Worship Wednesday: Faithful God

I have a LOT of favorite worship songs…it depends on the moment and the day and the time and whatever is going on in my head but I just really love truthful songs about Jesus.

So often, I cannot put into words how I am feeling and then I hear a song that says it perfectly. This is why, ninety nine percent of the time, I choose to listen to Christian music. I highly recommend it if you are a person who internalizes the lyrics to music as I do.

In the moment that I am writing this, my favorite is Faithful God by Gateway. The words are just so true to me. Right now, there are some pretty horrid things going on with families that I LOVE! People I LOVE are hurting. There is literally nothing I can do about these situations besides pray (which I am not demeaning…that is a very important thing I can do). I believe there are still demons. There is so much evil around us and yet God is so much more powerful. I highly recommend listening to this song with your eyes closed and just focus on how true the words are. God CAN fix any situation. He might not do it in the way that we hope but He is able. We need to cast our cares into His arms.

Faithful God

If  I call, will You come

When I cry, do you hear

I believe every tear

Is caught up by a faithful God

So I will cry until you come

Cast my cares into Your arms

I can’t see past this storm

But I’m counting on a faithful God

Faithful God

You hold my life secure

All my days are Yours

I believe

My God is like a fire defending me

Faithfully

I believe You still heal

And demons still bow

I’m convinced there is power

In trusting in a faithful God

So I will praise till You appear

And set Your foot upon this shore

I declare that every foe

Is subject to my faithful God

I know that You are mine

And I am Yours, I am Yours

I know Your faithfulness

It will endure, it will endure

Grasping at Nothing

Recently, I took the kids to Walmart for some regular grocery shopping time. They know that if they are well behaved while in the store (no begging, running away, screaming, yelling or generally bad behavior) they will get to ride on the Mickey Mouse Car found near the exit. I am not even sure why this works because the thing barely moves and I make all 3 girls ride it together even though there's not room.

It is worth Fifty Cents to me but no more!  Call it a bribe, call it whatever you want...to me, it is called "a way to survive shopping with 4 kids that are five and under!"

I digress. On this particular day, the kids were well behaved and anticipating their ride. When we walked out of the store, Keira presented her own quarter that she had apparently snagged from her piggy bank at home and kept in her hand the whole time. She brought it to play the grab machine. You know it. The one that you pour money into and after about $10-$15, you finally get a stiff, cheap stuffed animal that likely doesn't resemble even a well know Disney character.

So, I calmly explained that this game was a losing game and that she would likely lose her money and walk away with nothing. Also, the game cost fifty cents and she only had a quarter.

She wanted to play anyways. I thought about it and gave her a quarter explaining that this was the only quarter she would get from me and she would see that it just isn't worth it.

She played. She lost. She asked for more quarters. I said no. She Begged.

 I still said no.

Okay, I thought. Now I have the opportunity to show her that I was right. I explained how she should have listened to me. I went through all that just happened. How she missed the"fun" ride with her sisters. How she wasted Fifty cents with nothing to show for it. I thought surely she would never ask to play again. Apparently I forgot what it was like to be five. Her next words.

"Next time, I will bring more quarters". Ugh.

How often do I do this to God? He clearly tells me that the choice I am making is a bad one. One with consequences. One that will make me miss out on something great. How devastating.

Just like a five year old and a grab machine, we somehow think that if we just keep trying to get what we want, we will eventually get it. Sometimes we even do. But at what cost?

Sometimes it takes trying to teach my five year old a lesson (unsuccessfully) to teach me a bigger one!

Let's stop grasping at nothing and grasp at God's Word. It will never leave us empty or unsatisfied!

Worship Wednesday: Why Worship?

Welcome to my first Worship Wednesday. I always have a million things that I would like to write about...just not enough time to write them usually. However, lately, I have really been trying to focus on the things that I am passionate about in life. I want to make sure that I know what I am passionate about and take time to write/share that with other people. One thing that is not only a passion in my life, but also my husbands is worship. Not just music (though, that is a huge part of it for us) but the whole gamete of worship. So...in an attempt that I am hoping will not fail miserably, I would like to start worship Wednesday. Each week, I will share some way that worship has effected my life, past or present...I don't think future but I guess you never know! I am not sure exactly what that will be or look like, but I would invite any of you bloggers out there to do the same and post a link to your post in my comment section. To hear how God is teaching you more about worship would be equally as exciting to me.

So...I won't keep you long but recently, we dedicated Levi at our church. Dedication for us is a time when Tom and I are committing ourselves to teach our child about Jesus and bring them up in the church. It is also a time when our family and church family can affirm that they will support us and help us in that. 

I love it.

This being our 4th dedication, I really thought about what we were doing and thought back over the last five and half years that we have been parents. 

Have we been doing what we committed to with each child?

Are we spending our time wisely with each other and each child in God's Word?

Are we teaching our kids to WORSHIP The Lord in everything, every day?

Are you?

We played a slideshow with pictures of Levi during the dedication and while doing so, we also sang the David Crowder Song, "How He Loves Us". We let Keira and Libby join in at the end and sing with the microphone all by themselves which they thought was amazing but we also tried to explain to them that it wasn't about performing a song. It was about worshiping  God and singing about his love for us. We hope they will always know that love. 

Here is the video for your viewing enjoyment. (not the best quality...taken on an iphone...but you get the idea!) I apologize for my head being behind a music stand!

Teaching little girls

Happy New Year all!

It's that time again. You know, that time when we all say that we are going to change something drastically in our lives, call it a new years resolution and by February, we don't even remember what it was! haha.

I am not doing that...I never really do, but I am determined to work on something this year. More of a focus than a resolution. I would like to choose something each year to just kind of work on and make more of a strong presence in our lives. This year, I really want to focus on teaching my girls about modesty. Obviously, this is something that can't be taught in one lesson and it will be something that continues for years to come...I get that!

1 Timothy 2:9-10
"I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God."

I feel very strongly that this is something that we need to teach our girls from a very young age or it will be super hard later on. Just like any other good habit, they should be in the habit of dressing appropriately.

When I look to the future, I think about how I want them to be perceived by young men and then by the man they will someday marry.

There is always that classic TV show where the teenage daughter comes downstairs dressed in something tight and revealing and the father says, "young lady, go upstairs and put on a different outfit...you are NOT leaving the house dressed like that". While that is all good and everything, I would LOVE to see my daughters choose the right outfit first. (And also...someone had to buy those inappropriate clothes?!?!?!?!?)

So, the question now is, how? How do I teach my girls that their body is a gift from God. How do I teach them in a loving way (and a way that is appropriate for a 5, 4 and 1 year old) that God made male's different than females and dressing inappropriately can cause their brother to stumble? How can I teach them that just because a certain shirt looks great on them, doesn't' mean that they should wear it?

I mean...aren't these lessons that most of us adults could stand to hear too?

When I walk into the store these days, I am shocked by the number of clothes in my daughters sizes that I would never allow them to wear. They are drawn to the sparkles, glitter, bows and fun things on the clothing but do not yet know the importance of how they should dress themselves.

I want them to understand that they can dress nicely, and even be in style, all while glorifying God.

So, anyways...this has been a lot of rambling but this will be my focus this year...so that it is a great habit to continue teaching in the years to come.

I would love to hear any comments below on how you walk this path with your own daughters!