Wait

WAIT 
What a hard answer that is to any of our prayers.  Yet, God does give us that answer often.  Even though it is hard, we can learn the most by this word.  I have had to wait for many things in life.  I was 27 when I got married - WOW am I ever thankful that I waited for the man God had for me.  My hubby is WONDERFUL!!!  We tried for 5 years before we had our first child.  Each of our boys are very special!!  Even though waiting was hard, I would NEVER go back and take the waiting away.  We learn SO much when we wait, and seek God for answers. 

Isaiah 30:18
And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

The word for always gets me.  There are many verses that say "wait on the Lord", but this verse says "wait FOR" Him.  He truly has a purpose in our waiting.  Here is a great verse that given to me during our "waiting" years that meant and means a lot to me.  It puts waiting in perspective.

W  A  I  T

By Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried:

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.

I pled and wept for a clue to my fate . . .

And the Master so gently said, “Wait,”

“Wait? You say wait?” my indignant reply.

“Lord, I need answers.  I need to know why!

Is your hand shortened?  Or have you not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I’m claiming your Word.

My future and all to which I relate hangs in the balance,

And you tell me to Wait?

I’m needing a ‘yes,’ a go-ahead sign.

Or even a ‘no,’ to which I’ll resign.

You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,

We need but to ask, and we shall receive.

Lord, I’ve been asking, and this is my cry:

I’m weary of asking!  I need a reply.”

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,

As my Master replied again, “Wait.”

So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,

And grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting . . . for what?”

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . .

And He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign. 

I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.

I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.

You’d have what you want, but you wouldn’t know Me.

You’d not know the depth of My love for each saint.

You’d not know the power that I give to the faint.

You’d not learn to see through clouds of despair;

You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there.

You’d not know the joy of resting in Me

When darkness and silence are all you can see.

You’d never experience the fullness of love

When the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove. 

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,

But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of My comfort late into the night,

The faith that I give when you walk without sight.

The depth that’s beyond getting just what you ask

From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

You’d never know should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.

Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,

But oh, the loss, if you missed what I’m doing in you.

So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of gifts is to truly know Me.

And though oft My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer all is still . . . Wait.”

I pray this has been a blessing to you.

A song to encourage

A friend shared this song on her blog and I decided to do the same.  I pray it is a blessing to you.

Verse for the battle

Each day we battle against the enemy.  The battles come in many forms.  Most days my battle is my own sin and weakness.  I so often live in the flesh rather than in the Spirit.  Some times we feel attacks from others.  No matter the battle we face the Lord has given us many weapons.  66 books to be exact.  I am SO thankful for God's Words to get me through the day.

The verse I needed today. The whole chapter really is wonderful.
Psalm 121:1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

Unanswered prayers?

I have heard this term many times in my life.  Unanswered prayers  But does God really leave them unanswered? Jeremiah 33:3  says "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."  That verse says "I will answer".  God gives us one of 3 answers to our prayers - yes, no, or wait.  Personally I really like the YES, the other two not so much. Just as when my children ask a question, they always want a yes answer, we are that way with God.  But he often knows that NO is a better answer for us.  The verse continues on to say "and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."   We many not always physically see the great and mighty things.  Through our 5 years of infertility we prayed and prayed not knowing why we had to wait for 5 years, but now with our 3 precious boys we see the great and mighty of their lives.  I still don't fully see the reason that we waited.  I do have confidence in knowing God was in control then and still is.  I have seen some of why in being able to help others going through the same thing.  I was talking to a friend yesterday and in a story she was telling me this came to mind.  She and her family live in a small apartment and they have been praying for awhile for a bigger place.  Just recently she thought for sure she had found it, and they began praying for God to allow them to purchase this home.  She said she was getting discouraged that God had left her prayer "unanswered" until she saw something yesterday.  They live in NW Ohio where there is often flooding, just a few years ago they lost just about everything in a flood.  Yesterday she drove by the house she was praying to be able to purchase.  She began to laugh as she saw it, it was completely flooded.  It was exciting to be able to see the why for God's NO answer.  He protected their family from being flooded again.  After we talked, I began thinking of the times in my life that God had put road blocks in my path to show me a NO answer and I knocked them down and plunged my way through.  When we do that, there are often bad outcomes.  I am praying that I will remember that sometimes the "great and mighty things" are often unseen and I need to trust in God's mighty hand and knowledge that NO is really best for me.

Milestones

     You may look at this picture and wonder what it is or you may think it is an odd picture to put on my blog. This picture represents a milestone in my life.  For the first time in 7 years I no longer have a changing table in my home.  This dresser/changing table combination was purchased for us by my parents before Spencer was born and he will be 7 next month.  The Lord has shown us that Trenton is to be our last and he is now potty trained so we don't need the changing pad any more - a bittersweet day. 
     As I thought about the fact that my children are growing up and I no longer have any babies in our home, it really got me thinking about our Christian life.  When we become a christian we are called babes in Christ  1Peter 2:2 says "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: "  When I looked this verse up the part that caught my attention was "that ye may grow".  We would be very concerned about our children if as a baby they didn't gain weight, grow, or develop properly.  But what about our spiritual "body"?  Am I really growing?  Do I desire to grow? Then I started thinking, how do I grow? A baby needs milk, and our milk is God's Word.  Reading and studying the Bible, and going to a Bible preaching church can all feed us.  At first as I thought about it, I thought oh yes I do all those things.  Then, I got to thinking am I eating more today than I did a year ago.  As a baby grows they go from just milk to mashed foods to solid foods.  Have I progressed in my "eating"?  Our church gets a monthly devotional book that is based on the King James Bible and it is a very good one, but lately I have caught myself just reading that small passage and story.  The Lord has convicted me to REALLY study more.  As we want our children to grow and keep growing, we also need to continue growing spiritually.  We would be concerned if suddenly our children lost some of the skills they have and regress.  Yet, as Christians we allow ourselves to regress.  I once heard a description of what it means to be a backslider. The pastor said "If you have ever been closer to God than you are today then you are backslidden."  I got to thinking about that last night and it really convicted my heart to get in His Word more and draw closer to Him than I was yesterday. 
     I think this blog is going be a mixture of my thoughts and what God is teaching me.  My prayer is that others will be encouraged by the things the Lord lays on my heart to write. 

My family

I would like you to meet my family.
The handsome man in the picture is my wonderful husband Doug.  We have been married almost 12 years.  The Lord gave me the perfect man for me.  He drives school bus, but his true devotion is to his position as Associate/Youth Pastor in our church.   It is exciting to be married to a man who has committed to serve God with his whole heart.
The 3 little men in my life are very precious.  Spencer is the oldest, followed by Raymond, and Trenton.
Spencer is almost 7 and is my 1st grader.  It is such a joy to watch him learn each day.  The greatest joy lately has been his success with Arithmetic.  He was struggling and seems to be getting it now.  He is also growing daily in the Lord and that is the truest joy we can have.
Raymond is 4 and will be in Kindergarten next year.  We have been learning our letters and numbers this year and next year we will jump into school. He has such a sweet loving spirit. He is my hugger.  At church, everyone knows that he will give them a hug.
Trenton is 2 and FULL of energy.  He keeps me busy trying to keep him out of mischief.  He has a funny personality and keeps us laughing.  I am sure I will share many stories of him getting into things.

I have the joy of taking care of these 4 men.  I stay home and take care of them and homeschool our boys.  I have many hobbies and things I enjoy to do.  I am sure I will share many things in the days to come.

A new venture

This is something I have wanted to do for awhile and just never tried so here goes.  I want this to be a blessing to others and to glorify God.  The Lord does SO much in my life daily as a wife, mother, and Christian that I want to share it with others.  We shall see how this goes. I am working on a real first blog that I hope to add later.