Safely Home...

As I read through my Evangelism text books a few weeks ago, there was a quote in there from the book Safely Home by Randy Alcorn.  I was immediately intrigued since I recognized that book as being on my "to read" list for a good year now.  So I checked the price on Amazon for my kindle and then I decided to check the library and see if they had it for kindle.  THEY DID!!  I was ecstatic since usually I cannot find many digital books that I like at the library.  So I downloaded it for my 21 days and for the last 21 days I have read that book like it was on fire!  Normally, while I am doing classes it takes me a good month or two to read a book, but not this time!

The book tells the story of a Chinese man, living in China, who was persecuted for his faith.  While the story is fiction, it is very hard not to read this book without feeling convicted in one way or another.  Here are chinese people thursty for the word of God, and unable to own a bible without being arrested.  These people will sit by candle light copying by hand the bible, in order to pass it along to other believers.  At one point a scene from the book reminded me of a scene in the book Radical by David Platt.  They were having an under-ground siminary.  They sat for hours reading the word of God.  they didn't have air conditioning, they didn't have running water, hardly enough food for everyone.  Some of the people walked for 7 days to get there to study God's word.  In David Plat's book Radical  I remember him asking the simple question, "is God enough?"

Is God enough for me?  Do I need fancy chairs, emotional services, programs, fancy clothes, and high heels just to go to church and worship God?  Personally, I would prefer not!  For me it's the music that always moves me.  I love having great worship before great preaching. I love the emotional over whelming feeling that God is moving in a service.  But...when that doesn't happen...is God and his word still enough for me?

Would I walk 7 hours just to sit on a hard floor, knee to knee with strangers, by candle light and listen to someone read me the bible line by line  (not just from 10-12) for 24 hours!  Could I live a life like this and still walk around with a smile on my face because I KNOW that THIS is not my home?

Is God Enough?  Do I have to have a church to make me feel the presence of God?  Do I have to have a bigger home, is that really that important (no) to have more space when these people are living joyfully in ONE ROOM houses!

My answer...YES!  God is enough for me! I do not need anything fancy in order to be happy.  God has blessed me with many things and for that I am grateful!

In the story Li Quan, ends up getting arrested and beaten in jail.  He prays and asks God to give him a ministry in the jail.  He ends up cleaning all the human waste off  the floors in the jail cells.  As he does this he tells the other prisoners about Yesu (Jesus).  He recites to them scripture from memory word for word.  One by one prisoners and even some of the guards came to Christ.

This story really touched my heart.  It was really eye opening to see that people in other countries are being tortured for the sake of Christ, and here in america we are more worried about sitting in the same seat on a Sunday morning than getting out of our seats and telling people about Christ!  I'll be the first one to say that over the years, since I have been a stay at home mom I have lost some of my boldness to share Christ like I used to.  So my prayer is that God will continue to equip me to share his word, and that he will start little by little putting people in my path that need to hear about Christ.

When is the last time you told someone about Christ?

I highly recommend that you read this book....Actually do not go get it at the library...I recommend that you BUY the book.  WHY?  All proceeds from that book go to help get the word of God, and bibles to China.  So If God hasn't put someone in your path to share with in a while, buy the book and send a bible to china!


Favorite Quotes from the Book:

"Remember the most common cause of stumbling is the fear of man.  It is God we must fear, not men.  You  must learn to stand boldly for your Lord, regardless of what men may think of you."

"Never forget Yesu (Jesus) is King, Never forget your home is in another world.  Never forget your father will be waiting to see you again"

"most trouble comes not from atheists who say there is no God, but from those who adopt strange ideas because of no training in shengjing (bible)"

"Wife and husband must be more than lovers.  Must be comrades, soldiers fighting side by side for same great cause.  Ming's mother say, "Wife and husband should not only lie down face-to-face, but stand up shoulder to shoulder."  They must face together the worst Mogui (satan) can do to them.  And when they draw strength of Yesu (Jesus), he bind them together"

"Even a bad father can leave an inheritance.  Only a good father can leave a heritage."

"A path is made by people walking on the ground.  My father walked the path before me and his father before him and his before him.  I pray my son will walk it after me.  So I ask my old roommate a question- what path are you walking for your children to follow?"

"Some money is counterfeit.  Does that mean that you no longer believe in money?

"Martyrs are not only those who die, but all who suffer for the Name."

"Real Gold fears no fire"

"To me, America is strange.  Each person acts as if his life begins and ends with himself"

"The enemy seeks to accuse us that we are not what we are.  But just as surely, he seeks to assure us we are what we are not."

"Believers comfort each other in their suffering by the truth that there is a God.  Communists comfort each other in their prosperity by the myth that there is no God.  So atheism is the real wishful thinking"

"Because every man trusts someone.  If he does not trust Yesu (Jesus), he trusts other men or he trusts himself ."

"we are accountable to Him, He is not accountable to us."

"I refuse to believe in a God who sends men to hell."  "And do you think your refusal to believe will convince God to change his nature?"

"if you are looking for a religion centered around yourself, Ben, I must agree that Christianity is a poor choice"

~Randy Alcorn  "Safely Home"

Meningitis, Rabies, Strep....lessons from God...

My last post was only 13 days ago and so much has gone on since then, it feels like it's been over a month at least!  So last I wrote Pumpkin wasn't feeling well, she had gotten bitten by our hamster and then the hamster died and she came down with a fever, vomiting and sore neck.  After trying to make her comfortable all night long, she was still screaming in pain from her neck and stomach.  I waited till 8am and called our pediatrician to get an appointment.  The earliest they could get her in was 11am, but she was laying on the floor and had endured pain all night long I didn't think I could make her wait any longer.  So I put her in the car and took her to Patient First.

When the doctor came in she asked me what was going on.  I told her she had gotten bit by the hamster on Thursday, the hamster was dead Friday morning, and Pumpkin came down with a fever friday night.  She was vomiting, had a high fever, pain in her neck, and stomach pain.  The doctor asked what the hamster died from, I told her the pet store told us "wet tail."  So she said she would go research it and get back to me.  She was gone about five minutes when she came back and told me that she thought Pumpkin may have gotten meningitis from the hamster.  She did not examine her at all, did not look in her throat, did not look in her ears, did not feel her neck nothing!  She then gave me a note and sent us to the ER.

Once at the ER, the first thing they did was ask her to touch her chin to her knee, which she did, and they said she wouldn't be able to do that if she had meningitis so that was ruled out.  So then they said their main concern is that she could have rabies!!  WHAT!!  Pumpkin had tons of scratches from the kitten on the tops of her hands, and they started questioning me about the kitten.  They wanted to know if it had it's shots yet.  I told them we actually had an appointment this morning but we ended up there instead.  So they started saying that we need to give her shots for rabies.  They said that if she was exposed to it, they can only treat it within the first 10 days and after that there is nothing they can do for her.  So I started panicking a bit.  But as I stood there and prayed asking God what to do, it dawned on me that I too had cat scratches on my arm and I wasn't sick!  If we did the rabies shots for Pumpkin it would be like 15 days of shots!  So I told them I was pretty sure it wasn't rabies because I would be sick too!

They ended up calling the health department because they said they have to report animal bites.  They said that they were going to come and get the cat and keep him for a while to make sure he didn't have rabies.  I asked why they reported the cat because it wasn't a cat bite it was a hamster bite.  They said the health department wasn't worried about the hamster, just the cat scratches.  FINALLY they stopped worrying about the animals and actually examined Pumpkin.  They felt her neck which had lumps all around it and she had puss on her tonsils.  She ended up testing negative for strep, but they said it was strep because of the symptoms.

I was pretty angry that they had me in fear all day long that my child was dying from meningitis and rabies, when if they had checked her in the first place they would have found out that she was just sick with a virus.

By the time I got home the health department had been here, they dug up the hamster and took it for testing. They said they weren't worried about the cat at all!  When I got inside the house I gave Sweet-pea a hug to discover she had a fever!  And later that night I ended up at Kid med with her and Goobies.

As usual they all passed it around and were sick for about a week or two.  They had ear infections and were all on antibiotics.  I asked the doctor when I was there, if this could be happening so much this year because maybe I'm not cleaning something good enough?  He said they are all inner ear infections and cannot be caused from any type of germ, it if from their ear tubes not developing correctly yet.

So, last week was my last week of summer classes.  I really enjoyed my bible and evangelism class.  I learned two important things in those classes that have already really helped me quite a bit.  #1: being humble is always viewing everyone else as better than you.  #2 trusting the Holy Spirit to work, will usually result in better results than if we do it ourselves.

I think having a large family has really made me insecure.  I always feel the entire world is always waiting to pounce on me.  We've had so many rude comments about the size of our family, and feel like people are just waiting to prove that I'm a bad mother for some reason.  I feel even more pressure to make sure they are clean, well dressed, well educated, and well loved because I feel like people think that large families like ours  neglect their children.  I have problems with thinking that people are always trying to think they are better than me, or that they think they are more spiritual than me.  Not that I think I am more spiritual or better than them, but it makes me feel like I have to strive to be even better, if that makes since.  So, if I can just think that everyone IS better than me, then it makes things so much easier, and takes so much more pressure off!

Also this week I've learned a great lesson on giving my problems over to God and trusting him to take care of things.  Nathan and I have been looking for a new house.  We are planning to rent our our house and buy a new one. We were not sure we would be able to qualify for a loan to do this but after applying and giving it over to God, we DID!!  We found a house that would be perfect for us, but then the house would not qualify for the type of loan we have to get for our situation.  So we are still looking.  Also last week was the last week of my summer classes.  I worked day and night, and into the mornings trying to finish up 3 weeks in 3 classes.  My professors had extended the courses till Sunday but I still finished on Friday!  Saturday I saw that my Evangelism professor gave me a ZERO for my discussion board because she said she could not accept late discussion board work.  I was so shocked seeing as how she told me that she removed the due dates for all my assignments and just keep her informed on my progress.  When I messaged her about it she said that she would give me a 70 for the misunderstanding but that's all.  She ended up forwarding the issue to her supervisor to make a decision.  I prayed and gave it to God!  Sunday She messaged me back and told me that since my final grade will be an "A" anyways her supervisor wasnt too concerned about it.  I was so relieved!  I too told her then I wasn't worried about it as long as I get an "A".  So...I have finished two semesters so far with a 4.0 GPA!

Monday was the first day of my fall classes.  This time I'm taking American History and another Math class.  Things are going well for us right now and look to be on the upswing.  We are very excited about the next few weeks!  Pumpkin & Little Bear started Upword cheerleading monday.  They LOVE IT!  I can't get Pumpkin to take off her uniform!  Nathan's parents are moving their Jewelry store into a new location downtown in the James Center on the 1st of September!  We are very excited about that!  And we are going on Saturday to look for some more houses.  We are praying that the right house will come along.  We are in desperate need of more space!!  We have a 1,000 square foot house for the seven of us right now and really need something bigger!  We are also getting things cleaned up and organized and ready to start homeschooling this fall, in about two more weeks!  We are so ready to get back on a good schedule!!

Update...

I have been itching to get on here and update the last few weeks, but I have been so bogged down with catching up on my school work that everything has been neglected!  It amazes me how just ONE week of being sick and missing college classes can turn into a HUGE problem!  Here I am one week away from the end of the 8 weeks and I have three more weeks to catch up on before next friday!  I gotta say that I used to be so critical of people who were going to college.  I watched a lot of my friends who were married with a couple kids, push themselves so hard to get such great grades that they neglected their families, and ended up in divorce.  I remember swearing that would never be me...yet...here I am using every waking minute and even the nights to catch up on my work.  On a normal week, I could do house work, homeschooling and all the normal every day things and then start school around 7pm and finish around 12am, and it never interfered with anything.  But I get sick ONE week and I'm killing myself in order to get caught up!  I kept telling Nathan that it was so important to me to get A's.  For one thing we are paying for this and I'm not about to put my family in debt for no reason!  And secondly, my grades in high school stunk!!  I recently found an old report card and showed it to Nathan, he was completely shocked at the F's and D's I had on there!  I don't know what it was about high school, I think back then I just didn't have the motivation to make something out of myself like I do now.

So here I am 5am, and yes I'm still awake.  Tonight I am on night duty with Pumpkin, we've had an eventful couple of days.  So...a few weeks ago we decided to take in a kitten who was abandoned in a parking lot.  Our friends who found the kitten said they thought he was about 4-5 weeks old.  He was really little!  So the Friday before we got him I took Pumpkin to the pet store to get some supplies and we stopped to look at the hamsters.  I just couldn't walk away they were so pitiful!  So we got one and named it Penny.  Well Penny only lasted about 7 days.  We woke up this morning and found that she passed away and was laying in the corner of her cage.  We took her back to the pet store and they said she had a bacteria infection called wet tale.  The night before this happened Pumpkin had just finished eating her dinner and stuck her finger in Penny's cage.  Penny bit her finger so hard (smelling the food) that she started bleeding!   We put alcohol on it and wrapped it up and then today it looks like it has already almost healed up.  

All day today Pumpkin has been telling me she has a headache in the back of her head.  I gave her some Ibuprofen this afternoon and then she didn't complain anymore the rest of the day.  At bedtime she still seemed fine.  Then around 1am she got up crying that her head was hurting!  Her neck and the back of her head was really hurting.  I went to rub the back of her head and she was burning up!  She had a fever of 101.4.  I immediately gave her some elderberry (a new remedy that I have discovered recently that helps boost their immune system) and liquids.  After a few hours of crying that her belly and head hurt, she finally vomited.  She has been miserable since.  Nathan and I prayed over her and he went to bed and I am up monitoring meds, temps, and vomit!  I can't say I'm a little worried that she may have gotten something from the hamster bite, so I'm hoping she will be better when she wakes up but we are going to be making a doctor appointment first thing in the morning.  

So other than that life has been super busy as always.  Nathan and I have been looking at houses again.  We are not in a hurry but we would LOVE to rent out our house and buy a bigger house so we can fit better.  We have our eye on a house right now, we went and looked at it last weekend, we decided that we didnt' feel peaceful about it...then we couldn't stop talking about it.  When I looked it up a week later the price had dropped!!  So I called my realtor and we are going to look at it again on Saturday!  I feel like it has potential, I love the outside of it but I still feel like we will grow out of it fast.  I also am a little weary of the location, it's further out and not sure it's a great area!  So just pray that we make the right decision.

Well I must sign off Pumpkin is up again and her fever had gone up.  Poor baby is so miserable.  As always pray for us!  We can use it the next week or so!!!