Mothers Day

I've been through a lot in my brief tenure here thus far but I can truly say that whatever the enemy has meant for evil, God has meant for my good. It's not words on a page. I've suffered in a lot of private ways and yet I'm thankful because it helps me to share in the sufferings of others. Tonight my heart is heavy over the woman who has tried and tried to have a child and to no avail, the woman whose life hasn't turned out how she thought, the woman whose mother is no longer living, the woman who is estranged from her children, the woman who has been disrespected by her husband as a mother and neglected, the woman who feels such a sense of inadequacy in comparison to the other mothers, the woman who hasn't really had a mom that cared about her, the woman that has miscarried, the woman like myself with a child they had to bury, the woman with regret, the woman who feels deep shame over an abortion and I pray she will understand the forgiveness and redemption there is in Christ, the woman who knows she should just keep believing and have some more faith but is weary...take courage. Mother's Day...it's a mixed bag of emotions. Some days I'm like why are these kids calling me mom? Each time I found out I was pregnant I cried my eyes out. I told God I wasn't fit to raise a child. I would come undone. Yet having those babies has kept me humble and made me see my need for Him in so many ways. I've yet to find that book with the formula on raising them but the only perfect one I know is the scriptures. Loving The Lord and walking in truth are the only things that allow me to love or live before my two. Yet whatever situation you are in please pour out your heart like water in the presence of The Lord. He already knows your pain or your joy and please walk by faith even if you are wrong until you breathe your last breath. Whether you need resurrected relationships or Him to raise the cold dead person in you, whether you are praying for a man, praying for a child, keep knocking, seeking, and asking in His name. That will mean you'll have to get in His word. And from a woman (who thinks she's 18 and can't understand why people call her ma'am) to women may your spiritual offspring be blessed...even if it's not a child you have birthed and may Jesus hold you and comfort you if your mom never did. May He be everything to your precious self. And for those who feel you'll never measure up? Will you get in the psalms and let Him be the lifter of your head as you take all you've learned and row into the future...

God shows no favoritism

I'm reminded tonight that none of us are righteous. No! Not one! Yet I saw the following verse on my computer screen (I've forgotten how to work a laptop lol): "Then Peter started speaking: "I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism in dealing with people," acts 10:34. I wonder how hard a lesson those words were for Peter. It's easy to forget the quarry from which you've been mined from and think you and Jesus have something going on and become all pious and better than everyone else which sets you up for a dangerous fall. I wonder if he remembered how much he had been forgiven of when the Gentiles were coming to faith in our "Jewish Messiah". After all he was one of the 12. He was privy to great intimacy and fellowship...yet because of the death, burial and resurrection those of us who receive Christ also receive the Holy Spirit as a deposit and guarantee of what's to come. His death didn't make sense even to the 3 in His inner circle...yet I wonder if it all came together when the Gentiles were coming to Christ? I wonder if it bolstered his faith to see that what he couldn't see before clearly came to pass, because God is truth and Not a Word of His will pass away until it is fulfilled. So thankful that The Lord reinstates Peter after blowing it BIG TIME!!! The very one that said he would never deny Him...he would even go and die with Jesus yet denied Him with His words and actions. Even more thankful that He uses the life of this rough and tough fisherman to be a big mouth for Jesus and to feed His sheep! He wasn't finished with Peter and Peter absolutely (according to Jerome) went to His death hung upside down on a cross not counting himself worthy to even die in the same manner in which Christ did. Lord, please remove the scales from our eyes, the deceit in our hearts and let us put aside the sin that so easily entangles us and be men and women focused on Christ. Let us walk in a manner worthy and be filled with Your spirit, not gratifying the desires of the flesh. In Jesus Name.

Gilgal

I love how The Lord still rolls away our reproach. Some of us are wearing our reproach like scarlet letters and need The Lord to roll our reproach away from us. I don't know what it is for you...but I pray you will come to your own Gilgal with The Lord. Today I broke out Blair's playpen and he was so excited for a moment. He was grinning as he leaned back. It's been a while since he's been in it and he forgot that it was a land of slavery or baby jail. Lol. That's just like us. We forget how Egypt really was and as a dog returns to her vomit we try to return to the things that were/are devoted to destruction
thinking it was better only to be trapped and imprisoned by sins slavery. We, like Blair, need to cry out to our Father and lift our hands to the sky as we call on the Only One that can deliver us and make us to cross over to our Jordan. Let us not miss our calling.

Recent pics

Thanks to Alan Matthew I had some photos taken! It was for my birthday but I kept waiting for a tan that never came.

Furniture rehab

More on the up do furniture. The brown is before and this was my moms coffee table. It was a tad beat up!

More furniture rehab pics

Here is a shelf I am almost finished with. I put a lot into this one as far as wood stenciling and etc.
I also added some wood to the top.

More furniture rehab

Here is one project from tonight

Jonah in the belly of the fish, Jesus in the tomb, manna He provides

I love a word fitly spoken (proverbs 25:11) and this morning I was studying in Jonah and loved how timely it was that The Lord landed me to study about the 3 days Jonah spent in the belly of the great fish and how He compared His three days to that same sign that happened to Jonah. Yet more interestingly it was God that provided the large fish to swallow him. I've read and read and different commentators disagree but since it's in the scripts, and Jesus references it, ill take it to the spiritual bank. I had not planned on looking up the Hebrew word for "provided" but as it stared me in the face I saw "manah" and it hit me in a personal way. God rained down manna for the Israelites to eat and they had to go out and gather it in proportion to their need. In the same way, He has given us everything we need for life and godliness through His word as followers of Christ but we have to get up and gather that daily bread. The manna of His word and the bread of His presence. I talk to so many people who have very real issues or are stuck in a stronghold of sin but they don't want to do the work it takes to be free (we didn't get into a lot of dysfunction overnight and while He can deliver us in an instant, it usually takes time and relationship with the Lord through His word) The Lord has performed major heart surgeries on me and He never once called in an anesthesiologist because He is not after behavioral modification but after heart transformation. It's not so much about our healing as it is about knowing and believing our Healer. He died so we might live and live life more abundantly. I beg you if you are stuck that you will taste freedom and follow hard after Jesus. I'm proof that His word works. It works for you and it works for me but it scares me so much over how many people will just settle for what it cheap and live in a land of slavery when God has a place for you that even in suffering, bears much fruit...will you and I keep returning to our vomit or land of slavery? Or will we let the chains fall where they may and allow Him to bring beauty from the ashes? A garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair? Once you taste and see that He is good there will never be satisfaction in what is temporary or a substitute. I'm speaking of the God of the bible not the one being pedaled by so many. He can resurrect the dead in you and in your life. I know.

"Children are to be seen and not heard" an awful statement that raised a couple of generations of people that learned to stuff their feelings down

I would love to slap the ever loving crap out of whoever coined the phrase: "children are to be seen and not heard!" That had to originate from the devil himself. Maybe that's a reason that people with that ideology think it's ok to terminate an unborn baby...they can't speak for themselves. I also wonder if people who had parents that felt that way toward them made them feel like they never could express their feelings whether they were good or bad? Then, these people became adults and maybe married someone who treats them the same because that's what they were used to. Maybe they feel like they are never really heard and can't have healthy conflict because their feelings are never treated as valid so they stuff things down until they explode. Jesus calls us to seek peace and pursue it. It doesn't mean we "keep the peace" but that we make peace. Keeping the peace can turn to walking on eggshells as to not set the other person off. That's not peace. Peace is not the absence of conflict. Pursuing peace may mean taking some risks to break the cycle of catering to a selfish person who doesn't allow your relationship fertile soil to grow. You may have to pull some stuff up by the root and address the seriousness of your estate which isn't without a price or pain. You may have to rock the boat to have that peace. I love when the disciples and others were rebuking Children from coming to Jesus as if they were less important and Jesus straightened that junk out quick and told them to let the little children come to Him and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. If you grew up in the environment I'm speaking of and find yourself still in that...remember Jesus will hear you and He cares about how you are treated and were treated but own up to your part of the vicious cycle since you can't change anyone else and pour out your heart to Him and let God make the rough places smooth and get off the whole walking on eggshells. That's not freedom. That's called suffocation. It may mean for some a break in relationship or tougher boundaries but whoever you are please know that if you call out to the God of the Universe, the One who spoke and the world came to be, the One who has always been and never had a beginning, the One who made a way for you and me to be right with Him through the blood of the Lamb, Jesus...He stoops down from on high and He hears and He listens and He gives you dignity. We deserve nothing from Him and He is so gracious to us. He is the BIG deal and He gets you. You don't have to explain your back story to Him. He is there in your yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He not only wants you to be seen as you shine for Him...He wants you to be heard. He will perfect that which concerns you and me. May we have the faith of a little child!

Fear of The Lord that keeps us from sin

I was reading and thinking of the inflection that must have been in Paul's voice in the following passage. With a media saturated culture and churches that compromise the word of God for fear of losing money, we have become so desensitized to sexual sin. With shows like Jerry Springer and magazines that glorify sex and sexual immortality, we don't mourn over it, we make sport at it. I challenge those who are believers to turn off any movies that have unrealistic romance stories or even a hint of immorality, put down any books that would appeal to the lust of your flesh, set up filters on your Internet for protection, do not set your eyes on any vile thing, flee from immorality: it is your way of escape! Detox yourself. Draw a dad-gum line in the sand! Your eyes are a lamp unto your soul! Only let the good in and hate what is evil. It is the pure in heart who shall see God. If you aren't serious about protecting yourself you are bowing to this in some way. What if our churches in the West actually did church discipline like the bible says? That would put the fear in us alright...the fear of God that keeps us from sin. But it won't happen because it would separate the wheat from the chaff and cutdown on building funds and attendance. I don't know how extreme you need to be but cut off anything that is causing you to be entangled in sin. Once your lust is turned up you don't make clear decisions. No one makes you sin and sadly so many aren't serious about living for Christ. Eternity is at stake here. If there is no fruit of Christ in your life and you are just a self proclaimed sex addict then 1) you aren't a believer 2) Jesus isn't going to deliver someone who doesn't cry out for deliverance. He is not powerless to save but many don't want to get well and have accepted defeat. It's work to be free from past sin and esp sexual sin. It takes work to re-wallpaper your mind and allow God to change the desires of your heart. His word works and He changes. I am proof!!!
My reading for tonight. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. "Purge the evil person from among you." (1 Corinthians 5:1-13 ESV)I also meant to add before anyone starts doubting their salvation: you have to follow Christ meaning be a learner of Him to know Him. Then to know Him is to love Him. To love Him should bring about obedience. The work of sanctification and becoming more like Christ doesn't happen over night. Until we lay these bodies down we will struggle with sin. Yet our position is that we are no longer slaves to sin. Sin should not have mastery over us. Where there are areas of long standing sin in your life and mine... They need the balm of His word. Start in the psalms if you need a place. Then go to the New Testament. I'm a huge Old Testament dweller also because everything that was written down in the Old Testament is to teach us. If you are struggling with salvation settle the matter. Commit yourself to Him and there is no magical prayer but accept that He is the way the truth and the Life and that He died on the cross to make you right with God and save you from the wrath of God by taking on Gods wrath because the law could never make you right with Him. It was only the sinless life of Christ and His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave. Seek to know Him. He is not words on a page but LIFE! That doesn't mean you won't sin.

Upscale antique drop table- stained and turquoise

This is a table that is super OLD! It was in pretty bad shape and over all ugly and I'm not sure why I didn't redo it sooner. Anyway, it was two different colors and I had to make repairs to it and fix the joints that were coming apart. So, I sanded her down and I've wanted to keep the wood on the top so I stained it with dark mahogany from minwax then went over it with a satin polyurethane from minwax for protection. On the bottom I put candle wax on the areas that I wanted the wood to peek through on and then scraped off the parts with wax with Morgans spreader. Ha. I love it!

Cheese

My baby sister taught mister Biggs how to say cheeeeessssseeeee! That's what he was doing here. <3 him.

Redoing furniture

Blair's room. This is a dresser I redid. It matches his big boy bed so well!

Fear of man will prove to be a snare. Every time.

Snapshots of some of my thoughts from the word.

Baby girl

Morgs wanted me to post about her glasses and say nerd alert. Haha. Lub her. Then look at this cool chalkpaint. Love.

Fun with furniture, distressing, and adding some cool factor.

First I wheeled and dealed with this dresser. It was $300 and I got it down to $75. I normally wouldn't pay that but I had a purpose for it. So I needed something for my music (we love to get our praise on and to hide CDs and wii stuff in the kitchen. So, I couldn't find my beta blocker for my mitral valve and pulled an all nighter. I decided I was going to change out the knobs and then didn't like the red ones. Then ah ha "while you were sleeping" as I say I thought I will modge podge this cool stuff on here in the center. If I like it who cares who else does? So I put a layer under and started sticking my papers in no particular order. Then I went over it with the modge podge gloss. Now a trick I always use to paint (always) is a foam brush. If I can't do something ghetto and quick then I won't do it. So I broke out my foam brushes and went to work with the cabinets, sides, and top. I then mixed some antique stuff (Martha Stewart from micheals) with my paint and did another coat. I let it dry and ran over it with steel wool pads. Then I did the top modge podge and applied a generous coat of triple thick. I adore it and if it gets messed up...who cares? And it has so much cool factor and character in person.

That's a tunic not a dress tutorial

http://youtu.be/Y_rMfuLItk8
http://youtu.be/i13lpJS0G0s
http://youtu.be/58VNzfsInVQ
http://youtu.be/hpsnDlqkDYA

That's a tunic not a dress memo part 1

http://youtu.be/4c_M1W_pAX8

A little bit of this and that

Pictures and pictures