Post 130, Psalm 130 (and 25)

Psalm 130

A song of ascents.

¹ Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;

² O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.

³ If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?

⁴ But with you there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared.

⁵ I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope.

⁶ My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.

⁷ O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.

⁸ He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.

Psalm 25

1To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;

² in you I trust, O my God.
Do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.

³ No one whose hope is in you
will ever be put to shame,
but they will be put to shame
who are treacherous without excuse.

⁴ Show me your ways, O LORD,
teach me your paths;

⁵ guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.

⁶ Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.

⁷ Remember not the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
for you are good, O LORD.

⁸ Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

⁹ He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.

¹⁰ All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful
for those who keep the demands of his covenant.

¹¹ For the sake of your name, O LORD,
forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

¹² Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD ?
He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.

¹³ He will spend his days in prosperity,
and his descendants will inherit the land.

¹⁴ The LORD confides in those who fear him;
he makes his covenant known to them.

¹⁵ My eyes are ever on the LORD,
for only he will release my feet from the snare.

one of the best sentences in the whole world!!!!! IMO

From:

Winne-the-Pooh
~A. A. Milne
Chapter Nine
In Which
Piglet Is Entirely Surrounded by Water

"In after-years he liked to think that he had been in Very Great Danger during the Terrible Flood, but the only danger he had really been in was in the last half hour of his imprisonment, when Owl, who had just flown up, sat on a branch of his tree to comfort him, and told him a very long story about an aunt who had once laid a seagull's egg by mistake, and the story went on and on, rather like this sentence, until Piglet who was listening out of his window with out much hope, went to sleep quietly and naturally, slipping slowly out of the window towards the water until he was only hanging on by his toes, at which moment luckily, a sudden loud squawk from Owl, which was really part of the story, being what his aunt said, woke the Piglet up and just gave him time to jerk himself back into safety and say, "How interesting, and did she?" when -- well, you can imagine his joy when at last he saw the good ship, The Brain of Pooh (Captain, C. Robin; 1st Mate, P. Bear) coming over the sea to rescue him."

My Bubble

I spend almost all of my time in a sphere of like minded people.
Maybe we don't agree all the time, but "If two people agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary"
Also, for back ground, I'm taking a class called "Woman: Aware and Choosing" (WAC)

I went out last night with some ladies from a whole different life style and world view. It was interesting. Most of it was fine, some was a little uncomfortable. After coming home, I couldn't sleep...I had just eaten a whole cannoli! ;0) So I read in my WAC book. It was encouraging that it said right in there I don't have to justify my choices! to anyone really. I am able to make decisions, but I owe no one an explanation.

My choices are very counter culture.
I stay home and take care of my husband's and children's needs. I teach them. I encourage other mothers in our work. I worship and pray. I typically don't watch TV when I do have a spare minute, and I never eat bon bons. ;0)
Society may say I am foolish to just do these things....I'm not "contributing to our home" because I don't bring in a paycheck. I am crazy to "ruin my kids" keeping them home from school; and what about the poor school that's "missing their money" because they have one less child? Why do I have so many? Don't I realize the world is crowded?
I don't have to give anyone the answers to all of these questions.
Certainly God can be glorified in my answers to some, but I really have no need to try to argue my decisions, nor allow myself to feel bad because people don't understand me. I have a right to choose the intention of the question and the freedom to simply not answer.

That was freeing for me.
I hope it is for someone else too.

Lessons from the Seasons : Summer

With summer in full swing and HOT here in So Cal, I'm compelled to continue the series I started; Lessons from the Seasons.

So far, my summer lesson has been maturity and weeding!

Our plants 'new spring growth' gains in size, strength and color.
We see areas of our spiritual growth start to show baby fruit, ripening, maturing.

We also see amongst all the beauty, the weeds!
No where do I see this better illustrated than my tumble weeds.
I pulled out over 142 from only one side of one of my iris beds...yes, I counted. Where I pulled every little to big sized weed one morning, I found medium sizes that evening! Where did it come from? How did it grow sooo fast?!?

In this analogy, I see 'little' sins in life grow quickly! Maybe you feel you just weeded, but now there's something growing, again. "Take every thought captive" means constant weeding!!!
The good news is that the littler they are the shallower the root; much easier to pull out.

I hope this encourages diligence. Soon the Autumn will come to enjoy the harvest of the promising fruit you see!

Who's children are they anyway?

A parent’s right to raise their children as they see fit is a time-honored American tradition, but today it is being threatened. The Supreme Court’s Troxel v. Granville decision in 2000 undermined a 75-year heritage of Constitutionally-protected, fundamental parental rights, which 8 of the 9 justices abandoned. At the same time, a growing body of international law fuels activist judges to legislate foreign standards from the American bench, while treaties such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child would subject parental decisions to government oversight and international review.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (MI-2) has proposed HJR-42, the Parental Rights Amendment, to stop the erosion of parental rights in American courts while simultaneously defending our laws from international invasion. Please, visit parentalrights.org to learn more about the Amendment, and to join their email network by signing the petition to protect parental rights.

Are you willing?

Am I?

I was reading in Isaiah this evening.
I came across this
Isaiah 20
"....the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, "Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet." And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot. Then the LORD said, "Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years....."

Naked and barefoot for 3 years to obey God!!!
I sometimes wonder if God asks us to do outrageous things and we think... "God wouldn't really ask that of me." it makes no mention of what Isaiah felt, just that he obeyed.

Anyway, it made me think.... so I thought I'd share the pleasure. ;0)

Goals

I'm not the type of person who has a written list of goals to accomplish.
The closest I come to that is probably the occasional "to do list" which probably comes down to the fact I really like crossing things off the list!

I was thinking however, that I do have some set goals that I continually work toward.
We have set (long ago) some traditions that are important to us, things we want to pass on to our kids, or at least make memories they will enjoy for years to come. Those things we make a purpose to add to our lives now, which is the process of reaching our goals.

We want to teach our kids about money. How to tithe, save, spend; how to avoid the pitfalls of being miserly or frivolous. We use a standard Deut 6 approach
⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Last evening I had the chance to allow my kiddos to spend their money in a God honoring way and that's when it hit me that I actually do have goals, and things we are working toward...whether or not I write it down. ;0)

Maybe you, like me, get discouraged by others who say you need to do things this way or that.... scheduling, writing down goals, or whatever it may be...
I say follow God as the person He made you. He made us all different for a reason, and no it isn't just to bug those Type A's who thing we should all be like them.

Praise

Psalm 150

¹ Praise the LORD.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.

² Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.

³ Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,

⁴ praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,

⁵ praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.

⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD.

Psalm 149 ^:3 Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with tambourine and harp.

Is it just me or do you get the feeling that the psalmist wants us to praise with everything we've got?

Ever feel like your church doesn't?

Good News! You don't have to be in a "church" to worship "in Spirit and in truth!"

You are the church! Hallelu Yah!

Do it every where, all the time, and with all you've got!

Psalm 103

²⁰ Praise the LORD, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.

²¹ Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.

²² Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!

Speaking in tongues?

My sweet little man and I were cozily saying "bed time prayers" together the other night, when our cat, Sasha, decided to join us.
As she crept across his pillow he said, "Hey. You weren't invited into my prayers. It's not your turn. You know, Mom, I help Sasha pray sometimes in her own cat language."

The Divine Frying Pan

Do you remember cartoon characters chasing each other with frying pans? The idea of needing to hit someone over the head with something to get it to stick always reminds me of them.

Sometimes I think I am in need of God's Divine Frying Pan to smack the sense into me!
This surrender issue, is the heart of most of my issues in life. I once again have visited the anxious part of myself and had a revelation.

There I was in Walmart...(where all great thinking is done) catching up with some friends who are trying to leave for the mission field soon, when out of my mouth come anxious words I didn't know were in my heart until then.
"Under the current administration, we may be out of a job at some point soon." :O There was a meeting at work that day.... I was thinking somewhere inside of me that it may be lay offs (which the company had just announced 700 layoffs in another area) and I was unaware that it was even there until I suddenly said it to them!
Thankfully we have recently memorized Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the Peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Please forgive the punctuation...I didn't memorize that! (0; ) The Spirit spoke that out of my mouth directly after the above confession. I'd almost say regurgitated is the best description. LOL. So after all that, I keep going..."God knows we will feel anxious at times, but gives us the instructions, go to God in prayer and He will help you not to be anxious." It seems so simple, and yet for me it was so profound! I'm still thanking Him for bringing that to me!

There have been lots of those moments, of needing to remember not to be anxious. It's tough to learn a new trait.
Psalm 116
5The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.

⁶ The LORD protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me.

⁷ Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.

¹⁶ O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant, you have freed me from my chains.

¹⁷ I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the LORD.

¹⁸ I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,

¹⁹ in the courts of the house of the LORD— in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD.

To catch a Pumpkin

Today the "bigs" have been playing hide and seek with Aliyah being "it"

Tonight, as I relax on the sofa nursing Brianna; Aliyah sits beside me "reading" a book. I notice on the other side of the room a very strange occurrence. A baby doll, attached by a shoelace to a hanger is bobbing up and down repeatedly in the doorway.
**Imagine the carrot on the end of a stick.**
It continues a while as I hear muffled laughs and snorts from the culprits.

Apparently, they were "baiting" her to come and play again! Unfortunately, it did not manage to get her attention. Maybe they should've made crying sounds to go with it?

I found it hilarious, but you may have had to be there.

Lessons from the Seasons : Spring

As I attempt to do all the Spring cleaning and chores that I need to get done, I've been feeling a lesson building up, that I thought I'd share.

We have 15 fruit trees, 13 other trees, several Yucca and roses, and plans for a veggie garden.
The trees have needed some proper pruning for about a decade, so it is a lot of work. The first one I did took 2 days with an hour to two hours invested each day! just on the cutting.

As I am out there in God's beautiful handiwork, watching the bees pollinate the plum tree as I decide which branch to cut and which to leave, my heart thought of the different work of the different seasons.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
^"1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."

Spring is a time of new growth, and lots of it... which is about where I've been feeling I am in life, right now. The trees are putting out new buds and branches in every direction, and where they are good things to have, not all of them are growing in a good direction. And too many aren't good either. So I cut away unnecessary growth, and choose the best ones in the right directions to leave to grow.
I've been praying as I do for God's direction in how things should be; and then the thought came that God's wisdom is needed for the direction of my new growth too. Maybe there's too much going on and I need to thin out, or maybe some things are growing in a direction that wont be best. He knows and will help me to thin and grow in the ways He sees best.

The other seasons aren't as developed in my head as spring is since it has been shown to me recently, but here is a brief idea. I'll continue searching.
Summer is a time for maturing and bearing fruit.
Fall is the season of harvesting and reaping what you've sown.
Winter is the time to "Be still and know."

I think I happen to be in a spring time in my life during spring this year, but that you can be in any of the spiritual seasons regardless of the climate. ;0)

Everyone wants to go to Heaven

Ok I know I haven't blogged for awhile, then crank out 3 in one sitting. Kinda goofy, but what else would you expect from me? :-P
I've had several thoughts I've wanted to share here, then by the time I get here, it's all gone! Gotta work while I can remember. :-D

So Heaven. Everyone wants to go there right. Well I've started to wonder.... why?
You hear people who want to go there because they don't want to go to hell.
Because Dad, Grandma, my kitten, whoever is there.
Because they don't believe there's anywhere else to go.
Because it's supposed to be a really great place where the list of adverse things I don't like are gone....forever.

But I wonder, isn't there really only one reason to truly want to go?
To be with God.

As I thought of this an analogy came to my mind.
Suppose someone said they want to come to your house, but only because they really don't want to go to jail. or because someone else is going to be there that they want to see. or because you have really great food and your house is amazing.
Do you really want that person, who obviously doesn't care about you, to come to your house?

What is our attitude about it? Are we in it to avoid negative consequences? To see someone we knew here on earth and loved? Do we love God for "His stuff?"
Let that not be true!
Let us love God who loved us so much to leave His heavenly throne to die to bring us to Himself!!! And let us desire to be in His presence eternally.

When my kids talk about going to heaven and seeing each other there, I tell them. "You know, when we are there in the very presence of God, I don't think we'll care about much else. Yes, I'll be there, you'll be there, but the most important of all God is there!"

Mine Ebenezer

"Ebenezer" is the name Samuel gave a memorial stone, saying "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us" (1 Sam. 7:1-12)

Like Much Afraid in Hind's Feet on High Places, I have my memorial stones; though unlike Samuel I haven't named any... yet.
I've been feeling the need to "raise mine Ebenezer" lately. I have been moving forward toward the prize at a faster pace for a few months, and I feel that "hither by Thy help I'm come." Everything truly does seem to be "working together," which I know it always has and yet seems so much more really happening. Everything pointing in the same direction, in all areas of my life, to bring me closer and closer to Him.

So Here I raise mine Ebenezer. My memorial blog, carved out somewhere (lost) in cyberspace.
For Hitherto hath the Lord helped me overcome myself.

Amusing (to me)

Last night Ysa decided to repeat everything I say. This is a new game.... one I don't care much for.
So she hears me tell hubby that I will "show her what it's like on the receiving end" and she thinks that will be cool.
So tonight she asks to "play" the game again.

I repeat what she says. When she starts to ask me questions she really wanted an answer to, I simply repeat her question. I repeat her laughs, snorts and chortles. I'm thinking that I'm pretty annoying, but that doesn't quell her fun.
She starts replying to her questions for me.
Ysa: "Mommy is this fun?" I: repeat
Ysa: "Yes Ysa. This is fun. We should do it every night" I: repeat

So after we do that a few times she really thinks she's got it...
Ysa: "Hey Ysa. We should go eat all the candy canes in the candy cane holder!"

That's about where I tackled her with tickles until she couldn't talk any more.
This may be the best option for stopping the parrot game.

Pride, goeth!

I struggle with issues of pride.
Please don't send me messages saying you don't think I'm prideful, this only adds to it!
It seems even when I try to be less prideful I find I am only more self focused trying to fix it! **Arg**

I may be defining more things as pride than are technically considered pride. But arrogance, conceit, vanity, disdain of others, inordinate self-esteem are all synonymous with pride, so I don't think I'm stretching the definition too far. Being self focused, IMO, is pride.

Straight from www.merriam-webster.com
synonyms proud , arrogant , haughty , lordly , insolent , overbearing , supercilious , disdainful mean showing scorn for inferiors. proud may suggest an assumed superiority or loftiness. arrogant implies a claiming for oneself of more consideration or importance than is warranted . haughty suggests a consciousness of superior birth or position <haughty aristocrat>. lordly implies pomposity or an arrogant display of power <lordly condescension>. insolent implies contemptuous haughtiness . overbearing suggests a tyrannical manner or an intolerable insolence <overbearing supervisor>. supercilious implies a cool, patronizing haughtiness . disdainful suggests a more active and openly scornful superciliousness <disdainful of their social inferiors>.

Any time I question God, really I'm showing arrogance. Who am I to think He should have to answer to me?

Needing to be right or to correct someone else; the need to be understood; the need to have the last word; a "my rights" attitude; all prideful behaviors.

What about those times when you find someone else's company a little "beneath" your IQ? Conceit. And, after all, your IQ wont get you to Heaven!
I was recently in this position at a fellowship, when the Spirit smote me:
1 Samuel 16:7

7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

I thought again and said, in matters of the Spirit, I am far less mature!

James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5; Prov.3:34 :
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

Now check out these definitions of humble:
1: not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive
2: reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission <humble apology>
There it is again that word submission, or as I often use it, surrender.

I decided to share this all here (for all three of you who read it) because pride loves to have others only see the good, presentable side. If pride is to be slain, he must first be stripped of his power. (Mark 3:27...sort of)

A message from my heart

Last week, I read a news article that broke my heart. A sweet little toddler had been beaten to death by her mom and step dad. She had even reached up and said "I love you, Mommy." and I couldn't even finish the article I was too overwhelmed....

It came to me that the Lord was grieved also, that His compassion for her was far greater than mine and that my compassion was a gift from Him. Then as I was thinking how those responsible for her death should be beaten to death; it occurred to me that my sins also deserve death! That the Lord feels compassion for them so much so that He died a horrible death, and that they really need to know that forgiveness. The only thing separating me from them was Jesus' forgiveness.

So I thought I had two special messages from the Lord and that I should share them with you.

One, we cannot fathom how wide and high and long and deep is the love of God; that He is of tenderest compassion. The other, that each person, regardless of our view of them, is precious to Him; so much so that He died to save them! A truth I sometimes need reminding of.

Tis greater to give

Campus Crusade for Christ is requesting our help to feed orphan children in Zimbabwe.
They have the food, they just need to ship it there, and that's what a donation can help.
10 cents ships a meal.
How many dimes do you have lying around?

When I challenged my kids, they ransacked their change jars and bear banks and came up with
515 meals!
They can't wait to change the lives of those kids with hope, and the food they need for body and soul!
You can give online here.
Or by mail to:
Campus Crusade for Christ
PO Box 628222
Orlando, FL 32832

"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." James 1:27

Signs of strength or of weakness

Many of my friends know that I don't eat chocolate.
Some find this to be a strength, will power or discipline.

As I was talking with Ysa yesterday though, I suddenly had an epiphany.
It is no sign of strength, but a sign of weakness.

I do absolutely NO chocolate because I cannot do moderation.
All things in moderation.... for me that does not include chocolate!

So since I cannot discipline myself to only do a little, I do none.
It really is easier, for me.
And thus, I find it to be a weakness.