Quote

I don't have time to write a post this morning so I thought I'd share this quote taken from girltalk. The girltalk blog is definitely worth checking out these days as they are drawing from their archives to give us some simple but profound truths about marriage. Here's one:

[Feminism] is mixed up with a muddled idea that women are free when they serve their employers but slaves when they help their husbands. -- G.K. Chesterton, The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton, vol. 4, p. 440

Are you a soldier?

An adorable little Chinese girl came up to me last night at work and asked me, "Are you a soldier?"

"I'm a soldier in God's army," I told her.

"Do you have weapons?"

I chatted with her for a few minutes about what kinds of weapons God gives us. Then she exhausted both her boldness and her questions and ran back to her friends.

What she didn't know is that I have been reading William Gurnall's classic The Christian in Complete Armour, a book based on Ephesians 6:10-18. It was a sweet reminder that this book, which is not easy on my flesh, is applicable to me. I am not wandering aimlessly through life, living by chance, but I am a soldier in the service of the conquering King. Here's just an excerpt from Gurnall that will hopefully encourage all of us.

The strength of an earthly general lies in his troops -- he flies upon their wings. If their feathers get clipped or their necks broken, he is helpless. But in the army of saints, the strength of the whole host lies in the Lord of hosts. God can overcome His enemies without help from anyone, but His saints cannot so much as defend the smallest outpost without His strong arm.

Even in acts of worship our strength is in the Lord. Consider prayer. Would we pray? Where will we find topics for our prayers? Alas, 'We know not what we should pray for as we ought' (Rom. 8:26). Let us alone, and we will soon pray ourselves into some temptation or other, and beg for the very thing God knows we should not have. To protect us, then, God puts words in our mouths (Hos. 14:2).

The same is true in hearing the Word. We have been instructed to hear the Word preached, but what will it profit unless God opens the ears of our understanding.

First the Spirit of God moves upon our spirit; then we know for a surety that our strength is in the Lord.

William Gurnall The Christian in Complete Armour, vol. 1, abridged by Ruthanne Garlock, et al. (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2009) 34-36.

Tubby's

We just got home from Maine Saturday morning, 3:00 AM. Thank you all for your prayers for us while we were away. We missed you. We really did. But we did have a wonderful time. It was a time that was very complete.

Between camp ministry and spending time with my family our days were full but Tim and I sacredly guarded 3 days to ourselves to roam the mountains and coastline of Maine.

Now I am home and aware that I need to whip my body back into submission. Our van made a few too many stops at ice cream shops. Mainers have a love for ice cream. They have ice cream stands like we have WAWA.

Maybe it's because I was born in Maine that I enjoy ice cream so much. I'm not referring to store bought cartons of ice cream. I mean real homemade ice cream stand ice cream. Thankfully I have a husband who was only too eager to satisfy my craving.

One ice cream stand we discovered, stands above the rest. It is called, Tubby's. It was clean, attractive, creative and provided seating by a lake. Their ice cream was incredibly good, with both typical and unique flavors. And..... they offered free samples for as many flavors as one wanted!!! These samples were served in cute little 1" wafer cones (I got very excited about those).

Our first day there, after sampling some flavors and settling on my choice of Java Moreo I debated on whether to have a baby bear cone, or a Mama bear cone. Thankfully God gave me enough sense to know a Papa bear or a Tubby bear cone was out of the question. At first I chose a Mama bear, but then thought I'd downsize to a baby bear. Before my last bite I was regretting that decision. So the next day (that's right - the very next day), I went straight for the Mama bear size only this time I had Holy Moly (a combination of peanut butter and molasses - sounds weird but it is a sweet smooth peanut butter flavor).

Isn't God good to give us days of rest and days of feasting? And though I'm aware there were times when I ate more ice cream than I should have (next year I am determined to stick with the baby bear size), I'm thankful for daily grace to eat and drink with a thankful heart.

Safely Home (4)

In this last post about our first summer novel, Safely Home, I thought I'd share a few sections that really stuck out to me.

In this first passage, the martyrs in heaven are speaking to each other about the suffering of the church:

"Day and night the watchers cry out to our King, but still he has not moved his hand."

"He has moved his hand every moment of every day and in the darkest passes of night," Li Manchu said. "But not as we always wish, nor in ways clearly visible to us--and certainly not visible to them."

"But his is a throne of justice. How can justice be so long postponed?"

"His is also a throne of grace. The grace is not only to the persecuted, but to the persecutors. If the postponement of justice for one more day brings more image-bearers--whether persecuted or persecutors--to grace, so be it."

"You are right, of course. Even here, the waiting is not easy. But it is far harder for those still trapped in the Shadowlands."

"Yes. But with the King a thousand years is as a day. Ask the earth-dwellers a million years from now if their momentary suffering was an acceptable exchange for eternal glory." (248)

In this section, the King is having a conversation with the archangel Michael about the continued suffering of the church and withholding of judgment:

"The moment I bring justice and relieve all suffering is the moment earth's inhabitants' eternal destiny is sealed. Not one more shall be joined to me then. To 'end it all,' as you say, will also mean to end the offer of grace--a grace I delight to offer, a violent grace that cost me dearly."

"We do not want the wicked to go unpunished."

"They will not."

"We do not want the righteous to go unrewarded."

"They will not." ....

"We want your servants to be comforted."

"I comfort them every hour. And the day of eternal comfort will surely come, enfolding them like a warm blanket."

"Your servants wish also to take away the cause of your grief. for we see how you suffer the pains inflicted on your bride."

The King nodded. "Their passions are right and pure. I have borne my heartache as a choice. It too shall be relieved when the last of my suffering children is delivered." ....

"They cry out to you, day and night. They plead for your intervention, for your return. I hear many ask, 'Where is he? Does he not care? Why does he allow us to suffer?'"

The King sighed. "Too quickly do they summon providence to the court of reason. The night will last only so long before it is swallowed whole by the morning. The longer their night lasts, the more they dream of the dawn.... They don't understand that I am not only at work here, preparing a place for them, but I am at work there, preparing them for that place." (314-315)

And finally, just one quote from a conversation between Li Quan and his friend Ben Fielding:

"Temporary suffering is a small price to pay for eternal happiness." (318)

It may be a novel, but I will say that I learned a lot about the realities of the persecuted church, grace, forgiveness, and even God himself. We'd love to hear about what you've taken away from the book.

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We'll start our next summer novel, The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom, on Monday, July 26. Ask Bruce if he can get it, check it out at your local library, or pick it up from Amazon.

Motherhood

Please take a moment to check out this video from a somewhat new site called Deidox, which produces cinematic stories of the modern day Christian journey. This one goes out to all the moms.

http://deidox.com/films/dawn/