Please Pray For Us

Leslie began running a fever of 103.2 last night. She had been complaining of her mouth hurting. I did not understand what she meant. Then she said her head hurt. I began to think that maybe her throat was hurting, and she just didn't know how to say it. I called the doctor and he returned my call right before he left for the day yesterday. He said if Lauren had had strep throat, then the chances of Leslie getting it were pretty high. He was nice enough to just call us in a prescription for amoxicillan! I have given her two doses already, but she's still very much under the weather. It was a very long, hard night last night because I could not get her fever down until early this morning! You Moms know exactly what I'm talking about! I am praying she will feel much better by tomorrow so that I will not have to miss church! Can you join me in praying for that also? I would appreciate it.
Also, I am very tired. It seems like when we are all getting over one illness, here comes another one to take its place! I am ready for warm weather (yes, temps have been hovering in the 30s and 40s lately) and the sickness to leave our family and church.
I have had two disappointments since yesterday. The first one is that the couple we were discipling did not show up last night. I don't know if they forgot, or what. They didn't show and we couldn't reach them. Bummer. The second one is that our In Service Saturday for February is today, and here I sit with a very sick child (resting now) and three others who are recovering. I do not feel sorry for myself (for once!ha!) but I do feel kinda low about it. I feel so out of place when something is going on at church and I miss it! I did have the opportunity to hand out five or six tracts this week, so that is a blessing.
I am encouraged, however, that we are facing battles! I feel that it means Satan is fighting, so we must be doing something right! Praise the Lord, to Him be the Glory. If He can receive Glory from my sitting at home with a sick child, then I will do it...gladly.

Until next time...


~Valerie

Sour Prayers

Matthew 21:22
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

I heard once about a very forgetful lady. She was having a friend over for lunch and wanted to make a special dessert for her - a pie. Now this pie only called for three ingredients - that's it. One ingredient was the main flavor of the pie, and the other two were the sweeteners. Well, in her haste to prepare the delicious dessert, she left out one of the sweeteners! When her guest took a bite of the pie - which LOOKED yummy - she was startled to find it was the sourest pie she had ever tasted! The pie was un-edible because it was so tart!! It was ruined because one ingredient was left out...one very important ingredient!
I believe my prayer life gets like that sometimes! I get busy reading over my prayer list with my mouth, while my brain goes on "hold" and I mentally rehearse all of the reasons He can not- or will not- or has not- answered my requests! I am leaving out a very important ingredient to my prayer life: BELIEF! The verse we've read today says we must ask in prayer - form the words with our mouths - while also believing that He can do it! That's it. We ask, while believing, and we shall receive! When I leave out the "believing" I think my prayer life tastes pretty sour to the Lord!
Well, I laughed very hard when my friend, who was the "taster" told me about her sour pie experience! I thought to myself, "How can you leave out an ingredient of a recipe, when there are only three ingredients in the whole thing?! Today, however, the Holy Spirit asked me, as I was trudging through my prayer list with vain repetitions: "How can you leave out the most important ingredient, Valerie? You've forgotten to believe that I can accomplish these things!" I wasn't laughing, in fact, I was crying. I'm so thankful the Lord is working on this area in my life. I want to see my prayers answered!

I don't want to have a "sour" prayer life. I don't want to leave out "believing" from my prayer recipe again!

If They Could Forget, So Could I!

Ex. 24:9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:10 And they saw the God of Israel:
Lev. 10:1 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.2 And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

My husband forgets things. He forgets the bag of ice that I asked him to pick up at the grocery store. He forgets the names of people he sees very often! Well, he forgets a lot of things. He would probably forget my birthday, but I make sure to begin dropping hints several weeks in advance. Oh, and highlighting the March 25th block on his Daytimer in bright yellow, with an orange outline, doesn't hurt either. I don't think much of his forgetfulness, he's human, he's man, enough said. However, I would be very concerned if he came in smoking a cigarette and upon seeing my shocked expression, look at me and shrug, "Oh. I forgot. I'm the temple of the Lord and a Pastor, I shouldn't be doing this." And then nonchalantly put out the cigarette. After my shock wore off, I think I would be angry, too.

Now we see Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, who performed the duties of the priest, offering strange fire before the Lord. In Exodus 24, we see that Nadab and Abihu were among only a handful of people who saw the God of Israel! Now that is amazing. They saw God, and lived to tell about it! Well, until they forgot about that and ended up disobeying Him.

According to the law, they were supposed to get the fire for the incense from the altar, which burned with fire sent from the Lord. Instead, they took fire from somewhere else, we don't know where. I am sure their behavior did not shock God, but I am sure it made Him angry. They may have thought it to be a little thing, but a Holy God thought otherwise. He killed them for it.

I just read that and thought "If these men actually saw God, how in the world could they then turn around later and disobey Him?" Maybe they got lifted up in pride, because they had seen God. Maybe they were just careless and forgetful. I don't know. I do know this, if they could forget, so could I! I haven't seen God with human eyes, but I have seen Him up close through the eyes of faith. I have seen Him do amazing things in my life, and in the lives of those I love. He's done miracles for me! I have seen Him, and I do not ever want to forget what I have seen.

Welcome to Sickville!

Please pray for my little sick ones...and my big sick one! :o(

Hello, you guys. I'm sorry for not posting today...we are all under the weather. Terry is sick, Lauren has strep throat, Mitch's allergies are bothering him, and the babies are finishing up their antibiotics from their infections!! Me, I'm just trying to stay well! :o)
Please pray for us! Thank you so much!

Love,
Valerie

Teamwork, or Teamplay?

I couldn't resist sharing this little video I took today of the girls. It did my heart good to see them playing together so nicely! They are just starting to be able to do that! I loved their laughter! This made my day!

Warning: You may not care about this unless you're a relative!

I hope you enjoy it! Thank the Lord for cameras, video and the Internet!:o)

Jesus Understands

Matthew 14:9-139And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her.10 And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.11 And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother.12 And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
14When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.

John the Baptist was dead. He was martyred for the cause of Christ. Jesus already knew it, He was God, He knew it would happen before it happened! The disciples told Him anyway. I wonder if they said "Lord You'll never believe what happened!" because they momentarily forgot that He was God, or if they said "Lord, You already know this but we're gonna tell ya anyway...." I don't know how they did it. But whatever they said, the Bible says that when He heard about it, He departed to a desert place...He wanted to be alone. He grieved at the loss of John. Jesus says of John in Matthew 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: ... That's high praise. John was also Jesus' cousin - they were family. Jesus was perfect, John was not. Yet Jesus felt sad at the loss of John from the Earth. He took time to go away to a desert place and mourn, but only for a while. The next verse goes on to tell us that Jesus was moved with compassion on the people that followed Him, and that He healed their sick. He went on with His work. He stopped, He grieved and then He kept going. But, He felt the sharp stabbing pain of loss within His heart. He understands how it feels. He's a loving and compassionate Savior. He's a wonderful Savior to me!

Clothespin Memories

I still do a slight double take when I see it. I usually don't allow myself to dwell on it, because I really don't have time to cry! But I still think about it. Oh, it's a quick thought. The wonderful brain - more high tech than Dell's latest computer - can complete the thought in a nanosecond or less, but it's still a thought. As I'm hanging up the laundry, methodically slipping garments onto hangers, placing others into the laundry basket for folding and then, clipping the skirts onto hangers - that's when I see it. "It" is a wooden clothespin that says "DAD". That's it. It's enough to bring tears to my eyes, or at the least, give me pause and a flash back in time.
When I was little, my Mom hung up our skirts using wooden clothespins - the fancy kind, with springs! She would also take a clothespin and write our names on them. We had Ron, Carolyn, Kevin, Melanie, and Valerie all spelled out neatly in my Mom's superb penmanship. These "name tags" would be clipped to our bath towels so we could hang them up to dry and keep them separate, thereby allowing the use of the towel for two or three days instead of just one. I just loved seeing my name written out so perfectly by my Mom! She had a special way of writing "Valerie" that made it seem important! Maybe it was just because she was Mom!
The last time I saw my Dad alive was in May of 2004. He came to our home in Topeka, Kansas with my Mom, to help us move from Topeka, to nearby Lawrence. During their visit, I made the appropriate "name tags" for them. I had MOM and DAD spelled out neatly (though not as beautifully as Mom's handwriting) on two clothespins, each to be clipped to the corresponding towel. I can still see them hanging in the little bathroom at my house on Webster Avenue!
I know it's probably silly to you. I still have the clothespins from their stay so long ago.When I see the clothespin that says "DAD", I think of more than just my last visit with Dad on this shore. I think of my happy childhood days, where my home was peacefully buzzing along with activity. I can see Mom at the dryer, working quickly to hang up our clean clothes. I see Dad watching TV in front of the roaring fireplace. I remember the marshmallows we'd roast over the fire. I think of the time Dad said I couldn't watch Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" because it would give me nightmares...but then he proceeded to tell me about it frame by frame! I remember the times he read aloud to me from books about the Presidents, and I think of Mom reading to me from The Story of Helen Keller. She would always tear up when we got to the part where Helen realizes the W-A-T-E-R is the cold liquid in her hand. I remember the special trip we made to the library so I could look up who invented the air conditioner. (It was William Carrier by the way.)
I will never forget the time, when I was 8, that I broke a decorative mirror Mom had bought from Home Interiors. I was pretending to ice skate on it. The reflection reminded me very much of the shimmer of ice! Well, I was too big for it and it cracked in two places! Thankfully, I did not get a spanking for it! I guess they just decided to have mercy on me, because it was a silly thing to do!

I could go on and on...so many precious memories flood my mind!

And all because of a clothespin.