Looking For Love, by Greg Laurie

I get daily devotionals but had kind of stopped reading this one. I'm glad I read it, sometimes we need a reminder. Even if you don't believe in God or don't like the church please read it. It will only take a moment and it might be just what you needed.

Some years ago, I came across the obituary of a woman named Doris Duke, a tobacco heiress and philanthropist. She was a woman of immeasurable wealth, worth some $1 billion at the time of her death at age 80.She once told a friend that she never knew when a man really loved her, because, after all, she was worth a billion dollars. She said, "I would go out with a man a couple of times, and the next thing I knew, he would be saying, 'I love you.' I could never really know if he really meant it. How could I be sure?"That is a good question.

How can we be sure of real love? We use the word love so often that it has almost become a cliché. We have only one word for love in the English language. We use it in a variety of ways, ranging from "I love my job" to "I love my car" to "I love my dog" to "I love my wife."But what is love? One dictionary defines it as "a profoundly tender, passionate affection, a feeling of warm personal attachment, sexual desire or its gratification."I think that is a poor definition of love, but sadly, many wouldn't even aspire to something that high.

Love is more than an emotion; it's a commitment.In contrast to English, the Greek language uses many words for love. Some of them are used in the Bible, including the words erōs, phileō, storgē, and agapē. Erōs, from which we get our English word erotic, is primarily love on the physical level. Phileō, from which the name Philadelphia originates, means "brotherly love." It is the love that two friends have, a friendship love. Then there is storgē, which refers to family love, such as the love of a child for a parent or a parent for a child.

Finally, there is a unique word for love that is used so often in the New Testament: agapē. When we read the word love in Scripture, it is usually agapē. This is God's love, a supernatural love that also can be known and practiced by us.

That is not to say that physical attraction, friendship love, and family love are unimportant. They each have their place. For example, if erōs is satisfied in the marriage relationship, it can be wonderful. But you don't want to build a marriage on physical attraction alone. If you build a marriage solely on erōs, it is destined for failure.You need to take the time to get to know a person and allow friendship love to develop as you grow closer to one another. But you also need that supernatural love to really sustain, strengthen, and cause your relationship to flourish.When you have built your relationship on the right foundation, you will look forward to the years ahead, instead of dreading the aging process together. You will grow to appreciate your husband or wife more and more. It is not just a matter of falling in love. It is also a matter of growing in love.

While the right relationship built on the right foundation can be wonderful, there is a far greater love available to us. The Bible tells us about it in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (NKJV). This same God wants to come into your life and show you real love.Each of us was born with a hole in our heart that cannot be filled with anyone or anything. We can try to fill it with relationships. We can try to fill it with possessions or career or success or a myriad of other things. But nothing will fill that void because we were created to know God.

Many of us confuse loneliness for God with something else, when, in reality, we are lonely to have a relationship with the God whom we are separated from.Are you tired of the cheap imitations for love that this world offers—people who say they love you, and then use you or take advantage of you? God will never use you. He will never take advantage of you. But what He will do is show you what real love is all about.He loves you with the best kind of love: agapē. Now that is true love.

Greg Laurie

Ziggy Is In The Building.

This is Ziggy in her sunglasses from my mother-in-law. Right now Ziggy is a rock star; usually (but thankfully not currently) this is accompanied by her singing repeatedly the words Hannah Montana, which she has seen less than five times her entire life. She has also been a super spy, Harry Potter, a doctor and a pilot in these glasses. Apparently I should take back all of her Christmas presents; she obviously doesn't need them.

I Will Praise You In This Storm

So I'm in the middle of a tempest right now. More like a hurricane or tsunami actually. So, sorry I haven't written, I just haven't had the energy or motivation. But I am finding things to praise God for in the middle of this storm. I'm also learning things left and right about and concerning the problems I'm having. We're all alive, just laying low for a while.

The Girls

I'm not sure what she is, but she's cute no matter what.


Gorgemous Princess Ariel


Love the flippers!

Those curls took 45 minutes.

Isn't Princess Aurora pretty?

Halloween

Well, it's Halloween. We were supposed to go to Neewollah, but I just don't feel good today. I made it through work and that's the extent of my being with people ability today. I told the girls I'd take them around the block, but I don't even have candy to pass out because I was planning on being gone. So we'll come back, turn off all the lights, watch Dora and eat popcorn until we take Eric his dinner. Then it's off to bed. Tomorrow's cleaning day. Yea. I'll post pictures once I feel like it.

Side note: We've been getting away from ghost and witches and stuff like that lately. So what does Ziggy come home from school with this week? A dress-up witch's hat, a bat, a picture with a skull on it (I think it's a sponge print) and ghost-y stuff. Oh well, it could be worse, she could stay home all day and have to deal with me.

Here's a pic of them all together. Our Little Princesses.

Thankful 2

I'm a dork. On Thankful, I forgot to write about Eric. I am definitely thankful for him, I just spaced. So I'm very thankful for my husband. Not only is he a great dad, he loves me enough to put up with me for the last eight years! I don't write about him a lot mainly because he's not home. But I know that he's not home because he's trying to make the best life he can for all of us. It's hard to deal with sometimes (mostly because I'm exhausted and miss him but don't tell him the right way) but it's just a season, and it too shall pass. God shows us that real love is a choice and not a feeling, and it's a choice I made eight years ago. Now I just pray for the strength to go on till he gets to a point where he can slow down and rest.

Is That Supposed To Be White?

I don't know who did the buying for these houses, but they had no clue what they were doing. I'm thinking it was a middle aged man who never had any kids or at least didn't raise them because he was never home. Who on earth makes textured white bath tubs and cabinets? If I had back all the time I've spent trying to scrub them clean (and usually not succeeding) I probably could have gotten my associates degree. I don't know what I would have gotten it in, but I would be half way finished with something! Whatever it is it's not getting the stains out of these tubs.

Thankful

As I sit here at my computer that just decided to work again (I think someone from AT&T read my last blog, realized I hadn't had it fixed and started messing with it again), and think about the day to come, it's very easy to start focusing on the irritations. When I think about yesterdays it's even easier to think about those frustrations (mascara, a 20-month-old and a sister who opens doors for her do NOT mix!!!). But I realized my thinking is totally off.

At bible study one of the gals, Mayra who unfortunately is leaving for Okinawa soon, loved a quote recently. It was "Praise Him through the lice." It's about two Christ-following women in a concentration camp who are positively infested with lice, so bad that they were on their arm hair. One can't stand it anymore, and the other says to just hold on and praise God. So they start talking to the other women in their house and start spreading the Word. They start having mini bible studies. All because of the lice. The guards wouldn't come in because they didn't want to be infested. And while nothing in our life is that bad, minor irritations and your response can really bring you farther from God.

So I'm thankful. Thankful that Eric and I both have jobs. We don't really see the turn to the economy like other people do. Eric won't get fired. We see prices going up and quality going down, not that that hasn't been happening for a while. But we know that his job is secure. I started working this month. I'm very thankful for that. First, I get to watch Laelia, who is fantastic! I can tithe! This also gives us a chance to do some of the big stuff sooner. My mom-mobile needs new shoes. Us girls and our shoes. Eric's car needs brakes (I love him enough to want his car to stop, so I guess we'll replace those). We can start paying stuff off. A lot of people can't say that right now.

I have three gorgeous, healthy girls who still like me, though I won't take any bets when they realize they can't have phones or wear makeup. I irritate them and they irritate me. It's easy to just go through the motions without stopping and focusing on them, but God really blessed me with these three girls. I can't find the verse I want, but will look for it some more. Hah, found it. It was on the wall like 10 feet from me. Go figure. Psalm 127:3 Children are a gift from the Lord.

And I have a God who loves me no matter what I do. A God who forgives everything and still uses me. Don't get me wrong. God doesn't just love you and say "Okay, go about your life without Me, doing what you want. I love you and will make everything perfect for you, even when you don't love Me or acknowledge Me or believe in Me." To experience God's grace you have to tell him that you are not perfect. That you can't come to Him because of how dirty and putrid your best attempts at life are compared to Him. You need the payment that Jesus made (His death on the cross) for your sins. And that you need Him, you can't live life on your own. And then once you do that, you have to give your life to Him, complete and utter control of it. As someone that has struggled with that for over 20 years (that sounds funny, since I'm only 24), that is the hardest part of a relationship with God. Not being able to do it my way. Having to put some effort into it. Hence why most marriages fail. So I am thankful that God made a way to be a part of His family (Jesus' love sacrifice) and that He does forgive me, and that He helps me lean on Him every day. And when I don't He sends a gale, or sometimes a tempest to encourage me to lean.

*Elementary Motherhood*

Following are answers given by elementary school-age children to the given questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the Scotch Tape is.
2. Think about it. It was the best way to get more people.
3. Mostly to clean the house.
4. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic, plus super powers, and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We are related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string. I think.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

How did your mom meet your dad?
1. Mom was working in a store and dad was shoplifting.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer? Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

What makes a real woman?
1. It means you have to be really bossy without looking bossy.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because Dad is such a goofball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than Dad.

What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home, and dads just work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them. 3
. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power because that's who you have to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't have spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What's the difference between moms and grandmas?
1. About 30 years.
2. You can always count on grandmothers for candy. Sometimes moms don't even have bread on them.

Describe the world's greatest mom?
1. She would be able to make broccoli taste like ice cream.
2. The greatest mom in the world wouldn't make me kiss my fat aunts.
3. She'd always be smiling and keep her opinions to herself.

Is anything about your mom perfect?
1. Her teeth are perfect, but she bought them from the dentist.
2. Her casserole recipes. But we hate them.
3. Just her children.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd dye it, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter -- then she would know my sister did it and not me.

From You Make Me Laugh at Crosswalk.com

It's All A Scam

A few weeks ago I was sick but still had to clean up for the AT&T lady. Out internet had been going out for hours, close to days, at a time and we had a red light on our modem. So she said we needed a $35 part and it would be $60 to install it. So I said we would wait (after talking to Eric) and if it still did it we'd call back. So we waited a week, since if you call back within 10 days it looks bad on the worker, and what happens? It stops doing it. I've only had it out once, for less than a two minutes. So I'm convinced that there's a button at AT&T that they try to use just to get money out of you. We also considered cancelling our land line and upping our cell minutes, but found out that with the dual service discount (phone and internet) we were only paying $7 for phone. That doesn't buy a whole lot of cell minutes, so I don't have to change all of our paperwork and take our house number off of everything. One good thing, at least.