Jeremiah 29:4-14

We started a Tim Keller study titled "The Gospel: Grace Changes Everything" in our home group last night and I've already learned new things. We discussed Jeremiah 29:4-14 and talked about how we can love out city.

I would like to expand on all that I learned but I need to get some rest. I encourage you to read those verses and think about how you can love your neighbors as yourself.

Morning Glory's

These add to the gloriousness of this fall morning. Thank you God for this change in seasons!

Philippians 1:27-30

The weather is wonderful this morning. It's cool and crisp and such a welcome change from the stuffy, hot days of late summer. I'm still not used to summer days lasting until nearly October and I miss the color changes in MN, but Texas is growing on me. I love Denton and am grateful that God brought us there.

I am really being encouraged by studying Philippians. I'm left feeling empty and even jilted when I get the "it's ok, you deserve better" kind of encouragement. I know deep in my heart that life is not that easy and also that there's something more important than my comfort and desires.

When I feel weighted down by my troubles and frustrated with my relationships it's often because there's something that needs to be addressed. Often it's that I'm not trusting God and not loving someone like I should (more than myself).

These verses stood out to me because it says that our salvation is from God and that our belief in Him isn't a guarantee that our troubles will end, we might even suffer for the sake of the gospel. So we might even get more trouble but how we react to those situations will show others that we believe that we're ultimately saved from them.

I'm realizing more and more as I blog about my study that there's so much to talk about but a lot of what I'm reading and the holy spirit is stirring in me is that I want to live and listen. I'm learning too that it's easier to do both of those when I'm thinking about Christ and love all day.

Philippians 1: 27-30 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

Dreadlock Update

My dreads are about 20 weeks old (5 months!).

They're still really fuzzy but they're coming along. I'm enjoying not having to do so much to my hair everyday but it is tough to find a time each week to tighten them because I can't do it all myself. I'm still glad I have them, though!

Philippians 1:9-11

9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

I'm reading through Philippians 1 again this morning and am going to try to keep in mind today that the reason I do and the reason that I should increase my knowledge is to give God glory. 

That's hard for me to keep in mind and/or strive for sometimes because I'm sick of being in school. I really enjoy reading about and learning about topics that interest me (or are at least interesting) but when I get a dull class or less than engaging professor it's hard to give it my all.

And then my tendency is to become prematurely stressed out. For example, I have two papers to write. I'm getting pretty anxious... But one is not due for two weeks and another isn't due for a month. Besides, even if I only had a day, worrying isn't going to help.

Sometimes I hear people say that worry is ok and even good because it means you're taking it seriously. I think if you don't know God or you're not trusting Him then you can only hope in yourself or the situation and that is pretty serious. Worry, however, still doesn't help you, it just shows others that you don't have your hope in God.

If I know I have a paper due in two weeks and I know that it's serious, I want to do well on it, I have to start working on it so I don't run out of time. I trust that God knows about my paper but I also know that my relationship with Him and my witness to others is more important than my paper. Am I making sense?

Here's a few verses to help:

Phil. 1:27-28 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.

Matthew 6:27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Proverbs 12:25

Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.

Matthew 6:25-34

25 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, 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: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Philippians 4:4-7

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

No longer sure why I'm counting...

I missed my blogging the last few days. It really helps me process my Bible studying. I finished reading 2 Peter and moved on to Philippians. I really like verses 9-11 (ch. 1) because it reminded me that we can always love more but it's not the love that the world talks about that's flighty, impulsive and often selfish but a godly love that's knowledgable, discerning and abounding.

I'm going to read chapter one again tomorrow.

My dreads are doing well. I just need to keep palm rolling them and be patient!

40

I've been tired lately. Today more so than a few days ago, but here's my post! I didn't forget it! I thought about the verses I read today but am still working on them. They made me think of several other verses and I haven't taken time to look all of those up yet.

I read 2 Peter chapter 2 today. It spoke about false teachers and people that know and believe the gospel but turn away from it. Pretty heavy.

My first thought was about a verse that says nothing can take us from God's hand after we've put our faith in Him but maybe we can jump out? There are lots of verses that talk about the fruit that we'll show when are faith is in Christ and that we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Also that some people will get to heaven and God will tell them He doesn't know them. Those thoughts furthered my thinking that we can't just say a few words or do any special action, we need to truly believe in Christ and spend the rest of our lives loving Him and serving Him.

If I really believe that Christ is the only way to heaven and I put my hope and faith in him then my actions will reflect that. Whenever they don't it's because I'm hoping or trusting in something else (like myself, or Chuck, or money or whatever).

I'm not going to copy all of 2 Peter 2 so I'll leave you with James 2:14-18. 

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 

39

I finished reading chapter one of 2nd Peter. Verses 16-20 caught my attention because Peter says he witnessed Christ's majesty first hand and heard God say "This is my son." He also says he believes the prophesies concerning Jesus to be God's voice heard by others.

The teaching pastor of our church did a sermon about the authority and inerrancy of the Bible this past Sunday. He talked about the men who penned the Bible using the phrase "God said" over 300 times. If you're interested you can listen to the sermon at www.thevillagechurch.net

I don't have a hard time believing that Jesus was God and did all that He claimed to do, including rise from the dead, but I've always thought that if someone can believe God created everything from nothing anything else is easy.

I struggle with understanding in other areas but believe that the Bible is true.

I had some other thoughts about seeing, believing and following movements but I'm a bit tired today and currently have a little boy draining me of nutrients so I'm finding it hard to form complex thoughts.

I love you and hope you have a peaceful day.

38

I starter knitting again today after a long break. I've got two Snuggler orders to make in the next few weeks. I'd much rather be knitting than doing many others things but I am going to try to balance it.

Knitting this afternoon got me thinking about fall, Thanksgiving and cooler weather. I don't think I'll bring my fall decorations out quite yet, however, as it's still green and 90 degrees outside.

Today I read more of 2 Peter 1, verse 9 specifically . I'm still praying and thinking about it but my initial thoughts were about how I so quickly forget how amazing a gift Jesus sacrifice is. I am very easily forget that all people are made in God's image and the only reason He accepts me as his child is Jesus. I too quickly measure myself up to (or against) others instead of finding my identity in Christ.

If I kept the gospel in the front, rather than the back, of my mind and made effort to supplement my faith with the attributes listed in 2 Peter 1:5, I think I would be better able to love others first rather than judge them.

Apron

I have had this apron in my head for a long time and after wearing my old one all morning I decided that during nap time today I would make it. It only took about 45 minutes because the bottom is a dish towel!

Technical Difficulties

For some reason when I email a post from my phone photos work most of the time but not if I put more than a few lines of text. I'm not sure what the deal is but if you read my blog via a reader or something like that I apologize for the extra posts as I'm trying to fix things.

Also, I've decided to take the weekend off from blogging. I'm still experimenting with the best balance of life and blogging and while blogging has really helped me the last few days I have a feeling if I don't take a few days off I'll end up falling off the wagon like I did with the original Photo a Day project.

Have a fabulous weekend!

37

I'm wearing an apron this morning. I have yet to find or sew the perfect apron but this one that I made several years ago is working pretty well. I'm also trying a new system for getting this done. I work hard on one task for 5-10 minutes and then give the kids some attention for a few minutes (get Enzo a new toy, give Ruby some more peanut butter, the usual) and then I tackle the next 10 minutes. I don't always get 10 minutes but sometimes I get 15 and if I work hard for that time then while Enzo takes his morning nap and Ruby plays I'm able to have a cup of coffee and read the Bible rather than feel like I've gotten nothing done.

I'm continuing reading in 2 Peter. I thought last night and this morning again about my struggles but also about idols. Things I think about more often than I think about Jesus. Most of the time it's me and my plans like I've talked about. The verses today tell me that i should think about Jesus and focus on being fruitful and serving Him.

We all know that a negative attitude never helps our days go better and that worrying doesn't make things go smoother it just makes us feel worse. That's the case because it's not how God designed things. If we think about positive things and remember that the reason is because God gave us Jesus so that we may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:4b)

2 Peter 1:5-8 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

See also Phil 4:8

36

I read in a book by David Tripp last night that in Jesus we have all the strength and patience and power we need to get through our struggles and our sin. It's not that when we get into a situation we need to wait for Jesus to recharge us or get our message and send back-up, he's given it to us. It's ready, we just need to accept it.

When I think about my struggles, the common everyday ones, it's not that I find Jesus peace lacking, it's that I accept. I don't go to it for comfort. Instead I sit and wallow in my inadiquicy and the frustration I have in my situation. I prefer my ideas of entitlement to His plan for my life.

I thought about it all day and was even more frustrated at myself thar I still got angry with the dog chewing Ruby's shoe and dinner not going as planned.

Thankfully He forgives me and loves me. I have hope to overcome my struggles because He has overcome the world.

2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 

35

Both kids fell asleep in the car this afternoon. It was lovely. Neither one of them stayed asleep upon our arrival home. Two cranky babies is not so lovely.

I, however, was reminded this morning that God doesn't owe me anything. And on a more comforting note, that Jesus knows I'll have troubles in this life but he over came even death and is willing to give me strength to overcome my struggles. Jesus is with me through an afternoon with cranky kids just as he is through a tragedy. (Phil. 4:11-13) Neither of which is worth comparing to the glory of eternity with God (Romans 8:18).

Romans 4:1-5 

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

34

*I had my numbering all off because I really wasn't keeping very good track. This is no longer the 34th day of photo-a-day, it's the 34th photo... kinda... but we're going to go on from here and in a few weeks no one will remember what the numbers really signify anyway*

This apple came from the tree in our backyard! I thought it was just crab apples the last few years but Chuck trimmed it yesterday and found this one so maybe with a little attention we could get more! It was quite tasty.

It and my reading today got me thinking about arrogance and pride and how, although it's easy for me to see Adam's foolishness in Eden (eating the only fruit he wasn't allowed too when there were so many delicious ones that he could) I don't always see my foolishness.

Rather than revel in the awesome gift that He's given me I covet control. 

Like Pharaoh, rather than heed Moses warning and letting the Israelites go (repenting) I stand defiant and require discipline. Which reminds me also of Ruby and Hebrews chapter 12. 

Romans 2:4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Hebrews 12: 3-11

3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives."

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

33

I'm going to try to get back into the photo a day routine. I also want to add a verse or thoughts about a weekly verse to remind me to be reading and applying the Bible each day.

It's too easy to overlook it when there are more immediate needs (like kids diapers and food and the like) but I'm so much better equipped to do all of those things with patience and love when I'm focused on God each day.

One way of doing that is to read some scripture each day.

Here's a great post about this topic for mom's from Passionate Homemaking.

New clothes

Ruby and I were both wearing recently acquired clothing (her outfit and my skirt) but she wasn't posing very well. Here's the best photo we got. She's still pretty cute.
And my dreads are about 4 months old!

32

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

31

Liz just roasted some coffee in a popcorn maker. She's so cool.

Contentment in All Circumstances

I read this post the other day and my previous post reminded me of it. It's a really good post by Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking. 

Contentment in All Circumstances

Pure exhaustion. That would describe me right now. Having found little sleep last night leaves me feeling pretty drained. Fear has been attacking me lately at the thought of trying to sleep. I was up folding laundry, reading, and simply crying out to the Lord. Can I possibly joyfully serve my family today when I have no brain? Where can I find the strength necessary to just focus on today, rather than worrying about tomorrow?

What does it mean to be content during these challenges seasons?

... Click the link to read the full post ...

30

Thanks to my loving, thoughtful husband I get a few hours to sit and read by myself this morning.
Thanks to a friend at my favorite coffee shop (Jupiter House) I get a sweet treat as well.
I pray that these sweet times remind my heart even more how to be grateful during the hard times.

29

We had a beautiful day yesterday that reminded me that summer won't last forever. I am so excited for fall and riding my new bike. Chuck is building me one - I'll update all about this weekend - and this would be a perfect outfit for riding it.