Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Faith like a child.....

Miss me? I know I know, I haven't been around much. I just haven't felt inspired lately. Mikayla has been BUSY, and I have been TIRED! Yes, it's an excuse, but its a good one.

We have been staying at my mom's house this week (Jason is at a conference in Orlando, so it was the perfect opportunity to hang with my mom and dad!) and Mikayla has made it her personal mission to see how many times she can go up and down the stairs in a day. Lets just say she is dedicated to this mission of hers. And I am not talking the typical "crawl up the stairs and scoot down them" that normal toddlers do, she walks up and down them using the rail....like and adult. She has mastered stair climbing. She has taken a couple tumbles, but she has learned.

But, I have noticed that when I walk beside her and hold her hand to go down the stairs, she basically ignores all she knows about going down the stairs, and fully submits to the fact that I am there to help her. She doesn't cautiously take the steps, she flys down them. She doesn't do this if I am not there holding her hand, but when I am, she is totally content in me being there to catch her if she falls.

I think up until this point I thought that "having faith like a child" meant to have a full reliance on God, like an infant has full reliance on his/her parents, because they don't know any better. But seeing Mikayla today made me look at it differently. Mikayla set aside all she "knows" about stairs and was content to step out without caution, or care, because she knew I was there.

Having faith requires there to be an opposite pull from what it is you have faith in, which means you have to have a knowledge of that opposite pull. Think about it: If you are walking across a bridge, you have faith that bridge will hold you, knowing that there are flowing rapids right below you. What is the significance of the faith, unless you know about the dangers? Mikayla knew today that taking a step out without caution caused her to fall, and yet she did it with me right beside her because she had faith in me.

Faith means setting aside what you "know" and trusting Him, even if all arrows around you point to danger.

Gosh, I don't know if this makes sense, but I just had to write about it.

Love you all!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

May?

May. Otherwise known as "pray" if you were to ask Mikayla. It has gotten to the point where if she even can see me preparing food for a meal, she immediately wants to pray. How in the world did I get so blessed to have a daughter who would pick up that habit of ours, over the zillions of unmentionable bad habits that seem to float around? I am truly astounded.


And she wants to pray multiple times during a meal, and never without holding our hands. Sometimes all I do during a meal is pray, because she will ask to do it over and over and over. I take those opportunities to thank the Lord for her, and ask that He would allow this to be her heart for the rest of her life.


And she caps off the prayer with a resounding and excited "Men!" (Amen)


She is just too sweet. I am blessed.


Mama's, if you are reading this, never neglect the fact that your child can pick up your good habits, even in spite of the bad ones. The old saying "Do as I say, and not as I do" almost makes me cringe. Why not give your child a visual of what you want them to do?


I know I have so much to learn in this parenting gig, but, its nice to see that we have done something right :)


Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Blessings....

Have you ever been blessed so much that you felt the need to do something with that blessing?

Jason and I have a bible study in our home every Tuesday, but thanks to my wonderfully active, and extremely attached daughter, I am not able to participate as of lately. So I am making the bible study my quiet time so that when Mikayla eventually gets over this separation anxiety, I will be able to follow along. Dear Lord, please let that be soon.

Anyways, the study was on Luke 4:31-44. The part that really spoke to me was when Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law from her fever and illness. Now I gather that this was no every day cold bug, but rather an illness that was possibly life threatening. Then comes my favorite part:

39 So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.

She got up at once and, here's the kicker, began to wait on them! It did not say, "She sat there for a long while and absorbed what just happened, and then got up and went about her business as usual." She got up and served them.

Now, I went back to Matthew and Mark, and read their recordings of this story. Both versions included the fact that she immediately got up and began to wait on them. This was a detail that none of the writers of the Gospel neglected to notice. Why?

Could it be because this is how we are supposed to react when we are blessed? When we are healed? When we see God's miraculous work? Surely this story was very similar to ALL the other stories about Jesus healing those who are ill, so why did this one get its own recognition?

I don't for sure know why, but I really do think it has to do with this woman's heart. To feel so moved from being healed that she couldn't help but serve. She didn't even spend time thanking Jesus (as far as I know) she just began serving. I would venture to guess that that was thanks enough for Jesus.

So, what do you do when you are blessed? It could be with money, family, love, happiness, healing, coffee at Starbucks, whatever you consider "blessed." What do you do with it?

I think this is a case where actions speak louder than words (cliche, I know). Let's do something with our blessings! Yes, God loves to hear a "thanks", but I am sure He would love to see a "thanks" as well.



Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Tuesday Tips: Hiccups be gone!

Whew! Where has the time gone? Did you miss me?

Don't worry, I am still working out, I just havent had anything inspiring to share! In fact, my working out is going so well that I am up to 28 minutes on the elliptical, and have got my speed up to a 10min mile! Big accomplishment! Someone tell me though, why are my pants still tight? :(

Anywho...........my tip for today is a solution to hiccups. Mikayla and I both had the hiccups at the same time today, and she giggled about it for forever. She thought it was funny that we both sounded ridiculous. I laughed at her laughing, and you know how when you laugh, and have the hiccups, you sound like a donkey? Well lets just say it was cause for more giggles. :)

The solution: Peanut Butter. Eat a spoonful. Swallow it rather quickly. Poof! Bye-bye hiccups! I have no idea why this works, but it does, every time!

I like this solution for kids because communicating to a child to hold their breath is rather difficult, and forcing them to hold their breath is child abuse :) haha jk. Never done that. You all were worried, huh?

On that note, here is my little stinker:



Not sure why, but this pic makes me laugh!

Happy Tuesday!