Need some input.

Here's the scenario:

You have just given birth. You are lying in your hospital bed exhausted from multiple hours of labor and delivery, not to mention 9 months of pregnancy, and you and your husband are finally enjoying the smell, warmth and sight of your brand new baby in your arms. The healthy next step for you would be to feed your child and get some rest. But wait...there are crowds of people waiting for you to call, email or let them in the room. Everyone wants to wish you well and see the newest member of the family. What do you do? Are you excited about the guests, able to go about your business whether you have visitors or not, or are you overwhelmed with the responsibility to entertain and greet each one of your well-intentioned visitors? This scenario continues as you finally are able to leave the hospital and return to your safe haven-home. The phone rings, the doorbell chimes and people are lined up with food and gifts celebrating this new life. Are you thankful but exhausted and wish everyone would just leave you alone...or are you dressed and ready to party? I have my own opinions and many stories from my 3 past experiences, but I would like to hear what your personal experience has been and what your preference is in this matter. Perhaps you have not personally given birth but have witnessed a love one doing so, please feel free share your perspective.

"Don't Worry, Be Happy"...sing along!

Lately God has been revealing roots of fear in my life and attacking them head on. This is not necessarily an easy exercise to go through with the Lord, but definitely "health to my bones". I think that most people would admit that worry is a frequent characteristic of their thought life. In this months "Hearts at Home Magazine" there is an article on just that, "WORRY". At the end of the article the author shared many quotes. One that hit home with me was "Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear."-Corrie Ten Boom. Can we all agree that worry stems from some specific root of fear? I worry that I am going to be misunderstood. I worry that I am going to, at some point, permanently scar my children with one of my mistakes in parenting. I worry about what life would be like if I lost my husband to some unthinkable tragedy. I worry about someone hurting one of my kids. I worry about what people think of me. I worry about material things such as food, clothing etc. And even though I would not classify myself as a "worry wart" I indeed worry...I worry...I worry. All of that translates to fear. Our culture recognizes the common trend of worrying. In movies, lyrics and advertising, there is a call to "Don't Worry". Sounds great. Very attractive. Let's all just not worry. It's as simple as declaring it, right? Wrong. There is nothing in this world that can take a fearful spirit and set it free. God, however, is ready to release us from our anxieties, our strongholds, our fears. He desires to give us a life full of hope, trust and security. We are not promised to not encounter any danger or harm, but we are promised to be able to stand in the end and receive God's "imperishable, undefiled, and unfading" (1 Peter 1:4) inheritance. We need to set "(our) hope fully on the grace that will be brought to (us) at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Pet.1:13). He has promised to provide for us even as he does for a tiny sparrow. When we belong to Christ there truly is nothing to fear. What can man do to us? What do we lack? As God has been convicting me of the sin of fearing anything but Him, I have repeatedly declared this back to Him, "Come what may, Lord, I will seek You." Come poverty, come sickness, come death, come mistakes come sin...I will seek the Lord and I will find provision, healing, endurance, forgiveness, mercy and grace. Worrying is a tool of our enemy. He desires to entangle us in our fears and keep us from moving forward in our walk with Christ. God has already promised to bring us to completion so why do we worry about the steps in between? We waste our time with these types of thoughts and they zap our spirit's strength. Here's one more quote that has been imprinted on my mind:

"When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened." -Winston Churchill

Join me in praising God for His faithfulness. Find freedom as you seek Him and leave everything else up to His control.

2 Chronicles 7:14

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

This passage is one I have been meditating on for the past couple of weeks. Sometimes I become overwhelmed by all that we as Christians "should" be doing. There are plenty of ministry opportunities and plenty of personal struggles to overcome, and in the midst of all of these mind consuming tasks we can lose sight of what we really should be doing.

It is easy for me to begin to rely on structure and organization more than Christ Himself. It's easy for me to be strengthened by the Lord only to walk away and start doing things on my own...Humble myself.

It is a challenge for me to find time alone to seek God. Fatigue, children, chores etc. all press on me to seek them first. Meet those needs and THEN spend intimate time with the Lord. However, this way of approaching things is faulty. The to do list will never truly be done and our time with the Lord will always be pushed to "later"...Pray...Seek His face.

There are certain sins that I am tempted with on a regular basis. Self reliance, pride, lack of self-control...the list goes on. Instead of feeling as if I'll never get it right. I need to confess and turn from each failure. God says that His strength is perfected in weakness. Allowing Christ to be our strength we can overcome any obstacle, even sin...Turn from my wicked ways.

When your days' responsibilities and life itself is pressing down on you. Hear the words of our Father in heaven. "Humble yourself and pray, and seek my face and turn from your wicked ways." The result is forgiveness and healing.

The man I love

This is my husband, Brian, and our three children. Brian is currently in his third year of seminary at Beeson Divinity School and is working part-time at Riverside Baptist Church in our neighboring city, Helena, Al. His responsibilities far out number the hours in the day and yet he always makes time for us. In a day and age where fathers are more often absent than actively involved in their childrens' lives, I thought I would take a moment to share how thankful I am for my husband. Even in the midst of a time when he was working full time at a church and having to commute over an hour to school, he still made us a priority. One of the main reasons we moved to Birmingham was so that our time as a family would not suffer as Brian continued to focus on his seminary training. Our kids benefit tremendously from the sacrifices that Brian makes in order to spend quality time with each of them. From the time he wakes up in the morning until he has to leave he is interacting with one of them. Whether it's fixing a bowl of grits for Lindley, changing a diaper or giving one last snuggle before walking out the door Brian always shows the kids by his actions that he loves them and enjoys them. The Lord is providing security for our children by giving them a Dad who is available and who can be counted on to be there when they need him. I am so thankful that Brian is in tune with this calling in his life. He would be the first to tell you that he is not perfect, but he seeks the One who is able to perfect him. I believe that God desires for parents to reflect His love to their children. We can not do this on our own, but with Christ in us it is possible for our kids to experience the benefits of a secure and healthy childhood. It may cost us, but anything worth something usually does. Brian does more than just share his affection with our kids. He takes the time to discipline and correct them in order to provide them with boundaries and guidelines that will one day hopefully help them to submit to their Father in heaven. If Brian chose to pursue other passions such as writing, painting, music and many others during this time he would be absent in these present days. He has willingly set aside his own interests in order to give his time to us. He may not feel like it, but he shows us Christ on a daily basis. Philippians 2:4-5 says, "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus." Our natural human tendency is to be self-centered and self-seeking, but praise be to God that He has provided us with the solution to this selfishness. Jesus Christ! When we submit ourselves to Him and His Word allowing Christ to be our lives, then others benefit directly from the fruit that the Lord produces in our lives. Lindley, Isaac, Emma and I benefit from Brian allowing the Lord to reign in his life and I can not thank God enough for providing us with such a leader for our family.

"Go Lindley Go"

Lindley Rose experiences her first team sport! She is playing soccer with UPWARD Sports through Riverside Baptist Church. This past Saturday was her first game and she played wonderfully! For Brian and me it is not about her becoming the best athlete, teaching her to be competitive or a winner, but it is about her being a part of something that helps her grow in character. My personal experiences from being part of a team are ones that I will treasure for a lifetime. Another benefit of her playing soccer is the time we get to spend as a family supporting Lindley. Isaac's new favorite thing to do is to watch Lindley play soccer and cheer her on. Emma even gets into the activity by having fun getting as dirty as possible! During the week Isaac randomly chants..."Go Lindley Go!". As parents will are trying our best to nurture this kind of support between the siblings. My relationship with my brothers is another thing that I treasure, and I hope our children will love and support each other in all the days to come. (Lindley is 4th from the right in the picture)

Just do it

Hey! This is going to be extremely short and extremely uninteresting...but I just had to break the silence of my blog. I have only made two other entries and that is either lazy or a sign that I have no business blogging. We'll see which one it is by the end of this month. If I have not written another entry by the beginning of May then I will be forced to end this blog and just enjoy reading everyone elses. Well, maybe this will break the writing block (if you can call it that). Hope all is well with all of you, whoever you may be.

Until next time...here's hoping there is a next time!

Time management

In our Sunday School class this past week we talked about being salt and light. As a side issue we discussed that our busy schedules keep us from sharing Christ with others. Then, from that point it led us to discuss the way our current culture operates, and how it differs from other regions in the world. Comparing the United States to Africa we see a huge difference in almost every area of life. The topic we pondered was efficiency. Americans pride themselves on how efficient they can be, and how much we can get done in one day, week, month or year. We pull out our calendars and smile at the fact that every square inch is covered in things to do, coming to the conclusion that this must mean we are accomplishing things of importance. People complain to others about how busy they are, all the while using it to pat themselves on the back for being so productive. I know that I personally put undo pressure on myself as a stay-at-home mom to accomplish something magnificient every day. We think that we better have an agenda for all the things that we are going to do and time management sheets so that one minute is not wasted. Now don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with organizing your time. I LOVE organization...but we can organize and schedule ourselves to death. Where's the time to just be still. To sit and build relationships. To stop and smell the roses. TO OBSERVE THE SABBATH. We need to slow down and stop feeling so pressured to have something to show for our day. If we would focus on Christ each breath, I think we would find that our days are pleasing to Him most when we are not so consumed with being efficient, but rather consumed with soaking in each moment with Him and doing His will little by little.