Scrapping Servant

My Walk Monday #4 March 30, 2008

Sorry Ladies for the delayed message today. I have been struggling pretty heavy in the very things God is calling me to be obedient on. Letting go of my selfishness and laziness is no easy battle. It seems like many new tactics are being tossed my way, but the difference is this time I am actually TRYING to fight!!!

 If you are also going through a tough time, please feel free to post that on My Walk Mondays this will help us to know how to pray for and encourage each other.  

 This reminds me of a bit I wanted to share last night when I couldn’t manage to get this post written.  As you know I am still reading the ‘Let Go‘ book… and one of the first things I wanted to share from this week’s devotions was…

To bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2) or possibly to bear the burden of their imperfections?!   (That’s something to think about now isn’t it?  Definitely something I need to work on, I am so judgmental and controlling.)         

Here is more of what I learned…

• I must not expect too much from other’s but be patient with their faults, as I myself am faulty!
• to keep peace in a relationship I should be quiet, prayerful & surrendered, refusing criticism and jealousy.
• to seriously think about death (one of the new tactics in my battle) is not necessarily bad, it keeps me aware of my weaknesses and keeps me humble in God’s hands.
• irritability under correction is worse than all other faults combined (ouch!)
• the sting of correction wouldn’t be felt if the old self were dead.
• the more correction hurts, the more it was neccessary.
• the moment I start listening to self screech complaints in my ear is right when God’s whisper gets drowned out (I would much rather hear God than me, how ’bout you?)
• I shouldn’t make important decisions during times of distress.
• the only way I can profit from God’s counsel is to maintain willingness to sacrifice ANYTHING to Him, no matter how much it hurts self.
• I cannot become strong until I am aware of my weakness (well maybe that weakness is what I am learning about lately, because it has been pretty hard.)
• I need to find a balance between learning and doing, like faith and works you know?
• I need to be careful of taking up old habits and focus on building resistance to self.
• my freedom is more valuable than what I am afraid of losing.
• I need to be faithful to practice what I am learning so God can entrust me with more (I am always praying for growth and hoping that I can be a beautiful woman of God someday, but I cannot expect to get to my thousandth step if I haven’t yet taken the second!)

 Did I mention yet that I love this book and am glad God moved me to buy it and that He is helping me be faithful to read it… I love how the writer constantly refers to our flesh as self, because where he says “self” I would be so prone to saying “me”, but that is not the me I want to be, I would much rather be detached from me/my “self” and find Jesus in my loss of life.  (Matthew 6:25)

My husband was blessed to teach on Sunday in main service and was having a hard time thinking his message was too rough, well let me tell ya… it was exactly what I needed to hear!  It was on Genesis chapter 12: reviewing Abram’s journey.  From the beginning he disobeyed!  (There’s that word again!  Of coarse this message was for me!)  Here is his disobendiences… 

1.  he was supposed to go from his relatives, but he brought Lot with him!
2. he did not stay where God told him to go because of a famine in the land
3. he lies about Sarai not being his wife

Here are his consiquences…

1. Lot’s daughters slept with him and had sons: Moab and Ben-ammi (both the Moabites and Ammonites came from these sons, enemies of the sons of Israel)
2. He picked up maidservants in Egypt where he ran to, also picking up Hagar who bears his first son… this effects the present day war in the middle east.
3. Pharaoh gets angry and kicks him out of Egypt making him a bad witness of God’s name.

Why the disobedience?  Loneliness, depression, fear worry… sounds like a snow ball effect of sin to me. 

Remedy… STOP!  recognize it as sin, look at it, let God show you how disgusting it is, repent, be diligent.         

1 Samuel 15:22 (my notes) it is better to obey than to sacrifice… verse 23: rebellion is as witchcraft to the Lord.

 Jude 24-25 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”         

A-men! Now know that you are all loved by our Lord and I am happy to see you here again. Good Night.

Scrappin’ Sunday

Hey!  I am actually joining this Sunday!  I didn’t really get a lot done to share, and I didn’t get my to-dos done from 3 weeks ago, but with all that I am tackling lately I am still happy.

My TA-DAs are a small altered pail for my friend’s baby shower, and a slightly altered (already cute to start with) prayer journal.    

 The pics of my paint can are a little different this time because I actually forgot to take them, so my friend took them for me, what do ya think?  F.Y.I.  If you like the distressed look on the papers I will be sharing a step by step tutorial sometime this week :o)

This is the notebook or prayer journal my friend and Bible Study leader gave me for our new Beth Moore Study Breaking Free.  She bought such a cute one too start with that I couldn’t resist finding more ribbon (that I already own) and tying it to the spiral binding!  

PS.  This notebook is made by u:create and was designed by Jacqueline Savage McFee!    

Looksie here….

My TO-DOs would be to clean up my scrap space and enter orders with S.E.I., Close to My Heart, Rogers and Stampendous for National SB Day… losts of work for me at home with my 3 little ones!

  Which brings me to This week’s Bonus Question: What inspires you to sit down and craft?  My answer would have to be the fact that I am usually doing it for someone else.  (Hence the Scrapping Servant :o)  I own my own Business Scrapping for others and like to make gifts on the side for friends and family.  I especially like to think that my scrapbooks are made knowing that my children will cherish them someday.  

REMEMBER:  A part of my Scrapping Servant-hood this week will be to share a tutorial on distressing paper in 4 different ways!  Don’t miss it.

Then Sings my Soul Saturdays March 29, 2008

I love this new Meme, and know that the song I am sharing this week is probably a very popular one as far as it touching peoples hearts… I just can’t help but share it though in my current (and hopefully forever) state of surrender to the Lord.  The song is Dive by Steven Curtis Chapman.  I remember this song touching my heart in high school as a new believer and it still has the same affect one me as long as I am faithfully walking with my Lord Jesus.  AWESOME!

Here’s the lyrics:

the long awaited rains have fallen hard upon the thirsty ground and carved their way to where the wild and rushing river can be found and like the rains i have been carried here to where the river flows yeah my heart is racing and my knees are weak as i walk to the edge i know there is no turning back once my feet have left the ledge and in the rush i hear a voice that’s telling me it’s time to take the leap of faith so here i go  

i’m diving in i’m going deep in over my head i want to be caught in the rush lost in the flow in over my head i want to go the river’s deep the river’s wide the river’s water is alive so sink or swim i’m diving in

there is a supernatural power in this mighty river’s flow it can bring the dead to life and it can fill an empty soul and give a heart the only thing worth living and worth dying for yeah but we will never know the awesome power of the grace of god until we let ourselves get swept away into this holy flood so if you’ll take my hand we’ll close our eyes and count to three and take the leap of faith come on let’s go  

:o) Will you come with me? :o) 

And the winner is… March 28, 2008

…Bitsy from Bloggin Bits… Congratulations my friend… Enjoy your Altered Paint Can…

We could have lost him today! March 24, 2008

May we never take God’s grace for granted!

Tonight my son ran out into the street in front of our house.  This street has VERY busy traffic, and it was already dark.  I had the front door open with a baby gate up because it was hot in my house and we do not have a screen door.  My son pulled on the top right side of the gate just enough to sneak out quietly without the gate looking tampered with, I was on the phone, on my computer and burping my 2 month old, and my husband was playing with my brother while my daughter was with my sister in law.

It didn’t take us too long to all ask where he was, my husband was about to get him ready for bed.  I quickly ran outside not seeing him, he wasn’t coming when I called so I ran back in to see if anyone else found him.  I ran back outside to find three neighbors on the left telling me with a heavy accent “the baby is over there”, so I ran to my right about 4 houses down to a women who had my son in her arms in a blanket.     

I was crying as I hugged this woman and my son thanking her and the Lord.  I took him from her and sat down with him crying while my husband came behind me.  This women and her husband where in their car that they had to stop to not hit him, they got out and went to the closest neighbor who also came out of her house not knowing who my son was… they called the cops because they did not know who he belonged to!  

 So I am sitting there praising God for my son while my husband explains this all to the cops!  Our God is good is He not?!  A child, not even two, in the dark, on a busy street… and NO ONE hit him!!!!  PRAISE BE TO GOD!!!!  THANK YOU LORD FOR WATCHING OUT FOR MY BABY!  

My Walk Monday #3

Hello everyone that is visiting for My Walk Monday, Welcome!

 I want to encourage you all to visit the other’s participating here.  Please encourage them in some way in what they shared.  I know it may be hard to read what everyone wrote, but be encouraged as I am today knowing that the longer the post the more time that person probably spent in devotion time with the Lord!  Praise be to God!  Let us effectively practice in sharpening one another!              

For the past two weeks I have been faithfully reading the book I felt impressed upon my heart to buy at the ladies retreat I went to recently… I have been learning a lot, here is my list… (When I read books I write things that stick-out in a separate journal so I have it all in one place to pray over it and let it sink in better.)

* If I want to die to my self I must willingly suffer.                     

*  God is jealous for my attention and wants what I am most reluctant to give up (what I lean on more than Him).  If I am not willing to give it willingly He might take it in love to teach me… do I want this?

 * He removes the human help to supply us with Himself (this is hard but I want Him to be first).                     

* We receive according to our faith, either much or little (I have been praying for a new home), this was encouraging.

 * I need to be careful regarding my resistance to the Holy Spirit.  I need to stop refusing to drink when I am brought straight to the fountain.                     

* I need to receive poor circumstances with an enduring trust in the love of my Lord ie. my recent birth experience.

 * I need to recognize when I turn good circumstances bad with the attachment to my love of self.                    

* I want to be fixed, but that is not what I need… I need to be slain!  I need to stop looking to be changed automatically and let brokenness come.  Only that which is first broken can be fixed.  (Heavy I know)

 * In my walk I need to stop focusing on living and being kept alive…  Instead I need to let death come.                    

* I need to recognize when I am not willing to conform to God’s plan and change when I do.

 * The trials I go through and the strength He gives me come in the same measurements (always enough).                    

* Despair at our imperfections is a greater obstacle than the imperfection itself.  (Read that again)

 * I need to concentrate more on Jesus…                    

 * If I focus on the things He so wonderfully gives me, I am still focusing partially on me.

 * God wants me to LET GO so I can be free to walk closer to Him (He wants me!  This was also something strongly impressed upon me at the Ladies Retreat).                   

* Faith will help me joyfully accept what God has permitted.  (Where does faith come from?  Rom. 10:17)

 (These next two go hand in hand as they where really heavy on my heart last Thursday because on Tuesday and Wednesday I was really close to panic attacks and partial pity parties!  I felt so attacked and lied to by the enemy!)              

* I need not be concerned with how I look or what others will think, I just need to focus on doing God’s will for my life.

 * “One quiet moment in the presence of God will more than repay you every bit of slander that will ever be leveled against you.”  (Even by the enemy)             

 * I need to welcome hardship with friends as the hand of God helping me to grow.  

* Either fully surrendered, calm, peaceful and effective or selfish, afriad, angry exhausted and distrated???               

 * I need to stop continually talking about my problems and just hand them over to God.  

* I need to rest knowing that God permits the actions of those that hurt me, and be obedient, quite and gentle no matter how hard it may be.               

 * I must determine to only hope in God.  

* I need to humble myself and submit under His hand, and become submissive and manageable as soon as I notice resistance or disobedience within.               

 Week 3 Bonus Question: What Bible studies or books of the Bible are you currently going through?  And how do you feel about it/them?  

My Answer: I am going through Beth Moore’s ’Breaking Free‘ with the women’s Bible study at my church.  It just started last Thursday so I haven’t done any of the homework yet, but I am really VERY excited.  I now that God is going to do a work if I am faithful to not jump off the potter’s wheel (Isa. 64:8 :o)  Just the DVD introduction last week was awesome… here is some of what I already learned…           

• Victory always begins with a cry for help.
• Am I more frightened of the Holy Spirit working than I am of the enemy?
• God wants victory in our lives to be the rule, not the exception.
• God wants me to know what went wrong so I can learn… that is is why He doesn’t just fix me.
• Our prison doors are locked from the inside!!!!

(Need I say more on how exciting this study could be!?)  WOW!  I am also learning a lot out of James (that I also write separately in a journal), and I figured I would share that all once I am done with the last chapter.

Just another thought.  I will probably add the things I want to share on my Monday post throughout the week from now on, so it’s not all late on Sunday night :o)  If you want to do the same just start a post after your devotions on Monday morning and save it as a draft adding to it each morning till Monday.  See you around my wonderful family in Christ.

Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.  Eph 6:10 

Happy Easter March 23, 2008

• E - early one morning
• A - a long time ago
• S - some faithful women
• T - to Jesus tomb did go
• E - empty they found it
• R - risen was He, risen for you and for me

 My Pastor shared that this morning in service… I loved it, and this true story about a wonderful eight year old boy… 

It was obvious that eight-year-old Stephen’s mental retardation was becoming even more severe. His Sunday school teacher did her best to include Stephen in the classroom activities and to avoid situations which might prompt his classmates to make fun of him. In April, she gave each of the eight children in the class an empty L’eggs panty hose container (plastic egg) and instructed them to place inside the container an object that represented new life in spring. Fearing that Stephen might not have caught on, and not wanting to embarrass him, the teacher had the children place the containers on the desk so that she could open them.      

The first had a tiny flower in it, “What a lovely sign of new life,” said the teacher. One of the studentscouldn’t help but erupt, “Ibrought that one!” Next came a rock. The teacher assumed that this must beStephen’s, since rocks don’t symbolize new life. But Billy shouted that his rock had moss on it, and mossrepresented new life. “Very good Billy,” agreed the teacher.    

A butterfly flew from the third container and another child bragged that her choice was the best of all.  The forth container was empty. This must be Stephen’s, thought the teacher, quickly reaching for a different one.  

“Teacher, please don’t skip mine,” interrupted Stephen. “But it’s empty, Stephen.” said the teacher gently.  ”That’s right,” said Stephen. “The tomb was empty, and that represents new life for everyone.”    

Later that summer, Stephen’s condition worsened and he died. At his funeral on his casket, mourners found eight L’eggs pantyhose containers, all of them empty.  

This true story of Stephen reminds us of the hope we all have because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).    

Take the time this Easter and truly celebrate the empty tomb and the promise of new life that Jesus promises all of us.  

Thursday’s Thing March 20, 2008

 This week’s thing is a Pioneer Album.

 But this week’s thing is also not happy.             

I would not suggest buying any of their albums.

I have had too many bad experiences… (view photo below)      

Do the photos speak for themselves? …I know… can you believe this album was trying to fall apart not long after I got it in 2001.  So I attempted to re-enforce the screw tops by putting washers around the posts (which was actually a good idea because now you see good albums coming with washers around the posts), it worked for a while as long as I didn’t handle the album pretty much at all.  This happened the day I decided to actually look at the album to find a layout to scan and share in my 7 things post.  I also have one other Pioneer album holding on for dear life… and my SIL has had EVERY ONE of her Pioneer albums fall apart on her, she is still in the process of replacing them!  Please learn for our mistakes :o)  You get what you pay for.

Check back next week and I will share some of my favorite album companies… :o) 

Today is my Hubby’s Birthday! March 19, 2008

When he asked our older daughter (age 3) how old she thought he was she said he was “too, tall, big”  LOL!  I guess I would say that too if I was her size with a daddy that is 6 foot 3.  I love you hunny, I hope you have a happy too, tall, bigith birthday :o).  Ps. Nice hat!

Wordless Wednesday

My little girl was two months old two days ago, and I caught her sleepy smile on camera.