A Kindling of the Heart...

Yesterday I made it to my weekly women's book study called Koinonia where we are studying through the Beth Moore study on Daniel.  It was a miracle that I even made it because I was up til 3 am that morning working on a 'project'!  I am one of those people who when I start a project I have to finish it 99% of the time before I stop, and this wasn't even a fun project!  We still get the paper version of our monthly bank statements and so I try to keep up on making sure our account is balanced each month with that and that all our $ is accounted for, call me old fashioned but that is what I do.  Well last month I had started it, which is normally about a 2 hour job and didn't finish and then we just got the one for this month so I sat down to finish the old one and do the new one to catch up, which was not till like after 9 pm Wednesday night to begin with!  Crazy, I know. 

Anyway I was so thankful that I made it to the study despite my lack of sleep and lack of coffee before I left!  I don't know if you have ever done a Beth Moore study but this is my first and let me tell you she is an amazing speaker/teacher.  This particular study of hers is dvd session driven, so you watch & listen to her teach then go home and do your lesson and come back the next week to discuss your lesson together and then watch the next session with her.  She was teaching on the section that all of us know if we know anything about the book of Daniel, where Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego are thrown into the fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar because they would not bow down and worship the gold statue that he made of himself for everyone to worship!  They believed and knew that 1) it is wrong to worship anyone or anything aside from God and 2) that God would deliver them in the fire for taking their stand for Him even if it meant deliverance directly into His arms as their bodies burned in the furnace.

She camped out on 3 different scenarios we face as people of God when we go through fiery trials and I just loved all of them but especially the last one. 1)  God can choose to deliver us from the fire where our faith is built in that scenario. 2) God can choose to deliver us through the fire where our faith is refined. 3) or God can choose that we be delivered by the fire into His arms where our faith is perfected.  And as she talked about this last one which would be death, sometimes we are not healed through our sicknesses like cancer and what not the way we think we should be healed, she gave this picture of it that just made my eyes water because it was a new way to look at facing death.  As all of us will someday die, we are doomed by it, and I don't think I've ever wanted to avoid death or been super afraid of it since I am assured of my destination but it was just a fresh way to look at it.  She said passing into death is just like shedding a coat and you keep walking.  I got this picture of a person walking and as their physical body passes away they just take off this coat as they walk, like it falls to the ground but the person just keeps walking and there is just this bright light in front of them that they are headed towards because heaven is ahead and the Word says that no sun is even needed in heaven because the glory of the Son fills all heaven with light (see Revelation 21:23)!  Like I said as she described facing death in this way I just got teary eyed because it makes sense and sounds inviting to me when described that way.  Our spirits don't die, just our physical bodies, just our tents that our spirit lives in, and we get new bodies when we reach our destination, ones that are perfect and that I will never feel frumpy in again because my body could use a good working out right now!  I've known this but just putting it into that picture, I don't know, just made it desirable for the first time in my Christian walk.

I just wanted to share that beautiful picture with you today.  And for those of you who don't know how that story ends of those 3 brave, courageous souls, they were delivered through the fire with Christ (or some believe to be an Angel) standing with and protecting them in the furnace, they came out not even smelling like smoke! (Read Daniel 3 for full story!)

Summer Adventure Week!

What a blessing to be part of SAW this last week with Titus!  This was the first year that I had the privilege to help out with this huge event that our church holds every summer!  SAW is also better known as Vacation Bible School (VBS) and I am not quit sure why they decided to change the name but they did, so you go with it!  Our congregation is huge (our sanctuary seats 700, and between our 2 services I am not exact on attendance but I am sure it is around 900!) so this event is huge in every way!  The upcoming kindergartners-6th graders come Monday-Friday for a week from 9-11:30 am everyday and they are split up into 5 different age groups and each age group has two groups to it because the attendance is so large!  The kids earn points for their attendance, if they bring a friend and if they memorize a verse, which there were 6 different verses selected to go with this years story for them to memorize!  I was so happy to be a part of this because that meant I got to memorize God's Word and hide it in my heart too!  Every morning we would ALL be together for music then our groups would leave the sanctuary from there and get to enjoy a different drama, activity & snack and a craft or experiment every day!  VERY ORGANIZED and it's FREE! 

This year they did the story of Esther from the book of Esther in the Old Testament!  Esther was chosen by God and the King of that time to be Queen and God used her to save her people, the Jews, when the 2nd man in command, the bad Haman, plotted to kill the Jews with the King's permission when the Jew, Mordecai, Esther's cousin, would not bow to him because he served God and only bowed to God!  The King did not know that Esther was also a Jew, so Esther went to the King, unsummoned, knowing that she could lose her life unless the King extended his golden scepter to her to spare her life!  She knew even then that 1) Salvation is found only by trusting Jesus and that 2) God has a plan for every one's life & that she needed to 3) Follow God even when it's hard!  "And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14

It was so amazing, I mean can you imagine all the little kids as they watched this played out with live people dressed like bible times!  By Friday we had 449 kids in attendance, the largest ever!  It was so cool, and very glad there was 200 volunteers around to put this on!  I just got to be a "guide" meaning I was with half (about 40) of the 3rd & 4th graders as they moved from drama to activity to craft/experiment places and helped them along and kept them paying attention.  They do provide nursery for the volunteers kids and even have groups for the pre-school age kids of volunteers but Titus was not up for the nursery.  We tried Monday and Tuesday morning to go early and mommy tried to lay him down because that is usually his nap time and he just screamed.  I think it is just too many kids, I am not sure?  He did well in my backpack going to everything tho and then we would come home and eat something quick and he would just nap all afternoon!  So that worked and the kids in my group loved him anyway and a few other moms did that too.

The kids also had a chance everyday to hear the gospel and make a decision for Christ!  Many did, Praise God, many of these kids don't even attend church on a regular basis!  And they also had a chance to give an offering everyday that went to a local need, the Carole Graham Home, a place for single moms and their children to live while they get back on their feet.  The total offering given by the kids was $1,059!  And on Sunday, yesterday, was SAW Sunday, so the kids are encouraged to come and bring their families to church and they get to redeem their points that they have earned all week for different toys and such!  And the congregation gets to hear all the awesome songs that the kids have been learning and they get to see a part of the drama that the kids have seen earlier in the week!  They actually did 2 of them yesterday!  Can't wait for next year, they are doing the story of Moses!

These are some the girls that just loved Titus!

Peytyn & Katy with Titus!  Peytyn kept asking me all about Titus and if we are coming back next year and she kissed his hand on Friday before she left!  So sweet!

What a sweet smile!

Titus' face is so funny here!

Happy Resurrection Day!

Today celebrates the significance of victory over death available for EVERY person, both who walk on the face of the planet and who is asleep in the grave!  "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement."- Hebrew 9:27  Why is there judgement you ask, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"- Romans 5:12.  Adam and Eve made the choice to be independent of God and that choice brought death, which they had been fully warned in advance that that is indeed what would happen.  "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat:  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it:  for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."- Genesis 2:16-17  God was looking out for our best and desiring a dependent relationship with Him of us but we chose differently.  Essentially we chose death, both spiritually and physically!  Do you think your independent free spirit would have chosen differently if it had been you instead of Adam and Eve?  I don't think I would have, I would have been deceived too by Satan disguised as a serpent!  Choosing something that looked pleasing for the tummy and would "make me wise like God, knowing good and evil" twisting the truth, that it won't bring me death!

BUT God made a promise immediately, working on our behalf, because even though we chose to turn our back on Him, He was still determined to make a way for us to be with Him for eternity!  I know some of you out there don't know what to believe when it comes to death and what happens to us, let alone what to believe about this thing called eternity!  But God has written for us exactly what happens to us after death and what eternity will be like, how gracious of Him to do that for us, we could have been neglected here on Earth left with no idea of either death or life thereafter!  What is His promise you ask, "And the LORD God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life:  And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."- Genesis 3:14-15

I am so grateful for that promise made sooooo many years ago, so many years before Jesus even came to Earth to live the life of a Man, with the power of being God, dying the death that I deserved because of MY SIN along with the SIN OF THE WHOLE WORLD: PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE SINS, being buried in a tomb guarded with soldiers, yet He rose again & rolled away that stone that covered His tomb.  Because He was a man, He can relate to you and to me and all the temptations we are faced with every day to live a life independent of God.  But because He was God, He was PERFECT, without sin, AND He therefore defeated the power of sin and death! 

Though I have definitely made mistakes in life that I regret, I definitely think God had His Hand over my life even before I knew the meaning of the Cross and all that entailed for me.  I could have made many more mistakes in my life than I did.  I was raised in what I would call a good home, my parents worked hard for what we had and to keep their marriage together.  Praise God they are still married today!  My parents took us to church every Sunday from what I can remember and sometimes we even attended classes to learn more about the faith we were raised in but we also grew up learning and knowing the value of hard work.  Dairy farming is no walk in the park, it is day in, day out hard work and you rarely get a vacation because you don't want to leave the health and well being of your lively hood in someone elses hands because you may return to find your herd a mess physically.

For me as a child, God was real, I believed He existed somewhere out in the galaxies but we were "left" on the Earth hoping one day that somehow we would get to experience heaven!  I had heard of Jesus but He was someone hanging on a Cross and why He was there I did not know for sure.  I had heard of sin but that was something only "bad people" did, which only consisted in my mind of murder, kidnapping children and whatever else you did that constituted being put behind bars!  I only really prayed to God in heaven when I was sadly missing my first horse who had died from an accident or our first family dog that I remember who had died.  Otherwise who was God and what would He really want with me?  I had no idea.  I hated school when we moved from IL to WI and at one point in my 8th grade year I contemplated suicide because I hated school so much and the mean bullies that were there.

But when I graduated high school I completed CNA training and worked in a nursing home in WI.  I began dating this man there who worked as a Physical Therapist Asst. and he was a Christian as much as I could tell at the time.  Although we did things that two unmarried people shouldn't do because God created sex for marriage, he still showed me things about Jesus that I never knew!  Over time I became more and more aware of the problem all humanity faces: Sin, and the solution God has for our problem:  Jesus.  I had also started schooling to be a LPN and I "just happened" to have a teacher who was a Christian and two classmates who were also Christians!  And when I found myself in a hopeless spot in life I knew where to turn and that I needed to respond to what God has offered for each one of us.  So I can still remember so vividly in my bedroom in Rewey, WI when I prayed to receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior.  I was just a mere 19 years old but I had already been places in my life that I should've never been.  I immediately became so hungry for God and His Word, if you will, and I was still in the relationship with that man and I told him that "we were not having sex anymore because I read clearly in God's Word that that is not right"!  "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication" (sexual intercourse between a man and woman not married to each other).- I Thessalonians 4:3  I remember going to my parents and telling them the news, I was so excited, and my parents' response was, "Carrie, you are already a Christian!"  But I knew that was not right because even though America in general is considered a Christian Nation, many Americans have no idea what a born-again* Christian is or what it means to live following Christ.  And I went to my younger sister too and asked her for forgiveness of all the mean things I had ever done to her and she just kind of laughed at me as she graciously gave that forgiveness to me.  Well for the next year while I remained at home with my parents it became very difficult for us to get along, my life was changing as God desires more for us that just salvation, He desires to make us more like His Son each day we live.  And I was so excited about this change and I wanted my family to experience it too and I was trying to change them instead of letting God do it. 

So I moved to Montana where my aunt (my dad's sister) and her family live who I always knew were strong Christians because of their annual Christmas letters, yet I barely knew them.  When I called to tell her the news a year earlier about my faith in Jesus, she thought I was going to tell her I was pregnant!  But she was so happy to find out different news, Good News!  I came to visit her family for 2 weeks about a month before I moved out here to see what their family was like and I loved it and I loved their church.  I lived with them for about a year and a half and got to know my aunt and uncle and their four children in a way that I don't know any of my other relatives.  I felt like I was part of their family and they encouraged me in my relationship with God in ways my own family had no idea how or why they should even do so.

But soon enough the time came to move out on my own officially and I lived with a house of girls from my church which was such a growing experience for me!  But eventually I desired to go to school at a school that simply studied the Bible, that was my deepest desire since I first believed.  I didn't want to go get a degree to be something, I wanted to go somewhere where you were immersed and saturated with the Word of God and I heard of New Tribes Bible Institute where you could do that and it was inexpensive AND it was in WI!  By this time I had lived in Montana for four years and my younger sister was pregnant with her first child!  So it was perfect timing to move back to WI to go to school and my soon to be niece would be born just before my 2 years of school started!  New Tribes was an amazing experience for me, I wanted to be there for the purpose that the school exists:  where Bible education and missions are one, as I also have an interest in missions.

So that is my story, my testimony, of how God has worked in my life on my behalf!  How has He worked in yours?  If He hasn't, what is keeping Him from doing that, are you just living life independent of Him?  Thinking that there will not be any consequence?  Well there will be, because although God is a loving God, He is in fact the very definition of love, He is also a just God and He would not be God if He wasn't true to His Word!  Our problem:  "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"-Romans 3:23, that ALL includes you and me.  The solution:"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."-Romans 6:23  Sin earns a punishment of death!  BUT God has provided a way out of that punishment, although we all have to experience a physical death, we don't have to experience a spiritual death!  You can have eternal life in Christ AND it is free, you don't earn it by doing good merits OR so many Hail Mary's OR being a "good person" cuz America knows best about being a "good Christian".  AND it comes no other way you notice except in Christ Jesus our Lord, not your good ol granny or any other human being you look up to.  Our response:  "if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." Romans 10:9-10

So I hope you are happy to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ because without it we would ALL be doomed for eternity in hell, where it is described as weeping and gnashing of teeth, great pain & agony for an eternity!(See Matthew 13:42) 

                                     

To read more on my testimony after Bible School and how I met my husband who is beyond anything I could have imagined for myself go here.

*born again- having received new life, or spiritual birth, a phrase used to describe someone who is a Christian, one who not only has a knowledge of Jesus Christ, BUT whose life has been changed by God.  A person is born again by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God.

My Father, my Love, You can have me......

Again, I was visiting a friends blog, actually same friend as with last music video, and they had a different video of this song on there.  I searched for one that I thought was better and I really like this one.  So inspiring with everything that happens in this fallen world!  God give me Your heart and Your strength to do what You ask of me in my part of the world.

Hope You're Inspired!

I was thinking this morning about my days in Bolivia back in the summer of 2004 that I had for a month or so and was missing them.  Missing living in a situation where I was more dependent on God, missing living in a situation where I was given more opportunity to live out my faith.  But maybe that is just my perspective, maybe I just take for granted my living situation now.  I still need God here just as much now as I did there and I have opportunities to live out my faith here just as much as I did there.  Maybe I am just intimidated by the American culture and way of thinking.  We don't see our own desperate need for God like people in other countries because we don't live in desperate situations like them.  But our souls are just as desperate for a Savior as the next person.  Our souls are destined for one destination after death just like theirs are, eternal life with God or eternal damnation apart from Him.

In my missing of those days, I tried to go searching for some of my teammates from that trip with New Tribes Mission and was not successful in finding those people in particular.  But I did find an old classmate from my days at New Tribes Bible Institute and found her and her husbands website and saw this video that goes exactly with what I am feeling.  Hope you enjoy and get inspired!

When You Find a Great Thing, You Better Share It!

Hey I wanted to share something great with all of you out there that actually read this, especially any parents.  I was introduced to these awesome Cd's about 2 years ago by my wonderful aunt who has always been such a great example in my Christian walk.  They are awesome for memorizing scripture, so if your child is in AWANAS or goes to a private school where they have to memorize verses, these would be an awesome tool to use, if the verses they need are on the CD that is.  The lyrics are taken right from the NIV Bible, and  feature some great artists you may recognize such as Matthew West.  It is very enjoyable for the whole family, it won't be one of those kids Cd's that drive the parent crazy, I promise, I love them myself at this point more than Titus!  Anyway they are put out by Seeds Family Worship and you may be able to get them at your local Christian bookstore, I got them through http://www.christianbook.com/ and I paid $10.99 AND the surprise that I found when I received it was that it is packaged by Seeds with 2 Cd's so that you have one to keep and one to share!  So you only pay $5.50 per CD!  That is a great deal for a great CD!  You can also get them directly through the Seeds website http://www.seedsfamilyworship.com/  for $12.98, they have all 6 Cd's available there, so check it out and I do have one song on my play list below if you want to check out the style, the song is called "Mighty to Save" by Seeds Family Worship (#55).  Enjoy!

"And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.  And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.  And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." -Deuteronomy 6:5-9

Hello All!

It has been a little while since I actually wrote an update, so I thought I would do that this morning even though I am sure most of you just enjoy the pictures of our adorable little blessing in this home!

As you can see from my design change I am getting anxious for Spring to arrive, just to get outside and enjoy beautiful warm sunshine with Tom and Titus will be fun and refreshing.  We did get some fresh snow last night so it does look quit crisply beautiful outside now.  And we always have visiting deer outside our living room window in the gully below our apartment and they are much easier to spot with fresh snow on the ground than dead grass at this point revealed through as the snow melts away.  So I will be thankful for the snow but still long for Spring to come in my heart. 

Spring brings newness of life and reminds us of the new life we have in Christ especially with Easter approaching and we get to celebrate Christ's victory over sin and death in this world with His Resurrection.  He takes the old sin nature we have and gives us the opportunity to live with a new sinless nature, reminding us that every morning His mercy is new for us.  We have a choice of which nature we want to follow and please, ours or His?  Do we want to speak words of death or words of life into someone else's life?  Do we want to live a defeated life or do we want to live a loved life?  Do we want to feel like an old muddy pond day in and day out or a spring in the mountains with fresh, clean water coming up through us each moment?  Do we want to feel like we live in a rut or live with purpose and a mission in life from the Author of Life Himself?  Just some food for thought for you.

This last weekend we got to enjoy some time with the Sells (smallies) kids.  Daisy had a little weekend "getaway" with a girlfriend here in town, they didn't want to travel far because you never know what the weather might do here.  So Sunday after church we went over for our "shift" of the weekend for her which was till she got home around dinner time.  It was so much fun, if we had a big enough place I am not sure that 5 children would be that bad honestly.  Mia wanted to make some of her own kitchen creations so I was up for letting her get into it.  She made a "blueberry shake" with the blender.  Which included of course frozen blueberries, ice cubes, a little water and a little strawberry syrup?  Her and Sior thoroughly enjoyed it so I guess it was good.  Then she wanted to attempt to make a homemade cinnamon roll!  She mixed some flour, water, an egg and some cinnamon together and we baked it in the oven!  I knew it wouldn't turn out but I was kind of busy making lunch and then trying to get Titus to nap and the twins to nap while she was making her concoction.  And when it came out of the oven she put a packet of that raspberry Emergen-C stuff on top of it!  Yikes!  Then Sior decided he wanted to get in on the fun so we made a real yellow cake from a box and decided it was a "Welcome Home Mom" cake, (auntie Carrie's way of not letting them eat some until mom got home).  It was complete with Rainbow Sprinkle frosting!  And then I decided I wanted to make banana bread too since Daisy had some good ripe bananas perfect for it.  Both Mia and Sior helped me with that too.  They actually did the mixing and cracking of the eggs and most of the work and I loved it.  So I told them that they will have to come spend the night with us and we can make real homemade cinnamon rolls.  Poor Titus did not nap for us though which we were afraid that would happen, in a "strange" place and the twins love to make lots of noise and play very loudly before they actually fall asleep so it was not going to work for him.  But Tom ended up separating them because he could tell one was sleepy and the other was just instigating.  So only 1 out of the 3 children needing naps got one.  But Titus went to bed pretty early after we got home cuz he was so tired so that was nice, I just felt bad cuz he got extremely crabby.

Titus got to explore crawling up steps for the first time two Sundays ago!  I knew he could do it if given the chance, we just don't have any steps so we tried it at church and he went right up them!  I was kind of surprised!  Then this last Sunday we did it again and again during the Sunday School hour, I guess the part I will have to teach is coming down the steps?!

Oh I am attempting to learn how to knit!  I bought this teaching book with the tools and an instructional DVD too.  It was funny, with the first two lessons in the book so far it has been hard for me to just get it and then I watch the video and I still have trouble.  But my wonderful husband who probably wouldn't want you to know this is a quick learner and after watching the video he knew what she was doing and he taught me the first two lessons which is all I've done so far!  He is amazing, I told him I married him because he would teach me how to knit!  Lol!  No then I told him it was because he can do anything he puts his mind to!  That is partly true for me!  So I am very excited because I have recently just wanted to learn something like that where you can make your own things and I think my first project will be a baby blanket for my precious boy!  Can't wait, I will have to post pics.

Must go my sweet little man is awake from his nap now.

A Reminder

Today, in my quiet time I was reminded of how much God loves Me...He loves Me...someone who doesn't deserve HIS love of everything that gives out love.  Most days I don't even make the time for quiet time with my Heavenly Father and when I do He blesses me for it and gently and lovingly reminds why I need that time with Him.  Anyway I wanted to share a small piece of it with you, an exercise I went through and was reminded why God is SO GOOD.  Read the following passage and list at least five of the many ways God shows His love for us.

Psalm 103 (New Living Translation)


A psalm of David.


1 Let all that I am praise the Lord;
with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
2 Let all that I am praise the Lord;
may I never forget the good things he does for me.
3 He forgives all my sins
and heals all my diseases.
4 He redeems me from death
and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
5 He fills my life with good things.
My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
6 The Lord gives righteousness
and justice to all who are treated unfairly.


7 He revealed his character to Moses
and his deeds to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
10 He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
13 The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
14 For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.
15 Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
16 The wind blows, and we are gone—
as though we had never been here.
17 But the love of the Lord remains forever
with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
18 of those who are faithful to his covenant,
of those who obey his commandments!


19 The Lord has made the heavens his throne;
from there he rules over everything.


20 Praise the Lord, you angels,
you mighty ones who carry out his plans,
listening for each of his commands.
21 Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels
who serve him and do his will!
22 Praise the Lord, everything he has created,
everything in all his kingdom.


Let all that I am praise the Lord.

Now write Jesus a letter beginning with "Lord, I know You love me because...," and list the ways He has shown His great love for you.

At the Sound of Your Great Name

This is a new song out by one of my favorite artist, Natalie Grant, and I love it!  The words are so powerful and yet simple because they speak of the profound Truths about Jesus because His Name is Great.  Read carefully and as soon as it is on playlist, you will hear it on here.

[Verse 1:]

Lost are saved; find their way; at the sound of your great name
All condemned; feel no shame, at the sound of your great name
Every fear; has no place; at the sound of your great name
The enemy; he has to leave; at the sound of your great name

[Chorus:]
Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man
You are high and lifted up; that all the world will praise your great name

[Verse 2:]
All the weak; find their strength; at the sound of your great name
Hungry souls; receive grace; at the sound of your great name
The fatherless; they find their rest; at the sound of your great name
Sick are healed; and the dead are raised; at the sound of your great name

[Chorus:]
Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man
You are high and lifted up; that all the world will praise your great name

[Bridge:]
Redeemer, My Healer, Almighty
My savior, Defender, You are My King

[Chorus:]
Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man
You are high and lifted up; that all the world will praise your great name

A Tribute to My Grandpa

My Grandpa passed away this last Thursday, January 6th, surrounded by his loving family. I am glad we were just back there to visit and Titus and I and my dad went to visit him at the Senior Care facility where he was residing. He really enjoyed Titus and thought he was a "solid little guy" and enjoyed holding him. I have a lot of memories of my Grandpa working hard on his farm and always going to church, he was a faithful Catholic. In some of his last hours my mom was alone with him and she had text me that he was struggling with breathing. His kidneys were shutting down and he had a blood infection and I was wondering if he was feeling fearful in those moments of unknown. The Lord led me to tell my mom to ask the hospital staff for a Bible to read to him and He gave me some chapters in Psalms to tell her to read to him, Psalm 23 and 46. She got to read them to him and she told me that he liked Psalm 23. They said that when the time came he did go nice and peacefully. The following is an excerpt from his obituary that I think shows that dedication he had to his work and his family.

Harry A. Berning

Harry was born on the Henry Berning family farm in rural Galena, on Dec. 5, 1923, the son of Henry and Helena (Kaiser) Berning. He married Joan Peacock on Sept. 4, 1950 at St. Mary's Church and the couple recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.
He attended Vinegar Hill School, St. Mary's Catholic School and graduated from Galena High School in 1941. As a lifetime member of St. Mary's Catholic Church, he was an altar server until the age of 26, a member of the St. Mary's Choir for 50 years, the Holy Name Society and parish council. Proving himself to be an innovative farmer, Harry implemented a computerized feeding system for his dairy herd, the first such system in the area in 1972. Always a good steward of farmland, Harry practiced conservation techniques ahead of his time. Harry shared his passion for farming with others through his involvement as president of Jo Daviess Service Company and passed on his love of farming to his children, six sons and one daughter. Harry Berning was a "Ford" tractor man! Having tended to outdoor farm animals all those years on the farm, he more recently enjoyed his special housecat "Sweetie". Harry enjoyed many years of Thursday night bowling league. He and Joan were members of a couple's euchre club for 50 years. In retirement years they spent winters in Zephyr Hills, Fla., where they made new friendships in a variety of activities. Harry loved his family, his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. As a balance of work and family, he spent many Sunday outings together with his loved ones.
Harry's farewell to his visitors was always "keep a song in your heart and a smile on your face".

Please be praying for my Grandma, I can't imagine how it would feel to loose Tom after just almost 18 months of marriage, let alone 60+ years. Your life companion is gone and you expected to spend the rest of YOUR LIFE with them, hoping you would go before them. It makes me sad for her to think about that.

As for me, I am doing pretty good with it, he lived a very long good life of 87 years. I trust God as a loving and just God. I am just sad for my dad and my aunt Mary in particular out of all the kids. They are whom I'm closest too and I know that I never want my parents to die myself but "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die....A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;"- Ecclesiastes 3:1,2 & 4

Just Around the Corner!

Oh my, the great Holidays are just around the corner and I am so excited for them! And I am most excited for family and food for these holidays. We are going to drive to Johnstown, CO to see Tom's parents among other relatives of his for Thanksgiving! I have to say I am not excited about the drive, 12 hours normally without a baby, and a little nervous about possible road conditions this time of year. We drove there for Thanksgiving 2 years ago before we were engaged and on the way home there were some scary places on the road! But I am so excited for his parents and other relatives to enjoy Titus. He is at one of those first really enjoyable stages, laughs and tries to talk to you. Isn't no longer only sleeping and eating. Although there has already been days where I wish he was that small again, guess that just means we will have to have more babies! Ha! And I am really excited for the food too! I love watching the Food Network and mostly this month it seems they have been preparing Thanksgiving feasts! Oh, sometimes I wish I had smell-o-vision television! But I am really thankful for the opportunity to spend the holiday with Rich and Carol, I am really thankful for my own family, my wonderful husband and my beautiful, delightful son. I am thankful for our health, for God's provision for us. It has been an adjustment for us to go down to one income this year and an adjustment for me in the change of pace and just daily routines from working in a workplace full time to being a stay at home mom. I am thankful for Bible Study Fellowship, for all the ladies there that are exploring God's Word with me and all of them just love Titus. One lady said a couple weeks ago as she was talking to Titus, "it is like you have 150 grandma's!" They are not all old enough to be his grandma but I thought it was so sweet and cute of her because they all adore him and I told her that is nice because unfortunately his real grandmas live far away. I am thankful for my aunt Mary, she likes to meet with Titus and I a couple times a week to chat, pray and walk together. And she loves entertaining Titus. I am thankful that God's Word is living and active in our hearts, He is working in the lives of loved ones around me in ways I never expected Him to. I am thankful for the freedom that we have in this country thanks to the soldiers who have given their lives and time away from their families to keep that freedom. Freedom to enjoy life, freedom to love God openly, freedom to have God's Word, freedom to meet openly with other believers. I am thankful for friends, like Brian and Rachelle, Daisy, Mike and Allison, Stephanie, Emily, Erin, Kristi and Sarah just to name a few. Anyway I am sure my thankful list could go on and on if had the time.

And then we have Christmas! Yikes! I am super psyched about that. We are flying into IA to visit my family in Galena, IL for Christmas. I am also excited not only for my parents to enjoy Titus but my sisters get to meet him for the first time and so does 2 of his cousins! I am so excited for the three of them to be together and play. And we get to meet our niece Bella for the first time and she just turned a year old this month! And basically my dads whole family lives back there except for Mary who is here and then most of my moms side lives back there too. So we will be having Christmas on both sides back there plus my immediate family! So what do you get a 6 month old for Christmas? I am trying to keep Christmas simple this year, with one income I am trying to come up with nice things that I can make. And I so do not want to go overboard with gifts for my child, not only do we not really have the room in our 2 bedroom apartment but I don't want to teach him that Christmas is all about gifts. This might sound unheard of but I know a family who tries to stick with 3 gifts per child based on the fact that the wise men brought 3 gifts for the baby Jesus to Bethlehem (see Matthew 2)! And I know another family that just basically does stocking stuffers with their children! I think those are some good things to think about! Besides we all know the grandparents can't hold back and resist going all out on presents for their grand kids so it isn't like he would be lacking anything if we tried to keep it simple for him.

So if you would, we would appreciate your prayers during our travel to CO, we plan on leaving Tuesday night, the 23rd, to drive to Billings while Titus sleeps and then Lord willing make it the rest of the way on Wednesday. And then begin our return on Saturday, the 27th, to head again to Billings Lord willing and do the rest on Sunday to home here. Not only that Titus would do okay in his car seat that long but that the roads would be clear and the Lord would just have His hand over our vehicle protecting us.

Praise Him

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below,
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts,
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Today at Bible Study it was just an awesome lesson over Isaiah 11-12. What refreshing chapters after all the judgement upon the disobedient people of God so far. It just makes me want to sing out to Him and about how good He is. Even through our disobedience He still loves us and He promised a Redeemer and that Redeemer came 2010 years ago! Praise God that by His grace I came to know Him and His saving love for me, a wretched sinner, in September of 1998! By His grace everyday I can choose to live for Him and His glory bringing upon myself NO shame or regrets! By His grace everyday I can love my wonderful husband who also loves God and share life with him and everything that God brings our way whether it is grace to face another wretched day on this messed up earth that has fallen so far from what God had in mind when He made it and everything on it or it is moments like these when you realize how blessed you are to be living in His grace and experiencing His blessing upon your life. By His grace everyday I or my husband get to see the waking smile of the precious son God has given us, knowing that it is also by His grace that we are going to meet all of Titus' needs. And by His grace everyday we will teach Titus that God also loves him very much and has a great plan for his life, one that brings glory to Him and blessing upon him as His servant. And it will also be by His grace that one day we enter into eternal life with our sweet Jesus, where peace will rule and love will abide between all mankind and their Creator there. And we will sing with the angels many songs and praises to Him for all of His greatness and faithfulness throughout the ages past and for eternity.

An Ounce of Heart Knowledge ... Zondervan

An Ounce of Heart Knowledge ... Zondervan

The Essence of Worldliness

My devotional this morning was very straight forward and I just wanted to share part of it with you, my prayer is that I myself can act upon the wisdom given here.
"Those present-day teachers who place the Sermon on the Mount in some other dispensation than this and so release the Church from its teachings little realize the evil they do. For the Sermon on the Mount gives in brief the characteristics of the kingdom of renewed men. The blessed poor who mourn for their sins and thirst after righteousness are true sons of the kingdom. In meekness they show mercy to their enemies; with guileless candor they gaze upon God; surrounded by persecutors they bless and curse not. In modesty they hide their good deeds. They go out of their way to agree with their adversaries and forgive those who sin against them. They serve God in secret in the depth of their hearts and wait with patience for His open reward. They freely surrender their earthly goods rather than use violence to protect them. They lay up treasures in heaven. They avoid praise and wait for the day of final reckoning to learn who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."- A.W. Tozer The Pursuit of Man

The God Who Cried and Roared ... Zondervan

The God Who Cried and Roared ... Zondervan

A Personal Question: Where Is God? ... Zondervan

A Personal Question: Where Is God? ... Zondervan

Who Is Your Looking-Glass Self? ... Zondervan

Who Is Your Looking-Glass Self? ... Zondervan

Spirit-Controlled Emotions

This an excerpt from my devotional this morning, The Pursuit of Man by A.W. Tozer that I thought was really good and reminded me that I not only need to examine where I seek my own pleasure from but I need to be faithful to pray for those in my life who do get their pleasure from 'false and degrading thrills':
"One of the very greatest calamities which sin has brought upon us is the debasement of our normal emotions. We laugh at things which are not funny; we find pleasure in acts which are beneath our human dignity; and we rejoice in objects which should have no place in our affections. The objection to 'sinful pleasures,' which has always been characteristic of the true saint, is at bottom simply a protest against the degradation of our human emotions. That gambling, for instance, should be allowed to engross the interests of men made in the image of God has seemed like a horrid perversion of noble powers; that alcohol should be necessary to stimulate the feeling of pleasure has seemed like a kind of prostitution; that men should turn to the man-made theater for enjoyment has seemed an affront to the God who placed us in the midst of a universe charged with high dramatic action. The world's artificial pleasures are all but evidence that the human race has to a large extent lost its power to enjoy the true pleasures of life and is forced to substitute for them false and degrading thrills."

Triple Dog Dares ... Zondervan

Triple Dog Dares ... Zondervan

Taste and See ... Zondervan

Taste and See ... Zondervan