Barb's shoppe

Please check out my friend. Barb's new online gift shop A Chelsea Morning's Little Shoppe. She makes fabulous stuff and she's a real sweetheart too!

Sound asleep...and its night, mind you...

Tell me a Story, please.

I was reminded today of one of the believers greatest treasures...one of our greatest weapons against depression, apathy, discouragement, and unbelief. One of the strongest tools for building up ourselves, or brothers and sisters and the entire church.

That secret weapon..that incredible tool is simply this...

The power of the word of our testimony.

How many times in scripture did the Lord admonish the children of Israel to remember...remember aloud...to each other and to their children, to rehearse what God had done, to tell and re tell the story...to paint His words and works on the door posts of their houses so that they might be reminded in their comings and in their goings, to build alters of remembrance. How many traditions do the Israelies have, even today that stem from the telling of God at work in their midst.

This is one of God's simplest yet greatest lessons that the church today gives very little attention to yet if practiced can build up not only ourselves but the body of Christ. I've seen this practice at work and boy does it work.

Think back to when you've had a mighty work of God in your life... what made it more real? ...the telling of it...

What about when you began to hear of the possibility that God might be bigger than you thought...might work the impossible? had done so for someone you knew or knew of?....

What happened in you when you began to hear of God's workings? Didn't faith rise up inside of you? Didn't you think to yourself...Yes, Amen!...I knew He was like that!...somewhere inside you really already knew He was greater than you had imagined..you only needed to hear the testimony of it to be encouraged and reminded.

There was a time when our church wanted to reach out to our neighborhood (we met in a house church setting)..to let them know that we weren't nuts, nor were we dangeous...:) we were just really serious about the Lord and having the church in our city. We invited people from all the churches we knew who were like us and we all met up in our neighborhood one Sat. morning. We had planned a weekend of meetings at the local highschool and had already invited the neighborhood through flyers, radio ads, etc. Now we took it to the streets. We prayed in the front yard of one of the saints then with banners and poster signs in hand we began marching down the streets of our neighborhood toward the highschool for our first meeting. There were probably about 100 of us and we sang as we went. It was a bright fall day with crispy air and the strength of numbers gives you courage so we sang loud and strong. Many of our neighbors waived as we passed by. It was a beautiful thing...right up until we got almost to the school...suddenly the police arrived...one of our neighbors had called them...and some of them came out on the street to yell at us and shout obscentities at us...but guess what? We had permits and had done everything rightly so the police proceeded to protect us rather than remove us...:) They escorted us into the highschool and advised our unruly neighbors to depart.

Later that day and on through the weekend different neighbors tentatively came into our meetings. They were able to see for themselves that we posed no threat to the neighborhood and actually served the same God many of them did.

Was anyone saved that weekend, you ask? Well not unless you count the brothers and sisters in the church there. The messages preached that weekend became the ground work for a deep move of God in that church. For years afterward the saints there and those who had joined us that day referred back to those meetings as a beginning reference point for an entire eyeopening journey in Christ. (the Lion and His Lioness)..and we had the added benefit of now being "public" in the community...no longer hidden but a light set on a hill. Personlly I will never forget the experience nor what God did that weekend in me, in my children, in my church family. It was deep, powerful, and lasting...and as long as those of us who were there tell the story...well ...you see my point?

This is just one testimony of God's amazing greatness...and I am encourged myself just hearing it again.

So I'm issuing a challenge to you...think back to some times that God has been faithful in your life...to some times when he has moved in you or your family or your situation...remember how good He was then or how miraculously He intervened. Now tell me about it. I don't want to hear about lepers in Africa being healed...I want to hear about something first hand. You can write it here or you can do a post of your own and drop me a line to let me know..but I'd love to see this practice reinstated in the church...the practice of His saints reminding themselves of Who God is, what He has done and just How faithful He really is.

Let us remember... Let us declare our Lord!

...and then let us tell it to our children's children and write it on the doorposts of our hearts!

In the News

I don't know about you but I am very disturbed by the situation happening over in Texas with the 400+ children being taken into protective custody. I know and agree that we as a society must protect the innocent among us and we cannot tolerate physical or sexual abuse of children, that goes without saying. However removing over 400 children from the only life they have ever known as well as their mothers with no evidence of abuse other than the testimony of a 16 yr old who cannot be found and the perception that these people are weird...well this is very distrubing to me. It is a very strange situation but there has to be a better way to handle it. If homeschooling is wrong then many of my friends could be in danger of losing their kids, if wanting to isolate your children from this world is wrong, then many a movie star should be scrutinized for keeping their kids behind walls and bars and having nannies and governesses to shelter their kids from the world. Just because these people are different, are isolated, are naive to our modern world, doesn't make them child abusers. These kids are isolated and naive to our culture, they don't know TV or video games or even dolls and crayons! Their very culture may define abuse but no one knows yet if these things they are accused of are true...and in the mean time hundreds of kids have to be being traumatized by the very government trying to protect them! There has to be a better way!
I heard today that the men of the compound have offered to leave if the government will allow the mothers and children to return to the compound with social workers and guards to watch over them there. This seems like a reasonable idea to me, comfortable familiar surroundings...safe and secure in the only world they have ever known. I realize that no matter what your beliefs, if they transgress the laws of the land, you are subject to those laws and we cannot allow even religious beliefs to cross certain lines... so this must be sorted out... but it is a very difficult situation for everyone involved - parents, children and government officials as well.
There really does have to be a better way! I'm praying someone finds it, I'm praying for everyone involved.

April 18th update:
The state is apparently bringing testimony that several minor girls under the Tx marrying age of 16 either are pregnant or they have given birth before the legal age. From what I am hearing there was/is more concrete evidence of the practice of marrying underaged girls off to older men or men in general with or without the girls' consent other than the sixteen year girl's testimony. This is, of course, unacceptable. Children need protection and either their mothers are unable or unwilling to provide that protection so I would think the state has no choice. So sad.

Guess what?

My youngest daughter started school today! Hooray! She is enrolled in a Dental Assisting program and can go on into Dental Hygiene if she wants..and she wants..it is what she has been interested in for a long time. So glad she's finding a path!
...And to celebrate...
she and I are going here

How cool is that?!?

Proud Mama

He did it !!

Now to get him to shave that beard...:)

In the Motherhood

if you haven't seen this hysterical web show called
In the Motherhood...you have to!
Taken from real life stories from real life moms, each webisode is about 7 minutes long and they are So funny.

Dinner Conversation...

Jada (to her mom) " That Gigi is a special lady....

cause her window goes all the way down"

Gigi (overhearing) "Well that certainly makes me dang special!"

Jada - "and beavers build dams"

Poppi - "That's great cause Gigi being a special lady and beavers building dams goes together. What makes you so funny?"

Jada - "I learned it on Curious George"

The Jersey Boys

If you haven't heard...they've taken the story and songs of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and created a huge Broadway hit. If you get a chance to pick up this CD or see the show...

DO IT!

Its absolutely fabulous!

Jesus' Day

"Jesus' Day"..as Jada says....perhaps more than any other day today is Jesus' Day...yes Christmas is important...He had to be born...yes, Good Friday is important, He had to die...but Hallelujah for Resurrection day!!!!..without it all that prefaced it would have been useless.

Hallelujah!!!

He is alive...without the resurrection...our faith is in vain...

Thank you, Lord for living ..for living in heaven, for living in your Father....for living in the earth through your church...for living in me!

Hallelujah you LIVE!

Taxes

They are done and boy am I glad! I get back all those business losses...:)
I have no time for deep thoughts these days...sorry...

Barlow Girl- Enough

LIF
Lyrics I feel....

All of you, is more than enough for, all of me,

For every thirst and every need,

You satisfy me, with your love,

And all I have of you is more than enough.

You’re my supply, my breath of life,

still more awesome than I know,

You’re my reward, worth living for,

still more awesome than I know.

Love these lines from the Chris Tomlin song

"Enough" I keep hearing them over and over in my head

"still more awesome than i know"

Amen to that!

I have friends who are published!!

Does everyone know that AmyDeanne over at 160 Acre Woods has just published her new book? Way to go AmyDeanne!! I'm thrilled just to know her...and the book is really cool too!

Check it out!

Some stuff going on...

Got a few things going on around here...

Hubby is exploring creative opportunities...lets just leave it at that...

(Jada saw this pic and said "there's Poppi and his little Penelope...that's me!") :)

Daughter got promoted and we are all adjusting to an immediate schedule change requiring lots of nites with Jbear.

Jadabear has learned how to play games on the computer via PBSkids.org .

Gran has been away for several weeks...she's coming home this weekend...for a couple weeks anyway...hooray!

Bekaboo is bringing her!! Hooray! and maybe her hubby too!!

Firstborn is leaving the Toasters...on his last few gigs with them now...he's finishing his MBA and looking to use it.

Me...well I'm still plugging away at this business thang....I'm not too terribly motivated just now so its kinda slow going...but I'm still at it....I try to devote at least 10 minutes per day to thinking on it..usually while I'm in the tanning bed...:)

Planning a winter getaway with hubby in a couple of weeks...to south Florida...yeah...now we're talkin...then I can lie on the beach and think on this business thang....

I think we've decided...

I think we'll be exchanging this

for V day...reminds me of the last time I did this....

:)





Wed update:
Oh yes, I forgot to mention that we'll be going here as well...:)...and you thought we weren't being very romantic...(smiling to myself...)

Ideas please...

V Day is coming up soon...any sweet, preferably a bit unique, ideas I can use?..for my hubby that is...:)

I don't do valentines for the kids...:) they have to get their own...:)

Amazin' ain't it?

I've been in a few church meetings lately and I'm struck by and even amused by what passes for "prophecy" these days...then again it makes me kinda sad that God's people need SO much encouragement to believe Him for even the simplest things. With that thought...here are some really good prophecies for 2008 sent to me via email.

THE TOP TEN PREDICTIONS FOR 2008
1. The Bible will still have all the answers.
2. Prayer will still work.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move.
4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
8. There will still be room at the Cross.
9. Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost.


and the email I received with these predictions included this pearl of wisdom...perhaps the deepest thing said...
"God whispers in your soul and speaks to your mind. Sometimes when you don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at you. It's your choice: Listen to the whisper, or wait for the brick
I hate that brick!!!!" LOL Gotta agree wholeheartedly with that one! :)

PS I realize this post sounds cynical...its not really...

Judges of all things...

I flipped my bible open to Judges this morning...can you believe that? Judges, of all places! Guess that's what you get when you "flip" open scripture...:)

You know what? I read stuff I don't ever remember reading or hearing before...it was all about the time in the early days of the Israelites settling in the promised land....they sort of wondered around and did as they pleased...and some of it was terrible..they made war and killed unsuspecting villiagers and kidnapped women and consulted priests on the mind of the Lord...one guy actually hired a priest, made an ephod and a teraphim and then made a couple of graven images too, just to cover all his bases, then some members of another tribe came along and stole them...all of them including the priest...?? What was up with that? and somehow God still actually directed them and blessed them...even in their misguidedness...because they were the children of Israel....yet repeatedly its says two things in the passages of scripture that I was reading..it says..."In those days there was no king in Israel"...and it also says "every man did that which was right in his own eyes". Of course I've heard numerous sermons on this subject however this time I was very struck by those two things.

To me it is obvious that the one is very dependent on the other...it seems to me that because there was no king in Israel, every man did that which was right in his own eyes....they tried pretty hard actually to do whatever it was they thought they were supposed to do...and God actually blessed them and their efforts...but it was a very sad effort indeed...almost humorous if you could overlook the death and destruction that followed everywhere. It was strongly implied that things would be different with a king in charge.

The arrival of The King certainly changes everything... even though we may dwell in the place He has led us and are trying really hard, crying out to Him for help and advice...(He may even have bailed us out a few times...He is very merciful that way, you know...)

Still, having The King reigning supreme is the thing that is truly necessary. Having Him in charge relieves us of the necessity of doing what is right in our own eyes.....His eyes replace ours...it frees us to simply live under His banner. How incredible is that!?!

I'm so thankful I don't have to figure it all out myself...that is His job!

Boy did I get an eyefull flipping open to Judges like that!

Regrets

I'm having a few regrets here...ever have any of those?
My Princess is making some things very clear to me...I see it now...The way I spent more time ordering her mommy around than playing Barbies with her...the way I loved to read..to myself that is...but treated reading to her like a chore...and hence she regarded reading as a chore...still does...the way I shushed and shooed her and her siblings away and rarely ever had time for romps in the yard or fort building under the dining room table...but always had time for correcting and chastising and making sure the teeth were brushed and the toys put away...growing up with me as a mom certainly had its drawbacks...and I see them all now so clearly...routine and order and staying within the lines...God help me...I see it all ...a harsh and rigid picture.
If we only knew then what we know now..right?
I know, I know, I shouldn't be so hard on myself...I had 3 kids, I had to keep house and make dinners and lunches and do laundry, monitor homework and drive to baseball and ballet....it all seems like a dream now...was I really just getting by to get by...marking time til "one day" ? Keeping order for God knows what? It surely looks that way...
I am impressed with how sad that really is...how wasted so much of it is and how you never really "get" things til its too late...(why is that?)
I think it has something to do with original sin. Not that I wasn't a believer...I was...and trying so very hard...but this is a perfect illustration of how Adam's screw up has affected me..he screwed up..and infected his kids..then they screwed up and infected theirs and so on all the way to me...so I followed suite and screwed up my kids..no matter how hard I tried I had no chance of doing it right...
But thank the Lord, that's not me now...not that I'm completely liberated from the effects of sin...not quite yet...:) but I have come to understand that today is all we really have...everything changes and life slips away very quickly...as King Solomon said life truly is "just a vapor" and one day "poof" its gone. Thank God mine isn't gone just yet...I still can redeem the time...My Princess is teaching me some valuable lessons and maybe things will be different this time...for her and her cousins to come, at least as far as I'm concerned...that really is why they call it grand, you know...its like a second chance... a chance to right some of the wrongs you were too young and stupid to know were wrongs the first time around...a chance to move a little more slowly and savor the moments that life is made up of....maybe I still have time...time to smell a few flowers, read a few books...build a few forts...

The Princess....

The Princess...