God's Silence

From My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers:

When He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was —John 11:6

Has God trusted you with His silence— a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible— with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him— He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes. The actual evidence of the answer in time is simply a matter of God’s sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while you may have said, “I asked God to give me bread, but He gave me a stone instead” (see Matthew 7:9). He did not give you a stone, and today you find that He gave you the “bread of life” (John 6:35).

A wonderful thing about God’s silence is that His stillness is contagious— it gets into you, causing you to become perfectly confident so that you can honestly say, “I know that God has heard me.” His silence is the very proof that He has. As long as you have the idea that God will always bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of His silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy— silence.

I loved this and thought it was totally worth sharing!

Boy or Girl?

Daddy Zach--Who would have thought Zach would be a daddy way back then?

Will we have a little boy or girl?  Zach & Shanna find out tomorrow!  I hadn't even considered we might have a little redhead until Shanna's sister, Angela, had a baby this past week.  And her little Atlynn is redheaded.  That made me pretty excited when I found out Atlynn has red hair!  Zach & Shanna have a double opportunity for redheadedness.  Both of their mothers have/had (as in me) red hair--as does Zach.  We come from a long line of Irish redheads.  I have now become my grandmother.  With every grandbaby (and she had 33!), she'd look at it and say, "I think he/she is going to have red hair!"  Whether this baby is a boy or girl...or whether it has red hair or no hair (sorry, Shanna--I hope your genes are stronger!  We have a tendency towards bald babies!!)...it's gonna be FUN!  I can't wait to find out if it's Claire or Dax.

The Restrainers

Sunday, we were reading in Exodus about that golden calf that just jumped out of the fire.  Carl Duso talked about the point when Moses drew a line in the sand (quite literally) and told the people that those who were on the Lord's side were to come to him.  And the Levites rallied to him.  Carl asked the question (that I hadn't really considered before), "Where were the Levites when Aaron was making that golden calf?  Why were they not restraining him from sin?"  Did you realize Moses was only on that mountain 40 days and nights?  That's how long it took the Israelites to spiral out of control.  40 days.  40 nights.

Anyone could have been the restrainer.  Aaron.  Nadab.  Abihu.  The Levites.  The judges.  The men.  The women.  Anyone.  Instead, no one said anything.  Either they agreed that a golden calf was a good idea or they went and hid their heads in their tents hoping it would all go away.  And yet...they all paid for that sin!

What a lesson to me!  Am I being a restrainer from sin?  God told us to be salt and light.  Salt preserves and light exposes.  Christians are supposed to be The Restrainers.  Not obnoxiously, but humbly and by speaking the truth in love.  I think it's time to get our heads out of the tents.

The Faithfulness of God

Can you look back on this year and name some hard things you've walked through where you saw the faithfulness of God?  Just in this year?  I'll start:

• Locking Olivia in the van
• Andy's heart stent
• Everyone's air conditioners going out and thinking we had termites
• A very tough trip to China
• And recently, paying a $14,000 hospital bill and a $600/month RX bill

These were all difficult circumstances.  But the firemen helped us get Olivia out of the locked van--with a very calm Olivia the entire time.  Andy's surgery went perfectly and God provided financially.  We all survived living together (quite well, actually!) and everyone got air conditioners--eventually.  And no termites!  God used that trip to China to teach me much!  And amazingly, the hospital bill is paid!  And I know God is going to take care of that RX bill each month.

I'm so glad I blog (and journal).  It's great to be able to look back and see the FAITHFULNESS of GOD!

What has God done in your life this year?

The Silent Governess by Julie Klassen

This was my favorite book I took with me to read while at Red River---I was a reading fool!  This book was set in the 19th century in an English manor.  Actually, this isn't my favorite genre of Christian fiction.  But Julie Klassen held me captive from the beginning of this book.

Olivia Keene escapes her turbulent home and narrowly escapes assault by men in the forest as she runs.  She's focused on getting to a girls' school to apply for a position as teacher.  Instead, she ends up at a beautiful English manor where she overhears a secret.  The lord of the manor then attempts to control Olivia so that his secret isn't revealed.

There are so many layers to this book.  I was delighted (yes, delighted!) when Julie Klassen wove the beginning of the story into the end of the story.  I might have considered it a couple of times throughout the book, but it actually brought a smile to my face when it was unveiled.

I wholeheartedly endorse this book!  I give it 5 out of 5 stars!  You can become a book reviewer, too! 

Thank you to Bethany House Publishing Group for providing this book for review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Beguiled by Deeanne Gist

This is another book I took with me on my trip to Red River.  This was a book with filled with suspense.  And if you like a good mystery, you'll like this book.

Rylee Monroe is a girl living within modest means while she supports a grandmother in a nursing home.  Her grandmother is afflicted with alzheimers, but holds the key to so many things in Rylee's past.  And Rylee is a dog walker for the wealthy families of Charleston.  The only problem is that the people she works for are being terrorized with break-ins.  And as you can suspect, Rylee ends up in deep trouble.  There's a love interest in the form of a reporter thrown into the mix who begins to show Rylee the stick-to-it-iveness that she's not known in men.

The end of the book was a total surprise to me.  I never suspected the real perpetrator.  I can recommend this book to you---I think if you like a good mystery, you'll certainly enjoy this book!

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.  You can become a book reviewer, too!

Thank you to Bethany House Publishing Group for providing this book for review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Sixteen Brides by Stephanie Grace Whitson

This is one of the books I took with me to Red River to read on our trip.  It was a fun book to read.  Of course, I've always heard of Mail-Order Brides of the 1800's, but never stopped to consider there were men who totally took advantage of some of those women and their situations.

That's the premise of this book.  One swindler takes advantage of these women--mostly widows--promising them claims of land in the West but actually has plans to make money by bringing brides to men who've been in the West for some time.  I agree with my sister who read the same book in that it was hard to keep up with the 16 women, their names and their stories in the beginning, but it soon narrows down to focus on a handful of the women which makes the story move along better.  You wanted to cheer them on for their unity of spirit as they faced great odds in actually laying claim to the homesteads promised them.

I think Stephanie did a great job in telling a story I hadn't even considered before.  The characters she focused on were well-developed and she deals with issues common to women in the 1800's and now.  I recommend this book to you!

I give the book 4 out of 5 stars.  You can become a book reviewer, too!

Thank you to Bethany House Publishing Group for providing this book for review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.