Author: joyfuldomesticity

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Praying, II

Psalm 115:3

Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.

Oh God who lives and reigns in heaven — be pleased to shower Your mercy and covenantal love upon us. Be pleased to grant life to our tiny child, and be pleased to show your miraculous works to the nations!

Isaiah 45:7

I form light and create darkness,
I make well-being and create calamity,
I am the LORD, who does all these things.

We know, Lord, that You are in control of all things. No matter what is contained in Your perfect will, it is Yours and it is perfect. Even when we can not see the breadth and depth and width of it as You can.

James 1:12

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.

As I struggle with the “blessed is the man who…” concepts in Psalms 127 & 128, I am encouraged by this “blessed is the man” concept. We are not exempt from Your blessings, Lord, simply because we have a very limited number of arrows in our quiver & olive shoots around our table. We praise You, O God! Cause us to remain steadfast, and cause our eyes to be upon the crown of life!

(And let me just add to that thought: earth is not the point. If earth were the point, I would be in total 100% despair. But earth is not the point. Life on earth is but a passing breath. In the eternal ranks of heaven, my olive shoots are many and my arrows are many! Thanks be to God!)

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Praying

As we go to war as the body of Christ, praying for the life of the baby in my womb — and as we anticipate the news on Thursday of whether the doctors are right or whether God is going to prove them majestically wrong — I want to share verses with you that are on this mommy’s heart as I pray for this child.

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Hebrews 11:3

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

With His words, with the Word, our God can sustain this baby’s life. With just a simple word. With a breath. With a vowel. It is not too hard for God.

Jeremiah 32:27

Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?

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Reformation Day Costumes

Our church had its annual Reformation Day party tonight, and the theme was Scotland. Thankfully we’ve got connections for great outfits. We may not have won the “best family costumes” award, but we were the most authentic, wearing outfits from Scotland and all that. :)

Here’s the evidence.

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Save, Lord!!

As of an hour ago, our Hosanna baby is alive!! However… The baby is measuring small. And the heartbeat is extremely slow.

If there is one thing I wasn’t really expecting to get out of the ultrasound today, it was ambivalence – and that’s exactly what God gave us. It’s better than “the worst” but it certainly isn’t what we had prayed for. The doctor was not overly hopeful.

Please beg God with us for a miracle.
Ask Him to preserve this precious little life.
This isn’t a medical problem – it is a child. Our child.

Oh God, save this baby! Hosanna in the highest! Save, Lord!!

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Third Street Paper Co

There’s something super fun about a giveaway… something super fun about winning it… and something super fun about getting the beautiful things in my mailbox!

I couldn’t not share these with you all. Aren’t they terrific?!

I highly suggest you pop over to Third Street Paper Co and grab yourself some stationery. It’s delightful.
And hey, it’s run by the girls I was best friends with growing up. That’s just icing on the cake. 😉

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Some fall delights


Apples from a local orchard… Pine needles in the backyard… Pumpkins in our garden… Candles for our babies… The well drilling truck on our property… Playing in septic perk holes… Playing at the park… Walking through crunchy leaves…

These are some of our fall’s delights! Thanks be to God.

We have a couple blood draws, an important ultrasound, and likely more traveling for medical treatment this week. Please pray with us for God’s grace this week, as we continue to seek His delights in our life all around us.
And especially as we beg Him to show mercy to our Hosanna-Baby!

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Let Me Find Thy Glory In My Valley

“Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,

Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.  Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.”

~The Valley of Vision~
A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

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To be more than conquerors!

There are two ways of getting out of a trial. One is to simply try to get rid of the trial, and be thankful when it is over. The other is to recognize the trial as a challenge from God to claim a larger blessing than we have ever had, and to hail it with delight as an opportunity of obtaining a larger measure of divine grace. Thus even the adversary becomes an auxiliary, and the things that seem to be against us turn out to be for the furtherance of our way. Surely, this is to be more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

~A. B. Simpson~