In my earlier years, I seem to have had no lack of bold confidence or sheer determination (and what was becoming blind faith). As I look back now on those earlier days — so many amazing (and so many cringe-worthy 😲) days! I marvel at the goodness and mercy of God! The other day Hannah asked me if I regret any of the purchases we made in the early days of parenting. This conversation was sparked by a comment I made regarding the proliferation of infant and toddler necessities — all the latest stuff young mothers think they must have…
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For days my mind’s been flooded with grief and all sorts of other CSA emotions I’ve been trying to stifle. (I wrote this a week ago; gripped with the reality that sexualabuse steals and steels. Today I wondered if I wrote it as another of many, many entries I would write and never publish. But I’ll publish this today with the prayer that grown up little girls might be helped, encouraged and comforted — not alone, not wrecked, not forever bad or without hope.) [trigger warning] Hot tears flooded my eyes as I read a letter describing the discovery of…
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From me (and my family) to you, Happy Thanksgiving 2015 We celebrate God’s merciful kindness this Thanksgiving! I’m filled with awe and gratitude for the opportunities the Lord has given me and I am thankful to be able to share this blog with you. I sincerely wish you love, peace, joy, hope, contentment and patience. May we all give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good. always only good. May the Lord encourage your heart as you count your many blessings. May He increase your faith as you recall His loving kindness. May your joy be full regardless your…
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Are you having a difficult time seeing and believing that the grace of the Lord is sufficient for you — for whatever concerns you — for the circumstances in which you find yourself today? Do you long to know — to see and believe — that His grace is enough? [cp_quote style=”quote_left_dark”]And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12.9[/cp_quote] * [cp_dropcaps]I[/cp_dropcaps]n seeking to rest in knowing that…
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As I was mulling over a bunch of different events and circumstances affecting or involving our home and family this morning as the winds of change continue to blow, and I found myself reeling in thoughts of sadness, happiness, doubt, hope, confusion — as if tossed in the waves of a rolling sea. And then, almost as immediately as my mind was filled with cares of this life, I was calmed by the blessed assurance that “the lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places” (psalm 16) and, truly, the Lord is ever before me. And, I’m further comforted that…
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For the last fourteen years, I’ve had a day where I’ve stood between two days, looking back and looking ahead. Today is that day. Fourteen years ago when I looked back at that “yesterday” and ahead to that “tomorrow,” I didn’t know that I would come to call it my Bookends Day. I didn’t know at the time that a final chapter had been written… that the baby born on June 29th would be my last living baby. And when I looked ahead to “tomorrow” that day, I was amazed that my first baby would be twenty two. Twenty two…
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♫ Never_Walk_Alone We stepped inside the front doorway of our new house nineteen years ago. From that moment, this nearly one hundred year old farmhouse felt like home to me. In my notebook that I carried most everywhere I went was a page of notes — prayer requests, actually. And among those requests were *specific details — astonishingly, right before my eyes, most everything in and about this home that day. I realized that the Lord had, in His merciful kindness allowed me to write that list, pray over it and wait on Him. It was also in His merciful…
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Another IBLP/ATI article has surfaced… and brings to mind so many memories tonight. As many of you know, for several years, beginning in the late eighties, our family was involved in attending and subscribing to the Institute in Basic Life Principles and then for a few years with the home school program, ATI – the Advanced Training Institute. It is very easy to distance ourselves from both IBLP & ATI today — but there was a time in the early days, it would have been unthinkable (I’ve written about this a number of times as referenced below). It would have…
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[cp_dropcaps]M[/cp_dropcaps]y mind floods with memories today — memories of days, years, decades gone by. So many days, so many memories — so much grace the Lord has lavished on me through the gift of our firstborn daughter. Two precious sons were born to us before the Lord gifted us all with this great treasure — this inestimable gift. I’m ever mindful that without her, I’d never have made it through. I’m blessed by this–I’m humbled by this. So very humbled by the grace of God in my life and the gift of her life. In the early days, I’d never…
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[cp_dropcaps]H[/cp_dropcaps]ardly a week goes by that I don’t think (or mutter aloud) that this or that blog or twitter account will have a crash. In just a matter of time there will be an incident or an avalanche of incidents that will take a blogger to an intersection in her life where she’ll be broadsided some Thursday afternoon and she’ll sit on the floor, head in her hands, crying out to God for His mercy. But for now, she doesn’t ask for help because she doesn’t know she needs it. Yet. Such was the case for me… going to bed…