The summer has flown by and we had lots of blessings come our way including vacations and time with family, abundant blessings with a new baby on the way (we are covering with prayer in hopes to avoid another miscarriage) and summer swimming, gymnastics and much more.
Whew...this past summer was crazy and wonderful and thank goodness for cameras that catch all the moments so we can remember them forever!
Through the summer activities I've also had an opportunity to begin mentoring with a wonderful spiritual leader that God brought into our lives through swimming. She's challenging me in many ways and through a more consistent time spent with the Lord, because that has suffered in these past six months, I'm learning so many things.
I primarily feel the Lord teaching me more about His spirit. Some of the things I began learning 9 years ago about His spirit, spiritual warfare, spiritual and physical health, and sanctification are coming up again a if to be renewed in my heart and my mind only to allow me then to share with my family, children, and friends in the right time and way.
I see a spiritual warfare going on with my oldest son. This has been shown to me recently through God's faithfulness and I'm taking the steps to try to fight the battle on his behalf while teaching him to do so also. But, being young still, I must fight as his advocate at this time, waging war against the pull between God and Evil.
I've learned much about the power of prayer and come to realize that although I've attempted to be a prayer warrior for my family, I have failed at the same time. The goal is to create new habits. Long ago I posted about prayers I wrote for the kids and my husband as well as daily/weekly prayers for them to cover them in His word. those prayers come to my phone each morning and sometimes I carelessly delete them with the rest of the junk. This is confession time.
Instead my hope is to open them, pray them before ever leaving my bed, and cover my family in prayer as I've hoped to do all along. Oh how easily we get distracted from what matters the most.
In addition to this, my husband and I have chosen a saint and servant in the bible that we hope to represent our children and researched character qualities for each of them. I then took those qualities and put them into a prayer for them as well.
I'm still in the process of finishing this project but once I'm done I plan to create a printable, print and hang in their rooms for them to read for themselves as well each day. To give them clear direction as to who they are in Christ.
It's been a great path of research for me and for contemplating who God has called them to be in life.
I say all this as a way of a simple confession for my failures but my hopes for the days to come. To hold myself accountable for the role I play as a mother and wife and the supreme responsibility to wage war for my family against spiritual warfare, using the only real weapon, God's word.
I hope you might be encouraged too
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Waging the War with Words
Writing a Prayer
I've been inspired and challenged by Brooke to pray a prayer each day for my children and my husband. I've always had a verse chosen that represented my prayer for them as they grow. But, I've never considered writing a prayer I would pray for them, each day, that would include a biblical direction, washing them over in the word, and sending them along life's path covered by God's grace. To pray a prayer for their hearts would be my greatest pleasure. For this year I've chosen to borrow Brooke's prayers and cover my home with God's perfect word.
For my Children:
“Lord, You alone change hearts of stone, to hearts of flesh. Place Your Spirit within my children and cause them to walk in Your statutes and to be careful to obey Your rules. For You know the plans You have for them; plans to prosper them and not to harm them, to give them a future and a hope. Let them fear You Lord, and thus have a foundation for wisdom and a heart for instruction. Let them receive wisdom and incline their hearts to understanding. Help them not to lean on their own limited understanding, but in all their ways to acknowledge You so that their paths will be straight. Protect them from walking in the counsel of the wicked and standing in the way of sinners, but lead them to delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night. May they abide in the shadow of the Almighty and not fear the terror by night. May they walk by the Spirit and not gratify the desires of the flesh. Instead, may they be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. May their minds and thoughts be fixed on whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, anything worthy of praise. May they not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewal of their minds. May they discern the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. May their love be genuine. May they abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. May they love one another with brotherly affection, outdoing one another in honor. May they do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than themselves. May they lie down and sleep in peace; for You alone, O Lord, make them to dwell in safety. Bless them Lord, and keep them, and make Your face shine upon them…and be gracious to them.”
(Scripture references: Ezekiel 36:26-27, Jeremiah 29:11, Proverbs 2, Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 1:3, Psalm 91, Galatians 5:16&22, Philippians 4:8, Romans 12:2, Romans 12:9-10, Psalm 4:8, Numbers 6:24).
For my Husband:
“Lord, create in my husband a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him. Help him to abide in You and You in him. Turn his heart toward his children and the hearts of his children to him. Thank you for Him Lord. For allowing me to rest in Your provision of him as my husband. May he desire to be like You; merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. As he believes in You, may he be established. Continue to empower him to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with his God. I give thanks for him lord, and pray that You would give him a spirit of wisdom and of revelation, that he may always know what is the hope to which he has been called, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of Your power toward your believers. Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily to follow You. May Christ dwell richly in his heart through faith. May he, being rooted and grounded in love, have strength with all the saints to comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. May Your grace be sufficient for him and Your power made perfect in his weakness. May he walk not in the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the way of sinners, but rather delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night. Answer him when he calls, O God, be gracious and hear his prayers. Let him take refuge in You and give thanks to You with his whole heart. May he recount all of Your wonderful deeds, be glad and exult in You…sing praise to Your Name. May he fear You Lord, and thus find wisdom. Let him walk in the way of insight. May he love the Lord his God with all of his heart and all his soul and all his might. May You bless him and keep him and make Your face shine upon him, and be gracious to him, O Lord my God.”
(Scripture references: Psalm 51:10, John 15:4, Malachi 4:5-6, Psalm 86:15, 2 Chronicles 20:20, Micah 6:8, Ephesians 1:17-19, Luke 9:23, Ephesians 3:17, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Psalm 1:1, Psalm 4:1, Psalm 7:1, Psalm 9:1-2, Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 9:6, Deuteronomy 6:5, Numbers 6:24)
Warrior Pray-ers
Prayers for a joyful heart
Joy is different than happiness.
"We don't care what *Seth* does when he grows up, " she said, "we just want him to be happy." And I cringed as she said it, this Christian woman I've known all my life. Because deep down inside I believe that there's more than happiness in life to aspire to. Sure, I wish happiness for my sons. But if I had to choose between them being happy for a season & living in sin, or being miserable for a season & loving Jesus with all their hearts...well, I'd choose the latter.
Happiness is not necessarily holiness.
Men who cheat on their wives, neglect their children and look at porn each night before bed can be perfectly happy with their lifestyle. No, happiness is fleeting. But joy comes from a right relationship with Christ. This week let's pray for the joy of the Lord to root itself deeply into our precious sons' hearts. And while we're at it, let's ask the Lord to make us relish the joy of our salvation as well.
Monday: May the joy of the Lord be our sons' strength (Nehemiah 8:10)
Tuesday: May our sons be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22)
Wednesday: May our sons go out in joy and be led forth in peace (Isaiah 55:12)
Thursday: May the God of hope fill our sons with all joy and peace as they trust in him, so that they may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13)
Friday: May our sons go to the altar of God, to God, their joy and their delight (Psalm 43:4)
Saturday: May our sons count it all joy when they meet trials of various kinds, as the testing of their faith produces steadfastness. May they let steadfastness have its full effect, that they may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:1-4)
Sunday: May our sons know that while weeping may tarry for the night, joy comes with the morning (Psalm 30:5)
One Thousand Gifts
Life is living and moving thing and lately our lives have been moving and living at a faster pace than usual. It has kept my writing at bay for 2 weeks, and although I know that is okay and God still hears my praise and my thanks, I can say that I felt something missing without writing. I take less time to spend time in God's word, I fill my day with less reflection of his graces and mercies in my life. I have less opportunity to express myself beyond the daily parenting phrases that are my "new" language in life. I realized, I need this blog. I'm not sure many read it, at this point, or that my thoughts go much beyond my own ability to look back and reflect on what I was experiencing in life. But, I need it. I've always been a journaler...and by that I mean I love to write and have often taken a pen to paper to record my thoughts, always to end up getting rid of it for fear that someone might actually read it. Or years would pass and I would read it and realize how silly it all seemed. Silly or not...I love to blog!
{Psalm 27:4
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple.}
We've been dealing with discipline again in our home. The ever-changing beast it seems to be. I consider myself a pretty firm parent with high expectations of my children, but nothing I don't think they can achieve. We express a lot of love, spend lots of time with them, and cover them with smooches and hugs. So the discipline part has it's place amidst a lot of love. But, we have been struggling. And by we, I suppose I really mean me. I won't go into the details here, now isn't really the time. But I will ask that you be praying for us as we seek God's will in how to handle his heart. We want to implement the Heart Transformation aspect in all things, but as with many things, find it challenging to utilize the right discipline tool in the transformation. I think we might be on to something now...pray we will consistently stick to it and that God would re-shape our child's heart towards obedience.
In my efforts to see more of what God wanted from me about the discipline I was blog hopping. There are so many amazing, biblical, Titus 2 women who are raising many children that I feel I can look up to and gain wisdom from. I was encouraged by what many of them had to say in regards to this issue. But I was most encouraged when I found a mother of 9 children blogging about her own feelings of inadequecy in regards to motherhood. You can find her little post here (http://www.titus2atthewell.com/2009/10/deep-and-complete-contentment.html). It just goes to show that satan is good at telling all of us we aren't doing enough. I am not saying we should not strive to do more, to know more of God, to know more His will, to see more clearly through His eyes, to intercede for our Children more, and to do so with humility. But, we ought to praise God for His work in us rather than complain against Him and what He has done for us and in us.
Interceding for our children---Well I will say that Justin and I, although not as consistently as I'd like, do have a book of blessing we pray over our children and a CD of blessings we play at night while they sleep. It speaks to their spirits and we love that! We truly believe it will change their lives. I am praying that along with our intercession, speaking to their spirits, doing the 7x7, and dedicating time towards knowing their special gifts God has blessed them with we might lead them down the path towards God. I found on At the Well a little quote from the 1800's.
We do not devote sufficient time to quiet, patient, solitary thought. We adopt a system suited to our inclinations, and pursue it with little examination as to its effects. We are contented to do as others do, not striving to do better . . . Let us therefore begin at home--begin with ourselves, and proceed, as Job proceeded, to intercede for every individual of our beloved circle.
What an awesome challenge to women/mothers/wives. I am inspired by the women of old and could only pray to instill into my heart those same values that my life and family would better serve the Lord.
I have a quick new challenge to give to you. I found it at http://www.shelookethwell.blogspot.com/ and she found it somewhere else. It is amazing and I hope to be a good steward of this Challenge! I pass it on to you.
60/60
"Here's the challenge: Set your watch to chime every hour and use that small prompt to turn your heart and thoughts heavenward. The second part of the "60/60" refers to the duration of the challenge~ 60 days" It was also suggested that you carry around a 3x5 card to read and pray over as your watch chimes.
Gifts
11. Older Women who can encourage and instill wisdom
12. Music-the whimsical harmonies and consistent beats that bring my heart to Joy
13. Singing-making music with my voice and even better with my husband and children
14. A husband that serves his family with passion
15. being loved
16. Green Grass
Take the challenge and find 1000 gifts-Praise God Oh Your Soul
