The Week In Words

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.

From a friend’s Facebook:

God often puts us in situations that are too much for us so that we will learn that no situation is too much for Him. ~ Edward Luther

Sadly, sometimes we don’t look up to Him until we’re overwhelmed, but when we do and find Him faithful and able, hopefully then we begin to seek Him and to lean on Him more in everyday life.

From Lisa‘s sidebar:

God comforts us not to make us comfortable but to make us comforters.” -John Henry Jowett

And from yet another friend’s Facebook:

If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward. ~Thomas Edison

That is a great perspective and a good reason not to be discouraged by failure.

I’m almost halfway through Ann Voskamp‘s One Thousand Gifts and have marked several places, but one quote that arrested me the last couple of days opens Chapter Six on page 102:

“Every time you feel in God’s creatures something pleasing and attractive, do not let your attention be arrested by them alone, but, passing them by, transfer your thought to God and say; “Oh my God, if Thy creations are so full of beauty, delight and joy, how infinitely more full of beauty, delight and joy art Thou Thyself, Creator of all!” ~ Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

I have felt that way even in listening to secular music or viewing beauty in art or words as well as nature — that swell of praise to God for the beauty He has created that reflects Himself.

Then Ann says, on page 106:

I am beset by chronic soul amnesia. I am empty of truth and need the refilling. I need come every day — bend, clutch, and remember — for who can gather the manna but once, hoarding, and store away sustenance in the mind for all of the living?

Chronic soul amnesia — so apt. We can’t gather all the truth we need at once to last us all of our living: we need to come to God daily, gathering the manna for that day’s needs.

If you’ve read anything that particularly spoke to you that you’d like to share, please either list it in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below. I do ask that only family-friendly quotes be included. I hope you’ll visit some of the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder.

And please — feel free to comment even if you don’t have quotes to share!

Laudable Linkage

Posted on February 26, 2011 by Barbara Harper

It’s been a little while since I shared interesting links I’ve seen here and there. Hope you find something of interest!

Rejoice With Those Who Rejoice. Love Jeanne’s honesty here, and the last two paragraphs especially hit home with me. Quote: “Life has been a file in the hand of a loving God, and He has used it to smooth a lot of my rough edges.”

The Saddest Letter I’ve Ever Read was addressed to Cary Schmidt and has some sobering perspectives for parents, written by a young woman raised in Christian home, church, and school: “My point is that the problems that are supposed to be bad kid’s problems belong to us too. Unfortunately, our parents and youth workers don’t know that we struggle with these things and they don’t know what to do with us when they find out.” And then she shares how a parent’s focus on externals rather than the heart results in a child’s focus on externals without a heart relationship to Christ. Dr. Schmidt’s balanced, gracious first general response and second response to parents covered many of the thoughts that sprang to my own mind, and he’s planning a third response to the young woman and her generation. Though as parents we do need to concentrate on the heart and on a relationship with Christ and not just making sure our kids are in the right places, on the other hand, if God can take a child from an unsaved, alcoholic home (me) and show her His truth, I would think that young people surrounded by the truth would get it despite parents’ failings. Every parent will fail in some way because we’re sinners. That’s not an excuse and that doesn’t mean we don’t need to give serious heed to the problems the young lady addresses, but that was just one thought in my mind in addition to the many that Dr. Schmidt addressed.

How To Provoke Your Children to Anger, HT to Challies.

I Am About to Walk the Red Carpet. Love this!

Humble Leadership.

What Is Furlough? Not a vacation, that’s for sure.

13 Phrases to Keep Your Friendships Thriving.

Hat Box Favors. If you’re ever doing a theme for a shower or luncheon or banquet that has anything to do with hats, these are darling favors.

This Rose Cake is just gorgeous (HT to Lizzie). I don’t think I’d ever have the courage to try it. But it is so pretty.

Faux Fingerprint Pendants/Ornaments.

Internet Resources For Writers.

Interesting to watch, though it must have taken all kinds of time:

Happy Saturday!

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on February 25, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share our favorite things from the last week. This has been a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

1. The birthday of my daughter-in-law, Mittu. We went out to eat at Olive Garden Friday night — only my second time ever to have eaten there. Then on Sunday when the whole family was here we had a special meal, cake, and presents. Jeremy was able to join us via Skype.

It was such fun to buy girl things and wrap them in girly paper!

2. The end of basketball season. I do love that Jesse gets to play, but it’s always kind of nice when it’s over and we have practice and game times back.

3. A new Dinner For Six group. I’ve mentioned “Dinner For Six” before — it’s a program in our new church where people who want to participate are divided into groups of six and they take turns hosting each other for a meal for a few months, each bringing different parts of the meal. Our whole group in the last rotation ended up getting together only once due to illness and holidays and one family forgetting an appointed time. We signed up for the new rotation and met for dinner with our new group this week and really enjoyed getting to know them better.

4. Getting some organizational projects done. It would be too long and boring to give a detailed account, but I’d had a couple of ideas to try around the house and finally was able to work on them this week. One turned out well, the other I’m still contemplating and may have to try something different.

5. A writing project. I’ve had several ideas for writing floating around in my mind, and one just came into clear focus this week and I was able to make a beginning. I’ll tell you more about it if/when it comes to anything. 😀 In the meantime, if you’re so led, I’d appreciate your prayers.

Bonus: I finished a great book this week! I wanted to read it over again, but have too many others waiting for me.

Have a great weekend!

Book Review: A Memory Between Us

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Barbara Harper

A Memory Between Us by Sarah Sundin is set in WWII. Lieutenant Ruth Doherty is an army nurse stationed in England. The shame of her past and the pressure of supporting her younger siblings causes her to keep to herself. She welcomes neither the outreach of friends nor the overtures of servicemen, but her efficient and cheerful labors make her a favorite among patients.

Major Jack Novak finds himself a patient of Ruth’s one day. He’s as attracted to her as the other guys, but he realizes he’ll have to tread carefully to break through her “no dating” policy. Meanwhile he wrestles with the expectations of his father that he will become a pastor and his own desires and abilities as an officer. He develops a plan of action to win Ruth’s heart as well as a promotion against a rival.

The optimistic confidence of WWII soldiers is appealing, but Jack has to learn that he can’t trust in his own plans and God-given abilities: he needs to trust in the Lord directly. And Ruth needs to learn that the walls she has built around herself are no protection and in fact hinder her from receiving support from friends — support that she doesn’t think she needs at first.

I loved these characters — I don’t feel as if I am doing them justice. I loved the fact that they’re both flawed, but they both make progress in their walk with God, and I loved that their interaction at the end wasn’t suave and smooth but sweet and a little goofy.

Sarah Sundin did a masterful job drawing me into the characters and the raw emotion of their struggles, and the setting is perfectly balanced: not so overrun with details so as to lose the story but informative enough to make me feel I was experiencing it for myself. I didn’t want to put this book down, and I wished there was more of it to read when I finished it.

This book is the second in the Wings of Glory series, the first being A Distant Melody (my brief review here) about Jack’s brother Walt, but I believe it could be easily enjoyed alone. I’m very much looking forward to the next installment about third Novak brother Ray this summer.

(This review will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

The edge of the road

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Barbara Harper

One of the joys of living in eastern Tennessee is the view of the Smoky Mountains in the distance. But living so close to the mountains means the terrain here is rather hilly. When we were house-hunting, some homes were ruled out because the driveways were so steeply sloped I would never be able to walk down them and I would even be a little unnerved about driving down them, especially in icy weather.

Roads are also affected by the slope of the land. Several roads here have no shoulders and a steep drop-off — just a few inches in some cases but several feet in others. When I notice that drop-off, I get nervous about the possibility of slipping off the side of the road. But as I look at the edge of the road and the drop-off next to it, an odd thing happens: though I want to avoid that drop-off, I find myself gravitating exactly toward it. It’s only when I get my eyes back on the road and the lines that mark my lane that I’m safe from going over the edge.

I wrestle with fears in other areas of my life as well, some of which affect my health, which then is a source of more fear and anxiety. The more I focus on those issues, the more anxiety they cause and the more distracted I am by them and the more they pull me in, until I am nearly consumed by them. Even praying in that condition is not much help because my focus is still on the possibilities of what might happen. But when I turn from all of those “What ifs” and put my focus back where it belongs, on the God who I know is omniscient, all-powerful, who loves me, has said He knows all my needs and has promised meet them and take care of me — then I am secure in the path He has me on.

We do need to face our fears: if we hide from them, they’ll find us, and if we try to ignore them, they’ll fester. But facing them is one thing: it’s quite another thing to focus on them to the point of distraction, to the point where they actually lead us astray. We need to be aware of the dangers beside the path, but rather than feeding our anxiety, those dangers should only heighten our alertness to keep our eyes on the path ahead.

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Hebrews 12:2a.

What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. Psalm 56:3.

For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. Isaiah 30:15a.

_____________________________

I am linking up today to Women Living Well Wednesdays and Women in the Word Wednesdays.

What’s On Your Nightstand: February

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Barbara Harper

The folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the fourth Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read. You can learn more about it by clicking the link or the button.

It’s funny how, at the beginning of last month’s nightstand post, I commented on how quickly January seemed to have flown by, but in this shorter month of February, last month’s nightstand seems ages ago. I don’t know what accounts for the difference in how quickly or slowly the same amount of time seems to be passing.Sickness in the house probably had something to do with it — my son’s, not mine, but that significantly slowed the activities and errands. Thankfully all are well now.

Anyway, since last time I have read:

Anne of Windy Poplars, the fourth in Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables series, reviewed here.

50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning From Spiritual Giants of the Faith by Warren Wiersbe, a review and several quotes from it here. An excellent resource.

Looking for Anne of Green Gables: The Story of L. M. Montgomery and Her Literary Classic, by Irene Gammel, a look at Montgomery’s published and unpublished journals, scrapbooks, letters, former stories, as well as magazines and the culture of the times to see what influences might have led to the Anne books. I had mixed emotions about this one: loved the background information but didn’t agree with some of the author’s conjecture. My review is here.

Living with Purpose in a Worn-out Body: Spiritual Encouragement for Older Adults by Missy Buchanan which I saw by way of Mocha With Linda‘s recommendation. Excellent book, my review is here.

Song of Renewal by Emily Sue Harvey, reviewed here. Good story about a family’s strained relationships coming nearly to the breaking point after a daughter’s accident and the healing/renewal on several levels, though it would have been better without a couple of objective (to me) elements.

I am currently reading:

A Memory Between Us by Sarah Sundin, set in WWII — riveting. hard to put down.

A Novel Idea: Everything You Need to Know about Writing Inspirational Fiction — I’ve been reading sections of this between other books.

The Book Lover’s Devotional: What We Learn About Life From 60 Great Works of Literature by various authors, one of whom is blog friend Laura Lee Groves of Outnumbered Mom.

Still on my nightstand: Faithful by Kim Cash Tate, Just Between You and Me by Jenny B. Jones, One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, The Damascus Way, biblical fiction by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn, and several others. I’m not sure which to choose next!

The Week In Words

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Barbara Harper

This week, I don’t know anything about any of the people quoted, so I thought it might be wise to say that I am just taking their quotes at face value and not necessarily endorsing everything about them. They may be fine doctrinally and every other way, but I felt maybe I needed to offer that disclaimer.

That said, here are a few quotes that ministered to me this week:

This is from a friend’s Facebook:

“Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out – it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.” – Robert Service

So very true. So often it’s the little things that get me down or trip me up and waste time and energy needed for better pursuits.

And from a different friend’s Facebook:

If the Lord is stripping us, emptying us, pruning us, and bringing us low; so that we feel weak, empty and void of good — it is in order that he may strengthen us with his might, bring us to rest on his Word, fill us with his own love, and lead us to look for everything in Jesus. ~ James Smith

A good reminder. It’s so easy to focus on the pruning rather than the ultimate purpose.

And yet another Facebook status (I’m fortunate to have friends who post great quotes!):

A love of knowledge and a desire to explore God’s creation through the discipline of science need not alienate us from our Creator; on the contrary, it should draw us closer to Him. –Ken Connor

Having a husband who is a scientist and having read and studied science a bit, I can attest to this. There is a “science falsely so called,” but rightly understood, studying God’s creation glorifies Him.

This is from a section commenting on I Chronicles 16 in Warren Wiersbe’s With the Word:

To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God. ~ Archbishop William Temple

I’m still contemplating this one. I think I would agree with it. Worship is definitely far more than going through certain procedures: it has to somehow involve a glimpse of God and a loving, submissive response to Him.

And please — feel free to comment even if you don’t have quotes to share!

Happy Birthday to Mittu!

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Happy Birthday to a sweet daughter-in-law!

Book Review: Living with Purpose in a Worn-out Body: Spiritual Encouragement for Older Adults

Posted on February 19, 2011 by Barbara Harper

When I saw Mocha With Linda mention Living with Purpose in a Worn-out Body: Spiritual Encouragement for Older Adults by Missy Buchanan, I knew I had to get it for my mother-in-law and myself. Missy was a daily caregiver to her mother, who lived to be 92, and now Missy spends much time visiting with other residents in the senior residence center where her mother spent her last days. Her experiences make the devotionals she began writing for senior adults ring with authenticity.

This book covers several areas: pain, loneliness, feeling forgotten, the treasure of friends, sleep, purpose, clutter, medicine, bingo, laughter, sensible shoes — many aspects of an older person’s life. The devotionals address these issues in a genuine way. Some are poignant, some are fun, but all bring the reader back to focus on God in every issue. Here is a sample:

Sometimes I wonder why you have left me on this earth.
Ia have outlived so many family and friends. Why do I linger?
What purpose could you have for me now?
Look at my hands. Once strong and sure, they are unsteady and frail.
My mind, once quick and incisive, now falters under the weight of names and faces.
What real purpose do I serve knitting away the hours, surfing the channels, dozing through the afternoon?
Then Your Spirit stirs my heart and convicts my soul.
You are not a wasteful God!
The length of my earthly days is a mystery to me, but one thing I know for sure. You have created me with an eternal purpose.
How can I be more like Christ today?
Whose life can I touch with kindness?
Lord, give me an extra measure of grace when I feel that I’m too old to be useful.
Help me as I take my limitations in stride as I search for opportunities to serve you.
My purpose has not withered away with another birthday.
It is rooted in eternity.

Psalm 33:11:
But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever,
the purposes of his heart through all generations.

The text in the book is large print, yet the book as a whole is slim.

I would highly, highly recommend this to any “senior saint” you know as well as family members and caregivers.

(This review will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Barbara Harper

1. A perfect Saturday: didn’t have any place I had to be, got some work done, but had time to read and relax, too.

2. Sunshine and 70s! There was only one time I noticed the temperature was up to 70, but it was in the high 60s for much of the week. I’ve known that the daylight has been increasing ever since Dec. 21, but this week is the first time I’ve really noticed that it has been getting dark later. Spring is coming soon!!!

3. Wellness. As I mentioned here, both Jesse and the dog have been very sick recently, and it’s nice to have everyone doing better — and nice as well that it didn’t spread to all the rest of us.

4. Our Valentine’s Day.

5. Emile Pandolfi. I have a few of his CDs but somehow had forgotten about them for a while. I wanted to play some love songs while making our special Valentine’s Day meal and dessert, and went through parts of The King’s Singers‘ Chanson d’Amour and the Irish Tenors‘ Heritage CDs, then decided I wanted just something instrumental, flipped through my CDs, and saw a few of Emile’s. Love his style and can’t believe I hadn’t played these in so long. Perfect. Beautiful, Peaceful. Just what I wanted. This first clip is from one of the songs I listened to, the second is one I discovered while searching YouTube, excerpts from one of his concerts. He even lived in our area of SC when we were there, but somehow I never went to see him. Wish I had now!