FOCA ~ A Time to Pray

The Freedom of Choice Act will be voted on in just more than a week... so that Obama can do as he promised, and make signing the Freedom of Choice Act his first act as president. Do you know what FOCA is?

FOCA would repeal all limits on abortion currently in place. It would repeal the ban on partial birth abortions. It would remove all parental notification laws. Repeal all waiting periods. Compel all hospitals to do abortions, even Catholic hospitals, which has decided to close all hospitals if necessary rather than to commit abortions.

Across the web, there are hundreds if not thousands of Catholics who will be praying a novena, prayer for 9 days, and even fasting. Praying that FOCA would not be passed. I am not Catholic. But I will be joining in in prayer.

If you have not signed the Fight FOCA petition, please do so. Over 350,000 people have so far. And please contact your Congressmen or women. You can find their contact information in the sidebar. Now is the time to act.

We say things are a matter of life or death all the time... well this time it is.


You can find out more at wikipedia, here. Even more details can be found here.


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Then Sings My Soul Saturday ~ Give me Your Eyes

With the new year, came all sorts of commitments that I decided to make.. for my spiritual growth in reading the Word every day, praying with the my children more, and for my physical health, losing weight and exercise, and for my family, to be more present in my time with them. Somehow in the mix, I did not look outside my circle. It is not that we don't do anything... we give to charities and volunteer, but no where in my thought process did I think what else I could do outside my family.

Then I heard this song by Brandon Heath. And God turned on my ears. And I really heard this song. The song asked, "Why have I never cared?" How often do I walk through the world intent on my own life and business and so disconnected from those around me? And now my heart cries out to God, help me to see the world with your eyes. Give me your heart. Here are the lyrics of the chorus:

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the brokenhearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see

To hear other songs that speak to the the soul visit Then Sings My Soul Saturday.

Thankful Thursday ~ Life Abundant

"I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10)

Isn't that wonderful??? What a glorious gift!

This week I am thankful for all God has given me. So rich are my blessings. This year I have made the decision to put reading God's Word first each day. I put the Bible in a Year links in my sidebar and it is the first thing I do each morning. And this is a rich blessing. God speaks so clearly to me right where I am in at least a few sections of each reading. It is a good way to start the day, with my Lord, getting to know Him, to rest in Him, and learn what He has for me each day.

I am also thankful for my prayer time with my children. I have changed things up a bit. Instead of just having them pray in turn I am doing some more guided praying. For example Monday we prayed first going around in praise of God. This was such a sweet thing with children. Then we prayed in thanksgiving. Then in supplication for someone else. And finally asking something for themselves. Their prayers were so much deeper than I have generally seen from them. I think that starting out with them praising God is a good thing. It is a beautiful gift to pray with my children.

Another blessing this week is that I am back on track with working on losing weight and getting in shape. I have a very long way to go. But in the 18th months since miscarrying and then injuring my foot, I have been down and gained all I lost before then and then some. I have a long way to go, but God is so awesome. He has been with me each step. He has surrounded me with support. And I am doing very well. It feels good to be taking a step to bring these areas of my life into line with what God wants for me and to repent of my sins in these areas. He is such a merciful God.

Each of these steps... spending more time in God's Word, praying more deeply with my children, and living my life in a healthy way to God's glory... are all ways that God is giving me to live life abundantly in Him and for Him.

Join in at Thankful Thursday.

Word-filled Wednesday

Last week I was looking at images of space... and found the most gorgeous pictures. And I could not help but be in awe of our awesome Creator. Last week I made a Word-filled Wednesday also even though it was a week off.

This week again I came back to these images. The magnitude of Creation and its beauty is beyond human comprehension. The more man studies the more we find. We look at things smaller and smaller and find amazing organization and detail and beauty. We look to the heavens and find such massive scale and such beauty.

Our God is so amazing and yet this powerful God who spoke the stars into being cares for me. How incredible.

Find others who are celebrating God's Word at Word-filled Wednesdays.

Respecting our Military

I found this story (as I often do) at a homeschool message board, the swap. It moved me to tears, and I wanted to share it with you.

Luke AFB is west of Phoenix and is rapidly being surrounded by civilization that complains about the noise from the base and its planes, forgetting that it was there long before they were. A certain lieutenant colonel at Luke AFB deserves a big pat on the back. Apparently, an individual who lives somewhere near Luke AFB wrote the local paper complaining about a group of F-16s that disturbed his/her day at the mall.

The complaint:
'Question of the day for Luke Air Force Base:

Whom do we thank for the morning air show? Last Wednesday, at precisely 9:11 A.M, a tight formation of four F-16 jets made a low pass over Arrowhead Mall, continuing west over Bell Road at approximately 500 feet. Imagine our good fortune! Do the Tom Cruise-wannabes feel we need this wake-up call, or were they trying to impress the cashiers at Mervyns early bird special?

Any response would be appreciated.

The response:

Regarding 'A wake-up call from Luke's jets' On June 15, at precisely 9:12 a.m., a perfectly timed four- ship fly by of F-16s from the 63rd Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base flew over the grave of Capt. Jeremy Fresques. Capt Fresques was an Air Force officer who was previously stationed at Luke Air Force Base and was killed in Iraq on May 30, Memorial Day.

At 9 a. m. on June 15, his family and friends gathered at Sunland Memorial Park in Sun City to mourn the loss of a husband, son and friend. Based on the letter writer's recount of the fly by, and because of the jet noise, I'm sure you didn't hear the 21-gun salute, the playing of taps, or my words to the widow and parents of Capt. Fresques as I gave them their son's flag on behalf of the President of the United States and all those veterans and servicemen and women who understand the sacrifices they have endured..

A four-ship fly by is a display of respect the Air Force gives to those who give their lives in defense of freedom. We are professional aviators and take our jobs seriously, and on June 15 what the letter writer witnessed was four officers lining up to pay their ultimate respects.

The letter writer asks, 'Whom do we thank for the morning air show? The 56th Fighter Wing will make the call for you, and forward your thanks to the widow and parents of Capt Fresques, and thank them for you, for it was in their honor that my pilots flew the most honorable formation of their lives.

Only 2 defining forces have ever offered to die for you....Jesus Christ and the American Soldier.
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

Lt. Col. Grant L. Rosensteel, Jr.
USAF

(This has been verified on Snopes.)

First, wow. I can not imagine seeing a military flight formation and thinking anything disrespectful. Perhaps, "WOW!" or cheering for our military, but never thinking they were doing it out of some selfish ambition.

To be fair to the letter writer. He did write back an apology. He is a Vietnam veteran himself. And clearly he feels bad about what he said. Even so, I can not imagine having his response to our military.

My heart and prayers are for those who serve today, and their families. And for the families of all those who gave their lives for freedom. And all the veterans. May God bless you and keep you in this new year. Thank you for your service.


On an another note.. I often hear from those who oppose our military that if we spent more time helping people than bombing we wouldn't be hated. You can read about some of what we are doing over there at this great article, Why Our Troops Are So Hated Around the World. There are so many wonderful things our military is doing around the world and I hope to highlight some of them in the months to come. God bless our troops and God bless America.

Menu Plan Monday

[Ooooooops. If you are here because you were trying to get to Word-filled Wednesday, click here.]

I am trying to lose weight so where I am eating something different from family I will put that in (parenthesis). The first few days of the year I ate something different from my family for almost every meal, but I am planning better this week... I think. Sometimes I will make substitutions, other times leave off part of the meal for myself and fill up on veggies, but most meals I am eating the same meal as my family this week. I have decided this is the only way to sustain healthy habits. I track my calories and exercise at sparkpeople.com and have lost 5 pounds so far this year... mostly water of course as is normal at the beginning of any diet... but happy for me anyway. I know it works because 2 years ago before my pregnancy and miscarriage I lost 45 pounds on sparkpeople and I am ready to go back and do it again.

Anyway.. our weeks menu.

Monday
Breakfast: Cinnamon Rolls (Omelet with spinach, tomatoes, and mushrooms for me)
Lunch: Tortilla Rollups, Salad, goldfish crackers for kids
Dinner: Turkey tenderloin, parmesan egg noodles, steamed broccoli and cauliflower.

Tuesday
Breakfast: Oatmeal and bananas
Lunch: Grilled cheese sandwich and turkey vegetable soup made with leftover turkey
Dinner: Spaghetti and turkey meatballs, garlic bread, big mixed veggie salad

Wednesday
Breakfast: Cinnamon toast, berry smoothie (just the smoothie but with protein powder added to mine)
Lunch: Mac n cheese, veggies and dip (tuna stuffed tomato)
Dinner: BBQ Chicken with corn, baked beans, but with 1/2 cup brown sugar and half the chili sauce, and spinach salad

Thursday
Breakfast: Cereal, oranges and strawberries
Lunch: Meatball subs (with leftover turkey meatballs), goldfish crackers, veggies and dip, apple (leftovers)
Dinner: Pork tenderloin, sauerkraut, pea salad

Friday
Breakfast: Oatmeal, berries
Lunch: Chicken tenders, corn, sliced tomatoes with dill (grilled chicken)
Dinner: Pizza night (lean cuisine pizza for me), salad

Saturday
Breakfast: Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes
Lunch: Turkey Chili and home made bread
Dinner: Porcupine balls, corn, fresh bread

Sunday
Breakfast: ham and cheese omelets, oranges (low fat cheese for me, and mushrooms)
Lunch: Chili topped baked potatoes
Dinner: Pork chops with mushroom risotto and applesauce

Come Follow Me

Matthew 4: 18-22
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Jesus is calling. If you listen you can hear Him. He calls me. "Come, follow me." It is Christ's call to us all. And my heart hears the cry and answers yes.

Even as my heart says yes, I know that following Christ has costs; it sometimes involves suffering and deprivation. So, how then can we follow Christ? First, because He has offered us everything. He is the light in the darkness. But also because this same Jesus says to us, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Or to put it like Paul does in Romans 8, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” The gifts that Christ gives us now and has waiting for us in the future far outweigh all the slight momentary afflictions we have to endure as his disciples. But do realize that the life of discipleship will not be easy, that’s what Jesus is telling this first fellow.

Discipleship has its costs--it can bring with it some hardships and it can totally rearrange our priorities. But at the same time, it is completely free because Jesus paid the full price for us with His holy precious blood. It is of infinite worth because He gives us the gifts of life and eternity He purchased for us. Jesus suffered the death we deserve, in order to give us the life that is His. Jesus is the difference between life and death. That makes following Jesus worth any “cost” that discipleship may involve.

In his book, “Follow Me,” Martin Franzmann writes: “To follow him is to leave death behind and to enter upon the realm of life. He brings into the life of the world a distinction as sharp and radical as that between life and death. Christ is the one living Man in all this dying world.”

Growing up I went to Catholic schools, and while studying God's Word today this song came to mind. A song from so long ago, from morning mass, called Be Not Afraid. Come follow me. I hope you enjoy it.

Then Sings My Soul Saturday ~ Breathe

Lord this is my desire... that my desperation for you would grow and grow so that the words of this praise song be completely true for me.

Lord, may my heart be truly desperate for you and you alone. For the song is correct, I am lost without you.

May Your Holy Presence living in me be my everything.
May my daily bread be Your Holy Word spoken to me.

Lord I confess that I have made too much of all the stuff of the world. I have filled my time and my thoughts with the junk of this world, instead of feasting on Your Word and resting in Your presence.

Lord, I need more and more of You and less and less of me. I need to be dependent on you for every step I take, every breath I take, for all the world has and all I have is nothing compared to You. You have offered me everything. Paid the cost for me. You, the Holy God, dwell in me, in this earthly and imperfect temple. All because of love.

New Years Resolution Comic

Thankful Thursday ~ A Reflection on 2008

I am so thankful for the blessings that God has poured out upon me throughout 2008. It has not always been an easy year but it has been a wonderful year full of many joys, love, and lessons learned.

The first thing I will list has effected me greatly... although it has been very very difficult. Last year, I fell on the ice and messed up my foot badly, and it was repaired with a bunch of metal in my foot. Through that experience God has taught me so much. First, that I have much to be thankful for... walking is a great blessing. One becomes very aware of this fact when unable to walk for months. Second, that I have a wonderful family. My husband and children did so much when I was simply unable to. I have a new and deeper appreciation for each of them. Third, I have learned that it is ok to be on the receiving end of help. This was hard for me. And finally, it has helped me learn to trust God and praise Him in all things. He has carried me through and I am thrilled to report that I can walk quite well now.

I am thankful for my friends and my family. Through moves and difficulties they have never left me feeling abandoned or alone. I have been so blessed by family and friends that words can not express my gratitude.

I miscarried in 2007.. the baby would have been due at the start of this year. At Christmas, the thought assailed me that we should have been celebrating this Christmas will a little one in the house... but that was not in God's plan and I was drawn into a greater sense of appreciation for the children I do have. And although it is still difficult to think on this great loss, I also have come to appreciate the blessings that my family is to me. Why is it that we so often need to face loss to truly appreciate what we have?

Happy New Years! Read about others' New Years thankfulness and join in at Thankful Thursday.