Double Blessing...
Boasting in the Lord...
He's Here
Checklist Before Becoming a Grandmother
It's Gonna Be A Christmas To Remember!
...because friends, we will be having ourselves a grandson, no matter what, on December 14th!
If Hannah and Justin do not go into labor before this Tuesday, she'll be induced at 6:30 in the morning, December 14th, with Timothy Paul to make his appearance however many hours after that.
Guess who else is having her baby, via C-section, on December 14th?
My dear friend, and member of our church (visit her over at Hope Springs), Wendy Cantrell! Two babies born into our church family, very, very likely on the same day. If the fruit of the womb is a reward, Harvest Church has been doing something really right. (We are expecting five total!)
God has crowned my year with His utter goodness. He has given me my heart's desire, and has not withheld the request of my lips. He has given me a grandson for Christmas. He has given me yet another son by marriage (Jonathan, the arteest) this year. He has returned our wanna-be prodigals to heart, hearth, and home. My oldest son is thriving as a Marine-recruit. He is near the top of his squad. The other recruits in his squad of 80, ask him for prayer, and bring him their spiritual questions. He even has earned a nickname there...
..."Chappie". Short for "Chaplain".
It is nothing but grace. You. Just. Cannot. Know.
And my youngest is slowly making a name for himself, playing basketball. He will graduate from our home school this year - the very last one. God, by grace alone, has given me the gift of finishing well. I am living a dream I do not deserve. I have not earned it.
On the way home from a brief shopping foray, again, all alone in my car, I heard the old Christmas song by Amy Grant, "It's Gonna Be a Christmas To Remember."
Do you fight back the happiest tears of your life, or do you let them go?
Yeah...you let them go.
Word Junkie
Personally, I think him quaint, but I disagree. The most beautiful words in the English language are "You can go to your Kindle and start reading."
I've been alternating this evening between my (free!) Kindle app, Audible.com, and my knitting. I have to hold my phone to read my Kindle books, but get to listen to my Audible.com books, through said phone, while I knit. Oh, bliss. Oh, heaven. And I didn't have to buy a Kindle. How cool is that? I am so fierce, I wish I could stare at myself.
Do We "Balance" Grace With Law? Final Answer: NO!
Tullian Tchividjian - Billy Graham's grandson. Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Yeah. Um...that would be late pastor D. James Kennedy's church. According to what I read in this article, an article I just discovered about a month ago, my husband, the pastor of a mini-mega church, is the best kept secret in the southeast!
Obviously, I'm slightly tongue-in-cheek with that, but only slightly. But these two men, one world renown, one little-known, preach the exact same gospel. Down. The. Line.
While we understand what some people mean when they say that we should preach and teach a "balance" between law and grace, we have stood strongly for preaching grace in all its glory, and the law in all its exacting terror. We have stood, having done all to stand, we have continued to stand, and it seemed, awhile back, that the cost was going to be more than we could pay. When in reality, God was positioning us for our wildest blessing! By grace, we've stayed faithful to what we understand, in our theological studies, about Biblical grace and the full, New Covenant Gospel.
We've always known we aren't the only ones preaching this, but nor have we wanted - when in direct dialogue with anyone - to name drop in some misguided effort to defend ourselves. People who are misinformed often want to be - there is usually no changing their mind.
But this is a personal essay, I'm free to say anything I want, and Tim and I are long past feeling any urgent need to defend ourselves. So...is what we are teaching some sort of anomaly that only we, and a few "iffy" other people, are seeing in Scripture? Come on...Billy Graham's grandson? Coral Ridge Presbyterian? Really? Puh-leeze. Not exactly your small church. Not exactly a "cult".
So yeay! This gospel of grace is like a tsunami, covering the face of the whole earth. We happen to be doing our part, in our part of the world.
Enjoy the following article. I gotta get Tchividjian's book!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An Interview with Tullian Tchividjian on Gospel and Law
One of the things I enjoy most is fruitful theological dialogue with a few faithful friends. One of them is Tullian Tchividjian.
His new book, Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels, is now available. It’s a stirring, insightful exploration through the book of Jonah, showing the beauty and power of grace. (It also includes some pretty cool artwork by various painters and sculptors who have sought to convey aspects of the book.) You can read a good review by James Grant at TGC Reviews.
Since the book is (essentially) on the outworking of the gospel, I wanted to ask Tullian a few questions about the gospel and the law, especially as it relates to Christian motivation.
Is the gospel a middle ground between legalism and lawlessness?
This seems to be a common misunderstanding in the church today. I hear people say that there are two equal dangers Christians must avoid: legalism and lawlessness. Legalism, they say, happens when you focus too much on law, or rules. Lawlessness, they say, happens when you focus too much on grace. Therefore, in order to maintain spiritual equilibrium, you have to balance law and grace. Legalism and lawlessness are typically presented as two ditches on either side of the Gospel that we must avoid. If you start getting too much law, you need to balance it with grace. Too much grace, you need to balance it with law. But I’ve come to believe that this “balanced” way of framing the issue can unwittingly keep us from really understanding the gospel of grace in all of its depth and beauty.
How would you frame it instead?
I think it’s more theologically accurate to say that there is one primary enemy of the gospel—legalism—but it comes in two forms.
Some people avoid the gospel and try to “save” themselves by keeping the rules, doing what they’re told, maintaining the standards, and so on (you could call this “front door legalism”).
Other people avoid the gospel and try to “save” themselves by breaking the rules, doing whatever they want, developing their own autonomous standards, and so on (you could call this “back door legalism”).
So the choice is between submitting to the rule of Christ or submitting to self-rule?
Right. There are two “laws” we can choose to live by other than Christ: the law which says “I can find freedom and fullness of life if I keep the rules” or the law which says “I can find freedom and fullness of life if I break the rules.”
Both are legalistic in this sense: one “life rule” has as its goal the keeping of rules; the other “life rule” has as its goal the breaking of rules. But both are a rule of life you’re submitting to—a rule of life that is governing you—which is defined by you and your ability to perform. Success is determined by your capacity to break the rules or keep the rules. Either way you’re still trying to “save” yourself—which means both are legalistic because both are self-salvation projects.
(My note: Tim and I teach this concept as being a "prodigal" or a "pharisee". BOTH insist on walking in their own understanding! Both are in the same boat: not in touch with the Father's true heart. When speaking to those "under the law, as being under the law", people without a firm understanding of doctrine, we call the two enemies of the gospel "legalism" and "license". But this is not to imply that there needs to be a "balance". Both are anti-Christ, but legalism is by far the most dangerous.)
If most people outside the church are guilty of “break the rules” legalism, most people inside the church are guilty of “keep the rules” legalism.
What do you say to folks who think we need to “keep grace in check” by giving out some law?
Doing so proves that we don’t understand grace and we violate gospel advancement in our lives and in the church. A “yes, grace…but” disposition is the kind of posture that keeps moralism swirling around in the church. Some of us think the only way to keep licentious people in line is by giving them the law. But the fact is, the only way licentious people start to obey is when they get a taste of God’s radical acceptance of sinners. The more Jesus is held up as being sufficient for our justification and sanctification, the more we begin to die to ourselves and live to God. Those who end up obeying more are those who increasingly understand that their standing with God is not based on their obedience, but Christ’s.
But don’t Christians need to be shaken out of their comfort zones?
Yes—but you don’t do it by giving them law; you do it by giving them gospel. The Apostle Paul never uses the law as a way to motivate obedience; he always uses the gospel. Paul always soaks gospel obligations in gospel declarations because God is not concerned with just any kind of obedience; he’s concerned with a certain kind of obedience (as Cain and Abel’s sacrifice illustrates). The obedience that pleases God is obedience that flows from faith—faith in what God has already done, and trust for what he will do in the future. And even though we need to obey even if we don’t feel like it, long-term, sustained, heart-felt, gospel motivated obedience can only come from faith and grace; not fear and guilt. Behavioral compliance without heart change, which only the gospel can do, will be shallow and short lived. Or, as I like to say, imperatives minus indicatives equal impossibilities.
So do you think the law no longer has—or should no longer have—a role in the Christian life?
No, I wouldn’t say that. While the law of God is good (Romans 7), it only has the power to reveal sin and to show the standard and image of righteous requirement—not remove sin. The law shows us what God commands (which of course is good) but the law does not possess the power to enable us to do what it says. The law guides us but it does not give us any power to do what it says. In other words, the law shows us what a sanctified life looks like, but it does not have sanctifying power—the law cannot change a human heart. It’s the gospel (what Jesus has done) that alone can give God-honoring animation to our obedience. The power to obey comes from being moved and motivated by the completed work of Jesus for us. The fuel to do good flows from what’s already been done. So, while the law directs us, only the gospel can drive us.
You’re the master of good word pictures. Got one for this?
Well, someone told me recently that the law is like a set of railroad tracks. The tracks provide no power for the train but the train must stay on the tracks in order to function. The law never gives any power to do what it commands. Only the gospel has power, as it were, to move the train.
But doesn’t Scripture motivate us by saying that if we love Jesus we’ll keep his commands?
When John (or Jesus) talks about keeping God’s commands as a way to know whether you love Jesus or not, he’s not using the law as a way to motivate. He’s simply stating a fact. Those who love God will keep on keeping his commands. The question is how do we keep God’s commands? What sustains a long obedience in the same direction? Where does the power come from to do what God commands? As every parent and teacher knows, behavioral compliance to rules without heart change will be shallow and short-lived. But shallow and short-lived is not what God wants (that’s not what it means to “keep God’s commands.”). God wants a sustained obedience from the heart. How is that possible? Long-term, sustained, gospel-motivated obedience can only come from faith in what Jesus has already done, not fear of what we must do. To paraphrase Ray Ortlund, any obedience not grounded in or motivated by the gospel is unsustainable.
Do you believe in the so-called “third use of the law”?
Yes. I’m a staunch believer in the three uses of the law (pedagogical, civil, and didactic). The law sends us to Christ for justification (the first use—which is correct), but some would also say that Christ sends us back to law for sanctification (a misunderstanding of the third use). In other words, there’s a common misunderstanding in the church that while the law cannot justify us, it can sanctify us—not true. In Romans 7 Paul is speaking as a justified, rescued, regenerated Christian and he’s saying, “The law doesn’t have the power to change me. The law guides but it does not give any power to do what it says.” So, I would caution people from concluding that the third use of the law implies that it has power to change you. To say the law has no power to change us in no way reduces its ongoing role in the life of the Christian. And it in no way minimizes the importance of the law’s third use. We just have to understand the precise role that it plays for us today: the law serves us by making us thankful for Jesus when we break it and serves us by showing how to love God and others.
How would you boil your concern down to one sentence?
We are justified by grace alone through faith alone in the finished work of Christ alone, and God sanctifies us by constantly bringing us back to the reality of our justification.
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The Christmas-Tank is FULL...
I didn't belong in any exclusive store, and was deeply enjoying the thought. I don't ever buy anything in "upscale stores". I just gather ideas. Have you seen the latest Christmas commercial, where the wealthy lady is showing you her Christmas mantel, with its stockings hung, and telling you all about the provenance of each bejeweled stocking? She then reaches out to still one that is swinging back and forth, saying, in her most controlled and educated tone, "I want these to hang straight and still. The movement will cause wear and tear."
You Get to Pick Your Friends!
Who am I, that God is mindful of me so much, that He surrounds me with family and great friends?
To be surrounded by family is enough! Gentle reader, it has not been a picnic in the park this past year. My family, my parents, my brother, my sister and her husband, my children and their spouses, my husband and I - we have all been dragged through the mud...behind horses...with ropes tied around us...over tumbleweeds...
...nevermind. I hope you get the idea. We don't have it all together - but together, we manage to have it all!
To experience two prodigals in one year's time is a pain beyond telling. Though they both are already doing well again, I will never be the same, I will forever walk with Jacob's limp. But for the hundredth time, I have wrestled through into a new identity that rests in grace, which means to rest in Christ Alone. Do we ever stop re-learning grace? Never. The whole New Testament and New Covenant rests on this fact. We will grow in grace until we know as we are known.
But there we were, Sunday morning...together. Imperfect, but Worshipping. Lost in love for Christ Jesus.
Not only that, but I get to go to church with my friends. Tim and I cannot conceive of attending church with mere acquaintances, or even strangers. Tim and I cannot conceive of friendship outside the work of the ministry. We simply believe that the best friends are the friends faithful to the Bride, the local church. The best of friends have their hands to the same plow, and relationships are made in the plowing and planting, and cemented in the Season of Harvest. Our dearest friends are either in our church, or in our network of churches, or in another network that has our same passion for the gospel of grace, and for New Testament Church. Wherever we find them, we can't imagine a friend of ours not being about the business of the kingdom. Is there time for being in "social circles" that have little to do with our Magnificent Obsession? Not really...
It struck me how that these people all around me could be anywhere at that moment. They could be in any number of other mega churches, enjoying a measure of anonymity. They could have slept in and went to a fancy brunch at a restaurant, followed by Christmas shopping in the snow. But we all, every last one of us, chose to hang out together in worship, because we like each other.
That's all.
Well, that, and we really, really like the God we have come to know in the face of Jesus Christ. And we genuinely like how Jesus expresses Himself through the different vessels.
It was a warm fuzzy moment, and I am all about the warm fuzzies. I want to feel it when my God wraps His arms around me, and speaks truth into my innermost being. I want to experience my sanctified feelings - that is part of practicing true religion.
I really do like these people I do church with. I really do love the God I serve. I really do love this family of mine - and we are not a trophy family, folks! We're a bunch of mad hatters.
Next time you are in church, I pray that you can look around you and see the faces of dear friends - people you would trust with your business or your family, if something happened to you.
I. Have. That.
That is to be startlingly blessed. I'm so humbled to realize that sometimes the pulsing, glowing, sparkling truth of the gifts I have been given goes right over my head. I have not always seen these things for the indescribable gifts they are.
A verse, from a passage we read this morning: "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"
Some of the Best Advice...
~Edith Schaeffer
This is some of the best counsel I've ever read. It applies to home life, church life, business, you name it. I'm not saying we should consistently overdo it, and never rest, but at the same time, nothing worthwhile has ever been achieved without working harder than the "average bear".
If all you want is an average marriage, then stay "into yourself" and be mindful of your rights and how tired you are and how much you do and what your spouse doesn't do. That is a sure-fire way to a completely average relationship, and it is your right to be average, if that is what you really want.
If all you want is an average life, then do an average amount of necessary work.
Get happy about it!
Someone really does have to be willing to quietly and willingly do what needs to be done and then some, otherwise the marriage, the family, the church, or the business will descend into a disagreeable, cranky mess.
The Nursery
More pictures to come, I promise, but here is a preview of The Nursery. All is in readiness, we just need the grand baby to come! (No, Hannah is not in labor as of this moment, ten till midnight, December 3rd. That could change by morning, or that could change by next week. We don't flippin' know.)
The crib is Jenny Lind. The crib skirt is made of three different, coordinating fabrics...I need to get a closeup for you. The bedding is Laura Ashley - surprisingly, not a print...it is a beautiful matelasse! The valance I found on clearance at Marshall's for $2.99!
The rocking chair is an antique, purchased at a shop called Granny's Attic, near Oak Ridge. The small side table is also an antique, a gift from a dear friend named Anna Sprain, many years ago. The floor rug is from Target - and is incredibly soft.
There is another crib skirt, under the one that you can see. It is the skirt that came with the Laura Ashley bedding...but Hannah wanted the splash of color, and the hand made look of the one you see. (The one you see, there, was a stroke of luck. It somehow got separated from its "set" in a department store, and never sold. It was sent to Ross, of all places, where I snagged it for $3.99! It is absolutely adorable, very "vintage" and handmade-looking! But sorry...there are no more. It was truly the only one of its kind. I got the back story from the manager, who happened to be nearby.)
So Hannah put BOTH bed skirts on the crib, the clearance priced colorful one, and the matelasse Laura Ashley. She can change the look any time she wants, simply by tucking the colorful skirt up under the mattress, revealing the plain skirt.
Soon, Hannah is going to re-figure out a way to put a layer of creamy linen (we already have plenty of linen fabric, ivory colored, formerly a huge tablecloth we picked up at the thrift store for $5...$5 for about three square YARDS of pure linen! All we can figure, is it must have been meant to cover several tables, all end to end...if we cut straight down the middle, we will have about six yards long, by a yard or more wide, enough to make luscious, long ruffles.)
Why do that? Well, Hannah wants another layer of crib skirt that goes all the way to the floor, under both existing crib skirts. This will add more texture, and hide the necessary fact that under the crib will have to also be storage.
Hannah used to have burlap for her crib skirt, and it was adorable, went all the way to the floor in this cool puddle...but interfered with being able to smoothly raise and lower the side of the crib. We have not yet had time to tweak, but either the burlap-to-the-floor or the linen-to-the-floor will also go there.
The floor lamp has been in my house for over fifteen years. Hannah took a few yards of white and baby blue ruffling, and hot glued it around and around the lamp shade, and made it a beautiful one of a kind, expensive looking detail.
The chalkboard is a vinyl wall decal...perfectly safe, and won't fall off the wall onto baby. It is adorable right there. It was purchased at Marshall's.
More later...
Random Acts of Beauty...
My own pictures, about five different shots I took of the decor of both daughters' weddings, are all over the internet, copied and pasted onto other blogs, with no credit given to me. I really don't mind at this point...but I might mind later, with future photos. Hence, my husband got me Photoshop, and I've learned to put my name directly onto the photo itself. It isn't foolproof security, but it is a start.
So anyway, design inspiration is everywhere. I find the more I feed my hunger for good design, and for beauty, the more voracious my appetite becomes. I have quite a collection of gorgeousness, and so this evening, I'll share a tiny bit with you. Enjoy - these run the gamut from Christmas decorations to fashion.
These two images above are from the beautiful blog, "Sofie's Haus". The outfit is so near perfect, and I want the boots!
Let It Snow...
It was a Perry Como Christmas sort of Wednesday...homey...tranquil...
"All is calm, All is bright..."
Adding to the dining room Christmas decorations, bit by bit - I love these mercury glass balls so much, I can't stand it...
I've got my knitting needles, a plethora of yarns in wool, mohair, cotton and silk, so let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
A Blue Christmas - the COLOR Blue
This is a little tree I put up in my dining room every Christmas. This year, I was inspired to decorate it differently than I have for at least six years! (I think it is about time for a change, no?) So I added touches of turquoise blue...
I used simple burlap for a tree skirt on this little tree - and leaned my big wooden initial "A" against the wall. This picture doesn't really do it justice - the look is so adorable!
Please excuse the extension cord...ahem. I promise, when I'm ready to share more pictures of my red and turquoise dining room, I'll do better.
My six-foot-three "baby" and I baked our traditional Ginger Snap Christmas Cookies today...just the two of us. We found out yesterday that he'll be looked at by a small college in a state south of us...won't say who yet...not a junior college, either! The assistant coach will be in touch with Tim, if they like what they see. We're praying that his "hooping skills" increase more and more! I snapped this picture today, thinking that this time next year, he could actually be away at _________ college. Who knows?
...the finished product. YUM!
...and he packaged up a dozen, as a gift to his girlfriend. What a sweetheart!
Friends, I pray your Advent Season is blessed and highly favored. My heart is very, very full these days, and I expect the overflow to spill onto these pages. Thank you for spending a little time with me...I love you!
Underlined Bits from Oswald Chambers
The gospel of the grace of God awakens an intense longing in human souls and
an equally intense resentment, because the revelation which it brings is not
palatable. There is a certain pride in man that will give and give, but to
come and accept is another thing. I will give my life to martyrdom, I will
give myself in consecration, I will do anything, but do not humiliate me to
the level of the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to
do is to accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
We have to realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God; we must
either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest blessing
spiritually is the knowledge that we are destitute; until we get there our
Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for us if we think we are sufficient of
ourselves, we have to enter into his kingdom through the door of
destitution. As long as we are rich, possessed of anything in the way of
pride or independence, God cannot do anything for us. Only when we get
hungry spiritually then can we receive the Holy Spirit. The gift of the
essential nature of God is made effectual in us by the Holy Spirit, he
imparts to us the quickening life of Jesus, which puts "the beyond" within,
and immediately "the beyond" has come within, it rises up to "the above,"
and we are lifted into the domain where Jesus lives. John 3:5
Advent
We wait, because God waits. There has been much said from pulpits, throughout history, about "waiting on God". But think about it - we wait on God, because He waits.
He waits when there is death, pain, sickness, and wandering hearts - when He could say the word, and it all would be made right that very moment. So why does God wait?
When I asked Him, "Lord, why do you wait?" He answered me out of His word:
Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him. (Isaiah 30)
Gratitude...
No Weapon Formed...
Not because of any righteousness of your own, but because you are in Christ...no one who criticizes you prospers in their effort because of Christ. Not because you prayed a prayer, not because you attend church, not because you decided to be a better, more self disciplined Christian, not because you perform, but rather, you live in an unfair advantage when you know you can't do anything right! You have believed the report of the Lord, and thus to you is His arm revealed! Your unfair advantage comes by blood. By blood inheritance, you are "unfairly favored" in life, and no one can touch you.
Funny, I woke up some time back with the feeling that something else was going to come to light regarding people we love, who have moved on awhile back. I even dreamed about them recently - an unsettling dream that left me concerned for them. In my dream one of them was sick to the point of death, but keeping up a pretense of being well - all because they wanted to be "right", to be thought of as being well. There was nothing we could do to change that. I woke up sad for them.
Then, that very morning, Tim "just happened" to run into someone else who had left our church years ago - the two of them had an amiable conversation, and he told Tim some things that we found to be...interesting. Of all things, a small part of the conversation was concerning the very ones I dreamed about the night before, and about whom I sensed that more was going to come to light. And more did. Nothing of any consequence in this season, but new information, nevertheless.
Maybe for a moment or two, the old knee-jerk reaction was there. The urge to vindicate oneself resides in every human being. But I realized - "...what they said and did, didn't prosper!"
Then, without my having to choose to feel the right thing, the same concern for them washed over my heart, sweeping away what little debris of self-vindication had collected there. Because of my grace foundation, I know that I am loved and accepted and protected by God. I'm aware of possessing such wealth, that it makes the judgement of another person feel like what a billionaire must feel when the law gives him a hundred dollar speeding ticket.
"I can afford this. Why let it bother me?" I'm way wealthier than the one who is writing the ticket. He can write me all the tickets he wants, and he might even be right, according to the letter of the law. I still get to go home and enjoy my wealth, figuratively speaking, while those who write tickets will go back to doing just that....issuing tickets to others for their infractions. I've chosen a different way of life, and I get to go live it.
So I'll take the ticket. It has no impact on my destiny or my day. "Thanks, officer. And I love you. Come over for dinner sometime!"
Friends, this is what I mean about context. This is what the Scripture means when it says that no weapon formed against you will prosper. It doesn't mean that no one is ever going to form a weapon against you. It means they will! Put that in your Promise Box...there are many, even other believers, who carry weapons and write tickets. They will utilize both.
But it won't prosper. Any weapon, in order to prosper, must "inflict pain" or some level of damage that affects your outcome. If it doesn't inflict at least a little damage, if it doesn't at least alter your outcome a little bit, if it doesn't weaken you, at least....the weapon didn't prosper.
Hear me - no weapon formed against you can prosper, when you have, by conscious belief and choice, placed your faith in the gospel of Christ. You dwell in a Secret Place, where, when a weapon is fired, it doesn't do any lasting damage.
Another thing that distracts us is the lust of vindication. St.Augustine
prayed-"O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself."
That temper of mind destroys the soul's faith in God. "I must explain
myself; I must get people to understand." Our Lord never explained anything; he left mistakes to correct themselves.
When we discern that people are not going on spiritually and allow the
discernment to turn to criticism, we block our way to God. God never gives us discernment in order that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.
~Oswald Chambers
Lord, cause me to be your version of a Godly woman, not my own version. Make me into a leader after your Own Gracious Heart, who is willing to go to all lengths to love those you've put in my sphere. Help me not to criticize, but rather to pray.
An (Almost) Wordless Saturday
Gratitude Journal
...for friendships that last a lifetime.
...board games...
...for the (finally) long T-shirts! I can't tell you how much I love the latest, long, lean shirt silhouette. Please God, may we never go back to those unflattering "belly shirts".
...massages at Day Spas...
...helping a daughter roast her first turkey...
...for friends with names like "Faith", and friends who live in "Faith", and friends who walk in faith by grace through faith.
...for the gift and the grace of the gift...
...for finances...
...berry cobblers, red lipstick, and the cute little blonde my son is dating.
...being blessed with two daughters who outgrew the silly, giggly "need to be the center of attention" phase by age seventeen, more or less. It was fun while it lasted, but it didn't (and shouldn't) last long. That's why it was fun. Today, they are poised and mature and confident.
...the last lettuce harvest of the year, for a garden being "put to bed for the winter" this week, for western boots, and All Things Handmade...
...40's music, cold nights and warm days, the view outside my own kitchen window.
...being literally surrounded by friends and family this past year. Seriously. How many times did they literally surround me with their love? I finally understand the Scripture, "You surround me with songs of deliverance." The songs are raised by the men and women who are committed to you, in relationship. They sing all around and over your life, and your heart is restored.
...a man who "gets me", who isn't threatened when I say what I am thinking.
...consequently, my daughters each married men who "get" them. After all, they've never known a male-female relationship to be any different. Don't all husbands "get" their wives? Don't all husbands have a wife who flourishes under his oversight and care?
...for books, blogs, and very, very smart phones. What a bold new world I live in.
...for new direction in my life, exciting new opportunities, new projects I'm itching to get started on...
...for the fact that I get to walk past a beautifully decorated nursery about twenty times a day - and each time, I feel the butterflies in my stomach, as I eagerly, joyfully anticipate the birth of a grandson. Born into my home. That, friends, is stinkin', sloppy blessed.
...for pedicures, hair grown out long this winter, and still being able to wear my size 8 Levi's - with spandex, but nevertheless...
...for Ralph Lauren pajamas - cotton, well made, comfortable, bought on clearance. And the knitted socks-of-many-colors I wear with them.
...for my boy, who scored 25+ points in the second half of his game last week, for a win. For living off of tall cups of coffee from Weigels, as we travel to the games. For falling into our beds after midnight, after the game.
...for a granddaddy who took my boy out to lunch today, and God was lavishing His favor upon the boy, based on the spritual riches of his grandaddy.
Gratitude
A Slice of Church Life
This is our Wendy...who is "Forty with the Fourth"...and adored by all at Harvest for her faithful friendship and continuity. This woman honors relationships, remembers details, and treasures all the little traditions that come with church life.
See the little desk? My daughters Hannah and Sarah purchased it at an antique store, painted the bottom that pretty blue color, and painted the top surface of the desk in chalkboard paint. Then they painted Ethan William Cantrell's initials, and glued them on the front. Sarah's husband Jonathan then painted a small Snoopy on the chair...wish you could see it - I forgot to snap a picture.
But I did remember to snap a picture of my gift...crochet baby booties
The Fancher's house was packed...inside and out.
Everywhere you looked, you saw a woman with child...
Where did all the men go?? Didn't they want to see all the cute baby stuff? Why are our men outside?
Gathering everyone into the room for a time of prayer.
~Proverbs.
Legalism
When the point of the law was to point us to the One who is not a ordinance, is not a law, is not a rule, but is a person.
The difference between living under the law and living under grace is the difference between being in school all your life, making straight A's...
...and graduating, falling in love, starting a family, and nurturing that family by all means possible. Legalist believers and Grace believers know the same things and do some of the same things - but only the Grace believer , who truly understands grace, is able to take what she knows and apply it to her relationships. Only the grace believer does what she does for the higher and deeper and better reason. Because of relationship.
And relationships are all that matter - loving God and loving the people He has placed in proximity to us in this life.