From a Past Post (2006) But I Needed It Today.

By Elisabeth Elliot
When there is deep misunderstanding which has led to the erection of barriers between two who once were close, every day brings the strengthening of those barriers if they are not, by God's grace, breached. One prays and finds no way at all to break through. Love seems to "backfire" every time. Explanations become impossible. New accusations arise, it seems, from nowhere (though it is well to recall who is named the Accuser of the brethren). The situation becomes ever more complex and insoluble, and the mind goes round and round, seeking the place where things went wrong, brooding over the words which were like daggers, regretting the failures and mistakes, wondering (most painfully) how it could have been different. Much spiritual and emotional energy is drained in this way--but the Lord wants to teach us to commit, trust, and rest.

"Leave him to me this afternoon," is what his word is. "There is nothing else that I am asking of you this afternoon but that: leave him to Me. You cannot fathom all that is taking place. You don't need to. I am at work--in you, in him. Leave him to Me. Some day it will come clear--trust Me."

"Humble yourselves under God's mighty hand, and he will lift you up in due time. Cast all your cares on Him, for you [and the other] are his charge" (l Pt 5:7).
=========

Changing the Bible

Removing words out of the Bible
and making it sound
the way we want it to,
is like children telling
their parents
how to raise them.

~B

This Too Shall Pass

{Hat-tip: Food for the Body, Mind and Soul Blog.}

If I can endure for this minute
Whatever is happening to me,
No matter how heavy my heart is
Or how dark the moment may be-

If I can remain calm and quiet
With all the world crashing about me,
Secure in the knowledge God loves me
When everyone else seems to doubt me-

If I can but keep on believing
What I know in my heart to be true,
That darkness will fade with the morning
And that this will pass away, too-

Then nothing in life can defeat me
For as long as this knowledge remains
I can suffer whatever is happening
For I know God will break all of the chains

That are binding me tight in the darkness
And trying to fill me with fear-
For there is no night without dawning
And I know that my morning is near.

Helen Steiner Rice

Home-Edukatin'

I just don't know how to do it all , Lord.

Home-schooling gets set to the side when life gets in the way.

We did meals on wheels on Monday and then paper-route.

We did babysitting for a womens group on Tuesday; piano lessons and then a band boosters fundraiser.

Now today is here and I have to work. I just don't know how to keep up right now.

One lesson has been done this week--nothing else--but my kids learned how to smile and talk to the elderly, earn money, work hard, take care of small children, play an instrument, and help serve food to others, do laundry, wash dishes, and draw self-portraits...all in two days.

So, what looks like an incredible education to me, might look like no education to anyone else.

Sometimes, this is just how our life is--it's educational--but not educational.

Help me figure this all out, Lord. I don't know how to balance it all.

Once in a while we just have one of those weeks.....

~B

Evidence of Fingerprints.

I found these photos on a news channel.

Amazing.

These simple snowflakes speak to me.

People say that you didn't create me.

People say that you didn't make all of this-that's it's all random.

People say that we have no purposes-- that life is meaningless.

I could go on and on--but I'll save that for another time.

They can't see Your fingerprints--but I can.

~B

I Hate Stupid.

I was supposed to do a "Meals on Wheels" thing today for the elderly.

I wrote down 11:50am instead of 10:50am...... I was there an hour late.....

and the friend who asked me to do this was there packing up the stuff to take to the people.....

I hate it when things like this happen.

I hate it.

~B

Divorce

Divorce packs a painful punch, I know this, and I'm not even from a family that has parents that are divorced.....

It's a cycle that's hard to break.

It teaches that when a spouse doesn't match up to what we want from them, that we just leave.

It teaches non-commitment.

It teaches that love is conditional.

It makes the children on edge: Will Mommy still love me if I don't match up to what she wants from me?

It teaches children to think that it's their fault.

Grow up, peoples. Divorce isn't the answer.

No wonder God hates it.

Hate is a pretty strong word from the creator of the Universe.

~B

DUIN: 'Narnia' drifts from its vision - Washington Times

DUIN: 'Narnia' drifts from its vision - Washington Times

Interesting article...... I would rather they not make anymore Narnia movies, then to change the ultimate message that Lewis had in these beautiful books--what's the point of changing something that's perfect?

And anyways--there's ALWAYS Radio Theater!!!! (Which stay remarkably close to the book).

If you haven't tried radio theater--you NEED to NOW!
(Especially if you have children or time on your hands.)

~B

The Finality of It All

Dear Lost,

How can you do this to me? Our relationship is so new.

I discovered you just a few years ago and have been crazily devouring you on abc.com the day after your episodes air.

Nights have been spent consuming way too much ice cream and sitting and screaming at the DVD player when it wouldn't work {we were borrowing Season Five from my nephew}.

Now, you have let me know, that it is the last part of our relationship; the winter, if you will.

We will voraciously eat you up every Tuesday at my Mom's house since we are too smart to have cable, yet to dumb to figure out how to make the freakin' "gov't" tv box work.

This is a bittersweet time.

Will Juliet and Sawyer ever be the same--(I like him so much more in the 70's).

Will Jack grow that incredibly ugly fake beard again?

Will Kate ever stop wearing "wife-beaters" when she's on the island? (What's with their clothes staying mostly nice anyway???)

Will John Locke ever STOP driving me nuts (I can't stand him!)

And oh, my precious Sa'id--wilt thou stop shooting people (I mean, come on, man--enough's enough).

It's all too much.

And that hobbit guy.... Charlie.

And Desmond.

And, and--hopefully I'll never have to see Ethan EVER again.

But, how will I ever live without my Hugo---he's mine forever.

So, for now, It's a bitter farewell....

don't go screwing up their futures too much, ABC.


~B

I I Love Surprises (good ones).

The necklaces you see here are
my favorites (for the time being)....

I purchased the turquoise one from
a Thailand Women's group called "Narimon"
and
I
received
the other necklace with my
"name" on it from
Julie-the-fish designs (etsy)
(it was a blog give-away).

What a simple pleasure.

~B

My Heart is in Haiti.

I am hurting.

I have a dear Haitian friend that I took care of for about 6 or 7 months that's in her 60's, that lives in Port-Au-Prince.

Her name is Julia.

I know that she didn't get crushed in the earthquake, but I don't know much more.

She has diabetes.

She had a stroke about a year ago.

And I look at those pictures, and I wonder how she'll get the help that she needs.

And then I lay in bed at night, and I think: Take Julia and mulitply it by the thousands.

And all I can do is sit in my beautiful house in my beautiful clothes and do nothing.

Nothing.

But the Lord has reassured me that I can pray.



And pray.

And pray.

And you should pray too.

~B

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love this time of the year--Christmas week.

My hubby is usually home for the week after the Holidays and I love it.

We stay up late laughing.

We do projects.

We make good food.

Sometimes we don't make food at all= cereal.

We go sledding.

We sometimes go to a movie.

We just bum.

It's LUXURIOUS.

It's b e a u t i f u l.

It's pure family.

It's wonderful to have him around-he brings SO very much to the dynamic of this family.

Thank you, Hubby, for it all!!

And, Lord, with all gratefulness, thank you for this beautiful slice of life.

~B

But Emily, It Wasn't All Good-I was Awkward and Still Had Some Hard Feelings.

We had the family Christmas today.

It was so awkward--Did the other people feel that way too?

When we walked in, it seemed like everyone had gotten into a huge fight and they were pretending that they hadn't. Or like they had just gotten back from a funeral.

My one daughter asked me innocently, "Why is everyone so grumpy here? Only L and R seemed to be happy." I told her that I thought that maybe something had gone horribly wrong before we came.

I am comfortable with "L", she smiles when she sees us and seems to forgive me when I act stupid.... but I have my guard so up when I am there with everyone else, that I just feel like a B*@#$.

I want to get to know the people that I don't get to see very often, but I don't know how.....

I just feel--guarded.

How can I stop feeling so guarded when I am there?

Hi, My name is "B", we met when your (son, nephew, cousin, grandson) was about 15. Could we try to meet again? I am sure that if I would meet you now, that then we wouldn't have preconceived notions about one another--we could just be--friends. Really, I'm not a B!@#$, I love to laugh and have fun and I'm not so darn serious like you assume that I am.....Let's get to know each other again?? And by the way, sorry that our paths have been so--sticky."

~B

Trimming the Pine

The day after Thanksgiving has become, thanks to our children,

a holiday almost bigger than Christmas.

The Christmas music is played while the boys go into the attic and grab all the Christmas boxes.
While the girls wait and wait and watch and giggle for that magical box to appear:
See, an ornament is bought for each child the day after Christmas.
They get a chance to see it as soon as I get home--
but then it is packed away for a whole year,
until the time comes that they can actually hang it up-
-the next day after Thanksgiving.


There's the fairy that looks a lot like one of my girls in fairy-form.

The motorcycle that my son at one time wished he could ride.

That marvelous door to Narnia in tribute to all the precious Radio Theaters to which we listen.

The one that my daughter loves because her name means Dove.

The one that we have two of--one for each twin.
(Click on the picture--the details are great!)

The wonder.
The TRUE and genuine excitement about the small things.

And it is topped off with the rest of the afternoon with my little girls playing "fairies" by their beloved Christmas tree.

Ahh, Christmas.
Only Christ could have thought of this.

~B

The Goal of this Adventure.

The goal of this adventure is to glorify Him.

A goal of this adventure is to have a strong Christ-Loving family.

A goal is to have love so strong, that we can be openly angry with each-other,
and listen to each-others wants and needs.

A goal of this adventure is to realize that you need to be strapped in tight
in the roller-coaster of life.

And to hold each-others hands when we get scared, or frustrated or hurt.

When I picture this family of six,
I picture them trying hard to honor Christ-
even though they will all fail
-parents included.

When I look at the goal,
I see Heaven.

Oh Father, please guide us through the rocky terrain of life.
Help us to lift our worries to you....
our pains to you,
our happinesses to you.

All to You!

Please help us reach that goal=
Only You are strong enough to carry us there.

~B

Question Suggestions?

So, the host of this Christmas party wrote me telling me how much we are welcome there on the 28th and asking if we are coming so that they know how much food to prepare----I so know that she's quickly trying to fix this--but how do I deal with it? I want to just ignore it and pretend like it's not there.

Suggestions?

I mean, really..... I could use some right now.

~B

As Emily Would Say: "It's All Good".

I spent the night praying about it and it's all good.

My hubby made me see that this is just how these people deal with certain situations (like us). ;0)

It's okay. Really. It's not a big deal that this part of that family didn't get invited.

He thinks it's because we have "religious convictions", I think it's because they didn't know where to put six more people.

It's all okay.

One of these days, we'll sit down and have a nice little chat with these people and work it all out--because the bible says that we are to figure things out to make peace with each other (MAJOR paraphrase).

I just decided to not even address it with the hosts, just ignore it like it never happened, and then if the subject comes up again, we'll address it.

No sweat.

Right? :)

Well, there's a few strange feelings here, but it's all good--with my hubby at my side, I can figure this one out without them.

~B

What is Going On?

When my children were very, very young (4,2,2 and newborn) a relative had told us that they were having family over, but that we weren't invited because there were now 6 of us and could we possibly come after dinner because it was just too many people to feed.

I was astounded and hurt and dumb-founded... I told that person that they have to remember that we are FAMILY and that they had no right to tell us that because we were now six people that we took up too much food/too much space (and how much do a 4 year old, two 2 year olds and a NEWBORN eat anyway--last time I checked--not very much.....). I told them that we are family and that they should be happy that we are part of their family--and a bunch of other stuff that probably never stuck to their heads. Oh well--it's all in the past.

So, today, a friendly family member asked if they would see us over Christmas, and I said- Yes, of course we will see each other because we will be there on the 25th--then sad confusion from the other person saying that they are celebrating Christmas with the family on the 28th and not the 25th..... I told them that they just must not have told us yet....

But now, I got an e-mail from the family that is having everyone over--and they said that they realized that this friendly family member accidentally let us know about the "other" Christmas get-together and how welcome we are to come, and how of course they want us over and how they just figured that my husband had to work anyway....which he never does because he takes a week of vacation that week (and he has been doing that for YEARS--and if they would think about it they would soon realize that they know that.....).

So, anyway--I guess I shouldn't be surprised--we are SIX people, you know--and we eat A LOT of food--I guess.......

But, now I have this issue of dealing with the frustration and anger about it all and I came here to blog, but scared to blog at the same time because the friendly family member is the only one in our families allowed to read it, and I don't want them to feel bad, and I don't want any others of the family to know how I'm feeling......

The thing that really BITES is that my Hubby has a sibling and I absolutely DO NOT think that they would have excluded HIM and his family (this isn't his siblings fault.... it's just that they have two less kids??? Or maybe they eat less, or they're more sociable, etc????)

Oh well. I absolutely can't be surprised- we go through junk to shape and mold our hearts and the Lord must need me to learn who I am and how I need to respond. I would really like to respond in a very hurtful and mean way--but the harness of the Lord is on my neck, at least for the moment{if I don't decide to suddenly and furiously rip it off).

Satan would like nothing more than for this to become a hurtful and bitter battle and all I can do is sit in my Father's lap and hurt while He holds me and helps me sort it all out.

{{Hug}} to the friendly family member--this post is just between us, okay?

~B

Again, Please Pray.

Here is a picture from over a year ago of the Arnold family. Deron, in the yellow, passed away on the 8th of November; now today-the 27th-Sharon passed away.

In the middle of the picture is the woman that we need to pray for--the only one left in her family: her name is Dawn. In one month, she has lost her only brother and her only mother. Her father died over ten years ago.

Please pray for comfort for her and her child and her husband.

Also please pray for comfort for Deron's widow, Jan.




~B

Happy Blessed Thanksgiving!!!

~B