paths

Her father taught his children, never doubting, that there was a single path from antiquity to eternity. Learn the psalms and ponder the ways of the early church. Know what must be known. Ancient fathers taught their ancient children, who taught their ancient children, these very things. Puritan Milton with his pagan muses. It is like a voice heard from another room, singing for the pleasure of the song, and then you know it, too, and through you it moves by accident and necessity down generations. Then, why singing? Why pleasure in it? And why the blessing of the moment when another voice is heard, dreaming to itself? That was her father humming "Old Hundred" while he shaved. It was John Keats in Cheapside, traveling his realms of gold. No need to be a minister. To be a teacher was an excellent thing.

from Home by Marilynne Robinson

(art credit to CMZart)

For Our Children

Father, hear us, we are praying,
Hear the words our hearts are saying:
We are praying for our children.

Keep them from the powers of evil.
From the secret, hidden peril;
Father, hear us for our children.

From the whirlpool that would suck them,
From the treacherous quicksand, pluck them;
Father, hear us for our children.

From the worldling's hollow gladness,
From the sting of faithless sadness,
Father, Father, keep our children.

Through life's troubled waters steer them;
Through life's bitter battle cheer them;
Father, Father, be Thou near them.

Read the language of our longing,
Read the wordless pleadings thronging,
Holy Father, for our children.

And wherever they may abide,
Lead them Home at eventide.

by Amy Carmichael, Mountain Breezes

A prayer

"For this reason also, since the day we heard of it,
we have not ceased to pray for you
and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,
to please Him in all respects,
bearing fruit in every good work
and increasing in the knowledge of God;
strengthened with all power,
according to His glorious might,
for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience;
joyously giving thanks to the Father,
who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light."
Colossians 1:9-12

One of my most favorite prayers to pray for my kids...

Ties of Affection and Companionship

"Make it a special object of attention and effort to gain an influence over the minds of the children with whom you shall find within your reach. Parents often pay too little attention to this. Their fellowship with children is only the necessary contact of command and obedience. A father who devotes some time daily to involving himself in the pursuits and pleasures of his children: talking with them, playing with them, or reading stories to them, will gain an ascendancy over them which, as they grow up, will be found to be immensely powerful. They are bound together by common feelings, by ties of affection and companionship, which have a most controlling moral influence upon the heart. It is, however, often neglected."~Jacob Abbott, Training Children in Godliness

All else from Him, All else for Him

We will tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.
Psalm 78:4

From Raising Children Who Are Confident in God, a sermon by John Piper:
"All Christian parenting and Christian education begins with God. There is One ultimate, unchanging Reality, namely, God. All else in parenting and education comes from him. All else is for him. He is the first and the last and the center of parenting and education. He is the main thing in how you rear children and teach children and discipline children. It all begins with God and it all is built on God and it all is to be shaped by God. If there is one memory that our children should have of our families and our church it is this; they should remember God. God was first. God was central. There was a passion for the supremacy of God in all things."

I know that truth, and I believe that truth, and I'm doing my darndest to live that truth, and even so, the responsibility of it sucks the breath out of me when I really consider it. All else from Him, all else for Him- first and last and in between. I consider often- I cannot mold my children's heart- that is for Him alone- but please, Lord, allow me to show "a passion for the supremacy of God in all things."

Our foundation

Faith toward God is the foundation of effective mothering. Success as a mother doesn’t begin with hard work or sound principles or consistent discipline (as necessary as these are). It begins with God: His character, His faithfulness, His promises, His sovereignty. And as our understanding of these truths increases, so will our faith for mothering.

Carolyn Mahaney, girltalk, November 19, 2008

This morning I was reading in Romans, and this passage goes right along,

But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we eagerly wait for it. (Romans 8:25)

On the road of parenting, yes, there are markers along the way. But our satisfaction cannot be found in, as Matthew Henry says, "the things of time and sense." It is patience, faith in waiting, that smooths the path and brings purpose to the twists and turns in the journey. It is confidence in Him, that "He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." (Phil. 1:6)

Lord, make me to know more of You; more of Your character, more of Your faithfulness, more of Your promises, more of Your sovereignty. Lord, increase my faith.

(art credit: Claude Monet, Poppies, Near Argenteuil, 1873)

New every morning

In coming to the Lord in prayer, in adoration, I often praise Him for His character, for His names. Those names, so many, so all-encompassing, and yet, I come back again and again to El Shaddai, God Almighty, the all sufficient.

Today I read the following, written by Pastor Phil Johnson, and oh, I nodded in agreement. Yes, I believe wholeheartedly in the promise of Ephesians 3:20, "in Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all we can ask or think." But, I also know that my mind is small. His sufficiency is abundance in itself. Do I dare pray that I would be an even larger vessel for His grace?

I know of several struggling, struggling with relationships or with circumstance or with change or with physical ailments and disabilities, and I confess, I sometimes think, "now Lord? Is this yet enough?" Yet we can always be sure that HE is enough. His grace is sufficient for me. For them. For you. I hope this is a reminder and an encouragement.

When Elijah arrived, that woman and her little boy were on the verge of starvation. She was gathering a few sticks for fuel for what she was convinced would be the last meal she and her son would have before they died. But God graciously provided for the needs of that widow, her son, and Elijah for many weeks after that—not by giving them an overflow of abundance, but by miraculously providing a new handful of flour and a small portion of oil each day, so that their supplies, while never in surplus, were always sufficient for their daily needs.

That is a perfect picture of how God normally dispenses His grace. He gives us sufficient grace without giving us a surplus of grace. "His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is [His] faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23). "He giveth more grace" (James 4:6)—but He dispenses His grace in accord with our present needs—often in handfuls and small measures, and rarely in superabundant portions. But the grace He gives is always sufficient.

Furthermore, sometimes, when God does want to lavish grace upon us in superabundant measure, the prelude to that is a dark and difficult turn of providence. Suffering is the pathway to glory. Hardship is the container into which God pours His grace. The larger the vessel, the greater the measure of grace.

Thank you to the ladies at Girl Talk for this gem:

"It is faith that enlivens our work with perpetual cheerfulness. It commits every part of it to God, in the hope, that even mistakes shall be overruled for his glory; and thus relieves us from an oppressive anxiety, often attendant upon a deep sense of our responsibility. The shortest way to peace will be found in casting ourselves upon God for daily pardon of deficiencies and supplies of grace, without looking too eagerly for present fruit."

The Christian Ministry, by Charles Bridges

Oh doesn't this speak truth?! In 2 Corinthians 5:7 Paul reminds us that we "walk by faith, not by sight." And that is indeed, so very often, the path of parenting- we don't always see the "present fruit," and yet the call is to persevere, through to that promise of "when they are old..." Daily I have to be back at "casting (myself) upon God," for pardon, for forgiveness, for grace, and yet, this reminds us that "even mistakes shall be overruled for His glory."

I thought that Daylight Forest was a good accompaniment- in the midst of the density of the forest, we see the glimmer of light ahead...

(art credit to Willo Huard, Silverdale, Washington)

Leben

Leben means "life" in German. It is also the title of a great resource about great people and events associated with the Reformation. In this journal are stories of great heroes of the faith who have gone before us. These stories tell of the great cost men and women of God paid to see His Kingdom established. They are the ones who have faithfully passed the baton to the generations which followed them.

My hope is that as we examine the qualities of those who laid such an incredible foundation of faith for our generation, we will be challenged and motivated to think generationally-- and eternally --about what kind of inheritance we want to leave.

This task can seem daunting, at the same time, it is exciting to be counted among His people, to march for His name, to raise up children for His name's sake. What a PRIVILEGE!

Do check out these journals available online for free... and be inspired. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us AND remember, He who has called us in faithful and also will do it!

Press on!

Enlarge My Heart

I cling to Your testimonies;

O LORD, do not put me to shame!

I shall run the way of Your commandments,

For You will enlarge my heart.

Psalm 119:31-32

Check out this post from Nancy Wilson over at Femina.

Praying for improved MPG...

(photo credit to Alex Anderson Quilts)

Tea Time

“It’s not the tea that makes teatime special, it’s the spirit of the tea party. It’s what happens when women or men or children make a place in their life for the rituals of sharing. It’s what happens when we bother with the little extras that feed the soul and nurture the senses and make space for unhurried conversation. And when that happens, it doesn’t really matter what fills the cups or holds the liquid.” ~~Emily Barnes

Enjoy some tea.... :-)

Sabbath Rest

A Sunday Afternoon, 1888 by Carl Thomsen

The Sabbath is such a blessing. To think that the Lord has set aside a specific day for us to rest--to rest! Yes, we are commanded to rest. There is a purpose for this--His glory and our good! I, for one, am so very grateful for this day. I need it! With managing a home and homeschooling...this can really "use me up". But, to know that I have a day where I am to set my mind on things above instead of the things of this world, that is refreshing not only spiritually, but mentally and physically, as well.

The Sabbath is a day where I get to stop, worship and be renewed for a new week! I get to leave the washing machine alone. I get to have a simple, easy meal. I get to leisurely enjoy life with my family...without feeling guilty because there is so much that needs to be done! God is so loving. He knows we need rest. We are always talking about being overworked and overwhelmed. I encourage you to consider the blessing of rest today--to ponder the balm it is to our souls.

First things first...

"Question: What is the first rule for teaching a parakeet how to talk?
Answer: You must have a larger vocabulary than the parakeet
__________
Question: What is the first rule for disciplining children?
Answer: You must have more discipline than the child.

... Consider the degree to which you are self-disciplined; it is only to that degree that you can expect to succeed in disciplining you child to correct his anger problem."

ouch.

(from The Heart of Anger by Lou Priolo)

(art credit: Plaid Bird Print, from Moontree Letterpress)

A Life of Prayer

"This life devoted to God must be accompanied by the deep confidence that our prayer is effective. In His prayer-lessons our Blessed Lord insisted upon nothing so much as faith in God as a Father who most certainly does what we ask. "Ask and ye shall receive"'; to count confidently on an answer is with Him the beginning and the end of His teaching (compare to Matt 7:8 and John 16:24). In proportion as this assurance masters us, and it becomes a settled thing that our prayers do tell and that God does what we ask, we dare not neglect the use of this wonderful power. The soul turns wholly to God, and our life becomes prayer. We see that the Lord needs and takes time, because we and all around us are the creatures of time, under the law of growth. Knowing that not one single prayer of faith can possibly be lost, that there is sometimes a need for the storing up and accumulating of prayer, but recognizing that persevering prayer is irresistible, prayer becomes the quiet, persistent living of our life of desire and faith in the presence of our God."

Andrew Murray, Believers School of Prayer

(art credit: Prayer, by Awakening Youth at Prayer House Art)

The Ultimate Meaning of True Womanhood

The Ultimate Meaning of True Womanhood

by John Piper

@ the 2008 True Woman Conference
in Chicago, IL

My aim in this message is to clarify from God’s word the ultimate meaning of true womanhood, and to motivate you, by God’s grace, to embrace it as your highest calling. What I will say is foundational to the “True Woman Manifesto” which I regard as a faithful, clear, true, and wise document.

The Opposite of a Wimpy Woman
I would like to begin by stating one huge assumption that I bring to this task tonight. I mention it partly because it may give you an emotional sense of what I hope you become because of this conference. And I mention it partly because it explains why I minister the way I do and why this message sounds the way it does.
My assumption is that wimpy theology makes wimpy women. And I don’t like wimpy women. I didn’t marry a wimpy woman. And with Noël, I am trying to raise my daughter Talitha, who turns 13 on Saturday, not to be a wimpy woman.

Marie Durant
The opposite of a wimpy woman is not a brash, pushy, loud, controlling, sassy, uppity, arrogant Amazon. The opposite of a wimpy woman is 14-year-old Marie Durant, a French Christian in the 17th century who was arrested for being a Protestant and told she could be released if she said one phrase: “I abjure.” Instead, wrote on the wall of her cell, “Resist,” and stayed there 38 years until she died, doing just that (Karl Olsson, Passion, [New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1963], 116-117).

Gladys and Esther Staines
The opposite of a wimpy woman is Gladys Staines who in 1999, after serving with her husband Graham in India for three decades learned that he and their two sons, Phillip (10) and Timothy (6), had been set on fire and burned alive by the very people they had served for 34 years, said, “I have only one message for the people of India. I’m not bitter. Neither am I angry. Let us burn hatred and spread the flame of Christ’s love.”
The opposite of a wimpy woman is her 13-year-old daughter Esther (rightly named!) who said, when asked how she felt about her father’s murder, “I praise the Lord that He found my father worthy to die for Him.”

Krista and Vicki
The opposite of a wimpy woman is Krista and Vicki who between them have had over 65 surgeries because of so-called birth defects, Apert Syndrome and Hypertelorism, and who testify today through huge challenges, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well”; and this: “Even though my life has been difficult, I know that God loves me and created me just the way I am. He has taught me to persevere and to trust Him more than anything.”

Joni Eareckson Tada
The opposite of a wimpy woman is Joni Eareckson Tada who has spent the last 41 years in a wheel chair, and prays, “Oh, thank you, thank you for this wheel chair! By tasting hell in this life, I’ve been driven to think seriously about what faces me in the next. This paralysis is my greatest mercy” (Christianity Today, January, 2004, 50).

Suzie
The opposite of a wimpy woman is Suzie who lost her husband four years ago at age 59, found breast cancer three months later, then lost her mom and writes, “Now I see that I have been crying for the wrong kind of help. I now see, that my worst suffering is my sin—my sin of self-centeredness and self-pity. . . . I know that with His grace, his lovingkindess, and his merciful help, my thoughts can be reformed and my life conformed to be more like His Son.”

Wimpy Theology Makes Wimpy Women
Wimpy theology makes wimpy women. That’s my assumption that I bring to this evening. Wimpy theology simply does not give a woman a God that is big enough, strong enough, wise enough, and good enough to handle the realities of life in away that magnifies the infinite worth of Jesus Christ. Wimpy theology is plagued by woman-centeredness and man-centeredness.

Wimpy theology doesn’t have the granite foundation of God’s sovereignty or the solid steel structure of a great God-centered purpose for all things.

The Ultimate Purpose for the Universe
So I turn to my to my main point, the ultimate meaning of true womanhood, and start by stating this great God-centered purpose of all things: God’s ultimate purpose for the universe and for all of history and for your life is to display the glory of Christ in its highest expression, namely, in his dying to make a rebellious people his everlasting and supremely happy bride. To say it another way, God’s ultimate purpose in creating the world and choosing to let it become the sin-wracked world that it is, is so that the greatness of the glory of Christ could be put on display at Calvary where he bought his rebellious bride at the cost of his life.

I base this statement of God’s ultimate purpose on several texts. For example, Revelation 13:8 where John refers to God’s writing names “before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” So in God’s mind Christ was already slain before the creation of the world. This was his plan from the beginning. Why?

Because in being slain “to make a wretch his treasure”—to make a rebel his bride—the glory of his grace would shine most brightly, and that was his ultimate purpose according to Ephesians 1:4-6, “In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ . . . to the praise of the glory of his grace.”

The Glory of Christ at the Cross
From the very beginning, God’s design in creating the universe and governing it the way he does has been to put the glory of his grace on display in the death of his Son for the sake of his bride. “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her . . . . that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27). The ultimate purpose of creation and redemption is to put the glory of Christ on display in purchasing and purifying his bride, the church.

True Womanhood: At the Center of God’s Purpose
Now where does this take us in regard to the ultimate meaning of true womanhood? It does not take us to wimpy theology or wimpy women. It is not wimpy to say that God created the universe and governs all things to magnify his own grace in the death of his Son for the salvation of his bride. That’s not wimpy. And it doesn’t lead to wimpy womanhood.
But it does lead to womanhood. True womanhood. In fact, it leads to the mind-boggling truth that womanhood and manhood—masculinity and femininity—belong at the center of God’s ultimate purpose. Womanhood and manhood were not an afterthought or a peripheral thought in God’s plan. God designed them precisely so that they would serve to display the glory of his Son dying to have his happy, admiring bride.

Created to Display Jesus’ Glory
Genesis 1:27 says, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking God created us this way, and then later when Christ came to do his saving work, God looked around and said, “Well, that’s a good analogy, man and woman. I’ll describe my Son’s salvation with that. I’ll say it’s like a husband dying to save his bride.”

It didn’t happen like that. God did not look around and find manhood and womanhood to be a helpful comparison to his Son’s relation to the church. He created us as male and female precisely so that we could display the glory of his Son. Our sexuality is designed for the glory of the Son of God—especially the glory of his dying to have his admiring bride.
In Ephesian 5:31, Paul quotes Genesis 2:24, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” And then he adds this, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” In other words, from the beginning, manhood and womanhood were designed to display the glory of Christ in his relationship to the church, his bride.

A Distinctive Calling to Display the Glory of Christ
In other words, the ultimate meaning of true womanhood is this: It is a distinctive calling of God to display the glory of his Son in ways that would not be displayed if there were no womanhood. If there were only generic persons and not male and female, the glory of Christ would be diminished in the world. When God described the glorious work of his Son as the sacrifice of a husband for his bride, he was telling us why he made us male and female. He made us this way so that our maleness and femaleness would display more fully the glory of his Son in relation to his blood-bought bride.

This means that if you try to reduce womanhood to physical features and biological functions, and then determine your role in the world merely on the basis of competencies, you don’t just miss the point of womanhood, you diminish the glory of Christ in your own life. True womanhood is indispensable in God’s purpose to display the fullness of the glory of his Son. Your distinctive female personhood is not incidental. It exists because of its God-designed relationship to the central event of history, the death of the Son of God.

So let me say a word about what that looks like if you are married and if you are single.

A Word to the Married
First, a word to the married. Paul says in Ephesians 5:22-24, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.”

The point here is that marriage is meant to display the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his church. And the way it does this is by men being men and women being women in marriage. These are no more interchangeable than Christ is interchangeable with the church. Men take their cues from Christ as the head, and women take their cues from what the church is called to be in her allegiance to Christ. This is described by Paul in terms of headship and submission. Here are my definitions of headship and submission based on this text:

*Headship is the divine calling of a husband to take primary responsibility for Christ-like, servant leadership, protection, and provision in the home.
*Submission is the divine calling of a wife to honor and affirm her husband’s leadership and help carry it through according to her gifts.

The point here is not to go into detail about how this gets worked out from marriage to marriage. The point is that these two, headship and submission, are different. They correspond to true manhood and true womanhood, which are different. And these differences are absolutely essential by God’s design, so that marriage will display, as in a mirror dimly, something of the glory of the sacrificial love of Christ for his bride and the lavish reverence and admiration of the bride for her husband.

I know this leaves a hundred questions unanswered—about unbelieving husbands, and believing husbands who don’t take spiritual leadership, and wives who resist their husbands’ leadership, and those who receive it but don’t affirm it. But if you—you married women—embrace the truth that your womanhood, true womanhood, is uniquely and indispensably created by God to display the glory of his Son in the way you relate to your husband, you will have calling of infinite significance.

But what if you aren’t married?

A Word to Singles
The apostle Paul clearly loved his singleness because of the radical freedom for ministry that it gave him (1 Corinthians 7:32-38). One of the reasons he was free to celebrate his singleness and call others to join him in it, is that, even though marriage is meant to display the glory of Christ, there are truths about Christ and his kingdom that shine more clearly through singleness than through marriage. I’ll give you three examples:

1) A life of Christ-exalting singleness bears witness that the family of God grows not by propagation through sexual intercourse, but by regeneration through faith in Christ. If you never marry, and if you embrace a lifetime of chastity and biological childlessness, and if you receive this from the Lord’s hand as a gift with contentment, and if you gather to yourself the needy and the lonely, and spend yourself for the gospel without self-pity, because Christ has met your need, then he will be mightily glorified in your life, and particularly so because you are a woman.

2) A life of Christ-exalting singleness bears witness that relationships in Christ are more permanent, and more precious, than relationships in families. The single woman who turns away from regretting the absence of her own family, and gives herself to creating God’s family in the church, will find the flowering of her womanhood in ways she never dreamed, and Christ will be uniquely honored because of it.

3) A life of Christ-exalting singleness bears witness that marriage is temporary, and finally gives way to the relationship to which it was pointing all along: Christ and the church—the way a picture is no longer needed when you see face to face. Marriage is a beautiful thing. But it is not the main thing. If it were, Jesus would not have said, “In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:30). Single womanhood, content to walk with Christ, is a great witness that he is a better husband than any man, and in the end, will be the only husband in the universe.

In other words, true womanhood can flourish in marriage and singleness.

True Womanhood for the Glory of Christ
I commend to you this truth: The ultimate purpose of God in history is the display of the glory of his Son in dying for his bride. God has created man as male and female because there are aspects of Christ’s glory which would not be known if they were not reflected in the complementary differences of manhood and womanhood. Therefore, true womanhood is a distinctive calling of God to display the glory of his Son in ways that would not be displayed if there were no womanhood.

Married womanhood has its unique potential for magnifying Christ that single womanhood does not have. Single womanhood has its unique potential for magnifying Christ which married womanhood does not have.

So whether you marry or remain single, do not settle for a wimpy theology. It is beneath you. God is too great. Christ is too glorious. True womanhood is too strategic. Don’t waste it. Your womanhood—your true womanhood—was made for the glory of Jesus Christ.

© Desiring God

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Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

A Life Lived for God

"How many times between the ages of three and ten do children have to answer the only two questions adults can think of to ask them: How old are you? and What are you going to be when you grow up?

The second question may seem innocuous, but is it? In the first place, many children may be distressed at being required to make a choice which is far beyond them. In the second place, it implies that the choice is theirs. This can lead to great confusion later on. The child will grow up physically, but spiritually he will not have begun until he learns that Jesus died not only to save him from sin but in order that he should live not for himself but for Him who died (see 2 Corinthians 5:15 and 1 John 3:16). If a young person has been taught from childhood that he ought to "be something" without at the same time being shown that nothing is better than being God's servant, he may be preoccupied with ambitions and ideals he has gotten solely from the world. If his conception of "where it's at" has nothing to do with the Kingdom of God, he is in for trouble when it comes time to discern the Will of God. He will be setting limits to his obedience, defining the terms of his service. "For My sake" is a concept children can grasp much earlier than we generally suppose. A little boy wrote to me that he was learning to lay down his life for others. To him this meant that sometimes when he would rather play he lay down beside his little sister to help her go to sleep.

Pray that God will show you how to teach your children that life is meant to be lived for God. "You are not the owner of your own body. You have been bought, and at what a price! Therefore bring glory to God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:20). Help your child understand that the Lord is his Shepherd, and he is a little lamb. The Shepherd will gladly show him the right pathway if he is willing to follow."

Taken from Elisabeth Elliot's Keep a Quiet Heart, pp. 239-240

Soul-Satisfying Work

"Mothers who understand that God desires 'godly offspring' (Malachi 2:15) realize what an important part they play in fulfilling God's desires. It takes diligence, hard work, and faith to raise godly offspring for God, but it is a soul-satisfying work. This biblical view of a God-fearing motherhood is laden with images of fruit and abounding in spiritual excellence and honor and blessing. The woman described in Proverbs 31 is a satisfied woman. She can look with pleasure on her years of hard work raising children and managing her household. She reaps a harvest of good things from her hard work of sowing obedience. This is the house reaching the final stages of completion. The mother of young children must have an eye toward the day when her children, by the grace of God, will be adults who rise up in her presence and bless her. It may difficult to maintain this long view in the midst of diapers and discipline and schooling and a hundred other things. But the Christian mother must look to see the house finished. Her obedience is central in passing on to her children a love for the Most High God. He is faithful and He has promised our children to Him." -- Nancy Wilson, Praise Her in the Gates, page 13

Obedience

Yesterday was a hard day with my children. Obedience came hard. We are told in the Commandments, in Deuteronomy 5:16, "Honor your father and mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days might be prolonged, and that it may go well with you..." And, of course, the logical reverse of that would be that if you were not to honor your father and mother, your days might be shortened and it may not go well with you... Such was the case in our house yesterday.

Ironically, or perhaps appropriately, I read on the topic of obedience yesterday morning, before any of those children even opened their eyes for the first time in the day. I read,
"Surrender to His perfect and blessed will, a life of service and obedience, is the beauty and the charm of heaven. Service and obedience were the thoughts that were uppermost in the mind of the Son when He dwelt upon earth. Service and obedience must become with us the chief objects of desire and aim, more so than rest or light, or joy or strength; in them we shall find the path to all the higher blessedness that awaits us." (Andrew Murray, The Believers School of Prayer, p. 134)
Hmmm... that our days might be prolonged and that it might go well with us.
That "the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." (James 5:16)

Murray sums it up with
"It is the man who, in obedience to the Christ of God, is proving that he is doing what his Lord wills, for whom the Father will do whatsoever he will: 'Whatsover we ask we receive, because we keep his commandments, and do the things that are pleasing in his sight."

So, today as we begin the day again in my house, my prayer is for obedience, not just for my children to honor their father and mother, to keep the commandments, but that we all do the things that are pleasing in His sight.

Nothing less than these...

"Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son."
John 14:13

"If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it."
John 14:14

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."
John 15:7

"You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you."
John 15:16

"In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you."
John 16:23

"Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full."
John 16:24

"Prayer not only teaches and strengthens to work; work teaches and strengthens to pray...
As you give yourself entirely to God for His work, you will feel that nothing less than these great promises are what you need and that nothing less is what you may most confidently expect."
Andrew Murray, The Believers School of Prayer, "Power for Praying and Working"

In this, we are reminded that prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, and work, in the name of Jesus Christ, must go together. This is not "name it and claim it." This is not "prosperity gospel," promising us earthly riches and wealth. Rather, this is holding onto the promises that He gives us; that in His name, we may ask and expect "greater works." (John 14:12)

In Haggai 2:4, we read "...take courage,' declares the Lord, 'and work; for I am with you,' says the Lord of Hosts." In his Concise Commentary, Matthew Henry reminds us, "If God be with us, peace is with us." That is what we "may most confidently expect."

Press on, sisters. Pray, and work!

Bring him unto Me...

Looking at Mark 9:19, Spurgeon shares this...

Despairingly the poor disappointed father turned away from the disciples to their Master. His son was in the worst possible condition, and all means had failed, but the miserable child was soon delivered from the evil one when the parent in faith obeyed the Lord Jesus' word, "Bring him unto Me." Children are a precious gift from God, but much anxiety comes with them. They may be a great joy or a great bitterness to their parents; they may be filled with the Spirit of God, or possessed with the spirit of evil. In all cases, the Word of God gives us one receipt for the curing of all their ills, "Bring him unto Me." O for the more agonizing prayer on their behalf while they are yet babes! Sin is there, let our prayers begin to attack it. Our cries for our offspring should precede those cries which betoken their actual advent into a world of sin. In the days of their youth we shall see sad tokens of that dumb and deaf spirit which will neither pray aright, nor hear the voice of God in the soul, but Jesus still commands, "Bring them unto Me." When they are grown up they may wallow in sin and foam with enmity against God; then when our hearts are breaking we should remember the great Physician's words, "Bring them unto Me." Never must we cease to pray until they cease to breathe. No case is hopeless while Jesus lives.

The Lord sometimes suffers His people to be driven into a corner that they may experimentally know how necessary He is to them. Ungodly children, when they show us our own powerlessness against the depravity of their hearts, drive us to flee to the strong for strength, and this is a great blessing to us. Whatever our morning's need may be, let it like a strong current bear us to the ocean of divine love. Jesus can soon remove our sorrow, He delights to comfort us. Let us hasten to Him while He waits to meet us.

The tone of my life...

"Life is a whole. The pious frame of the hour of prayer is judged by God from the total frame of the ordinary daily life of which the hour of prayer is but a small part. Not the feeling I muster up, but the tone of my life during the day, is God's criterion of what I really am and desire. My drawing near to God is one with my relationship with men and earth; failure here will cause failure there."
Andrew Murray, The Believers School of Prayer, "Prayer and Love"

I think about that statement not just in the context of "men and earth," but also with my family. "Not the feeling I muster up," when I'm tired, when I'm not feeling well, when tasks from in and from out are pressing- "the tone of my life during the day."

I settle so easily into prayer, and lean into the peace of sitting before my Father, communicating, me! with the God of the Universe. But do I live as comfortably, with the same peace? Does my family recognize the peace, the joy, of my salvation?

My prayer echoes Mr. Murray's:
Lord Jesus, my blessed teacher, teach me to forgive and to love. Let the power of your blood make the pardon of my sins such a reality, that forgiveness, as shown by you to me, and by me to others, may be the very joy of heaven. Show me whatever in my relationship with fellowmen might hinder my fellowship with God, so that my daily life in my own home and in society may be the school in which strength and confidence are gathered for the prayer of faith. Amen.

Small Annoyances, Small Pains

Never let us reflect upon small annoyances, and we shall be able to bear great ones sweetly. Never let us think over our small pains, and our great pains will be easily endurable.

~~Charlotte Mason, Ourselves, p. 90

This spurs me on and re-aligns my focus. Oh, to let the small annoyances and small pains go...press on, friends!

Unanticipated

Unanticipated blessings of being the neighborhood home school family (& a couple happened just today!):

• when the kid down the street forgets his science book, he can come to your house for books to help him with his homework


• when the neighbors needs an emergency contact for day care or the public schools, we're available


• when the public school kid gets sick and his mom's at work, we're available


• when UPS needs a signature, we're home (and he knows what we're studying this year...)


• when the guy around the block is looking for his lost dog, he can stop and ask us if we've seen him


• when the traditional school kids are out of school for one of those teacher work days (man! isn't every day a teacher work day?) and need someone to play with by the end of lunchtime, we just might be available


• we entertain sales pitches for wrapping paper, cookie dough, candy bars, seasonal gifts and a host of other things, and might just buy one since we haven't had to sell it


• we can pray each morning for a house, and it's family, on the block


• we can tell others that there are lots of reasons we home school, but the primary one is so we can teach our kids about the Lord
  

Double is the blessing when you discover another home school family in your neighborhood. In one military neighborhood we lived in, the other side of our duplex, and two other families home schooled. Fun! An unanticipated blessing.

(art credit: Neighborly by Swallowfield)

The All Comprehensive Gift

Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4:1-3

In looking at this passage in Sunday School last week, we were asked, “what is the unity of the Spirit?” We considered those fruit, the gifts of the Spirit, that unite those who believe in the saving work of Christ.

That question was even more clarified for me yesterday as I read a lesson on “The All-Comprehensive Gift,” on the role of the Holy Spirit in prayer. Andrew Murray reminds us to consider the names the Spirit bears:

The Spirit of grace- to “reveal and impart all of the grace in Christ Jesus.”
The Spirit of faith- to “teach us to begin and go on and increase in believing.”
The Spirit of adoption and assurance- ‘who witnesses that we are God’s children, and inspires the confiding and confident ‘Abba, Father!’
The Spirit of truth- to “lead all truth.”
The Spirit of prayer- “through which we speak with the Father in prayer that must be heard.”
The Spirit of judgment- “to search the heart and convince of sin.”
The Spirit of holiness- “manifesting and communicating the presence of the Father’s holy presence within us.”
The Spirit of power- “through whom we are strong to testify boldly and work effectively in the Father’s service.”
The Spirit of glory- “the pledge of our inheritance, the preparation and foretaste of glory to come.”

Imagine! All of that, that entire, all-comprehensive list, available to us that call upon Him! I am struck today of those implications- of what our prayer and study and service, of what our lives, would look like if we walked confidently in those truths! Talk about Giant Faith!

Lord, You are Sovereign, and exceedingly full of compassion and love, in measure beyond what I even understand. Thank you for your perfect plan. Thank you for the gift of the Spirit, that all-comprehensive gift. Forgive me Lord, for those many distractions that keep me from knowing the fullness of your Spirit. Oh how I long to put them aside! Indeed, I pray fervently, continue to teach me how to walk in a manner worthy of that calling you have so graciously extended to me. I pray confidently, knowing that is Your delight, and that it is mine as well. Amen.

(photo credit: The Face of Peace by Pablo Picasso)

Friction

"The problem of speeding up the movement of a vehicle is that of applying power to overcome friction.' This is a quotation from a book called Quest of Speed. What hinders our spiritual speed? If there be anything in which my will is not in accord with God's will, then there is friction, and that keeps me back. I cannot fly in spirit ('mount up with wings as eagles'), I cannot 'run, and not be weary', I cannot 'walk, and not faint', till my will is content with God's will. As I though over this, I knew that the only way to end the friction is the way shown in that wonderful verse in Isaiah 40.31: 'But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings of eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.' 'Wait' means expect, look for, hope. God has something much better for us than the thing we naturally desire. As we wait with all the desire of our mind fixed on Him, the thing we naturally long for becomes less pressing, the friction ceases, and so we are set free to go on. God knows there are few things more difficult to do than to give up our own desires. It is not a thing we do once for all, it comes again and again as Satan tries to make friction between our will and God's. Our dear Lord knew this trial of spirit and He gloriously conquered. He can make it possible for us to do what He Himself did in the Garden of Gethsemane. 'My grace [the grace that was His then] is sufficient for thee.'

It helps often, when we feel things most impossibly difficult, to turn from everything and just look at Him. As we look at Him we love Him. We cannot help loving Him, and where love is, there friction is not."-- Amy Carmichael, Thou Givest...They Gather

As a child...

We speak often of living in seasons, and I believe that is true. But even in the midst of those measured times, some things endure. As I have been meditating and studying prayer (oh, and yes, praying too!), I am learning, and re-learning, and learning yet more, how crucial prayer is. Prayer MUST endure! This prayer of Andrew Murray echoes mine today, as well:

Teach me that the worship in spirit and truth is not of man but only comes from you; that it is not only a thing of times and seasons, but the outflowing of a life in you. Teach me to draw near to God in prayer with a deep awareness of my ignorance and my having nothing in myself to offer Him, and at the same time of the provision that you, my Saviour, make for the Spirit's breathing in my childlike stammerings. I do bless you that in you I am a child and have a child's liberty of access, that in you I have the spirit of Sonship and of worship in truth. Teach me, above all, blessed Son of the Father, how it is the revelation of the Father that gives confidence in prayer. Let the infinite Fatherliness of God's heart be my joy and strength for a life of prayer and of worship. Amen.

Whatever?

"Ideas matter. Emotions matter. Dreams and goals and values and ethics matter. And if all these things matter, then fiction -- which deals with all these things, and more besides -- most definitely matters." Gina Dalfonzo, "Fiction Matters," The POINT blog, August 26, 2008

This post has lingered in the back of my mind for a few days. It was written in reference to a series of fiction books now out and popular, especially among teens. The series is about vampires. I know many who are reading them, though right away I should say, I have not.

I really appreciate what Dalfonzo writes- and I think it's something to be mindful of as we guide our children's choices in reading and in literature, goodness- in any media, and as we make our own. A lasting memory I have is listening to a dad respond to his young teen's question of "but Dad, what's wrong with it?" with the reply of "but what is RIGHT with it?"

So then it's back to Philippians 4:8, not the worldly "whatever...," but rather,
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

To Die is Gain

It is late and it is quiet. Reflection has set in. How has this day been? How have I spent it? For whom have I spent it? What kind of choices--big or small--did I make? Why did I make them? Why do I do what I do?

In the context of my life as a wife and a mother, there are many times when I truly can say that there is a sense of "suffering." Usually this kind of "suffering" comes in the form of "dying-to- self"--the relinquishing of personal time, energy, desires, dreams, etc. (most of which may even be "good")--to fulfill my ministry to my husband and my children. As I hope to build a Godly home, I understand that it is a tremendous resposibility with a great reward. As I invest time and energy, I must wait for His work to be done in their lives. Romans 8:25 is so sweet to me, "But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perserverance." The vision of my husband being all he can be for the Lord and my children loving Christ and serving Him is my hope and my reward!

Even with this understanding of my calling and the vision I have for my family, I struggle with getting so easily entangled by the things of this world. Often, I listen to its voices telling me who I should be, how I should spend my time, where I should expend my energy, what my desires should be, and what I should dream. Its message is loud and clear"cling-to-self."

So, as I reflect on my day, what I see clearly is that I NEED GRACE to once again fix my eyes on Jesus the Author and Perfecter of my faith. I NEED GRACE to not get bogged down by the temporal, but to see the eternal and all its glory. I NEED GRACE to count it all joy when I fall into various trials...the "dying-to-self" moments.

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. --Philippians 1:21

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. --John 12:24

Begin

"Then he said, "Who shall begin the battle?" And he answered, "You."

1 Kings 20:14

"Arise and begin working, and the Lord be with you."

1 Chronicles 22:16

We started school last week. It's the 10th year that late August arrived in our home and we started schooling, at least in a formal reading, writing and 'rithmetic kind of way. Ten years. A decade. That seems like a long time. And yet, a blink of the eye.

I remember that first year like a slow motion film in Technicolor. I was pregnant, and it seemed, about to get more pregnant, if such a thing were possible, when in mid-September we found out it was not one baby but two. I was so tired that fall. I would hold our not-quite-two-year-old by the ankle during naptime as she would squirm and I just needed to keep her on the bed so I could sleep. For. A. Moment. But my almost 5 year old wanted to read and that's what almost 5 year olds in Connecticut did- go to school. So, with the 3 year old little boy and the not-quite-two-year-old little girl, we went to school. At the dining room table and on the couch and laying on the beds and picnicing in the park and picking apples and collecting leaves and even through winter's first snow.

We moved to the Pacific Northwest that winter, and our new house had a schoolroom. Other people might call it the basement, but it was our schoolroom. It rained and rained and rained and we had two new babies join our classroom. And still, we schooled. We schooled at the Little Tykes picnic table in our schoolroom and on the couch while feeding babies and at the shore while waiting for a submarine to float by so we could wave at our dad.

I figured what we began we just might as well keep doing.

And so we did.

And so we have.

Now I know some of you are starting school now. With little ones in arm and little ones under foot. With husbands that are away. With uncertain schedules and visitors coming and going. With family that isn't quite sure what you are doing. With personal doubt and uncertainty.

You want school to look right and things to be in order and plans in place and...

Just begin.
Pray and commit it all to Him, for His glory, with His help, by His grace.

And begin.

Only grace

In Instructing a Child's Heart, Tedd and Margy Tripp remind us that "sin cannot be remedied by 'getting one's act together.' Only grace can bring radical heart transformation."

"Our children's needs are the same as our needs. We need the heart transplant surgery that is promised in the grace of the new covenant, 'I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols' (Ezek. 36:25). Our impure thoughts and motives show how profoundly we need cleansing.

Verse 26 continues, 'I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.' What does this mean? Grace brings radical internal change. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Both our children and we need change that is radical and thorough. When a child has gained renewed interest in a toy simply because a brother would like it, that child is exhibiting a stony heart. That hardness of heart will not be melted through anything other than grace. Manipulation of behavior through rewards or punishments will never touch the stony heart. Only grace can change the heart. What encouragement! The very thing that we need is the focal point of God's work."

The Tripps go on to remind us that God also has promised the Holy Spirit to empower us (Ezek. 36:27), for though "we know what we ought to do, we cannot do it apart from grace. We have the assurance that God's grace empowers us."

What a comfort- that we know forgiveness and cleansing and change and empowerment as children of God, and as the earthly parents of these children of God!

Qualifying Our Successors

Our influence upon the young is an exceedingly important part of our witness for Jesus Christ. In fact, God has assigned us a double duty to perform while we remain here. First, to use the world well, while we continue in it; and secondly, to prepare a generation to receive the trust when we shall pass away from the scene. We are not only to occupy well ourselves, but to train up and qualify our successors. -- Jacob Abbott, Training Children in Godliness

Dance of Youth by Pablo Picasso

Arise and tell

Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wondrous works that He has done. For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children, that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.
Psalm 78:3-7

Arise and tell.

I didn't come from a family where my father told me, but I seek to be the generation that sings the praises of the Lord to the generation to come. I can so very clearly see and tell of His strength and His wondrous work in my life, in the life of our family. The testimony of Jacob is our family's testimony as well.

But even more than arising and telling my children to put their confidence in God, to not forget His works, to keep His commandments, I desire to show them. The Gospel is meant to be lived out. In Instructing a Child's Heart, Tedd and Margy Tripp write, our children "will believe that Christian faith is the genuine article if we know God- not just know about God."

Arise and tell. And know God.

Running Interference

(note: this has nothing, well, little, to do with sowing seeds of great faith. It just made me smile, and made me thankful for the opportunity to keep interfering in the education of my kids...)

from To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee-

I suppose she chose me because she knew my name; as I read the alphabet a faint line appeared between her eyebrows, and after making me read most of My First Reader and the stock-market quotations from The Mobile Register aloud, she discovered that I was literate and looked at me with more than faint distaste. Miss Caroline told me to tell my father not to teach me any more, it would interfere with my reading.

"Teach me?" I said in surprise. "He hasn't taught me anything, Miss Caroline. Atticus ain't got time to teach me anything," I added, when Miss Caroline smiled and shook her head. "Why, he's so tired at night he just sits in the livingroom and reads."

"If he didn't teach you, who did?" Miss Caroline asked good-naturedly. "Somebody did. You weren't born reading The Mobile Register."

"Jem says I was. He read in a book where I was a Bullfinch instead of a Finch. Jem says my name's really Jean Louise Bullfinch, that I got swapped when I was born and I'm really a ---"

Miss Caroline apparently thought I was lying. "Let's not let our imaginations run away with us, dear," she said. "Now you tell your father not to teach you any more. It's best to begin reading with a fresh mind. You tell him I'll take over from here and try to undo the damage ---"

"Ma'am?"

"Your father does not know how to teach. You can have a seat now."

Destinies of Immortal Souls

Parents! You are fashioning the destinies of immortal souls!

What we want to do with our children, is not merely to control them and keep them in order—but to implant true principles deep in their hearts which shall rule their whole lives; to shape their character from within into Christlike beauty, and to make of them noble men and women, strong for battle of life. They are to be trained rather than governed. Growth of character, not merely good behavior—is the object of all home governing and teaching. Therefore the home influence is far more important than the home laws; and the parents' lives are of more significance than their teachings. Whatever may be done in the way of governing, teaching or training—theories are not half as important as the parents' lives. They may teach the most beautiful things—but if the child does not see these things modeled in the life of the parent—he will not consider them important enough to be adopted in his own life.

This quote taken from a sermon by J.R. Miller (1882), Home-Making, has once again challenged me to examine myself. How often I forget that who I am before my children is really what they learn. As Mr. Miller reminds me, I don't want to just teach my children beautiful things, I want to be those things for them. I want to be accutely aware of what I am communicating to them through my character -- is who I am is consistent with what I do and say. I pray that we boldly and willingly examine ourselves so we can be as true to what we teach and train as possible, by the boundless grace of God. May we be able to say, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ (1 Corinthians 11.1)".

A Woman's Journey in Ministry

Spring in Town by Grant Wood

This is a great testimony by Alice Hatch, a Mission to the World consultant. She shares her heart as she discovers what true ministry is. I pray that it will enourage you as much as it has encouraged me.


"I grew up in a family of strong women who served God with their lives, supported their husbands in ministry, and raised their children to love and follow God. In their later years, both my grandmothers were Bible teachers with wide ministries of counseling younger women. My mother and her sisters were all missionaries and made important contributions to their fields of service. My mother's cousin was a single missionary with pioneer service in Africa, and I was fascinated by stories of her work. Being a woman in ministry was something I inherited, and something I grew up with the vision of doing. My call to missionary service came early, and I did not question it.

Thus, it caught me completely off guard, after one year on the field, to find myself struggling with what my role in ministry was to be. Nothing in my life fit my stereotype of what a missionary should experience or be doing. Our son, first child, was born shortly after we arrived in Ecuador, and I was glad to be able to stay home with him. One year later, I was pregnant again and I felt trapped.


Because of my facility in Spanish, thanks to being an MK, I was asked to take over an existing evangelistic Bible study for neighborhood women, all much older than I was. I did it, because that is what missionaries do, but I felt hopelessly inadequate. My home was a modern well-equipped place, not the primitive situation my parents had. It embarrassed me. My husband had an 8 to 5 job building transmitters and antennas and was on call whenever the electricity went out, pressured to get the radio back on the air quickly. He was not preaching the gospel in the way I assumed missionaries did. In my confusion and despair, I cycled into a major depression that immobilized me for several months.


Looking back now I understand what was not clear then.


I defined ministry in much too narrow terms. Preaching, teaching, evangelizing...these were ministry. Cooking, bathing babies, changing diapers, homemaking, even building antennas and transmitters...these were not. I found much more peace in my heart when I wholeheartedly accepted the roles of wife, mother, and homemaker as my unique and God-given ministry for that time in my life. To be there with my children and to love them, answering their questions about life and God; to have a peaceful and loving home where my busy husband could retreat and rest; to serve tasty and nourishing meals to my family and our guests; to use my gifts in hospitality to make our home a center for people to gather -- these became extremely meaningful to me once I understood how important they were. Offering them up to God as my service to Him for His glory transformed them from ordinary activities to ministry for Him and to others.

A few years later we lived in the HCJB Guest House, and I was the hostess in charge of running it for all who needed hospitality. Someone asked me for my definition of missionary work. Almost without thinking, I answered, 'Missionary work is being a servant, and right now I am serving the servants of the King.' That year I experienced hard work and much pressure. However, the privilege of having God's chosen servants sitting around our dining room table, as well as the richness of the interaction in our home, was something we treasured. My children still talk about that year with fond memories, though at the time they were only six and seven.

Another thing I came to understand about being a woman in ministry is that we go through stages in our lives. Someone has called it "Seasons." The season I have been describing did not last for more than a few years. When I was in the middle of it, I thought it would last forever. I thought I would never get through a church service without having to leave because of a wriggling or crying child. Now when I sit alone in church, I would enjoy the wriggles of a little one beside me. I thought I would never have the time or energy to plan a Bible study, so say nothing of the mental capacity to give one. One day my children grew up and went away to school. While I still felt it was a priority for me to be there when they got home, I had time to become involved in more traditional roles of ministry. Being a pastor's wife during that time was a new and challenging experience.

I also learned another important lesson as the years went by. God is extremely creative in the gifts He gives His children. I found my greatest fulfillment in using the gifts He had given me and serving Him with them, rather than putting myself into a mold and following another person's model for ministry. I am not a Bible teacher...a shock to someone who assumed that was what a missionary did! I found I was a listener more than a talker. I was good with people and relationships and often could speak with wisdom to a friend's problems. I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes work of organization much more than being up front and forward. I functioned well as a team player, especially with my husband. When I began to value my gifts as the tools God had given me for ministry, I found great fulfillment and challenge.

I was part of a group of six women who for several years met weekly to share our lives and pray for each other. As time went by, we came to know each other's different gifts and to talk of our dreams for ministry. While we were a very diverse group of women, and most of us had young children at home, we encouraged each other's growth in these and other areas. Today we are all ministering with great effectiveness in the very ways we dreamed about and affirmed in one another. We all look back at that affirmation as being a key element in the development of our unique gifts.

One last lesson I understand today in a way I missed years ago is that ministry is not what we do for God, it is who we are. None of our words or our actions speak and minister so clearly as the quality of our characters. I have discovered that the more I have learned to concentrate on my relationship with God rather than on my service to Him, the more effective I have been for Him. There is a paradox here. I have come to realize that it is when I share my weaknesses failures, and even my sinfulness that I minister to others in a more powerful way than when I tell about my victories. It is that long-ago depression which became the foundation for my present counseling ministry. As we share ourselves, growing through our struggles, we also share evidence of the grace of God at work making us whom He desires.

I praise God for the wonderful women in my family who modeled ministry to me. They were women who struggled in many different ways yet saw God at work making them into His image and using them in His service. I have sought throughout my life to work through their examples and find my own place in service. Even in this present season of my life as a woman alone, I am experiencing the good hand of God at work leading and directing me to be His woman in ministry."

Importance

I found a piece of art!

I stumbled upon this little print in my morning internet wanderings. (thanks for the link, ndy!)

I love what the artist says about this piece:

this is a piece i originally did for my part in a group show called 'old school' at uppercase gallery. i was thinking about all of the visually pleasing things i loved about school - textbooks, maps, flashcards, writing tablets...and also about all of the years i spent sitting at a desk during my school careeer daydreaming - and often doodling. the windows are there to remind the viewer of the many things that lay outside the classroom, yet to be discovered.

I think those same things. There are things I love about school- the crispness of brand new books, the line of a sharp pencil, the waxy smell of new crayons, the delight of staying in the borders when coloring a map. I know my kids love these things, too. But, as much as the things, I want my children to love learning- to be curious and questioning and inquisitive and discerning. And I want them to learn that there is a much, more, to learn outside the classroom, "yet to be discovered." They need to discover Creation- both in nature and in humanity. We need to be purposeful in taking the time to observe, and to participate, all for His glory. And that is importance.

"The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it." Psalm 24:1

Without Clouds

Cloud Study by John Constable

What careful reader of the Bible can fail to see that Adam, and Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac,and Jacob, and Joseph, and Moses, and Samuel--were all men of many sorrows--and that those sorrows chiefly arose out of their own homes!

The plain truth is, that home trials are one of the many means by which God sanctifies and purifies His believing people. These trials are spiritual medicines, which poor fallen human nature absolutely needs.

By them He keeps us humble.

By them He draws us to Himself.

By them He sends us to our Bibles.

By them He teaches us to pray.

By them He shows us our need of Christ.

By them He weans us from the world.

By them He prepares us for "a city which has foundations," in which there will be no disappointments, no tears, and no sin.

The believer looks forward to the final gathering of a perfect family in which there shall be . . . no unsound members,

no defects,

no sin,

no sorrow,

no deaths,

no tears.

Taken from Without Clouds a sermon by JC Ryle.

Cornerstones

From Nancy Wilson, at Femina, August 7, 2008~

"So my point here is that mothers need to raise their daughters to unashamedly know who they are. This gives them a tremendous sense of security. What a blessing and a relief it is to know everything is not up for grabs. When my youngest was a little squirt, we had gone to the doctor for an ear infection or something. We saw one of the physicians we didn’t normally see, and we commented about some of the little drawings that were hanging in the room. The girl drawings were of little houses with smoke coming out the chimneys and flowers in the front yard; the boy drawings were of ships and airplanes, mostly with things shooting out from them. We had laughed at how easy it was to tell the difference. But the physician bristled a little and said something about how the poor kids had been “programmed” to do what was expected of them. How funny! Of course they had been programmed. By a wise and good God! After we got in the car, my daughter said, “She needs to have some kids.” This was not only funny, but very insightful!

Psalm 144:12 has a lovely metaphor for this: “…that our daughters may be as cornerstones, polished after the similitude of a palace.” A cornerstone is, among other things, a significant part of the structure. It bears much weight and has stature and standing. It is foundational. And this cornerstone is in a palace; it is fine polished marble. Women have much significance in the family, in the church, and in the culture. They have a profound role to play. So mothers, give your daughters a good job description. God certainly has."

Amen & amen.

On Wisdom

From John Piper's sermon, July 27, 2008-

Listen to these verses from James 3:13-15:
Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above.

(Piper comments:)
Wisdom is marked by meekness, and freedom from selfish ambition, and freedom from bitter jealousy, and freedom from boasting. In other words, wisdom rises in relationships of meekness and humility and love and servanthood rather than jealousy and selfishness. Wisdom is not a solitary attainment. It is a community or a corporate or a relational attainment. Loners are not wise. Wisdom is given and found and forged in the fires or committed relationships.


I started reading through Proverbs last week, and so, I meditate daily on this idea of wisdom. I have been thinking, yet again, about how to best impress that wisdom on my children. I find such comfort from words like Proverbs 1:23- "Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you." Thank you, Lord, I don't have to figure this out by myself! Thank you Holy Spirit!


Piper reminds me that although wisdom is strength, it is "marked by meekness." That is what I want to impress on my children, too- the importance of "meekness and humility and love and servanthood rather than jealousy and selfishness." Where better to learn that than in the context of family?


A quick rundown of the list from Proverbs 8:1-11 shows us that wisdom is understanding, prudence, noble things, right things, truth, righteousness, straight forward, instruction, desirable.


Lord, keep ME after Your wisdom, keep it close, "on the tablet of my heart," and show me, through Your wisdom, how to model that meekness and humility daily in every relationship you give me.

Filled with the Fullness of God

"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21)"

This is my prayer for all of us, as we are about our Kingdom building business in our homes! Oh to be filled with all the fullness of God! What an amazing privilege!

"They will sanctify..."

And that last post is the perfect lead in to the nugget I have for today...

I had a great conversation yesterday with one of those trusted advisors who are some years down the road ahead of me. A saint. (Those ladies are good to know. Seek them out!!) She reminded me of the God's promise to His children, as spoken to Jacob. Think of Jacob, and his children. We know that at times, they were a rebellious and spiteful bunch. (As was Jacob, himself. As are we all!) We know that he spent much time anquished over his children. And yet, in Isaiah 29:22-24, we read:

Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob,

"Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now turn pale;
But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst,
They will sanctify My name;
Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob,
And will stand in awe of the God of Israel,
And those who err in mind will know the truth,
And those who criticize will accept instruction."

The promise? That our children, too, may be renewed by God's grace. That those who now err and go astray and are wayward (NASB, ESV, NIV), and criticize and murmur and complain (same order) may come to understanding and know the truth, and know the peace that springs from His love and saving work.

So, yes, just as Mr. Ryle exhorts us, we go on, teaching and training and sowing those seeds, ever with the hope that our children, too, will sanctify, keep holy, the name of the Lord.

(now, if only I could find some of that beautiful artwork Mrs. EV is digging up!... :-) )

Go On Training Up Children

Wheat Field on a Bright Day by Moti Lorber



Galatians 6:9 brings great encouragement, "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."

JC Ryle spurs me on, as well! This strengthens me to press on in what I do everyday!! I pray that it will do the same for you, dear sisters!

Taken from JC Ryle's Commentary on the Book of John, Chapter 2 verses 13-22:

We see, for another thing, in this passage, how men may remember words of religious truth long after they are spoken, and may one day see a meaning in those who at first they did not see.

We are told that our Lord said to the Jews, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." John informs us distinctly that "He spoke of the temple of His body," that he referred to His own resurrection. Yet the meaning of the sentence was not understood by our Lord's disciples at the time that it was spoken. It was not until "He was risen from the dead," three years after the events here described, that the full significance of the sentence flashed on their hearts. For three years it was a dark and useless saying to them. For three years it lay sleeping in their minds, like a seed in a tomb, and bore no fruit. But at the end of that time the darkness passed away. They saw the application of their Master's words, and as they saw it were confirmed in their faith. "They remembered that He had said this," and as they remembered "they believed."

It is a comfortable and cheering thought, that the same kind of thing that happened to the disciples is often going on at the present day. The sermons that are preached to apparently heedless ears in churches, are not all lost and thrown away. The instruction that is given in schools and pastoral visits, is not all wasted and forgotten. The texts that are taught by parents to children are not all taught in vain. There is often a resurrection of sermons, and texts, and instruction, after an interval of many years. The good seed sometimes springs up after he that sowed it has been long dead and gone. Let preachers go on preaching, and teachers go on teaching, and parents go on training up children in the way they should go. Let them sow the good seed of Bible truth in faith and patience. Their labor is not in vain in the Lord. Their words are remembered far more than they think, and will yet spring up "after many days." (1 Cor. 15:58; Eccles. 11:1.)