Call the Bug Man

We moved into our house about 9 months ago and from day one was have been fighting to keep these little tiny nasty "German roaches" from taking over. It might seem for weeks that they are gone, then all of a sudden I start seeing a few of them again. Our house has been sprayed by the bug man more times than I can count. Seeing them in the laundry room, or bathroom is pretty disgusting, but the even nastier thing is what happens after he comes; I find tons and tons of dead bugs everywhere, the kitchen counters, the pantry, all over the house. That means that the day before the bug man came, those same bugs were alive in those same places, hiding out of site just waiting for the lights to go out so they could make their selves at home. So NASTY! (Please don't think we are dirty gross people, because we try hard to keep things clean and sanitary, but these little pests are more than we can handle sometimes. LOL!)

This week as I was reading in Ephesians I came across a passage that reminded me of my little roaches. "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible." (5:8-13)

All of us have things in our life that we would rather keep hidden in the dark, secrets from others, secrets from God. We all have our roaches; our sins, our anger, our unforgivness. And as long as we keep the lights off they are free to roam and live and devour whatever they want. That is good news for the roaches but very bad news for our hearts' condition. God wants so badly for us to allow him to shed light in those dark places in our hearts so that he can exterminate the bugs and replace them with the "fruit of light"; good things that honor and please him. Jesus said "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12) Jesus longs to light the way for us and he is the only one who can. Without him we will be walking in darkness and also be full of darkness. I don't know about you but after just a few cloudy days I am longing for the sunshine. We are not like the roaches who prefer darkness to light, we are made to be Jesus followers made to thrive in the Light. The concealing effects of darkness maybe lull us into thinking everything is OK, but we are only deceiving ourselves. Roaches won't go away on their own, they are persistent pests, they reproduce quickly. True peace and freedom will only come when we open our whole lives to examination by the Light and let him clean house, after which we will be able to figure out what pleases God. And sense pleasing God is what we are made for, the roach free, lighted life is the most satisfying one out there! I am calling the bug man again today to come exterminate another generation of gross insects from my house. And I am praying that I will have the bold faith to allow Jesus to continual shine into my heart and keep the roaches out of his home in me!

Top 10 Positive Reasons for Back to School

I need to blog but I don't know what about...

So how about 10 positive things about school starting next week? ( I am trying to convince myself)

10. I will know what day of the week it is.

9. Everyone will be back at church since vacations are over.

8. Pep rallies and football games; though I didn't enjoy these in my younger years they are much more fun now as an adult and bystander! :)

7. Raegan and I will have more one-0n-one time to work on her reading skills.

6. Opportunities to meet new people and share life with strangers through the girls' classrooms.

5. More time to blog and write (maybe).

4. Fall might be coming sometime in the next few months bringing cooler temperatures?!

3. Returning to a bedtime/waking up schedule.

2. Enjoying delicious(lol) lunches with my youth at school!

1. I get to share my little lights (Hadley Morgan and Caedlyn Tatum) with a dark and dying world, kind of like mini missionaries!

Honestly after the bottom five I got stumped and had to stretch for the top 5, I guess I need more convincing than I thought. It would have been way easier to write a top 10 list just about the beauty that cooler temperatures will bring, like more comfortable outside time to go for walks or jump on the trampoline, fall leaves, cooler weather meals. See that's 3 without even thinking. Anyway I digress haha.

All good things come to an end, I guess, and this summer was a great one, we enjoyed Ranger's games, 6 flags, VBS, visits to family, tons of swimming and so much more. As much as I don't want to send the girls to school next week, I am trying to make a conscience effort to make the most of every opportunity (Colossians 4:5) and let God use me and my family in this season! I want to shine like a star for Him in any and every place He puts me and as of next week that will be as a mom/student pastor's wife in the school building. I pray that I might be radiant!

WOW

I have been so busy with my summer months that this blog is looking like a ghost town!! I am sorry that I have not kept you all up to date on what God has been up to, but believe me, He has been working!! Big time!! Our Student Ministry has bloomed like nothing we could have ever expected, the students are shocking me with their changed hearts and lives on a daily basis, they are learning to rely on God, be real with each other, be upcouraging :), serve, share and love! God has also used this summer to teach me so much! On more occasions than I would like admit I have found myself stressed about circumstances or finances, pointlessly worried about how something will work out. And yet even in my doubt and fear God has worked in out for us and every time He not only provided what we needed but so much more. Here are a couple examples: I needed to take my girls to Lubbock to stay with my mom while we took the youth to camp, so I needed about a $100 extra for gas money,that may not sound like a lot, but around here anything extra is a stretch! I asked God to take care of it and instead of giving me the money he gave me free plane tickets which saved me $100 and 14 hours that week!! AMAZING!! Then like the forgetful sheep I am, I started stressing about how we were going to afford school clothes and shoes and supplies, I figured we needed about $500 for all of that, so again I asked God to take care of that need, and through a very random string of events He not only gave us what we needed, but multiplied the amount I asked for and really blessed us. Lets just say that I was even able to get new shoes and a hair cut!!

There are several other examples I could share with you to show just how much God is making provision for us. This has shown me how dependent we are on God and how good He is to provide for us when we just come to the end of what we can do and admit that without Him it is impossible. The last few weeks on Wednesday night with our students we have been in a series called "Battle Ready" looking at some of the epic, unbelievable things God did and wants to do. Last night Tommy taught the youth from Philippians 4: 12-13 "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." And I can really relate to what Paul is saying here. We have had times of hardship in our life and are now experiencing a time of plenty and in both situations I know that it is only because of God that we can make it through!! To Him be the glory for the lesson I have learned in every situation!! With Him I can truly do ANYTHING!!