25 Christmas Prayers – Day 11

December 11, 2011

Day 11 – Jehovah Rapha, The God Who Heals

Lord, more than ever, so many need Your healing–body, soul, and spirit. In their times of greatest pain they sometimes hide from You, thinking You will not know–or even care.

You Are Our Only Hope

But You are Jehovah Rapha, the God Who Heals. You are our only hope. Read more

25 Christmas Prayers– Day 3

December 3, 2011

Day 3 – Everlasting Father

Lord, what child hasn’t longed for a tender, compassionate father–one who never breaks his promises and one who will never desert his family?

Earthly Father vs. Everlasting Father

But our earthly dads are often limited by their humanness. At times even their best attempts at fathering will appear flawed, and they will occasionally disappoint us. Some surrender in exhaustion and despair at the sheer responsibility. Others keep on loving and serving their families the best way they can, eager to mirror Your character.

But You, Lord, are the Everlasting Father–the One who knows perfectly what we need. With Your great wisdom You give us only what is best. Read more

Five of the Best Gifts You Can Give Your Children (Part 2)

October 25, 2011

What kind of gifts do you give your children? Last week we talked about three of the five best gifts you can give your children. We could list many more. But here are the last two: Read more

Five of the Best Gifts You Can Give Your Children (Part 1)

October 18, 2011

What parent doesn’t want to give good gifts to their kids? But what kind of gifts should they choose? Here are five of the best gifts you can give your children: Read more

When Mom Becomes a Grandmother

September 6, 2011

This year, National Grandparents Day shares the same day as another familiar date: the bombing of the World Trade Centers – 9/11 – on September 11. Since 1978, Grandparents Day has been observed on the first Sunday after Labor Day.

In honor of Grandparents Day, particularly grandmothers today, I am reposting this true, shorter blog, only in its entirety. Whether you’re a mom or a grandmother, I hope you’ll enjoy it. Be sure to read to the end for a special way to honor a mom or a grandmother. Read more

Extravagant Love

May 2, 2011

(Some of you might be interested to know this story took place years ago at Possum Kingdom Lake–an area in Texas that was recently burned extensively. I felt that this was such a powerful story and truth that I am reposting this blog again in honor of Mother’s Day. I will return to my general blog  schedule next week after Mother’s Day.)

Extravagant Love

By Rebecca Barlow Jordan

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 TNIV 

Much of my husband’s childhood years he spent on a lake in West Texas where his parents and grandparents owned a fishing camp. Like all boys, Larry loved to play “buried treasure.” The sand around the camp offered multiple opportunities for realistic pirating adventures.

But one fateful day, Larry learned a powerful lesson he never forgot. Here’s his story: Read more

Preparing Your Kids for Life: Encouragement for Women, Moms, and Grandmoms

April 6, 2011

At one time or another, we moms may think we’re not doing “enough” to prepare our kids for life. Deep down we feel inadequate. We may not feel skilled or talented or creative. Sometimes we even start comparing ourselves to others as parents, which totally makes us feel worse.

Every mom, young or old, is concerned about making wise decisions. Are we giving our children the right training? We fear for our kids. Are they being bullied? Are they safe enough? We all want our kids to “turn out right.”

If you are a mom or grandmom, here are four things to remember that might encourage you as you prepare your kids for life: Read more

Are Our Children Really Ours?

March 22, 2011

I was so impressed with this sweet testimony of friends Kacie and Jonathan Hunt that I asked permission to share Kacie’s recent blog as a guest post today.

Are our children really ours? Kacie shares a powerful answer to that question as she allows you to see a glimpse of the difficult journey she and Jonathan have just begun. I think you’ll be inspired and encouraged by their authentic faith.

Guest Post

Isaac Preston

Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” – Genesis 22:2

The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” – Genesis 22:15-18

Just as the Lord called Abraham to offer his son to him as a sacrifice we believe that as parents we should always remember that our children are not ours. They are the Lord’s and it is not about the plan that we have for them, but it is about His plan. That is why we have chosen the name Isaac for our precious son. It is a reminder that his life, no matter how long or short it is here on earth is for the glory of the Lord.

Thank you for visiting our blog and for taking the time to read about this new journey that the Lord has placed before us. I will take a few moments to give you a little background on how we got to where we are now. We found out on Christmas Eve that we were expecting our second child. We were so excited! We have always wanted a big family and Kadynce would be about 22 months when the new baby would arrive. It just seemed perfect. Early in the pregnancy I learned that one of my hormone levels were low, but that this was a fairly common problem. They put me on supplements and the pregnancy seemed to progress normally. We opted to have what is called a “first screen” at 12 weeks. It is a combined ultrasound/blood test that tells you your risk for chromosomal defects. We did not have this test with Kadynce, but for some reason we decided that we would with this baby. Insurance would cover it and it was one extra time we would get to see our baby. The test, however did not go as planned. They saw a couple of things that seemed unusual and combined with the blood test it raised my risk quite a bit for having a child with Down’s Syndrome. While this came as a shock, Jonathan and I had peace and were prepared to do whatever was necessary for our baby. We opted out of an amniocentesis to conform any suspicions at that time, but we did agree to return in 3 weeks for another ultrasound. That brings us to this past Friday. To make a long story short there were multiple abnormalities immediately detected and the nurse as well as doctor began to suspect the possibility of Trisomy 18 or 13 instead of 21(Down’s Syndrome). They strongly suggested that we go ahead with the amnio so we would know exactly what we are dealing with and they informed us that if it is one of the suspected syndromes most of the babies do not make it to term. We decided to proceed with the amnio so we could be better educated, but told them that it would not effect our decision about carrying the baby to term or as far as he would make it. After a long weekend of waiting we got a phone call Monday afternoon telling us that our baby does indeed have Trisomy 13 and it is a little boy. We almost immediately decided that his name would be Isaac Preston (Preston is Jonathan’s middle name and we have always wanted it to be a part of our little boy’s name.) We will find out next week whether or not this was inherited from us. 97% of the time it is completely random (although we know no baby is random) and not inherited. They say this type of abnormality occurs about 1 in 10,000. Yes our sweet baby is so very special.

There are multiple very good websites that talk about Trisomy 13. This site  (living with trisomy.org) is one of the best I have found. We are not in denial. We know that at this time the prognosis for Isaac is not good, but we also know that we serve a powerful and mighty God and that his will will be done in all of this.

Several of you have asked how you can specifically pray for us during this time. Here are a few requests that we have:

· That we will have a peace that surpasses all understanding. That our minds will not be filled with worry, but instead just an intense sense of peace.

· That our faith will remain strong and we will not doubt that our Lord is sovereign in all of this.
· That we will have wisdom. As the pregnancy progresses we will be faced with many tough decisions. We want to make the best decisions possible for baby Isaac as well as for our family as a whole. This may be very, very difficult and this is weighing so heavily on my mind right now.

· Most importantly that God’s glory will shine each and every day through our lives and the life of our Isaac.

Thank you much for your love and support through this. We love you all so much!

***************

I hope you will join Kacie and Jonathan in praying for these requests. You can read other entries of Kacie’s “Just an Ordinary Girl” blog here.

Feel free to share your comments below, especially to encourage Kacie and Jonathan in this difficult faith walk with God.

Loretta was the book giveaway winner of Karen O’Connor’s book, The Upside of Downsizing. Thank you for all your comments.

 

 

Field of Dreams

March 7, 2011

Have you entertained your own “field of dreams?” Have you ever helped someone with theirs? I wrote this story a few years ago. With the current “Crisis in the Classroom” it seemed a fitting way to encourage some of you today:

Field of Dreams

by

Rebecca Barlow Jordan 

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. – Proverbs 13:12

There was nothing special about Randy. Each year his teachers repeated the same words: “You don’t want Randy in your class. He’s a loser.”

But that was before he entered Miss Jewel’s sixth grade art class. Until then, only bright red “D’s” and “F’s” adorned Randy’s school papers. Test scores plummeted him to the bottom 10 per cent of his class. Read more

The Christmas Rat

November 29, 2010

A GUEST POST

Today features a true Christmas tail (er, tale) written by my brother in his recent book, Just Rememberin’:

The Christmas Rat

by Bob Barlow

“I’ve had lots of memorable Christmases, but one of those has a unique and somewhat humorous, even embarrassing meaning to me. 

I was in elementary school, about the third grade, and I came down with the mumps about a week before Christmas that year! Swollen throat like balloons was a sight to see! 

We lived in a two story house, with my bedroom being upstairs. My dad was the preacher at the Baptist church in town, and the parsonage had been enlarged from its original size to include a master bedroom on the back side of the house. Since my bedroom was upstairs, it was inconvenient for my mother to take care of me and check on me by going up and down the stairs, as well as preparing all the food and goodies for Christmas time. So they had me to stay in their bed during the daytime, allowing her to easily see how I was doing with the mumps. 

Where Is Santa’s Stash?

Are you a curious person?  I am.  Read more

Next Page »