Truck religion

   A few days ago, my husband came to me and told me he had sold "his" truck. 

While we had been  discussing our vehicle situation for months, we had always shied away from selling it because it was the vehicle that my husband had looked high and low for about 6 months. He loved that truck's sound, build, everything...he worked on it...he painted parts of it...he even CLEANED it (which should tell you just how special it really was to him! hehehe). 

    So naturally, I was flabbergasted when he approached the subject nonchalantly and already had the deal worked out (save running it by his super smart, financially savvy, and extremely charming counterpart! ;) He had made all of the arrangements and the deal was in place, but that is not really the part worth mentioning. It is the reason that he sold his truck.

     Because God has called us to adopt a sibling group of 5, it has required a lot of changes to our live. We needed a bigger house, bigger cars (well SUVs or vans), a bigger budget, and so much more. We haven't had a car payment in many years, and with needing a bigger budget, adding one now wasn't really an option. So my husband, humbled himself, gave up something that he had worked years to get, and sold his truck to get us a vehicle that was big enough for 7, dependable for long road trips, and wouldn't break the bank!

     God gave man a position over woman, but that position was not for man's benefit. It was for woman's! The command was not that the husband rule over the wife to enslave her and use her, but to cherish her and protect her. Just like we guard our country's most prized relics, man is supposed to guard his precious gift in life, the companion for which he has waited, the flesh that embodies the rib taken by God to create a helper, the "crown" (Proverbs 12) who is "far more precious than jewels (Proverbs 31)...he guards her in glory to his King, honoring the plans for his life, allowing God to determine the importance of possessions and make the decisions.

     Now, trust me, my husband does not always live up to this standard, nor am I always the "excellent wife" that Proverbs 12 says is the "crown" of her husband. But in this decision, for this moment, he got it right. He was selfless enough to put aside a societal standard of a man. He sold his truck and has been busy looking for a minivan or an SUV. Neither will allow him access to the deer woods or get him closer to that mud puddle he calls a fishing hole, but it keeps his family safe, allows them to travel, and has room for all of them (plus one more! LOL)

Praise be to our Father from whom all good things come!

Happy Anniversary, Brian! 

I love you second only to our Maker, whom you have taught me to love deeper. Life has never turned out the way we thought it would or planned it...it has been better because it has been blessed by the Father who orchestrated it! I love you!

Life is challenging...take the challenge!

This past week Brian and I have been on a roller coaster! We are so ready to have the children that we are adopting in our home and to begin a new "normal" of changing diapers, doing homework, running around like crazy, and enjoying the never-ending noise. There are times when I sit in my now extremely large, empty home in silence. I dream of the day that I cannot get quiet anywhere. While I know that most moms would say "enjoy it while you can", I have done my best to be content and enjoy my non-child years. My heart now beats adoption every minute.

For the last few months, I have done my best to quiet that beat. I have told myself that Christ is my portion and to want more is wrong. But God is teaching me a new truth. When He is "giving you the desires of your heart", meaning that He is placing those desires in your heart because He is the One in control of your life, He doesn't require us to put them out of our minds. People tell me to focus on what is in front of me right now and let God handle the rest. While I agree worrying is sinful, I think that God lets us dwell on things yet to come to bring us to an ever fresh awareness of just how much we need Him.

At the beginning of this week, I would have said that life is hard. It is full of opportunities that require waiting and dreams that demand focus and attention. It is a struggle to stay consistent and content with the life that God has put before us. But how can I say that life is hard when we all know that it is a precious gift of God? Life is not hard, but challenging. Our society is pushing us to continually be looking and open to challenge. "Don't back down from a punch!" "America Strong" "Push the limits" Why do we view our Christian walk any different?

I challenge you to take us that cross and walk run daily with Christ. Moms, "be all that you can be" (Army) in your homemaking this week. Dad, "Just do it" (Nike) at work and then come home and do it again, but don't just sit down on the couch and veg while your children and wife beg for your attention! Christian, "Impossible is nothing" (Adidas) because Christ is by our side!

Taking every moment and utilizing every encouragement, live for Christ, dream and strive for dreams this week. Be content with Christ, but not complacent! Work toward the calling that Christ has given you, even if you know that it is months away.

The Blood Changes our walk!

    Once we are redeemed, blood purchased believers chosen by God, our loyalties change. We no longer are here to walk to fulfill the flesh to only satisfy ourselves. Jesus tells us in Matthew that he is sending His Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to live with in us. This means that the Eternal God is residing in our Spirits to comfort, convict, strengthen, and to teach us what pleases God and how we are to glorify God, which is our chief end. The Scriptures say in,

Galatians 5:16, "I say then: Walk in the Spirit,

 and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." 

We see here that Paul is telling the Galatians how to avoid the sins of the flesh by walking in the Spirit. We do this through obedience to the words of God that we find in Scripture. In this passage, God shows you how to avoid the sins of the flesh, and further down in the passage, he commands us to avoid them and shows us the things that, as his children, we can do to please him. In this Scripture, we see the importance of Bible study and times of prayer with our Lord. How are we to know his will, if we do not talk with him and listen to His Spirit and read His Word.

So now what does that look like in our lives?

It is as simple as living life as Christ would. The other day, as you know, Erin and I bought chickens at a feed store here in town. When we got home we realized that although we had paid for 6 chicken, the store had given us seven. Faced with the decision of honesty or convenience, God compelled us to honesty, even if it meant going the second mile and returning to the store to pay for the extra chicken. Though this was strange to the workers, Erin and I are trying to live more aware of the way every aspect of our lives needs to be lived walking in the Spirit.

Sola dia agloria
(To God be the glory alone)
Brian Kingston

Spiritual Wall

Brian and I are always looking for more and different way to help us, as a couple, grow closer to Jesus. When we bought our house, we were trying to memorize a verse in Galatians (Brian's future post) and it wasn't going too well. It is difficult when you have so many thing in a day that you need to remember things that need to get done, places you have to go, people you need to call, work that must be turned in...you get the picture.
So when Brian and I moved in, I decided that we were going to put it on the wall (not literally). I typed it in PowerPoint, so that I could add my flare to the Word Art, put it in a frame, and hung it up in our room.
Then it grew...a prayer reminder (praying), a Bible reading accountability chart (Reading), a weekly catechism question (Learning), and of course the memory verse (Memorizing)...all went up, hence the name "spiritual wall". What else can it be called?!!

Brian and I love it! It is right by our door, so when we go out we can take a peak. It brings accountability, many fun "quizzing" moments, and just a centered thought on Christ while in this room. What do you think? Anything we missed?