My intro for A Wife's Biblical Submission Bible Study

“Wives submit yourselves to your own husbands as unto the Lord…” ~~~ Ephesians 5:22

This one verse has been such a major part of my life. It was a stumbling block when I was unsaved. My mom and I would attend church together every once in awhile. But it seemed that every time we would go back, this would be one of the readings. We would cringe, sulk, talk it over begrudgingly, and vow not to go to church again.
Then in 2001 my brother-in-law and I got into an argument about homosexuality. He, his wife, and my other sister-in-law were talking about how they refused to watch a television show when one of the main characters came out of the closet. I was aghast at such intolerance. He showed me something in the Bible to prove his point. I looked up Ephesians 5:22 and handed the Bible back to him. He was a little perplexed because the passage I pointed to was so off the topic.
“Well,” I huffed, “This is just something ELSE that’s in the Bible that I don’t agree with!” Ugh! My poor brother-in-law. I can still see the incredulous look on his face. He went home and looked up passages to try to prove the Bible to me and I went home and looked up passages to prove just how badly women were treated in the Bible. He died in a motorcycle accident before we could finish our debate.
At his funeral the recurrent theme was how he was in Heaven because of Jesus. No one doubted it. I had always been told that it depended on how good you were and it was always a hope, but never an assurance that loved ones would go to Heaven. I started searching the Bible again. But this time I was not looking to proof it errant, I was looking for answers. I started reading Genesis and Romans a little each day and was so thrilled to find out how those two books coincided. It was true! Everything in that Book was absolutely true. I no longer had a doubt. Shortly after that I accepted Jesus as MY savior, not just savior of the world, but savior of ME.
My husband and I celebrated our 10th year of marriage this past May. We have one biological son (5 years old), 2 soon-to-be-adopted sons (7 & 6), a foster son (7) and his sister (1). We have six other foster children who are living with their families but are still part of our lives.
I found this intriguing Bible Study while Blog-hopping through http://www.internetcafedevotions.com/. I’m not sure exactly how I landed on this beautifully encouraging site, but am thankful I did, and looking forward to this study and meeting everyone else!

Building Faith - Entry for Falling for Jesus

Psalm 105: 1,2 (NKJV)

Oh, give thanks to the LORD!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!
Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!

God is just so amazingly good! This morning I felt His presence and blessing so strongly upon our congregation. Our church has been building-less for about five years. (Sometime I will go into the details of how we found grace by leaving Grace and how we came to be called Faith.) We have the land and some money. Most of us want to build a church. After much God-searching over the past few weeks our church elders have come to the conclusion that it truly is impossible, irresponsible, and inappropriate for us to start building a church. Therefore, we will start building a church! This is wonderful news, but perhaps a tiny bit confusing. Allow me to explain.

Years ago our Pastor prayed, wisely, "Lord, please make it impossible for us to build a church." We want God, not us, to build His church, not our church. We set up a building committee and started a building fund. Then because things got a little scary (the inordinate cost of building, negative input at a fragile time, fear from our collective past of losing church buildings), we stopped moving forward with building. We have just been moving from borrowed place to borrowed place, building-less, for a long time.

Partway through the "impossible, inappropriate, irresponsible" sermon, I was getting a little frustrated. It has been so painfully obvious to my family that we should start building and let God ... well LET God period. So when the three I's were introduced with scripture to back them, I found myself almost giving up with the thought, "If our elders are not seeking God (or at least not listening) and now they are using scripture to justify this lack of faith, maybe we do not want to be part of this church after all." I hate even writing that down. I LOVE my church! We have been through so much together. I love our pastor. I love each of our elders and their families. But God is my All In All. I can't be in a church that goes purposefully out of His will.
This morning when it first occurred to me that we were going ahead with building, I remember glancing up from my notes and meeting eyes with one of my best friends whose husband is an elder and dear friend. She was smiling with tears in her eyes. It was so exciting to realize that our church was going to build! I found out later that my dear mother-in-law was having a similar reaction across the room from me; Taking notes, being irritated, thinking, "I guess this is it." To clarify, I would never leave a church family because they didn't do something I wanted them to do, i.e. build a building. It just was so clearly God's will that we build.
I think that is why today was so sweet. It has never really been about building a new church. It has been about building Faith. God has been speaking. We've been praying and listening. God spoke some more... and we heard Him! I just love that! You could feel Him in that room with us. I think we are on the right track!

Psalm 105:3,4

Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the LORD!
Seek the LORD and His strength;
Seek His face evermore!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Our family enjoyed dinner at a restaurant last night. It was in the town where dh is a policeman, and since he was working, he wore his uniform. Extra pressure to keep the 1 year old entertained so she doesn’t scream her little head off. We tried crackers, a straw tied in a knot and then french fries finally worked for awhile. When our meal came dh gave her little pieces of his chicken fried steak. I use the term “little” loosely as there was really nothing little about the honkin’ huge pieces of cow he was feeding to that tiny10-toothed infant! Okay, I am exaggerating. But still, I would have probably at least fourth’d those bites before letting her anywhere near them. To my husband’s credit and to my relief, she did just fine and I will no longer be buying baby food.
Midway through the meal, our 7 year old foster son proclaimed to me, quite loudly, “Remember when Bob tried to kill you?” I was just speechless. Less than a week ago I had shocked myself a bit on some wiring from our under-cupboard lights dh had installed in our kitchen. That night at dinner my finger was still a little charred so I got all dramatic and entertained my boys with how I got shocked and, “Look at my finger! Bob tried to kill me!”
Who would have thunk the little guys would have actually believed that? And really, who in the world could have predicted that one of the dear ones would try retelling it loudly in a crowded restaurant in the town where Bob worked, while he was wearing his uniform! Well, apparently dh could have predicted it, for he seethed through bared teeth “They will repeat every thing you say!” Oops! I don’t think anyone heard, and really dh did think it was kind of funny. Phew!
Kids are just so much fun! Remind me of that tomorrow, and the next day, and next week.

Hot Lava and Prayers

Daniel has an Uncle Obsession of sorts. For the longest time Uncle Mike has had top billing, but lately Daniel has been asking a lot of questions and telling stories about his Uncle Dan. Tonight we were snoozling (a Bob-term meaning cuddling prior to snoozing) in bed and Daniel started talking about uncles. (I’ll have to think of how it started, but want to get some of this down before it leaves my brain.) He asked if we could pray to his uncle…the one “that died.”
“No sweetie, we can only pray to God, but we can pray and ask God if He would say Hi to Uncle Dan for us.”
“Yeah, I want to do that.”
So I prayed, “Dear God, we ask that you would tell Uncle Dan hi for us and that we miss him. And thank you so much for his love for you and the way he believed the Bible.” Then Daniel asked how he died. He knows it was a motorcycle. I told him that another car ran into him. Okay, how much information is too much information for a 5 year old? I don’t know. But he asks about it sometimes and I try to tell him the truth.
“Was it a bad guy?”
“No, it was a little old lady.”
Long silence and then this sweet little five-year-old voice declares, “I want that girl to die.”
Wow!
I told him how she didn’t mean to do it. “You know how mommy sometimes runs over the curbs in the van and I say, ‘Oops, I ran into a curb!’ I don’t do it on purpose, I’m just not being very careful. Mommy is not a bad guy. Same with that girl. She didn’t mean to. She just wasn’t very careful. She’s still sad about it sometimes.”
“Can we pray for her?”
WOW!
“Sure.”
This time Daniel prayed. “God please tect (protect) the girl and not make her be sad.” Or something like that. I can’t remember the words he used. Just the meaning and that it was his idea to pray and just how incredible it was to witness that kind of faith in a five-year-old.

* * * * * *

Now I remember part of how this whole conversation got started. It was, of all things, hot lava! Daniel and his brothers have been playing the typical childhood game where you try not to step on carpet (or the colored tiles, or the rug, etc.) because it’s “hot lava.” So he’s been talking about hot lava lately.
“I don’t want to go in hot lava.” He states just matter-of-factly.
“No, that would hurt.” I agree.
“Where is hot lava?”
“Hawaii.”
“Hawaii? Where’s Hawaii?” I told him how Hawaii was some islands in the Pacific Ocean. “Hawaii has hot lava?”
“Yep.”
“Whoa, how did God do that, Jenny?”
Then Daniel started telling me about how, “Some guy had hot lava and made metal.” And something about an airplane.
I asked him, “Where did you learn about all this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you learn it at school?”
“No, I don’t think at McDonalds… or Chic-Fil-A.”
“Did you watch a movie about it?”
“Yeah I think at my uncle’s… my uncle that died.” Which is not possible since Dan died two years before Daniel was born. But Daniel has made up stories about Uncle Dan before. In the past it would have really freaked me out thinking it was some sort of reincarnation or a ghost, but I think he is just trying to make Uncle Dan more real to him because he’s obviously real to Bob and I. Maybe he thinks he should remember Uncle Dan so he invents memories.
One of the reasons we think Daniel has this ongoing obsession with uncles, other than the obvious fact that he has some incredibly awesome uncles, is because he lives with his mommy and daddy. Now, that might not make a whole lot of sense to those who are in “normal” families. But in our family our kids take turns praying for each other’s moms who are, or have been, in jail. Daniel, not wanting to be left out, started praying for his uncle, who recently moved to Texas. While the kiddos make pictures and write letters for their moms, Daniel makes pictures and writes letters for his uncle. At dinner and at bedtime the other boys will often add, “and Daniel’s uncle” after they’ve asked God to protect their moms. I smile each time they do that knowing how a certain uncle would definitely appreciate these innocent, unknowing, and unspecific prayers.

Alright already!

I am writing this only because I have to. DH was peering over my shoulder the other day and said, "You haven't written since August?" So, here. I'm writing. And even though it's nonsense, it actually feels kind of good.
I've been blogging..... just READING instead of WRITING! One thing that struck me tonight was after watching part of the debate I found a thread on a FlyLady BlogTalk Radio Forum about "Feeling unsettled." Many people are scared of what's going on in the economy, unsure about Iran, hesitant about the future of America in general. I will have to write about this later. Why? Well, I guess I don't really. Just that the good Guy wins. God wrote history ahead of time. It's not going to be real pretty at times. But Good wins. He wins. Halleluiah!

Bad Mom Award

My dear Mother-in-law hates snakes. HATES them! When her children were little, she saw a garden snake in a ditch. Her youngest son (I think about three years old at the time) almost went for a swim because she pushed against him to get as far away from the snake as possible. A few years ago I took some pictures of our then two year old “petting” a snake. She refused to look at the pictures.
Last Sunday after church we made a visit out to the family farm to set a bullfrog free (another story). My three boys saw a snake wriggling in the lawn. Where was my Mother-in-law? In the house, probably standing on top of something tall. I don’t mind snakes, at least not the little non-poisonous ones. I picked it up and the boys took turns holding it. I was told, in no uncertain terms that after playing with the snake, I was to kill it or fling it across the road. "Fling" was accompanied by the action of arm swinging overhead lasso-style. I don’t kill things bigger than spiders. I told the boys to say goodbye to the snake. Then with 3 pairs of innocent eyes watching I flung the snake to a skidding halt in the middle of the far lane of the highway. After not moving for a good thirty seconds, it started slithering toward our side of the road. Like an idiot I yelled at it, “Go back! Go to the OTHER side of the road!” Then, wouldn’t you know it, here comes a large truck towing a boat. Smush! “Go inside boys.” “Is it dead?” “Go inside.” Fortunately for me it wiggled. “It’s moving!” “Go inside!” As I escorted my three now hopeful little boys into the house under orders to wash their hands with soap and warm water, I told my hubby he needed to come outside. “You didn’t throw it all the way across, did you?” “Nope.” “It got hit, didn’t it?” “Yep.” Hubby kicked it the rest of the way across the road then found a creepy crawly diversion for our sons in the form of a caterpillar.
Rewind to about two weeks before when my dad had just finished babysitting. My six year old invited me outside to see a “bee with no wings that can’t fly.” On my way out the door my dad asked me to, “take care of it.” It was a wasp and it had wings. My middle, most tenderhearted, son stood watching while I stomped his little pet to smithereens. The look on his face was heart-wrenching. Bad mom! Bad mom! Poor critters! Bad mom!

Decluttering Challenge

Two boxes (overfilling & damaged) full of phone systems have been in our driveway since March. We tried to FreeCycle them but someone took the new ones and left the old ones. Hubby was not impressed. Then instead of getting rid of them, we let them sit in our driveway until we could make a decision. This Friday morning, aka "Trash Day," I made a decision. :) http://www.mysimplerlife.com/blog/?p=1189