#SheReadsTruth

This is going to sound bad.

During packing season, we take a little break from God.

Not a complete break -- never a complete break.  I still pray often.

But we don't have the chance to go to church because we work seven days a week.  I don't get a chance to sit down and read my Bible because I am always at work when I am awake.  I don't get to read the Bible to the kids or do their nightly devotion because I don't get to do the bedtime routine with them because our sitter puts them to bed.  We don't have time to memorize our weekly Bible verse like we do during the normal course of the year.

And I can definitely tell a difference.

I am crankier.  It is easier for me to get in a funk and stay in one.  The kids bicker more with each other.  I miss the kids, but then when I am with them, I snap at them more quickly.

We are Christians.  We need our daily time with the Lord, plain and simple.  It makes a huge difference in our lives.

But he answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" Matthew 4:4

Anyway, I saw on a blog and through a Facebook friend something that caught my interest.  It is a community of women who have all committed to reading the Bible and a series of devotions together and then journaling about their readings.  It is called #SheReadsTruth.

I decided to join up, and I am loving it.  I can't wait to see what each day's devotion is going to be about, and I look forward to writing in my journal each day -- although I have to say that is a difficult part for me.  Sometimes it is really hard to actually write down all of your thoughts and prayers on paper!

We started a new devotion yesterday, so I encourage you to join up and start reading.  This one is on prayer.  If you are like me and were taking a little break, this is a great way to get back into reading your Bible.  Click on over to #shereadstruth and see how to get started.

Happy Easter!

Of course I'm a day late, but I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating our Risen Lord.  We had a great celebration with family -- our first time hosting a holiday at our house -- after my favorite church service of the year (although Christmas Eve is up there...).  

I have a lot to share about our day, but it is going to have to wait for another post.  However, suffice it to say there will be more funny pictures like this...what in the world is Gibson doing?!?!

Good Friday

Come and Mourn

O come and mourn with me a while; all ye now come to the Savior's side;

come see the One who frees us all; the Lord of Life is crucified.

Have we no tears to shed for Him, while soldiers scoff and foes deride?

Upon the cross He bears His pain, the Lord of Life is crucified.

Seven times He speaks, seven words of love; His silence too, cries out to all.

His words of love our hearts receive. The Lord of Life is crucified.

O love of God, O sin of man, in this dread hour true strength is found.

It is with love we triumph still.  The Lord of Life is crucified.

I hope on this, the holiest day of our year, you have come into contact with the crucified Christ, and His Sacrifice on your behalf has stirred your heart.  Happy Good Friday.

Songwriter

Ty can add songwriter to the list of things she wants to be when she grows up (fashion designer and makeup artist if you're keeping track...).  She sang a song for us that she had written the other night, but I couldn't really understand what she was saying because she got embarrassed and quiet and giggly.

But then she wrote the words down.  The song could be finished -- it is short and seems to just stop -- but what she has is really good.  She gave this sheet to a man in the praise band at our church, and he is going to put music to it if I can get a recording of Tyler singing it.

In case you can't read the words, they are:

God puts a fire in your heart,
He takes the power away.
He can here (hear) every song you sing
and every word you say.
Tell Him your sins so He can forgive them,
forgive them.
Every time you pray He rejoices...

(I added the punctuation)

So

So, blogging hasn't been my greatest accomplishment lately, has it?

I am not exactly sure where all of my blogging time has gone, but it sure hasn't been spent sitting around being lazy.

Here are a few things I have been up to...

:: We have recently started a couples' Bible study and rotate hosting duty, and Brad and I hosted last week.  In addition to hosting, we have been trying to keep up with our homework.  We are using the book 1 Timothy & Titus: Fighting the Good Fight by John Stott.  Everyone in the group seems to like it even though the questions are not the easiest.

:: Our farm is switching over all of our computer software, so we had several days' worth of meetings with an IT guy from our new sales company.  We are also looking into new software for our piecework part of our payroll, so we have had several conference calls with a guy in California who is trying to sell us his product.  

:: Not only did Brad and I just move, but our farm also just bought a new office building that is adjacent to our packing house, so I am moving offices as well as houses.  We have been having lots of meetings with electricians, family members, carpenters, etc. to get the new office ready to move in.

:: Sanders has strep for the second time since New Years.

:: I dropped my iPhone on the carport, and the back of it shattered, so I had to get a replacement phone. It was all well and good until I got the replacement phone and the darn thing didn't activate correctly.  I got to the airport last Saturday (more on that later) and tried to call Brad, and the phone didn't even have a phone number in it!  Later it told me that it was activated, but I couldn't get internet or connect to the "cellular data network" until yesterday when my sister spent 45 minutes on the phone with Verizon.

Have you spent any time without a smartphone lately?  It feels like being in the dark ages, and I thought certain people were ignoring me...

:: Speaking of the airport, I went on a fun little trip that I want to give its own little post, but here is a hint about it...

Any guesses?!?!?

Happy 300!

Yesterday we had the opening celebration of our church's 300th year.  It was a fabulous service that started outside in our historic churchyard with some people all dressed up in period costumes from the 1700s, and a "town crier" who read proclamations by Queen Elizabeth, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and our governor, Niki Haley.  Following that brief ceremony, we all went inside for our normal worship service, but this time we had a special guest preacher -- The Lord Bishop of London, Richard J.C. Chartres, who preached the homily at Will and Kate's wedding (yes, the Will and Kate!).  His sermon was powerful as was the entire service; it really was a great opening to our tricentennial celebration.

I know that I have mentioned before how much I love our church.  I love it for the fact that the gospel is brought day in and day out in that place, but I also am a huge fan of history.  I love the fact that we have the second oldest church in South Carolina, and one of the oldest churches in continuous use in the United States.  I love the fact that the beautiful building that we sit in each Sunday was built in 1724 and that we often use communion silver from 1734.  I love the fact that my grandfather, his parents, and his grandparents are all buried in the churchyard, and that one day my parents, my children, and I will be, too.  That's a lot of generations and a lot of history!

But, it is just a building, and as beautiful and special as it is to me, it is the actual clergy and congregation who make St. Helena's such a special place.  As I said, the gospel is preached day in and day out there, and God is alive and moving in the church.  It can be felt when you walk in, and it can be felt the entire time you are at St. Helena's.  I am so thankful for my church, and I can only hope that it will last 300 more years.

If you care to read any articles on the tricentennial, you can read them here, here, and here.  

Bible Studies

Last year I was dealing with our move and getting used to a new area, and I never got to join a Bible study.  I have to say I felt a bit lost after being used to being in some sort of Bible study for years.  I knew there was one going on around here, but I also knew it was too late to join -- it was a Beth Moore study, and the group was too far into the study for me to jump in.  I told some girls to keep me in mind when they started a new one.  Unfortunately, they started a new one during packing season, and I didn't get to do that one, either.


However, lucky for me, there is finally one I can do!  

It is A Woman's Heart: God's Dwelling Place, and it is another Beth Moore study.  I absolutely love Beth Moore Bible studies, and if you have never done one, I highly recommend them.  She is hilarious and fun and brings the Word in a way that makes you want to shout and cry and laugh all at the same time.  I am really enjoying it -- even the homework part, which is really saying something for my usual procrastinating self! (Oh, I hope my kids don't inherit that trait!)


I am also doing a small group book club/Bible study on this book:

The Ministry of Motherhood: Following Christ's Example in Reaching the Hearts of Our Children by Sally Clarkson.  So far we have only gotten the introduction done, but I am excited about this book if it is as good as I think it will be after reading the intro.  I don't know about you, but I could definitely use some step by step guidance in following Christ's example -- sometimes it is more likely that I exemplify the devil than Jesus in my parenting skills.  Not pretty, I tell you -- especially when it comes to homework!  Thank God for grace!


Anyway, I am really excited about adding these studies to my normal Bible reading.  It is nice to have some time to go study the Bible with others, and I really missed that last year and realized just how nice it is because I didn't have it.  I will keep you posted on how these go!

Tragedies

I don't know about y'all, but it seems like around here, bad things have just happened in spades recently. 


When Brad and I moved a little over a year ago, we didn't really leave our former community behind.  Instead, we became "dual citizens," if you will, as I still work in our old town, our family still attends church there, and the kids and I live there for the summer while I pack tomatoes.  So anything that happens there hits close to home, and our former little town has had some real doozies lately -- 4 deaths in the past week and a half.


While they all have been very sad, and we have known or known of all of the people who died, the one who has affected me the most was a little boy. He was at a birthday party, and he drowned, only to be resuscitated and then ultimately die at the hospital a couple of days later after never gaining back any brain activity.


We didn't know this little boy or his family -- he was one we knew of -- but he has been all I could think about for days.  I don't know if it was the fact that he attended the same school that Ty did before we moved.  I don't know if it is because we knew pretty much everyone else who was at the birthday party -- all those adults who are now wandering around, asking themselves what they could have done differently and all those children whose little lives will always be different because a friend died amongst them.  I don't know if it was because he was the same age as Sanders.  I don't know if it was because I let my kids go off with a sitter all summer to swim and always trusted that they would be fine.  Or maybe it is simply because a sweet, little life was lost too soon.


Whatever the case, my heart has been broken for his family and all involved, and I have held on to my children tighter since the accident.  And while I don't believe that God makes bad things happen to people -- I believe that that is part and parcel of living in this broken and fallen world -- I find myself with each new, bad thing asking him why?  Why so many bad things all at once?  Why children?  And, selfishly, I wonder how to protect my children, my family, myself from all of this hurt and tragedy.


And I am always amazed at how the Lord meets me where I am and shows me that He is always, always there, whether it has been with my verse of the day:


When I said, "My foot is slipping," your
unfailing love, LORD, supported me.  When
anxiety was great within me, your
consolation brought me joy.  Psalm 94: 18-19


I keep my eyes always on the Lord.  With 
Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.  Psalm 16:8


Great peace have those who love your law, 
and nothing can make them stumble.  Psalm 119:165


Or with my devotional, Jesus Calling:


From August 23: Entrust your loved ones to Me; release them into My protective care.  They are much safer with Me than in your clinging hands.  If you let a loved one become an idol in your heart, you endanger that one -- as well as yourself.


From August 31: I am developing your ability to trust Me, to lean on Me, rather than on your understanding...My preference is for you to depend on Me continually, trusting Me to guide you and strengthen you as needed.  This is how you grow strong in your weakness.


Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and lean not on your own understanding.  Proverbs 3:5


The truth is, none of us knows how long we have on this earth, aside from the Lord, and all we can do while we are here is trust in the Lord and live.


I know I put a video on here last night, but I thought this one was fitting.  Margaret first introduced me to this song, but my mom sent me the video earlier today...







**Please pray for the family of the little boy and everyone else who was at the party that day.  Please also pray for the rest of the people in our little community who have been affected by all of the recent deaths.  Finally, please pray for a young boy at the kids' school who has learned that his cancer has spread throughout his body.