blessings

the other sunday pastor cook told us how God blesses us when he speaks to us through his word.

wow.  that struck me.  

i usually think of a blessing as all the other things, sunshine, children, a home, comfy bed.

it's him, his word, that's a blessing. it's my daily relationship and encounter with him that is the blessing, it's hearing from him and all that he wants to tell me.  when i read his word i find - truth, heart changing, directing, encouraging, correcting, eye opening, love, wisdom, promises,

words full of blessings.

i've heard this all my life, i sing it to my girls,

 read your bible and pray everyday and you'll grow, grow, grow.

and i do, most days, but i got to a point where if i wasn't really digging into the word, studying it, or feeling changed by it right then and there that i thought i wasn't doing it right.  i must not be focused enough, i must not have it figured out, i'm failing at my time in the word.

then i read this

"do not think you are getting no good from the bible, merely because you do not see that good day by day.  the greatest effects are by no means those which make the most noise and are most easily observed.  the greatest effects are often silent, quiet and hard to detect at the time they are being produced."

light bulb, so really you're saying all i need to do is read.

just read.

soak up the word.

fill my heart and mind with his word.

"there may be far more doing than you think in your soul by your bible-reading"

(j.c. ryle, practical religion, 136)

wow.

just read amanda.

the Lord is working in you, he is blessing you through his words.

Happy Easter

 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;

John 11:25

working in me

I've been {hopefully} better at listening to the Lord's prompting, since the whole eye opening experience I had when my car broke down.

And guess what I think he's prompting me to do...

tell about how I experience Him in my life.

He is real, He is alive, and He is working in me.

I've thought of this before, but haven't done it, at least not on the blog.

I've thought about how I want the girls to know me in a deeper way when they go back and read through my blog one day.

I think about how I love to hear how the Lord is working in other people's life and wouldn't it be great if today I had a book that my mom had kept, a journal of how the Lord worked in, healed, strengthened, and molded her.  It would be such a treasure.

I wrote out a post just this week on a question Abigail asked me and how surprised I was when at church on Sunday the pastor said part of my answer in his sermon, I thought wow, it's amazing to see the Lord working and orchestrating events and conversations in my life.  But still, in my hesitation I decided not to post it.

  Then this week I woke up and read a devotion that gets emailed to me from Internet Cafe.  The first few lines really spoke to me.  That's why I'm not posting it, I'm afraid.  I'm afraid I'll say the wrong thing, I'm afraid I wont be a good testimony.  But I shouldn't be, the Lord wants me to be open, the Lord wants me talk about him, the Lord wants me to share how he is working in me and making himself known to me.

So, I'm going to.

As I'm typing this post, the girls just came in and are listening to music, singing and dancing.  Abigail said, "let's listen to my favorite song, Great God."

 The lines in the song are speaking to me, how perfect that they came in right now to sing this song!

We wont stop till the whole world knows, you're a great God, great God

All the earth will see that you're a great God!

This is what I'm talking about!  It's even in these little moments I see Him working.

The Good News!

This morning, Ash started singing ...

Who's the king of the jungle?

Who's the king of the sea?

Who's the king of the universe?

and who's the king of me?

His name is J-E-S-U-S

Jesus!

He's the King of the jungle

He's the King of the sea

He's the King of the universe 

and He's the King of me.

She's been singing this song for a couple of weeks now, she says it's her favorite.

But this time after she sings it, I listen to a prompting in my heart and ask her if she wants to pray and make Jesus the King of her life and she responds with a very excitedly yes.

So we pray together and Ash thanks God for sending his son to die on the cross for her sins, she asks Him to wash away her sin and make her heart white and then she asks him to live with her in her heart forever.

When she finished she looked at me and I was a mess, a mess of joyful tears ran down my face.  I told her that she'd always have Jesus to help her and how happy I was that we would be in heaven together and then we named those we know will be there with us too. 

(if you ask her about it, she does a pretty funny reenactment of her mother crying. ha)

We hug and then start calling family to tell them the good news.

I finally decide to take a shower and get ready for the day.

I stand in the shower and praise God.

(I do a lot of praying in the shower)

I thank him for opening her eyes.

I thank God for filling her heart with songs of praise.

And I thank Him for her child like faith.

Then I loose it. I start sobbing.

I just remembered - that recently I started asking and praying that the Lord would bring someone into my life, or make me aware of an opportunity where I could share the gospel.

Thank you Lord!

We love you Ashlynn Faith.  There is no greater gift than the gift of receiving Christ as your Savior.  We look forward to watching you grow in your relationship with Him and to witnessing the work He will do through you for His glory.