The delights of Little Women, Jane Austen novels, mothers-in-law, and a fabulous husband....

I LOVE the story of Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott...it is one of my all-time favorites! I also SO enjoy all the various Jane Austen books. My mother-in-law will be 89 this June, and when she was in town this past Christmas, my husband & I took her to the play of Little Women. Well, surprise of all suprises, she sent me, as a joint birthday & Valentine's gift, her 1929 copy of Little Women that she had been given that same year at the age of 9!! As well, my dear husband brought me home last night, for no special occasion, 3 CDs I'd been wanting!! One was the soundtrack from Little Women, and the other 2 were the soundtracks from Pride & Prejudice, and Sense & Sensibility, both novels by Jane Austen. Oh am I so thrilled with my new gifts!! Since pictures are worth a thousand words, I'll let them speak for themselves. :)

"...my child, the troubles and temptations of your life are beginning and may be many, but you can overcome and outlive them all if you learn to feel the strength and tenderness of your Heavenly Father as you do that of your earthly one. The more you love and trust Him, the nearer you will feel to Him, and the less you will depend on human power and wisdom. His love and care never tire or change, can never be taken from you, but may become the source of life-long peace, happiness, and strength. Believe this heartily, and go to God with all your little cares, and hopes, and sins, and sorrow, as freely and confidingly as you come to your mother." ~Marmee's wisdom to her 'little women', excerpted from Little Women

Amazing, Incredibly Amazing, Grace

"Is it not wonderful to know that salvation lies outside ourselves?" ~Martin Luther

"I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be. But still, I am not what I used to be. And by the grace of God, I am what I am." ~John Newton

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." ~Romans 5:6-8

Ash Wednesday, celebrating the first day of Lent

In honor of Christ, who is Lord...

Above All



"From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised." ~Psalm 113:3
"I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word." ~Psalm 138:2
"For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all...." ~Psalm 96:4

Lenten Prayer

"O LORD, Master of my life, grant that I may not be infected with the spirit of slothfulness and inquisitiveness, with the spirit of ambition and vain talking. Grant instead to me, your servant, the spirit of purity and of humility, the spirit of patience and neighborly love. O Lord and King, grant me the grace of being aware of my sins and of not thinking evil of those of my brethren. For you are blessed, now and ever, and forever." ~the prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian

Hallelujah huts & other fabulous gifts from the Lord!

Our heavenly Father's gifts to each of us are so specially chosen with tender loving care. Even little huts. May your home be as rich, as to what really matters, as this home was:

"We lived in a little hut not even a house, but my parents did not complain. The beauty was not in the house but in those who dwelt in it. My father called our residence the ‘Hallelujah-hut’. A strange name maybe, but it was that word which was heard and spoken many times in that hut. Around the hut we hung all kinds of verses from the Bible a very strange sight for other people, but very good for me because I started to memorize them." ~Day by Day devotional, Pastor Lamb

"Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." ~Ephesians 5:19-20

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." ~1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

How Great Thou, Oh Lord, Art!

Abstinence Made Reality...

Albert Mohler states well the case for teenage abstinence :

"Is sexual abstinence realistic for teenagers and young adults? Well, abstinence is certainly not realistic when teenagers put themselves - or they are put there by others - into a situation where sexual activity is likely. At some point, sexual abstinence becomes very unrealistic indeed.

The real issue for Christian teenagers and their parents is not to debate whether sexual abstinence before marriage is realistic or not. The larger and more important issue is that sexual abstinence until marriage is the biblical expectation and command (my emphasis). Once this is realized, the responsibility for everyone concerned is to ensure that expectations and structures are in place so that abstinence is realistic.

The debate over whether abstinence is realistic or not misses the more important issue -- abstinence must be made realistic.

Parents and teenagers must make certain that adequate protections and expectations are in place so that sexual abstinence is very realistic indeed. Far too many Christian parents allow their teenagers to be part of the 'hooking up' scene of teenage culture. In that highly sexualized context, sexual abstinence would appear unrealistic in the extreme.

Premature pair dating and unsupervised liaisons, set within the supercharged culture of teenage sexuality, can put teenagers into very vulnerable situations. Asking whether sexual abstinence in those contexts is realistic can appear almost irrational.

Those who reject the norm of sexual abstinence for teenagers will leap on Bristol Palin's statement as evidence for their cause. But the real issue here is our responsibility to ensure that abstinence is made realistic and stays realistic. Anything short of this is truly 'not realistic at all.'"

God in the Ordinary!

From the moment we open our eyes in the morning, we awaken to a new day of full-time ministry if we truly seek to be His servants. 24/7 our lives are a ministry, in one form or another. The breakfast you cooked. The child's face you cleaned. The encouraging phone call or note. The smile to the stranger as you were passing by. So many ways ad infinitum. Ask Him to show you how to serve in the small, and then serve others greatly. Do it as if serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Serve with much love and a cheerful spirit, not making racket as a clanging cymbal, but rather with the sounds of pleasing chords and harmony. Below is an excerpt from today's devotional of My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers. May it speak to you as it did to me:

"Read John 13. We see there the Incarnate God doing the most desperate piece of drudgery, washing fishermen's feet, and He says - 'If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet.' It requires the inspiration of God to go through drudgery with the light of God upon it. Some people do a certain thing and the way in which they do it hallows that thing for ever afterwards. It may be the most commonplace thing, but after we have seen them do it, it becomes different." ~Oswald Chambers

Dare to make those simple acts of ordinary daily service toward your family and others, to become something sacred...love well!

The Case Made for Glorious Ever-Precious Miracles!

I know this is rather out of sync, but I posted on Jan. 24, 2009, a blog I entitled "Glorious Ever-Precious Miracles", with a video of a baby in utero. I just now came across on The Point, the below video, of a 12 year old girl making the case against abortion. Seems she makes the case wonderfully for those ever-precious miracles...definitely out of the mouths of babes....

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." ~Psalm 139:14-16

Let Us Not Become Weary...

The below excerpt came in my email today from Heartlight...I so love how God speaks a word just when it's needed! Today has been one of those days for me. Being in a MS & lupus flare-up for the past month or so, I slept restlessly last night, and have simply felt weary all day. One of those days where the pain seems overwhelming and you know for a fact it's only God's strength that will see you through it all. I'm sure many of you know the kind of weariness I'm talking about. You don't have to have a chronic illness to know...life can be a challenge regardless of the circumstance. Perhaps you're a single parent or divorcee, or you've had a child or spouse called Home due to an accident or illness. Or maybe your relationship with your child or spouse is going through a season of difficulty, or there's not enough money to get you through to the end of the month. For sure the list isn't inclusive...it could be any other number of things which day in and day out, is exhausting & makes you so incredibly weary you wonder how you can get back up that one more time. Well my friend, the answer is that you can't, but HE can. Without a doubt, HE can. I would encourage you, as this email did me, that as you go through the day, may you always recall the blessed Hope you have. You are NOT walking this road alone. When you're too tired to do even one other solitary thing, simply call out His name. "Jesus. Jesus...." No matter how hard the road gets, know He IS that place of respite that will refresh your soul, body, & mind, regardless of the circumstances you find yourself in!

Heartlight devotional for the day:
"'Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.' ~Galatians 6:9
THOUGHT:
Weariness is a part of life. Weariness is a part of ministry. Weariness is definitely something that overtakes us when we set our hearts on doing good for others. The wonderful blessing of God, however, is that he will renew us and sustain us and rekindle us. He does it through the encouraging word of a friend. He does it through his presence, the Holy Spirit in us. He does it through songs that lift our hearts. He does it through Scripture and prayer. So while our bodies and spirits may get weary, let's not let our hands fall idle. If we will serve with faithfulness, discipline, and integrity, God's grace will empower us to do what he has called us to do.
PRAYER:
Holy and righteous Father, as I face the challenges of life, I need your strength. Please empower me through your Spirit who lives within me. Give me the courage to continue when I am tired, discouraged, and confused. I trust that as I seek to honor you, you will bless me with the strength I need to continue as I live to bring honor to you. In Jesus' name I ask this. Amen."

Have a good, Godly day! (as Woodrow Kroll often says) :) And don't forget, this IS our Father's world!

(Amy Grant has a breath-taking version of this song on her CD, Legacy...Hymns & Faith. If you get a chance to purchase it, do...all the hymns are fantastic on there!)

How Much Do You Love?

"A foolish physician he is, and a most unfaithful friend, that will let a sick man die for fear of troubling him; and cruel wretches are we to our friends, that will rather suffer them to go quietly to hell, then we will anger them, or hazard our reputation with them." ~Richard Baxter

"If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for." ~Charles Spurgeon

"But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. 'Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.' But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have...." ~1 Peter 3:14-15

After all is said and done, the Lord's will, will be done. I love this song, "Can You Reach My Friend", sung below by Debby Boone. I sang it at the Baptist Student Union, when I was 26 years old & in college. It had special meaning to me then, and has special meaning to me today. The answers aren't found anywhere else but in Him. I'm sure you have loved ones this song is for, as well:

What My Valentine is Like

Ruth Bell Graham wrote this when she was 13, about her future husband. It so fits how my husband longs to be like Him...how I thank God for blessing me with my valentine!

"Dear God, I prayed, all unafraid
(as we’re inclined to do),
I do not need a handsome man
but let him be like You;
I do not need one big and strong
nor yet so very tall,
nor need he be some genius,
or wealthy, Lord, at all;
but let his head be high, dear God,
and let his eye be clear,
his shoulders straight, whate’er his state,
whate’er his earthly sphere;
and let his face have character,
a ruggedness of soul,
and let his whole life show, dear God,
a singleness of goal;
then when he comes
(as he will come)
with quiet eyes aglow,
I’ll understand that he’s the man
I prayed for long ago." ~Ruth Bell Graham

Give Me Jesus!

There are no words to adequately state how much I love this song, Give Me Jesus, by Fernando Ortega.

The video above was produced as a tribute to Ruth Bell Graham's life. You can find info about the entire 2 DVD tribute to her life here. (It is excellent!) Ruth is my (Titus 2:4) older-woman mentor, and one of the wisest women I have ever been blessed with to try & learn from, albeit from afar. I owe so much gratitude to this lovely woman even though she's in Heaven now...her life she lived as a Godly wife & mother remains such an ongoing example to me. What a sweet, gracious lady she was...always living her life for her precious Saviour.

Makes me think of the old hymn, by Will Thompson, called Jesus is All the World to Me. May He be all the world to you, as well!

Jesus is all the world to me, my life, my joy, my all;
He is my strength from day to day, without Him I would fall.
When I am sad, to Him I go, no other one can cheer me so;
When I am sad, He makes me glad, He’s my Friend.

Jesus is all the world to me, my Friend in trials sore;
I go to Him for blessings, and He gives them over and o’er.
He sends the sunshine and the rain, He sends the harvest’s golden grain;
Sunshine and rain, harvest of grain, He’s my Friend.

Jesus is all the world to me, and true to Him I’ll be;
O how could I this Friend deny, when He’s so true to me?
Following Him I know I’m right, He watches o’er me day and night;
Following Him by day and night, He’s my Friend.

Jesus is all the world to me, I want no better Friend;
I trust Him now, I’ll trust Him when life’s fleeting days shall end.
Beautiful life with such a Friend, beautiful life that has no end;
Eternal life, eternal joy, He’s my Friend.

Give Me Jesus!