Beyond the chocolate bunny……

I love Easter Sunday–not because of the fancy pastel clothing that I dress my family in, or because of the ham and mashed potatoes that we eat too much of, and not even because of the abundance of chocolate at my house. (Although that is exciting!

No, Easter has such a thrilling significance for me, as a forgiven child of Jesus Christ. Easter Sunday is an exciting reminder that Jesus did much more than die on the cross for me. That in itself is the very reason for my living–He set me free from the power of sin! But on that morning of the third day, He showed His power over death itself, and rose again and lives! How can I ever live a defeated or depressed life, when I remember the POWER that is wrapped up in my salvation???!!!

As Easter approaches, take time to meditate on the words of one of my favorite hymns. It sums up the entire story of my redemption.

He was wounded for our transgressions,
He bore our sins in His body on the tree;
For our guilt He gave us peace,
From our bondage gave release,
And with His stripes,
and with His stripes,
And with His stripes our souls are healed.

He was numbered among transgressors,
We did esteem Him forsaken by His God;
As our sacrifice He died,
That the law be satisfied,
And all our sin,
and all our sin,
And all our sin was laid on Him.

We had wandered, we all had wandered
Far from the fold of “the Shepherd of the sheep”;
But He sought us where we were,
On the mountains bleak and bare,
And bro’t us home,
and bro’t us home,
And bro’t us safely home to God.

Who can number His generation?
Who shall declare all the triumphs of His Cross?
Millions, dead, now live again,
Myriads follow in His train!
Victorious Lord,
victorious Lord,
Victorious Lord and coming King!

And this is one of my favorite Easter songs. (The video is a little graphic, so just be aware if you decide to watch it.)

In need of wisdom

Things like this make me realize what a sober task I have in raising my children in our world today. My job as a parent is to equip my children to be discerning…..and then pray!
Have any of you researched this further?
Proverbs 4:13~Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life.

You’d think I would learn!

Isn’t it wonderful how God continues to work on the rough edges of our lives, even when we aren’t always asking for His help? I have been struggling in the area of contentment, but have not been praying about it like I know I should. But the Lord is so good, and obviously WANTS me to be content in Him.
Yesterday, as I was reading for my ladies’ Bible study (Lies Women Believe….), this verse kept popping up. I am sure I have read this verse many times, but God really opened my eyes to what it meant. Gretchen once talked about “the veil being lifted for a moment from our eyes”–and it is so true.
Thank you Lord for the reminder again…..now if I would just learn my lesson and find my joy in You alone!!

Psalm 16:11~ “YOU will show me the path of life; in YOUR presence is fullness of joy; at YOUR right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

I love the fall!

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~George Eliot

Growing up in the West, I did not experience a true “fall”. Trees turned colors, but not to the extent that they do out here in the Midwest. Autumn is one of the things I have grown to love living out here. I love the crisp feeling in the morning, telling me that I need to dig out one of my sweaters. I love taking the kids to an apple orchard, going on a hayride, and picking out the perfect pumpkin. I love raking leaves–I know that sounds crazy but I never did it until my freshman year of college. (That was also the first time I ever talked to Josh, but that is a different story…..) I am so thankful for the seasons–another aspect of God’s creation that fascinates me!

“You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.” Psalm 65:11

I spy with my little eye…..

Our middle E has a very unusual personality….I think she is best described as “quirky”. She is definitely on her own agenda too. It is very amusing to sit and watch her at times, in her own little world, happy as can be. (Then that happy little world is usually crashed down upon by her older–and much more aggressive–sister!)

For some reason, she has an obsession for finding small round objects and pretending they are “eyeglasses”. She must have seen it in a movie……anyways, she often finds them on the ground or other disgusting spots and promptly puts them up to her eye. While I am slightly grossed out by this, her father is EXTREMELY grossed out by it and usually does not allow the “eyeglass” to be kept. While we were on vacation though, she found one of those rings from someone’s drink container and was thrilled to death with it. Josh did not have the heart that day to take it away from her–she was just so excited. So she kept it and happily spent the rest of the afternoon with her eyeglass to her eye.

As I was thinking about that again tonight, it struck me in a different way. Many times in my life and especially in my parenting, I do not take the time to “spy” things in others’ lives. I so often focus on the big problems or annoyances looming in front of me in regards to that person, and I fail to take in the needs they have or the special talents and character traits that they possess. As I watched my middle E this afternoon, I realized I have been very guilty of this in her life. She has the “middle child syndrome”, as many call it, and it plays out in her behavior, her obedience (or rather, lack of it) and her reactions to others. I have been so focused on all of these negative things in her life that I have not been taking the time to “spy” the good things she does or even the emotions she is feeling right now. Paul exhorted his readers to be “tenderhearted” as Christ was…..I know that I do not exhibit much tenderness at times. I pray that I will be able to spy the little glimpses of kindness, love, or vulnerability in my child (children, husband, friends, etc.) and then respond as Christ would have.

And here is a documentary of her ingenuity at work……..

Faithful God

Lamentations 3:22-25, 39-41
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning;

great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I have hope in Him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.
Why should any living mortal, or any man, offer complaint in view of his sins? Let us examine and probe our ways,
and let us return to the Lord. We lift up our heart and hands toward God in heaven….

I am so thankful for God’s promises. If we seek Him, He is good to us!! And every morning, when I wake up, He is still the same–He never changes. What an awesome (and comforting) thought! I know I am never the same from day to day.

So long, farewell….

We said goodbye to some good friends last week, as they are moving to FL to work in a ministry down there. Tiffany and I enjoyed a common adoration of coffee, as well as a kinship as West Coasters. I will miss her tons, and will now have to find some reason to drive to the desolate tip of Florida!

I told Tiff that she was not to be offended if I did not cry when I told her goodbye. For some reason, the realization of separation from a dear friend or family member never hits me until later. Then it kind of overwhelms me in a sudden flood of sadness and bittersweet memories. It is also easier for me to say goodbye now that I am an adult with a family (I think because I am too busy to dwell on my loss!). But I have noticed–and commented to Josh–that I do not make such close friendships as I did in college. So when one does slip away, it is slightly more depressing.

All of this to say that lately I have been having a “poor me” complex because I do not have “bosom friends” surrounding me as I did in college. When I have a bad day and just want a girlfriend to vent to over a cup of coffee, I do not have as many around as I used to. And then just this morning I was strongly convicted…..I am sure I have mentioned this before, but it really hit me hard this morning. Christ is all I need! Obviously, friends and their encouragements are an added blessing in our Christian lives–but if I never had a friend to talk to again, I would not be poor and helpless and abandoned. God is the author of comfort and solace and…. “relationship”, really. I MUST be content in Him, no matter how alone I feel. He desires to meet my every need. And to tell you the truth, most of the times that I feel abandoned, I just want someone to sympathize with me and my “hard life”–when in fact, my hard life is brought about because of my lack of patience, trust and contentment. It all boils back down to one basic fact: God is all I need!~

Psalm 116:1-2~ I love the Lord, because He hears my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.

P.S. I don’t mean to sound like a lonely hermit, sitting morosely in my house with narry a soul to talk to. My dear husband is truly my best friend, and I have many sweet friends in my life. But I sometimes miss my “soul sisters”…you know who you are!!! Then I vent on my blog! That is what it is for, right???

Pride goes before a fall…..

Ashamedly I admit that my devotional life has been far from satisfying lately. You know how hard it is when you get out of a habit and try to get back into again…especially if you are as unmotivated as I am. And it is very hard to admit to yourself–not to mention others–that you are struggling in that area. I started out by finding excuses for not making the time to study the Bible (“I have two small children”, then “I am pregnant and working”, then “I am just so tired with a newborn”….) I think many of you know how it goes. Then I began to use more bold excuses in my own mind (“It will be o.k.–I meditate on thoughts about God”, “I really listen and learn at church”, etc.) Meanwhile my parenting skills, my marriage goals, my responses to others, and my desire to serve have not been Christlike at all. In fact, I have felt like a crazed lunatic, similar to someone trying to stop a huge boulder with a feather. That is basically the comparison to a busy mother and wife trying to be successful in her life while never soaking in the truths of Scripture! Every effort I attempt falls sadly short of the goal….
As I was going through an old devotional journal the other day and praying about my apathy for the Word, I found a quote from an unknown author that has always convicted me.

“Pride is a vice which cleaveth so fast unto the hearts of men, that, if we were to strip ourselves of all faults, one by one, we should undoubtedly find it the very last and hardest to put off.”

How true that is! Every problem or “wrong” in my life can be traced back to one thing and one thing only…..my pride. And so is the case of my non-existant devotional life–I am ultimately too proud to admit that I cannot be successful or even cope really without God’s guidance and wisdom. That carries out into my relationships, my work ethic, my organizing, and even my thinking. In order to begin fresh in God’s wonderful Word and a close relationship with Him, I must first lay aside my ugly, clinging pride and admit that I need Him in order to survive. How simple…..yet so hard.

I am nothing…..

Today’s Bible verse on my blog was from Job 38. I have loved this passage since I read for my morning devotions while camping on a cliff overlooking the ocean in Alaska one summer. It was breathtaking to read of a God Who “enclosed the sea with doors” and “caused the dawn to know its place” while looking over the indescribable beauty on the inlet that we were visiting.

And as I read over Job 38 and 39 again this afternoon, it was a much-needed reminder of who I am in comparison to my God. I have been aware of my critical spirit and discontentedness lately….what place do I have to criticize others and the circumstances in which I find myself? If I were to view all of this in light of God and His holiness, my mindset would be much different. At one point, Job answers God, “Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth.” When my life does not seem to be going as I think it should, God could say the same things to me as He did to Job. He is in control, and I do not have the right to doubt Him. I hope that I can live with a proper response to this passage, as Job did.

“Out of the north comes golden splendor; around God is awesome majesty. The Almighty–we cannot find Him; He is exalted in power and He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness. Therefore men fear Him; He does not regard any who are wise of heart.”

Our awesome God

My sister-in-law sent this newsclip to me. I found it fascinating, first of all, because it just shows that our God loves us beyond what we can imagine. He can also do what even our brillant modern science cannot! Secondly, I always love to see conservative Christians get a postive spot in headline news. It is refreshing. And third, my husband student taught at this church and knows this man. So it was sobering to realize how “close to home” death can hit, and was a reminder of our brevity here on earth. I am so thankful for God’s provision of peace through His Son. I don’t have to fear death–only be ready to face it!