Walking in Thanksgiving

As we embrace the season of Thanksgiving, I wanted to share a beautiful devotion by Spurgeon. I love when he says "mercy abides forever."

This week I am purposefully immersing myself in all the Psalms of praise and thanksgiving. He is so very very worthy and because of Christ alone we are transformed!  

Walking in Thanksgiving,

Leeanne

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Thanksgiving with Spurgeon

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Psalm 107:1

It is all we can give him, and the least we can give; therefore let us diligently render to him our thanksgiving. The psalmist is in earnest in the exhortation, hence the use of the interjection “O,” to intensify his words: let us be at all times thoroughly fervent in the praises of the Lord, both with our lips and with our lives, by thanksgiving and thanks living. Jehovah, for that is the name here used, is not to be worshipped with groans and cries, but with thanks, for he is good; and these thanks should be heartily rendered, for his is no common goodness: he is good by nature, and essence, and proven to be good in all the acts of his eternity.

Compared with him there is none good, no, not one: but he is essentially, perpetually, superlatively, infinitely good. We are the perpetual partakers of his goodness, and therefore ought above all his creatures to magnify his name. Our praise should be increased by the fact that the divine goodness is not a transient thing, but in the attribute of mercy abides for ever the same, for his mercy endureth for ever. The word endureth has been properly supplied by the translators, but yet it somewhat restricts the sense, which will be better seen if we read it, “for his mercy forever.” That mercy had no beginning, and shall never know an end. Our sin required that goodness should display itself to us in the form of mercy, and it has done so, and will do so evermore; let us not be slack in praising the goodness which thus adapts itself to our fallen nature.

—Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David 

Victory

As a Christian, there’s always that fine line of sheltering your children from the world and what it has to offer and exposing them to the world and giving them the tools and strategies to handle it and be an effective witness.  I teach at a very small school that my children attend.  It is a blessing in many ways.  They are getting a great education, there are many Christian families and other families who are just good people.  The Bible says to make disciples and go out into the world and share the love of Jesus.  It says, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”  (2 Corinthians 5:20) I want to teach my children to be His ambassadors.

Not too long ago, my middle child, who is in 1^st grade, came to me and was appalled by what she saw in a science book from her room.  It showed pictures of evolutionism.  From an early age, we (along with my neighbors) have taught my children that the Bible teaches that God created us.  We have read books to them, watched videos and given them all kinds of important facts to support this view.  My daughter was passionately explaining to me why this was false from the book and also shared the same to another student.  On the way home, I took the opportunity to tell her how proud I was of her sharing her beliefs as it is part of her.  I also told her that we can pray for those who do not believe this.  

However, once she has shared God’s Truth it is up to God to do the rest.  We cannot be disrespectful of other’s views and beliefs.  She understood.  She asked if she could bring her Bible to school and share from God’s Word why she believes God created man and woman. 

I was in awe that my little seven year old would be so bold and evangelistic.  I thought about how ignorant I was at that age.  This is important to her.  Her life’s path and choices will indeed be so different from mine in my childhood because she has Truth and wisdom. I was choked up and crying on the way home that day from school.  One of my kids noticed and said, “Mommy, what’s the matter, why are you crying?”  I simply replied that I was so proud of my children and Truth that they live by.  

Warmly,

Jill

The Birds and The Bees

  

It is inevitable that our children will learn about how babies are made and the intricacies of sex.  As a child, I vividly remember getting my sex education on the bus in 2^nd grade as I listened to the older kids.  I would not say it was healthy or an accurate depiction of the way God intended it to be.  I was well taken care of by my parents, but communicating these types of topics were ignored and uncomfortable.  I remember when I was fourteen and I got my period.  I told my mom while we were on our way to softball practice, she almost hit a tree on our street. 

I made a conscious decision that no matter how uncomfortable it was going to be, I wanted to be the one that gave my children God’s perspective on love, sex and baby making.  My oldest daughter has always been emotionally mature.  So, I knew the day would come sooner than later.  However, I did not expect it when she was seven.  She has always been inquisitive and whenever she asked questions that centered around babies and where they come from I told her that God gave us each one of our children out of love for each other.  That was enough until she started to put two and two together when one of our dogs got neutered.  How was it that he could no longer make babies? 

I took a deep breath and brought her into the guest bedroom at my parent’s house,  as we were visiting there over the summer.  I explained to her body parts, what they do and how a baby is conceived.  She asked questions like, “Do you and daddy still do it?”  I went on to explain that God intended it to be an act of love shared between a husband and wife, although some people in the world abuse it and do not do it out of love.  I told her  that daddy and I did because we loved each other.  She asked some other mature questions and it turned out to be a great conversation.  Until…my mom and I were putting all three kids to bed that night and my daughter looked at my mom and said, “Do you and Papa still do it?”  I fell on the ground laughing and I think my mom was speechless.  So I quickly recued her and said, “Remember I told you it was an act of love.  Nana and Papa still love each other.” 

It made a great story to tell and laugh about.  I am grateful that God was preparing my heart to share this with her.  My other two children are not quite old enough and emotionally mature enough to handle that conversation.  But, I’m ready when they are. 

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”  Genesis 2:24

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”  Hebrews 13:4

Warmly,

Jill

Intimate Theology - John 11:26

I absolutely love Oswald Chambers. He is so deep theologically but gives you such a personal view of Christ. I love in his devotional yesterday when he said, "And I am staggered when I think how foolish I have been in not trusting Him earlier."  Such a great question to really mediate on. How many times do I look back on times in my life and recall that same feeling. "If only I would have trusted Him deeper, richer, sooner, longer, completely, etc."

What is your source of unbelief today?  Is it time to be staggered by the Lord's faithfulness? 

Walking in Faith,
Leeanne

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Intimate Theology

Do you believe this? —John 11:26

Martha believed in the power available to Jesus Christ; she believed that if He had been there He could have healed her brother; she also believed that Jesus had a special intimacy with God, and that whatever He asked of God, God would do. But— she needed a closer personal intimacy with Jesus. Martha’s theology had its fulfillment in the future. But Jesus continued to attract and draw her in until her belief became an intimate possession. It then slowly emerged into a personal inheritance— “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ . . .” (John 11:27).

Is the Lord dealing with you in the same way? Is Jesus teaching you to have a personal intimacy with Himself? Allow Him to drive His question home to you— “Do you believe this?” Are you facing an area of doubt in your life? Have you come, like Martha, to a crossroads of overwhelming circumstances where your theology is about to become a very personal belief? This happens only when a personal problem brings the awareness of our personal need.

To believe is to commit. In the area of intellectual learning I commit myself mentally, and reject anything not related to that belief. In the realm of personal belief I commit myself morally to my convictions and refuse to compromise. But in intimate personal belief I commit myself spiritually to Jesus Christ and make a determination to be dominated by Him alone.

Then, when I stand face to face with Jesus Christ and He says to me, “Do you believe this?” I find that faith is as natural as breathing. And I am staggered when I think how foolish I have been in not trusting Him earlier.

The Last Decade

Ten years ago this November started the whirlwind of growing our newfound Savoye family.  After getting pregnant at three months into marriage, I spent the first five years of our marriage either pregnant or nursing.  It was a tremendously difficult year after the birth of my third child.  He was born with severe asthma, had acid reflux and food allergies (unbeknownst to me at the time).  He was constantly in pain.  I was literally nursing him every 1 ½ hours around the clock to assuage his pain and comfort him.  I was stubborn and did not want to give up the benefits of nursing. 

When he was two months old, I nearly had a nervous breakdown from sleep deprivation.  It took another eight to ten months until I was able to sleep through the night and be less anxiety-ridden.  Since then, I have had one health issue after another and have been diagnosed and misdiagnosed multiple times.  I was beyond fatigued, felt sick (flu-like) all the time, was losing my hair, had dangerously low blood pressure, experienced low body temperature and had developed severe food allergies along with brown spots all over my face.  I jokingly told my husband that Obama passed a new law that he could trade me in at ten years without any penalty. 

I could write pages and pages of all the trials that we faced as a family because of my poor health.  I refuse to focus on the hardships right now and I tried not to center on them during that long season.  There were plenty of times where I did have pity parties and wondered if God was going to rescue me on this side of Heaven.  I knew that I wasn’t right and something was severely wrong.  From the outside, it looked like I was having bouts of laziness, was extremely moody, depressed and being mellow-dramatic.  But I knew in my heart that I still had joy, was not depressed and could not just “muster up the energy” to push myself further.  I spent many days and nights crying out to the Lord for help.  My family grew in their independence as they could not rely on me when I had weeks of feeling sick at a time.

This past August I was diagnosed with Addison’s disease.  All of my ailments fit the description perfectly.  I went on medication that I will most likely be on the rest of my life, unless God chooses to completely heal me.  I feel normal again!  I have normal energy, normal moods, my food allergies are starting to heal and even the brown spots on my face are dissipating. 

Over five years of suffering, God has taught me a lot.  He has given me compassion for those who suffer with chronic fatigue or another disease.  He has given me an unbelievable respect for my husband and what he has had to endure as we raise three children together.  He has shown me that nothing is impossible with Him.  He has shown me that I do have limits and need to be wise with how I spend and conserve my energy.  He has taught me how to eat healthy and feed my family in healthier ways.  He has taught me how to rely on Him more.  Even in the midst of a really long illness, He was my ever-present help.  He continues to teach me and reveal to me all the amazing life-lessons that I would not have learned without being sick. 

“…but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Romans 5:3-4

Warmly,

Jill