My Jack is Baaaccckkk!

I've been waiting for this day!! This is the ONLY show that I stop what I am doing (well, besides some Redskin football) and actually sit down to watch! And if I'm not at home.....yes, I record it with my DVR! I know what I am doing November 23rd!
Wanna come over?

A Holy Vessel? YES!!!

I attend a weekly Bible study group that has been together for many years. These are amazing women that I would count as some of my closest friends. I can always count on them to speak truth over me.

We are currently in the Beth Moore study on the book of Daniel. Last night's lesson was particularly powerful for me.

We were studying about Belshazzar (Nebuchandnezzar's grandson) who threw a small party for a thousand nobles, his wives and his concubines. As the evening progressed and they had indulged quite a bit of wine (can you say drunk??), Belshazzar ordered the gold and silver goblets that had been taken from the temple of God to be brought in so that they could all drink from them. And as they drank, they praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, etc.

In other words (and as Beth puts it) "Belshazzar made the grievous mistake of treating the holy as unholy." Something that had been conscreated by God or "set aside and reserved exclusively for God" had been treated as common and vile.



Then Beth made this comparison:



We, too, are holy vessels in the house of the Lord. Something holy is "that which has been brought into relationship with God and designated by Him as having a sacred purpose."



Many of us do not accept ourselves as holy or that we have a sacred purpose. Nothing is more to Satan's advantage than you not to see yourself as holy because you're gonna act as you feel. And if I don't feel holy or believe it to be true, I am opening myself up to unholy matters, or actions, or attitudes, or feelings, etc.



I have a sacred purpose. I am holy.



2 Corinthians 1:21 -22 says:

"...He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."

I love that! He put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit!
I'm on lay-away!!
God has bought me and he is "guaranteeing" that He is destined to complete it.

This lesson especially spoke to me because I often fall into the trap of self-depreciation. Many times, in the playings of my own mind, I allow the enemy to tell me that I am the ONE person in all of humankind that God is supremely dissappointed in and that He is indifferent toward me. Now I know this is not true but I allow the enemy to push that button with me over and over again.

So...Beth had us repeat this pledge, inserting our names and saying it loud and proud! I had a hard time saying it loud because I was choking back tears. But I believe it and I am going to post it on my refrigerator for a daily reminder.

I am posting it here and if you feel so inclined, insert your name and say it loud like you mean it!
'cuz it's true!

I, ____________, belong to God.
I am a holy vessel because I house the Holy Spirit of the living God.
The Lord of heaven and earth has said over me, "I declare you holy."
Today I commit to start believing what He says.

I am holy!

Empower me daily, Spirit of the Living God, to treat myself as holy.
Open my eyes to every scheme of the enemy to treat me as if I'm not.

You, God, are God!
Your word is truth.
This day, Father, I chose to believe you!

In Jesus name, Amen and Amen!

Christmas in September???

Tonight, a few from the youth group came to the house and we celebrated Christmas!! WHAT??? Yes, we celebrated Christmas by making handcrafted Christmas cards to sell for our Youth Group. Creativity was rampant in my dining room as we laughed and glued! All proceeds will go to Youth Fundraising account to help fund retreats and scholarships for kids who cannot afford some of our activities!

Aren't they beautiful???

We suckered Elijah to join in on the fun! And he created some pretty impressive cards, eh?

Merry Christmas! 107 days left to go!

Rainy Day Passtime and Generation Gap

Our rainy day event today was Cranium. I was invited to play with the 5 other guys hanging out at my house today. Josiah and I have been Pictionary partners before and we SMOKED the other teams so....today we partnered up again....and WON again!!
But I must say, it is pretty funny for a 45 year old to play with 16 and 17 year olds.

For example, my partner had NO IDEA who "The Fonz" was when I kept saying "eeehhhhh" with my thumbs up in the air. And Elijah had to guess Ed McMahon by Vance getting him to guess "Ed" from a current cartoon and "McMahon" from Vance humming "Old MACDONALD". Somehow he knew Ed McMahon's name enough to pull it off. Maybe it was his recent brush with the news when his house went into foreclosure??? Either way...he knew the name but had not a clue as to what had made him famous.

John Wayne proved to be a difficult person for the "younger generation" to describe as well. No one knew his famous line "Well I gotta tell ya, little pilgrim." They only knew him from his name being mentioned in a recent Jackie Chan movie.

None of these examples gave me an advantage because my partner was a 17 year old.

But it was a day full of good clean fun and lots of laughs!

Especially for this old fart.......

I LOVE this boy!

I cannot believe that in 9 short months, this child (my youngest) will graduate High School and forever close this chapter of my life! I AM NOT READY FOR THIS!! An empty nester? That is not in my vocabulary!!

It was so hard to watch the other two boys walk out the door on their journey "post High School". Yes, they come home every summer and Jared has taken this semester off and is currently at home working...BUT, it is not the same.

I cannot stop this train, I know. But I would love to somehow make it slow down....

I long for the day of kissing scraped knees, reading books at bedtime, wrestling on the floor, carrying them when they are too tired to walk, drying little tears and all the little Mommy things!

Thank you God for allowing me to be their Mom! It is truly my greatest joy!