Changed By Love

Worshipful Wednesday

Mar.7,2012

My Blogging Buddy, Carolee, had this brilliant idea to do a meme called “Worshipful Wednesday”. Now that’s a meme I can get excited about. So I went to YouTube and listened to some IHOP worship songs and found this one which happens to go along with the theme of Jesus being risen and alive. Perfect for this Lenten season and celebration of Jesus! It’s by Laura Hackett, one of my favorite worship leaders at IHOP-KC.

[INTRO]
Jesus You’re alive and if You’re alive then sin has been conquered
If You’re alive then death has been conquered

The second Adam who came and gave life to men
The first Adam, our father, he led us into sin
But the second Adam he leads un into life, he leads us into life.

Oh Jesus I hear You say: live, live, live I hear Him speaking over you,
Live, live, live
Those places in your heart, when you feel lonely, when you feel confused,
those cycles of sin you slip into, I hear the Lord prophesy over you,
Live — You will live and not die — your heart will be alive in Jesus
Can we just say Yes to Jesus — we say Yes to You
We want to be alive with You

Just speak this together — I hear the Lord say, live — He says live, live, live

I hear the Lord say live, live, live — live, live, live – come alive, come alive, come alive
Prophesy over our own selves — prophesy over our own hearts

[SONG]
For there is no power in heaven or hell that can keep from the love of the Father on His throne — The chains of sin can’t hold me down — even death itself can’t keep me in the ground

Death where is your sting — death where is your victory
He’s alive, He’s alive, He is risen

My God’s not dead He’s surely alive — He’s living on the inside roaring like a lion

He’s alive, now I’m alive (3X) — I will never die

IHOP Fascinate 2011 High School Conf.
Kansas City Convention Center, July 14, 2011

I Want Easter to Be Even Better Than Christmas!

Mar.7,2012

A few years ago I caught the vision of making Easter even more special than Christmas. After all, Jesus’ death and resurrection is the highlight and culmination of everything that Christianity is about. Why should we get all excited about Jesus’ birth and entrance into this world as a little baby and then yawn about the fulfillment of His life’s mission and purpose, not to mention what that sacrifice and offering accomplished for us?

Since that time, I have attempted to make Easter extra special for my family. I bought new Bibles for each child the first year. I got versions for them that would make it easier for each of them to read the Bible themselves. Since then, I have alternated between getting new Bibles, getting Veggie Tales dvd’s, other Christian dvd’s, anything that comes to my attention (by the Spirit’s leading) that seems like it would go along with the message of the life of Christ and His death and resurrection. I put candy in their Easter baskets, too. They get very excited about Easter now.

We make resurrection rolls. We color Easter eggs for fun and have an egg hunt for the little ones. We don’t study the meaning of the word “Easter”. We don’t worship a goddess of fertility. We don’t really even talk much about eggs symbolizing new life. We just have fun and mention many times during the day how thankful we are for Jesus and what He did for us on the cross. The older kids watch “The Passion”. Last year, I had them watch “The Nativity Story” for Easter! Anything about His life story is important when we are celebrating Jesus. And that is what Easter means to us. We celebrate Jesus!

I wrote a very candid post about last Easter if you’re interested in some of the activities we usually do to try to make Easter memorable and Christ-focused. Sometimes I try a little too hard. Or have higher expectations than I should. Or try to do things in my own strength and understanding. You’ll see all of those things in that post. But when I’m weak He is strong.

I hope that this encourages you to focus on Jesus during this spring and Easter season.

We are lightly observing the season of Lent this year. We are not Catholic, but we do believe in fasting and self-examination and preparing our hearts for celebrating Jesus’ life and death.

So I’m incorporating some things that have struck my fancy this year as a way to prepare the hearts of my younger children and get their focus off of the candy and onto the real meaning of Easter – the death and resurrection of Jesus. I wrote about them in this post.

I found out how the early church intended Lent to be observed and why here at this site.

One thing that I really liked was the list of questions we should ask ourselves during this period of self-examination leading up to Easter.

Here it is:

Am I sharing gladly what I have with others, especially the stranger and the poor?
Do I have a gracious and patient attitude with others, especially those who irritate me?
Is it time for a change or a growth in my Bible study and the way I view my faith?
What are the lurking problems, which still plague me?
Am I as thoughtful and forgiving of family as others, or do I take my frustrations out on them?
Do I speak up for the maligned and oppressed, or do I remain silent in order to remain popular?

I thought these were very pertinent questions that would help us to get back on track if we’ve veered off and become self-focused or world-focused instead of Christ-focused. Our relationships are so important. And meditating on these thoughts and keeping them in mind should help us to improve and strengthen our relationships with God and with others.

How Little Boy Blue Crosses the Street

Mar.5,2012

Garrett was all dressed in blue trying to take pictures of bluebirds with his new blue camera. By the time he came outside the bluebirds had all flown away, but then he decided to take pictures of our house. I gave him permission to cross the street so he could get the whole house in the shot. He marched across in such a funny way that I decided to start filming him. I was rewarded with a repeat performance of Garrett’s grand way of marching across the street. Notice how he looked both ways before he crossed, too. Very nicely done.

Preparing Preschoolers’ Hearts for Resurrection Sunday

Mar.5,2012

Here’s a fun idea for Lent.

If you have preschoolers (or kids a little older) and you want to help them prepare their hearts for Easter, you can read The Jesus Storybook Bible to them for the 40 days before Easter (Lent) and end up at the Easter Story at just the right time. You can read one story each day and end up on Day 40 at the story of The Resurrection on the day before Easter. Then there are 4 more stories in the book for follow-up.

The Jesus Storybook Bible is a wonderful retelling of the whole Bible that whispers the name of Jesus in every story. It portrays Him as the One who rescues us from sin, which is really what He did!

So, if you want to give your kids an overview of the Bible in 44 days, you can do it during this Lenten season. Or whenever you choose to read through this charming story Bible.

I have seen people recommend this book even for adults to get a good overview of the Bible, because it is so well-written!

And to make it even more wonderful, they now offer a deluxe edition which includes a CD with narration by David Suchet. I already owned 2 copies of The Jesus Storybook Bible, but upon the recommendation of a friend, I bought the deluxe edition, too, so that I would have the CD. I am so glad I did! Listening to David Suchet read it is like watching a movie. He is an excellent narrator. I enjoy reading aloud to my children, but this CD makes this Bible even better.

Now Garrett and Fiona can follow along in their Bibles, and I can follow along in mine while we listen to it. And when Emma gets a little older, she will already have a copy of this Bible.

I realize that Lent has already been going on for a couple of weeks, but if you want to catch up to Day 12 (we skip Sundays in the counting of Lent), you can read one story in the morning and one in the evening until you catch up. Or just read it at your own pace. Just realize that you can read an overview of the whole Bible in 44 days if you read one story a day, and do what’s right for your family.

From the Catholic Icing blog here

Miracle at the Gym

Mar.5,2012

Patrick, our third child, was born with arthrogryposis. He couldn’t bend his elbows. Fibrous tissue had grown over his elbow joints. He had not bent his arms or moved them much in the womb.

He also had a club foot. The Achilles tendon was really tight so he couldn’t bend his foot up and down.

The first pediatrician I took him to was concerned that he may never be able to walk or stand or feed himself or groom himself or just about anything.

I took him to therapy, and the therapist was not very supportive. She didn’t want my other 2 kids to come to therapy sessions, and she tried to get me to stop nursing him and wanted me to start feeding him solid food before I thought he was ready for it. There were many things that I did not like about taking him to therapy all the time.

We kept praying for his healing from the time he was born. One night I got a word from the Lord through Benny Hinn that “Patrick is going to be fine”. Soon after that the therapist said that she thought he had plateaued and that he wasn’t going to get much more range of motion than he had.

I was fine with that because it meant we could have our lives back. I never took him back for therapy after that. We had 2 surgeries on his club foot when he was less than a year old.

Later we had to get another surgery on his foot because it had started to turn in when he was about 5 years old.

The first surgeries would have taken care of the problem but the arthrogryposis caused his Achilles tendon to be stiffer than it should be, and it caused trouble in the alignment of the bones in his foot.

So we had those medical interventions for him when he was young.

But ever since then he’s just been growing and developing with the Lord’s blessing on his health and His healing touch ever present.

He walks and runs just fine and always has!

The doctors who saw him as a baby would be shocked if they saw him doing this.

He is lifting 205 lbs. here.

He put up 205 lbs. eight times. Shawn was amazed. Then he went and lifted 205, too! He was inspired by Patrick to do more than he thought he could do.