Thankful Thursday

It's been three years since the rug was jerked from beneath our feet. Three years since we started forging a new life. We're starting to grow comfortable in this place that looks remarkably the same and yet radically different. Sometimes I find myself slipping into old attitudes, old desires come stealthily creeping. I don't ever want to forget how the Lord brought us through. I never want to stop praising Him for it.

He is giving us an opportunity to do just that. Dear friends are now walking that same scary path of unemployment. As we approach the Lord on their behalf and seek to minister to them, we reminisce about our own journey and the faithfulness of the Lord. Reading through old blog posts causes me to catch my breath in wonder. How utterly dependent I was upon Him. How far I feel from that now.

And so today I am thankful, deeply thankful. Not just for an opportunity to serve friends, but for His loving call back to a place of remembrance, a place to raise our Ebenezer and say that we are here only by His help.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
~2 Corinthians 1:3-7, ESV

Review: On HIs Majesty's Service

Christian Focus for Kids has a wonderful series of biographies for younger readers (ages 7- 14).  The Trailblazers series is a fantastic way for children (and adults) to learn about the great cloud of witnesses who've gone before us, such as John Stott and Charles Spurgeon, and those who are still paving the way, like Joni Eareckson Tada.

When CF4K announced the Trailblazer Extravaganza for the month of October, I was eager to participate. I chose to read Helen Roseveare: On His Majesty's Service. I confess that I'd never heard of Helen Roseveare before. I chose this particular book because she was a missionary in the Belgian Congo in the 1960s, which is the setting for a book I recently read, The Poisonwood Bible. I was curious to know if the fictionalized account of a missionary family in the Belgian Congo during that time was accurate.

From the first pages of On His Majesty's Service. I was drawn into the account of the English girl born during WWII who decided early on in life to become a missionary. Helen studied to be a doctor and went on to serve many years in the Congo, in spite of political unrest that led to her capture and imprisonment for several months. The work the Lord accomplished through her is an amazing testimony to His power. Helen's love for the people of the Congo, her steadfastness in the face of great odds, and her unwavering faith in the Lord are a great example for children and adults alike. On His Majesty's Service is a well-written and interesting book.

Even though the Trailblazers series is targeted to children, I highly recommend them for adults.

Thanks to Christian Focus Publications for allowing me to read this great book.

Thankful Thursday

We celebrated my girl's 14th birthday this week. The Lord has given us many reasons to be grateful these past 14 years. This week, I've been thankful for:

~watching her blow out those 14 candles, surrounded by a band of giggling girls

~her stand for something she believes in strongly, even though it's been hard and has pulled her away from people she cares about

~the way God is growing her through this difficult situation.  Watching Him work in her life takes my breath away.

~coming home early from work one day, only to find her studying with classical music playing in the background

~watching her read while I prepared dinner. I nearly asked her to put the book down and help me. Then I remembered all the years I've struggled to get her to read outside of school, and I kept quiet.

~her compassion for those in need

~that her pick for Celebrity Day at school was someone to be admired, rather than one of the many lesser options out there. (True, her decision was made easier because she has the hair to pull it off!)

~picking her up from practice and listening to her enthusiastically tell me about her day. The words come so fast I can hardly understand them all. I drink them in as much as I can, because I fear the alternative.

My girl is far from perfect, but as her Daddy said this week, "She's a good kid." And she is. Not because of her. Not because of her parents. Only because of God.

For you formed my inward parts; 

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

~Psalm 139:13