January 28, 2008 by His Kingdom Herald.

One of the obvious priorities for me is my home life. Since the accident, I’ve been barely able to do damage control around the house.

My oldest son (age 13) sent me an email a few months ago. I was surprised to find it in my “in box” because he never sends me emails. He said he was sorry that I was hurting so badly and hoped that I’d get better soon. It was the last line that pierced my heart “I miss the old mom”.

I began wondering what he meant by “the old mom”. What did he remember that I wasn’t able to do anymore?

I remembered the days when I ran a registered daycare in my home. It was my home-based business, and I took it very seriously. In order to be reimbursed for the meals I served, I had to prepare nutritious menu plans and meals. The house was kept very clean to keep everyone (especially my own children) healthy. The rooms were picked up frequently so that little feet wouldn’t trip and fall over a lot of clutter. That’s what came to my mind when he mentioned “the old mom”.

Once I went to work away from home, my attention shifted. I had a new business to run and my home-keeping at times slipped into hobby status.

As I was pondering this, I began asking God what I should do.

“The Smidt Family Bed and Breakfast” is what came to mind.

At first I argued with Him. “I don’t want another job!!!” But over the course of several days My Heavenly Daddy began to remind me about all of the times that people have noticed my gift of hospitality. He also reminded me of the times that I had experienced the gift of hospitality in the homes of my friends and family.

I began to realize that I wasn’t supposed to run this “home based business” by myself. He wanted me to teach my entire family about the gift of hospitality and teach them some of the necessary skills (like meal planning, food prep, and clean-up). But I noticed there was an unexpected by product of this teaching time.

They began to enjoy the fellowship with me in the kitchen and take pride in the new skills they’re learning. My youngest son is becoming an expert at running the bread machine. We’ve enjoyed fresh hot bread at our meals, caramel rolls, homemade pizza and now we’re moving on to homemade buns.

We’ve also come to realize that my oldest son has a real talent when it comes to selecting seasonings to flavor up the food we’re cooking. Each of them have learned how to set a table properly and they even enjoy lighting candles as part of our evening meal preparations.

They’re beginning to enjoy their own gifts of hospitality. And I’m beginning to realize that “The Smidt Family B&B is actually more of a ministry than a business.

As my children grow up and move away, they’ll have the opportunity to open their own little franchises. And who knows; once their friends experience that gift of hospitality, perhaps they too will be inspired to open a franchise as well.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

January 24, 2008 by His Kingdom Herald.

Learning to HEAR God’s voice is one thing.

Learning to LISTEN to God is something totally different.

Have you ever asked someone to do something for you, only to have them give absolutely no response to your request?

Then, when you try to get their attention again, they give you this irritated response;

“I HEARD YOU!”.

I wonder how often we’ve done that to God.

We know what He wants us to do. . . we’ll get around to it eventually. . . it’s just not at the top of our priority list right now.

Perhaps part of our problem is that we picture our Heavenly Father sitting in a recliner in the living room of our lives.

Would our response to Him and our priorities be different if we really understood the reality of who He is?

In chapter 17 of the book of Matthew, three disciples were given the opportunity to see Jesus and His Father the way they really are:

2 As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. 3 Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus.

4 Peter exclaimed, “Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here! If you want, I’ll make three shelters as memorials*-one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

5 But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said,”This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.” 6 The disciples were terrified and fell face down on the ground. (NLT)

In the blink of an eye their perspective had changed.

Once that bright cloud overshadowed them, they lost site of that bright idea that threatened to distract them.

In the swirling mist they were once again able to focus on that which was truly important. . . listening.

REALLY listening.

Our Heavenly Daddy loves us deeply and unconditionally. It’s really hard for human beings to understand the depth of His love for us, because most of us have never had an opportunity to experience anything that comes close to unconditional love.

Yet in the midst of this unconditional love is the ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY of the CREATOR, RULER and SUSTAINER of EVERYTHING.

SO LISTEN TO HIM !

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

January 10, 2008 by His Kingdom Herald.

OK, so you’ve recognized the fact that you need to make some ADJUSTMENTS in your life.

You’ve asked God to help you re-examine your PRIORITIES (be sure to take notes!)

You’re carefully PRUNING away activities and projects that don’t reflect these new priorities.

The next step is a challenging one :

To DISCIPLINE yourself by making each day’s decisions based on these new priorities.

Old habits die hard. Distractions will inevitably come along and tempt you to loose focus and fall back into the comfortable and the familiar.

Just remember that the height of insanity is to continue to do the same things you’ve always done and expect a different result.

Don’t expect to do it perfectly at first. Anything worth doing is worth doing badly until you can do it well. Don’t let your pride and fear of failure become stumbling blocks on this new stretch of road God is leading you down.

Humility is a good thing. It helps you realize just how weak and inadequate you truly are.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

January 8, 2008 by His Kingdom Herald.

It was my turn to lead the staff devotions.

This was to be the first one in 2008.

As we were waiting for the last few people to arrive, I asked if life had managed to get back to normal yet.

It seemed as if everyone had at least one unfinished project that they were focused on.

As they were sharing, this picture came to mind. . .

It was a like a clip from one of those Saturday morning cartoons I watched when I was little.

This poor little turtle was trying to creep across a VERY busy dirt road. After several failed attempts, he finally gathered up enough courage to dive in and take his chances. Once the dust cleared, there was nothing left but an empty shell spinning on its back in the middle of the road.

I found this picture extremely funny, because many of us were facing physical conditions this Christmas season that slowed down our speed.

Two of us had painful knees, one of us had a sore foot, one had a pain in the neck (and back) and we had two pregnancies and deliveries!!!

Our inside joke was that our battle cry this Christmas should be “TURTLE POWER !” and our motto, “slow and steady wins the race”.

As the dust begins to settle and the spinning begins to stop, we’re able to stick our necks out far enough to realize that. . .

BY THE GRACE OF GOD, WE SURVIVED!

(THANK YOU JESUS!)

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »