Excitement to the Extreme!!!

True contentment with God's will for your life is when you find that the "surprises" He gives you are exactly what you desperately desire!

It's just so much fun that way!

(Thank you bunches to the sweet friends who left these balloons on our doorstep!

Your love is a blessing to us all!)

This man loves his wife as Jesus loves the church.....
I have a feeling that he's married to a woman after God's own heart...

and I love their example of obedience to the Holy Spirit's leading in their lives!

...yet I creep to Thy throne of grace...

Read this poem today on the Desiring God blog.
Loved it!

It made me stop and think deeply about God's love for me...
It makes me want to love this way, my neighbors, that stoney hearts might bleed!


Discipline
Throw away thy rod,
Throw away thy wrath:
O my God,
Take the gentle path.

For my heart's desire
unto thine is bent:
I aspire
To a full consent.

Not a word or look
I affect to own,
But by book,
And thy book alone.

Though I fail, I weep:
Though I halt in pace,
Yet I creep
To the throne of grace.

Then let wrath remove;
Love will do the deed:
For with love
Stony hearts will bleed.

Love is swift of foot;
Love's a man of war,
And can shoot,
And can hit from far.

Who can scape his bow?
That which wrought on thee,
Brought thee low,
Needs must work on me.

Throw away thy rod;
Though man frailties hath,
Thou art God:
Throw away thy wrath.

(George Herbert: The Complete English Works, 174-175)

A Cross Centered 3 yr Old.

This morning as the boys and I drove down to CLS, we decided to play a game. We took turns listing off ways that we see, taste, and experience God's love for us.....

Some of the things listed:

The Sun, moon, and stars.
The Bible.
The Birds and Trees.
A world to live in.
Forgiveness.
Family - Daddy, Momma, Brother and Baby.
An engine to make our car run. (G's class is studying transportation this month =)
Our church family at RBC
This list went on....

Funny thing was every time it was J's turn to list something, he would say the same thing....
"Jesus died on the cross for our sins."

As a recent reader of "Living the Cross Centered Life", I thought to myself....
CJ Mahaney would be so pleased! =)
This made me smile, but brought home a message to my heart as well.

In his child -ness, Jaydon has latched onto one thing he knows about Jesus, and he will repeat that over and over in answer to any question about God.
For him it is simple..... Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins. He hasn't become overly familiar with that great truth and moved on to expressing what seems more knowledgable or profound.

I want to be three years old again. I want to be stuck continuously on that one glorious truth:
Jesus Christ took my place, bore my shame, and by His suffering I have been healed.
Everything else must flow out of this!

NOT Giving Up...

"For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work

and the love that you showed for His sake in serving the saints,

as you still do.

And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness

to have the full assurance of hope until the end,

so that you may not be sluggish,

but imitators of those who through faith and patience

inherit the promises." ~ Hebrews 6:10-12