Trying to sell the house

So....Chris has been at his new job for 7 months now and we are still commuting to work because we can't sell our house. I am not going to lie, it has been somewhat frustrating because everything has worked out so great with the new coaching position, except for the house. Do you know how hard it is to keep a house in "somewhat" showing condition with a 5, 3, and 7 month old? I just keep thinking "It would be so much easier if we didn't have to drive almost everyday and have to take our clothes with us if we are doing anything else in the evening." And then the lesson....there's always a lesson:)
I was preparing for the bible study I lead and it was over John 11 and the the death and resurrection of Lazarus. Mary and Martha had sent for Jesus to come and heal their brother, but Jesus waited. He waited until Lazarus had passed away to return to Bethany. He said these words to his disciples, "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe." EVERYTHING we go through is to accomplish one thing and one thing only: so that you and I will believe and our faith in God Almighty will become stronger. You may have sent for Jesus in trying to sell a house or to save a lost friend or heal family member and it seems as though He is not coming, but in reality He is not coming right now and not in the way we want or choose. But HE will come!! He will come to us as our healer, comforter, counselor, and Savior! May you and I both walk in His timing and not our own!
Have a great Christmas!!!

cheater

So... we were playing horseshoes in our backyard the other day. I had made a line where we had to stand when throwing the horseshoes to the stake. I went first and then my son followed. He initially started at the line and then decided to take a few steps in front to finish up his turn. Chloe was next-she didn't even start at the line, she simply just walked up to the stake and put the horseshoe around it and began jumping up and down that she had did it. My son was very peturbed at her and yelled, "but she cheated! She is a cheater." I looked at him and replied, "but so did you." "But I didn't cheat as bad as she did," he replied.
That sounds so "child-like" that he would think his cheating was ok because it wasn't as bad as his sister's cheating, but in reality I still find myself thinking those thoughts sometimes as a grown woman. "My shortcomings aren't near as bad as other peoples. People have a lot more to work on themselves than I do. I am overall a really good person." Right? Then the little, still quiet voice replies, "Compared to who? God continues, "Compared to that person-maybe, but compared to me-no! And I am the standard." The good news for you and me is that he made a way for us to live up to his standard and that is our relationship with his son Jesus Christ!
I don't know about you, but for me I want to do as Paul strived to do, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Galations 6:14. I know God has a lot more He wants to do in me before he can complete His work through me.
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!!

Mud in your eye

Do you ever feel like things always get worse before they get better? Things can never just get better. Well, if you have felt like that or are feeling like that as we speak this blog entry is for you! I was reading John 9 where Jesus heals the blind man. Let me just set this up for you. You have a blind man who has been blind since birth and he hears footsteps coming towards him. The next thing he knows he hears the person spit on the crowd and then feels mud in his eyes. I can only imagine what he was thinking-"What are you doing? I am already blind and now you have to rub mud in my eyes made by your own spit. Kick a man why he's down why don't ya" (or something like that :)) But then Jesus said go wash it off and the man obeyed (probably just because he wanted to get the mud off his face) and he was shown a whole new world. He was blind and now he could see. Sometimes in order to reach the top of the mountain we have to go through a valley first. We have to know that God is working in your situation right now. Maybe you can't imagine things getting any better. Know you just have mud in your eyes and at some point God is going to wash it off and your eyes will be open. For you were blind to what God wanted to do in you and through you and now you can see that God truly does work all things to the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Whatever your situation is please know you are loved by the creator of the universe and all He wants to do is get the chance to spit in your eye:) (laugh its good for the soul)

Have a super week!

Sarah

Bring me what you have

So. . .I am just going to share with you something in hopes that maybe you will come along side of me and pray and with that maybe God will teach you something along the way. I have felt the Holy Spirit leading me to do something and I am not quite sure what it is. I have an idea, but to be honest, the thought scares me to death. It would be a huge leap of faith and totally stepping out of my comforts. I will fill you in more later:) I wanted to start with that because that leads me into my blog thought today. I was preparing for the bible study that I lead and was reading the story of Jesus' miracle of feeding the 5000. Jesus says to the disciples that they need to feed all these people that have come to hear Jesus teach. One disciple suggests that it would basically take 8 months wages to feed all these people. First of all, when I was reading this I am thinking God, the creator of the universe just asking you to do something and your hold up is you don't have enough money? Ummm, wait a minute that is what I do all the time!

Another disciple steps forward and says well, we have these 2 fish and five loaves of bread. Jesus basically replies bring me what you have and watch me do the rest and the rest is miracle history. I believe God wants to do the same miracle in my life and maybe yours. Maybe you are being prompted to take your own leap of faith, but you are looking at your situation and all you have is 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread. Jesus is saying to you and me, bring me what you have and I watch me perform a miracle that will blow your socks off!!

Please pray for me and let me know if I can pray for you!!! I will keep you updated:)

The little things

So our boss had us read a book and share a little bit about what God showed us during the process. The book was called In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. It was an awesome book! If you get a chance (with all the free time you have) read it! The chapter I had to report on was chapter 8 and in this chapter the author talks about having a faith like a child and the reason we lose this important aspect of the Christian life is because we are afraid of looking foolish. This reminded me of a time with my son, Cale. One day we were praying and he asked if he could pray for his gun (his toys are the most prayed for toys on this earth). "Absolutely you can!" After all, that is so cute. Right? Well, days go by and the very gun he prayed for came up missing. We couldn't find that thing anywhere. After awhile I just forgot about it until we were trimming the bushes in our front yard and by golly what did we find in the bushes? THE GUN! As I excited as I was, I was more shocked than anything. Not Cale. Although he was excited, he simple stated, "I knew we would find it because I prayed for it." Here I am with more maturity and more experience and yet my 5 year old son is the one with more faith. At what point in our life do our problems get bigger and our God get smaller? What is it going to take to realize (like a child) that our God is so big that He cares about the little things, even our guns:)

Just say yes!

Hello Friends!

This post is to encourage and challenge YOU personally! Being the wife of a coach, mother of 3 and in work in the ministry, life can get a little chaotic. You feel like your are being stretched in so many directions. I know there are some individuals out there who can relate. Well, I have always felt like I have been extremely honest with you and will not stop now. My quiet times over the last 4 months have been very sporadic, popcorn prayers throughout the day and even some days non-existent. Those times where I would just sit for hours reading and studying scripture, taking every bit of God in I could was now being replaced with making lunches, car pooling to school, school fundraisers, hauling 3 kids to my husbands games, leading bible studies, speaking engagements and on and on and on..... God got moved to the backseat. Not intentional, but it happened and the crazy thing is I didn't even realize it...until yesterday.

God used the message at church to get my attention. It was like he was standing right there jumping up and down saying, "Hey, Remember me!!! I'm the reason for your family! I am the reason for your ministry! I'm am the reason for YOU!!!

I broke down at church and ask God to forgive me and help me because I had all these life things that could be so overwhelming. I opened my Bible today to study John 5 and read the story of the man who was healed at the pool. This man had been crippled for 38 years and Jesus came by and asked, "Do you want to be healed?" I would think after 38 years if someone asked me that I would emphatically say YES!!! But he didn't. He had excuses of why he wasn't healed. Oh my goodness, that is me!!! Jesus asked me, "Sarah, do you want to spend more time with me?" My answer wasn't just Yes, it was Yes, but.... and it was clear, my answer should simply be yes! Sarah, do you want to know me more deeply-yes! Sarah, do you want to hear my voice-yes! Sarah, do you want me to lead you, yes!

Maybe, you are reading this blog and God is asking you some of those same questions and what will your answer be?

"See FIRST the Kingdom of God and all these things should be added unto you" Matthew 6:33

Hey lady!

Hello Friends!

So.... I am at a cross country meet watching one of my FCA coaches and as I was heading back to my car a group of girls were coming towards me and one of them said, "Hey that's that lady that came and spoke to our team. I looked around trying to find someone who was much older than me that they had to be reffering to, after all if she was talking to me she would have said, "Hey that's that girl..." Nope, it was me! I was the lady. Was it the marriage of 11 years that made me feel old? nope. Was it having 3 kids that made me feel old? nope. Was it a 7 year career in the ministry that made me feel old? Nope. It was 3 teenagers calling me a lady that made me feel old. Needless to say I was somewhat bummed the rest of the day when God gave me this verse from 1 Corinthians 13:11, "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways."

Alright, OK, I get it! I am not a girl (child) anymore. You don't have to keep reminding me and then my husband's first football game happened. . .

I wanted to correct the ref's call and just let him know that he had made a mistake and he might want to know. OK-maybe it wasn't quite like that, but before I could fly off the handle (which I had every other year and in every other game-at least once) I heard the quiet little voice, "You are not a child. Don't speak, act, or reason like one. It's time to give up childish ways."

Wow! Talk about getting a 2X4 in the back of the head. If you know me, you know my mouth can and has gotten me into a lot of trouble as a coaches wife, and since this is my husbands first head coaching job I believe God is calling me to something higher-to put my childish ways behind me. So, I am saying this to you and to the world so that I can be held accountable-I will (with God's help) act like the lady in which those girls reffered to that day. I will keep you posted:)