Checkin’ in with my accountability partners

The Bible passage I chose to memorize in June came from Isaiah, chapter 26, verses 3 and 4:

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.

Al de carácter firme, lo guardarás en perfecta paz, porque en ti confía. Confíen en el SEÑOR para siempre, porque el SEÑOR es una Roca eterna. –Isaías 26:3,4

Thanks for keeping me accountable!

Your turn to share: What verses have you been memorizing lately?

 

We did it together!

If you know my father-in-law, then you may have heard these words come out of his mouth at one time or another: “We can do together what we can’t do alone!”

Well, that definitely is true when it comes to what we did as a SK community last week –

Praise the Lord!!

Just last night, Max and I returned from a wonderful, week-long visit to Santiago, Chile, to attend our friends’ wedding (in which we both had the honor of participating – I sang a song and Max officiated in part of the liturgy) as well as had wonderful reunions at two of our FM churches.

Because of your many prayers, clothing donations, and financial gifts, we were able to give away more than 80 Bibles, hand out about 30 blankets, give children’s reading books, and share pants, sweaters, coats, scarves, and gloves with our Chilean friends. They were so thankful (as you can see from the photos in the slideshow below)!

Thank you so much for the incredible outpouring of support for this SK missions opportunity! Friends have continued to give. Once we tabulate all the expenses, we may even be able to send an additional blessing to the work of our churches in Santiago. What a joy it is to work together for His glory!

Ephesians 4:16 (NIV) From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

 

Moms and Graduation

He did it!  I can’t believe we’ve already arrived at this stage of our lives!  Where has the time gone? How can my baby have just graduated?

 

MOPS Meetings

I should have taken the time before this to let you know what I have been working on this past week so you could pray with and for me.  Sorry about that.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), I will be speaking at two different MOPS (Mothers Of PreSchoolers) meetings – one in the morning and one in the evening.  I have been praying that the Lord would give me the words that He wants me to say and also asking Him to prepare each of our hearts – mine as well as each mother’s that attends the meetings.

Would you please pray with me?

Thank you, friend.

 

SK Missions Opportunity

About four weeks from now, Max and I are headed back to Santiago, Chile, for a quick visit.  We are looking forward to attending the wedding of our dear friends, Kay Stotts and Leo Godoy, as well as having multiple opportunities to visit some of our Santiago churches.

In preparation for our trip and visit, I have been working on a few things:

• I have asked a few friends to work on gathering some winter clothes that we can pass on to our pastors’ families in Santiago.  They will be so excited to receive some nice, warm clothing during these winter months!
• I have been searching for Bibles that we can order and take down with us.  Books, in general, are expensive in Latin America.  We are so blessed here in the United States to have opportunity to purchase reasonably-priced books as well as have the library system that we have.  That is not the case in Chile.  It is VERY unusual to see a family have enough books in their home to need even a small bookshelf.  For some reason (maybe it was the teacher in me), that really saddened me.  Even more so, I wanted to see children and young adults be able to have the opportunity to read God’s word daily.  Because so few have a Bible of their own, this is not possible.  I am excited about the possibility of ordering these specific Bibles that I have found through the International Bible Society:  Mi Ciudad, Mi Dios: My City, My God (a spanish NIV New Testament with urban teen testimonies for older teenagers) and the Biblia Devocional Juvenil: Youth Devotional Bible (a spanish NIV Bible with devotionals for young teens)
• I have prayed about the idea that the Lord gave me to take money down with us to purchase heavy blankets (once we arrive) to pass out to our Chilean brothers and sisters in our churches

Calling all interested SK friends!!

 

Inner Beauty

One of the things that has hit me the most since moving back to the States is the seemingly endless pressure on women to “look great”:

• wear the right clothes (which means buying a whole new wardrobe every season of every year since women’s clothes immediately go out of style once the season-at-hand is over)
• make sure you have an ample supply of every different piece of clothing – teeshirts, dress shirts, sweaters, turtlenecks, jeans, sweat outfits, dress pants, skirts, formal dresses, high heels, flats, sneakers, slippers
• have all the matching accessories for every outfit (purse, shoes, jewelry, coat, etc.)
• be the perfect size
• use the appropriate makeup to match the time of day and/or outing
• have the perfect hairstyle, color, and length

I have to admit, I have been tempted more than a few times in the last couple of months to fall into Satan’s trap of telling me that I “need” more – one more dress shirt, one more pair of shoes, one more purse to match, one more set of earrings.

 

Better Safe Than Sorry

The boys were tucked into their beds, and Felicia was just finishing up her shower.  As I walked down the hallway, I could smell a burning odor.  As I tried to determine where it was coming from, Addison called out from his room, “Mom, what is that burning smell?”  Okay – so it wasn’t just me.  Immediately, I called downstairs and asked Max, “Honey, do you smell that?”  He said, “Yeah, it smells like burnt popcorn, but I’m not popping any.”

While he started searching, I tucked Felicia into bed because I knew she was exhausted and would fall right asleep, and there was no need for her to stay up while we tried to figure it out.  I walked downstairs and started sniffing my way around the house trying to figure out where that smell was coming from.  All of a sudden, Max opened the basement door and – whoa! – it was definitely coming from down there.

Both of us searched all over in the basement and couldn’t find the source.  Since we didn’t see any smoke or fire, we decided to stop searching and just continue with the evening.  However, when the smell continued to linger, I said, “Max, maybe we should call 9-1-1.  It’s better to be safe than sorry.”  He wasn’t really comfortable with that because we didn’t see any smoke or a fire, but he said he would just call the fire department for a consultation.

A fireman answered and, after a few minutes, said, “Well, let me send a guy over there just to check it out.  It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Max hung up the phone, gave me the quick summary of the conversation and then headed upstairs to check on something.  After about 5 minutes, he came racing down the stairs and said, “Did you hear that?  Did you hear that fire engine siren?  I hope that’s not for our house!  The guy said he was just going to send a guy over to check things out!”

 

Release

During the last few weeks, I had one of those periods in my life – the kind that you can sense that something is just not quite right, you are not fully engaged in the here and now, you sense an unexplainable heaviness, you can’t put your finger on it, etc.  During those days, I asked the Holy Spirit to pray for me. I did not even have the words to explain my feelings to Him, to myself, or to anyone else.  I knew that with all the transitions and changes that I (we, as a family) were experiencing, there would be these times of confusion and lack of understanding, even a continuing wave of reverse culture shock:  What am I feeling?  Why am I feeling this?  Who am I?  What do you want me to be doing, Lord?  How and when do I start afresh?

The Lord was so good to me last week.  He allowed me to feel a sense of freedom from the burden of heaviness that I had been sensing.  Things no longer felt overwhelming.  Of course, I still have many of those same questions floating around in my mind, yet the questions no longer seem to need immediate, life-changing answers.

 

75 Years Together

What a beautiful testimony: 

Click here to watch the quick, 2-minute video 

Genesis 2:24 (NIV)  For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.   

Your turn to share:  Are you acquainted with any couples that have been married at least 50 years?  If so, please share their testimony with us.

 

 

A Little Update

Thank you so much for all your comments and prayers for us as we presented at the retreat last weekend.  We had a good time meeting new friends as well as catching up a bit with long-time friends.  I am still praying that each one of us continues to wrestle with this concept of simplicity; I think it is a daily decision to live that lifestyle, don’t you?

It is already the beginning of another month – can you believe it??  That means it is accountability time for me with regard to Scripture memorization. I want to confess that I was not able to memorize both passages that I had listed on the Memorizing Scripture page.

 

Original Paintings

The Artist at work this past week in Western New York:

 

What Do You Think?

Max and I will be speaking at a women’s retreat in Pennsylvania this weekend.  The theme we chose was “A Life of Simplicity”.  There are many different angles to choose from when discussing this topic, and I would appreciate your input as I finalize my thoughts:

What do you think of when you hear that phrase – “a life of simplicity”?

What does a life of simplicity look like to you?

How does God show us how to live simply?

Please freely write all your thoughts down.  There are no silly ideas or wrong answers.  In fact, I think it will be enlightening to all of us as we read one another’s comments.

 1 Thessalonians 4:11,12 (NIV)  Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.        

 

Holy Week Reflections: Disillusionment

All the people answered, ‘Let his blood be on us and on our children!’ –Matthew 27:25 (NIV)

  The people seemed to be in a state of such disillusionment during these moments leading up to Jesus’ death, which, as defined in the Oxford American Dictionary, is “disappointment resulting from the discovery that something is not as good as one believed it to be.”  They wanted to believe Him, they wanted to put hope in Him, they wanted to trust Him, yet this feeling of being manipulated must have come over them – the strong temptation to say that He was a fake, a false prophet; otherwise, I don’t think they would have been going along with the Pharisees, shouting, “Crucify him!”  And then, even more so, to go so far as to say, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

 

Holy Week Reflections: Envy

Matthew 27:18 (NIV)  For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him. 

In a passage from Matthew 27 (verses 11-26), the Pharisees were showing their envy of Jesus with regard to his popularity as well as having the listening ears of the people.

 

I am asking myself this today:

“Am I ever, like the Pharisees, envious of others in the church for their ’success’ in using the gifts God has given to him/her?”

If so, I want to repent and ask God for a clean and encouraging heart.  I want to be grateful for each of God’s servants and not fall to Satan’s temptations as he attempts to plant envious thoughts in my mind.  His greatest objective is to divide the Church.

May we, as His united body, encourage and lovingly uplift one another as we work together for His glory!

 

Holy Week Reflections: Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy – this time it is not from the Pharisees, but from one of Jesus’ disciples: 

Matthew 26:35 (NIV) But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.   

Matthew 26:75 (NIV) Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

 I am sure those words haunted Peter.