Happy Friday!

I have no plans this weekend...besides church, a little cleaning, and hopefully, some scrapping...and that makes me very happy! I'm a homebody, so every weekend that we're gone running, I feel like I never really had a "weekend". Anyway, that's just me...

When I wrote last, I commented that I was worried and stressed. Well, God spoke to me on Thursday morning, and I thought I'd share...

"When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you." Isaiah 43:2

and

"But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

As a Christian, I know that life is not promised to be easy. But no matter how bad it gets, I just need to trust in Jesus. I know that. I just need to remember it, and live it. It certainly helps when he gives me little reminders. :)

I started a new "morning time God-time book" this morning... "The Life You've Always Wanted" by John Ortberg. If the first chapter is any indication, it should be good. Just a taste... a quote by Soren Kierkegaard... "Now, with God's help, I shall become myself." When I look back to how much I've changed, spiritually...no, actually, in everything... I realize it's part of the metamorphosis one experiences when they give their lives to God.

In reading the book of Ruth for my Bible study group, a question touched on the divine providence of God...His guidance that keeps us on His path. When I thought about it, I could cleary see how He's taken care of me, and guided me. For example, here's one connection:

1. I was saved...born again in Christ.
2. I made the decision to homeschool...the first decision I made prayerfully, with God.
3. Erin was diagnosed with diabetes. I don't know how I could have handled this trama without God in my life. And I couldn't imagine sending her to school afterwards...
4. Because of homeschooling and the time spent with my kids, I was able to see the physical, mental & emotional problems Alana was having. This, along with my focus on my kids health (brought on by the diabetes) I read tons, researching possible causes and treatments (God blessed me with a love of reading, and a passion for research...how convenient!)
5. When Alana was diagnosed with asthma and prescribed an unending cycle of drugs, I knew from my research that there were better answers and solutions to be had. This knowledge led me back to the Bean Lady (the nutritionist that helped Barry with his inflamation a couple of years ago...another link in my chain).
6. Our new diet helped Alana drastically and immediately (without drugs), helped me to lose weight and become healthier, and has given us an additional way to help Erin.
7. Throughout all of this, I've learned that I am powerless in this life, and that I can only succeed through the Lord. It has created in me a passion to know my Savior and to follow His path for me.

Sorry to bore you with all this. It just does me good to lay it all out in writing. And maybe my experience and testimony can be a light to others.

What else am I reading? My bedtime reading is another Lauraine Snelling series, The Return to Red River... a series about Norwegian immigrants in South Dakota during the 1890's. This week I began reading Little Women to the girls (believe it or not, I've never read it!) and they keep referencing Pilgrim's Progress, which I've also not read yet. The girls agreed that we should read PP so that we can understand the references in LW, so we started a simplified version this am.

And here are a couple of layouts...one very recent, and one older...that I did for my friend Jenn's etsy shop. http://creative-chaos.typepad.com/creative-chaos/ I couldn't remember if I posted the Halloween one yet or not? Anyway, have a great weekend!