Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Thought for the Day
He loves us. Love does not mean making much of us or making life easy. It means making us able to enjoy making much of Him forever - no matter what the cost.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
The Fiery Furnace Will Fashion Us into the Image of Christ
The Fiery Furnace Will Fashion Us into the Image of Christ and Our Authority Will Increase as We Overcome by Barbie Breathitt
The fiery furnace in Daniel 3 will fashion us into the image of the "Fourth Man."
Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, "Is it true, you do not serve my gods or worship my image? Now, when you hear the sound of my music, fall down and worship what I have made. If you do not bow down and worship my image you will be thrown into the furnace. Then we will see if your god will be able to rescue you from my hand?"
The three replied to the king, "We do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand. But even if He does not, and He requires us to walk with Him through the fire, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
This infuriated King Nebuchadnezzar and his attitude changed. He commanded the furnace heated seven times hotter. His strongest soldiers tied up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and threw them into the blazing furnace. The flames of the fire killed the soldiers as these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blistering, fiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his worldly advisers, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?" They replied, "Certainly, O king." He said, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods."
Nebuchadnezzar approached the open furnace and shouted, "Come out! Come here!" So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, and the governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.
"The God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, sent His angel and rescued His servants! They trusted in Him and defied my command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God." Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon. (Paraphrased)
No one likes to be thrown headlong into a fiery situation, but when difficulties, bondages or limitations are overcome, our influence and authority is increased. Once these three men walked through the fire, the image of the fourth Man was seared on them and world leaders gathered around to hear their wisdom and counsel.
God will keep us safe as we dwell in His presence. He will hide us from the days of trouble and exalt us over our enemies. We will rejoice for the days of testing, trouble, and trials because they perfect us as fine, pure gold. The favor of the Lord will rest upon His golden vessels and He will establish the works of our hands.
Sin, doubt and disobedience keep us from the promise of entering God's rest. When we rest in Christ He will find His resting place in us. It is the Christ in us that gives us power to demonstrate the "greater works" of the Gospel.
The fiery furnace in Daniel 3 will fashion us into the image of the "Fourth Man."
Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, "Is it true, you do not serve my gods or worship my image? Now, when you hear the sound of my music, fall down and worship what I have made. If you do not bow down and worship my image you will be thrown into the furnace. Then we will see if your god will be able to rescue you from my hand?"
The three replied to the king, "We do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand. But even if He does not, and He requires us to walk with Him through the fire, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
This infuriated King Nebuchadnezzar and his attitude changed. He commanded the furnace heated seven times hotter. His strongest soldiers tied up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and threw them into the blazing furnace. The flames of the fire killed the soldiers as these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blistering, fiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his worldly advisers, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?" They replied, "Certainly, O king." He said, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods."
Nebuchadnezzar approached the open furnace and shouted, "Come out! Come here!" So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, and the governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.
"The God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, sent His angel and rescued His servants! They trusted in Him and defied my command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God." Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon. (Paraphrased)
No one likes to be thrown headlong into a fiery situation, but when difficulties, bondages or limitations are overcome, our influence and authority is increased. Once these three men walked through the fire, the image of the fourth Man was seared on them and world leaders gathered around to hear their wisdom and counsel.
God will keep us safe as we dwell in His presence. He will hide us from the days of trouble and exalt us over our enemies. We will rejoice for the days of testing, trouble, and trials because they perfect us as fine, pure gold. The favor of the Lord will rest upon His golden vessels and He will establish the works of our hands.
Sin, doubt and disobedience keep us from the promise of entering God's rest. When we rest in Christ He will find His resting place in us. It is the Christ in us that gives us power to demonstrate the "greater works" of the Gospel.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Happy Birthday Bethany!!
Today, we are celebrating Bethany! It has been 16 years since she became part of our lives and turned this couple into a family. What an amazing 16 years it has been. She has walked with us through laughter, tears, parting and reunions. She of all the kids remembers the struggles and the challenges that have made us into the family we are. She is bright, beautiful, fun and friendly. Bethany delights our heart with her smile and sweet ways. She is greatly loved by this household and each day with her is a precious gift from God. Father, Thank You for sharing Your Bethany with me, she truly is a priceless gift and one we treasure each and every day! Happy Birthday Bethany, We love you!!
The Perfect Family - posted on Destiny in Bloom
The Perfect Family –
I was chatting with some moms the other day listening to their stories about the challenges they were having with their husbands and kids, when all of a sudden the thought struck me – I HAVE THE PERFECT FAMILY! Now you may be thinking, “she is awfully bold in making such a statement,” but hear me out on this one – If you came to my home and passed by my daughters cluttered room, saw the dirty dishes in the sink and heard the 4 year old pitching a fit from the back room you might wonder about my idea of perfect. After all isn’t perfect without flaw, faultless? Not in my house it isn’t, perfect around here is the process and the people God is using to help us to look, act and think more like He does. Romans 12:1-2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” The perfect will of God, well my family is the perfect will of God for me and my life.
For example – when one of my daughters was two there was something in my heart that began to react in anger to the circumstances and situations around me and I could see the reflection of this anger in her heart as well. I finally came to the conclusion that I could not penetrate her heart without first dealing with my own. God used this most amazing two-year-old to help me confront my anger, deal with it, leave it at the feet of Jesus and learn to walk in healing and forgiveness. It took time, prayer, petition and great humility for me to realize that the problem was in me – I was the one with an anger issue and she was my little mirror. Walking out the next 4 years was challenging and humbling but by the time she had turned 6 both our lives were free from the stronghold of anger and a grace and delight encompassed our relationship with each other. I tell people, “Of all the people I know she gives me more grace than others because we both had to learn to receive God’s grace to overcome the anger in our hearts.”
When my daughters approached adolescence the fear that their lives would look like mine during those formative years began to grip my heart. My parents divorced when I turned 12 and I remember the loneliness, the emptiness, the feeling of having no place where I belonged and the road those feelings led to when I left for college. I was fearful their lives would be a reflection of my wrong choices and I wanted so desperately to keep them from the heartache and grief I had experienced. As we began to walk the road to adulthood God gave me a new picture of His plan for their lives and the sense of well-being that each of them would gain their confidence from their identity in Him and that it would shape the person they were becoming. God took my broken years and past and through prayer and hard work he made something new and wonderful for my daughters – it became clear to me that not only was he giving them a future and a hope he was also giving me a new future and a hope in my own life as well.
Now the men in my life, they don’t think like me, act like me or smell like me and because of that they are constantly challenging me to get out of my box and live life to the fullest. My husband is the perfect man for me – God knew I would need a man to pray for me to be seasoned in the Lord, a man who would not try to fix me but would allow God to do the fixing and a man who never let a day be boring – no we are on the ride of our life a daily walk in trusting the One who brought us together.
One of my sons has taught me to laugh at myself, helping me to get over myself and to let joy enter my heart and life. He is a quality time child and to sit and play with him brings him great delight, I am an acts of service kind of girl and so learning to speak his love language has made me die to myself and many of my “idealistic” expectations about priorities and the stack of dirty dishes in the sink – you see perfect to me means the dishes would never be there, but love to him says “forget the dishes for a minute and let’s play a game”. I have to set aside my list of to dos and love him today while I still have today with him.
Another son helps me to stop and smell the roses; his laid back personality reminds me that all of life is not a race and that sometimes taking a few extra minutes to enjoy the journey is as important as getting to my destination. My third son challenges me in every way – he wants to be big and then suddenly he wants to be little (big if his older siblings are getting to do something without him, little if he has to unload the dishwasher by himself) But don’t I do the same thing with God, “God today I am big and I can conquer the world, oh but that hurt so now I am little and need You to come help me pick up the mess I just made.”
Like I said, I have the perfect family, a perfect mess and perfect for me. Perfectly able to be used by God to shape me into becoming the person he wants for me to be – perfectly able to help me die to myself and learn to love outside my abilities and let Him love through me, and you know what? I am the perfect wife for my husband and the perfect mom for each of my kids as well, the one He called to instill into them some of my strengths, to help them with recognizing our weaknesses and letting Him be strong in us and the perfect wife & mom to love, pray and walk with them on this journey called Life. I bet you have the perfect family and you are the perfect one for them as well.
I was chatting with some moms the other day listening to their stories about the challenges they were having with their husbands and kids, when all of a sudden the thought struck me – I HAVE THE PERFECT FAMILY! Now you may be thinking, “she is awfully bold in making such a statement,” but hear me out on this one – If you came to my home and passed by my daughters cluttered room, saw the dirty dishes in the sink and heard the 4 year old pitching a fit from the back room you might wonder about my idea of perfect. After all isn’t perfect without flaw, faultless? Not in my house it isn’t, perfect around here is the process and the people God is using to help us to look, act and think more like He does. Romans 12:1-2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” The perfect will of God, well my family is the perfect will of God for me and my life.
For example – when one of my daughters was two there was something in my heart that began to react in anger to the circumstances and situations around me and I could see the reflection of this anger in her heart as well. I finally came to the conclusion that I could not penetrate her heart without first dealing with my own. God used this most amazing two-year-old to help me confront my anger, deal with it, leave it at the feet of Jesus and learn to walk in healing and forgiveness. It took time, prayer, petition and great humility for me to realize that the problem was in me – I was the one with an anger issue and she was my little mirror. Walking out the next 4 years was challenging and humbling but by the time she had turned 6 both our lives were free from the stronghold of anger and a grace and delight encompassed our relationship with each other. I tell people, “Of all the people I know she gives me more grace than others because we both had to learn to receive God’s grace to overcome the anger in our hearts.”
When my daughters approached adolescence the fear that their lives would look like mine during those formative years began to grip my heart. My parents divorced when I turned 12 and I remember the loneliness, the emptiness, the feeling of having no place where I belonged and the road those feelings led to when I left for college. I was fearful their lives would be a reflection of my wrong choices and I wanted so desperately to keep them from the heartache and grief I had experienced. As we began to walk the road to adulthood God gave me a new picture of His plan for their lives and the sense of well-being that each of them would gain their confidence from their identity in Him and that it would shape the person they were becoming. God took my broken years and past and through prayer and hard work he made something new and wonderful for my daughters – it became clear to me that not only was he giving them a future and a hope he was also giving me a new future and a hope in my own life as well.
Now the men in my life, they don’t think like me, act like me or smell like me and because of that they are constantly challenging me to get out of my box and live life to the fullest. My husband is the perfect man for me – God knew I would need a man to pray for me to be seasoned in the Lord, a man who would not try to fix me but would allow God to do the fixing and a man who never let a day be boring – no we are on the ride of our life a daily walk in trusting the One who brought us together.
One of my sons has taught me to laugh at myself, helping me to get over myself and to let joy enter my heart and life. He is a quality time child and to sit and play with him brings him great delight, I am an acts of service kind of girl and so learning to speak his love language has made me die to myself and many of my “idealistic” expectations about priorities and the stack of dirty dishes in the sink – you see perfect to me means the dishes would never be there, but love to him says “forget the dishes for a minute and let’s play a game”. I have to set aside my list of to dos and love him today while I still have today with him.
Another son helps me to stop and smell the roses; his laid back personality reminds me that all of life is not a race and that sometimes taking a few extra minutes to enjoy the journey is as important as getting to my destination. My third son challenges me in every way – he wants to be big and then suddenly he wants to be little (big if his older siblings are getting to do something without him, little if he has to unload the dishwasher by himself) But don’t I do the same thing with God, “God today I am big and I can conquer the world, oh but that hurt so now I am little and need You to come help me pick up the mess I just made.”
Like I said, I have the perfect family, a perfect mess and perfect for me. Perfectly able to be used by God to shape me into becoming the person he wants for me to be – perfectly able to help me die to myself and learn to love outside my abilities and let Him love through me, and you know what? I am the perfect wife for my husband and the perfect mom for each of my kids as well, the one He called to instill into them some of my strengths, to help them with recognizing our weaknesses and letting Him be strong in us and the perfect wife & mom to love, pray and walk with them on this journey called Life. I bet you have the perfect family and you are the perfect one for them as well.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
The morning of May 8th, 2009 when I woke up I did not know what kind of day I was in for - However, this story begins on Jan 3 and leads up to today.
On Jan 3, Darrell went on his sabbatical and spent three days with the Lord, when he returned I left and spent three days alone with the Lord. Among the things he asked me to pray about one of them was about if we were to have another child. On my sabbatical the Lord woke me up in the middle of the night and told me I was going to be pregnant. Later in the day He told me I would be pregnant by April. So, I came home and told Darrell what the Lord had said, only to find out that God had told him there would be “No baby in 2009.”
We did not understand how these two words could be so diametrically opposed but they were – so we trusted God to sort it all out.
March 12th the Lord told me I had conceived, and by the end of the next week I took a pregnancy test and it came back positive. We decided not to tell for a while and just let everything play out for a few weeks. We did tell the girls after about 2 weeks and they so patiently waited until we told family before they told their friends. On May 2, they talked me into telling our parents (I was waiting until Mother’s Day) and that day the news began to spread like wildfire. May 5th we posted on FB and they told all their school friends. I was 12 weeks pregnant – had already seen the midwife, everything was going along like normal.
After the busy tournament weekend April 30 – May 2nd, I began to spot but was not really worried as I had done that with Bailey as well. I told the Lord that if I miscarried then Darrell’s word about “no baby” was still not true, and mine was incomplete only telling me I was going to be pregnant by April.
My prenatal exam was scheduled for May 7th and we went in expecting to hear the heart beat, but with no heart beat found we decided to schedule a sonogram. The sonogram tech “just happened” to be in the office that day and he did have an available appt for later that day. I never hurt, I never cramped, and I never felt like I was “loosing” the baby. So, when we went in we did not know what we would find. The tech did the exam and toward the end he showed us the empty sac in my womb with “no baby” in it. I was pregnant by April and Darrell did hear God say, “No baby in ’09.” We do not know why this has happened or why God chose to play it out they way He did, but I do know that we both heard God, we both prophesied in part, God spoke and it happened – talk about the fear of the Lord.
I woke up this morning and my body began the cleansing process, if yesterday had not played out the way it had we would not have known that there was “no baby.” We did not miscarry; there was no baby to lose. However, I am still going through the postpartum hormonal stuff and ask you to forgive me if I am short with you, standoffish or just a little out of it. (I took 360 home instead of 183 thinking I had made my exit – only to have my kids wondering where on earth I was going!)
We have never experienced anything like this before, the loss is great and our hearts hurt from the hope that was deferred, but we all know that our God REDEEMS, HEALS & RESTORES! However that will look over time we will walk free of the pain and hurt and able to see His glory in this encounter.
We are going to spend the next few weeks retreating with the Lord, hibernating with our family and receiving some much needed rest and healing- this has taken a toll on us spiritually and emotionally. The one thing I do know is that God is a God of His word, He is faithful and true and NO MATTER WHAT – We choose to praise HIM!!
On Jan 3, Darrell went on his sabbatical and spent three days with the Lord, when he returned I left and spent three days alone with the Lord. Among the things he asked me to pray about one of them was about if we were to have another child. On my sabbatical the Lord woke me up in the middle of the night and told me I was going to be pregnant. Later in the day He told me I would be pregnant by April. So, I came home and told Darrell what the Lord had said, only to find out that God had told him there would be “No baby in 2009.”
We did not understand how these two words could be so diametrically opposed but they were – so we trusted God to sort it all out.
March 12th the Lord told me I had conceived, and by the end of the next week I took a pregnancy test and it came back positive. We decided not to tell for a while and just let everything play out for a few weeks. We did tell the girls after about 2 weeks and they so patiently waited until we told family before they told their friends. On May 2, they talked me into telling our parents (I was waiting until Mother’s Day) and that day the news began to spread like wildfire. May 5th we posted on FB and they told all their school friends. I was 12 weeks pregnant – had already seen the midwife, everything was going along like normal.
After the busy tournament weekend April 30 – May 2nd, I began to spot but was not really worried as I had done that with Bailey as well. I told the Lord that if I miscarried then Darrell’s word about “no baby” was still not true, and mine was incomplete only telling me I was going to be pregnant by April.
My prenatal exam was scheduled for May 7th and we went in expecting to hear the heart beat, but with no heart beat found we decided to schedule a sonogram. The sonogram tech “just happened” to be in the office that day and he did have an available appt for later that day. I never hurt, I never cramped, and I never felt like I was “loosing” the baby. So, when we went in we did not know what we would find. The tech did the exam and toward the end he showed us the empty sac in my womb with “no baby” in it. I was pregnant by April and Darrell did hear God say, “No baby in ’09.” We do not know why this has happened or why God chose to play it out they way He did, but I do know that we both heard God, we both prophesied in part, God spoke and it happened – talk about the fear of the Lord.
I woke up this morning and my body began the cleansing process, if yesterday had not played out the way it had we would not have known that there was “no baby.” We did not miscarry; there was no baby to lose. However, I am still going through the postpartum hormonal stuff and ask you to forgive me if I am short with you, standoffish or just a little out of it. (I took 360 home instead of 183 thinking I had made my exit – only to have my kids wondering where on earth I was going!)
We have never experienced anything like this before, the loss is great and our hearts hurt from the hope that was deferred, but we all know that our God REDEEMS, HEALS & RESTORES! However that will look over time we will walk free of the pain and hurt and able to see His glory in this encounter.
We are going to spend the next few weeks retreating with the Lord, hibernating with our family and receiving some much needed rest and healing- this has taken a toll on us spiritually and emotionally. The one thing I do know is that God is a God of His word, He is faithful and true and NO MATTER WHAT – We choose to praise HIM!!
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