Tuesday, January 31, 2006
A little bit of fun!!!!
Here is my pregnancy counter...I've always thought they were fun...so here's mine.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Joy Mixed with Fear
Those of you who read my blog know my passion for children and the sorrow of the losses that I have experienced. I have been quite busy this week because last weekend we found we are expecting again! Now, while I am so excited that we are blessed again with the hope of a new baby, I have also felt quite fearful. I have found my prayers have turned often selfish with an apology afterward for my selfishness and lack of trust in the LORD's goodness. I desire to trust the LORD and yet in my flesh, I fail. When I am pregnant, my favorite book to read is the Psalms, because I am reminded of God's character and yet I can see the Psalmist understanding my thoughts. So, my goal is to memorize some Scriptures to help "Calm my anxious heart" (to quote one of my favorite books by Linda Dillow. I know that God's Word brings comfort and peace. But I also covet the prayers of the saints on our behalf. I desire to have God's will fulfilled in my life and I want to trust Him unreservedly, but I find that it is difficult without the help of the LORD. So, I ask each of you who happen to read this little blog, to pray for me that I will trust the gracious and loving Hand of God, no matter what happens. And I am also going to ask that as the Lord would stir His Word in your heart, that you would share some Scriptures with me that I may be encouraged.
So, now we wait and watch for the Lord to work! And in the mean time praise the LORD for the goodness of blessing us with another child!!!! Praise be His Glorious Name!!!!!!
Aside note: I also love hymns and am always encouraged. If you have a hymn or song to share...that would be great too!!!! Thanks.
So, now we wait and watch for the Lord to work! And in the mean time praise the LORD for the goodness of blessing us with another child!!!! Praise be His Glorious Name!!!!!!
Aside note: I also love hymns and am always encouraged. If you have a hymn or song to share...that would be great too!!!! Thanks.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Books, Books, and More Books!
I am extremely excited!!! Today my order from CBD came in! I am anxious to delve into the books I've purchased. I am currently reading two excellent books. The first being A Mom After God's Own Heart and the second being When Godly People Do Ungodly Things. So, I may not get into them as soon as I would like...new books always excite me!!!! However, I must get these others finished first. Then I will have some new ones to go through.
I am going to be starting another study. I am going to begin Isaiah. This time as I go through it, I will not only be reading it on my own, but I will be using the study Extracting the Precious from Isaiah by Donna Partow. I have read her before, and am anxious to see what I will learn as I study one of my favorite books of the Bible.
I can't wait to begin. I love reading books, but the most important book I can spend time in is the Word of God. In it contains everything I need for life and godliness. The book, A Mom After God's Own Heart, has been a great reminder for me. As I am seeking to raise up Godly young ladies, I need to spend time in God's Word to have the resources I need to train them. She has been speaking often of Deuteronomy 6:4-12 which says this:
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to yoru children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates....then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery."
God has commanded parents to be the teachers of His Word everyday in every situation. But, one can't teach what they do not know. And we can't know God's Word unless we get into it and read it. He alone can give us the wisdom and words to bring Him honor and glory as we train and teach our children.
So, while I am anxious to read the books written by mere man, I pray that I will have the same anxious excitement to read the Book of Books - the Word of God.
I am going to be starting another study. I am going to begin Isaiah. This time as I go through it, I will not only be reading it on my own, but I will be using the study Extracting the Precious from Isaiah by Donna Partow. I have read her before, and am anxious to see what I will learn as I study one of my favorite books of the Bible.
I can't wait to begin. I love reading books, but the most important book I can spend time in is the Word of God. In it contains everything I need for life and godliness. The book, A Mom After God's Own Heart, has been a great reminder for me. As I am seeking to raise up Godly young ladies, I need to spend time in God's Word to have the resources I need to train them. She has been speaking often of Deuteronomy 6:4-12 which says this:
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to yoru children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates....then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery."
God has commanded parents to be the teachers of His Word everyday in every situation. But, one can't teach what they do not know. And we can't know God's Word unless we get into it and read it. He alone can give us the wisdom and words to bring Him honor and glory as we train and teach our children.
So, while I am anxious to read the books written by mere man, I pray that I will have the same anxious excitement to read the Book of Books - the Word of God.
Friday, January 06, 2006
Pray for John Piper
God is amazing. Right after I posted that article on suffering, I went to Girl Talk, another blog I enjoy, and recieved the news that John Piper has prostate cancer. I encourage you to read this and pray for a man God has used and is using to glorify Himself.
The Path of Suffering
In the past month or so, I have been reading "Desiring God" by John Piper. It always amazes me how the Lord puts people/books/things in your life to reinforce the things He is teaching you. As I reread my past blog entries, I was amazed at the continual theme...God's sovereignty. However another theme I noticed was suffering...as I do tend to talk often of the loss of our son Nathan a few months ago when I was 15 and a half weeks into my pregnancy. These themes have been my focus the last few months because that is what I am learning...that is what I am seeing about God. The last chapter in "Desiring God" is titled "Suffring: The Sacrifice of Christian Hedonism". This chapter, needless to say, brought much contemplation as well as comfort. In it, Pastor Piper converses about the life of Paul as being a life of chosen suffering. Then he continued on to talk about whether or not their is a difference between suffering we choose and suffering we don't choose, such as cancer. I really, really appreciated what he wrote in that reguard. I would like to share it with you now.
"The suffering that comes is part of the price of living where you are in obedience to the call of God. In choosing to follow Christ in the way He directs, we choose all that this path includes under His sovereign providence. Thus, all suffering that comes in the path of obedience is suffering with Christ and for Christ-whether it is cancer or conflict. And it is "chosen"- that is, we willingly take the path of obedience where the suffering befalls us and we do not murmer against God. We may pray-as Paul did-that the suffering be removed (II Corinthians 12:8); but if God wills, we embrace it in the end as part of the cost of discipleship in the path of obedience on the way to heaven." (pg. 256-257)
This was such an encouragement to me. Sometimes I often feel that the trials in my life are not as big as say someone being persecuted physically for Christ. I can't imagine their suffering and yet, as I deal with the situations in my life, such as losing a child, I am partaking of suffering with and for Christ as I embrace it as part of the cost of following Christ even as they are. Not only that, but Pastor Piper continues to say that the purpose for all suffering is the same: " more contentment in God and less satisfaction in self and the world." (pg. 265)
As we learn to make Him our ultimate satisfaction and our ultimate treasure and goal, Pastor Piper goes on to say the following:
"If we rely on Him in our calamity and He sustains our 'rejoicing in hope', the He is shown to be the all-satisfying God of grace and strength that He is. If we hold fast to Him 'when all around our soul gives way,' then we show that He is more to be desired than all we have lost." (pg. 266)
That is what we should desire for others to see- that He is enough. That He is all they will ever need.
For me this has been a tremendous encouragement. I am learning that God truly is all that I need, that it is He alone who can satisfy. I know it in my heart and soul, and yet I know my life doesn't always say that...especially lately as longing for a child has been so great a yearning that I have felt like Hannah beseaching the Lord to grant my request (although unlike her, I have two beautiful daughters). However, as I continue to strive to die to self and to live a joyful life reveling in the greatness and goodness of my Sovereign God, I pray that others will see that He is enough. That He will meet and supply every single need, want, desire they may have with the best thing of all- Himself.
It is my deepest prayer that as I go on seeking to trust and obey God that others will see in me, through the Grace of God, that He alone is all I will ever need. I found this quote, I don't remember where, and when I penned it in my quote book, I see the author's name is unknown. I have a feeling that this author experienced some of the same sorrowful sufferings as I and I know he or she was learning that our Lord truly is enough. I pray that this will be my hearts desire as I go on life's road and that you will find the same desire in your heart as well.
"'Tis far, far better to let Him choose
The way that we should take
If only we leave our lives to Him
He will guide without mistake.
We in our blindness would never choose
A pathway dark and rough
And so we should ever find in Him
'The God who is enough.'"
~Author Unknown
"The suffering that comes is part of the price of living where you are in obedience to the call of God. In choosing to follow Christ in the way He directs, we choose all that this path includes under His sovereign providence. Thus, all suffering that comes in the path of obedience is suffering with Christ and for Christ-whether it is cancer or conflict. And it is "chosen"- that is, we willingly take the path of obedience where the suffering befalls us and we do not murmer against God. We may pray-as Paul did-that the suffering be removed (II Corinthians 12:8); but if God wills, we embrace it in the end as part of the cost of discipleship in the path of obedience on the way to heaven." (pg. 256-257)
This was such an encouragement to me. Sometimes I often feel that the trials in my life are not as big as say someone being persecuted physically for Christ. I can't imagine their suffering and yet, as I deal with the situations in my life, such as losing a child, I am partaking of suffering with and for Christ as I embrace it as part of the cost of following Christ even as they are. Not only that, but Pastor Piper continues to say that the purpose for all suffering is the same: " more contentment in God and less satisfaction in self and the world." (pg. 265)
As we learn to make Him our ultimate satisfaction and our ultimate treasure and goal, Pastor Piper goes on to say the following:
"If we rely on Him in our calamity and He sustains our 'rejoicing in hope', the He is shown to be the all-satisfying God of grace and strength that He is. If we hold fast to Him 'when all around our soul gives way,' then we show that He is more to be desired than all we have lost." (pg. 266)
That is what we should desire for others to see- that He is enough. That He is all they will ever need.
For me this has been a tremendous encouragement. I am learning that God truly is all that I need, that it is He alone who can satisfy. I know it in my heart and soul, and yet I know my life doesn't always say that...especially lately as longing for a child has been so great a yearning that I have felt like Hannah beseaching the Lord to grant my request (although unlike her, I have two beautiful daughters). However, as I continue to strive to die to self and to live a joyful life reveling in the greatness and goodness of my Sovereign God, I pray that others will see that He is enough. That He will meet and supply every single need, want, desire they may have with the best thing of all- Himself.
It is my deepest prayer that as I go on seeking to trust and obey God that others will see in me, through the Grace of God, that He alone is all I will ever need. I found this quote, I don't remember where, and when I penned it in my quote book, I see the author's name is unknown. I have a feeling that this author experienced some of the same sorrowful sufferings as I and I know he or she was learning that our Lord truly is enough. I pray that this will be my hearts desire as I go on life's road and that you will find the same desire in your heart as well.
"'Tis far, far better to let Him choose
The way that we should take
If only we leave our lives to Him
He will guide without mistake.
We in our blindness would never choose
A pathway dark and rough
And so we should ever find in Him
'The God who is enough.'"
~Author Unknown
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Back from Christmas "Break"
I have not written in soooooo long due to the season we just passed. I crazily decided to make many of the gifts this Christmas...and many were quilts. With sick children, finishing up college semester for my hubby, and just many things to do, I am afraid that the blog took the burner that never got turned on. :) However, I hope to put some more time and thought into this little project I have.
I did finish my book,"Desiring God" and was greatly encouraged by the thoughts contained within it's pages. I have much I am thinking and meditating on...maybe it will come out in some posts. I did recieve more books for Christmas which are on my "To Read" list. I have started a neat book from one of my all time favorite authors (Elizabeth George) entitled "A Mom After God's Own Heart" which I am currently enjoying. I have more books to read after that...and after recieving more books...I used a gift certificate I had for CBD and purchased some more books. I am a book lover...that anyone who knows me can attest to.
We have only a few more days until my husband begins another semester of school. I am not looking forward to this time as he is tackleing 18 credit hours this semester. Between that and working 45+ hours per week, we may not see much of him. I hope I can stay sane!!! I am one of those women who could have their husband around 24/7 and never get tired of having him around. I don't like him away. However, I know that this "season" of life will soon be over and I can't wait to see what the Lord has for us once school is done.
Well...enough rambling on. I hope to write again real soon.
I did finish my book,"Desiring God" and was greatly encouraged by the thoughts contained within it's pages. I have much I am thinking and meditating on...maybe it will come out in some posts. I did recieve more books for Christmas which are on my "To Read" list. I have started a neat book from one of my all time favorite authors (Elizabeth George) entitled "A Mom After God's Own Heart" which I am currently enjoying. I have more books to read after that...and after recieving more books...I used a gift certificate I had for CBD and purchased some more books. I am a book lover...that anyone who knows me can attest to.
We have only a few more days until my husband begins another semester of school. I am not looking forward to this time as he is tackleing 18 credit hours this semester. Between that and working 45+ hours per week, we may not see much of him. I hope I can stay sane!!! I am one of those women who could have their husband around 24/7 and never get tired of having him around. I don't like him away. However, I know that this "season" of life will soon be over and I can't wait to see what the Lord has for us once school is done.
Well...enough rambling on. I hope to write again real soon.
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