Are you really in a position to throw stones?

^{John 8:6-8}Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, "The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone." Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt.       

This past week the story of the adulterous woman that was brought before Jesus to be stoned has been heavy on my heart.  Specifically when He spoke and said "The one among you who is free from sin, cast the first stone."  What brought this to my mind has been the tragic events that have happened this past week.  The shooting in Colorado and a off duty officer who was killed on his motorcycle in a hit and run accident.  My heart of course goes out to the victims of these events and their families.  But it also cries out for the people responsible for these horrible events. 

When I saw the picture of the young man from Colorado what I saw was the shell of a man.  The difference when you look into his eyes from his college photo to the mug shot photo is so extreme.  Something else, something evil has obviously taken over his mind, body and soul.  And then when I saw people's reactions to him.  The hate and anger that lashed out at this young man broke this mother's heart.  I kept thinking, he's someone's baby.  He is someone's son.  He's someone's grandson.  He's someone's nephew, brother, best friend.  This family has lost their child as well.  While yes, he will be sitting in jail, possibly on death row, they have still lost their child.  The thought of someone saying the horrible things about my own child that are being said about him just made me so sad. 

And it was the same for the woman involved in the accident with the off-duty officer.  My question for others this week was this....have you never done something that ultimately hurt someone else in some capacity?  Have you never had 1 to many drinks and thinking "Oh I'm good" got in your car and drove home? 

Back when Joseph Duncan was arrested for kidnapping, torturing and murdering the Groene family, someone asked me.  "If he was your son, could you still love him?"  And my answer was absolutely.  Loving my child does in NO way mean that I condone their behavior.  It in no way means that I approve of what they have done.  But they are still my child and what kind of a mother stops loving their child because of what they have done.  Yes there are consequences for their actions and yes my heart would break to see that but I would still love them.  Can you imagine if Jesus stopped loving us because of our behaviors?  WOW what a thought that is.  What if Jesus said "yep I died for you but you know when you did _________ well that for me was just unforgivable I stopped loving you then and I don't even want a relationship with you."  Thankfully HE would never do that to us.  He shows us grace and mercy every day.  More grace and mercy then we deserve.   Shouldn't we show each other the same?  Yes these people made horrible choices that had deadly consequences for others.  And yes they are going to have to be held accountable for those choices.  But doesn't feeding into the hate and anger towards them only give evil more power? Shouldn't we be showing them love and forgiveness and while taking back the Kingdom and giving GOD the glory instead. 

I challenge each of us to choose love over anger.   To choose forgiveness over hate.  To choose mercy over judgement.  And to always remember that there are others who are hurting along side the victims of a tragedy. 

Summertime Fun

The school year ended the first week of June. We also moved to a new house that same week. And summer is in full swing. My girl was so excited to officially no longer be a 2nd grader.

Home from the last day of school and officially no longer a 2nd grader.

                                                 

Looking forward excitedly to being a 3rd grader. WOW! How did that happen? How did my sweet little baby become a 3rd grader? Time flies so fast for us these days. But then we are usually so busy that we don't seem to notice until we get to a point where it hits us that 2 months have just gone by and we didn't even notice.

We moved to a new house that is a much better fit for what we need. Better space, better lay out and a fenced yard. Settling in and getting our house back in order is still a work in progress but we are getting there. The fenced yard has been the best thing I think. The kids and the dog LOVE it.

Kids enjoying the yard and cooling off from the summer heat.

The summer heat finally arrived and we are fully enjoying it. Lots of time spent at the pool having fun and taking swimming lessons. Kimberly was very excited to pass the 3rd level and move on up to the advanced classes.

Lovin' the pool.

We are so thankful for our new home and the summer fun we get to have.  We've already had lots of fun and there is still plenty of summer and loads of fun to be had.

The Chicken Fat Lady

I am so blessed to have a wonderful job. I get to spend my day caring for some pretty incredible kids. As with any job, some days are certainly better then others. And there are some weeks that when Saturday gets here I am spent. I've given all that I can for the week and there is no more left. This past week was one of those weeks. And not even for any particular reason. My schedule was lighter then normal. The kids were all pretty well behaved. No major issues had come up but still I was just worn down. So to be honest and transparent my patience was a bit short yesterday. I don't like it when I feel that way and in the past I have even had the Holy Spirit nudge me and say "Is this really the atmosphere you want in your home?" Boy if that doesn't grab your attention to your attitude. So I really try to be more aware of how I respond to the kids. So yesterday I was tired. I had 3 kids on my schedule, my Kim wanted to go to the school carnival but I knew I couldn't do both. We are moving in the next few weeks so I was looking at my enormous list of things that I know I have to do. I was trying to find the answer to a question I had about the penny auction business that I am working for and couldn't seem to get it, atleast the answer I was getting was just making my head spin because it made no sense to me. Come to find out, the person I was asking the question to wasn't really understanding my question either. And I will admit I was counting down the time till the kids would all be picked up and I could just let it all go. Then it hit me........When their mom's get here to get them do I look like "the chicken fat lady" from the Erin Brockovich movie. If you've seen the movie you know who I'm talking about. The lady in the apartment building that when Erin goes to pick up her kids practically shoves that baby into Erin's arms and totally has this look of disgust on her face. Minus the moo-moo that she was wearing in that scene, do I look like her some days? The more I thought about this the more I realized that I have been giving so much of myself on my own and not relying on God's love, God's grace, God's strength, God's everything. I shouldn't even be giving of myself until I have no more and then asking for His help. I should be letting Him go first. I am so blessed to have this amazing job. I have the opportunity to pour into them all that God has for them. I have the opportunity to bless their mothers. And them all being in my life blesses me in so many ways. Don't let yourself become "the chicken fat lady" in the things that you have to do. Wither it be your job or any other responsibilty that you have. Let God go first in everything that you do and let everything you do bring Glory to Him. And if I am the care giver for your kids and I start to look like "the chicken fat lady" tell me ok. I won't be offended, but may need to be reminded every now and then.

Peace Within The Storm

I love thunderstorms! I've always loved them. I can remember as a kid camping out in front of the window watching them. And I even do the same with my little girl. We shut the everything off so the house is dark and sit and watch in awe. I have even been known to go out and lay in my yard just looking at the sky, watching the flashes and listening to the thunder roll. I know probably not the smartest option but it is the best view after all. So last night I got to bed late and wasn't really sleeping when we had the most amazing storm. It had to have been right above my house. I could see the flashes and hear the crack of the lightning. And then the thunder would boom and roll. My house shook as it rolled and rolled and rolled. I haven't heard thunder roll like that ever. It was totally wonderful. This morning a friend told me that her 4 year old woke up terrified. The poor thing. I've known people who were scared of storms but I've never really understood why. The power and the beauty of the storm totally brings peace and joy to my soul. So I was thinking on this fear of storms this morning and the Holy Spirit gave me the best revelation. We should be able to find peace and joy in EVERY storm in life. Yes they can be frightening and overwhelming but if we are totally putting our trust and faith in GOD then we should be able to rest in HIS peace and view the storm from HIS perspective. The storms we face in life are filled with beauty and power and just like with a good thunderstorm the air afterwards is fresh, new and clean. God sees what beauty is going to be in us as we come out of the storm. If we rest in HIM then we are cocooned in HIS protection. So the next time you are going through a storm and are afraid, go lay in the yard and rest in HIS peace and watch the power and beauty that is in the storm. Find joy and peace and know that in the end amazing things come out of the storm.

Resurrection Weekend

This being Easter weekend, I've been thinking about the amazing things that happened 2000 years ago. Our King, Our Savior, God's only son willingly allowed himself to be tortured, beaten and then murdered for us. Then to top it all off He defeated death as well. WOW!!! What amazing love that must take. He could have called upon 10,000 angels at any point that horrible day and put a stop to all that was being done to him. But he didn't. He took the pain, the beatings, the whippings, all that was put upon him, so that we may be free and live.

I have been thinking about how even after Jesus had told his disciples what was going to happen. That he was going to die and that he would live again, but yet when Mary Magdalene told them that she had seen him, that he was alive. They didn't believe her. I can totally understand their anguish as they watch him being tortured but knowing the promise that was coming shouldn't they have been rejoicing? Or at the very least excited when Mary told them the news? The more I thought about all this the realization that I found was that they allowed themselves to be overwhelmed by the situation and forgot the promises. They forgot all the truth that Jesus had told them.

It is definitely a reminder for us when we are facing a trial in life. Hold onto the truths, to the promises, to the word God has given you and don't allow the circumstances to overwhelm us and steal our peace, our joy and most of all our hope. GOD IS GOOD ALWAYS!!!!! Even when it doesn't look that way.

Happy Easter!

It Breaks My Heart

It breaks my heart when I think about the people I love who have lost someone they love to suicide. A friend who lost her son, another lost her father, and to many others. The one on my heart tonight though is my sweet friend Lara. One year ago lost her beautiful Felicity.

To be honest I will admit that there was a time when I would hear about someone taking their own life and I would think "How selfish of them to do that to the people who love them". But of course with time and life we grow and come to new understanding. Not that there is ever really any understanding to these tragedies but I do know that it's not that the people we love are being selfish. It's that they aren't seeing any other way out of the lies that have been in their heads and they are believing. The biggest of those is that there is no hope and that there is no other way out of this "whatever it is".

I pray tonight that those who have lost someone they love will be covered by God's peace, comfort and love. I pray that those who are struggling will also feel God's love, hope and strength. You are never alone, His love never fails, and there is always hope. I pray that we all find compassion for others. That we all have eyes to see when someone is having a hard time and can be there for them. That we can all be the light at the end of the tunnel for someone who can't see it.

150 Days of Thankfulness

It's been 150 days since November 1st and I have found something in my life every day to be thankful for. WOW! Have you ever sat down at the end of each day and thought about what you had to be thankful for that day, for an extended period of time? I won't lie when I say that in the beginning I honestly thought, "that will be easy". There are definitely days when it is so easy. There have even been days when I have had so many things that I was covered for a couple of extra days. But there have also been days when I have sat here for a long time thinking about the day and really having to dig to find something that I was thankful for in it.

I recently had someone say that the things that I was thankful for were self-centered and that I should look at the world and find more important things to be thankful for. I suppose that we are all entitled to our own opinion and they can think that I'm being self-centered if they want to. The thing is, I suppose that's the point of my daily thankful post. I look at MY life so of course it's "self-centered". Yes, I'm thankful for the people who work in my community, for the grocery store checkers, the gas station attendents, the civil service people but the point of my daily thankfulness is for what I'm thankful for in my daily life.

I'm thankful that I have an amazing family, that my sweet girl is growing into her love for reading, that I have quiet time to myself in the evenings, that I have that priviledge of staying home and taking care of my family, that my husband works so hard to provide all he can for his girls, and so much more. Yes these are all self-centered thankful thoughts and yes I will continue to focus on my life in just this way. God has given me so much and why not take the time to focus on what He has done and thank Him for that.