A Big God

Here is another great exert from the book I'm reading.

"Astronomers have spied on galaxies 12.3 billion light-years from earth.  To put that distance into perspective, consider the fact that light traveling 186,000 miles per second only takes eight minutes to travel the 93 million miles between the sun and planet earth.  Sunlight is only eight minutes old.  But light from the furthest galaxy takes 12.3 billion years to get here.  That distance is virtually incomprehensible!  And God says that is about the distance between His thoughts and our thoughts.......

'My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways,' declares the Lord.  'As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.' - Isaiah 55:8-9

.....Your best thought about God on your best day falls 12.3 billion light years short of how great and how good God really is.  We underestimate God's goodness by at least 12.3 billion light-years.

You know what the greatest tragedy in life is?  It is someone whose god gets smaller and smaller with each passing day.

Maybe it's time to stop placing four-dimensional limits on God.  Maybe it's time to stop putting God in a box the size of your cerebral cortex.  Maybe it's time to stop creating God in your image and let Him create you in His. 

The more we grow the bigger God should get.  And the bigger God gets, the smaller our lions will become."

I know it's so easy for me to put God in a box and try to make Him what I want Him to be.  But when we do that we are limiting what He can do in our lives.  I know when I surrender completely to His will for me that only then do I experience True freedom in my life and my walk.

And I love what Mark said about trying to create God in our image.  Because isn't that what we all do.  We think of an old man (usually white) with a beard looking down on us from the clouds.  When God is so much more than that or that we could ever imagine.  I try my best to not think of an image when I think of God.  But think of love and peace and strength and qualities that He is.  The qualities that I want. 

And I know that God is pretty wonderful, but isn't it great to know that He is greater than we could ever imagine.  I mean sit and think for a second on how wonderful you think God is....take a few minutes.  And with all the brain power you have to think of His goodness, we still have a fracture of a clue of how great He is.  I tell you what, I am not going to miss Heaven.  Because if God is as great as all this, I've got to meet this person in all His glory.  That is definitely an eternity I want!!

The God of Infinite Time and Space

I'm really lovin' this book I'm reading...'In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day' by Mark Batterson.  Here is an exert that I especially loved....probably, because of all the science references.

"It's almost as if God forms a parenthesis in time and a parenthesis in space around us.  He is hovering all around you all the time.

Let me try to put it in scientific terms.  The shortest possible time is 10^ (-43) seconds.  It is called Planck time.  Any shorter and quantum mechanics can't tell whether events are simultaneous.  The shortest possible distance is 1.6 x 10^ (-35) meters.  It's called Planck length.  Any shorter and quantum mechanics can't distinguish between here and there.

And that's where God comes in.  He's in the space and the time that, according to quantum mechanics, doesn't exist. 

To infinite human beings, time and space seem infinite, but that is because we're on the inside looking out.  God is on the outside looking in.  Time and space are a finite part of His creation.  That's why 'a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.'  God is all around us all the time.  He is right before, right after, right ahead, and right behind.  God has no dimensional limitations, and if we could wrap our minds around that truth, it would transform our outlook on life." 

I still don't understand how most scientist don't believe in God.  When I studied at Texas State (and even now when I think about it all) it only confirms my convictions about God and His superiority.  I don't understand how everything in our bodies can work so perfectly (most of the time without our conscious even being aware) and people still believe that it was just all evolution.  Not that I am saying evolution doesn't exist.  I know I'm not descended from an ape, but I believe that God orchestrated evolution for His own purposes. 

It's funny how us humans try over and over to disprove God with 'our' science, when in fact we are just proving God more and more.  Who do we think created all this after all? Random chance....now that sounds far fetched  to me.

Hope you all have a Happy Easter!!

Baby Ridge Hat

This is probably my favorite hat so far.  I made a similar one for my older brother that was all green.  So, when I made a baby hat version I just added some fun colors to it.

I figured the baby would be wearing it in the fall, so I chose fall colors for this one.

Above are the colors that are in between the brown ridges, that you cannot see on the first picture.  But when the baby wears it, the hat will stretch out to where they can be seen.

Extra! Extra!

Wow! This is the first time I have heard a OB/GYN say this.  Click here for what she said.  I'm impressed!  And just goes to show that even the experts don't do everything most say to do.

Baby Basketweave Hat

Basketweave Hat I made for Baby

Here is one of the many hats I made for the baby.  It is such a cute design.  I found the pattern online here.  Her hat looks a little differnt than mine, b/c I used different size needles and she used a shinier yarn.  And I love the shine, but I didn't want to make it shiny just in case I had a boy.  He may not appreciate that from Mommy very much.

Basketweave Detail

Why I love Mayim Bialik

Mayim Bialik is an actress who has made some not-normal-to-society choices in her and her family's life.  She has really inspired me to try new things and not just buy something, because Target said it was the number one toy for infants.  There is a link to her blog on The Today Show here if you want to learn more about her:  here.  I don't agree with all of her opinions.  But her opinions aren't why I love her.  I love her, because she isn't afraid to be different.  And she has taken such a leading role in helping others get information that wasn't out there a year or two ago.

People always think that Noah and I are weird, because of the choices we have made in our lives including our choices with our baby.  We are OK with this.  I've never expected people to agree with us or understand completely.  And I shouldn't.

We plan on having a home birth with a midwife without any medical intervention, whatsoever.  We are going to home school our kids.  I am going to breastfeed our babies.  We are going to use cloth diapers (I can feel some of your cringing at this one).  We choose not to have health insurance (unless the Lord changes our mind, which is OK).  We plan to not take prescription medicine.  We treat most ailments holistically.  We eat as raw and organic as we can.  We plan to not vaccinate our children.    We make a conscious effort to not base our life or decisions off of other people or fear, but on God's convictions and guidance on our life.  I think most of you would agree with us on the last one.

I'm not saying that what we are doing is the best thing or that you are wrong. This is just what we believe is the best way for us to live.  It's as simple as that!  I'm not going to push my beliefs on other people when it comes to our life choices.  I truly believe most people really do what they think is best for their children and themselves.  And while I don't want them judging me, I need to respect their decisions and be supportive as well.

We don't do these things just to be "different" or because its becoming "popular", like some have labeled our actions.  We research everything for ourselves, pray thoroughly, and do what we think is right for us.  And we are always open to God changing our minds.  We try to be teachable in this way.

But, I do thoroughly believe that our American society has degraded in it's beliefs.  I, personally, think we depend too much on doctors and drugs to fix us.  God has opened my eyes in the past few years to ways of keeping us healthy with what He gave us on this Earth.  Don't get me wrong though, if I have a migraine or a really bad headache, I'm going take some Midol.  We aren't completely against medicine. 

I just think everything should be done with an educated decision and in moderation, not because someone else told me to.  Sometimes when I make decisions, if I'm really honest with myself and search my heart I'm making a decision based on someone else's feelings or expectations of me.  And I don't want to live my life that way, because then I'm not really living my life.  I'm just letting lions chase me.

Called to be a Lion Chaser

Taking Brenda's advice I have prayed and found a scripture that really speaks to me for this labor:

"There was also Benaniah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two of Moab's mightiest warriors. Another time he chases a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it. Another time, armed only with a club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaniah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with it." 2 Samuel 23:20-21

 I discovered it while reading a book called "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day" by Mark Batterson.  My friend, Kristy, asked me to read this a long time ago.  So, I finally picked it up about a week ago and it said exactly what I needed to hear.

The back of the book read "What if the life you really want, and the future God wants for you, is hiding right now in your biggest problem, your worst failure....your greatest fear?"

Mark explains that Benaniah didn't run away from the lion, but chased it down.  Not only that, but it was snowing outside.  Not only that, but he chased the lion into a pit, jumped into the pit, and killed it with his bare hangs!  That lion is everything we fear.  And until we decide to chase it down and conquer it, it will be chasing us for the rest of our lives. 

The lion definintly had better odds than Benaniah.  The conditions were in the lions favor, but lion was the one who ran away.  God turned what could have been a big problem into a great resume for Benaniah to be later strategically positioned into the administration of David.

"..God is in the business of strategically positioning us in the right place at the right time...Most people would have seen the lion as a five-hundred pound problem, but not Benaniah...lion chasers are wired differently."  (Mark Batterson)

When I read this scripture, I had a five-hundred pound problem: Labor.  I had a lot of fear that was surrounding it.  After reading this, I realized that I do not need to fear it.  Not only that, but I realized that God was replacing my fear with trust and peace in Him.  This book really encouraged me to grab this opportunity that God was giving me to not only survive, but THRIVE!  Now I KNOW that I can do this and am 110% ready. 

"[God] is always using past experiences to prepare us for future opportunities.  But those God-given opportunities often come disquised as man-eating lions.  And how we react when we encounter those lion will determine our destiny.  We can cower in fear and run away from our challenges.  Or we can chase our God-ordained destiny by seizing the God-ordained opportunities....the greatest opportunities are the scariest lions." (Matt Batterson)

Choosing to see this labor as an opportunity to grow and show God's glory is not even an option for me now.  I know it's the only path to take.  I'm excited about the whole process and pray that God will be able to use me as a vessel to inspire others to be Lion Chasers of their destinies.  And one thing that we can all take comfort in knowing is that our God LOVES impossible odds!  So no matter what, all bets should be on us.