Come and lend your ear, and maybe even your heart. This blog is all about me, my family, my crafting, my couponing, my successes, my struggles, and all in all…my life. I promise you won't be bored.
I know, I know…where have I been?! lol It has been a little busy around the Kees household this week I guess. I wanted to share with you that I had my first MOPS meeting yesterday since I’ve been back home. Man, was it good to be back! The ladies were equally as thrilled to have me back, which was a very warm welcoming. I was soo happy to see all the ladies again! I have missed them dearly! I am finally getting back to being me again, which is so nice. I was really starting to miss me. I know that sounds a little silly, but it’s true. If you’ve ever experienced what I went through after going to work, and not being myself and feeling sad/mad/depressed all the time, you know exactly what I’m talking about. So it is nice to feel alive and happy again!
If you are a mother to young children, I encourage you to check around and see there is a MOPS group in your area. It is such a wonderful ministry for women. I love being able to serve on the steering team and minister to these fellow mommies and wives. Even if you are an older woman, with grown children, MOPS groups always need mentors. What a great opportunity for you to minister to young moms, to help guide them and support them. You don’t have to know it all, or be a Mother Theresa…you just have to have a loving heart and a willingness to share your life and advice with young mothers. Women’s ministry is very near and dear to my heart, and there is always such a need for it in all areas of the world.
Are you a member or mentor of a MOPS group? If so, where at? I would love to hear from you, and hear about your MOPS experiences. I would love the opportunity to pray for your group!
Being a mother is one of the most…okay, probably THE most incredible and exciting job blessing that God has ever given me. I learn something new all the time. Be it from other kids, other moms, my mom, myself, or God, I am always learning. Most recently I have learned that no matter what, we should always be thankful for our children. Children are a true blessing from God. He tells us this numerous times in the bible.
So many times parents complain about their kids. They talk about how rude or disrespectful they are, or how lazy they are, etc., etc. Why? No one is perfect. We as parents are not perfect, so why do so many parents want to bad mouth their kids to other people. If there are things we want to change in our homes, or habits we want our kids to kick, we need to teach them, lead them, and guide them. We should be working to correct these things in a positive manner. If we are bad mouthing our children publicly, what are we teaching them? What message are we sending them? This is really something to think about. As bad as you may have it with your kids, I promise there is always someone who has it worse. Maybe your kids are rude, selfish, and lazy. Okay, so work with them on it! Try and teach them better. These are things that can be corrected. Some parents have a drug addicted teenager, or a child in prison…I could go on and on. So let’s vow to be thankful for our children and try our hardest to deal with issues privately at home, rather than talking bad about them to other people. Venting to others can often make us feel better, and we tend to think it is a way to reach out to others for advice, but it isn’t. There are better ways to deal with whatever issues you may be having. It is important to remember that your child is a person too, and he/she has feelings. How do you think it makes them feel to hear you, the person they trust and love unconditionally, talk badly about them? …Just a little food for thought!
Thanks for letting me share with you! It is an issue that God has put on my heart, and I felt I needed to share.
God has certainly had a lot to tell me recently. The song ‘Better Than A Hallelujah‘ by Amy Grant was on my mind all week long. I just could not get it out of my head, nor could I hear it too many times. I love this song, and the message it sends! It is such a simple song, packed with so much truth, and has been so special to me given all the circumstances. So, as if God hasn’t been speaking to my heart enough lately…guess what song was featured for our music special Sunday morning at church! Yup, that very song. A lady at church sang this beautiful song Sunday morning. As soon as the first measure began, tears came to my eyes. I knew God was there! Most of all, I knew God was there to meet with me that day. Since this is such a special song to me, I wanted to share it with you all!
On Sunday morning, Bro Philip preached a message about Jonah. He talked about how Jonah had been running for God. Jonah thought he could hide from God. God continued trying to get Jonah’s attention, wanting Jonah to repent, but Jonah just would not do it. He would have rather died than to repent! This is what got Jonah thrown overboard the ship, and how he found himself inside the belly of the fish, or whale. You see, God loves us so much that he chases after us when we run from him. Bro. Philip discussed how the storm in the story also represents our storms in life. When we have sin in our lives, or when we are trying to hide from God, rather than follow his will, he will place storms in our lives in order to get our attention. Maybe it is a marriage falling apart, or illness, or financial struggles, or issues at work, or even our conscience. God designed us so that even when we are pushing him away, we can’t avoid our conscience. God will use all of these things to get us to come back to him. Sometimes we may have storms in our lives, but after we spend time in prayer and looking at our own lives, we realize that we are not the cause of these storms, but maybe our spouse or a family member. Because when someone is going through something, or dealing with issues, it will effect those around that person. But that is really getting into a whole different conversation. As Bro. Philip preached this incredible message, God revealed something to me….I have been running from God. Me! How could that I be?…I talk to God all the time!…I repent even when I say an ugly word, or think an ugly thought! How could I be running, God? How? Then I realized that I hadn’t been running due to sin, but in following God’s will. You see, I made a choice back in the summer to ignore God’s calling and put my child in public school, rather than homeschooling her. We made the choice to do so because we needed money, which meant I went to work and our daughter went off to school. I knew this was not God’s will, but I knew that we needed money and God would understand. Wrong! Immediately once I started working, God started working on my heart and mind. I felt so guilty! Each and every single day I felt guilt and sadness. About a month after I started working is when our daughter was diagnosed with HSP, and I began having to take off work a lot. As time went by, the guilt and sadness continued. Stress added to it, and the last couple of months I began feeling depressed. God was placing all of these storms in my life to get my attention. All he wanted was for us to trust him and follow his will. During these past few months, my husband also found out that he will be soon be out of a job. So needless to say, it is like we have become the modern day Jonah. Of course, last week I left my job to be back at home so that I can be there for my daughter whenever she needs me. Immediately I felt peace in my life. We have some work ahead of us in following God’s will for our lives in order to get all of this mess worked out, but we are on our way. I no longer feel guilty or sad, and I am trusting that God will provide. God spoke to me on Sunday in an incredible way. He truly showed me the error of my ways. We are people of such little faith. We claim to be strong Christians, but the truth of it is, we are human and in the face of struggles and problems in life, we think we are in control and our faith just doesn’t measure up. I know for me, its time for that to change. My theme for 2012 is ‘God is in control!’. I may have to tell myself this a million times a day, but if that is what it takes for me to just trust him and have 100% faith in him, that’s okay with me.
Before Sunday’s message, I would have never even thought of myself as trying to run from God. But boy, what I wrong! My question to you is….are you running from God? If you are….STOP! God is bigger than you are. God is bigger than any and every problem you have. God loves you! Just let go, and stop running! God is faster than you, and smarter than you. You can run from God, but you certainly can’t hide from him.
I posted recently about a lesson I had learned, but I didn’t give the back story as to how I learned that lesson. Well, let me share. Last year my husband and I wrestled with the idea of homeschooling. However, we were feeling some financial pressure, so I jumped on the bandwagon to work and we sent our daughter off to school. I didn’t work very long before I really started questioning what we had done. Even so, I brushed it off and went on, as I knew we could really use the extra salary. About a month after I began working, our daughter was diagnosed with HSP. This is not a life threatening condition, and will go away at some point during the year, but it can be a scary condition as it can cause permanent kidney issues in some cases. From that point on it was doctor appointments every two weeks, and labs every few days. Then it was off to see a specialist, and more labs, and more appointments. I was always having to leave work or miss work. On top of this stress, I began feeling a huge sense of guilt for sending my child off to school and taking a job. I felt like I wasn’t following God’s will for our family. In recent months I have even felt depressed; often sad or mad for no reason at all. Finally, this week it was like God hit me over the head with it. He said “just let go!”. So I did. I resigned from my job to be back at home. Let me tell you, I have never felt more peace in my life…even with all the stress we do have right now. It was just right. My asst. principal had noticed a difference in me a long time ago, and had been waiting for me to come talk to him. He said I had done an amazing job, but something changed; that I had all the qualities of an amazing teacher, but this just wasn’t God’s will for my life right now. Wow! I was speechless! God was speaking through that man…right to me. God proved to me even more that this was right for us…in less than 48 hours they had filled my position. No teaching job ever gets filled that quickly! God has had his hand on all of this, all along. He taught me that he is in control, and I need to relax and let him go to work. So I am not home, and even though my daughter will be in school until May, I can now take her to school, pick her up, go on fieldtrips, go to school parties, and help out in her class….things I never got to do before, and things I would have never gotten to do during her Pre-K year had I not listened to God. So for once in a long, long time…I have amazing peace. Spare yourself the grief I felt, and listen to God! He is such a good God! And I promise you, if you give him the chance, he will work in your life. Is my family budget more than tight now that I’m back home….oh yea!…but God will provide. I may need to find a part-time job, or a night job, but never again will anything come before my family…nor will any job other than my job as mom be put first. This is God’s will and calling for me…it may not be for you, and that’s okay, but always listen to what God says.
I wanted to get this post out quick, while this is fresh in my mind. I’m not going to give all the details of the story behind the lesson just yet, but I will soon. I learned something BIG from God this week. You see, I have not felt peace or comfort for the past nine months. It has nothing to do with God not being there, or me turning away from God, because the truth is I have been praying at the feet of God everyday for nine whole months. No matter what I had done, changed, said, prayed, etc., I still did not have peace. I knew something was not right. God was trying to work, but so was I. In order for God to work, we absolutely have to let go, and STOP working! God always provides, but we have to realize it is on his terms, in his time. Finally, I let go and God immediately began working. If we want peace, we have to have unconditional faith. We have to trust that God has our backs. You will never be able to hear God’s calling for you life if you don’t get out of your own head, and stop telling yourself how to handle it all. After nine, VERY long months, I finally shut up and let go, and now I have incredible peace dwelling within me. Are all of our problems solved now? No way! Might we have more problems in the near future due to our stepping out in faith the way we did? Maybe. But you see…it isn’t about the worry or the unknown…it’s about the faith. Every time I finally decide to pull my control-freak self back, and let God take over, he teaches me something. This lesson is something that every Christian has heard at least a million times during their life, but for me, I needed to hear it from God.
Okay, so I haven’t updated my other blog in a while, but I plan to get back to it. Come follow me at http://pinkcouponbinder.blogspot.com/. I started this blog this past summer because I had so many people asking for my recipes, coupon match ups, etc. It has been neglected for a while, but I promise I will get back to it. So join me!
Here at the Kees household, we have two dogs. One is a black lab, Jake, and the other is a Dachshund, Ginger. Ginger is mostly an inside dog, but a real hunter at heart. Jake is mostly an outside dog, but a real baby at heart. Go figure! Yesterday, after I had gotten the house clean, twice did my husband open the french doors off the living room to tell me something and Jake ran in the house. It had just started raining and Jake had managed to escape from his pen. The first time he jumped up on our tan, cloth sectional. My husband quickly grabbed him up and ran outside. He knew they both were in trouble. (LOL) I was not so happy to say the least, but I cleaned the couch and luckily all the mud came out. The rain slacked up so my husband went back to the work he was doing in the yard. After a little while he came to the door again to have me put his wedding ring so he wouldn’t lose it while working. About that time, Jake ran past his legs, through the living room and into the kitchen….mud and all. So, off ran my husband in his muddy boots, through the living room and into the kitchen where proceeded to dive after the dog, falling on his face and missing the dog. He nor the dog were able to get much traction with all the mud. As they rounded the corner toward the dining room, my husband took another dive, again missing the dog. I, at this time, was patiently waiting between the living room and foyer for Jake to make his appearance. I was furious! As he came around the corner, I threw him toward the living room doors, rushed over to open the door, and picked up the dog and threw him out. My husband did not make a sound. I turned to walk into the kitchen and there I saw the HUGE, muddy mess. I think about this time my head levitated off my shoulders, started spinning, and smoke came out. Okay, so maybe not really, but I’m sure that is what it looked like to my husband. I immediately started yelling something about getting rid of the dog THAT day. My husband nodded his head, and walked outside, without speaking a word. I was so mad, my heart was racing and I couldn’t even think straight. I went straight into our bathroom and cried. After about five minutes of crying I washed my face and faced the mess. I wiped up the mud from the floors, swept, and mopped. I was not happy, but what else was I going to do. If that isn’t enough for you, this morning at some point after we left for church, Ginger, who usually stays in the laundry room while we are gone, got lose in the house. We did a frantic search in the house looking for her. She was not anywhere! Finally, my daughter heard her crying. She had managed to shut herself in my daughter’s room. When my husband opened the bedroom door, I could immediately smell it…poop! She had pooped all over the floor, on a blanket, toys, and a stuffed animal. She had tracked it everywhere! Once again I was not happy! As a mother, I can deal with a lot of nasty, but I do NOT do dog poop! My wonderful husband cleaned it up, deodorized, lysoled the place, and mopped the floor. It was pretty nasty, so I am very thankful that he did that for me. So needless to say, after this weekend of events, I was ready to sell the dogs. Even my daughter agreed with me! (LOL) However, I don’t think we will be getting rid of them anytime soon. If we do, it will be Jake simply because my husband doesn’t have the time for him. I guess pets can be a lot like kids, even though they do really nasty, bad things…we still care for them…and don’t get rid of them (LOL).
As strange as it may seem, I think there was lesson in this weekend’s events. It was a way for God to show me that having a clean and neat house is not always the priority, and I should not find my self-worth in that. That was a hard lesson for me, but I got it! God knows me too well! He knew it would take a tough lesson to teach an OCD, control-freak like me something so important. I encourage you to try to find the lesson in the day-to-day struggles…even when you are really mad, and it’s really hard.
Carpe Diem 