Background Information

I thought I would tell you a little about my life right now before I start the devotionals so that if I talk about something personal, it will make a little more sense. First of all, I have been married for 12 years this December. We have three children, ages 10,7, and 5. My husband goes to a different church than I do although we both attended the Los Angeles International Church of Christ when we got married. I am grateful that he has found a church to attend and that he has continued to work on his relationship with God all of these years. His faith has helped him tremendously as he was diagnosed with colon cancer in February of this year. He had surgery that month and we were expecting that to be the end of the problem but unfortunately we found out the cancer had spread and was found in his lymph nodes. To make matters worse, what the doctors thought was a benign tumor in his liver also turned out to be cancer. He underwent six rounds of chemotherapy and a liver embolism in preparation for surgery coming up on Sept 21st to remove the cancerous part of the liver. We are once again hoping that this surgery will rid him of the cancer.

Since my husband has been battling cancer, he has not been able to work since February and so finances have been difficult. I also did not get work this summer due to budget cutbacks at the school district that I work for. This left us with no income for August and September. This has been quite an adventure but God has provided so far. We got through August and are now waiting on how He will provide for us this next month.

As far as other health concerns, my youngest daughter suddenly developed a tic two weeks ago. She has had chronic asthma and I had her on several medications which I stopped when the tic developed. The neurologist said that her EEG was normal so at least that is good. The doctor thought that perhaps she would outgrow it. My parents have had their health struggles as well. My father is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's and my mother just recently broke a vertebrae in her back due to Osteoporosis. She also has Diabetes and perhaps also has a recurrence of cancer. We are hoping the latter is not true. She had colon cancer about 18 years ago and has been cancer free since then.

My schedule is quite intense when I am working. I live in Simi Valley and teach school in Montebello. This is about an hour drive each way. My goal each day is to get up at 4 am so that I can have a quiet time from 4 to 5. After that I get lunches packed, etc. so that I can be on the road by 6:15 am to get to work by 7:30 am. This year I will be taking my oldest and youngest daughters out to Montebello for school. My middle daughter will go to school in Simi Valley. I work all day and then pick up my girls and drive another hour to hour and a half back home. Once home, I deal with the usual home activities such as checking homework, making dinner, and cleaning up. I try to get the kids in bed by 8 pm bit this is one of my biggest struggles as I am so exhausted by this time. I do a little more work and then try to get to bed by 10 pm but usually I fail. Sometime in all of this, I have to grade papers and plan for my classes (I teach science to 210 7th graders).

I am trying to be involved with church as much as possible as I know that this is essential. My relationship with God is so important to me and I have been a part of the Churches of Christ since 1983. Lately, however, I have been having difficulties getting to mid weeks and Bible Talks. I am always late to the church services as well which makes me sad. At times, I struggle with the things that everyone does such as marriage and parenting. I am also not very good at maintaining my friendships. I am trying to change all of these things and become an asset to my ministry, as the church, and the people I know there are very dear to me.

So this is my life and where I am coming from. I am hoping that by doing this endeavour I will be able to contribute to everyone's lives and give back some of what I have received all of these years.

Daily Devotional

I began a reading and study plan a few years ago which has been very helpful to me. I am planning on writing what I get out of these studies in the form of a daily devotional so that it might be of help to others. I will begin the devotional on September 1st and see how it goes.



My reading plan:

I have broken my study down into several categories.

1. Daily Reading - I read through the Psalms, one per day, and then read Proverbs when I am done with the Psalms. On the 31st of any month, I read Proverbs 31. I continue this all year.

2. In Depth Study - I am reading through the Bible. I began at Genesis on Jan 1st. I try to read a chapter a day but this is sometimes skipped. Currently I am on Deuteronomy.

3. General Religious - I am reading a book called God's Plan and the Overcomers by Watchman Nee

4. Organizing - I am reading two books by Sandra Felton from Messies Anonymous - Organizing by the Book and Meditations for Messies

5. Parenting - I am currently reading To Train Up A Child by Micheal & Debi Pearl

6. Marriage - I am currently reading The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace

These books are what make up my main quiet time. I do not always have time to read all of them in every devotional time.



I am also reading several books in other areas of life which I will write about occasionally as well under a separate heading.