to every thing there is a balance....

In life it gets hard sometimes to find the balance of family, your personal walk with the Lord, friends, ministry and just everyday duties.

To say that I have the answer would be foolishness! 

But this I do know that sometimes the Lord gets your attention of the the scales tipping by using your family to break your heart or maybe it will be some ministry opportunity that you just can't say 'no' to because it isn't in your character to over look something that needs your love. The past 6 months have been SO very draining on me and my family. Yes, We have had these times before but as the littles get older it effects them more, which makes it so much heavier on us. Just to list a few if you don't know my family, we had a hospital stay with our oldest, cancer being found in someone so very close to us, friends lost~ that is always so very heavy on our hearts~, the passing family members including ~ our Nana, opportunities  to open our home on many occasions to share the Love of Christ in their times of need and not to mention ~ moving during Thanksgiving and Christmas (yes it took that long, if not longer)  to a 'fixer upper',and you can't ignore the everyday adventures and taking time out to show love to those around us who have hard situation they are going through that we also carry their burdens in our hearts and prayers. 

 In all of these things I find every time  that the Lord was with me and my family and carried  us in times that we needed Him most(everyday, every hour). Jesus and I had many a conversation on what was going on around me and YES He answered me many times to comfort my heart. Sometimes it molded my heart also to the selfish and unloving things in my own life. 

This is when I call these things  'Adventures'  because you grow from it not become bitter and complacent. But you climb that mountain in front of you with as much grace and ease but also strength and sometimes anger that comes out in determination.

I kept looking for that rest, realizing all along that this is life, in a broken world and there is always another mountain to find your next adventure on. But when it did get quite, for a moment the other realization on how this 'adventure' has effected my handsome, and three boys because we had tipped the scale and lost balance. Not that we were not sensitive all along on how these things were effecting each other but we were 'just surviving' and yes it was all an adventure to get through, we needed to let our hearts break together. 

So, in saying all of this the key for me is keeping my heart soft through His word and conversations that speak right to my broken heart, and also a heart of gratitude because there is so much to praise Him for in every situation.If we have eyes to see what is going on around us, we need also to  be humble enough to let our hearts break for those things.  When the Lord places things in our path that we could ignore if our hearts were hardened we could loose what He has entrusted us with that is so very precious to us and to Him~ the people around us. Not the things, Sometimes I let the little things harden my heart, like the washing machine, toilet,  fridge, and car breaking all in one week. That's when a 'snow-ice week' lets us stay in our home and enjoy each other again,  is such a blessing to me. The Lord heard my cry for rest and I know not everything is about me, but I chalk this wk up to an answered prayer to love on my family and find rest in Him.  So look at every thing in life as an 'adventure' and you too will find the closeness of the Lord, if you seek Him with all your heart! This is a broken world and He knew that and gives His Spirit and His Word to walk us through! 

May we walk as children of  Light.. Ephesians 4:17~5  

So I did it....

Ok, so I did it! I posted my first blog, something that I said I would never do!

Never say Never.

~I was already praying about starting a blog and then asked by a college friend to start writing for a blog of one of our professors that we both grew tremendously under. So I prayed and thought and prayed and thought... and decided to humbly do this task. But I prayed that people would not be wowed by my words but be wowed by His words that restores the soul and has the power unto salvation.
~You see, I do believe there is a sense of comfort and protection when everyone doesn't know everything about you. So I never thought a blog would be good because what is the point if you can't be real...
I posted my first ever blog and I left wishing it was more real and not so much like I have all the answers. But if I go anymore real there is a vulnerability that comes with that. As Ann Graham Lots says"let the bible be your shield" and that is my thinking also, so you will see A Lot of scripture in my blogs. But when it comes to my opinion and thoughts or everyday events, I start to think of ; who is gonna read this? Am I gonna offend someone and wait not everyone know that about me! And when it comes to opinions and thoughts those things are not shielded like if I just gave you Scripture and stated this is what the Lord says! So do I know what this blog will develop into... No!  Will I offend someone... Maybe? Will others learn more about me... I don't know but in reality I pray they learn more about themselves and how the Jesus that is so Magnificent in my life can take someone like me(with all my weaknesses and flaws) and reach the world with the gospel.

Just a little input on this blog~ I am not posting things that I think others need to fix but what I see and have learned in my own walk through this broken world! So as you read my first post know that it comes from a span of about a year of trying to love the unlovable and trying to stop and love those closest to me as sometimes I feel like the broken world around me is falling on top of me and I have the deep feeling of not stopping till I fix everything and put in back in place! BUT I will come to learn over and over again I can't and it really is all about Love! Love speaks truth when it is the hardest to speak and gives grace when it is the hardest to give!

To choose Love!

So many times we get caught up in our own problems and world that we fail to show Love to others with our actions not just our words.
Maybe we need to stop from our crazy, packed schedule to show love to the little ones in our lives, by playing a game with them or just listening without any distractions. Maybe we need to  pause to just tell the Lord how much you love Him for just being there always. Most of the time it is in the littlest things that speak so much love to those in our lives, like going fishing even when it is cool outside, just a hug unexpectedly, or a call to say you are thinking of them!

• To choose love takes strength:  Strength to stop and say to someone;  "that no matter what is going on around me you are more important!" We often are too tired or lazy to show those most important to us that we love them. May we never grow weary of doing good. 

• To choose love takes patiences: sometimes it takes longer to listen than to act like we are and go on about our list of things to get done inside of our head. Also patience when others wrong us or make choices that we would not approve of.  Hatred stirs up strife,But love covers all transgressions Pov 10:12 ~ Let us not choose who to show love to but love those hardest to love also. 

• To choose love takes sacrifice: I just said the other day that "What takes the most effort, makes the most Impact" and I thought to myself how right that is! What people remember most, is how much it cost you to show them that you love them. So lets lay aside our desires and choose love  for others. Could it be that it is you husband that you need to sacrifice your time for, maybe your kids need to see you give up something because you love them more than that committee or event, or even your parents need to know that you still love and honor them with your actions. ~ Let us not love in tongue but in deed and truth ~ 1 John 3:18 

• To choose love takes Knowing the One that gave His life for us: ~ This is my commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that one lay down his life for his friends ~ John 15:12-13 Oh, that we would let the Spirit work through us and show Love, Peace, Patience, Joy, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Kindness, and Self-Control to those around us. So that they may see Him that loves them most.

I know WE all fail sometimes at this... but may we seek forgiveness for ourselves as well as for others.

May we put away the desires of the flesh and let the Spirit Work in us and through us. So that others May see Jesus in us and know him also! 

Enjoy Life don't Just endure it...

Hebrews 12:1–2 (NASB95)

Jesus, the Example

1  Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

2  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  

2 Thessalonians 3:13 (NASB95)

13  But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.

James 1:2–12 (NASB95)

2  Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,

3  knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

4  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

5  But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

6  But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

7  For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,

8  being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

9  But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;

10  and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.

11  For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.

12  Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.