One of the reasons I like Nancy Leigh DeMoss (Revive Our Hearts) is because she isn’t afraid of the tough issues: today’s broadcast – “Embracing God’s Gift of Children/A Full Quiver”.

You can read/listen to the broadcast here.

I have to get busy doing something useful…but I thought I’d post this thought before I forget.

I apologize in advance if it doesn’t make much sense.

I’ve been pondering whether or not I am partially to blame (at fault) when a fellow Christian falls into sin. What I mean is…am I just as guilty as they are because I didn’t pray for them when I should have? As in -- before they fell into sin.

Especially if:

a. I knew they were young Christians that were started (encouraged) into ministry or jumped into ministry too soon.

b. I saw or discerned a certain spiritual immaturity that showed little or no growth over time.

c. I knew they had the potential to fall due to visible anger problems, pride, marital issues, lack of love, a greater love for theology than for the person and people of God, etc.

So, is it a sin not to pray before the fall?

I confess that I don’t always pray. I often think about it and even mention it to Mark…I even know that it will help..but for some reason (pride, selfishness, laziness) I still don’t follow through.

So does this mean that I am I just as guilty as they are? Complicit? Does my “lack” of words bind them (Matthew 16:19) instead of freeing them through prayer?

Just pondering. This could be totally unscriptural, but I’m wondering. The bible says that we will be held accountable for every careless word we speak (Matthew 12:36-37). Will we be also be held accountable for every prayer we didn’t pray?

Just something I'm pondering.

“After years of insisting there is no evidence to link vaccines with the onset of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the US government has quietly conceded a vaccine-autism case in the Court of Federal Claims.” 

Wow!

Read the rest of this article by David Kirby HERE.

Today I’m thinking about what it means to be a servant mother.  

Servant motherhood...hmmm...               

I’ve realized that over the last eight months I’ve forgotten or conveniently put aside the idea of servant motherhood. I’m not sure how or when this happened, but it has and over the last few months I’ve allowed myself to become irritated by all the little interruptions in my day.  I’ve allowed one small (large) “lie” to roll around in my head and become my mantra.

It goes something like this, “I’m tired. I just don’t want to deal with that (kids, house, cleaning, problems, etc.) right now. I’m pregnant and I deserve a rest. This is my fifth child…surely I should be able to rest a little now?!” (LOL)

How often do we say things like this and believe them? How many magazines could I open up and find this “lie” in?

Taking a break once in awhile to rest and refresh myself is fine and necessary, but allowing this “lie” to roll around in my head is not. Maybe you don’t think it is a lie, I won’t argue with you, but I would challenge you to ponder it carefully.

Recently, the kids and I learned this bible verse “…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28.

This is a wonderful verse to ponder in light of our roles as mothers. We are not here in our role as mothers (and wives) to be served, but to serve…and to give our lives as Christ did.

Do we? In thought and action? I haven’t been.

Sally Clarkson puts it best when she writes, “Choosing to be a servant-mother means willingly giving up myself, my expectations, and my time to the task of mothering—and choosing to believe that doing so is the best use of my time at that moment.  It means that, by faith, I have already made a decision to make myself available in the routine tasks and myriad interruptions of daily life because I believe it is God’s will for me to serve my family through them. Making this choice ahead of time means I will expect problems and needs to arise and be ready to deal with them in peace instead of impatience and resentment.” (The Mission of Motherhood, pg. 66-67, bolding mine.)

In peace instead of impatience and resentment.

Do you hand your children off to your hubby the minute he comes in from slaying dragons and fighting bad guys? Do you demand “time” for yourself? Are you “tired” of your children? Are you angry when your “needs” aren’t met?

“…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve…”

Todd the Family Man put it well yesterday in the TOS Homeschool Minute (sorry I'm not sure how to link to the TOS Minute or his column) when he said that one of the best things we can do for our children is to always greet them with a smile. Amen to that.

So far I’ve had to get up four times since I started writing this.

1.  To take Bess to the potty. Smile

2. To take Bess back to the potty. Smile

3. To change Bess’ diaper, because she didn’t use the potty. Smile.

4.  To help Aaron get his breakfast (even though he is old enough to get his own breakfast). Smile.

“…we mothers need to recognize what a powerful effect our attitude has on our children.  Laying down our lives for them can indeed mean giving up, for their sakes, our right to wallow in our negative feelings.  And choosing the path of servant leadership certainly means making the effort to respond in faith to our circumstances and our feelings, turning to the Lord for help in maintaining a hopeful attitude.  The beauty of such an effort, of course is that it has the power to lift us up even as it sustains our children’s spirits.” –Sally Clarkson

Happy Valentine's Day!

This morning this phase kept repeating itself in my mind, “disruptions are normal, a life without disruptions is not.”  I knew that I’d read this yesterday, but I couldn’t remember where and I couldn’t remember the whole quote.

Well, the words were floating around in my mind driving me crazy so I backtracked everything I’d read yesterday until I finally figured out who said this. (I’m amazed that I actually found it considering the little bits of this and that that I read yesterday.) I don’t have the quote right, but the idea is the same. You can read the whole thing here. Susan Wise Bauer talks about how sickness (disruption) is a normal part of life and how we tend to view it as something out of the norm and she questions whether we should view our “normal” days as not the norm.

I wonder why we think disruptions are not the norm? Life is certainly full of them and they usually come right on the wing of our getting our life “in order”. HA! LOL.

Guess that shows us Who is really in control!

Maybe if we viewed our disrupted days as the norm we would appreciate our “normal” days more.

Just a some crazy thinking from my very disrupted mind. I’m ready for a little “normal”. LOL. Guess I need a paradigm shift.

 Lord, change the way I think.

Submission.

There it is. The ‘S’ word that women either dread or embrace. This week on Revive Our Hearts Nancy’s guest has been John Piper. You can listen to his message here.

My advice is...listen! 

blessings,

dani

Likewise, wives, be submissive to your own husbands… -1 Peter 3:1

So here is a question for you…

Let’s assume that you faithfully tithe 10% to your home church. Now let’s assume that God has placed a burden upon your heart to give more…Above and Beyond…and He has even placed an amount upon your heart. And this amount is a monthly amount, not a one-time gift…a monthly amount that you will give for several years to come.  Now let’s assume that this amount is way outside of your ability to give. Let’s assume that if you were to give this amount it would mean sacrificing something else…more than just cable, or a magazine subscription, or a few dinners out…it would mean using up your savings, or moving to smaller home or giving up a car. Let’s say it would mean a huge change in lifestyle. What do you do?

Do you step out in faith and trust that God will meet your needs?

Do you ignore the prodding?

Do make a deal (compromise) and tell God you will give what you can?

Now assume that you don’t tithe 10% and God is calling you to not only tithe 10%, but to also give above and beyond…but there is no room in your budget to give anything – maybe a few bucks here and there - but not 10% and certainly not above and beyond. What do you do? According to God you are upside down because the order should be

1.  Tithe

2.  Save

3.  Everything else

What do you do?

Before you answer, take a good look at your heart…really ponder this, think about the cost of sacrifice, think of something that you would have to sacrifice, then think about how your spouse would respond – would he/she follow your lead? Would your spouse be happy giving up what you have asked them to give up? And then, once you have pondered all of this and taken a good long look at your heart respond and let me know, What would you do?

“Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, ‘Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’ ‘Why do you ask me about what is good?  Jesus replied.  ‘There is only One who is good.  If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.’ ‘Which ones?’ the man inquired.  Jesus replied, ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.’ ‘All these I have kept,’ the young man said. ‘What do I still lack?’  Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.’”  -Matthew 19:16-21

“Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty.  But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ ‘Will a man rob God?  Yet you rob me.’  But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ ‘In tithes and offerings.  You are under a curse-the whole nation of you- because you are robbing Me. …Test me in this,’ Says the Lord Almighty, ‘And see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.’” –Malachi 3:7-10

blessings,

dani

Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For the with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. –Luke 6:38

I’ve been pondering the words Holy Experience.

After I wrote the last post the name of the blog -Holy Experience- kept repeating itself in my mind. (I’m odd that way.) I began to think, “What does she mean by that title?” And a whole wave of thoughts cut loose. Almost revolutionary thoughts…freeing thoughts…

As Christians we are familiar with God’s word which says, “Be holy for I am holy”. We want this…and yet, when we think about it, we think and relate it to sin. Or rather…not sinning. Be holy because God/Christ is holy – sinless. And this is true…

But, I started to think, “Have I viewed this pregnancy as something holy? Have I viewed my morning sickness as something holy? Do I view changing diapers as holy? Do I view my everyday life as a “holy experience”? If I do, then it changes the very way I interpret “be holy” from something I try to do to an attitude of living. Do you follow? I started to think, what if holiness isn’t just about  trying not to sin, and allowing the Holy Spirit to rule my life, but it is in truth a whole attitude shift…viewing life – all of it - as holy.         

The word experience is often used to describe a one-time something, “Wow, what an experience that was!” (Mark and I once saw lighting strike a light post 10 feet in front of us. That was an experience. A sight that we probably won’t see again in our life time and won’t forget any time soon.) But, now change the word experience to encompass all of life…and think of life as one long experience and then add the word holy. Life as a holy experience. Does it change the way you think?

Ask yourself, if you started to think of life as a holy experience –all of life, would it change the very way you live out your life? The way you view your every day?

I think it should…because it isn’t something we do…it is attitudinal. A shift in how we think about living – which (I think) should lead to a shift in the way we live. A shift that doesn’t take half as much effort as trying “not” to do something or trying to live/think a certain way.

What if we viewed all the bad (and good, and humdrum) things that happen to us as “holy experiences” given to us to draw us closer to God? Often we “know” that the bad things that happen are to mature us, and draw as closer to God…but do we think of them as holy? I’m back to the beginning…is morning sickness a holy thing? It doesn’t feel very holy, far from it…but what if I start to think of it as holy…then my attitude towards being sick changes and the whole act of being sick changes into something precious…almost a gift. (I think this is tied into praising God for the bad…the less than good that happens…but it also takes it a step further and says, “I’m not just going to praise you for this, I’m going to view this life as something precious, a holy gift, a way to live my life as holy unto you…because I view all of my life as holy.”)

A little free association: When I think of the word holy what other words come to mind? Beautiful, precious, blessing, gift, transient (something that if not cherished could be gone in an instant), and one of my favorite terms – unto the Lord. A life lived unto the Lord.

What does holy experience mean to you? Is your life lived (viewed by you) as a holy experience? Should it be?

blessings,

dani

I am the Lord who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. – Leviticus 11:45