A Reminder to Praise!

So, in my last post I said, “Anytime I fall into sinful anger, it is because I have forgotten who is in control of life; my anger is typically the result of feeling as though my rights have been violated or my rule as queen of the Hickey kingdom has been subverted by one of my not so loyal subjects, AKA my children or husband. When I bring my mind back to the reality that any disruption in my plan was the plan of God, my sin becomes evident and  I am left with the choice to continue in sinful rebellion or to TRUST in my loving heavenly Father who only has good things for me.” As I wrote these words I knew them to be true and believed them, but perhaps not at whole heartedly as I thought!

God gave me a chance on Monday to see just how much I believed what I wrote. I planned out my morning to the letter, we were going to go here and then there, and then be back in time for lunch and then naps. I was sure my plan would help me accomplish the things I strongly felt needed to get accomplished! As I was loading Luke, the youngest, in the car Matthew asked if he could peek in the laundry room and say goodbye to our kitten, I said sure. Next thing I knew Matthew was in the car getting buckled; I went to the door to open it only to find it locked! And my keys were in the house, and for at least a few moment I thought my phone was as well. I stood there for a moment in panic, and tried the door again, still a no go! In my head I could hear the words I had written the night before, “disruption in my plan was the plan of God!” I looked at Matthew and fussed for a moment, not a mean fuss, although I felt like being mean. I opened the front door to the car, and there lay my phone. I was able to call my mom to come help me out. As I waited for her, I just kept thinking about how important it was that I get the thing I had planned done. Why was God messing with my plan, it was a good plan! I sat in the front seat of my car, and thought to myself “you have a choice you can trust God and His plan or you can pout about the fact that your plan was messed up.”

My mom arrived short time later, but my perfectly planned out morning was not going to happen. So, I went grocery shopping, got the kids back in time for lunch and a nap, worked on some church business and emailed one of my professors. I had a question about my deadline to finish my last two classes of the Master’s program I am in, which I am not on track to finish, and the reason I needed my timeline to work out.

As I went about my day I kept thinking about how God causes all things, he was the cause of me getting locked out of the house, it was part of his plan. I knew he was up to something, but was really confounded as to what. I thought maybe I would run into someone at the grocery store that needed to talk or would just have an opportunity to bless someone, but alas I just didn’t see any purpose and wanted to so badly!

I was talking about what happened with one of my friends at bible study yesterday, and how I just kept waiting to see the purpose of having my day messed up. She said, “well did you ever figure it out?” I started to say no, but them I remembered the response I received form my professor after emailing back and forth the day before.

In one of his responses my professor asked if I thought I could make the deadline set by the school, or if I needed an extension. I eagerly said yes, that I would need an extension, a pretty significant one, I asked for three extra weeks. My sweet professor granted my request, and asked how if there was any thing he could pray for for me. I almost cried, extensions have not been routinely given without an extensive explanation, and he granted my request will very little explanation as to why I hadn’t been able to finish; not only that he cared enough to ask how he could pray. For the past several weeks, I have stayed up late, gotten up early, all to make a valiant attempt to finish so that I wouldn’t have to pay to retake the classes. I was panicked that morning, because I saw my hopes of finishing fade away with a little boy’s hand turning a lock. I will still have to work hard to finish, but I will not become a sleep deprived crazy lady in the process now. I’m not sure I would have seen God’s hand at work had my friend not asked, “well did you figure it out?” The things I was able to see were that God wanted me to trust in Him to provide the time to get done what needed to get done, He wanted me to have the humility to ask for help, and He provided an opportunity to let me see if I believed the words I wrote. There may be more to what He was doing than that, I suppose this side of heaven I will never know; I am blessed to get a glimpse of Him in action.

I am so thankful that God uses small things to show just how big He is; He is worthy of our trust, He is always at work in our lives, and it is always for our good!

I read the words by Spurgeon at the top of the post and knew I needed to share. I know it’s not profound, but it was an undeserved blessing from the Lord; He is certainly worthy of our praise!

I would love to hear how God has blessed you!

God Keeps His Promises

This week we continued talking about Noah and the flood. As I thought about the flood and the events that followed I was reminded how trustworthy God is, and how fortunate we are to have so many accounts in scripture that we can teach our children, which highlight this reality. God could have given us His Word through a long list of rules, but instead he chose to use narrative, law, wisdom, poetry, prophecy, gospels, epistles, and apocalyptic literature that we can draw much more from than we ever could from a list of rules. As you share accounts from scripture with your children it is important to remind them how fortunate we are to have scripture the way we do, we know how God planned to work out our salvation, something the Israelites didn’t have, and we have so many accounts that reinforce the truth of His power, love, mercy, justice, and immutable (unchangeable) nature!

Lesson:

 Last week we talked about how man became so sinful that God was sorry that He created them, and how He told Noah that He was going to destroy the earth by sending a great flood to kill all living creatures except for Noah, his family, and two of every kind of animal. God gave Noah instructions on how to build a great ark, Noah trusted God and obeyed!

 After Noah finished the ark, Noah, his family, and all the animals got on the Ark, and God send the rain. The Bible says that the fountains of the deep burst open (water came from the ground) and the floodgates of the sky were opened, the rain fell for forty days and forty nights.

 After 150 days the water started go down, but it took a long time for all the water to go away. After a while Noah sent out a dove to see if the water had dried up, but the dove found no place to rest so it returned. Seven days later Noah sent the dove out again and it returned with a freshly picked olive leaf. Seven days later Noah sent the dove out again, and it didn’t return, which told Noah that the water was nearly gone.

 When Noah and his family came out of the ark, Noah made a burnt offering to God. The Lord accepted the offering, and made a covenant, a covenant is a promise that can never be broken, that he would never again destroy the earth by water again. Then He placed rainbow in the sky as a sign of his covenant, and a reminder to us of His promise.

 Remember we’ve been talking about how important it was to trust in God, we cannot have a relationship with Him if we do not trust in Him. Accounts like this one help remind us that when we trust in God we are placing our trust rightly. There is nothing else as sure as the promises God makes to His people; He is the only one worthy of our trust!

 Lesson Recap:

• How long did it rain? (For 40 days and 40 nights)
• Where did the water come from? (From the ground and from the sky)
• How long did the water remain on the earth before it started to go away? (150 days)
• What did Noah send out to see if the water was gone? (A dove)
• How many times did he send the dove out? (3)
• What did Noah do when they got off the Ark? (Make an offering to the Lord)
• What did God do in response to Noah’s offering? (He made a covenant, promise, to never destroy the earth with water again)
• What was the sign of His promise? (A rainbow)
• Is there anything more sure than the promises of God? (No!!)

For mom and dad:

If you’ve read many of my posts you’ve probable a notices the stress on trusting God, and the impact it can have on our actions. I think that there is a reason that this is such a prevalent theme in scripture; sin has left us feeling as though we are autonomously sovereign, essentially the effect of sin on the world is practical atheism. We acknowledge God’s sovereignty, but practically we plan our lives as we see fit. In the book of Judges we find the words that accurately depict life in our culture, “everyone did what was right in his own eye.” Growing in our relationship with God means doing what seems illogical by our fleshly estimation, and trusting in God, His word, and His ways as the guide to our lives.

Anytime I fall into sinful anger, it is because I have forgotten who is in control of life; my anger is typically the result of feeling as though my rights have been violated or my rule as queen of the Hickey kingdom has been subverted by one of my not so loyal subjects, AKA my children or husband. When I bring my mind back to the reality that any disruption in my plan was the plan of God, my sin becomes evident and  I am left with the choice to continue in sinful rebellion or to TRUST in my loving heavenly Father who only has good things for me.

I feel so blessed by the ministry God has called me to in our church, as I study to prepare our lessons and make them kid friendly I find my own understanding deepened. In teaching kids to trust in God, I am challenged to ask God to help me trust him more. There are some prayers I think we are afraid to pray, this may be one of them, because trusting God is only difficult when I face difficulty. When life is smooth sailing trusting God is oh so easy, but when the storm of life hits trusting in the things that are unseen is a real struggle. If I ask God to help me trust Him more I am inevitable going to face some difficulty, which means that to ask God to help me trust Him more I must first trust in His love and care.

I can tell you that God has certainly shown himself to be merciful and good to his word, Matthew 7:7,11 say “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you…if you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” So, I have asked God to help me to trust Him more. I have some very dear family members who have been taken captive by false teaching, I have talked with them before about the error in what they believe, but they continue to assure me, despite my assertion of the danger they are in, that they are fine. They continue to talk with me as though we believe the same things, almost as though they can convince me that orthodoxy is really not that big of a deal. I have been reluctant to continue this important conversation with them, because I want a relationship with them, I want their love, and I fear that instead of them coming to Christ I will end up losing them for good. The truth is that my fear is a legitimate fear, but it reveals just how much I TRUST in me and not God. Recently I decided that it was time to once again to broach this topic with my loved ones, I was scared, in fact instead of going to them in person I decided to email them, but then I got scared and couldn’t send the email. However, God in His faithfulness provided an opportunity to have these discussions in person, while they did not go as well as I would like, I can say with certainty that God strengthened me and has been a great comfort since. It’s the gospel that saves, not my ability to communicate it perfectly. I have to trust in God to work through our conversations, and be willing to face difficulty if I hope to see those I love brought to a saving faith. It hurt to have people you love angry with you, but it hurts more to know they were in danger and you did nothing to warn them!

Because of the nature of sin, I know that I am not alone in my struggle to trust in God. My encouragement to you is this, as you study scripture either for your own growth or to teach it to your children take time to stand back and look at the big picture. Observe the faithful nature of our God who promised to save Noah and delivered, who promised a Messiah and delivered, and who promised to return in glory and bring us home and will deliver! Ask God to show you the areas of life where you are holding back because you struggle to trust in Him to deliver, and seek His help to trust Him more. It is a difficult request, but it will lead you to a closer relationship with Him! Remember we can trust in God because He always keeps His promises!

As always I pray that this has been encouraging as you seek to lead your children to the cross!

I would love to hear your thought, so please leave me a comment!

Noah Trusted God

This week we started talking about Noah and the flood. As I prepared the lesson I focused on the different themes, and how they connect together. The past two weeks we saw how sin can deceive us and make a bad decision seem good, and how trust in God is foundational to a relationship with him. As we move into the story of the flood, we see that sinful desires have become the rule force of man, “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”. Noah alone is singles out as a righteous man, who followed God, and was blameless in his time. Noah trusted God; he loved God, and when God told him to build the ark he obeyed. The story of Noah is amazing, it is important to teach it for what it is historical narrative, not a fairytale. There is so much that can be drawn out and applied to our lives and our children’s lives!

Lesson:

Last week we talked about how sin is very deceptive, it lies to us. Cain was angry with his brother and killed him because he thought it would solve his problem. Remember how God warned Cain that if he didn’t turn from his sin quickly that he would then struggle to overcome it, instead of overcoming his sin he was overcome by sin and killed Abel as a result. Sin is that way, it always gets worse, and it will not go away on its own.

 As time passed the sin of man grew; until God looked on man and saw how their thought were continually evil, except for one man, Noah, who found favor with God. The bible says Noah followed God, he was a righteous man, he walked with God, and was blameless in his time.

 God told Noah that he was going to destroy the earth by sending a great flood to kill all living creatures except for Noah, his family, and two of every kind of animal. God gave Noah instructions on how to build a great ark, and Noah obeyed God!

Do you remember how we talked about God wanting a relationship with us, well for us to have a relationship with Him we must trust Him. Do you think that Noah would have obeyed and built the ark if he didn’t trust God? Of cores he wouldn’t, if he didn’t trust God he would have laughed at the idea of building a huge boat on dry land at a time when no one knew what rain was.

God wants us to trust in Him and His ways, He knows better than we do, and he never asks us to do something that is bad for us. People were probably mean to Noah, they probably thought he was crazy, but it didn’t stop Him from obeying God and saving His family from being destroyed in the flood.

    Lesson Recap

• What does it mean to say that sin is deceptive? (Sin lies to us, it promises us something good, but in the end we get terrible)
• Why did Cain kill Abel? (He thought it would solve his problem)
• Did killing Able make thing better or worse for Cain? (Worse)
• As time passed did people get more sinful or less sinful? (More sinful)
• Why did God want to destroy the earth? (Because he saw how evil the thoughts of man were)
• Was there anyone who had favor with God? (Yes, Noah)
• What did God ask Noah to do? (Build an great ark to save his family and two of every kind of animal)
• Did Noah Obey? (Yes)
• Why did Noah obey? (Because Noah trusted God)

For Mom and Dad:

Teaching the story of Noah to your kids can be a challenge, especially as they get older. The story of Noah and the flood from the bible are critical to our defence of a young earth, if you are unfimilar with this area of science I highly recommend visiting the Answers in Genesis and The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) websites they have lots of recources that can help you grow in your undestanding of young earth science and the role of the flood. The story of the flood is so much more than a narative that informs us about the character of God, it also helps us understand the history of our planet.

There are so many lessons that can be gleaned from the account of Noah in the Bible, for kids I think that highlighting Noah’s trust in God and God’s holy standard are among the most important.  Noah trusted God, that was the basis for His obedience, and God’s holy standard, makes such a destructive flood reasonable.

It’s in our fallen nature to minimize God’s holiness, however in considering the flood we must face the reality our flesh longs to deny, that God’s standard is perfection.  It’s a perfection unmarked by even the smallest deviation. It is painful to face just how fallen we truly are, and how our hearts hide such pervasive sin. Left to ourselves our sin spreads like a plague, poising everything so subtly that we don’t even notice the darkness that slowly envelops us. However, God in His goodness rescues us from our sin, just as he rescues Noah and His family, but like Noah we must be willing to trust in Him when he tells us of our need for a Savior. Noah could have said, “A flood, no. That’s crazy. What is rain anyway?” He could have ignored God. However, when God told Noah that He was going to send a flood to destroy all living thing, and that if Noah didn’t build the ark he would be lost, Noah believed him. By faith Noah built the ark, he believed God, submitted to God, and was saved. Until we face God’s perfect standard, the depth of our sin, and our utter inability to save ourselves we are lost. The account of the flood highlights God’s holy standard, His righteous justice, and His mercy in saving those who trust in Him. It’s an excellent narrative to help our children understand the high and holy standard of God, in hopes that they will see their own need for a savior. Only when the need is real is the cross truly a beautiful sight.

I hope this has been helpful as you seek to lead your children to the cross!

I would love to hear from you if you liked the post or of you just have feed back in general please leave me a comment!

Lessons from Cain and Abel for Kids and a Little Something for Mom and Dad

This week we continued to work through Genesis and learn more about the deceptive nature of sin, how it can make a really bad idea seem like a good solution to a problem. In Genesis 4 we are introduced to Adam and Eve’s sons, Cain and Abel, we are told about how Abel gave a good sacrifice to the Lord but Cain did not. Cain responds in anger to the rejection of his offering, and even after God warns him that his sin is leading him in the wrong direction he continues in his sin and killed Abel. Cain could have repented of his sin, given a proper offering, and been accepted by God; however, his sin blinded him to God’s care and warning. Instead of seeing his anger as the real problem, he saw his brother as the problem, and ultimately he killed him. As we shepherd our children we must teach them about how deceptive sin is, it always promises good things but ultimately it will leave us in bondage. Helping them to understand that God’s way may not be appealing; God calls us to do hard things, but it always the best way!

Lesson: 

Adam and Eve had two sons, the oldest Cain worked in the fields farming the land for food, and the younger Abel was a shepherd, he cared for the sheep. Both Cain and Able came to make an offering to the Lord; Cain gave fruit of the ground and Able gave the best of his sheep. God was happy with Abel’s sacrifice, but he was not with Cain’s.

 Cain became angry, God saw what was happening and told Cain that if he did what was right he be accepted, but that if he continued in his sinful anger, his sin grow and he would have to fight to rule over it. Cain would not turn from his sin; he should have given a proper sacrifice like Abel, and God would have been pleased. However, instead of turning from His sin he continued on, and in his anger he killed Abel.

 Last week we talked about how sin will deceive us or lie to us, we think if we sin and do the wrong thing we can get what we want. That is what happened to Cain, he wanted the approval God gave to Abel; yet he was unwilling to do what was necessary to get God’s approval. In His sin He thought that if Abel was out of the way God would approve of him, but the truth is that Cain only made his position before God worse. God punished Able by withholding from him the ability to produce good crops, and forced him to wander the earth separated from his home and his family.

 God wants a relationship with us, he is always looking out for our best interest, but we have to trust in Him and obey. As we obey and see him work in our lives we will grow in our trust in him and grow holiness. Remember when we sin and seek God’s forgiveness, He is gracious and welcomes us!

 Lesson Review:

• What were the names of Adam and Eve’s sons? (Cain and Able)
• What was Cain’s job? (He was a farmer)
• What was Abel’s job? (Shepherd)
• What was Cain’s offering? (Fruit)
• What was Abel’s offering? (the best of his sheep)
• What was Cain angry? (He was angry because God was pleased with Abel’s offering and not his)
• What did God tell Cain? (That if he did well he would be accepted, but if he continued to sin that he would have to fight to overcome it.)
• What did Cain do in His sin? (He killed his brother)
• How did God’s punish Cain? (He withheld his the ability to produce good crops, and forced him to wander the earth separated from his home and his family.)
• What could Cain have done to change things? (He could have turned from his sinful anger before he killed his brother, and made a proper offering to God)

For Mom and Dad:

As I worked on lessons for our children’s church program over the past year I have noticed a connection between trust and our relationship with God in every account I have studied. Trust was either the reason that people did things, the Apostles continues to preach the gospel even when their lives were in danger, or the reason that people didn’t do things, Peter denied Jesus because he was afraid what would happen to him if he didn’t (he didn’t trust God to take care of him). I have noticed this in my own home, in particular with my oldest son. There are times he disobeys because he doesn’t trust that we have his best interest in mind, because he doesn’t understand why we ask  him to do certain things. I see the same dynamic in myself, when I hold back from being bold sometimes it’s because I’m afraid of the consequences. I am afraid that God will not work through my words and instead I will just experience the pain of broken relationship with people I love.

I have considered how dramatically trust changes our relationship with people, lack of trust in a marriage is crippling. Lack of trust between a parent and child leaves a child in great danger, they think we are just keeping them from fun when we warn them that something is dangerous, out of their distrust they proceed and presto, they get hurt. Lack of trust between people prevents deep relationships from forming, for fear that one will turn on the other. Cain didn’t trust God, he didn’t listen to His counsel, he thought his anger was just, but ultimately it left far more heart ache in its path of destruction.

I am often like Cain with my own children, in my anger I can be quite nasty. A harsh word, a mean look, or an ugly tone, there are times in my anger I can feel the urgings of the Holy Spirit, “the anger of man doesn’t achieve the righteousness of God.” I have a choice to fight my flesh, trust in God to work in my kids hearts, and not rely on my sinful anger to get things done or I can continue in my sin and leave more pain the the wake of my murderous anger.

The story if Cain and Abel should stir our hearts, we are like Cain, and so our our children. We hear God’s counsel through His word, yet we think we have to do things our way to get the job done. While I have a tendency to skip right to repentance at this point, I think it is important to realize that a trust in God proceeds repentance. As a born again believer in Jesus Christ I have to return to the reality that God is in control, He is working everything together for the good of His children (Rom 8:28-29), He has saved me from the punishment I deserve by sending Jesus, and He is the one who accomplishes His plan, not me. I have to step back from my self-appointed post as ruler of my domain, and trust in Him to rule His world as He sees fit. Then I can walk in peaceful obedience, relieved of the burden to control the world, full of the knowledge that hardship and difficulty are often the gifts God uses to conform me to the image of His Son!

Raising kids is hard, it can be so trying, but we must trust God with the souls of our children, and fight for them on His terms. We must share God word with them often, respond to their disobedience in loving discipline (an area I fail in often), and pray diligently that He would work in them!

I hope this has been helpful and encouraging as you seek to lead your children to the cross!

I would love to hear from you, if you liked the post or if you just have some feedback in general please leave me a comment!

The Fall of Man

This week we taught the kids about Adam and Eve’s disobedience and it’s consequences. Teaching our children about the fall of man is very important. Our children need to understand that when sin entered the world it had devastating consequences. The break in our relationship with God that resulted from this sin is immeasurable, not a small rift, which God could overlook. It left our hearts twisted and self-focused, but God in His mercy promised Adam and Eve that He would defeat sin and crush the serpent who lead them down the path of sin. Helping our children understand the fall of man and the depth of their sin will help them to see their position before God, and their need for a savior!

Lesson:

Last week we talked about how God made everything! God created Adam and Eve on day six; He placed them in a beautiful garden filled with wonderful food. God told Adam that he could eat from any tree in the garden except for one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, a serpent tricked Eve; he told Eve that God didn’t want them to eat the fruit from the tree, because it would open her eyes and that she and Adam would become like God. She was believed the serpent and ate from the tree; then she gave the fruit to Adam. Their eyes were opened to good and evil and they became afraid of God, hiding when He returned to the garden.

 When they came out God ask what they had done; Adam blamed his sin on God because God gave him Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent that tricked her. Their sin brought the cursed of sin into the world, but God promised Adam and Eve that He would make a way for things to be made right, He promised them a savior. One who would save the man from the curse of sin, and offer a way for man to be made right before God. Adam and Eve did not know God plan, but they trusted Him.

 You and I are very blessed because we know how God fulfilled His promise. He sent Jesus to live the life none of us can live, a life free from sin, and then He took the punishment due to us for our sins. If we will repent, turn from sin, and trust in the good works of Jesus God will forgive our sins and we will spend eternity with God in heaven!

Lesson Recap:

• Where did God let Adam and Eve live? (In a beautiful garden)
• What were Adam and Eve told they could eat? (Anything from the trees, except the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil)
• What did the serpent tell Eve? (The Serpent told Eve that the fruit was good and it would make her have the same knowledge as God)
• What did Eve do? (She ate the fruit, and gave it to Adam)
• What happened when God returned to the garden? (Adam and Eve were scared and they hid)
• Who did Adam blame for His sin? (Adam blamed God for giving him Eve.)
• Who did Eve blame? (Eve blamed the serpent)
• What happened because Adam and Eve sinned? (The world was cursed by sin, bringing death to all)
• Even though the world is cursed because of sin, what did God promise to do? (to send a savior.)

I mentioned in the beginning of this post that sin caused a break in our relationship with God, Adam and Eve were created to be dependent on God, to trust Him and His wisdom as He revealed it to them. However, instead they trusted in the wisdom that the fruit from the forbidden tree would bring. This is the heart of ALL sin, it is a failure to trust in the God and His ability to provide for our best interest that results from a false sense of autonomy. Sin has blinded us to reality, that is we are dependent of God at every moment whether we believe in Him and trust in Him or not. Growing in a relationship with God starts with a firm understanding of His character that fosters trust, as we come to a clearer understanding of Him nature and character we will find our trust in Him deepens stimulating growth in holiness. When we understand that He NEVER asks us to do something to our ultimate detriment we will trust in Him and follow His commands,  “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:28-29).

As you work with your children make sure that you are helping them to have a complete picture of God, help them understand His holiness, His love, His mercy, and finally His justice. Having a complete picture of who God is will help point them to the cross for salvation. When they see that God is holy, righteous, and just they will understand that he has to punish law breakers. Further, understanding His character and nature can also help them see how great a gap sin has brought between them.  A complete understanding of God makes the cross so precious, a sober understanding of all these things can be the tools God uses to lead your children to a saving faith.

Growing up I never understood the depth of my own sin, I knew Jesus came to save sinners. While I knew that I had sinned, I felt like I was a pretty good person compared to others. I was never taught about God’s holiness or His righteous anger, I didn’t know that God demanded perfection. So, I went on sinning, feeling secure in my salvation, because I could check all the right boxes. God was gracious and brought people into my life who shared the truth, who were faithful to minister even when I clearly didn’t like what they had to say. I do not want any of our children to be like I was, I want to know that I presented God’s character as faithfully as I could!

I love what Alistair Begg says, “It is only because God’s wrath is real, that His mercy is relevant.” (You can’t hear it when you read it, but there are a lot of rolling r’s)

Remember sin is deceptive, it always promises something good, but ultimately it leads to somewhere terrible. The forbidden fruit promised wisdom, but instead produced a profound distrust for our creator and a desire to live for our own glory! I hope this has been helpful as you labor to lead your children to the cross!

I would love to hear from you, if you liked the post or if you just have some feedback in general please leave a comment!