Replenishment is good for a mama's soul..

Today was wonderful. I'm so glad I am alive and that I seized the day despite being chronically late. I'm always late. I hate being late and get anxiety attacks about being late and still I end up being late. I try to compensate by waking up two or three hours earlier than the time to leave and STILL I end up being late.

I think that maybe it has something to do with my culture. We are usually late and if people catch on to that right quick they know to tell us to come an hour ahead of time so that we'll actually be on time. Of course that's no excuse. Sigh.

My husband does not like to be late and we've had our hot words and hurt about this issue about me, and I have tried. I try especially for his sake, but fail miserably. It would help if he does help me along. Maybe he'll learn soon to give me extra time and to also give me a hand.

However this is not about being late really...well sorta.

Sunday worship begins at 11:15am. We have to leave by 10:30am or so to drive the 30 plus (depending on traffic and lights) minutes to get there on time.

Each night I plan in my head what I'll do and how soon I'll wake up. The kids clothes are already picked out so I'm not doing the chicken-without-head run around the house. Breakfast, grooming and return trip snacks are all thought out and easy to grab.

Today I woke at 10:24am!!!!! Nooooooooooooooooo! I was so exhausted that the 3 rings of the alarm did not even penetrate my sleep. I laid there thinking that I wouldn't have time to get everyone ready, make breakfast etc so I'll just not go, or that when the husband awakes, he can go alone since he can get ready in five, or if I can get the kids ready in time to go with him....

Then I thought to myself, I'm getting ready in 30mins and we are leaving with 15 minutes to get to service and if we missed the praise and worship, so be it, but at least we'd hear the message. We are going!

We got there in the middle of praise and worship. I seized the day. The kids went happily off to play with their friends.
I figured I couldn't tell God that I just didn't feel pretty enough to show up or that my hair wouldn't tame or the many excuses that quickly comes forth.

The message was awesome! Monday evening I was reading a book about the very same message. It made me cry. It gave me something I needed. It refreshed my spirit.

It was truly a lovely family time. After service we came home and we all had wonderful fun outside playing ball, frisbee etc. It was so good to hear the pure laughter in each others soul come out so sweetly. This is one of those days you want repeated and ends with ice cream :)

I guess I can get ready in 5...ok 10...alright, alright. 30+5 :)

And so I'll share it with you:


The Power of a moment makes it a source of immeasurable opportunity and hope. No matter what kind of life you've lived, no matter how many wrong choices you've made, the next moment is waiting to give birth to new life.

Perhaps no one illustrates this better than a woman named Rahab found in the book of Joshua. She was a resident of Jericho during the time when Joshua was the leader of Israel. Jericho would soon fall into the hands of God's people. To prepare for their conquest, Joshua sent two spies into the city, and they stayed in the house of Rahab. All the Scriptures tell us about Rahab before this point is that she was a prostitute. That was the sum total of her life. If you've ever observed the life of a prostitute, you would know the word life is an overstatement. Existence, torment, punishment, living dead - all are better descriptions of the waking hours in the life of a prostitute.

What nightmares could possible haunt her dreams that would over-shadow the nightmare that comes when she is awake? yet in one moment Rahab's life changed forever.

She had heard of the God of Israel. In her own words, she was convinced that "the Lord your God is God in heave above and on the earth below" (Josh. 2:11). Based on that conviction, she offered to help them if they would save her life and the lives of her family members.

The spies agreed and instructed her to tie the scarlet cord in her window. If she did that, all of her family who were with her in her house would be saved. The story tells us, "Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho - and she lives among the Israelites to this day" (Josh. 6:25).

The family that Rahab saved was not her husband or her children. Those are relationships rarely known in the world of a prostitute. She had no husband or children. She saved the lives of her father and mother, her brothers and sisters, and all who belonged to them. In truth, she had no one who belonged to her.

The questions that occur to me are: Where was her family while she was living the life of a prostitute? Where were her father and mother when she needed guidance and direction? Why didn't her brothers and sisters rise up to help her and save her from the life of decadence and destruction? And how could the heart of a prostitute that should have long gone cold still be filled with such compassion for the family she left behind? Surely the only future she was saving was theirs. What kind of future did she really have to save anyway?

Yet we find in this moment not a future saved, but a future created. Rahab found more than protection among the people of God. She found a new family. We are informed later that Rahab married an Israelite.

Rahab married a man named Salmon, whose son was Boaz, the husband of Ruth, whose son was Obed, whose son was Jesse, whose son was David, king of Israel.

And if you follow the lineage far enough, you find that the blood of Rahab flowed in the veins of Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prostitute Rahab, in one defining moment, through one life-altering decision, began a journey that brought her everything she had lost and more than she ever could have imagined. Like Rahab, we are always just one choice from a different life. At our worst, good is only one decision away.

From the book Chasing Daylight by Erwin Raphael McManus

I shared the part in this book because I don't have a way to share our sermon CD which was a lot better I think.

So it doesn't matter where you are in life...you are precious, wonderful, and full of potential....and you are loved. Yes you are. Don't dismiss it. Stop and think about it a bit. You are here now because you are supposed to be. You are important for this time. Grab it with all your might because soon we all will get out own little dash....xxxx - xxxx.

Ciao