Weekend at Roxy's

    Well, last week closed with a whisper and the weekend came with a shout! Friday night, Tobes and I had a lovely shabbat dinner with fresh baked challah I made (which, let me tell you is a big step for me)! Friday was a much needed rest, and then came Saturday. It's amazing how the enemy will stop at NOTHING to keep God's word from getting out. Rabbi Greg's message was all about following Yeshua and learning to stop asking God to calm the storm and just start stepping out on the water, metaphorically. It was powerful and such a needed word, but it took a lot to get it out. ALL of the mikes started acting up, our sound for the worship team was totally jacked up, people we needed weren't there, and much more. We were all frustrated, but we knew what was going on in the spiritual and not just the physical. Long story short, it all got fixed and the message got out.
      I think we learn everyday that as believers we should expect attacks when we step out in the Lord. Not that you should walk around freaking out thinking that the devil is breathing down your neck, but we should hope for the best but prepare for the worst. A good movie quote that expresses this was from Thor (don't laugh). King Odin says, "A wise king never seeks out war...but, he must always be ready for it." We're not kings, but we are the children of God and such is our fate to follow Him and resist the power of the enemy

     After all of that, we watched our rabbi's kids this weekend at my mother-in-law's which was a blast! From playing Mario Kart to having a tea party with the girls, it was fun and crazy and with many sweet moments in between. After we got home from taking the kids back and having some hang out time with their parents we watched Thor. TOTALLY. AMAZING. Call me crazy, but God showed me so much through that movie. There is no way to explain all of the things I got, but the strongest one was that, sometimes our heavenly Father has to make us go through things to strengthen us. Sometimes we feel stripped of our sanity and that we have lost everything, but, the only way to know where we're going is to admit that we don't know where we are. That's when God steps in and lights our path. As soon as Thor made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of the innocent, THAT is when what his father had promised came to pass. He became worthy of his calling again, THAT'S US! Once we deny ourselves and live for something greater, THAT is when God steps in and anoints us for His work and give us life and new strength! WOO! I was so pumped in that movie haha.

Well, it is off to work for me. Stay encouraged and keep on keeping on!

B

Hubby playing Mario Kart with the kids!

Sweet snuggles :)

Shabbat!

Obviously really happy about the bread :)

Out of the Frying-Pan and into the Fire

     Have you ever felt like you have just narrowly escaped a bad situation, only to enter an even more unpleasant one? If you are human, then you more than likely have and it is probably the most common situation we experience. Not because life is horrible and there is no hope, but because we live in a very old world that sin has aged even more so, and no amount of "going green" will save it, until Yeshua (Jesus) comes back. He said in His word that "in the world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33 Well, that's good news right? YES! I am so thankful my Messiah took the punishment for me and gave me a way to get to the Father! But what happens when it feels like we've gotten out of the frying-pan and into the fire?

     Recently, I started reading the Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. It's an excellent book, and The L-RD really spoke to me through it. Bilbo, quite unexpectedly, has adventure and trouble thrust upon him by Gandalf and his band of dwarves and from about page 5 onward, you watch Bilbo and friends constantly go from the frying-pan to the fire a good many times. Each time Bilbo thinks he's done for, somehow, he is rescued or finds strength to rescue himself. But, it is always right when he feels he can't take it anymore. Like Bilbo, I have felt that in life sometimes I'm about to be done for. I'm not exactly being chased by goblins or wolves, but the trials of everyday life surmount so high sometimes, that I feel like I will either collapse or explode. It's not easy to trust what you can't see, and it's not easy to have faith when you feel like nothing will change. However, that's what makes faith what it is. It's to believe that, just like every time before, G-D will make a way out especially when you cannot see how. In these dark times when we struggle, flesh versus spirit, and cannot keep worry from clinging to our already bowed backs, it is G-D who runs in and defeats the enemy. He may not destroy what ails us, He may not take it away immediately, but, He will give us the grace to keep going and sharpen us through it, so that when the trial is over we are made stronger.

     Charles Spurgeon said something about faith that I'll never forget and will forever see when I think of it:
"So Faith rides forth on the black horse, conquering and to conquer, trampling down carnal reason and fleshly sense, and chanting notes of victory amid the thickest of the fray."

So when you are next feeling as if you have been tossed from one trial to another, remember that G-D will get you through and get you out, and faith is not just a passive thing, it is an action that you can fight the enemy with and never fail.


~Brooke~

I need new glasses.

     Recently, I took my youth group girls on a retreat in Alabama. The drive up was fun (and crazy, of course) but on the way back home, we had to drive on the outskirts of a tropical storm! Not only was this my first out of state trip that I was in charge of, but I had to partially drive in the rain, which is not too high on my list of favorite things to do. The later it got, and the heavier the rain got, it was harder for me to see. I have glasses, well, I HAD glasses until I lost them, haha. The only pair of glasses I had were reading glasses and everything is very blurry with those. I had to squint and strain, but by the grace of G-D I made it home safely!

     G-D told me something about that situation. That is how we live our lives with the L-RD most times. We do our best to see clearly in this world, but it is only with His grace that we make it through. In 1 Corinthians 13:12 it says that for now we "see through a glass, darkly," which means, not everything is clear to us, spiritually. G-D takes us along stormy journeys sometimes and the only way we can make it with our "dark glasses" is to trust that G-D will be our eyes and help get us through the storm. I have situations in my life right NOW that I really can't see clearly, and to be honest, it sometimes makes me want to just throw in the towel and give up. I know we all have those moments. But, G-D always gives us just enough to get to the next step, even if it's hard.

Even though I'm waiting for some new glasses in actual life (haha) I am looking forward to the day when I see clearly...when I see His face and know Him like I've been wanting to for so long.

Be encouraged and keep looking up!

~Brooke~