She Reads Truth

I had been seeing the hashtag #SheReadsTruth floating around on Instagram and I got curious.

I, of course, googled it and found the site that explains how it all began.







So, yesterday I decided to join in. I was five days behind, but no biggie. I decided to just catch myself up to Day 5 so that I could be on track with all the others.

When I got to Day 5, I just about dropped my phone.
My eyes teared up, my mouth opened and "oh.my.Lord" escaped my lips.

You see, all weekend, I had been feeling (and kinda ignoring) conviction from the Holy Spirit about how I spend my time. At times, I tend to look for diversions from the daily routine of momma at home. Possibly because I've lost a little of my vision (that could be a seperate post!).

Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, blogs, social networking, texting, emailing, are always available to me, courtesy of my mobile device. None evil in their own right, but when combined together for hours on end while my children are fighting in the next room, well, you've heard the saying, "Boredom is the devil's playground."

Okay, back to the Holy Spirit. The phrase "pray without ceasing" had been floating about in me little head, with the strong sense that I needed to be "on guard". Definitely not in a fearful way, expecting something bad to happen, but in an attitude of prayer kinda way. "Watch, for your adversary prowls... " and "Watch, for the time is short... " and "Watch, for the days are evil... " and "Watch with Me, for the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" (all snatches of verses that come to mind, probably in my own translation).

Day 5 was on that very topic of prayer, hence the surprise. The surprise was followed by gratitude for My Father who knows that I love it when that happens! Confirmations and coincidences always teach me that His voice is being heard everywhere.

The interesting thing is that on Sunday, something happened that drove the message of "praying without ceasing [intermission]" straight home.

My husband headed out to the van to do what you do in a van, only, between him and his door was a dead blackbird. Okay, gross. The crows are beginning to circle above and so, he, the ever comical, tells those crows to take care of it for him.
He steps over dead bird and enters said vehicle, only to find that the van won't go in reverse, it feels like the two back wheels are locking up and this has never happened before. He finally gets the van into reverse and pulls out into the road, only to find that there was another dead blackbird at the back of where the van had been parked...

Weird coincidence? Maybe.
Evil scheme? Maybe.

I agree with the words of my husband, "I just want to be so much in His presence that those kinds of things don't even bother me."
Amen.
That, to me, is the essence, the sweet perfume locked within praying without ceasing... being nearer.

Let us pray just like breathing.

And get a daily dose of the truth.

The truth for me this week, comes from Psalm 34:4-7

"4 I sought the Lord, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him,
And saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel[a] of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him,
And delivers them."

I will stand upon it.

~ christa jean

Love Dwells Here

Today marks the one year anniversary of the move into our very own house, here in the little town of Shelton.
We waited and prayed and prayed and waited for it for almost two years.

Today, I am filled to the brim with gratitude for this home sweet home.
As I walk from room to room, feeling a swell of pride for the comfortable and decorated spaces, my thoughts turn to those who do not have what I own.

Those people are not vague strangers in some far off land.
Those people are my friends, whose house just burned to the ground while the husband stood watching in helpless horror.
I thank my God that no one was hurt. Because, really, that's all that matters.

I am reminded of the verse that says:
"Do not store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be." {Matthew 6:19-21}

What matters most are the relationships being built within our homes.
When I stand before The One, I will be held accountable for how I cared (or didn't) for those people (little and big).

So, today, I ask for kind words, gentle hands, smiling eyes, and a love that covers a multitude of sins.

~christa jean

DWELL.

If I could list the number of houses that I've set my heart on since moving to Washington, it would be kinda funny. It's not an exorbitant amount, but it is an indicator of how fickle a heart can be.

There was that one house. A house right on the Puget Sound, with land and a chicken coop and a guest house. It was offered to us as a rental, but we were resisting the thought of renting for a short time and then having to move again when we found a more permanent place to abide (who likes to move their stuff and then move it all again?). That home passed us by.

The Victorian was, so I thought, the one for us. It was nestled right in downtown but still had some land. It had a brook running through one corner, a HUGE garden, a tree house, a shop, a green house, an attached guest cottage, and a chicken coop replete with chickens (do you sense a theme here?). But, alas. That house was out of our price range. Then there was the house that was on 2+ acres. It also had a bubbling brook running through the property. My heart leapt at the first sight of this property. I remembered all my fondest childhood memories of wading in the creek by our house, looking for crawdads and dreaming I was Diana, Anne's bosom buddy. All my dreams for owning land seemed to be coming to fruition in this piece of property.

The bridge over the brook. So Anne-of-Green-Gables-esque.
Views of farmland.

Cross over the brook and take a jaunt up to the barn.
The big barn with the chicken coop.

And here we go strolling back down to the house.

The house that was 3,700 square feet, people!

That didn't include two other outbuildings.

And then... the horror. When we walked through the house, we saw room after room that didn't make any sense. And some rooms undone. And three hallways in a row. What were they smoking?!


Even if we had been able to get the house for, say $100,000 (it was a foreclosure), we would have had to sink another huge chunk of time and money into re-modeling it. Which, on a sunny day, sounds like a fun idea. Seriously. We love to take the old and make it new.


But, if you'll remember with me, we have a baby due end of August. And four other munchkins who need to be loved and homeschooled. And then the remodeling idea doesn't sound so grand to me. Not at this time in my life.


Oh, how the wait has felt endless. Just when I thought I'd gotten to be pretty good at being patient, I find that I have a looooooooong way to go. Just when I thought the waiting was unbearable, I'd have to wait some more.


Yet, the promise still remained.

{The view off the front porch}

Then there was the house that we actually put an offer on. It was in a stellar neighborhood, had a circular driveway, two acres, and lovely arches inside.


The offer was refused.


And so, we waited more.

The ironic thing is that, somewhere in the middle of our wanderings, probably six to eight months ago, we were offered a house. The owners happen to be friends and they had bought it one year ago to fix up and sell. We walked through the house when it was just newly sheetrocked (is that even a word?) and thought it was cute and quaint, but too small a lot for us. And it was on a corner. With neighbors (gasp!) nearby. No chicken coop. No land with a brook to wade in. No space to roam and enjoy the quiet life.


So, we dismissed it.


A few months later, they asked us about it again and wondered if we would pray about it, because they had had us in mind when they bought it. We smiled and nodded, thinking "It was nice of you to think of us, but... we have bigger dreams to follow."


Shortly after that, I was soaking in the tub one night. That seems to be a place where I can clear my mind, and often, I am able to listen to that still, small voice. That still, small voice left an impression in my heart that we were to "take the Turner house". What? I must've heard wrong. But the impression wouldn't leave me. I also felt that I needed to hide that word in my heart and not say anything to my hubby, for the Lord would take care of his heart. But, I shared it with Carter (he pried it out of me!) and unfortunately, I missed the timing. He, well, let's just say, he had his eye on a bigger fish.


Then, time passed, and we put the offer on the house I mentioned before, the bigger fish.



The day the offer was refused, I suggested we take one more look at the Turner house (I call it that because it's on Turner Street). He agreed. That night we ran into the owner and in the course of conversation let him know that the other house we had been pursuing did not work out. He inquired if we had pondered the Turner house anymore. We said, yes, actually. He said that if we were at all interested, he would put our name in the paperwork with an exclusionary clause stating that we would not have to go through a realtor to purchase said home. And, oh yeah, the house was going on the market the next day.



Seemingly fortuitous timing, eh? Well, I don't think chance was involved in this.
The very next morning we ran into him again, at a gas station of all places. He told us that his wife was at the house that very moment cleaning it and that she would let us in.
So, we went and looked. It was like a brand new house.
The very next day, we started talking price. Two days later we put earnest money down. Now we just wait for the final papers to be processed.

Take a peek at what the house looked like one year ago.

Yeah, Wow. U.G.L.Y.

Take a peek at what it looks like now...

WHAT?!

Amazing.

It was built in 1947 and they were able to keep and restore the original wood floors.

It has five bedrooms and one bonus room. A nice and open kitchen which we've already bought an island for.


The bonus room.

They had to take the house all the way down to the studs, so it is essentially like a brand new house inside. As much as we love to move into a house and put our own fingerprint on it, this fact, that it is totally move-in ready, makes my heart happy.

There are still things I don't love about it, the yard for instance. The linoleum. Being on a corner. No formal dining area. But I can live with those things. I can live with the fact that we can afford this house and that it was meant for us.

Did I get my dream house? No, not yet. But there is still time, should the Lord tarry. We could build in three years if we wanted to. In all this time of waiting, we've learned how to save well. Something we were never good at before. Buying a parcel of land outright is now not an impossibility.

There's a line in a song that says, "So we never got to Paris and found the cafe of our dreams, but our table holds a whole world of memories. No, we never went to Venice and strolled the streets alone, but we built our worlds together and we got the best of both."

If we never get the house of our dreams, at least we have each other and we have a place to

DWELL.

~christa jean

Taste and See.

We've been busy! Remember in my last post (over a month ago, sheesh!) I told you that I might tell you what we've been doing the last few months?
Here's a small snapshot:
We were asked in July to prayerfully consider becoming leaders of the Children's Ministry at our church. We did prayerfully consider it, for, like, a minute. We knew right away that this was what Jesus, the lover of children, wanted us to do.

We prayed for direction. We liked the curriculum that was being used, but we were feeling nudges to go in a different direction.

In August we hosted our first informational meeting and had record numbers attending.
In September we held our first training meeting for teachers and assistants with record numbers attending.
In October we kicked off our new "program" (for lack of a better word) with a song and a dance (literally) and much fanfare.

Does it sound like I'm boasting? I hope not! But have you ever known that you were in the right place at the right time? That you were born for a certain something? Well, this is just a small piece of that certain "something" and definitely an opportunity that is for us for such a time as this. As we stepped forth in obedience, all the pieces began falling into place. He likes to bless us that way when we obey!

The cooooooolest piece of it all was a tiny little children's book that revolutionized my thinking. As I read through it, I cried and instantly sat down to "practice" some of it's principles.

The book is called "Children, Can You Hear Me?" by Brad Jersak. It is, in essence, a guidebook for kids to learn how to hear His voice daily. It has become a guidebook for me as well. The phrase that struck me the most, was this, "Children hear the Lord easier than anyone else. Virtually the only block that I encounter in them is their parents' own unbelief." Oof, ouch.



Here are some snippets I captured from the description:* Children, Can You Hear Me? trains kids to practice God's presence in their lives.
* Imagine raising an entire generation that hears God's voice every day!

I love that last line. I want that to be true for my children. I want them to hunger and thirst for righteousness. I want them to need to hear from their Creator, Saviour, Healer, Counselor every day. If they catch a glimpse of Him now at this young age, they will never want to turn away. As they begin to taste and see that the Lord is good and that He cares about every detail of their lives, then they will get a genuine knowledge of who He is. He is real. He is LIVING. He is not a dead or dead-beat God.

The following is a portion of one of my blog posts from our ministry website...

"You are the light of the world. You are children of light.

'For all of creation has been eagerly awaiting the day

when God will reveal who His children really are.'

{Romans 8:19}

The time is now.

Whether you are a child by age or a child at heart, you are a child created by God. Created to know Him. To know Him fully and to make Him fully known. How do we get to know our God? We communicate with Him, just as we would a dear, dear friend.

Friend says: 'How are you today?'
We reply: 'Well, ... ' and tell Friend all of our struggles, our hopes, our worries, our dreams.
Friend listens. Friend loves. Friend encourages.
Now it's our turn.
We say: 'And how are you doing, Friend?'
And He replies...
And we listen.

His words to us are life.

We believe God is calling all of us "kids" to be children of His Word.

WE DESIRE: To know the written Word deep in our hearts (it is mighty powerful, ya know!), through weekly memorization.
To know the spoken Word deep in our hearts (it is our lifeline!) by listening to His voice every day.

I know it is one of your greatest desires to see your children walking in His truth. How do we make that desire real? By helping them see that HE IS REAL! He cares about every little detail of their lives! Doesn't He know the number of hairs on their heads?!

His words to us are food.

'Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good

Blessed is the man that trusts in Him.'

{Psalm 34:8}

When our children get a genuine taste of a genuine friendship with Him, they will never hunger for anything else.

Let us daily seek together. Don't forget our challenge to you... Please seriously consider finding one evening a week that you gather with your family and pray, worship, and listen together.

The time is now.

All creation has been waiting for the revealing of the true sons and daughters of God.

It's time for a revolution.

You are the light of the world."

Let me tell you, we are putting this into practice in our family and it is changing us. When your children begin to see visions and pray scripture and dream dreams, then you know that He is on the move. We've also implemented a "Pray & Listen" time in our church kids classrooms. He is not silent, we were just not listening!

I could go on and on about what we've been seeing, but it's almost midnight so, I'll save that for another post. I don't want to be a grump in the morning!

I pray that you would be inspired today.
Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening...

~christa jean