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10 years ago
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Victoria
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A couple of days ago Emma's teacher asked her to share with the class one Thanksgiving tradition that her family had, so she came home and asked me what she should share and that is when I realized we were in trouble. You see, we don't really have any Thanksgiving traditions other than eating lunch with my family and eating dinner with my husbands family (not the most exciting thing to share with your class). It was kind of sad as I began to think about what we did year after year and couldn't really think of a single thing. Finally Emma said she thought of one and I breathed a sigh of relief. "What are you going to say?" I asked. "I am going to tell them that we eat ham" she said. Great! The only thing the poor child could say with confidence that we did every year was eat ham....pitiful! I began to think about the legacy of tradition that we were passing down to our children and realized we have very little in the way of tradition that we do for any holiday. We get so wrapped up in just getting done what we have to do to prepare. Then the actual days are spent in a whirlwind of travel between families, lots of eating and chaos and then the final drop into bed late at night, a quick sigh of relief that we made it another year, and the next day it is time to prepare for the next thing. No family traditions that belong to just our family for our kids to look back and say "we did that every year and it was great" and nothing for the next generation to pass on. I decided at that moment that we were going to have a tradition for each holiday that we celebrate. Something just for our own household to do that our children can look back later and say it was our tradition to do this...
This Thanksgiving we are making a Thanksgiving tree, just a small branch, and everyone gets to write on their paper leaf what they are thankful for and hang it on the tree. Emma wanted to help bake a pumpkin pie, which I have never done before, and Lydia wants to watch a movie with nana and papaw after we eat our Thanksgiving lunch. I will be watching the Macy's parade, which is my own little tradition, while I cook the tradtional lunch meal with the main course already set- ham!
I also have been thinking about what I am thankful for this week. I decided to focus on the little things that I normally take for granted but that I need to remember that God wants us to be thankful for ALL things no matter how small. Here are some of the things I have thought of:
1. The love of my husband! I feel blessed to not only have a good husband but to have a husband who shows me love daily. I love that I still get excited when I know he is coming home and I still look forward to having him here. I am Thankful that he still hugs me, holds my hand while we walk, tells me he loves me everyday, kisses me in front of our children, tells me I look nice, tickles me while I am trying to cook, rubs my shoulders after a long day and always helps take care of the girls. I am also thankful that he spends quality time with us and always puts family time first!
2. My children! I am blessed to have to healthy children who are sweet and thoughtful (most of the time) and who love God and still think that their parents are heros...ha!
3. My parents and extended family.
4. My new home.
5. The ability for me to stay home with my children for another year. God has blessed my time with them and I am so thankful I have not had to miss a single minute! I love being a stay-at-home mother, it is the best job in the whole world. I prayed and prayed for God to let me have children and I am thrilled that He not only gave me two of them but gave them to us at a time when I could spend this time with them. God's timing is truly perfect.
6. Jason's job. Although this year has been stressful and we have had to move away from all we have known God has blessed us tremendously when so many others are struggling- Thank you God!
The list could go on and on but I have to go pick up Lydia from her nana's house so I will stop for now, but please take the time to be Thankful to God this week for all He has blessed you with and don't make your legacy to the future generations be what you eat. Start a new tradition!
" Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever." Psalm 107:1
This Thanksgiving we are making a Thanksgiving tree, just a small branch, and everyone gets to write on their paper leaf what they are thankful for and hang it on the tree. Emma wanted to help bake a pumpkin pie, which I have never done before, and Lydia wants to watch a movie with nana and papaw after we eat our Thanksgiving lunch. I will be watching the Macy's parade, which is my own little tradition, while I cook the tradtional lunch meal with the main course already set- ham!
I also have been thinking about what I am thankful for this week. I decided to focus on the little things that I normally take for granted but that I need to remember that God wants us to be thankful for ALL things no matter how small. Here are some of the things I have thought of:
1. The love of my husband! I feel blessed to not only have a good husband but to have a husband who shows me love daily. I love that I still get excited when I know he is coming home and I still look forward to having him here. I am Thankful that he still hugs me, holds my hand while we walk, tells me he loves me everyday, kisses me in front of our children, tells me I look nice, tickles me while I am trying to cook, rubs my shoulders after a long day and always helps take care of the girls. I am also thankful that he spends quality time with us and always puts family time first!
2. My children! I am blessed to have to healthy children who are sweet and thoughtful (most of the time) and who love God and still think that their parents are heros...ha!
3. My parents and extended family.
4. My new home.
5. The ability for me to stay home with my children for another year. God has blessed my time with them and I am so thankful I have not had to miss a single minute! I love being a stay-at-home mother, it is the best job in the whole world. I prayed and prayed for God to let me have children and I am thrilled that He not only gave me two of them but gave them to us at a time when I could spend this time with them. God's timing is truly perfect.
6. Jason's job. Although this year has been stressful and we have had to move away from all we have known God has blessed us tremendously when so many others are struggling- Thank you God!
The list could go on and on but I have to go pick up Lydia from her nana's house so I will stop for now, but please take the time to be Thankful to God this week for all He has blessed you with and don't make your legacy to the future generations be what you eat. Start a new tradition!
" Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever." Psalm 107:1
Posted by
Victoria
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A couple of weeks ago I attended a revival service entitled "Why don't we get our prayers answered?" and it totally changed the way that I think about prayer and the way that I pray. I went into the service thinking I was pretty much on top of things in my prayer life and in the course of a couple of hours I came to the realization that my prayer life was probably the one aspect of my christian walk that needed the most work. Amazing how God can change our heart so quickly. There were a lot of points that were covered in that sermon but the two that struck me the most were 1. That we give up too soon and 2. We aren't diligent. Prayer takes repetition and patience and I lack both of them when I pray. I also learned that a holy hour is much more effective than a holy five minutes and that my quiet time truly needed to be QUIET! I don't need to be praying, reading, and singing worship songs the whole time. I learned that if I spent more time being quiet that I may quit wondering what God wants from me and I might quit wondering why God isn't answering me and I might actually get to see God work and hear God speak. As I look back now I realize that the one thing that I spent the least time praying about, and the most time complaining about, God was actually working out and I was too impatient and noisy to see or hear it...
When I began to realize we were actually moving I began to pray. I prayed about school for Emma and I prayed for my parents who had never had their only child farther than a few miles from home. I prayed about our new neighbors and friends for my children and I prayed for Jason and his job but the one thing I didn't really focus on was church. I prayed occasionally that God would lead us to a church but I just took control of that one and began to research churches in the area online. I already had my list of prospects. I knew exactly which ones I was going to visit and was positive that I could find one in a short time, after all I live in the bible belt, there is a church on every corner. No problem God I've got this one covered.
The last Sunday we were at Center Grove (our home church) a girl named Julie visited my Life Group and heard me ask prayer for our move. She asked me where I was moving to and I told her. Amazingly she had just moved to the area from the same town I was moving to and so I laughingly asked her what church they went to because I would be looking. She said they had been members at Mt. Vernon and that they loved it and missed it greatly. That was not one on my list but I promised to look it up, which I later did, and determined that while it looked fine it was kind of far from my house and didn't really seem to have the "programs" I was used to so I dismissed it and went on. One week went by and I began to visit the churches on my list. The first one was huge and seemed to be active but the people were not friendly and as I sat there alone ( Jason was working) I began to feel very out of place. No one spoke and when the pastor announced that everyone should shake a hand no one even turned around to me. I didn't know a single song they sang and when it was over I found myself praying on the way home that God would lead us to the right church. Week two came and I visited another large church on my list and while it had a more friendly congregation it was very far from my house and I knew that I would never be able to be involved like I wanted to and the largeness of it made me feel lost in the crowd. I began to pray a little more but I still had some more on my list. Week 3 came and went and I visited yet another one. This time Lydia cryed when I left her and begged to go back to "our" church and I spent most of the sermon in tears as I thought about my home church and missed my family, who I never worshipped without. Week four I prayed like I had never prayed and my mom called that week and said that she had a new member in the choir who was from the area I was living in and she went to a really good church in Boone called Mt. Vernon. Her name was Julie and my mom thought she was so sweet and maybe I should check it out. I looked again but was still hesitant to drive up the mountain in my old car alone with two kids and try it so I passed...again. Week 5 Jason was off and went with me and now I was down to the last church on my list and I just knew this would be the one. I had looked at it online and talked to someone in the office and they were very friendly and positve so I was happy. Jason and I sat through the sermon...not bad, we made it through the welcome of guests... pretty good, we were excited when the childrens minister got up to speak and then as he read his letter of resignation and the church body began to weep and people were angry and hurt I realized that my ability to find us a church home was gone. My list had run out and I had drug my children to a different church every week since we moved here and I began to cry and I decided that it was time for me to listen and let God lead.
My dad called that week and he had just gotten out of an ushers meeting. The new intern at church had led the meeting and talked about his home church, afterward my dad said he asked him what church that was and the intern said Mt. Vernon in Boone. I began to wonder was God answering my prayer and I just wasn't listening? Two days later my mom called and said she had been asking the music minister to pray for us because we couldn't find a church and he asked if we had tried Mt. Vernon. He had heard great things about it but didn't know if we lived near enough to try it out. O.k. God, I hear you now, I think I will try it out. So the next Sunday I packed up the girls, took Jason's more reliable car and the GPS and headed up the mountain to Mt. Vernon. From the minute I walked in the door I felt like I belonged there. The people were welcoming and friendly, the church was very spirit-filled, the girls came out with a smile on their faces and I knew that God had led us to that place. God answers our prayer so much better when we stay out of it.
Since that first week I have experienced a new awakening in my personal walk with God. I was able to attend the revival, which was an awesome experience, and I have joined a Sunday Schoool class and begun the process of making new friends in Christ. The first week Jason went with me he was nervous. Jason is very quiet and he has never gone to any church other than the one he grew up in, but God worked it out. I prayed before we went that Jason would feel as at home there as I did and that he would feel God leading us there also. Within five minutes of arriving, he saw a guy named Patrick from our home church that he grew up with. We didn't even know he attended that church but he has been a member for several years. He was able to talk to Jason and introduce us to the Sunday School class we now attend. I have also seen other people that I know there and just last weekend we were at the fall festival and saw yet another couple from Center Grove whose parents go to Mt. Vernon. We enjoyed talking to them and getting to meet their family. God has truly blessed us and would have been willing to bless us sooner. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble had I just been patient, diligent and QUIET! Prayer is answered and God does speak we just have to ask diligently, be patient and then hush and let Him be God!
"Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act." Psalm 37:7a
When I began to realize we were actually moving I began to pray. I prayed about school for Emma and I prayed for my parents who had never had their only child farther than a few miles from home. I prayed about our new neighbors and friends for my children and I prayed for Jason and his job but the one thing I didn't really focus on was church. I prayed occasionally that God would lead us to a church but I just took control of that one and began to research churches in the area online. I already had my list of prospects. I knew exactly which ones I was going to visit and was positive that I could find one in a short time, after all I live in the bible belt, there is a church on every corner. No problem God I've got this one covered.
The last Sunday we were at Center Grove (our home church) a girl named Julie visited my Life Group and heard me ask prayer for our move. She asked me where I was moving to and I told her. Amazingly she had just moved to the area from the same town I was moving to and so I laughingly asked her what church they went to because I would be looking. She said they had been members at Mt. Vernon and that they loved it and missed it greatly. That was not one on my list but I promised to look it up, which I later did, and determined that while it looked fine it was kind of far from my house and didn't really seem to have the "programs" I was used to so I dismissed it and went on. One week went by and I began to visit the churches on my list. The first one was huge and seemed to be active but the people were not friendly and as I sat there alone ( Jason was working) I began to feel very out of place. No one spoke and when the pastor announced that everyone should shake a hand no one even turned around to me. I didn't know a single song they sang and when it was over I found myself praying on the way home that God would lead us to the right church. Week two came and I visited another large church on my list and while it had a more friendly congregation it was very far from my house and I knew that I would never be able to be involved like I wanted to and the largeness of it made me feel lost in the crowd. I began to pray a little more but I still had some more on my list. Week 3 came and went and I visited yet another one. This time Lydia cryed when I left her and begged to go back to "our" church and I spent most of the sermon in tears as I thought about my home church and missed my family, who I never worshipped without. Week four I prayed like I had never prayed and my mom called that week and said that she had a new member in the choir who was from the area I was living in and she went to a really good church in Boone called Mt. Vernon. Her name was Julie and my mom thought she was so sweet and maybe I should check it out. I looked again but was still hesitant to drive up the mountain in my old car alone with two kids and try it so I passed...again. Week 5 Jason was off and went with me and now I was down to the last church on my list and I just knew this would be the one. I had looked at it online and talked to someone in the office and they were very friendly and positve so I was happy. Jason and I sat through the sermon...not bad, we made it through the welcome of guests... pretty good, we were excited when the childrens minister got up to speak and then as he read his letter of resignation and the church body began to weep and people were angry and hurt I realized that my ability to find us a church home was gone. My list had run out and I had drug my children to a different church every week since we moved here and I began to cry and I decided that it was time for me to listen and let God lead.
My dad called that week and he had just gotten out of an ushers meeting. The new intern at church had led the meeting and talked about his home church, afterward my dad said he asked him what church that was and the intern said Mt. Vernon in Boone. I began to wonder was God answering my prayer and I just wasn't listening? Two days later my mom called and said she had been asking the music minister to pray for us because we couldn't find a church and he asked if we had tried Mt. Vernon. He had heard great things about it but didn't know if we lived near enough to try it out. O.k. God, I hear you now, I think I will try it out. So the next Sunday I packed up the girls, took Jason's more reliable car and the GPS and headed up the mountain to Mt. Vernon. From the minute I walked in the door I felt like I belonged there. The people were welcoming and friendly, the church was very spirit-filled, the girls came out with a smile on their faces and I knew that God had led us to that place. God answers our prayer so much better when we stay out of it.
Since that first week I have experienced a new awakening in my personal walk with God. I was able to attend the revival, which was an awesome experience, and I have joined a Sunday Schoool class and begun the process of making new friends in Christ. The first week Jason went with me he was nervous. Jason is very quiet and he has never gone to any church other than the one he grew up in, but God worked it out. I prayed before we went that Jason would feel as at home there as I did and that he would feel God leading us there also. Within five minutes of arriving, he saw a guy named Patrick from our home church that he grew up with. We didn't even know he attended that church but he has been a member for several years. He was able to talk to Jason and introduce us to the Sunday School class we now attend. I have also seen other people that I know there and just last weekend we were at the fall festival and saw yet another couple from Center Grove whose parents go to Mt. Vernon. We enjoyed talking to them and getting to meet their family. God has truly blessed us and would have been willing to bless us sooner. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble had I just been patient, diligent and QUIET! Prayer is answered and God does speak we just have to ask diligently, be patient and then hush and let Him be God!
"Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act." Psalm 37:7a
