'We Cannot Be Silent' by R. Albert Mohler, Jr.

As a Christian, I feel I'm expected to know certain things and be able to support my views.  But with a considerable series of events unfolding in regards to same-sex marriage and acceptance of what was, at one time, labeled wrong by most folks, I shake my head.  Can't keep up.  And with the pressure of the media and outspoken individuals both online and on the television, it's hard to stand strong.

The world seems bent on twisting what God created as holy.  To muddy the water to such an extent that many Christians are left confused.  We know what we believe, yet are bullied into keeping our mouths shut.

In We Cannot Be Silent, the author, R. Albert Mohler, Jr. gives detailed information, stating God's plan for marriage and how our government and society have gone way left of that ideal.  He shares about different individuals who scoff at the Bible, saying it must be abandoned, that it was written by those who had no idea of what we'd be experiencing.  He shows that those who oppose God's ways are heading so dramatically in the other direction, all to discredit our Creator.  To defend base behavior.  

This book is an encouragement.  He stands strong and I now have the information I need to defend what I believe.

(i received this book free to review from booklookbloggers)

'The Art of Work' by Jeff Goins

The Art of Work is a title that I didn't quite understand at first.  I had to read the book.  Shortly into it, Jeff (the author) quotes a friend, Jody, who said this:  "One way of knowing our gifting is when something that seems easy to us doesn't seem easy to others.  I kept thinking, How hard could it be? Maybe I could help people do this...What seemed so hard for so many people seemed easy to me."

That in few words sums up Jeff's goal in writing this guide.

He encourages the reader to seek more.  To really give some thought to what inspires them, brings them joy and feels right.  Seems we clutter our minds too much with the thoughts of others and their expectations of us.  It really is more simple than we'd expect, to know what drives us.

Write down the major events of your life.  Jeff suggests this.  See how one event leads to another.  Find a pattern.  Just thinking about that forces you to looking at your life in a unique way.  Deeper.

Success isn't instantaneous, but with diligence and a consistent enthusiasm (the hard part), a life's work can be discovered.  He stresses that we expect things to come to us quickly, and in this present-day focus on 'get it now', that's not a surprise.  But in The Art of Work, work is necessary to reach your goal.  Keep at it and focus.

I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who's clueless about their future, perhaps like a new high school or college graduate.  But even so, a more mature adult can also grow with his suggestions.  

More information can be found at http://artofworkbook.com/

(i received this book free to review from speakeasy)

Wednesday afternoon

Lights flickering again yesterday, and in a bad way.  It stopped a week or so ago, and we just let our concerns go with it.  My husband had bought a new fuse box, but not installed it yet.  Anyway, I went out back to look at the main electrical line from the pole and it was swinging a bit.  Came back in, tried to focus on other things (since, quite frankly, this has terrified me), and the lights began to flicker once more.  Went back outside, swinging line again and squirrel glaring at me from the next door neighbor's garage.  An aha moment.

Husband called the utility company, they came out last night and found the line connecting to the house had a corroded part and some loose wires.  

Such deep relief.  Never occurred to us that it was an outside problem.

With this anxiety I've grown accustomed to, the least thing (this wasn't least in my book) makes me so nervous.  Even out with the kids today, daughter's car seemed to make a funny noise, I'm thinking flat tire, but it was only the back window, which was open, taking in some air.  Windy too, so that was easily explained.  Still, it freaked me out.  And I'm usually so calm, at least seemingly so on the outside.  

When life keeps throwing you curveballs, it's easy to become overly sensitive to the smallest situation.

Reading A Year to Clear by Stephanie Bennett Vogt and she asks in the lesson today a question something like this:  What situation gets under your skin, and what can you do to unplug from it?  My main driving-me-nuts situation is our oldest son's relationship and living arrangement with his p*rn star girlfriend.  It obsesses me and travels in my head all the time.  I can't live like this anymore.  

So, Advent New Year's resolution is to focus on not focusing on my children.  For a mom, this is a major undertaking.  Otherwise I'll go flamin' crazy.  Not an option.

'One More Step' by Rachel Mojo

Sometimes you read a book and a particular emotion or thought stays with you.  Might be good, or the opposite, but still, something lingers.  With Rachel Mojo's book, One More Step---the taste left is a sweetness.

She's lived through a lot of pain, including a failed marriage, a marriage to another believer no less, to a man who appeared to just let go, yet even great effort couldn't save it.  She has a daughter with a life-limiting disease, which maybe more than anything else in her life has lent her that sweetness.  She's not bitter, but worn and sensitive to others who have experienced or are living through disappointments.  Those times when life surprises, and not in a good way.

One thing that struck me more than anything else was this:  In the discussion questions she asks, "Have you ever received permission from a friend to ache freely?  If so, how did it make you feel?"

I find that awesome and a bit sad.  We tend to stuff our pain inside, not sharing, being ashamed of what we live with.  Rachel tells us to not feel bad about what God allows, but to grow with it.  She speaks of a word she heard Him speak to her:

"Girl, when you feel like giving up, that is definitely not the time to give up.  When you feel like giving up, that is when you need to rely on my strength and remember my promises.  The feeling of wanting to give up is temporary; the joy you seek is permanent.  True joy is not relevant to physical location or type of service.  True joy can be found only in me."

(i received this book to review from blogging for books)

'Lay it Down' by Bill Tell

Bill Tell, a former VP with the Navigators, suffered a major breakdown just prior to a 4-day missions conference held away from his home.  His wife went to that day's services, and he stayed behind in their friend's guest bedroom, hoping the anxiety would pass.  Nonetheless, he went to the evening's service, but only felt worse.  He was terrified.  The anxiety didn't go away, and he spent the next ten months going to doctors, taking anti-depressant medicines---anything to help the situation.

Finally, with the help of a respected Christian counselor, Bill was able to find relief.  

The bottom line was that he had lived his whole life trying to please others, and was never able to believe he was good enough---thinking he was of less worth than those he ministered to.  There was no peace or victory, just pain.

I was encouraged that a man in such a place of responsibility was willing to share this story.  Folks go around with a game face on, pretending to be able to manage, all the while dying inside.  He goes into great detail about events in his childhood provided part of the pattern of self-hate, if you want to call it that.

In the book, he goes through steps of recovery. He says, "I would figure out everyone's expectations of me, and I would meet and surpass every one.  I would be everything people wanted and approved of.  Little did I know it would lead me straight into captivity, the captivity of being a people-pleaser."

He stresses Romans 8:1 which says, "There is....no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

"...some of us punish ourselves for the sins we commit, sometimes continuing to do so for years. We feel we deserve to be the victim of our sins, to feel bad, to be punished, so we wage war on ourselves, beating ourselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually.....We demean ourselves.  Sometimes we try to earn God's love back by doing something meritorious, sacrificial, or heroic."

Exactly.  Lay it Down is a wonderful book for those of us who fit the 'not good enough' profile.

(i received this book free to review from tyndale)

The day after...

Everyone who works outside the house is away from home now.  Husband at his shop, and oldest daughter at the bookstore.  Youngest son, who's house-sitting some church friends over the holiday, is here.  He sleeps there and then we pick him up noon-ish, he spends the day, then goes back after dinner.  Pretty lucrative gig.

The girls are quiet.  Middle one is writing quotes in one of her notebooks and listening to music and the least is watching The Secret Garden.  I'm roasting a thirteen pound turkey (just a baby), as opposed to the 21 pounder from yesterday.  After the boys took home leftovers, it was, pretty much, picked over.  Today's is just for us.  Making another smaller pan of stuffing as well.  We're kind of greedy turkey eaters.

Son who has a male companion texted a photo of his full plate to him, and he asked if our son could bring some leftovers home.  I had to laugh.  They'd been to the other boy's mom's house for lunch earlier in the day, and our son came here for dinner.  Trying to, at least, get my head around him having a boyfriend.  Man, it's hard.  Makes you cock your head, saying, HUH?  Anyway, I fixed a plate to take to him.  I admit, we do a bang-up Thanksgiving table.  My mother's heart wants to invite him to our Christmas dinner, but not sure what my husband would say to me even bringing it up.  My husband did crack a smile when I shared about our son's young man wanting the leftovers.  He is someone's son, just as our boy is.

Wisdom is often so elusive.

Yesterday was a blessing.  Really.  All the boys in town came for dinner, and we got a call from son in California.  Everyone here seemed to have a good time---nothing much to add.  No drama.  Much prayer offered up beforehand.  Hard to sit still after they left, knowing their lives are such a worldly wasteland.  Married son and his wife delivered house-sitting son to his destination after our meal, and when they'd left, the girls said married son had been drinking before he got here.  Thankfully, his wife drove them when they left.  I'll tell you----our kids are so curious about what's out there and sometimes don't seem to want to rein it in.  We're tee-totallers at our house (husband's past makes us so), and to even think about drinking is out of our frame of reference.  

Turning off my brain.  The rest of the day should be nice and restful.  Window's up, sprinkling outside.  Thinking we won't get any cold weather.  Folks just west of us are getting ice, but I believe we'll be spared that.  Thankful for that and many things.  

Hope you're well.  Take care.

A brief, quiet moment

~milk giving me the death stare

Milk, chicken of my heart, is now molting and has a big bare spot on her duff.  She just waddles around like everything's fine, which is wonderful.  In strict contrast to Anastasia who appeared to be suffering from a stroke.  She'd have to trace alongside the coop fence to get where she was going, since she couldn't run in a straight line.  Thankfully she's fine now.  Must mess with their nervous systems, all that feather dropping.  (The above-photo is from last week, when Anastasia would get trapped in the corners of the yard, indicated, and when Milk was still gorgeous.)

House is relatively tidy.  The girls have been awesome.  The least one polished our sweet collection of silver (all from my dear friend, Tina, but about three serving pieces and a fork and some knives from my grandparents), a job she loved.  Middle daughter has spent the last two days freshening up the paint in our 'only' bathroom.  Sixty plus years of yuck in that room, which has always been a major eyesore.  We're only the third owners of this house, but the second owners were self-improvement junkies, sadly they were amateurs.  Plastered 12" ceiling tiles indiscriminately, put up paneling (which we immediately painted over) and hung Masonite on the bathroom walls.  Still, I love the house, but like all of us, it has its flaws.  Tall son, the one in California, remarked on the bathroom ceiling last time he was in town, which has the tiles.  They're coming loose around the fan, and he said they looked about to fall.  I reminded him that they've been doing that for years.  And if they fall, they'll fall softly.

Not on my radar.

Resting now.  Scrambled eggs and buttered toast for dinner.  Church service.  The girls will make pies when we get back home.  We're on a roll, and I ain't lettin' nothin' get me down.

Take care all.