We are the church together

I am the Church, You are the Church, We are the Church together.

 

Leaving a fundraiser today for a mission that a local couple founded this Sunday School song was repeating in my mind. A fun song that we sang most Sundays growing up doesn't have the same meaning then as it does now. As little girl this song was fun to sing and point to myself my best friend next to me and then to all in our tight nit one room Sunday School. As with most Sunday School songs they were engraved in my memory and the true meaning of their lyrics I can slowly understand more and more each day.

Looking around the room today at the fundraiser there were people represented from many churches in our community that are all part of the "church" all there to support the common goal of spreading the love of Jesus. We all are the Church together!

Etsy Listing: We are the church together

LOVE

We Love because He first Loved us. 1 John 4:19

Let us Love one another, for Love is from God. 1 John 4:7

Love... was so easy when I fell in love with my husband just out of High School. The butterflies, the pure joy, laughing and oh sooo happy!  Our engagement and first two years of marriage were a "happily ever after" dream. This love we were feeling had to be from God it was(is) so perfect. Three years into our marriage my husband was diagnosed with corhns  disease and we had a six month battle that lead to a two week hospital stay, surgery and followed with three weeks of IV nutrition treatments from home that I administered. My six foot tall husband was admitted to the hospital at only 114 pounds! I was with him the whole way and continued to manage our new business from the hospital and home. He recovered from the surgery and we learned how to live with this new disease.

After overcoming the surgery we decided to start our family and after a year we finally got pregnant! We were so excited. At 14 weeks we lost the baby and I was heart broken. I had already feel in love with this unborn baby. I went through a small depression as I grieved. I was scared to try again for a second pregnancy, I couldn't loose another baby I didn't think I could live through that again. After three or four months we decided to try again. I shut down my heart. I was too scared to loose another baby but wanted to give my husband a child soo bad. After trying for almost another year I was an emotional mess, scared I'd loose another pregnancy and upset that I couldn't get pregnant. About two years after my husband's surgery he was doing great and I was pregnant! I was excited but afraid to get too attached through the whole pregnancy, but when our baby boy was born I was overwhelmed with the amount of love I felt for this baby boy!      

Just looking at my new son and my husband I would tear up because I was so in love with both these boys. If I could love this man and baby boy this much I couldn't imagine that the Lord could love me even more! I thought I could open my heart up again... then when our son was two months old he was in the emergency room with rsv and my husband's crohns was back. I love these two so much but closed my heart back up as I cared for them. Our baby boy recovered quick but my husband ended up back in the hospital for another surgery and just under two weeks in the hospital.

A year down the road we were back on track my husband was healthier than he had ever been and our one and half year old was a super happy active toddler. We unexpectedly got pregnant with our second child and I was in love with my husband, toddler and unborn baby! My super easy pregnancy came to a halt when my water broke at 33 weeks. I gave birth to a four pound baby boy seven weeks too early. Our new baby was in the NICU, and my two year old was four hours away with our parents. I continued to lean on the Lord for courage and strength but closed my heart. This was too much, I was so close to loosing all the boys in my life that I loved soo much. I couldn't give my husband or my boys my full heart I had to guard it. 

I lived like this for a year without fully loving... how awful! The Lord laid the word "Love" on my heart and I began studying scripture and praying. Through my prayers and the word of God I was able to open my heart up and truly love my husband and children unconditionally. This roller coaster life we are all on can take our heart for a ride, but the Lord loves us and has taught us to love one another. I've never been happier and more in love with my Lord, husband and children as I am right now. Through our trials the Lord has showed me the strength he can give me and taught me that I can lean on and trust Him always.

Etsy Listing: We Love because He first Loved us 

Etsy Listing: Let us Love one another because Love is from God 

 

Do for the Glory of God

 

Whatever you Do, Do for the Glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

This verse has been repeating in my head day after day. While I'm trying to shower, feed my young boys breakfast, get us all dressed, lunches packed and then conquering the day (where most days my boys come to work with me).  "How can I glorify God right now" I think. Paul is preaching about what new Christians should eat and drink compared to the old testament laws. His point is in whatever you eat or drink or even do should be to glorify God. We no longer need to follow the laws, but are called to glorify God.

So what is the "Glory of God"? We find in Isaiah 43:7 "everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.", that we are created to reflect God's image. We are to reflect God's image in all we do. God's glory is all he has created and who He is and He created us. In our day to day life we are called as Christians to reflect the image of God, so those around us can see the glory of God as we live out our lives.

Romans 3:31 tells us, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Because we are sinful in nature we can not achieve this calling to reflect God's image without the help of the Holy Spirit. I pray every day for help to reflect God's image as I am called as a wife, mother and businesswomen.

Etsy Listing: Whatever you Do, Do for the Glory of God

Dinner Prayer

Heavenly Father great and good, let us thank Him for our food. Guide and keep us through each day, bless us even as we pray. Amen.

This was the dinner prayer that my family said every night before dinner. Growing up in a Christian home we had dinner as a family every night around the table. We said this prayer in unison before any of our food was touched and then visited over a healthy home cooked meal. Dinner time was like an open forum where all members of the family could share their excitement, sorrows, fears and questions. We would visit about the mundane of our day some nights and then the next night research a topic in the bible or encyclopedia. Whatever the topic, we were all included as a family and encourage one another... or our parents taught us how to encourage each other. My parents took an interest in mine and each of my siblings life and taught us how to live each day in faithful Christian manner. I was able to gain my parents trust and knew that whatever came up in my life I could come to them and the Lord and it would be OK. I cherish the many, many family meals I shared with my family growing up and now as an adult my husband and I continue to sit as a family with our young children, bless our meal and discuss the day. 

Etsy listing: dinner-prayer-wall-garphic

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 1 Samuel 1:27


My husband and I had been married for just over 3 years, had graduated from college and just bought our first business. Everything had gone as plan and the next logical step in life was to start our family. We didn't have any idea how hard it would be for us to get pregnant and ultimately have our first son. We had been trying to get pregnant for over a year with no success when we finally got pregnant but it ended in miscarriage only a few months into the pregnancy. This was when we started a bible study on the book of Samuel. Hannah was barren and prayed to the Lord for a child.


 And she made a vow, saying, "Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head." 1 Samuel 1:11


Not only did Hannah ask for a child, she asked for a son that she would ultimately give up. When Hannah was blessed with a son she took her child to the house of the Lord and give him to Eli (the high priest), as soon as he was weaned. This is a story of faith and obedience, which hit home as I wanted a child so bad. Not only were my husband and I praying to be blessed with a child, our small group was praying for us as well.  Two years after the miscarriage our first son Hoyt was born and then two years after that our second son Jayce was born. The Lord answered our prayers with two healthy sons (both born early but healthy). I did not have to give my sons up as Hannah did but I do strive to raise them to love the Lord.


This wall graphic is what is installed above my youngest son Jayce's crib.



Etsy Listing 1 Samuel 1:27, Jayce

Introduction

My Introduction:
A few years ago I wanted to do two things (1) study my bible more and (2) expand my sign business. My etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/SignGuysAndGal?ref=si_shop has been my way to make some extra money and share bible verses that inspire me during my daily bible time. I have two boys (almost 4 and 2) and my husband and I own two businesses (a sign manufacturing business and a guided fishing/marina business). We are super busy but try to structure our lives, God, each other, family and then everything else.

Over the last two years I have slowly added wall graphic designs to my Etsy shop. Each one of a verse or from a Hymn or Sunday School song that has inspired me. As a young girl I loved to surround myself (mainly my room) with verses and quotes that inspired me. Now with the ability to create wall graphics I've continued to surround my home with wall graphics of verses that encourage me day to day.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:5-9

This verse is my main inspiration for my wall graphics. Not only do I tend to surround myself with the Lord's word, we are commanded to talk about them, impress them on our children, tie them to our hands, bind them to our foreheads and write them in our homes (Deuteronomy 6: 5-9). I have meditated and studied each verse before I've created my designs. My focus of this blog is to share my personal story behind each design I create or have created. Follow along as I continue to study my bible more and more everyday.

Vicki
SignGal