Love and War...

I knew I would like this book.  After all, it's by John and Stasi Eldredge.  What I didn't know is that I "needed" this book.  Wow!  This one will be a great bedside manual for any marriage.

What the Eldredge bestsellers Wild at Heart did for men, and Captivating did for women, LOVE & WAR will do for married couples everywhere. John and Stasi Eldredge have contributed the quintessential works on Christian spirituality through the experience of men and the experience of women and now they turn their focus to the incredible dynamic between those two forces.

With refreshing openness that will grab readers from the first page, the Eldredges candidly discuss their own marriage and the insights they’ve gained from the challenges they faced. Each talks independently to the reader about what they’ve learned, giving their guidance personal immediacy and a balance between the male and female perspectives that has been absent from all previous books on this topic.   They begin LOVE & WAR with an obvious but necessary acknowledgement:  Marriage is fabulously hard.  They advise that the sooner we get the shame and confusion off our backs, the sooner we'll find our way through.

LOVE & WAR shows couples how to fight for their love and happiness, calling men and women to step into the great adventure God has waiting for them together. Walking alongside John and Stasi Eldredge, every couple can discover how their individual journeys are growing into a story of meaning much greater than anything they could do or be on their own.

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385529808

This was book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah.

Help for Haiti

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Compassion Radio is partnering with a Christian relief agency to provide desperately needed medicines, water purifiers and other necessary items being requested from Haiti.

It's extremely important to us that every Compassion Radio Partner gift is applied where needed most, and in the most timely manner possible. Therefore, the distribution of this aid will be handled by Christian workers who have a long-term and permanent presence on the ground in the country.

We'll be posting updates on the main website page as this project develops and as we have more specifics on how your gifts are currently being utilized.

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Thank you for your concern and generosity on behalf of the people of Haiti.

Norm and Cher Nelson

2010 is upon us...

Here we are again at the beginning of a new year. I posted this on Facebook as my status yesterday:

"For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning." ~T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"

It seemed a bit "deep" at the time, but I know there are new things bubbling up in me that I haven't experienced before. Those things will require a new voice to communicate them. Of course with the events of the past year, there is a bit of trepidation in moving forward...but then again...what other option is there? I choose to keep believing God is still in control even when circumstances make it seem otherwise. I seemed to have "lost" my voice over the course of the last 4 1/2 months. I think it may be the trauma of all we've been through. Perhaps I'll find it again this year. I'm praying so.

Thanksgiving 2009

I don't really have anything to add to this post. Please watch the video and understand how grateful we are to all of our precious friends all over the world.

http://vimeo.com/7897510

"If God Is Good" Book Review

If God Is Good

by Randy Alcorn

Every one of us will experience suffering. Many of us are experiencing it now. As we have seen in recent years, evil is real in our world, present and close to each one of us.

In such difficult times, suffering and evil beg questions about God--Why would an all-good and all-powerful God create a world full of evil and suffering? And then, how can there be a God if suffering and evil exist?

These are ancient questions, but also modern ones as well. Atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and even former believers like Bart Ehrman answer the question simply: The existence of suffering and evil proves there is no God.

In this captivating new book, best-selling author Randy Alcorn challenges the logic of disbelief, and brings a fresh, realistic, and thoroughly biblical insight to the issues these important questions raise.

Alcorn offers insights from his conversations with men and women whose lives have been torn apart by suffering, and yet whose faith in God burns brighter than ever. He reveals the big picture of who God is and what God is doing in the world–now and forever. And he equips you to share your faith more clearly and genuinely in this world of pain and fear.

As he did in his best-selling book,  Heaven, Randy Alcorn delves deep into a profound subject, and through compelling stories, provocative questions and answers, and keen biblical understanding, he brings assurance and hope to all.

Randy Alcorn is the founder and director of Eternal Perspectives Ministries and a bestselling author. His novels include Deadline, Dominion, Edge of Eternity, Lord Foulgrin’s Letters, The Ishbane Conspiracy, and the Gold Medallion winner, Safely Home. He has written eighteen nonfiction books as well, including Heaven, The Treasure Principle, The Purity Principle, and The Grace and Truth Paradox. Randy and his wife, Nanci, live in Oregon and have two married daughters and four grandsons.

A Brief Encounter With Mary and Martha

Let's have a brief encounter with Mary and Martha. Luke 10:38-42

vs 40 - "But Martha was distracted with all HER preparations..." The preparations were hers, not the Lords - She's so distracted by all she's trying to do she even "fusses" at God - "Don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work?" But Jesus looks at her with love - "Martha, Martha" (Sandi, Sandi...insert your name here). I can almost see His tender smile as He shakes His head - "You are worried and bothered about so many things - really only one thing is important. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken from her."

Do I believe we need to take care of things around our homes and make sure our kids are fed and clothed - absolutely. Do I think our homes should be hospitable and welcoming to others - Yep, I do. But, I don't believe He wants us to be going about life frantically. A nervous wreck when things aren't "just so" or they aren't getting done (in our time frame). Is Martha necessary - yes. But remember, Jesus told her "Mary has chosen the better option". I can be as "Martha" as the next woman. I used to ask my husband to load the dishwasher and then re-do it when he wasn't looking because it wasn't loaded the "right" way.  I've often said that I'm an organized woman trapped in a messy womans body. Talk about frustration! 

Listen, if our "trying" and "busy-ness" get in the way of worshiping Jesus - it's sin. Plain and simple.

So whatever you're doing worship Him while doing it. Worship Him, knowing He's leading you to a new place of service to Him today. "To obey is better than sacrifice". He doesn't need our "work", or "trying", or "busy-ness". He wants our hearts. If our hearts are all wrapped up in the "doing" of stuff, then He doesn't really have us at all.

"Blue Like Play Dough"

I read the best book last week.  It's called "Blue Like Play Dough" by Tricia Goyer.  She is a Mom after my own heart.  Her hearts desire is to be the woman God is calling her to be, the wife God made her husband to need AND the Mom God wants her kids to see.  I think she's winning on all counts.  Her honest accounts of life struggles is liberating to those who read them.    She has passionately pursued her dreams and what she believes God has called her to do and shares openly about each success AND failure.  Wow.  Her vulnerability and frank openness encourages the reader to live life in God's grip. I will recommend this book again and again.  I will read this book again and again.

Tricia Goyer is the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, includingGeneration NeXt Parenting and the Gold Medallion finalist Life Interrupted. Goyer writes for publications such as Today’s Christian Woman and Focus on the Family, speaks to women’s groups nationwide and has been a presenter at the Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) national convention. She and her husband, John, live with their family in Montana.

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781601421524