Word of God Speak..

If you've noticed I wrote a blog on the 16th and then the 21st. Well since the 16th I have had an issue with my back as well as a sick toddler. This has been trying enough, but then some other things came up. God has spoken to me however, and I am back to journal. As I quieted myself this morning he spoke volumes to me. So, to keep this blog simple today, I just encourage you to find time even if for a minute or two to reach some of the bible or even one scripture verse. It is amazing what God says through his word.

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)

Blessings to you,
Ashley

Trails..

I have been trying to think of something thoughtful to write about. I want things to be good for the soul when they come to this blog. I am doing a study right now titled Finding God's Path Through Your Trails, funny how that is my life at this point. One of things it says is to count it pure joy when you face trails (my phraphrase of James 1:2) and wouldn't you know it, that is what I am encountering. We found out we're moving and besides that there are just several other things going on. I must admit I have lost my cool once or twice about things, but today I am re-focusing on TRUST. Earlier this morning I found my old promise bible that was give to me at graduation. It has various scriptures for different times. I looked under encouragement and while there we many, this verse stuck out to me. A reminder that no matter what is going on I simply need to BE NICE!



"Pleasant words [even mine] are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones." Proverbs 16:24



I pray that no matter what season of life you are in, that your words will be sweet and more importantly Godly.



God Bless,

Ashley

Confession of Human-ness..

My friend gave me a link to Christian Family Radio Online and since we're in Germany I happily accepted the link. This was the scripture placed on the side of the web page. It hit me like a ton of bricks!

"Now this is His command: that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as He commanded us." 1 John 3:23

As I read those words I was convicted greatly. Let me explain why. Yesterday, Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 - showed me why I still need Jesus every day. I woke up and felt fine, I bent down to pick up some laundry off the floor and when I stood back up I was in extreme pain. My back was on fire. I delt with it, I had bible study at the Chapel to get to, snacks and drinks to set up. As Hospitality I could not wonder what had happened to my back. I did not have time to be in pain. To make an extremely long story short the back pain got worse and as I "the food person," had to deal with some "rude" women. I became sad, ready to cry even. My friends of course asked what was wrong and I was happy to tell them. (Free gossip anyone?) I was upset, and rightly so, but do you ever find when you are soo right about something you can sin? I sure did. Not because I was angry, but rather because I got a "bad" attitude, one that said I am in pain, you were rude to me, now take this. (the gossip.)I am glad to say that God is great, he corrected me in my heart this morning. And then upon reading this scripture I knew I was continuing to harbor anger toward this woman. I prayed and asked for forgiveness and now write this. Ask yourself this question.

Do I have conditions on how and when I will love someone?

I did yesterday, and my day was pretty dark and cloudy - today even though I am still in back pain, with God's love and perspective I can say I am feeling better, in my heart - the place that counts the most.

God Bless you today!
Ashley

Bible Lessons From the Bathroom (Safe I promise!)

Philippians 1:9-11 (ESV)

"And it is my prayer thatyour love may abound more and more,with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ,to the glory and praise of God."


The Apostle Paul wrote those words. As I look at the word discernment I think of what I learned in the bathroom this morning. Earlier I had walked in a saw my husband shaving his head. He is a soldier in the Army and his hair has to be in regulation or he could get in trouble. Well hair cuts are expensive and his hair grows back in two or three days, so thus he shaves his head. Well this morning I did not think anything of it. Our son was next to him washing his hands and I hopped into the shower and back out to do my things before it was just Logan and I.



Later, however, as I was cleaning the front room I went to shut the bathroom door, so I would know Logan was not messing around in there. I saw clothes on the floor as well as a towel, thought to myself, "typical," and went about my other chores. When I finally entered the bathroom I was steaming mad. Not only were there clothes and a towel on the floor but the electric razor had been left out, hair was in the sink, and my dear husband had left two disposable razors, well, obviously not disposed of. Now I am not complaining and normally being a reactionary person, I might have said a few choice words, but as God has been teaching me discernment in my home I realized that this is being keeper of the home. Sure, my husband could have been thoughtful and taken care of those things I mentioned. But I was technically coming to clean the bathroom and in about ten minutes I had the job done- not too much to be upset about and in that moment I learned a lesson in the bathroom.



To continue being a joyful keeper of my home..

Home is where my Heart is!

For your reading: Proverbs 31:10-31

(Referenced by: English Standard Version)

Verse 10 - An excellent wife who can find? (Are you the excellent wife? What do you do for God, your Husband, Child(ren)?)

Verse 27 - She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. (She is working steadily, not lazing around.)

Verse 28 - Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.

(Shows besides the Lord, whom our prioirties should be.)

Verse 30 - Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. (We should not be so into ourselves and should fear the Lord.)

Verse 31 - Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

(We will get what we've worked for.)

God has been working on my heart the past few weeks. I must admit it is easy for me to justify what I do because there are only three people in my home, as if having a small family gives you one set of rules and if you have a large family there are another set of rules. The reality is, God's word, the bible, is for everyone. God does not pick and chose or say if you are this do this and if you are that, do that. No, we are all called to the same standard (WOMEN, included.) I do not think God is testing me with only giving me one child, but if I did think of my current life as a test I would wonder if part of the test was stewardship. "Why would God bless me with more (more things or children for example) if I cannot even do with less (less being one child and an apartment to call home.) I will not go into self-loathing, but Praise the Lord I do not have to! The Lord is more than willing to teach those whoe are willing to hear him. Back to the point.

People always comment on how early I rise. I do not see a problem with it. The Lord did not either, he created me to be a morning person, but he did convict me of what I had been doing with that time. You see I am up by 5 most mornings, sleeping into to our family is 6, 7 if it is a weekend and that is a big maybe. You would think with these hours, I would need coffee, but I do not. I am wide awake at this time. I often joke by noon both my son and I need a nap, and truthfully we often both get our naps. But when I rose I would not do what I now know I should have and somtimes even when I did know, I would not do them. I would race to the computer, be on most of the morning until Logan woke, maybe make lunches, maybe not, clean, maybe get it done, maybe not and then typically I would be frusterated by my family and messes.

Now, with conviction, I get up - start my chores early in the morning, make the bed, get lunches ready, and play with Logan, while having dinners premade so all I do it pull out and warm. I remind myself daily to clean and do all things joyfully and you know what my step is lighter and my house happier. I know for a fact my husband was amazed when several days in a row the bed was made, things were put away, and dinner was ready before or as he got in the door. And you know what? That makes me happy.

I do not order here. I do not say this is THE WAY to do things in your life. Maybe you sleep until 7,8, or 9, maybe you function better that way. All I am saying is read God's word and ask him what HE would have you do. See, do not doing anything for your family, me, or others, in all things - do them for Christ and his GLORY and life will lighten up for you, that I can promise.

It happened on September 11, 2001 - Eight years ago, can you believe it? We all know where we were on that fateful morning when planes hit the twin towers in New York, hit the Pentagon in D.C., and fell into a Pennsylvania field because Americans overtook the hijackers on flight 93. Eight years have past, but let us not for get this day and let us remember the fallen.

With great respect,
Ashley

Let Us Remember the Goal..

Let us remember to "Keep our eyes on the TRUE prize!"

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing."

2 Timothy 4:7-8

I love my HUSBAND!

I read this on Mother of 9's website. (http://www.momof9splace.com/index.html)


I found it as I was looking around her amazing website. There is a lot of information to take in, but this statement stuck out. I found it as a good reminder to myself, about how I should be serving God and my Husband.


"God, Your Husband and You, FILL IN THE BLANK!At the end of ________'s life, will his life have been better because he married me?"



So, mine would read: "God, Your Husband and You, Ashley Rose! At the end of Lance's life, will his life have been better because he married me?"

Wow! What a question! I sure hope so, but more that hoping, I am going to remember to continuall work on this area of my life - an importnat part, my MARRIAGE!

May your husbands' be richly blessed because of you! - Ashley

Dusting..

The picture on the far left is my son, Logan, with a swiffer. On the right is a clean smaller swiffer. I just changed it though. I was dusting and realized what I was dusting must have been like three or four months worth of dust. I confess, I am terrible about this chore. It's not difficult or anything like that, and I don't have a lot to dust, but honestly I just forget to. As we are preparing to move in December I have felt God really speak to me about cleaning out and in this particular case, dusting.

As I continued to dust my son came to me and said, "help," which I knew to mean he wanted to help me. I smiled at him and gave him this small swiffer while I had the longer one that could reach higher places. I am short at 5'1" and need all of the help I can get. And so, together he and I dusted. It may not seem like much, but I really enjoyed the precious moments we spent together dusting this evening. I am happy that even my small child can show such a willingness to help me and try in his own way to help make my life easier. That is not his job, to make my life easier that is, but I am still greatful, that his little heart even thinks to. My prayer is that he continues to have such a giving heart as he grows, that God will show me how to continue fostering that within him, and that there is nothing with helping your Mom & Dad out - that God actually expects it and delights in you when you do it. May your heart and house be dust-free! Blessings, Ashley

Ministering to Other Women...

I just got done instant messaging with one of my good friends. She and I have been through many ups and downs as friends often go through, not so much together, but in our own seperate lives. She is a newer believer and is a sweetheart who has a heart to follow Christ and I was happy that as I was speaking to her, I felt Christ speaking, not me or my own voice even. I hear Christ. Ministering to other women. We as Christian women are called to do it, but we don't always do it, do we? I know that I haven't always had the mindset to share Christ with others, let alone other women. I have always thought I was too young or too this or that. Well God in his grace and mercy is showing me other wise and is slowly placing women, one by one into my path. I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I always thought that "Oh I would love to teach a bible study," or "Oh I would love to have coffee and a study at my home," never realizing by having conversations like this that I am indeed sharing Christ and his love. When I think about sharing Christ with others I have come to realize we must take people where the are, accept them as they are. I think a perfect example is in the book of John where Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman. As you read this scripture I ask you to reflect on, "What if I accept people as they are, and love them as Jesus loved this woman who was indeed a sinner and someone not of any status? What would happen?" And then go from there! - Blessings, Ashley

(English Standard Version)

John 4:1-28

"Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour when a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." "I have no husband," she replied.
Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true." "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
21Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he." Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,"Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" They came out of the town and made their way toward him."

Logan Gabriel, A Two Year Old's Reality..

This is my son, Logan. I fondly call him, Logan Gabriel, since I wanted his first name to be Gabriel. Obviously, Dad won that battle. : ) This is Logan, with a mop in one hand, a swiffer (no dry or pad on it to actually clean) in the other hand. He is trying to "hep," (help) as he tells me. Helping from Logan means bringing my purse, our shoes to both Mommy & Daddy, and in this case dirty clothes, and the mop and swiffer. I try to remember to be thankful as I see sights like this, that he in his 2 year old reality is happy to help. I pray that he always keeps a helpful spirit, although I am sort of a doubting Thomas in that area. But I can keep praying, I know that much. I also try and remember that I need to LET him help, no matter if it slows me down. As much as I teach him Please (Paweese) and Thank you (Tank you) Cleanliness is also a part of child training, least I forget that.......

So, thank you Logan Gabriel for helping Mommy and making her smile this morning.

Keeper of the Home..

So, not a great picture - I need a new digital camera, need as in one day I will get a new digital camera, but I digress. This is a pictures of my Management book I don't think of myself as manager in the push-over-boss since, but I am manging the home. I am my home's keeper and in the home I over see the goings on. I love that this is my,"job," a calling I did not always so willingly embrace. Now by the Grace of God, I see that who I am (a Wife & Mother) is truly the best "job," ever and that being keep of my house is a GREAT thing! But with that comes a great responsibility. More or less stress often depends upon weather or not I, WIFE/MOM, am doing her job well and efficently.

~~~

So, do you have a management folder, binder? While I do not think it is a mandatory, must-have item in the home I know that I love it when I can go to one specific place and pull out my binder and go for whatever I need at that moment with out fussing and stressing over,"where it should be." So, I encourage you to pray about and seek the Lord's will, and that if this is something he would have do or not to be better organized and if so, that you would do it. For our family it makes things run smoother if I am on top of the schedule, know where to go for recipes to do meals that are healthy and quick as well as have other items like taxes and shot records on hand.

~~

So, what goes in a Home binder? book?

~~

Well first of all as you see I have a page I created and stuck in the front. I put,"King Household Management Book," on it, but you can title it Smith's Binder of stuff or whatever you wish. I, personally, also put a scripture on the front to remind me the why of it all. Why am I doing this binder/book, because me and my family will serve GOD and this is one of the small way to do that. Because in my can we know that when Mom is organized and knows where things are, she can help DAD or SON when things like shedules or shot records are needed saving everyone time and stress and therefore being the woman, mom, she is called to be.

~~

Secondly, I get the colored tabs for my folder, but maybe you make your own or whatever, point being - there should be sections. You tabs may look like this:

Statement of Faith for Our Family (Our is on the front)

Calenders (Master Schedule)

Chore lists (Great site for lists and charts is http://www.chartjungle.com/)

Marriage Lic.

Birth Certificates

Taxes

Pay Stubs (in our case L.E.S. = Leave and Earnsing Statement)

Medical

Food

Biblical Studies (however you would title this section)

Parenting

~~

And some have homeschooling included in this binder but personally, I would seperate it since there will be lots of information going in that particular folder one would assume and hope. But you get the point, it whatever sections will make finding things for YOU, easier!

And that my friends, Ladies, is how to do a Home Management Book.

~~

I hope that if you already are doing this, that it is working splendidly for you and if not that you would prayerfully seek if this is something God would have you do. ~ Blessings, Ashley

Homeschool Mom-to-Be!

Source: Quin, Liam “Pictures of old books” (2003)

I found this beautiful picture on a site reffered by a woman who blogs and runs her own website. When I look at this picture it reminds me of how much I love to read. Reading is exciting to me, learning is exciting to me. I could be labled the forever student, and indeed I am currently finishing my BA degree. I am a firm believer that you never stop learning or that at least you should not. This picture also makes me think of my own schooling experience prior to college. I am not fond of it. I am a product of the military, DODDS school system, as we lived overeas for at least my 1-12th grade experience. In that experience there were teachers who should have retired and did not, drama was ever present, and really when I think about doing it over, I'd rather vomit. This is NOT what I want for my son (children,) ever! So, that coupled with the fact that I feel God is calling me (yes, already,) I will homeschool. My son maybe 2 yrs. old, but if I can and am supposed to teach him now - things like putting on his clothes, toilet-training, colors ext. why on earth would I just one day hand him over to the entity known as public school? I am not sure why I was or why others do it, but I feel that the bible leads me to one conclusion - raising and schooling my son is my calling, even a duty if you will, and my SON WILL NOT be schooled anywhere else but HOME!

Here is the scripture to back up my feeling led to homschool. It is also placed firimly in our school binder titled "King Christian Academy," (I have read it is good to name ones school, and for your information King is our last name, Christian is to make known we are followers of CHRIST and well I am not sure why academy other than I thought it flowed.) I will use these scriptures during our schooling years and when asked the question that I know will come in time, "Why do you home school?"

Refenerenced from the English Standard Version

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

"And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Teach Sound Doctrine

"But as for you, teach what accords with sounddoctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior,not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us toredeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works." Titus 2:1-14

Something to round out Saturday..

My friend, Brenda, has a blog and I snagged this from her blog. I read it and it really got me thinking deeply and I have to agree with what she said and so I pass it along! ~~~ Ashley

Friday, April 24, 2009 (<--Our anniversary oddly enough!)

Self-Esteem vs. God-Esteem
It is bleeding from our culture into pulpits and "Christian literature" everywhere. Somehow slipping under the radar of discernment for many believers. On the surface it may seem harmless, helpful even - but is it Biblical? When you hear the term "Self-Esteem" what definition comes to your mind? I'll share the Merriam-Webster dictionary's definition and then challenge you to think on it for a moment.

self-esteem1 : a confidence and satisfaction in oneself : self-respect
2 : SELF-CONCEIT

Is this something we should be focusing on building up within ourselves and our children? Self satification ... self-conceit? Don't get me wrong, I do praise my children for a job well done and encourage them to strive to do their best. Yet, I believe trying to build up a prideful sense of self-worth is doing them a complete disservice and will be taking a step in the wrong direction in shaping a Biblical understanding of who they are and who Christ is. At any age, apart from Christ we are completely depraved and in desperate need of a Savior. As a born again Christian our focus should be drawn away from sinful pride and self-seeking desires. Jesus said, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:24-26)

Our esteem, confidence, faith and hope should never be in placed in ourselves, rather it should remain steadfast in Christ alone! "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)

Posted by Brenda at Friday, April 24, 2009 2 comments
Labels: Self-Esteem vs. God-Esteem

Football Season Begins..

Football season has begun.

It is hard to be a loyal fan over here in Germany when the times are all whacked.

My husband was supposedly staying up to watch the game while I went to bed (we're FL Gator fans.)

Look at how that turned out..he's asleep and I am wide awake at 12:47 am - I am wondering now if I should wake him up when the game comes on..

Hmm choices..

Welcome!

I have tried to write blogs before. I gave up on both of them. They didn't work for me. After looking at other blogs, talking with my husband, and just praying about things, I finally have figured out how to put together my blog and I hope it will touch you. I am setting this blog up to be more about our daily life and yet, I will share scriptures, and various other things that I feel will benefit the Christian community. This is not a happily-ever-after story, but rather it's about a daily walk with Christ and what that brings to ones life if your walk is authentic. If you feel the need to email me with questions, concerns, and or prayer requests, please feel free do so at:

dailywalk2009@gmail.com

I look forward to getting to know you all!

Ashley