Category Archives: Living_Quietly

How Do You Serve Warm Bread?

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You might be familiar with the setting: four moms waiting for their girls’ dancing class to be over while chatting about many trivial things. So, yes, I was there, except that the conversation was not trivial this time; the Lord had answered my prayer and He had opened a door for me to start sharing the gospel with them (one of them, a very nice hardcore atheist).

After many questions and many answers, I told them how the Gospel, the Kingdom of God, is like bread coming out of the oven and served with butter and honey on top, that for me that was an excellent way to describe it. They smiled, and one of them, the one who knew many “Christians” already looked at me and said, “I have never heard the Christian life, the gospel, described that way, with such an excitement, with such joy. But now I am thinking that many do not want to take that warm slice of bread with butter and honey because the hand that is offering it is so dirty, so filthy that you don’t dare to touch it, no matter how good and delicious the bread might be.”

I pray that as we have these ladies and their families over in our home in the weeks to come, as we open our lives before them, as we serve them, as we converse, as we extend our hands with the Gospel towards them, they will see clean hands reaching out to them. I pray they will have eyes to see how our hands and hearts have been cleansed by the Gospel, and then they too will take the Bread and eat, and have Life.

“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” John 6:35

 

“Scripture teaches us that the gospel must be preached to creation, and declared to every nation. From this, some have falsely assumed that in between our sermons and declarations the gospel must be absent. But the gospel is always present because the Spirit is present around our tables, in our homes, and the Spirit is present because Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father. The Spirit fills the room with fumes, and gospel preaching flicks the lighter.” Grace Agenda Conference: Gospel Presence

Under His and by His grace,

Becky

Proverbs 2: Three Ifs

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Shiloh Photography

Proverbs 2 is without any doubt one of my favorite proverbs and this morning as I was reading it I noticed three important ifs (v.1-4)  that lead us to understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God (v.5-8). Three ifs that will help us understand righteousness and justice (v.9).

“My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to
understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures…”
Proverbs 2:1-4 (emphasis mine)

If you receive my words…

The only way to receive God’s Word is with a humble and quiet heart. A proud heart, an unteachable heart will never have an attitude of inclining his heart and ear to attentively listen to what God is saying.  We need a quiet heart, a quiet spirit to listen humbly to what the Lord is saying in His Word.  I have many times sinned by trying to quench God’s voice and choosing instead to listen to my own heart’s desires or anxieties. I have sinned when I have not taken heed of the warnings that God gives us in His Word, when I have been stubborn and have embraced my own thinking as the correct one. And you know what? Those times I have sinned in this area is because I did not come to the Word with a humble and a quiet heart that is always ready to listen both the encouragement in God’s Word as well as His warnings and admonitions.

If you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you…

Again and again, we see this principle all over. How can I possible treasure up God’s Word within me if  don’t purposely do something about it? Memorizing the Word is the only way to meditate on it day and night. And if you think you can’t memorize it, well, read it all day long. Carry the Word with you, have it open on your kitchen counter, on your coffee table in your living-room, download Apps on your mobile that will help you treasure it all day long. As John Piper said, “Let the Bible bring you back to reality over and over during the day.”

If you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding…

James told us the same thing: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” The key word in both passages is “call.” We must call, we must ask God for it, knowing that He is the source of all Wisdom. There is no wisdom apart from Him. Let us not deceive ourselves, sisters, we know no better than God. Before calling your friend asking her for an advice, first search the Scriptures and go to your Heavenly Father in prayer. He has promised to generously give us the wisdom we need to live in this beautiful, crazy, and at times confusing world when we call for it, when we diligently seek it in prayer. The more wisdom I need the more prayer and the more reading of the Bible I need.

If you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures…

So we need a humble heart to receive and treasure God’s Word, we also need to call out to God for wisdom. Now how are we going to do this? Diligently, putting all effort in our quest for wisdom. It doesn’t just happen. It is not like our justification in which we don’t have to do anything to become children of God, no here we are called to action. We must seek it and search it as for silver and hidden treasures. It is a life long pursue, it a day to day endeavor. It is hard work. It means that we might have to wake up earlier to make time for reading the Scriptures and praying. It means that we must purposely bring our heart and thoughts in submission to what God says throughout the day. There are no shortcuts. If we want to grow in wisdom we must strive for it and seek it with all diligence.

Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God…

Please read verses 5-8. See? Isn’t it amazing that the Lord does give wisdom? He has stored  sound wisdom for simple women like me!  When we listen attentively, when we call for it, when we search for it as for hidden treasures we come to understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

Then you will understand righteousness and justice…

Now read verses 9-22. Look at these promises: wisdom will sure come to our heart and knowledge will be pleasant to our soul as a result of God answering our prayers. Discretion will watch over us and understanding will guard us (and watch and guard are strong verbs, they are definitely not passive ones!)

In verses 12-29 we see that when wisdom comes we will be able to discern and be delivered from the way of the evil and of men of perverted speech that deceive with their many words.  We will be delivered from the forbidden women (who always leads to idolatry and foolishness that drives men -and women alike- away from the covenant).

The last three verses give us a glimpse of the end of both the wise and the fool. And I know I want live and end my days walking in the way of the good, keeping to the path of the righteous. I long to live uprightly and in all integrity before my God. I want to live a wise life, so I will remember to listen humbly, to search the Scriptures, and to pray.

May God help us,

Becky

Declaring War on Anxiety -A Meditation on Job-

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Canon Press

Continuing with more wise words from Toby J. Sumpter’s book, A Son for Glory (the context is Job 2-3):

 

 “Paul himself disagrees with a stoic passivity to every event in our lives, and he does not contradict himself. He says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7). Paul does not say that we should not be anxious because God is in control and does whatever he pleases (though there is a sense in which that is true). Paul says that we should not be anxious because we are constantly pouring out our anxieties to God. Paul instructs the Philippians about how to fight anxiety through prayer. This is the same exhortation that Peter gives his readers. They ought to cast all their anxieties on God, because He cares for them (1 Peter 5:7). Paul is making the same point. There is to be thanksgiving, but faithful prayer does not ignore anxieties and pain. Faithful people will let their requests be made known to God; they will cast their anxieties upon Him. Also notice the goal of voicing these fears and pains and anxieties to God: the peace of God… Crying out to in anguish and fear to the God of heaven is not giving in to anxiety; it is declaring war on that anxiety. It is refusing to give up the fight.

Job is going to go on fighting for the rest of the book. Job is a warrior… Faith looks to God in hope, but faith is not blind, and faith is not lifeless. Faith doesn’t pretend it doesn’t hurt, and faith isn’t apathetic about the gifts -friends, family, health- that God has given us. Faith loves those gifts of God, and when they are threatened or taken away, faith cries out to God, “Why are you doing this?” Faith is hungry for goodness and justice and mercy. Faith is the woman who won’t stop bringing her requests to the master, because he is the master and because he is the Lord.”

Praying without ceasing and giving thanks…

Becky

Elisabeth Elliot and Nancy Wilson on Journal-Keeping

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This very much summarizes what I believe on journaling…

“I was very cautious about what I put in the journals. I don’t think it was because I feared someone else would discover my secrets. I think I was afraid to articulate, even for myself, feelings I might have to get rid of. Better to stick  with what God was saying to me than what my heart was saying. It seemed the safer course. I do not repudiate it now. The only way to build a house on the rock is to hear the Word (I couldn’t have heard it if all I listened to was my feelings) and then to try to do it…”

Elisabet Elliot, Passion and Purity (p. 54)

Nancy Wilson also wrote a while ago two posts on journal-keeping that are worth considering:
Part One. Part Two (if you only have time to read one, read part two. It is excellent -a must I would dare to say-.

“[W]e should and must guard our tongues in all things spoken and written: “He who guards his mouth preserves his life” (Prov. 13:3). Psalm141:3: “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.” Our pens need watchmen and guards just like our mouths. And the fact that a journal is “private”does not mean the words can be left unguarded.” -Nancy Wilson

 

“Life is short. Write good words.” -Nancy Wilson

Becky

On Living Quietly – Quietness of Heart-

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I came across this short meditation by Ray Ortlund at The Gospel Coalition today and I just needed to share it with you. It ministered to me as I am -slowly- learning what it means to Live Quietly.

“In quietness and trust shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15

The greatest power in all this world is not military or political or sexual or commercial. The greatest power, which will outlast all others (“above all earthly powers”), resides deep within the simplest believer. Quietness of heart before God, trusting in him, is our strength, and there is no greater strength.

Alec Motyer comments insightfully, “Quietness is the absence of panic and restlessness. It is the product not of refusal to face life but of insistence upon taking God into account in trust.”

This quietness is not denial but indeed its opposite. It is facing God, taking God as God fully into account, treating God as more real than everything so firmly set against us, including our own needs and sins, because he is more real.

Quietness of heart is not outwardly impressive. Which is why we sometimes get nervous, why trusting in God can feel like skating on thin ice. But it is God’s good wisdom — and there is no other — for the display of his all-sufficiency.

Quietness of heart before God is where fugitives stop running, and start resting, and become stalwarts and overcomers, because God himself is there.

Learning under His sun and by His grace,

Becky

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