I M.E.T. Him on Monday! - The Answer Before the Question

On Sunday we heard a great sermon talking about how we should share our miracles and experiences with Christ, with others.  So...I am going to make Mondays be "I M.E.T. Him on Monday!"  M.E.T. stands for Miracles, Experiences and Testimony.  Each Monday I will share with you just a little of what Christ has done in my life in the way of miracles and experiences.

So I want to begin on the first Monday by sharing an experience that I had in December of 2008.  It will probably take me two weeks to share all of this incredible story!

I think the best way to share it is to begin with a journal/blog post from then....


The Answer Before the Question!

12/19/2008 (I was in the hospital when I wrote this)

 

God is absolutely amazing! Just the thought that He cares enough about us to WANT to spend time with us and communicate with us is unfathomable to me!

I am going through a fantastic book called Praying the Names of God by Ann Spangler. I love the book! Each week you learn one of the many names that God goes by in scripture.

Last week I studied Adonay, which means Lord, Master. The week was spent taking time to read scripture that points to what a blessing it is that we have Adonay as our Master and the promises that go along with that. The week was spent learning how I don't need to know what comes next, I just need to know whom it is I obey. He is everywhere and will not leave.

This week I studied Yahweh Rophe, which is the Lord who Heals. Monday and Tuesday were spent studying the promises of healing and how sometimes we forget about the spiritual healing and dwell on the physical. I jokingly asked the Lord if he was trying to tell me something :)

Tuesday night I started spitting up a lot of blood. At one point we could not get it to stop so we came to the ER. While doing a CT scan of my throat, the scan happened to pick up a bit of my right lung and showed something suspicious. They sent me for another scan and told me that they thought I had a very severe lung infection and were bringing in a specialist to look at it.

We were completely shocked as I have no cough and feel great, other than the blood thing (which I thought was due to a recent bought of strep throat). They admitted me into the hospital where I have been ever since in isolation. The reason for the isolation was to rule out TB, which they have, but they won't release me from isolation until 3pm this afternoon.

What they think I have is a type of lung infection that is not too common and is present everywhere and on everything. It is not contagious and usually people that are immune suppressed are the ones who get it.

They are going to biopsy it at 3pm this afternoon and we hope to be home tonight! The results could be in on Monday, but if they have to grow the culture, it could take 6 weeks. It is a slow growing infection so it is okay to wait that long.

The treatment is long, about 18 months, and not easy from what I understand. We are praying that when they go in today, it will be wiped away and we will not have to go down that road.

When we found this out on Wednesday, I could not breath from fear. We had not slept the night before because of all the tests and I was absolutely overwhelmed with fear and desperation at the situation. They said originally that I would be here until Sunday and I was so sad about all of the Christmas activities that the girls had that I would miss.

We chose to not let many people know because I just needed time to pray. I kept hearing the Lord remind me of what He taught me last week. He is my Master and knows the plan and result even when I don't. I was not alone, nor was I left to toss in the wind.

Then over the past few days He has taught me more about the Healer that He is and has shown me so many promises that I can call on!

As I look this morning over this experience, I can't help but thank Him! The Creator of everything, absolutely everything that is good and right and loving, cared enough about me and my wishy-washy feelings to show me answers before I even knew that I had any questions or needed any answers!

 

Me again....in 2013!!  God moved in sooo many different ways during this experience/miracle!  I will share more of the story next Monday.  But just the fact that He had be preparing my heart to face this trial in the weeks prior was such an act of love, that it was hard to comprehend!!

 

Take the time to share some of your miracles and experiences with me and we can add others to the Monday blog!!

 

Blessings to you all!

Applying Simple Living to Life! - The Last in the Series

***My thoughts and prayers go out to the people involved in the Boston Marathon tragedy.  So many lives changed by one senseless act...just breaks my heart.***


I told you guys the other day that I would share how we used our simple living guidelines in conflict resolution with our children.

The girls came in a while back and, except for one, they were having a bit of a fuss.  Nothing major, but enough that I could tell they were pretty frustrated with other.

In our home we have a general rule that if there is conflict, you solve it with the person in whom you are engaged in it with.  If DD #2 is fussing with DD #4, then they need to solve it together.  They can't go to DD #3 or to me.  The exception is if someone does something that is physically harmful or uses words that are harmful.

So, I could tell three of the girls were not happy with each other and it seemed to drag on.  I was silently praying through the situation for them when the Lord put on my heart that we should use our simple living guidelines.

Without allowing them to tell me who did what, I asked them if they each:

were being content,
showing love,
working with their hands,
minding their own business,
and responding in ways that are not dramatic, but easy to understand.

With this one question one daughter said that she was not working as hard as she should have with her hands.  Another admitted that she got herself involved in the conflict by not minding her own business.  And the third said she had responded in a way that was probably dramatic.

Soon after, I then heard them outside the library door apologizing to each other.

What a blessing for all of us!  It is so nice when the Lord uses lessons that He shares with us in one part of our lives to apply to another.

So for my final question of how I apply simple living, I have found that I apply it to everything!

My relationships, my schedule, my workload, our homeschooling...EVERYTHING!!

A Day in the Life....

Some have asked what our day looks like.  Well... for the most part, no day is the same!!  But this is what we strive for :)

4:45 - I am up and doing work on the computer.  Usually finishing up a blog post, paying bills, etc.  I  also put on a load of laundry.
5:30 - Time with the Lord.  I begin by reading the Word for a while.  Then I write in my journal and spend  some time praying and listening.

6:00 - The girls get up.  We get dressed, make beds and pick up rooms.
6:30 - We all have a Bible reading and time in prayer.  Right now we are reading through the book of Daniel.
7:00 - Short hike together.
7:30 - Prepare and eat breakfast followed by clean up..
8:15 - Girls work on various subjects while I flutter in and out helping whomever needs help. 
11:30 - I prepare lunch while girls continue to work.
12:00 - Eat lunch and clean up.
12:45 - Quiet time for everyone!!  During this time I read or check email.  DD #2 usually grabs a quick nap, while the other girls read or play quietly.  Our rules for this time is that whatever you do must be done quietly and alone.  Everyone needs some alone time, but in a family of six, that is sometimes hard to come by, so we schedule it in :)
1:45 - Most schoolwork is done before lunch.  In the afternoon the two older girls work on anything they did not finish or they work on their team policy debate.  Most of the time it is debate :)  The two younger girls and I work on some type of project together, be it baking, something outside, errands, etc.
3:45 - Family project!  This just depends on what needs done around here.  Sometimes it is gardening, painting the shed, burning brush form the burn pile, weeding the flower beds and so on. 
5:00 - One of the girls and I prepare dinner while the others have a bit of free time.
5:30 - Dinner!!
6:00 - Girls clean kitchen while Farmer Willie and I take some time to visit after his arrival home :)
6:30 - Family time!!  This can be taking a hike together, sitting and worshipping outside by the fire pit, watching American Idol (this is the one show that we watch on our antenna tv!  Love me some  Idol!!), reading a book aloud or something of that sort.  We all really enjoy this time together!!  The other night we had graham crackers and milk and played a card game called Liar!!

7:30 - Evening chores and pick up.
8:00 - The younger two girls get bathed and ready for bed while the older two have a bit of free time.
8:30 - My youngest goes to bed while her older sisters have a little bit of quiet/calm free time.
9:00 - DD #3 goes to bed while her older sisters start bed prep.
10:00 - Everyone is in bed and conked out!!

Like I said, we very rarely achieve our ideal day, but this is how we try to structure our day.

Taking a Look at the Simple Life

Alrighty, let's move on to day 3!!

I know that I am called to live a simple life  and I know the condition my heart needs to be in to achieve simple living.  Day 2 I looked at actually defining how to live a simple life.

So today I want to write about what it looks like.

If you hear only one thing from this post, understand that you do NOT have to move out to a farm, raise you own food and sew your own clothes in order to live a simple life!!  You can achieve simplicity in the city, suburb or in the country.  It is not about where you live as much as it is about how you live.

So my goals are to spend my days
being content,
loving,
working with my hands,
minding my own business,
and responding in ways that are not dramatic, but easy to understand. 

What does it LOOK like for us?

My family and I get up early. 
     **We get up early for many reasons.  From Jesus setting the example of rising early, to the Proverbs 31 woman, early rising is mentioned favorably in the Bible. I have found that if we are up and working together early our evening takes on less drama.  Probably because we are all ready to plop into bed!!  :) For me personally, this falls under the goal of working with my hands.  I am most productive in the hours before lunch.  And, many times this is the only time I can slip away in the quiet and spend time with the Lord.

We try to work very hard and remember the Sabbath.
     **Teaching good work ethic when children are young is very important.  My girls began chores around the age of two.  Do they always love doing chores?  Nope!!  But chores are beneficial to them and it teaches them to work without grumbling or complaining.  They not only learn the importance of hard work, but it keeps them out of others' business. 

       Another important thing regarding work is to observe the Sabbath.  We need the day of rest that the Lord put into our schedule!!

Serve others.
     **For us this takes different forms.  My daughters do volunteer work for different organizations.  As a family we serve in the mission field together for two weeks in the summer.  My husband  began a new tradition for us a while back that whenever we travel as a family, we find someplace to serve in that area.  Sometimes it is at a soup kitchen, clothes closet, or a church. 

        It is easy for us to get caught up serving those in the community and forget to serve our own family members!  So we really encourage serving each other.  When someone asks for a favor within our family, we try to let our answer be yes as often as possible.

Get outside frequently!
     **I can think of few things that inspire contentedness and love more than seeing the sun rise or set, or watching the flowers blow in the fields!  Even just sitting in your backyard listening to birds sing.  God's presence is so prevalent in the world around us.  He makes it easy to fall in love with each day if we will just slow down and take the time to notice His love notes.

Limit screen time
     **I don't know about you guys, but I have enough worldly influence in my life without adding three hours of television each day to it!  Just the commercials make me blush!! 

       This also includes computer time.  I am the first to admit that things like facebook, Skype, etc. have brought many people closer together.  You can reconnect with friends from years past and keep up with those that have moved away, but be careful my friend!!  Spending hours playing games on the computer or even "researching" on the computer is taking away time to work with our hands and with others. 
 
      I get caught up in too much computer time and it falls under the guise of "research."  I hear about a new way to organize things, decorate things, teach things, etc. and I go spend HOURS learning about it, finding out where I can get it, and so on. 

Guess what?  There is a time and a place for that, but it is not as often as I do it.  Nope, I would say that is another sign of my struggle with discontentedness (I don't think this is a word, but I'm going with it!!)!

Spend time with the Lord
     **There is no way to live a truly simple life without communicating with your chief planner every day.  There have been stages in my life that this time was while I was nursing little ones.  I went through one time, where I spent the entire time on my knees, because otherwise I would fall asleep!

       This time does not have to be perfect, it just needs to BE.  I said earlier that the one thing I wanted you to take away from this was that you can live anywhere and still have a simple life....skip that!  If you take anything away from what I am writing today, let it be that the key to a simple life...the key to a joyful life...the key to a peaceful life...is to start it with Him.

Are we the perfect, simple family?  Uhhhh....NO WAY!!  Not even close :)  I would say that, for the most part, our drama and complications seem to outnumber our simple, but we are striving!

I am excited to share with you tomorrow a way that we applied our simple living guidelines to help our children solve a dispute!!  I was praying through the situation as it happened and it was amazing to see the Lord work!

Simple Living in the Boxing Ring!!

On Monday, I looked at whether or not I am called to live a simple life.  Based on the following scripture, I concluded that I am and it begins with being content with what I have!

• Hebrews 13:5 states  ^"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
• 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12 says "And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,  and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."

Today I want to spend time looking at how I can apply that to my life.  How do I actually LIVE out a simple life?

The scripture above gives us some hints as to what that life looks like....

be free from the love of money
love more and more
mind your own business
work with your hands

Simple is defined in many ways, but the way that I look at it in reference to life is:  easy to understand, not complicated.  This definition completely enfolds what scripture tells us a simple life is and sets parameters for me in my quest to understand what I am called to do.

So in order to apply simple living, my day should be

• free from the love of money
• I should love more and more
• mind my own business
• work with my hands
• act and conduct my business in a way that is easy to understand and is not complicated

Yesterday my day started simple enough!  We woke up early, did household and farm chores, spent time in the Word, enjoyed breakfast together, worked on several school subjects and then went out for a short hike.  I was soaking in the simplicity of the day!!  Then...

BAM!!  My sweet eleven-year old suddenly developed a high fever, so she was down for the count!!

But we held together and worked on.  We enjoyed lunch together, finished our schoolwork and then three of us headed out to work in the garden while one stayed in to bake cookies to share with our new neighbors and do some laundry.  My oldest daughter and I even got to take a break and go to a friends house to practice milking the goats!!

Dinner came and I got knocked off course!!  Our plan had been to roast hot dogs outside at the fire pit, but it was too windy.  I did not have anything else thawed out, so I began to panic!  I knew that I did not want to eat out, but I could not figure out what to fix for dinner.

Okay, calm down Kristi!!  I finally decided to go simple and make some grilled cheese sandwiches.  That went well and we were back on track.  Then...BAM again!!  That sweet sick daughter started having trouble breathing, so we were doctor bound!!

Drove 20 minutes to the clinic and they quickly started breathing treatments on her.  After a couple of hours, we were released with a long list of prescriptions to pick up.  I went by the pharmacy next door and they said they needed to see my RX card, my insurance card was not enough.

So....we headed back home to drop her off and pick up the correct card.  Thank goodness Farmer Willie was home, so we rode together to pick it up.

By the time all of this was over, it was after 10pm.  No one got to bed on time and the evening was a wreck!!

I went to bed very discouraged and wondering how in the world I could even write about simple living when my day was such a mess!!

That is when it occurred to me, a large part of living simply is learning to roll with the punches. 

Yes, I would have much rather just put natural oils on her feet, elderberry in her little body, had her drink hot tea with honey and sent her to bed to rest.  But that didn't happen!!  In fact, she is on a super high dose of steroids on top of antibiotics and breathing treatments!!

But you know what, that is life.  Life does not always come at us in simplistic form.  In fact, sometimes life just plain sucks!!!  (sorry mom for the potty word!!) :)

Living a simple life is not so much about what comes at you during your day, but about how you take that day on. 

I would much rather tell you guys that I spent the evening at her bedside crocheting a blanket while I kept her stock of hot tea and honey supplied, but that was not my life yesterday!!  And I don't think it has to be in order for me to live and maintain a Biblically simple life.

I just have to...

Prioritize my life in a way that is pleasing to the Lord and in particular, not have a love of money.

Love everyone I meet!

Keep my mouth shut about others affairs!!  Yuppers, no gossiping!

Work throughout each day, six days a week, in a manner and with an attitude that is pleasing to the Lord!

And finally I need to do all I can to keep my responses to life free from drama and keep them easily understood!

Living the Simple Life Begins With Contentment

Simple Living....heard that before?  Yup, me too!  In fact, I have used the phrase a couple of times.  Okay, maybe many times!! 

In fact, it was one of our goals with moving out here, to lead simpler lives.

But what does it really mean?

Simple Living.  Living Simply.  Simplifying Life.  There are many ways to phrase it, but am I called to live a simple life?   How do I live it out?  How do I apply it?

Over the next several days, I am going investigate those questions and see how it applies to my life.  I hope that by writing it out, you might be able to find a word, phrase or passage that helps you too!!


Today, I am looking at the question...Am I called to live a simple life? 

My belief is yes.

•  Hebrews 13:5 states  ^"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
• 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12 says "And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,  and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."

See how in Hebrews 13:5 it says to be content with what you have?  We all have different amounts. 

Different amounts of money.
Different amounts of resources. 
Different cultures. 
Different societal responsibilities. 
Different size families. 
Different size houses. 

We are not to be content with having enough, we are to be content with what we have. 

Simple Living begins with my mindset and then extends into my choices and actions.  And it begins with being content with what I have.  Whether I have more money than I know what to do with or I don't know how I will pay the bills next month (ummmm, the last one happens wayyyy  more often for me!!)!

Sometimes it isn't easy to tell when we are not content.  It can show up in many ways and in the form of many actions.  Sometimes, we don't really even recognize it. 

For me, it can show up in the form of rearranging furniture!  In our early years of marriage, Farmer Willie used to joke with me that every day when he came home I should be at the door with a map so he could find his way around the house!  Oh yes, I honestly rearranged that much!!

Another thing that I tend to do when I am discontent is to organize and create systems.  Now, there is NOTHING wrong with organizing and creating systems!!  But, when you make completely new systems every month and spend half the month getting everything ready to start your new system....ummmm....you got some issues there!!  :) 

What do you do if you just don't feel content? 

• Well, what has worked for me is first and foremost....pray! 

• Then, I try and take notice of what I DO have and give thanks for it.

• Serve others!!  Helping and serving others is a great way to slow down and look at lives other than my own.  Many times seeing that I have the ability to help and impact others increases my thankfulness and contentment.

I am called to live a simple life and the first step in doing this is to be content with what I have!! 

Beginning To Close Out The School Year...

Our homeschooling year is drawing to a close.  We should be done by the end of April!  We usually begin earlier in the summer so that we can finish a month early and enjoy the spring weather before summer hits full force!! 

As the year closes, we begin to look forward and plan for the new year coming.  Next year will be different in many ways.  We are working to have a simpler lifestyle and this will have an impact on our schooling.  Due to the move, we have new opportunities such as 4H, farm sciences, etc.  And the biggest difference is that our oldest daughter will go off to college.

As a homeschooling mom, seeing her succeed by not only getting into all of her colleges of choice, but getting many scholarships, makes my heart happy.  I am happy for her, that she is entering a new stage in her life!  And I must admit that I feel a bit of happy relief for myself!  No!  Not relief she is going away, but relief in our homeschooling success.

As a homeschooling mom, my goal has always been to equip my girls for whatever the Lord has planned for them.  For some of them, that will include college.  For others it might be marriage, vocational school, starting their own business, mission work....who knows??!!  But I did not want to limit them because of choices I made such as laziness on my part, not enough research, slacking off, over using the computer, etc. 

Though my husband and I have known that we were educating in the manner that the Lord called us to, there was always that thought in the back of my mind wondering if I could be messing it up....messing her education up.

Now, I don't need the SAT or a college admittance officer to tell me that my child is adequately educated, but it is still nice to hear it!! 

So as I look back over the last year, I am pleased with the outcome and all that we have learned.  I am also trying to absorb every second of it knowing that next year will be so very different.

Looking toward next year, I can rest in the fact that my oldest daughter will be doing what the Lord called her to and that her daddy and I did our job to prepare her.  I can also rest in the fact that we will be walking down the Lord's path with our three daughters still schooling at home. 

But...who is going to prepare me for having my baby girl leave the nest?  I know that the Lord will be there to guide me and lead me on this new journey, but I have to admit, I am in no hurry to get there!!!

To Goat...Or Not To Goat...That Is The Question!!

Who'da ever thunk it??!!!  Goats ROCK!!

Oh yes my city friends, you heard me correctly, they totally rock!

I'm not talking about the fact that they will try and eat a rock!  I am talking about the yummy milk they produce, the awesome cheese you can make with that milk, the kids they produce that you can sell and the incredible lessons that you and your family can learn by having them around!!  Yes, I have fallen for the goat.

So now the question arises...to goat or not to goat? 

Yesterday I was blessed by a new friend by being able to spend time meeting two goats we are considering purchasing.  She showed me how to milk them and told me how to care for them.

Now, I will admit that she milked a full goat in the time it took me to get a couple of squirts out, but she assured me that I should get better with practice :)

She also let me try some of the milk.  And all I can say is YUMMY!!!  Frankly I was dreading this part.  I figured it would taste gross, but I was planning on becoming accustomed to it over time.  But...now I am standing in my new friends kitchen with a glass of goat milk!!  After saying a quick prayer that I would not puke it out on her beautiful kitchen floor, I took a sip.  Oh my goodness, it was good!!  I could not taste any difference between that and the milk I buy at the store.  It was just plain good.  She told me that the cheese is even better!

Then it got even better!  I got to go outside to meet the goats and learn how to milk them!

My dear city slicker friends, let me tell you, it is harder than it looks!!  She made it look sooo easy, but when I grabbed that teat, nothing came out!!  There is definitely an art to milking!

Wanna know the neatest thing I learned about raising and milking goats?  It is an incredible opportunity for the family!  My friend and her daughter worked side by side milking, while her sons took turns keeping the chickens away, and boy did they have fun doing it!  What a fun time!

I went, met and fell head over heels for goats, so that leads us back to the original question...to goat or not to goat?

There is one big obstacle for us though...travel.  We do a lot of traveling as a family and once you commit to goats, that becomes difficult. 

So we are praying.  The good thing about having a question is that I know the Lord has an answer!!  Personally, I am hoping that the answer is yes, but I know that His plan is wayyyy better than mine!

So stay turned to find out the answer to.....To Goat, Or Not To Goat!!!