7 Days Left!!

In 7 days (8 if you count today...but who does that!?) we will close out yet another school year...wow, I cannot believe how quickly this time is slipping by!

When I reflect on the past year, it has been a crazy one, full of adventure, heart ache, love, disappointments, disillusionment, and joy.  Amazing how we - especially women - can fly through so many emotions, because some of those happened within hours of each other!

As we approach the summer of 2013, I am going to try my absolute best not to rush through life each day, but to take the time to reflect on what God is trying to show me in each moment.  There is a reason for it all, you know.  We aren't supposed to just sit here and make ourselves comfortable then perish.  He has a purpose for us all.  Eston, a boy we sponsor from Kenya, Africa told me that the other day in his letter to us.

He told me that he is looking forward to getting letters (either online or through the mail) from not only us, but the kids.  He is always  sharing his current memory verses with us, and it has been amazing over the last few years to see his growth.  Not only in schooling, but his writing to us and in his love for the Lord!

Oh, and with my memory verse...I am still working on it!  So far, here's where I am (consistently):

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.  I pray that the eyes of your heart would be opened so you may know what is the hope and calling of His will for your life, what is His incredible inheritance for those who love him.  To know His immeasurable greatness of His power; and the working of His vast strength.....

I know, I know...still a ways to go...and those middle and last parts are still not quite right.  I am striving for the understanding of these verses, not merely knowing the words.  As I process through learning a verse, the first thing I do is try to connect it with my heart.  Then the words begin to make more sense so that the understanding of it flows.

I pray you have a very blessed day!

Jennifer 

Willing...But Now What?

(This is a follow-up to yesterday's blog: Are You Willing?.  So, if you have not read yesterdays, you may want to back track, just to make sure you fully get what I'm saying here!  Click here to get to yesterday's blog.) 

I pray that many of you could affirm, yes, you are willing to go and do as God calls...but there's a catch...being willing isn't enough.  You must be obedient.

I have attended many Christian Conferences, Sunday School classes, and church services...but if I am not obedient to what I hear God call on my life, then it is all for nothing.  I can sit under a teacher telling me (with my agreement) that I need to be paying my children positive attention, reading to them, playing games with them...talking to them.  As I said, I know those things are important, but if I chose to not do those things, then that knowledge is doing no good.

The same goes for any schooling you have done.  You can sit in class and agree with the teacher that they know what they are talking about, but it is up to you what you will do with that knowledge...change your life or make no impact at all.

I must be obedient to follow in the teaching my Lord has given me.  Did you know there is a verse in the Bible that actually talks about that?  It goes a little something like this:

"It is sin to know what you ought to do,

but then not do it."  James 4:17  (emphasis mine)

Think about that after the next sermon your hear at church or the next teaching you hear on the radio (under a good Biblical teacher).  You and I are responsible for our obedience to what we hear Him tell us to do.

Have a blessed Sunday!