Where is God?

How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

Psalm 13:1-4 (NIV )

Where is God? is Dr. John Townsend's attempt to answer the age-old question of how we look to God during our personal trials and pitfalls. Dr. Townsend relies on personal experience, years of Christian counseling, and scriptural reference to guide the reader through. While I understand his approach, I really think that this book misses the mark.

The Introduction started off strong and reeled me in quickly. Unfortunately, it set a high standard that the rest of the book was unable to meet. The first 9 chapters were based more on his personal and professional stories than on scriptural references and solid Biblical instruction. It is not until chapter 10 that Dr. Townsend really dug in and delivered his intended message.

It is a well thought out concept and the Introduction and last few chapters show the author's ability to convey the message, but the rest of the book really disappointed me.

*This is a compensated review.

It's OK.

Other than a vague reference in my Little River Canyon photo post, I hadn't posted about the fact that Brett and I were expecting a little one in late July/early August. We received a bit of concerning news at our 7 week appointment and became extra cautious about sharing. We told close family and friends, but that was it. My OB wanted to do another ultrasound at 10 weeks, but there was a scheduling conflict so it got bumped back to 11+4, which was Wednesday. My intuition told me that there was something majorly wrong, but I tried to have faith and think positively. Unfortunately, we learned that our baby stopped growing around 8 weeks.

My emotions have been all over the place in the past two days, but as incomprehensible as it sounds, it's OK. I'm OK. We're OK. I truly feel as if the Lord has been preparing me for this for the past several weeks. As I sought Him in prayer, I just knew that this baby wasn't one that we were meant to keep. I'm still mad as a hornet thoroughly upset and I'm still questioning God. The good thing is that He is strong enough to handle my questions and doubts and is still standing there with open arms when I'm ready to give them up.

Sound Advice

We had a guest speaker at church yesterday and his sermon was on Titus 2. I'll go ahead and admit that I don't remember ever reading in the book of Titus before. Why? I have no idea. As Bro. Wesley pointed out yesterday, the book of Titus is where Paul is teaching us what God intends our responsibilities to be. It's so easy to say, "Well, I don't know what God wants me to do about XYZ, so I'll just do it my way instead." In Titus 2, Paul makes it very clear what God expects from us.

He expects men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, love, and in endurance. He expects women to be reverent in the way we live, not to be slanderers or drunks, and to teach what is good. Each generation of women is to teach the younger generations to love their husbands and children, be self-controlled and pure, to take care of their homes, to be kind, and to respect their husbands. The reasons that we are to do this is so we, as Christians, do not malign the word of God.

I'll ask you the same question that Bro. Wesley asked us - What could be sounder advice?

The Weatherman Lied

We didn't see the first snow flurry. What a rip-off! Oh well. Maybe next time!

I wish I was able to share some exciting weekend plans with y'all, but that's not to be either. We learned yesterday morning that a long-time family friend had passed away Thursday afternoon. Her funeral is this afternoon. We hadn't seen her very much the past couple of years, but some of my best childhood memories include sitting up at her office people-watching! Please pray for her children and grandchildren as they adjust to life without her.

Some of you may have noticed the new badge I have on the bottom right of my blog. I recently signed up with Thomas Nelson Publishing as a "Book Review Blogger." The first book I'll be reviewing is Where is God by Dr. John Townsend. I can't wait until it gets here!

Snow?

The weatherman is actually using the s-word tonight. Could we be so lucky?!

2009 In Pictures

I started writing an insanely long immensely detailed post for my 2009 wrap-up and then decided to just upload a video instead. Before watching, please pause the music at the bottom of the page!

I hope y'all have a wonderfully blessed 2010!

2009 In Pictures from Janice Johnt on Vimeo.