Weigh-In Saturday

If you are waiting for a weight loss update, you'll have to wait until Monday! Jeremy has decided to make Monday mornings his official weigh-in day. He was finding that once he would way in on Saturday, it was far too easy to "cheat" on the weekend knowing he had a whole week to work it off. Jeremy is hoping that by weighing in on Monday will keep him sticking to his eating plan better over the weekends.

So check back Monday for his weightloss update!

Thankful Thursday

Many thanks to Iris for hosting Thankful Thursday.

I am thankful for:

• having to kill only one ant inside the house so far this morning; maybe the liquid ant poison is actually working!
• my husband who challenges and encourages me
• my two children who think I'm the best Mom in the whole world
• friends who understand
• God's Word coming more & more alive in my life
• unexpected cancellations that make the day a little less hectic

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight."
Proverbs 3:5,6

What are you thankful for today?

A few days ago I wrote a post called "The Power of Jesus Christ!". The church website now has a written format of the sermon we heard on Sunday. If you are interested in reading the sermon, click here to access it (you will need Adobe Reader). Unfortunately, I think the audio of the sermon wasn't recorded. If that doesn't work, click here to access the church's website and follow the Sermon link.

If you read it, I'd love to hear what you thought about it. Feel free to leave a comment by clicking on the "Thoughtful Responses" at the end of this document.

Praise & Coffee Giveaway!

I missed posting this on the 1st, but it's still not too late! Head on over to Praise & Coffee and leave a comment before June 10th. That will sign you up for this month's prize:

1 bag of Starbucks Coffee
and a
Steven Curtis Chapman's latest CD, "This Moment, Cinderella Edition".

Weigh-In Saturday - a day late!

Here it is June 1st already and I have so much running around in my head that I want to write about. Because the topics don't all connect, I'll do them in separate posts. Keep scrolling down for the following two posts!

I'll begin with Jeremy's weight loss update. I didn't get a chance to write it yesterday because we went to Vancouver for the night (you can read about that in the next post).

Last week was the week following Jeremy's cleansing / detox. Because he had restrained himself so much during that week, he ended up cheating quite a bit. I continued to make healthy meals and for the most part he ate healthy for his lunches, but he didn't do so well with his breakfasts and snacking.

When it was time to weigh himself yesterday morning, he didn't want to do it. But after thinking about it, Jeremy stepped on the scale. He had gained two pounds putting him at 241 lbs again. Later yesterday morning, Jeremy mowed the lawn. He must have swetted alot and burned a lot of calories because, out of curiosity, Jeremy weighed himself again was pleased with the 239 lbs that flashed on the scale! He had lost 2 lbs within a couple hours, putting him back to he weight from the previous week.

Summed up, it basically means that Jeremy technically didn't lose any pounds last week! This weekend eating healthy has been on the back burner (hard to do when you're not at home) but Jeremy is planning to record what he eats starting tomorrow morning. Hopefully that will help him to remain on track and get below this taunting 239 lbs!

Visiting with Friends

This weekend (yesterday until today) we headed to Vancouver and stayed the night with our friends, Barton & Heather and their two kids (3yrs & 18mths). Our kids were so excited that we were going to sleepover at their house and to go to their church.

Jeremy and Barton were roommates during their first year of Bible college. After their first year they both transferred over to Columbia Bible College during Heather's second(?) year and my third year. That was where Barton & Heather and Jeremy & I met each other and our spouses! Jeremy & Barton had many conversations about the women winning their hearts!

Anyway, Barton is a pastor of a church in Vancouver, so this weekend, we not only got to visit with our friends whom we hadn't seen for so long, but we got to hear Barton preach for the first time since he's been pastoring this church (6yrs). I will do a separate post about his sermon because there I have a lot to share about it!

We arrived at Barton & Heather's a "little" late (sorry guys!) yesterday afternoon and enjoyed a wonderful BBQ with their family.

Daniel, Emily, Becca & Tyler enjoying ice cream for dessert

Emily & Becca

Tyler

Our kids all got along wonderfully. Their 3yr old daughter, Emily, was thrilled to have Becca play with her and Becca was so excited that they had a little girl close to her age! The two girls had a sleepover in Emily's room last night - you would think they were teenagers for how late they stayed up! Finally after being separated, they both settled down and went to sleep. Daniel, thankfully, was sound asleep in our room. The grown-ups had a great time catching up on life over the past years and reminiscing about Bible college days!

This morning we attended their church. It was only the second time we've been there since Barton began pastoring at the church 6 yrs ago. The first time we went to celebrate him being ordained and begin his pastorship. Daniel & Rebecca had fun during the kids' time at church. Daniel didn't want to leave - he was having too much fun playing with the lego! After church, we took the kids to a playground (Barton had a previous commitment so he wasn't able to join us) and let the kids play while we waited for our delicious pizza to be made. After a quick lunch (their little Tyler was more than ready for his nap), we said our good-byes and went our separate ways.

We didn't have all that much time together but the time we did have was so good. We were able to reconnect again and are looking forward to the next time we go for a visit. Before we said our good-byes today, Emily asked if we would be coming back to their house again soon. It was so sweet! How could we say no?! The girls got along so well. The sweetest was when our girls walked down the sidewalk holding hands, wearing red dresses and with their hair braided (thanks, Heather!) looking like the best of friends! What a treasured memory!

The Power of Jesus Christ!

As I've already mentioned in the previous two posts, we attended church with our friends Barton & Heather where Barton is the pastor.

Jeremy and I were blessed to be able to hear Barton preach the Word of God this morning. It has been quite some time since we've heard preaching like this. I said to Heather afterwards that for me it was like I knew that I was thirsty for hearing Jesus Christ preached but didn't realize how thirsty I was until I heard the sermon this morning.

Over the past number of months, God has been reviving in Jeremy and I a thirst and hunger for a deeper knowledge of Jesus Christ. It has been an exciting journey. There have definately been struggles along the way but seeing the passion inside me grow stronger makes it easier to accept the bumps and potholes of life. Besides, we learn so much from the hard times.

God is good and God is gracious. He doesn't want to teach us from just hardships, He wants to also teach us from exciting times too. This morning was one of those times.

Our friend, Barton, began a new 8-week series this morning on Ephesians 6:10-18. My first thought was how will he preach on eight verses in an eight-week time frame? But after listening to him this morning, I think the question is answered; he takes each verse and really digs deep.

I thought I would share the notes I took this morning with you. Hopefully they make sense and aren't too choppy. Also, any emphasis with the Bible verses has been added by me.

"(10)Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. (11)Put on the whole armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. (12)For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (13)Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (14)Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, (15)and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. (16)In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (17)Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (18)And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints" (Ephesians 6:10-18).

This passage can be broken down into three parts:

1. The Admonition (v. 10-11)
2. The Adversary (v. 12)
3. The Armor (v. 14-18)

In order to first determine that there even is an adversary, Barton switched the parts around and spoke first on the adversary rather than the admonition.

There is an enemy that is always ready to attack us in our every day lives (in our marriages, through gossip, with our spiritual walk, in our ministry, at work...). But we can withstand the enemy. This is a winnable war!

We need to know who the the adversary is because the war he wages is fierce and subtle. Our adversary isn't just other people who irritate us, slander us, etc. They play a minor part, but our true adversary is the devil and his army of evil beings. When Jesus explained to His disciples that He had to suffer, die and then raise again on the third day, Peter began to rebuke Jesus by saying, "Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!" (Matthew 16:22). Peter was the one actually speaking the words but it was Satan that was giving the words/thoughts to Peter. Jesus responded by saying, "Out of my sight, Satan!..." (v. 23). Jesus knew that Satan was behind Peter's words, trying to stop God's plan, that's why Jesus didn't respond by saying "Out of my sight, Peter". Everyone is responsible for their own words and actions but we need to recognize that Satan is working "behind the scenes".

Next we need to know the characteristics of our adversary so we can recognize him and withstand him. So often we try to fight the enemy with flip flop sandals on! We are not properly equipped to attack the enemy or defend ourselves.

1. Satan is powerful (v.12 "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."). God is all-powerful and all-knowing; Satan is limited. He can only do what God allows him to do, Satan is like a dog on a chain. Yes, Satan is powerful, but he is limited.
2. Satan is wicked (v. 12 "...the powers of this dark world...the spiritual forces of evil").
3. Satan is cunning (v. 11 "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.") It took only three questions to get Eve to sin and he didn't even have to ask Adam any questions, he just went through Eve.

Because Satan is so cunning, wicked and powerful, we need to know the power we have in Jesus Christ. It is only in knowing and using the power we have through Jesus Christ that we can defeat Satan.

We need to know the objective of our Adversary. Why does Satan want to be so evil? John paints a picture for us through his vision in Revelations 12. A woman (v.1)(Mary, the mother of Jesus) is about to give birth. An enormous red dragon (12:3) (Satan) stands in front of the woman so that he might devour the child (Jesus) the moment it is born (v.4). The woman gave birth to a son and he was instantly taken up to God and to his throne (v.5). "And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down..." to the earth(v. 7-9). Chapter twelve finishes up with verse 17, "Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring - those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus." The devil cannot fulfill his plan and destroy Jesus. He has certainly tried (Matthew 4:1-11, Satan tried to tempt Jesus after Jesus had fasted for 40 days and nights in the desert). Satan cannot win because Jesus has already won the war, so Satan is going after Jesus' followers. Satan's objective is to harm Jesus by harming Jesus' people.

We need to know how to conquer our adversary. Christians fight from a position of victory because Jesus has won the decisive battle against Satan.

"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" Colossians 2:13-15.

When Jesus died on the cross and rose again, He "made a public spectacle"(v.15) of the adversaries and triumphed over them! The only way to conquer Satan is with scripture. When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, He defeated Satan by quoting scripture. The only way we can be ready for battle at all times is to memorize scripture. Earlier this year I began memorizing verses and for various reasons (all of which seem rather empty now) I stopped. I would like to start memorizing verses again because I know how much it helped me last time. Today's sermon was an excellent reminder that we are facing a spiritual battle every day - the only way to win those battles is by the power of Jesus Christ and God's Words.

Barton ended by asking the question, "whose side are you on?" There are only two sides: Jesus' and Satan's. You can only be on one side. It's up to you to choose.

The church service ended this morning by singing the old, but powerful hymn, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God". (Click here for the words and music.)