Super Helpful & Edifying Sermon

Coeur D'Alene with Friends

With Carter out of school for parent-teacher conferences we decided to head out of town with our good friends, Doug and Martina, and their son Bennett. Mom and Dad generously let us stay at their place in Coeur D'Alene. So we spent a long weekend introducing our friends to our favorite Coeur D'Alene hangouts.

We were blessed with great weather and had lots of fun walking around town and going to parks with the kids. Eleanor had her 1st carousel ride at our favorite toy store, Figpickels. They have a mini-carousel with 3 horses and for $.50 cents the kids get a short ride which they all love. We are excited to head back over in a few weeks for Thanksgiving.

Halloween Fun

With Brandon in Texas for the World Series, Halloween for the Cox family just wasn't the same. But luckily Nana came over to hangout and keep us company and Mimi made us a delicious lasagna dinner to come home to after trick-or-treating.

The kids had a lot of fun over the weekend going to Carter's school carnival on Saturday and Sunday we had fun going to our friends house for a little Halloween party, downtown Edmonds for trick-or-treating, and to Westgate Chapel's Harvest Carnival for all sorts of fun games, bouncy houses, etc.

Unfortunately the excitement of the day prohibited my kids from sitting still long enough to get any really good pics, but what can you expect from a holiday dedicated to the consumption of sugar! Needless to say my Texas Ranger, Cinderella & Ladybug had a great time with all of their Halloween activities.

Wise Words for the Worriers

I found the following article on one of my favorite blogs to follow, Girl Talk. It is so applicable to all of us at one point or another in our lives. When I am reminded to turn back to God I can immediately feel the twinges of anxiety and worry lift from me. God takes our burdens from us and gives us His peace. Isn't it reassuring to know we have a REAL God who loves and cares for us so much? There is no problem or worry too big for our God.

"“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 4:6-7 ESV)

For the anxious mother, God has provided a solution in His Word.

It is simple: Pray. Give Thanks. Repeat.

It covers all of life: Don’t be anxious about ANYTHING. Pray about EVERYTHING.

And it comes with a promise: God’s peace will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Yet I sometimes treat prayer as if it doesn't work. I do this by not praying or thanking but by worrying instead.

“I’ve tried praying before,” I excuse myself, “and God’s answer was different than what I asked for. So what’s the use?” Or, “I tried praying and didn’t feel more peaceful. I must not be doing it right.”

But the peace of God is more than a flimsy feeling of peace. It is a knowing, a settled confidence in the sovereign goodness of God that will guard against all anxious feelings.

As we pray and give thanks IN EVERYTHING, our trust in God deepens and His peace pervades our lives. Anxious thoughts don’t have the same sticking power, and eventually, they go away.

So lately I’ve been trying to simply obey God’s Word in Philippians 4. I still have a lot to learn about prayer, but I can tell you this: my faith, peace and gratefulness to God have grown, and my temptation to anxiety has decreased.

Scripture is true, and as anxious mothers, we would do well to believe and obey."