To Die is Gain...

When you are forgotten, or neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you don't sting and hurt with the insult or the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When your good is spoken evil of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defemd yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When you lovingly and patiently bear any discomfort, any irregularity, any unpunctuality or any annoyance; when you stand face-to-face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility and endure it as Jesus endured.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When you are content with any food, any offering, any climate, any society, any raiment, any interruption by the will of God.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation, or to record your own good works or itch after commendations, when you can truly love to be unknown.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

Are you dead yet?

In these last days, that the Spirit would bring us to the cross.

~Author unknown

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

sanctity~godliness, holiness, sacredness

"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be." ~Psalm 139:13-16

I pray that you will take time to reflect today on the preciousness of life and thank our loving Creator for His love extended to you.

In His Grip,

The Gift of Life

We have a beautiful 14 month old son named Asa. He is super cuddly, with a smile that will win your heart and blue eyes that pierce your soul. He is the sweetest little man you could ever meet. We soak up his kisses and delight in his giggles. Life before Asa was nowhere near as sweet as it is now.

Since Ace joined our family we have had the pleasure of answering the many questions that come with being the parents of a child with special needs. Rather than feel put out by these inquiries, we look at them as opportunities to share what a joy it has been to have a child with Down syndrome. By far the question we get asked the most is "Did you know he was going to be born with Down syndrome?" Often times this question is asked with an undertone of sympathy. There are those that will then go on to express grief for us and some have even apologized to us when they remark on Asa's condition. I think most are surprised when we assure them that we have never shared in that grief and have no need for sympathy.

In fact, we strongly feel that we are the ones that carry a heavy burden of sympathy. Sympathy for a world that fails to see the value in each and every life that God has deemed worthy of creation. We grieve and mourn the loss of the 90 percent of babies that are aborted every year when their mothers discover that they have Down syndrome. Our hearts break for a society that views children born with special needs as a burden. And as we look into the sapphire eyes of our precious son, it is us that grieve the reality that he will likely face ridicule and rejection many times over because of his condition.

But deeply intertwined with our grief is love. A consuming love for our son that drives us to pray for this fallen world and fills our hearts with the hope that there will come a day when ALL human life is viewed as sacred. Oh, how God must grieve when He looks upon His creation and sees how little we cherish the gift of life that He so lovingly bestowed on us!
This coming Sunday is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Will you please take time on that day to celebrate the intrinsic value of all human life?

He was sent to us on November 20, 2009, born with an extra chromosome and our lives are richer for it...

In His Grip,