Prayer Does It Really make a Difference

Posted on by Mary

Can I just say that I love this book!! Hubby and I have discussed this author before and I know that I do not hold to some of the things he writes about but as for this book it is an very realistic view of our world and prayer.

Mr. Yancey is very candid with how he has looked at prayer and how he has began his journey through this book on prayer.

i have already marked the book to death and I am only on the third chapter!! Here is a picture to prove it!

Now I must Confess that not every page looks like this but it is close.

I will be sharing excerpts that strike me as I read through but as you can tell by the picture above I cannot share them all!

I will try to stick to one or two thoughts. I don’t want to be accused of copy-right infringement after all!

So here is thought provoker #1

Prayer helps correct myopia (nearsightedness), calling to mind a perspective I daily forget. I keep reversing roles, thinking of ways in which God should serve me, rather than vice versa. As god fiercely reminded Job, the Lord of the universe has many things to manageande in the midst of my self pityI would do dwell to contemplate for a momentGod’s own point of view.

Where were you when i laid the foundations of the earth’s foundation?Tell me if you understand who marked off it’s dimensions? Surely you know. (god’s questioning of Job in the book of Job)

When, after shrugging aside all his caustic theological queries God enlightened hapless Job, the poor man crumbled. I’m Sorry Job said in effect. I had no idea what i was asking. Job did not receive a single answer to his probing questions, a fact that no longer seemed to matter.

At this point let me throw in my insights into this. As of the last few months Job was on my reading radar..ok so it was More like March of this year! I am ashamed to say that even though I am a Bible college grad and a studier of God’s word. I did not understand why Job was wrong. I have read this book so many times and yet I was still confused. Just as I believe that a person who is unsaved can read the Bible many times and understand the Bible and believe it is true and yet is not saved until The Holy Spirit moves that person to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. There is more to salvation than believing that Jesus Christ is a true person. I believe that be So I can say that God hid this understanding until just the right moment. He did so I believe because only a few weeks later i found myself in a teaching position in a church that we were canidating at and someone had the wrong perspective of the book of Job…ironically the same view I had held not a month earlier….

Anyway that being said Job questioned god about why was he “punished” in such a way..(he lost everything) Job didn’t realize that he didn’t need to know and that God was in control the whole time. Job was blameless for a time until he began elevating himself to the level og God, claiming perfection in so many words, blameless. He forgot he was a son of Adam…he would ALWAYS deal with the consequences of sin…he was not blameless!

So many times we Act blameless when in all reality the whole point was to show that Job was a humble servant of God…Job failed. though he did not curse God though he did not turn his back on God the outcome was still a failure. He humbled himself when all the things in his life were hunky dory (as my mom used to say)

So my question is when we are talking to god about the things that are going on in our lives do we claim that “we do not deserve this” Or do we humbly say to God “now what, where do we go from here?” Because the last time I checked we all deserve the wages of sin..we are all sinners. We deserve death. It is by the grace of God that we can claim life no matter what happens on this earth!
And i will leave you with thought provoker #2 And i will have no commentary on this quote!

Grace, like water, descends to the lowest part. Streams of mercy flow. I begin with God, who bears primary responsibility of what happens on earth,and ask what part i can play in God’s workon earth. “Let justice roll like a river, righteousness like a never failing stream” cried the prohet Will I stand by the bank or jump into the stream?

Tackle It tuesday–Finishing Touches

Posted on by Mary

BEFORE old medicine cabinet old cabinet old towel bar and paint before painting more before painting AFTER after painting–mirror replaced the medicine cabinet new paint and new towel bar–it’s a double new bathroom cabinet towel bar New hand towel and towel ring

Well it’s nearly finished. All that is left is shower curtain rod–the non-tension kind )can’t find one ANYWHERE) Curtain for the window and the trim. The trim wail probably happen after all the other major projects that need to be done are finished. that being said ALL of the trim needs to be done for the wile house..except for the kitchen…that has mostly been finished! Oh yeah and we have four of those major projects coming soon.

  1. the den
  2. my craft room
  3. the bathroom upstairs (we are putting one in!)
  4. the stairwell!

Another Blog award–A true Blessing

Posted on by Mary

In everything I do i want there to be purpose. that is what I strive to do with my blog(s). Blogging has become an outlet for me in so many ways and yet I strive to minister to others through my blog. Apparently my blog has done just that because my friend Ruth gave me an award for Blogging with a purpose. She and I are actually working on a blogging project together and we shall see what becomes of that but for now I would LOVE to honor some of my bloggy friends with this same award!! I have a few that have really helped me grow this past year and one that has challenged me almost from the very beginning of my blogging experience. The Simple woman–She has really inspired me to look at the simple things in Life and cherish them. I have been a silent observer of her blog for some time now and have grown to appreciate the depth of her insight of all things beautiful! Carolyn–from Scrapping Servant who throughout this past year has been oh so transparent with her struggle with depression when I know that one deploy seeks to hide these secret matters of the heart. Michelle who has been a consistent reader almost from the very beginning. She has a true love for her family and seeks to serve the Lord through ministering tto the deaf in Ensenada Mexico. She also has been very transparent as of late with the health struggles of her hubby and how that affects their ministry and daily life, yet she strives to be a submissive wife and daughter of the KING! Monica who seeks to blog with a purpose in Daily Dwelling captures a wonderful view into the life of a chaplain’s wife who is serving in Iraq. She does an amazing job taking care of her family while her man is so far away and she herself is in a land far from family. Diana- who has been nominated twice now for the afore mentioned award. She is trying to make a home for her family and be a pastor’s wife. She seeks to grow and is so very creative with her kids. All of these women have purpose to what they do. They strive to be godly women and are doing what they love and learning along the way. I think the most important thing in all of our lives is to have a learning spirit! When you have a learning spirit you have purpose. I would also love to send this back to Ruth she is amazing …Thanks Ruth for the nomination!!

Simple Womans Day book

Posted on by Mary

For Today…November 3 2008

Outside my Window..gray gray and more gray!!! I am thinking…what a busy weekend we had!!! But it was a ton of fun! From the learning rooms…Dots..or at least that is what tornado calls them…Basically it’s leaning how to write…he’s following dashed lines!!! I am thankful for…funny moments that keep life interesting! From the kitchen…pork BBQ..French fries and some sort of veggie I am wearing…Blue jeans, striped turtle neck and cobalt blue hoodie with writing in white on the front! I am reading…my Bible and Prayer By Philip Yancy I am hoping…For a calm weekend and weekend. I am creating…still working on granny squares..not ready to attach them yet! I am hearing…drill that tornado is playing with!!! GRRR he found it.now jumping on the bed!! Around the house…general straightening and prep for the next big project…The den..Did i mention the bathroom is Finished!!! Yay! One of my favorite things…tea. hot cold, sugar, no sugar, herbal/non-herbal…You name it I love it! A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week…Well there is so much. But I need to do a bunch of household things like make curtains and the like then there is the day out on Friday evening and then tearing apart the den on Saturday. Woohoo Fun fun fun! Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you…

AN AMZING BLESSING

Posted on by Mary

To Fulfill a promise that hubby made over 5 years ago…yes before we were married Hubby took me to an amazing concert this past weekend. The promise went something like this” If Steven Curtis Chapman ever comes close enough we will go to his concert.” Well Last November 11 he came close enough. However my hubby was an associate pastor at the time and the day before (the 10th) was his ordination. It was a Sunday night so we had youth group and well to say the least I was 39 weeks pregnant with the Vug and well really shouldn’t travel the two hours to see Mr Chapman. I was bummed but life went on. Then May of this year happened. At first I thought my opportunity had ended. I knew in my heart that I (if I were in his shoes ) would wonder if I could ever perform again. Which he openly admits to thinking. Amazingly he and his family has fought through the tough times and well to be completely honest has amazed everyone. Now being a pastor’s wife I asked myself this question “why did this amaze so many of us?” Don’t we serve a God that has conquered death itself. How amazing it is that we continually put God into a box and think that such miracles are beyond HIM! Just look at the gospels it is chock full of miracles, healings and so much more!. It was amazing to hear both Steven and Michael sing songs I have been listening to for more that 10 years now. Songs That accompanied me on My first trip to China 9 years ago. The biggest one that played such a whole part of my trip For the Sake of the Call! I say for my first trip because someday I long to go back to China to adopt a daughter. I have many friends that I think about to this day but one of the most amazing memories I have is of a small boy I met with autism. I know that there are thousands of children with autism in China that desperately need a home. I don’t know if we will adopt a child with autism or not but at one point I believed that I was going to teach in China. God has recently helped me to understand that my trip to China was to give me a heart for adoption of foreign children but not to live there and to teach! Another moving moment was when Michael sand Friends are friends forever. I knew of the song but how I learned of the song was strange to say the least. My brother (actually both of my brothers ) have served in the Armed Forces. The Youngest Army Guy we will call him served three six month terms in Iraq and Afghanistan. My middle brother still serves in the Air Force and has not seen an overseas term yet! Anyway Army Guy and I were talking one day and I mentioned that I really like Micheal W Smith. . He in return said I know one of his songs. I said Oh yeah which one and he said Friends. I was shocked and a bit dismayed. 1) because I had never heard of this song and 2) because Army Guy doesn’t live the life of a Believer So my next question was how do you know that song? He said In the Army when you have a memorial service for a soldier who has passed away you sing this song. Two weeks later my brother lost three friends who were serving in Iraq . They were in the same platoon and company as my little borther . On a sense they too were brothers. I posted about that week. It was a toiugh week for him. One of the toughest he has ever endured and constantly talked about re-enlisting. So as you can see it was an emotional night as we sang a patriotic song and Michael expressed his patriotism, I wondered if he knew exactly what that song had become to men in the armed services. But I must tell you that the evening held some very funny moments as well! Steven is a comedian in his own right! He said something to the effect of

“when you have a recording artist with ADD and he is up here trying to remember the words to songs and all of a sudden he sees someone with writing on their shirt or holding a sign we start trying to read them and that’s just not good when we are trying to remember our songs”

Well I chuckled to myself all night about that because it was one of the funniest things I had ever heard…Well hubby and I were laying in bed talking about the events of the evening and I chuckled and rolled over he wanted to know what was so funny so I reminded him of what was said….to which he replied..And knowing me do you think I have never done that? That really made me laugh because I have a couple of funny pictures running through my head. First of which is my husband standing in church on Sunday with violin in hand forgetting his music trying to read someones t-shirt(this has never happened)..and the other is a very cute cute picture hubby’s parents have of hubby at 4 years old after his violin part of the recital is over and he lays down on the stage and goes to sleep! (for those of you who read this who don’t know my husband personally he is amazing at both the violin and trumpet and has a major case of ADD! That’s why he has been able to accomplish all that he has in such a relatively short amount of time) So all that being said after an insanely stressful 6 months of traveling all over the east in search of the elusive pastorate hubby and I had a fantastic time at this concert featuring two of my favorite Christian music artists…I think I have corrupted I mean converted HUBBY!!! We both came away truly blessed in so many ways and we wished we could let both artists know just how uplifting and refreshing this concert was for both hubby and I!