CHRIST IS ALL!

My morning so far has been spent taking care of children. My neice and nephew are visiting for the day :)

My morning has also been spent worshipping Him...

I am determined to worship Him in everything. Oh I fail SO much!! But this is my chief goal...in all things to give Him praise. Wether well fed or hungry, in sickness or in health, in chaos or in quiet. I want to worship Him. Cleaning dishes, folding laundry, reading a book to our boys, talking to a hurting friend, driving in my car, laying in my bed, returning emails, raising money for my African children, grocery shopping, cooking dinner, ironing Jerome's shirts, disciplining fighting kids...you get the picture :)

The more I choose to worship Him in the mundane tasks of life as well as the things that bring me great joy, the less content I am with this world and it's system...the more I long to be united fully with Christ! I want my whole life to have a flovor of worship and true devotion to the One worthy of all my praise!

I daily face the struggle between my flesh and spirit. Somedays my flesh wins, but oh the days that it doesn't and I give Christ complete reign!!! There is life and freedom found only in Him. Christ is ALL!

Sometimes I feel like Job before the Lord allowed Satan to strip him of everything. I feel so blessed. I am able to stay home with our boys and listen to worship music all day. I am able to pour into the lives of people all over the world. I am able to mother many children that I did not carry in my womb. I am able to be a part of a biblical community and wide circle of believers that stretches across continents. I have people who faithfully pray for me and encourage me. I get to see people's lives transformed by the power of Christ all the time. I have a husband that literally, daily, lays down his life for me and loves God more than anyone I have ever known. But what I often tell the Lord is that I want to know that I would still praise Him if He were to strip all of that from me...if He were to give me poverty, sickness and take away my family and friends. Would I still worship Him? Would I still give Him the glory due to His Name? I want to position my life and heart in such a way that when my circumstances fail, I know that Christ has not changed and therefore I can stand firm! So today, I am praising Him while everything is 'running smoothly' so that tomorrow, when everything likely won't be, I have a firm foundation to stand on.

My heart is longing for every follower of Christ to press into Him with me. If your day, month or year is good or bad, praise Him! Through laughter or tears, praise Him! Let your soul find complete satisfaction in Christ alone. He is worthy! He is SO worthy!

I am burdened, yet hopeful for MANY people I personally know who are hurting right now. I am honored to be intimately acquainted with these precious ones so that I can pray and help carry their burden in this way. My prayer for each of them today is that they would lift their hands, hearts and lives in worship to Him right where they are at....right in the middle of the chaos. Because one day soon, oh that glorious day, we will no longer be seperated, even for a second from the One we love most...not by our circumstances, our trials, our sin, or our flesh. We will be one with our sweet Saviour! That alone is reason enough to confess His goodness no matter what we feel at this moment.

So, today in my joy, with worship music playing in the back ground and the breeze blowing through open windows and the sweet sound of children's voices who I love so much playing in the back yard...I choose to praise Him!

Tomorrow, if my day starts with whiny children who interrupt my Treasure Time and I have a head ache and my boys refuse to obey me and Jerome comes home in a grumpy mood I want to choose to praise Him. If the next day, Jerome and the boys never come home because they die in a car wreck, oh Lord, let me still praise you! If the next day I find out I have a terminal ilness, let my very last breath, as I slip from this earth into Your eternal Presence, be in praise to you! Please make us this kind of Church so the world will look on and desire You!!!

Tomorrow the earth itself falls into the sea, let us praise Him because the reality is not this earth that we live on for a few short years, the Reality is that CHRIST IS ALL!