There’s a new teen-ager in the world today

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Jesse turns 13 today. 😯 😮

It’s a milestone for him to become a teen-ager, start junior high, and join the youth group.
It’s a milestone for me because he’s my youngest child to become a teen-ager.
(Too bad there’s not a wistful smiley face.)

A wise older mom told me years ago not to dread the teen years of our children. If we approach those years with fear or with the thought that it’s going to be awful — it might well be. But if the relationship has been good and the lines of communication have been open all along, there’s no reason both parents and teens can’t enjoy this time of life and work through the transitions. I’m so glad she told me that. For the most part I’ve enjoyed the teen years of my older two sons, and I think they have, too.

We know all along as parents that we’re “working ourselves out of a job,” training our children to one day become responsible adults. That doesn’t make it any easier, though, to know that they won’t always be at home. I won’t look too far ahead and waste the time now missing them before they’re gone. But I’m becoming ever more aware that that time is coming all too quickly.

I hope you have a great birthday, Jesse! Always stay your sweet, sunny self. I trust in these next several years you’ll continue to grow into the young man I hope you will someday become, a man who loves God with all of his heart.


This was Jesse during his first birthday.

Jesse this summer.

Limitations

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Elisabeth Elliot’s writings just bless my socks off. I know she would not want to be glorified for herself: the blessing that comes through her is a result of the Lord’s working in her life and teaching her for these many years. Because she’s walked the road ahead of us she can encourage us not just by theory but by experience that God is faithful and His path of obedience the best path.

I receive a daily e-mail devotional from from Back to the Bible taken from some of her writings. A couple of days ago the topic was limitations, and she wrote

Yesterday as I was reading my brother Tom’s book, The Achievement of C.S. Lewis, I was admiring again the scope of his knowledge, his ability to comprehend another’s genius, and his wonderful command of English. By contrast my own limitations seemed severe indeed. They are of many kinds–analytical, critical, articulatory, not to mention educational. But my limitations, placing me in a different category from Tom Howard’s or anyone else’s, become, in the sovereignty of God, gifts. For it is with the equipment that I have been given that I am to glorify God. It is this job, not that one, that He gave me.

For some, the limitations are not intellectual but physical. The same truth applies. Within the context of their suffering, with whatever strength they have, be it ever so small, they are to glorify God. The apostle Paul actually claimed that he “gloried” in infirmities, because it was there that the power of Christ was made known to him.

If we regard each limitation which we are conscious of today as a gift–that is, as one of the terms of our particular service to the Master–we won’t complain or pity or excuse ourselves. We will rather offer up those gifts as a sacrifice, with thanksgiving.

I have thought often in regard to dealing with the after-effects of transverse myelitis, “Lord, I could serve you so much better without this.” But it’s as if He were saying, “No, this is what I am using to shape your service for Me.” Most people who have gone through any type of trial or affliction in life would say that, although they didn’t welcome the trial itself, they were drawn closer to the Lord, and the lessons learned were invaluable.

Even limitations that are not from some type of trial but rather from the seasons of life shape what our ministry is supposed to be. I remember as a mother of young children often having this desire to do something — I wasn’t sure quite what — and I was discouraged that I was too busy trying to keep my head above water in everyday life to try to figure it out. The Lord had to keep reminding me that that was His ministry, my service for Him, at that season. I needed to focus, to relax and enjoy it. And now, getting older (that sounds so much better than aging! 🙂 I’m still in the middle of middle age) I can already foresee that there will be different limitations in the coming seasons of life that will shape who I am and what I do for Him.

Our limitations are God’s tools. As Elisabeth said, “For it is with the equipment that I have been given that I am to glorify God. It is this job, not that one, that He gave me,” and they “become, in the sovereignty of God, gifts.”

Wordless Wednesday: Surprises

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(Forgive me, I haven’t yet had a truly Wordless Wednesday. :))
When you live with all boys, this is the kind of little decorating touch you might find around the house…

along with this kind of little surprise…

Boys! 🙄 🙂
I love ’em! 😀

For more Wordless Wednesday pics, visit 5 Minutes For Mom.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Book Weights

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I write a monthly booklet for my church’s ladies’ group, and frequently I quote from or review good books. I’d have to set the stapler (and maybe an assortment of other desk accessories) on the book to keep it open while typing — but then often couldn’t see what I was trying to quote from, or would have to move it all around to see different lines or turn the page. Then one day someone in my family bought me one of these from the local Barnes and Noble. I wasn’t even sure what it was called: I searched on the B&N site and didn’t find it at first, then I Googled things like “book holder opener” and found a listing for “book weights,” searched B&N with that term, and voila! (Amazon.com calls it a weighted bookmark.) I love it because it holds the book open flat and is easily moved around.

As I was searching for this I saw various other devices for holding books open, but I still like this best.

I have a couple of cookbooks that tend to try to flop closed, and I have something like this in the kitchen for holding them not only open but propped up, but I rarely bother getting it out. There’s no good place to store it in our kitchen and I usually don’t want to bother with setting it up or going upstairs to get the book weight — so I grab a can of green beans or two instead. 🙂 The book weight might not work for a very big, heavy book (unless they make them in different sizes or you use more than one), but it’s great for most books.

Check out Rocks In My Dryer for a multitude of other great tips.

Love Story

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Barb over at A Chelsea Morning asked fellow bloggers about their love stories. Here’s mine. 🙂

I worked in the library at my alma mater for 4 1/2 years. That was the old library — they had just started building the new one my last year there. In those days, most of the books were in 4 floors of “stacks” behind the desk. A student would look up in the card catalog what book he wanted, fill out a slip, and bring it to the desk, then we’d run up and get their books for them (my job was also my major source of exercise. :)) Later on I worked the files, checking books back in and rechecking them for students.

Jim worked in the periodical room. I had actually seen him before across a crowded amphitorium when he worked as an usher. I thought he was handsome. 🙂 I knew he worked at the library as well, but we weren’t scheduled at the same times, so we didn’t meet that year (his freshman year, my sophomore year. Yes, I’m an older woman — by about 6 months). Finally at the beginning of my junior year we were scheduled at the same time and met. He was always a lot of fun to be around. There was another guy whose job was to put the books back in order and back on the shelves when they were turned in, and if it was not busy at the front desk or in the periodical room, Jim and I were assigned to help this guy. So we all got to know each other and had a lot of fun. Some time after Jim and I had been dating, he told me that at first he was trying to get the other guy to ask me out because this guy was very shy and didn’t date much. That guy declined, then Jim thought to himself, “Well, if she’s such a nice girl, why don’t I ask her out?” So he did. 🙂

The very first time he asked me out, I was scheduled to go on a nursing home ministry in another town, so I had to decline. That’s always a little awkward for the guy, because even though it is a plausible reason to say no, he can’t help but wonder if there is some other underlying reason. But the day I was supposed to go, it snowed, and our ministry for the evening was canceled. As I was leaving the dining common after dinner, I saw him waiting for me. He still doesn’t remember saying this, but he greeted with me with, “Well, since you can’t serve God, would you like to serve mammon?” (Can you believe I did actually go out with him after that? :P)

We began dating, and I really enjoyed my time with him. With other dates I was always a little tense and nervous, but I think because Jim and I had gotten to know each other at work, I was more relaxed. Even though he was a lot of fun, though, I wasn’t sure about the relationship going any further — I wanted a guy with a sense of humor, but I wanted a little more than that to him, too. Well, as we continued to get to know each other at work and through dating, I began to see a bedrock of character. I saw him intercede for a student at work who was having problems and needed to go home, and discovered his compassion. I saw his genuine kindness and concern for others. I saw that there was an underlying love for God and a desire to please him. I saw his “sanctified common sense”. I realized that spirituality in a man could manifest itself in a quiet undercurrent rather than overflowing waves. (Another very fine young man had asked me out several months earlier, and as we sat down together, he took out his Bible and shared a little mini-sermon. I’m certainly not opposed to sharing things from the Bible with each other — Christian friends can and should, and dating couple should feel a freedom to do that as well. But this instance left me a little cold — there was no sharing or interaction. The young man was a ministry major and had certain ministry requirements to fulfill each week. I sort of wondered if I was his preaching opportunity for that week. 🙂 I had just become a Christian in my later teens and was fairly new to dating Christians and thought, “Okay….it this what it’s supposed to be like?” It took a while to realize that a guy didn’t necessarily have to pull out his Bible and convey a message for him to be considered a spiritually-minded man. 🙂 But I mean no disrespect at all to the young man in question — he was a great guy who loved the Lord. We just didn’t hit it off.)

So…I was discovering there was much more to Jim than a sense of humor, and I was finding myself more and more interested. I had two areas of struggle, though. First, I had been engaged before, so I knew it was easy to confuse feelings with the Lord’s will. Secondly, in my circles around that time, preaching to teen-agers routinely included appeals for salvation, surrender, and “full-time Christian service.” I had been saved at about age 17 and surrendered my life to the Lord for anything He wanted me to do. The next logical step seemed to be “full-time Christian service,” and the opportunities for that, as far as I knew at the time, were to be a missionary, marry a preacher or a missionary, or be a teacher in a Christian school (I didn’t know that there were so many more opportunities to serve God until later. 🙂 ) I had thought for a long time that the Lord wanted me to be a missionary, but through a variety of ways the Lord didn’t seem to be leading that direction. Jim was not planning to be a preacher: he was a Physics major. So part of the struggle with whether or not things could progress with him was the struggle with what the Lord wanted me to do with my life. After a long while I came to the conviction that all Christians are supposed to be in full-time service to God, not matter what our physical occupation. And God reminded me of something I had forgotten: just before Jim asked me out, I had grown weary of “dating games” and told the Lord I only wanted the guys to ask me out that He wanted to ask me out — and Jim was the very next person to ask me out. And He reassured me that since I had been earnestly seeking and asking for His leading all along, there was no reason to doubt that this was the way He was leading.

So once I felt I had the “green light” from the Lord, I felt I could continue on in the relationship with Jim. We had been dating for about a year and a half when we got engaged, and were married six months after that. That was almost 27 years of wedded bliss and three sons ago. 🙂

I can’t believe we looked so young!

(By the way, the Lord has reinforced that truth over the years that all Christian are — or should be — in “full-time Christian service.” Jim has had opportunities to minister to and witness to people in the course of his work who would likely never come to a church service or who would be guarded and defensive with a preacher. And He has shown me that ministering to my husband and family first, then just doing whatever is at hand needing to be done at church or even in the neighborhood is a ministry in itself.)

I Remember

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911.jpg

I used to volunteer at my sons’ school every Tuesday. On that particular Tuesday morning in September, a little after 9 a.m., I turned on the car radio to catch a bit of news on my way to the school. I was confused at first — I could tell something serious had happened, but couldn’t make out what. Finally the newscaster explained that an airplane had hit the World Trade Tower. I was stunned. I sat in the parking lot at the school and listened to the news coverage for a few minutes. Then I went into the school office, with the words, “Did you hear…?” on my lips. They had heard and someone had set up a TV in the office. Many of us stood, motionless, stunned, shocked, and watched the coverage. We thought we couldn’t be any more stunned — then we saw footage of a second plane hitting the other tower. Then we saw people leaping out of windows to try to escape. Then we saw the first tower collapse.

I don’t remember how long I stayed there. The function that I usually helped with was canceled for the day. Several parents came to pick their children up and take them home: they just wanted to have them near. The principal had a TV set up in the gym for those students and teachers who wanted to watch the coverage. I think most of the high school classes were canceled and students could either watch the coverage in the gym or study quietly in one of the classrooms.

For the rest of the day and the next several days, with most of the country, I was almost glued to the TV as more news came in and pieces of the puzzle came to light. I clicked on news sources online and read coverage and looked at pictures in magazines.

There are several things I remember from that time:

  • Feeling in shock.
  • Feelings of vulnerability.
  • Feelings of fear, wondering if this was but the beginning of a larger effort, of a war.
  • Feelings of empathy with those who had died, those who had lost loved ones, those in parts of the world for whom terrorism is an almost everyday occurrence.
  • A feeling of unity in our country that I had never experienced in my lifetime. That is one thing I miss.
  • Feelings of…awe? gratefulness? wonder? inspiration? I am struggling with the right word to express what I felt on hearing the stories of heroism, of bravery, of decency.
  • Feelings of more joy upon hearing the stories of so many who unexpectedly missed flights or were late to work at the towers.
  • Feelings of comfort as the Lord ministered to hearts afterward.

Regarding that last item, one of the young men in my sons’ youth group shared this verse with the teens, I believe that first Wednesday afterward:

Isaiah 25:4: For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

How that ministered to my heart! I shared it with many loved ones via e-mail.

The question has come to many a mind, “Why did God allow it?” I don’t know that we’ll have the answer until time is over and we are with Him. But, surely we don’t mean why did God allow that to happen to us? We’re such a blessed nation, even in the state of spiritual forgetfulness and indifference we are in now — do we think we’re exempt from the troubles many nations experience daily? This was of a greater magnitude, yes, but many countries face the possibility of car bombs and suicide bombers every day. Then we get into the larger question of why God allows evil at all. All I know is that He allows for us to have and exercise a free will, and that results in sin, because we all choose our own way over His all too often. There will be a time when “sin shall be no more,” when every tear shall be wiped away and there shall be no more sorrow, sadness, death, crying (Revelation 21:4). That time is not yet. Until then we have to deal with a fallen world. But those who love God have this promise:

Romans 8:28: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

It is at the point of deep need that we learn the truth of that verse and others. We know it so well it almost become cliched to us, until we truly need it.

One of the “good things” to come out of 9/11 was the salvation of one of my son’s friends. He realized that life can end suddenly and unexpectedly and that he needed to be ready.

There are some who think we should remember 9/11 only with silence, who feel that replaying and reliving the events of that day only plays into the hands of the terrorists, inspiring more terror. I disagree. I can understand those for whom it might be too painful to reflect on much, but I disagree that we’re playing into the hands of the terrorists by remembering that day. It’s good to remember. We need to remember the fallen, to memorialize them. We need to remember those whom they left behind. We even need to remember our vulnerability. Psalm 9:20 says “Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men.” I can’t presume to say that that was one of God’s purposes for allowing this, but we do need to remember that we are “but men” (or women) even though we’re a “superpower.” We need to remember that “The horse [or the fighter pilot or the tank or whatever we might use in warfare] is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD” (Proverbs 21:31). We need to remember the empathy, the inspiration, the acts of courage.

My husband and I were saying yesterday morning that we wished they would do away with the Labor Day observance and instead have a 9/11 observance. But then we thought that, after a while, it would just be another Monday holiday. It would seem the height of disrespect to turn it into another day for retailers to have sales. I wonder if WWII veterans are horrified that Memorial Day and Veterans Day, beyond the occasional parade and wreath-laying ceremonies, are regarded by most people as an opportunity to be off work and go to the mall. May we as a country remember all of our fallen better than that.

There are more 9/11 memories linked at Shannon’s place.

This page lists individual tributes to each of those who died during the 9/11 assault.

Deep Joy

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OUR Christianity is apt to be of a very “dutiful” kind. We mean to do our duty, we attend church and go to our communions. But our hearts are full of the difficulties, the hardships, the obstacles which the situation presents, and we go on our way sadly, downhearted and despondent. We need to learn that true Christianity is inseparable from deep joy; and the secret of that joy lies in a continual looking away from all else–away from sin and its ways, and from the manifold hindrances to the good we would do–up to God, His love, His purpose, His will. In proportion as we do look up to Him we shall rejoice, and in proportion as we rejoice in the Lord will our religion have tone and power and attractiveness.
–CHARLES GORE

From the September 8 reading of Joy and Strength, compiled by  Mary Wilder Tileston.

By Grace I’m Saved

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This song has been on my heart throughout the day. I had only heard this version on Stephen Eagar’s CD Breath of Life, but in searching for the lyrics, I found a slightly different (and fuller) version on Cyberhymnal. The music on Eager’s CD is from a traditional Gaelic melody which was also used for the song Morning Has Broken.

By Grace I’m Saved

by Christ­ian L. Scheidt

By grace I’m saved, grace free and boundless:
My soul, believe, and doubt it not.
Why should we stagger at God’s promise?
Hath Scripture ever falsehood taught?

By grace I’m saved, not by my own merit:
Our works, our conduct have no worth.
God in His love sent our Redeemer.
Christ Jesus came to sinful earth.

By grace I’m saved, O, wonderful promise
When thou art by thy sins oppressed.
When Satan plagues thy troubled conscience,
And when thy heart is seeking rest.
All of man’s reason never will comprehend
All that God’s grace alone doth send.

Thursday Thirteen: Reasons to read the Bible

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I go back and forth on “Thursday Thirteens” between funny and serious ones. I didn’t realize at first that my thoughts about this post and the Works For Me Wednesday post were running along the same tracks.

Thirteen Reasons to Read the Bible

1. To learn of Christ

John 5:39: Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

2. To increase our faith.

Romans 10:17: So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

3. Guidance.

Psalm 119:105: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

4. Doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness.

2 Timothy 3:16: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

5. To give us hope and comfort.

Romans 15:4: For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

6. To help us avoid sin.

Psalm 119:9: Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

7. To compare what we are hearing with what God has said.

Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

8. Fruitfulness, stability.

Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

9. Quickening.

Psalm 119:25: My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

Psalm 119:50: This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.

10. Understanding.

Psalm 119: 103-104: How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.

Psalm 119:130: The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

11. Our rejoicing.

Psalm 119:162: I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.

Jeremiah 15:16: Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.

12. Our sanctification.

John 17:17: Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

13. To see Scripture fulfilled.

Matthew 26:56: But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.

John 2:22: When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said. (See also Matthew 21:42; 26:54; Mark 12;10; 14:49; 15:28; Luke 4:21; 24:27; John 7:42; 13:18; 17:12; 19:24, 28, 36, 37; Acts 1:16; 18:28; Romans 1:2; Galatians 3:8; James 2:23; I Peter 2:6 – to name a few). 🙂

See More “Thursday Thirteen” lists here and here.

Thursday Thirteen banner courtesy of Lisa.

Encouragement for mothers of young children

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prayingmom

My heart goes out to mothers of young children in many ways, but today I’m thinking of the area of trying to have any kind of time in the Bible. The time of life when my children were small was one of the hardest in which to have devotions.I hit one of my worst spiritual slumps after I had my second child. When my first child was asleep, I would try to decide between catching up on housework, reading my Bible, or sleeping. Often sleep won out. 🙂 With my second baby, I also had a little preschooler, so “quiet time” was at a premium. I would get to the end of the day and tearfully say, “Lord, I just don’t know when I would have had time to have devotions!” I felt I began to “dry up” spiritually. I don’t think anyone noticed anything from the outside — at least, no one said anything. But I knew on the inside that I was just going through the motions.

The following is an excerpt from Climbing by Rosalind Goforth. This book shares a very human view of a woman after God’s own heart who also was “of like passions” as we are.

A devoted Christian missionary, Mrs. S, was holding a series of special meetings for our Christian women at Changte. On one occasion, this dear woman, who had no children, told me that I could never have the peace and joy I longed for unless I rose early and spent from one to two hours with the Lord in prayer and Bible study.

I longed intensely for God’s best — for all He could give me, not only to help me live the true Christian life but also for peace and rest of soul. So I determined to do what Mrs. S. had advised.

The following morning, about half-past five o’clock, I slipped as noiselessly as possible out of bed. (My husband had already gone to his study.) I had taken only a step or two when first one and then another little head bobbed up; then came calls of, “Mother is it time to get up?”

“Hush, hush, no, no,” I whispered as I went back, but too late; the baby had wakened! So, of course, the morning circus began an hour too soon.

But I did not give up easily. Morning after morning I tried rising early for the morning watch, but always with the same result. So I went back to the old way of just praying quietly — too often just sleeping! Oh, how I envied my husband, who could have an hour or more of uninterrupted Bible study while I could not. This led me to form the habit of memorizing Scripture, which became an untold blessing to me. I took advantage of odd opportunities on cart, train, or when dressing, always to have a Bible or Testament at hand so that in the early mornings I could recall precious promises and passages of Scripture.

Somehow the Lord helped me to change from that mindset of depression because there was no time to what Dr. Walter Fremont calls a “positive faith attitude.” I realized that if this was something I needed and that God wanted me to do, then there would be time somewhere in the day. I began to pray at the beginning of the day for the time and for the ability to recognize it.

Normally I need for things to be relatively quiet when I read my Bible, but He enabled me to be able to get something vital from the Word with children playing at my feet. I thrive best on some kind of regularity of schedule, but He enabled me to catch the odd moment here and there.

When there was a minute free and I wanted to relax with the newspaper or a book or the TV, and the Lord reminded me I hadn’t had time with Him yet…I am ashamed to admit my reaction was not often a spiritual one. A former pastor once said that one of his best times of prayer occurred when he had to begin by confessing he didn’t feel like praying. So sometimes I would have to put aside the book or magazine or remote control and confess that lack to the Lord. And so often He would give me something precious in those few minutes.

A friend with three little ones used to keep her Bible open in her kitchen and read a little off and on throughout the day. Some nursing moms have found that they could prop a Bible up on a nearby end table and read a little while feeding the baby Some listen to the Bible on CD while they dress or drive.

As my children got older, I could again get up for that early morning time (my preferred time – some people prefer later in the day), I would get discouraged if one of them woke up early and toddled out. But a friend told me an experience she had of accidentally walking in on her mom while she was praying and of the impact that had on her. So I thought then perhaps this might be of the Lord — maybe the sight of of mom in prayer and in the Word would be a blessing to my children. Often in that half-asleep state, they were content just to cuddle up beside me or on my lap, and I could continue quietly reading or praying. Sometimes when they were with me I would read and pray aloud. Even though I still preferred to have devotions alone with no distractions, God enabled me to put that aside and to concentrate and have some precious times with Him.

I just want to encourage you that somehow the Lord will meet you in your need. I had to realize that the regular schedule I thrived on just wasn’t going to be possible, and I had to trust the Lord to open up those little opportunities throughout the day and that He would meet with me then and give me what I needed. Even though I still prefer my “quiet” quiet time and my routine, those early-baby experiences stayed with me in later days when the usual schedule was overturned for some reason. He wants to meet with you as much — actually more — than you want to meet with Him, and He’s willing to do so at odd hours. And, as Elisabeth Elliot has written, He doesn’t mind of you bring your children along.