Be Careful What You Ask For

In a Brooklyn upscale pet shop, an elderly woman burst into the store. "I want to buy a canary, but it's got to be a real good singer. I've got good, hard U.S. cash, but I'm only paying only for a good singer."

The shop owner began moving a ladder towards a small cage on a shelf about fifteen feet up, near the ceiling of the store. "Ma'am, I'm forty years in this business. In that cage is the best singer I've ever had ."

"Don't think I'm gonna feel obligated to pay for something I don't want just because you're climbing up a ladder like a monkey. I want a canary but it's got to be the best singer."

By this point the shop keeper was coming down from the ladder. "Ma'am, this bird is a veritable feathered Caruso!" Placing the cage on the counter, the bird burst into melody after melody.

Awed, the woman murmured, "This bird is really a good singer."

Suddenly in a shrill scream, "Hey, what's with you? This bird's only got one leg."

The pet store owner was unperturbed, "Lady what do you want a singer ? . . . . . or a dancer?"

The other day I ran into someone who said "I have been praying for patience" to which I replied "I learned to not pray for that a long time ago." We ask God for more patience and He will allow us to be put into situations that grow our patience. I have found he doesn't just give you more patience. If I do need more patience, which I am sure I do, then I pray for me to have an increasing measure of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, because my understanding of Galatians 5 is that it is one of the fruits of His presence in my life.

Longing For God

A few weeks ago I picked up a book at Mardels entitled "The Furious Longing For God" by Brennan Manning. I had read his "Ragamuffin Gospel" several years ago and wanted to read something else by this great author.

The forward of the book says that we all know that God loves us, but unfortunately that fact just remains in our mind. Until it actually gets into our heart it is just information. Once it gets into our hearts is where transformation starts and that is what this book is about translating information into transformation.

The premise of his book began in 1978 when he attended a 30 day silent retreat (we do a one day silent retreat at R.E. and many people say I couldn't do that?? can you imagine 30 days??)A Jesuit Priest had him read Song of Solomon 7:10 "I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me." For the next 30 years he has prayed that passage and his hope is that the reader will also and learn the following things.
1.The drumbeats of doom in your head will be replaced by a song in your heart, which could lead to a twinkle in your eye.
2.You will not be dependent on the company of others to ease your loneliness, for He is Emmanuel-God with us.
3.In a significant interior development you will move from I should pray to I must pray.
4.You will live with an awareness that the Father not only loves you, but likes you.
5. You will read Zephaniah 3:17-18 and see God dancing for joy because of you
6. Off and on throughout the day, you will just know that you are being seen by Jesus with a gaze of infinite tenderness.

I look forward to seeing what else Brennan has to say.

Finding God In The Shack

Hope you aren't tiring of my reports from the classes of the Christian Book Expo. There were just so many good classes. I was particularly interested in attending "Finding God In The Shack" because I had read the book and have had conversations with people who didn't think it was as good as I did. This class was taught by Randal Rauser, who teaches theology at Taylor Seminary in Edmonton, Canada.

He said there was about 30% of the book that he would not have agreed with the theology, but you can't throw the baby out with the bathwater. He said the best thing about The Shack is it got people dialogueing. In his book he talks about the six conversations it stirs, but he only talked about two of those with us.

First it helped us see the transcendence of God. God is beyond all our concepts of him. He compared it to his young Son asking him how fast does light travel and he answers 100,000 light years and he says "is that as far as it to Colorado?". God comes down from heaven and comes to our level because we cannot understand Him. God desires relationship. He already knows our thoughts but he still delights in hearing them.

So as not to ruin the plot if you haven't read the book, I will not reveal how God reveals himself to Mac. Just trust me in that it isn't our usual way to view God. But God had to reveal himself differently because Mac had been abused by His earthly father and could not relate to God as Father. It is like a child who gets the flu after eating strawberry shortcake. They will not eat it again because of the association of getting sick after eating it even though there really was no relation. Jesus was God's provision of accommodation. God will meet us wherever we are.

The shack also causes us to wrestle with evil. He stated there is not a large section of books in the bookstore entitled "The Dark Night Of The Soul". He told the story of the day his daughter got lost from him in the store for about an hour and how difficult that was, but can not imagine how he would have continued with life if she had never been found. He stated that honesty is the first step in healing. It's okay to ask why? Why does and all powerful God allow evil? It is for the greater good. We have free will. We don't need to feel that we need to give people explanations for theri pain. We just sit and cry with them. We will contribute to the problem if we say "this is why God allowed this to happen." He gave the analogy of his young child playing a play piano that only has four keys. Four keys may produce perfect harmony and no dissonance. But you cannot play a song with 4 keys. The question is not "where is God", but the correct question is "where is the church".

Randal was most impressed and challenged by Mac's extending of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the one thing Christianity offers the world that they cannot get anywhere else. He told the story of the Green River killer who killed 78 women. During the Victim Impact Statements, one father said that God had told him he needed to forgive the perpetrator. The killer began to cry. Forgiveness is the greatest power God gives us to give to others.

I didn't' buy his book at the expo, but plan to order it, as I would like to see what his other 4 observations are.

Questions From An Atheist

One of the most interesting sessions we attended at the Christian Book Expo was a two hour debate between one of America's leading atheist, Christopher Hitchens and four apologetics: William Lane Craig, Lee Strobel, James Denison and Doug Wilson.

I have to admit that in my naivete I had not really been exposed to much about atheism or their arguments, I just knew they did not believe in God. Christopher actually says he is not an atheist, as that would mean he might could be convinced there is a God, but that he is an anti theist. To him to believe in God, even if all the scientific evidence proved it to be so would be immoral.

Here is what he says:
"It is masochistic to think we wouldn't be able to derive a right thought or right action without a celestial dictatorship that guards us while we sleep, that convicts us of thought crimes, that supervises our every waking moment. That is the origin of totalitarianism in the obeisance that he demands of us and will continue to judge us and persecute us, even if we are dead. How horrible to live in gratitude to an alterable dictatorship to which whose installation we had no say. I refuse it on moral grounds. The fact that the dictatorship is benign makes it insufferable."

"Christianity authors something horrible, vicarious redemption. Applauding a human sacrifice, particularly cruel and revolting, one that took place before you were born to fulfill a prophecy in which you had no say, condemning you either to punishment and sin if you don't accept it or if you do accept it, offers you the chance that your own sins can be forgiven you. It requires compulsory love as well as compulsory fear. It is no way to teach morals to demand love and at the same time, command fear. There is nothing more immoral that telling someone they must believe in this nonsense in order to be saved."

Mr. Hitchins based most of his arguments on two points:
1. Why would a God that really cares, sit and just let injustices and suffering happen? He mentioned the case of Elisabeth Fritzl who was locked in a dungeon for 24 years by her father, who repeatedly raped here. "Where was your God then, what did He do for her?"
2. He has a long list of atrocities that were carried out through history in the name of religion. "Name me one moral action that could not be also made by an unbeliever. How many wicked actions or vile statements can be attributed to religion?"

The apologist did their best to talk about free will and that nothing about Christianity is compulsory. They made the point that God redeems all that He allows. They told him with Christianity justice is coming,whereas if you are an atheist, justice never comes. They appealed to him to show how in his universe there is a basis for anyone to care about anyone's behavior. They challenged him to answer if "God is not real, why He feels the need to debate". They asked "What does your universe have to support your debate?" They asked "seems to me that atheism is for the strong and smart, what hope do you have for the weak?" He had no answers to these questions. And actually never offered any proof that God cannot exist.

If there could be a "do-over" I would have liked the debate to just be between Lee Strobel and Christopher, because Lee was an atheist and knows the arguments but in his own quest to dispute Christianity actually found the evidences to prove that it is true.
Although, I don't know that all the evidences in the world would ever change this man's mind. After researching him on the internet I found that he had some things happen in his life that would make anyone question "where was God?". I guess it is easier to argue against Him than accept that He was actually there allowing something as tragic as your mother dying in bed with her lover after making a suicide pact. In his world there is no redemption or justice for that. For us? We trust and have faith in a God who promises to work ALL things together for good for those of us who love Him.

Self Talk To Soul Talk

Another class I attended at the Christian Book Expo was by Jennifer Rothschild. I didn't realize when I went to this class that she was the author of a book that I had begun reading awhile back, "Lessons I Learned in the Darkness:walking by faith and not by sight". It wasn't that the book wasn't good that I didn't finish it, just I am really bad about starting books and putting them down and starting another one (the reason I currently have 20 books around my chair!)
Anyway...you would not know it to look at her but Jennifer is blind. She lost her sight at the age of 15 to retinal pigmatosis. She walked into the room with her husband, and I became fascinated watching her interactions because whereever the voice was that was speaking she looked directly at them. As she gave her talked she looked back and forth across the room and I could have sworn she was making eye contact with me. She told us she does not see anything.

Jennifer's talk was entitled "A Makeover For Your Thought Closet: Turn Your Self Talk Into Soul Talk", which is the name of her new book. She began by showing us her Clothes Scanner, which when she held it next to the material would tell her what color it was, so that she would be able to match colors. She made the anology of how we all like to clothe ourselves well physically, but what about the way we clothe our lives? She suggested we clothe our lives through our thought closet.

Here are a few quotes from her talk:

1.The song does not say it is well with my circumstances, but it is well with my soul.
2. At some point in her life (she is now 46)she realized she was giving the enemy the opportunity to steal her joy.
3. All of us talk to ourselves either constructively or destructively.
4. If you sow a thought you will reap an action. If you sow an action you will reap a habit. If you sow a habit you will reap character and if you sow character you will reap destiny.
5. There is a difference between the "what if's" and the "What is"
6. Who you are and what you struggle with are not the same thing.
7. Let struggles refine you not define you.
8. We must trust God more than we trust our feelings.

She used the 2 Corinthians 10:5 passage as her text "we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." She had some practical advice on how to do do that.
1. RECOGNIZE what you say to yourself. What would happen if you wrote down everything you said to yourself and gave it to someone else to repeat to you? Philippians 4:8 is the standard of what we should think about "Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."
2.REFUSE those thoughts that do not belong. Visualize a door to your thoughts and that each thought has to knock to gain entrance. If I invite a negative thought in then chances are I will treat it like a dinner guest and feed it. If I take it captive then I take authority over it and do not allow it entrance until it speaks truth.
3. RELABEL by replacing the negative thought with truth, i.e. "I am an idiot" with "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."
4. REPEAT leads you to a habit of believing the postive thought and be clothed in the libertating truth of God.

She mentioned that she has a 10 year old son and when he says "I am stupid", she says "I am sorry, but you are not allowed to talk to my son that way."

I really needed these words of wisdom from Jennifer because my self talk is often pretty critical and destructive and she gave me some great tools for turning it around into what my loving Father God would say to me.

Wake Up Call

I'm going to take a break from the Christian Book Expo postings today because there is so much to say about Ladies Bible Class today. We started a new study by Ruth Graham Lotz entitled "I Saw The Lord (A Wake Up Call For Your Heart)". If today's lesson is any indication of how the rest of the study it will be, it is going to be great!! I really wish more women could benefit from it. We only had about 12 present today. Let me just say that if you are reading this and are not in a small group Bible study, you are missing out. It is a great opportunity to grow close to a group while growing closer to the Lord together.

Ruth begins by saying this study is designed "to be a roadmap for your journey toward a revival of your heart and a fresh encounter with God". Definitely just the prescription I need in my life at this moment.

This first week's lesson was entitled "You're Sleeping" and was from 2 Chronicles 34:1-33. It is the story of King Josiah and how at the age of 8, when he became King (because his father had been assasinated)he went against the ways of his father and grandfather (who had been the eviliest king in Judah's history) and began destroying all the idolatry in the nation and rebuilding the temple of God. Idolatry and child sacrifice were rampant and Babylon was on the verge of capturing Judah.

Here are the things that God spoke to my heart during this study.

1. What are the areas of my life that need to be destroyed or renewed? Am I willing to tear down everything so that Satan does not have a foot in my heart?
2. Am I focused more on religiosity than relationship? Do I spend more time doing than being?
3. What causes God's Word to get lost to me?
4. How do I need to restore my temple?
5. I can ask the Lord "what do you need me to do for you" and He will say "nothing". God just wants be to be available for Him to do His work through me.
6. I need to move from who I want to be to who God wants me to be.
7. It is not enough to have the right relationship, it must be a love relationship.
8. There is 18 inches from the head to the heart. I can have head knowledge without it penetrating my heart.
9. Would God look at my relationship and like Abraham call me His friend?
10. I can always have the assurance that if I seek God, I WILL find Him.

Heaven and Hell

We attended an interesting panel at the Christian Book Expo on Heaven and Hell. The panelist were Sam Storms, J.I. Packer, Randy Alcorn and Don Piper.

To be honest, my notes don't include who said what so I am just going to randomly post some of the things that were said.

We have a misconception that because heaven lasts for eternity that we will face boredom in heaven. But look at Jude 24-25 "Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. 25 All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen." There will be an eternal increase of our joy and we will bask in God's glory forever and ever.

We are currently in the New Testament order of life moving toward the Heavenly order of life.

Interesting that in the book "The Five People We Meet In Heaven" that one of them is not God?

According to Revelation 21 God's location will change when Heaven is revealed "Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever."

Do I live like I know where I am going? Shouldn't I have a better trip on the way? Our anticipation of Heaven should be reflected in our life on earth.

Joy will be the air we breathe in the new earth.

The thought of people in hell will not be able to destroy the joy of heaven. People in hell chose to be there.

While we all think we have questions we want to ask when we get to heaven, John 17:24 indicates that they will all be irrelevant. "Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!"

We must see God for all He is, not just for who we want Him to be.

Jesus referred to Hell, more than anywhere else in the Bible.

"Wait and see" gives us hope, not necessarily information.

The panel recommended an excellent study of Heaven and Hell is in C.S. Lewis' book "Beyond the Shadowlands."

New Normal

So I am going to start out with the speaker at the Expo that impacted me the most. That would be Don Piper, the author of "90 Minutes In Heaven." I was looking forward to hearing Don because I was given this book when I was recouping from my accident and it really helped. In case you don't know the story the shortened version is Don was in a vehicle accident and declared dead by four different EMT teams. While they were waiting for the medical examiner to come and declare him dead another preacher felt led by God to pray over Don and after 90 minutes of being dead while the preacher was singing "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" Don Piper came back to life and began singing with him. During that 90 minutes he saw heaven.

Don was in the hospital for 13 months and had 34 surgeries. If you remember my external fixator, well he was the first in the United States to wear one. They figured they might as well try it because otherwise He would just have to have an amputation. Don was angry at God for letting him experience the beauty of heaven and then send him back to earth. He didn't understand the "why", but now knows it was for Him to give hope to others and to share the message that heaven is real.

There is way too much to his story to post here, but I recommend his book. It is a very good read. But Don, did make several comments that I want to etch into my brain and reframe the way I think about my own existence these days.

"Turn your pain into purpose."
"I won't ever be the same, but I don't have to be worse."
"I was knocked down, but not knocked out."
"I can be a victim or a victor."
"I can turn my mess into a message."
"I can turn my test into a testimony."
"I can turn my disappointment into a divine appointment."

Don is living in the shadow of 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us."
He emphasized that we will find much more peace in extending our hand to someone else in pain rather than shaking our fist at God.

So...I hope that I can begin focusing much more on others and not so much on myself. I am going to step aside and allow God to use me to bless others. I am determined to let my test become a testimony. So if you see me having a pity party, please remind me that I am a victor, not a victim.

Where to Start??

As promised I will begin posting my insights from the Christian Book Expo that Steve and I attended Friday and Saturday. There were so many nuggets I don't know where to start. I guess that is what I would like to say first. Over the years Steve and I have attended numerous Christian conferences of one kind or another. I don't think we have ever come away from one thinking it was a waste of time. We always come home motivated to go deeper in our spiritual walk. And we come home always sad that more of our friends and those we were in fellowship didn't get the same blessing because they didn't attend. Realizing that not everyone can attend everything, but we know so many people that have never attended anything but their own church services. Nothing wrong with that, but once again, it is missing opportunities for growth.

Alot of times when I go to these conferences I feel like I am just drinking from a fire hydrant. I guess that is just an indication of how thirsty I let myself get. I come home motivated to go deeper and "do better" but that enthusiasm quickly disappears because of my lack of spiritual discipline. I am in hope that some of the things I heard this weekend will make more of a life long impact.

Let me start by saying this weekend reinforced what I have been saying on this blog for awhile and that is that I need to change my "stinkin thinkin". I have spent way too long allowing entrance into my thoughts and not camping out in the Truths that God has revealed to me. I will tell you about some specific speaker's and what they said in the days to come, but let me just leave you with some quotes tonight that convicted my heart that I need to change my "stinkin thinkin".

Don Piper-"If I know where I am going, shouldn't I have a better trip on the way?" "Our anticipation of heaven should be reflected in our life here on earth."

Randy Alcorn-"Every step we take brings us closer to heaven or further away. No one stands still"

Andy Andrews-"God does not teach us to swim only to let us drwon when the waters are rough." "Answers may be unavailable, but perspective is always there." "If you are breathing, you have not accomplished what God wants you to accomplish, and if you haven't accomplished what God wants you to accomplish you have not fullfilled your purpose."

Max Lucado-"What if faith was my default."

Calvin Miller-"Praise that worries about propriety (the way you look) will never really be praise." "If God really did show up at our services, would we be prepared."

Jennifer Rothschild-"It may not be well with my circumstances, but it is always well with my soul."

Sheila Walsh-"Forgiveness is God's gift for us to live in a world that is not fair." 'We will not be able to bow at the foot of the cross and point to anyone but ourselves."

Alex and Brett Harris-"Give up what you cannot keep to gain what you cannot lose" (they were quoting Jim Elliot)

Randal Rouser-"Aim at earth and miss heaven. Aim at heaven and earth gets thrown in." (quoting C.S. Lewis) "In a world of suffering the question is not 'where is God', but 'where is the church.'"

I will say I had one disappointment this weekend and that is that I did not pay close enough attention to my intenerary and missed the book signing by Ron Hall and Denver Moore the author's of "Same Kind Of Different As Me." I would have loved to shake their hands and tell them how that book impacted me.

Christian Book Expo Update

Really need to get to bed so that I can be up early in the morning to attend day 2 of the Christian Book Expo. First of all let me say I was amazed at how poorly attended this event was. I don't know who dropped the ball on advertising, but unless an amazingly greater amount of people show up tomorrow, they are going to lose big bucks on this thing. There were so many choices of great speakers and we heard several. But the highlight was the evening worship. It was awesome! They would have a speaker give a 5 minute talk and then a worship song by Travis Cottrell, Cindy Morgan and Heather Headley. I had never heard of Heather Headley but she has a powerful voice and the lyrics touched my soul. The speakers were Max Lucado, Liz Curtis Higgs, Andy Andrews, Henry Blackaby, Lysa TerKuerst and Michelle Hammond. They all had personal stories that they shared how the Word had become alive in their lives. I hope to spend time in the next few days just unpacking some of the truths that touched my heart during the lectures and worship tonight. I did leave tonight realizing that I have really not lived life to the fullest that God intends for me.
Can't wait to hear what He wants to tell me tomorrow.

Christian Book Expo

Steve and I are going to the Christian Book Expo at the Dallas Convention Center tomorrow and Saturday. Looking forward to hearing some great authors talk about their books. I am most looking forward to hearing Don Piper of "90 Minutes In Heaven". Hopefully, I will have something interesting to post after we get back. You can find more information about the Expo at www.christianbookexpo.com.

12 Year Old Orator

Chuck Colson mentioned this 12 year old girl on his Breakpoint post today who made a speech on abortion to her 7th grade glass. I went out and watched it on Youtube and thought she did an amazing job.
It is rather lengthy, but well worth the watch. I love how she ends the video with a quote from "Horton Hears A Who!" I know for certain I could not have done this at the age of 12.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I could not help but think how the world would be different if we actually remembered St. Patrick's Day by his Lorica that was written in 377 A.D., instead of wearing green, leprechauns and drinking beer???

Lorica of Saint Patrick
"I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a multitude.


I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation"

What would have to be different about my life for me to that every eye that sees me, sees Christ; every ear that hears me speak, hears Christ; when people spoke about me, it reminded them of Christ; when people think of me, they would think of Christ. There are not enough pages for me to write all the differences that would have to happen. But maybe today I can take one more small step in that direction.

I Need You

This morning I was in the car and heard a song I had not heard before. The words resonated with my heart right now. Imagine my surprise when I came home and looked it up and saw that it was a Leann Rimes song (because the channel was KLTY). I can just imagine if I really hungered and thirsted after God and realized how totally dependent I actually am on Him, what a difference it would make in my life. I just think if I keep on pressing on, that one day I will get to where I want to be. I am thankful that God continues to love me all the same while I make the journey.

I Need You

I don't need a lot of things
I can get by with nothing
Of all the blessings life can bring
I've always needed something
But I've got all I want
When it comes to loving you
You're my only reason
You're my only truth

I need you like water
Like breath, like rain
I need you like mercy
From heavens gate
There's a freedom in your arms
That carries me through
I need you

You're the hope that moves me
To courage again
You're the love that rescues me
When the cold winds, rage
And its so amazing
cause that's just how you are
And I can't turn back now
cause you've brought me too far

I need you like water
Like breath, like rain
I need you like mercy
From heaven's gate
There's a freedom in your arms
That carries me through
I need you
Oh yes I do

Voices

Tonight in Life Group we talked about how to listen to God's voice among all the other voices we hear everyday. I thought John Ortberg made a great observation. God's voice only leads us to the thinking of Galatians 5 (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control) If we are feeling fear, anger, sadness, lonliness, etc. we can pretty well know that it is not God's voice. It then becomes my choice as to whose voice I will listen to.

I needed to hear that. I have a choice. I can see Satan going "rats she figured it out". I pray more and more I can set my mind on 1 Peter 1:13 "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed."

Congratulations Trey and Sara

Steve and I went to Trey Laminack's wedding tonight. Trey is a friend I went to camp with for about 6 years. He was always the fun factor at camp. God has blessed him with a great sense of humor and a great love of children. He is currently a children's minister. I don't know his wife Sara, a drama teacher, but I do know she will be blessed to have Trey for a husband.

Their wedding was beautiful. The music was very unique. The opening song was in German and the song Sara marched down to was sung in Italian. Both were sung by high school students of Sara's, and they were absolutely amazing!!

The bridesmaids dresses were some of the prettiest I have seen in a long time. I think the color would be considered plum.

The flowergirls and ring bearer were Trey's nieces and nephews and they were adorable!! His older niece Madison was a Jr. Bridesmaid and she was beautiful. I had seen pictures of her on Stacy's blog, but had not seen her in a few years. Amazing how fast time flies.

There was a unique aspect in the wedding. The bride and groom's mother's poured water from pitchers into glasses and then Trey and Sara took them and poured them into a container along with the minister (who said He was representing God) who also poured his water at the same time. It was beautiful symbolism.

Trey and Sara are going to New York on their honeymoon and if you know them you would know it is the perfect place for them to go. Trey has a good friend Jonathan Root who actually performs on Broadway, so he will get to visit him while they are there.

Someone had made Sara and Trey a beautiful piece of stained glass with an "L" in the top. It hung at the front of the stage and was breathtaking. I told Trey I thought it was for me since it had an "L" on it. He said the guy that made it for him, would probably make me one too. I bet he would for a really pretty price!

Anyway...congratulations Trey and Sara! May the Lord bless you and keep you, may His face shine down upon you and give you peace.

This and That

Thought I would just blog some random things today.

Yesterday when we ate at Chuy's the silverware was in a wrapper that had prayers on the back of it. I found them interesting.
Protestant: "Bless, O Lord, this food to your use and us to thy service, and make us ever mindful of the needs of others. In Jesus Name. Amen"
Catholic: "Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy Bounty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."
Jewish: "Lift up your hands toward the sanctuary and bless the Lord. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who bringest forth bread from the earth. Amen."

Kind of surprised they didn't have a Muslim one. Still thought it was a nice touch.

Then after my post the day before on the homosexual that came into CAREcorp, I got a response from a staff member from the church I mentioned. Not sure how that works that people get notified if you mention them in a post, but makes me more conscious of what I am saying.

Went to the sleep disorder doctor today and got a new c-pap mask. Not looking real forward to using it tonight as it now has a piece that leans against my forehead. It will take some more getting used to. I went back in because I am not as rested as I used to be. If the new mask doesn't do the trick, I will have to have another sleep study.

Finally, tonight on World News Tonight, there was a story on kids sending each other text messages on their phones containing nudity. Two thirteen year old boys are being charged with child pornography for sending pictures of a girl classmate in the nude over their phones. My first question?? Why do thirteen year olds need cell phones?? I kind of understand why teens who drive might need them, but thirteen year olds?? I think kids are spending way too much time on those phones and perhaps parents should take a more active role in monitoring their use. I am not sure why their is a need for anyone to use them all day long. My friends get aggravated at me because I just use mine in times of need...never just to chat. Oh...unless it's primetime and I want to save on long distance calls.

Happy 85th Birthday Daddy!

If you had told me over 2 years ago that my father would still be here with us, I would have asked "how?". When he took himself off of dialysis they gave him weeks to a couple of months. That was 2 years ago last January. Today we celebrated his 85th birthday. I wish I would have taken pictures, but someway my camera got broken and the screen on it is shattered :( Anyway...we had heard that Chuy's was a good Mexican restaurant, so we went there. It was not disappointing (unless you were Steve who is a Tex-Mex only kind of guy). I got the chicken tomatillo enchiladas and they were delicious. We then went by the Cheesecake Factory and let him choose a flavor to bring home. He chose Lemon-Raspberry. We then came home and watched an old John Wayne movie "Island In The Sky".
It was just a sweet day and especially that he felt well enough to celebrate.

I am thankful that the Lord has been good and blessed us with more time with my father. It is so hard to watch your parents get old and not be able to do the things they long to do. It's hard watching them make decisions that you don't think are best, but they in their independence need to make. Then it is hard to make the hard decisions for them, like when to give up driving, etc.

Fortunately, my father makes all that fairly easy as He is just a gentle and easy going fellow. I know that He wishes life was more than it is, but He also recognizes it could be so much worse. I am the most thankful that He is not suffering. I pray the Lord continues to bless Him with that until He does call Him home. A day we don't look forward to, but indeed will celebrate as we know He will have a Father that says to him "well done, good and faithful servant."

Only My God

Today we finished our study of God's Amazing Grace in Ladies Bible Class. One of the final questions was "which aspect of grace did you find to be the most challenging". My answer was "extending to grace to homosexuals". I just find the thought of their behavior disgusting and don't know how to reach out to them in a grace filled way. But...I know that Jesus would want me to be salt and light to them just like anyone else. So....2 hours later I am working CAREcorp (our ministry to those in need). It was a busy day and our 12:00 appointment showed up at 12:30 at the same time as our 12:30 appointment. I helped the woman who just needed food as Andrea helped the woman needing help with her utilities. While I was finishing up with my woman our next appointment came in and Andrea was still busy. So I went over and introduced myself to Michael, who had come in for rental assistance and who I thought to be homosexual. I thought to myself "this is not funny God". I listened to Michael's story, was able to offer him some help. Got him a few bags of food to help out as well. At some point he mentioned that he was HIV positive. I asked him some about that and he was diagnosed in 1999. I asked Michael if he had a church home and he said "Cathedral of Hope" which made it conclusive that indeed he was homosexual. I told him we would welcome Him to come visit with us anytime and then I asked him if I could pray with him.
After we finished he said "Wow, thank you, that was nice". And I shook his hand again, and thought to myself "thank you Holy Spirit, only you could have given me the appropriate words to say, and by the way God...I do think you are funny!" Be careful where you need to grow, as He will always provide you with the opportunity.

Continuing In The Storm

I find myself wavering back and forth between moving forward and getting pulled back. Between days that I just sit in self pity and days I am determined to get on with it. Not sure why it is that I think I don't deserve this hand I have been dealt. The truth is that God has never promised us an easy road or a life without trials. There is no way I would ever consider myself the spiritual giant that Paul was and yet he was constantly challenged by trials. Yet, he was still able to say, "We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don't give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going" (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).

That is another truth for me to hold on to. And like Paul I will get up again and keep going. Thank you to all of you who encourage me in that walk!

Answered Prayer

I was studying for my Bible class lesson for my 5th graders Sunday morning on prayer and came across a post that said 10 Prayers that God answers. After reading them it crossed my mind that perhaps the reason I think so many of my prayers are going unanswered is because I pray for the wrong thing??? Looking at this list I hope I will change the way I pray and then I will see more answers from God.

1. God, make me an instrument. Matthew 18:20
2. God, outdo me in generosity. Luke 6:38
3. God, give me wisdom. James 1:5
4. God, get me through this suffering. 1 Corinthians 10:13
5. God, give me peace. Isaiah 26:3, John 14:27
6. God, bring good out of this bad situation. Romans 8:28
7. God, give me courage. Psalms 34:4
8. God, forgive me. Isaiah 53:5, John 1:9
9. God, lead me to my destiny. Jeremiah 1:5
10. God, show me that you exist.

Then I found this song that I had never heard called the "Yes Prayer Song"

Do you ever read a verse in the Bible and wonder exactly how that plays our in your life?? Well here is one I came across today. "The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will not fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand" (Psalm 37:23--24)

I do believe God delights in every detail of my life. I do believe He holds me in the palm of His hand, and I do know that I stumble. Where I am not sure I understand this verse is how He directs my steps. I know that He does that through the Word, but I sense this verse is telling us more than that. I want a more direct intervention. Perhaps the key is that I spend a little more time listening and a little less time telling Him where I want to go??

Interesting Encounter

I had lunch with a friend in Coppell today. After lunch I stopped by the Lifeway near the Galleria to get birthday cards for the 5 family members that have March birthdays. I looked around the store and by the time I was walking out to my car, I was tired and my feet were really hurting. As I was unlocking the door this lady called out from my hood "Excuse me mam, can I ask you a question?" I was hesitant and said "yes" but I don't think she heard me and she said "never mind" and walked off. I got in the car and watched her and she was approaching another truck and waiting for the person to get out. Needless to say I was skeptical, but I drove the car to where she was and rolled the window down. I told her I was sorry that I was really needing to sit down and then said "how can I help you?" She told me she had just come from the doctor's office and got stitches removed and was needing cab fare to get back home. She told me where she worked and how she was getting paid tomorrow and where she went to church and who her pastor was and for some reason her age (55). I offered to take her home, she said she lived in Lancaster and I said that is okay, me taking her home would be cheaper than a Taxi. She said she needed to pick up prescriptions at Walmart. So I asked her if $20.00 would be enough to help and she was very grateful. Then she said "actually if you don't mind giving me a ride to the Walmart on Forest, that would really help." So she got in the car and we were off to the Walmart which ended up being at Forest and Greenville. We had a nice conversation on the way and she told me all about her life. We talked about God. We thought it was humorous that her name was Linda and mine Lynn. When I pulled into Walmart to let her out, she reached over and put her hand on my hand and said a prayer over me, even quoting scripture "may no weapon forged against her stand" Isaiah 54:17. It was just an instance of where I thought I was ministering to someone and she actually ministered to me. It was a God made me smile day.

Grace and Politics

Interesting, the past two days I have read articles that have aroused some passion in me to respond to the "politics" of our country. Then this morning in Ladies Bible Class our lesson was from Philip Yancey's book "What's So Amazing About Grace" and today's chapter was about extending grace in the political arena. There were a lot of thought provoking comments and too many to post here, but as a summary here are a couple of points I came away with:
- it is not my job to purge evil from the world. God can handle that on His own.
-My job is to be the aroma of Christ. So while I may not agree with the "politics" of someone, there is a way to stand up for my beliefs in a way that extends grace to the politician, judge, etc. -The cause should never be more important than the person, because that is what is eternal. So I need to make sure I am saying things in a way that still respects the person and extends the love and grace of Jesus.

So that being said how should I respond to the following article?
"The Supreme Court won't review a lower-court decision that banned a high school football coach from bowing his head and "taking a knee" during prayers led by his players.

Marcus Borden had hoped to overturn an appeals court ruling that upheld the East Brunswick, New Jersey, school district's policy barring him and other staff from joining in student-led prayer. But the court on Monday refused to take his appeal.

The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the school district policy is constitutional, but the judges differed on what exactly a coach should do if his team prays. Borden, the East Brunswick coach since 1983, had a long history of leading prayers before he was ordered to stop.

John Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, which represented Borden, said Monday's ruling could have a chilling effect on other coaches who want to show respect while their teams pray."

I am not sure how government can control what individuals choose to do before a game? I can understand how a coach could not force his players to pray with him, or show favoritism to those that do. But to say he cannot pray with boys that are already praying? So...I don't know what I can do in an instance like this. But it just seems like I should do something?? What would you do??

In the meantime I will leave you today with a quote from Yancey's book that really caused me to think. "While a coziness between the church and the state may be good for the state, it is bad for the church. Herein lies the chief danger to grace: the state, which runs by the rules of ungrace, gradually drowns out the church's sublime message of grace.....A state government can shut down stores and theaters on Sunday, but it cannot compel worship. It can arrest and punish KKK murders, but it cannot cure their hatred, much less teach them to love. It can pass laws to make divorce more difficult, but cannot force husbands to love their wives and wives their husbands. It can give subsidies to the poor but cannot force the rich to show them compassion and justice. It can ban adultery but not lust, theft but not covetousness, cheating but not pride. It can encourage virtue but not holiness."

The Conscience Rule

I subscribe to emails from the American Family Association. Below is the text of a message that was sent today that is very concerning to me. Before posting it here, I went to the Washington Post site and searched the archives with the words "Obama and conscience rule" and pulled up 3 articles, all saying what is detailed below. I quickly sent my letter to the Whitehouse asking President Obama to not punish people for standing up for what he says he believes in. He says personally does not believe in abortion, so why should healthcare professionals be penalized for believing the same thing? Surely, there are plenty of healthcare professionals that already perform the millions of abortions that have already happened? Since there is a 30 day time for comment, I urge you, if you agree to take the few minutes it takes to send an email. You can
send your own email directly at http://www.whitehouse.gov/ or you can go to the AFA site and send their already worded email at http://capwiz.com/afanet/mailapp/.

"Obama seeks to take away religious rights of doctors and health care providers who refuse to perform abortions
Urgent: send your e-mail to the White House today!
March 3, 2009
According to several news agencies, President Barack Obama will rescind the "conscience rule" that protects health workers who refuse to participate in abortions or other medical procedures that go against their moral and religious beliefs. If the rule is rescinded, doctors, nurses and other health care workers could lose their jobs or be punished professionally for adhering to their sincerely held religious convictions. Obama's proposal would take away their religious freedom.
The current rule empowers federal health officials to cut off federal funding for any state or local government, hospital, clinic, health plan, doctor's office or other entity if it does not accommodate employees who exercise their right of conscience. It applies to more than 584,000 health care facilities.
The Obama administration is doing the bidding of pro-abortion advocacy groups who seek to penalize health care providers who refuse to participate in abortions.
According to The Washington Post, Obama administration officials stressed that the proposal will be subject to 30 days of public comment. That is why it is so very important for you to let the White House hear from you today."

Keeping The Scars

I have posted here many time about how much music ministers to me. Yesterday as I was driving home from a baby shower I heard this song by Point of Grace on the radio that I had never heard before. It made me think "do I actually thank God for my scars?" The physical scars on my body remind me of some painful times. There is the scar on my wrist from when I tried to get my brother to let me in the house by banging on the window and my hand went through the window. There is a scar on my big toe from when I was a child and jumped in the wading pool where there was a coffee can and the rim was off of it and it cut my foot (yes they used to make coffee cans out of metal:)) There is the scar on my left leg where I broke it and had a rod in it in 1985. There are the scars from my gall bladder surgery and hysterectomy. And then there are the many scars from my car accident and that journey. Each one constantly reminds me of the incident that caused them. But what about the emotional scars? The times I walked away from God and made decisions that were against His holiness?? Do I really want to remember those times? I am so thankful that God has forgiven me as far as the east is from the west and He remembers those sins no more. But I remember them, and this song helped me stop once again and thank Him for His mercy and His grace. Perhaps those scars on my heart will keep me praising Him for who He is and what He has done for me.

I used to wish that I could rewrite history
I used to dream that each mistake could be erased
Then I could just pretend I never knew the me back then
I used to pray that You would take this shame away
Hide all the evidence of who I've been
But it's the memory of the place You brought me from
That keeps me on my knees
And even though I'm free
Heal the wound but leave the scar
A reminder of how merciful You are
I am broken, torn apart
Take the pieces of this heart
And heal the wound but leave the scar
I have not lived a life that boasts of anything
I don't take pride in what I bring
But I'll build an altar with rubble that You've found me in
And every stone will sing of what You can redeem
Heal the wound but leave the scar
A reminder of how merciful You are
I am broken, torn apart
Take the pieces of this heart
And heal the wound but leave the scar
Don't let me forget
Everything You've done for me
Don't let me forget the beauty in the suffering
Heal the wound but leave the scar
A reminder of how merciful You are
I am broken, torn apart
Take the pieces of this heart
And heal the wound but leave the scar

Sunday Snippets

Steve and I attended Watermark Community Church today and were blessed by the worship and sermon. There were a couple of songs I wanted to post about, but I have googled some of the lyrics and cannot find them. One in particular referred to Salvation living inside of me. I stand amazed that almighty God loves me and inhabits me. I think if I dwelt on that more often it would motivate me to be a better temple for Him to dwell in. The sermon was the final installment of a series on the Lord's prayer. I thought Todd made an interesting point in that Jesus never said that prayer for us to use it as a prayer to recite. In fact He tells them not to recite words over and over in Matthew 6:7. Prayer is where we line ourselves up with God's purposes. Because we know that God is always good and always provides we can be full of joy. Joy is not dependent on circumstances it is dependent on knowing God is good. God does not bless us in order to increase our standard of living but He blesses us to increase our standard of giving.

He then spent quite a bit of time talking about forgiveness. I have posted here before that the thing that makes forgiveness easier is the realization of how much God has forgiven me. Because God has shed His grace on me, I am to be a grace extender to others. Todd did bring up something new for me to contemplate. Forgiveness is not an emotional decision. If we waited until we feel like forgiving, we might never forgive. He gave this definition of forgiveness "A decision to continually and purposefully commit to be driven by love towards the people who abused you." Forgiveness is intentional. I am motivated by the love of God to love others with the love of God. It is easy for me to rationalize and say that someone doesn't deserve to be forgiven because they have not said they are sorry. Their confession is not what motivates my forgiveness, it motivates reconciliation. So it is possible to forgive but not be reconciled.

I live in thankfulness for the amazing ways that my God has forgiven me and I look forward to the times in my life that I will be able to extend that forgiveness to others.

If Only....

I don't know about you, but I often wonder why we make things so hard? God has made things pretty clear in His Word, and if we would just follow what He says, life could be so much better. But our flesh gets in the way and instead of seeing how closely to His Word we can walk, we tend to see how far away we can get but still be okay?? There is nothing that God has asked us to do that is not for our own good. His ways have a reason, and whether we agree with them or not is not the issue. He knows what is best for us. So when the Bible says "God hates divorce", it is because He knows the consequences for His children. I found this recent article on Citizenlink.com interesting. Who knew a Supreme Court could actually take a biblical stand?

"A dozen billboards around the state of Georgia urge citizens of the Peach State to “Get Married, Stay Married.”

The sponsor of the billboards is not a pro-family organization, a church, or even a coalition of churches.

The sponsor? The Georgia Supreme Court.

The billboards, 48 feet wide and 14 feet tall, add the slogans “Children do better with parents together” or “For Children’s Sake.”

The cost of $50,000 was picked up by the Georgia State Bar, and an outdoor advertising association donated the billboard space.

The billboards were posted in connection with a two-day conference, sponsored by the high court, designed to explore ways of strengthening marriage.

Georgia’s chief justice correctly observed that, “If we can’t do something about family dysfunction, we can’t do much about crime,” and added that the state faces a “crisis with families, divorce and crime.”

And Georgia’s governor reinforced the idea that strengthening the institution of marriage is not just a private matter but has enormous public policy implications as well. He noted that cases involving broken families “clog the courts of our state,” and the breakdown of the nuclear family is adding enormously to the state’s overburdened penal system.

An astonishing 72% of Georgia’s incarcerated juveniles are from fragmented families, and 65% of trial cases now concern families and children. Sixty percent of poor families are led by single mothers and 25,000 Georgia youths a year – 25,000!! – are admitted to detention centers.

“Children of divorced families,” said the governor, “are 12 times more likely to wind up in prison.”

The chief justice agrees, arguing that marriage is the best crime and poverty prevention program that exists, and laments the fact that “we are growing up in a culture where there is no shame or expectation or understanding” of the problems of divorce and absentee fathers."

Another Day To Laugh

In light of all the different posts I have seen on what is being given up for Lent, I thought I would post these funnies that my friend Linda sent me today. Don't know about you...but I needed a laugh today

Spur One Another On

I thought this was a good post by Mike Cope the other day. I thought it would be neat to ask the same question and hope that some of you will reply.

"Paul established the church in Thessalonica on his 2nd missionary journey (Acts 17). He left under the pressure of persecution. As he reflected on his ministry there, he described it as that of an encouraging father.

Before long, Paul found himself in Athens but couldn’t stand not knowing how the young group of believers in Macedonia was, so he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to encourage them.

Now, as he writes 1 Thessalonians from Corinth, he told them to encourage each other (4:18; 5:11).

What would happen to a church if the people there devoted themselves to encouragement? What if we learned in the assemblies how to spur one another on to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24f)? What if we found ways through notes, emails, text messages, calls, etc., to build each other up through the week? "

Who is it that encourages you and spurs you on to good works?

I think the two people in my life that spur me on to good works with their words of encouragement would be my husband Steve and my mother.

Slum Dog Millionaire

So watching the Academy Awards Sunday night who would not be touched by the sweet faces and voices that accepted award after award for Slum Dog Millionaire? Those sweet little children and knowing they were having an experience of a lifetime. So I told my mother yesterday afternoon "why don't we go see Slum Dog tomorrow afternoon". Then last night I searched movie times and discovered the movie was rated "R". No......I then went and researched why it was rated "R" and this is what I found.

"Slumdog Millionaire is, quite simply, one of the best films of 2008. It is a fable, and if you try to apply the strict rules of reality, you will come away disappointed. Instead, surrender to the contrived magic of a film that dares to use dialogue like this …

"Come away with me." "And live on what?""Love."

Director Danny Boyle on the 'Slumdog' set… with not only a straight face, but an unabashed, unrepentant, irrepressible idealism. Slumdog Millionaire pulsates with life and should be celebrated loudly and lustfully. You won't find a better romantic crowd-pleaser all year. Although there is sadness and tragedy in a film that examines poverty with a Dickensian forensic lens, there is also something greater—humanity and humor, dignity and majesty that never ceases to shine through."

Oh yeah...my kind of movie then I kept on reading.

Much of Jamal's life has been spent searching for Latika, his childhood friend and adulthood love. Jamal loses her several times but always finds her again—a loving pursuit that has a spiritual echo. Theirs is a chaste affair, and he's the very model of chivalry: When she needs a towel after a shower, he gives her one with his eyes squinched shut. And after Latika's face is disfigured by a knife, Jamal gently kisses the scars.

The film's most religious person is, improbably, Salim. When he hears from his brother as an adult (after the pair has been separated for a long time), his first words are "God is great." He may be a killer by vocation, but he still wakes up early in the morning to bow toward Mecca, praying for the forgiveness of his sins.

So I keep on reading trying to find out why it is rated "R".

Seems like there is quite a bit of violence that I won't write about so not to ruin the plot for others of you. Then I read this next:

"Deeply accented English makes a precise profanity count difficult: There are at least three f-words, close to 10 s-words and a handful of uses of "b--ch," "d--n," "h---" and "bloody." God's name is misused four or five times. Vulgar words sporadically stand in for the names of sexual body parts."

A lengthy scene takes place around shack-like, open-bottomed latrines. It includes frank talk about bodily functions and culminates with Jamal diving into raw sewage to escape a locked outhouse. The boys make rude sexual gestures....
An 8-year-old Salim is seen naked from the side and rear: He runs to the showers after Latika mischievously crunches up hot chilies and places them on his genitals (hidden from moviegoers by a blanket) while he's sleeping. The scene is played for laughs, with Latika and the rest of the orphanage chortling over his reaction."

Well bummer, now I can't go see the movie. I can't in good conscience go see a movie where I know there is going to be vulgarity and taking the Lord's name in vain. It is just the line I draw for myself in trying to apply Philippians 4:8 to my life. "Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."

Ladies Retreat

I was the chairman of our Ladies Retreat committee again this year and am thankful that all the many details that we planned for months and months were blessed by our great God and we had a wonderful weekend. 58 ladies were able to enjoy our time together.

Our theme was "Quilted By The Master: Pieced Together For His Kingdom".
We had found a book entitled "Quilts from Heaven: Parables from the Patchwork of Life" by Lucinda Secrest McDowell. We decided the quilt has basically four parts: the scraps, the batting, the lining and the binding. So we designed 4 sessions around those four parts. The scraps were each of us as individuals and what God is doing in our lives. We entitled our first session, "Patterns of His Faithfulness". We were blessed to hear from Angie Akeman and her story of God's faithfulness in her life of helping she and her husband survive a difficult time with his depression, how he helped them survive over fiver years of infertility and how He remains faithful as they now have a medically challenged 3 1/2 year old, who has spent 369 days of her life in the hospital. Angie reminded us to hang on to God's truths. A few that are important to her are:
God is good
God never leaves us to walk the journey alone
He is not surprised by anything
He is sovereign
He is working, even if we can't see it.
We are created the way He wants us to be. Her quilt pattern was "Broken Dishes" and we emphasized that God can take all of our pieces if we give them to Him and make a masterpiece.
Our second session was entitled the "Stitches of His Love" and our Speaker was Lajuana Bryan (who will be 80 in two months) she did a wonderful job of speaking to us about how God takes us as individuals and places us into community and the things we can do to either build that community up or tear it down. She also told us several stories about her dear husband Alan who died several years ago but was passionate about evangelism while He was alive. It was so obvious she misses him dearly, but is committed to carrying on his legacy as she wants to tell others about her Lord. Her quilt pattern was called "Sunbonnet Sue" Our third session was entitled "Lining of His Grace" and our speaker was Carla Holland, the mother of our missionaries Chad and Amy Carter. Her quilt pattern was "Trip Around The World" and she helped us realize how God desires us to reach out to the world with His good news.
Our final session on Sunday morning was entitled "Binding Our Lives to God's Direction". Our speaker was Angela Tooley. Her quilt pattern was the Mariner's Compass and she did a great job of helping us see how God is the one to direct our lives. My favorite quote from Angela was "God does not give us an itinerary, He just points us in the right direction?" Angela also paraphrased I Corinthians 12.
"Now the quilt is not made of one piece but many. If the lining should say because I am not the top I do not belong to the quilt, it would not for that reason because to be part of the quilt. And if the batting should say, because I am not the beautiful stitch work, I do not belong to the quilt, it would not case to be part of the quilt. If the whole quilt was just the batting where would the beautiful pattern design be? But in fact God has arranged the parts and pieces of the quilt, every one of them. Just as He wanted them to be." It was a perfect paraphrase for our retreat and just pulled the whole weekend together.
A really neat activity we did was to make 4 prayer quilts. A prayer quilt is a quilt that has ties on it and you say a prayer and tie and knot and the reciever of the quilt is then covered in prayers. We made one for our missionary Amy, two for sweet ladies at R.E. who have been battling illnesses and one for Pam Cope of Touch A Life Foundation.
The blessing of being on the planning committee is watching God just do His thing and bring all the pieces His together. We give Him the praise and the glory for a wonderful weekend.

The Fun Of Aging

I won't be blogging for the next few days as I am going on our Ladies Retreat. Hopefully, I will have some things to share on Monday after I return.

A friend sent this email today and I just thought it was fun. Some of us are closer to realizing some of these than others :) I put my favorite two at the top.

I feel like my body has gotten totally out of shape,
So I got my doctor's permission to
Join a fitness club and start exercising.
I decided to take an aerobics class for seniors.
I bent, twisted, gyrated, jumped up and down, and perspired for an hour. But,
By the time I got my leotards on,
The class was over.

THE SENILITY PRAYER :
Grant me the senility to forget the people
I never liked anyway,
The good fortune to run into the ones I do, and
The eyesight to tell the difference.

Reporters interviewing a 104-year-old woman:
'And what do you think is the best thing
About being 104?' the reporter asked.
She simply replied, 'No peer pressure.'

The nice thing about being senile is
You can hide your own Easter eggs.

I've sure gotten old!
I've had two bypass surgeries, a hip replacement,
New knees, fought prostate cancer and diabetes
I'm half blind,
Can't hear anything quieter than a jet engine,
Take 40 different medications that
Make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts.
Have bouts with dementia
Have poor circulation;
Hardly feel my hands and feet anymore.
Can't remember if I'm 85 or 92.
Have lost all my friends. But, thank God,
I still have my driver's license.

Just before the funeral services, the undertaker came up to the very elderly widow and asked,
'How old was your husband?' '98,' she replied.
'Two years older than me'
'So you're 96,' the undertaker commented.
She responded, 'Hardly worth going home, is it?

My memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.

Know how to prevent sagging?
Just eat till the wrinkles fill out.

It's scary when you start making the same noises
As your coffee maker.

These days about half the stuff
In my shopping cart says,
' For fast relief.'

Wants vs. Needs

I saw this quote the other day and it caused me to think, do I really trust God when I say "give me this day my daily bread."?

Day by day we are given not what we want but what we need. Sometimes it is a feast and sometimes.....swept crumbs, but by faith we believe it is enough. Barbara Brown Taylor

Is Nothing Sacred

One of my husband Steve's favorite singers is Meatloaf. The highlight of Stars On Ice for him was that one of the skaters skated to Meatloaf's "Is Nothing Sacred". I don't know that I had ever heard it before, but the words were powerful. In this day and age where divorce is running rampant and more the norm than not, it is a thoughtful reminder that our God's plan was for marriage to last forever.

If a love as strong as ours, couldn't make it all the way.
Can anything make sense at all?
If a love so deep and true, couldn't stand the test of
time.
Then Mount Everest could slide and Jerusalem could fall.
Is nothing sacred anymore? Is forever just another word?
Is a promise something people use to keep when love was
worth fighting for?
If we can say goodbye, if we can say goodbye.
Is nothing sacred anymore?
If we can say goodbye.
Is nothing sacred anymore?
I can hear the final words, every sentence that was said.
Don't know what turned our lives around.
It doesn't matter who was right.
There's no justice in a dream.
Never thought a heart could break without making a sound.
Is nothing sacred anymore? Is forever just another word?
Is a promise something people use to keep when love was
worth fighting for?
If we can say goodbye, if we can say goodbye.
Is nothing sacred anymore?
If we can say goodbye.
Is nothing sacred anymore?
Our love was as certain as the dawn.
As solid and safe as any love can be.
Our love was a star to wish upon.
And you thought that I'd saved you.
Could've sworn that you saved me.
....

Looking Back

John's sermon text was from Isaiah 43 today.
This is what the LORD says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,

who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

"Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.

I realized that I am spending way to much time living in the past. Thinking about how life was before my accident. It will have been 4 years in about 8 weeks. I am stuck there. Grieving for the way the things were. Wanting them back. Wanting my life back. In being stuck there I realized today that I have not given God an opening or opportunity to do a new thing. He can do something new with me and it may even be better than what it was. So I am going to do my best to let go of the past and let God reveal my future. I am going to trust Him to make all things new. Maybe somewhere down the road I can tell you what He did, or perhaps if you know me well enough it will be obvious.

Loving My Valentine

So Steve and I had a lovely Valentine's Day. The day began with some morning cuddling and Steve saying "you are my Texas squeeze, if we lived in Maine you could be my main squeeze." I cooked us breakfast, we cleaned up and then headed out for Stars on Ice. It was a good show, not as good as some I have seen in the past. Several skaters I had never heard of, but some champions as well. One of my favorites is Michael Weiss and he did not disappoint.

I don't think I have ever watched Sasha Cohen in a competition where she did not fall, and today she fell twice! That must be so embarrassing. I was disappointed that neither of the pairs skaters did a death spiral. I think those always take my breath away. One thing neither Steve or I thought of, was since it was ice skating the arena might be cold. Fortunately, I did have a jacket in the car and that just gave us reason to snuggle. One of the blessings (I guess you would call it that) of not being able to climb stairs is that we get handicapped tickets now, and the seats are just so much roomier. We then had dinner at Saltgrass, only a 45 minute wait, which we didn't think was bad on this night. All in all it was a sweet day :) I am thankful for my Valentine and so blessed to be able to share life with him. I love you Steve. Thank you for being the best husband any woman could ask for. I am thankful you call me your love and blessed to call you my love.

He Said What??

I found this article from Chuck Colson's Breakpoint interesting. I wrote President Obama and asked him to explain his inconsistency in belief and politics, but have not heard anything .

"At the national prayer breakfast last week, President Obama seemed to signal that he has seen the light and is abandoning his radically pro-abortion agenda.

At least, that's the only reasonable conclusion one could make after hearing the President, who says he's a Christian, also say: "There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know."

So I could only surmise that the President now concludes that "no God" would condone the 1.6 million abortions performed each year in America: 1.6 million innocent lives destroyed.

But I've checked the White House website, and it's very clear that God's disapproval hasn't changed the administration's agenda one bit. Here's what the White House website says: "President Obama understands that abortion is a divisive issue, and respects those who disagree with him. However, he has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority in his Administration."

Well, in one way I'm glad I wasn't at the breakfast this year - I was speaking instead at Moody - because I'm not sure I would have been able to stay in my seat.

How can a president of the United States say that "there is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being," when he himself favors a woman's right to have an abortion under virtually every circumstance? How can he say that when, as an Illinois state senator, he voted against the Illinois Induced Infant Liability Act, which would have protected the lives of babies who survived late-term abortions? When he even had the audacity to describe the act as "One more burden on a woman . . . I can't support."

President Obama is a highly intelligent man with a huge job on his hands. I know what the White House is like, and I pray for him fervently every day. But how does such an intelligent man make a statement like this without understanding its implications for his own pro-abortion policies?

The only way to explain it is to understand the intellectual environment, called postmodernism, in which President Obama and his peers have been raised. Generations of Americans have now been taught that truth is subjective. You have your truth, I have mine. And, even worse, I can't "inflict" my version of truth on you. The law of non-contradiction has been suspended.

So politicians can tell us over and over that they can't allow their personal faith to affect their views on public policy. Or they can take two completely opposing positions at the same time: like believing that no God condones the taking of innocent life and at the same time, condoning-even promoting-the taking of an innocent life.

The problem isn't simply President Obama and his views on life; the problem is a postmodern culture which believes that truth is merely a matter of opinion, and that therefore the sanctity of innocent human life is simply an expression of one viewpoint among many.

I have argued for the last 20 years that postmodernism would lead to the unraveling or our society. The fact that so few noticed the contradiction in what the President said and the policies he pursues tells me that we're far along in the unraveling process. "

19 1/2 years

The first thing I heard this morning was "happy 19 1/2 year anniversary". I had got up at 6:00 a.m. to use the restroom. Ever since we were married Steve gives me a card, book, or some little something on the 12th of every month, the day we got married in August 1989. Today, he gave me the new "Mama Mia" video. But the most special gift He gave me this morning was praying over me before he left for work. For the first years of our marriage I would get up and fix Steve breakfast and we would pray before he went to work. Then when I went to work, I didn't fix breakfast anymore because I couldn't go back to bed afterwards (as Steve gets up at 4:30 a.m.), so he would wake me up and pray over me before he left. Since my accident, he no longer wakes me up in the morning and thinks I need my sleep. I sleep so hard that most mornings I don't even hear him getting ready for work and when I do wake up, at 6:30 or so (not that I get up then :)) he has already left. So he doesn't pray over me anymore. I was reminded this morning what a special time that is and I need to tell him to start waking me up again :) What a blessing it is to have a husband to pray with and who prays over you! And who thinks the 12th of every month is a special day, even after 19 1/2 years.

I Have Decided

Driving to a meeting today I heard the old Amy Grant song "I Have Decided". It brought back some really good memories. I used to sing this song all the time in an effort to change the way I was living. I have always had a fairly low self esteem and have had trouble believing I am who God says I am. I am better at believing that some days than others. I just know that Satan likes to have me self loathe and when I do, I usually turn to food to make me feel better (which it really doesn't) but I buy into that lie. So just listening to that song makes me do a U-turn. Perhaps I just need to start each day listening to it? Do you have a song that makes you do a U-turn? I would love to know what it is.



I have decided,
I'm gonna live like a believer,
Turn my back on the deceiver,
I'm gonna live what I believe.

I have decided,
Being good is just a fable,
I just can't cause I'm not able.
I'm gonna leave it to the Lord.

There's a wealth of things that I profess,
I said that I believed,
But deep inside I never changed;
I guess I'd been deceived.

cause a voice inside kept telling me,
That I'd change by and by,
But the spirit made it clear to me,
That kind of life's a lie.

I have decided,
I'm gonna live like a believer,
Turn my back on the deciver,
I'm gonna live what I believe.

I have decided,
Being good is just a fable,
I just can't cause I'm not able.
I'm gonna leave it to the Lord.

So forget the game of being good,
And your self-righteous pain.
cause the only good inside your heart
Is the good that Jesus brings.

And when the world begins to see you change,
Don't expect them to applaud.
Just keep your eyes on him and tell yourself,
I've become the work of God

God-likeness

I read this quote today from Oswald Chambers:
"The expression of Christian character is not in good doing, but God-likeness.
God's life in us expresses itself as God's life, not as human life trying to be Godly."

Wow. My head knows that I need to empty myself to be filled with God, but there are more days than not when I just flat get in the way. I wonder at what point it will happen, when others look at me and say "look at God" instead of "look at the good things Lynn is doing". Perhaps when I say "thank you God for working through me" instead of "look at what I am doing for you God". I am so thankful for the spiritual leaders that have gone before us like Oswald Chambers that rock my theology to the bone.

You Just Never Know

For those of you that know Hal Pruessner, don't you think this was him Penn (of Penn and Teller) is talking about?


If you don't know Hal, he passes out Bibles whereever he goes and to whomever he meets. He has passed out countless cases. I need to be more bold like Hal, and then God does His work. You just never know what your seed planting will produce.

Signs of Aging

Another funny from You Make Me Laugh.

You know you're getting older if:

1. You and your teeth don't sleep together.

2. You try to straighten out the wrinkles in your socks and discover you aren't wearing any.

3. At the breakfast table you hear snap, crackle, pop and you're not eating cereal.

4. Your back goes out but you stay home.

5. When you wake up looking like your driver's license picture.

6. It takes two tries to get up from the couch.

7. When your idea of a night out is sitting on the patio.

8. When happy hour is a nap.

9. When you're on vacation and your energy runs out before your money does.

10. When you say something to your kids that your mother said to you and you always hated it.

Hey you can't fight it right?? So we might as well laugh about it and enjoy it :)

My Kind of Diet

Saw this in my Laugh For A Day:

"According to a recent article I just read on nutrition, they said eating right doesn't have to be complicated. Nutritionists say there is a simple way to tell if you're eating right. Colors. Fill your plates with bright colors. Greens, reds, yellows.

In fact, I did that this morning. I had an entire bowl of M&M's. It was delicious! I never knew eating right could be so easy.

I now have a whole new outlook on life."

I Stand Amazed

Remember the lyrics of that old hymn?
"I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus, the Nazerene,
and wonder how he could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean"

I frequently stop and ask myself that question. How could Jesus love me? Why would He leave the heavenly realms to come to earth for me? It is amazing to think about, that Christ who had it all, left it all for me? "Christ himself was like God in every-thing.... But he gave up his place with God and made himself nothing. He was born to be a man and became like a servant" (Phil. 2:6--7 NCV).

I recently read this quote by Max Lucado:
"I was asking myself that question when I spotted the squirrels outside my window. A family of black-tailed squirrels has made its home amid the roots of the tree north of my office. We've been neighbors for three years now. They watch me peck the keyboard. I watch them store their nuts and climb the trunk. We're mutually amused. I could watch them all day. Sometimes I do.
But I've never considered becoming one of them. The squirrel world holds no appeal to me. Who wants to sleep next to a hairy rodent with beady eyes? (No comments from you wives who feel you already do.) Give up the Rocky Mountains, bass fishing, weddings, and laughter for a hole in the ground and a diet of dirty nuts? Count me out.
But count Jesus in. What a world he left. Our classiest mansion would be a tree trunk to him. Earth's finest cuisine would be walnuts on heaven's table. And the idea of becoming a squirrel with claws and tiny teeth and a furry tail? It's nothing compared to God becoming a one-celled embryo and entering the womb of Mary.
But he did. The God of the universe kicked against the wall of a womb, was born into the poverty of a peasant, and spent his first night in the feed trough of a cow. "The Word became flesh and lived among us" (John 1:14 NRSV). The God of the universe left the glory of heaven and moved into the neighborhood. Our neighborhood! Who could have imagined he would do such a thing."

So thanks to Max and God's Word, again I just sit and think about that and I stand amazed. Thank you God for loving a sinner like me.

Grace and Racism

I have been attending Ladies Bible Class for about nine years. One thing you cannot say about our LBC is it is a shallow study. All the studies cause us to dig deep and are thought provoking. So today in our lesson on grace was dealing with racism. Not a topic that we discuss very often. Not a topic I like to talk about or admit to. I actually don't think I am a racist, but I am prejudiced. Not so much toward skin color but towards people that are covered with tattoos and with homosexuals. Today in talking about the good Samaritan story, the author posted these comments that I had never thought of before.
A Collection of Attitudes (taken from The Life Application Bible)
-To the expert in the law, the wounded man was a subject to discuss.
-To the robbers, the wounded man was someone to use and exploit
-To the religious men, the wounded was a problem to be avoided.
-To the innkeeper, the wounded man was a customer to serve for a fee.
-To the Samaritan, the wounded man was a human being worth being cared for and loved.
-To Jesus, all of them and all of us were worth dying for.

We were then challenged to look at our own attitudes and how we treat people we have trouble accepting. What is my approach? Discussion, exploitation,avoidance, financial gain, love, sacrificial giving? Then the question was posed "what does it take to get to the place of love and sacrificial giving?" For me? It is realizing that is what God wants me to do. After all He loves someone like me...and constantly reminding myself of that fact.

Cleanliness

This is a follow up to my post the other day about Jesus washing us whiter than snow. I was told that last Wednesday night, at Wednesday service, people spent time contemplating if they were faced with Jesus as the blind man was in Mark 10:51 and Jesus said "What do you want me to do for you?", what would I say? It is important that when we are reading the Word we realize that the people were just like us. So putting myself in the picture will often give me a different perspective, a transforming perspective. Such is the case of Jesus and the lepers in Luke 5. Here, Jesus takes time for the outcasts of society, He stops and gives them His undivided attention. He touches the untouchable, loves the unlovely and unloveable. I am that leper disfigured by my own sin, not very desirable, definitely not loveable. I look in Jesus' eyes and wonder why would He love me, why would he want to touch me? Yet the truth is if I am willing to be cleansed, Jesus is willing to cleanse me, to heal me, to make me whole! Pretty amazing that He is willing to take me from being a leper to being His daughter, a princess in His kingdom. Amazing that
He does not touch me out of pity, but out of an overwhelming compassion for me. He touches me not out of ignorance but out of a deep knowing of who I truly am. He doesn't wait till I am clean to embrace me, He embraces me and makes me clean. But He doesn't just do this once, He does it over and over, because I sin and feel ugly and unclean over and over but thankfully His blood, according to 1 John 1:7, continually cleanses me from all my sin. So the other part of the leper encounter that I can personalize, is am I the leper that remembers to thank my Lord? Or do I take my cleansing for granted? As I typing all of this the Sonic Flood Song comes to mind:
Holiness, holiness is what I long for
Holiness is what I need
Holiness, holiness is what You
want from me

So, take my heart and form it
Take my mind and transform it
Take my will and conform it
To Yours, to Yours, oh, Lord

Faithfulness, faithfulness is what I
long for
Faithfulness is what I need
Faithfulness, faithfulness is what
You want from me

Inaugural Prayer

Chuck Norris had this fascinating perspective on Rick Warren's Inaugural Invocation.

You can read it by cutting and pasting this address in your browser (don't know why blogger isn't letting me do a link ?)

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=87094