Wednesday, May 02, 2007

  • I'm back. OK ok we've been back a couple of days. But we've been busy??? nah, I've just been stalking on xanga.  

    First of all, the weekend was great. We were at a "pastor's" confrence...mind you the word pastor is used quite lightly. It's pretty much just a confrence for anyone. Anyway, it was great. Hosanna did so well, for a not so child friendly event. She sat with me and colored through most of the sessions.  Or ate pretzels with her friend Willow. Only a couple of times did I have to take her to the back room to play.  Oh and of course she ran the show. Running up and down the sanctuary...love it. yeah, that's my daughter.

    Spiritually, it was refreshing. I don't want to sound so cliche, or christian-cheesy...but it was good to be challenged. The Lord was speaking to me, and is continuing to speak to me about spending more time in prayer. We want to see revival here. Now I don't mean that in a fire and brimstone sort of way...more or less, the spirit of the Lord falling on this place, welcoming all his children to come in.  Like the stories you hear about the Welsh revival, where Pubs dried up because people were on their face seeking the Lord. That's what I want to see. It's been impressed on my heart that this happens when God's people pray. I have to be honest, I don't really understand prayer, why the Lord wants us to pray when he can do it at any minuet. I've heard teachings on it, but nothings really clicked for me yet. But that doesn't matter, if God has asked me to pray, then pray I will. I hope.  
        I'm a lot like Peter or the other disciples that Jesus took with him in the garden to pray. I fall asleep. Even if I'm trying I fall asleep. How sad is that. Uh oh, I'm being to honest with you. Now you're going to have to ask me about this later...I can't believe I just said that.   see, I'm a sinner in the hands of a gracious God.

    We got home and I have been pretty much hit solid with some major back aches, and crazy braxton hicks contractions. Ones that hurt like mad.  Making me sad that there's a whole 20 weeks to go at this point...probably more. If you are one to pray...I would love some...its been quite hard functioning.  SO I sit with my raspberry leaf tea (God's gift to a woman) hmm maybe a good excuse to spend time praying.

                     On top of myself feeling the need to pray. We've started two "church plants" in the area. Actually more or less bible studies and the Lord can do with them what he wants. This is where we've felt led to go. It's exciting. What if the Lord chose to actually start churches out of this? I love watching what the Lord just might do. I am so priviledged.

    And my Hosanna is on my lap now. so I'll leave you with a few pictures from the weekend. Probably not that exciting because...well you weren't there.

    IMG_1391IMG_1360 IMG_1354 IMG_1362

Comments (11)

  • WhatASweetPotato
    i'm glad you had a good time!
  • wildflowerwendy
    you look so pretty, Grace. yeah, I see you way in the back in the group picture. wow, it's so great that you have the opportunities surrounding you that you do. I know what you mean about prayer but agree that we do it out of obedience. have you read chuck's book "effective prayer life"? It addresses some of that stuff. (like about how prayer isn't to change God's mind but to align ourselves with His will) I ought to read it again. It's a tiny, almost one-sitting read. I know there are opportunities surrounding me for ministry that I am not taking the way God is calling me to. I'm praying that He'll help me to be more responsive to Him and to walk more closely with Him so that I will respond to those opportunities and by the Spirit, not by the flesh.
  • Spring_Joy
    it is so different with your second child.. I pray God gives you grace. How awesome that the retreat went so well!
  • lochnessie80
    aww, my dear. I had braxton hicks from 20 weeks on with both kids...my sympathies. It stinks. Just take comfort in the fact that your body is preparing itself..your uterus is just exercising in preparation for the big day.
    I'm glad you had a lovely time. :]
    I've been a prayer..I talk to God all day long, probably because He's the only person above 3 feet for me to talk to during the day, but I'm a slacker when it comes to reading his Word. I'm working on it..
  • glorious_and_free
    Yay for a great weekend! I went through the same thing with prayer a couple years ago. I was laid off from my job for 5 months, and ended up turing our second bedroom into a prayer room and covered the walls with paper (the rolls you get at IKEA), and just had at it. I probably wasn't in the prayer room as much as I could have been, but at least it was there taunting me to go in it every day. I do need to start praying more again, it's crazy how time just slips away and I end up at the end of the day and I still have not really prayed. Besides meals and whatnot, and whenever anything "bad" happens my first reaction is prayer, but I think it really needs to be more than that. Have you seen the Transformation videos? I think it's the second one where they feature the Inuit town in northern Canada... but anyways the pastor from that church used to come to our church in Ottawa a lot and it was really cool. Made the whole thing a little more real to me and not just "a movie".

    I hope the church plants turn into something cool! By cool I don't mean necessarily big, but just that God does stuff.

    A friend of mine also had BH contractions really bad, and her midwife suggesting laying off the raspberry tea, and she said that realy helped. I guess the tea makes you contract. I'm sure it's good for your uterus, but it just might be a little too painful to deal with. I never had any BH contractions, that hurt anyway. My doctor said I was contracting during my check-ups, but I didn't feel a thing.
  • wildflowerwendy
    you know, I was thinking more about the praying thing and I remembered that spending time in prayer also gives us a passion for things that God is passionate about. You know, like when I pray for the lost, He fills my heart with compassion for the lost. When I pray for someone I need to forgive, He helps me to see that person through His eyes, through His grace. When I pray for revival, He brings about revival in my own heart. I think prayer is really most about what God does in the heart of the person praying, more than about how it affects the thing you're praying for.
  • MyPrecious
    hmm....I don't know what braxton hicks is, but I shall pray.
    and thanks for posting the pictures...especially the one of Ben. haha.
    and who is the girl in front of Cheri?
  • peacefulveganmom

    Ahh...I LOVED drinking raspberry leaf tea during my 1st pregnancy, but found it pretty uncomfortable during my second pregnancy.

    I've recently read that many women are super sensitive to Raspberry Leaf Tea after 16 weeks of pregnancy and it can increase your braxton hicks and make them more painful. It is a uterine strengthener afterall. ;) So, you might wanna try laying off of it for a couple days and see if this helps you. If you find this helps some, I suggest just stop drinking  it all together and maybe take up drinking it again after the 28th week.

    Hope this helps!!

    Peace,

    Jamie
  • peacefulveganmom
    Hmmm....Guess I should have asked this first: How far along are you??
  • peacefulveganmom

    RYC: No problem. Glad I could help! :)

    Peace,

    Jamie
  • matthewhawkins
    i love red robin!

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    • From: gracious
    • Posted: 5/2/2007 9:44 AM

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