Take it to the Lord in Prayer

Today as I was going over some things in my mind and I kept coming back to the thought...

"Lord, I just don't know what to do..."

Over and over and over!!!

As I was sitting there this thought crossed my mind...

"Take it to the Lord in prayer."

I thought yes, that is what I need to do.  Our services lately have hinted at our need to really pray for our circumstances.  This is something I struggle with.  Not really with having to pray; but for remembering that it is necessary.  A lot of times I take it for granted that if I take my hands off a situation that the Lord will just take care of it.  For the most part this is true...we are to have that kind of trust in Him to take care of our situations.  He will meet ALL our needs so we don't have to worry; but I think that sometimes He does want us to pray for our situation. 

He will take care of us.  He will have His will.  He will lead and guide us.  We never have to question this; but what if the prayer is for us.  I thought about when we pray and take our burdens to Him what do we receive in return??  Peace...comfort...joy...all of these come through prayer.  The Lord doesn't necessarily "need" for us to tell Him what we need; but I think that when we take it to the Lord it helps us relinquish control of that situation and really give it to Him.  Lord help me let you have my burdens and stop trying to carry them all on my own.  Your shoulders are so much stronger than mine. 

I have been singing this all day after having this experience and the words ring so true to me...   

It was funny...as I was giving the girls a bath tonight my oldest daughter began singing a little song she learned in VBS this week...

"Count your blessings name them one by one.
Count your blessings see what God has done.
Count your blessings
Name them one by one.
Count your many blessings see what God has done."

Out of the mouth of babes...thank you Lord :o)

Stand Still - The Issacs

Can't get this song out of my head right now.

Thought for today 6-21-2011

I was sitting in VBS today and had this thought...

"You never know
what God can help you
do until you try." 

That's all I have...no big sermon...

Now you you can testify in the comments

Come ON...You can make it if you try!!!

I had already turned off my computer this evening and was headed to bed when these thoughts began to come to me...

I am so encouraged by what is happening in the church today.  I am seeing people really begin to lay down their lives for the Lord.  Really get in line with His will for their lives.  Old, young, middle aged: whomever, the Lord is really talking to His people.  One thing that was said tonight that I really took to heart was that the Lord has knocked now we have to respond.  (My words - Not exactly what was said)

I feel like saying...if the devil is fighting you right now and telling you that you can't do this I want you to remember that the LORD HIMSELF brought you here!! 

You may say well "I just decided it was time".  I don't believe that.  I do think that you have to make a conscious decision to follow the Lord; but you can't do that on your own.  I believe that the Lord has to give you the desire to even do that.  What person is going to just DECIDE to lay down their own flesh??  It is not something that our flesh wants to do!!!  The Lord had to fill you with the desire to want to change before you could even make that effort.  You have to see your need for Him. 

I know that one way that the devil seems to talk to me (and has had success I am sad to say) is by making me feel like I am all alone.  I know it's hard to believe; but you can be as loud and crazy as I am and still feel like you are all alone!!  I feel like tonight the Lord has given me a weapon against this...

You hear the phrase all the time "you didn't come this way by chance"...

Do you really believe that?  I think I do.  I was born and raised in the Body of Christ; but I don't believe that it is only because of those things that I am still here.  I know that there has been mercy laid up for me and I don't minimize that at all; but I also know that the Lord had to call MY NAME one day.  If he hadn't then I would not be here. 

If the Lord has taken the time to give you a desire to change and to make you uncomfortable in your life to do so then HE WANTS YOU HERE!!!!  He still has a place for you.  Respond to the Lord. 

DAVITA ARE YOU LISTENING!!!!!!!

I don't believe that He would take the time and effort to make you miserable if He didn't care about you.  He is knocking, pounding, kicking in your door!!!  He loves you and wants you to make it. 

Fire that back at the devil...HE WOULDN'T HAVE CALLED YOU IF HE DIDN'T WANT YOU!!!! 

If the Lord has bothered to deal with you and has given you a desire to change then He is there with you.  You may not know the plan yet.  He may not have discussed all the details with you yet; but HE has a plan!!!  You...I...just need to relax and take it one step at a time.  If the Lord says do this...do that and then wait for the next instruction.

Sometimes I look at the whole Bible and see this BIG MONSTER of a task that I have to accomplish and I give up.  It's to hard.  Well yes it's too hard!!!  When you look at it like that perfection is impossible; but what is the Lord asking you to do right now??  Do you feel Him asking you to do one thing?  Try a different approach...do the one thing He is asking you to do right now and then I bet it will lead you to the next thing.  Little by little...Day by day...Jesus is changing me!!!  Ask the Lord to clear your mind and let you see that one step He's asking you to make today.  Ask Him to block out all that other noise going on and open your eyes a little more.  One step...two steps...and one day you'll look back at that impossible task and realize that by following the Lord step by step by step He has brought you through it. 

So...be encouraged in the Lord.  All is not lost.  He STILL is calling your name.

   

   

My Dad:   Sam Perry - I find myself watching him more and more. Studying how he does things. Responds. I am learning more by watching him than I ever have. I love to watch how he is with my girls. In leading by example he is teaching me to be a better parent.
I love you Dad!!


My Father in Law:   Michael Wyrick - I will never forget standing in their living room showing off my wedding dress and him bawling like a baby. I knew in that moment that he really loved me. :o)
I love you Dad #2 :o)

My Husband:   Phillip Wyrick - One of the many reasons I fell in love with him is because I knew he would be a great father and he would love any children we were blessed to have. He would and does lay down his life for them everyday.
I love you honey!!!

A Lesson in Communication

Tonight as we were sitting in church I leaned over and asked Sophia if she would like to go sit with her Mamaw Perry who was seated in the row in front of us.

She nodded yes and smiled so I put her down.  As she walked to her I was looking down writing in my notebook...

When I looked up she was making her way to the front of the church.  I sat rather stunned trying to figure out what she was doing.  I called her name and she did NOT stop.  She walked quietly up to the platform where my father was sitting on the FRONT ROW and climbed up into his lap.  I know for sure that my face was the same color as the pews!!!! 

It struck me as very funny because most of the men on the platform were in dark colored suits and there she sat like a sore thumb in her bright salmon colored dress with bright green furry socks.  Pretty as a princess. 

In her mind I guess she was going to her Papaw and I thought she was going to her Mamaw.  I had apparently given her permission without realizing it.  LOL!!!  Oh well...you live and learn. 

I learned tonight that is VERY important when dealing with someone that you make sure you are on the same page...or else they may just go wondering off to your amazement :o)

Preparing Your Spirit for your MAN

http://www.parentingmiracles.net/2011/06/preparing-myself-to-honor-my-husband/


A few thoughts on this article...

I agree with all the things she lists; but I thought of one more...

I have to prepare my spirit to meet my husband...

What do I mean by this?  Well some days you have really BAD days.  Who do you want to share those things with???  Your best friend.  Your husband. 

It would be so easy when he walks in the door ( I really have to work on this one) to unload all that baggage we have been carrying all day on him so that I can feel better; but how is that fair?  After all...he has come home with his own baggage too.  

When my husband came home last night we both had really bad days.  Me because of myself; but his day was filled with problems at work.  When he walked in I said "hey babe".  The kids hugged him and then he sat down on the floor and played with them.  I asked him how his day went and I could tell by his answers that he really didn't want to talk about it.  I left him to play with the girls and went about fixing dinner.  I noticed that how having him home...get this...made me feel so much happier than I had been all day.  (If you follow my blog you know that this is major growth :o)  I didn't unload all my junk and he left his outside the door and we had a really pleasant evening.  He didn't enter into a home full of chaos; but a home that welcomed him in.  Whispered softly..."sit down, take your shoes off; RELAX"!!

I know that we are to be able to share everything with each other...and I feel that we can; but sometimes you just need to leave it all outside your house and enjoy being.

On those days that I have really BAD days it would do me well to take some time before he comes home to prepare my spirit for him.  Analyze all the "drama" I have had and leave what is not important unsaid.  He doesn't have to know EVERY TIME I yelled at the kids or put them in time out through the day.  He NEEDS to know that even though we both have had long days that he can sit down on the couch and feel peace.  After all the hustle and bustle of the day the only thing he wants to do is be with us.

Take a little time out today before your man gets home and prepare your spirit to greet him.  It may require a little prayer sometimes; but it will make your home a lot more peaceful.  After all one of the things I try to remember (and fail at a lot) is that YOU control the atmosphere in your home.  YOU are there day in and day out.  YOU have a chance to choose war or peace!! 

Lord help me to choose peace!! 

The Fear of the Lord

Proverbs 14:26-27

...In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge...

...The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death...

Choleric

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/choleric?show=0&t=1307657025

Reading the definition for Choleric and wondering how there could possibly be Godly qualities to this temperment...Lord help me!!!

Getting Rid of Why

Just thinking tonight...

Sometimes things happen that we just don't understand.  In our mind there is just no reason why.  We try to think "well maybe God is doing this" or "maybe He is asking this" or "something I have done has caused this"; but I feel like sometimes spending too much time on the why can be a stumbling block.  It's trying to find comfort in something other than the Lord.  We can get lost in all the why's and why not's and lose sight of the who can and the who is...  I don't know why some go through loss; but I know the comforter.  I don't understand mean people; but I do know the deliverer of the righteous.  I don't fully enjoy the process of laying down self (yet); but I do know that those that endure shall remain.  So in looking at my life and those around me I am trying to climb out of the pit of the why's that have no answers; and plant my feet on the rock that will stand.

[Side Note:  Tonight we had a good service talking about being thankful and then went into bitterness...I just had a thought that the path of why's can lead you into the pit of bitterness.  You can end up there and not even realize that you are headed that way because in some ways you have a "right" to be upset; and to question some things.  Huuummmmm...I think the Lord's letting me see my path.  Ouch!!  If you spend too long on the path of why's you can end up in the pit of bitterness; and that is a looonnng walk back to the road of forgiveness and the way of freedom.  Have to stop why in it's tracks!!]

Take it in stride...one at a time; and instead of spending so much time worrying about the process start praying for the grace to go through it.

Lord give us all the grace, that when we are confronted with our chance to give in and give up on you; help us to fight.  Cause that spirit that is within us to rise up and rebuke doubt, and fear; and worry.  Those things cause us to lose our joy and without joy we are then in danger of losing our hope.  That hope that lies deep within us.  That hope that is renewed day by day by the feeding of God's word; and by walking in His spirit. 

So many scriptures going through my head...action scriptures...

1 Timothy 6:12   Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, where unto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

1 Timothy 6:19  Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

Hebrews 6:18   That by two immutable things, in which [it was] impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

Hebrews 6:19   Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

Hebrews 10:23   Let us hold fast the profession of [our] faith without wavering; (for he [is] faithful that promised;)

GRAB AHOLD of these verses and DON'T LET THEM GO!!!!!  Memorize them!!!  I am writing them down for myself.  When doubt arises or fear or the flesh shoot it down with some of these!!!  We do NOT have to live in defeat!!  It is up to us to pick up our weapons and fight.  We can have our guns and we can have our bullets; but if we never take the time to put the bullets INTO the gun we are still defenseless.  Kinda like dying of thirst surrounded by water.  Sometimes it takes a little action on our part.  Get rid of the why and why not's and pick up your CAN and HE WILL!!!

Sorry I know I am preaching; but I am really preaching to me!!  :o)

If Jesus said I can I CAN!!!!

"If Jesus says I can I CAN!!
If Jesus says I can Oh I KNOW I CAN!!!
Satan tries to tell me that I can't make the Bride;
But if Jesus says I can I CAN!!!!" 

Games My Girls Play

I was thinking about the games that fill my little girls' days...

Sometimes they are beautiful princesses dressed for a ball.

Sometimes they are a mommy taking care of their babies.

Sometimes they pretend to cook me meals.


Sometimes they dance about with the wildest of energy.

Sometimes they pretend to worship the Lord.

Sometimes they put on a show.  Singing EVERY song they know.

Sometimes they testify for me. 

These are all common everyday games that children play; but it dawned on me that these are not games that I have taught them.  They are games that they have "invented" on their own. 

I did not sit down and teach them how to be a mommy...they have learned it from watching me.

I did not sit down and teach them how to cook a meal...they have learned it from watching me.

We did not sit down and "practice" how to worship the Lord...they have learned that from being around those doing it. 

Etc....

What other things have they learned by just watching?  This can be a blessing; but also very scary.  They learn right now by watching, seeing; and hearing what is going on around them.  What are they exposed too?  I know that there are some shows that we watch that I think "well, they are too little to get that yet"; but does that make it ok??  I have learned that they pick up a lot more than I "think" they do.  I have even seen my girls pick up attitudes without even realizing what they are doing.  They don't know right now; but that seed has been planted to grow into a giant oak later on.  Lord let me look at the things I bring into my home through the of a child; but with the wisdom of an adult. 

Daddy's Belly

When our girls are eating sometimes if they are piddling instead of eating we ask them to let us feel there belly.  We say "nope...not quite big enough yet...".  They giggle and go on eating a little more.  Today we were eating lunch and the conversation went as follows:

Sophia:  Mom I am finished.

Me:  I still see a lot of food.  I don't think your belly is quite big enough.

Sophia:  Daddy's belly is reeeeeeeallllly big.

Me:  Oh yeah?

Sophia:  Yes it is.  And mom?  Why does it just stay that way?

Me:  Well...it just does.

Sophia:  I want a belly as big my daddy's.

Me:  Ok.

I was trying very hard not to laugh because I knew that she was very very serious :o)

Cozi Calender

A little organization tool I stumbled on today...and it's FREE!!!

http://www.cozi.com/family-calendar.htm

Fly Lady

This is something new that I am going to try.  I need some sort of guidance and accountability in this area so I thought I would try it out for a couple months and see how well I do.  Hopefully this will help me change from a Keeper of a MESSY home into a true Keeper of our home.  Today is the first day of the Baby Step stage.  If I am reading this right I try this for a month and then start on my Zone Cleaning next month.  It is very much baby steps; but like they say baby steps build good habits.

http://www.flylady.net/index.asp

Meal Planning

I am HORRIBLE at this!!  Why?  Because I can sit down and write out a plan for the month; but when it comes to that day...what if I don't want what's on that day's menu?  I know just switch it with something else.  Yes I can do that; but I don't. 

I had an idea...starting today.  I am going to write down everything I fix this month on a calender and then use it for next month.  I really want to know if this will help when I go shopping by decreasing the number of times I have to go and the amount of stuff I have to buy.  I know by others that it will; but I am actually excited to try it this time.  So June will be my prep month and July will be my trial run.  I also have a twist...my husband works crazy shifts so I have to plan around that too.

Any suggestions on this?  Or advice?? Pleeease!!!   

How do you guys prepare a grocery list???  How do you keep from cooking the same things over and over???  Do you ever get frustrated doing this or has it been a life saver for you???

A New Attitude

When my husband and I first got married I was a master juggler.  Or so I thought.  I could easily...with one hand...juggle husband, church commitments, work; and me time.  Even when we had our first child she easily just fit right into my plan.  When my second child came along I thought that life would continue as "planned".  Slowly over the last two years each one of these things I was juggling has dropped to the ground.  As I stood there dumbfounded...my hands dropped at my side...head down...and just plain spent I began to ask the Lord what is wrong with me.  I used to have it all together.  I was a decent wife (sometimes), very faithful to my church commitments, made a little money; and still had time to focus on my own salvation.  And that was all just 4 years ago.  For the last few months I have been trying my very best to do it all!!  I would pick up my juggling props (all of them) and try to juggle...I would get them in the air for a bit; but shortly they would all come crashing down again.  Over and over and over.  What I have realized is that the Lord is trying His best to get me to change my thinking.  Instead of trying to do it all and accomplishing nothing He is asking me to focus on one at a time.  This process has been very hard for me because I LOVE to be involved in everything.  I love to be right at the center of what is going on.  Especially at church.  It is after all my life; but now all those subtle hints that the Lord has been giving me are now screaming...accompanied by a big brass band..."GET YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER"!!!!  I don't think He wants me to quit church of course or even not to help out when I can; but I do feel like He is asking me not to fall into the deep pit of depression I have been living in because I can't do all and be all to everyone.  I have been so burdened and heart broken with this because I don't want to disappoint anyone.  I am the ultimate people pleaser :o); but I feel like right now I am not pleasing the one person I should be worrying about.  The Lord.  In my life I would like to say YES to the Lord.  I would like to (and I have given this example before) stand on the edge of the pool...with my back facing the water...stretch my arms out to the side...close my eyes...and slowly lay back and let the Lord take control.  If He chooses to drown me well I guess He has that right...He is God; but if He instead teaches me how to swim...woooooo...halleluia...then someday maybe, I can soar with the eagles!!!

Hope

This morning as I sat with my girls watching a video I noticed that they were both snuggled up as close as they could get to me.  They were comfortable and completely at home in my arms. 

Sometimes I get very discouraged because I am not a "good mother" in my own eyes.  What I mean by that is that I am not perfect; and more often than not make a lot of mistakes.  A LOT!!  As I sat there holding them I realized that I must not have scarred them too terribly for them to still want and feel comfortable being near me.  They still climbed up on the couch and snuggled into me.  Even in all I've done wrong they still feel safe with me.  They know that I love them and they love me.

This small realization encouraged me.  As I think about it now I wonder if I can let go of all the wrong I feel I have done...take the lessons learned...and start again.  Do it better.  What if what my mind tells me is not true...all hope is NOT lost?  What if I can start today?  Not tomorrow...or when life slows down (my famous excuse); but today...now?  After all I still have a chance to love these precious little souls that love me.