I was so blessed by the Resolved Conference. It was a special opportunity that I had to attend before our baby boy comes. As a mom, I have had to sit out on a lot of sermons and Bible studies this year so it was nice to be able to listen to these sermons without any distractions and feed my soul. I am so thankful that Andrew persuaded me to go and is looking after my spiritual growth.
As many of you know it is so easy to be encouraged by a conference or retreat and then you can easily walk away and forget what you learned or how you need to change. I want to be a faithful steward of what God has taught me over the last weekend so I will be taking time each day to write down some notes from each sermon. These posts are probably more for me than anyone else but I hope you will be encouraged by them as well and inspired to go to Resolved next year!
Rick Holland
Hebrews 12:1-3
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a could of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you might not grow weary or fainthearted."
How Can I Get Traction in my Spiritual Life?
1. Find the intended inspiration (v.1) Remind yourself there are people who have done it. The path has been paved-follow the trail.
2. Eliminate every sin and distraction (v.1) What is hindering your spiritual growth? Can you identify that sin? There needs to be a radical amputation of sin. Are you running the race? Are you tired? Are you postponing obedience which really is disobedience?
3. Concentrate your faith on Jesus (v.2) He is the author and perfecter of our faith. You can't look at the world and Jesus at the same time. We so easily fill our mind with other things rather than Christ.
4. Be motivated by the gospel (vs.2-3) Jesus was rejected by all and still lived by faith.
How do we do this?
1. Learn to compare. Compare the world to Christ.
2. Learn to meditate. Feed your soul or faith will die.
*We must stop and think how much better Jesus is than sin*
*What is between you and Jesus? What is the sin?*
It's been interesting moving on to feeding SJ real food now. Although it is easier in some ways I feel like it takes a whole lot longer for each meal. Tonight dinner took almost 1 hour!!! We'll figure it out but it has been fun to see her try new things. It is such a weird thing giving them their first taste of all kinds of foods. The last few nights I gave her spaghetti and then we strip her down and put her right in the bathtub!
We got to celebrate Father's Day with some of our favorite friends, the Costello Family. First of all let me just say-Happy Father's Day honey. You are such a godly dad and SJ and baby boy are so blessed to have you influence their lives.
Annette is about to pop and due in July with Ivan. So we had to take a belly picture before the little guy arrives.
Captured this moment when Liam was getting sweet with SJ. Most of the time she was just screaming for joy watching him. You can tell that from the next picture. She obviously excited and he is like-what's wrong with her???
Let the games begin...
A little Minute to Win It
Our big 1 year old who loved every minute of camp. She was the only baby there so she got a lot of attention and of course loved that!
SJ's girlfriends
We got to go with the youth group to summer camp up in Oregon. I was not sure how SJ would do but she did great and loved being with the students. We were glad to be able to go along with the group but now we are glad to be home and be in our own beds:)
SJ turns 1 on Monday and we will be at summer camp with the youth group so we threw her a little party today. My sister made this picture for SJ using the invitation for my baby shower so we had it out to use as part of the decorations. These next few photos are for family who want to know how everything looked for the party since they could not be here. Okay, they are for my mom and sister-they love all the details!
Now that she is 1 it looks like Luke is making the moves on SJ. She doesn't seem to mind:)
I thought it would be fun to let her eat a cupcake but really thought she wouldn't eat much of it. I don't know what I was thinking! Our girl loves to eat!!! She gobbled that thing down.
Again for my mom and sister:) Here's a little banner of pictures that I made for each month of SJ's 1st year. I think I made it more for me than anything. I love to see how she has changed so much but it is also sad how fast it happens.
