It has been a beautiful week here. Spring doesn’t officially start for another month, but Orange County is on top of the game I guess. This tree outside our condo is full of blossoms. This week in my prayer time I have been asking the Lord for help getting up in the morning. When Tyler goes to sleep at night I tend to think, “Now I can get some things done!” The problem though is that then I stay up too late, so I’ve been working at trying to get to sleep sooner and really the wonderful weather makes it easier to wake up and rejoice in this day the Lord has made!

Another thing that makes it easy to get up in the morning is Tyler. He has started singing. It’s so sweet and he does it when he wakes up. Maybe it’s because he’s been sleeping better. Our neighbors have a dog who has been barking a lot recently. I bought a baby “sound sleeper” which is a little machine that plays continuous sounds like “ocean,” “rain,” or “brook.” With that on at night it drowns out the dog barking, sirens and if we have friends over we don’t have to whisper or have the TV volume as low. He wakes up so happy that I can tell its helping him sleep better.

This week I was so encouraged by our women’s Bible study. We are going through the book of James, so that has been a convicting study that has really sharpened my use of words. We have a teaching time and then break up in to smaller groups for more personal accountability. Each week involves six or so pages of homework and it’s been so beneficial studying and praying through James together. This week we looked at James 3:1-12 about how the tongue is untamable. James illustrates the power of the tongue by showing that big objects are controlled by one small part–ie: a horse and bit, ship and rudder, a forest set ablaze with on spark of fire. The tongue, one small 2-ounce part of flesh is extremely dangerous and deadly.

I was especially challenged when Stephanie (she was our teacher) pointed out this passage’s connection with Luke 6:45 which says

“A good man out of the good treasure in his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure in his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

Double-talk, both praise and cursing, should not be true of the Christian. I was really convicted to invest in storing “good” in my heart rather than the prideful, self serving junk that seems to fester there naturally. Our words come from what we think about, listen to, watch, desire, give our time to, believe…I know that I’m not alone in this battle of words because James says in chapter 3 verse 2, “If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man…” We will not achieve perfection, but we must strive for it.

Stephanie also read Proverbs 18:21,

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

This verse is very sobering mainly because I have seen the “death” effect in my words before. Making a personal joke about someone, being critical or negative, gossip…I am so thankful that the Lord gave me conviction in this message that I have been encouraged and motivated many times by what Paul Tripp writes in his book War of Words–

When we speak, it must be with the realization that God has given our words significance. He has ordained them to be important. Words were significant at Creation and at the Fall. They are significant to redemption. God has given words value…He has a specific design for our communication, a specific plan and purpose for the talk in the body of Christ.

This has helped to remind me of the hope I have in Christ to redeem my words and use them for His glory!

Each day last week I tried to focus on one or more specific things that I would celebrate that day to keep my mind on Psalm 118:24–

“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

I found that waking up offering specific thanks to the Lord and looking for things throughout the day to rejoice and be glad in really made a difference. I usually wake up happy and pretty rested and get the day going with Tyler, but I think I needed to be reminding myself that each day is a gift from Him and that I must rejoice in it to deepen my joy and productivity in God each day. What are you rejoicing in today?

Saturday and Sunday were wonderful times of celebration with our church family. Sunday afternoon we gathered for some baptisms and about 50 people came into the little pool wanting to proclaim their love for the Lord and follow in obedience to Him. Fourteen of those people were high school students and that was so encouraging to see!

At the same time this weekend, I was trying hard to rejoice and be glad, I was allowing some things to weigh me down. The end of last week I had a difficult conversation with a friend and at the end of it I felt, as the Psalmist says, “downcast.” But I couldn’t just muster up happiness to replace it, I needed to look up.

As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?

My tears have been my food day and night,
while men say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”

These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go with the multitude,
leading the procession to the house of God,
with shouts of joy and thanksgiving
among the festive throng.

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.

By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”

My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

Psalm 42

This is the Psalm Bobby taught on this weekend. The Lord is so good to bring that exhortation along right when I needed it! One thing Bobby said really cut to my heart, “It’s not about how you feel, but what is true about God.” So often I can get caught up in justifying myself because of my feelings but really I need to go first to what is true about God, and then let Him define the rest of the situation and my response. I really like how the Psalmist tells himself, “Put your hope in God…” I need to start talking to myself and reminding myself to look up even when life seems down. Nothing is too big or too hard for the Lord.

For years I’ve heard women talk about this book and I finally finished it. Nancy Leigh De Moss’s book Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free gives a pretty thorough overview of common areas of deception

• Lies about themselves: I should not have to live with unfulfilled longings
• Lies about sin: I cannot walk in consistent victory over sin.
• Lies about their marriage: If I submit to my husband, I will be miserable.
• Lies about their emotions: I can’t control my emotions.
• Lies about their circumstances: I just can’t take it anymore.

We have all experienced a struggle with at least one of these categories and Nancy sheds some light on these lies and how to be delivered from them to freedom and forgiveness.

The main point I liked from this book was her exhortation to deal specifically with lies in our lives by:

1. Identifying the areas of sinful behavior in our lives
2. Identify the lies at root of that behavior.
3. Replace the lies with the Truth.

I thought Nancy did a good job outlining some of the lies behind feelings and thoughts women have–not believing that God loves you, entitlement, physical beauty matters most, my sin isn’t really that bad, it is my responsibility to change my husband, I can’t control my emotions, I shouldn’t have to suffer and if my circumstances were different, I would be different. As you can see, she covers many of the ways in which we could be deceived. At the end of each chapter she has provided questions to stimulate personal reflection over the material helping the reader–”Agree with God. Accept responsibility. And affirm the Truth.” She says at the end of the book, “True freedom is found in a vital, growing relationship with the Lord Jesus.” (p. 250) Overall she has some good perspectives.

I found the main premise of this book to actually be pretty confusing. It seems that she is writing to Christian women, but then she says that if she had to describe the majority of Christian women she would use the following words:

frazzled, defeated
exhausted, depressed
burned-out, ashamed
overwhelmed, emotionally unstable
confused, uptight
angry, insecure
frustrated, lonely
discouraged, fearful
and, yes, even suicidal
Bondage is another word that comes to mind when I think of contemporary Christian women…they are not free…by their own admission. (p. 17)

These Christian women don’t really sound like Christian women at all. There really is no difference between that list above and the life of a non-Christian woman. It isn’t to say that the Christian woman does not struggle with some of those things, I know I have felt exhausted, overwhelmed, angry and discouraged, but can a Christan woman be in bondage to something other than God?

I looked up the word bondage in the dictionary and it presents the idea of someone being subject to, controlled and mastered by something. If a Christian woman struggles in her relationship with God because she thinks, “God isn’t good. If her were He would______.” Nancy’s method to evaluate the lie and replace it with the truth is very helpful, but I don’t think Scripture describes a real Christian being mastered by doubt or fear, or anything other that the Lord.

In Romans 6:16-18 Paul writes:

“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”

Throughout this book, De Moss wants the reader to know that they are not alone and that struggling with these deceptions is very normal. She offers Biblical hope in saying that change is possible through the person of Jesus Christ and the power of the truth of God’s Word. In using terms like “bondage” or “enslaved to_____” to describe Christians, but in light of Romans 6, I think De Moss is confusing the need for “sanctification” with the need for “justification.”

• Being justified is a one time event in which a sinner is made right with God. Justification is the moment where through faith in Christ a person is set free from sin, judgment and eternal death and given a relationship with God and the power of the Holy Spirit. At justification, God makes you a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), you are filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered to resist temptation and pursue righteousness.

• Being sanctified is the lifelong process of putting off sin and putting on holiness.

If someone has not been justified they cannot be sanctified. This book was in need of clarity on this point.

All in all this book offered some Biblical insights on lies that we women believe. A Christian woman using good discernment can glean some great things from this book, but I don’t know that I would really recommend it. Instead of this book I would suggest Martha Peace’s new book Damsels in Distress: Biblical Solutions for Problems Women Face.

I love how Elisabeth Elliot has said–

The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman. For I have accepted God’s idea of me, and my whole life is an offering back to Him of all that I am and all that He wants me to be.

Today was my husband, Bobby’s birthday. I met Bobby when he was 18 and a freshman at The Master’s College. It’s so funny to think about that because it seems that a lot has happened since then. Now he is 27, we are married, have a sweet little son and are enjoying working hard in the ministry.

Knowing Bobby has been an immense blessing in my life. The Lord has consistently used him to sharpen and encourage me and I am so honored to witness first-hand, the work God is doing in his life.

I regularly have links here to Godsongmusic. On it you can read Bobby’s blogs and listen to his sermons. You can also listen to some worship music that he and Ty have written and just see what is going on in our high school ministry. I hope you will pay him a visit!

One of the most important things I have learned from Bobby is that being a Christian is full-time. You can’t be a Christian as a temp job or part time. You can’t put in a few hours here and there, there is no vacation, no days off, no maternity leave and no sick days. It is all day every day from the moment you become a Christian till the moment you die or Christ returns. Bobby always refers to this idea as being “Full-time for Jesus.” Bobby gets this idea from two main verses:

“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you.
Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,
because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:58

“Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me,
he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
Luke 9:23

He has also helped me learn a lot about grace, repentance and forgiveness. Because I’m not and cannot be perfect, I won’t be able to attain perfection in following Christ while I’m in this body, but despite all obstacles and failures I must keep putting off sin, and following Him. I like how Bobby says, “If you are going to be like Jesus, you are going to be a servant.” This is how he lives and inspires me to live. I just wanted to praise the Lord for the life that He has given to Bobby and thank Him for letting me be a part of it. Happy Birthday, Bobby!!!

February is here and it was 78 degrees here today. It feels like Southern California just doesn’t want to have winter this year. We’ve had some cold days, some rain, but overall it’s perpetually a spring-fall combination. I hear that we might have rain later this week, so I’m looking forward to that.

This weekend we had a great time in the snow up at Big Bear. Bobby and I with eight of our high school leaders took about thirty students up to slopes for a time of fun and spiritual refreshment. Bobby taught three lessons on the “one anothers.” His lessons covered–loving, bearing with, forgiving, considering, confessing your sins to, confronting one another’s sin, speaking God’s Word to, worshiping with others, and submitting to one another. It was a challenging and motivating short series to consider over the weekend and now after as we talk about how we can take practical steps of obedience to those commands Bobby illuminated for us. Ty led us in worship and singing together with 40 people in a garage was moving. One girl submitted her life to Christ Saturday night and that made the whole weekend worthwhile. To see more pictures of our retreat click here!

I am so excited about the things we have going on this month. We had our winter retreat, this week is my husband, Bobby’s birthday and also my friend Missy’s birthday, next week is Valentine’s Day and Tyler’s first birthday. I’m looking forward to just celebrating each day the Lord allows us to have.
The other morning I started singing that song, “This is the day” to Tyler. One part says, “This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.” This song is from Psalm 118:24.

“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

It is fun to look forward to specific days like birthdays, holidays or I know I always look forward to Sundays, but really every day should be a celebration of the Lord’s mercy and faithfulness. He has made it and has a purpose for us in it, one of those purposes is to always be rejoicing (Philippians 4:4).

Each day this month I want to commit to rejoice and be glad in the Lord. If you are a Christian, you have something to celebrate each day. I hope you will join me in choosing to rejoice and be glad in Him each day. It would be so encouraging if you would leave a comment sharing something specifically that you are rejoicing in and glad for or even write a blog about it! This month I will have make a list in my sidebar of posts that celebrate the Lord and His work in our lives.

“You are my God, and I will give you thanks;
You are my God, and I will exalt you.

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His love endures forever.”

Psalm 118:28-29