Monday, January 17, 2011

I love my kids!

My kids are the greatest! They keep me laughing all the time. The keep me annoyed often as well, but since I love them so, I can handle that.

So far today, they have put a smile on my face several times. Monkey came out of the bedroom, where the older two were making their bed. Nanny told him to go make his bed. His reply, "But I'm not old enough to make beds." *snicker*
Last night, Dino messed the shower up and couldn't finish his shower. We have a timer on it and if done incorrectly you have to wait five minutes to shower. So he was sitting in just his robe. He said, "Aaahhhh, there's nothing like wearing a nice warm robe with nothing underneath." Seriously tickled me, even tickles me now remembering it.
This morning Frog came out after getting dressed wearing his nice clothes, the ones we keep for church or dress up occasions. He said, "I thought I'd make you and Nanny happy this morning so I dressed up." Love him!
Then just a bit ago, Dino was sitting reading his Bible. He is reading in Exodus right now. He read this out loud to me, "The LORD said to Moses, “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.” Exodus 13:1-2
He wanted to know what it meant so we talked about it. Then he said, "Do we still have to do that now?" I said no and he came back with, "Good, cause I don't want to be a preacher."

The fact that he wants to read the Bible and wants to know what it actually means makes me so proud. And by him doing it, he's also teaching his little brothers. It's a cycle. And I love it. And I love them.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Got knocked down a peg

I'm just going to blurt it out: I'm not doing the Bible in 90 Days anymore. Well, not reading that is. I am still a mentor, but you don't have to be reading along if you are a mentor.
But I'm kinda annoyed with myself but I'm trying to let go and figure out what God is trying to teach me.

Here's what happened.
After doing the last B90, I was totally pumped. I had been a mentor and I had read along again. So I had gone from never reading the Bible cover to cover to doing it twice in one year. Boy, I was quite proud of myself.
That fact alone isn't awful. It's not always a bad thing to be proud of an accomplishment. But I let my pride get away from me. I knew that Amy was going to do another B90 starting in January. I let her know that I was willing to help out again. And then I got cocky. Oh yeah, I'm good at this. I can do this no problem at all. See, look at me, I'm super woman, awesome mom, can read super fast, be an encouragement to others, I can do it all.
I even convinced my family to read with me this time.

Then January 3 happened. Nothing spectacular, but I couldn't manage to keep up with the reading from day 1 of the challenge. But I thought, hey, I know Genesis, I'll just skim. Yeah, not working out so good. But hey, here's Exodus, I'll just start reading that on the right day and then go back and catch up on Genesis.
But it just wasn't feeling right. At first, I thought it was just Satan trying to poke at me. I also felt like since I'd convinced my family to read with me that I ought to be reading, too. But then I started to think I needed something else, that maybe God was telling me to do something different. After the last B90, I didn't stay in the Word like I should have. I didn't read every day. It was very hit or miss.
And I could feel it. And I think that was at the crux of why I was not able to read with the challenge.
Then a friend mentioned that she wanted to try something a little slower, something that gave her time to chew on what she was reading.
And that's when I really started to feel that tug on my heart. That's it, that's what I want- more time to think about what I'm reading.

I love the Bible in 90 Days program. It's especially great if you have never read the Bible through. I think it's great that it's in such a quick time because it gives such a great picture of the whole thing, of what the Bible is trying to tell us. It is a value program. And I really think that I will try to do it at least once every year or two. It's good to get the whole Bible in your mind and heart.
But for me, at this point, I need to go deeper. I need something else.
So I'm looking for some options. Any suggestions would be great.

But that's where I am, that's what's going on here.
Still praying for my ladies, still praying for the whole program, just not reading myself this go round. And kinda licking my wounds.
God can use this, in fact, this is often when God really makes some big changes. Or points out the things that I need to change.
My pastor made an analogy at church Sunday. He talked about being filled with the Spirit. Too often different denominations get caught up in what that means. One of the things I love about my pastor is that he says not to sweat the small stuff. He says if you are following a doctrine that comes from a man, it's probably not the right one. Read the Bible, figure out what God really says about it.
Ooops, going off track a bit. Anyway, Pastor Paul used the analogy of a hotel room. A Christian is already filled with the Spirit once they become saved. But they have to empty themselves out to let the Spirit have free reign. The Spirit is in the hotel, walking around knocking on doors. I can choose if I want to let the Spirit in each room. When God is dealing with me on the issue in room 24, I have to let the Spirit have the room or I can choose to hold on to it. If I let the Spirit in, I have to empty that room of myself.

So right now, the Spirit is knocking on my door, asking to come in. There are some things I need to change. And I need to quiet myself and let Him work on me.


Okay, that is all over the place. That's what happens when I write. I just tend to write what's on my mind. And tonight, I feel like it's important to just let it be what it is, no editing. This is where I am right now, and if it makes no sense, well that's the way it is. This is me. I'm flawed.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Quickly...

Wanted to add my thoughts on something while I have a moment.

This ties in with my thoughts about the rainbow. Again, I take the Bible literally. As a friend said recently, "Call me crazy" but I do take it literally. I believe that God made the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th. I know many do not agree with me, but that's alright. Call me crazy if you must.

But what struck me while reading in Exodus was when God gave the 10 commandments. One of them, Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.


I never read it quite the way I did a couple of days ago. A light went off. Some people say that the days God referred to when He created the earth are like thousands of years for us. So it would be possible that there were thousands of years between each part He added to the world, thus allowing for evolution. I don't believe it. What jumped out of me in Exodus was that He said "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath" and "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day."
I am not a Bible scholar and I do not know what the Hebrew words were that were used in this passage. But it seems to me that the six days (of a week) that we are to work are the same time period as the six days God worked to create the earth.
To me, it seems crystal clear that He created the earth in six literal days.
I am not a scientist, though there are many scientists (real, true, honest to goodness scientists) who believe the way I do. I love when I read about creationism. My favorite website on creationism is AIG. So much information there.

Anyway, it's late and I should be in bed. Just had to get these thoughts out before I forgot.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Day two

I'm a little behind already, not on reading but on posting.
Oh well. I decided this time to not let the blogging interfere with the reading. While I like to write down my thoughts, last time I got so caught up in that part that I let my reading slide. Not gonna happen this time.

I had a thought about Noah that I did want to write down. In Genesis 9:11 God says, "Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."
I personally believe that the Bible should be taken literally. So in line with that, I believe that the flood of Noah's day was a worldwide flood, that the entire earth was covered with water. I know that other Christians and atheists believe that the flood was more likely just a local flood.
But when I read that passage a thought occurred to me. We can see rainbows everywhere. If the rainbow was a sign to a local area that that area would not be flooded again, then why can I see a rainbow thousands of miles away? Wouldn't the rainbow be localized if the flood was?
I don't really know, just thinking aloud. Obviously, to me the rainbow is a sign to the whole earth that the whole earth won't every be destroyed by water again.

Monday, January 3, 2011

B90Days, Day 1

Bible in 90 Days! Again! I'm so excited. I know I could read the Bible on my own, somehow finding out a way to make myself read every day, but this program keeps me more accountable. Maybe it's all in my head, but whatever it is, I'll take it!

So today is Day 1 and I'm just getting started. But the most exciting part for me is that several family members are reading along with me. Hub said he would try. He doesn't seem too eager so I'll be praying like mad for him, but he wants to try. (yay!!!) My mom is going to read again, too. She was with me the first time I did B90Days with our Bible study group. We had the opportunity to meet once a week and watch some DVDs that Bible in 90 Days has available. (If you go to their website, click on "hear the lessons" and you can listen to the DVDs that we watched.) It was a great experience and I'm glad mom wants to read again.
Best of all, Dino wants to read along. Through no prodding by me, he asked me the last time I read if he could read. So when I was getting ready this time, I found the reading schedule for kids. I printed up all the different age levels. The one for age 6-10 wasn't enough for him. He took one look at it and said, "Is that all? It's not the whole Bible." I gave him the 9-12 schedule and he's okay with it. He really wants to read the entire Bible. While I love that he wants to, I don't want him to get stuck with all the begats, and Leviticus, and all the prophets. I'm encouraging him to just make it a goal to read everything on his schedule and read some every day. Then, if he still wants to read what he didn't, he can go back. We'll see how it goes.
Frog is also reading along (being read to), so we're making it a whole family thing, as Monkey is getting some listening to others. This is so nice!


So, here begins another wonderful B90Days. I am looking forward to every single day.

Oh, Amy at MomsToolbox is hosting this challenge. She has tons of info on her site. Go visit and check it out if you haven't already.