Blessed

This is part of Webster's definition of blessed:
Bless"ed
a. 1. Hallowed; consecrated; worthy of blessing or adoration; heavenly; holy.
2. Enjoying happiness or bliss; favored with blessings; happy; highly favored.
All generations shall call me blessed. --Luke i. 48.
3. Imparting happiness or bliss; fraught with happiness; blissful; joyful.
4. Enjoying, or pertaining to, spiritual happiness, or heavenly felicity; as, the blessed in heaven.
5. (R. C. Ch.) Beatified.
6. Used euphemistically, ironically, or intensively. Not a blessed man came to set her [a boat] free. --R. D. Blackmore.

I have been thinking about this word for so long. The way it has been used in churches has always bothered me a little bit. For instance, "God was taking care of us-we are so blessed, the tornado turned and hit another town instead of ours." Doesn't that statement imply that God IS NOT taking care of the towns that were in the path of the tornado? Another lady said, "We have been so blessed (speaking of her successful business and financial prosperity.) We have been able to build our dream house...etc." My question to that is, Is financial prosperity and reaching the "American Dream" always a blessing? My good friend Celena recently wrote a great blog about the American Dream. Reading her blog finally motivated me to write this one.

It seems to me that God's blessings are more complex than physical protection, financial prosperity, and the accomplishment of our dreams. When I think of God's greatest blessings in my life it has very little to do with how much money I have.

Doesn't Paul make reference to financial situations being somewhat irrelevant in Philippians 4?

I believe that His true blessings have more to do with our spiritual health and betterment than our physical health. Sometimes physical illness is the blessing we need to bring us to a point of trusting Him. If declaring bankruptcy is what will bring us to dependence on Him with our finances, then running out of money would be a huge blessing. Living poor in Christ each day is more of a blessing than living rich independently of Him. If we are able to be rich, dependent on Him, and help others in need, then in that case the money is a blessing.

Does the blessing have less to do with the money, than the spiritual work God is doing using health, money, circumstances, etc.?

Sometimes debt is a blessing, sometimes money is a blessing. Sometimes sickness is a blessing, sometimes health is a blessing. Sometimes safety is a blessing, but sometimes destruction is a blessing.

I think God desires for all of us to live a full, abundant life in Christ and any means to bring us to that end is the greatest blessing from Him that we can ever have...whether or not it is fun and comfortable is another story! :)

Any thoughts on this? I would love to hear them!

Friends

Two of A's best friends moved away about a year ago. She has missed them so much and often asks to visit them. Coordinating three family schedules for a visit has been difficult, but we finally made it up yesterday to see both of her friends.
We played at a McDonalds with Andy and Ellie first and then played at her friend Anabeth's house.
We all had a really nice time and enjoyed catching up with special friends.
We took a few pictures with Matt's iphone at McDonalds.

Andy

A made a close friend in her 3-year-old mdo class named Andy. The summer after that class Andy moved about 2 hours away. On and off A has talked about Andy, missed him, and wanted to see him. This weekend we were going to go visit his family. Just before we were leaving his mom called to tell us he had been throwing up and wasn't up for the visit. She also told me this conversation they had about A...
"Mommy, who do you think A will marry?"
"I don't know Andy, do you want to marry her?"
"No, no, I wasn't saying that. I was just saying that if she wanted to get married, that would be okay with me."
So cute!
He's a precious boy and I hope she marries a sweetheart like him!

Survey

my friend put this on her blog and i thought it might be fun to do, you're supposed to answer every ? in one word...if you're up for it, post your responses :)

1. Where is your cell phone? somewhere
2. Your significant other? matt
3. Your hair? up
4. Your mother? cute
5. Your father? goofy
6. Your favorite thing? sunshine
7. Your dream last night? hmmm...
8. Your favorite drink? water
9. Your dream/goal? surrender
10. The room you're in? office
12. Your fear? suffering
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? anywhere
14. Where were you last night? norvells
15. What you're not? shallow
16. Muffins? banana
17. One of your wish list items? mommymobile
18. Where you grew up? portland
19. The last thing you did? bedtime
20. What are you wearing? workout
21. Your TV? reality
22. Your pets? precious
23. Your computer? nonexistent
24. Your life? fun
25. Your mood? good
26. Missing someone? always
27. Your car? DIRTY
28. Something you're not wearing? shoes
29. Favorite Store? target
30. Your summer? HOT
31. Like someone? yea
32. Your favorite color? pink
33. When is the last time you laughed? tonight

Bugs

Since S asked Jesus into her heart, she has been quite taken with the idea of heaven. Today she found three dead bugs. Each time she bends over and studies it, then the conversation goes like this.
"Mommy, see this bug?"
"Yes."
"This bug is killed."
"Yes, that's too bad."
"Oh, I hope he goes to heaven! Will he go to heaven Mommy?"
Man, that question is hard to answer. Especially with this sweet little 2-year-old staring at me with big sad eyes!
I answer,
"I don't know sweetheart. I do know that God cares for everything He makes."
Then she walks around the house saying, "Yea, yea, okay. God cares for everything He Makes. Yea, yea."

Wifey Continued

In our community group last night we talked about Ephesians 5. In verse 8, Paul writes,

"For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light."

Then in verse13 he says,

"But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light."

When I think of this in the context of wifehood...

My community group leader, Will, pointed out that it doesn't say that we were formerly in darkness and now are in light. It says that we were darkness and now are light in the Lord. So, Christ in us has made us the light.
So, as believers with Christ in us, we are the light in our marriage relationships. When we focus on that truth and live focused on the light in us, then darkness will fall away in our lives. The darkness that makes it difficult for us to be "godly wives" will fall away as we believe and set our minds on Christ.
Just thinking practically, Matt and my fights usually start with some sort of fear on my part. I then over-react about small issues. Matt then responds to me, in my opinion, poorly, and off we go! Taking this example, if I was living in an awareness of Christ in me as the light, the fear would not take over in the first place and the entire fight would be avoided. Christ in me as my light lives in unity with Matt in a very loving, peaceful, and completely godly way. Our good times never come from us mustering up enough effort to meet each other's needs or follow biblical behavior guidelines. They come from experiencing life in Christ personally and sharing that with each other. Christ through us is an awesome spouse!!
Kind of goes along with our righteousness coming through faith in Christ...not through works!

Happy Birthday

Little S decided Saturday to ask Jesus into her heart. She is the very same age A was when she made the decision. With both of them we held back thinking they were too young to understand it all and make the decision. God has given them such pure faith and it's exciting to see them respond to Him. They have responded to Him so differently according to their different personalities; it's been lovely to watch. They are too young and uninhibited to hide His voice or activity in their lives. They don't explain away His voice and it's exciting to teach them at these young ages what He "sounds" like!

Sunday we had a little birthday celebration for her with cupcakes and Happy Birthday!

Tonight S was telling Nana about her decision. She was trying to spit out, "Jesus made me brand new on the inside." She was having a bit of trouble getting in out. A was standing behind her shouting, "She's been washed by the bwood of the Wamb, Nana! Nana! She's been washed by the bwood of the Wamb!"

Wifey

Matt calls me his wifey. :) I like the nickname. Lately I have friends reading books about being godly wives. Our pastor just did a sermon on Proverbs 31 and I've been thinking a lot about being a wife. It seems that there is quite a bit of focus on how to be a "godly wife" in the church. I think it's been that way for a long time, because I remember my mom learning about it throughout my childhood.

Here are some of the thoughts I have been pondering...

Are we created to be helpmates for our husbands, or lovers of God? Are you asking, must it be either or? Well, the focus has to be somewhere, right? If we are focused on a quest to submit and be a helpmate for our husband, will we lose sight of resting in the Lord and being His bride? Are we just created to be His, and as we live our life in Him we will begin to walk the road of godly wifehood?

I have been raised in a family full of strong women. My sister is the first of us to be an official feminist, but for generations, the women have been fighters. I also have an exceptional husband that does not ever put any pressure or guilt on me to live up to anything in any area. I enjoy our relationship and think we are learning so much each day about how to love, respect, and serve each other. We have experienced something very interesting...the more we stop putting guilt and pressure on ourselves to "be godly," the more godly we become in our relationship. The more we trust Christ to live in us and through us, the more we see His activity in our marriage. The more we rest in Him, the more we see Him in each other. I am very thankful for him and we are enjoying exploring this discussion together. Maybe he will comment here...:)


I know that this can be a very hot topic, but I would love your input!

Proverbs 31

My good friend, Crystal, wrote this comment responding to my last post.

"I have no problem with Proverbs 31, of course. But I think this text is isolated far too often as the catch all description of godly womanhood. Lots of good writing and insight have come from this short chapter, but I'm afraid it has been misused to induce a fair amount of guilt--mostly in small groups of women who torture themselves with measuring up to the details of the passage."

Amen.

Proverbs 31

My pastor's sermon this morning was about the Proverbs 31 woman...what do you ladies out there think, believe, feel about the Proverbs 31 woman and the sermons you have heard about her?

Stu

I was reading a comment on my Stormado post and responding to it tonight. It reminded me of a story from this summer when A was asking a lot about God, death, Heaven, etc. She has always expressed a lot of excitement whenever we talk about going to heaven and being with Jesus. She has a sincere childlike love for God and Jesus and really looks forward to sleeping in the room that Jesus will prepare for her. :) She is always asking if He will stay in the room with her. This summer she was all excited to go to heaven, then she got quiet for a while. About ten minutes later she said, "Mommy, I really want to go see Jesus, but I will really miss Stu!" (Stu is a buddy of hers that she loves dearly...obviously!) At the age of 4 boys are already on the mind! Wow. She decided that she and Stu needed to die at the same time so they could go to heaven together. I guess she'll have to take that one up with God!

Adoration

I just started an amazing book called Adoration by Martha Kilpatrick. A good friend gave me the book months ago, but I just started reading it yesterday. Wow, it's so good! It's about Mary of Bethany...

"Mary and Martha...cannot be explained by the distinctions of temperament or personality. They do not stand for alternative ways to follow God: 'This way or that way, whichever suits you best.' Mary and Martha, symbols of choice...between what gains God against what loses Him.

We defend in Martha that which Jesus condemned. This only proves that we are...Marthas, independent and unheeding of His will, dealing only with our preference...Just as she was."

Ouch.

"Two roads of choice: An open road of comfortable width, pleasing to humanity and an austere path, gated and obscure. Only one way leads to God and 'there are few who find it.' Matthew 7, 13, 14"

This was such a strong point for me. I have heard many talks/teachings on Mary and Martha, but never one with such boldness. The dependent life of sitting at the feet of Jesus is not a easy road or easy way of living. It is not "pleasing" to many of our human desires or tendencies, but definitely rewarding and full of great joy...in the end. The beginning, learning to release our dreams, goals, wants, comforts, etc. is very difficult, but in the end, most definitely worth it!

That section was from the introduction! I am looking forward to spending time reading and wrestling with this book. I think God is really going to reveal a lot to me through it-especially when it comes to sitting at His feet, resting in Him, loving Him, trusting Him...I am very excited!

If you are interested in the book you can get it at http://shulamite.com.

Stormado

Both of our girls were a little nervous tonight about the storm going through our area. The news was mentioning tornadoes and dangerous hail/winds. A was asking over and over if we would go to our safe place and she wanted to be sure that we would take care of her. S was asking over and over if the "stormado" would break our windows. I absolutely LOVE two-year-old language.

Four-year-old language is actually pretty cute, too. We have this great Alan Jackson hymns cd in the car. The girls have two favorite songs on it: Washed by the Blood of the Lamb and I'll Fly Away. A was singing along tonight...
"Are you washed by the bwood of the Wamb? Are your garments spotwess? Are they white as snow. Are you washed by the bwood of the Wamb?
I'll fwy away oh gwory, I'll fwy away. When I die hawewujah by and by, I'll fwy away!"
I just love to hear their little voices singing the hymns and see their little heads bobbing around in the back seat! A waves her hands around while she sings and it looks like she's directing an imaginary choir!

Tonight A was too afraid to sleep, so we went downstairs and sat at a window to watch the storm. She said, "I just can't fweep. I'm too afraid. I'm thinking about Jesus and I'm not afraid of Jesus. I'm just afraid of the storm. I'm afraid it's going to break our house." Then she said, "Why does God send tornadoes?"

Uh...I wasn't prepared to answer that one! I told her I didn't know if God does send the tornadoes. We went upstairs to ask Daddy, but I'm not sure he was all that prepared to answer it either! Basically, he said that he wasn't sure if God sends tornadoes, but he does know that God is in control and plans good (not necessarily circumstantial good, but spiritual good) for us...

I would love to hear how you would have answered the question!

The World According to a 2 Year Old

My little 2 year old was climbing on her play kitchen when my dad was taking care of her. It's near a two-story window that is unfortunately low. My dad said, "S, are you allowed to climb on that?" S answered, "Yes! When Mommy and Daddy aren't heaw." Papa said, "Are you allowed to climb on that when Mommy and Daddy are here?" Exasperated she answered, "Noooo. Not when they are heaw. I allowed to play on it when they NOT heaw!"
Haha!

Whitney Whyte

We went to a Whitney Whyte cd release party Sunday night at UBC. The cd she released has 5 songs that she has written. She is a gifted song writer and performer. We have been listening to the cd in our car and it's great! Our girls love listening to it, also. You should check her out!
www.whitneywhyte.com.

SuperMom!

Have any of you other mommies ever started a morning with a great plan to be a super mommy? I have. My self-talk goes a little like this...

"We're going to have such a fun day. I'll be empathetic with their little feelings, I'll get down on their level to deal with any issues and speak to them in a very kind voice. I'll spend my free moments giving them attention and play time instead of doing house work...etc." I get all pumped up thinking about what wonderful things are possible in the realm of being a stay at home mom.

Then reality hits. :) Pumping takes 45 minutes instead of 30 because L wouldn't nurse and a duct is plugged. Matt has an early meeting, so I don't have time to shower...S is ignoring my requests. A is telling me the way I should pour the milk. My response to all of this? Certainly not my super mom plan. I go to bed that night feeling more like the villian than the super hero. Maybe tomorrow I think. Tomorrow I will do better.

Only tomorrow morning is the same. Each day I have grand plans for the day. Some days I respond according to my super hero goal, but more often I respond poorly. I have gone to the Lord many times with this frustration. "Why can't I be better to them? I want so badly to be a great mommy, why do I fail so often?"

This is what I hear from Him during my listening times:

Relax child. Rest in my love.

You want me to fix YOU. I will not fix you so you can be a "great mom" and feel good about your performance. I will show you how much you need ME. I will not fix your "flesh," but I will be faithful to be a super mom through you. As you rest in my sufficiency as your children's parent, you will become a super mom. Not because of you, but because I am living through you as you mother your girls.

I am enough for you each moment of each day.
I am enough for your children each moment of each day.
I am enough for your marriage and matt each moment of each day.
I am simply enough. The sooner you believe that and rest in that truth, the sooner your girls will experience the kind of family life you desire for them. You cannot do it. I CAN.

So I start the next morning with these words in mind. I begin the day thinking, "Lord, you are enough for me. Your strength is made perfect in my weakness as a mother. I trust you to be what I need today. I trust you to be what my kids need today."

The difference is astounding. I can see His strength and love pouring out of me into my children's lives. All glory to God for the days my children get to experience His life through my life. What a gift. He is enough and when I give up and let Him express His life instead of trying to perform on my own-the results are wonderful!