Sisterly Love!

A sister is a friend forever.~Author Unknown

How do people make it through life without a sister?~Sara Corpening

My dear friend/sister in Christ, Denise!

What's the good news if you haven't a sister to share it?~Jenny Devries

An older sister is a friend and defender, a listner, a counselor and a sharer of delights. And sorrows too.~Pam Brown

I woke up this morning with a text from a dear sister in Christ sharing with me her daughter finally made her arrival. As I laid in bed, I was overjoyed as I thought to myself "a girl". My friend had decided to wait along with her husband to find out the sex of the baby. I will say brave parents! So much anticipation for the both of them! I couldn't help but think about how sweet it is to have a girl much less to have a sister. This precious baby girl name, Katherine Daisy has an older sister and I look forward to watch Nicole be a big sister to baby Katherine. I just couldn't help but praise God for giving me four older sisters including a half sister plus so many other dear sisters in the Lord.

When Micah and I found out we were pregnant with our second, immediately everyone began to ask us, (What we wanted?) It didn't take me long at all to answer that one. I wanted another little girl. I wanted Lena to have a baby sister and God so graciously did just that. Of course, my husband wanted a boy but when we were told a girl, he was totally okay with it. (Of course he was, he had no choice! LOL) I was just sharing with my husband yesterday how amazing it is that God saw fit to give us a girl. It's just so perfect! I know this had a lot to do with being raised up by lots of sisters. Having sisters can be so fun!

I think it must have really hit me and I began to appreciate having sisters at the age of 21 and I met a dear friend name, Denise Gonzales now Denise Krummel. She was the oldest of three sisters. I am not surprised at all that we clicked so well, she was the oldest and I knew all about being a baby sister. Baby sisters tend to cling tightly to the oldest. Actually, I am like that with all my sisters but the oldest I remember always wanting to be with her. Being that I was away from my very own sisters and parents Iwas always hanging out with her and her family. I enjoyed sitting at the table after Sunday Service and watching the dad get so loved on by all his girls. It was real sweet. The conversations were so much fun and full of laughter! Slowly but surely I began to appreciate what a sister was. Now, I'm not taking anything away from my very own sisters! As I got to hang out with my friend and her sisters, of course there were lots of fights, lots of arguements. How I remember this oh so well! I remember fighting a lot with my sisters and I know that they would say I was spoiled and I know that to be true. I remember disappointing my sisters or betraying their trust. I remember saying hateful things to their faces and behind their backs. Thankfully they have been gracious to love me still and remain a friend and always a sister to me.

But I honestly think it goes much deeper as well. As I have grown, and still growing, I'm learning another whole new meaning of sisterhood. In my very own walk with God and as I'm deepening my relationship with God, I have gain so many other precious sisters along with continuing my relationship with my very own sisters. I have an amazing group of ladies that I know they are for me and will always be there. I've grown with these ladies and many have seen me at my worst and many have seen me at my best. I've shared laughs, dining out, dancing, singing, crying together, fun fellowship, playdates, time of prayer, serious conversations and I've cherished every moment of it. I love my dear sisters in Christ!

There is nothing like having sisters you can lean on! I am beyond blessed! I'm so thankful also for over the course of my 31 years of living, I have met some amazing ladies that I gladly call sisters. Even though some of us are miles apart, I am very fond of the precious moments we had and the season we got to spend together.

I look forward to watching Lena and Sophia share a sweet bond together as sisters and look forward to watching them meet girlfriends along the way in whom they will call also "a sister".

In Him,

Rose

A gentle tug, push or simply a good reminder!

My heart was stirred up this past week as I had the wonderful privilege of reading a dear friends blog. There was no doubt a gentle tug on my heart as I had a good reminder to never stop writing. Now that I have two precious and beautiful girls, I definitely want them to know how much their mother loved to write. I was challenged to write often, daily if I can about things that are taking place in my life. My dear friend, Lizzy Grant, who is precious and absolutely has a huge heart for God, shared something so sweet about her grandfather in whom she calls 'Opah'. Her Opah told her that she had a gift and the Lord wants to use it to minister to others and that when we write things out even if it's just about daily life stuff, it's storing up a legacy for future generations. Amen and Amen! I believe this to be true!

Ever since I was a little girl, I loved to write. I remember when my oldest sister went off to college I used to write her stories and send them to her. She always praised me for writing those stories. I also remember when I was six years old, I learned how to write letters and got to send my first letter to another little girl. I loved it! I had gained a pen pal. So writing has always been something I've enjoyed to do, it has been very therapeutic for me. Even though it may not always makes sense to others, it tends to make sense to me.

If you have a passion for writing, I encourage you to write. Please don't stop! As for me, I totally needed a gentle tug by the Lord, a push and no doubt a simple reminder. Sometimes we need to be pushed a little! I had my little push a couple of days after reading this particular blog. If anyone knows my husband, he is a huge fan of roasting coffee and on this certain day he needed me to step in and help him roast since he was at work. I was so hesitant that I just told him, "No babe, you know that I don't function well like this!" I told him, "You have to show me, I just can't learn by you telling me over the phone." Thankfully, Micah was so gracious with me, he gently said to me,"Babe, I will walk you through it!" And of course I changed my mind. I totally roasted my first batch of home roasted coffee and it was a success. He was so proud of me and totally believed in me and having him push me along allowed me to accomplish the roast.

Being able to read my friends blog got me so deep in my heart as tears fell from my face, I felt as though the Lord had asked me "Why haven't you written lately daughter?" Sometimes we don't feel motivated or encouraged to do so. But the Lord is faithful to see you through! Just as my dear friend encouraged me to write, I will encourage you to do the same. (Whoever you are!) I will send out a gentle tug and a push your way!

I want to write and continue this as long as the Lord allows! I want to be able to share with those around me what the Lord has done and continues to do for me. I want to leave a legacy for future generations, starting with my very own children, Lena and Sophia.

In Him,
Rose

Simply Delightful!

What a BEAUTIFUL DAY today! We decided to have a picnic at a near by park and before you knew it, the wind began to pick up. So we improvised and had our picnic inside on our living room floor. It was a lot of fun especially for Lena!

Our indoorsie picnic is what we called it! It really is the simple things in life that can go a long way! So glad we took time to do this.... Lena was ecstatic to be sitting on the floor and enjoying something quite different.

Love this facial expression of Lena! She enjoyed her sandwich and so did I. :)

Explaining herself away!

Lena telling me what we ate at our picnic.

A gracious reminder!

Even in the midst of a chaotic morning, the Lord, who is so gracious met me, in spite of all the chaos. I had one of those mornings where I wanted to scream, pull my hair out and just run, far, far, far away. YIKES! Well, I was quite overwhelmed with my to do list and when being pulled in every direction, it kind of makes you become a tad bit crazy. Can anyone relate??
After preparing dinner, making sure lunch was packed for work for my hubby, feeding lena lunch, picking up the living room, and so forth.... ...... ...... I walked into my daughter's room about to go insane. My daughter's room was turned upside down. It was an absolute mess! Feeling extremely overwhelmed, I began to pick up her toys one by one. As I knelt down on my knees, I leaned across her bed to gather some toys and before you knew it, I realized I was positioned as if I had kneeled to pray.
At that point, it was brought to my attention, I could pass this up and continue in my nasty attitude cleaning her room but rather I found myself calling out to the Lord. ( I LOVE those moments to where God is faithful towards his children and felt like he had something to say to me and he did.)
As I started off with such a grumpy attitude there was indeed a time of confession and repentance. Of course, I could feel the Lord extend his grace towards me. With a sigh of relief the Lord gave me of a couple of scriptures to meditate on:

Job 37:14 KJV
Hearken unto this, O Job:
stand still, and consider the wonderous works of God.

Felt the Lord telling me
Listen O Rose my precious daughter,
Give ear O Rose,
Pay attention O Rose,
STAND STILL and
Understand,
Consider with full attention,
Ponder,
the Marvelous works
the Amazing works of God.

Reminded me to stand still and to not let things take me out of walking in a manner that is pleasing to God but to set my mind on His wonderous works and all that He has done for us.

Psalms: 37:23-24
The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
And He delights in his way
When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong.
Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.

The Lord knew I was on a breaking point and in spite of myself, he was faithful and met me where I was at.

Reminded me that I shouldn't forget to kneel down sometimes and seek the Lord. He delights to meet with me and You!

Now listen, I know that this might be a little petty to some but for me it was a good reminder,
No matter what you may be going through the Lord loves you and desires for us to meet with Him. There is no doubt He wants to meet with you daily. I do tend to forget that.
So be encouraged my dear sisters in Christ!

In Him,
Rose

It's Sneak Peak Time!

Lately, I have been inspired to start a little hobby. May I add that indeed this hobby is a beginners hobby and a really small one at that. Taking Baby Steps! :)

I recently took some pics of my dear friend, Angelica Carmona, here are a couple that I wanted to share. As my dear friend, Lizzy Grant would say..... "here is a sneak peak" Very Excited!

What's new!

It's definitely been a while since I've blogged. Where have I been? Since I love to write, whether it may be journaling, blogging, writing notes down during a good message, I've come to realize that it is very therapeutic for me to do just that. So, I am not to sure why I have not been writing but I know that I should be consistent with it, especially if I like to do it.
Let's see, What's new????

Changes are a happening at the Lantz home. We are going through a series at my church called, Living Lives of Mercy and Justice. Incredible! Here are a couple of points that were discussed in our Wednesday night study:

A. We are called to give-generously
1. A lack of generosity is not just stinginess its covetousness......
2. To whom do we give
B. We are called to 'Balance' our wealth

So, just by reading this you get the glimpse of what is being taught and may I add, it's been good to hear and our prayer (Micah and I) is that we allow God's Word to continually change us to be more like Christ and to not only be hearers of His word but doers as well.

Also, we have approached our favorite season and we are excited. Micah and I have always loved this time of year....maybe because so much takes place during this season. Let's see we have a little list going on:
Of course, fall has gotten started and then we have our birthdays in November, thanksgiving, christmas and our wedding anniversary, plus we get ready to start a whole new year, and before you know it, it will be Lena's third birthday. It's fun for us! Lena is thrilled that "Merry Christmas Tree" is coming. :) That's what she calls Christmas right now. Silly girl.

Micah has been keeping busy with brewing and I am loving it. I sure do enjoy all the beers he has made. That's been fun to watch and get to taste. (FYI: I will be posting a blog about my husband's beers very soon, I personally think you will find brewing beer quite interesting.)

We are in the process of getting Lena potty trained and yet while we will be very sad to see her transition from diapers to underwears, it will be very nice not to have to buy diapers any more. Also, since my daughter has gotten back from her three week trip from Ohio, her vocabulary has increased immensely. It blows me away to see her having conversations with me. Lena is growing too fast and so I get reminded of that saying my Pastor always shared with us, "the days are long and the years are short"....so true!

This might be a little scattered about the things that are taking place in my life but so very thankful for God's faithfulness and the different seasons that we go through. I am very blessed to be apart of a wonderful community and looking forward to all that God is doing and will do and has done.

In Him,
Rose

Moment by Moment and Day by Day

These past couple of months have been to me a whirl wind of emotions. So many things have come up and issues that seem to have shifted the direction I once thought I was going. When my plans get interrupted and my real motives began to surface it's kind of hard to press and go forward. Through it all, I must remind myself that "moment by moment and day by day I need to meet with the Lord". That's so easy to say but yet so hard to do sometimes.

I had a dear friend over recently and we shared our hearts and each of us had been totally blessed and encouraged by each others testimony of what the Lord was doing in our lives. Listening to my dear friend share I was brought back to the need and importance of being connected to the body. For whatever reason God has been laying that so strongly on my heart lately. I came across this paragraph in "Life Together" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer that I wanted to share:

In the Christian Community thankfulness is just what it is anywhere else in the Christian life. Only he who gives thanks for little things receives the big things. We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts He has in store for us, because we do not give thanks for daily gifts. We think we dare not be satisfied with the small measure of spiritual knowledge, experience, and love that has been given to us, and that we must constantly be looking forward eagerly for the highest good. Then we deplore the fact that we lack the deep certainty, the strong faith, and the rich experience that God has given to others, and we consider this lament and pious. We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts. How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things? If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even where there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ.


This seemed to have struck me straight in my heart when I read this passage. I have caught myself forgetting to give thanks for the small things within the body of Christ and really trying to grasp hold of the big things that God may or may not have in store for me. So, if things are not going according to my standards, desires are not being met, plans are being interrupted, should I then not give thanks even when there is plenty of redirecting and shifting being done in my life that I assume shouldn't be there? Of course not! But oh how easy to do!
When I don't give thanks my heart begins to be filled with my wants and needs rather than laying my heart before the Lord, giving thanks and desiring His perfect will to be done in my life. I completely allow myself to hinder what God wants to do through me to help edify and grow with the body of Christ. I forget the BIG PICTURE! I forget that God is in control and that my steps are ordered by Him.

In saying all of this, when things may not go my way and my real motives are up front and open, it is then when I should be reaching out and asking for prayer and wisdom. I am NOT GOD! Oh how I tend to miss the mark on that one! My pride tends to get in the way and I began to work on my own strength, forgetting that's why we are connected to the body.

The simple truth: Is that we are in need of one another!

Having my friend over was so refreshing and wishing I would have done that a lot sooner than later. If so, maybe I could have taken those emotions and handled all that might have been going on a lot differently. I believe I would have responded better in so many ways if I'd have sought to be thankful rather than a complainer to God. Thankfully we are connected to a loving, gracious and understanding Father who knows our weaknesses.
Hebrews 4:15-16
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.

Just because things may not be going according to Rose's Plans...no need to fret because it is God in whom my heart belongs to....my life is in His hands and I shall walk in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord.

In Him

Rose