Thinking of my King. And a rocking chair.

A few weeks ago I closed my eyes and thought about my God.

My Father.

His love for me and me being with Him.

And what did I see?

This big huge rocking chair at Country's Barbecue:

When I was a little kid we would go to this restaurant and climb up into the chair.

It was fun, of course and I enjoyed it.

I remember climbing from the ground, up the side of the chair,

all the way into the seat - it was SO high!

Well, as I closed my eyes and just thought of God's love for me,

I pictured Him as big as this chair.

He was sitting and I was climbing up His leg, into His lap,

just like I did on that chair at Country's Barbecue.

And when I got into His lap, I was so little,

I could just sit there in perfect peace,

knowing that I was fully loved

and completely protected

by the God Who made me and loves me.

That's where I always want to be.

A child of the King, rocking in the arms of my Daddy.

Become a fan of Country's Barbecue here. Which is where I found the picture : )

Change of Faith Week 1 Review

So, this is the end of the week of my new plan to walk in faith.

It wasn't too bad *smile*

On Tuesday I was called about a possible temporary job offer and I had to let them know for sure by Wednesday morning. I thought about it, prayed about it, tried to figure out what to do, and then decided I'd tell them what dates I was available and see if that worked for them. Well, Wednesday morning rolled around, I told them when I could work, they said my dates didn't work for them, so, end of story. When I hung up the phone I realized that I had been stressing over that whole job issue since the day before. Not good. If I trust God to direct and guide my steps, if I really trust Him, then there is no place for worry.

Fears may come and go, but I will not live my life out of a place of fear. Life is too short to be held back by lies. I will walk ahead in truth and joy and peace!

Day 2 of Change of Faith

This morning Irish left before the kids were awake. He's going to be gone for 2 nights. I saw him off as he rode his scooter for the first time. I turned into the house and checked on the sleeping ones before going back to bed. And as I looked at them I found myself thinking, "I sure hope everything goes okay while he's gone."

And almost instantly a whisper in my Spirit reminded me that even though my husband is gone, I am not alone. My God was with me while Irish was here, my God is still with me while he is away.

It's nice to have him around - to have someone to share the responsibility with, etc. But I can't put my hope and trust in him. That's too much pressure for him and not much faith for me.

So, I will trust in the God I can't see and realize that He is taking care of us - all the time.

Day 1 of change of FAITH

For day 1 I was made aware of at least 4 times when I was living in fear, instead of faith.

One specific instance was when we were supposed to be leaving the house at 1230 to meet someone. It was 12 and there was no way we were all going to be ready to leave by then. I was stressing out and running around like crazy when I suddenly realized that I was letting worry control me. I reminded myself of the truth - we didn't have to meet the guy at a specific time, he was flexible and nothing was important or urgent. So, I didn't need to stress about that. Wow, that totally helped me relax.

Later in the day we were driving and we all smelled a really bad, messed-up-car smell. The first thing I thought was, "Oh, I hope that's not our car. We don't have the money to get it fixed if it is and what if it breaks down right here on the freeway? What will we do?" Etcetera. I almost immediately realized I was being too fearful about it all and reminded myself of the rational truth - if our car broke down, someone would help us get home and God would provide a way for us to drive around. That's all there is to it. Trust God to be faithful because He is.

Later in the evening, we went to eat with someone and the woman mentioned something about fear and faith. I told her what God had shown me about fear and my kids and wanting to change and she encouraged me by saying that "the Holy Spirit is faithful to show us what we need to know to help us change." Awesome : )

p.s. By the way, the car smell wasn't from ours! : )

For He has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrews 13:5

My 30 Day Challenge to trust my Father God

I want to trust my Maker with my heart, my life, everything.

It's hard to put your hand into the hand of Someone you can't see.

It's difficult to keep taking steps forward when you aren't hearing the voice of Someone guiding you.

It's not easy to live your life to the tune of another world you don't see, when most everyone around you is living their life by what they see and hear and feel.

Especially when there aren't rules to how to live this life. I can try to make rules for it, but then I end up living in religion. Living by the law. Which is what I did my whole life. It's freeing to live by the Spirit, but also difficult and confusing for me to figure out what that looks like!

(I want to be like a baby, with COMPLETE peace and assurance in my Daddy.)

I'm quite sick of living in so much fear. Fear of what I will do if this happens, or what I should do if that happens. It's just wondering and worrying about the stupid little word IF.

I've lived in a ridiculous amount of fear since I was little, I've said I was sorry, tried to not live that way, and did it yet again. But, when I see my children reacting and responding out of fear, that really bothers me. This is not something that I want to pass on to them. Yes, I may be confused about how to live my life, but I don't want them to grow up with confusion, doubt, etc. I want them to start out with the peace that I am still searching for.

And the thought occurred to me, "It takes 21 days to break a habit."

I grew up living in fear. It is a way of life for me. I can repent of it all I want, but something has to change. I have to learn how to live differently.

So, I'm going to take a 30 day challenge. I am going to try to make myself completely aware of all of the times throughout the day when I am tempted to fear. Instead of listening to the lie of fear, I will replace it with the truth.

Because the truth is that Every good and perfect gift is from above. The truth is that God wants good things for us. The truth is that God wants us to live in victory HERE ON EARTH. The truth is that God will work everything into good. The truth is so much more than I am able to grasp right now.

My view of God is that He can do everything and anything, but He doesn't want to do it for me. He might step in and help me if He thinks I REALLY, REALLY, need it, but He wants me to figure out everything for myself. But that's not true! I want to quit living life realistically. I want to quit being self-reliant. I want to walk in faith and live by the Spirit. Exciting, fun, and a huge adventure.

Here I go...................................Day One starts...............NOW!!!!!!!!

Thanks to pdphoto for the photo.

Passover and Easter and Family Traditions

Now that my oldest is 5, I'm really starting to think about traditions and why we celebrate what we celebrate. I had a lot of traditions growing up, my husband had next to none. So, it makes me really think about what I want to do with my kids; they are at the age where they will remember what went on during the holidays.

Thinking about this past weekend of Easter was interesting. Easter is a holiday that is traditionally celebrated by the church as the day of Jesus' resurrection. Many "church people" are offended that Americans celebrate it as a bunny day, easter egg hunt day, etc. However, a couple of hundred years ago, the Puritans didn't celebrate Easter at all - it was determined that it was a pagan holiday. Because that's what it was originally. Christians in other countries were actually killed if they celebrated the Passover and they were ordered to celebrate Easter instead.

I didn't celebrate the Jewish holidays when I was a child and I don't plan to celebrate them all now; however, the Passover is a very amazing holiday. If one can truly understand the culture and holidays and traditions of the people of Jesus' life, it is AMAZING how much more clearly it is to see that Jesus is the Messiah.

I don't think there is any point to dressing up in fancy clothes, going to church, and having an easter egg hunt. We didn't even go to church this year for Easter though we did make resurrection cookies and have friends over for a good meal. I want our traditions to be centered around fun and friends and family and relationships.

Jesus' death and resurrection completely restored our relationship with our Father God and provided a way for us to be a friend with Him once again. For this reason, I want to start celebrating Passover. Small, large, with friends, with just the family at home - I'm not going to be a stickler about tradition, but I do want to celebrate Jesus, my Passover Lamb. And if we end up doing an easter egg hunt every so often, and eating ham and potato salad on Easter, so be it.

In regards to the Passover, I'm just going to mention a few incredible things about the crucifixion of Jesus and the Passover Lamb. This is from Chuck Pierce and Robert Heidler.

1. The Passover Lamb had to be selected on the 10th day of the 1st month. During Jesus' time, the Passover lambs were born in Bethlehem and led to Jerusalem by the Mount of Olives and through the sheep gate. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, went to the Mount of Olives, and entered Jerusalem through the sheep gate on the 10th day of the 1st month.

The people chose Jesus as the Messiah and Passover Lamb as they waved palm branches and shouted "Blessed is He that comes in the name of the LORD! Save us, Son of David!"

2. The Lamb had to be examined. Only an umblemished, spotless, perfect lamb was chosen for the Passover. While Jesus was in Jerusalem, He was thoroughly examined - He was asked many trying questions by teachers of the Law. They tried over and over to trap Him but they admittedly could find no fault, no blemish in Him.

3. During Passover the people had to cast all the leaven out of their house. The leaven represented impurity. When Jesus was in Jerusalem, He purged the house of God completely of the moneychangers. He cleaned out His Father's house.

4. The Passover Lamb was taken to the altar for public display. This occurred on the 14th day of the 1st month. Everyone saw the lamb on the altar. Jesus was nailed to the cross and lifted for everyone to see of the 14th day of the 1st month.

5. The Lamb was killed at 3 p.m. every Passover. One priest blew a shofar at the temple, another priest killed the lamb and said, "It is finished!" Jesus was on the cross on the day of Passover and at 3 p.m. He cried out, "It is finished!" and gave up His Spirit. That phrase, "It is finished," means, "The debt has been paid in full."

Thank You, Jesus, for being My Passover Lamb and restoring me to fellowship with my Father and Creator. I love You.

Thanks to www.pdphoto.org for the image. :)