The Silver Ring Thing

This past weekend was FULL of all kinds of wonderful church activities for all of us! We started on Friday night and ended on Sunday night! I loved every single minute of it. Friday night we as a church stuffed over 15,000 Easter eggs full of all kinds of candy for our annual Easter Egg Hunt. Let me say it again....over 15,000 eggs! Our Pastor keeps adding more and more eggs every year and I must admit that 15,000 should be the limit. It was fun enjoying the pizza party, indulging in some of the candy--just to taste and make sure the kids would approve ;) and of course enjoying the fellowship with one another.

Saturday was a wonderful day filled with baking, ice fishing, and playing cards with the family. Family time is always amazing and it's encouraging to see my husband sharing his beliefs with his nephew in hopes of getting him saved--hopefully one day soon.

Sunday....now Sunday was amazing. We woke up and headed off to Church. I'm donating my time assisting with counting the tithes (which is a learning process) and then we headed off to do our weekly grocery shopping. After coming home and putting everything away, it was time for our "youth group at home" series seems how my step-daughter has withdrawn herself from her local youth groups which she used to participate with.

I am trying out this great series so far...and I'll provide more details later after we give it at least a month test drive. So far, so good! Praise the Lord! My husband headed off to his Men's Bible Study and my step-daughter and I headed off to The Silver Ring Thing.

This was the first I have ever heard of this event and I was super excited about it. We already presented her with a purity ring over the summer and we pray that she will honor it and keep her promise to God and her dad. By attending this event, it seemed she had recommitted herself and I hope she got what she needed. There were some real captivating stories shared by many people and some were heartfelt and some were emotional. I highly encourage attending this event. Buy as many tickets as you can and get as many teenagers to go and experience this. 

They also had a parent session and had a lot of items for sale to help initiate the sex talk and then the parents were allowed in to view the rest of the show. Again, a great time with a great message and a realistic look of other teenagers who are willing to wait until they are married. It seemed to really put it into perspective for her that she's not alone and it's cool to be able to say to your future spouse...."I waited for you!"

Tuesday Devotional

I struggle daily with my limits. I struggle because as a new wife and a step-mom, where do I draw the line? It's difficult raising not only a teenager (who just moved in with us less than a year ago), but also a teenager who is not mine and I don't want to cross any lines with her dad/my husband and her biological mom. Last night I prayed for guidance. I prayed for help to know when and what to say and even when to let go. This morning's devotional was just what I needed.

Relax! God is Working--March 19

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]" Matthew 11:28

 Being relaxed feels wonderful. Being nervous, tense, and worried are not so wonderful. Why aren't more people relaxed? Jesus said if we are weary and overburdened, we should go to Him and He will give us rest, relaxation, and ease (see Matt. 11:28-29). Jesus wants to teach us the right way to live, which is different from the way most of the world lives. 

It would be putting it mildly to say that I was an uptight woman for the first half of my life. I simply did not know how to relax, and it was due to me not being willing to completely trust God. I trusted God for things, but not in things. I kept trying to be the one in control. Even though God was in the driver's seat of my life, I kept one hand on the wheel just in case He took a wrong turn. Relaxation is impossible without trust! 

If you know you can't fix the problem you have, then why not relax while God is working on it? It sounds easy, but it took many years for me to be able to do this. I know from experience that the ability to relax and go with the flow in life is dependent upon our willingness to trust God completely. If things don't go your way, instead of being upset, you can believe that getting your way was not what you needed. God knew that, so He gave you what was best for you, instead of what you wanted. 

If you are waiting much longer than you had hoped to, you can get frustrated, angry, and upset or you can say, "God's timing is perfect; He is never late. And my steps are ordered by the Lord." Now you can relax and simply go with the flow of what is happening in your life. When it comes to things that are out of our control, we can either ruin the day or relax and enjoy it while God is working on the situation. As long as we believe, God keeps working! 

Trust in Him: How relaxed are you? Your answer is directly related to how much you trust God. It may take you many years like it did me, to fully trust Him, but each day will be better and better as you trust more and learn to relax.

After reading this twice, typing it, and praying about it over my morning exercise, I will let go, relax, and know that God is in control. As a step-parent, I don't have a say over many things because there are other parents involved. It's difficult being a step-parent but knowing some of the situations that arise will be out of my control is something that I'm going to have to give to God and know that He's taking care of it.  I am considering all these situations as a way of Him teaching me how to handle my own children--someday.

Tuesday Devotional

This weekend was a whirlwind. Without getting into too many details, my husband and I had to exercise our parental rights and discipline his child that was in no way acting God-honoring. I am so very thankful that God gave us the wisdom to handle the situation and hopefully time will tell if the situation has been corrected and we can slowly rebuild the trust again. I can't help but think how many other Christian families are struggling raising their teenage children when God has been absent for a majority of their lives. I was never raised with God in my home and my step-child has been 13 years without it.

Here's the silver lining: We didn't have to do much but stand our ground, listen to God, and work as a team. Despite the negative situation, God was moving so much that weekend. I saw it, my husband saw it, and most of all his child saw it. God definitely convicted her of her bad decisions and I'm so thankful to have witnessed it. Believe it or not, it has made our marriage stronger and my husband has really stepped up being the spiritual leader in our house. I can only praise God for that and I'm so proud of my husband for doing so.

I plan on making a copy of this and taping it her room so she can be reminded that we may not be there to always push her to make right decisions, you have to ability to choose for yourself and when in doubt, ask God.

A Heart of Flesh

"I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 11:19

God puts a sense of right and wrong deep within your conscience, but if you rebel too many times, you can become hard-hearted. If that happens, you need to let Him soften your heart so you can be sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

The only way to develop a heart of flesh is to spend time with God. You must be in His presence on a regular basis to hear what He is saying. God often speak gently, and those who are busy doing their own thing will not hear His still, small voice. Tonight as you spend time in the Lord's presence, ask Him to soften your heart so you can receive His direction at all times.

Taking Offense

Got to love Google and their photos!

I'm going to ask you a serious question.....how often do you get offended? Seriously? To me it's a serious question to ask because people can take offense quite easily and  hold grudges forever. It's a very delicate subject because I don't think people (myself included) really think about it and are honest with themselves. Why do we get offended and why do we hold grudges?

One of the things we can do to try not to get so offended is to automatically think, "no matter what happens or is said, I forgive you." I dare you to try it. It's sooooo hard but if you think about who it is actually hurting holding on to grudges and getting mad about how rude some people are, you are the one it hurts the most. How is that possible? Well because every time that person's name is brought up you may instantly get upset and have unpleasant thoughts or get mad inside causing you to fester and slowly rot. Do you really think that's God plan for you? Absolutely not! By not forgiving, you are losing out on God's best for your life.

Free yourself and try to forgive. If you are having a difficult time, maybe you and your pride need to have a little chit chat. Pride is such an awful sin and is so deceiving. I am a sinner saved by His grace just like the next Christian and I deal with these same problems and I have to remind myself to not get upset--daily.  You will come in contact with those people. It's a part of life, but the big question is.....how will you handle it?


 ^"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

And because I'm feeling like sharing a little music video.....here is a great one about forgiveness:

Have a wonderful weekend!

Small Steps : How God is Changing Me

This morning was one of the most incredible ways I have noticed how God is changing me. Last night was the Super Bowl and boy did it last longer than I thought. By the time my family left and everyone got ready for bed, it was already past 11:00pm. I was so tired in fact that I forgot to set my alarm.

So imagine waking up to a voice saying, "It's 7:28!" Realizing you leave for school/work at 7:35am. The old me would have jumped out of bed, panicked, tore up the house looking for what to wear, searching for my cell phone, and trying to find what to have for lunch--all while figuring out how I'm supposed to shower, put makeup on, and let the dogs out all within 7 minutes. 

Well if you notice when I mentioned the "the old me," in the previous paragraph then you know where this is going. At church on Sunday, I left with a message of being patient, you are always being watched by other people, and of course about LOVE seems how it's February. The Pastor was sharing a story about his wife and how she dropped his beloved Ipad that he uses to deliver his sermons on the ground and cracked the screen. Under normal circumstances he would have yelled and yes he even mentioned wanted to cuss, but he did neither of those things. Instead he just took a deep breath and gracefully picked it up from the ground. 

How many time do we overreact when actually there's nothing that you can do about it?

 When I woke up this morning, I knew there was no way I could do everything I had to....so I took my time. Made a couple jokes, drop the kid off at school and came home and finished getting ready. Sure I was a few minutes late today but I'm not going to let that ruin my day. I'm not going to let it get my morning off to a bad start. And that my friends is how God is changing me. I'll leave you with a marvelous bit of scripture. One that I have personally memorized. 

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

Image copyright Rick Short

Me + Self-Control

self–con·trol- noun \-kən-ˈtrōl\ : restraint exercised over one's own impulses, emotions, or desires

I’ve discovered lately that self-control is actually my friend—not my enemy. By allowing myself to completely trust in God with my food choices and portions, I am learning that I am not as hungry as I thought I was. One of the best feelings so far is that if I do indulge in something sweet, I pray for control and I eat it and done. I’m no longer being controlled by food; I am controlling the food I eat. So me and self-control, we are like two peas in a pod--my new best friend so-to-speak. Just from these few days of eating healthier I'm having so much more energy and last night was one of the best night sleeps I’ve had in a long time.

What I love most about this new chapter is I feel it's a wonderful relationship we've got going on. With my wanting to change and God's ability to change me, how can it fail? It can only fail if I allow it to. Yes God can change people but there has to be some desire of it because He respects your free will. I want to live up to my end of the bargain....we all know that God can live up to His. 

Here's Joyce's video Part 1 & 2.