Imperishable Beauty

Another beautiful Puritan Prayer. May your heart rejoice in God today and may you be blessed by His grace and glory.

Consecration and Worship

My God, I feel it is heaven to please Thee, and to be what Thou wouldst have me be. O that I were holy as Thou art holy, pure as Christ is pure, perfect as Thy Spirit is perfect! These, I feel, are the best commands in Thy Book, and shall I break them? must I break them? am I under such a necessity as long as I live here?
Woe, woe is me that I am a sinner, that I grieve this blessed God, who is infinite in goodness and grace! O if He would punish me for my sins, it would not would my heart so deep to offend Him; But though I sin continually, He continually repeats His kindness to me.
At times I feel I could bear any suffering, but how can I dishonour this glorious God? What shall I do to glorify and worship this best of beings? O that I could consecrate my soul and body to His service, without restraint, for ever! O that I could give myself up to Him, so as never more to attempt to be my own! or have any will or affections that are not perfectly conformed to His will and His love! But, alas, I cannot live and not sin.
O may angels glorify Him incessantly, and, if possible, prostrate themselves lower before the blessed King of heaven! I long to bear a part with them in ceaseless praise; but when I have done all I can to eternity I shall not be able to offer more than a small fraction of the homage that the glorious God deserves. Give me a heart full of divine, heavenly love.

The Story of Me is the first book in a series by Stan and Brenna Jones called God’s Design for Sex. This book for ages 3 to 5, with lovingly written dialogue and soft, appealing illustrations, explains how life is created and how babies are born as a young boy asks his parents to tell him the story about when he was born. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been thinking about my children a lot lately, about how I’m not only teaching them, but how God is teaching me through them. He teaches me about patience, love, sacrifice, mercy, pride, trust, faith, sin, joy… I’m sure there is even more than that.

• God thank you for my children, each unique and wonderful in their individual ways.
• Thank you for my Princess who teaches me about compassion and loving life.
• Thank you for my Drama Queen who teaches me about patience and adventure.
• Thank you for my Little Prince who teaches me about providence and joy.
• Thank you, God, for showing me the blessings of children, the joys of motherhood, and the wonder of life.
• Thank you, God, for revealing to me that teaching them is more about you teaching my spirit than it is about me teaching them through books.
• Thank you for also teaching me that teaching them is more about training them in character and teaching them about You.
• Thank you for drawing Princess to you as your child, and I pray you’ll do the same for the other two.
• Thank you, God, for every blessing.

Thankful Thursday hosted by Sting My Heart

Welcome to Wednesday Link Love!

I ride the internet wave, searching for good information and discarding the rest. See what caught my attention this week.

• Tales From The Crib asks “How old is to old to let your child see you naked?”
• Waycross, Georgia: A group of third-graders plotted to attack their teacher…
• Two Year Old reciting the Lord’s Prayer
• Men Who Do Housework May Get More Sex
• And then read this one about Redheads.
• Tot Shocks Parents By Reading

Before Spring Break we had a scare here at our house. A scare that taught me a valuable lesson, and reminded me of some infallible truths.

We live in the country, and while I was making lunch my three children were playing outside together. I keep the doors and one eye open while they do, but in one brief moment Little Prince had followed a big sister who went too far and then wandered down the long driveway and into the county road.

In a terrifying moment I heard Princess screaming for me at the end of the driveway and hollering for Little Prince to come back because a car was coming. As I flew out the door towards my baby, I couldn’t see him through the trees that line the road on either side of the driveway, I couldn’t see the car, I knew nothing.. except that my baby was in danger.

Read the rest of this entry »

Amy Jane at Untangling Tales writes a fabulous analogy between sin and dirty diapers, and encourages us to remember our iniquity and how detestable it is to God every time we have to change one. Read more here. Personally, I thought it was a great analogy and a good reminder. (Even if analogies do break down at some point!)

Proverbs 6:16-19 There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

It’s been a little quieter around here than I said it would be. Mainly because as I’m re-thinking things and deciding exactly what I want to do.. I’ve decided that I want to start some of these features on a monthly basis and then perhaps move to a weekly basis later. Also,… MAN coming up with good interview questions is HARD! A lot harder than I thought it would be. So I’m still working on that. But in the meantime, still taking nominations so nominate away!!

I love Puritan Prayers.. the way they were written, the words they use, the thoughts and feelings they express. They’re beautiful.

Longings after God

My dear Lord, I can but tell Thee that Thou knowest I long for nothing but Thyself, nothing but holiness, nothing but union with Thy will. Thou hast given me these desires, and thou alone canst give me the thing desired. My soul longs for communion with Thee, for mortification of indwelling corruption, especially spiritual pride. How precious it is to have a tender sense and clear apprehension of the mystery of godliness, of true holiness! What a blessedness to be like Thee as much as it is possible for a creature to be like its creator! Lord, give me more of Thy likeness; enlarge my soul to contain fullness of holiness; engage me to live more for Thee. Help me to be less pleased with my spiritual experiences, and when I feel at ease after sweet communings, teach me it is far too little I know and do. Blessed Lord, let me climb up near to Thee, and love, and long, and plead, and wrestle with Thee, and pant for deliverance from the body of sin, for my heart is wandering and lifeless, and my soul mourns to think it should ever lose sight of its beloved. Wrap my life in divine love, and keep me ever desiring Thee, always humble and resigned to Thy will, more fixed on Thyself, that I may be more fitted for doing and-suffering.

We had a great time visiting my family over the weekend! I still miss my mom living so closely, but I’m so happy for her that they are doing so well down there. I know that she is right where God wants her. Nonetheless, I look forward to the next visit!!

• Thank you God for overseeing our steps and leading us in your will.
• Thank you God for providing through every circumstance, even tough transitions.
• Thank you God for your amazing grace and blessings!
• Thank you God for the opportunity to visit with my family and have a good time of fellowship with them.
• Thank you God for all that you do in our lives, seen and unseen!!

Thankful Thursday hosted by Sting My Heart. I love the scripture in her post for this week!!

My children and I will be spending the next four days here at my mother’s house. In addition to celebrating Easter together, we’ll be celebrating Drama Queen’s 5th birthday on Monday, before returning home on Tuesday.

Although I may still pop in for some blog time, I’ll mainly be spending time with my family.

I encourage each of you to spend some quality time with your family this weekend, celebrating Christ and his resurrection together.

God Bless!