Giving Thanks

I am the intecessor team captain for the worship ministry leadership team at my church. That simply means I get the prayer requests from the worship pastor and those on his team and send them out to the rest of the prayer team. And of course, I pray for the requests, too. Something that God has led me to do with this emails, is to start them off with what I call the "devotional thought for the week". I just sent this one out this week and thought I would share it with my blog-friends.

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His;
We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;
Give thanks to Him and praise His name.
For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations." - Psalm 100 (NIV)

I know this is the traditional passage to hear at Thanksgiving. I have heard it so often that I have taken it for granted. That's pretty bad - taking a passage about giving thanks for granted - isn't it? However, lately God has been showing me some stuff about giving thanks to Him and when I read this passage in the NIV, some words jumped out at me that also changed my perspective.
I ask the Lord for a lot of things when I pray. From the "God-things" (like my dad being miraculously healed) to the "mundane" (like keep us safe and well today). What God is showing me though, is that He takes every request seriously. When I have had a good day and everyone is well, I am guilty of taking it for granted. But when I've had a bad day, or when one of us has gotten hurt or sick, I complain. God is convicting me that I need to be mindful of His hand orchestrating things in response to what I prayed for. Not because I'm all that great or because my prayers are all that great, but because it's what He does. He listens to the prayers of His people. So, when I pray for safety and we have an uneventful, safe day, I need to express my gratitude to Him for answering that prayer.(you would think that being a cop's wife I would never take our family's safety for granted.) And when we have a bad day dealing with sickness or injury - or the fender-bender yesterday, I need to trust that God was still listening when I prayed for safety/health and therefore He must have some greater reason for allowing us to deal with these incidents. And I still need to come before Him with gladness and thanksgiving, trusting that He will work all of it for our good.
All of that to say - what God is showing me is that we are the sheep of His pasture. Sheep who are totally dependent on their Shepherd for every little thing we receive, and we/I need to thank Him accordingly. My life should be a song of thanksgiving to God - for the good things, for the not-so-good things, and even for the down-right hard things; for the miraculous God things, and for the everyday mundane things.
The other thing I noticed when I read this in the NIV today, is the first word in verse 2 - "Worship the Lord with gladness". In the KJV, the word right there is "Serve the Lord with gladness". It goes back to what I was trying to say last week about making my life an act of worship. I looked up that word in the Strong's Concordance. It has a lot of words there to define this word. Some of them that jumped out at me were: to work, to serve, compel, do, keep, be wrought, worshipper. So to worship the Lord means to work, serve, do, keep, compel. That implies something that I am continuously doing, not just at church, but also when I am at home doing my "mundane" stay-at-home-mom things. My life must become a sacrifice of praise - of worship. And when I have the right perspective on my total dependence on God and thank Him for it accordingly, it's much easier for my life to become consumed with worship.

Lessons Learned This Past Week

First of all, for those of you who took the time to tell me which photo I should submit for the contest from my previous post, thanks. As you may have noticed, I never got around to entering the contest. Life got busy. But it was fun hearing all of your comments about the 2 photos!

Last week was, stressful, exhausting, and enlightening. Saturday and Tuesday nights, I only got about 2 hours of sleep due to a sick, fussy baby. That just threw my week into complete disorder. However, I learned a few important lessons from the week, and I'd like to share them with you.

1) God's grace and strength really are sufficient. There is no other reason I made it through Wednesday in particular. I was beyond exhausted, and yet somehow I was able to do all the things I normally do on a Wednesday - getting Harris to school, going to Bible study, getting everyone to church that night, and going to orchestra rehearsal. And I did it in a sweet attitude, which is proof that it was God's supernatural strength in me because I am not a nice person when I don't get enough sleep.

2) You can really feel people's prayers lifting you up if you take the time to notice. I already knew this, but it's always a cool thing to have reinforced. I noticed that the times I should have felt the sleepiest - like when I was driving - is when I felt the best. Or just when I was really dragging and thinking I wasn't going to make it after all, I would suddenly be filled with energy. I wish I could stay in that mind set of feeling God's grace and strength and the prayers of friends and family like that all the time. Not only is it encouraging, but it also would give me the courage to live the life God has called me to live.

3) The joy of the Lord is my strength. When I focused on myself and how tired I was, I felt terrible. I had someone in the middle of the day email me and remind me of that verse about the joy of the Lord being our strength, and so I decided to focus on that for the rest of the day. It was amazing the difference it made in how I felt.

4) Harris need more one-on-one time with Preston and me. He had some time with each of us by himself this past week and he just soaked it up. I was reminded once again that his love language is quality time. And it doesn't have to be anything fancy, just driving to the store or picking him up from school while David and Amy Beth stay home with Preston is enough to light up his face. I need to plan more opportunities for him to have that quality time with us.

5) Amy Beth can fall asleep sitting up. Bless her heart, not only did she not sleep well those two nights, but also Wedneday, after not sleeping the night before, hardly slept at all that day either. So on Thursday, even though she slept much better Wednesday night, she was still very tired. That afternoon, the kids and I went to Wal-Mart. I noticed Amy Beth was very still and sedate in the seat of the grocery cart. Usually she is looking all around her in a place like that, making sure she doesn't miss a thing. I was letting the boys look through the toy section when I noticed Amy Beth was sound asleep in the grocery cart! I wish I had had my camera with me. She was so sweet and cute that I couldn't let her just sleep there. I picked her up and let her sleep on my shoulder.

6) It is very difficult to hold a sleeping baby on one shoulder, push a shopping cart with the other hand, and keep up with 2 little boys in Wal-Mart, but it IS possible. However, I do not advise trying it out. My arm was like a wet noodle by the time I got to the car and was able to put Amy Beth in her car seat.

7) David is a very compassionate little boy. I knew he was with us. If Harris gets hurt or is upset, David stops whatever he is doing and goes and gets Harris' blanky for him. When I had my cold and he realized I didn't feel good, he brought me a "blanky". However, Saturday he did something that blew me away. We were at his best friend's birthday party, and they had a pinata. When the candy came pouring out and the kids were scrambling for it, one of the boys there was a little overwhelmed by it all and got upset. When David saw him crying, he took some of his goodies out of his bag (and he hadn't gotten a lot) and put them in this little boy's bag and tried talking to him to help him calm down. It was SO sweet and one of my proudest moments as a mom. Of course, I don't take credit for him being like that. It's just the way God made him, and I have a responsibility as his parent to not crush that sensitive spirit in him, and to hone it so that it becomes a characteristic that honors God and brings people to Him instead of something that just enables people to sin.

So there are my lessons from the week. Seven lessons for seven days. Even though it was a hard week, I am glad I had the chance to see and learn from it.

Which Photo Should I Choose?

5 Minutes for Mom is having a "Fun with Food" photo contest, and I need your help. Which of these 2 pictures should I enter for the contest?

Amy Beth tries a taste of graham cracker at Grandma's house. The face says it all.

David enjoys one of his first meals of spaghetti. I would need to try and edit this one a little bit. I just don't have a good photo-editing program on my computer.

The Eagle Dream

I believe in dreams. I believe God can speak to us through our dreams. Sometimes it can be very literal. Sometimes it is figurative and He will give you the interpretation for it (either to you personally or through someone else). Almost every time He speaks to us in a dream, though, it is to direct us in how or what to pray.

Below is a dream I had in November of 2005. I didn't think my blog would be the place where I would share these prophetic dreams, especially this one. I have shared it with a few people here and there as the Lord led me to, but I felt like I was supposed to keep it close to the chest, so-to-speak. However, I recently felt like God was telling me to put this dream on here - that it was time for it to be released to more than just a handful of people. I have been praying about it, to make sure it was really what God wanted me to do. He has confirmed it over and over again. So, in obedience to Him, here is my eagle dream.

I dreamed I was at a camp and saw people walking around with live eagles tethered to their arms - like trained falcons. I thought it was tragic that these magnificent creatures were being held captive.
I then entered a building and began talking with a mother and her son who had joined the military. As I was talking with them, I heard someone say the eagles were getting away. I rushed outside to see some of the eagles biting through their tethers and flying off. However, to keep them from escaping, someone released some hawks - one hawk per eagle. The hawks would fly up behind the eagle and bite at its feet or belly, which would kill the eagle. I was horrified and ran back into the building to find someone to help and stop the hawks. I saw a friend of mine talking on the phone. I told her what was happening and she said she would get some people to pray. I told her that was good, but we needed to also do something now. I went back outside and asked God to help me do something. When I did, one of the eagles flew down really low, with the hawk right behind it, so that I was able to reach out and grab it. I started to wring the hawk’s neck when I realized it was only a hot-air balloon device. It was easily popped. I started yelling for someone to come help me pop the hawks, but no one came. I was grabbing and popping the ones that I could reach as fast as I could, but there were too many hawks for me to handle by myself.
INTERPRETATION:
This was a dream about strategy. When the fight looks impossible, if we will look to our Commander-in-Chief (God), He will give us the strategy we need. But more people need to join the fight.
The Eagle = The Church in America
The Hawk = Demonic spirits - lying and fierce
Biting at the feet and stomach = The attacks were from behind and in the soft, vulnerable underbelly area. The eagles were not aware of it until it was too late. It represents - in part - backbiting among church members. It also represents "wolves in sheep’s clothing". Perhaps the reason the eagle didn’t perceive the threat is because all it saw was another bird and assumed it was one of them. There are people in our churches who - at first glance - look like us. They sound similar, look similar, and even move about like we do. But they are servants of the enemy who will come up and attack us when we least expect it and in our most vulnerable places.
Balloons popping = At first, the hawks looked fierce and intimidating, until I took action. In the flesh, it seemed like a foolish thing to do, but I didn’t take time to think about that. I just reacted to the first thing that came into my mind after asking God for help. We must be like that in the spiritual battles today. When we ask God for His strategy, we must trust and act on what He tell us to do without second-guessing or trying to figure out if it makes sense. Most of the time, it won’t make sense in our limited perspective.
Tethers: Obviously, a symbol of imprisonment. The tethered eagle is still a majestic, powerful eagle, but it is no longer able to soar as it was intended to do. In the long term, this is unhealthy and even potentially fatal to an eagle. And, in order to tether an eagle, it has to be willing to sit there long enough. It allowed itself to be tethered.
This is an analogy of the Church in America. We have dallied with the world and allowed the prince of this world to ensnare us. We still have the power and identity of Christ in us, but we cannot appropriate it to soar as God intended.
God is waking us (the Church) up, and some churches are breaking the tethers which never really had any power to hold us in the first place. This has enraged the enemy, and he is sending out his war-birds - his "birds of the air" - to attack the churches who are learning to soar again. The birds are the demonic spirits over the media, politics, and people’s voices. Through spiritual attacks, intimidation, and the court of public opinion, these hawks are seeking to destroy the churches that are remembering how to soar.
The body of Christ also needs to learn how to discern between true fellow believers and the ones who are there to attack us. There are those in the Body of Christ who are there on assignment from the enemy to disrupt, discredit, disorganize, and ultimately destroy. (And they may not even realize it.) Like Christ, we should love everyone who comes to us, but also use discernment to recognize who you are dealing with and be ready to call them out if it becomes necessary.
As individuals, it is our responsibility to stop the hawks. We cannot sit on our hands; we cannot just pray, even though that is a major part of the strategy, and we will not succeed without prayer. It must be our first priority. And we cannot be intimidated by these fierce-looking spirits. We must get out onto the field, ask God for His strategy, and reach out our hand (in faith) to whatever God tells us to do. When we do, we will realize the hawks are nothing but hot air and will easily be destroyed once they are within our grasp - as long as we are acting within the power of the Holy Spirit.

No Sweet Teeth Here!

We have been having a heck of a time trying to get Amy Beth to eat baby food. Her pediatrician said not to worry, some babies just skip over it and go to table food, but she hasn't wanted the table food I've tried to give her either. I was at my wits' end, especially lately when it was becoming obvious that her bottle was not satisfying her anymore. And since this is my third baby, I know most of the tried and true tricks.

So I did what I always do when I've tried all my options and failed - I prayed about it. (You would think that I would have thought of this first, since I am the prayer team coordinator for our worship ministry at church, wouldn't you? It is disappointing to see how often I still try to rely on myself to get things done. No wonder we are referred to as sheep in the Bible, for I am just as dumb as one sometimes when it comes to submitting and depending on Him for everything. But I digress.) I asked God to show me what I needed to do to get Amy Beth interested in eating.

Last night I was very tired, so instead of preparing supper when I should have, I sat and watched "America's Funniest Videos" with the boys. They showed a clip of a little boy (younger than 2 years) who would throw a fit if you tried to make him eat a cookie or piece of cake, but ate broccoli like most kids eat a cookie. He couldn't eat it fast enough. I thought to myself that maybe that was Amy Beth's problem - maybe this was God's way of showing me what to try. Maybe Amy Beth didn't like the fruit and cereal stuff, but would like the non-sweet vegetables and such. The thought had crossed my mind before, but I never seriously considered it because my 2 boys have major sweet tooths (they take after Preston). So this morning I gave her some zwieback toast, which she enjoyed far more than she ever did the sweeter-tasting biter biscuits. Then we tried a jar of peas - and she LOVED it! And after eating her fill, she laid down and went right to sleep - which she has not done in a couple of days, but fighting sleep and crying instead.

I guess she's going to take after me. When I was little I didn't like sweet stuff, either. Too bad I grew out it.

Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday the Kindergarten classes went on a field trip to the Pumpkin Patch in Hargis. We had a great time, but I am still worn out. We went on a hike through the woods, took a hayride, watched the teachers roast hotdogs and marshmallows over a fire, ate the hotdogs and marshmallows (along with some other food), went through the actual pumpkin patch and saw the pumpkins that were growing on the vine - from little baby pumpkins to great humongous ones, visited the petting zoo, and sat in a tee-pee to listen to story, and then hiked back to where we started and picked out a pumpkin to take home with us. And all of it before noon! Here is our day in pictures.

Harris and his buddy Daniel. We rode up there with his mom and dad and another friend named Sam.

I'm sorry this one is so blurry. I was trying to keep up with everyone and take the picture at the same time. This was part of our hike.

Some of Harris' classmates: (from left to right) DJ, Riley, Daniel, Sam, and of course Harris

Daniel and Harris on the hayride.

Part of our group and the field where most of the activities took place. Look how blue the sky was. It was a gorgeous day!

Harris eating his lunch by the fire. He was not so sure about eating the hotdog since it was all blackened and shriveled from being cooked over an open flame, but he tried it and liked it.

The smoke kept getting in his eyes so he decided to sit in the grass with his back to the fire. Here he's eating the chocolate chip cookie for dessert.

The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Petting the pony/baby horse (depending on who was petting it.)

The real tee-pee they went in for a story time.

Harris' whole class.

A view of the lake through the trees on our hike back.


Beautiful butterfly on some beautiful flowers.

These flowers were so gorgeous!

And last but definitely not least - Harris and his pumpkin. When we got home, he was so excited to go put it out on the front porch. He has shown everybody who has been to our house his pumpkin and the spot he picked for it.

Amy Beth's Dress

Here are some pictures of Amy Beth in her dress - the "name-brand" dress. I took these after we came home from church and lunch, so she was very tired, and was more interested in chewing on that yellow thing than looking cute for the camera. Go figure.



This is the dress and hat without the dress-coat.

This is with the dress-coat, which I liked much better.

The boys said they didn't like the hat because it made her look like a chef, and she was a baby - not a chef.

So what do you think? Not bad for $25, but still way more than I usually pay for clothes at Kids' Market.