The Problem is when I start with me...

My Pastor has posted an excellent video.

Seasons of Life are Changing

I have prayerfully decided that I will be cutting back on blogging. I will post an article probably on Tuesdays or Thursdays when the kids are at school. With all 6 of the kids beginning school at the university-model school, I have much less time. The older 2 kids go to school 3 times a week and the younger 4 kids go 2 times a week. The rest of the time, I homeschool or co-teach them with what they learned on the school days. It is an excellent school and we are so honored to be a part of it. However, it is academically challenging and time consuming... and very much worth the time and effort. They are also involved in things like their Christian worship band, music lessons, soccer, and cross-country.

I have been soooo blessed by the blogosphere. By the grace of God, it has played a part in me growing spiritually as well as learning to articulate what I believe and why. I have so much more to learn and am very excited to see God's divine plan unfold in my life and the lives of those around me.

My comments still do not work, so if you want to chat, e-mail me at lisa4given@gmail.com or you can get a facebook. You can find a link to my facebook on the left bottom side-bar.

May the Lord bless you all and may you continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.

Annual MRI Appointment

...is coming up next week. I would appreciate your prayers. I am praying for a miracle and resting in God's sovereign will.

Praying for a miracle to be completely healed from the Multiple Sclerosis and resting in the faithful and mighty God who's sovereign will is trustworthy and good.

Psalm 139:14 "I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works,And my soul knows it very well."

I Peter 3:15 "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."

"In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;"
-1 Peter 1:6, 7

Does anyone want to vomit?

You do? Okay... then read this: (Note: this is just an excerpt. The entire article can be found HERE from none other than Oprah's "O" magazine, which in my opinion should stand for "Occultist" or "Offensive" or "Oh Brother, not more of her cr** (aka skubalon). And no, my comments still do not work and in this case, it is probably for the best because I am slightly miffed... though, I am trying to be compassionate because this is obviously written by someone who is lost and needs Christ... alone. Yes, Christ alone and not Christ and Oprah or Christ and anything else! Why? He is the ONE way, ONE truth, ONE life.

I recently stood by as a clothing designer, a mother in her 40s, announced to a group of women that she was divorcing her husband. The women's faces flickered with curiosity, support, recognition, and -- could it be? -- yearning. Not a one of us suggested that she try harder to make it work. No voice murmured, "What a shame."

Because it isn't a shame. Divorce is no longer the shame that spits stain upon womanly merit. Conventional wisdom decrees that marriage takes work, but it doesn't take work, it is work. It's a job -- intermittently fulfilling and annoying, with not enough vacation days. Divorce is a job too (with even fewer vacation days). It's a matter of weighing your options.

A friend once compared the prospect of leaving her husband to leaving her child's private school: The school wasn't entirely to her liking, but her daughter was happy there; it wasn't what she'd expected, but applying to other schools involved a lot of costly, complicated paperwork and the nagging uncertainty of whether another school would accept her and/or really be that much better.

Another friend viewed divorce as being akin to an extended juice fast: You're intrigued but skeptical, admiring yet apprehensive. Is it dangerous? Does it work? You're not completely sold, but then again, you could envision yourself attempting it down the road.

What this says to me (other than: my friends sure do come up with awfully good metaphors!) is that women don't view divorce as a scary, shadowy behemoth. It's an unpalatable yet manageable task -- like changing schools or extreme dieting -- that may or may not yield a better result.

To be sure, there will be throngs of angry women who will decry me for plunging a stake into the heart of holy matrimony. "My husband is my lifeline," I've heard said (and that's bad news for the aorta). "My husband and I never fight" is another marital chestnut -- again, bad news (not to mention a big fat lie), since according to the experts, the strongest relationships are the ones in which people can continually agree to disagree. "My husband is my best friend," others will aver.

No. Your husband is not your best friend. Your best friend is your best friend. If your husband were your best friend, what would that make your best friend -- the dog? When a woman tells me that her husband is her best friend, what I hear is: I don't really have any friends.

But if self-delusion is your particular poison, well, then that's fine too. Just make sure that when you phone your life-order in, you say, "One self-delusion, please," as opposed to "One perfect marriage." Fantasy, as we all know, doesn't deliver.

Because in the end, that's basically what it's all about: getting your order right. Our day comes down to choices -- and it's finally dawning on the long-term wives of the world that divorce may be the last-standing woman's right to choose. We can admit that our marriages aren't lambent, lyrical ice-dancing routines and still decide to push on together to the final flying sit spin. We also realize that divorce is an alternative that's fully within reach, be it now or later or never. The more readily we acknowledge the solid utility of marriage (as one friend's husband put it, "I'm essentially a checkbook and a sperm bank -- but I'm okay with that!"), the more ably we can splinter the box of marital fantasy that makes us feel stuck, trapped, obliged. One eloquent swing of the ax and happiness is thrust firmly back into our own hands.

This is not to say that dismantling one's marriage will automatically bring happiness; it's the idealization of marriage that needs to be shredded, along with its accompanying bumper sticker WIVES MAKE BETTER WOMEN. If we stay, we stay because we decide to, not because our ankles and wrists have been locked into societal expectations. If, after various efforts, we finally leave, we have the confidence to be the leavers and not the left.

Having choices is a cornerstone of strength: Choosers won't be beggars. "Thinking about divorce is kind of like living in New York City with its museums and theater and culture," a doctor friend of mine said. "You may never actually go to any of these places, but for some reason, just the idea that you could if you wanted to makes you feel better."

Maybe one day, marriage -- like the human appendix, male nipples, or your pinky toes -- will become a vestigial structure that will, in a millennium or two, be obsolete. Our great-great-great-grandchildren's grandchildren will ask each other in passing, "Remember marriage? What was its function again? Was it that maladaptive organ that intermittently produced gastrointestinal antigens and sometimes got so inflamed that it painfully erupted?"

Yes. Yes it was.

Back From Vacation

My kids start school this week and we just got back from an amazing vacation in Durango, CO. I have so much to write about it I feel like I am going to *BURST*
But I will not have time until Tuesday when ALL SIX of my children will be in school. My oldest two boys will go on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and our youngest four children will go on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is like part-time homeschooling and this will be really odd for me to not have at least one kid home... wow. They grow so fast.

Anyway, I will be writing on my blog through the busy school season mainly on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and a bit on the weekend if I have time to post hymns and Sunday Lunch recipes.

Deo Volente...See ya on Tuesday... sort-of.

On Vacation

Steeped in Sin's Deception, Unless Awakened... but by the grace of God alone

“First, people tend to think of sins in the plural as consciously willed acts where one was aware of and chose not to do the righteous alternative. Sin, in this popular misunderstanding, refers to matters of conscious volitional awareness of wrongdoing and the ability to do otherwise. This instinctive view of sin infects many Christians and almost all non-Christians. It has a long legacy in the church under the label Pelagianism, one of the oldest and most instinctive heresies. The Bible’s view of sin certainly includes the high-handed sins where evil approaches full volitional awareness. But sin also includes what we simply are, and the perverse ways we think, want, remember, and react.

Most sin is invisible to the sinner because it is simply how the sinner works, how the sinner perceives, wants, and interprets things. Once we see sin for what it really is – madness and evil intentions in our hearts, absence of any fear of God, slavery to various passions (Eccl. 9:3; Gen. 6:5; Ps. 36:1; Titus 3:3) – then it becomes easier to see how sin is the immediate and specific problem all counseling deals with at every moment, not a general and remote problem. The core insanity of the human heart is that we violate the first great commandment. We will love anything, except God, unless our madness is checked by grace.

People do not tend to see sin as applying to relatively unconscious problems, to the deep, interesting, and bedeviling stuff in our hearts. But God’s descriptions of sin often highlight the unconscious aspect. Sin – the desires we pursue, the beliefs we hold, the habits we obey as second nature – is intrinsically deceitful. If we knew we were deceived, we would not be deceived. But we are deceived, unless awakened through God’s truth and Spirit. Sin is a darkened mind, drunkenness, animal-like instinct and compulsion, madness, slavery, ignorance, stupor. People often think that to define sin as unconscious removes human responsibility. How can we be culpable for what we did not sit down and choose to do? But the Bible takes the opposite track. The unconscious and semiconscious nature of much sin simply testifies to the fact that we are steeped in it. Sinners think, want, and act sinlike by nature, nurture, and practice.”

- David Powlison, The Journal of Biblical Counseling (Spring 2007; Vol. 25, No. 2) pp. 25-26.

God Moves in a Mysterious Way

The sermon at my church this morning was on the sovereignty of God in the seemingly unfair things in life. Our pastor, who typically preaches expositionally through the Scriptures, prayerfully decided to deviate from the book of Matthew because of the recent influx of prayer requests and the witness of tragic or challenging events in the lives of people around him.

As Pastor Chris preached this morning, I kept thinking of the following hymn:

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up his bright designs
And works his sovereign will.

You fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain

Sunday Lunch: White Chicken Chili

INGREDIENTS:
4 cans of Great Northern white beans
2 cans golden sweet corn
2 large onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 stick butter
1/4 c all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups half and half
1 tsp Tabasco
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
two 4-oz cans whole mild green chilies, drained and chopped
1 pre-cooked whole chicken deboned
2 c grated Monterey Jack
1 c sour cream

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. De-bone the pre-cooked whole chicken.
2. Cook the onion and garlic with 2 Tbs of butter until softened.
3. In a heavy pot, large enough to hold all the ingredients, melt remaining 6 Tbs of butter over moderately low heat and whisk in flour. Cook the roux, whisking constantly, for three minutes. Stir in the onion and garlic and gradually add the broth and half and half, whisking the whole time. Bring mixture to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes, or until thickened.
4. Stir in Tabasco, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Add beans, chilies, chicken and cheese, and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. Add sour cream.
5. You can serve garnished with any or all of the following: cilantro, grated cheese, diced tomatoes, corn chips

Q&A

1. What time did you get up this morning?
7:30-ish... I have been sleeping in lately.

2. Diamonds or pearls?
Pearls

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Can't remember... I'm feelin' like Dory right now from "Finding Nemo"

4. What is your favorite TV show?
Several shows on the cooking channel and Wretched with Todd Friel

5. What do you usually have for breakfast?
Coffee and cereal

6. What is your middle name?
Karen

7. What food do you dislike?
hmmmm????

8. What is your favorite CD at moment?
anything Keith L. Cooper

9. What kind of car do you drive?
15 passenger van

10. Favorite sandwich?
Ham and swiss on a plain bagel with spicy mustard, tomatoes and lettuce

11. What characteristic do you despise?
laziness

12. Favorite item of clothing?
bare feet

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
Denmark because of an historical novel I read... plus I have ancestors that are from Denmark

14. Favorite brand of clothing?
I don't care as long as it fits

15. Where would you retire to?
With my husband near my family

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday?
Oooooo... My last one when the women of my neighborhood stole me away. We had a blast.

17. Favorite sport to watch?
just about anything in the Olympics and my children playing soccer

18. Furthest place you are sending this?
No where

19. Person you expect to send it back first?
No body

20. When is your birthday?
December 10th

21. Are you a morning person or a night person?
In the summer I am a night person and during the school season, I am a morning person.

22. What is your shoe size?
7-ish

23. Pets?
Bichon Frise named Bear

24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us?
We finally finished the music room for the band to practice in. I'll have to post pics. It looks really neat-O!!!

25. What did you want to be when you were little?
ummmmm.... *gack* another Dory moment

26. How are you today?
Considering I stayed up with my older boys until 1am to finish the flooring and trim and all the instruments, etc. in the music room for the band and then got up early to plug everything in... I'm exhausted, but exhilarated. I had an incredible morning... awed by the sovereign God Almighty, who's purposes can never be thwarted, nor completely understood by my finite mind... but He can always be trusted, as I read through the latter chapters in Job.

27. What is your favorite candy?
Chocolate with almonds

28. What is your favorite flower?
Tea Roses

29. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to?
The day we go on our first vacation in 3 years to Durango, CO.
COMING SOON!

30. What is your full name?
Lisa Karen Nielsen Nunley

31. What are you listening to right now?
My husband cooking dinner tonight. Isn't that sweet?

32. What was the last thing you ate?
Peanut Butter crackers

33. Do you wish on stars?
Why would I do that? My God made the stars. It seems more fruitful to pray to the One who made them.

34. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?
Purple-ish

35. How is the weather right now?
humid

36. The first person you spoke to on the phone today?
Mr. Dave, our painter. He and his wife our painting some of our interior walls and they are such a joy to have around! HIGHLY recommend him to anyone in the NW Arkansas area!!!!!!!!

37. Favorite soft drink?
I don't like soda

38. Favorite restaurant?
Right now, Crabby's

39. Real hair colour?
light brown-ish with blond highlights in the summer. My hair was very light blond as a child. When I lived in Japan as a child, the people use to ask my dad if they could take a picture of me and my sister because we had long and very blond hair. Apparently I have a few grey hairs. eeeeek

40. What was your favorite toy as a child?
A stuffed Clifford, the Big Red Dog

41. Summer or winter?
Both

42. Hugs or kisses?
hugs from people I care about and kisses from my husband and children

43. Chocolate or Vanilla?
Chocolate, now that I am an adult, and vanilla as a child.

44. Coffee or tea?
Cinnamon Dolce Latte with an extra shot

45. Do you want your friends to email you back?
Depends

46. When was the last time you cried?
At church on Sunday during communion

47. What is under your bed?
dust

48. What did you do last night?
(See #26)

49. What are you afraid of?
The Lord not drawing all of my children to Himself

50. Salty or sweet?
Yes and preferably together

51. How many keys on your key ring?
3

52. How many years at your current job?
Almost 15 years as a mom (My oldest son will be 15 in November)... and over 16 years as a wife

53. Favorite day of the week?
Sunday. I enjoy going to church with my family and eating lunch with my church family.

54. How many towns have you lived in?
I was a military brat... I have lost count

Hey, if you wanna do this Q&A please do and then let me know so I can get to know you better. My comments still do not work yet... and I have no idea why, so e-mail me at lisa4given@gmail.com