It's Morning Somewhere!

This week was hard on our family.  We had some sudden things happen and it threw us all off.  My husband is working through some things from his military service that are really a long process now that he's out and medical care is harder to come by.  Our youngest son will get an MRI tomorrow afternoon for a mystery knot on his bottom.  We need prayers if you please!

I used to be wary of asking for prayer for myself or my family.  Somehow I thought that God didn't want to hear from me like that.  I never saw prayer as integral to my life, let alone to my relationship with God.  Now my perspective is different.

If prayer wasn't important why would there be verses like this....Pray continually(1Thess 5:17)...I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing(1 Tim 2:8)...Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful(Col 4:2)....In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express(Rom 8:26)

Prayer is the answer to our peace.  Peace...do you have it?  

I am busy, a wife, a mother, and completely human.  I am guilty of not making the time for the prayer life that I need or want. I also believe that prayer and study should happen together because you need to talk and listen...it is a mutual relationship after all, He wants to talk to you!   I am a work in progess, and slowly I am figuring out what I need to do to make all of this happen daily.

Something that I think has helped me figure a few logistical things out recently is people's honesty about their own quiet time and prayer.  More than one blogger I follow, and a man at our church even(who is a pastor too, but not over our congregation), has admitted to doing these things in the middle of the day or at night.  This was such a profound thing to me.  I had always thought that if I couldn't do it in the first hours of my day that I was a failure and didn't even try later....kinda like when you cheat on your diet a little, and then you throw in the towel.  This is not the case.

You know the saying, "it's 5 O'Clock somewhere"....I would like to think that no matter what time of the day it is where I am....IT'S MORNING SOMEWHERE!  So, grab your bible...and your coffee cup too, why not...and have your time with God!  Morning, after breakfast, nap time, break time, lunch time, after your husband gets home and you can steal a moment, after the kids go to bed, last thing you do before you go to bed.  Git'er done! 

I challenge you to find your time and do it daily for a week.  It doesn't have to be the same time every day, it just needs to happen.  I also ask that you would include my family in your prayers.

Love God, Love your Husband, Love your families
Nicole

The Unseen Mission field

  What do you think of when you hear of missions? Going to a foreign country? 3rd world living? Living with people who don't speak the same language as you do? It can be all of those things, but it can be a little closer to home too.

   I used to go to a little town church in Montana with my twin sister to help with vacation bible school. We did it faithfully for 6 years, until we got out of high school and had our lives take other directions. They called us their missionaries. We traveled to teach these little people about Jesus. It was a simple version of missions, and one that I had never considered until they called us that.

   I had forgotten this simple definition for a long time, until the other day when I was talking to my husband about marriage. I realized that a marriage should be your first, and most important mission field. It is a relationship born of God to mimic the relationship between God and the church. What greater mission do we have than to reflect Christ back to those around us by our interactions with our spouse?

   This is the unseen mission field. Unseen? I call it this because very few people are going to realize that you are ministering to them just by interacting with your spouse in an honorable and loving way. It is a relationship built into the laws of our nation, though we have a separation of church and state. It is also under attack in our nation in the name of 'equality', though it is an institution of the church.

   How do we work our mission field?
 
   Women-
    ....We love our husbands second only to God! 1,2,3 they are looking at me!...yes, the world is looking at you. The jokes you post on facebook about being the boss. The comparison to animals; dogs. Calling your husband a man-child(I also have to clean the clothes off the floor and the pee off the seat, but I do it because I love my husband) When you post that your children are your only reason to live in the entire world; your very breath each day.
   ....We honor them in our speech, mannerisms, and dress. Yes, I said dress. Dress to impress in public, dress to be stared at in your bedroom. Other men lusting after your body in front of your husband in front of him is not going to honor your relationship. I have chosen to dress in a more modest way, that I will mention in another post in the future.
   ....We are subject to them in all things. No, I am not advising a slave/master relationship, that would be ridiculous. There is a strength in letting another person lead, and an even greater strength when it is within a biblical relationship. If your husband is close to God, you do not have to worry that he will abuse this power. Our marriages are under attack, fight for your testimony, and treat it as the mission field it is.

 Love God, Love your husbands, Love your families
Nicole