Category: thankful and grateful

In Job

After 10 days of wading through his “pushing it” moments, his “right on target moments” and his friends’ “poor theology” moments in Job, it was such a breath of fresh air to read God’s response this morning. There was no need to decipher or question and try to figure out the real message behind the Words. It was a clear-cut humbling as God explained only a fraction of his Omniscience and Omnipotence. Whenever you need a pride kicker, fellow Older brothers of the Prodigal son (I’m speaking to myself here too), jump into chapter 38 and 39 of Job. It’s just not possible to leave those chapters feeling mighty.

Yet what a great God that even in our righteous indignation moments, He stoops down to correct us because we have the privilege of being His kids.

The Privilege.

He doesn’t need us.

He wants us.

“Slightly off’ in so many moments, ‘a little too prideful’ in so many moments, sinful and ‘battling out this flesh and Spirit” us.

What a privilege to be His.

– Thanks for the reminder in Job.

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Lil Baby 4

So here’s our little secret that we’ve waited to share until we graced out of the first trimester. This is healthy, happy and squirmy Lil Baby 4 who is due to join our company mid-July 2014. We’re excited and thankful for this new delight and look forward to sharing baby’s kicks and movements together until we get to meet him or her on the outside. I am currently in my first week of my second trimester and am thankful for the hope and privilege of soon parenting another precious one.

P.S. Now you know one of the reasons behind my quiet blogging lately. I’ve been SLEEEEEEEEPING. This whole participating in building a human is exhausting work! 😉

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For those of you who know me personally and have noticed the “Christmas weight” I was putting on (man how my body was starting to give it away), I appreciate you allowing us the privacy of telling you when the time was best. We have chosen this privacy since Matt, being an assistant pastor, tends to put us more in the spotlight than others. Miscarriage is always a possibility, but some parts of pregnancy hold a higher chance of miscarriage than others. So we have made it our goal to wait out the largest miscarriage window (12+ weeks) in order not only to allow for grieving, should it need to occur, to begin as a private affair, but also since we don’t want to make the decision for your family on whether or not you need to discuss miscarriage with your children. See, if we shared early on in the pregnancy and happened to miscarry, it’d force you to have to explain miscarriage to your own little ones who may not be ready or mature enough to understand that reality yet. So thank you again for making the excuses to your kids, for those that needed to, and diverting the questions to allow us the privacy and the respect of your own household in sharing our joyous news at the best time. This time around, due to when the boys left our home, we chose to wait a bit longer than usual to have our second dr. appt. Therefore, my baby bump was growing and more and more difficult to mask. Thank you again for working with us in awaiting the announcement. Funny how 2 weeks of difference can start to give it all away after you’ve been pregnancy 4 times already. 😉

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For those of you curious at what the breakdown of  our family will be come this new one’s arrival: Rachael will be 5.5 years old, Abi will have weeks prior celebrated her 4th birthday and our dear Hannah will be 2 months shy of 2 years old when we hope to get the privilege of meeting our newest family member.

Thanks in advance for your joyful prayers.

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Pure and Undefiled

“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” James 1:27

 

I love this verse and I hate this verse.

This verse nails me to the floor every time.

My husband did a great, God inspired, job of preaching a sermon on this verse many months ago (maybe even a year ago now). It was one of those sermons I haven’t been able to shake from my head. One of those sermons that revisit me periodically to poke… and push… and chisel away at me, that I would look more like Christ.

I love this verse so much… and my flesh hates it so.

Widows, orphans. I want to make those the cute little people in Hallmark worlds, so far removed from us. Annie, the classic redheaded example of an orphan. And then pictures begin flashing through my head.

See, this verse uses these terms in their specific contexts of literal widows and orphans, but it also applies beyond the fatherless and the spouseless. It refers to the “least of these”. The filthy. The “left for dead”. The abandoned by society and the world. The hated. The devastated by culture and community. The utter and completely undesirable.

And it’s meditating on this verse that draws the pictures of those hostages in the brothels, and their captors. Those walking the shores half-naked after a tsunami. Those faces I have seen of children and families trapped in poverty all around the world. Those rendered useless because they are too disabled to hold a job. Those penned as mentally unstable, and therefore are wandering the streets.

And my flesh cries out, “I don’t want to go there!”

“I don’t want to sit down in the filth and the pain and the destruction! I don’t want to walk a mile with that burden I’m called to help carry.”

But then the Spirit within me reminds me of my own filth. My own utter desolation and destruction without Christ and even my own ugliness when I operate in my flesh while IN Christ.

The filthy rags of the orphan and the widow still smell putrid.  The hurts are still real. And deep. And there are still so many unanswerable questions. And sitting beside the girl on the brothel floor may not remove her from the brothel. But is Christ still Beautiful in a brothel?

“PURE and UNDEFILED religion”

Oh there are certainly times I wish God didn’t define work with widows and orphans as “pure and undefiled religion” and yet He has opened my eyes. He has given me His heart. Even though I so don’t deserve it.

See, religion is and can be pure and undefiled when I am not in it. When it’s not about me. When it’s all about Christ.

See, my flesh doesn’t want to “visit”, which in its context is not talking about a one-time affair but instead is referring to a “living with” or “traveling with” affair – a “walking alongside” and “carrying their burden” kind of visit. Yeah, my flesh doesn’t want to visit… so I have to leave it at the door to accomplish this command.

I am forced to shed my desires, my wants, my reservations, my discomforts and instead put fully on the robe of Christ. Maybe, just maybe that’s what Christ was referring to when He said “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you…” (John 15:7). Maybe that’s what it means to let His Words abide in me. Let Him abide in us…

Oh that He would even stoop down and find me desirable – not in any way needed for His mission – but desirable to be a vessel of His unconditional love.

“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (James 1:27)

It nails me every time.

 

 

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20

 

 

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Truth Friendship

I am so thankful for a friend who refuses to allow me to make excuses for immaturity in my walk with Christ. I am thankful for a friend who pushes me to move beyond the ample excuses I could easily use on why I don’t have time for the Word, or prayer, or ministry. I am thankful for a friend that is more concerned with the crown I throw at Jesus’ feet than the inconvenience of today’s dying to self. I am thankful for a friend that says hard truths, compelling me toward Christ, in full and complete love. I am thankful that she is so in love with Jesus that comfort in our walks with Christ bothers her. We should always be wanting more of Jesus and less of ourselves. I am thankful that she refuses to allow me, or her for that matter, to rob Jesus of His due glory for our temporary gain.

I am thankful that her heart is so hungry for God that injustice breaks her heart, “the least of these” draws her lifestyle worship, and complacency is completely unacceptable. And I am thankful for a dear friend who would be the first to step up in humility and say, “don’t follow my example, I am the first to mess it up. Just follow Jesus.”.

Jesus, how my heart needs You. Thank You that I can draw near to you through the reflection of Your light in my dear friend’s eyes.

I cannot thank You enough, Lord. She is such a frustration and a challenge and a spurring to me. Such an answered prayer! Thank You for pushing me to discontentment in my walk – not discontent with You, but discontent with me – the very me that needs to die that more of You would be seen. That I might be useful. And truly alive. For Your glory.

Lord, create in me a clean heart, that I may not sin against You. Open my eyes to the things unseen. Oh draw me, Lord. For all the glory and honor and praise are unto You forever and ever. Amen.

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Perspective

So I just wanted to give you a little perspective on our family. We took this picture a few months ago when celebrating a kiddo’s birthday. Every child in this picture is 6 yrs old or younger. And this is only two families worth of kids. Yes, we’re that kind of crazy. 10 kids six and under!

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Oh right, and my sis in law is preggers too.  =)

Sure it feels like madness around here at moments, but it is a bit odd how well we all click in other moments. It’s sweet that everyone has a plethera of buddies.

 

This is a picture of what a generation of compassion for the orphan produces.

Thanks for laying the great groundwork, Barb and Rodger.

 

– Thankful, grateful and blessed.

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The Finish Line

Well the race was this morning. And we all got up at varied times during the hour of 5am to get on out there. Hannah had a rough week of teething all this week, but God blessed us with a good night’s sleep 2 nights ago that  helped during the race. Sadly, last night I got barely over 6 hours of sleep with my rough teether waking up 3 times (every 2 hours) in the night. Yeah, not a great start to the already early morning, but not once did I ever think to let the poor thing cry so I could get more sleep in preparation for the run.

Our precious friend, Jessica, joined us to care for the girls while Matt and I were in the race. I cannot say enough about this wonderful woman in Christ. Her heart is so beautiful and how she loves my girls… makes this Mommy’s heart so thankful and hopeful that my girls will turn out like her some day.

So after parking a little after 6:15am, we waited out one of the last waves of the storm in the van. When we got too antsy and Hannah had an opportunity for her morning nursing session, we loaded up the girls and headed in to the Start line. Potty, a dropped shoe, and kisses later, we took these two pictures and headed to the Start line.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWe were multitasking in stretching too. You know, that’s why Matt only has one leg. Hehehe.

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And these little ladies did WONDERFULLY while we were racing. And Jessica took these sweet little pictures during their wait at the Finish Line. =)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOf course Ducky came too. =)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAShe’s getting so big.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERABless her little heart.

We were hoping to finish at 3 hours. And my personal goal was not to walk at all during the 13.1 miles.

We ended up finishing at 2 hours and 53 minutes and 52 seconds. And I did not walk at all.

Shortly after crossing the finish line we found the girls on the sidelines. Sweet little Hannah was out cold in the stroller and had been so for almost 2 hours. Rachael was just tall enough to see over the wall. And little Abi didn’t quite make it without assistance. It was sweet to see Matt pick her up over the wall and carry her through the finishing food/drink distribution lines before we were out of the runners finishing area and free to mingle with our family.  The girls took turns wearing and holding our participation medals. And dear Rachael told us at least ten times throughout the morning that she was really proud of us. – Sweet thing.

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We started across the start line holding hands and finished through the finishing gates and across the finish line holding hands. I couldn’t ask for a better teammate and friend in my life. I am so blessed beyond measure to accomplish this life goal alongside my Matthew.

I am so glad the girls were able to be there, even though it was early, and raining at one point. And a lot of waiting. They are our little world and it was such a blessing to share in the moments together.

Matt and I both agreed at mile 12 that we both have NO desire to ever run a half marathon again, but would like to make a lifestyle out of 5K’s and maybe even 10K’s in overly ambitious moments. Both of our knees are shot and EVERYTHING hurts. But today as we pop the tylennol and rub our sore muscles, we are just so thankful that this goal was accomplished. And is behind us. 😉

**** Thanks be to God, for the motivation and the strength. He is more than sufficient. And He surely provided. SURELY. Thank You, Lord. Thank You.

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