31 weeks and counting

I am currently in my eighth month of pregnancy. I have no idea how it has gone by so quickly and it really seems that Judson's arrival is right around the corner!

The kids are extremely excited and are much more involved (well, as much as a group of young boys can be!) than before. They love putting their hands on my belly, feeling their newest brother roll and kick around.

I was just reading Paysie's birth story, and I teared up....which seems to happen much easier this time around than ever before. There have been many more ups and downs this pregnancy as well....I wonder if that has anything to do with it...ya think?

To give a brief update...Gideon is doing extremely well! God has been so gracious to us in the healing of my boy. He is running and jumping and improving so much on a daily basis.

This pregnancy has been a journey...a journey of faith on so many levels. We have dealt with the hospitalization of our 6 year old. We have dealt with a possible heart abnormality of our little girl (which came out normal, praise God!). We have had some non-invasive tests come out abnormal for Judson that turned out to be nothing to worry about. We have dealt with many financial issues that include a move away from a house that we have called home for the past 3 years.

And through it all...we have not been alone. God has been with us every step of the way...renewing His mercies each and every morning. He has given us the strength to go on and the faith to sustain us.

When this pregnancy began, I had no idea what the next nine months would hold. And here I am, with all that has happened....I could not be closer to my Creator. I have seen lives affected by what my family has gone through...in a good way! I have seen God draw His people closer to Himself amidst many struggles. I have seen my comfort and normalcy ripped away and replaced with the love and comfort that only God can provide....and that I have been given the gift of contentment in all that has happened...good and bad.

And I sit here amazed and forever grateful at the goodness of God!

May God receive the glory!

Lord, Help Me To Glorify You

Lord, help me to glorify you;
I am poor, help me to glorify you by contentment;
I am sick, help me to give you honor by patience;
I have talents, help me to extol you by spending them for you;
I have time, Lord, help me to redeem it, that I may serve you;

I have a heart to feel, Lord,
let that heart feel no love but yours,
and glow with no flame but affection for you;

I have a head to think,
Lord, help me to think of you and for you;

You have put me in this world for something, Lord,
show me what that is,
and help me to work out my life-purpose:

I cannot do much, but as the widow put in her two mites,
which were all her living,
so, Lord, I cast my time and eternity too into your treasury;

I am all yours;
take me, and enable me to glorify you now,
in all that I say, in all that I do, and with all that I have.

-Charles Haddon Spurgeon

A quote

From the journal of Adoniram Judson's 3rd wife, Emily, on his last visit to America, after he preached for 30+ years on the mission field:

As he sat down, it was evident, even to the most unobservant eye, that most of the listeners were disappointed. After the exercises were over, several persons inquired of me, frankly, why Dr Judson had not talked of something else, why he had not told a story...On the way home, I mentioned the subject to him.

"Why, what did they want?" he inquired; "I presented the most interesting subject in the world, to the best of my ability."

"But they wanted something different-- A story."... See More

"Well, I am sure I gave them a story--the most thrilling one that can be conceived of."

"But they had heard it before. They wanted something new of a man that had just come from the antipodes."

"Then I am glad they have it to say, that a man coming from the antipodes had nothing better to tell than the wondrous story of Jesus' Dying love."

(From the biography of Adoniram Judson: To the Golden Shore)

Let us never yearn to hear the stories of mere men...instead, let us never tire of hearing the Gospel!!

A quote

"If you are a child of God then you are certainly going to be disciplined, because God is preparing you for holiness. He is not an indulgent father who hands out sweets indiscriminately and does not care what happens to us. God is holy, and He is preparing us for Himself and for glory; and because we are what we are, and because sin is in us, and because the world is what it is, we must needs be disciplined. So He sends us trials and tribulations in order to pull us up, and to conform us to 'the image of His Son'."
-Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Paul (or You) In Prison

From Jay Adams

In discussing problems with Christian counselees, we often find ourselves deeply involved in matters concerning the providence of God. People want to know “Why?” But it isn’t always possible to respond to that question in any specific way. If it is, fine; but that is the exception, not the rule.

So what do we say? Well, of course many different things—responses that fit each individual situation—but there are some principles (abstract as they may be) that people usually find helpful.

In referring to Paul’s imprisonment at Rome (Philippians 1) we show how God used it to convert soldiers as well as encourage others to go preach. As we open up the passage at some length, the following encouraging principles emerge:

1. God is in your problem
2. God is up to something in your problem
3. God is up to something good

Whether or you are able to see all or even only part of what it is that He’s up to, you can rely on the fact because of Romans 8:28,29.

What is providence? It is the working out of God’s plan by God Himself. Unlike Deism, Christianity teaches that God plans His work,then works His plan. Deists believe that having created the world, He no longer is concerned with it. He wound up the clock, now it can run on its own. Rather, we believe He made and maintains the world. And that He personally does things in it—in particular, in people’s lives.

If you’re in some trouble today, reread those three facts, believer, and you should be encouraged by them—even if ‘right now you can’t see how God is at work in your problem. Some day—now or in eternity—you may understand fully. But it’s your task at the moment—to believe, and look forward to whatever outcome God may bring from it. In the long run, you may even be privileged to discover (as Paul did) what God was up to—and that you will see that it truly is good!