Wednesday

Are you a Prisoner?

I am really enjoying getting back into a routine with ALL, yes ALL (tears) the kids in school.  In the mornings, I am spending my quite time with two groups of ladies.



I really love them both for different reasons...if you want to get plugged in to one of these groups and have questions, comment and I will do my best to direct you.

So, this morning in HelloMornings, we were reading about Paul and his attitude about being in prison and the following passage really struck me to the core. In Ephesians 4:1, Paul states "As a prisoner FOR the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received."  So I started thinking, what is the difference between being a prisoner OF something versus a prisoner FOR something or someone?  I think the difference is profound.

I am a PRISONER OF

 - Disbelief, I know my God is big enough and able to do all the things that we read about in the Bible, but I am chained to my disbelief that he might actually do something like this for me.

- Fear, Sometimes I am so overwhelmed with fear that I actually cease to function, I hide under my covers as if they will somehow makes my circumstances change around me.

- Prayerlessness, I realized just last night that I struggle with prayerlessness in certain areas where I am afraid to be vulnerable...what if I pray my heart out for this and ask all those to come along side me and his answer is NO, can I handle that, can I open my heart up enough to pray fervently and get an answer that I don't like? Honestly, the current state of my heart is resisting this....so I don't bring my request to many to sound the trumpets.

-Negativity, For some reason I am wired to see and feel the negative sometimes more strongly than all the positive around me.  God can give me a gift, but the wrapping has been slightly damaged and all I can focus on is the damage, rather than the gift that came with it.  I have to be diligent in overcoming this with gratitude lists and my sweet husband :)  He is Mary Poppins (yet handsome without the umbrella and huge purse :)....and God formed this union on purpose...yes he has his days of seeing the negative around is, but for the most part his life story has shaped him to focus on the glory around us and the positive.  I love you Stephen.

-Circumstance, I really have a hard time sitting in my circumstances that seem to be uncomfortable.  I like to run...like literally run away.  I run to go out to eat, go see my friends, drive to the city that makes me comfortable...run, run, run, run, run  to anything that gives me a glimmer of peace and comfort rather than sitting in the circumstance that God has asked me to.

When we are a prisoner OF something...we are letting that thought pattern or addictive behavior WIN, we are actually choosing the path of defeat. These things chain us to a life of constant worry and self doubt, never embracing the present and trusting that God can set us free and loves us enough to do so.

Paul stated that he was a prisoner FOR the Lord.  What an interesting shift, he was choosing to be held captive.  He lived every day under the authority and rule of the Lord without breaking free as a CHOICE to serve him.  He controlled this...in turn allowing God to freely work in his life and point him in the direction of God's will.  He also did this without grumbling..when we are a prisoner OF something..we grumble and shake... trying to get away from it, but being a prisoner FOR something, we walk boldly into our chains each day and carry them with great purpose and freedom as we are choosing to trust our warden.

Do you trust your warden?  The God who promises to direct our steps together for good?

Today will you join with me in overcoming being a prisoner of and walk proudly as a prisoner FOR the one and only true God.

Much Love,
Nicole

Monday

There's something I need to tell you......

There's something I need to tell you......

It's not very common and goes against main stream....

Many people wonder why I do it?

I work for FREE.  

Yup, I said it...FREE.  

And the women who have come along side me to help?  FREE.

Counter cultural, isn't it?  But isn't it cool!  You may be assuming that I work for free because my husband makes a ton of money..right?  But no, we have six kids, all in private school which makes us very far from rich, this whole week we will be cleaning out the pantry because we have to wait until payday to go to the grocery again. Really not kidding. 

I struggled a little with telling you all this...not because I am ashamed of this at all, in fact I couldn't see it any other way, but because I don't want it to come off prideful.  I don't want the glory to pointed at me.  Because it's not at all about me, it's about HIM.  It's simply what he has asked of me. 

This is what God has whispered to me, he has called me to use my gifts and time now as a mom with ALL of her kids in school to give more to others....the women who hand batik our fabric in Africa at Global Mamas







And the children in South Africa who have lost loved ones due to AIDS/HIV

How does this whole process work?

1. Your Two Little Fish item contains some Ghanian fabric which has been purchased straight from the village women in Ghana, Africa. This gives them sustainable income.

2. You will be sending a mattress to an AIDS orphan in South Africa through Horizon International with the purchase of a bedding set.
 
3. The rest of the profit from the set you have bought will be put BACK into local and global organizations that help Put Poverty To Bed! It's really THAT cool.

Feel good about the products you spend your money on. 100% purpose, 100% handmade in the USA.

Why am I telling you all this?  Because I think you should know our heart...we promote Two Little Fish to look outside ourselves, we promote Two Little Fish in hopes that we CAN change the way we invest in products.  We CAN be a country that produces a product as a Non-Profit organization.  

Will you help us?  There are SO many out there who want to help globally and locally, but they don't know how...Two Little Fish gives them a way to use everyday purchases to do just this.....not through a company that gives some of their profit away, but through a Non-Profit organization that gives 100% of their profit away.  Will you share with your friends and help us spread the word?

Hugs,

Nicole

Tuesday

It's a NEW day.......

Well...it's here.  The first day of school, but this year is a little different than most.  My baby is now a first grader.  The days of pick-ups, pull-ups and play-dates have passed.  I used to process these things way in advance and really be in the moment......the past few years I think that I have had to process so much change that I now don't really allow myself to sit in it, until that very moment that it just hurts.  I will usually then spend 5-10 crying my eyes out with the Lord and then move forward.  But I wish this wasn't so.  I wish life didn't hurt so bad...we want, we get and then we are overwhelmed....we want, we don't get and then we are mad.  Human emotions stink.  Truth is.....I'm not ready for this part of my life to be over.  There was so much energy wasted while my kids were little, a lot of pain and a lot of uncertainty.  It doesn't seem fair.  As humans we want to think that our cross is heavier than everyone else's, but I know this isn't true.  I see people all around me and read about women who carry much heavier crosses than I do.  In moments like that I turn my eyes up to the Lord and say thank you that you didn't choose that cross for me.  Why are some people's lives riddled with death and disappointment and others who may never experience this extreme?  I don't know.  But what I DO know it that there is a NEW day in CHRIST.




We get to CHOOSE.  Romans 8: 5-6 "Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.Don't choose the human emotions that are governed by the flesh. The enemy looks to kill, steal and destroy and people typically that is our THOUGHT life.  Don't just look at these words literally....he wants to kill our self-worth, steal our joy and destroy our families through us CHOOSING each day to live in his lies of defeat.  In the lie that my days of play-dates and diaper changes are over and that I won't experience that much joy again with the goofiness of little kids...it's just not true.  Our God is a God of relationships and he blesses them as they grow and that takes time...which in turn brings about change.  I will have another day of play-dates and diaper changes...I may be a 60 year old grandma or it may just be reliving the joy of my children's youth through videos.  Either way, I'm going to choose to see God's promises.  My life verse is Romans 8:28 "And God will bring ALL things together for the GOOD of those who love God We can't see the big picture, we are looking at the back of the tapestry; huge knots and splattered colors.  But God sees the front, a beautiful woven picture of all the pieces and broken threads of our life.  He PROMISES that he will work each thing out for the GOOD of those who love him.  So the question to ask is not "Is God good?"...the questions to ask is "Do you love him?  Do you trust him, Do you somehow believe that through death, divorce, loss of a child, that he sees the tapestry he is making and he wants to turn the knot into something beautiful.

I'm going to choose to trust him today and rest in the NEW day he has created for me.