Floods

I don't think I ever remember seeing so much rain. My school system closed on Monday because of flooding. A school in the south end of the county was lost and many people here have lost homes. We got through it unscathed. I started wondering if someone had built an ark and failed to tell us.

Genesis 7:11-12 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Home

"When I speak of home, I speak of the place where-in default of a better-those I love are gathered together, and if that place were a gypsy's tent, or a barn, I should call it by the same good name not withstanding." Charles Dickens

Sunday Morning Unwrapped

I really enjoy going to my church each Sunday. Each week I look forward to it and afterwards I reflect on the message throughout the week. The message was about change and I was grateful for the words I heard, but the music blew me away. My life has always been defined by music and while I may not remember many things about events or special occasions, I do many times recall what music was playing. Echoing Angels was visiting and played our worship songs, so the music was bigger and louder than usual. One of the last songs played was Revelation Song. It has always been a great song to me, but I had never heard it live. The words raced through my soul and sent chills up my spine. Good chills! Chills that made me feel enveloped by the power and grace of God. This video isn't from my church, but it a great performance of the song.


The chorus is my favorite part.

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And I will adore You!

I'm thankful for Sunday morning at church and the way God restores my soul. I'm linking to Tuesdays Unwrapped over at chatting at the sky. Go see what others are unwrapping.

Katrina

2005 was a crazy year for us. We got serious about having a baby and spent six months trying before getting that positive on a HPT on August 27. The following week we had plans to travel to the Gulf Coast to look at my mother-in-law's rental house that was on a street that led to the beach. The rat race in Atlanta was getting to us and we had decided that we would have the baby here and then move to Mississippi. It seemed like such a good plan. My sil had moved back there two years before from Atlanta and had remodeled a little cottage near the beach. Our child would be raised in a small town near her grandparents and we would be out of the fast pace of life that swirled around us here. We had many hurricane scares over the years and my husband would watch the weather vigilantly, but August 29 was different. We woke up to his hometown being wiped out and agonized over not being able to reach his parents and know if they were safe. Thankfully all our people were safe. His sister's home was still standing , but had filled with storm surge. The house we had planned to go live in had been broken in half. I probably think about Katrina every few months and still feel a great sense of sadness that she kept us here in Atlanta. The only thing left of the little house we were going to live in is the tile floor. Here is what it looked like after the storm.

Reign in Us

On Wednesday morning I woke up with a song playing in my head-Reign in Us. It has stayed with me all week and whenever my brain gets quiet or I have a minute, it floods into my thoughts. I love the chorus, but also the verse that sings out:

Spirit of the living God fall fresh again

come search our hearts and purify our lives

we need Your perfect love

we need Your discipline

we're lost unless You guide us with Your light

Returning to work last week was hard and this week brought classrooms full of sixth graders. This morning my reading gave me the question related to John 17:6 about how do I reveal God to those around me. I felt extremely resentful earlier this week about another task at school a coworker had "decided" would be a good thing for me to handle. My first thought was "how dare her dictate what she thinks I need to be doing". Now I do have a legitimate reason why I should not do this task, but in the end I decided that I should and I'm glad I did. Mainly I'm glad because I think it is what God wants me to do and I don't have to create conflict by not doing it. I know God gave me light this week by showing me he is in control and working in my life. I'm his and I don't have to react in a worldly way to the people I interact with each day in the world.

John 17: 6-10 6"I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.

Morning Routines

I have so many things on my mind right now and do not even know where to begin to share. I'm all over the place and feel the unrest and the fast pace of life creeping back in. One issue I really struggle with is not letting my attitude get wrecked. I can talk a good talk about trust and casting my cares upon the Lord, but do I really? My best laid plans yesterday (aka the first day of school) were running smooth till I had to involve other people in them. I left my house so frustrated and was determined not to let the anger I was feeling get the best of me. Driving to school I turned up the CD player as loud as I could and asked God to give me back my peace and joy as I sung along to Everlasting God . Thank goodness, God will not grow weary, because I hadn't even pulled into school yet and felt defeated. My attitude was still ugly for a bit, but I let it die out and did not nurse the self-righteous convictions I was having at how wrong the other people (aka T-Bone) had been that morning. We still need to talk about morning routines, but at least I'm not angry anymore. I'm smiling...

John 16: 31-33 "Do you now believe?" Jesus replied. "A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Calm before the storm?

I was so glad this morning to be able to get up and not have to scoot out the door. It has made me a bit angry each morning that I couldn't hang out and read blogs, sip my coffee, be alone for a while before the family starts moving. Several things hit home this morning and I feel so thankful that I had the time to reflect on God's word and then stumble upon various blog posts that encouraged me. It feels like I had time to chat with friends even though it was reading posts from people that are virtual strangers. (My scripture today made me think of how we are all part of this huge body of Christ that is connected through the internet.) Funny how God uses technology to guide us. If I'm keeping it simple this week, I need to get on the ball and accomplish some things for the good of the order. Monday will bring a classroom full of students and I don't want my home to feel chaotic. Meals to plan, clothes to wash, planning for school, shopping, icky house to clean, and many other things that need to happen.

Colossians 3:15-17 "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."