Shabbat on our knees... Teshuvah!

Tonight begins Shabbat and we will be on our knees. Today is the eighth anniversary of the 9/11.

We are not having a special meeting tonight but a time of prayer. Husband and I are grieved to see America has slipped back into complacency, back away from The Almighty. This is the season of Teshuvah, of returning back to the laws of The Father in preparation of the Fall Feasts and the Messiah's return.

How very fitting that tonight's Parashah is Ki Tavo, "when you enter." In this Parashah, the children of Israel are getting ready to enter the land and Moses is exhorting them to keep the law, the Torah. It is in this reading where the Moses gives them the charge for the "Blessings and Curses." Blessings if you follow the commandments, the Torah, and Curses if you don't. This is reflected in 2 Ch 7:14

Quote:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Ki Tavo is read during the season of Teshuva, or returning, the time when we are to perform cheshbon ha-nefesh and teshuvah, (soul searching and return [to the laws of the Almighty]) in the days leading to Yom Kippur. In other words, "Repent before you die." This is interesting because Husband and I feel today, the eighth anniversay of 9/11, America needs Chesbon ha-nefesh and Teshuvah!

Parashah: Deut. 26:1 - 29:9
Haftarah: Isaiah 60:1-22
Brit Chadashah: Acts 7:30-36, Eph. 1:3-6 , Rev. 21:10-27

Verification! (July '05)

Yes!  I'm pregnant!  I saw two beautiful pink lines last week but I thought it was too good to be true.  Then Becky, the God-sent nurse who has helped me through three wonderful pregnancies and births and cried with me through three heart-wrenching miscarriages, called with the lab results.  
"We're good to go!" she said. 
 EDD is March 19, 2006.

I've been worried with such silly, trivial matters.... 
 I'm pregnant! What will people think?  
I'm pregnant! How will I handle another?  
I'm pregnant! I'm 41!!

And I've been worried with darker matters....
What if I miscarry again?
What if the baby has a birth defect?
What if something happens to Clint? or me?


I should put my mind on things above....  
"Lo, children are a blessing from the Lord..."
"Your wife shall be as a fruitful vine within your house, your children as olive plants all around you table..."
"Commit your activities to the Lord and your plans will be achieved."
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous abandoned or his children begging bread.  He is always generous, always lending, and his children are a blessing."

Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful blessing and this awesome responsibility... even if only for a short while.  Put my mind at ease and fill me with Your joy!

Day of Rest and Sweet Anticipation (July, '05)

Ahhhhh.   The day of rest is finally here.  The children are well, my sickness seems to be getting better, and I have a suspicion of an event that, if true, would make me bubble over with joy.    I am content now.   I am at rest presently but not complacent.   Still a longing is here; thoughts of what might have been and what could still be...  Has The Father heard my prayer?   Has He turned His face toward me?  Has the He noticed me with favor?  Oh, that He would bless me again and shine His face on me and look on me with favor....  The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.  Blessed be the name of the Lord!