First, I want to say that Facebook hates me. If I write more than a few sentences, it has no idea what to do with me other than lock up the page! Apparently, I must be meant to be a blogger. I do like being able to edit, edit and edit some more what I write.

So, a bit of a different entry today, thanks to Facebook. :) Here we go. I will try to make it more like my usual flair.

There is nothing like vacumming or outdoor exercise to clear the mind or think on something. The Lord's Word is always, always on my mind, and I find as I think on something I have read today or at another time which has ended up in my thoughts at His prompting while I am doing either, it's interesting what He might point out that I may not have seen and considered before. Yet another reason to vacuum or exercise, yes?!

So today, I am vacuuming my stairs as my children are chasing one another playing and Shaun the Sheep is on the television not being watched....wouldn't want anyone to think that my  house was actually quiet. Totally unnecessary for the Lord for a suburban stay at home mom, thankfully, to have a quiet home to think on His Word or I am not sure what I would do. I digress....

But I am thinking on Revelation 6, the fifth seal, which reads:

⁹ When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. ¹⁰ And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” ¹¹ Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.

There is something interesting here.  I have never noticed it before, but this is what I was thinking about on the stairs and decided to write about it today. I will also say that I am not sure that I am right, but I think it's worth writing about. We will know for sure when we are in Heaven.

The Rapture of the Church happens at the beginning of chapter 4, as promised by the Lord, and all real believers who have truly repented of their sins, dead and living, who asked Him for His payment for their sins, the finished work of the cross, are kept from His wrath (Jn 14, 1 Cor 15, 1 Thess 4). This is a group of Tribulation saints (the Tribulation is seven years long (see Daniel 7) and starts with the opening of the first seal, which is the rider on the white horse, the anti-Christ) who become believers after the Church, Christ's Bride, has been taken to Heaven for our wedding. These 7 years are 360 day years, per the Bible's account of how long a year is to the Lord for us (not our current calendar), and this group of Tribulation Saints have no idea how long the brutal killing of believers will go on and ask Him that very question. That is very interesting. Why don't they know?

A little more information to consider:

We see in the next chapter a parenthetical view of the ministry of the 144,000 Israelites who preach the Gospel during part of the Tribulation and are sealed by the Lord for His work. No mention of anyone else being sealed and divinely protected from death and the other judgements---just these 144,000 men. We see a huge harvest of souls--more martyrs and not the last time we are going to see this in Revelation either--- in Heaven as we continue to read through that chapter who come out of the Tribulation that are a result of their ministry. This is not the Church and cannot be for all kinds of reasons, first of which is the promise Jesus made to keep all true believers out of that time (Rev 1-5, Jn 14, 1 Cor 15, 1 Thes 4, 2 Thes 2) and we are told to comfort one another with this knowlege AND to be always alert, watching and sober looking for Jesus to come for us. How comforted do you think the believers in Revelation 7 are through the breaking of those seals? They are already in the Tribulation and the Word there says they washed their robes in the blood of the Lord and came out of that very time. How does this even get taught? Are we reading the same book? Digressing again.....

While we know that one generation will see ALL the signs He gave us in Matt 24-25/Mk 13/Luke 21  will also see His return, there is also the parable of the fig tree, the fig tree always represents Israel in the Bible, illustrates the prophetical rebirth of Israel as a nation starting that time clock for that same generation...that was May 14, 1948. Tick tock.

So here is this group back in Rev 6 of martyrs whose blood has been shed at the Heavenly altar for their belief in the Lord Jesus  and His Word and they have no idea how long this will go on. Their understanding of His Word is limited, aparently to not much mor than a saving faith before their life is taken from them. Now, not every Christian today knows how long the Tribulation is, so I don't want to make a real believer feel any condemnation for not knowing, though I do want to encourage all to study your Bibles and beg the Holy Spirit to hide it in your heart and illuminate and teach the Word, which is a lifelong process. These martyrs don't have a clue here. Why ask the question if you know the answer? And this trial for believers is only for a very, specific time. The Bible is very, very clear about this.

The world at the time of the Rapture is going to go from the Church being here, then being taken (2 Thess 2) and no believers left on earth, the current ministry of the Holy Spirit finished. The Church is the only group of believers who is the Bride of Christ, began at Acts 2 the Feast of Weeks/Shavuot/Pentacost and will stop at the Rapture (Romans 11, as well) when the Lord is going to turn His eyes back on Israel, pour out His wrath on an unbelieving world, and it's going to be unlike any time in history (see Revelation). Satan and his fallen buddies all know exactly Who Jesus is and they have far better knowlege of the Scriptures than we d0, and neither of those things makes them saved from eternal destruction. There are many within the Church who are unsaved today. The Restrainer, Who is the Holy Spirit who comes to dwell inside the heart of every real believer at the moment of belief, will be taken out of the way (2 Thess2).

How did this particular group we are shown here come to faith in Jesus? There are some Bible teachers who teach that if one has rejected the Gospel before the Rapture, they will be deluded afterwards without a choice. There are definitely two times the Bible mentions when someone can no longer accept Christ: one is after death. The whole teaching of purgatory completely flies in the face of the entire volume of Scripture, and I pray any Catholic who reads this might grab a Bible, do some studying on your own and check out places like Luke 16, just as a for instance. The second is found in Revelation 13 when someone knowingly takes the mark of the Beast (the anti-Christ) and worships his image. Other than that, the Lord is the discerner of hearts, and while someone will end up with a hard heart walking in continual sin away from the Lord, only the Lord knows what it will take for that person to come to a saving faith, if they are going to. We are never told to stop praying for those we witness to who reject the Lord or to stop sharing with them. I do not personally subscribe to that train of thought that they are doomed to delusion, and I am not sure that I see Biblical evidence that is what 2 Thessalonians 2 is teaching. I also know the Lord remains unchangingly merciful and gracious because that is His character, and that it is we who have hard, sinful hearts. I read through Revelation and see My God of Grace and Mercy on every page always wanting all men to repent and come to a saving knowlege of His Son, the Only One Who can save!

So here is the reason I sat down to write and felt I had to: it may be that those martyrs we see in Revelation 6 at the breaking of the fifth seal are those who have come to a saving knowlege of Jesus because of sharing the Gospel right now by those believers who are faithful to share it today. The prophet Amos records:

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God,
“That I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread,
Nor a thirst for water,
But of hearing the words of the Lord.
¹² They shall wander from sea to sea,
And from north to east;
They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,
But shall not find it.     Amos 8:11-12


Sharing the Gospel with the lost is for every believer--it's called the Great Commission. It's awesome to help storm victims, feed the poor, clothe the needy, but that is not the Gospel! The Gospel is the sharing with words the Good News of Who Jesus according to the Holy Bible and what He did on the cross to pay for sins so that some will believe and be saved from eternal separation and punishment in hell. We also cannot earn salvation. Ephesians 2:8-10, just as one example, is so clear about this very thing. Apart from works, free from the Lord's grace, no boasting flesh--just the Lord being glorified. The end. If you are taught salvation by any other way, the Bible says that is false teaching, the doctrine of demons. If that is what you have been taught, might you cling to the Everlasting Word or to a body that is leading you to eternal hell? Wow, Nicole, that is a very serious thing to say, offensive to some even. Yep, it is, but that is what the Bible says. The Lord says He places His Word above His own Name (Ps 138:2). Are you going to believe the Lord (go look it up!) and place your faith in Him or trust a bunch of men who are teaching contrary to His Word? His Word is the measuring stick for doctrine, not the other way around. And the Bible is very confrontational to false teaching and beliefs. I say that in love, understanding that the Lord's heart is for none to perish but all men to be saved. Most reject Him. What say you?

Take an imaginary journey with me for a minute and consider a Sunday morning if the Rapture took place then........do we really believe that everyone around us in our fellowships is saved? Who might be left when we who are saved go home to be with the Lord? Who might we have shared with and prayed for many times who is finally convicted of their sins and who Jesus is who ends up under that altar? How many pastors, worship leaders, Sunday school teachers, generous givers will be left in those seats? How many will know what happened? This group of Trib Saints group seems to only have enough knowlege to be saved from their sins and not much else. This is something to really think on and consider today as believers. We are called to be seed planters and waterers. God gives the growth. The harvest belongs to Him, not to us. Are we going to be faithful to do His work? Many reject the teaching of the Rapture, but the Bible is very clear about it in many places and with my types as well of it in the Old Testament, and you will probably be told you are crazy to believe it. Just wanted to warn you. Blessed are you who suffer for rightousness in Jesus, my friend. It's a narrow and difficult path that few find but praise be to Him who secures our footing on the Rock of our salvation. Take heart and be of good cheer and courage! The cross is the power of God to those who are saved and foolishness to those who are perishing, Paul writes to the Corinthians. Speak boldly of your faith in Jesus and let His Spirit work on conviction of sin and righteousness!

The Bible says that all in our churches are not saved in more than one place, but I would point right to Revelation 2 and 3 to those letters and what Jesus has to say about this very thing AND the time of the Tribulation specifically right now. Our fellowships are a place where we should share the Gospel everytime we meet. Unbelievers are there, but the lost are mainly out in the world and we are called disciples....that means "sent out ones" "set apart ones". We are not going to be popular. We are going to be hated and persecuted by the world and they are not going to give us any more of a warm reception than Jesus received---He promised this would be so! We are set apart and sent out to share the Good News of Jesus Christ so that some might be saved--our lives don't have meaning or value apart from Jesus and eternal things. This life, this world, they are passing away and set for judgement, and that time is very near. If those signs of the Tribution are here, how much closer are we to the Rapture, a signless event? Are you ready to share your testimony of Who Jesus is and What He did with someone gently at any moment like Peter exhorts us to? Some might be saved now. Some might be saved later.

I believe we are very close to the time of the Tribulation. The signs are not only all appearing, they are also accelerating and becoming more intense. You won't understand them without your Bible, and you won't understand your Bible unless you are filled with the Holy Spirit and in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. If you have not done the last, you will have a great deal of trouble with the other, and the Church is so filled with false doctrine now, as prophesied throughout the New Testament, that it's become very difficult to hear the Bible taught on a Sunday, much less taught correctly. The Lord defines all symbols used---no guessing required or allowed---and He means what He says. His Word is not allegorical, it's literal and plain, and pay special attention to pronouns! I cannot tell you how many times I have ended up confused because I forgot I was an "us, we, you" and not a "them or those". And we grow up in Christ. We don't come in as grown ups, but we can be malnourished. We can be immature. Pray for wisdom--He says He wants to give it--and cling to Him, wanting only His Truth. There are plenty of things to learn out there, but only one Truth, Jesus, and then you are going to have to check His Word to be sure it's the same Jesus!

So, that's it for me today on this beautiful and hot day in Houston, loving Jesus and His Word and praying for the lost and for those of us who belong to the King of Kings to be praying people and evangelising people and to depart not only from iniquity but from false teachings as well and cling to the Only One Who can save.

Blessings in Christ, Nicole

Identity Crisis Averted

The Lord woke me up this morning with some verses and something on my heart for my son, but really it's for anyone, so I am writing. I had the misadventure of going with my husband yesterday to get his haircut and out of morbid curiosity pulled a fashion magazine and read it, which is really funny all by itself. I am thinking if I went to an ivy league college, that might be my best career choice (writing for one). Thank the Lord for His strange plans for my life. I know that I have people in my life that look at me like my potential has been stumped at home raising my children, and for a long time, I believe that I went through an identity crisis that I attempted to solve through the means most of the world does---if I get married, I belong to someone. If I have children, I have someone to love and take care of. If I have a career, I can do something with that brain of mine, etc.

Am I down on any of these things? Oh, not at all, but the Lord says that He has plans and ways that are not like ours, and like my pastor talking about the mess of the back of a tapestry, there is a day when the Lord's plans look like a beautiful piece of artwork, His poema. That's my life. That's your life, if you belong to Jesus and give it to Him. We only get to see the mess most of the time and He gets to see the artwork He is creating, but every once in awhile, He might turn it around to give us a glimpse that that mess was His handiwork and the other side of it is incredibly beautiful because He is doing it!

How do you avert that identity crisis? Well, I am watching our oldest go through it, and I believe that even as off track as he has been, it only takes the Lord a moment to solve this for us if we will humble ourselves before Him and ask Him to solve it. We just have to want the Lord to show us and be led by Him rather than attempting to blaze our own trail and do things our own way. We have an identity crisis for that reason to begin with. The fall of man in the Garden of Eden was created from a departure from the Lord, His plans and ways and man thinking the Lord was holding out the good stuff. We are truly kidding ourselves when we think that doing it our way, smacking with such pride, coated over with indignation and pain from our past hurts and mistakes, is brave and makes so much sense and then we have the unmitigated gall of seeking encouragement from others who will support our delusions rather than seeking the Lord and those who know Him who will speak His truth into our lives and saylet us know own way looks like a tornado made touch down everywhere we have walked.

Oh, harsh, I know, but really, is that not the truth? There are some who pull this off and it looks prettier on the surface or from the fence they have built that only allows you to get so close, but underneath, not so, kind of like our current home. It was 9 years old when we bought it and figured we had a good base and would update and do some things to it to personalize it as we lived in it. Well, no matter how those walls looked, once you got the speed square out or took off a switchplate or outlet cover to put something prettier on, all you would end up seeing is the nothing was square and that the part was the cheapest one made in China not hooked up correctly and that we were just lucky we hadn't had a fire....and it happened over and over again. Same thing with those who want to do that. Some might just decide not to pull off anymore switchplates when they know they are just going to find a new mess. Trouble with that is that it's a bad plan if you want to keep your house from catching on fire at some point. We need not be fooled thinking that others aren't as much of a mess as us. Not so. It's those who trust in Jesus with their lives who have their walls put into square, even if they have to be ripped down, who are no longer in danger of fire because they were totally rewired and given brand new parts put in correctly!

It's the identity crisis that leads us either into the arms of Jesus and ends it with the beginning of a new life in Him or straight to hell with sincere intensions to stay ignorant and distracted or to fool ourselves into thinking we are making a good show of it. Those who know Jesus, as flawed as they will always be as humans, they know the truth and will continue speaking it into the life of the one who is still lost. Better for the storms in life to be circumstantial and we held steady through it, than the storm being inside us and we are tossed every which way and lucky if we survive. If you are in the world without the Lord, you are "lucky" to survive. If you have the Lord, you don't even have to spend a moment worrying, about anything!

So there was a passage in the Bible that I planned to get to with all this, and I was thinking about our oldest because he is almost done with the first part of discipleship and getting ready to enter very much unwillingly into the next part where there is much more interaction with the world and feet on the Word of God being fed into him these last weeks to see if he cannot get beyond an identity crisis and wondering what is next . Jesus said in Luke 8:22-25:

" ²² Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out. ²³ But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. ²⁴ And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!”
Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. ²⁵ But He said to them, “Where is your faith?”
And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”

When you get into the boat with Jesus, you are going to make it. He didn't say that trouble wasn't going to be part of the crossing, but He said, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake." When you get into the boat with Jesus, you are going to make it. It won't be easy, and if you read your Bible, you find out that He tells us that too many times! I don't know, y'all (that is whoever reads this), but you want to go it alone through the storms that life brings that only the One who controls them knows about and see how it turns out or would you rather get into His boat and let Him rebuke the wind and the raging of the water for you and know that what He commands must come to pass down to the last detail? Faith is not some arbitrary, intangible thing, as some say when they tell you, "Just have faith." Oh, baloney! That is not how that works or what that means. Stop ripping the Words of the Living God out of context and misapplying them by voiding Him out of His Own Words!

My faith is in Jesus. It's not random and being led and cared for by the Lord involves Him imputing His strength to me. I have to admit that whatever it is that I have, it's not strength at all when I compare it to His and what He has is so much better and more effective. What I have is a lack and need that He alone can fill. When I sit down in a chair, I know it will support me and I don't spend my time worrying about it collapsing underneath me. That is my relationship with Jesus as well. I know He is not going to collapse underneath my weight. He is able to hold me in His hands. And He is more than able to hold our struggling son as well and anyone else too and forever solve the question of who each of us is: His! And then the next quandry as well of what to do about all my needs and plans for my life. He will fill them and He has plans for us already (Ep 2:10).

My Jesus spoke His Word in my heart this morning as I slept and I woke up with Matthew 6 in my heart:

²⁵ “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

²⁸ “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Verse 33 is the answer to the human condition of identity. Seek the kingdom of God first and His righteousness and all the other things that we need will be taken care of---note, not by us, but by the Lord Himself! He does the "added unto you" part.

Jesus, as John accounts, prayed for those who would become His;

"⁹ I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. ¹⁰ And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. ¹¹ Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me,^[b] that they may be one as We are. ¹² While I was with them in the world,^[c] I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept;^[d] and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³ But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. ¹⁴ I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. ¹⁸ As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth."  Jn 17:9-19

I love this. Jesus prayed for me and for all those who are going to answer His call to come to Him for rest. Sanctify means to be set apart as holy or for a special purpose. The world has one way, and Jesus has one that is not only different, but that the world will never receive and is emnity to it, yet He prayed not that we would be taken out of it but keep us from Satan and set apart for the special purpose of God in Christ, which is to be a light set high up on a hill for Him making Him known, His holy name, not our own, His purposes which is salvation of souls from perishing, not our own which are selfish and glorify ourselves. The more you get to know Jesus, the more you realize how ridiculous the world is and how ridiculous you are when you follow after it. The way of the world is the broadway leading to hell, not to Heaven, and going the opposite direction of the Creator of all. The world isn't going to tell you that, by the way. They are apparently going to tell you to do it your way, that you can buy a pair of shoes that will make you think you can conquer the world (yes, that magazine actually wrote that!) or that couples that take Lexapro stay together (yes, there was an entire article espousing this as truth). No wonder our nation and our world are crumbling around us! Apparently, most are seeking this advice out and then following it to the letter!

Sigh. Really, this seems good and makes sense to millions? What can I say but tell you that surely you have a Creator who has something better for you than magical pumps and an antidepressant!

I will end with this: the Lord is amazing and when I finally humbled myself as I read His Word and understood that what was missing in my life was a contrite heart that would bow down only before the One who made me and repent (which means that I agree with Him and turn to Him and give Him control of things by His Spirit and follow His holy Words by the power of His Spirit) of my sins and receive the forgiveness He wants to give the one who asks, I will receive that and so much more, including an identity that makes me accepted in the Beloved as one of His sheep who dwells with Him eternally fed with the Bread of Life and given Living Water than eternally quenches my soul.

23 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
² He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
³ He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell^[a] in the house of the Lord
Forever.

Amen!

My Review of 12mm Golden Teak Handscraped Laminate

Originally submitted at Lumber Liquidators

Handscraped appearance and texture... Just like Hardwood flooring!Kensington Manor by Dream Home - 12mm Golden Teak Laminate Flooring - 30 Year WarrantyKensington Manor is a premium 12mmlaminate + 3mm pre-glued underlaymentproduct line. What is unique is that most of the line has a handscraped fini...

12mm Golden Teak Handscraped Laminate

Alternative to the expensive

By Brian and Nicole from Suburban Houston on 4/28/2012

 

5out of 5

Pros: Attractive Finish, Easy To Install, Beautiful Color, Easy To Clean

Best Uses: Kitchen, Office, Family Room, Living Room, Bedroom, Dining Room

Describe Yourself: Avid Do-It-Yourselfer

We debated between this product, the only laminate I liked, and the more expensive solid handscraped version that I fell in love with. This will eventually be installed in our entire upstairs. For this project, it was installed in a bedroom over our garage that has multiple closets and it's own bathroom and is currently being used by a teenager. It was installed in one of three closets, the span of the room, a bathroom and a landing. While it's not recommended for bathrooms, we have had laminate in two upstairs bathrooms, with each seam glued, and we have never had a problem as long as the room is properly vented during showers and dried out after each use.

We are avid-do-it-yourselfers. My husband actually did the entire job alone using two different saws, a flooring installation kit, and a bottle of a particular glue for the joints in the bathroom to keep moisture out. The entire install was about 260 sq ft, and he finished it in 5 hours. He said it was extremely easy to work with and was raving about it through the install. This was not the first time he has installed a laminate floor, and this went together so easily by any standard, but definitely by commparison to the other. Also, because it had an attached 2mm pad, this saved time. It was one of the reasons we ended up chosing this floor as well. There was very little waste. I bought an extra box because I was sure that we were going to run out, and we ended up with that box and almost another one! So while they said 5% waste on these floors, it had to have been closer to 1%.

It looks great. My husband said that he never saw two identical pieces. It feels nice when you walk on it. It's quiet since it's a 10 mm + 2 mm pad. It's not difficult to clean, and it's much better in quality than the cheap laminate that first came out and is still sold in the store. Laminate has come a very long way in a decade. I also love that LL carries this line all the time, so I know that I could go back in a year and pick up more. That was a huge factor in making this decision as well.

Our sales guy gave us another $0.20 off per sq ft for coming back and buying from them rather than buying the solid hardwood from Floor & Decor. F&D also had a similar product to this one, but you had to buy the pad separately, and by the time you were done with that, it was within a penny per foot in price, so there was not only no reason not to go back to LL, with the pad attached and the courtesy discount, we saved money and time. They have the BEST sales team. We must have been in more than half a dozen times looking and asking questions and getting samples, and they were always so helpful. The quality of the products, both the laminate that has the 2mm pad on the back (like this does) and the engineered hardwood and the solid hardwood is so far above anything else we saw on the market and their prices are extremely competitive. I spent about 5 weeks looking to make this decision. We will be back, and the overall experience both with the products offered, products purchased and customer service was outstanding. No one else even came close in any category. Buy with confidence from LL.

Finished room

Tags: Picture of Product

End of the install

Tags: Picture of Product

(legalese)

We are having (praise the Lord) another stunningly beautiful day here in Houston today. It's the kind of day when I can sit on my driveway while my children bother our neighbor :) and get a tan on my shoulders and legs and not sneeze the entire time. LOL My kids are not shy about talking to our neighbors. They assume that you love them because we live next to each other and are happy to keep them company. Oh, thank You, Lord, for days like today! We so appreciate the temperate ones here with the ridiculously hot, humid summers we get that make it extraordinarily unpleasant to be outside. I don't even need air conditioning on today! I have fans on and am loving it.

I have gotten Graysen's passport all taken care of. We are still in prayer about this, but proceeding as if things are green lights all the way: our youth (middle and high schoolers) are going to El Salvador in very late July-August this summer to serve at Potter's Field Ministry Orphanage and some other places locally for 8 days. I would love to go with her, but it's not my season in life yet to do it. She saved up the last month or so and got her passport money together. I am nervous about her being in a foreign country without us, however, I cannot think of four adults more equipped to take the kids down or that I trust more. The Lord will have to help take care of the money with most of it due before the middle of June. I know that if you are reading this and are family, in lieu of a birthday gift, Graysen would rather have a contribution to help go than anything else. Or if you just want to contribute because of the mission and love Jesus, that is welcome as well! I pray that the Lord fully prepares all who are going spiritually and physically for their time and am thankful that each one of these people going is already sharing the Gospel as a part of their life, encouraging other believers, are prayer warriors, and such a blessing in the body of Christ to the Lord and others. Our kids are amazing. They always outnumber adults for community Gospel outreach by a lot, they are bold, and they know God's Word. Poverty in El Salvador is exponentially worse than what we see here. I think we forget how blessed we are in America with just basic things alone. They don't wan to be like us, they just are hungry for Jesus, and praise the Lord for open doors for the Word to go out and ministry to happen!!! They will stay on the orphanage compound, but there is no hot water there, and they will be working their tails off! I heard at the meeting Sunday that they may just want to throw away their clothes and shoes when they are done! LOL Maybe we can say goodbye to those Converse in her closet..........

On a light note, since I did title my blog "The Misadventures of a Sububan Mom", I thought I would share a post office misadventure from this morning. I pullled in and there was a car there, windows down, engine on, no one in it at all, and music playing. The music was actually pleasant. It was not blasting. And I thought to myself how wonderful to be at a country post office where someone can just do that! While I am waiting in line, a lady comes in who looks exactly like Minnie Pearl on Hee Haw, same hat and everything, comes in and says, "Whichever one of you has left their ugly music blasting and their car on with their windows down is disrupting life out here for everyone and you are going to cause us to pay higher insurance rates." This sweet little man who was being helped apologized to her and everyone in the office, ran out to turn off his music, car, roll up his windows and lock his car and was incredibly gracious to her. When he returned, I told him what I had thought pulling up and that he wasn't bothering me (which was echoed by the other two customers in line and the lady helping said the woman comes in all the time and has issues). We all looked at each other---a bunch of Christians we were---and agreed she needed some prayer! Love the one who reviles you! So, now you know why I called it "misadventures". Nothing much going on down here!!
Today has been a day of good news and difficult news. Brian and I received some very good news this morning, and I thanked the Lord and was even amazed at what the Lord did. I wonder how many times I have prayed over this thing, asking and asking the Lord to help, and committing ourselves to whatever the Lord has for us, including nothing!!!, and here the Lord did something this morning very specifically in answer and in a manner that was especially pleasing. But, my heart is stayed on the difficult news instead. Why? Because the difficult news is what actually matters: news about people whom I am praying for who are suffering. They have cancer, and I have a broken heart as I have considered news about each. We don't say who cares to the good since it's all from the Lord and it would be wrong for me not to give Him thanks, but in light of the needs and condition of the situations of others, I am impressed with my own tendency towards selfishness and desiring to be more like the Lord, I cannot help but put my mind on someone else. He says we are blessed to bless others. I am so thankful for the way the Lord has blessed us, so thankful, but I also know He will take care of what is happening so that I am free to keep my mind on others and their needs and is working out everything for our good. So, my heart and mind are back on these precious ones. People are what matter. We can know that is what matters to the Lord simply by considering John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." God cares that much. We might not all believe him, but Jesus was sent to pay for all sin. Sin is paid in full, the question that remains for each of us is whether we want His blood applied to our account.
Sheri is the wife of a friend of Brian's at work. She is battling breast cancer and it's been extremely difficult for her since she received her diagnosis. I have a cyst in one of my breasts and I have gone through a biopsy last year, and it's extremely scary to wait just for that. To receive news of cancer and then go through treatment is incredible to consider. I know too many women who have breast cancer and had breast cancer. We ran into her husband yesterday, and it broke my heart to hear what he had to share about what is going on. After losing Kelli, I have a very tender heart towards women suffering from it from watching all that she went through, especially the last 7 months. I have another friend Julie from our church family, battling it right now as well who is older than Sheri, but her prognosis has been better than Sheri's though she is exhausted, in pain and worn down as well. Cancer is no respecter of persons. Its content to ravage any woman's body. Sadly, the younger you are when you get breast cancer, the more aggressive it usually is. It's amazing to me what we each go through in our lives, the difficulties!! I pray for Sheri to be healed, and I pray for her to allow the Lord to be at work in her life and to trust in Jesus alone. Julie's faith in Jesus blows me away and she is such an inspiration, so giving of her time, such a loving and compassionate woman. When I miscarried a few years ago, it was Jesus who ministered to me and cared for my soul, no one else can do what Jesus does. As close as we can be to people in this life, it's the Lord Who never leaves us, Who can be with us when we go into surgery or an MRI, or just in our thoughts when we cannot speak what we think and feel. I am so comforted and grateful knowing this not just for myself, but for others. Ever feel like you don't have the right words? I do all the time. The Lord does!  I pray that both of these women I cherish and pray over are abiding in the presence of the Lord.
The youngest I pray over is not even two, home with hospice care to go home to be with Jesus soon. His name is Brennan. Sadly, I am praying for three other young kids as well: Izzy, Clayton and Wyatt, and they are not having an easy time of things lately either. I read a comment posted on Brennan's site that no mother should have to bear what his mother is. I have to disagree after much thought about it. It is because we are mothers that we have the unique privelege to bear so much when it comes to our children. It's the job the Lord gave us. This precious family are believers, and I cannot begin to imagine the grief in their hearts and the overflow of love for Brennan as the remnant of his days are lived out in their arms, and they wait for Jesus to call Brennan home. How do you go on afterwards? I have read his mother post this question. I can remember this coming up with Kelli. Is it cruel that life keeps going or is that a tremendous blessing from the Lord?? It almost seems wrong that our hearts could keep beating after we lose someone we love so much, doesn't it? But life beckons us to continue, and Jesus is right there ready to lead us through not only the valley of the shadow of death but to dwell in His house forever, if we will just humble ourselves as sinners, repent and give Him our lives.

In thinking about this precious one and his mother, since I am a mother of four plus one who is with Jesus and one of those four is a prodigal, I want to ask when was the last time that you personally thought about the great and precious promises to those who believe in Jesus and have His blood applied to their account of sin, wiping it out? We are not just eternally saved, we are also provided with abundant life today, even in the middle of the worst trials imagineable and we are promised that He works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. One of the most difficult things to mature in as a believer is childlike faith. Sounds like some kind of phrasalistic oxymoron, but that is what it is. The longer you walk with the Lord, the more you just know that He is trustworthy and really deserves that name, the Rock of our salvation. We can't see how it's being worked for our good, but praise Him, He can. We just need to trust Him, even through our tears and heartache.
1 Corinthians 1:18 Paul writes, "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." The finished work of the cross took away my sins as far as the east from the west, Isaiah tells me. How amazing to consider! My work was faith. I think I had the easy part!! I had the unique privilege to have at least three years of time with Kelli before she ever passed away to listen, study God's Word alone and with her, and talk with her about dying before she ever spoke to anyone else about it. I learned a lot from this time with her. The Lord prepared me to be that person because I had read His Word and His Spirt brought to mind those passages that we needed to talk about to prepare her heart as well to meet the Lord. I was hungry and He fed me the Bread of Life. I think about that all the time when I reflect back. She saved an email I wrote about her and salvation after spending the day with her while she was in hospice care at home. When it was read at her memorial service, it just about ripped my heart out to hear my own words as I had quoted God's Word in that email. I had to believe the Lord. That day, I had the privilege of the Lord reminding me of His faithfulness, that this not the home of the believer in Christ, and our body is called a tent in the Bible, by more than one New Testament writer! Praise the Lord for this precious knowlege and how it frees us up to look at things from the Lord's perspective instead of the world's and to live full out for Jesus and praise the Lord we are free from being a slave to sin any longer.
So I pray over these children, totally in awe of all they go through, and thankful that their parents know the Lord, as He comforts them and gives them peace in the middle of an all-out war on the bodies of their children and one where they have to choose to believe Him about promises for the temporal and the eternal and wait on Him to work things out for their good. It's hard to pray sometimes. They are not particularly eloquent either, but the Lord knows my heart, those things that are beyond words that are about them. I am so grateful about that with the Lord!

I think about my own oldest son and the war going on for his soul, who is in control of his life, and it brings me to my knees before the Lord that I might have peace from Him simply because I know Him and want that same thing for not just my son or my family members, but like the Lord, for all men! I walked with out the Lord many years. It's not a good place to be. When we do it, there is a part of us that knows this. He says He gave us a conscience and He certainly gave us a need to worship. Sadly, both are usually seared and misplaced. Oh, how we need Jesus! Our children, gifts to us from the Lord, how easy that is to forget when we are distracted or they are being onry!! My kids have to be the most content kids to just be loved on and also the onriest kids on the planet! I am so blessed, and they have such a beautiful relationship with my husband. Growing up without a father, this is one of the things that I am most grateful every day to the Lord for! And I am blessed with a Father in Heaven, mine by adoption, thanks to Jesus.

On the driveway today, I had the blessing of the Lord reassuring me in something I was reading that He was freeing me up from all the things that could burden my heart so that I could put my mind on others. I even wanted to write today and did it! I write because I love to, but really, my heart is to encourage fellow believers and to prayerfully remind those who are not in right relationship with Jesus that He is still there waiting on them and ready to receive them with open arms bearing love and forgiveness and living hope.

The last thing that I want to say because the Lord was so good to show me something today in His word and I want to share it is that Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote in probably my favorite book of the Bible, Romans 12:20, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."  In the days of Paul, if your fire went out, you were in trouble!! Paul is talking about rekindling your enemy's fire, and not doing it with just one coal to get it going, but a huge heap, which would be considered an extremely generous blessing! I love this about the Lord. This is one of our commands as His followers. What I am finding with the Lord is that the more I give the more He gives. You cannot out-give The Giver. He is the supplier of all good things and all blessings, and that includes the blessing of having a right heart toward Him and other people--I am dependent on Him to give me that as well, and He delights in me asking Him for it!! I have spent a lifetime in fear of giving and being without, and really more the latter, and the Lord has spent my life trying to eleviate this and to show me something about Him. How long-suffering He is with us when we are slow to learn what He is trying to show us!

If I have nothing, I still have Jesus. If I still have Jesus, I have everything and I still have Jesus to give. Today, don't be afraid to heap some hot coals on someone and reflect the character of the One who is molding us into His image. Our nation so badly needs revival, and it starts with the person reflected back in the mirror seeking the Lord first. Ask Him to help you, to give you a clean spirit and a heart that wants to please Him, a heart that heaps hot coals on the needs of others! We are to be salt and light in a dark world. We want revival? Let's start with heaping some hot coals into fires that have gone out and get them restarted. That is the God we serve!! One Who promises He will not break a bruised reed and a smoldering wick He will not put out!! Isn't Jesus awesome??!!

²³ But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. ²⁴ Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. ²⁵ He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor." John 12:23-27

I am so thankful for the word of the Lord beckoning me to come to Him when I am weary. He gives rest like no other. This is a tired day for us and we desperately need Him. There is a song about being desperate for the Lord that I used to hate when I was unsaved and would hear it. Oh, how the Lord has show me as I have walked with Him the truth of that beautiful song!

This is an update on what is going on with Alex and our family. Yesterday, we took him to a place where he can be alone with the Lord, His Word and be ministered to and away from all the distractions here that have kept him from being honest with himself and getting things right with the Lord and how he is living his life. He is not happy to be there right now, but the Lord prepared him for this, and we had the privilege of seeing the mighty hand of the Lord ourselves do this. I wanted to share how Jesus is taking care of our son and how good the Lord is.

Before I start, I want to thank anyone reading who has kept us in prayer. We are close to the 2 year mark when Alex's Pandora's box of drug use got opened, and it's been a rough road. There are so many people who have either walked in Alex's shoes or ours who know the power of the Lord to deliever who have ministered to us. We are so especially grateful for you who have shared your testimony and for the unwaivering support and very sound, Biblical advise, if any has been offered.

Last July-August, Alex hit a new low, which included leaving our home. The Lord has been so good to watch over our son while he has been out in the world, running from the Lord, living his life doing what seems right in his eyes with support from "friends" and their parents to continue in drug abuse and a life headed for the gutter and finding no rest in sin. Praise the Lord that He is so faithful to show us, if we have the eyes to see, that sin is a cruel master and there is no rest in it.

He wore out his welcome with the latest parent harboring him this weekend and begged us to come back home but refused to stop using drugs. Prayerfully, Brian and I decided we would take him where he needed to go, warned him this was what had been decided and told him to come home, and he did.  Living under our roof as a drug addict is not a choice or a compromise that we will ever make. We love Alex too much to not set boundaries that will protect him and then honor them with our actions. We love our other children too much not to protect them from his choices and to show them that we are serious, and it's very ugly up close in ways that I will not be writing about today, but it's the right thing to do. The first moment of peace I have felt in almost two years was when Pastor Jeff from U-Turn prayed over Alex and our family over the phone on Monday when we called to find out if they had room for him. That is the Lord---I felt His presence in a way that I have not through this time in our lives, confirming what He wants to do and His plans for Alex, to give him a future and a hope, if Alex will let go of drugs and hang onto Jesus.

Alex came home Sunday evening with the two tubs we packed his belongings in months ago and a laundry basket. He has sold both of his guitars, his half-stack amp, his i-Pod, anything he had of value, to support his drug habbit. He had applied for food stamps in the last few months, which he received, all while refusing to get a job and work. I would not want anyone to think he spent the money he received from selling his things to feed himself or to pay room and board to the parent of the child who was harboring him. He doesn't hide his drug use and is very open about it with us and what's been going on. He firmly believes marajuana isn't bad for you, is not a drug, should be legalized, that he has no problem, that his life situation is not his fault or the result of his choices, that he is not an addict, but cannot explain why, unless, we helped him, he would not be a homeless, drug addict on the street. And he has said the same about other things he has done. Pray the Lord is able to crack the nut on that for him very quickly. It's very difficult to have that conversation again and again. It's not one that is open for compromise, unless you want to prolong, support and enable an addict. If you are from a family of alcoholism or drug abuse, you are probably very familiar with much of what I am saying and know the destruction it causes. It is not worse to turn the addict over to their choices and turn them out from your home and family. It is the only way they may actually have their life saved and for the Lord to reach them and give them a new life free from it. If you enable, you are part of the problem and the addiction. Enabling can also be called compromising.

Sadly, that story is the same for each of us when it comes to sin. Some of us are just in more comfortable cirumstances than others when it comes to our sin, easier to hide what spiritual condition we are really in. The Lord loves to strip away those things that keep us from Him, and praise the Lord when He does this. It's very painful and it's not very pretty in the fleshly sense, but to our spirit, it's a necessity. I have been through this myself, my husband as well, and our oldest daughter in coming to know the Lord. Prayerfully, folks who do not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, come to know this truth with less pain than we have, but usually this does not seem to be the case. Just like the Bible says, we like sheep have gone astray and none of us think of the Lord or seek Him. He comes after us and those who are His, they hear His voice and follow Him and will not follow another. There is no contentment following someone or something other than Jesus.

So Monday evening, Alex had made himself a cup of hot tea and was using his cell phone, supplied by his girlfriend's mother, and he dropped it into his tea. My husband regularly fixes cellphones damaged by liquids for people. Alex knows this. But in his anger, Alex destroyed the phone, despite my husband intervening to let him know that he could dry it out and restore the electronics before he destroyed it. That phone has kept him together with this girlfriend. There is no way for me to begin to express the feelings I have about parents who dishonor us by enabling Alex to continue doing to himself what he has been doing. Sigh. The Lord put that phone in his tea and then moved him to destroy it. It was going to be an issue for Alex, a source of stumbling, and the Lord took care of it. Someone who doesn't know the Lord or who doesn't understand Alex and the need for Alex to be stripped completely probably can't see the Lord's hand, but it was all Him. We have been through this before. We were the only ones who knew we were taking him Tuesday morning other than our pastor and the pastors there until we woke the kids up Tuesday and told them what we were doing. But the Lord knew and He took care of it. We did absolutely nothing and my husband could and was willing to fix the phone for him. Alex with his own hands, destroyed it. I guess this seems very dramatic to us, maybe not so much as I retell it. But the Lord is good to get rid of those things that keep us from Him.

Isn't the Lord amazing?

So the ranch is in the middle of no where. The grounds and accomodations are very basic and humble. There are chickens and goats to care for, cows come and go. There was a dog. They live a life for 2 months or longer if needed, soley around making disciples of these men who come with wrecked lives where they pray, study the Lord's Word, are taught, work doing all kinds of things to serve others, and when they are ready, move into another phase where they work off the ranch in a job they get themselves while still living there on a different part of the ranch, still being discipled, and eventually off into whatever the Lord has planned for them next.  Many go onto Bible college and then into ministry or missions. All the things that we have been trying to teach Alex they will be teaching him. Alex is very much like the 12 year old that started using drugs and has never matured and cannot right now. That is what addiction does to a person.

I am so exhausted mentally and emotionally to express as I would like to about this, but I wanted to get my thoughts down today, even if a bit raw and disjointed, to point to the Lord Jesus and how good He is and just get some basics out on what happened. I have a very sore throat, probably from the change in weather where we were yesterday, and being in the car, so talking is difficult today and we have church this evening, so I am trying to get my throat back to even be able to have a conversation with someone outside my family out of necessity. :) Please forgive me for a lack of phone calls for a few days and desire to talk while I wait on the Lord to take care of my throat.

The Bible tells us that we are not good, only God is. The goodness available to us to have is from the Lord and belongs to Him alone, avaiable to be imparted to us by His grace and credit given only to Him. This was something that came up yesterday. We are not righteous, He is. Oh, how we fool ourselves into thinking that we alone are good or not that bad, etc. We are fallen and spiritually dead apart from Jesus Christ, and how sad it is when we delude ourselves when we think we actually have life or that our salvation is secure in what we do or that going to a great college or having a perfect home, or whatever we are taking pride in does something for us in the eyes of the Lord. He says His standard is His Son and nothing else will do. I love this. I fell in love with the Lamb of God, Who was willing to go to the cross and pay for my sins when I could not, and it's not a burden on me to do something other than believe Him and follow Him and let Him do the perfecting. How beautiful that the work is done. He did it. It's not a bad or unfortunate thing that Alex is where he is because of the Lord's guiding hand. Life is more than what we wear, eating and drinking, our jobs, our homes, even our families. Read Job if that seems strange to think I would say our families and see what the Lord did in the life of this man who loved Him. So important to know the difference between the Blesser and the blessings. The work that matters to the Lord is believing in Jesus Christ. We don't even know the Father without the Son, the Bible tells us. How much needs to be stripped from a life to know this truth? The Lord tells us He is the narrow way and few find it (Him). How do you feel, whoever is reading this, about the Lord stripping away anything that is in the way of you finding Him and walking with Him so that you might not only have eternal life but be a new creation in Him and have an abundant life right now? An abundant life in Christ Jesus will more than likely not involve a huge house and a luxury car but a life of serving others, of humility. We are talking about a God who washed His disciples stinky feet as an example for those who want to be great in His kingdom and then He went to the cross and laid His life down to pay for our sins. Don't think that is only for a drug addict or a adulterer or a murderer. It's for everyone. Jesus died for the sins of all of us. The question that remains is who will believe our report??

My son is stripped down to nothing. The Lord has been faithful in taking care of him so that he can be worked with in His hands. Alex has no where else to go. Thankfully, the Lord has prevented other parents from having the desire to harbor him. The only thing he would have had to get ahold of or connect him to all the destructive friends in his life was destroyed in his own hands; he has the potential to leave there at some point completely free of the old man and old life if he will receive that. There is no computer there (kept at their offices in town), no phone except the cell phones on the pastors, they are close to nothing but one another and the Lord, and the only book allowed is God's Word. It was beautiful. That is beauty that could only be seen through eyes of faith in the Lord, understanding what He is doing in the lives of those who were there. I wonder who is saying to themselves, "Wow, Nicole, that seems so extreme." And I guess that my answer to that question is, "Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Savior personally?" Sometimes the Lord needs a radical situation to perform a radical work, apart from distraction and the world, separated to Himself alone. What does He need to do in each of our lives, even those of us who belong to Him, so that we can hear Him?

Larry, one of the guys running things, explained to my son and I as we were walking to the bunk house, that this is not a rehab. It's a place of restoration and they do not rehab the flesh, they crucify it, exactly as the Bible commands us to do. When guys have trouble with breaking rules, one of the disciplines is digging a hole. It's symbolic for the idea of where the old man needs to go---- crucified and in need of burying. The ground there is hard. But this is the reason for the verse on my heart today above. I pray that Alex puts the old man on the cross and in the grave that he may be resurrected into the newness of life in Jesus Christ for what He has for Him, free of the bondage of sin, and able to produce much for the Lord. What a beautiful thing the Lord shows us first in what He did and that we are to follow Him in it.

If you would like to keep Alex and us in prayer, please pray for the Lord to put the desire in Alex's heart to be exactly where he is, to seek the Lord earnestly with all his heart, and for the Lord to answer and work mightily. Pray for us to have continued peace and strength from the Lord and for His provision for our family and to protect the hearts and minds of the other kids. Please pray for the Lord to fill the men who are ministering to Alex overflowing with His Spirit and for the Lord to be glorified in all this.

I pray that anyone who does not know Jesus Christ as their Savior and their Lord might know Him and not allow the things of this life, and there are so many, hinder them from surrendering to Him. I am thanking the Lord today that He sees, hears and knows. What an incredible comfort. Amen.
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