Faith Like Potatoes

Alan and I just watched a great movie called "Faith Like Potatoes".  It's not based on a true story-it IS a true story.  I don't want to give away what happens, so I won't say much about the movie, other than the main theme-faith-is making me think tonight, and hard. Alan summed it up best by saying, "Are you praying for rain? Or are you planting/farming like it's going to rain?"

 

 

That hit me. To be honest, I've been praying for rain these days. I'm the farmer that looks at the field and says, "Lord, this is only going to work if You water it," and not, "Lord, I know You'll make it grow in Your time, and in Your way, and I trust You to provide."

 

 

 

I need faith like potatoes these days. My heart needs to change. When did I start thinking God couldn't do all things? In Matthew chapter 17 we are taught by Jesus to have 'faith like a mustard seed and we can move mountains'...

 

 

 

The Healing of a Boy With a Demon

¹⁴When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. ¹⁵"Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. ¹⁶I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him."

¹⁷"O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." ¹⁸Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.

¹⁹Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"

²⁰He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

 

 

 

...so when did I reduce what He, the maker of the Universe, can do by not believing with my whole heart? I'm thankful for the reminder I had tonight from that movie. I'm thankful that He opened up my eyes to realize how little faith I've put in Him lately.

 

 

 

Thank You, Lord, for molding me, changing me, shaping me in the image of Christ, and reminding me, oh me of little faith, Who is in control, and that You do hear our prayers.

The Right Reasons

So I was just reading this blog, and it sort of rubbed me the wrong way. I know her intentions are spot on-to help moms and babies in a third world country and raise support money for them. It's a humble thought and so dear to many to help others, especially in other countries.

 

But here's where I got frustrated with things:

 

The blogger decided to giveaway an iPad. She put together a drawing along with Compassion, so that for every $5 donated to Compassion equals one chance to put your name in the drawing for the iPad; $10 and you get double entry; $100 and you get 20 chances. Now, I will agree that something else the blogger did was for every person that enters, her family will make a $1 donation to Compassion. That part is awesome.

 

So far the followers of the blog that have entered have raised over $16,000. Amazing, right? But at what cost? Are they donating because they want to help a person(s) in need? Are they donating because they feel called to? Are they donating as a way to join together to make a difference?...

 

 

....Or are they donating because they want a shot at winning a brand new iPad touch? And if it's the latter, then are their hearts in the right place?

 

I don't know about you, but I get tired of living in a society where the only way to help another person is if you get something in return. It's the "What's in it for me?" mentality.

 

 

I have to stop and ask, did Christ, when He was on trial, stop and say, "Wait-what's in this for me?" How about when He was on the cross? How about the many volunteers and workers who fled to Haiti to help in the aftermath of the earthquake? I doubt that they stopped and said, "Ok, I've come to help, but I'm just curious-any chance I'll get something free for doing this?"

 

In Matthew 6:1-4 we are called to help the needy, but in this way: "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

 

I can't help but think, what if the blogger attempted to raise money, but without any strings attached, without any perks other than knowing that her blog followers were coming together to help a great cause, how much she might have raised? My husband loves to read the blog called Stuff Christians Like (www.stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com - yes, there are three 'f's), and I remember my husband getting excited and telling me that this blogger was inspired to see if anyone would be willing to donate money to help build a school in another country for an area that didn't have one. The blogger and his readers raised not only enough money to build a new school, but build two or three new schools!! ...And no strings were attached. It's amazing what can happen when the Spirit moves His people to get involved.

 

 

...More Randomness :) & April Fool's!

Look Mom, I got my socks off! Wanna put 'em back on so I can kick them off again? 

Miss Anna...blotting her Papa Murphy's pizza with toilet paper since we were out of paper towels. Eeewww!

Miss Anna also hid fake ants on my changing table, a rubber snake in Mom's bedroom, and a bunch of spiders for Daddy. Mommy and Daddy weren't thrilled and are in the midst of planning a retaliation towards Miss Anna.

A couple weeks ago Daddy directed my first Easter Cantata!

Look closely-that's me in Miss Kaley's arms!

BeLaTeD bLoGgiNg & Additional Easter Pics

Isaac got an Easter gift from Gma Sherry about a week ago :) He LOVED chewing off the bunny's cottontail! I've also included a few more Easter pictures.

Yay!! A package!!! I can hardly contain my excitement!!!

Mmmmwwa!

Pooped after Easter Service at church. Shout-out to Gma Sherry for the awesome sandals, and to Mr. Rodney for my Easter bling button ;)

Rockin' my first Easter outfit. Mom had another outfit picked out for me, but it was nearly 80 degrees outside!!!

My first Easter dinner. 

Be Still

On Saturday I had the joy of photographing Kristen's senior pictures. We rode up to the ridge on her parent's property, and all you could see was prairie and the flint hills for miles upon miles on the beautiful Kansas horizon.

Just her and her cello, me and my camera. 

I asked her to start playing and I was going to move around her, capturing the moment, but instead, as she sweetly and slowly  played 'The Lord's Prayer', I was the one being captured in the moment. 

I stood there for a moment, just taking it in, letting the wind swirl the sweet notes around me and pondering the words of Christ's prayer; I was in awe of His presence.

Perhaps, after my long and busy week, this was God's way of slowing me down to think of Him, pray to Him, and 'Be still and know that He is God'. 

Thank you, Kristen, for that warm, holy moment, and for capturing my soul as I captured your image. 

Isaac's First Easter

Happy belated Easter!!!! We had so much fun this past Easter weekend with our little guy. On Good Friday we attended church, and because I didn't know there wasn't any nursery I just held him through the service...well...until right after communion when he decided it was time to start talking :). 

For Easter this year, GBC had their service as one big combined service in the grand ballroom on KSU campus. Thanks to my allergies, I have lost my voice, but that didn't stop me from praising the Lord and singing Hallelujah, He is Risen with nearly 700 other worshipers!! Isaac sat with us during that service as well...well...until he burped, cooed, then started talking again :). Hmm....perhaps we should work on our manners a bit during church?? After church we were invited over to the (shout-out) STANFIELDS for Easter lunch with their family and some KSU students. We had a great afternoon chatting and getting to know one another. We're very grateful to the Stanfields for having us over, as it is sad missing out on family gatherings back home, so thank you for allowing us to be a part of your family this Easter :). In a happy way though, it is special to us to do things like this, to gather with our family in Christ in our celebrations throughout the year when we can't gather with family.

As with Christmas, we want to start some new family traditions with Isaac, and Easter is no exception. We decided that in lieu of the favored Easter Bunny, we want Easter to be an opportunity to share and reflect on Christ's journey to the cross and victory on the third day. With that in mind, we still wanted to do an Easter basket with him, only we don't hide it and say it's from the Easter Bunny, but instead we sat down with him and went through his three gifts that each symbolize this special holy week and day. The first gift is red: Jesus' blood shed for us. The second gift is white: Jesus washed our sins away with his blood, and now we're white as snow/pure. The last gift is something new: New life in Christ. The something 'new' will most likely each year be new spring/summer church clothes, so this year all I could find that seemed appropriate for church was a little pair of overalls. His something red is a new little rattle (...I love the clearance aisle!...), and I really wanted to find a little white stuff lamb, but no such luck. Instead I thought practical, and his something white is new white socks :). Eventually as he gets older we'd like to read the passages of the stone being rolled away, and also make He is Risen Rolls (aka Resurrection Rolls or Magic Marshmallow Rolls), but this year we were too exhausted from our long day to make them!

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter, and a chance to thank Him for dying for you, that you may have new life in Him :). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

uh-oh, mom...i just urped on my egg!