Friday, May 22, 2009

You might know that my mode of worship is music. I love that I can be anywhere, and hear a song, whether it has words or not, and I can have a small private time of worship. Even when I'm laying in Caleb's bed and reading him a book with the radio in the background, or walking around in a store and hear a Christian song. (Okay really the only store on the planet where that could happen is Hobby Lobby! And occasionally the Brookshire's in Whitehouse.) Today this one stands out.

Bless The Lord by Laura Story

You give and take away for my good
For who am I to say what I need?
For You alone see the hidden parts of me
that need to be stripped away.

And as You begin to refine
I’m learning to let go and rely
on One who walks with me
As hard as it may be,
You’re teaching me all the while to say:

Bless the Lord, O my soul
All that’s in me bless Your name
Forget not Your power un- told
not Your glory or Your fame
For You came to heal the broken
to redeem and make me whole
Bless the Lord, O my soul.

Tomorrow the kids and I will go west for the long weekend to visit my mom and grandparents. I'm looking forward to spending time with my family! Greg is going to stay here, because he can't afford to be gone too many days in a row yet with his business still getting started, so we will miss him! I have been promised a night at the movies with my mom to see the new Star Trek movie.... I CAN'T WAIT!!! I haven't been to a theater since I was pregnant with Caleb, or even before that.. yikes.. it's way overdue at any rate. I have also been informed that Sam Moon is open in North Fort Worth FINALLY, after living there for 2.5 years and seeing the sign saying "Fort Worth welcomes Sam Moon" and never getting to go there was kinda sad... I hope to remedy that this weekend, whether I actually GET anything or not. Just to go and say I went. Woo! I also have a long overdue trip to JoAnn in the plans. Fabric heaven!!!!!

Back to embroidering and then it'll be cleanup time for Bunco tonight at my casa! Girls Night! This is shaping up to be a very fun weekend!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

And a little bit of funny...

Proof that East Texas is The Promised Land!

Isaiah 55:13
Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the LORD's renown,
for an everlasting sign,
which will not be destroyed."

:)

Deep Thinking

I couldn't find this on my Playlist website, so I copied the lyrics over. We had a pretty lively and interesting discussion this morning in our SMBS (Sunday Morning Bible Study) class at GABC. All that kept running through my head was this song. The discussion was stemmed off of the open-ended question "When a person dies without Christ, ____." One of the first answers was "they die and go to Eternal Hell." The question was raised, what about the people in China, etc., who have never heard of Jesus, do they still go to Hell after they live out their natural life? The discussion was a hard one to even think about, much less come to a solid conclusion. There were mentionings of the reason for urgency in evangelism, the Truth that Jesus is the only way, truth and life, and NO MAN comes to the father except through him, but it never got to the real question. What happens if no one hears?? All I could come up with is this: There is a God-shaped hole in every man's soul, and every soul is searching, searching, constantly searching for something to fill that hole. We search our whole lives, and even when we find something that seems to fit, there will always be the smallest of pinprick sized holes letting our hope seep through. Like a drip in a dam, the only sure way to close off the water is to find the right fit. Jesus is that fit. He created that hole, and he alone knows the exact shape of it.

So back to the question, what about those people who don't know? I firmly believe in the verse in Luke 19:40--
But Jesus answered, "I tell you, if these (disciples) become silent, the stones will cry out!" This means if man is silent of the goodness and mercy of Jesus, nature itself will reveal Him. (Just before Jesus said this, his disciples were singing loud praises to Jesus and the hoity-toity pharisees-- academics-- told him to make them stop.) So if no person reveals Jesus to China, God can use his creation to reveal himself to them. Really, God can use anything or anyone he chooses, and humans don't need to be included at all. (Why are we so selfish to think that WE are the only things God can use?) Have you looked at a sunset and thought about the expanse of the universe and not been left in awe that there is something, someone out there who made it? This is how God uses His awesome creation.

Just my thoughts on the subject anyway. I'm starting to circle around and confuse myself. Well, I'm not confused, but the words aren't quite enough to describe the understanding I feel when thinking about. Today's discussion opened up a whole lot of possibilities and a lot of deep thinking. Fun stuff.

*****************
God-Shaped Hole
Tiffany Arbuckle (Plumb)

Every point of view has another angle
And every angle has its merit
But all comes down to faith
That's the way i see it

You can say that love is not divine and
You can say that life is not eternal
"all we have is now"
But i don't believe it

There's a God-shaped hole in all of us
And the restless soul is searching
There's a God-shaped hole in all of us
And it's a void only He can fill

Does the world seem gray with empty longing
Wearing every shade of cynical
And do you ever feel that
There is something missing?

That's my point of view...
*****************

Edited to add: HA! I found the verses I was looking for. See below:

--Isaiah 55:12
You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.

Psalm 19:1-6
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

To me, this is proof that God reveals Himself through creation!

Friday, May 08, 2009

This is what we did this morning:





...And this was the result:


A few other recent pics:
Carly's Cheese Face


Nature Babies:

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

"Mommy I'm peeing! Goodbye!" As Caleb slams the bathroom door in mine and Carly's faces. Carly says, "Bubba? Bap-ee?" (which I think means peepee?)

Monday, May 04, 2009

Truly Blessed

I really feel the love of our friends and family lately. It's really amazing. I'm sitting here trying to find words for how much I appreciate the thoughtfulness and all I get are blurry eyes. (It doesn't help that I'm listening to the new Building 429 song, Always.. that song gets me every time!)

Today we received an anonymous note in the mail with a very generous gift inside. I was dumbfounded. I want to hug that person's neck (or group of people) but will have to stand for saying it here. So, to that person, or family, or group of people, THANK YOU! You have been a blessing. And now we will have diapers. :) Someday soon we hope to be able to pay that forward to someone else who needs it. Proverb 22:9 "A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor."

Tomorrow is my interview. Please be praying that God will do his will in our lives.. we are still trying to figure out what exactly that is by being proactive. I don't know if my getting a job is His will at this point, but feel confident in that our savior will show us through the outcome what needs to be done. So, really, I am not asking for you to pray I GET the job, I am asking to pray that I hear a clear direction in it, or that God will make it obvious to me. (I can not wait to start our new growth group study on discerning the voice of God!! I need that!!)

"I believe always, always, our savior never fails. Even when all hope is gone, God knows our pain and his promise remains. He will be with you always." -Building 429, Always

Saturday, May 02, 2009

"I'm feeling better. But I'm still coughing so I need to go get my big green blanket so my leg doesn't hurt."

--Caleb Rice, May 2, 2009.