What are your words saying?

I love our church and I love our Ekidz program. My girls come home each week excited to tell me about their Bible story and what they learned for the day. This weekend they were super excited to tell me about their Bible verse.

May these words of my mouth…be pleasing to you O Lord.” Psalm 19:14

We had the most amazing conversation about how our words can either build people up or hurt them and how Jesus loves when we are kind to others. We talked about examples of how we can say pleasing words. Their examples: "Tell my friends at school that I like playing with them." "Tell my sister we can share the toy." "Say kind words but also do kind things for people, like open a door for them."

I love opening up these discussions with my 5 year olds and hearing what their little minds come up with. We have even had several moments this week where the girls started getting mad at one another and saying somewhat mean things, but all I had to say was "may these words of my mouth..." and they corrected themselves.

I think I sometimes fear that kids will be mean because my children may look different or go to the doctor way more, but I have girls that truly want the words from their mouth to be pleasing to the Lord. And I think that when we act that way it opens the door for those around us to act with kindness. Of course we are all human, 5 years olds and 50 year olds will say unkind things but what do you do when you remember that Jesus is listening to all the words that you say?

I love that the Bible is for everyone! This verse is just as much for me as it is for my 5 year olds. What things are coming out of my mouth? Am I building others up? Am I voicing things out of love? What have I said that could be hurtful that I need to apologize for? What things am I saying that I don't truly understand and instead need to show restraint and keep my words in? Am I showing the fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) in the way I speak?

How much better could our day go if we start by saying "May these words of my mouth be pleasing to you Jesus"?

Let Him inhabit the praises

I've been reading "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young. I am loving it. Thankful for my sweet husband that got it for me.

One devotion that I keep thinking about is one she wrote on praise. I think my spirit has been so open to that topic since Pastor Steven recently preached a whole series on thanks and praise at church. So I loved when I read, "It is impossible to praise or thank me [God] too much. As it is written, I inhabit the praises of my people."

Isn't that such an amazing thought. That when we thank God or when we praise Him that we are in more intimate place with Him. Our praise can be an overflow like when we get amazing news and praise Jesus for His goodness and blessings. Or it can be more planned like when we sing a worship song to focus our mind and heart on Him.

I think one of the most important things moms can do is to praise and thank even when you feel more like crying and screaming. Sarah Young goes further in her devotion by saying "when adversity strikes and you thank Me anyway, your trust in My sovereignty is a showpiece in invisible realms." This reminds me of Job. Even when the enemy threw his worst at Job, Job stilled praised the Lord. And we can imagine God talking to His angels about the events and beaming with pride at his servant Job.

So even if you get bad news at your child's next doctor appointment, praise God that you are able to go to the doctor and get medical attention. Praise Him that you have support around you to get you through this. And praise Him that God loves your child so much more than you ever could and has His hands on your child.

When you get great news that you just got a better job, praise God that He has blessed you financially. Praise Him that you are able to work hard.

What event is happening in your life right now, whether good or bad, that you need to stop and give Him praises. No matter the situation send your praise and thanks to Jesus and let Him inhabit them. Are you giving God enough opportunities to inhabit your praises?

To read more about praying with thanksgiving when you ask something of God you need to read Holly Furtick's blog. Check it out here.

The power of praying Scriptures

I am not sure if I did a short post on this before, but I wanted to let you know how Wade and I made it through the girls being in the hospital for so long. This was the hardest season of our life and the only thing we could rely on was our precious Lord. Wade and I were in a unique situation where we had heard the Lord speak clearly to our hearts 1 week prior to the girls being born that we would go through a trial with the girls but that they would end up being healthy babies. We didn't understand what it meant at the time, but it soon made sense. There are times when that word to us seemed so far away and we wondered if we had heard it right, but we repeated that promise over and over out loud to keep our faith.

Our friend Lisa Shea, who God specifically brought into my life at the perfect moment, was a prayer warrior for us. She is part of a group of people who pray for others and whenever we got news that was scary about the girls we told her and she assembled the group to pray. So many people from Elevation who regularly follow the blog were faithful to lift us up daily in prayer as well. I can't begin to tell you the peace the the Lord can bring over you when people are praying hard for you. Lisa also gave us a book by Dodie Osteen that were the scriptures of healing that Dodie spoke over herself when she had cancer and ultimately the Lord healed her without any chemo or medical treatment. We wrote several of those scriptures on notecards and taped them to Liana and Adleigh's isolettes and spoke those over them everyday. We also read the entire book of scriptures out loud often and then prayed for our girls. Here is a link to those scriptures.

We also just started playing a CD of Scriptures for our girls each day. There is so much power in proclaiming the truth of who Jesus is, and we want our girls to be covered in these truths from their earliest days. I want them to know that Jesus knew them before they were ever born and knew what amazing things they would do for His name. And I want them to know the power of the word of God. 

Finally, this may sound a little crazy, but we never spoke doubt out loud. We acknowledged what the doctor's said, but never declared it as true. For example, when we heard of Liana's brain bleed the doctors said she might not make it and we should think about removing life support, but even if we kept her alive she would never be "normal." We never once spoke those doubts aloud and actually rebuked the words of the doctors and told many nurses and doctors that our Jesus was going to heal her. The Lord says all we need is the faith of a mustard seed, and we tried to show that through what we spoke. God is going to do what is best, but we can believe with all that we have that He can choose to heal. We are still praying that there will never be any evidence of Liana's brain bleed and we still rebuke any words from doctors that say she won't be normal. 

While the girls were in the hospital and going through what feels like every issue a preemie can face between the two of them, we drew strength from Scripture. This time was super hard for me, but the word of God reminded me that Jesus had the power to do what He promised and that His love surrounded us in our situation. Those scriptures comforted me as the Lord carried me through my weakest moments and gave me His strength to press on.

A specific prayer

I know it is Tuesday, but God has been rocking my world the past two days because of the sermon this Sunday. I used to be all about journaling my prayers. I have two journals that are about halfway full that have prayers to God in them. At some point I stopped actually journaling, but without them I feel like I have no way to measure how God is answering my prayers. So after we moved I pulled out the journal and began to write down my prayers again. Every few days I try to go back through the week or so and see what I have been praying for.

Well I don't know how many of you heard Pastor Furtick's sermon, but one key point was about being specific with your prayer life. We tend to say, "Be with my parents," but God is already with them. How can you pray specifically for them? We also say, "God if it is your will we ask that you allow us to get this new job." It is like we are giving God an escape clause if he doesn't want to give us the job. If it isn't God's will he won't give you what you are asking for. We have to say what is on our heart and trust that God knows how to answer us. But ultimately both phrases are limiting our vision of God. How will we ever know how God is answering our prayers if we ask for something, but then give the "out phrase" or if we aren't specific enough to have any measure of an answer.

So as I looked through my journals I saw all of these "Be with...." and "God I only ask this if it is according to your will" and it was hard to measure the answers of my prayer life because I was never very specific. I figured if they were gray then I would be happy with whatever outcome happened. So I am now trying to make an effort to pray specific prayers. So when I flip through my journal after a few weeks or months I will see exactly how God answered my prayers. I will then become sensitive to what prayers aren't part of His plan for me and what prayers I wasn't ready to have the answers as yes. It is a journey that I believe is going to make me a stronger child of God.

Emotional over Biblical People

Can I just tell you how much I love the Old Testament. I was just reading from 1 Kings and I must say I get so hooked! I start reading about all the kings and their successors and I can't stop. So I finally got to Elijah's story this morning and as I read I came to this particular moment in Elijah's life.

Elijah had just won this victory over all of Baal's followers and yet when Jezebel says she is coming after him he flees without thinking about how God is in control of the situation. We did a series on this back at Mt. Horeb in our youth group and we mentioned how Elijah was kind of cowardly and how he had little faith, but as I read today I just thought about how exhausted he was. He thought by God defeating the pagan gods that there was victory. I am sure he imagined that Ahab and Jezebel would turn back to God and everything would be good again, but it wasn't. There were still battles to fight and Elijah couldn't handle it at that moment. He actually prayed that God would just take his life right there, right then. He needed rest. So God gave him that. God let him retreat and comforted him, but when it was time to fight again He gave him some encouragement...there were others waiting to fight alongside him.

I really emotionally connected to this passage today. I actually thought of Elijah as this real man that was in such a desperate time instead of just some Bible character that I could color in a coloring book like a Barbie Doll. He prayed to the God that we pray to. He cried out to our God and he was given peace by our Father.

We have a personal relationship with the God that rescued Elijah. What do you need to be rescued from? What are you crying out to God for? Do you need rest? Know that God is going to give you the peace and rest you need, but it is only to keep you going for the rest of the fight. And he has some encouragement...He has others to fight alongside of you. It is okay to be desperate and hurting, but remember you have the all-powerful God guiding you through it.

Which eats grass

I was reading Psalm 106 today and got to this little part in the chapter:

19 At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal.
20 They exchanged their Glory for an image of a bull, which eats grass.

I love how David threw in "which eats grass."

This past Sunday Dr. David Olshine preached at Mt. Horeb. It was a great message and at one point in the sermon he preached against entitlement. He said something like this:

Olshine: God, I preach for you, go on mission trips for you, pray for others, help old ladies across the street, read my bible. You owe me something good down here!
God: Olshine, you don't want me to list what I've done for you.
Olshine: No, God give me the list.
God: Well, mountains, rivers, sand, birds, raccoons, white and red blood cells, your wife, your children, great artists, trees, Bill Gates, composers, good food, dogs,...
Olshine: Okay God. You don't owe me anything.

For some reason when I read that verse in Psalm, I thought about an Israelite worshiping that cow. What would their conversation be with the cow?
Israelite: Cow, you owe me. I have been a great Israelite and have been good to my wife and children, I have said good things to my neighbors, and I come worship you. What are you going to do for me?
Cow: chomp chomp chomp
Moses: Hey idiot...it's a cow. It eats grass and can't do anything for you. It can't even do anything for itself. How stupid can you be?

Sadly, there are many times when we choose something other than God and we need to hear someone say, "How stupid can you be? You are choosing something that doesn't matter at all over the all-powerful God who actually loves you!"

Let's take a second to think about what we are spending our time doing. Where are we when we should be worshiping God? Are we trading our Almighty God for something that "eats grass?"

A chronicle of the "Potential" part 1

We don't have really good or really bad news from the inspection (see previous post) concerning the "potential" house. Apparently, the old wood siding has taken a beating. Some areas are rotted and would definitely need to be replaced. So, we now have a contractor coming in to look at the siding and tell us how much it would cost to replace it. And after that, we will try to negotiate with the seller, but if they do not cooperate then Wade will probably punch them. Just kidding.

Every time I have moved before this it has been to another house within the same city (except college but I'm not going to count that) so it has been a very different experience driving each Saturday to look for a house. I guess it is definitely better than having to book a plane to go find a house though!

But when reading this today, I am was reminded that God will provide for us. He has brought us to this ministry and he will lead us to the right neighborhood and neighbors that we can share the love of Jesus with. Isn't it awesome to have a God who is capable of anything and who treasures us as His precious children.

The same story

Well, in about an hour some person I don't know will inspect our "potential" new home and let us know if it is worth putting an offer on the table. I am still trying to stay detached from the house so that if a bad report comes back then I won't be utterly disappointed.

I remember this one house Wade and I looked at while we were engaged that we fell in love with. It was cute and had this storage area outside that they converted into some apartment thing. It was awesome. We had an inspection done and what would you know the house had to be condemned. Whoops.

Last night was our last Ignite. I ran the media for our high school ministry for the last time. It was sad when I turned off the computer and powered everything down. I thought about how for 3 years almost every Sunday night I had sat up in my perch running the media while the kids worshipped and listened to the sermon. It was crazy to think about that stage in life ending. We did leave Ignite on a phenomenal note. The band sounded amazing and the kids were really worshipping. Wade had this awesome talk about being part of the big story of Jesus (Ephesians 1:15-23). And for Christians no matter where we go or what we do we will always be part of the same story of Jesus. I like being part of something extremely bigger than myself.

We still have 3 more weeks left at Mt. Horeb. I am so thankful for all the people God placed in our lives at Mt. Horeb. We are truly blessed. And I know that the friendships we have gained there will remain even with a move to Charlotte.

That's why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn't stop thanking God for you—every time I prayed, I'd think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!
All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.

Ephesians 1:15-23

A blessing we don't deserve

I am still reading the Bible chronologically. So right now I am reading 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, and Psalms. It gets a little confusing at times, but I love seeing what all happened around the same time. So while I was reading all the lineage stuff in 1 Chronicles I realized a very important message: God can bring something amazing out of a huge mistake you have made.

Back in biblical days your lineage was very important. That is how God said he would bless Abraham. It seems everything was focused on your descendants. So ultimately the greatest lineage is Christ's. But once we look back at the people who make up Christ's lineage we see some people who made some big mistakes, but God still used them to bring His son into the world. Here are some of the people we see:

• Judah and Tamar: basically Tamar was Judah's daughter-in-law. Her husband/his son died and he was supposed to give his next son in marriage to her. Things happened and he didn't give his son, so she devised a plan to disguise herself and seduce the father. She ended up being pregnant with twins by her father-in-law. And one of the twins Perez is in the lineage of Christ.
• We all know my favorite story about Ruth and Boaz. Boaz is in Christ's lineage. Guess who his mom was...Rahab. She was the prostitute who helped the Israelite spies conquer Jericho in exchange for the safety of her family. She followed the Lord after that and was no longer a prostitute.
• And you always hear that Christ was from the line of David, but Solomon is the son that it continues with. Out of all the wives David had we see that the line of Christ comes from the woman he committed adultery with, Bathsheba. Solomon is the second son born from the two. The first died because of the consequences of their sinful encounter.

I am sure there are other examples of God using big mistakes to bring a blessing, but these few encouraged me. Whenever we make a mistake and indulge our sinful desires it is our responsibility to go on our knees begging for forgiveness. Once God has forgiven us and wiped that sin away we still have to deal with some possible consequences. Like in David's and Bathsheba's case the son they were so desperately trying to hide died. But even with our sinfulness God still can bring a blessing. That is just one more thing that God does for us that we definitely don't deserve.

Strong, smart, and beautiful

I am going to be totally honest with you. I've been a christian since I was 7 and I loved hearing all the big Bible stories like Noah and the Ark, Moses parting the sea, David and Goliath...you get the picture. But it has taken me up to this year to actually read the Old Testament word for word not skipping anything. I don't even skip over the "so and so begot so and so." And I am loving it. I really start getting invested in the people's stories and I can't wait until the next day so I can read what happens next.
One thing I absolutely love is when God brings an intelligent and kind woman into the picture. I immediately start thinking that God placed her in this chapter so that I can learn something from her. And further more I like it when this woman is one that I didn't know of until now. So while I was reading 1 Samuel 25:1-44 I found dearest Abigail.
The Story: Abigail is married to Nabal, a "surly and mean" man, but she is intelligent and beautiful. David had kept Nabal's possessions safe for months and asks for some food in return. Nabal being the fool he is refuses and David sets out to wipe out all the men in his household. A servant tells Abigail, who takes it upon herself to apologize to David and give him the food he requested. She tells Nabal what she had to do to save everyone and Nabal gets sick and dies. When David hears about this he asks Abigail to marry him. She accepts.

But here is what I think I learned from her:

• Women can be great decision makers. Abigail is forced to make a quick decision to round up a peace offering to David before he has time to bring revenge upon the men. She doesn't have time to ask anyone else and she does the right thing. In my life, I like it when Wade asks me for advice. I feel strong and intelligent when my incredibly smart husband asks what I think about a situation. The only way I can give good advice is by knowing what solution would honor God and you only know that through Bible reading and prayer.
• God looks after his servants. Abigail saved her people, but her husband died. Who knows what her story would have been had she just been a widow there. But God brought David back so she could still be supported. My life is a lot different from Abigail's, but I do thank God everyday that he brought Wade in my life. I seriously can't believe that I "got" him. With all the imperfections in my life, I never would have thought that I could marry someone who could surpass all that I ever wanted and would be such a man of God.

Chapter 5

I am still going through 1 Samuel and since I am reading it chronologically the plan throws in some Psalms every now and then. I really like seeing what David is going through and then reading what he possibly what he wrote is his "journal" during those specific times.

I just finished reading about when Saul is trying to kill David so Jonathan tells him he has to leave. You know that David had to think that everything was over. He knew in the back of his head that Samuel anointed him as king, but I mean he was running for his life. He had to be freaking out.
We all know the end of the story. Saul dies and David becomes a great king. The greatest king Israel ever knew. And eventually from his line came Jesus. There is no greater honor than that.

So it is easy to think that when you are going through a rough time that there is no way out. You are running for you life and you don't see how God will bring it back together. But you do remember that God has anointed you with a purpose. Just know that God is looking at chapter 48 while you are only in chapter 5.

The whole world would not have room

I read from 1 Samuel and John today. I think it is kind of interesting because 1 Samuel talked about David, the man after God's own heart, and John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. That is something to strive for.

As I was finishing up John, I read this verse:

John 21:25
25Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Just think we already have the gospels with 4 accounts of what our Savior did while on earth, but John tells us that not even the whole world has enough room to write down all that Jesus did. I think that is pretty amazing. What if one of those things that isn't accounted was praying about you to His Father. Maybe not, but still pretty cool to think about.

The Healer

I was reminded how precious life is the past few days. There is some very serious sickness in our extended family and it is painful to think about. I received an email from someone with the saddest line in it: "I hope that this is not the first of saying goodbye."

I know that the Lord is good and I know that he can bring healing to both of our family members. I am praying that it is in His will to bring these persons out of the storm with a better awareness of what our Mighty God can do. I put my faith, hope, and trust into our Healer.

Awe, the story of Ruth

I think that Ruth may be one of my favorite books in the Bible. It could seriously be a Lifetime movie or something. Anyway, I just finished reading it as I am journeying through the Old Testament and the Gospels simultaneously. So I thought I would share with you some little goodies I took from it. These points mainly target single ladies because that is what the book is about and I am adding some of my wisdom of two years of marriage!

1. Ruth has such an amazing respect of her mother-in-law.
Ruth's husband dies and it is only her, her sister-in-law, and her mother-in-law left. Even when her SIL Orpah ditches Naomi, Ruth clings to her. Also, she listens to every little piece of advice that Naomi gives her. This just reminded me to respect any woman who can say I've been there and done that. If you aren't listening to your mom or whatever older woman in your life then try seeing situations from her angle...she has tons more wisdom.

2. God looks after us.
This book comes immediately after this ordeal happened. So when Ruth journeyed into the fields to gather grain anything could have happened to her. But she went into Boaz's field who was a God fearing good man! This isn't a coincidence. God put her in the field of Boaz who is almost her kinsman redeemer. And God already knew that from this line he would bring David and Jesus. God definitely knew what he was up to.

3. We see a great example of a man that a single women should seek after.
This is the first thing we read about Boaz:
Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, "The LORD be with you!"
"The LORD bless you!" they called back.
Now ladies...I can't begin to tell you how important it is to seek after a man of God. I am so blessed to have Wade. A man of God is going to pray for you, protect you, pursue you, cherish you, and encourage you (and much more). Wade does all these things. I used to have a self-esteem issue, but since Wade consistently built me up I rarely have those episodes of self-pity anymore. You will see over and over again where Boaz builds up Ruth's character as well.

4. Your real "Boaz" may not look like your Boaz in your head.
The only reason I say this is because I had a strange realization as I was reading today.
Before today this is what was in my head of Ruth and Boaz...
Ruth: average height, petite girl, dark hair, probably about 21, and beautiful
Boaz: muscular guy (from gathering lots of grains), blond hair, maybe 28, very handsome
Then I read this!
"The LORD bless you, my daughter," he replied. "This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor."
AND...we found out he is the brother of Naomi's deceased husband.
So Boaz is at least a generation older than Ruth. So I got this picture in my head now where Boaz is still very handsome, but he kinda has that George Clooney look, some salt and pepper hair but keeps himself in shape kind of guy. So all that to say that God may bring someone different than who you have had your eye out for.

Hope this makes you want to pick up the Bible and read one of my fave books! It is only 4 chapters so it should take you about 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Pour me some coffee and some love

It has been a long time since I have been this tired. Chi Alpha knocked me out. Wade and I slept all day on Sunday and I guess I haven't gotten back on my regular schedule. So at work yesterday and today I have been doing the head nod and have to wake myself up. It is pretty funny.

But there is one thing that I want to share about Chi Alpha. Our speaker Darren talked about loving others on the last night. Basically my thought from the talk is...I want to be known as a Christian that pours out love on people rather than someone that is judgmental. I want people who have done things that they think no one can get past to know that Christians are there to support them.

I can't believe how so many Christians have this judgmental attitude. We had Christ as our ultimate example on how to comfort those that the Pharisees thought were not good enough to be around them, but we tend to look more like Pharisees instead of Christ.

Jesus comforted the prostitute that was about to be stoned. He didn't condemn her. We have women and girls out there that do the same thing, but you hear more about how she messed up her life from Christians rather than how burdened they are by it. There are people who become addicted to drugs that I hear Christians say they probably deserved it rather than how they can pray for their healing. The list goes on and on.

I challenge us as Christians to truly love on people. No matter who they are, what they have done, what they look like, what they say, or how they act...we need to love on them. We need to be reminded that we are representing Jesus and people are watching. I know this is a hard concept to actually live out because I fail miserably at it. But I want to challenge myself to really change my heart and my actions to be full of love.

You crazy Judges

I had this preconceived notion that the book of Judges was boring. I guess I associated it with law and court cases or something and figured it would be torture to get through. Boy was I wrong. I mean already all these people are being murdered. Some dude had his thumbs and big toes chopped off. However, this is probably the craziest one so far.

It's amazing what is happening in Judges. I mean you finish the book of Joshua where the Israelites have been given all this land and they have been given victory over every single enemy. All they have to do to keep living the high and mighty life is to follow the Lord. But you know what happens? The people who saw all these amazing things die and their children don't give one hoot about it. I mean they rebel like crazy. They start following Baal and worship other gods and get engrossed in the other cultures and leave God at the door. So God puts the smack-down over and over and send their enemies to destroy them. And eventually the Israelites cry out to God, "Save us!" And he brings them a judge to conquer the enemy and to rule the land with peace until they die.

I started thinking about that cycle the Israelites are in. I mean how many times have we been shown God's might, strength, power, glory, etc and we turn our heads. We look at this other kind of cool thing over here. And then we begin to doubt God or we rebel or maybe we even say He doesn't exist. I used to get annoyed with the Israelites saying that they were lame because they couldn't trust God. They would cry to Moses that he should have left them in Egypt because they would surely die traveling to the promise land. But I'm just like them. I will see God do something amazing or feel the Holy Spirit totally engulf me at a moment. And then it's back to same ole Ferris who doesn't realize the power she has with a huge God on her side. Something to remember next time I think about turning my head.

There's a fire in my bones

So this weekend I got completely drained, but in an amazing way. I attended the Beth Moore conference Friday night and Saturday morning. I am sure that I am going to post some of my thoughts from the weekend, but for right now I think the biggest thing I learned from her is how important the Holy Spirit is. I mean as a Christian I always "knew" this, but somehow now I really embrace it. One of my favorite things she said was this (totally paraphrased):

You should pray before you read the scriptures. Because when you combine the oil of the Holy Spirit that is within you with the fire that is the Word of God you are bound to have a combustion.

I am totally loving some Beth Moore right now. I would like to go to another conference and possibly pick up one or two of her books to read.

Also, as I was reading Joshua today I found a little gold nugget tucked away. It was after the many verses that talked about where the boundary lines lie for each of the tribes of Jacob.

Joshua 21:45 Not one of all the Lord's good promises to the house of Israel failed, every one was fulfilled.
Doesn't that just sound beautiful? We have a God that fulfilled every single promise to His people even when they were so annoying, whiny, and unfaithful. God is so good. Meaning He will keep every promise that He makes to us as well. God does not fail at anything and never will.

Well at the moment I am reading through Joshua and John in the Bible. It has been a little hard for me to get through the gospels and be dedicated to it. One reason is the fact that even though they are different I feel like I am reading the same thing over and over. But rather than skim through the parts that are in all 4 books I am trying to really understand what key parts each of the gospel writers took from the same experience.
Today as I was reading John I came across the ole water to wine passage (only in the book of John). I really have nothing to say about the wine part...there was something completely different that caught my eye.

John 2
Jesus Changes Water to Wine
1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
4"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come."
5His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

When I read this I took a different angle than I had ever thought before. Mary was positive that her son could fix this problem. She knew that he could either make their cups never go empty, make wine fall from the sky, turn the water to wine, etc. This has to mean he had to have done some miracles in the comfort of his own house before this ever took place. I imagine Jesus falling down on the ground as a little boy and getting a scrape on his knee. Then he places his small hand on it and it heals. Or maybe a bird fell from its nest and died and Mary and Jesus witnessed the whole thing. Then Jesus takes the bird in his hands and it is immediately healed. Now all this is purely imagination in my head, but it seems from John's writings that Mary knew he could perform a miracle.

And although he tries to tell her not to involve him she turns to the servants and tells them to listen to what Jesus says. She wants him to perform the miracle. I am guessing Jesus wanted to obey his mother, but didn't want many to know what had happened. So he only included the servants and let all the others wonder how this new wine came.

I am glad I looked a little more into this story that I had already heard so many times before. Even if I am totally off with my imagination it still made me smile thinking of Jesus during his childhood.

The sun stands still

I am still journeying through the Bible. Right now I am reading Joshua and starting John (following the Rabbi).
I just got to the part in Joshua where he asks God to let the sun stand still. I remember hearing about this when I was younger and thinking it was cool, but now looking at it I am totally amazed. In fact I am more than just amazed. If I wasn't a Christian and you told me this I would laugh in your face. Can you believe that Joshua was so close to God that he could ask for the sun to stand still for basically a whole day? There is even a verse that comes after it that says, "There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!"
I tend to ask God for small things. Things that I CAN comprehend. But what little faith that takes. Joshua needed the sun to stand still so he could continue the battle against his enemies. So when I am truly in need of something I need to remember that I am talking to an impossible God. He can take anything you think can never happen and then poof it just happened. However, it will take a lot of faith on your part. No doubting that our God can do it!

Being A Servant

Luke 22:24-27

24Also a dispute arose among them [the disciples] as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

Wow. That is some teaching. In my couples small group we were having a discussion and I brought up this passage that I had just read in Luke that day. Today I came back to read it again and I am just amazed! I started thinking about am I striving to make it to the head of the table or am I focusing on serving others? Would I rather get praise and glory here on earth for some kind of design I have made or would I rather wash the feet of a homeless person. I mean I haven't even made an effort to help the homeless so I guess I know where my answer is. And I HATE that. It has to change.

Mt. Horeb has been doing a series on heaven and it has let me think about how much this life actually is of the big picture. We put an illustration on the screens about the significance in time of being on earth compared to our eternity.

In reality, that line will go on forever. So eventually that tiny dot would basically disappear. There are going to be some people who go to hell that will wish they could come back to their time on earth to change their decision about not accepting Christ. This life on earth does matter because you are going to make the decision of where you will be during that ongoing line. We will be rewarded in heaven for our deeds here on earth. So that takes me back to Luke. I have a desire to serve and I want to honor Christ by following his command. I want the world to think I am but a servant, but for Christ I will be a leader.

So, I want to go on the record and say that this year I want to be a servant. I am going to look at each of my days and see what I can do to better fit the role. I will no longer limit serving to just the church or to our teenagers. I want to take it the next step. I want to honor Christ and have something to tell him when I get to heaven.