Testing..

I just wanted to see if that worked...it did.

I'm feeling rather computer savvy right about now.

Source: sparklesolo.tumblr.com via Jen on Pinterest

All Things Being Equal...Life Ain't Fair

My dad used to always say, "Well Kid, life ain't fair. Kinda sucks, huh?"

Yup. It sure does.

In a perfect world everyone would have enough food and clothing and a place to sleep at night. Kids wouldn't be abused by or afraid of adults; they would be protected and cherished. Bad things would only happen to bad people and good things would only happen to good people. Everyone would have a fair shot. Spouses wouldn't cheat. Friends wouldn't betray. Parents wouldn't lose children and vice versa. Everything would stack up perfectly, and my dinners would never be so bad the dog won't eat it. (hush you!)

Life ain't fair though. Sucks. To be honest, life is treating me rather well right now, but my heart is heavy today for those who aren't so fortunate. I'm praying for you. I know God has got this. I'm here if you need me. Here's a bit of hope to hold onto for today:

"There is nothing-no circumstance, no trouble, no testing that can ever touch me until, first of all it has gone past God and past Christ, right through me. If it has come that far, it has come with great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment. But as I refuse to become panicky, as I lift my eyes to Him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart, no sorrow will ever disturb me, not trial will ever disarm me, no circumstance will cause me to fret-for I shall rest in the joy of the what my Lord is! That is the rest of victory!" Alan Redpath Victorious Christian Living

Part Two of So I was Reading My Bible...

So the second thing that popped out at me while reading James 1:19-21 in the Message is the following:

"In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden with your life."

I don't know how much you like to garden, but I don't. I love a beautiful garden, but I so have no passion in seeing one come to fruition. It's hot, dirty, with bugs and spiders and whatnot. No thanks. That's why I like my sis to visit....she likes that stuff...bonus!

The awesome sauce here is God is the Gardener of our soul and will make us so beautiful that people will stop and stare. If we let Him, of course.

Like I said, gardening is dirty. There are weeds that need to be pulled, invasive vines that keep coming back. Thorns. Bugs. Spiders. Heat. Poison Ivy. All kinds of mess. We like to think we keep a nice yard of our soul, but the neighbors are talking. We suck at that kind of yard work. We lack the skill, the will and the power to make the kind of garden God wants to make of us.

By letting Him do all the dirty work, you will be surprised at the fruit you bear. Amazing and exotic flowers will bloom in your heart giving you the ability to make the lives of others more fragrant. Let Him pull those things out of you that are strangling your spirit and making you weak. It might be tough, but He's much tougher. It might hurt, but when you see the results, it will make it all so worth it.

He's willing to make your soul the envy of everyone...if you just let Him do the work.

So I'm All Reading the Bible...

^{When I get to this verse in James, chapter one, The Message version:}

^"19-21Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life."

Two things jumped out and made go "That's right!" I'll talk about the second one tomorrow.

1) "God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger."

How applicable is this in so much? Anger is a natural reaction, but some of my Christian brothers and sisters are messed up. They take stuff THEY are mad about,i.e. the war, gay people, monkeys that can yodel, etc. and say "We're mad because God is mad. He likes us, not you. You suck, Sinner!"

Let's break that down. Point of fact: God is not cool with sin thus why He sent Jesus to die on the cross to atone for sin (all the stuff you know you're not supposed to do but do anyway because you want to, dang it). Sin does make God mad; our sin cost Him a lot. Also note that God did that because He loves us as His children. Sin separates us from God and ultimately, hurts us. That's why He hates it. He's mad about sin the way we get mad at our kids for doing things they shouldn't do. We're upset and most times we have to punish the wrongdoing, but we never stop loving the kid even though we hate what they did/are doing because it's hurting them. God hates sin because it hurts the sinner that He loves. Got that? Okay. Now...

Those who shout angrily that "God hates _____!" are more than likely the ones who are actually angry about ____. Let's call them the Miffed. Fill in the blank yourself, and be creative because it is highly probably that God might not even have much of an opinion on that blank. There are certain social issues out there that need to be addressed, true. But God does NOT hate politicians, gay people, soldiers, Muslims or anyone else. The Bible says (someplace for I cannot find the reference, but if you know it, post it in the comment section) that God wants us none of us to perish for all to know repentance and everlasting life. All means all 8 billion of us by the by. Not just Bolivians or people who only wear polka dots. All. He doesn't hate anyone. The Miffed do though and they justify it by stamping God's name to their hate. I'm sure the Miffed have some verse they could quote me about why they are right. I have some verses I could quote to you about how donkeys really can talk like in Shrek and how God has bears eat teenagers who call old men bald. I'm also sure that the Miffed and my verses are quite out of context. Please don't judge the Bible or those who believe in it on such snips and snaps.

Quick rabbit trail: If one says God hates something He doesn't, is that taking the Lord's name in vain? Hmmmm....

"God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger."

I have an idea: I will give you a great example of the Miffed and how God sees that. I will use the Bible, and I will even do it in context...true story. Here goes John 8:2-11

² At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. ³ The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴ and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” ⁶ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷ When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

⁹ At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

In the Miffed vs. Jesus, the Miffed bring the sinner caught in the act even, screaming, "You hate her! She's a sinner! We got proof the Bible says even!" Jesus could've said, "True story. Stone her. She sucks." Notice He didn't do that...what?! Game changer! One of the many things I love about Jesus is how He's so personal with everyone. When you pray, He's all, "I got that. She needs help and revelation aaaaaand what about you? Let's talk about what you got going on right now." I love how He just turns the table on the Miffed and is all,"I see. Adultress...noted...aaaaaand what bout you? No reasons for us to be stoning you? Because at this point, I'm the only one who can throw a stone with this criteria." Love. It. The Miffed were angry and hated her and wanted her dead for what she did. Jesus was angry with what she did, but He still loved her and had mercy. He just wanted better for her. Jesus is so AWESOME!!

Big Note: Pay attention to how Jesus forgave her but never said what she did wrong was okay. In fact, He told her NOT to be doing that anymore. If we want to be like Jesus, that's what Christians should be doing.

Examples: -"I can't tell you that I support your relationship because the Bible says you need to be married first. I can tell you that I still love you and no matter what you choose to do won't change that, ever." or "If you want to watch girly movies when we hang out, I'm out. I'm keeping my mind pure for the Lord and my wife. You wanna do some Halo though, I'm down."

"God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger." It comes from His love, mercy, and willingness to love us through our stupid. If you are doing wrong, He won't ever say it's right. He will always say, however, "I still love you, knock that mess off and follow Me. I got way better than that." and He do!

Don't be one of the Miffed. Be a Game Changer.

HAHAHAHAAA! Oh Jen, You Really Do Need Adult Supervision

You know, sometimes things just don't work out the way you think they just might. For instance, I pictured going on my hike

with some folks from church and then

going home and getting ready for my

sample sale. That was pretty much it. Nothing, I don't know, dramatic or anything. And then...

And then Eric went back they way we came because Ella "just can't take it any more..why is there so much walking?" Perhaps if they installed those moving walkways people would be more inclined to enjoy the great outdoors. I'm just brainstorming here.

And then I had to catch up with everyone else because Lili L.O.V.E.S. Delaney so obviously she had to hike with her. I get Lili back and Eric is too far to follow but I can still see the other group so I follow them. And then,

And then there were TWO different paths to follow. So I follow the path markers we had been following. It was the right direction but the wrong path. It took me a lot longer because I had to carry Lili (who was a little trooper even at 4) most of the way and the path was the longer one as well. A mountain biker told me I didn't have far to go (Praise the Good, Good, really really Good Lord!) when I heard someone shouting my name. I answer back to hear "Don't move! We're sending a dog after you!"

I laugh knowing that there is no way on this side of Heaven that I shall ever live this down. It's not that they called out the dogs; they were training in the area that day, but come on! Oh man. That one's gonna stick to me like a milk dud. Also, search and rescue people and their dogs are burly my friends. Just saying.

So what did I learn?

1) I am blessed to have people in my life who like me enough to send out search parties to find me.

2) It is possible to be going the right way down the wrong path...there's a sermon in that I just know it.

3) Team Easley will be hiking as a five pack from now on.

4) Yup, apparently everything I do is dramatic....even going for a walk in the woods.

Not a Lot of Moms Will Admit This....

Here's the deal. I love my kids. I want them. I am blessed to have them and to know them. I wouldn't want them to change...okay, I do want them to whine less and pick up more but you get my meaning. My girls are truly the best thing I've ever done, and for all my Jesus freakies out there, I do know God did most of the work there.

With all that being said, I don't always like them. They annoy me. They are hard to live with because they always drain me, but rarely to they fill me back in. They are stubborn. They can be conniving. I'm sure if given enough time, paper clips and chewing gum, they could find a way to take over the world so that they would never have to go to bed on a school night. I'm also quite certain that some of the sounds they make when screaming, if recorded, would be used as torture devices. Being a mom to these girls is hard.

Understand also that I am NOT saying that my motherhood life is harder than any other mother. In fact, the only moms who truly have it harder than any other are those whose children are terminally ill or whose children's minds will never grow out of a child-like state. My struggles are just different.

I did want to be a mom. Like many things in life, they didn't come out the way I had planned. My eldest had speech delays and she is very tall. I got a lot of Baby Huey comments. It's not funny. I will beat you and pray for your healing. Yes, it's a sore spot. My second born has autistic tendencies. What? My third is in speech classes for copying the communication patterns of her sisters. Are you kidding me? I'm a communications major! I taught pre-school, and I can't teach my own kids how to talk? I'm in constant meetings with teachers, speech pathologists, and psychobabble people. I am always in translation mode: do they understand or are they playing the game? 2+2 isn't 2, work with me! I KNOW you know this, prove it!

I didn't sign up for this....oh, wait....yes, I did. I just didn't get what I thought I was signing up for. My challenges are no harder than yours; they are different. Single moms have different challenges. Only child moms, the same. Military moms, moms of multiples, the list continues. Motherhood isn't always fun and happy. It's hard and brutal and painful and little gratitude for your work comes your way during the battles.

But I do fight when I'm tired. I do breath deeply when I want scream. I will NOT give up on my daughters because I believe they will live a very happy and blessed life if I don't. I will deal with what I've been given with prayer and love. I'm not always happy, but I always have the Joy of the Lord and the knowledge that He thinks I can do this even though I don't always agree.

No, I'm not always enraptured by motherhood. I am, however, always blessed by my children. I always love and support them. I am always proud of them. I always believe in them. I would choose them as mine if given the choice. I will fight to the death for them. Though they break my heart, I will strive never to break theirs.

It's what I signed up for....all of it...like or lump it.