Company Girl Coffee 2.18.11

This morning I opened my bible to the designated reading for today and this is what I found:

"I love You, O LORD, my strength." -Psalm 18:1

Have you ever felt so overwhelmed that you don't know what to do? David, the writer of this Psalm did many times, I'm sure. What was his answer in his distress? Praise the Lord.

It's been a tough week here. "I love You, O LORD, my strength."

Two kids have the flu, the rest of us are fighting colds. "I love You, O LORD, my strength."

It's my husband's last week on staff at the church we love so very much. "I love You, O LORD, my strength."

I'm overwhelmed with packing and trying to stay on top of everything else that needs to be done. "I love You O LORD, my strength."

David had the right idea. He goes on to say in this Psalm "The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." (Psalm 18:2 - NASB)

Just reading those words I am encouraged. I begin to feel like I can take on whatever comes my way today. That's the great thing about storing up the Word in my heart. It's hard to harbor negative or discouraging thoughts when I'm meditating on, or even quoting out loud verses from God's Word.

Jesus quoted the Scripture when Satan tried to tempt him in the desert in Matthew 4:1-11:

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to him "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." But He answered and said "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.' " (4:1-4)

Ouch! Take that, devil! But it didn't end there. Watch what Jesus does when Satan tries to use scripture against Him:

Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU'; and 'ON THEIR HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE'" Jesus said to him, "On the other hand it is written 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'" (4:5-7)

Whew! Good answer! Now check this out:

Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, "All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, "Go, Satan! For it is written, "YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'" Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him. (4:8-11)

Wow! Not once, or twice, but three times Jesus countered temptation with scripture. What an incredible example of how to fight off negative thoughts, temptations, weariness, and discouragement.

We all have our bad days. But the next time I'm tempted to give in to those overwhelming feelings of defeat, I will stop and think of Jesus. And you can bet that I will be quoting, out loud, the words of the Psalmist and King David:

"I love you, O LORD, my strength."

Have a wonderful weekend all. I'm linking up with Rachel Anne for Company Girl Coffee over at Home Sanctuary today!

~Melissa

Siesta Scripture Memory Verse 4

It's time for another Siesta Scripture Memory Verse! So far I have memorized three fabulous verses and they have really stuck in my heart. Not a day goes by where I don't think of and sometimes recite out loud at least one of them! God is so good. He is revealing new things to me in His Word on a daily basis.

On Sunday my Pastor was speaking on God's will for our lives and He touched briefly on how it is God's will for us to be sanctified, that is, to become more like Jesus. After listening to him speak on it, I thought to myself, "well, if it is that important to God, then it is that important to me too!" So I went to the Scriptures to investigate.

Do you know that Jesus prayed for us to be sanctified, as He Himself was sanctified? You can find His entire prayer for the disciples (and us) in John Chapter 17. It's a beautiful passage of Scripture that shows his heart for us. I want to just give you a glimpse of it here though.

Starting at verse 17 Jesus prays "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes, I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word..."

Those first words really stuck with me. "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth." What a great reason to crack open my Bible every day!

Some day I'd like to memorize this whole prayer. But my memory verse for the second half of this month actually comes out of a prayer from the Apostle Paul's heart. It's 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass."

Oh yes, the God of peace is Faithful. And He who began a good work in me, (and you) will be faithful to complete it!

Blessings!
~Melissa

Company Girl Coffee 2.11.11

T.G.I.F! I'm happy to have made it to the end of the week. I have been trying to stick with my 28 in 28 challenge, despite this cold that we're passing around. We've thrown out plenty of garbage, packed boxes of things we don't need and stored them in the garage for the move, and bagged/boxed up items to donate. I am going to reach well beyond my goal of 28 bags by the end of this month.

Today was the 100th day of school. LR was so excited! She's been looking forward to it for some time now. The kindergarten classes celebrated together with a popcorn party and lots of activities involving the number 100.

This morning with my 4yr old I finished off one of the hardest puzzles we've ever done. It took us a few days to complete it. Everyone pitched in to help. We didn't realize until we were half way into it that all the pieces had two holes and two prongs. It made it rather difficult because they all seemed alike. The picture was also a lot like a painting, so the colors all blended together. I'm glad it's done. Now we can move on to the next one! :)

Today we got an offer on my dad's house. I'm happy that there is a couple interested in buying it but I have mixed feelings about the possibility of that chapter of my life being closed. I have a lot of fond memories involving that old house. Growing up we would go and visit my Grandma there and after she passed away, my dad moved in. I was living in Seattle at the time, so I would go over and just hang out with him. I miss my dad so much. It's hard to say goodbye to a home that has been such a big part of my life, but I know the memories will remain stored up in my heart forever.

Speaking of memories, we only have two Sundays left at our church. Last week was my husband's final sermon. He did a great job. He got a little choked up when he was talking about how it's God's will for us all to be plugged in at a church. We are going to miss our church family so much! Our time there has been wonderful.

Things are really coming together for the new store. My DH has been planning and ordering, preparing for the big convention that he and my Father in Law will go to in two weeks. They will be ordering all the product for the store there. When they return home from that, they will begin setting up shelves and preparing for opening day! It's all so exciting!

Well, I've got to be moving on to the next thing on my list, but I'm looking forward to getting around for coffee this week. Have a great weekend all! Thanks for stopping in to visit. :)

~Melissa

28 in 28 Update

Well, we are slowly but surely packing and purging. I love my husband for getting on board and helping me along with my goal to slim things down around here! He has taken the laundry room on as his personal project. Funny, it was exactly a year ago that I went through the laundry room and did a massive clean up myself. We have such a large, long laundry room that it collects anything and everything! He's already thrown out two big bags of trash.

I started in on the kitchen and have already weeded out a box of old appliances/pots and pans that I no longer use. That was just from one corner cabinet (two shelves and a lazy susan). I still have plenty of spaces to go. It's funny how much we keep around, even though we don't use it.

I'm having trouble convincing my kids that some things just aren't important enough to keep around. For example...Valentine's Day is just around the corner. We still have some valentines floating around out there from last year because my kids have trouble getting rid of anything that's been given to them as a "gift." Just yesterday my 9 year old daughter informed me that she was going to keep the empty heart box that held the chocolates her Nana brought to her because it's "pretty." Anyone have suggestions as to how to get them to throw stuff away without hurting their feelings and seeming harsh?

I've lost track of what number bag we're on at this point...I know it's more than 9. Still more to come though...we've been here six and a half years now. This clean up was long over-due!

A Few Random Ramblings

I have been looking forward to reporting in again on my 28 in 28 progress, but I also have a few other things that I want to blog about, so rather than write out three separate posts, I'll just combine them today.

28/28 progress: I've been chipping away at clutter. This is day 5. Most days are split between trash (I LOVE throwing junk away), donate, and pack. Today I'm going to dig in and sort my linen closets. I have two of them. A small one upstairs, and a larger one downstairs in our guest bedroom. I am obviously working in two different zones today, but I wanted to get all my linens done at once.

We've set up some new "screen time" rules: Screen time in our house involves tv, wii, playstation, leapster 2, computer, and watching other family members on those things. We had to add the last rule because I was finding that even though I limited my kids' time, they would watch each other and we have five kids. You get the idea. That's a lot of hours that can build up! Mom and Dad are cutting back too. I think I got on the computer all of twice yesterday, only for a few minutes at a time. It felt good!

It's puzzle season! Around this time of year my husband always seems to go puzzle crazy. He went to the store with my daughter and picked out a 1000 piece "I Spy" puzzle on Friday afternoon. It was all put together in less than 24 hours. I suppose that's not too impressive with 7 people working on it, but it sure was a lot of fun!

This post actually took me two days to complete because I've been cleaning, packing, and we've had company over. My Mother-in-Law is here to visit. We're going to church this morning to hear my husband speak for his last time at our church. Then we only have two weeks left there...but I'm trying not to be sad about it. I know God has new and exciting things for our future!

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans." -Proverbs 16:3

28 Bags in 28 Days - Day 1!

"The greatest wealth is to live with little, for there is never want where to mind is satisfied." -Lucretias

Hello! I'm super excited to say that I began my 28 day challenge today! I divided my house into zones, and my zones into areas, and today I tackled the entryway closet. Believe it or not, I filled a large kitchen trash bag with items to donate that were outgrown or simply not being used. I straightened the shoes and threw out trash that mysteriously makes its way into the closet. I also went through the scarves, hats and mittens tub and found a few items to give away. My "to donate" bag will go right out to my van when I head out to pick up my kids from school.

Yesterday, I was so excited that I couldn't resist getting a little jump start on purging. I began by cleaning out our craft drawers in the dining room and sorting crayons, markers, and other art supplies. Yes, I sorted my kids' crayons by color. I divided the loot in half and put some back in their crayon bucket and some in a travel size container. The markers found a nice home in a used Pirouette tin. I love reusable containers! I also filled our kitchen trash can with old coloring books and other papers and projects that didn't make the "keep" cut.
That's all I have to report today. I probably won't post every day, but I wanted to get off to a good start.

You're welcome to join in the fun this month. I look forward to reporting my progress, and the great feeling I'll have when it's all done!

Siesta Scripture Memory Verse 3

It's a new month, so that means it's time for a new memory verse! I can hardly believe one month in 2011 is already in the past. It means we are that much closer to Spring, and that much closer to opening our new business. Only two months to go before we open the doors to our new store.

I've been reflecting a lot this past week on Genesis 12:1-7. To sum it up, God asked Abram to leave his country, relatives, and father's house to go to another land that He was going to show him. So Abram packed up his wife, nephew, and all their belongings and headed out until he reached the land of Canaan, where God then promised to give the land to Abram's descendants.

Hebrews Chapter 11:8-12 commends the faith that it took for Abram to make this journey. Because we are on a "faith journey" of our own right now, I have chosen Hebrews 11:8 as my third SSMT verse in 2011.

"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."

He obeyed and went. That is what we intend to do. By faith, as God leads us every step of the way.

Following His lead,
Melissa