This Little Light of Mine

Our power was knocked out during the storms Wednesday evening. The boys thought it was a great adventure to eat and get ready for church by lamp light but when bed time came it was a whole 'nother story!!

They sleep with a night light so I lit a small candle and set it up high on a shelf in their room.... and threatened them within an inch of their life if they bumped the shelf or threw anything in the room! Of course it was pitch black in their room and they weren't to sure how much light one little candle would give, but when I went back to check on them they were sound asleep and that one little candle was giving out enough light to light up the whole room.

It got me thinking about myself. I often doubt that I'm much of a light to anyone. I don't get out much and I'm not very outspoken as a general rule. But that little candle reminded me that we shouldn't doubt our witness or think that what we do doesn't count for anything. We may never know who we're shedding light on but even a small light is bright in darkness.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Matthew 5: 14-15

catching up

I had several things I wanted to blog about..... right now I can only think of two.... we'll see how it goes!!






Meet Gatsby, the newest member of our family! We've had him for about a week and a half now and he's a sweetheart. Housebroke (WOOHOO!), very tolerant of the boys, and well mannered. If I could only get the other menfolk in this house to behave as well as he does we'd be all set!

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Tim Tebow

I read an article on him earlier. He's been on the edge of my radar for a while now just because he was homeschooled and seems to be a decent guy and true success story.

The piece was basically slamming him for appearing in an ad by Focus on the Family that's going to air during the Super Bowl. Apparently it's ok to be a christian as long as you're quiet about it and don't let anyone know what you believe. Seems it was one thing for him to be outspoken about his beliefs in college but if he wants to be a success in pro-football then he's going to have to 'hide his light'.

I say way to go Tebow!! It's great to see someone on his level standing up for what he believes. No, I don't think people need to be slammed over the head with the Gospel, but we also shouldn't be afraid to share our beliefs or testimony. And the idea that he should shut up in order to have worldly success just grates on me. Just goes to show how some people have their priorities so totally messed up that they don't get what's truly important.

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Just bragging on my boys!!!

The last two day of school have been awesome!! Between one thing and another we had almost no school from the week of Thanskgiving until last week. Getting in the groove last week was not easy but this week they have gotten with the program and it's been wonderful!

I'm so proud of how much they've accomplished this year. It's easy to get discouraged because we're not as far along as I'd hoped we'd be, but when I made myself stop and remember how far they've come I realize we've done a lot!

Faith as a Grain of Mustard Seed

I was reading this morning in James where he talks about faith, and faith without works being dead, and Abraham's faith being made perfect by his works. It's James 2:14-26 if you want to look it up, I won't copy it all here.

It got me thinking.... kinda off topic but that's how my mind works!.... of when Jacob was a newborn and had kidney problems. I forget the name of it now but basically his kidneys didn't work properly to flush everything out of his body. We first saw it in a sonogram while I was pregnant with him, his kidney's were larger than they should have been. After he was born we had to take him to Fort Worth to the children's hospital for more tests and the doctor there put him on daily antibiotics to prevent an infection.

Y'all that know me know that I'm not big on taking my kids to the doctor. I guess the last time I took one in for a sick visit was 2 years ago when Travis had a bad ear infection and then developed Bell's Palsy. So I wasn't to thrilled with having Jake on daily antibiotics when he didn't have an infection.

We did it for a few weeks but it just didn't sit right with me. I just really felt that I needed to trust God for Jake's healing and not the meds. I don't judge anyone for taking meds, I'm on daily medicine right now and do give my kids medicine when they need it, but in this instance I felt like I was out of God's will by giving him the antibiotics.

So I stopped. And then I felt worse! The devil jumped on me then, telling me Jacob was going to get an infection and it would be all my fault.

One night at church I confided my struggle to a sister in the Lord. What she shared has stuck with me ever since. She said that that morning she had taught her class on having faith as a grain of mustard seed and then she held out her hand. When she did I felt God all over me and started crying right there.... I'm almost crying now just thinking about it.

I've heard that passage in scripture my whole life, but seeing her stretch out her hand and picturing just that tiny bit of faith, it really came alive. Do it now, look in the palm of your hand... do you believe God that much? Sometimes when we're facing a problem the problem can seem so big and our faith so little. But a little bit is all we need. Looking in her hand it was obvious, of course I believe God that much, that's easy!!

And thinking on that little bit of faith, it started to grow. Suddenly instead of being beaten down by worry I was lifted up by faith. Not so much faith for his healing but just faith in God. That's really all we need. It doesn't matter what we're facing as long as our eyes are on God and not on the trial.

Hebrews 11:16 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Jacob was healed. I kept him off the antibiotics, he never developed an infection and when we took him back for his follow up tests everything was normal.

Matthew 17:20 .....If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.