Not A Blog For Non-Believers

2 Chronicles 7:14
if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, and I will forgive their sins and will heal their land. (NIV)

A few months ago this verse really caught my attention again. We, in our Christian circle use this verse a lot. I MEAN A LOT!!! Whenever the proverbial, poop hits the fan with our government and society, this seems to be our go to verse. When we do so, we have a tendency to look at non-believers as the problem. I challenge us, the believers, to catch a key portion of this verse, "if my people who are called  by name will humble themselves." This tells me, that while the beliefs of the non-believers is a problem, it is their problem. The bigger problem with society is more than likely us believers not truly following God's commands.

Why do I say we believers are the problem? We are the ones who have God's seal on us, therefore we are called, "The Church." We are not to use our heavenly citizenship as a get out of jail free card while here in this earthly place. We are the people God tells to humble ourselves. We are the people He talks to directly in His word. Through out scripture we are allowed the opportunity to feel the warm fuzzies of  God choosing us. I'll be honest, it makes me feel good knowing that while God was creating everything, my name was in his day timer as someone who would be put on this earth as His chosen child. Who doesn't want to be a part of the most powerful kingdom ever? Here is the tricky part, God didn't choose me to walk around with my Heavenly seal to be a jerk for Jesus, condemning people. God chose me to be an example of what full reliance on Him can do in my life and for those around me, and to spread the Good News.

We the believers, are the people God is talking to in this verse. So when we see nasty things happening in our land, we are the ones who need to change. We are the ones who are told to put our bended knees to the ground and pray to the Father. God has shown himself to be faithful over and over again to the Nation of Israel. When Israel has confessed their sins, repented of their sins, followed God's commands, and given God thanks and praise, God has always been faithful to redeem them. As God's chosen, we need to recognize this pattern, follow this pattern, keep our side of the street clean, be humble, spend time with God in His word, and go out spreading the good news. No more condemning non-believers for the junk in the world.  We need to spread the gospel with love and cheer! I have seen some Christians tell people about Jesus without love, and with pure venom in their speech. Trust me when I tell you, this is never going to work, because you just come off as a self-righteous, hypocritical butthead with this approach. The Holy Trinity is love, and if you are preaching it without that element, you need to check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Bride of Christ, we need to really humble ourselves in prayer for our world, our nation, our community and the leaders that God put there. Never forget who has ultimate charge over those who think they are in charge down here. God put them there for reason and a season. Trust me when I say, that God has one King of Kings who reigns for eternity and none of the guys that are sitting on thrones down here right now are it.

Believers please hit your knees in fervent prayer, with love and humility in your heart.

If you are a non-believer reading this, I pray you will join the Heavenly Family. I love getting to new brothers and sisters. I by no means have all the answers, but I will try to help. That help might be directing you to a pastor in your area. You are in my prayers and know that even while we are all sinners God still loves us. I sin regularly and God picks me up and dusts me off with my confession and request for forgiveness. This is proof positive that you don't have to have yourself fixed to be good enough for God. He loves fixing broken things!

First Year Of Home School is Done

I can't believe it! I did it! I did not give up, I did not go to my back up plan, we finished our first year of home school. When I started on this huge endeavor it felt like I was climbing Mount Everest, and then I realized I was half way through the year. My daughter goes to an amazing Charter School two days a week so I have back up and her workshop teacher was exactly who I would have hand picked to be with my child. I prayed over this decision for months before I decided to go for it, knowing that if it didn't work I could send her to the public schools in my neighborhood and she would still be in good schools, but there would be aspects that I would not like at all.

 I will never forget when I was about 5 weeks in to this venture my daughter gave me a blank stare after I had explained something to her about three times, in three different ways. I was in tears, she was in tears and I had decided at that moment we are not going to be able to do this. I put the books away and was getting ready to pack them in a backpack to return to the charter school. I am not even kidding you when I tell you that, within twenty minutes I read an article about something happening in a public school that was absolutely counter to our beliefs, and then I saw a video of our Charter School's dance team and how amazing they were. It was as if God was looking down and saying, "I want her there, don't you even think about not doing my will." 

Needless to say, I asked my sweet girl one more time about the subject matter that I had presented and she completely understood, and I got a very good lesson. She likes to mull things over in her head. I learned how to teach her! First present it, ask if she gets it, if she doesn't right then let it go and come back to the subject matter later, she will more than likely completely understand. A teacher with 20-30 students in front of them will just not have the time to come back to a subject, I do! I have completely tailored my teaching style to my child and her learning style. I present something, we go do some reading or art or something and then we go back to that subject. It is fabulous! 

 Later that same day I was reading in my Bible and I came to the verse that said, "Therefore shall you lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign on your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 And you shall teach them your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 20 And you shall write them on the door posts of your house, and on your gates: " Deuteronomy 11:18-20 

 It was as if God was giving me signs from all sides, telling me that I am supposed to be doing this, this is God's will for mine and my daughter's life. The teaching of God's word can't happen in our public school system today, but I can do it everyday and integrate it in to our lesson plan. This is the most important lesson I feel I can teach my daughter, and because of this decision to follow God's way instead of society's it is part of her schooling.  Praise the Lord for this! 

 I have had the most rewarding year of my life. I got to see those "aha" moments when she learned something new. I got to give her the hugs for her good jobs, I got to give her the stickers, I got to teach her to read (which by the way was the absolute scariest thing in the world to me.)  The highlight of my year came in May. I keep a journal of notes that I take from my Bible Studies and from church. I do this in the hopes of giving my daughter my legacy of faith. I went to a retreat this year for two days and had taken quite a few notes. When I came home my daughter picked up my journal and started reading, obviously she could not read all of it, she is a Kindergartner, but she was able to sound the words out and figure  out a lot of what I had written. I cried then and I am crying now looking back at that moment.

Homeschooling is not for everyone, and no one should try to fit a square peg in to a round hole, but if you feel this calling on your heart at all, DO IT!!! I always said I would never home school my child, and now I can't imagine not doing this. The relationship between my daughter and I has been taken to a completely different level and I love her even more than I did the day she was born. WOO HOO First grade is going to be amazing!

Shadrach, Meschach, Abedenego, and The Son of God....Wait what?

I just had to share this! I have heard the story of Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego a lot! It was always a "Bible Story" to me, because I never got past the Sunday School lesson level with it. I decided last year that I was going to read the Bible from Genesis 1 all the way to Revelation 22. It has been awesome! I am now reading Daniel, you know Daniel in the Lions Den, The Handwriting on the Wall..... That Daniel. Well I read all three of those stories today but Shadrach, Meschach and Abdnego really stood out to me. There are so many amazing parts to this scripture.

Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego were being put in the furnace for not worshiping king Nebuchadnezzar's golden statue. These men remained faithful to God and were going to be punished for it. The furnace/incinerator was heated to seven times the normal heat. Why would good ole Neb's do this? I say he did this because God was in control and wanted to really show him who was in charge. Seven is the number of completion in God's word, so.... the king demands that the furnace be brought to a heat seven times that of the norm for this type of punishment. The men who brought these three to the furnace were burned up and they didn't even go in the middle. Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego go in to the middle, they are laying down because they are bound and can't move. Now this is where it got interesting for me and God revealed to me the absolute coolest part of His story.

 When Neb's goes back to see what is happening to the men he is punishing for not worshiping him, he not only sees them alive and walking around, but he sees a fourth man that he describes as "The Son of God." Wait what?! Back the truck up! The Son of God!!! That's right before Jesus was even born he showed up to be with God's faithful. I also want to point out that the straps used to bind the men were burned up, but their clothes, hair and even their smell stayed in tact. The smell of the furnace didn't even fall on them, I can't sit by a campfire and cook smores without smelling like a bonfire when I am done.

 Jesus will show up for any of us in our time of need, even if someone doesn't believe He will show up. He does it over and over again. He hadn't even been born yet, and these men had no way to believe, or not believe in him because he was just a prophecy in their mind, yet he came to give them God's love. When Paul was going before the court and is held in prison with his life on the line, Jesus shows up and says, (paraphrase here) Don't worry, you are not going to die here, I need you to go to Rome and spread the gospel there. Which he did, granted he was a prisoner but still.....! God lets those who believe go through our own furnaces I think for multiple reasons, but the biggest is to give Him the glory of what He can do in our lives, and so that our lives can be a witness to others. No one wants to be in the furnaces of life, but I am definitely going to be looking for Jesus the next time I am in one. Thank you Jesus for your faithfulness!

 By the way, after Nebs saw what God did for Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego, he signed a decree that no one was to worship anyone but the one true God. That leads me down a whole other train of thought that I will save for another day.

 To read this part of scripture go to Daniel 3:1-28

 TTFN, I Pray God Blesses you,
 Jen

No More Idiots

This is a complete praise report. Two weeks ago I prayed that Jesus would take the word Idiot out of my vocabulary. The pastor from the church I used to attend posted on Facebook that his youngest daughter was calling her older siblings idiots and how he explained to her that Jesus said this was the equivalent to murdering someone. She then went on to say "Idiot 1, Idiot 2." He then said "Double Homicide," I cracked up, but it convicted me. I started thinking to myself how often I call someone an idiot. This mulled around in my head for months. Then I went out and found the verse in the Bible that noted where Jesus said this. Matthew 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Holy Smokes, it is not just murder, it is hell we are talking about here! So I tried on my own strength to get this out of my mouth. The bible states that the tongue is the most uncontrollable part of our body. Believe me, I know this to be true, my mouth has caused me more issues than I care to list. So I humbled myself at my home fellowship group two Fridays ago. It felt like a silly prayer, but I really wanted this out of my mouth and heart. Since then I have not had it come out of my mouth except for one time which is huge for me! Now when I feel like it might come out of my mouth, or it even pops in my head I know I am weak in the spirit and pray. What used to be a weapon against others has become a spiritual rubber band around my wrist, that every time I start to feel the word come on, I snap myself back in line with God's will. Praise Jesus! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phillipians 4:13

Parenting Step-Children 2: Let Them Be

Well I was not sure what to say after the first post. The next topic that stood out to me the most was: Let Them Be! Why this title? I have two step-sons, they are 15 and 17 and let's be honest if they were my biological kids they would not want that much to do with me, but because they are my step-sons they want even less! This is actually very good, because I truly believe God does this at these ages so they will feel the want to be independent adults. As a step-parent though, we tend to take this as an outright rejection of us. It is not this at all. When I was 15 I moved in with my Dad, Step-mom and half brother who was two years old at the time. I was so excited to live with my "new" family. I of course started out wanting to do everything with them. As I grew though, they became dun dun dunnnnnn PARENTS!!! AHHHHHHH, I was a decent kid, I definitely was not perfect but OK. I remember my friends and I thought my step-mom was AWESOME because she took us to TP a house. (None of us were legal to drive yet) Then for some reason I turned in to a butthead towards my family. It literally was almost over night. I wasn't always awful but I do remember only wanting to talk to them on my terms. Seriously I look back at myself and think why couldn't I have just been abnormal and been nice to my family? Now all of that being said as parents, we can glean from this. Our kids, step or not feel a want for independence. We all have the chance when they are 1-7 to get tons of snuggles and love, from there on out they slowly start pulling away. As step-parents though we often don't get this stage because the kids are older when we come in to their lives. We step-parents have to respect this need for space even more. If they are not out right rude to our faces, and they are not breaking rules or laws they deserve their space. Make sure you listen when they do speak to you though because they really want you at that moment and time. Try to involve them in your life, if they don't want to be there well, let it go. They don't have that natural bond to you that they do their biological parents but when they want you, they want you, so be ready when they ask for your attention. You get two fruits of the spirit here, Self-Control and Love. Being a step-parent is a blessing and a hard job but if you keep it in perspective it is a lot easier. I told myself a long time ago, at least I am not Joseph raising Jesus. It is not like my two step-kids are the Son of God. :o)

My Rules for Step-Parenting

You meet the man you have been waiting for, good, kind, honest and oh wait a great father. WHAT, WHAT, WHAT?! Well you want to have babies with this man someday and at least you already know what a great father he is going to be......right?! That was my reaction when I met my husband. I just knew he and I were meant to be together, but I was not sure I was ready for the whole kid thing. I wanted my own baby but I didn't know if I was ready to raise someone else's child. Being a step-kid myself and having had three step-moms and two step-dads at this point I thought, well at least I knew what I liked and didn't like from the child's perspective, that should give me a leg up!

Rule 1 Hold Your Tongue
I knew I was entering a position that has been vilified by fairy tales and TV alike. GREAT! I get that battle on top of everything else, THAAANNNKSS. Then there was the ex-wife/mother of these children factor. I had another layer there that I won't discuss in this blog out of respect for my children's mother. The part that I can discuss is that she was having to deal with these two kids that she birthed, having that maternal love for them that no one can break, listening to them talk about me and the fun stuff we would do. Let me tell you that would bring out the Mama Grizzly in even the most level headed woman. All the while I am just wanting to do right by the kids. She did of course get jealous and say things to the children that she shouldn't have, thereby creating a struggle with in these kids of loyalty. The kids actually liked me and when she would say bad things about me, the kids felt compelled to side with her, after all they are her children. I knew I had to never create this with in the kids, and if they were going to dislike someone here it was going to be me no matter what happened, so I knew to never get upset if they said something to me about what their mom had said. In the end they would love me for that. I had to win them over with patience and love, and not making their mom out to be a butt head and believe me as the second wife you really want to sometimes just out of insecurity. I totally get that too, being a step kid and having one of my step-mothers tell me that my mother was a witch with a "b" put me in a position that was horrible. I remember exactly what I was doing and where I was, I was only six years old so it was a while ago and I still remember wanting to defend my mom, but couldn't out of respect for this woman. (No worries, this woman didn't last long, my Dad got his wits about him)

This became my first rule in parenting these two boys. Never speak ill of their mother, no matter what is going on and believe me I have had some situations that I have left teeth marks in my tongue for biting it literally! Hold your tongue!!!! By the way this is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. So when you are biting your tongue off, know that if you just listen and pray, it will be that much easier to win the battle that is being waged, and you already have the victory in Jesus. Your tongue will thank you for it as well.

To Be Continued......

Answering God's Call

It has been quite some time since I took the time to blog anything but it has been on my heart to do so for the past couple of days. I am hoping to make this a much better habit. If you have been so sweet to follow this blog I want to say thank you and I apologize for being so quiet.

I have been so blessed lately to be spending a majority of my time with fellow Christians and we are all so frustrated with the direction of our Country and our Elected Officials. While this frustration is quite justified we almost have ourselves to blame. The verse that sticks out to me regarding this is:

2 Chronicles 7:14 "if My people who are call by My name will humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

We American Christians have been so tolerant of so much, that we have forgotten who we are living to please. We get beat down regularly being called, phobic of blah blah blah, and phobic of this and that, closed minded, racist and whatever else our label is today, all the while, we are losing our land's favor with God. It is our duty as God's chosen to stand up for our Father, and what he says is right. The next time a judge wants to take the Ten Commandments down in any state, or someone wants to stop a high school football team from having prayer prior to their football game, I would hope that the Christians and Jews in those communities would stand up and say ENOUGH, and fight for their Freedom of Religion!!

People ask "How Can a God who supposedly loves us so much allow bad things to happen?" To this I say "How could you allow yourself to be so complacent regarding our Father?" We as a nation need to get down on our knees and beg our Heavenly Father for Forgiveness and take the Commission that we have been given to spread His love, truth and Gospel. I still love my little girl when I tell her what she is doing is wrong, and I can do the same thing to someone else whom I see breaking God's rules. We need to be loving but stern in our handlings of the world, do not be lax in your principles, hold on to our Father and know that if our God is for us then who can stand against us?