My father in law and his wife dropped for a SHORT visit last night. The are over the road truckers and manage to slide in for supper or lunch every once in a while. While they were here my mother in law mentioned my sister in law's new daughter from China and that they have a blog about all of their adventures adopting their new daughter. Her name is Madison and she is BEAUTIFUL. It makes my heart yearn to go and see them so that I can meet her. What a blessing! At first they had planned on adopting an infant but the longer they waited the more the Lord convicted their hearts that they should adopt an older child since they may not be adopted after the age of 14 in China and they must leave the orphanage at that age. They knew that they wanted a girl since girls are held as valueless in China. After they made that decision it is amazing how quickly the adoption went through. Now they are adjusting to life with each other. It was truly a blessing to me to read about this wonderful story. The blog which touched my heart the very most is the one in which my sister in law describes visiting the place where Madison was abandoned as a baby. Lori describes her feelings as a mother as she imagined a young mother leaving a baby she knew she couldn't care for in a place where she hoped someone would find her. What a touching and wonderful testament to the power and will of God. Just think, when this tiny baby was born, God had already provided the perfect parents, sister and brother for her! You can read all about it at http://hollandadoption2009.blogspot.com . I think it will bless you as it did me!
Till next time...
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
More on The Providence of God
The Heidelberg Catechism, Question #1: What is thy only comfort in life and in death?
That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me, that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him.
Question#27: What dost thou understand by the providence of God?:
The almighty, everywhere present power of God, whereby, as it were by His hand, he upholds heaven and earth with all creatures, and so governs them that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, all things come not by chance, but by His Fatherly hand.
Question #28: What does it profit us to know that God created, and by His providence upholds all things?
That we may be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and for what is future have good confidence in our faithful God and Father, that no creature shall separate us from His love, since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.
'NUFF SAID!
Till next time...
That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me, that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him.
Question#27: What dost thou understand by the providence of God?:
The almighty, everywhere present power of God, whereby, as it were by His hand, he upholds heaven and earth with all creatures, and so governs them that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, all things come not by chance, but by His Fatherly hand.
Question #28: What does it profit us to know that God created, and by His providence upholds all things?
That we may be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and for what is future have good confidence in our faithful God and Father, that no creature shall separate us from His love, since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.
'NUFF SAID!
Till next time...
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Chain Letters
Have you seen them? I'm sure if you have an email account you have. Those ubiquitous chain letters. You know what I'm talking about...the ones that say, "If you love Jesus, send this to everyone you know in 5 minutes and great things will happen for you! If you don't send it you are ashamed of Him! Where do you stand? Where do I stand? Well, I sent this on, didn't I? And by the way, send it back to me too!"
Some of those emails do make me think, until I get to the part about sending them to whatever the number of friends happens to be and then I just push the delete button! But then of course there is always that little niggle of doubt at the back of my mind, asking me, "Don't you love the Lord?" Then that part of my brain that is not ruled by guilt and self-doubt kicks in and I delete the dumb thing anyway.
So if I delete the email, does it mean that I am not a Christian? I have thought a lot about this question. When I see someone who has that little bracelet (WWJD), when I see someone with the little fish symbol on the back of their car, when I see that tattoo with the bible verse on it, I think about these things. Are those things inherently wrong? No, I don't think so but it is a lot easier to do those things than it is to live out the things that Jesus has asked us to do in the Gospel. "If you do not forgive your brothers on earth, my Father in heaven will not forgive you." Well, I don't know about you but in my sinful nature, I would a whole lot rather wear a WWJD bracelet than admit that I refuse to forgive someone. What, me wrong?! You mean that I am a sinner and need to repent?! My holier than thou attitude is WRONG?! But wait, I have a little tattoo that says, "(insert your bible verse here)".
I have seen this played out in my life at work A LOT during the course of the past couple of years. People who attend church on a regular basis, proclaim this Christianity and regularly send me these emails have made a practice of complaining about the administration we have there. I have been guilty of complaining about some of the decisions made as well. I have to admit that I was not a happy camper when I had to move 2 libraries into one room in half of a modular. I was not happy about purging a collection it had taken years to build so that it would fit. But now through the grace of God, I see that these decisions were for the good of the whole school community (we needed the classroom space for core curriculum, they moved me into the modular that was the newest and in the best shape, and because of the budget problems we are encountering now!) Where was my faith when I was first told about the move? All along God used those decisions for the good of my family especially (I got paid to move the libraries and reshelve the books and I got a big salary increase). It is easy to go to church every Sunday compared to submitting to God when I think I know better. But that is how God brings us to maturity (perfection), by sending those trials. I have peace at work now because I trust in Him more than I did before.
It would have been easier for my pastor to forward a bunch of meaningless emails than to forgive those who so despitefully used him in the past several years. But through my loving and faithful savior, my pastor kept preaching loving kindness, patience, long suffering and forgiveness. God used all of that in my life to root out a sin I had been holding onto for far too long. I FINALLY wrote my sister a letter and asked her to forgive me for my proud and haughty spirit. I didn't want to do it very badly. But God, through that faithful example and the faithful preaching of the Word, just kept convicting my heart about my own stubbornness in the area of forgiveness. I got a letter from my sister yesterday. She FORGAVE me and expressed her thankfulness and love for me. My heart is full of thankfulness to God that He, in His infinite love and mercy, softened my heart instead of hardening it. That He caused my sister to forgive me instead of (as I deserved) deciding to punish me.
So, if you send me one of those emails, just know that I will probably delete it. I read them first but you won't be getting it back. Yes, it is hard to live life on the basis of doing what Jesus has asked me to do but the reward is infinitely more than that small feeling of satisfaction of pushing the forward button.
Till next time...
Some of those emails do make me think, until I get to the part about sending them to whatever the number of friends happens to be and then I just push the delete button! But then of course there is always that little niggle of doubt at the back of my mind, asking me, "Don't you love the Lord?" Then that part of my brain that is not ruled by guilt and self-doubt kicks in and I delete the dumb thing anyway.
So if I delete the email, does it mean that I am not a Christian? I have thought a lot about this question. When I see someone who has that little bracelet (WWJD), when I see someone with the little fish symbol on the back of their car, when I see that tattoo with the bible verse on it, I think about these things. Are those things inherently wrong? No, I don't think so but it is a lot easier to do those things than it is to live out the things that Jesus has asked us to do in the Gospel. "If you do not forgive your brothers on earth, my Father in heaven will not forgive you." Well, I don't know about you but in my sinful nature, I would a whole lot rather wear a WWJD bracelet than admit that I refuse to forgive someone. What, me wrong?! You mean that I am a sinner and need to repent?! My holier than thou attitude is WRONG?! But wait, I have a little tattoo that says, "(insert your bible verse here)".
I have seen this played out in my life at work A LOT during the course of the past couple of years. People who attend church on a regular basis, proclaim this Christianity and regularly send me these emails have made a practice of complaining about the administration we have there. I have been guilty of complaining about some of the decisions made as well. I have to admit that I was not a happy camper when I had to move 2 libraries into one room in half of a modular. I was not happy about purging a collection it had taken years to build so that it would fit. But now through the grace of God, I see that these decisions were for the good of the whole school community (we needed the classroom space for core curriculum, they moved me into the modular that was the newest and in the best shape, and because of the budget problems we are encountering now!) Where was my faith when I was first told about the move? All along God used those decisions for the good of my family especially (I got paid to move the libraries and reshelve the books and I got a big salary increase). It is easy to go to church every Sunday compared to submitting to God when I think I know better. But that is how God brings us to maturity (perfection), by sending those trials. I have peace at work now because I trust in Him more than I did before.
It would have been easier for my pastor to forward a bunch of meaningless emails than to forgive those who so despitefully used him in the past several years. But through my loving and faithful savior, my pastor kept preaching loving kindness, patience, long suffering and forgiveness. God used all of that in my life to root out a sin I had been holding onto for far too long. I FINALLY wrote my sister a letter and asked her to forgive me for my proud and haughty spirit. I didn't want to do it very badly. But God, through that faithful example and the faithful preaching of the Word, just kept convicting my heart about my own stubbornness in the area of forgiveness. I got a letter from my sister yesterday. She FORGAVE me and expressed her thankfulness and love for me. My heart is full of thankfulness to God that He, in His infinite love and mercy, softened my heart instead of hardening it. That He caused my sister to forgive me instead of (as I deserved) deciding to punish me.
So, if you send me one of those emails, just know that I will probably delete it. I read them first but you won't be getting it back. Yes, it is hard to live life on the basis of doing what Jesus has asked me to do but the reward is infinitely more than that small feeling of satisfaction of pushing the forward button.
Till next time...
Monday, March 9, 2009
The Providence of God
I have been thinking a lot about the Providence of God this week. It seems that whenever we feel that things are going "our" way we are so thankful for God's providence. Then when things start to "go against" us it either a boss who's done it, or bad circumstances or whatever other thing we can come up with to keep from admitting that we are rebelling against God. I do that all of the time. It is so easy for me to see the providence of a loving and faithful god in other's lives but not in my own circumstances. It is easy for me to see the working of God when it is after the fact but so very, very hard when I am in the middle of the tests the Lord sends me. It seems so simple to see when I am outside looking in at someone else's trials. I always know just what they should do! But of course MY situation is different and is SO much harder than everyone's! I appreciate those sermons and bible studies that show me once again that God's will is perfect and that I can rest in Him.
Several other things have struck me in the past couple of weeks. Providentially, we now have a grandson and a new son-in-law. They are WONDERFUL. My daughter ROCKS as a wife and mother. Her house is immaculate! (Mine NEVER was after the children started coming) My grandson is always clean, full and is growing by leaps and bounds. But....whenever I tell people that my sweet daughter got married in August and had a baby in January, they behave as if this is the WORST decision that she could have made. Several of my coworkers have shared with me that they have taken their college age daughters to get them on the pill, or told them to be sure and buy a box of condoms if they can't resist. I am not saying that it was not a shock when we were informed that we were going to be grandparents but here's the deal... My daughter wouldn't have had to tell us anything, her husband could have just walked away from the whole situation and no one would have been the wiser. They both handled the situation with maturity and grace and showed patience and longsuffering with her parents. God has use the whole situation to bring about a great deal of reconciliation among family members. This has all shown me that God's perfect plan is PERFECT, ALWAYS! God's ways are not man's ways. Praise be to God. (Plus we got a BABY out of the deal!!!!!)
Another note on the faith of children: Our youngest son and I were on the way to school the day before yesterday (March 12) and we were talking about how fierce the wind has been here for the past week or so. He said that the wind was good for the neighbors' windmills and I told him that we really did need to pray for rain, snow or some sort of moisture because the grass is so dry and we need it to grow and we need to pray that the fire danger would go down. Last night at supper, when he finished his supper prayer and said amen, he told us to wait a minute and began a new prayer. This is how it went, "Dear God, Please send us some rain tomorrow". This morning he got up, saw the snow covering the ground and came to me and said, "Look Mom, it snowed last night! Isn't it good I prayed that prayer last night?!"
My prayer: Dear God, please increase my faith so that it is the faith of a little child. Grant that I would trust in you for all things. Thy will be done. Thank you for your many blessings!
Till next time...
Several other things have struck me in the past couple of weeks. Providentially, we now have a grandson and a new son-in-law. They are WONDERFUL. My daughter ROCKS as a wife and mother. Her house is immaculate! (Mine NEVER was after the children started coming) My grandson is always clean, full and is growing by leaps and bounds. But....whenever I tell people that my sweet daughter got married in August and had a baby in January, they behave as if this is the WORST decision that she could have made. Several of my coworkers have shared with me that they have taken their college age daughters to get them on the pill, or told them to be sure and buy a box of condoms if they can't resist. I am not saying that it was not a shock when we were informed that we were going to be grandparents but here's the deal... My daughter wouldn't have had to tell us anything, her husband could have just walked away from the whole situation and no one would have been the wiser. They both handled the situation with maturity and grace and showed patience and longsuffering with her parents. God has use the whole situation to bring about a great deal of reconciliation among family members. This has all shown me that God's perfect plan is PERFECT, ALWAYS! God's ways are not man's ways. Praise be to God. (Plus we got a BABY out of the deal!!!!!)
Another note on the faith of children: Our youngest son and I were on the way to school the day before yesterday (March 12) and we were talking about how fierce the wind has been here for the past week or so. He said that the wind was good for the neighbors' windmills and I told him that we really did need to pray for rain, snow or some sort of moisture because the grass is so dry and we need it to grow and we need to pray that the fire danger would go down. Last night at supper, when he finished his supper prayer and said amen, he told us to wait a minute and began a new prayer. This is how it went, "Dear God, Please send us some rain tomorrow". This morning he got up, saw the snow covering the ground and came to me and said, "Look Mom, it snowed last night! Isn't it good I prayed that prayer last night?!"
My prayer: Dear God, please increase my faith so that it is the faith of a little child. Grant that I would trust in you for all things. Thy will be done. Thank you for your many blessings!
Till next time...
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Look How Far We've Come
In the early days of this country the first settlers knew all about the Calvinist or Reformed faith. They were usually coming to the new country to escape from persecution. They had read their bibles and come to know that Luther and Calvin and many other learned men were correct about the way they had interpreted the bible. It seems in the U.S. today this biblical knowledge is of secondary importance to the traditions which have sprung up through a false understanding of the bible. One of the things I am speaking about is the "law" of men in which we are not allowed to drink alcohol, even though the bible speaks to this many times, the "law" which says that any sort of dancing is sinful. It is surprising to me how very prevalent these beliefs have become, even among unbelievers (I should say among the unchurched). When I was attending the Baptist church I went to for awhile, I nearly ate myself alive for taking alcohol when my husband and I went out on the town. Today we were talking about the fun we had on Sunday playing a joke on one of our members with a certain machine. One of my coworkers felt the need to comment about how awful this was (she had used the same machine at the school on several of our staff members just 2 days before!). Then she began to talk about how the whole church was as drunk as could be (she did not use this term but a very offensive term!)at New Years' Eve. We had invited her to go to our church party with us but she refused saying she was not going to have a "dry" New Years'. We told her that everyone would be bringing the drinks of their choice to the party and that she would be welcome. So now we are a bunch of drunken sots just doing everything wrong.
When did it become an unofficial law that because I am a Christian I am no longer allowed to enjoy the good things that God has given to us? My bible tells me that God has given me all things to enjoy but not to abuse! Is it because of the Anabaptists? Is it a perversion of the faith that the first settlers had? Is it simply from a mis-understanding of what the bible says about these things? Is it wrong to drink wine at Communion, just because it is wine? Was Jesus wrong to turn the water into wine? Should He have turned it into grape juice? Do men know more about what sin is than the Lord? Heaven forbid. May I always enjoy the good gifts of God and praise Him for them. May I never allow the opinions of men cause me to criticize what God gives! May these wrongheaded men and women never cause guilt in my heart for enjoying the gifts of a loving Creator! I hope that she will one day understand. Until then I need to talk to her about just how offensive she was toward me personally with her comments. Pray for me, if you would!
Till next time...
When did it become an unofficial law that because I am a Christian I am no longer allowed to enjoy the good things that God has given to us? My bible tells me that God has given me all things to enjoy but not to abuse! Is it because of the Anabaptists? Is it a perversion of the faith that the first settlers had? Is it simply from a mis-understanding of what the bible says about these things? Is it wrong to drink wine at Communion, just because it is wine? Was Jesus wrong to turn the water into wine? Should He have turned it into grape juice? Do men know more about what sin is than the Lord? Heaven forbid. May I always enjoy the good gifts of God and praise Him for them. May I never allow the opinions of men cause me to criticize what God gives! May these wrongheaded men and women never cause guilt in my heart for enjoying the gifts of a loving Creator! I hope that she will one day understand. Until then I need to talk to her about just how offensive she was toward me personally with her comments. Pray for me, if you would!
Till next time...
Monday, March 2, 2009
What A Day!
Yesterday was as wonderful as we thought it would be. The fellowship was great and it is such a blessing to welcome a new family into membership and to welcome my son into full membership! One of the ladies told me that she was surprised to see that I didn't cry. Well, I did. From the time my son-in-law and daughter walked up to the front for the baptisms and for my son-in-law to join the church to the time we took communion after my son was confirmed, tears of joy were streaming down my face. It was such a blessed day!
The past couple of weeks I have really been thinking about the damage that gossip and slander does in this old world. It is so true, what God says about that little bitty tongue. So much evil comes from it. There is a new girl at school whose reputation is being ruined by the other girls. Whether it is because of jealousy or what, I don't know, but whatever it is, it is hurtful. Reputations are ruined and lives are wrecked because of that evil little member of the physical body. What is in our brain comes out there so it truly shows the wickedness and sin that reside in every person on earth. I have watched the students at our school show that to each other. The girls especially are vicious to each other. And perhaps the worst of it for me is that adults here join in the gossip and help to ruin the reputations of young people when they really don't know what they're talking about. For the past couple of years I have been trying to walk away from all of that but the temptation to join in is so strong. Sometimes I succomb to it. I shared at church that I had purchased a microwave and a mini fridge so that I could keep them in the library and not have to go to the teachers' "workroom" to eat my lunch. But God has a way of making us deal with out sin. The fire marshall and the superintendent decreed that we all had to get rid of the microwaves and the fridges, not only because of fire danger but because of the cost of the energy it took to power all of those microwaves and fridges. So I started taking my lunch in the workroom again. It is fun for me to socialize in there but soon I find that we are straying to the topics of the latest gossip or who did what evil thing to whom. I guess that I will have to get my lunch warmed up and then come back to the library. The bible does tell us to flee from temptation. Our sin is that sometimes we don't want to! We want to hear all about the latest scoop. My daughter is so right when she tells me to just stop talking about it and move on to something uplifting. That is my project for the week this week and I am going to work on this diligently for the rest of the year (and my life!) But for now, one step at a time.
Time for me to go once more.
Till next time...
The past couple of weeks I have really been thinking about the damage that gossip and slander does in this old world. It is so true, what God says about that little bitty tongue. So much evil comes from it. There is a new girl at school whose reputation is being ruined by the other girls. Whether it is because of jealousy or what, I don't know, but whatever it is, it is hurtful. Reputations are ruined and lives are wrecked because of that evil little member of the physical body. What is in our brain comes out there so it truly shows the wickedness and sin that reside in every person on earth. I have watched the students at our school show that to each other. The girls especially are vicious to each other. And perhaps the worst of it for me is that adults here join in the gossip and help to ruin the reputations of young people when they really don't know what they're talking about. For the past couple of years I have been trying to walk away from all of that but the temptation to join in is so strong. Sometimes I succomb to it. I shared at church that I had purchased a microwave and a mini fridge so that I could keep them in the library and not have to go to the teachers' "workroom" to eat my lunch. But God has a way of making us deal with out sin. The fire marshall and the superintendent decreed that we all had to get rid of the microwaves and the fridges, not only because of fire danger but because of the cost of the energy it took to power all of those microwaves and fridges. So I started taking my lunch in the workroom again. It is fun for me to socialize in there but soon I find that we are straying to the topics of the latest gossip or who did what evil thing to whom. I guess that I will have to get my lunch warmed up and then come back to the library. The bible does tell us to flee from temptation. Our sin is that sometimes we don't want to! We want to hear all about the latest scoop. My daughter is so right when she tells me to just stop talking about it and move on to something uplifting. That is my project for the week this week and I am going to work on this diligently for the rest of the year (and my life!) But for now, one step at a time.
Time for me to go once more.
Till next time...
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