She Shares Truth: Hosea

Hosea is not an easy book to read by any means.  God has an unrelenting love for his people and how easily the people turn and think that they will be just fine without Him. It's so easy to point the finger and say they were crazy to turn away from the God that saved them, but how easily do we turn away? I see myself somewhat in the book of Hosea.
One of my favorite passages that I took away from the study is Hosea 6:3
Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring. (NLT)
What a promise that He will respond! No matter how much we sin, no matter how much we turn away He will be there for us and will respond to us. He takes us as we are and He loves us so. He is willing to meet us wherever we are all we need to do is make the place and time for Him.
It's also so good to know that God never changes and his character never changes. Hosea 7:1-16, Romans 5:20 We will always be sinners we are just made that way, but He will always be good!
Lastly, when I think of the discipline that was needed for Israel I truly see how God is such a parent. Discipline is out of love and it is needed! He disciplines the ones he loves longing for us to see the good and to turn away from the bad. God loves us so.
Let us rejoice that God is good and his love never fails!

Have you ever prayed that God would reveal to you your sin?

I'm currently in the Hosea study through She Reads Truth and on day 11 the post directly talked about sin. The verses that were included for the day were Hosea 9: 1-17, 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11, Psalm 51: 1-12. The writer then went on to discuss that through a mentor of hers she was tasked by praying everyday for two weeks that God would show her, her sin, and to ask two people to do the same and pray for her. The writer then goes on to say that this task of prayer was one of the most shocking and enlightening experiences in her spiritual life.
I was so struck by this passage. Sin. One simple word, yet so encompassing. I know when it comes to me I don't like to think about my sin. I know it makes us completely human and we are sinners by nature, but actually sitting down and thinking and praying directly to see what my sin is...well it's quite difficult. I don't know if I'm ready for this task and I don't know who quite to ask to pray with me, but when the time does come I'm sure I will be shocked. I know there is a lot going on in my life, a lot that I don't discuss on here and I'm sure sin is somewhere in the mix of that. Hopefully I will be able to slow down a little bit in my life, get through this time, and find out directly what sins are in my life.
Would you be able to take on the task?
I know that through my sin being revealed I would look more to Him. That in and of itself is huge. I'm sure when I do take on this simple yet difficult task I will share my experience.
I'm sure God will answer my prayer and even though it may be unpleasant, it will be so great to behold the greatness of the cross and truly see an act of God's grace.

Abram Thomas 6 Month Update

September is here and it's starting to feel like fall. My favorite season. Abram is currently 6 1/2 months, but I figured a little update about little man is never a bad thing.
I took Abram to his 6 month wellness visit and he weighs 18.1 pounds and 26.5 inches long. He is currently wearing 6-9 month clothes and Allen's wardrobe is working out quite nicely for little man.

Abram overall is such a happy baby. He loves his big brother and is always curious as to what Allen is doing. Abram is a blankie baby. He loves having one of his A & A blankies with him and I have caught him quite a few times trying to snag Allen's blue blankies.

Abram is also officially on the move. Its more a a scoot/crawl, but if you set him down on the floor he is on the move. He's also very determined so if he spots something or someone on the floor that he wants he's on a mission to go a get it. He's moving a lot sooner than Allen did and I think it's because he sees his big brother on the go and he wants to catch up with him.

Abram's new addition to all of the sweet things that he does is he sucks his thumb. I can't get over the cuteness of the above picture. He will still take a paci, but when that doesn't cut it he goes straight for thumb.
We are also letting him put himself to sleep. We aren't using the CIO method, but we let him soothe himself in his crib. The sleeping positions he ends up in after he's put himself down are quite hilarious. Most of the times he's wrapped up in one of his blankies, butt up in the air, and completely turned around from the position I laid him down in. He's still a tummy sleeper and has been from day one.
Abram is still a champ at breastfeeding and we have made it officially 6 months which was my first goal. Now on to my second which is a full year. Abram has also started solids which is just crazy to think that 6 months have truly flown by and he's already half a year old. He was not a fan of cereal and that only lasted a couple of days until we started introducing actual solids. He currently loves bananas, avocado, and banana/apple mix. He HATES peas. I am making all of his baby food which I really enjoy. Our next batch of foods to try is carrots and squash, maybe even trying peas again.
I can't wait to see what the next 6 months will hold for you little man.