Redeeming Childbirth

Hello, my friends! I am breaking the silence to bring you tidings of a marvelous new book on childbirth. Redeeming Childbirth by Angie Tolpin is not about exercise, diets, and breastfeeding. It is about God and you as a mama. It is about the "so much more" of childbearing. The book hits Amazon tomorrow, and I would highly recommend you go and see it for yourself.
Come by here tomorrow for my review of the book!
Here is a bit more information on Redeeming Childbirth to whet your appetite meanwhiles...
...On Pinterest
...On Facebook
...And on the book's beautiful website!

Have a blessed evening (morning), ladies. :)

Renewing the Time

Well, it should be decidedly apparent that school and blog have not coincided recently. Sigh. I just cannot see how to write something uplifting about the Soviet Union. Perhaps later you will get a garish report on something or other from that period in history, but for now, relax.

Seriously. Relax.

You see, this post is about something I have learned outside the laptop screen classroom in the past few months: time. If there is one thing about which I do not relax, time has to be it. Have you ever met those planners who schedule their life to the minute or, dare I say, second? You know the type I am sketching. "Can you take a break and read this?" Uh, no. In two and a half minutes I have to start writing that blog post (hehe). "Hey, that school presentation was great! Do you have a sec to answer a question I have?" Hello? I need to be out the door in precisely...now...so, no, I cannot give you a sec.

Yeah, I knew you knew the type.

Because you know me! That is me all over. For the longest time, I thought it was more virtuous to be rigidly scheduled, organizer in hand and day snugly packed into fifteen-minute segments. An airtight chart equaled more productivity, more action, more reward - more. Should we not squeeze as many strikes out of the clock as is remotely possibly for our mortal frames? Is that not the essence of redeeming the time?

If only I realized there was more to life than time. Now, before I go on, I have to disclaim myself. Again. I still use schedules. They are not evil. I still wear a wrist-watch and frequently take a peep at my clock. We still eat dinner at a regular time and wake up by a certain hour. Don't picture me smashing all time-keeping machines, burning planners, and eating bon-bons all day. K? Because there is. Did you know that when this world burns up, time as we generally recognize it will go to Neverland, too? I always knew this in my head, but the repercussions of the concept took a while to dawn on me. If I am living for seconds and minutes, I am living for something that will go down in flames. What lasts is people, the Church, the City of God. What I do for that entity is what truly lasts.

But wait. Do we not need time to dedicate ourselves to an endeavour, including the Church? Yes, we do! We must take advantage of the time allotted us and give it to His will. And, no, I am not contradicting myself. Maybe Greek will make it more clear for you, as it did for me (once more, hehe). Chronos and Kairos. These are the two Greek words for time. Chronos deals with quantity time, the time that goes tick-tock. Think sundials, Big Ben, and kitchen timers. Kairos describes quality time. Imagine a family dinner, a heart-to-heart with a friend, a conundrum on the job that will either enhance your character or tarnish it. Chronos time helps us humans make the best of Kairos time. One is not "bad" and the other "good", the first just facilitates the latter. Nonetheless, many of us are burning out in order to beat the clock rather than embracing the opportunities it happens to offer us. Alert: we cannot squeeze another second out of the tick-tock (Matthew 6:27). We have so many tick-tocks given us and nothing more, no matter how hard we try to get another tick (or tock). Ya get what I am saying?

There is something we can do about opportunities, though. We can waste the circumstances God give us or use them for His glory. In fact, remember those verses, Ephesians 5:15-16? "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil." Well, guess what word is used for time here. Ding ding ding! Kairos, quality time. We are to redeem the opportunities God furnishes us, putting them towards His service. At times, that means sacrificing our little schedule to grasp the bigger picture of what God is doing in His Bride. It means we will have to put our time-chart in God's hands -  yet another area in which to relinquish control - and dispose of time as what it is: God's clock, God's opportunities, gifted to us to further His Kingdom.

My task for Becoming a Fair Lady right now is loosening my grip on the schedule (even though I still use it), and opening it up to God's plans for my life. It echoes Proverbs 16:9, "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps." Let's plan, but let's plan on that plan being broken for God's glory, and thank Him for it.

So...yeah...That's it. Not a good ending, I know. *Cheesy Grin*


*I would like to thank Dr. Jeff Myers from Summit Ministries for enlightening me on this subject!

Love-in-Idleness

Here is yet another happy circumstance when school and blog coincide. Does that ever happen to you?

Love-in-Idleness, or Heartsease

A few days ago, as I was reading A Midsummer Night's Dream for the I-don't-know-how-many-nth time, the scene where Oberon orders Puck to light the love potion upon the eyes of an unhappy youth struck me with a few new thoughts. I had never payed much attention to this flower juice's name, but during this last reading it jumped out at me: Love-in-Idleness. Interesting name, do you not think? Especially so when you read the results of the potion on Oberon's fairy queen, Titania. She ends up falling for a donkey and makes herself look pretty ridiculous in the process. 


We laugh at her antics, and Puck's, to be sure, but have you ever thought about how we fall for the same thing Titania did? It seems I am often guilty of those very same insanities she showed. Love-in-Idleness caused her to woo a donkey, yet, oh, the hapless things our hearts seek when our loves wander listlessly on, as idle as can be!


We have all heard the saying about the space in our soul only God can fill, the love which only He can give and the satisfaction only He can guarantee. Nevertheless, too many a time, our hearts forget their first Love and become regrettably idle. Purposeless. Doubtful. Hungry. Before we know, we find ourselves grasping after donkeys, just like poor Titania. Granted, most of the time our "donkeys" are not so ludicrous or obvious as is that of the fairy queen, but I am sure to God the idols our idle hearts chase are sorry substitutes for His majesty and love - ludicrous indeed. So, while our lovely selves may not look so silly to friends and family (not to mention us), we probably appear rather absurd to our Heavenly Father, after all He did for us. 


Have you ever paused to consider what "donkeys" are capturing your soul through an idle heart? TV, trashy books, gaudy music, and the "opposite sex" are all commonly cited examples, but Satan usually likes to be slightly more subtle. It may take some time to figure out; it certainly will take me a while!


So what is the remedy to our donkey infatuation? Well, lets wind back towards the love potion that starts all this featherbrained behaviour. Love-in-Idleness. Ahhh....that idle heart of ours. To keep our souls from courting barn animals, the stupor of our hearts must be cured. 


And that cure is Christ. There is no other.


Only when we see Christ for who He is, awesome, beautiful, radiant, glorious, the perfect example of perfect manhood, sovereign, powerful, and loving - in short, when we become infatuated with Him - will our hearts stop their wanderings. Yes, when we behold and treasure Him alone, then all our donkeys will appear as what they really were all along - donkeys. Then shan't they be left in the dust?


Better yet, our souls will not thirst and our hearts will not hunger when His vision becomes our vision. We will enjoy life at its fullest. He will guide your steps and use you for His amazing purpose. Yeah, purpose. No more disillusionment. Instead of Love-in-Idleness, let us take a dosage of Love-in-Life, Christ's life.

TULIP, Revised for the Modern Reader

   Yesterday was a positively beautiful, rainy day. The morning passed with many words and good fun in the Raimundo household, much to everyone's delight (except I spazzed about the late hour). However, this occurrence is dangerous. Very dangerous, indeed. Just peek at what Daddy started and I finished!
   I know some of my friends will catch the humor of this little acronym, and for those who do not, never fear. I still love you dearly :) So, here is the dangerous result of a pleasantly wet Saturday morning.

          Total Divinity

          Unconditional toleration

          Limited instruction

          Irresistible play

          Passivity of the “Seekers”

True, no? Have a lovely Sunday, friends!

Giving Girls Their Hearts

It has been one long week, friends! But, thanks to my friend, Hannah, the cyber silence is once again being broken. This post is a rally, a calling, an entreaty to help two girls have hearts. Hearts that work. Hearts that throb and feel and pump like yours do and mine. Actually, let me correct that last sentence. These darling hearts do feel, they perhaps feel loved and scared and uncertain. But their hearts do not work, and this has to be mended. You may have browsed Hannah's blog, Loving Dangerously, to which I link on my sidebar. There she frequently (much more frequently than yours truly) recounts the joys and struggles of working with little ones in EA. This kind of story about life and death is not new to her, but each story is real, human, and needy. Listen to what she says below:

One of my friends, Lindsay Adams, and I are raising money for the surgeries of two little girls who live at the foster home here. Lydia and Tabitha. They each have a heart disease, and are in need of surgery. We are doing this in honor of two little girls, Liu Yi and Paige, who touched our lives and are now with Jesus.Paige was my little pixie. Her heart stopped in September. She was six months old. Paige would have turned one two days ago [March 18], and so in honor and in celebration of her life, I am determined to raise money for Lydia's surgery. Lindsay has chosen Tabitha, in honor of Liu Yi, whose fourth birthday would have been this month.So, here is my question, nay, request. Would you be willing to help us?

Hannah and Lindsay have launched a blog where they will post updates replete with pictures and stories. Equally important are the YouTube video Lindsey made telling the story of Julia and Liu Yi and the YouTube video Hannah made about Paige. Please take the time to watch them. Also, I have added a button to Becoming a Fair Lady's sidebar to remind us of this cause, as well as a link which you can click should the Lord guide you to aid financially. When it comes to the cold, hard facts, it is money that pays surgeons. Whether that happens or not, please do pray. Remember there are lives hanging in the balance every day, lives closer to us than many of us would care to think. Let us help, pray, and embrace these children as real persons with the loving arms of our Father.