I did it! I preached!

Happy Mother's Day to me!

Today is Sunday, my heart is extremely FULL.  I had a tremendous time at church!!  The  worship was...may I quote a dear pal, "off the CHAIN" and the presence of God was IN that building.

My children were in the audience and my brother-n-law even blessed my socks off by honoring my request -- and he came as well.

 Then lunch at the OK Gun Corral where the food and atmosphere was exquisite and  now -- to rest and be able to blog -- I am ONE happy woman!

 I just re-posted my blog from last Mother's Day where I blogged and shared about my moms.  I also  prayed for the  moms on my heart and as I reread that blog,  my heart was full and happy again.   So very happy. ( And, the food coma is NOT affecting my ability to think! )   In that blog, I spoke about my son being home for the summer and my daughter as well.  I spoke about the plans for summer and such - and as I reread that blog a few moments ago -- my heart just expanded again.  Last Mother's Day was precious and priceless.  How could it get any better? 

God is so good.  He is so sweet.

Today, I say -- I think it got better --  

Can our blessings get better?   God wants to bless us ...and HE goes exceedingly and abundantly beyond...  ( that is in the bible)  

Today, I had the humbled honor to tag team preach with two other mighty women of God.  Last Sunday after a powerful service, the Holy Spirit gave me a directive and a text went to Rachel and Barb about 'where' the message should go.  Each of them prayed and it certainly seemed as if the Holy Spirit confirmed to each of them ...their part.   

 Each of us, tried to get together 2x in the past 10 days and yet -- distractions and interruptions.  However, there was prayer  -- and God will get His message to His people whether we plan it or not.   I know that I know - each of us, sought HIM and  we serve the same God and the same Holy Spirit.

Again, you can believe with me that Satan did not want us to 'plan' as he knew what could transpire....and you can also believe with me that it  DID not matter, as the Holy Spirit spoke personally to each of us.    And if you were in the service today, you might of felt we discussed  WHAT we were going to share.  But we didn't.

 That is just a true testament to HOW God uses HIS people for HIS purposes.   How it all fell into place today, as each of us was used by God to speak a good wurd ( Aussie for word ) ... it all flowed and it was HIS perfect word that came forth.

So, I really did not preach -- God did.

 Through me.          Through Rachel and through Barbara.
 
I wanted this.  I prayed and fasted some stuff all week.  I cried, I fought with my husband for the first time a  good while.  I battled with my tongue...or I mean, I kept the Sword of Silence--- And I am unsure how life went down in the McGalmmory home or the Evans home....but I am pretty sure the enemy tried to beat them up as well!  He is such a liar.  But -- God won!

 We did it.  My heart is full.  I just asked God...'did you call me to preach?'.  I don't see myself doing this on a routine basis, but I do see myself speaking life into whomever HE brings my way and I can tell you this -- I am on  a Jesus high -- there is NO better HIGH than a Jesus high! 

Now -- what did I say?

Rachel did an EXCELLENT job speaking to those who are childless and how, we trust God in our circumstance and even without a biological child....we can mother.

 ( She said SO much more, but...this blog will get TOO long and my dear pal ( Rachel J.  ) may not read it -- or you might just stop here too.....


Then it was my turn:  

What the Holy Spirit impressed upon me  this week,  was to remind all of us that prayer is the key element in our faith to create miracles.  Prayer changes everything.  Prayer for your child is one of the BEST ways to nurture your children and through prayer you can plant seeds and teach them so much.  You have to be a believer,  that prayer can open eyes, prayer can bring a prodigal back home, prayer can restore a marriage ...God is the one that DOES all this .... through our faith and through prayer.

He also reminded me of Proverbs 3: 5-6   Where it says, trust in the Lord with all your heart....  Now if we had a mom that nurtured us -- she taught us to trust!  But if we had a mom that did not nurture us ---God,  the perfect parent,  can perfect that within us.  We need a healing -- the Holy Spirit and God will heal that -- so seek that healing.

And if we did not have a mom, we may of had a grandmother, aunt, god parent, even an uncle that probably spoke life and sowed into us. For example, Mordecai who took in Hadassah who became Ester and what if he would not of spoken life into her -- where would we be today?  - God uses the ordinary to become extraordinary!   In the story of Ester, her uncle Mordecai reminds her -- if she, Ester, did not speak up for her people, God was going to take care of it -- but what if THIS was HER  purpose for this time.

God used the three of us - for HIS purpose for THIS time.  And it went exceedingly and abundantly beyond! 

As a young mom, the enemy would constantly try  and lie to me and I bought  the lies often -  more times that I should have.  But, God continued and prevailed - by His grace and His mercy.  Eventually, I got better at knowing when the liar of lies was speaking and when the Holy Spirit was just nudging me to step it up.  Every time, when I put a problem to prayer and sought God on the answer -- HE made my paths straight!   When I tried to do it on my own -- whatever it was,  it went  haywire or backfired or the outcome was not too good.  Plain and simple.  A primary scripture for parenting -- is Proverbs 3. 5-6! 

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,    and he will make your paths straight.

I shared a few funny stories...about how mom's teach boys to pee straight -- and how we are the champions of teaching our daughters to squat and hover....  and I shared a bit more -- but again -- I must be aware of my rambling....  

And I had  haphazardly asked the Holy Spirit to give me a cute acrostic to give a good teaching tip for mom to use when they pray for their children and God did do that....... but it did not 'line up' in a cute perfect acrostic poem and if you just read it out loud -- it did not make sense.  

But I was obedient and -- the Holy Spirit clearly spoke and finished the one part I was unsure of during praise and worship at the first service...God is so sweet.    

Again - a side lesson I learned or was reminded of,  HE sometimes does not GIVE us everything...we step out in faith and trust HIM.  Thank you Lord!   

So,  this is the Acrostic the Holy Spirit gave me  that does not rhyme, but it stands for something that I believe God wanted me to share.  M-O-T-H-E- R.

M --  More
O --  No other name
T -- That's it!
H -- Help meet
E -- Everyone
R -- Reap.


As a mom,  we can  pray for our children and say:  "Lord, that they want more of you - Lord, that I want more of you -- Lord, that they want MORE of you" And the Holy Spirit had me address the extras in the crowd today.  There were several men and dads that normally do not attend church with their wives...  and I reminded them..."HE wants MORE of you"..... Furthermore, think about it as you pray...Lord, I want MORE of your love, I want to do MORE of what YOU want me to do, I want to draw closer to you - MORE and MORE.   

NO OTHER name.  This 'word' from God was debated a bit.   I kept asking the Holy Spirit to give me just one work that started with O, but He was clear about the phrase "no other".  I wanted  this acrostic  to flow and be a cute poem and  as I said, HE did not give me that -- and I know it is for his purpose.   So, as you pray for your child or your family say:  " Lord, let my child have NO other gods in place of you  -- I pray there would be no IDOLS or anything that comes in front of Your love within their hearts and I pray that they claim you as their LORD and Savior".    I got to thinking about all the idols that our children face... perhaps physical fitness, FB, gaming, what ever it is that takes the place of our time with HIM...it is an idol.

THAT'S IT!    When I saw an image with this word, I could see a host of angels all sitting around and looking and pointing and looking down to earth and saying, " look, she is - that's it ..she will be the one to birth the Christ Child".  That love that selection of Mary --  and how God used her....THAT IS it -- GOD wants to use my child..God loves my child that much as well!  So, as you pray, say:  "Lord, I want my child to have a that's it moment with you - I want my child to know that he or she is just as esteemed and loved like Mary and David was". 

As a proponent of marriage -- I believe it is very important to make sure we treat our husbands the way God intends.  So often, you will hear women say, " I need my man to do this ...I need  that.  God does not intend for us to look to our husband to meet out needs.  God is the need meter.  God wants us to be a help mate.  So, as we teach our children and plant seeds, let's pray like this:  "Lord, that my child will be a person that helps meet a need within his or her friends.  Lord, that my child will be your hands and fee and help meet needs of others."

EVERYONE -- The Holy Spirit reminded me that everyone is in this - prayers need to come from everyone - including dads.  And as we plant seeds and pray for our children you can say:  "Lord, that my child would allow everyone around them to see the light within them.  That their light would shine to their classmates, their peers, and others around them would see them and want that -- everyone they meet." 

REAP  - And finally -- as we continue to pray with our children and plant seeds....we will REAP a reward.

My children are 24 and almost 20.  As our children were little - there was prayer in our home.  We would gather the kids around the table and pray.  It was not every night,  but it would be at least once or three times a week for a good month and then maybe a month would pass and life got too busy....but then we'd gather again around the table and  my husband would read scripture and the kids would state what was on their prayer list.   And several times, the dog would fart and our prayer time would be cut short -- LOL... but, there was prayer.  When we did not do it as a family, there was prayer for my children  throughout the day....it was not perfect, but it happened.  I know that I know - at a very dark moment in time, on a night where much seemed hopeless -- those two children prayed over me and believed that their dad -- would find Jesus and we'd be a family again.  I was the benefactor and reaped ...what Brendan had sowed and started in our home.    God won.


Lord - thank you for the BEST Mother's Day yet -- You, Lord, have given me a day that was exceedingly  and abundantly beyond what I expected.  You indeed are a sweet God.  Thank you.

-Humbled and blessed --michelle 


Then is was Barb's turn ...... to be continued!    I want to blog about Abbigal.... Thank you Barb for inspiring me with that story - I will indeed read it again and seek HIM, as I want to make sure that God uses the ordinary in me -- for HIS extraordinary purposes!