In the meantime

Unify : "to make things into one: to bring people or things together to form a single unit or entity". (1) Is that not exactly what Christ has done to every single individual who has placed their trust in Him? Think about it: if it weren't for the bond of Christ that we have a believers, would we naturally hang out with that person sitting across the aisle from us in church?  Probably not. Chances are that a lot of us would not naturally interact with many of the people we call brothers and sisters in Christ because outside of Christ, we wouldn't have much in common. We have different interests, lifestyles, backgrounds, careers, and so on. However, because we are in Christ, we have the most important thing about us in common!   It doesn't matter if I am a stay-at-home mom and you are the CEO of the company you built from the ground up: if we are both sinners washed in His blood, standing righteous before Him, that  is the most important fact...

I am surprising myself with how much I've been enjoying reading lately! (I'm blaming Mark Twain and his hilarious account of one particular boy's adventures that all started with whitewashing a fence for my renewed interest in reading. If I hadn't picked up that book earlier this summer, my life would continue to be as unaffected by books as it used to be! Haha!) Anyway...just finished the popular parenting book,  Shepherding a Child's Heart , by Tedd Tripp. I remember hearing my parents mention this book way back when I was a child, but I obviously never had an interest in reading it until now! This book is an outstanding resource for all parents who desire to "train up a child in the way he should go"!  Following are some quotes that stood out to me:  "...the heart attitudes direct behavior. This is always true. All behavior is linked to attitudes of the heart. Therefore, discipline must address attitudes of the heart. This understand...

 My sister-in-law Rachel Shively, a mutual friend Chrystal Stauffer, and I are excited to announce that we just started a joint-blog, Hearts Refreshed. This project started rolling when I asked Rachel several months ago if she wanted to do a joint-post with me here on In the Meantime.  Well, that particular post didn't materialized.  Instead, we started working on a slightly bigger project: getting Hearts Refreshed ready to launch! Yes, it finally just went public today! We are super excited! All three of us come from different backgrounds and are in different stages of the early years of marriage and motherhood. We desire to be learning what it means to be a godly wife, mother, and member of the Body of Christ. And we desire to serve other women through the specific avenue of the written word.  And that is why we are starting  Hearts Refreshed. You may be asking why we settled on the name  Hearts Refreshed. I think the d...

Openness Unhindered: Further Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert on Sexual Identity and Union with Christ, by Rosaria Butterfield. (Crown & Covenant Publications, 2014) After reading The Gospel Comes With a Housekey,  I was fascinated by Rosaria Butterfield's unique testimony, as well as her exceptional writing and thinking skills. In other words, I was curious about reading her other two books,  The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert  and Openness Unhindered: Further Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert on Sexual Identity and Union with Christ.  I just finished  Openness Unhindered. It is very different than what I expected it to be. Because of Butterfield's incredible testimony of how she came to Christ as a proclaimed lesbian, I began reading this book expecting it to be saturated with "how the Church should view and deal with the sexual identity crisis that is inundating today's culture." While she does dig deep into the sexual ident...

Within a few weeks, my world went from ecstatic joy at the news that we were expecting twins to devastating grief when the ultrasound technician said there were no heartbeats nor had there been any growth since our last ultrasound a few weeks earlier.  Is this really happening to us?  That evening, the awful event of miscarriage confirmed the technician‘s diagnosis. Our miscarriage was emotionally and spiritually crushing. Days turned into weeks, and then into months, and I was emotionally and spiritually lower than I had ever been in my life.  At times, t he grief practically choked me of the very air I breathed.  I was desperate for some form of comfort to revive my grief-stricken, joy-suffocated soul. “How in the world am I to deal with this?”    “Where do I turn for comfort ?” "How do I even move forward in life?" “Lord, help me!”  was my constant cry.  God heard my desperate pleas, and in His goodness ...

Guys, I am just finishing up reading  Knowing God , by J. I. Packer, and it is absolutely. fantastic. Similar to Knowledge of the Holy  by A. W. Tozer, this book will make you want to do just that: know God. Knowing God  deserves a more-detailed post in the near future, but for now, I'll leave you with a quote to make you want to read the book for yourself (because you can't just take my word for it!)   On the believer's  adoption  and being sons of God, Packer says:  "This free gift of acquittal and peace [justification] won for us at the cost of Calvary, is wonderful enough, in all conscience—but justification does not of itself imply any intimate or deep relationship with God the judge. In idea, at any rate, you could have the reality of justification without any close fellowship with God resulting.  "But contrast this, now, with adoption. Adoption is a family  idea, conceived in terms of love , and veiwing God as ...

Have you ever stopped to think about what it will be like to "stand in glory and see His face?"   1 John 3:2 says that when we are in His presence, we will see Him as He is. We will see Him in all of His glory, beauty, and holiness.  I can't think of anything more precious, glorious, and indescribable to fill my sight.  Gold streets and private mansions are for later...much, much later.   That moment when our faith will be sight, when we see Him face to face, the God in whose name we, by faith, have trusted in, declared, suffered for, and worshiped — oh, it will be indescribably and unfathomably glorious. There will be no more need for the purifying hope of being in His presence: we will be in His presence.   And we will be forevermore. Can you even begin to wrap your mind around what it will be like to be in His very presence ? What will it be like to worship Almighty God for all of eternity?  I think we may sta...