Some Things Just Fit

A cold, rainy day and a good book.
Sweet Tarts and a Coke go with Star Wars;
   Reese's Pieces go with E.T.;
      A pot of tea and shortbread cookies go with Lord of the Rings.
Marshmallows and a campfire.
Popsicles and a hot summer day.
The beach and coconut scented tanning lotion/sunblock.

A Godly life and persecution 2 Timothy 3:12
Dying and Salvation Mark 8:34, John 12:24-25
Love and giving Mark 10:21; 2 Thessalonians 2:16; 1 John 3:1
Hope and Jesus Christ Colossians 1:27; Hebrews 3:6; 1 Peter 1:3

Motion Sick

Have you ever had motion sickness from swinging? I have, and let me tell you- It's not fun. You can be left queasy for days even after you get off.

Today, my spirit is motion sick: The swing of religion has made me sick to my stomach, but I just can't get off. Why? It's name is Salvation, and the two extremes are Faith Alone and Faith + Works. The problem they have is also the same as a swing's- you can't stay up on either side indefinitely. This debate which has been going on for thousands of years will most certainly not be fully explored in this tiny blog post, but I do want to give you a quick summary:

We are saved by the grace of God through our faith in Jesus Christ alone, but our works are evidence of what we believe.

Ephesians 2:8-9 sums this up easily. If you believe the Bible, you have to believe what it says.
For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift— not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation—created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them. (Emphasis Mine)

Our works do not save us and they never will. Our works should come from the overflowing love and gratitude we have for what Jesus Christ has done for us. If there are no works, the question becomes, Are you not grateful enough to do something about it?

If I told my child I loved them, but never took any time to clean their clothes, cook their food, talk for hours, help with homework, cuddle them, or play Sorry! for the millionth time, would they know that I truly love them? What evidence would they have?

Even Jesus had something to say about this;
 ⁴³ "A good tree doesn't produce bad fruit; on the other hand, a bad tree doesn't produce good fruit. ⁴⁴ For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs aren't gathered from thornbushes, or grapes picked from a bramble bush. ⁴⁵ A good man produces good out of the good storeroom of his heart. An evil man produces evil out of the evil storeroom, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.

   

 ⁴⁶ "Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and don't do the things I say? ⁴⁷ I will show you what someone is like who comes to Me, hears My words, and acts on them: ⁴⁸ He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the river crashed against that house and couldn't shake it, because it was well built. ⁴⁹ But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The river crashed against it, and immediately it collapsed. And the destruction of that house was great!"
Luke 6:43-49


The point is, your life needs to be evident to those around you that it belongs to Jesus Christ. 


Is it?


*For another great Scripture passage on this read James 2.

The Nerve...

This is amazing! Watch the video then make sure and read the following verses. How beautiful and intricate is His intelligent design: LIFE. We are a testimony down to our nerves!!

How can we even dare to say our heart and words are not connected?

My words [come from] my upright heart,
    and my lips speak what they know with sincerity.
Job 33:3


May the words of my mouth
    and the meditation of my heart
    be acceptable to You,
    LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 19:14


When I was a son with my father,

    tender and precious to my mother,
    he taught me and said:
    "Your heart must hold on to my words.
    Keep my commands and live.
    Get wisdom, get understanding;
    don't forget or turn away from the words of my mouth.
Proverbs 4:3-5


A wise heart instructs its mouth
    and increases learning with its speech.
Proverbs 16:23


But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a man. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies. These are the things that defile a man, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a man."
Matthew 15:18-20

People Are Awesome. But God.....!

I've not been able to stop thinking about this video for the last several days. It is amazing what humans are capable of...even without God. Just think of what we could do with Him...

Looking at them, Jesus said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God."
Mark 10:27


Do we live like we believe that?

Prayer For One Another

Today I am going to deviate a bit from the normal. This morning I received an email from a a family we recently have made contact with. As I read through it, I was reminded of the parable Jesus told in Luke 11:5-12. He wants us to be persistent in prayer, not that we are to badger God with our requests till we get what we want, but so that we learn to come to Him repeatedly for many thing. He wants us to draw near, and He often uses situations in our lives or those around us to do it.

I have provided a link to the Morgan family blog site below if you are interested in learning more about how God is working in their lives and calling them.

The Morgan Journey
November 1st, 2010

PLEASE CONTINUE to read! This is not your regular monthly prayer letter, but an urgent request for prayer on our behalf.

 Let me (Laura) warn you: This may be the strangest prayer letter you ever receive from us - (stateside, at least).

 It's not a letter I want to write. Not to say that I haven't thought about writing it - or that I don't think it's a good idea. We need for you to pray. But I'm emotionally fragile as I write it. Weary. Discouraged. Emotionally and physically spent.

 For the past six weeks, we have been waging war on head lice in our home. If you've never battled head lice, let me give you a mental picture of the physical toil involved: Daily laundering of every bed linen on every bed. Daily laundering of every towel and every stitch of clothing. Daily drying (1/2 an hour, high heat) of every pillow. Daily vacuuming of every carpet or rug. Daily steamcleaning of every mattress. Daily steaming or vacuuming of the car. Daily cleaning or spraying of furniture. Daily (at least) boiling of every brush, comb and hairclip. And daily picking of nits (which can take as long as 3 hours in one head of hair alone). There are days that we begin at 6:45 a.m. and don't finish until the wee hours of the following morning.

 Typically, a week or two of lice eradication treatment solves the problem (as it did with 3 other families in our church). But we've been fighting this battle on and off for six weeks.

 The hardest part, though, hasn't been the physical work involved. It's been the emotional toll this has taken on our family - and, to be honest, especially me.

 I am so emotionally weary. So weary of worrying who we've accidentally infected. So weary of wondering whether we appear socially irresponsible. So weary of worrying if we've been socially irresponsible. So weary of worrying who might get mad at us. So weary of deciding whether we're "clear" to be involved in social situations. So weary of telling kids they can't do this and can't do that. So weary, conversely, of letting them go when things appear so much better only to discover they weren't as good as we thought. (We have gone to extreme lengths to eradicate the issue, and on several occasions thought we had.) So weary of wondering if I'll ever feel free to hug again. So weary of missing my friends. So weary of not being able to pursue college options with Emma. (There has been no time, and no option of traveling to visit schools.) So weary of not being able to work at raising support. (We had hoped September and October would be fruitful months before the holiday lull.)

And then - so, so terribly weary of thinking about the potentially harmful effects of these pesticides that we've been putting on our children's heads, and our own, as well. (Four times each, we have had some combination of Rid and Malathion lotion on our scalps - and for as long as 12 hours in some cases). So weary of seeing that big, ugly fear of catastrophic health issues raise it's ugly head - especially since I thought I'd seen God bring so much healing in that area.) So weary of negatively impacting my children with my own heavily voiced fears.

I wish I could tell you, dear friends, that I've responded with heroic faith - as one who's worthy of her calling. Oh, I've done a lot of striving. I've mentally reminded myself of all the good things God could be accomplishing through this trial. I've chided myself for being such a wimp when many families I know are going through much more difficult - even tragic - circumstances than this. I've told myself that God is sovereign - that nothing he doesn't ordain can happen as a result of the pesticides. I've battled the frustration of picking nits by praying for a different friend with each 1/8-inch section of hair I picked.

But as I took a few minutes this weekend to read over the e-mailed notes from an Ephesians study I've been attending in Birmingham, I was convicted - saddened - by how unworthy of my calling I have actually lived. In chapters 1-3 of Ephesians, Paul reveals the amazing truths of who we are in Christ and the riches of inheritance which belong to us through that union. And then in chapter 4, he challenges us - based on belief in those truths - to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. (Paraphrasing my wonderful teacher's notes): Paul describes four attributes of walking worthy: Humility (not thinking too highly of yourself); Gentleness/Meekness ("that temper of soul in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting"). Patience/Longsuffering: "the quality that does not surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial; it is the opposite of despondency and is associated with hope). And Bearing with one another in love (which only comes as we are rooted and grounded in love through the power of the Holy Spirit).

If you had observed me during these last few weeks especially - and some of you have - you would know that I have been prideful, angry, frustrated, impatient, despondent, hopeless, and unloving.

Would you please pray that I will trust the loving, sovereign hand of my heavenly father?

New treatment

And would you please pray for our efforts thenceforth?

Ten days ago, we purchased $100 worth of natural enzyme products (recommended by a friend who had had success with them). This past weekend, we realized that these products had not been successful either.

Now, after three conversations with our doctor's office this weekend, we've purchased the first of several $75 bottles of medicated scalp lotion - a new, non-neurotoxic product which has no pesticidle ingredients. The doc on call this weekend had had personal experience with this new medication, and also said that their office has had only had positive feedback from it.

Today, we are starting from the ground up. We have packed up the majority of our clothing and toys, are about to begin recleaning everything in the house as outlined above, and are using the new product with the prayerful expectation that it will effectively kill any live bugs. We will follow this with the careful checking and (where necessary) picking of all nits (eggs) on every head - a process which is likely to take as long as five or six hours (and which we'll have to do every day this week). Finally, we'll follow-up with a reapplication of the new medication in a week to 10 days.

Would you please pray for us today and through this week?

• * That this process will work.
• * That the medication will kill all live bugs (there was apparently resistance to the other medications, but resistance is not an issue with this lotion).
• * That we will effectively clean and treat our environment.
• That we'll be able to effectively find all eggs and remove them (crucial to the process, and especially difficult in Emma's curly hair.)
• That God will protect anyone we have inadvertently exposed.
• That our Father will give us the grace to live as ones worthy of our calling - humbly accepting his dealings with us as good; not despondent, but full of hope; and bearing with one another in love.
• That God will enable us (Steven and me) to be the aroma of Christ to our children through the rest of this process.
• That we and Emma will have the physical and mental energy to accomplish what can be done with colleges at this time (essays, scholarship aps, etc.), and that we'll trust God's plan in this area.
• That we'll trust God's timing to raise our support even when we are hindered from being about the work of support-raising. (We were supposed to attend a missions conference and see dear friends at a supporting church this weekend - looks like Steven will have to attend that one alone - another thing you can pray for.)

Someday, I hope to blog about the spiritual insights God's given me through this situation. For now, though, I have energy only to trust that you'll pray.

His together,

Laura (and Steve)

Living By Faith

Have you ever really had to live by faith?

Perhaps you gave away all your grocery money on a prompting from the Spirit, or followed a path God set before you that you knew was an impossibility in your own strength. To passionately live on faith alone in a circumstance forces you to the best place possible: Humbled before God in fervent prayer. When we live by faith there is no possible explanation or reason other than, "It's God".

It is an humanly terrifying and spiritually exhilarating place to be. It's where we are suppose to be.


For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it God's righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.
Romans 1:16-17


But My righteous one will live by faith; and if he draws back,     My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and obtain life.

Hebrews 10:37-38