Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Ashton, happy birthday to you. Ashton has a birthday in a couple of days and I wanted to get a head start on the celebration of her 10th year.
Every time I go to see Ashton or she comes to see us, there is something that she loves to do. Can you guess what it is?
Every night and every morning she goes and gets the hair brush, brings it to me, and I brush and I brush and I brush and I love it and I love it and I love it even though my arm is falling off, falling off, falling off. How happy can I be, be, be??????
Go here if you are just dying to read more about this precious granddaughter--smile--
My granddaughter, Ashton, has a doll named Lovey that she has had ever since the day she was born. Lovey has comforted and slept with her every night for many years. Actually it is (or if you saw it you might say "WAS" the head of a little white lamb with a body of soft, soothing fabric--just the kind babies love to grab hold of and hang on to when they are sleeping.
However, from time to time, Lovey disappears, gets misplaced or has to go in the laundry basket. This can be very traumatic for child and parents.
Ashton's other grandparents are big garage salers so they have found a couple of "Lovey's" to take her place during those times she is missing. Remarkably they are very close in looks to the real thing. But from day one, when she was tiny, Ashton knew the difference and would have no part of Subbie or Fakey--the replacement dolls' names--only the "real thing" would do.
I couldn't help but think of us Christians and how at times when we need true rest and comfort, we reach for things that are substitutions for or imitations of the "real thing."
I pray that we will not be like those described in Isaiah 28:12:
God has told his people, "Here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here. This is a place of quiet rest." But they would not listen.
They chose to accept a substitute for the place of rest that God had provided for them. And they would not listen.
As Ashton knew her real lamb and would not accept an imitation, I pray that we will only be willing to partake of the true Word of God, for true rest comes only from the hand of our Father.
May you cling to the Lamb, reach out for Him, and rest in Him today.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:29, NIV
I long to rest in Him.
I am unwrapping the gift of rest today at Tuesdays Unwrapped. Photos: Pictures of our darling Ashton several years ago. She was so serious about that tea party and did NOT want to take that dress off that was provided by the photographer. Oh, me!
Oh how grand to spend early spring days with precious grandchildren, Ashton and Noelle. My heart is bursting with love for them. Thank you, Lord, for the memories we will make these few days.
Ann over at Holy Experience suggested that we might write about where we have seen Jesus in this Christmas season.
I have seen Him in numerous places--one of which is pictured above*--our candlelight service this past Sunday morning. Also, I saw Him in a granddaughter's home-schooling Christmas program.
When I was a young girl, my heart's desire was to be a ballerina and to take piano lessons. The small bump in the road where I lived when I was the age to start taking dance had one grocery store, a school, one church and about ten houses. Needless to say, that was out of the question.
I have written about Ashton, our ballerina, before but I wanted to share this small video with you. I guess I am living vicariously but it is a dream come true to see my flesh and blood dancing and especially dancing for Jesus.
I ran out of room on my little video camera right when she started to perform her dance. I almost cried but I am going to share the dress rehearsal number. The main differences between the rehearsal and the live performance--
no little children running around a packed house no brown paper bags the mom had on an teal and black outfit
and the GREATEST DIFFERENCE--instead of a recorded song, the youngest choir kids were singing the song--I'm so sorry that you don't get to hear those precious little voices--
Ashton is dancing with one of the home-schooling moms and her daughter. She has three other daughters and is several months pregnant with her fifth. You will see 3 out of 4 of her daughters in this clip. And maybe a small glimpse of the 4th talking to my husband.
I saw Jesus in this interpretive praise dance. I hope it blesses you this holiday season. It takes about 20 seconds or so before it begins--sorry! You can get a full screen by clicking on the little flower icon next to "Vimeo."
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
My favorite passage from the Bible--Psalm 73:25-26
"Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future."
No Liquids On Your Keyboard
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot
Brazil Mission Trip
My testimony in Portuguese
elisabeth elliott
"God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to."
Arkansas' child
Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21
catherine marshall
"Come, Lord Jesus, and abide in my heart. How grateful I am to realize that the answer to my prayer does not depend on me at all. As I quietly abide in You and let Your life flow into me, what freedom it is to know that the Father does not see my threadbare patience or insufficient trust, rather only Your patience, Lord, and Your confidence that the Father has everything in hand. In Your faith I thank You right now for a more glorious answer to my prayer than I can imagine. Amen."
Catherine Marshall was a mentor for me when I was a young mother raising three sons and didn't get out of the house much. How I love all of her writings. She is so real.
Peter Marshall
"May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right." Peter Marshall, Chaplain of the U.S. Senate in the late 1940's
samuel taylor coleridge
"I have found in the Bible words for my inmost thoughts, songs for my joy, utterance for my hidden griefs and pleadings for my shame and feebleness." Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of everyday's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee with a passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death." One of my all-time favorite poems. I had to memorize it in high school and I've loved it ever since.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
Romans 8:28
Francis Chan
"We need to stop giving people excuses not to believe in God. You've probably heard the expression 'I believe in God just not in organized religion.' I don't think people would say that if the church truly lived like we are called to live." From the book Crazy Love, Overwhelmed by a Relentless God
Helen Keller
"It is a terrible thing to see and have no vision."
c.s. lewis
“There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan”
Andrew Murray
"Waiting requires time and patience. There is no quick way to wait on God. It implies sacrifice and separation, a soul entirely given up to God to wait expectantly and with genuine faith and not to dictate what He will do or say. It is our privilege and joy to be in His presence. We will be changed even if we have not uttered one word of supplication." From Waiting on God
Memories and Old Tin Roofs
Guess some of the memories are like the rain that drips down the narrow valleys of rust and metal, not stopping by for a long visit, just rolling by to let us know they are still in the vicinity. Some of those droplets begged to be heard, to be revisited; some pound on the door of our hearts with the deliberate intention of waking us from a sound sleep, of forcing us to deal with them and the ruts they create coming so forcefully off the roof with no gutter to stop them from their downward descent. And then there are those that slowly and quietly slip off the roof splashing ever so softly into rain barrels collecting there to be used at a later moment for quenching the nostalgia of our hearts. Thank you Lord for quiet times to reflect on layers of misty watercolor memories that encircle us like a rainbow.
Oswald Chambers
Chambers says: "If you want to be of use to God, get rightly related to Jesus Christ and He will make you of use unconsciously every minute you live."
