Rebirth

I sit here in the sun on this beautiful Spring day. The air is crisp and fresh as it gently blows through my hair. This birds are chirping. The world is budding with new life. It is a rebirth. I think of Spring with all of the renewal of life. The flowers are budding as they start to break through the soil. Baby birds are hatching and entering the world for the first time. The grass is a rich green color as it sheds off the dead brown of winter slumber. I drink in all of the activity around me and I can't help but think of one word - hope. I feel excited as I think of the hope of what the coming months will bring. What experiences and new memories with I have with family and friends? How will the Lord use me and grow me for His purpose?

Our greatest hope is found in the ultimate rebirth - the rebirth of Jesus as He rose again from within His tomb. He rose again so that we could experience life and love in freedom through Him and His death. It is only because of His selfless sacrifice that we do not have to endure eternal death and separation from God. God knows that all of His children will sin at some point in their lives (except for Jesus, of course.) The Lord is perfect and just in all ways and can only accept sinless, perfect people. He therefore requires us to pay for our sins in the form of death. Jesus stepped up and offered Himself in our place so that we would not have to pay this deadly price for our sins. If we accept Jesus, believing that He died for us and rose again, we will experience eternity in heaven with Him. This is the only way to enter into heaven. In John 14:6-7, Jesus says “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will know^[a] my Father as well." The other thing that we are blessed with through Jesus' death and rebirth is the Holy Spirit. This Spirit lives within all believers and allows us to come to the Lord in prayer and worship whenever we want. The Holy Spirit allows us to have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. Through the Spirit, we can experience God and His love for us in ways that we never thought were possible.

Romans 8

Life Through the Spirit

 ¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you^[a] free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,^[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.^[c] And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

 ⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

 ⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life^[d] because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of^[e] his Spirit who lives in you.

 ¹² Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

 ¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^[f] And by him we cry, “Abba,^[g] Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. http://www.biblegateway.com/

Refining My Temple

The Lord has laid on my heart a new challenge. I feel strongly that God wants me to make my body a temple truly worthy of His presence. 1Corinthians 6: 19-20 says, "¹⁹ Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." I read these words and I realize that I am not completely honoring the Lord with my body. I do not exercise in any way, shape or form. As a matter of fact, I absolutely hate exercising. The thought of it makes me feel nauseated. But the Lord has given me a very strong feeling that to please Him, I must strengthen and exercise my body as well as my soul.

I started to feel God prompting me to exercise this weekend when we spent some time with my brother and his family. My brother is very physically fit. He exercises regularly and really watches what he eats. I admire him and his perseverance. He even participates in half-marathons and triathlons to raise money for cancer research. I have to admit that I feel like a total slob around him. Don't get me wrong, I am not by any means overweight. I still wear the same size clothing that I wore in high school. But I'm not at all in shape. Sometimes I get a bit winded if I run up our stairs too fast. And I have some flab now that I never had before.

Now listen to this story. I decided that I needed some new athletic shoes because I have had mine for almost 3 years now and they are really starting to hurt my feet. So while we were in Columbus visiting my brother, I looked for shoes. I had narrowed my shoe selection down to two: moderately expensive and really expensive. The sales associate brought the selections in my size. As I was trying on the first pair, he asked me, "Do you want these shoes to workout in?" I just looked at him, dumbfounded. I really didn't know what to say. Well, my husband took my awkward silence as a clue for him to speak for me. "She just wants them to be lazy in." he said. I was embarrassed and horrified! I couldn't believe that those words just came out of my husband's mouth! (I mean, they were true since I don't ever exercise, but really?) The salesman just looked at me and said, "OK. I've never had a pair of lazy shoes before." I wanted to crawl under the bench on which I was sitting. Oh well, at least I will most likely never see that man again in my life. This encounter only added to my sense of need to exercise.

I'm sure that this beautiful and unusually warm weather has also played a part in my overwhelming desire to become physically fit (as well as my realization that I may have to wear a swimsuit in the very near future.) This morning I donned my brand new pair of athletic shoes and listened to my worship playlist as I jogged for thirty minutes. (OK, I walked some.) My new shoes had so much support that I felt as if I was running on a cloud. The sun shone brightly on me and the air smelled fresh and new. I actually enjoyed it! I had to stop mid-jog to check on the cows (Ryan's 4-H projects.) I labored over carrying buckets of water to them (which they drank none of!) As I was filling the bucket with water, I was sure that I could hear a faint rustling sound in the little water shed that I was standing by. I convinced myself that the rustling sound was a rat or mouse that would soon leap out to bite me. Thankfully, that didn't happen. As I bent over to transfer the water from the bucket to the water pan, Rascal the steer tried to eat a portion of my hair. Yuck! As I grabbed the feed pans from their pen, I got a questionable brown substance on my hands. The smell test confirmed that yes, it was poop. Ugghh! Anyway, I continued with the rest of my run. I have washed my hands three times now and they still smell like poop.

So, my plan right now is to try to do cardio exercise 90 minutes a week and resistance training for at least 45 minutes a week. We will see how it goes. I feel good to at least have a clear new plan. I"m so glad that God helps us through every trial because I certainly cannot do this without Him. These are the words the Lord gave me this morning:

You are right, my child, to honor Me with your body - with what you put into your body as well as what comes out. You know what foods are good and wholesome to nourish and strengthen your body. You also know that you must honor Me with the words that come out of your mouth. You must speak only words that are pleasing to Me that can be used to build others up. Do not judge or criticize others or you, too will be judged and criticized by Me. Exercise you body, mind and spirit, for what is one without the other? Continue to draw close to Me spiritually as you start this journey to strengthen your body, for you must seek Me in every venture.

Romans 12:1
 ¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Well, I have to go now. I obviously need to shower. I put this challenge out there for you as well. Who will join me in this challenge to refine our earthly temples?

Cabled Hat

This is my latest knitting project. It was super easy and only took me one week to knit. I wish I would have used the next size up for the needles to make it a bit slouchier but I'm still pleased with the way it turned out. The pattern was very easy to follow and can of course be found on http://www.ravelry.com/. Here is the link to my cabled hat on ravelry if you want more details:  www.ravelry.com/projects/Maybabie/truly-purple

A Funny Story

Please let me share with you this funny story. Last week my family and I went to an indoor water park. It was fun but exhausting. We climbed countless stairs and waited for what seemed like an eternity in line to thrill ourselves with an array of daring wet adventures. On the second day of our trip, we needed a little break. Mike (my husband) rested in the room while Ryan (my son) and I went to the large arcade in the basement of the resort. I don't know how many of you have been to an arcade recently but lets just say that things have changed. No longer are tokens or coins needed to play. Now you have to purchase a game card by loading your bills into an automated machine. The third machine we tried finally accepted our five dollar bill. We had our card and were ready to take on the arcade. Ryan wanted to play a nascar racing game so I swiped the card, put it in my pocket and watched him attempt to defeat Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordan. Two minutes later, we were in search of a new game to play. We found one and I swiped the card. "Card error. Reswipe opposite direction." flashed on the screen. I tried swiping several more times and got the same message. "Well, this game must be broken." I told Ryan. We tried two more games after that. We got the same message. I looked around the arcade. Several other people were playing games with no apparent difficulty. I was starting to feel a little out of my element. What did these people know that I didn't? I didn't have the nerve to ask one of them. I admit that I was getting a little frustrated at this point. I mean really, we paid five dollars for this card and it only worked on one game? I didn't understand. It worked on the first game, why wasn't it working on any of these other games? Well, I finally got up the nerve to go up to the counter where you redeem your tickets for a variety of amazing prizes. (Are you sensing my sarcasm?) "This card will not work on any of the games we swipe!" I said to the girl standing behind the counter. I described in detail what had happened every time we had swiped the card. I even told her that it had worked on the first game we played and that I didn't understand why it wasn't working now. She listened to me patiently as I described my frustrations. When I was finally finished she said, "Ma am, that's your room key."

Oh well, at least I can look back on that story and laugh. Trust me, I do things like this frequently. :)

Beautiful Snowflake

The closer I draw to the Lord, the more I see His amazing work in my life. He is all around me, in every detail of my life. I see Him in the people, situations and single moments in my life. I"m not sure why I didn't notice the magnitude of His work in my life before. I'm certain that He has always been at work around me. Perhaps I have been motivated by my own selfish desires and too wrapped up in my own agenda to notice Him. The more I seek Him, the more I see Him all around me. To be completely honest, He absolutely astonishes me with His goodness and blessings. I see things now that I never noticed before. I would love to share some of these things with you.

A few weeks ago I met a woman that is truly a servant of God. Lets call her Beth. Beth was a complete stranger when the Lord crossed her path with mine for a brief moment. She has been caring for her disabled teenage son for all of his life. Her son is unable to walk. Beth provides all of his care, including lifting him regularly by herself. She also takes care of her 90 year old grandmother. Beth's grandmother has an arm fracture and is also unable to walk. Beth provides all of her grandmother's care, including lifting her regularly by herself. I could see that Beth was overwhelmed with her responsibilities so I discussed with Beth the possibility of placing her grandmother in an extended care facility. Beth said that she would never let that happen. She said that her grandmother raised her because her alcoholic, drug-addicted mother left her and her father when she was an infant. Beth said that she knows that God will help her care for her family. I admire Beth and her selflessness. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it must be for her to care for her family daily. I'm sure she must make regular sacrifices to provide for them in this way. As I reflect on Beth, I know that I probably wouldn't have given her another thought if not for God's prompting. I find that Beth is frequently on my mind and I pray for her and her family often. I feel like I can see God's good in people now. I was once judgemental and critical of others.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahpurpleface/4200116600/lightbox/



This weekend we went to the grocery store. I know that this doesn't sound very profound. As we were walking through the parking lot, we couldn't help but notice the huge, fluffy clumps of snow falling from the sky. We have had very little snow so far this winter so we marveled at the beauty of the snowfall. My son and I stopped to catch some of the falling snow on our coat sleeves. As we looked at the clumps of snow, we noticed that each clump was made up of several intricately-detailed snowflakes stuck together. Each snowflake was beautiful but different from the other. I couldn't help but wonder how anyone could look at a snowflake and not know for sure that there is an Awesome Creator. The amazing detail of each snowflake is certainly not something that can happen by chance. Isn't God cool that He makes these beautiful little masterpieces fall all around us every time that it snows? And then I thought about how small each individual flake is and how many, many flakes clumped together can create a complete transformation of the world around us. I compared it to each one of God's children. He makes us all beautiful in our own way. However, we can still feel small and insignificant in this vast and sometimes brutal world around us. When we join in His name with His other servants to become His body of Christ, we can accomplish things that would be otherwise insurmountable.

Yesterday I cleaned the house. I hate cleaning the house. Besides having dental work or a medical procedure, cleaning the house is my least favorite thing to do. Well, anyway, I cleaned the house because it really needed to be done. I decided to listen to my Ipod to make the experience more pleasant. I knew that my Ipod wasn't completely charged. When I turned it on, I noticed that it had slightly less than half of the battery. I started playing my "worship songs" playlist and went about the business of cleaning, expecting my Ipod to die within about an hour. Roughly an hour later, I barely heard the phone ringing. I stopped the music and answered the phone. When I hung up, I looked at my Ipod again. The battery bar was red now and showed pretty much no battery left. Well, I decided to keep listening to my worship music since it hadn't died yet. Our cat followed me around the house and looked at me like I was a freak as I belted out all of my favorite worship songs. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I cleaned at least another two and a half hours and my Ipod never died. Such a God thing. :)

As I was dusting the shelves in our living room, I noticed the two small wooden shoes that my grandparents had carved several years ago. I have dusted the same shoes many times before. As I was listening to my worship music and praising God while I cleaned, a new thought popped into my mind. I thought about the tiny wooden shoes and how we obtained them. I remembered that it was back when I was a freshman in high school and I was dating my husband. I took him to our family Christmas at my grandparents' house. My grandmother was a kind and loving woman that would never want anyone to feel uncomfortable or unloved. My husband (boyfriend at the time) was very surprised when he was presented with the small gift to open. My grandmother had given him the small wooden shoe that my grandfather had carved and she had stained. Not more than a month later, Mike and I broke up. I never really thought about the shoe after that. We of course got back together (two years later). Just a few months after Christmas, my grandmother was diagnosed with metastatic cancer. She died that spring. I still miss her so much even now. I had a very close, special relationship with her and my grandfather. When she died, our family fell apart. She was that special ingredient, the glue that held everything together. As I held the shoes I thought about how she is still so much a part of me today. I wouldn't be who I am now without her and the experiences we shared. Then I wondered when I got the other shoe. I thought I could remember getting it as a birthday present when I was a child. My grandparents always gave us hand-carved pieces as gifts. How awesome to now have these two shoes together as a pair, one appropriately smaller and than the other. They remind me of my husband and I being a pair and walking through life together. I am thankful that the Lord brought these things to my mind again. How awesome He is that He brought these two shoes back together. He knew those many years ago that they would be a pair someday. He also knew how special it would be that my grandmother was such a big part of that story.

I attribute my new found spiritual clarity to being closer to God. He is making me more like Him and therefore I can see Him all around me with renewed clarity. The following scripture says it better than I ever could.

1 Corinthians 2:6-16

God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit

 ⁶ We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷ No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ However, as it is written:

   “What no eye has seen,
   what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”^[a]—
   the things God has prepared for those who love him—

 ¹⁰ these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

   The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³ This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.^{[b] 14} The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. ¹⁵ The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, ¹⁶ for,

   “Who has known the mind of the Lord
   so as to instruct him?”^[c]
   But we have the mind of Christ.

As I was working on this post, which I had already entitled "Beautiful Snowflake," I opened my Dove chocolate to the following message:


another God thing!

 http://www.biblegateway.com/

Cozy Cable Mittens

Here is my latest finished project. They are indeed very cozy. It is also another free pattern from http://www.ravelry.com/. Anyone who loves to knit or crochet should definitely check out ravelry. It has tons of patterns for every future project you could ever imagine. Many of the patterns are free but some aren't. If anyone is interested, here is the link to this project:  www.ravelry.com/projects/Maybabie/cozy-cabled-mittens  :)