"The Secret of Enduring"

So, I certainly do not claim to know the secret of enduring myself, but I am being forced to endure right now! So, this is definitely a timely read for me. Again, these quotes are from the book I'm currently reading - Secrets of the Secret Place. In the context of this book, the "Secret Place" being referred time is that time when you spend alone time with the Lord, in His word, etc...

"It's easy to endure in the good times. It's when the hard times hit that our endurance is proven. When times get tough, it's tempting to neglect the secret place." I've said things quite similar to this myself...

1. "Hardship can be embraced with joy, in my opinion, only when we understand God's purpose in the pain. 'My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience' (James 1:2-3). The only way to be joyful in trials is through "knowing" -- knowing God's purpose in it. How do we learn God's purposes in our sufferings? The secret pursuit of God in His word is what will reveal purpose to us."
2. "One of the scriptural symbols for this process is pearl. Pearl is formed within an oyster which has experienced the distress of a foreign particle of sand getting stuck within its shell. Pearl represents the eternally valuable change God works within us in the place of hardship. There is nothing else that changes us quite so readily and profoundly as a devotion to the secret place in the midst of grueling hardship."
3. "The longer the irritant resides within the oyster's shell, the more valuable the pearl becomes. Therefore, the formative value of tribulation is sometimes directly proportional to the duration of the crucible. The longer the distress, the more valuable the pearl. It is the confidence of this reality which empowers us to persevere with joy. When we endure in love through hardship, we qualify to enter the gates of pearl - for the only way to enter the eternal city is through the pearly gates of "treasure perfected in hardship."

Abiding with all the endurance I can muster,

Lori

Comic Relief: Great Dog Signs

Okay, so the sign above says the following:

LICKER
LICENSE
AS DEEMED BY
THE BOARD FOR
THE PRESERVATION
OF
SHIH TZU
LOVE

Now then, I suppose some of y'all might need an explanation. So here's one:

Dogs lick EVERYTHING. They lick furniture, people, floors, themselves, ect. It's what they do. It's in their nature. Especially when it comes to Shih-tzus. The breed is well know for their never-ending licking, thus the following picture (think of this as visual explanation):

They lick, and they lick, and they lick some more.

It NEVER ends.

FYI, the dog in this picture isn't mine.

Now, back to the licker sign:

I thought it was funny. It's like comic relief. And, trust me, we needed it. =D



Love y'all and hope ya got a good laugh out of it,

~Anna/marryanna

I love blue jeans and trucks, but that's a whole other post...

Update and "Secrets of the Secret Place"

Well, I'm writing today because Anna says the blog has gotten quiet and there's been a request from one of her friends. So, here I am, I'd better add something.

My leg is about the same. I'm still elevating and icing, and getting really tired of it all. I just mark the days as they go by, striking through them on my calendar. Kind of boring. Don't really have anything exciting to say...

Anna is taking the California Achievement Test this week, so she is currently taking the Language Mechanics portion while Sarah watches Baby First t.v. which she sometimes enjoys. Right now is one of those times. Mom's gone to pick up a few things at the store, but will be back soon. I'm sure she enjoys the break from our crazy place.

We did venture out to church again yesterday which was nice. I enjoy seeing everyone and spending time in corporate worship, receiving Biblical instruction, and enjoying time with my brothers and sisters in Christ. And, of course, being a Baptist, you can't forget the lunch afterwards!! That is some of the sweetest fellowship time, as it should be.

During my devotional time I am reading through several books - I usually have one that is a scripture study and then one or two others that I'm reading related to spiritual growth. So, one of those is a book entitled Secrets of the Secret Place - Keys to Igniting Your Personal Time with God. (written by Bob Sorge) I got the idea to read this book from another book I read that quoted from this one.

Anyway, I just have to share with you the titles of some of the last few chapters I've read. They are so fitting for my current situation, you can't help but smile at God's providence. The current section is titled "Setting A Marathon Pace" and the last chapters I've read are:

• The Secret of Desperation (I'm feeling a little desperate these days.)
• The Secret of Manna Gathering (This one is based on the idea of living day by day, understanding that God's provision is daily, and not intended to be stored up - like the manna He sent to the Israelites.) Now here's where it just gets plain funny!
• The Secret of Enduring
• The Secret of Confinement
• The Secret of Waiting and
• The Secret of Tears

Here are a couple of the things I underlined as I read - they either stood out to me as important lessons to learn or ideas I already know and cherish. As I look through each chapter, WOW, it's hard to pick just a few. Maybe I should share a little each day for a few days.... hey that'll work!

Okay, so here's the first set of quotes, from the chapter "The Secret of Manna Gathering."

1. "When you're desperate for God, you become dependent on the daily sustaining power of His word. Your source of survival is your daily manna - feeding on the word of God. We know the manna of the wilderness was good for only one day; if kept over into the next day, it would rot (Exodus 16:12-31). It's still true that yesterday's feeding in the word will never sustain us for today. One of the primary functions of the secret place is to be fed afresh each day in His word."
2. "Proverbs 16:26 says, "The person who labors, labors for himself, for his hungry mouth drives him on.' It's our hunger for the word that drives us into the secret place. When we are hungry spiritually, we are energized to labor in the word. A lack of hunger is a danger sign. When someone is sick, often the first symptom of their sickness is a loss of hunger. Those who lose their spiritual hunger need a medical exam, spiritually speaking."
3. "Once you learn to feed yourself in the word, you are no longer upset when the Sunday sermon doesn't apply to your life. You weren't looking for the sermon to be your source of feeding and life anyways. If something in the sermon feeds you, you reckon it a bonus. You're no longer dependent on others to give you milk because now you are cutting off your own meat."

Tomorrow, excerpts from The Secret of Enduring.

And, Anna says, "Hello!" *waves*

Abiding in His sovereignty with my big ol' broke leg,
Lori

Daring. Very daring.

Today we dared to go to church with mom and her broken leg! The result: SUCCESS!!!! Oh, happy day!! We even went to lunch with some of my...er...our peoples! *happiness* Hope y'all had a good Sunday!!



ttyl peoples!
~Anna/marryanna

My Sweet Baby

Say hello to one of the sweetest dogs ever. My baby. Her name's Jasmine. Most of y'all know her. She's adorable. She thinks she's real tough (which, when she acts like she is, is precious). She's a pretty good guard dog. She barks at everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. Here's 4 things she barks at AT LEAST once a day:

1. Cars that have been parked in the driveway for the last 24 hours.
2. People walking.
3. One of us ringing the doorbell
4. Someone accidentally bumping up against a wall.

*sigh* She's crazy, but I love her like crazy.

~Anna/marryanna