I'm Gonna Be That!

Disclaimer: Please be patient with me as I experiment with the look and feel of my blog page. This is new territory for me!

So, yeah. A lot of my post (I dare say most...) are and will be about my children. It's the life I lead. However, even if you don't have kids, you are a Child of God and I hope you can find some encouragement here too.


Recently, I read a blog by Kat at Inspired to Action (Please check her out. Amazing and "Inspiring!") and her question was basically "What do you want your children to be?" I thought about that for a minute before reading further. 
Kind
Compassionate
Love God
Love others
Patient
Motivated
Those were just a few things. 


Reading on, she simply said, "Then Be That!" Wow. Truer words have never been written or read. It's not that I've never heard that or contemplated it. I think I was just in the right "place" to hear it and internalize it this time. And as I looked back on the last several months, I began to feel dread. The things that I have been are nothing like what I either want to be or want to pass on to my babies. I can blame first trimester pregnancy fatigue and hormone fluctuation, stress, holiday business and travel or a whole slew of other things. But it basically comes down to my commitment to raising my children and LIVING OUT those things I hope they will become. I'm not saying that there aren't days it's perfectly ok to have a pajama day and not "get it all done." But I am saying if the theme in my home is that, then what habits do I expect that my children will develop over time? 
Here's what I hope they will develop.


Galatians 5:22-26

²² "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other."

No small task, that's for sure. But I'm finding that immersing myself in the Word daily and first thing, has made an enormous impact on how our days play out. A personal goal of mine this year (in addition to what I wrote about yesterday in Not Looking Back) is to maintain this practice in spite of pregnancy, hormones, a newborn expected later this year and any other distractions that come along. (Discipline has never been my strong suit.) Now, don't get me wrong, perfection will not be achieved, but it is my greatest desire to grow and to be a Child of God that lives out His character. Let me just tell you how funny God is and how faithful he is in helping me achieve this goal already.

My intention is to get up at 6am and get my study done before I have to get Jackson up for school around 6:50. Today I woke up around 4:50. Really? "Now, God, you know I want to get up at 6 and do my study! Can't you let me at least sleep till closer to that?!" I dozed back off waking again at 5:40. Fine, but I am going to take advantage of the last 20 minutes I have. (Thinking in the back of my mind that I didn't care if I slept past 6 today. Que the oppositional defiant child in me.) Funny how God hears the thoughts in the back of my mind just as loudly as He hears the ones in the front. As I dozed, I began to dream. No idea what it was about, but in the dream, a phone rang really loudly startling me to the point that I jerked awake. Looked at the clock. 5:59am. Seriously. I had to laugh. God answered my hearts' desire and woke me up to get my study done-in spite of my planned defiance to sleep in. He knows I want (and more importantly NEED) that time with Him. And am I ever thankful. After an amazing study of James-through Beth Moore's James Mercy Triumphs study, I am ready to face the day with a smile and a renewed passion to ask for wisdom and believe that He will supply it!

So, what do you want your kids to be today? Who do you want them or others to believe that our God is? THEN BE THAT!

Striving to Be That- In the Meantime

Not Going Back

OK, so I plan to have a journey this year that tops all others in my life. I plan to know God in a way that I never have before and to really begin to embrace my calling as a wife, mother, and contributor to the greater calling of Christ to speak the truth in love and to leave the past just where it is. Past.
Recently, our pastor spoke on leaving the past behind and the inability to go back. Instantly, I was transported to times that I have glorified in my own mind as being the "good old days." Times when I was happy, comfortable, content-or so it seemed looking back on the surface. No, the "good old days" were not so grand as my romanticized view of them was before I started looking deeper, remembering more.
At the same time as I revisited the good old days, I visited the times of shame, struggle and sin that have been held over my head for years-by my own inability to let go and move on. Now, mind you, I was self-righteously justified in not letting go of these things. I "deserved" to still feel guilt, shame and remorse. I was wrong. I shouldn't get off so easy. Right...That's exactly the type of thinking that gets you stuck in the past and stunts your growth in Christ. There are few greater tools that the enemy uses to hold us back than guilt. I'm done with that.
Through the pastor's sermon that first January morning, I found my verse for this year. My theme, if you will.

"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:12-14 NKJV)


I haven't gotten there yet, and pray that I never do. I want to always keep moving forward. I want to hold to the lessons I have learned and to use those to teach, inspire and help others. I want Jesus to "lay hold of me" and help me to always reach forward. 
I have long told my children when they are riding their bikes or power wheels to look forward. "If you're looking behind you, you can't see where you're going!" And often times they have driven right into obstacles because they were looking back. Just like us when we get stuck in the past.  
What are you looking back on? Is it so important that you are willing to run head first into that tree up ahead? I say the same to you (and myself) "If you're looking behind you, you can't see where you're going!" And I want to see where I'm going this year! God has GOOD things in store for His children and I don't want to miss out on that because I'm looking behind instead of reaching forward to those things which are ahead. Join me this year in putting your eyes both forward and upward.


Looking Ahead,
In the Meantime