This is short, meant to provoke thought, contemplation and meditation...
Proverbs 31 describes the virtuous woman, the best of best of wives.
Traditionally this scripture is applied to women in the church; an example of how the Christian wife should be and what her traits are. And I most definitely agree with that.
However, as with most things in the Word, there are multiple applications of the scriptures.
So what if we apply this chapter to the Bride of Christ? She is a wife. Her husband sits at the gate; He is the shepherd that is the door to the sheep.
On a spiritual level, can you apply these verses to yourself? Does your character align with what the Bride of Christ should look like? Can your husband trust you? Do you do Jesus good and not evil all the days of your life?
This is a lot to think about...
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Persistence Is...
My daughter is 5 1/2 weeks old. She loves to be held and cuddled and put to sleep in anyone's arms. She's an absolute sweetheart...
Problem: She hates (or hated) sleeping on her own and couldn't get herself to sleep unless she was rocked. Solution: I found a fabulous book called "The Sleep Sense Program". It's written by a lady who's a specialist in infant sleep and has three kids of her own that she's used her methods with. Fabulous!! Now, I can get my little angel to sleep on her own.
2nd Problem: This is tough work!! We are three days into our new sleep routine and sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn't.
Solution: Persistence. The premise behind this whole program is that babies and young children thrive on routine. So, we now have a sleepy time routine that we do every night, bar none: Bathtime, nursing, and a story. Then it's sleepytime. Here's how it goes: You lay the infant in her crib drowsy but awake. The goal is to get her to put herself to sleep. If she fusses, let her fuss, but if she starts crying, pick her up, get her settled and then put her right back down. (Infants under three months of age should NOT be left to "cry it out".) So the first day, we used this method starting with naptime during the morning. Seven trips out of the crib and 40 minutes later, she was sound asleep and slept for 3 hours!! Two more successful naptimes ensued that day. That night, she slept on her own in her crib from 1045-230, then we nursed and we fell asleep in my bed. That's supposed to be a no-no, but that's what happened!!
Yesterday, her first morning naptime, we only had two trips out of the crib and she was zonked. Then we had an outing, she fell asleep in my arms, but she slept, and then we came home and for our afternoon nap, mommy held her because we had company. Big mistake. When our early evening naptime came, she never settled to sleep and when we started our sleepy-time routine, she was exhausted- OVERLY so. I never knew infants should only be awake for about one hour at a time... if they start yawning or rubbing their eyes, they should have been put to bed already. Anyway, by the time 1045 hit last night and she was still awake and so upset because by now she had been up since 430 in the afternoon, mommy gave up. She went to sleep in my arms and slept beside on me in my bed. BUT, we haven't given up!! We're now in our second successful nap of the day in which she got herself to sleep.
This is hard work!! Mommy's exhausted, BUT baby is learning to sleep on her own and that's a gift that I am happy to give her. Even if my ear drums are blown out from settling her cries so much!!
Problem: She hates (or hated) sleeping on her own and couldn't get herself to sleep unless she was rocked. Solution: I found a fabulous book called "The Sleep Sense Program". It's written by a lady who's a specialist in infant sleep and has three kids of her own that she's used her methods with. Fabulous!! Now, I can get my little angel to sleep on her own.
2nd Problem: This is tough work!! We are three days into our new sleep routine and sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn't.
Solution: Persistence. The premise behind this whole program is that babies and young children thrive on routine. So, we now have a sleepy time routine that we do every night, bar none: Bathtime, nursing, and a story. Then it's sleepytime. Here's how it goes: You lay the infant in her crib drowsy but awake. The goal is to get her to put herself to sleep. If she fusses, let her fuss, but if she starts crying, pick her up, get her settled and then put her right back down. (Infants under three months of age should NOT be left to "cry it out".) So the first day, we used this method starting with naptime during the morning. Seven trips out of the crib and 40 minutes later, she was sound asleep and slept for 3 hours!! Two more successful naptimes ensued that day. That night, she slept on her own in her crib from 1045-230, then we nursed and we fell asleep in my bed. That's supposed to be a no-no, but that's what happened!!
Yesterday, her first morning naptime, we only had two trips out of the crib and she was zonked. Then we had an outing, she fell asleep in my arms, but she slept, and then we came home and for our afternoon nap, mommy held her because we had company. Big mistake. When our early evening naptime came, she never settled to sleep and when we started our sleepy-time routine, she was exhausted- OVERLY so. I never knew infants should only be awake for about one hour at a time... if they start yawning or rubbing their eyes, they should have been put to bed already. Anyway, by the time 1045 hit last night and she was still awake and so upset because by now she had been up since 430 in the afternoon, mommy gave up. She went to sleep in my arms and slept beside on me in my bed. BUT, we haven't given up!! We're now in our second successful nap of the day in which she got herself to sleep.
This is hard work!! Mommy's exhausted, BUT baby is learning to sleep on her own and that's a gift that I am happy to give her. Even if my ear drums are blown out from settling her cries so much!!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Isaiah 63
I've been reading in Isaiah 63 this morning, well afternoon now.
This is a chapter filled with passion and zeal of the Lord. As the chapter progresses you see Isaiah speaking with the Lord. And then you see Isaiah crying out to the Lord to return to the place of His holy habitation. The NLT speaks it so well:
15 LORD, look down from heaven and see us from your holy, glorious home. Where is the passion and the might you used to show on our behalf? Where are your mercy and compassion now? 16 Surely you are still our Father! Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us, LORD, you would still be our Father. You are our Redeemer from ages past. 17 LORD, why have you allowed us to turn from your path? Why have you given us stubborn hearts so we no longer fear you? Return and help us, for we are your servants and your special possession. 18 How briefly your holy people possessed the holy place, and now our enemies have destroyed it. 19 LORD, why do you treat us as though we never belonged to you? Why do you act as though we had never been known as your people?
Isaiah's words continue straight into chapter 64:
Isaiah 64:1-12 Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence! 2 As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame! 3 When you came down long ago, you did awesome things beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! 4 For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! 5 You welcome those who cheerfully do good, who follow godly ways. But we are not godly. We are constant sinners, so your anger is heavy on us. How can people like us be saved? 6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall. And our sins, like the wind, sweep us away. 7 Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. 8 And yet, LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We are all formed by your hand. 9 Oh, don't be so angry with us, LORD. Please don't remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people. 10 Your holy cities are destroyed; even Jerusalem is a desolate wilderness. 11 The holy, beautiful Temple where our ancestors praised you has been burned down, and all the things of beauty are destroyed. 12 After all this, LORD, must you still refuse to help us? Will you continue to be silent and punish us?
I feel that this is the Lord's cry today and not just for today... that we would cry out to Him and ask for His mercy. That He would be our Father, truly! The next move of the Lord, the one that is gathering like a storm, is the heart of the Father coming forth in the earth. The movement we've been in has been focused on Jesus, and rightly so!! Jesus is the Way to the Father. We have to know Him in His sufferings, in His death and His resurrection. But it doesn't stop there! We must keep going and pressing forward to what's next? The Father, His heart, His life. Cry out to the Lord!! Have mercy on me, Lord! Cleanse my heart and my mind, the deepest places within me. I want to go forwards, deeper into the heart of the Father. I want to know the Father! Like Isaiah said: Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence!
This is a chapter filled with passion and zeal of the Lord. As the chapter progresses you see Isaiah speaking with the Lord. And then you see Isaiah crying out to the Lord to return to the place of His holy habitation. The NLT speaks it so well:
15 LORD, look down from heaven and see us from your holy, glorious home. Where is the passion and the might you used to show on our behalf? Where are your mercy and compassion now? 16 Surely you are still our Father! Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us, LORD, you would still be our Father. You are our Redeemer from ages past. 17 LORD, why have you allowed us to turn from your path? Why have you given us stubborn hearts so we no longer fear you? Return and help us, for we are your servants and your special possession. 18 How briefly your holy people possessed the holy place, and now our enemies have destroyed it. 19 LORD, why do you treat us as though we never belonged to you? Why do you act as though we had never been known as your people?
Isaiah's words continue straight into chapter 64:
Isaiah 64:1-12 Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence! 2 As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame! 3 When you came down long ago, you did awesome things beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! 4 For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! 5 You welcome those who cheerfully do good, who follow godly ways. But we are not godly. We are constant sinners, so your anger is heavy on us. How can people like us be saved? 6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall. And our sins, like the wind, sweep us away. 7 Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. 8 And yet, LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We are all formed by your hand. 9 Oh, don't be so angry with us, LORD. Please don't remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people. 10 Your holy cities are destroyed; even Jerusalem is a desolate wilderness. 11 The holy, beautiful Temple where our ancestors praised you has been burned down, and all the things of beauty are destroyed. 12 After all this, LORD, must you still refuse to help us? Will you continue to be silent and punish us?
I feel that this is the Lord's cry today and not just for today... that we would cry out to Him and ask for His mercy. That He would be our Father, truly! The next move of the Lord, the one that is gathering like a storm, is the heart of the Father coming forth in the earth. The movement we've been in has been focused on Jesus, and rightly so!! Jesus is the Way to the Father. We have to know Him in His sufferings, in His death and His resurrection. But it doesn't stop there! We must keep going and pressing forward to what's next? The Father, His heart, His life. Cry out to the Lord!! Have mercy on me, Lord! Cleanse my heart and my mind, the deepest places within me. I want to go forwards, deeper into the heart of the Father. I want to know the Father! Like Isaiah said: Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence!
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