God Wants us to Help Ourselves!

God calls us to action and rewards our initiative when it comes to impossible problems.

1. God calls us to action to take part in miracles happening in our own life.

God may ask you to do things that are impossible. It is your attempt to do that very thing that the miracle happens.

In Luke 6:10-11, Jesus says to a man with a crippled hand, "...'Hold out your hand.'
He held it out--it was as good as new!..."

Do you think the man would have been healed if had been unwilling to even try to hold out his hand? What if he was too ashamed to hold out his hand because it was ugly? What if he said, "No. I can do it myself!"? Do not let fear, pride, or any other sin of self-centeredness keep you from God's miracles.

2. Jesus rewards initiative!

Luke 5:12-13 tells of the time Jesus entered a village, a man covered with leprosy approached Jesus. "When he saw Jesus he fell down before him in prayer and said, 'If you want to, you can cleanse me.' Jesus put out his hand, touched him and said 'I want to. Be clean." Then and there his skin was smooth, the leprosy gone."

Go to him boldly and humbly to ask those good things you desire from your heart!

A Song for my Children

I wrote this song while playing with Thomas in the backyard on February 19th.
It is for both my children. I love them so much and I want them to know how much God loves them.

I love you so deep,
As deep as the sea.
As deep as the blue
Of the sea I love you!

I love you so high,
As high as the sky.
As high in the sky
Where the birds cannot fly!

My God loves you wide and
He loves you so high.
As wide as the arms of my Christ open wide.
And here's why he died:
To pay for your sin.

Oh! How I hope you take him in!

Joanna has a "new" Ariel

Joanna filled in the last spot on her potty training sticker chart yesterday
and got a new Ariel doll for her progress. I filled in the chart with her name and took a picture of her with her chart and new doll. I'm very proud of her progresss!

Shedding Pounds

I must have stepped on and off the scale five times this morning. I can hardly belive my recent weight loss. It's official. 10 pounds are gone. I don't know where they went, but I'm sure they found a home somewhere else. It has been really encouraging to see the pounds tick off and feel my body change.

I did not expect to take a sick day today.

Although it is nice having the occasional 3-day weekend, today was not what I expected. After cleaning up vomit for the 8th time today, my house is clean and the kids and I are tired. Thomas went down without a whimper. Joanna is asleep on the couch and just sat up and dry-heaved in her sleep and laid back down like nothing ever happened and without opening her eyes. She was dozing off while watching a "The Land Before Time" with me when I took off to the bathroom and made myself a mess you wouldn't believe. The whole bathroom had to be cleaned. Sorry if this is gross, but I had to say it. Anyway, I felt a lot better, and cleaned some other stuff too. Today has been exausting. I pray I can get some good sleep through the nausea. I'm thankful that I've been capable of taking care of myself and the kids the whole time. God is good.

Thomas really was the first one sick. He woke in a mess he threw up sometime in the night. How awful.But after his bath he was pretty much fine for the rest of the day with the exception of a few whining spurts. His mattress has a different story: it is out of commission as it continues to dry. Joanna got sick about 9 a.m. and has been puny all day. She threw up 5 times...and counting I guess. I hope I'm done at 2, but I am not that optimistic. I still feel queasy.

I'm going to cart Joanna to bed and hit the rack myself. Here's hoping for a nice restful night.

Love

When you say I Love You today, are you saying this?

I am patient with you and kind to you even if I don't feel like being nice.
I don't want what I don't have.
I'm not better than you. I don't one-up everything you say with something I or someone else has done.
I don't fly off the handle at you.
I'm not pushy to get my way. I'll let you go first.
I don't keep track of all the times you hurt me and never tell you about it.
I do not get happy when you are down on your luck. I am glad to hear the truth from you even if it hurts my feelings.
I protect you and your interests. I don't blab to others when you tell me something.
I trust God to the ends of the earth.
I always hope for the best. If you say something that strikes me wrong, I'll first give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't mean it that way.
I will put up with anything and never look back. I love you forever.

It is better directly from God's Word:

1 Corinthians 13 (New International Version)
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.

1 Corinthians 13 (The Message)
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Don't feel bad if you aren't perfect. God isn't surprised! He made you! Accept yourself and accept others. Recognize where you are failing. Ask God to help you figure it out, then turn it around. Ask God to help you turn it around. Don't shut people down. If they love you, they'll turn it around, right? I tell myself this but I don't have the courage to actually confront anyone seriously. I'm so afraid of being hated. Other times though, I freely give my opinion when it doesn't even matter. Is that not ironic? God has been teaching me a lot about love. I am a miserable failure sometimes but I am so glad to have Grace from God and others given to me. I am so blessed. Thank you God!

Thomas the climber

Thomas climbed up on the blue chair at Nana's today. He stepped up our potty to use it as a step to turn on the faucet in the bathroom.