Be Bold

I loved our sermon today at church. So if you have time to read Acts 3-4, I would encourage you to do that. The scripture reading was in regards to Peter and the disciples being told to stop preaching Jesus. And they basically told the religious leaders and government officials that they could not stop testifying to what they had seen and heard. The sermon was about being bold.

Here were a few thoughts that I was frantically writing down:

1) If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
2) Be Bold in your faith! But boldness is not something we can manufacture and fake. So then how do we become bold?
     *Keep company with Christ. What has your encounter been with the Risen Christ?  And when days get hard, and nights are long, and faith feels like climbing a really difficult mountain that has no end in sight...do what the Israelites didn't do over and over again, REMEMBER your encounter with the Risen Christ. REMEMBER.
     *Lean on the Power of the Holy Spirit. We have the Spirit of God IN us! I mean, if we grasped the magnitude of that truth, who or what would we fear!?

Christ's disciples had a desire for others to know him.
A great story our pastor told today was about an old member of our congregation, David Chan. (Side note, love him. He was a cardiologist at Children's Hospital and performed heart surgery on my brother, and helped us with Zachary when he was an infant and his legs kept turning blue. So yes, I have a heart full of love and gratitude for David Chan. And he loves Jesus. But I digress.) Something David said years ago was, "If Meijer were selling prime rib for $3/lb we would be telling EVERYONE we knew about this awesome sale! Why are we not doing that with Jesus."
Jesus' disciples wanted others to know who Jesus was; they wanted others to have an encounter with the Risen Christ as well.  And I know you have that desire too!
So continue to give of yourself to others, for Jesus. Pray boldly and with confidence. And be bold, for the Lord is with you wherever you go.

Mediocre Mom to the Rescue

Tomorrow is the day! It's the Valentine's Day Party for each of my boys.
Fortunately for 2 of them, their teachers are blessing me with the gift of NOT creating a box to put their cards in; but instead, the kids are decorating bags in class for the party.  Unfortunately, that isn't the case for my 2nd grader. So today I woke up in a semi-panic because I was convinced I would most likely forget to make/send in this dumb box. While surfing pinterest I saw these awesome/spectactular/ridiculously over-achieving boxes that kids and/or parents made.

 

Beautiful, right!? To the parents who clearly made these boxes, I hate you.

This is what I spent my morning making for Zachary.

 

 

Impressed?!

Oh my gosh, I am so embarrassed for him! First, I walk outside to watch the bus go by in my bathrobe, and now this! I am not doing this child any favors. For goodness sake, the kid's picture playing basketball isn't even HIM! I am so failing at this parenting thing. It's pathetic.

 

Considering Changing the Title of My Blog to,

The Joyful, Tired, and Mediocre Mom

 

3 Minutes Worth Celebrating

I just needed to take a moment to celebrate with the 7 people that will read this blog. I was a great parent for a solid 3 minutes last week. I mean, like, knocked it out of the ballpark parenting.
We have had endless days trapped inside. The bitter wind chill makes it impossible for the kids to play outside in the snow. And when the wind chill isn't frigid, my laziness keeps us trapped indoors.
We are all bored and our brains are turning to mush.  If it weren't for Minecraft I am not sure what we would all be doing. Thank you creators of Minecraft for making the winter of 2014 tolerable.
Anyways, I had had it with video games and fighting and whining and bickering. So last week I turned off the tv, turned on Pandora, got out the art supplies, and Nate and I painted together. It was quiet. It was peaceful. Nate and I both had an awesome time doing something together. And it was quiet...did I already say that?

But the funniest part of the entire 3 minutes was while I was sitting back and taking it all in, and enjoying the joy of that moment, the "Hallelujah Chorus" started playing on the radio. I kid you not! "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Ha-lle-lu-jah!" It was as though even the angels in heaven were rejoicing that I wasn't phoning in my parental duties again.

Basking in a Great Parenting Moment till it happens again in June,
The Joyful and Tired Mom