More Like Jesus

Our pastor preached on the life every Christian should be living. He said we can not rest in our salvation. We are to constantly grow. Grow? Yes grow more like Christ everyday. So I did a little research into what kind of life Jesus lived. What did he do? So here is the list that I came up with. Feel free to leave me comments to add to the list.
-He knew scripture=Read your Bible and memorize verses.
-He prayed=Spend time with God everyday.
-He fasted=May I suggest the Isaiah 58 fast in addition to the normal food fast?
-He taught=If your called to teach a class, teach it. If not, live your life so that it will teach others by example.
-He preached the WORD=Notice I said the WORD. The Word of God, not of Billy Graham, Max Lacado, or Joel Osteen.
-He healed the sick=Not everyone is called to be a doctor, but there are a lot of sicknesses that are not physical. Sometimes it only takes a listening ear to help heal a heart.
-He would go the second mile=Just enough is not always enough.
-He loved his enemies=Dadgum that one is hard!
-He did good to please God=Just do it!
-He did not worry=Yes it is a sin.
-He did not judge=That is another hard one. If you focus on your walk enough, you won't be looking to see others stumble.
-He made disciples=More mature Christians help the baby Christians.
-He forgives=Say it, Believe it, Do it.
-He fed the hungry-There are plenty of ways to do this. You don't have to use fishes and loaves of bread, but the out come can be the same.
-He calls us to get out of the boat=Sometimes others need to know that they have people that will call them out in faith and be there for them when there faith might not be as strong as it needs to be.
-He took care of women and children=Are there widows in your community that need help? What about sponsoring an orphan or even adopting?
-He called us to drop everything and follow Him=Drop everything and follow Him. Listen for that still small voice and follow it. You will never regret it.

NEED

We NEED prayer!!!
As anyone who has gone to Uganda knows, you come back a changed person. I think this probably goes for any impoverished country. You can no longer sit at your nice, comfortable home and not think about the NEED.
I have a chance to work with some great people to help meet some of the NEED.
Things are beginning to fall into place.
We of course NEED to know we are doing God's will and not our own.
We of course NEED prayer warriors to help us fight this battle.
We of course NEED money and resources and we do not know where we will get them.
Thankfully, we have faith and desire to listen and wait on God's answers and timing.
Thankfully, we learned that through our adoptions.
Thankfully, we know that there are people out there in blog world who will lift us up in prayer.

I will post more information when we get the answers we NEED and we can start satisfying the NEED.

Thanks and God Bless!!!

New Tradition

Everyone has been asking me if I am planning a BIG Christmas this year. My answer is no. I had made myself the promise that when I had children, I would not go crazy at Christmas. I am only going to buy each child 3 presents. It was good enough for Jesus(gold, frankincense and myrrh) so it is good enough for them.
I am also promoting the Advent Conspiracy. This is a movement to encourage people not spend so much at Christmas and spend time in worship and sharing what Christmas is all about. Make gifts instead of buying them. If you do buy, buy gifts from charities and foundations that support charities. Etsy.com is a good place to find these gifts. I am going to try to post a list of some good sites for purchasing gifts later. You can also go to rethinkingchistmas.com, it is a site linked with the Advent Conspiracy website. It is a listing of alternative gifts.
Consider joining the conspiracy. Get your whole family or church involved and pledge your money to a cause and see what big things you can do. Who needs to play 'Dirty Santa' again?
I am also going to try to add another part to the conspiracy. I saw this on another mom's blog last year. Each day in December, like an Advent Calendar, my family is going to do something for someone else. Like bake cookies for a neighbor, rake leaves for an elderly person, or adopt a soldier for Christmas. If you have any ideas of things that you do please leave me a comment.

Eventful Week

Tuesday started with a trip to the doctor for immunizations.




Thursday we went to Christmas Village, our areas annual Christmas craft fair. The goal for the day was pictures with Santa. As you can see below, Andrew was OK with Santa, Willa Rae was not!








Sunday was the dedication of Andrew and Willa Rae at church as part of our Orphan Sunday celebration.



As part of Orphan Sunday, I announced plans to go back to Uganda on a missions trip in June/July 2010 if anyone is interested in joining us.

Your Invited x 2

This Sunday you are invited to celebrate two events. The first is Orphan Sunday. This is a day to raise awareness of the needs of orphans around the world. They need families, families that will teach them and show them the love of Jesus. They need food, shelter, clothing, medical care, education. But most of all they need to know that someone cares and loves them. This is what we are called to do. There are an estimated 147 million orphans in the WORLD. There are an estimated 160 million adult Christians in the US. You do the math. WE CAN DO THIS!!!!

Orphan Sunday from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

The second event you are invited to is my children's dedication in church. We do not have christenings or baptisms of babies, in our church. We have a dedication instead. It is more of a promise made by the parents and other family members to say that the child will be raised in a Christian loving home and that they will grow up in church. It is a promise to do our jobs as parents. Raise our children to know our love and the love of Jesus.

So if you want to be a part of these celebrations be at Glory Fellowship Baptist Church in Jasper, AL on Sunday, November 8th at 10am. Can't wait to see you there!!!