1000th post

Just by happenstance I noticed that this is my 1000th post...

The Lord has taught me so much since we started this blog back in 2007 to keep friends and family updated on our move to the Seminary...

I never could have imagined all that we would walk through in the following 8 years...

How God walked us through moving our family away from such a precious community of friends at the seminary to our first congregation...

How God somehow sustained and carried us through the very lonely and devastating loss of our son Samuel...

How God wove into our hearts new passions and desires for adoption and serving the orphans in Uganda and Haiti...

How God  knocked our socks off by His amazing faithfulness and provision ALWAYS...

And how He  knew exactly what we need in moving our now family of 9 across the country again...

Don't ever for a moment think that He can't provide for you and move mountains to bring beauty from your ashes...

So I thought I would share 10 things today that the Lord has taught me since I started this blog 8 years ago...

And just so you know... I know that I won't ever be finished learning till I reach my heavenly home... What a work in progress I am... But I am so VERY thankful for His gentleness in teaching me new things...

So here we go... 10 bits of advice or lessons learned from the Lord by this busy, frazzled, grateful mama...

1.  Stop comparing... I think the comparison trap is one of most used tactics of the devil... "My car isn't as nice, my kids aren't as well behaved, my marriage isn't as fulfilling, my house is so much smaller, I wish I was smaller like her..."  Comparing ourselves with others breeds discontentment in our lives.  In this day and age with social media the draw to compare is even more present... I challenge you to step away from the comparison trap and begin working towards being thankful in all things... And remember, things aren't always as they appear... It is pretty easy now to portray a certain image to people who don't really know you in real life... Rest in the knowledge that God has plans all designed for you... specifically you... that no one else could fulfill.

2.  Trust that no matter the hardship He WILL bring beauty from your ashes   It is as if he can take and plant the shattered pieces of a broken heart and bring a new beautiful life forth from all the hurt that you experienced.  It possibly won't look like the life you had before... but it will be a new life with a richness that you didn't know before...
Know that no matter how alone you feel... HE IS ALWAYS THERE... Even in the darkest of times or when the Lord seems to be silent... Cling to the promises of His word.  Our feelings can come and go but His word is always true!    Never will I leave you, Never will I forsake you...

3.  Have fun and enjoy your kids.  It is so easy to get overwhelmed by all we want to teach our children.  We want to instill our values and faith, we want to fill them up with all of the best experiences so that they can be the best that God has for them to be.  It is easy to get consumed with all the world promotes as most important when it comes to raising kids...the world's view of success... But ultimately, it is so important to relax at times and to spend time having fun, not taking life or yourself too seriously and enjoying the precious children that God gave you... Time passes far too quickly and I don't want to look back realizing that I missed out on the best and most fun part of raising kids that God had available to me.

4.  Realize that when you have fun and enjoy your children, you are tying heart strings with them.  These have to be in place to be able to do the hard parts of parenting... the disciplining and training.  That way there is a firm foundation of love in place when the training times have to come along.

5.  Live for an audience of one... the ONE!!!  The easier we lay down our desires and hopes to measure up to what everyone else thinks the sooner we will experience TRUE JOY!  We are living for an audience of ONE... As long as we are doing truly what we feel God leading us to do... we don't have to aim to please man...  Living for Him is a far better place to be than striving to please the masses:)


6.  Stop judging and start loving.  Try to see others as he Lord sees them... a perfect 10!  Really we have no place judging till we ourselves are perfect... (and that will NEVER happen:) We need to try to take the plank out of our own eye before we attempt to take the speck out of someone else's eyes... We need to put on different glasses and stop looking through judgmental eyes, but rather with loving eyes...  Reaching out and loving our friends and neighbors is what we need to be about...

7.  Serve someone... A lot of times when we are struggling with the challenges of this life our eyes can be so self focused... Who am I kidding?  I think as humans our eyes are more often on ourselves than not... But when you put your focus on others and look for ways to serve someone else, usually our challenges seem to be put back into perspective...

8.  Be compassionate to others... Realize that almost everyone is struggling with something and we may not know the morning they might be having... Again, Love... Love... Love...

9.  Step out of your comfort zone and open your heart to things that stretch you or things you never thought possible... Taking that leap and step of faith will enrich your life far more than the worry or fear that might be holding you back...  Just go for it... He will be walking with you every single step of the way...

10.  Do not let your age... no matter young or old to hinder you from following the call you feel the Lord has put on your heart. I remember on my first trip to Uganda we visited one special needs home that had been started by two 19 year old girls and then the next day we visited an orphanage started by a woman in her 60's. God does not call the equipped... He equips the called and don't let anyone tell you that you are too young or too old to do anything that God has put on your heart!

I am constantly in awe and amazed at all the Lord teaches me and how much I yet have to learn... I would love to hear about some of the things the Lord has taught you lately... Keep resting in HIM friends!