Friday, April 26, 2013
Friday, April 19, 2013
Five-Minute Friday: Jump
Words popping up today like the tiny green shoots bursting through the bare soil. Good things are to come.
I am making words JUMP today with the ladies from The Gypsy Mama. She gives the prompt and we see what green grows from our fingertips.
JUMP! GO:
When the road is dark taking the next step can be daunting. Wrong turns have been taken before. You know what it's like to feel lost.
The next step. Life beckons you forward: you have no choice. But feet are planted firmly in the path. Frozen, they will not move.
But you did find your way before when the wilderness engulfed you. He did take your hand and lead on the safe path. Your wrong turn was just a momentary detour adding twists and curls to the overall itinerary.
The way is before you-the end is not in sight. Light shines upon your feet and you can only see where to place your right foot.
Take courage. He will pick you up if you fall. And if you do turn to the left, His unfolding path will bend to meet ypu.
Breathe deep and JUMP.
I am making words JUMP today with the ladies from The Gypsy Mama. She gives the prompt and we see what green grows from our fingertips.
JUMP! GO:
When the road is dark taking the next step can be daunting. Wrong turns have been taken before. You know what it's like to feel lost.
The next step. Life beckons you forward: you have no choice. But feet are planted firmly in the path. Frozen, they will not move.
But you did find your way before when the wilderness engulfed you. He did take your hand and lead on the safe path. Your wrong turn was just a momentary detour adding twists and curls to the overall itinerary.
The way is before you-the end is not in sight. Light shines upon your feet and you can only see where to place your right foot.
Take courage. He will pick you up if you fall. And if you do turn to the left, His unfolding path will bend to meet ypu.
Breathe deep and JUMP.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Beloved
Spilling out tumbling onto the keyboard for five brief minutes-just because we like to. Writing with the ladies at The Gypy Mama today. The prompt is Beloved.
GO.
Is there a word that conjures up more warm feelings than "beloved." It is an old-fashioned word. We usually do not look at our husband with dove eyes, sigh, and say, "You are my beloved." (Maybe we should?)
The lover in Song of Solomon did. "He is my beloved and I am his." She lets her love, commitment, excitement spill out in song. (No, I especially cannot see myself--ever--singing of my love to my husband.)
But we do have a Lover that songs over us. His joy in loving us fills, spills, and overflows into song over us. We are His Beloved.
Do you know that dear one? When life brings torment and friends are unfriendly, there is One who wants to scoop you up us in His arms, place kisses all over your face, and call you, "My Beloved."
But to receive what He has you must be-loved. Not lovable. He loves us in spite of all our quirks and faults. WE must receive His love. Believe. Accept. Be loved, Beloved.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Friday, February 1, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
A Woman You Should Know
I have just completed a class at the University on the Holocaust-very powerful. As part of my assignment I was to write and present a biography of a Holocaust survivor. I chose Corrie ten Boom. The story of her life and devotion to the Lord is one of the most remarkable that I have ever heard.
I count Corrie ten Boom as one of the most remarkable women to have ever lived because of her childlike faith in Jesus and her tenacious spirit to grab the work that He had prepared for her before the foundation of the world. Read a snippet of her story and please pursue the other resources that I have mentioned. Her story will put perspective in your day, in your life.
The story of Corrie ten Boom cannot be told without speaking of the faith that ingrained her very being. A Christian faith that was tested in her mind, lived in her heart, and projected in her every action. The entire ten Boom family shared this faith, breathing and living in a circle of faith in Christ Jesus. They gave of themselves, even the sacrifice of their lives, because Christ gave his life for them.
Corrie’s home, affectionately called the Beje, for was first lived in by Willem ten Boom who had opened a clock shop, in 1837. Dedicated Christians, the family home above the shop was always a welcoming place for anyone in need. After an inspiring Dutch Reformed worship service in 1844, Willem started a weekly prayer service to pray for the “peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6). This loving dedication for the Jews was transferred to Casper ten Boom and his family. Casper with his family continued the tradition of this prayer. These meetings continued for over one hundred years until February 28, 1944.
The Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1942. Corrie was fifty years old. Now living in Nazi occupied Haarlem, the ten Booms lived out their Christian faith by keeping their home a refuge. Only this time, their home became a hiding place for Jews and members of the Dutch underground who were being hunted by the Nazis. The ten Booms hid, fed, and transported refugees. It is estimated that they helped save the lives of 800 Jews and numerous other underground workers. Every moment of every day, these courageous individuals chose to put their possessions and lives on the line.
Several years passed. On February 28, 1944, Casper ten Boom and his family were betrayed and the Nazi Gestapo burst into the Beje. Even after systematic searching, the Hiding Place was never located. The refugees were able to escape two days later by crawling on the roof tops. All of them, but one of the underground workers who died later in the war, were delivered to safety.
Corrie and her sister Betsie were taken into custody and transported by train to Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany, fifty miles north of Berlin. After four endless days packed into dark, hot train cars without food or drink, they arrived. Corrie and Betsy experienced all of the hate and atrocities that were within the deaths camps. However, they also experienced God’s miraculous hand again and again. Upon entrance to the camp, all women had to lay aside all of their possessions, strip naked before a line of Nazi soldiers, followed by an icy shower, then redress into a given dress. Corrie saw that she must take an opportunity to smuggle her small bible and bottle of liquid vitamins with her. After a silent prayer, she asked the guard if she and Betsie could go the restroom. After being directed in to the shower room, they were told to use the drain holes. There she saw a line of moldy, benches infested with cockroaches sitting at the side. She wrapped her precious things in a sweater where she later retrieved them and placed them from a string around her neck. Still, the bulge was quite apparent and she continued to pray as she saw that each prisoner was getting frisked twice before they were allowed to leave the building. Miracuously, the woman in front of her was frisked three times and her sister behind her once, but Corrie was not!
The conditions at Ravensbruck were unfathomably difficult: back-breaking work, lack of food, constant weariness and sickness. Yet, as the torture grew, so did the love that Betsie showed. She would tell her bewildered sister, Corrie, “I feel so sorry for them” or “God forgive them”. It took a few moments for Corrie to realize that Betsie had been talking about their perpetrators. Corrie was learning, through the testament of her sister, the love of Christ. The sisters would pray daily and have services as well. Many ladies so emaciated in physical form but were filled as they ate vigorously of the Word.
Betsie had grown quite sick. Corrie attempted in vain to get any help for her sister. It was in this time that Betsie would vocalize a vision that she saw, a dream that seemed real to her. She told Corrie that she saw a beautiful huge home with very tall windows, inside were inlaid wooden floors and relief sculptures, on the outside were colorful gardens. This place was to be a place of healing where survivors of this tragedy would be welcome. She said that the horrible place of the concentration camp should be used in the same manner –a place of light. “There is not so much darkness in all of the world that God’s love is not deeper still. You must tell people what we have learned here Corrie.” Betsie said that they would both be free in the New Year.
She was right. In December of 1944, Betsie ten Boom left Ravensbruck to be at home with her Lord. A few days later, Corrie’s name was called by the guards. She had not been referred by her given name in years; she had become “Prisoner 66730.” Corrie was told that she would be released. She was given train passes, three days of ration cards, a fresh silk blouse, clean skirt, and incredibly the belongings she had left aside when she entered the camp: some Dutch money and her mother’s ring.
Corrie made it home to Haarlem and recuperated. She was greeted by her sister Nollie, Peter, and her brother Willhem who died soon after from developing spinal tuberculosis in a concentration camp. Her nephew Christiaan, who had been twenty-four when taken into custody, did not return.
Corrie had made it home safely but she no longer felt at home. Betsie’s proclamation burned in her heart. She needed to tell people about the forgiveness and love of Jesus. At age fifty-three Corrie began a worldwide ministry that would take her into more than sixty countries over the next thirty-two years. She would share her story with whomever would listen. She always said that in all of her travels the Germany people were the most desolate in need of love. It would be ten years after she left Ravensbruck, that she would return to learn that her release had been a clerical error and only one week after she had left, all women her age had been put to death.
The vision that Betsie saw did come to pass. A wealthy Dutch woman who had come to hear Corrie speak, told her afterward that she had three sons at home, one was still in the war. The Lord had told her that her son would indeed return home and as a “thank-you” she would give her home to Corrie for her use. It was a mansion with fifty-six room, wooden floors, picturesque statues, colorful gardens, and windows so tall that sunlight poured in. The home, Bloemendal, became a place of healing and rest, just as Betsie had spoken of.
Corrie has written many books about her life and faith. In the 1970s a movie was made of her book “The Hiding Place” with the help of Billy Graham.
Corrie ten Boom and her family were faithful advocates of God’s love. Corrie died on her 91st birthday, April 15, 1983. Corrie's passing occurred on her birthday. In the Jewish tradition, it is only very blessed people who are allowed the special privilege of dying on their birthday!
Sources:
Carlson, Carole C. Corrie ten Boom: Her Life, Her Faith. Fleming H. Revell Company. Old
Tappan, New Jersey. 1983.
The Beje was converted into a museum.Their web site has a wondrful interactive tour of the home inside and out.
This is an interview with Corrie from 1974.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=038cuYe3Nis
I count Corrie ten Boom as one of the most remarkable women to have ever lived because of her childlike faith in Jesus and her tenacious spirit to grab the work that He had prepared for her before the foundation of the world. Read a snippet of her story and please pursue the other resources that I have mentioned. Her story will put perspective in your day, in your life.
"Happiness isn't' something that depends on our surroundings, Corrie.
It's something we make inside ourselves." - 'The Hiding Place'
The story of Corrie ten Boom cannot be told without speaking of the faith that ingrained her very being. A Christian faith that was tested in her mind, lived in her heart, and projected in her every action. The entire ten Boom family shared this faith, breathing and living in a circle of faith in Christ Jesus. They gave of themselves, even the sacrifice of their lives, because Christ gave his life for them.
Corrie’s home, affectionately called the Beje, for was first lived in by Willem ten Boom who had opened a clock shop, in 1837. Dedicated Christians, the family home above the shop was always a welcoming place for anyone in need. After an inspiring Dutch Reformed worship service in 1844, Willem started a weekly prayer service to pray for the “peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6). This loving dedication for the Jews was transferred to Casper ten Boom and his family. Casper with his family continued the tradition of this prayer. These meetings continued for over one hundred years until February 28, 1944.
The Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1942. Corrie was fifty years old. Now living in Nazi occupied Haarlem, the ten Booms lived out their Christian faith by keeping their home a refuge. Only this time, their home became a hiding place for Jews and members of the Dutch underground who were being hunted by the Nazis. The ten Booms hid, fed, and transported refugees. It is estimated that they helped save the lives of 800 Jews and numerous other underground workers. Every moment of every day, these courageous individuals chose to put their possessions and lives on the line.
Several years passed. On February 28, 1944, Casper ten Boom and his family were betrayed and the Nazi Gestapo burst into the Beje. Even after systematic searching, the Hiding Place was never located. The refugees were able to escape two days later by crawling on the roof tops. All of them, but one of the underground workers who died later in the war, were delivered to safety.
Corrie and her sister Betsie were taken into custody and transported by train to Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany, fifty miles north of Berlin. After four endless days packed into dark, hot train cars without food or drink, they arrived. Corrie and Betsy experienced all of the hate and atrocities that were within the deaths camps. However, they also experienced God’s miraculous hand again and again. Upon entrance to the camp, all women had to lay aside all of their possessions, strip naked before a line of Nazi soldiers, followed by an icy shower, then redress into a given dress. Corrie saw that she must take an opportunity to smuggle her small bible and bottle of liquid vitamins with her. After a silent prayer, she asked the guard if she and Betsie could go the restroom. After being directed in to the shower room, they were told to use the drain holes. There she saw a line of moldy, benches infested with cockroaches sitting at the side. She wrapped her precious things in a sweater where she later retrieved them and placed them from a string around her neck. Still, the bulge was quite apparent and she continued to pray as she saw that each prisoner was getting frisked twice before they were allowed to leave the building. Miracuously, the woman in front of her was frisked three times and her sister behind her once, but Corrie was not!
The conditions at Ravensbruck were unfathomably difficult: back-breaking work, lack of food, constant weariness and sickness. Yet, as the torture grew, so did the love that Betsie showed. She would tell her bewildered sister, Corrie, “I feel so sorry for them” or “God forgive them”. It took a few moments for Corrie to realize that Betsie had been talking about their perpetrators. Corrie was learning, through the testament of her sister, the love of Christ. The sisters would pray daily and have services as well. Many ladies so emaciated in physical form but were filled as they ate vigorously of the Word.
Betsie had grown quite sick. Corrie attempted in vain to get any help for her sister. It was in this time that Betsie would vocalize a vision that she saw, a dream that seemed real to her. She told Corrie that she saw a beautiful huge home with very tall windows, inside were inlaid wooden floors and relief sculptures, on the outside were colorful gardens. This place was to be a place of healing where survivors of this tragedy would be welcome. She said that the horrible place of the concentration camp should be used in the same manner –a place of light. “There is not so much darkness in all of the world that God’s love is not deeper still. You must tell people what we have learned here Corrie.” Betsie said that they would both be free in the New Year.
She was right. In December of 1944, Betsie ten Boom left Ravensbruck to be at home with her Lord. A few days later, Corrie’s name was called by the guards. She had not been referred by her given name in years; she had become “Prisoner 66730.” Corrie was told that she would be released. She was given train passes, three days of ration cards, a fresh silk blouse, clean skirt, and incredibly the belongings she had left aside when she entered the camp: some Dutch money and her mother’s ring.
Corrie made it home to Haarlem and recuperated. She was greeted by her sister Nollie, Peter, and her brother Willhem who died soon after from developing spinal tuberculosis in a concentration camp. Her nephew Christiaan, who had been twenty-four when taken into custody, did not return.
Corrie had made it home safely but she no longer felt at home. Betsie’s proclamation burned in her heart. She needed to tell people about the forgiveness and love of Jesus. At age fifty-three Corrie began a worldwide ministry that would take her into more than sixty countries over the next thirty-two years. She would share her story with whomever would listen. She always said that in all of her travels the Germany people were the most desolate in need of love. It would be ten years after she left Ravensbruck, that she would return to learn that her release had been a clerical error and only one week after she had left, all women her age had been put to death.
The vision that Betsie saw did come to pass. A wealthy Dutch woman who had come to hear Corrie speak, told her afterward that she had three sons at home, one was still in the war. The Lord had told her that her son would indeed return home and as a “thank-you” she would give her home to Corrie for her use. It was a mansion with fifty-six room, wooden floors, picturesque statues, colorful gardens, and windows so tall that sunlight poured in. The home, Bloemendal, became a place of healing and rest, just as Betsie had spoken of.
Corrie has written many books about her life and faith. In the 1970s a movie was made of her book “The Hiding Place” with the help of Billy Graham.
Corrie ten Boom and her family were faithful advocates of God’s love. Corrie died on her 91st birthday, April 15, 1983. Corrie's passing occurred on her birthday. In the Jewish tradition, it is only very blessed people who are allowed the special privilege of dying on their birthday!
"There is no pit so dark that the love of Jesus cannot reach deaper still." -Corrie ten Boom
Carlson, Carole C. Corrie ten Boom: Her Life, Her Faith. Fleming H. Revell Company. Old
Tappan, New Jersey. 1983.
The Beje was converted into a museum.Their web site has a wondrful interactive tour of the home inside and out.
This is an interview with Corrie from 1974.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=038cuYe3Nis
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Wednesday, July 11, 2012
What was I Thinking?
What was I thinking? I thought that I would only be away from LOV for a few weeks...but that has turned into over two months! I miss you Ladies!
Can someone tell me how summer time can be more busy than the routine of the schoolyear? I am taking summer college classes full time this summer, that is keeping me busy. But I am making time to catch some sunshine in the swimming pool with the girls and to lick plenty of icecream!
The last time I wrote I had just been preparing for a presentation on the Tudor-Stuart female...then I was heading off to London and Paris! Thought that I would show you some pictures.
This is me dressed for the presentation.
I felt like Queen Elizabeth for a moment.
This is some food-faire that I made from Olde English recipes.
It was surprising to me to learn
how many various spices went into their baked goods.
The crackers below had allspice and nutmeg.
Yes, everything in this salad is edible! Isn't it beautiful?
If you look at the derriere, you will notice the emphasis.
Also, the wide expanse of hips was to emulate fertility of the female.
The Reformation that grabbu Martin Luthed ahold in western Europe
set the premise for a new way of thinking about the autonomy
of the individual. Thank you Martin Luther.
This is a short excerpt from my paper, "The Female of EarlyModern England."
Read and see if you recognize her in today's world.
. . . "The Virtuous Woman"
Above all things a female was to pursue virtue of character. The biblical precepts quoted in the marriage service and in the Homily were expanded into books for exhorting the behavior and etiquette of women. Authors such as Thomas Becon followed the teachings of St. Peter and St. Paul is stressing the subjection of wives to husbands. . . Gouge emphasized that the wife was “joint governor with her husband” over their children and servants, but she was to be subordinate to the husband and ruled others only as long as she was in submission to him (Eales 25).
The ideals for female behavior as purported in the advice books were passive: chastity, modesty, humility, sweetness simplicity, peaceableness, kindness, piety, temperance, beauty, sometimes learning, and always patience, charity, constancy, and obedience. “Between 1475 and 1640 approximately 170 different books in some 500 editions were specifically addressed to emales or dealt with subjects of direct concern to women, such as midwery, household recipes, and how-to-live guides (Hull 24).
And in conclusion . . .
Some historians argue, understandably, that in the Early Modern Era, English females were (I repeat again) “mere housewives, secluded in their homes to protect their reputations for chastity, their sole useful function the production of heirs for their husbands’ family lineages” (Fairchild 3). I argue that this thought is too narrow. There were housewives who made a sustainable influence with their husbands, mothers who influenced their families, influenced their communities, influenced their country. Whether housewife or reigning monarch, women were not “silent” in a society that sought not the voice of women. Commanded to be submissive; yes, confined to strict boundaries of law and deportment; yes, pressed and thwarted in their life circumstance; perhaps, but suppsressed to the point of non-expression; no. The female of Early Modern England speaks in the voice of that culture, and thus she still speaks to us today.
What are your thoughts? http://www.godecookery.com/nboke/neweboke.htm
Sources:
Eales, Jacqueline. Women in early Modern England: 1500-1700. London, UCL Press. 1998.
Fairchilds, Cissie. Women in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1700. Harlow, England: Pearson Education, 2007.
Hull, Suzanne W. Women According to Men: The World of Tudor-Stuart Women. London, UK: AltaMira Press, 1996.
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Friday, April 27, 2012
A Spring Pause for LOV
Hello dear Ladies. You are missed. I am grabbing a moment to post you a note letting you know why the LOV page has not changed in the last few weeks; I have been (am) swapped with semester's end papers -next week is finals. Today, I am giving a presentation concerning "The Female of Early Modern England." It should fun and I will try to post some pics of the food I am serving and the costume I am wearing.
My posts will be thin for the next couple of weeks as well, the week following -I am going to London and Paris with a group from he university to study (poor me!). Again, I will try my utmost to post pics (so you can be there with me!)
Hope your Spring is blossoming with all sorts of fresh opportunities and ideas and happenings.
Enjoy.
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Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Eternal Encouragement Review
The little magazine pictured below has been with me for weeks -in my kitchen, the bathroom, the living room, and in bed with me. Wherever I take a few moments to gather encouragement from its pages, I have had this little magazine. I love being encouraged, don't you? Hopefully that is why you have stopped a moment here at LOV -to receive some uplifting thoughts that will take you through your day.
I have favorite blogs that I stop at with a cup of coffee in hand and visit a while. But sometimes I like to read in strange places (well, I guess the bathroom isn't STRANGE, but that is not somewhere that I would not take my lap-top with me, nor the bathtub). That is why I still enjoy magazines and books (the kind with real paper). The sensual person in me likes the tactile feel of the pages.
As a Gabby Mom I had the opportunity to preview the Eternal Encouragement Magazine delivered to my home mailbox. Did I also say that I love when the mailbox has something delivered to me that I actually want? Smaller in size than a regular magazine, it is jammed packed with helpful articles written by women that I would love to have in my kitchen for tea.
Each quarter the magazine has a theme and this one was CHAOS. Yes, a menace that we all fight in our lives and homes. Its subject was discussed concerning spiritual life, marriage, parenting, homeschooling, house management, and relationships. You name an area of interest to a woman and it is in there! One of the columns that I enjoyed most was "Daughter of the King" defining and describing the sweet relationship with our heavenly Father. I am humbled and excited to be featured as the column's author beginning the next publication.
I encourage YOU to subscribe to encouragement with eternal benefits! Did I tell you that there are bonus gifts? To find out about all of it, click on the magazine cover above. Hope you enjoy as I have!
I have favorite blogs that I stop at with a cup of coffee in hand and visit a while. But sometimes I like to read in strange places (well, I guess the bathroom isn't STRANGE, but that is not somewhere that I would not take my lap-top with me, nor the bathtub). That is why I still enjoy magazines and books (the kind with real paper). The sensual person in me likes the tactile feel of the pages.As a Gabby Mom I had the opportunity to preview the Eternal Encouragement Magazine delivered to my home mailbox. Did I also say that I love when the mailbox has something delivered to me that I actually want? Smaller in size than a regular magazine, it is jammed packed with helpful articles written by women that I would love to have in my kitchen for tea.
Each quarter the magazine has a theme and this one was CHAOS. Yes, a menace that we all fight in our lives and homes. Its subject was discussed concerning spiritual life, marriage, parenting, homeschooling, house management, and relationships. You name an area of interest to a woman and it is in there! One of the columns that I enjoyed most was "Daughter of the King" defining and describing the sweet relationship with our heavenly Father. I am humbled and excited to be featured as the column's author beginning the next publication.
I encourage YOU to subscribe to encouragement with eternal benefits! Did I tell you that there are bonus gifts? To find out about all of it, click on the magazine cover above. Hope you enjoy as I have!
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the magazine for my honest review and I will receive no other compensation either for my review or for any subscriptions as a result of my review.
Friday, March 23, 2012
LOUD Courage
"Around here we write for five minutes flat on Fridays.
We finger paint with words. We try to remember what it was like to just write without worrying if it’s just right or not," spoken from The Gypsy Mama.
Today her prompt is LOUD-
GO.
The images-
the horrors
their atrocities that I cannot bear
to hear
or think about
and yet
they are theirs
molding and forming
the woman they lost
inside of themselves
shame, lost dignity-
rings loud
in their head
ears pound
at times they wish they were dead.
A phoenix rises
from their center core
they live on-
and become so much more
more of a woman
beauty radiating from within
strength
endurance
perseverance
to win.
To triumph o'er
their foes
who would have them ripped from Life
from peace and fulfillment,
wanting them content
with never-ending strife.
But clay becomes iron
as they live on with grace
choosing to live
with a smile
forsaking the shame-
that was not theirs
to uphold.
LIFE speaks LOUD
in these women.
Compassion for them
rings loud in my heart.
Please become aware of these most courageous women
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Hope Deferred
It's here! Spring! Arriving full gusto- The Spring design for LOV had been finished weeks ago. I had wanted save posting it for first day of Spring, but with the very warm weather, grass turning green, and daffodils already in bloom, it was all I could do to have patience! Isn't it worth the wait!! I love the freshness it brings.
I've said before that this weather (Spring actually arriving with its calendar date) is very uncharacteristic for Pennsylvania. Phil told us on Ground Hog Day that we would have 6 more weeks of winter. No one really listens to him but- he is usually right. As we make slashes on our calendars here, the first day of Spring usually arrives with 40 degree temperatures and cold rain, frost, or snow. Just two years ago my daughters searched for Easter eggs in the snow while donning pastel, flowing dresses and white "Easter" shoes! Spring arrives on the calendar and for all of you enviable Southerners but for us "snow birds" it is with hope that the warm weather prevail.
But this year! As my husband reminded me, it is like the year of our betrothal. We became engaged February 19th and wed June the 16th. The four short months between were full of glorious Spring days wrapped in Love. This year the warm breeze, bright sun's rays, and colorful flowers have put us in mind of that memorable Spring twenty-two years ago.
Are you experiencing a blossoming Spring?
Remember, dear sister, that when your desire is realized, a tree of hope grows within that cannot help but branch out its limbs into every area of your life and entwine with those of others.
If our faith should fail in the day of adversity, then it is small. (Provers 24:10) The New International Version explains it this way: "If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength!" It is not about having faith in our faith -but having faith in our Source of faith, our source of Strength. If you feel your faith failing, cry out, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!" He will meet you. He will HELP you.
Do not give up HOPE. Take that tiny mustard seed of faith that was planted with hope and cultivate it. Recall former situations when your hope blossomed into reality. Recall other times when His faithfulness met you at the perfect intersection. Let faith rain upon your seed, the Word shine until it germs into a tree.
Your desire will be realized. Your life will blossom for others to swing upon its branches.
I've said before that this weather (Spring actually arriving with its calendar date) is very uncharacteristic for Pennsylvania. Phil told us on Ground Hog Day that we would have 6 more weeks of winter. No one really listens to him but- he is usually right. As we make slashes on our calendars here, the first day of Spring usually arrives with 40 degree temperatures and cold rain, frost, or snow. Just two years ago my daughters searched for Easter eggs in the snow while donning pastel, flowing dresses and white "Easter" shoes! Spring arrives on the calendar and for all of you enviable Southerners but for us "snow birds" it is with hope that the warm weather prevail.
But this year! As my husband reminded me, it is like the year of our betrothal. We became engaged February 19th and wed June the 16th. The four short months between were full of glorious Spring days wrapped in Love. This year the warm breeze, bright sun's rays, and colorful flowers have put us in mind of that memorable Spring twenty-two years ago.
Are you experiencing a blossoming Spring?
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."
~Proverbs 13:12 NIV
What are you hoping for today? Has it become "deferred"? That is to say has the arrival of your heart been so delayed that its no longer expected? Is your heart sick because despair and melancholy have replaced hopeful belief?Remember, dear sister, that when your desire is realized, a tree of hope grows within that cannot help but branch out its limbs into every area of your life and entwine with those of others.
If our faith should fail in the day of adversity, then it is small. (Provers 24:10) The New International Version explains it this way: "If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength!" It is not about having faith in our faith -but having faith in our Source of faith, our source of Strength. If you feel your faith failing, cry out, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!" He will meet you. He will HELP you.
Do not give up HOPE. Take that tiny mustard seed of faith that was planted with hope and cultivate it. Recall former situations when your hope blossomed into reality. Recall other times when His faithfulness met you at the perfect intersection. Let faith rain upon your seed, the Word shine until it germs into a tree.
Your desire will be realized. Your life will blossom for others to swing upon its branches.
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Friday, March 16, 2012
Traversing the Mountains
So sorry that the screen has been in want of a new post this week- I have been reading chapters upon chapters of a Victorian novel, studying Baroque painting, trying to wrap math theorems round my brain as I am sure I will never use this stuff in "real life", and best of all drinking in the unusual (for this time of year up north) wall-to-wall warm sunshine (I am sure that I now have enough vitamin D to make a milkshake!) But I wanted to do some stream writing before the week is over, so here goes, using the prompt form The Gypsy Mama.
~The life story of Narcissa Whitman
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BRAVE.
go.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mountains high and valleys low
you trudged through the marsh and falling snow
on paths uncut-
you paved the way
for others to follow in the shadow
of your bravery.
At your husband's side
you embarked to the West
surely full of uncertainties
and questions that would not give your heart rest.
Would the savages have ears
for the saving Word?
You made it through
unbelievably impossible to do
thousands of miles of terrain
transversed on horse and foot
but through the Rockies you came
like the mountains of the spiritual task
now before you.
You and your loved one gave
your life, your words, your dreams, your days
poured forth to a red people
who did not yet know
that before them was served the words of Life
instead they took yours.
What of this bravery should I know?
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Expecting Good Things
What are you hoping for today? a spouse to know our Saving Lord? teens to turn back to Him? for a sickness to go away for good? for income for your family? for an open door for you to use your gifts?
For me there have always been different stages of hope. Maybe they did not fall into this consecutive order but something like-
"I wish..."
"I hope that..."
"God, you know I need this..."
"God, this would be for Your glory!..."
"God, why haven't you given me this yet?"
"I'm still here God- waiting. (!)"
"I know God is good."
"He will give to me according to His will."
"He will give to me in His perfect timing."
"I can wait patiently because I know that His promises are true."
"I hope for -."
"I am expecting with a patient heart."
Does any of that prayer-conversation sound familiar?
Some of the things that we are hoping for we have some control over. (I am hoping to go through graduate school - LORD WILLING.) Some things that I am hoping for are not under my control. (When my husband did not have work, I could support him, but I could not make it appear for him. I could only pray with hope.)
I find encouragement today in these words and I hope that you do as well-
For me there have always been different stages of hope. Maybe they did not fall into this consecutive order but something like-
"I wish..."
"I hope that..."
"God, you know I need this..."
"God, this would be for Your glory!..."
"God, why haven't you given me this yet?"
"I'm still here God- waiting. (!)"
"I know God is good."
"He will give to me according to His will."
"He will give to me in His perfect timing."
"I can wait patiently because I know that His promises are true."
"I hope for -."
"I am expecting with a patient heart."
Does any of that prayer-conversation sound familiar?
Some of the things that we are hoping for we have some control over. (I am hoping to go through graduate school - LORD WILLING.) Some things that I am hoping for are not under my control. (When my husband did not have work, I could support him, but I could not make it appear for him. I could only pray with hope.)
I find encouragement today in these words and I hope that you do as well-
"Lord, all my desire is before You;
And my sighing is not hidden from You."
"For I hope in You, O Lord;
You will answer, O Lord my God."
-Psalm 38: 9,15 NAS
The word for "answer" is synonymous with "hear." You see, our God is not like me who listens to my nine-year-old's expressive babblings with one ear. Nor like me when I sometimes "hear" the word of God and do not do it. Our God hears and answers. He always hears and He always answers.
I believe that.
I will tarry and wait patiently with expectant hope.
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Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Expectancy
This MARCH I am thinking about EXPECTANCY.
When Winter has had a long visit and the daffodils are anxiously bursting forth through the earth, it is hard not to be anxious for Spring to come. I expect Spring to arrive soon.
Do you know that "hope" and "EXPECTING" have a comingled biblical definition? There are three main meanings of "hope" used in scripture and all have their definition intertwined with "expectancy." However, there is one particular use for "hope" I want to share with you today.
Does "umbilical cord" come to anyone's mind? This is what this "hope" is. A developing baby inside the womb is attached to its life-giver by a cord, an entwined cord that gives every needed nutrient to that thriving baby. So we, as children of God, are attached to our Life-giving Father. He has made the cord of faith and we respond back to Him with hope, an expectant hope, a longing.
There are many good things for which I hope, but as I read this scripture today, I am reminded to place my hope upon our God. He is the thing that I long for, and I ask Him that I would long for Him so much more than I do. He gives us that, the desire to want to know Him better. He gives us the faith.
Dear sister, what are you expecting today? What cord is attached to you heart and is yanking with expectation?
Is it something for which God also longs to give you? Is it for Him Himself? Cultivate it. And let that expectancy grow into something beautiful.
When Winter has had a long visit and the daffodils are anxiously bursting forth through the earth, it is hard not to be anxious for Spring to come. I expect Spring to arrive soon.
Do you know that "hope" and "EXPECTING" have a comingled biblical definition? There are three main meanings of "hope" used in scripture and all have their definition intertwined with "expectancy." However, there is one particular use for "hope" I want to share with you today.
"For You are my Hope;
O Lord God, You are my confidence from my youth."
-Psalm 71:5 NAS
This "Hope" is the Hebrew word tiqvah meaning quite literally an attachment cord that is twisted and bound together, expectation, the thing that I long for.Does "umbilical cord" come to anyone's mind? This is what this "hope" is. A developing baby inside the womb is attached to its life-giver by a cord, an entwined cord that gives every needed nutrient to that thriving baby. So we, as children of God, are attached to our Life-giving Father. He has made the cord of faith and we respond back to Him with hope, an expectant hope, a longing.
There are many good things for which I hope, but as I read this scripture today, I am reminded to place my hope upon our God. He is the thing that I long for, and I ask Him that I would long for Him so much more than I do. He gives us that, the desire to want to know Him better. He gives us the faith.
Dear sister, what are you expecting today? What cord is attached to you heart and is yanking with expectation?
Is it something for which God also longs to give you? Is it for Him Himself? Cultivate it. And let that expectancy grow into something beautiful.
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Monday, March 5, 2012
Guest post for Homemaker's Challenge
Hi Ladies- I have the privilege of writing for Homemaker's Challenge. My post "The Art of Homemaking: Keeping a Cleaning Schedule" is up today. Please take a stroll over there to visit.
If you are visiting FROM Homaker's Challenge- you will find the printables HERE and HERE and read more about them HERE.
See you here back tomorrow as we'll discuss "expectancy."
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See you here back tomorrow as we'll discuss "expectancy."
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Thursday, March 1, 2012
March's Theme & Free Planner Sheets
MARCH is here! YEAH!!! It is a month of change -the unpredictable.
This is the month of transition. When frozen earth softens and allows the anxious shoots of daffodils to burst forth their cadmium yellow like a sleeping sun that has just awakened. So this month we are awakened out of winter slumber and enlivened by the stirrings of Spring.
Now time for the FREE planner pages!
If you would like to download the printables for yourself just click on the titles below. I only ask that you say "thank you" by clicking the "Like" button for the LadiesOfVirtue FaceBook page and pass the word on to your friends. If you would like to read how I use my planner sheets in my Home Manager Notebook -read here. For the "Manager of the Home" bible study that I wrote -click here.
Here are the planner sheets for MARCH; I hope that you like the vintage art work as much as I do.
This is the month of transition. When frozen earth softens and allows the anxious shoots of daffodils to burst forth their cadmium yellow like a sleeping sun that has just awakened. So this month we are awakened out of winter slumber and enlivened by the stirrings of Spring.
The theme for LOV this month is EXPECTING.
You may not be expecting a baby, but surely you are expecting something. What is it? Think about it and come visit again this week as I write more about hopeful expecting.
Now time for the FREE planner pages!
If you would like to download the printables for yourself just click on the titles below. I only ask that you say "thank you" by clicking the "Like" button for the LadiesOfVirtue FaceBook page and pass the word on to your friends. If you would like to read how I use my planner sheets in my Home Manager Notebook -read here. For the "Manager of the Home" bible study that I wrote -click here.
Here are the planner sheets for MARCH; I hope that you like the vintage art work as much as I do.
Enjoy and as always -Happy Homemaking!
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