My sin is like a stinky pot

So I went to wash my dishes this morning after neglecting them for several days. I boiled chicken in my large pot Saturday morning. It is now Tuesday morning.....EWWWWW. :) Can I just say how aweful the stench was when I opened the cover this morning to wash it. Now don't judge me. I am learning to let go of certain expectations in my life to focus on the more important things in life like health(both physical and spiritual, as well as the health of our family unit). The doctor ordered it, but also it is a Biblical principle as well. Think of Mary and Martha. Mary had chosen the wise "job" at the moment which was to worship. Martha was too busy "doing" to simply enjoy being in the presence of her Savior. Now I realize that isn't an all the time choice. There has to be balance, but none-the-less God used my stinky pot this morning to teach me a Spiritual lesson. And here it is......

I have been teaching my children about confession and how that you can be reading your Bible each morning, but if you aren't confessing your sins to God daily then your relationship with Him can be wounded(mind you, I struggle with this as well). God therefore used a very distinct odor this morning to remind me. I realized when I smelled that foul stench that that is what God smells when we don't confess our sin to Him. When we just let it sit there and fester for days, weeks, months, years on end that it begins to have a foul odor. I then used a new principle that I am learning through a book I am reading "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. I chose eucharisteo(thanks) for that foul smelling pot to remind me of this principle of short accounts with my sin with God. Proverbs 28: 13~"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." So like that pot that I covered and left, our sin too will smell after not too long. I John 1:9~"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Don't get like that stinky pot. Go to God each day/every moment you sin.

Closer

Closer

Shawn McDonald

"Where ever you go

Where ever you are

I just want to be there with you

I just want to be closer to you

I just want to be closer, I am yours

You can have all of me, anything, everything

I just want to be even closer"

Do you want to be closer to Him? I do. As I listened to this song this morning(at least I think it was this song) I was thinking that very thing. The funny thing is do we want the process of getting closer to Him? God's still small voice spoke to me as my heart cried out "Yes, God, that is what I want". He said to me "I am doing that right now." All the trials we are facing.....the purpose is to draw me closer to Him. It is to make me crave more of Him, because He is the only one who can truly satisfy my needs in a deep way. He knows my inner being better than I do and He knows exactly what I need and when I need it. So, when going through dark times of life(and they will come) He is the very air that we breathe. He is our all....if we let Him. So again I ask you.....do you really want to be closer to Him? It is well worth the journey, but noone ever said it would be easy. Trust in the one who has your soul's interest in mind. He is certainly trustworthy.

On a different note: I have been reading One Thousand Gifts. It has been an awesome journey learning how to intentionally give thanks always and in everything. So for the past two nights during devotions we have read verses on giving thanks and each of the kids have started a "thankfulness" journal/list. I told them that hopefully we will enjoy it so much that before we die we will get to a million and beyond! :) I pray that this shows them just how much we have to be thankful for each and every day, but also that it blesses the soul to praise the giver of all these amazing gifts! He is so good. We need to not just think our thanks but verbalize it and write it down so when we are feeling "unloved" we can go to the list and see just how loved and blessed we truly are!

I hope you desire to draw closer to our Savior tonight and that you begin a journal/journey of thankfulness. It is a great practice to get into!

God's Hands and Feet

My heart is aching tonight. The sorrows of this world can be so heavy and yet knowing that God is in control of it all makes everything bearable. No matter what curve-ball life throws us God is holding us up with His hand. Romans 8 is a chapter of the Bible that my Aunt gave me when we lost Ethan almost 7 years ago and it has been a source of hope and encouragement ever since. I would encourage all of you to open your Bible's and read it tonight. No matter what you are facing it will lift you up and remind you that we have so much more to look forward to.

I encouraged each of my kids as I tucked them into bed to put God first in every day of their life. That without Him the trials we face would overwhelm us and leave us hopeless and empty, but with Him the strength, power, and joy that fills our lives will overflow into those around us. Even when we are in the darkest trial of our lives we can radiate pure joy! His joy! He is our strength. He gives peace that passes all understanding.

A blog I follow was talking about not always knowing what is going on in the lives of people around us. And I was thinking even of myself tonight as I left the doctor's office with Dylan that the people there would never know the pain I have faced in the past 24 hours. Sometimes we can be so short and impatient and irritable with people and we have no idea the pain that they are harboring inside them. We need to have God's love for every person we come in contact with and have His patience also. We can minister to their heart just by loving them even when they may be unloveable.

God is calling us to be a testimony to each and every person that we meet daily. How have you completed that part of His will for your life today? His hands and feet....

From Sorrow to Joy

So today I had an emotionally blessed day! Brian and I and the kids went to help build a playground in Rachel Alice Aube's memory. Our neighbors and friends the Unger's went with us and it was such a blessing. I cried, I laughed, I worked hard(my muscles ache), I sweat, and it was all good! I had some time away from my precious kiddos(they were watched by some amazing people inside the church with some awesome activities). It was a physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, and whole being refreshing time! I am so thankful that God knew what I needed again. I was a bit bumming at the thought of not getting anything done here at home yet again and yet this was exactly what I needed today! I am so dirty right now....can't wait to go get a shower, but I had to just share what an impact serving others when you are feeling alone and down has on your soul. I have been struggling with our home being a mess and our family not feeling well constantly that I was just feeling ick today. Yet going and being a blessing to this family in this capacity brought such joy to my heart. I am exhausted, but it isn't a mentally, emotionally exhausted....it is a physically, I worked hard for a great cause today exhausted. So I guess I share this all with you to say that when you feel down and depressed and sorry for yourself, serve someone else. It will bring such joy to your heart and a smile to your face. You will feel so much better afterwards, not because your circumstances changed, but because you have followed God's call on your life to help someone else and been a blessing to those people. He truly knows what we need way better than we ever could! I am so thankful for that.

What's more important?

What's more important to you today? Your house being clean? Or time with your kids and husband?

I got doctor's orders last week to change my expectations. It was hard at first, but now it is growing on me. I actually had time to play a game with Dylan tonight before supper instead of doing my dishes and cleaning up the neverending clutter. But that is the kicker of it all, the clutter truly is neverending, so whether I pick it up today, tomorrow, or next week....it won't be any different the amount of time or clutter there is. If I cleaned thoroughly today, tomorrow or the next day it would be right back there. I'm not saying live in filth. I don't either, but what is truly important?

Will my kids remember that my house was clean? No. Will they remember that cleaning my house was more important than spending time with them? Yes!!!

I had the opportunity to meet my "blogger friend" for the first time tonight and it was such a blessing. She lost her precious girl Rachel to anencephaly in December. She has 3 other children. It reminded me of losing Ethan almost 7 years ago now. My point? We wish with all our hearts that we could spend a day, a week, a month, the rest of our lives enjoying that precious child that we never had the joy of spending any time with and yet here we have 3 beautiful healthy children(4 now) to spend our time with, sharing God's love and joy with. And what do I do? I clean!!! What is wrong with me?!?

I'm glad that I got doctor's orders, that we all got sick and I needed that prescription to stop cleaning and get my family well. I know that sounds crazy, but God knows what I need even before I do, far better than I do!

The moral of the story, stop being OCD about your house and enjoy your family instead. It truly is here today and gone tomorrow.

What do you Crave?!?

What do you crave? Is it food? TV? Video Games? Time with your family? How about time with your Heavenly Father? That is what we are supposed to crave. My boys could play hockey all day every day. I love that they enjoy it, but what about time for God?!? There are certainly a lot worse things in life to be addicted to, but anything that takes precedence over God is an idol. Brian and I have tried over the years to impress that on our children's hearts and we talked to them again about it tonight. Not really the idol part, but simply that we can't be filled with the Spirit if we don't spend any time in the Word and with God except an hour on Sunday.

I likened it to a gas tank. You can't drive to Nanny and Granddad's in Montreal on one tank of gas. You would run out. You need to stop and fill it. It is like that for us with the Spirit of God. We are "filled" with the Spirit at the moment of salvation, but if we don't spend time with Him, then we are running on empty. We can be overflowing, however, if we take time daily and moment by moment with Him.

I don't know about you but I need Him on a moment to moment basis anyways! He is the glue that holds me together daily. I read Psalm 91 tonight and what an encouragement. I encourage you to read the whole thing, but here are two of my favorites from it "Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place-the Most High, who is my refuge-no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent." (vv. 9-10). What about you? Are you making the LORD your dwelling place? We asked our kids that question tonight. Yes life is hard and right now noone in our house feels good(except Nicholas-to which he reminded us) but if we make the LORD our dwelling place it will be ok.

The other few verses that were my favorites(though all of it was like that) were these...."Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation." He is with me in trouble!!! So right now while we face what we do day by day He is right here with us!!! He hasn't abandoned us. And furthermore He is not simply with us, He will show us his salvation!!! I for one can't wait! I long for heaven the more this earth weighs down on me and isn't that the point?!? To long for it so much, to be always watching for him, but in the meantime to not sit idly by waiting, but to share Him and His love for us with everyone He brings our way!!! So what are you waiting for?!? Get out there and share His love! Crave Him more than anything else and let the overflowing of the Spirit pour out on everyone you meet!!!