Under His Wings

Glen Payne and George Younce of the Cathredrals singing Search Me O God God has been using recent church sermons to speak to my heart and convict me of some sin in my life.  My pastor's message this morning was based on Matthew 7:1-4  (Why see the speck in another's eye and not the plank in your own) and Psalm 51 (Cleanse every wicked way in me).  In light of this morning's communion service, my mind went to Psalm 139:23 (I thought it was in Psalm 51).  I like how the New International Version puts it  "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts." taken from www.biblegateway.com One of my sins is worry and anxiety, so this is a great reminder to me to let God have control of my whole entire life....my anxieties, my thoughts, my actions....everything!!!!  Another great sermon, I heard while I was on vacation, was a reminder to let God dig deep into my life and remove all the sin and hurts that have buil...

photo from www.autobodypartsnow.com Psalm 18:2 King James Version The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. On Friday afternoon I had a run in with a big rock driving out of a local store parking lot.  I had driven in and out of this lot many times in the 2 years it's been open.  It was actually the second day in a row I had been to this store....I had forgot cat food for our Lucy the day before. It was my fault and no one else's. I allowed myself to be distracted by the kids and the other cars around me (I was focusing more on not backing into anything instead of clearing the way to get past the rocks. I was devastated. I thought of my sweet husband!!!!!   We had decided to invest some of our tax return money in replacing our aging Ford Windstar a few days before with a 2005 Saturn Vue. Now I had an accident with the ...

It was one of those anything could go wrong kind of days.  It started out realizing I didn't do enough laundry for today and one of my kids needed underwear.   I was freaking out about it when Elijah made a mad dash for the bathroom. He didn't need the underwear afterall.  He had fallen victim to the tummy bug going through our house.  Nate had been sick on Saturday, but this morning he started to complain about an ear ache.  Last night Anna started feeling sick. So far she's escaped the tummy yuckies, but she's had a headache. I ended up taking Nate to the doctor and he was diagnosed with an ear infection.  When I went to leave the parking lot, my van would not start.  The van has not done that since June.  Thankfully, Tim could get away to come help me.  While we were waiting for him.  I told Nate that we should pray one of the 2 cars next to me would move before Tim arrived as it was, Tim would have had to block the...

Recently, my garden was overcome by weeds. I have to say that they were pretty weeds with beautiful white flowers. I hated to pull them out. However, they were covering up my rhubarb! There was also a wild blackberry vine growing right in the middle of my rhubarb with prickly thorns.  I carefully pulled them out too. What a difference a weeding made! Now my garden is just about bare as I was able to share the rhubarb once I could find it.   The area looks so much better! Lately, I’ve been trying to weed out some unwanted areas of my life that have crept in. I’ve been trying to take control of my health by watching my diet closer and exercise more. I’ve tried to find creative ways to exercise like taking walks with my husband during his break while the little ones have been at Vacation Bible School. One day I walked with Anna and her class down to their class picnic at the park. I’ve also tried to get rid of the not so obvious pesk...

Another installment of vacation thoughts . It was a beautiful night to play outside our cabin.  It was like I was a child again playing the ball game SPUD and Hide and Seek. The Hide and Seek game brought back memories of playing at our neighbor's house "Ollie, Ollie in come free!" yet the current reality of being a 41 year old overweight adult became very evident.  There really wasn't many places for me to hide, and I definitely could not run too well.  There were a few big rocks, but my family used them first. (I did manage to find some big trees near the playground we played at later in the week.) It reminded me of the passage in my Psalm 139 (my favorite Psalm) where it talks about not being able to hide from God.  He knows where to find us.  Even the greatest of Hide and Seek players can't hide from Him.  The Psalm also reminds us he cared for us even before we were formed (Psalm 139:13-15) until our last days (verse 16).  He knows o...

My mom and I were talking this past week about how sometimes God seems to use radio and other ways to get a point across.  The past few days that has definitely been the case!  I have been convicted of how badly I have handled my thoughts and tongue lately.  In my distress of recovering from surgery the past 2 weeks, I have not been the kindest, most patient person in the world.  Tiredness, pain and frustration tends to bring the worst out of me. First off,  the devotional story Nate chose for last Monday night (I think it was out of order) was based on James 2.  Tuesday morning's "The Imperfect Wives" radio show I listened to was on James 2-3. It's the passage on taming the tongue. On Wednesday, a new program to me on CWA radio called "His Love Extended" featured the host Julie and her husband Greg talking about how important it is to support your husband in time of crisis in life.  That's something I really n...

Here is the video I promised. I'll take this opportunity to share the meaning of this song to me. The first time I sang this song in church, I had just found out I was pregnant with my oldest son (13 years ago...YIKES). I thought the word labor would make me giggle as I had not shared the news with my church family our news yet. I ended up bawling! I have a tendency of doing that as I have shared a few times on this blog. Because He Lives and The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power are 2 other ones that have caught my emotions off guard while singing them. We moved away and attended a different church for 6 years. In that time, we had the ordeal of losing our baby girl. When I was expecting our last child, we bought a house back in the city we started out at. We returned to our old church. The Grace song came to the attention of our pastor. I said I had sung the song before, so I was asked to sing it again. Now the song had a more powerful meaning to me. I did get through it that ...

Just as prayer meeting was going to start, the lights went out. They came right back on, but soon after they went out. It ended up being for 2 hours. A 35+ mph wind had come through the area and blew down some power lines. The kids group was meeting upstairs. It ended up being a good thing. They would have had to try to find their way upstairs in the dark. That would have been more scary for them. Most of them were taken home. Tim came home with our 2 little ones. Elijah and I stayed behind. It would have been easy for everyone to go home, but our speaker, Bruce, thought it would be appropriate to keep going. I didn't mind. I felt there was a reason we were there. When something like this happens, church is the best place to be (other than home with family) Bruce talked about grace. He had some great reminders about this special subject. I had just heard one of my favorite songs It's All Because of God's Amazing Grace (another of those tear jerking songs when I've san...

I shared these thoughts with my MOPS friends in the newsletter"The Announcer". It sums up my feelings of the tragic shooting in Binghamton NY, near my hometown and all the other violence and unrest in the world today. The shooting really shook me up. My mom drove past the Civic Center less than 24 hours before the shooting. I walked around the area countless times throughout my life. The teacher killed was the wife of one of my former doctors (a ear/nose throat specialist). My thoughts and prayers are with the victims families, the surviors, the emergency personnel who responded and the whole community. What a shock! Adventures in Mothering Because He Lives "How sweet to hold a newborn baby and feel the pride and joy he gives, but greater still this calm assurance this child can face uncertain days….Because He Lives" Bill and Gloria Gaither Copyright 1971. As I sang that song on Sunday in church, those words brought tears to my eyes. I chose the song in ...

I've made the habit of praying with my little ones before they go to bed. It's been a big lesson for me listening to my 6 year old son Nate pray. First he prays he doesn't have any bad dreams. Then he proceeds to tell God what is on his mind. Tonight he told God he couldn't wait to taste the cake I made today. He doesn't usually eat chocolate stuff, so it will be interesting to see the answer to that prayer. One Saturday night recently he was telling God he was looking forward to going to God's House the next day because it was a good thing to do. My prayer is that his tender heart for God will grow and stay with him all of his life. That's a prayer for all 3 of my kids.

I had a wonderful day celebrating my husband's birthday today. Tim and I went to our boys' "Special Person Day" at school. Then we met Tim at work at 2:45 and went to a playground with the kids. We took a nice walk, ate beef stew and watched a video for a while. Yesterday was the 12th anniversary of our first date. Tim walked up to me after the morning service and told me he wanted to get to know me better. Hmmm! Sometimes I wonder if regretted that statement LOL! I read the journal of our first month together. It is still amazing to me how long I waited for Tim (I was 27 when we met) and then how quickly things happened after we started dating. It only took about 2 1/2 weeks to know we wanted to get married. We were married about 5 months later. Tim was the man I had been looking for. I'm more convinced of that now more than ever. He's a loving, caring, patient husband. He's a wonderful daddy too! I'm so thankful God sent him to me.

First off, I got a call from my dad this morning saying my mom had a bad attack of dizziness last night sending her to the hospital in an ambulance. By time my mom got to the hospital, she went into one of her attacks where she was awake , but couldn't respond to anything. That sent her into the ER in front of many people who had probably had been waiting for hours. Today she's very tired, but doing much better. She was up to walking a few houses down with my dad. That was a good sign. On the home front, it was one of those days where my kids did not want to cooperate! I was trying to get them to ready to take a friend on an errand. They didn't want to get dressed. Then I took my friend grocery shopping. My 9 year old had a meltdown. He actually ran out of the store and was trying to hide. My friend was so angry with him (as was I!) I was so embarassed!!! It was like my kids were trying my patience to a T today. I really tried to stay calm. My husband informed me I wasn...