Home Sweet Home

Our family has just moved into an old home. And I mean an old home. The ceilings are slanted; there are cracks in the walls; every window lets in a cold draught; there are leaks in the rough coming in. All this said and I look at them all and smile. I love this home. It's an old farm house built in 1865 and it has wonderful character but along with that comes the joyful "burden" of repairs. I'm sitting here on an old and almost antique blue couch our pastor gave us, soaking in the natural warmth of the wood stoves, admiring the thick wooden beams in the ceiling and floor with the spiral staircase in front of me. I feel like a queen. But the only reason I can feel like this is because I have an amazing family to keep me company. Without them, this would just be an old house with foundation problems and a leaking rough. It would be a constant thing of worry and upkeep. Without them there is no way I could stare at water dripping in with a smile on my face knowing that everything will be okay.

I've been think about a series of verses lately. They are all different; some long, some short but they come back to the same thing over and over again in Deuteronomy. About following God's commands to love the Lord our God.

Deut 11:18-20

18 ²⁷"You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and ²⁸you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 20 ²⁹You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

It's funny how we are not bound by the law any longer, yet here is a beautiful promise made for His people to follow His law and yet the thing that is being stressed is the very thing Christ tells us to continue doing; Love the Lord your God. This is the great commandment and God is saying here, in the old testament, that "if you do this, you will prosper. I will give you riches and land."

I am not preaching the prosperity gospel right now...this is the promise he made to his people at this point in scripture. I do believe God can provide the money for us to get our roof fixed, foundation looked at, windows replaced, etc but that is not what he is promising me. He is promising me that if I 1 teach them to my children, talk of it when we are sitting in our house, and when we walk by the way, and when we lie down, and when we rise. 20 ^29and write them on the doorposts of our house and on our gates, then he will fulfill our needs. For me, being fulfilled means to be able to look at a leak coming into the house and smile. People think I'm crazy. There are 1000 things that people tell us need to be taken care of immediately but my "immediately" consists of 3 little girls; VERY soon to be 4 and a wonderful husband whom I adore more and more each day. This is the promise God has made to us. When we love him with all our hearts, souls, minds, strengths, he will bless our pants off...because he said so. He's a great Father and with him, we're home sweet home.

Considering a field in Suburbia

Proverbs 31:16 She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. 17 She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks

I've been thinking about this verse all day and what it means to consider a field. I'm not sure it's too practical these days to go out and consider a field. But what is a field? I've been wondering what are the fields in my life. What are the things that I consider? I think that's really what this is about. It's not that she is purchasing a field, it's the considering part. It doesn't say "she sees a really great deal on a field and buys it because it's a good buy" it says she considers it. I have the problem of just umping into things thinking they will just work out and convincing my husband it's a good idea. A lot of times this just causes a lot of extra hassel and waisted money. Not enough consideration is done before I just jump into these great ideas of mine.

This is the heart of this part of the passage. Being smart and considering what is best. I'd like to share a personal example of how this verse has worked in my life. Just because she considers it and buys doesn't mean our results should always end in the buy. I started a little home business with my friend while we were in Oregon last year. I bought a lot of supplies, made a lot of product, spent time and money to be vendors at craft sales and hardly anything came of it. Most of my product is stuck in Oregon because we couldn't afford to bring it back to Canada since it would take up so much space. It wasn't a wise decision. I thought I would continue to work on the business while here in Ottawa. I'd try to squeeze in a couple of hours of work on the computer trying to market online every day and this poor little computer just didn't want to chug along. It ended in a lot of frustration and waiting. It would take all day just to load a acouple of items online and there was a constant heaviness in me because I was anxious. (probably had a lot to do with the poor internet connection). I'd call Dan at work and tell him how frustrated I was that I couldn't get this thing going. There was a lot of waisted time and finally Dan said to me "you need to take a break from this stuff right now. I am going to work and support us and you don't have to worry about it." Now to some, this might come off as a controlling husband who doesn't let their wife do the thing they are working so hard at. This is not it at all. I saw it very much as an act of love and he was trying to spare me from all this frustration and freed me from feeling bound to getting this thing going and successfull. Thinking about this verse I realized I didn't consider my field. I just went out and bought it. Then we get to the next part of the verse.

She sets about her work vigorously and her arms are strong for her task. This is how vigorous is defined: 1. full of or characterized by vigor: a vigorous effort. 2. strong; active; robust: a vigorous youngster. 3. energetic; forceful: vigorous steps; a vigorous personality. 4. powerful in action or effect: vigorous law enforcement. 5. growing well, as a plant. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vigorous . None of those words discribe how I went about my work on the website. I went about my work in frustration and anxiety. So not only did I not consider my field, I also didn't have vigor. I also didn't know what I was doing which contributed to the frustration. My hands were not strong for my task.

So our Proverbs 31 lady considered the thing she was about to endeavor on, she worked vigorously-did a great job-and knew exactly what she was doing. Her hands were strong for her task. She knew how to farm a field.

So, I still don't spend any time on the website I wasted hours on. But I believe that was, is and will continue to be a wise choice not to. The thing that I have considered is this blog; is preparing school for the girls and making sure I impress God's word on their hearts, talking about it when we walk along the road and when we wake up in the morning and when we go to bed (Deut 6:7); is studying scripture and sharing with friends I meet who's marriages hurt. These are the things I have considered. These are the things that I have vigor for. These are the things that I am strong in...or at least getting stronger at.

So what is your field? And are you doing it begrudgingly or because you have vigor for it? And are you good at it? Are you working hard at it? These are the things that need to be kept in the heart all the time. Is what you are doing really coming from God because I have a feeling, if you don't feel motivated to do it, if you aren't good at it, it you are full of anxiety about it, you may not have prayerfully considered it. Let Him live in you. There is something for you to consider, whether big or small, He has something for you to do. I hope you find it and make God the center of everything you do. I can't do anything good without him. There is no good without him.

Getting started in the morning

Proverbs 31:15 She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens.

It has been a while since I've written. I've been in kind of a slump lately. 7 months pregnant sure doesn't inspire me to get up while "it is yet night"...neither do these dark winter mornings. This morning, though, I had the pleasure of waking up at 530am to see my husband off. He'd out of town for a few days and it just so happens that we awoke to the first snowfall of the year. I went back to bed!

So clearly I am not living out this part of the verse and so I want to dive into this and figure out what it means. I can tell you that I have gone back and forth through phases of waking up early and sleeping in and I KNOW that when I wake up early my day is ALWAYS better so why is it that I give in to the "sleep monster"? Isn't it funny? Paul says in Romans 7 I do not do what I want but I do the very thing that I hate. I don't think sleeping in is the thing that I hate (or sin) but I do think the outcome of it has proven to be. Maybe that's why I've been in a bit of a slump lately...because I have become lazing in getting the day started. I wake up at 630 with Pillar every morning but lay in bed, her crawling all over me, hauling teddies, stories and blankets into the cramped little space I have and all, but I don't usually force myself out of bed until 7 or 730. Does that extra 30 mins of non sleep really do anything benificial? I don't think so.

So, speaking from experience, when I have gotten up before the babies ever did to do devotions, pray, meditate etc, my attitude is so much more possitive than when I sleep in. So here are my options: Lay in bed for an extra 30 mins of completly disturbed sleep hoping I will have slept a total of 1 min more, or get out of bed, spend time with my Lord and soak in his word. Hmmmm sounds like a no brainer to me. Now like I said, I don't think the sleeping in part is the bad part (for me anyway) but my attitude becomes poor, my frustration level grows, and the day just doesn't start well. So here I am, just like Paul saying "I don't do the thing I want to do (have a good attitiude) and I do the thing that I hate" (have a bad attitude). So for me, turns out sleeping in isn't a good thing, And it took me this blog to realize it because without writing it down, I would have just slept in tomorrow morning :)

I do want to talk specifically about the food part (I think you know by now this is pretty much my favourite earthly thing). I know many people don't take this passage litterally and it is quite impossible to do these days anyway and the reader from the previous post commented that we can't live every detail of this passage litterally otherwise we will burn ourselves out, but finding out what it really means to you to wake up while it is still night and prepare food for your household is really important too. So does that mean sleeping in like me is good for you (it isn't for me) or taking the kids to McDonalds for breakfast every morning, if that's the way this verse is true for you, let it be so then, but I would like to share with you from my perspective; how I make (or try) to make it work. Our schedule has been a little off lately since I have had a job every morning that goes from 730-830 so our days have just started a little later so this part of the passage hasn't really worked out for me lately but I keep a great memory of my mom with me when I think about this part. We have been living with my parents for the last couple of months waiting to see if God would take us back to Oregon for missions work (where we left from last year) but he's told us to stay so in that waiting time we've been crashing my parent's. Now I can tell you from the time being here lately as well as when we were little, one of the best feelings is to wake up to freshly baked croissants or muffins. HOT muffins! What a treat. How special it feels to be a daughter who gets to wake up after doddling around getting ready, to a nice hot aroma that fills the house. Up the stairs I come and the smell just gets better and better and there's my mom, still in her pj's making the family breakfast. For no other reason except for the fact that she wants to serve us. Now this lady is a busy lady; it doesn't happen often that she bakes in the morning but when she does, man is it special! I am her daughter; I was part of her household and to some degree, am right now, which means in that moment, she is this woman, waking early to provide food for her family, and as her daughter I feel so special to be treated to such a lovely morning. You know, later on in the passage, it says "Her children rise up and call her blessed". In this moment of gratitude, I call my mother blessed! And I hope my children either see me that way now or will when they grow older. I want to be able to bless my children in that way to. The morning is not just a time for me to decide on my own attidude but for me to decide on my kids attitude as well. This is the question I must ask myself: Will I wake up and have a poor attitude and spread that to the family, or will I bite the bullet and wake up early, refreshed and ready to start my day and treat my family to something really special, whether that be breakfast or something else.

As the mom, I have the power to control everybody's attitude throughout the day; mine, my kids, and my husband. So what will be my choice, a poor attitude or a good one? The good one always comes from God. When I start my day with Him, he is there all day long supporting me and encouraging me but the second I put something before him and say "devotions can wait" or "I'll do it later" things go down hill.

I think I could go on and on but for now I will stop. I hope whoever is reading this has a wonderfully blessed week!

Happy mornings :)

A MUST READ WITH THE FAMILY

The Swiss Family Robinson; Shipwrecked and alone.

Our family reads a chapter or two of a classic novel every night. We are in The Swiss Family Robinson right now. I was told it was an excellent book, a classic, and it was all about adventure and a family bonding together after being shipwrecked on a desert island. It sounded exciting and something we would all enjoy listening to. It was so much more than I thought it would be.

The first couple of nights started with just me reading as Dan was out but he has been with us for the last few chapters and says we can't go on without him because he's enjoyed it so much too. Now at every spare opportunity we squeeze in a chapter.

What I was expecting was a thrilling adventure but what I found was a story laced with deep theology given by the Godly father, leading his family just as the word lays out for fathers to do. What an amazing testimony and example to read about. It has been an encouragement to me as we are changing seasons in our lives and feeling a little like we are on an island ourselves.

Chapter 1: Shipwrecked and alone

The book starts right away with the Swiss family Robinson lifting their final prayers up to God and encouragement to the 4 sons as today may be their last day on earth and they may very well soon meet their maker. Here's the father saying "Take courage my boys," and "The Lord will hear our prayers", and "if the Lord wills, He will rescue us". And as the last of the seamates jump overboard into the last tiny life boat, it seemed all hope was lost. Abandoned.

Here's where God shows up (not that he hasn't already been there) but the rain stops, and the mist falls away, and low and behold, they are wrecked only a little way from an island.

Now check out this Help Meet of a wife; Pg 3 "My wife, however, perceived my distress and anxiety, in spite of my forced composure, and I made her comprehend our real situation, greatly fearing the effect of the intelligence on her nerves. Not for a moment did her courage and trust in providence forsake her, and on seeing this my fortitude revived."

What an amazing wife. Even though she knew her husband knew something they all weren't supposed to know she supported him and kept him strong by allowing him to take on the burden of figuring out this dilemma.

I could go on and on just about chapter 1 alone. The boys and the father end up building some kind of boat using casks so they can make their way to the island, but I must end for now. Tomorrow I shall tell you about chapter two; A Desolate Island.