Blogging??

I have been neglectful of the blog.  Things are busy and life can be draining.  Mitch has been working 50 hr weeks for the past 3-4 weeks, I'm losing track.  We are almost weaned and hormones are spazing.  Thankfully the Lord provides strength for all He sets before us.  It's amazing how in wearisome times, whether they be sprititually, mentally, physcially, or all of the above as they have been lately that fellowship with Christ has been most sweet and His word very precious, as well as the kindred spirits that encourage us in truth.  This also makes me randomly thankful for a church and preaching that is continually encouraging, biblical and outside of the box of the churchy presuppositions so many of us grew up in, and it's almost like the sermon is in keeping with what is going on in our lives and what we are working through learning from the Lord.  Anyhow, encouraging.
Also, my little man turned 5 April 8th and I WILL post pics soon!  He was so excited and his favorite gift I belive was his bumble bee pillow pet ( yes yes I know). Daddy, searched high and low for the bumble bee.  Christian continues to be a sweet little boy that just loves to chat and have attention and he has gotten more rough and wrestling with Isabelle, which I find annoying. :)  He loves to learn how and why things work, like things in the body.  He adores his daddy.  He has been spelling words on the fridge.  He'll show me me words like, rug and box, those little 3 letter words. 
I have finished Holiness By Grace this week.  One of my favorite books, EVER.  I may have to give that book it's own post.  Just check out quotes from it from my past posts, they should be labeled.

If our teaching of grace causes us to make light of sin, or to slight the requirements of the Savior, then we have really not understood either the monstrosity of our sin or the greatness of the heart that forgives it.
Grace overwhelms us with God's love, and as a result our heart resonates with the desires of God. His purposes become our own.....True grace produces joy and promotes godliness.  ~Holiness By Grace Bryan Chapel

"On all hands we hear cries for unity in this and unity in that; but in our mind the main need of this age is not compromise but conscientiousness, 'First pure, then peaceable.' It is easy to cry 'A confederacy,' but that union that is not based on the truth of God is rather a conspiracy than a communion. Charity by all means: but honesty also. Love of course, but love to God as well as love to men, and love of truth as well as love of union. It is exceedingly difficult in these times to preserve one's fidelity before God and one's fraternity among men. Should not the former be preferred to the latter if both cannot be maintained? We think so" ~Spurgeon

"Unity without verity [truth] is no better than conspiracy" Puritan John Trapp

Good Stuff

I know I post a lot of Sprugeon but I love the Morning and Evening devotion and they are so good and so much better than the fluff and puff of most Christian devotionals that make Christ seem like nothing more than self-help guru that we can draw from to make our lives "better" or a look to him as a "good example".  While he does make our lives better (define better) and he is the ultimate example to follow, he is so much more and I don't have the time to go into that.  I had planned on sharing what I read last night and also what I read today via some friends of ours that are going through some heartbreaking trials.

First last night's

“He shall save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 1:21

Many persons, if they are asked what they understand by salvation, will reply, “Being saved from hell and taken to heaven.” This is one result of salvation, but it is not one tithe of what is contained in that boon. It is true our Lord Jesus Christ does redeem all his people from the wrath to come; he saves them from the fearful condemnation which their sins had brought upon them; but his triumph is far more complete than this. He saves his people “from their sins.” Oh! sweet deliverance from our worst foes. Where Christ works a saving work, he casts Satan from his throne, and will not let him be master any longer. No man is a true Christian if sin reigns in his mortal body. Sin will be in us—it will never be utterly expelled till the spirit enters glory; but it will never have dominion. There will be a striving for dominion—a lusting against the new law and the new spirit which God has implanted—but sin will never get the upper hand so as to be absolute monarch of our nature. Christ will be Master of the heart, and sin must be mortified. The Lion of the tribe of Judah shall prevail, and the dragon shall be cast out. Professor! is sin subdued in you? If your life is unholy your heart is unchanged, and if your heart is unchanged you are an unsaved person. If the Saviour has not sanctified you, renewed you, given you a hatred of sin and a love of holiness, he has done nothing in you of a saving character. The grace which does not make a man better than others is a worthless counterfeit. Christ saves his people, not in their sins, but from them. “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” If not saved from sin, how shall we hope to be counted among his people. Lord, save me now from all evil, and enable me to honour my Saviour.

And the second quote

When your faith endures many conflicts, and your spirit sinks low, do not condemn yourself. There is a reason for your season of heaviness. Great soldiers are not made without war. Skillful sailors are not trained on the shore. It appears that if you are to become a great believer, you will be greatly tested. If you are to be a great help to others, you must pass through their trials. If you are to be instructed in the things of the kingdom, you must learn from experience. The uncut diamond has little brilliance, and the unthreshed corn feeds no one, and the untried believer is of little use or beauty. There are GREAT BENEFITS to come from your trials and depression. The one who is much plowed and often harrowed will thank God if the result is a larger harvest to the praise and glory of God by Jesus Christ. If your face is now covered with sorrow, the time will come when you will bless God for that sorrow. The day will come when you will see great gain from your losses, your crosses, your troubles and your affliction. From your affliction this glory shall spring, and the deeper your sorrow the louder you’ll sing. – Charles Spurgeon, “Beside Still Waters”

“Doth Job fear God for nought?”

Job 1:9

This was the wicked question of Satan concerning that upright man of old, but there are many in the present day concerning whom it might be asked with justice, for they love God after a fashion because he prospers them; but if things went ill with them, they would give up all their boasted faith in God. If they can clearly see that since the time of their supposed conversion the world has gone prosperously with them, then they will love God in their poor carnal way; but if they endure adversity, they rebel against the Lord. Their love is the love of the table, not of the host; a love to the cupboard, not to the master of the house. As for the true Christian, he expects to have his reward in the next life, and to endure hardness in this. The promise of the old covenant was prosperity, but the promise of the new covenant is adversity. Remember Christ’s words—“Every branch in me that beareth not fruit”—What? “He purgeth it, that it may bring forth fruit.” If you bring forth fruit, you will have to endure affliction. “Alas!” you say, “that is a terrible prospect.” But this affliction works out such precious results, that the Christian who is the subject of it must learn to rejoice in tribulations, because as his tribulations abound, so his consolations abound by Christ Jesus. Rest assured, if you are a child of God, you will be no stranger to the rod. Sooner or later every bar of gold must pass through the fire. Fear not, but rather rejoice that such fruitful times are in store for you, for in them you will be weaned from earth and made meet for heaven; you will be delivered from clinging to the present, and made to long for those eternal things which are so soon to be revealed to you. When you feel that as regards the present you do serve God for nought, you will then rejoice in the infinite reward of the future. ~ Spurgeon

“Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?”

Ezekiel 15:2

These words are for the humbling of God’s people; they are called God’s vine, but what are they by nature more than others? They, by God’s goodness, have become fruitful, having been planted in a good soil; the Lord hath trained them upon the walls of the sanctuary, and they bring forth fruit to his glory; but what are they without their God? What are they without the continual influence of the Spirit, begetting fruitfulness in them? O believer, learn to reject pride, seeing that thou hast no ground for it. Whatever thou art, thou hast nothing to make thee proud. The more thou hast, the more thou art in debt to God; and thou shouldst not be proud of that which renders thee a debtor. Consider thine origin; look back to what thou wast. Consider what thou wouldst have been but for divine grace. Look upon thyself as thou art now. Doth not thy conscience reproach thee? Do not thy thousand wanderings stand before thee, and tell thee that thou art unworthy to be called his son? And if he hath made thee anything, art thou not taught thereby that it is grace which hath made thee to differ? Great believer, thou wouldst have been a great sinner if God had not made thee to differ. O thou who art valiant for truth, thou wouldst have been as valiant for error if grace had not laid hold upon thee. Therefore, be not proud, though thou hast a large estate—a wide domain of grace, thou hadst not once a single thing to call thine own except thy sin and misery. Oh! strange infatuation, that thou, who hast borrowed everything, shouldst think of exalting thyself; a poor dependent pensioner upon the bounty of thy Saviour, one who hath a life which dies without fresh streams of life from Jesus, and yet proud! Fie on thee, O silly heart! ~Spurgeon

had to post both of these, they were so good, off to make supper...

Better a brief warfare and eternal rest

“I came not to send peace on earth, but a sword.”

Matthew 10:34

The Christian will be sure to make enemies. It will be one of his objects to make none; but if to do the right, and to believe the true, should cause him to lose every earthly friend, he will count it but a small loss, since his great Friend in heaven will be yet more friendly, and reveal himself to him more graciously than ever. O ye who have taken up his cross, know ye not what your Master said? “I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother; and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” Christ is the great Peacemaker; but before peace, he brings war. Where the light cometh, the darkness must retire. Where truth is, the lie must flee; or, if it abideth, there must be a stern conflict, for the truth cannot and will not lower its standard, and the lie must be trodden under foot. If you follow Christ, you shall have all the dogs of the world yelping at your heels. If you would live so as to stand the test of the last tribunal, depend upon it the world will not speak well of you. He who has the friendship of the world is an enemy to God; but if you are true and faithful to the Most High, men will resent your unflinching fidelity, since it is a testimony against their iniquities. Fearless of all consequences, you must do the right. You will need the courage of a lion unhesitatingly to pursue a course which shall turn your best friend into your fiercest foe; but for the love of Jesus you must thus be courageous. For the truth’s sake to hazard reputation and affection, is such a deed that to do it constantly you will need a degree of moral principle which only the Spirit of God can work in you; yet turn not your back like a coward, but play the man. Follow right manfully in your Master’s steps, for he has traversed this rough way before you. Better a brief warfare and eternal rest, than false peace and everlasting torment.

~Spurgeon devotion for dec 28

What About Bob

Often I as I'm pondering random details of life, often temporal, I get that What About Bob moment from Ziggy. " I'm' going to die, you're going to die, we're all going to die." And I realize so much of the things I ponder are worthless because it won't be long and I'll be dead and beginning real life in eternity with my Lord. I alwasy used to picture heaven sort of foggy, bright, dreamlike, not very detailed. Funny how we all have things pictured in our minds about God, His character the way He works that are so biblically inaccurate. Anyway, Mitch has reminded me more than once that Heaven is more real than all of this. So true. I've come to realize all things will not be made right until this is all over the Lord has set things right in the end. At these moments I start praying for the 3 little souls fast asleep in their beds. Show them Yourself Lord. I don't need fact ascenders, proper little robots, I want them to KNOW HIM. I think one of Satan's greatest tools is distraction, busyness and this life is full of it ( even "christian" activities), I see myself taken away by it and think, what actually mattered eternally today?? ( this doesn't mean to live in chaos and laziness, that goes without saying as the bible teaches against such things) Did I take the time to get to know my children really deep down and help to show them how wonderful our Savior is. Someday I will be dead and eternity is the life I was always meant to lead. Do you ever read scriptures and finally something clicks that you never comprehended before? I thought of that this week thinking about our messed up man-made views of God and how he reveals more of Himself to us through Scripture, His spirit, trials etc and thought of how awesome it is that one day we will have the overwhelming amazement of seeing Him as He IS.

I happened to read this the end of sept, I love how the Lord does things like this.


“Howl, fir tree, for the cedar is fallen.”

Zechariah 11:2
When in the forest there is heard the crash of a falling oak, it is a sign that the woodman is abroad, and every tree in the whole company may tremble lest to-morrow the sharp edge of the axe should find it out. We are all like trees marked for the axe, and the fall of one should remind us that for every one, whether great as the cedar, or humble as the fir, the appointed hour is stealing on apace. I trust we do not, by often hearing of death, become callous to it. May we never be like the birds in the steeple, which build their nests when the bells are tolling, and sleep quietly when the solemn funeral peals are startling the air. May we regard death as the most weighty of all events, and be sobered by its approach. It ill behoves us to sport while our eternal destiny hangs on a thread. The sword is out of its scabbard—let us not trifle; it is furbished, and the edge is sharp—let us not play with it. He who does not prepare for death is more than an ordinary fool, he is a madman. When the voice of God is heard among the trees of the garden, let fig tree and sycamore, and elm and cedar, alike hear the sound thereof.

Be ready, servant of Christ, for thy Master comes on a sudden, when an ungodly world least expects him. See to it that thou be faithful in his work, for the grave shall soon be digged for thee. Be ready, parents, see that your children are brought up in the fear of God, for they must soon be orphans; be ready, men of business, take care that your affairs are correct, and that you serve God with all your hearts, for the days of your terrestrial service will soon be ended, and you will be called to give account for the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or whether they be evil. May we all prepare for the tribunal of the great King with a care which shall be rewarded with the gracious commendation, “Well done, good and faithful servant”
~Spurgeon

How do you title this?

“Behold the man!”

John 19:5
If there be one place where our Lord Jesus most fully becomes the joy and comfort of his people, it is where he plunged deepest into the depths of woe. Come hither, gracious souls, and behold the man in the garden of Gethsemane; behold his heart so brimming with love that he cannot hold it in—so full of sorrow that it must find a vent. Behold the bloody sweat as it distils from every pore of his body, and falls upon the ground. Behold the man as they drive the nails into his hands and feet. Look up, repenting sinners, and see the sorrowful image of your suffering Lord. Mark him, as the ruby drops stand on the thorn-crown, and adorn with priceless gems the diadem of the King of Misery. Behold the man when all his bones are out of joint, and he is poured out like water and brought into the dust of death; God hath forsaken him, and hell compasseth him about. Behold and see, was there ever sorrow like unto his sorrow that is done unto him? All ye that pass by draw near and look upon this spectacle of grief, unique, unparalleled, a wonder to men and angels, a prodigy unmatched. Behold the Emperor of Woe who had no equal or rival in his agonies! Gaze upon him, ye mourners, for if there be not consolation in a crucified Christ there is no joy in earth or heaven. If in the ransom price of his blood there be not hope, ye harps of heaven, there is no joy in you, and the right hand of God shall know no pleasures for evermore. We have only to sit more continually at the cross foot to be less troubled with our doubts and woes. We have but to see his sorrows, and our sorrows we shall be ashamed to mention. We have but to gaze into his wounds and heal our own. If we would live aright it must be by the contemplation of his death; if we would rise to dignity, it must be by considering his humiliation and his sorrow. ~Spurgeon

I've wanted to share that for awhile. I think it's beautiful. It puts the believers life in proper perspective. At times when I would struggle with those blasted anxiety attacks or worry in general I remember thinking that Christ knows exactly what I'm going through and worse, He felt it, enough stress and worry to sweat blood and ask the Father if there was any way this cup could pass from Him. Also thinking in Isaiah how it says of Him, He is acquainted with grief. Anyway it's so comforting to know He is so intimately involved with all we are dealing with.

Hebrews 4:14-16 (New King James Version)

Our Compassionate High Priest

14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

What a week it's been

I can't even look at this now without welling up. Last Wednesday morning I got a call from Dad that my 95 year old Grandpa had been in a one car accident the night before. We're guessing he didn't realize he was coming up on a roundabout and crashed right into it. He was in bad shape, the doctor's couldn't believe he was 95. He was ornery and stubborn man at times but when something like this happens, all you really remember is the good. He passed away this Saturday afternoon and what a relief for him and for those watching and thinking of him in the hospital the way he was. It's crazy to think we saw less than a month before and that would be the last time here on this earth.

I remember him teaching us kids how to climb the hay bails all the way to the top of the barn, giving us a quarter every time we saw him, he was funny and sharp. The memory that sent me into the major out loud ugly breakdown cry was trying to tell Mitch about how when I was 8 and I had a solo in our little kid's praise program how he in grandparently fashion told me " you did the best ". One the memories that makes me laugh is after us kids had stayed a few days they brought us back into town from the farm and we went to mcdonalds then to a park with a tornado slide. There were these two bigger boys up there that wouldn't come down. Grandpa asked us why we weren't going on it, we told him why. So he climbs that slide in his cowboy boots and hat the next thing you know you see two boys sliding down that slide.

When Grandparents die it's like a piece of your childhood goes with them, an end of an age. How wonderful it is to know they knew Christ and we will see them again. Ok that's all I can do or this lump is not going to go away...pressing onward and upward.

"The road of sorrow is the road to heaven, but there are wells of refreshing water all along the route." ~Spurgeon

The word " Rest" is full of Heaven

Our hope in Christ for the future is the mainspring and the mainstay of our joy here. It will animate our hearts to think often of heaven, for all that we can desire is promised there. Here we are weary and toilworn, but yonder is the land of rest where the sweat of labour shall no more bedew the worker’s brow, and fatigue shall be forever banished. To those who are weary and spent, the word “rest” is full of heaven. We are always in the field of battle; we are so tempted within, and so molested by foes without, that we have little or no peace; but in heaven we shall enjoy the victory, when the banner shall be waved aloft in triumph, and the sword shall be sheathed, and we shall hear our Captain say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We have suffered bereavement after bereavement, but we are going to the land of the immortal where graves are unknown things. Here sin is a constant grief to us, but there we shall be perfectly holy, for there shall by no means enter into that kingdom anything which defileth. Hemlock springs not up in the furrows of celestial fields. Oh! is it not joy, that you are not to be in banishment forever, that you are not to dwell eternally in this wilderness, but shall soon inherit Canaan? Nevertheless let it never be said of us, that we are dreaming about the future and forgetting the present, let the future sanctify the present to highest uses. Through the Spirit of God the hope of heaven is the most potent force for the product of virtue; it is a fountain of joyous effort, it is the corner stone of cheerful holiness. The man who has this hope in him goes about his work with vigour, for the joy of the Lord is his strength. He fights against temptation with ardour, for the hope of the next world repels the fiery darts of the adversary. He can labour without present reward, for he looks for a reward in the world to come.

So Awesome

Been meaning to blog this for a while. It is SO good, it's worth a read, the whole thing, if you're a believer. I think it's easy to be caught up in Christianiness ( I made it up) and forget that the whole point of our lives as the redeemed of God it loyalty to Christ the Savior, the person. To be willing to follow Him wherever he takes us, willing to give Him all things. No matter how big or small. To deny ourselves, and our " I wants" or our loved ones and be true to the Truth, because truth is only found in God as he is truth and how we can know what truth is if we don't read his word? He is the only sure thing.
I have a tendency to fight for things, I want things the way I want them, efficient, working in what I think is harmonious, and I have to tell myself, if my SAVIOR is asking me to give him this, should I not readily open my hands? And be at peace? That's the struggle for me, being at peace, finding the balance between letting God work yet doing what he would have me to do. We have responsibility to loyalty to the truth but not to outcomes. A difficult concept to balance.

Wonderful and comforting...

“And they follow me.”

John 10:27
We should follow our Lord as unhesitatingly as sheep follow their shepherd, for he has a right to lead us wherever he pleases. We are not our own, we are bought with a price—let us recognize the rights of the redeeming blood. The soldier follows his captain, the servant obeys his master, much more must we follow our Redeemer, to whom we are a purchased possession. We are not true to our profession of being Christians, if we question the bidding of our Leader and Commander. Submission is our duty, cavilling is our folly. Often might our Lord say to us as to Peter, “What is that to thee? Follow thou me.” Wherever Jesus may lead us, he goes before us. If we know not where we go, we know with whom we go. With such a companion, who will dread the perils of the road? The journey may be long, but his everlasting arms will carry us to the end. The presence of Jesus is the assurance of eternal salvation, because he lives, we shall live also. We should follow Christ in simplicity and faith, because the paths in which he leads us all end in glory and immortality. It is true they may not be smooth paths—they may be covered with sharp flinty trials, but they lead to the “city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant.” Let us put full trust in our Leader, since we know that, come prosperity or adversity, sickness or health, popularity or contempt, his purpose shall be worked out, and that purpose shall be pure, unmingled good to every heir of mercy. We shall find it sweet to go up the bleak side of the hill with Christ; and when rain and snow blow into our faces, his dear love will make us far more blest than those who sit at home and warm their hands at the world’s fire. To the top of Amana, to the dens of lions, or to the hills of leopards, we will follow our Beloved. Precious Jesus, draw us, and we will run after thee.

Happy Monday

There should be no one with whom we converse so much as with Jesus. To abide in him only, this is true love; but to commune with the world, to find sufficient solace in our carnal comforts, to prefer even the society of our fellow Christians to secret intercourse with him, this is grievous to our jealous Lord. He would fain have us abide in him, and enjoy constant fellowship with himself; and many of the trials which he sends us are for the purpose of weaning our hearts from the creature, and fixing them more closely upon himself.

Faith sees that in her worst sorrow there is nothing penal; there is not a drop of God’s wrath in it; it is all sent in love. Faith discerns love gleaming like a jewel on the breast of an angry God. Faith says of her grief, “This is a badge of honour, for the child must feel the rod;” and then she sings of the sweet result of her sorrows, because they work her spiritual good. Nay, more, says Faith, “These light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” -Spurgeon

Spurgeon Quote/Mark of True Believer

THE distinguishing mark of a Christian is his confidence in the love of Christ, and the yielding of his affections to Christ in return. First, faith sets her seal upon the man by enabling the soul to say with the apostle, “Christ loved me and gave Himself for me.” Then love gives the countersign, and stamps upon the heart gratitude and love to Jesus in return. “We love Him because He first loved us.” In those grand old ages, which are the heroic period of the Christian religion, this double mark was clearly to be seen in all believers in Jesus; they were men who knew the love of Christ, and rested upon it as a man leaneth upon a staff whose trustiness he has tried. The love which they felt towards the Lord was not a quiet emotion which they hid within themselves in the secret chamber of their souls, and which they only spake of in their private assemblies when they met on the first day of the week, and sang hymns in honor of Christ Jesus the crucified, but it was a passion with them of such a vehement and all-consuming energy, that it was visible in all their actions, spoke in their common talk, and looked out of their eyes even in their commonest glances. Love to Jesus was a flame which fed upon the core and heart of their being; and, therefore, from its own force burned its way into the outer man, and shone there. Zeal for the glory of King Jesus was the seal and mark of all genuine Christians. Because of their dependence upon Christ’s love they dared much, and because of their love to Christ they did much, and it is the same now. The children of God are ruled in their inmost powers by love—the love of Christ constraineth them; they rejoice that divine love is set upon them, they feel it shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto them, and then by force of gratitude they love the Saviour with a pure heart, fervently. My reader, do you love Him? Ere you sleep give an honest answer to a weighty question.

I would have condensed this more but I couldn't cut anything out. Too good.

Spurgeon Quotes That Must Be Shared

Hope itself is like a star-not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of the adversity. .real growth in grace is the result of sanctified trials. God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians.

Prayer is the forerunner of mercy. God has given you many an unsolicitied favours but still great prayer has always been the prelude of great mercy with you. Prayer is thus connected with the blessing to show us the value of it. If we had the blessings without asking for them, we should think them common things; but prayer makes our mercies more precious than diamonds.

I doubt whether there are not some Christians giving away tracts at other people's houses who would do well to give away a tract at their own- whether there are not some engaged in works of usefulness abroad who are neglecting their special sphere of usefulness at home. Let your religion begin at home. Many tradesmen export their best commodities- the Christian should not... let him have a care to put forth the sweetest fruit of sprititual life and testimony in his own family. You may but speak a word to a child, and in that child there may be slumbering a noble heart which shall stir the Christian church in years to come. -Spurgeon