My Voyage on the Dawn Treader...

I realize that I have been absent from blogging, but believe you me, it has not been absent from my mind!

I'm sure that a vast majority of adults have one time or another picked up the long known series of books, "The Chronicles of Narnia". I actually enjoyed reading them during my pregnancies, I'm sure that will be a tradition I maintain assuming the Lord gives us more children. But these past couple of months there is one book in particular that I've found myself most relate-able to and that is 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'. There is a character in the book Eustice a cousin of the four main children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. He steps on the scene as being a miserable wretch! No one wants to be around him and he doesn't really care to be in Narnia himself. One part of the story has stuck out to me the most though. I'm an analogy person to the hilt! In fact, my husband often teases me about it (nicely of course) and says that he won't ever have to worry about our children understanding anything when they begin homeschooling!
Eustice has found himself turned into a dragon and he's scared because he fears that he might forever remain a dragon (a legitimate fear, right?). So long story short, he runs into Aslan the lion. Now for those who might not know, C.S.Lewis depicts Aslan as the Jesus or God-like character, upon these two meeting, Aslan proceeds to engage Eustice the dragon. Obviously it was quite uncomfortable being an over-sized lizard so Aslan informs Eustice that he must use his claws and scratch some of the top scaling off. So he begins to do so and finds some relief but quickly realizes that this is not a job that he is going to be able to achieve on his own. Then, in steps Aslan, as much as Eustice feared the lions claws and the fact that this was something that was really going to hurt, during the process he found relief in the pain and after it was all done, he was like a brand new boy!

For me, I read that and I'm reminded of how that there are moments in our lives and walks with God that we feel like we've done all that we can do, but of course, even our all is not enough. We are in need of God to come along and claw that other fleshly thinking, behavior etc off of us. It hurts and most often times we are somewhat resistant, but in the end, is it not worth it? This is where I have been the past couple months, in a "cleaning" lesson, if you will. There have been a few situations where its been more than obvious that the Lord's Will was in play, but because of my desire of not wanting change, I was resistant to it. Fighting it, trying to convince myself that this isn't what is supposed to be happening. It was painful, there were tears shed at times, moments of great frustration. But at the end of the day, I felt great relief knowing that even though I'm fighting it and even though I'm resisting the Lord keeps moving forward. Because no matter what I'm doing or not doing, His Will will be done, my actions may cause it to come about in a much more difficult way, but ultimately whatever He wants is accomplished.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is found in James 1:2-4
"Consider it great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing."

I've been so blessed with a husband that has the heart of teacher. He advises, directs, counsels me but he also steps back and allows me to sometimes learn a lesson the hard way. I'm so grateful for that and always will be! He's one of my very special gifts from God and I feel honored and humbled that the Lord chose me to be his helper...

Stay encouraged as you read this and know that no matter how alone you feel in whatever circumstance you are going through, you're not. That really is the truth!

Sin...A never ending battle!?!?!

There are moments while living out the day one of my children will say or do something that they know they shouldn't. My oldest for instance, has had moments where another sibling will take something away from her. I will watch her think for a second about what happened and then she attempts to hit or snatch it back but stopping along the way realizing that's not what she's suppose to do. Sometimes the flesh wins out and you see her smack 'em or, she'll say, please give me that back, I asked you very nicely.

Struggling with sin isn't something I only see happening in my children, I see it in myself too! I have moments where I react out of shear emotion instead of stopping to take a deep breath and then re-access the situation. The flesh sometimes wins and I hate that! But, there are times where the spirit does too. Something that I've started doing is going through the scriptures and finding ones that deal particularly with what I'm struggling with. I print them out and post them throughout the house where I know I'm going to see them that way I'm constantly reminded of what God's Word says about it. I want so badly to be a living example of Christ and the more I desire it the harder Satan fights me! I was just telling my husband the other day, "You know when I get up in the morning and I say, 'Ok, I'm going to have a good day today. I'm going to respond correctly in every situation, I'm going to meditate on the scriptures. etc etc' usually that day hits me like a hurricane!!!" He just responded with, "That's because Satan is going to fight you every step of the way."
I believe with all my heart that the harder Satan fights me the closer I'm getting to Him! One of my meditation verses that is on the wall as I walk out of my bedroom door is Hebrews 12:1,
"Therefore, since we have a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and sin which so easily entangle us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us..."


"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?"
Romans 8:31

What are some of your meditation verses?

Proverbs 31:10 discussion

Many woman that have attended church at some point or another in their lives might have heard a sermon preached on Proverbs 31. I know that in my own personal life I had heard various preachers giving their thoughts and opinions on what the verses meant, however, upon deeper personal study I believe that I have been able to understand what the writer of the proverb and God were trying to communicate.
With the help of ''The Bible Knowledge Commentary" a more clearly defined explanation and applicability to modern women is what I've developed...

Proverbs 31:10-31

VS. 10

"An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels."

When we think of jewels what comes to mind? I tend to think of diamonds. I love the simplicity and yet beauty that a diamond holds. For some, you might think of emeralds, sapphires or rubies. Like most women, the only real and authentic jewel I posses is my wedding ring. My wedding ring is something that I treasure. Something I pay attention too and treat with the utmost of care. It is something that holds great worth in my life. In this verse the excellent, or noble, wife is considered more precious than that of jewels or, in other translations, rubies. Walvoord & Zuck of the Bible Knowledge Commentary describe this verse as "the wife of noble character is also mentioned in Proverbs 12:4. Ruth is called ' a woman of noble character ' (Ruth 3:11). the word for noble character is translated "capable" in Exodus 18:21. The question "who can find?" does not suggest that such women are nonexistent but that they should be admired because they, like noble men, are rare. also, they are MORE valuable than RUBIES." (emphasis mine)
I believe that this verse and biblical explanation of it alone is one that should cause any woman to  realize their value. To be a truly noble woman of God, your worth far surpasses that of precious jewels.