Coming CLEAN

I had a short break in my day so I thought I would write some things down before I forget them.

We are finishing up rec baseball. I am so thankful that 5 of my kids have had a chance to play. We really lean heavy on sports and Church to help with socialization and "real world" activities. I am so paranoid we are going to turn homeschool-y. I want my kids to be able to have a conversation with a human outside our walls. I want their jeans to be long enough. I want them to have a tan in the summer because they have played outside. I want them to be mildly coordinated. Those things can get wacky if you are at home too much. I am the most socially awkward one of the group if we are home too much. I am thankful Tim and I are both high-energy.

We don't do most things right but one of the things I am thankful we do NOT do is watch TV. I am thankful it isn't a part of our lives. When football season rolls around, things are a little different. 

I do think NOT WATCHING TV REGULARLY is a powerful way to keep yourself and your kids from being polluted by the world.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

James 1:27

We tend to focus more on the orphans and widows in this verse and forget the last part of the verse. I am determined to keep my kids as undefiled as possible. No, I can't shelter them from everything but I can shelter them from a lot. I want our eyes to be healthy and full of light. 

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light."

Matt 6:22

I love having my children home. I am so thankful we have made it this far. We are going to keep going as long as they are thriving. They just ROCKED their standardized tests.... PRAISE GOD!

One of my favorite verses for homeschool is-

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

Matt 6:33

God is adding things because we are seeking HIM and HIS KINGDOM first. It always reminds me of tithing. I bite my nails while I wait on the test scores to come back wondering how they will do. Just like when the bills are coming in and the money is running out. BUT, God provides in supernatural ways if you are faithful... with tithing and teaching your children. It won't make sense on paper. 

God adds and multiplies! His math is totally FUZZY!

"Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it to the people.  They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers.  About 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children!"

Matt 14:19-21

5+2 don't equal 5,000 in our mathbooks! :)

But it does in God's!

Tim and I have offered God our 5 loaves and 2 fish in parenting and He has multiplied it.  AND, when we teach our kids God's Word it is constantly AT WORK. Talk about some multi-level marketing! You teach your kids the Word and it works while you are sleeping! Ahhhhhh. 

"For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

Heb 4:12

Alive: living water, having vital power in itself and exerting the same upon the soul

Active: powerful, effective, engaged in work, almost exclusively used as medical terms referring to medical treatment and the influence of medicine

How awesome? God's word heals us! I just heard a testimony of a lady who was in a psychiatric hospital who tried to commit suicide when she found a Gideon's Bible and God reached her in that dark place and pulled her out! She says God's Word cleansed her and healed her mind. 

"He led them from the darkness and deepest gloom;

he snapped their chains." Ps 107:14

God's Word is truly so powerful.

More than anything, I want my kids to understand the power of God's Word.

Not books written by man.

THE WORD OF GOD.

Tim is speaking at a graduation tonight and giving a "charge".

The charge he is going to give them is very simple yet life-changing...

TO READ THEIR BIBLE EVERY DAY.

********************************

I am very burdened as I have seen the power of sexual affairs in the life of a believer TO DESTROY.

Sexual sin in any form can destroy so many people's lives and ROB families.

What is so scary to me is that when a wife or a husband have an affair, they fall under a delusion.

It is seriously one of the scariest things I have ever witnessed in my 18-year-walk with the Lord.

Tim and I have been called in crisis in the middle of the night before. Our dear friend discovered her husband was having an affair with another one of our friends (also married).

It was unreal to watch the unfolding of sin and its SEVERE consequences.
I watched the husband's eyes glazed over as he was held captive by sin. 

He was (at the time) un-reachable.
He was ready to abandon his family.
We begged him to stop sinning.
 He truly couldn't hear anything.

You seen, their secret sin had become very addictive and a deadly drug.
It was ruling OVER them.

"Keep your servant also from willful sins;

may they not RULE OVER ME."

Ps 19

They were both high off sin and not in their right minds.

I (separately) counseled the adulteress, she spoke these words to me about the affair..

"I have finally found what you and Tim have."

I said,

"NO. 

YOU. 

HAVEN'T."

There were both held under such a lie that everything became a lie. Their memories about their marriage. They not only TOLD LIES, they BELIEVED LIES.

The details about the affair.
They blamed everything on their spouses.

The deceit had taken them under and now it poured out of them both.

By God's grace, GOD'S WORD in large doses, and years of prayer, one of those marriages was saved. 

There was repentance.

The family is whole and healthy again.

God's Word had to heal his sick mind. And it DID.
He later wrote us a letter thanking us.

God's Word can heal you and your marriage and make you CLEAN.

"to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word."
Eph 5:26

“You are already clean because of THE WORD which I have spoken to you."
John 15:3

There is always hope.
There is forgiveness.
There is mercy.
***************************

WARNING:
 I have seen it MULTIPLE times when someone has a sexual affair....
it is very scary to watch from the outside.

Sexual sin simply causes you to come under a spiritual DELUSION.

Their God-given affections get twisted to where once a mother-bear protector of her children, after the affair cares only about the forbidden relationship and will destroy her family in hopes of getting it. I also knew a man with a very fruitful ministry who had an awesome marriage. He and his wife served alongside each other. He began to get prideful and he fell into sexual sin. He later said his  marriage "was never good".
THAT IS A LIE.
They begin to fight AGAINST God and all that He loves.
Truly as if they are "under the influence" of a greater power.
****************************************

 If you are have had or are having an affair, get in the Word.
It is your only hope.

You aren't thinking clearly. Your mind is sick because of sin.

Your marriage CAN be saved.

God can resurrect the dead so it doesn't matter if your marriage has already died.

Don't believe the lies of the enemy. He only desires to steal, kill, and destroy.

Our enemy is the father of all lies.

Please don't sacrifice your inheritance and your entire family for a single "meal".

 "See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, 

who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.  

Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. 

It was too late for repentance, even though he begged with bitter tears."

Heb 12:16,17

There will come a time when it is TOO LATE for repentance. 

Confess and repent before it is too late. 

You can't cover your tracks anyway.

Come CLEAN.

"People who conceal their sins will not prosper,

but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy."

Prov 28:13

What you are looking for can only be found INSIDE of marriage.

You will spend the rest of your life looking for it and never find it if you go outside of your marriage.

You will be left empty and alone.

It isn't worth it.

God can heal and restore your marriage but you have to CONFESS AND TURN. You are headed in the wrong direction and you need to turn around.

I heard the definition of repentance compared to when a pitcher pitches a ball and it is going fast in one direction... as soon as that bat hits the ball, IT REPENTS.

By God's grace, we can repent. We can be going 100 miles an hour the wrong way and by the power of God, TURN and go 100 miles an hour in the opposite direction. 

No matter what sexual sin you are involved in, there is a way out.

God ALWAYS provides a way of escape.

"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."

1 Cor 10:13

When our marriages are vulnerable, the enemy strikes. That is when you have to really pray protection and make wise decisions. I know that last year when I was grieving and struggling, the enemy went into overdrive trying to destroy our marriage. We had to be super protective of our marriage and recognize our vulnerability. We also sought counsel and God used a godly counselor to help us find center (Jesus!) again. There are times when one of us in the marriage is going to fall. 

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:

If either of them falls down, one can help the other up."

Ecc 4:10

Fight for your marriage and your children. 

Marriage is under attack. 

Christian marriages are in the enemy's bulls eye. 

Don't take the bait. 

If it's too late,

CONFESS AND REPENT before it really is 

too late.

If you are in sin and reading this, God is trying to save you. 

RESPOND.