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Whom will I worship? A well-known sufferer was the apostle Paul. His troubles were often caused by other people, but he realized that God authored these sufferings to allow him to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and his sufferings.

Among the more difficult trials was one he called his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7). Although we never learn the precise nature of this malady, Paul identified at least three causes: his own pride, a messenger from Satan, and God–three causes for one hardship.

Instead of teaching us how to identify the causes of suffering, Scripture directs us to the God who knows all things and is fully trustworthy. In other words, Scripture doesn’t give us knowledge so that we will have intellectual mastery of certain events; it gives us knowledge so that we would know and trust God.

Somehow, turning to God and trusting him with the mysteries of suffering is the answer to the problem of suffering. You might be able to discern some obvious causes of suffering, and knowing those causes might help alleviate the pain. But all suffering is intended to train us to fix our eyes on the true God.

Therefore, regardless of the causes, suffering is an opportunity to answer the deepest and most important of all questions: Whom will I trust? Whom will I worship?

~Edward T. Welch in Heart of the Matter

Photo: OBMonkey

Book Review: Heart of the Matter by CCEF

Over the past few years of studying biblical counseling, I have been greatly helped by the ministry of CCEF (The Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation). If you’ve followed Precious Adornment for any length of time, you have probably noticed that I often share excerpts or videos containing biblical advice from men like David Powlison, Ed Welch, or Paul David Tripp. The reason I do this is because I have learned so much about understanding and applying God’s Word from the counselors, authors, and teachers connected with CCEF, that I want to pass as much of that knowledge on to you as I can.

For that reason, I’m glad that I can now recommend a new resource from CCEF called Heart of the Matter: Daily Reflections for Changing Hearts and Changing Lives. In this one year devotional book, you will find comfort, challenge, conviction, and encouragement in the form of brief, daily readings provided by the faculty of CCEF. These daily devotionals cover a wide array of topics such as suffering, relationships, the process of change, overcoming fear and anxiety, trust in God, forgiveness, and much more. 

As you read this book, you will find that your attention is continually being pointed to Christ and the hope of the Gospel, God’s sovereignty over all things, and His loving purposes for you as His precious child. The readings are deep, yet completely accessible. Because I was reading Heart of the Matter for the purposes of this review, I had to move through it more quickly than I wanted to, and I often found myself thinking that I would benefit much more from reading and considering just one devotional at a time, which is of course, how the book is intended to be used.

I am thoroughly convinced that the Bible contains every truth required to care for the human soul (2 Pet. 1:3-4), and I believe that Heart of the Matter illustrates well what a rich resource God has provided for us in His Word. The authors go deep into the Scriptures to reveal profoundly beautiful truths that we too often miss in our hurried approach to Bible reading. 

Book Giveaway!

New Growth Press has provided me with the opportunity to give a copy of Heart of the Matter to two of my readers. If you would like to enter the giveaway, please add a comment to this blog post and make sure to provide your email address in the appropriate field (so I can contact you if you win!).

At midnight tomorrow night, I will use Random.org to choose two winning comments.

Update

Thanks to everyone for participating in the Heart of the Matter book giveaway. As promised, I used Random.org to find two winners…

The first winner is Colleen who posted the third comment. Congratulations, Colleen!

And proving that God has a sense of humor, the second winner is Taaron N Niki Parsons who posted the 18th comment.

Many thanks to New Growth Press for making this giveaway possible.

Life with Lyme

You may or may not have noticed that my blog has been just a bit pitiful lately. For those of you who may be wondering why, I thought I’d provide an explanation…

I think I’ll just blame it on my sister. She and I have spent our lives doing things together—sharing a room, sharing a car, going to college together, etc., etc. Unfortunately, it seems that in recent years we have taken our sharing too far. About three years ago, she discovered she had hypothyroidism. About the same time, I found that my thyroid was also an underachiever. Thanks to God’s goodness and the wonders of modern medicine, that revelation was hardly life-changing. With periodic blood tests and a daily pill, the problem can pretty much be corrected.

Ah… but we still felt like junk. As many of you learned through Niki’s recent post, she had become quite ill and eventually discovered that Lyme disease was to blame. If you know anything about Lyme, you’re aware that overcoming it is anything but simple.

You probably know where I’m going with this by now, right?

For years, I’ve struggled with fatigue and other minor health complaints. Niki kept saying, “You have Lyme disease. You need to get tested.” [Side note: As a teen, I was bitten by a deer tick that tested positive for Lyme. A doctor prescribed a round of antibiotics as a precaution, but I was never tested to see if I'd actually been infected.]

Anyhoo, given the number of years that had passed since the tick incident, I simply didn’t think my symptoms could be connected to Lyme. “I’d be dead by now,” I reasoned. But then, my body began working harder to persuade me with muscle pain and twitches, joint pain and stiffness, mental fog and slight issues with memory, and extreme fatigue. Over the past year, I’ve had tendonitis in my arm and hand, plantar fasciitis, hip bursitis, and stubborn bronchitis. My doctor tested me for lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and a few other things, but all he discovered was that there was inflammation in my body for some unknown reason.

When I started feeling a pinprick sensation on the soles of my feet when I got out of bed in the morning, I began to suspect that Niki was right after all. The blood tests agreed.

So that’s the reason why my blog has been so lame lately. Some days or weeks are better than others, but in general, if I have enough energy to take care of Evangelle and keep the house clean, I’m doing well. As much as I would like to put more time into blogging, it’s really just better for me and my family if I go to bed instead!

Lord willing, I’ll be able to get in to see a doctor who specializes in treating Lyme disease at the beginning of the year. Until then, I’m trying to improve the way I feel with my diet (gluten & dairy free) and lots and lots of supplements.

I thought I’d write this post for two reasons:

1. To explain why my blogging will probably continue at an irregular pace
2. To let people know that Lyme disease is far more common than many doctors believe

From what I understand, Lyme mimics a number of other diseases, and as a result, people often go undiagnosed for years. I personally know around 10 people who are dealing with Lyme disease and many of them had to go through a number of trials before discovering what was making them so sick.

My general practitioner didn’t want to test me for Lyme since he believed the disease was rare, so I went through my sister’s doctor instead. Niki and I both had our testing done through IGeneX, Inc., a lab specializing in Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses. 

The evil creatures

Make that 3 reasons:

3. To encourage people to take guarding against tick bites seriously!

Where my family lived in Northwest Indiana, tick bites were a common occurrence, and we thought little of them. Our feelings on the matter have changed considerably! Tick-borne illnesses are on the rise in many states, so take care of yourself and your children by watching out for the evil villains.

Learn more about guarding against tick bites HERE.

In summary, God is good, things could be much worse, and I know He’ll use this particular challenge in my life to help me trust in and rely upon Him more fully.

Beauty Supplements

Your daily dose of true beauty advice…

Worry is a failure to understand God’s priority, [Luke 12] verses 22 and 23. “He said to His disciples, ‘For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life as to what you shall eat nor for your body as to what you shall put on, for life is more than food and the body more than clothing.’”

Now here’s the point: God didn’t create you just to survive. God didn’t create you just to have you eat and wear clothes so that you can make it. God did not create you to fulfill some physical goal, or objective, or purpose or design.

Your life is far more than eating. Your life is far more than clothing. You must understand the divine priority…if you belong to God and you are in His Kingdom, He has a plan and a purpose for your life. That’s the reason you live. And as long as God has a plan for your life, He will feed you and clothe you until the plan is complete. So what is there to worry about?

There is really no place for worry and no place for fear, and no place for anxiety if you understand that the priority with God is far more than just surviving, it’s far more than making it through the winter, it’s far more than getting at least one or two meals a day, far more than that.

God’s purpose in giving you life, God’s purpose in giving you a body is not material, it’s not physical, and it’s not earthly, it is immaterial, spiritual and heavenly. We were made for His glory.

We were made to serve His glory, to serve His purpose, to honor Him, to bring attention to Him, to proclaim the gospel, to live out Christ and the power of the Spirit in the world. And as long as that’s the divine priority…for us, He will sustain us to the end of His purpose.

~John MacArthur in “Anxiety-Free Living, Part 2“

Photo: OBMonkey

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God’s continuing presence is a shield against overwhelming temptation. Any time Satan wants to get to a believer, he has to go through God. First Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able endure it.”

God is present personally and individually with every believer to defend him against temptation he can’t handle.

That God is present everywhere ought to motivate us to obey Him more carefully. When we sin, whether it is a sin of thought or a sin of words or a sin of actions, it is done in the presence of God. Psalm 90 is a prayer of Moses, and in verse 8, Moses acknowledges the implications of God’s omnipresence with regard to our sin: “You have placed our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of your presence.”

In other words, when we sin, it is as if we ascended beyond the clouds, came into the throne room of God, walked up to the foot of the throne of God and committed the sin right before His face. That is a sobering thought.

~John MacArthur in Worship: The Ultimate Priority

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I remember when I was much younger in the faith, I got into an argument with an older Christian friend named Don. I can’t even remember what the argument was about, but I know I raked him over the coals.

He called me on it, and said, “Joni, that’s no way for a follower of Jesus to talk.” And I shot back at him, “What, do you expect me to weigh every word?” And he said, “Yes, yes I do.” What’s more, the Holy Spirit expects you to weigh every word before you say it.

Now, looking back so many years later, my friend Don was right. 100% right, he was. It’s why the book of James devotes almost an entire chapter to the tongue and how we use it. What’s more, Romans chapter 14 says that each of us will one day give an account for himself before the Lord.

So are you responsible for every little thing you say? My friend Don would say yes. And so would Scripture.

~Joni Eareckson Tada in “Your Words Count“

Photo: OBMonkey

Beauty Supplements

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Is it true that God is love to me as a Christian? And does the love of God mean all that has been said? If so, certain questions arise.

Why do I ever grumble and show discontent and resentment at the circumstances in which God has placed me?

Why am I ever distrustful, fearful, or depressed?

Why do I ever allow myself to grow cool, formal and halfhearted in the service of the God who loves me so?

Why do I ever allow my loyalties to be divided, so that God has not all my heart?

John wrote that “God is love” in order to make an ethical point, “Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 Jn 4:11). Could an observer learn from the quality and degree of love that I show to others–my wife? my husband? my family? my neighbors? people at church? people at work? –anything at all about the greatness of God’s love to me?

Meditate upon these things. Examine yourself.

~J.I. Packer in Knowing God

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What comes to mind when I say the word “father”?

…If you’ve been wounded by a father or another man that you’ve trusted, you may find it hard to trust God. Can I tell you that God is unlike any man you’ve ever known? Even the best earthly father is only a pale reflection of Him.

We need to look to the Scripture for an accurate picture of God. In God’s Word we see a heavenly Father who’s compassionate, merciful, and tender toward His children; a Father who loves to give good gifts to His children; a Father who disciplines His children, but never rejects them.

Regardless of what kind of earthly father you may have had, if you’re a child of God, you have a heavenly Father who loves you dearly and can be totally trusted.

~Nancy Leigh DeMoss in “Just Like My Father“

Photo: OBMonkey

Beauty Supplements

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Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity. —Hebrews 2:14 

When we are hurting, if there is one thing that eases our pain or grief, it is this: We want someone to understand. We want somebody to really identify with us, to have some idea of what we’re enduring. 

It is certainly like that for me. I hate feeling alone and alienated in those dark times when my paralysis seems overwhelming. On my really rough days, it helps to remember what the Bible tells us about Jesus identifying with us in our sufferings. It says that He was tested and tried in every way like us. That helps!

When it comes to suffering, the Lord Jesus has gone ahead of us, and has intimate, experiential, first-hand knowledge of the pain, the weight, the frustration, and the struggle. He appreciates. He understands. He connects. 

But it works both ways! Not only does Christ identify with us in our suffering, we identify with Him in His suffering. He identifies with us, and we identify with Him. He appreciates all that it means to be human, and we appreciate all that His divine grace supplies. Through suffering, He participates in our humanity; through suffering, we participate in His divinity. 

So why do we struggle so to escape our suffering? Why do we look so desperately for release? I suppose this is why I’m not earnestly seeking to be healed and raised up out of this wheelchair. I see this trial of mine as a window into the heart of Jesus. Suffering is a connecting point between my Savior and me. And when I see His great love on the cross, it gives me courage to take up my cross and follow Him.  

~Joni Eareckson Tada in “The Price of Identifying,” October 11 Daily Devotional

Photo: OBMonkey

Book Review: Call of a Coward by Marcia Moston

If your husband returned from a short-terms missions trip and told you he believed God wanted you both to return to another country as full-time missionaries, what would you say? Although many of us would hope we’d be able to respond in a God-honoring manner, most of us are probably just relieved that we don’t actually have to answer the question right now!

Marcia Moston’s Story

Marcia Moston, however, did have to answer the question. In her new book Call of a Coward: The God of Moses and the Middle-Class Housewife, Moston shares the story of how her family unexpectedly decided to abandon their comfortable life in the U.S. to move to a rural village in Guatemala where they hoped to minister to widows and orphans in need. Upon arrival, they learned that providing that care would be far more challenging than they had optimistically imagined.

In addition to the usual barriers presented by differences in language and custom, Moston and her husband quickly learned that the lack of oversight at the little mission had led to significant debts which they had no ability to pay. Only a few adults and a handful of children actually lived on-site when the Mostons expected many more. In spite of these obstacles, the new missionaries pressed on to adapt to their surroundings and begin making a difference where they could.

A Reader’s Response

Call of a Coward is an enjoyable account of a modern day missionary venture. The best aspect of the book is Moston’s writing style. Her use of vivid and picturesque language is nearly poetic at times and helps draw the imagination of readers into foreign surroundings they’ve likely never encountered. 

Although I did enjoy reading about many of the daily struggles endured and the spiritual lessons learned through Moston’s experiences in Guatemala, I felt that some of the anecdotes included weren’t all that beneficial to the storyline and thought that perhaps they had been added to lengthen the account since the Moston family’s time in the country was relatively brief.

Overall, though, I found Call of  Coward to be a pleasant read, which personally challenged me to hold loosely to the comforts I daily enjoy here in the U.S. and to be ready to answer, “Yes, Lord,” when He calls.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

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We may be tempted to verbally attack an unpleasant person in order to show that we are right. But even though she may indeed be much in the wrong, we are called to remember that being right is not the most important thing. As Christians, being loving is the most important thing. God cares that we have a holy heart and reflect his character in this world.

One day, the Righteous Judge will reveal to us the truth—for he is Truth. Every wrong will be righted. Between now and that day, God’s grace enables us to focus less on defending ourselves or our position and more on testifying to God’s mercy and greatness.

Being treated rudely is stressful. Often we do not know why God allows tension in our relationships. But one day it will all become clear and what will have mattered is this: Did we love God? Did we love others? Did we focus on being right, or did we walk in mercy, grace, and love?

~Tara Klena Barthel and Judy Dabler in Peacemaking Women

Photo: OBMonkey

Evangelle Goes Bananas

Here at the Griffin household, we like to do our part to keep the banana industry in business. Evangelle loves eating bananas, lots and lots of bananas. If we discover that she doesn’t care for a particular food, all we have to do is add some banana to it, and she’ll eat it up.

Now that Evangelle has approximately 4 ½ teeth to work with, we decided to see if she was ready to progress from eating the mashed version of her favorite food to eating bananas big-girl style. As it turns out, she was ready for the challenge…

Hmmm…let’s see how this works.

 

Hey, it doesn’t fit!

 

Ok, that’s better. Open wide!

 

Wow, this is hard work!

 

Yum. Sweet success!

 

Beauty Supplements

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There is no doubt that the Devil despises Godward praise. We have some reason to believe that at one time, before pride caused him to lose his position, he may have been one of the “worship leaders” in heaven and therefore is particularly repulsed and repelled when God’s people praise Him with singing and musical instruments. 

When I talk with a woman who is struggling with chronic discouragement or depression, I often ask two questions: (1) Are you memorizing Scripture? and (2) Are you singing to the Lord?

I’m not suggesting that these are magic “pills” that will make every emotional struggle go away, but I have found these two means of grace to be extremely effective at recalibrating my heart and restoring inner peace.

I have often experienced fresh springs of God’s grace as I have exercised faith in singing to Him in praise and thanksgiving…Occasionally I am crying so hard I can scarcely get the words out. But as I sing to the Lord, my heart and mind are re-tethered to His goodness and love, and invariably, the cloud begins to lift. In fact, I sing until the cloud lifts.

~Nancy Leigh DeMoss in Choosing Gratitude

Photo: OBMonkey

Sites to See

It’s been quite some time since I’ve done a post like this, but I came across a few goodies online yesterday that I wanted to share with you. I think you’ll enjoy checking them out…

Dear Moms, Jesus Wants You to Chill Out — Stephen Altrogge reminds moms that they don’t have to sew their kids’ clothing or maintain organic gardens to be godly mothers. Our calling as moms is really very simple.

Jesus Understands Loneliness — Feeling totally out of place and misunderstood in the world? In an article for Desiring God, Jon Bloom points out that no one understands loneliness better than Jesus does.

Why Abortion Is the Most Important Issue This Election — Denny Burk writes a compelling argument for why Christians should keep the sanctity of human life at the forefront of their minds as they cast their votes on November 6. If God’s children won’t take a stand for the unborn, who will?

A Year of Biblical Womanhood: A Review — I have been greatly disturbed by Thomas Nelson’s decision to publish Rachel Held Evans’s book on “biblical” womanhood. As Trilla Newbell reviews the book for Desiring God, she points out some of the major flaws present in Evans’s perspective on the Word of God and womanhood.

Cancer—Joni’s Journey — October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In a new episode of Joni and Friends, Joni Eareckson Tada talks about her recent battle against stage 3 breast cancer: “Within minutes Dr. Polan came into the room with Ken and me and announced that this was a suspicious-looking mass with irregular edges and she thought I should move right away to have it further examined. That was pretty scary.” As always, Joni’s steadfast faith in God in the midst of suffering is an incredible encouragement.

Image: Svilen Milev

Beauty Supplements

Your daily dose of true beauty advice…

“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances…” Philippians 4:11 

Will I ever be happy again? It’s all I could think of after I got out of the hospital and wheeled through the front door of my home. Doorways were too narrow and sinks were too high. I sat at the dining room table, my knees hitting the edge. A plate of food was placed in front of me, but my hands remained limp in my lap. Someone else—at least for the first few months—fed me. I felt confined and trapped. 

My confinement forced me to look at another captive. The apostle Paul had seen the inside of more than one small room from which there was no escape. For over two years, he was shifted from “pillar to post” until finally he arrived in Rome where he remained under house arrest. When Paul wrote to thank the church in Philippi for their concern, he reassured them with the words of today’s verse.

Paul became my example in my own “prison;” I learned—and am still learning—the secret of being content. The apostle writes about this secret in Philippians 4:13, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Contentment in confinement has an internal quietness of heart that gladly submits to God in all circumstances. 

~Joni Eareckson Tada in “Confined Contentment,” October 3 Daily Devotional

Photo: OBMonkey