Honored Time

I am beginning to understand why families are so worn out at the end of the summer! We have been in a season of GO-GO-GO for weeks, often with just barely enough time to finish a load of laundry between events. Don't get me wrong, they have been awesome events and we marvel at the work God did this summer, but whew! We're tired!

Okay, since our last chat, Jarrod's parents came to visit and the Es enjoyed some (ahem, a ton) of spoiling. We are so thankful for times we can all be together! This trip involved King's beach at Tahoe, many a house project and getting unpacked. *Side-note, these two have earned their gold star parenting badges... they've moved us, A LOT. Thank you!*

Then began the crazy trip back to Florida with an unexpected stay in Denver. God graciously gave us good time with our families there too. And in true Florida fashion, we saw an alligator get captured off my mom's dock! 

E1 getting to do the VBS dance

Then the VBS sprint. Between our church and the mission to McDermitt, I know of 7 new believers in the Lord! Please join me in praying for their fledgling faith to be nurtured and a love for God's Word to develop in their hearts. I had the awesome privilege of teaching preschool at both VBS-es. In all honesty, there were moments where I wasn't sure there was much of a point. the kids were unruly, hyped up on sugar, and some had so little Bible-background that the stories were hard for them to grasp. I could have chosen discouragement, but instead God kindly provided insights. One little boy came to me at church the following Sunday to tell me he "still remembered his verse!". Another grandparent shared that her granddaughter was sharing the Bible stories we learned in class with her non-believing parents at home! Little missionaries! I was reminded that in preschool especially, we plant seeds. We water. It's the Lord who does the growing (1 Cor 3:6-9). Only His Holy Spirit can wake up a sinner's heart, can draw some one to God. What an awesome opportunity to be included in His work!

And now for the confession....
In all the busyness, I have not made time to study Scripture. I chose tasks I thought had to be done (even church tasks), instead of spending quiet time, one on one, with the Lord. I still prayed, I still went to church, I still upheld my responsibilities at home. But it wasn't the same. To be honest, there was very little joy in it all. I cringe saying all this out loud, a pastor's wife should have this one figured out, right? Not me, I face the same temptation to "get busy", to let my time be stolen away by things and tasks and errands. And the sneaky thing is they're all "good" things! Playing with my kids, cleaning the house, grocery shopping. None that I could look at and say, oh if I only stop doing that I will have plenty of time to study the Bible. And yet, I was spiritually starving. What's a girl to do?

So this morning, I sat after the kids finished breakfast and opened my Bible to Psalm 119. I wasn't sure of my day's plan, but I knew I needed time with the Lord. I love the Psalms, especially this one, because they encourage me to view God's Word as beautiful, precious, treasure, and life-giving. They remind me that it is the Lord who sustains me. Most of them being written by David, King of Israel, (probably a super busy guy, especially when he was on the run for his life), they take away my excuse of having too many pressing things to do to spend time reading Scripture. 

Psalm 119:165-168(NIV)

Great peace have those who love your law,

    and nothing can make them stumble.

I wait for your salvation, Lord,

    and I follow your commands.

 

I obey your statutes,

    for I love them greatly.

 

I obey your precepts and your statutes,

                          for all my ways are known to you. 

And you know what, today has gone on. The kids were fed, errands and chores have been done. My heart is different - I've been joyful. My eyes have been opened to opportunities to make teachable moments with the girls. God didn't have to do that. This day could have been just as chaotic and stressful as the days past, but part of me thinks this is a gift from Him for making the decision to honor Him with my time: to show I believe He is worthy by choosing Him over other things. I'm not sure what the weekend will hold, if our family will experience another crisis or have hard decisions to make or if the dishes just don't get done, but I will commit to choosing time in Scripture and allow God to speak into my life that way. 

Be encouraged that yes, we all can easily get busy. And busy with good things at that! But for your heart's sake, choose time with the Lord. Allow Him to fill you with joy and love for Himself and others through Bible study. We need it.

Till next time,

the Reeds

Don't you dress up like this to get the mail?

Summer time = ice cream truck!

Teaching her in true Nevadan fashion

Beginning of a New Chapter

*Time warp... again. Sorry about that! Getting one on one time with the computer is harder than I thought with three little people! But this is letter is important enough to require a VeggieTales morning*

Dear family and friends,

We pray 2016 has been full of wonderful adventures and seeing the Lord’s hand at work for you so far. It surely has for us! We wanted to send you a letter sharing some of what has been going on and ask for your prayers.

In late January, Jarrod accepted a call to Granite Hills Baptist Church as the associate pastor. As we speak; rather, as I write, we are packing up all we own to move to Reno, Nevada.  If you’re like me, you probably had to read that last line a few times.  The journey God took us on to get to this point has been incredible.  He has graciously shown His ability to carry us through our doubts and fears. As we walked through the interview process, He awakened our hearts for Reno and the people of GHBC. There’s a familiar kindred-heart /family-feel at GHBC and we have a growing love for God’s people there. Reno, however is a spiritually dark place. The national average of people who attend some kind of religious service throughout the week is 40%. The same statistic for Reno is 5% (Gallup poll). We hope to be used by the Lord to help the people in Reno fill their craving for more with the only One who will satisfy. By living a grace-empowered life and pointing others to Jesus, we hope to glorify our Father in heaven. We have seen God at work and He has confirmed over and over that this is our step of faith out of the boat (Matthew 14:28-29). This move gives us the opportunity to see God do what only He can do – give life to those who are dead.  Please pray for us. We are confident He will carry us, but oh how weak the flesh is and how quickly we are tempted to worry!

Some specific requests:

-          Pray for Jarrod’s ordination on February 24^th. We will be presented to and commissioned by Chets Creek Church in Jacksonville, FL on the 28^th.

-          Pray for our physical move out to Reno. We will be shipping all of our stuff and then flying with three small kiddos and a dog. Pray for Eliaya, Elora, Ezra to be comfortable during the flights and for our stuff to get there.

-          Pray for us to get settled quickly and to have a “home base” to help deal with the stress of everything new.

-          Pray for Jarrod and I to continue to be unified. Pray for clear communication and grace with each other as well as with our children.

-          Pray for the E’s, that they stay healthy and adjust quickly to new surroundings. Pray for friends.

-          Pray for our families as we go. We appreciate their support and willingness to serve the Lord with us by sending us out.

-          Pray for Jarrod to step into this new role smoothly. Praise God for the friendship he and Pastor Mark have formed already and pray they collaborate well.

-          Pray for Granite Hills Baptist Church (ghbcreno.org) to be unified in their desire to serve the Lord and the people of Reno.

Thank you for joining us in this adventure! We covet your prayers; we need you to “hold the ropes” as we venture into this spiritually dark place and seek to make much of Jesus. We love you all!

Family Driven Faith

At the encouragement of my hubby, who is all too familiar with my brain's propensity to learn something then quickly "misplace" that info upon the arrival of something new.... here's a few thoughts from a book I recently finished.......

Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham Jr.

This book was a perfectly timed read for me; it gives Scriptural encouragement for my season in life. Perhaps the biggest take-away was a strong charge to parents that it is our God-given responsibility and task to to disciple our children. This is not a single chat to be had casually one afternoon, an osmosis-effect our children will experience simply because they are around ample Christian books / music / people, nor is it a chore to be handed off to "the trained professionals " (aka church staff). Disciplining our kids is a day-in, day-out, when you wake up, when you eat, when you walk, when you lie down task (see Deuteronomy 6). There isn't a shortcut. This effort must be bathed in prayer, built on Scripture and woven into the very fabric of family life. While this sounds intimidating and beyond my abilities, Baucham shows the same God who charges me with this task also enables me for it. I can pray, I can read and study the Bible, I can discuss big truths and work out the implications for my life because God has given His Spirit to Christians. I can genuinely worship God in front of and with my family.

Pairing with this great encouragement and charge to "bring them up in training and instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4), Baucham brings a glimpse of the current reality showing the vast number, majority even, of kids raised in the church today will no longer be involved in church by the end of their freshman year of college. Why? Baucham writes about the lack of discipleship in the home, the absence of understanding that how we act / what we do is derived from what we believe, and the battle of priorities (our children's spiritual growth vs academics / athletics /etc). He says, when others remark that the limits he places on his children will drive them to 'go wild' when they leave the nest, "The question is not whether our children sin later in life. The question is, do we have a biblical obligation to train them before they leave the home? Is there any biblical validity to the idea that Christian parents should allow their children to experiment with ungodliness? ... We look at the biblical mandate and compare it to societal norms, ... we believe somehow we are depriving our children of experiences that will make them more liked, more respected, more normal. Hence we trade in the biblical standard for a cultural norm that hovers just below mediocrity." The world around me doesn't know what's ultimately best for me / my kids / my family, God does.

Though E1 is only 2 years old, this book really impressed upon me the need to have a family game plan for her (and E2's) spiritual development. We need to be a family that is worshiping together at home and at church. I need to take every opportunity, even now, to talk about God with her and to share the beautiful truths of the Gospel. We need to guard our home from the ever-growing, constantly-changing, never-enough to-do list of what the world says every child needs in order to become a godly man/woman and go to the Creator for wisdom and guidance on how to fulfill this HUGE and AWESOME task of raising a family of faith.

Interruptions

Being a mom has taught me a lot of things. There's the sweet mushy stuff: knowing how to rock away a bad dream, kiss a scraped knee, smile at the sight of a sleeping child. There's the spiritual stuff: whoa, I need Jesus. And whoa-man, so do my kids.

And then there's the intensely practical.

I never realized how incredibly inefficient I was until now. I mean, I used to shower, brush teeth, clean the tub and cook dinner... all being separate events. And now... if I find myself in the bathroom, alone, you bet I'm getting all those, or at least a few of them, done at once! This is not meant as a brag at all, more a reference to the crazy-always-going life we're living right now. I think I need to pray for super-human powers once E2 becomes more than "inch-worming" mobile. Or a third arm. Bring on the awkward stares, there are times when ya just need another hand!

But on to more important matters. Crazy as life may be, it's important to be interrupt-able.  (cue film)
While at Hobby Lobby last week, making a last minute purchase to finish a project, E2 and I were pacing up and down the aisles looking for a specific item. We passed by a woman,

"Excuse me ma'am, can we get past you?"

"Oh, of course! Oh my... what a lovely baby. How old is she?"

"Thank you, she's almost 5 months"

"This may sound weird, but could I smell her?"

pause.... "um, sure, okay"

And the waterworks begin. This woman, probably in her 50s, was brought to tears by E2. Unsure of what to do, I laid my hand on her shoulder. She then began to tell me about her daughter, Shayna, whom she only got to know for a few days before she went to be with Jesus. E2 reminded her so much of her own daughter. "Something about her face" she said. We talked until the store closed. Praying together, able to praise God for His sovereignty and goodness even when we can't understand why things happen. Though her eyes still glistened with tears when we parted, they were depicting joy, not sorrow. As she walked away, all I could think was "wow God, that was unexpected.  I thought I was just coming in here for beads!"

How wonderful it is, as Christians, to know and be able to rest in the fact that the Lord has all things entirely in His control! We don't have to stress like the rest of the world, we don't have to grieve hopelessly. There is hope, both for today and tomorrow. We know He is always working to make us more like Jesus.

In other news, we had the privilege of dedicating E2 in church on Mother's Day. I appreciated the explanation given to the church... dedication is  not salvation for the child. It's more about the parents, making a public commitment to raise the child up in light of Scripture. I love that it is a public testimony because parents (us chiefly among them) need help! I don't think my requests for the third hand are going to be granted any time soon, so I must rely on the Body of Christ. There are godly women who have wrangled more kids than two, and done it with a joyful heart and graceful hands. I need to come under them. There are others I can help. There are opportunities to serve all around, we just have to be interrupt-able to see them. (see first 3 chapters of Francis Chan's Multiply to hear a better explanation)

Ok, so to end with a funny story....

I took E1 grocery shopping today. There are many ways I know for sure this is my kiddo. Aside from being my physical clone, she has a disney fixation. Only 1 movie at a time, but she'll pick one or two scenes and want to watch them constantly! She's even figured out how to turn on the dvd player and start it up. Anyway, while walking to the register, E1 sees a plate with the characters from Frozen on it... cue the lights cause this little peanut let out a power ballad of "Let it go" all the way out to the car. People smiled and even chuckled at her... she wasn't phased a bit. Just happy to sing "Let it go.... let it go..... let go...... no cry..... let it go"

A Context of Heart

You know that inner monologue that narrates a boring meeting, rehearses the grocery or chore list while brushing your teeth, and reminds you to make sure you and family are fully dressed before racing out the door early in the morning? (okay... so sometimes I don't heed that last one...) Well mine has been wrestling with one topic for the past few days, and I've been on the fence about sharing it, but after reading Scripture today I think it might be helpful.

Something I did in middle school and into high school was memorize "famous verses", you know, the ones on coffee cups / t shirts / etc. Now I'm not knocking memorizing Scripture... at all! We desperately need the Word implanted in our hearts. Memorizing Scripture gives us solid ground to stand on when our emotions / circumstances create a fog hindering our sense of what's right, what word / action / thought would honor Jesus. He has given us all we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). But what I did wrong then was only memorize the words in that sentence or two. I would take that sentence, devoid of its context, and supplant my own wishes on it. Praise Him some wonderful faithful Christians taught me about context before I started twisting Scripture to say that it did not say or even say the opposite.

So moving to present time.... my heart is broken. I've read letter after letter, article upon article... all people writing to say:  the Bible says it doesn't matter what we do in our lives, God loves the world so much; my hang-ups aren't wrong, it's just part of the human condition; no one can judge me; God's plan is for me to have all I want, to be happy with what I think will make me happy.
Friends, this isn't true. Satan slips little lies in with some truth and we don't notice them.... so he slips in a few more... and a few more.... and without desperate prayer and studying of God's Word we end up far from the truth of Scripture and walking down the wide path that leads to destruction (Matt 7). Our natural self likes this road, it's drawn to rebellion against God. It has become popular to glory in our shame. Point in case, there's a commercial for an energy drink themed "I'm not ashamed". It features individuals waking up in random people's beds, wearing clothes that aren't there own, unsure of how they got there... then popping open an energy drink and cheerful music plays as they leave and go about there life. Like it's no big deal.

There are devastating consequences when we start to believe that what we do doesn't matter, that what the Bible teaches is irrelevant, and that we can decide for ourselves what is good and right. Christians can't pick and choose: this sin is okay, this one's not. The Gospel is an all-or-nothing deal. If someone refuses to believe the Bible when it says greed / lust / etc are wrong.... then how can they claim its way of salvation? Oh, how I pray that Christians would wake up, study the Scripture closely, and live lives that are radically changed for the glory of Christ! I pray we would put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6), duel rightly with the sword of the Word, and with humility and compassion show the world the Light.