I have started a new blog!
I am finally ready to dive back into blogging after a very long break! I am excited to start writing again and have many ideas for future posts. However, I decided to have a different focus, thus I have started a new blog.
Womanly pursuits will be centered more around......womanly pursuits! My subtitle for the blog is "pursuing glorifying God through our hearts, minds, and hands."
Examples of subjects for this blog include: motherhood,
wifehood, homemaking, making money, cooking, health issues, biblical womanhood, products I use, what I am reading, my pursuit of holiness, and whatever else I am pursuing! Women are supposed to be good at multi-tasking, and this blog will be multitasking a little as far as subjects go. But I think you all can handle it, after all, isn't that what real life is like?
Please
join me and let me know you stopped by!
Pray for Ian
In my recent post,
Read a book instead of my blog, I talked about some of the advantages and disadvantages of blogs. One advantage that I did not address was the advantage of (what I label) prayer blogs.
When Faith was alive, we posted on a "carepage". It was basically a blog intended to inform family and friends of how Faith was currently doing. Through this carepage, many people who did not know Joel, me, or Faith found out about her life and prayed consistently for her. This was an amazing gift of grace to us as a family. Joel and I are so grateful to all of those who prayed (and even fasted) for us. It served us greatly in a very difficult time. This is an example of how we can use the internet as a means of blessing others in the Church.
I have become recently aware of another prayer need, through a website devoted to him, that has touched my heart. It involves the love of a family and a faithful woman to a man in need. A very brief overview of their story is the following.
Ian and Larissa were a young engaged couple when Ian became involved in a very serious car wreck. Ian barely survived and for the last seven months, to my understanding, has been in a semi-coma. I have been so blessed seeing Larissa's faithfulness in serving Ian. She is lovingly committed to doing what she can for him, even though they may never be able to get married. His family's and her faith in God has in been constant. This ongoing story builds up our faith by seeing God's grace in their time of need; While, at the same time. we can serve them by praying.
Recently, Kristi Altrogge posted this on Ian's website:
"I've had the honor of watching Mary, Steve and Larissa walk through the worst trial I can possibly think of for the last 7 months now. I've read every post, with all of you, and wondered at the grace that God has poured into their lives day after long day. It has been 7 months full of miracles and sadness and grief, and they have proven to me, through the watching and the reading, that everything that the Scriptures say about God is true."Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." Isa. 41:10"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, not shall the flame scorch you." Isa 43:2Because of Steve, Mary and Larissa, I know that He provides whatever His people need when they are suffering. Because of them, I know that He is powerful, beyond belief, because day after difficult day, each of them puts one foot in front of the other, and lives with the praises of God in their hearts and mouths. Because of them, I know, that even in the very worst of circumstances God is, very purposefully, at work in the lives of His beloved children. They have become our teachers, not because they wanted to be, but because God purposed it. And they have been faithful, faithful teachers. And with each passing day, they teach us more about who God is, what He is like, and what He does for His children. What a pleasing aroma their lives are sending up to the Father, day after day after day.We miss Ian more than words can say. He's home, and we're incredibly grateful that God intervened over and over again to save his life and heal his body. But we miss who he was when he left us and we're aching for the Lord to completely restore him. We miss his voice. We miss his laughter. We miss his humor and wit. We miss his friendship. We miss everything about him, which is a lot because, for anyone who knows him, Ian is quite a presence.So, I'm asking that, for anyone who reads this blog, would you be willing to double and re-double your prayers to the Father for Ian's complete return? Would you be willing to ask, seek and knock more and harder. As we have well learned, the prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective and God rewards them who diligently seek Him. Would you be willing to ask the Lord for more faith for more prayer for Ian? Would you be willing to ask the Spirit to remind you more each day? It's so easy to forget. Would you, especially, pray that He would restore Ian's ability to talk? I know that it's a great burden for his parents and Larissa not to know if he's hurting or uncomfortable or discouraged. We would be so grateful if you would, and God is always pleased with more prayer."Would you consider joining in prayer for this family, fiance and, of course, for Ian?
To follow this story, visit
www.prayforian.comLabels: prayer need
Book Review: Nonfiction
The Four Loves, By C.S. Lewis
LoveOur society uses the word "love" a lot. We read books about true and fictional romances. In our earlier years, when Old Yeller died, we cried. Many of us are moved over stories of men separated from their loved one, a mother dying for her child, and a beloved pet missing. These stories move us because they deal with matters of the heart, in a word, love.
C.S. LewisMost of us know C.S. Lewis through his children's series,
The Chronicles of Narnia (I say children's series, but they are really good for all ages. My husband and I are reading through them again right now). But Lewis also wrote many other books worthy of our attention. One of which is
The Four Loves. In it, Lewis deals with the subject of love, separating it into four different types- Affection, Friendship, Eros and Charity.
I don't think that this book is intended to be a systematic look at every aspect of these four different loves. But rather it is a often witty, thought provoking book filled with new and old thoughts on love. This book is not organized neatly into sections dealing with the a-b-c's of each love, but rather it is a free flowing, well thought-out, collection of connected thoughts on each love. He often gives poignant examples from his experience with people, as well as examples from other literature to help make a point. I do have to admit that this tired Mom found certain paragraphs here and there hard to follow. But overall this was not the case.
I thought this book to be very interesting because in so many different books, articles, blogs, radio shows, etc,we imply very many thoughts on love without ever thinking through what our foundational thoughts on what love really is. This book forces us to consider what we really mean when we say, "I love you ".
A Manly PerspectiveIt is important to remember that this book was written by a man. I say that not to imply that men don't understand love as much as women, because that's not true. I say that because men relate differently than woman in some areas of love, especially in friendship and eros love. I find that Lewis' s "manly" perspective comes out most strongly in the friendship chapter. I think that most of us can agree that men relate in friendship quite a bit differently than women do. But I valued this chapter more because it was from a man's perspective. I felt that it helped me understand my husband more. I often didn't understand why he related to his guy friends the way that he did (it was so unlike how I related to my girlfriends). I felt that this chapter really illuminated some of the mystery for me. I also see a sad lack of literature dealing with men and their friendships, so this was a breath of fresh air in a woman friendship dominated world.
Loves can be demonsAnother theme that I really appreciated in this book was that loving something or someone other than God, could become a "demon". He felt that if you loved God rightly, your love for more earthly things would be a better, stronger love. In fact, he felt that we cannot rightly love anything else without God's help. It is only by God's grace that we can rightly love Him, or our spouse, or our pet in the right way.
Am I supposed to hate my family?In the last chapter, C.S. Lewis brings so much light to relevant issues of yesterday and today. He includes answers to such questions as, " Should I love, even if it is going to bring me pain?", and the very hard question of "What does Christ mean when he says that I should hate my wife and family?" . If you have ever struggled with either of these questions, I urge you to read this book.
C.S. Lewis always gives me food for thought, and this book was no exception.
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Photo Credit: www.amazon.com
Labels: Books
Book Review: Fiction
Mother, by Kathleen Norris
Mother, a novel originally published in 1911, has been recently revised and republished by
Vision Forum. The main character, Margaret (or Mark, as her family affectionately calls her), comes from a loving and large but not well-to-do family. At the beginning of the book we find her discontented with life, but lo and behold, a golden opportunity drops in her lap. She is invited to be an assistant to a very wealthy and well-known lady. Influenced by her employer and her exposure to the lavish life of the rich, Margaret's values begin to change. Only at the end of the book does she find that what is truly important has been left behind with her family.
This book does not pretend to be the best book ever written (as stated in the Introduction). I have been told that other books by this author were not well written. Mrs. Chancey, who revised this book, probably greatly improved the original work's quality. Nevertheless, I found Mother to be an enjoyable read, and as it was not long, I was able to finish it quite quickly. It was a good reminder that being a good mother to Elena and a faithful wife to Joel is an important and worthy goal to pursue. The last chapter of the book where Margaret finally realizes this truth, was actually quite powerful in parts.
The reader should know that the book unapologetically advocates a no birth control marriage and extols the virtues of large families. I would be wary of recommending this book to a mother who wanted more children which God did not bless her with. I also would not necessarily recommend this book to a woman who chose to only have a few children and was past her childbearing years, as certain passages seemed to be pretty disdainful towards mothers with only one or two children.
While I may not agree with some of the author's (or revisionist's) views on certain issues, and while I do have concerns about some of the "disdainful" passages, this book does do a good job of painting a beautiful picture of raising children instead of gaining riches and earthly glory. I appreciated the main message of the book.
But having it revised does cause me to have a complaint against this book. It will not speak the wisdom of an age past. I had a hard time believing that someone would have written certain passages in 1911 and so believed certain parts to be the recent day writings of the revisionist, Mrs. Chancey. This should be treated as a "modern" book, in my mind, because the slant that it takes on certain issues mirrors the position of many modern conservative Christians.
Ending thoughts: I would let my daughter read this book because I think that it does do a good job promoting family values and we can always talk through any concerns that I have.
Image from
Vision Forum
Book Reviews Coming Soon!
I have been greatly enjoying reading lately and I have a whole stack of books ready to write reviews for. If you don't have a love for books yet, cultivate one! Books open up a whole world of new thoughts, new peoples, and new experiences.
I have two reviews almost ready to post and will so soon. The point of these reviews is NOT to say that these books are some of the "great" books (because a lot of them aren't). Rather, use these reviews as a help on your own journey of looking for great books to read. I want to share not only the positive reviews but also the negative ones. Positive ones help us find good books, negative ones help avoid the lesser ones. I will try to keep somewhat of a balance between the different genres and types of books, including fiction ,nonfiction, biographies, older books as well as newer ones, historical books, and children's books as well as adult books.
Labels: Books
Read a Book Instead of My Blog
Finding balance in a blogging world
Picture this
A woman stares intently at her computer screen. She is eagerly reading about Suzie's re-decorated house, Emily's cleaned out closet, John's random thought's on public, private and home schools, Jane's most recent episode in the child training nightmares, Katie's disagreement with a recently released book, and Kimi's latest illness.
She faithfully leaves comments on all of the sites, giving advice to Jane about child training, disagreeing with John on schooling choices, praising Emily's cleaned out closet, admiring Suzie's home, agreeing with Katie's disagreement, and commiserating with Kimi (which Kimi appreciates very much).
She then glances at her watch and realizes that all of her free time is gone. She forlornly contemplates the stack of books on her desk that she has been planning to read: the book about child training, the book about decorating, the book about classical private schools, and the book about suffering. She traces her name in the dust gathering on top of them." Oh, well," she sighs. "Some other time..."
Do you see yourself in the above? I must admit that far too often, I have been that woman myself!
That is why, as much as I hope you enjoy reading my blog, as much as I hope you continue to come back here, and as much as I hope that reading my blog does encourage and bless you, I want to try to influence you to read great books. If you are reading blogs in place of reading great books, I believe you are really missing out. Here are a few reasons why.
Books generally contain a higher quality of writing .
If I was writing a book right now instead of writing this blog post, you had better believe that I would spend a lot more time writing it. This is true for nearly everyone.
For example, take my brothers-in-law,
Alex and Brett Harris . They spend a lot of time working on well crafted, thought provoking posts. But right now they are working on writing their first book. The time spent thinking about their topic, planning, praying, writing, and getting feedback from others is vastly increased. While I have always enjoyed reading their posts, I anticipate that their book is going to be even better. If you were forced to choose between reading their blog and reading their book, their book would be a better choice.
Blogs often contain short-lived opinionsMost likely all of us have at one point or another felt strongly about a certain principle or issue, but upon additional experience, time and wisdom, realized our original conclusion was wrong. We are much more likely to write about a passing belief on a blog, than in a book. We can easily share opinions on blogs that have not been tested with further thought, feedback or experience. This is an important aspect of blogging to keep in mind when reading them. Books on the other hand, are not so vulnerable to this tendency.
Books open the door to the wisdom of the agesIf we are only aware of the wisdom of the present day we will be limited in our knowledge. Every century, even decade, has its own strengths and weaknesses in thought and practice. If we read only the newest, most recent blogs, newspapers, and magazines (and books!) we will be restricted to the wisdom and faults of our age. But if we read older books, we can learn from their insight as well as their mistakes, and develop a more well-rounded knowledge. Don't limit yourself, read old books.
So why am I blogging?There are still reasons that I feel it is beneficial for me to visit blogs and post on my own blog. Here are a few strengths of blogs.
It allows one to converse about current and ancient issues with others.I can get feedback on my own thoughts about past and present events and ideas, bringing to light their weaknesses and strengths. Blogs provide a means to do this in a unique way that reading books does not afford. I might get stuck with an undeveloped and unchallenged conviction or thought, if I never get feedback from others. While reading various books and talking to my acquaintances will help me get a wider scope on different issues, blogs provide another avenue for feedback.
It's a good way of keeping up on current issues in the Church and the world.Al Mohler's blog is an excellent example of this. We, as Christians, need to keep apace with the world around us. This is where blogs, written so recently, can be a huge blessing. What issues do we currently face in our world? How do we respond to them today? Addressing these questions is one of the biggest strengths of blogs.
Finally, this is where we need to be careful with both blogs and books.
Read the best of the good. We can waste our time by reading bad books, and bad blogs. We can even misuse our time spent reading good books, by neglecting the best ones. With this thought in mind, I am renewing my commitment to using this blog to try to capture the best. I might not post as often, but I will try to post quality so I won't be wasting your time.
In the end, I think that while blogs have their place in this world, it would be helpful to ask ourselves the following questions.
Am I reading the best of the good?
Am I learning from past wisdom as well as the present wisdom of the day?
Is my time allotment to great blogs versus great books well balanced?
Am I keeping up on current issues?
As I read blogs, am I keeping in mind their weaknesses as well as their strengths?
Blog update
I have been spending the last couple of months getting back on my feet after being sick for so long. Because of that, my blogging as been, well, nonexistent. But I am ready to start back again! I have many different ideas for the direction of this blog that I am excited about (and I hope you will be too!). For example, I hope to start reviewing books that I have been reading and interviewing other ladies about various topics so that we can learn from their wisdom. I am opening my blog to guest posts by others, so if you would like to be a guest poster-contact me!).
