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First of all, please read my entry below for one last update on the going on's of our family. It is in obedience to the Lord that I am saying goodbye to blogging. I have felt for several months that the Lord did not want me blogging any longer. I kept putting it off trying to deny that this was really the Lord. But when when I took a break from blogging to spend more time focusing on the Lord, I could not deny it any longer. I MUST obey Christ, it is not an option. So while I will miss so many of you ladies it is with joy I obey! I will spend the extra time investing in the relationships the Lord has given me. My relationship with the Lord, my relationship with my husband, and my relationship with my children. It has been such a pleasure meeting you all. I have been blessed to have known you. Don't forget to keep the Lord number 1 in your life, day in and day out. So, here I go travling down the next path on Our Grand Adventure! With all my love, RaShea~ Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and he will direct your paths. |
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After spending much time waiting on the Lord, we felt we had heard what He wanted for us. We decided that we need to move down closer to Lee's parents. His Dad had a stroke a few years ago and they really need us. Since then we have been waiting on the Lord to provide a job for Lee. On Wednesday He did just that! Lee was given a job right there in his home town population 700! We will be moving from my parent's 5 hours south into another state in about three weeks. All the children are doing great. We haven't gotten much school work done the last few weeks because we have been travling frequently to Lee's parent's. Jared decided that he wanted his taining wheels off his bike today so the big boys took them off. It is so cute to see my little 4 year old zip around on this gravel driveway! Tomorrow is opening day of fishing and the big boys are going out with my Dad bright and early in the morning to spend the day at the lake. This is a big event for them, one we will all be glad has arrived! Zachary has been reapting this joke constantly to us in his little two year old voice: Knock Knock, Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Banana split The funny thing is that I don't think any of my children know what a banana split is! Sadie is becomming more and more a little lady by the day. She is becoming my right hand in all our homemaking duties. This is such a joy for me to see her heart being turned to the ways of the Lord at such a young age. Ellie is just blooming! There is no other way to describe it! Every day I find myself praising God for the work he has done in her. At five she is learning the phonectic sounds of the letters and many life skills. She has become the mother hen of the children! This is the girl that we were told would probably never be socially "normal" and probably not talk! God is so amazing! I am looking forward to being settled for the first time in three years. I am also looking forward to seeing the mighty hand of God work in Lee's family as none of them are believers. I have one last cuteness to share. Sadie (7) was playing a game and Jared (4) said to her "Sadie, you're a natural." She replied "Well thank you Jared, but I don't believe I am all that good." This was so very cute! They sounded so sophisticated. |
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Spring is in the air today, and I love it! It is already 1:00 and we haven't gotten to school yet as it is just so nice outside. Just as the bees are buzzing, so are we. I have started making our toothpaste, and that is going well. I am very happy with the results and having fun expirmenting with various flavors and such. I am also quite happy that we are saving at least $10 a month by making our own! We have gone down to Lee's parent's who live about 5 hours south of us. It has been good for us to get to know thier life again. Just before we moved to PA Lee's Dad had a stroke, which dramtically changed their lives. This new life they live is not one we have been a part of and it is so important for us to be a part of it. The weeks we go down we spend half the week here and half the week there, this is hard, but neccessary! We believe the Lord has shown us one part of His plan for our family, and so we are trying to figure out how we will be obedient to that. I have sproted many grey hairs in the last month, guess I will get to enjoy my crown of glory for a long time! We continue to do school and will continue to do school year round taking breaks as needed. I have started to beef up the big boys school work and am planning on taking them to the next level throughout the next couple of months. We have seen the Lord's plan in placing Sheldon and Austin just 12 months apart. Many times over the last few weeks, I have heard a still small voice saying, "that is why they are so close in age." While getting pregnant when my first baby was just 3 months old was a shock, God had a plan, just as His word tells us. He is so awesome! This has been an encourager to me as it is 10 years later and the Lord is chosing to show us the why in this area. Still working on our garden plans, and anxious to get started. At two, Zachary is still nursing strong. We nurse anywhere from 6-9 time in 24hrs. I have always wanted to nurse until my baby was two, but typically by this age I have already had another baby and and pregnant again. Zachary loves his "yummy mommy milk", and I don't have the heart to wean him just yet, so we will continue for now. I have really been pondering why exactly is it that I have this blog. I am considering shutting down my blog. I'm just not sure what the purpose is and whether or not it is benefical. So, I will be taking a break from blogging until I decide. |
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Sheldon has always loved dogs. We got Mary our mutt dog from outside of Walmart in October of 03'. Sheldon was smitten with her the moment he saw her! As a puppy she slept next to him in the bed. As his love for her has grown so has his responsiblity for her, this has been good for him. We have had ups and downs with Mary, a couple of times we thought we would have to find her a new home, but God has always allowed Sheldon to keep this special friend. When we first moved to PA we had to leave her in OR. We left OR with no place to live, no car, no job. We planned on staying with friends for the first couple of weeks, but up until we moved we had been babysitting their dog for them because they couldn't have a dog where they were living. So we had to find someone to take care of Mary. God provided a Christian couple to take care of her! The day we were moving we had the big ole' Budget truck in the driveway and we were loading up. We had sold our house and most of our belongings and were moving to an unknown place. This was exciting and a little scary, an emotional enough time,then the couple came to get Mary and it was a heart wrenching moment! The children were crying, I was crying because they were crying, it was a difficult day. After they left with Mary, I found Sheldon sitting under that big ole' budget truck sobbing and sobbing. A boys heart was breaking with the seperation of he and his dog. Fastforward a few months and we had Mary trucked over to us in our new home. What a joyous day that was! As always, the Lord has provided us a way to keep Mary with all the moves since then, including this one. I praise God for the lessons He has taught Sheldon through this dog. The other night, I once again couldn't sleep so I layed there listening to Mary have doggy dreams. She was wimpering and her legs were moving. About this time Sheldon wakes up to go to the bathroom, he climbs down from the top bunk and stops to kneel down at Mary's side. He pets her and tells her it's OK. He even goes on to tell her that it is just a dream and it will all go away! He goes on to the bathroom (this is to my relief as I was afraid he would pee his pants) when he comes back he stops again at Marys side. He pets her, hugs her and tells her that it is all better now. He then tells her that he is going back to bed but she doesn't need to be scared because he is right there, and if she needs him, she can get him! Too cute! I enjoyed this glimpse into the heart of my son, what a treasure it will always be for me. He doesn't know I was awake and he doesn't need to know, becuase it was a special time for just a boy and his dog! |
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All went well last week. It has been a week of recovery, but I think I am on the home stretch now! We ended up taking the week off of school which wasn't the plan, but what was needed. Now I'm just trying to get back into the grove of things. Today is our Friday so after the next two days of "weekend" I'm sure we will be right back up to normal. |
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I am having oral surgery done on Tuesday morning. While I am looking forward to having the problems fixed, I am not looking forward to the recovery! The doctor told me to expect four days of being out of commission, and being on light duty for a few days after that. I have been doing some preperations for the time when I will be down. First off, I am trying to do all that I can to promote quick healing without complications. I have been loading myself with Vitamin C and immune supporting herbs. I will also take some liver supporting herbs to help my already overly taxed liver process all the medicines. Second, we have come up with a plan of complete rest for me for the first few days. To help with this Lee and I did a complete cleaning of our room this last weekend. Floors, under beds, dusting, the whole nine yards. We have not been able to open a window in there since we got here and this has really bothered me. But my fabulous husband worked at it and he got it to open a bit! My hero!!! Fresh air does a body good! I have put the children back on breakfast passes. We haven't picked this back up since we moved, and our mornings have been less than smooth running. So breakfast passes we go! Why didn't I think of this earlier? Breakfast passes are a checklist of things that have to be completed before they are able to eat breakfast. They hand me a completed pass and I hand them a breakfast plate or bowl. No pass, or incomplete pass, no food! A couple of weeks ago, I pulled Sadie (7) aside and told her that I was giving her the responsibility of the familiy's laundry. She is now completly in charge of it! This is a HUGE undertaking and responsibility, therefore this is her only responsiblity as far as keeping the house clean and running. With a family of eight, we have a ton of laundry. We do have it down to two loads a day though. She sorts it, washes it, puts it in the dryer and then supervises the folding (Jared 4, and Ellie 5 are required to help with the folding), and then puts it away. She was very happy to take on this responsibility and is doing a wonderful job. The first week I walked her through each step, each dial, each load. The second week, I let her do it while I shawdowed her and helped her if she had questions. Then I handed the job over to her. I reassured her that I have complete trust in that she knows what she is doing. I also explained to her that really, she can't mess it up. Sure, somethings might come out a different color, and some might shrink, but all in all that is OK, no big deal. This seems to be just the encouragement she needed and is quite confident in her job. I already have a menu planner set up, so that will help a lot with the making of the meals. I have each days meals listed a week in advance. I am going tomorrow to buy the groceries for the week, so they will be on hand. I am so glad that I have already implemented this system (I have been doing this since the beginning of last summer or so) as this will be big help to Lee. Praise God for the wisdom He gives us! I pray that these things will make it easier for Lee. He can "handle" six children quite well, but I would like to bless him by making things run more smoothly. I'm sure he will take the children on a special outing (a day at the park, fishing, a drive and a picnic, or a hike in the mountains) too, he is so great about that! I am so blessed to have a husband that can run the ship while I am down, without thinking about it, to have children on board with pulling extra weight while I am down, and that the funds have been provided for me to even get this thing fixed; blessed indeed! P.S. Can someone explain to me while there is no spell checker on this form? I cannot be the only bad speller on homeschool blogger!
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OK, well we tried the pork expirment this evening. We just bought the cheapest piece of pork we could find, which was a loin chop. We poured coke over it and did not see worms! Whew! Now, I still believe that this is very possible, but honestly I believe it can be possible with beef or chicken also. We did this because I felt if I was putting the info on my blog, I should check it out. Also, because well honestly, we thought it would be cool! We still will not eat pork. This is something we have prayed about, and feel this is something the Lord is asking of our family. We have read not just articles like the one in my post below but also scientific studies. So there you go, our personal results. If any of you try it, please let me know your findings! |
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we don't eat pork! This is an article from a recent newsletter from Nancy Cambell of Above Rubies. At the end of the article I will tell our story of pork. PORK AWARENESS Try this and see whether the pork you bought has worms. If you pour Coke (yes, the soda) on a slab of pork, wait a little while, you will SEE WORMS crawl out of it. A message from the Health Corporation of Singapore about the bad effects of pork consumption. Pig's bodies contain MANY TOXINS, WORM and LATENT DISEASES. Although some of these infestations are harboured in other animals, modern veterinarians say that pigs are far MORE PREDISPOSED to these illnesses than other animals. This could be because PIGS like to SCAVENGE and will eat ANY kind of food, INCLUDING dead insects, worms, rotting carcasses, excreta including their own, garbage, and other pigs. INFLUENZA (flu) is one of the MOST famous illnesses which pigs share with humans. This illness is harboured in the LUNGS of pigs during the summer months and tends to affect pigs and human in the cooler months. Sausage contains bits of pigs' lungs, so those who EAT pork sausage tend to SUFFER MORE during EPIDEMICS of INFLUENZA. Pig meat contains EXCESSIVE quantities of HISTAMINE and IMIDAZOLE compounds, which can lead to ITCHING and INFLAMMATION; GROWTH HORMONE which PROMOTES INFLAMMATION and growth; sulphur containing mesenchymal mucus which leads to SWELLING and deposits of MUCUS in tendons and cartilage, resulting in ATHRITIS, RHEUMATISM, etc. Sulphur helps cause FIRM human tendons and ligaments to be replaced by the pig's soft mesenchymal tissues, and degeneration of human Four and a half years ago, I became very ill. As a result of this I ended up having my gallbladder and my apendix removed at 3wks and 6wks postpartum. (NOT fun, let me tell you!) But through this, I began to study health issues. I had a special interest in toxins in our food. While doing this research I started reading all kinds of information like the information above. YUCK! At the same time, we began studying some old testament scriptures. I came across the food laws, and what I found out was a corrilation between the unclean foods of the bible and foods that scientist have discovered bad for our health! Go figure, God was right all along!! I encourage all of you to research this out for yourself just for the awareness. I also encourage you to research this out before you pass judgement on those who chose to eat more aware, and most certainly before you question a persons decission on this! Please don't think that if the food was toxic for us the government wouldn't "allow" it. We thought along these lines for some time. At least be informed as to what you are eating! Oh by the way, we haven't tried the coke on pork thing. But we will this week! I'll let you know if this was our finding! Just thinking about it makes me seriously want to throw up! |
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We had such a wonderful day today. We slept in late (it is our weekend), and woke up feeling refreshed. Lee had something to do in town, so I made meatloaf and put it in the fridge for dinner and then peeled and cut up the potatoes and put in pans of water to be boiled for mashed potatoes. The children played outside, and I watched them out the window while in the kitchen. We had beautiful sun and warm winter weather, the sun shining in all the windows was beckoning us to the outdoors. When Lee got home we had lunch, got everyone presentable and headed to a local park. We visted the duck pond, watched ice skaters skate on the outdoor rink, and played and played on the playground! As the sun ducked down behind the mountain, it became quite nippy but this didn't stop the children. Silly Zachary doesn't like to play at playgrounds, not even with Daddy and Mommy right by his side. He chose to sit in the stoller and watch for most of the time! I took him for a walk in the stroller for some different scenery up the path a ways. Oh how I enjoyed this walk. Walking on the path through the trees with the creek just below us. The fresh Pacific Northwest cool air in my lungs. I felt more alive than I have in a long time! Oh, it's good to be home in the West! |
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OK, so this is just one of my pet-peeves. But I want the whole world to understand that, CORN IS A GRAIN, NOT A VEGETABLE!!!! So dear mothers, please do not give your children a serving of corn and tell them to eat their veggies! |
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Here is some of the going on's in our family: ~we spent three days down with Lee's family last to celebrate Christmas with them. All had a great time! ~all four of our boys birthdays are in January, so we start celebrating various things in November and don't stop until the end of January, whew I'm wiped out! ~we are dreaming of our garden we will plant this winter, going over seed catalogs making lists of what we would like to plant ~the boys have been collecting scraps of wood to make frames for our garden. we will be doing square foot gardening this year as we will be able to do it anywhere we end up ~on days when the temperatur is near freezing or below Lee is unable to work. we love having him home but he doesn't get paid. we have had a few too many of these days. ~the Lord blessed the children with a few days of snow! this is unusal for our area and of course it started snowing right after I explained to our children that the snow level was going to be higher than our elevation level and we would not be getting snow. I sure felt like a fool!!! ~Austin has been going to work with Lee when he works with my Dad, and a couple of times when Lee wasn't there. he enjoys this and he has a wonderful work ethic! ~our one and only outing for the week is one morning a week we go to our good friends house and do science. our children LOVE this, and it quite the highlight of the week. ~we are taking field trips to various farms. Austin has a strong desire to become a farmer and we would like to expose him to the various types of farming. Lee and I love animals so this is great fun for both of us and brings back memories of our childhood years and keeps our dreams alive to get back to the country! ~we continue to pray about a family business ~we are still praying and waiting for the Lord to show us His path for the next leg of our adventure |
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On our grocery list this week was tea! This makes me giggle and do a little woo-hoo, because I love tea. I bought a new tea by Celestial Seasonings it is Vanilla Apple White. White tea is typically not one of my favorites, but it sounded yummy! On the side of the box is a quote that I thought I would share. Diamonds and fancy cars don't make a life we remember. It's the quiet picnics in the orchard, the sudden yellow of a dandelion bursting through a crack in the sidewalk, and hot sand between your toes at the beach. It's a small child grabbing your hand, the ecstasy of puppy tails welcoming you home. These are our everyday treasures, what we take with us as we drift into slumber and what welcomes us back to each new day. ~Naomi Hoshino Horii I agree! |
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I would like to start off by saying that I in no way have it all together in this area! This is just an area the Lord has been speaking to Lee and I in, here of late. I have made much improvments in this area but am still learning. So, I left my last post with the questions of what does capturing our children's hearts look like, and how do we do this. KEEP YOUR CHILDREN WITH YOU! I have found this to be so very important! We as a family no longer have our children go to Sunday school or Children's Church, they sit with us. We don't participate in activities that sperate us, such as homeschool co-ops where all the children are in different classes. Our children also don't socialize without us. For instance they don't go over to a friend's house to play. We socialize as a family. We invite entire families over to "play". We want our children to think of these activities as family activities and see that it is so much funner having the whole family doing them. We don't want friends, Sunday School teachers, co-op classes to capture our childrens hearts. We want to be the center of their hearts. The bible tells us that foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. Well, when you get a bunch of foolish hearts together all you end up with is a bunch of fools! That is NOT what we desire for our children! We have also found that keeping our children with us throughout the day at home makes a difference. Instead of having the children go play, I encourage them to play wherever I am. Now, this has been a struggle for me, I will admit. When I need to get something done, I want to roll up my selves and get down to business. But this is being selfish. I HAVE to put my selfishness aside! I have to realize it is more important that we have our children's hearts than the dinner gets done perfectly and quickly. One of the ways I have found this to work at dinner time is to rotate my helpers. Each day, one of the children gets to be my helper in the kitchen (on the 7th day, Daddy is my helper!). This gives them extra one on one time. The other children play, read, or such nearby often times on the floor of the kitchen. I desire to sew, knit, do crafts, make our food from scratch and all such things. But the Lord has spoken to me that now is not neccissarly the time for these things. Because when I do these things, I want the children to go off and play. Now is the time for me to go off and play with them! Keeping our children's hearts means investing in our children constantly. Now, I am not saying that children should be spoiled and have Dad and Moms attention all day long, at every wimper. I am saying that we need to work with our children and play with our children. Just because we are home all day doesn't mean we are interacting with them. Doesn't mean that something else isn't getting their hearts. If they are off playing for hours, then whatever they are playing is going to capture their heart. Yes, our children have quite time. Yes, they have bed times. After they go to bed Lee and I have time to do our own things (blogging, reading, knitting, watching movies). I am not suggesting you don't do anything grown- up during the day. Sure I blog and do other stuff during the day, I just try to keep my children where I am instead of shooing them off. If I am on the computer, I have them do school work, play, read, crafts or whatnot in the same room. I interact with them, I look at what they are doing frequently and show an interest. No, it hasn't always been this way. There was a time that I would get on the computer for a couple of hours and tell the children to go play. Well, play they did. Even though I could hear them (pretty much) foolish things were happening! Having our children respect us and love us is having their hearts. Our children desiring to be with us rather than to do any other thing is having their hearts. If your child could do their very favorite thing, would they want to do it with a friend, a sibling, or you? If it's not you, you probably don't have their heart. Ouch, huh? I know, I am speaking to myself here. I don't feel like I am doing this subject justice. This is very important! Until a few years ago, I hadn't even ever thought about this. Then when I did hear about keeping our children's hearts, I agreed with what I was hearing, I believed it to be true. But, I didn't know how to get our children's hearts. So, I prayed! I continually asked the Lord to show me how to get my children's hearts, to give me ideas, to guide me. I also started praying the the Lord would turn Lee's heart toward our children. I see the fruit of these prayers and I continue to pray in this way. Some resources I have found to be helpful in this area are: vision forum (they have an excellent cd series called Give Me Your Heart, Son that a friend recently loaned us and we are gleaming much from it!), Above Rubies magazine, Making it Home magazine, Steve and Teri Maxwell's ministry, a book titled Sheparding a Child's Heart, also my dear friend speaks of this on her blog and has recently, strivingforproverbs31 is her blog here on homeschoolblogger. I pray that this will reach just one person and help them in some way. |
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Heart issues is what has been on my heart here of late. My heart issues, our children's heart issues, and heart issues of those around us, as well as heart issues of the America society in general. Whew, a heavy topic! We have a vision for our children. This is a vision that has evolved over time, and will continue to do so as the Lord leads. Our vision for our children is a lot different now than it was even six years ago. Praise God! Parts of our vision are still a bit hazy, especially when it comes to the fine details. One area that the Lord has made very clear is that what it boils down to is having our children's hearts. It is not enough for us to take our children to church, to read the Bible to them, to homeschool them, to pray with them. While all of these are essential, it is NOT enough. I firmly believe that all of these things are not enough for any Christian family! It is easy for us and many if not most Christain parents to get lax in this area. Infact I believe many Christian parents don't even realize the need. Getting our children's hearts and keeping them are hard work, no doubt about it! One of the ways the Lord has brought this to our attention is through one of our friends. You see this family has three children with the youngest now being 20. We have known this family for 10 years. This family homeschooled their children, they taught them to have daily devotions, the read the bible to them each day, and they took them to church with them twice a week. But, they didn't capture their children's hearts, as is evident now as these children are leaving home. What a heart ache for these parent's! Oh, the cry of this mother. You see, one of their daughters met a "Christian" man, and they began dating. He spent lot's of time with the family and treated her like a princess. But, there was one issue that put question marks into the parent's minds. Because of the way he treated her and interacted with their family, the parent's spoke to there child and shared their concern in this one area. But, she pleaded her case, the situation was made out to be a very light thing, and ultimately she married him. Two weeks after their marriage union he began verbally and emotionaly abusing her! They have been married a few months now and are in counsuling which is good, but they have a long road ahead and she has suffered such heartache! Our hearts are so saddened for this girl we think of as a neice. Oh, the heartache of this young girl, this young wife. I cried thinking of her and how that could be one of our daughters. You see, in the eyes of the Christian community, the parent's did everything right while parenting these children. They did all the things the Christian parenting books tell us to do. But in the end, it was not enough. Speaking with these friends, they see where they went wrong. But they didn't have the vision when their children were young. They didn't even know what captuing their children's hearts was or what it would look like. They didn't have others in their lives to share these important concepts with. Oh, how the church at large has become watered down. You see, if these parent's had their daughters heart when they had any question at all about this man, she would have fleed from him. Her Daddy would have been the love of her life and if her Daddy had questions she would have dropped everything and clinged to him. Dear Mother's do you have your children's hearts? Are you working every day to capture their hearts? And, how do we do this? What does capturing our children's hearts mean? I must go for now, and I need to be capturing my children's hearts at this moment. But I will write a part two, soon. In the meantime, pray about your children's hearts, pray about your heart. Listen and obey Him! |
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I am still around, just being quite! This is a season of change, trusting, stretching, and most importantly waiting. Waiting on the Lord to reveil to us His plan, His path for us on our adventure.
This has been good. We are enjoying being "home" in the West. But, at the same time, this is very hard on our family. It is a daily fight to keep us a family. To keep adverse influences abay. But, if you have read my testimony you know that we have been through these times before. This is a time to cling closer to Jesus. This is a time for us to come under his wings and be in his safety.
We are living with my parent's. Which is an adventure in it's self! Lee was able to get a job working for his old boss which is a blessing. All this we feel is temporary. We know the Lord has brought us back West, now we just wait to see where He wants us.
We have yet been able to get our computer up and going, so I have limited time online. Which really is OK with me.
I have a heavy heart and would like to share. I just don't have the words to share without it coming across as negative and dishonoring. I just don't feel it is time to share publicly all our hopes and plans. So, until the Lord gives me words to share I will keep quite.
We are excited to see where the Lord takes us next! |
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Hi All,
Just wanted to let you know that we made it! The trip went well, and we are all doing good. It took longer than expected, but that is OK. We left PA on the 1st and arrived here in the Northwest on Monday the 13th.
I am not getting settled in as quickly as I had hoped, and this frustrates me. Everything does not have a place, and everything is not in it's place. Grrrr......... This makes for frustrating times all day long.
There is much to do! |
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Well, we are on our last leg of packing. This is the hard part for me. I have to keep reminding myself that it is just like giving birth. This is the last few pushes!
Yesturday, some men and boys from our church came and helped move all the big stuff. That was a huge blessing!
After church today we have continued the packing. We still have a bit to pack, and then will need to go through and do a very through cleaning of the whole house. It is Sunday evening and we have all day tomorrow and then will leave first thing Tuesday morning.
I am feeling overwhelmed, discouraged, weary, worn out. I am on the computer because I just had a melt down and I need a break. I have a chest cold, actually I am pretty sure it is more than that. I have been fighting this off and on for a few weeks now. I have been taking extra Vitamin C, garlic, raw honey, and some herbals. I think I am so worn out that my body can't fight it. I will try to get into the dr. tomorrow. We have so much to do yet.
We leave Tuesday, and I think we had planned on it taking 9 or 10 days to drive across the states. That is with a couple day stay with Lee parent's. We are looking forward to being back home, but at the same time are feeling a bit anxious about living with my parent's.
What I am finding really puzzling, is how do people do things like this without Christ? How do they go through hard times? I know I could not do it without Him!
This encourages me to continue to share the gospel of Christ, so that others may find rest, help, and strength.
I am so glad that we don't have to do this alone! I CAN do all things with Christ who strengthens me! |
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Trust
~Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.~
The last several months the Lord has really been working on me in the area of trust. Trusting Him in all things to be exact! He has spoken to me and showed me that my full trust should not be in my control, in the power of myself or others, my trust should not be in people, circumstances, things or devices. My trust has to be in Him, and Him alone!
Lets look at the definition of trust in Websters 1828 dictionary.
n. confidence that which is committed to ones care credit given without examination care; management v.t. to place confidence in; to rely on to believe to commit to the care of in confidence to venture confidently
Dear ladies, are you placing all your trust in the Lord? Are you trusting Him in submitting to your husband? Or, are we putting on submissiveness to our husband then turning to our girlfriend or self and saying, "Im so nervous, he thinks we should...?" Not only is that not submitting and being a helper to your husband, but your husbands heart will not safely trust in you, and more importantly that is not trusting God to direct your husband.
The Lord calls us to submit to our husbands. Therefore, we need to just do it and have full confidence (trust) in the Lord to work in our husbands and take charge of them. Psalms 34:7 tells us to "be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him..." Often we need to wait patiently, put our full confidence (trust) in the Lord, and believe (trust) that He will work in our husbands, and direct them in His ways. There have been times when I was fearful of decisions my husband was making or not making for that matter. I would think, "but oh, if we do such and such we could stumble and fall, there might be danger down that path, is he sure this is right? He has been wrong before." But you know what, the Lord delights in us when we are helpers (not naggers) to our husbands! And the bible tells us that when the Lord delights in our ways, our steps will be firm, even if we stumble, we wont fall. It tells us that the Lord upholds us with His hand! WOW! How awesome!
Have you committed the care of (trust) of your fertility to the Lord? Have you placed confidence in and relied on (trust) the Lord to give you the number of children He desires for you? Whether it be no children, two, four, seven, ten, or even eighteen children? Were not talking about your desires but His. Ouch, this can be a hard one!
I have had my own thoughts and times of fear with this one. We have had times of poverty, I have serious health conditions which a pregnancy could adversely affect, I at times barely manage to keep the ones I have in line, fed, and cleaned. But you know what? Every time I honestly came before the Lord and poured out my heart, told Him exactly how I felt, He always had the same answer! "Do you trust Me enough to believe (trust) that I know what is best for you?" If I was going to be honest with him, I had to search my heat, my soul, my whole being. And at one point I had to sit at my Fathers feet and say, "no Father, I dont have full confidence (trust) in you. Im too scared of the consequences to trust in you." Well, just think about what happens (or most certainly should happen) if your child looked at your husband and said "NO!" It is the same with our heavenly father!!!
Thankfully our God is so gracious and loving. He extended me mercy and grace He walked and talked me through my fears and thoughts, He showed me His ways, He changed my heart. He has directed my paths. God is so good!
There are many areas that we all need to work on in regards to trusting the Lord. These are just two of the areas the Lord has worked on, in me. I want to remind you not to look at things on the surface. Look at them through the eyes of your heavenly father. If you are confident that you belong to Christ then please consider again that we belong to Christ, we are His for Him to do what He wants with us! (2 Corinthians 10:7)
You see, its not about us, its not about our husband, its not about what will or will not happen. Its all about Him! He loves us so much that he sent His son to be persecuted, beaten, and to die for us. He love us that much! Dont you think that we should at least show our love back to Him by trusting Him with all our hearts, just as He asks?!
Ladies, please do not let your hearts be troubled over anything. Do not live in worry or fear. Trust God and trust in Jesus! (John 14:1) For, whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. (Proverbs 29:25) Did you hear that? You are, and will be kept safe if you trust in the Lord! WOW!
Picture yourself basking in the Fathers presence as his unfailing love surrounds you. (Psalms 31:10) Come under his wing and be warm, safe and protected. Sit in His lap with full confidence (trust) in Him. Lean into Him and rely on Him (trust) as He folds you in His arms. He loves you and wants what is best for you!
Remember it is much scarier to say "NO" to your father than to simply trust him!
From my heart, ~RaShea~
Please Note: If you are not confident that you belong to Christ, then please contact me so that I can talk to you about that! |
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Well, we have two weeks until the big move! With this colder weather we have been having, it spurs us on to work quickly! I am quite sensitive to extreme temperatures and this bitter cold is really getting to me. Praise God, He is sending us to a place that does get cold but not bitter cold! He is so good!
Ellie, Zachary, and Jared all have come down with a croupy cold. Ugh.... My first thought was, not now! But, you know what, so what if I don't get everything packed in the order we would ideally like? I need to comfort my sick children. They need nourishing meals, tea, and to be held. Lee reminded me that the work will get done, it always does. How I needed that encouragement.
My sister and her family came up on Saturday and spent the night. We had a wonderful time being together as families. This will be the last time we see them for awhile.
I still have lots of packing and sorting to be done. We have a couple more dentist appointments, and then we will be ready to go.
I am still pondering what to do with an active 20 month old boy in the car for seven days, any suggestions?
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Well, we have three weeks from yesturday until we leave! WOW!
It seems that "life" just won't stop so we can move! I have been feeling very overwhelmed. There is just so much to do, besides all the mental, physical, and emotional energy this is all taking. I spent a good long time in The Word last night. What a refreshing for my soul! The Lord really spoke to me through Psalms. Thank You, Lord!
I took a day off from project move today. Part of me feels guilty, and part of me knows how much I need the rest.
Amongst all the other things, I have been working on putting together things for the children to do on the drive over. I am putting state folders together with activities for each state we go through for the older three, and lots of fun things for the little ones to do from childcareland.com and the corresponding yahoo group. I have put our printer to work on this one! I have printed several file folder games, books, matching and sorting type games for the little ones. I haven't come up with much for Zachary to do. Ugh....... what to do with an active 20 month old boy for seven days in the car?
This week will be a busy week for us. I have doctor appointments, we have a dentist appointment (which is an hour drive each way), and a few other "have-to's", Sadie's birthday is Friday (I can't believe my little girl is going to be 7!), Saturday a friend of mine invited me to got to a ladies tea with her at our chuch (this will be the last time of us getting together), and Saturday afternoon my sister and her family will be coming up for the night! WHEW!! Oh yeah, and we still have a ton of packing to do!
I am going to work on all those print-outs I have for the children before heading to bed. After Zachary falls asleep I will have my most treasured time, my time with my Father!
I am so thankful that I have the Lord to get me through this. Really, He is doing it all! Praise be to God! |