A Valentines Gift to our Children

Dear Christie and Joel,

We are so blessed to have you as children. On this Valentine's Day we wanted to share some thoughts with you. At this stage in life we no longer make you heart-shaped pancakes to celebrate the day or write you little valentine cards, but the one thing we have done since before your birth and continue to do to this day is to love each other. We've always felt that our relationships with God and each other are two of the most important gifts we could give you.

To celebrate the day this year, Dad and I went out for breakfast with friends of ours. We talked about things we appreciate in our spouses. One thing that comes to my mind over and over about Dad is how he seeks to be my biggest fan. He knows my faults better than anyone on earth, but, honestly, he never mentions them. It's not that he's dishonest, for you know the words "Russ" and "integrity" are practically synonymous. It's that he chooses to overlook my weaknesses knowing that I'm my worst critic and don't really need someone else telling me what I need to work on. Instead of talking to others about my faults, he talks to God about them.

In true iron-sharpens-iron style, he shares with me my blind spots when necessary, but he never brings up my obvious faults. This is true when talking to others about me and when talking to me directly. Because he's a truth-teller, I'm a better person for knowing him. Because he's become a gracious man, I have joy deep in my soul that comes from being completely loved and accepted.

You've probably heard it said that building a relationship is like putting money in a bank. Every kind, uplifting, and helpful word is a deposit. Every negative word is a withdrawal. Christie, as you anticipate entering marriage this summer and Joel, as you develop your relationship with your wife, I encourage you to be like Dad...full of grace and truth.

Happy Valentine's Day,
Mum

Welcoming 2015

Do you make New Year's resolutions? I usually do. This year instead of resolutions, I decided on three things I'd like to focus on throughout 2015. Already I've found concentrating on thankfulness, Scripture meditation, and organization is enriching my life in fresh ways.


Thankfulness
My whole life has been blessed. Every direction I turn there are causes for thanksgiving. I love how The Message in Lamentations 3:22-24 says:
God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left.

It's not like my life is simple and trouble-free, but it's blessed because God is with me. Each morning when I wake up after saying "Good morning," to Russ, I've been verbalizing aloud several things I'm thankful for and then writing them in my little thanksgiving book. It's not an original idea, but one you may recognize from Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts. My desire is to make thanksgiving the first words out of my mouth hopefully setting the tone for the day and blessing Russ at the same time.

Scripture Meditation
As an educational consultant, I often talk to parents about the power of copywork. I decided to put my own advice to heart and have been handwriting out verses. My thought is to meditate on one verse per month. I've already memorized my January verse Proverbs 20:24 (Contemporary English Version). How can we know what will happen to us when the LORD alone decides? It's short, I know, but I've had a mental block against memorizing anything new for a few years now, so I'm grateful. Copying out a verse before breakfast takes very little time and again it helps my focus for the day.

Organization
Those of you who know me well, may laugh at this one. The general opinion of those who know me is that I have an organizational bent. While that's true, some health issues in the last year have made this especially challenging for me. I've finally found some help with my health concerns and my mind is clearing up. I'm deeply grateful to the Lord for giving me my mind back! Now I have some work to do to make up for all the disarray that crept in past the organization guards while brain fog kept me less than vigilant.

What's for Supper, God?

 Yesterday I was unsettled in my spirit. I’ve been having skin problems and psoriatic arthritis that I am trying to treat with eating the right foods. I know there is a food connection, but I’m having a difficult time figuring out the fine details. I have become obsessed with food. I've spent hours pouring over recipes and articles. It is so hard to know how to cook because there's an extensive list of foods to avoid and I'm not positive of what’s good for my body and what doesn't work for me. I’ve done a lot of research, but not everyone agrees and of course we are each made uniquely so what works for one person doesn't work for another. As I was driving home from the grocery store the Holy Spirit spoke to me. He pointed out that I’ve been spending way more time worrying about what to eat than spending time with Him even though my times of communing with God recently have been especially rich. This realization was a wake up call.

I came home, put away the groceries and went straight to my Bible. I read the part in the Lord’s Prayer that asks God to give us our daily bread. I have always thought of that as praying for God to tangibly provide for our needs. Today when I read the phrase, I realized I could trust God for ideas, to tell me what to fix each day. My organized nature wanted a whole week’s worth of menus, but God asked me to be content with Him telling me what to cook for my next meal. I instantly had an idea of how to modify a recipe I really enjoy. I only had one idea, not a lot of ideas. I decided to thank the Lord for that idea for supper and as much as possible not to think about food anymore that day trusting God to give me another idea the next day. (He did! Menu ideas yesterday and today came to mind without stress or searching and the food was delicious too.)

I have a Bible study I'm working through that pointed me to Psalm 73. As I read it, I was comforted to know that God will hold my hand (v.23) and give me guidance (v.24). v.25 says the earth has nothing I desire besides God. I’ve been obsessively desiring menu plans for the week and God wants me to desire Him and let Him help me with meal planning. I’m ready to take refuge in God! (v.28)


Psalm 73: 21-28 New Living Translation
21 Then I realized that my heart was bitter,
    and I was all torn up inside.
22 I was so foolish and ignorant—
    I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.
23 Yet I still belong to you;
    you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
    leading me to a glorious destiny.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
    I desire you more than anything on earth.
26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
    but God remains the strength of my heart;
    he is mine forever.
27 Those who desert him will perish,
    for you destroy those who abandon you.
28 But as for me, how good it is to be near God!
    I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter,
    and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.

It's quite likely you aren't obsessing about menu plans, but maybe there's something else that keeps you from desiring Him more than anything. Let's join the author of the psalm, Asaph, in choosing to make God our deepest desire.