A Tribute; My Mother

It is yet another Mother's Day...and never have I appreciated Mother's Day as much until I reached the point of motherhood myself.  There are so many demands...so many expectations...so many "shoulds" and "need tos" and "wish I would have" and "wish I could have"...so many tugs and pulls and how one manages to make it through some days is only understandable to the God above who made us to withstand all that we go through each and every day.  But, the beauty of that, is that, if we allow Him to take us through it, He gives us the joy that makes us want to do it again and again and we can get up and make it through another day.  That we never regret giving of ourselves and only regret when we don't -- only the most Selfless One can give that joy and desire to us.  Selflessness is not a human trait-- it's "other worldly" and those momma's that have peace, joy, and love in the midst of the most difficult days can only find it through Christ-- the One that is the essence of giving.

To my most precious mother ~
How thankful I am that God gave me YOU as my mother.  When He formed me inside of you, He knew you'd be the perfect one for me to wipe away my tears, to stop my fights between me and my siblings, to guide my heart & personhood toward Him and towards the one He was creating me to be.  Thank you for all the endless hours of...well, endless hours!  I'm so thankful you've supported my every step-- and how crazy I think you and Dad must have been for letting me travel half way to the south pole when I was only 16 to allow my eyes to be opened to God working globally and open my eyes to all of His precious children all around the world...May I have the faith to let my children go when God says it's time.  You've done that so well and all credit goes to you and Dad for opening your hands at the right time and trusting God to do the rest.  Though I am your child, you and Dad have known and demonstrated that I am God's child first and foremost and His plans for me are perfect.  What a beautiful model of what I hope to do for my children.  You are my hero for also looking to Him for your "what next" as you've grown out of the "parental" stage.  You aren't settling for a selfish life filled with things and travels and gaining of earthly "things."  Though you could choose to invest your time, energy, and finances in temporal things that would be fun for awhile, you are choosing instead to do the harder work-- to keep pursuing where God wants you to serve-- and I am praying you now to the otherside of the world (and I will pray you back=).  You continue to open my eyes to God's global work and love for His children all around the world.  You amaze me and I hope I can serve Him as faithfully as you've shown me.

Thank you for all your love, faithfulness, and for loving CHRIST and demonstrating to me a small part of His heart.

"The days are long, but the years are short." 

(My favorite mother quote that got me through toddlerhood 4 times over! ...um, and that gets me through a lot of other days, too!)

How true...I'm so thankful for my four little ones...who are already getting "not so little" anymore!  I'm off to spend a bit of time looking at their baby albums to remind me of all I already have...the most precious, greatest, blessings of my lifetime.

Solo Deo Gloria!

~ Kristen J.

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Secure in my Calling, Part II

Long awaited!  I know!  I'm sure you were all on the edge of your seat wondering just WHEN I would do my follow-up post.  (Follow-up post?  Did I miss the first one?  That is prolly-- txt shortage from my friend for probably-- do you use that too?-- more like it!)  Hang on tonight-- my head is obviously spinning.  I get this way when I'm excited! 

My little "break" was due in part to computer crashes & losing material & in part just because of "life"-- yours is crazy busy and so is mine.  BUT, needless to say, I wanted to make sure I put these thoughts up here...should I pass on and never complete this post series!  (That would be a shame, of all things to leave uncompleted, right?)

Here are my practical thoughts on being secure in our every-day walking-around calling (the way in which we make our decisions on what we will do when):

1)  God has placed us on this earth exactly where He intended us to be -- not only are WE not a mistake (uniquely designed-- see #2) but we are LIVING where He intended us to live.  Why is this important?  Some people I've run across in life (including myself at times) have wondered why they were born into the situation and location they were born in-- some feel out-of-this-world-blessed by those situations (i.e. living in wealthy America vs. 3rd world nation) some feel cursed (i.e. not wealthy ENOUGH or whatever)  Generally, the latter type are pretty discontented and would be no matter what the situation because they have NOT learned the secret of contentment like Paul (in the Bible) had.

2)  God has designed us with unique talents & personalities -- be thankful for the talents you have and don't waste time wishing for other ones.  Some are good at "supporting" roles-- if that's you-- support your family & local church well!  Some are good at "leading" roles-- if that's you, then lead WELL!  God truly only knows how better off we might all be if those leading were doing so with excellence.  (There are some very excellent leaders, but many people are in leadership today for the wrong reasons which just makes them bad leaders.)

3) God has a definite design for family life -- This is such a touchy subject in "Christian" circles but really, it is obvious through Scripture that the man is to lead the family.  He is responsible for all matters in his home and he should lead with love (sacrificial love-- Eph. 5).  Women should submit (willingly place themselves under the authority of their man) out of obedience and love for Christ and as unto Christ.  There are always terrible situation in which man or woman abuse the other and in these situations it is clear that sometimes separation must happen for awhile until the relationship and safety of all involved can  be restored. (That is a different post for another day.)  more importantly, women are to be the nurturers of their children.  We have been given the awesome privilege to raise up a generation for Christ!  Whether you work outside of the home or not, your absolute priority must be your family. If you have to pass off the responsibility of your children unto others it should cause you to prayerfully reconsider why you are having to do so.  Temporary emergencies arise and the church of Christ should support one another more. Let your needs be known and give the body an opportunity to respond.

4) God desires for us to live in accordance to His will.  If our desires are outside of this, then we cannot be secure that we are being called to do that activity.  (I.E. I desire to go and work in orphanages some times which is a great desire-- but completely out of the realm of my current responsibilities He has given me first.) 

5) Our callings will change.  Certain times call for us to take on certain roles.  God's will is not a mystery-- he was revealed it to us plainly in Scriptures.  (you can even biblegateway.com "God's Will" and find some of those specific commands-- the first that we LOVE one another!)  And we cannot do everything all the time.  There will be an ebb and flow to times which allow for more freedoms here and there than at other times. 

Do what you need to do to fight the temptation to want someone else's calling!!!  This will do nothing but eat away at you and cause you to become resentful and bitter-- the complete opposite of a vibrant, joy-filled Christian!


** I could have added a LOT of Scripture to back this all up, but truthfully I just wanted to get this down.  We're studying James in our Bible study group right now and allllll of these things are addressed when we stop to consider our hearts-- our truest motivation behind our actions.  I'm thankful the Lord is patient and works on us with grace, stripping us of our flesh and continually adding to us HIS Holiness!**

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Secure in My Calling-- What IS It?!

I've been pondering this phrase for a few weeks now.  "Secure in my calling..."  Lysa Terkuerst uses it in her book and study (of the same name) "Becoming More than A Good Bible Study Girl" and it has begged me to answer the obvious questions that come to mind when I hear it: "Am I really secure in my calling?"  and the next one, "what exactly IS 'my calling'"?

We have to know first what our calling is.  For those of us who are Christ-followers, we can find part of our answer in His Word, our foundation for anything True.  We know that Christ actually gives many commandments for us to follow-- commandments such as caring for the orphans and widows, not getting angry, not getting drunk, not judging others, not wanting things that are not ours, rejoicing in all circumstances, giving thanks, praising His name, and on and on and on.  When one sits and just reads through Matthew chapters 5-7 it can seem to get a little heavy and wearisome at times.  NO ONE could do all that!  (That is, actually, the point-- without Christ we can do no good.  There is nothing good in us. Ecc. 7:20 and others) But, then, thankfully Jesus boils it all down for us to two simple terms.  In Matthew Chapter 22 verses 37-40 He says,

1)  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."
2)  "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Christ says, "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

In John Chapter 15, we read that if we love God we will obey His commands and remain in His love.  Obeying His commands will mean that we will show love to others because we will consider them better than our own selves.  We will be more concerned with their needs than our own and we will naturally not do all of the commands that talk about not judging or gossiping or stealing, etc. because those actions are not loving.  I am, of course, making it sound so simple, and yet it is not.  We MUST abide in Christ if we are to live a life consistent with this because only HE can produce in us the love for others.  We just can not conjure it up in and of ourselves.

Okay-- so first we must learn to LOVE GOD and the LOVE OTHERS

There is a second part to being a follower of Christ that should flow out of everything we do daily.  This is found a little later in Matthew when Jesus gives some of His final words to His disciples after rising from the dead and before heading back to His heavenly home.  (This is part of the "love others" that He has already told us to do.)

"All authoriy in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."  (Oh yeah, and let's not forget that Jesus promises to be with us through all of this!)

Our calling then, as human Christ-followers is to: love God / love others, and the second, MAKE DISCIPLES!

So the question we should be asking ourselves is , whatever earthy place God has put us in, are we making disciples there?  That is our number one calling as true followers of Christ.   We'll  look later this week as some more particulars and how this might look on and everyday level.


For more on this, PLEASE watch this video!  Francis Chan is a regular man, human like the rest of us, but he is choosing daily to walk a life that screams JESUS! to those around him.  If you don't have an hour-- cuz' it's a long one(!)-- come back and visit this video when you do.  (I cleaned my school room while I listened=)

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