The Written Word is truly the LIVING Word of God...

We have just received word from our Soldier Son that he will soon be boarding his plane for the first leg of his journey home. This is the end of his second deployment.

In 2007, the day that he was actually leaving the USA to begin his first deployment, I posted a blog about my personal devotion. We had open house in our new church and my emotions were fragile to say the least. During my time in the Word that morning before I began my day, God so clearly spoke to my heart, and I scribbled my promise on a piece of paper. I literally held on to it all day. You can read the entire post here.

As I sat today, opened my Bible and my "read-through" plan for this year, I was taken to Psalms 73. It is a different Bible than I was reading in 2007 and an entirely different reading plan. But the passage once again JUMPED off the page - straight to my heart. Verse 26: "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever"

I just stared for a few minutes. How amazing - the very verse given to me for strength and encouragement as he began his first deployment - was the exact same verse given once again today - as He is at the END of his second deployment. I did not orchestrate this. I did not go to this passage just to read it again. Like I said, it was a different Bible AND a different reading plan. To be perfectly honest, I did not even remember that this was where my original promise was found.

It was if God was so clearly speaking to me and reminding me that He is true to His Word. He gave me a promise to hold on to and the promise is still true.

The Living Word...

Given so freely - to speak so clearly - when we simply take the time to hear.

He IS the strength of my heart. He IS my portion forever. I choose to HOLD ON...even when my flesh and my heart may fail.

My heart is full. My emotions are once again fragile.

But today it is from an entirely different perspective.

Cousins...

I saw many cousins today.

First cousins - with whom I have a storehouse of precious memories.

Second cousins - who really are more like nieces and nephews to me.

Third cousins - who I really do not know - but see such resemblence to the first or second cousins - that I feel like I know them.

Regardless, I think we need to take the time to get together more often. Certainly for better circumstances.

Even though it was a sad day... the service for our little Abigail was sweet. From the songs on the piano at the beginning - to the song picked out and sung - to the beautiful message of hope - and finally the song, "Jesus Loves Me" at the end (all from cousins I might add) , it was a beautiful service - celebrating the little life!

Please continue to pray for the family. We are holding on to the truth that God's Grace is truly sufficient!

In His Arms...

From today's reading in the Word - a very familiar passage - and yet with a vivid picture to me today for Brandy and Micheal... and for sweet little Abigail.

"Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them for to such

belongs the kingdom of God."

Luke 18:16

The picture that first comes to mind is when our Savior was walking on this earth - and on this particular day - He stops and takes time to let the little children crawl into his lap. He RECEIVES them. He loves them. He has time for them.

But then I had the picture of my Savior receiving this precious 2-year-old into His arms. Literally.

While the hosts cry Hosanna,

from heaven descending,

With glorifed saints and the angels attending,

With Grace on His brow,

like a halo of Glory,

Will Jesus receive His own.

(Horatius Bonar)

When Life is Hard...

It certainly would be an understatement to say that the last few months have been hard. Mostly for our precious church family. Who, by the way, ARE family to us. We have been at CBC for 15 years. Yes, they are truly family. And when they hurt - we hurt.

That is what families do...

We are there to share in the joy and it is certainly DOUBLED. Then we are there in the sorrow. To help share in the heavy load.

Burden bearers...

But this week... it is LITERALLY my family. Extended family - yet family. Lives get busy and sometimes distant in daily relationship. Oh but the bonds of love are strong.

Like we have told SO MANY lately as we have stood with them at their time of loss - we do not grieve for the one who has gone on to be with our LORD. No, they are in the arms of our Savior. Oh, but the grief of the ones left here. Life on this earth will never be the same.

My heart aches. for the precious mom and dad... for the 4 siblings...
for the grandparents...
and then for all of the others... close and extended.

Praying for comfort - comfort that ONLY our Savior can give.

I say again... my heart aches. For and with them...

2010 Blog Party

*** Please NOTE**** My party time has been interrupted by a death in our family. I have not had time to visit with you in your blogs... I will be back to visit with you all next week. Thank you for your prayers for my cousin's family and the death of their 2 year old daughter...

I participated in the blog party last year and had a wonderful time! I have not had the time to prepare as well as I would like to - but decided to go ahead and join in on the fun anyway.

So, to introduce myself... and the different aspects of my blogging.

I am a wife (of 33 years), a mother (of 3), a mother-in-law (of 3), a grandmother (0f 2 and one on the way). I am also an ex-homeschool teacher. I had the privilege to teach them for 12 years. You will find that I value this role (wife/mother/grand) as a high calling... and will share about the dailyness of our home life.

I am a pastor's wife and also the Women's Minstry Director at our church. I have a passion to support/lead/teach women and to encourage them in their various roles. I am a Bible study teacher, and have had the opportunity to speak in some Women's Conferences. My husband and I have also lead in several Marriage Retreats. I view my primary role in our church as my husband's prayer warrior. But my ministry will be to our women. I really desire to be a Titus 2 woman - and to teach/lead other women to do likewise.

Our son is a soldier - and we have weathered the challenges of two deployments. You will see that this is on my heart and will spill over into my blog. Thankfully, this second deployment is almost complete. We are all so proud of him but from this mother's perspective - I pray that he does not have to go to war again. Regardless, you can visit with me in that part of our lives with the link on the navigation bar. I have had the opportunity to minister to others who are walking this road also. Please let me know if you are facing this - I would love to add you and your soldier to my prayer list.

During this past year - my blogging has been lacking. I think Facebook is part of the problem. LOL. My plan is to use my twitter to update my facebook. And to let my facebook lead to my blog. I can add so much more information here and have more of the ministry to others through my writing here. So, I plan to detox from my addiction to facebook. Anyone else had that problem lately? You can find me here: www.facebook.com/dbwarren And if you have a twitter account you can follow me here: www.twitter.com/ddwarren

I am offering two give-aways. I did not get them sent in to have it posted on the gift page... so I offer them here.

The first gift is a STARBUCKS CARD. ($10.00). Leave a comment and let me know if you are currently a follower of my blog - or if you have added yourself to my list of followers. I will enter you twice if you will also join my list of networked blogs (see the sidebar) for FB. How I would love to meet you at Starbucks to visit in person - but since that is not possible - I will send you for a latte with a friend.

Second gift: Go to our Family Blog.... Hal and DeeDee (Ministering Together to Families). We (my husband and I) have such a heart to help families not only SURVIVE but also to THRIVE together to the Glory of God. This blog also has been lacking for the past year.... but we are ready to get it moving again. I will be giving a book: LOVE and RESPECT. You can enter two times here also: (1) follow that blog and leave me a comment to let me know that you have done so. (2) Let me know some topics that you would like to see us cover on this blog for the home and family.

Now, to let the party begin - I look forward to meeting you and visiting with you on your blog!

Daily Quiet Time

This morning, while reading Secrets of the Vine (by Bruce Wilkinson), I came upon this:

"Some Christians I know try to have their meaningful personal times with God just before bed, but I have yet to find a respected spiritual leader throughout history who had devotions at night. Unless you get up early, you're unlikely to break through to a deeper relationship with God."
(p. 107-- italics mine)

Personally, I know that I do better in my day, in my attitude, in my work, and in my relationships when I meet with my Savior first. However, I have said many times to many people - whether in face to converstation, or in class discussions, or even in teaching a seminar-- that it does not matter when you have your devotion/quiet time. The key is just that you DO IT.

But, I am challenged by this. I am going to be looking up - yet again - the "rising while it is yet night" and the "early in the morning" passages from scripture. Also, I want to do some research of men and women of the faith who have faithfully walked with God and thus made an impact on this world. (in THEIR world)

Not that I am trying to disprove the statement made by Wilkinson, I am just quite intrigued and challenged by it. Perhaps, it is the gentle hand of my Savior to once again bid me to get up and meet with Him early EVERY DAY on a consistent basis. A time set aside that is not determined by the night before, or the weekend, or the busy lifestyle that I mentioned in my last post, or the..... whatever.

I am sure that I will be back with you on this one...
But in the mean time, I would love to hear your thought and your devotion times...

Life is Busy

It is an EXTREME understatement to say that life is busy. And has been for quite some time...

I knew that January would be eaten alive. There is always time needed for recovery from the Christmas/New Year’s Holidays. Then this year we had two weeks with my Jon home. We took him back to the airport and then had the final preparations for the Couple’s retreat which was held in Gatlinburg the last weekend of the month. And *poof* January was GONE.

What I did not realize is what would happen to February. For some reason, I did not anticipate the counseling that would be needed after we got home. I should have – because it always happens after/during a Bible Study - and with Satan’s attack on the Home as it is – I should have expected the needed times for talking after a retreat on the Home. So I ask you to be praying for several who are working through some hard stuff – and for us as we try to minister to them.

ALSO in the month of Feb – Our church family had two deaths. One with cancer and then one in a tragic automobile accident. We are honored to be able to be with these families during these hard times – but we also covet your prayers for us too. It is our desire to be there for them and to help bear their burden.

Now, it is middle of March – and yet another death. Another battle lost to cancer. Another family grieving. This makes six funerals in the past 5 months for our church family.

I said life has been busy. But in reality, I think it is more applicable to say it has been draining. Physically draining. Spiritually draining. Emotionally draining. Some very high - Highs. And then some very low - Lows. Does that make sense?

Now, I have not even mentioned Hal's trip to Haiti in the midst of all of this. I hope to get him to blog about that soon.

Also, I have several other blog posts just holding on and waiting for me to have the time to put them here. Hopefully, it will not be too long.

But for now... I think I shall go to bed.

Rest.
Sweet Rest for my body... for my soul.

A Book-A-Holic...

I mentioned a few weeks ago - the need to clean/organize/declutter my study. And even though I have had short moments to begin the work, it is has been very minimal - until yesterday.

But as you know, it is tax season. The necessity to get all of the stuff together to take to our wonderful accountant is what MADE me get in that room and really do some work.

And the first need was accomplished. The tax folder is loaded and ready to go.

Much of the clutter is filed away. Lots of it went straight to the trash. But the needed filing is certainly better - and what is left is in a tray "to be filed".

But the real meat of this post is to confess that I am a book-a-holic. And that was also the cause of much of the disaster of that room. So, as I worked, I began to stack the books that I have purchased in the past year - that have yet to be read. All the while I was wondering where in the world I would put them. I did not want to just put them on one of my bookshelves (AS IF there is any room on the shelves).

Maybe I need to mention here that another bookshelf is on the purchase list...
And maybe there will be enough of a tax return to purchase it... just maybe.

However, I decided to take the books that were in stacks and bags in my room, and put them on the top shelf of the computer desk. This would be my "to read" section. There are 28. That should keep me busy for a while huh? My goal is to read them ALL this year. 2010.

How - I ask myself? Our lives ARE busy... but there IS time. I just need to manage it better. I keep thinking about the quote that I read once that said, "A person who CAN read and does not...is no better off than a person who CAN'T read at all." So, that shelf full of books is of no benefit to me - if they just sit on the shelf.

The first on my list is "Grand Weaver" by Ravi Zacharias. I had to make myself put it down to write this blogpost. I am sure that there will be quotes and thoughts about it that I will want to share with you along the way. It has already pricked at my heart...

So tell me...What are you reading? I would love to know...

Updates and Prayer Request

Just a short blog to let you have a few quick updates and also to request prayer.

1. We had a wonderful two weeks with our Warrior for his R & R from Afghanistan. We were able to celebrate Christmas with him. And then last weekend - we had a birthday party for Hal, Jonathan and Ronnie with the entire family together. (All three birthdays are within approx. 3 weeks of each other.) Such fun days together. And one desire that I had for those days is that God would multiply our minutes together - and He really did. It seemed like much more than just two weeks.

2. We have our Church Couples' Retreat coming this weekend. We love it and are so excited about the opportunity - but because of the past two weeks - we are SO behind in getting the final touches together.

So, there are two requests in here - prayer for our son and his precious wife as he serves the final months of this deployment. And then prayer for us as we lead in this conference/retreat.

Thanks so much! I so appreciate all of you. It is my desire to be more consistent with my blogging and visiting your blogs next week.

Tuesdays Together (in the Word) for 2010...

I have not completely dropped the idea for our Tuesdays Together. It was a source of accountability and encouragement for me and I believe for the others who participated with me for 2009. But it is time for a change.

So, let's try this for 2010:

I have posted a reading plan on the side bar under the Tuesday's Together Button. However, instead of limiting us to only posting from this reading, let's just share from any passage that has spoken to you during that week. It could come from this reading, a sermon, a book that you are reading, or from your personal devotion.

The goal remains the same: to encourage each other in the Word and in our relationship with our Lord.

You can link your blog if you would like. You can just leave a comment and share your thoughts even if you do not have a blog.

I look forward to sharing Tuesdays with you again in 2010.

Remember to visit the others who link with us. We all need the encouragement. What you have to say and share may be just what someone else needs to hear...