What’s Up, Wednesday: Anchored In Hope!

January 27, 2016 The Not-So Newlywed LefebvresLeave a comment

Hola Friends!

As we mentioned yesterday, things have been busy with our recent trip to Maine & Minnesota! Craig was in recurrent training literally until hours of when we flew out, so we definitely hustled to make it on time!

In Maine, we met with some folks who are quickly becoming extremely good friends of ours who pastor Cross Church Maine.

Those of us who reside in either the Southern or the Midwestern United States cannot grasp the need for evangelization in New England… A Gallup poll from 2012 shows the four (4) least religious states in the country are all located in New England – so the work that our friends, Dr. Aaron & Kathy Werner, are doing to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Maine is absolutely paramount! Check out this article by Ruth Graham about the need for re-evangelizing the historic birthplace of Christianity in our country – It’s quite eye-opening!

Once we left Maine, we headed to see our Minnesota family and, as usual, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

We visited the Como Zoo & Conservatory, where the flowers were BEAUTIFUL and the monkeys were too fast for me to snap a photo of!

We also saw the show ‘Jerusalem’ at the IMAX Omni Theatre at the Science Museum in St. Paul. It was breathtaking!

What a wonderful little getaway that ended way too quickly!!

I did come home to a fabulous surprise, though! If you didn’t see/notice this on Facebook this morning, I am one of 45 women across the country who is so blessed to be a contributor to a devotional about infertility, and the book, “Anchored In Hope” by Ali Forrest is for sale on Amazon! We will be running a giveaway soon for the book, but if you or anyone you know deals with (or has dealt with) infertility, this would be the perfect gift – for both of you! Sometimes those of us with an ‘invisible’ disease feel incredibly alone in dealing and coping with it…It’s a beautiful thing to know that this entire book was compiled by women who contributed their stories out of experience!

Well, y’all, I need to wrap things up so I can bid my precious husband farewell! He’s heading to Texas this evening for the rest of the week. 😦 #boohiss

Until Tomorrow!! We send our love!

TTC Tuesday

Our Limitless Savior

January 12, 2016 The Not-So Newlywed LefebvresLeave a comment

Early this morning, on the way in to work, I wasn’t sure what exactly today’s post would be about. Sometimes, though, the answer is all in my morning devotion – and this morning was no exception. ‘Jesus Today’ by Sarah Young (a ‘sequel’ to Jesus Calling) is one of the devotionals I’m currently reading and when I read this entry for January 12th…I could feel the Holy Spirit upon my heart.

What a beautiful feeling. There is absolutely nothing like it! And when it’s truly the Lord pressing on your heart, you cannot help but want to share His message! And so I knew that what impacted me this morning would be my gift to y’all today:

And before you argue that this is ‘just’ a devotional reading…all of these promises are backed up by the Word of God:

Faith in Christ is truly the answer. It leads to prayer, persistence…hope…joy. If you are merely living your life…going to church now and then – or even every week! – but don’t have a true living relationship with the Lord, you just cannot even fathom what the life God has in store for you really consists of!!

When you’re in a seemingly discouraging situation, life can look bleak and hopeless. But Christ tells us to write His Word on our hearts (Deuteronomy 11:18), and that isn’t so we can look impressive with the amount of scripture we have memorized, but so that, as believers, we have the comfort of His promises in our souls whenever any situation arises.

The Lord keeps all of His promises (Proverbs 30:5), so we can rest knowing that He hears His children. Although it isn’t easy, there is never a need to ‘help’ God along and trying to do so shows a lack of faith…In true worship of Our Savior, we must acknowledge that He alone is limitless in His ability and able to do anything – creating life out of barrenness, healing the incurable, saving the unsaveable, providing the impossible.

In this day and age, it seems as if nothing shocks or amazes us anymore. But GOD is above and beyond any place your imagination could take you, and His Love is infinitely beyond our comprehension. While we remain on our knees in faith, He has already answered our cries in the best way. Just as you would never give your child a gift that might cause him harm, He gives His children the very best.

In His Word and in the devotion for today, Jesus is assuring us of His love for us…As a Father to His Children, the Lord wants the very best for us. All we must do as Christ Followers is to pray faithfully, and live our lives in relationship with Him. It is surely not a simple undertaking, but it is a beautiful and rewarding life to live unhindered in His Promise.

TTC Tuesday

Standing On His Promises

January 14, 2014 The Not-So Newlywed Lefebvres3 Comments

God has been really using the middle of the book of Isaiah this month as I have read His Word. It seems Isaiah is everywhere I turn – Mass, Jesus Calling, One Year Book of Hymns Devotional, blogs we read, and just this morning on the Mentoring Moments For Christian Women Facebook page: What a beautiful thought.

And as it turns out, God may (just maybe!) have a reasoning for pushing me to look at Isaiah more closely. Just take a look at chapter 54:

Isaiah 54:1-17

The Fertility of Zion

54 “Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child;
Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed;
For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous
Than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent;
[a]Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not;
Lengthen your cords
And strengthen your pegs.
3 “For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left.
And your [b]descendants will possess nations
And will resettle the desolate cities.

4 “Fear not, for you will not be put to shame;
And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced;
But you will forget the shame of your youth,
And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
5 “For your husband is your Maker,
Whose name is the Lord of hosts;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
Who is called the God of all the earth.
6 “For the Lord has called you,
Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,”
Says your God.
7 “[c]For a brief moment I forsook you,
But with great compassion I will gather you.
8 “In an [d]outburst of anger
I hid My face from you for a moment,
But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,”
Says the Lord your Redeemer.

9 “For [e]this is like the days of Noah to Me,
When I swore that the waters of Noah
Would not [f]flood the earth again;
So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you
Nor will I rebuke you.
10 “For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,
But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you,
And My covenant of peace will not be shaken,”
Says the Lord who has compassion on you.

11 “O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted,
Behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
And your foundations I will lay in [g]sapphires.
12 “Moreover, I will make your battlements of [h]rubies,
And your gates of [i]crystal,
And your entire [j]wall of precious stones.
13 “All your sons will be [k]taught of the Lord;
And the well-being of your sons will be great.
14 “In righteousness you will be established;
You will be far from oppression, for you will not fear;
And from terror, for it will not come near you.
15 “If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me.
Whoever assails you will fall because of you.
16 “Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals
And brings out a weapon for its work;
And I have created the destroyer to ruin.
17 “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper;
And every tongue that [l]accuses you in judgment you will condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.

Isn’t that something? “Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child“, because God says, “For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman,”.

We are called to ‘enlarge our tents’, and to me, this is our call to put our full trust in the Lord. It’s like saying, “Lord, I trust you. You have promised in your Word we will be blessed with children, so I will lay that ‘concern’ in your Hands. I will prepare my heart, my soul, my marriage for this blessing, and in the meantime, I know that YOUR timing is perfect.”

Craig & I have started praying for His timing, and His Will to be done in our waiting for our child. It has given me a sense of peace, of an almost relaxation. Craig & I are putting our full trust in God, and devoting our energy – instead of to worrying & frustration – to our relationship with the Lord and with each other.

As my blogger friend & fellow PCOS girl, Elisha said, ” If He can cause a virgin teenager to get pregnant and give birth, then He can cause you to get pregnant and give birth, even with all of your short, long, non-existent cycles, and crazy up and down hormones. Just believe.”

Well friends, I have a ton of e-mails to respond to and a new guest post to begin writing (Stay tuned!)… If you didn’t have a chance to read yesterday’s guest post at The Veil of Chastity, you can here.

We will see y’all tomorrow for What’s Up Wednesday! In the meantime, follow our blog and “like” us on Facebook (see the Follow widgets in our left sidebar)!

Love Love Love,

Thirsty For Christ Thursday

Be Near Me, Lord Jesus, I Ask Thee To Stay

December 26, 2013 The Not-So Newlywed Lefebvres2 Comments

Merry Day After Christmas!

We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! As we posted yesterday, we spent a wonderful few days in Minnesota with family, and while we are exhausted after our drive back yesterday/early this morning, it was such a blessing to be able to celebrate Christmas with our northern family!

On this Thirsty Thursday, I thought I would share with you an insight from a devotional book I just love – we both do – The One Year Book of Hymns. Today’s entry focuses on the song “Away In A Manger”… Did you know this hymn’s first two verses are somewhat of a mystery? The author is unknown…For many years, it was said to have been written by Martin Luther, as it appeared first in a Lutheran hymnal, but no one really knows for certain. Regardless, it is a beautiful song…Take a minute to really listen to the words:

The final verse’s author is known. It was written by John McFarland, between the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, and its words are profound:

“Be near me, Lord Jesus. I ask thee to stay close by me forever, and love me, I pray.”

Jesus as a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger… and then we read in Isaiah 53:1-6 :

Who has believed what he has heard from us?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men;

a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces.

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

Don’t you find it astonishing that we, as Christians, during Advent and Christmas, honor this tiny baby, born in a manger – Emmanuel, God With Us. God’s only Son, sent down from Heaven to save this world from its sin…

And after Christmas, we let our joy and our heavenly peace fall away. We allow the world to creep back in, and we all go astray. We follow society, the media, and all that we know in our hearts to be wrong. We are all guilty of this. Just like sheep – following blindly the wrong shepherd.

This day after Christmas, let’s make it our resolution to keep that joy and that heavenly peace in our hearts, to remember all year long why we celebrate Christmas in the first place, and to let that reason be shepherd of our souls.

All Our Love,