This is December in pictures. I will post thoughts separately..here.
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| biked 10 miles with the boys in tow! what a great way to end the fun! praise God for healthy bodies that c |
Friday, January 4, 2013
December 2012
I am posting this blog from a blogger app on my iPhone. This is the first time I have posted this way. Not sure how the pictures are going to post with the content.
This is December in pictures. I will post thoughts separately..here.
This is December in pictures. I will post thoughts separately..here.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Photo Card
Monogram Memories Christmas
Create unique Christmas cards with Shutterfly.
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Photo Card
Monogram Memories Christmas
Shutterfly has classic, elegant Christmas invitations for your party.
View the entire collection of cards.
Photo Card
Monogram Memories Christmas
Create from the Heart: photo Christmas cards from Shutterfly .
View the entire collection of cards.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
ache
the kind of friend who calls at 430p to see if i would come over with the boys and have a glass of wine while she fixes dinner..
laughter as we watch it all unfold in the kitchen..the five kids, the dog, oh the drama..a knowing look passes between moms.
when she aches, i ache as if the pain were mine
our boys have a play date every week..we switch back and forth houses
the boys love one another so well, they genuinely care for one another and want to share the very best, the batman fighter guy
the mom moment when she drops him off and a look would pass quickly..the eyes say it all...how the day/week is transpiring, sometimes leads to a chat, sometimes just the look is enough to know
anytime maxeys and morses are together fun is a given and depth expected.
i say i am no good at goodbyes, but truth be told i think i am a master of them. i feel them at the depth of my being. i know that this is what the Lord had in His plans all along..it is so obvious that this is for His good and for His glory. i look with expectation at what He has done and is going to do through your move. i know it is best...but still, i ache. i ache in my soul as i lay in bed tonight at the thought that our boys may not remember one another when they are grown. i mourn the ease and intimacy of our friendship, that will now be one of distance and facebook posts.
mostly, i just wanted to say that Heather, Jack, Jackson and RyJ love you, Katherine, Matt, Will, Annely Blake, Henry and "FLORIDA".
laughter as we watch it all unfold in the kitchen..the five kids, the dog, oh the drama..a knowing look passes between moms.
when she aches, i ache as if the pain were mine
our boys have a play date every week..we switch back and forth houses
the boys love one another so well, they genuinely care for one another and want to share the very best, the batman fighter guy
the mom moment when she drops him off and a look would pass quickly..the eyes say it all...how the day/week is transpiring, sometimes leads to a chat, sometimes just the look is enough to know
anytime maxeys and morses are together fun is a given and depth expected.
i say i am no good at goodbyes, but truth be told i think i am a master of them. i feel them at the depth of my being. i know that this is what the Lord had in His plans all along..it is so obvious that this is for His good and for His glory. i look with expectation at what He has done and is going to do through your move. i know it is best...but still, i ache. i ache in my soul as i lay in bed tonight at the thought that our boys may not remember one another when they are grown. i mourn the ease and intimacy of our friendship, that will now be one of distance and facebook posts.
mostly, i just wanted to say that Heather, Jack, Jackson and RyJ love you, Katherine, Matt, Will, Annely Blake, Henry and "FLORIDA".
Assurance that Christ is At Work : 1 John 2:28-3:10
i have been attending a women's bible study on tuesday mornings at my church (Redeemer PCA). this year, we are studying 1John. It has been a great study..it is always good for my soul to practice regular fellowship around the word...it never returns void. i have also been feeling a pull lately to listen online to sermons by some of the reformed pastors (keller and piper and others) who have great things to say about the texts that we have been studying. today, i listened to a sermon on 1john3:1-10 by piper on the Gospel Coalition website. here it is:
Let What You Hear From the Beginning Abide in You
it is a little on the long side..but it.is.great.stuff.
the question it tackles is how do people who have experienced the miracle of the new birth deal with their own sinfulness as they try to live in the full assurance of their salvation?
i struggle with questions like, "why do i still sin?" "why does sin matter to me, since i will never be sinless?" "why don't i have joy, if i believe the Gospel to be true?" 1 John addresses all of these questions. John's first letter seems to be designed to help believers in the daily battle. Piper says, "This book is written to help believers have the full assurance that they have been born again." God wants His Children to experience Joy..a profound confidence that we have passed from death to life.
my struggle looks a little like this in my head, "i am a believer. i will go be with the king when i die. but i won't ever stop sinning..so why try...where is my joy? i carry a feeling of defeat around.. what is the point of telling others about this faith of mine,if it doesn't produce change in my life. if it doesn't produce joy?"
so here i stand, a believer who knows my destiny, but is so "all or nothing" that i despair in my sin and live a life of tons of apathy about my unbelieving friends.
John warns against claiming to have a new birth when your life contradicts it, and John celebrates the advocate we believing sinners have in Christ. The fact that we can be both Christians and sinners and drawing on Christ all at the same time and that is the way we show others Christ!?..This is exciting to me! Assurance in my new birth can be found in how these truths function in my life..Assurance brings great joy.
so what i am saying is:
The Holy Spirit manifests both
1 John 3:9 "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning"
and
1 John 2:1 "We who sin have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous"
in the life of a believer. "New birth has a spiritual discernment that senses how to use Johns' teaching to chasten the warnings and be sobered and be filled with joy and power because of the promise of an advocate."-John Piper
Proof/Assurance that I am a growing believer comes as I see the Holy Spirit showing me my sin, giving me power to put it to death, (ie. not living a life of practicing sin), and allowing the Father to be my advocate as I fall again and again. That assurance that the Lord is indeed at work...making change happen...is where joy is found.
I don't know if any of this makes a ton of sense, as I am still trying to flesh all of this out..but it is just really meaty to me. As a believer I am always "slipping into a lukewarm, careless, presumption frame of mind about my own sinfulness" but the Holy Spirit awakens me...As a believer I am always "sinking down in fear and discouragement and even despair though my righteousness, my love for people, and my fight against sin are just not good enough" but the Holy Spirit rescues me. The redemptive power of God's word and His Spirit grants me to embrace both the warning and the comfort in a way that can bring...even me...Joy!
Let What You Hear From the Beginning Abide in You
it is a little on the long side..but it.is.great.stuff.
the question it tackles is how do people who have experienced the miracle of the new birth deal with their own sinfulness as they try to live in the full assurance of their salvation?
i struggle with questions like, "why do i still sin?" "why does sin matter to me, since i will never be sinless?" "why don't i have joy, if i believe the Gospel to be true?" 1 John addresses all of these questions. John's first letter seems to be designed to help believers in the daily battle. Piper says, "This book is written to help believers have the full assurance that they have been born again." God wants His Children to experience Joy..a profound confidence that we have passed from death to life.
my struggle looks a little like this in my head, "i am a believer. i will go be with the king when i die. but i won't ever stop sinning..so why try...where is my joy? i carry a feeling of defeat around.. what is the point of telling others about this faith of mine,if it doesn't produce change in my life. if it doesn't produce joy?"
so here i stand, a believer who knows my destiny, but is so "all or nothing" that i despair in my sin and live a life of tons of apathy about my unbelieving friends.
John warns against claiming to have a new birth when your life contradicts it, and John celebrates the advocate we believing sinners have in Christ. The fact that we can be both Christians and sinners and drawing on Christ all at the same time and that is the way we show others Christ!?..This is exciting to me! Assurance in my new birth can be found in how these truths function in my life..Assurance brings great joy.
so what i am saying is:
The Holy Spirit manifests both
1 John 3:9 "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning"
and
1 John 2:1 "We who sin have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous"
in the life of a believer. "New birth has a spiritual discernment that senses how to use Johns' teaching to chasten the warnings and be sobered and be filled with joy and power because of the promise of an advocate."-John Piper
Proof/Assurance that I am a growing believer comes as I see the Holy Spirit showing me my sin, giving me power to put it to death, (ie. not living a life of practicing sin), and allowing the Father to be my advocate as I fall again and again. That assurance that the Lord is indeed at work...making change happen...is where joy is found.
I don't know if any of this makes a ton of sense, as I am still trying to flesh all of this out..but it is just really meaty to me. As a believer I am always "slipping into a lukewarm, careless, presumption frame of mind about my own sinfulness" but the Holy Spirit awakens me...As a believer I am always "sinking down in fear and discouragement and even despair though my righteousness, my love for people, and my fight against sin are just not good enough" but the Holy Spirit rescues me. The redemptive power of God's word and His Spirit grants me to embrace both the warning and the comfort in a way that can bring...even me...Joy!
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
image
for those of you who may not know me personally, thinking too much about myself and and my body is the chief sin that i struggle with..looks like me having to repent many times in a day..repenting when i pass a mirror, repenting when i see an outfit i don't like, repenting when i spend lots of time thinking about what i am going to wear, repenting when i feel devastation because i missed a workout...it manifests itself in so many ways..i am repenting lots.
yesterday a new woman joined my table at women's bible study. she rolled into study in an electronic wheel chair with the biggest smile and sparkle in her eyes. she had on a pink "i love Jesus" hat..that she quickly placed on her lap when she approached the table. her big smile brought joy to our table and also made me think too long about the teeth that her smile revealed. very crooked, very nasty teeth. i couldn't look at her face when i talked to her because i was afraid i would stare into her mouth too much. i tried to make small talk though. i wanted her to feel comfortable at our table, since i am the table leader that is kind of my job. everything i said, she smiled. with every smile was joy...and teeth. a constant internal reminder to me that i am God's child because i recognize His presence, but i am a wretched sinner because i can't look at yucky teeth.
the woman spoke none. she smiled lots. at one point during our study she pushed her scooter button to go in reverse to try to reach her slipper that had fallen off of her foot onto the floor. without thinking, i reached down and grabbed the very dirty, very stinky slipper and put it on her very dirty, very stinky foot. it was clear that she could not reach her feet easily. with that itty bitty act of service, i felt the Lord's presence very strongly inside of my body.
during prayer requests at the end of the study, she spoke. "feet...good...doctor...very good...feet..you know." is what she said. with each word there was long pause and her eyes watered as if she was trying with all of her body to make her words come together and make sense. at this point, another lady at the table explained to us that this woman had had a stroke and had trouble with speech and stringing words together.
we bowed our heads to pray..it is a popcorn style prayer where women at the table take turns praying for one another. after a few of the other women at the table prayed, the woman began to pray.
"Father...you know...love...women...pray...Father...you know...love....Father...love."
i knew the moment that she got the first word out of her soul into the room, that many tears were about to flow from my soul. i began to cry and after the first tear rolled down my cheek, the large amount of tears began to wash my face, my shirt, and my pants. the Lord used her prayer mightily in my innermost being. her prayer was cleansing to me.
she lacked every worldly idol to which i cling. her testimony had power. her joy was overwhelming.
My Father is alive. His plans are perfect. He is always at work.
yesterday a new woman joined my table at women's bible study. she rolled into study in an electronic wheel chair with the biggest smile and sparkle in her eyes. she had on a pink "i love Jesus" hat..that she quickly placed on her lap when she approached the table. her big smile brought joy to our table and also made me think too long about the teeth that her smile revealed. very crooked, very nasty teeth. i couldn't look at her face when i talked to her because i was afraid i would stare into her mouth too much. i tried to make small talk though. i wanted her to feel comfortable at our table, since i am the table leader that is kind of my job. everything i said, she smiled. with every smile was joy...and teeth. a constant internal reminder to me that i am God's child because i recognize His presence, but i am a wretched sinner because i can't look at yucky teeth.
the woman spoke none. she smiled lots. at one point during our study she pushed her scooter button to go in reverse to try to reach her slipper that had fallen off of her foot onto the floor. without thinking, i reached down and grabbed the very dirty, very stinky slipper and put it on her very dirty, very stinky foot. it was clear that she could not reach her feet easily. with that itty bitty act of service, i felt the Lord's presence very strongly inside of my body.
during prayer requests at the end of the study, she spoke. "feet...good...doctor...very good...feet..you know." is what she said. with each word there was long pause and her eyes watered as if she was trying with all of her body to make her words come together and make sense. at this point, another lady at the table explained to us that this woman had had a stroke and had trouble with speech and stringing words together.
we bowed our heads to pray..it is a popcorn style prayer where women at the table take turns praying for one another. after a few of the other women at the table prayed, the woman began to pray.
"Father...you know...love...women...pray...Father...you know...love....Father...love."
i knew the moment that she got the first word out of her soul into the room, that many tears were about to flow from my soul. i began to cry and after the first tear rolled down my cheek, the large amount of tears began to wash my face, my shirt, and my pants. the Lord used her prayer mightily in my innermost being. her prayer was cleansing to me.
she lacked every worldly idol to which i cling. her testimony had power. her joy was overwhelming.
My Father is alive. His plans are perfect. He is always at work.
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