Forever

Posted in Books, Following Jesus, God's promises by

I love books and I love to read. Unfortunately, I do not make the time to read like I should. I continue to buy books, but then don’t read them. It’s a bit of a sickness, this continuous book-buying thing.

This year I’m determined to read more, and I’ve already surpassed the amount of books I read last year (yay!), which I believe was only three (boo!).

Yesterday I finished reading Forever by Paul David Tripp. It took me forever (pun absolutely intended!) to read it. I think I started it back in October. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the book, I just either got too busy or would read a bit and need some time to stop and think about it for a while.

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This was a book I picked up at Mardel last fall in their bargain section. I’d never heard of it before, but it sounded like something I would enjoy. Turns out I was right. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I think it is an excellent read for any believer who feels like they have lost sight of eternity–which I think is all of us from time to time.

I’ve mentioned this book a couple of times in the past several months, so I don’t want to repeat myself, but here’s the gist. Tripp writes about how we are made with forever written on our hearts, but that we do not often live as though we are made for more than the here and now. He refers to it as “eternity amnesia.” We’ve forgotten that there is more than this life.

The thing that struck me most as I read through this book is how the reality of eternity touches every facet of our lives…marriage, parenting, friendships, work, our view of God, how we handle difficult situations, etc. When life gets hard and relationships are strained we often become discouraged, feeling hopeless and sometimes even abandoned by God. But if we are living with eternity at the forefront of our minds, we can know without a doubt that God has made us for something better. One day we will be in our forever home and the struggles and hardships will be no more. No more! If you are God’s child, you are never hopeless. You may feel hopeless, but it simply is not true. As God’s children we are never without hope.

If you are God’s child, you can have hope in the middle of all the tough things you face, not only because in all of those moments God is with you, but also because the cross of Jesus guarantees you that all that is broken will be made new forever. You can live today knowing that you have a future that is beyond the boundaries of your wildest imagination. If you are God’s child, you have hope because God is hope, and you have a hope that will last forever because he has defeated the one thing that stands between you and forever: death.

(pg. 101-102)

One of my favorite chapters was the one titled “Forever and Parenting.” We need to constantly remind ourselves that, as parents, we have a responsibility to teach and show our children who God is and lead them to the understanding that they are made for Him and for His glory. “Children will again and again insert themselves in the center of their world and make it all about them” (pg. 142). We need to show them that life is not about them. It is about God and they belong to Him. We need to help them understand their part in God’s plot.

The bottom-line question is this: how many of us parent with eternity in view? Do we view and respond to our children with the radical thought that these little ones are forever beings inescapably marching toward a destiny of some kind? Are we committed to the fact that as parents we cannot live for the moment? We must always have the long view of life in our sights. After all, we have mysteries of the universe to unfold to our children that will alter everything they think about themselves and the world they live in–and one of the most important mysteries is the existence of eternity. How many of us are willing to make personal, career, and familial sacrifices because we grasp the eternal significance of the task that God has called us to?

(pg. 141)

I do not always parent with eternity in view. Sometimes it’s so difficult to look past the moment. But it is imperative that we approach our children with forever in mind. “These little ones are forever beings inescapably marching toward a destiny of some kind.” My truest desire for them is that they march toward Christ, keeping their eyes on Him and eternity in view. They must know that there is more than this life.

But first? I must make sure that my eyes are kept on Christ and that I always have eternity in view. I can not show them what I do not see myself.

Some days I’m too focused on the here and now. Other days my spirit is shouting, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus!” Often though, that’s because my eternal perspective has been clouded and I suddenly realize this is not where I belong. I don’t want to live a life that is full of ups and downs in regards to my foreverness (is that even a word?), but I want my life to be so focused on the hope I have of eternity with Christ that my life is overflowing with joy and overwhelmed by the grace that God has given me through Him. I want to have “the long view of life” in my sight.

Let’s not have eternity amnesia. Let us always remember that something better lies ahead for those of us who have trusted Christ. This life on earth is just a preparation for the real life that was always meant to be ours.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith–more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:3-7 (ESV)

Mother’s Day 2013

Posted in Family, Motherhood, Snapshots of Life by

I had a lovely Mother’s Day this year. Really, they are lovely every year. My family always does such a good job making me feel special.

I’m not a gift-getting sort of person. Not to say that I don’t like getting gifts, but I just don’t need them to feel loved. One time I took a Five Love Languages test and I scored a big, fat zero for gifts. Lucky for David. :)

What I do love is thoughtful gestures and food (now that’s my love language). And when those two things collide–oh happy happy, joy joy! You’ve just made my day.

Lucky for me, my family knows me well. This is what the girls came up with for my Mother’s Day gift…

MD13 bfast

We were in Ft. Worth (per my request) at my in-laws over Mother’s Day weekend and the girls asked my mother-in-law to help them make me a special breakfast. I was completely oblivious to the goings-on and didn’t even realize they were sneaking around setting the table and making things special for me. I had just settled down in the living room when Abigail came over and told me to close my eyes and come to the table. She guided me over and the girls presented that beautiful place setting, just for me. I could not have asked for a better gift! Abigail had invaded my stash of cards and found one she thought would work for Mother’s Day and all three kids wrote sweet sentiments inside. They did this all on their own. David didn’t even know about it until the night before.

It’s things like this that make me so happy to be a mom. To know that despite the squabbles and the hard days wondering if I’m doing anything right as I raise these three not-so-little people, my kids are learning some things about serving others and being kind and thoughtful. They are such wonderful kids and I am honored to be called their mom.

A New{ish} Adventure

Posted in Family, God's creation, Travels by

Way back in 2007 we took the kids on their first camping trip. Look how little they are, especially Isabel!

It was a couple years before we went camping again and we had every intention of making it a more regular family activity. For some reason though we just never ventured back out.

Until  a month ago.

Let me back up a bit and share a little something with you. I’ve shared before that I went back to school in the fall. I was so excited to get back into the classroom again, even though I knew it was going to be hard. Wow. That’s the understatement of the year.

It has been way more difficult than I thought it would be. Not only have I had to adjust to actually thinking again (the horror!), but I’ve had to adjust to juggling an already hectic family schedule. Between school for me, the kids (the girls homeschool three days a week), gymnastics, Scouts, volleyball, work (oh my goodness, I forgot I have a part-time job!), laundry, cooking, shopping…well, I was pretty sure I was going to have a mental breakdown a couple times. And I’m completely serious about that. Toward the end of last semester I was a mess. The day I took my chemistry lab final I came home and I bawled my eyes out. And I just don’t do that.

This semester has been a little better, mostly because I’ve gotten the hang of things a bit, but I’ve still had some super difficult moments. I still think I’m a mess, but by God’s grace I’m dealing. As I got further along into this semester I started to think about ways we could mellow out as a family. I realize that there are families that have way busier schedules than we do, but for us this was just too much. All the rushing around and always being in a frantic hurry was not how I wanted our family to function. It was not for us.

The one thing that kept coming back to me was the idea of getting outside. Not just outside in the yard or even down the street to the park (although that is important too), but outside and away from town. No hustle and bustle. No computers or TVs or cell phones vying for our attention. We desperately needed to get away where it was quiet and where we could see and hear God in His marvelous creation.

It was funny to me that I was becoming so desperate to get out camping because I think I’ve been the main reason we haven’t been out camping much these past few years. Bugs and dirt and wild animals? Not my thing. But trees and flowers and fresh air and QUIET? Yes, please.

So I told David we have to do something. We need to get outside. I need to get outside. I need to breathe.

We’ve been hoping to get an RV for a couple years, and I think in our heads we kept thinking “Well, we’ll go camping when we get the RV.” But that just isn’t going to happen anytime soon, so we went to Academy and bought a nice big tent, some extra sleeping bags, and few other camping essentials and made a reservation for a state park not too far away. It was a quick one-night getaway, but it was so nice. So nice.

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This time we are making camping a priority. It’s not always easy for us to find the time to get away, but David and I both feel it is a necessary thing for our family. Nature is full of God’s glory and He reveals Himself to us in it. I don’t want to miss out. I don’t want any of us to miss out. This is God’s way of allowing us just a glimpse of Himself.

For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse.

~Romans 1:20 (NET)

We are heading to the Grand Canyon soon and I cannot wait! To watch the sun rise and set over the canyon?  Glorious!

How many living things you have made, O LORD!

You have exhibited great skill in making all of them;

the earth is full of the living things you have made.

~ Psalm 104:24 (NET)

My Gift to You

Posted in Following Jesus by

It is a rare thing for me to remember something I read or hear. I can read a book, nodding in agreement, underlining furiously, but when all is said and done I can barely tell you what the book was about. The same goes for sermons or seminars or other such things. I can agree wholeheartedly with what is said, even feeling like the Lord is truly telling me something through the message, but once I’m home…gone.

This is a huge frustration for me. I have read so many wonderful books and blog posts over the years, heard sermon after sermon that has touched my soul, but when it comes time to share those nuggets of truth with others the words just won’t come. I’ve learned to write things down and all my books are so marked up, all in the hopes that I can at least go back and see what I’ve underlined in order to jog my memory.

But every once in a while something sticks. Something I read or hear will really make its mark and I won’t be able to get it out of my head. I am beginning to think that these are the things that I’m supposed to focus on. Perhaps these are my passions and I haven’t even been all that aware of it.

One of these things is something I heard several years back. About three years ago I was listening to the audio version of Stuff Christians Like by Jon Acuff. If you have ever read this book or his blog by the same name you will know that it is funny, funny stuff. And it was even funnier being able to listen to Jon read the book himself. Laugh out loud hilarious!

What I didn’t know when I listened to the book is that on Wednesdays on his blog, Jon writes more seriously. He calls it Serious Wednesdays. Weird, I know. One of the chapters in the book was from a post he wrote way back in 2009 titled Confessing ‘Safe Sins’. I encourage you to read it yourself (it’s not very long), but the gist is often when we are in small(ish) groups our tendency is to only share the “safe sins.” The ones that might not make us sound too terribly sinful.

…what happens when people start confessing safe sins is that everyone else in the room starts concealing their real junk.

It sucks that as broken as we all are, as desperate as we all are for a Savior, we feel compelled to clean ourselves up when we get around each other.

~Jon Acuff

It’s hard to be the first one to share our junk–the things going on deep inside that you are afraid to talk about. Even though you know–YOU KNOW–you are not the only one struggling, it’s hard to truly believe it because we are all putting on our best faces. Why is that? We try so hard to look like we’ve to it all together. Someone has to be the first to open up, giving everyone else a precious gift. Jon calls it “the gift of going second.”

And that’s what has stuck in my mind all these years…that idea of giving people the gift of going second. This is what I have wanted to do with this blog from the beginning and I know I’ve written along these lines before. I want to share my story in such a way that anyone reading will know that I am flawed and most certainly do not have it all together. I don’t want it to be a downer or whine-fest, but I want the words I share to be real.

I’ll be honest, my life is not full of stories of crazy outside rebellion. No crime sprees or drunken parties or infidelity. This has made me wonder if I really have anything to offer. What do I know of the ways of the world? But you better believe my life has been full of plenty of inside rebellion. Rebellion against God and His Word. Bitterness. Anger. Selfishness. Pride. Envy. Laziness. These are on-going battles and things I need to deal with often. Probably far more often than I should. And these struggles–these sins–are just as abhorrent in God’s eyes as any outward and visible rebellion.

My prayer for this space is that I am transparent about my struggles, and in that transparency it might allow someone else (even if just one person) to feel safe to open up about their own struggles. My story will not speak to everyone, but I believe it will speak to some.

So this is my gift to you. I’ll go first, so you feel safe going second.