A few years ago, I did a short study on Leah, Jacob’s wife. Leah is not someone in the Bible that we would like to be. She was unloved. No woman wants to be in that situation. No woman wants to be unloved. It is a deep, searing pain to feel unloved. In the lesson I expounded on how she longed for her husband’s affection, and hoped to win it by having multiple children, even giving her maidservant to have more children for her. Did her plan work? Did Jacob love her more than Rachel because of all the children Leah gave him? No. Man’s love is limited and conditional. Sometimes it is even superficial and fickle.
Now, clearly Leah did not have a say in her situation. I doubt she wanted to be married to a man who loved another wife. If anything, she was probably trying to make the best of the awful situation she was in by having a number of children. “Maybe then he will love me.” she thought. “Perhaps the children will fill this ache in my heart.” Now here is where I think it gets interesting when you focus on it for a little bit. You see God pursuing her with His love, and she in turn continues to pursue her husband’s love. It’s like an open love triangle. God, in His beautiful love, saw her situation, and opened her womb. It seemed as if He was saying, “I see your pain. I know your heart. I love you.” Now as we see her name her children, we also get a real good look at what she was thinking.
Genesis 29:31 - Reuben - God has seen; now my husband will love me.
v. 33 - Simeon - God has heard. No mention of husband here.
v. 34 - Levi - My husband will be attached to me!
v.35 - Judah - I will praise the Lord!
Just as a side note, Rachel has her husband’s love and she is not satisfied. Unless you receive God’s love you will not be satisfied.
30:9-11 - Leah loses sight again and gets into the competition. - Gad - Good fortune - No mention of God or husband. Now it seems she’s just focused on beating her sister.
Vs. 12-13 - Asher - Happy am I! Women have called me happy! - Now it’s just all about her and what other women think of her.
Vs. 17-18 Issachar - God has given me my wages, because I gave my servant to my husband. - This is an interesting statement. She seems a bit delusional at this point. It’s like she’s saying God rewarded her with another son for giving her servant to her husband. It also seems to imply that she think God owed her a son.
Vs. 19-20 Zebulun - God has blessed, now my husband will honor me.
She then stops bearing children. Now if she hoped that eight sons would surely make her husband love her, she was sorely disappointed.
Genesis 33:1-2 Okay, first of all, what a coward! This isn’t a “ladies first” kind of situation! He’s basically saying, “Okay, if they attack us the servants will get killed first, then Leah and the children, then Rachel and the children and then last of all - me.” Second, and more sobering for Leah, her plan didn’t work. Her sister Rachel was still smack dab in between her and Jacob. After all that battling, and all that bearing of children, and all that hoping and waiting, it didn’t make a difference. He still loved Rachel more.
Michael W. Smith has a beautiful song called “Never been unloved.” In the song he goes on saying how he’s been unfaithful, unworthy, undesirable, unwilling and so on. He then shifts into saying that, “but because of You, and all that You’ve been through, I know that I have never been unloved.”
Leah’s situation was definitely sad, heartbreaking even. But here is the truth of the matter. She was never unloved. The God of the universe Who created her and everything around her loved her. Not only that, He didn’t wait for her to have a better attitude and come around to loving God first and foremost. He loved her in the midst of her sorrow and blindness of heart. He loved her in the midst of her futile love quest with her husband. Through all this, He gave her multiple “I love you” gifts. Regardless of how she responded to His gift - good, bad, praising, selfish - He loved her.
Now what of all this?
Romans 5:8 says, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
The fact of the matter is that we’re sometimes just like Leah. We pursue other futile loves. We look to them to satisfy us and they just will not reciprocate or fulfill like we thought they would. And in the midst of all our sin and blindness, God loves us.
Or sometimes we get it in our head that because of all the bad things we’ve done, God doesn’t love us anymore. Or maybe if we do this service or that good thing for God He will love us more. The truth is, no matter what we do or have done or will do, God’s love for us will not change. It’s worth mentioning again. God’s love for us will not change.
The idea here is to know, and settle for yourself, and rest in the fact that YOU are loved by God. Unconditionally. Period. The question is, will you receive it? Will you be satisfied by it? Will you know it?
What comes to your mind when you think of the fact that Christ died for you? He endured pain for you. He wanted to be with you.
There is a quote from the book Uncommon Woman by Susie Larson.
“To ‘know this love’ is to be so acquainted with Jesus’ affections for you that more than anything else in all the earth you identify yourself as someone who is loved.”
I’ve adopted a couple questions from Kim Walker’s testimony. This is the woman from Jesus Culture that sings the song, “How He Loves Us.” Ask Jesus these questions. Wait for His answer. Expect His answer.
How much do you love me?
What were You thinking when You created me?
Oh the beauty of knowing the love of God!
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Silly Art!
A dear friend gave me a book called, "Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters" about almost a year ago. It's a great book with different art lessons. Each one has a * for the level of difficulty, and it goes from level one to three.
One of the lessons proved to be really fun for my boys and their work even made a nice addition to our kitchen wall.
Here's what we did. (Warning: It gets pretty messy.)
Materials:
six inch pieces of yarn (one for each paint color)
at least 4 paint colors in a bowl (add water if the paint is rather thick), using one bowl per color
large white paper or 4 pieces of paper taped together
cardboard to go under the paper
Set the cardboard on the floor. Place the paper on top of the cardboard. Use masking tape to stick the paper to the floor. Have kids dip the string into the paint of their choice and then, standing up, have them drop the paint-soaked yarn on the paper. SPLAT! They can then remove the yarn from the paper and start again.
If your children are like mine, this will go on until there is no more paint in any of the bowls. Once it's dry, you can frame it and display their art!
I made the mistake of not putting anything underneath the white paper. Since the boys put gobs and gobs of paint on it, it saturated the paper and stuck to the floor. Consequentially, as I was carefully trying to peel the paper off the floor, random parts of it ripped. So I cut out different parts of the art work and placed them into small frames.
Tada!
My little artists..... :)
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Tartar sauce
So one day, we were having I think fish sticks or some other kind of breaded fish when I looked in the pantry and realized (dun dun dun......) - we were out of tartar sauce. Cue the panic! How do you eat fish sticks without tartar sauce? Oh the horror!
Anyway, I decided to see if the internet had anything to offer. Sure enough, it had a recipe for homemade tartar sauce!!!! Long story short, I made it with my own few tweaks and it turned out to be, in my opinion, much better than store bought tartar sauce. Of course, it was fresh too!
Try it! You just might like it. We haven't bought tartar sauce from the store since then. :)
Tartar sauce recipe:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon sweet pickle relish
1 Tablespoon minced onion
1 Tablespoon lemon/lime juice (if you have fresh limes, juice a half lime)
dried parsley to taste
lemon pepper to taste
Mix up all the ingredients and you're done!
Anyway, I decided to see if the internet had anything to offer. Sure enough, it had a recipe for homemade tartar sauce!!!! Long story short, I made it with my own few tweaks and it turned out to be, in my opinion, much better than store bought tartar sauce. Of course, it was fresh too!
Try it! You just might like it. We haven't bought tartar sauce from the store since then. :)
Tartar sauce recipe:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon sweet pickle relish
1 Tablespoon minced onion
1 Tablespoon lemon/lime juice (if you have fresh limes, juice a half lime)
dried parsley to taste
lemon pepper to taste
Mix up all the ingredients and you're done!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Depression
There seem to be as many types of depression as there are causes for it. After noticing that certain factors brought on depression in me, I was determined to find out what I could do about it.
I had an episode a couple weeks ago that lasted the whole day. I was crying for no reason and very irritable. I felt like there was a constant dark cloud over me, just like those depression commercials. I could feel the tension in my body and spirit. I was constantly praying the whole day. I just wanted it to go away.
I talked to one of the pastor's wives on the phone about it. She said that it's normal, and that a lot of people get depressed. She also said not to fight it, but just let it run its course. I thought that was interesting. I was trying to fight it. I didn't want to feel that way. But that was just it. It was a feeling, and it didn't seem like I could change the way I felt. I felt hopeless, even though I knew I had hope.
I knew God's truth and held on to His promises. I didn't have any unconfessed sin in my life. There was no tragedy or problem in my life that would have caused me to feel so distraught. And yet, I felt distraught.
And so, my research began.
I've been pregnant four times, get my period and ovulate on a regular basis and I'm presently nursing. So I know my hormones can get out of wack. That's a factor.
I also noticed that when the sun hadn't been out for a long period, I felt really gloomy. That's another factor.
I can't account for all the other times I've felt depressed as it doesn't happen very often,maybe once every 3 months. But as far as this last episode is concerned, it seemed to be a combination of the sun not being out for about four days, and good old PMS.
So I think I have what is called Seasonal Affective Disorder, complete with its appropriate acronym - SAD. :) When the sun is not out for a number of days, and the hormones line themselves up just right, I get SAD.
There were three supplements that claimed to help: vitamin D3, vitamin B12 and omega 3. I asked a homeopathic doctor what he thought would be my best bet. He said the vitamin D3 would help for the sun-related issue. The B12 would be good simply for energy and motivation. The omega 3 was good for me, period. However, he said to try to get it in its purest form, because the more processed the omega 3 supplement is, the less effective it can be.
So...... I've been taking vitamin D3 (5,000 UI) once a day after breakfast and vitamin B12 (500mcg) once a day after lunch. I haven't done the omega 3 for now. It's pretty pricey to get the good kind. So far, so good for me. I've felt more energy, and the depressed feeling hasn't come back. Of course for me, time will tell. I don't actually get depressed that often, so we'll just have to wait a few months to see what happens. :)
Other practical factors that can help curtail depression are exercise, drinking adequate amounts of water and eating healthy foods. I do take a regular multivitamin food supplement already, and exercise 3 to 4 times a week on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I could definitely do better when it comes to drinking water and eating healthy. Christmas this year has produced quite a bit of chocolate in our household. :)
Well, there you have it. Hope this information proves useful to you or someone you know.
I had an episode a couple weeks ago that lasted the whole day. I was crying for no reason and very irritable. I felt like there was a constant dark cloud over me, just like those depression commercials. I could feel the tension in my body and spirit. I was constantly praying the whole day. I just wanted it to go away.
I talked to one of the pastor's wives on the phone about it. She said that it's normal, and that a lot of people get depressed. She also said not to fight it, but just let it run its course. I thought that was interesting. I was trying to fight it. I didn't want to feel that way. But that was just it. It was a feeling, and it didn't seem like I could change the way I felt. I felt hopeless, even though I knew I had hope.
I knew God's truth and held on to His promises. I didn't have any unconfessed sin in my life. There was no tragedy or problem in my life that would have caused me to feel so distraught. And yet, I felt distraught.
And so, my research began.
I've been pregnant four times, get my period and ovulate on a regular basis and I'm presently nursing. So I know my hormones can get out of wack. That's a factor.
I also noticed that when the sun hadn't been out for a long period, I felt really gloomy. That's another factor.
I can't account for all the other times I've felt depressed as it doesn't happen very often,maybe once every 3 months. But as far as this last episode is concerned, it seemed to be a combination of the sun not being out for about four days, and good old PMS.
So I think I have what is called Seasonal Affective Disorder, complete with its appropriate acronym - SAD. :) When the sun is not out for a number of days, and the hormones line themselves up just right, I get SAD.
There were three supplements that claimed to help: vitamin D3, vitamin B12 and omega 3. I asked a homeopathic doctor what he thought would be my best bet. He said the vitamin D3 would help for the sun-related issue. The B12 would be good simply for energy and motivation. The omega 3 was good for me, period. However, he said to try to get it in its purest form, because the more processed the omega 3 supplement is, the less effective it can be.
So...... I've been taking vitamin D3 (5,000 UI) once a day after breakfast and vitamin B12 (500mcg) once a day after lunch. I haven't done the omega 3 for now. It's pretty pricey to get the good kind. So far, so good for me. I've felt more energy, and the depressed feeling hasn't come back. Of course for me, time will tell. I don't actually get depressed that often, so we'll just have to wait a few months to see what happens. :)
Other practical factors that can help curtail depression are exercise, drinking adequate amounts of water and eating healthy foods. I do take a regular multivitamin food supplement already, and exercise 3 to 4 times a week on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I could definitely do better when it comes to drinking water and eating healthy. Christmas this year has produced quite a bit of chocolate in our household. :)
Well, there you have it. Hope this information proves useful to you or someone you know.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Ribs
I received this recipe from a dear family friend. I tried it out a couple nights ago and oh...... it was good! :)
What I loved about this recipe was that it was so easy and the ribs came out teeeeendddderrrrr.
So hear it is.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Take a rack of ribs, or in our case, 7 small slabs of country ribs. Rub in some bbq sauce into the meat. Wrap the meat with foil, put in a baking pan or roasting pan and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Bump the heat down to 300 degrees and bake for another 2 1/2 hours. Take the ribs out of the foil, dumping the grease. Cover in more bbq sauce. Place it back in the oven and turn off the heat. Let it sit for another 10 minutes in the oven. Serve and enjoy!
What I loved about this recipe was that it was so easy and the ribs came out teeeeendddderrrrr.
So hear it is.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Take a rack of ribs, or in our case, 7 small slabs of country ribs. Rub in some bbq sauce into the meat. Wrap the meat with foil, put in a baking pan or roasting pan and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Bump the heat down to 300 degrees and bake for another 2 1/2 hours. Take the ribs out of the foil, dumping the grease. Cover in more bbq sauce. Place it back in the oven and turn off the heat. Let it sit for another 10 minutes in the oven. Serve and enjoy!
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Comfort Idols
We all have them. Shopping, eating, TV, internet surfing, sports, facebook (gasp) - the list goes on. Things that we go to for comfort. The comfort idols. I'm tired; I going to binge on chocolate. He hurt my feelings; I'm going shopping. The kids are crazy today; I'm going to plug my face into the computer.
What inevitably happens when we're done with the comfort idol is, it doesn't satisfy. Oh sure, maybe for that 5 minute sugar high from the chocolate, life seems dandy, but then what? Back to reality and to feeling the way I did 10 minutes ago. The problem that I ran away from is still there.
I'm preaching to myself, by the way.
I was reading Isaiah 55. In verse 2, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?" Yeah. Why do I do that?
Verse 6 says, "Seek the Lord." That's right. The Creator of Life has answers to life. Well, who knew? ;) At the end of the day, Jesus is all I need. When faced with the temptation to run to my comfort idol, I can either give in to the temporary satisfaction and subsequent consequences, or I can run to my God for comfort and rest and fulfillment and satisfaction and answers, with no side effects.
Run to Him. Talk to Him. Rest in Him.
Find comfort in Him. The idols won't satisfy.
What inevitably happens when we're done with the comfort idol is, it doesn't satisfy. Oh sure, maybe for that 5 minute sugar high from the chocolate, life seems dandy, but then what? Back to reality and to feeling the way I did 10 minutes ago. The problem that I ran away from is still there.
I'm preaching to myself, by the way.
I was reading Isaiah 55. In verse 2, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?" Yeah. Why do I do that?
Verse 6 says, "Seek the Lord." That's right. The Creator of Life has answers to life. Well, who knew? ;) At the end of the day, Jesus is all I need. When faced with the temptation to run to my comfort idol, I can either give in to the temporary satisfaction and subsequent consequences, or I can run to my God for comfort and rest and fulfillment and satisfaction and answers, with no side effects.
Run to Him. Talk to Him. Rest in Him.
Find comfort in Him. The idols won't satisfy.
Monday, December 5, 2011
10 10
On days like this where I feel like I'm fighting off sickness, I get antsy at both the thought of needing to rest and needing to get things done. This is where my "10 10" comes in.
I focus on one project, say washing the dishes, and give 10 minutes to it. I even set my timer for it. Then, when the timer goes off, I take 10 minutes to relax - read, sit, nap, surf or whatever. Then, I go back to the 10 minutes of washing the dishes until it's done. Granted, it takes me a long time to finish whatever project I'm on, but eventually it gets done. Which, in my case, is better than just staring at it. :)
This also works for when I just feel overwhelmed. Eventually what ends up happening is that the 10 10 turns into 15 10 (15 minutes work, 10 minutes rest), or even 30 10.
Do you have a 10 10 that you do to help get things done little by little?
I focus on one project, say washing the dishes, and give 10 minutes to it. I even set my timer for it. Then, when the timer goes off, I take 10 minutes to relax - read, sit, nap, surf or whatever. Then, I go back to the 10 minutes of washing the dishes until it's done. Granted, it takes me a long time to finish whatever project I'm on, but eventually it gets done. Which, in my case, is better than just staring at it. :)
This also works for when I just feel overwhelmed. Eventually what ends up happening is that the 10 10 turns into 15 10 (15 minutes work, 10 minutes rest), or even 30 10.
Do you have a 10 10 that you do to help get things done little by little?
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