Spring? Ha!!!!

Well the calendar says spring but looking out the window as snow hits the ground does not say spring to me.... I look around waiting for everything to wake from it's long winter sleep. It won't be long before we will have our piggies in the sand........

Rom 13:11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

You are amazing God!!!!Again!!!!

Check this out. This is our nephew....

6 min 44 sec - Dec 18, 2007Description: A little boy with a mystifying eye condition finally found an answer on the other side of the globe with the help of Dr. Harry Chugani at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. ~Detroit Medical Center




http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2404586994749948974&pr=goog-sl

Good Friday!!!!

Into Thy Hands I Commit My SpiritGood Friday
By John Piper April 20, 1984

Luke 23:44-46
Paul said in Philippians 3:10 that the passion of his life was to know the power of Christ's resurrection and to share his sufferings and become like him in his death. I think we should follow Paul in this. We should long to draw from Jesus the power to live and die like he did. Surely that is one of the reasons the gospels show us so much of Jesus' death. God's will for us is that we learn from Jesus how to die.

Jesus' Suffering and Your Suffering
It is a strange and terrible perversion of the gospel to say that since Jesus suffered for me, therefore I don't have to suffer—I can be comfortable and prosperous. The stumbling block of the cross is removed if we say he became homeless that I might have the finest of houses. He was rejected by men that I might be admired among men. He lived in poverty that I might live in luxury. He endured suffering that I might enjoy ease. Jesus taught just the opposite: "If any man would come after me, let him take up his cross daily and follow me." If we suffer with him, we shall be glorified with him (Romans 8:17). Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps (1 Peter 2:21).

Learning from Jesus How to Die

Therefore, when we see Jesus die, we see two things: the price paid to bring us to glory; and the example given for how we are to get there. So let's learn from Jesus how to die, by focusing on Luke 23:44–46.

1. Remember That God Reigns
When you come to die, remember that God reigns. "It was about the sixth hour and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed and the curtain of the Temple was torn in two." Who saw to it that the sun's light failed? Who ripped the temple's curtain from top to bottom? Over and around the death of Jesus Christ is the ruling hand of God. He has not fumbled the ball. There are no loose ends. Luke made it crystal clear in Acts 4:27f., "Truly in this city there were gathered together against thy holy servant Jesus both Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever thy hand and thy plan had predestined to take place." It is true that Jesus said to the mob who arrested him in Gethsemane, "This is your hour and the power of darkness." But what a sovereign statement that is. The power of darkness will not be given an hour by the almighty God. Pray, who reigns when Satan must await his hour and when his limits are appointed by Another? God reigns—in life and in death. "See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me, I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand" (Deuteronomy 32:39). "It was the will of the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. We esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted" (Isaiah 53:10, 4). When you come to die, remember God reigns and nothing has slipped between his fingers.

2. Remember That God Pities
When you come to die, remember God pities. We have not risen in our thinking to the magnificence of God if we think that because he rules in life and death he cannot pity. What was the meaning of the darkness at noon and the rending of the temple curtain? Was it not God's clothing his world in the color of grief and rending the garments next to his heart? "It was the will of the Lord to bruise him"—but not without pity, not without grief. "As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. He knows our frame, that we are dust." The nails and spear and rod and crown of thorns did not feel like pity. Neither do intravenous needles, respirators, tubes down your throat, and hand restraints. All the more reason to remember that God reigns and that as a father his child, so he pities you in your dying.

3. Remember That Your Spirit Lives On
When you come to die, remember that you have a spirit that will live on. "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." Jesus knew and we should know that death for God's people is not the end nor even a sleep for our conscious personalities. Paul put it like this in 2 Corinthians 5: "We are of good courage and would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord." Philippians 1:23, "My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better." We will die like Jesus if we remember that like him we have a spirit which at the moment of death does not die but lives on with God.

4. Remember That God's Hands Are Open to You
But that implies a fourth thing to remember when we come to die. We should remember that God's arms are open and his hands extended to his dying children. "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." Not: into the grave. Not: into the void. Not: into the dark unknown. But: into the hands of God.
One of the great temptations at the hour of death is to believe that our death is a horrible blow from God and that therefore we are under his wrath and cannot commit our spirit to his care. Let us learn here from Jesus. His death was a horrible blow from God. He became a curse for us. But Jesus did not abandon faith in God's love for him.
1 Corinthians 11:29–32, "Anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world."
This is a startling statement. Sometimes the Lord takes the life of a believer because of sin. But Paul says that we should view it as a chastisement to save the believer from something worse. Therefore, even if we come to our death believing that we are being chastised by the Lord—even then we can and should commit our spirit to him. For his purpose for us is love.

5. Don't Murmur, Complain, or Rage Against God
Therefore, finally, when you come to die do not murmur or complain or rage against God. He reigns, he pities, his loving hands are open to your spirit. And in those hands is Paradise immediately after you die.

Glorified...

Glorified (original 1985)
By John Piper December 14, 2003

As far as any eye could see
There was no green. But every tree
Was cinder black, and all the ground
Was grey with ash. The only sound
Was arid wind, like spirits' ghosts,
Gasping for some living hosts
In which to dwell, as in the days
Of evil men, before the blaze
Of unimaginable fire
Had made the earth a flaming pyre
For God's omnipotent display
Of holy rage. The dreadful Day
Of God had come. The moon had turned
To blood. The sun no longer burned
Above, but, blazing with desire,
Had flowed into a lake of fire.
The seas and oceans were no more,
And in their place a desert floor
Fell deep to meet the brazen skies,
And silence conquered distant cries.

The Lord stood still above the air.
His mighty arms were moist and bare.
They hung, as weary, by his side
Until the human blood had dried
Upon the sword in his right hand.
He stared across the blackened land
That he had made, and where he died.
His lips were tight, and deep inside,
The mystery of sovereign will
Gave leave, and it began to spill
In tears upon his bloody sword
For one last time.

And then the Lord
Wiped every tear away and turned
To see his bride. Her heart had yearned
Four thousand years for this: His face
Shone like the sun, and every trace
Of wrath was gone. And in her bliss
She heard the Master say, "Watch this:
Come forth all goodness from the ground,
Come forth and let the earth redound
With joy." And as he spoke, the throne
Of God came down to earth and shone
Like golden crystal full of light,
And banished once for all the night.
And from the throne a stream began
To flow and laugh, and as it ran,
It made a river and a lake,
And everywhere it flowed a wake
Of grass broke on the banks and spread
Like resurrection from the dead.

And in the twinkling of an eye
The saints descended from the sky.

And as I knelt beside the brook
To drink eternal life, I took
A glance across the golden grass,
And saw my dog, old Blackie, fast
As she could come. She leaped the stream—
Almost—and what a happy gleam
Was in her eye.

I knelt to drink,
And knew that I was on the brink
Of endless joy. And everywhere
I turned I saw a wonder there.
A big man running on the lawn:
That's old John Younge with both legs on.
The blind can see a bird on wing,
The dumb can lift his voice and sing.
The diabetic eats at will,
The coronary runs uphill.
The lame can walk, the deaf can hear,
The cancer-ridden bone is clear.
Arthritic joints are lithe and free,
And every pain has ceased to be.

And every sorrow deep within,
And every trace of lingering sin
Is gone. And all that's left is joy,
And endless ages to employ
The mind and heart to understand
And love the sovereign Lord who planned
That it should take eternity
To lavish all his grace on me.

O God of wonder, God of might,
Grant us some elevated sight,
Of endless days. And let us see
The joy of what is yet to be.
And may your future make us free,
And guard us by the hope that we,
Within the light of candle four,
Are glorified forevermore.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Took a small hiatus......

Sorry I have gone for so long but it took me this long to post as I didn't want to push Eileen down. I realize that even though my post of her may be pushed down she will always always be special to us. Life has been hard adjusting without her but once again the Lord has been faithful to us.

I have realized these past few months that even though people disappoint you and death creeps into our lives without warning and old friendship disintegrate and new friendships appear. The Lord is ever faithful never changing, never disappointing, never ending and of course never dying.


1Deu 31:614 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you."

Rest in peace my friend

Today our dear friend Eileen passed away, she has been like a mother to me and Danny and a Nana to our girls. The Lord crossed our paths in 2000 and she has been a part of our family ever since. Lord I pray that today she stands before you and yousay to her "Welcome home Eileen, I have been waiting for you".
You will never be forgotten.....WE LOVE YOU!!!!

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

The beauty of the Lord!!!!

Isn't he lovely?

Isn't it just like the Lord again trying to tell me something...Again

Well yesterday was a very humbling day for me. Paul preached on 1 Corinthians 16: 1-4

As I sat there yesterday listening to Paul preach (which btw was awesome, thanks Paul) the Lord put some things on my heart. I do not experience or live my life in a kingdom of generosity. Paul ask what really makes you excited and as I drifted off into thinking about winning Mass millions or megabucks. I started thinking if I only won I could buy us a church and help our families and then honestly want to know what I thought about? SHOPPING..... All the cute littles sandals I could buy and not only for me but my kids.... Oh yeah and my friends too. Like I always say you can never have too many sandals, capris or flip flops....

Does my heart beat like that when I think about eternity with Jesus? When I think about all the wrongs I have done that he suffered for? To clean my slate? To take away my F's and give me all His A's?

I constantly wonder about finances where will they come from, how will we pay this or that? Yesterday was a great day for me the Lord really showed me where my heart is and what He wants for my heart. What we have in this world does not define who we are. The one who dies with the best toys does not win..... The one who dies with Christ is truly the one who wins....

Thank you Lord for loving me enough to show me my sin and correcting me with love....

Jer 17:7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord

Is God trying to show me something....

So Danny comes home for lunch and I must say the lunch I prepared was great, yummy.... Homemade cornbeef hash with eggs. Anyway we can chat about that another day. So Danny asks me why I haven't been blogging and know what my response to him was? I have nothing to say. Boy is that funny or what, all of you that know me know that I always have something to say. So I was thinking of all the things I have to be grateful and thankful to the Lord for.

1. Life in eternity with Him
2. A completely and absoultely wonderful husband, who is kind, patient and all the things I am not and might I mention a babe. (Ace got nuttin on him)
3. Two adorable children who I love with all my heart
4. Wonderful friends and family a girl couldn't ask for more
5. A passion for cooking that the Lord gave to me to show his glory


So I guess I do have something to say..... Thanks for the reminder sweetie...