Josiah Sayings

My Josiah is quite a character. He is three and a half and incredibly verbal. We thought his oldest sister talked a lot (well, okay, she does) but he is non stop. And he says the funniest thing. Right now he is narrating a Road Runner cartoon. Because, obviously, no one else in the room can see the tv for themselves.

He makes up the funniest things. His current word is 'bammed.' As in, "Charis just bammed me on the head!" or "I just bammed the car into the wall!"

And every past tense of a verb has two endings, "Mommy, why did you just stoppted the car?"

He wants to know how to spell everything, "Mommy, how do you spell my name?"

Mom, "J-O-S-I-A-H"

Josiah, "Oh, J-O-H-A! Mom, I spelleded it!"

He loves to sing. Right now you can hear him sing any combination of "Awesome God," "Kill the Wabbit" (ask Daddy about that one), his own personal mash up of "You are God" and "Menomenon" (from the Muppet show,) and "Figeuro" (again, ask his Daddy.)

Oh, and everything right now is "AWESOME!"

Gotta love my little man! Awesome little guy that he is.

A great post on a friend's blog.....

http://sillyknopfoos.blogspot.com/2007/10/gods-mission.html

Wordless Wednesday

Isn't She Beautiful?

Many faces of MY Gracie

Psalm 27

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh,
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.

3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.

4 One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life, to
gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.

5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.

6 Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.

7 Hear my voice when I call, O LORD;
be merciful to me and answer me.

8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"
Your face, LORD, I will seek.

9 Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
O God my Savior.

10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.

11 Teach me your way, O LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.

12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing out violence.

13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

Does God ever give you scripture? He gifts me with this all the time. A dear friend sent me this Psalm earlier this week (thank you, Erin!) And last night I came across it in a fiction book I am reading. I don't believe in coincidences. God is way too in control for me to believe that these things just happen....ALL THE TIME??? (Earlier this week the same thing happened with Psalm 78)

This Psalm deals with spiritual warfare. Again... Of not being afraid even though the enemy is advancing. No matter what happens, no matter who turns against me, my God will be there. Humans will always fail us at one point or another, but my God will never leave me. He is my stronghold! A stronghold is defined as a fortified place or refuge. Wow, God is my refuge. That's one of those themes repeated a lot in the Bible. As a wonderful pastor once told a congregation, "If God repeats himself, you'd better listen!" Amen.

Wordless Wednesday

My daughters on the far left and right and their cousins in the middle

Where are you??

Do you ever ask God this question? I've been so aware of spiritual warfare recently. It has been swirling around me in a way that cannot be denied. My friends across the country and across the world are dealing with it. Threats to marriages, threat to faith, threats to life itself.

I am amazed at how few Christians deal with spiritual warfare, or even acknowledge it's existance.

12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12

There it is.....we are fighting a battle against that which we cannot see. If it just ended there, that would be completely frightening. How can we fight that which we cannot see? I struggle with this a lot. I deal with depression. I can't see it, but I sure know when it is in control! I deal with negative self image. Lies from the enemy, I know, but when I am in the throes of it, it can be pretty overwhelming. Subtle things, yes. Not the same as my marriage being attacked, or my life being threatened, but threats to the kingdom all the same.

Luckily, we are given what we need to fight this battle...

13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:13-18

So keep on preparing yourself, keep on praying, be alert. Don't just assume you are having 'bad luck'. Are you in the midst of battle and you don't even know it?

Maybe that is truly the question..."Where are you?" Are you aware of what is swirling around you? On your knees ,my friend, is where we will fight this battle. In the word is where we will fight this battle.


The Battle Belongs to the Lord
Words and music by Jamie Owens-Collins

In heavenly armour we'll enter the land
The battle belongs to the Lord
No weapon that's fashioned against us shall stand
The battle belongs to the Lord

We sing glory and honor
Power and strength to the Lord
(repeat)

The power of darkness comes in like a flood
The battle belongs to the Lord
He's raised up a standard, the power of His blood
The battle belongs to the Lord

We sing glory and honor
Power and strength to the Lord
(repeat)

When your enemy presses in hard do not fear
The battle belongs to the Lord
Take courage my friend, your redemption is near
The battle belongs to the Lord

We sing glory and honor
Power and strength to the Lord
(repeat)

Wordless Wednesday....a glimpse into the future....

He Still Moves Stones

These two beautiful boys are Aidan Christopher (top) and Nathaniel Jacob (bottom) where born last Friday. At 27 weeks 6 days gestation. They are the identical twin sons of friends of ours. People all over the world have been praying for these boys and their parents. The smaller of the two, Aidan, is not supposed to be here at all according to his doctors. He was known as the donor twin as the boys had TTTS (twin to twin transfusion syndrome.) Nate's echocardiograms were showing a thickening of his heart walls.

And so we prayed. And prayed. And passed on prayer requests for the family and prayed. And they are here. Doing well. It might be Christmas before they are home. But they are coming home.

I can think of no better way to end this post than with the way that their mother, Kathleen, has been ending her emails.

Psalm 18: 1-6, In my distress I called to the Lord, I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice, my cry came before him, into His ears. 18:16, He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters.

Wordless Wednesday