School Preparation

I am a teacher, most of you know. I homeschool our 2 kids. I am also a doctor, mostly retired now, doing private consulting work also. And my teaching experience last year was the first time I had two different grades, officially, and now that it is 1st grade and 5th/6th grade, my greatest preparation is not.booms and supplies, I have those, but it is quite different. During school, I am a servant of God, of my children and their knowledge and growth, still of my husband. There is none of serving me to be had there, no room for it, no need for it. So my preparation is in finishing our story quilt, in decluttering my mind, in preparing my heart and soul for service, in growing spiritually and maintaining my relationship with God who strengthens me. And we will go full steam ahead, in deep worship of obedience to the Lord and humbling of my heart. And that, my friends, is incredibly beautiful!!!! Bring it on! ❤❤❤

Progress

Working on the butler pantry and the quilt and being a good, no great, lol mom and wife has its distinct challenges. First challenge is the people I live with. Bahaha. But seriously, trying to get some serious hard work done with people needing you is challenging. You just really want to do the work, do the art, create, finish, goal achieved. And they want me to wait on them. So what do you do? How do you make progress with so many in need? You do what you can when you can. I am not lazy. And I am more motivated by perceived limitations; they challenge me and I love a challenge. So I rally when pressed and tend to do my worst with nothing to do. So, if I focus my effort on what I am doing now, what to save the day, serving where I am, then if I did a food job, the day is saved for a fee minutes and I can get one task done on my projects, wipe the tiles off, seal them, cut out some fabric, measure, one thing. “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Really gross analogy if you think about it, but it is true. If I ever stopped to consider how much is on my plate at a given time, I would be overwhelmed and not know where to start. If, however, I focus on the end result and what will be accomplished and how it will help, I just do the first thing when I get a chance to then just do the next thing. And there it is. Do a little at a time. No magic. Just do it. Has act ring, right? And of course, humbly pray a lot! 🙂

Pray

In the Bible we are commanded to pray continuously, like a running focus and dialogue all day. We cannot burden God by obedience ever, but we can burden Him with disobedience. And now is ar good time to fast as well because evil is ramping. We must pray for ourselves, our family, unsaved friends and family, our President and Vice President and their families for protection and to do what is wise and right in God’s eyes, governmental officials all to do what is right in God’s eyes, Christians to wake up and get their focus and passion back on God, teachers and principals to return to teaching facts and the 10 commandments and not social or religious agendas other than truth, and other world leaders to do what is right in God’s eyes. Those doing right are few and far between and desperately need our prayer support for prayer and faith is what ignites God’s heart to act and we need Him so much. Please pray. There is a time to act in prayer and fasting and that time is now. Do not be silent in your prayers, do not sit by and serve your own agendas. If you are God’s child, obey and act like it. The church has been deaf, dumb and silent to long, looking more like the world than the obedient bride of Christ. Please help change that through prayer and encouraging others to pray, fast in groups, pray in groups or families, vote for those who truly oppose evil, love on everyone that crosses u our path,bus your gifts and talents for God.

The Hymn Take Time to be Holy

There is an old hymn we used to sing growing up in church. Here are the words to the first verse: “Take time to be holy. Speak oft (often) with the Lord. Abide in Him always and read in His Word. Take time with God’s children. Help those who are weak. Abiding in all ways His presence we seek.” I took for granted those words, did not think much of them until just now. But I tell you the truth. If these things are all you ever do in life, you will have lived an amazing and very beautiful, impactful life! I wish we still sand the good old songs that guide and help and worship who God is and not glorify the person worshipping. Oh what a different church and life would be leading the world to revival. To lift the name of Jesus Christ to its rightful place at the top of every food chain, the king of every mountain, A #1 first priority in all of the universe, least of all our tiny lives! Lift Christ up and revival comes. We need to bring back monotheism! Throw out tech ads king, throw out us adds all important, throw out addictions as answers, throw out adssnything in God’s spot. Jesus Christ is Lord and King of All Everything!!!! May His name and reign be revered as holy, perfect, loving & glorious!!!

When God is First and Home is Second

When things are in this proper alignment, God first and home second, you have peace at home. You have peace in life and contentment in any circumstances. God being first is actually the key. That means God comes before everyone. My time and conversation with God is first priority, His Word is first read of the day, His worship is first priority of life. This is clicking into the power source of truth and appreciation and love and, well, power. Then family in the home is next, those entrusted to your personal care. They get first dibs on your time and energy, and because of the time spent recharging with God, you have more energy and proper perspective and outlook for them. Then what is left of you goes to help serve those around you and the church. There should be many to help there, so that is lower priority for me personally. And when things are difficult, what you give up first is the outside world, never time with God. You cannot run long on high power without recharging, so you cannot fight a difficult battle without recharging with God daily. Just a thought.

The Crime of Busy-ness

When we do too much, we turn into Marthas, busy-bodies, doing the work diligently but not ever stopping to take time to sit at Jesus’ feet worshipping and conversing and learning. I quit Facebook and only Twitter about once a day for a few minutes. I disconnected from distractions and busy things that absorbed all my attention and time. Except doing dishes. I still waste my time on that. Lol But stopping unnecessary things and focusing on the main things and leaving extra time to just be and hang out with my family has made the world of difderence. We have opportunities to do things, talk about God, read the Bible together, hike in His creation, laugh, learn, observe, just be. Our bonding time has been so beneficial and I see the difference in all of us. Being too busy is not good, even if it looks like the things we are doing are very good things. God first and family next. Everyone else has to wait in line for their appointment. 🙂 This simplicity is important to me and as such I am guarding fervently. It is important to refuel and bond and grow together with God. Nothing is more important than this. 

The Right Stuff

What is right to do is what has always been the right stuff: loving people because they are lovingly made by God. There is nothing more right than that except for loving and celebrating/worshipping God Himself. Our mission in life, our purpose and meaning is just that simple. This is the will of God. We love Him and love each other. Everything, even salvation, is based upon those things. We are saved because we love and honor God and He said to follow Jesus. We exist to serve,care for His work a ship, worship God and love each other. This is simple stuff, uncomplicated. The right stuff is simple. Of course, complications and distractions are everywhere. It is easy to be pulled away from what is right. Very easy. But we have God’s Word to anchor us and prayer to focus us. And this is how we keep the right stuff as our protocol. There is innate beauty in the simple.