Bits of Grace

Even though I entitled this post "Bits of Grace", sometimes I just feel overwhelmed with God's grace and goodness. He has seen fit to bless our little family with another precious baby due to arrive at the end of October. This little life along with morning sickness and regular sickness has been the reason for not posting in so long. So, I hope you will again forgive me and share in the beautiful joy of a precious new one.

I have been having so much fun planning what I will make for our new one. I am planning on a quilt, some little softies, a taggie blanket, and some knitted or crocheted hat and booties. Aren't the colors above pretty? I found these lovely colors on sale a while ago and stocked up. Now I will have opportunity to use them! And, if we are having a girl, I will be extra busy!

With all of the morning sickness, I have been discouraged of late. But, our ever gracious Lord, has refreshed and encouraged me with this quote from William Gurnall:

"God made it His priority to bring the saints to heaven in a way with would be a constant reminder of His love and mercy. He is a wise Father, who knows the flighty temperament of even His most obedient children.. So He thinks to help them by visiting often and tucking into their empty hands this or that grace, just when it is needed most. This way of communicating gives a double accent to His love and mercy; it reminds us of the true source of all blessing, and it assures that our needs can always be met. When you find any comfort in your soul, any added strength in duty, or any support in temptation, it distills a special sweetness into your life to consider what friend sent these blessings. They do not come from your own supply, or anyone else's. It is the heavenly Father who slips quietly in and leaves the sweet perfume of His comfort!It is His kind Spirit that holds your head and calms your heart while the trial rages within. It is His pungent fragrance that keeps you from fainting in unbelief. What soul, thus comforted, could for a moment doubt the love and concern of such a parent?...(God) come to our hearts, checks the cupboards, sees how bare they are, and sends provisions accordingly. "Your heavenly Father knows you have need of these things...' and you shall have them (Matt. 6:32-33). He knows you need strength to pray, to hear, to suffer for Him, trust Him to keep your pantry well stocked. God choose this method to assure our strength will never be in short supply. If the provisions were left in our own hands, we would soon be bankrupt merchants. God knows we are weak, like cracked pitchers- if filled to the brim and set aside, the contents would soon leak out. So He puts us under a flowing fountain of His strength and constantly refills us. This was the provision He made for Israel in the wilderness: He split the rock, and not only was their thirst quenched at that moment, but the water ran in a stream after them, so that you hear no more complaints for water. This rock was Christ. Every believer has Christ at his back, following him as he goes, with strength for every condition and trial..."

~ William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armor Volume 1, pages 38-40

I hope that it refreshes and encourages you today! 

Spring

Once again, dear friends, you have not heard from me in a while. I must confess that life has been overwhelming. I promise an update very soon and some wonderful quotes from William Gurnall.

Heavenly Conversation

" A state of holiness is nothing else but the habitual and predominant devotion and dedication of soul, and body, and life, and all that we have, to God; and esteeming, and loving, and serving, and seeking Him, before all the pleasure and prosperity of the flesh; making His favour. and everlasting happiness in heaven, our end, and Jesus Christ our way, and referring all things in the world unto that end, and making this the scope, design and business of our lives. It is a turning from a deceitful world to God; and preferring the Creator before the creature, and heaven before earth, and eternity before an inch of time, and our souls before our corruptible bodies, and the authority and laws of God, the universal Governor of the world, before the word or will of any man, how great soever; and a subjecting our sensitive faculties to our reason, and advancing this reason by Divine revelations; and living by faith, and not by sight: in a word, it is a laying up our treasure in heaven, and setting our hearts there, and living in a heavenly conversation, setting our affections on the things above, and not on the things that are on earth; and a rejoicing in hope of the glory to come..."

~ Richard Baxter, pg. 14 of the Practical Works of Richard Baxter, Volume 1- A Christian Directory

I have been thinking about this quote a lot lately, especially the bolded part. I just love the beautiful thought- living in a heavenly conversation. Even while making breakfast, I can be in conversation with my blessed Savior.

As promised

Dear ones-

We have been sick...

VERY sick....three long weeks of sickness in one form or another

Three distinct, separate sicknesses; including the awful flu going around this year...

So, that is my excuse for neglecting you. (I am pretending that there are actually people who read this blog but that is beside the point.)

 

 

 

 

 I made three simple quilts for my boys for Christmas. The fabrics I used are from the line called "Scoot" by Riley Blake and minky fabric for the back and binding.. I have been surprised time and again how much little children love the softness of minky fabric. I must confess I love it too! I found a down minky blanket at the thrift store and have enjoyed it every morning. All of the minky and quilts have been put to good use during our long period of illness. Cuddled up on the couch watching Roy Rogers has been happening around here a lot lately. If you couldn't tell from the pictures above, Roy Rogers is now the hero of our home.

 In more minky news, our smallest son lost his giraffe minky blanket toy at church on the eve of our sickness. But the catastrophe was averted when it was found and brought home safe. (Although a bit dirty!)

 I have attempted to learn a new craft- needle felting. I purchased a lovely kit off of Etsy and had so much fun making my first bear. It is a rather pathetic attempt but I love learning new things and am happy that it resembles a bear. I have just read a little about it off of the internet and watched a YouTube video so hopefully I will improve as I practice. Happily, my children are very gracious and content that they have a new little bear to play with. My little guy seems to like it especially as it is perfect size for carrying around.

 Overall, even in sickness, I am struck by the beauty and graciousness of our great Savior. He truly "daily loads us with benefits". What precious benefits He has given to me. Blessed be His name!

"Give us this day our daily bread." Matthew 6:11

"As your days--so shall your strength be." Deuteronomy 33:25

We should be thankful that life comes to us in such little bits.

We can always live one day well enough.
We can always carry one day's burdens.
We can always do one day's duties.
We can always endure one day's sorrows.

It is a blessing that one day is all that God ever gives us at a time. We should be thankful for the nights that cut off our tomorrows from our view, so that we cannot even see them until they dawn. The little days, nestling between the nights like quiet valleys between the hills, then seem so safe and peaceful.

~ J.R. Miller

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own!" Matthew 6:34

* Jeanne asked for the recipe for the muffins. In our house, we call them coffeecake muffins and they are well loved. I usually serve them with fresh fruit for breakfast. Here is the recipe:

Coffeecake Muffins

Batter:
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients together and spoon into muffin pans with paper liners. I use a large cookie scoop to scoop out the batter as it makes it so much easier.

Topping:

1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon canola oil (you can use all butter if you prefer)

Mix all ingredients together. This topping mixture should be crumbly and somewhat sticking together. Evenly disperse topping over the muffins. Then, slightly poke the topping into the batter about 1/2 way down the muffin cup. This will prevent all of the topping from falling off during baking and consumption.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown. I serve them pretty much as soon as they are out of the oven as my little guys all start screaming and run for the table when the hear the timer go off.

Enjoy :)

40 Years

This post from Doorposts was in my Facebook Feed today. It was so timely I thought that I would share this here. I promise I will do a real post again soon! But for today:

 Thanks to a friend for sharing these fitting verses for today. God has not forgotten.

"He sits in the lurking places of the villages;
In the secret places he murders the innocent;
His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless.
He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den;
He lies in wait to catch the poor;
He catches the poor when he draws him into his net.
So he crouches, he lies low,
That the helpless may fall by his strength.
He has said in his heart,
'God has forgotten;
He hides His face;
He will never see.'

"Arise, O Lord!
O God, lift up Your hand!
Do not forget the humble.
Why do the wicked renounce God?
He has said in his heart,
'You will not require an account.'

"But You have seen, for You observe trouble and grief,
To repay it by Your hand.
The helpless commits himself to You;
You are the helper of the fatherless.
Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man;
Seek out his wickedness until You find none.

"The Lord is King forever and ever;
The nations have perished out of His land.
Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble;
You will prepare their heart;
You will cause Your ear to hear,
To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
That the man of the earth may oppress no more."

Psalm 10:8-18

This post can be found here:
 https://www.facebook.com/doorposts

These precious, precious babies! My heart is broken today thinking of all of these helpless ones that have been murdered. So much prayer is needed for our nation. I know I will be in prayer before our great God pleading for our nation and for repentance and forgiveness of such horrors. What times are we living in? But, dear ones, take heart too! "The Lord is King forever and ever..."

Jesus Our Greatest Treasure and a Gift for You

"Jesus.. was wrapped in swaddling clothes, as other children are when they are new-born, as if he could be bound, or needed to be kept straight. He that makes darkness a swaddling band for the sea was himself wrapped in swaddling bands, Job 38:9. The everlasting Father became a child of time, and men said to him whose out-goings were of old from everlasting, We know this man, whence he is, Jn. 7:27. The Ancient of days became an infant of a span long."

-Commentary on Luke 2 by Matthew Henry

This above quote has given me so much to think about in the last few years. I love reading through the Christmas story and Job 38-42. Somehow reading these Scriptures together just makes the mystery and wonder of Christmas so much more apparent in my own heart. I prepared this document two years ago for our family for Christmas. It is my Christmas gift to you and I hope you enjoy it!

Jesus- Our Greatest Treasure

My sincere apologies

Dear friends, well my first attempt at doing a series on this blog has met with failure. Does it count as a series when you only have one post? I didn't think so. Our precious Lord has graciously seen fit to keep me very busy this Christmas season. With getting the flu, bookshelves breaking and repaired, new (given to me!!!) furniture being moved in and house rearranged, a surprise business trip for my husband, and the regular joy and chaos of children, my house has been decorated and redecorated several times; not to mention busy! Which means that my planned posts on the blessings of decorating for Christmas have fallen by the wayside. So, I apologize dear friends!

My husband it taking a whole week and a half off this year for Christmas which he hasn't ever done. I am so excited! But, I will not be posting until after the new year. So, until then, I thought I would share some lovely Christmas books that we have been enjoying this year:

For our little boys:



 I just love this book and that it includes the names of Jesus within it. This year we are learning the names of Jesus and we make a little paper ornament each day with a name of Jesus and hang it on our tree. This book is so special for tying all that in, especially for the littlest eyes.





We love this book as it present the whole gospel story as a grand tour of the Bible. It is so beautiful and we love reading it. It is a longer picture book so we read a chapter a night or over several days because of my wiggly little guys.



The pictures have a different flavor in this book but my boys like it a lot. I have no idea why it is so expensive. Perhaps because it is Christmas?



This is another favorite with the traditional words to the song and Ezra Keats pictures.



I love this one! The pictures are so lovely with the nativity and I love how the little boys talks about his animals. The boys enjoy it so much as well.

Books for Adults:



I love this book so much! It is a compilation of writings from godly men and women- both old and new. I have enjoyed this greatly this year. She also has an Easter one that I love as well.



I confess I haven't finished this book. But, what I have read so far is wonderful. (Christian Audio has a free audio book download of this this month so look out for that.)



I have not read this book before even though it is considered a classic. I really thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is so very descriptive and just perfect for Christmas. (You can find this book for free through Google Books or as a audio book through Books Should be Free.com)

Well, I hope that you are enjoying your Christmas season celebrating the joyous birth of our Savior. He alone is worthy of all praise! He is altogether lovely.