know why, I've just noticed that's usually the case).
3. I can pray - this is what I should make a conscious effort to do. (I find that I usually do this in the morning part of my commute more often than the way home).
4. I can listen to sermons for the weeks that I've missed lately. I have been traveling, on mission trips, etc. this summer and have requested some cd's for the sermons I've missed. I look forward to popping them in some time.

Anyone else have a long commute? What do you do?

checking in

Wow - these two days have been different! What an adjustment to my schedule, well, to life, really! I started my new job. Full days Mon & Tues and half a day on Wed. Needless to say, you probably won't see me around much on Mondays and Tuesdays. Coming home to house and family (hopefully with a plan in mind for dinner!) will be enough on these days. I am really liking the new job - great co-workers! It's a small office, however I'm working for a large hospital system. I'm actually working within a hospital sponsored program that's located across the street from the hospital in an office bldg, so I get the perks of the big employer (great area discounts, additional benefits, etc.) however I don't have to park in the huge hospital parking garage (and walk a mile to the hospital). I'm pretty excited, although it has already created a crunch on my hubby's schedule. He's been so amazingly flexible and is such a great daddy. He was able to change around his schedule (hooray for being a youth pastor!) and is staying home w/ our daughter some of the time I'm working. Eventually in a few weeks, she'll be in preschool so that will pick up some of the slack.
Praising the Lord today for the provision of a extra money from my job, the flexibility of my hubby's job, and having a family committed to working together.

temptation

My challenge to you today: Don't help Satan by opening yourself up to temptation. "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts." (Romans 13:14). After your moment of giving in to temptation, the remorse afterwards, and after asking (God and others whom it affected) for forgiveness, have you ever stopped to think about how you got into that situation? How many times do we not go the extra step to protect ourselves from temptations? If you know you are weak in an area, don't even go there!
My weakness deals with time: I need to decrease my computer surfing time and increase my time w/ my daughter during the day. I'm starting work this week and my hours with her will be fewer, and I need to make sure that I am being the mommy that God has called me to be. She's growing up so fast and I will never get these years back, however the computer just sucks me in! I need to not give Satan that foothold maybe by setting a timer then turning the computer off for the rest of the day, or something! I do well once my hubby comes home and we do spend family time together at night, but I know that there are precious mommy/daughter learning times to be had and I can't let myself be tempted to miss them by fulfilling my "fleshly lusts" (yes, even just wanting to surf appropriate family-friendly sites is a "lust" b/c it pulls me away from where God wants me to be).
How about you? Everyone is tempted and everyone falls to temptations, after all, we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). Ask God to show you your weaknesses and how to steer clear of situations that lead you to fall.

ABC's of VBS

I just finished up a day of VBS, helping out another church in the area. Don't you just love how those VBS songs stick in your head for like a month afterwards? Yes, I am using a little sarcasm here, however, as I reflect on what I'm singing, I praise the Lord because these songs are made up of such simple truths that even, I, as an adult, need to be reminded of!

"A!, Admit to God that you are a sinner..., B, Believe that Jesus is God's Son, C, Confess the name, and get in the game, by confessing Jesus as your Savior and Lord. The victory will be sweet, and you’ll have life eternally, by following the ABC strategy." (courtesy of Lifeway vbs)

"Sign me up, I’m ready to go, ready to obey, what God says so, sign me up, tell me what I need to know. ‘Cause I’m not afraid to follow." (courtesy of Lifeway vbs)

Nothing too profound, but at least having that rolling around in my head should inspire me. ;-)

lifetime warrenty

Well, lifetime warranties are GREAT but only if you still live in the same city you bought the product in! Our muffler has gone ka-putz. So, well, we had to decide if it was worth driving 2+ hrs away to get it replaced for (mostly) free (we'd still have to pay labor costs) or if we should go ahead and pay to have it done locally and today (our only free day in forever). Well, we opted for the pay $125 now vs. driving all day to get a low-cost replacement at our original place of purchase at a time to be determined. Time-savvy? yes. Economical? probably not. Oh well, at least, now our 89 Volvo wagon doesn't sound like a hot-rod that you can hear approaching a mile away :-)

podcast - Barlow Girl

One of my favorite groups - Barlow Girl - was recently interviewed by the folks at Lifeway Christian stores. Here's a Podcast of the interview with band member, Alyssa. Check it out - you'll get to hear her heart and the group's motivation behind a few of the songs on their new cd.

got some QT today

I have been horribly ignoring the Lord, and it's been during some really critical family/life decisions too. I say this so quickly, but my heart is truly breaking as I came to Him for forgiveness today. In His goodness, during my quiet time, He lead me to the verse that I've posted in the sidebar as the new verse of the month. He reminded me that He is my rock - not me, not my hubby, but God is ("He ONLY is my rock and my salvation"). God is unchanging, God is stable ground, able to be leaned upon. I have been giving in to stress lately and I need to give in to God - not the perceived "difficulties" in my life right now. I need to not be swayed by anything other than His Word.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and it's righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Matthew 6:33-34.

Party time

Ready to celebrate? Lessons from the Scrapbook Page sure is! They're kicking off an End of Summer Blog-abration, which means freebies, freebies, and freebies! Ok, and meeting lots of other partying bloggers. So, consider yourself invited to join in! Head on over to her site and sign yourself up!

SAHM

Found this post at Just Mom's Musings about being a Stay at Home Mom. Since I'm about to join the ranks of part time worker/mom and no longer a full time SAHM, I'm linking this as a tribute to all those that simply work (b/c it is work, as the linked post humorously points out) at home as a stay at home momma.

WFMW

Ribbon Storage
Need storage space for you spools of ribbon? Unwind a hanger and straighten it out , bend about 3" back on the bottom to form a "stop", straighten the hook at the top , put your ribbon spools on the wire ,rebend your hook at the top and hang it up.

check out these giveaways...

Love Shak, Baby is giving away a $250 gift certificate to Gymboree. Click here to enter.


I Should be Folding Laundry is giving away four (yes, that does increase your chances) Febreze candles. Click here to enter.