David Brainerd

Every now and again I've picked up a book I ordered not long ago, "The Life and Diary of David Brainerd" - with comments from Jonathan Edwards. This man was a missionary to native Americans in the mid 18th century. To read more about who he was you can go here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brainerd . If you've listened to Leonard Ravenhill for any period of time you've heard him talk about David Brainerd and his life of prayer. It's amazing to read how with each day he grows closer to the Lord. He often states that he drew nearer in prayer or worship that day than ever before in his life. I want to share some excerpts of his writings with y'all.. This echoes the cry of my own heart.

Oh, that God would humble me deeply in the dust before Him! I deserve hell every day for not loving my Lord more, who has, I trust, loved me and given Himself for me. Every time I am enabled to excercise any grace renewedly, I am renewedly indebted to the God of all grace for special assistance. Where then is boasting? Surely it is excluded when we think how we are dependent on God for the being and every act of grace. Oh, if I ever get to heaven it will be because God wills, and nothing else; for I never did anything of myself but get away from God! My soul will be astonished at the unsearchable riches of divine grace when I arrive at the mansions, which the blessed Saviour is gone before to prepare. (I pray that God would grant us to tap into those unsearchable riches of divine grace, so that we may live in holiness unto Him!)

Oh my blessed God! Let me climb up near to Him, and love, and long, and plead, and wrestle, and stretch after Him, and for deliverance from the body of sin and death. Alas! my soul mourned to think I should ever lose sight of its Beloved again. "O come, Lord Jesus, amen."

... In the afternoon God was with me of a truth. Oh, it was blessed company indeed! God enabled me so to agonize in prayer that I was quite wet with perspiration, though in the shade and cool wind. My soul was drawn out very much for the world, for multitudes of souls... I enjoyed great sweetness in communion with my dear Saviour. I think I never in my life felt such an entire weanedness from this world and so much resigned to God in everything. O, that I may always live to and upon my blessed God! Amen, amen.

Ramblings

It's 3:30 in the morning. I basically had the day off today. And I'm here now because I ate too many chocolate covered espresso beans tonight. But I just want to say - there are many things that God is stirring inside of me right now. Many things that He's just beginning to reveal, and I don't have a "conclusion" to any of it yet. He's challenging me, showing me new areas where there is yet more "religion" ingrained into my thinking, into my acting, into my praying. I'm left to cry out to Him desperately, Help my unbelief!!!

Connecting with friends has been a little difficult lately, understandably so. Everyone is going through hard things right now. Stressfull things. I'm praying for you all right now. I can't get away from praying for you. I was listening to "Silent Night" in Gaelic today and suddenly found myself unconciously singing prayers...

Let us not forget in our prayers to pray for "The Remnant". And there is one. What a blessing to find that "we aren't the only ones"....

I have some Christmas pictures to post soon, but presently God is changing the way that I think about Christmas, so perhaps I can write about that when I put up the pictures...

My Birthday

My birthday was over 19 minutes ago, and I just wanted to say a thank you to all of you who made it so special. I feel very loved. Thank you so much!!

I have to publicly say that I have one of the most thoughtful, sweetest sisters IN THE WORLD! She spent hours on my gift to make it special for me (a recipe book with all of my favorite recipes in it and categorized appropriately). I LOVE YOU!

And to my Mommy and Poppie who bought me a scrumptious dinner. And my momma is making me my gorgeous apron, that I love already!

I'm so glad God gave me friends like y'all!

The Midnight Mischief Eggstravaganza

It was a dark and stormy night... Three young adventurers were preparing for their next quest. The quest for the ultimate practical joke that will stamp itself on Thanksgiving memories for years to come. The smell of death loomed near in the form of a blonde wagging tail. But these adventursome girls were not going into the night unarmed. Their arsenal consisted of 6 perloined campaign signs, 1 large TurDanny banner, and 1,152 pastel plastic missles that were destined to make thier way to pines of Shady Allen Grove. They pressed past the fog of horrible scent to the safety of the vehicle and departed.

The roads were slick as they drove through the mist to their dark destination. The time was well past midnight and all in the house was still. As silently as they could the girls retrieved their supplies and began the attack. They charged headlong into their task by forming a line of missles across the middle of the yard. From there they began to scatter them further and further, encroaching on the very edge of enemy lines. In the beginning it didn't look as though they had enough ammunition to make much of an effect, but as they persevered they discovered that there was indeed sufficient supply!

Before they knew it their mission was complete. The three young adventurers smiled slyly and crept away just as their presence was alerted by the fierce night watchmen who was caged nearby. Yet another successful endeavor that will go down in the records of prank history as "The Day the Turkey Came".

(See Jordan and Hollys' blogs for further pictures)

Giving Thanks

Every year around this time my extended family typically gathers for a family reunion, whether small or large. Some years we had to rent out an 8 bedroom cabin to fit everyone (and people still slept on couches and in campers), and some years it's just a matter of someone giving up a bed to fit the one family who's visiting. Sadly this year everyone will be sleeping in their own bed at their own homes. So instead of being surrounded by family members we will be surrounded by the memories of holidays gone by.

My mother has graciously relinquished her position as head cook this year with the understanding that none of her recipes be altered. As much as I like to "tweak" things I couldn't dream of altering a Thanksgiving recipe. It wouldn't be the same without those familiar flavors. Tradition has become one of the most comforting things to me about the holidays. Those of you who know Poppie can easily see him praying a sermon over the meal every year. If he didn't do it I think I'd feel like it wasn't Thanksgiving.

This year we'll be celebrating the Harvest with a couple of ladies from our home church and a Nigerian student from LSU. Our house definitely will not be void of love and laughter. Though I can't help but miss all those who are not with us this season, some more than others. My eyes filled with tears this morning while listening to one of those "Home for the Holidays" songs. It's a beautiful, idealistic but unrealistic thought. I comfort myself as Paul did when he said that he was present with the churches in spirit, though not in body. Those parts of our body who are apart from us will not leave our hearts and minds during this time. Every time we remember them we will give abundant thanks, just as Paul did for each of the churches. They most certainly will not be forgotten.

I love you all! Don't forget to stop for just a moment to thank God most importantly for His mercy in saving you! Happy Thanksgiving!

First Frost

I am aware that I have not posted anything of substance lately, and for this I do apologize. I haven't felt particularly inspired, but I promise I will - soon! The Shooks gave me a CD with some awesome scripture centered songs on it and I'm going to post about it soon. (Hmmm.. I like this font much better 2 sizes smaller.)

If you are fortunate enough to live in semi-rural South Louisiana then you know we experienced our first real, true frost of the "winter" this morning. The kind that coats my car in a thin layer of ice. As usual, I dumped half a glass of tap water on my front and back windshields this morning to melt it but found it made it worse! My back defroster was working quite nicely until I doused it. The added water only created a thicker layer of ice that the defroster struggled to melt.

But despite my lack of rear vision I thoroughly enjoyed my drive out of the country this morning. As I drove onto Blackwater Road the sun was just peeking over the trees turning open land into a world of sparkling white. It's the closest thing to snow that we get here, without all the hassle of shoveling. You could tell no one was prepared for the frigid temperatures this morning just by looking at the rooflines. Every roof was entirely covered in frost. When the interior is heated the roofs are framed by an edge of white. We have yet to light our heater yet and probably won't for another month, if I know my father. The house will be warmed with humidity - a large pot of water left to boil gently through the night. I plan on adding different fragrant oils to it this year to give the house a more festive scent.

I almost can't wait until artificial scent is no longer necessary due to the fresh pine filling the living room. I can hardly believe that in only a weeks time Christmas will be out in full swing! But first I get to savor the traditions of Thanksgiving and the memories that surround it. Sadly this year, memories will be all that's surrounding us as none of our family will be visiting this year. I'll be posting more on that as the day approaches.

MMmmmmmm... The holidays put me in the best mood.
(I plan to add a photo to this when I get home this afternoon. Somebody remind me to if I forget.)

Is That Really Necessary?

<rant start>
Jordan and I just had lunch downtown at Serops. We were in kinda a rush so much of our mealtime was spent silently chewing. A table or two away sat a chick in her early twenties leading a conversation with two other guys. As we ate I couldn't help but overhear parts of their conversation because she kept getting louder and louder! They went from religion, to politics, and finally ended with football, at which time she loudly expressed her disgust with the sport and the guys resigned themselves to disagree with her without even trying to counter-act her argument. And it was her argument.

Why do I note this you ask? There are a number of reasons. 1) I see in her everything about me that annoys me, 2) Americans are dumb, 3) It's completely unbiblical. I do not like people who are controversial just for the sake of being controversial. Like this world doesn't already have enough drama in it, they have to add more! It particularly annoys me with girls. Am I the only one who thinks that women don't always have to be right? It's like a culturally accepted thing in America that the woman is always right, and the man has no opinion. They just resign themselves. You see it all over television on almost every sitcom, and even in "Christian" comedy.

I've said this before, but I don't think this is what the suffragettes intended to happen when they rallied for womens rights. The feminists took over, and this is what they would call "progress". Now don't get me wrong, I'm glad that women aren't suppressed and mistreated in America like they are in some other countries, otherwise I wouldn't be writing this blog post right now. But I'm just frustrated with how far spread feminism is. As a result of feminist progress "submission" is a dirty word. Many "Christian" women may vow to honor and submit on their wedding day, but how many of them actually live that out or even want to? How often do "Christian" guys just trade their pants in for her skirt almost as soon as they slip that ring on? Anything to keep the little wife happy. UGH! I hate that. "If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!" That phrase completely contradicts what the word of God teaches about the family.

In view of all that I am so thankful that we have models of what biblical families and relationships should look like among us! The world is going to act like the world and there's nothing I can do about that. All I can do is change the way that I think, change the way that I act and learn to submit quietly and happily under the authorities that God has placed over me now. And IF someday (And that's an "IF" the size of Alaska!) God would have me marry the concept hopefully wouldn't be so foreign to me.

So yeah.. I'm officially anti-feminist.
</rant end>