Personal Cards

Cristi | November 25, 2009

Personalized Cards

A special card made for newborn Juliet to match her baby quilt.

It’s so fun to make cards! You can personalize them with your loved one’s name. You can rub on images that add dimension next to puffy stickers. You can reuse your favorite stamps and color them in using crayons, pencils or paint. Most importantly, you can give them to those you love who will know that you took an extra moment out of your busy schedule just for them. Have fun checking out some of the other personalized creations I’ve made posted on flickr.

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Prayers

Cristi | May 9, 2009


Change the World

 

Before my oldest son was born, I would pray, “Lord, make him happy, healthy and whole.”

Before my youngest son was born, I would pray the same, but add, “And help Him love you all the days of his life.”

Now I simply pray, “Lord, Make us world changers!”

You see, to be world changers, my sons will need to be totally in love with Jesus. They will need an utter dependence on Him, alone. It won’t really matter if they are “happy, healthy and whole.” God alone provides true joy. He uses the sick. God uses the broken.

I trust Him with their lives. I pray that I can be a true example of Jesus Christ. No matter what it means for any of us, I pray for us to have His abundant life! That we will go after God with our whole hearts and follow Him wherever He leads and do whatever He asks us to do.

Live for Jesus. Change the world. That is our mission. That is my prayer.

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What Is Your Desert?

Cristi | April 29, 2009

 

Streams In The Desert

STREAMS IN THE DESERT

by LB Cowman

 A collection of prayerful meditations, Christian writings, and God’s written promises.  This book has become one of the most dearly loved and bestselling devotionals of all times.

Although the original version of Streams in the Desert was published in 1925, my copy was printed in 1974 and still has the author listed as Mrs. Charles E. Cowman. I think that’s how she would have wanted it to appear. It seems just as old fashioned as the language inside, but her relationship to her husband was key to building her faith. According to the foreword in my version, the book is a compilation of “thoughts, quotations, and spiritual inspiration which had helped to sustain Mrs. Charles E. Cowman during her years of missionary work in Japan and China–particularly the six years she nursed her husband while he was dying.”

Can you imagine the depths of agony, frustration and grief she must have experienced? Yet, she sought God through it all, encouraging herself through the writings of others. It makes me wonder if she thought, “hm… I think someday there will be a bestselling book of all the excerpts that I’ve been putting together.”  No, I bet she was just doing what she knew to do, to find God in it all. I bet there were some days that she found it hard to really feel comforted by what she was reading. But, she knew that it was true, and she chose to keep her focus on Christ.

I love to journal things from the Bible or the other books I’m reading. It helps me focus on truth and I can refer to them, later on. I do it all with the small perspective that it helps me grow in God. But, what if somebody comes across my journals someday? Might they compile them in a book that would encourage millions?

What about you? Maybe the author listed on your bestseller would read something like “Hospital Hansen” or “Addiction Anderson” or “Mommy Miller” or “Nine to Five Nelson.” What is that ingredient of your life that seems to be taking over your days?  Streams in the Desert might not exist if it weren’t for what Mrs. Cowman experienced with her husband. 

Be brave through what you are facing. Look to God in it all. Trust Him. Your situation is exactly what He will use to encourage somebody else, someday. 

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Part of Me

Cristi | April 27, 2009

Ethan smeared peanut butter crackers all over his face.

E smeared peanut butter crackers all over his face.

I don’t realize how much of my mom is in me, until I’m doing the exact same thing she used to do.

Today, my boys were still hungry (or “hoogree” as E says). They had just consumed their breakfast, and were asking for more. The trouble was, the cupboards were crying out for groceries louder than my boys. (Yes, TODAY I will get to the store!) So, I had to be creative. For me, that means I had to find something that doesn’t come already prepared in a colorful package.  

Ah ha! I decided on saltine crackers with peanut butter on them. It wasn’t until I was spreading that smooth layer over each cracker that I remembered that I, myself, ate these concoctions as a child. I probably haven’t eaten one since the 80’s, when my own mom served them to my brother and me. It made me smile to realize that she met my needs in the exact way that I was, for my own boys, today. I’m sure that when my mom prepared those crackers in our small apartment kitchen, she didn’t imagine me doing the same thing for her grandchildren, someday.

I wonder what kinds of things my boys are picking up from me that they will someday replicate for their own children. I sure hope that they are picking up more than just menu ideas.

I pray that, by God’s grace, they are witnessing a genuine example of Christ. Although I’m a woman filled with human flaws and failures, I hope that they sense that I am relying on God’s power and Spirit to be all He desires me to be. I pray that I am worthy of their imitation (1 Corinthians 4:13).

My mom is a neverending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being.  I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune.  ~Graycie Harmon

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