Scripture Memory Team 2010 #10

This time I'm a little ahead of the game!  I guess it will all average out.  I will be attending my brother's graduation this weekend, and it will be kind of crazy, so I wanted to go ahead and jump on here and put down my new verse.

Romans 8:15-17

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear; but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.

This chapter starts with teaching about living in the Spirit with a new nature, and what you have your mind set on is important (v. 5-8).  Then verses 15-17 kind of transition into a discussion of struggles and that life with God is worth it.  You probably know verse 28...
 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him...

Then it concludes with this
 

35-39  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written:
 
"For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." (Ps. 44:22)
 
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And that love is powerful!  In Ephesians 3:16-21 Paul prayed that God would strengthen the believers to have the power to grasp and to know His love.  Then according to that power at work in us, He can do immeasurably more than we can imagine!
 
I have a thousand things to do to prepare for the weekend, so this is short and sweet, but I needed to get my heart and mind set on these things today.  I just love His Word!

The Springtime News in Pictures

I'm saving the best for last here, so if you don't have a lot of time, scroll on down.

With Spring comes one of my favorite flowers--bluebonnets.  When we went south for Easter, the bluebonnets were not out yet. I was a little bummed that we wouldn't see any and that we wouldn't get our annual picture.  Then we found some right here!  And they were gorgeous! 

Spring also means baseball at our house.  I have learned to enjoy it.  I even look forward to Opening Day.  (Yes, that is capitalized because it is an official celebrated holiday--at least in our house!)  Little league happens a little differently here, and SweetBoy has moved up a league to kid pitch and that is different.  SweetDoll is still waiting to hear when they start, so for now it is just SweetBoy playing.  He is playing some really good defense and has gotten several hits so far.  Play ball!

So here is the big news.  Two years ago, SweetDoll began to understand what it meant to be a Christian--that God is the only true God, Jesus is God's Son, Jesus took care of our sin on the cross, He rose again, He lives in us, and we will be with Him forever in Heaven one day.  Last week she decided to tell everyone and show that she was a Christian by being baptized.  So this last Sunday, our family came in to celebrate this very special occasion with us.  Our pastor said parents smile and are proud when their babies are born, but it is even more so when they become Christians.  I believe that is true.  One of the sweetest moments was when SweetDoll came back into the sanctuary after being baptized, SweetBoy met her half-way with a big hug--he was pretty proud of her too. (He held her even before I did when she was born, so it was appropriate that he got this first hug!)  We had four generations present and it was a sweet celebration!

After lunch we had a few gifts for SweetDoll.  She gave her brothers hugs for the necklace they gave her.  I missed the first one, but I got these!

Scripture Memory Team 2010 #9

Here we go with our verse for the first of May...a few days late.  We had a busy weekend with baseball starting up and a very exciting Sunday for the Sweet House, but I'll have to tell you about that in the next post.  I had this verse written in my spiral for a while, so I have already been thinking about it.

1 Peter 3:8-9  (NIV)
Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.  Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

Here are some thoughts about it.

Peter had to say all of you didn't he.  For the most part I can get along and live in harmony with just about anyone.  Occasionally people cross my path that I would just as soon not be around or would just like to be exempt from the command to live in harmonty with.  But no, Peter said all of you--no exemptions here.

He also had to say humble.  My toes are getting sore here!  For years I have had a warped view of humility.  I thought I was being humble to put myself down, but in reality that is just a twisted version of pride.  I struggled to understand that verse that says "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought" (Romans 12:3).  I have heard it explained that you shouldn't think of your self as often.  With a spotlight on insecurity lately, I have become aware of how often I checked myself in the space.  I was constantly thinking do I look ok, was what I said stupid, are they talking about me, they think I'm ___, and on and on.  Humility is loving and serving while understanding who I am in Christ.  (My favorite picture of this is John 13:3-5.)  Now I find myself thinking about me less often.  And when I'm out of the way, I can be sympathetic, compassionate, and think of others.

In a house with children, I often hear crying and the cause is usually a hit and a hit back.  It is just in our nature when we feel pain to want to inflict pain in return.  As adults we hopefully grow out of the hitting stage, but insults can fly.  In Christ I have a new nature, so I don't have to act according to the old nature, but I do have to react in a new way intentionally.  It won't just happen.  Ephesians 4:22-24 says "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."  Choose to put on the new self and react according to His divine nature. (look 2 Peter 1:3-9 too)

What does the new self do instead?  Bless.  I knew that in this relationship with the occasional person I have a hard time getting along with God had been doing a lot of work on my heart, but now it is time for an action step.  And the action required is to bless.  The problem is I don't know how to do that.  Thankfully I have a big God who loves to teach me!  A few weeks ago I went on a ladies' retreat and met a lady for the first time in our small group.  One of our group assignments was to say something we admired about each one in our group.  This lady didn't know any of us, but she spoke to the heart and motivation behind our actions that she had seen that day.  That really touched my heart!  What a blessing!  I want to learn how to bless like that!

We were called to live intentionally in this way.  It is part of the purpose of our lives.

And it comes with benefits--inheriting the blessing of God.  Wow!  If what that lady said was so special, can you imagine how much more it will be when God is speaking the blessing!  That is worth it!  It gives me the desire to obey and do this action step even if it is difficult at first.

Beth Moore used this verse in her "Inheritance" study.  Here are a few quotes from session 9.
     "The whole concept of inheritance can change the way we react to evil and insult."
     "We were appointed to manifest Christ when someone is ugly to us."
     "We can not do this on our own nature, but only because we are inhabited by Christ and He makes us super natural."

No bonbons here!

I don't know about you, but sometimes I get the feeling others think that because I'm a stay at home mom, I just sit around watching soaps and eating bonbons.  To be completely truthful, there was a time that I watched soaps, but as a brand new mom, I was hardly doing nothing.  It was more for noise and adult conversation, been there?  Anyway, SweetHeart came home the other day, and this is what I had been doing.  You see, what is mostly on our TV now is kid's shows.  On one of their favorite PBS shows, Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman, we saw they guy who holds the world record for a card house--AMAZING!  (His name is Bryan Burg and here is one of his creations.)  I have tried to build one before, but I always tried to make it with triangles and it never worked!  Here is the secret we learned on Fetch!  This is the strongest way to arrange the cards.

Then you just start adding cards around it continuing the pattern.  We found that if you lay cards on top, it adds stability to it.  This was my first attempt at a level (notice the cards are facing the same direction!)  Part of the Ruff challenge was that their building had to be sturdy enough to support weight (I don't remember the poundage, but it was heavier than the little candle we used.)  When I placed the candle on this...it collapsed!  But doesn't it look good!

SweetBoy got in on the project and we got a second level going!  (With some repairs along the way.  Just in case you try this at home, it takes several tries!)

We got a third level and even a fourth!

Here goes nothing...

It supports our candle!  I know you are so impressed.  SweetHeart was, let me tell you.  So the point of this post is that there is no bonbon eating going on here, but we are practicing some mad card stacking skillz!

Scripture Memory Team 2010 #8

I'm a day late on this because it took me three days to get the laundry done this week!  I started it Wednesday, went to Mom/Mema's to wash yesterday, then put it away today.  (See previous post for explanation.)  I'll get to the ironing later...maybe.  :)  So my 15th didn't go exactly as planned but here we are today.

Here's a little background for this week's verse.  I've just finished up Beth Moore's book So Long Insecurity.  If you have known me long, you are thankful and looking forward to a more secure Shelly--me too.  Also, two years ago Mom, Jen, and a few more of our friends went to a Living Proof Live event in San Antonio where Beth taught on Inheritance.  She made it into a 9 session video study.  I knew the weekend was amazing, and could not wait for the study to be available.  I just finished that too and it did not disappoint!  It went hand in hand with the So Long Insecurity teaching.  One night I just stayed up processing all that I needed to apply to my life.  The next morning I felt so much lighter!  But I also realize that it is still a process and won't change overnight.  I have to learn a new way to think.  God has already started this in setting memorizing His Word as a priority.  I know I would have been in a pit over the move had I not been thinking about His faithfulness and His love in the verses I was memorizing.  In The Inheritance, part of what Beth taught was that we have an inheritance to come in Heaven, but we also have a spiritual inheritance now.  Just as the Israelites in the Old Testament inherited the Promised Land and had to go fight for it and possess it, I have property with the boundary lines of my intimacy with God, my past, my life experiences, and spiritual gifing.  If I am not deliberately possessing every part of my property, the enemy is standing on it!  So my verses for a while will be helping me build my muscles to kick the enemy off the property I had neglected and he was reeking havoc on because of insecurity.  He certainly found a weakness and capitalized on it for a long time.  But now I know I am an heiress of God, He makes me secure and no one can take that from me!  I am clothed with strength and dignity!  That is a super brief overview of the view of the journey I'm seeing right now.  And yes, it is sweet!  That is why I chose this verse:

Psalm 16:5-6
Lord, You have assigned me  my portion and my cup;
You have made my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.

Beth taught this out of the ESV where it says, "I have a beautiful inheritance."  You and I both know that not everything in life is pleasant, delightful, or beautiful.  But my God, who orchestrates everything perfectly, is more than big enough and good enough to take the heartbreak and hurtful things and work them out for His glory and our benefit.  So even with my past, even with my life experiences I can say that I have a beautiful inheritance!  Knowing that can change the way I see insults, hardships, and heartache and change the way I react to it.  I'm going to need that.

Side note:  Last year I memorized the verses just after this, so if 5-6 don't resonate with you, 7-8 might. 

Psalm 16:7-8
I will praise the Lord, who councels me; even at night my heart instructs me.  I have set the Lord always before me.  He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Love you!  Hope you have a blessed weekend!

Laundry days

It seems my life revolves around laundry.  Things seemed a little easier when I finally found a laundry routine I could handle.  Once a week made it too much of a mountain.  I just can't want to do laundry every day or even twice a week, but every 5 days works.  So this week may be twice a week, but next week will just be once.  I can live with that.  Even at that it seems like every time Mom calls and asks what is happening, I'm in some part of the laundry process.

Today was a laundry day.  I had some other things to do too like take the puppy to the vet and clean out SweetDoll's closet.  After we got back from the vet, I got the laundry going...went to change it to the dryer and discovered the washer full of water.  Something with the draining step is broken.  Great.  Not to air dirty laundry here, but I got the stinkiest load done but not the most critical.  Do you know what I mean?  We have found a plan to deal with fixing it and getting today's laundry done.  And you know there is not a laundromat around the corner!  But what surprised me is the fact that I am lost without having laundry to do today.  I have so many other things I need to do, could be doing, but my brain can't switch out of laundry mode!  Aaaa!  So I'm blogging about it!  Aren't you glad?

So how do you deal with the laundry at your house?  Does it seem to dominate you too?  Happy laundry days and may your washer and dryer work efficiently!  I'm off to clean out SweetDoll's closet!  (Yes, that is another variation of laundry!)

Easter 2010

I just finished doing Kelly Minter's Bible study on Ruth.  I learned a lot about the role of a kinsmen redeemer, and it made this Easter special.  Jesus, my Kinsmen Redeemer, fits every requirement in every way.  He is a close relative.  He is able to redeem--more than able!  He is willing to redeem.  Even when I was His enemy, He chose me, and you.  How amazing is that!  And that is why we celebrate Easter.

We went to church with family.

Then it was off to Mamaw's to meet the rest of the family for lunch.  A delicious lunch with ham and fried chicken and all the fixin's...and desserts!  YUM!  The kids were anxious for the fun of the egg hunt and that was next on the agenda.  The big kids hid the eggs this year.  SweetBoy is in that stage where he likes to be one of the big kids, but a cousin he really looks up to said, "When you get to double digits, you can hide them.  This year you still get to hunt."  And that made it ok.  (Thanks, Bud!)

On your marks, get set, GO!

We have three kids and came home with 4 baskets of candy.  How does that happen?!  The confetti eggs are always picked up first.  And always used quickly!

We had a great time with family.

Thanks Mamaw and Meme for a wonderful Easter!

And all too soon it was time to head back home.