Happy Resurrection Day!

He is Risen! Hallelujah!

And he departed from our sight that we might return to our heart, and there find Him. For He departed, and behold, He is here.

~St Augustine

Happy Easter to you and yours! I've been sick recently and now it's time to get caught up around here. Blessings to you this week.

The Prayer Warrior Life: A Prayer System For Busy Moms

Prayer does not fit us for the greater work, prayer is the greater work. 

Oswald Chambers

I've had my fill of personal prayer systems that rely on paper...any kind of paper. It's not durable enough no matter how it's bound, especially when there are curious little ones around wanting to imitate mommy. They're known for taking the books Mommy's reading and hiding them--no, not purposely--in obscure places. The places in which they were last playing let's-pretend-we're-a-mommy. Except that hours later they can't remember where it was they were playing let's-pretend-we're-a-mommy. 


Or is that just my house? 


Are you looking for a practical, durable prayer system--one that's portable, even, and can be kept on high shelves when necessary? 


You're supposed to say yes.


$1.99 Mead 4-pocket index card keeper, holds up to 100 3x5 index cards, stretchy band to keep it closed, sticky labels to label compartments 


$3.99 assorted colored index cards (I bought both these products at Marc's discount grocery store, but the price on the card holder was only ten cents cheaper than the Amazon price above.)

Try card stock! In the form of index cards! Carried in a holder with compartments! 


You know I'm really excited when I start breaking important writing rules. Like the one about no exclamation points.  


Are you kidding me? A durable, portable prayer system? Of course the exclamation points are necessary. My three-year-old Beth likes to crinkle up her nose and eyes, put her hands on her hips, and say, "Are you kidding me!"


I bought colored index cards to go with mine. Below I'll detail a handy system you can use with the card holder and index cards. The blank sticky labels that come with the card holder will be needed to label the compartments using day(s) of week. 

1st compartment: Pink cards = Pray these every day

These cards will list urgent prayers, such as those for salvation, on-going health issues, and critical situations such as job losses and relationship breakdowns

2nd compartment: Green cards = Pray these Tuesday and Thursday

These prayers are for church and country--pastors, leaders, spiritual direction, the economy, family values, pro-life concerns, materialism, wars and critical international situations.

3rd compartment: Blue cards = Pray these Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

These prayers are specifically for our children, our husband, ourselves, and our own extended family, but not salvation, health, or critical issues, since they are covered on the pink cards (every day prayers). Include issues such as sibling rivalry, our children's spiritual habits and growth, their purity, specific heart issues you've noticed, their study habits, their friends, their future spouse/marriage, in-laws, and children. For husbands, perhaps prayers for strength as they lead the family, purity of thought and action, consistency in their spiritual habits, wisdom and holiness in the workplace, and parenting strength and wisdom for them as fathers, as they build up their sons and help them become men, and for wisdom and gentleness as they parent their girls. 

Remember to include prayers for your own spiritual growth, consistency of habits, purity, strength, and stamina. I always forget myself when I pray. How silly is that? 

4th compartment: Peach cards = Pray these Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday

These prayers will be for your friends, neighbors, and church family, but not for salvation or critical issues, since those belong on the pink every-day prayer cards.

This is just a sample. There are many different ways you can do it. When we pray before each meal, we always pray for our Compassion children's food supply and for their salvation. We also pray for them using the prayer jars after every meal. In my personal prayer system, I have their needs on pink cards, since their abject poverty makes all of their needs urgent ones. When we get their wonderful letters in the mail, there are never any pictures of their homes or living circumstances. It's easy to forget the shocking living conditions they endure on a daily basis. They desperately need our prayers!

There you have it. A durable, portable, small, hide-it-from-little-hands prayer system. Ready. Set. Go pray!

Photo: Simplicity and Innocence, by John Ernest Breun

Saturday Devotions 3/31

Sunday in the Backwoods
Thomas Faed

My Saturday devotions: Colossians 3

¹ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 

Let us not get too busy for family and personal devotions this weekend. They help focus our hearts, our minds, on all things Christ. Let us not forget what we were saved for. We receive vertical love and grace from our Father, and we are then called to distribute that love horizontally, to those around us. Let us not forget the poor and needy, who need us to represent their causes. Can we write a letter to our sponsored children this weekend, and send them a colored picture for their walls? Can we bring food to a local food pantry? Can we go through the kids' piggy banks and help them count out 10% to give to the church? Can we get our own tithe written ahead of time, ready to give in church tomorrow? Can we get our prayer journals/jars/records in order, ready to work for us? 

What can we do to pursue your kingdom and your righteousness this weekend, Father?

⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.^[b] 

Let us pray, "Lord, search my heart. What impurity is in me, what greed or evil desire? Help me identify it and put it to death Lord, through your strength."

⁷ You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 

"Search my heart, Lord. Am I angry with someone, or with you? Have I spoken ill of someone? Have I used language that is displeasing to you? Help me, Lord. Cleanse me." 

⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹ Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

"Have I been dishonest, Lord? With you, with myself, with my friends or loved ones? Create in me a clean heart, help me to see myself as I really am."

 ¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

"Have I made time to properly love those around me, Lord? Have I taken the time to show compassion, kindness, gentleness? Have I been humble in heart? Help me choose and do what is pleasing to you, Lord."

 ¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

"Have I had a thankful heart this week, Father? Show me my ingratitude. Help me repent and start anew, counting my blessings. Help me to remember your faithfulness, and give you all the praise and glory." 

Scripture source

photo source

Right Living is Now Living

Widowed and Fatherless, 1888

Thomas Benjamin Kennington

1 Thessalonians 5:18
Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 118:24

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Peter, Paul, and Mary, they ride bikes, play basketball, enjoy the sunshine, cold though it is. I pick Beth up and place her on her bike, hoping it will loosen up her legs. It's noon and she hasn't stood or walked yet. 

A flare they call it. We're ten days into one and today is the worst day. Did seasonal allergies trigger it, I wonder? Tree pollen is out and her allergy shiners are back. 

They don't really know why flares occur.

She turns the wheels of the bike with effort. Halfway down the driveway, she stops and rests. Then, making it back to the house, she gets off the bike and crawls to a chair. She asks for Goldish and eats them while she watches her siblings play. I'm grateful she asked for food, but inside I'm hurting at the reality before me. 

Sometimes, she's an invalid.

Despair washes over me as I watch her watching them. What am I supposed to do with this, God?

One sentence enters my mind:  This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

What does that really mean? Why did it come to me just now?

Regardless of what today is, it is still His day. He created and ordered this day. It's not mine. It's not Beth's. We can hope for what we want, pray for it even, but the Author is in control. 

But this truth remains: Everything God gives is a gift, albeit sometimes disguised.

She's sleeping now. She wakes up needy, crying, every time now. It's been that way for months, apparently because the inactivity of sleep causes the joint pain to worsen. Yet I can't pull her nap; she needs it more than ever. 

My conclusions today, maybe they can help you. 

We aren't promised tomorrow. We aren't promised happiness. We aren't promised that our children will be healthy, that they'll outlive us, that our spouses will survive their next day at work.

There's so much we take for granted, until something really sad happens. 

It's in the sadness, and in the trying to crawl out of it, that we really learn how to live. 

The two verses that came to me today, they teach us right living.

God's will for us in Christ Jesus is to give thanks in all things. If your husband has an accident and can no longer work, give thanks. If your child is sometimes an invalid, give thanks. If your best friend gets breast cancer, give thanks.

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Rejoice and be glad? How? 

We do this by living in the moment.

Right now I can rejoice that Beth fits perfectly in my lap. I can rejoice that when she sleeps, her beautiful face, with long eyelashes resting on perfect skin, it's a joy to behold. The peaceful rhythm of her breathing, it fills me with gratitude for my daughters, given to me, an old girl, at ages 40 and 42. 

In this moment, right now, there is blessing. I challenge you to prove this false. 

Friend, it is truth. You will always be able to find something about this moment, that is beautiful. Call it grace. The grace of the moment.

The wrong way to live is to wish for a different story. To worry about tomorrow. To wonder how you'll get through. To wonder why others have it easier. 

Right living is now living. Thanks-living.

photo credit

Blessings on Thursday 3/29

It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness. 

Charles Spurgeon

The end of a happy day
by Thomas Faed

~ Temps under 30 haven't affected the few tulips in bloom. More will bloom in the next couple of days, with more low temps on the way. We'll be praying!

~ Peter falling in love with historical fiction

~ Sarah, Plain and Tall, a short, easy, but moving Newbery Medal read by Patricia MacLachlan, intrigued both my boys this year. I doubted they would enjoy it, but I pulled it off the shelf anyway, sensing they were fans of 19th century historical literature. We also happened to have one of the sequels, More Perfect Than The Moon. What a hit! I decided to order the other sequels, which should arrive any day now. We love new reads!

1 Sarah, Plain and Tall
2 Skylark
3 Caleb's Story
4 More Perfect than the Moon
5 Grandfather's Dance

~ A certain little three-year-old cozy in my lap, making my heart sing.

~  Waking up a 3 AM and deciding to sweep, mop, put away puzzles, and fold clothes, rather than fight insomnia. Great way to sneak in chores so the day goes smoother. But I don't recommend you doing it. Roll over and go back to sleep...you're not 46 yet. 

~ Peter having a better week.

~ I enjoy talking with Beth's physical therapist every Wednesday, during Beth's fifty-minute session. She is European, maybe German, but I can easily understand her even with her accent. We don't actually talk the whole time, since we're both working with Beth, but we manage to visit a little each session. She is very nice, sweet, and gentle. She wanted a girl badly but she has two boys, 8 and 14 years old. Miss Beth charms, with her face always full of expression, and her spontaneous giggles and songs. It does Bea, the therapist, good to be with a little girl. 

She knows we go to church, but that's all I've said thus far. I sense the relationship will slowly develop into one of mutual trust and respect, and maybe then God will put life-giving words in my mouth? Talking about Jesus to a person with whom we have real relationship, is very effective evangelism, particularly for adults. Most people who know the Lord come to faith before 18 years old. The odds aren't great for coming to faith after that, which is why building relationship is so important.. I'm living proof, having been saved at age 31 because of a relationship a fellow first-grade teacher built with me. The topic, the need, will come up eventually, for God puts Christian and non-Christian together for a purpose. It was no accident that my daughter developed arthritis, requiring her to see the same few practitioners for many years.

~ Morning cuddles

~ A relative may be here on Saturday to help my husband change out at least one toilet, maybe two. 

~ Grass greening all over the township, tulips and daffodils up everywhere.

~ Peter, at age 10, still letting me kiss his cheek, though he dislikes hugs.

~ Making a good dent in the spring clothing switch.

~ I get to hold babies in the nursery soon.

~ Paul coming into the bedroom this morning, asking, "Is it time to cuddle yet?"

~ "Henry Bussy, put that thing down!" A line from Mary's current favorite movie. I like to say it because it comes from an ornery, neat-freak mother in this classic movie (adapted from a classic book). I can stand just like her, too, with my hands on my hips. Makes the kids giggle. 

Can you guess the movie? (Jess, I think you should be disqualified from the guessing for obvious reasons. But the reasons have nothing to do with you being ornery. Or being a neat freak. Although you may be both of those things. Only Margie would know for sure.)

~ Two boys and two girls. Oh, the messes and the laundry! But they bless my soul, so.

~ Children painting sea scenes today.

~ Mary telling me a few weeks ago: "Mommy, I don't think I'm going to let my kids go outside. Then I won't have so much laundry."

photo source

Spurgeon quote source