Job

   I haven't posted about it but on New Years Day 2014 I gave birth to the twins. I in fact had an emergency c-section at 33 weeks pregnant and our sweet little Listener did not survive. I carried him every moment of his life. I can't begin to express the pain I feel. Tomorrow is the 3 month anniversary of his death and it hurts just as much now as it did when I woke from the surgery and the nurse told me he had died.
   I'm also elated that we have our darling Meerkat! He is such a beautiful child. So sweet and full of smiles and laughter. He keeps me on my toes. Having a preemie in the midst of all this sadness has been overlooked by us for the most part. He is a rather easy baby to care for with few adverse side effects from his traumatic entry. He is a night owl though. Thankfully Husband’s work schedule is such that I can stay up at night and he takes care of the children during the day.
    Sparrow has struggled with all that we've endured but God is helping all of us to survive it. He'll use it in our lives to make us who He wants us to be. She is an amazing big sister and loves her new role.
   This week is especially hard on my grieving heart. Tomorrow marks the anniversary of the birth of the babies. The following day is the 6 month anniversary of my Mom's death. The day after that would have been her 65 birthday.
   A dear friend momentarily thought I was crazy to be studying the book of Job at a time like this. The truth is it's comforting to know that others have suffered hardships that seem impossible.
  As I heal and wait on spring to arrive I am working on a "pocket handkin". A handkerchief monogrammed with a fantasy floral decoration. As you can guess, with a 4 year old and a tiny baby it's hard to slip embroidery into the mix. I'm trying to steal a moment here and there though. In 3 months I've been able to design the motif and transfer it!
   If you  have any questions about what happened with the babies or details about the monogram, just ask. Don't let the sadness of Job stop you from gleaning the immense treasures of this raw book.

 

Ugly Truth About Envy

   Today's post is not earth shattering news. You already know it. Envy is bad no matter what form it takes. 

Proverbs 23:17 says:

 Let not your heart envy sinners,

but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.

   We normally think of a sinner as one of "the Others". Those who are not Christians. We are all sinners, all of us. Saved and unsaved alike. There is a huge difference though. We as Christians should be bothered and may I say increasingly bothered by our sin. If you are a Christian and live in your sin, make excuses for it, minimize it - your relationship with the Lord is off kilter. You need to stop where you are, confess your sin, repent of it and receive sweet forgiveness. We have to do this moment by moment, not once and never again.

   So there it is in Proverbs we are not to envy other Christians even. We are to continually look to the Lord for our guidance and be grateful for all that He provides.  

   Here is an illustration from life: A friend asked me to pray for another friend of hers. This poor woman endured years of abuse from her mentally ill husband. After he was committed, her daughter was able to open up to her that her father had abused her. (please pray for this family - no need to mention names, God already knows them)

   So I was thinking on these poor lambs and God brought the thought to my mind that at sometime, someone probably looked at that family and envied them. 

   Were they to be envied. Of course not, we know that now don't we? What if the husband had never done those things? Well, he still did some kind of sin didn't he?  

   I want to stress that it's okay to model your behavior after a godly person's behavior. It's a fine line but that's not the same as envy - just don't let it cross the line into envy! 

Envy says that you are not thankful for what God has given you. That you know better than God does what you need or should have. If God wanted you to have that object, attitude, attribute...then He would give it to you. If you ask for it and He with holds it, there is a good reason.  Even if you don't understand what that reason is. 

Finally, here is today's update on a project for a friend. It's a memorial for her sweet child, River.

      The foundation fabric is a stark white. The lettering and booties are #12 perle ecru. Sweet flowers and foliage that surround the central element are done in one strand of DMC floss in barely there pastel shades. 

The other baby quilt I am working on is now packed up. All the embroidery is finished and framed in chocolate brown cotton that has teensy-tiny white polka dots on it. Just now I'm thinking both of these projects will be backed in soft creamy flannel. 

Count your blessings!

   

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! What more can anyone say?


In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

Step by step. Moment by moment

It's very easy to say and so very difficult to put into practice...

Walking moment by moment with God.

I think we must have an image like this in mind when we think of walking with out Lord. Peacefully Reading His word, learning Him. Walking in some lonely place surrounded by the beautiful things of 

creation. There are times when it is this picturesque. But it also has to take place when your world looks more like this...

Life is busy. That doesn't mean that we can separate God from it or put Him aside. You don't have to be on your knees to pray. To have those intimate moments with Christ. That's why He rent the veil. We know this but it's hard to put into practice when life is so busy isn't it?

Here is an example: Picture this, you are in ancient times. Walking with God it's dusty...Now did you see yourself on an open road alone with Jesus or did you picture yourself on a road crowded with disciples bumping elbows and joking? My guess is that you were alone. Here is what I want your reality to be - what it can be... Get that crowded picture and then recognize that you are the person walking closest to Jesus. That you can whisper back and forth in the commotion without anyone even paying attention. There is an intimacy even in the clamor of daily life.

How is it accomplished? By practice. By learning to pray in those times. By recalling the verses that you know. To do that you must have memorized the verses in the first place. But while you are doing your memorizing ( I trust you will) you pray during busy things. Pray wile you drive ( just don't close your eyes), pray while you cook, while you *gasp* watch TV, or anything else that you so. Also spend time getting to know Jesus. You have to desire Him for who He is. No one stays close to a person when they are repeatedly using you to get what they want then making themselves scarce when they have nothing to physically gain from you only to reappear when they have a need again. That's an abuse not a relationship. Don't be that kind of person to God. Another common belief seems to be that when you 'get saved' that's the climax of your relationship with Christ. As if you've finally reached what you've always been searching for and can now stop looking and take a deep breath. Quite the opposite is true.

If you can parallel a disaster at sea with knowing God it goes like this: The large ocean liner that you are on has a disaster and you are left bobbling and striving in the waves. A rubber raft draws draws close to you and a strong hand grips you and pulls you, limp and tired from your struggle into the dinghy. That is the moment of salvation. But you still have many days or weeks until you come to shore (heaven). That's the part of the journey I'm speaking in the last paragraph. While you are in the life raft, get to know the One who rescued you, no matter who else is in the boat or how high the waves get. I can promise you, He is worth getting to know.


Please go have a look at the link up over at:

10 Commandments

   It's common knowledge right, the 10 commandments. "Can you name them"? "Can you name one, say the 4th"? "um, well..."

   To my horror I recently realized that I didn't know them. I set out together with my husband to learn them straight away. I'm not very disciplined with in myself so I'm taking the easy route and learning them simplistically first. Then I'll learn the actual verses. Here's how I did it:

  

    I am using hand gestures as a sort of memory trick. There are many ways to learn the 10 commandments in this manner. I suggest you view many and take from each one the gesture that makes the idea stick for you. Since my camera batteries are dead at the moment I'll just write them out and trust that you'll be enthusiastic enough about God's word to seek out videos on your own. It really did only take about 15 minutes or less for me to get this. 

1- There is only one God

(index finger pointing upward)

2- no idols

(use both index fingers bending one as if it's bowing to the other)

3 - Don't take the Lord's name in vain

(use the standard finger gesture for the number 3 it also forms the letter 'W' - for the word 'word' cover your lips with these 3 fingers to remind yourself not to use your lips)

4- keep the Sabbath holy

(use the first 2 fingers on each hand pointing them downward to suggest a chair or bed to rest on bringing to mind that God rested on the 7th day)

5 - Honor your father and mother

(keeping one of your hands flat fingers together make a downward swoop with your hand as if spanking a child, I remembered this one first because it was so cute)

6 - don't murder

(hold up one hand, fingers apart these fingers represent people. Point your index finger of your other hand at these 5 'people' indicating shooting them. *remember not to use your thumb as a trigger for your finger gun because having 7 fingers raised may throw off your commandment order and make things difficult to keep straight*)

7 - no adultery

(hold up 5 fingers on one hand again representing multiple spouses. hold up 2 fingers on the other hand  representing a proper husband and wife)

8- don't steal

(hold up all of your 8 fingers tucking in your thumbs. The idea is that in some countries they still cut off your thumbs for theft)

9- don't lie

(hold up four fingers of one hand and lay the entire other hand on an "air Bible" as if being sworn in for court)

10 - don't covet

(using both hands make a grabbing gesture into the air)

Exodus 20 KJV:
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
13 Thou shalt not kill.
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. 

OR

Deuteronomy 5 KJV

 ¹And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.
 ²The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
 ³The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.
 ⁴The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,
 ⁵(I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,
 ⁶I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
 ⁷Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
 ⁸Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
 ⁹Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,
 ¹⁰And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
 ¹¹Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
 ¹²Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.
 ¹³Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:
 ¹⁴But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.
 ¹⁵And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
 ¹⁶Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
 ¹⁷Thou shalt not kill.
 ¹⁸Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
 ¹⁹Neither shalt thou steal.
 ²⁰Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
 ²¹Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.
 ²²These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.

Verses for Toddlers?

   I'm having trouble with something and hoping my readers can help. I'm having difficulty finding a great way for toddlers (mine in particular) to learn verses. Now I don't expect her to spout off passages because "all done" and "up please" are the only two phrases she can say! It will be to her benefit though to hear real verses. Which brings me to my next point.
   I am able to find partial verses and paraphrases of verses for toddlers. My concern is confusion. I don't want her to learn a verse (not repeating it, but learning it) in a toddler version then later be told she is wrong that the real verse is...
   So how did you do this? Tell me your methods, triumphs and struggles. Oh, I forgot to mention that we don't want to have her learn verses just as an activity we will use them in her life as God intended. To learn about God Himself, to comfort, to edify, to admonish, to praise, the list goes on and on.
   Since we're on the subject, how do YOU memorize scripture? Do you memorize the Word at all? Happily waiting to hear from you!

It's amazing what they pick up when you think they are ignoring you! On this particular day, I was doing something on the computer and looked over to see this! Sparrow had put on my head covering and was "in" the Word!

  

God's Word

I am finding it difficult lately to keep my mouth closed (and several times I haven't) when people choose to follow a god of their own making and call him Jesus. I am seeing it more and more. They don't go to their Bible for answers, they just use the verses that they know. They may use then out of context quite a bit. They use a lot of "I feel like god tells me..." No matter that the thing goes directly against what His word says. I am seeing a lot of people who say that they are Christians living in a constant rebellious state in regards to choosing their sin over God because their desire for that sin is so strong. Don't misunderstand, we all as Christians still sin. But we don't live in constant sin. Do you see the difference? You can make a wrong choice and sin, truly repent of that sin and move on. It's a different thing all together if you continue in that sin as a lifestyle.  A good example of this might be a person letting a swear word slip when they stub their toe. Yes. It's still a sin but not at all the same as if a person chooses to use that language as often as they speak. The first person runs to God and says, "Lord please forgive me for saying that. Help me to never say it again, give me a different way to express my pain". The second person says " God gave me free will and I can say whatever I want, God knows I don't mean it personally at anyone". Do you see the difference there? I hope you do. The difference is repentance. Repentance means to turn away from something, sin in this case. As Americans we are woefully ignorant of God's word. I am too. I admit it and I'm making an effort to remedy this in my life. Can you say the same? I hope you can. How can we ever teach the next generation to do and be better if we don't know ourselves that things that we are to be teaching them? Open up your Bible today, read it, study it. Learn about who God is and who He wants you to be.

Exercise With God

When it seems like a subject seems to keep popping up in my life, banging me on the head, I know it's time to grab ahold and  take a good look. Recently I have repeatedly come across 2 things...The idea of exercise as compared to refraining from sin. And an aching longing for a deeper relationship with My Lord. I realize that these are 2 huge topics and in a way they are related, I could apply easily the idea of exercise to spiritual discipline and thus grow spiritually. Furthermore when I say I long for a deeper relationship with the Lord I mean that I long to be able to see and understand things the way that the old ones did. Jonathan Edwards, William Perkins, Matthew Henry, C H Macintosh, they had a much deeper understanding of Gods word and knew Him better for it. That's what I want. We are far less Bible literate today than those who traveled the  road before us. Why? How can this be when we have so much information at our very finger tips! It is simply because we don't read it. We don't take the time to read, study and learn God's word. Even in Christian circles we talk of godliness, modesty, child discipline, frugality...I want to talk about GOD! About what His word says about Him. He Himself. What did you speak of yesterday with your friends at church?  Did you sit quietly before the service and meditate on Why you were there? Did you seek your friends and discuss the things of the world? Do you want more of Him? I do, and I'm excited about it!

   Now for the part about exercising... the principle of this is; exercise, be it physical, mental or spiritual is difficult and painful at first. But it does get easier over time the more we do it. I know this is so simple it sounds ridiculous. But even though it is simple we don't practice it! It hurts to say "no, I'm not gonna eat that (fill in the blank)." I outright panic and get cranky sometimes if I deny myself something I want. This is the painful part of exercising wisdom in food choices. But over time it does get easier (doesn't it dieters?). Depending on your situation this is also an exercise of your deny-sin muscle. OUCH!  *alert, bunny trail dead ahead* I have often said "you wouldn't go into a church and empty a garbage can all over the place, so why if your body is the temple of the Living God would you do it to your body with junk food? (assuming you are a Christian as described in the Bible then,  Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. 1Corinthians 3:16,17 ) *alert,  bunny trail abruptly ends here*

How often do we whine saying "I'd do anything to lose weight" when what we really mean is - "I'd go through the drama of surgery to lose weight quickly". The truth is we won't do anything because anything would include eating a reasonable amount of healthy food and exercising daily, and that is very thing we won't do. The same is true of spiritual exercise. We will be on any committee, bake any amount of brownies, do any number of shallow "bible" studies *EEK, another bunny trail* why is it that in so many 'bible studies" ladies open up a book other than the Bible? *okay, back to our topic* but we are not wiling to open God's word and learn it. Prayerfully, diligently, giving God our time, effort, patience, love and worship? The answer: because it's as hard as eating a reasonable amount of healthy food and exercising daily! I heard a wonderful speaker once who wisely opened up the verse Hebrews 5:12.   "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food."  He said "not to be gross but, milk is food that someone has already digested for you." Milk is easy for us to take in and digest the work has already been done. Meat has to be chewed swallowed and digested. It takes a lot more work on our part! Oh, but dear sister in Christ, what reward we have as we work, and especially at the end!

I am thankful that you read my blog, but please close it now and open God's word.  

  

Prayer

   Husband and I have been praying so hard lately. We have to rely on God for everything, He's graciously taken everything else away. We don't know why He moving the way that He is but we do know that we can trust Him. We both feel like He has put certain desires in our hearts but we know that He has to provide an incredible amount of miracles to make this thing happen. It seems so impossible and yet the way things keep happening it all seems like He is directing us to do the very thing we desire, yet it's impossible.
   We know that God answers prayer. Last night we were talking about how He knows our need bafore we request it. We cannot change God's mind or make Him see our side better. Prayer is to change us.

A New Day

It's only 8:30 and I feel like I've had a full day already. In a good way, that is! Sparrow slept through the night for the first time in days. Husband and I are very thankful for that. She woke up bright and early, ate a good breakfast and went back to sleep. I used that time to climb into my Saviour's arms via His Word, then read a few chapters in my Davis Bunn, Janette Oke book "the Hidden Flame" book #2 in the Acts of faith series. I haven't read the first one but I bet it's good! I don't know if it's reading this book or something else but the Lord has, for the last two days been really reminding me of that time when I first got saved. The contrast of how the world as I knew it was Gone and the beauty of a new one opening up. The physical world seemed to change, I can't explain it, a better writer than me could give that a try. I can't wait to see what the rest of the day holds! My plan is to clean a little through out the day, applique my family's handprints and listen to a focus on the family podcast  in between taking care of my little bijou girl.