Blessings

Wow.. Sometimes we take God's grace and blessings for granted.  My family and I have been at the beach for a few days, and over and over I have witnessed God pouring out His blessings on us.  To most people, these occurrences may just seem to be "lucky", but I believe that they are all God' doings.

Right off the bat, when we arrived at our hotel, we got there just as checking in time started.  There were LOADS of people in the waiting room, and the line went out the door.  Tons of people were raving on about their rooms not being ready.  They were slamming their fists, cussing, etc.  However, when we got up to the desk, our room was ready and we were checked in immediately.  Jonathan then told me that he was praying the whole time he was in line.  God answered his specific prayers.  Praise God!

Also. there were many times that we were out and about, eating, swimming, at the aquarium, where the crowds were big.  I silently prayed each night that our kids would be taken care of and safe.  God answered these prayers, but He did more than that.  Our kids were great!  They were patient, they didn't fuss, and they listened to us (for the most part).  Their behavior has made this trip wonderful.  I think that this is because God has placed a spirit of peace within them.  They feel safe, and are able to enjoy themselves, which enables us as parents to enjoy ourselves.  Amen!

Lastly, we switched hotels because the last few days of our trip are due to Jonathan's work schedule.  We had a full day today to wait out before we could check into our new hotel.  I think that God knew what we really wanted.  When we stopped at our hotel, to see if by chance our room was ready early, it was!  Whoo Hoo!  Again, I truly believe this was God's doing.  He has helped make this trip wonderful.  We try to live our lives so that He shines through everything we do.  I sure hope we were able to touch some lives while we were here, just by watching us and our children... We sure do pray that we each and every day we touch someone and show them a little piece of what God has in store for them...

Family

For the past 3 days, I have been visiting my family. I have 4 rowdy nephews here, along with my kids. It is a houseful! In all honesty, there have been a few times when myself or another adult here have gotten a little "testy" with the boys. It's hard to manage 5 silly boys at the same time!
Tonight was a little different. I had an absolute BLAST with my nephews! My son went with me to get ice cream sandwiches from DQ for everyone. While ordering he was sitting on the counter. Next thing I knew, he was alseep on my shoulder, but still sitting on the counter! Needless to say, I was sort of excited, because I thought that meant I could sort of relax since my child was down for the count. However, that's not how the night turned out.
As I was sitting downstairs trying to watch my favorite TV show, the boys were all there with me. They were a little hyper, so I had to think of a way to calm them down during my show. I explained to them that if they were quiet during the show, that on commercials we would have competitions.
It was great! We did head stands, balancing,pushups, situps, etc. I wasn't expecting them to stay interested for so long. We even ended up playing some races too! We had wheel barrel races, three legeged races, and crab walks. I laughed so hard, and was so excited that they stay so interested and got along so well. No one fought, no one cried or got hurt, it was amazing.
This led me to some scripture on family tonight. It says in 1 Timothy 3: 4b "If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?"
After tonight, this statement meant a lot to me. I always seemed to think that I was capable of doing lots of things in a volunteer status at church, and that I was fairly good at them. However, I often doubted my ability to "control" all of my nephews at the same time. And these kids were my own blood! Weird, isn't it?
I realized tonight that if I thought positively about situations such as managing and enjoying the time that I have with my 5 crazy, silly, wonderful nephews, things can go a lot smoother. I need to be able to understand and connect with my own family, so that I can take these skills and connect with strangers that come into the house of God in which I volunteer. Ineed to make positive impressions on these children's lives, and show them that I love them, relatives or not. I AM a child of God, and I CAN take care of my family!

Patience

Patience... What is that exactly? I'm not sure I remember, or even if I have any of that left! As my roof is being pounded on, my baby is crying, and my oldest is refusing to take a nap, patience is thin. This is the perfect time to be reminded of just how important it is to have patience... God given patience.

Romans 15:5 states, "May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Jesus Christ." Wow! This says a lot to me. First off, my family and I are followers of Jesus Christ. So there should be something about us that others can see and just know that we are "different." I don't mean different as in something wrong with us. That's where the patience comes in.

Even during times like today when I have strangers banging on my roof, my kids are a little distraught, and even the dogs are having a hard time staying calm, God gives me patience. God is encouraging me to be patient with my kids. God is helping me to stay calm, so that I set a tone for the rest of my house while my husband is out. I just need to stay close to Him, and tap into that calm serenity. Is this easy? Heck no! I have to recite Romans 15:5 over, and over, and OVER again. I have to meditate on it. I have to be reminded constantly. Just because I'm a Christian doesn't make my ride any easier... what makes it easier is the fact that i can find a place deep in my heart to store the Word that God has given me. I can pull that Word out whenever I need it, and I can live by it.