Remember being young and using the word "tattle tale"? I do! I kinda hated tattle tales...the kids who would tell on you for doing something you would have otherwise gotten away with. That was the worst! I remember one time in 3rd or 4th grade when we had to do the multiplication grids as quizzes; I hated math so much and was convinced that I stunk at it that when a quiz or test came up, I knew that I would fail. So one time on our weekly math quizzes, I traded my paper with my friend who filled in all the right answers for me...Yikes! The kid sitting next to us was a tattle tale and told on us! I got caught! Obviously in retrospect, I should have gotten caught and in trouble...which I did!
As an adult, I still kinda hate tattle tales but for a totally different reason. I have three little tattle tales that run around my house. One is worse than the other two, but they each have their moments! The reason I even thought to post a blog about it is this; secretly, I really depend on it sometimes...shhhhhhh! I don't have an eye witness to everything that goes on in my house, though I'm pretty sure I can predict what's going on. But even still, my tattle tale children come in handy every once in a while...okay, daily!
I know that while I appreciate it, they should never know that because I certainly don't want them to actually think it's a good quality to have. So, I balance it like this; if a child comes to me and says, "mommy..." in that tone that is always followed by a snitch, I say, "Are you going to be a tattle tale?" I am trying to teach my kids the difference between tattleing (i.e. telling so that your brother or sister gets in trouble) or purposeful telling (i.e. telling about an event that caused you or someone else to get hurt). Certainly I want my kids to feel that they can come to us for anything that is hurtful and they should never feel that they will get in trouble for telling about these things.
It's a delicate balance for sure and one that is by no means perfected. But it's a reality for me every day. It makes me laugh really. I never thought that I would even care about tattle taling as an adult. But here I am; hating it cause it drives me nuts, but depending on it cause it helps me through my days.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Fighting and Making up
I realize its been nearly a month since I've written a post and certainly a lot has happened that I have wanted to write about, but the most recent thing that happened was a "disagreement" with my husband. I'm not writing to air out my laundry so to speak, but to praise my marriage for being able to resolve arguments without feeling like the world is going to end.
It's not necessary to provide details about the argument that occurred, though I know if I were you I'd be sitting there going, "Well what was the fight about?" Nothing really. And isn't that usually the case...the "best" arguments are over nothing! I did nothing wrong but was sitting here reading updates on e-mail and the blogs I follow and then I realized that Eric was acting like he was mad at me and I didn't know why which made me mad and then when I asked him what was wrong he said "nothing" in a tone that I knew somethingwas wrong which made me even more mad and when we finally got around to talking about it (only about 10 minutes) we were both mad over nothing and no one had actually done anything wrong. So there are the details, though insignificant to the point of my post.
What I wish to illustrate is how thankful I am to have a husband and a marriage that allows me to be mad and to be wrong. Hopefully he feels that I allow him to be both things some of the time. I don't mean to say that its necessarily a good thing to make this a regular occurrance, which it is not in our home, but I do mean to say that I would rather make allowances for each other "for better or worse" (even though we did not use those particular vows). I'm thankful that under the presence and rule of the Holy Spirit, we are better people who, at our worst moments are able to become the best person for each other, supernaturally.
That is what I believe we experienced this morning. God is good!
It's not necessary to provide details about the argument that occurred, though I know if I were you I'd be sitting there going, "Well what was the fight about?" Nothing really. And isn't that usually the case...the "best" arguments are over nothing! I did nothing wrong but was sitting here reading updates on e-mail and the blogs I follow and then I realized that Eric was acting like he was mad at me and I didn't know why which made me mad and then when I asked him what was wrong he said "nothing" in a tone that I knew somethingwas wrong which made me even more mad and when we finally got around to talking about it (only about 10 minutes) we were both mad over nothing and no one had actually done anything wrong. So there are the details, though insignificant to the point of my post.
What I wish to illustrate is how thankful I am to have a husband and a marriage that allows me to be mad and to be wrong. Hopefully he feels that I allow him to be both things some of the time. I don't mean to say that its necessarily a good thing to make this a regular occurrance, which it is not in our home, but I do mean to say that I would rather make allowances for each other "for better or worse" (even though we did not use those particular vows). I'm thankful that under the presence and rule of the Holy Spirit, we are better people who, at our worst moments are able to become the best person for each other, supernaturally.
That is what I believe we experienced this morning. God is good!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
One of many...
This is one of many posts that I'm sure you will read on my blog regarding the same subject. Most of my posts do not have an angle or an intent except to just write about things that are going on. This time, however, I am writing with an intent. My intention in sharing what I'm about to share is to ask you to join us in prayer! You'll understand why...
Last April, our friends the Riecke's left Fort Wayne to move to the Cincinnati area in order for Patrick to work on his Master's Degree in New Testament. To say that we were sad to see them go is an understatement, but certainly we understood their call. And by all means, we have witnessed our friendship stand the test of time since our one and only year together as classmates/roommates when we were all freshmen at Johnson Bible College.
Then, a few months ago (I can't remember exactly when it was), we received an e-mail from Patrick with a bold request: "Please join us in praying as we consider returning to Fort Wayne to plant a church." Immediately our hearts were stirred. We caught the vision instantly! Our understanding was that they were only considering it and had not felt that God had made it clear to them yet that this was the direction He was moving. Naturally, this was the direction we wanted them to move...both literally and figuratively! We missed our friends!
At the end of October, I was blessed to have the opportunity to serve the Riecke's by staying the night in the hospital with Kristen after she delivered her baby girl--Kelsey. During that time, I had some good talk time with both her and Patrick. It was obvious to me that Kristen was not yet sold on the idea (plus, with the hormones surging through her postpartum'd body, I'm sure it was hard to make sense of uprooting her family...again). This was good for me cause I came down a couple notches on the emotional excitment and became a little more realistic about the entire situation.
I came away and was able to pray more specifically. Eric and I continued to see so many reasons why this was a GOOD idea and how it could succeed and we were definitely on board 100%. We were just waiting for the call. Which didn't come for another couple weeks. In fact, the call didn't come in the exact manner one might have thought. It came by way of some very specific prayers and needs being answered by God on behalf of the Riecke's.
One thing that I always have known about Kristen in particular is that she is not afraid to put out a fleece for God. What I mean is that if there is something specific that she is looking for, she will pray and watch for that specific answer. It's a great quality to have. I think most of us pray and then make what we see work into what we want. Kristen prays and what is...is! And that is what happened. God showed up and answered on both the emotional level and the practical level. Making this vision more and more a reality.
It's amazing how their desire and God's leading toward this ministry actually changed the course of our lives. During the time that were praying for the Riecke's God did a work in our family by breaking us down and causing us to realize that we had our priorities all out of wack. A very good, yet painful experience for us. This change in us made us more available for our friends, which incidently was an answer to some specific prayers on their end. I love how God has caused our spiritual paths to collide time and time again!
And so I am asking you to join us as prayer partners. Planting a church is something that we know nothing about. Eric and I have been a part of newly started churches on a couple of occasions, but never part of something brand new. On every level we are excited and equally scared. We take heart easily though because we trust our leader. Patrick has done more research and planning than I would have ever dreamed of doing. He is gifted and driven. We are confident that his vision will be realized and we are blessed to begin as a part of it!
Monday, January 12, is the first gathering of the people who are being called to be a part of starting this church.
Please pray for this time and those that follow. I will keep you posted and you can also visit Patrick's blog: http://www.thedevelopmentfw.blogspot.com
Last April, our friends the Riecke's left Fort Wayne to move to the Cincinnati area in order for Patrick to work on his Master's Degree in New Testament. To say that we were sad to see them go is an understatement, but certainly we understood their call. And by all means, we have witnessed our friendship stand the test of time since our one and only year together as classmates/roommates when we were all freshmen at Johnson Bible College.
Then, a few months ago (I can't remember exactly when it was), we received an e-mail from Patrick with a bold request: "Please join us in praying as we consider returning to Fort Wayne to plant a church." Immediately our hearts were stirred. We caught the vision instantly! Our understanding was that they were only considering it and had not felt that God had made it clear to them yet that this was the direction He was moving. Naturally, this was the direction we wanted them to move...both literally and figuratively! We missed our friends!
At the end of October, I was blessed to have the opportunity to serve the Riecke's by staying the night in the hospital with Kristen after she delivered her baby girl--Kelsey. During that time, I had some good talk time with both her and Patrick. It was obvious to me that Kristen was not yet sold on the idea (plus, with the hormones surging through her postpartum'd body, I'm sure it was hard to make sense of uprooting her family...again). This was good for me cause I came down a couple notches on the emotional excitment and became a little more realistic about the entire situation.
I came away and was able to pray more specifically. Eric and I continued to see so many reasons why this was a GOOD idea and how it could succeed and we were definitely on board 100%. We were just waiting for the call. Which didn't come for another couple weeks. In fact, the call didn't come in the exact manner one might have thought. It came by way of some very specific prayers and needs being answered by God on behalf of the Riecke's.
One thing that I always have known about Kristen in particular is that she is not afraid to put out a fleece for God. What I mean is that if there is something specific that she is looking for, she will pray and watch for that specific answer. It's a great quality to have. I think most of us pray and then make what we see work into what we want. Kristen prays and what is...is! And that is what happened. God showed up and answered on both the emotional level and the practical level. Making this vision more and more a reality.
It's amazing how their desire and God's leading toward this ministry actually changed the course of our lives. During the time that were praying for the Riecke's God did a work in our family by breaking us down and causing us to realize that we had our priorities all out of wack. A very good, yet painful experience for us. This change in us made us more available for our friends, which incidently was an answer to some specific prayers on their end. I love how God has caused our spiritual paths to collide time and time again!
And so I am asking you to join us as prayer partners. Planting a church is something that we know nothing about. Eric and I have been a part of newly started churches on a couple of occasions, but never part of something brand new. On every level we are excited and equally scared. We take heart easily though because we trust our leader. Patrick has done more research and planning than I would have ever dreamed of doing. He is gifted and driven. We are confident that his vision will be realized and we are blessed to begin as a part of it!
Monday, January 12, is the first gathering of the people who are being called to be a part of starting this church.
Please pray for this time and those that follow. I will keep you posted and you can also visit Patrick's blog: http://www.thedevelopmentfw.blogspot.com
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