Suffering & God's Sovereignty

Bill Johnson, one of the leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation, believes that God doesn't give us suffering. ever.  Here is a short clip of him answering 3 questions... You will notice how lightly he handles the storm on the sea, and the cross. For further information on this kind of theology, read this article by blogger Erin of Do Not Be Surprised. 





Contrast the above video with what R.C. Sproul, Jr. has to say about suffering.

Within 10 months of each other, R.C. Sproul, Jr. lost his wife to cancer and his special needs daughter. This is worth listening to. It is 20 minutes long.



I wonder what Mr. Johnson would say to Mr. Sproul?
hmmm.

Worlds Apart

For almost 20 years this has been a favorite song of mine (as well as the prayer of my heart). I absolutely love this version of it...
Listen. pray. release. rest in Christ.

The Gift of Photographs

Today i was given a beautiful gift in the mail. My Grandpop made copies of some old photographs that i had asked for. There were five 8x10's, and a couple 3x5's (that i had NEVER seen!) in the envelope. As i opened them, i caught my breath. A beautiful picture of my Dad in his Marines uniform. Wow.

There was a picture of my Mom and Dad's wedding day. They looked so happy. How quickly that faded....

There was a picture of my great-grandparents who came over from Sicily. precious.

A picture of my great-grandpop in his Italian WWI uniform. amazing!

There was  small picture of my Dad as a baby that i had never seen, as well as a picture of my Dad and his brother, my Uncle Mike, as young boys. They were 4 years apart, my Dad being the oldest.

I had a tear or two in my eyes, but more than anything, i was filled with gratefulness for this precious gift. A gift that will continue to give for my lifetime.

Yell at Your Kids?

Ouch.

Meditation

This morning i read Psalm 19. It dawned on me as i read that this would be a GREAT Psalm to put up in our schoolroom. It speaks of how wonderful the precepts, statutes, commandments, and law of the Lord are in verses 7-14. Actually, it reminded me of a summary of Psalm 119! What a beautiful prayer to pray as well at the end of the chapter. 

Here it is...may we all be encouraged and reminded of just how beautiful, marvelous, and powerful the Word truly is.

The law of the Lord is perfect,

restoring the soul;

The testimony of the Lord is sure,

making wise the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart;

The commandment of the Lord is pure,

enlightening the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is clean,

enduring forever;

The judgments of the Lord are true;

they are righteous altogether.

They are more desirable than gold,

yes, than much fine gold;

Sweeter also than honey

and the drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them Your servant is warned;
In keeping them there is great reward.

Who can discern his errors?

Acquit me of hidden faults.

Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins;
Let them not rule over me;

Then I will be blameless,
 And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth

and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

~Psalm 19:7-14

It is NOT Meaningless

This song was brought to my attention by 2 people today. It is beautiful. It is called "Though You Slay Me" by Shane & Shane. I searched and found a blog post explaining it. It is amazing. As i listened to this song, the tears started streaming down my cheeks as Piper's preaching was included.

A message i needed to be reminded of.

A message we all need to be reminded of. 

Take a moment to read the article (a VERY quick read) and then listen to the song. 

Your suffering, or affliction, or sorrow is NOT meaningless. It IS producing an eternal weight of glory. 

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.  ~2 Corinthians 4.16-18

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/a-song-for-the-suffering-with-john-piper

May His grace abound toward you.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this after you read/hear it :) Leave a comment and we will have a conversation...

We Have Found Him !!

The following entry is from Opened Treasures. It is a gathering of portions of Frances Ridley Havergal's writings in a daily devotional format.

COME AND SEE

Come and see. John 1:39

The Lord Jesus said it first. He said it to the two disciples of John who heard that He was the Lamb of God. They knew very little about Him, but they followed Him. Perhaps they would not even have ventured to speak, but, "Jesus turned, and saw them following," and spoke to them.The they asked Him where He dwelt, and He said, "Come and see!" Philip said it next. He had found Christ himself, and at once he told his friend Nathanael about it, "Come and see!" Is it not said still? Oh, "come and see!" Look into the Saviour's glorious and loving face, and see how ready He is to receive you, and to bless you. Come and see what He has done for you; see how He loved you and gave Himself for you; how He lived and suffered and bled and died for you ! Come and see what gifts He has for you - forgiveness and peace, His Spirit and His grace, His joy and His love ! Come and see where He dwelleth - see that He is ready to come in and dwell with you, to make your heart His own dwelling-place. Oh, if I could but persuade you to "come and see!" There is no other sight so glorious and beautiful. Will you not come? When you have come, when you can say, like Philip, "We have found Him!" and like Paul, "We see Jesus," will you not say to someone else, "Come and see!" You will wish every one else to come to Him, and you have His word to bid you try to bring them: "Let him that heareth say, Come!"

Hush! while on silvery wing of holiest song

Floats forth the old, dear story of our peace,

His coming, the Desire of Ages long,

To wear our chains, and win our glad release.

Our wondering joy, to hear such tidings blest

Is crowned with "Come to Him, and He will give you rest." 

~Frances Ridley Havergal

No Chasers...

So, we had a pretty big storm here last night. Hail that was 2"x1"x1" thick. It was big, bad, and scary. Honestly sounded like someone was throwing fistfuls of large rocks at our north side.

So, today i called insurance.

i am SO not going up on the roof to check for damage.
neither is the hubby.

Our insurance agency is stellar...really. The woman who helps us isn't even the agent, but she is his right hand, FOR SURE. She is so helpful, and even remembers who we are. That right there is pretty cool. Well, she said an adjuster would call us within a few days, and it may take a couple weeks for someone to come out. No biggie. Then she kindly warned me about any storm chasers and to avoid them.

Yep.

I have seen the stories. Bad stories, of people taken for a ride by "roofers" and "contractors" that hit neighborhoods after a big storm. STAY AWAY... Got it.

I had been off the phone for less than an hour when, lo and behold, here comes a storm chaser! I met him on the porch, and he handed me his business card. I very kindly (seriously!) thanked him for stopping but told him i was going through our insurance company.

You would have thought that i had called him every nasty name in the book! No kidding! He starts telling me, quite vehemently, that i need to just use him and not use insurance. I quite nicely informed him that we weren't even sure we had damage, and we were waiting for an adjuster. I also stated that our insurance company has served us quite well and has always taken care of our needs. (:

He had had enough. I got a rather passionate speech about why adjusters are basically evil, and that i needed to go through him. Then, winner of all winners, he tries to name-drop with me! We have one incredibly wealthy man on the edge of our neighborhood. He owns a real estate group, and even has the street he lives on (which he had all the homes built...4 of them i believe) named after himself. Nice.

I politely said, "Well, good for Mr.______." Fairly ticked at me by this point because i didn't fall for his intimidation and now his name dropping, he said something again, and i honestly can't remember it! I replied that i would take his card and possibly call him if the need arose after we spoke to our adjuster and insurance company.

He huffed off our porch.

I smiled.

Then it dawned on me that i wouldn't call him, even if we did need a roofer. His rudeness and attitude toward me sunk his ship.

Moral: Go through your insurance, and smile at the storm chasers, no matter how irritated they get.