I started reading "In God's Underground," by Richard Wurmbrand, at the suggestion of my parents. And so far, it's been a very interesting story of Wurmbrand, who was a pastor arrested in Romania during the communist regime.
I'm not very far into the book, because my mom said that at some parts it gets difficult to even read about the hardship that he endures. I have read some harrowing tales of torture so far, but I'm not even a quarter of the way through.
However, one sentence has stuck with me so far. Wurmbrand wrote that when life was going well, he and his wife prayed for a cross to bear. They wanted something to test their faith. Then he was arrested.
I was kind of shocked and confused as to why Wurmbrand and his wife would ever ask God for a challenge. If he had blessed them with good times, even when bad was going on around them, why wouldn't they want to keep it that way? Shouldn't they have been thankful for what they were given and not complained that they weren't being tested enough?
To me, it's almost like a slap in the face of God.
As I read, I understand more about what Wurmbrand and his wife were asking for. It's not that they wanted hard times. However, they realized that sometimes God reveals himself the most and that we can have the greatest relationship with him during those trials. Wurmbrand said that Christians can be sure that their actually believers when their faith is tested.
Although I understand his intentions, I'm still not sure about praying for a test. My life is going really well right now, and I think I would be terrified to ask God for a cross to bear.
But maybe that's just because I don't know if I would be able to handle it.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
We get what we give
I read a story on Fox News today about a woman who left her $12.5 million estate to her neighbor, just because the neighbor was nice to her.
The article said that older woman thought her family just wanted her money, but the neighbor bought groceries and helped with household chores. Normally, those simple actions wouldn't involve much, if any, money. However, the kind person received a wonderful reward just for being nice.
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/11/28/australian-widow-reportedly-leaves-125m-estate-to-neighbor/?test=latestnews
I read a book that said we should never forego an impulse to be generous. Sometimes I get impulses at weird times, and I don't always follow through because it just seems weird. Sometimes I offer and people reject, but I think that God expects us to at least offer ourselves as servants to others. The outcome is in his hands, but we will never know what blessings could come of something if we don't at least offer to help out.
This is the perfect season to think about giving. Hopefully it then leads to a habit that will last all year round.
During Christmas, gifts shouldn't be stressful. They should be a time that we can get excited about being blessings to someone else.
What we celebrate at Christmas is the fact that God gave Earth the greatest blessing, his son. He wanted to bless people and knew that this was the only way to give people a relationship with himself.
If God can give up his own son for people who rebel against him and even hate him, why can't we give a little something too? You never know what you'll receive in return.
The article said that older woman thought her family just wanted her money, but the neighbor bought groceries and helped with household chores. Normally, those simple actions wouldn't involve much, if any, money. However, the kind person received a wonderful reward just for being nice.
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/11/28/australian-widow-reportedly-leaves-125m-estate-to-neighbor/?test=latestnews
I read a book that said we should never forego an impulse to be generous. Sometimes I get impulses at weird times, and I don't always follow through because it just seems weird. Sometimes I offer and people reject, but I think that God expects us to at least offer ourselves as servants to others. The outcome is in his hands, but we will never know what blessings could come of something if we don't at least offer to help out.
This is the perfect season to think about giving. Hopefully it then leads to a habit that will last all year round.
During Christmas, gifts shouldn't be stressful. They should be a time that we can get excited about being blessings to someone else.
What we celebrate at Christmas is the fact that God gave Earth the greatest blessing, his son. He wanted to bless people and knew that this was the only way to give people a relationship with himself.
If God can give up his own son for people who rebel against him and even hate him, why can't we give a little something too? You never know what you'll receive in return.
Monday, November 26, 2012
A little bit of Christmas
Nate and I had a beautiful day yesterday, getting ready for the Christmas season and just spending some time together.
We don't have as much set time together as some couples, because we work opposite shifts, and he only has weekends off every other month. However, it makes the time that we do have together even more precious, so that was why yesterday was so enjoyable.
We went to church and then made some coffee and packed up Novie to head to a local Christmas tree farm to pick out our first tree. We decided this year to get a real tree and then decide if we wanted to continue that each year or get an artificial tree after this.
We went to the tree farm about 15 miles south of where we live and started walking around. Luckily, our tastes matched pretty well, and we decided on a white pine with soft needles that was full and about 6 feet tall.
We attached the tree to the top of our Dodge Journey and headed back home to a waiting tree stand I had picked up at a secondhand store for $2. We put the tree in the stand and tightened the screws, to find that every time we let the tree go it tilted horribly to one side.
A trip to a local hardware store and we came home with a new $15 tree stand that ended up holding our Christmas tree more securely.
We put lights on the tree, ended up with too much left at the top, unwound the lights off the tree, put them back on the tree and set it in place. Then we covered it with the few ornaments that we have - a few we have purchased and many from my childhood that my mom gave us.
While Nate took some of the white lights we have leftover from our wedding and put them on the porch outside, I got all my snowmen and other wintry decorations out and put them around our duplex. We munched on some homemade gingerbread cookies that we had decorated the night before and surveyed our work.
We capped the night off with dinner at a local restaurant, which was free thanks to gift cards, watching "Bad Boys II," and reading some of the Bible together.
It was a perfect date day with the man I love. And now we're ready for the Christmas season to be here!
We don't have as much set time together as some couples, because we work opposite shifts, and he only has weekends off every other month. However, it makes the time that we do have together even more precious, so that was why yesterday was so enjoyable.
We went to church and then made some coffee and packed up Novie to head to a local Christmas tree farm to pick out our first tree. We decided this year to get a real tree and then decide if we wanted to continue that each year or get an artificial tree after this.
We went to the tree farm about 15 miles south of where we live and started walking around. Luckily, our tastes matched pretty well, and we decided on a white pine with soft needles that was full and about 6 feet tall.
We attached the tree to the top of our Dodge Journey and headed back home to a waiting tree stand I had picked up at a secondhand store for $2. We put the tree in the stand and tightened the screws, to find that every time we let the tree go it tilted horribly to one side.
A trip to a local hardware store and we came home with a new $15 tree stand that ended up holding our Christmas tree more securely.
We put lights on the tree, ended up with too much left at the top, unwound the lights off the tree, put them back on the tree and set it in place. Then we covered it with the few ornaments that we have - a few we have purchased and many from my childhood that my mom gave us.
While Nate took some of the white lights we have leftover from our wedding and put them on the porch outside, I got all my snowmen and other wintry decorations out and put them around our duplex. We munched on some homemade gingerbread cookies that we had decorated the night before and surveyed our work.
We capped the night off with dinner at a local restaurant, which was free thanks to gift cards, watching "Bad Boys II," and reading some of the Bible together.
It was a perfect date day with the man I love. And now we're ready for the Christmas season to be here!
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Thankful to
Listening to the sermon this morning, I'm going to close my thankful series with a simple thought.
Everything I'm thankful for goes back to God. I'm thankful to him for everything i have and everything I don't have. Everything in my life is because of God. And I'm thankful to him.
Everything I'm thankful for goes back to God. I'm thankful to him for everything i have and everything I don't have. Everything in my life is because of God. And I'm thankful to him.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Day 11: Funny moments
I'm thankful for the little parts of life that make me laugh - like this video that Nate showed me! Hopefully it will make you laugh too!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Day 10: Thanksgiving
I'm thankful for Thanksgiving, because it makes us all think about what we're thankful for!
T alents
H ome
A ccomplishments
N athan
K in
S urprises
G od
I n-laws
V acations
I maginations
N oveske
G roceries
T alents
H ome
A ccomplishments
N athan
K in
S urprises
G od
I n-laws
V acations
I maginations
N oveske
G roceries
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Day 9: Good sermons
It's a little different when your pastor walks out dressed in what appears to be a large burlap sack.
It caught the attention of the audience when pastor Kurt dressed up in what we assume to be the clothes of a beggar in Jerusalem during Jesus' time.
He talked in first person, acting like the blind beggar, a man who did the only thing he could to bring money for his family.
Then the man heard about Jesus and his miracles. And the great rabbi showed up in Jerusalem, where the beggar sat.
"Jesus was going to pass down the road, right by me."
But there were too many people that Jesus shouldn't notice him. However when he and his disciples passed, the disciples asked why the beggar was born blind, was it his or his parents' sin?
Jesus said it was neither, the man was born blind so Jesus' glory could be shown.
"God was going to use my blindness? God was going to use my life? I was born blind on purpose?"
Jesus rubbed mud in his eyes and told the man to go wash.
"That was an embarrassing moment for a blind man. First, I was blind and now I had mud on my face," the pastor said.
However, the beggar trusted, even as people laughed. And he washed.
"Then it happened. Light just burst into my eyes."
The world was more than the beggar could have ever imagined. The man who led him there was also amazed as he witnessed the miracle of the blind man's healing.
The healing created a controversy, as the healing came on the Sabbath when people are not supposed to work. It was like the religious leaders were blind to the evidence of Jesus' glory.
Just like today, some people's eyes are opened to the glory of God and some are blind to who he is.
It's interesting to here a sermon from first person rather than a reading verbatim from the Bible. It would appeal to a whole new genre of people who love stories and find sermons and lectures boring. And that's what a good pastor does, appeal to all people so God's message reaches everyone. That's why I'm thankful for good pastors and good sermons.
It caught the attention of the audience when pastor Kurt dressed up in what we assume to be the clothes of a beggar in Jerusalem during Jesus' time.
He talked in first person, acting like the blind beggar, a man who did the only thing he could to bring money for his family.
Then the man heard about Jesus and his miracles. And the great rabbi showed up in Jerusalem, where the beggar sat.
"Jesus was going to pass down the road, right by me."
But there were too many people that Jesus shouldn't notice him. However when he and his disciples passed, the disciples asked why the beggar was born blind, was it his or his parents' sin?
Jesus said it was neither, the man was born blind so Jesus' glory could be shown.
"God was going to use my blindness? God was going to use my life? I was born blind on purpose?"
Jesus rubbed mud in his eyes and told the man to go wash.
"That was an embarrassing moment for a blind man. First, I was blind and now I had mud on my face," the pastor said.
However, the beggar trusted, even as people laughed. And he washed.
"Then it happened. Light just burst into my eyes."
The world was more than the beggar could have ever imagined. The man who led him there was also amazed as he witnessed the miracle of the blind man's healing.
The healing created a controversy, as the healing came on the Sabbath when people are not supposed to work. It was like the religious leaders were blind to the evidence of Jesus' glory.
Just like today, some people's eyes are opened to the glory of God and some are blind to who he is.
It's interesting to here a sermon from first person rather than a reading verbatim from the Bible. It would appeal to a whole new genre of people who love stories and find sermons and lectures boring. And that's what a good pastor does, appeal to all people so God's message reaches everyone. That's why I'm thankful for good pastors and good sermons.
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