Loss

Today it rained most drearily. And although we have all been hoping for snow - especially for the sake of my sister-in-law Hannah, visiting from Arizona - the rain seemed appropriate.

We got the news this morning that a man from our church died from a heart attack. Please be in prayer for his wife - now widow - and his two daughters, a sensitive 11 year old and a rambunctious 4 year old. Pray also for us a church family, that we can be the Body of Christ to them. Thank you.

~*~

Psalm Pstudy: 31-40

Feeling stressed? Frustrated? Bored? Insecure? Reckon some Fact:

31. My times are in His hand.


32. Jesus is my hiding place.


33. Jesus is right.


34. Jesus delivered me from all my fears.


35. Jesus fights against those who fight against me.


36. Jesus gives [men] drink from the river of His pleasures.


37. Jesus upholds the righteous.


38. Jesus is my salvation.


39. Jesus is the remover of plagues.


40. Jesus thinks upon me.


I love this stuff! Look up the actual Psalms - God said it and He cannot lie.

Random - New, Almost-new, & Timeless

New favorite Eric Ludy sermon: Wings Like Eagles (4/25/2010). I just listened to it yesterday, and it was amazing.
Timeless favorite E.L. sermon: Reckoning With Truth (10/31/2010). This may be my all-time favorite. That message, that week, changed my life for good!

New favorite song: I don't know the name of it, but one line is stuck in my head: "Love, and Joy, and Peace, and Righteousness, in the Holy Spirit, oh oh oh oh...."
Almost-new favorite song: "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise" A new version of the old hymn, combining majestic and personal adoration of Jesus.

Almost-new favorite book: Princess. This book was fascinating, heart-rending, and at times even horrifying. It's a real life story that reveals a lot about the lives of Saudi Arabian women. After I finished reading, I walked outside into a lovely sunshiny day and felt guilty. Not that I had done something wrong, but that I was free in so many ways they might never be. God came for them to have abundant life, and He is burdened for them.
Timeless favorite book, again!: Psalms

New favorite movie: Babies. Zadok Johnson once said something to the effect of, "Who needs a TV when you have a baby around?" Just watched a film by this title that lets you watch four babies from totally different countries "from their first breath to their first steps". It's relax-paced, funny, and extremely cute. Caveat: It's not for everyone; there is cultural/maternal nudity throughout. (PG) Go find a baby near you to watch!

New favorite tradition: Giving overdue thank-you cards at Thanksgiving. The only problem is that you can never thank everybody you ought to!

Almost new & timeless favorite verse: "But the word (†) is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it." Deuteronomy 30:14

Quick Quote

Cheerful holiness is the most forcible of sermons. - Charles Spurgeon

Thanks to NRJohnson for the quote. O how I want my life to illustrate this!

Thankful Thursday: 2011

Every Thanksgiving our mom has us write what we are thankful for in our "Thanksgiving Scrapbook". There are also pictures of the day, and a verse that my dad picks out.

Here is what I wrote this year:

Thankfulness Two Thousand Eleven
Nothing tops Jesus, the sweet taste of heaven
Ellerslie, a year of blessing
Hero-training, waiting and testing
Priceless family, days at home
Precious study, times near the Throne
Working and learning, an endless frontier
To Jesus be all my thanksgiving this year.
                      ~*~ Elizabeth

I thank Him for you, my friends. Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankful Thursday: Just Because!

Although I've been attempting to establish a tradition for the month (things to be thankful for on Thursday) but I didn't have a post ready this week. Instead, take a minute and meditate on  the verse my Hero-Training class memorized this week:

...in everything give thanks...

I told them the story of Corrie and Betsy ten Boom giving thanks for the fleas as they were prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp. Then I asked the kiddos what the hardest thing for them to give thanks for was. Their answer: Mosquitoes.

Thankful Thursday: Good Books

I heard once that you can tell a lot about someone by what's on their bookshelf. Apparently I am not the same person that I was before Ellerslie (no one ever is!) because ever since I came back my book collection has, without any conscious action on my part, taken on a whole new character. Stick around and I'll take you on a virtual tour of all my best books... well, almost all of them.

Exhibit A

One of the shelves of my dresser. Baby name books, assorted Christian books, my NASB and Precious Moments Bibles, miscellaneous journals, calligraphy books, and on the far right, the novel of novels, Scottish Chiefs.

Exhibit B

The it-didn't-fit-on-the-shelf stack atop my dresser. With the exception of The Believer's School of Prayer by Andrew Murray, these are all post-Ellerslie. The pink book is by a fellow student.

Exhibit C

My primary music collection. L-R: Guitar music folder, piano music folder, church worship team collection, Ellerslie song collection, hymnal. 

Exhibit D

 

My current bedside study stack. Because He Loves Me (thanks Kristen!!!), The Calvary Road, and the dual-service notebook. Also my very old KJV Bible.

Exhibit E

The best for last! This stack goes upstairs and downstairs every single day, minus the concordance. My NKJV Bible, Journal, and mechanical pencil are my best friends. More of Jesus!!!  Books that point to Him are worth giving thanks for.

PS: You know how there's always somebody who misses picture day and doesn't get their pretty face included in the yearbook? Well, here too. Not pictured: Rees Howells - Intercessor, and my Ellerslie Session Notes.