a constant...

There are seasons in our lives.  

Times of being quiet, times of being loud.  

Times of adventure and times of routine.

Times to serve and times to be served.

Times to rest and times of work.

In all these seasons, there is something that is a constant, never changing, never failing, never ceasing...

...the love of the Heavenly Father.

And in all of these seasons, there is something constant, never changing, never failing, never ceasing...

...our need for Him.

Our need to remain in His word.  

Our need to seek Him daily.

Our need to bring every joy, tear, laughter, and hurt to Him.

At the feet of Jesus, we must remain, despite what season it is.

Because He is constant, never changing, never failing, never ceasing...

"To God alone be the glory

To God alone be the praise

Everything I say or do

Let it be all for you

The glory is yours alone

The glory is yours alone

Yours alone..."  Aaron Shust, To God Alone (song)

"Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy."~Acts 14:17

Praying you are seeking His face, in every season, to know your Creator...

Bree

prayers of the faithful...

About a year ago, a precious older woman from my church went home to our Lord.  She came faithfully to church every Sunday, despite health problems.  I would often see her a couple times a week at the Y, exercising (her, not me) chatting with her, my little ones in tow.  She would speak of her family, a mama of boys (special connection with her there), grandmother of boys, great grandmother of boys (and one girl!) wife, mother and grandmother of military men.  But every Sunday, she was there, usually only with a daughter-in-law, no sons, or grandsons ever present.

Then she passed unexpectedly.  And that following Sunday after her service, I sat in the back of the church and looked.  And what I saw brought more tears to my eyes than the sadness of her being gone.  There before me filling pews upon pews was her family.  Sons, daughter-in-laws, grandsons, wives, great grandchildren, nephews.  And this precious mother of boys-there was no mistaking her family, I don't think I've ever seen a family with such strong facial features resembling one another -there is no mistaking who's family they belong to!

And in my heart, I felt the Lord gave me just a glimpse of the greatness He has for this family and what He would do and was doing.  My heart rejoiced at the joy she would have of knowing what was answered to years of prayer for her family, the legacy that would come from her faith and devotion to our loving Father.

Today, I watched, tears running as her grandson and his wife, pregnant with a great grandson professed their faith, professed their need for Christ, professed their sins and their great love for Jesus and were baptized.  Within this year of her passing, her sons and their families have returned to the church, family members have been freed from strongholds, a grandson and his family have moved to another country as soon-to-be missionaries, granddaughter-in-laws have accepted Christ as well as great grandchildren.  And it continues, I could go on and on.  I have been blessed by this family and by their testimony.  It is a humbling honor to see the great things of our LORD and what He is doing in this precious family.

May we never doubt the prayers that He hears, the prayers we sing, we cry, we yell, we whisper out to Him.  This precious woman did not see it with her own eyes but with faith she believed, and He answered in His timing.  We praise Him!

"but God has surely listened
       and heard my voice in prayer."~Psalm 66:19

the Lord, books & marriage

(Google images)

I've just finished reading the book, Fireproof.  I still haven't seen the movie so reading the book was lovely, all new.  Can I encourage you to read this beautiful love story.  I think we might all be able to relate to this story, some more than others, certain aspects more than others, but I humbly think at least some part of it.

First, let me say how many books we have in our home-I love books-how can you not?!  They're overflowing from every nook and cranny, piled up here and there and of course there are so many more I could give a good home to (my poor hubby!)  Now, as much as I love these word-filled, some scripture-filled, some delicately picture-filled narratives, how many have I read you might ask?  "Well,"  I would answer, "I've started most of them."  Oh, my intentions are always for good but generally, by the time I sit to read (not too often!), yep you guessed it, this mama is out like a light!  I am always amazed at the sweet blogs where they do book reviews (I love to read them-the blogs that is...see, I can still read!)

Okay, my point-I read this book in 3 days in the evening, a total of 3-4 hours quite possibly!  A miracle I might say ;)  It was a light read, having the reader hoping for more, relating to the characters, intrigued by the firefighting, waiting for the next response.  But what brought tears to my eyes-the love of the Lord, the testimony of God's hand in the characters lives, His grace and the miraculous changes He truly can make in a human heart when the heart is just the tiniest bit open.
This truly was a love story.

There was much I took from this love story, but one of the main things I did was truly commit my marriage to the Lord.  When hubby and I got married, I wasn't saved.  I knew I loved this man and wanted to marry him (did I ever tell you I was an hour late-perpetually late I am!) and we would have a nice party and we were going to have a life where it was 50/50 and have children and a big house and nice cars someday.  Yep, these were my thoughts for the most part, because this is what the world told me marriage was.

It wasn't until our oldest was an infant that I asked Jesus to be my Savior and I thought just a bit outside of myself.  Slowly, I began to attend church (sometimes just to have childcare for little ones)...but the seeds were being sown.  A year later when pregnant with our second (7 months to be exact) the Lord struck a chord in my spirit and I wanted to be baptized, right then and there.  I went, tears streaming down my face with a huge smile, white robe, big belly and professed His goodness and my need for Him in front of our church.  It was Father's Day, isn't that precious?

From that time on, I began attending a beautiful church alive with His Word!  Hubby was saved but hadn't been attending.  Then one Sunday I asked and he came.  And was the Lord ready for that-oh, is He good!  The sermon spoke exactly to my hubby and his concerns with the churches we had attended.  He continued to come after that...no surprise to Him :)

But getting back to the marriage part, one huge change in our marriage was attending a MOPS meeting where our pastor and wife spoke to us ladies on marriage.  This was the first time I'd heard my husband was to be before my children.  What?  But he is a grown man who can do things for himself, here I have these helpless little ones who can't, what do you mean I should put his needs first?  And shouldn't he be doing things for me since I take care of the kids all day?  Oh, I could go on and on.  But, I didn't take offense to what I was hearing, the Lord  had prepared my heart to hear and to understand and changes started happening.

This has been a long process for us (well, probably not in the grand scheme of things) but my heart has been resistant to authority.  This is why I tell people, we are married by the grace of God :)  And I say how PATIENT our heavenly Father is!  He doesn't ask us to come to Him perfect or all put together-Praise the Lord!  Just a willing heart, at least a hint...how willing maybe, will determine how long the process will be (just something to think about ;) )

So, I read the book and I prayed.  I committed my marriage to the Lord and my role as a wife and a mother.  I committed this heart to my Father and the precious man He blessed me with, through the good and the bad, 'til death do us part, to love and to cherish, to honor and obey, to work as best I can, and to love the Lord with all my heart (because none of this will work or stick with out Him and the renewing of my mind.)

my Scottish honey :)

He is good always...

The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.~1Corinthians 7:3


For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ~Ephesians 5:23


However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. ~Ephesians 5:33


Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. ~Roman 12:2


praying for your homes and hearts...