Making the Most of Every Opportunity

Andy and I have been here a year now. We left the daily comfort and ease of our established friendships and now have begun to form new "daily life" relationships. It's so good. And it's so hard. Letting down and being vulnerable is downright scary at times, but I'm so thankful for the depth He is providing through His church. We are growing as we begin again and open up to the new friends He is giving us. I was encouraged by  an article in TableTalk magazine  Noel Piper wrote, sharing how God opened her heart and life to deep friendships at age 60. In it, she calls friends, "an appetizer to the feast of Jesus' friendship". I love that thought. So very true. Here's a bit of her story: "as these friends opened themselves to me, my heart warmed to them and I felt more and more freedom with them. We came to trust each other with the tender places of our hearts... God showed Himself in the deep wisdom that sprang from their lives’ stories of...

"God... saved us and called us to a holy calling... which he gave us in Christ Jesus... who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel..."  - 2 Timothy 1:9,10 One tradition we have to do each year on Easter week is to make a tomb. I read about it in Noel Piper's book "Treasuring Our Traditions" a few years ago. We have so much fun mixing the dough and baking it. You can decorate it or leave it plain. We use the tomb for our kids (Jimmy started at age 3) to tell us the Easter story .We take a family walk and collect sticks while we are out (to be used as crosses). Then we come home and mix our dough (you could just use pre-made play dough if you prefer.) Check out Noel's blog post  for her recipe and pictures. It does take a bit to cool. we usually make the dough into the mountain on Thursday night , so we can let it sit overnight and use it Friday morning. Then we put a picture of Jesus on the cross on our cross and ...

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”- John 1:5 I adore  Noel Piper 's traditions and we use many of them in our homes to point to Jesus. One we are starting this year as a family this year is her  "Lenten Lights" . It's a good way to sober our hearts to look at our own sin, repent, and turn to Christ and to prepare to remember the horrible death of Jesus. THEN, we will celebrate that He rose again and brought life for us. The Pipers light 7 candles and then each week during the lenten season they read  a family devotional  and snuff out one light, leaving the last to be snuffed out on Good Friday. Here's a quote from  "Lenten Lights" : Your seven candles symbolize the Light of the World—the Light that was God’s glory and that illuminated God for us—the Light that, in the end, seemed to have been darkened. As we move through the season preceding Easter, the candles are snuffed out one by one, until all are dark on Go...