"Show Me Your Glory!"

Then Moses said to the LORD, "See, You say to me, 'Bring up this people!' But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, 'I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.'

"Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people."

And He said, "My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest."

Then he said to Him, "If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?"

The LORD said to Moses, "I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name."

Then Moses said, "I pray You, show me Your glory!"

And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion." But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" Then the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen."

The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD. Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."

Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.

Exodus 33:12-23 & 34:5-8

This is one of my most favorite passages! Moses, the only man who "talked with God as man to man" prays to God, wanting more of Him, "Show me Your glory!" It is awesome! God passes by in front of Him and proclaims His own name! You can also see here that God declares that it is He who has prerogative over His creation - His sovereign right to choose and it is not just a knowledge of fore seen faith.

Hallelujah! Amen!

A Lot More Than Just a Vending Machine

Sometimes when I'm in a group and we pray, it seems like we're just bringing a shopping list of requests to our Father - things we want Him to do for us to make our lives and those we love better. "God, I know that You have blessed me with so many things, but could You take care of these other things too? Oh, that would be great!"

Personally, until very recently, I have been discouraged from personal prayer because I didn't want to come to God with just a shopping list of requests. I didn't know how to start. There are so many needs, how could I pray for them and keep God's name holy without treating Him like a cosmic vending machine? Since I had forgotten about the Lord's Model Prayer, I went for a time without much prayer at all. I wanted to pray. I knew that I needed to pray, that I should pray, but I just didn't.

So, how was this overcome? I'm still coming out of it. Having a grateful heart is definitely a great place to start. Acknowledging the character and attributes of our God while in prayer to Him helps direct us toward a humble, worshipful attitude. That's when it becomes easier to have an eternal perspective while taking requests to Him. Having reverence for God's holy presence takes the focus off of all the "make my life better" needs and then we can pray for what God told us to pray for: evangelism and conversion, wisdom and grace to endure our difficulties.

These have been my prayers of late, asking God for grace when I'm physically tired, when my children disobey, when my husband complains and when things don't go as I planned. And God has answered those prayers. When I had run out of patience, God gave me grace and strength to act with patience. When my husband complained, God gave me grace and I kept a positive attitude. When my plans must be changed or abandoned, God gave me grace to be flexible and submissive.

God really does answer prayer. Are we praying for what He wants or what we want?

Lots of Exciting Things

Yesterday another tooth has popped out of Lily's gums on the top! I'm very excited about that. Now she'll have two on the top and two on the bottom. She only awoke in pain one night but other than that she has been sleeping a consistent 7 to 8 hours this past week! Yay, Lily! The better she sleeps, the better her parents sleep. :-)

Two girlfriends from my church family and I are going to see Tim Hawkins next Sunday night! This is so exciting! My Mom is going to take the girls for their first sleep over at Grandma Wanda's house! I'm looking forward to the comedy, the fellowship time and a night of no-worries! :-) Again, if any other ladies would like to go just click here for the flyer; tickets are only $15 and benefit a local children's hospital.

We're moving this month! We will close on our house October 27th and move in the 28th, Lord willing! I'm so excited! I just can't hide it! :-) My Mother-in-Law will be coming up to help pack, clean and move in. I always enjoy her coming up.

And the seasons are changing. It is so beautiful to watch the leaves turn colors and the days are so nice - blue, blue skies, sunshine, autumn leaves - it's like a Kinkade painting.

I'm also looking forward to the girl's joint birthday party in December! Because . . . it will be in our new home!!!

All kinds of wonderful things happening in the next couple of weeks and months!

Yay for October!

Funny Friday: Gettin' Older

Or should I say, more mature?! :-)

Here's a funny video by Tim Hawkins about Aging Rockers.

Enjoy.

On a personal note: when I get older, I have NO intentions of dying my gray hair. I'm not sure how I'm going to accept gravity and wrinkles though. :-D

Married Without Children

Feminism, secular and evangelical, has deceived many men and women into claiming more egalitarian androgynous roles which God did not intend before the Fall. Voddie Baucham has said, "We [our Western culture] are not raising women. We are raising men who are biologically capable of bearing children."

The selfish and self-centered ideals of feminism have created a super-structure in which women determine, apart from a Biblical worldview, their own destinies. Our society, and even the Church, has rejected what has been clearly revealed in the Text.

Now I have seen, and experienced myself (while attending a secular university), a generation of women who desire marriage but have no desire for children and are even content not to bear a single one. But this is not just a mere contentment, it borders more along the lines of unwanted scorn. This idea is not new and should not surprise us. This is one of the off-shoots from the abortion Culture of Death - just don't bear any.

Scripture is very clear that the offices of wife and mother were never intended to be separated. The desire to get married is the same as the desire to have a family. When a man and woman are united together in the covenant relationship of marriage, they create a new family (Genesis 2:24) which includes children (Genesis 1:27-28). There is nothing wrong with having the desire to marry and it is certainly a gift of the Spirit to be content with singleness (1 Corinthians 7). There are many passages that talk about the blessing of children and family life.

Besides the undeniable reality of the union between marriage and family, having its roots in Creation, specifically Biblical Womanhood, dictates that the offices of wife and mother are connected in such a way that they were not intended to be separated (Genesis 1:28 & 3:20, Titus 2:3-5). Of course women marry without the possibility to bear children, but the nurturing qualities which are divine in origin have been communicated to us as God's image-bearers (Genesis 1:27). Within the institution of marriage, we all must be willing to "multiply" as God has commanded us through biological or adoptive means. It is imperative not an option.

All women, especially blood-bought, Christ-redeemed women, must embrace Biblical Womanhood. Passages from Genesis 1-3, 1 Peter 3, Titus 2, Ephesians 5 and the like guide us to joyfully accept the greater glory of the purpose for which God created both genders in His image and how we can reflect that best, as His people.

The emphasis is reclaiming and living in an attitude of pre-Fall existence waiting eagerly for the redemption of all things (Rom 8:19-23, Revelation 21).

If we do not accept our Biblical mandates for God-created, God-intended, Manhood and Womanhood, then the Gospel we preach through words and deeds is a false one.