Taking it to Him Tuesday's: Praying for My Community

I live in a small suburban community located on the Northeast side of one of our nation's largest cities: Houston, TX. So when I talk about praying for my community I am referring to Atascocita and Houston. Though the Lord has given me a desire to see both area's know Him and make Him known, I write today's post with a heavy heart for Houston.
In the last few months this great city has undergone some changes that may not concern most, but from a Christian point of view I am a little worried about the direction our city is headed. Though there are a few other issues that bother me like the economy, and the recent election of the cities first openly gay mayor. The issue that I am most grieved by is the construction of what will be the largest abortion clinic in North America. The clinic will be located in the former head quarters of a local bank. That's right, with a little construction on the six story 78,000 sq. ft. building Planned Parenthood will be opening the doors of this new clinic in the spring. What's even more disturbing is that they will be carrying out late term abortions.

To be honest when I first heard about this I was completely surprised. I never thought that this would happen in the Bible belt, much less in my own backyard. Houston is not only home to some of the largest churches in the country but it is also the home of the fastest growing Catholic Diocese. How can this be happening in such a religious community?

Sadly, the answer is simple, we as Christian let it happen. We are not spending nearly enough time on our knees in prayer for our communities. Let me ask you some tough questions: do you know what's happening in your community? Have you been praying for your community?  If not when will you start? Will it take something drastic before you understand the urgency?

Please don't wait any longer. Join me in praying for our nation and its communities.

"If my people who are called by my name will 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 will HEAL their land."
2 Chronicles 7"14

MEL

Motivated Mommy Monday's: Keeping Daddy in the Loop

Sorry, this is so late. My husband had the day off so we enjoyed some much needed family time. Watching my husband play with the kids I was reminded of how much he misses when he is at work, from cute little things they say to their new favorites. As much as I hate that he has to miss so many things because of work the alternative is just NOT an option! However, I have taken enough psychology classes to know that the role Josh plays in the lives of our children is vital (Statistics on the importance of Fathers).

Though, most of the research focuses on the devastating affects of fatherless homes there are a few statistics that also focus on emotionally absent and busy fathers, and the results are just as detrimental. That's why as a motivated mommy I want to do everything in my power to make sure my husband stays connected with our kids. My husband is in NO way emotionally absent, but sadly as a father who works he can get a little busy. So, I have made it my personal responsibility to make sure he stays in the loop.

I try to tell Josh as much about the kid's day as possible, especially any first, or new favorites. That way, when he decides to sit down and play with the kids he knows that Jeremiah would rather play board games or Leapster games than cars or action figures (which he would have preferred last month).  If he wants to read to them he will know that right now Jeremiah is really into his tag. Or let's say Cherish is standing next to him repeating something over and over. Two weeks ago he would have ignored her because he knew she just liked saying it; however because I informed him, he knows that if he ignores her now he will get a "Daddy, I'm talking to you. Hey DADDY, I'm talking to you," which might be followed by pulling his face in her direction.

These things might seem small but I have discovered buy taking a few minutes to fill my husband in I'm saving him hours of time. That way rather than spending half an hour trying to figure out what to play with the kids he can just grab something he knows they like and start playing. Or rather than spending fifteen minutes trying to decide on a book he can just grab one and start reading. The way I see it dads have so little time with their kids so if we can help them make the most of that time we are doing them AND the kids a huge favor.

I think because we SAHMs are around our kids all the time, we take for granted the value of knowing the little things about them and just fail to realize that our hubbies could use that information too. Hopefully this post gets us thinking and reminds us of the importance of filling daddy in.

Just some thoughts,
MEL

Thursday's in His Tent: ?

Last Thursday I expressed how I wanted to know God more, how I wanted to meet with Him face to face. So when I was thinking about how to expound on that in today's post I wanted to share something new I had learned about God's character this week. However, I could not think of anything new I learned about God this week. In fact, because I am going through the Pauline epistles I have mostly been reading about how we should act as Christians. The rare references to God's character revolve around three characteristics; his saving grace, his power/strength, and his providence. All three are characteristics I know very well. So I was stumped, what was I supposed to write about?

Around 3 p.m. when I still had not figured it out, I decided to sit down and just write about the three characteristics above, but God had other plans. Before I could even get started our internet froze up. I prayed about it because I am working on doing that more, and when I still could not get it to work I saw that as a sign God did not want me blogging at that moment. So, I decided to work on a few of  the chores and cook dinner. All the while I was still thinking about what this post should be about...

Finally, it hit me. All week God has been speaking to me about praying, listening, and turning my concerns over to Him. In fact, the clearest lesson came this morning as I did my current Bible study. See, today's study was all about communicating with God; reading scripture, asking questions, confessing sins, sharing concerns and joys. If you are perceptive you might see where this is going.

That's right, last week I was expressing my desire to draw nearer to God, and this week he was expressing his desire to know me more. I know you are probably thinking because God is all knowing he already knows everything about me, and you are right. However, the idea is more that God wants me to be real with Him. Not because he already knows everything, but because it is the only way we can have a genuine relationship. If I want Him to let me draw nearer, than I must also let Him draw nearer.

Lets take a look at David, have you ever considered why it was that God refers to David and only David as a man after his (God's) own heart. I have a thought, maybe it was because David was so real with God, sometimes even brutally honest. Think about it the Psalms are full of David's cries to God. In Psalm 13 David asks God some hard question, questions that some of us would never dare ask God. Yet David did and he is referred to as a man after Gods own heart.

I guess what I learned this week is that God wants to know me intimately, even if it means sharing some raw feeling. See, not always but usually I hold back my frustrations out of respect, and keep trying to see Gods reasoning. What God showed me today is that he can handle whatever I have to say, in fact, he wants me to come to Him with it. Then and only then can he reveal Himself to me.

God wants to know the real you too. Do you have any emotions or questions you are holding back? Or do you just need to spend more time with Him? If so try it, you will be surprised.

MEL

Wedded Wednesday's: Receiving his Affection.

Okay, just to be clear from the get go, this post is NOT about sex. By affection I am talking about just that, his tender or fond feelings towards me. For example; hugging, kissing, cuddling, holding hands, wrapping his arm around me and verbally expressing his love for me. See, I am really bad at letting my husband do these things. Partly because as a mom I am soooooooo busy and partly because it just makes me feel awkward to be praised or admired. Oh and I am a little claustrophobic so any time I feel stressed I need my space.

Josh has made it clear it upsets him when I won't let him love on me because I am too busy or too stressed. So I try to make more of an effort to just let him hold me when he wants to. I mean if I am not going to burn dinner or the kids are not about to hurt each other, than why not? What will a few seconds hurt or even a few minutes? I really have made some progress with the whole not being too busy thing. I mean I want to be a Mary not a Martha, even if my type A, perfectionist, slightly ODC personality leans naturally towards Martha. If you're not familiar with my analogy I am referring to Luke 10:38-42, where Jesus is visiting with Mary and Martha in their home. Martha hurriedly tries to clean the house so Jesus will be comfortable, while Mary simply sits and visits with Jesus. So, an understandably aggravated Martha asks Jesus to rebuke Mary for not helping her clean. Instead, Jesus rebukes Martha for not realizing what is more important from an eternal perspective, a clean house or a relationship.

So while, I have made some progress on the being too busy front, I still struggle with the whole claustrophobic thing. For a while, I just figured because it was a condition there was nothing I could do about it. However, a while back I realized I was going to have to work on it regardless. I wish I could say it was because I felt so bad about hurting Josh's feelings (which I do feel bad about); however the realization actually came to me when I started noticing my daughter do the same thing. I'm not sure if she learned it from watching me or if she is just as claustrophobic as me. But regardless of why she does it, I do not want her to continue doing it!

For the first time I really got to see what it looks like from an outside perspective. That's when I made a decision to work on that as well. To be honest, it was not easy at first and sometimes (more than I like) I still struggle with it. However, I can see the progress I have made. I now realize that though the anxiety I feel is real, it CAN be overcome. I just need to exercise a little self-control and not freak out.

Oh, and let me just say by willingly receiving all the affection Josh dishes out I feel much closer to him. In fact, I would go as far as to say our marriage is better than it has ever been. Sadly, it is not because the love has increased (though it has done that in the last 5 years), but simply because I chose to receive the love even when it seemed inconvenient. Wow, that sounds bad, please tell me I am not alone in this? Someone else must know what I am talking about...

Anyways, take it from me it is so important to receive your husbands affection.

MEL

Taking it to Him Tuesday's: Praying for My Kids Mommy

Okay, so I know this is way late. Sorry, I had a rather eventful day. Let's just say there's nothing quite as challenging as raising kids. In fact, today I was what Mandi over at Capitol Heights Mommy calls squeezed, and what came out was ugly, and ungodly.

I was so frustrated that until about an hour ago I had not even sat down to think about today's post. At first, I thought it should be about praying for our children. I mean, the way my kids acted today they obviously need a little extra prayer. However, after a little more thought I realized what I really need to be praying about this week is ME! Though I do need to pray about my character in general, tonight I feel strongly convicted to pray about the way I respond to my kids less than perfect moments.

The way I see it, God trusted these two beautifully precious kids to me.

As Gods steward I have a responsibility to not just raise them to become children of God, but to treat them as children of God. To be as patient with them as my Father in Heaven is with me. To show grace and forgiveness to them, again as my Father in Heaven does to me. To be gentle and kind with them, also as my Father in Heaven is with me. To enforce godly discipline, rather than acting out of anger. Finally, to love them unconditionally and without ceasing.

To be honest, I can't do those things on my own. When squeezed those are just not the things that come out of me. That's why I need to pray for my kids mother, because she cannot be the mother God is calling her to be without God's help. It's just not in her.

What about you? Could your kids mommy use some prayer?

MEL

Motivated Mommy Monday's: Teaching Kids Godly Courage

I decided to write this post because I am reading in 2 Timothy and this morning I came across one of my favorite verses to pray over my kids, 2 Timothy 1:7.

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."

 See, I have a 4 year old son who has been having nightmares for a couple of years now and a 2 year old daughter who has just recently started having nightmares. I'd like to say that by now my husband and I have become experts at dealing with the scared to go to sleep issue, however, we are discovering that overcoming fear is a long process. Hopefully you can learn from our journey.

When we first started waking up to a shrill scream it terrified us. I remember waking out of a dead sleep to the most awful sound in the world (my baby screaming from terror), jumping up and stumbling out of bed 8 months pregnant and in a daze as my husband sprinted down the hall to rescue our son from whatever was attacking him. Of course, once we reached his room we discovered he was only having a bad dream. I say only because my husband is at his worst when he is woken up  in the middle of the night, lets just say for him not to be upset you had better be seriously injured. Josh is a great dad he just doesn't think clearly when he's half asleep, so needless to say when I got to the room and realized why Jeremiah was screaming I knew I was going to be the one to comfort him.

For the first few months the nightmares where rare, so when he had one I would just sit on the floor next to his bed singing to him and rubbing his back until he fell back asleep. However, as he grew and his brain developed the nightmares became more frequent. Once that happened he started to fear going to sleep, especially in the dark. So, on the nights Jeremiah was really scared Josh would lie on the floor until he fell asleep, and if he got up in the middle of the night I would comfort him. After about another four months we realized that strategy was not working, especially since we had a newborn in the house. It was apparent we were going to have to teach him to face his fears. After all, we had a son who was scared to go to sleep and all the coddling in the world was not going to help him. The problem is how do you teach courage to a 2 year old?

We tried everything to help him to feel safe. First we left lights on, and then we tried stuffed animals, we even let him sleep with his laser gun and a foam Astros bat a few times (you know so he could defend himself if need be). I have to say the bat worked well... for about a week. So at least a year after all this had begun we were still no closer to helping him overcome this fear. Finally, after one exhausting night he woke up again, weary I tried to calm him. When he finally started to relax I realized we had a problem we could not solve on our own. So, I did as I always do when I come to that realization, I desperetly began to pray; calling out to God for help and praying over Jeremiah as he finally feel back asleep. That was our turning point.

The next night as I was saying good night, Jeremiah was begging me not to leave the room. So, with my new found strength I asked Jeremiah if he would like for me to pray specifically that he not have any bad dreams. To which he excitedly replied yes, so I began to pray. I specifically prayed that God would vanquish any bad dreams from his head. Then, God brought to my mind 2 Timothy 1:7, so I prayed it aloud. After, that he just let me leave. No crying, no getting out of bed...nothing. Oh, and that night he slept great.

So we had a new nightly ritual. I wish I could say that was the end of it, but eventually he did have another nightmare. We countered it with more prayers as we continue to do. The fact is Jeremiah still occasionally has nightmares, however, he is learning to deal with them. Prayer has been a huge help, in fact, I no longer have to ask Jeremiah if he wants me to pray over his dreams...because now he just tells me when he needs me to do it.

That brings me to this morning, as I read 2 Timothy 1:7 I began to reflect on what that verse has come to mean to my family over the last few years. I also began to reflect on how God taught my son threw all this. Though it has not been easy to watch my son through this struggle to overcome fear, I now realize I would not have stopped the events of the last two years even if I could have. See, my son has learned a couple of great life lessons. First, he learned the power of prayer. We had been praying with Jeremiah nightly way before he started having nightmares, however, this was the first time he had a specific prayer that he saw answered. Second, we have all learned the power of praying scripture. It's not like his fear just disappeared, instead he is discovering the power, and the love and the self-discipline that it takes to overcome ALL fear. My son now has the self-discipline to not let fear overcome him, but instead remember that The All Powerful loves him and is on his side. That is a characteristic that will save him so much pain in the future. So, I gladly trade a few years of minor fear for a lifetime of major fear.

I wanted to share this because I know there is someone who needs to hear it, even if it's not for the reason I think. Maybe you have a child who is struggling with something else and you just need to be reminded that God is not just putting them through this for no good reason. He will use it for their benefit. Or maybe your about to enter this stage and God wants to save you some grief by showing you what to do before your knee deep, like we were. Either way I hope this helps.

Finally, I would like to share a few other verses that are helpful in this situation:

Psalm 4:8 I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD , make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 46: 1-2a God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear.

MEL

Thursday's in His Tent: What do I know?

Okay, so I know the name I chose for Thursday's might seem a little peculiar, but I believe it is more significant than any other name I have chosen for this blog. See, it is my desire to dedicate Thursdays to God, because I want to know Him more. So, when I was trying to decide on a name for Thursdays God reminded me of the "tent of meeting".

The "tent of meeting" is where Moses would go to speak with God. At this point you might be thinking a lot of people spoke with God in a lot of different places, what's so special about this place? Well, for that answer we need to look at Exodus 33: 7-11. This section of Exodus tells us about the tent. Specifically verse 9 says, "As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses." Then in verse 11a it says, "The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend."  So, though I will not meet with God in a literal tent, it is my desire to have Him speak to me face to face as He spoke to Moses in the "tent of meeting." I want to see His face. By that I mean I want to get a glimpse of who he really is.

On April 26th I will celebrate 10 years with my Savior. And in ten years as a Christian I have learned a lot about God. I have read the Bible through and through. I have attended numerous bible studies. I have a Bachelors of Science in Religion from Liberty University and I have experienced God first hand. Yet, I feel like I know so little about Him and I know I am not the only one who feels that way.

The truth is none of us can truly comprehend who God is. In fact, until we meet Him on that glorious day we are all just clueless. But does that mean we should stop trying to understand Him, to know Him? I don't think so. In fact, I think it's just the opposite. We need to seek him wholeheartedly. Even if all we get is a glimpse of who he might be, because just a glimpse can change us forever. I think Addison Road says it best in the song "What do I know of Holy." The second verse goes like this:

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

I love this song, because it's reality. In fact, I'd like to take a little more of your time to  focus on the three lines not highlighted. 

I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page

See, I think that is exactly what happens when we stop trying to seek God's face. It's as if we become numb to the gospel. Because when we lose sight of who God is we also lose sight of exactly what he sacrificed for us. Then ministry becomes more of a trend than sharing the grace we have received.  


Just some thoughts on what God is teaching me,
MEL