A Time for Everything

"We may have a code red."

As soon as the words left my husband's mouth, his eyes diverted over to the fishbowl. Mine followed, quickly observing our largest and oldest goldfish exhibiting the infamous side-tilt float of a fish soon to be no more.

Great. Three goldfish dead in a week. A very tender-hearted son with a love for all animals. It was shaping up to be an interesting evening...

I am sad to report that Goldie, the longest living goldfish in the history of the Beer household, is resting in his watery grave tonight. We had hopes that he might snap out of it, but after an hour of observation, holding and hugging our crying son (our daughter, after a brief emotional display of sadness, quickly moved on with her evening), we determined that Goldie had gulped her last.

Our son just could not move past this sudden demise of his "favorite" pet. We told him how lucky he was to have had over a year with the fish, that fish usually don't live that long, that God didn't create fish like people, that God wanted him to be sad for a little while, but it was time to move on.....But nothing seemed to help. He wallowed, yes wallowed in his grief all evening, sniffing and snorting and blowing and flopping down. It was quite a show. I was very sympathetic for a long while. I really do appreciate the fact that he is so sensitive to our pets. But an hour later, my mind was screaming, "GET OVER IT! IT WAS JUST A FISH! MOVE ON! " But I held it together.

It got me thinking about how we must appear to God at times when we can't move past our grief, our sorrows, and our worries. How we can let those things consume us. I also thought about and tried to explain to Alex about how there is a time for everything.... a time to be born, and a time to die, that everything works together in God's plan. That God didn't make his fish die, but God can use this pain for good to help us learn or to lead us to help others. That moving on from the pain of a loss or disappointment, as difficult as it may be, is part of God' plan too. He doesn't want us to remain bogged down by our sadness or anger or guilt. His plan is for our good!

I told Alex that we can't help God further his kingdom here if we pout and carry on. We can't do His work with that attitude. There is a time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance. But we need to know when to move on from those sad times to the plans that God has in store for us.

I love it when I give a little sermon to my children, then realize I need to take my own advice....:)
I have wallowed in my own little pity-party a time or two. How about you? How can you move on from something that is bogging you down in your walk with Christ?

Bear With Me....

Bear with me... that seems to be my motto as of late. Bear with me as I'm waddling behind you trying to catch up, bear with me as I have little (or no) patience with my family. Bear with me as I get winded bending down to pick up a forgotten toy. Bear with me as I have to make yet another bathroom stop. And bear with me as my "to do" list is growing and yet nothing seems to be ending. :)

I got a good glimpse of this "bear with me" when camping with my extended family last weekend. We were about an hour into everyone being there and I was barking out orders and directions and telling the kids to stop this and that... My sweet husband looked at me and kindly said "hey pregnant lady, why don't you calm down a bit". After a self imposed time out, I had an attitude adjustment and enjoyed the rest of my weekend.

All of this to say, please bear with me! I realized last night I needed to post but after a full day, I had nothing... then today... well, let's just say my two year old tested her limits today. They had to do with a pen in the car (think dash board and seats AND door) and a package of beer bread mix all over my living room.

I do know what I need- some good ole quiet time! I'm so looking forward to church on Sunday to worship and get some time with my Lord. I can't wait. And while I do wait, thanks for bearing with me friends.

P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E

Mom, if you are reading this, I know you are laughing because you know what story I am going to tell regarding my patience, or lack thereof.!:)


During one Christmas break when I was in middle school, I was helping my mom make cut-out butter cookies. My mom rolled out the dough, and my job was to use the cookie cutters to make the cute candy canes, bells, and stars. Well, let's just say I was a bit too anxious to finish up these cookies because I kept reaching in to use my cookie cutter before my mom was finished rolling them to the correct thickness. Then, I got very irrate when they would not come out of the cutter, so I started banging the cutter on the counter to get them to come out. And when they did, they did not look so good. After enduring a few rounds of this, my mom had reached the end of her rope. "Kristi, you know what you lack? Patience! P-a-t-i-e-n-c-e."


All the while, my sister was cracking up and caught it on video tape. To this day, we laugh about my impatience, and my mom's spelling out the word for me, like that would help me understand that I had a major defiency in that area!!


Patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit, along with love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Out of all of those, patience is definitely where I need the most help from God. Last year our women's group did a Beth Moore study on the Fruit of the Spirit. It really helped me to understand that it is only through God's gift of the Holy Spirit in us that we can truly exhibit these qualities in their fullest sense. As soon as we accept Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirits dwells in us. What exactly does the Holy Spirit do? I would like to use Beth's words from "Living Beyond Yourself":



He works to bring us to salvation. He seals us as members of God's family. He leads us as we seek to know and grow in God. The Spirit empowers us to fight life's inevitable battles with the world, flesh, and the devil. In every way and at every turn we are utterly dependent on the Holy Spirit of God.



I love that passage! It makes me feel the closeness of God and the love He has for us. What an amazing gift the Holy Spirit is! If only I could remember to call on it for help when I need it! I know you all struggle in one area or another so you can relate. There are several things I have been praying for and about for a few years now and no answer has come. Do I get impatient for God's answer? Oh yes! I think, "God, I am asking for a person's salvation. That is a good thing! Why are you not making it happen?" And that voice inside me says, My ways are not your ways.


Okay. I will wait. Then I pray some more, lose patience and have the same conversation again, a few months later! I cannot imagine my frustration level if I did not call on the Holy Spirit to help me understand that God's plan for this person or my life or my family's future is perfect. "All things work together for the good of those who love Him and who have been called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)

It is so hard when God's answer to a prayer is no answer....But by spending time in the Word, asking the Holy Spirit to fill me with patience, and seeking guidance from Him, it is clear that God has my best interests in mind. After all, I owe my own salvation to His patience with me!

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

Where's My Routine?

I am such a routine-oriented person! It is probably the toughest part of summer for me (being that I am a teacher and have the summer "off"). I like having more freedom to do stuff, but I miss my routine. It is rather sporadic in the summer. There are a few things that are routine: Monday and Wednesday I work for my dad, Monday afternoon I lead a girls' Bible study, Tuesday morning I meet for breakfast with a former youth, Wednesday morning I have women's Bible study. Those are the routine things for me.

I noticed this morning, as I checked Facebook and updated my status, that I also try to make a daily nap part of my routine. I love naps, thus I squeeze them in wherever I can. I also know that I make time every day to see the guy I am dating. Also I am trying to fit in prep for my Bible studies, reading time, school work (which has yet to happen), and sun time.

This morning I realized something. Do you see what is missing from my routine? It can creep right past me, but you may have caught it.....

QUIET TIME

Where is the world is it? Oh I spend time in the Word, for Bible study. I meet with peeps and talk about God and what he is doing in my life. But, I struggle to take time to be STILL. I don't make one-on-one time with God part of my routine. If you ask me, how does this happen? How does a routine person not make time alone with God part of that routine? Why is God the last thing on the list?

What am I going to do about this you ask? First, I get mad at myself for not making quiet time the first thing on my "to do" list. Second, I go completely on hold with God. Finally, I come crawling to him, desperate for HIM!

However, this time will be different. This time I am going to go directly to HIM! I am going to begin putting God in my routine, just me and HIM.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

• air conditioning. Do I really have to say more? :)
• my copycat- she's repeating everything we say! Today she grabbed Shane's credit card and brought it to me. We read it together and I told her it said Brandon Hartman- She took it to her daddy and said "Bando Haaamaaannn" :)
• time away. We are headed for a fun camping trip- the weather is supposed to be cooler and it's close enough for me to stay at my parents each night instead of a tent!
• Ministry- A few of my ministry obligations are coming to an end and I'm so thankful for having them- I've also been blessed to share each week of senior high camp about missions and I am loving talking about missions and Haiti. About 10 students each time have said they have felt a call to missions- how awesome is that?!
• kicks- I'm so thankful to be growing a new person inside me. The little kicks I feel each day are a reminder that he is healthy and strong and soon we'll meet him!

What are you thankful for? :)

Our God is an Awesome God

Have you ever had an encounter with nature that brought tears to your eyes? That so greatly demonstrated God's majestic creation? That made you feel like a speck of sand in a vast desert?

I had two of these experiences over the past week. I would like to share with you one of them. It really hit home because it made me think that as humans, we all get so involved in our own little worlds, feeling like the "big man" in control of our surroundings, that we forget how incomprehensible God's creation is and how much He is in control of it.

Last week, I got the opportunity to go kayaking in the ocean with Jason off of the coast of Florida. My parents own an ocean kayak, and we all took turns taking it out off of the beach near my parent's house. Everyone, (my sisters, my nieces, my nephews, my own children) had gone out, and it was down to me. Let's just say I am not an ocean person. Yes, I love sitting on the beach and looking at the ocean, but swimming in it, not so much. Lots of critters in there. But I knew it would be awesome once I got out there past the breaking waves. So I took a deep breath, grabbed the side of the kayak, and pushed it out to sea, only getting slightly pummeled by the waves. Once we got past the break, I hopped on, had a slight panic attack, and focused on using my paddle to get us out to the second sand bar. Jason said there was a pod of dolphins just ahead of us, so we quickly made our way out to where they were playing. It was such an awesome sight to see the dolphins up close in the wild.

After they took off further in the ocean, I took a moment to look back to the shore. We were only about a quarter mile off shore, but it was completely quiet other than the lapping of the water on the kayak. The ocean surrounded me. The people on the beach looked like miniature dolls and the waves rolling in looked so far away. It is hard to describe how I felt--- small, insignificant, at the will of nature, not in control. Yikes! It was beautiful, yet scary. To comprehend how big God's creation is compared to an individual is mind-boggling. I had never felt this overwhelmed by it all. I took a few moments to soak it all in before we headed back to shore. ( and totally got wiped out by the waves coming in, providing entertainment for all on the beach).

I couldn't stop thinking about it for days, how that made me feel, and how much I do not appreciate the creation God made for me. The fact that He perfectly created our planet at just the right temperature, tilted exactly right, just the right distance from the sun. How he created each season, each animal, each human for His purpose. How He provides for all of our needs. How the mountains and the stars and the rivers answer to Him. I am so thankful that God allowed me to experience this in order to feel the power of Him through his creation.

Have you had any close encounters with nature?

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him? You made him ruler over the works of your hands, you put everything under his feet, all flocks and herds and beasts in the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth? Taken from Psalm 8

TWO

Grace turned two a few weeks ago. We had always heard about the "terrible twos" and I've even had friends who have said theirs hit the terrible twos before they turned that magic age. But us? We were rolling along full tilt, having a great time and there was no "terrible" in sight! I thought to myself- She's such a good girl, we won't have those issues. She is going to be such a good listener like she is now and we'll have no worries.

Wrong.

Two came in roaring like a lion. We have whining, we have crying, we have flailing and limp noodling. There are "NOs" to be heard and also "I not do that" and "Mom, I not go with you" to accompany the nos. She fusses when we change diapers, when we take baths, when we go to bed, and the worst of all- when we leave friends. She cannot stand the sadness of leaving her friends, two of which are living next door to us for the camping season. It's so hard for her and she cries, and kicks and screams and falls to the ground. Have I mentioned that I'm about 8 months pregnant and it's hot and she's TWO (not so little to carry home anymore!) *

So discipline has come in right behind the little lion and it's hitting hard at our house. Our voices have gotten firmer and we are working as team to decide the most appropriate discipline for each example. Most importantly we are working on being consistent and letting her know that disobedience is not acceptable and when she does decide not obey there will be consequences.

I was explaining this to someone at lunch the other day and I realized that I have a small ( and I'm not trying to take it lightly or compare myself to Him) glimpse of what God feels like when we disobey. Just as I know that it's right for Grace to leave her friends and head home to bed, God knows what's right in my life. Unfortunately I'm ashamed to admit that I have been known to act out my terrible twos before Him as well. I've kicked, stalled my feet, yelled, even just outright turned around and headed in the opposite direction before.

And I've been disciplined. Ouch. Anyone else see the comparison? I can get so frustrated when my daughter for the bazillionth time tells me "no" but don't I often do the same thing to my heavenly father? I can imagine his frustration!

Deuteronomy 8:5
Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

I'm comforted to know that as many times as I'll work on teaching Grace over and over how to respond and act appropriately - He will do the same for me, in fact, a million times more. Praise the Lord that our heavenly Father does not grow too tired of our misbehaving that he just gives up on us. Let's work on our spiritual discipline this week. Love you ladies.

* please note that there ARE good times tucked in there between the flailing and whining as well- she is a joy to be around... she's just... two. :)