Greater Things

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”   John 14:12

I have been pondering the enormity of this verse for the past couple of months.  I cannot even begin to wrap my brain around it.  Really, this verse has blown my stinkin’ mind.  Have I ever saw anyone with my own eyes doing something that I would consider to be “greater things” than what Jesus did while He was on this earth?  Not really.  Not even close.  But He said this from His very own lips!

Oh how I want to be a part of these greater things!  Daily show me Your work!  I want to join you there.  There are so, so many people around me that need a taste of these greater things in their life. 

I recently read a quote from a blog written by a young man serving in a dark and difficult place that was both convicting, encouraging, and inspiring.  Oh how I pray that he will see “greater things” accomplished in his place of service. 

We do need your prayers right now. But please no prayers of pity. We knew what we were doing when we signed up. We came as men, to stand strong and accept responsibility for our actions good and bad, and we came as ambassadors-meaning I didn’t just come for me. I carry the banner of my family, church and my King. I will not be caught running away! This, this is nothing. Those who have yet to hear the good news are suffering far worse. Satan fights on their behalf, hoping they will never hear the sound of freedom. God fights on their behalf that they may be set free. I can only bear one banner. I fight every day for one side or the other.

Hello 2012!

Well, don’t really know what to say about 2011 except it is gone. 

Can’t redo a single day.  Nothing monumental or fabulously exciting happened except living life, one day at a time, abiding in His grace moment by moment, striving to make God EVERYTHING in our life, not just an added ingredient for a “blessed” life. 

As we closed out the year last week, Melvin received the news that the Sears where he has been working will be closing in 30-90 days!  Good grief.  Josiah’s response, “Well.”  Callie Grace’s prepubescent response?  She melted into a complete puddle of tears (who is this child), and said, “I am SO done with moving.  We just got here.  We haven’t even lived her for one month yet!”  Guess we haven’t done a good enough job of expressing the complete temporary nature of this most recent move. 

Unlike so many of the dear, dear people who Melvin has worked with over the past year and grown to know and love, we never considered Sears a career.  But this new set of circumstances puts a definite timeline on the job hunt.  Guess our sabbatical, our MUCH needed sabbatical, is coming to a close.  It has been good.  We have learned a lot about ourselves.  We have significantly deepened our understanding of the character of God. We have rested from the complete drain that we felt after planting a church. 

As I have been thinking back over the past year and reflecting upon the possibilities of the new one, this song has been rolling over in my head because the words are so rich and contains a couple of verses that have become very dear to me and will be my verses for 2012.

“Whom have I in heaven but you?
   And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
   but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:25-26

 

 

It’s Been A While

Quite some time has passed since I have had time to sit down and throw my thoughts out in writing on this place of rememberance for our family’s journey.  It’s not that I haven’t been thinking because the thoughts of what I would like to write about are there continuously.  It’s just that we have MOVED!  Our hearts are full of gratitude for those that love us, love us enough to pray with us and for us, love us enough to dance with jubilation in our joys and hurt with us and pray with us in our greatest disappointments.  We call these friends our “stayers”, those that have stayed by our sides, even in the ugly times.  After all, isn’t this where friendship is tested, those difficult times, when faith doesn’t come easy, when you have to exhaustingly hold up someone’s arms in praise to God because they no longer have the strength nor sometimes even the faith to hold them up? 

We are still in the midst of an overwhelming wilderness time in our journey, but God has graciously and officially sold our home.  He did not have to do this, but this is one stress off our minds.  There has never been one month where He has not provided, but the sell of our home puts us in a position to GO when He opens the door of opportunity.  It also lessens the financial stress that we have been feeling for 16 months. 

The sell of our home on November 30, 2011 went down as another bittersweet departure.  The sweetness came because we know that God is redirecting our path and it is a step in that direction.  The bitter came because we LOVED our neighbors, they are like family to us, because of the time (I HATE moving at the holidays), and because another chapter has closed in the story of our lives.  It has closed with disappointment.  Notice I say disappointment.  There are some in this world and even some brothers and sisters in Christ, that would say it has closed with failure.  The Lord has brought a quote to my heart a thousand times since that fateful night in September of 2010:  “NOTHING that you ever do in faith is a failure!”  Don’t know where in the world I heard this.  I Googled it and came up with nothing.  This quote has changed my perspective on this chapter of our journey.

We left the comfort of our assignment in Huntsville, an assignment that we LOVED and continue to cherish, a people that we loved with all of our hearts, people that were saddened and confused about God’s call and timing, and moved to a place and a task that we believe God called us.  We poured every moment, every breathe, everything into planting a church that God called us to plant.  BY FAITH, we moved here.  BY FAITH, we move on. 

Moving just makes me low.  It is so unsettling.   You would think that I would be a pro at it by now.  But I am not.  The Lord provided a place for us to move.  We are thankful.  Dear friends that were along with us in the journey of planting a church have let us rent their home.  They have recently had a job transfer and have had their home on the market with no lookers for almost 6 months now.  They bought another home in their new city and so it was a double blessing.  We did not have to move but about 3 miles from our sold home, and we pay them enough rent to pay the mortgage.    Melvin and I have kept our same jobs, the kids can continue to play on their soccer and baseball teams, and we can attend the same church.  All of those things are very positive for a family that has no idea where we are going from here.  Trying to keep as many unchanged variables as possible because we may be facing a complete variable change in the near future.  There are about 25 elementary age children in the very small cul-de-sac that we currently live on.  This has made the move a positive one for the kids.  They LOVE having so many other children to play with.  Oh, you know what social misfits homeschool children are?  (insert sarcasm)  The two days that we moved to our new residence were the two days that the flooding rains occurred at the end of November.  The two precious souls that helped us move, we, and ALL of our things were completely drenched.  To say it wasn’t a low week would be a lie. 

And now, we are waiting, waiting on the Lord to open up a door of opportunity.  Those “stayers”, we need you to PRAY!  We are ever so grateful for your true friendship.

Do Not Be Anxious

There are many times when I wonder if the things that Melvin and I do as parents are useless.  I’m sure all parents have these same thoughts about things that they have chosen to devote a large portion of time.  Hold onto your hats.  This is going to sound really bad but I promise it will turn out good.  One of those things that I sometimes feel like we are beating our heads against the wall in is Scripture memory.

As long as the children have been able to memorize, we have been diligently working to help develop a habit of Scripture memory but more important than developing the habit, filling their minds with truth from God’s Word, replacing the LIES of the enemy.  Melvin prays most everyday, “God, we will be faithful to put it in our heads.  Will you move it to our hearts?”

This past week, I had a moment of “Yes!  It’s worth it!  They are getting it!”

I haven’t put this out in writing yet, but we have a contract on our house.  If everything continues to go as planned, the new owners will take occupancy of our home on December 1.  It has been bittersweet.  I pretty well had a meltdown two weeks ago.  I changed my mind.  I love our home and decided after we had signed the contract that I didn’t want to sell it.  After all, we STILL had no place to go.  Melvin pretty much said, “Oh yes.  We are selling.  We have been waiting for 1 1/2 years for this moment and we are selling.  We are going to be ready to go when God says go.”

Last Sunday morning, as I was fixing Josiah’s hair for church,I guess all of the stress of moving, trying to find a temporary place to live, doing homeschool, working, our still having no new direction from the Lord, and trying to be the wife and mom that I desire to be and God wants me to be must have been weighing pretty heavy on me and must have been showing.  I wasn’t being ugly.  I was just being quiet which is obviously shocking to my son.  All of a sudden, he looks straight at me and quotes Philippians 4:6-7.

“⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

I immediately got the biggest smile on my face and gave him the biggest hug.  That blessed me more than anything and the biggest peace came over me.  I KNEW immediately that God had spoken to me through my son, through His Word.  Now there is NOTHING better than that right there.

I KNOW That He Is For Me

I know that He is for me.  I know that my Heavenly Father is for the death of me that the life of His marvelous Son may be made revealed in me.  I have been dwelling upon Romans 8 a whole lot recently.  I think that it is my most favorite chapter in the whole Bible.  Melvin and I have talked many times about it seems to contain a verse for every life situation.  Such a marvelous resource for every counseling situation.

Been thinking specifically about this portion.

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
 ³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶As it is written:
   “For your sake we face death all day long;
   we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
 ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Oh….and I must post this song along with these thoughts.  It has ministered to me so much in this week.

 

Fudge Brownies

I am still doing my best to not feed my family super processed foods.  It definitely has proven more difficult since we started back to school and I started back to work.  But it is worth the added time to me.  Callie Grace and I used this recipe several nights ago to bake some made-from-scratch brownies.  Have you ever tried to bake made-from-scratch brownies?  It is super, super easy and they turned out to be the BEST brownies.  I always must share super easy and delicious recipes!

Fudge Brownies

1 (12 oz) package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup butter or margarine
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups sifted, Self-Rising flour
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  combine chips and butter or margarine.  Melt over very low heat or microwave; stir until well blended.  Cool slightly.  In bowl, beat eggs with whisk until light (do not use electric mixer); beat in sugar, vanilla and chip mixture.  Stir flour into egg mixture; add nuts.

Pour into greased 13×9-inch baking pan.  Bake 35-40 minutes or until pulled away from edges of pan and set in the center.  Cool completely before cutting into squares.  Store in tightly covered container.

Two Days With Grandparents

A couple of weeks ago, the kids had the opportunity to go and spend one night and two days with Mom and Mark.  By the way, I haven’t mentioned that my Mom and Mark were married on September 13 in a beach ceremony!  Congratulations Mom and Mark! 

Here are a few shots from their time at the farm with Gram and Croc.

When they got home, I was informed that they didn’t just want to go and spend a couple of nights with them but they wanted to move in with Gram and Croc.  Grandparents……That’s all I need to say.  Who is this woman who was my mother and would have beat me unmercifully for many of the things that she now encourages in Callie Grace and Josiah?

 

One Week From Today

I’m praying today.  Praying for some important decisions that the Swaffords have to make in the coming week.  

More importantly, I am praying for this day next. 

Well, it is my Mom’s birthday next Saturday. 

But most of all, our dear friends, Jason and Kelly Stewart, along with their girls, Parker and Emery, will be well on their way to Ethiopia for their court date for the impending adoption of their son, Judson.  (Bradley gets to stay home and be super spoiled by the grandparents.)  I am super excited for them and am praying for every possible detail, those that they have specifically told me about, those that the Holy Spirit brings to my mind as I pray, and those that I don’t even know to pray about, those details that only our God knows they will encounter.

Please join me in praying for our dear, dear friends this week as they prepare to embark on this incredible journey.

I can’t wait to squish him!

 

Where Am I and What Am I Doing?

Well…..things are pretty sparse on the blog front these days because there is no time!  Nothing really groundbreaking to speak of.  My days look like this:

Wake-up and get ready for work, wake the kids and Melvin as I head out the door so that they can start school, work, come home, shower, feed the kids (and maybe my hubby if I’m lucky) lunch, resume school with the kids, finish school, fix dinner, shuttle the kids to soccer (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and games on Saturday), come home, give in to the kids begging me to play more soccer in our neighbor’s front yard, drag the kids in for a snack and shower, CRASH.  I also have to go back to work and teach an afternoon class on Tuesdays from 1-3.

There are NO complaints here.  Just no time to think.  Especially about the blog.  This is a season.  I know that it will pass quickly.  I am enjoying every single moment of it and having the time of my life.

Last week, CG made the U10 Extra soccer team in our city.  We are all so proud of her and she is elated.  This was her first time ever having to try-out for something.  It was a really great teaching opportunity.  Basically, this means that she, and about 9 other girls from our city, will have an additional practice a week in preparation for a winter indoor soccer league and a spring/summer season that will have us traveling to other places to compete with other girls in other cities.  This also means that she will have the opportunity to compete in the AYSO World Cup Soccer Tournament that will be held in Knoxville next summer!  Who knows.  We will see what God allows.  All to Jesus we surrender!

We have always wanted our kids to be involved in lots of things and get many experiences, but now a days, it seems that there comes a season where you have to narrow it down.  CG’s narrowing has arrived.  Pretty much, she has decided to put all the eggs in one basket, athletically speaking.  It is the one sport that she enjoys most.  Melvin and I certainly aren’t looking for this to be a career or looking to push her and put pressure on her to get a college scholarship out of this.  Not the point!  It is just a great team sport with fabulous fitness advantages.  Still hoping to sneak in a basketball season this year.

So here are some shots of her in action.

This is CG battling it out with her coach.

 

I must give credit where credit is due.  My camera is not good at taking action shots.  It may be operator error, but at any rate, I do not even attempt to take soccer action shots anymore.  It is a waste of time.  THANKFULLY, one of the mom’s on CG’s soccer team, Linda Ripley,  is a professional photographer and takes photos at almost every practice and game.  They are TERRIFIC to say the least.

Unfortunately, I have none of J yet.  His mother has had to assume the role of coach at present because his coach had to resign.  What do I know about soccer?  Boy am I ever learning a lot.

A Long-Awaited Day

Last Sunday, a portion of our family gathered for a baptism service for Josiah and Allen, my first cousin Kelli’s husband.  This has been a long-awaited day for both of them.  Josiah received Christ as his personal Savior last year in February, Allen, back when he was in 6th grade.  Unfortunately, so much “life” has occurred to continually press back a date for us.

Back in February of 2010 when Josiah first made his profession of faith, Melvin explained the next step to Josiah, a public profession of his private decision.  We did not want to press the subject, desiring for him to make the move.  It wasn’t long before he began expressing an interest in a public profession.  Melvin and I wanted it to be a special thing and all of us wanted it to be something where our family would feel comfortable coming. 

All this to say, we finally made it happen this past weekend!  It was absolutely perfect, the weather, the place, those who were able to attend.  We could not have asked for things to go any better.