The Perfect Marriage?

Today is such a BIG day in the Barron household. There are all kinds of fours rolling around. The Rid-dad is forty-FOUR years old. We have also been a family for FOUR years today. We have FOUR kids and every bit of it is FOR Him. Many friends have joked that Ridley married me on his fortieth birthday so he wouldn't forget our anniversary. When we picked out a wedding date I worried about Ridley's birthday being overshadowed every year. Today, I woke up realizing the two are intertwined and make this day incredibly special for me. To think about the day Ridley was born and that God knew he would be my husband one day, just makes my heart have a party.

On the day Ridley was born, it was like God tucked my present away for years, saving it for when I was ready. It was everything I had dreamed about and waited for. I still get goose bumps every time we share our story and encourage other couples. People we know have commented that we must have "the perfect marriage". Here is a little secret I will share......No one has a perfect marriage. We have our days just like everybody else. We have the highs and the lows. We have the days of victories and the draining days of defeat. Please don't walk around comparing your marriages to other ones. I would prefer that you take the advice of Hebrews 12:2, "Let us fix our eyes on the author and PERFECTER of our faith". Landon just painted a picture yesterday of an eye and chose this verse to paint on her canvas for her room. Shortly after giving her my praise of approval, I walked by a picture in my foyer. It is the picture I have posted here today and it is absolutely my favorite!

This wedding picture catches my eye on my grateful days and on my grumpy days. I am reminded that every step of the way to that day, we both prayed our hearts out. We desperately wanted to make the best choices at the best time. I thank Jesus every time I walk by and count all the blessings in the last four years. I also walk by it on those difficult days and thank Jesus that He put us together and that we did pray. It pushes me to love Ridley better on those tough days because God wants me to. He gave me the incredible privilege of being Mrs. Barron. The fact that God trusts me to be Mrs. Barron, to love Mr. Barron and to be the mamma of the Barron Bunch, is absolutely perfect for me!

I am not perfect. The birthday boy is not perfect. Our marriage is not perfect. However, God is perfect! The fact that I was on God's mind on July 15, 1967 is perfectly okay with me!

Make Lots of Mistakes

As I finished up my clean-eating lemon and blueberry oatmeal this morning, a statement from a conversation with Morgan yesterday rang in my head. I guess I was thinking about how I would rather be eating a donut but my oatmeal was good for me. My statement to Morgan was along the same lines. She was questioning a decision and I told her regardless, the outcome was for good. She looked puzzled. I explained that with every decision we really don't need to stress so much because the right decision is good for us and the wrong decision is good for us too. The difference is the wrong decision is a little more difficult to muddle through.

Now before you rush out and make careless decisions, understand that wrong decisions can have consequences that affect others and rob us of what exactly God had in mind. I believe God looks at our intentions to get it right. If I think back to many of my mistakes, whether they were years ago or last week, I believe they have made me more Kingdom focused. They have put me in places where I have been so desperate for Jesus that I had no other choice but to surrender. I sometimes find myself longing for the learnings I had in some of the yuckiest times. I hope you always cling to Jesus in your most yucky times. When you do, they end up being fond memories later on.

2 Timothy 3:16 makes me feel much better. "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness". Words like "teaching", "correction" and "training" confirm that we are going to make mistakes. So, we as we make mistakes we are to focus on training for righteousness. We are not to focus on false perfection or beating ourselves up for not getting it right. You and I can't go out and run for the first time and run a marathon. It takes effort, determination, and visualizing the goal.

Just last week as I was in the middle of mistake number two hundred, I did what every God loving, mom and wife does. I sat on the edge of my tub and cried. I told God that I didn't want to be a big girl for a while and I was too weary to pull myself up by the bootstraps. Here comes the correction......"Lisa, how many times do I have to remind you that YOU can't pull yourself up all by yourself?" I got my sweet, swift kick in the butt (in Jesus' name) and decided to get dressed in my armor again.

You and I are going to make TONS of mistakes. Take the pressure of yourself and take a big deep breath today! Mistakes are good for us. They make us better. The mistake that hurts the most is when we choose to quit." I am praying for all my readers to be warriors today and to not quit!

How many Goats, Rams and Bulls Would You Need?

I am having a ball digging around in the Old Testament. I can't always say that. I have been studying the history of The Day of Atonement. Atonement means to make amends or to reconcile. That was a day set aside when the Israelites could have their sins covered by the high priest who brought sacrifices into the Tabernacle on their behalf. Basically a life (an animal sacrifice at the time) had to be given so that their sins could be covered. The recognition of the day basically included three ceremonial traditions.

First, there was fasting. This was an expression of true repentance (Leviticus 23;29). Second, there was the high priest. Only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest could enter into the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle and offer a ceremonial sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins for the people (Hebrews 9:7). Third, there was the goat. Not just any goat but the scapegoat. This is the part that I find interesting. The scapegoat is used in a ceremony to carry all the sins of the people out into the wilderness and to never return. (Leviticus 16:10, 21-22) I was curious how they got the goat to go away and never come back. I know it is the wilderness and all, but the past can come back to haunt you. So I researched and found out that the owner of the goat would have to take the goat and push him down a mountain so he broke his legs and could not return.

Here comes the Lisa brain. I began to picture animal sacrifices back in the day. I have read about rams, bulls, goats, and more. Bring that image into today's world and I wondered where The Barrons would house all their needed rams, bulls and goats. I mean, there are six of us and picture this....Mom loses her temper and I have to go pick out a goat. One of my kids lies so I send them out back to get a bull. Can you imagine? I definitely would need some acreage. Then I am picturing the whole scapegoat idea. I mean would it be good to be the scapegoat owner? I pictured people in town driving by the "dumping pile" for scapegoats while out for their country, Sunday drive. Can you hear the car talk? "Boy, the Barrons have been busy".

Then, I pictured something beautiful. You see a goat and a bull couldn't get it completely taken care of. The Bible says so. Hebrews 10:4 says, It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins." This is why the ceremonial sacrifices had to occur over and over again. Can you imagine the blood everywhere? Then...in comes this Jesus. He is the one that had to be the ultimate sacrifice. Do you understand how big God's heart is to stop the goat nonsense and to send His own Son to die so we were not only covered for all our sins but wiped clean? Picture that day when there was one last shedding of blood and it was enough for all the generations and all the sins to come. That is HUGE!

We must acknowledge, repent and ask for forgiveness of our sins. God set it up so that it wasn't a once a year kind of thing. We have access directly through Jesus and He has already taken care of business for us. All we have to do is admit that we are sinners and admit our sins. They aren't just mistakes, mess ups or oops. They are full blown sins and Jesus has paid the full blown price. No goat chasing or bull collecting. It is as simple as praying for forgiveness.

Allow your heart and your commitment to be refreshed by the reminder of how much God loves us.

An Investment with a Great Return

I had a gift of a day yesterday. It was like Christmas in July! I headed out for a brunch with some long time friends that I haven't seen in a while. The hostess was this amazing girl from our youth group long ago. She is all grown up now with kids. I have watched her through Facebook and heard of all the wonderful things she is allowing God to do as she moves across the country. It was incredible to wrap my arms around her instead of staring at her in square boxes on the internet and learning about her through typed words. The morning was packed with love, reminders, and encouragement.

Kari is a strong, Godly woman who parents three children while her husband unselfishly serves our country. I am super proud of her and the faith she lives out. After getting past feeling extremely old, I watched and listened to the details of her life. I love how you can get back in a room with friends after extended periods of time and pick right back up where you left off. Kari hosted this brunch to honor some of the ladies that poured into her growing up. I was humbled to be invited but wasn't really sure what I had poured into her other than love. I was a new adult christian at the time I started working with her youth group. Those teenagers taught me a thing or two so I felt like I should be honoring her.

We sat around the table eating, laughing, sharing, and talking about Jesus. I watched as each woman shared with an honest and open heart about where they are in their journey. To listen to the stories, you would be reminded that life is tough. However, my favorite part was listening to how each lady is relying on Jesus to carry her through and there was JOY. There were smiles and words of encouragement flying all over the place. This was no pity party! This was how God intended relationships to be. He wants us to invest in one another. He wants us to take the time to love on each other. He wants us to build each other up. He wants us to push and drag each other through the tough seasons. Romans 12:10 says, "Love one another with brotherly affection. Out do one another in showing honor." The whole morning was a time of honoring one another and honoring our Jesus. That is the way He wants it to be all the time. I wonder why we don't want it that way all the time because it sure is easier and more fun.

Kari took the time to write each one of us a personal note (not an email) with precious words from her heart as to how we invested in her all those years. When she began to explain what she had done, my brain scrambled as I began to open my card. I couldn't think of anything specific I had done. When I began to read her card, I wondered if it was really meant for me. Tears rolled down my face as I read how God used me in Kari's life. I had no idea! I was immediately encouraged that God simply wants us to be ready and willing. He will take care of the "able" part.

The morning was topped off with prayer time. We prayed over Kari and the impact of investing hit me the most when her sweet, eight year old daughter joined in to pray. Her words were wise and proof that her momma is investing in her. What a powerful moment that tugged at my heart. Investing in people is SO IMPORTANT. When we invest in each other, it affects generations to come. What a great return on a very simple investment.

Don't allow yourself to be too busy or spread too thin. Time is so valuable and how we choose to invest it is life changing. Kari has had many choices along the way and she has been wise with her choices. Watching her yesterday has once again ministered to my heart to push hard for Jesus. You and I may never fully understand how He is using us to invest in and change generations to come.