The Holy Spirit, My Child, and Green Eggs And Ham

My last child gave his heart to Jesus today.  How sweet and precious were his little hands folded and little words said in such a sweet little voice that can't even say the 'r' sound yet. 

Then he got up from his little knees and never disobeyed me again....everything is 'yes mama', and 'you can go first' and 'I am most certainly and completly content with this dinner you have set before me'........

OR MAYBE NOT. 

They all still throw temper tantrums, they all still insist that they must go first, they all still act like you are feeding them worms for dinner.  They still sin.  The sinner's prayer was said but they still sin. 

 So I tell them about the Holy Spirit in their lives.  I tell them that the Holy Spirit is there to help them sin less.  The Holy Spirit is there to keep Sin Buddy off the shoulder and out the door.  I tell them (this one I don't say out loud) the Holy Spirit is there to help them obey so they will stop driving me crazy. 

But they're just little kids.  It hasn't quite clicked yet.  The puzzle pieces are in a messy pile with some under the couch and some in the dryer filter thingy and some in the trash because they were spoiled by a milk spill. 

You want them to get it so badly.  You want them to know that the Holy Spirit is there, right next to their little ear, to show them how to obey. 

And so you do the logical thing and turn into Dr Zuess Mom. 

Will you listen to the Holy Spirit, in the car?
Will you listen to the Holy Spirit, when your hand is in the cookie jar?
Will you listen to the Holy Spirit and not touch Dad's guitar?
At the table?
In a girdle?
In a hotel?
Before I yell?

MAYBE....just maybe.....maybe maybe Mable...we need to let God bring those puzzle pieces to our children one at a time and pray and encourage and love our children into finally getting it. 

All my children gave their hearts to the Lord under the age of five.  I saw little glimpses of getting it over the next years but nothing compared to when my oldest turned eight.  The fruit of the Holy Spirit that I see in her life just knocketh me off my feet.  The puzzle is starting to fit together and she is really truly getting how the Holy Spirit works in her life. 

The younger ones don't quite care yet.  I believe they really did ask Jesus into their hearts when they were little four and five-year-olds.  I was there for each one.  They understood that asking Jesus into their heart meant going to Heaven and believed that Jesus saved them by dying on the cross.  It was real and I know God was up in Heaven rejoicing with the angels over another little heart saved for Him.  I also know that they don't quite get the Holy Spirit part yet.  I try to encourage them when they do and not Dr Zuess them when they don't.  I wasted a lot of time dropping the puzzle pieces in their laps and begging them to get it.  Just put the darn puzzle together all ready!  There's only like 24 pieces!  Silly me...

They will get...you'll glimpse it here and there.  Keep praying and encouraging and reminding but not shoving...Some days I look at my daughter and I just shed tears of such joy seeing her grow and bear spiritual fruit. 

Okay.  Reading break is over.  Go be a good mommy.

What My Grandma's Death Means to Me

Oh Grandma...you sneaked off to Heaven, didn't you?  No more pain, no more tears.  No more worries about money or misbehaving children or hospital bills.  Ben says you are eating a lollipop with God.  Well, are you?  I think I know what Jesus said to you when He opened the front door.

"I'm so glad you're here, Aleta.  I know you asked me so many times what I wanted you to do.  All I ever wanted was for you to Save My Place until I could come get my children.  You did that, Aleta.  Come on in and rest."

I see myself in my grandma.  I don't know if it's our shared profile or our shared name or our shared humor but I see so much of me in who she was.  I know she hollered at her four boys and one girl because I holler at my four boys and one girl.  They're just such rascals! I know that she was sorry after she did it just like I'm sorry after I do it.  I am almost certain that when she was around 17 she asked God to make her nose more like Audrey Hepburn's and less Germanish because I most certainly looked in the mirror and asked God to make my nose more like Audrey Hepburn's and less Germanish. 

And I know that I know that I know that she asked God what He wanted from her so many many times over and over.  I know because I do.  And I know that I know that I know that His answer was always the same...

"I need you here to Save My Place.  When I left the disciples on that hill, and went home to to be with my Father, I was basically saying.....Hey, this is my spot right here and I need you to save it for me.  I'll be back in a bit.  Just do what I would do.  Love people.  Forgive people.  Die to yourself.  Don't do your own thing.  That will knock you on your keester."

I know that she asked Him if He could just make it a lot harder to sin and a lot easier to obey.  I ask Him that all the time.  He keeps saying...be faithful....just be faithful.

My grandma was faithful.  She could have walked away from the Lord at any time.  But because she didn't, she directly turned the souls of her children and her children's children and her children's children's children to a life of eternity with Jesus.  While she struggled through each day to die to herself and Save that place for Jesus she was responsible for the Gospel reaching my heart and pointing it to Heaven.

Oh Grandma...I wish I can sneak my way to Heaven too but Jesus said I still need to Save His Place for a while.  Thank you for choosing Jesus.  I don't know where I'd be if you didn't.  I love you.

"I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!" Ps27

My Quiet Time Thoughts on Proverbs 15:16-17

 "Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with trouble.  Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred."  Proverbs 15:16-17


We have been in the beautiful North West for almost half a year now and I can't tell you enough the beauty that surrounds us.  I feel like I'm on a three year vacation to Hume Lake.  The incredible difference between here and that little dusty Central Valley is that most fun things here cost one arm and maybe two legs.  I can't put A back in ballet because than we couldn't buy food.  I can't put any of them in music lessons because than we couldn't buy food.  How are they going to be famous if I don't give them the training when they are five!  This is serious stuff.   Fatted calf around here is literally twice the price now that we don't live down the road from Harris Ranch!  After a couple of months of searching for cheap recreational classes (and cheap beef), I sat down with the Lord and brought Him my disappointment.  He brought me to this verse and said something like this....

A loving child is not created in violin classes.  A loving child is not created in correct classical ballet training. 

A loving child is created in your home...often while building tent forts.  Through the daily, and FREE, goings and comings of a day, a child is learning to love...learning to prefer others...learning to respect authority. 

We have VERY HAPPY dinners of herbs.  We have love not hatred.  I would love a steak right about now but more than that I love listening to the comings and goings of my children playing "cowboys."  Did you know playing "cowboys" is free?  I do want to warn you about something...if you tell them they can put syrup on there cornbread, you will look out the window at one point and see them drinking it.

Okay everybody...have a good day. Finish off you coffee, and go be a good mommy.

Irritation Is A Tablespoon Away From A Glass Of Angry

I kept telling my husband "Honeycakes, please pray for me.  The kids keep irritating me and I just don't know why.  They ask so very many questions.  Food, water, shelter, candy...and on and on.  Can't they tell that when I'm sitting on the couch drinking my coffee I'm doing some really important thinking?"

.....weeks go by and I'm still getting dressed in grumpy pants. It NEVER dawned on me in all my important thinking that I, THE MOTHER...THE BEEN-SAVED-LONGER-THAN-YOU'VE-BEEN-ALIVE....was...heaven forbid...

Sinning.

You see.....irritation is just a smidge shy of being angry.  As I gracefully (yeah right) accepted this fact I formed a Three step attack plan to kick irritation in the butt and then maybe sit on it until it dies. Repeat after me...

Step uno: Agree with God that you are sinning. That's called confessing.

I____________, am a irritable brat. I am sorry, Lord. I will try ever so hard to quit the brat stuff.

Step dos: Assertain the cause of irritation.

Sleep deprived? Hungry? Somebody drop Legos in your coffee? Usually for me, it's a lack of instruction that I need to teach the kids so we won't hit any more potholes as our day goes by. "You don't have your shoes ON YET?" (then my eyebrows go lower than my nose and I start growing horns) So I wrote out clear instructions called "Getting Ready to Leave the house In Three Months Or Less"....it's working so far.

Step tres: I can't really think of anything else so let's just stick with repeating the first two over and over.

Well I feel better how about you? Pretty basic stuff....confess, problem solve, repeat. Quiet time is over. Be a good mommy.

How To Drive Your Husband To The Rooftop in Ten Steps or More

1.NEVER make him feel special when he gets home from work. After all, your work is WAY harder than his so he should run through the door to rub your feet and make dinner and supervise the children and dab your glistening brow. Frequently comment that your job is much harder and much perilous.

 2. CONSTANTLY undermine him in small and big ways to your children. Make them aware of his mistakes.

 3. When he messes up go ahead and treat him like an idiot. Remind him of his mistakes often. Especially when YOU make a mistake. That's a doozy.

 4. ALWAYS become emotional when he wants to talk over something he'd like you to change. When pretending to grab a tissue, rub onion juice under your eyes. When you come back to the conversation they will be read and puffy and then you can crumple up on the couch and say stuff like "I just don't know if I can do all that you ask of me" and "I could have been on Broadway."

5. DON'T flirt with the guy! In fact, don't even shower. That'll show him!

6. DEVOUTLY treat his hobbies like they are not contributing to the better good of mankind and world peace and stuff. Show him in big and small ways that your hobbies are going to win the Noble Peace prize.

7. MAKE it known that you are much holier and act accordingly. Wave your Bible in his face!

 8. Do all that stuff every day.

 9. Don't stop when he asks you to.

10. Don't stop when God asks you too.

11. Disobey God.

12. Disobey God.

13. Keep disobeying God.

 Sincerely, Rachel's ugly nasty sin nature that would be doing these things if it weren't for the fact that God, through His perfect grace and mercy, saved me from a horrible existence and brought me into His marvelous light and showed me that marriage is a picture of His love for me.

Why Do We Need Friends?

Why do we need friends?

I just moved away from all my friends and my favorite friend named Richard is on the other side of the country right now.

  Wittle Wachel is all alone in the world. 

 I am on my way to a new city and the first thing I am going to do, after putting on all my sweaters at the same time, is find a friend.  My step son asked me the other day why we need friends. Well...

1.  Some things that happen are extremely irritating and serious...and then you tell the story to your friend and you laugh. For a VERY long time. 

Like that one time that one child who was at a potty training age and was in the backyard playing right after you put the Christmas tree stand on the patio. Then this child really had to go and that Christmas tree stand pretty much looked like a potty so the child went in the Christmas tree stand.  I thought it was gross. But then I told my friend and I didn't stop laughing until I HAD to use the Christmas tree stand. 

2. Some times you are having a really bad, fleshly, sinful day....and then you text your friend to ask for prayer and the stupid sin starts to go away and the joy starts welling up. 

Like that one time when my kids just would not obey and I was yelling and they still would not obey and then I got the crazy mom eyes and put on really loud worship music and sent them all to their beds and texted this to my friend " Sin is stupid. Pray for me." And then I did hence get much better and the sin did hence get much less.

3. Some times you need someone to go see a movie with. Sometimes you need some one to go get an expensive coffee with. Some times you need someone to be dorky with. Some times you need someone to watch your kids while you go have the flu. Some times you need friend conversation when your husband is in the middle of the ocean. 

Like the 5 million, 300 thousand, 50 trillion times my friends have done all those things for me. 

I LOVE every friend in the whole world.