{ All Caught Up }

All the cards for this challenge, in no specific order! I’m up to date with the challenge! Yay! Next is this! It feels good going back to this amazing study!

Have a blessed day!

{ Networking }

Today once again I realized that the conviction of the Holy Spirit will always be challenged with doubt and shame, as I struggled wether if I should or should not post this! But the Lord once again speaks and keeps leading me towards a better more abundant life and reminds me that my post back a few weeks ago (which is not up anymore)  was led by the Holy Spirit and had been placed in my heart because God does want me to make some changes. A friend of mine on FaceBook, posted the following and I could hear the Lord speak to me through it:

Faith Book
Susanne Scheppmann

“They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God.” Nehemiah 9:3 (NIV)

Devotion:

A new addiction slipped into my life recently – Facebook. Internet social networking slid in quietly and unobtrusively. Each day I found myself reading and posting a bit more. I learned how to create my visual bookshelf, so my “friends” could check out what I was reading. I linked my blog. My time seeped into Facebook like grains of sand slide through the hourglass.

My addiction soon took a turn for the worst. I began to put off my personal quiet time with God until after I had Facebooked. Sadly, scripture seemed boring next to my friends’ postings. Strangely, the mundane posts intrigued me. I had fallen under the spell of social networking.

Then one day, I dragged myself away from my laptop. I had Bible study that night and needed to finish my lesson. The lesson pointed us to the book of Nehemiah. I read, “They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God.” (Nehemiah 9:3, NIV).

Yikes! They read God’s Word for a quarter of the day, then spent another quarter of the day in confession and worshiping? These words haunted me the rest of the afternoon. When was the last time I spent that much time with God? How much time did I spend on the Internet? I felt a deep conviction about my Facebook addiction.

I determined that day to read my Bible, my FaithBook, before I turned on my computer each day. I would network with God, before networking with my friends. When I made this decision, I saw scripture jump back to life. God’s Word spoke to me with a freshness that seemed as if He had just posted it Himself.

The addiction stopped. Oh, I still enjoy Facebook and other social networks, but I have learned to keep them in proper perspective. Psalm 119:59-60 sums up my new intent: “I pondered the direction of my life, and I turned to follow your laws. I will hurry, without delay, to obey your commands” (NLT).

Will you join me in the commitment to spending time in God’s Word before time spent on Facebook?

Dear Lord, I recognize that I spend too much time on the computer. Forgive my inattention to Your Word. Help me each day to place You first in my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Wow! Networking is not the problem, is not about not taking the time for prayer or taking the time to study the bible… the problem is in the order in which I’m doing it! The Lord desires so much for us to take time to be with Him, so that He could guide us and speak to our hearts and our minds. It is His wish for us to spend that “alone” time with Him! All He wants us to do is to put Him on top of our daily list! The first place!

So I guess this is the continuation of my past post (”A glimpse of thoughts”). I hope and pray that this post may impact you as much as it did to me and that we could give that first place to the one who deserves it!

{ Great Weekend }

We had such a great weekend! Hubby was off from work since Friday so we decided to take advantage and go out and explore!

To see all the images of this day visit my flickr! And of course we also had a wonderful Independence Day!

I hope you all enjoyed your 4th of July, too. Thanks for stopping by!

{ Summer Going Too Fast }

Around here it hasn’t really felt very much like summer. I feel like it’s going way too fast for me and the kids. The weather keeps changing from 60 degrees to 85 degrees. It’s driving me nuts and this little guy too! Anyhow, I got some trips planed for what’s left of the summer. I need to have these kids out more regardless of the (oldest two kids’) complaints, such as “being too hot”, or ” too cold to be outside”. This mom has set her foot down!!! LOL! So yes, more trips to the parks, pools, farm, baseball games, theme parks, libraries, out on the town, etc.

After having a few bitter/sweet moments these past few days, these words create a sense of peace and love in me, reminding me that He is in control of every situation. Three more words I worked on for this challenge.

My favorite one is the third one. The scripture really speaks to me! I’m currently working on more of these cards and these, too!

I’m also excited about my new prime lens… the one hubby ordered for me as part of our anniversary the other day! I hope it arrives today and not later than tomorrow (fingers crossed). My recent zoom lens is just too heavy which makes me think twice about carrying my camera with me every time.  I really want to capture life and it’s wonderful moments without worrying about how heavy it is! I can’t wait!

One more thing before leaving, I wanted to let you know that I have created a page for my business on Facebook… here. If you have a Facebook account you could become a fan and get updates on my business and see my latest photos and portfolio as well. Please sign in your FB account and join by clicking where it says: “become a fan“. Thanks for your support!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a glorious day!