Complicating Time With God

A friend and myself were talking about finding the "just right" Children's Devotional/Bible and I found myself referring back to a situation awhile back:

While attending a Women's Ministry get-together at my church, we were talking about devotional time. I guess the majority of the women in the room (about 40 of us) had been "saved" for at least a few years. One of the girls who were rather new in my study was sitting at my table. About 10 minutes into the discussion she looked at me with huge eyes full of overwhelming confusion. 

After I asked what was wrong, she said, "What is a devotion, it sounds so confusing and hard..." I sat there a moment a bit dumb founded. How had we managed to make something as simple and easy as devotion time with God sound so complicated and difficult?

I tried to put her at ease, explaining how all it truly was is spending time with Him and reading/applying His Word. She was still confused, she kept going back to all the things we had been talking about: morning/afternoon/night, word study/topical study/book study, 5 minutes/15 minutes/1 hour, isolated/surrounded, 1 Bible/4 Bibles, Strong's Concordance/Nelson's 3-in-1, Greek/Hebrew, etc.

I laughed at how badly we were messing with this poor girls head as I tried to explain again. God doesn't care; he just wants our time and devotion with Him. As we begin to grow in Him, we start digging deeper and looking more; but there is still not a certain formula that God demands we use when spending time with Him- he only wants our whole heart.

I actually had a devotional with me that day that I frequently used, I opened it up and shared with her the page set apart for that day. It had some scripture to read and then gave a couple of paragraphs that elaborated on it and encouraged, then ended with a short prayer at the bottom. There was such relief on my friends face when she saw it. 

"So, that's it? This is considered a "devotion?" she asked. "Yep, that's it!" I smiled. 
She looked around and said, "But, that's easy, what were all of you talking about? This isn't that hard!"
"Ya, I know- I guess we need to take the "Christian Lingo" down a couple of notches, there is not much in God's Word that's really all that hard to understand- sometimes we are just dumb enough to make it seem that way" I answered as I insisted she keep the devotional and begin using it.

I am trying to keep all of this in mind when studying God's Word with my kids. My friend, Joanne of "Confessions of A Dirty Christian Woman" Blog told of a story where my oldest daughter helped her see she was lacking boldness in her post, "There's A Little Chicken Inside" (click over and take a look). I love (and sometimes hate) learning from my kids.

I am sometimes jealous of the simplicity through which kids can view things, we adults (ME) can do a pretty good job of making things way to complicated sometimes. Our girls have been studying the Holy Spirit at church and are FULL of questions, so I feel as if we have been doing a devotional 24/7 at any given moment- it keeps us on our toes and helps me to learn to "Keep It Simple Sweetie".

I did happen to find this devotional for kids and found this devotional "Hide (the Word) & Seek (the Lord) Devotional" for kids from Tommy Nelson (preview it here). There is also a free audio download to help kids memorize scripture verses. Looks great, and this is the "chosen one"- the new devotional we are getting- that is unless I win it from The Pregnancy Companion Blog- who I found was giving it away in a contest on my search (feel free to enter, although it is increasing my risk of buying it instead of winning it, lol).

Let's learn to keep it simple Moms- not just for our kids- but for the regular every day people around us- it really isn't that complicated.

A Big Lump In The Road...

Moving day/week has come and gone with to many complications to count. I should look on the bright side, at least the complications weren't as expensive as they were last time! No wonder I despise moving!! Of course our bump, or my lump, didn't quite look like the one to the left- but was the one below.

On Tuesday, while moving some of the boxes and smaller stuff, I began to notice a bump (just like the one I have now had on my right and left eye) starting on the right side of my chin. It was a little painful, but at that point I just could not believe it could be another huge abscess beginning. Well, by Wednesday I started to realize I was very wrong as that I now had a good size lump on my chin along with swollen glands and swelling on my face and neck, and quite painful. I quickly made an appointment with my internist who sent me to in Infectious Disease Specialist. It was an emotional day as I had to retell my weird "lump history" of the past 2 months that no one can give me any answers to. The specialist was unable, yet again, to culture it (UGH!)- but seemed certain I had MRSA and gave me another antibiotic to take.

I went home, continuing to pack while my face, neck, and head throbbed. I was hopeful I would wake up Thursday morning with less swelling and pain- didn't happen. I, instead, awoke Thursday to the exact opposite- I tried to do so much between having to lay down because of the pain. (In the middle of all of this, Tenly had an accident at school and was so emotional I went to pick her up.)

By the time Lupe arrived home, I was considering going to the ER- as absurd as that seemed on so many levels.We still had to pack up the kitchen, clothes, and all of the other loose ends- and needed more boxes to do so. As much as I tried to get around it, I finally made the arrangements for a friend to come pick me up so Lupe could stay with the girls and get as much done as possible with no boxes.

The doctor wasn't exactly thrilled with my being there. He thought I should of waited longer than 30 hours to give the antibiotics time to work- but my face was at least 40% more swollen and the pain had increased beyond 75%- I didn't care! They ran blood work, and ultimately they admitted me to give me antibiotics by IV to kick out the infection.

Part of me was relieved, the other part was overwhelmed with guilt and responsibility. I was relieved that we would get to the bottom of this never ending unwelcome infection that had been haunting me for 2 months!But....Who was going to take care of the girls? Who was going to be there for the cable/Internet hook up? Who was going to finish packing? Who was going to boss the guys around to tell them where to put everything? Who was going to organize everything? Who was going to take/pick up Tenly for school? Who was going to be sure Lupe was going to be okay?

We decided Tenly would stay home from school (the first day she missed), and my brother, who was helping to move, was bringing my niece, Maya, and nephew, Emry, to help (which made my girls not miss me at all)- who did an EXCEPTIONAL job! A couple of guys from the church were also coming to help. (I think we will forever be indebted, especially after they had to move our 2-ton couch!)

The first night in the hospital went with no sleep and vomiting all night due to the pain, then dehydration, and the strong pain meds. Then I began having an allergic reaction to one of the antibiotics, and we wrapped up my hospital stay 2 days later with a severe migraine (I felt I came in with one thing wrong, and left with more). All 3 doctors are still convinced that I have MRSA, and a suppressed immune system- nothing to prove it except the consensus of 3 doctors thinking the same thing. They wanted a plastic surgeon to cut it open, but no one would come in on a weekend.

Anyway, my brother and Debbie took the girls overnight so Lupe could finish moving the rest of the stuff- that was a HUGE blessing! Not to mention, the girls came back saying it was "..the best day ever.."- apparently it was especially funny when Uncle Bubbo (what they call my brother) hit Aunt Debbie with a stick. LOL!

I finally came home, very thankful for my incredible friends and family who prayed, cared, stayed at the hospital, text encouraging thoughts, brainstormed, left messages, kept our children, lifted a 2 ton couch up and down stairs, etc. I wish we had more to give, but we say Thank You and are blessed to have you.

I am now almost done unpacking boxes while my face continues to heal (it's closer to normal). Although, I'm not fond of my too small kitchen, and inconvenient closet- I am thankful I am in a home with my family (and for the wonderful storage closet). I am started to embrace and understand that saying "Home is where your Heart is".

Please pray that this "lump" was the last. I do not understand why this is happening, and have struggled to keep positive throughout. But, I do know things could be worse- and it is gone- Thank You for continuing to pray that this is the last and I am completely healed!