Category Archives: Christian Life

The Week In Words

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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.

I am in a real quandary this week. I have collected about 13 quotes since last time — way too many for one post! It’s hard to choose which ones to share, but I’ll save the rest for a week when I haven’t found quite as many.

I saw this on Lisa‘s sidebar and it really hit me right between the eyes:

Only awe of God has the power to decimate your bondage to awe of you. ~ Paul Tripp’s Twitter.

Self so insidiously permeates thoughts, deeds, and motives. But as I turn my eyes to God, the power of self decreases.

This was also on Lisa‘s sidebar:

Of course you’re not up to the task, that’s why you’ve been given the presence, promises and provisions of Jesus. ~ Paul Tripp’s Twitter.

From a friend’s Facebook:

The most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable. ~ John Piper

This is from the post What If I Am Not a Gifted Evangelist? (HT to Challies) on the offense of the gospel:

Remember when Paul shared the gospel he didn’t merely receive public scorn, he regularly got put in jail. And it was from jail that Paul asked for prayer that he would be bold with the gospel. If people are offended by the message of the gospel it may be awkward, but awkward truth is better than silence.

From a  church web site:

“Though faith sometimes has a trembling hand, it must not have a withered hand–it must stretch.” ~ Thomas Watson

Probably ought to leave it at that for now, as that’s plenty to try to digest for a while.

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!

O Great God

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This is a song from the Steve Pettit team‘s CD So High the Price that really speaks to me. Apparently it is based on a prayer from the Valley of Vision collection of Puritan Prayers. You can hear a bit of it by going here and clicking on “O Great God.”

O Great God

O great God of highest heaven
Occupy my lowly heart
Own it all and reign supreme
Conquer every rebel power
Let no vice or sin remain
That resists Your holy war
You have loved and purchased me
Make me Yours forevermore

I was blinded by my sin
Had no ears to hear Your voice
Did not know Your love within
Had no taste for heaven’s joys
Then Your Spirit gave me life
Opened up Your Word to me
Through the gospel of Your Son
Gave me endless hope and peace

Help me now to live a life
That’s dependent on Your grace
Keep my heart and guard my soul
From the evils that I face
You are worthy to be praised
With my every thought and deed
O great God of highest heaven
Glorify Your Name through me

~ Words and Music by Bob Kauflin

Laudable Linkage and Videos

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It’s been a while since I’ve done this, but here are some things around the Web that I’ve found interesting — perhaps some will interest you as well.

Mercy in a Dustpan about practical ways of ministering to others in a crisis.

What If I’m Not a Gifted Evangelist? HT to Challies.

Someday Is a Liar and a Thief, good thoughts on not waiting to offer hospitality as a single person, but applicable to all of us who hope to be more hospitable “someday.”

The Vanity of Loveless Prophets.

Writing:

Novel Editing Tips.

A Showcase of Inspirational Writing Quotes.

Craftiness:

DIY Sweater Pillows, HT to Lizzie. I have an old sweater coming apart at the seams and sleeves, but the design is beautiful, and this would be a great way to preserve it.

DIY Photos on Canvas, HT to Lizzie again.

16 Crafty Bulletin and Memo Board Tutorials.

Kid’s Classroom Valentines. Cute, simple ideas for giving a different kind of Valentine.

I wouldn’t want things really to happen this way — because I’d be on the receiving end sometimes, I’m afraid — but it is funny.

And this is why I am glad I don’t live up North!

Have a great Saturday! I’m not sure yet what our plans are. If hubby doesn’t have any, I think I’m just going to putter around getting a few things done here and there. Love those kinds of days!

Booking Through Thursday: Real Life

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btt button Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme which poses a question or a thought for participants to discuss centering on the subject of books or reading. The question for this week is one that I submitted:

I am paraphrasing from a friend’s Facebook wall her question:

“How would a teen-age boy who is going to work with his hands ever use Literature of England in his work?”

The age-old “How am I going to use this in real life?” question. How would you answer it?

As a wanna-be English major (I minored in English) who has always loved reading, I can’t help but think, “How can you not want to study literature, just for the enjoyment?” But obviously someone wasn’t enjoying it (interesting the question was asked by a mom rather than a child. She may have been looking for reasons to share with him, but I think she was just frustrated herself). And, honestly, not all literature is enjoyable. Some answers to the question, “Why read anything?” would apply, but why read literature in particular if you’re not going to be an English teacher? I am very interested in other people’s answers to this question, but here are a few that came to my own mind:

1. For personal enjoyment. Obviously no one will enjoy every piece of literature and some will enjoy it more than others and some teachers wring the life out of it in the way they teach it, but surely there would be portions of it that would appeal to anyone.

2. To broaden one’s horizons beyond one’s own experience, to learn of other places, times, cultures.

3. To broaden one’s understanding of one’s own culture.

4. To understand cultural references so that when someone quotes Dickens or Frost or Shakespeare you have some idea who they’re talking about. If someone mentions “Two roads diverged….,” knowing the poem and its subject enriches your understanding of what the person is referring to.

5. To have a point of contact with one’s fellow man or woman. This particular mom is a missionary and felt that her son’s time and mental powers would be better employed just reading and studying the Bible. But even the apostle Paul quoted poets and took time to understand other people’s culture as a way understanding them as a people and having a point of reference from which to share the gospel (Titus 1:11-13, Acts 17:21-23).

6. To become a more well-rounded person. Few people have just one interest, and if they don’t, they can tend to come across as a little dull to others who don’t share that interest. I’ve always been so glad that my alma mater was a Christian liberal arts university which taught a Christian worldview of all the arts.

7. To become more creative.

8. Exercise in thinking about issues, points of view, behavior, etc.

9. Exercise in language use. Someone who might be having trouble with grammar or spelling or general language use can get a feel for it almost unconsciously by reading.

What are your thoughts? What are the benefits of studying literature?

The Dinner Party That Wasn’t

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Our new church has a “Dinner For Six” program which I’ve mentioned before: people who want to participate sign up and the coordinators divide everyone into groups of three couples. Each couple hosts dinner for the other two once during a three-month period , with everyone dividing up the meal each time. The host family provides main course, one family brings salad and bread, the other brings dessert and a beverage, and they rotate with each meal. It’s a really neat way to get to know people beyond just chatting after services and to meet people from other Sunday School classes or the other side of the church.

We had our first dinner back in October with our pastor’s family and another couple. The second couple was supposed to host in November, but the wife’s mother became ill and she spent much of the month in the hospital with her or at her home afterward. Not only was there not an opportune time, but they were just under too much pressure. Throughout December we tried to find a time that would work for everyone, but we just never could get together. The new rotations for the Dinner For Six were to begin in January, but we attempted to get our last group together one last time and arranged to do so at our home this past Saturday.

Hospitality is not my strong suit, but I’ve come a long way, by God’s grace, since early married years when I felt I had to spring clean every nook and cranny, get every house project on the docket done, and then make some elaborate new dish when company came. It was nice to have only the main dish to prepare, and I put together a tried-and-true crock pot meal that serves a crowd. I planned a side dish “just in case.” I’m more on top of regular housekeeping than I used to be, but there was plenty to do (you can’t clean too far ahead, because then you’d have to do it all over again before the event). I learned a long time ago that I’ll probably not get everything done I’d like to and to prioritize what things had to get done vs. other things I could then get to if I had time. I was a little dismayed at not having help: Mittu was sick and Jason was ministering to her, and Jesse had an basketball game two hours away which Jim attended. I felt bad about not going, but I didn’t feel I could handle being in the car so much before having people over even if I’d gotten everything done ahead of time. Plus I felt I should be here in case something happened to delay them. So I actually looked forward to putting on some music and digging in.

Everything came together fairly well. But then a couple of hours before dinner time I got word that the pastor’s wife and daughter were sick and that he would be coming alone with their part of the meal. I was disappointed that his wife couldn’t make it and felt bad that she was sick.

The pastor arrived at 6, but the other couple was nowhere to be seen. We thought perhaps they had mistaken the time, so we waited until about 6:30, then decided we should call them. Not only had they forgotten all about it, but their refrigerator had broken down and they were right in the midst of cleaning everything out of it and putting a new one in. Even though we had enough food for them to go ahead and come without bringing their portion, it just was not a good time for them. If I had been thinking we could have offered to take dinner to them, but that just didn’t come to mind.

We enjoyed the time with the pastor, but I couldn’t even really enjoy feeling a little like the Shunammite woman who helped feed the man of God because I felt that, instead of ministering to someone who was out and about and needing refreshment, I was taking him away from his sick family who would rather have him home. And though the conversation around the table was pleasant, even fun, after everything was over, I felt profoundly disappointed.

Disappointed? Why?

Because I felt like I had gone to all that work for nothing.

Nothing? No, not if everything is done as unto the Lord. Hospitality does not depend on the number ministered to, and even if only my own family had shown up, are they not worthy of hospitality as well? I do cook and clean for them regularly, of course, and we have an occasional special night with tablecloth, special foods, etc. — this could have been a special celebration “just because.”

Because I wanted my new friends to see my home.

Ah, there is the crux of it. No, it’s not like we live in a mansion and I wanted to offer a museum tour. I enjoy visiting other people’s homes and seeing what other people have on their walls, how they arrange things, what they collect, what colors they like, etc. –it helps me get to know them better and see their personality reflected in their home. And I wanted them to get to know me in the same way. I don’t think that’s necessarily wrong. But hospitality is not about me. It’s not supposed to be, anyway. It’s supposed to be centered on ministering to others.

As I worked through my disappointments, I looked for several good things from the experience:

  • The house was all clean, earning me a bit of rest and time to do other things for a few days.
  • I got a few more decorating projects completed.
  • There was enough food left over to provide for Sunday dinner, making an easy meal of just warming things up.
  • I could rejoice in having a calm, productive day rather than whipping myself and my family into a frenzy as has happened previously when company was coming.
  • We got to spend time with the pastor and ask some questions we had.

And in church the next day, hearing some of the burdens and prayer requests and even victories as one new precious soul came to the Lord, I was reminded that there are much bigger things going on in the world than my little dinner, and I need to get over myself. 🙂

If you’re still reading, thanks for listening to my rambling as I tried to work out my thoughts and perspectives. 🙂

The Week In Words

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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.

It’s been a busy week since last time! But I did find a few gems along the way:

I forgot to note where I saw this one:

My complaint is not that I am in the world, but that the world is in me. I cannot get it out of my heart except as I let You in. —John Baird

I like the thought of crowding out the world by letting Christ in — instead of just combating worldliness, following Christ proactively and letting Him fill the space that worldliness would take.

On a friend’s Facebook page:

“A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.” ~Author unknown

From a post of Janet‘s:

Questions about God’s goodness or why He allows suffering are usually asked by comfortable people in comfortable houses with comfortable educations, but they’re answered by those who are walking through the most extreme trials.

Seen at Challies:

In public worship all should join. The little strings go to make up a concert, as well as the great. —Thomas Goodwin

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!

The Week In Words

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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.

Here are a few that spoke to me this week:

This was quoted in an Elisabeth Elliot devotional, taken from a chapter in All That Was Ever Ours titled, “Fear, Suffering, Love”:

There are tenderhearted people who virtually object to the whole scheme of creation. They would neither have force used nor pain suffered; they talk as if kindness could do everything, even where it is not felt. Millions of human beings but for suffering would never develop an atom of affection. The man who would spare due suffering is not wise. Because a thing is unpleasant, it is folly to conclude it ought not to be. There are powers to be born, creations to be perfected, sinners to be redeemed, through the ministry of pain, to be born, perfected, redeemed, in no other way. ~ George MacDonald, What’s Mine’s Mine.

So true — I would rather there were no suffering, but God has His purposes in it and there are things accomplished through it.

I saw this on someone’s blogs after a series of one link leading to another:

While I regarded God as a tyrant I thought my sin a trifle; But when I knew Him to be my Father, then I mourned that I could ever have kicked against Him. When I thought God was hard, I found it easy to sin; but when I found God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion, I smote upon my breast to think that I could ever have rebelled against One who loved me so, and sought my good. ~ C. H. Spurgeon

It was the thought of God’s anger and punishment for my sin that made me aware of my need, but it was His love that drew me to Him for salvation.

From Robin Lee Hatcher’s Facebook about lessons from Exodus:

When God speaks to a responsive heart, it melts. When God speaks to an unresponsive heart, it hardens.

And back to Elisabeth Elliot again, this time from “As We Forgive Those….” from Love Has a Price Tag:

To forgive is to die. It is to give up one’s right to self, which is precisely what Jesus requires of anyone who wants to be his disciple.

“If anyone wants to follow in my footsteps, he must give up all right to himself, carry his cross every day and keep close behind me. For the man who wants to save his life will lose it, but the man who loses his life for my sake will save it.”

Following Christ means walking the road he walked, and in order to forgive us he had to die. His follower may not refuse to relinquish his own right, his own territory, his own comfort, or anything that he regards as his. Forgiveness is relinquishment. It is a laying down. No one can take it from us, any more than anyone could take the life of Jesus if he had not laid it down of his own will. But we can do as he did. We can offer it up, writing off whatever loss it may entail, in the sure knowledge that the man who loses his life or his reputation or his “face” or anything else for the sake of Christ will save it.

And that’s why it is so hard. 🙂 But the remembrance of His forgiveness of me helps me to forgive others — whatever they did to me is much less than my sin against Him.

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!

Progress

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I’ve felt like I’ve been in a bit of malaise or brain fog the last couple of weeks, and, interestingly, I was scrolling through old posts yesterday looking for something and noticed I had a post saying about the same thing the first few weeks of January almost every year. I think a lot of it is due to transitioning back into routine after the holidays, but that was disrupted a bit due to several snow days. But after getting a lot of sleep, I think I’m back on an even keel. Yesterday brought progress in several areas:

  • Temperatures in the 40s! I didn’t have anything to do with that, of course, but after days and days of sub-freezing weather, 40 felt pretty nice, and most of the ice and snow has finally melted. Winter’s not over yet, but this little break was heartening.
  • Lists. In spite of “brain fog,” some of my problem was just laziness. I’d think of things to work on but would veg out with solitaire on the computer instead. After confessing that to the Lord, I made a running list of various things that needed to be done and got started on it yesterday.
  • I’m still working on decorating the house. It’s going slowly both because it takes me a while to decide where to put things and because I need Jim’s help for some of the heavier items — plus the holidays put all of that on hold. I concentrated on our room yesterday and got several things up on the wall, several boxes put away, and a dust ruffle and dresser scarf ironed and in place. A bit of lace and decorativeness does my heart good. I do still plan to post pictures of the house, hopefully soon. We’re still waiting on those living room chairs…

  • I’ve been able to make headway on this cross stitch project here and there during the evenings. Jason commented that I’d been working on it a long time, and a variation of the song came to mind…”Little by little, stitch by stitch…” I don’t even remember when I started it, but it’s fun seeing it come together. I’m dreading the words in the hoop, though, and left them for later. They’re the most important segment but they don’t follow the lines and squares — I may write them on with a washable fabric marker and stitch over them.

  • Anger…which is actually a regression rather than a progression. I’m not in general an angry person every day, and some times, by God’s grace, I can take things in stride. But sometimes I can get blindingly white-hot angry in a flash, and often over some stupid little thing. And it’s worse when I’m in “the right” (or else believe I am) because it’s harder to let that anger go. Such an incident happened yesterday (no, not with anyone in my family), and after the emotion cooled down I was terribly ashamed and discouraged. I didn’t really say anything, though if the other person was alert they could have picked up on it. But the roiling under the surface was neither healthy nor honoring to the Lord. I confessed that to the Lord as well, and a couple of verses came to mind (“Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools” [Ecclesiastes 7:9] was one, as was “the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” [James 1:20]), yet I still felt shrouded in defeat. So this morning I did a brief word study on “anger” and “wrath,” mainly in Proverbs and the epistles. Several helped, but one that realy jumped out at me was, “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression” (Proverbs 19:11). Meditation on that and some of the others is helping.

So, though winter will still be here for a while and I’ll always have a list of things to do and an old nature to contend with…I am encouraged to see some progress.

The Week In Words

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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.

Here are a few that spoke to me this week:

From a friend’s Facebook:

Some pursue happiness, others create it.

From another friend’s Facebook:

God doesn’t merely want a change of habit. He wants a change of heart, which will lead to a change of habit.

Seen at Challies:

Trials and tribulations are very good for us in that they help us to know ourselves better than we knew ourselves before. —D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Among the many purposes God has for suffering, this is one. Usually, for me anyway, I discover a deficiency in myself or some new way in which I need to trust in or yield to the Lord more.

And, actually, I heard this first rather than read it, but then I wrote it down and then read it. 🙂

God does not love us because we’re valuable; we’re valuable because God loves us. ~ Adrian Rogers

Also since last time I shared quotes about winter and quotes from Anne of Avonlea in different posts.

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!

Another year I enter

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The year still feels new to me! I saw this at Jewel‘s and thought it was a wonderful reminder for the year ahead.

Another year I enter,
Its history unknown;
Oh, how my feet would tremble
To tread its paths alone!

But I have heard God’s whisper –
I know I shall be blest –
“My presence shall go with you,
And I will give you rest.”

What will the New Year bring me?
I may not, must not know.
Will it be love and rapture,
Or loneliness and woe?

Hush! Hush! I hear His whisper –
I surely shall be blest –
“My presence shall go with you,
And I will give you rest.”

~Author unknown~

(Photo courtesy of the morgueFile)