No Church on Sunday

What do Sunday's look like at your house? For most Christians, it consists of getting up early, eating a nice breakfast, and heading off to Sunday morning serviced. This is of course followed by a nice lunch, family fun, and then possibly evening services. While my church has yet to begin Sunday evening services, that's what our Sunday's use to look like too. That is, until Mr. Amazing got transferred to a new store. He told his boss that he wanted Sunday's off for church, but in the entire 2 1/2 months that he has been working there, he has yet to have a Sunday off.

While I am all for taking the kids to church even on days that daddy works, we have probably had every variation of the cold and flu possible during that time. Instead of leaving the sickly at home with dad or mom and the rest of the family attending, we are all stuck at home. It's been a sad time, and I am missing my church family deeply. We would have been at church this morning, but 3 of our children got immunizations on Wednesday and are now running fevers, have very runny noses and watery eyes. I was so excited mid-last week when it appeared that we were all healthy, only to have my hopes dashed by the bad reaction to their shots. (Can anyone tell me the point of getting immunizations to keep you from getting sick, if they themselves make you sick?)

So here we sit, at home again on a Sunday. Over the past several weeks I have been thinking of Church alternatives. You know, things you can do on Sunday to worship God, without attending the Church building. I know some families actually do church at home on those days. But my kids aren't old enough for that. However we do play worship music all day. Here are some options if you are ever get stuck with no church on Sunday:

Family Bible Reading- Sit down and read the Bible together. We actually do this every evening, so I haven't done this one yet, but it's always a great starting point.

Bible lesson/craft- A quick online search will pull up tons of free resources for Sunday school teachers that are easily adapted for use at home. We did tons of these when homeschooling, so we have several books and such with ideas as well.

Listen to an online sermon- Most churches have their sermons available online, so pulling up one to listen to even though you aren't in a church is easier than ever. I am not a big fan of Tele-evangelists, and it's unlikely that I would ever recommend watching a sermon on T.V., some churches even have videos of their sermons available on their website.

Watch a Christian movie- Something simple for the kids like watching a Bible story movie can help remind you and the kids that this is a day set apart for worshiping God, even if you are still at home.

Puppet shows- Put together a puppet show of one of your kid's favorite Bible stories. This is a great family activity, that helps teach Bible principles, but also gets the kids involved.

Pray together- Hopefully you do this anyway, but set apart a special time on Sunday's when your at home to pray as a family. Pray for your church family, and for anyone else that might have had to miss church that week. Pray for your pastor, worship team, and anyone else that God lays on your heart.

Those are just a few examples of ways that you can worship God on Sunday's even when you can't make it to church. Do you have any other ideas that you can share with me? I would love to hear about them!

Have a blessed Sunday.

The need of Christ.

Today hasn't been what I would call a good day. Would you like to know why? Well, let's start from the beginning...

I woke up and spent some time laughing and talking with my husband before he had to leave for work. The kids and I left for church just a few minutes later. The girls and I had our normal struggle to get things done, but we made it to church early. Since I had missed my devotional time, we sat in the van and read a few Psalms and my Proverb for the day together before going in. The sermon was absolutely fabulous. It was a sermon about God's grace, one I defiantly needed to hear. We came home and Kainen volunteered to make lunch, then he and the girls played in the pool, while Ty and I watched a movie. After the movie, everyone came back in to play computer games while I cleaned the kitchen. While I washed the dishes I thought about parenting, and how I want to show my children grace. I was thinking about all of the ways that I could do so, and that's when it happened. Ella wanted a snack, and I told her she had to wait until I finished the dishes. Kainen asked if he could get it for her, I thought that was extremely sweet and asked what he was going to give her, he said an orange. So I agreed. He proceeded to open the pantry door and ask her what she wanted, then opened the fridge and asked if she saw anything in there. He found a dirty plate and left the fridge and pantry open while he walked over to the cabinet and opened it, now the cabinet, fridge, and pantry are all standing wide open and he just stands there, doing nothing. I lost it. There were tons of godly ways that I could have handled the situation, but I chose none of them. Instead, I chose to scream at my children.

This decision ruined my entire day. I feel like such a failure. Here I was praying and begging God to help me show my children grace, and when the opportunity presented itself, I didn't do it. Not only am I damaging my precious children's view of God with my actions and lack of self control, but I am damaging His name in front of the two guys that are currently stay with us. At that point all I wanted to do was break down and cry. Instead, I sent my children to sit on the couch and spoke softly with them. We talked about how my actions were wrong, but how it built to that point. You see, this isn't all too unusual for my house. It doesn't happen daily or anything, but more often then it should. I am not what I consider a good mom, but the children and I talked about how we could make things better, or what some consequences would be if they kept going the way they were.

I was still tempted to go cry when we were done, but instead I got online to read through one of my favorite blogs. Before going to blogger, I went ahead and checked my facebook. One of my friends had posted a quote by Angela Hicks Heikkinen it said ‎"Becoming obsessed with what people think about you is the quickest way to forget what God thinks about you." Was that what I was doing? Was I caring more about the opinion of those around me than I was about God? I cared what they thought because I didn't want to damage God's name, but I was reminded of something I heard several months ago, "God won't save people because of me, he will save them despite of me." Nothing I do is powerful enough to counter God's grace, or the blood of Christ. While I want to live a life that glorifies God, it isn't the end of the world when I fail. My next stop was the blog I was looking for, and what I found was the gospel (that's why it's one of my favorite blogs :) You can read the blog here.

So while my day appeared to be ruined, God really just used my failure to remind me about His awesome goodness. My kids have already forgiven me, and because of Christ and His glorious work on the cross, God has too. If you ever have days (or moments) like this, I highly encourage you to read the blog above, and remember, God doesn't depend on you to save those around you. He might use you, but He can also save them despite your best efforts and all of your mistakes. The people around us need Christ, not us.

5 Distinctive Qualities of Genuine Faith

Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— ~Philippians 3:1-3

Last Sunday at church our pastor preached on Philippians 3:1-3. He outlined 5 distinctive qualities of genuine faith. It was a great sermon, these are my notes, or you can listen to it here.

1. Joy - Our joy is in the Lord. The more we grow in the Lord, the more joy we should have. This doesn't mean you will always be happy, but you place your joy not in this earthly life, but in the knowledge of the life to come.
*See also: John 5:39; Matthew 7:23; 1 John 1:6; 2 Corinthians 13:5 and 6:10; Isaiah 12:3; Romans 14:17 and 5:3; 1 Peter 1:8

2. Discernment - Just like our joy, as we grow in the Lord our discernment should continue to grow and increase as we learn more about our Lord. While we know the truth, we know that we still need to grow in our knowledge of Him. We should know that sin is sin, and just because we call it something different, doesn't change the fact that it's sin, it only makes it more dangerous because it doesn't sound as bad.
*See also: Acts 20:28; 1 Corinthians 13:6; 1 John 2:20; Philippians 1:9; Psalm 119:66, 98; 1 Thessalonians 5:21

3. Righteousness - True righteousness comes from trusting and faith in Christ, and Christ alone. It doesn't come from trusting in ourselves. Righteousness doesn't come from any ritual, those only bring a false righteousness.
*See also: Genesis 17:10; Deuteronomy 30:6; Philippians 3:9; Colossians 2:17

4. Worship - True believers enjoy praising God. They desire to serve Him, and boast in Him.
*See also: Matthew 6:1-18 and 7:21-23; John 4:23; Psalm 43:4

5. Humility - Put NO confidence in the flesh. When we stand before God will our confidence be in ourselves or in Christ? Will we list off our good works, or will we confess our unworthiness and place our hope in Christ?
*See also: Romans 7:18; Jeremiah 9:23-24; Ephesians 2:8-9; James 4:10

Do you possess these qualities? Do you have joy in the Lord? Are you discerning? Does your righteousness come from Christ, or are you trying to be righteous on your own? Do you desire to worship and praise God? Where is your confidence? Is your trust in the flesh, or in Christ?

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? ~ 2 Corinthians 13:5

Happy birthday to me!

Today was my birthday! :) Of course Mr. Amazing made breakfast while attempting to let me sleep in. Then Mr. Amazing and I taught toddlers church (10 children between the ages of 2 and 4 make for a rather intense hour and a half). The boys did the dishes, and Mr. Amazing decorated my cake! This is special because he has never decorated a cake before (He always goes for the pre-made cakes at King Soopers). I think he did a pretty good job! He defiantly gets an 'A' for effort and for being his amazingly sweet self! After cake he took me out to dinner (Red Robins...Yum), and then since there weren't any decent movies in the theaters we went and played pool. (Unfortunately, I forgot my camera :( boo!)

F.Y.I. I am horrid at pool. I use to be rather okay, and maybe even decent, but I haven't played for over 2 years... I was excited if I hit the ball that I was aiming at. Our first game, Mr. Amazing sank the 8 ball on accident half way through. This is an automatic win for me! Woo Hoo! I'm so glad, because we played out the game anyway (wouldn't want to waste or quarters!) and he had all of his balls in the hole while I still had 4 on the table... it took me another 5-10 minutes to get mine all in. Did I mention I'm horrid at pool? The second game I won on my own merit... but he might possibly have let me win. He said he didn't and if he did it wasn't obvious, but after the first game I have to wonder! The third game, I sunk the 8 ball on like the 3rd shot... :( not that it would have mattered as we played out the game and again, I was the only one with balls left on the table. Only 2... but it took forever to get them to go where they belonged. So technically I won 2 out of 3 games :)

I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband! He really does do every thing that he can to make me happy :)

I can't finish this post without including Mr. Amazing's mother. She's wonderful too. :) She sent me the sweetest birthday e-mail, with my new all time favorite birthday blessing! It read as follows:

Happy Birthday to you, Only one will not do, Born Again Means Salvation, We're so Glad you have TWO.

Isn't she great!

On a sadder noted. Mr. Amazing found out that everyone at the corporate office was fired. One of the corporate stores near by found out that they weren't bought out and were just shutting down all together... tomorrow. So he might very possibly not have a job tomorrow morning, we just don't know. But God does! I am so thankful that we have an awesome Savior and aren't going through this time with no hope!

For this wonderful Mr. Monday, I would love to hear the great things that your Mr.'s do for your birthdays! Write a post or leave a comment (please). :)

Church memories

This morning we were preparing to go to church when the cold symptoms surfaced. Both Alexa and I have runny noses and sneezes. :( Since Mr. Amazing is working this morning there is no going and leaving part of the family at home. So I decided to worship with my old church family online! Osceola Assembly of God is the church where I came to know and love my Savior. This is the church where I was baptized. I was raised in church, but I never really got it until I started attending their church. They were there to support me through the birth of both of my boys, my divorce, and my youngest son's battle with cancer. I am ever so thankful for them, and they hold a very special place in my heart.

They were my church family until I moved from Iowa to Colorado over 5 years ago. I have been back to visit a few times, but the last visit was over a year and a half ago. Since then they have done some changing! They changed their website and their name! Their new name is Life Point Assembly of God (you can check out their new website at Lifepointministries.net). It's still all the same wonderful people though. Back in the day, I was a youth sponsor with their youth group, Front Line Youth (F.L.Y. as it was called back then... now it's FocalPoint), I have so many great memories from my time with them. Pastor Chuck is the pastor there, and he and his family are such a wonderful blessing to everyone they come in contact with.

The list of things that I miss about Iowa is short: My family, Fire Fly's, and Osceola Assembly of God (now LifePoint). I don't think about my church back in Iowa often, but I most certainly miss them. I hope you all have a blessed Sunday and enjoy your time with the Lord today.

Another Sunday

Our kids have been battling the stomach flu for going on 3 weeks now. This is the 3rd Sunday that we are missing church because of it and I miss my church family!!! I'm one of those people who NEED's fellowship with other believers. The thought of not seeing them until Christmas eve sadden's me. What's worse is that there is also the possibility that I won't see them on Christmas eve if this lingers!

However, during this time I am choosing to be thankful for the fact that God is here with me. I don't have to go to church to see Him. He is everywhere. He is there with me at 2am when I am changing bed sheets (for the 10th time), He is there with me at 4 o'clock in the afternoon when I am so exhausted from lack of sleep that all I want to do is cry, and He is there with me when I am holding one of my sick children through their tears over being sick. I am so thankful that God is with us always!


I would love for you to join me by posting your favorite Christ centered Christmas song. My personal goal is to post a different Christ-centered Christmas song each day between now and Christmas. (The only rule is that it has to be Christ-centered. No songs about Santa, Christmas trees or whatever...)

Giving update

So I haven't been posting daily about the giving challenge, but I have still been giving!

Thursday I let my girls go to a friends house (she was so gracious to take them!), and I gave my undivided attention to my boys at the zoo. This was wonderful, as we rarely (practically never) do anything with just the three of us.

Friday I gave my girls a bath... they needed it.

Saturday we went to a good will store and donated a dollar to the Angel something (I forgot what it was!) and we also donated a box of random things we had been meaning to donate for a while.

Today I gave my time serving in the 2's and 3's classroom at church. I truly missed being in the service, but the kids were so cute! Our lesson was on giving thanks.

Giving God Glory

It's Sunday!
For our family Sunday is a day of rest. We have a nice breakfast together, go to church, and then lounge around all day. Usually. Well that didn't happen this morning. One of my dear daughters made her way into our bed last night, and I didn't sleep at all from that point on. The night was full of her stealing blankets, kicking, hitting, pushing, tossing, turning, and more kicking (there was lots of kicking). So when I finally gave up on sleep at 5am, I was exhausted. I made breakfast and ate with the family, but then decided to take a nap while my husband took his shower. The problem? While my husband got more sleep than me (he was near her head instead of her feet), he didn't get that much either. So after his shower he came and lay down with me. So we both ended up taking naps, and now it is 11am, and church started an hour ago...

While I am not glad that we missed church, I am so thankful that God gave us the opportunity to sleep when we needed it. We would have been snoring away in church distracting others and that wouldn't have done anyone any good. I am thankful that going to church every Sunday isn't a requirement of Salvation. I miss our church family dearly, but God grants sleep to those he loves.

How is this related to giving you ask?
Yes, God gave me sleep, but most importantly, I can give God glory no matter where I am. I don't have to be in a pew to give Him glory, and honor and praises. So even though we didn't make it to His house this Sunday, we are still dedicating today to Him. To giving Him all of the glory.



The giving challenge is a challenge to give something each day in November and keep a record of it (not for bragging purposes, but for accountability). It doesn't have to be tangible giving, just to give in some way each day. If you click the button at the top of the post it will take you to the 30 Day Giving Challenge website.

Giving Challenge: Day 7

Sunday brings day 7 of the giving challenge, and I am looking forward to giving God my heart during the church service today. :)



Yesterday was a great day as we welcomed our friend, the boy's Aunt Brandy and her boyfriend Joshua into our home. We played basket ball, drew with sidewalk chalk, went hiking, watched a movie, and even drank hot chocolate while looking at the stars through our telescope before bed. It was a great day, and I'm glad to be able to have them here, and give them a place to stay, and hopefully a really good time!

The Victorious Church

I thought that I would share my notes from church yesterday with you. We are in the midst of studying Philippians, and this week our pastor taught on Philippians 1:22-30. His sermon was titled "The Victorious Church", because we have victory in Christ and through Christ (1 Cor. 15:57, 2 Cor. 2:14, and Rom. 8:37)

There are 4 necessities for victory listed in these verses: serving, standing, striving, and suffering. So he talked a little about each one.

1. Serving each other
(Philippians 1:21-22)
Fruit is the expression of life. Just as grapes come from a grapevine, Spiritual fruit comes from the Spirit. Serving is something that Jesus did, and if we love Him we will follow His example.
John 15:8, Romans 15:28, Galatians 5:22-23, 1 Corinthians 16:15, Hebrews 13:15 and 6:10

2. Standing together
(Philippians 1:23-27)
We need to live in a way that is consistent with the Gospel. Does your life reflect the Gospel?
We need to stand in unity and in love, and we need to stand firmly together.
Philippians 3:20 and 4:23, John 13:35, and Ephesians 4:1-3

3. Striving on purpose
(Philippians 1:28)
We need to strive together and strive on purpose. We can't stand together if we don't all have the same purpose in mind.
Ephesians 4:1-3, 1 Peter 3:15, Jude 3, 2 Timothy 1:7, 2 Timothy 1:14, and Psalm 73

4. Suffering in grace
(Philippians 1:29-30)
We suffer for a reason, God always has a purpose. (similar to the suffering a coach puts his team through in practice. Drills and whatnot...)
"The more a diamond is cut, the more it sparkles" - Anonymous
Acts 16:16, Philippians 3:10, 1 Thessalonians 3:3, Matthew 5:10, 2 Corinthians 12:10, and my favorite Romans 5:3-4

A victorious church will serve each other, stand together, strive in a purpose, and suffer in grace.

We closed our service by sining this song, which I love, and it really impacted me after this particular service. I love they always pick music that is related to our sermon. It just makes it more meaningful!


(Instead of sining "I" we sang "We")

*To hear this sermon please click here.

Busy!

The last week was an incredibly busy one for me! I don't know what made it different than usual, but it most certainly was! It felt like I was running non-stop and never getting caught up. I am so thankful that it's Sunday! Sunday is our day of rest. I did have to go to the grocery store... otherwise we wouldn't have been able to have dinner tonight... we were really low on food! But that's done now, and I am enjoying getting caught up on the stuff that I like to do that I haven't be able to do this week (reading, writing, studying God's Word...you know, the fun stuff!)

We went to church this morning, we enjoyed seeing everyone, but we had to leave right away so that I could go shopping before my husband had to leave for work. As of right now he has to work on Sunday evenings, but hopefully not for much longer! He starts managing the Quiznos near our house later this week!!! God is so good to us! It will mean that his schedule will change, but I don't know what the new one will look like. He might be forced to work Sunday mornings for a time... Only God knows what lays ahead for us.

Anyway, that's just kind of what's been going on around here. I have a ton more that I want to post about... but maybe later :)

Late on Sunday

It was one of those mornings. My kids got up early, which means no quiet time for mom. My husband had to work, so no help in getting the kids ready. I made everyone breakfast, but I myself, forgot to eat. The kids were whining and we were running late. As I was speeding down the street trying to make up lost time, it hit me. We were going to God's house, to worship Him, but I wasn't pleasing Him. I believe that it would please Him more for me to be late for Sunday School, then to spend the morning griping at my kids and breaking the law! What a revelation. I immediately slowed down to the speed limit, which I'm sure annoyed the cars behind me. As I thought about how unhappy they might be, God reminded me of Galatians 1:10- For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. So despite the car now on my bumper, we proceeded to Church at the posted speed. We did arrive a few minutes late, but just enough to miss the intros. It just really made me stop and think about the saying "does the end justify the means?" Is speeding and yelling at our kids justified by getting to church on time? Of course not. Hopefully I will remember this from now on, and with God's help, Sunday mornings at our house will be much more pleasant. Whether or not we arrive on time.

Isaiah 55:9 (NASB)
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,So are My ways higher than your waysAnd My thoughts than your thoughts.