Rejoicing in our heritage!

Psalm 127

¹Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
²It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
³Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
⁴As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
⁵Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Psalm 128

¹Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.
²For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
³Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
⁴Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD.
⁵The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.
⁶Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel.

Children are blessings, the Word is clear on this subject.  God says it is a good thing to be fruitful, in fact it was the first command he gave to man.  (Genesis 1:28)  There are many things in life, that, we are unable to grasp the depth of on our own.  Childbearing is one of those things.  BUT - we have faith.  Faith that God provides for His own.  Faith that God blesses those who obey Him.

Four short years ago, not long after the Lord called Jimmy and I unto repentance and salvation, He burdened our hearts to be obedient to trusting Him, the one and only Creator, with our womb.  This was a HUGE step of FAITH!  5 months later, we discovered that we had been blessed with our 3rd child.  Along with Justin, came the blessings of learning to eat and prepare food in healthy ways, something we'd never had to do before. 

When Justin was 11 months old, God blessed us with the conception of our 4th baby - Lizzy.  Lizzy came with much ridicule from family, for being so foolish to have more children, when Jimmy doesn't even have a high school education.  We were asked by most, how can you afford more children??  (Trust, it's a simple thing)  At the time, Jimmy was not able to work, due to back problems. 

Lizzy is now 13 months old, and we recently discovered that the Lord has once again blessed us with another child!!  Even though we fully trust God with our womb, each time I find that I'm pregnant, I'm in awe.  I certainly don't feel that I "deserve" the blessings of the Lord.  In fact, most of the time, I fail more than I succeed, at training the children we already have.  Yet, God is faithful to bless us for being obedient!  He knows the plans He has for our lives, and the lives of our children!

Please pray for us, as we prepare to raise another arrow for Christ!  :)

God Bless,
 Terri

By God's Grace

Today, by God's marvelous grace, Jimmy and I celebrate 10 years of marriage.  It is ONLY by the grace of God. 

Ecclesiastes 4:12 (King James Version)¹²   And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

You see, we were lost when we married.  We spent 6 long, hard years, full of fights, arguments, in a love/hate relationship with each other.  We bought a house, and not long after we moved into it with our 2 small children, we were going to throw our marriage away.  We could not agree on anything, we fought, we threw things, we avoided each other.  There was no love in our hearts for each other.  Our only common bond was our 2 children.  We were contemplating a separation/divorce.

Then, God in His Mercy, used a Christian co-worker of mine, to draw my attention to the fact that the reason we were having problems, was because neither of us was walking with God, even though we both claimed to be Christians.  We were walking in darkness.  I am forever thankful to my co-worker for sharing the love of God with me, and planting a seed that grew quickly in my heart.  Through this seed, the Lord sought me, and caused me to see Him in all His glory for the first time in my life.  I was heart-broken, though, because, immediately after God called me to be His own, Jimmy pushed against me harder, and farther.  He wanted nothing to do with me, and went into a deep depression.  I was soon to convince him (although, at the time, it seemed like an eternity), that the Lord was causing him to feel like he was going to lose everything.  The only way out was to give it all to Christ, as I had.  He sought help from doctors, to ease the pain of the depression.  The medication helped, but even the doctor told him that the medicine was really only a bandaid, that God uses depression to get the attention of unbelievers many times.  She sent us to a Christian couple who counsels troubled married couples.  They read us like a book, and knew the same thing was happening that the Lord had already revealed to me.  Jimmy was fighting against the call to repentance.  A week later, Jimmy gave his life to Christ! 
Looking back, we see nothing but God's grace saving our marriage from destruction.  We were ready to give everything up, and call it quits, and God's timing was perfect to save us, and our marriage! 

The past 4 years have been filled with growth, growth and more growth.  God has blessed our home with more children, as we have learned to trust in the plan the Lord has for our lives, and not our own plans.  God is continually moldling us into the man and woman He wants us to be, as we learn to be submissive to Him. 

If anyone reading this is having a troubled marriage, or if you are single, and do not know the Lord as your personal Savior, I want you to know that you are destined for destruction.  The only way out of that destruction, is Jesus.  Jesus died to save the lost, He took our sins away, and I pray that everyone that reads my blog will come to know Christ, if they don't already.  My heart aches just to think about where we would be without Christ in our hearts.  My heart aches for those who refuse to know Him, for they will spend eternity separated from their Creator, in hell.

God bless,

Terri