Prisoner of War

"Cause my mind is like a building burning down, I need your Grace to keep me, keep me from the ground, And my heart is just a prisoner of War, A slave to what it wants and what I am fighting for." - Empty my Hands by Tenth Ave North 

I love this song, but this week this  stanza really stood out to me. We are being taught faithfully by our pastor Josh Mack every Sunday in church. These past couple of weeks he has been teaching through Eph. 6. Recently its about our Spiritual battle that we wage every single day. Which will then lead up to the full armor of God that we must put on every single day. I know i so often forget my spiritual armor when I wake up. I choose to ignore the fact that I am daily in a war against my sin and against the devil. This stanza helped give me a good perspective on my heart. Our hearts are deceitful above all else. We learn that in Jeremiah and it is like our heart is a Prisoner of War. We do the things we don't want to do and the things we want to do we don't do. Paul shares about his trouble with that. In the end, we cant listen to our hearts, because they aren't ours to listen too. Unless we scan it with the truth from the Bible that we know and we have our full armor on. 
Its so exciting that the Lord has provided his scripture to teach us and prepare us for this war. Even by listing out the armor he is telling us what will be attacked. Truth, Righteousness, our readiness to evangelize, faith, Salvation, and the Word. We have everything we need to fight our daily battles. and even more we know that the final battle has already been won for us. So as we fight we know that Christ is our conquer and He will always be there for us. 
My heart is a prisoner to my selfish desires, and my sinful self. Only Christ can free and by doing that I must wake up every morning and prepare my self for the battle ahead. To put on that armor I must Put OFF  my old self and that is a daily process. I cant put on when I am already wearing my sin. So often i forget this fact, and how can I fight my sinful desires with out being prepared. =) 
Thankfully the Lord always provides his strength so that I don't need to feel overwhelmed or defeated which I often do. Our Christian walk is HARD and if your not struggling with your walk... I would ask you to search your heart and life, because We are always struggling and fighting our battles. Yes we have victories, but that is only to prepare us for the next battle.. 
SO Fellow believers fight one.. there is hope, there is encouragement, and there is fellowship with other believers who are fighting the same battle you are... =)

Faith, and Children's Songs

 Strange title huh...? but its fitting I promise to what my past couple of weeks have been like here.  Life is moving on the baby home and I am soaking up every minute I have to learn from those more experienced then me and grow. These babies are growing and developing in leaps and bounds. One is walking and now starting to talk with some clarity and it just makes my heart so happy when I say something and he repeats it back to me almost perfectly...He is such a bundle of joy and has really adjusted to his life here well and has started to fuss less and less.. He loves to sing and dance and is always so joyful. My two girls are also developing nicely too the youngest one is rolling every where, you cant take your eyes off of her or she may be under the sofa in the next instant. She just started to pull herself up to a standing position just this evening which is Insane since she isn't crawling yet and only 6 months old... Both the girls make lots of noises with their mouths and make joyful noises unto the Lord all day long.Our tiny baby is adjusting slowly but adjusting... He loves to eat and hates to sleep.. He is gaining weight like nobodies business and is such a cute Roley poly baby boy.. Now... That all sounds awesome and it totally is, but It isn't what is teaching me those three things above. If you noticed I didn't mention one of my darling babies (just saving the best for last you know ;)). Well my baby girl who will be 8 months soon, is sick. She is one that I have become pretty close too and pretty much love this little girl like she is my own baby. I unfortunately cant give details for her sickness.. so all I can say is that she is very sick and it causes her daily pain. Here's where both my faith and children songs come in. She is an overall happy baby when she isn't in pain. And my day is full of me singing lots of songs for her to keep her distracted and busy. Her favorite ones to sing are "If your Happy and You Know It", and "Hes Got the Whole World". Now I am the type of person that has always wanted to protect those who are close to me and it is some thing I have done my whole life. If I could take some ones pain I would. And to watch this little girl be in pain and I cant do anything to help hurts. It reminds me of my complete and her complete helplessness. The only thing that can save her is the Lord. In so many ways and when I was sick and hurting the only one who could save me was the Lord.  The Lord is using this situation to teach me faith. I know that only he holds this little girl in his hands and He is the one who has given her this sickness for her and my good. I must trust him and his goodness. Which isn't easy but faith... only needs to be as small as a mustard seed. I know my Lord is capable of anything and He could heal her if He wanted to. I pray every night that the Lord just continues to do his will in regards to my baby and that he gives me strength to take care of her and to have faith in His goodness.. Today she had a not so great day and I was singing "He's Got the Whole World" and with out even knowing it my heart was comforted. The Lord used this simple children's song to remind me that He holds everything in His hand. It was so encouraging and totally providential that her favorite song is that one. So know when I sing that song to her its full of a whole different meaning to me.. I also sing "This is My Fathers World" to get her to sleep and once again so Ironic that both of those songs work so completely in this situation. 

Please pray for our dear little girl, 1. That we will be able to get her to the Doctor soon, 2. that the Doctor will be able to diagnose her and show us how to help her. and last but not least 3. pray for ease of pain in her little body.. 
All of us here would really appreciate that...