5:30 am Lesson #1

I was sitting in the rocking chair, feeding Karis, and I remembered back to when she was only about a month and a half. She slept through the night from about then until she turned 4 months. When I say sleep through the night, I mean at the very least 8 hour stretches! It was wonderful! I sat there at 5:30 thinking back to those days, being so frustrated with the fact that she wasn't sleeping well anymore, and then this came to my mind....
"This is what I get for being prideful in my heart that my daughter was already sleeping through the night at only a few weeks old."
Almost immediately, as if God was right beside me talking to me, I remembered the verse, "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities." Psalm 103:10
I was overwhelmed with God's goodness to remind me of this truth. Even though I am still such a sinner, God doesn't deal with me according to my sins. Jesus Christ took on the penalty for my sins past, present and future and dealt with them on the cross. This is the Gospel! Praise God!

Just that morning at church, our pastor Sean Cordell preached on the fact that God now speaks to His people through His Word, the Bible. We don't hear the audible voice of God, but God still speaks! I heard Him loud and clear that early morning feeding my daughter!

Learning Lessons at 5:30 am

My sweet Karis has found enjoyment at waking up at 5:30 am for the past few mornings. As much as I love my child, it has been really difficult for me to serve her with a joyful heart this early in the morning. Adding to the difficulty is that she wakes up once or twice earlier in the night simply needing her pacifier put back. So, I feel I am constantly up and down out of the bed at night. 5:30 rolls around and all I want to do is get her to go back to sleep so I can go back to sleep. However, she won't have it that way. No no, she wants to eat! I have really struggled with anger these past two nights towards Karis' non-sleep, but God has been ever gracious with me.

Last night, as I was sitting in the rocker feeding Karis several truths about God, about my sin, and about this current situation came to my mind. I was so quickly humbled yet encouraged that God would remind me of His truth from His Word at that time. Even in midst of my sinfulness, I felt he was so close to me reminding me of His faithfulness.

I have been so encouraged by the Lord in this that I want to share these thoughts over the next few days. I could write so much on each one, so I'll break it up!

The End is Near!

Here is a quick update in midst of finals week.....

Blake and I took the first half of our Theology final today, and the second half is tomorrow morning.  After that I will officially be done with all of my assignments for seminary!!!  I will graduate on Friday, Lord willing!  I cannot even begin to explain how excited I am about that!  It has been a great experience for me, but I am thankful to be finishing up and able to now focus more on my daughter and my home (I sound like such a grown up mommy, weird!)  I have a list of projects to do and books to read, and I am looking so forward to it all!  First on the to-do list is get this messy/cluttered apartment put back together (it gets quite neglected at finals time, and at other times too!).  First on the reading list, well first 2 on the reading list, "Atonement Child" by Francine Rivers, and "Feminine Appeal" by Carolyn Mahaney.  Borrowing those from my wonderful friends Lisa Burns and Jennifer Cox.  I will have to post later about those books.  

Well, back to preparing essays on the doctrines of salvation and the Holy Spirit!  

  

Doctrine, Diligence, and Discipline

Yesterday at Southeastern Dr. Al Mohler from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY came and spoke at chapel. The title of his talk was "How Not to Raise a Pagan," and he looked at Deuteronomy 6. The three main points he pulled from the passage were doctrine, diligence, and discipline. It is important to be teaching our children doctrine, truths about God from His Word. We must be diligent in our teaching and make the most of every opportunity that we have. Verses 6-7 says "And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." Clearly, diligence is important. Finally, discipline. We as parents need to teach our children what God's standards are so they know why they are receiving discipline. The talk was great, and if you have time I HIGHLY recommend listening to it! Just click here.

All of this echos what I desire to do for my daughter. I want to be a parent who is teaching my daughter about the Lord. Another point that Dr. Mohler made was that we are always teaching our children something. They are learning from us and from our example. We must be mindful of that fact, and also careful what we are teaching them. I want to teach my daughter to be a woman who trusts the Lord in times of difficulty, to be a lady of grace, and peace. I want Karis to be a lady who clings to the Gospel, so I must be a mommy who shows and teaches her the Gospel. What a responsibility! What a challenge! Only by God's grace will Blake and I be able to raise her and teach her. I pray that she will be a lady of the Lord!

"Hear, O Isreal; The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way,
and when you lie down, and when you rise."

Deuteronomy 6:4-7

Election Day

"The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He will." Proverbs 21:1.

This verse has given me much peace in the past weeks leading up to this election. It is so comforting to know that I serve a sovereign God who is in control of everything, even the hearts of sinful man. I trust that whichever way the election goes, God is not surprised. He knows, and I can trust Him. My pastor has done such a great job of relaying these truths to us in the past weeks, so my heart has been continually reminded of our great God. I am so thankful for the Word of God and that I can place my trust in the Solid Rock, Jesus Christ, and not in a political party or ideal. A former professor of mine here at Southeastern put it this way...
"Glad my citizenship's in heaven. While here I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it (not politics) is the power of God!"

So as I watch the results of the election roll in tonight, I am trusting my God, and placing my hope in Him. For He has the president of the United States in His hands.

On a lighter, cuter, note.....
This may be one of the cutest pictures of my sweet baby that has ever been taken. She accompanied Blake and I to the polls this morning as we did our voting. As we were leaving, we received our "I Voted" sticker, and so did Karis. Blake thought it was a good idea to put it on her head. It did make for a cute picture!

Reformation Day/Halloween

Last week was Karis' first Halloween. We also like to celebrate the fact that it is also the same day that the protestant reformation began. It was Oct. 31st, 1517 when Martin Luther took his 95 theses and nailed them to the door of a church in Germany, setting forth the reformation. "The righteous man shall live by faith." Romans 1:17. It was this verse that influenced Martin Luther to stand against a righteousness based on works, and cling only to righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ. So....with that in mind, our Halloween costume was inspired by Mr. Luther!

Karis has Thesis written 93 times on her onsie, I am #94, and Blake is #95. Together, we make up Luther's 95 Theses. I love that Karis' first Halloween costume was theologically inspired! It was so much fun!


Now this is a pic of my poor little girl after I dressed her up in her "My first Halloween" Pumpkin outfit. I don't think she was too excited about it, but she was so cute! We went back out to our favorite spot, Target, and she was quite a hit with people there!

It was a fun Halloween season with our little Karis!

An Amazing Discovery!

It is amazing to watch Karis learn new things and grow. She is discovering new things everyday, and so am I! This is a pic of Karis in her car seat with her fun little friends hanging down from the handle. Usually, they just hang, and Karis just lays there and maybe looks at them. But, just recently, Karis discovered that she can use her hands and knock the little toys around! She is partial to the blue rabbit on her left other than the orange pig on her right. It is so neat to see her reach out and play with it now. She is also in the stage where everything is going in her mouth, so she likes to grab the blue rabbit and try to bite its head off! It's too cute, and I'll try to get a pic of that too!


Now for my amazing discovery! This picture was taken while me and my sweet girl were shopping at our favorite spot, Target! We were strolling around, and usually Karis is quite happy there! She looked so cute all bundled up in the car seat so I took this picture with my cell phone. Now, I like to think that I am a little electronically inclined, but I have never known how to get pics from my cell phone onto the computer. My phone is over 3 years old and doesn't have a usb hook up on it. Today though, I thought maybe I could send it like a text message to my email, and it worked!! I was amazed, and now I have this cute picture of my little baby girl on the computer! It doesn't take a lot for me to get excited!

New discoveries, whether your older or a new born, open up your world for so much more. Karis now knows that she can use her hands, and soon she'll learn that she can roll her body over and move around. I am amazed at her, and amazed at the God who created her as He did. My prayer is that one day, sooner than later, she will discover the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that through the work of the Holy Spirit, will place her faith in Christ alone. That discovery will open up her world and her eyes to so much more than anything else, in this life and the one to come in eternity!