What can God use?

I have been reading a book by Annie Chapman.  One of the things she talks about is our part of our relationship with the Lord.  It is an interesting concept to think that we sit back in our faith and "allow" God to work.  I think what really happens is that in our lazy flesh we expect that God with make all of these huge changes in our lives and all we have to do is pray and he will do this great work. (please do not take this as some sort of God can not do anything without my help)

The point is that God wants us to act.  We have our part and God does His part.  This is part of the free will he gives us.  He wants us to choose Him but this requires work on our part.

So, he asks us to go and tell.  Plant the seed, as we often say.  We pant but he is the one to make it grow.  The question is, what if we plant seeds differently?  Can God grow only seeds planted in a certain way?  Is one way "better" than another?  Do all seeds in all soils grow the same way?

It reminds me of planting corn with my grandpa.  We would fish before it was time to plant.  His planting plan was to have 1 fish with each plant.  You dug a hole, put in the fish, then the seeds, then the dirt.  It is not the only way to plant corn, but he liked to do it that way.  He always had a wonderful garden.

At my house I have to be careful how I water things.  If the water gets on the leaves of the pants it will kill the plants because of the sodium in the well water so I have to soak the ground instead of sprinkling the garden.

I feel like we have to be very careful to not tell God what planting method will or will not work for Him to grow our seeds. 

For seeds to grow we do have to have certain things.  If you want to grow corn, you MUST have corn seeds.  If you plant tomato seeds it does not matter how you nurture them, you will not get corn.  You must have water, sun, and dirt to grow anything healthy.  Now, certain things help, preparing the dirt can help.  The kind of water you have, a little shade here and there so it is not scorched by the sun.

I am so thankful that God made us all of different.  I am one of those people that took a lot of different "tillers" to make the seed take hold.  I was born and raised in the church, but it was a lot of different factors that lead to me actually having  a personal relationship with the Lord.

So, be very careful when you critique the way the message of Jesus Christ is delivered.  Some of us need a fish in with our seed, others of us need to be soaked, and still others need to be sprinkled.  Do not put my God in a box.  He is a great and powerful God and can use the most inept, misguided, attempt to share His saving grace.

He gave His gift of salvation and grace freely, we should do the same.

What makes you feel beautiful?

In 2003 my girls wanted to be "Beautiful" for Halloween and so I created 2 dresses from curtains purchased at a second hand store and added blue and white flower headbands with flowers purchased at a yard sale and they felt so very beautiful.  For several years these dresses were used from time to time to make them feel extra special when dressing up.

 
 
Now we flash forward to 2015.  Same girls 12 years later and just as beautiful!  However, the dress code has definitely changed as far as what makes them feel beautiful.  I am a very fortunate mother because my two most favorite girls are beautiful both inside and out.  (This momma is much more worried about the inside being beautiful!)  This particular day Abby was freshman homecoming princess and Emma was Junior Homecoming princess.  Love my girls!

Amazingness!

Pretty sure Amazingness is not a word, but that is what I see in my girls.

The hardest part of being a parent is when you see these moments of amazingness in your children and they can't seem to see what you see.  You see the potential, the intelligence, the kindness, the silly moments, the naughty moment, the joy, the pain, the work, the tears, all that goes into who they are and what you see is their amazingness.

So, here is to the young women they will become, and I will continue to pray that some day they will see themselves through the eyes of their mother that sees all of their amazingness!