Clutter, and clutter, and clutter....OH MY!

While I was at work the other morning I grabbed my purse to get my hair brush out, and while I was looking for my brush I found everything but the kitchen sink, then I found my brush.  “Good grief” I thought…I didn’t even know I had this stuff in my purse. 

Being the picture taking person that I am here ya go. 

 

Hair brush, note pad, sunglasses, pencil, Pluto, plastic snake thing, toy rings, paint sponge, tissues, hair ties, glasses cleaner, church notes, lip stick, lip gloss, a pair of Gem’s pants, a Jazzercise magnet, and a blue crochet hook.  My sister and my niece would be proud of me for that last one, check out their blogs here...Sister's Blog & Niece's Blog.  Also, I found a TON of receipts, but ya’ll didn’t need to see that mess.  This got me thinking about my house.  Now, I am a women who is not very good at keeping a tidy house.  I am not good at keeping up with cleaning anything except myself and my daughter.  This is something that’s always on my mind and it’s something I’m trying hard to change.  I’ve got clutter, and clutter, and clutter…OH MY!  Now, I know most people have an area that is clutter filled, but for my house it’s in EVERY ROOM.  Having Gem around has really made me start kicking myself in the tush to get things in order.  Children are a great mirror, and I’m not liking what I see.  I don’t want her developing my bad habits.  I have now come to understand that my house is something that the Lord has given me to steward, and I have not been a good steward at all, but together we are making changes.

Having all this external clutter around makes me see all the internal clutter I have lying around too.  All the internal clutter that I didn’t even know was there until I needed something.  Then I started looking for it and I see all that “stuff” that I had never put away.  That leaves me open to attack from the enemy.  Our minds are something I believe the enemy has captive.  The way we think and how we perceive things as believers is vital to our witness to others.  If we are not thinking differently and perceiving things differently people see it in our lives. "Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires." Romans 8:5 NIV  Our internal lives are vital.  If we are thinking bad thoughts and feeding bad habits it comes out in our lives.  How we talk to people, how we treat people, and how we see people.  The same goes for good thoughts and good habits.   

Here are some questions I’ve asked myself…What am I watering my mind with?  Who do I socialize with?  What do I listen too?   Who do I listen too?  What am I watching on TV?  What am I reading?  What do my friends post on Facebook that I see?  What do I post on Facebook?  What internet sites do I frequent?  Especially in today’s world with how easily everything is accessible we must have boundaries.  When we stumble we have to clean up our mess put things away, and we must have our “cleaning supplies” on hand, or should I say ‘in mind’.  Keeping the Word in our minds and available to us is a big part of the battle.  EVERYDAY we must put on our armor.  (Ephesians 6:10-18) Being a good steward of our minds is so crucial.  This is a battle that is not going to be won until we are standing in front of our Father in heaven so get ready.

 

Peace, Love, and God Bless

  

 

 

"Mommy, I need you."

This past Sunday we had a special worship service.  Our church is located down town on “the island” where we live and this past weekend our town had their annual art show.  They block off streets and had all kinds of vendors and such selling their goodies.  We have a pretty small “church” parking lot and most people park away from the church a block or so and walk.  With the art show going on you need to get up at 6 am to get a parking spot.  It really gets packed out.  Having service like we usually do would have been difficult, and we have done it in the past, but with our church growing like it is we have recently purchased property for a second campus.  We are not building out there yet, but it’s a beautiful spot.  Many volunteers have worked hard to clear the property.  There is a lake, they have set up a prayer garden, picnic tables and a swing, even a horse shoe pit.  We have used the property for our Easter sunrise service, our bible study group has had a picnic there, this past Halloween they had a bash there for the community, and this past Sunday we had a combined church service out there.  Tent, chairs, stage, sound equipment, choir, praise team, the works!  We had a special guest come and share his testimony, and we had a BBQ chicken lunch afterwards.  Temperature was high 70’s, low 80’s, and we had clear sunny day.  The kids had bounce houses set up, the adults played horse shoes, corn hole, fished, walked the property, oh…and they had tractor rides to tour the property too.  It was really a beautiful time.  Gem was really a good girl while the service was going on as well.  I was a really proud Mama, but had everyone seen us before we got there…

You know the drill, Sunday morning, getting ready for church, and you have a 2 year old who doesn’t want to get ready, or maybe a husband who doesn’t want to get ready, whatever your situation is.  Gem was not acting like much of a gem while we are getting ready to go.  It is so hard to not get angry when you’re trying to dress a 2 year old who is whining, and running around saying, “I don’t want to!”  I was really losing my calm while getting her dressed.  I would get one arm done with sunscreen and she would run off, I’d get her back and get the other arm done, and she’d run off again.  She would want to get dressed on the floor, and well…this Mama is getting to be very pregnant…and I still have till May 25^th to go!  There was no way I was getting on the floor, I’d never get up.  Fixing her hair is always a fight, if it’s not a fight I write it on the calendar.  She has such a sensitive head that I don't  even have touch her with the hair brush and she’s already saying, “Mommy that hurts!”  Anyway, finally getting her sun screened, dressed, and hair up I needed a break.  I was short with her several times saying things like, “Gem, you’re stalling!” Or “You’re not listening!”  Or “Now, Gem!” and it took some restraint not to just get all out mad and yell at her.  Setting her on the bed with her milk to drink I went in the other room to fix my coffee, and pack our bag.  (Note to self…have coffee before getting her dressed next time.)  I’m in the other room maybe 3 minutes and she’s already calling my name, “Mommy!”... “Mommy!”   I take a deep breath, take a long drink of coffee, and go into the room, “Yes, baby.”  The next thing that came out of her mouth stopped me in my tracks, she looked up at me and said, “Mommy, I need you.”  Wow!  That little turkey.  Ever want to get a Mama to tears look up at her and tell her you need her, or at least that worked for me.  I sat down with her, kissed her forehead, and cheeks, and told her I needed her too.  We snuggled for a few minutes, and then I finished getting things ready.

What a picture of how I act with the Lord.  I’m running, I’m not listening, and I’m wanting to play instead.  Then I turn right around and tell Him, “Lord, I need you.”  How wonderful it is to have a Father in heaven that takes us in and comforts us even after we have misbehaved.  The Lord has given me this little misbehaving Gem, and I look forward to more moments like this where I can show her that no matter what I love her.                      

Peace

Flash back to last year…

I’m gonna start off getting a little personal...are you ready?  Okay, my cycle runs about every 30 days or so, and can be quite squirrely sometimes, going as long as 40 days or so.  (If you don’t know what I’m talking about…don’t worry, you will.)  So when I went past my 30 days I started to wonder, “Hmm, could I be pregnant?”  So of course I HAD to get a pee test to check… it was negative.  “Okay, I guess I’m gonna go to 40 days this time.”  I say to myself.  So I go about my usual schedule, and forget about it, then my hubby asks me one day, “Did you ever start?”  I stopped what I was doing (think of the deer in headlights look), remembered that no I haven’t, and decide to take the second pee test in the morning.  Morning comes and I go do my thing.  Men have it easy sometimes…they can aim.  If you’ve ever done a pee test you know what I’m talking about, lol!  I wasn’t smart enough to use the container method.  I set the test up on the counter, and jump on Facebook while I wait my three minutes.  Three minutes goes by, and it reads…YES!  Okay, so I am pregnant!  I feel good about it, I’m not sick which is nice since with Gem it was 24 hours of non-stop nausea for three months.  I’ve been good about taking my Thyroid pill, yes I have been tired, but this explains a lot.  So going from my last cycle I calculated that I should be 8 weeks this week.  I make an appointment with my OB for Wednesday 9/25. 

On a side note, during work I listen to Moody Radio (http://www.moodyradioflorida.fm/), and at 2pm every weekday I listen to Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss (https://www.reviveourhearts.com/) Here is the transcription for the show that I am remembering during this time (http://www.reviveourhearts.com/radio/revive-our-hearts/all-well/). 

So, I get to my appointment, wait to see the doc, and he goes right to do the ultrasound.  My bladder is extremely full by now since you need to have a full bladder for a good image.  At 8 weeks you expect to see baby and heartbeat.  The ultrasound only shows the water sack…I see this and think, “Okay, where’s the little one?” but I immediately remember the reaction the Shunammite Woman had in 2 Kings 4. (see transcription above)  Shalom, Peace.  Peace is what she said and how she acted when her son died, and while she is going to the place where she could seek God.  Now in the story the woman places her son in the Profit’s bed, like an act of faith before setting out to see Elisha.  The doctor tells me that I will have a transvaginal ultrasound done the same day for dating and viability.  He is a little worried, but tells me that we probably have our dates wrong.  I get dressed, and ask my hubby to pray before we leave the room.  Praise God we can seek him through his son Jesus Christ whenever we want, and that I didn’t have to make a journey like the Shunammite Woman did.  We thank God for what he has done for us, we place our little one in God hands and acknowledge that he is in control.  The second ultrasound is set up for me at another facility, and we have time to eat lunch between everything.  During lunch I get a call telling me that they don’t do ultrasounds at that facility on Wednesdays, and that I will have to come to another place.  So, I make a new appointment and off we go after lunch.  It ended up being the same facility where I had the same ultrasound when I was first pregnant with Gem.  When we found out I was pregnant with Gem I was scared to death of losing her because of my previous miscarriages, so when we got to see her on the ultrasound and see her little heartbeat, I was 7 weeks at the time, it eased me a bit.  AND it ended up being the same tech that examined me with Gem, and this same tech has even done an exam on my hubby at one point. So, I feel even more at peace when I see her.  She remembers us and we update her on everything that’s gone on the past year.  She begins to do the ultrasound, and I keep an eye on her face.  Her face and her tone is also totally at peace, and very friendly.  She dates me at 5 weeks 3 days, which is just 2 days ahead of when she can see a heartbeat on her machine.  So we have to play the waiting game.  Again, I remember the Shunammite Woman and think peace, and pray peace into everything.  “Wait upon the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” Psalm 27:14  So we make it through the week, and I’m getting more and more nauseous with each day.  As much as I hate how I feel I am happy because I know this is good.  We have the ultrasound and we see our little one, heart beat and all.  I’m 6 weeks 3 days and according to the machine that’s exactly where I should be with what they are seeing with measurements and such.  YEAH!!!  Happy dance!  As it turns out this little one has the same original due date that Gem did, May 25th.  Now Gem was moved up a week as I further progressed and she was born a week before that, but as it is now our second little one is still aiming for the 25th.  I don’t know how I would have reacted to all of this had I not heard Nancy speak about the Shunammite Woman.  I think I would have eventually went to peace once I realized there was nothing I could do, but it wouldn’t have been my initial reaction.  Isn’t that how it is most times?  We react from the flesh first instead of from the Spirit first.  Praise God that everything is going very well with little Anna, yes, it’s another girl, Daddy isn’t sure how to react to that, lol.  Now he has a house full of girls…even down to the dog!  I just smile at that since I come from a house full of women…he’ll probably want to find a cave 10 or 13 years from now, LOLOLOL!

 

Peace, Love, and God Bless.

Beautiful Breaths

It's a short one :)

Gem has started a habit of coming into our bedroom at night when she wakes up.  The past couple weeks have been almost every night, and Daddy and I are tired.  One because she’s not such a little girl anymore and when she swings her arms and legs LOOK OUT!  Two because she has a little allergy thing going on and has been pretty stuffy at night when she lays down.  So much so that she has resorted to breathing through her mouth sometimes, poor baby.  She’s not quite the freight train Daddy can be when he snores, but she’s definitely a little Thomas the Tank Engine.  The other night my bedroom was a busy railroad station.  My two trains were just chugging along, and one, thankfully the smaller one, was right in my ear at one point.  I actually had to giggle about it with both of them snoring like that.  I almost got my phone out at one point to record them, but then I thought better of it, and NOW I wish I had, LOL!  After some body adjustments with Gem, and a few nudges with my foot to Daddy, they both settled into another position and stopped snoring so I could get back to sleep.  As I drifted off a couple of words entered my mind…Beautiful Breaths.   

 

Psalm 150:6 says “Everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”  I started to wonder…just us breathing when we sleep, and our bodies getting the rest that they need during the night, does that praise the Lord?  When our minds are rebooting and doing exactly what He created them to do, does that praise the Lord?  Now our minds and how we lead them to think is another story on whether that praises the Lord.  What about when we sneeze or yawn?  Have you ever thought of that?  Does our bodies doing exactly what He created them to do praise Him without us even realizing it?  Being pregnant I also started thinking about a story my hubby tells about when Gem was born.  He actually heard her first breath, her first inhale, and then everyone heard her cry.  How special is that?  How close is God at that moment when a baby is born and He gives us breath?  “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” Job 33:4 ESV.  When baby #2 is born I will be listening for that first beautiful breath this time, and I will praise Him with mine.    

 

Peace, Love, and God Bless.