Feb
16
52home
Filed under Biblical Womanhood | 52home 3:09 p.m.
How does a man glorify God in the face of death? How does his wife glorify God after he is gone?
Here’s how:
The Story of Zac Smith from Adam Kring on Vimeo.
A Story | Tears of Hope from Adam Kring on Vimeo.
For more on dying well, or living well after your husband is gone, we recommend:
O Love That Will Not Let Me Go: Facing Death with Courageous Confidence in God ed. by Nancy Guthrie
The Undistracted Widow: Living for God After Losing your Husband by Carol Cornish
May God grant each of us grace to live and die to the glory of our Savior!
HT: Justin Taylor
My little Claire is now over three months old—hard to believe! She has been such a sweet blessing to our family. This girlie is very loved (albeit a little roughly!) by her brothers, and returns their attention with lots of smiles.
For me, re-entering the newborn season after seven years has been delightful, but its also been an adjustment. It’s added a new layer of complexity to my life of caring for my three active boys. In addition to herding them all into the car to go somewhere, I’m also dragging the carrier (with baby inside!), the diaper bag, stroller, and other assorted gear. I’ve got to fit nursing in between carpool, lunch monitoring, homeschooling my youngest, making dinner and church meetings. I’m absolutely loving it, but I’m also having to adjust my expectations of what I can get done each day.
My quiet times have also changed. It is harder to get a quiet time, much less a quiet moment to meet with God. If Claire doesn’t sleep through the night (like last week when she had a cold), it is difficult to get up early. This unique season means I have to improvise in order to feed my soul. In the words of Jean Fleming, I need to “do what I can.”
Some days this means reading my Bible over Claire’s nap. It means putting worship music on while I work around the house, or listening to sermons online. I also try to read good books with short, simple Scripture meditations to give me a quick “shot” of truth. John Piper’s Godward Life volumes, and Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening are great resources. This time around, I’ve been blessed by Paul Tripp’s Shelter in the Time of Storm. His thoughts on Psalm 27 have provided just the daily refreshment I have needed.
So, if you have a newborn like me, may you too be encouraged in the grace of God as you do what you can.
“Are you in love with your husband? Not, Do you love him? I know you do. He has been around a long time, and you’re used to him. He is the father of your children. But are you in love with him? How long has it been since your heart really squeezed when you looked at him?...Why is it you have forgotten the things that attracted you to him at first?...Your husband needs to be told that you love him, that he is attractive to you. By the grace of God, I want you to start changing your thought pattern. Tomorrow morning, get your eyes off the toaster or the baby bottles long enough to LOOK at him. Don’t you see the way his coat fits his shoulders? Look at his hands. Do you remember when just to look at his strong hands made your heart lift? Well, LOOK at him and remember. Then loose your tongue and tell him you love him. Will you ask the Lord to give you a sentimental, romantic, physical, in-love kind of love for your husband? He will do this.” ~Shirley Rice
A few of our favorite Valentine’s Day posts:
Valentine’s Day Ideas: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six
Doing Your Husband Good: One, Two, Three, Four, Five
Have a wonderful weekend!
the girltalkers
“First Peter 3:6b shows us what hope looks like in the stresses and threats of real life. ‘And you are now her children if you do right and let nothing terrify you.’ The presence of hope drives out fear. The daughters of Sarah do not fear anything but displeasing God. Or to be more accurate, the daughters of Sarah fight the anxiety that rises in their hearts. They wage war on fear, and they defeat it with the promises of God…. They fight fear with the faithfulness of God—‘Sarah considered him faithful who had promised’ (Hebrews 11:11). And then they do what Peter says in 4:19, ‘Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will do right and entrust their souls to a faithful Creator.’ They affirm the sovereign rule of God over their suffering and that they do not suffer apart from his will, and they rest their souls in the firm and omnipotent hands of a faithful Creator. They cast out fear and they hope in God. And so they prove to be the daughters of Sarah and heirs according to the promise.”
—John Piper, Mothers Day Message (May 1986).
