Surrender to God

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by stressors surrounding you? I had a day like that earlier this week. I had made 3 different phone calls to 3 different doctors and was waiting to hear back from them. There were issues at home with one of my children. There were several errands which needed to be done with only an hour left of my day before the girls' dismissal time from school. There was laundry waiting to be washed and laundry waiting to be folded and put away. There was dinner to be prepared. You understand the kind of day it was. Sound familiar?

Often days like this end for me with fatigue, reactive responses versus thoughtful loving responses with those I love, and a general sense of dissatisfaction with life. I want you to know my Sisters in Christ that this is not the way God intends for us to live - to spend our 90 short years here on the earth. He wants us to be happy, content, obedient to the Truth, and salt in our world.

I am not an expert at dismissing fretting and putting away anxious thoughts, but I am confident in sharing God's truth which arms us with a calliber of different responses to our daily trials. The Psalms tell us to not fear bad news but confidently trust the LORD to care for us. Proverbs 18:10 tells us, the name of the Lord is a strong fortress. The godly run to Him and are safe. What do you do when trouble, stress, and obstacles get in the way of your peace? Run to Him and learn the Word of God - bathe yourself in its healing power. My heart is confident in you, O God, my heart is confident in You. Psalm 57:7

So, getting back to my stressful day, as I began to fret and feel anxiousness creep in that day, the Word of God, His powerful Holy Spirit, and the prayers of my Sisters in Christ surrounded me and I heard an audible voice say to me, "LET IT GO!" There was nothing stopping me that day because quite frankly, I had no other options. But right there in my bathroom - as I was scrubbing my tub, (I was already on my knees), I gave God the big, the little and the in between. I felt like a weight had been lifted. I began to sing worship songs and after I was done, the stuff was still there, but I had been made new.

Give us clean hands and hearts O God so we may see you in all ways. Amen.

I Hope I'm Back

Whew.
The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind.
We've been struck with a stomach bug that got the 6 of us plus my hubby's parents sick. That was not fun. So, for a while, forget cooking and forget eating.
Did I mention, it really was not fun??
But now I'm back. I hope :)
Starting next week though.

But the good news is... the spring is almost here!
Love the spring minus the allergies.

Spring Epiphany

It was 67 degrees today.
I could almost smell the spring in the air.
There's something about nature, as we study it.
Every living thing God had created is an evidence of how amazing He is.
To think about it, how can a tree once dead through winter produce life again?
As I was glancing over the newly budding trees, I was reminded of the fact that everything in this world is run by His incredible power.

Christ often made examples of nature and growth to explain to his disciples about spiritual maturity. That he is the Tree of Life and that we are the branches. He also talked about bearing fruit as followers of Christ.

I think for the longest time, I used to think that packing Biblical knowledge as much as I could and exercising my spiritual gifts would progress my spiritual maturity. Once again was I humbly reminded  by His gentle whisper, "How are you living out your faith?"

Just as the trees need constant work and care, we need that constant work and care to strain away our "old self". Just because our eternal destiny has changed the moment we were born again, it doesn't necessarily mean that our old character or the world view has changed. God doesn't strike His magic wand on us and all of a sudden we become a perfect person. As we gain knowledge of Him and experience His power in our daily lives, we also have to work on ourselves to become the kind of person God wants us to be.

Let's talk practical ways. I had to ask myself these series of questions today. How am I living out my faith? How do I react when someone wrongs me? In my relationships with others, am I patient, kind and gentle? Do I really consider others better than myself? What do I do when someone cuts me off while I'm driving? Do I easily judge others in my heart? Do I gossip? Do I lie? Do I sometimes have ill intentions for other people? Am I proud? Do I glorify myself rather than glorifying God? Is God my priority or am I my number one priority?

I can't possibly list all the questions that ran through my head this afternoon. But I am able to say, God had given me a chance to evaluate myself today. And I wanted to share with you, my beloved Mom Inspirations readers. As I pray for you sisters, I want to challenge you to evaluate where you are right now. Let our Heavenly Father speak to you about the areas you might need some "work" on. We can start with the fruit of the Holy Spirit? Are you bearing fruit?

Galatians 5:22-23 (New International Version)

 ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control.

Decorating For Less

I love interior decorating.
It's something that I'd love to learn and develop ( although, it seems impossible to do so with 4 little ones right now). My kids love decorating too. But their decorating ideas are somewhat different from what I have in mind. They like to decorate the floors, the furniture including my bed with the little toys that they have. I'm at a crossroad: whether to drive myself crazy with impossible expectations to keep my house neat or simply let go of the idea (as many wise experienced mothers advise) and give myself a break.

Well, honestly, I'm still struggling with the act of "letting go" although I really want to be freed from the stress (caused by looking at my "unfit" home). But I am managing to satiate my longing for a well-kept home through visiting some decorating blogs. There are some amazing women out there and thanks to the blogging industry and technology, I get to learn so many things from them all at the end of my finger tips. These women can produce, upholster, renew anything! And they look just like from Pottery Barn. Wouldn't it be great to make your home look like it's from a Pottery Barn catalog for a fraction of the price?

Here are some of my favorite decorating blogs:

Just A Girl
Miss Mustard Seed
The Stories of A to Z
It's The Little Things That Make A House A Home
Design-Aholic

I have been thinking though. Although I complain about the toys on the floor everyday,  there will be a day when the kids are all grown up and I will miss picking up the toys off the floor. I guess this is a good reminder that I ought to enjoy every moment I have with them now because they will grow and time does fly.

February Devotion by Jill D.

Did you ever wonder why God created mankind even though He knew Adam would fall in the garden of Eden, and we would all become sinners, even hostile to Him?

Does it blow you away to know that “Long ago, even BEFORE He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes?” (Eph 1:4)

I can’t answer why God did this, but when I thought about this, I felt led to the sinful woman who wet Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair; kissed His feet and anointed them with very costly perfume in Luke 7:36-50.  In vs. 47 Jesus says, “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

 Just think about this: HE LOVED YOU even before you were saved.  If you recognize how sinful you are, you will love Him for who He is and what He already did for you even more.

Sometimes when you have been a Christian for a long time, we forget how amazing our salvation is. Would you ask God to return you to the joy of your salvation?

Whenever God reveals something to me, I try remember to ask Him what He wants me to do with it. Today, He reminded me that I must have the attitude of Christ, that He is our example.  Is there someone in your life, perhaps someone who is like sandpaper to you that you need to love and forgive even though they are not loving you or treating you kindly?  Or are you someone’s sandpaper and you need to ask someone to forgive you.

I pray that whatever God shows you,  you will fall madly in love with Jesus, the Lover of your soul.

I Must Face My Fear

I have a crisis.
My heart says one thing and my mind says another.
There's one thing that I really want to accomplish, and as trite as it sounds, I want to learn to sew.
With my sewing machine that is.
While I was preggo with my fourth child, I went on a crafting frenzy and convinced myself to purchase a sewing machine.
I can say I tried once, failed miserably and never touched that thing again.
But look what I found today. Such a neat blog called Momfetti. She's so awesome I want to cry.
So I'm determined to take courage and face my fear.
When am I going to face it is another story I guess.
Soon I hope, and until then, I will prep myself with Momfetti and all the other crafting blogs I bookmarked in my browser :)