With Child at Christmas: Thoughts on the Incarnation

I'm 36 weeks today. It was a particular blessing to be able to write some thoughts about expecting at Christmas-time for our Star newsletter this week.

With Child at Christmas: Thoughts on the Incarnation

The Bigger Story of Christmas

Happy December 1st! (Always the official start of Christmas growing up, since my mom made a wonderful Advent chain to count down the days with Christmas activities.)

To commemorate, here is a good look at what Christmas is all about.



What a reason to celebrate!

HT: Justin Taylor

Family Portrait

Yesterday, thanks to the marvels of modern technology, Ben and I were given a delightful preview of Baby Boy Katterson, 15 oz and a very active youngster already.

We think he has daddy's nose, and he had one arm draped over his head for most of the ultrasound, which is how I generally sleep.

It's a staggering thing, to realize that all the while I've been puking and feeling worn out, God has been weaving together this marvelous little person... complete with a nose bone, little perfect fingers and toes, four chambers in his heart, a little diaphragm, brain development, and little femur bones.

Our prayer:

May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion!
May He remember all your offerings and
regard with favor your burnt sacrifices!
Selah.
May he grant you your heart's desires and fulfill all your plans! May we shout for joy over your salvation
and in the name of our God set up our banners!

-Psalm 20: 1-4

A first family photo:

Almost 3 Years Ago...

October 18, 2008 was a very lovely day for Ben and me. Memories of the day were stirred again in my mind, reading a friend's blog post about his reflections following our ceremony.

HT: IBeSmart

When You Don't Need Sympathy

Here is a thought-provoking post about times when we don't need sympathy or a pat on the back, but a word of truth aptly spoken.

HT: Femina

Where Children Rank

I have approximately 173 days (plus or minus a couple weeks) until I launch into the full-fledged adventure of motherhood, Lord willing.

So I appreciated this article on where society ranks children... and what they can mean for a gospel-centered life.

It makes me excited to start.

HT: Desiring God

Pregnant with Lessons

I'm at 13 weeks today, and this morning I got to hear that little heart thumpety-thumping through my belly, 160 beats per minute.

As it's been said, motherhood is a mission field, and though I've only seen this little one as a black and white picture on a screen, already he is teaching me many lessons.

The Fall: Sin is horrendous. It scars the world and twists what was meant to be good. After the fifth time in a day, vomiting into the toilet, my body shouted what my heart is often numb to... sin is horrible, and this broken world needs redemption.

Sovereign Grace: "You must be born again," Jesus said. Well, I know for sure that this little baby who is growing inside isn't in charge of the intricate, complicated process of development he's undergoing now, and (hate to say it) he won't be the primary actor in the process of birth either. He's helpless. Totally dependent. And God creates life and new life as a gift of sovereign grace.

Oh, Sweet Baby

Oh, sweet baby, we don't know your name, or if you're a he or she, but already we love you. We pray that God will keep you growing strong and healthy and let us meet you at just the right time. And even more, we pray He will give you a heart that loves Jesus and follows Him all the days of your life.

The G.O.S.P.E.L.

In powerful form:

Ruth and the Redeemer

This is such an uplifting message about Ruth, by Alistair Begg at the Together For the Gospel Conference.

Good for someone needing a fresh gift of hope.

Why We Love Fairy Tales

This is such an exceptionally insightful excerpt from Tim Keller. Why does the human heart leap into a good story, even though we know it's totally fictional? What is the most ultimate and essential happy ending imaginable?



Hearing that made me salivate to write again. Maybe someday.

HT: Justin Taylor

Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones

It has been asserted that Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones was the greatest preacher of the 20th century.

Certain of his sermons are available for free at this website. (He has a very charming accent, in my opinion.)

I greatly appreciate his clarity of thought and careful attention to the Word.

Finishing Well

I love the sage-like wisdom of men and women who have lived long with the Lord.

This message, "Four Essentials to Finishing Well," by Jerry Bridges (at age 77) is full of gentle, biblical, practical, and encouraging words of wisdom.

Worth hearing.

People and Force Feeding

I just read this article, called "What Has Helped You In Your Troubles?"

With great wisdom, it offers the #1 and #2 answers to that question, and it offers a thought-provoking view of turning to the Bible, when you least feel like it.

I'd recommend reading it if you have any troubles or if you know someone who does.

Corn Pancakes and Frustration

I love the corn pancakes at Maria’s Café. So today when I had a little extra time at home and some Iowa-grown corn in the fridge, I had the inspiration of finding a similar recipe to make for lunch.

A few searches online and I found exactly what I was looking for. The author of the recipe even referenced the fabulous corn pancakes of Maria’s Café, so I knew I had hit the nail on the head.

Corn, flour, sugar, baking powder, milk, pinch of salt. All the basic ingredients you would expect. I blended them up and dropped the first spoonfuls on my hot griddle with eager expectation.

My impatience got the better of me, and I tried to flip the first pancake a little too soon. A spoonful of corn goo adhered to my spatula. A brown crust remained stuck on the griddle. And no sign of actual cake-ness was evident. That was when I had an inkling that these pancakes might not be as easy as your typical Aunt Jemima’s Buttermilk.

I tried a wide variety of other spatulas, thinking that a thinner model might slide more smoothly beneath the golden cakes. Goo. All goo.

I scrubbed all the spatulas and decided the griddle was probably the problem. I switched to a newer pan, added a touch of butter to grease the skids (so to speak), and now made only one pancake at a time, so as to optimally assess its flipping time.

Still no dice. A very thin golden layer would crumple up as I scooped, but no baking, no rising, just a big lump of corn goo.

I decided that some additional flour might be just the ticket. This proved more promising, as (for the first time) I was able to flip the pancake and maintain a circular form. But still, despite lovely golden, crusty edges, the middle was goo.

I added further flour (and my husband came into the kitchen, intrigued by the conundrum. And probably hungry). We let the pancakes cook longer on both sides, until it seemed impossible to consider goo still remaining in the middle.

Ben cut up the latest version and ate it with butter and syrup. “Good!” he said. “The center is just as gooey as the others, but the flavor is nice.”

My afternoon was pretty well shot, and my patience for these little corn cakes had run out. I ate a bagel and stuck the rest of the batter in the fridge (the optimist in me, I guess).

Frustrated. I don’t like wasting food, I don’t like wasting time, and this was a combo platter of both.

And my mind turned to our friends who are serving the Lord in Thailand. We got to skype with them this morning, and their story today was a string of questions, interruptions, disappointments in ministry, and waiting to see how God was going to work for good in their messy relational endeavors. Were they failing? Was their work just a big waste of time and energy?

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).

Paul, I think, grappled with the same kind of puzzle. From the outside, they were afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, and dying like Jesus. But he didn’t label that “failure.”

Rather, he exulted.

For this slight, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things which are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

There’s a lesson for me, I think. My craving for immediate gratification and happy endings to the short chapters of my life are not always God’s way. He uses the things that I would label failure, worthless, a waste for a long-distance glory of unfathomable value.

May we learn to wait and hope in Him.

The Organized Heart

I read a blurb from this new book, and it made me very interested to read the whole thing.

Maybe you'd be interested in checking it out too.

The point is that clutter, stress, and disorganization are not mostly problems to be solved with planners, color-coding, and storage units but things to point us back to walking in the grace of God and having a free and well-ordered heart. Good thoughts to ponder.

First Time

In my almost-30-years of life, I've probably owned literally dozens of Bibles of various translations and sizes.

Here is a really cool snapshot of some people getting a Bible in their heart language for the first time.

Makes me realize how ridiculously rich I am to so easily, even flippantly, grab a copy of God's own Word.



HT: Justin Taylor

Family Worship

I just finished listening to this message by Joel Beeke on leading family worship.

In my assessment, his presentation is not fancy or flashy, but what an earnest love for God and for his family is evident, and how it made me thank God for my own parents... and want to be a godly mother, if God gives us children.

HT: Desiring God

'Til Death Do Us Part

I'd like to show this video to women who reject the notion of a husband as the head of the home and a wife's responsibility to submit to him. It is a beautiful picture of what a servant leader really looks like.

Background: In 1990 Robertson McQuilkin resigned his post as president of Columbia Bible College and Graduate School, in order to care for his beloved wife Muriel, who stopped recognizing him in 1993 and went to be with the Lord in 2003 at the age of 81.



You can also read two articles and an interview about Robertson at Justin Taylor's blog.

HT: Justin Taylor

Cream Cheese

This week I listened to this sermon by C.J. Mahaney. I remember when he preached it at Bethlehem several years ago... but it still smacked me with a fresh wave of conviction and desire to grow in graciously, wisely, and boldly pointing out cream cheese when someone has it on his face. So to speak.

You'll understand when you listen.

HT: Bethlehem Baptist Church

Facing Death with Courageous Confidence in God

I just watched this video of the editor of a book on Facing Death with Courageous Confidence in God.

You'd think that's a fairly morbid topic... but it is a very helpful and hope-filled interview, and it made me want to get the book.

HT: Justin Taylor

Too Much Sorrow

I have dear friends who are suffering. I'm sure you do too. And we all have brothers and sisters around the world who are suffering in ways incredible for us to consider.

Here is a hopeful and heart-felt response to all that pain.

HT: Justin Taylor

Marriage Retreat Reflections Part 4

The final session of the Marriage Retreat, which Gary shared, was on God's Purpose and Plan for Marriage.

It really was a wonderful overview of a biblical perspective on marriage.

His main points:

1) Marriage finds its purpose and meaning in God.
2) Marriage finds its hope in the gospel (and thus, there is hope... no matter how bad a marriage may seem!).
3) Marriage needs grace, faith, and the local church.

All in all, it was a wonderful retreat. And now I'm praying for the Lord's grace to make application of these great truths in real life.

Marriage Retreat Reflections Part 3

The third session of the Marriage Retreat was on Romance in Marriage. A fitting reflection for Valentine's Day!

One of the most practical exhortations was to be a "student for life" of your spouse... make note of the things he likes to read, eat, listen to, talk about. What fascinates him? Be alert for opportunities to surprise, delight, and encourage.

Another help from the session was their list of "little foxes" (cf. Song of Solomon 2:15) that can ruin romance in a marriage.

They cited these "little foxes":

* Ignorance
* Ingratitude
* Spiritual neglect
* Selfishness
* Busyness
* Bitterness
* Fear of man

And here is the session from Covenant Life.

Marriage Retreat Reflections Part 2

The second session of the Marriage Retreat was on Conflict Resolution.

I feel a fond spot in my heart for the chapter on "Conflict" in Love That Lasts, because that's what Ben and I were reading on May 31, 2008, when he proposed to me!

At any rate, there were lots of "zinger" points that hit home from this one. But I'll just pick three.

1) Irritation is not servanthood.
2) Moments of conflict are like a pop quiz from God to test our heart.
3) Humility (i.e. thinking, I am the chief of sinners... what's wrong in my heart right now?) leads to grace.

Here is the whole session, from Covenant Life Church.

Marriage Retreat Reflections Part 1

Last weekend, Ben took me to the Bethlehem Marriage Retreat. Such a gift.

The speakers this year were Gary and Betsy Ricucci, who wrote our favorite (I think) book on relationships, outside of the Bible, Love That Lasts.

One encouraging takeaway from the first session: The struggle toward righteousness glorifies God. Not perfection, but process toward holiness.

I found this audio on the Covenant Life website, and I'm guessing it is the same basic presentation as their session on communication. Worth listening to!

Ben's Thoughts on Romans 12:1

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Ben wrote to me:

“By the mercies of God” sounds like “if you listened to the last 11 chapters.” This is what I think he is saying. “So, because of the great salvation that I have just laid out for you in amazing definition and detail, worship the Lord by giving him yourselves in all purity.”

A good assessment, I thought.

O...

I remember sitting in the auditorium at Northwestern College in 2004 (when that was our North Site), hearing and being very moved by this sermon.

Since this is the verse we're working on for our Fighter Verse memorization this week, I thought I'd listen to it again... Still good!

It was the first time I could remember meditating on the word "O."

At That Moment

I believe in Jesus.

This week I was reading Acts 10. And I was struck by how God wove the various strands of His story, right down to the second, so that I would have the opportunity to hear the gospel.

First, there was a Gentile soldier who feared God.

At about 3pm one day, an angel visited him and told him to send some people to Joppa to find a man named Peter.

The people walked longer than a marathon, about 30 miles, a two-day journey (see Acts 10:30).

Meanwhile, the apostle Peter got hungry.

He decided to take a nap on the roof of the house while food was prepared.

The Lord sent a vision of a sheet full of all the animals that Jews were never supposed to touch ... 3 times.

The Lord explained the vision, saying, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy."

At that very moment, there came a knock at the door. "Is there a fellow here by the name of Peter?"

And up on the roof, the Spirit tells Peter to go down and introduce himself to the three guys who trekked all the way from Caesarea to find him.

They spend the night to catch their breath, and then Peter and a few others head back along the way they came.

Meanwhile, back home the soldier, proving that he was really confident that his messengers would be successful in their invitation, (would he have been so sure if he knew that God had to send a vision to convince Peter to that end?) filled his home with family and close friends. They waited with bated breath for Peter to arrive.

When they come, what a convergence of grace is seen! The gospel was preached, the listeners believed, and the Holy Spirit filled them.

And because of that remarkable orchestration of God, the church was convinced that God had swung open the door of salvation to us outsiders, the Gentiles.

Such a story gives me faith that the awkward, hard, inconvenient timing of my life is no random chance, and that God will provide at the very moment it's needed.

Petty Sacrifices

Ben urged me to take a Sunday morning off this month, and so I am home on the couch with a cup of tea (Rooibos, from Cape Town) and reading a book by Elisabeth Elliot.

As a general rule, I find myself strengthened and helped by anything I read which she has written.

This quote struck me:

Manners, said Emerson, are made up of peggy sacrifices. "Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage" (1 Cor. 13:5, Phillips).

A simple gesture like passing the butter plate to someone else before helping oneself is the outward expression, small and unobtrusive but deeply telling, of the sacrificial principle, "My life for yours." (The Shaping of a Christian Family, p. 171)

I do want my life flavored by that kind of small "others before myself" moments. Lord help me.