Tuesday Devotions 4/24

Sunday in the Backwoods
Thomas Faed

<sup>Today's Text: Ephesians 5:1-21


1</sup> Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children ² and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Lord, you teach me that love is a verb. What Christ did on the cross? That was action--a giving up, a sacrifice of will, a deed. Help me to worship you with my actions. Please Father, may loving acts come out of me this day, reflecting you. And out of my husband and children as well.

 ³ But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 

Lord, you give me everything I have, and you own everything. I can be generous with confidence, knowing that your stores do not run out. Help me to grow in faith, trusting you so that I can be exceedingly generous.

Lord, cleanse my heart and my home of anything that will give the enemy a stronghold in the area of impurity or sexual immorality. Protect me, my husband, and my children, wherever we are. May we be ever-watchful, protecting our children's innocence and purity. May you reign in our hearts and in our home, forevermore.

⁴ Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. ⁵For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.^[a] 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. ⁷ Therefore do not be partners with them.

Lord, may our tongues act in obedience to you. May they reflect your presence in our hearts. Help us to choose friends wisely, staying away from those who seek to deceive our hearts. Give us daily discernment.

⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ⁹(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰ and find out what pleases the Lord. 

Lord, may I seek your truth and know what pleases you. Help me to stay in prayer throughout the day, and help me to seek your wisdom through the Word. May your Word wash me and replace my will with goodness, righteousness and truth. May my prayers give me strength and peace. Help me to choose you and please you.

¹¹ Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹² It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. ¹⁴ This is why it is said:

   “Wake up, sleeper,
   rise from the dead,
   and Christ will shine on you.”

Lord, search my heart. What deeds or thoughts of mine reflect darkness, rather than light? Expose me to myself. May I reflect your light in all I do. 

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 

Lord, I know you give me opportunities to shine...to do good. May I make the most of them, worshiping you with my life. May I help my children, as well, understand what your will is. May we pause to talk about you, however busy the day seems. Help me to guide them in righteousness, never missing an opportunity. Help my husband and children, as well, to pray without ceasing, to read their Bibles, hungry for wisdom and a washing. Hungry to live for you, Lord.

¹⁸ Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord, your spirit is all I need...all we need. You are always there for me, ready to help me shine your light. May I seek you, and allow you to transform my speech into "psalms, hymns, and songs from the spirit." May we worship you in this house, always giving thanks in the name of Jesus.

In your Son's holy name I pray,  Amen.

scripture source

Thanking Him

Lady Fairbairn with her Children, 1864
William Holman Hunt

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues. - Cicero

Dear Father, thank you for...

...homemade pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread on days that feel like winter.

...girls making ice cream treats with their Playdoh set.

...encouraging words and prayers from you.

...wind howling fierce and a warm home to shelter us.

...finally, a real basketball hoop set-up for Paul, who enjoys the sport immensely.

...a scarf around my neck.

...siblings entertaining one another.

...cardinals and goldfinch at the feeder all day.

...imaginations and messes.

...mixed summer fruit, frozen and delicious from the freezer case at Walmart.

...baking with children.

...the comfort of prayer.

...the comfort of the Bible.

...the privilege of having a family to serve and love.

...a sweet, precious three-year-old to cuddle with.

...hair ribbons and two little girls to wear them.

...Kanga and Roo and Pooh and Eyore and Tigger and Piglet and Christopher Robin.

...Paul buying himself a Backgammon set from Goodwill and Daddy playing it with him.

...a husband with strength...spiritual, emotional, physical.

...you, dear reader.

...Peter taking a break from historical fiction to read and giggle over Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, which I read to them a couple years back. So tickled, he began reading it aloud to us. Then later, him asking, "Mommy, can you look on Amazon for used copies of the sequels for Mrs. Piggle Wiggle? I want to read them all."

Later in the day: "Mommy, do you remember the never-want-to-go-to-bedders cure? It's my favorite. They're in this movie theater and they go to sleep because they're so tired. At the end they beg their mom to let them go to bed at 8."

Grade level info. gathered from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/hello-mrs-piggle-wiggle

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
Interest Level: Grade 3 - Grade 5
Grade Level Equivalent: 4.5
Lexile® measure: 1070L

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle's Magic
Interest Level: Grade 3 - Grade 5
Grade Level Equivalent: 4.6
Lexile® measure: 1070L






Hello, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
Interest Level: Grade 2 - Grade 5
Grade Level Equivalent: 4.6
Lexile® measure: 930L




Mrs. Piggle Wiggle's Farm
Interest Level: Grade 3 - Grade 5
Grade Level Equivalent: 4.7
Lexile® measure: 840L

Interest Level: Grade 3 - Grade 5
Grade Level Equivalent: 5.6
Lexile® measure: 870L

...all things Pooh Bear, in The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh

photo credit

Saturday Devotions 4/21

Sunday in the Backwoods
Thomas Faed

Ephesians 4:1-16

Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ

¹ As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 

Lord, search my heart and make it known to me. In all my dealings, cleanse me of unrighteousness. May I learn from you through prayer and Bible reading, and knowing your heart, receiving power from the Holy Spirit, may I be completely humble and gentle, patient, peaceful, bearing with all in love. I am sorry for impatience, for lack of humility, for harshness. Renew my spirit, take away the weary, help me derive sustenance from you, so I may please you.

 ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Lord, search my heart here. Help me see the beauty of your design for the Church body, for diversity in the Church is necessary to accomplish your purposes. Help me to embrace your vision, and cling to the unity we have in You. Help me to keep my eyes on you, trusting you for everything. Replace vision I may have, with your purpose, your will.

 ⁷ But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸ This is why it^[a]says:

   “When he ascended on high,
   he took many captives
   and gave gifts to his people.”^[b]

 ⁹ (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions^[c]? ¹⁰ He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) ¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Lord, I know you saved me for a purpose. I am not called to serve myself. Instead, you gave me certain spiritual gifts to use to strengthen the church (for me, those gifts are teaching, exhortation, faith). Help me to have a servant's heart, for in serving the Church, I serve you. I please you. And when I'm pleasing you, I'm worshiping you. Help me to exercise my gifts, so that you receive your due glory. Help me to live for you, as your faithful servant.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 

Lord, let nothing I encounter--be it friend, book, trend, blog, newspaper, science, psychology--replace you and your truth. May I spend my time with you, in prayer and Bible reading, so that nothing crowds or deceives my heart. Help me to cling to truth, to live for truth.

¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Lord, help me to speak up when necessary. Guide my heart, give me courage. Let me hear wisdom and heed it when spoken in truth from another Christian. Help every member of your body do the work you have called us to do.


In your name I pray, Amen.


Scripture source
photo source

Thank you, Father

"Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;"
Hebrews 12:28

Thank you, Father, for...


...little girls and their dolls.
...little girls and their hugs and their tender emotions.
...trains and buses and all the other things children pretend with their preschool chairs.

~ For AWANA and its timeless lessons, thank you Father.
~ For victory and defeat, thank you Father.

~ For my sweet preschoolers and friends at AWANA, thank you Father. Beth on the left, a visitor at AWANA until next Sept., and on the right, Mary--watching her car win the Derby race. In ten years of parenting, no one had ever cut their own hair...until Mary decided to butcher her bangs, as shown in the picture. Yes, it could have been worse. They've grown a bit in the last month.

Thank you, Father, for...

...baking with children.

...being at home with them.

...the priviledge of shepherding their hearts through you.

...a warm, happy home.

...two good visits with our relative, in which the children shined your light.

...Peter introducing our Compassion children to our relative:

"This is Divya; she is from India. This is Raphael; he is from Burkina Faso, Africa. This is Nelson; he is from El Salvador, Central America. They are very poor and they don't always hear that they are loved. We love them and we write them letters and send them money. Our letters mean a lot to them, and we get letters back from them." 

I was so proud of him! Our visitor just said, "That's nice." But the heart of a child for other children, half-way round the world, maybe it planted a seed destined to bear fruit later, in her heart? I suppose I'm desperate for something to bring a heart change, but I know God is in control and I trust him. Hard hearts don't easily melt.

Thank you, Father, for...

...a husband who cherishes us and serves us with his life.

...giggling girls in bathtubs.

...the Geo Trax train set making a comeback in their playtime.

...never-ending grace.

...homeschooling.

...gingerbread pancakes (thank you, again, Jess, for the recipe)

...wrinkles and wisdom.

...nature-center classes.

...backyard nature.

...dressing dollies with my girls.

...the hope of spring.

...the upcoming gardening season and my children's enthusiasm.

...a simple life.

...a shampooed carpet.

...thrift stores to go to when Peter's jeans all have holes.

...fancy pink sparkly shoes and white fancy socks.

...babies in the nursery.

...a homemade chocolate cake, with Beth's love all over it.

...a bed for everyone.

...the worst of Beth's flare subsiding.

...hope of a letter soon from our Compassion children.

...the difficulties that force us to lean into You.

They want to start Beth on a low-dose cancer drug to address the swelling in her knees, which, apparently if left as they are, may be headed for cartilage damage. (I would demand an ultrasound to see cartilage damage before giving consent to this drug.)

She is not a good candidate for the drug, in our opinion. She has three siblings to pass germs onto her, and it suppresses the immune system, making it hard to fight infection. She is already terribly thin, and it can cause appetite and nausea problems. It can lead to hair loss, mouth sores, kidney damage, lung damage, and to certain kinds of cancer, later in life. It must be used for two years, with some of that time involving a lower, maintenance dose. It is administered by injection once a week (parents do it at home) or by pill if she would swallow one, but the pill causes more nausea.

It puts some children into remission, but this disease is a long haul. Remissions rarely last and then the drugs have to be repeated. If cartilage damage becomes a reality, there are total knee replacements that would possibly affect her life far less, in the long run, than these strong drugs at such young ages.

Although this drug has been used for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis for a while now, it is only FDA-approved for adults.

We want what is best for her...for her quality of life, for her long-term comfort, for the best overall health outcome. We don't know what would best achieve these goals. Normally, they offer a steroid joint injection into the knees, particularly the right one, which is more swollen and diseased, done under light general anesthesia, before pushing this methotrexate cancer drug. We would push for this before giving consent to the cancer drug.

To say we are unhappy with even the mention of this drug, this early in the disease, is an understatement.

Please pray for...

...wisdom and peace.

...a turn around in the weight issue. Although she's grown in height, there's been no net weight gain in the last seven months. Her clothes hide a lot, but she's extremely skinny--tall for her age (about 3.5 years) and only 29 pounds. And she's always been an eat-to-live child, rather than a live-to-eat one. That makes the battle even harder.

...a good relationship with her caregivers.

...peace with those we know who may not agree with our drug decisions.

...reduced swelling and no more flares, before our next appointment in early June, in which the cancer drug will come up again. I can more easily reject it if the swelling has lowered.

We thank you in advance for any prayer time you spend on our Beth. We'd be so grateful for your help, and would love to pray for you, too.

A Failure and a Redemption

Linking with Emily @ imperfect prose

So, tonight?

The AWANA Derby. Always a long-anticipated event around here.

The preschoolers (Cubbies) and the K-2 crowd (Sparks) pick out their favorite Hot Wheel car and bring it to church for the race. I don't know what other families do, but in our house each of our cars is tested and retested on our Hot Wheel track, until a clear awesome winner emerges. I don't actually participate in this, but I listen from the kitchen and I must say, I love it.

The three older children take it very seriously and discuss their cars. And their options. Negotiations ensue and somehow, everyone is happy. We have our fair share of Hot Wheel cars.

I recently told them to pick out their favorite 15 cars, so the rest could be taken to Goodwill. Only, I never actually got around to taking the bag of cars, and the girls rediscovered them recently. That ended up being a blessing, because Mary won first place tonight with one of the cars from the Goodwill bag!

The Cubbies exuded charm from every pore and I rediscovered, while watching them, how much I love children. All children. They all have something special, instilled in them by a loving Heavenly Father. I delight in discovering what that is for every child.

Then the Sparks came in, and they too, delighted. The Cubbies were merely tickled by this whole race thing, but the Sparkies? They brought a whole new energy into the room. Loud cheering and contagious delight. They were so excited, they could barely concentrate on the AWANA missionary's instructions. Paul won third place with his car, and as far as he was concerned, it was like first place. He radiated.

The Truth and Trainers (3-6) are given a kit to make an ash wood car. The cars must be cut, sanded, painted, and lastly, the wheels put on. It's a precise business. A serious business. Parents (mostly Dads) get very involved and treat it like a graduate school dissertation in their kids' lives.

Only husband and I? We didn't know this, see. And we didn't know to put weights on the car. So my precious Peter? His car didn't even make it to the finish line once in four separate races. As he returned to his seat, the tears welled up. Sadness and shame overwhelmed him. I could see the tears getting more serious, so I took Beth's hand and Peter's hand and we went out to the parking lot to talk this through.

Last place. What does a mother do with that, after the other two siblings both got ribbons?

I had no words, except that in the Kingdom of God, the last shall be first. This concept's been taught many times to Peter, but tonight, it didn't go over very well.

So I prayed for wisdom. But mostly, for redemption of the failure.

Peter calmed in good time and the three of us went back to the race.

Kind, wonderful people spoke to my husband and offered to help us with the cars next year. We'll be making two next year--one for Paul and one for Peter, while Mary and Beth get to bring Hot Wheel cars again.

The girl who won first place walked up to my Peter and said, "You should have won first place." What an angel! AWANA teaches them, through competition, to rejoice with those who rejoice, and to mourn with those who mourn. This little girl? She gets it. Peter was very touched by her kindness.

After all the festivities were over, I ran into Peter's verse teacher, who is like a grandpa to Peter. I told him how much I appreciate his love and attention to Peter.

And then, the redemption I prayed for. The Lord really delivered.

The verse teacher said this to me:

 "Oh...well thank you for working with him. He's one of the best Bible students I've ever had. He works hard, takes it seriously, and he's got a firm foundation in the Word. These other children, they don't even care to be here. They just fool around. Peter never does that."


It was all I could do to keep from crying, so I just kept smiling and telling him thank you, over and over.

Then, overcome with emotion, I glanced over at Peter. Try as he might, he just couldn't stop smiling.

The Lord is so faithful. My heart ached for my son, but now it rejoices. My Redeemer lives!