Spending time together!!

I honestly do not have a lot of time to "blog" but I want to remember this lesson that we have learned recently so I will try to hurry and hope this all makes sense...

Sonny and I have gotten to spend some great time together lately- thanks to our wonderful family and the amazing Kaitlyn Burke offering to babysit and the Lord really has used that time to teach us so much. Here recently Sonny and I have had about 7 different times where he will say something and I will have JUST had that same thought. It has been so weird. The last time that it happened, Sonny said that it had to be some kind of illustration that the Lord was trying to teach us. It sure was. Sonny has been teaching our students through the book of Deuteronomy and telling them again and again that if they want to really KNOW the Lord they must spend time with Him (Deuteronomy 6) and learn His word. It all makes so much sense. In a marriage, the more time you spend with one another- the more you love one another (if you are both pursuing Christ together) and the more you know each other. You can get to the point where you almost finish each others' sentences. You also need to make sure that you get time with just the two of you- away from kids, jobs, and anything stressful! This is so important to have a healthy marriage- time alone with each other to continue to grow together as one and share struggles, joys, burdens, hopes, etc. This is so similar to our relationship with Christ. We should be delighting ourselves so much in Him that we know right away what He thinks about things. We need to make sure that we get alone time with Him where we really are able to love Him with an undivided heart. This is what Christ died for. He died so that we could be near to the Lord (1 Peter 3).

This has honestly been such a challenge for me lately. Our family has been fighting (and losing to) a cold/virus since Zoee was born. This has made it very hard for me to have great times with the Lord. When the kids are finally asleep and I get some time to myself- there are LOADS of laundry to do and a house that needs to be sterilized to kill all the germs!! I am trying to delight myself in Christ throughout the day- even when I am doing the small things like reading a book about trucks to my little man. Even if we feel swamped- we can still try to delight in Him and be in His presence throughout the day. I have to tell myself this often so that I do not try to do life without being near to the Lord (I have tried some days to do this mom thing on my own recently and I end up being such a mess!)

I hope this encourages you to be in the presence of Christ today!

Asher colors

This is our sweet little boy saying his colors! Notice that when Sonny asks his about the green cup, he ends up making up his own color- "ya-ba"- a great alternative to "green." =)

Never Sleeping...

From the title of the post, you might think that I was going to start talking about how little sleep we are getting with a newborn but thankfully that is not the case (so far =) ). I was getting to spend a little time with the Lord this morning reading Psalm 121 and something in it really stuck out to me and encouraged me so I thought I would share. As you may know, having a newborn means that you do not get as much sleep as before. Granted- you might get a baby that sleeps well, but you will still have to wake up to feed them during the night or just to check on them to make sure they are breathing (trust me- if you do not have kids yet, you WILL do this). Well, in Psalm 121, the psalmist writes about how the Lord, who is our Protector, never sleeps. This was so comforting to me. I think that we often forget that the Lord is not like us- He does not need to sleep at night to refuel for the next day. He is always watching, protecting, providing for, and loving us. I sure hope that the Lord will remind me of this when I am up at 4:30 feeding my sweet little girl. Even when we think that we are the only ones awake or when we feel all alone, the Lord is near. He wants us to spend time with Him and enjoy our relationship with Him. I know this isn't that earth shattering of a revelation but it sure helped me this morning. I love that we have a God that is near to us who loves to spend time with us and interact with us. I hope to remember this more.

"My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will never slumber."
Psalm 121:2-3