"Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard on another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, and those who are in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now, much more in my absence,
work out your salvation
with fear
and trembling;
for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent,
children of God
above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear
as lights
in the world,
holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.... " 2 Phillipians 2:1-16

I prefer to not take things out of context, so here is some context.
work out your salvation
with
fear
and trembling...

I am afraid.... this would seem to be the beginning of wisdom... praise the Lord... because I am afraid...
I hear a lot lately, how God is sovereign. It is good to encourage one another with the truths of Gods attributes. It is important to be reminded, lest we forget and stumble in our sins. God is indeed sovereign. Frankly, it is also very scary. For He is HOLY, I am not. I am unworthy of the great grace He so freely bestows upon me day after day after day. I am unworthy, and often, I am shamed to admit, not barely grateful, for the abundant mercies that He showers upon me. I fear this mightily Lord, I do.. And working on my salvation, it is a full time job.
It isn't some get out of Hell free prayer.. It is work.
Humility,
Grace,
Love,
Mercy,
Patience,
Trust,
but also work.
It isn't easy to Love when you are exhausted, nor is it easy to have patience. It isn't easy to be humbled by the great Creator of the Universe. It isn't easy to show mercy, nor is it easy to receive it. It isn't easy to trust... No, to trust, that is so difficult.
working out your salvation
with fear,
and trembling.
I tremble.
I tremble and I fear I am trembling at the awesomeness of God. At His master plan, at His placement of me here, right now. I shudder, and I tremble, and I don't know what else to say.
I am too busy working it all out.
I would like more of that encouragement that Paul talks about, the encouragement in Christ, the fellowship of the Spirit would be nice too, for there is affliction, we could use more compassion. From others? Perhaps,
with each other, definitely.
Joy, it can be fleeting. But it would seem it ought not to be.
Like a vase emptied of any weight, or self,
think like hand blown glass, cracked into thousands of pieces, held together by the hand of God, alone, by Him.
If you were that vase, would you not fear Him? Shouldn't you? For that is how fragile we all are. How fragile I am.
There is no weight to me to hold me together.
I am broken by my sin,
beautiful only by His renewing of my spirit, hand crafted and God breathed.....
I am that vase....
With all the chaos of my life, all the doctors, hospitals, miles to drive, all that is.. I am very afraid of storm, because all that holds me together is the hand of God... and goodness knows, if He lets go, I will be just a million pieces fluttering in the wake of it all.
What is it that should weigh me down...
The weight of Glory...
the Glory of the Lord,
the Lord Christ Jesus....
This is who is filling me, weighing me, anchoring me, it is also His hands that sustain me, holding me together, and His light that pours forth from me..... for I am but a shell.

.....work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.........


Praise the Lord

A thought on a question that was asked of me....

Do I think it is sinful to wear makeup, or pants .....

My answer was that I believe the answer lies in the motive... the why do I or don't I..... Maybe this little story will help.

I was once at a christian homeschooling event. so here goes my story....

Two girls, both haughty, and two girls both humble.

Two girls walked in to this Christian event with their parents, both looked like Brittney Spears (pre head shaving).... Mid drifts showing, pants painted on, hair done up and makeup done to make them look, old, used and well sexy. Parents looked awkward and uncomfortable... Frankly desperate for help....One girl while dressed this way walked in humbly, full of a JOY.... she was even humbled by the event, taken aback at how many girls her age were dressed so elegantly, so prettily, so modestly and feminine ( I people watch ;) As time went on this daughter of the KING became visibly uncomfortable with her choice in clothing. She seemed ashamed and even put her coat back on even though it was VERY hot in the gymnasium/auditiorium.
The other, her friend, walked around like she owned the joint. She seemed to try VERY hard to cause the males in the room to stumble into the sin of lust. With every stride she made great pains to swing her hips and flip her hair and be VERY loud... As loud as she got, her friend got quieter, there was a humility there, not humiliation. The Lord humbled her, He was showing her, that she was BOUGHT with a price, was not her own, and was still dressing the part of a slave to her culture.... She sat in the back and listened intently......

Enter in two giggly modestly dressed maidens of virtue... Dressed like most every Christian mother would hope her darling to dress. They were the picture of beauty and poise, clear faced, hair neetly done, skirts of sheer elegance and beauty, yes even fashionable, but very modest. One had the face of pure sweetness, a smile broad and welcoming, lips that praised the Lord and a manner so gracious you wanted to just hug her. Her friend while having similar mannerisms, and dress, seemed to me haughty, she looked down on others. She seemed to think she was holy because she had a great waredrobe, dressed modestly and "played the part". She was not welcoming. When the sweet faced maiden smiled and spoke kindly and welcoming something or other to the gal in the back, there was genuine kindness, and our gal (that would have been me back in the day), our gal's face lit up. she was encouraged in the Lord, but one look from our little miss LA TEE DA, stole that smile in a flash..... I was so grieved to see her sink into her spot, while little miss, flipped her hair and had that same hungry eyed smile as a young man passed her by.

One girl was cleaned on the inside and out....
One girl was cleaned on the outside, but icky inside....
One girl was filthy on the outside but shiny on the inside...
and one, really needed a dishwasher.....

WE all sin, all fall in sin,
but some are trying to scrub up,
some trying to show off,
some don't know better,
and some don't care.....

When we drove homeI saw I had been each of these girls at some point in my life, which one am I today.

Blogging poorly...

So I just realized, I have been spending more time on my other blog. Do forgive me friends. Life has been very temporal, very busy, and my thoughts it would seem, have not been running very deep.

Love your neighbors as yourselves.

Tough stuff. To love a family member, to love a child, a husband, a friend, even this can be challenging some days...

When we recall that Love is patient, Love is Kind, never jealous never boastful never rude, that Love believes all things Hopes all things, endures all things, and that Love never fails... we do, love doesn't... we can fail to love... but the love...
it never fails us...

But beyond the very love able loves of my life, loving neighbors is tricky. Now I have some pretty great neighbors, Tracy and Tim and their son Ryan are pretty easy to love, Tracy and James and their lovely girls are easy to love, Lauren and John are super neighbors, again easy to love. But everyone else is my neighbor too.
The hockey hooligans, the loud teenagers, the grumpy man in the suite next door, (not that he is grumpy, or anything, just if he was...) the guy with the scary t-shirt and the piercings, and the tattoos, the "lady" soldier, they are all my neighbors. They all are to get my love, my patience, even when they are rude, my kindness, even if they are mean, my humility, even to their pridefulness, my constance to their inconsistencies, and this love it is to endure. It is a love of Christ, not a love of my own making...
I can't love like this.
But the question is,
will I let Christ Love them, through me. Can I die to myself, my prejudices, my pre conceived notions, my opinions, and let Jesus Love them through me...

When I think that the lady across from me needs to discipline her child, can I just smile lovingly if her child whips a grape my way.... or a spit wad or what ever....

How do we measure up at Love your neighbor.... How do I measure up... not well.... I am convicted by the Lord to really start praying about this, really start letting Him take over, really start spreading more grace, at least as much as I have received, which is A WHOLE LOT...

It was by grace I was saved, a gift of God, not of works, I don't get to boast,
but I ought not hoard it either,
I have the grace, I need to share it....


We love Him, because He first loved us...

So I love because He loves me, so If I have this love
I need to love others....
It isn't as hard as it seems,
I just naturally like to hoard things... I like a full fridge, a full pantry, clothes in my closet, I like holding on. I think I must have a drawer full of love, I need to start spreading it around, and like the loaves and fish, like the oil, it will be replenished....
Will I ?
Will you?

We don't do TV. We don't have cable. We do watch movies. :) We are rather selective, and our favorite rental place is our local library! One new movie we just viewed was FLYWHEEL. It was put out by a church, Sherwood Bible Church (I think).
It is wonderful!
The same church that put this out, also put out FACING THE GIANTS. They both have made it to our top family fun movies. I highly recommend this movie! (both actually) It was a wonderful tribute to God, a wonderful story of redemption, and restitution. My kids loved it! When I was asked by the children who my favorite character was, I could only reply .... GOD was! :) He was the Hero, He was ever glorified, ever present, all powerful and sovereign. You will enjoy this film!
we laughed we cried, what a wonderful story!
check out this movie, and FACING THE GIANTS.Some time next year keep your eyes peeled for the next movie from Sherwood, called FIREPROOF!
Please keep this ministry in your prayers, what a mighty work God is doing in and through them.

drowning out....

Some moments are like water washing over you. Fresh and clear, cold and nearly overwhelming.

Yet He is my Rock. His Word washes over me and makes me new. It is the Holy Spirit that holds me up in the midst of the fall.

We dwell in the midst of the Fall...

Our Lords Word is sure, it is pure, it will wash us. And Upon this Rock, we can stand. Jesus is our Rock. Our eternal hope, what we cling to, what holds us up higher, than we could ever be with out Him. I remember when I took this picture. We were on a business trip in North Carolina, not far from Asheville.. It was so loud, so many drops of water rushing down a mountain side, crashing on the rocks, melting together once again. It was so loud, it was difficult to hear anything but the sound of the water. Oh how I wish I could live out my days hearing Gods word rushing over me like that. O, how wonderful to drown out all the distractions, trials and troubles, with His Word, His Spirit, His presence. I know the day will come... But there are moments. Have you had moments with Jesus, where all else slipped away and it was just HIM?

There is a sweet security in knowing He is my Salvation, My Rock, My Redeemer, a security in knowing that my sins are washed away, that His Word will sanctify me, that I have a Counselor, Teacher, Comforter. There is such a joy, I don't mean "happy happy joy", I mean JOY.. In knowing He is the Way, the Truth, the Life... that I am His; That He picked me; That there was NOTHING I did; That I have His promises, His Word, to hold fast to in times of difficulty, and jubilation.

I am not my own, I was bought with a price. Jesus is my KING. I only hope to serve Him better tomorrow than I did today.

you are loved... May His word wash over you, and drown out the temporal, so you can dwell on the eternal... even if it is only for a moment.

I have been

Tagged.

What does that mean? Well it would seem that it means that we still can be just silly girls, and play silly games. But those games sure were fun. So here goes.. I was tagged to share 8 things about lit'l ol' me... things you may not already know... I suppose. So here it goes.

1. One of my children weighed 10 lbs 6 oz at birth...

2. I briefly attended Culinary Arts School...

3. I took every public speaking course offered at my College at the time, but was going for an early ed degree. Had I switched majors I would have graduated earlier... NO one bothered to tell me till after they had all my $$

4. I was once a nanny...

5. I loved Ronald Regan passionately ! I campaigned for him in my elementary school, and would defend him to anyone, anywhere, regardless of age... I wrote him personal letters about all my concerns about this country. I am still on some kind of Regan Memorial Mailing list.

6. I know virtually all of the Abba songs by heart, along with Neil Diamond,from years of brainwashing in my childhood.

7. I love to wear dresses or skirts. I home school all my kids, bake bread, cook from scratch, and never breastfed my babies who were all born by C-Section. *(this always surprises people)

8. I met my husband when I was fourteen. When he first looked at me, he thought I was the girl he'd like to marry. When I first looked at him, I thought he was terrible. I now adore my husband ! He is a man who loves God, loves me, and loves our children. He is an excellent provider, friend, and leader. There is none I would rather walk with nor follow. I have known him for more than half of my life.

So If I find 8 ladies to tag, and you read mine, just find 8 ladies & tag them to tell 8 things about themselves. This was fun... Thanks Saralyn

Buttons Buttons, more and more Buttons...
There are two new buttons on my side panel.
One is a moms for modesty website. I find modesty to be quite an issue in today's girls apparel. I find immodest hussy wear offensive, and I actively seek clothing that is both beautiful as well as modest. Modest doesn't have to mean frumpy. But some of the girls clothing at stores today are utterly unacceptable. This website is neat, and they even have a petition you can sign, to influence retailers into a more modest way.
The other new button is about TRUE foods. By true it is meant, NO Genetic engineering, or not Genetically modified. When you click on this link, you can also get a list of company's and products that are, and a list that are not genetically modified.
So THAT is what the new buttons are about! Be blessed!