Rest in God's provision for our children.

"It ill becomes the professed servants of God to murmur, because children are withheld:  but it is far worse, to fret because they have a numerous offspring.  Children are in scripture considered as a heritage, and a reward from God to his people; and shall we deem them our encumbrance?  as if he could not provide for many as well as for few!"


The Comprehensive Commentary of the Bible.

Stop the Mantra

"Ladies, we need to stop the mantra that we are just as good as men.  We need to stop cataloging all the areas in which we perceive discrimination.  Instead we need to embrace the reality that when it came time to assigning important roles for the continuance, nurturing, and guidance of the human race, God chose not to send a man to do a job that only a woman could do!"

Andrea Schwartz

Read the whole article here:

http://chalcedon.edu/research/articles/engendered-differences/

"Sabbath is an act of liberation."

Carolyn McCulley cuts deep with a post on the Sabbath.   I rejoice, as this subject is close to my heart.   Arguing that the Sabbath never haven been abolished, it gives good thought into our temptation to find our identity in our work, and how the Sabbath frees us from that.  Go take the challenge.

http://solofemininity.blogs.com/posts/2011/05/lord-of-the-sabbath.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fsolofemininity+%28R

They shouldn't all go to college.

My parents left the Netherlands for Canada in 1953.   Because of that, I have a bit of familiarity with their educational system.  I subscribe to a DutchNews newsletter and saw this news bite today.   Notice that in secondary school there is a serious option for students to prepare for a trade.  In fact, if you do the numbers, there are more students preparing for trades than for college and university combined.  This fits with the call of scripture to train up a child in the way he should go -- according to his gifts.


Secondary school final exams begin
Some 205,000 secondary school pupils start taking their final exams on Monday. In total, 105,350 trade school pupils (vmbo), 58,700 pre-college pupils (havo) and 41,200 pre-university students (vwo) face two weeks of tests. More
 

Glory and Agony

 "Prayer...is in one aspect glory and blessedness; in another, it is toil and travail, battle and agony."

The Hidden Life of Prayer  by D.M. M'Intyre

Triumph in Tribulation

"...let a man once obtain the pardon of sin, the favour of God, and a believing view and prospect of the glory to come, and it is so easy to triumph in tribulation, in such a station as that is, that it will be found as hard to hinder it, as to hinder a man from laughting when he is tickled."
John Flavel  A Treatise on Fear   

The Sovereignty of God and the death of a Scottish lad.

Temple Gairdner, the son of a wealthy Scotsman, was at away at a private school and 10 when his younger brother died.  Previously he had dreamed of a life of success, wealth and popularity. But the death of his brother changed his life.  He resolved to follow God where ever he would lead.
Under an Arabic teacher he mastered Arabic in six months.  His teacher said that "He became more Egyptian than the Egyptians."
For 23 years, until his death, Gairdner helped to create Christian literature in Arabic.  He launched a weekly magazine that explained the Christian faith, and he wrote musicals for Biblical narratives, poetry, Arabic hymns, simple rhymes for the street children and gospel stories in verse.  He provided hospitality to many and ended up planting a vibrant cross-cultural church.  He longed to touch the heart of the Muslims and he poured out his life for that.
I cannot help but feel for Gairdner's mother when she lost her young son.   How she must have wept!  Little did she know that our sovereign God would use that death to propel another son to bring Christ to one of the needest parts of the world.
O mothers,  I hope this story encourages us to trust God with his mysterious providences in our lives.