Yes...We Are Home

Well...just in case you were wondering, we are indeed still alive! The fact that I haven't blogged since we have been back is testimony to the fact that life never stops! I feel like we have been home for weeks and weeks, but it has only been a little over a week. I have wanted to blog about so many things since we have been home... our vacation, events that have taken place since we have been home, and some of the many things God is teaching me. The funny thing is that one of the biggest things God is teaching me right now is time management, priority planning, not being lazy with my time, spending more time in His Word, etc. So now you see why I can't blog everyday (let alone every week)...because I am not at the point where I am using my time so productively that I have time to do "other" things that aren't necessary. Now that's not to say we haven't been like every other "normal" family...BUSY!

The day after we arrived home, Aaron jumped right back into work and many other things, and I jumped back into the 3 Bible studies I am in with lots of homework attached (I know...I won't do three at the same time again, but since I did that choice, God has blessed it and I am learning SO much!), planning a Baby shower, trying to get the house clean, meal planning, cooking, a wedding rehearsal and wedding this past weekend...and the list could go on.

Business is nothing new to any wife and mother, but thanks to my small discipleship group (and the book Creative Counterpart that we are going through), I have realized life does not need to be so crazy! I can actually become an organized person and get my priorities straight and diligently use my time! And this is what the Lord has called me to do. This last week we made a detailed schedule of what our week should look like. So for a whole week we have planned out what tasks we would get done each day and what meal we would make that day. One thing I have learned that I think will really help is the fact that I need to complete one task before moving on to the next. It's so easy for me to start something, and as I am doing that "something", I see something else that needs to be done, and start doing that thing, and so on...I have realized this does not help my situation! :P

Anyways, there is so much more I could share on that subject, but I only have so much time.
Another thing I am SO excited the Lord has shown me is that I had forgotten what it means to meditate on scripture, which is exactely what the Lord calls us to do...meditate on his Word daily, and even all day. I am grieved that I haven't been diligent to do this lately, but excited that the Lord has convicted me of this so I can now seek to glorify Him and grow in my relationship with Him by looking for HIM in what I read. In our study, Created Into His Image, the author goes into detail about what it means to meditate on scripture and how important it is in fellowship with our Savior.

"Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God. It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communion with God. Its purpose is to clear one's mental and spiritual vision of God, and to let His truth make its full and proper impact on one's mind and heart. It is a matter of talking to God about God and oneself; it is, indeed, often a matter of arguing with oneself, reasoning oneselfe out of moods and doubt and unbelief into a clear apprehension of God's power and grace. Its effect is ever to humble us, as we contemplate God's greatness and glory, and our own littleness and sinfulness, and to encourage and reassure us---'comfort' us, in the old, strong, Bible sense of the word---as we contemplate the unsearchable riches of divine mercy displayed in the Lord Jesus Christ...and it is as we enter more and more deeply into this experience of being humbles and exalted that our knowledge of God increases, and with it our peace, strength, and our joy. God help us, then, to put our knowledge about god to this use, that we all may in truth 'know the Lord'".

Jim Berg also says, "Your Bible is first and foremost a revelation from God about His Son. There is a Person at the center of everything you read in the Bible. If you merely look for principles and encouraging passages, you will find what you are looking for, but you will miss God in the process." When I am reading scripture, I need to stop and ask myself, "what does this passage reveal about Jesus Christ?" I need to think about what attributes of God I see in a certain passage, and then ask many questions regarding that. For example...Jim Berg takes the story in John about the feeding of the 5 thousand. He sees in that story the compassion of Christ, and gives us an example of many questions we could ask ourselves regarding that attribute.

1. What is compassion?
2. What esle do I know about God's compassion?
3. Who else in the Bible experienced it?
4. Who else in the Bible demostrated it?
5. How has God personally demonstrated compassion to me?
6. Since I am called to be Christlike, how am I doing in displaying compassion?
7. If it has been lacking in my dail contacts with people, what have others been seeing in me insted of the compassion that would have been Christlike in those situations?

He goes on to say much more, but these questions have fired me up, and I am excited to implement these kinds of questions into my time of meditating of the Word. It is my prayer that God would "search" me and "try" me daily, as I seek to grow into the image of my heavenly Father.

My time is up for the moment, as I didn't expect to relay half of the chapter in the book to you, but I couldn't help it! I will do my best to write about our wonderful vacation soon!