When talking about moving to Kentucky today, this question was posed to me:
"How do you know 100%, without a shadow of a doubt and no chance of being wrong."
My response was this, "I don't. But God is worthy of putting my trust in even if He brings me to destruction."
In Acts 21, Paul had heard from the Lord to go to Jerusalem. The other believers begged Paul not to go because they had received another prophetic word that Paul would face persecution if he went to Jerusalem.
Acts 21:13-15 says
Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, "The will of the Lord be done!" After these days we got ready and started on our way up to Jerusalem.
I do know that God has called us to move to Kentucky. I don't know how this will all work out or what exactly it will be like when we get there. But I will put my trust in Him.
Let me clarify...I really believe God is going to take care of all our needs, that he is going to bring us to this land and bless us. But if He doesn't, He is no less worthy of my praise and adoration.
One day, I'm on cloud nine because I am confident that I have heard from the Lord. The next day, I am staring at my giants and trembling inside.
Thankfully, my awesome husband made me sit down to pray with him. We usually spend a few minutes just praising the Lord, giving thanks, then we ask a question or request and wait for the Lord to speak to us.
This time he was doing the dishes and I was drying, so our hands were mostly busy while we were praying. But after we asked for direction, we both just kind of stopped moving and sat really still for a few minutes because the presence of God came over us. Neither of us really 'heard a word' from God, but we were definitely overcome with His peace.
I realized that earlier in this process, when we would come close to a hurdle it wasn't that scary because we didn't expect anything. Now that we've heard from God, approaching a hurdle means believing God will do what He said He would do.
God, I believe...but help my unbelief.
Keep praying for me, friends! We still have a long way to go!
Once again the Lord has asked our family to step out in faith. We are WAY excited.
For as long as I've known him, my husband has wanted to farm and I have shared this desire with him, if only on and off at first. Over the 6 years of our marriage, our desire to do organic farming, raise healthy grass fed animals, and raise our ever increasing number of boys on a farm has only grown.
You would not believe the number of books read and the amount of research Quentin has done on the subject of farming. And of course, he has set his hands to work at every opportunity. He has filled my poor parents back yard with goats and chickens, and gardened every spot of soil he was allowed to till.
In the middle of all this, God took us to Kansas City. Um...ok, God. We are so glad that God took us to this City. Studying at the Forerunner School of Ministry has rooted us in the Word and Love of God. We have learned the importance of standing with Isreal. We have built relationships with wonderful, Godly people. We have been challenged, stretched and strengthened in our Faith. I wouldn't trade this time in the city for anything in the world. It is most definitely what God wanted for our family.
Our time here is done now. God has accomplished all that He had in store for us and is clearly moving us on. This time to the country...ok, not just to the country...Kentucky!! I would have never guessed Kentucky! Of course, 2 1/2 years ago, I would have never guessed Missouri, so I guess we're seeing a pattern here.
I wish I could give you the whole long story of how we came to be interested in this farm in Kentucky, but...I have no idea how this happened. One day my husband sends an email and gets a reply, the next day a phone call...then we keep emailing questions and keep receiving answers. A couple weeks into this we looked at each other and said, "Is this really happening?"
Every time an insurmountable barrier appears that seemingly would keep us from going to the farm, we just glide right over it. God just keeps working out every detail. Our parents (such wise and wonderful people) are standing with us in prayer and in awe at the amount of peace we all have over this move. Why are we in awe? Because this is completely crazy and impossible! And yet, its happening right before our eyes. Quentin and I feel like we are blindfolded and in the dark and yet, our feet keep finding solid ground.
Yesterday I got scared...
I started looking at all the barriers we have yet to glide over and began to think maybe this wouldn't work at all. But the Lord is so faithful. This morning as I lay in bed half awake and half asleep, the battle of Jericho came to my mind. God did not give the Israelites what they needed to fight that battle. In fact, they had been circumcised not too long before that and may not have even had the physical strength to fight a battle. And yet, after following God's ridiculous instructions, the walls of the city collapsed and they took their land.
Then Joshua and Caleb came to my mind. Forty years before the battle of Jericho, Joshua and Caleb came out of the Promised Land reporting what wonderful things they had seen and were ready to go in at take it while the rest of the scouts only reported of the giants in the land. At that point the Lord spoke so clearly to me and said, "There are still Giants in this land...and I can take 'em!"
So...Here we go.
We have officially started packing. We hope to be on our 40 acre, organic farm by April 1st. Please pray for us. Many things still have to be worked out and I'm not exactly in moving condition. (Due April 14th with baby Amos!)
The last picture in the 'In the Garden...' book is of Van Gogh's Starry Night. My kids probably looked at it for 10 seconds at best.
When we were done reading, I turned on some music and told them we were going to paint. Usually, all our art projects are very open ending, so that they will use their own little creative brains to make something that looks awesome to them. This time I had an abundance of black construction paper, so I gave them all a piece and threw out an idea, "Maybe you could do a painting kind of like the Starry Night painting"...then I walked away.
This is what I came back to...
I must confess, I was impressed! He explained to me that the tall red thing was the building and the white swirls were the stars. I hadn't really expected him to copy the picture, but he was very proud of himself, and so was I!
*If anyone can help me figure out why some of my pictures are only half there, I'd be grateful!
Oliver's Menorah Silas working on his Menorah Gideon and his Menorah December 1st at sundown, marked the beginning of the first day of Hanukkah. We're trying to do a little something every evening. The first night, we lite our one candle - which we found, is very anti-climatic when you've got 8 all lined up.
There is so much more to Hanukkah than I realized when I started thinking about celebrating it with the kids. I want to write this to explain a little of what I've gotten out of this Holiday, and what I'm trying to pass on to the boys.
When Antiochus Epiphanes, leader of the Greek army, invaded Jerusalem, he didn't knock the Temple down like others before him. Instead, he erected an idol (of Zeus, I believe) and sacrificed a pig, desecrating the temple. The Israelites were no longer allowed to study the Torah. His attack was at the strongest and best point in Jewish culture - Love the Lord your God and worship Him only.
During the occupation of the Greeks, many still found ways to study the Torah. They would huddle in small groups teaching and learning until a Greek soldier walked their way. Then they would pull out their spinning tops (dreidels) and the Greeks would see nothing but several young boys playing a game. They also put Hebrew letters on the dreidels to help children learn the Hebrew alphabet. The dreidels we use today have the Hebrew letters: nun, gimel, hey, shin. which stand for the words Nes Gadol Haya Sham, which means a Great Miracle Happened There!
Eventually, Judah Maccabee lead a small band of Israelistes against the mighty Greek army and finally drove them out. Their first priority was to cleanse and dedicate the temple to the One true God. Lighting the menorah was part of dedicating the temple, but there was only 1 days worth of oil for the lamp. It took 8 days to prepare new oil. What a beautiful picture of what we have to give to the Lord and what He can do with it.
How often do we feel that what we have to offer the Lord is not enough to get the job done...and of course, it isn't. His faithfulness carries us, and the little we have to give, through until the miraculous has occurred.
The little oil they had lasted the eight days that they needed it to. Now we celebrate for 8 days and light 8 candles to remember the miracle that God did. We light the eight candles with the shamash candle in the middle of the menorah. Shamash means servant and it represents the King of Kings who came as a servant and brought light to the world.
But why was the oil important? Why was the battle fought in the first place? To cleanse and dedicate the temple to One true God so that His Spirit could once again reside there. Today, the Holy Spirit lives in the heart of every believer. There are times when we need to look at our hearts and ask ourselves: Am I worshiping anything other than Jesus? Do I have any idols in my life? Am I keeping the first commandment first?
I've also used this opportunity to talk about the end times with Oliver. If you ask him who prophesied about Antiocus Epiphanes, he will tell you...Daniel, yeah the one who was thrown into the lion's den! The prophecy that Daniel gave us about Antiocus was so incredibly accurate that many secular scholars think that there is no way the book of Daniel, or at least that chapter, could have been written before the time of Antiocus.
There is another prophecy right-smack-dab against the one about Antiocus, about another evil man who the book of Revelation calls the Anti-Christ. Because these two prophecies are so close together and because the one about Antiocus was so profoundly accurate, we can assume that Daniel's prophecy about the Anti-Christ is equally literal and accurate.
Antiocus and the time of the Greek occupation was, in fact, a foreshadowing of the Anti-Christ and the happenings of the end of this age. The desecration of the Temple, the complacency of the Church when the occupation began, having to hide to study the word of God.
I hope my children have gotten a fraction of what I have learned from celebrating Hanukkah...if not, that's ok because we will definitely be doing it again next year. Oh, I forgot to mention, that traditionally you eat fried food, like latkes (potato pancakes) and homemade doughnuts in honor of the oil...who doesn't love that!?!
Please forgive me for this poorly written blog. It took me forever because of several distractions and when I finally got a chance to sit down in a quiet house and write it was very late. I hope you enjoyed it regardless of the choppy writing and misspelled words.
Today, my boys watched Finding Nemo. The intention was for me to sleep through the whole thing, but alas, my nap was again interrupted. So, I laid in bed trying to muster up a good mood for a few minutes and watched a bit of the movie. I watched the part where Dori and Marlin are in the whale headed for Sydney. I realized it was a perfect picture of striving vs. resting in the Lord.
Both little fish were headed for the same place, being carried by something much larger than them - who new exactly where he was going.
Marlin, the clown fish trying to find his son, was beating against the inside of the whale. When he was not beating against the one carrying him, he was laying in his helplessness and self-pity...beating himself up.
Dori, the forgetful little blue fish, was enjoying the ride. What joy and pleasure she gained from her ride with the whale. When Marlin asked her how she new something bad wasn't going to happen she replied...'I don't.'
None of us are guaranteed tomorrow...let alone a comfortable, well planned tomorrow. Are we fighting against the One carrying us, or are we enjoying the ride - trusting that when the next bad or challenging thing comes our way we will recieve the help and grace needed to get through and draw closer to Jesus?
The stuff that happens in my house is almost too outrageous to believe...Honestly, if I didn't see this stuff happen with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it.
To preface this story, I must explain that we have moved into my in-laws basement. There is not a real kitchen down here. I do my dishes in the bathroom and lay them to dry on a towel on the bathroom floor. (I've had to make peace with some sanitation issues.)
So, the other day, I had done a bunch of dishes, but not quite all of them. When I stopped, I had an achy back, a sore neck, a towel full of clean, drying dishes, a rubbermaid tub of water with a few things soaking in it and a few more dirty ones on the other side of the tub.
Off to fold some laundry while the clean stuff dries. I figured once that stuff dried, and I put it away, I'd wash the rest.
While I was folding laundry, the twins came into the bathroom and started calmly playing in the tub of water. I thought, 'its just water, how bad could it be'...Famous last words.
Calmly playing soon turned into splashing, drinking and eventually standing in the tub of water. Since their clothes were totally soaked, I filled the bath tub up a little bit and striped them down. Once naked, they both stood in front of the toilet then climbed in the tub. Since they were playing nicely, I sat down on the couch for a minute to read to Oliver.
Before long, naked Silas runs into the living room yelling, "POOP POOP! Mama, POOOOOP!!" 'Great,' I thought, some one pooped in the bath tub. Well, I was wrong...Gideon had gotten out of the tub, stood in front of the toilet and pooped on the floor behind him...he was close. So I wiped his bottom and picked the poop up off the floor. The second that was done, Gideon said, "Pee Mama, Pee." He was behind me with his legs crossed trying to hold it, but he peed a little bit on...what else...the clean dishes.
Now I have to dress twin two year olds and re-wash some dishes before I finish the other dishes.
