Category: jesus

Thankful Thursday II

I am reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, and it is slowly changing my perspectives on what it means to be thankful every day.  I have started keeping a list of the gifts I’m thankful for both big and small, so that I can take time to really appreciate them.  I plan to share parts of that list with you here on the blog, and hope that you will share some of your gifts with me as well.  When I hear things that others are thankful for, it helps me to see even more gifts in my own life.  What are gifts?  Anything, no matter how small, that blesses your life.  I believe that every gift comes from God, and even if you don’t agree you can still appreciate the good things in your life with thanksgiving.  I usually make a list of things I’m thankful for during the Thanksgiving holiday with my Young Life, YoungLives, and WyldLife kids every year.  Reading this book has made me start to do this daily, instead of waiting for the holiday.  I have been so surprised by the joy it has brought me and the increase in contentment with my life.  
Here’s a few things on my list this week:
holding hands with my husband while driving, praying, on the couch, anytime
fundraising and friendraising at the Lakewood Young Life Banquet
pumpkin spice lattes
our house full of YL kids and leaders watching the World Series
What are you thankful for this week?  
Please share.  
  

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for glorious fall weather, my sweet baby’s smiles and giggles, and blanket time outside on a lovely afternoon. I want to take time to be thankful for my life, and all the little things that make it good.  I think it will help my attitude, which has been a bit of a struggle as of late.

Join me.  What are you thankful for today?

Reading the Bible with Daddy

Fisher got the Jesus Storybook Bible from some dear friends, and we have been reading it to him from his first weeks. Jed and I are criers, so it is hard to make it through some of the passages without tears. It speaks to my heart, and I overflow with joy watching my two men reading it together.

Verse of the Week – Joshua 1:9

“Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9
The Lord gave Joshua these instructions as he took over the leadership of the Israelites after the death of Moses.  He gave me this verse this week as I prepare to go back to work tomorrow.  I have struggled with fear and anxiety over returning to work all summer long.  If you had asked me 5 years ago if I would ever want to be a stay at home mom, I would have looked at you like you were crazy and said “No possible way.”  The Lord has changed my heart almost entirely, but I am committed to my job for one more year.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my job most of the time.  The Lord called me to ministry with teenagers through Young Life 11 years ago and has molded me into a minister of the Gospel.  We are paying for Jed’s masters, so I need to work full time right now.  My job is such that normal day care hours aren’t a huge help because I often work weekends and evenings.  After discussing it with several other YL staff women who have children, we have decided to use a Mother’s Day Out program at a church near our house 2 days a week and I’ve moved my office to my home.  This is a HUGE change for me and I am so scared that I will be inadequate at both my job and mothering because I’ll be stretched too thin.  The Lord gave me this verse on Thursday and it has been an encouragement.  He has me in this place in life, in this job, in this city.  He has blessed me with this child and the opportunity to work while mothering.  He has provided for us miraculously time after time.  He will walk beside me and comfort my fears if I release them.  As I go back to work tomorrow, I will be strong and courageous, for He is with me.  

Verse of the Week – James 1:5

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”  James 1:5
Since giving birth to Fisher, I have realized more than ever that I desperately need the Lord to give me wisdom.  Parenting has been the most humbling, dependency-on-the-Lord-driving experience of my life.  I know it will continue to be so and am so thankful that the Lord is in this with us and will not leave us to fend for ourselves.  

Verse of the Week – Nehemiah 1:11

“O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name.  Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”     Nehemiah 1:11 

I am reading through Nehemiah right now (random, I know), and this verse came along as I was preparing for our big fundraising golf tournament.  I prayed this verse over and over, asking the Lord for favor as we presented the ministry of Young Life to a lot of new faces.  Sometimes it is hard to ask for favor from the Lord, because we feel we don’t deserve it or that it is wrong to ask.  I think He wants to us to ask, and longs for us to seek out His blessing.  Have you asked the Lord for favor in any situations lately?      

Happy Easter!

Here we are, giant belly and uncooperative wiener dog included.  We hope that you and yours had a wonderful day celebrating our risen Lord.  

Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.  
-Hebrews 7:25

Nothing But Jesus

Image from Pinterest
“Nothing but the Blood” by Robert Lowry (late 1800s)
What can wash away my sin? 
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Oh, Precious is the flow that makes me white as snow
No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus
For my pardon this I see
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
For my cleansing, this my plea
Nothing but the blood of Jesus

Oh, Precious is the flow that makes me white as snow
No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus

Nothing can for sin atone
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Naught of good that I have done
Nothing but the blood of Jesus

Oh, Precious is the flow that makes me white as snow
No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus

This is all my hope and peace
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
This is all my righteousness
Nothing but the blood of Jesus

Oh, Precious is the flow that makes me white as snow
No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus
That’s it, friends.  Just Jesus.  Nothing else can make us whole again, nothing that we can do can cleanse us of our sins.  Only Jesus.  This weekend we remember and celebrate His work on the cross and His defeat of death.  It is a morbid holiday weekend, all about dying and being raised from the dead, blood and sin.  We can try to gloss over it all we want with Cadbury eggs and fluffy bunnies, but we can’t get away from the truth.  Jesus took on our sin so that we could have real life in relationship with God.  Pure and simple, we are free because of His suffering.  What separates Christianity from every other faith on earth, is that there is nothing we can do to be good enough for God.  He has done all the work for us, and gives it to us in this free gift called grace.  Every other faith is about man trying to reach God.  God reaches out to us, and I am blown away every time I think about it.  Thank you Jesus for your work on the cross.  I do not deserve your love, but I am so grateful for it.  

Verse of the Week – Luke 19:35-41

*image from Pinterest

They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it.  As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.  When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
”Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
“I tell you,” He replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”  As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it.
Luke 19: 35-41

Today is Palm Sunday, when Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  I’ve been doing a Lenten study for the past few weeks, and I have learned so much about the last weeks that Jesus walked on this earth.  Before this study, I don’t think I’d ever noticed verse 41.  Jesus rides in to the city on a donkey so that He could fulfill the prophecy from Zechariah 9:9.  The crowd is celebrating Him, acknowledging that He is the Messiah.  They wave palm branches, a national sign of freedom, and lay their cloaks under His feet.  The Pharisees try to shut up the crowd, worried that the Roman soldiers will come and regulate on the crowd.  All the while Jesus is riding on a young donkey, mourning on the inside for a city and a people that He loves.  He alone knows that He is riding to His death.  He alone knows that the cheers will quickly turn from praise to condemnation.  Imagine His thoughts as He rode through the cheering crowd.  The Son of God was so overcome with emotion that He shed tears for the lost.  Thank you, Jesus, for taking my sin so that I could live in freedom.

Join me this week in remembering His love for us.  
   How do you celebrate Easter week? 

Pregnancy Update – Test Results

Yesterday I got my long awaited test results for the gestational diabetes 3 hour glucose tolerance test. Ok, I really only had to wait over the weekend,but it seemed like an eternity. My results came back totally normal for the whole test! I am so thankful and praising God for the wake up call to eat healthier. We needed it desperately, and had become really lazy about our eating and exercise. Type 2 diabetes runs in both of our families, so we are now on a mission to fight those genetics. This whole ordeal has put Jed and I on the same page nutritionally, which is huge for us. And hopefully will prevent us from being huge in the future. 🙂 Thanks so much to everyone who prayed for Bun and me.

We are praising God for so much today- spring and spring break, good test results, loving family and friends who are kind enough to throw us baby showers, our fabulous and affordable rent house, great jobs that we love, great friends, our neighborhood lake, and so much more.

For what are you thankful today?