Unless the LORD builds the house,

its builders labor in vain.

Psalm 127

Giving Thanks...

Give thanks to the LORD,

for he is good;

his love endures forever.

Psalm 107:1

476. preparing a meal for visiting Trinidadian friends

477. hearing God's Word boldly proclaimed

478. pasta salad with fresh broccoli and carrots

479. a 'just because' gift from my daughter

480. making funny faces with four year olds

481. Malli's laughter

482. watching Malli take first steps in the front yard today

483. a warm breeze on my face

What is the purpose of the BIBLE?

“The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life against your will and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome… religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the Gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you’re accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey’. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference.”
- Timothy Keller

Letting Go...

I have always been fascinated with photos. My mother documented our family life with a simple Kodak camera and how I treasure those 4 x 4 square photos! Even those awkward, chubby years I endured.

Those squares, those four corners, somewhat like the pieces of a quilt stitch my life together.

If you know me at all, you know that I never venture too far without a camera in tow. True, I see beauty everywhere. I enjoy and appreciate nature, flowers, and of course I will jump at the chance to freeze-frame my children and grand daughter, Malli.

Too often, in my own life I attempt to capture and hold on to this ever-changing, vaporous life. Like gripping a camera in my hand, zooming in on the moment, focusing on what I think is important. Short-sighted and blinded by the present.

Tonight I am reminded once again that life is all about letting go.


Letting go of my children.

I love being a mom. I don't consider myself extremely bright or talented, but I do believe God called me to be a mom. I have enjoyed every phase of my children's lives. I made it a priority to be a good mom to them. I didn't mind putting their needs above my own. Now they don't need me in the same way. Griff is getting married, preparing to go in the Air Force; Taylor is away at college, contemplating decisions about Law School and marriage. Savannah-Jane is yearning for more independence and making decisions about her future.
It is time to let them go. Release them.
Ya know, when I let go of a physical object my hands are open, not clenched. If I am holding on to something how can I receive something?

Father, help me to let go, release them to you so I can receive what you want for me.

a great quote

“You don’t choose your family.

They are God’s gift to you,

as you are to them.”
~Desmond Tutu

The Greatest Blessings In My Life...

474. Griff, Savannah-Jane, and Taylor

475. Malli

He Came Down To Us

He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the punishment that made us whole, and by His bruises we are healed. Isaiah 53:5


Christ saw us ruined by the fall, a world of poor, lost, ship-wrecked sinners. He saw and He pitied us; and in compliance with the everlasting counsels of the Eternal Trinity, He came down to the world, to suffer in our stead, and to save us.
He did not sit in heaven pitying us from a distance: He did not stand upon the shore and see the wreck, and behold poor drowning sinners struggling in vain to get to shore. He plunged into the waters Himself: He came off to the wreck and took part with us in our weakness and infirmity becoming a man to save our souls.
As man, He bore our sins and carried our transgressions; as man, He endured all that men can endure, and went through everything in man’s experience, sin only excepted; as man He lived; as man He went to the cross; as man He died. As man He shed His blood, in order that He might save us, poor shipwrecked sinners, and establish a communication between earth and heaven! As man He became a curse for us, in order that He might bridge the gulf, and make a way by which you and I might draw near to God with boldness, and have access to God without fear.
—J.C. Ryle, Old Paths (Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth, 1999), 440

A laugh is a smile that bursts.

1000 Gifts List ...

464. a day at the beach

465. driving along a road sheltered with canopy of oaks

466. window shopping in downtown Fernandina

467. listening to my precious daughter share her heart

468. chocolate ice cream for lunch

469. dinner with some teenagers at the Crab Trap

470. fried shrimp

471. finding more Class of '79 friends

472. making plans for a family Easter Dinner

473. Holt's cinnamon rolls

The Soil of My Heart

The torrential rains have stopped and the soil is attempting to soak up the abundance of moisture that fell on our region this past week. It is difficult to take it all in. The water is spilling over the pond bank and much of the soil has eroded and washed away in our area.

Throughout this recent storm, my husband and son braved the pelting rain and removed debris - trash, leaves, pinestraw, and limbs from the ditches along our property to allow the excess water to flow and drain properly. Otherwise there could have been more devastating flood damage.

There is no way to control some things in life. Specifically, the stormy weather and the spiritual storms. But, I can control my heart, my attitude, and how I respond to them. To do this I must continually remove the debris, the clutter from my soul. I must keep the soil of my heart.


Here are some great quotes by Oswald Chambers ...

“The only way we can be of use to God is to let Him take us through the crooks and crannies of our own characters…We have to get rid of the idea that we understand ourselves; it is the last conceit to go. The only One Who understands us is God. The greatest curse in spiritual life is conceit.” (My Utmost for His Highest, 1/12)

“Many of us refuse to grow where we are put, consequently we take root nowhere…If we are not experiencing the ‘much more,’ it is because we are not obeying the life God has given us…” (1/26)

“Many of us prefer to stay at the threshold of the Christian life instead of going on to construct a soul in accordance with the new life God has put within. We fail because… we put things down to the devil instead of our own undisciplined natures.” (5/20)

“Moods never go by praying, moods go by kicking. We have to take ourselves by the scruff of the neck and shake ourselves, and we will find that we can do what we said we could not. The curse with most of us is that we won’t. The Christian life is one of incarnate spiritual pluck.” (5/20)

God's Love

“Truly God is love. Love is not something that God may choose to be or choose not to be. He is love, and that necessarily, inherently, and eternally. As God is spirit, as he is light, so he is love.
Yet it belongs to the very essence of electing love to recognize that it is not inherently necessary to that love which God necessarily and eternally is that he should set such love as issues in redemption and adoption upon utterly undesirable and hell-deserving objects.
It was of the free and sovereign pleasure of his will, a good pleasure that emanated from the depths of his own goodness, that he chose a people to be heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. The reason resides wholly in himself and proceeds from determinations that are peculiarly his as ‘I am that I am.’”
—John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1955), 10

Blessings

457. cooking a meal for my family

458. strawberries, cake, and whip cream

459. rocking Malli to sleep

460. laughing together

461. a day at home

462. rain

463. talking to my sister