Our Best Investment
July 12
Blessed are those who ...seek Him with the whole heart.
Psalm 119:2
"Showing up at church once a week and saying a hearty Amen is a lot easier then engaging in a life of daily prayer."
Eugene Peterson
July 13
Do not worry about tomorrow.
Matthew 6:34
"Worrying is paying interest on trouble that may never come due!"
Richard De Haan
A Week Long Tale: God has taken me on a faith journey this week that began with a proposal and when followed through was full of his purposes, his presence, and his promises. When we live aware of these "p"s we become amazed at the possibilities.
The verses God has given us this morning speak so clearly to me in relation to what I learned this week. The proposal came several months ago, when an NFL assistant football coach (who had coached where one of our sons had been on a college team and knew our son lived on Smith Mt. Lake) called to ask where he and some friends might be able to rent a place on the Lake. At that time there were 13 people coming. My husband, having coached at the HS and MS level for years was very excited and said, "Why don't we have them here?" I said, "Sure." Over the next month the numbers grew and the final count was thirteen adults and twenty-two incredible children between the ages of one and fourteen. I wish I had taken time to journal everyday for God was at work at a level I have never experienced before. The week long experience would have made an amazing movie.
The husbands of these families were friends of this coach from various stages of his life...childhood, pro ball, and one of his churches along the way. Many of these people did not know one another, but had a deep love for the coach and his family. Now remember we had never met any of these people! The night before they arrived I looked at my husband and said, "What if we don't like them and we have committed to the whole week?"
We had scheduled special activities for the children such as tubing, banana boating, arts and crafts, fishing lessons, sugar cookie baking, treasure hunts, and a horse racing game. Moses, our bull dog followed behind them eating who knows what all week! Nightly we would set up for a huge dinner the couples took turns preparing and nightly the thunder or hail storms would blow in and we would have to move all the tables from the patio.
One of the dinners was prepared by two of the dads. They had shopped diligently for fresh ingredients from home grown veggies, basil, tarragon, to fresh dairy cream and ice cream. The food was amazing. While everyone was delighting in the delectable spread before them, out of the corner of my eye, I caught this two men over by the buffet table embracing. They had followed the Biblical teaching of two combining their efforts to lighten the load and their joy was great. (Those of us eating were pretty happy ourselves!)
In addition to the normal lake vacation activities I agreed to do a daily Bible Study with the children. I chose a devotional series on animals and lessons we can learn from them about friendship. (More to come in a bit.)
The power of prayer is what I think had the biggest punch for us all. No sooner had one couple arrived from Chicago than the mother had a serious asthma attack. I was inside and my husband came and got me and said, "You need to get out there and pray, there is a problem."
Rushing outside to this woman who could not get her breathe, I laid hands upon her and cried out to the Lord for help. When I prayed about how much God loved her and how He knew everything about her, the attack subsided.
One evening we made a giant prayer chain that contains two prayer requests from each of the thirty-five people! Watching these families come together and do this was amazing. We will pray over that chain here at our home for the rest of the summer! The mothers went on daily prayer walks with me and learned ABC prayers. I don't think we made it past the letter "H".
Twice we had missing items...a wallet and a toy that belonged to one of my children. Not until we stopped and prayed for God to help us find these things were they recovered. The answered prayer was exciting to the children. Daily I had the opportunity to pray with hurting mothers and children. The bond that is created through doing that is a "God thing".
God took the lessons we were learning from the devotions and put them into action. The biggest for me was a story about pigs and how unjustly we have judged them. The truth is pigs are smart, clean and friendly yet people tell stories making reference to them being dirty, lazy and stupid.
The verse was Luke 6:37...Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. Stop criticizing others, or it will all come back on you. If you forgive others, you will be forgiven.
One of our guests was a very spirited, gorgeous, five year old boy with a strong will. Nine of the other boys were much older and the girls his age had their own agendas, so he was kind of left out and exhibited frustrations over this fact. He and I came to blows one day (I have a three strikes and your out policy..but had given him four because he is so cute). What became very clear was that whenever something went wrong, both children and adults immediately accused this child. When the wallet went missing, although he was out on a boat, he was unanimously decided the culprit...NOT. The wallet belong to a precious little girl who had left it in her mother's room. My heart ached for the mother that heard everyone turning on her son...it made me think of Mary and Jesus. We all learned a powerful lesson that night and as parents we reflected on the power of words and how what we speak over our children is what they can become.
The other big lesson that came from this is how God works things for good. The young girl who had lost her wallet was overcome with guilt as she realized the false accusations she had stirred up. I took her in my arms and talked to her about how clear the Bible is that we will all suffer trials. I told her God must known how much she loved him and that He could use her and her missing wallet to teach us all the lesson on judging others. We talked about how young, teenage, Mary must have felt when she was pregnant and not married. God saw a faith in her, that He knew he could use. We talked about being joyful always and she put a big smile on her face and dried her tears. This is the sort of thing God was up to continually.
The biggest lesson for me came one day when I was beginning to stress a bit about the wear and tear on the house and thinking this probably wasn't a wise decision. I told the Lord..."This house is our biggest investment, our worth is in it and we need to take care of it." God quickly gave me the wrong answer buzzer...NOT. "Your worth, my child, is in Christ Jesus and your biggest investment is the time you spend in the Word and serving me." Whew back to the verses for today...seeking Him with our whole hearts and not worrying about tomorrow. Rather timely huh?
Yesterday, I sobbed as these children and parents embraced me and told me they loved me and had learned so much this week. The night before my heart was overwhelmed as I looked out over them and thought about the plans God has for them and the possibilities that lay ahead for His kingdom with all these workers! I didn't want to see them go...they won't be far away though for I am carrying each of them in my heart.
If God is leading you somewhere out of your comfort zone today, hang on and go with him...it may be a great adventure with a treasure chests of blessings at the end!
My life is certainly all the richer for this past week.
Love, Boo
Blessed are those who ...seek Him with the whole heart.
Psalm 119:2
"Showing up at church once a week and saying a hearty Amen is a lot easier then engaging in a life of daily prayer."
Eugene Peterson
July 13
Do not worry about tomorrow.
Matthew 6:34
"Worrying is paying interest on trouble that may never come due!"
Richard De Haan
A Week Long Tale: God has taken me on a faith journey this week that began with a proposal and when followed through was full of his purposes, his presence, and his promises. When we live aware of these "p"s we become amazed at the possibilities.
The verses God has given us this morning speak so clearly to me in relation to what I learned this week. The proposal came several months ago, when an NFL assistant football coach (who had coached where one of our sons had been on a college team and knew our son lived on Smith Mt. Lake) called to ask where he and some friends might be able to rent a place on the Lake. At that time there were 13 people coming. My husband, having coached at the HS and MS level for years was very excited and said, "Why don't we have them here?" I said, "Sure." Over the next month the numbers grew and the final count was thirteen adults and twenty-two incredible children between the ages of one and fourteen. I wish I had taken time to journal everyday for God was at work at a level I have never experienced before. The week long experience would have made an amazing movie.
The husbands of these families were friends of this coach from various stages of his life...childhood, pro ball, and one of his churches along the way. Many of these people did not know one another, but had a deep love for the coach and his family. Now remember we had never met any of these people! The night before they arrived I looked at my husband and said, "What if we don't like them and we have committed to the whole week?"
We had scheduled special activities for the children such as tubing, banana boating, arts and crafts, fishing lessons, sugar cookie baking, treasure hunts, and a horse racing game. Moses, our bull dog followed behind them eating who knows what all week! Nightly we would set up for a huge dinner the couples took turns preparing and nightly the thunder or hail storms would blow in and we would have to move all the tables from the patio.
One of the dinners was prepared by two of the dads. They had shopped diligently for fresh ingredients from home grown veggies, basil, tarragon, to fresh dairy cream and ice cream. The food was amazing. While everyone was delighting in the delectable spread before them, out of the corner of my eye, I caught this two men over by the buffet table embracing. They had followed the Biblical teaching of two combining their efforts to lighten the load and their joy was great. (Those of us eating were pretty happy ourselves!)
In addition to the normal lake vacation activities I agreed to do a daily Bible Study with the children. I chose a devotional series on animals and lessons we can learn from them about friendship. (More to come in a bit.)
The power of prayer is what I think had the biggest punch for us all. No sooner had one couple arrived from Chicago than the mother had a serious asthma attack. I was inside and my husband came and got me and said, "You need to get out there and pray, there is a problem."
Rushing outside to this woman who could not get her breathe, I laid hands upon her and cried out to the Lord for help. When I prayed about how much God loved her and how He knew everything about her, the attack subsided.
One evening we made a giant prayer chain that contains two prayer requests from each of the thirty-five people! Watching these families come together and do this was amazing. We will pray over that chain here at our home for the rest of the summer! The mothers went on daily prayer walks with me and learned ABC prayers. I don't think we made it past the letter "H".
Twice we had missing items...a wallet and a toy that belonged to one of my children. Not until we stopped and prayed for God to help us find these things were they recovered. The answered prayer was exciting to the children. Daily I had the opportunity to pray with hurting mothers and children. The bond that is created through doing that is a "God thing".
God took the lessons we were learning from the devotions and put them into action. The biggest for me was a story about pigs and how unjustly we have judged them. The truth is pigs are smart, clean and friendly yet people tell stories making reference to them being dirty, lazy and stupid.
The verse was Luke 6:37...Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. Stop criticizing others, or it will all come back on you. If you forgive others, you will be forgiven.
One of our guests was a very spirited, gorgeous, five year old boy with a strong will. Nine of the other boys were much older and the girls his age had their own agendas, so he was kind of left out and exhibited frustrations over this fact. He and I came to blows one day (I have a three strikes and your out policy..but had given him four because he is so cute). What became very clear was that whenever something went wrong, both children and adults immediately accused this child. When the wallet went missing, although he was out on a boat, he was unanimously decided the culprit...NOT. The wallet belong to a precious little girl who had left it in her mother's room. My heart ached for the mother that heard everyone turning on her son...it made me think of Mary and Jesus. We all learned a powerful lesson that night and as parents we reflected on the power of words and how what we speak over our children is what they can become.
The other big lesson that came from this is how God works things for good. The young girl who had lost her wallet was overcome with guilt as she realized the false accusations she had stirred up. I took her in my arms and talked to her about how clear the Bible is that we will all suffer trials. I told her God must known how much she loved him and that He could use her and her missing wallet to teach us all the lesson on judging others. We talked about how young, teenage, Mary must have felt when she was pregnant and not married. God saw a faith in her, that He knew he could use. We talked about being joyful always and she put a big smile on her face and dried her tears. This is the sort of thing God was up to continually.
The biggest lesson for me came one day when I was beginning to stress a bit about the wear and tear on the house and thinking this probably wasn't a wise decision. I told the Lord..."This house is our biggest investment, our worth is in it and we need to take care of it." God quickly gave me the wrong answer buzzer...NOT. "Your worth, my child, is in Christ Jesus and your biggest investment is the time you spend in the Word and serving me." Whew back to the verses for today...seeking Him with our whole hearts and not worrying about tomorrow. Rather timely huh?
Yesterday, I sobbed as these children and parents embraced me and told me they loved me and had learned so much this week. The night before my heart was overwhelmed as I looked out over them and thought about the plans God has for them and the possibilities that lay ahead for His kingdom with all these workers! I didn't want to see them go...they won't be far away though for I am carrying each of them in my heart.
If God is leading you somewhere out of your comfort zone today, hang on and go with him...it may be a great adventure with a treasure chests of blessings at the end!
My life is certainly all the richer for this past week.
Love, Boo
