Rest now?

Ever begin your summer saying to yourself and your children, " This summer we are gonna take it easy and slow and just really enjoy it?" That's me, every summer. Sigh, but somehow I have found myself in late June longing for a year of sleep, relief from the heat, and slowness of life. Alas, slowness is not what has been going on as of late! We began this month with a multitude of dance rehearsals followed by several dance recitals. Shortly there after I started planning my youngest angels 11th birthday. We don't usually do big birthday parties but this year my daughter wanted have a party at the lake! After we tallied up the people we had to have there, we were at approximately 35 people! But before I could get going good on the planning we had a massive storm! I mean massive! It was sort lived BUT left a lot of damage. We arrived home to a crushed fence, a crushed carport, a hole with a huge tree limb hanging out in our laundry room, and part of our bathroom wall that had been severely cracked by the impact of the huge tree that caused all this! Good news: Praise God, my animals were fine, none of our cars were home, no one was home, and my house is livable! Even better news...we are renters and our landlady is amazing! My headache, her money. Even though we rent, that is our home and it was really sad to see all that damaged! But there is already work being done! Its looking better every day! Again, praise God! We had that birthday party I mentioned above yesterday and it was a blast! So many friends and precious family showed up to help and celebrate our young ladies birthday! I can't believe she is 11! Where has time gone?? What a beautiful, special girl she is growing up to be! We grilled hotdogs and swam in the lake all day and opened enough Barbie gifts to last that little girl a life time! She was so pleased! We spent today recuperating and trying to heal sunburns! I don't know what happened to me...I'm usually the sunscreen queen and I completely forgot to apply any to anyone yesterday! My girls naturally brown skin handled it fine. I, on the other hand, am quite pale and suffering major consequences! It was a blast though! Now I can begin slowness and rest right? One can hope! :) I want to begin planning out next school year! I get so excited and geared up when I start planning! This year we have a group of homeschool families that want to plan field trips with us and I am so looking forward to it! Also, the Homeschool Convention is in August and this year I get the pleasure of my hubby going with me! We are going to have a special weekend alone and attend the convention together! It encourages me to see him so interested and wanting to gain knowledge! I would also love to get away with my family at least for one night this summer and do something fun! My oldest darling begins college this fall... sigh, whole other post on that! Good night all and may God richly bless you!, Joyfully, Kathy

God's answers so far...

In my last post I was pondering what my Pastor had preached on last Wednesday. Here's what I have heard from my precious faithful Father thus far. I have a best friend. How did she become my best friend? Time. Lots of time. Sacrificial time. Listening. Being available. Why did I do these things? Because I wanted to know this woman and I wanted her to know me. I pursued her and she pursued me. After a lot of time, listening, and effort we know each other forwards and backwards. That is what I need to do with the Lord. I need to pursue Him. He in turn will pursue me. I need to be available to Him. I need to make a sacrifice of time for Him. I need to read His Word. I need to inhale it's nectar, I need to feast upon it's Words. I need to hide those Words deep in my heart. I need to bask in His presence. I wise woman once said, " Whatever is important to you you will do well." In this case she was speaking about arriving to church on time. She was saying that if church was truly important to me then I will be on time. This has stuck with me for years! If my relationship with God is important to me then you will find me pursuing Him. My question in my last post was, "what is the next level of intimacy with God and what will it take to get me there?" I don't know the next level because I have been neglecting time with The One who will take me to the next level. What will it take to get me there? The sacrifice of my time is what it will take me. He's waiting. It's me that has wandered off, waiting for some holy relationship to just fall upon me without any effort from me at all. So I'm going to read my Bible again. I miss the days when I couldn't find it Sunday morning because I couldn't remember the last place that I read it! I don't want it to be waiting every Sunday morning safely in my church bag. I want roughed up leather binding from lots of handling. It seems so easy. The Lord says," Seek Me and you will find Me." Jeremiah 29:13. My biggest obstacle is unfaithfulness. Sigh, The Lord has His work cut out for Him! But He made me, He knows me, He loves me, and He is waiting for me! There you have it... I'm gonna read my Bible. I'm gonna be with Jesus! I'm gonna seek and I know I'm gonna find! Joyfully, Kathy

Next Step

Pastor asked a question on Wednesday..."What would it take to get you to move to the next level of intimacy with Jesus?" Perfectly legitimate question....one that maybe most could even answer. I, however, sat in my seat dumbfounded. The next level? There was a time in the beginning of my relationship with the Lord when I knew I was drawing closer and my walk was strengthening but now... well now, I just don't know. I'm not living in habitual sin. I go to church. I think for the most part I practice what I believe. On the outside it would appear that I'm living "a good" christian life. But, what is the next level? How do I get there? How do I even begin to advance to the next level? Does that makes sense? I'm not lost but I'm not on fire. I'm (gulp) lukewarm. There I said it. I'm lukewarm and I have no idea how to stay hot all the time? I have know idea what the next level of intimacy with Jesus is and it makes me sad. Almost, makes me wish I had some sin I could give up...not really but you know what I mean! Sigh, this question has been plaguing me for days now and I still have no answers.... hmmm, tomorrow is church! Praise God! Maybe the answer will arrive soon. Jesus, I need to know what the next step for us is in our relationship. I don't want to be lukewarm, You have warned against that in Your Precious Word. I'm waiting for Your answer Lord. Eagerly. Show me Lord. Teach me. I love you, Amen. Joyfully, Kathy