The Love of a Family

At a Friday night football game for the ORCS knights.

All five of the grandchildren in their first picture together.

(l to r: Kemper 7mo; Kaiya 2 1/2 yr; Allie 1 yr.; Tavia 2 1/2 yr; Cohen 2 weeks)

The beautiful trio of granddaughters

Our handsome grandsons

DaNae, our daughter from Florida, arrived in Minot just in time to watch my Our Redeemer's volleyball girls compete against Velva. Her seven-month old son Kemper came to North Dakota with her and we did a lot of running (sometimes literally). I love when all the brothers and sisters can be together, but it can reach chaotic levels when their children (five of them, all 2 years old and under) congregate in one room.

One night, it reached unbelievable proportions. I was trying to make supper and it was one fight after another. With countless toys around the living room, the bathroom (tub toys), and the basement, the girls found the one toy they all had to have at the same time. After we (moms and dads) discussed the need to share, the fight would subside -- well, until one of them found a new toy that they all wanted at the same time. This continued for most of the evening and I wondered (in my spirit) how people could possibly believe we don't have a sin nature!

I love these little ones and look forward to the next time we are all together. What they did in no way changed how I feel about any of them. It is easy to excuse the behavior, because it has been quite the week -- late nights, lots of activities, and few quality naps. My love for them is beyond words to describe the overwhelming emotions that stir within my heart.

I picture God just like that. When we, as adults, are fighting about things we can not have and about things we do not want to share with behavior that reflects anything but Christ-like. And yet, nothing can separate us from His love.

Romans 8:38-39 "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Even when our sinful nature makes a wrong decision, nothing...absolutely nothing...will be able to separate us from His love. I pray you will be encourage today with this tremendous promise!

Living a life of worship Part II

Worship= worth-ship...to give worth to

If I truly look at the definition of what worship really is I have to admit I'm in a lot of trouble. I give worth to a lot of things. I give worth to my kids, the way I look, my money, my priorities--the list goes on.

Romans 12:1 says, "So here's what I want you to do. God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life-- your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life-- and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him." (The Message Bible)

Like I stated in my last blog I remember reading this verse my junior year in college and it all clicked. I finally really understood that worship was NOT about me. It was NOT about a style of music I prefered in church or about the way or form in which we sang. Worship to God is about what I do...all the time. The way that I interact with a co-worker while at work is worship. The way that I spend my money is worship. The way that I talk to my spouse or kids is worship. Every single thing I do shows what I am giving "worth" to.

David Morris in his book A Lifestyle of Worship says, "My life belongs to God and what I do in worship to God is a reflection of who I am, but more importantly, whose I am."

When Romans 12 states to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, as our spiritual act of worship. It means all the time. My worship is what I do every day in the private and mundane activities. Yes, even when I'm grocery shopping I'm worshipping. I'm a reflection of God even in those moments. May our worship today be pleasing to Him.

Martha is Back

I want to apologize for our absence. Stephanie and I have both entered into a whirlwind of a schedule with my coaching and her officiating. We are gone almost every night of the week and on many weekends.

We do not want to lose touch with you, so we will continue to post only twice a week until we get through the volleyball craze! I will post on Tuesday and Stephanie on Thursday.

Thanks so much for your patience as we attend to the many tasks ahead of us. Through it all, we pray that our Mary spirit still attends to the things that are most important -- our rest in Him -- King of Kings, Lord of Lords, our ROCK!

Let Music Speak

I know Stephanie is the music buff, but I have found it to be a life line, per se, especially during difficult times in my life. Our kids grew up with contemporary Christian music blarring throughout the house -- I loved listening to so many different artists. Often I felt like a song was tailored made for me. The words lined up in a way that expressed my hearts' sediments. Other songs caused me to stop what I was doing (usually cleaning), and spend time in worship. Some songs carried a peppy beat providing the energy to continue with the cleaning!

Obviously, you learn artists encounter much of the same life issues that we deal with. I Will Praise You in the Storm by Casting Crowns, hits a cord with almost every believer because of the many trials that go before us. Same Girl by Twila Paris, revolutionized how I looked at my mother-in-law while caring for her. East from West by Casting Crowns just causes me to be thankful, thankful, thankful for forgiveness of sin.

My current favorite is a song by Kari Jobe, My Beloved. The love the Father has for us is beyond comprehension, and his desire, delight, and pleasure is in US (make a request to Kirsten, our local DJ at KHRT to play it)!

I encourage you to turn on your radio to a Christian setting, and absorb the benefits of the Word in song. It can change your disposition to one of thankfulness, surrender, and adoration.

Living a life of worship Part I

Romans 12:1, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship."

I absolutely LOVE this verse. I remember reading it often not fully grasping all that it was saying until my junior year in college. I was a Biblical Studies major at a small college in Fullerton, CA. Each semester we would write a 10-15 page exegetical paper which would look closely at a group of verses, analyze how they applied to the original audience, and draw a application to how we can apply it to our lives today. Even though it was a lot of hard work, I enjoyed writing these papers as I gathered a wealth of knowledge about the scriptures.

All this to say that I came to realize that this verse spoke on what real worship is. I'm going to be doing a series of blogs that will dig a little bit deeper into this verse and invite you to check back to dive in with me. It is by far one of my favorite verses, and I can't wait to share why. Talk to you soon. -Stephanie

Life Story

I want to go back to a life story fit for a song blog and my blessing blog. As I have reflected on both of these, I can see how related they are. If we, as believers work on blessing others, our lives would be fit for a song.

One year while hosting the junior varsity volleyball tournament at Our Redeemer's Christian School, I had an encounter with the value of a blessing. My team was playing against Bismarck in the old gym (for those of you who are not acquainted with the old gym - it has orange carpet on it - and yes, it provides for some nasty rug burns). A girl from the Bismarck team sneezed, and almost immediately Kirsten from our team said to her, "God bless you."

It was my responsibility to coach and run the tournament, and as I was placing teams into the tournament bracket, the coach from Bismarck came over to talk with me. She proceeded to tell me how much her girls liked my girls because they were so nice and kind. She then told me about the sneezing incident and the sincerity of the "God bless you" statement from one of my girls. I knew it had to be Kirsten and I checked to confirm - yep!

A simple and kind word was spoken and it made a tremendous impact on a group of girls that had no idea what their opponents were like. They drew a positive conclusion from a sincere "God bless you."

What if every time we said "God bless you" to someone, we really stopped and prayed for a blessing to pour out on them. That God's favor would be evident on their life and they would be changed as a result. All I know is that this one spoken "God bless you" made a profound difference for a bunch of girls from Bismarck.

So when I tell you to have a blessed week, I am going to pray that God will bless any and all of you who read our blogs with good health, ordered steps when trying to get so much done in a day, guidance or direction in decisions (big or small), and an opportunity to bless someone else.
When blessing others becomes a priority in our lives, I am sure it is then our life story will be fit for a song!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

On our way to Fargo to see Beth Moore last week, I could not help but notice the skyline. You could distinctly draw a horizontal line dividing cloud cover from clear sky. Even when we were a couple of miles off in the overcast, gray, and dark atmosphere, we could see sunshine ahead. As we drove further east, we came to a spot in the road where we met that division. It was really cool!

In 1986-87, my life centered around an overcast, gray, and dark atmosphere. But while I lived in that tunnel, I could not see any light - no break from the circumstances that engulfed me. My in-laws both lost their health--June, became a double leg amputee and Oliver fell over one day from a massive stroke, completely paralyzed on the left side and no speech. June moved in with us, but a couple weeks later, George, my husband, left to work out of state leaving me with June and our three children at 6, 5, and 4 years of age. My days consisted of the nursing home visits, social service office visits, disability office visits, doctors office visits, lawyer office visits and real estate office visits as their farm of 42 years was up for sale. It was a crazy and overwhelming time.

June and I spent our nights talking about the Lord, reading the Word, and listening to many childhood stories -- mostly hers and those of my husband and his siblings. We grew very close as we depended on the Lord and encouraged one another during these trying times.

One morning while clearing a path from the freshly fallen snow so I could get June and the wheelchair to the car, I broke down crying and pleading for the Lord to provide some light. He did. Later that afternoon, June received a phone call from her eldest son Dale, a pastor living hundreds of miles away. He just accepted a call to Mayville, North Dakota and the plans were to get a power of attorney over both Oliver and June so he could handle the legal issues of selling the farm and getting things ready for an auction. I can not express the relief this provided not only for me, but also for June. His move to North Dakota provided enough light for the next step in the journey. Enough light to be reminded that God did not abandon us. Enough light to have hope renewed.

If you find yourself in one of those tunnels with little or no light on the horizon, hang in there. God is faithful. 1 Timothy 2:13, "if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself."

May the son shine soon!