About Me
- PraiseJunky
- I am a wife, a mommy, a home educator, and domestic goddess, a sister, a daughter, a friend, a musician, a reader, a writer, and a lover of Jesus Christ.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Good Friday
This is a repost but this song touches me so much, especially on this day, I had to share.
May you be blessed this Good Friday as we remember the love and sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Happy Easter.....He is Risen! Hallelujah!!!!
Monday, April 18, 2011
Defiant Disobedience
I have been running up against something in the last few days that is a relatively new phenomenon in our house.
My boys have begun to willfully disobey even though they know that they have been instructed not to and are aware of consequences. I am not sure I am ready for this yet. I thought I had at least a few more years of innocence with them.
I will spare you all the details but I have been so explicit and have gone over off limits areas and what is not acceptable and the consequences of disobedience and yet they willfully and defiantly do it anyway. My youngest will just look at you and say "yes" he did it because he wanted to . My oldest is blaming it on his younger brother even though he was caught red handed. Said he didn't make the bad choice. I feel a loooooong discussion coming when I calm down.
I have to be honest, I probably overreacted a bit but I am fed up with it. I don't feel like I should tolerate it. It isn't like they just forgot the rules or pushed the boundaries a little. It is full blown rebellion. Hmmm.....rebellion. Wonder where they learned that?
As I was pacing outside trying to calm down so I wouldn't sprout horns I heard the Holy Spirit speak to me. His voice asked me how many times I have willfully and defiantly acted out in rebellion even though that there would be consequences. And it doesn't have to just be a sin I committed but could be a sin of omission....not doing something he told me to. Conviction came upon my heart and I knew that the very thing I am so upset at in my boys is an area of my life that needs the transforming power of God to change. Does this mean that I am going to excuse what the boys have done? No, but will it help me address it in love and compassion? Yes, I think so. Granted I have made choices that I knew were wrong and I shouldn't do them and sometimes I might have even known what the consequence would be. I did them anyway because my flesh wanted the instant result of the rebellion. Have I paid a price? You bet. Has God forgiven me? Absolutely. But have I had to deal with the consequences even though the forgiveness of the Lord was mine? Without a doubt.
Rebellion is as old as the garden of Eden. Rebellion is just as simple as doing the opposite of what I know the Lord asks of me. Is it a big deal? Yep. It creates a chasm between the Lord and I. Just like the actions of my boys created a chasm between them and I. Forgiveness, love, compassion and repentance will close the chasm. But I have to want to close it. God won't do it alone. He waits for us to call to Him and to surrender to what He wants to work in us.
I think the greatest truth I have learned from this experience today is that I was so dissapointed and hurt and felt like my boys didn't value my word. I want to protect them, to nurture them and to see them become all God created them to be. It broke my heart to see them acting in such opposition to the character of God. I wonder how much I would need to multiply that feeling to truly understand how the Lord feels when we rebel?He created us for a purpose. To be loved, nurtured, cared for, provided for and He wants to be loved back so badly. How many times have I broken His heart through my own rebellion? When I fail to trust Him and I act in ways that contradict His character? When He tells me in His Word how to be blessed and then I act like it is no big deal and do what feels right to me? I think it grieves Him greatly. I am sure He has wanted to shake me and give up. But He hasn't. He continues to love and to listen and to minister, while waiting for me to come to Him and repent. His kind compassionate love always takes me back and then, this is the greatest thing, He forgives me then forgets about it all and picks up right where I walked away and leads me forward again.
How when I have been forgiven so many times of so many things could I not forgive?
I think a lesson is to be learned and then taught to my boys.
Rebellion will always lead to death and destruction. But my God leads to life!
The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).
John 10:10 (Amplified)
My boys have begun to willfully disobey even though they know that they have been instructed not to and are aware of consequences. I am not sure I am ready for this yet. I thought I had at least a few more years of innocence with them.
I will spare you all the details but I have been so explicit and have gone over off limits areas and what is not acceptable and the consequences of disobedience and yet they willfully and defiantly do it anyway. My youngest will just look at you and say "yes" he did it because he wanted to . My oldest is blaming it on his younger brother even though he was caught red handed. Said he didn't make the bad choice. I feel a loooooong discussion coming when I calm down.
I have to be honest, I probably overreacted a bit but I am fed up with it. I don't feel like I should tolerate it. It isn't like they just forgot the rules or pushed the boundaries a little. It is full blown rebellion. Hmmm.....rebellion. Wonder where they learned that?
As I was pacing outside trying to calm down so I wouldn't sprout horns I heard the Holy Spirit speak to me. His voice asked me how many times I have willfully and defiantly acted out in rebellion even though that there would be consequences. And it doesn't have to just be a sin I committed but could be a sin of omission....not doing something he told me to. Conviction came upon my heart and I knew that the very thing I am so upset at in my boys is an area of my life that needs the transforming power of God to change. Does this mean that I am going to excuse what the boys have done? No, but will it help me address it in love and compassion? Yes, I think so. Granted I have made choices that I knew were wrong and I shouldn't do them and sometimes I might have even known what the consequence would be. I did them anyway because my flesh wanted the instant result of the rebellion. Have I paid a price? You bet. Has God forgiven me? Absolutely. But have I had to deal with the consequences even though the forgiveness of the Lord was mine? Without a doubt.
Rebellion is as old as the garden of Eden. Rebellion is just as simple as doing the opposite of what I know the Lord asks of me. Is it a big deal? Yep. It creates a chasm between the Lord and I. Just like the actions of my boys created a chasm between them and I. Forgiveness, love, compassion and repentance will close the chasm. But I have to want to close it. God won't do it alone. He waits for us to call to Him and to surrender to what He wants to work in us.
I think the greatest truth I have learned from this experience today is that I was so dissapointed and hurt and felt like my boys didn't value my word. I want to protect them, to nurture them and to see them become all God created them to be. It broke my heart to see them acting in such opposition to the character of God. I wonder how much I would need to multiply that feeling to truly understand how the Lord feels when we rebel?He created us for a purpose. To be loved, nurtured, cared for, provided for and He wants to be loved back so badly. How many times have I broken His heart through my own rebellion? When I fail to trust Him and I act in ways that contradict His character? When He tells me in His Word how to be blessed and then I act like it is no big deal and do what feels right to me? I think it grieves Him greatly. I am sure He has wanted to shake me and give up. But He hasn't. He continues to love and to listen and to minister, while waiting for me to come to Him and repent. His kind compassionate love always takes me back and then, this is the greatest thing, He forgives me then forgets about it all and picks up right where I walked away and leads me forward again.
How when I have been forgiven so many times of so many things could I not forgive?
I think a lesson is to be learned and then taught to my boys.
Rebellion will always lead to death and destruction. But my God leads to life!
The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).
John 10:10 (Amplified)
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Who knew I had so much crap...
I thought packing to move would be an easy thing accomplished in a few hours.....hahaha...guess the joke is on me. I did not know how much stuff we accumulated over the last 11 years of marriage.
I am not one that holds on to things and refuses to let them go and I knew that I had been purging unwanted/unused items along the way. But what I discovered when it came time to put it all into boxes surprised me. What has surprised me more is this gnawing feeling that I would rather give most of it away than box it up and store it in the garage 1200 miles away. Apparently my hubby has had the same brilliant thought too. He has decided that we should sell our obscenely humongous projection TV and the surrounding entertainment center. I know that this doesn't mean much to you guys but my hubby "needed" that TV before he would even discuss children. It has been THAT important. So I am going to sell it and put the profit toward a newer, much more space friendly model that hangs on the wall. I cannot tell you how excited I am to see the TV go. Yeehaw!!! Anyone want to buy it????
Another thing I have discovered about myself is that I am a book-aholic. I love books!!! And I have difficulty parting with them, even if I have read them 20 times. Actually the times read directly correlates with the value assessed. It is an obsession apparently. But I guess I could be collecting worse things. And I did manage to thin the numbers a bit while packing. I decided to take the approach that if I have owned it for 5 or more years and haven't read it, then I probably won't and should therefore give it to someone else.
On an entirely unrelated note, my youngest had his booster shots yesterday. RIP MY HEART OUT!!! Poor guy has a limp today from his sore thighs, where they stabbed him with 5, yes I said 5, needles. He was so brave but the crocodile tears streaming down his adorably handsome face was rough for me. Did I mention that I have the 2 most beautiful boys in the world???? I do, really. It is a proven fact. Trust me on this one. Oh, and my 3 nephews are right there with them. Such sweetness and handsomeness should be illegal. But so glad it is not because all 5 are PRECIOUS!!! You should see them.
For some reason I am feeling quite silly today. Silly and giddy. Makes me want to drive to California to where we had the best playground down the road from our house. The entire thing was made of concrete. It was great. You could take a piece of cardboard and slide down the enormous slide. And if you didn't have cardboard you shouldn't slide.......well, it's concrete...what do you think would happen to your jeans and skin without it??? So much fun!!!!! Wish I was 7 years old again.
http://youtu.be/iOoq1oAvpYE - a disclaimer- this is not me but it shows the concrete slide. awesome!!! Wish everyone could go to Cheese Park with me.
Have a Cheese Park kind of day today!!!!
I am not one that holds on to things and refuses to let them go and I knew that I had been purging unwanted/unused items along the way. But what I discovered when it came time to put it all into boxes surprised me. What has surprised me more is this gnawing feeling that I would rather give most of it away than box it up and store it in the garage 1200 miles away. Apparently my hubby has had the same brilliant thought too. He has decided that we should sell our obscenely humongous projection TV and the surrounding entertainment center. I know that this doesn't mean much to you guys but my hubby "needed" that TV before he would even discuss children. It has been THAT important. So I am going to sell it and put the profit toward a newer, much more space friendly model that hangs on the wall. I cannot tell you how excited I am to see the TV go. Yeehaw!!! Anyone want to buy it????
Another thing I have discovered about myself is that I am a book-aholic. I love books!!! And I have difficulty parting with them, even if I have read them 20 times. Actually the times read directly correlates with the value assessed. It is an obsession apparently. But I guess I could be collecting worse things. And I did manage to thin the numbers a bit while packing. I decided to take the approach that if I have owned it for 5 or more years and haven't read it, then I probably won't and should therefore give it to someone else.
On an entirely unrelated note, my youngest had his booster shots yesterday. RIP MY HEART OUT!!! Poor guy has a limp today from his sore thighs, where they stabbed him with 5, yes I said 5, needles. He was so brave but the crocodile tears streaming down his adorably handsome face was rough for me. Did I mention that I have the 2 most beautiful boys in the world???? I do, really. It is a proven fact. Trust me on this one. Oh, and my 3 nephews are right there with them. Such sweetness and handsomeness should be illegal. But so glad it is not because all 5 are PRECIOUS!!! You should see them.
For some reason I am feeling quite silly today. Silly and giddy. Makes me want to drive to California to where we had the best playground down the road from our house. The entire thing was made of concrete. It was great. You could take a piece of cardboard and slide down the enormous slide. And if you didn't have cardboard you shouldn't slide.......well, it's concrete...what do you think would happen to your jeans and skin without it??? So much fun!!!!! Wish I was 7 years old again.
http://youtu.be/iOoq1oAvpYE - a disclaimer- this is not me but it shows the concrete slide. awesome!!! Wish everyone could go to Cheese Park with me.
Have a Cheese Park kind of day today!!!!
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