I am thankful for TREASURES,
because God is the author of every good gift.
I am thankful for HELP through difficulties,
because God is my comforter.
I am thankful for the ASSURANCE we have in Christ,
because God can be trusted.
I am thankful for NECESSITIES,
because God is my provider.
I am thankful for KINDNESS,
because God is kind to His children.
I am thankful for FAMILY and FRIENDS,
because God is the Father of the fatherless.
I am thankful for UNDERSTANDING,
because God is my patient teacher.
I am thankful for LOVE,
because God is the source of true love.
T = TREASURES
H = HELP
A = ASSURANCE
N = NECESSITIES
K = KINDNESS
F = FAMILY and FRIENDS
U = UNDERSTANDING
L = LOVE
Take time this week to make your own THANKFUL LIST.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Celebrating 100 Blogs
One year of homeschool we celebrated the 100th day of school. Jessica was working on getting the concept on 100 into her mind. In preparation I had numerous things set out for her to count through out the day. We counted pennies stacking them in neatly in rows of ten. There were 100 marbles in the jar in the center of the dinning room that dueled for our classroom. The number chart with its ten rows of ten was displayed on the wall.
Today there is another thing to count. To bad she is too grown up to celebrate with me. Monday we start her senior year of high school, and our last year to homeschool since Jessica is our youngest.
Comments tell me that at least a few of my blogs have encouraged others. Reading back through I’m encouraged as well. This has been a learning experience. Some blogs fell by the wayside, because when I read them later I wasn't as pleased with my efforts as the day I posted them. Otherwise I would have reached 100 blogs sooner, but I’m my final critic.
Blog 31 contains a purpose statement I wrote about 18 months ago.
Encourage women to grow in their Faith and Treasure Joy
I have not always stayed as true to that purpose in my writing as I would like, but that purpose has not changed. It is still the lighthouse that has become a guiding strength for my writing. It is still a magnifying glass I can use to evaluate yhe words I put down on paper.
Today, twenty-three months after setting out on this writing marathon, I post my 100th blog and set another milestone behind me as a writer.
Today there is another thing to count. To bad she is too grown up to celebrate with me. Monday we start her senior year of high school, and our last year to homeschool since Jessica is our youngest.
Comments tell me that at least a few of my blogs have encouraged others. Reading back through I’m encouraged as well. This has been a learning experience. Some blogs fell by the wayside, because when I read them later I wasn't as pleased with my efforts as the day I posted them. Otherwise I would have reached 100 blogs sooner, but I’m my final critic.
Blog 31 contains a purpose statement I wrote about 18 months ago.
Encourage women to grow in their Faith and Treasure Joy
I have not always stayed as true to that purpose in my writing as I would like, but that purpose has not changed. It is still the lighthouse that has become a guiding strength for my writing. It is still a magnifying glass I can use to evaluate yhe words I put down on paper.
Today, twenty-three months after setting out on this writing marathon, I post my 100th blog and set another milestone behind me as a writer.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
All Important
For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them . . . (Romans 12:4-6, NKJV)
It is surprising how much we use our thumbs. Like most thing in our lives we seldom take time to appreciate them. Recently I have become very aware of my right thumb.
In March I noticed a lump over the middle knuckle of my right thumb. The end of May a hand surgeon removed the cyst that was growing from inside the joint. Now I’m in physical therapy.
I’ve was surprised how much I missed the use of my thumb the two weeks until the stitches were removed. I’ve been even more surprised how long it is taking to get the full use of my thumb back.
Paul compares the family of God to the human body. Each member has a part to play if the body is to run smoothly. Don’t be a church member how merely warms a pew on Sunday mornings. Each time I bump my thumb or struggle with something that was easy before surgery, I’m reminded how important each member is.
It is surprising how much we use our thumbs. Like most thing in our lives we seldom take time to appreciate them. Recently I have become very aware of my right thumb.
In March I noticed a lump over the middle knuckle of my right thumb. The end of May a hand surgeon removed the cyst that was growing from inside the joint. Now I’m in physical therapy.
I’ve was surprised how much I missed the use of my thumb the two weeks until the stitches were removed. I’ve been even more surprised how long it is taking to get the full use of my thumb back.
Paul compares the family of God to the human body. Each member has a part to play if the body is to run smoothly. Don’t be a church member how merely warms a pew on Sunday mornings. Each time I bump my thumb or struggle with something that was easy before surgery, I’m reminded how important each member is.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Overwhelmed by God's Grace
This morning I found an email in my box from one of the missionaries we support. He shared the hardships they are facing on the field right now and this quote.
"May you be overwhelmed by the Grace of God not the sorrows of life."
It is easy to get overwhelmed by the sorrows of life. If you don't have enough going "wrong" in your own life at a given moment just watch the evening news.
How much better to be overwhelmed by God's Grace.
"Lord give us hearts that wonder at Your goodness even when our hearts feel like they will break wtih sorrow. Remind us that You are in control, and Your love for us will always sustain us."
"May you be overwhelmed by the Grace of God not the sorrows of life."
It is easy to get overwhelmed by the sorrows of life. If you don't have enough going "wrong" in your own life at a given moment just watch the evening news.
How much better to be overwhelmed by God's Grace.
"Lord give us hearts that wonder at Your goodness even when our hearts feel like they will break wtih sorrow. Remind us that You are in control, and Your love for us will always sustain us."
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Bondservant
A number of years ago we visited the Levi Coffin House in Fountain City, Indiana, just north of Richmond on a family vacation. Levi Coffin was a Quaker businessman who used his home as part of the “Underground Railroad” in the early decades of the nineteenth century. It is estimated that more than two thousand slaves passed through the Coffin House on their way to Canada. Each had one thing prominently fixed in their mind, freedom. Canada meant not being owned by anyone else. It meant they could live their own lives in their own ways.
Slavery isn’t something that usually comes as a willful choice. It is something to be shunned and fled if given the chance. The last thing our sinful nature wants is to be indebted to someone else. Yet, Paul introduces himself in Romans 1:1 as a “bondservant”.
Paul could have introduced himself as many other things. By this point in his ministry, Paul had planted several churches throughout Asia Minor. Believers throughout the region lovingly recognized him as their spiritual father, the one who first told them about Jesus.
Being bound to Christ has a different connotation then the forced slavery once accepted in America. God is not pleased when men and women bind other men and women as slaves. Yet, there is a cord flowing from Calvary that holds us more firmly in its grasp.
As Christians our hearts should long to be twined so tightly to the Cross that we constantly cling to our Heavenly Father’s goodness, trusting Him in every situation. That’s how it should be, but more often then I would like to admit my stubborn independence gets in the way.
A pair of rusty fetters is on display in a glass case in the kitchen of the Levi Coffin House next to a wanted poster for a runway slave. My mind often goes back to that display when I sing the last stanza of the hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.
Slavery isn’t something that usually comes as a willful choice. It is something to be shunned and fled if given the chance. The last thing our sinful nature wants is to be indebted to someone else. Yet, Paul introduces himself in Romans 1:1 as a “bondservant”.
Paul could have introduced himself as many other things. By this point in his ministry, Paul had planted several churches throughout Asia Minor. Believers throughout the region lovingly recognized him as their spiritual father, the one who first told them about Jesus.
Being bound to Christ has a different connotation then the forced slavery once accepted in America. God is not pleased when men and women bind other men and women as slaves. Yet, there is a cord flowing from Calvary that holds us more firmly in its grasp.
As Christians our hearts should long to be twined so tightly to the Cross that we constantly cling to our Heavenly Father’s goodness, trusting Him in every situation. That’s how it should be, but more often then I would like to admit my stubborn independence gets in the way.
A pair of rusty fetters is on display in a glass case in the kitchen of the Levi Coffin House next to a wanted poster for a runway slave. My mind often goes back to that display when I sing the last stanza of the hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Vacation Bible School
I’m so excited this year about Vacation Bible School. Our theme is the Armor of God. The visual image of a Roman soldier clad in armor is strong and fun to work with. I feel like a little kid again just playing with the endless possibilities.
Another treat, this year my assistant with the first and second grade class is our youngest daughter. What a privilege to have grown daughters who are faithful in the Lord and willing to serve.
Each night we plan on starting the lesson time lifting a plastic sword into the air.
“Everyone quiet down now. It’s time for us to sharpen our swords.”
Put on the whole armor of God . . . (Ephesians 6:11)
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ . . . (Romans 13:14)
Picture with me, Jessica throwing beans bags at her mother in front of a class of wide eyed students. Next I pick up my costume bought shield and begin blocking the attack. How could any of the students go home that evening without a good idea why our shields are so important!
Another night Jessica falls to the floor with an arrow held to her chest . . . wounded in battle. I take out the arrow and assure the class Miss Dickhoner will recover then turn to Jessica.
“Where is your breastplate?”
Each lesson will end as it began, sharpening our swords through memorizing Scripture.
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the
breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation
of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you
will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the
helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God;
(Ephesians 6:14-17)
Another treat, this year my assistant with the first and second grade class is our youngest daughter. What a privilege to have grown daughters who are faithful in the Lord and willing to serve.
Each night we plan on starting the lesson time lifting a plastic sword into the air.
“Everyone quiet down now. It’s time for us to sharpen our swords.”
Put on the whole armor of God . . . (Ephesians 6:11)
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ . . . (Romans 13:14)
Picture with me, Jessica throwing beans bags at her mother in front of a class of wide eyed students. Next I pick up my costume bought shield and begin blocking the attack. How could any of the students go home that evening without a good idea why our shields are so important!
Another night Jessica falls to the floor with an arrow held to her chest . . . wounded in battle. I take out the arrow and assure the class Miss Dickhoner will recover then turn to Jessica.
“Where is your breastplate?”
Each lesson will end as it began, sharpening our swords through memorizing Scripture.
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the
breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation
of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you
will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the
helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God;
(Ephesians 6:14-17)
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Missions Has a Cost
“Life is too short,” Papa said, “for her to waist her life like that.”
“Sometimes life is too short not to take the risks, if that is where God is calling you.”
He didn’t like my response . . . or understand it.
“God has nothing to do with it.”
This was not the first such conversation, and I’m sure it will not be the last. Our older daughter is studying to go to the mission field. She’s known her heart since she was in junior high school and been living it out ever since.
This week Barbara is on her fifth short term summer missionary trip. The first four trips were to Mexico. This time she is flying to the other side of the world. The first four trips lasted a week a piece. This time she will be gone two and a half weeks.
Next year she is planning to do her student teaching abroad. We are talking months instead of weeks.
Of course I’m concerned. What parent would have some reservations?
But, I keep reminding myself that the safest place on earth is the center of God’s will, no matter where that takes us.
These decisions have everything to do with God. The Lord must lead, and the Lord must sustain.
Safety in God economy doesn’t guarantee an easy road. Missionaries go hungry. Sometimes they face great opposition. Many have even died attending to the work God called them to do.
As a parent, I long for them to enjoy safety and comfort. But, I long more them to continue in the center of God’s will no mater the cost.
So, for the next two and a half weeks I will pray and wait for the next phone call or email telling me she is okay. Knowing this is just training for the day she leaves for a mission field, possibly for years at a time.
“Sometimes life is too short not to take the risks, if that is where God is calling you.”
He didn’t like my response . . . or understand it.
“God has nothing to do with it.”
This was not the first such conversation, and I’m sure it will not be the last. Our older daughter is studying to go to the mission field. She’s known her heart since she was in junior high school and been living it out ever since.
This week Barbara is on her fifth short term summer missionary trip. The first four trips were to Mexico. This time she is flying to the other side of the world. The first four trips lasted a week a piece. This time she will be gone two and a half weeks.
Next year she is planning to do her student teaching abroad. We are talking months instead of weeks.
Of course I’m concerned. What parent would have some reservations?
But, I keep reminding myself that the safest place on earth is the center of God’s will, no matter where that takes us.
These decisions have everything to do with God. The Lord must lead, and the Lord must sustain.
Safety in God economy doesn’t guarantee an easy road. Missionaries go hungry. Sometimes they face great opposition. Many have even died attending to the work God called them to do.
As a parent, I long for them to enjoy safety and comfort. But, I long more them to continue in the center of God’s will no mater the cost.
So, for the next two and a half weeks I will pray and wait for the next phone call or email telling me she is okay. Knowing this is just training for the day she leaves for a mission field, possibly for years at a time.
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