52 Days: Brick 2

(A picture taken on my missions trip to Africa in 2005)

I'm starting with Brick 2 because, honestly, I'm still sorting through alot of Brick 1. Hopefully there will come a day that I will write about it, but frankly 52 Days was not enough for that wall-makeover.

I picked up a second brick about midway through the series. I had started reading the book "Radical" by David Platt upon the initiative of my husband. He had found the book, read it, discussed it with a ministry brother, and been so challenged and changed by it, that he encouraged me to read it. Now, Artie doesn't recommend thing to me much, so I started the book immediately.

This book was God's tool to do a lot of things. One of which was re-opening my eyes to the WORLD that is out there! A lost world! A dying world! A world in need of love and a Savior!

I think I had gotten so isolated in my baby world that my vision had narrowed in on the task I have at hand. I have been up to my ears in pregnancy (and all that is entailed there!), newborn stuff, nursing, diapers, discipline, houes work, errands, running a home, exhaustion, and everything in between for the past 3 years+ and my perspective had gotten foggy. This book helped remind me of God's heart not only for the individual but also for the WORLD!

Having this alteration in my heart has been a blessing in my motherhood. To not get obsessed with the things of motherhood that I forget WHY I'm raising children in the first place ... to make disciples and send them out!! It helped me to let the little things be little things and to oversee my children having a Godly worldview as well. This book and the biblical challenges in it helped put the 'why' back into 'what' I'm doing. It's been an empowering tool and quite a charge.

I even went back and looked at the pictures from my last missions trip to Namibia, Africa. To remember the world work God gave me a glimpse of during my stay there was so uplifting. I would love to go back there one day and see the furtherance of God's Kingdom yet again.

But as for now, the day-in day-out priority mission for me is right here in my kitchen, back yard, neighborhood sidewalks, grocery store and of course my church. (And also around the word! I'm hoping to go on a mission trip sometime in the next year.) I'm grateful for this fresh perspective on the Kingdom of God as a whole. Thank you Lord for opening my eyes and keeping me inspired!

52 Days

Our church just finished a sermon series entitled, "52 Days", which was a study of the book of Nehemiah, in the Bible. In this book, a man becomes burdened for the city of God to be rebuilt and established for the worship of the One True God. Through many miracles of favor with the king, to unlimited resources, to victory over discouragement and doubt, to hearts being renewed in the strength of the Lord, to families being united in purpose, and ultimately all to the glory of God with an onlooking city from ruins to restoration. Nehemiah led the people in the building project and in the pursuit of God. He demonstrated perseverence and hope, and led the people in humiliy, diligence, and honour.

We had been through Nehemiah, as a church, with our previous pastor. It was a fitting time in my life then to learn of security, boundaries, protection and continuing when it's hard. But this time, the approach was different, yet just as fitting.

This time our pastors' approach was 'for the gloy of God!' That's why they had to build the wall. God loves people, He loves the city and He desires for people to be drawn in to Him and to ultimately display Him to the watching world. See, the city of Jerusalem had been conquered and overtaken. In such doing, it had become a place of worship for many gods and many people groups. There were lots of 'non-Jews' living there at the time of Nehemiah. God had a plan. He would bring His people together again to demonstrate His greatness through them-- through rebuilding the wall around the city in just 52 Days. With a world audience watching.

The first week, our pastor challenged us to pray and consider what it was that God wanted to build in our lives personally. He reminded us that only God can do the building, He has to be the initiator or else it's all in vain. He also reminded us that God DOES desire to do a work in our lives. He does! He wants to demonstrate His greatness to those watching through doing only what He can do. We were offered bricks to take to continuously remind us of the building God was doing in our lives. The going would get tough, it did for the Hebrews, but we have a God that we can trust to complete the work He has begun in us.

This was one of those perfectly, divinely fitting moments in my life. He had already begun prodding my heart and initiating the work He wanted to do in my life. I knew exactly what my 'brick' would be. (Later to find out, He had two bricks for me.)

At the end of the "52 Days", we had an assembly to gather and worship to celebrate all God had done. We had live testimonies, communion, and worshipful singing. I was so encouraged by the range of things God had done.

Artie and I sat down that night and shared our 'brick testimonies' with each other. What had God done in those 52 Days that only He could do? It was so sweet to worship the Lord together over our 52 Day journeys, that really felt more like a beginning than an ending. But it just wasn't enough to share it only there. My heart is burning to proclaim what the Lord has done. That's part of the building too in a way, isn't it. To the glory of Him-- is the reason for it all anyway!

I have two 'bricks' to lay and tell of the work of the Lord in my life. I hope they will encourage and inspire you, to let go and allow God to do the building in your life.

We closed out the service that Wednesday night, with the song Jill Phillips wrote called "Wrecking Ball"...

"Piece together these, little mysteries. It isn't hard to see the writing on the wall.

Triumph and Tragedy, only God can be, both the Builder and the Wrecking Ball."

The End of a Year

Happy 1st Birthday Wesley! I would call this post "Happy Birthday Wes" but really, this post is a reflection of the past year as a whole...for me.

As I rocked Wesley on the night of his birthday, I was thinking what my life would be like had he not been born. This thought occured to me immediately, "way too manageable!!!"

Some days, I feel like the past year has flown by. Other days, I felt it would never end. Plainly put, this past year has been a wonderful yet hard year. Wonderful in the obvious. A child being born into our family, the gift of new life, the fun and excitement of having a new baby and new person to get to know, the fun of Truett having a sibling and constant playmate, the blessing of Carrie knowing another one of her nephews and just Wesley- he's a lively, funny and fearless little one. So brave and full of adventure already. He gets easier as he grows. He likes to be in the know of whats going on. You won't really find him playing off by himself (like his brother Truett likes to do). He is always roaming from room to room, seeing what everybody else is up to. He'll come spend some time with Mommy while I make the bed in the morning, then he'll roam into Truett's room and knock over whatever he's trying to build or setup in his room, he'll go to the kitchen to check on Daddy for a bite of whatever he's eating or to climb on the dishwasher and then he'll go to the dining room and peer out the french doors to see what anyone/thing is doing outside. He's a climber and an active little fellow. I like to call him "complete BOY". He loves to spit his water, throw his food, knock things down and tumble. He also has quite a thing for snuggling. He is a super sweet hugging boy. He always has been. O, and he loves Elmo. He is a complete delight and I can't imagine our family without him.


BUT (not to be used as a negation of the good), it has been a hard year too. For many reasons. I will list a couple. One is the simple addition of another baby so quickly. Sometimes I wonder if people think I actually tried and anticipated having another baby that quickly (16 months almost to the day, to be exact). Well, to clear the record...I DIDN'T! He is a complete miracle, destined-to-be-here kind of baby (if you know what I mean ;) ). And I will be the first to tell you, I didn't take to it very well. Especially in the beginning. Which is my number two reason. I found struggles with all sorts of ugly things in ME, but one in particular (which I'm convinced will be the number God will be doing on me until I am like Him in glory!) is a struggle with control. I think all us moms deal with it to some degree when we become mothers, lets be honest. But for me, having the two babies so close together was a huge catalyst in my life to chizzle CHUNKS of the ugly thing away. Wesley was a very good baby, but he never did take to any of my scheduling (which is a nice way to say "control"). I would list out things he "wouldn't do" or "would do" that drove me crazy, but really - in reflecting on this past year - it was ME that was making such a struggle with it. It just drove me crazy that things were not predictable, calm and/or easy. (Now, I'm not being hard on Wesley, he just was sooooo different than my firstborn and it drove me nuts that he was, because THAT was how I knew how to do this!) Clearly now, I was the one that needed to adapt. (And all this was going on while reason #3 was crashing on us...which I will possibly write about at another time.)

I am grateful for this work of God in my life. I'm sure I have alot more to learn (especially through the babies yet to be born. Yes, we want more even after all this! And now I know why people stop having children after they have two close together), but I find so much peace knowing that God hasn't left me like I was. Through all of this (and other catalysts), I have learned to endure and push through hard things. I mean, you can't just run away and leave when it gets hard. (Though I did tell Artie one night in my tiredness that I wanted to just get in the car and drive to Texas and back just to be alone and quiet! The next morning I told Artie I was going to the grocery store and he quickly chimed in with "I thought you were going to TX?" Ha ha! At least we could laugh about it!) I have learned to keep going, keep giving, keep loving, keep ministering, keep seeking the Lord, keep finding fulfillment in His call, staying grateful, walking in the ways of the Spirit, loving in DEED, sacrificing and most of all trusting Him to be everything in me that I need to go on.

Now, I know this is so small in comparison to the struggles of world hunger, billions of people in the world not knowing the Lord, and the fact that people out there are suffering far worse than me. (And I have a post about all that coming, that is burning in my heart!) But, I also know that the God who redeemed me from the path I was headed on loves me enough to do this work in me through any and all means in my life, including and especially my children and husband. Praise God! They continue to be God's greatest tool in my selfish life. I am so grateful for my faithful, patient husband who always reminds me of and illustrates the calm of Christ in my times of chaos. But I guess that's what marriage is all about...standing by each other during the deep works of God in our lives, which can be a pretty dirty construction site at times. At least on my end it is.

So here's to a year, FULL of many blessings, happy times, laughter, and much joy. And also to the difficulties, which God will always use to produce in us the glory of Him!

In the words of a wise friend, "The days are long, but the years are short."