Terribly Interesting

Our church had a Passover meal on Wednesday evening. I had been to one before, but it was much more like a demonstration than an actual meal. This was incredible. The picture painted for us was incredible. The lamb was delicious. There was so much joy.  Then tonight, Maundy Thursday service came. It is a tradition of washing of the feet as a reminder of Christ washing the feet of His disciples. At the end of the service, there is a stripping of the altar. Every single thing is removed from the pulpit area. Every vial. Everything. The church goes black and everyone slowly leaves without saying a word. Then, you look back through the glass doors of the church and you see this where the altar was. As the things were being carried away, I began to grieve and tear up. I cannot imagine Christ being taken from me. My heart was heavy with mourning. On the way home, we looked up to this deep orange red moon that was cloaked in black clouds. It just seemed like even the moon was g...

Sure, she looks cute, but she really distracts me from getting so much done. Well, the creek rose a little bit. Have y'all not been holding up your end of this thing? You were supposed to be praying that the creek wouldn't rise. See that door above. It looks harmless, benign, like a regular door. Behind that top piece of moulding is where I found that huge stash of cash. My husband was putting that moulding back up the other day. He had a level on the top part and asked me to hold the side piece at the bottom. The two foot long metal level fell off the top moulding straight onto my head. I started screaming and then every other female in the house started crying because Mommy was crying. The first day I thought I was okay, but the second day I most definitely was not. I have a nice concussion. Pain, pain, pain. I tried to crack jokes about being level-headed to lighten the mood. I didn't want my man to feel bad, but I am definitely hurt. Please say a little prayer fo...

I love how we stand outside of church on Palm Sunday and all enter together waving our palm branches. The physical picture of the act is rich with meaning. I thought this was such a great follow up to share with my six year old. I always enjoy how R.C weaves words to help bring understanding to such a powerful topic.  This sweet little book about the donkey spoke even to me. It speaks to the attitude of servanthood that we carry. Even though we are allowed to carry such a great thing, such as the gift of Christ in us, we are to do so with great humility. Carrying a great thing does not make us great, it should humble us to our core. This is an excellent read. I am also taking a class by R.C. Sproul called Poets, Prophets, and Wisdom. It is excellent. I always enjoy his resources. Download the ebook or pick up your copy. This book was graciously provided by Ligonier for review.

The graciousness of our Lord overwhelms me. My plans, my thoughts, my abilities are so trivial, but Christ in His great majesty speaks into them and begets life. I sink under the weight of my failures. He rises and I fall. Oh, but the grace that catches me. The divine comfort of my Saviour is like a peace no man can give words for. The magnitude is breathtaking.  Speak through me, Abba. Speak to me, Abba.  He's still here. Even when I am sure that I have done something to shew Him away, He's still here. The ebb and flow of His mercy is perfect. He is perfect and he reminds me that His desire is to be great in my weakness. I ask, like Dostoevsky, that I may be worthy of my sufferings. May I revel in the glory of all He has done. May my story point you home.  Cry out to Jesus.

I deeply enjoy people's stories. As I was reading the description of this book, it drew me in. I wanted to read Shannon's story. Her memoir beckoned me. Really, it's an unbelievable tale of losing her parents to a bear attack in Alaska and taking her own journey to grieve and make peace. We follow her through white water rapids in the Alaskan wilderness as she travels to the campsite where her family died. I have read many a biography and many autobiographies. Even though I love hearing the stories that people have to share, they are not always well told. Sometimes a poignant and gut-wrenching tale is told in a shallow way. This is not the case here. Shannon is obviously a woman of brilliance with a rich and deep character. The way she lays out her text is genuinely profound. It takes us through Mozart's Requiem. Requiem meaning rest is the name given to a funeral proceeding or a mass for the dead. Shannon takes us through each of the traditional portions of this...

Do you ever just find your head just swimming over all this nutritional information? I really try not to jump on bandwagons about things. It just seems like everything that the scientific community is so certain about ends up being not right. The problem is that we don't find this out until we've been eating what they told us to for 10 years. I read an article the other day about fish and pregnant women. It said that perhaps they were wrong about pregnant women eating it all along. I think our real problems are just that we feast on processed stuff like there is no tomorrow. Get out of the McDonald's line on get off your derriere and I bet you'll be fine. Pay attention to what makes you feel bad. Eat real food. Make it a priority.  I signed up for My Fitness Pal a year or so ago. You log your food and exercise on it. I was continually struck by what portion sizes actually were and what was hidden in the food I was eating. For example, it is much better for you to g...

Spring is sprung here at Gomer. We celebrated by breaking the high temp this week. I mean, if nothing else, we have that going for us. Ninety degrees in March. Can you imagine? Good thing I decided to work outside that day. I got an awesome farmer's tan working on the farm. We planted five trees, three grapes,  and made our first raised bed of vegetables. I've been wanting to do this for some time, but as you can imagine, we've been a little busy. This year, I scooped up some Christmas money and declared to my beloved that we were starting a farm. He, of course, was stoked. That is, until he realized that he had to carry double digit bags of mulch, soil, and manure to see my dream become a reality. I am already searching out more trees to buy and plants to plant. Groceries are expensive, y'all. Especially when you love to invite everyone over to supper and take food to your neighbors. Oh, and somebody had the brilliant idea to have a mess of girls to fill this house ...

Sometimes I feel that I am hanging by a thread. The negativity of this life is suffocating. The very people who should encourage you and lift you up into the light are the ones that drag you down. It is hard not to take offense at the hurt perpetuated against us by our loved ones. Even when we know that the offending party is unhealthy or incapable of sharing tender, life-giving words, the sting is still there. That sting must be dealt with so that the bitterness does not drive a wedge between us and those who need an example of Christlike love. This includes those who are supposed to be the example themselves. Don't be fooled or shocked by the bad behavior of Christians. We are to live this life as sinners saved by grace offering it to others. I know that these hurts must be addressed. The heart of the thing must be put to rest. God can give us clarity on the time. He can give us the measure of grace we need. Abba, do you see my hurt? He clearly sees. He reminds us ...

My dear friend Nicole lent me this book that her aunt wrote about raising daughters. I just love the title, Help Wanted. Girl, do I ever want help. This book is different from most every other parenting book I have read. The author is a Christian, but this isn't really a "follow these biblical principles" kind of book. It's practical, every day advice that is periodically infused with the author's faith. I enjoyed reading it. As you all know, that is hard to say about a lot of parenting books. It's relaxed, conversational style is easy to sink into. Mostly, it reminds us to relax. We put all this pressure to perform a certain way and God has given us each a unique journey to follow. We each must have grace and give grace for our girls and other moms. I liked the viewpoint because it reminded me to chill out and just enjoy my girls. Love does amazing things in the life of a child. I had recently been reading in Man's Search For Meaning about ...

Did you read about the milk people wanting to put fake sweetener in milk and not have to label it? I do not understand the whole thing. One thing I learned at the dietician was that they add sugar to milk. Why on earth? It has sugar in it. The naturally occurring sugar doesn't get you jonesing though. It doesn't make you crave it. So, they add that lovely chemical white sugar in there and bam, you're on the milk pipe. You're addicted to milk. I used to drink milk like it was going out of style. Then the nice nutritional counselor taught me about the sugar count. It's often higher than juice. And Juice is bad unless you juiced the fruit yourself and added no sugar. Oh boy. Reevaluate the crazy milk drinking. Most juice is some sort of chemical concentrate imported from China with water added to it. It's a crazy world we live in.  My friend Suzi was telling me that in Jen Hatmaker's book Seven, she did a fast where she only ate seven foods for a month. ...

There are seasons of life where you feel like you can't get anything done. My problem is that I have to map out my day according to three small children and then I must rely on my husband to do many things. I have sort of figured out how I can squeeze in fifteen minutes of work here and there with the babies, but my husband has been steadily unavailable for months. If it's not work, an emergency, or company, it's illness. On Monday, I had him all set to finish these tiny areas of drywall in the bathroom so I can finish the Italian plaster. That's the exact moment that illness occurred. We had a stomach bug last week and it finally got to taking down Dad. I was thankful it didn't hit him on Sunday and he was able to lead worship. Still, it's frustrating. Man makes plans and the Lord laughs at them. Have you ever heard that saying, "Lord willing and the creek don't rise"? That's where I am at.  Lord, keep the creek from rising so we can ge...

Honestly, I sometimes find myself just incensed at the words of others. I can't believe that people say and do the things they do. I wonder at how people can be so outright rude to others. I got tired of being annoyed at people. I got tired of other people being annoyed at people. I didn't want to be in agreement with the negativity around me anymore. I found myself repeating things other people were angry about. The irony was that I did not even care about those things. It was just what came out when conversation arose. Misery loves company and what not. It damages the state of our hearts. It causes us to be in agreement with the devil.  We all enjoy sharing the hurtful things others say and do to us. The outrage over the thing makes us feel valuable. Christ hasn't called us to outrage. He hasn't called us to gossip. He has called us to grace. As I would find myself sticking my foot in my own mouth, I would feel that gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit that remin...

When asked what book has changed a person's life more than any other, a recent study reports, that A Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl is ranked in the top fifteen. I have heard is referenced many times and have often been struck by the depth of just a quote from the work. His struggle though four camps during the holocaust and his unique perspective as a psychiatrist are a fascinating read. I must be honest. So much of this is over my head. It is something that must be read and reread to truly collect the nectar of the work. It is not something you sit down to skim on a lazy afternoon. Many times I would catch myself just sitting int the silence after each paragraph. His work is genius.  We are not told if Victor is speaking from a Christian perspective.  The book is not a definitive religious work, but in many ways it could be. He speaks to the recesses of the human condition and begs them to thrive. Every person has meaning and we find meaning in moving b...

Did you read about what they are wanting to do to milk ? My husband was out of town for five days in California so that he could attend the funeral of his uncle. This left me at home with my three little girls. Since our eldest daughter will also turn six this week, I decided to have lots of crazy fun. We ate out at lunch a few days and spent hours in parks. We made healthy choices and then . . . I started running out of things to throw together at home. You can only convince little kids to eat so much spinach. I never go to a big parking lot with the three of them because I don't want one of them to run in front of the cars, so Walmart and HEB were out. People drive like maniacs. That led me to the decision that I should go to the Dollar General the next town over and see what they had since I can basically park at the front door. If you are wondering what they might have at the dollar store to eat, it's junk. I bought some little pizzas and I laughed at myself. Thank ...

We had some Methodist missionaries here over the last few weeks. They did a little taping and floating of the drywall around the house. While my husband was gone, I textured our bathroom with Italian Plaster. I did it from 11p.m. to 1 a. m. each night. You should have seen me trying to open the five gallon bucket of compound. It is one of the hardest things to do. Basically, it's just ridiculous. I also began some staining in our guest room. I really want to finish this room so that we can lavish some serious love on people. If you want in on this, let me know. We need a new bed and mattress in there. She (the room) also needs some work. I wholeheartedly welcome your help. As we come across people who need to be alone with Jesus, to be refreshed by the goodness of the Lord, I always want to have a special place prepared for them. I have been wanting to start a little farm here. We have a couple of acres. That's all a girl needs, right. I bet that Proverbs thirty-one w...