3 in 30 Goal Update

My goals are listed here for this month.

1-Defining ministry has been coming along great as I tarry in prayer and God's word. Amy Bayliss is doing a great series on this same topic that I am also learning from right now. You can check it out on her blog.

2-I have been writing everyday. More on the blog since I have been taking a break from Facebook and Twitter.

3-I have increased my water intake though I find this as being the hardest of them all. I will try to increase even more this next week.

Been blessed by going through this with you all in the challenge. It is still not too late to join in just click on the picture above.

Some Nice Healing Taking Place

Many of you have read my post about taking a break from Facebook and Twitter. If you have not you can find it here. This is what God has been doing:
1-He has shown me from where this deep need for approval is rooted.
2-He has shown me that He is the only one from whom we need approval.
3-He has shown me He is the One and Only who grows our ministries.
4-He has given me great insight from an amazing mentor.
5-In addition to the unhealthy approval need, He has shown me how much time I waste on social media. There is a balance and He is teaching me to find it.
6-He has shown me that my online presence does matter and I need to use it for His glory alone.
7-He has reminded me to keep my eyes on Him.
8-He has reminded me that Facebook and Twitter are awesome opportunities to pray for others.

Okay so now I have cleaned some things up and will be able to return soon I am sure. I love how God shows us these things in our hearts that are not pleasing to Him yet by the work of the Holy Spirit He removes them. How by the blood of the Cross in Christ we are completely approved by Him and that is all that matters.

It has been only a few days away so far but I have enjoyed catching up on blog reading, spending more time with my family, and sinking deep into His word. Now I need to be certain I hear Him clearly on my time to return. Unfortunately when I do things like this I am super hard on myself and where God may have released me to go back on I will be harder on myself than needed. Please pray for me in this. Also there are a few things I just need to clean up to make it a more safe environment.

Wondering if this ADHD is Wrong

While we were stuck in the cabin, which seems like yesterday, my husband and I watched the movie Temple Grandin. It is a really good movie about a woman who overcomes many obstacles dealing with her autism. As we watched the show I just cried. Not because it was a sad movie, rather it was quite inspirational. I cried because I saw many similarities with my youngest child.

My girl saw parts of this movie and she was comforted by the fact that this lady thought in pictures just like her. She wondered if anyone else did that. It opened our eyes to a lot of things. We took this time to just observe and we noticed things we didn't pay attention to before. We think that what this quirkiness is called is Asperger's. This is a high functioning form of autism.

We checked out some websites and online support groups and it sounds so very similar. Things we have been struggling through are not unusual for those with this. I believe God created my girl perfect and this is just a greater opportunity for her to be challenged to overcome and grow into an even stronger person. She is amazing to me and brings so much life to our home.

As we implement things and try to understand her better we are seeing some great improvements in her and our family. We are all learning together how to make this work and how to best prepare her for whatever God has in store for this beautifully gifted child. Did I tell you she got baptized a few weeks ago? I cannot wait to see all God has in store for her and us. It is an honor and privilege to be entrusted to raise this little one.

Enduring Adverse Reactions

One horrible thing about fighting this skin infection with antibiotics is the adverse reactions my body endures because of them. It cannot be a good thing for my body yet it is what is diagnosed to heal. The first time I did it I think I healed but it being a year now it is hard to remember. It comes and goes. Gets better and worse.

This particular antibiotic I am on causes extreme fatigue and horrible joint pain. It is hard for me to determine if it is just the pill or because I once had late stage Lyme disease. Lyme disease triggers horrible responses to antibiotics. More horrible than I can properly describe. These side effects are mild comparatively to what I endured before. I was treated for about a year of heavy duty antibiotics and thought I was going to die in the process. Hard treatment. So because of those experiences it makes me wonder why I react this way to them?

Anyway, I would just appreciate prayer as I endure this for the sake of a cure. I must know that I am sharing in the sufferings of Christ and He completely understands this and relates to me in it. He carries me. I need to keep my eyes on Him. His joy is my strength. In my weakness He is strong. He will never leave or forsake me. I trust Him.

Cabin Deja vu - Snowed in Again

Today we got snowed in again in the south. I am beginning to wonder what all this global warming talk nonsense is all about. Clearly we keep getting snow. Pretty comical. Today it was okay to be snowed in because we are in our home. We have plenty to sustain us until it clears up. Schools have been cancelled for tomorrow as well so I am not sure how long this will last.

We have a driveway that would be a great luge track. It is completely covered and iced. We had 8 inches of snow today. Wow! We are not those folks who go out and buy a sled for a few days a year. We make big slabs of wood and trash can lids work for this. I guess we have creatively adapted to our current environment.

However, I am feeling tempted to move further south. This amount of snow is more than enough for me. It is fun for a bit but this much is just overrated.

But, I am thankful...
1-We get some great time with the family.
2-We are creating snow memories (which I was afraid the kids would miss out on since we moved south).
3-We have power.
4-We have food.
5-We are in an environment where we have what we need.

Memory Work Monday

So excited to tell you all that I have done well on my verses from last week by the grace of God!! I do keep tripping up on my Philippians because I switched from NIV to ESV. But I will get it as I practice. :)

This week I will work on Philippians 1:7-11
 ⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. ⁸ God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
 ⁹ And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰ so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

I love how Paul prays. So much we can glean from him.

Now, since my next memory verse for SSMT is not due til 1/15 I will just keep meditating on Phil. 4:29. It has helped me greatly with the words I speak this week. I love how God's word renews our minds and has the power to change us.

Here are some verses I am writing down concerning my struggle with the need for approval. Hoping to burn them into my brain and heart as well.

¹⁵ Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. ~2 Timothy 2:15
(Look closely to who we are to present ourselves too) GOD! Not man. :)

⁴ On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 1 Thessalonians 2:4
(Look closely at who we are to please) GOD! Not man. :)

For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. ~2 Corinthians 10:18
(Look closely at who is the one who does the commending) God! Not man. :)

Unclean.....Unclean

I do not think anything in life is a simple coincidence. I believe all things happen at certain times for a certain reason. Why do I think this? Because we have an intelligent designer. A great God who knows the number of our days, who knew us before we were even born, who even knows the very number of hairs on our heads. Now that is a God of order and of great detail yet so very personal and involved. I love that.

This post comes at a perfect time like I stated above. It has been a year now that I have been dealing with this horrible skin infection. It seems to cling on not wanting to give up. I may need to become more drastic in my treatment of it by fasting or eating only non processed foods but I am on a strong antibiotic which makes those things a little hard to do. The medicine makes me really sick if I do not have something substantial on my stomach...but I digress. Praying through these things.

Today I woke up with it looking really gross and I mean seriously disgusting. The spot that is like that is right on the center top of my nose. Talk about not being able to hide that one! I tried to cover it up but to no avail. Because of that I decided to stay home from church today. I cannot be around people looking like this. I do not think I am contagious but if an open sore is around then I don't want to chance it.

Okay enough with the gross stuff. It just reminded me of what God has had me reading lately (no coincidence) I have been reading through Leviticus. I love this book so much. This time in my reading I paid really close attention to the big deal that was made with people who had skin infections. There is an entire two chapters that address this issue. Basically the person with the infection was sent to live outside the camp for 7 days then was reexamined to see if he could come back in. He was deemed unclean until the priest could say he was clean again. Some cases were leprosy and some were not.

I always wondered what that felt like. Now I think I get it a little bit. My pastor did not say don't come near because you are unclean, that would be ridiculous, however I said it. I am also reminded that God never said that being unclean is associated with being a bad or sinful person. Never did He say that. This was just good for the people to prevent spreading of diseases. They did not have antibiotics and things like we do today.

Also, anything lame, defected, or deformed was not considered holy in those days. But today we have JESUS. He has made all things clean through His sacrifice and shed blood on the cross. He was not afraid to go to the leapers and heal them. He came to save those that were helpless. So now, I am clean in HIM alone though my skin is not on the outside. He is the most amazing thing to me. I adore Him. I stand in awe that someone like me can be deemed CLEAN.