Mae Jaeyeon Dahn...oh, yes...and Her Parents

When Luke and family were here at Christmas, life was busy and I never posted pictures of their visit. I realize daily how quickly time passes.  March is just days away!

Anyway, I wanted to share with you the fun we had.

YuJueng (YuYu), Mae, and Luke

I love this picture of her stroking Luke's cheek.

She loves Uncle Lee, too.

Nothing like playing with beans.

Two beauties...and yes, she works jigsaws!

And she might have a little love left over for me...

and him.

 May the Lord grow Mae to know Him as Savior one day.  

A Whole Heart and A Willing MInd

My heart is so unstable at times.  It holds love and hatred, joy and depression, forgiveness and bitterness often within the same day, hour, minute.  It's a heart...with emotions ranging off the chart in either direction.  I am a slave to the information I choose to take in and accept and dissect and rehash like a cow chewing her cud.  This is never profitable...unless it is.
1 Chronicles 28:9  "And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought..."
A whole heart and a willing mind.  That's the key right there.  What I think on fills my heart and dictates my actions.  I can know truth and choose to love, to have joy, to forgive.  God is very interested in every filthy corner and hidden closet of my heart.  He is all about cleaning house and redirecting thoughts.
This morning, I felt a heaviness not unfamiliar to me.  I wanted it gone.  My friend sent me a text soon after those thoughts.  (This is just one way God redirects..) She wrote:
Psalm 89:15  Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk, O LORD, in the light of your face...
God knew I needed to be reminded to acclaim Him and walk in the light of His presence and not in the familiar worry so eager to greet me.  With my willing mind and my whole heart, I will.

Musing In The Midst of My Dumps

 I liketh my bookmark.

I am taking a class at church on Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, a book I have read many times.
( I had someone ask me once if he was the lumberjack with the ox - to which I replied, "Uh, no.") There are several versions ranging from ye Olde English hither, thither, and yon original to the updated hipster understandable version...and many in between...or is it 'in betweenest?' (my computer says 'not a word')
Tommy is teaching the class and he printed up an older dialect with thees and thous and words like durst...as in 'I durst not eat another cookie, lest I end up resembling a pachyderm (elephant).  Durst means dare.
So... speaking lyrically...ahem...I happened upon a phrase that caught my eye: "musing in the midst of my dumps."  After laughing out loud, it occurred to me that I muse in my dumps all the time.  You probably do, too.
Bunyan's usage: "Why truly I do not know what had become of me there, had not Evangelist happily met me again as I was musing in the midst of my dumps; but it was God's mercy that he came to me again for else I had never come hither." He had avoided being 'dashed to pieces by a mountain.'
So next time I am in the dumps, I will try and remember this phrase and it will bring a smile to my face, making my dumps less...well...dumpy.  I will also be grateful that I, too have not been dashed to pieces...by anything.  :)

Invading Perfection

God is on His throne at all times...surrounded by holiness.
Psalm 47:8  God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne. 
Psalm 103:19  The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. 
Isaiah 66:1  Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? 
Isaiah 6:1-3   In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.  2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.  3 And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" 
There have been times when approaching God's throne, I was not sure He could hear me because of crying children or voices raised in anger, barking dogs, and noisy vices.  Sometimes it is my own thoughts that wander off track and divert my efforts to pray.  I am one person.  Multiply that by many thousands - all of us making our requests known in the midst of the complete chaos we live in. What an invasion into perfection our prayers must be!  How sweet those "holys" must sound to Him in contrast.  Yet He hears.  He wants me to talk with Him and though I am not in heaven yet, my voice is heard there, as is yours.  My words coincide with the sounds of angels...as do yours.
1 John 5:14-15  And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.  15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. 
Psalm 18:6  In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. 
From His temple, He hears me!  In the midst of all things loud, He hears me.  In the times of silent bliss, He hears me.
Isaiah 57:15   For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. 

Me in This Moment

I don't often write about my inner feelings and the day's list of things to do or my heartaches...simply because you have heartaches too - and inner thoughts - and probably a list waaay longer than mine. I often think "if you write that, you will regret putting it into words and making this post about you." And then I push the delete button and sigh a sigh of relief.
Today I am taking a chance and putting some of me in this post. It is now 10:30 Thursday morning, and I am still in my pjs, sitting up in bed.  I NEVER do this.  I was supposed to have my mom at a medical procedure, but someone else wanted to take her and so Tommy and I agreed to sleep in. Even though I woke at 7 something, I am staying in bed until I read my devotionals and write to my brother.
My brother is in prison for a few years (I have shared this in previous posts) and the guidelines for writing him are simple.  Plain notebook or computer paper, no stickers or fun stuff, full return address with full name, and whatever I write will be read and checked before he ever sees it.  I am allowed to send photos and printed articles.  I can email him though a website, but he can't answer.  These emails are limited in length, but the allotments are generous.  I pay the cost of a stamp for each email.  I digress.
He prefers a written letter he can read and reread.  You would think that someone who likes to write as I do could find much to say.  Finding time is the problem.  Sometimes I draw pictures in my letter. For Christmas, I drew a wrapped package and told him there was a steak inside.  He liked that.  For his birthday, I drew him a cake with a thousand candles on it...cuz that is how old he is.  I try to make him smile.
ANYWAAAY.
My pastor husband asked me to speak at a Valentine's Banquet on the 13th.  "Really?" I replied. "You are asking me NOW with little over a week to go?"  I panicked.  I try not to say no to him, simply because he rarely throws me to the wolves plus I know God will help me.  If you could see my life right now.  It's a mess.  I mean literally a mess.  Everything in my head has leaked out onto the
surfaces around me.  I took a picture to show you.  Even Tommy said, "Wow, you are worse than me" and I had to agree. Sigh.

This is exactly how it looks now.  I just walked in and took a picture and came back to the bedroom...which has a similar look.

See the Pilgim's Progress folder in the foreground?  I start that class tonight. ( I have read that book many times, so I feel I have a head start on that one.)  The valentines on the tray are homemade as it is my preference and joy to make them. Still, the mess is there and unfinished. They are for my Sunday School class party, which is this week - another thing to prepare for.
My sister-in-law just called me.  This is rare...not because we do not talk, but because it is morning and she has her own business to run, and well, it just is.  But God.  I love those words.  He used her to speak some words of wisdom to me regarding a heartache of mine.  She had no idea how timely her call was, but God knew.  He knows our deepest hurts and he knows we fumble through life sometimes as we deal with relationships and situations beyond our control....and in some cases, we choose not to deal at all.
I wish there was a book for ________________ (fill in the blank.)  Oh, right.  There is.  It is God's word. Finding your specific problem might be difficult, but the answers to it are clear.  I can't do what I don't know to do, but am I doing what I do know?
Well, right now I do know that I must finish the goal I set for myself.  Productivity is the key to order in my messes.  If I never get up, nothing will change.  Hmmm.  It will happen...eventually.
I recently wrote about slowing down.  That is why I am still in bed.  Smile.

God Is Never In a Hurry

I heard this statement on the radio last week: 'God is never in a hurry.'  As I listened to this idea of God never hurrying, it made me stop and think.  Really? Never? 
Hmm. Okay. He knows what is going to happen next in every instance of life and nothing ever takes Him by surprise, so why would He rush to act on anything?  The very idea of God at peace on His throne, ruling wisely and accurately, while ordaining all that comes to pass gives me assurance that I can trust all He brings my way.
Often hurry happens on the inside, causing anxiousness...and we know what scripture says about that. My thoughts can race as I gaze at a long list of things to do, or hear of needs waiting to be met.   Sometimes the next thing to do is obvious, but on many days the choice is mine.
So, I am challenged to set a few priorities, fulfill my obligations, reach out to others, maintain some kind of order in my house (thankfully Tommy is super easy-going in this area), stretch my own comfort zone (I love my comfort zone...alot), along with all the other things that will come my way later on.
I want to learn from my Maker - to please Him and be patient.  To wear love and be flexible, knowing I can't see ahead of 'now', but He can.  I may need to speed things up in dire situations, but if I am always in a hurry, I'm less likely to see any changes that might occur and more likely to panic when they do.
There are twenty-four hours in every day and sixty minutes in each of those hours.  Let's calm down and become effective and intentional for the Lord.  He has a plan to make our days count for His kingdom. How can we follow Him, if we are always running ahead? After all, God is never in a hurry.

Micah 6:8  He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? 

No More Hope, No More Faith

Many times Andy, our music leader, will share a thought about a hymn or scripture on Sunday mornings.  His words are always insightful, directing us toward worship.  This week, those words stuck in my brain. He said, "When we get to heaven, there will be no more hope, and no more faith...because all will be fulfilled in Christ.  The object of our hope and faith will be with us. All will have come to fruition." 

This sentiment comforted me. The faith I cling to in life's valleys will be no longer needed.  My hope that is sometimes misplaced will stand before my eyes in full splendor and glory. 

My hope fulfilled, my faith forever secured.  

My praise and worship followed.