My Cup Runneth Over

This has been an amazing week of revival.

I will not lie, the first 2 preachers we had for Sunday evening, Monday and Tuesday were great story tellers.

They made everyone laugh and we had a great time with some Bible thrown in there.

Maybe my heart just wasn't right with the Lord, I don't know, but the preaching did not speak to my heart.

Last night, we heard God's Word preached through Bro. Guy Roberts.

*You can read a slight testimony on His Precious Gems and scroll down to the post from April 17, 2008.

I knew when he mentioned that tonight's message would be on prayer from Matt. 6, I knew that I would have sore toes tonight.

Boy, was I right.  He stepped on my toes and kicked me in the shins, so to speak.

I needed tonight's message not just on prayer, but coming clean before the Lord.  I will have to add the link to the sermon on here after it is put up on the church website.

It was the kind of message that brought me to my knees, crying to the Lord at the alter. 

It was exactly what I needed, especially with the rough week(s) I have experienced lately.

I really didn't mean to say all that.  My purpose for this post is to brag on my oldest daughter and the youth at our church.

Something amazing happened in many lives last August at youth conference that is continuing still today.

I am amazed at how God has worked in the lives of these teenagers.

Tonight, the teens did everything except the preaching.  Dustin led the music, Mark prayed the opening prayer, J.D. prayed for the offering while the boys took up the offering, Rebecca played for the offering, Mr. Dave had the opening, the girls and the boys both sang wonderfully, and Daniel ended the service in prayer.  Sorry, I probably left someone out, but they'll never see this.

Rebecca played Holy, Holy, Holy for offering.

The Lillies of the Valley singing group

A great group of young ladies serving the Lord with their voices.

*It was Thursday when I started typing so I'm listing it under the Thoughtful Thursday Label even though it's well after midnight- and my bedtime! 

I have so much to be thankful for!

An Unequal Balance

"There just isn't enough hours in the day."

How many times have we heard this saying?  How many times have we thought or said this ourselves?
I feel quite convicted when I say or think this.  God has given me 24 hours in a day and it's up to me to use them wisely.  That is where the problem lays, for myself anyways. 
If I'm feeling like my walk with the Lord is slipping, I spend hours studying God's Word, looking through every Christian- Bible based book I have, sometimes researching certain topics online.  If I want my children to get the 100% top-notch education that they deserve, then I am spending much of my time researching and preparing on top of the time I am spending teaching them.  If I want a clean home, I neglect schooling and spent every waking hour running up and down the stairs, sweeping, mopping, dusting, folding, and picking up.  If I want to have a social life, my husband feels neglected because I am asking him to stay with the girls on the few evenings that he is actually home when we could be together as a family.
On top of all that, I just want to read.  Actually, I'd prefer to be laying in a lounge chair or hammock in 87* weather somewhere tropical while reading, if I were to get technical. 
I love to read anything Christian fiction- except mystery.  I hadn't read much of anything the past 2 years while trying to stay on top of pleasing the Lord, my husband and my family.  This summer, my sister passed down a book that I devoured.  It really wasn't the best book, a little predictable to say the least, but it served it's purpose.  After that I went to the library and found a book myself.  Since then, I can't stop reading.  The crazy thing is, all I am reading is Amish fiction.  I really don't know what my fascination is with the Amish. 
I love their simplistic lifestyles, not that I would ever want to go without today's modern technology, I love how their life is centered around God (although not from a salvation through grace standpoint), family and working hard.  That is my personal goal!  The result in all this reading has left us with no time for tv.  Other than a few shows like Andy Griffith, I Love Lucy, or Leave it to Beaver, there really isn't anything on tv worth watching. 
I left Emily home with her daddy one evening earlier this week and came home to her watching a movie.  I exploded- literally.  I handled it completely wrong, but I got my point across to both her and Jay-- TV BAD.  Never mind the fact that they had spent a chunk of the time I was gone playing a board game, I was upset that it was almost 9 pm and she needed a shower and to clean her room. 
I think all this goes along with the book Emily is appropriately reading The Great TV Turnoff by Beverly Lewis. 
So why do I feel like there isn't enough time in the day to get everything accomplished?  Because I want to neglect it all and READ!  Just thinking of a week in November when we are on a cruise ship sailing to the Western Caribbean, reading a good book on my private balcony with the sound of waves and smell of salt water is making me giddy.
Ach, back to reality. I must get back to the things at hand which at this moment is 7th and 4th grade grammar.