Sometimes I am tempted to throw in the proverbial towel with this whole writing/teaching thing, especially when I start listening to the lies of the devil.  And then God will show up in a sweet and powerful way {or two or three} and remind me that I am doing what He has asked and that my only calling is to obedience.

This week, He affirmed that in my Bible reading.  For those of you that don’t know, I chose to do the chronological Bible reading plan this year in my personal quiet time.  I was reading in Exodus when God is calling Moses to go deliver His people from Egypt.  Just read this little exchange between Moses and the Lord:

But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words.  I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me.  I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled”.  Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth?  Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see?  Is it not I, the Lord?  Now go!  I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say”.  ~Exodus 4:10-12 NLT

Yes, that little bit of Scripture just stepped all over my toes.

So, with a mixture of excitement and trepidation I am announcing a new format of study on my blog.  Beginning February 15th, I am going to lead a study here called Plugged In:  Accessing God’s Power Through Prayer.  It will continue for 8 Wednesdays, leading up to Easter.  The format will be short vlog segments for you to watch when you have a few minutes of quiet.  Then a free printable worksheet will be provided for more in-depth study of the topic presented if you desire.  God has blessed me with a talented audio/visual friend who is making this all come together.  I am honored to share it with you!  Here is a little intro video for your viewing pleasure (ha!):

Please join me for session one of Plugged In: Accessing God’s Power Through Prayer on Wednesday, February 15th.

In more exciting news, one of my favorite websites, The M.O.B Society, has gotten a face-lift. The M.O.B Society is a site for mothers of boys, by mothers of boys and I am honored to be a contributing writer there. Raising future men of God is such an incredible honor and responsibility. It is comforting and encouraging to have a place to go where other moms are going through and dealing with the same challenges, joys and struggles. A few months ago, the M.O.B writers contributed to an eBook, called From Mom’s Failure to God’s Grace: Stories of Raising Boys from the M.O.B Society Writers. Tomorrow, the book will be available for on Amazon for $2.99! All proceeds go to the Seed Company to provide the Word of God to people across the world. I am so tickled to be a part of this. Be sure to stop by The M.O.B Society today!

And, lastly, for those of my local friends, we are resuming Wednesday morning Bible study (we had taken a hiatus for the holidays that lasted a bit longer than I planned). This coming Wednesday at 9:30 we will begin a 6 week study of Isaiah 58 that I have entitled, The Well-Watered Life. I can’t wait to share the insights God has given me from this chapter (my life chapter!). Wednesday mornings, First Baptist Church, Martinsburg, WV.

I think that is all except for the counting of more blessings (excerpted from my Joy Dare journal)
~ a book that challenged me
~ friends that inspire me
~ new shoes for Sweet Pea
~ just enough powdery snow to make the trees pretty
~ a husband who is the calm to my storm
~ a special girl asking for prayer (an answer to prayer in and of itself)
~ six new girls at Young Lives club
~ a true Sabbath rest
~ knowing God fights for me (Exodus 14:14)
~ a much needed nap

What are you thankful for?

I found this meme at Chrysalis.  What a neat way to share what is on my heart.

I would love for you to pick a prompt or two and answer in the comments so I can know what is on your heart and mind today!

and the counting of gifts {excerpts from the joy dare for 2012} continues:

440~ each day is a precious, unrepeatable gift (Sarah Young)

441~ I Peter 2:21- To this I am called

442~ gummy cola bottles that bring back childhood memories- pleasant ones.

443~ toffee almond creamer in my hazelnut coffee

444~ a husband that takes excellent care of me when I am not feeling well

445~ Mary Kay lip gloss

446~ steaming shower with smell good body wash

447~ talking to my soldier on the phone once {sometimes twice!} a week

448~ reliable transportation

449~ birthday gifts straight from the heart of sweet friends

In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on. ~Robert Frost

 

Sometimes, the blog is quiet because I don’t have much to say.

Other times, it’s quiet because I have a lot to say but nothing that should be shared here.

And right now, it’s quiet because of the latter statement and it’s quiet because there is much writing going on other places….finishing my ebook, working on a special project and getting ready to debut a new site for mothers of teens/tweens.

Bear with me?

My soul is parched without the outlet.

Then, my computer got fried by bad storms and my bad choice of outlets to leave it plugged in to.

My fabulous hubby surprised me with a shopping trip for a new laptop this afternoon.

My soul exhaled.

And, I am back!

Not that I have been bored.

With Miss S. and Jason graduating from high school in the next month and our ministry’s second largest fundraiser of the year and physical therapy and….I have been anything but bored.

Sweet Pea has two teeth.

Jared will be 15 this month!

Matt got a much needed haircut.

Life is good. Hectic yet blessed beyond measure.

Me and some of the YoungLives girls at our Mom's Nite Out fundraiser

And having a son with a job has it’s perks!  Tears welled up in my eyes when he asked for “the honor” of taking Miss S. and I out for a Mother’s Day dinner.

Miss S. enjoying her dessert

Life is good and I need to write about it.

If people are dying and going to hell without ever even knowing there is a gospel, then we clearly have no time to waste our lives on an American dream. ~Radical, pg 143

“I’ll get to it tomorrow”.

How often have you said that to yourself?  How often have you thought about when will be a good time for you and your family to serve, to share the gospel with others?

When the kids are grown?

When the hubby retires?

When life slows down?

Those are all statements Mike and I have used as {seemingly} valid reasons why  RIGHT NOW is not the time for us to be focusing our lives on missions. This chapter of Radical points out how selfish that socially acceptable school of thought truly is.

Consider this:

If people cannot come to God apart from faith in Christ, and if more than a billion people have never heard of Christ, then a serious and eternal problem exists. ~Radical, pg 154

The Bible is very clear that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone.  And, who am I to say that RIGHT NOW is not a good time for me to share the gospel, particularly if that means that even one of those one billion could be saved?

There is a simple divine plan for taking the gospel to the world and fulfilling the Great Commission and it looks like this (Radical, pg 156)

God sends his servants—->His servants preach—–>People hear—–>Hearers believe—–>Believers call—–>Everyone who calls is saved.

This chapter points out that there is only one part of this plan where it is vulnerable to break down.  And, that would be where those selfish assertions I mentioned earlier come in.

If God’s people aren’t sharing the gospel {preaching} because they are too busy, or life is too hectic, or now is not a good time…then we are actually interfering with God’s plan.  And, people will go to the eternal depths of hell because of our selfishness.  Period. 

RIGHT NOW is all there is.

When my husband and I read this chapter for the first time, we both identified with a feeling that God was just being mean.  If He is omnipotent, why in the world is He allowing people to go to hell because of my….your….our selfishness and unwillingness?

Platt explains it like this:

Some wonder if it is unfair for God to allow so many to have no knowledge of the gospel.  But there is no injustice in God.  The injustice lies in Christians who possess the gospel and refuse to give their lives to making it known among those who haven’t heard.  That is unfair. ~Radical, pg 159

Ouch!  I do seem to say that a lot in the reading of this book and in searching the Scriptures to make sure that what I read is what God meant for me to hear.

The Bible is so clear about our responsibility to share the gospel and not hoard it for ourselves.

I pray for a sense of urgency.  For a willingness to surrender my comfort and my plans for the sake of those that may never hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.  RIGHT NOW!

Can you imagine being in heaven and knowing there are people NOT there to share in the eternal joy of the Lord because it wasn’t convenient for you to sacrifice your comfortable American life to insure the gospel reached them?

This post is part of the Radical Read-Along at Marla’s blog.

Not Relevant.  

Recalling divine appointments at dinner tables, in elevators going the wrong direction.

Sally Clarkson’s  hallowed words of wisdom on how to be a message maker after God’s own heart.

Pondering where what I read makes me want to run, desiring the answer to be the arms of Jesus as Angie Smith reminded me.

Allowing my heart to feel the weight of conviction from the words of Serena Woods, when you hoard what God has done for you, you kill it. 

Sister moments, squeals of delight, arms of love wrapped around this non-hugging type of gal {who enjoyed every one},Reese’s pieces sundae filled conversation with new soul friends, gratitude for the existence of a conference such as this.

And, then Ann Voskamp.  Obviously not comfortable with the limelight God has placed her in, yet obviously in exactly the right place. A humility that wraps you in a tight hug, making you feel like a long lost friend who could easily get lost in the depth of Jesus in her eyes.

Her words, a burning salve.

Only God knew how desperately this girl needed to hear that “story is the way that the Spirit of God binds up our wounds” in order to continue to have the courage, the energy, the willingness to keep putting words to painful experiences and vulnerable struggles.

The promise that when you write words, the Word comes.

The amount of processing that my brain needs to do is immeasurable and I will get to it. Although, not today.  Today I will turn off the computer before my family arrives home.  I will watch for the ways they respond to my undivided attention and thank my Jesus for the holy echo this weekend that my family is exactly where my undivided attention should be.

My heart?  Changed in a weekend of fellowship and God breathed moments in time.  Thank you, Sarah Mae, Dana and Jessie for an amazing Relevant conference.  PLEASE do it again next year!

Seriously? 

We are the meal planners, bottle washers, outfit coordinators, Mt. Saint Laundry climbers, boo boo kissers and teachers. 

Add that to the taxi driver, vacuum operator, hygiene enforcer, social calendar keeper and dust bunny catcher section of the resume.

We are the sibling police, home decorators, brownie bakers (at the last minute because our child forgot to tell us they signed us up for 3 batches), home maintenance supervisors and more.

On top of all that, we need to be lovers extraordinaire, the bed time story reader, healer of broken hearts and bruised friendship fixer.

Don’t forget the need to be the hostess with the mostess, the loser of baby weight, toilet bowl scrubber and toy cleaner upper.

Somehow, we also expect ourselves to be the spiritual thermometer, the memory keeper, the vacation planner and the beauty sleeper. 

How do we do this everyday?  What charges a mama’s batteries?

•  One slobbery kiss from a sweet baby
• A picture, colored inside the lines, just for mommy
• A “please” or “thank you” spoken in public without prompting
• Your lap being the treasured sitting place of a special little one
• Watching chubby legs take their first steps
• The moment your child can read the story to you but still wants Mommy to read it
• Walking out the door with a child wearing stripes and polka dots with their snow boots in the middle of July
• Observing big brother *finally* share a toy with little sister
• Everyone at the dinner table eating the same thing and liking it
• 20 minutes to take a quiet shower because all the kids fell asleep at nap time
• Sleeping breath on your neck as you carry in the child that fell asleep in the car
• Little arms wrapped around your leg, feeling safest when protected by you
• The occasional hug or half grin from a grumpy teenager

All the little things energize me to not only stay the course while my children are young, but to enjoy each moment.  They grow so fast! 

I am energized by watching them grow and develop.  I am energized by catching glimpses of the men they will become. And, I am energized by the memories of the babies they once were.

We do “it” all because we love them.  And, we love them because they own pieces of our hearts. 

 To all the Energizer mama’s out there- charge on!

This post was written as part of the Energizer BlogHer ’10 contest, sponsored by Energizer and @kailani.  I have had the pleasure of working with Energizer for conducting product reviews and giveaways in the past and would be honored to represent their brand at BlogHer.

My blog grew from something I did for myself to something the Lord does through me.  It has been a humbling experience to write in a way that helps other women and their relationships with God, their spouse, kids and themselves.

I attended my first blogging conference in July 2009.  I went so excited to meet people I interacted with online and (I thought) to learn ways to grow my blog.  I left that conference disheartened, discouraged and not even certain if blogging was for me.

Since then I have attended four other blogging conferences of various sizes and venues.  I have found that the smaller the conference the more connected I feel.  Then I heard about Relevant.  I instantly knew I wanted to go.  The concept is exactly what has been lacking at the other conferences I have attended (even the good ones).  Getting together with like minded women who view the internet as their mission field, while remembering and honoring the fact that our primary mission field is our home.

There have been rough periods of blogging for me as well.  Whenever I lose focus of why I blog and get caught up in blog stats, comments and “measuring up” my writing and my passion for blogging suffer.

I can’t wait to meet so many of my twitter and blogging friends in real life.  And I have no doubt that I will leave Relevant refreshed, inspired and revived.  Can’t wait until October!

The dashboard for parents is great. Comparing it to trying to keep track of my son’s “goings-on” with Facebook, Yoursphere makes it so much easier.  I get to see all their activity from the dashboard including friends, messages and activity. 

The only problem I have encountered is due to my laptop dying (yes, it was a sad day).  I haven’t been able to upload the boys profile pics yet and they are anxious to do that as they think it will help them get more friends (being popular is apparently important online too LOL).

The time my boys are allowed to be online is limited but Yoursphere is quickly becoming one of the sites they gravitate towards when they log on the computer.  That is a-ok with this mama.

Yoursphere is FREE.  If you want to sign your child up for a safe and fun online community, use this code:  YSMC-0054. 

I wrote this review while participating in the Yoursphere Test Drive program by Mom Central on behalf of Yoursphere. I received a free lifetime Gold membership on Yoursphere.com, Yoursphere t-shirts, and a $50 American Express gift card to facilitate my review.

Putting this last ninety (ninety four if you want me to be perfectly honest) days into words is proving more difficult than I thought it would be.

Renewed passion for the Word of God.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  II Timothy 3:16-17

Renewed conviction for the sin that so easily creeps in.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  Galations 5:19-21

Renewed gratitude for the ultimate sacrifice.

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.  Isaiah 52:5

Renewed reverence for God’s majesty.

Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you- majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?  You stretched out your right hand and the earth swallowed them.  In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed  In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.  Exodus 15: 11-13

Renewed commitment and laser focus on my ministry.

But they were scheming to harm me so I sent messengers to them with this reply, “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down.  Why should the great work stop while I leave it and go down to you?”.  Four times they sent me the same message and each time I gave them the same answer.  Nehemiah 6: 3-4

Renewed patience for God’s timing.

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.  Psalm 27: 13-14

I could go on and on all day with the gems God shared with me during this concentrated time in His word.  It was so worth it and my prayer and hope is that this fire that has been ignited for the Word continues to burn strong in my life and the rest of those that joined in this challenge.

A special thanks to Amy from Mom’s Toolbox for starting this movement online and encouraging me along the way.