The First Gift

Water. More talk about water. Why? Because we need water to survive. Water is life giving. Jesus compares himself to water because He is the ultimate source of life.

But what if you don't have water?
Every day 4500 children DIE due to contaminated drinking water.
It DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY.

Today, November 13, 2009, is the day people all over bloggerland are joining together asking you to give. I'm not asking you to do something I haven't done. I have. What moved me more than simply the fact that sooo many people are DYING because they don't have something we take for granted was this thought...how many of them don't have LIVING WATER? How many of them have never heard of Christ? Maybe if we give...just $10...maybe they'll get a chance to hear about the TRUE source of life. Maybe Christ will save them.

$10 will buy clean drinking water for one person for 10 years.

So, I'm asking...let the first give you buy this year (or the last, or one somewhere in the middle) be water.

1/3 of the amount the world spends on presents EVERY year could provide clean drinking water for the ENTIRE WORLD. How selfish does that make you feel?

but remember, God tells us to not give "reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a CHEERFUL giver."

Click the link below to donate. 100% of the proceeds go straight to buying water in Liberia, West Africa. They are tax deductible and the site is secure.



or click here for more info.

all images from the lovely lady at Whatever. Be sure to check out her amazing blog.

I'm sure giving the gift of water is one of the most best ways to have a Beautiful Life I can think of!

Happiness

I'm totally enjoying this book by John Piper. The sub-title is "God's Triumphant Grace in the lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin" I just had to share the quote by Augustine that I read today. Color Me Daisy is having a "Happiness" challenge and this jumped off the pages of the book at me because he's so right. This is what happiness is.

Augustine says, "You yourself O God are their joy. Happiness is to rejoice in You and for You and because of You. This is true happiness and there is no other."

I challenge you to meditate on that thought next time you're temped to let the little things in life stress you out or make you lose your cool. God has ordained those things...more than likely so that you will find your ultimate joy in Him.

Right Now

I'm preaching the gospel to myself again and again, reminding myself that I have been given all that I need for life and godliness...and no matter how much I think I do I do not NEED nap-time. This on-going lecture to myself is the result of trying to get the kids to take their naps in the same room. I figured it would be better to start now and get them used to it than to wait until the new baby was born. However...today...Zeke was awake from his nap before Kessa had even fallen asleep...and then turns out he was still really tired and needed more sleep...but if I laid him back now he was sure to wake up the now sleeping Kessa. You wouldn't think it would be this complicated...I mean they do sleep in the same room at night for Pete's sake! *deep breathe* I need some tylenol! lol

This one is really starting to get the hang of walking...and is actually doing it! :D He's been able to for a while now and just hasn't wanted to because he's such a fast crawler...well no more! He's been walking up a storm the past two days!

These two are nearly insepreble...

especially since their matching outfits arrived in the mail today. Too cute...I wish I had a video of how excited Kessa was! She kept talking about all the things on their clothes...that she and Gabby BOTH had. I knew she'd like having matching outfits, but her response was even better than I had hoped for!

Preparing your Minds

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you as the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:13

Weakness

So I've been thinking about this LO for a long time. God has been speaking to me for some time (since shortly after Christmas probably) about not hiding my weaknesses. We, as women, especially try to always look like we have it all together. We make sure we look presentable, our children look presentable, and we cover up the annoying fight we had as we were getting out of the car and look like we're doing just fine and dandy. But that doesn't glorify Christ. When we look like we have it all together people don't think, "wow, Christ is really working in her life!" They think, "Wow...she's really got it all together."

Paul was able to say that he would BOAST about his weaknesses so that Christ's power could rest on him. That's what I want in my life. I want people to be able to see that I don't have it all together. That there are days when I just want to cry all day long, that I am FAR too often reminded of my sinful nature and depraved heart, that the only way I am able to be what I am is by God's grace.

Christ has been teaching me, especially through having two small children and crazy CRAZY pregnancy hormones, to lay down my pride and show others my weakness so that when they see me still going on, still doing the things Christ has called me to do, and still being filled with joy, they will GLORIFY HIM!!!!!!!

Anyway, I did this for a challenge at Noel Mignon to scrap a list of 10 things you love about yourself. All of mine are taken directly from scriptures that I cling to to be the wife and mother and Christian God has called me to be.



(oh, and yes, I really did cut that verse out of an old Bible...felt a little sacrilegious doing it too!)

Precious in God's Sight

and believe it or not I'm not talking about all the little children! God has been teaching me a lot about gentleness over the last few months and this week is no different. My new meditation and hearts desire is for my actions to be precious in God's sight...and do you know what Peter says is precious to Him? A quiet and gentle spirit!!!! That is so not in my nature. I praise God every time I'm able to be quiet and gentle because it is only by His grace. Check out what 1 Peter 3:3-4 has to say about us women... "3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." WOW. That's the type of beauty I want. That's the type of beauty I pray Kessa develops by the grace of God. A gentle and quiet spirit.

And a lo I did finally using some of the newspaper clippings from when Zeke was born. Not crazy about this LO, but I don't hate it either. I'm just not good at using newspapers and making it look good I think. The cute little bear is a tag from the outfit he was wearing in the picture on his birth announcement.


Zeke was the first baby born in our county in 2008.
Click the lo if you're interested in reading the journaling.

Demand #12, or more insights from Piper

"We get a surprising glimpse of what service to God means for Jesus in Matthew 6:24. He said, 'No one can serve two maters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.' The surprising thing here is that serving God is compared to serving money. But how do you serve money? Not by helping money or meeting money's needs. You serve money by treasuring it so much that you shape your whole life to benefit from what money can do for you.
So it is with God in the way Jesus sees the service of worship. We do not help God or meet God's needs ('The Son of Man came not to be served,' Mark 10:45) Rather we serve God by treasuring him so much that we shape our whole life so as to benefit from what he can do for us. And, unlike money, what God can do for us about all other treasures is be for us everything we have ever longed for."
(excerp from "What Jesus Demands from the World" by John Piper.)

Godly Glutony

I'm currently reading "What Jesus Demands from the World" by John Piper and I LOVED this quote from Jonathan Edwards. (He was preaching from Song of Solomon 5:1- "Eat, friends, drink and be drunk with love!")

Christians ought "to be endeavoring by all possible ways to inflame their desires and to obtain more spiritual pleasures....Our hungerings and thirstings after God and Jesus Chrsit and after holiness can't be too great for the value of these things, for they are things of infinite value...[Therefore] endeavor to promote spiritual appetites by laying yourself in the way of allurement...There is no such thing as excess in our taking of this spiritual food. There is no such virtue as temperance in spiritual feasting."

Soo...I long to be an "obese Christian!"

One More Crop Project and a Lesson from Acts

I'm not positive, but I think this is the last project I have to share with you all from the on-line crop I participated in a few weekends ago. This is just a simple little chipboard heart. I think I'm going to add wire or string to the back so that it can be hung up. On a funny note, when I was making this it called for wire to make the little curls coming out of the flower and I couldn't find any...however...one of Tim's guitars was sitting in the office...with a broken string hanging from it...so...talk about using "found" objects! So...all the "wire" you see here is a guitar string (which I don't recommend using as it doesn't hold shape very well!) However, I'm not musically savvy so I can't tell you WHICH string it is (sorry Kirsten!)credits: Scenic Route chipboard heart frame, SU felt flowers, unknown definition sticker, Daisy D pp, button from stash, and guitar string ;)


I'm doing this study of Acts right now for the second time, and I'm learning a lot this time around too! What I want to share with you right now is what struck me this time around about Stephen. We're told over and over again that Stephen was "full of the Holy Spirit" and that he spoke with great wisdom and that he was full of grace. He performed signs and miracles and many people believed because of his testimony. He was taken before the Council, false witnesses were brought against him, and he was stoned. Stephen was the first martyr recorded in the Bible, he saw heaven open and Jesus sitting at the right hand of God. All of these things happened while he was fulfilling the duty he had been called to...to serve tables. Remember that as you go about the duties God has called you to today, as you serve your family.

The "MINE!" Morass

Thing in the Johnson household have become increasingly....interesting...over the last few weeks. Kessa has learned the meanings of "no" (in response to a request) and "MINE!" Both of which she frequently uses in all her almost-two-year-old glory. Now, I can hear some of you out there laughing and saying, that's a two year old. That may be true, I feel God has called me to require more from my children. As she has taken to claiming everything as hers I've been increasingly reminded of things I consider "mine" and how untrue that is. (There God goes again...using my child to open my eyes to my sin!) We've spent a lot of time (though apparently not nearly enough!) talking about how everything belongs to God. We talk about how God would want us to use the things that He has "loaned" us and whether the way we were using them glorifies Him. As these things have been weighing on my heart, I've been studying Acts. God had a delightful treasure waiting for me today! Check out Acts 4:32. "Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common." This is my prayer for my children. This is the heart I'm prayerfully trying to instill in them. This is the heart God is gently trying to instill in me.
On a lighter note, I'll leave you with a LO for a DT call. (it was a sketch challenge.)
Credits: Upsy Daisy Designs pp, rub-ons, Tim Holtz grungeboard swirls, paint, DWCV alpha stickers, Stampin' Catz stamp

Sanctification through Servanthood (or Tough Days in Toddlerville)

So, I think I understand now what Paul meant in 1 Timothy 2:15 when he said women would be saved through childbirth! Its only 8:15 on this beautiful Wednesday morning, but I already feel like I've been through the ringer. Why? Because I've been focusing on myself and my desires instead of seeing my life and my children through the eyes of a servant as God has called me to by His example. When I manage to get my "kingdom spectacles" on properly even the whining and the fussing and the complaining are easier to deal with because I'm able to remember the reason I'm correcting these bad behaviors. Its not so that I will have "good" kids who won't embarrass me in public (although that is a plus! lol) The reason is twofold. First and foremost is it because God has called me to train them up in the way they should go. In Proverbs I'm reminded that "the reproofs of discipline are the way of life," and one that really gives me pause and makes me buckle down in the continual battle of loving discipline, we're commanded not to withhold discipline from a child so that he won't die!!! Ok, that's enough for today, even if none of you get anything out of these little "scripture" post, God uses them to cement in my mind the things he is teaching me. I'll leave you with some photos that make me smile no matter how uptight I am! (also tune in tomorrow for some thoughts God is showing me on gentleness...something I'm not that great at!)

Some thoughts from TLW

So we're having a True Love Waits youth event at our church this weekend. Its an intensive weekend, starting at 5:30 Friday night and going until the end of church Sunday morning. We do it about every two years, but change the lessons and such a bit. Anyway, I've been studying my material (I'm teaching Sophomore girls) and I was reminded why I love the English Standard Version of the bible so very much! I memorized Ephesians 4:29 a long time ago...probably after being mean to my brother and my mom wanting me to learn to control my mouth. lol. As I learned it (in NIV) is says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." Pretty good verse right? Well listen (or read..) what the ESV says, "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." Maybe its just me, but giving grace to someone else is a LOT different that just benefiting them!!!! Its all about pointing them to God and HIS grace, its all about being humble and REAL with people. Showing them that I'm a sinner but Jesus gave me grace and therefore my speech (ALL THE TIME) should reflect that grace to others!!!! Which is not to say that every other word out of my mouth has to be "Jesus" but just that it has to be something that ultimately points to Him. Make any sense? Maybe it was just something God was showing me in my life, but I figure if that's true someone else out there is probably struggling with the same thing, so there ya go! lol

And because I HAVE to have pictures in my post...
My kidlets cuddling on their grandma's lap! :)

More S.B. Pages...

Tim, (wonderful man that he is!!!!!!!!) took Kessa with him to a Christmas party at church last night and I got a chance to finish up some pages I was working on for her scrapbook. I'm SOOO close to being done with her first year I can almost taste it! lol.
This first lo, From Milk to Solid Food, is of Kessa when she was 10 months old. It was for a Diva Designer challenge on SCS. You can find the challenge here. This one was to sand the edges of your photos. That's a really great technique and I had never tried it before. It looks GREAT IRL although you can hardly see it in the photo. All the paper on this page is from Memory Boutique. The little white scallops on the left side are rub-ons by MiniMarks and the chipboard circle is from SU's On Board Lots of Letters set. There is journaling on the strips of paper also. It says, These pictures, from May 07, immediately reminded me of Hebrews 5:13-14. It's ok for you to live on milk while you are a baby. In the same way, its ok for us to be "infants" when we first get saved, but we must continue on to maturity." I'm not sure I'm too crazy about how the lo turned out overall but its not too bad! Now this page I like! lol. I'm really getting into this doodling stuff. Talk about fun!!!! This was also for the aforementioned Diva Designer challenge, but this one was to stamp directly on your photo. That wasn't a problem for me because I do it all the time! The blue and green dotted paper is by Cosmo Cricket and the paper that I matted the photo with is by K and Co. The paper is actually torn and laid over the picture, everyone over at SCS seemed to think I had torn the photo. lol, I'm not sure why but that cracked me up! The little heart is a Love, Elsie rub-on that I put on blue paper and cut out. Letter stamps are "Stampabilities" and "Alpha Blocks" foam stamps by MM. The 3 I printed out on my computer, cut out of pp by Cosmo Cricket and then painted with MM paint.

Ok, well my dog just knocked over the Christmas tree trying to scratch her back on it and I have a ton of stuff to do before Kessa wakes up from her nap. Toodles!!!!