If you have friended me on Facebook, then you already know that yesterday I had to dial 9-1-1 when sweet Ella showed signs of choking/having some sort of breathing obstruction. (If your infant CPR/choking class was awhile ago, I encourage you to do a quick review of infant first aid for choking and CPR. How grateful I was that immediately, in the moment, I knew what to do. I assessed the situation, knew the signs that meant “Get Help!”, and wasn’t afraid to dial those horrible, yet precious, 9-1-1 numbers.) Thankfully, Ella was FINE. But Fred said it was horrifically awful to round the corner to our street (he had…

This morning, I specifically asked Fred to make statements of TRUTH to me to help remind me of what I really DO believe (even when my emotions are to the contrary). Encouragement? Faith’s Fight Against Sin? Battling Unbelief? All things that are not meant to be experienced alone. (We really cannot encourage ourselves.) In that vein, here is something to encourage you, my dear blog friends … yet another wonderful RZIM Slice by Jill Carattini: Christmas Is Coming Consider just an excerpt: “According to Shern, we are instead stressed at the approach of Christmas because of finances, because of family, because of the absence of family, because of over indulgence,…

Yesterday I received some, well, inconvenient news. So rather than indulging an incredibly-low-energy day, I had to work. Hard. And BOY was my heart grumpy about it—at least initially. But then, thankfully, the Lord helped me to repent. He reminded me of certain teachings from Pastor Bryce’s sermon. He reminded me of who I was and (even more importantly) Who He was. I began to thank Him for feeding me with the bread and the wine during the Lord’s Supper. And rather than grouse around, I began to look for ways to encourage. “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,…

(I can’t remember if I posted this for you guys in an earlier blog post. But I was looking something up on my laptop and stumbled across the OLD OLD essay I wrote, you know, a zillion years ago and thought it might give you a chuckle or two. Can you believe I was such a little smuggler back when the USSR was still in existence? Life is so strange. And God is so good.) ———————————————————————————————- Unlikely Smuggler by Tara Klena Barthel ‘What am I doing?’ I thought as my mind swirled and my hands began to shake. ‘I’m only seventeen years old. I’m supposed to start my senior year…

I started my day today with Joni Eareckson Tada’s Holiness in Hidden Places. (Well, actually I started my day at 4AM by comforting Sophia after a slightly troubling dream. She couldn’t get back to sleep until 5:00, so we snuggled and chatted in her room. And then I couldn’t get back to sleep until 6:30. It’s now 9AM, she’s STILL sleeping, and I’m feeling VERY strange about starting my day now–kind of like that “what time IS IT” feeling you have when you travel overseas.) ANYWAY–this hymn was included toward the end of her book and I enjoyed reflecting on the words and then looking online to hear the tune.…

I didn’t know this about Rich Mullins. Did you? He was said to be flaky, and maybe that’s because he simply wasn’t tied down. In his entire career he never knew the extent of his earnings. His quarterly checks from record labels were sent to the board of elders at his small home church. He asked them to pay him the median salary of a typical US worker, about $24,600 annually. The rest was given away to missions and charitable organizations or put into his retirement. Rich said, “If I knew how much I made it might make giving the rest away all that much harder.” If you love his…

Thanks, PalmTreePundit, for directing us to this heart-breaking article about a naturalized American from Korea who recently lost his entire family after a marine jet crashed into his family’s home: This is What Patriotism Looks Like He refuses to blame the pilot or the military. In fact, just the opposite. When asked about the pilot (who ejected and survived), Mr. Yoon replied: “Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident … He is one of our treasures for the country. I don’t blame him. I don’t have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could.”   Such grace. Such forgiveness. Such love of country. Please do…

Late last night I emailed a friend to ask him a favor on behalf of our family. It’s always a little hard, isn’t it, to make yourself vulnerable and share of a need you have? I mean, we would have totally understood if this man had said, “Sorry. Can’t help you.” No problem. But it would’ve had a teeny-tiny element of, “Oh WHY did we ask?!?-ness” to it, if you know what I mean. But by this morning, he had already written back with not only an, “Of course I’d love to help!” but also an insistence on (tremendously!) blessing us even MORE as a “condition” of helping. Such a…

Yesterday, as I waited to be picked up at the Orange County airport, I observed a number of situations (and intervened in a few) that got me thinking about just how often even the tiniest bit of encouragement to do the right thing can go SO far. Just one example: I’m sitting on a bench, looking for my ride. An elderly woman pulls up, opens her trunk, and begins to help another elderly woman with some apparently very heavy bags. (Yeah. Like I’m going to be able to sit there and WATCH that. My mother raised me better and my grandmother would roll over in her grave if I did.)…

If you’ve heard my testimony, you know that I was saved by God after having heard the gospel through some friends in public high school when I was a freshman. As I reflect on God’s grace to me throughout my entire life–especially in the years when I did not even know Him, but He knew me!–I’ve often thought about how many Christians I probably stumbled across without even knowing it. A great aunt or second-cousin-one-removed. A Girl Scout leader here. A band teacher there. How many of the parents of my little friends saw what a messed up kid I was and prayed for me? How many of my friends…