1.26.2011

My emotions...

I've been lost in the land of busy lately. And other than my last blog post, I haven't found much 'write' in me...if you know what I mean. So I thought i would kick off a new round of blogs by telling you somethings that you don't know about me. I experience strong emotions. Some of them are so overwhelming that I can't even write about it without evoking the emotion and soaking my shirt while I write. Other's aren't as strong, but I thought I'd share with you some things that just 'get' me. So here goes:


I can't watch National Geographic without getting upset. I can't watch daytime TV without feeling dumber. I can't watch Craig Ferguson without laughing my fool head off and then promptly falling to sleep after his monologue. I can't hear my son tell me he loves me without turning into mush on the inside. I can't look at my daughter without seeing the difficult years she has ahead of her just having to be a girl and all that entails. I can't look her in her face without being completely overwhelmed with love for her and gratitude that God gave her to me. I can't be in the same room with my husband without thinking how sexy he is. I can't go through a day without thinking about Isaac and how much I wish he was hear being 4 with us. I can't think about my brothers without feeling completely blessed to have such an amazing group of guys in my life. I can't think about my brother's wives without being totally giddy with excitement that they don't suck the life out of me and I LOVE every single one of them. I can't think about my husbands family without being totally thrilled my in-laws aren't crazy! I can't be in the presence of my parents without being overwhelmed with the knowledge that so many people have gone through life without the love and adoration of such and awesome parent team. I can't be around my closest friends without asking God what I did to deserve them. I can't sing the following lyrics without falling apart at the word no: 


No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.



There's a lot more. I'm actually pretty complex. Now I'm going to bed and maybe tomorrow we can talk about something a little more serious. I'm contemplating things that I should share with you. Things like ice cream flavors, taxes and depression....not necessarily in that order. 


Love you all,


Sara

1.17.2011

A Time To Fast


There is A Time for Everything


Ecc 3:1
 1 There is a time for everything, 
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:

 2 a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 6 a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
   a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 8 a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace.

and there is also time to FAST. The time to fast has come upon us in an unexpected way. A blogger I read here and there and a sister in Christ is in desperate need of prayer and healing. There is no time like the present to imitate Christ and release the power He has promised us through fasting. Joanne suffered a major stroke on January 11th and is still fighting for her life. The most recent update is that she has been put in a deep coma to keep any brain activity down and to try and reduce the swelling occurring on the right side of her brain. You can read updates about this sweet woman and her progress here: http://thesimplewife.typepad.com/


In his book God's Chosen Fast, Arthur Wallis writes, "Fasting is calculated to bring a note of urgency and [persistence] into our praying, and to give force to our pleas in the court of heaven."  The Heims family needs some urgent and persistent prayers on their behalf. I fully believe in prayer and I am all over fasting and prayer. I KNOW it works, I've seen it, done it, felt it and I believe fasting along with prayer just adds 'Red Bull' to your prayers, so to speak. 


If you can't fast right now, then please join us in praying for Joanne and giving to their family in any way you can. All the details of what they need are on her blog. 


Here are the details:


Fasting will begin tomorrow morning. You do what ever you feel led to do. If you have a health issue that does not allow you to fast from food...fast from TV. Please consider setting an alarm if you are fasting from something other than food to remember to pray for Joanne through the next 24 hours or longer if you feel led to fast longer. For those of you that are fasting from food, please remember when those hunger pains hit to hit your knees and pray for Joanne. 


Lord we claim Psalm 46 over Joanne right now. 
you are our refuge and strength, 

   an ever-present help in trouble. 
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way 
   and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 
though its waters roar and foam 
   and the mountains quake with their surging.

 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
   the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
   God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
   he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
 You o LORD Almighty are with us;
 You the God of Jacob are our fortress.
Come and see what the LORD has done,
   the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
   to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
   he burns the shields[d] with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
   I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth.”
The LORD Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Father as you dwell in your City, dwell within Joanne. 
You have created the heavens and the earth and have the ability with one whisper to heal her. Lord we are reaching out to touch the hem of your robe in full belief and faith that You can heal her. Father, we know and believe You are who You say You are and we believe You can do what You say You can do, so we're claiming healing for Joanne and we are believing You for a miracle. 
In Jesus name we ask for complete restoration. Amen

I'm believing God

10.26.2010

It's lellow

I had a disagreement with Biscuits this morning. We were having a fine morning until he got frustrated with me, and it was all downhill from there. 


Breakfast had been served in it's usual homespun fashion, yes...yes as a matter of fact that does mean dry cereal and a banana. So after I had slaved in the kitchen for those 3 minutes getting his and surrogate daughter's daughter (we need to name her something) their bountiful meal, I moved on to work things. I was busy sorting through email when the boy came around the corner with an apple jack (a green apple jack...just one) and in a very determined voice, all while shaking the green apple jack in my face said: It's LELLOW! 


Me: No, it's green
Biscuits: NO Ma-ammy - it's lellow.
Me: Um...no...it's green


(yes I know I'm arguing with a 2 year old, but how else will he learn? Come-on people! Give me some support)


Biscuits: MOMMY! IT'S LELLOW!
Me: Biscuits, listen to me, you can say it's lellow all day, but just because you say it's lellow...isn't gonna make it lellow. Got it?


He stared into my eyes, blinked a few times, and processed. I could tell I had reached him. He knew I was right. I was certain we finally made headway. As he turned to walk away, I heard it, a little whisper, an arrogant, hard headed, resolved whisper: 'It's lellow'.


All I can say is I sat there thinking...someday that resolve will come in handy. When Biscuits meets reality and Hebrews 11:1 is put to the test. I hope he stands firm and proclaims to the earth: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see...and people it's lellow!


AMEN.

10.24.2010

Redirected

My goodness has it been that long? JUNE???


I say this with the assumption that there are still people out there stopping by to see if I ever even update this thing anymore. On the off chance...some of you are still wandering over here...I will update you on the happenings of our world.


This has been a rough year (physically speaking) for me. I have been in bed more than I care to admit. My back has been slightly more than bothersome and has brought about some new challenges with my hips. I feel old. I'm not THAT old...but I feel old. While I've been battling different drugs to help with nerve pain, managing pain, weight gain from injections...there is also the balance of the children, the surrogate children living with us, the job, school for the girl child, the husband, the world falling apart in other people's lives, the ministry, the studies...can I just say God is good in all of it? In all the struggle I have found that it really is beneficial to fix our eyes on the author and perfecter of our faith. (Heb 12:2) What a joy to have endurance in the midst of struggle.  I've learned this lesson well over the years...especially after carrying Isaac...but I often forget this lesson in the midst of not so threatening struggles...that even in the smallest...God is ever willing to give us more than the necessary measure of 'get up and go'! The words 'God is love' are so packed with meaning these days. He is good...even when...and even if... (remember that? no? okay...read it here).


Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak to some sweet women. I say it's an opportunity, but I have to tell you speaking is so uncomfortable for me. However, when God directs, I have learned to say yes and be obedient ... MOST of the time. What I loved about my experience yesterday was this...He didn't bring it till the 11th hour. Every time I have sat down to try and write this talk out, I've not succeeded. Friday was all about putting out fires. With every fire came peace. It was like God would just say: "you go get that, I've got the talk handled" and I'd object and tell Him that at some point in time it would be nice to have the talk too. So Friday night after the first part of the conference I came home and started writing. And I wrote and wrote and wrote and by 1 am I had a lot of mumbo jumbo on the pages of my word doc and none of it...I mean NONE of it was flowing. So after staring at my laptop the Lord very quietly said: I told you have this handled, go to bed. So I reluctantly went to bed, woke up at 6 am and started writing. One our later it was like I had this complete out of body experience because He wrote it...at 10:45 I spoke it...and at 11:40 (5 minutes early) I was done and I knew He had started something new in some hearts. Now that is what I call cool. I am my worst critic so don't write me and ask me if it went well...because I don't know. But I KNOW God is good and His plans are His plans...as long as He continues to use me in that way...I just have to say YES LORD and hopefully some day I'll learn to trust that He has it under control and get out of the way.


Oh...back to what is going on here. So we have new house residents. Did I tell you that last time? My surrogate child has a child of her own and we all live in what I commonly refer to as chaos. Other people might not think it's chaos...but I do....and since I'm the mama...it is so. Got it? Ok.


Let's see. The bug is in 2nd grade and just turned 7 a few weeks ago (eeek). She is smart. When I say smart I mean...SAAMARRRT. It's not hard for me to admit she get's her smarts from her Uncles (yes my side of the family...notice I didn't say she get's it from me.) Biscuits is getting to be a big boy 2 year old. Often asks to go potty (yay for the potty), but we're not pushing that quite yet. He talks a lot. He really does like to boss me and the man. He even tried to put his daddy in time out for not letting him stay in the pool on Saturday...now that is funny. I have it under some pretty solid authority that I may be on the mend. I'll fill you on how that goes. Just know your prayers are working.


Okay...I'm out of here. Oh...about the project...yes...I am still planning on it. I was temporarily redirected by some not so good advice...and I took it against what I knew God was directing me to (that is a confession) and now He has redirected me back to it. I have to find an inexpensive way to build a website...and I'm not interested in building it myself...so as soon as I figure that out we'll be moving from blogspot to a new home. I'll keep you posted.


I love you all. Thanks for stopping by. I promise not to take so long between posts this time.

6.16.2010

That, back there, back then...

Since this whole new adventure I'm on is taking longer than I thought it would, I thought I'd pop on over here and say hello to you. 


You remember a few months ago (a few few months ago and a few times over) I was supposed to speak at a thingy for PHM and it would snow, or something would happen and I never really got to. Well, I'm getting ready to. This particular subject has been on my heart for a LONG time and is one of the many 'things' I like to personally use with God. It goes a little something like this:


Lord, I know you want me to go there and be that...but do you remember what I was way back then before I was this? Usually He says something like: 'Yep' or 'And?' or 'I'm sorry...you where whining again and that pitch just gets drowned out...' And sometimes I get nothing, which to me means: 'We aren't talking about this'.


Then, as I was thinking about this whole subject, my title, the dying species dropping like flies all around us (otherwise known as humans), our inability to get past our past long enough to see God's future for us, it dawned on me...what about the person that is called but still struggles with wanting to be that, back there, back then...? The idea that just doesn't happen is absurd, mind you, called or not called, we're all humans dealing with fallible emotions and actions. We set out on a course to do the right thing, but somewhere a long the way, temptation sets in and we want to be that, back there, back then...  1 Peter says Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Listen, the enemy is on the prowl, but don't miss the first part of the text 'Be self controlled..' You have to own your stuff. It's very easy for us to look at our situations of sin and point our finger at the devil and say 'he made me do it...I was just under SUCH persecution and the devil just swooped right in...' Does that happen? Yes. But sometimes...SOMETIMES we just don't take responsibility for our stuff. Sometimes we want the back then and that emotion takes hold of us and we end up making our own decision in sin...to sin. Does the enemy love it? Of course he does and he'll use every bit of it against you. 


I saw a young girl who was about 20 today, pregnant, standing on a street corner holding a sign that said 'Anything helps'. I thought, how are we so much like that? We stand on the corner holding up a sign to God that states: Bail me out. Just hand it to me Lord, I don't want to do the work, I just need you to hand me the easy way out. I won't launch into how one of the problems with America is our work ethic, but seriously, when did that spill over into our Spiritual walk? When did you ever think being a Christian was all about being bailed out by the Almighty. Sometimes, we have to role up our sleeves, look at our disaster, then look up to Heaven and say: Lord, that is my disaster, I own it, but man do I need some of your muscle to help me get through this one and clean up. 


So what do we do when we're faced with the growing vines of our past, sneaking up our legs, trying to pull us under? How do we gain that self control? Well, Peter talks about that too. 2 Peter 1:6 says Knowing God leads to self control. Self control leads to patient endurance. Pretty self explanatory. Know Him. Seek Him. Open your Bible and find Him. This is a never ending process. You and I will never get to a point where we know so much of God we're just done. You're not going to wake up one day and realize that God has been neatly wrapped up in a book and there isn't much more to know. I'm never going to look at you and say 'Welp, that bout sums Him up, not much else to figure out'. Seek Him. 


Speaking of summing it up, that about does it for me. I'm on to find something else to obsess about. Love you all!


Sara





5.07.2010

so here's the dealio...

I have decided it's time to get serious about what God has been asking me to do for a long time. So THAT being said, in the few months, this blog is going to evolve into something very different. I have a lot of details to work out, but I'm excited to get working on a real website that will enable me to have more room and places to write about different things. 

The name of the blog and the idea was given to my when I was pregnant with Isaac...which is kind of how THIS blog came to be. It just wasn't ready until now to mature. 

I will keep you posted of the progress here...and when the time is right we will switch over together. 

In the MEANTIME...here is a little bit of what our world has been looking like. I have been taking care of an extra child during the last 6 weeks. Her name is Audrey and she is 4 weeks older than Asher. She is a doll, and she has given Asher a run for his money when it comes to running the household. When I agreed to do this several weeks ago, I had no idea what God had in store for us other than to torture me with two screaming children instead of one. What has resulted in this is Audrey's mom (as well as Audrey) has stolen a piece of our heart. We have quickly adopted them into our family and we're excited to see what God has planned for our families as we start on a journey together. During all of this transition, my man has found a new job. A company that had been after him and had offered him a job 2 times came back a THIRD time and asked him what it was going to take to get him to say yes. So they negotiated and he said yes! To celebrate we put the neon up for sale and got him a dependable car that will finally allow him to drive around in something and not feel like a big clown getting out of a tiny red car every day...not that that bothered him of course (wink wink). The bug is almost done with first grade (tears...) I can't believe how fast she's growing up. Of course I'm seeing more and more independence and attitude (tears gone) as she continues to define herself and figure out who she is. I've had to remind a few times that she needs to figure out where she left her respect for her mama and go find it...and she does..she's a good girl. 

*********totally random interjection*************
ever listen to the Contemporary Christian on the cable channel? I'm really at a loss for who a lot of these artists are and I think some of this music has been on the shelf since the early 80's. I'm just trying to figure out how it could possibly be defined as contemporary. If you think I'm lying? go find the song "heart of hearts" by Leslie Phillips and listen to it...then let me know I'm not smoking crack.

the end**************************************

Let's see what else....OH...I re-injured my back about 4 weeks ago....as a result I pushed it and pushed it until Saturday I realized I had nothing left in me and I've been in bed flat on my back since. I had my PT appointment yesterday and my PT GUY did what they call Dry Needling. Let me just tell you if you aren't prone to letting the not so nice words escape your lips...this type of proceedure will test you to your limits and beyond. PAINFUL. I'd like to know who comes up with this stuff. Who decides 'I wonder what will happen if I take this needle and stick it in that muscle that is about to kill you and move it up and down till you start to cry?' Cause that is what they do. And for all you PT people out there....this is not nice to do to your clients. I don't care if it works...it's creepy and it hurts and it's not nice. So when you're patient asks you if it's going to hurt and you say...'probably not, but it will be uncomfortable' I would like to remind you there is very harsh penalties for lying. So tell the truth. It's the right thing to do. 

Okay...every one is fine, things are changing...I have a lot more to tell you, but for now I have to move out of bed and change Biscuits stinkyness and then it's back to the bed. Love you all so much! Hang in there with me. I think this change will be really cool. I'll talk to you all soon!

4.28.2010

You should know...

I'm doin' somethin'!  I'll let you know as soon as I can. Until then. Don't forget me and I won't forget you!