First of all I’d like to ask you to consider voting for my assistant pastor to be able to receive a handicap-accessible van with hand controls. The one he has is getting old and the hand controls on it are past their recommended length of usage He was severely injured in a car accident in college. His story is here:

Voting is here. From what I understand you can vote once a day from different ISP addresses or phones, but have to wait 24 hours to vote again from any of those sources. Use promo code 970 the first time to gain 5 vote. The code won’t work except one time, but you can still vote without it once a day after that initial use. If you feel so led, it will be greatly appreciated!

Here are a few things that especially spoke to me this week, a couple of them dealing with Easter:

Resurrection Hope. “Before the resurrection, there is a cross. Dark. Death. Hopeless. Before the rainbow, there is a storm. Howling. Desolate. Destructive.”

Sunday Means Someday Disability Will Be No More. The father of an autistic boy ponders the picture of the resurrection in the healing of a demon-possessed boy in Mark 9. “Sunday means someday a resurrected Jesus will take my son by the hand…and he will rise!”

Hold the Truth Tightly and Your Passionate Opinions Lightly. Amen.

Praying Past Our Preferred Outcomes. “To go deeper than praying only for deliverance means that we approach prayer not as a tool to manipulate God to get what we want, but as a way to submit to what he wants.”

Application to Be a Boy Mom. “Must have strong stomach. Rough-housing will be sometimes required of applicant.”

Combat! Dealing with a boy’s desire to fight and conquer, ways to channel that in good directions.

I hope you have a good weekend and a blessed Easter remembering all that Christ accomplished for you in His death and resurrection.

Here are some profitable reads from the last couple of weeks:

Women Need Support and the Truth, Not Abortion, HT to Challies

End the Down Syndrome Holocaust Today.

Beauty in Brokenness.

I Wouldn’t Have Chosen This, But...

Rescued. Beautiful.

Domestic Kindness.

When It Feels Like Your Work Doesn’t Matter, HT to Lisa.

7 Motives in Our Work, HT to Challies.

10 Easter Recipes.

Going around Facebook:

Cute: An elephant playing with a phone:

This almost made me cry:

Have a great weekend!

Here’s some of the good reading I found this week:

7 Steps to Walking the Spiritual Walk, HT to Lisa.

How to receive Criticism Like a Champ. HT to Challies.

Gracious Candor: A Tutorial in Speaking the Truth in Love, HT to Challies.

Fighting Anxiety.

Reading Literature, HT to Lisa.

Sentiments from last weekend which will give Princess Bride fans a chuckle:

This is my niece and nephew-in-law’s beautiful adoption story:

Have a great weekend! I am hoping the rain lets up before I go to the store!

Here is some good reading from the past week:

I Got Nuthin, HT to Robin Lee Hatcher. Powerful. Quote: “If you don’t come to me empty, Jesus says to me, all you’ll have to offer is the self you are so full of.”

Feed It or Starve It, dealing with fear, anxiety, insecurity.

Oldest Living Couple Earth Gives Great Relationship Advice, HT to Lizzie.

Counting the Hours, good post for weary moms.

On Controversy, HT to Challies, John Newton’s advice to one planning to criticize someone else for a lack of orthodoxy. So needed in these days where Christians appoint themselves prosecutor, judge and jury online. The Bible teaches and demonstrates that we do need to stand for truth, but many people forget the spirit in which it says to do so. (BTW, though the article mentions a Calvinistic viewpoint, I am not a Calvinist.)

Top 10 Women in the Bible You May Not Know.

When Cheese Sandwiches Make You Cry.

Some controversy has come up recently over Pinterest and copyrights. For those unfamiliar with Pinterest, it’s sort of like a bunch of friends looking at magazines and pointing out to each other the things they really like in it, only it’s online. “You “pin” a photo from the site which links back to the original site, and others can “like” it or repin it. Evidently Pinterest’s fine print says if someone sues  for using their photo, they sue you, the user, and not Pinterest. That and other concerns led to the approach in this post: Why I Tearfully Deleted My Pinterest Inspirational Boards. But another approach is here, and I am more inclined that way. She makes the point that sites with a “Pin It” button at the bottom of their posts are okay with pinning, and she has other tips as well. I hope some of these issues can be clarified in the future, because I really do enjoy the site, especially the crafts and home decor boards.

This is about 36 minutes long but well worth the time:

Hope you have a good weekend! I’m so glad for sunshine after last night’s storms. Thankfully we didn’t have hail, power outages, or damage in our immediate area.

Here are a few things that especially caught my eye this past week:

Treasure In, Treasure Out, HT to Challies. I don’t know anything about R. C. Sproul’s teaching, so don’t take this as an endorsement thereof, but I’ve seen the name and knew his wife recently passed away. The broader theme of this piece is how what we take in affects how we think, and though that is important, I was especially touched at how his wife’s efforts to beautify her home ministered to him even after she was gone.

Two Kinds of Husband Whisperers.

Women Who Go About Doing Good.

This is the time of year some segments of the church as well as some individuals observe Lent. There are some good thoughts on both sides of the issue at On Being a Lentendud and Why Would We Observe Lent? I think the bottom line with this or any other spiritual exercise is to do whatever you do as unto the Lord, thoughtfully and seriously rather than just going through the motions outwardly because it is a certain time of year.

Dating Tebow. Though I cringe at the thought of calling an outing with a 10 year old girl a date, I thought this was a sweet story. Plus it is a good example of ignoring criticism while quietly going about doing good.

Why I Hope Real Books Never Die (And They Won’t). I sure hope they won’t.

If you have a Blogger blog with the new word verification system , please read this, HT to Brenda. Though they seem to have removed the little blobs behind the letters that were making it even harder to read, it is still even more difficult to leave comments. I tried 8 times to leave a comment on one friend’s blog yesterday before giving up and sending her an e-mail.

From Pinterest:

🙂

Love this. I am glad I rediscovered fairy tales!

Very cute, articulate kid:

How to talk to Moms:

How to talk to girls:

“Life is hard. Move on.” Good motto to learn young. 🙂 Though I do wish kids weren’t thinking about crushes and such so early.

Hope you have a good day!

Here are some notable reads from the last couple of weeks:

Pathway to Freedom — overcoming any addiction.

Introverted. Quote: “My challenge…is to keep introversion from enabling or excusing sin… I can excuse selfishness, self-centeredness, escapism, lack of hospitality, rudeness. I can stay away from people and excuse it as being just the way I am, as being who I am. I can be shy and quiet when the Lord calls me to be strong and bold.”

Some Thoughts on Guns and YouTube Scoldings as Parenting Tools.

10 Churchy Words We All Need to Know.

Why I Read Jane Austen — written by a young man. Austen is not just for girls!

10 Common Misconceptions of the Wannabe Novelist.

Five Publishing Hurdles and How to Clear Them.

Password Check. An amusing piece for anyone who has ever been frustrated with password verifications (and they do seem to be getting even more frustrating!)

A couple of things seen on Pinterest:

Scott Hamilton’s testimony:

Sweet version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with time-lapsed views of overhead stars.

I didn’t think I had enough “laudable linkage” to make a post this week, but I find that I do have a few things you might find as interesting as I did.

How Much Is a Homemaker Worth?

Why Do We Write?

Dancing Duets: lovely post on helping our children fulfill their dreams rather than ours.

Seen on Facebook:

Seen at Pinterest:

Seen at Challies: this had me literally laughing out loud (note: though the guy uses a cigarette in the last part of his routine, I don’t promote or condone cigarette smoking.)

Here’s my Saturday synopsis of scintillating reads  and views from the Web this week :

Thank God for “mundane, anonymous, nondescript people.”

Let’s Make a Deal. The mistake of thinking quiet time with God is in exchange for Him giving us a “good day” rather than an opportunity to fellowship with Him.

An Unlikely Friendship. Great example of friendship with different ages.

Making Room for Writing While Mothering.

How to Find Free Kindle Books. I especially liked Inspired Reads (It is not a totally Christian site, though. There have been a few things on there I could not endorse.)

25 Handmade Gifts For Boys, HT to Lizzie.

Cute Valentine’s Sayings. Lots of neat ideas for kids’ Valentine exchanges.

Seen on Lisa‘s Pinterest:

Saw this at Bobbi‘s. Utterly mesmerizing to watch.

A murmuration is a flock of starlings. (I didn’t know that before!)

And one violinist’s response to a cell phone interrupting his concert:

Hope you have a great Saturday! After having to keep my foot up most of the week, I’m going to try to get some housework done today. Not fun, but satisfying once it is done.

Here are a few things I found interesting on the Web this week:

The Differences Between Religion and the Gospel. Excellent. No, it’s not the video you may have seen floating around Facebook.

How to talk to God with His words.

How to Disagree Online Without Being a Total Jerk. Excellent.

What to Do When Life is Hard….from one who knows.

Being Polite, HT to Lisa.

I want this habit.

Does Fiction Lie? Thoughts on Truth and Christian Story-telling.

Grace-Motivated….Dieting?

Basic sewing tutorials for the beginner.

35-second chocolate cake in a cup.

I didn’t see the concert for the 25th anniversary of the musical Les Miserables, but I stumbled across this rendition of “Bring Him Home” from four different tenor who have played ValJean through the years. Lovely…though Colm Wilkinson will always be ValJean to me:

Here are some things I found interesting online the last couple of weeks. Perhaps some might be of interest to you as well.

What to Do If You Wake Up Feeling Fragile.

The Importance of Superficial Reading the First Time Through. I put the book mentioned on my TBR list.

Bible Reading Plans. You may have seen many posts like this the last few weeks. I think there is a plan for any personality, temperament, or way of thinking. The important thing is to be in the Word regularly.

You’ve probably seen a lot about resolutions, too. I put links to the posts I’d found thought-provoking at the bottom of this post where I tried to work out some of my thoughts about it all, but a couple more are Teenage Resolutions and Resolutions on Growing Old With God.

Four Tips for Scripture Memory.

An idea for Christmas cards.

Making a take-out menu binder. Neat idea. I have a folder for menus and coupons, but this takes it a step further.

Tips for getting organized in the new year. Lots of really neat ideas.

I’ve pinned a number of crafty, organizational, or food-related posts on my Pinterest boards recently, probably too many to list here, but if you’re interested in more of those things, I invite you there. 🙂

And a couple of funny pics:

Happy Saturday!