An open letter to the people of the gym

What housework is really about

Encourage one another

To be everything to someone

Making a marriage last

Monday was a day off from work for Hombre. This is always an exciting treat. And since I wasn't on top of it and made no plans for a big unit study of Martin Luther King, we decided to have a little getaway.

Only about an hour of driving and we found someplace "educational" to take a hike and enjoy some beautiful warm weather!

I love that right now my girls are young enough they still think field trips like this are really exciting. They ran around drawing pictures of everything they saw.

After our time of exploring we found a park with a nice big shade tree that was perfect for a picnic.

Then we got to wander through some antique stores in a nearby town. It was thrilling to realize our kids are getting big enough this is something we can all do together.  

Of course, I came home with some books. Because I just can't help it.

It was a wonderful holiday! Quiet, simple, full of sunshine, exercise, and beautiful views. Perfect.

Ideas to Beat Cabin Fever and the Winter Blues

The Only Place to Really Live

Tetelestai

love:tattoo

Kept all along

If Your Resolutions are Already Mocking You

There's this truth in God's Word that has been firmly impressed on my heart over the last couple of years: Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Not the circumstances. 

The first time I got a real clear picture of this was in a reference I was reading to the account of Peter walking on the water. He looked at Jesus and he stepped out and walked. And he was fine. And then he looked down at the water. And he started to sink. But if he kept his eyes on Jesus, he was fine.

I have been learning slowly, and somewhat painfully, the discipline of fixing your eyes on Jesus. Focusing on His love, His power, His control. Not letting myself by pulled down by circumstances.

It is a lesson that has to be learned over and over and over again.

Sometimes I think I've got it down. No problem. Jesus is in control. Who cares about the circumstances.

But sometimes the circumstances are too big. They are dark and loud and the light of Jesus seems distant and quiet. The circumstances crowd my field of vision in such a way that they suffocate me. I gasp for a breath of hope and it is sucked away from me by the all-consuming vision of hopelessness. 

Recently I encountered circumstances of this sort.

Something that seems too awful to endure. Something that seems beyond repair. A dead-end of sorrow.

I went to bed burdened by sorrow, and woke to the same.

I had a full day starting early and needed to get moving, but for whatever reason I took the time to read the girls their morning Bible story. And God lifted my eyes to see past the darkness.

The Israelites were on their exodus out of Egypt, and realized that Pharaoh was coming to take them back….

What were God's people going to do? In front of them was a big sea. It was so big there was no way around it. But there was no way through it– it was too deep. They didn't have any boats so they couldn't sail across. And they couldn't swim across because it was too far and they would drown. And they couldn't turn back because Pharaoh was chasing them. They could see the flashing swords now, glinting in the baking sun, and the dust clouds, and chariot after scary chariot surging towards them. So they did the only thing there was left to do — PANIC!
"We're going to die!" they shrieked.
"Don't be afraid!" Moses said.
"But there's nothing we can do!" they screamed.
"God knows you can't do anything!" Moses said. "God will do it for you. Trust him. And watch!"
"But there's no way out!" they cried.
"God will make a way!" Moses said.
Another minute and it would have been over.
But then the strangest thing happened.
God made the pillar of smoke move. It moved behind his people and hid them from the Egyptians. Then God sent a strong east wind to blow all night long. It blew the water on the big sea. It blew it to the left and it blew it to the right, until it blew it into two towering walls of water, and there –right through the middle of the sea — a muddy pathway opened up and God's people walked across on dry land!

(taken from The Jesus Storybook Bible)

Reading this child's version of an event I've read about a million times, God impressed on my heart the truth that all the darkness was hiding from me:

The God I worship is not subject to circumstances.

He holds them all fully in His control.

And when we are in the moments or the seasons when the Red Sea is on one side and Pharaoh and his army are on the other, we are in the perfect place to see His power. We cannot fully appreciate how God "holds" our lives, until our lives are utterly in His hands. 

Whether His rescue comes now or later, we have already been rescued.  Hope is ours.

And until the waters are parted, there is rest in His promise:

 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; 
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. 
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, 
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
Isaiah 43:2