Cheerleaders

When I was a young girl I was on the cheerleading squad at my Christian school. It was a fun job and I felt that we were able to help our team by raising their spirit's and cheering them on!

Now, I'm 41 years old and a homeschool mom of six. Lately, I've been having some trouble with discouragement with homeschooling and other areas of my life. How did I get through all of this? The first thing I did was to turn to God, then my husband. You see, my husband is my cheerleader. This combination got me through and now things are looking hopeful again.

I found myself talking to a group of women at our homeschool coop last week and found out that they are also going through seasons of discouragement. They pointed out that they can't confide in some of their friends or family members because they don't understand homeschooling and may not be encouraging. One woman said that if it hadn't been for her husband being her cheerleader, she probably wouldn't be schooling her kids today.

This made sense to me. Cheerleaders are not just for sports games, we all need cheerleaders in our lives. Not the kind with pom pom's (although the candy kind wouldn't hurt!), but the encouraging kind. So, do you have cheerleaders in your life? Who are they? I'd love for you to leave me a comment, letting me know who your cheerleaders are.

Cats or Dogs?

We had a very interesting Sunday school class yesterday. The pastor was talking about theology. I've heard of several different types of theology before, like monotheism, atheism, etc., but this one was new.

He said that most Christians either have cat theology or dog theology. This perked up my ears and I was anxious to hear what he had to say.

He started with cat theology. Apparently, when a cat receives lots of love and attention and food, they then think, "I must be god!".

When a dog receives an abundance of love and attention they think, "You must be god."

I own both cats and dogs, and I am here to say that I agree wholeheartedly with these analogies. Here's how it relates to you and I:

Most Christians either believe that if they are getting lots of good things in life and attention, they must be god. Or, they think that because of the love and blessings that they've received, they are devoted to the one true God.

The interesting thing is that most Christians are reportedly cats in their theology. I am guessing they are the ones who are out there in the lime light and that would become a tempting way to believe.

I want to have dog theology. I want to see blessings in my life and instead of viewing myself as important at all, give all of the glory and loyalty back to God!

What's it going to be with you? Cat theology, or Dog theology?

The Right Attitude

My last post was called, Do Hard Things. It focused on how we need to persevere during tough times because it's only through the pain that we will see any growth.

What role does our attitude play in all of this? I think it is paramount. We have to train our minds to have the right attitude or we've lost the battle.

If you've spent any time here at my blog, you know I homeschool my six children. This is NOT an easy task and recently I've been stuck in a rut. The Lord showed me that I had begun to allow negative thoughts to creep into my mind and it was sabotaging my joy and peace.

I immediately changed my attitude toward homeschooling and instead of feeling overwhelmed and panicky, I now have a peace about the whole thing again! Phew! I am so thankful for God's prodding and encouragement. His peace is a peace that does forgo our human understanding, but it is so very real!

If you are in the midst of a difficult situation, check your attitude to make sure it lines up with the Word of God!

Luke 11:17 But knowing their thoughts, He said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. And a house divided against a house falls.

This is an interesting verse. I believe that when we allow negative thoughts like, "I can't do this anymore," then we are a house divided and we won't stand for long.

Hard Things

Monday afternoon I decided to go to the gym. It has been a long time since I went to the gym and worked out.

I knew that if I went to the gym I'd be sore for the next couple of days, and that would make me extra tired! Being sore and tired also makes me feel irritable and more easily angered.

Knowing all of this, why did I go? Good question! Actually, I decided that I wanted to be healthier, and have more energy.

Isn't it ironic that in order to become healthier and feel better and have a more level attitude I have to make a sacrifice of all of those things for a short period of time!

There's a lot of talk out there about doing hard things - these things are sacrifices and as long as you keep the goal in front of you, you'll be able to persevere.

I have to go back to the gym today, and I don't want to!! I'm so tired and sore that I can't imagine exercising again. Since I have my goal in front of me, I will go and suffer through this workout. Very soon I will start to enjoy my workouts without the pain of being sore and tired. That's when it will all be worth it.

Are you facing hard things in your life today? Is there a goal that you have that is driving you to persevere? I'd love to hear about it. :)

John 12:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.

Are We Sponges?

I've alwasy heard that kids are sponges, just soaking up all the information that they can. What a true statement!

The question is, are we sponges for God? We are His children and in that place we should be soaking up all of the information that we can about Him and what He wants us to do in our lives.

I believe that we don't really outgrow being sponges. I see us as always soaking up something, be it good or bad.

The concern is, if you've been soaking up the bad stuff of the world. How do you replace it with the good things that come from God?

Think about a dirty sponge, you turn on the clean water and place the sponge under the flow. Does is automatically become clean? NO! You have to squeeze the sponge in order to eliminate the dirty stuff before it can become saturated with the clean water.

That is exactly what God has to do with us. If we have had too much of the world in our lives, He is going to have to squeeze us in order to get rid of the negative and fill us up with His word.

Luke 9:23 And He said to all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God.

Anniversary

Today is my 16th wedding anniversary. This is a picture of us petting a tiger on our way home from one of our many anniversary get aways.

We have had some of the best times over the past 16 years. My husband is a very attentive man and my needs are always met. Don't get me wrong, we do have our share of ups and downs, it's just that he loves me and he is committed to me. (I, too love him and am committed to him.)

God has been the foundation for our marriage from day one. That has been the glue that has kept us bonded in marriage. We've been there for each other through some very tough sicknesses, and broken ankles. We've loved each other through the birth of 5 babies, and the adoption of one daughter.

We've traveled quite a bit over the past 16 years. We love to just get away for 2 nights and be alone. God has graced us with two very loving extended families, who don't seem to mind watching our clan while we go off.

We've been to Russia for 14 days to adopt our precious Valerie. The entire adoption process was a challenge, but well worth it!

We've also been through job changes, and pregnancy scares.

We've walked our children through life for the past 12 years.

We've walked beside one another through tragedy, and even through several moves and church changes.

Now, with our family complete and our lives speeding before our eyes, we must stop and reflect on the past 16 years.

My sweet husband, I love you more today than ever! You are my hero, and my confidant, my lover and my best friend. You are the father of my children, I am so thankful for you! May we continue to be privileged enough to spend the next 50 years together! I can't wait to blog about our grandchildren. :)

Confidence

My eight year old son came home from church on Sunday and asked me this question:

"Mom, what does it mean to have confidence in Christ?"

WOW, I thought. What a huge question for my young son. I am starting to see words like pastor, evangelist in his future! Anyhow, I had to stop and think about that one. This is something that I "know" that I have, but how do you articulate this?

I answered like this:

"I can trust Christ with my life, even unto death."

This seemed to please him and he flashed me his million dollar smile and gave me a hug.

How would you answer his question? Leave a comment and let me know.

SITSta-hood

I have been blogging since March of this year. During that time I have had the chance to grow my readership and I've met some fabulous bloggie friends.

Today I've discovered a new blog called SITS, it stands for The Secret is in the Sauce. It was developed to help bloggers meet one another with kind comments. What a great thing!

Today is especially fun because they are having a blogathon and having giveaways every hour! This is my first day participating and I already want to invite you all to jump over and check them out!

River of Life

Isaiah 48:18 Oh that you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

Have you ever wondered why God talks about our peace being like a river here? If you've ever been to a river, they don't seem peaceful. The water is flowing, moving and there are currents and sounds and life teaming everywhere. So, why then didn't he say that our peace would be like a pond?

Ponds tend to be quiet and still. Sometimes, they can also become stagnant and turn bad. I think that God's point here is that when we are reaping these benefits from Him, we are supposed to share it with others. He never intended for us to be alone and quiet about the things He is doing in our hearts. We are supposed to be like rivers, constantly flowing into and over the lives of those who we touch.

Have a great week, and try to let the river of God's peace and love flow through you into the lives of others.

Wall Street

Unless you live in a bubble, you've noticed that things on Wall Street don't seem to be stable. There is an overall panic in our country and it's making things worse!

My husband works in the financial industry and he will be the first to tell you that the reason why our country is in this mess is becasue of GREED. The sad part is that our entire economic system is run on borrowing and lending! This is contradictory to the Word of God which clearly tells us to owe no man anything but love.

So how do you feel about all of this? Are you scared? This is my husbands only source of income, so by the worlds standards we should be scared, but glory to God we aren't. Here is our reason for having peace:

Psalms 20: 6-7 Now I know that Jehovah saves His anointed; He will hear him from His holy Heaven with the saving strengths of His right hand. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of Jehovah our God.

Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Come Here

I spent last weekend camping with my daughter and her youth group (For more information see my post titled, Crabtree Falls). While we were away, my husband was home with the other five children. He's a great Dad, so I never even thought twice about leaving him with the kids.

After I got home, I had a chance to talk with him about the weekend. He told me that he had some trouble with one of our kids. Apparently, every time he would ask this child to "come here", they would say, "why?" instead of coming. This became an issue and he got upset with that kid. After having a heart to heart with the child my hubby explained the importance of just obeying without always questioning.


He pointed out that if there had been a poisonous snake next to the child, and they had hesitated to come, they may have been in danger.

He said that he spent some time in prayer and God said to him, "why don't you just do what I ask of you without questioning?" OUCH! Why is parenting always about the parent!

I really appreciated the fact that he shared this with me. I struggle with always wanting God to give me a sign. I am always wanting to make sure that I've heard from God. I think, however, that God would rather have us just do the things we think He has told us to do, and risk making mistakes.

It reminds me of the parable of the talents. The steward who had one talent and didn't do a thing, saying he was afraid, is a disgrace! The others took risks and were a blessing.

May God help us to learn to step out in faith, the first time He calls us!

Crabtree Falls

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go on a camping trip. My oldest daughter is in the youth group at our new church and they were going to Crabtree Falls for a 3 day-2 night camping trip. The problem was that they had had close to 20 girls and only 1 female chaperone! The rest were Men and boys so they were fine. I made the decision to go with them and help to chaperone the girls.

It was a wonderful weekend in the mountains of Virginia, but it was cold! I believe the temperature was in the upper 30's the first night and in the lower 40's the second night, bbbrrrr!!

The challenge for me was the day that we decided to climb Crabtree Falls. It was a two hour hike UP the mountain and a one hour hike back down. I happen to be quite out of shape right now and I knew that this was going to challenge me and it did.

I made the decision that I would climb all the way to the top of this mountain, no matter what! Apparently, this is the tallest water fall east of the Mississippi river. The interesting part of the falls was that it was like steps, it came down in different tiers. I took pictures of the different tiers as I climbed up, any excuse to stop and rest.

The bulk of the group flew up the mountain in record time (probably not even looking at the scenery!). There were four of us who were slower and we were called the caboose of the group. I will tell you that I wasn't sure if I was going to make it. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest and the air was so thin there! I was drenched with sweat and I was dizzy at times, but because I had 3 others with me we encouraged one another and I/we pressed on toward the mark.

Finally, we made it to the top of the falls. I was so proud of myself! I had set a difficult goal and I had obtained it, even though it was difficult, painful, and I wanted to quit.
Here is a picture of my daughter and I at the top of the mountain. Victory is so sweet, when the journey to get it is met with difficulties. As I floated down the mountain, I was on cloud 9! I felt like I had accomplished great things on that day. I felt like I could do anything.

I wonder if this is why God allows us to encounter trials along the way? 1Peter 1:6-7 says: On that day you will be glad, even if you have to go through many hard trials for a while. Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire. And these trials will prove that your faith is worth much more than gold that can be destroyed. They will show that you will be given praise and honor and glory when Jesus Christ returns.

If you are going through a difficult trial right now, be encouraged the victory will be worth it if you don't quit, just press on toward the goal!

Positive Words

What kinds of words do you speak over yourself, or maybe over your family? There is an interesting verse of scripture in the book of Numbers 22-26 it says: The LORD told Moses, "When Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel, they must say: I pray that the LORD will bless and protect you, and that he will show you mercy and kindness. May the LORD be good to you and give you peace." There is a lot of power in the words we speak. We have the ability to speak blessings or curses.

A few years back, the Lord gave me a prayer or blessing to speak over myself every morning. I have now begun to speak this over my children, as well. My husband loves it and suggested that I share it with you. You can use this one, or write one of your own. I simply prayed about it and then tried to use promises from scripture. Here it is:

Today I will praise the Lord with my actions and words.

I will do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit.

I will regard others as more important than myself.

I will present my body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

I will not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of my mind through God's word.

No corrupt word will proceed out of my mouth, only those words which are good and pleasing.

Everything that I do today, in word or deed, I will do in the name of the Lord, remembering to give thanks in every situation because all of my steps are ordered by the Lord.

I will be anxious for nothing but bring everything to God in prayer and petition, for my God shall supply all of my needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus.

I will be gentle in spirit because a soft word turns away wrath.

I will be slow to anger and quick to forgive as God forgives us freely.

I will love with a God like love in all circumstances.

Praise be the name of the Lord! Amen.

Being Sensitive

Have you ever been involved in a car accident? About three years ago, I was driving my SUV on the narrow country roads where we live, when a full-size pick-up truck with extended side view mirrors was passing me in the other lane. Apparently, there wasn't room enough for the both of us, because we smashed side view mirrors! What a tremendous noise it made, CRASH!!!

Thankfully, I was in the SUV alone. We both stopped and exchanged insurance information, even though neither of us filed a claim. It was a true accident in every sense of the word.

What happened afterwords was strange. For the first month or so, every time a pick-up truck drove past me, I would grit my teeth and close my eyes! Yes, I realize that closing your eyes is not the best thing to do, but it was almost involuntary. I was expecting to hear that load blood curdling CRASH again. After the first month with no more incidents, I was able to keep my eyes open, but I still cringed. At some point, maybe three months or so afterwords, I stopped anticipating another crash and I began to relax on the back roads again.

Recently, I gave up the television for a period of time. I felt the Lord calling me to spend some extra time with Him. After I felt released from this, I began to watch the T.V. again, like I used to, only everything had changed. I began to see the evil in the shows that I used to watch! I was repulsed at what I was seeing!! Even the commercials were shocking to me. Had everything changed in the short period of time that I had abstained from T.V.? NO, I had just become sensitive to the evil on T.V. again. Unfortunately, I had previously been numb to sin.

The Word of God tells us in Philippians 4:8 Finally, my brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are right, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think on these things. I believe that the reason we are told to think on good things is to keep us sensitive to the sins that are around us. If the enemy of our souls can desensitise us to sin, then he has the chance to tempt us. Let's not give him the upper hand!