oodles of gifts

55. A wonderful Christmas Eve, spent with family and long-time friends- the Touarts, Haights & Paynes

56. A spicey Jones clan Christmas Day (must everyone be so cranky about my kitchen buzzer?!?)

57. Excited glee from our nieces over their gifts, especially over the old toddler desk that "Unker Danner" refinished and painted anew for the next generation of Joneses to enjoy

58. Red Box movies

59. Renfroe Praline Pecans...soooo delicious & yummy!

60. The pretty red-blooming amaryllis I found in Winn Dixie's flower store

61. New Christmas music CD's: Michael Buble, Justin Bieber, Kutless

62. Last-minute Christmas gifts for my family & employees

63. Grace to properly react to a failure of trust in someone I should have been able to trust to carry out my good wishes

64. Strength to stop murmuring against the Lord for what I "have not"

65. Getting to see Orion and its nebula M42 tonight in our clear skies

66. Extra buttery popcorn

67. Energy and good health, to do what needs to be done

68. The luxury of sleeping through the night, every night

69. God's creation of a clean and pure heart, and a quiet spirit, within me

70. Being able to pay my mortgage and bills, once again, this month

71. Another NIECE...or nephew (this is Cori & Brian's #3) on the way!!! :-D

72. A future sister-in-law (via my brother Daniel), Brittany

73. The Holy Writ, that never-ending source of unfathomable riches and wisdom!

74. Dinner at Friday's tonight with my baby sis Sarah

75. Getting to sleep in late during my holiday

76. The knowledge that my sisters, Tricia and Sarah especially, have my back

77. Being raised in the knowledge of righteousness and holiness (without which, I would not see God!)

78. Two wonderful, however flawed, parents who listened to the voice of the Holy Ghost

79. Sparkly lights at Christmas, all over everywhere

80. The liberty and freedom of being able to worship my God freely, without censure


"Give thanks to the Lord! His Love Endures Forever!"

Merry Christmas!

Borrowing this from Ann Voskamp's blog...

”He was poor, that he might make us rich.
He was born of a virgin that we might be born of God.
He took our flesh, that he might give us His Spirit.
He lay in the manger, that we may lie in paradise.
He came down from heaven, that he might bring us to heaven….
That the ancient of Days should be born.
that he who thunders in the heavens should cry in the cradle….
that he who rules the stars should suck the breast;
that a virgin should conceive;
that Christ should be made of a woman, and of that woman which himself made,
that the branch should bear the vine,
that the mother should be younger than the child she bare,
and the child in the womb bigger than the mother;
that the human nature should not be God, yet one with God
Christ taking flesh is a mystery we shall never fully understand till we come to heaven
If our hearts be not rocks, this love of Christ should affect us .
Behold love that passeth knowledge!”
~Thomas Watson

Isn't that beautiful?!?
My "Jones Clan Christmas Craziness" will be posted on another blog with pictures. Where on earth does time go?!?

My meditations...
Oh, those mysteries that perplex us, drive us to distraction! The Great Enigma made this earth His cradle.

Humble Jesus, hear my prayer and help me to understand the things about my life that perplex and distract me! There is so much that, without explanation, would drive the joy of my salvation right out of my heart. My burden is too heavy.

Blessed Comforter, be with me now and infuse Faith into my soul, for I need it so! It is birthing a deeper walk with God that I am not accustomed to...causing "soul stretchmarks" that are painful, yet needful to my spiritual life. May His life be birthed in mine!

"The darling of the world is come..." ~R. Herrick

more thanks

41. celebrating the Happy 1st Birthday of our precious niece Juliana Mae.

42. getting a break from school, and being well enough to enjoy it

43. two successful days of pie making at the bakery

44. time to catch up on laundry and house cleaning

45. finding new Amish romance books to read over this week's break

46. restful manis/pedis with my sister Sarah on Saturday

47. winning splendid eBay auctions for two figurines for my nieces' birthdays

48. grace to wait for God to multiply the seed of faith in my heart

49. being able to listen to uplifting Christian radio, especially Power 88

50. the freedom to celebrate my Savior's birth and remember all that He has done for me

51. an offer from the grandparents of a CIAS family to provide a MUCH NEEDED vacuum for the school in barter for their tuition

52. paying off our television this month

53. alertness to hear the Holy Spirit's direction and quickening

54. much-needed rain

thanksliving

33. warm socks for cold evenings

34. the romantic simplicity of watching my old "Anne of Avonlea" vhs

35. Tricia's made-from-scratch deliciously warm and comforting chocolate pudding this evening

36. sleeping in this morning

37. a successful grocery and Thanksgiving dinner shopping excursion (all I need now is the turkey and some fresh greens!)

38. a pretty plum & gray printed top at Target yesterday

39. a 20 oz. Shakespeare from The Drowsy Poet. soooo hot and yummy!

39. cute little orange pumpkins on our table- Corrie Lynn's very own "punkin patch"

40. the cutest hearty little laughs from Julieana as she tossed Meg's colorball today

Psalm 30:12

"That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever."

state of the church

"The true man of God is heartsick, 

grieved at the worldliness of the Church, 

grieved at the toleration of sin in the Church, 

grieved at the prayerlessness in the Church. 

He is disturbed that the corporate prayer of the Church 

no longer pulls down the strongholds of the devil."

-Leonard Ravenhill

No matter how much we try to fit in and be comfortable with those around us, no matter how close to the world our lifestyle tends, there is yet a great chasm between the broad and narrow ways (Matt. 7). And sadly, Jesus says that few will find the narrow way that leads to true life! The more I read about the faith of our fathers, the more I think that modern Christians have missed it.

Several weeks ago, one of my FB acquaintances posted that his church was having a Wednesday prayer and worship evening, so he invited everyone on his friends list to come. And then he said, "Come out and support our pastor." I recoiled, "WHAT?!? What does supporting a pastor have to do with worshiping and praising and magnifying and spending time before our AWESOME GOD?!" Besides missing the point, his post reflected a "churchianity" that I don't share or believe in. God calls us to Himself, to worship Him, to commune with Him, to let Him change us into His image, and to let Him turn us into ministers of His saving grace. Not to follow a man or a dogma or doctrine.  Or get hung up" on one issue or another, totally missing the whole picture of our purpose for existence and life here on earth in view of eternity.

Paul addressed this in 1 Corinthians 3 when he was confronted with Christians who wanted to segregate and divide Jesus' followers into "camps of belief." He first states that some ministers plant seeds and some water them, but God is the one who  gives the increase. You almost think he is dismissing his own role in the ministry process, yet he says that every man shall "receive his own reward according to his own labor." So, yes, the church does play an important role in the spiritual life, but "supporting our pastor" should not be a motivation to spend an evening with our Maker and Savior!

I counsel and talk to students and parents every week who have no tools of the Kingdom, no power of the Holy Spirit, and no victory over their flesh, sin, and the devil to live a dynamic Christian life. It is sad but true. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the tide or spiritual and Scriptural ignorance that surrounds me (and I am not talking about my immediate family here!). I can only do my part to stem it and shine the light towards paths of righteousness, and leave the rest to the Lord! 

Case in point...several months ago, I had to call for an intervention meeting with the parents of one our struggling students. Only the mom could make time in her schedule to come. And when I asked her if she and her husband prayed over their children, she looked at me with a blank look and didn't know what to say. I still can't fathom the feeling that crashed into my spirit as I sat there, realizing that this parent didn't really care about their child's spiritual welfare. She could cry and weep all she wanted, but when the rubber hit the road, she wasn't willing to do what that Bible says to train up and intercede for her child(ren). 

Demonic apathy is rendering us powerless...it has crept in and stolen our zeal and thirst and hunger. In Matt. 11:12, Jesus was talking to his followers about John the Baptist, and explaining why John was so different and why he couldn't be like everybody else around him. And He ends with, "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force."

"May the things of this world so lose their power over us that we do not in the slightest wish to be "worldly"; nay, we even delight in not remaining 'in the world.'"

-Watchman Nee 

heaven and hell. yeah.

So in my astronomy class, the prof is incessantly walking about the "molten iron & nickel planet core" theory. It has made me want to know more about the realities of heaven and hell. And then the advent of Rob Bell's heretical book, suggesting annihilationism and the belief that hell’s fire is not eternal or real. I know only those who KNOW God's Word to be the Rock of our faith will stand against this "Christo-Platonism."

Ever since Daddy passed into eternity, I have been slowly reading Randy Alcorn's book Heaven. It's a l-o-n-g read, chock full of biblical references and commentaries on heaven with info about what it will be like, at least according to our understanding of other-world physicalities and more dimensions than we can experience with our five senses.

Jesus said in John 14:2 that He "goes to prepare a place for you."  This place is topos in the Greek, indicating that Heaven is an actual place. Matt. 25:46 Jesus says, "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." If one is a physical place, then the other is also.

 So I went online tonight and started looking up verses about hell. WOW. I didn't know that there are no fewer than 49 references to hell as being an actual geographic place, specifically in the center of the earth. Here are a few:

1. Ez. 26:20 – lower parts of the earth

2. Num. 16:32-33 – earth opened her mouth down to sheol.

3. Is. 14:9-10 – hell from beneath

4. Amos 9:2 – though thou dig into hell

5. Is. 5:14 – hell, they shall descend into it

6. Ez. 31:14 – lower parts of the earth, with those who descend

7. Ps. 63:9 – lower parts of the earth

8. Matt. 12:40 – so shall the Son of man be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth

9. Eph. 4:9; Matt. 12:40- Jesus Himself descended to the lower parts of the earth, and spent 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth.

10. Luke 16:22-23 – Abraham's bosom and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

11. Rev. 5:13, Phil 2:10- mentions everyone in Heaven, and on the earth and those under the earth

12. Rev. 9:2-  demons come up from the bottomless pit during the tribulation period and smoke comes up with them and darkens the sky, real smoke from a real fire down in the earth

13. Ez. 31:16- "Down to hell, with them that descend into the pit" in the nether(lower depths below) parts of the earth.

And then several verses that I will have to study some more: Rev. 20:13-14 & Matt. 25:30

After Judgment Day, Death and Hades will be cast into the lake of fire into outer darkness.

The Lake of Fire is the final hell, right? So is there a "pre-hell" until after the White Throne Judgment? 

draw inner life

So, I have been reaching deep into NEW spiritual readings, ones that I have never read before. Wanting new manna. I've been enjoying a small book that Mom got for me several years back, a compilation of Augustine's writings and prayers gleaned from his Confessions, Homilies, and City of God.

Augustine's testimony is much like DB's will be one day. He, having a devout and praying mama, lived a life of sensual reprobation, but was radically changed by Jesus Christ. In his words: "Going mad on my way to sanity." He later became one of the most influential bishops of the Christian faith.

"In lowliness we find our heights. Those who want to ascend to spiritual heights without passing through the valley of humility find themselves turned back."

Hebrews 4:15-16, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are- yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and grace..."

"My Father, where my plans are not your plans- oppose me! When a word on my tongue is not your word- silence me! Where I step outside your Word to struggle on my own, or to defend myself- draw me back inside of you."

"My Father, what a weak fool I would be if I continued trying to draw inner life from anything-from someone I love, from success in my work, even from spiritual service- other than you. So I will draw life from these, your words to me: You call me beloved in Christ Jesus. You call me righteous in Christ Jesus. High King of Heaven, I am your child. And my brother is the Lord  and Prince of all creation. When I am restless, wanting something to make me 'happy,' I know this is your call to my soul. I'll feast on your Word, and find my life in you!"