Christmas ~ A new understanding!

Over the last few years I have been trying to write my testimony and as I have reflected on my life and what God has done for me it has given me a greater understanding of the Old Testament law and the coming of Jesus. For I once tried to live by a law but now I live by the power of God. Following is a very condensed version of my testimony.

For years I misunderstood the plan of Salvation and the power of God. I said a prayer when I was 4 and thought that made me a Christian but it was years before I began to really understand the change that God wants to make in our lives as His children; that we would be a reflection of Christ.

I knew certain things about how you should live and tried to do them but I kept failing so I would just give up. Looking back it was actually a law I was trying to follow because I didn’t have the power of God working in me.

When I was 23 God began to speak to my heart that it did matter how I lived and that He would be my guide if I would humble myself and follow Him. That began my journey to peace and joy and the power to overcome sin. I am not perfect, I still make mistakes, but I have the Holy Spirit as my guide and He shows me my sin that I may confess it, make it right if needed and overcome it in the future.

So what made the difference?

I laid my entire life at Jesus feet and allowed Him to transform my life according to His will. I asked the Lord to show me sin in my life so I would recognize it and I counseled with the elder at my church and confessed my sin. I found that bringing forth sin and confessing it out loud to someone broke the power of Satan in my life and would be a big step in helping me to be an overcomer. I asked forgiveness of those I had wronged. And most of all, I began to read the Word of God daily, asking God to show me how to live and to continue to show me things in my life that did not line up with the Bible.

It has been 14 years and I am still being formed to be more like Christ. God has brought me a long way and as I reflect on my past and what Christ has done for me it has given me a better understanding of the Israelites, the Law, the promise of the Messiah, and the coming of Jesus. For as many years I believed in God and wanted to follow Him, I did not have the power of God in my life. I was like the Israelites trying to follow the law that God had given them. The law was their school master to show them their need for a Saviour. We can not live a holy life of our own accord.

May you know the power of God in your life this Christmas and always. If you are where I once was I pray that you will seek wisdom from above and begin today to allow the Word of God to transform your life.

Merry Christmas!

I Love You!

This is a video of my talented cousin Andy playing the spoons and singing a song for my Grandma. I kept the video short in hopes of uploading it to my blog. Javan and I have learned to clap plastic spoons together so they sound decent, but we have a long way to go to sound like Andy.

How do you get a 4 year old to fold laundry?

At our house we started sorting laundry out of the dryer into baskets for each person.  Everyone from Jubilee up is responsible for folding their own laundry.  I do Chad’s and mine, and it varies who does the littlest ones.

We have been doing the high five thing which doesn’t always work.  Tonight I told Jubilee that for every article of clothing she folded diligently, after she gave me my high five she could add a piece of clothing out of her pile to mine.  I didn’t have to remind her to keep busy!

So what incentives do you use to keep your children going?

Cheese Anyone?

 

We slept in a bit this morning and so breakfast is late.  I was in my room with Jonas and he said with delight “cheese Mommy!”  And low and behold he had a piece of cheese in his hand.  I responded “where did you get the cheese?”  He pointed to his pocket and said “in here!” right before he took another bite and it was then that I heard it crunch ~ just like a potato chip! 

He must have put the cheese in his pocket last time he wore the shirt.  The shirt was still clean and hanging in his room when I dressed him.  I’m not sure how long it had been there, but long enough to dry into cheese chips!

Better go feed him! ;)

Another one of "those days"

Here we go again! I was looking forward to a day to get everything back in order and school plans made up for next week. I started off my day on Kohls.com to take advantage of their sale since I decided to stay home today. Before 1030 rolled around Jonas came inside crying. I assumed from the cold. When I picked him up he had an obvious fever. So I have spent a good part of my day cuddling my sweet little boy. Jesse was also on the couch with a low grade temperature but he entertained himself with books. Jared came to me at supper not feeling good. Johanna already has a cold and Jubilee has some type of infection although she is not noticeably sick. Anyone want to come help me clean??? HaHa! Looks like it will be Chad, Javan, and Jolene in church tomorrow.

Every once in awhile Jonas would feel well enough to play for awhile or sit on the counter to watch daddy outside cutting wood or take a nap; later I let the children watch some family videos before supper to give them a little entertainment so I could keep busy.

The extent of my accomplishments so far is dishes washed and about 6 loads of laundry washed and sorted into baskets for the children to fold and put away. I have done some other misc. but not a lot to show for it.

Now Jonas has fallen asleep on me, I am going to attempt to put him down ~ didn't work! Now I am nursing Johanna, typing one handed, and Jonas is wanting me; he is a momma's boy when he doesn't feel good. Thankfully, my sweet husband is cleaning up from supper. It seems like Jonas may be back asleep, so maybe I can get a little done before he wakes up.

This could be a long night if he doesn't sleep well and wants me. Maybe we'll just take advantage of our king size bed!

Jared wanted to eat but he wanted to lay down while he did it. Chad told him he could lay down on the floor to eat so the mess would not be on the couch. He ate his brat and some applesauce and then fell asleep on his little nest he made. I even swept around him awhile ago without him noticing.

I did get to do some more work this evening so now things are in much better order though I still have much to do.

May you each have a blessed Lord's day.

I Love You

Character training 101

We had a nice weekend in Ohio for Thanksgiving. Got back around 10:30 Sunday evening. Yesterday afternoon I took a walk to try to walk off the extra calories I ate at Thanksgiving (it's gonna take a LOT of walking!!!) Later I helped the children clean out the van. Some things got put away, a lot of things got brought in to be finished today.

Taking a trip always takes it's toll on our home. Today I was hoping to get the rest of the trip things put away, make a couple lasagnas for the freezer with meat that needs used up, make some badly needed bread, have the house tidied up and school completed in time to leave for a vision appointment this afternoon. I know, not likely to happen, but high goals are better than low goals.

So now it has been "one of those days." I had a sweet little helper grinding wheat for me to make bread, the filter was forgotten, so flour was pouring out where the filter belongs. I was upstairs when this happened and my sweet little helper just kept grinding!!! 8~( So now I have a white dusting over just about everything!!! My kitchen floor was white, the counters are white, the dishwasher was opened because other little helpers hadn't finished putting away the CLEAN dishes, so they are dusted with white, book shelf dusted with white ~ you're catching on aren't you!

Well, I am thankful to have sweet little girls to help me and to occasionally make a bigger mess than was already here. Did I mention the laughs that we are making for years to come? I'm sure I will laugh someday, though I am not laughing right now!

You are probably wondering ~ why in the world are you blogging when you have sooooo much work to do? Easy, I am trying not to eat so much so I can lose those extra calories I ate over the weekend, not to mention the weight I needed to lose before the feast! So I am at the table surrounded by my children, I ate my share and stopped, now I am on my laptop eyeing the food that is being left in the dishes and trying to convince myself that I have had ENOUGH!

You know, there may be some people reading this that would think, why don't you stop having children, send them off to school, and then have a clean house and some "ME" time! There is nothing I would rather do than have my children with me 24-7. Having the privilege of helping them with school, guiding them through character issues, and spending loads of time with them is such a blessing! And these "days" that happen occasionally, well, they are character training for me!

I Love being a Mom!