Jesus loves the little children

What a whirlwind weekend.   On Friday night my friend Kim and I facilitated a retreat for the teenagers going through confirmation this year at her church.   I am always amazed when I work with teens by how intuitive and smart they really are once you get past all of the bull crap they throw at you and the walls and masks the put up around them.  I think the kids did a lot of growing up, had a lot of questions answered and  I hope will go into confirmation with their eyes open to what an important decision they are making.   I was truly honored to be trusted with these kids future and I think the positives far out weigh the negatives of taking time away from hubby and getting no where near enough sleep.  
I'm still slightly exhausted, it's true what they say you can't catch up on sleep, but am hoping that with the help of caffeine today will be a productive day.   Wish me luck!

The Power of a Praying Wife

For my first focus of the Lenten season I am reading The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian.  My intention is to read one chapter per day, so today I will be reading chapter 4.   I am very impressed by Stormie's straightforward approach and the way she speaks straight to the reader, be they the wife of a devout Christian or of an Atheist.   I find myself relating to a lot of the points she makes (who hasn't prayed for their husband to change and start putting his socks in the laundry basket on his own, or spoken to him out of anger instead of love?) and am going to make a concentrated effort to pray for him in the right way and let God bless our marriage in the way he intends for it to be blessed.   I'm really excited to finish the book and may even read ahead.

Here is an image of the book cover/link to it on Amazon if you are interested:


There is also an edition specifically for military wives, be they the wives of AD service members or service members themselves which is available for free through many military chaplains.

Happy (?) Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent on the Christian Liturgical calendar.   It is 40 days before Easter Sunday (excluding Sundays) and is a time of personal reflection, repentance and fasting in may denominations.  

The Lenten season is affiliated with Jesus' 40 days in the dessert before entering public ministry and Moses' 40 days on the mountain.

Roman Catholics have strict regulations that surround the Lenten fast whereas many protestant denominations take various approaches ranging from simply recognizing that lent is a thing through the same traditions followed by the Catholic church.  

Personally I tend to fall somewhere in the middle.  I appreciate the self-denial and focus on repentance that fasting can bring and as a result of my Catholic exposure tend to avoid meat on Fridays and Sundays.  However rather than taking the "give something up" approach to Lent I focus more on taking advantage of the chance to do things to draw me closer to God.  I have not yet decided how I am going to do that this year but and considering trying to read the entire New Testament during Lent this year.  

I will be attending Ash Wednesday services at lunch today at a Lutheran church near my office.  It's been a few years since I've attended a Lutheran church however my dad was Lutheran and in Georgia Hubby and were regular attendees at a Lutheran church.   I got out my old trust Lutheran Book of Worship Monday night and started flipping through to make sure I have the right words to the creeds etc.  

I hope that everyone who reads this who believes in Jesus has a blessed Lenten season and when we sing alleluia Easter morning that you remember the joyous reason being celebrated.