PICTURES OF GRACE

I was really happy to come across Coral Ridges Podcast yesterday while uploading some music. He just started a six part series. I just had to check out what he had to say on Sunday – and of course – the message “wrecked me afresh” as he likes to say J I really appreciate the passion that oozes out of Tullian!

The series is titled: Pictures of Grace

I thought…how fitting for the blog! So I will feature his series weekly for the next six weeks and pray that what he shares will be revealed to me throughout that week in ways only God can show us!

Here is Part 1: http://www.crpc.org/sermons--media/series/pictures-of-grace

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today?

AMERICAN MACHO SPIRITUALITY

Memorial Day. Today we reflect on those who have lost their lives to protect our freedom. I am so thankful to be an American!

Manning, yet again, has an interesting reflection on this Memorial Day:

American Macho Spirituality

Though the Scriptures speak insistently of the divine initiative in the work of salvation, that by grace we are saved, that the Tremendous Lover has taken to the chase, American spirituality still seems to start with self, not with God. Personal responsibility replaces personal response. We seem engrossed in our own efforts to grow in holiness. We talk about acquiring virtue, as if it were some kind of skill that can be acquired through personal effort, like good handwriting or a well-grooved golf swing. In seasons of penance, we focus on getting rid of our hang-ups and sweating through various spiritual exercises, as if they were a religious muscle-building program.

The emphasis is always on what I do rather than on what God is doing in my life. In this mach approach God is reduced to a benign old spectator on the sidelines. The American mystique orients us to attribute any growth in the spiritual life to our own sturdy efforts and vigorous resolutions. We become convinced that we can do a pretty good job of following Jesus if we just, once and for all, make up our minds and really buckle down to it. Well, if that all there is to Christian discipleship, then in the words of singer Peggy Lee, “Let’s break out the booze.” All we’re doing is transferring the legend of the self-made man from the economic sphere to the spiritual one.

How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God? –John 5:44.

I also want to extend a very special Happy FIRST Anniversary to my sister and her husband! Today is a VERY special day J

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today?

MEN.WOMEN.MARRIAGE

No words to describe…suggest just diving in to take it all in!

Marriage and Women:

Marriage and Men:

A thought-provoking song to tie it all together:

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today?

THE KNOT

Church back home has a great series going called The Knot. Everything from being…

·         Knot happy

·         Knot connected

·         Knot tonight honey

·         Knot in love anymore

·         AND stay tuned for next week…Knot married

The series explores relationships and marriage; everything from intimacy and sex to being disconnected and board. I started watching today’s service and totally got sucked in. SO – I wanted to share with all of you. Leave it up to Pastor Bob to use turkeys as an example of an affair…check out Knot In Love Anymore for that one!

CLICK HERE FOR THE SERIES: http://www.eaglebrookchurch.com/pages/page.asp?page_id=38656

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today?

WHAT A SAVIOR

A great reminder this beautiful morning with Lucado’s, Grace For The Moment:

The Great House Of God

“My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is made perfect in you.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

There are certain mountains only God can climb…It’s not that your aren’t welcome to try, it’s just that you aren’t able…Mount Messiah is one mountain you weren’t made to climb. Nor is Mount Self-Sufficient…You are self-made. You…just roll up your sleeves and put in another twelve-hour day…which may be enough when it comes to making a living…But when you face your own grave or your own guilt, your power will not do the trick.

What A Savior:

Where have you seen God's grace in your life today? 

“THAT WAS GOOD!”

Birthday Weekend with Mom Update:

As the wheels touched down on Minnesota ground, I realized JUST how excited I was to see Mom and the rest of the family! As much as I understand my life is here in Florida, there is just nothing like spending time at home with family. As I grabbed my luggage and walked outside, Mom and Dad were right at the curb to greet me. J BIG hugs all around and we were off to meet Chris and Courtney for birthday dinner!

Mom looks GREAT! The entire facial droop is gone and only a tiny bit of it peeks out when she smiles. She also was talking A LOT! Not all of it made sense…but it was so fun to have a conversation in person with her and Dad. It felt so normal! She reminded both of us we needed to call Courtney to have her and Chris meet us on time. They all spoiled me with dinner and gifts and we came home to angel food cake, fro-yo and strawberries! SO DELICIOUS! With that we turned on the Wii and had fun playing bowling and tennis together.

Saturday morning was a treat! We all lounged together and had breakfast. Mom started dusting and vacuuming while I was cleaning up the kitchen. It’s so fun to see her initiate normal daily activities around the house. Courtney fills me in all the time, but it’s really fun to see her in action! We then made a grocery list and headed to Caribou and Cub Foods. We played tic-tac-toe with Mom at the Bou and actually bumped into one of her classmates from high school. The BEST part about their conversation was that her friend didn’t even realize anything had happened to Mom.  It helped that she was a bit of a chatterbox (takes one to know one :o), but Mom did great with her short answers and non-verbal communication. Court and I smiled at one another as the woman walked away (we didn’t want to ask for her name because Mom knew it!)

On to Cub where Mom grabbed the ad and started pointing to the coupons we wanted to make sure to take advantage of. We had a lot of fun laughing while wheeling around the grocery store. We got home in time for Mom to take a bit of a nap before heading to a matinee movie. With no scheduled speech or occupational therapy on the weekend, Court made sure to get in some homework that morning and I think with all of the questions and talking we were doing – she had a VERY exhausting morning.

The whole family hopped in the car to head to the theatre. We saw Water for Elephants and definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it yet! Mom laughed at Dad as he handed her the bag of popcorn back with ten kernels left in the bottom corner! J You just HAVE to see Mom and Dad in action. He does an amazing job with her and I think she’s good for Dad, too! Lots of laughter fills the Besch household these days. As the credits rolled and the lights were still out we heard Mom say, “That – was – good!” We all cracked-up! She is just so stinkin’ cute!

We headed home to happy hour a la Courtney. She is one fantastic chef! We had a spread of veggies, dad’s favorite have-a-party (havarti) cheese and Courtney’s fabulous bruschetta!  As we sat down to dinner I am happy to report that both Mom and Chris have made DRASTIC improvement on our dinner prayer.  ;o) We were spoiled with a wonderful home cooked meal; tilapia, sweet potatoes and asparagus! Thanks, sis.

With all of the birthdays this time of year, both Courtney and I had different birthday parties to head out to! Mom was headed to bed shortly after we left and it was wonderful to see so many friends while home for such a short time! Sunday morning came very quickly and after breakfast I was off to the airport with Mom and Dad. OF COURSE, I had to grab one last Caribou as I boarded my flight back to Florida.

All and all, a wonderful family weekend! I am so thankful I was able to get home and spend it with them. It sure is never easy to say goodbye to Mom (or the others for that matter) but I was happy to get back to Florida in time to get organized for the work week!

Thank you to all of you for your continued prayer and support through Mom’s recovery. She continues to surprise me every day with her progress (and even more when I get to see her live!). We continue to owe all of the glory to the Lord. We are so thankful he didn’t take her from us, and that she continues to amaze us in her recovery!

During a walk after dinner I looked up at the clouds. Florida really does have beautiful clouds and I often am reminded of God’s beauty in them. I snapped a quick photo to share with all of you. It’s just the little things sometimes… isn’t it?

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today?

HEALING OF THE HEART

Another great start to the morning with a dose of Ragamuffins:

Healing of the Heart:

Experientially, the inner healing of the heart is seldom a sudden catharsis or an instant liberation from bitterness, anger, resentment, and hatred. More often it is a growing into oneness with the Crucified who has achieved our peace through his blood on the cross. This may take considerable time because the memories are still so vivid and the hurt is still so deep. But it will happen. The crucified Christ is not merely a heroic example to the Church: he is the power and wisdom of God, a living force in his present risenness, transforming our lives and enabling us to extend the hand of reconciliation to our enemies.

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 11:19

Where have you seen God's grace in your life today?

MIGHTY TO SAVE

A friend of mine gave me Laura Story’s Album as an early birthday gift! Not only do I love her music, but her story ABSOLUTLEY FLOORED me!

WATCH IT HERE:

Mighty To Save:

The link to her website is here: http://www.laurastorymusic.com/

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today?

GRACE FOR THE MOMENT

Another great little reminder this morning! Today, Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado:

In The Eye Of The Storm

Let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, because we have been made free from guilty conscience. Hebrews 10:22

Faith is a desperate dive out of the sinking boat of human effort and a prayer that God will be there to pull us out of the water. The apostle Paul wrote…”For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). The supreme force in salvation is God’s grace.

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today?

HIS PASSION

A great Reflections for Ragamuffins by Manning I had to share this morning…

HIS PASSION:

Through His passion and death, Jesus carried away the essential sickness of the human heart and broke forever the deadly grip of hypocrisy on our souls. He has robbed our loneliness of its fatal power by traveling himself to the far reaches of loneliness…He has understood our ignorance, weakness, and foolishness and granted pardon to us all (“Forgive them, Father, they do not know what they are doing”). He has made his pierced heart a safe place for every defeated cynic, hopeless sinner and self-loathing derelict across the bands of time. God reconciled all things, everything in heaven and everything on earth, when he made peace by his death on the cross (Col. 1:20).

That cross reveals that Jesus has conquered sin and death and that nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from the love of Christ. Neither the impostor nor the Pharisee, neither the lack of awareness nor the lack of passion, neither the negative judgments of others nor the debased perception of ourselves, neither our scandalous past nor our uncertain future, neither the power struggles in the church nor the tensions in our marriage, not fear, guilt, shame, self-hatred, or even death can tear us away from the love of God, made visible in Jesus the Lord.

Listening to the faint heartbeat of the dying Rabbi is a powerful stimulus to the recovery of passion.

“I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them.” Jeremiah 32:39

Where have you seen God's grace in your life today?

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

M.O.M. – this Mother’s Day brings and EXTRA SPECIAL appreciation for Momma Besch! As I’m sure you all can share in with me, almost loosing Mom has allowed me to appreciate her in a WHOLE new way. And beyond that, I hope that it has allowed you to take a step back and appreciate your Mom and your family the same way through our family’s story.

Being in S. Florida for Mother’s Day wasn’t ideal – but I am thankful to be on my way back to Minnesota in 6 days! I just can’t wait to give Mom a BIG hug and kiss (and the rest of the family, too!) I called her on my way to the early service this a.m. – to find her the ONLY one awake up in her chair – with the rest of the family still sleeping. She giggled when I asked where everyone else was (just like a little kid doing something she knows she not supposed to do). I think she misses that time alone in the morning she was so used to, but it’s just so important that we are there for her safety.

With such an early call, I’m proud to announce that I was the FIRST one to say Happy Mother’s Day to Mom!!! After church, a friend and I packed up to go to the beach (both without our Mom’s today!) but not without video calling home first! It was SO fun to see Mom opening her gifts real-time and Mom LOVED her Wii! I can’t wait to play her in bowling when I get home! It will be exciting to see how she does with it (as she has been using the Wii in some of her therapies). After Mom opened it she said, “That is very neat!” We all laughed and loved the full sentence she came up with!

After saying good-bye, we took off for the beach and the family took off to church. Mom, Vicki and Courtney had a mani & pedi appointment scheduled for this afternoon to enjoy together! They were then invited over to the McKelvie’s for Rick’s ribs and shrimp – yum! I spoke with Mom again tonight and asked her if she had a nice Mother’s Day and she said “Yep!” J

I just love that lady SO much! Dad told me that she continues to be a little more frustrated as her cognition is coming along faster than her speech. I can only imagine how frustrating it would be to know what you want to say and not be able to get it out! Mom continues to work extremely hard in therapy and we continue to pray that she makes great strides in recovery every day!

So to ALL of you BEAUTIFUL Mother’s following along, we wish you a VERY HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

Love,

Gordy, Lynn, Jessica & Courtney

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today?

ONE DETERMINED MOMMA!

Courtney again giving a weekly update on Mom~

May 2nd in MN and I don't think the temperature got above 40 degrees.  We had a quite weekend here in Minnesota.  The weekend consisted of a lot of homework to work on from therapy on Friday, so that kept us very busy.  During Monday morning therapy, J.J., our OT, continued to work with Mom on activities that help prepare her for a driving exam. We are really hopeful that she will be able to drive again. 

There are many phases of this test.  We are proud to announce she has successfully passed phase one, which tested her vision fields, reaction time, and ability to focus on more than one stimuli at the same time.  This was tested with a large vision board that had many rings of light buttons, looked kind of like a big firework.  Mom had to stand In front of the board. They positioned her close enough that when stretching her arm straight up she could reach the top, right, left and bottom buttons on the board.  Once she was positioned correctly, she did three different tests of pressing the lighted buttons as they flashed one at a time all over the board. Another test included her acknowledging when a number popped up in the little screen that filled the center of the board.  This is probably hard for you to imagine (I will try to remember to take a picture next time we are there).  But needless to say, Mom passed this test with flying colors!  

Another stage of the driving test focuses on Mom being able to recognize and know what to do when she sees road signs.  This is something J.J. showed Mom the first day we went in to outpatient OT and at that point we could all tell it was way too much for Mom to handle. However, two weeks later, Mom is now beginning to match some of these signs to its meaning and working towards being able to pass that phase of the test. It’s SO amazing to see her progress and continues to remind our family every day HOW MANY things we have to be thankful for in our everyday lives!

Telling time, typing and addition have all been other major focuses of OT.  Reading clocks and being able to set the time on clocks seems to be fairly easy for Mom.  Her typing has also been improving.  On Friday she did a great job of copying a sentence (by typing) that J.J. had typed out for her.  Typing is great because not only is she getting more familiar with her computer, but she is also working on letter recognition and memory.  Today we had a great breakthrough with addition and subtraction.  Addition is something we have tried a few times before. Today, however she was able to answer the problems with quite some ease!

Finally, today in OT, J.J., had Mom cook an egg.  She did this wonderfully, and at her next OT appointment she is going to get to make tacos!

As far as speech goes, like I have said before, Mom continues to get better every day.  She is always surprising us with new words or phrases!  One of my recent favorites was said when she was on the phone with Jess. Mom was working really hard on trying to say what she was thinking and after not being able to get it out right she said, "oh forget it!" and we all laughed.

Her morning routines are becoming more normal...she gets up and goes right in the kitchen to make us our flavored coffee (she even pours it for us and adds a little creamer, just how we like it!). This morning she was a lady on a mission as she decided to vacuum the upstairs and do the dishes all before watching Ellen.

We are so thankful for the treadmill the Tim and Ericka are lending Mom and she uses it at least a little everyday.  Between her cleaning/organizing, therapy work and walking she really tires herself out.  We continue to be amazed at her progress as are her therapists.  We our keeping our prayers strong for a full recovery and we thank you all for your continued prayers and support!

Love,

Gordy, Lynn, Jessica & Courtney

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today?

WASHED BY THE WATER

Throughout my past four years down in South Florida I have found myself at different churches through different seasons. This has truly opened my eyes to many interpretations of God’s word and forced me to open my own Bible and really check things out for myself. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, Grams always told me that it didn’t matter what church I went to, as long as they were preaching directly from the word of God. I have now learned for myself that this IS what’s most important!

One of the topics I’ve really struggled with is baptism. I was baptized as an infant and was blessed to have my parents raise me in the church surrounded by believers. But, as I was challenged to open my own Bible to see what God’s word says, I continued to find that this is a step in obedience that is supposed to happen after you make a conscious decision to accept Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as your Lord and Savior.

Well, I know I was a pretty smart baby, BUT I also know at the moment of my baptism I could not articulate that I had accepted Jesus, the Son of God, as my Lord and Savior and knew what baptism meant. So…to be honest…I sat in it for the past year and a half. In my mind, I had already been baptized and been a Christian for years. AND yes, I know, pride is one of those things I really struggle with.

Then God began to bring really interesting people and situations into my life and had me chew on His word a little bit more. The idea of baptism sat in the back of my mind and He continued to pull on my heart. As I have been focused on seeing God’s grace in my life every day (specifically this year though this blog), I have felt my heart soften and done A LOT of work in overcoming challenges in my life. AND to round it all out – He took the least deserving example in my life, my Mom, and showed me along with all of you what a FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE really looks like. What a BLESSING each and every day is that He gives to us. And God did what He does so well, he put me right back on my knees and I was reminded that His way is the ONLY way to get THE MOST JOY out of our short time here on earth. So I said Lord, I will obey.

I saw that the next baptism at church was set for April 30, 2011 (yesterday). I told my family I was going to take this step when I got back home from Easter weekend and they all surrounded me with much love and support. I also mentioned that I was going to be baptized to a dear friend of mine who has been there for me every step of the way as I have fought through many challenges down here in Florida. What a PERFECT person to come along and support me in taking this step in obedience.

Ashley truly is a blessing! She woke up bright and early Saturday morning to head to the beach on a day she could have slept in and she was GRATEFUL to be a part of it! I picked her up just before 8:00am and she had her video camera in hand so we could send photos and video back to the family. We parked and headed to the beach! I won’t say much more, because Ashley took the rest of the day to put together one of the BEST gifts I have EVER been given. She compiled this video of the entire experience and I wanted to share with all of you.

One quick side note before you watch. I picked a random line to be baptized in. As we saw who the Pastor was that was going to baptize me, she recognized that it was Pastor Greg. He not only baptized Ashley, but also married her and her husband. Pastor Greg’s wife has also been a wonderful mentor to Ashley. Just another AMAZING example of God’s grace!

SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO:

Before we were all baptized we had a time for worship where the Pastor explained what baptism is and what it means. He encouraged all of us to leave a stain in the water. Whatever it was we walked into that water with (as we were plunged under the water) we had the opportunity to leave it all behind. Not only did I leave a BIG stain, but I have NEVER felt SO light in all of my life! J

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today?