According to the pattern....

I was blessed to be able to awake this morning and head to church to hear my new dear friend, Wini, speak on God's pattern for our lives. Of course, the time went by way too quickly.

A few notes from the gathering:
There are 4 parts of the the pattern that God establishes for us.

Pattern 1. God is Holy
Pattern 2. God desires to dwell among His people.
Pattern 3. God's people desperately need the presence of God.
Pattern 4. God's people need each other.

Her talk was based on the book of Exodus, when God delivered the Israelites from Egypt.

Pattern 1: God is Holy
Exodus 3:2-5
God is totally holy. We have a very limited understanding of His holiness and faithfulness.
Our idea of holy, loving, & faithfulness is tainted.
God is perfectly holy, perfectly loving, and perfectly faithful.

Pattern 2: God desires to dwell among His people.
He doesn't want to be distanced from His people. He wants to be close to us.
Exodus 25:8-9 (NIV)
"Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you."
God is expressing to the people that He wants the people to be aware of Him in their camp.
John 1:14 (NIV)
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
Jesus pitched his tent among us. Instead of His Holiness killing us, He died for our sins.
The God that is so Holy lives within us if we are believers!!!
1 Corinthians 3:16
"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?"
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

Pattern 3: God's people desperately need the presence of God.
Exodus 33:15-16 (NIV)
"Then Moses said to him, 'If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"

I have nothing without my God. I may think I want something, but if God isn't on board I don't want to go there.
I spend a lot of time looking at everything else going on in my world. I look at and worry about the job I am doing as a wife, mother, sister, friend, daughter. I do all of this without focusing on Him. I worry about my ability to do what He has called me to do. He has the strength and the ability. Our eyes must be on God. He is with us and within us. He is sufficient and good.
I know who I am without God. I remember the person I was before I truly asked God into my life. I know that I need His presence in my life all of the time. I cannot be wife, mom, sister, friend, and daughter without Him. For anything truly important to happen, He must be a part of it.
All of my frustration and feeling discouraged and impatient over the last several weeks have been because I am depending on myself and waiting on others. I wait until the last very second before I crack to call out to Him. Why? If I would just do it first thing, I would save myself (and my husband) a lot of grief. Why do that when God can just give me the simple reminder that even though I may be forgetful, scrambled, and downright crazy; He is not. God wants to keep a teeny bit of that desperation there so that we come searching Him out.

6 ways our lives are to be distinguished by the Spirit
1. study the word of God-we can't recognize Him if we don't get to know Him
2. yield to God's control-don't be stiff necked, have to be teachable. You can't be so sure of who y
you are so that God can't mold you.
3. pray for clear leadership and specific directions
4. pray to recognize that direction
5. make plans but hold them loosely
6. learn to recognize peaces as a sign of God's will

I want to live a life that God approves of. I want to please Him.

Pattern 4: God's people need each other
No one person could accomplish/finish the tabernacle. It involved all of the skills of all of the people.
Exodus 35:29
Exodus 12:35-36
1 Corinthians 12:4-6
"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
There are diferent kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men."

Take note of the people in your life who follow the pattern.
Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 11:1, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ."
Look for the pattern in others who are following the pattern of our Lord. A pattern for how to be a more godly wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend.
As soon as Wini said that I immediately wrote down 4 women who have been that for me in my life since the moment I met them.

People are watching you to see who you're imitating...even if it's Christ in someone else.

A few notes added to the end of the conference:
1. Sometimes God leads us into the wilderness. It's a way for God to bring you to Him so that we
can focus on Him. He will make us desperate for Him so that we can be more intimate with
Him.
2. We don't have to be "here" (in the santuary) to be in the sancutary. Wherever you are you
can make it a sanctuary. God is right in the middle of whatever you are in.

Make it a sanctuary.

Because God made it that way....

Last Sunday, Molly learned all about God making Adam and Eve. Now everything is...

"Because God made it that way."

That is followed by a look given to us by our daughter that seems to simply say, "Duh".

Kidding around the other morning, I asked her why her shirt had pockets. I told her I thought only pants had 2 pockets on them. I was doing her hair at the time and she was standing on her stool staring back at me in the mirror. She tilted her head, put her hands on her hips and said,

"Cause God made it that way!"

Tonight she was coloring a picture for her cousin. She looked down at her coloring book and crayons. She decided it was important to interrupt my phone conversation with my sister to state that God made crayons and coloring book.

Amen!

9 months and then some....

On her 9 month birthday, Maggie discovered baby dolls. She loves her! She is really fond of one of Molly's first dolls. It's a doll that I wanted Molly to love early on her in lifetime. Nope, she found the boy stuff much more fun. It wasn't until much later that Molly wanted to play with babydolls.

Maggie is so sweet with them. Smiling when she gets a hold of her new best friend. She immediately hugs and kisses her. She is growing up so fast. I can't believe that she'll be a whole year old in just a few short months.

A few other notes.

Last Sunday, Max was unable to attend church because of a fever that he had been spiking every few hours. He had a good cough on top of that so Aaron stayed home from church with him and the Maggie. He had a good time with his daddy and we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon as a family. Whenever the kids miss a Sunday school class their teachers send them a little card and their bible story worksheet to do with Mom & Dad. (Have I ever mentioned how much I love our church?!?) So this past Thursday, Max's little card and bible story arrived in the mail shortly before lunchtime. Max was excited to receive his mail and then continued on with what he was doing. In the meantime, I was comforting Molly because she didn't receive anything this week (because she was in church!)

Later on, I was busy making mac & cheese for lunch and laying Maggie down for a nap. The kids were watching Tom & Jerry. We all started eating our lunch. (I sometimes allow the kids to watch Tom & Jerry during lunch if I'm lucky enough to get Maggie down for a nap at this time....eating lunch in peace & quiet is almost as great as I imagine winning the lottery would be.) I had taken a few bites of my lunch when Max walked in with his cheeks all red and chin quivering. I initially thought that he had bitten his tongue or something. His hands tightened up into little fists and he started rubbing his eyes and crying.
"What's wrong buddy?"

"I don't want that sad card. I want a happy card." (The card he received in the mail from his Sunday School teacher had a pic of an alligator holding a kleenex box and tears flowing down. It said, "We're sorry you're sick. Get well soon.")

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want to have a fever anymore. I am done coughing. I don't want to cough anymore. I don't want to miss children's church again."

Of course, I hugged him and started crying. Later on that day when Aaron got home, Max took the card off of the fridge and started all over again for his daddy.

We recovered nicely and he made it to church yesterday!

Another Max story:

The kids and I have gone to a few consignment sales over the last couple of weeks. The first one was great....found some good stuff. Second one was alright. I found a few things, but the lines were so long that the girls and I put down our stuff and left. The third ended in laughter.

The first 2 sales took debit cards so I suppose I just assumed that the 3rd one did too. Nope.

This one was on a Friday so all 3 kids were on board. We got there right at 9 and then went to check out at 10:30. They don't take cards. Cash or check. (Well, I had just received the new Dave Ramsey Envelope System that I won and I stuck the checkbook in there....I guess it's saving me money that way b/c I couldn't buy those clothes that day.) Anyhow, so we drop the stuff, including the new unopened truck Max picked out for a buck. As we are walking out to the car, Max asks us where we are going. I tell him that we are going to the car. He replied, "We're going to the car to get your money and then we are going back in to get my truck right?"

"No son, we're not. They don't take momma's card and I don't have my checkbook."

"Momma, we're going to go get money and then come back for my truck right?"

"No honey. Like I said, we are getting in the car and going home."

Max stops in the middle of the parking lot, looks up at me and says, "This is a joke right Momma?"

Oh how I laughed.

My boy....officially 4.5 years old on this past Saturday.

I think that's all for now.