Pilipinto's Happiness

I published my first book a year ago in October, and would like to offer it on here. It is the story of my jungle childhood in the Amazon, for children from ages 5 to 11, approximately. It is called PILIPINTO'S HAPPINESS, pronounced "pee-lee-peen-toh"-accent on the third syllable. I'm selling it for $14 plus $4 for shipping. If you'll send me an email- shepmama@gmail.com, I can give you my address, and you can send me a check.  If you order more than 2 books, shipping goes up to $6.00, but the book price goes down to $12!

Julia Milner: My Story (the long version!)

Julia Milner: My Story (the long version!): My name is Julia Milner and I am originally from Canada, but have lived in the UK for the last 12 years, so this is now home. My husband i...

Suffering is to Trust!

Read this great post from The Gospel Coalition:  http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tullian/2012/09/12/freed-from-the-prison-of-why/

I used to read a little book to my children called A Hole is to Dig and we'd laugh over the simplicity of the truth of the illustrations and words.  What fun it was to dig holes in the sand, in the dirt, in the bread dough, and even yesterday I had fun digging a hole for a new rose bush with lovely peach blooms.  Today, a friend sent me this and I was blessed, as she has been through a terrible trial in her life and is still living it.  She said she's analytic so she's always asking the why question.  I was hoping I could encourage her to simply focus on who God is, and she asked another- why is He good in this situation?  And all I could say was , "Well, He wants us to love Him because He's holy, and He's always good, and it's better to focus on that then on the past and what you think you did wrong!"  I have had so little suffering compared to what she's going through, but even in my "little trials" I've asked why and struggled with how I could fix the problem, and prayed that the other person would change, and been frustrated, and then tried to give a "talk" which turned into a lecture! Oh, how I know in my intellect that He wants me to trust Him, to be quiet, and let Him work, and believe that all things work together for the good of those who are called by His name.  So, suffering is for trust, and He will do what is best for us, in conforming us to the image of Christ. As I trust, He will make that habit dynamic and real in my heart so that it's practicable for life.

Sacred Space: Growing Deeper: Listening Prayer

Sacred Space: Growing Deeper: Listening Prayer: My heart behind doing this is really to encourage you to engage with the Lord in His Word at a personal level. A simple tool which I call Li...

from John Piper's website

I'm so thankful for people like Jon Bloom, who launched Desiring God with John Piper.  How we Christians need to endure....it's not the world's way, but it IS God's way! And He's right with us, no matter how hard the road, because of what Jesus did for us.  "Who for the joy set before Him, endured the Cross...."

Don’t Give Up
by Jon Bloom | February 10, 2012
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“Here is a call for the endurance of the saints” (Revelation 14:12).

We all long for rest and refreshment. That’s a God-given longing that he promises to fulfill: “I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish” (Jeremiah 31:25).

And in a very real way Jesus gives rest to “all who labor and are heavy laden” and come to him (Matthew 11:28). But in this age, it is not the complete rest.

In this age, Jesus grants us the gospel rest of ceasing the impossible labor of self-atonement for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21). But in embracing the gospel we find ourselves also drafted into a war — a war to keep believing the gospel and a war to spread it to others. In this age we “strive to enter that [complete] rest” of the age to come (Hebrews 4:11).

And wars are exhausting — especially long ones. That’s why you are often tired. Most soldiers who experience the fierceness of combat want to get out of it. That’s why you feel urges to escape or surrender. That’s why there are times you’re tempted to give up.

But don’t give up. No, rather “take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded” (2 Chronicles 15:7).

Don’t give up when that familiar sin, still crouching at your door after all these years, pounces again with temptation.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Don’t give up when you feel that deep soul weariness from long battles with persistent weaknesses.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2 Corinthians 12:8–9).

Don’t give up when your long prayed-for prayers have not yet been answered.

And he told them [the parable of the persistent widow] to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1).

Don’t give up when the devil’s fiery darts of doubt land and make you reel.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day…in all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one (Ephesians 6:13,16).

Do not give up when the fragmenting effect of multiple pressures seems relentless.

But as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger . . . (2 Corinthians 6:4–5).

Do not give up when the field the Lord has assigned you to is hard and the harvest does not look promising:

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

Do not give up when you labor in obscurity and you wonder how much it even matters.

Your Father who sees in secret will reward you (Matthew 6:4).

Do not give up when your reputation is damaged because you are trying to be faithful to Jesus.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account (Matthew 5:11).

Do not give up when waiting on God seems endless.

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:30–31)

Don’t give up when you have failed in sin. Don’t wallow. Repent (again), get your eyes off yourself and back on Jesus, get up and get back in the fight.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9); if we are faithless, he remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself (2 Timothy 2:13).

Jesus knows your works (Revelation 2:2) and he understands the war (Hebrews 12:3). “Fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). Finish the race (2 Timothy 4:7). “By your endurance you will gain your lives” (Luke 21:19).

Don’t give up.

Mothering

Thursday, August 23, 2012
Mothering
Now that my "official" mothering days are over (I'll always be a mother, but the children are now gone from my daily service), I am thankful to say that God blessed me with 8 unusual, unique, funny, challenging, and rewarding gifts.  I will not feel sorry for myself, I now have others to give more time to, and I am so grateful for the 35 years of being able to be at home with my "bairns" (as my maternal grandmother called them). At least one of them, maybe 2 will be home next summer  because they're in college now, but it will be a different dynamic here at 3693 Sable Palm Lane. I want to encourage younger moms to stay at home as much as possible because it's the "being there" whenever they need you that makes a huge difference to them.  My uncle Tom Howard said that his mother was always "there" and that brought great comfort and security to him and his 5 siblings.  I sometimes left for a few days to speak somewhere, and was kindly allowed by my husband to do that, because he was usually able to stay with the kids, as well as have the older ones helping.  But when I came home, I was always aware of how much I was missed, and I felt guilty for leaving at all.  The preparation and the coming home were the hardest parts of leaving to speak.  While I was at the speaking engagement (sometimes a retreat, and sometimes just an evening), I knew the Lord was my helper and gave me joy in the retelling of my story, and joy in encouraging and meeting other women whose lives were so similar in needs as mine.  We were mothers trying to be perfect, and God was showing us, and still does that He is the only Perfect One, and we are to rest in His righteousness, not our accomplishments.

This article is excellent (http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/motherhood-as-a-mission-field), which I  found on Kirk Cameron's website, and was happy to see that he's a follower of John Piper.  My mother also taught me that doing the "little things" for God without being noticed by anyone, was my life laid down for the family, as well as my life given to His will.  I'm so thankful that she spoke of "faithfulness in little things" and it has been a life-long lesson for me to persevere in taking care of the little things that most people take for granted.  I have a natural tendency to want to ignore the everyday maintenance of those little things, and it is only by the Holy Spirit's still small voice that I am reminded that I should not ignore those things.  And, "Do the next thing" was my mother's motto also.  I often hear in my mind a quiet reasoning or argument that I must go do that thing, and my natural self is giving a reason why I should do it later, and not NOW.  If I don't do it then,  I later realize that if I had done it when I heard the small voice, it would have been exactly the right time.  I praise Him that He is in the process of conforming me to the image of Christ, and I often see how unnecessary it is for me to argue in my mind or to procrastinate, when it's in the little things that He is giving me to practice laying down my life.

Let your your mind  dwell on His holiness and His sacrifice for you , and you will be helped to live sacrificially for others.  Take one day at a time and let the day's trouble be SUFFICIENT for the day. Don't add on the work or the worries of tomorrow.  Those are in God's hands!

Thankfulness Song

Lord of Creation,
create in me
a continuous harvest
of thanksgiving,
never ravaged
by the drought of looking afar
for springs of hope,
to energize;
Never darkened by the longing
for deep wells,
leaked out,
running dry,
of blind, worldly words;
to lighten me,

but only filled, spilling forth,
Your Joy,
Your salvation,
Your fulfillment of all
longings....

Never ending,
always renewed
forever freshened,
By Your Truth.

Overflowing with praises,
inward graces,
breathed out
For your Glory,
alone.