Developing A Holy Habit

During this past Fall and Winter, I have been working alongside a group of women through two Beth Moore Bible studies. The first was Breaking Free. Talk about hitting the books hard and digging deep. I detailed a written journal (that I will not be posting online) of what God took me through. After a very quick breath over the holiday season, we delved into Daniel.

Before I continue, I just have to say that I think they call this season March Madness because of the wives' reactions to the amount of basketball flowing into their homes. I may be wrong, but that's my working theory at the moment. (I say this with all the love in the world and my dear H1 is rather sweet about not watching every game as I know he would like to).

Anyways. Ahem. To say that I've learned a lot in this study of Daniel would be a mild understatement. My mind has been racing through most of this and I'm loving it. I feel like I'm dusting cobwebs off my brain as I settle into a pattern of learning. Speaking of patterns, on to what I wanted to share. During week 6, one of the points Beth made in the video portion was to note Daniel's holy habit of prayer. She says:
"Consider three ways we can react in an emergency:
-We can panic
-We can become paralyzed
-We can pray
Like Daniel, we want to practice a holy habit long enough that it becomes the old habit."
Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

A holy habit. I love that phrase. I need to walk with God so deeply, so diligently, that my reactions to crisis are of the Spirit because it is so engrained into my being. Under pressure, what comes out? At another time during this study, the point was also made that Daniel didn't get like this overnight. It started before he was taken captive to Babylon and made the choice (at the age of 15) to follow God's commands and not partake of what Babylon offered him. By the time he faced the lions' den and saw God deliver him, he was 80 years old. Consistency. According to the book of Daniel, over the course of his life, Daniel was consistent in his holy habit of prayer and in chapter 9, the angel Gabriel calls him "highly esteemed".

Like I said, there's a lot flowing through my mind at the moment. I journaled a lot of it so I could streamline my thoughts, but that will not be posted here. I just wanted to share a few things that I was thinking about, not necessarily for the first time, but more in a new light.

~H2

We're Back! (and mobile)

Well, I should specify that H4 is mobile, but I'll get to that in a moment.

Talk about silly withdrawal symptoms. We don't have smart phones, so this past month without internet has been a blackout for me. I re-emerged a few days ago, feeling like I was completely lost. Since we also live in the middle of nowhere, TV reception via our antenna is often spotty. I've been behind on news and missing having the internet at my fingertips for home schooling resources.

As I type this, my brain is working to remember all that's happened in the last month.  It's been an emotional roller coaster, with the loss of my grandmother on February 27th and blood testing for H3, trying to pinpoint what has been causing some high fevers for her with no other symptoms (no results there). We've also had a lot of good times and I've been really enjoying school with H3 now that she's finally taking off with the reading thing--she loves sitting down for stories!

To try and recount everything would wind up in a forever post, so here's a photo recap (that's not so short either).

H4 decided that her crawling backwards method (that she's been employing since December) was no longer working to her advantage since she kept getting stuck under things.

Sisters

Spinach and brown rice anybody?

Spring cookies to go with our not-so-Spring weather

Experimenting with H3's hair

Ahhhh...forward crawling is much better

A visit from Pop-pop!

My new morning greeting

Hehehe....there is nothing safe in the house anymore, Mommy!

Blowing bubbles on a surprise warm day

I will get that puzzle, I will, I will!

What? I'm not supposed to get the puzzle?

Hot air balloons above a nearby field

Pop-pop and H4

At the VA Beach Aquarium, checking out a shark

Oooooh....fish!

Hi turtle!

Big tank! (H3 is the one with her arm in the air)

Best scared face

Learning about how sharks find food

Hands-in ray tank with Daddy

and Pop-pop

Nature trail

H3, H1, and Pop-pop

Checking out the view

Random snow, in VA, in mid-March. A rare sight here (and a bit unwelcome)

Stopped by Auntie Amber's classroom to say hello, and H3 was rather taken with the desks.

Well, that's a bit of what we've been up too. The munchkins are in need of a nap, so that's the most of an update I can do for now. We are all here and well, and happy to have our internet back.

~H2