Traveling Light for Mothers

I have known about Max Lucado for years, but never read any of his work until recently. Netflix has a video of 3:16 (the link is an audio message though) which I watched. I also read Safe in the Shepherd’s Arms. So when I came across Traveling Light for Mothers I was intrigued. I will say that something about the way Mr. Lucado explains our relationship with the Lord, well, his words bring soothing hope and encouragement.

He covers moms' amazing purses, the burdens of self-reliance, discontent, weariness, worry, hopelessness and guilt.

So, here is an excerpt from this little gift size book....you might want to look it up for a mother in your life...

Haven't you been known to pack your bag with some unnecessary items? Odds are, you did this morning. Somewhere between the first step on the floor and the last step out the door, you stuffed your bag full. It wasn't a bag made of leather, but the one of the mind. And you didn't fill it with books or BandAids or Binaca, you filled it with burdens. The kind of burdens that moms carry. The suitcase of guilt. A sack of discontent. You drape a duffel bag of weariness on one shoulder and a hanging bag of worry on the other. No wonder you're so tired at the end of the day. Toting those kinds of bags is exhausting. What you were saying to me, God is saying to you, "Set that stuff down! You're carrying burdens you don't need to bear. 'Come unto me,' he invites, 'all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest' (Matthew 11:28 NLT)

If you are like me and carry the "weight of the world" sometimes, you might enjoy this book! There is a whole book with this same title (minus the For Mothers part) . (I haven't read it yet!)

03.22.10 If my people...

I am still reading "Becoming a Man of Prayer". I was really struck hard today reading the section on praying for our country. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says:

If my people,
who are called by my name,
will humble THEMSELVES
and PRAY and SEEK MY FACE,
and turn from THEIR wicked ways,
then will I hear from heaven
and will forgive their sin
and will heal their land.

It struck me, we want God to "fix" our leaders, turn their decisions into what we believe is right for our nation, but maybe we are missing the most important thing that GOD says we should be praying. I am first to humble myself, pray, seek the Lord...confess MY sin....THEN will he hear from heaven and forgive and heal!!!! God's people!!!! We must humble ourselves before the Lord!!! If WE do this, he will forgive our sins and heal our land. I think we are looking at things upside down! We want God to fix THEM! He wants to fix HIS people!

The Signs are everywhere

We went to a local transportation museum today and I was struck by the signs that were everywhere. I enjoyed photographing them, but also saw something of what we sometimes wish the Christian life could be like...as in these...

Or one of these might be nice...

But ultimately once again, I'd focus on something other that a relationship with my loving heavenly father...

So, I thank Him for His Word, for loving me and taking care of me...even if I don't always know exactly what His plans are.

3.1.10 Am a child or a grownup in Christ?

I read chapter 3 of Becoming a Man of Prayer today. In reading Galatians 4:1-7, I was at first not sure what the reference to a child heir verses an heir meant. I came to understand that in the first verse, a child heir is (according to the verse) similar to a slave in that they must be protected and managed until they are of age. Verse 7 says that I am, "no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God." 1 Corinthians 13:11 says, "When I was a child, I spoke like child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways."

I realized I have in many ways been living as if I were still an underage child in God's presence. Yes, we know we must come to him initially with the faith of a little child, but when we are saved, we must put away childish things and grow up! I stand today before the Father a grownup daughter. I am called to a life of holiness, suffering, discipline and commitment. These are not for babies...these are for grownups.

Then, I pulled out Love to Eat, Hate to Eat. A CS Lewis quote fit in perfectly with what I feel the Lord was trying to show me.

(from Love to Eat, Hate to Eat by: Elise Fitzpatrick)
C.S. Lewis...believed that we were too easily satisfied with the "lesser joys" of life instead of pressing on to pure, full joy in Christ. He wrote, "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition [and food] when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

2.24.10 Becoming a Man of Prayer

Ok, here's the laugh for you that I gave my children last night. "I'm on my way to becoming a Man of Prayer!" That was priceless. No really, I was looking for something on our shelves on prayer for me, when I found a Promise Keepers book called Becoming a Man of Prayer. I figured, well, prayer is prayer right? So, I have read the first two chapters and am very excited about it.



I guess part of prayer is developing a habit of taking "it to the Lord in prayer". So, Bob Beltz uses the Model Prayer (often called the Lord's Prayer) as a guide to developing a meaningful prayer life. I like what I've seen so far. He recommends to start by committing to pray for five minutes a day for five days, starting off by reading Luke 11:1-13 and one of Psalms 1-5 and then praying. This is just the start.

This is something I've struggled with for a long time. I know the lack of prayer has great consequences in my life. I am praying that the Lord will use this to open me up to all the many things that He would love for me to lay at His feet!

2.8.10 Working Wonders

Taken from: A Gentle Spirit Devotional Journal, written by: Mrs. Charles E. Cowman (from Streams in the Desert 2)

"God with power and might at His disposal yet works in this wise.
His quiet performances are indirect, deep, serene, and seemingly slow
and have to be explored to be understood and appreciated.
He quietly and confidently moves, working wonders day after day.
In every experience, at work, in church, and in society,
it sometimes appears as though God were being defeated,
and the movements of His grace and providence were failures,
and that all his plans were reversed,
flowing upstream in the opposite direction from the ocean of blessings.One has but to look up
and cast his gaze out from the shore of frustrating encirclements of the present
and consider the ENTIRE STREAM of God's purpose among His people
in order to see that He is continually winning the battle in quiet, circuitous ways.

God works through individuals, conquering some heart,
and through that heart He pours His purpose like a mighty river.
The Lord makes His conquests
by keeping His saints in utter dependence upon Him,
making them live by faith.
There is to be none of self in His program,
but all of Christ instead.

01.28.10

My heart is very full right now. I am reading many things, just not much time to write them here. I'll start with the passage that has stayed with me all week from a sermon Sunday night. From James 1 starting with verse 2:

Consider it all you, my brethren,
when you encounter various trial,
knowing that the testing of your faith
produces endurance.
And let endurance have its perfect result,
so that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking nothing.

I have to comment here about endurance. This word did not mean much to me until last September, as I am not an enduring person of late. But, I trained for eleven weeks for a sprint triathlon last year. How much better I understand this athletic language now! I trained six days a week almost without fail. I added a little more distance or laps each time until by the day of the triathlon I knew I could swim, bike and run the distances of the race. God really taught me a lot about preparation and sticking to something til the finish.

But if any of you lacks wisdom,
let him ask of God,
who gives to all generously
and without reproach,
and it will be given to him.

But he must ask in faith
without any doubting,
for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea,
driven and tossed the wind.

So, I have lacked much wisdom in understanding the workings of this world and the people around me. I had not been asking for wisdom! How often do we think we do not know what to pray...but here, James tells us unequivocally, "PRAY FOR WISDOM". But, then comes the hard part..."ask...without any doubting". This is where I have to pray, "Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief!" Jesus promised that in this world we would have troubles, but to take heart, because HE has overcome the world!!!

01.19.10 What to sing when nothing else helps!

It Is Well With My Soul

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But Lord, 'tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Horatio Spafford

01.15.10 My Hiding Place

One of the first truely Living Books I read aloud to my older children was The Secret Garden By: Frances Hodgson Burnett. I recently came across a version with beautiful illustrations by Inga Moore. I guess, truth be told, I came alive along with Mary. So, anyway, in keeping with the idea of The Secret Garden, my verse for the day is as follows:

Psalm 32:7 (Amplified)
You are a hiding place for me; You, Lord, preserve me from trouble, You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

01.14.10 Comfort in our Testings!

Romans 16:10: Salute Apelles approved in Christ.

Apelles, that tested man in Christ; "the Lord knows, not we,
the tests he stood." (Moule)

(my bible references Romans 8:11 for "approved": But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.)

From Edges of His Ways for today's date:

Let us stop for a moment, and think what it would be if at the end of the day our name might be written thus: that tested man--that tested woman--that tested girl--that tested boy, in Christ. Would it not be joy past telling if only that might be? But to the tested man, woman, girl, boy, there is sure to come temptation to depression; and so in this same letter and in others, St. Paul uses a beautiful, strong, heartening word...comfort*, and which means not so much the consolation of grief, as "the encouragement which banishes weakness and depression." (Dr. Griffith Thomas)

Let us be "comforted together" afresh today. We may all be His Apelles.


*Romans 1:11-12
For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine.

01.10.10 Don't Worry!

Matthew 6:25-26 (New American Standard Bible)

The Cure for Anxiety

²⁵"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

²⁶"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

Philippians 4:6-7 (Amplified Bible)

⁶Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.

⁷And God's peace which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:15 (New American Standard Bible)

¹⁵Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.

John 14:27 (Amplified Bible)

²⁷Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

01.09.10

You, O Lord, are our Father;
Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.

Isaiah 63:16

01.07.10 How much we need Christ

Puritan John Owens wrote these words:

Believers obey Christ as the one by whom our obedience is accepted by God. Believers know all their duties are weak, imperfect and unable to abide in God's presence. Therefore they look to Christ as the one who bears the iniquity of their holy things, who adds incense to their prayers, gathers out all the weeds from their duties and makes them acceptable to God.

01.06.10

(from William Carey on his 70th birthday, to one of his sons)

I am this day seventy years old, a monument of Divine mercy and goodness, though on a review of my life I find much, very much, for which I ought to be humbled in the dust; my direct and positive sins are innumerable, my negligence in the Lord's work has been great. I have not promoted his cause, nor sought his glory and honour as I ought, notwithstanding all this, I am spared till now, and am still retained in his Work, and I trust I am received into the divine favour through him.

2 Corinthians 5:15
"and He died for all,
so that they who live
might no longer live for themselves,
but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf."

2 Corinthians 5:14
"For the love of Christ compels us..."

"Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling."

01.05.10 Grace that is Greater than all our Sin

Today I was overwhelmed with amazement at how God takes everything we read and uses it to aid in explaining whatever He is teaching me!!

I have missed a couple of weeks of The Disciplines of Grace study in our small group due to work. I decided not to skip to the chapter they are on, but pick back up where I left off reading and catch up. I skimmed the first chapter until I came to parts I didn't remember well. And here is the point where I realized that I know I read this, but it didn't mean as much too me then as it does now because of all the things the Lord has been teaching me!!! Only God, only His Word!!!

Bridges says, "It is only the joy of hearing the gospel and being reminded that our sins are forgiven in Christ that will keep the demands of discipleship from becoming drudgery.

It is only gratitude and love to God that comes from knowing the He no longer counts our sins against us (Romans 4:8) that provides the proper motive for responding to the claims of discipleship."

But, we tend to swing from one extreme (being proud of our accomplishments like the Pharisees) to the other (constant feelings of guilt).

"When we pray to God for His blessing, He does not examine our performance to see if we are worthy. Rather, He looks to see if we are trusting in the merit of His Son as our only hope for securing His blessing."

All of this points to my need to be in His word and in prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit. This is why I'm blogging scripture and prayers and plan to do this all year. I need time with him. I need accountability!

Philippians 3:9, I want to be “found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”

"We look to God, not as our enemy or as a frustrated father who can never be pleased, but as our Father who is 100% for us because of Christ alone. Therefore, we trust him, that because of Christ (his death and righteousness), he will give us the Spirit—and everything else we need. " John Piper

01.04.10

I've had this verse rolling around in my head all day....

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Then, these came....

"Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?" (Jer. 8:22 NIV)

and...

"They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me." (Jer. 9:3 NIV)

this prayer is from Stormie Omartian's Praying God's Will For Your Life

Lord, I know You are God of the universe, and I recognize that You are present in my life. Please help me sense Your hand on me as I go about my daily tasks. I love You, Lord, and I thank You for Your love and care for me.

In Jesus Name,
Amen.

01.03.10

Joshua 24:14

Now therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Well, if that isn't the way to start the new year off right!!!! 'nough said!!!

01.02.10

Charm is deceitful,
beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the Lord,
she shall be praised.

Proverbs 31:30

01.01.10 "Restoring the Years of Loss"

(from Love to Eat, Hate to Eat by Elyse Fitzpatrick)

"I hope that these thoughts don't discourage you
or bring you any sense of condemnation.
Perhaps you've never thought about your body in this way before,
and now it seems as though it's almost too late.
Perhaps you are already suffering the effects of neglecting or abusing your body (or life).
Don't give up.
It's never too late to begin serving God.
He can restore and help you.
Listen to these words from the prophet Joel (from the Lord):

"I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten,
the creeping locust,
the stripping locust,
and the gnawing locust,
My great army
which I sent among you."
Joel 2:25

God's people had sinned and they were reaping the consequences of their behavior.
Just think-- God could have said,
"Well, tough luck, guys. I told you not to sin and you went ahead,
so now you'll just have to reap the consequences of your actions."
But that's not what He does.
No, He calls them to repentance,
and THEN He tells them that He will make up for all the losses they have suffered".
(Italics mine)


"These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name."
John 20:31

Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ Ch 3

"Happy is he whom truth by itself doth teach, not by figures and words that pass away; but as it is in itself (Psalm 94:12).

Our own opinion and our own sense do often deceive us, and they discern but little...It is folly to neglect the things that are profitable and necessary, and give our minds to that which is curious and hurtful: we have eyes and see not.

...Who hinders and troubles thee more than the unfortified affections of thine own heart?

...This ought to be our endeavor, to conquer ourselves, and daily wax stronger and to make a further growth in holiness. All perfection in this life hath some imperfection mixed with it; and no knowledge of ours is without some darkness."