Mistress of the Domain: Fallen

     Along with the created aspect of this domain comes the fallen aspect. Our image of God has been corrupted. We still have a mind but it is darkened. Our domains have been affected by the Fall (human choice to disobey God and eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil) and our work is under a curse that the Lord gave to the man and the woman. (Genesis 3:16-19) Work is not part of the curse but unproductive, frustrating, inefficient work is the Curse. Our domains will continue to rebel against us as we have rebelled against God. Everything around us is in entropy...including our domains in which we are to rule over. The curse is what comes along and destroys our labor and making our work fruitless.

     God has allowed the principle of rebellion loose in our world, but He has a redemptive plan. Romans 8:20-21, "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God." By intensifying the struggles with the deep issues of life, it pushes us back to God and away from Him. His hope is that we will all turn back to Him as He will lift the Curse someday and we will no longer live under the Curse.

     This Curse has directly affected all of my domains. Examples would be: Little Bub constantly running away from me, my house looking like a tornado hit it, something breaking on my camera, burning a meal, staying up too late, thinking mean thoughts about my husband, wanting more and more even though I have everything I need, loosing my temper, my kiddos constant fighting, the dishes piling up in my sink, pine needles that prick me feet as I walk through my house... my list could go on and on. We need to understand how the Curse causes our domains to rebel against us. We need to stop believing lies about God and trust the Great King under whose authority we are working. We deserve to have far worse punishment for our rebellion against God...He is a good and gracious God.

     Below are a couple of pictures I have captured through the years that have helped me see some of my rebelling domains.  Most of my time is spent in the home and with my children so naturally most of these are of them.

This one is classic....the whining children battling to make breakfast.

Ahhh....now this is classic.  We were getting ready to leave the kids with a babysitter to go for a nice dinner and a banquet at the Pregnancy Support Center when we heard the kids being unusually quiet.  They were at work making a big sticky mess.

This happens daily and is frustrating for me.  Who walks on the dining room table????

Ahh...the whining again!

I love this one.  You're trying to get a beautiful family portrait and all the kiddos are running in different directions :) 

And this was a sad picture for me to remember....it was our first Christmas in our new home and also Laney's first Christmas.  We had an ice storm that took out our power for 5 days starting on Dec. 23.  It was a scary night with no power and hearing branches breaking and wondering when one of our big ole' trees was going to give way.  We had to stay with family (which was fun) but there is just something about celebrating the holidays in your own home.

Thankfully our good and gracious God has a redemptive plan which I will post soon.....