How do you measure up?

This past week I had the privilege to sit under the teaching of Trillia Newbell.  It was such a blessing to listen to all the Lord had taught her and I loved how much she challenged me.  The focus of that evening was fear when it comes to "measuring up".  How often as women do we let fear in our relationships, our children, our marriage, our jobs, or our lives in general.  When we are not making the Lord our measure we will always leave ourselves open to feeling inadequate, needing to keep up with others and lacking in areas where we struggle.  Many of us have heard of the Proverbs 31 woman and if you have read about her, you too may have felt inadequate.  I always thought this until Trillia pointed out verse 30.

Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting,

but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.

When our focus and our measure in on the Lord it is easier to not fall into the pit of inadequacy.  We are all fearfully and wonderfully made.  We are all on this earth for a purpose and the Lord does not make mistakes.  When we as women can embrace this, then we reach a point in our lives of letting go of fear and embracing empowerment.

It is really easy to get caught up in all the trappings of this world and let the world tell us how to measure each other and ourselves.  However, this is a broken system because this is a broken world.  Instead we need to focus on our Sovereign Lord  who is above all things and created all things.  In this we can find grace, love, acceptance, joy, beauty and the vibrancy the Lord wants each of us to have.  I struggle with fear all the time but Trillia reminded me that when my fears begin to build I need to remind myself that my only measure is the Lord and through the love and grace of Jesus I will always be accepted.  If that is not amazing then I don't know what it.  May we all this next week remind ourselves of how the love and grace of Jesus frees us from the expectations of the world and sets our eyes on the only one who really matters.

Check our Trillia's wonderful new book on fear and faith.

 

Am I doing it wrong??

Have you ever worked hard at something and then pause to ask yourself, "Am I doing it wrong?"  I know I have many times and many times it was in a state of great frustration.  If you have been following my blog you know that my heart right now is really focused on the book of Acts as our Pastor continues to preach through that book.  I was so excited for this series but never expected to be pushed and challenged like I am.  This last Sunday I had to ask myself...am I doing it wrong...is the Lord not blessing and giving me the boldness of the Apostles because I am doing it wrong?

Recently I talked about Ananias and Sapphira and how they were trying to do on the outside what they did not have on the inside.  They were severely punished for their hypocrisy and their punishment was death.  I am so thankful that in my moments of hypocrisy the Lord has chosen to give me grace instead of striking me dead.  You see if all our religion is on the outside and we are not truly changed through Jesus, then we will eventually die in our sin just like Ananias and Sapphira did.

Below is the passage where this story is told in Acts 5:1-16

But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property,2 and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” 5 And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it. 6 The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.

7 Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter responded to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?” And she said, “Yes, that was the price.” 9 Then Peter said to her, “Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.” 10 And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.

12 At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico.13 But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem. 14 And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number, 15 to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them. 16 Also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.

There are two things in this passage my Pastor pointed out that I have missed the many times I have read and listened to this story.  The first is in verse 11, we see here that after both Ananias and Sapphira died a great fear came over the whole church.  Well, of course it did you know everyone was fearful that if they made a wrong step that the Lord was going to strike them dead.  I will admit it would totally freak me out.  But that is not what caught me or my Pastor.  Look at verse 13-14, in this section we see that the non Christians are refusing to join the church in the portico but they did respect them.  Then immediately after that we see that the church continued to grow exponentially. Wait, if the church was growing and non Christians were not coming to join then how were they hearing?  

This to me is where I had to ask myself if I was doing it wrong.  You see I strive to always seek opportunities to invite people to church and our church activities, however, I am not as bold or willing to seek to share Jesus outside the church.  I am crazy bold with people I know and very outspoken but when you get me around people I don't know, then I loose my boldness and become very self conscious.  I realized in this service that as I have been seeking the Lord for boldness it was to find opportunities to invite people to church...inside our building...where it is safe and easy to be bold.  I was not truly asking for boldness outside that building and those activities.  I was not seeking the Lord to give me bravery to speak to those I don't know who are hurting as they cross my path.  

Yes , I realized that I may be doing it wrong and that is why I have not really felt the boldness of the Spirit.  The church is not a building or activities run by "Pastors/Ministers", the church is the body of believers.  Jesus called us to go and make disciples, he did not call us to bring them to church.  Now, I am still a believer in inviting to church because we need fellowship and discipleship but I think many of us expect the church to do the work and all we have to do is get them in the building.  Our world is broken and dying, people are hurt and angry, there are days I feel we have passed up the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah when it comes to worldly morality.  Yet, in the midst of all this yuck are little pieces of salt and light...us!  We are called to go to them in their broken, dirty, hurting and imperfect state and share the love of grace of Jesus.  We are called to share out lives with them, the good, the bad and the ugly.  They need to know that Christians are not perfect, are not trying to be perfect because we have the beauty of grace.

So my question to you is this...are you doing it wrong?  I know I am and I can truly say my prayer has changed.  Oh, how I want boldness.  Oh, how this world needs us to have the boldness of the Spirit because it is broken and dying.  

 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, 

but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, 

but that all should reach repentance.

2 Peter 3:9

Choosing to not be a chicken

I don't know about you but when it comes to personal Bible study, I tend to like something structured where I have tools to guide me.  However, over the past few years I have really begun to desire the ability to just open up the Bible and study a book.  No study guide asking me questions, telling me where to focus and giving me direction.  So last week I stumbled across one an online ladies study group that I have participated in and enjoyed.  However, they have changed their structure in the past year and I did not realize it.  I really like Good Morning Girls because it comes out of a ministry called Women Living Well, and it's goal is to help equip, encourage and empower women to really grow in our walk with the Lord.  So I decided to jump in on their new study.  I had no idea what God had in store.

In this study we are currently working our way through Leviticus.  Yes you read that right Leviticus!  Out of all the books of the Bible I would choose as a go to for study this is not one of them, but when I considered not doing it I could hear God saying in my head...what is wrong, are you chicken?  I know the Lord has been calling me to dive into a study of just scripture but Leviticus was not what I thought would be my initial choice.

So here I am in week 2!  Last week I was getting my feet and this morning I love how as I went through the passage the Lord really began to speak to my heart and I knew exactly where He wanted me to focus.  "And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not be put out...A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out."  Leviticus 6:12a and 13.  As I read this passage I could see my walk with the Lord as the fire.  As a Christian I need to work to feed and care for the spiritual fire in my life.  This will allow sin that is in my life to be identified and consumed through the Lord's forgiveness.  It also is the light that shines out of my life reflecting Jesus to those in my life, whether it is my girls, friends or people I meet at the store.

Just like the Israelites had to make regular sacrifices to the Lord , I realized I want my study time to be a time where I allow the Lord to challenge, grow, encourage and cleanse me.  I want my passion and fire for Jesus to grow to a point where people can't walk away without seeing Jesus in what I say and do.  I want to be at a point where I am not letting other people show me where to study but I am allowing the Lord to speak and guide my study time.  I am a believer in both but I realize that I have become too dependent on one and need to allow the Lord to stretch and push me.

Are you asking the Lord to stretch and push you?  Are you willing to step out of what you are comfortable with in your Bible study time and willing to try something new.  I am discovering it is an exciting way to discover new areas of your life the Lord wants to grow and develop.  Don't be a chicken, but instead trust the Spirit to do His work because the Lord is just waiting for us to not only ask but step out in faith trusting that He WILL respond when we do.

Faking Faith

Have you ever read a story in the Bible and thought I want that!  In Acts I had that happen as I listened and studied the end of chapter 4 and beginning of chapter 5.  In verse 4:33 it says, "And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all."  These are people who have just learned about the resurrection of Jesus from the apostles and had joined the first church.  They had already right out of the gate been threatened by Jewish leaders yet they continued to pray for boldness.  Here we see that they had abundant grace on them all.  The English Standard Version says "great grace".  I would love a life where I not only had the Lord's grace but great grace in my life.  This as I read is like the boldness these people had, it can only be given by the Holy Spirit.

As the story continues we learn about two similar acts for the church and one is filled with blessing and the other with death.  A man named Barnabas sold his land and gave all the proceeds to the church.  He would soon travel all over sharing the love of Jesus.  We also see another couple named Ananias and Sapphira, they would also sell their land for the church.  However, they kept a portion back for themselves and when they gave the money to the church they were immediately struck down dead.  I will admit that I used to believe it was because they kept money back and did not give it all to the church.  We see in chapter 5:4 the real reason they died.  "While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was old, was it not under your control?  Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart?  You have not lied to men but to God."   You see in this verse we see that it was the goal of Ananias and Sapphira to make the church and people think that they gave God everything from that purchase even though they kept a portion for themselves.  Here is a perfect picture of hypocrisy and desiring for people to think we are something we are not.  I love how my Pastor put it, he said that "who we are on the inside needs to drive what we do on the outside."  We see Luke warning us not to fake our faith, because no matter what we do it is always in front of God.

Another thing my Pastor said was, "We are dependent for the Spirit of God to do a work in our lives that has such an impact that it is reflected on the outside."  Each time we spend time in the Word, prayer or praise with our Lord we find ourselves growing, learning, being encouraged and strengthened.  As all this builds in our lives it will be reflected in our words, actions and lives on the outside.  I am constantly telling my 4th grade Sunday school class that we need to be living water.  We need to be a geyser that as we spend time with the Lord the joy, grace and love of Jesus cannot help but explode out of our lives.  We see this in Barnabus because as he gave this gift the Lord did such a work in his life that he left it all to travel and teach about Jesus.  On the other hand, Ananias and Sapphira just wanted to give the appearance of sacrifice without truly believing in and having true faith in what they were doing.  For them it was all about the show, they wanted people to pat them on the back and say wow aren't you "spiritual".  Thier problem is that God sees the heart and there was a real difference with both of these gifts.  Ananias and Sapphira had no living water.

One of the closing points my Pastor made was this, when the Holy Spirit is working in my life then I will begin to love people more and love my stuff less.  Do I value people coming to faith in Christ more than I love my things, my social status, and my money.  Is my life truly reflecting Christ?  What do you think the current church/people would be like if we all desperately asked the Lord to give us such great boldness, love for each other and grace like this first church had.  You see we are living in a broken world where millions and millions still have not heard the gospel.  What are we doing to spread the name of Jesus.  I am not saying that having nice things is wrong and I know that is not what my Pastor was saying either.  My point here is this, I want God to do such a great work in my life that my focus is not on getting a bigger house, a nicer car, wearing the latest fashions, because I know how naturally vain I am.  I want God to do such a work in my life that my goal is to reach a point I am doing all I possibly can to further the gospel in this world.  Not only by giving but by doing, by seeking the Lord for opportunities and most of all by making sure that what is in my heart is true faith and not hypocrisy.  I want to end with part of the lyrics from the song So Long Self by Mercy Me, to me it sums up the desires of my heart.  I want to leave my selfish desires and place all I have in Jesus.

Well if I come across a little bit distant

It's just because I am

Things just seem to feel a little bit different

You understand

Believe it or not but life is not apparently

About me anyways

But I have met the One who really is worthy

So let me say

So long, self

Well, it's been fun, but I have found somebody else

So long, self

There's just no room for two

So you are gonna have to move

True Acknowlegement

If you have been following my blog you know that right now I am sharing with you things the Lord is teaching me as I study through the book of Acts.  My last post was Are You Desperate For It?  Today's post will go along with that same section of scripture but focus on only a few verses.

In this passage of Acts Peter and John have healed a man, been arrested and taken before the Sanhedrin for trial.  In my last post I talked about how Peter spoke with boldness and then prayed for more boldness.  It is Peter's prayer that I want to talk about today.

"And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, 

“O Lord, it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, 

and all that is in them,  who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our 

father David Your servant, said,

‘Why did the Gentiles rage,

And the peoples devise futile things?

 

‘The kings of the earth took their stand,

And the rulers were gathered together

Against the Lord and against His Christ.’

 For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.  And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.”

Acts 4:24-30

It is apparent in the first 4 chapters of Acts that the Apostles are devoted to prayer and seeking the Lord in all they say and do.  You may be like me and want to be the same way in your life.  There are times I think I have a good and strong prayer life and then I come across a passage like this and realize I want my prayer life to be so much more.  In this passage we see this prayer right after Peter and John  had been released.  What captured my attention is how they started the prayer...“O Lord, it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them..."  Here we see them acknowledging who they were praying to.  They realized how big, great, powerful, holy and mighty God is and that is who they cried out to.  Is that who you pray to?

I would love to say yes to that question but many times when I am truly acknowledging who God is, is when I am in crisis for I am praying for someone in crisis.  What would my life be like if I prayed like this every time I prayed.  What would my life be like if we all truly acknowledged how amazing our God is in how we live our lives.  You see these men did not cry out to be saved.  They did not cry out asking for their persecution to be taken away, they cried out for boldness.

In church I had the privilege of hearing a letter written by a 16 year old boy to his friend who is struggling to survive after a brain aneurysm.   Oh how I was blessed by the love, heart and faith in the words.



Dear A,
I’m not sure how soon you will read this, or whether or not it will be read to you, but I’m writing to assure you that you are most certainly not alone in this battle. There must have been at least 60 people all praying for you that day you were rushed to the hospital! And I've almost never heard such praying! You’d have been flattered, A. I've never heard such concern for one your age (and certainly never so many compliments! You would probably have blushed a vibrant shade of pink!)


I don’t pretend to give assurances, or advice of any sort. I've never been in your position, so there is literally NOTHING that I could tell you.

Well, there is one thing. Don’t despair for your health, don’t let your mother cry for you. God is using you for something, brave A! Maybe He wants to show His power through you, or maybe he wants to give you an amazing testimony! Or perhaps, He wants to welcome you into His glorious kingdom a little bit earlier than you might have wanted at first.

I apologize for the shoddy quality of this letter, but I truly wanted you to know that YOU…ARE…NOT…ALONE! You have the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, sitting right by your side. To be honest, you are in a position that I have desired for years!

You are completely, utterly, entirely at the mercy and love of Christ. You are utterly dependent on Him! Though you may see it as a curse now, I believe He is trying to show you his power!

Do you remember the lines from, “Build Your Kingdom Here”? The ones I’m thinking of say:

“Increase in us, we pray. Unveil why we’re made. Come set our hearts ablaze in full, like wildfire in our very soul.”

“Holy Spirit, come, invade us now!”

I believe you were made for great things, A! I believe that, on the day that you stand before our Father, he will look upon you and say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

And aren't those worth anything that we might suffer here?

My prayers will be with you and your family, A. My prayers, and my thoughts. Don’t forget the one who is watching over you! He has more power in the nail of His little finger than Satan can ever be allowed to have!

“I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me.” Isaiah 46:9b

We love you A! Our prayers will carry your name for as long as you may need them!

Your friend,
As you pray and seek our Lord I pray that we will realize how big He is and how small we are knowing that He truly has our best in mind no matter the outcome.  I want to close by asking a question:  How would my prayers and life change if my goals and desires would all be for Jesus to be exalted no matter what?

The Joy of Slowing Down

It is amazing how you can get so swept up in the schedules we all have and forget to truly slow down. This past week we went to my in-laws to spend some time.  They live in a little country house and have around 200 acres of land.  My favorite part is it is out in the country and even though there are neighbors relatively close, you can't see them or hear them.  We are surrounded my beautiful tree lines and lovely open spaces.  Many morning I woke up to this being my view.

What I love most about being in the country is it forces us to slow down and unplug.  Now that being said, my father in-law has put a wifi connection out in the barn.  It made it fun because I was able to plug the Ipod into speakers and turn on Pandora.  We would sit outside with our bonfire and enjoy chatting, reading and just being together.  This was our fire. By the end of the week this syrup pot was full of ash.  It is one of my favorite things to do because we just hang out spending time together.   

However my girls were blessed that their Uncle and Poppy helped them with a special project.  They made American Girl Doll beds.  I found the the instructions on Pintrest here.  I have no words for how wonderful the beds are and they are really sturdy so I know they will last for years to come.  Here are some great pics of that adventure.

Are You Desperate For It?

A few weeks ago I published a post called Are You Willing To Ask?  In this post I talk about the first part of the book of Acts where the Apostles are baptized with the Holy Spirit an they begin preaching with boldness. I summarized my post by saying that I don't want to be comfortable, I don't want my girls to be comfortable, I want my family to be ready, willing and able to truly seek out opportunities to show and share the love of Jesus.  I want to have my heart in a place I am willing to seek for the Holy Spirit to truly baptize me with boldness.  

Today during my personal study time I was challenged to take this question even further.  In Acts 3:1-26 and 4: 1-31, I looked at a second time the Holy Spirit granted boldness.  In these passages we see Peter and John heading to the temple when they come across a lame man asking for money.  Instead of giving him money, Peter tells him in the name of Jesus to walk.  Peter then grabs his hand and pulls him up.  The man then gets up and walks into the temple with them praising God.  The people are amazed and the leaders are freaked out.  Peter begins preaching and in the course of his sermon they get arrested.  When they stand before the ruling leaders they do not back down but again speak boldly for Jesus.  Then when the leaders let them go the first thing they do is begin praying asking God for even more boldness, and the Holy Spirit granted them boldness.

As I read and studied through this passage a couple things stuck out to me.  One was in chapter 4 verse 13 which says this: "Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus."  I wrote down in my notes the question...do people look at me and see that I have been with Jesus?  Do people look at me and see that I am truly different and so changed by my personal experience with the Living God that it shines boldly through my life?  

In 4:20, Peter and John say "for we cannot stop speaking about what we have see and heard."  They were so impacted by their experience with Jesus and his resurrection that nothing will stop their speaking out.  I love how my pastor talked about how they did not form a committee to discuss how to be politically correct, they did not talk about ways to change their approach so people would not be offended by what they were preaching, and they did not cower back and agree to the demands of the elders for them to leave and never preach Jesus again.  Instead they  did this...

"And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, 

“O Lord, it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, 

and all that is in them,  who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our 

father David Your servant, said,

‘Why did the Gentiles rage,

And the peoples devise futile things?

 

‘The kings of the earth [c]took their stand,

And the rulers were gathered together

Against the Lord and against His Christ.’

 For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.  And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.”  And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness." Acts 4:24-31

They prayed!  Here we see that they began praying and you can see in this passage they they prayed with boldness and power.  They gave honor, credit and glory to God knowing that it was the Lord who had made all that occurred possible not them. My favorite part of they prayer is where they ask for even more boldness to speak the name of Jesus.  Wow!  They were not worried about what people thought.  They were not worried about being politically correct.  They were not worried about whether speaking out would cost them their lives.  No...they spoke out with boldness and when trouble came, they asked for even more boldness.

I want this in my life, I want to be a person who not only asks the Lord to give me boldness but asks in almost desperation.  I do not want to be a Christian who is comfortable and lives my life doing church.  Our world is not getting better and the Bible tells us that over time it will only get more lost and depraved.  But the Bible also tells us that the Lord desires that none perish.  What am I doing to spread the gospel?  Am I seeking to live a life that boldly speaks Jesus?  Am I adjusting my walk to make sure I do not offend people when I speak of Jesus?  Now understand I do not believe being bold means being blunt, rude and pushy.  No, I believe that being bold means speaking truth with the love and grace that we see Christ give all throughout the gospels.  I want people when they see me to see the love and grace of Christ in all I say and do, but I want to be brave enough to not adjust my words or actions because I am fearful of "rocking the boat".

To me this is where our daily Bible study time, prayer time and relationship with Jesus becomes so important.  You see as we seek boldness we are not to seek for ourselves but so that the Holy Spirit can come and do His work through us.  When we allow that to happen then I believe we will know when to speak, when to be silent and when to walk away.  I have friends who claim to know Jesus because they did church but it is obvious they don't have a relationship with Him.  I can think of times where the Holy Spirit provided me opportunity to boldly speak of Jesus and other times where I truly knew I was to be silent and pray.  You see our impact on this world will never be because of our own actions and words.  Our impact on this world will be through our allowing the Holy Spirit to come and work through us as we continually point people to Jesus.  It all comes back to that simple rule.  Everything always comes back to Jesus and when we point people to Him then we allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in His time.

So again I want to ask you...are you willing to truly ask for boldness?  Are you desperate for it?  Do people see you and know you have been with Jesus?

Leaving Changed

As a homeschool Mom I am learning that educating my children can be very stressful and very exhilarating all at the same time.  The key is to make sure you focus is where it needs to be.  A about a week or so ago I attended the Teach Them Diligently Conference in Nashville.  I was really looking forward to it and I love that it did not disappoint.  I knew that by attending I would receive encouragement and some new ideas but I did not expect to be challenged as much as I was.  I attended two workshops that really pushed the way I think and look at our homeschool family.

The first workshop was on instilling independence in your children.  I thought my girls were independent but as I really began to think about our school time I realized quickly that they are not overly independent.   They like me to be sitting with them when they do their work and as I listened to this speaker I realized that they need to learn to motivate and monitor their schedule on their own.  I loved at how this speaker talked about gradually teaching them to structure their day, work through their tasks and take pride in their work.  I loved how she not only talked about school work but about instilling this in their daily chores, their quiet time,  and in taking care of their own breakfast and lunches every day.  The speaker to this workshop was Kim Sorgius who writes a blog called Not Consumed.  Kim really challenged me to think about am I really equipping my girls to be independent and to really take pride in what they do.  This really caused me to think about the curriculum we are using and it in is structured to encourage independence or if it is written for me to be involved through the whole process.  I was amazed at how I came away from the Curriculum Expo having made some curriculum changes and I am really excited for all next year has to bring.

The second conference I attended talked about our children's personality profiles and how that impacts their learning.  This was the most fascinating workshop for me because I not only learned about the different personality types but the speaker really helped us picture how to use this information to improve our learning methods.  I was so excited leaving the session that I bought her book "A Parent's Playbook for Learning" by Jen Lilienstein.  I also loved that they have a wonderful website where you can test to figure out what your child's personality type is to help you as you work with and structure your home.  Her website is www.kidzmet.com. As Jen would describe different personality types I could picture my girls and how completely different they are yet our curriculum and schedule assume they are the same.  I left this workshop really wanting to learn about my girls so that I can better structure our house/schedules to meet their needs and set them up for success.

I have written all of this to let you know that if you are a homeschool parent here are two wonderful resources that I think you will find tools and encouragement to benefit your lifestyle.  If you are not a homeschool family I know that both of these sites/ resources still have tools that I know would still benefit your family.

If we are not careful life today can feel like a freight train running full speed down the track and we are just trying to keep up.  However, this conference reminded me as a Mom to pause and not let the busyness of life get in the way of molding my girls into strong, thinking, self assured women who reflect the Lord in all they say and do.  As I parent I have the biggest influence on my girls and I want to make sure I am bringing glory to God and doing my best in the role he has given me.  I am excited for this upcoming school year because I know that God has a lot in store as he not only grows my girls but he grows me as their Mom.

Are you willing to ask?

As we walk through our lives each day do we have a hyper awareness of the urgency of the gospel?  Are we truly seeking for the Holy Spirit to baptize us with a boldness that only He can give? 

At the beginning of Acts we see the apostles  listening to Jesus as he is trying to pass on his final words before he leaves to go be with his father in heaven.  All through the book of Acts we see the word Lord used and each time it is referring to Jesus.  As I learned this I realized that knowing this changed my perception of the stories I have read in Acts, it changed how I looked at Jesus' interaction with the world all throughout the New Testament.   My Pastor talked about how we can see Christ continuing his ministry from heaven through the work of the Holy Spirit.

What really struck my heart the most was when we were asked the question of if the Holy Spirit will baptize a person with boldness for the gospel…and He is still at work in the world today…am I seeking this boldness?  Do I truly desire for the Holy Spirit to change me, move and motivate me to step out of my comfort zone and really begin to strive to make a difference in the world for the gospel. 

So many times as Christians we get comfortable in our lives and routine.  We interact with people each day, go to church on Wednesday nights and Sundays.  We may even spend daily time in the Bible learning and striving to grow closer to the Lord.  However, if we are not willing to be used to be a witness for Jesus then what in the world are we doing?  Our purpose is to bring glory and honor to the Lord in all we do. 

I was talking to a couple friends the other day about how in the south it is easy for us to lose our sense of urgency for the gospel.  When the majority of people I know are Christians, when the majority of my children's friends are Christian's it can make life seem like a country club.  It is so easy to just "do church" and not truly push ourselves to step out of our comfort zones to truly be used by the Spirit in the world around us.

One of the things I shared with my friends is that when I lived in Salt Lake City, Utah it was easier to keep my sense of urgency because the majority of people I knew were not Christians.  They were lost and dying and did not know it.  I was forced to not just know what I believed but why and be able to share it with others.  So many religions sound like Christianity but they are not, and if we are not able to truly talk about what we believe and why only through the saving grace of Jesus can salvation be found, we are not a useful tool in furthering the kingdom. 

I don't want to be comfortable, I don't want my girls to be comfortable, I want my family to be ready, willing and able to truly seek out opportunities to show and share the love of Jesus.  I want to have my heart in a place I am willing to seek for the Holy Spirit to truly baptize me with boldness. 

So my question for you is what do you want?  How do you want to live your life?    John 3:16 tells us that God loved the people of this world so much He sent his only son to die on a cross for our sins.  This is a gift that no one deserves or could ever earn yet it is there for everyone.  For more information on salvation if you are seeking please check out this website http://billygraham.org/story/have-you-heard-the-good-news-of-salvation/ .  This site is a wonderful place for information and assistance for it is my desire along with the Lord's that none shall perish.

If you are a Christian then my question for you is are you willing to step out of your comfort zone, step into the fray to really begin to make a difference for the kingdom?  This is a journey and experience that you don't want to miss out on and the Holy Spirit is waiting and ready to equip you for all that the Lord has in store.