God’s Contract

Do you ever doubt what you believe? I don’t mean little doubts that creep up sometimes, but REAL life and death doubts. For example: Have you ever doubted if there is an eternity? Have you ever doubted if God is real? Have you ever doubted that the Bible is true? Have you ever thought that maybe you have bought into a lie?

I’ve been wrestling with these questions.

WHOA! Time Out! You are a Bible Teacher, a homeschool mom teaching Bible to her kids, a professing Christian of over 27 years…how can you be throwing around questions like this?

Yes. I confess. I have been wrestling with some major questions. God feels distant from me. Sundays feel like I’m “going through the motions.” When teaching the kids at Awana I find myself asking, “Do I even believe this stuff?”

We Are Worth More Than…Cookies?

I have always prided myself on my Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookie making skills. I’ve always been told by people that mine taste better than theirs. They ask me what I do, etc. Perhaps they are just being nice, but my husband sure likes the chocolate chip cookies. I have to fight him off just to have dough to cook.

So I’m embarrassed to show these.

I was 1/4 c short of flour with no other substitute except Bisquick and I didn’t think about that until I had already put the cookies in the oven.

I’m so ashamed! They are flat, the chips are all in the middle, and they are chewy around the edges. They do taste ok. My husband has already eaten three of them.

I’m so glad my worth is not based upon my cookie making skills!!

What recipe have you made that totally failed?

Out of the Mouths of Babes…

I went looking for the kids this afternoon as they were playing outside. I found Sweet Cheeks hoeing in the garden.

Me: Whoa! What are you doing?
Sweet Cheeks: Mama! There’s grass growing in the garden. I want to hoe it for daddy.Me: You don’t need to do that. Daddy can till it another day.
Sweet Cheeks: No Mama. I want to hoe it for Daddy so he doesn’t have to till. I want to take his place, just like Jesus died and took my place.

I had no words after that.

Are You Ready to Die? I Don’t Think I Am.

A good friend of mine and I were walking yesterday. The topic of the bombing in Boston came up. We both couldn’t believe that someone would do something so awful, but we also recognized that we live in a world of sin.

And I made the comment, “Perhaps this is just one more thing God uses to remind us that this is not our home.”

My mind and heart have been wrestling over this topic for months now. Ever since my husband’s father died back in August it’s been in the forefront of my thoughts. I’ve spoken with my husband about it, but I still feel the fingers of fear creep over my heart when I think about it.

Death.

Are you ready? Those of us who claim to be Christians, and have Jesus living inside of us, should be.

Retrospectives for Life

Retrospectives. Have you ever heard that term before? I had not until just recently because I think it’s more of a term from the business/computer world. We reflect all the time. It’s built into our human nature. But sometimes we need to sit down and intentionally think retrospectively.

Retrospective: To take a look back at events that have already taken place.

People like to say we “learn by experience.” Is that really true? Think of a yo-yo dieter, or the person who has been married three or four times, or the last time you had a “discussion” with your child over the exact same thing done incorrectly. If we learned by experience, perhaps we wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. But we do. At least I do.

May I Encourage You? ~ Cling and Don’t Let Go

Can you imagine it? He was deep asleep only to be woken up by someone wrestling with him. He was a worthy opponent. Very strong, nimble, and a quick thinker. The fight continued. The assailant touched the hip of the other causing the bones to jerk out of place. And yet the tussle continued on. But at one point Jacob had his opponent in some type of headlock. He asked Jacob to let him go. Jacob refused, clung to him, and said, “I will not let you go until you bless me!”

I’m Sorry…My Kids Don’t Believe in the Easter Bunny.

I was prepared at Christmas. I had the whole comment worked out in my head when the question would be asked…

The unsuspecting person would smilingly look down at my kids and say, “So what is Santa going to bring you?”

I had the kids prepared. We tell the truth, in love. And the person would either nod his head with understanding and say, “Great!” OR I’d get the head shake of pity. At times a heated discussion would take place. But in the end, my husband and I will be held responsible for the training of our children and both of us strongly agree that Santa should not be seen as real in any way, shape, or form in our household.

So when the grocery manager asked, “Is the Easter Bunny coming to your house tonight?” I nearly fell out. I hadn’t really thought about it. I was not prepared.

Lessons Learned from a Pie in the Face

It seemed like a glorious idea. Our original idea fell through the cracks and never did seem to work out, so at the last minute we had to change the reward. And pies it was.

Let me back up a minute…

My Awana kids are working on raising money for the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund. They’ve been collecting money since January and for certain dollar amounts brought in, I would add animals to our barnyard so they could see how much they had brought in. They’ve added chickens, ducks, rabbits, and bee hives so far. So when March came around, the other Commanders and I wanted to increase the motivation a little and have some memorable fun.

Feeling Overwhelmed? You Aren’t the Only One

A sweet friend of mine leaned across the choir row to me this morning before church and said, “I am so glad I saw your Facebook post about feeling overwhelmed! I have been too. You seem to always have it all together!”

Oh my! I need to stop this lie right now!

Here is my post from my personal FB page:

I am feeling so overwhelmed right now. I don’t know which way to turn. And it’s not bad stuff…just a lot of stuff. I’m trying to prioritize so I don’t shut down. I’m needin’ a little power that doesn’t belong to me. Just breathe and do the next thing…

Now keep in mind that this blog is all about being real and being honest. So please humor me while I honestly set the record straight: I do not have it all together.

Do You Really KNOW Who Your Friends Are?

You would think by now, since I’m 40 years old, that I’d have figured out this thing called “Friendship.” Perhaps I have so many hang-ups and insecurities when it comes to others because I still have that “middle school girl friendship mindset” at times. You may recognize it as, “I’ll be your friend if you don’t hang out with that other person,” or “I won’t be your friend because you talked to her.” Girl friendships while growing up are unpredictable and difficult. Nerve wracking. And I’ve learned to NEVER put girls together in groups of 3′s. (That can be disastrous in the classroom!) Girls really can be mean to each other.