Category Archives: Daily Life

>New Year’s Name, "Living in the Sacred"

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I did this last year for the first time; I gave the year a name. I walked through 365 days thinking of the name of the year, its theme, “Yes, I am Listening”, and how much I learned from it! How many times I came into my prayer closet asking my God to help me. In order to listen I had to learn, to practice being quiet; in order to say yes to others, I had to say no to my own desires more than often.

This year again, after praying and thinking, and talking with my husband; I have decided to do it again. This practice has worked for me much better than writing “New Year’s Resolutions”.  So here it is, my new year ‘s name (or theme):

Living in the Sacred

The last chapter on the book The Holiness of God by RC Sproul was decisive for me into choosing this theme (actually the whole book was!) I need to live purposely, knowing that  because of Jesus, I live in Holy Space and Holy Time, every day, every moment; I am living naked before a Holy God.

C.S Lewis said,

“Where, except in the present, can the Eternal be met?”

I want to live fully aware of this truth. Whatever I do, I want to do it for Him, because of Him, to bring glory to Him. I want to meet Him in my daily journey through continuous prayer; I long to live praying without ceasing (I Thessalonian 5:17)

This is a year in which we are expecting many big changes in our family, changes that will certainly make us grow. The only way I will be able to walk through them glorifying God and not being anxious is knowing that I am living in the Sacred. He has written our life’s story. He is the Author. He holds me and my family in His hand. Our times are indeed in His hand. I don’t want to miss this awareness.

Living in the Sacred, means living before God in prayer.

J.R Miller says,

“Think what it would mean to have every word that passes our lips winged and blessed with prayer—always to breathe a little prayer before we speak, as we speak. This would put heavenly sweetness into all our speech! It would make all our words kindly, loving, inspiring words—words that would edify and minister grace to those who hear.”

“Think of a woman amid her household cares—taking everything to God for His blessing, for His approval, for His direction. These are not by any means impossible suppositions. Indeed, this is the way a Christian is to live, should always live—doing all in the name of the Lord Jesus!”

This is what I long for this year; to Live in the Sacred; to live breathing out prayers.

May God help me.

Living in the Sacred… What it means? A Reflection on Psalm 63, A desire to be in the Holy Place.

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Related Posts Around the Corner:

>Last School Project of the Year – Paper-Flowers-

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>My little one and I are studying Botany this school year and this is our last school project of the year. We made this beautiful flowers using cupcake liners (the original idea is from this place)

They are very e.a.s.y to make and super fun.

These pictures are also  posted on my Spanish blog, Delicias a Tu Diestra Para Siempre.

Enjoy your little ones today, enjoy your journey!

>How Do You Spend Time with God?

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 Angelus, Jean.François Millet 1859

Part of the BIG changes that came to my life when God opened my eyes to the Doctrines of Grace, is a disciplined spiritual life. Before that  I was always in a roller coaster of prayer and Bible reading, never constant, always feeling guilty about it; The truth is that I tried to maintain a life of prayer based on my emotions and not on the Word which is impossible to do. The Lord had dealt graciously with me; He has opened my eyes to see and my ears to hear and my prayer life as well as my Bible reading time have grown, little by little but steady… “not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” (Phil. 3:12)
I would like to share here what has been helpful to me  (please, note that I am  not saying this the way YOU should do it, but this is the way it has worked for ME) to battle against my flesh which sometimes seems so weary and tired, and distracted.
First I started to wake up earlier every morning. Every. Day. Every. Day. Yes, it is not always easy but the Lord has helped me with that. I found that if I didn’t set a time at the beginning of my day to start right with God, I would not be able to do it later during the day.
Second, I learned that in order to be awake and not be distracted by all the thoughts  and to-do lists that seem to attack my mind whenever I start my devotions, I needed to be FULLY engaged in my time with God; so I started to bring a pen and journal, along with my Bible and some prayer books, to my devotional time.
My devotions look a little bit like this; I read the bible, take notes, pray over that Scripture, I jot down my thoughts again. I take time to review my memory Bible verses, (I have a system with post-it tags to know which ones I should review and which one I am learning right now); again I pray over those verses. Many times I use prayers guides such as Valerie’s prayer guide, or prayer books like The Valley of Vision or A Diary of Private Prayer. How do I use these books? Well, I read a paragraph, or even a line, and then I stop to make it mine, adding my own words to that prayer, which I also like to write down, on the margins or on my journal.
My favorite prayer book is A Method for Prayer. Freedom in the Face of God, by Matthew Henry. O how I love this prayer guide! It has different sections to it, and again I have little post-its to help me find each section and I move them as I walk through the guide. Again, I stop, ponder about it, add my own words, and then I write down a prayer.
All these have been a great help to me, I am not distracted, I pray longer, and I really meditate on God’s Word. I find it refreshing to come daily to the Lord’s table and eat His Words which are sweeter than honey and keep them in my heart.
For this, I am grateful today. 
Lord, I thank you, for helping me build a disciplined prayer life; thank you for bringing me to your Word, for opening my eyes to see and my ears to hear you. Thank you, because you have called me to sit at your feet and drink from the Living Water that satisfies my soul.

How do you spend time with God? 
Would you share with us, so that we may be encouraged to persevere? 

Related Posts:

Daniel’s Prayer
God’s Sovereignty in the Gospel of Luke
On Prayer and C. H Spurgeon
The Secret of the Believer’s Boldness  (A guest post by Christina Langela)
Lord, Teach us to Pray (A guest post by Diane @ Theology for Girls)
A House of Prayer

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>Giving Thanks to God and Others

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Pixels and Stories (mom and daughter image)

Have you thought that sometimes it is easier to give thanks to God than to others?

This month, a month which some of us have set apart to give thanks, I want to be practical; I will give, first and foremost, thanks to God from whom all blessings flow, but I also want to show gratitude to those around me. How? Well,  I will be writing  “thank you” notes and “thinking of you” notes to many of my friends and relatives; some living in the same area, some others far away; and I will be doing this the beautiful and traditional way, with pen in hand and stationary paper… I have so much to thank each one of them!

Once, while in a journey, I walked in a bookstore that was on clearance and I bought this little book, for less than five dollars,  it has good and simple advices on how to write thank- you notes; so I thought you might enjoy reading some of her ideas:

1. Focus on the giver. Think of “the person who originated the act of kindness…”
2. Name the gift early. “Always connect the gift with the giver”
3. Don’t force or falsify a thank you. “rather, remember that by continuing to exercise your thank-you muscles you will begin to recognize the elements in every gift or kind act for which you can honestly be thankful”
4. Give a thanks on time. “Responding on time is important; but more important  is responding”
5. No- ocassion thank yous.  Give thanks to those who make your life richer and special.
6. Teach your children to give thanks and write thank you notes.  You can start as soon as your child starts to print.

The author includes some “Points of Etiquette” (page 40) few are here:

*Verbal thank yous for gifts don’t substitute for written ones.

*Stay away from general statements; make your thank yous specific.

*Don’t let your prose go beyond your true feelings.

I am planning on starting today! One every day, and mail them at the end of the week. My husband and children will receive one too. I have so much to thank them.

Pixels and Stories (mom and daughter image)

Well, today I raise my voice to say (#873) THANK YOU, LORD FOR SO MANY GODLY FRIENDS (including my best friend, my sister) that you have given me. That is a blessing indeed, even though many of them live in other countries or continents and I get to see them only once a year.

I am thankful, Lord, for all the technology that we have used to keep in touch with each other on a regular basis. I am so grateful for this! It is much easier to keep up building long-lasting friendships in this time than 15 years ago.(#874)


What are you grateful for today?

Join the Celebration here

The little book:

Find it here

>A Piece of Our Weekend

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These past two weeks have been full, the routine of our family which I much appreciate was broken and it was hard to keep up with so many little things, but I am grateful for mornings, aren’t you? Mornings are the promise of a new brand day, a day in which no one, ever, has lived before. Minutes and hours ready to be used; a whole day ahead of us.

My friend died on Wednesday which was very sad, but it was encouraging at the same time to hear her husband saying that he was grateful to the Lord for let him “borrow” his wife’s life for so many years, isn’t that deep gratitude in the Valley?  Isn’t that common Grace displayed in a broken heart? Keep him in your prayers as he starts his new life. His two sons are adults now and his first granddaughter will be born next month.

Our precious little one turned 7 years old yesterday and what a joy it is to see her growing in the Lord. Her big party will be tomorrow, so today, my friends,  I will be off to buy a piñata, candies, and everything to make lasagna. I wish you could join us!

By the way, and just for you to know, our family doesn’t celebrate Halloween at all; we have never done that and are at peace with it. For us it just seems so clear, why celebrating the death when we have light? Why having a big festivity in the darkness when we love light?  My friend Diane wrote about Halloween today, you can check it out here.

Don’t forget to visit this place tomorrow as we jump into our Philippians Study- week four– ; it has proved a great blessing to me to do all the homework; I am so grateful to my friend  Eileen because she has put a lot of effort into sharing this treasure with us. The nice thing about having the studies here, is that you can start any time, so if you missed the first weeks, no worries, you can even start today. Another good thing about this study is that it will help you to be more disciplined in your Bible study time, if you are still struggling with that; and as I mentioned this week, it is very important for us to encourage one another into godly disciplines; so here you have the links for the past studies.

Time to Study Philippians – Introduction- (meet my friend Eileen)
Time to Study Philippians – Week One-
Time to Study Philippians -Week Two-
Time to Study Philippians -Week Three- 

Rebecca Writes pointed her readers  (including me, of course!) to two very good articles, Presuppositionalism Anti-Evidence? and  the Parable of the Boat “distinguish between the various traditions with regard to divine sovereignty, free-will, and salvation.” I thought you might also enjoy reading them. Rebecca is also opening an invitation to have a Thanksgiving Celebration during November, would you like to join in? Read the details here. I am in!

Today I also recommend you to read some  good grammar reminders at Femina, Please feel bad, but don’t feel badly.

Well, this is a piece of our weekend; what are your plans for this weekend?

Rejoicing in Him,