Jan's Ponderings

Yesterday, I decided I needed the "new mommy haircut". You know the one....it's much shorter and very easy to manage. I can now be ready in a flash -- like a bolt of lightning. Seriously, this will make my life so much easier and I can make myself presentable much quicker so my husband doesn't have to see my hair in such a mess. Yippee! My hair made me think of the time Jesus cursed the fig tree. Jesus was hungry and passed by a fig tree. He stopped to see if there were any figs on the tree but there weren't so he cursed the tree. The interesting thing about this is scripture says it was not the right season for figs. This scripture is Mark 11:12-14. We, as Christians, should always be ready to bear fruit. Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2, "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." Timothy was a pastor at the church at Ephesus. We are not all pastors, but whatev...

This morning, I am still pondering the book of James and wisdom. What are some of the pitfalls we can experience as we try to live for God? How are we blessed of God? How many people do you know who know the Word of God but don't live out it's principles? James tells us beginning in 1:14, that we are tempted when we are drawn away by our own desires and enticed. Pitfall #1: allowing ourselves to be enticed away from the Lord. How do we avoid this pitfall? Philippians 4:8 tells us, "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things." If we meditate on things that are pure then there is no room left for us to meditate on the evil desires that will most assuredly lead us astray. James 1:22 tells us, "But be doers of the word, and not he...

For the last week, I have been pondering wisdom. What is it and how important is it in our everyday lives? I decided last night to read again what James had to say about wisdom. James 1:2-6 reads, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways ." I looked up the Greek word and meaning that was translated as wisdom. The word is sophia (Strong's #4678) and it means 'Christian enlightenment, a right application of knowledge, insi...

In church this morning, a young woman spoke about a ministry our church is doing by supplying shoes to the homeless and washing their feet. What a wonderful ministry. She read a scripture in Matthew 25 that I have always loved! Verses 35-40 says, "'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' This has always been a scripture to keep in the forefront of my mind; but the more compelling part o...

I am a little later than usual with this post today because it was time for our daughter's six month check up. Six months! It is hard to imagine where the time has gone. It seems like just yesterday it was Christmas Eve when I repented of not wanting (like really, really, really not wanting) my daughter born on Christmas. I felt so much conviction of that selfishness on Christmas Eve that I told God it would be an honor for our child to share her birthday with the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Of course, on Christmas Eve, there was absolutely no sign of going into labor so I thought I was 'safe'. But at 2am, that all changed and she was born at 7:28 Christmas morning. What a gift! She had the gift of life in this great big world and we had the gift of a love that cannot be described. Andy and I take so much delight in her and we are fiercely protective of her. How could we not? Yesterday, we needed to pick our garden which is always exciting but the sun had already c...

It's exciting to read in God's Word how He loves us and takes care of our needs, don't you think? It is such a comfort to me to know that I don't have to worry because He has it all taken care of. This morning, I was reading in Luke 12. I began reading at verse 22, "Then He said to His disciples, 'Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.'" Then He goes on to say how God feeds the birds and clothes the lilies so beautifully but we cannot add one cubit to our stature by worrying. God will take care of our needs. We should seek His kingdom first and let Him take care of our needs. If you will notice, the scripture above began with Jesus saying, 'Therefore" so I read the verses prior to see what Jesus was connecting to this passage. Lo, and behold, it was a scripture speaking against covetousness! In a nuts...

Blessings come with responsibilities. Can anyone relate? This morning, I woke up feeling rested which does not always happen for me. Praise God! As I began thinking and praying about my day, I realized I have many tasks to do today. My sweet baby will take up most of my day, but I have other things to take care of as well. Laundry was piling up, trash needs to be gathered so it can be picked up in the morning, lunch needs to be cooked, etc. As I began gathering laundry, I thought about the fact that I was single until I was 35 and only had laundry for myself. Now I have a wonderful husband and an adorable baby which has increased my laundry significantly! When I think of the blessing my family is to me, I take joy in laundry! Even now, as I write this post, my daughter is screaming for my attention, so I stop to care for her. What a blessing she is even when she "interrupts" my day. She likes to sit in my lap as I sit here at the computer so she can "help" me write....

The first scripture my eyes fell on this morning is a scripture I can't get out of my head. It is Ruth 3:11 which says, "And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman." Now here is a little background. Ruth was from Moab. Moab was a heathen town and in fact, God had commanded Israelites to never go to Moab. In disobedience, Elimelech took his wife, Naomi, and his two sons to Moab during a famine. Elimelech died and his two sons married Moabite women. One of the sons married Ruth. Both sons died childless which left Naomi destitute. Naomi knew she needed to go back home. Maybe she knew she would never be blessed of God living in a heathen nation. Ruth insisted on going with her which was a real blessing for Naomi. They were taken care of when they returned to Bethlehem because laws were in place to protect widows but Naomi knew there were also laws in place for close relatives to ...

As I was reading in Proverbs this morning, I couldn't help but think about Solomon who wrote most of Proverbs. Solomon was the son of King David and Bathsheba. Bathsheba was the married woman that King David committed adultery with and then had her husband killed. I wrote about this in the post titled, Restore To Me The Joy of Your Salvation. Bathsheba was pregnant as a result of adultery with King David but that child died. God is such a redeeming and gracious God that when King David and Bathsheba had Solomon, God said this son would reign after David. What began as illicit, God redeemed! David repented and he was restored to a proper and right relationship with God. Sometimes we look at our sin and think we could never be restored and have the same relationship with God again and maybe we are partly right! Our relationship could never be the same again because with extreme forgiveness comes an extreme love. How could our love for God be the same after we have been forgi...

Today is my husband's first Father's Day as a daddy himself. He and Sydney had a bond from day 1. He is teaching Sydney by example what a man should be. He is loving and giving with high morals and never forgets about his family. He loves his family dearly. I am so thankful to have Andy for my husband and the father of our daughter. In church this morning, we observed communion. Because it is Father's Day, it was especially touching to me. It is a time to reflect on what Christ did for us and the sacrifice He made for us. He made that sacrifice because it was His Father's will. The death and resurrection of Christ was the greatest gift we could ever receive and it came from our Father! Our heavenly Father has set the greatest example of loving His children that is imaginable. What love! In response to His gift of love, Hebrews 12:14-15 instructs us to "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the LORD: looking carefully lest anyone ...

Have you ever wanted to be invisible? I know I have. In fact, this morning was my most recent occasion of wanting to be invisible. My husband had to leave early to do some work at the church which meant I needed to water the garden before Sydney woke up. Therefore, I threw on the ugliest clothes I own, grabbed a cup of coffee and the baby monitor and ran out the door! The only redeeming part of my outfit this morning was the straw hat I was wearing that, shall we say, covered a multitude of sins! I really hope the neighbors or passers-by didn't see me! Next question - have you ever felt invisible? Have you ever been going through something incredibly devastating to you and it appeared that nobody could see the pain or maybe no one cared to even look? On the other side of the spectrum, what about a time you were really excited about something God was doing in your life. Maybe He was using you in a new way but no one seemed to care. No one tried to encourage you in the new ...

How many times should we have to pray for something? More specifically, how many times should we have to pray for something that we know is God's will? Should we even have to pray for something we know is God's will? Won't God just do whatever He wants to do? This morning, I was reading in 1 Kings Chapter 18. There had been a horrible drought that lasted years. In verse 1, God told Elijah He would send rain. Boy, that's great! Let's just sit back and wait for the rain. What a blessing! Blessing? Absolutely! Just sit back and wait? No way! Elijah had so much confidence in God's Word, that he told Ahab in verse 41 there was the sound of abundance of rain. Then Elijah went up to the top of Carmel to pray and wait for the rain. Seven times he prayed and asked his servant to go look for signs of rain and finally the servant saw a tiny cloud. This was all the proof Elijah needed that rain was on the way! 1 John 5:14-15 says, " Now this is the con...

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am new to gardening, but I have dirt under my fingernails to prove I am officially a gardener! As I have walked around our yard examining our various flowers, shrubs, trees, vegetables and herbs, I realized I don't really know what I am looking for. My husband and mother-in-law have tried to teach me some things but I have to say it just doesn't come natural to me. As I have tried to cut off the dead flowers so new ones can bloom, I realized that I really don't always know what and where to cut. I understand that if I don't cut off the dead, the plant will continue to try to nurture what's dead using up valuable energy that could have been used to produce new growth! You can understand how important it is to cut off anything that is dead. I wonder how many dead things are in me that I continue to nurture! Am I using up valuable energy because I am determined to not let go of something that is dead to me? "Teach me, O ...

My husband and I have talked a lot lately about how good life is for us. " For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." (Psalm 30:5) As followers of Christ, our hope is eternal. This morning, I was reading in Psalm 119 and was comforted by verses 71-80 which reads, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes. The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver. Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments. Those who fear You will be glad when they see me, because I have hoped in Your word. I know, O LORD, that Your judgements are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. Let, I pray, Your merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to Your word to Your servant. Let Your tender mercies come to me, that I may live; for Your law is my delight. Let the proud ...

My family loves a really good sweet bell pepper so we have a row of peppers planted in our garden. I have been watching a pepper plant because it is by far the smallest of the plants but it has produced the two largest peppers. It looks like a healthy plant; it's just small. Every time I see it, I am reminded of Hebrews 12:1-2 which says, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." In my Bible, there is a note with this verse that gives the Greek word and definition for the word translated as 'looking'. The word is aphorao and it says this word signifies undivided attention, looking away from all dist...

As I was reading this morning about the widow and her two mites, I was reminded how we all have something to give. What a blessing! This account is in Mark 12:42-44. The rich were coming by the treasury at the temple and were throwing in a lot of money out of their abundance, but this is what happened next. "Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood." This poor widow proved she had a heart for God. She knew that it was by His grace she had the two mites to give. What a powerful scripture! This reminded me of an Old Testament scripture in 1 Kings 17. There was a famine due to drought which Elijah had prophesied would come. God told Elijah to go to Zarephath...

Do you remember as children what an honor it was to be chosen for a team? We would all line up and after captains were chosen, they would take turns each choosing one person until everyone was on a team, all the while each child was screaming, "Pick me!!! Pick me!!!!!" Well, God did pick Jonah to speak to the people of Nineveh but as we learned yesterday, Jonah did not want to be picked. He forgot to remember what a honor it is to be chosen. God has a way of being very persistent and He persuaded Jonah to go to Nineveh. This is where the men of the ship threw Jonah overboard and the sea calmed for them! The Bible tells us that God had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. Now if I had been Jonah here, I would have thought being swallowed was the end of me, how about you? This was actually God's salvation of Jonah. It's funny how sometimes God's salvation is what appears to us to be the end. Hmmm, that's something to think about. Now after the big fish regurg...

There are certain Bible stories we all learn as children if we are raised in church. They are stories of God's care for His people and stories to help build faith but they are so much more than mere stories. There are life lessons to be learned in these real-life accounts even for us as adults. For instance, how many times have we heard someone say, why do you care what I do? I'm not hurting anyone but myself. It's my life! Jonah was a prophet and God chose to use him to restore the people of Nineveh. God specifically told Jonah to go cry out against that city because of their wickedness. Jonah didn't want to go so he took the first boat out! He had to know that God would not let him go that easily, but then again how many times do we try to run from God, too? During that boat trip, there came a bad storm where the people on the boat feared for their lives. Even as heathens, they knew this was an act of God and they determined it was because of Jonah. Chapter...

As a 40 year old new mother, I have been waiting for the day someone assumes my daughter is my granddaughter especially with all the gray hair I now have. I have never been one to color my hair but I am ready to take the plunge. So this morning, I did the allergy test to see if I can use this product on my hair and now I wait. This is exciting because while having dark brown (almost black) hair again won't actually make me any younger, it will, hopefully, make me appear younger. As I was reading Psalm 51 this morning, I couldn't help but to recall in Scripture when King David committed adultery with Bathsheba (see 2 Samuel 11). David did such a vile thing as to take another man's wife, get her pregnant and then deliberately have her husband killed so his sin wouldn't be found out. Psalm 51 is David's prayer of repentance for these horrific actions. David had the audacity to not only ask for God's pardon but also for purity; not just for acquittal but also for ...

Romans 8:28-30 "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom he foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified." This is to me, is one of the most encouraging scriptures in the whole Bible. It reminds me of Jeremiah 1:5 which says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you..." . My parents didn't plan to have me but even so, God knew me before I was formed in my mother's womb. I was planned by God and predestined to love and serve God and to be conformed to the image of His Son. God had and still has a plan for me. Part of the execution of God's plan for me is the "all things" in verse 28. "All thing...

I am new to gardening but am fascinated by it. This morning, I went out to water our vegetable garden. I have prayed for a bountiful harvest this year. We want to have enough for our family and to put some away for the winter and still have plenty to share with others. My husband and I have been watching some weeds grow up into our squash plants. These weeds have grown so close to the squash we haven't been able to pull them because it could damage our squash so we have left them alone. This morning, I saw that something is eating the weeds and killing them but our squash are still beautiful! It reminded me of 2 Chronicles 20. This is a beautiful picture of God loving and caring for His people. Several groups of enemies were coming against God's people. Jehoshaphat prayed a beautiful prayer reminding God of his promises and said in verse 12, "O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what...

As I was reading 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 this morning, I looked at it in a different light. It says, "If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land". I began to think about all the ways God has blessed us and I realized that when we forget to recognize God's blessings, we get prideful and self-important. Proverbs tells us that pride comes before the fall of man but when we delight ourselves in God, He will give us the desires of our heart. I can't help but think of my 5 month old daughter who knows nothing right now but what she wants. Her world revolves around herself and what she desires. There will come a day that I will expect her to realize that although she brings me so m...

God has been very gracious to my family. He has decided to bless us abundantly in spite of ourselves! I told my husband this weekend that we are living like kings and we are swimming in the middle of a desert. We were hit hard by the economic downturn and yet are so blessed. We are overwhelmed by His goodness. Our 5 month old daughter is healthy and happy and we are healthy and happy. It appears to me that God is looking for ways to bless us because every time we turn around there is another blessing. Scripture tells us in Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." I have found that in my walk with God, sometimes faith is not so easy to come by. Sometimes we know in our head that God will take care of us but we lose heart because of fear of the unknown. Sometimes our faith is a choice we have to make in spite of our fears. Fear is very damaging w...