Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Second Opinion? We're Taking Your Child.

  Shared from Parentalrights.org. Support the Parental Right's Amendment!
 
 
April 30, 2013
Second Opinion? We're Taking Your Child


One would think having the approval of a doctor and even clearance from the local police would be enough to protect a parent from having their baby taken away over cries of “medical neglect.” In this case, one would be wrong.

Anna and Alex Nikolayev of Sacramento lost custody of their 5-month-old son last week when they decided to seek a second opinion before having the baby undergo heart surgery. Though a second doctor found it safe to release the boy into their custody, and though an investigating officer also cleared the family to go home, the child was taken the next day.

 
Timeline of Events

Little Sammy has had a heart murmur since birth, which the parents have been closely monitoring along with a doctor at Sutter Memorial Hospital. So when Sammy developed flu-like symptoms a couple of weeks ago, his parents took him to Sutter again as a precaution. During his stay, a couple of incidents occurred that concerned the parents (such as administrating an anti-biotic to fight his virus). So when Sammy was put in the pediatric intensive care and talk turned to heart surgery, the parents wanted a second opinion.

Unable to secure release from the doctors at Sutter Memorial, the parents took Sammy from the hospital anyway – prompting an automatic call to Child Protective Services and the Sacramento Police – and drove straight to neighboring Kaiser-Permanente Hospital.

Doctors there determined that Sammy was healthy enough to go home with his parents. The doctor noted in his report that he saw no cause for concern in leaving Sammy in Anna and Alex’s care. (Corrective heart surgery is in Sammy’s future; the parents do not dispute this fact.)

Police met the family at Kaiser, checked out the smiling baby, read the doctor’s report, and agreed that Sammy was in no danger. The Nikolayev family was free to go.

That was April 23, 2013. The following day, a CPS worker and Sacramento Police arrived at the family’s home and removed the baby, carrying him back to Sutter Memorial, where he was held in “protective custody.” Though the parents got to visit Sammy to feed him three times a day for one supervised hour, they had to wait until Monday for a hearing.

By then, coverage had gone international, with media outlets in Germany and in the family’s native Russia paying close attention. Ominously, local ABC station KXTV reports, “CPS said they were overwhelmed with the amount of attention by the media into the case, and could therefore take longer than usual to render a decision on Sammy's fate.” (emphasis added)


How Would the PRA Help?


Traditionally, the Supreme Court has recognized the “fundamental liberty interest of natural parents in the care, custody, and management of their child,” found in the Fourteenth Amendment’s “Due Process” clause. Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745 (1982) This protection, however, has been lost on Sacramento CPS. It is also being weakened through judicial erosion in the courts.

Passage of the Parental Rights Amendment will provide parents an explicit constitutional protection; otherwise, they’ll have to rely on the courts, hoping they will continue to interpret the Fourteenth Amendment as they traditionally have (but increasingly no longer do). And the PRA will allow organizations like CPS to know exactly what the rules are that they must follow.

The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their child is a fundamental right. Neither the United States nor any State shall infringe this right without demonstrating that its governmental interest as applied to the person is of the highest order and not otherwise served.

These two sentences would make clear that CPS cannot take a child away unless it is prepared to prove that the child was in danger caused by abuse or neglect. In this case, it would increase the chances that common sense would prevail and baby Sammy would have gotten to stay home safe and sound with his mom and dad.



Action Items

Yesterday the county and the family's lawyers reached an agreement to return Sammy to his parents' care, but with stipulations limiting their choices in medical treatment. (See video here.) CPS will continue to be a part of Sammy's life at least until the next hearing, set for May 28. While we rejoice in the reunification of this family, we grieve over the unnecessary loss of liberty this couple has suffered for no reason. We must make sure such abuses do not continue unchecked. Here is how you can help:

1. Share this email and the story of Sammy with everyone you know. Encourage them to support the Parental Rights Amendment and to sign on here.

2. Donate to support ParentalRights.org as we fight to protect the rights of parents like Anna and Alex. Help us make stories like Sammy’s a thing of the past.

3. Stay vigilant. Word is that the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will be back in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this month. Watch for alerts letting you know when and how to focus your energies on stopping that dangerous treaty. Click here for the current appeal to call your senators today.

Sincerely,

Michael Ramey
Director of Communications & Research

Joy Challenge: A Gift Given, Made, Sacrificed

 


Today's Joy Dare Challenge: A Gift Given, Made, Sacrificed

1) "For... unto us a son is given" Isaiah 9:6

2) "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Job 33:4

3) "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." Hebrews 13:15

Today's Encouraging Word: 40 Things You Need to Know Before You're 40...

"No one, down in the marrows, wants to live a midway life.
Live. all. out. 

Shake up out of the shallows. Wake up.

Live backwards.

From Well done, good and faithful servant — work your life backward from that.

Live upside down.
It’s the only way you’re ever going to get to see the Kingdom of God.

Live simply.
With great grace, no expectations, and lavish love.

Get your hands right dirty, live with life gritty and moving under your fingernails, give away what you wanted most, do without, write a card, throw out your wish-list, buy happiness by paying attention to God.

And this, every day still left, do this: Run to kiss, or to hug, or to make your heart beat hard and alive.
You’ve got time for it right now: Love Big or Go Home and Love the smallest the Biggest.

Love never gives up but lays itself down. This is the way of God. This is the way to live. Touch a child’s hand, smile on the street and up at the sky, tell someone they’re pretty amazing, use up all your time to pour out all love...

The only way to live faithfully is to focus.

In a world of Twitter and Facebook, the command not to turn to the left or the right takes on immediate gravity...."

Read More:

40 Things You Need to Know Before Your 40 . . . . Letters to a Woman Mid-Way 

Friday, April 26, 2013

Joy Challenge: 3 Gifts Moving

 


Today's Joy Dare Challenge: 3 Gifts Moving

1) The Spirit within me.

2) My family, my children.

3) My now working dryer. (Yay!)

Thursday, April 25, 2013

How to Focus in an Age of Distraction: 10 Things to do Before you Click {Printable}

"The thing is – 
Sometimes you want to read a book when you should be making dinner, check Pinterest instead of pin another load of laundry on the line, clean the bedrooms when you could be connecting with the kids.
The thing is: Habits are hard but they make life easy.
The thing is: There are no habits without the habit of being focused."


 An excellent post and printable from A Holy Experience.

Click HERE for it!

Joy Challenge: A Gift Cloth, Steel, Wood

 
Today's Joy Dare Challenge: A Gift Cloth, Steel, Wood

1) Clean clothes.

2) Our truck. It was a literal gift to us from my dad when we needed it most.

3) Pencils. I do love to write, and pencils are so forgiving.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Consider the Lilies

"And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.
The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.
Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?
And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?
If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?
Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you."

~Luke 12:2-31


 This is a passage that speaks volumes. It boasts of the Lord's physical provision which has been all too evident to me in these past three tough weeks. It exemplifies the nurturing and care of the Lord toward His creation, and how much more He cares for us. It specifies the importance and duty of humble obedience required of His children, and it ends with a promise that He will provide for our physical needs as we seek His face.

What touches me about this passage is simple, yet profound in my mind today. Consider the lilies.

Noah Webster defines "Consider" in his 1828 dictionary as such:

"To fix the mind on, with a view to a careful examination; to think on with care; to ponder; to study; to meditate on."

The Lord here, in making His example of provision, asks us to fix our mind on the lilies. To study them, to meditate on them, to ponder them, to carefully examine them, and to think on them with care.  Not just to 'see' the lilies in our mind's eye, but to really see them. As if to say, "Look at the lilies of the field! Examine with great care and tenderness the simple beauty of the wildflowers! They don't spin or toil, yet I dress them in their yearly garments of every color and hue. This clay that wheat finds difficult to put forth root in, the wildflower flourishes and grows with no thought of the hindrance. Really, LOOK and SEE the lilies and how they grow!"

It's personal for me today. A personal call to just stop, be still, and consider the lilies. Take time to "stop and smell the roses" as they would say. How often we find ourselves caught up. Caught up in this world and in the troubles that it undoubtedly brings. Caught up in worry, fear, and weeping. Caught up in distractions in many forms. In an i-Age, how often do we find time to put down the screens and keypads and

Just.

Simply.

Be.

How often do we make time to just stand, be still, and breathe? We give many passing moments to the Lord, we commune in constancy (which is not bad at all) as we are doing and going, yet how often do we make time to simply be still and know Him? To consider His words and promises, and to meditate on them to the very crossed T's and dotted I's of the definition?

In this hurried and "microwave" era, I feel a tugging call. The call to simply stop, and be still.

Stop and watch the bluebirds, cardinals, and sparrows as they gather dried twigs and grasses for their nests. Stop and listen to the sound of the wind in the pines and hardwoods and the comforting sound of the distant rolling thunder as the Spring rain comes rolling in to bathe the world in a sleek new coat of a farmer's liquid gold.

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To smell the sweet fragrance of the pure air that envelopes me, consumes me, after the rain has passed, and to see the tiny splashes of color, flowers dripping wet yet grateful as they turn their faces back towards the sun with renewed exuberance and joy.

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To simply stop and take the time.... make the time.

The time to just dance in the rain, in the storms of life, and laugh, resting in the comfort and provision of the Father.


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A preacher reminded me yesterday that we can't live tomorrow today, but we can ruin today by trying to live tomorrow today. We are prone to worry, this cloak of flesh is, but we must remember that nothing we will face today is bigger than God is. So here I am, committed now to staying when I want to hurry, to slowing when we're running behind. The Lord says in Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God."

Consider the lilies. Consider the Words of the Lord. Examine them with great care and meditate on them, and simply be still.




Wise-Woman-Builds


Joy Challenge: 3 Gifts Fragile

 
 
 
 
Today's Joy Dare Challenge: 3 Gifts Fragile

1) Capodimonte flowers my grandmother gave me.

2) Another Capodimonte-like flower arrangement my husband got me one mother's day in Florida.

3) A glass trinket box, also from my grandmother.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Joy Challenge: 3 Gifts Reflecting

 
 
 
 
Today's Joy Dare Challenge: 3 Gifts Reflecting

1) Memories, both good and not-so-good, because they all made me who I am today.

2) My children, who's smiles reflect the purity and simplicity of life.

3) The Word of God, which reflects my deepest insecurities and my darkest flaws, yet reflects most the absolute and complete love of the Lord and His eternal gift to me on Calvary, a path that was laid before the foundations of the world that He willingly took upon Himself for my soul's sake.

Monday, April 22, 2013

A Moment of "Real"




"When it’s hard to keep your footing is right when you have to keep your faith."

"Sometimes you feel caged when really you’re only cupped."

~Some quotes from Ann Voskamp



Sometimes... sometimes I find myself just sitting. Sitting and wondering, how much more can a soul take? How much more can a soul give and give, only to find a dry spring in return? How much longer can one go on striving, only to be made to feel like a hindrance, a burden, and an inconvenience for wanting, for living, for dreaming?  How many times can hope be crushed before it dares not hope again? How many times can a person deny themselves for the benefit of others before exhaustion and resentment set in? What's more, how much guilt can a soul bear for feeling, for wanting, for being human?

My heart cries the song of David in my tears:

"How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?"

My heart knows, feels, the nearness of God, but the heart of the moment seems to escape my mind's eye. Can one be too self-sacrificing? It's impossible, yet all too tempting to feel. It's hard to sit in turmoil watching other people's lives reflect what you've only dared to pray for in your own. It's difficult to give, and give, and serve, and give, to no personal avail. It's even more difficult to constantly put others before yourself only to have them, those whom you love, scoff at the mention of your own desires and wants, or to dismiss them as petty and foolish; inconvenient. It's hard to return to Christ and lean on Him alone when everyone else seems to have failed you, and you feel so utterly, completely, miserably alone. This is just enough to make any particular introvert clam up for good. 

However, in this reflection, I find the grace of the Lord. 

Despised and rejected of men, He bore His cross that was set before the foundations of the world to die a propitiation for the sins of the world. While we scoffed, mocked, ridiculed, and hated Him, He loved us enough to die for us on that bloody Wednesday afternoon. Wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the price for our peace was on Him. A King made of Himself nothing, a servant, to wash the feet of those whom He created, to teach them in all humility, then to die the most offensive death for our sake's. 

While I mourn my own desires that are counted as irrelevant by those I love, my Lord came only to die for those that He loves. I wake up and bear the burden of child training each day wondering when will they ever learn, while He bore every waking moment knowing that His road would lead Him only to that bloody path to Calvary. I can at least hope in tomorrow, yet my Lord knew exactly where tomorrow would find Him, and yet continued on. I find myself frustrated at my one-skirt-that-fits wardrobe, while the King of all creation had no place to lay His head. I find myself stretched too thin, exhausted, off-put, dismissed, unappreciated, and misunderstood, yet my Lord bore my sins to the cross when I least deserved it, just to be with me.

In my e-mail this morning, I got my daily update from inCourage that stated simply:


If I had only known this morning how much this would affect me tonight, I would have probably climbed back into bed! It's been a grueling past two weeks with no paycheck, and one more to go until this Friday rolls along. Scraping for milk and bread, having to rely on the brethren in desperate times, it can all be so overwhelming, humbling, and frustrating. Especially when you know that those who give do not give out of their abundance, but rather out of sacrifice. No righteous man wants to be a burden on another, yet it's often our burdens, our weaknesses, that God uses to draw us closer to Him, even when He seems so far away in times of trial. 

I lament, I feel so alone. So completely alone, shut up in a cage, under a rock, as if no one cares or dares to care anymore. I cry out, my needs and wants seem to be made trivial and dismissed. I weep in selfish sorrow, I know God is near, but it's not the same

I'm right, you know.....

Just not in the way I had anticipated....

No, it's not the same, because no one else could ever compare to the Lord. No one else could ever be so completely just HERE. No one else could read my heart and know my every thought. No one else could ever look at me the way that He does, through selfless compassion and unending grace. No one else keeps a record of my tears, yet erases my record of wrongs at the same instant. No one else cares for me as deeply, as truly, and as passionately as my Lord and Saviour does. No, it's not the same at all. 

It is so much more.

Why can't I grasp that? Why is it so hard to come to terms with? Why am I so focused on those whom I can see, touch, hear? Those people, they fail me daily, as I fail them daily as well. Why do I put so much faith in flesh? Why is it so hard to see by faith instead of by sight?

Lord, how do I learn to just... let go... of the things I want?

Oh what a glorious day that will be when my faith becomes my sight. I want for nothing more than to walk with my Lord and Saviour. To sit at His feet, to really be able to worship and serve as I ought to, not being hindered by this flesh or carnal spirit anymore. However, until that time that I am called Home, I will continue to strive. Perhaps once I really get a grip on what it means to serve the Lord, then all else will fall into place. Perhaps once I learn to love those around me as Christ does, then they will love me as He does in return. Lord help me, for it's not an easy path to trod. Until then, the Lord is my strength and my shield. In Him I place my trust.

"I will sing unto the LORD, because He hath dealt bountifully with me."

Sometimes our most beautiful blessings come out of the midst of our most miserable trials.

Joy Challenge: 3 Gifts Close

 
 
 
 
Today's Joy Dare Challenge: 3 Gifts Close

1) A coffee mug that belonged to my mother.

2) Fuzzy pink yarn.

3) My camera.

The Heart of Forgiveness


Forgiveness is so important to the Christian walk. So important that, as it says in Matthew 6:14-15, if we don't forgive those who have wronged us, our Father in Heaven will not forgive us for our trespasses.

What, though, does true Christian forgiveness look like?

We can dance around the phrases of  "Forgive, but never forget," because, in all honesty, this concept make sense to the flesh. We are inclined in the flesh to hold a grudge, even after we've claimed to have forgiven those who have wronged us and hurt us so personally and severely. We can cite conditions for forgiveness, insisting that our enemies must first repent before we are required to issue forgiveness, but this response it not backed up by Scripture. Our Lord doesn't say to forgive those who have repented and shown sorrow and change, it says simply to forgive. Not only that, but our Lord instructs us to bless those who hurt, use, and persecute us, to give to the man two cloaks who would sue us for one, and for the man who requires of us one mile, walk with him two. This is the heart of forgiveness.

"Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

Matthew 5:38-48


 It defies the flesh, the flesh that seeks justice and an even exchange. It defies the Mosaic Law that demanded blood and justice to balance the scales for wrongdoings. In the eyes of man, in the eyes of flesh hindered by the curse of this fallen world, there is no justice in biblical forgiveness. However, there is much justice in forgiveness in the eyes of the Lord. How is it that there is justice for our sins when the Lord forgives us, His children? We trespass against the Lord all too often. We fall short daily, hourly. We slack in our Bible reading, in our study of His Holy Word. We push true and focused prayer to the back burner because life just gets too overwhelming, tiring, busy. We let distractions take time away from us when we could be better spending it elsewhere on more [spiritually, emotionally, personally] profitable activities. Then we make excuses, as if the Lord will accept them. We go to war over our convictions in an attempt to sway others instead of resting in them, and in the calm assurance that the Lord provides, then we make the excuses for our unloving actions in the name of sharing the Gospel (the Gospel which is at the root the very love of Christ). We lament our trials with a weary and self-seeking heart, and we falter in our faith when we do not trust the Lord to provide as He has promised. We don't trust the very promises we have claimed in the Gospel of Christ.

We fail. Miserably. Every. Single. Moment. Yet, the Lord finds much justice in the forgiveness that He extends, without question, each and every time. Not only is He faithful to forgive us our sins, as He promised, but He is just to forgive as well.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

1 John 1:9

 And what, then, does our Heavenly Father do when He extends and grants this divine pardon and forgiveness to us? What does the same Father who keeps record of all of our tears and pains do with the record of our sins? He remembers them no more! He exercises His divine authority and forgets them, as if they never happened. What justice is there in that for us, as week and feeble beings of flesh? The One who knows all things chooses to forget our sins. Our debt too large to measure is paid in full by the blood of Christ. Praise the Lord for grace!

Some then argue for conditional forgiveness on our part. We should only forgive those who hurt us IF they repent, just as the Lord forgives us IF we confess...

No, dear sisters. We do not exercise the authority or the ability of the Lord. We, as beings of flesh, are not created with the ability to forget as the Lord chooses to. He is not bound by flesh and the carnal nature as we are. We do not exercise the authority to set the conditions for the forgiveness that we extend either, for we are not God, the Creator of the universe, nor are we Christ, the propitiation for sins. We simply trust and obey. The Lord does not leave to us the authority of conditional forgiveness. He simply leaves us with the instruction to forgive.

When we refuse to forgive, to scripturally forgive, not only do we give Satan a foothold in our lives to plant roots of bitterness and spite in the heart of flesh, but we shake our fists in defiance of the will of God towards us saying, "No! Your Words are not just and neither are they good enough for me! No! I will NOT forgive unless they meet MY requirements, because Your requirements of ME are nothing compared to MY requirements of them! I will not submit to You, because there is no justice in what You say for me to do, to forgive them, bless them, pray for them, and love them with a self-sacrificing act of heart and intention."

What if.... what if forgiveness isn't about US or THEM, about the victim and the trespasser? What if it is about God and HIS holiness?

What if our Father instructs us to forgive not to make us feel better, or to absolve them of responsibility, but rather to point to HIS justice, HIS mercy, HIS grace, and HIS holiness?

What if it's about the Gospel alone?

"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."

Romans 12:19

How can we give place unto the wrath of the Lord, who has promised to be our defender and avenger, when we are so bent on taking vengeance ourselves through the disobedient act of unforgiveness? How can we lean on and rest in the righteous judgement of the Lord when we are so intently leaning on our own idea of justice? Yes, we are called to judge by the fruits, and judge righteously in this world as His saints, yet we must remain humble and remember that we can only judge objectively in this world, as our knowledge and judgement are clouded by our eyes and hearts of flesh. Furthermore, no judgement of ours trumps the instruction of the Lord, who instructs us to forgive while neglecting to give us prerequisites to apply to our forgiveness.

So, dear ones, what say we?

Should we forgive? Of course we should.

Should we forgive because it is the just thing to do? Because our offender deserves it? Absolutely not. Just as we do not earn, deserve, or find justice in the forgiveness that is given to us when we fail the Lord. We forgive, rather, because it is the right and the required thing to do. We forgive others because Christ forgave us. It's about HIM and HIS righteousness, not about ourselves.

We do not forgive for the benefit of ourselves, and we do not forgive for the benefit of others, but we forgive for the glory of the Lord. Notwithstanding, the rest often follows and falls into place. There is much blessing in obedience, even if it defies all human logic and flesh. We forgive because God receives glory in our obedience. We forgive because we love the Lord and His righteousness more than we love worldly justice. We forgive because we have faith that the Lord will fulfill all of His promises without fail, even the promise of Romans 12:19.

What does biblical forgiveness look like?

  • The debt is absolved on our end, we remember it no more, as if it never happened. 
  • We don't bring it up again, because what place in our lives, hearts, and conversations has a debt that has been paid in full? If the slate is clean, then why write upon it again? 
  • We bless those who have wronged us, even in the midst of the very act of their persecution. We do good to them, we strive with them, and we give to them from the faith and obedience of a good heart in tune with the very heart of God, the heart of love. 
  • We do not let the roots of bitterness thrive in our hearts. Bitterness is a sneaky and destructive sin and it can be found in what we think, which spills into what we say. When we find ourselves thinking hard-hearted and mean-spirited things about someone due to how they have wronged us, you can guarantee that there is a major root of bitterness at work. This comes often in the form of "I've forgiven, but....." There are no but's in biblical forgiveness. If it continues to rise up for rehashing, be it in mind or tongue, it is Satan's work and requires immediate spiritual attention before the Lord. Bitter-root stew is a hard spoonful to swallow, and it poisons no one but ourselves as it draws us further into the clutches of Satan and away from the blessing and protection of the Lord.

Harboring a grudge and unforgiveness is only human. It's only natural. However, we have been saved out of our sinful, natural state to rise into the supernatural.  We are not of this world, whom Satan is the god over for the present time until the Lord returns to claim what is rightfully His. We do not serve this world, nor the flesh it represents and glorifies. We have been called to a greater life, a greater joy, and a greater calling. Peace isn't found in justice, it is found in forgiveness, it is found in the heart of Christ. Anything else that whispers to us contrary to this Spirit is a lie and is to be resisted and turned over to the Lord for rebuke.

Any weak soul can hold on to a debt and a hurt. It takes true strength found only in Christ to forgive.

Be strong, sisters. Don't give Satan a foothold. Forgive those who trespass against you, and the Lord will bless your obedience and forgive you of your own sins as well. Remember where you came from, and extend grace to those weak in the faith or without, just as Christ extends grace to you daily. Don't be so critical, but rather be empathetic, and be peacemakers, not troublemakers. In all things:

"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."

Matthew 7:12
We've heard it said that a humble heart is a happy heart. Well, I go a step further to challenge all of us that a humble heart is a forgiving heart.







A great post from (in)courage: Not My Nature

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Joy Challenge: 3 Gifts Found in Christ

 



Today's Joy Dare Challenge: 3 Gifts Found in Christ

1) Salvation for a wretched soul like me.

2) Forgiveness for a child who constantly fails and falls short.

3) Grace for one like me who desperately needs it every hour, nay, every moment.


Joy Challenge: A Gift Stacked, Stashed, Stilled

 


Yesterday's Joy Challenge: A Gift Stacked, Stashed, Stilled

1) Stacked: Books, knowledge, overflowing bookshelves.

2) Stashed: My mother's belongings.

3) Stilled: Spring Photos.


Friday, April 19, 2013

First Grace

(An excerpt from Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts Devotional. Support the author and purchase it via her link here: ON AMAZON. It will be a continual blessing to you for years to come.)




first grace



"What initially spark's God's anger? What is the root of sin? It's not the sinfulness that you'd think it would be: It's thanklessness (Romans 1:18-28). It's thanklessness that first stirs the full wrath of God.

Our fall is always first a failure to give thanks. The pride of thanklessness always comes before a fall. A lack of doxology leads to depravity. The heart of wickedness and godlessness is that: a refusal to glorify God. It's the refusal to thank Him.

And there is this: If all the dismembering wickedness in the world begins with the act of forgetting, then the act of counting blessings re-members us to God. This is the making whole."

Joy Challenge: 3 Gifts Square

Joy Dare PDF Found HERE!


Today's Joy Dare Challenge: 3 Gifts Square

1) Quilt blocks.

2) A half-finished crocheted baby blanket.

3) Love letters from  my husband.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Choosing Grace

(From Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts Devotional. Support the author and purchase it via her link here: ON AMAZON. It will be a continual blessing to you for years to come.)



choosing grace


"But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:" 1 Corinthians 2:7

They lay her gravestone flat into the earth, a black granite slab engraved with no dates, only the five letters of her name. Aimee. It means "loved one." How she was. We had loved her. And with the laying of my sister's gravestone, the closing up of her deathbed, so closed our lives.

Closed to any notion of grace. 

Really, when you bury a child - or when you just simply get up every day and live life raw - you murmur the question soundlessly. No one hears. Can there be a good God? How can He be good when babies die, and marriages implode, and dreams blow away, dust in the wind? Where is grace bestowed when cancer gnaws and loneliness aches and nameless places in us soundlessly die, break off without reason, erode away? Where hides the joy of the Lord, this God who fills the earth with good things, and how do I fully live when life is full of hurt? How do I wake up to joy and grace and beauty and all that is the fullest life when I must stay numb to losses and crushed dreams and all that empties me out?

Is this the toxic air of the world, this atmosphere we inhale, burning into our lungs, this No, God, we wont take what You give. No, God, Your plans are a gutted, bleeding mess, and I didn't sign up for this and You really thought I'd go for this? No, God, this is ugly and this is a mess and can't You get anything right and just haul all this pain out of here and I'll take it from here, thanks. And God? Thanks for nothing. Isn't this the human inheritance, the legacy of the Garden?

Everywhere, a world pocked with scarcity. 

I hunger for filling in a world that is starved.

But from that Garden beginning, God has had a different purpose for us. His intent, since He bent low and breathed His life into the dust of our lungs, since He kissed us into being, has never been to slyly orchestrate our ruin. And yet, I have found it: He does have surprising secret purposes.

I open a Bible, and His plans, startling, lie there barefaced. It's hard to believe it, when I read it, and I have to come back to it many times, feel long across those words, make sure they are real. His love letter forever silences any doubts. He means to rename us - to return us to our true names, our truest selves.

He means to heal our soul holes. 

From the very beginning, that Eden beginning, that has always been and always is, to this day, His secret purpose - to return to our full glory. Appalling -  that He would! Us, unworthy. And yet since we took a bite out of the fruit and tore into our own souls, that drain hole where joy seeps away, God's had this wild secretive plan. He means to fill us with glory again. With glory and with grace.

Grace, it means "favor," from the Latin gratia. It connotes a free readiness. A free and ready favor. That's grace. It is one thing to choose to take the grace offered at the cross. But to choose to live as one filling with His grace? Choosing to fill with all that  He freely gives and fully live - with glory and grace to God?

I know it but I don't want to: it is a choice.

Living with losses, I may choose to still say yes, 

Choose to say yes to what He freely gives.