I guess I was on a reading break . . . like in college when they give you have coupe of days off so you can 'catch up on homework' (OR see how many people can fit in a car and travel 100s of miles in a few days). Well, I really have been reading. A LOT. I thoroughly enjoy reading of many kinds and have stacks of books around my house. I thought I'd share a few favorites in case you were wondering what I've been up to OR are looking for some good reads.
**LIES Young Women Believe by Nancy Liegh DeMoss and Danah Gresh. These ladies had surveys completed by 100s or young women and focused on the most popular lies that young women believe about God, sin, themselves, relationships, etc. They counter these lies with the truths that scripture teaches and end each chapter with reflection questions. I would highly recommend this book to young ladies.
**The Look is small booklet by DeMoss about modesty and appearance and seeking what God teaches us in these areas. A very short read, would be wonderful for a girls group or mom and daughter to read/ discuss together.
**Set Apart Feminity:God's Sacred Intent for Every Young Woman by Leslie Ludy addresses modesty, but also talks about how the daily life of young women (their thoughts, interests, friendships) should all be set apart for God. I really enjoyed this one as well and think that it would be a great blessing to young women as well as a challenge to strive for a holy life lived before our holy God.
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Woman’s Wisdom—How the Proverbs speak to everything by Lydia
Brownback is another excellent read for women of all ages. She takes several themes of the Proverbs and sets out what these principals should look like in our lives, encouraging women to live out the teachings of the Proverbs. She is the author of Fine China is for Single Women Too a wonderful, sincere, biblical view the life God calls to those who are currently single. Her devotionals : Joy, Trust, Contentment, and Purity are awesome books with brief biblical devotionals that I would highly recommend.
**Morning Will Come by Sandy Day and Little One Lost by Glenda Mathes both address issues of infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth, and early infant death. They share many stories of couples who have walked these difficult paths and share the confidence and hope we have in a loving God that carries us through the sad and confusing situations of life.
**Love to Eat, Hate to Eat by Elyse Fitzpatrick is another book I would highly recommend to anyone who has food/eating issues . . . if you have been on diets and tried to lose weight or if you struggle with anorexia or bulimia. She clearly teaches what the Bible says about food, eating, and all related issues. She includes a checklist of questions to ask about eating, a list of several issues/temptations that lead us into sinful eating habits and scriptures to help encourage us along the right path.
**Disciplines of a Godly Family is written by Kent and Barbara Hughes. We are using this in our church parenting group and everyone is enjoying it. They are practical, biblical, encouraging, and realistic. The back of the book includes various tools and appendices that are full on helpful information. Kent wrote Disciplines of a Godly Man and Barbara wrote Disciplines of a Godly Woman that would also be great reads (I've read the woman one, but the the man one ;).
I was blessed to hear Mary Beth McGreevy at a women's conference this weekend. A local church plans a conference every March and for various reasons I have not attended inthe past, I was really looking forward to it and definitely not disappointed (well, only in the food . . .) I thought I would share a few highlights that may be helpful and/or encouraging to others.
The Source of True Encouragement
-God's Word (Romans 15:1-7, Romans 12:1-2) God is good, what He does is good, pleasing and perfect.
-God's Character (Romans 15:8-12) Paul quotes four OT prophesies, all fulfilled perfectly by God. We can TRUST Him to give us HOPE because he is MERCIFUL.
-God's Enabling Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13) The Holy Spirit enables us to live the Christin life.
Encouragement in Deed: Building Up in Love (Acts 18:1-8)
God uses friendships with others to encourage His people(Aquila and Priscilla, then Silas and Timothy are provided to encourage Paul). We need to be there for each other and come along side others in their work, in their grief, in the joy . . .
God uses resources to encourage His people, practical needs and help are a great encouragement to fellow believers. (Matthew 7:12)
Support and Blessings through our efforts encourage others (Acts 18:6-8). Seeing fruit from our labors is encouraging.
A few practical lessons in encouragement:
1. Listen--convey an interest, pursue an opening when people 'hint' that they are hurting, reflect back to them what you are hearing, clarify by asking questions helps you and the other understand even more deeply, ask open ended question and then listen, acknowledge that intimate communication has taken place and that you appreciate it and will keep it in your confidence, ask for permission to share your thought or direction you see in God's word.
2. Pray for each other, be specific.
3. Believe the best about others, give them the benefit of the doubt. Let them know you believe in them (praise them publicly, get behind them during failures).
4. Live out the gospel in deeds of love and mercy.
Encouragement in Words: Apples of Gold in Settings of Silver (Acts 8:9-11)
v9 God tells Paul not to be afraid, the root cause of discouragement is often fear. Words of love spoken from the heart makes real encouragement.
v10 God reminds Paul that He is with him. Paul knew that, but the reminder encouraged him, we too often need reminders of something we already know. We need to know God and His word in order to encourage others in His word.
v11 God tells Paul He has many people in this city, but at the time it did not appear to be so. God has a plan for our lives and knows the people we will run into that will encourage us or that we will encourage.
Practical tips on what to say . . .
-The essence of encouragement is exposure without rejection, express acceptance as God does with us
-Understanding sometimes offers more encouragement than advice, sometimes we just need someone to listen and care, not offer solutions
-Strive to understand more precisely so that we can point them in the right direction, ultimately pointing them to the importance of knowing God, that He is sovereign and good.
As part of the conference a local minister gave a sectional about a little-known woman in the Bible, this year it was Ahinoam (I Samuel 25:43). She was David's wife, set to be queen, mother of his firstborn son (IISam 3:2). Then many discouraging, upsetting events took place in her life; David took more wives, he left her and Abigal to be taken captive by the Amalekites, her son rapes his half sister, he is later killed, and then she and her household have to flee Jerusalem because of Absolom. He used this example to show that we have all had difficult situations in our lives, and in our darkest moments we may not be able to pray or sing praises (Isaiah 12). In those times we must pray for and sing for those who are hurting too much right now--that is the purpose of the body of Christ to strengthen and encourage one another. He mentioned a few things that might be helpful to share with a person going through a very difficult time: Remind them that God is not taking His wrath out on them personally, He already took it out on Jesus Christ. Remind them that God is our salvation and we will trust and not be afraid. Bring them to Christ and remind them of the riches and glory of God's grace in our lives. In Isaiah 12 he pointed out that in verse 1 the you is singular, but in verses 3 and 4 the you is plural and together we can draw from the well the wealth of blessings in salvation, especially when one is too weak and discouraged to draw from the well herself (what a beautiful picture of God using His people to encourage one another).
It is so good to fellowship with fellow believers, to listen to godly leaders, and to be refreshed and encouraged in His Word and in my walk. I hope my rough, brief notes give you some encouragement in your trials and some ideas for encouraging others towards spiritual growth.
If you read more than a few blogs, you might see little buttons on the side or weekly linky parties where a blogger picks a category (usually beginning with the first letter of the day she posts) and then anyone can post something similar and link to the original post and they all check each others ideas or pictures or meal plans or tips . . . it is interesting. Actually it is a little humorous because I first saw lots of "Wordless Wednesday" posts and it is a fun, easy way to post a picture. Then I ran into "Works for me Wednesday" where there are tons of household tips and I thought I wonder if anyone does both WW's, how weird would that be?!?! Then I saw Gratituesday, Thankful Thursday, Meal Plan Monday, Friday Funnies, Sunday Sweets (actually they aren't all linky parties, but 'series' of posts).
blah, blah, blah
So, I was going to share a few ideas and I always pause to think of a catchy title and giggle at the same letter titles because sometimes silly things make me laugh. So I might have some Friday Funnies tomorrow, but I probably won't get to them . . . but I am writing my thoughts here on Thursday--I just had to check my calendar, it is Thursday so it is a good day to be thoughtful ;)
I've been reading tons of books for our church library recently and it has been such a blessing. Last week I finished Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World about spending quiet time in the Word and setting aside our Martha desires to do it all. It was so refreshing, especially at the start of a new year when we are tempted to set all sorts of goals of things we want/need to achieve in the new year. I was reminded over and over again that although taking care of my family is important, sitting at Jesus' feet in quiet devotions is what I am called to do as well. Tonight I am starting Weaver's sequel Having a Mary Spirit, so I'll have to get back to you on that one.
Another awesome book I recently finished is Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas. The subtitle is "What if God created marriage more to make us holy than to make us happy?" Every time I read that I would pause and just think how profoundly challenging that is to me. I was single for many years and thought that marriage was the key to happiness, now I nod with Gary and see that God is teaching me to be holy as He works in my heart through my marriage. He quotes someone at the beginning of a chapter and I need to paraphrase because I no longer have the book here, getting married is like buying a full length mirror (you see all you faults more clearly)--how true!!
Tonight I finished Instructing a Child's Heart by Tedd and Margy Tripp. (He wrote Shepherding a Child's Heart which is an excellent book.) The Tripp's write about the importance of not only reading the Bible daily with our children, but talking about the stories and truths of God's Word as we interact with our children, that our example is teaching them just as much as our words, and that having conversations about discipline issues are much more meaningful when they understand the truths of the gospel because they are such an integral part of our lives and our speech. They focus more on the importance of teaching our children the centrality of Christ in our lives than on discipline, but there are a lot of practical examples that are helpful in discipline as well. Great read, very useful tool for parents!
I hope your Monday is meaningful, your Tuesday terrific, have a wonderful Wednesday, thoughtful Thursday, Funny Friday, Successful Saturday, and Sweet Sunday . . .
Here is a little game for you to play. I already win because I have all the answers, but don't let that take the fun out of it--fight for second place!!
We're learning lots over hear, some lessons are harder to learn than others, but we're learning. Guess who is learning what . . .
"flutterbys" is another word for butterflies
Slides are meant for bottoms, not feet.
The number of people in your home directly corresponds to the number of times your floor should be swept daily.
Waking up at various hours of the early morning gets tiring and requires bedtimes before 10pm.
When you're really tired having a meal in the freezer (or better yet, brought over by friends or family) is such a supper saver and WAY better than PB&J.
Anything remotely roundish can be called "ba" and thrown down the steps or even just on the floor.
Being outside is WAY more fun than being inside and you can get WAY dirtier out there.
Crashing lego towers is WAY more fun than building them.
Building lego towers knowing that they will be crashed is still fun when you get older than 2.
Pretending there is a kangaroo in the house can keep one acting strange for hours.
Assuring others that kangaroos are at the zoo and not by the toys is not as easy as you might think.
If you haven't cleaned your toilet in say two weeks, it may take more than a couple of minutes to remedy the nasty situation.
A couple of 2-year olds can have an extended 'conversation' using only giggles.
Some nurses are much better than others at drawing blood.
