Wow...long time. It's been awhile! Whew...can I just say that here? 'Cause that is so how I feel when thinking about where the time has gone. I have not stopped since we got back from our vacation in July. Crazy!
So for a quick update...the highlight of my crazy month of August is that I have backed out of the part time job I was doing from home. The call came from a Beth Moore DVD where she simply said "some of us are just so overloaded we can't go on to the next thing with God." As I sat in a room filled with women I tried desperately to hide the tears that would not stop pouring down my face. All I could think about was how in 20 years it would absolutely not matter to me what I had done with creating spreadsheets or mailing packages or the myriad of other things I was doing, but what would matter is what I done with and for Jeremy, Zoe and Matt. As I wrestled with giving up this job I thought but what about the money? Almost instantaneously I sensed the Lord's kind whisper "and do you think I can't cover that?" Long story short, I am no longer doing the job. I am a wife, a mom, a friend, a sister, a cousin, a daughter and not to mention a child of God who is rediscovering the Love of Jesus through His word and listening for His voice. That is just enough for now and I am so grateful that I have the ability to do just that.
8.23.2008
7.14.2008
back
Ahhh...the feeling of being home from a long and wonderful vacation. Is there something in the human psyche that longs for the routine at times? Even for those of us who love and thrive on change from time to time, I for one was ready. Ready to be back in the predictable dailyness of life, the stuff that caring for little ones is made of.
North Carolina was heavenly. The words "I could live here" exited our lips quite often during the nine days we were away. The earth has always ministered to me in ways t
hat nothing else really does...it just wreaks of the Creator and fills your spirit with that life-giving "fresh" air. We hiked every day (with a two year old and 15 month old...try that!). We swam and kayaked and sipped french press brewed coffee on the porch every morning overlooking the goat pasture. Yes, the goat pasture a definite hit with Zoe and Matt! Best of all was that my children were outside every day for most of the day! Just reminding me that we were truly created for the outdoors not trying to force them to play with brightly colored pieces of plastic that they really could care less about anyway. Just give them a stone path, a grassy field, some roaming creatures (goats, rabbits, geese, cats, not to mention fireflies!), sticks, dirt (especially for Matt who has aquired quite the taste for it), and they are good to go...for hours and hours on end. I so enjoyed watching my children in an environment where the "no's" were virtually nonexistent. Awesome!
hat nothing else really does...it just wreaks of the Creator and fills your spirit with that life-giving "fresh" air. We hiked every day (with a two year old and 15 month old...try that!). We swam and kayaked and sipped french press brewed coffee on the porch every morning overlooking the goat pasture. Yes, the goat pasture a definite hit with Zoe and Matt! Best of all was that my children were outside every day for most of the day! Just reminding me that we were truly created for the outdoors not trying to force them to play with brightly colored pieces of plastic that they really could care less about anyway. Just give them a stone path, a grassy field, some roaming creatures (goats, rabbits, geese, cats, not to mention fireflies!), sticks, dirt (especially for Matt who has aquired quite the taste for it), and they are good to go...for hours and hours on end. I so enjoyed watching my children in an environment where the "no's" were virtually nonexistent. Awesome!Spiritually, I was stretched. For some reason the journey I have been on as a mother seemed to be more exaggerated maybe because what Jeremy and I discovered was that vacation with kids is not necessarily the vacation we were accustomed to.
When I mention the "journey of motherhood" that is code for "ultimate death of self" something I truly am not too keen about. It seems that I sense the self God is trying to pull away from me just hanging on for dear life...demanding to be fed and coddled and the Great Lover of my soul is saying Let it go girl...To which I reply "But what about me! What about my quiet time actually drinking hot coffee and not coffee that's been abandoned for yet another diaper change or breaking up of a fight? What about my time to stretch out and read that book collecting dust on my nightstand? What about my skills and gifts going unused because I just don't have time...the list goes on and on.
And then the whisper comes "to gain your life you've got to give it away...sounds familiar...sounds like "motherhood." Again my relentless Pursuer comes after this sinner turned saint in ways that I wouldn't have chosen but in ways that lead me back to Him again and again and into the delicious life He planned for me to live. So vacation was so much more than just getting away but a reminder that the little ones and husband He has so graciously gifted me with, remain the greatest tools thus far He has and is using to birth the abundant life in me. Keep it coming Lord, keep it coming, in the routine that we have returned to...keep bringing me into more and more of You.
6.25.2008
Vacation
The Jobson's are about to embark upon our first "family vacation"! We will be heading to Hendersonville North Carolina for 9 days starting Monday!!!! I am just so excited. I am hoping I get some time to blog while I am there so I can get down some of the thoughts and emotions I have been having the past few days...
In the meantime...may you be gaining ground as you journey toward Him.
In the meantime...may you be gaining ground as you journey toward Him.
6.18.2008
Little World Changers
This is a picture of Zoe and her best friend Michael Vice...
I am praying this little ones catch a vision at a young age for all that God has for them! But for now I think they will just settle for wallypops and Finding Nemo:)
I am praying this little ones catch a vision at a young age for all that God has for them! But for now I think they will just settle for wallypops and Finding Nemo:)
6.07.2008
spur of the moment getaway...
Jeremy did his first wedding this weekend! I was SO proud of him! He did an awesome job. We took the opportunity to make it a weekend away. Jeremy's dad and stepmom had given us a Bed and Breakfast giftcard so we took advantage of having my mom here overnight and had a night away!!
Here are some pictures...
Me and Jer in front of the B & B.
Having our morning coffee on the front porch.
Breakfast by candle light! A first for sure!
6.02.2008
on a pilgrimage
Yesterday, Sunday, the sermon at our church really spoke to me. I mean one of those "Maggie don't miss a word because this is ALL for you" kind of sermons. It was a message from an unlikely messenger, Dr. Sandy Shugart the President of Valencia College...but man, did he speak my language.
The message centered around Psalm 84 and in essence was on how to be regarding "work."
Perhaps the most powerful word I received was based on the part of the passage that says "as they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs." Dr. Shugart talked about the fact that we live in the "valley" we don't live on the mountaintop...yes, we have all heard this concept before...but I have to say hearing on how to live in that valley and not just to survive but thrive and even change the landscape (making it a place of springs) I admit I haven't heard too much on this subject. What I heard was stunningly simple and recentering. First of all we draw our strength from God. It is He who is in control and any strength we will have for our valley of Baca will come from Him. Secondly, we must adopt the heart of a pilgrim. WE ARE ONLY PASSING THROUGH!!!! Travel light. Stay focused on the Desination (Zion) or in our case the Presence of God...ultimately face to face. If we adopt these truths and allow them to change us THEN as we pass through Baca, the springs, the refreshment, the blessing will come through us! I want this!
We all live in valleys. Yours looks different than mine. Mine may take on the form of a beautiful 4 foot tall blonde haired blue eyed two and a half year old. Or maybe her 3 1/2 foot, white haired, counterpart who likes to keep mom in full view every moment of every day. While I am so in love with the precious children God gifted to me and my husband and SO grateful to be home with them it is nonetheless a valley in the every day caring of little ones. (if you are a mom of small children you will need no explanation here I trust:)
I just want to be a conduit of springs in my valley called my sweet home. This is my place of work and this is the place I desire to bring the greatest blessing. I want my children and my husband to be filled to overflowing in this place, not with me but with Jesus...the Spring of Living Water embodied.
I want you, friend, to bring blessing and springs of life to your valley too. So let's pray for one another...and encourage one another in these...our valleys. Let's set our hearts toward Zion and bring blessing along the way. Knowing that our destination is HIM; a person, the God of the universe, and the lover of our souls.
The message centered around Psalm 84 and in essence was on how to be regarding "work."
Perhaps the most powerful word I received was based on the part of the passage that says "as they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs." Dr. Shugart talked about the fact that we live in the "valley" we don't live on the mountaintop...yes, we have all heard this concept before...but I have to say hearing on how to live in that valley and not just to survive but thrive and even change the landscape (making it a place of springs) I admit I haven't heard too much on this subject. What I heard was stunningly simple and recentering. First of all we draw our strength from God. It is He who is in control and any strength we will have for our valley of Baca will come from Him. Secondly, we must adopt the heart of a pilgrim. WE ARE ONLY PASSING THROUGH!!!! Travel light. Stay focused on the Desination (Zion) or in our case the Presence of God...ultimately face to face. If we adopt these truths and allow them to change us THEN as we pass through Baca, the springs, the refreshment, the blessing will come through us! I want this!
We all live in valleys. Yours looks different than mine. Mine may take on the form of a beautiful 4 foot tall blonde haired blue eyed two and a half year old. Or maybe her 3 1/2 foot, white haired, counterpart who likes to keep mom in full view every moment of every day. While I am so in love with the precious children God gifted to me and my husband and SO grateful to be home with them it is nonetheless a valley in the every day caring of little ones. (if you are a mom of small children you will need no explanation here I trust:)
I just want to be a conduit of springs in my valley called my sweet home. This is my place of work and this is the place I desire to bring the greatest blessing. I want my children and my husband to be filled to overflowing in this place, not with me but with Jesus...the Spring of Living Water embodied.
I want you, friend, to bring blessing and springs of life to your valley too. So let's pray for one another...and encourage one another in these...our valleys. Let's set our hearts toward Zion and bring blessing along the way. Knowing that our destination is HIM; a person, the God of the universe, and the lover of our souls.
5.28.2008
the power of presence
Hearing from God is one thing...following through on what you've heard is another. As in my previous post I may have mentioned that my trip to the mountains was definitely a powerful one in that I really believe I heard from God on some things that required immediate action. Now let me premise this with the fact that my responding has been many years in the making (not sure if I have mentioned quite how hard headed I can be!). I believe my responding had everything to do with presence...hence the name of this post. My life it seems had gotten so full, so busy (of really "good" things) that the presence of God and for that matter, the power of God had been found lacking. As I posted last, in the vision of me hands up towards the sunlight, there was this essence of presence...HIS presence and the picture of living in and for that presence alone.
Coming home and living out the call that He absolutely spoke over me has been another thing all together. Basically, I felt that God wanted me to back out of some wonderful things that I have been a part of to focus on the best; HIS call on my life, specifically my being His first and foremost and the relationship that goes along with that and then my being Jeremy's wife and Zoe and Matt's mom. Every thing else comes after those core callings in my life. I believe the journey away from those things was subtle and somewhat unnoticeable until the Lord literally had to push pause on my treadmill in order to get my attention. Oh how glad I am that He did. Although He has asked me to let go of some things I really dearly loved I am expectant that by doing so I will experience HIM in a way I could not have I held on to those things. And see HE is IT. Knowing Him is the goal of life. Just as Paul said "I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." (Philippians 3:8)
Psalm 16:11 says "You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in your right hand there are pleasures forever." The Lord brought that verse to my attention last week in the middle of my struggle with some of these decisions. How inspiring is it to know that as we give up our own ideas, goals, pleasures, etc... which are in fact counterfeit (so close to the authentic it is easily mistaken for it) we are actually gaining the real deal...fullness of joy, pleasures forever. This was a comfort to me...and a reminder, let the motive of your heart be HIM and His presence, not even "doing it for your husband or your kids," but because your relationship, your fellowhip, your oneness with your Father in Heaven is SO important that you just can't afford to do anything that may threaten that relationship.
Thank you Lord that you love us so much that You will not settle for us being mostly Yours...You want all of us. And why? Because as John Piper says "When we are most satisfied in You, You are most glorified in us." So may we dwell in your presence always and there gain the power to live out our lives in Christ.
Coming home and living out the call that He absolutely spoke over me has been another thing all together. Basically, I felt that God wanted me to back out of some wonderful things that I have been a part of to focus on the best; HIS call on my life, specifically my being His first and foremost and the relationship that goes along with that and then my being Jeremy's wife and Zoe and Matt's mom. Every thing else comes after those core callings in my life. I believe the journey away from those things was subtle and somewhat unnoticeable until the Lord literally had to push pause on my treadmill in order to get my attention. Oh how glad I am that He did. Although He has asked me to let go of some things I really dearly loved I am expectant that by doing so I will experience HIM in a way I could not have I held on to those things. And see HE is IT. Knowing Him is the goal of life. Just as Paul said "I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." (Philippians 3:8)
Psalm 16:11 says "You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in your right hand there are pleasures forever." The Lord brought that verse to my attention last week in the middle of my struggle with some of these decisions. How inspiring is it to know that as we give up our own ideas, goals, pleasures, etc... which are in fact counterfeit (so close to the authentic it is easily mistaken for it) we are actually gaining the real deal...fullness of joy, pleasures forever. This was a comfort to me...and a reminder, let the motive of your heart be HIM and His presence, not even "doing it for your husband or your kids," but because your relationship, your fellowhip, your oneness with your Father in Heaven is SO important that you just can't afford to do anything that may threaten that relationship.
Thank you Lord that you love us so much that You will not settle for us being mostly Yours...You want all of us. And why? Because as John Piper says "When we are most satisfied in You, You are most glorified in us." So may we dwell in your presence always and there gain the power to live out our lives in Christ.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
