When Does God Love You?

“There is therefore now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 8:1

Do your children know the biblical answer to this question?

Of course, it’s not only children who need to understand this truth…

Moms, you need to believe it too!

Photo: Cecile Graat

Beauty Supplements

Your daily dose of true beauty advice…

We often laugh about the proverb’s assertion that it is better to live on the corner of a roof than with a nagging wife (Proverbs 21:9). This warning, however, ought to sober us. And it’s definitely not funny when you can imagine that that verse is speaking about you. And unfortunately, we probably have all thought that at times. Hopefully, with hard work and the aid of the Holy Spirit, those times become less severe…and less often.

When I have had a particularly bad day (and no, I don’t mean because particularly “bad” things have happened to me, but that I have handled whatever has happened particularly badly) it is a horrifying thought to think of hearing a tape recording of myself—or remembering that not only has my dear husband heard my dripping, but so has my heavenly Husband (only more so because He also knows my thoughts). It is humbling and reveals how much need I have for repentance and calling on the Lord for strength to do better.

In working toward peace in our homes, we need to daily remember what our husbands long for. More than fancy meals, fancy lingerie, fancy anything, they just want some peace. Has your husband ever had some happy news to come home and tell you about…and you totally burst his bubble with a sour attitude that you dumped on him as soon as he walked in the door? Would you want to be greeted by that when you came home? Avoid the shame and remorse you’ll surely feel later—just don’t do it!…

Let there be peace in our homes, and let it begin with us.

~Denise Sproul in Tending Your Garden

Photo: OBMonkey

Better Than The Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don’t know why, but for some reason I’m easy prey for any recipe that claims to be the “Best Ever” version of something. I fell for it again this past week with a cookie recipe. Even though I’d already found a chocolate chip cookie recipe that I simply adore, I was drawn in by the idea that perhaps there could still be another in existence that was even better. When I found a highly rated recipe entitled “Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies,” I had to try it.

The results? Well, if you modified the recipe title by adding the words “Not The,” I think it would be a bit more accurate. The cookies were soft (which is what I like), but the flavor was bland.

It’s ok though, because after trying the new recipe I was reminded of how good my favorite recipe really is. It is hands down better than the “Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookie” recipe. So I thought I should share it with you!

The following recipe is taken from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book (a cookbook I highly recommend). They say that the secret behind the chewy chocolate chip cookie is the melted butter (literally melted, either in the microwave or on the stovetop) and the extra egg yolk. Whatever the secret, all I know is that these cookies are delicious. 

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

For best results, bake only one sheet of cookies at a time. These cookies are best served warm from the oven but will retain their chewy texture when cooled. (Makes about 24 cookies.)

Ingredients

• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup packed (7 ounces) light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.
2. In a large bowl, beat the melted butter and sugars together with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed.
3. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Mix in the chips until incorporated.
4. Working with 2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll the dough into balls and lay them on the prepared baking sheets, spaced about 2″ apart. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until the edges are set and beginning to brown but the centers are still soft and puffy, 15-20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking.
5. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Now, take this recipe, go, and be a blessing to your family and friends this weekend.  

Photo: kasey albano

Beauty Supplements

Your daily dose of true beauty advice…

Our whole culture is so driven to not have pain, to not have to hurt. So, we have every conceivable kind of medication to numb or dull or fix the pain. So many Christian women are living these very medicated, very numb lives because they are trying to escape from the pain.

Now, I’m not saying that if you have a headache that it’s wrong to take an aspirin. But I think you need a theology that takes you beyond aspirin; that says, “I can have a headache physically, emotionally, spiritually, and life is still okay because God is still good, because not every headache is curable.”

God is going to let you walk through circumstances. God is going to, in some cases, create circumstances in your life that you will think of as a huge headache. It’s not going to go away. It’s not going to go away quickly, and it may not ever go away in this lifetime.

God says, “Don’t run from the cross.” This is all about the cross. That’s the crux of the matter: getting back to the cross. It’s the willingness to suffer righteously on behalf of those who are unrighteous so that God can be glorified, and so they can be healed. So God says: “Proactively look for ways to do good. Don’t run.”

~Nancy Leigh DeMoss in “When Marriages Hurt“

Photo: OBMonkey

Are You Your Child’s Cheerleader?

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue…”

Proverbs 18:21 

Last night, I finished reading Gospel-Powered Parenting by William Farley. I will definitely be adding this book to my list of recommended reads for Christian parents. There was far too much good stuff in it for me to absorb with only one reading, so I’ve already made plans to come back to it again in the future. 

Knowing my own sinful tendency toward negativity, I found the following instruction on the importance of encouraging children to be especially helpful…

Most parents find it easy to see their children’s faults, but hard to see their virtues. Why is this? If you ask a parent to list a child’s faults, the list will come quickly. But if you ask the parent to identify evidences of God’s grace in that child, the list will often come slowly after hard thought, if at all. Why?

One reason is that we think much about our children’s faults and little about their virtues. This is especially true for difficult children. But the difficult child is usually the one who most needs our affirmation. A friend asked a mother for the first thing she thought of when a particular child came to mind. She told me that only negative words came to mind, and it disturbed her.

A second reason it is difficult to evidence grace is that we take God’s grace for granted. We have not learned to be thankful for our children, despite their problems. We think we deserve better. We are ungrateful. A lack of gratitude always points to pride. It says, “I deserve good from God’s hand.” The gospel speaks a different message. We deserve crucifixion. We don’t deserve obedient, easy children.

Words of affirmation are powerful. The Bible stresses the awesome power of the tongue. “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life” (Prov. 10:11). Appropriate words encourage, impart love, inspire and charge our children with confidence to face tomorrow. This is especially true when we verbally identify where God is working in their lives.

Behind almost every child’s weakness is a corresponding strength. After you have disciplined the weakness, take a moment to identify the strength. The child who is fearful and sensitive might also be good at making friends. The child who is defiant and strong willed is probably good at resisting peer pressure. The child who talks too much might have potential to be a good teacher. Learn to verbally and repeatedly identify grace in your children’s lives.

What are we more aware of, their failings or God’s grace? Parents deeply aware of their own sin are very sensitive to God’s grace in others. Despite their children’s shortcomings, they are grateful, and they express that gratitude repeatedly. But proud, self-righteous parents are slow to see God’s grace at work in their children. They are demanding. They are not grateful. Nothing done by their children is good enough.

[Gospel-Powered Parenting, pp. 212-214]

Photo: AD-Passion

Beauty Supplements

Your daily dose of true beauty advice…

Kindness is a habit that softens the atmosphere. It is an outgoing of neighbor-love that becomes instinctive, and is often unnoticed even by the person who practices it; yet voices and actions and even thoughts surrounding acts of kindness impart this softening toward others as if it were a benevolent virus, a happy infection that eases everything for everyone.

The bewildered “sheep” of Matthew 25:31-40 could hardly remember when they visited the prison, fed the hungry, welcomed a stranger, and they had no idea that Christ valued these acts of kindness so much that he considered them as done to himself. Kindness is like that. It is a selfless form of thinking that sees a need and meets it, almost by reflex, with no thought of reward.

Like the other fruit of the Spirit, kindness comes by receiving and then imitating the kindness of God, as the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:32).

~J.I. Packer & Carolyn Nystrom in God’s Will: Finding Guidance for Everyday Decisions

Photo: OBMonkey

One More Week Down…

Evangelle at 9 months

And now for your weekly adoption update…

Yesterday marked one week since our adoption agency submitted our paperwork to the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa. I told Joseph it felt like the longest week of my life! We did receive confirmation from the Embassy that they have received our paperwork and are processing our case, which was good to hear.

We also received new photos of Evangelle yesterday (always a welcome event!), most were blurry, but there were a few good ones. The photos were accompanied by a note from one of the staff members at Acacia Village: “This baby girl so so active and growing everyday. She is always happy and smiley.” 

Evangelle definitely looks happy, and we can tell she is growing! When we saw her at the beginning of January, she only weighed 10 1/2 lbs. Now at 9 months, she is nearing 14 lbs.! Poor little girl also has her first ear infection; we’re praying she’ll recover from that soon.

Meanwhile, back at home in North Carolina, Joseph and I have been busily preparing for Evangelle’s arrival. I’m finishing up some decorative painting in the nursery, Joseph has been painting walls, setting up the crib and other furniture, and is getting ready to wire our new lighting. Once we finish those tasks, we’ll be ready to put everything in its place. It’s good that we have so many projects to work on during these last few weeks of our wait—at least we’re able to spend our time painting the walls instead of crawling them!   

Beauty Supplements

Your daily dose of true beauty advice…

I used to think that the doctrine of omniscience was anything but reassuring. When I was young, my parents often said, “We may not know what you do, but God does. He sees everything.” I thought of that as a threat, something that only made me fearful of doing anything wrong. 

To be sure, God’s omniscience is an effective deterrent to sin. God is one teacher who never leaves the room. Second Corinthians 5:10 tells us that someday we will be called to account for all the things that we’ve done in the body. And 1 Corinthians 4:5 says that the Lord will “bring to light the things hidden in darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts.” That is a powerful motivation to live righteously.

My parents were right; God knows everything we do. And yet His correction is always with love. Peter denied the Lord three times at His crucifixion. In John 21, the Lord confronted Peter and asked, “Do you love Me?” (v. 16). Peter assured the Lord that he loved Him. The Lord asked again—a total of three times. Finally Peter said, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You” (v. 17). Peter appealed to Jesus’ omniscience rather than his own visible behavior to verify his love.

First John 3:19-20 says, “We…will assure our heart before Him, in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.” God’s omnipotence does more for us than merely act as a watchdog; it is a source of our confidence and assurance, for by it He sees beyond our disobedience and failure, to a heart of love for Him.

~John MacArthur in Worship: The Ultimate Priority

Photo: OBMonkey

Becoming a Truly Beautiful Bride

“An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.”

Proverbs 31:10

Here in North Carolina, hints of spring are already in the air and weddings are soon to follow. Over the next several months, my husband and I have at least six weddings where either we or our gifts will be making an appearance. 

I’ve always loved weddings and all of the romance and deep significance attached to them. Planning a wedding is rarely easy, yet all of the effort necessary for pulling off a successful one-day event is nothing when compared to the years of prayer and hard work required for building a successful marriage. Although many women make beautiful brides, far fewer make godly wives.

In her article “Loving Your Man,” Barbara Rainey shares wise advice for helping the former become the latter…

I often give three pieces of advice to young women before their wedding day. But because these remain just as important as we go through marriage and because they are fashioned by the Scriptures and proven by experience, I share them with you today—at whatever stage you find yourself in marriage:

Believe in your husband. This is the most valuable gift Dennis says I’ve given him. You know your husband better than anyone. To see his faults and weaknesses and yet to believe in your husband’s God-given potential as a man and his leadership of your home does more than you can imagine for his spiritual growth

Be willing to confront your husband in love. Too many wives mistakenly believe they are following the biblical pattern of submission by ignoring or denying deficits in their husband’s life. But being submissive does not mean being silent. It simply means being wise and loving in how you approach him, treating him with kindness and respect. Say to your husband, “Could I talk to you about something?” Asking permission to broach a difficult subject may make it easier to get your message across. He is far less threatened and insecure this way.

Pursue intimacy with him on every level. Most men consider physical intimacy the most important part of marriage. I’ve come to learn that it is central to my husband’s manhood. It’s the way God made him, and it is good. So rather than resenting it, learn to appreciate this aspect of your marriage as God’s design. And be willing to learn and grow, becoming God’s woman for your man. It’s not always easy, but with God, nothing is impossible.

This is basic, biblically-rooted counsel which can help any Christian wife to honor God more fully within the ministry of marriage.

What advice for new brides would you add to the list? 

Photo: Benjamin Earwicker

Beauty Supplements

Your daily dose of true beauty advice…

Dry times—we all have them…I had one of those dry times not long ago. I couldn’t trace it to anything specific, yet my spirit felt as arid as July in the Mojave Desert. Maybe you can identify.

I know that Simon Peter would. He was weary, had been fishing all day. His back ached, eyelids drooped. All night without so much as a sardine! Yet at the command of Jesus, he summoned what little energy he had and let down his net. One more time.

Do you feel God has forgotten you today? He hasn’t! He is asking you to let down your net. One more time. Keep in the Word. Hit your knees and return to prayer. He’s going to bring you out of that dryness. So be faithful, friend. Trust Him. Wait on Him. Jesus can still fill an empty net.

~Joni Eareckson Tada in “Let Down Your Net“ 

Photo: OBMonkey

When the World Hates You

“If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own;
but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world,
therefore the world hates you.”

John 15:19

Franklin Graham appeared on Fox News this past weekend to draw attention to the plight of Youcef Nadarkhani and many other Christians who are being brutally persecuted for their faith in the Muslim world. Pastor Youcef has been imprisoned in Iran since 2009 for converting to the Christian faith and has recently been sentenced to death. 

If you were Pastor Youcef’s wife, how fervently would you be praying for his deliverance? Let’s join her in pleading for the Lord’s intervention on Pastor Youcef’s behalf and for the salvation of his persecutors.

Please add your name to the American Center for Law and Justice’s petition to free Pastor Youcef HERE. Help spread the word by sharing the petition with your friends and family.

You can read the Newsweek article on the Muslim war against Christians HERE.

Beauty Supplements

Your daily dose of true beauty advice…

Worship is to the Christian life what the mainspring is to a watch, what the engine is to a car. It is the very core, the most essential element.

Worship cannot be isolated or relegated to just one place, time, or segment of our lives. We cannot verbally thank and praise God while living lives of selfishness and carnality. That kind of effort at worship is a perversion. Real acts of worship must be the overflow of a perpetually worshiping life.

In Psalm 45:1, David says, “My heart overflows with a good theme.” The Hebrew word for “overflow” means “to boil over,” and in a sense that is what praise actually is. The heart is so warmed by righteousness and love that, figuratively, it reaches the boiling point. Praise is the boiling over of a hot heart. It is reminiscent of what the disciples experienced on the road to Emmaus: “Were not our hearts burning within us?” (Luke 24:32).

As God warms the heart with righteousness and love, the resulting life of praise that bubbles up and overflows is the truest expression of worship.

~John MacArthur in Worship: The Ultimate Priority

Photo: OBMonkey

Giveaway Winner

As you know, I think everyone who reads Precious Adornment is a winner, but today, I’ll be sending a copy of Loving the Little Years by Rachel Jankovic and a $20 Starbucks gift card to one winner in particular. 

According to Random.org, the magic number for yesterday’s giveaway is…

The tenth person to comment was Elizabeth. Although we have no idea what color her toenails are, we do know this… 

I like plain old Starbucks lattes. But I only get them a few times a year. Haven’t read the book, but my sister (see above) likes it.

Congratulations, Elizabeth. Have a few lattes this year on me!

Beauty Supplements

Your daily dose of true beauty advice…

There’s a verse in 1 Peter that shows us that Jesus’ sense of worth didn’t come from what others thought about Him. It came from what God thought.

It says He was “rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him.”

Jesus was rejected by men—those He had created for Himself. He loved them so much He laid down His life. But His value came from being chosen by God. That’s what made Him precious. That’s what determined His worth.

Your worth is also determined by God. He loves you so much that He gave His Son for your sins. Remember that the next time you’re tempted to believe, “I’m not worth anything.”

~Nancy Leigh DeMoss in “Rejected by Men“

Photo: OBMonkey

Thanks for the Thoughts!

Wow. You ladies should write a book or something. I was totally impressed with all of the great advice you offered me yesterday!

It’s not often you see that much wisdom packed into one comment thread, and I just want to say thank you for taking the time to share what you’ve learned with me. I’ve already read through each of your comments twice, and I’m sure I’ll be returning to them to refresh my memory more than once in the coming months!

In return for your kindness in passing on such great motherly wisdom, I’m going to have a little giveaway featuring two gifts that moms love…

A copy of Rachel Jankovic’s book on motherhood Loving the Little Years 

I’ve given it away before, but I think it’s good enough for multiple giveaways!

A $20 Starbucks gift card

I know how much you ladies love your caffeine.  

To enter today’s giveaway, simply add a comment telling me what your favorite drink at Starbucks is, or what color your shoes are, or what color toenail polish you’re wearing if you don’t have shoes on, or any other vital piece of information that comes to mind.

You may enter whether you’re a mom or not.

As always, make sure you include your email in the appropriate field. It will not appear publicly (if you enter it in the appropriate field, that is) and will ensure that I can contact you if God has ordained that you should win this inspiring and highly-caffeinated prize package.

At midnight tonight (EST), I’ll use Random.org to choose a winner. 

It’s just my little way of saying thanks.