Random Thoughts

Cara did great at the Regional Bible drill!  She only missed one.  For a first-time driller, that is an excellent thing!  She is hiding God's word in her heart, learning good Bible skills, and challenging herself to go beyond what she thought she could do.  And her mother is so proud of her!

Last night, I was privileged to serve at the Associational Vacation Bible School clinic at our church.  I had a very, very busy day trying to get everything ready.  I had originally agreed to be in charge of the snack preparation.  That job is big enough in itself!  Our director/pastor's-wife could not convince anyone to teach the 5th-6th grade class.  Me, always willing to bite off more than I can chew, volunteered to teach that class and do the snacks that I had already agreed to do.

So, I'm chewing, chewing, chewing, hoping to get it small enough I can swallow...  I find some delegates!!!  God is in charge of the details, I am just the vessel willing to be used.  I have to admit though, that I was feeling more than a little overwhelmed yesterday afternoon.  After all the planning, and all the delegating that I could do, I just trusted that God would work it all out.  You know what?  He did!

I went to the store and got what I needed, got to the church and started working as early as I could.  There was a little nagging thought in the back of my mind that said, "Tracey, there is no way this will work out."  Then my help showed up a little later than I expected her...like an hour and a half later than expected!  I was in a near panic by that time.  What could I do but keep working?  Some of the youth came in to help me, some of the ladies from my church came in an started helping.  I found myself singing, and realized that without even thinking about it, I was praying!  God exploded peace in the midst of my crisis!  He took care of the details that I couldn't!

I went to teach my 5th-6th grade session.  His presence was all over me, around me, and I was near bursting with love for Him!  Those poor students in my class had to listen to me go on and on about how much I love Jesus and how much I love children!  That's a pretty good combination for VBS, I thought.  What is better than bringing together two things you love very much?

I know I'm just rambling, but I want you to know how good our God is!  He is a God of details!  He knows what we need before we do.  And when you think that you can't, He can!  God let me know yesterday that He hears me when I pray to Him!  He also let me know that I am His.  I cannot express to you how loved I feel right now.  I hope you feel loved too!

It Will Not Return Void

Psalm 119:105 "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (NKJ)

Psalm 119:11 "Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You." (NKJ)

I am so excited! Today, Cara is competing in the regional Bible drill. I can remember the nerves and the fear and the hopes that I had competing in Bible drill as a child! I am so proud of her for hanging in there and finishing all by herself. Everyone else in her group dropped out half-way through, leaving her to be the only person competing in Bible drill from our church.

For those of you not familiar with it, Bible drill is just what is says. You work really hard and memorize 25 verses from the Bible, ten key passages, along with the order of all 66 books in the Bible. During the drill the "caller" will call any of the verses and you have ten seconds to remember it and step forward. For the key passage drill, you have ten seconds to find the passage in your Bible and step forward. In the book drill, the caller can call any of the 66 books. You must find the book in ten seconds and be able to tell him the book before, the book called, and the book after.

I participated in Bible drill for six years when I was a child. God declares in Scripture that His "word will not return void." How true that is! Many times during my rebellion against God, He reminded me of what His word says. A still small whisper would bring one of these verses I have memorized back to my mind. Even after all these twenty-something years, I can quote most of those verses! His words, His promise. It will NOT return void.

I claim this promise for Cara! Abba, You promised your word will not return void. I pray that for years to come, you would help Cara to apply these truths she is hiding in her heart now. Make them a lamp to her feet and a light to her path, Lord. Help her to see that your statutes are good and not burdensome!

How about you? Are you hiding His word in your heart so you might not sin against Him? Are you allowing His word to be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path? His promise is true for you too! Start memorizing it, and it will NOT return void!

Convictions

Have you ever wondered why your parents allowed certain things that you would never allow your own children to do? Or vice verse: why you would allow your children certain privileges that your parents would have never dreamed of allowing you to do. I am positive that my parents loved me as much as I love my own children. I am positive that my parents wanted to give me better than they had growing up, as I would like to do for my children. My sister and I have this conversation frequently. We have come to believe that the difference lies in convictions.

I grew up in a Christian home where we attended church all the time. I watched my parents attend prayer meetings, try to read their Bibles regularly, and try to raise us up "right". I believe for the most part they did a great job. But I know I never learned how to live a Spirit-filled life in Christ as a child. I think they tried hard, but I think there were some convictions missing in their lives,and subsequently, they were missing in my life. That is, until I chose to get my own convictions.

Convictions like:

• giving my children a godly education.
• courting versus dating.
• everything in my life has spiritual implications. (All things, good or bad, affect my spiritual walk, no matter how inconsequential they may seem.)

Shawn and I have chosen to home school our children. This decision was not one that was made overnight, nor was it one that everyone in our family agreed with. This was a conviction that we had from the Lord. I will never tell you that your family needs to home school. That is between you and God, not you and me.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 says, "These commands that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates."

How can we talk to our children about them when we were only spending about 4 hours a day with them and 3 of those hours were filled with homework and bath time? We did send our oldest daughter to school for a couple of years, but our conviction from the Lord was that she would be better off learning about Him from us. I found out quickly that my daughter was much more influenced by the school children than they were influenced by her. And I don't think anyone could argue that the public school district was going to teach my child about God's love and Jesus Christ's Deity!

The burden I have on my heart for each of my children to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior and to have a vibrant, growing, love relationship with Him! Did you hear what I said? I have a burden. I don't just want them to, or think they need to. My heart is heavy with the weight of my responsibility to introduce them to Him. When they were in my womb I started praying for the salvation of their souls, and have not stopped. I am jealous for the opportunity to be the one to lead them to Christ. I try my best to teach them every day the Good News of the Gospel so they know that they sin, that Christ died for that sin and was raised back to life to conquer that sin.

Two of mine have accepted His gift of forgiveness. For them, my burden has changed to teach them how to love Jesus more today than they did yesterday. I strive to be an example to them of what a vibrant follower of Christ is. To show them how to rely on His strength when we are weak and how to find His Truth for the problems we face are daily goals. I do not live a passive faith in front of them. We constantly talk about self control over our actions and our words and our thoughts. I strive to teach them that sin can begin and end if we control our thoughts and make them obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).

I pray you can see that this decision was not haphazardly made. A public school teacher or school mates will not teach my children how to do these things. It is my burden for a reason: God gave me a conviction. I'd love to hear your thoughts! I plan to write about the other points soon.

Learning...

What am I learning from the Lord right now?

I am learning that introspection doesn't have to be a bad thing. It can be helpful and releasing! I can actually look inside myself and see Him, not my version of my own self-worth.

I am learning that He loves me and forgives me completely. No sin is greater than He is able to forgive! All we have to do is ask.

I recently lost a baby and have been struggling to see myself as a creation of great worth to Him. Thinking that if I was a good mom, God would've let me have that child and the others that I've lost. God knows what He's doing though. You see, I began that pregnancy just as I started a Bible study on "Search for Significance" by Robert S. McGee. That was no accident. Abba knew that I'd need to know my worth in His eyes as He beholds me covered by the blood of Christ. I've been able to dig down deep and see what my Lord sees in me.

What does He see, you ask? He sees someone made in His image, "fearfully & wonderfully made," forgiven by His grace and glorified by His redemption!

I wonder, what have you been learning from the Lord?

Grace's Baptism

The joys of motherhood are many, but only birth can compare to the experience of leading a child to the Lord! I has this great opportunity on August 30th. Now, I give you the baptism!

This is my middle daughter, Grace, with my husband, Shawn in the baptismal waters. He had to help her swim to the red crate she's standing on! The water was up to her neck. We all got tickled, and I wish I had shot video instead of still photos.

Here she's coming back up out of the water. I am so proud of her! She is showing the world now that she is in Christ she has been raised from death to life to walk in His fullness!

On a lighter note, Abigail, our younger daughter, asked, "Grace, why come you were up there holdin' your nose and when you come up, your hair was all wet?" Grace replied, "Because I went under the water. That's what happens when you get baptized. One day you'll get baptized too, Sweetheart." And then they hugged! How precious is that!?!?!?!

God is soooo Good!...All the Time!

Abigail's Funnies

I wanted to share a few stories about Abigail. We were at my dad's house last Sunday eating lunch. My sister, Beth, was there. All the nieces and nephews call her "Becca". The conversations go something like this:

Beth: Abigail, I just love your freckles!

Abigail: Those are not freckles, Aunt Becca! They are just my polk-a-dots. I got one right there, and one right there, and one right there!

Later, Abigail and her oldest sister, Cara, were picking on each other. Abigail touches Cara on the shoulder with her index finger and says, "Caaarrrraaaa, I'm touching you!" And Cara is very aggravated by this! Next, Abigail touches Aunt Becca's leg with her toes.

Abigail: AAuuunnnttt Beeecccccaaaaa, I'm touching you!

Beth (who used to get furious with me, her little sister, when I did this): Abigail, why are you being ugly?

Abigail: I just like to be ug-a-ly!

Accountability

I am currently doing a Bible study by Chuck Lawless titled "Putting on the Full Armor of God". I have been a believer for 23 years and I haven't done a whole lot of studying on the armor. I've always known it was there, but I never gave it much thought, other than simply praying that the Lord would help me to wear it and use it.

I would liken my experience to a soldier signing up for the Army, filling out all the paperwork and skipping Basic Training to go straight into battle. I believe that most of the Christian population could agree and sympathize with my view on this! When were you trained to be a believer? I "got saved", "got baptized", and went to church my whole childhood. I guess they thought that attendance counted as discipleship.

Please don't misunderstand me. These things are very, very important! I would be so far from where I am if I had not been actively involved in the life of my local church during my growing-up years. I gained lots of enrichment from the teachers and pastors I've studied under.

But I also know how much heart-ache I could have saved myself and Abba if someone had come along beside me and taught me the importance of accountability. I haven't sought out proper accountability in my life. This is something I am working on doing and something I am trying to teach my children as they grow up in the Lord. Right now, I am their main accountability source, but as they get older, we will seek out peers or older believers that, with the Lord's guidance, will be mentors/accountability partners.

I plan to share more about this study I'm working on, but for now, I'll just ask: Who is your accountability partner? Do you think it's important to have one? What character qualities do you think are important in an accountability partner? I'd love to see your thoughts.