Honor and Praise

Blogger and I have been fighting over uploading pictures for weeks now. I think I may have finally won. But, BUT, I just have to post some praises that I want to always remember, pictures or no pictures. They mean the world to me!

How I thank God for hearing when I pray. I know I don't deserve His time or attention, but I will ever praise Him for making me His own precious child who can come to Him with boldness and confidence. Someone has said if Christians really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we would be speechless. I believe it. I know from experience that prayer moves the Hand that moves the world. It changes things!

I'm so thankful for my family. I will be the first to confess that I do not deserve the wonderful husband and children that God has blessed me with. I am so honored to be Josh's wife. One of my main goals in life is to endeavor to deserve him. And our kids are just one more manifestation of the goodness of our God Who hears and answers prayer. It isn't because of me ~ it's God choosing to work through me in spite of me. He gets all the glory and then some!

I was speechless when Josh told me he was buying and personally installing a new custom kitchen for me for Mother's Day. The before and after pictures do not do the difference justice. He did an incredible job. An additional blessing was being able to remain debt free except for our house in the process. We bought this house knowing that we would eventually be able to replace the kitchen, but I had no idea it would be so soon! Prayer went into every step of the process as this was another first for Josh, and you can see the answers in every corner, crevice, and seam. A professional couldn't have done a more precise job. We have dedicated this kitchen to God and look forward to the many hours of encouragement and sweet fellowship that will take place in this new, special space that He has so generously allowed us to enjoy.

Before...





After...




More answers to prayer~

~When we were first married Josh sold some of the best knives on the planet in the evenings for extra money. They have a forever guarantee so whenever they get dull, chipped, or broken I simply send them in for free repair or replacement. We recently did this after ten or so years of use. Needless to say, they are super-duper sharp.

Well, Alia was washing the dishes the other night, and decided to scrape out a cake pan...with one of these knives. You guessed it, she slipped and sliced her hand open in two spots. It wasn't pretty.

Josh had just called and said he was at least 40 minutes away, so I knew I HAD to deal with it. Those of you who know me know that I do not cope well with other people's pain. I prayed for help, and instantly the Lord calmed me. I was able to talk soothingly to her while we made our way to the bathroom to run it under cold water. The water ran red for the longest time. I put my hands on her head and prayed out loud that the Lord would stop the bleeding, help it not to be as bad as I thought it was, and to simply heal her hand. I applied pressure to it with a cloth for a good ten minutes before I had the nerve to pull the cloth away to survey the damage. What we saw caused us to call the boys in to look at what God had done! All along the jagged cut was a piece of skin that looked like it was holding the sides of the cut together. There wasn't a drop of blood on her hand. Glory to God. We couldn't wait to show Daddy when he got home!

~A new lady was admitted to my mom's prison on Monday of last week. She immediately began attending her Bible studies, but she was grumpy and argumentative, and refused to believe that God cared about her and her circumstances. On Thursday, she came to my mom's room and asked to talk. After she shared what was on her heart the first thing my mom asked her was if she had ever asked Jesus to be Lord of her life. She admitted that she hadn't, and with tears prayed and accepted Christ as her Savior. She told my mom that she was so thankful she was there since she couldn't have her own mother nearby, and that she felt strangely comforted and peaceful whenever my mom was near. Praise the Lord, that's the 20th soul that God has brought to Himself since April 30th, 2009!

~One Sunday evening after church we stopped for a quick bite to eat, and instead of going through the drive thru as usual, Josh decided we were going to dine in. After we were seated we absently noticed another young man come in and sit down across the restaurant from us. I vaguely sensed that he was sort of watching us, but I didn't pay any attention. As he was getting ready to leave he came up to our table and said, "I just have to say that you have the best behaved kids I've seen a really long time. Did you all just come from church?" We replied in the affirmative, and he said that he had just moved back to the area, was a Christian himself, and had been looking for a new church to go to. Thankfully I had a tract in my purse with the address and times of services to give him. His name is Steve. He hasn't been to our church yet, but he sure has been prayed for! Our prayer is that he will visit soon. I believe he will.

Another story I want to document along the same line~

~A couple of weekends ago we took the kids out to lunch. Jordan had a friend along so we drew extra stares as we walked into our new favorite family restaurant. We usually ask for one large booth or two small ones, but they were super busy that day so we were seated smack dab in the middle of the room. That must have made us look approachable because people came up to us right and left as they were leaving to comment on our children's behavior. What a tremendous blessing that was! Especially since we were more readily able than usual to give God the glory due to the fact that we were dressed in our Sunday best and had obviously just come from church. Almost all of them asked what church we went to and commented on what a testimony that was for our church to produce such well behaved children. When we left Jordan said, "Wow, Mom. That's the most people we've ever had come up to our table to talk." It was one of those teachable moments where I was able to talk with him about the importance of humility and recognizing these instances as opportunities to share the Lord with others. Each one is a gift and if we aren't faithful to handle them in a God honoring way, they may never come again. We have nothing but what has been given from the loving, merciful, and gracious Hand of God. It's all about Him.

You should see the looks we get when people ask, "What's your secret?" and our answer is simply "Prayer!" What opportunities this has opened up to be a witness to others of what God can do with the simplest of offerings. Our children are not our own. They are God's, and we are accountable directly to Him for how we raise them. Their angels do always behold the face of the Father. What fear of God that should put in our hearts as parents. We have an awesome responsibility. If you've never consciously given your children back to God, let me encourage you to do so before the day is done. I read somewhere that God is often busy patiently prying our tight fists open, one finger at a time, to enable us to have an open hand, ready to give or receive whatever he asks or offers. Why not come to Him with open hands and arms and save Him and ourselves the trouble? Time is running out, and there is much work to be done. We need all hands on deck including the children's. Let God use you and them to His fullest extent. May we always be busy about our Father's business!

"Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure and whether it be right."