There are a lot of things I could say, but right now this is all I can think of..... "HELP!!!!"

As in... LORD, PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!  As the first day of school approaches....and really I don't even know when that is anymore because it was suppose to be this Monday...like in 2 days...but I am so NOT READY it is not even funny.  If there were ever a time when I felt completely inadequate and unprepared for this whole homeschooling thing...it would be NOW.  Last year I was so excited for the beginning of the year.  It was my first year with both kids, and I had no idea what was in store for me.  Now I am a wee bit wiser, and really the only thing I can say is.....LORD, PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!  Yea, I know I already said that but it bears repeating...many times. 

Many people tell me when they hear that I homeschool, "Oh, wow you must be so patient." This makes me laugh out loud...because...let me make this clear... I AM NOT PATIENT.  I am the opposite of patient and this I am convinced is one of the reasons the Lord has called me to homeschool. You see, He is still working on me (and boy, does he have His work cut out).  And so I know that my only hope is to PRAY....a lot...and lean on Him because, surely I do not have this under control.  I absolutely cannot do this by myself.  It is only by His grace that I can homeschool.  So Lord if you are listening (and I know You always are).....Please help me to do this, because I can't on my own and please prepare my children's hearts...oh please just guide us all!  Yall pray for us too, pretty please!

Pray without ceasing...

Paul tells us to do this (1 Thessalonians 5:17), but what does it mean?  Well, here's my take.  Pray all the time, literally ALL THE TIME.  Don't store up all your prayers in your mind where they will likely be forgotten throughout the day, and then try to spew them all out as you lay in bed and fall asleep.

Pray. All. The. Time. 

Talk to God all day, like He is right there with you...because HE IS.  Don't wait to make an appointment with Him or wait to check in with Him when you are not busy.  Remember if the devil can't make you sin, he sure will keep you busy.  If Christ is IN you, talk to Him like He is.  He is right there with you always and He wants to hear from you always.  I almost never sit down and try to pray.  When something comes into my mind, I just pray it, right then and there.  No need for a lot of time and special words.  I pray while I am folding laundry, cooking, cleaning, even while talking to other people and driving (scary huh?). I share my heart with God a little bit at a time all day long.  He already knows what's in there anyway.  Isn't it nice when your own children come to you and share their hearts even if you already know what they have done or want to ask you?  Doesn't it make you feel loved? I wonder if that is how He feels when we come to Him?

So Has God Used You Lately?

"Please God, USE ME!!!" is what I have been praying lately... "Please just let me HEAR YOU and know what You want me to do." Well, He does not disappoint. In addition to becoming an Advocate for Compassion International (which I will write about later, as this is so funny it deserves a post all of its own), He has been showing up and using me in a series of other "smaller" ways as well.

The other morning I was feeling a little grumpy, just too many things to do and not enough time. R and the kids were asking to go to the pool, which of course made me even more grumpy...one more thing to do, right? So I had to pause and go to Him..."What is wrong with me? I don't want to feel this way. Lord, please help me, what do You want me to do?" His answer..."What does your husband need?" This week I am being made aware of the fact that I am to be a helper to my husband. That means I need to think more of him and less about my to do list. What is the real problem here?? PRIDE... pure and simple....whose to do's are more important? When my husband is home I am learning it is suppose to be his. This is hard, I won't lie. I won't say I am working on it either... it is He that is working in me and on me.

A funny thing happens when we obey though, that is when He can use us. Even though I really did not want to, I put aside all the things I had in mind to do and got the gang all lotioned and packed for the pool. R wanted the pool, so that is what he got. And in the process, God put me right where He could use me! At the pool, a familiar looking lady came up to me and started talking. We knew each other from L2's dance studio. She is a newly divorced mom and was looking for a single ladies Bible study... which of course our church has and hers does not. Our single ladies Bible study has some amazing women of God, who I just know will be a great help to her. I heard someone say that today's single mom is the "widow" of Biblical times (that we are commanded to care for in James 1:27) and I think that statement is right on. Sometimes I have wondered if having a husband who walks away from you voluntarily may in ways be more painful than having one pass from this life to the next?  But I digress... my point is that by obeying the command to be my husband's helper, He placed me in a position to help a "widow" in need.


Also awhile back I started writing verses on index cards... just ones I came across that really spoke to me on that day. One day when the hubs (BC) was really challenging my faith I came across this one:

 From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
Galatians 6:17

Now granted, Paul was talking about his physical scars, but persecution can be emotional as well and on the day I wrote this one down it was really just the encouragement I needed. 

Some time after that, I was sitting paying bills and found I had lost my little piece of cardboard I use behind my check carbons to keep the writing from going though, so I used this index card with Gal 6:17 in its place and just absently (or so I thought) stuck it in my checkbook.  The other day I was at the drive up atm depositing some checks, my checkbook was out and ...BAM... I was hit with a command from the Holy Spirit.  "Put that Gal 6:17 card in the deposit envelope." It was wild, my hands were shaking, my heart was pumping and I was breathing funny.  I have never been hit that hard with a command where I totally recognized it as for sure from Him.  Really, it was intense.  I have no idea who needed that verse or why, but I have no doubt that it ended up in the right hands that day.

This is where she lives...

Volenta. 

She is the latest addition to my heart, our Compassion International sponsored child.  She just turned 8 years old and lives in extreme poverty in Kenya.  Through Compassion's Child Development Program at the KAG Siany Center she receives food, clothing, medical care, an education, instruction in personal hygiene, social skills and most importantly SHE GETS TO HEAR THE GOSPEL.  She gets to hear that even though she was born into what seems like an impossible situation to overcome, Jesus desperately loves her.  He left his place in heaven, came to earth to live, died on the cross and rose from the dead to save her and is making a place for her in heaven.

We get to write letters to her.... to encourage her, to share our faith with her, and to tell her not to believe the lies of poverty....to tell her she is beautiful, special, important, and that God loves her with an everlasting love.  I have read and listened to countless testimonies of former Compassion children who have grown up, gone to college, broken free of poverty and are now working in their own ministries or with Compassion to continue proclaiming the gospel to the next generation of children that satan is trying to deceive with his lies of poverty.

Compassion International is soo soo much more than a child sponsorship program, it is a DISCIPLESHIP program. And Compassion makes it so easy for us to take the blessings we have received and directly impact the life of a child for Jesus...we can be His hands and feet. Won't you consider sponsoring a child today and changing their life in Jesus' name?

Matthew 25:34-45  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,  I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’  And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,  I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’  Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’  Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’

Help a Child