I’d like to share one of my favorite Psalms- Psalm 139. These words are a reminder of how well God knows us, and yet how much He loves us. He formed each of us in our mother’s womb, and He has a plan for our lives.

As I read the first half of Psalm 139, keep in mind that the LORD who King David is talking about is the mighty Creator, the God who created all of the galaxies, the earth, and every person down to all the details of each living cell.

Psalm 139:1-12 “Oh LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in-behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”

These verses tell us that God knows us so well that not only does He see everything we do, but He knows our thoughts, and He knows what we are going to say before we even speak it. He is totally familiar with all our ways. You could relate it to the way a mother interacts with her young baby. When a baby is communicating his needs by crying or with a facial expression, his mother usually knows what those signify. Even if we don’t put our thoughts into words, God knows what we’re feeling. And just as an alert mother knows what her young children are doing at all times- you know the saying, “Mothers have eyes in the back of their heads”- God sees what’s going on with us and He cares for us, knowing what is best for us even when we don’t understand. God looks on each of us just as tenderly as we look on our babies.

These verses go on to say that God’s Spirit is everywhere. No matter where we travel throughout the world, no matter how our situation in life changes, He is with us to guide us and securely keep us. If you trust in His Son, Jesus, to be your Savior, His Spirit lives IN you, and you belong to Him. You can talk to Him about anything, and He will help you. Our Creator God is more powerful than any scary, painful trial we could go through.

Psalm 139:13-18 goes like this: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.”

In this passage, the “secret place” where we were made is of course referring to a mother’s womb. It’s a place so dark and secret that not even the mother realizes for some time that she is carrying a new life. And God watches over this whole process.

God is our Creator, and the Creator of each of our babies. Each life is precious to Him. These verses say that God oversees each baby’s development as he or she is growing in the womb. He knits every intricate detail of each individual together. This is an awesome truth: we are not here by chance, but we are alive by the design of our Creator. He has already planned the number of days each of us will live on earth.

Isn’t it amazing that this all-powerful God cares to be with us and watches over the details of our lives?

Rebecca St. James (Christian singer) has written a song based on Psalm 139. Her poem expresses how God knows each of us intimately, including our rebellious nature and how we all blow it and mess up sometimes. And yet He loves us anyway. I’d like to share it with you in closing.

You search me
You know me
You see my every move
There’s nothing I could ever do
To hide myself from You
You know my thoughts
My fears and hurts
My weaknesses and pride
You know what I am going through
And what I feel inside
But even though You know
You will always love me
Even though You know
You’ll never let me go
I don’t deserve Your love
But You give it freely
You will always love me
Even though You know…

There is a beautiful, wild mountain stream in southwest Colorado named Animas River. If I had to describe Sydney in one word, it would be “animas.” Animas is a Spanish word meaning “spirits” or “spirited.” I think it comes from the same Latin word that our word “animated” is derived from. That was Sydney. As J. said, “She never was completely tame.” She had a mind of her own, and she didn’t always obey me. She seemed to think that she knew better than the humans who were trying to tell her to stop running and barking. She often surprised me by the way she knew what was going on in certain situations. Many times I said she was smarter than a dog should be. Sydney was responsive, playful, energetic, and enthusiastic; she loved to please us. Sydney was totally devoted to her family—happiest when we were all together. Stephen has grown up (to the age of 10) with her protecting him. She lived her life hard and fast, and at the age of 11 1/2, her heart wore out. She was an “all or nothing” dog, active until the end. (“Go big or stay home” as you like to say, David.) And, oh, how we miss her! How can a dog so completely work her way into your heart? I thank God for blessing us with our beautiful “doggie-girl.” God’s creation is awesome, and it is amazing that He created creatures like dogs that can adapt to your routines and give companionship to humans.

A praise song came to my mind as I thought of how Sydney watched me constantly, looking to me always to meet her needs. It’s called “All of My Days”:

Proclaim Your awesome power, tell of mighty deeds.

Declare Your future kingdom of everlasting peace.

And my eyes, they look unto You always.

And I am captured by Your majesty.

All of my days I will sing of Your greatness.

All of my days I will speak of Your grace.

All of my days I will tell of Your wondrous love. Your love in my life. Your love.

All Your works will praise You. Your children bless Your name.

We speak of all Your goodness. We walk in fields of grace.

And my eyes, they look unto You always.

And I am captured by Your majesty.

All of my days I will sing of Your greatness.

All of my days I will speak of Your grace.

All of my days I will tell of Your wondrous love. Your love in my life. Your love.

Lately I’ve been thinking about similarities between the relationship a dog has with its master, and the relationship believers have with God. There are some lessons I can learn. Just as Sydney’s eyes looked to me constantly, I need to continually keep my eyes on Jesus. I need to depend on Him for everything, just as a dog depends on its master for shelter, food, water, and exercise. As a dog shows unwavering affection, I should show my love for God and accept His will for my life in every detail. I need to be faithful to Him and put Him first in my life’s priorities, just as a dog is loyal and faithful to its master. J. and I, as Sydney’s masters, were everything to her, and she delighted in pleasing us. This is how my relationship with my Lord needs to be. And lastly, a dog is obedient to its master. Well, Sydney wasn’t exactly strong in that area. Come to think of it, people aren’t either. “All we like sheep have gone astray, We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6

I’ve been thinking a lot about prayer lately. I’m trying to consciously depend on God and think about Him as often as I can throughout the day. A few days ago, I came across a little story that has to do with prayer. It’s in a devotional booklet called “Our Daily Bread”.

“Several mothers of small children were sharing encouraging answers to prayer. One woman admitted that she felt selfish when she troubled God with her personal needs. ‘Compared with the huge global needs God faces,’ she explained, ‘my circumstances must seem trivial to Him.’
Moments later, her little son pinched his fingers in a door and ran screaming to his mother. She didn’t say, ‘How selfish of you to bother me with your throbbing fingers when I’m busy!’ No, she showed him great compassion and tenderness.”

Psalm 103:13 says, “Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.”
So this verse shows us that both humans and God respond with compassion when we love someone.

Now I’d like to share some verses from Isaiah 49 (13-16)
“Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains!
For the Lord comforts His people and will have compassion on His afflicted ones.
But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.’
(this is the Lord speaking) ‘Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands;’ ”

I just love this illustration. Think about how hard it would be for a nursing mother to forget her baby. I mean, when it’s time to feed your baby, you can’t think much about anything else! But God says that even if it were possible for a mother to forget her child, He could never forget His children. It’s as if He has even engraved us on the palms of His hands.

This kind of intimacy with God belongs to those who fear Him–those who are in awe of Him–who rely on Him rather than on themselves. As that child with throbbing fingers ran freely to his mother, we can also run to God with our daily problems.

And our compassionate God doesn’t neglect others to respond to your concerns. He is all-powerful and He has unlimited time and love for each of His children. No need is too trivial for Him. Aren’t you glad He is always there for you?

I am really enjoying helping with our church’s new MOPS group. A couple of weeks ago, I gave a devotion at our steering meeting, which I was asked to share again at our MOPS meeting last Thursday. The following is what I shared. Praise the Lord for any encouragement that was passed along.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He shall be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.” Jeremiah 17: 7-8

I think these verses are really cool because I love how you can picture a healthy, flourishing tree with its roots spread out toward a stream of fresh water. It’s a tree that is continuing to grow every year.

Have you ever thought about roots, and what they do for a tree or a plant? Earlier this month, I spent a weekend in Nebraska with my family. I have a cousin who farms the land which our family has had for 5 generations now, and I like my kids to know about this heritage. It’s harvest time, and we all took turns riding in the combine, visiting with my cousin, and watching the corn being cut and separated. As we waited out in a cornfield while the kids were riding, my husband pulled up a cut-off cornstalk and started examining its roots. This seems like kind of a small thing, but if you really look at the roots of a corn plant, they are amazing.

(I described what the corn plants roots look like: how there are a set of thick, sturdy roots circling the stalk a couple of inches above the ground, then another set of 14 or 15 slightly smaller roots also circling the stalk just under the ground, and then a large network of tiny roots spreading out in all directions. And how these anchor the plant so effectively that a windstorm will break the stalk before up-rooting the plant. Then, continuing. . .)

Of course, through the roots the corn plant can receive nourishment from water and nutrients. Because of the roots, the plants can better withstand heat, wind, and drought, and produce the corn that we use.

As moms, we have people in our lives who depend on us–especially our children and our husbands. When we’re giving so much of ourselves to our children, after a while we can feel drained. I went through a time (when my oldest 3 children were very young) when I actually got “burned out” emotionally and physically. I’ll tell you how I came out of that in a minute. But there are days when we just run out of strength, when we’re short on patience.

Just like a tree or plant, we need to take the time to soak up some nourishment. But how can we, as busy moms, have our need for nurturing met? One way is through the encouragement of these MOPS meetings. There’s something refreshing about being able to share your frustrations and joys with other moms. Making crafts meets a need of accomplishing something–it gets finished, and it doesn’t need to be immediately re-done, like so many things around the house. And of course, we have some special pampering time included today. . . (we had foot soaks, Mary Kay satin hands products, and even an opportunity for a massage)

But for me, there’s something even bigger that gives me strength, got my life in balance after that burnout that I mentioned, and has helped me to be a better mom. Like the verse in Jeremiah says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.” When I trust the Lord for details of the day, and put all of my confidence in Him, He does not let me down. He’s there for me no matter what is going on. Bad things can still happen, but He gives me peace in the middle of stress. He helps me to do what I have to do as a mom and in every area of my life. He is my source of nourishment and strength.

Our Sunday school class is studying difficult questions that people ask. A basic one is whether God really exists. Some people think they can’t know for sure if there is a God unless they can “prove’ scientifically that He exists. But God (being GOD) is supernatural; He is beyond time and space as we know it. I came across this devotion by Billy Graham recently which speaks well to this subject.

“Since earliest times men have seen the earth and sky and all God made, and have known of His existence and great eternal power. . . ” Romans 1:20 (TLB)

If you try to rationalize God exhaustively, you will fail. There are mysteries about God that we will never understand in this life. How can the small and finite, limited to time and space, understand an infinite God! We should not think it strange that it is impossible to explain many mysteries in the realm of matter. Who can explain why objects are always attracted to the center of the earth? Who can fathom the law of gravity? Newton discovered it, but he could not explain it. Who can explain the miracle of reproduction? . . . Thus many evidences and many arguments could be advanced to indicate there is a God. Yet the plain truth is this: God cannot be proved by mere rationalization. He cannot be contained in a tiny man-made test tube or confined to an algebraic formula. If God can be fully proved by the human mind. then He is no greater than the mind that proves Him.
~Billy Graham

It is so good to have a choir again at church! We may not be able to stay together past Christmas, but we are going to sing a Christmas cantata this year.

Thursday night as we were practicing, I realized how special it is to be a part of this group. There’s just something about singing with a group of fellow believers. Maybe I appreciate it even more now, since we’ve been without choir for a little over a year. How we’ve missed Ken and Susan since they moved away! Ken was a special part of our church’s worship team and choir, and Susan is a talented musician (keyboard, cello, guitar, and vocalist) who was a excellent, professional choir director.

Even though we still don’t have a choir director, several people have come forward to make this Christmas cantata choir possible. There’s a couple who got us organized and are leading the choir (but they don’t consider themselves “directors”). We also have section leaders, and we spend half of our practice time going over our parts seperately. And Susan has even recorded the soprano, alto, tenor and bass parts on keyboard and sent the recordings to us so we can use them to practice.

A number of the new choir members don’t read music, but those of us who do are helping. This week, the parts were really coming together and sounding good. It is so exciting to see how we can help each other and hear the musical results. I want to thank the Lord for bringing us together and for the amazing team effort that is going on. He is so good to have given us music and voices to sing with! It brings us joy, as well as pleasure to Him, to praise Him in song.

Psalm 95:1-7
“O Come, let us sing unto the Lord : let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth : the strength of the hills is His also. The sea is His, and He made it : and His hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down : let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For He is our God; and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.”

“Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil.” Proverbs 15:16

I’ve been reminded of some thoughts that I’ve had ever since I was able to go on two missions trips to Guatemala in the late 1970’s. I think what has reminded me is hearing about my children’s trips this summer: Rebecca to the First Nation people of Victoria, Canada, and John to the Fulani people of Cameroon, Africa. And now my nephew is on a mission trip in Rwanda.

I learned from the people of Guatemala that it is possible to be happy in the midst of poverty. I met Christian believers there who are content with their families and joyful in their faith. What a contrast it was compared with our American culture! People are a high priority there, and it struck me that material things are not necessary in order to have joy in one’s life. It was refreshing to see how they live without depending on material things to bring fulfillment. I still think of them often, and it helps to bring my priorities into focus.

A goal I would like to have is to simplify the things in my life. It is very difficult in our culture, but I try not to get caught up in the materialism-of always needing to have better and more. I can’t be successful with this attitude in my own strength, so I’m trying to depend on the Lord to help me with this. He is the only One who can change our attitudes and motivations. And lasting joy comes from Him, not from material things and various earthly treasures.

These are just a few of my thoughts on this subject. I’ll close with another verse that comes to mind.

“Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have, for He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ ” Hebrews 13:5

I don’t know what it is about gardening. It is work, but somehow it is relaxing and even therapeutic. As long as I don’t spend too much time pulling weeds, trimming, or whatever, I feel encouraged and refreshed as I’m spending the time outside.

Did I somehow inherit some kind of “gardening” or “farming” gene from my Swedish grandpa who spent his life as a farmer in Nebraska? Every growing season I look forward to taking care of a flower garden and a vegetable garden, even though it isn’t exactly easy in this Colorado climate with inconsistent rainfall, hailstorms,and sometimes scorching days and cool nights. Not to mention a shorter growing season because of late snow in May, and an early fall freeze.

Many times being outside gardening has been a stress-reliever. I remember working outside through my tears as I grieved for my youngest brother, Robert, as he was battling Hodgen’s Disease. It was a time to pray and clear my mind as I worked. (He is healthy again–for several years now–praise the Lord!)

I have to admit I tend to favor the flowers over the vegetables. It seems more enjoyable to look at and smell the flowers as I’m working. The vegetables are the “functional” crop. It is worth the work in the end, since the whole family, and even friends and neighbors, can enjoy eating the fruit of that labor. This year, we’re growing pumpkins, potatoes, broccoli, carrots, green beans, and tomatoes. We have a new strawberry patch, just planted last year, which is done producing for now. (J. was so kind to put up a fence which totally enclosed the strawberry patch, to keep birds from eating the ripe berries. 🙂 )

Sarah took the picture above, which shows part of our flower garden along the driveway, including some “Blue Angels”. (I forget the real name; they are originally red flowers.) A fun thing about the flower garden is that it is constantly changing all season, as different flowers bloom at different times.

Some of you may think it’s crazy to actually enjoy gardening work, but it brings me joy and I see it as one of God’s gifts. I’ll close with these verses from Ecclesiastes. (It may not all apply to this subject, but it’s a cool passage!)

“. . . as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God. For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart.”
Ecclesiastes 5:19-20

Hey! I’m trying this out for the first time, so we’ll see. . .

“Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early,
To retire late,
To eat the bread of painful labors;
For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord;
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They shall not be ashamed,
When they speak with their enemies in the gate.”
Psalm 127

Lately I’ve been thinking about how blessed I am to be a mother. My kids are so awesome! I’m not talking about how successful they are with activities and things; I mean how their characters reflect our Lord Jesus Christ.

God has given John a heart for missions. He’s been on several short-term missions trips, and now is preparing to spend a month in Cameroon, West Africa. (And God is teaching me to trust Him more as I let John go!)

Sarah brings music into our home with her violin and piano playing–and several students she is teaching, too. She has been growing even closer to God recently since she and her boyfriend broke up. I am so impressed with her attitude as she meets various “bumps in the road.”

Rebecca is on a missions trip right now, with our church’s youth group and two other youth groups together. She is on her way to Victoria, Canada to work with some native people there (with Y.W.A.M.). She also has been growing into a beautiful young lady who is following the Lord. What an encouragement she is to me!

And then there’s Stephen. What would we do without him? (We’ve been at his youth baseball tournament games all weekend.) 🙂 I can see God working in his life, as he is learning so much. He is an active and also a sensitive boy. I appreciate how he talks to me.

Anyway, I don’t mean to brag, and of course my children aren’t perfect. I just feel blessed by God to have these kids. It’s nothing we have done or not done: it’s His grace and His amazing gifts to us–to J. and me. I don’t understand many of His ways, but I want to thank Him for my children, and for the special relationships we have.