Women of Promise

  Amazing grace! how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see. The Lord has promised good to me His word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be, As long as life endures. ~ John Newton      We all recognize these words to the beautiful hymn, "Amazing Grace," which has been sung for hundreds of years in churches around the world.  John Newton, the author, celebrates the 4th "Sola" that we come to in our study of the "5 Solas,"  Sola Gratia,   or Grace Alone. Mr. Newton knew that his soul's eternal security was a gift that he could never be worthy of receiving.      We have discussed that Scripture is our only authority.  Then we have seen that salvation from an eternal hell (justification) is recieved by faith alone, in Christ alone.   The doctrine of Grace Alone teaches us that our justification is offered on the basis of GOD's grace only. ...

     As part of our sinful nature, we humans tend to like to think that we are involved in everything, don't we? We often inflate our part in the retelling for it to seem as if we are just a little bit more important than we are.       As we look into the "5 Solas,"  we are going to take a brief look at Solus Christus today.  "Christ Alone."  We often apply this primarily to salvation. Justification --salvation from hell, or eternal separation from God, is made possible ONLY by the work of Christ on the cross. However, this applies to all areas of our life as we experience the sanctifying work of Christ in our lives -- transforming us into His image.  In both justification and sanctification, it is Christ alone who accomplishes this beautiful work in and through us.       Looking back at the time of Martin Luther, salvation was taught by the Roman Catholic church, who controlled what and how Scripture was accessi...

      Time. Don't you wish there was more of it?  I often think of how much I could get done if we just had a few more hours in a day! Mercifully, God is not limited by time.  He gives us an allotted time on this earth (we don't know what that time is) and is watching to see how we use the time He gives us.  As my children grow, I am finding that next to the gospel, the most important thing that I can teach them is to prioritize Jesus in their hearts and lives.       Haggai is an itty, bitty book in the back of your Old Testament.  It is only two chapters long!  God gave the prophet Haggai a message and it boils down to this: "Ya'll forgot about my house!  Fix it!" (Those are my words, not God's, in case you were wondering!)      You see, these Jewish people had been exiles in Babylon. They had returned to their homeland and started building for themselves some pretty nice houses. It had been eighteen years...

  This was first written 4 years ago. The dates have changed (this is the 14th Father's Day since my dad was taken to Heaven, and 4 years since Sam's dad's passing) but the truth of God as our Faithful Father is still the greatest comfort. May these words bring comfort and strength to your walk with Jesus this Father's Day.      Father's Day is a beautiful day to celebrate and honor our fathers.  Both Sam and I will celebrate our fathers, knowing that they are worshipping our Saviour in His very presence this year.  This will be Sam's first Father's Day without his dad on Earth, and it will be the tenth without mine.  Father's Day will be filled with sweet memories and pangs of sorrow from missing those sweet faces and hugs.  However, what we can both testify to is the faithfulness of God.  He is a Father to the fatherless and His love and mercy are never-ending.      Our earthly fathers are to be a picture of our Heavenly Fath...

       The seventh of our eight children made the most important decision of his entire life last week.  After VBS, he made the decision to follow Jesus.  River is only six years old, but I am sure he understands the basics of sin, Jesus' redemption, and salvation.  There has been much rejoicing in heaven, in our church and in our home.  So, what is our responsibility to ensure River grows in his relationship with Jesus and in his Christian faith? Discipleship. I am so thankful for a church that encourages our children to grow in their faith. God has blessed us with leadership that encourages growth in God's Word among all of us, from little ones to adult.       We have talked some recently about the startling statistics of children who choose to leave the faith in their later teen years as well as the sad state of Christian churches where the pastors and teachers do not even possess a Biblical worldview.  It is scary and ...

       (Repost from a couple of years ago)      I am sentimental by nature.  I love things and pictures that remind me of times and people gone by.  But when I hit different milestones myself, I grow even more retrospective.  This tendency is not always healthy. It is easy to fall into traps of self-pity and wallow in our perceived loss.  However, we can learn from meditating on the lessons passed on by those who have gone before us.  These can serve as building blocks for us to build a legacy of faith and dedication to serving our Savior.       If you will indulge me, I would like to reminisce about my mother a bit.  Mom graduated to her heavenly home almost 20 years ago.  My birthday was a couple weeks ago and  I have reflected frequently on the fact that I am roughly the same age as my mom was when she received her cancer diagnosis.  A couple of health scares (which God graciously...

The Via Dolorosa, or "The Way of Suffering," in Jerusalem is the traditional route that Jesus was taken as He carried His cross to Calvary.  If you go there today, you can walk this same path and visit fourteen stations along the way, where traditions say different events are said to have taken place such as, where Jesus was beaten by the Roman soldiers or where He stumbled and Simon of Cyrene was called upon to carry His cross.  The road is narrow and cobblestone, much as it would have been over 2000 years ago.  The very last station is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is traditionally the site of the crucifixion.  Perhaps one day, I will get to walk that road in person -- what an experience that would be! As Easter draws closer and I begin to revisit the events of Christ's crucifixion and glorious resurrection, one song that my father sung around this time of year always comes to my mind.  It is a Sandi Patty song (Love me some Sandi Patty -...