Oh for Stick-to-itiveness and Courage

There's a paragraph in A Long Obedience In The Same Direction by Eugene Peterson (which I have been away from for awhile, and came back to yesterday) where he talks about the not-so-fancy word: stick-to-it-iveness. He says his mom used to scold him for not possessing stick-to-itevness. He would leave various unfinished endeavors laying around and this drew his mother's reproof.

He and I share the same flaw.  I lack stick-to-itveness.  I would rather do sprints any day than run long distances.  And I have lots of what I think are great ideas; some that get started with gusto but soon stumble to a snail's pace or get abandoned altogether.  My blogs, artisan mayo, paleo meals, crocheting projects, jewelry making projects, exercise plans and many others are some such evidences of my lack of endurance and focus.  Spiritually, I fight with the power Christ supplies to stay on task and continue in my long obedience in the same direction by faith.  So when I press on in my marriage, in teaching my kids the gospel, in stretching to reach others, in saturating myself in the Word, in praying, in keeping my focus on Christ, in trusting in the unfailing promises of God, it's purely by the grace of God!

I purchased some books I'm very excited about.  God's Names by Sally Michael is one of them.  I started into it yesterday with the boys.  Tonight we did Elohim.  It brought a freshness to the discussion of God.  It provoked thought in them about the nature of God as our Creator.  I LOVE it!  Can't wait to get into it more.

Another is the Proverbs Journible from the Journible 17:18 Series.  I think it will be what I'll use to bring to fruition the idea I had for my other blog.  I'm really excited about it too... both for me and my boys.

I am not a risk taker.  I like safe.  I like stable.  I like security and comfort.  This is a problem for a Christian, and yet, even as I say that, it is the "not" that God calls "is".

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.- 1 Corinthians 1:26-29

Being a Christian, I mean a real, Christ-lives-in-me woman, is not safe, and then again it's the most secure and safe of all.  It really depends on which eyes I look at my life with.  With my self-preserving, fallen eyes, being a Christian is dangerous and too risky.  With my fixed-on-Jesus-born-anew eyes, being a Christian is the most sure, guaranteed security and safety there is!

Oh that I would fix my eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith, and look straight past the opposition that will come, the suffering that is going to occur, the rejection that hurts, the questions I can't answer, the name-calling that stabs, to the joy set before me!

Oh to stand in the same room with evil, and the missed-the-marked-ness that holds up its protesting sign and brazen face, and lies, and stand.  Calmly.  Confidently.  Humbly.  Lovingly.  Willing to suffer.  Shining light.  Bringing truth.  Looking up.  Giving grace.  Showing mercy.  I'm ashamed that I would rather hide from it all.  Oh let me stand in the room with the hard things that don't like the answer the Savior gives and speak the truth in love with humility!  Give me grace to be courageous and bold and humble with happiness!

 Quieted,

Sheila

Just letting you know

Hey my fellow Found women!

I just wanted to let you know some things.

1. I fully intend to finish up a series I started on Matters of the Home. Not sure when I'll get to sit down and post, but, Lord willing, soon.

2. Before I do that though I really want to finish the study through the Proverbs 31 woman I started into last year at Sunny's blog, A Wife's Biblical Submission.

3. I've been occupied giving my full attention to teaching my boys, prayer, loving my man, and wrestling through some things with the Lord.

4. I'm really excited about a new book I just got to read, review and giveaway by Jill Savage- Real Moms... Real Jesus. She's given me 3 copies to giveaway and I can't wait to read it so I can do just that. I plan to do that giveaway in June. So look for it. Go over to Jill's blog and check it out.

So that's just some things brewing with me... Lots to share as the Lord leads.

I also want to thank you for your always encouraging comments and prayers. You are all such a blessing!

Have a worship-filled weekend!

He calls me what I am not as though I am

I'm re-reading "The Normal Christian Life" by Watchman Nee. HIGHLY recommend it!

Mr. Nee expounds on the foundations of our faith and how we live by faith in Christ.

It's wonderful! Oh the depths and the riches of God's gift to us in Christ... its more than we know or could ever fully live out, yet we go through this life to know Him more and to be transformed into His very image.

I ran into Mr. Nee's reference to Romans 4:17 while reading and had to stop and just chew on it for awhile.

"...God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did." -Romans 4:17

This is the whole story of how we live by faith.

God, who gives life to the dead, who called Abraham a father while he was practically dead... this same God calls those things which do not exist as though they did. He calls me righteous, though I am not. He calls me spotless, though I am not. He calls me a woman of valor, though I am not. And He's not just playing make-believe. What He calls us He MAKES US! He called nearly-dead Abraham a father while he had no children and in the right time Sarah and Abraham conceived Isaac.

It's not pretending I am what I'm not as a Christian. It's seeing that I am in Christ.

My sins are wiped away by His blood and my sin-producing factory (my flesh) died with Him at the cross. I died. I don't live anymore. Whatever I may do in my flesh is just death. But even greater than this dead woman I am is the LIVE woman I am in Christ.

Christ rose from the dead and I rose with Him, cause I am in Him. My life is hidden in Christ in God. All that is in the risen Christ is mine. And all that is in Him is not unattainable for not only am I in Christ, but Christ is in me! He lives out His very life in my soon to perish body. He makes me righteous. He makes spotless. He makes me a woman of valor. He makes me love with agape. He makes me intercede boldly. He makes me speak the truth in humility. And on and on, just as with Abraham, IN HIS PERFECT TIME, He produces in me exactly what He calls me in Christ.

It is my hope and my joy that my God calls me to the impossible, and the very fact that HE is doing the calling makes it sure that HE will also do the producing of that new-impossible life in me. I am not anything He calls me to be apart from Him who makes it so!

So I wait. I worship. I thank Him for His promise. I repent and cry out for help in my unbelief. And then I carry on listening and worshipping and praying and praising and waiting and lo and behold I see Him producing fruit in my life I am unable to bear on my own!

What a mystery, what a wonder!

It's not by sight dear ones. It's not by working hard. It's not by trying to make it happen. That only creates Ishmaels (I have a few of those). It's by believing that though we are barren spiritually, and dead to the ability to be who God calls us to be, in Christ we are all of who He calls us to be. Just in believing that, in thinking on Christ, in praising Him, in prayer to Him, in searching the word for Him, in revelation of Him, we are transformed into what we are not!

Oh Father, make us to know increasingly who we are in Christ. We want to know Christ! We want to be conformed to His image. Help us to believe that You will do it!

Isaiah 51:3

Book finds

I have a couple of books I've been wanting to brag on for awhile.

First I found this book: Country Wisdom and Know-How, Everything You Need to Know to Live off the Land, at Sam's Club the other day. I was so excited! I so want to live a "country wisdom know-how" life. I feel like I want to be a Little House on the Prairie wife but I find myself in a big city life (that rhymes...ooo, I feel a blog series or meme comin' on). There's great stuff for us un-educated-in-the-arts-and-sciences-of-homemaking-wives. For instance, I found a great tip on page 138 under "Breads" about how to get your bread to rise when you don't have a "warm" place to do it that is between 80-85 degrees like your recipe says. The book says, "...place a pan of boiling water on the bottom rack..." of a cold electric oven. Yeah! Now when I try AGAIN to make bread it won't be heavy and flat- I hope! :) There's a TON of other great stuff in this book to from how to make a bird-feeder to landscaping bulbs and sharpening hand tools. If you're a wanna be Little House on the Prairie wife like me it's a great resource. It only cost me 12 bucks too!

Next: The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. I've been wanting to read more. I wanted to read a book by Elisabeth Elliot and still have yet to get my hands on one but the other day while doing a search at my library, racking my brain to come up with authors of books I might want to read, I found The Great Divorce. I love C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series, which I must confess, I've only seen the movies and have a faint memory of seeing the books on my shelf when I was a kid but don't remember reading them. I was hoping to find that series at the library, but, surprise surprise they were all checked out. So I got the Great Divorce. I hadn't the faintest idea what it was going to be about and was a bit disappointed that I didn't find what I wanted, so I was a bit taken back when I cracked the book open the other day and read this (which really captivated the reader/writer/should have studied literature in me):

You cannot take all luggage with you on all journeys; on one journey even your right hand and your right eye may be among the things you have to leave behind. We are not living in a world where all roads are radii of a circle and where all, if followed long enough, will therefore draw gradually nearer and finally meet at the centre: rather in a world where every road, after a few miles, forks into two, and each of those into two again, and at each fork you must make a decision. Even on the biological level life is not like a river but like a tree. It does not move towards unity but away from it and the creatures grow further apart as they increase in perfection. Good, as it ripens, becomes continually more different not only from evil but from other good. I do not think that all who choose wrong roads perish; but their rescue consists in being put back on the right road. A sum can be put right: but only by going back till you find the error and working it afresh from that point, never by simply going on. Evil can be undone, but it connot 'develop' into good. Time does not heal it. The spell must be unwound, bit by bit, 'with backward mutters of dissevering power'- or else not. It is still 'either-or'. If we insist on keeping Hell (or even Earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell.... (from pgs. VIII and IX)

Wow! I can't wait to get into this book!!!!

And lastly, I found The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee. I purchased this "classic" as I've heard from many an honorable Christian that it's a must have. I've only read a few pages and already am rejoicing and finding myself walking around worshipping the One who saved me with fresh rememberances of what the scripture tells He's done for me!

What book finds have you found?