Sorry my dearest blog!  I promise I have not forgotten you!      

My precious WEB LOG even though you may be feeling abandoned please know that you are in my thoughts daily.  It has just been a very consuming and challenging couple of weeks between Kevin being out of town, Mady being sick, Kevin returning home busier than ever, Kevin getting sick, both cars breaking down on the same day and on and on… 

But here is some food for thought…

“Watch over your heart [mind] with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23

My experience has been when life gets so hectic and overwhelming the mind tends to become the biggest battlefield!    Discouraging thoughts barrel right in like they own the place, demanding immediate attention and affection.    So I say, “be diligent, man the post, stay on guard!” Sometimes all it takes is a short sharp dagger of a scripture to renew. "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." John 16:33   

Or keep at it and try a whole chapter.  Isaiah 43 (a great Cassidy recommend!) 

 What about a whole book?   I just have to say one of the coolest things is knowing the whole book of Ephesians cause when I start quoting it out loud by chapter 4 the devil is long gone, he knows that I still have two chapters to go and if he keeps it up I will just repeat it and hammer him all over again! I just had to do another scripture memorization plug!  What can I say…? It has great benefit.  Would you rather hear me say it wasn’t worth the hard work and perseverance?  Well… I’m never gonna!!  It was soooooo worth it.     

Please don’t roll your eyes while reading this and say, “She makes it sound so easy to win the battle in the mind.” Believe me, I know it is not!  This is just a shout out to say endure… hold fast… faithful ones.

“But resist him, [the devil] firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” I Peter 5:9-10

Fun in Minnesota

 Kevin and Peter were very busy during their down time at the Desiring God Pastors Conference in Minnesota... 

Jesus Marveled

Marvel -  to be wondered at, to be had in admiration

And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented." Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another, 'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it." Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.” Matthew 8:5-10

I just love that Jesus marveled!  It is easy to read right pass that without pausing because we all marvel, but wait just a second... this is Jesus marveling, God in the flesh is saying…WOW!  Why did He marvel?  Because the centurion’s faith in Him was so great! Greater than anyone else in Israel!

Oh how I would love for Christ to look upon my heart and say,” WOW… you my child, have a faith that I hold in admiration.”  I can feel tears welling up in my eyes as I think about that.  Yes, I know that one day I will be completely sanctified in Christ and He who has begun a good work in me will have fully perfected my faith, but I am just thinking about today and asking Him to grow my faith because I just want Him to marvel again!

Jesus in Every Book of the Bible

I just had to share this with you.  Please excuse me as I type this with tears in my eyes.  How completely AWESOME is JESUS!!   About four years ago my husband was in a church planting meeting, where a group of men came together looking to start a church and people thought My husband was somewhat extreme about preaching Jesus.  Some of them said, "You can't preach Jesus from the old testament." Well my brothers this 11 year old just did!!

Mady Loves Her Bible

I just have to share this cute story about our little Madeleine.  A few days ago she started taking her little Bible with her everywhere like to bed, bath and beyond (lol).  And, “no” I wasn’t paid or perked for that name drop. (lol again)  Mady is only 20 months old so her bible isn't a King James Version or anything, it is a little book that  says” My first Bible” and it contains a few bible story’s.  While reading it to her I told her in a very dramatic voice that God said,” NO! NO!  Do not eat the apples from the tree" to Adam and Eve and when we get to Samson and Delilah I point at Delilah and say NO! NO! Don’t cut his hair!  (A funny side note here, when she looks at the picture of Samson knocking down the pillars, she says, “daddy!” I hope that doesn’t make me Delilah. YIKES!)  So this afternoon she was sitting on the potty browsing through her beloved bible, when all of the sudden I hear her yelling NO! NO! rather aggressively , so I headed right for the bathroom, quickly making my way down the hall, wondering what the fuss was all about.  What did I find?  Not a thing was wrong she was just yelling at Delilah, pointing her finger and everything.   She is so into this bible thing!  I love that she right away correlated, Mommy and Daddy have a bible and so do I, even though they look very different.   Our bibles are big, brown and leather and hers is very colorful and made of cardboard but somehow she still knows they are all bibles even though we never told her.

I guess I am excited because she is noticing that we seem to have our bibles with us a lot and she is trying to be like us.  She sees that we take them in the car, have them at church, use them in the morning and night and that daddy pretty much uses his all the time.  Even at this early age, she understands the Bible is important to us and I feel so blessed to be a good example, at least this one time, because most of the time I pray she doesn’t imitate the not so great things about me, which I fear she sees more than I like.  So now… my prayer is that she falls deeper in love with her bible everyday and of course I hope soon it will be big, brown and leather.

“Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments.  His descendants will be mighty on the earth!!...” Psalm 112:1-2a

Enjoy The Ride

It just completely boggles my mind how unpredictable life is! Isn’t it humorous how we still try to plan out everything even though it is completely obvious that we are not in control?  Total DENIAL!! While Kevin and I were out for a run this afternoon I starting thinking “I can’t believe I am running down this street toward that house.  I can’t believe we live here.  I never thought we would… ever!   I can’t even believe I’m even running.  I never thought I would… ever.  I can’t believe that somehow, someway, I am now a pastor’s wife.  I never even dreamed…ever.  I can’t believe I am a mother.  I never imagined….ever.”  I can’t even picture what tomorrow will be like because it is never what I plan or envision.  So while pondering all these things I remembered a verse “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.  Proverbs 19:21  Even though my life hasn’t turned out even close to what I planned I rejoice because I know His plans for me are so much better!    So I know I need to relax a little and enjoy the ride! [so to speak] 

Do you ever feel overwhelmed?  Of course you do… Right?  But what I want to talk about is that overwhelming feeling you experience when you know there is so much to be done and suddenly a loud voice begins to chant…,” You aren’t doing enough!”  I have this feeling a lot especially when it comes to ministry.  There is always a need.  I see so much ministry opportunity, so many things to do and so little time, I just want to help out in everything!  Can you relate?  Here are some examples…  You watch a movie about a missionary and then all you want to do is rush out of the country as fast as you can and save the world.  Or you see a documentary about adoption and now you have plans to adopt a whole orphanage.  Or perhaps someone you love is suffering and you are going to jump into action and save the day no matter what it takes!!  Ok, so these examples are somewhat extreme, but don’t we all go there at times?  Don’t get me wrong, I think all these feelings come out of a soft heart, and we should be open and ready for God to use us in any capacity He chooses, but sometimes we just have to take a step back and realize our limitations - God ordained limitations!  He gave us a physical body that needs nourishment and rest… and our bodies of course are aging and seem to slow down a bit every year.  He also gave 24 hours in a day and a chunk of those hours are to be spent with your head on a pillow!

  So what is my point?  Why am I blogging about this?  Well… with the New Year in full swing we are all busy and I think busyness should not be confused with Godliness.  (I am also writing this to myself, hoping that while I reread looking for spelling or punctuation errors, I may actually listen to my own lecture.)  I used to sprint around in circles thinking, "who am I? What should I be doing?  Where should I go?  How can I help?"  And if anyone told me I should do something I was  going to get it done!  After doing the precept upon precept study on spiritual gifts, I have begun to see things differently.  God has given me at least one gift maybe more and my focus should be to serve His church with what He gave me and stay focused and content.  I think allowing myself to feel overwhelmed and guilty, that I should be doing more, is often times a distraction so I lose my focus and don’t execute my gift. This gift is given to me from God Himself and backed with Holy Spirit power.  When I focus, trust God, and employ my gift, God moves and the devil loses ground!  I also have to remind myself what my current ministry is.  I will always have the same gift or gifts but my ministry may change from time to time.  So what is my ministry now?   What does God have for me today?   When Jesus was here on earth He didn’t set out to do everything but only the ministry God had for Him to do and He was completely satisfied and content in doing only that.  Check out John 17:4 “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.”   So I want to encourage us to stay focused on what God has for us today and trust Him because He can get work done without us!  I’m not talking to the video game addict or couch potato, who needs to stop wasting their life,  but I am trying to encourage those of us who will run our bodies mercilessly… you know who you are!  Saying no and trusting God is not at all unspiritual!

 Lastly, I  want to share this prayer I came across that Kay Arthur wrote…

“Father, help me only to listen to Your voice rather than pursuing self-imposed goals or giving into the demands of others.  Let me accomplish the work You have given me and then leave the rest in Your capable hands.”