Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of 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.
I had to think more than usual to come up with five this week. It wasn’t a bad week, but there weren’t highlights or standouts. But the everyday blessings are just as much evidence of God’s love and care as the “big” ones, and here are a few:
1. Naps. I don’t know if it is due to the time change or what, but I have desperately needed a nap every day this week. I kind of hate to take time out of the day for a nap, but I am glad for the refreshment it brings.
2. Ceiling fans. It’s been a bit on the warm side the last day or two, but not enough to turn on the AC. A ceiling fan on low was just right. And on a related note, after the whopper winter utility bills, it will be nice to have a lower one since we haven’t used the heater much lately.
3. Garage. I may have mentioned this before — but it is still a favorite. 🙂 This is the first house we’ve ever had with a garage (though we had one with a carport) and it is so nice to bring groceries in without having to do so in the rain and go out to a semi-warm garage in the morning rather than shivering in the car til it warms up.
4. Sunshine. I think I have mentioned this before, too, but it has been an overcast week, and the occasional sunshine really lifts my spirits.
5. Kids who pitch in. Last Sunday Jason, Mittu and I were all home from church not feeling well. I woke up from a nap to realize it was time to start dinner, and when I came out into the kitchen, they had already started it and had the table set. And then Jesse is always good about doing anything I ask him with generally a good attitude.
It might be tomorrow before I am able to visit some of you — company tonight means housecleaning and food prep today. 🙂 Have a good weekend!
I had a couple of post ideas floating around, but this has been an different kind of day with much to do and I never did sit down and develop either of them. Then this afternoon I was listening to a radio program about growing older and knew I wanted to share some of what was said.
The premise was that you don’t become a sweet little old lady when you get to whatever age you deem “old” — when you get older you’ll be an extended version of whatever you are now. So if we want to be sweet rather than grumpy old ladies, we need to be working on that now. Several ladies then shared things they’d learned about growing older and ways they’d learned to cope with the differences in their bodies and ministries.
The main thing I wanted to share was something they read that I had heard before, but it brought both a smile and conviction to my heart today as well. I found several variations of it online; this is one:
‘Lord, you know better than anybody that I’m getting older and will someday be old. Keep me from being talkative; from the fatal habit of thinking I’ve got to say something on every subject and on every occasion. Release me from the need to straighten out everybody’s affairs. Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point. I ask for grace to listen to the tales of others’ pains and to endure them with patience. But seal my lips when it comes to my own aches and pains, for they’re increasing, and my love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by. I ask for improved memory, but even more for a growing humility and a lessening cock-sureness when my memory seems to clash with the memory of others. Teach me that occasionally I may be mistaken. Keep me reasonably sweet. I don’t want to be a ‘saint’ because some of them are so hard to live with – and a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil. Make me thoughtful, but not moody; helpful, but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it; but you know, Lord, I still want to have a few friends at the end. Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places and talents in unexpected people, then give me the grace to tell them so. Amen.’
Maybe this was so poignant to me because I can see traces of some of those tendencies in myself even now!
I did a little searching and didn’t find the session itself available online, but a CD of it is here called “Grumpy Old Ladies or Glad Golden Givers – Which Will You Be?” If you have access to a BBN station, the second half of the program will be aired on their “Building Blocks For the Family” segment at 2:30-3:00 p.m. EDT tomorrow, March 18. You can listen to the station online but I don’t know if they have all the programs online that they do on the radio. But if you can arrange to listen to it, I can recommend at least what I have heard so far as very helpful.
The Damascus Way, is the third installment in biblical fiction series Acts of Faith by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn, yet I think it could easily be read as a stand-alone book if you’ve not read the previous two in the series.
If you’re very familiar with the story of the Apostle Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus in the book of Acts, then the title of this book would suggest to you that it might be about him. It does cover that incident, but until it reaches that point, Paul — known as Saul pre-conversion — is seen once and referred to many times. He is less a character in the story through most of it than a sort of dark cloud of threatening persecution of the believers.
That increasing persecution drove many of the early believers from Jerusalem in the Bible, having the effect of scattering the gospel with them across the land, and that’s the background of the story that is portrayed here. Abigail, the widow of Stephen, reluctantly leaves with her young daughter, Dorcas, and a group of believers heading one way. Jacob, her brother, is a guard for a wealthy merchant’s caravan and becomes a courier for the underground network of believers. One of his contacts, to his surprise, is Julia, the beautiful daughter of his employer.
Julia is the only daughter of the merchant, and though well-to-do, she realizes that she and her mother are not welcomed in the community. Discovering why shakes her world to its core, and her turmoil leads to faith in Christ. She and Jacob are the primary characters in this story, though there are strong subplots involving Abigail as well as Linix and Alban, two Roman soldiers who became believers in the previous books.
I enjoyed seeing how believers from various backgrounds and nationalities who would formerly have been enemies became one in Christ.
And one passage that came back to mind many times after reading it involved the testimony of what we call “the woman at the well.” I knew that she came out to draw water alone at a time when other women were not there because of her shame and her status. I knew that she was surprised that Christ spoke to her in the first place and that He knew all about her. But one sentence in the story said, “He seemed to know all about her, yet He did not shun her” (p. 265). Though the last few words are not explicitly said in Scripture, they are implied, and though I knew that in one sense, in this reading the contrast between the shunning of “good people” and the kindness and respect shown by the Savior really stood out to me.
For all the possible intrigue of the dangerous activities of the couriers and the secrecy of the believers to avoid persecution, you would think this would have been a real page-turner, but the plot seemed to drag to me in a few places, which I don’t remember happening in the previous books. But I may have just been a little “off” somehow while reading it — other reviews of it I have read use words like “sweeping,” “intriguing,” and “vivid.”
Nevertheless, I am glad to have read it and can recommend it. I’m not sure if there will be further books in the series — since it is covering the book of Acts and there are several more chapters after Saul’s conversion, I would hope so. If so, I’ll be looking forward to them.
(This review will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)
When I first heard of the earthquake and subsequent tsunamis that hit Japan, I prayed, but I could hardly watch any footage. It was just too much, too intense. And, I thought, if it is too intense to watch, how must it be to live through it. I just cannot imagine.
I have watched since then. It’s just so hard to fathom — it almost looks like CGI of some cataclysmic movie.
The two missionary families I know there were out of the country when it happened and are checking in as frequently as possible with those they are able to reach there. Besides the destruction, which is massive, now there are problems even in areas further away with lack of water, gasoline, dwindling food supplies at stores, etc., because supplies can’t get through.
My friend Kim, one of the missionaries to Japan on furlough in the States now, left a link to a blogger she reads who lives in the area and posts regular updates at Living and Learning.
A friend on Facebook shared this video today in reference to some personal suffering, but I thought of it in context of the suffering of the people of Japan. When things like this happen, sometimes people get bitter against God, wondering why it happened. I pray that instead, people would turn to Him in their great need.
As a footnote, Joni speaks of not wanting the intellectual reasons for suffering when in the thick of it. I don’t think she means she doesn’t want them ever. I know from her other writings that she has thought through and wrestled with some of those things. Personally I find great assurance in reading over them from time to time. But I do understand what she means that sometimes when suffering you just want the comfort of His presence rather than the reasons why.
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:
“Christ does not exist in order to make much of us. We exist in order to enjoy making much of him. Christ is not glorious so that we get wealthy or healthy. Christ is glorious, so that rich or poor, sick or sound, we might be satisfied in him.” ~ Piper
There is such an “It’s all about me” focus in Christianity today. It’s not. It’s all about Him. That He extends grace for us to participate at all in His plan is just amazing.
Minister out of overflow of relationship with the Father, not out of undertow of the ministry (Mk 1:35). (Pastor Mark Smith via Nancy Leigh DeMoss)
This one has been coming back to mind often since I first read it. It’s a much needed emphasis — it’s so easy to get dragged down in the “undertow.” As Diane said, we usually have it backwards.
Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave to wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it. -E. Lutzer
The past can be a rudder that guides you or an anchor that hinders you.
That’s true. We can’t do anything about the sins of the past except confess them to God and learn from them. Nor should we rest on past victories and neglect going forward and seeking God’s grace for today. As the children of Israel needed to gather manna every day, so we need God’s strength and sustenance every day. “As thy days, so shall thy strength [be]” (Deuteronomy 33:25b).
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 Lord, your love is so vast and so wide,
Freely given to all who believe.
It sores above the highest sky
And it floods the deepest sea.
It moved your heart to send your only Son
To die on Calvary’s tree.
And now your love has been poured in my soul
That its waters may flow through me.
O Lord, I come to you with great shame
For I fear that my work is in vain.
I am moved by the sound of man’s empty praise
When I serve others in your name.
If I give my wealth as a gift to the poor
Or my body to the flames of the fire,
Still all will be lost when I stand in your sight,
If my motives are not love-inspired.
O Lord, how I long to be filled with your love.
I lift up my dry thirsty soul.
Overcome this love I have for myself
As I yield to the Spirit’s control.
May the love of Christ increase in my heart
And my knowledge of Him ever grow
So my service I give to my King above
Will reflect the love that He’s shown.
Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of 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.
Here are some highlights of the last week:
1. My dear hubby’s birthday.
2. Spring break! It’s a little earlier than we’re used to, but I enjoy it any time. 🙂 My favorite part of spring break: no alarm clocks! (Funny how 6 or 7 a.m. is “sleeping late” these days.)
3. Jesse’s visit. For months now Jesse had been wanting to go visit his old school in SC over spring break because theirs isn’t until later. Jim had some work he needed to do on our old house, so they went down for a couple of days this week. Jesse told one of his friends (both to arrange to spend some time with him at his house after school and to make sure the class wasn’t going to be away on a field trip or something), and we contacted the school office ahead of time, but otherwise he wanted to surprise the rest of his old class. What was really funny was that one girl wrote last week on his Facebook page that they all missed him and he should come down for lunch Monday — not knowing that he was planning to do just that! So that added some fun to it. A bunch of them even got together with him for dinner one night. He had a great time.
4. Daffodils. I mentioned before I had wanted to plant some daffodils last fall, but then thought maybe I should wait to see what might already be here — this is our first spring in this house and I don’t know what might already be planted. But so far I hadn’t seen any signs of them — until yesterday. As I pulled up into the driveway, I saw a whole patch of them — behind the shed, of all places. Would it be silly to say they almost brought tears to my eyes? They’re not my favorite flowers, but I love them because they’re a cheerful first sign of spring.
5. My blog host, WordPress, survived an attack with relatively little trouble. I was working on my Marriage Monday post when I noticed it wasn’t auto-saving like usual. I clicked on “Save Draft” — and poof, everything but the first paragraph disappeared. I was….upset, to put it mildly. But later I learned that WP was subject to a large attack of some kind. So losing one blog post and having some slower than usual loading times on other WP blogs were comparatively minor annoyances. Thanks to those at WP who worked so hard to keep it up and running. And I DID learn to copy my text first in case anything like that ever happens again.
I could also add I’m glad we did not have any serious flooding this week — we’ve had a bunch more rain, and the ground was still pretty saturated from last week’s flooding. There were roads where the water was almost to the edge of the road, but at least in out area, that was mostly it: only one road on my regular route had some standing water on one side. I am more than ready for a little sunshine!
I just finished reading II Chronicles. Though it has a reputation for being pretty dry, it actually has many great truths in it. II Chronicles covers the history of the kings of Israel and Judah from the time of Solomon until the Babylonian captivity. Most of the kings were bad, in that they did not follow Jehovah God in the way He prescribed, and many followed idols and false gods instead. Most of the few who did start out well did not finish well. And though “finishing well” is not what “the” theme of the book probably is, it’s what stood out to me in this reading.
Solomon, for all his wisdom and all the blessings he experienced during his early reign, fell away when his many wives led him to other gods.
“Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God” (II Chronicles 14:2), was marvelously helped in battle after prayer, took down idols, removed even his own mother from her position because of the image she made. But in later years he sought the help of a pagan king instead of God and even imprisoned the prophet who came to warn him (16:1-10). He ended up with diseased feet or which he did not seek the Lord at all.
“Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest” (24:2), but after Jehoiada died, Joash fell away to the point of killing Jehoaida’s son (24:19-27).
Amaziah “did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart” (25:2). He received great help from the Lord when he did things His way, yet instead of continuing to follow Him, he “he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them. Wherefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against Amaziah” (25:14-15).
Uzziah, “as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper” (26:5), and “And God helped him against the Philistines” and other enemies, “and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly” (26:7-8). “And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong.But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense” (26:15-16). The NASB puts it this way: “But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the LORD his God.”
Josiah was one of Judah’s best kings, leading a revival after the book of the law was found during temple repairs, yet he went to battle and “hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God” and ended up dying of wounds received in that battle.
Will I forget the things I knew, like Solomon did, and be led away by other loves, or will I keep my first love? Will I forget from whence my help comes, like Asa did, and look for help elsewhere? Will I fall away after my spitual mentors are gone, like Joash? Do I serve God with a perfect (complete) heart, or am I holding anything back, like Amaziah? Will I be lifted up with pride like Uzziah? Will I neglect to listen to wise counsel from God’s Word, like Josiah?
May I heed the warnings and lessons in these examples. May God save me from these and other failures and help me to keep my eyes on Him and to finish well.
One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp began as something of a teasing dare: a friend had named one hundred things she loved and asked Ann if she could name 1,000. Ann began keeping a notebook open in her kitchen to record things she was thankful for, little dreaming how it would impact her life.
But this is no Pollyanna-ish “glad game.” Ann discusses finding joy even through loss and pain and circumstance that don’t make sense and childish skirmishes. And giving thanks, she finds, does more than engender gratitude and praise to God, though that’s plenty: it also wards off things like anxiety, because when we’re in the habit of giving thanks, we’re in the habit of seeing evidence of God’s love and care all around us.
Ann’s writing style here is much the same as it is on her blog, and it is hard to know how to describe it: it has a poetic quality to it, somewhat ethereal, seemingly stream-of-consciousness, though it is not random: there is definite movement and flow toward a purpose and end. And it’s not fluff, for there is serious study underneath. My own writing style is more practical and straightforward: neither is right or wrong, better or worse, they’re just different, and my different way of thinking left me feeling a little lost sometimes, but other times I was moved to tears or touched to the core.
I wish I had jotted down notes from the main points in each chapter. Some of the main ones are repeated and easy to take with you from the book. But here are some quotes that I marked:
Daily discipline is the door to full freedom, and the discipline to count to one thousand gave way to the freedom of wonder…(p. 84)
Joy and pain, they are but two arteries of the one heart that pumps through all those who don’t numb themselves to really living. (p. 84).
Can it be that, that which seems to oppose the will of God actually is used of Him to accomplish the will of God? (p 88).
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? (p. 106).
How do you open the eyes to see how to take the daily, domestic, workday vortex and invert it into the dome of an everyday cathedral? (p. 120-121).
Peace can shatter faster than glass (p. 174).
My own wild desire to protect my joy at all costs is the exact force that kills my joy (p. 178).
I wouldn’t agree with every little theological point, but that could probably be said of many books that I read, and I am not going to dissect the differences here. I will just mention a couple of things, though.
In the last chapter, titled “The Joy of Intimacy,” Ann uses what could be called sexually charged language to describe intimacy with God, such as, “I fly to Paris and discover how to make love to God” (p. 201) and “To know Him the way Adam knew Eve. Spirit skin to spirit skin” (p. 217)…and others I am not comfortable putting here. I know how she means it: she doesn’t mean anything physical or inappropriate: she’s merely discussing spiritually unfettered union and communion. There are Bible passages that speak of God as a husband, the church is called the Bride of Christ, and the last few verses of Ephesians 5 say that the marriage union is symbolic of that between Christ and the church. But still…it’s jarringly graphic, and sadly, I think a stumblingblock to many readers: some have only discussed that chapter on their blogs, and from comments there and on various book reviews, some people have laid aside the book after coming to or hearing about those passages. Personally I wouldn’t lay aside the whole book because of those references, but I would just say read cautiously and with discernment, as we should with any book. (Update: Ann comments on her use of language in this chapter in the second comment here.)
Another disturbing thing to me was a quote from Mother Teresa — not the quote itself but the regarding of her as a spiritual authority, which I don’t believe her to be for these reasons. I don’t want to offend my Catholic friends, but as I have said before, a person is not saved by or because of their denomination: we’re saved by grace through faith in Christ alone.
For these and other reasons, I couldn’t endorse the book 100%, but I did benefit from it in many ways.
There is a book club discussing this book at bloom (in) courage where two other ladies discuss the individual chapters with Ann. The videos are long, about 10-12 minutes for each chapter, and I’ve only watched five or six of them. Some of the discussions are more helpful than others, but they did help to relate to Ann better, hearing her talk in everyday language.
A little taste of the book and it’s style can be seen here in its trailer:
As the title suggests, 60 different books, ranging from old classics like The Count of Monte Cristo and War and Punishment to modern works like The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and A Prayer For Owen Meany are discussed in light of their spiritual truths. Most of the books are not written from a Christian worldview, yet even secular books convey spiritual truth: as someone once said, “All truth is God’s truth.”
The format of the devotionals gives a bit of background information about the book and usually a plot summary and then something that the devotional writer gleaned spiritually from the book. Each devotional ends with a Bible verse and a couple of questions for further thought. In a few cases just a scene from the book is discussed. In many cases the spiritual viewpoint may not be the overriding theme of the book, but rather just an aspect. In many cases as well, what the devotional writer may have seen was not necessarily what the book author intended: for instance, the chapter discussing Anne of Green Gables is titled “A Father to the Fatherless” and discusses how we come to God as orphans, and as a loving Father, He takes us to Himself and adopts us as His own. From everything I have read about Montgomery’s writing of Anne, I don’t think she had that theme in mind as she wrote, but it is certainly a valid spiritual application. That’s one thing that makes discussing books enjoyable: hearing what others got from them. But overall, the spiritual take-away is more direct: Captain Ahab’s hatred for Moby Dick dragging him down, both literally and spiritually, for instance.
I was a little apprehensive of reading the devotionals for those books I had not read yet for fear of spoilers, but overall they only enhanced my desire to read the book. My to-be-read list has grown after reading this book.
This was a very pleasant read and I am glad to recommend it.
(This review will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)
The Damascus Way
Stray Thoughts 