Joanne Heim

Audrey's word from God

 

Audrey heard from God this past weekend at Living Proof Live in Tucson. I didn't doubt she would, but you can bet I prayed through the whole thing for her to know it when she heard it!

Have to say that one of the first things Beth said on Friday night was that each one there was called by God to be there, and that God had something specific to say to each and every one of us. I totally elbowed Audrey at that point!

And this is it. What she heard just for her. It's pinned to her bulletin board along with her event bracelet that she finally took off.

(And as much as the editor and teacher in me wants to fix her typo, I love that it's there. God speaks to us even if we don't always spell correctly! Even if we're not quite grown up. There's no age or height requirement to hear from him. All it takes is the desire to hear him and a heart to listen.)

As we talked on the drive home, we thought about what that means in her life. About her areas of influence. About how we have seen this truth confirmed in her life. She gets that this is part of her calling.

And she's 11. That blows me away. How amazing is that?!

She heard from God. She knows it was him. And you can bet she's listening for him to speak again. Because once you hear his voice, you can't wait to hear it again.

 

Memory Monday: Psalm 23:1

As part of the Bible study I'm teaching on Psalm 23, we are memorizing Psalm 23. So for the next six weeks, we'll be memorizing a verse a week.

As I explained what we'd be doing to the women at church, I offered a reminder of WHY we memorize Scripture. I want to know WHY I should take the time and make the effort!

1. We memorize for our GOOD.

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that the plans God has for us are good. For our hope. For our future. Memorizing Scripture is good for us!

2. We memorize for our PROTECTION.

Psalm 119:11 says we hide God's Word in our hearts to protect us from sin.

3. We memorize for our TRANSFORMATION.

Romans 12:2 says that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. As we fill our minds with God's Word, it changes how we think. It gives us new thoughts to think and changes who we are and how we behave.

4. We memorize to be PREPARED, to be READY to deal with temptation.

When Jesus was tempted in the desert in Matthew 4, it was the Word of God that enabled him to deal with temptation. "It is written" is how he began his response to Satan. He knew it. He didn't have to go look it up or search for something to apply. God's Word was written on his heart and readily available. He was prepared to deal with temptation.

5. We memorize to OBEY.

Colossians 3:16 says that we are to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. John 15:7 says that we are to remain in Christ and that his words are to remain in us. Memorizing Scripture is God's will for his people!

"The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want." Psalm 23:1

What are you learning this week? 

Leave a link or type your verse in the comments. If you want to join in, click on the button in the sidebar on the right.

Pink hair and Beth Moore

So along with letting Audrey dye her hair pink, the other thing that is making her feel totally grown up these days is getting to attend her first ever Living Proof Live event with Beth Moore this weekend.

 

Audrey and Emma are totally familiar with Beth--they've heard me talk about her for years, have come to Bible study and watched the videos with me when Toben's been out of town and I've been babysitter-less. I copy the listening guide and they fill in all their blanks along with everyone else. They call her Mrs. Moore.

(Audrey sent Mrs. Moore a letter last week, telling her that she'd be the girl with the pink hair up as close to the front as she could get!)

The girls have asked over the years when they can come with me. Pretty much every time I've ever attended an event, they ask when they can come too. It just hasn't been the right time--until now.

There are so many things Audrey could do to show she's growing up, to feel like she's growing up. Things she could do, say, wear, read, listen to. That one of the things that's making her feel the most grown up is to go listen and learn more about Jesus? To go see what it looks like to be a woman who follows after God? Blows me away and makes my heart pound. How good is God?!

I can't tell you how excited I am to hop in the car with my girl later today and go see Beth. I always love listening to Beth teach, and I'm super duper excited to watch Audrey as she sits under Mrs. Moore's teaching.

(Note to self: Pack camera!)

As Audrey's asked about what to expect, one thing I mentioned in passing is that God will have a word just for her. And a word just for me. And that part of what we'll do this weekend is to listen for it. 

That idea has stuck with her. And every day as she prays, she's thanking God in advance that he'll have a word just for her. And he will. I'm certain of it. Because that's just how he is. And she will know it when she hears it because she's prepared to hear it and she's expectant.

Do you expect to hear from God? What might happen if we approached every study, every Sunday, every single day expecting to hear a word from God just for us?

And now for the silly stuff

Here's what is true of me when I speak in front of a group:

1. I don't usually feel all that nervous, but I sweat like crazy. Seriously need some new antiperspirant. Like prescription strength. Not an issue on a normal day--even in AZ in the summer, but you can bet I'll be getting some next time I'm at Walmart. Felt like I couldn't raise my arms until about 12:30.

2. I have to pee a lot before I stand up front to talk. So I snuck out this morning while the gals were all in their groups and there was NO TOILET PAPER in the stall I randomly chose. I didn't check first because I was concentrating too hard on not dropping the microphone thing in the toilet. I think I might get in trouble if I did that. And there was no one else in the bathroom to help me out--they were all in Bible study! Luckily, those paper seat cover thing-ys work in a pinch.

(I did admit this to all the women there--and told them exactly which stall was out of paper so they wouldn't get stuck. Just trying to be a good girlfriend.)

(This is an aside and totally not about Bible study, but I also have to pee exactly three times after I get dressed to run before I can run. Why three? No idea. It's just the magic number. Being two miles from home and having to pee soverybadly is NO FUN. You can't run faster without peeing in your pants, and at the same time you're desperate to get home as fast as possible. Bad, BAD news.)

3. I love it when people nod at me, smile at me, make eye contact. Does that make me an affirmation junkie? The result is that I'm a really good audience member. Our worship pastor at church even commented on it. Cause I know how awful it is to have no one willing to meet your eye. I like to give out an outline, so even if someone is writing her grocery list and not looking at me, it just looks to me like she's taking really, really good notes.

4. What is up with the sticky dry mouth? Yuck. Hot water this morning helped. I was afraid if I sucked on a mint and tried to talk at the same time I would probably choke. Going to have to come up with a hand signal from my friend if it gets out of control and starts to build up in the corners of my mouth.

5. Finally, we have really, really cute girls at our church. It's fun to stand up front and get a good long look at all of them. I'd not been to Thursday morning Bible study before this morning (I'm a Wednesday night gal so far) and was way impressed with them. Especially with the young moms with little kids who showed up looking like a million bucks. I was so not that mom when the girls were little. 

Wonder if they'd appreciate having a pajama Bible study morning one of these weeks...

It's all HIM

Just stopping by to say hi and thanks to all of you who so faithfully pray for me and this Bible study I'm writing and teaching. Last night was the first one, and I got up this morning and headed back to church to teach this morning too.

I'm somewhere between being totally exhilarated and and totally exhausted. (As evidenced by how long it took me to figure out how to spell "exhilarated." Sheesh. There IS an 'h' in there.)

After last night, the last thing I wanted to do was get up this morning and do it again. Here's why: I finished teaching and thought, What the heck was that?! I felt sad and discouraged and let down. I figured people only said nice things to be nice. I felt like I failed and let everyone down. It was awful. And a little ridiculous. Basically, I was a total mess.

Insecurity hit me square between the eyes. And knocked me flat. (There's a new book I might should pick up, ya think?!)

But this morning? Amazing.

And here's what I have to say about that to you.

Sometimes when you're doing something God has clearly called you to do, it doesn't feel like you expected it to. It doesn't always feel like flying. But that doesn't mean that God didn't show up. That doesn't mean that you're doing the wrong thing. That doesn't mean you have to question your calling.

I felt like God said to my heart as I lay awake (again not sleeping last night), Will you keep doing it anyway--no matter what it feels like? Will you trust me? Will you trust that I know what I'm doing, trust that I know what's best, trust that I will not let you fall? Will you listen to MY voice?

So when those times come (and you can bet they will), obey anyway. Do what God has called you to do despite how you're feeling about it. Because joy will come as you walk forward in obedience. And when it comes? Wow.

I said mostly the same things this morning as I did last night. Used the same notes. Taught the same stuff. Even wore the same outfit and yesterday's hair. But chose to believe that his mercies were new for this morning. Chose to listen to HIS voice, rather than the voice (well, voices, let's be real!) of insecurity. 

We get to choose what we listen to. And how we choose makes a difference. Let's choose wisely.

But now, this is what the LORD says--

he who created you, O Joanne (or whatever your name happens to be),

he who formed you, O Joanne (yep, your name again!):

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have summoned you by name; 

you are mine...

"...you are precious and honored in my sight...

I love you..."

from Isaiah 43

Pudding pops!

Emma whipped up a batch of pudding pops this morning before school. Audrey assisted her in the kitchen as sous-chef. They even cleaned up the kitchen. Sort of. If clean means mostly cleaned up with smears of chocolate pudding on the counters and in the sink.

 

Emma's Pudding Pops

1. Make instant chocolate pudding according to package directions.
2. Fill plastic dixie cups with a layer of colorful sprinkles. This is very important.
3. Pour in pudding.
4. Cover with foil and stick a popsicle stick down through the foil.
5. Freeze & enjoy!

S-p-e-l-l-i-n-g

Here's how we do spelling around here on a sunny day...

 

And when that got old yesterday, we moved on to chalk. (We did LOTS of spelling yesterday.) Toben came home to a driveway covered in spelling words, along with a few happy faces and random pictures.

When it's not so nice, we do spelling bees. The girls loved Akeelah and the Bee--and so did I. (If you haven't seen it, do!) It made them decide that spelling is kind of fun and makes it seem more like a game than school.

I love spelling. Always have. In fact, in the fifth grade I won the all-school (that's K-12) spelling bee. It's the only trophy I ever won. Unless you count the one our dog Obie (short for Obadiah) won for the Mongrel Marathon at the dog track when I was in the third or fourth grade.

Do you have any trophies? 

Memory Monday: 2 Peter 1:10-11 in review

I'm loving the Scripture Typer! Thanks, Brett, for all your tips last week in the comments. 

Like many of you, there are weeks I fly through a memory verse, and others when I need another week. To finish learning it sometimes, and other times just to sit with it awhile.

This is one of those sit-with-it-a-while weeks.

"Be all the more eager to make my calling...secure." Eager is really jumping out at me as I'm feeling a tired and overwhelmed this Monday. Sometimes I think we just do the thing, and the eagerness comes with obedience.

 

What're you working on? What's standing out to you about your verse? 

(I love reading your comments about your verses each week; I don't always comment, but I do come read and am so encouraged by your faithfulness!) 

The whisper beneath the words

Ever have those times when God confirms something for you? When things happen that seem like they might be coincidence, but you know they're not?

As we sat in church today, our worship pastor talked some about contentment. Then read part of Psalm 23. Then talked about God being our shepherd--and that's why we can be content.

Seems like a reasonable thing to hear in church, don't you think?

Except when contentment just happens to be what God's given me to teach on this week as Bible study begins. Except when that Bible study that's beginning just happens to be on Psalm 23. 

Except when I'm starting to get a little nervous. This is what I'm supposed to be doing, right? is the question that surfaces in moments of doubt that pop up in the midst of the excitement.

Did that just happen to be coincidence? I don't think so. Not for a second.

"See? I've got you." That was the whisper I heard beneath the words. Reminds me that I just happen to be the apple of his eye. And so are you. Are you listening for the whisper?

Today's gonna be a good day!

(Why isn't that song on my iPod? Think I need to fix that pronto.)

I did just about everything on the list yesterday. With the exception of dinner (went to P.F. Chang's for happy hour appetizers instead), movie with the girls (read a couple of chapters of our read aloud book for school--Cheaper by the Dozen instead), and the bubble bath (would've fallen asleep and drowned so went to sleep instead).

The girls' rooms are mostly done--I'll take pictures later today when the light is such that you can actually tell what you're looking at. :)

I loved reading your lists! 

I'm off to breakfast in a bit with my Bible study gals, and then racing off to meet Rachel for lunch and shopping or lunch and hanging out by the pool. I'm sorta hoping for the pool and a nice long conversation. (Note to self, pack suit!)

In the little bit before I need to jump in the shower, I'm working on Bible study, which feels never-ending. I suppose that's the nature of it--there's always more to learn, more to discover, more to find in Scripture. That leaves me trying to figure out when to say "that's enough for now." Much easier said than done!

We're going to be talking about contentment for this first week. And confronting our discontentment. Because that's what God told me to teach. Because if we're going to choose to be content, we're going to have to deal with our discontentment. Nice, easy, light topic, huh?

Want to tell me about your discontentment?
 About how you choose contentment in the face of it?

Today's list

Hit the pavement...run 5K, rock out to Crowder

Shower and wash hair (if it's not on the list, it might not happen!)

Get dressed

Eat breakfast (Cheerios, strawberry yogurt, and frozen blueberries--every day!)

Read to the girls

Have a morning meeting with Toben when he gets home from AA

Pack up books, Bible, post-its, journals, computer, computer cord, water, snacks

Head to church to write in the new den (so lovely!)

Finish the packet for Psalm 23--week 2

Make notes for Wednesday's teaching (thus the post-its*)

Work on week 3

Come home

Make sure the girls did their science experiments and note cards for their research papers

Help them organize what was Emma's room and what will be our classroom (pictures to come!)

Get really excited for tomorrow when I get to have breakfast with my Bible study group and then hang out with Rachel

Make and eat dinner (tonight's menu: posole)

Maybe watch a movie with the girls--Old Yeller came from Netflix

And I'd dearly love a bubble bath

I think that's enough. What're you up to this Friday?

*I am a post-it teacher. I have an outline and then stick post-its all through my Bible to remind me of what I want to say when. It often means finding post-its stuck here, there, and everywhere later, but it's the method that works best for me. I've tried writing a script, but then I get distracted if I forget something. Much better to have notes and then just talk off the top of my head! And one of the girls in my Bible study group works for 3M--she LOADED me up with post-its of all sizes and colors!

10 reasons why I let my daughter have pink hair

1. She's asked for pink hair on and off for a couple of years now--it wasn't a momentary whim.

But it was against school rules to have a non-natural hair color, so we never dyed it. And let's be honest, that magenta is NOT natural! Since she's homeschooled, we're not breaking any rules. If she were in school, she wouldn't have pink hair. 

(That's why she has no Facebook account even though she wants one. She's not old enough and we will not let her lie about her birthday to get one.)

2. She's 11 and wanting to experiment with finding her own style. In light of some of the hoochy-mama and immodest clothes that are out there, pink hair seems relatively minor to me.

3. It's semi-permanent and will fade over time. It won't last forever!

4. I dyed it for her, so the whole process cost less than a new outfit. 

5. It looks really cute on her! Have to say, her blue eyes really pop with hot pink hair.

6. She wanted it for herself. 

Not because her friends were doing it, not because a boy said it would be cool (not that she cares about boys at all at this point!), not because she's seen anyone else with pink hair. 

We had some good conversations while I sectioned and colored all that hair (she has a LOT of hair). The truth is, if she were doing it for those reasons, I would not have let her do it. And she gets that.

7. Her daddy said yes. If he'd said no, her hair wouldn't be pink.

8. She's seeing that changing how she looks doesn't change who she is. 

Pink hair is fun, but she's still herself and still needs to make wise choices every single day about who she will be and how she will act.

9. She didn't whine and complain and nag about it. She gave us time to think about it, and I really think she'd have been okay if we'd said no.

10. In light of 1-9, why not?

 

 

My never-ending birthday

Have to say, we're celebrating this one to beat the band.

Last Thursday, the girls and I spent the day at IKEA with Mom and Dad--always a fun day. Bought some cactus (I know--but look how cute they are!) and some window panels to make some mistreatments (which still make me squeal when I walk in the door--they warm up the house so much.)

 

  

So. Here's the deal. I really, really do not like the cactus in my front yard. It's truly scary. But look at these! The ones on the left look like little Christmas trees. That God made these kinds of things AND peonies is incredible to me!

 

(These are held together with straight pins!)

 

Then Mom and Dad took us to dinner at the Rustler's Rooste--so yummy and so much fun. You enter the restaurant through a mine, then can take the stairs or the slide down to your table. (No need to hesitate for a second in guessing which I took!) We ate barbecue and steak and fry bread and the whole restaurant sang to me. The balloon man made me a wrist corsage and the waitress gave me a cowboy hat.

 

On Friday, Mom and Audrey and I went to Target and I found a dress for $6.38. Happy birthday to me! Then we had dinner at Joe's Farm Grill. Which wasn't really part of my birthday, but super yummy anyway.

Mom and Dad left on Saturday, which was sad.  But Audrey and I went to Anthropologie to spend my birthday gift card, which was happy. (And that running is paying off!)

Sunday was church, doing a temporary dye job for the bowling party Audrey went to, then birthday dinner with our dear, dear friends, the Halls. They sang me the most off-key, loud, and obnoxious birthday song ever and I loved it like crazy.

Yesterday, Toben and Audrey and Emma gave me this beautiful necklace (how I love EVERYTHING at Anthropologie!) and Emma decorated the box just for me. I love it as much as I love the necklace.

 

  

 

 

We did school, I went to work at church in the afternoon, made Thai food for dinner, dyed Audrey's hair semi-permanently, and ate a birthday Blizzard from DQ that Toben brought home (Heath bar crunch--the ONLY kind of Blizzard as far as I'm concerned).

And yesterday also held more Facebook, email, text, phone call, bloggy birthday love than I ever expected or deserve. I am overwhelmed and humbled. Thank you.

Tonight, my friend Ali and I are having girls' night. Nail polish, girl movies, popcorn, jammies, and no kids. And Zac Ephron--can't forget him!

 

I am a cool mom

 

Just ask Audrey!

Memory Monday: 2 Peter 1:10-11

I'm working on 2 Peter 1:10-11 this week. And did you notice my new sidebar thing?

I don't even remember how I found this tool. Scripture Typer is really pretty neat. You can memorize random verses it chooses for you, or pick your own. You can select the version you want to use, and you can print them out on Avery cards (though I'm sticking with 3 x 5 cards). 

It has a tool that allows you to type the verse, tracking how quickly you type. (So, if you can't type, forget it. This probably won't work for you!)

And there's a blog widget.

I do wish that the reference was part of what you type when you practice--because it seems like lots of us struggle with remembering exactly WHERE a verse is found.

And you can't really edit Scripture, which is something I tend to do. Before you get worried, what I mean is that I would usually stick my name in there, where it says "my brothers." So it would read, "Therefore, Joanne, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure."

Memorizing Psalm 23 is going to be a big part of the Bible study I'm teaching that starts NEXT WEEK (!!!), and I'm definitely going to recommend this tool in the packet I give out in the second week. (I'd recommend it in the first packet, but they're already printed!)

What are you learning this week?

 

  
 

Four years of blogging

 

Today is the fourth birthday of The Simple Wife!

I started this blog to celebrate my 34th birthday, which means that tomorrow is my 38th birthday. It's also Kimberly's birthday. And Melissa's too. Happy early birthday, my birthday buddies!

I'm kinda sorta wondering just how many words I've written on this blog in the past four years. A lot. There's a huge archive if you're interested. 1,326 posts in all. I love to go back and see what we were doing and it's funny how often I can vividly remember what I wrote about and how I felt and where we were and all that jazz. 

How about a little then and now?

THEN: Living in San Diego by the beach
NOW: Living in Phoenix in the desert (after three years in Denver in the middle)

THEN: Collecting vintage postcards
NOW: Collecting vintage postcards

THEN: I loved Toben
NOW: I love Toben

THEN: Doing ballet each week to stay in shape
NOW: Running 5K just about every day

THEN: Girls in school
NOW: Homeschool mom

THEN: I was crafty ALL THE TIME
NOW: Not so much

THEN: Writing Living Simply
NOW: Writing The Lord Is My Shepherd: Hearing God's Voice in Psalm 23

THEN: I had worn the letters of the keys of my old Mac
NOW: E & N are almost gone, A,S,D,C, and M are getting faint

THEN: Toben was getting ready to buy me a car
NOW: Still driving the Brownie Bus (though I'd forgotten we'd almost named it Ellie)

THEN: There were definite boy jobs and girl jobs around our house
NOW: There still are, but we're getting more flexible

THEN: Felt like I was way too young to be 34
NOW: Feel like I'm way too young to be 38

Make EVERY effort

We finished Priscilla's He Speaks to Me last night at Bible study. Next week is spring break, and then I'm up. I'm excited. Anxious and humbled to have the privilege to teach God's Word and desperate to handle it with care, but excited.

As I was glancing through my workbook yesterday and reviewing all I'd learned to make note of my one thing...

[pause to encourage you--again, if I've already done it--can't remember!] WRITE IN THE FRONT OF YOUR BOOK! Write your name and the date and where you did the study. And then write down the lesson you've learned, the one thing you never want to forget. Make note of the page number so you can quickly find that special word God spoke to you through the study.

...I saw something I'd underlined about how we often want to cut corners in our faith. Here's what she said on day 3 of week 3: "In fact, if we are painfully honest, I suspect we would like to 'cut corners' when it comes to living a sanctified life. Subconsciously we ask ourselves, 'What can I do to just get by as a Christian?'"

I had a conversation with a friend last night after we finished. A conversation about calling and about temptation and sin. NOTHING is worth blowing your calling. 

Just getting by doesn't fulfill your calling--and, yes, you have one.

Here's the scary thing. God can accomplish his purposes with or without us. He can call someone else if we choose to compromise what he's called us to do. His will WILL be done.

We need to make every effort to make our calling and election sure. EVERY effort. Not a half-hearted, when we get around to it and don't have anything else to do kind of an effort. No, we EAGERLY make EVERY effort.

So that's my prayer this morning. To hold my calling in high esteem. To value it and give it my all. To refuse to compromise it. To not cut corners but to press into the corners and live it fully. That through his divine power he will make me eager to make every effort to fulfill my calling.

When we do, his Word promises that we will participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption caused by evil desires. That we will be kept fro being ineffective and unproductive. That we will NEVER fall. That we will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Today's a new day. Make every effort as you rely on his power. Be eager. Hold onto his very great and precious promises. Your calling has value. Don't compromise it.

 

 

I'm starting to see a pattern here

I've been up well before the alarm the past two mornings. Like 4 a.m. before the alarm. Early. Dark.

And quiet.

After laying awake and checking email and such on my iPhone from under the covers yesterday morning, I got up about 4:30. So when my eyes popped open at 4:30 this morning, I went ahead and got up.

I've been feeling pushed for time. I don't feel busy--I just feel like there's something to be done every waking moment. I don't feel frantic--I just feel like there's lots to be done. I don't feel like things are sliding, just that they're all scheduled and need to be done when they need to be done.

This season of life is full. Not stuffed and bursting at the seams like too much turkey and pumpkin pie, just full.

So when I got up yesterday and found unexpected time to pray and work on writing Bible study, it felt like a gift. And so I wasn't too surprised when I rolled over to see the clock this morning.

(Okay, I'll admit that my first thought was "Really? 4:30? Again?" I got to worrying about not getting enough sleep, about running myself down, about not being rested. But then I thought "I'm awake. I feel awake. I don't feel sleepy. I'm ready to get up." So I did.)

And it's been another gift. An unexpected gift of time. Which is exactly what I was saying I'd like just the other day. 

God made time, and I figure he can stretch it, shrink it, or stop it as he sees fit. And if waking me up early to give me an extra hour or so each day is the way he's going to do it, I'm not going to complain. Cause complaining people stop getting gifts.

I'll let you know what time I wake up tomorrow...

Memory Monday: Psalm 100

I just finished the last day's homework in Priscilla Shirer's He Speaks to Me. I think I've underlined just about the whole book!

I asked all the gals in my group to come to Bible study on Wednesday ready to talk about the last chapter--as well as to share their "one thing"--the lesson they want to hold close and make part of their lives from here on out.

I write my "one thing" (or two--or three!) in the front of my Bible study books, along with my name and the date and place I did the study. That way I can go back and quickly find that one thing that was dearest to me--something that can take forever if I haven't marked it clearly in the front cover! It's hard to find that thing you underlined and starred when there's underlining and stars all over the place.

As a group, we've been memorizing Psalm 100. I finally stuck a card up on the bathroom mirror to help me memorizing. Nothing like saying my verses out loud while I dry and iron my hair! Keeps all those random thoughts at bay. ;)

(And it keeps my mind occupied so I don't notice the gray hairs I've been finding lately. Been yanking them out up to this point, but I'm starting to think that's not going to be such a good idea. They are getting mad and multiplying!)

So...Psalm 100!

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

I highlighted all the verbs for which we are the subject. There are many psalms (like 23!) that are focused primarily on God's actions; this one shows our action in response to him.

Do these words describe my days? Something to ponder.

 

You can join Memory Monday by clicking on the button in the sidebar--
 it'll tell you all you need to know and what it's all about. 

 

Listening to my kids pray

We headed to church today at noon for a prayer walk around campus before the grand opening this weekend.

After opening as a large group, our family of four visited the children's ministry area, the junior high room, our senior pastor's office, and the new sanctuary. We held hands, stood in a circle, and prayed aloud in each place.

And I cried.

Sitting in the room where I'll teach Bible study, I listened to Audrey pray:

"Dear God, Let Mom speak only what you want her to say and what you want these women to hear from you..."

Sitting in "our" new seats in the new worship center, I listened to Emma pray:

"Dear God, Let everyone who sits in these seats hear your Word and understand your Word and love your Word...."

My heart ached and my eyes teared up and I was awed and humbled. They pray with such power, such passion, such confidence. And they're eleven and nine. I can only imagine how they'll continue to grow. O God, what a gift you've given me in my girls. Help me love them well.

Of course, they also pray with their eyes open, because they both said, "Are you crying, Mom?"

I love my church

How cool is that? If you live in Phoenix, come check out MISSION. We'd love to have you join us.

Parenting, memorizing, hobbling

Oy. Last night was a hard parenting night. Let's just say that by the time we got home from dinner and got everyone in bed and dried all the tears that I was exhausted and ready for bed.

So I'm feeling thankful this morning that "the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations" (Psalm 100:5). It's not dependent on me. God is so much bigger than that.

I'm off and hobbling* this morning--but wanted to be sure to have a spot for you to link your Memory Monday (on Tuesday--again--sorry!) post.

I've got Psalm 100 down pretty well, but I'll say it again: I miss having the girls memorize with me. It's SO MUCH EASIER with a partner or two. All the gals at Bible study are memorizing this, but I'm thinking that as a leader I could have encouraged us to partner up in our groups for some accountability. Next time, for sure!

(*So here's why I'm hobbling this morning: My foot fell asleep in a meeting yesterday afternoon, I stood up quickly and promptly twisted my ankle and fell down because I didn't realize just how asleep it was. It made a yucky noise. Ew. Graceful like a ballerina, that's me. It's sore and a little swollen this morning, so no running for me today. I think it's mostly stiff and am hoping it'll be all better by tomorrow. I'm thinking maybe Toben could do that slap/rub thing from Karate Kid later if it's still hurting tonight. Was that Karate Kid? It's been years and I don't remember for sure.)

I am officially rambling now. Time for more coffee.

By the way, I loved your Saturday plans lists you shared. It's fun to get a little glimpse of everybody's day, isn't it?