F-R-E-E !!

I am just havin' this in my head! my girls got this for Christmas, and i LOVE this song! i am all about singin' it OUT and LOUD!!!

my Sis and Me

This is from our cookie bake this weekend. Had SO much fun with my Family... Mom (Pam), Shelli (sis) & Tim, and Amber, Kelsey, Sha, Dakota, Parker, and all my kiddos: Hudson, Jeremiah, Magdalene, and Grace. 


Goes down in history as just one of the BEST! seriously ;-)

Hub-Bub

hopefully this is not what you are looking like, or feeling like. 


yes. it is December 8th. Seventeen days til the 25th. 


if you are on facebook, you have read the posts of what everyone has been doing. how crazy things are. how frantic their days and weekends are. 
All the hub-bub, for lack of  a better description. 


But i wonder...


What if we didn't: stress, over-spend, over-plan, over-indulge, over- ____?


What if we actually took the time to savor? to recall that, although it is not the ACTUAL day that our Savior, Jesus Christ, was born, it is a season that we remember His coming? And in this focused time of remembering, we can't help but realize that He came to seek and to save that which was lost (you and me), to die a violent death as the price for our sins, and to rise from the grave on the 3rd day. 


Lately i have been absolutely struck by those who were present at the birth of our King. Think about it: Who was there? Mary (duh), Joseph, maybe a female "helper" from the inn, some animals, and.... some shepherds. 

from the book Fit For a King, which
my husband, Brian York, illustrated

shepherds. 


a despised, low-class group of people. they smelled like sheep (oh yes they did!). They were tough. They knew sheep. THEY were the ones who were there THE NIGHT Christ was born. an angel appeared to the shepherds out in the fields of Bethlehem. The shepherds were "sore afraid." In today's words, they were terrified! these shepherds were tough men, able to fight off packs of wolves, panthers, bears, and thieves. These men were MANLY men. you didn't mess with a shepherd. 


Yet these tough men (and maybe women, as there were some shepherdesses), were SORE AFRAID. okay then. The angel had to say to them “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10-12)
After that, the sky filled with a myriad of angels singing:

"Glory to God in the highest, 

And on earth peace, 

goodwill toward men!”

Just soak that in. here the angels of the Most High God appeared to the lowliest shepherds, who were despised among men, and told them to REJOICE! for the Savior had come! Think forward to how Christ Himself was despised and rejected, and is called the Good Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd, the Shepherd of our souls. 

Here, the shepherds' response (Luke 2:15-20):

When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.”  So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

No wonder that people wondered! the shepherds, of all people, had had the birth declared to them by angels! 

This season, i wonder if we have wondered at the fact:

 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21

 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.. 1 Peter 3:18

 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. John 10:14-15

This season, let's intentionally slow down. let's be different. let's be focused.


I close with a quote from Michael Card's book A Violent Grace:

"Jesus was born to die...so that I could be born again to new life. It is the miracle of a violent grace: God securing for us the priceless treasures of His grace---One violence at a time. Will you open your heart to receive now these costly gifts from your loving Savior?"

A Great Devotional

From Frances Ridley Havergal's Evening Thoughts:

Midnight Rememberings.

'When I remember Thee upon my bed.' Psalm 63:6

Memory is never so busy as in the quiet time while we are waiting for sleep; and never, perhaps, are we more tempted to useless recollections and idle reveries than 'in the night watches.' Perhaps we have regretfully struggled against them; perhaps yielded to effortless indulgence in them, and thought we could not help it, and were hardly responsible for 'vain thoughts' at such times. But here is full help and bright hope. This night let us 'remember Thee.' We can only remember what we already know; oh praise Him then, that we have material for memory!

There is enough for all the wakeful nights of a lifetime in the one work 'Thee.' It leads us straight to 'His own self;' dwelling on that one word, faith, hope, and love, wake up and feed and grow. Then the holy remembrance, wrought by His Spirit, widens. For 'we will remember the name of the Lord our God,' in its sweet and manifold revelations. 'I will remember the years and 'the works of the Lord.' 'Surely I will remember Thy wonders of old.' Most of all 'we will remember Thy love,' the everlasting love of our Father, the 'exceeding great love of our Master and only Saviour,' the gracious, touching love of our Comforter. And the remembrance of all this love will include that of its grand act and proof, 'Thou shalt remember that....Jehovah thy God redeemed thee.'

Perhaps we know what it is to feel peculiarly weary-hearted and dispirited 'on our beds.' But when we say, O my God, my soul is cast down within me;' let us add at once, 'Therefore will I remember Thee.'

And what then? what comes of thus remembering Him? 'My soul' (yes, your soul) 'shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips: when I remember Thee upon my bed, and meditate on Thee in the night watches.' What can be a sweeter, fuller promise than this!---our heart's desire fulfilled in abundant satisfaction and joyful power of praise! Yet there is a promise sweeter and more thrilling still to the loving, longing heart. 'Thou meetest....those that remember Thee in Thy ways.' And so, this very night, as you put away the profitless musings and memories, and remember Him upon your bed, He will keep His word and meet you. The darkness shall be verily the shadow of His wing, for our feeble, yet Spirit-given remembrance, shall be met by His real and actual presence, for 'hath He said and shall He not do it? ' Let us pray that this night ' the desire of our soul' may be 'to Thy name, and to the remembrance of Thee.'

verses quoted : Psalm 17:3, 20:7, 77:10-11, Deut. 15:15, Psalm 42:6, 63:5-6

ack!

it has been so long since i posted, and we (hubby and i) have walked through SO much since i last posted! i am now Homeschooling our eldest child.... a  grand adventure!

I am hoping to schedule time to blog, but we shall have to see. so much growth has been happening too in our lives.

I am also going to be combining this blog with another one i do, to limit my stress :)  So, if you had followed The Frugal Year, it will now be here as well...

blessings!

"Do Thou for Me"

But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name's sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me. Psalm 109:21

I recently read a devotional from F.R. Havergal. It is from her excellent work Royal Bounty. I found myself praying it just last night, when i had reached the end of my own resources in many situations..."Do Thou for me, O GOD!" Below, the writings of Ms. Havergal, which were so challenging and inspiring...

Do Thou for Me.
'Do Thou for Me.' --Ps. cix. 21.

The Psalmist does not say what he wanted God to do for him. He leaves it open. So this most restful prayer is left open for all perplexed hearts to appropriate 'according to their several necessities.' And so we leave it open for God to fill up in His own way.

Only a trusting heart can pray this prayer at all: the very utterance of it is an act of faith. We could not ask any one whom we did not know intimately and trust implicitly to 'do' for us, without even suggesting what.

Only a self-emptied heart can pray it. It is when we have come to the end of our own resources, or rather, come to see that we never had any at all, that we are willing to accept the fact that we can 'do nothing,' and to let God do everything for us.

Only a loving heart can pray it For nobody likes another to take them and their affairs in hand, and 'do' for them, unless that other is cordially loved. We might submit to it, but we should not like it, and certainly should not seek it.

So, if we have caught at this little prayer as being just what we want, just what it seems a real rest to say, I think it shows that we do trust in Him and not in ourselves, and that we do love Him really and truly. There is sure to be a preface to this prayer. 'Neither know we what to do' (2Chron.20:12). Perhaps we have been shrinking from being brought to this. Rather let us give thanks for it. It is the step down from the drifting wreck on to the ladder still hanging at the side. Will another step be down into the dark water? Go on, a little lower still, fear not! The next is, 'We know not what we should pray for' (Rom. 8:26). Now we have reached the lowest step. What next? 'Do Thou for me.' This is the step into the Captain's boat. Now He will cut loose from the wreck of  our efforts, ladder and all will be left behind, and we have nothing to do but to 'sit still' and let Him take us to our 'desired haven,' probably steering quite a different course from anything we should have thought best. Not seldom 'immediately the ship is at the land whither' we went.  

  What may we, from His own word, expect in answer to this wide petition?

 1. 'What His soul desireth, even that He doeth' (Job 23:13). Contrast this with our constantly felt inability to do a hundredth part of what we desire to do for those we love. Think of what God's desires must be for us, whom He so loves, that He spared not His own Son.  'That He doeth!'

2. 'He performeth the thing that is appointed for me' (Job 23:14). This is wonderfully inclusive; one should read over all the epistles to get a view of the things present and future, seen and unseen, the grace and the glory that He has appointed for us. It includes also all the 'good works which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them.' It will not be our performance of them, but His; for He 'worketh in you to will and to do,' (Phil.2:13). and 'Thou also hast wrought all our works in us.' (Isa. 26:12).  

3. The beautiful old translations says, He 'shall perform the cause which I have in hand.' (Psalm 57:2<possibly the Geneva Bible>). Does not that make it very real to us to-day? Just the very thing that 'I have in hand,' my own particular bit of work to-day--this cause that I cannot manage, this thing that I undertook in miscalculation of my own power, this is what I may ask Him to do 'for me,' and rest assured that He will perform it.  'The wise and their works are in the hand of God!'

4. He 'performeth all things for me.' (Psalm 57:2). Does He mean as much as this? Well, He has caused it to be written for us 'that we might have hope;' (Romans 15:4) and what more do we want? Then let Him do it. Let Him perform all things for us.

Not some things, but all things; or the very things which we think there is no particular need fro Him to perform will be all failures--wood, hay, and stubble to be burnt up. One by one let us claim this wonderful word; 'the thing of a day in his day,' 'as the matter shall require,' being always brought to Him with the God-given petition, "Do Thou for me.'

Do not wait to feel very much 'oppressed' before you say, 'O Lord, undertake for me.' (Isaiah 38:14).  Far better say that at first than at last, as we have too often done! Bring the prayer in one hand, and the promises in the other, joining them in the faith-clasp of 'Do as Thou hast said!' (2 Samuel 8:2). And put both the hands into the hand of Him whom the Father heareth always, saying, 'Do Thou for me, O Lord God, for Thy name's sake,' for the sake of Jehovah-Jesus, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, yet the Saviour of sinners.  

It was long...but wasn't it worth the read? i now find myself crying out..."Do Thou for me, O Lord, my God!!"

With All Your Heart

last time, we looked at the first four words of Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the LORD...". What an amazing 4 words, and how challenging they can be for us to live out.

today, we turn to the rest of Proverbs 3:5 "...with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding."

with all your heart. 
ALL.
holding nothing back.
fully, totally, utterly.
not just in part, but in whole.

if you are anything like me, maybe you would say that you do trust Him with ALL your heart. but then maybe you find yourself trying to figure your way out of a situation that is impossible.
or you worry.
ouch.
it says "Trust in the LORD with ALL your heart..."
there is no room for worry or anxiety there. not if we TRULY trust Him, with ALL our hearts.

if there is anxiety or worry after we have given it all over to Jesus, we need to pray for the Holy Spirit to show us where we are not trusting, to show us where in our heart are we not letting Him be Lord...

1 Peter 5:7 says this:  "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."
we aren't supposed to just cast a little bit of our care on Him...NO! ALL of our cares on Him, and then TRUST Him with ALL our hearts to work it out according to His will, because He cares for us. What a precious promise from His most excellent Word. and because we know that He cares for us, we need not lean on our own way of doing things, our own understanding of a situation, on our own wisdom (or what we think is our wisdom). HE cares for us. HE see's the big picture. HE is caring for us in His most perfect way.

i am working through this. being pruned. most definitely. and it hurts, but it is good, and necessary for growth.

may we embrace and trust the Lord Jesus Christ with ALL our hearts this day.

Who Do You Trust

"Trust in the LORD..." So starts Proverbs 3:5. And that is as far as we are gonna get today.

i wonder, who do you trust? i mean, really trust? Who do you go to when things are going south, real quick? Lately i have been asking myself these questions. and not really liking the answers.

i propose to all of us, that the first thing we need to do when things are going south is to go to our Father in heaven, who is ALWAYS (and i mean ALWAYS) there. If i lean into this verse, just the first 4 words, i realize that i need to show i have put my trust in Him by going to Him in any and every situation. Hmmm.

One of the marks of Christianity is our trust in Jesus Christ, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. That He will lead, guide, redeem, restore, forgive, sustain. When we look to other things, or people, we show that we don't truly trust Him with our everything.

Why can we trust Christ?

Francis Havergal writes:

Ye belong to Christ. Mark 9:41

There is no vague and general belonging to Christ. This relationship is full of specific realities. "I am Thine" means, "Truly I am Thy servant. I am one of Thy dear children. I am Thy chosen soldier. I am Thy ransomed one. I am Thy own sheep. I am Thy witness. I am Thy Friend." And all these are but Amens to His own condescending declarations. He says we are all these, and we have only to say, "Yes, Lord, so I am." Why should we ever contradict Him?

"I am Thy friend." wow...if we truly believed that, we would go to Him FIRST in everything that pops up in our day. We can trust Him. Has He ever shown Himself other than Faithful and True, Trustworthy?

"Trust in the LORD" is what we must do, dear ones. We need to go to Jesus first with all of our hurts and sorrows, as well as with all of our joys and hopes. and we must go to Him BEFORE we go to the phone, facebook, email, or twitter. Let Him soothe. We will find ourselves refreshed. We will find that our tongues are less quick to spew out poisonous darts. We will find our TRUE PEACE.

So, Dear One, lets trust in the LORD, for He has said that we belong to Him, and we know that He is completely trustworthy (even with those very delicate areas of our hearts).

Now You're Talkin'

i have been sitting in some stuff lately. pondering, really. thinkin' about what gets my time. my energy. my thoughts.

know what i discovered?

i think about a lot of stuff i don't need to think about! 

i read a devotional book called Unopened Treasures by the late Francis Ridley Havergal. She is one gifted writer! seriously on the level with Spurgeon, in a woman's world.

she has been talking about Trust. Worry. Being kept by Christ.

 Oh.My.Stars.

Can we say.....MAJOR CONVICTION ?!?!



i could just post her thoughts. let you sit in it too. but as i sit, i am processing. i am thinking. i am praying.

and wouldn't you know, the sermon on Sunday was ALL.ABOUT. TRUST.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding; 
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths. 

~Proverbs 3:5-6

this verse was the topic Sunday. Now we're talkin'!! there will be more to come....i promise. but i leave you with the above verse to ponder. 



Belonging

So, we celebrated 14 years of marriage yesterday. Wow...quite a feat these days, if i do say so myself. We spent a wonderful afternoon, visiting old haunts, chatting, eating, and laughing. Sharing future dreams. My sweet man opened up about things he had been thinking about doing, and was surprised at my enthusiasm and joy in his prospects!

Over dessert, we talked (i talked) about my own "stuff", and i can honestly say, that for the first time in my life, i feel like i belong somewhere. For my entire life i have chased after this deep-seated desire to belong. OH, what lengths we go to in order to "fit in" as you say!

i know that i belong and have belonging with Christ Jesus.

But don't we all long to belong on the personal level too? i know i have. and i have jumped through hoops, people-pleased, sacrificed, etc. in order to belong.

Last night was wonderful. Affirming. Full of faithfulness, trust, and openness. i know i belong. i know i am loved. i know i can finally stop striving, and just rest.

Rest in the love my husband has for me. Rest in the place of belonging. Rest in Christ.

AH!! What joy there is when you can finally take a deep breath, without fear, trusting in the faithfulness of a love so true.