"Why are you still seeking the worlds approval instead of mine?" ------ Love God!
Colossians 3:23-24
My thoughts for the day....
Blessings
Crystal
As I have went through the last couple of weeks, I have found more and more to be in prayer about. As a family, we are struggling right now to just let God have it all and not worry about it. I have several friends who are having marital problems and I cant stand to see them hurting. I have family members who are going through so many struggles.
I have found myself thinking about how I used to pray and talk to God like he was my best friend. I realized that I dont do that anymore.....or should I say didnt. I have thought about it seriously over the last few months. But never did...until the other night, I found myself in the shower (tmi I know) on my knees praying and talking to God. I was talking to Him like He was my best friend. And He is my best friend. He is....and that feels so good! So now, during this time when it feels like the world is crushing me, I have found myself on my knees alot....enjoying conversations with my Best Friend....
And you know what, all these problems that my friends and family and I have, dont look so bad anymore.......
Blessings
Crystal
In light of my Sisters Blogging break, just a bit of wisdom..
If you take a plate, (in my case, I need a huge plate..) a regular size dinner plate out of your cabinet. Put it on the table. Take a piece of paper, and cut 1x1 squares out of it. (I neede three pieces of paper). On these 1x1 squares, write what you have to do in your life...your day to day living. Such as , daily bible reading or as I call it, my quiet time. write down dishes, floors, laundry, homeschool if you do this, work if you go to work, write each kids name on a different square, write your spouses name on a square, groceries, bills, anyone that you visit on a regular basis, PTA meetings if your child is in school...homeschool coop, homeschool kids play day, moms night out, CHURCH!!!! hunting,
Anything that is considered a to do for you. write each item or person on a square....
Now take a piece of paper....write GOD on it in big bold letters. place this sheet on the plate...now pile all your 1x1 squares on top of the paper. Do they fall off of the plate? Can you still see GOD underneath everything? I couldnt.
Now take it all off except GOD. And slowly sort through them and put only the important ones on there....but make sure you can see GOD through it all.....
This was my new priorities....
Paul, Jack, Kylie, Alaina, Jason, House (this included laundry, dishes, cooking), playday, moms night out, mom, dad, mom2, dad2, CHURCH, hunting.
I could still see GOD through this...If I added one more thing, then I couldnt see God through it. So I stuck with this. If you are wondering why I put Church closer to the end, it is because our Church pretty much takes care of itself. Yeah we have activities. but I am not soley in charge of anything, we all work together to get stuff done. I put my parents and pauls parents on there because they are getting older and I feel I need to check up on them more often. God, Paul, the kids (which includes teaching them and being a mom,) take up most of my time. We have play day once a month and moms night out once a month. They dont take up that much time.
Jack is going to be getting married in January. So while I will still worry about him as any parent would, I wont have the sole responsibility for him anymore, so he will come off of my top priorities.....not saying I dont love him, but he wants to get out on his own and grow up and make his mistakes and learn from them. So I am going to try to let him. But with him off of my plate, does that mean I am going to add another one....no, I am going to use my extra time to spread out between the other priorities and myself....
So there, do this, see what all you have going. I wish I could remember where I found it but I cant so just trust me on this one....It is a real eye opener...
Blessigs
Crystal
I had a friend email this to me. I thought it was very sweet and true.
JUST FOR THE MOMS
This is long, but absolutely beautiful and I've never seen it before. To all you wonderful mom's, step-mom's, and just-like-a-mom's.
I'm invisible.
It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, "Can't you see I'm on the phone?" Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is it?" I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney Channel?" I'm a car to order, "Right around 5:30, please." I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going - she's going - she's gone! One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, "I brought you this." It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe . I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees." In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: * No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. * They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything. A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it." And the workman replied, "Because God sees." I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become." At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree. When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table." That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, "You're gonna love it there." As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.
Oh how true. God sees what we do every day whether we want him to or not. And everyday that we dont feel like anyone is noticing all that we did, God noticed. He is always watching. Watching us raise our Godly children in a Godly Christian home. I hope I am doing good enough for God not someone else.
Love and Prayers
Crystal
