Praying for Others

"I could say, "God can make my hands clean if He wants to," or I could wash them myself. Chances are, God won't make my hands clean. That's a job He leaves up to me. His omnipotence is not impaired by His having ordained my participation, whether it be in the washing of hands with soap or the helping of a friend with prayer."

"One way of laying down our lives is by praying for somebody. In prayer I am saying, in effect, "my life for yours." My time, my energy, my thought, my concern, my concentration, my faith- here they are, for you. So it is that I participate in the work of Christ."
--Elisabeth Elliot

Why Even Put Yourself Out There?

After all, you could get hurt. It might cost you something. It might change the way things have always been. Why go through all that? Wouldn't it be easier to just leave things the way they are? Why get involved? You have enough to deal with as it is.

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it careful round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable... The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers... of love is Hell."

~C.S. Lewis, The Four Lovers

Considering an Older Child

"Two years ago, my family adopted a 10-year-old boy from Ethiopia. Of our seven children — four by birth, three by adoption — Fisseha has been in every sense the easiest transition. I tell people now: You should simply start your family with a 10-year-old Ethiopian boy."

Melissa Fay Greene
Author of There Is No Me Without You

(The entire article is found here. Her blog is found here.)

Glory in the "Now"

"Whatever your circumstance is right now, and whatever mine is, we have the immediate opportunity for defeating Satan and bringing glory to God. How? First, by whispering to Him, "I love You and trust You," and asking that He increase that trust and love. Second, by longing for an increase of truth within us as we say, "Not my will but Thine be done" in the middle of this period of exhaustion, this anxiety, this particular shock, this prison, this wheelchair, this set of bandages on our eyes, this kind of frustration, this pile of dirty dishes, this lack of understanding, this attack by friends, this disappointment, this accident, this unbearable monotony, this unending succession of changes. Whatever the immediate "now" is made up of, it is not "after this is over" that we will have an opportunity to do something important for the Lord."

- Edith Schaeffer, Affliction

"I can assure you that months and months of heartrending anguish are before you, whether you will or not. Yet take the bitter cup with both hands, and sit down to your repast. You will soon learn a secret, that there is sweetness at the bottom."

~Adoniram Judson, missionary to Burma

The New Person

I just love our God... the God of "new." A new covenant, a new and living way, a new heaven and new earth, new mercies each and every morning... He is making all things new!

The kids and I read this quote by Charles H. Spurgeon in our devotional this morning, and I just wanted to share it with you today:

"Christ has been pleased to make us new people. His saints are the "new creatures in Christ Jesus." They have a new nature...... This new nature is conscious of new emotions. It loves what once it hated; it hates what once it loved. It finds blight where once it sought for bliss, and finds bliss where once it found nothing but bitterness. It leaps at the sound that was once dull to its ears- the name of Jesus. It rejoices in hopes that once seemed idle as dreams. It is filled with a divine enthusiasm that it once rejected as fanatical. It is conscious now of living in a new element, breathing a fresh air, partaking of new food, drinking out of new wells not dug by men or filled from the earth. The new person is absolutely new- new in principles and new in emotions."

We are absolutely new! I just loved this thought today, on this new morning of a new week (in a new time-change!) full of new possibilities. We have a new chance to make ourselves available for God to do great new things in all our lives this week for His glory... to continue the new work He started in us.

Have a wonderful week!

Obedience

"I want to tell you that in order to experience true revival most of us don’t need to hear one more truth than we already know. We just need to obey the truth we already know. When we do, we will experience, I believe, true revival."

Nancy Leigh DeMoss, from her current series, Seeking Him- Obedience: the Acid Test of Love

Heaven On Earth

"You and I have the privilege of presenting a picture to others of what heaven will be like. We have the opportunity to turn our homes into a little bit of heaven on earth. When we pursue God's design for us as wives, mothers, and homemakers, and pursue it with passion and purpose, we establish a place here on earth that reflects the bliss and order of our future home in heaven."

Elizabeth George, Life Management for Busy Women

I Just Love It...

...when we're doing my daughter's school work and we come across a great quote like this:

"When God calls a man He does not repent of it. God does not, as many friends do, love one day and hate another; or as princes, who make their subjects favourites and afterwards throw them into prison. This is the blessedness of a saint; his condition admits no alteration. God's call is founded on His decree. His decree is immutable. Acts of grace cannot be reversed. God blots out His people's sins, but not their names." Thomas Watson

Oh, the irreversible grace of our sovereign God! I just had to share this with you today.

A Busy Day Ahead?

"If I am going to have a busy day, I spend one hour with the Lord. If I am going to have a very busy day, I spend two hours with the Lord."
~Martin Luther

"Stay Your Soul On God"

"Blessed are the single-hearted,

for they shall enjoy much peace.

If you refuse to be hurried and pressed,

if you stay your soul on God,

nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace.

In that stillness you will know what His will is."

~Amy Carmichael

It's Not About Me

"For the life of me, I believe Satan trains battalions of demons to whisper one question in our ears: 'What are people thinking of you?' "

Max Lucado