Jedidiah

I know that we all have lots of things that fill our times of prayer.  But, will you go visit the blog "Our Story" and read about sweet three year old Jedidiah?  He lives with his family in Arkansas.  His dad pastor's a church there.

Jedidiah has a rare and aggressive form of cancer and has just undergone his third chemo treatment.  He's looking at 10 more months of these treatments.  His mom's last post will just break your heart and I hope motivate you to lift this little boy and his parents and whole family up in prayer.  Just click on the words in blue in the paragraph above and you'll be taken directly to that post.

I've given little Jedidiah's address below.  His mom says he loves to get mail and when he gets a card in the mail, he calls them tickets! Will you think about sending little Jed a "ticket"?  How amazing it would be if we could flood that little boy, who will be spending the next 10 months pretty much confined to home because of a weakened immune system due to the chemo, with lots of "tickets"!

Jed Harper
PO BOX 123
Story, AR 71970

Praying for Jed,

Jennifer

Gratituesday

 

 I am linking this post to Gratituesday over at Heavenly Homemakers. 

My heart is full today; full of a little anxiety as a result of the unknown.  But my heart is even more filled with love and thankfulness to God for so many blessings!  I'm thankful for a husband who is a calming influence on me when I lose my way in my thinking and feelings over things that are unsettling.  I'm also thankful that he and I get to be mom and dad to three of the most awesome kids I know.

Cecily

She was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society last night at her school.  We are so proud of her!

(Cecily and her Advance Math teacher, Mr. Williams.) 

Bentley

JennaBeth

I'm thankful that they are all three healthy and developing into beautiful people.  I can't wait to see God's plan for each one of them unfold.

I'm also feeling very grateful today for a church family who loves on our family, especially our kiddos so well.  They honor God in the way they take care of us!

Even if it means that the baby gets her way and takes a walk in the rain...

Thank you Mr. David!  She was the happiest little thing after a stroll with the raindrops a fallin' on her head! (David is one of our elders and he has the sweetest and most gentle spirit about him and is so patient with JennaBeth.  She adores him!)

Yep, I'm probably the most grateful for a full heart today!

"Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.  The Lord, the Lord is my strength and my song;  He has become my salvation."  Isaiah 12:2

What are you grateful for today?

Blessings,
Jennifer

When The Rubber Meets The Road

I'm learning tonight that sometimes when God surrounds you with sweet assurances through His word He decides to give you a test to see whether or not you REALLY believe it.  And our family is entering a test.  I covet your prayers to help us pass His test!

We have been renting a four bedroom/ 3 bath house since we moved to Florida almost three years ago at an unbelievably great rent price thanks to a gracious and kind lady who attends our church.  She has become a very important part of our family, someone we love and not just someone we rent from.  We have GREAT neighbors.  My daughter has one of her best friends living two houses down from her.  Just tonight her dad was able to holler from their front yard to Mike when we drove up from church telling him one of our headlights on our car was out.  We have a lady who lives right next door to us who has adopted our kids as her own and who they affectionately call "Granny McGreevy".

Why am I telling you all this?  So you will know just a few of the reasons why we are so comfortable here.  And tonight we get ready to go to bed not feeling so comfortable.  We are a little shaken.  At least I am.

Due to unforseen circumstances beyond our landlord's control, we are having to move out of this house and find somewhere else to live immediately.  We have a real estate agent in our church who will be taking us around tomorrow to look at some other homes; and so, we begin the big test of whether or not we will trust God and believe that He is The Sovereign Lord of our family Who has a plan way better than ANYTHING we can even begin to come up with.

How timely that God would have laid the sermon on Mike's heart that he preached this very morning way back in January!  He preached out of Psalm 2:

"Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth take their stand

and the rulers gather together against the Lord

and against his Anointed One.

Let us break their chains, they say,

and throw off their fetters.

The One enthroned in heaven laughs;

the Lord scoffs at them.  

Then he rebukes them in his anger

and terrifies them in his wrath,

saying, I have installed my King on Zion,

my holy hill.

I will proclaim the decree of the Lord:

He said to me, You are my Son;

today I have become your Father.

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance,

the ends of the earth your possession.

You will rule them with an iron scepter;

you will dash them to pieces like pottery.

Therefore, you kings, be wise;

be warned, you rulers of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear

and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry

and you be destroyed in your way,

for his wrath can flare up in a moment.

Blessed are all who take refuge in Him."

Now Mike took the sermon in the direction of admonishing the unconverted person to stop living in rebellion to God, but He said some things in that context that is ringing loud in my ear tonight.

For instance, one of His points was that Jesus, The King is in control and is ruling and reigning right now.  He mentioned the old adage you may have heard, "If you want to make God laugh, just tell Him your plans."  

He primarily spoke about the unconverted sinner submitting to God's rule and reign in his life.  But tonight, I hear that being spoken over me.  As a believer, I must submit to God's rule and reign; to His plan now for my family.

I hate moving.  I hate packing.  It brings me great stress.  We've served in several churches and each move has been very hard and although this move isn't taking us from our church, it is taking us from a living situation in which we've grown comfortable.  I told Mike this evening that I just wished we could have a "normal" life to which his response was, "I don't think you really mean that."

And I don't.

Being in the ministry with a young family isn't the easiest thing in the world.  We don't own a home.  Money is tight, because it's important for us for me to be at home to raise our little ones.  So that means renting a home, which means you don't have that constancy of a living arrangement like some people who own their homes do.  

Mike relayed a situation he encountered years ago in which he was  faced with answering this question in relation to his commitment to God and the ministry he had been given; the "calling" on his life:

"If it never gets any better than this, will you submit to God and serving Him?"

His answer was a resounding YES.

My answer tonight:  YES!

Choosing to Kiss the Son,
Jennifer 

Mom's Bible: God's Wisdom for Mothers

I was provided a copy of the Mom's Bible:  God's Wisdom for Mothers with notes by Bobbie Wolgemuth by Thomas Nelson Publishers to review here on my blog.  The only thing they expect is that I give an honest review of the product here and on another consumer website.

To begin with, this bible has a very attractive cover, which makes it appealing visually.  The fonts and insets of the extra notes are arranged in a very appealing way on the inside as well.

I really appreciate how Ms Wolgemuth and her contributors approached the "notes" portion of this bible.  You will not find sweet little sentimental stories about being a mother.  What you will find is biblically sound challenges and encouragements in your high and holy calling as a wife and mother.  I don't know about you, but the role of wife and mother are the two absolutely most challenging, but rewarding roles I've ever had.  It's important to get it right or to strive to get it right.  God's word along with the helps you find in this bible will help you on your journey.

Speaking of the extras this bible provides, you will find the following:

• Introductions to the books of the bible
• Our God is...This section points out ways to know God better by understanding what He is like, noticing what He does, how He acts in human history and what He says about Himself.
• Walking in...This feature takes a look at our daily attitudes.
• Godly Character...This feature encourages openness to discovering the character God desires that we display in our lives and more importantly in our homes.
• Passing it On..."What are we leaving behind us as our legacy?"  This feature is a scriptural look at what is worthy to pass down to our children and challenges you to focus on what really matters.
• Moms in the Bible...These sections highlights moms found in the bible and provides you valuable lessons for your mothering roles and sharpens our focus on what it takes to be a woman who pleases God.
• Wonderful Counselor..."This feature is written by a Christian therapist who builds on solid biblical principles in her counseling ministry."  You will not find a lot of "pshyco-babble" here, but you will find help in applying scripture to those things in your life that may be harmful ways of thinking, acting, and speaking that keep you from being the mother God desires you to be.
• Questions Kids Ask
• First Touch...These are particular verses that challenge and encourage that are in a second color in the bible making them easy to spot when you only have a few minutes to grab a verse before you begin your day, which is often the case when you have little ones at your feet!

The only negative thing I found with this bible is the particular version it uses.  This bible is only offered in the New Century Version, which I found to be a shallow translation.  For example:  Proverbs 19:22 in the NIV reads like this "What a man desires is unfailing love; better to be poor than a liar."  In the New Century Version this same verse reads like this "People want others to be loyal, so it is better to be poor than to be a liar."  I wish that this bible could be offered in a more reliable version like the ESV or NIV.  However, I think this version is great for "devotional" reading and I have used it in such a way.  I just would not recommend it for deeper study of the bible.

This bible can be purchased at Amazon.

Blessings,
Jennifer

"Doing" Easter

So, I have a question:  How are you supposed to "do" Easter?

This question has been rolling around in my head for the past couple of weeks leading up to Easter Sunday.  As I was out and about in the grocery store and Wal-Mart or Target or just running errands the past couple of weeks I would over hear people talking about needing to do their Easter shopping, parents obsessing over how much to spend on each child's Easter presents; which begs the question, do we now have to buy Easter presents like we buy Christmas presents?

Now before you move on thinking I'm just a party pooper and want to spoil all the "fun", my children got an Easter basket this year.

We filled one big basket up with some goodies for all three.  They got the "Squeaquel" movie to share and each kiddo got some of their favorite candy.  JennaBeth got a new sippy cup and some Gerber yogurt melts.  Bentley and Cecily each got a chocolate bunny.  They also all three got peeps.

Cecily got the blue ones.

Bentley got the yellow.

JennaBeth got the pink ones.

The kids also hunted Easter eggs.

Back to "doing" Easter.  I also heard people talk about how they were going to "do" Easter with so and so on Saturday morning and "do" Easter with so and so on Saturday night and then "do " Easter again on Sunday with a different group.  Now, I completely understand the actions behind the semantics.  These folks were going to celebrate parts of the Easter weekend with family and friends and so forth.  I get that.

But I'm still wondering how you do Easter.

My husband and I were very intentional in NOT speaking of the Easter bunny this year.  We explained to Bentley that we were celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus this past weekend and that the new clothes and candy were part of our celebration.  We told him the reason he got something special to wear to church was because it was such a special day.

He was so happy to have a tie like daddy wears every Sunday.

The girls both had new things to wear also.  JennaBeth wore a cute little hand me down from her cousin Jordan and Cecily found her dress at Justice.

As we were talking to Bentley about how this Sunday was so special because of our observance of Christ's resurrection, I began to think about something.  Shouldn't every Lord's Day be a celebration of the resurrection?  And shouldn't every Sunday be held in high esteem and be top priority in our planning for the week?

I read the first book in Davis Bunn's and Janette Oke's Acts of Faith series the week before Easter Sunday.  The title is The Centurion's Wife.  The book covers the days right after the tomb of Jesus was found empty and the beginning of the early church.  The book is historical fiction of course, but Mr. Bunn and Ms Oke do a wonderful job of following scripture and base the "filler" stuff with their historical research of the times covered.

Here is a portion that struck me:

"When everyone was finished eating, Alban watched the elder stand to light a candle made from three braided strands.  Eli prayed over the flickering flame, his hands up to either side of his head, speaking in the ancient Hebrew tongue.  His final amen was echoed by everyone at the table, even the youngest.  His wife handed Eli a ceramic vial, from which he took a pinch of spices, sprinkling them over the candle.  Instantly the patio was filled with the fragrance of incense.  At his place at the head of the table, Eli seated himself again and said, 'We light the candle and ask the Lord Jehovah to illuminate the week ahead.  We sprinkle spices into the flame and remind ourselves that the Sabbath should remain a sweet scent in our lives, flavoring the days to come.'"

Our choir is working on our Spring musical and one of the songs we will be dong is "The Stand".  As we were practicing this song Sunday evening and I really meditated on the words, I thought, "This should be our response to what Christ accomplished on the cross and through His resurrection.  This is how we should do Easter EVERY day of our lives!"

Our family prays that you and yours will find the hope of Christ's resurrection just as joyful this coming Lord's Day as it was on Easter,

Jennifer

Do You Know Him?

Blessings,
Jennifer

Christ on the Cross

"Just as there were many who were appalled at Him -

His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man

and His form marred beyond human likeness."

Isaiah 52:14

"He was despised and rejected by men, 

a man of sorrows,

and familiar with suffering.

Like one from whom men hide their faces

He was despised, 

and we esteemed Him not.

He was pierced for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace

was upon Him,

and by His wounds we are healed."

Isaiah 53:3,5

"At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land 

until the ninth hour.

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice,

'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?' -

which means, 'My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?'

Luke 15:33-34

"When He had received the drink,

Jesus said,

'It is finished.'

With that, He bowed his head and

gave up

His spirit.

John 19:30

"The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

And the centurion,

who stood there in front of Jesus,

heard his cry and saw how he died,

he said, 'Surely this man was the

Son of God!."

Mark 15:38-39

Blessings on this Good Friday,

Jennifer