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.

Just a further note — if you’ve posted a quote on your blog this past week, feel free to link it here as well. You don’t have to save it for Mondays. :) And please do read and comment even if you’re not posting quotes.

Here are a few short quotes:

From a friend’s Facebook status:

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. ~Thomas Edison

From Diane‘s Facebook:

Jesus has promised to meet your needs. He hasn’t promised to supply all those cravings you’ve mistakenly told yourself are needs. ~ Paul Tripp

From Quoth She:

It takes a real storm in the average person’s life to make him realize how much worrying he has done over the squalls.
~ Bruce Barton

From Lori:

What you fill your mind with throughout the week will govern how you live your life. ~ Author Unknown

From Laura‘s Outnumbered Mom newsletter:

Who do you surround yourself with — fellow worriers or fellow warriors? Some people drag you down and some buoy you, so look for those “life preserver buddies” — the ones who hold you up when life tries to pull you down.

From Janet at Across the Page:

I am not here to realize myself, but to know Jesus. In Christian work the initiative is too often the realization that something has to be done and I must do it. That is never the attitude of the spiritual saint, his aim is to secure the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances he is in. ~ Oswald Chambers

From the Elisabeth Elliot devotional e-mail newsletter, this taken from her book A Lamp For My Feet:

Out of the deepest depths of human evil [the betrayal, mistreatment, and death of Christ] the good God brought salvation–the very salvation of man whose sinfulness killed the Son He sent.

From the July 12 reading from Our Daily Walk by F. B. Meyer:

Ah! our Lord Jesus wants our love, and He will not be satisfied if we give time, energy, and thought to His service, and forget Him.

And finally, I finished reading and doing the Bible study from Hoping for Something Better: Refusing to Settle for Life as Usual, a Bible study by Nancy Guthrie, but I am rereading the text to try to cement it in my mind a little better. The first chapter discusses the different things we are told about Jesus in Hebrews 1, and this quote is from pp. 10-11 concerning Jesus being the sin purifier in Hebrews 1:3:

When the radiance of God’s glory shines into our lives and reveals what is there, and we see ourselves for who we really are, we can’t help but wonder, How can I ever become clean again? It seems impossible….And while that may sound miserable — and it is — it is the best thing that can happen to us. It is when we realize that we are ruined, that we can’t clean up our act ourselves, that we recognize, perhaps for the first time, how relevant Jesus is. Jesus is the sin purifier. His blood is the only cleanser that will take away the stains sin has left in our lives.

We tend to compare ourselves to other people and think we look pretty good. But when we see ourselves the way God sees us — in contrast to the beauty and perfection of Christ — we see ourselves as we truly are…

We can come to Him as we are, and He will take away the ugliness of our sin and give us His own perfect righteousness. This is the gift that makes it possible for us to one day enter the very presence of God…

He will give you His own righteousness if you ask Him to, but He doesn’t rush into your life uninvited. Have you ever invited the sin purifier to cleanse you and cover you with His perfect righteousness?

Those snippets are from about seven paragraphs which expand on this truth a little more but would be too big a chunk to quote here.

If you have some family-friendly quotes you’d like to share, please leave the link to your “Week In Words” post with Mr. Linky below. I hope you’ll visit some of the other participants as well: this is a small enough meme so far that it is not hard to visit around with others who love to glean quotes from their reading as well.

My Faith Still Clings to Thee

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People sometimes comment that I post hymns they’ve never heard. I had never heard this one until I listened to the CD Creator, Redeemer, and King from the Wilds Christian Camp. I thought it was new, so I was surprised to find it was written in 1876.

My Faith Still Clings to Thee

My sin is great, my strength is weak,
My path beset with snares;
But Thou, O Christ, hast died for me,
And Thou wilt hear my prayers.

Refrain

To Thee, to Thee, the Crucified,
The sinner’s only plea,
Relying on Thy promised grace,
My faith still clings to Thee.

The world is dark without Thee, Lord,
I turn me from its strife
To find Thy love a sweet relief;
Thou art the light of life.

Refrain

Temptations lure and fears assail
My frail, inconstant heart;
But precious are Thy promises,
And they new strength impart.

Refrain

Unfold Thy precepts to my mind,
And cleanse my blinded eyes;
Grant me to work for Thee on earth,
Then praise Thee in the skies.

Refrain

~ H. F. Colby

Happy Birthday, Jason!

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Sunday is Jason’s 23rd birthday!

And the last family birthday before we move. 😦 But we won’t think about that right now…

Hope you have a great birthday, Jason, and know we love you dearly.

Laudable Linkage and Funny Videos

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Just a few links this week:

For the Young Mother: Ministry, Guilt, and Seasons of Life.

Why So Critical? Excellent thoughts on the difference between judgmentalism and discernment — too often people ignore the latter thinking it is the former.

How To Find a Job (Yes, Even Now). Thought this had some creative ideas.

Summertime Pest Control: round-up of home-made remedies for getting rid of pests.

Root Beer Float Cake. Looks.So.Good.

Crafty stuff:

Spring Hats Pincushion. SO cute! Makes me wish I were planning another ladies’ luncheon to use these as favors. 🙂
Crafting with Kid’s Prints by Karla Dornacher…but not just for kids, I think. Good tutorial on making a simple plaque.
Tutorial for making covered buttons.
Paper roses.
Charlotte Lyons’ Spring Stitching — so pretty. I’d like to make a sampler like this.
“Sweet Menagerie” Nine Patch Quilt. Maybe someday….
How to make a thread rack.
Bird in the House.
How to hand quilt.

I keep having to remind myself of this in this season of sorting and discarding while preparing to move. My boys love this:

This is a take-off on those hilarious Old Spice commercials.

I almost listened to this when trying to think up “Momisms” yesterday to see if I had forgotten any — I wish I had, I forgot plenty!

Happy Saturday!

Friday’s Fave Five

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Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts Friday’s Fave Five so 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 gives. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

Here are my faves for the week:

1. The “fond farewell” from my ladies’ group at church at my last meeting with them Monday night. I  probably could’ve made a whole Fave Five post from that.

2. Getting some things checked off the to-do list in preparation for moving. Still much more there, but it was good to get some of those things taken care of this week.

3. Skype. Though I usually prefer to talk on the phone, every now and then using Skype is fun. My middle son called my husband last night on his computer, and we were all able to chat together.

4. Wal-Mart brand “Fudge-Covered Peanut Butter Filled Cookies.” They need a more catchy name though. 🙂

5. Clouds! We’ve been needing rain here, and so far haven’t gotten much, but it’s been overcast a few times, which has at least relieved the heat just a bit. Hopefully they will bring some rain soon.

Have a great weekend! I might be tonight or over the weekend before I am able to return your visit.

Flashback Friday: Things Parents Say

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Mocha With Linda hosts a weekly meme called Flashback Friday. She’ll post a question every Thursday, and then Friday we can link our answers up on her site.

The question for this week is:

What sort of sayings, colloquialisms, or proverbs did your family say when you were growing up? When were they used? What do you find yourself saying that you vowed you would never say? What do you say that drives your kids nuts? Is there a regional aspect to your speech? Do you have an accent and were you ever teased about it?

This is the kind of question I wish I’d had a week or so to think about. I know different phrases and sayings will keep coming to my mind for days to come.

My mom used to quote snatches of poems here and there. While pulling into the driveway she’d say, “Home again, home again, jiggety jig.” If it was really windy, she’d say, “The wind blew and the hair flew and you couldn’t see for a day or two.” I’ve never found out if that was from anything — just never thought to ask about it at the time and Google doesn’t show anything for it now. If she was complimenting someone, she might say, “You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din.” Imagine my surprise to discover Gunga Din one day in English class!

She would also say what might sound to an outsider like horrible things when she was frustrated with us, but we knew she was just “venting” in hyperbole, and we’d just shake our heads and smile. It wasn’t in real anger and she never flew off the handle when saying these things, but she’d say things like “I’m going to knock you into next week” or “I’m going to break your neck 37 million pieces” (always some ridiculously high number.) Once when she said the latter I was just learning about bones in school and matter-of-factly answered, “Mom, there are only 206 bones in a whole body.” That didn’t go over very well at the moment, but it was something we all laughed about many times later.

Then there were all the usual momisms:

  • Always wear clean underwear in case you have to go to the emergency room.
  • You’re getting too big for your britches.
  • Pretty is as pretty does (it took me a long time to figure that one out).
  • If everyone else jumps off a bridge, would you do it, too?
  • You’re face is going to freeze like that.
  • Do you think money grows on trees?
  • If I’ve told you once I’ve told you a thousand times . . .
  • Close the door. Were you born in a barn?

Re that last one, in our early married days we knew a couple who lived in a barn that had been converted into an apartment, and I always thought it would be so neat if they had a child there who could then respond to that question all his life, “Yes, actually, I was!”

My dad also said some of those things, but the one I remember him saying most was, “How many times have I told you….” whatever it was. I remember at a very young age tearily trying to think how many times and come up with a literal number, because I thought that’s what he wanted. That incident caused me to refrain from asking that same question of my children, though it did come to mind. He would also say, “Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.”

My grandfather had a ton of sayings, and I wish I could remember them. One series had to do with coffee: my mom would let us drink coffee when we were little, though it was a lot of milk and sugar with coffee added. He routinely made dire predictions that coffee would stunt our growth, or put hair on our chest, or turn different parts of our bodies black, always followed by that distinctive laugh of his. We were pretty sure he was kidding — but we did check ourselves out a time or two in private to make sure. 🙂

This isn’t something my parents ever said, but I was astounded over the years when someone at school would be having trouble getting along with someone and would be soothed by their parents and friends with the phrase, “They’re just jealous.” This was way before the self-esteem emphasis and really was rarely ever the case! I don’t know why that would be the assumption people would make instead of taking the opportunity to teach conflict resolution.

I asked my youngest if I had any regular sayings, and he said he couldn’t remember any of mine, but my husband would almost always say, when they wanted to buy something, “That’s a lot of money. Are you sure you really want to spend it that way?’ My oldest son has said that question rings in his ears even now when he is contemplating a purchase.

Although I lived in Southeast Texas until I was 22 and in South Carolina and Georgia the rest of my life, somehow I don’t have an accent. In college, people were surprised to learn I was from Texas and would ask where my accent was, and I always wanted to say, “Back home with my ten gallon hat and tumbleweed.” (By the way — this has more to do with stereotypes than colloquialisms, but when my husband first told his dad he was dating a girl from Texas, his dad asked, “Does her daddy own an oil well?” Nope — I’m afraid not!) One quiz I took a few years ago said I had a Midland accent, which they designated as being from “Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri — I have never been to any of those places, but the quiz said that was also a way of saying I didn’t have an accent. My mom didn’t either, really, and she lived in TX all her life. My dad did, too, but he did have a bit of an accent.

But even without an accent, I consider myself a full-fledged Southerner, though there are some SC saying that make me cringe. One is “mash the button.” You don’t mash the button — you mash potatoes — you push or press the button! Another is “carry” as in “I carried Mama to the store” and “fixins” as in “fried chicken and all the fixins” or all the usual side dishes. I don’t know why those bug me, but they do. 🙂

Book Review: Take Four

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Take Four by Karen Kingsbury is the fourth and last in her Above the Line series primarily about Christian filmmakers. I think I enjoyed this one the most of the four, though there was one sentence that was more explicit than was needed.

In this book, Christian filmmakers Keith Ellison and Dayne Matthews have to decide what to do about the mega-star who agreed to act in their film but whose wild lifestyle has been making news. Keith’s daughter Andi has come back to her faith but has to deal with her pregnancy. Having had one sister who placed a baby for adoption and another who kept the baby she had as a teen-ager, I could identify with the poignancy of Andi’s struggles: either option is a million times better than abortion, but neither option is easy. Then the Cody/Bailey storyline continues. After they finally came to an understanding in the last book, it was frustrating to see them start having some of the same problems and issues in just a short time, yet within the context of the story it did make sense.

The most disappointing part of the book was a major story line left hanging until the next series. It would have been fine from one book to another within a series, but in my opinion it was too significant to leave for another whole series. But since I am sure I will be reading the next series, I don’t suppose it matters in the long run.

I’ve debated about whether to say this here or whether to write to the publisher, but I have been noticing an increasing amount of editorial oversights in Karen’s last few books. I think about mentioning them to the publisher each time, but then figure someone else already has. I know the fans clamor for the next book as soon as possible, and I know Karen is a prolific author, but I would urge the editors to take the needed time to go over things with a finer comb, because it does interrupt the flow of the story when a reader has a “Wait….what?!?” moment while reading. And I would urge the fans to be patient and wait for the best quality. I know we need to overlook the occasional typo, but, as I mentioned, there are more of these kinds of things than there used to be in Karen’s books.

I need to come up with some kind of rating system and graphic, but if I had a five-star system, this would be a definite 4.5.

(This review is linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

A fond farewell from the ladies’ group

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Monday night was my last night with our ladies’ group here at church before our move. I was pretty emotional right beforehand, but the Lord gave grace during the evening to handle it all well. I was really, really hoping not to cry in front of people. I know this will sound silly and vain, but one time when I was crying when I was little, I caught sight of myself in a mirror and was shocked. It wasn’t pretty. 🙂 Not that I am obsessed with being pretty, but it wasn’t the elegant crying you see on TV, the quiet dabbing at the corner of the eye with one’s handkerchief. It was red, screwed-up face, runny nose, blubbering, snorting, and gasping. And from that moment on I hoped to never cry in front of others. Even with that, the Lord gave grace to just not worry about it, that we’d just deal with whatever happened — but I am really glad He helped me not to cry. 🙂

OK, enough silliness about crying..

The ladies were incredibly generous to me. They gave me an arrangement of beautiful pink-edged roses…

And a copy of one of my favorite hymns done in calligraphy in different shades of pink by one of the ladies:

They also gave me a gift card from Michael’s to help decorate our new home and gift cards to Outback for an outing with the family. I joked with them that I should leave more often since it is so rewarding. 🙂 But probably the most treasured gift is a little booklet done in the style of the ladies’ booklet I have done for almost ten years with notes to me from several of the ladies as well as many of our missionaries and some scattered quotes and poems.

I was blessed reading over that Monday night when I got home and I know I will enjoy going over it again and again. It was gratifying to know that some of the goals I had for the group had been accomplished and a blessing to see that the Lord had used the ladies’ ministry in many ways.

I have to confess at first that I was incredibly nervous about being honored in front of people. I am often terribly self-conscious in groups, even to the point of not being able to raise my hand to answer a question, so the thought of having everyone’s attention directed toward me in that way was uncomfortable, to say the least. And then the thought of having what I do highlighted nearly sent me into a panic attck. It’s funny, if someone compliments my cooking or decorating, and I can just say “thank you” and move on, but if someone compliments something I do in the way of ministry, I had this strange idea that that was taking away from the Lord receiving glory for it, especially if I took pleasure in being complimented for it. I wrestled with that in one of my earliest posts here. But over the last week, the Lord helped me come to terms with that enough to be able face the evening graciously. I was going to devote a whole post to thinking through all of that, but there just hasn’t been time to write it out. But one thing that helped was this quote from C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity:

Pleasure in being praised is not Pride. The child who is patted on the back for doing a lesson well, the woman whose beauty is praised by her lover, the saved soul to whom Christ says, “Well done,” are all pleased and ought to be. For here the pleasure lies not in what you are but in the fact that you have pleased someone you wanted (and rightly wanted) to please. The trouble begins when you pass from thinking, “I have pleased him; all is well,” to thinking, “What a fine person I must be to have done it.”

Then I wrote to my good friend Susan for some help in gaining the right perspective, and she encouraged me to just graciously accept it as an expression of love and the ladies desire to be a blessing to me.

I also remembered something a former pastor’s wife shared in an officer’s meeting for a ladies’ group — she was emphasizing the need to speak up when giving reports to the group, because it wasn’t doing anyone any good to stand up in front of people to say something if no one could hear you, and she made the statement that self-consciousness is consciousness of self, and we’re supposed to forget self (let me just say, lest anyone take that the wrong way out of context, she wasn’t talking about forgetting self to the point of becoming a doormat and never having a will or desires of your own, but she was making the point that self-consciousness is fed by too much focus on self.)

Then Monday morning, several of the verses from Daily Light spoke of not being afraid or dismayed, because the Lord was with me, and even though those verses were talking about vastly different circumstances, they were a help.

There is a balance between doing things “Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men” (Ephesians 6:6-7) and “[Letting] your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). I hope I was able to justly point the glory for any good accomplished to the Lord. I tried to share I Peter 4: 10-11: “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” both as a means of showing that anything I did was “as of the ability which God giveth” and to encourage whoever takes up the ladies’ ministry next that He will enable them, as well. I am blessed to know that God can use me in spite of my faults and flaws.

I want to write up some of the things involved with the ladies’ ministry for the next person — not that they have to do everything the way I did it, but just so they have some idea of what’s going on and why — but other than that, I am pretty much done with my responsibilities there. In some ways it is an incredible relief; in other ways I am missing it already. I know the Lord will have ministry for us in a new church, but my mind is also buzzing with ideas about some other writing possibilities and a web site for ladies’ ministry that I have been thinking about setting up. So, we’ll see how the Lord leads some time after the dust settles from moving!

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.

Just a further note — if you’ve posted a quote on your blog this past week, feel free to link it here as well. You don’t have to save it for Mondays. 🙂 And please do read and comment even if you’re not posting quotes.

There were a few quotes that stood out to me from this week’s reading of Our Daily Walk by F. B. Meyer:

From July 6 on Galatians 6:1-10:

The sinful soul has to bear a heavy burden indeed; and too often his fellow-Christians pass him by with averted faces and frowns. No one visits him, or cares to be seen in his company, or tries to help him regain his former footing.

“Christ’s law,” which we are called to fulfil, is to seek out the erring one, to go after that which is lost, to restore the wanderer, to help carry his burden, considering lest we be tempted, and lapse into the same sin.

It’s all too true that when someone falls, we’re too concerned about being tainted by association, or we figure they don’t really want to hear from us.

From the July 7 reading on James 1, particularly the part about looking “into the perfect law of liberty”:

Do not stand gazing at the imperfections which the Word of God reveals, but having learnt where you come short, dare to believe that Jesus Christ is the true counterpart of your need; that He is strong where you are weak, and full where you are empty.

From the July 9 reading on Mark 8:32-38, especially v. 36, with the parts that particularly struck me in bold print:

It is not necessary for any man to make a cross; it is our part simply to take up that which God has laid down for us. The cross is no exceptional piece of asceticism, but it is the constant refusal to gratify our self-life; the perpetual dying to pride and self-indulgence, in order to follow Christ in His redemptive mission for the salvation of men. And it is in proportion as men live like this that they realize the deepest and truest and highest meaning of life. When we live only to save ourselves, to build warm nests, to avoid every discomfort and annoyance, to make money entirely for our own use and enjoyment, to invent schemes for our own pleasure, we become the most discontented and miserable of mankind. How many there are who have given themselves up to a life of selfishness and pleasure-seeking, only to find their capacity for joy has shrivelled, and their lives plunged into gloom and despair. They have lost their souls!

Finally, on page 177 of Hoping for Something Better: Refusing to Settle for Life as Usual, a Bible study by Nancy Guthrie, from the section commenting on the “sacrifice of praise” mentioned in Hebrews 13:15:

When we choose to praise God for His goodness, despite His allowing what we would nor describe as good into our lives, that is a sacrifice of praise. When we praise His for His sovereignty, even though we don’t understand the whys of His plans, that is a sacrifice of praise.

If you have some family-friendly quotes you’d like to share, please leave the link to your “Week In Words” post with Mr. Linky below. I hope you’ll visit some of the other participants as well: this is a small enough meme so far that it is not hard to visit around with others who love to glean quotes from their reading as well.

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

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This is one of my favorite old hymns. I know it primarily by this tune, but another familiar one is here as well as this one set to Pachelbel’s Canon. My favorite instrumental version is on a Steve Pettit CD.

Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven to earth come down;
Fix in us thy humble dwelling;
All thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
Pure unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation;
Enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit,
Into every troubled breast!
Let us all in Thee inherit;
Let us find that second rest.
Take away our bent to sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its Beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.

Come, Almighty to deliver,
Let us all Thy life receive;
Suddenly return and never,
Never more Thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve Thee as Thy hosts above,
Pray and praise Thee without ceasing,
Glory in Thy perfect love.

Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise.

~ Charles Wesley, 1747