Prayer

     It's interesting how many avenues that God has used to speak to me about prayer lately. It seems that I am being bombarded from every direction! I have been praying that God would use this time, this time when my heart is aching, crying out, to be on the field, to be serving Him where He has called me and my family to serve, to prepare us for the things that we will encounter in a third world country. That He would strengthen us and ready us for the changes, the heart break, the difficulties. It is easy to picture dealing with serving Him in such a hands on manner each and every day. Besides the births of my children, the best times of my life have been mission trips, where serving and worshiping Him is my main concentration. But I am striving to not just concentrate on those things, but to face the reality of the hard stuff. Praying this way is dangerous! It is like praying for patience, it is not fun to do. When you pray for patience, God grants you plenty of opportunities in which your patience can be tested and stretched. Utter aggravation. But it works! This is similar and I just know that satan loves it. God is at work stretching us in difficult areas, giving us the chance to make God-honoring decisions over and over. Sometimes I make the good choice and other times, unfortunately, the bad. But I am grateful that our God is faithful in answering my prayers. I desire for our family to be so strong, for our marriage to be so strong and for our relationship with Him to be so strong, that there would be less and less room for the devil to work! 

     In the sermon we heard this morning, the pastor urged us to pray solutions - not problems. He gave several examples, including The Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer says, "Give us this day our daily bread...," not, "We don't have bread." I think of the ways that praying like this could have a positive impact on my life, my prayer life and everyday. I think that would help me to be that much more positive with day to day things, if that was the way that my prayer time was spent. I would like for my mind to identify solutions immediately, rather that dwell on the problems. 

     We have had a very nice summer so far. We haven't been near as busy as usual and have had a lot of relaxing family time. That has been wonderful. However as the summer stretches to an end, I can see, and hear, that Ethan and Caeley are ready for school to start again. Whether they want to admit it or not, they need a schedule again and specific things to do. Like, stuff to keep them occupied and not arguing..... :) On the subject of school, I have been searching for the right curriculum for our family since March. Everything that I have settled on has been ok. Not great, not just what I was looking for, but ok. Then 2 nights ago I found exactly what I have been wanting. Online, for free!!! I have it all printed out and can't wait to get started. We have separate Math, Spelling, Science, History and Writing curriculum, but the base of our schooling will come from Ann Dunagan's,Teaching With God's Heart for the World. This is the write up about it that they had on their website: While your kids are young, (during a year when most of your children are older elementary age), devote a year of your homeschooling commitment to establishing a life-long foundational family commitment to God's Great Commission. This one (or two) year study presents a whirlwind tour all-throughout-history and all-around-the-world. You will learn the importance of developing a personal devotional life with the Lord and how to develop more of God's heart for the world and the lost. "Impart God's Heart . . . for the World!" Here is a link to their site, where this curriculum can be printed for free, and they have other freebies, more resources listed and much more: www.harvestministry.org. Just send me an email if you have any questions. Anyway, this is exactly what I was hoping for. I read many reviews and it is so good for so many different situations, not just homeschooling, but it is especially great for families who are going into full-time missions. Perfect!

     One last thing, and I will stop yammering on. Ethan wanted me to share this. This last Tuesday, I was getting ready for the day and stopped a minute, looking at my two bracelets. Let me back up... When Adam and I went to Mexico on a mission trip for the first time about 5 years ago, it was to serve with Casas Por Cristo, building a home for a family in Juarez. I had such a hard time coming home. I missed the kids so much, but felt like I was leaving my heart behind in Mexico. I put on one of those stretchy silicone bracelets from Casas while I was there, and have never taken it off. Then once we started to feel God's call to Africa, I bought some threaded bracelets that were black, red, green and yellow to represent Africa, and have had one of those on the same wrist also. Well anyway, that day last week I was looking at both bracelets and decided to pray another one of those "give me clarity" prayers. I prayed that God would clearly tell me if He was indeed leading us to Africa. I want to be sure that we are walking within His will, and not solely within ours. Then at our friend's house later that evening, Caeley has holding my hand, toying with my bracelets, like she often does, and SNAP! Off pops the Casas bracelet! How's that for clarity after hanging around for 5 years??? Caeley was upset, because she was afraid I would be mad. It was fun to explain to them later, after I let it soak in, that it was just an answer to a prayer I had just prayed. Anyway, goodnight! I can't believe tomorrow is August 1st!