bread and water

I have been so burdened for our culture the past year. I’ve seen huge cultural shifts that have taken place and I am still in disbelief. These shifts have taken place in small quiet ways and then when they are accepted they are shouted from the rooftops as truth.  The enemy is sneaky and deceptive and he makes you think if you go his way you will be wiser and more spiritual. Kind of like Jezebel. Kind of like how he tempted Eve in the garden. He uses the same method today. It all starts with, “Did God really say this? Does God’s Word really say not to do that? My greek interpretation is different. You need to read between the lines. You need to totally cut out the Old Testament or the book of James.”  What?!? This is almost laughable at how obscure it is. There are movements going on about the earth being flat and about sexuality. The basic role of male and female is being questioned and changed from every side. Women preachers preach with more intensity while male preachers s...

I was listening to a founder of an incredible ministry talk to a Pastor in an interview and he said something that stuck with me. He said that Christ can only use us to the extent that we let Him. We must yield to Christ in order for Him to use us.    God has plans and purposes for each life that He gloriously created in the womb. But some people will never experience what they were created for because they won’t yield to Christ. When you see a yield sign you know that you are supposed to slow down and look to see if anything is coming before you continue down that path. If another car is approaching then you must stop and let the other car go before you continue driving on that road.    We have to do that with the Lord. Like the verse says in Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” It doesn’t say “in some of thy ways” or “only w...

We are in the process of moving out of the apartment on the third floor to a house. We have been in that apartment for almost a year and a half. It’s where we brought our fourth baby home from the hospital.    It had its ups and downs.    It had a pretty tree you could see from the balcony that turned red in the fall. It had a pool the boys could swim in in the summer.    But it didn’t have a yard or a garage or a place to put the boys bikes.  It was interesting having four rough and rowdy boys in a nice apartment complex.    One time our son had a bike wreck and accidentally put a tiny scratch on someone’s truck. We paid that person over $600 so they could get it fixed.  Another time the manager called me and asked the boys to quit doing backflips off the transformer box. (They weren’t allowed to have their trampoline at the apartment.) But they had an outdoor basketball and tennis court and a movie theatre in the lobby. T...

So Iʼm sitting here in my minivan with my little one while some of my boys are at soccer practice in the rain. I havenʼt posted a blog in a week or two because life has been busy. We have been in the throes of homeschooling, all three boys playing travel soccer on three different teams, and of course Church. Oh and play practice. Now that Iʼve updated you on my life I want to get to something thatʼs been heavy on my heart. I have been seeing several per se famous Christian bloggers, speakers, authors, and Christian worship leaders coming out in the public eye with flat out sin. But they donʼt call it sin. I donʼt know what they think it is. It definitely makes them look more like the world instead of being separated from the world. (I realize this may not be a popular post.) So what am I talking about? What are they doing? Well they are cussing on their videos and social platforms and they are talking about alcohol and drinking beer or wine on their social platforms. This is so ...

Our family decided to do a seven day media fast. Hmmm. We were all in the car together on a long trip and that’s when we made the decision.  7 days. No TV. No  Facebook. No social apps.  I loved it!  The kids and my hubby did it also. They loved it too.  My teenager may have broken it a day or two early by watching a You Tube video. Ugh.  I had a desire maybe 3 different times to get on Facebook but I didn’t.  It was mostly when I was bored sitting at the table finishing eating I would want to scroll through or post something I was doing on Facebook. Instead I would either sit there and think or talk to one of my children.  It made us look at our kids faces more and we paid our kids and each other more attention.  That was the biggest thing I noticed that was a huge deal...looking into our children’s faces instead of at faces of people on a screen. The house was more peaceful.  Honestly, we kinda drea...

I have noticed that when Iʼm in pain it makes me irritable and miserable and mean to people. Especially people in my family. It has made me less patient, kind and understanding. It has interfered with my sleep, my rest and my fun. It makes me sad for people who deal with health issues all of the time. The past month I have had pain in my mouth, teeth, jaw and ear. Usually I donʼt ever take Tylenol or Ibuprofen but I have been taking them almost every day because the pain was too much to bear. I know itʼs nothing compared to what some people go through. I never thought about pain until I experienced it in my own body and then it became all I could think about. Now I have a new compassion and mercy for people who deal with pain on a regular basis. My heart goes out to people who live in chronic pain. “Pain can create sensitivity to othersʼ sufferings and a greater compassion can be learned from the keen awareness of oneʼs own trials.” Kate Kim Psalm 4:1 says, “Thou hast enlarge...

I donʼt know how you make decisions but when I am walking in the Spirit I listen to Godʼs still small voice. He speaks to me with a thought (voice) in my head. After walking with Jesus for 22 years Iʼve come to know what His still small voice sounds like. Of course it has to line up with the Bible. When Iʼm not in the Word (reading the Bible) and praying then I canʼt hear it as well. The other day we were trying to make a decision about a home and I kept hearing Godʼs still small voice but I wanted Him to give me something more. Sometimes I still question it. But then when I read my devotional it talked about Godʼs still small voice. I prayed and prayed and asked God questions and He would immediately answer me but I still doubted. Or maybe I just didnʼt like the answer He was giving me. When we were about to buy a house that I loved and we heard a still small voice tell us not to we couldnʼt figure out why. But we trusted and put faith in that still small voice and we didnʼt b...

We just got back from a great vacation! I am so thankful and blessed! We have been saying for years that we needed a whole month off in the summer. Being in the ministry is draining in a way that you donʼt understand unless youʼve been there. This was only the second summer we have taken that much time off after 15 years of doing ministry as a married couple. In those early years we didnʼt feel like we needed a break because we were super young and excited and not very busy. As we began to have children we got tired a lot easier and as they got older we got busier. As we moved, traveled, had more children, planted two churches from scratch, and started a Christian school we were really needing a vacation. The church we were at at the time told us we could not take a month off. So we didnʼt. Iʼm thankful the church we are at now allowed us time off. If your Pastor asks for some time off please support him in that. They carry a great burden 24/7 and need time to rest and reflect. ...

Iʼm scared of the waves. I donʼt venture out deep and only like getting my feet wet. But my older boys have been enjoying boogie boarding in the ocean while we are on vacation. Just a little while ago my hubby took our eight month old baby without floats into the ocean and I stood and freaked out as they got hit by two waves. I looked like a crazy lady on the sand waiving my arms and yelling. A younger guy was laughing at something as I turned around (probably me). But our baby wasnʼt scared at all. He wasnʼt crying or afraid. He was safe in his Daddyʼs arms. After our baby sat in the shade with me awhile I walked him back down to the ocean and dipped his feet in the shallow water and he started fussing like he was afraid of the oncoming waves. It hit me that he was afraid that time because his Daddy wasnʼt holding him and he thought I was going to sit him down in the waves all by himself. I quickly picked him up and thought about how we can face storms in our life bravely if we re...

Do your children have your heart? What I mean by that is do you love being with them...leading them, discipling them, loving them? God gave you your children to disciple. If we serve everything else and neglect our children we are failing. Malachi 4:6 says: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Loving our children doesnʼt always come naturally. If it did God wouldnʼt have put it in the Bible in Titus 2. His Word says: Titus  2:4-5 4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. My children havenʼt ALWAYS had my heart fully. There was a time that I was pursuing money and taking things in my own hands instead of trusting Godʼs provision and making sacrifices financially. When money was my...

What do you do when God says no? I donʼt know about you but I donʼt like to be told no. Especially if itʼs something I really want. But recently God has been telling me no about a certain thing...a big thing. I canʼt understand why He is shutting the door in certain ways when it seems to me like it would be a perfect thing to do or to have. Those are the times when I have to trust Him. Have you ever had to trust the Lord for things in your life? We sing about it in church...”Trust and obey for thereʼs no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.” Trusting someone is hard sometimes. But the more you know the person the easier it is to trust. The more youʼve seen that persons character and how they have proven themselves in the past the easier it is to trust them. God has proven Himself faithful in my life. He is faithful and true and He loves me more than anyone else does. He really does know what is best for me even if I donʼt like it in the beginning. The Bible sa...

I want my body back after having four babies. Letʼs just be honest. I used to have a four pack of abs and now I have four kids and maybe some flabʼs. But they are going away let me tell you. I am sitting here on my neon yellow exercise ball drinking an iced coffee protein shake after doing a 20 minute diastases recti healing workout still trying to catch my breath. It is so hard to find time to exercise when you have four kids who are at home with you all the time. (I had to pause the workout video several times because I got distracted. Some of that was me being squirrelly, not the kids but still!) Keep trying to squeeze those workouts in though! I think staying in somewhat good shape is important for overall health and wellness. It can also help stress and boost your mood. Yep. Get that blood pumpinʼ Before I got married I exercised at a minimum of three days a week if not 5 to 7 days a week. I also had time to lay out and get a great tan every summer. (You are probably think...

We all come into marriage with different expectations whether we realize it or not. I remember when I was learning all I could about godly dating and courting I heard someone say that you should have no expectations . I thought to myself, “That sounds easy.” Then I got married . I thought I had no expectations but I found myself frustrated that my new husband expected me to keep the cars clean (and the house clean). I grew up with a Dad who kept the cars clean. My expectation was that if I kept our home clean on the inside then my hubby would keep the cars and the outside of the house clean. But he grew up with a Mom who kept the cars clean, cut the grass and kept the house clean. Our expectations clashed and we had to either fight about it or communicate about it. What do you do when your expectations go unmet? You know, really itʼs not the other persons fault. Itʼs our own fault that we assumed something without discussing it and planning or compromising. The first step is to c...

Hey yʼall! I shared in a previous post about an envelope budgeting system where you write down an amount you are going to spend on groceries and an amount you are going to spend on Other/Fun/Spending. I knew the amount for groceries was going to be hard to stay under because with a new baby Iʼm not cooking from scratch to save money. I do make his baby food when Iʼm home but not while Iʼm out of town. The first week on the budget I was excited and I stayed under budget and proudly showed my husband. The second week I went over budget on groceries and spending and I was so stressed and discouraged about it. My hubby said he liked me better without a budget because having this budget envelope was all I thought about. I was writing down every time I spent money from buying stamps to dry cleaning to fast food etc. It became hard to keep up with because I would get behind and save receipts and then sit down to write all the receipts down only to find we overspent. So I would think I had...

My six month old baby was happily playing near the kitchen where I was cooking when I turned the loud blender on. I made it a point to look at him as I turned it on. As he heard the loud sound he immediately looked up like a dog perks his ears up when he hears a strange sound. But before he had a chance to cry I smiled at him and he immediately smiled and stayed happy. The same principle works when your child falls down and scrapes their knee or stubs their toe. If you dramatically scream and run to them and make a big deal about it then they will cry and carry on every time they get hurt. If you calmly assess the situation and walk to them quietly then they will remain calm. My husband is so good at that because thatʼs how his Dad trained him. I think this is especially important for boys. We have four boys who are rough and tumble and have lots of scrapes and bruises from playing hard. I think Moms have a harder time with not freaking out over things than Dads. Just know that h...

I was at the pool with my 4 kids and I was trying to study my Sunday School lesson. The paper kept blowing in the wind and my kids kept needing my attention. I kept having to put the papers down and hold the baby. God reminded me of a truth I heard Mrs. Duggar share about writing a book while mothering all her children. Someone asked her how she got the book done with her kids interrupting her so much. She said that they werenʼt the interruption, the book was the interruption. Her job was first and foremost to be their mother and writing the book was an extra thing. Along the same lines, your children are not interruptions to your studying and devotions. They are your main disciples. If you have children, God has chosen the exact people (little people they may be) to be your disciples and your followers. They may not be old enough to click like and follow on your social media pages but they are following you and watching you. I always feel a tad ashamed when my 10 year old sees m...

We moved to a new state a year ago and I still have to use my GPS to drive places. I know how to get to church and the grocery store and a few places to shop but not anywhere else! I had a busy day ahead of me. I got to go to the grocery store (Aldi) alone (instead of taking four boys) and I was soaking it all in like I was shopping in New York. It was nice. The boys do help me but it was nice to grocery shop alone. I was very happy. Then I got home and had to rush to unload the cold groceries leaving the rest to unload later. I was hungry for lunch with no time to eat so I mixed up a protein drink and a quick snack to eat as I packed the diaper bag for the dentist. On the way to the new dentist I got lost and the baby was crying and  the other brother accidentally dumped a ton of expensive formula in the dirty floor of my car trying to help and I was kinda upset. 😡 I envisioned myself calling my husband to complain so he could feel sorry for me! But I was too busy making ...

I just finished reading “Free of Me: Why Life is Better When Itʼs NOT ABOUT YOU” by Sharon Hodde Miller. Ann Voskamp said “Free of me May be one of the most important truths for our times.“ I had never heard of this author before but she is a “PhD, a pastorʼs wife, and a mother of two boys.” She has a blog called SheWorships.com. I could totally relate to her book because she and I have a lot in common. On page 23 she says, “Because I was such a good kid, I received a lot of praise, and soon that became my identity. I needed the praise, which meant the line between doing good for goodnessʼ sake and doing good for appearanceʼs sake became increasingly blurry. After a while, I wasnʼt sure if I was nice to people because it was Christlike or because I so needed the acclaim.” I could relate to her in the way she grew up and the encouragement she had from her parents. Being raised that way gave us both confidence in ourselves and the belief that we could do anything for God that we want...

Women everywhere were reading Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis last year but it took me awhile to get the book. I had read an article criticizing her and her website so I was leary of reading her book. Finally a friend told me to read it and make my own judgments about it. So I did. And I am. Rachel says on page 125, “I appreciate wisdom wherever I can get it. No one person can be your source for all the answers, but you can glean a handful of powerful thoughts here and a dash of insight there. I donʼt for one moment believe that youʼre going to take every single thing in these pages as gospel.” Ok, but when you write a book it will influence people. When we read books we must be mindful of what the Bible teaches. We must take every thought captive and line every piece of advice up with Scripture. There are a lot of good tidbits in this book like on page 17: “If you choose today not to break another promise to yourself, you will force yourself to slow down. You cannot k...

A few days ago we started this new thing with our budget. I learned it from a blogger who is a mother of six. She said to take an envelope and write Groceries on one side and Other on the other side. I wrote Spending on the other side but you could write Entertainment or Eating Out , etc. Then you budget $100 per person per week for groceries. So that means for our family of six it would be $150 a week to spend on groceries which includes Hello Fresh and diapers, wipes, shampoo, etc. The other side of the envelope is the amount of money leftover after tithing 10% to God, giving offerings for missions , paying bills and saving. There have been times in our lives when that number didnʼt even exist! But God always supplied our needs and paid the bills on time without going into debt! Praise His Name! So on your envelope you divide it in half and then draw three lines across to give you four weeks. Write your budgeted numbers at the top of each box and each time you spend money subtra...

There is peace in knowing that Jesus is the one with the pen and he is the one writing our story. Hebrews 12:2 says he is the author of our story and he is the finisher or the completer of it. Hebrews 12:2 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. He is the beginning and the end. The Alpha and Omega. Nothing exists without him. He spoke things into being. Genesis 1:1 says he spoke and created the heavens and the earth. 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. We c...

My parents had 4 children and Iʼm the oldest. That meant I had to babysit my siblings a lot. I wasnʼt what you would consider a “baby person” although I loved my cute baby brother that is 12 years younger than me. I used to say I wanted 6 kids. Then I kind of forgot about that when I was in high school and college. I became more focused on myself and my plans. Maybe more self- centered? I still thought I was a godly good Christian girl though. One plan I had was to be a cheerleader at The University of Georgia.  I never thought Iʼd move away and I had cheered all throughout middle and high school. Plans changed and the Lord led me to a small Bible College that didnʼt have cheerleaders but I met my husband there. I got on birth control right before we got married because “thatʼs what most people do”. A few months into marriage my hubby and I were driving our huge maroon Aerostar van and he looked in the back of the empty van and said lovingly, “Just think, one day there will b...