prayer One of our greatest obstacles to prayer is ANSWERED prayer. We assume we know how God will answer - how He will work -- that because He has answered in a specific way in the past -- He will do thus now. We must seek what God *will* do, not just on what He *has* done. If we prayer for what we think God can answer, we limit Him to our own imagination instead of being open to *whatever* HE will do or however HE will answer and lead.
welcome home around the world

A Happy Home...
And a few more blogs
to encourage you.
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pamela spurling
It’s the week before Christmas and all through the house, mother is ____________ and the family feels ___________.
I posted this @ Welcome Home on Facebook… but it’s so important that I thought I’d share it here. I’ve been posting brief year-end countdown thoughts on Facebook @ Welcome Home. In the new year I hope to post daily home notes and verses for encouragement.
More housekeeping and sorting today. Don’t be afraid to box up stuff you really [...]
pamela spurling
I’ve entitled this blog entry The Vacant Chair — a title that’s not original with me, but the title of a poem I’ll add to this post in a moment. The poem was written by a dear saint, the husband of a precious friend who passed into heaven earlier this year.
It’s interesting that the poem should come in the mail today… as I have been thinking of several different ones who have ‘vacant chairs’ at their tables [...]
pamela spurling
 Through the years we’ve celebrated “Christmastime” many different ways — some years a little, some years more. A family tradition here and a family tradition there, but no set (read: unchangeable) tradition. I think this comes from a mixed reaction to cultural influence/cultural traditions. It also comes from an ongoing inner debate: should believers celebrate Christmas? We’d immediately say: Yes, we should celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, but that’s not really the question when [...]
pamela spurling
As the fruit and nuts and leaves fall from the trees around our yard, I can’t help but notice the poignant reminder that our lives, too, have seasons — and they change. As I reflect on this, I am reminded that the most fruitful season may not appear to be the currant one – even though it may appear so with the fruit that is dropping into the baskets at this time.
I’m looking ahead to the winter when the [...]
pamela spurling
I just came across a little note in my basket… and thought, this is just what I’m needing! The reminder to have a Mary heart and a Martha mind was the gist of the note. I’m personalizing it a bit to be: Mary thoughts and Martha hands. I must be in the Word and in song in order that my heart and mind are stayed on heavenly things. I must be in the Word and in song that my [...]
pamela spurling
Though in many ways it seems longer, it was a year ago today that the Lord gave us a great gift in the form of a miracle. We know it was by the grace of God that Timothy, who was deathly sick with cerebral malaria, awoke from a coma.
Our family had been at the Oregon Coast for a family reunion; Timothy had just returned from Ghana, West Africa. He was sick and getting worse by the [...]
pamela spurling
To my precious children… how strange it is to be apart from you this day. How interesting that the Lord would, in His wisdom, goodness and mercy, have us to be a million miles apart on this day. But as I have held you in my heart from the day you were born, so also, I hold you in my heart this day. And I am missing you terribly.
But I also know that the Lord is in [...]
pamela spurling
I received such a beautiful card yesterday. It was a birthday card — but yesterday was not my birthday — well, not technically, anyway.
But in a way, it was my birth-day, for twenty-five years ago yesterday I gave birth to our first daughter — third child, first daughter. As I look back, nothing and everything prepared me for that day. O, it wasn’t the gap between her birth and the birth of the son five years [...]
pamela spurling
Today is not my birthday. Yesterday was not my birthday. The day before yesterday… was. Yet, I woke up yesterday expecting that it should still be my birthday – you know, treats, party hats and special treatment. I call this the birthday-princess mentality. It happens.
The birthday princess mentality is kin to other princess mentalities — you know, the date-princess, the shopping-princess, the napping-princess. You get the idea. It’s as if whenever some delightful thing/event/outing happens, it ought [...]
pamela spurling
When Timothy was born, there was a brief hush over the delivery room — enough time for me to realize there must be a problem. Fearing the worst, I asked my husband if the baby had died. No, he said, he’s going to be fine.
As Timothy was born, the doctor could see that the cord was wrapped around his next and as he loosened it, it was obvious that there was also a complete knot in his [...]
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End the shame. Protect against childhood sexualabuse. The shame comes from keeping quiet about CSA. Jesus loves us, Jesus heals us.

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random older blog entries