Revival

Wow I have so many things going through my mind that I want to put to print... Our church is having revival this week with Life Action Ministries. It started on Sunday morning and will end on this Sunday morning. The pastor asked us the first morning to not pray about whether or not God wanted us to come to each night but rather pray if God wanted us to stay home....well God had already told me "you, Angie need to go every night" So today is Friday and we have gone every night. I am so thankful He told me to go every night because during these past few nights God has done an amazing work in my heart. He has opened my eyes to the sin I have in my life, one being my pride. I have also been able to attend the Ladie's Luncheons on Tuesday and Thursday and God has dealt with me there too. On Tuesday God showed me that I need to be joyful in all circumstances and not ask God "Why am I going through this or that" but to ask "God what are you trying to show me throught this" God actually has a purpose for our trials. Romans 5:3-4 says we can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials for we know that they are good for us, they help us endure. And endurance develops strenght of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. I learned that God has an eternal purpose He is fulfilling in the midst of "my problems" and that He wants to use my problems as part of His sanctifying process in my life. I may not always understand God's way of doing things but HE DOES KNOW BEST! He has great plans for my life....Jer. 29:11. Well that was all on Tuesday. Then on Thursday came the real kicker for me. The pastors wife had 2 topics that day. The first one was on "How to be a Beautiful Women to Your Husband" She brought out points I had never even thought about. She taught from 1 Peter 3:1-5. She talked about our husbands greatest need is to be respected. I have always thought that I did respect Ben but she showed us things that I was doing that was not very respectful...things such as nagging, questioning his judgement, disagreeing, telling him to do things and not asking him to do things, and that even good nature teasing him in public was very disrespectful to him. God clearly tells us in scripture to respect our husbands. I had to confess all those things as sin. But I am so thankful I went because I do want to be the wife God commands me to be. The second topic was on "How to be a Beautiful Women to Your Children" Here God just really laid it out on me and showed me that I am an angry mother. I am easily fustrated and often take it our on my precious children. She asked us how we wanted our children to remember us, do we want them to feel comforted and at peace in our home. She told us that the mother sets the whole tone for her household and asked us what is the tone of your home. She taught us how to have a meek and quiet spirit and how to develop a relationship with our children that will be lasting. I want to leave a Godly legacy to Madelyn and Jackson and I pray often that God will help me to raise them in a way that when they are grown that they will have desire to still want to be around us and that they will feel comfort and peace when they come to visit. I want to build them up and help them to see themselves as the wonderful person God created them to be. I can't remember which night it was but one night the pastor gave us a pamplet that had "Put off...Put On" and it had a list of 78 sins printed on the left with scriptural insight in the middle and then on the right it had the opposite of that sin. He asked us to take it home and go through it and confess any of the sins we have committed and then to ask God to help us to do the opposite. This has been a painful yet wonderful experience for me as God has just really shown me how sinful I am. We are to be specific in confessing our sins. By being specific when confessing my sin I have just really felt the Lord giving me such peace. Well I could just go on and on but I am going to stop here. All this to say this has been a wonderful week and I can see the evidence of God working in my life and the life of my family through this revival.

A Beautiful Garbage Truck?????

Well the garbage truck just came by, which is a big event at our house. Jackson absolutely loves the garbage truck and has to see it when it comes. He will run to the front door and jerk open the blinds. Well he did the same thing today and when he saw the truck he said "oh mommy it is the beautiful garbage truck" It is funny how the simplest things in life delight children.

My 35th Birthday

I had a wonderful birthday inspite of getting one year older. Ben took the day off so we didn't do school. Ben and Jackson went and got donuts for breakfast and we just kind of had a lazy start to our day. Then we went to eat lunch at Newks (Madelyn's pick). That evening around 4pm my sweet friend Shawna came and got my kids and took them to her house so Ben and I could have a date. She had called Ben earlier in the week and worked up this surprise plan. She is so sweet! Ben and I went to Starbucks and got coffee, then went to both bookstores and then ate at Red Lobster. It was nice to actually get to talk to my husband for once. That morning Ben told me "well baby your halfway to 70" He thinks he is so funny. I am so thankful for the time, health, family and friends the Lord has blessed me with. The day before my birthday I meet some of my dearest friends at Ballard Park for lunch. We had a fun day enjoying being outside. My friend Jennifer made me the neatest door hanger with my last name on it. She is really talented. My friend Shawna brought cupcakes for the kids to eat. Then we went to see the new baby ducks and tried to fly a kite. It was a very good day!