Topics on the Radio

So, I listen to CBC for about 10-15 minutes per day.  The topics are interesting. I like to know what is being discussed in our world and I find that one of the ways to find out.  The topics lately have been euthanasia ("self-chosen death")  cryogenics (freezing someone so that when we discover a better way to cure them or a better time to live in they can be, in theory, revived and live forever), political leaders and either their race, gender, or sexual persuasion...and how this affects their political career and our views of them as a culture, abortion, oh! and why is it that our tax system is geared towards married people...it's really unfair to the majority who is now single.  

Yeah! So, I have MANY thoughts on these topics.  But, really, they are very bizarre topics.  I have about gone through the roof on the logic given by some of the people being interviewed.  But, for me, it does force me to have to think through these things and not just have a gut reaction (of rage mostly, if I'm honest).  It forces me to sit down and think through these things and have a more succinct answer instead of only emotion.  It hasn't changed my views one smidgen. 

It also has, often, brought deep sadness and distress to my heart that these are the topics that our world is discussing because it shows so much pain and hopelessness.  

Each one of these topics has a solution that offers hope.  And that solution is the same for each of these topics...His name is Jesus.

It always it Jesus.      

A Moment in Church

Yesterday was our day of the week we set aside to Sabbath ..to rest, refresh. We go to church in the morning.  No, I don't always anticipate this. In fact the last year has been somewhat challenging for me to do this because we have been in a new church.  I haven't felt quite at home yet. That takes time.  But it is something that is important...no it's more than important.  I need that bolstering of my spirit each Sunday.  I need that time.  I always find that when I don't want to go the most is when I need to be there the most.
Yesterday, I was nearly in tears from one simple thing. I was in church and we were singing.  I love singing.  As I've mentioned, I feel God's pleasure most when I sing. I love the richness of Christian music. It has heart, hope, meaning, and joy.  I have listened to so much heartbreaking music. Music reflects a soul more easily than any other thing.    Anyway, this Sunday morning singing was...well it was even more lovely than normal.  I was surrounded by men who were beautiful singers.  Now that may sound odd especially if you don't go to church.  But let me explain.  These men (one of which was my husband) were singing praise with their whole heart and they were each harmonizing differently and perfectly.  It was not only beautiful to my ears but to my heart.  It was one of those moments.
 For most of my growing up years men were in church, absolutely! But there seemed to always be more women.  So when I would stop and listen to those singing around me women's voices were predominant. ALWAYS.  Yesterday, that was NOT the case.  I was in a room full of people...over a thousand. The service was full.  And the predominant voices I could hear (not just near me but overall) were men.  It was awesome!
Corporate worship is invaluable.  The corporate gathering is necessary.  It's not any less powerful or unique that my daily meetings with God one on one...it's different. It's a different part of my soul that is met.
Hebrews 10:25
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Humanism vs. Biblical Parenting

Today I was mulling over some things in regard to parenting.

We are not interested in humanism. We are interested in the Biblical view on the condition of the human soul.  This has a massive impact on how we parent in this house.   We are interested in the affect of sin on a soul and the impact that Jesus has on that soul.  This impacts how we view every detail of life, but especially parenting.  

With this comes the fact that we do not follow every whim of psychology that comes along. We are interested in knowing what the Creator of humans has to say on how He created humans to be and function. Since He created us He knows us better than we will ever know ourselves, never-mind our kids.  I am interested in psychology only in as much as it fits in with the Bible.  I am not interested in fitting the Bible into psychology. Psychology fails.  Jesus NEVER fails. 

We are in the midst of growing wee girls into mighty women of God.  We are in the midst of training them to live a life of repentance. To live a life that will honour Him. At the end of this life our desire is for these girls to hear "Well done My good and faithful servant". 

We start by looking at the end so we know how to go about the beginning. 

It's not about stuff.  

It's not about self and ego. The less they learn to serve themselves the better off they will be. 

It is about who is on the throne of their life. Is it them? Is it someone else? Is it something else? Or is it the One who was meant to be on that throne?  The only One who can handle being there. The only One who deserves to be there.  Both of them have chosen whom they will serve.  It is our job as their parents to teach them exactly what that means: love God, love people. It's not complicated but it takes a lifetime to learn. 

We are not interested in raising girls with a strong self image. We are interested in raising girls who have their image firmly planted in their Maker.  They will know who they are and what they are about best there and nowhere else. Deep security, deep peace, deep strength, immense hope, boundless joy, unending blessing, the surest foundation, and true beauty is found only there. The other way leads to emptiness, misery, and frustration.
I realize this is not a complete thought. There is so much more that could be said. But I will leave off for now.

Bedridden

Since last Thursday I have been in bed.  No I'm not depressed.  I've been really really sick.  2 weeks ago Friday the girls and and got rear-ended.  I seemed all right except that my neck was sore.  Then on Thursday I started throwing up. I couldn't keep food down etc.  I have an ulcer that decided to appear.  Massive amounts of pain.  I have had an ulcer before.  This one is worse than anything I've ever experienced.  I was finally able to get to the doctor. He gave me meds.  They didn't work right away.  Still throwing up. It's a great weight-loss program.  So a week later I'm still in bed....it's distressing.
Life still goes on.  Things still have to be done, after all we have 2 children and we have a business.  It never stops.  We are quite busy and my darling husband was already stressed to the max.  So take me out of the equation and all of what I normally do falls to him.  He has been absolutely amazing.  He hasn't complained once.  I can just see him getting more and more tired.  The girls have been very helpful and worried.  My mom and friends have checked in every day.  I have been having great text chats.  Text chats are nice because you can do them as you feel up to it.
As Hurricane Sandy made it's way along the Eastern Sea Board and as we have been watching war documentaries about WWII  I was thinking about how blessed I am.  I am blessed that I have a warm bed.  I have clean running water. I have electricity.  I have access to the internet to figure out how to help myself get better.  I have stores nearby that I can send someone to to get healing things.  I have a wonderful husband who willingly and cheerfully takes on the challenge.  I have my mom and friends who care and do all they can to help.  Really, if one has to be sick, this is the most ideal place to be in.
We have had to cancel our trip down to Southern California.  That bummed me out.  But as a friend pointed out to me the other day, we have only post-poned it.  It's not cancelled.  The girls were very good about it.  They were really looking forward to the trip.  I guess this offered them a teachable moment in learning how to accept change, even disappointing change, with grace.
In all this is a very weird, isolated bit of downtime I am experiencing.  I do believe that there is purpose in it. I do believe that God holds my days in His hands and therefore this is not a waste. I shall look forward to seeing what that purpose is!  

A 7 year old's Confession of Faith

A few Sunday's ago Little Miss P didn't want to go to her usual kid's church. She wanted to come sit in with us in the church service. When she said that I wondered what was wrong.  And then I kind of sighed.  She's very wiggly and it make for a not so relaxing way to sit and listen to the sermon.  Her loving daddy however wrapped his arms around her and smiled at her and said "Sure!" like it was the best news he'd heard all day...may I add he did this sincerely.

So she came and sat with is.  And she sung along with all the songs. And she was very still. It was very odd. I must admit I wondered if she was sick.  This girl is a going concern from the time her beautiful blues open in the morning until they close at night.  

And then she tapped on my shoulder and showed me this

"Jesus is the truth and the way and the life. I will forever love him and be a Christian.I will always trust Him. I will never bow down to an idol. I will never worship anything or anyone but Jesus. I welcome Him into my heart."

Her confession of faith.  This was NOT what the pastor was preaching on AT ALL.  She had her own time with God. He met her right then and there.

WOW!

An Update

I cannot believe it's been since the middle of July that I posted!  So much going on. There have been so many times that I wanted to sit down and write something but did not have the time!  Yep, it's been that busy.
OK let's see...we had the privilege of going down to Palm Springs to visit my dad,step-mom, brother, and grandpa this summer.  That was fun!  We went to Capernwray on Thetis Island for a week with Shaun's family.  That was good.  The girls did swimming lessons and two Vacation Bible Schools.  We had a few bbqs and hung out with friends.  My mom took the girls quite a bit this summer between all their activities so we adults could work.  It was a good and busy summer!
Just before we went to camp we got a call saying it was time to come to Victoria and say goodbye to Grandma (Shaun's dad's mom).  We went. The hour and a bit we got to spend with her was lovely.  She was so gracious to us. She was in a tremendous amount of pain and yet she still had a cheerful smile and time to drawn and giggle with the girls.  I won't forget those last moments.  She passed away a week later.  We sure were thankful that we were able to take the time to go and say goodbye.  She had quite a life.  I know she loved Jesus and so I will get to spend some more time with her on the other side.  Death where is your sting!
School started at the beginning of September for the girls.  They are now in Grades 2 & 4.  My goodness they are growing up quickly! I'm loving it!  The older they get the more I enjoy them...and I really enjoyed them as babies! I'm one blessed mama. It was nice to be back at the same school and know people and greet people as friends instead of being the new ones (although I must say that last year the school they are in and the families that go there were so welcoming, warm and friendly to all of us even as newbies). We are very very blessed with the privilege of attending this school. The three years on the wait list was definitely worth it! Miss M has "an awesome" teacher.  She has her first male teacher. She loves being in his class.  Little Miss P has a new teacher to the school and she loves her as well.  I'm pleased with these reports.  I haven't been able to be around school as much this year as I've been working more intensely and longer but I am thankful that they are comfortable in their school environment.
Both girls began music lessons with the start of school. Miss M is taking piano lessons and little Miss P is taking violin.  They are doing well.  M practices without reminders most of the time Miss P...she needs the reminders.  They both have a knack for it though and it's fun to watch them learn.  I'm even getting to learn violin with Miss P so I can help her along.  Bonus!
We are now 10 months into attending the church that we went to when we were engaged and first married.  It is so nice to live in the community that we attend church in.  We see so many familiar faces where ever we go. I love it!  I can't recall ever having this experience so often.  If you've not moved often then maybe you wouldn't be thankful for this but for me it's a massive gift and I truly am thankful for it.  There again it's nice to go to church and now know people. It's always a bit awkward when you are new somewhere. And again, the warmth and kindness of people we've met has been so wonderful.  People are not always friendly, especially if they have lived somewhere their whole lives.  They can be cliquish and have no need or room for new friends.  This has not been the case here.  Many of our friends have lived here all their lives and they have time for our family.  It's a beautiful thing.  I am grateful.
I have been marveling at the people in our lives family and both old friends and new friends.  What a gift they each are! They each have a special niche of their own in our hearts.
For our 14th anniversary my mom took the girls for us for 4 whole days. We got to go to Whistler and just be away.  We even did something we've never done before...we went ziplining! We got up to 100 km /hr.  Awesome! We loved it!  We'd for sure do it again.
We celebrated Shaun's Grandma's life the weekend after celebrating our anniversary.  Memorials definitely set people to thinking about life and the inevitability of death.  It is interesting to watch how each person responds.  Shaun and I got to sing together at the memorial.  I must brag on my man here.  He's amazing!  I. LOVE. Singing. With. Him!  It's...it's probably one of my favourite things.  It's a gift to my soul, to the very core of my being...it brings me such joy.  I can't think of anything more amazing than singing TO my Creator with the love of my life.
The business as been humming along.  We are working hard.  It too is getting easier little by little...not less work, maybe even more work. But the learning curve is not at such a steep incline. It's still pretty steep though!  We're exhausted most of the time. :)...which we honestly don't mind.
So as you can see, life is humming along quite busily and nicely.  I think it takes a good 5 years to settle into a place properly.  We're a a year and a half in and it's getting easier.
I am thankful. I am blessed.

Sin Nature at its Finest...

I had an interesting experience the other day.  Shaun and I were both grumpy. We were both feeling that the other was being irksome and so we decided to give each other a taste of the other's medicine (we, of course, figured this out later). You know how it is...snarkiness leads to more and more and more snarkiness. Now we, generally, have a pretty easy-going, happy, and good relationship.  We work hard at our marriage. But this day was an exception and our darker sides won this round.  It wasn't a big deal compared to some people I've seen at each other...but it was a big deal to us.  We were just nattering and at each other.  After we kissed and made up I got to thinking for the next day and a half.  I was praying and asking God to show me exactly what my part in that exchange was.
First of all some good excuses: we were both very tired and not feeling that great, it had been an extremely long day and it has been some time since we've actually rested.
    Are those good enough excuses to excuse that kind of behaviour?  No. Not for us.
A few lessons I learned from this:
   It was very clear to me how easy it is to, exchange after exchange like that, to lose your mates heart.  It is a bit by bit thing I think.  It's not an all of a sudden thing.  But if you don't hold your sin nature in check each time and ask for help from God...I think that each of those kinds of exchanges would get easier and easier.  You would lose that sweetness factor very easily.  You lose that joy of walking life's path together and in-step.  I've seen it repeatedly as I've observed people over the years.  It's easy to let your heart get hard.  It's takes repentance and humility to walk as one.  Those two words, repentance and humility, are nearly impossible without God's help.  I mean, you can do it but I think it's nearly impossible to do it in a healthy way and not lose your soul little by little in the process.  With God, you can do it with health and not come out as a victim or a doormat.  It takes living with purpose.
In that exchange I could feel my heart getting a little harder. It took my husband being the first one to be humble and ask for forgiveness for my heart to soften.  It was as clear as day to me and it really startled me. I saddened me that I allowed my heart to get hard towards my husband.  I had never done that before. I was NOT going to give in.  Stubbornness and pride were at the forefront.

It was perhaps a 10 minute exchange but God was gracious to me and showed me the path those behaviours ultimately lead too...they lead to death.  Death of a marriage, death of a family, death of a life well worth living.

It was a rather painless way to learn that lesson.  But it was enough.  It was sin nature at its finest...and it's stil l as ugly as sin.