Safely in His Womb

Verse of the Week:

"The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?" (Psalms 118:6)

Safely in His Womb

My husband and I were so excited last Friday as we went to our OBGYN.  We were going to get to meet our second child through a sonogram. I get tears in my eyes as I recall seeing our little baby boy/girl moving about our womb at 9 and half weeks.  He was an active little bugger, moving his arms and legs all over the place.  I could hear his strong heart beat, and he seemed so content and protected in my womb.  This wasn't a embryo or fetus floating around doing nothing; this was a baby!...A live being!...He was already living life and trying out his new limbs, experiencing the gift of movements for the first time.  It brought Brian and I so much joy when we viewed him/her. 

What a gift it is to carry our little child.  A child who is wrapped safely in my womb. A place of refuge to grow and develop and get prepared for the outside world.  I thank God for the gift of seeing our little child (only an inch long) living life to the fullest inside of me...such sweetness that it makes my heart ache.

Our sweet Child's head (slightly cut off in the pic), arms, legs, and umbilical cord. Fingers are there too, even if you can't see them!

I love to think of God in the same way.  When I became a child of God and asked Jesus into my heart, immediately, my new heart was wrapped safely in His arms.  Protected.  Loved. Allowed to grow and develop and prepare for eternity with our Lord!  

Hebrews 13:6 says,  'So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”' In this world, we will face hardships and troubles. Men may try to hurt us, abuse us, kill us, and break us.  But there is one thing mankind does not have access to, our heart.  It can't be touched because it is safe in the arms of Jesus.  People sometimes don't understand why God didn't protect them from certain situations, but my answer is that He did!  Your heart has not been touched. If you recieved Jesus into your heart, it is His, and no one else's.  

Yes, God will always protect me. Even when death claims me someday, my heart will go safely into His arms.

Thank you Lord, for protecting my heart.  Allow it to continue to grow and develop, just like a baby inside a womb.  And someday, I will emerge outside of the womb and see you face to face, Jesus. What a day that will be! Until then, thank you for your never ending love and protection.

My heart is Yours!

"The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?" (Psalms 118:6)

Seeking Glory

Verse of the Week:

Proverbs 3:34   He has no use for conceited people, but shows favor to those who are humble.

Seeking Glory

I loved my Mama's roses.  She used to grow hybrid tea roses, and for as long as I can remember, they bloomed all sorts of beautiful colors.  Pink, maroon, white, and yellow roses graced her flower garden.  Their beauty, scents, and colors would leave me standing there admiring them every time I came for a visit.  I loved Mama's roses! They stood tall and beautiful, and their glory was shown throughout the garden. 

Suppose Mama's roses were left alone for a long period of time. Weeds would eventually grow in the garden and overtake the roses.  The roses' glory would disappear as weeds grew in numbers and invaded the roses.  Eventually, you wouldn't see roses, but a mass ugly clump of weeds in their place.

Pride is just like a clump of weeds.  You see, God uses the humble because He knows that the humble will ALWAYS give Him the glory. For those that don't know what glory means, it means fame.  The prideful have a different motivation: bringing themselves glory.  Just like the clump of weeds hide the glory and beauty of those beautiful roses, the prideful keep the beautiful things of God hidden from the world, and give themselves all the glory.  

Proverbs 3:34 says, 

He has no use for conceited people, but shows favor to those who are humble.

God has no use for those that are prideful because they are stuck on themselves and not on Him. In the end, they focus on glory for themselves, and we know that God does not want to share His glory.  In Isaiah 42:8, He makes that abundantly clear, I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another.

The Bible itself has shown God using humble people for His mighty plans. Moses, who was given the task of leading the Israelites from Egypt and introducing the Covenant between God and the Israelites, was considered the most humble man on the face of the earth during his time. Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth. (Numbers 12:3) He was used by God because he knew it was all about God, not about him. In his lifetime, God used him to turn a river into blood, to turn his staff into a snake, to divide the Red sea, and to make water run out of a rock. He could have used God's power displayed through him to bring himself glory, or even more than that! He could have made himself a god to be worshiped and adored, but instead, he used the gifts given to him to show the Israelites and the world the one and true God of the universe. 

When living life and making choices, do you make the choices for your own fame or for God's fame?  Whose glory do you seek  in your daily actions? Whose glory do you strive for when you do important tasks that turn people's eyes upon you? Do you point to your Creator? Examine your heart.

People with prideful hearts and humble hearts have completely different approaches to everyday decisions in life. A prideful person's focus is on what makes them look best.  A humble person's focus is on how to make God look best. For example, a prideful person might purposely slander a person's name to make themselves look good. However, if a person's heart is humble, they see things through God's eyes, and realize that putting a person down will only hurt that person's reputation.  It will not bring God glory, only pain to that person.  A prideful person sees the world through selfish eyes; a humble person sees the world through God's eyes.

Billy Graham is one of the most influential evangelist of our time.  More than 3.2 million people responded to his call to receive Christ as their Savior.  He once was asked what he would ask God when he went to heaven.  He said he would ask, "Why me?"  Why did he choose me for such a task? Such humbleness. He could have used his fame as an evangelist to bring himself glory, but instead he chose to point to the God of the universe in all He did.

For whom do you seek glory for?

Why does God allow bad things to happen?

Verse of the Week:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Why does God allow bad things to happen?

Why do bad things happen?  Living in this fallen world, it is so hard to see people go through pain and suffering.  Disease, death, famines, broken homes, broken relationships, accidents, deception, hate, rejection, shootings, and massacres seem to be evident everywhere. Why does a loving God allow this?  Because people do not understand God's reasons behind tragedies, they grow hateful and resentful towards our Creator thinking that He is not the loving God they think He is.  They want nothing to do with a God who allows bad things to happen.

God allows evil because since the beginning of time, through Adam and Eve, we chose a life of sin over God. When Eve decided to disobey God, sin came into the world. Where sin is present, a place will always be broken.  Therefore, God allows evil to endure in this world. However, people tend to think that He is the one that causes the evil, but we are the ones that brought evil upon ourselves.  In fact, God in his great love and mercy created a way to defeat sin: through his son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus bore our sins upon the cross so that we could be made new inside and receive healing for our broken messed up hearts.

It is human nature to want to be free.  We spend our lives pursuing freedom.  Wars have been fought for freedom.  I have never heard of a person saying that they want to be locked up in a cage for the rest of their lives.  A person rarely likes to be told what to do and then beaten into submission.  We cherish freedom.  Therefore, God gave us a free choice: to choose to follow Him, or choose to reject Him and live a life of sin.  He really is a loving God because he gives us the freedom to choose.  He doesn't beat us into submission.

Therefore evil dwells in the world because of our own choices.  However God still will use evil in this world for good because He is sovereign.

Growing up, I clung to Romans 8:28 during hard times: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  I didn't understand why hard times came upon me, but I knew it was for my own good.  You see, we can't see the whole picture, but God can, and everything is going according to His plan, both good and bad.  Yes, God allows bad things to happen, but He has a reason behind everything, even if we cannot see it.

In the story, The Proposal,  I read about a man name Jennings who was struggling with why a God would allow bad things to happen.  His friend, Palmer, responded to his question by using Jennings' daughter, Penny, as an example: 

"Let me ask you something Jennings. If you were God, and you could see that Penny was walking along a path that would take her directly past a poisonous snake, might you put a hole in her path to stop her?"

"I might."

But then she might break her little ankle.  The snake would hear the commotion and slither away without Penny  ever knowing he was there, but you would have saved her from a  worse fate."

Jennings stared at Palmer.

"Would you want Penny angry with you forever over something you couldn't explain but you knew to be for her best?"

This is a very simple example, but it illustrates my point.  All things do work together for good, but it is hard to know that when we cannot see the whole picture.  God can. 

God uses troubles for many reasons: to mold and shape us, to protect us from something bigger, to make us depend on Him, to show us His grace and mercy, to bring about things for His glory, etc.  Oftentimes we may never know the reason, but there is one.  All we can do is trust in Him and know that it all works together for good for those who love Him.  

Instead of blaming God for your troubles, keep loving and trusting God during your troubles!  He is the best person to have by your side during the tough times AND.... He has your best interests in mind!

It is the small things in the world that keeps evil in check....

It is the small things in the world that keeps evil in check....

He was born in a manger.

He grew up as a carpenter's son.

He wasn't rich and powerful.

His followers were fishermen.

He ate with sinners and the worthless.

In the world's eyes, He seemed unimportant....insignificant...

Yet, He changed the course of the future forever,

He gave hope to the lost.

strength to the weak

rest to the weary

love to the sinners

and grace to the world

Evil was defeated, and His goodness will reign for all times.

God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,  (1 Corinthians 1:28)

Who would have thought something so small and insignificant would become so big and significant!

Happy Birthday, Jesus! Your love is greater than any gift in this world.  I love you so, my beloved. To you be all the glory!

Merry Christmas! 

It Does Not Take a Church to Raise a Godly Child

Verse of the Week:

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.  James 2:14-17

It Does Not Take a Church to Raise a Godly Child

I remember hearing someone say, "It takes a village to raise a child."  In other words, everyone in society contributes to the well being, care, and raising of a family's child.  Many families not only believe that it takes a village to raise a child, but that it also takes a Church to raise a godly child.

Many parents are dependent upon the church to teach their children about Christ.  Once a week for an hour, they bring their child to Sunday School to listen to their youth pastor talk to them about Jesus, and then spend another hour in the pew listening to their Pastor preach.  For many families, those two hours in church is all their children ever hear about the Lord.  Is going to church enough for our children?  I am not saying the church isn't without it benefits, but is the church the most effective way to show our children Christ's love?

Suppose I get a brand new sewing machine (boy do I love sewing!).  I am so excited about it, and can't wait to start doing all sorts of craft projects on it.  I open up the instruction manual to  figure out how to get it to work.  The manual shows me what each button is for, how to put the thread in, how to use the pedal, and many other things I need to know in how to operate a sewing machine.  But then something happens...  When I try to do what the manual says, it doesn't work on the sewing machine.  The thread won't  go through, the pedal is broken, and the buttons do not do what the manual says they will do.  I get frustrated, and end up taking the machine back to the store.  I abandon it. 

Just as I abandoned the sewing machine, because it doesn't do what the manual says it does, some children abandon their faith because what they hear in church is not shown in their home. They go to church and hear about Christ's love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness, but at home their parents show them the opposite.  They hear one thing for an a couple of hours a week, but have a hard time believing it, because it is not shown in their own homes.  So they abandon their faith believing it to not work.

The key to teaching our children about Jesus does not lie in church attendance, but in the parents.  According to a survey given to Protestant youth, the most influential person in a teenager's life is not their youth pastor, but their Mom.  Dad follows Mom in a close second.  Out of all the influences out there for teens such as friends, siblings, relatives, youth pastors, television, radio, celebrities, teacher, coaches, retreats, and even the Bible, the parents are at the top of the list. *

Some parents may talk the talk but not walk the walk.  James 2:14-17 says, 14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

To many teenagers, their parent's faith is dead.  Their parent's faith is not reflected in their actions. They say one thing but do the other.  Their life style does not reflect their love for God.

In Mark Holmen's book, Faith Begins at Home, he talks about a  man who asked a group of parents at a conference an important question:

 "How many of you wish your teenager had a stronger faith?" 

Every hand in the room went up. He then made a comment that I'll never forget.  He said, "While it's good that everyone desires that our teenagers have a stronger faith, the truth is that what we see in our teenagers' faith is a mirror image of our own faith.  So, the issue is not their faith, but your own faith." 

I can still remember seeing the reaction of my one year old between two scenarios between Brian and I.  In one scenario, Brian and I were both having a disagreement, and sadly enough my temper got the better of me, and I yelled.  When I looked over at Brayden, it broke my heart; he was looking at me with a quizzical brow. Why was mom acting this way?  In another scenario, Brian and I had been joking with each other and gave each other a hug and kiss. When I looked over at Brayden, he was beaming and smiling at us.  He liked what he saw.  Our one year old is way smarter than we realize, and in reflecting back to those scenarios, I realized which one I wanted to display to him on a daily basis, the scenario filled with love.  I want him to grow up in a home where we display Christ's love in our actions.

One time a friend and I were talking about our upbringing and parents. She brought up a good point, "Katrina, I never took my mom's advice seriously because she never took her own advice."  Why should kids love the Lord, if their own parents don't.  Parents need to fix their own hearts first before changing their child's heart.

When I say change our hearts, I do not mean start getting wrapped up in a bunch of do's and do not's and obey God because you have too. When we accept Christ into our lives, a heart changing experience take place inside of us.  No longer do we desire the things of the world, but the things of God. When we realize Christ's love for us, we can't help but love others.  We do the right thing, not because we are commanded to do it, but because we are willing to do it.  1 Peter 5:2 says, "Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers- NOT BECAUSE YOU MUST, but BECAUSE YOU ARE WILLING, as God wants you to be. (emphasis mine)

Christ's love is shown through people (1 John 4:12).  Parent's have the best chance to show Christ's love to their children. Church and no other outside influence can take their place. 

Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it. -Proverbs 22:6

It doesn't take a village to raise a child or a church to raise a godly child....it takes a parent.

*Information found in-Faith Begins at Home, by Mark Holeman

Burdens

Verse of the Week:

Matthew 11:28-30
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 

Burdens

In the movie, Lord of the Rings, Frodo Baggins is chosen as the ring bearer; destined to take the evil ring of power and destroy it in the mountain of fire. As he carries the ring and embarks on his journey to the mountain, the ring grows heavier and harder to carry.  The ring becomes a immense burden the longer he carries it. In the end, the ring takes hold of him so much that when his travel companion and loyal friend, Sam asks him if he remembers his wonderful home,  Frodo replies:

 No, Sam. I can't recall the taste of food... nor the sound of water... nor the touch of grass. I'm... naked in the dark, with nothing, no veil... between me... and the wheel of fire! I can see him... with my waking eyes! 

The ring became so heavy and burdensome that it consumed Frodo to the point that he was surrounded by darkness with no memories of the good things in life.

Often times people tend to focus so much on their problems, that it grows to be a burden.  At first the burden may seem light, but the more they carry it on their own, the heavier it becomes. Eventually the burden takes over their lives, and they are unable to see past it and focus on the good things in life.  They cannot see any way out.  The harder they try to fix their burden, the worse it becomes, and eventually they are hopeless because they cannot get rid of it or fix it.  They begin to despair and wonder why life is even worth living.  And some eventually give up...

Burdens often enslaves us and master us.    In 2 Peter 2:19b, it talks about how we are slaves to whatever masters us. 

For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

Whatever you are obsessed with in this life is usually what has you enslaved.  The more you focus on your burden, the more it enslaves you.  

It is human nature to look at a problem and try to fix it. If the washer breaks down, we call someone up to fix it.  If your son falls and scraps his knee, you wash the wound and put a band aid on it. If the car needs the oil changed, you change it.  If the dishes need to be washed, you wash them.  

However, have you noticed that if some of these things do not get fixed immediately, it becomes a burden?  Suppose your washer breaks down, and you call someone to fix it, but they cannot fix it; the burden becomes greater.   The problem grows bigger, and you begin to ask yourself, "How can we afford to buy a new washer? How am I going to get laundry done? My husband needs a clean shirt for his work party tonight and my son is running out of pants to wear!"  You start to panic and the burden gets heavier and heavier to the point that you are frustrated. 

We are usually fine and breeze our way through life when things go great. As long as we are able to solve and fix things, life seems easy, but I have learned something about the origin of burdens.  Burdens come about when you try to fix things and cannot.  The harder you try to fix it the worse it gets and the heavier the burden.  Burdens come about when you have the illusion that you are in control.

Jesus has something to say about burdens....

 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)

For those of you who are not aware what a yoke is, it is a wooden cross piece that is attached to an animal that helps them to pull a heavy load in a wagon or cart.  Jesus is saying that the yoke He has is easy to pull and light.  He is saying that we can find rest in Him.

When a person cannot fix a burden something must happen to lighten that burden, it is called SURRENDER.

When a person realizes that they cannot fix something, they realize that if they keep carrying the burden, it will grow heavier, so they surrender that burden to someone else, Jesus.  He is in control of the situation, and nothing ever happens that is out of His hands.  All things are under Jesus' feet (1 Corinthians 15:27, Ephesians 1:22, Hebrews 2:8).

Here is the problem, whenever, we give our burdens to Jesus, we expect Him to FIX it.  Here is the reality: sometimes He does not fix it.  You see, God doesn't promise to take our problems away, but He promises to be with us as we go through them.  Jesus clearly says, 

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.  (John 16:33)  

Jesus didn't say that we would not have troubles, but he did say to take heart, because he has overcome the world.  He is still sovereign. 

So when a person sees a situation that ends in hopelessness and grief, and it nearly rips a person's heart to shreds, God is still sovereign.

So how does God lighten the burden? Remember how we are slaves to whatever masters us? It is all about the focus; the more we focus on the problem, the heavier the burden, but the more that we turn our eyes to Jesus and see the problem through His eyes, the lighter the burden! Your worry is replaced with trust.  Your negativity is replaced with shimmer of light.  You realize that you are not alone and that someone is there with you through it all.  If you don't understand why something happened, you are ok, because you know that someone else does understand.

If I am going to be mastered by something, then let it be Jesus!  Let him consume my thoughts, may His own thoughts reflect my own.

I have seen what happens to a person when Jesus is not there.  They have no hope. Day by day they try to fix their burdens never succeeding. Day by day they see negativity in this world that eventually consumes their thoughts.  When they finally have had enough of it all, they despair because there is no one to turn to.

Someone once told me that Christians use God as an illusion to bring them comfort when they have problems.  Even if He is an illusion, I much rather have hope in an illusion than despair in nothing.

I am reminded of a song that I sung as a little girl:

I will cast all my cares upon you.
    I lay all of my burdens down at your feet,
And anytime I don't know what to do
   I will cast all my cares upon you.

Thank you, Jesus, that we can lay our burdens down at your feet!  To you be all the glory, Amen!

According to the World's Standards, We Don't Have Much...What I am Thankful for....

Verse of the Week:

My lovingkindness is everlasting. Psalms 136

According to the World's Standards, We Don't Have Much...WHAT I AM THANKFUL FOR!

I have always been a simple person.  My wedding was small on a 1,500 dollar budget, with an already used wedding dress, and my old prom dressed sewed and made into a bridesmaid dress.  It wasn't my wedding that mattered,  I was thankful for the man waiting for me at the front of the church.  I was thankful for the life we were about to share, not just our wedding day.  Our wedding day was one day of our life together, I was thankful for the many days, weeks, months, and years we would have together.  I was thankful for his heart for Christ and his passion for the things of God.

When I became pregnant with Brayden, the simple part of me came out again.  Our baby room/space consisted of a nice used crib, Brian's old chest of drawers from college, and a few homemade pictures and frames made lovingly by me. We didn't spend 6,000 dollars on our baby's nursery (the average cost today) or buy brand new furniture or paint our walls.  It wasn't the baby's room I was concerned about.  I was thankful for a healthy baby boy.  I am thankful for the privilege God has given me to take care of Brayden. I am thankful for the opportunity to LOVE Brayden.  I am thankful for the sleepless nights, poopy diapers, teething days, and for every boo boo I get to fix.  I am thankful for our sweet boy's laughter and joy in the simple things in life.  I am thankful for the opportunity to learn more about how to trust God and trust him with Brayden.  I am thankful Brayden belongs to Him.

While someday I look forward to owning a nice house, I am content in our little home at the present moment.  While we do not have the newest furniture, updated technology, or a lot of room, we are content.  But it is not the home that matters to me.  I am thankful for the laughter shared, tears shed, prayers said, memories shared, and Christ-like love shown within the walls of this home.  

We are now mostly a one income family.  While we are thankful that money helps meet our needs, it is not money that I am the most thankful for. I am happy to sacrifice our double income to be with our boy.  I am thankful for the opportunity to stay at home with our son and to see every stage  Brayden goes through; from discovering his hands and feet,  to sitting up, crawling, and now walking.  It has been a joy to watch our son grow up, and see that little boy that God made grow and transform. I delight in watching our baby grow up.

According to the worlds standards, we may not have much, but when I look at my life through God's eyes, I am richly blessed! I am thankful for the things of God, not the things of the world. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying having a 50,000 dollar wedding, a 5 bedroom house, and a large salary is wrong, but I do believe the motive behind it matters. Lets face it, we do live in a materialistic society, where it is important to have everything, but is that what truly matters?   Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15-17)   Possessions are nice, but I am thankful for God and his AMAZING LOVE because that is ultimately what lasts and matters the most. Jesus says in Mark 8:36, And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?  What matters the most, your 500,000 dollar home, or your eternal destination? If I lose everything in this world (which I will someday whether through death or something else) including all my possessions,  my family, and my friends, I am still thankful, because of the one who lives inside of me and loves me so much. I will never lose Him. I will be with Him forever.  My soul is secure because of Jesus.


Author, Steve McVey once wrote an amazing letter in his book, The Grace Walk Experience. Using verses he had underlined from the book of Psalms in the Bible.  He strung all of the verses together and wrote an amazing love letter from our Heavenly Father.  

This is what I am thankful for.....

I am thankful for the things of God, not the things of the world.  Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!