Standing vs. Falling

Wow, it's been awhile. Our family had a wonderful Thanksgiving and looking forward to Christmas!!!

We are all back in the swing of things including school for the girls. The girls had some catch up school work because of the extra day we had to take due to weather. But Wednesday, Hannah came home with a story to tell. She started explaining, "Today, we started watching a movie and I had to ask the teacher if I could do something different because of the cussing in the movie. The teacher didn't understand because she said there are only 4 or 5 words. I told her that it would be hypocritical for me to justify even 4 or 5 words because; where do you start drawing the line? She told me that I could write a 3 page paper." I was watching Hannah to see if she would expect something of me, but she seemed confident in her decision. A mom's heart wants to defend her children and yet I felt God gently letting me know that Hannah is no longer "renting" her salvation. She is now owning it. I was not to do a thing but to let her know how proud I am and that she did the right thing. In a moment Hannah decided to take a stand for something so she wouldn't fall for just anything. I pray God blesses you Hannah beyond your understanding.

Eph 6:10 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand;"

Love you Girls and my wonderful Husband, Dan!!!!

The Top of the Family Tree

I have been thinking a lot about Heaven lately and it excites me so much. I feel a closeness of that appointed time when Jesus will part the clouds and come for His family. But am I doing all that I can to make sure the family of God is growing?

I love getting together with my family over the Holidays and I've been making calls to see if everyone is able to make it. Through this my thought life has been bombarded with people that I know, who may not make it to Heaven. Am I really showing others through my actions that I want them to be in Heaven with me at that big "Family Reunion"? Do I look past the rejection that I might feel when I reach out to them in love? Does the reality of Hell place an urgency for me to act now? My prayer is, change me Lord so I can feel the same way you feel......"that none may perish." I would like to personally challenge us all to diligently do whatever it takes to invite people into a relationship with the "Guy at the Top of the Family Tree"....our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!!!! I since a party coming:)

Mistake

Something went wrong with my computer so it didn't finish my last post on Nov. 11th..Following your Heart vs. Guarding your Heart. I finished it. Didn't mean to leave you hanging! Oooops!

Following you Heart vs. Guarding your Heart

Because of a family tragedy, the death of my very loved nephew Jason, I did not have the opportunity to share with all the lovely girls who were at the Signature Conference in Columbus Oct. 31st-Nov. 1st. So, I thought I would do a small portion of what I would have shared through this blog.

I was going to share on "Following your Heart vs. Guarding your Heart." The Bible says in Jer. 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand?" Also, in Prov. 14:12 it says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."
So apart from God the human heart is selfish, evil and corrupt leading us to destruction, our heart is not good by itself we need God to invade it because He made it. God is the only one who can completely understand us. He understands that we are relational because He made us that way. He knows which amazing man you are to be with in a lifetime commitment of marriage but most girls get anxious and find it hard to wait. Philippians 4:6 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything present your requests to God." Pray ladies, pray!!! What makes you anxious? Is it speculations? Does anyone like me? Does he like me? Will he call me? Does he think we have potential for the future? Is he the one? Well.......he might be, but only time will tell and it is not your job to pursue him anyway. This is nothing more than sinful anxiety. Trust God and he will unfold his plan for you in His time, remember follow God's heart not Mr. amazing's! The moment some of you meet a man, you snatch your heart out of God's hands and toss it at the new guy. How about trying this approach-you meet a man, he's reeealll cute, and you like him. Your heart wants to follow his and it's all aflutter ready to leap out of your chest. Place your hand over your heart and whisper to it, "Calm down," and put it back in its secret place. And then say this, "God, I think I really like this one. What do you know about him? Is he the one for me?" You can do this ladies, I know you can because God is the Man. I know that there are some here that have followed their heart without regard for God's and you haven't guarded your heart. You may be thinking, "I've made so many mistakes, my heart has been bruised and banged up and I'm not perfect....but Jesus thinks you're to die for!!! God will heal your heart and place it back in its secret place to be kept safe. Dance with God....He'll let the perfect Man cut in!

Some more ways to "Keep a Healthy level of Insanity"

1. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.
2. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
3. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."

Have fun this week with these and let me know if this has opened any doors for you to witness!

GPS

Dan and I are saving for a GPS. We always try to go to all the electronic stores on "Black Friday" (the day after Thanksgiving), to get some good deals. It is a family event and we will go to stand in lines as early as 1:00 or 2:00 Friday morning. We bring our dvd player w/dvd's of course, music, food and some hot drink. Bundled up and ready to brave the cold we all talk, laugh, and discuss our future "cheap finds" with excitement and anticipation. Dan has been checking out which brand of GPS is the best so we can be confident in our purchase and also we want it to have a good reputation of getting us where we would need to go. As I am doing the budgeting for this it dawned on me that we are purchasing a Global Positioning System. Wow, think about that for a moment. Those of us who have Jesus Christ in our lives have the ultimate Global Positioning System and it doesn't cost us a thing or does it. I truly believe in these last days that we will have to navigate the grey that is all around us through the head lights of the Holy Spirit and the vehicle of God's Word. Matthew 24 :9 tells us, "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me." That sounds like it will cost us "big", are we ready to pay that price? I am very confident in the Global Positioning that I bought into by faith and I know that He will always put me in the right direction if I am willing to listen to Him. Also, as Christian Believers we need the Lord's direction in this election, so vote your position in Christ.

Leading!

Leadership- there are so many ways to "Do leadership," but I am going to first concentrate on ways to "Be" a leader. Today was our leadership meeting for our youth and we are going to learn from the life of Paul how to "Be" a leader. We will study on how to sharpen our character qualities and spiritual gifts. I then believe that our "Doing" will be exactly what needs to be done. I want us to review what a leader is from the core of who God made us to be. Now, I do believe that there are leadership practices that are necessary and have to be done. Study, order and structure are important to God and it is vital that we implement our leadership plan and then execute it. Today the first two qualities of a leader that we examined were: being trustworthy and taking initiative. Lord, help us to be the kind of Leaders that you need us to be in this time of cooling off as Matthew 24 speaks of.

New Quote

"Some of us spend our week sowing our wild oats and then on Sunday we pray for crop failure"

How to keep a healthy level of insanity!

When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won! I Won!"

Confidence in the Truth

So yesterday I was coming home from a meeting in Columbus and I was on Route 62 turning left onto Route 661 which had stop signs. There was on coming traffic so I stopped to let it go by and then proceeded to turn left. There was a vehicle at the stop sign on Route 661 and as I drove by he held a one sided conversation with me, to which I replied thank you. Now, knowing that this was an unfriendly conversation, I was wondering why he was so upset with me or maybe it wasn't me at all. But, I knew it was directed toward me because we locked eyes for a split second and I saw his face with his lips flying all over it using words that make you not blink for awhile. Some words were familiar and others I had not heard before. I am now on 661 and I began to replay my driving choices. I knew from drivers ed. and experience that what I did was right but, I couldn't quit thinking about it. I was headed to the County Jail to do some visiting so I thought to myself that I was going to ask a Police Officer about it. I did the visitation and as I was coming out, a Police Officer was coming in, so I asked him about what I did. He said, "You completely had the right of way." It felt so good to be sure of the truth.
This led me to think how we all need to line up our actions (everything we do and say) with the truth of the Word of God. I truly believe these are the last days and we can not afford to mess up our witness for the Lord. The truth is not what we feel is right because "our heart can be deceitful above all things," Jeremiah 17:9. But the truth is what God says is right! Our confidence has to be found in the truth of God's word.

Guarding and Protecting our children

Raising our girls has been a privilege, honor and blessing. Elizabeth is 21 and is an early childhood Children's Pastor in the Des Moines area. Kayla is 19 and is taking 4 classes online through South Eastern, working 3 jobs and is returning to South Eastern in January to continue her pursuit for ministry. Hannah is 15 and is a freshman in high school where she exposes her love for Jesus and has an all girl Bible study in our home. Then, there is Marissa.... Marissa Joy to be exact. She is 12 and is the type of girl that you just like to watch. Marissa brings new surprises to our home and we all laugh at her excitement and approach to life. Some of you might know about her ministry in our home but for you that have not yet experienced this fabulous idea, let me share it with you. About a year ago Marissa decided to launch a new ministry of her own, "The Garbage Bag Ministry." This entailed writing scripture or an encouragement on the all white kitchen trash bags so when the "trash man" picked up the garbage he could read the note and have a happier day. One of the first notes that Marissa wrote was, "Trash is trashy but, you're not!" I truly believe this girl is going to go places. Love you Marissa, your so cute!

1) The subject of raising our children can be a delicate one, but very successful when following God's principles. We also need to understand that it's two fold. First, it takes us as parents saying yes to God's ways of raising them and secondly our children saying yes to God ways. Never forget that God's first two children messed up and He is a perfect parent. But I challenge all of us parents to re-read how God handled their wrong choice. Here are some things that I pulled from Gen. 1:26-Chapter 3.

• We see that God created us in His image (we were made to be relational with Him, have wise minds, loving hearts and a willingness to obey Him)
• We see that He was pleased with His children
• We see that He was aware of everything that went on
• We see discipline
• We see that God follows through to the very end

God did not sweep their disobedience under the rug and act like it didn't happen, or hope it would go away, or say, "This is just a stage they'll come out of it......" No, He confronted them. He explained their failure and then acted on their discipline. He did not react and sin in His anger, but acted with firm loving follow-through.

2) The guarding and protecting of our children is vital and this will entail physical protection, but more important is their spiritual protection. Being aware of who their friends are, whose homes they are going to, what they listen to & what they watch, monitoring computer content & time and most of all discussing with them their relationship and devotion time with God. Guarding and Protecting our children is so important, but it does take work and commitment on our part.

3) Which brings me back to Me and My walk with God. Because I believe that, "We produce what we posses!"

4) Guard your children this week, even if that involves getting deeper into their world, going to their school and talking with their teacher, or checking the front gate of the boundaries that you have set up to insure that it is locked.

5) Here are some scriptures for you to read: Proverbs 1:8-19 and Romans 16:19

Love to all!

Everyone Needs Comfort

It has been 8 months since my last blog and I have decided to return to world of "BLOG!" Someone recently asked me, (matt valentine) do you know what a blog is? I kindly replied, "Yes!" So Matt this is for you ha, ha, love you and Amanda lots.

1st thought: I used to do my devo's at night but I think we change and now I like to do my devo's in the a.m. I enjoy sitting in the silence with God's word, my caribou coffee and most of all His presence!

2nd thought: I'm not going to lie, I love ministry but, this is a very tough season. So many people in our church family are hurting. I do want to take a moment to praise God again that all the families seem to be falling toward the cross and not away. But when we care about our church family like we do our own, you feel it with them. Please pray for our church family!

3rd thought: Now to put the 1st thought and the 2nd thought together. In my devotion time I was pleading for our church families and biblically looking for some continued direction on how to minister to them, so I looked at comfort. The word comfort in 2 Cor. 1: 3-7 means "called alongside to help." God has definitely comforted this Lund family and came alongside of us so we can come alongside those who now need comfort. There are two ways to show comfort, one is empathy and the other exhortation. Some people don't need answers or fix it solutions, they need us to empathize with them-the ability to share in their emotions and feelings. This can be heavy but God wants us to "Comfort others with the same comfort we have received from Him." Those are some big shoes to fill! The second way we can comfort others is exhortation, encouraging and urging them to move forward with God's help. But we need discernment to know when we are to use empathy or exhortation in our comforting efforts. Help us Lord, we need and love you!
Love to all,
Christa

Breaking up is hard to do!

I was at Winter Jam and Tony Nolan told us a story of a dating couple breaking up that I thought was pretty funny, so I decided to share it with all my faithful bloggers (being Gary). So this ones for you. A boy went to break up with his girlfriend and this is what he said, "If you remove the "L" from "Lover" you get "over" and that's what this relationship is, over." She was so upset she told her best friend and the best friend went right up to the boy, who kept slurping down Mt. Dew and said in an annoying voice, "If you were my boyfriend I would posion your Mt. Dew." And he said, "If you were my girlfriend I would drink it". Wow, way funny huh? It seemed to be alot funnier when Tony said it. Oh well, good times!

Blessings

So yesterday, I went to a new doctor named Dr. Mohammand. He is in the Neuroscience Dept. @ OSU. He is a genius. He told me that he had reviewed all my test and notes and then he said, "You have disection in brain, should of had serious stroke, thank God that you still with us". He continued to say that there is nothing he can do with the "webbing" in my right vertebral and the one artery that is hanging by a thread. There is also nothing that can be done about having half of a "circle of willis" that functions because of the left vertebral artery that had been removed. But one day prior to this doctor visit my daughter Kayla called and shared with us what God had just done for her. What God did for her and really our whole family was such a blessing that the news I received at the doctor seemed so small compared to His greatness. A professor @ SEU in her marriage and family asked the students what support means to them. Kayla's answer was, "What support means to me is, our family being in ministry together, we are their for each other, we cheer each other on and we love doing ministry with one another". After Kayla's response the Professor said that he would like to speak into her life with a prophetic word. I'm not going to lie, I think that the "prophetic word" has sometimes been abused, so I felt a little cautious. Kayla went on to explain this "blessing" that came her way, by God, through her professor. He told her that she had had a tough year phsyically and that her healing has come. That she is a loving, loyal, daughter who loves her family and parents a lot. That she had recently fasted and prayed for her family, then called to pray for her parents on the phone. That her parents loved her so much. Also that our family had been through a lot this year. But, God is in control. Then he said that her children and her grandchildren will be blessed. And, lastly that her ministry would be blessed. This was such an encouragement to Kayla and us that God would use man to let us know that His eye is on us. Wow, what a blessing that God spoke through him so specifically. Tough circumtances and suffering seem so small in the light of blessing. I feel so blessed and humbled by God's love. He cares so much for us and wants us to know, He knows. What can I say, God has given me a wonderful husband, 4 girls that love the Lord and serve Him and a peace that goes beyond human understanding. Trust Him, love Him, serve Him and have confidence in who you are in Him.

It will happen next Monday

Have you ever tried to diet? I try not to use that word because the first 3 letters are DIE! So I prefer to use the words a "balanced eating plan". I always start my new "eating plan" on Monday's and I know it's only Tuesday but I've done real well so far. However, Wednesday is always the kicker, you know, like it's the 3rd day into the "plan" and you feel like you want to kick it, give up and have another brownie. Oh well their is always another Monday. Anyway, they say my weight gain is because of my medicine, but who are "they" and why would a small green pill cause this? "They" said I would peak out and this I have done in more ways than one. I'm assuming that it means I will level out and then I will be able to take off the added pounds. All this to say, I really want french fries. Bye for now!