I Bless Your Name

There is a Selah song that really says it all. It's called "I Bless Your Name"

In prisoners' chains

with bleeding stripes

Paul and Silas prayed that night

And in their pain began to sing

Their chains were loosed

And they were free

I bless Your Name

I bless Your Name

I give You honor, give You praise

You are the Life, the Truth, the Way

I bless Your Name

I bless Your Name

Some midnight hour

If you should find

You're in a prison in your mind

Reach out and praise

Defy those chains

And they will fall

In Jesus' Name

We bless Your Name

We bless Your Name

We give You honor, give You praise

You are the Life, the Truth, the Way

We bless Your Name

We bless Your Name

You are te Life, the Truth, the Way

We bless Your Name

We bless Your Name

Nicole (from Selah) puts it so easily into words, she says, "It is so easy to wallow in the depths of negativity and fear, but priasing God, even when i'm not in a "praising mood," breaks through those chains by reminding meof the truthof who God is. Praise gets our minds off or ourselves and our problems, and breaks the chains of fear and doubt."

Her words are true, it is so easy to stay in that pit of sarrow, but when we praise the Lord...all those troubles just go away! But WE HAVE TO MAKE THE EFFORT AND DO IT!

Renewal

Tonight was a night of renewal & blessing at Bible Study, PRAISE THE LORD!

You know when you get down into that pit of life where it feels like everything is going wrong and life just sucks and you can't seem to find the light at the end of the tunnel? Where you feel like you are alone and that the Lord has left you? Well, I'm here to tell you there is a way out of that pit and to reveal to you that no matter HOW BAD things may LOOK to you, they are Never as bad as they could be or really are. That there are GREAT things in your life that you can be grateful for. Satan takes advantage of those times in our lives. He makes us focus on the bad and the overwelming feeling that this time of testing is never going to end. The evil one wants us to feel hopeless and Defeated! That is his whole goal, to make us feel defeated, so that we become angry at God and useless for the Kingdom. Satan wants us to become so blinded by the feelings of despair and hopelessness that we can't/don't focus on the Lord or the good things that He is doing for us in our lives. He wants to make us feel as if there is no end and that the Lord is just contradicting Himself in His Word. ***The Lord NEVER Contradicts Himself!*** He can't, it's impossible for Him!.... Praise the Lord for THAT!! :)

I heard a song tonight on the way home that just went right along with this. I don't know who it's by or even what the name of it is, but the chorus went like this.....:
"I will Praise the Lord, I will Praise the Lord,
No matter what tomorrow brings
or what it has in store
I know I will Praise the Lord. "

Isn't that AWESOME?? "No MATTER what tomorrow brings, or what it has in store, I WILL Praise the Lord." Oh man, if only I could get that concept/truth/desire to sink sooo far down into the depths of my soul that I would NEVER forget it and that it could come rushing back to my mind and heart as soon as Satan throws that first firey dart, that would make this battle so much easier to get thru. Lord, I just ask now that you would sink the words of this chorus sooo deep into my soul and mind, that you would etch it into my heart, that I will never forget these words and that I would be able to Praise You NO MATTER WHAT. Father, don't let me forget that you are still in control, no matter what is going on around me or within me. You are still in control off it all and you will take me/us thru each and every test making me/us stronger on the other side - And THAT is worth Praising you for. In Jesus Name, Amen

I hope this can bring encouragement to you!

Learning the Ropes of Motherhood!

Oh My Stars.... no one warned me about how challenging, exhausting and often times frustrating it is to have a child who is mo-bile! WOW.... he is getting into EVERYTHING possible. If it's not grabbing hold of the mini blinds (and breaking them), he is going after the dvd's on the shelf. He's constantly wanting to pull up on the entertainment center right at the TV. He somehow, with the microscopic eyeballs he has, can see and pick up the tiniest speck of dirt, lint, or whatever off of the floor. That with my eyes at 5' 6" height can't even see if my life depended on it! SHEESH! And this is not even to mention the lesson of "Discipline" and "Mommy Said NO" or "That's Not Your Toy" that is going on AT THE SAME TIME! I personally think that this is more of a learning time for mommy than it is baby. WOW... this is actually pretty hard! I had NO IDEA! I can honestly say that I am exhausted and at many times during my day feel completely useless, hopeless and like a failure at this whole mommy thing.... BUT then he looks up at me with those big'ole eyes and that big wonderful smile of his and all of those doubts just Melt away! It's wonderful!

Back in the Habit...

which is the title of Sister Act 2, just incase you are interested in a little trivia! :) Haa, haa!!

Anyway, I am going to have to re-train myself to getting back to blogging on this thing. Shoot, I picked up MySpace about a year or so ago and I haven't touched this thing since. I miss having a page that is writing only. It helps me to focus and makes me want to write. I don't blog much on my MySpace page because there is just sooo much more stuff to do on there that I get distracted and I just don't ever think about writing. Not that anyone really reads the blogs or will read this one anyway. But we shall see! Maybe someone will. The only person I know that is still on here is Melanie... so hopefully she'll check this out from time to time!

I am soo excited that Thanksgiving is over with, because we can now focus on Christmas. This will be our son's very First Christmas and I am SOOOO Excited! :) I can hardly wait! So much decorating to do. I went to Mardel's and bought a Nativity Scene for a bulletinboard and I can not wait to put it up on the living room wall. It has the stable background, animals, baby Jesus in a manger, Mary, Joseph, the star, an Angel, baby Jesus as a toddler and the 3 Wise Men. So you can portray and accurate Nativity. We want to teach Japheth the true meaning of Christmas. We will have Santa too, but it won't be the main focus of Christmas. I am soo excited. I wish he were old enough to understand it all now, but I know that his time will come and I am not about to wish away the years! He is growing so fast already!

I just can't believe it. He is crawling ALL over the place and pulling up and walking along holding on to the couch or pack-n-play. He is trying to stand on his own. He can even Pattycake. If he is standing & holding onto something and you start singing pattycake, he will let go and pattycake. Once the song is over and he realizes he isn't holding on to anything, he falls! :) So neat to see how much he is learning! I love him sooo much! I am the luckiest mom in the world!

Okay... I think this is all I am going to write for now. Hopefully someone will read it!
Later!