If Momma Ain't Happy

As a wife and mom, I am the thermostat of our home. I am responsible for setting the emotional temperature of our family. My mood will set the tone each day and my husband and children will respond accordingly.

That is a huge responsibility and I have to be ever conscious of my mood and how it effects my family.  Life can be challenging and negative emotions can be stirred up during those times. Emotions aren't wrong, but letting them control me is.

Feelings don't just happen; they are always preceded by a thought.

- Judy Rossi

Our thoughts are so important in shaping our emotions. What we hear in our heads travels to our hearts. We have a choice to let the negative thoughts take root and create negative feelings or replace those thoughts with the truth. His truth.

In 2 Corinthians 10:5, we are told to "take every thought captive" which means that we have control over our thoughts. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that this is possible. For once we become children of God, we have the Holy Spirit inside of us and letting the Spirit control our minds leads to life and peace (Romans 8:6).

In Romans 12:1-2, God commands us to offer our bodies as a "living and holy sacrifice" as an act of worship, which includes our minds. We are to yield and devote everything to Him - from our thoughts to our actions. He goes on to say that we are to let Him transform us into new people by changing the way we think. We need to be molded daily by His truth and not the lies that we often hear in our heads.

Under God's economy, nothing really changes until our minds do. Transformation is the fruit of a changed outlook. First our minds are renewed, and then we are transformed, and then everything is different, even if it stays the same.

- Mark Buchanan "The Rest of God"

He tells us in His Word exactly what we should be

thinking of instead of those negative thoughts.

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. 

Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Philippians 4:8

In God's Word, there is a truth for every lie the enemy tries to get us to believe.

Feeling alone?

Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Matthew 28:20

Feeling tired?

Those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
    They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
    They will walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31

Feeling defeated?

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:13

Only God's truth will renew our minds and change our behavior. 

The lies keep us bound and His truth sets us free.

What negative thoughts are you struggling with today?

How can I pray for you today?

Blessings,

A Lesson in Confidence

God had me facing my biggest fear this past week. 
I shared about the beginning of it as I did it scared.

Sunday morning I learned that He wasn't done with me in this lesson yet. Our Family Ministry director asked me just before the first service if I would teach at our 6pm service that night. At the mere question, my heart rate raced and those butterflies the size of cows awoke and went all aflutter. She gripped my hands, knowing full well what was happening inside me, and said these powerful words...

"You can do this."

So I once again said "yes" to what I knew He has been calling me to do and had been resisting. I would so love to tell you that immediately the fear went away, but that wouldn't be true. I will tell you that something happened to me on that stage. Something that is still making me a little weepy.

As I shared with these beautiful kids that I love deep down in my soul about Gideon, I realized that the message He had given me to share with them wasn't just for them, but it was Him speaking to my heart.

I started telling them about Gideon. How he was the weakest of the weak, yet God chose him to lead an army of 300 into battle. Yes Gideon was afraid, but he obeyed God. He did it anyway and placed his confidence in God who promised victory.

Then I heard myself say, 

"Sometimes stepping onto the battlefield in obedience and placing full confidence in God is the victory of the battle."

That was Him speaking to me.

In that moment as I stood on a stage which had become the battlefield where I would fight my fear, God spoke to me in the message I had prepared for our kids. It was like He was saying to me, "All I wanted was for you to do what I've been asking you to do and trust me in it. And here we are, daughter..."

The rest of the lesson was having the kids act out on stage with me the battle that God fought for Gideon without him having to even lift his sword. Watching them act out each part of the story from the angel's visit to the smashing of clay pots and horns sounding was beauty in motion.

Fitting right into the moment was our Bible verse for the week:

So we can say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear."

Hebrews 13:6

I don't know exactly what God has in store for me in all this. I just know that He is asking me to say "yes" when He asks even if I have to do it scared. He is asking me to trust Him and stand on His promises.

I am thankful today for a God who is bigger than my biggest fear.

What is God asking you to do today?

Love Your Enemies

To you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies!
Luke 6:27

Love my enemies?

Really?

You mean those people who specifically set out to say and do things to hurt me?

You mean those people who call me names and judge everything I say and do?

You mean those people who hate me and everything I stand for?

(the people pleaser in me winced just typing these)

It's so much easier to love the people who love me.

But Jesus never asks us to do the easy.

He always challenges us to do more.

Do good to those who hate you. 

Bless those who curse you. 

Pray for those who hurt you.

Luke 6:27b-28

He doesn't just ask us to love them.

He asks us to do good, bless, and pray for them.

What I had to reconcile in my heart and mind is that I can love 
these people without loving what they do and say that hurts.
Jesus isn't asking me to love their words and actions.
He is calling me to love THEM.

This can be especially difficult when faced
with someone who hurts us over and over.

I don't believe Jesus is asking us to let them continuously hurt us.
We are told to guard our hearts.

Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.
Proverbs 4:23

Sometimes the only way to guard your heart against another's words 
is to remove the option for them to speak into your life.
Sometimes we have to love from afar.

We have two choices:
Throw up our hands in defeat
or lift our hands in prayer for them.

Today I choose to lift my hands and love.

Which do you choose?

Women Redeemed Live Webcast

Women sharing their struggles, fears and hope!




{Live Webcast Event}

In coordination with the launch of their fall releases, Kregel Publications will be hosting a live webcast event on September 20th at 8 PM EDT featuring authors Kim Ketola (Cradle My Heart), Teske Drake (Hope for Today, Promises for Tomorrow), and Dawn Scott Jones (When a Woman You Love Was Abused).

The webcast will allow women to come together to share their struggles and fears in order to move toward healing and hope. Women will able to support one another and discuss shared experiences (abortion, miscarriage and abuse) in a non-threatening, open and loving environment.

Cat Hoort of Kregel says, “We are seeking to provide safe means for Christian women to be vulnerable with each other, to seek help and guidance from authors and counselors, and to find encouragement from those who have shared similar experiences. Our hope is that the Women Redeemed webcast will become a forum for hurting women as well as for those who can help. Kim, Teske, and Dawn are all survivors and their stories will surely inspire and equip other women to move toward healing and hope.”

Please join tonight’s webcast and connect with the authors, talk about your own experiences, make some new friends, and win a prize! Hope to see you there!

To register for the event, just click the banner to the right or here.

A Running Miracle

Donnie has always been very athletic. When we were dating, it was running on the basketball court and then in later years it was running in marathons.

That all changed a few years ago in a moment that we will never forget.

Very early one morning rain quickly changed to freezing rain. We were coming in from warming up our cars when we heard a car crash into the yard of our neighbor. Concerned that there might be children in the car since they hadn't called off school yet, Donnie went to go see if he could help. I had gone inside to check the news for school cancellations. I wasn't inside long when there was a knock at the door with news that rocked my world.

Our neighbor had come to tell me that Donnie had been hit by another car that slid down the hill. I ran to the scene of the accident to find Donnie on the ground beside several vehicles involved in the accident. All he kept saying was, "Wendy, I can't feel my legs." over and over. Someone had called an ambulance, but it took some time due to the roads being so bad. Donnie's dad went with him in the ambulance while I stayed home with the boys. I found out afterwards that the ambulance had taken longer than expected to get him to the hospital as they had an accident on the way there.

When the call from the hospital finally came, the doctor told me that among other injuries Donnie's pelvis was broken in five places. They debated on taking him to surgery which would involved pins and such, but in the end decided to try and let the breaks heal on their own. Donnie was in the hospital for weeks and was then transferred to rehab for a few more weeks.

Donnie came home in a wheelchair. For a man who had always been so active, this was a very hard time for him. He went to physical therapy several times a week and eventually graduated to a walker. On one of his last visits to his doctor, Donnie asked the question that he had been wrestling with:

"Will I ever be back to normal?" The doctor told him that he would always have pain associated with the injury and that he would be able to walk, but would never be able to run another marathon.

Let me tell you something about this amazing man that I am married to - he believes that God still does miracles. For the last several months he has been training for the very thing that his doctor told him that he would never be able to do. He believed that God would heal him and give him the strength to do this. Donnie is running a marathon this Sunday and he gives God all the glory for being able to do so.

He's not just a walking miracle...he's a running miracle.

Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

Hebrews 12:1

(Donnie's Life Verse)

Update - September 25, 2012

Not only did Donnie finish the race, but 
he topped his age group in the fastest time. 
So proud of him.

Now he is climbing mountains.

God is so good.

He makes me as surefooted as a deer,

enabling me to stand on mountain heights.

2 Samuel 22:34