Amazing Unborn Baby Models!

Why didn't they have this when I was pregnant? Too cool!

Pregnant women now have an amazing new option of holding life-sized models of their unborn babies. A new invention, designed by Brazilian Jorge Lopes, converts data from ultrasound and MRI scans, and uses 3-D printing technology to create plaster models of those who are being "fearfully and wonderfully made" in secret.

I pray this will be a wonderful tool for those attempting to rescue the unborn from death by abortion. Troubled moms can now "see and feel" models of their precious babies; so, it will be more difficult to deceive them into believing they are carrying a "blog of cells" in their wombs.

Back to Life...

Enjoying a rest stop on the way to Colorado!

Wow! Life has been full these last few weeks (is that another term for busy?). While recently gathering in TN with numerous churches from our denomination for our annual Presbytery meeting, and travelling to minister to families in Kansas, Chicago, and Colorado, our family experienced many adventures and times of sweet fellowship with precious friends along the way.

The Monday after the CHEC conference, I had the privilege of sharing, at a ladies tea, the joy of being a truly "passionate" housewife. The tea was hosted by my friend, Tonya Chapa, and the ladies of Reformation Church in Colorado. It was a huge success. My friend, Heather Davis, also shared her journey through widowhood in a talk entitled, "Joy in the Mourning."

The food was delicious (and beautiful), the atmosphere lovely, the fellowship sweet, and the whole event God glorifying! Thanks, ladies, for allowing me to be a part of it!

Here are some photos of the beautifully decorated tables. You can really see the genuine heart and unique personalities that went into this event! CLICK HERE

In the meantime, you may have noticed that my blog has been somewhat neglected. Please know you have all been in my thoughts and prayers and I hope to have some posts for you soon. We're preparing for our own ladies tea here locally in Morton, IL next week, so things aren't calmed down completely yet!

Here are a few highlights from our recent adventures. Be back soon!

Tonya and Stacy saying goodbye!

Chapa and McDonald girls "hangin' out"

Family Worship at the Chapas

Several of our "Patriarchs Wives" (a Yahoo group) at the ladies tea in Colorado

Visiting with some of the sweet Hectors (hmmm...as opposed to the not-so-sweet Hectors?) at our booth at the CHEC conference. They were such a wonderful help (and quite entertaining!).
We all miss them already!

Entering a "tornado warning" in Kansas. Scary!

I thought the cloud looked like a UFO!

Sharing a "Starbucks Moment"

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye...you get the picture.

More photos at Tiffany's Blog or Jessica's Blog

Colorado Ladies Tea Fast Approaching!

In case you live too far to attend the Illinois ladies tea in July, perhaps you live closer to Colorado! If so, please plan to join us in Franktown, CO on:

Monday, June 22, 2009
11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

New Day Christian Church
905 N Highway 83
Franktown, CO 80116

Be refreshed and renewed with an exciting afternoon of inspirational teaching, sweet fellowship and delicious food. Few things are more important, or more beautiful, than for women to motivate one another with a biblical vision for godly womanhood. You will be inspired and encouraged as we hear about joyfulness in our role as women.

Speakers Include:













Heather Davis

Heather is a single mom to six children. She recently became a widow after twenty years of marriage. She has the privilege of continuing to educate her children at home and is at the end of a two month trip around the U.S.

Heather's blog, Lazy D Ranch has become a source of encouragement for many who have dealt with grief.






Stacy McDonald

Stacy is a pastor’s wife, homeschooling mother, grandmother, conference speaker, and author of the life changing books, Passionate Housewives, Desperate for God and Raising Maidens of Virtue. While traveling with her family, Stacy has taught women all over the globe on issues relating to the sacred calling of marriage and motherhood, as well as homeschooling, purity, and Christian deportment. Visit her blog at Your Sacred Calling.

Please RSVP to Tonya by June 15th at 719.494.1598

Price: $10 per person/ $30 per family (Scholarships may be available if needed)

All ages welcome!

2009 Mother Daughter Tea Fast Approaching!

REGISTRATION MUST BE RECEIVED BY JULY 3!

Hi Ladies,

I wanted to remind everyone our 2009 Mother Daughter Tea is fast approaching and scheduled for Saturday, July 11, 2009. (10:30 am - 4:30 pm) at Providence Church in Morton, Illinois. But please plan to join us whether or not you have daughters! There will be plenty of teaching and fellowship for everyone!

Click here for DETAILS

Download color flyer HERE

Saturday, July 11, 200910:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Providence Church
401 S. Carol Avenue
Morton, IL 61550

Our mother/daughter one-day retreat gives you and your daughters (of all ages) the rare opportunity for a day away together. Be refreshed and renewed with an exciting day of inspirational teaching and skits, testimonies, music, and fellowship, as well as a delicious gourmet lunch! Be inspired and encouraged by mother/daughter speaking teams who share from the heart the tremendous part mothers and daughters may play in shaping their families and society as a whole.

Speakers include:

Maggie and Jessica Erber
Stacy and Tiffany McDonald
Katherine and Melinda Sanford
Hope Ware

Few things are more important, or more beautiful, than for mothers to inspire their daughters with a vision and love for godly womanhood. This event is specifically designed to help mothers and daughters of all ages catch and pass on this vision. And please feel welcome to join us, whether or not you have daughters!

We are thrilled to have a much bigger facility than last year, but space is still limited, so register soon!

A Sweet Smelling Aroma

"This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:38-39, ESV)

What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? I have heard some argue that we have a generation of people who don’t know how to love themselves – thus the push for higher self-esteem in our youth. I would argue that we love ourselves greatly.

I have suffered from back pain periodically throughout my life. I can tell you, when my back flairs up and I find it excruciating to simply walk across the room to the bathroom, I am completely focused on myself and my own pain. When I have a migraine, and the pain in my head consumes my thoughts, the whole world goes away; I am completely self-absorbed and focused on anything that will make me feel better. I may take medication and pray; I may ask others to pray. I darken the room, go to bed, and sometimes I cry. Nobody has to remind me that I am in pain and need prayer and healing.

I rarely get migraines; but, the last time I had one it occurred to me, with much shame, that I know several women who experience them regularly. Why is it I forget to pray for them? Because loving others doesn’t come natural; loving myself does. So I purposed, in the midst of my pain, to pray for those women, as I also prayed that God would relieve my own pain. I desperately want to follow the Lord’s call to love my neighbor as myself.

Nancy Leigh Demoss said it well in her book, Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free:

"We naturally love ourselves; we do not naturally love others.

"In Ephesians 5...Paul says that husbands are to "love their wives as [they instinctively love] their own bodies...After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it (vv. 28-29, italics added).

"We are constantly looking out for ourselves, deeply sensitive to our own feeling and needs, always conscious of how things and people affect us. The reason some of us get hurt so easily is not because we hate ourselves but because we love ourselves! We want to be accepted, cherished, and treated well. If we did not care so much about ourselves, we would not be so concerned about being rejected, neglected, or mistreated.”

Self Absorption Leads to Pride

My husband typically practices expository preaching; however, with our upcoming travel schedule, and because he didn’t want to start and stop while preaching through a book of the Bible, he decided to do a sermon series entitled The Seven Deadly Sins.

This past Sunday he preached on the prevalent and blinding sin called “pride.” You can listen to the sermon HERE.

Just as it is difficult to see how much we love ourselves, it is also difficult to see how prideful we are. Pride is blinding. I believe that just as we are born into sin, we are born with blinders on that hide from us our self-absorption and pride. God, through His Holy Spirit, is the only one who can reveal to us its existence in our lives and how loathsome it is to Him. "The pride of your heart has deceived you…” (Obadiah 3:3 ESV)

In 1 Timothy, Paul describes another group that is deceived by pride. While addressing those Christians who were under authority, he warns about those who “crave controversy” and quarrel over words. He says their arguments produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and conflict.

"If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people…" (1 Timothy 6:3-5, ESV) emphasis mine

Matthew Henry expounds:

“Paul here warns Timothy to withdraw from those who corrupted the doctrine of Christ, and made it the subject off strife, debate, and controversy…The doctrine of our Lord Jesus is a doctrine according to godliness; it has a direct tendency to make people godly. But he that does not consent to the words of Christ is proud (v. 4) and contentious, ignorant, and does a great deal of mischief to the church, knowing nothing…”

The Internet has been a wonderful tool for teaching and sharing information. However, at times, it has also been used to “corrupt the doctrine of Christ” by producing and spreading envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and friction among the brethren. I believe the root of it all is pride. And the answer, as always, is to repent.

In my early days on the Internet, I recall getting embroiled in all sorts of debates. At first, it was harmless enough, and a good deal of fruit came from being challenged “sword sharpens sword” style. However, it wasn’t long before I noticed a pattern in many of these online debates: once everyone had shared their point of view and the topic had been exhausted, there often was at least one person who would not let things die peacefully. Beating a dead horse would be putting it mildly. Not only did these individuals want to be right, they wanted everyone to know they were right, and admit they were right.

I confess, I have been guilty of this sort of online spiritual fencing; and, to my shame, as “right” as I may have been, I often proved myself to “know nothing” (1 Tim. 6:4) by the very lack of charity and grace in my words. Because to “know something” is to be filled with the wisdom and love of God—to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Wisdom is revealed when we are not self absorbed, pampering our own self image, because love does not envy or boast. Love isn’t arrogant or rude; it doesn’t insist on its own way, carry resentments, or celebrate the wrongs of others.

No. Love is indeed patient and kind. Love rejoices in the truth, is longsuffering, believes the best of others, and hopes for good, revealing a spirit of endurance. May we all learn to love one another as we love ourselves (Matt. 22:39). Even better, let us learn to love one another as Christ loved us, and gave Himself for us (1 Corinthians 13). Let our love for God and for one another be a sweet smelling aroma to our Lord.

"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma." (Ephesians 5:2, NKJV)

Read also Rusty Trumpets:

“And let us all avoid dissentions and quarrels about the law, and commit to firmly communicating the truth - firmly, boldly, graciously, and always, always in love.”

Happy Mother's Day

To Mother

You painted no Madonnas,
On chapel walls in Rome,
But with a touch diviner,
You lived one in your home,

You wrote no lofty poems,
That critics counted art,
But with a nobler vision,
You lived them in your heart.

You carved no shapeless marble
To some high soul design,
But with a finer sculpture,
You shaped this soul of mine. –

You built no great cathedrals,
That centuries applaud,
But with a grace exquisite,
Your life cathedraled God. –

Had I the gift of Raphael,
Or Michelangelo,
Oh what a rare Madonna,
My mother’s life would show.

–William Pitt Fessenden

John MacArthur's New Book: The Divorce Dilemma

The Divorce Dilemma: God’s Last Word on Lasting Commitment

A new book by John MacArthur

Ever since publishing our family's testimony, Beauty for Ashes, I have received numerous emails from women who are relieved to know there is hope for them (Jeremiah 29:11) - that although they may have been forsaken by the husband of their youth, God will never leave them nor forsake them. And neither does He leave them in bondage to man made doctrines.

As many of you know, James and I are passionate about God's purpose for marriage and family. It is our highest desire to see God glorified in the midst of this rebellious generation. We invest much time and effort attempting to strengthen and equip the Christian family with God's Word, and helping them to apply it to their daily lives.

So at first glance, it may seem strange that we would even mention a book discussing what God's Word says about divorce. However, I believe that the way we view divorce (and remarriage) says a lot about how we view marriage. For instance, in John MacArthur's new book, The Divorce Dilemma: God's Last Word on Lasting Commitment, he lays out four main views on divorce:

1. The secular view (which, sadly, even some professing Christians embrace) which says that divorce and remarriage is allowable for any reason at all.

2. No divorce for any reason, ever.

3. Divorce "under certain circumstances," is allowed; but, "no remarriage is allowed - ever- at any time, for anybody, for any reason."

4. The last view is that "biblically, both divorce and remarriage are possible, but only under certain circumstances."

Each of these positions communicate different messages pertaining to the way we as a church view the permanency and importance of marriage, as well as the importance of passing on a godly legacy to our children.

So which option is the biblical one? In chapter one, Pastor MacArthur asserts that the answer can be found in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. He points out that "Jesus was confronting the sins of the Pharisees" and "unmasking their hypocrisy." Not only had they attempted to exchange God’s standards for their own, but they had twisted Scripture to fit their own views (and wicked desires): “A majority of the Pharisees decided that any husband ought to be able to shed his wife whenever he wanted.”

He goes on to say:

“The people, guided by their leaders, tolerated divorce and remarriage for any reason. Jesus’ response in verse 32 is that God does not permit divorce except for one very specific reason. The exception is important. Notice that while Jesus was plainly confronting the Pharisees’ too-lax attitude toward divorce, He expressly recognized an exception: ‘except for the reason of unchastity…’”

As MacArthur explains more fully in a later chapter, “Jesus was speaking of the kind of serious unrepentant sexual sin that represents a full-on assault against the sanctity of the marriage union and irreparably fractures every vestige of trust and intimacy.”

And read his following statement carefully:

“Some Christians, with the good motive of wanting to halt the social ills of divorce, would prefer to ignore or explain away the exception clause and insist that divorce is never permissible, period. But we can’t outthink Jesus and must not make the Law more rigid than He did. We need to deal honestly with everything He taught, and not add to or subtract from his Word. Let’s explore further to see exactly what He said about divorce and why.”

I have heard it argued that it is better to err on the side of stringency (never allowing divorce or remarriage) rather than to err on the side permissiveness (allowing divorce and remarriage for any reason). But I would contend that both are equally harmful and both dishonor the institution of marriage. One view leaves intact marriages open to devastation; while the other view forbids marriage to the faithful spouse whose union was stolen from them.

The disposable view of marriage that is prevalent in today’s culture is tragic; and it is heartbreaking that even many professing Christians support this dishonest view of marriage. However, when we place thousands of “grace widows” under the man-made bondage of perpetual celibacy and deny them their Christian freedom to remarry we communicate in a way that marriage is not all that important after all.

In The Divorce Dilemma, Pastor MacArthur does an excellent job of defending the permanency, beauty, and holiness of marital oneness, while balancing it with the Scriptural reasons why God made the allowances He did for divorce and remarriage under certain circumstances.

Each chapter is well organized and engaging. Pastor MacArthur is thorough in his exegesis without being the least bit wearisome. The last chapter includes a helpful Q and A, which includes the following answer given to someone who asked how to help a friend who has biblical grounds to remarry, but feels she would be violating the vows she made to her husband if she were to marry again. John MacArthur answers:

“I would begin with 1 Corinthians 7, commending her for understanding and applying two of Paul’s main themes: that it can be good for her as an unmarried woman to remain single, and that it is best for her to be content with her current marital status, not quick to change it.

"Then I would ask her to read verse 15: ‘If the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases,’ asking her, ‘Since God does not consider a woman in that situation to be bound to her marriage vows anymore, would it be right for the woman to consider herself still bound?’

My hope is that she will see that no one has a higher regard for what is right than God does. Then I would apply the same reasoning toward the exception clauses
regarding adultery in Matthew 5:32 and Matthew 19:9. I would go back to 1 Corinthians 7 and encourage her to consider before God whether she has been
specially gifted with singleness (verses 7-8) or not (verse 9). May her gifting, not false guilt, be her guide." (Emphasis mine)

An interesting and powerful finale' to the book is a letter of rebuke written by the father of a forsaken woman to her adulterous husband. This letter, written lovingly, firmly, and pointedly was instrumental in this man's eventual repentance and restoration to his family.

I believe that whether or not you have been touched by divorce, The Divorce Dilemma is a must read for everyone. I believe it is crucial that leaders and laymen alike, with Bible in hand, read this refreshing and balanced book. Thank you Pastor MacArthur!

The Divorce Dilemma: God’s Last Word on Lasting Commitment by John MacArthur, Day One Publications (April 2009)