I Love Her WORDS!

Here's a quote from the picture caption on Heather Baker's Recent Blog Post:

"(Since when do a plastic potty, an empty coffee cup, and a bottle of red wine go together? Since I started potty training.)"

Heather is a friend-of-a-friend. I do not actually know her, but find myself loving her more each day! Many of her posts I feel I've already written in my mind (only MUCH less eloquently), and I just LOVE enjoying them!

I invite you (just as I was once invited by her friend, Lindsay) to enjoy the gifts and talents the Lord has given to Heather, as well.

Here's a taste of the deliciousness that is the God we have:

- from Heather's Small Beginnings Blog Post

I know that when you are training young children "victory" takes many forms. A mature woman recently told me that when she was home with three young children she judged her day a success based on whether she remained clothed and in her right mind.

Still, there is a part of me that wants some tangible proof of all my labor; and I would venture to say I am not unique in this desire: as human beings we all want to have “something to show” for the sum of our efforts.

But here I must remind myself that it is not a matter of what I have to show for my works; it is what He has to show for His. The work of Christ on the Cross means that I am His masterpiece, His living poemas – “written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God” (2. Cor. 3.3)...

And as such I am in the process of becoming something more marvelous it is beyond imagining… “It is by grace I am what I am,” says Paul, affirming the idea that it is not what we do that is of utmost importance – it is who we are. Christ is the penultimate finisher of what He starts. He promises that, in the end, He will present us without fault and with great joy before the glorious presence of His Father...(Jude 1.24).

God has given me work to do; plenty of it. But my real labor is in believing “in the living God, who is the Savior of all men” (1 Tim. 4.10); and not allowing myself to get bogged down by all the (in my case, literal) refuse that begs to be the central focus of all my days.

Ultimately, my goal isn’t just to get Audrey out of diapers. My goal is to assist her in acquiring the character qualities that will enable her to become the woman He designed her to be. “For physical training is of some value,” Paul says, “but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Tim. 4.8).

“I can’t do it!” Audrey squealed at one point this afternoon. Sweetheart, neither can I, I wanted to say. Not in my own strength; but thanks be to God I don't have to. For His blood sacrifice ... has provided me another way of getting through life: and that is by relying on Him....