Ode to my babies...

  This is a typical scene around here...all in "Mama's chair" watching a show or just sitting together and occasionally fighting over touching legs or arms.  This morning they were extremely sweet. 

 She decided to help me do laundry and dumped a whole basket of folded clothes off of her bed.  She put this changing table pad cover on her head and said "I baby" for probably 15 minutes.  Sweetest girl ever.

I could kiss her face off!!

His picture face.

 Mr Handsome

Warrior Pose

Sweet Sweet Noah

Mama's Boy



If you can't say something nice...

I don't know if you read my last post, the one I decided to remove.  There was nothing bad about it, but I posted out of pure emotion...again.  It occured to me that I had done it pretty much immediately after sharing it and it actually felt good to realize that I was being hard on myself...again.  So wisdom reminded me of who I really am and how I really don't feel that way, it was a passing emotional night when I was being hard on myself.  So, even though when I reread it and see there is some good stuff in there, I realize the power words have and decided to not speak of lack in my life.  I don't want to focus on lack and miss the extreme amounts of awesomeness in my life.  So I'm sure no one even noticed, but if you did, I took it down because I needed to for myself.  I'm learning, "if you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all" is easy for me to apply to others, but I also need to apply that to myself.    

Who Am I?



Can you be okay with where you are at, right now, no matter where you're at?  That's what God has been asking me today.  In the midst of all that is going on, I have not been okay with me.  I have been getting my worth from what I am doing instead of who I am.  I want to operate everything I do out of a sense of my image in Him instead of working my own plan to get there. 
It's easy to "think" we are okay with ourselves, but if you find yourself operating in a constant mentality of "not good enough", then you do not understand who you are.
This is a constant battle for me, one that has brought me to a place of wondering, "is this exact mentality the root of ALL my problems?"
It's kind of hard to say this on a public blog, but I felt like God wanted me to share it. I don't know if it will minister to anyone, but I'm being obedient and trusting that I am supposed to put it out there.

Some days, many days, I am not okay with how I look, how I act, or what I do.  So what do I do to myself?  Maybe some negative self talk, emotional eating, and waiting until I am "good enough" to reward myself.  So instead of waking up, enjoying this gift of life and doing the best I can with where I am at, I might see all I lack, stay in my pj's, and think about how much I have to get done.  I admire people who wake up and go out and "kick the world".  Live it up and love it! I should be embracing the blessings I have, and while I do, not to the fullest.  I want to be there.  I know that many deal with this issue and live in a web of lies about themselves.  So what is true?

 I AM A WONDERFUL HAND-MADE

CREATION OF GOD

For you created my inmost being; you knit me

together in my mother’s womb.

(Psalm 139:13)

YES!!!

I praise you because I am fearfully and

wonderfully made.

(Psalm 139:14)

YES I AM!!

Guess what else?

I AM RIGHTEOUS, BLAMELESS,

AND HOLY BEFORE GOD

Christ is the end of the law so that there may be

righteousness for everyone who believes.

(Romans 10:4)

IT IS FINISHED!

But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin,

yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

(Romans 8:10)

Hallelujah!!

But now that you have been set free from sin and

have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap

leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life .

(Romans 6:22)

For he chose us in him before the creation

of the world to be holy and blameless

in his sight.

(Ephesians 1:4)

It doesn't get any clearer that that!!!

And if I ever doubt who I am, apart from anything I may do that doesn't line up with this word, I am made in His image.  So who am I to treat myself less than who my Creator made me to be?

So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

(Genesis 1:27)

So while we all go through the motions of life and there are things we must do everyday, do them out of a sense of "who you are" and not "who you are not", I think that's where the peace is found to enjoy each and every moment of this precious gift of life. Thanks God for the reminder of who I am, how you see me.  I really needed it today.  I am fearfully and wonderfully made.