His Ways Are Higher

I read this on the Desiring God blog in my Reader this morning. I had to read it 2-3 times to "get it" but I think it's going to be one I consider often. We've been walking through an extended period of "waiting" and I'm grateful for regular reminders that we can trust that God knows the end of this season just as He knew the beginning and how He had already prepared us for it before we did. I'm so grateful that He is a God who condescends to us and draws us to Him through His Word. And grateful for men like John Piper and CS Lewis who remind us that our patience and obedience in trusting Him matter because they bring Him glory and make much of the gospel we have been forever changed by.

Reflecting on why God put Abraham's faith to the test by commanding him to offer his son, Lewis says,

'If God then is omniscient, he must have known what Abraham would do, without any experiment. Why then this needless torture?" But as St. Augustine points out, whatever God knew, Abraham at any rate did not know that his obedience would endure such a command until the event taught him: and the obedience which he did not know that he would choose, he cannot be said to have chosen. The reality of Abraham's obedience was the act itself; and what God knew in knowing that Abraham "would obey" was Abraham's actual obedience on that mountain top a that moment. To say that God "need not have tried the experiment" is to say that because God knows, the thing known by God need not to exist. (The Problem of Pain, 101)

Different Translation. Helpful Truth.

I read this in The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges and found it both interesting and provoking. Bridges references the "Kenneth Wuest translation" of the Bible (he's someone who originally was a part of the team that created the New American Standard Bible). Sometimes hearing truth phrased a different way is very helpful to me.

2 Corinthians 5:14

"For the love which Christ has (for me) presses on me from all sides, holding me to one end and prohibiting me from considering any other, wrapping itself around me in tenderness, giving me an impelling motive."

ESV "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."

Thanksgiving (5) Hope. Forever.

And finally, on Thanksgiving itself, we are so thankful for the eternal hope we have through the grace of God. There are so many rich quotes full of the truth of what that means and so many verses that I could use. One that struck me a few weeks back when I read it was the quote below. It's in a book that the history major in me is loving because it combines primary source documents with a few pages of preface for each section and traces the solidifying and defending the doctrine of Christ. I am so grateful that even in a world that despises God and often the belief in God that through His grace I know that He is real and I live for a life after this one and a world that I was made for where there will be no more tears, no more pain, and no more death. I just love the way this quote puts it as Ignatius defends against the idea that Jesus did not really come to earth as fully God and fully man.

"But as for me, I do not place my hopes in one who died for me in appearance, but in reality... He was crucified in reality, and not in appearance, not in imagination, not in deceit." Ignatius in "The Epistle to the Trallians'" quoted in For Us and For Our Salvation

Recent Favorite Quote

"So he supplies perfectly measured grace to meet the needs of the godly. For daily needs there is daily grace; for sudden needs, sudden grace; for overwhelming need, overwhelming grace. God’s grace has given wonderfully, but not wastefully; freely but not foolishly; bountifully but not blindly." (John Blanchard)

Come Back?

I'm thinking this blog should be revived. Somehow. Someway. At least with more than every four month postings.

For now, check out Dre's photography blog for what the Hubs did two weekends ago: he was a real deal professional wedding photographer for a couple in Arlington. (Pictures HERE!) So proud of my man and so impressed by how hard he works. The last few months Dre's weeks have often gone far beyond Monday-Friday 8-5pm.

and PS, encouraging read of the week: "Sometimes faith is little more than a simple clinging to Christ in a sense of utter dependence...God gives his people the propensity to cling. Though this is a very simple sort of faith, it is a very complete and effectual form..We can cleave when we can do nothing else, and that is the very soul of faith." (Spurgeon, Triumph of Faith)
Add any and all of your favorite "but God...!" verses (Ephesians 2, Titus 3) to that and oh man, what power and majesty are displayed on the cross and in the "everlasting arms" (Deut. 33:27) of our heavenly Father.

Happy Easter

Came upon this verse in my quiet time the other day and loved the way it looked forward to what Christ accomplished in his death and resurrection. What amazing truth and hope!!

"Therefore hear this, you afflicted one,
made drunk, but not with wine.

This is what your Sovereign LORD says,
your God, who defends his people:
"See, I have taken out of your hand
the cup that made you stagger;
from that cup, the goblet of my wrath,
you will never drink again." (Isaiah 51:21-22)

Comforting Truth...

I've been reading (determined this time to actually read it cover through cover) Instruments In The Redeemer's Hands hoping to glean wisdom and refreshment for leading my KG girls. Of course, in God's faithfulness He has regularly met and encouraged me in every aspect of life and in my marriage as I've been reading. How kind of God and how silly of me to be surprised by this. :-) I read this the other morning and it struck, challenged, and comforted me. I hope it encourages you as well.

"True hope is not rooted in my achievements or assets, but in my knowledge that I am a child of the King. He loves me with a love that nothing can take away. He has given me His forgiving and empowering grace. He has promised to give me whatever I need to face what comes my way. And He has promised that I will live with Him forever in a place without suffering, sorrow, or sin. This means that in the most difficult moments of my life, nothing truly permanent or valuable is at stake. What I really live for is safe and secure. I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but I know that I am in the family of God, eternally loved and cared for by Him. This is real hope."

(Paul David Tripp, p. 154)

A Recipe, Faith, and String Cheese

1. In an attempt to keep my body from hating me so much and yet satisfy a craving for some yummy fresh baked cookies I googled and found this recipe for dairy-free chocolate chip cookies. [Disclaimer: obviously if you use milk chocolate chips they would add diary to the recipe.] I know most of our friends with allergies have gluten-allergies so these still wouldn't work for them but for anyone else who needs to avoid dairy like the plague these are pretty good! Andree actually ate about 10 of them. :-P [And for our gluten-allergy friends, go to Trader Joe's and buy a bag of "Tortilla Chips With An Identity Crisis." Seriously. Soooooooo good.]

• 3/4 cup margarine (check ingredients)
• (Or substitute 1/4 cup of margarine for peanut butter - very yummy)
• 1 cup unrefined sugar
• 1 banana
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa (can be a little more if you like)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 175 C. *FYI if you’re not as smart as me you’ll notice this is in Celsius and not Fahrenheit and translate that this should be preheated to 375 F on your oven.

Cream margarine and sugar (and peanut butter if included) until light in color and fluffy. Add banana and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, soda, and baking powder.

Add dry mixture to wet mixture and mix until everything is well blended. Stir in the chips.

Form balls and squash them down a little bit on a baking sheet. Bake for 7-9 minutes until the tops are no longer gooey.

2. I read this today on Of First Importance today and man, was I instantly encouraged! I am so grateful for the way the Spirit works in the midst of busy days to bring fresh encouragement and perspective.

“Faith is not our saviour. It was not faith that was born at Bethlehem and died on Golgotha for us. It was not faith that loved us, and gave itself for us; that bore our sins in its own body on the tree; that died and rose again for our sins. Faith is one thing, the Saviour is another. Faith is one thing, and the cross is another. Let us not confound them, nor ascribe to a poor, imperfect act of man, that which belongs exclusively to the Son of the Living God.

Our security is this, that it matters not how poor or weak our faith maybe: if it touches the perfect One, all is well. God has asked and provided a perfect righteousness; He nowhere asks nor expects a perfect faith. So a feeble, very feeble faith, will connect us with the righteousness of the Son of God; the faith, perhaps, that can only cry, ‘Lord, I believe; help mine unbelief.’”

- Horatius Bonar, “Not Faith, But Christ”

3. Finally... Andree needs to take a picture of these little guys in their special "hoodies" (I cannot be held responsible for my creative urges when I was sick a few weeks ago) but a blog post without a picture is boring so...
Here's our brood who bring me regular smiles especially when Puppa makes them talk and tucks them in at night. The little ones can say "cheese", "string cheese", "Mamma", and "Puh" but that's about it. Special memories in our very special marriage.

Fight for Faith

"That is the way in which faith reasons. It says: ‘All right, I see the waves and the billows but’—it always puts up this ‘but’. That is faith, it holds on to truth and reasons from what it knows to be fact. That is the way to apply faith… Whatever the circumstances, therefore, stand, wait for a moment. Say: ‘I admit it all, but—’ But what? But God! but the Lord Jesus Christ! But what? The whole of my salvation! That is what faith does. All things may seem to be against me ‘to drive me to despair’, I do not understand what is happening; but I know this, I know that God has so loved me that He sent His only begotten Son into this world for me, I know that while I was an enemy, God sent His only Son to die on the Cross on Calvary’s Hill for me. He has done that for me while I was an enemy, a rebellious alien. I know that the Son of God ‘loved me and gave Himself for me’. I know that at the cost of His life’s blood I have salvation and that I am a child of God and an heir to everlasting bliss. I know that… Faith reminds itself of what the Scripture calls ‘the exceeding great and precious promises’. Faith says: ‘I cannot believe that He who has brought me so far is going to let me down at this point. It is impossible, it would be inconsistent with the character of God’. So faith, having refused to be controlled by circumstances, reminds itself of what it believes and what it knows… Whatever your circumstances at this moment, bring all you know to be true of your relationship to God to bear upon it. Then you will know full well that He will never allow anything to happen to you that is harmful. ‘All things work together for good to them that love God.’ Not a hair of your head shall be harmed, He loves you with an everlasting love. I do not suggest that you will be able to understand everything that his happening. You may not have a full explanation of it; but you will know for certain that God is not unconcerned. That is impossible. The One who has done the greatest thing of all for you, must be concerned about you in everything."

– Marytn Lloyd-Jones in Spiritual Depression: It's Causes and Cure

There aren't words to describe how much this quote has impacted my life or how sweet the truth that Lloyd-Jones speaks is to my heart. Maybe someday I'll add more about how specifically God has been using this in my life... but for now, ...God is good.

Solo Femininity

Our Family Featured in Solo Femininity

Recently Carolyn McCulley, author of the blog Solo Femininity, asked Becca about her thoughts about life as a newly married woman. See her post here.

Biblical Submission and Kitchen Counters

So my dear Puppa Bear set this blog-thing up. Thought it would be cool since all the cool people have these and this way "we" have something together on top of our individual xangas. While he set it up I was trying to think of what insightful, relevant story I could tell about the joys of married life. I unloaded the dishwasher while I pondered and as I did that it hit me... The countertops!!

I like to climb up and stand on the countertops. (I did this while I unloaded the dishwasher and Andree worked on the blog...) I'm short. Vertically challenged. Petite. I've been doing it since I was a kiddo because it's hard for me to reach things and I'm just that resourceful. In our sweet little kitchen I can only reach about the second shelf in our cabinets. That makes it rather difficult for me to put away a great number of things so I hoist myself up on top of the counters so I'm standing on them and can easily reach into and on top of the cabinets.

Andree does not like this. I'm not entirely sure why. I think he's afraid I'll lose my balance and fall off and maybe crack my head open or something. (Which being the multi-talented woman that I am is quite probable.) When he comes in the kitchen and I'm standing on the counters he comes and picks me up off them and removes the item from my hand and puts it away himself. You should have seen his face when I told him I decided on my topic while I was standing on the countertops. (He's so cute sometimes...)

So yes, this is my first blog and it's about countertops. Really though it's about what I'm learning (other than to make a pile of all the "too high" stuff for my husband to put away for me): How blatant is it in Scripture to be submissive to your husband? I think if it wasn't so clearly commanded the world would struggle less with the concept of Biblical marriage and roles.
"Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands... For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear." (1 Peter 5:1, 5-6)

That's pretty obvious. And now I have a real-life husband and an opportunity to not only practice this but to live my life this way! No more of the "well I'm called to support your leadership and help you learn to lead but you're not my husband so I don't have to submit to you!" (the Biblical response to following our brothers in the Lord when they decide we need to eat a jar of pickles while holding our breath--though the attitude may need to be adjusted). This may be a stupid issue to try to grow in submission over but at the same time life is about all the little things and our responses to them so often. God has graciously provided me with a wonderful husband who has gently requested--repeatedly--that I not climb up and stand on top of the counters. And so I am going to learn to submit to him by not climbing on the countertops! I will 1. be sure we acquire our very own step stool that helps me reach to the top of the cabinets ASAP and 2. not climbing on the counters and instead ask him to help me!! (Bonus two things to work on at once! Submission + humility!! Being a wife is sanctifying!!)