No Craftiness...Just Pure Truth

So I was in the gym this morning listening to this sermon.  Not good, when you want to bawl your eyes out!!

Just imagine if more pastors shared the Truth like this!!  When God's word is shared in complete truth it makes you crave more, it convicts and it changes life.  It's not the pastor, it's the Truth and we need more of it.

~Wisdom- the best use of knowledge.  Knowledge is not enough...you need to know what to do with the knowledge.  Voddie knows exactly what to do with the knowledge...Preach it!!

No doubt this sermon can stir up pride and it's kind of sad to think that the Church has aided in that pride but when that pride is completely tackled by the grace of God it leaves you humbled to the dirt.  This sermon left me literally trembling with humility.  I am not sure I have heard this articulated so well before?? 

When you preach the word of God, you need no craftiness.  When you soul recognizes the Truth you realize it's NOT man...It's all God!

A GIFT!!!

Bare with me because my thoughts are so sparatic.  My heart is just bursting with joy and gratitude right now that I am afraid it is all going to come out jumbled.

So today in my Isaiah study our lecturer was speaking of our worth.  You know....Christ loves us so much that He DIED for us.  After the lecture the teacher and I were also talking about how we are a love gift from Father to the Son that the Son gives back to the Father. John 17 (read it, so AMAZING).  I am a love gift?  A GIFT TO CHRIST!!! WHOA!  This is what I think of when I think of a gift...It's something you choose for someone you love, something you know they will love.  Something that will bring them joy.  A gift is something that is thought out in advance because we want it to be the perfect gift.  And we all know that God can only give good gifts.  I am a good gift?????  Seriously??  Too, I am a gift that comes without a gift receipt.  I cannot be returned!

And then I get home to find out my good friend is now holding her new gift, a son.  A precious gift from God.  My heart is really exploding.

Elijah Stone Johnson

Amazing...we are a gift from the Father to the Son in which the Son gifts back to the Father.  Our children...gifts from the Lord...gifts we give back to Father.

I don't know, is it me or is that just so H.U.M.B.L.I.N.G!!!!!!!!!

"Jesus Christ is God's love gift to the world, so believers are Gods love gift to Jesus" ~John MacArthur 

http://www.gty.org/AudioPlayer/Sermons/1564

a great sermon on the topic. 

John MacArthur

"Christian psychology" as the term is used today is an oxymoron.  The word "psychology" no longer speaks of studying the souls instead it describes a diverse menagerie of therapies and theories that are fundamentally humanistic.  The presuppositions and most of the doctrine of psychology cannot be successfully integrated with Christian truth.  Moreover, the infusion of psychology into the teaching of the church has blurred the line between behavior modification and sanctification...If one is a truly Christian psychologist, he must be doing soul work in the realm of the deep things of the Word and spirit- not fooling around in the shallows of behavior modification... There may be no more serious threat to the life of the church today than the stampede to embrace the doctrines of secular psychology.  They are a mass of human ideas that Satan has placed in the church as if they were powerful, life-changing truths from God.  Most psychologists epitomize neo-Gnosticism, claiming to have secret knowledge for solving people's real problems.  There are even those psychologists who claim to perform a therapeutic technique they call "Christian counseling" but in reality are using secular theory to treat spiritual problems with biblical references tacked on. ~John MacArthur

If all we had was God's Word, that would be enough.

Chalkboard Motivation

 

Something I have been wanting to do for a long time.  A little motivation maybe?  A reminder for mommy to encourage and take notice. I made this chart a few weeks ago and the kids love it!  They love getting dots!  It actually works in this home.  Of course there are rewards after getting so many dots.  This picture was taken the morning after I hung this up and as you can see both Olivia and Grace had gotten a dot for brushing their teeth, making their beds, getting dressed and brushing their hair (without me asking of course!).  They were so excited to wake up the next morning and do those things so they could get a dot.  I of course thought to myself, hmmm I wonder how long this will last???  It actually has lasted!  They don't always remember but they are remembering more times then not.  It took Madi a little while before she caught on but as soon as I recognized something that she did, which was obeyed right away, I got very excited, did a little dance, praised her and she received a dot.  She now has more dots in that category then the other girls lol!

If you are wondering, I used liquid chalk.  Love this stuff!  Washes off with water.

Just added this picture cause it cracks me up!  Life with girls!

Tug of War?

To give up something as certain as motherhood to pursue other things we call  "callings" is completely delusional (sorry is that too harsh, this video makes me want to puke).  If God has blessed you with children, without a doubt, that. is. your. calling!

This video is the world at it's best!  And extreme too...at least for my sheltered eyes.  I must admit though we see this on a lesser scale in the Christian community .  I see motherhood tugging at hearts competing with "other callings."  No doubt we have been gifted with other talents but I don't think they were intended to compete with being a mother or wife.  I'm trying hard to think if there are examples in the bible of a mothers conflicted with caring for her children full time, yet feeling like she is being pulled in a different direction?  I am coming up short.

WATCH VIDEO HERE

Jim Daly Video from Focus on the Family on Vimeo.



Jim Daly Video from Focus on the Family on Vimeo.

Check this out...http://www.icareaboutorphans.org/WaitingKidsinYourState.aspx

JJ Heller!!!!!!!

And to think...I was about to pass on this gig due to nerves (in other words, the father of lies)!!!

Thanks to our good friends Bradley and Dawn I was blessed to be apart of this beautiful video.  I have no doubt this video is going to be great, how could it not?!?!  JJ Heller a very talented singer song writer match up with Bradley Gregg, a great producer and editor along with his very supportive, creative wife Dawn and all of her great ideas equals one amazing video!  I am very excited to see how this all comes together.

The really cool part...I got to be in the video!!!  I was the make-up artist for the models and me doing their make-up is apart of the video.

Can I tell you, I WAS NERVOUS AS ALL GET OUT!!!!  I have not done a model or brides make-up in sooo long so I thought I was going to puke when I agreed to do it.  Not only that, but the fact that I was going to be FILMED while doing it!!!  Seriously, ask Dawn, I was pooping my pants beforehand.  Once I got there and saw how laid back things were I calmed down and of course thanks to my loved ones praying for me (thank you, you know who you are) it really turned out to be a very fun experience.

I had had the pleasure of meeting JJ and her husband before and they seemed to be a very nice and pleasant.  After yesterday I can definitely assure you they are SO nice, so laid back down to earth, so real and trying to figure out life/ God's will for their lives just like the rest of us.
Here are some of the great photos Dawn took throughout the day. http://dawngregg.smugmug.com/Other/JJ/16030812_SJgFQ#1202922281_8qGne

Stay tuned.  I will post the video once it is released.