LADYBUGS

My main project this summer was to renovate my bathroom. I decided a totally new look was the best way to go. I proceeded to tear out all the built-in cabinets and vanity. Of course, I ran in to some road blocks along the way. A plumber had to be called to replace the shut-off valves for the sink and toilet. The screws holding the shower door to the porcelain were rusted tight and would not budge. With the help of my husband (he is an electrical engineer and did the wiring of the new outlet and light switches AND light fixtures), my mother and brother (they purchased my new toilet AND installed it), and my sister (she gave me the money to purchase a new vanity), the job was finally completed today. I just finished removing the old caulk from the shower and replacing it with new caulk. As I was working on it, a flood of joy came over me when the thought came across my mind that my Dad was proud of me. You see, my Dad could do ANYTHING! He build the house my mother is living in now. He kept my 1966 Ford Convertible Mustang running, taking out the engine and repairing it, then putting it back in. He repaired our garage door about 20 years ago, and said he thought we would have to replace it in a few months. It is still working! My brother, Joe Don, takes after my Dad in that he, too, can do anything.

While I was caulking just now, I pictured my Dad watching me from Heaven and smiling. It brought me great joy. Then the Holy Spirit whispered in my heart, “Why don’t you believe your Heavenly Father is proud of you?” I immediately thought of all my failings… failing to go to church, failing to pray more, failing to read my Bible, failing to tell people that Jesus is the Only Way, Truth, and Life. “How could my Father be proud of that?” I thought. Then the Holy Spirit reminded me that “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1 God’s Word tells us that we are the righteousness of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Condemnation comes from our enemy, Satan. In Revelation 12, Satan is described as the one who accuses us before God day and night. But have no fear, for we have an advocate before the Father. His name is Jesus Christ.
1 John 2:1 says My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense–Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

I wrote in an earlier post how I was dreading the drive to Oklahoma to attend our 2010 Baylor Reunion, hosted by my former college roommate and her husband. After having returned from an INCREDIBLE weekend, I was thinking about how if I had known how the weekend was going to be (far above and beyond ANYTHING I could have envisioned or imagined), I would have not dreaded the road trip one bit! My husband and I were “on the road” for eight hours on Friday before arriving at the lakehouse around 5 p.m. As I sat on the balcony overlooking the lake and enjoying the beautiful sunset, I commented to Charles (my other Baylor friend) how THIS was a vacation. The weekend consisted of wonderful food and plenty of snacks, a beautiful view of the lake, an adventure on SeaDoos, a relaxing time of floating on the lake, a competitive game of Wii bowling, a tour of the neighborhood on golf carts, a tour of the lake on a large, comfortable boat with great music, and lots, and lots, and LOTS of laughter!! Then I commented to Charles that this is heaven. The food, facilities, recreational vehicles, and all the rest were amazing…but the true wonderfulness of the weekend was the people we were with. I love being with these people! The relationship between and amongst each other is what made the trip. I have not laughed that often or hard in a long, long time.

Now, to my point. God’s Word in Isaiah 64:4 says, “For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! ” If I just knew the reality of how wonderful Heaven is going to be, I would not have the difficulty I encounter with this “road trip” I am on.

I was eating blueberry pancakes with my youngest son this morning, looking out the window and getting really excited about seeing my friends from college this next weekend. It surprised me, because up until now I have been almost dreading it. Not that I don’t want to have a reunion with my college roommates and friends. I love the times we have gotten to be together in the past. We are spread out over two states, and it is very difficult to find the time to all meet. The last “reunion” we all had together must have been 20 years ago! But this reunion is going to require a road trip. A L-O-O-O-N-G road trip! My college roommate has a lake house north of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mike and I will leave early Friday morning to go to Irving and pick up my other college roommate. (two hours on the road). Then we will head north for another six or more hours! As the time approaches for the event to take place, I began to think more and more of the L-O-O-O-N-G car ride. That seemed to be all I could focus on. I was beginning to be filled with dread. For some reason, this morning I was just imagining the fun and fellowship I was going to experience when we arrive Friday evening. That mental picture filled me with joy and anticipation. The dread was TOTALLY GONE!

That got me to thinking. (Or perhaps, more than likely, the Holy Spirit starting speaking to my spirit). That is what I do ALL the time! Most days, I get up and allow my mind to be filled with dread over having to do this or having to do that. I’m focusing on the wrong thing. The Bible tells me that life on this planet is just the road trip. The destination is fellowship with God through His Son Jesus Christ, and fellowship with the other members of God’s family forever and forever and forever. And just like God provides wonderful fellowship even here on this planet, I know the “road trip” is not going to be a dreadful event like I envision.

Yes, it is that time of year again.  Vacation Bible School is one of the highlights of my year! I can remember vividly VBS when I was a youngster…even before I became a Christian, I can still remember that “feeling” I would get when we said the pledges to the United States flag, the Christian flag, and especially the Bible.  We would sing, “The B-I-B-L-E, yes that’s the book for me, I’m standing firm on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E, BIBLE! I realize now it was the Holy Spirit dealing with me even then.  This year, East Mountain Baptist Church chose to round up questions and drive home answers with Lifeway’s Saddle Ridge Ranch.  Here is what we learned:

Day 1- Who Am I? I am God’s greatest creation. Psalm 139:14 “I will praise you, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and my soul knows that full well.

The 4th-6th graders watched this video to drive home the point:

Day 2-Does God Care About Me? 1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your cares on Him, because He cares for you.”
This is the video for that lesson:

Day 3- What Is God’s Plan For Me? Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Here is the video for the story of Zaccheus:

Day 4- How Can I Be Like Jesus? Philippians 2:5 “Let this attitude be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” The video is the trailer for Evan Almighty. We discussed how Jesus told us to take His yoke upon ourselves, because his yoke is easy and His burden is light. In other words, being like Jesus is not suppose to be hard. We simply need to hear and OBEY!

Day 5- What Do I Do Now? James 1:5 “If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
We watched a portion of Beth Moore’s speech given in 1992 to the ladies at Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin, Texas where she describes a situation where God demonstrated to her He gives all the grace we need to make in through each day.

It is such a blessing to be a part of the family of God, where everyone works together demonstrating God’s love through the use of the gifts He has given us. Below is the Animoto of our time together this week.

“NOW TO HIM WHO IS ABLE TO DO EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK, ACCORDING TO THE POWER THAT WORKS IN US”

Ephesians 3:20

image found at http://diannemalone.com/blog/?p=1108

Now you may be saying, “Hey, aren’t you a technology teacher? Surely you know that you should never type in all CAPS unless you want people reading your post to picture you YELLING!” Yes, I know.  That is exactly the picture I want you to have. I am screaming at the top of my lungs to anyone who would be willing to listen.  God is able, God is able, God is able.

I’m sitting at my kitchen table having just laid down my Bible. I was listening to Job on my iPod as explained by one of my favorite Bible teachers, Jon Courson. I received a phone call from my 22 year old daughter from Mississippi. She is downtown Jackson with her fiance where there is a tent revival going on.  God met with her last night in a way she has not ever experienced before. I wish you could have heard the tone in her voice! It made me reflect on how God has shown Himself mighty in my childrens’ lives, and I am so grateful as I type this, I am in tears.

I so needed Ephesians 3:20 as a reminder to me this past week. I have had these little annoyances, and have been consumed by these small worries regarding my childrens’ lives and finances.  You see, Amber is getting married to a wonderful man of God in November and will be moving to Jackson. They need a place to live, and no obvious way to provide that place.  My son who is now living in Brandon (outside of Jackson) will be out of his duplex next month with no obvious place to go or the means to provide for a place. Then both of their cars are going in the shop for repairs. I get so overwhelmed (distracted) with life’s issues so easily.

Jim and I were listening to Jon Courson preach on Job the other day as we cleaned out the gargage. Jon Courson was talking about the amount of money Michael Jordan makes in a year’s time.  He broke it down by hour and minute, and it was insane the amount of money he makes.  But then, he compared Michael Jordan’s salary to that of Bill Gates, and it was incomprehensible!

This morning as I was driving back from spending the night at my in-laws, I was thinking for some reason about Bill Gates and his financial situation.  I tried to envision what his relationship with his wife was like.  Then I remember…he has a daughter…doesn’t he?  I got to thinking about the prospect of his daughter living her life without knowing how much money her dad has. What would that be like? It was in that moment the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and said, “Nina, that is exactly how you are! I own the cattle on a thousand hills. (Psalm 50:10) I spoke this world into existance! I own it ALL, and you are bothered, worried, anxious about Me providing your children a place to live or a car to drive!

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the precious reminder that YOU ARE ABLE.  But the last part of that verse cannot be ignored.  He is able according to the power that works within us.  What is that power?  It is the power of the Holy Spirit to move in my heart and mind and show me the truth about my circumstances.  I get so distracted by life’s issues because I am prone to believe my enemy’s lies. The Holy Spirit was placed in my life when I trusted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior to be my comforter, guide, AND teacher of the truth.

You will never get to the place in your life where you can rest assured that GOD IS ABLE until you have seen the truth about your situation.  You are a sinner. (Romans 3:23) The penalty of sin is death. (Romans 6:23) God loved you so much, He did not want you to have to die in your sin and be separated from Him. (Romans 5:8) God sent His one and only Son to take your place and pay your penalty. (John 3:16) If you will confess (agree with God that truth is truth) with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved and the Holy Spirit will be given to you to teach you truth. (Romans 10:9-10)

My prayer for myself and you is that we would see our circumstances in the light of the truth of God’s Word.

GOD IS ABLE, GOD IS ABLE, GOD IS ABLE!!!

When I began this blog, I thought for sure I would be posting at least monthly, if not weekly. God does SO MUCH for me, and I wanted this place to be an offering of praise to HIS great love and care. I have one problem, though, and that problem is I do not like to write. The written word is very difficult for me. I have daily thoughts that I would like to share, but when I have to express them with written words, the task just seems too laborious for me, so I usually just don’t record them. I have been inspired recently by reading Chrystal’s (my son’s girlfriend) blog. She has such a beautiful way of expressing her relationship with our wonderful Creator. I decided I needed to post more often.

This thought comes from a few weeks ago when the Kindergarten classes at my school were performing for Grandparents’ Day. I was in charge of decorating the gym, entryway, and cafeteria for “There’s No Place Like Home.” I had several parents that were more than willing to help in any way they could. I prayed fervently for God to show me what He had in mind, after all, He is the only Creator. I envisioned a rainbow in the gym clearly visible when the grandparents and other guests entered. There were two concrete ledges that jutted out from the wall where the music director would be standing. I measured the distance between the two and found it to be 11 feet. In my mind’s eye, I saw a rainbow stretching from one ledge to the other directly over the music teacher’s head. I gave the dimensions, paint, and white bulletin board paper to the two parent volunteers who dutifully produced a beautiful rainbow. When I measured the rainbow, it was 7 feet from one end to the other - 4 feet short of stretching from one ledge to the other. What to do? They had spent hours painting the perfect rainbow, but it was clear to me it could not go where I planned putting it. I cut it out and ended up taping it to the gym windows by the door—and it was PERFECT! That is exactly where it needed to be! First of all, it was the perfect fit for the windows it covered. Secondly, my husband, the photographer, ended up standing on a step stool to take pictures and had to tear the yellow brick road I had stretched across the ledges in place of the rainbow. If the rainbow had been placed where I originally planned for it to be, it would have been ruined.

The thought that struck me in all of this is how God knew all along where the rainbow would be and prepared beforehand the events that would cause it to end up there. I know some skeptics will say, “God is way too busy about important things to care about a silly rainbow for a silly performance.” I would beg to differ with them. “Casting ALL your cares on Him for He careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

***If you are interested in seeing the Kindergarten performance, you can view them here, here, here and here.  It is 35 minutes long and divided into four parts.***

Proverbs 3:27 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them.
I found myself in a troubling situation. My daughter Amber, her boyfriend Keith, and I were on our way from White Oak to Jackson, Mississippi to spend the night with my son, Jim. Amber and I were to head to Memphis, Tennessee the next morning. She was to present her research project to the attendees at the Southern Colleges Speech Association Conference. About 30 miles on the other side of Shreveport on I-20 my car died. I pulled onto the shoulder to avoid being run down by the 18-wheelers behind me. There was an exit about half a mile up ahead, and I was hoping to coast as far as I could toward the exit. Before I had rolled very far, I realized there was a pickup on the shoulder up ahead of me. I was complaining to myself that I had put on my break and stop behind the truck that had run out of gas. “Man, I could have coasted twenty more yards if it had not been for that truck,” I thought to myself. Just as I was rolling to a stop, I noticed a man running across I-20 with a gas can. Keith and I got out of the car and dutifully looked under the hood. I had already spoken to my husband on the phone who determined the battery must have died. The car would not crank. The man in the truck ahead of me filled his tank with the gas, and then came to see what trouble we were having. He had a worker with him, and they tied a strap to my car and towed us to the gas station at the exit up ahead. When he found out where we were headed and why, he told us he had a wonderful nephew in the town up ahead that had a used car lot and access to a wrecker. He immediately got on the phone with his nephew to arrange to have my car towed to a repair shop. He told me if my car could not be repaired in a few hours, we could take his truck to Memphis!!! He offered to take us to the construction site where he was building a house to hang out in his air-conditioned trailer so we could watch TV. On the way to the house, he drove us by several sets where they had been or were shooting movies. (We learned that Louisiana is the third largest movie-producing state behind California and New York). This stranger treated us like we were his favorite relatives! I asked him why he was going out of his way for us and his reply was, “If that were my wife and daughter, I would want someone to do the same for them.” We spent a few hours being taken care of by one of the most thoughtful people I will ever meet. He drove us to his nephew’s used car lot when my car had been repaired. His nephew refused to let me pay for his labor, which would have been well over $200. We arrived in Jackson four hours later than we had scheduled, but the events of that day will continue to impact my life. Do not withhold good…I understand that verse better now. Don’t withhold good, because you have NO idea what that act of good does to the recipient.

You see, I had just experienced something at school that I had been dealing with. A bad attitude. I am an elementary teacher, but not in the classroom. I am considered an enhancement teacher. That means I see all the students in my computer lab once a week. There are three other enhancement teachers. The classes rotate to us. Sometimes one of the other enhancement teachers has to miss a class for a doctor’s appointment or for some other reason. It has become customary for that teacher to split up the class that would come to them and send a third to each of the other teachers, so sometimes I would have 5 to 7 “extra” students in the lab. I have to admit that I would grumble and complain in my spirit about that. That was an “inconvenience” for me. I do not feel the same way anymore. DO NOT WITHHOLD GOOD…I will consider it my privilege and a joy to help another teacher in any way that is within my power to do so. God has shown me His great care and providence over my life in such a concrete and remarkable way. I now have the desire to be His instrument in blessing someone else!

I am spending the weekend with my mother and father-in-law because their caregiver had a family emergency.  That means I am the responsible party for the next 38 hours or so.  I have been praying that God would minister to me as I allow Him to minister to them through me. Last night, my father-in-law got in the shower at 3 a.m. I don’t like for him to get in the shower when I am with them because I am afraid he is going to fall, and I will not be able to help him.  At any rate, his shower was uneventful as I laid in the bed and prayed for his safety.  After he got back in bed, my mother-in-law began to carry on a conversation with him which he could not hear or respond to.  When everything was finally quiet again, I found myself wide awake!  As I laid there, I thought to myself, I guess I’ll just use this time to talk to God.  As soon as that thought entered my mind, the verses that talk about how Jesus would go up to the mountain to pray before daylight came to my mind.  I have always wondered what Jesus had to say to God, after all, He IS God.  Afer reading The Shack, I had a better handle on the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  On this particular early morning, the realization hit me that Jesus got up early because He was so excited about the opportunity to talk to God, He couldn’t wait for the sun to come up . WOW! It’s like the morning Amber and I planned on pulling out early for Orange Beach, Alabama.  We couldn’t wait to get up, because we were so excited about going.  I was so convicted! I have made it a daily habit to read God’s Word every morning, before I do anything else.  I don’t struggle anymore with thoughts of doing something else first.  It’s just something I do and don’t begrudge doing it.  But am I looking so forward to hearing from God through my time in the Word that it motivates me to get up? No. I am asking God to change my heart so that I look forward to meeting with God every morning. Delight  yourself in the ways of the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart, Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him and He will do this.  Psalm 37:4-5

The entries in this blog post were created from or for the Ladies Retreat for Hillcrest Baptist Church in Bryan, Texas.

In the slideshow above, the music is “Heaven is Our Home” performed by Kathryn Scott

This is the slideshow relating the traditional Jewish wedding to our engagement, betrothal and wedding as the Bride of Chrst.

This is a show created in storybird, where you can use artist drawings and create a story.  Below is the resulting story book of the points I want to share concerning Randy Alcorn’s The Treasure Principle.

As we await the coming of our bridegroom, Jesus, how are we to live?  The videos below demonstrate the opposite of how we should be living until the Father says to the Son, “It is time to go get your bride!”

How many times do we equate the “things” we get to how much our bridegroom loves us?

Are you struggling to clothe yourself in wedding garments?