Eternal Encouragement FREE!

Lorrie Flem, founder of Gabby Moms and Eternal Encouragement has a gift for you this Christmas. Her wonderfully encouraging, colorful magazine is going digital and it’s free! You can read and share all you want in December because it’s free! I hope you’ll take the opportunity to read this holiday issue and see if it is an encouragement for you. Articles are written by real moms who love Jesus. Many of the advertisers are moms as well. 

It is in a new format and it is FREE....you read that right FREE!!!!

To view it go to  http://www.eemagazine.com/ and click on the button that looks like this:

 

Please read, be encouraged and share with other women who could use some encouragement, too.

Schedule and Plan for Rest

Are your holiday plans well under way or running away?

To have rest at any time of the year we have to plan and prioritize. Even more so at Christmas. Make sure to plan in some rest. Also be sure to make a full inventory of all you intend to do. What preparation is involved? How many resources – not only money – time & emotions, too.  List EVERYTHING involved, every step in it’s entirety.

Now the reality check. Can you actually do everything on your list? Do you have enough of every kind of resource to pull it off? Another question, do you want to use all those resources? Do you have any reserves?

In the past I have failed in many steps of this planning. Every year I continue to simplify and learn to be more realistic in my planning, in understanding what it will really take to pull off my plans. As an example for many years it was a tradition to make gingerbread houses with two other families. A great day for everyone involved. For the planning though it was not just the day on the calendar. There had to be the rearranging of school plans. How long does it take to get snow gear for three children? What about lunch? A special trip to the store for candy we do not keep around the house but need for our project. This is a great tradition and worth all the effort, I just sometimes forget to plan all the parts I need to plan. It goes better when I remember.

It may be that when you really look at what goes in to some of your holiday plans you will decide you either do not have or do not want to use your resources that way. You may want some time to rest so you can have a better attitude toward your family in this “holly, jolly” season.

Question: How is your planning going?

Challenge: Do your holiday plans include rest? Do they focus on Jesus? 

An invitation: During December I’m posting Countdown to Christmas. Focus on Jesus. At my Focus on Jesus blog. I hope you’ll stop by for a quick note of encouragement.

Christmas Blessing: You can still enter for the $320 prize money until December 11, 2012. There are many great blogs sharing in the blessing. Read and enter on them all!

Finding Rest in the Battle

We are in a battle. I often forget. I often fail to prepare like it’s real. 

It is real. So real it’s exhausting. The enemy never forgets. He is relentless. He loves that I forget. 

If I am in battle from a spiritual source how am I to rest?

“The battle is mine” says the Lord.

This has often tripped me up. I’m in a battle, but it’s His. I need to fight, but I’m supposed to rest.

What I am beginning to see is my fight is within myself. I must come into agreement with the victory Jesus has already won. Satan is defeated, sentenced to eternal destruction. The sentence is waiting on the patient love of God to be carried out. The waiting is for us who have been found to help find more who are still lost. Satan is using it to his advantage. Since he’s not dead he’s not acting like it, though too often I am.

The fight within me is to control my thoughts, bringing them captive to Jesus. To think good, true, pure, lovely, honest, and praiseworthy thoughts. To pray without ceasing. To always rejoice and give thanks in all things.

In fighting this internal fight I rest. I rest in the Father’s love and protection. As I submit to Him he takes care of the battle around me. As I draw near to His heart I can better hear His voice and better recognize the enemy. I rest, fixed and firm on Jesus’s work finished on the cross. Satan nor any person can truly hurt me because for me even death is gain.

The rest is in remembering who He is, what He has done, and what He has promised to do.

An invitation: During December I’m posting Countdown to Christmas. Focus on Jesus. At my Focus on Jesus blog. I hope you’ll stop by for a quick note of encouragement.

Christmas Blessing: You can still enter for the $320 prize money until December 11, 2012. There are many great blogs sharing in the blessing. Read and enter on them all!

But for God, Part of My Story

Early morning. Not ready to start my day. The alarm is about to go off. My head hurts. Rollover to sleep a little more. Now the news is on. I know if I don’t get up now I’ll go back to sleep and ruin my morning, lose my time with Brian. Little did I know I may have ended my life. I stumbled to the bathroom. Reading a devotion first thing has become a habit. December 4 shared verses carrying God’s promise to answer when we cry out to him. Off to the kitchen to get our coffee. The alarm has now gone off. Brian is waiting for me to bring the coffee.

Queasiness, shaky, headache, cold sweat. I sit down. Feeling better I rise again. I’ll get the coffee and go sit in bed. I should feel better soon. No, better sit down again. I wake up on the kitchen floor and make my way onto the seat I had tried for a moment ago. I sit with head in hands wondering, “What could this be?”, “How could I get so sick so fast?” “This is the worst flu ever!” My questions interrupted by the sound of a waking child. The sounds tell me they are not feeling well either. It is far too early for them to be awake. I begin to rise. No, I’d better let them wake their dad. It would not be good for me to pass out again trying to help.

In the bathroom I hear son and husband. My son feels like I do. I make my way into the bathroom and sit on the floor. The eldest comes moaning and stumbling. Crashing into the door frame. Collapse. Now the youngest, into the bathroom. Collapse. Oh God, what is this! I grab the devotion from the counter and begin reading, wailing, crying out as never before. “We need an answer, God!” “We need you, God!” “What do we do? What is wrong?” “You promised to answer as we cry out!”
Now even the dog is collapsed in our midst, all of us in our small bathroom.

Revelation comes. “It’s carbon monoxide! Get out of the house!” Brian has received our answers. Thank you, Lord. I would have comforted my children to death, sitting and consoling while we breathed in our death. Time for action. Grab sleeping bags, the blankets off the bed. Out into the cold, only slightly sheltered, windy, entry. Wrap the blankets around our three precious blessings. Dog collapsed in their midst. He’ll help keep them warm. Into the house to get clothes, open windows, shut off the boiler, read what to do. Back comes the sickness.

We’re cold. We’re sick. Our home is not safe. Off to a friend’s warm fire. He’ll be up getting ready for work. We know we need fresh air. Pure life giving, no more poison. We have no insurance. Going to the emergency room is not happening if we only need fresh air. “I’ll call my mom” our friend suggests. She’ll know what to do. “Call poison control.” her wise advice.

We have headaches and nausea. Feeling much better now.
Go to the hospital. "You need treatment."
Back in the van.

Off to the hospital. They will be expecting us. Oxygen masks, blood draws, pregnancy test for me. A baby would suffer most from this poison. Questions. Waiting. More questions. “You need hyperbaric treatment to remove the poison.”

Poison it seems has a very strong hold. Only in a pure and pressurized enviornment can the blood be cleansed. No driving this time. Ambulance ride. Oxygen masks. Another doctor. Climb into a big steel air tank. Cushions on the floor. No crayons, no pens, no watches. No children’s sized masks. We make due. The staff serves us. Going down takes an hour. Children learn to clear their ears. Brian ruptures something in his sinus. Painful to increase the pressure. Waiting. We must stay down for 6 hours. Watching movies we can’t hear. Answering questions. Can we focus? Can we think? Break from the masks. Back on again. Tired. Thankful. Holding on masks. Holding our children. No real idea how close we were to holding them in heaven.

Coming back up goes better. “How did you get here?” “Did you call the fire department?”
“We woke up. We drove.”

That’s not possible. Your oxygen level was so low you shouldn’t have even been able to wake up. This after 2 hours is fresh air. For the first time I realize I almost died. Almost lost my husband, my children. It’s too much to take in.

Friends are waiting. Welcoming. Providing. Loving. Dinner is ready. We will stay as long as we need to. Their hospitality overwhelms me. We eat. We sleep. Another treatment tomorrow.

Why this day, December 4? Normally I am home. This day, missed appointments. I missed taking my children to ring the bell for Salvation Army. I missed an appointment with my Pastor’s wife. Brian and I missed an appointment with an investment counselor.

God saved us. Why? Saved me! Why? How do I live to make it worth His while? How do I make the most of my second chance? Where do we go from here? Deeper into His love. Stronger on His promises. Reflect more often. Live a life of gratitude. I am here for a reason. You are here for a reason. To know, love, and enjoy our Father God and bring Him glory.

Now there are the bills. Lessons in resting in God’s provision. “He kept us alive, He will pay the bill.” He has. He will continue. We trust Him more. We aim to live with more purpose, more faith.
I still need to be saved, cleansed. Saved from my self-centeredness. Cleansed from my sin, my ungodly way of thinking. The salvation and cleansing are mine. Jesus did die. He lives so I may live.
He lives so you may live.