Category: God

The Mystery

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Our family celebrated Easter last weekend with a beautiful service at our amazing church. Easter is a humbling time of year.  This Easter season, I’ve been meditating on 3 things that Jesus modeled ~ which He invites me to join with Him ~ Suffering, Sacrifice and Salvation.  Philippians 3:10-11.

I can not begin to compare my sufferings to His.  I have everything I need… and more. I live in a place where I am free to worship as I choose.  I am free to follow Jesus. And I am free to tell others about my relationship with Him.  It rarely feels like I’m suffering…

On Good Friday, our church had a ‘Cross Walk’.  We walked with a group of peeps from our church down the main drag in our town, taking turns carrying a large wooden cross, for 2 1/2 miles.  We share in what Christ did when He carried His own cross to Calvary before He was crucified. And remember that He tells us we must take up our own cross to follow Him.  Matthew 16:24-28.

We ended the evening with a time of food and fellowship. Our church has celebrated Good Friday with this tradition for the past 6 years.  This year, as we were preparing to leave on the Cross Walk, our 2 year old Selah was messing around with the cross and got a taste of suffering… she got two splinters.  She kept saying, “I’m okay now”, as she bravely sucked her finger and the pain subsided.  Still, the splinters had to be removed.

Even in these simple moments of pain and bravery, I can see God teaching me more about Him and suffering…

When I became a mom nearly 8 years ago, I couldn’t believe what a sacrifice it was to take care of another person 24-7.  To give of my own life, as I was suddenly given another life to care for.  Motherhood happens instantly, there’s no transition time – in case you didn’t know, btw… and that advice was free.  The crying, the attention, the feedings, the time spent, the time I no longer had, the neediness of a baby… oh my!  I had no idea what was involved in motherhood.  The past 8 years, I have learned more… and I understand it more.  The Lord continually sums it up for me ~ sacrifice.

Even in the everyday motherhood moments, God is teaching me more about Him and I can taste of what it means to sacrifice…


The Mystery is God’s revealed plan of salvation.  I am humbled to have my salvation in Christ.  It is a mystery to fully understand, but I believe it.  I Timothy 3:16.  In Jesus I trust, surrender my life, and submit myself to.

I am thankful for each day I have to walk with Jesus, to grow in knowledge of Him, to abide in Him.  This is the most precious gift I could ever receive… salvation.

I hope and pray you have the knowledge of Christ and can share in His sufferings, sacrifice and salvation.  If not, I would love to pray with you to receive Him ~ yes, even thru this blog!

I would love to share these lyrics from one of my favorite songs, “Mystery” by Charlie Hall ~

“Sweet Jesus Christ my sanity… Sweet Jesus Christ my clarity… 

Bread of Heaven, broken for me… Cup of Salvation held up to drink… Jesus the Mystery

Christ has died and Christ is risen and Christ will come again!”

Noted By ~ Les Babs

Growing Prayers

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Lately, I have been even more overwhelmed by how much I love our 3 wee Babs.

they make me laugh.  they make me cry.  they teach me.  they stretch me.  they amaze me.

i am freaking out that very soon i will have an eight year old...

i am still telling them everyday that they are not allowed to grow anymore…

but they don’t listen… 😉 they have to grow.  we all do.  it’s impossible to go on living without growing.

but how are we growing?  that is the important question…

without growth, we die…

and without death, we can’t truly… fully… completely… wholly… live. John 12:24-26

dying… growing… means we are truly living… Philippians 1:21

we are filled with such joy ~ the joy of our wee Babs growing… In Him.
In Prayer…  


Soleil has had answered prayers…

Most of the time Soleil prays silently… last week, her friend was having some pain at school and told her about it.  Later that day, her friend told her, “Soleil I don’t have any pain anymore!”  Soleil responded, “That’s because I prayed for you”.  

Last weekend, we were spending some family time at a friends cabin.  I was searching thru the drawers to find the matches, so we could make a campfire.  Right after I found them, Soleil said, “I just prayed that you would find them.”  

Salem has grown more in his gift of praying for others and for himself... 

“Dear God, please be with me.  Help me to have a great day.  Put your angels above me.  In Jesus Name, Amen.”  

When I was sick with an on-going sore throat last month, I asked Salem to pray for me.  He put his hand on my throat and said, “Dear God, please heal mommy and make her throat all better.  In Jesus Name, Amen.” The next day my sore throat was completely gone.

Selah has started praying out loud… and reminding us to pray if we forget… She’ll say, “Pray, Pray!”

She bows her head, folds her hands and says, “Dear Gawd, mommy go night-night.  daddy go night-night.  sissy go night-night.  bubba go night-night.  amen.”

At meal time she says, “Dear Gawd, sissy eat, bubba eat, mommy eat, daddy eat.  amen.” 

I am so grateful that our wee Babs teach us.  Lord, continue to teach us all how to pray…

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”          Matthew 6:9-13 

March Madness

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The month of March can be a maddening month for us.  and it has absolutely nothing to do with the NCAA.  or basketball of any kind.  basketball bores me to tears.  I was randomly switching channels the other night, which is rare because if I have the remote it is because I am turning on PBS for the wee babs to watch cartoons.  but on this rare evening I was switching channels and stumbled upon a basketball game.  i watched it.  for a few seconds.  i started to tear up and cringe. i couldn’t take the squeak of the shoes.  sorry to offend any basketball lovers who read our blog.

So, back to our Babs March Madness…

There are several reasons the month of March can be maddening for our family – here are the top 5:

1. the weather
2. it seems like an extra long month because February is short, so we find ourselves pleading to just get it over with
3. extra hectic schedules
4. our taxes are due in a few weeks and i am not organized and my ducks are rarely in a row, so i am usually stressing to get our crap together at the last minute, and because PA is a Pastor, we always owe
5. i typically have a “I can’t take winter anymore!” meltdown in March

But this March has been strangely different…


1. we have had amazing weather.  we think this is happening due to global warming.  a few years ago we watched the Al Gore global warming movie “An Inconvenient Truth”. we were convinced global warming was the worst. thing. ever.  but since the weather in central Ohio has been so unseasonably amazing this March, we are cool with global warming.
2. February had an extra day this year, so… so far, March seems like it’s flying by
3. even though our schedules are just as hectic as they typically are, this March is also filled with a lot of fun stuff, like conferences and friends coming into town to visit and good weather. and since the weather has been so amazing we’ve been outside a lot, which puts our whole family in a way. better. mood.
4. i’ve spent so many months of March stressing about our taxes that i’ve finally learned i will never be organized enough to not stress at all, even if it’s just a little. and i’m okay with that. we always save to pay, so the owing money part is no longer a surprise to us, making March tax prep season a little easier to get thru each year.
5. it’s now March 19th.  we are over half way thru the month and i have not a had a March meltdown.  in previous March months, the meltdowns have been triggered by stress and winter dragging on and on.  one March, we had a huge winter storm and i didn’t leave my house for 5 days.  i almost went insane.  this year, thanks to global warming, the time outside has helped prevent any major meltdowns.

And so has God.  really, i can only give Him all the glory for protecting me from madness and insanity happening this March. Yes, He is ultimately in control of the weather and all that jazz, but it’s more than just a surface warm weather phenomena.  it’s not about global warming.  or hectic schedules.  or taxes that are due. this March has been strangely different.  God has changed my heart and i can see how He has been teaching me all along.  i am so thankful this March.  i am fully enjoying the present moments.    

i am because He Is.
God is greater than any March madness or meltdowns or hectic schedules or taxes we have to pay or global warming.

He transcends time and turns March madness into fully enjoying all of the March Moments.

These are the days…

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Ugh.  I’ve had writers block.

I didn’t think it could happen to me.  I always have something to say… or in this case… write.

but i got distracted – which is nothing new — but more on that later.

and then I got it – the writers block.

So… I’m back

with a whole new blogging purpose, I might add 😉

and I’m reflective… about smells… like bacon.  As I smelled the bacon I was cooking last Saturday morning, I had this whole blog planned out in my mind to write.  So I sat down for some time with God. and to eat my waffles and bacon.  I wrote a little in my journal.  I read my Bible.  But I never wrote the blog.

This week followed suite.  the half written ideas came, but no writing happened.

Then the song “These are the Days” by Natalie Merchant / 10000 Maniacs came to mind.  Remember that song?  It takes me back… to my college years. And the Soap Operas “Days of our Lives”…. and “One Life to Live”… in junior high, I used to watch”Days” avidly.  and so did my Grandma (the one who’s been married 65 years – the one I wrote about here). She and I would catch up on our “soaps” together after school sometimes… oh yes, we did.

So, these song and soap opera titles scanned across my mind and reminded me…  just do it.  


Just write…

—

what are you gonna do with the days you have?

the moments you have to love, grow, share, give… blog?

God is challenging me to Love more.  Grow more.  Share more.  Give more.

To love the one(s) in front of me.  P.A., the wee Babs, family, friends, peeps in our church… strangers God leads me to… 


So, I’m gonna continue writing about it… in this blog.


these are the days… day by day here’s what we do… here is our half written story…

Tonight we were playing guitar with the wee babs… it was such a blessing.


Soleil really wants to learn and so we’ve started teaching her a few chords.



They bless us constantly…day by day.  We are overwhelmed with love for them, and then we get overwhelmed by God’s great love for us.


So… the writers block is over… and our half written story continues.

A Musical Marriage

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Last Saturday P.A. and I had the opportunity to lead worship together for a marriage conference at another church.  To prepare, we prayed and picked out our songs.  We planned the details of our set list and practiced the songs.  Then, we played worship for the marriage conference.

We have a musical marriage.

We love music.  We love listening to music.  We love dancing to music.  We love talking about new music.  We love playing and making music together, but don’t always have an opportunity to do so.  When we do have an opportunity, we love it!  and we think we sound pretty good together… but our musical marriage didn’t just happen overnight…

Making beautiful music takes time.  

If only our marriage would have been as *musical* all along… some of the music we have made has sounded more like a cheesy pop song, rather than a symphony.  Yes people, if you haven’t figured it out by now, this blog is not just about our gifts and good times with music.  I’m writing about more than music here.  You can see the metaphor, right?  If not, I will spell it out for you:

Sex.  Intimacy.  Making Love.  Makin’ Whoopie.

You name it, call it whatever you want.

I’m going to refer to it as makin’ music.  Insert *blushing* here.

uh-oh…  no worries, though.

This is all for God’s Glory.  After all, He is the creator of makin’ music, right? Last I checked, that was the case. (Gen. 2:25)  God designed and desires for our marriages to reflect Him.  He wants all marriages to be playing from the same chord chart, in the same key, makin’ records of beautiful music.  No matter what your view or personal experience is or has been, God wants to Redeem, Restore and Renew makin’ music for everyone.  He knows satan wants to destroy marriages and makin’ music is a prime target on which to launch the attack.  God wants to take back the lies, the darkness, the trash, the comparisons, the injustice, the abuse ~ everything.  He wants to bring the sin into the LIGHT and make ALL things new.

When P.A. and I became friends and started dating, we were open about everything from the beginning.  And… We anticipated that our wedding night music would be wonderful. Award Worthy. Right? 

Wrong.   

We are still learning, growing and figuring out how to make the best music together.  Thankfully, we didn’t scratch makin’ music all together.  After all, the record was and still is only half-written…  And we have our whole lives to practice.  And heck, we have 3 wee babs, so we’re makin’ some music… Right? Yep.  It’s true.  Just like leading worship for the marriage conference, for us to be makin’ the best music, we need to pray, prepare, plan, practice and pick the best times to play music.  Whew. That list sounds like a lot of work.  Yes.  Makin’ beautiful music takes time.  And it’s worth it.

Some days we focus more on the music, some days we are on different pages, and some days we get too busy or tired to make any music at all.

Trusting in God is our foundation.  We trust Him to Conduct the symphony of our lives.  We also trust each other.  We have made musical mistakes.  We know we will mess up again.  But. We. Trust.  It’s been an interesting musical journey.  We have disappointed ourselves and each other. We have blamed ourselves and each other.  We have sinned against God and each other.  We have forgiven.

Our hope and prayer is that wherever you are on your musical journey, you and your mate will allow God to Redeem, Restore and Renew every part of your lives, right down to the music you make. Let Him bring the Darkness into the Light. Replace the Fear with Trust.  And turn the Sorrow into Joy.

…and let your marriages make beautiful music.