Author Archives: Becky Pliego

About Becky Pliego

I am grateful because God, in His grace, called me out of darkness and into his admirable light. When I did not look for Him, He found me. When I was in a pit of sin, He rescued me. I am not walking this road alone, my family is always with me, and we love Him, because He loved us first.

Five Links -On Justification by Faith, Titus 2 Women, and Bible Apps- and Two Questions

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This is my new favorite breakfast recipe: Raspberry Ricotta Scones!

This week I came across some great articles that I thought you might enjoy and benefit from as well.

We talk about being justified by faith alone, but maybe you are not really sure what it is meant by that phrase. Well, our friend Christina Langella has a guest post at Theology for Girls which is worth reading (please don’t even try to skim through it, read it carefully. You will not regret it. 😉 ).

“Whether you have been serving God for a little while or a long while, it doesn’t matter. The whole of your Christian faith is grounded in this one doctrine.It is the truth of God’s grace in Christ towards sinners, and it will not only deliver you from the darkness but it will also keep you on solid ground.”

My dear friend Trisha Poff wrote an excellent and timely article on the need of becoming Titus 2 Women.

“I’m watching women dismiss our home-centered calling as they insist on blurring the distinctive roles God has given men and women, sometimes in the name of being “Gospel-focused,” as though biblical womanhood is void of the Gospel dwelling in us richly.”

On the same line, The Gospel Coalition has an article (from February 28, 2013) for women in need of a mentor: How to Be Mentored Without a Mentor that is very practical and encouraging.

“You may be longing for a formal mentor, someone who can sit down and speak into your life each week. Pray and ask God for that tremendous gift. He may grant it. But if he doesn’t, or until he does, seek out resources already available to you in order to be mentored—even at a distance—by other Christians. I often challenge young, busy moms to read one chapter of a good book each day. You can work your way through a number of books that way. And you’re giving your soul something nourishing.”

Lastly (from the archives at Desiring God -2011-) an excellent encouragement to become “addicted” to God’s Word: Man Shall not Live by Facebook Alone

“Let the Bible bring you back to reality over and over during the day.”

My favorite, favorite, app that has helped me do this and also has helped me with my memorization projects is Fighter Verses, also by Desiring God. I love it!

Now the questions:

Considering that two of my links this week have to do with becoming a Titus 2 Woman I thought maybe we could share some about that here.

1. Who have been the most influential mentors -in your vocation as a Christian wife/mother- in your life (women you know personally and/or authors)?

2. Are you purposely mentoring younger women?

My Answers:

1. In my life, I can quickly point to my sister and Nancy Wilson (I am not mentioning men authors, since this is a question about Titus 2 women). I think also of a friend who reminds me (even the way she speaks!) of Elisabeth Elliot. Elisabeth Elliot, by the way, is becoming a mentor to me in this stage of my life. I have also learned (and still learn!) a lot from different godly friends: there is one who always listens attentively while looking you at the eye with her apron on and a “beautiful tomato” on her hand; another whose mouth is full of the Word of God and with whom sometimes I talk on the phone for hours -she is my life editor of the sort-. There is one who prays without ceasing and cooks the best carrot soufflé ever! Others whose example of love and dedication to their children (biological and adopted) and their perseverance in prayer for them -and even hard physical work- have always been a silent challenge that speaks loudly to my life.

2. Yes. But not enough. I am now almost solely focused on my daughters, especially on my oldest who is leaving for college next fall! So much to talk and pray about, so many hugs to give and laughs to share.

Blessings to you and thank you for stopping by,

Becky

When God Surprises Us

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©Annie Pliego Photography

Sometimes our good Father surprises us with situations that we have been praying for: the job we asked for, the marriage we dreamed about, the children we asked for after years of waiting,  the announcement that the adoption papers were finally ready, the scholarship for college, etc. But many other times He, our good Father, surprises us with the most unexpected circumstances: the death of one of our children, a sickness, a “no” to one of our prayers, a divorce, suffering. But no matter how God “surprises us,” we must never forget that He is a good Father, and He always gives us what our soul needs the most.

D.A. Carson writes in his book Scandalous,

“This is a truth not to be passed over lightly: God often surprises us; he is not to be domesticated by reductionistic theology; he takes the common things and turns them into surprising things. That is why large swaths of the Bible are written with various kinds of twist: you think you know where the words are going, and then the text jumps in another direction. Could anyone have predicted how the story of Job would turn out? Or how Habakkuk would turn out?”

 I don’t know the twists that my story, or my children’s story will have. How many things that I am “sure” will happen in a certain way will turn out differently? I don’t know. But it is so incredibly comforting to know that my Father in Heaven is good, perfectly good and He has promised that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord, for those who have been called according to His purpose. 

We don’t know the words in each one of the chapters of our lives, but we sure know the ending:

“And they lived happily ever after in the arms of their Heavenly Father and sin and death were no more.”



Resting under God’s Sovereign hand,

Becky

Walking the Christian Life

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Walking is not that simple. It takes practice.

Walking like the world… that looks easy.
You create your own truth
and then you live by your own standards
always trying to choke back guilt.

Walking like a nominal Christian… that is not so easy.
You choose what to believe from the Truth,
and then you live by your own
standards most of the times trying to suffocate the Truth.

Walking like a Christian… that is not easy.
You don’t get to define Truth,
and then you are called to live by its standards
and proclaim Truth, never drown it.

I think of my children when they were little, and how their brains and legs knew how to walk. I loved to be there to hold their hands, and push them a little bit, and  hug them happily whenever they took a step. I was there too when they were insecure and fell, and cried, and were afraid to take a new step. And this is how our Christian life is.

We, Christians, are born of the Spirit. We can walk in Truth, our new nature is built for that, but it is also true that we need help and encouragement, someone to hold our hand and teach us. Someone who will hold us tight when we want to avoid the Truth. Someone who will pray with us whenever we are afraid to take another step.

Our Father in his goodness provides us with relationships that help us walk this Christian life; but more importantly, He has given us His Word and the Holy Spirit to teach us and encourage us to walk in the Faith.

Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gave us some instructions on how our walking should look like. As I read his epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, I marked down these verses, and I encourage you to read the whole epistles (not only the verses! That would be like cheating 🙂 ) to find them, meditate on them, pray about them, and put all diligence to walk in them:

Ephesians 2:1-2; 2:10; 4:1-3; 4:17; 5:1-2; 5:8-10; 5:15
Philippians 3:17
Colossians 1:10; 2:6-7; 4:5
I Thessalonians 4:10

Today is Saturday and maybe it is a good time to do this; read the epistles in one sitting, just like your favorite book, that one that is hard to put down, and find your delight in abiding in the Word.

I will be digging in the rest of the epistles this weekend to search more about how this walking in the Lord should look like.

We must be ready, this walk is not always easy, let us hold tight to the Father’s hand and depend on Him.

“Growth in grace is to know more of Christ, His excellence, preciousness, and fullness, through the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Growth in grace is to know more of our wretched, lost condition, our helplessness and unworthiness.” Mary Winslow

Have a most blessed weekend,

Becky

From My Reading Corner – The One Wrong Thing to Say-

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Reformation Heritage Books

What a great book Jessalyn chose this month for the book club at Desiring Virtue. I don’t want to put it down!

Here is a good quote that got me thinking…

“We live in an age where the one wrong thing to say is that somebody else is wrong. One of the impacts of postmodern epistemology is that we all have our own independent points of view, and we look at things from the perspective of our own small interpretive communities. What is sin to one group is not sin to another group. But not only does the Bible insist that there is such a thing as sin, it insists that the heart of its ugly offensiveness is its horrible odiousness to God—how it offends God.”

And this other one is powerful too:

 “The cross spectacularly displays God’s love, but it also displays God’s wrath against sin; it massively underscores God’s condemnation of sin…We are all guilty before God, and the cross is our only hope.”

Maybe you would like to join us at the book club this month as we dig deeper into the powerful message of the Cross and the Resurrection of our Lord. We would love to see you there.

Under His sun and by His grace,

Becky

Praying Ephesians -Ephesians 3-

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Probably Valentin de Boulogne, Saint Paul Writing His Epistles

Father, I praise today your glorious grace and give you thanks for revealing the mystery of redemption to your church: that now we, Gentiles in the flesh, who were once separated from the commonwealth of Israel and were strangers to the covenants of promise, are now -through the blood and resurrection of Christ Jesus- fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. How wonderful these news are! Because of this, because it pleased you to made for yourself a people out of the midst of the unworthy, is that we are alive and have been made your children. Thank you, Father! And I join the voice of a saint who said after meditating on this passage of the Scriptures, How great our obligations to sovereign grace!

Lord, thank you for the gospel. I ask you to please have mercy on me and give me grace to proclaim the gospel, the unsearchable riches of Christ with all diligence. Help me so that in every word that comes out from my mouth, in every work I do, I will be a testimony of the grace that saves. Help us, each one of your children, to live a life that will not bring shame but glory to your Name. Oh Lord, help us make known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places that Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings!

Thank you, Father, because we can come before you with all boldness and confidence through our faith in Jesus. Thank you for calling us by name to enjoy fellowship with you. How is that we sometimes neglect to come before you, when it was through the blood of Jesus, through that enormous sacrifice, that we can now have access to your presence! Forgive us for so often neglecting prayer and instead embracing anxiety and fear!  I ask you to help us endure through trials and tribulations and to continue to pray for one another as we proclaim the good news to the broken world. Help us, Father through your Holy Spirit, to grow in the grace and in the saving knowledge of Jesus, our Lord. Help us to seek you with all diligence through out our day.

Father, because of the way that now is open for your own children, because now we can come with all boldness to lay before you the petitions of our hearts. I humbly bow my knees before you, Father, and pray for my husband, for my children and their future spouses. I pray that according to the riches of your glory you may grant them today to be strengthen with power through your Spirit in the inner being, so that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. Oh Father, help us to be well rooted and grounded in love so that we all may have strength to comprehend (what is humanly impossible) with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that we may be filled with the fullness of God. That knowing You in the Scriptures becomes the daily longing of our heart until we awake to you likeness.

Father, what a blessed assurance it is to know that you are able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think. Let you glory shine forth in your Church and in the future generations, forever and ever amen.

Becky

Truth and Love -Ephesians 4:15-

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John Stott writes in his commentary on Ephesians (referring to Eph. 4:1-16):

“Thank God there are those in the contemporary church who are determined at all costs to defend and uphold God’s revealed truth. But sometimes they are conspicuously lacking in love. When they think they smell heresy, their nose begins to twitch, their muscles ripple, and the light of battle enters their eye. They seem to enjoy nothing more than a fight. Others make the opposite mistake. They are determined at all costs to maintain and exhibit brotherly love, but in order to do so are prepared even to sacrifice the central truths of revelation. Both these tendencies are unbalanced and unbiblical. Truth becomes hard if it is not softened by love; love becomes soft if it is not strengthened by truth. The apostle calls us to hold the two together, which should not be difficult for Spirit-filled believers, since the Holy Spirit is himself ‘the spirit of truth,’ and his first fruit is ‘love.” There is no other route than this to a fully mature Christian unity.” (emphasis mine)

I read the Word of God and the words of godly men like Stott and Bonhoeffer, and many others, and I still feel like a broken vessel which knows not how to love others while embracing His Truth, while upholding God’s Word, while giving it preeminence and not compromising it. Stott says that “this should not be difficult for Spirit-filled believers,” I think that is the only line in this quote with which I do not agree. I find it one of the most difficult things to learn. I pray I will always be brave enough to stand strong on the Truth that is so often changed, but humble enough to recognize when I am not loving like Jesus would.

The more I ponder on these things, the more I recognize that only in God we can find perfect justice and perfect love.

Learning under His sun and by His grace,

Becky

*Thanks to Tim Challies who shared this quote on his blog today and to my friend Melissa who pointed it to me.