The Real Deal?

Some things are made just to look at.

Some aren't.


Ps 84:2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

I Tim 4:10 We're banking on the living God, Savior of all men and women, especially believers.

Rev. 1:18 I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.

Eph 3:20 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Do we really believe it?

Do our lives say He is a concept or a reality?

Abide.

Do you ever find yourself thinking, I’ll be able to spend more time with God after my kids grow up, or when this week is over. Then everything will be alright; I’ll be able to get back to God. Right now, there’s just too much going on.

Ask yourself: When was Jesus ever apart from God? Did Jesus choose His own circumstances? Or did He go where God sent Him?

When do we begin to abide? Live in? Remain?

At first it may take effort, some discipline on our part; making an effort to spend time in His Word, setting our hearts and minds on Him. Soon, it will become so much the way of our life that we will abide in Him unconsciously.

Abide. Period. It’s a good thing.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Ps. 91:1

Comparing

It’s our nature to compare.

We go to a friend’s house. Their stuff is better than ours. Or, our stuff is better than theirs.

My kids are all right after all. They sure don’t act like those kids!

We think a family has it all together. It makes us think we don’t.

That mom is a much better mom than I. She does those great and fun things I’ll probably never do.

She’s prettier. He makes more money. He probably prays with his family.

The list goes on and on.

And, it’s a tool of satan to get our eyes and heart on the wrong things. To make us discontent.

II. Corinthians 10:12 has been a great encouragement and determent for me in the area of comparing.

“…but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.” NAS

Other versions say “they are not wise”. Same thing. But I prefer the NAS in this instance. “Without understanding.”

Without understanding, I may miss the Truth. I may fall into sin, unaware.

I don’t know about you, but I really desire understanding. Even more than being really good at something, or having the best stuff, or even being the “example family”.

This verse has saved me many times when my mind wants to wander to those thoughts of comparing.

Who is our Standard of measure?

I choose understanding over comparing.

Please Pray for Her

I have a sweet young friend who I meet for coffee about once a month. She is the mother of four children under six years of age! I say sweet, because that is just so descriptive of her nature. Her childhood was rather dysfunctional, but she is an overcomer, pionering new Godly territory for her family. I’m always blessed when we meet. (We meet late at night after her kiddos are in bed). ; )

During her pregnancy with child #4, her ureter got a kink in it. It caused some issues with her kidney (as you can imagine) and has caused her much pain. It has been several months since #4 was born, and the problems have not gone away.

So, you can imagine her daily turmoil in trying to care for those sweet ones, deal with the pain, and still try to function half-way normally.

Yesterday she sent me an e-mail sharing some scriptures that have meant a lot to her during this time. It’s from Lamentations 3 (actually my favorite passage). This is from The Message and it portrays what many of us feel from day-to-day. We could take each scripture separately and write a blog about each one! Yeah, it's long, but read it! It's worth it.

Verses 19-36
I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—the feeling of hitting the bottom.

But there's one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:

God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up.

They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness!

I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left.

God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks.

It's a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God.

It's a good thing when you're young to stick it out through the hard times.

When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence.

Bow in prayer.

Don't ask questions: Wait for hope to appear.

Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face.

The "worst" is never the worst.

Why? Because the Master won't ever walk out and fail to return.

If he works severely, he also works tenderly.

His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.

He takes no pleasure in making life hard, in throwing roadblocks in the way.

It's the Master who gives such orders.Doesn't the High God speak everything, good things and hard things alike, into being?

(her words) "He speaks both good things and hard things into being..........!!!!
His ways are higher than my ways, His thoughts higher than my thoughts! I'm sticking with God - He's all I've got!!!! Good stuff!" (I told you she was sweet!)

Today I ask you to pray especially for my friend. Do you have some encouraging words to share with her?

Does this passage speak to you as well?

Better Than Sacrifice

You know this concept. You experience its effects daily with your children. But, today, ask yourself: What is God asking me to do? You may already know.

God is asking you to ______________, so you serve in the children’s area at church this week to make yourself (and hopefully God) feel better.

He’s asking you to ___________, so you get up and clean the kitchen. After all, it does need it.

He’s asking you to __________________ so you clean out a closet or drawer.

He’s asking you to __________________, and you call a friend instead.

Why is it we think substituting something of even greater worth (in our minds) is better than the one thing God is asking of us?

To obey is better than sacrifice. I Samuel 15:22

Just do it.

What Do You Think?

Yesterday's post brought up a question by my frind Deleise. She asks:

Robin, can you give us some tips on raising kids like Erin who can't stand to miss a day of reading the Bible?

Other than modeling, how did you help them come to that place?


Deleise, all I can answer is that it is the power of God at work in her life! Another daughter, Ali made a similar comment and I'm just blessed by them both. Their hearts belong to Him and it shows.

How much did her dad and I have to do with their choice to read God's Word daily? I'm not really sure. Bible reading was the first thing we did each morning, followed by memory work. Some years we read with everyone at the breakfast table. Most years it was the older children reading on their own and me reading to the younger ones. Did they always have a heart to read His Word? Hopefully, they'll get on here and answer that question.

Modeling is HUGE! I still remember my dad sitting at the table each morning reading his Bible and Sunday School book.

Tips to raising kids like Erin, Andrew, Ali, Anna, Katie, Kody and Jacob? Well, they're really fairly normal people and certainly not perfect. After all, look who they have for parents. ; ) Still, I'm continually blown away and amazed at them. At what they've overcome, at what awesome parents the first three are, at the Godly choices I see them make, at their giftings and how they use them, at their influence for Christ. (And they're just plain fun too!)

My advice? Love 'em, point them toward Jesus, and pray, pray, pray. The rest is up to Him, and He is always faithful!

Does that help?

Choices

God makes it very plain in Deuteronomy 30 that we have a choice….life or death. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m betting that all of you would say you would choose LIFE over DEATH on any given day.

But, look what we choose….we choose the internet, visiting with friends, working out, doing good things, we’re lazy, etc, etc, etc rather than choosing to read and know God’s Word.

Look at this from Deut. 30:19-20

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life….(emphasis added)

Read His Word! It is your LIFE! Get a plan and do it!

Read here about how a special friend of mine experienced God's living, breathing Word in her own life just yesterday! He has a daily message just for you too. Ask Him!


My plan right now is the scriptures that go along with two devotionals I read daily, two or three Psalms and a chapter in Proverbs. Last year, I did the One Year Bible. I’m also reading often from The Message. Make time---you’ve got it. You must! It is your LIFE!

Share your reading plan. Don’t have one? E-mail me. We’ll talk about one.

Forward or Back?

I was reading the other day from the book of Numbers. In chapter 13 it talks about God telling Moses to send some men to explore the land of Canaan (which was the Israelite’s Promised Land). So, Moses chose 12 leaders with instructions to find out all they could about the land, the people, the soil, the fruit.

So, these guys go and explore the land for 40 days, finding grapes so large it took two men to carry one VERY LARGE cluster on a pole between them. This was some fertile land!

Their report: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.”

Descendants of Anak? Those are giants. They found giants in their Promised Land.

Well, Caleb was ready to take them on. But the other 11 men said, “"We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."

So, think about this:

It was when the men of Israel were going forward into the Promised Land that the giants appeared. When they turned back into the wilderness they found none.

Is there anything in your life that you need to choose to press forward into rather than retreating back into the wilderness?

What are the giants that need overcoming in your life?

Do you believe there are blessings awaiting you?

When will we stop believing the lie that we are only grasshoppers?

Choices and Consequences

The loss of privileges and reaping consequences is usually an effective method of training. After all, life is a series of choices, and those choices come with blessings or consequences.

Effective consequences are those that make a child re-evaluate their behavioral choices. It’s got to hit their passions hard enough that they decide making a good choice is a much better alternative. When we choose consequences for our child’s wrong choices, we need to make sure the consequence matches the offense and is of a reasonable time-frame.

Just today I grounded one of my boys from his X-box. He was playing it when I discovered his closet was a disaster. He knows we (should) choose taking care of our responsibilities before we do anything for entertainment. He has lost the privilege for a week.

We’ve had quite a variety of consequences with raising seven kiddos.

I remember one time telling Erin her loss would be reading. Yep. It was her passion. She was the child who would answer a doorbell, her eyes never leaving the page she was reading.

Our children have had to miss youth church on Wednesday nights. They’ve missed birthday parties for friends. They’ve missed dance lessons, guitar lessons and drum lessons. They’ve had their instruments taken away.

They’ve gotten extra chore duty for not doing the job the right way, or for whining and complaining.

Yeah, we’re mean parents. We want our kids to get the message that obedience and good attitude is more important than the things they love most.

What are some effective consequences or loss of privileges you’ve used in your home or even remember as a kid?

Jump Off the Rollercoaster!

Is your life a roller coaster? Do you find yourself moving from one crisis to another, up, down, up, down?

Let’s look at Psalm 84:5-7

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.

As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.

They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.

God’s Word tells us that we can move from strength to strength. Even when there are valleys. Can you imagine? Strength to strength! Not high point to high point, but strength to strength.

As we go through this “pilgrimage” the Psalm even tells us that we will pass through the Valley of Baca (weeping) …ever been there? But, it also tells us that we can make that valley into a spring! You know, making lemonade out of lemons, making the best of every situation. Seeing that there is good somewhere past the hard times. Keeping our eyes on the One who is Strength. Seems like it’s a choice.

I don’t know about you, but I choose going from strength to strength.

How about you? Ready for a little less roller coaster life?

Fajitas for Fifteen

Last night Anna brought her Lifegroup out for fajitas, It was a noisy, lively group of twenty-something singles. We had a Meadows’ Mexican Dinner complete with plenty of guacamole and homemade salsa! Dirk and I stayed on the fringes, enjoying these young people and hoping they felt at-home. They ended the evening roasting marshmallows and singing while Kody played his guitar.

Many years ago, when Dirk built our home, we prayed that God would make it a place where people could feel love and acceptance. Over the years, that prayer has been honored. Our home has been a hang-out for many of our kids’ friends; a place where there’s always an open door. If our kids are not hanging out at home, they’ll be hanging out somewhere else. This is an opportunity to be part of their lives at an age where most kids are wanting to separate themselves from their parents. Opening your home requires an element of sacrifice, but one that’s well worth it.

Decide now that your home will be the hang-out location for your kids’ friends. You won’t be disappointed.

Where did you hang out as a teen? Was your home a hang-out place for you and your friends?

Choices (Part 2 of 2)

Encourage Yourself

It’s another overwhelming day. Everything has gone wrong. The kids are especially loud and disobedient, they have left everything they played with all over the house, and the rice you left simmering on the stove has now burned to a nice black crisp on the bottom of the pan. No one has called to check on you today and you’re feeling more than a little bit lonely and forgotten.

OK – maybe the scenario for you isn’t the same, but we’ve all had days when it seems like no one even cares. No one is there to lift you up and encourage you.

Well, guess what? The same thing happened to David in I Samuel 30. David and his men had been away from home, battling the enemy. While they were gone, the Amalekites raided and burned their city and took away the women and children. When David and his men returned, they found their homes destroyed and their families gone, (including David’s wives). They were distraught! And in their distress, David’s own men started talking of stoning him! Now, that’s what I call having a really bad day. It trumps dirty diapers and cranky kids any day!

The story goes on in the very next verse to tell us David’s response: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God. (KJV) Wow! His wife couldn’t encourage him; his friends had rejected him. Guess who was left? Only himself! He had to encourage himself!

Once again, it’s all about making a choice. Do we drown in a sea of our own self-pity, or do we choose to pull ourselves up and be encouraged? Sometimes, you are all you have. With God, I’d say that’s MORE than enough!

Are you going through something difficult? Do you need to encourage yourself?

Choices (Part 1 of 2)

Determine in Your Heart

The year was 1990. I was pregnant (again….) and Katie, our fifth child, was nearing 4 years old. I remember sitting on the porch swing, praying (agonizing, really) and reading my Bible. And I distinctly remember making a choice. Right then, I determined in my heart that I was going to enjoy this pregnancy. I even took that thought a step further. I was determined to enjoy this child.

I can be quite a self-willed, self-directed person. And I’m not condoning that sort of behavior. In fact, I believe the Holy Spirit is the one who empowers us to do this, if we allow him. I am suggesting that sometimes we have to make a decision in our hearts to force ourselves to choose the right thing, or the right way. It almost has to be a gritting-your-teeth, digging-in-your-feet determination. And sometimes, that determination or choice has to be made over and over again, many times in the same day or even the same hour!

Whatever you may be struggling with today, consider making a determination in your heart to choose God’s very best for you. Don’t allow your old thought patterns to pull and weigh you down. Make the choice to reach out and accept the grace and power that is there for us all. Determine in your heart that you’ll make the best of any situation you’re in.

Oh, and on the pregnancy, it wasn’t such a bad one, but the baby that was born, Kody (now 15 years old) was an extremely difficult baby. It’s sure a good thing I determined to enjoy him! Even through the difficulties of an extra-cranky baby, I often reflected back to that choice I made on the porch swing.

I really did enjoy him. And I still do!

Enduring or Embracing?(Part 2)

My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. II Cor. 12:9 –The Message

His grace is enough. Did you guess it? I know it sounds to our well-worn religious ears like an old cliché. But, it is truth and is powerful for us if we’ll accept it. (Paul knew; read his account in the surrounding scriptures). God’s grace is enough for every difficult situation we will ever go through even if it doesn’t seem like it.

You see, we all have a choice. We can buck and fight against our situations, or we can choose to embrace what God has given us. And here’s the key. We don’t receive His grace until we humble ourselves and admit that we can’t do it on our own. ( God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble. James 4:6)

Your “it” may be home educating your children. It may be dealing with a difficult child or even choosing to love your husband when he’s not so loveable. It may be your financial situation, your job, your singleness, or dealing with parents. Whatever “it” is, when we quit seeing our circumstances as obstacles to defeat or overcome, and choose to embrace them, that is when we receive His grace. It means choosing to let go, and letting Him be in control. And that’s sometimes a hard choice to make.

Interestingly, when we only endure our circumstances, they may eventually overtake us, drown us, and defeat us, while embracing can do a mighty work in our hearts.

So, if you find yourself fighting, striving and bucking against the hard things in your life, let go!

Embrace to receive His grace!

II Cor. 9:8
God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done.

Col 1:10-11
As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.

Enduring or Embracing?

I remember one day when my children were young, Dirk coming home from work, finding us all sitting in the floor crying. Even me! I was done. Done in, over-done, and un-done. I was looking for the place where mothers go to resign. I was looking past the now, and looking forward to the time when my mundane, hard days would be over. I was only enduring, but I wasn’t even doing that very well.

After settling us all down he later talked to me about a concept I’ve since used again and again.

Embracing the situation. He told me, “Robin, it’s not going to get any easier for quite a while. You’re going to have to decide to accept that and do the best you can.” My attitude needed changing.

After much complaining and gnashing of teeth, I started making the choice to accept that my days were going to be boring and uneventful-----unless I made them more fun. I was always going to be stressed and overwhelmed, unless I learned to give up and accept the fact that with all God had given me, He’d also provide a way for me to deal with it in a loving, patient manner.

As I learned to give up and give in, life got easier. Well, maybe it really didn’t, but it seemed like it.

God has given us all something that enables us to embrace every difficult situation we’ll ever encounter. You probably already know, but I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.

Are you enduring or embracing?