Just what I needed to hear today...

Psalm 139

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.

You hem me in - behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, "
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.

When I awake, I am still with you.

If only you would slay the wicked, O God!

Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.

Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you?

I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.



How can I read that and ever worry that I will not be cared for, or caught when I fall? How can I fear that I am doing everything wrong or not good enough or not doing as well as I see others doing? How can I worry that I am not enough, when God - Yahweh the creator of everything - made me, ME. He didn't make a mold of billions of people and slap us all here on earth to be automated robots, going about our business doing our best to be identical to one another. He made ME, just exactly how He knew He wanted me to be.

So how then can I fear that I am not as good as others? That seems to me as though it would be flying in the face of the Creator - doubting His wisdom in making me just so.

I realize this is one of those overused Bible passages that I suspect most every Christian knows of. But cliche though it may be, it deserves a second glance. It deserves a deep and thorough reading (or two, or three, or twelve!). I can't say I was in a bad place today - but I was most definitely in need of the reminders He gave me through His word in this psalm today.

Just do it

Colossians 3:12
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Colossians 4:5-6
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

As you can see, I’ve been reading Colossians today. And boy, was in desperate need of that.

I’ve been struggling lately, and though I have found myself looking all around and pointing the finger at anyone I can to excuse my difficulties, I have not done so well when looking in the mirror.

Yes, I have been wronged by people. Yes, there are frustrating situations around me over which I have little to no control. Yes, other people sin constantly.

But that does not make it ok for me to sin, too.

And yes, I am human. Yes, I will fail repeatedly. Yes, perfection is a goal which I can never reach on my own, and even with Jesus’ help I’ll still never reach this side of heaven.

But that STILL does not make it ok for me to sin – and excuse it and feel justified in it.

And as I tell my kids on an almost daily basis, “It’s doesn’t matter what he did to you. You are not responsible for his actions. You are only responsible for your own actions.”

One other Bible verse has been ringing in my head for a couple of weeks now. And it’s one I’m sure we all struggle with from time to time.

Luke 6:41-43 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”

In short, I’m blindly stumbling around trying to find and remove specks form everyone’s eyes but my own – but I can’t see past the two-by-four sticking in my own eye to do the job properly.

So no more feeling pouty because my Man isn’t making me feel special enough. It’s time I just pour myself into being the very best wife that I can be to him, regardless of his efforts towards me.

No more lecturing my children on serving one another and working with a happy heart. It’s time to just serve them and work with my own happy heart and smiling face. I’m sure they’ll learn quicker by example than they will by my words.

No more looking down my nose at other parents for their lack of discipline with their children or their lack of wisdom in choosing the right path in how to school their family. It’s time to just look to the Lord and follow His lead in how He wants me to raise and teach my own children.

No more getting frustrated over my husband’s lukewarm approach to faith. He’s undecided, and there’s nothing I can do about that. I can however lose him to Christ forever if I continue to mope around when things don’t go my way. Why would anyone want to be part of a faith and belief system that turns out grumpy, unhappy folks who are always pestering and complaining, and pointing out all that everyone else does wrong? I know that was something that turned me off of Christianity before I became a believer. So it’s just time to live out the faith. All I can do is live with the joy of the Lord pouring out of me in every way possible.

It’s time to do as James 1:22 teaches and, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

And the thing is, I KNOW THIS STUFF. I do. Really. And I’ll tell anyone else I encounter all about it. But somehow I’ve missed the point for a while. I thought I was really living out my faith. And in many areas, I really am. But in many areas, I have been falling far short of the goal.

So it’s time to redouble my efforts to make a designated quiet time EVERY DAY to spend in the Word and with the Lord, seeking out His will for me in my life and in my actions. And then, once I’ve read His Word, I just need to do it.

A blessed reminder...

While meandering through some new blogs today, I saw a bible verse quoted in one very nice blog. It's a verse I have read before, but it affected me in a new way this time.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Now, let me just say that I do tend to pray almost constantly, and I am one to give thanks in just about every circumstance. I tend to be a the-glass-is-half-full-thanks-to-God kinda gal, anyway. But that first part... "Be joyful always," is the part that struck me this time. I know for a fact that I do not sound joyful when I scold my kids (no matter how gently) for the umpteenth time in a day for not doing what I asked the first time I asked it. I know that if you asked them, they'd tell you I'm a pretty happy lady most of the time. But the Bible says it right there, plain as day. "Be joyful ALWAYS..." No little escape clause about being joyful "most of the time," as far as I can see.

So that is the verse I will be writing out on a note card to hang on my kitchen cupboards when I finish this post. That is the verse I will be memorizing this week (or month, depending on how reliable my Mommy-Brain is at this time...). That is just what I needed to hear.

Any advice?

As you may or may not have noticed if you've ever looked in on my blog before, I am the mother of three older sons and one baby girl. I truly believe God knew what he was doing when he gave us our three sons before he blessed us with a daughter. I do not believe I was ready to be the mother to our Girly Pie that she needed when I first became a parent.

(Now, in all honestly, I can't really say that I feel all that well prepared to be the mother of my sons, either.)

But somehow with my daughter, I just feel a new kind of pressure and responsibility.

So, this brings me to the point of my request here. I have read lots on mothering boys. I really enjoy Dr. Dobson's Bringing Up Boys (thank you MG!) in particular. I have also heard of Raising Modern Day Knights, though have not read that yet. I really want to bring our sons up to be strong, honorable, Godly gentlemen with a good work ethic and respect for others, and I want them to know how to treat a lady with care and respect. I hope that they will be blessed with wonderful wives someday whom they will love and cherish, and I pray that they will be wonderful husbands and fathers just as God calls them to be. I feel that between the books, the Bible, our friends, and our parents, my husband and I can do alright there.

But now we have a daughter. And as I read other posts on daughters and the trials that face them, I admit that even though she is a mere 5 months old, I begin to worry for her purity and the struggle to come for her to stay pure and to keep her integrity. This world does not model at all what we want for our daughter when she comes into womanhood. But I can't even say I know what it is we should be striving for in raising our little girl.

SO... the point at last... I come to you to see if anyone has some great suggestions on resources to better prepare my husband and I to raise a Godly daughter. I am not even sure what defines a Godly woman. It seems so much easier to define a Godly man. Is it just me?

So is there any advice out there? Any books? Videos? Specific Bible references that will help me?

I really want to be purposeful in how we raise our children. I feel like we've been doing pretty well so far, and I do see the beginnings of Little Gentlemen growing in our house already. But when I look ahead to what will be coming even in the next couple of years with our daughter, I feel very ill equipped to guide her down the path towards God and His plans for her.

Any advice or suggestions at all would be greatly appreciated. She is such a gift, such a sweet, pure little girl. I know she will be a woman someday. And I just want to do everything I can while she's still here, safe in our nest and willing to learn from us, to guide her down the right path to Him and His plan. I know there is only so much I can do, and that in the end that will be between Girly Pie and her Maker. But I also feel like there is a lot we can do now as her parents to make that a less painful transition for her when the time comes for her to make her own adult choices.

So. Advise and suggest away. I am all ears.