thank you for the reminders...

What a glorious Sunday it is today! The air is cool and crisp in the beautiful fall ozarks! Reminds every season...that life moves on and we must follow it...

I have the honor of leading another ladies Bible study this fall...it is called "Get a Life" and I thought it would be just a simple "beginners" Bible Study...however, it has been a very good...personal study and I'm so thankful the Lord directed us to this study...how we found this study is a complete story all in it's own...for another day...

This week we are learning that a busy life does not mean a full and abundant life...and do you want to know how my week has gone...well class is tonight so...I did 4 of the 5 days yesterday morning and the last one this morning...so can we say busy and unfocused? The main focus of this weeks study is to have an eternal perspective...one question that I've pondered now for many hours...what is a reward I've earned that I've found pride in...as a stay at home mom...other than a certificate for the homeroom mom over the years...I haven't received "those" kinds of rewards...so my thoughts were on other rewards...those that I believe as much as we can take them with us when we leave this earth...I will...so my favorites:

     The song Michael wrote and sang for me on Mother's Day...only he and I
     can truly understand the deep meaning of that song...

     The honor and trust my daughters allow me as I keep my grandchildren.
     again, only a few can understand why this is extra special to me...

 And another...today as I sat in class and listened to my husband pour into 27 teens...why you might ask...well...wow...what an honor...and also...I just had memories flood my mind of Emmanuel Baptist Church...I counted 27 in the youth room today, which is the old santuctary of the church...when the church begin 22 years ago...we had 23 people...that is men, women and children...God is so good!

God showed me this verse also this morning...Ps. 89:15...

¹⁵ Happy are the people who know the joyful shout;
Yahweh, they walk in the light of Your presence.
What a picture of the bride of Christ...if you read this most likely you know the man I've called mine for almost 31 years now...he knows the JOYFUL SHOUT...I'm thankful for the Lord...my salvation...my husband how gets it...really gets it...what life is about...what is important...what our purpose for being here is...the Lord has used him in so many lives...but none more than my life and those of our children and now our grandchildren...

Then we had an amazing worship service this morning...I've learned to appreciate the older hymns...many people have ugly attitudes about the "new" worship songs and I don't get that...but I'm guilty at times of having the same attitude about the "old" hymns...but just think about these words...

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise:
be thou mine inheritance now and always;
be thou and thou only the first in my heart;
O Sovereign of heaven, my treasure thou art.
I'm overwhelmed today by HIM...I don't deserve HIM and yet inspite of all that..inspite of myself...He loves me anyway...

 

 

Reminding lessons...

Reminding...that is what God is so good to do in my life...remind me of who He is...and reminding me of who I am not...reminding me of His great love and His great mercies that are new...and fresh every single morning of my life...if only I will trust it and walk in these truths...

I have a sweet friend and mentor that I love more than words could ever say...she has walk beside me thru...literally my darkest days...she reminded me of a story in the Bible...the one with great pain and loss with little answers...at first...Lazarus...she reminded me...both sisters said...Lord if you had been here this wouldn't have happened...you know at that point in their life...it just didn't look like they dreamed it would...they hoped it would...they prayed it would...and yet all along our Lord knew EXACTLY what He was doing...for the GREATER glory...for the glory of God the Father to be seen...

What in your life is the greater glory of God that WILL be seen...honest answer...most of us probably simply do not know that yet...it is a scary question...because will it be something we recognized immediately or not...is it something that will be relatively painless or will be be agonizing? Will we walk through it willingly our will we fight it ever step of the way...

The Lord brought another reminder to me today...we were singing how great is our God...ending the song with the chorus to "how great thou art"...and I was overwhelmed with emotion...emotion for my sweet family seeking answers...guidance...overwhelmed with the fact that I am a walking testiment to His hand on a life...

As a very young child...not raised in a christian home...I had the priviledge of going to church camp one summer...and I bought the sheet music to "how great thou art" (still have it)...I was probably about 10 years old...I was reminded today of a young 10 year old girl laying on the picnic table in her backyard...thinking of those words...

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

I remember thinking how there must have been something so much bigger than I could every see or image in my little world...something...that I now  understand was becking me...

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.
Something or someone who had made all this that  I could see with my 10 year old eyes...I didn't understand it at the time...but it absolutely facinated me...

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
never got this then...but oh the thought of this now...makes me fall to my knees in thankfulness...knowing I received it but not understanding why He would offer it...

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"
and finally...if this doesn't make you want to jump a pew then you have got some SERIOUS issues...I try to image this...as hard as I tried as a 10 year old child to image the "bigger" picture then...something beckoning me...and something I long to see...but will not fully understand until I see it...

 

I had 100's of  images of my life flash through my mind this morning as I could see myself lying on that old picnic table...to where I am today...my wedding day...my babies being born...my salvation...my struggles...my hope...Through Christ...my ministry...friends...family...loses...gains...victories...life...my life

 

and so...I find myself pondering all that He has reminded me of lately and while I don't know what the future holds...for me...for us...I do know WHO holds the future...I know that He loves me, us, no matter what, I know it is ultimately about Him and not me,  and THAT is the reminder that will get me through the night...into tomorrow and into the future...thank You JESUS...

Katherine....

that's what alot of people thought we should name her...Katherine Elizabeth...my word can you just imagine being 5 years old and trying to learn how to spell it...our Katie has always been very smart but that just may very well have turned her love for learning into pure hate!

Her birthday has come and gone and by a kind reminder...I realized I haven't blogged about her 22nd year yet...so here we go...

Katie you have a zeal for life that I wish I saw in more people...a passion for others that we could all take a lesson from...a devotion to your family...(if you mess with her family...she may not say it but she WILL think...you are ugly on the inside AND the outside!)...that makes us all know we are loved and valued!

I'm so proud of the woman you have become...I've been a little on the sentimental side lately, and so I've remember so many things as all you kids were growing up...we were so sure after Michael we were done with our family...Oh how much we all would have missed without you!

Sorry I wrote this late to you...you have and continue to be one of my biggest heros...(as well as your other siblings...each of you in your own very important way)...I'm thankful you have so much of your daddy in you...

here is to you Katie Elizabeth...I love you!

Momma

Hims not a father...Hims a daddy...

We have had an amazingly busy past few weeks. Michael has been crazy busy working on Maw Maw's house. He is remodeling it and hopes to be living there before Christmas...Mom's not sure how on offical empty nest will be but I'm must admit I am drooling over his bedroom...our entire married life (minus the first 12 months) we have been cramped in our room...to help make room for all our children...so now after Katie's departure we have a guest room/toy room and as Michael begins his new adventure called life we will not longer have the "Griffith Trucking" office in our bedroom...we will have an office and a work area for crafts...I plan to be able to sewing in this room as well as do some scrapbooking...so we will see if that will be enough to help overcome the empty nest...I remember thinking many many years ago...this day would never come and if it did...well I'd already be dead so it wouldn't matter...but the days crept by and the years sped by and now I'm facing a new time in my life...I realized the other day that I have NEVER spent the night alone...even when Scott was gone all the time...at least one kid was here with me...I think Tbow may be my new best friend and protector on the nights that Scott is out of town...just another change though and I'm learning more and more the although change is not always fun it is just part of life and if change is not happening...why not? It is all we know anymore...we are even getting...dare I say...accustomed to it...

 

I think I may have spoken about this before but as I sat in church yesterday...we were singing "What a wonderful Maker"...and as we sang..."and the heart of a Father"...I couldn't help but think of a conversation I had with our little Caleb the night before...his dad gave him ice cream and Michael and I told him to say...thank you Father...Caleb curled up his little nose and said..."hims not a Father...hims a DADDY" and that is what I thought about God yesterday...He has the heart of a Father...but He desires to have such a personal relationship with us that He is our daddy...I have not experienced that on earth...I have a dad and a wonderful stepfather but to be able to call my dad...daddy never happened and I think I was way to old to call my stepdad that...and yet has I've witnessed my own kids be able to call their father...daddy...(some still do to this day)...I thought someday I'll have that and now I do...in the ultimate DADDY...my heavenly Father...the other night I was so worried about something I couldn't even calm down enough to sleep...and then I started saying...over and over again...what time I am afraid...I WILL trust in YOU...and I drifted off to sleep...with my head in my Daddy's lap finding peace and comfort there...

 

I have someone else in my life that I can find that as well...in Scott...who is who he is all the time...take him or leave him but he is not fake, he is not one way at home, another way at work and yet another way at church...there is a scripture in Acts 4:13 at the end, it said people recognized they had been with Jesus...that is a picture of Scott and I so desire for that to be true in my life, my children's lives and my grandchildren...nothing and I mean nothing else matters....I don't care if we are rich or if we are good at an activity or even what others think of us as long as they can recognize that we have been with Jesus...what a heritage to pass on!

 

Ephesians 5:1-2 says..."Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.  Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God."

 

Can we say this is how we live our lives...pleasing God and not men...JD was preaching yesterday and he said..."is it all about others?"...and I thought..yes I try to live a life to help others...but he wasn't done with his question...and the rest of the question...pierced my heart...he said..."OR is it all about God..." I think I get in such a hurry I don't slow down enough to think about the whole picture and who the picture belongs to...it IS all about God...may we be found...Imitators of God in EVERYTHING we do...as a sacrifical aroma pleasing to the Lord...

 

so here is a poorly asked qustion but I gotta ask anyway...Who's your daddy??? some of you can say I have the best daddy this side of heaven (my kids can all 6 say that)....and if that is true...can you even begin to imagine how much greated our heavenly Daddy will be? and if you can't say that...yours wasn't, isn't good...or maybe you didn't have one...can I just tell you...you do have a Daddy and he gave everything up for you...and He loves you. This doesn't mean He keeps us from ever walking thru a trial or hard time...BUT it does mean you will never walk thru it alone...never, ever...and on those nights you are scared or overcome with things...you can lay your head in his lap...like I did last week and you can sleep and find rest as He holds you...



lesson I'm learning...still...again...never ending...

The Lord has been speaking to my heart for quite some time now...I feel very withdrawn and quiet these days which is how I am when He is speaking...sometimes I am quiet because I'm trying to listen and learn...and other times I'm quiet because I'm being rebellious and simply attempting to ignore everything He is saying to me...

This time I'm in between those two I think...although truth be told you can't be in between...you are either obeying or you aren't simple as that! I have lost a grand total of 33 pounds since I've started weight watchers and while that is a success it is by FAR not the success I must achieve to be obedient and to be healthy...and it is by FAR not the success I'd hoped to have achieved 8 full months into this journey...I know the reason I've failed...I want to say I don't, but I do...I want to cry most days and feel sorry for myself but you know...I just can't...it is a simple lack of disciple and lack of obedience...because I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH...

So now what do I do...I keep on going the way I've been going? NO...it must stop...the Lord has spoken to my heart so much the last month...about the issue of sin...you know it is all level at the foot of the cross..so my sin of overeating is the same as murder...it is disobedience to the Father and He cannot and will not accept it...I used to teach abstinence in the public schools in our area...something that I'm very passionate about...and the Lord has reminded me of this sin compared to my own lately...to be pure before the Lord...means to abstain from things of this world...the lust of the eye...well...a girl may lust for a boy of he for her...and I lust for the food I do not need...things that are not healthy or beneficial...if I were to be approached by a young man or woman struggling with the sexual sin what advice would I give them...maybe I'd say don't be alone with the other person, make sure you are never in a compromising position, have accountability all around you...maybe possibly you may even need to walk away from that person...but then there is ME and MY sin...do I have accountability, do I walk away from food, do I make sure I'm not allowing myself to be in a position that my compromise this journey the Lord and I are on? I can have my self-righteous attitude all day but the Lord WILL remind me of my place in light of my attitude concerning others and in light of WHO HE IS!

I have started a new bible study called "Made to Crave" by Lysa Terkurst. The Lord is using it a great deal to both convict my and to encourage me...to give me hope...when I was walking through the healing process of dealing with my anger the Lord gave me several scriptures but the first one He gave me means to much because I knew it was the beginning of my healing...I've needed a scripture for this issue as well..."EVERYTHING IS PERMISSIBLE-BUT NOT EVERYTHING IS BENEFICIAL" 1 Cor. 10:23...this by far will not be the only scripture He uses or gives me but this is the start...In Eph. 1:19 it says His glorious inheritance in the saints and His incomparably great power for us who believe...

I have, we have the power to lay down our sin that so easily entangles us and walk in freedom...but we must want and chose to walk in HIS INCOMPARABLY GREAT POWER.

I don't know about you but this is my desire...

I've tried to be open about this struggle and it is hard to be...there are things that only the Lord and I will know about it...and there are things I know I need to share...above all I think the Lord would want us all to know that whatever our sin issue is...and we all have them...there is victory IF we want it...we simply cannot say I can never overcome it...that is a lie from the pit of hell...and satan takes great pleasure in us believing that and walking bound up in that. We are doing a studing with Pierced Student Ministries right now and the whole point is Matthew 22:37 Jesus said to him, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."

Our lesson last night was on loving Him with all our hearts and how that can even be done...so the question we are faced with is what is more important to you than the Lord...your spouse, children, grandchildren...maybe it's your position in society...maybe it is your career...maybe is an ugly habit you have...and as hard as it is to say...we simply do not love God enough to walk away from it...or we simply do not love the Lord enough to trust Him to gets us through it...

The Lord is speaking....reminds me of the words we heard during our revival in May...Lord speak...I obey.

summers coming to an end...

Well it has been a wild a crazy summer around the Griffith household...we have had huge successes, new people come into our lives...said hello to some and good bye to others...God has been as He always is so faithful this summer! He's grace, mercy and riches never cease to amaze me...I've wanted to write on my blog for sometime now but I've not been able to adequately come up with the words in my heart...not sure today will be the day the words will come either but I'll give it a try....

Back in the late spring a read a book...not a fan and it was amazingly eye opening...we even followed the book up with doing a study with the students of Pierced Student Ministries..I didn't get to finish the study with them b/c of my trip to Florida to welcome grand baby #6 into the world...so I'm sad about that...however it has been on my mind all summer long...when the times get tough do I live my life as a sold out follower of Jesus Christ or am I must a fan of His? Power book if you haven't read it you should...we should live such different lives then we actually do....

I spent the entire month of June in Florida with Cassie, Jesse and the kids...when they moved 3 years ago I feared I wouldn't have a good relationship with the kids...and maybe they'd even wonder who grammy is but they know! I think it is the crazy grammy thing that helps them remember...enjoyed the HECK out of loving on that newborn baby girl and bonding with her her first month of life!

When I got home I had to hit the ground running hard and fast because we had a mission week just around the corner with the youth and since I'd been gone I was behind before I even started! While Scott was with me in FL, we came so so close to just canceling that week...and now we know why Satan was trying to get us to. It was an amazing week...many lives changed...for all eternity...we witnessed brokenness and then restoration...we witnessed young people just getting real and honest before the Lord and again...forever they will be changed because the God's greatness and their willingness to be broken...

The youth, Scott and myself had a 2 day break/rest then we had another week of VBS...which again, God blew us away...we had 52 TEENAGERS come thru our room that week...we witnessed 8 come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior...radical is all I can say...

Our family has also gone thru some very good changes this summer...with the addition of Miss Laney Kate...Born May 21, 2012...she is the 6th grandbaby for us...the 2nd girl! She is a sweet baby and we are ALL looking forward to holding in our arms again! We also have another addition to our family this summer and that would be Miss Bekah Crawford...she and Michael have been seeing each other for several months and she is family to us know...I think we all look forward to the coming months that will make this "official".

Donnie, Heather and the twins went to Canada on a mission trip this summer, Katie and Thomas went on one as well to Minnesota I believe with world changers...up until the the last month Scott has been very busy with work, however it has slowed down alot and we would ask that you pray that God would continue to bless in the work area!

I've seen amazing and been a part of some amazing things this summer...some are the kind that just make you set and say WOW...some are sad and hard to understand but all amazing...knowing that God is completely in control...

However, I do have one huge confession...I started a journey...in January and I said then I'd make it public for more than one reason...to bring honor to the Lord...to use it as an avenue so that I can have some accountability in my life and lastly so that thru my struggle, hopefully, someone else will be helped...I've failed this summer...I continue to fail...I don't have a reason or an excuse...please pray I still have so very far to go and I desire that my temple of the Holy Spirit be healthy... 

Everyday Heros...

Parents...when our kids where little (or may while your kids are little) don't you kind of love it when you know they are looking up at you, and you are absolutely the biggest hero in their sweet little eyes...oh, them memories...does a parent's heart some good...but I've found a new truth that I LOVE...

I have 4 amazing birth children...and a few that I didn't birth but love them like I did...and I'm older now...no comments please...you I'm finding that they have turned into MY heros...

My kids are not perfect by ANY means...let me count the ways....no I won't do that!...but they have each one proven themselves to be my heros as well...

I could tell some of the ways but they are private...we had the summer from H E double hockey sticks as one of them so loving called a time in our lives...we had breakups and breakouts...we had hard hard hard times...and really good and sweet times too...we've loved each other thru them and in them...we held each other accountable...and somewhere...somehow in the middle of all this stuff we call life...I looked one day and I realized I have some amazing adults around me...people I'm proud to call my own...but my friends too!

Some of them are proving that as we speak...being heros again to me...walking with integrity during a time the world would say...well never mind what the world would say...but Jesus Christ would say...keep your eyes fixed on Me the author and perfector of your faith...that makes them heros in this momma's eyes...

how about you...got any hero's in your life this side of heaven...I'd love to hear about them....