God Gave Us the World by Lisa Tawn Bergren

Following in line with the other great books in this series, Lisa Tawn Bergren's book God Gave Us the World follows Little Cub as he learns something new about God and His creation.  Little Cub takes a trip to a museum exhibit called "Bears Around the World."  He has all kinds of questions about why bears from the different parts of the world look different from him, so Mama Bear explains to him where God has put the different bears to live, what they eat, and the kind of fur they have.  Little Cub is curious about why God didn't just make all the bears the same.  Mama Bear teaches Little Cub that God created all the bears and each bear has a special purpose for being in the world.

My two children really enjoyed this book and brought up thought provoking questions of their own.  They loved the bright, colorful pictures, and were quick to point out the difference they noticed in the bears and where they lived.  This is a great book for families to use when teaching young children about their roles in God's world and about diversity among the people around them.  We loved it!

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Turmoil in the Middle East

Dear Friend,

The media is full of reports of turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa. Uprisings have rocked the governments of Egypt, Tunisia, and Jordan. Angry crowds are protesting in Lebanon, Syria, Algeria, and Yemen. South Sudan has voted to secede from Sudan, and demonstrations have broken out in the capital city of Khartoum.

This is a critical time of unrest and uncertainty, and Christians need to join together in prayer for this volatile region.

I've probably spent more time working in this part of the world than any other. Over the years, Samaritan's Purse has helped hundreds of thousands of suffering people with medical care, food, and other aid. We have helped train and equip hundreds of pastors, distributed thousands of Bibles, and even built over 400 churches in Sudan. More than 2.5 million children in the Middle East and North Africa have received shoe box gifts from Operation Christmas Child.

Please join with us in praying for the Christian minorities who could face increasing persecution in the days ahead. Pray that God will use these current crises to open doors and hearts to the Gospel and that many will find "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). Ultimately, we know, true peace will come to this region only when Christ returns in power and glory.

One of our most faithful ministry partners sent a note saying, "Throughout the Middle East, there is a new generation of evangelists ready to continue the work of our Lord until that blessed day when He returns to us. I ask you to pray that they will be fearless in their work in any circumstance."

We are committed to lifting up Christ in the region in any way that we can. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Sincerely,

Franklin Graham
President, Samaritan's Purse

Out Live Your Life by Max Lucado

I recently read Max Lucado's new book, Out Live Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference.  The world is a difficult place to live in current times with poverty, disease, natural disasters, and other reasons for hopelessness.  Closer to home, many people we come in contact with on a daily basis are lonely and looking for a reason to hope.  Max Lucado uses 16 easy-to-read chapters to explore ways to make a difference in the world around us, both near home and internationally, by living out our one and only life.  We have one chance to make it count.

After reading several other books dealing with similar issues (like Radical and The Hole in Our Gospel), I felt Out Live Your Life was the encouragement I needed to start living my life the way God intended.  I feel like it is possible for me to make a big difference in my world without feeling overwhelmed myself.  What a waste it would be if I leave this world without making a difference to someone else who needs hope.  Each chapter begins with a Bible verse and then ends with another Bible passage and prayer that corresponds with the chapter.  I really liked that about the book.  I also like the fact that 100% of the author's royalties will benefit children and families through World Vision.  I would recommend this book and give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Disclaimer:  This book was provided by Booksneeze for the purpose of this review.

Merry Christmas!

"Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son."

1 John 4:10

Fall Social on the Farm

Michelle's P & P

Congratulations to Jason, Michelle, and Parker!  Keep them in your prayers as we await the arrival of baby girl Merritt!!

100 Prayers God Loves to Hear: 100 Praise Songs

My kids and I were very interested when we found 100 Prayers God Loves to Hear: 100 Praise Songs in our mailbox.  It is a book created by Stephen Elkins and includes two CDs with 100 praise songs for children.  The book is a great collection of prayers for all occasions, and it is a very useful tool for teaching children how and when to pray - anytime, anywhere, and about anything.  I would characterize the book and songs as creative and fun!  

My children are five and three and LOVE the songs on the CDs.  My three-year-old son insisted on repeating the songs over and over, while my five-year-old daughter enjoyed looking through the book and listening to the stories, prayers, antecdotes, and Bible verses.  Both of my kids give this set five stars!

I received this book for free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as a blogging book reviewer.

God is at work!

Continue to keep Greg and Sarah Mann in your prayers as they minister to the Palaung people in Thailand.  Praise the Lord for the new believer who just last week found the Lord in the middle of a field by her home.  The Manns are expecting a baby in the next few weeks, so keep them in your thoughts and pray for a safe delivery and healthy baby girl. 

We Need One Another

This is a neat post I read today on Beth Moore's blog for Living Proof Ministries:
Thinking About Stuff
July 23, 2010

Last night my man and I had the neatest experience and it’s on my mind so I think I’ll share it. We were invited to the 30th birthday party of a young woman we’ve known all her life. Kay’s parents and Keith and I have been dear friends since our early 20′s. Many years ago we served together in our young marrieds’ Sunday School department. Kay’s Dad, Roger (one of the finest men I’ve ever known), taught the men’s class and I taught the women’s. Each set of couples had 2 daughters almost exactly the same age. They grew up together at the same church and have known each other all their lives. We have vacationed together a number of times as families and as couples and leaned on each other more times than I can count. During difficult seasons, we have wept together and in times of victory, celebrated like wild people. Our oldest daughters served in summer missions together and met and fell in love with two guys from Missouri who were best friends. They each married those guys and were in each other’s weddings only two weeks apart.
We got invited to Kay’s birthday party because Roger and Mary Ann (one of the finest women I know) would be the only other older couple there. The rest were all in their late 20′s or early 30′s. As we sat at that table with our life-long friends right beside us, I looked around at those young people and remembered just yesterday when it was us sitting in their positions. We had so much life ahead. So much joy. So much victory. So much defeat. (I’ll just apply that part to Keith and me) So much need. Life – and marriage, for Heaven’s sake – is flat-out HARD. But you really couldn’t tell it last night. It was a celebration and time to put our troubles aside and boast in the graciousness of our God. And we did.
I thought last night how much God used that band of married couples so many years ago to keep Keith and me together through hard times and how much sweeter they made the good times. Many of us from that original young marrieds’ group at our church are still friends today. All but two couples have stayed together (no condemnation to those who haven’t – the devil is relentless) and through many very difficult times. None of us are without scars. None of us are as full of ourselves or as sure of ourselves as we were back then. We’ve been broken over and over and sometimes to pieces but last night there we sat, telling some of those people our stories and hearing a few of them say,
“That’s pretty cool.”
The way God ordained it, we don’t just need our vertical relationship with Him to make it in life and marriage. We need one another. We need Hebrews 10:24-25 kind of people. We need folks around us to cheer us on and even to question us and hold us accountable. We need people who will not only pray for us but laugh with us and cry with us. Eat Mexican food with us. Live life with us! We need more than Facebook and blogs and tweets, as much as I enjoy them. We need real people and real face-to-face, life-to-life relationships. Last night when Kay’s husband, Jerrell, prayed over her before we sat down to the birthday feast, for some reason Mary Ann, Roger, Keith and I grabbed onto each other for dear life and hugged each other with all our might. We are still standing after the enemy has done you-can’t-imagine-what to try to destroy us. Not one of us would take an ounce of credit. Jesus. It’s all Jesus. He’s been so much better to us than He had to be. He did not let the devil bring the destruction he wanted.
It seems only yesterday we WERE those young couples. In the blink of an eye those young couples will be our age, having endured what they were sure they couldn’t and having celebrated more than they deserved.
God is so good.
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed…Therefore we do NOT lose heart.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-8, 16.

Discipline

The following is from author Wendy Blight, seen on the Proverbs 31 Ministries Blog:

Discipline.
Dictionary.com defines discipline as the rigor or training effect of experience or adversity. My parents disciplined me as a child. With a teenager and a tween, my husband and I find ourselves in a continual process of discipline. But me? I am an adult. I don't need discipline. And who really has the right to discipline me?
Hebrews 12:5-6 discusses just exactly who has the right to discipline me…and you. God. Our Creator. Our Heavenly Father.

I love how the writer of Hebrews 5 begins: "And have you forgotten the encouraging words that God spoke to you as His children?..." God intends for the words that follow to encourage us and not discourage us.
In Hebrews 12:5-6, the writer of Hebrews quotes from Proverbs 3:11-12 which says, "My child, don't reject the Lord's discipline, and don't be upset when He corrects you. For the Lord corrects those He loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights."

This word discipline in the King James translation is "chasteneth," which in the Greek denotes "to train" and is most often used with training up a child.

Elsewhere in Scripture it is translated learned or taught, but in Hebrews 12, it refers specifically to the part of training that means infliction of evils and calamities. When I read that, my first thought was surely not, God. But as I continued my study, God's Word helped me understand.

God knows who He created us to be. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you…plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

God promises in Romans 8:28, "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them."

God balances these encouraging truths with the reality that we are sinful and selfish creatures. When given the choice, we will choose to please ourselves, serve ourselves, and put ourselves first. God knows to accomplish the plans He has for us, He must burn away that which is selfish and self-centered. He also knows that we will not willingly surrender to this chastisement.

But we all have faults and follies that need to be corrected. And at the time God led me to Hebrews 12, I was in the midst of struggling with those faults and follies. He wanted me to see that I had to walk through His refining fire to burn off all evidence of self in my struggle. Such a hard truth to hear. But the end result, the wonderful truth is that God promises me that when I emerge on the other side of His refining fire, I will be closer to reflecting His image and closer to being the woman He created me to be.

When we look at Hebrews 12:5-6 this way, we should willingly surrender to His discipline. For it is His discipline that assures us we are legitimate, loved children of God. He is treating us as His own. He is preparing us. He is training us. He is transforming us.

Dear Lord, thank you for disciplining me. It is hard to take but I understand it is for my good and Your glory. In Jesus' Name, Amen.