Ancient Word Wednesday

For the past couple of weeks I've had 3 verses from Deuteronomy in front of my computer at work. One of them is Deut. 30:19b-20a "Therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days."

Choose life - Know that NOTHING you can do or did can get you to heaven. The only way to life is through Christ alone. It's not who you are or anything about you. Apart from Christ, we are dead, dead, dead. We can't even choose Him unless HE chooses us and wakes us up enough to choose Him. His grace blows my mind!

Why choose life? That you might live - both now on earth and forever with Him. That you might love Him with all your resources and all you are. That you might obey His word. And then the one that really struck me today - that you might cling to Him. How often do I cling to Him?

John 15:5 says that apart from Him I can do nothing. The analogy Jesus uses is that He is the vine and I am the branch. Unless I'm connected to Him, I won't bear fruit. But the picture I get here is of a small child clinging to his daddy's leg, and he won't let go. His daddy doesn't see him as a pest; he loves his son's affection. But in God's case, He wants us to be permanently attached. He doesn't want us to think we can do life on our own...that's just plain old prideful sin.

So, if you know Him, grab His leg, so to speak, and practice clinging! If you don't know Him, I'd love to chat!!

Gifts from Across the World

My dear friend and college roommate Danika is a missionary on the other side of the world. She has been in the States for about 2 years completing her masters. Last weekend she arrived back in the country she so dearly loves, and Monday we received a package in the mail. She knitted/crocheted IB an adorable blanket - Noah's Ark complete with a giraffe, an elephant, a fish, a turtle and a bird. The time she spent on it is a blessing, but even more precious are the prayers she poured out for IB while she worked. I'm overwhelmed by the many prayers of dear people like Danika. We're going to need them and so is IB!


But I love this blanket for another reason. When IB is old enough, he'll learn about this amazing woman who made this blanket for him. Of how she left her family and her comforts to go live in a very difficult place so that she could share Jesus' love with the people of that country. Of how God has blessed her work and how people have come to know the love of Christ and His saving power because she was willing to be used. Our prayers are with you, Danika!

Welcome Spring!

Two things mark spring in our neck of the woods (or plains) - the Garden Show and Storm Season. Usually, the Garden Show precedes Storm Season by about a month, or a couple weeks at the very least. We got them both today, including a tornado that touched down a mile or two from our house late this afternoon, not long after we got home from the Garden Show. We don't have a basement, but the storms usually don't get close enough to make us drive the 2 minutes to my parents'. For the first time, we made the run today. Thankfully, we didn't have any reports of damage. Just the enjoyment of our first storm of 2009. And I do mean enjoyment. We LOVE thunderstorms, just preferrably no tornadoes or hail damage.

Enjoy the Show!
This garden, "Inspiration," had upside down trees! In the roots up at the top, they had all sorts of beautiful flowers. It definitely stretched the imagination!
Randy's next dream toy. It even has cupholders. But at a price tag worth more than my car, he's going to have settle for making the truck rock-ready.

32 Weeks...and counting

So I wore the exact same outfit last month (again.). Someone really grew in the last four weeks (check out this link)! The crazy thing is that he's going to double his weight in the next 8 weeks. Yeesh. I'm ready to start taking guesses on when little Mr. IB will arrive. Anyone??

______________________

Spring has arrived! Well, spring-like weather has arrived. It was 86 degrees yesterday; it's 67 now and is headed toward 74. Tomorrow looks like it will be upper 60's or low 70's. Ahhh...makes me excited to get sun on my pasty white legs! This is perfect weather for the Garden Show tomorrow, too. This winter really hasn't been too bad (in my opinion - Randy would say otherwise. NO winter is best for him)...and this can be proven by the fact that we've only been to the nursery ONCE this winter to heal some spring fever.

Ancient Word Wednesday

I was going to move on from Hannah this week, and I am...sort of. Yesterday morning I had one of those moments when the Holy Spirit brought to mind some past thoughts and corrected my thinking about God and Who He is.

One of the things I've had to work through the most in my study of Hannah is how she could joyfully leave her son at the temple, this son she had prayed for and longed for only to leave. Then yesterday as I was getting ready for work I heard a song on the radio. As the first verse played, it hit me - She gave her son because God is completely WORTHY of such a precious gift!

It's easy to think, "God is worthy of me committing my life to Him," or my time or my possessions. But my child? YES! The Sovereign God who gave His Son as a ransom for my life is absolutely, completely worthy of far more than I have to give Him! I can't think of it is as my life, my time, my possessions, my child. It's all His. Hannah got that, in her head and her actions.

Oh Lord, by Your great grace, impact me with the truth of Your worthiness so that I live a Hannah-like life every moment of every day.

Alabaster Jar, CFN Praise Band

This alabaster jar, Is all I have of worth, I break it at Your feet, Lord, It's less than You deserve
You're far more beautiful, More precious than the oil, The sum of my desires, And the fullness of my joy, Like you spilled Your blood, I spill my heart as an offering to my King.

Here I am, take me, As an offering, Here I am, giving every heartbeat,For Your glory take me

The time that I have left, Is all I have of worth, I lay it at Your feet, Lord,

It's less than You deserve, And though I've little strength, And though my days are few,You

gave Your life for me, So, I will live my life for You, Like You spilled Your blood,I spill my heart as an offering to my King

Worthy, worthy, You are worthy

Worthy is the Lord

Welcome to the world - part 2

My dear friend Sondra lives in Ohio. Before that we actually lived in the same state for 22 months after I moved from Minnesota. Before that we were pen pals growing up (yes, actual pen and paper pals) and then we emailed. Our parents forced us to meet at a church conference when we were six or seven. Good job, parents!

At least once a year I'd come to visit family and get to spend precious time with Sondra. We always seemed to pick up where we left off as though we've lived next door our entire lives but better in some ways (except that we rarely saw each other face to face). We stood up for each other in our weddings 6 weeks apart in 2006.

In November we took back to back preggo pics at Sondra's baby shower. And last Friday she gave birth to son just over 8 weeks before my due date. Luke Thomas is adorable and healthy! Congratulations Chad and Sondra! We hope you make it back to the Midwest soon so our little guys can meet and play together. The third generation of good friends. Oh, and I'm hoping peer pressure will start working early...7 lbs. 10 oz. is a good size. Did you hear that, IB?

Ancient Word Wednesday

And we're back on track! For some reason, the last three weeks (this one included) have been just crazy! I get home at night, and I'm completely done in. But even though I forgot what day it was earlier today, I did remember AWW.

So here's Hannah#...4?

Hannah was a mother who worshiped her God (1 Samuel 2: 1-11). This passage is Hannah's second prayer. The one she prayed when she followed through on her vow to Lord and brought her son to the temple.

She worshiped with her actions (1:26-28) - She longed for a son, prayed and cried for a son. Then she made a vow to the Lord, and He responded by blessing her with a son. Now three years have passed, and it was time to fulfill her vow and physically give her young son to the Lord's service. It would have been far to easy for me to justify breaking the vow, but not Hannah! Experiencing God's faithfulness brought her such joy and she responded with willing obedience and faithfulness.

She worshiped with her words (2:1-10) - "My heart rejoices in the Lord...There is no one holy like the Lord." Her identity was wrapped up in her Lord, her Deliverer, not her child. She was first a child of God, then a wife, then a mother, and her worship in these verses reflected that understanding.

She worshiped in truth - I'm not going to list them all here, but I challenge you to read through this passage and list all of the truths about God that Hannah mentions. Here are just a few:

• God as deliverer(2:1)
• God is holy (2:2)
• There is no one like Him (2:2)
• He is the God who knows (2:3)

I found 12 more. We serve a great and awesome God!

Hannah's worship is another truly beautiful aspect of her life!