How did I find a little book written in the 1600’s by a Catholic lay brother that worked in the monastery kitchen?  Over the years, I kept seeing Brother Lawrence quoted by other authors which I adore, so I hunted down his book The Practice of the Presence of God.  The book  is small enough to fit in the palm of you hand but filled with beautiful insights. 

The message is that the presence of God is not something you stop and seek.  It’s something you seek with every breath.  My favorite part is when Father Lawrence admits that he was not very good at this for the first decade of trying.  Man, can I relate!

The front section is a record of conversations Father Lawrence had with a friend but the back are letters Father Lawrence wrote to his friend.  I loved the letters best.  You’ll picture this humble man cooking in his kitchen while seeking the presence of God.  It was just what I needed to read, right when I needed to read it.

Since it was written before copy rights and such, I found a copy on line you can print out.  Or it’s available on Amazon.

http://www.practicegodspresence.com/brotherlawrence/index.html

I remember a family dinner when my son looked at his dad and said “I can’t wait until I’m the Dad and I get to be the boss.”  My husband and I looked at each other surprised and I said “Well, that comes with picking the right wife.”  I knew this because for the first decade of our marriage I was not the wife that let her husband lead.

Matt Hammitt wrote this amazing song that looks right into the heart of a man that hungers for the desire to be the leader of his family.  Being the godly leader of a family is not an easy thing.  It takes two people to find the balance in a marriage (as the apostle Paul said in Colossians 3) where a wife submits and a husband cherishes his wife.  Many couples can not even see that such a marriage is possible.  This song paints an honest portrait of how to begin that walk.

In addition to the music video, I have included a video where Matt and his wife talk about the place in their marriage when he wrote this song.  It’s worth the time to hear both.  Blessings on you marriage!

MUSIC VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBdFn4YgxPY&feature=related

INTERVIEW:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZg-HrclQPY&feature=related

” God makes us in His image… Somewhere in you is the you whom you were made to be…The problem is that the image of God  is deeply scarred in each of us and we lose trust in God’s version of our story… It seems too good to be true…But the thing we are searching for is not somewhere else.  It’s right here.  And it’s only here when we give up the search, when we surrender, when we trust.  Trust that God is already putting us back together. .. It is trusting that I am loved…  That exactly as I am, I am totally accepted, forgiven, and there is nothing I can do to loose that acceptance.”

As a toddler, my son Garrett was so busy going from activity to activity that I could barely get him to sit still to eat.  Of course, he could always find time for a bowl of ice cream or a stack of chocolate chip cookies but not the stuff that was good for him.  Garrett was only still, if he was asleep or locked in his car seat.  Since sleeping is a poor time for eating,  I began to pick him up from preschool with a piece of fruit in the car.  Safely strapped down in his car seat, Garrett would wolf down the fruit like he hadn’t eaten in a week.   It was something to see Garrett remembered how much he loved a good piece of fruit.  But first, he had to be still.

I’m afraid my practice of stillness often resembles a preschooler’s.  As much as I want to sit still to receive the good things in life, I find it is much easier to be still for things that do not fill me.  I can sit still in endless meetings or in front of a mindless TV show.  If I’m brooding over my hurt feelings or working myself up for a good worry fit, I can appear almost catatonic.   Like my preschooler, I’ll find the time to sit still for the things that do not nurture me.    

In Psalm 46:10, God tells us to “Be still and know that I am God.”  Does that mean God wants you to sit still more?  No, for God, stillness isn’t about not moving.  It’s about not doing.  Stillness is found when you stop doing things with your hands, stop doing things with your feet and most importantly, stop doing things with your mind that distracts you from God.   Let’s face it: not doing is not easy but the gift you find in the stillness will be so worth it.  The psalmist said that the payoff for being still is knowing God.   But what is it you will come to know about God?  When you stop and focus just on God, you will know how lovingly He is focused on you.

In the stillness, you will know that God cherishes and adores you beyond reason.  You’ll know that regardless of what is lying at your feet, Jesus will carry you through it.  And above all you will know that God treasures you so much He can never leave you nor forsake you.   Those sweet reassurances are the gifts you will find in the stillness with God. 

God wants to give you these gifts but you have to be still long enough to receive them.   If only God had a giant car seat to lock you in so you’d be still to taste the sweet reassurances He longs to give you.  But God’s not in the business of strapping in His children for them to receive His gifts. 

Pray that God will give you a hunger for stillness so you will come to know not just in your head, but fully in your heart, how adored, cherished and treasured you are in the eyes of God.

I found James Scott Bell!  Of course, he probably did not know he was lost.  What I mean is that after years of reading any Christian fiction I could get my hands on, somehow I missed Bell’s excellent suspense books. 

My favorite thing about Try Dying, is not the mind twisting plot or the author’s gift at building suspense.  It’s the fact that the lead character makes me laugh outloud.  Ty Buchanan is a LA Lawyer that through tragedy has to face life’s limitation and little by little finds glimpses of God.  Fortunately, for me and my warped sense of humor, Ty’s a bit obnoxious. This first book, Try Dying is more serious but  each book in the Ty Buchanan series makes me laugh even more.

In the book, Ty finds God in bits anf pieces.  I like salvation stories that seem to grow gradually rather than come crashing like a lightening bolt.  Faith is a gift but sometimes it shows up through our struggles with God.

Have a good time and discover James Scott Bell in Try Dying.

http://web.mac.com/jamesscottbell/Site/TryDying.html

Have you ever had a song that every time you listened to it, you cried?  That is what Mark Schult’s song  He’s My Son did to me.  Mark Schultz was a youth leader who wrote a song from the viewpoint of a dad of a 14 year old son who was struggling with cancer.  This song is so raw and so real that it touched the place where I had been on my knees with health scares about my own kids.  So for years I couldn’t listen to this song. 

Then I heard Mark Schultz in concert and he said the boy it was written about was alive and strong and doing great.  So I began to listen to the song again.  Last month, I met Mark at the International Christian Retailing Show and he said the boy is now 27 and healthy.  Ain’t God good!

So listen to the song and know God’s glorious answers to this father’s prayer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8bvA3M63G4

“When looking back at the lives of men and women of God the tendency is to say-’What wonderfully astute wisdom they had!  How perfectly they understood all God wanted!’ …We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the Divine guidance of God through childlike people that were foolish enough to trust God’s wisdom and the supernatural equipment of God.”

Camping takes a lot of equipment!  First, there’s the basics like the tent, sleeping bags and your outside frying pan.  Then you add the lantern, waterproof matches and the bug repellent.  And don’t forget the trowel and the biodegradable T.P.  The list of much needed camping equipment can go on and on.  Yet regardless of how much equipment you have or how much money you spend, there’s one thing camping equipment can’t do.  It can’t tell you where to go camping. 

So how do you decide where to go on your grand camping adventure?  You look for leadings from your heart.  Do you hunger for the excitement of popular attractions or some off-the-beaten-path isolation?  Is your heart in need of the thrill of rafting and rock climbing or the peace of a fishing pole and a good book?   The one thing you can count on is that all of that precious camping equipment will remain dusty and unused until you decide on your camping destination.

This crazy adventure we call the Christian walk is not so different.  God provides lots of ways for you to be equipped.  He uses His people to provide praise music, worship services, and bible studies to equip you.   It seems like the longer I am a Christian, the more Christian equipment I collect.  With each passing year, I’ve heard more sermons, sung more praise songs and devoured more bible studies but have I gone on any adventures with these wonderful tools God has given me?  Or am I just a collector of dusty equipment?

God is really not interested in us becoming collectors of sermons, songs and verses.  He has plans for each of us to go out on mighty adventures.  Ephesians 2:10 says “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  Some of you many be thinking “Are you sure? Adventures for Christ sounds like something those “other” people are suppose to do.”  No, it’s true.   God has prepared good works for every Christian to do, even you.  Of course there are others of you thinking, “I REALLY want to do something for Christ!  But how do I know what to do?”

Just like when you decided where to go on your camping trip, look inside to the yearnings of your heart.  When you watch the news, which stories make your heart hurt? Is it the stories about kids or disasters or illness?  What things frustrate you that are not being done right?  Are there people you’ve heard of being senselessly neglected?  What are the things that find you saying “Someone should do something about that.”   God has placed some of these aches in your heart for a reason.

With every sermon, every song and every verse God has been preparing your heart to leap into the adventure Christ has prepared for you.  So take the collection of equipment you have gathered over the years and dust it off.  Pray for God to reveal the direction He has placed in your heart and then get ready!  The best adventure of your life is about to begin!

Lyn Cote has truly written an epic.  Blessed Assurance spans three generations, three sides of our country with an in depth portrait of three major events: The Chicago Fire, the San Francisco Fire and the Aftermath of WWI in New Orleans.  A major theme is the racial difficulties of each era.  Being a child of the south, it’s refreshing and enlightening to see an author take a serious look at the racial issues in our country beyond the Civil War and the 60’s.   God has been working on His children’s hearts to overcome prejudice in all eras and in all lands.

Thank you Lyn for placing God’s truth before your readers in a way that is such a joy to read.  Blessed assurance surrounds God’s truth with wonderful characters, a dramatic plot and an inspiring love story.  You won’t want to miss this one!

Find out more: http://www.booksbylyncote.com/books.html

This is not just an amazing song but an amazing story.  Matthew West had to face a career threatening operation that could have taken his voice.  You should watch this video to get the real grasp of his story and his song.

“I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking,
“What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?”

Love this video!! and this song! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dva6-Yu3zkI&feature=channel