Forever For His Glory

Mother hens are violent. I mean, really, have you ever watched them around their chicks? You’re liable to lose a finger if you try to pet one of the chicks. Ours reminded me of Matthew 23:37: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! God describes Himself as a mother hen; He wants to nurture us and have us rest under the shadow of His wings. Another thing I notice about our hen and her chicks, is how the chicks responded to the hen. If she called to them, they came running, and if the hen warned them of danger, they were quick to hide under her wings, knowing that they were safe. Do we do that with God? When He calls us, do we immediately run to Him? The chicks would run to the hen even if they were preoccupied with eating some delectable delicacy when she called. When God calls us when we’r...

I have a confession to make; I have a sweet tooth. Well, so does Robert, but that's beside the point. Anyways... it's terrible. When something gets to the point that even after knowing the adverse affect of it (click here to see what sugar causes), but you still partake in it, something is terribly wrong. Now, we don't eat anything at our house that has sugar or white flour in it, but we go to a lot of places that do... A couple Sundays ago, during the fellowship meal after church, I decided that I would stay away from the dessert table so that I wouldn't tempt myself. And it worked! Almost.... I stayed away from the table all day, until we were about to leave. As I was getting a drink in the kitchen, I noticed a piece of forlorn leftover chocolate cake. You know, the really moist chocolatey type that melts in your mouth? Yeah, that type... By the way, did I mention I like chocolate? I was faced with a decision: do I eat something that I gre...

This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop [Elder], he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.  1 Timothy 3:1-7 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you— if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of di...

Lately, there have been so many courtships, engagements, and weddings announced, that I have been quite caught up in it all. “ So-and-so is getting married on such-and-such day ”, “ So-and-so just began a courtship ”, etc. And along with smiling, laughing and enjoying the happy couple’s happiness, there’s always the thought in the back of my head, I wonder what mine will look like (if it happens)? What will happen? How will it occur? And, you know, that really isn’t something for me to be worrying/thinking about. I was reading Jasmine Bauchum’s book, Joyfully at Home , and these quotes really encouraged me about this subject and helped me to get re-focused, so I thought I’d share them with y’all. I hope they are as much of an encouragement and help to you as they were to me. :-) “ It helps to remember that the Lord has a bigger plan for our lives than marriage and children, and that plan is to glorify Him with whatever gifts and talents he has given us, in whatever season of our lives ...

Last night was one of our monthly English Country Dance practices. And at the dances we have a mixture of people that have been doing ECD for many years, to those who have never danced before. Towards the end of the evening, one of my favorite dances was announced, Postie’s Jig. It is also one of the few dances where instead of dancing in long lines of guys and girls facing each other, each group is compiled of only 4 couples (4 guys and 4 girls). I *happened* to end up in a group that was almost entirely composed of advanced dancers (myself included). 5 of us were part of the first group that had started the ECD practices, 2 others had been coming for over a year, and the other boy was the type of beginner that teachers dream of. As the other groups formed, I noticed that most of the other groups were composed entirely of all beginners (there were a lot of new people that evening). I mentioned to one of the girls that maybe one or two couples in our group should go trade places wit...

Growing up, we’re told not to be “ conformed to this world, but be transformed through the renewing of your mind ” . (Romans 12:2) We’re told not to judge how, or what we can do by comparing ourselves to others. Except in one thing I’ve noticed; we don’t sing like we should. And maybe it’s just because I sing that I’ve noticed it (in myself and others), but if we don’t sound good singing, we don’t do it. Colossians 3:16 says, “ ... singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord .” We’re not called to sing (and only sing) when we sound good. Psalm 100 says, Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to al...

It never fails, at least once every month or so, I’ll be in the kitchen at Wednesday night church and I’ll hear some of the older ladies talking about some child or friend, and they’ll make the statement, “but (s)he’s got a good heart”. It didn’t used to bother me, either. I’d hear the story of whoever the person was, and no matter if it was a girl on drugs, or a young boy with anger issues, it was always the same. “They’ve got a good heart.” The sad thing is, it became a family joke to us. We weren’t trying to be disrespectful, but it was our way to respond to it, since there wasn’t anything we could do about it. And then recently I realized our desensitization to it. After hearing it for however long we’d been hearing it, it no longer bothered us. Which isn’t a problem, right? I mean, it seems innocent... except, I don’t think it is. I don’t remember ever hearing Jesus or the Apostles (or anyone else in the scripture, for that matter), ever tell someone that they had a “good” hear...