Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Job

This mornings DAB reading was from Job, God's reply to Job's questions. Funny how in Sunday School we learned about Job...that he had everything, wife, kids, big farm. Then it all got taken away from him, wife and kids died, farm destroyed and he was left sitting, covered in boils, under a tree. But he trusted God, he never wavered (at least that's what I remember learning), then eventually God blessed him with more than he had before.

Reading Job now, wow, its soo different, it was not that simple. Yes, Job did not deny God, but he certainly had questions and he had some pretty serious conversations with God.

In today's reading, God replies to some of Job's questions, if you care to read...

JOB 38: 1 - 40:2

1 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?

8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?

12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.

16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.

19 “What is the way to the abode of light?
And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places?
Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born!
You have lived so many years!

22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I reserve for times of trouble,
for days of war and battle?
24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm,
26 to water a land where no one lives,
an uninhabited desert,
27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland
and make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30 when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?

31 “Can you bind the chains[b] of the Pleiades?
Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons[c]
or lead out the Bear[d] with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you set up God’s[e] dominion over the earth?

34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds
and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who gives the ibis wisdom[f]
or gives the rooster understanding?[g]
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38 when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?

39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness
and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40 when they crouch in their dens
or lie in wait in a thicket?
41 Who provides food for the raven
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?

1 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?
2 Do you count the months till they bear?
Do you know the time they give birth?
3 They crouch down and bring forth their young;
their labor pains are ended.
4 Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds;
they leave and do not return.

5 “Who let the wild donkey go free?
Who untied its ropes?
6 I gave it the wasteland as its home,
the salt flats as its habitat.
7 It laughs at the commotion in the town;
it does not hear a driver’s shout.
8 It ranges the hills for its pasture
and searches for any green thing.

9 “Will the wild ox consent to serve you?
Will it stay by your manger at night?
10 Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness?
Will it till the valleys behind you?
11 Will you rely on it for its great strength?
Will you leave your heavy work to it?
12 Can you trust it to haul in your grain
and bring it to your threshing floor?

13 “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
though they cannot compare
with the wings and feathers of the stork.
14 She lays her eggs on the ground
and lets them warm in the sand,
15 unmindful that a foot may crush them,
that some wild animal may trample them.
16 She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers;
she cares not that her labor was in vain,
17 for God did not endow her with wisdom
or give her a share of good sense.
18 Yet when she spreads her feathers to run,
she laughs at horse and rider.

19 “Do you give the horse its strength
or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?
20 Do you make it leap like a locust,
striking terror with its proud snorting?
21 It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength,
and charges into the fray.
22 It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing;
it does not shy away from the sword.
23 The quiver rattles against its side,
along with the flashing spear and lance.
24 In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground;
it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.
25 At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’
It catches the scent of battle from afar,
the shout of commanders and the battle cry.

26 “Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom
and spread its wings toward the south?
27 Does the eagle soar at your command
and build its nest on high?
28 It dwells on a cliff and stays there at night;
a rocky crag is its stronghold.
29 From there it looks for food;
its eyes detect it from afar.
30 Its young ones feast on blood,
and where the slain are, there it is.”

1 The LORD said to Job:

2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
Let him who accuses God answer him!”


God tried to get through to Job, for Job to understand that He cares about him and loves him. God feeds the very bird outside my window!! A story of God's care for me: I always go back to the time my parents were quite poor, we never knew it as kids at the time. Our parents told us years later, they were severely under the poverty line one year. I don't remember the time, probably because I was never starving, thirsty, unclothed, homeless, unloved, never. God took care of a large family, provided our needs fully through very challenging times. It's something I carry with me and if hard times ever fall on us or me, I can recall that memory or read Job.

update...


Obviously, I've been putting off this update. It's not the update I wanted to write, but its not about me, its not all about my wants.

After 4.5 days of straight underwear for Caden, we went back to diapers. Stopped potty training. We still tell Caden when we are going pee or poo, so he keeps learning about the consistency, but we don't ask him to go on the toilet. We're stopping for a month, 2 or 3 until he shows just a bit more "want" to go on the toilet. His toilet options are still in the washroom too, so that is a visible reminder. Every aspect of the 3 Day Potty Training program Caden was good with, except "wanting" to go pee or poo on the toilet. He understood it all. I found out he can hold his pee and poo for an awful long time, so the control is there. We both learned an awful lot, hoping Caden retains some of that knowledge for the next go-round.

The next go-round I plan to utilize the 3 Day technique again, straight underwear, positive, praiseful, tons of grace. (Again, I would not have had the patience and grace without God and the prayers of my family and friends, THANK YOU!) I believe in the 3 Day program still, maybe 3 days is unrealistic for some children, maybe 22 months is unrealistic for some children. Maybe the author of the program has a certain personality that worked in training her 5 children at that age, I don't know. I don't regret trying it, it taught all 3 of us in different ways.

And thanks to you who gave me reassurance that it was ok to stop the program and try again later (it tears me up, you are all sooo good!).

Last week also made me see, that although we know what is good for our child and really WANT him to do something, he has to have the want, the desire has to be his as well.

How blessed we are to have Caden, he is a supreme joy in our lives, love him!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

update...

Caden's in a nap time now, allowed me some elliptical time and a quick update...

*Confidence..."when your hill is high and you're afraid to try, Confidence will take you up to the sky" lyrics from Caden's DVD we listened to this morning.
*Patience - my patience, i believe has been sustained by your prayers
*Grace - also offered tons of grace after mistakes, God grants us sooo much grace when we're learning, how can I not offer unlimited!

I certainly am not perfect at these traits, but God has offered me much help in these areas the last day and a half.

3 words that have struck a cord yesterday and today...I felt in my heart this morning, that this IS something Caden can do, I have MUCH confidence in him. I've gained confidence in myself to be able to do this as well.

Thanks for your prayers all, we're still in the thick of the training, Caden has not had a BM in a day and a half, so hoping he's not holding that in...9 pee accidents yest and 3 so far today. Nap time yest...no pee, overnight - he only peed around 6am in his bed, slept the whole night through!!

thanks for your continued prayers.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

it's here...i think.

well, a while ago, Tiffany blogged and told me about this 3 day toilet training deal. I looked it up, read the 30 page manual and convinced myself I was gonna go for it at the 22 month mark. Caden is now 22 months.... :/

I have booked next week "off", no play dates, no errands, staying at home (as the manual states). Last night we took Caden to buy supplies. We let him pick a stand alone toilet seat as well as a toilet seat cover. Then we went and bought some underwear, which he happily carried to the cashier until he got tired and had me carry him. This morning, I pulled his underwear out of the package, he took a pair and tried to put them on himself. He doesn't dress himself at all really yet, but he likes to try, put the underwear down by his feet, not understanding you have to lift those feet off the ground. So I helped him put them on over his pajama shorts and his diaper. Hopefully this won't confuse him for next week when I tell him we're wearing them on their own.

Monday morning I plan to, with Caden, throw his existing diapers in the 'garbage' (clean garbage bag, I'll donate them later, but I want that visual for him). Then start the 3-day process.

This morning Caden was in the washroom with me, playing and checking out his new toilet options. I think he's getting it and I'm happy that he's more into the toilet seat cover and stool for the actual toilet.

A couple friends have strongly encouraged me to go for it, to try it and if it absolutely doesn't work after the 3 days, to let it go and try again in a month or two.

So, come Monday, I may not be on the computer a lot or at all, as my attention will be 100% over there, but I'm asking for prayer that I will exemplify tons of grace, patience and heaps of praise.

:)

Monday, August 8, 2011

intercessory

This msg was a note I sent to a friend recently as we've been discussing prayer and growing in God, hope you don't mind ____ that I posted this as a blog :)

"If we truly love people, we will desire for them far more than it is within our power to give them, and this will lead us to prayer: Intercession is a way of loving others."—Richard J. Foster

Caden and I were outside the other morning, couple guys were installing park benches beside our apt bldg. one of the guys installing the park benches was native, long hair in a ponytail. An old guy (tenant) was chatting with him and Caden and I were hanging around watching them work. The native said that he gets judged easily, on the news when they describe someone who committed a crime, they'll say, Native, Long Hair, about 5'10"...he said that's all the guys in the North End! so he gets judged easily. He said he's not like the guys who are causing trouble, but he gets judged easily b/c of what they do. He grew up mostly with a white family he said, a German family, so he grew up differently, they loved him like their own.
Glad that those guys had that conversation, helped my eyes to be open even more.
Realizing lately loving 'random people' takes a lot of guts, at least for me. Being willing to say Hi and talk to people humbly. I have recently been praying for courage and no fear, so I can speak boldly on Christ's behalf. I think it's working...that quote speaks to me about LOVING people...I can use the excuse that I'm shy, but that's just an excuse and then I'm not willing to be used by God. I do desire loads more for people than I can give them (financially or personal attn), but I know God has the means to do so. So intercessory is also necessary.