Easter Book List

Anyone who knows us well, knows that good books are important to us. We spend a lot of time reading and are always on the hunt for quality books that are meaningful and well written. We're enjoying several this month leading up to Resurrection Sunday and thought we would share the blessing.

The Lamb by John R. Cross, is a beautifully illustrated book. It takes a clear journey through the heart of the gospel story, laying a foundation beginning with the Genesis creation. A clear identification is made between the sacrificed lamb of the Old Testament and the crucified Saviour Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins.

We read R.C. Sproul's children's books over and over around here; he is adept at presenting deep biblical truths to children on their own level. While The Prince's Poison Cup is one we enjoy all year, it is especially meaningful during the Resurrection season. In this theologically sound allegorical work, he focuses on the atonement to show that Jesus had to endure the curse of sin in order to redeem His people from spiritual death. The terrific illustrations are bonus.

This is the first year we've enjoyed Passion Hymns for a Kid's Heart by Joni Earekson Tada and Bobbie Wolgemuth. Steve and I love singing and reflecting on the deep truth of the old hymns; and their meaning and heritage is something we work hard to instill in the hearts of our kids. Passion Hymns is a collection of hymns that share the power of the cross and the joy of the resurrection. The book shares a Bible story related to each hymn and the cd is sweet; it's quality actually surprised me.
Of course, we're also looking forward to making our traditional Resurrection Cookies and might give Resurrection Rolls a try this year, too. He is Risen!!

No Grace for "What If"

I know I'm not supposed to be anxious for anything and that tomorrow's worries will take care for themselves, but so often I'm anxious about everything, including tomorrow, and next week, and next month, and twenty years from now...

I loved this post by Carolyn Mahaney on the Girltalk blog. Carolyn and her daughters are currently in the midst of a series called "When Worries Multiply." And don't I know something about that, but Carolyn hits it practically, biblically and reassuringly...

What do our mothering fears have in common? They are all in our imagination.

Our fertile minds generate countless scenarios whereby one calamity or another befalls our children: What if my son rebels when he hits the teenage years? What if my daughter doesn’t want to be my friend when she grows up? What if my son gets in a car accident? What if my daughter is diagnosed with leukemia?

After thirty-four years of mothering, I’ve discovered that most of the bad things I imagined never actually came true. But there have been other trials—ones I never anticipated.

That’s why Elisabeth Elliot’s wise advice has been invaluable to me in fighting fear: “There is no grace for your imagination.”

God does not sprinkle grace over every path my fear takes. He does not rush in with support and encouragement for every doomsday scenario I can imagine.

No, instead He warns me to stay off those paths: “Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil” (Ps. 37:8).

There is no grace for our imagination. That’s why our fearful imaginings produce bad fruit: anxiety, lack of joy, futile attempts to control.

There is no grace for our imagination. But God does promise sufficient, abundant grace for every real moment of our lives. That’s why the Proverbs 31 woman can “laugh at the future in contrast with being worried or fearful about it” (ESV Study Bible note on Pr. 31:25)

There is no grace for our imagination. But there will be grace for our mothering future--the moment it arrives.

A Few Helps

I don't know about you, but I hate reading self-help books that take ten chapters to outline the problem and two chapters to offer vague helps that don't come close to actually helping me solve the problem. This frustrates me because my whole purpose in picking up the book was that I already had a pretty good idea of what the problem was -- what I needed was the help!

Yesterday, I took up my friend Lois's challenge to be more honoring of my husband and invited my readers (all five of you, smile!) to do the same. Then I started thinking about the books I've read and the encouragements I've received along the way to change my old feministic (yes, you read that right, I said feministic!) way of thinking.

A month or so ago, I mentioned a Titus 2 women's group that I attend. Last fall when she was exhorting us to be obedient to our husbands (Titus 2:5), our beloved teacher Pamela gave us this checklist to help us measure how "honoring" we really are. I thought I'd pass it along as a possible help:

Obedience Checklist
Do I remember his requests?
Do I make excuses?
Am I seeking to be reverent?
Am I seeking to be helpful?
Do I forget him?
Do I seek to do him good and not evil all of his days?
Do I seek to love him?
Do I seek to bear all things with him?
Do I seek to be hopeful toward him?
Do I treat him as the lord of my home and life?
Am I trustworthy?
Do I withhold myself from him?
Do I roll my eyes at him?
Do I seek to affirm him?
Do I badmouth him anywhere?
Do I murmur in my heart against him?
Do I complain about him to others?
Do I mock him?
Do I listen to him or do I tune him out?
Do I prefer him? Does he know it?
Do I pray for him?
Am I helping him or hindering him?

Yes, a few of these hit me pretty hard, but that's a good thing. Knowing where I am falling short helps me see where I need to grow, what I need to change, and who I need to become. I keep this list in my Bible. At first I was reviewing it every morning and it was a good reminder of where my priorities need to be at the beginning (and end!) of each day. I have to start doing that again.

I also highly recommend three books: The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace, Created to be His Helpmeet by Debi Pearl, and The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Dr. Laura Schlessinger (you can read more on this one here).

And of course, the Bible. The more I'm in God's Word, the more I'm challenged to be the person He wants me to be and strive for the character He wants me to have (amazing how that works, isn't it?).

As wives, we have the awesome privilege of creating the atmosphere in our homes. And I don't mean decorating. One of my favorite pastors used to say, "You can be the thermostat or the thermometer. Do you want to set the tone or do you want to reflect it? The choice is yours."