A Call to Action

With missions ever present in my mind and heavy in my heart, I see the dire need of Christ for our world. I wish I could say I've always done everything I could to see folks find our Saviour--but I have not. We Christians of North America need to realise that we are not far from losing our freedoms to openly worship and tell others about the One True God. You Tube is not something I whole-heartedly endorse. Much filth is posted on this site. I am still compelled to pass you this link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYU We cannot argue with facts, but we can pray and work. Also, we young parents must ask God to give us wisdom to prepare our children for the world they will live in. (Just click on the link and it will take you right to the documentary.)

A Daughter of the King

"My father is rich in houses and lands,

He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands!

Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold,

His coffers are full, He has riches untold.

I'm a child of the King, A child of the King:

With Jesus my Saviour, I'm a child of the King."

--Harriett E. Buell

When I was a little girl my dad used to work in the special education Sunday school class in our church. Whenever it was his turn to preach, he would take me out of my Sunday school class to sing the special music for their service. He always wanted me to sing the same thing--"A Child of the King".

I became a child of the King of Kings when I was five years old and I vividly remember the day. My mom was sitting in the old, gold velour armchair in the corner of the living room. While I was playing with something by her feet, the Lord helped me to realise that I needed to accept Him as my Saviour. I remember sitting in my mother's lap and praying first that I loved everybody and I wanted to be saved. My mother then explained to me that it's nothing that we do to be saved, it's only by Jesus' sacrifice for us. I then prayed again with full understanding and accepted Christ as my Saviour.

Through the years I have grown as a child of God, but I don't think I've quite aspired to "princess" level. Today I begin a quest to become a true princess. I am a daughter of the King because I am saved, but I am a far cry from being a princess.

At our new church I was offered the opportunity to teach the young ladies' Sunday school class. My pastor's wife has named the class "Jewels for Jesus". I know that I need some shining and some dross removed if I will be a "Jewel for Jesus." Last night the Lord impressed upon me that if He is going to use me to train "princesses" I must become one myself. Where will my quest take me? I have no idea. Many times when God has a journey for us to embark upon, we do not even know the immediate future let alone the end of the line. I'm am excited to see how God will turn me from a chamber-maid into a princess. Praise God for His grace in accepting each and every person alive to be His children if we will but ask in humble faith.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." --Ephesians 2:8,9

A Day With Mama

Grocery shopping. . .again?! This time I had the privilege of having my Mama (mother-in-law) with me. We don't usually get to spend much time together because of our busy schedules, but Mama had a day off today. We had tea together this morning and some heart to heart talks that we haven't been able to have in way too long. Our local "Tim's" served a great lunch, and the kids provided many laughs. Shirley now dislikes apple juice because she was drenched by it! After going BACK home to get dry clothes for Shirley we headed to the grocery store. Wow! It's amazing what an extra pair of willing hands can do! I was so thankful to have her with me today. In the busyness of life we tend to take the ones closest to us for granted. I for one do not say enough how thankful I am for Mama and Papa. Crossing cultures when getting married brings a set of unique challenges. The challenges aren't necessarily reserved for the bride and groom. Even parents have things to learn and understand. We've learned together for over 7 years. Though we have not always completely understood each other, we've always loved each other (in our own unique ways!). "The Five Love Languages" is a book I have been reading recently. The book is about learning your spouse's love language, but "love languages" apply to all types of personal relationships. Learning "love languages" has been an ongoing project for all of us. As with crossing actual language barriers, there have been misunderstandings and blunders. This daughter -in-law is thankful that as we've crossed these TWO language barriers we've built a love that will last a lifetime. I've never thought of all of this before today--and all because I had a day with Mama.

God's Great Servants

Today our family had the privilege of having lunch with two of God's great servants, Pastor James Turpin and his wife Ruth. The Turpins are veteran missionaries to Norway for over 30 years. Norway is not an easy field and life has more often than not been difficult for them, but they have been faithful through the many things they have faced. Having been friends with their daughter, Sonya, since college, I have learned many things about them. Never did I imagine that I would have the privilege of personally meeting them and learning from them. Jun and I will be ever grateful to the Lord for giving us a small window of time to spend with two of his great servants. They will be returning to Norway near the beginning of March. Please pray for them as they are here trying to increase their support levels.

The Bridge Builder

Each day at naptime I read to my kids. We recently started reading "The Book of Virtues" by William J. Bennett. Today as I was reading, I ran across this poem and at the end immediately thought of my pastor, Pastor Gordon Conner. I am so thankful to him for building bridges for the younger generation. We love you, Pastor.

The Bridge Builder
by Will Allen Dromgoole

An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim, near,
"You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again must pass this way;
You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide--
Why build you the bridge at the eventide?"

The builder lifted his old gray head:
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"There followeth after me today
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him."

The Crazy Lady

Today, as I have done many times in the past, I went grocery shopping. To be honest, this has become a chore I dread. It seems every can, box, and bag is calling, "Micah touch me!" "Matthias, knock me on the floor!" "Shirley, tell Mama you want to take me home!" Being somewhat of a drill sergeant mom I always expect that my kids should be perfectly quiet and walk next to the cart without ever letting go. God often reminds me that He didn't make me a robot and neither are my kids! Today, I had a daunting task ahead of me. . .a new budget. Now combine this with the noticeable rise in grocery prices, and I felt I was on an impossible mission. In the van on the way to the store I prayed for good deals and good kids. Now the good deals I knew God could do. The kids on the other hand I wasn't so sure ;-) since we had already been to an eye doctor appointment at the mall. Before we went into the store I had a talk with the kids, and again I prayed that this time that I would be patient with them. Often in Superstore I have received comments from people about how brave I am to go grocery shopping with three little kids. I have also received knowing looks from moms who are in the same boat. More often I have received stares of disgust from the many people in our society who think children are just supposed to go to school and stay home and never emerge into the adult world. My kids are kids. Today I discovered something though. A little patience, planning, and prayer goes a long way with little kids, little money and lots of groceries . In between those "That lady is crazy" looks I enlisted the kids in helping me get the groceries, which more or less got rid of their "grabbiness". They stepped out in front of a cart or two (always in front of the ones with that "crazy lady" look on there face!), but they did well. The shopping took a little longer as I would compare prices and enter things into the calculator on my phone. Micah was getting into the spirit of it and would call out the prices to me from the shelf. After they put in the last cans of fruit ("In juice, Mom", Micah said, as I checked the labels to make sure they weren't canned in syrup. He's always so proud when his reading skills are helpful to me.), we had another talk. The kids love to help bag, but it usually ends up being a fight over who's going to put what into the bags. This time I decided I needed a strategy for the whole bagging thing. I told Micah and Matthias exactly where to stand and to stop pushing the advance button when I say stop. Then, we headed for the checkout. The lady in front of me gave me that "crazy lady" look as she put the divider down between our groceries. The boys dutifully stood at the end of the belt, with bags in hand, ready for those groceries. Micah will put anything together in any bag, which was driving Matthias crazy because he is all about things being categorised. But the groceries were getting into bags and into the cart without much fuss from the boys, so I was thankful. The cashier, who was at the end of her shift, was not at all amused by my most helpful sons (who I happened to be very proud of at the moment!). When she told me the total, I was happily surprised (I had a relative idea--just wasn't sure how much the taxes would be and I was afraid it would put me over.). When I said, "Oh, that's great! I was trying to hit (X amount)." She didn't share in my glee. One more crazy lady look for the day. On the way home, we had a granola bar and Shirley had a nap. I'm so thankful that God helped this "crazy lady" while I was shopping today. He helped my kids to do an awesome job, and He helped me stay $0.81 under my budget! You may think I'm a "crazy lady" for posting this, but oh well!

How Much Longer?

In the past few days I have been in touch with new missionaries and some old friends trying to get to the mission field. God has once again reinforced in my mind the urgency of foreign missions. Countries that used to be "wide open" are closing. A friend who is trying to get to Ireland told me that the government is now only allowing missionaries to come to the country for three years, period. Russia is making their missionaries go and come for three months at a time. Belarus is closing it's doors. These are just a few of the countless countries that are closing their doors to the gospel. What are we doing? Where and when are we going? Yes, Canada needs God (while the doors are still open here!), but many of us are way too comfortable here in our nice homes, with our nice cars and our comfortable life styles. Years ago I heard a preacher say, "Are you willing to go and wanting to stay or are you wanting to go and willing to stay?" How about you?