It's a Beautiful Day

I love it when I roll out of bed to a clear blue sky with the sun shining. It is a little chilly this morning, but it is a beautiful day. My little ones have actually been sleeping in a little bit. (well it is 8:30 and it is still silent in the house) I love this new found quiet time that I have enjoyed the past two days.

I have a busy day ahead, but I am praising God for this day. We are trying so hard to get our children to understand that they are so blessed with the life that they have. When at times, I need to also stop and reflect on this very same thing.

I do not believe that as a Christian our lives are meant to be easy. Just because we believe, it does not mean that we will be blessed with material things. We will suffer. People we love will be taken from us. We ourselves may suffer sickness that will not heal.

At the season of my life that I am in right now I have so much to praise God for everyday. I am blessed to stay home with my children and live in a beautiful home. It is way too easy to forget that I need to praise God for everything that I have.

So today as I am running through this crazy house trying to get through my list of things to do I am going to continue to offer my thanksgiving to the Lord.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. Ephesians 1:3-10

This Little Light Of Mine

My heart is heavy today for some of my girlfriends. One who is suffering a tragic loss of a young child and one that has not yet suffered a loss, but is at a point that it feels like she already has.

Life happens. Sometimes a person is on this earth for many, many years and sometimes they are here only a very short time. My heart aches for these women.

Last night my husband and I had a conversation with our girls about suicide. This is a conversation I didn't think I would have to have with an 8 and 6 year old. However, I wanted to be the one to talk about this topic before it was a conversation between their friends.

My innocent little 6 year old, did not understand. Her first response to our explanation was, "Did they want to get to heaven faster to see Jesus." We explained it all the best we could. But I cannot get this statement out of my mind.

I have a scripture running through my head that I want to share with her from Matthew 5.

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16

One of my friends yesterday said to me, "There is a lot of darkness in this world." She is right. But even in darkness, one light can overcome that darkness. We can be in complete darkness, but if we light a small candle, we are able to see.

We do not know the path of our life. How long it will be or how short. But, we can shine our light so that those that are around us will not be engulfed in darkness. Our light can offer hope to people that feel like they do not have any.

I am trying to teach my 3 year-old some of the classic bible songs that I learned as a child. One of them is This little light of mine. One of the lines is, "Hide it under a bushel, No. I'm gonna let it shine."

The faith I have in Jesus Christ is no good to anyone if I keep it to myself. If I hide it in my home or in my church. I have been given a gift and I have the opportunity to share this gift with everyone. The world we live in is full of a lot of darkness, but I am not willing to let the darkness of the world overcome me.

I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. John 12:46

God Came Near

This morning I read a scripture in James 4:8 that said, "Come near to God and He will come near to you. . ."

It was another Sunday morning sitting by the river listening to the water hit the shore. I had to stop for a moment and really think about this scripture. In the chill of the morning, with the stillness that surrounded me, I felt very close to God.

In fact, this weekend I had some much needed God Moments. I had the pleasure of staying a couple of nights at The Gathering Place. The Gathering Place is my Aunt and Uncle's home in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

From the moment we started to drive up the long, narrow, winding, gravel road to their home, I felt my shoulders become less tense, my nerves started to calm and I felt more at peace. When I stepped out of the car I was able to take a deep breath and know it was going to be a great weekend.

I felt so close to God up on that mountain. I was, of course, at a higher elevation than I am on a normal day, but that was not it. . . As I stood on the porch looking out into the wilderness, I could hear God whisper my name. Let me clarify, I did not hear God speak to me audibly. However, as I was standing there in the calm of His presence all around me the wind was blowing through the leaves, and He was there.

I know that He is always present, but there is something about being in the midst of the beauty that He has created that makes you feel a bit closer to Him.

What is so ironic is that it isn't an easy drive to get to The Gathering Place. In fact, in the winter, my Aunt and Uncle have had to snowshoe up the mountain to get to their home. But once you arrive at this place, it is spectacular.

Once again, I reflect back to my faith journey. The journey, isn't easy. Along the way there are steep mountains to climb, sharp curves, and forks in the road that can lead you deep into the wilderness. However, when I come into the presence of God, it is worth every step of the journey. And lucky for me, with the Bible as my compass, I will not lose my way.

Good Soil

It is planting season. All the farmers in the Midwest are busy in the fields and the rest of us are busy planting flowers and gardens. Our wild backyard bunnies have taken care of all of my flowers that I planted in the ground, but my containers are safe, so far.

This weekend when I was doing my quiet time in the camper I went to the parables in Matthew. I decided to read the Parable of the Four Soils in Matthew 13:1-23. After I read it and reflected on it, I started to journal. I would love to say that right now I am a seed that fell on good soil.

"But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." Matthew 13:23

However, my mind kept wandering to Matthew 13:22, "The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful."

Last night I picked up my copy of Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Once again, I think God is trying to get a point across to me because what did I read about, the Parable of the Four Soils! Chan says, "Do not assume you are good soil". Okay God, I hear you.

I guess I have some work to do. . .how about you? Another statement Chan makes is in the form of a question. I am still mulling on it. I will leave it for you to think about, too. He says, "Has your relationship with God actually changed the way you live?"

The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock

So do you have the song associated with the title of this blog running through your head yet? I do. My youngest really enjoys this song. We sing it at night before bed. This weekend we were singing it in our camper.

We got some much needed family time away this weekend. (Even though we were only 3 miles from home at the campground, it was still away from home). On Sunday morning we decided to spend some time with the girls reading from the Bible and talking about what we read.

I was not prepared to do this ahead of time and they were in a hurry to get outside to play so I racked my brain for a story I could read to capture a 3, 6 and 8 year-olds attention and teach them something at the same time.

So, we started to sing about the Wise Man and the Foolish Man. I read them the story from Matthew 7:24-29.

The Wise and Foolish Builders

 ²⁴"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

 ²⁸When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

We asked the girls what it meant to build their house upon the Rock. They told us about how you have to believe in Jesus. We talked to them about how it isn't enough to just believe, but to build your house upon the Rock, you must live out what you believe. We talked about what it means to be a foolish man.

Our middle child said in a soft voice, I know kids that don't believe in Jesus. It was really sad to hear her voice. She understands the consequences of not believing. Our oldest was able to explain to us that If you are wise you will go to heaven and if you are foolish you will go to hell. Pretty deep for an eight year-old, but she knows what she believes.

Our biggest prayer as parents is to build our house upon the Rock of Jesus Christ. To live our lives as an example to our girls so that they will grow up and also build their homes upon the Rock. Listening to their little childlike faith so far, I think they are headed in the right direction.

Ready or Not, Here I Come

The girls have a couple of friends over and summer fever has definitely hit. Five girls in the house and summer fever = giggling girls and craziness. I tried hiding out in the laundry room for a little relief, but my littlest tracked me down to help her with some dress-up clothes. Now I am trying to hide out in my room, sitting in my prayer chair, silence at last. . .

I think about when my girls play a game of hide and seek. They are always looking for the best hiding place. Unfortunately for them, we really don't have a lot of great places inside the house or outside. Plus, they have a three year old sister that isn't very good at hiding. She waits until she sees where everyone hides and then she usually helps the seekers find the ones that are hiding.

I did a little research on the words hiding and hide in the Bible and I found this verse in Psalm 32:7.

"You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance." Psalm 32:7

I am so blessed that I have the very best hiding spot of all. Right in the protection of God's arms. However, I hope to be a little like my three year old. I don't want to keep this awesome hiding place to myself. I want to tell everyone about it. The best part of all is that Satan can know my hiding place and he still can't win the game.

Sunny Outlook

I love the sun. The past two days have been absolutely beautiful in North Central South Dakota. We haven't had a lot of wind and the temperature is perfect. All the windows are open and the house is filled with fresh air.

The mustiness of winter is finally gone. It is amazing how the weather can affect my attitude. The past couple of days it is easier to get out of bed in the morning and the days have just flown by. I do think it helps that the girls spend a lot of time outdoors as well. The house is a little quieter when they do. :-) 

"From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised." Psalm 113:3

New life surrounds me as I go outside and look at everything turning green. It is a wonderful reminder to me that in South Dakota the cold and dreary days of winter eventually give way to the hot and sunny days of summer.

Thankfully each day I am also realizing that the days that I feel overwhelmed and defeated also come and go. It is a lot harder to have a self-focused day when I wake up in the morning praising the Lord for the day.