Changes

Hello! It's been awhile since I've posted anything here on my blog, but be assured it's been for good reason. You see, over the past few months the Lord has been busy turning our family's world upside down. Oh not in a bad way, but rather in an amazingly wonderful way.

I've shared with you in previous posts how our family fellowships and serves at our local Salvation Army Corps. It's been our church home for the last 5 years. Well, much to our surprise, my husband and I were asked if we would consider coming on staff as Mission Specialists. This position is primarily evangelistic in nature, ministering God's Word to those residing in our social services facilities. In faith Jay and I have agreed to accept this awesome responsibility.

We are continuing to homeschool, so please pray for wisdom and endurance as we serve our family, our church body and our community. I look forward to sharing with you the wonderful (and challenging) things the Lord will bring into our lives.

God Bless!

Forever Young?

I have discovered yet another reason why I love teaching children's Sunday School. It is my students' inability to determine an adult's true age.
After class yesterday, one of my 3rd grade boys asked me, "Miss Sherrie, how old are you?"
"44," I responded.
With a puzzled look on his face he said, "Wow, I thought you were 26."
Gotta love it.

Hiding God's Word in our Hearts

For the past three years our family has been memorizing Scripture verses following the Simply Charlotte Mason Scripture Memory System, and what a blessing it has been. Recently however, the Lord has placed on my heart a strong desire to begin memorizing much larger portions of Scripture (books even) in their entirety. I was particularly inspired by Ryan Ferguson and others like him.

This upcoming homeschool year we will be studying the Gospels. So to coincide with these studies, we have decided to memorize Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7. (Actually, we started memorizing it this week to get a jump start on it!) Memorizing two verses a week, we hope to have it completed in a year.

Here's the interesting part, and what convinces me this is of the Lord...we have never been so excited about Scripture memory as we are with this project. In fact, we find ourselves practicing our verses throughout the day with real enthusiasm, and without any prompting. This has never happened before.

I truly believe this is a turning point in our lives that will draw us even closer to the Lord, and I am excited about it.

Another benefit to homeschooling...

floating libraries!

Almost There!

After a longer than expected hike with some friends the other day, I overheard one of the moms telling her 3 year old son, "Don't stop now, we're almost there!" And she was right, we were almost there. But I can assure you that "almost there" from our perspective was a much shorter distance than it was for her young son, whose tiny legs had gone just about as far as they could go!

Watching her little one struggle to the end of the trail reminded me of how it sometimes feels on this journey toward Heaven. To me, the trip often times seems longer than expected, and I don't feel I can go any further. But from the Lord's perspective, I know it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to the finish line. Thankfully it is in these times that I hear Him lovingly whisper in my ear, "Don't stop now. You're almost there!"

A Picnic to Remember

Today we went to the state park with our homeschool group. As our girls and I headed toward the picnic tables where our group was located, we were met on the path by a young woman who was severely handicapped, both mentally and physically. I did not realize the extent of her deformities, however, until she turned and fully faced me. The sight of her mangled and partially amputated body literally took my breath away. Trying very hard not to show my anguish over her physical condition, I smiled and stopped to greet her. Unfortunately, she could not speak.

I looked to see who was caring for this precious lady, and there, to my right, was a middle-aged woman preparing a lovely picnic for another 4 or 5 severely handicapped individuals. She was their caretaker for the afternoon, and was treating them to a lovely time at the park. What a beautiful servant of God. I found myself staring at her in amazement, as though I were looking at an angel in disguise, a beautiful picture of God's mercy and compassion.

Tonight, I regret not stopping and talking with this woman. I would have loved to hear her story, but something tells me I will get the chance in Heaven.

Farewell Cable TV

A couple of weeks ago, our family made the joint decision to disconnect our cable TV service. (Yes, you read that correctly - no more cable.) We don't watch much television, but for the times that we do, we all agreed our time could be better spent.

So, we contacted the cable company and were assured it would be disconnected promptly. However, a week went by and we still had cable TV. Maybe they had forgotten to cancel it. But no, the new cable bill reflected a substantial discount from our cancelling it. Bottom line...someone had forgotten to physically turn our service off and we now had free cable. Satan works in clever ways.

I decided to call the cable company to tell them of their mistake. After telling the sales associate our situation, she became very quiet on the other end. (You know she was thinking what a nutcase I was for bringing such a mistake to light.) After a few moments, I decided to break the silence by saying, "I know, I know... but when God tells you to do something, you better do it."
"Yep, I guess so," was all she could say.

They'll be here tomorrow to disconnect the line, and you know what? I'm actually looking forward to it.