New Baby

Just a quick hello to anncounce that our daughter was born today at 12:40 am weighing 8 lbs 2 oz and 19 1/4" long.

Only Alive When...

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.

~ Thornton Wilder

A Grateful Heart

Thou hast given so much to me,

Give one thing more, - a grateful heart;

Not thankful when it pleaseth me,

As if Thy blessings had spare days,

But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.

~ George Herbert

Unrealized Blessings

Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now.

~ A.W. Tozer

More Thanks

For flowers that bloom about our feet;

For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;

For song of bird, and hum of bee;

For all things fair we hear or see,

Father in heaven, we thank Thee!

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Give Thanks

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Family Life allows us to...

The informality of family life is a blessed condition that allows us to become our best while looking our worst.

~ Marge Kennedy

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude.

~ E.P. Powell

Thanksgiving

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.

~ H.U. Westermayer

Family - Think of Their Good Points or...

When our relatives are at home, we have to think of all their good points or it would be impossible to endure them.

~ George Bernard Shaw

What's the Magic Word?

In some families, please is described as the magic word. In our house, however, it was sorry.

~ Margaret Laurence

Family

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.

~ Desmond Tutu

Gratitude

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Family - Joined for Life

What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories.

~ George Eliot

The Greatest Happinesses

When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses.

~ Joyce Brothers

The Family

The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.

~ Erma Bombeck

Families are like...

Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts.

~ Author Unknown

The Family

Nobody has ever before asked the nuclear family to live all by itself in a box the way we do. With no relatives, no support, we've put it in an impossible situation.

~ Margaret Mead

If the Family were a ...

If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable - each segment distinct.

~ Letty Cottin Pogrebin

Trust and Obey

God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.

~ Elisabeth Elliot

Trust God

Trust the past to God's mercy, the present to God's love and the future to God's providence.

~ Augustine

When Life is Difficult

On days when life is difficult and I feel overwhelmed, as I do fairly often, it helps to remember in my prayers that all God requires of me is to trust Him and be His friend. I find I can do that.

~ Bruce Larson

Future Events

God has wisely kept us in the dark concerning future events and reserved for himself the knowledge of them, that he may train us up in a dependence upon himself and a continued readiness for every event.

~ Matthew Henry

Hold onto Your Faith

Bitterness is a habit that can seriously hinder our spiritual journey. When life becomes difficult, when it doesn't seem as if God is providing for our needs, when we're not getting what we want when we want it, we have a decision to make. We can hold onto our faith and trust that God has an answer in mind, or we can gripe and moan and complain and let our souls become embittered. Expecting an oasis, but finding a bitter stream? Don't lose sight of the grace of God.

~ Penelope J. Stokes (Beside A Quiet Stream)

Where is Faith Strengthened?

Faith is often strengthened right at the place of disappointment.

~ Rodney McBride

Rest in God's Will

Neither go back in fear and misgiving to the past, nor in anxiety and forecasting to the future, but lie quiet under His hand, having no will but His.

~ H. E. Manning

Something Great

"When GOD is about to do something great, HE starts with a difficulty. When HE is about to do something truly magnificent, HE starts with an impossibility."

~ Armin Gesswein

Anxiety Results from...

"Anxiety is the natural result when our hopes are centered in anything short of God and His will for us." ~ Billy Graham

Anxiety

Anxiety is not only a pain which we must ask God to assuage but also a weakness we must ask Him to pardon; for He's told us to take no care for the morrow.

~ C. S. Lewis

Tomorrow

Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it by the handle of anxiety, or by the handle of faith.

~ Henry Ward Beecher

Discouragement

We yield to discouragement it is usually because we give too much thought to the past and to the future.

~ Anonymous

Trust God's Will

Neither go back in fear and misgiving to the past, nor in anxiety and forecasting to the future, but lie quiet under His hand, having no will but His.

~ H. E. Manning

Where is Peace?

Peace does not dwell in outward things, but within the soul; we may preserve it in the midst of bitterest pain, if our will remains firm and submissive. Peace in this life springs from acquiescence to, not in exemption from, suffering.

~ Francois Fenelon

Friendship

"Friendship arises out of mere companionship when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste which the others do not share and which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique treasure (or burden). The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, "What? You too? I thought I was the only one.".... It is when two such person discover one another, when, whether with immense difficulties and semi-articulate fumblings or with what would seem to us amazing and elliptical speed, they share their vision - it is then that friendship is born. And instantly they stand together in an immense solitude."

~ C. S. Lewis

Deep hurt requires...

“When you and I hurt deeply, what we really need is not an explanation from God but a revelation of God. We need to see how great God is; we need to recover our lost perspective on life. Things get out of proportion when we are suffering, and it takes a vision of something bigger than ourselves to get life's dimensions adjusted again.”

~ Warren W. Wiersbe

God is doing...

In every situation God is always doing a thousand different things you cannot see and do not know.

~ John Piper

Heaven should affect...

"Heaven should affect our activities and ambitions, our recreations and friendships, and the way we spend our money and time. If I believe I'll spend eternity in a world of unending beauty and adventure, will I be content to spend all my evenings playing video games or staring at games shows, sitcoms, and ball games? Even if I keep my eyes away from impurities, how much time will I want to invest in what ultimately doesn't matter?"

~ Randy Alcorn (50 Days of Heaven)

Listen Carefully to..

We are called to listen carefully to God's truth. Poor listening has serious negative spiritual consequences.

~ Gary Thomas (The Beautiful Fight)

The Answer Not Expected

If when an answer I did not expect comes to a prayer which I believed I truly meant, I shrink back from it; if the burden my Lord asks me to bear be not the burden of my heart's choice, and I fret inwardly and do not welcome His will, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

~ Amy Carmichael

Thinking...Behavior

Christianity stresses how our behavior and our minds influence and act on each other. When our thinking goes, our behavior doesn't lag far behind. And when our behavior slips, our ability to discern is also negatively affected.

~ Gary Thomas (The Beautiful Fight)

Communication

When I was in graduate school for Counseling we discussed this quote - I don't remember who said it though...

"I know you believe you understand what you think I said, But I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."

~ Author Unknown

Where Does Your Security Lie?

Where does your security lie? Is God your refuge, your hiding place, your stronghold, your shepherd, your counselor, your friend, your redeemer, your saviour, your guide? If He is, you don't need to search any further for security.

~ Elisabeth Elliot

Become Repulsed

In addition to fearing God, we should grow in our repulsion toward sin without becoming judgmental of others. To have our hearts set on God is to eventually become repulsed by what is repulsive to God.

~ Gary Thomas (The Beautiful Fight)

Captivated by...

God didn't design us to be captivated by success in ministry, sobriety, chastity, or financial responsibility; he created us to be captivated by him. We must never mistake the means for the end.

~ Gary Thomas (The Beautiful Fight)

The greatest ethical challenge...

The greatest ethical challenge is so to live that men don't glorify you for living that way, but God.

~ John Piper

Focus on Growing

When we stop focusing on growing, we usually regress. That's why, even though perfection may not be possible, the journey toward it is still well worth taking.

~ Gary Thomas (The Beautiful Fight)

Character Transformation

Character transformation, though dependent on grace and God's empowerment, requires a lot of hard work, vigilant oversight, rigorous thought, self-discipline, and a life marked by repentance. It also entails surrendering to a God who is more concerned with our character than with our comfort.

~ Gary Thomas (The Beautiful Fight)