Charlie - Day 3

He just keeps getting sweeter and sweeter...

Welcome, Charlie!

There is someone I'd like you to meet, and his name is Charlie.

Charles Lee Robert Chi Hall, second grandson, third grandchild, was born at 11:11am on September 10th.  He weighed in at 5 lbs. 15 oz. and from head to toe he is 18 1/4 in length.

Mai had a doctor appointment the morning of the 9th.  She was showing signs of Charlie's imminent arrival so the doctor sent her and Ben directly to the hospital.  Tim and I joined them soon after.  It was quite a long labor, over 24 hours, but after he was born, we all forgot about the weariness, only joy.  I grabbed my camera, of course, and you may follow the story pictorally by clicking on the album link at the bottom of this post.  You'll be able to tell at what point Mai had an epidural...she was a trooper for the first twelve hours, but became exhausted as contractions came three minutes apart from the start.  After the epidural, she was able to sleep, and this was while she was in hard labor, amazing!   

Charlie comes home this morning.  I did go see him last night.  I was amazed at how in just 24 hours, his little head is now perfectly round...so don't be alarmed when you see his head just after he was born.  We are truly fearfully and wonderfully made.  God has accommodated that travel for babies as they are coming into the world. 

Charlie's story begins with Mai and Ben in the labor and delivery room and ends with the family gathering around to welcome this new, sweet, bundle of joy.  And that is exactly what babies are.  Those of you who are expecting your first grandbaby, (or grandbabies!), you are in for one of the greatest experiences of your life!  And, it is just as wonderful and awe-inspiring at the goodness of God and His marvelous works, for the second time, and I would imagine the third, and fourth, and fifth, for them all! 

Pray for this little guy, that he will give his heart over to the Lord at an early age, that he will love Him with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and that he will long for the His return, just like his grandma! 

Enjoy the album...

Welcome, Charlie!

 

Oh, about his name - Charles is for his great-grandfather, Lee is for me (my middle name), Robert is Tim's middle name, and Chi (pronounced Chee) is Mai's dad's name...

My new favorite quote of Ben's - "There is no longer such a thing as night, just one, long, perpetual day."

You are a very attentive husband and father Ben, I'm so proud of you!

Martin Luther Quote

Came across this great nugget by Martin Luther.  No commentary, just enjoy...

"When natural music is sharpened and polished by art, then one begins to see with amazement the great and perfect wisdom of God in his wonderful work of music, where one voice takes a simple part and around it sing three, four, or five other voices, leaping, springing round about, marvelously gracing the simple part, like a square dance in heaven with friendly bows, embracings, and hearty swinging of partners."

Countering Satans Lies With The Truth

At the end of Nancy Leigh DeMoss's book Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free, she lists twenty-two truths that we can use to battle Satan's lies.  The battle we are waging is a spiritual one and calls for spiritual weapons.  God's truth is the greatest weapon of all.  Her counsel is to savor each of these truths, even saying them out loud, until our thinking becomes aligned with God's thinking.  By the truth listed, you will be able to discern the lie that Satan attempts to plant into our minds and bring us into bondage. 

1.  God is good - Psalm 119:68; 136:1.

2.  God loves me and wants me to have His best - Romans 8:32, 38-39. 

3.  I am complete and accepted in Christ - Ephesians 1:4-6.

4.  God is enough - Psalm 23:1.

5.  God can be trusted - Isaiah 28:16.

6.  God doesn't make any mistakes - Isaiah 46:10.

7.  God's grace is sufficient for me - 2 Cor. 12:9.

8.  The blood of Christ is sufficient to cover all my sin - 1 John 1:7.

9.  The Cross of Christ is sufficient to conquer my sinful flesh - Romans 6:6-7.

10.  My past does not have to plague me - 1 Cor. 6:9-11.

11.  God's Word is sufficient to lead me, teach me, and heal me - Psalm 19:7; 107:20; 119:105.

12.  Through the power of His Holy Spirit, God will enable me to do anything He commands me to do - 1 Thessalonians 5:24; Philippians 2:13.

13.  I am responsible before God for my behavior, responses, and choices - Ezekiel 18:19-22.

14.  I will reap whatever I sow - Galatians 6:7-8.

15.  The pathway to true joy is to relinquish control - Matthew 16:25; Luke 1:38; 1 Peter 5:7.

16.  The greatest freedom I can experience is found through submission to God-ordained authority - Ephesians 5:21.

17.  In the will of God, there is no higher, holier calling then to be a wife and mother - Titus 2:4-5.

18.  Personal holiness is more important than temporal happiness - Ephesians 5:26-27.

19.  God is more concerned about changing me and glorifying Himself than about solving my problems - Romans 8:29.

20.  It is impossible to be godly without suffering - 1 Peter 5:10. 

21.  My suffering will not last forever - 2 Cor. 4:17-18.

22.  It's not about me; it's all about Him - Colossians 1:16-18; Rev. 4:11!

Nancy expounds upon each truth with many great insights.  At the very end of the book she gives a list of resources that offer practical help in dealing with specific issues.  These issues are:

• Abortion
• Addictions
• Domestic Abuse
• Emotional Issues
• Food/Eating Disorders
• Forgiveness
• Homosexuality
• Infertility/Loss of Baby
• Marriage
• Marriage to a Non-Believer
• Spiritual Assurance and Growth
• Parenting
• Parents
• Pornography
• Role of Women
• Sexual Abuse
• Sexual Purity
• Singleness
• Suffering
• Time Management
• Women's Issues (Misc.)

She encourages the reader to scrutinize all the resources, and even her book, in the light of God's Word.  This book is definitely worth picking up and keeping in your library. 

The Eyes Have It

I was at the Department of Licensing on Wednesday afternoon because I needed to renew my driver license.  My number was R506.  When I arrived, they were at R486.  (I am pretty sure R stood for "Renew.")  People also had "A" numbers, "O" numbers, and "N" numbers.  (I'm not sure what those other letters stood for, although I think the "N" could have been for new licenses.)  Twenty people were ahead of me with the R number.  This was going to be at least an hour wait, if they took five minutes for each person with an R number.  Good thing I brought a book with me to read, except - the DOL is an interesting place to people watch...

I looked out on the sea of humanity before me.  Two high school age looking girls were smiling and laughing, playing with their cell phones while they chatted with each other, probably texting.  A young man in army fatigues listened as his wife described something to him.  His eyes caught glimpse of a pretty girl, then they went back to his wife.  One of the DOL workers helping those of us holding numbers, looked like she'd had a long day.  She could barely muster a smile with each new face who came to her window.  The boy sitting next to me exclaimed to his mom that she had big arm muscles. "That is fat, Dear," came the reply, and without skipping a beat she continued her conversation with her ex-husband on her cell phone.  Many faces contained eyes that looked weary, worried, or uninterested in what was going on around them.  They would rather be anywhere else but where they were.  Every one's attention was scattered, well except for the screen on which your number with the letter popped up.  I couldn't help but notice the diversity of ethnicity represented.  All these different people focused on different things.  What were their cares?  How many of them knew the Lord?  Were any of them thinking about the Lord?  Then my thoughts went to Revelation 7 and the great multitude described there, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.  This multitude stood before the throne...

...and their focus was in one place...on the Lamb in the center of the throne.

They will be crying out with a loud voice these words of worship and praise-

"Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"  

The Lord will be getting all the attention...We'll be praising Him for our deliverance from sin and Satan's wrath.  And the angels and the elders and the four living creatures will say, "Amen!"  - Also blessing Him with praise, worship, and honor...

When faith is sight, it will always be all about Him!

(Be sure and give Him some undivided attention today...)

Bitter, or Thankful...

My sister sent me this quote today.  I really like it -

"I've never met a bitter person who is thankful or a thankful person who is bitter."

(The remedy for bitterness is thankfulness, by the way...Start by enlarging your view of God.  There is so much about His character and what He has done for us, for which to be thankful!)

Highly Recommended Reading

Every one of you gals who read my blog would benefit from reading Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, if you haven't read it already.  This is one of those books that would be beneficial to read through again.  I'm thinking I should read it in another six months to a year, to see how I'm doing.  As I said in a previous post, Nancy lists forty lies.  She  categorized them by what we believe about God, ourselves, sin, marriage, children, emotions, and our circumstances.  Emotions are a big one for us gals.  When Satan can bring us into bondage with our emotions, we then become self-focused and glory is stolen from the One to Whom it rightly belongs.

Here is a snippet about what Nancy says regarding our emotions:

When we wrestle with out-of-control emotions, it is easy to conclude that emotions are inherently sinful or wrong and should be suppressed.  We need to remember that being created in the image of God means we have the capacity to experience and express a variety of emotions.  God exhibits a spectrum of pure emotions, including joy, delight, anger, jealousy, and sorrow.  And He has designed us to be able to feel and express many different emotions in a why that reflects His heart and brings glory to Him.  

The problem is not that we have emotions-they are a gift from God.  The problem is that our emotions (unlike God's) are tainted by the Fall.  The challenge is to let the Spirit of God sanctify us in the realm of our emotions so that they can be expressed in godly ways.  

I know of no tool that the Enemy uses more effectively to lead us as women into bondage than our emotions.  He does so by causing us to believe things about our emotions that just aren't true.  

The Truth is that, due to our fallen condition, our feelings often have little to do with reality.  In many instances, feelings are simply not a reliable gauge of what is actually true.  When we allow them to be tied to our circumstances-which are constantly changing-rather than to the unchangeable realities of God and His Truth, our emotions are prone to fluctuate wildly.  


If we want to walk in freedom, we must realize that our emotions are not necessarily trustworthy and be willing to reject any feelings that are not consistent with the Truth.
 

Good stuff, isn't it?

In each chapter, after Nancy identifies the lies, she then counters the lies with the Truth of God's Word.  The final section of the chapter is called "Making it Personal."  We can get out of Satan's trap by agreeing with God that we have fallen for a lie (or lies), by accepting responsibility, by affirming God's truth, by renewing our minds with God's truth, and then by acting on God's truth.

We spring and fall clean our homes, giving them a deep cleaning.  This book is a good tool in which to do it with ourselves.