Far away in the depths of my spirit tonight
Rolls a melody sweeter than psalm;
In celestial strains it unceasingly falls
O’er my soul like an infinite calm.

Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above!
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray
In fathomless billows of love!

What a treasure I have in this wonderful peace,
Buried deep in the heart of my soul,
So secure that no power can mine it away,
While the years of eternity roll!

Originally posted September 17, 2009

Today the lil' guy and I were taking a walk outside.  He fell flat on his tummy bumping his chin on the ground.  Poor guy.  As he cried, I picked him up, set him on his feet, dusted him off, dried his tears, wiped his nose, and kissed his chin.  We started off on our walk again.  Hand in hand. 

Lord, I've fallen flat on my face.  Thank you for setting me on my feet and dusting me off.

"He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings."  Psalms 40:2

It's no lie that the Pastor and his family live in a fishbowl a.k.a. under a microscope* or my made up word the "pastorscope". 

This weird thing happens when your husband stands in front of a congregation each week sharing from his heart about loving and serving the Lord.  People watch him.  They* watch his wife and they watch his kids.  They are watching to see if we live what we believe.  And if they are honest, they are watching to see if we mess up.  

They wait to see if I will lose my patience. They examine my life to see how organized I am. They wonder if our children are happy. Do they fight? Do they have friends?  Is her house clean?  If I drop by her house at 7am will she and all four kids be dressed and ready to receive company?  (True story.)

It's hard. Because we are normal people. The kids have their moments.  And so do I.

I get disorganized. I get so busy at times that I can't see straight. I stress about things that I shouldn't.

In the midst of it all, there is unspeakable joy.  

I hope when everyone is watching, they see the joy.  More than stress.  More than fatigue. 

"In his favour is life: grief may endure for a night, but his joy comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5

*What's your miscroscope?  Is it the largefamilyscope? homeschoolscope?  communityleaderscope?  teacherscope? We all have our critics, don't we?

*The greatest dilemma of all - Who are "they" anyway? 

At Gracie's request, I'm reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. 

I know.  It's August.  

Watcha gonna do?

Yep, read the book.

As we were finishing up, I read:

"When Imogene had asked me what the pageant was about, I told her it was about Jesus, but that was just part of it.  It was about a new baby, and his mother and father who were in a lot of trouble - no money, no place to go, no doctor, nobody they knew." 

Reading those words, it struck me. 

God used a hot mess to bring salvation to the world. 

Strangely, the gospel shines through with a new brilliance. 

Cause everybody needs to hear the sand, rocks, and jar story. 

Every day is an empty jar....and we get to decide how we'll fill our jar.

There are certain things in life that are big, that must be part of our days. Big Stuff that anchors and centers us. Our rocks. 

And then there is the little stuff.  The gritty stuff of life. Our sand.

We get to decide what we personally consider to be the big stuff and what we consider the gritty stuff of life.    

If we fill the jar with the gritty stuff first, there will be no room for the big stuff.  But if we put the rocks in first, the sandy gritty stuff will fall in around the gaps and spaces between the rocks filling every nook and cranny of the jar. 

May our days be filled with the important stuff and may the little necessaries fall in between.  

Did you know that children can easily memorize a bible verse just by having an adult say it to them three times each day?  It's true.  Children may also be taught to recognize and write the letters of the alphabet while they are memorizing Scripture.  Bible verses committed to memory in childhood become a part of that child for a lifetime. 

A     All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Rom. 3:23

B      Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.  Acts 16:31

C      Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  Ephesians 6:1

D     Depart from evil, and do good.  Psalm 34:14

E      Even a child is known by his doings.  Proverbs 20:11

F      Fear not, for I am with thee. Isaiah 43:5

G      God is love.  1 John 4:8

H     Honor thy father and thy mother.  Exodus 20:12

I      If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.  John 14:14

J      Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:  no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  John 14:6

K      Keep thy tongue from evil.  Psalm 34:13

L      Look unto me, and be ye saved.  Isaiah 45:22

M     My son, give me thine heart.  Proverbs 23:26

N     No one can serve two masters.    Matthew 6:24

O     O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good.  Psalm 118:1

P      Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God.  Psalm 147:1

Q     Quench not the spirit.  I Thessalonians 5:19

R      Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Exodus 20:8

S      Seek ye the Lord while he may be found.  Isaiah 55:6

T      Thou God seest me.  Genesis 16:13

U     Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks.  Psalm 75:1

V      Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you.  John 16:23 

W     What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.   Psalm 56:3

X     Exceeding great and precious promises are given unto us.  II Peter 1:4

Y      You are the light of the world.  Matthew 5:14

Z      Zion heard, and was glad.  Psalm 97:8

My Great Aunt Anne had this way about her.  When you were with her, she made you feel as though you were her favorite. 

I believed that I was her favorite great-niece.  It was only after her passing that I realized all her nieces thought each was her favorite.  Which only made me love her more.

It's wonderful to be someone's favorite.  We crave relationships in which we are accepted, valued, and wanted.  To find favor means to receive the attention and respect of another.  To receive extraordinary kindness.   

There is no favor greater than the favor of God.

ABC News asked Pastor Joel Osteen, "What is God's Favor?" and he responded, "I believe God’s favor is something intangible where you’ve got God’s blessings on your life. I'm not saying it’s not a struggle, but you believe for good things.  There are so many people who don’t expect anything good in life. They don’t expect to get breaks, they don’t expect to get promoted, they don’t expect anything positive. So I just try to get people to say, I believe if we expect God’s favor, if we declare it, if we thank him when we do see good things happening, then we’re going to see more of that."

NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE, WHERE YOU LIVE, OR WHAT YOU'VE DONE, YOU CAN BE BLESSED - AS IN "KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF" BLESSED BY THE FAVOR OF GOD.

Psalms 30:5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Proverbs 3:3-4 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

"The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."  1 Samuel 16:7

This statement of God to Samuel is a reminder that God has a different set of standards than we do in determining the worth of a person. 

The power of God is unlimited.  God is not limited in any way by your education, economic status, race, or social standing. 

God is not limited by our artificial limitations.  They only matter to the world, not to the Lord.  There is no such thing as the wrong side of the tracks with God. 

God uses ordinary people like you and me to do extraordianry things when we give Him our all and let Him do the work. 

We're Super Ordinary!

We're not anointed and called cause we're qualified.  We're qualified cause we're called and anointed!

"When we face life's difficulties we can grow bitter or better."  Michelle Duggar

If ever there was a person who had the “right” to be bitter, it was Joseph.  The Bible tells us he was thrown into a pit and left for dead, sold into slavery, falsely accused of attempted rape, forgotten by his friends, and unjustly detained in a prison cell for many years.  And yet, after his release and subsequent appointment as governor of Egypt, he came face-to-face with the very brothers who caused his demise. Rather than give them the punishment they deserved, he said, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).  Joseph chose not to be bitter, but to allow his circumstances to make him better.  And with God’s help, we can do the same

I love this poem found in The Book of Positive Quotations by John Cook: 

The Hard Way

For every hill I've had to climb, 
For every stone that bruised my feet, 
For all the blood and sweat and grime, 
For blinding storms and burning heat, 
My heart sings but a grateful song- 
These were the things that made me strong.  

The fact is that hurt is inevitable in relationships.  The only way to be better rather than bitter is to extend the same grace to others that God extended to us through Jesus Christ.