Sunday

Yesterday was a fantastic day.  I love weekends, and Sunday is a huge part of that.  But yesterday just seemed like an extra great Sunday.  Church was wonderful, as usual, and we are really enjoying going to the Daybreak campus.  It's smaller than Draper, so it's easier to get to know people, and they're great people! :)

Just after church we attended small group.  It was our second week with this particular group, and if our boys would learn what is and isn't appropriate when at someone else's house, it'd be great.  There's a good mix of people there.  It's nice that we get to take all of our kids--Kaitlyn and three other girls her age (which is awesome that there's that many) watch the younger kids while the adults do small group.

Kaitlyn had fun at a tea party with the high school girls from church, while they talked about activities they'll do in the coming year.  She also wants to be a debutante, she says.

Then we went to the vision dessert for church, which they do once a year.  This year prior to the service, they did a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the new Draper church, which is exciting.  We didn't go to that, just went straight to the vision dessert.  It seriously did my heart good.  My favorite part was the music, because there's really nothing like it.  Singing in a church building is just not the same as being outside with a few hundred other believers worshiping God.  And when I picked up my little Ethan at the end, and he did his best to sing along, my heart just about burst.  This is joy.

Imagine hundreds of voices singing this song:

I really like it!

I had Bible study this morning, and I am really, really loving this study. If I ever have a chance to do another Beth Moore Bible study after this, I'm going to do it. I have loved the parallels she's made so far about the pilgrimage in the Psalms of Ascent, and our pilgrimage (with the final destination being Heaven).

It seems like there are so many things that I'm running across in the daily studies that are exactly what I need to hear. The video portion today was about songs (the Psalms are songs). One of my favorite things she talked about was that there are times when you need to put on a CD of praise music, and just sing your heart out to God.

My Daily Bible Study--DELIGHT

Job 22:26 Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God

Job 27:10 Will he find delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?

Psalm 35:9 Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and delight in his salvation.

Psalm 43:4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.

Psalm 111:2 Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.

Isaiah 61:10 I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.

I was just thinking today about how I let so many little, insignificant things annoy me. Sometimes to the point where I forget to take delight in the Lord. I forget to look around at all the little details, each one showing me how much my God loves me. If I remember to focus on all the many, many delightful things, and not focus on or worry about things that don't matter, my life will be filled with so much more happiness. God is in control, and His plan for me is delightful!

Appreciation Dinner

Tonight Troy and I went to an appreciation dinner for the volunteers in the children's ministry at church. Troy doesn't volunteer, but I got to bring a guest, which was good, because then it was kind of like a date, except not completely. The food was really good, and I got a little lunch bag type thingy (I don't even know what to call it).

I'm on the check-in crew, which means I help people check their kids in, and I also help new visitors fill out the required paperwork and show them around. I love what I do. I've been thinking I want to volunteer in the nursery (babies) as well, or maybe the toddler age. We have such an awesome children's ministry program at our church, and it's amazing all the things these kids are learning.

This whole week, Kevin has been saying "we can pray to Jesus anywhere". He learned it in church last Sunday, and it stays with him all week. I love that! He even told me the story about Paul and Silas praying in prison. And when we're driving around in the car, I often hear him singing along with the songs. We listen to KLove (a Christian radio station). He's got such a sweet little spirit. My other kids do as well, but I think Kevin's just at the age where he soaks it all up like a sponge.

Jesus and Easter

We've been doing a lot of talk about Jesus this past weekend (at home and at church), with Good Friday and Easter and such, and Kevin's trying to wrap his head around it. Last night he was talking about Jesus on the cross, and he said "how did he get up there?" Then before I could answer, he said "they put a ladder up there and Jesus climbed up".

I was just thinking today how it's so hard to explain Jesus' death and his suffering for our sins to a 5 year old. Kevin keeps saying "Jesus died to save our sins". Which he thinks means he took our sins away, but then I told Kevin we still sin. That sinning is when we do bad things, but Jesus died so that we could still be with God, even though we sinned. I still don't think he gets it, but how do you explain such a thing to someone so young? You just can't.

I really enjoyed this weekend. We went to a Good Friday service, which was a really wonderful way to kick off Easter weekend with the right spirit. And the Easter service on Sunday was beautiful. There was more music than usual (more than a half hour, instead of the usual 20 minutes or so), and I loved that. One of my favorite songs that we sang for worship yesterday was Hosanna (by Hillsong United). Some of the lyrics are:

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart for what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdoms cause
As I walk from earth into Eternity

Psalm 61

Hear my cry, O God;
listen to my prayer.

From the ends of the earth I call to you,
I call as my heart grows faint;
lead me to the rock that is higher
than I.
For you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the foe.

I long to dwell in your tent forever,
and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.

I've felt really tired lately, and haven't done very well in making time for devotions with God. In my Mary Heart Bible study, the last chapter I read was on living room intimacy with God. One story was told about a man who had different rooms in his house, but he had a sitting room with a cozy fire, where the Lord would sit with him and have devotionals every morning. There came a time when he got busy, and he would miss a couple of days in a row. Then one day he walked by the sitting room, and noticed that the Lord was there, waiting for him. See, God had been there waiting for him every day, even when the man wasn't there. And so it is with me. God is waiting for me to spend time with Him, and immerse myself in His Word. I need to keep the appointment. :)

The Big Picture

"Don't tell God how big your storm is, but tell the storm how big your God is."

"The future is a hundred thousand threads, but the past is a fabric that can never be rewoven."

I think sometimes I get caught up in trying to tell God what to do. You know, the prayers where you tell God everything you need, everything you think should be changed, questioning what God has done in your life, etc. And when I stop to think about it, I can see the absolute ridiculousness of it all. Life is like a tapestry woven from millions of threads. At any given point, all we can see are a few threads here and there, and they don't necessarily make anything beautiful. The threads may be bright, or they may be very dark. And we might not like how the tapestry is looking, so we ask God to change it. What we're forgetting, though, is that God can see the entire tapestry. He can see the beautiful, complete picture. He doesn't need to be told what needs changing, especially from someone who is only seeing a teeny tiny part.

I also have been reminding myself lately to just live in the moment. So much time is spent thinking about the past, thinking about what could have been changed, or what we might have done just a little bit different. But that part of the tapestry has already been woven. It's done. Looking towards the future can sometimes be productive, but we never know what's going to happen. It could go a million different ways, and no amount of preparation or worrying will change a thing. God is weaving, not me.

And the last thing I try to remember is that the dark threads are every bit as necessary as the light and bright ones. Have you ever seen a beautiful tapestry, or painting, with no black (or dark) in it? The dark is what adds depth, and contrast. The only thing I can do, and the only thing God wants me to do with my life, is put all my trust in Him. Let Him weave the tapestry, and have peace that the picture at the end will be one of beauty.

Body of Christ

Romans 12:5
so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

1 Corinthians 12:27
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I've been thinking the last few days about being part of the body of Christ. My first thought is how thankful I am. It's a wonderful feeling to get together with a group of believers and worship together, or study the Word together. And to know that beyond that, there are believers all over the world, who all belong to the body of Christ.

But then, while all this was on my mind, I was listening to my Casting Crowns CD, and the song If We are the Body came on. It really got to me, especially the chorus:

But if we are the Body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing
them there is a way
There is a way

I think it's so important that as the body of Christ, we act as Christ would. He never just sat around idle. He was always working, always doing something for the glory of God. Christ is still here today, in the body of believers, and the reason we are called the body of Christ is that we are to be doing the work of Christ.

Gifts -- Jesus

I was trying to think about gifts today, and the one that is so obvious, that I almost thought doesn't even need to be on the list, because it's such a given, is Jesus Christ. But then I thought, why wouldn't I put it on my list? It should go on the very top of my list! So instead of writing a short little snippet about why I'm so thankful for Jesus, I'm devoting a whole post to it. (And this is thankful thing #3)

It's almost impossible for me to put into words what Christ means to me. It's something so personal, and so meaningful to me, that there's no words I could say to encompass my feelings on the subject. No matter how much I say, it could never be enough to express how thankful I am for Christ. But, since I started out to do it, I'll give it my best shot.

It's unthinkable to me, to imagine a life without Christ . . . a life without the knowledge and acceptance of what Christ did for me. I am so thankful that He loved me enough to suffer on the cross, and to pay for my sins. He did it for all of us, but I know He would have done it still, if it was only just for me. Me, a lowly sinner, who without Him, would not be saved at all. He was the sacrifice for my sins; without Him I would be separated from God forever. How do I say thank you for something like that? Anything I could do seems so small compared to what He did for me. He is my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer. Thank you, Jesus!