My Take on Speeding

Do you speed?

I used to drive really, really fast. I had no regard for the speed limit. I had somewhere to go and did whatever it took to get there. I felt such freedom in driving fast.

Then...God spoke to me. He convicted me of speeding. He asked me this question (or something like it) Why do you feel you can break man's laws? Do you feel you can break My laws? Why then is it okay to break man's laws? Yes, I argued. Yes, I pleaded. It was after all just a small law of man, right? Can you guess who won?

Fast forward a few weeks:

The real test came...I had somewhere to go and was running late. It was supposed to take 20 minutes to get there and I was running 10 minutes late. You do the math. I would not get there on time without speeding. I decided to do what any normal person would do in that situation. I started to speed. That's when I heard that very familiar still small voice.

"What are you doing? I thought we discussed this. Why are you speeding?"
"But Lord, I am running late. I won't get there in time! (said in a whiney voice)."
"Do you trust Me?"
"Yeah, but Lord, I AM LATE!"
"Do you trust ME????"
"I think so?"
"Trust me in this. Drive the speed limit and see if you get there on time."

My natural mind can't comprehend how but I did indeed get to where I was going on time. Ever since then I drive the speed limit. Every time I am late and start to drive fast, I hear, "Do you trust me?"

Even though I sometimes feel like I am driving like a little old grandmother (no offense anyone) when people are constantly flying past me, I still trust Him. I learned my lesson. How are we to show others that we love Jesus if we break man's laws?

Six Boxes of Cereal...

AHHHHHH!!! I am so excited! I just spent $2.19 for 6 boxes of cereal and a gallon of milk!

How is that possible, you ask? Well, let me tell you.

After church tonight we stopped at Weis Markets for a few things. While we were there, we noticed that they had lots of their GM cereal on clearance, for $1 - $1.84 a box. We got several boxes among other things and while we were checking out, we got coupons for 2 free gallons of milk. They are having this promotion now that if you buy 3 boxes of GM cereal you get one gallon and if you buy 6 or more boxes you get 2 gallons. While we were loading our groceries into our car, I noticed a coupon for $1 off 2 boxes of GM cereal. My kids love to get the coupons out of the machines in the stores and pretend that its tickets or money.

So, I went back into the store and got 6 more boxes of cereal. I used 3 $1 off coupons and one of my free gallon of milk coupons and my total was $2.19.

Granted, the cereal that we bought is sugar laden and very non nutritious but I justified it by knowing that it is fortified with vitamins and minerals and that I paid 50 cents to a dollar per box. Everything is okay in moderation, right? Okay, I guess 16 boxes of sugar laden cereal is not moderation!

A Visit to the ER

Wednesday night was pretty busy for us. At about 5 pm, the kids were playing outside when Bible Bat Boy came running to the door crying hysterically. I asked him what was wrong and he told me his foot hurt. I looked at his foot and thought it looked like it got pinched but then on further inspection I saw he had a splinter (not just any splinter, it was a small plank) in his foot. For about 10 minutes I tried to get it out (while dinner was over-cooking in the oven). I just couldn't get a hold of it. I prayed, I cried, and still it would not come out.

I researched the internet on how to remove a splinter. Most of the sites said to use scotch tape. I think they were talking about normal sized splinters, not plank sized. One site did say to soak the foot to soften the skin, so I gave that a try. It still didn't work.

My DSH came home from work at 5:30 and he tried to get it out too. We finally decided that a trip to the ER was the thing to do. Right away I had a feeling of dread. (Our history in the ER had not been good, it usually takes forever!) But then God spoke to me and told me it didn't have to be that way and He would be with us. Right before we left for the ER, I told my DSH I was expecting to get done soon and we would see him at church.

Let me tell you, my experience at the ER was amazing! We got there and a woman took out names. 5 minutes later, we were taken to our room. 5 minutes after that, the technician came in to take Joshua's vitals and a nurse came in to check his foot. Soon after that, the registration person came in with a computer to get all of our information. Soon after that, the doctor came in to operate. She told us that she didn't want to numb his foot because it would hurt more than taking the actual splinter out. They wrapped him in a blanket, mummy style with his head and feet sticking out and laid him on the table. I basically laid on top of him cuddling him and singing to him and telling him how much I loved him.

I was so proud of him...He started to shake and get scared but I just kept singing over him. He didn't cry at all! It took the doctor all of 20 seconds to get the plank out. After it was done I asked him why he didn't cry. He told me, "because the doctor asked me if I was going to be brave. Mommy I was brave." He was so good (well-behaved). I could tell at times he was scared but we just kept praying for Jesus to be with us.

We got to the ER at 6:20 and were done by 7:40. That in itself is a record for us!

I won't change my time in the ER for anything. I would change the circumstances of us being there, but I wouldn't change the fact that I got to spend some good quality time with Bible Bat Boy. I will cherish the conversations we had, the songs we sang, and the people we met.

For your enjoyment, here is the plank...

It doesn't look so big here, but it is the size of my thumb nail.

Nick Vujicic

I found this video this morning ans thought I would share it with you. This guy was born without any arms or legs and is now using this as a testimony to reach many, many people.

Click here to watch.

Nick Vujicic

Singing Sunday

Today's song is "I Will Rejoice" performed by Rita Springer.
To listen, click here then on # 5

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of our God (4x)

I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad (2x)

There is a fountain full of grace and it flows from Emmanuel’s veins
It came and it healed me
It came and refreshed me
And it came and it washed my sins away

For the past few weeks, I have been asking the Lord to show me what songs mean. I don't want to just sing the words. I want to understand what I am singing about.

At the conference last weekend, we sang this song and the Lord so faithfully gave me a picture. Here it is...

I was standing in a fountain and the Lord was splashing me with water. So I splashed Him back. This wild splashing went on for a while and I felt that He told me that this song is made so that we could have fun together.

Later in our worship time we sang the song "Running" by CFNI. There is a line in that song that says, "leaving everything behind". When we sang that line I was again in the fountain with the Lord only this time, He took my hand and I stepped out onto the bank. Then He told me that the splashing wasn't just having fun, but it was taking care of business too. He told me He was washing me clean as we were playing in the water. So I was a new woman when I stepped out of the fountain. In the water I left my harshness, jugdementalism, criticism, selfishness, pride, anger, my hard heart, sarcasm, and stress.

Thank you Lord for meeting me in such a personal way. You are truly an awesome God!

If anyone is interested Rita Springer is coming to Christ Community Church on July 25, 2007

My Weekend

I feel so refreshed right now. I had the opportunity to go to Jim Thorpe, PA to a woman's conference, "Victory in the Valley". Thanks CC for inviting me! I went with the expectation that I would come home being closer to God. Not only did he draw me closer, but he changed a lot of my heart too. I'll be telling you more about that in the coming days.

The Speaker was Valetta Steel Crumley. I had never heard of her before going to the conference but her testimony blew me away!

Here's the basics:
She was married to a pastor and had a son who at 2 years old, died from Leukemia. She then had 2 more children, a boy and girl. Soon after her little girl was born, her husband was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. As soon as he was diagnosed, he wanted to leave the pastorate and joined OMS International where he spent his final few months in a foreign country as a missionary. After spending a few years in a deep depression, Valetta was touched by God and continued to work as a missionary. When her children were 17 & 15, they were instantly killed in a head-on collision as they were driving to church to play volleyball. She knew they were born again so she was rejoicing at their funeral and after the funeral decided to continue her missionary work. She took a position in Taiwan where she was brutally raped and robbed. Even that did not quench her love for Jesus. Upon returning to the USA, she married an old acquaintance friend. Today she travels telling her testimony.

The thing that I got out of her testimony was to cherish life and not sweat the little things because the only thing that really does matter is the heart. After hearing Valetta's testimony, I have absolutely NOTHING to complain about!!!!!

Here are a few pictures of the view from the conference...





Here's where I stayed along with 19 other women and the family who owns the house...

Jesus, Our Protector

My DSH returned from a conference in NJ late last night. We were so happy to have him home. We missed him so much!

While he was away, the weather was just wacky (lots of rain & high winds). It really didn’t bother me at all until night time when everything was quiet and still. That’s when it felt like the house was going to blow apart. I wasn’t scared but I was uncomfortable knowing that I was the only adult in the house and I was responsible for the lives of my 3 kids.

The first night we (the kids and I) slept in the fort together. After my bout of complaining, it was really fun. The next night everyone slept in their own beds. I had a hard time falling asleep that night because the wind was shaking the house so hard. Every time I would start to fall asleep, the wind would wake me up again.

So, I did what I usually do when I can’t sleep, I prayed. I prayed for lots of different things but mostly for protection over my family and home. As I was praying I saw a picture of a blue blanket being draped over my house. I knew that it was Jesus letting me know He was covering me, the kids and our home with His protection. After that I slept very soundly for the rest of the night.

I didn’t really think about the significance of the color, until I was typing this entry. The color blue signifies the Holy Spirit and a Heavenly visitation. It just gives me chills when I think about how much Jesus loves us!

I love Jesus! He gave me exactly what I needed when I needed it.