Friday, August 18, 2006

Make it on my own, my own way...

Here is a quote from Christina Aguilera that a friend of mine passed to me and asked me what I think of her comments and how I would respond to them.

"I think there was something that was instilled in me in a really,really young age, probably far before I was even ten years old, just witnessing a lot of the abuse that had happened in my household when Iwas a child. I think that whole experience, instead of making me wantto repeat that cycle or cower down to a man and whatnot, it made mereally feel this sense of power to never ever want to feel helpless toa man, to never ever want to need to ask anyone for anything. I wasgoing to make do on my own in my own way, and I think really thatwhole experience really pushed me and drove me to be where I'm attoday, I really really do. I think a lot of the experiences and a lotof the hard times that I've gone through in growing up have helped to instill in me a drive to thrive off of the bad instead of stopping me and cowering down to anybody or anything."(source: http://www.christina-a.net/)

I think that these comments are all to characteristic of not only superstars but also of the girls and ladies that we are sitting beside in our churches today. There are so many women who have been hurt and abused and neglected by others so their response is to withdraw and decide that they will make it all on their own and that they don't need anyone else to help them. Oh, how this is not true.

The Lord has created us to be women and that is a good thing. We are created in such a way to be a help mate to our husbands ( Genesis 2). We are to compliment all that God has created our husbands to do and therefore we fulfill our roles as women. Just as we have very specific roles as women and we can fulfill them in a way that glorifies the Lord!

And this also includes single ladies!! I have several single friends right now who are embracing their God given role as a woman and they are serving their chuch wholeheartedly and working with other families to serve them while earnestly waiting for their own family or faithfully praying that the Lord would direct them to the next area of service in His church enabling them to fulfill their role as a single.

So to think that as a woman we are created to go at this life alone is a farce. We are created to be a helpmate by God the Creator. We are able to complete this role as a married woman through faithfully loving our husband and children and serving the church or as a single woman by faithfully loving the church and serving a family in the church as your own.

I pray that we are able to embrace the call to be true women. It is a blessing for sure!

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Passionate About Peanut Butter

What are you passionate about? What are the things that you long for? What are the things that fill up your sould to overflowing, that make you think with so much excitement and anticipation and excitement that they might couse you to throw up???

In Junior High School I had a Youth Minister that later became my Campus Minister, then the man who performed my wedding ceremony and now a man that we call friend and he would often ask us, "What are you passionate about? Please be passionate about something?? Most people are at least passionate about the kind of peanut butter they chose! Be passionate about something!!" I am sure at the time I was really and truthfully passionate about a 9th grade boy across the room!

But during the last two years as our family has endured many changes that have happened to us and ones that we have not chosen I have begun to pray the prayer, "God make me passionate! Give me a passion! Please Lord show me a passion like one I have never known before."

My husband and I and our at the time 2 yr old left for the mission field feeling that this was our passion for life. That God had set us on this path and that we would serve Him there for our short term with full intentions of extending for career, yet we were forced to return to the states by our sending agency due to unexpected illness. My unexpected illness. And that is a blog for another day. But we had always been so passionate for missions. And not that this has changed in our hearts, but we know that for now we are not going to be on the field but we will be serving the church in America.

So my prayer began in earnest, God give me a passion. And thankfully over this year, He has faithfully answered this prayer and He has begun to make me more passionate about His Word. I realize that I am nothing without it and that I can not sustain my life on my own without His sustaining grace. I am in need of the Word of Life.

I was recently talking to my friend, Lisa, and she said that a lady friend of hers rises before her children in the morning not out of the triteness of discipline but out of the shear desperation for the Word. Oh, that it may be with me. Oh, that I may be desperate and not just saying that I am disciplined.

While reading the Word, also, God has kindled in my heart the growing love for the fact that I am a woman! Imagine that! He created me to be a woman, to fulfill certain roles, and to glory in Him as I am going about doing just that and now my life seems more blessed.... Can that be? The more that I fulfill my role, the more my husband is able to fulfill his and therefore the more I am able to fulfill mine??? Yes, Lord! It can be because you created it that way.

I think I am blogging on about 10 different subjects in one. Forgive me please. Remember my first questions? I am passionate for the Lord and His Word, my husband and my children, serving the women in my church, and understanding more about what it is to be a Redeemed Daughter. All this spills ou of me as I continue to gush! I can't contain it because it is not from me, it is from the Lord. Thank you Lord for your Word, your will and your created order.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Sally, you are ruining my life!

The other day my 4 year old was gleefully playing with his 6 month old sister as he normally does. He had 2 different little homemade masks in his hands and he was holding one in front of his face and then the other and Sister was laughing hysterically. While my son was not paying close attention she caught hold of the mask closest to her. He went to raise it back in front of his face and it ripped! Horrors! So the next words that I hear from his mouth, "Sally, you are ruining my life!"

I must admit before entering the room to offer godly counsel I had to laugh and compose myself and wonder how many times between today and the rest of my life would I hear that statement. We often times see the small interruptions in our lives as ruining them. All that it took to repair the homemade mask was a small amount of glue and it was as good as new. But for the moment David could not see that his sister had not ruined his life, she just joined in the fun and accidentially torn the mask.

It is such an easy lesson to teach to my 4 year old but what about when it happens to me?

This lovely Saturday morning everyone was resting, the baby had already eaten and gone back down for a quick nap, and my son was sitting on the bed beside me watching cartoons. I was enjoying the morning dozing off into those extra moments of sleep that all moms can only dream about! When I noticed my son beginning to lean over and whisper things like, "Are you going to sleep forever? Mom, look at the commercial! Hey! Mom! Can we get the extra fruity crazy cereal next time we are at the grocery?"

So, I in the most terrible way slammed back the covers ( if covers can be slammed!) and I marched down to the basement where my husband was relaxing and I began to rant to him about how angry I was that David was interrupting my life! That our son talks too much! That he always wants me to listen to him! That he is so consummed with commercialism!

My husband just starred at me as he is famous for doing because he is the one that never jumps to conclusions, I am. He is the one who always thinks before he speaks, I am not. He allowed me to finish my statements and then watched me march back upstairs without a word. I wonder if he had to regain his composure before he came to offer me godly counsel? I wonder if he thought how many more times will I hear her say things like this before I go to eternity?

All in all, my selfishness and love for control is something that I must approach the throne of grace about so that I do not continually live in this sin. I can not help my 4 year old to understand the concepts of the grace he must offer his sister because of the grace that is offered to us by Christ alone if I am slamming covers and ranting about how David is ruining my life!

I confess that I must be about the confession and repentance of my sin in order to teach and nurture my children in the same way. Because often the sin we see in them is the sin that is prevelant in us.

Friday, August 11, 2006

My first blog!

Today is a new day in my life! I am posting my first blog ever! I thought that I would allow this era to pass me by but after some threats over email from my most technologically savvy friend (ALCW) I decided to join the blogging world. Yet, I knew that I did not want my time to be in vain so I have thought for many days how I would spend my blog time... So here it goes... thoughts on what it means to be a Redeemed Daughter of the King. I wish that I could say that I was the the brilliant lady who came up with this concept but alas I am not. I must give all credit to Susan Hunt, the brilliant author who has begun, whether she is aware of it or not,(and I am quite sure that she is not!) to spiritually mother me through her books like The True Woman and Leadership for Women in the Church.
What an exciting day! But for now I must go and tend to my children. Have a blessed day.