Author: Carolyn

I am a Christian, a sinner saved by God's amazing grace. Much like my life, my blog is a work in progress. The main objective I have for this blog is to "proclaim the praises" of the One who called me out of darkness and into His marvelous light! (1 Peter 2:9)

Sunshine and Friends

Carolyn

These are our friends Matt & Lindsay.

They are my husband’s former TAs (teaching assistants) who are now married and live in Iowa. They came for a visit to Chicagoland and spent a night with us. We love catching up with them. We walked to the Farmers’ Market this morning and the Billy Graham Center, then had lunch before they headed home. It was nice to have a beautiful day to enjoy walking around town.

I’m so thankful for the warmer weather. It lifts my spirits! I’m thankful, too, for good friends. I was having a hard day yesterday, and I had to run my daughter over to a friend’s house for a Jr. Gift Givers meeting. (Several young girls get together and plan ways to raise money to give to missions.)

While I was out, I did something I never do. I just stopped by unannounced to a friend’s house who I have not seen in a while. She was home, and we enjoyed talking for 30 minutes, sharing what’s been going on, and by the time we finished, I was so encouraged. When I got back home, I had a kind and encouraging email from someone that also served to brighten my day. Then our friends arrived that night to spend the night.

Between the weather and the encouraging friends, I felt lifted right up out of my distress. I’m thankful the Lord meets us in those moments in unexpected ways when we call out to him for help! Sometimes when things are hard, it’s easy to waste my energy thinking about those things instead of lifting my head and forgetting those troubles and moving on. I want to have a mind fixed on God and praising Him, but sometimes it requires that I act and obey and not simply dwell there in the mire. I love it when I see how worth it His ways are and pray He will help me choose those ways more consistently! He uses all these things in my life anyway to grow and strengthen me, and I am thankful.

Resurrection Day!

Carolyn

Our Easter weekend began on Friday with the Good Friday services at church. We followed Jesus to the cross through reading the gospel account in Mark, had communion, then left quietly in the dark.

We attended an Easter service on Saturday night at an area church that our friends attend. They invited us because the pastor was using some video from our friend who is now in heaven. She bravely fought cancer, but went to be with the Lord exactly two years prior to the service on April 23, 2009. I had met her exactly a year prior to that on April 24, 2008, when she visited our school to see about enrolling her boys.

We loved being at this Easter service with her husband and boys and other families from our school who have walked through this with them. Her videos were such a powerful testimony to the hope of the believer when facing death and the meaning of the resurrection. In her video, Beth shared how at some point in the battle with cancer, it ceased to be important whether the report was good or bad, but all that mattered was the presence of the Lord with her.

Beth also shared the words of the apostle Paul in Philippians 1:21, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” So she concluded in the days prior to her death, “I can’t lose.” Indeed, she did not lose, but gained heaven and the eternal presence of her Savior! And despite grief, her family and friends have the hope of eternal life with her one day and seeing her again. Thank you, Jesus!

Our children wanted to go to the Sunrise Service at church on Easter Sunday at 6:30 a.m.! So we made it, but realized it was an abbreviated service of only 30 minutes, which completely makes sense as I thought about it. I turned to my husband at the conclusion of the service and said, “I have to go to the next service.” I just couldn’t bear the thought of missing the Hallelujah Chorus on Easter — my favorite service of the year at our church. My husband replied, “I knew you were going to say that.”

He and the children stayed home, but I loved going to the 8:00 service, singing In Christ Alone and the Hallelujah Chorus. So beautiful! I listened to it all over again on the radio back at home during the 9:30 service. A very full Easter!

We celebrated Easter with my husband’s family at my in-laws house, then the cousins all played at our house until dinner, then we were all back together for a pizza dinner. A very full day. We enjoy having Easter Monday off at our school after a long weekend.

I loved reading the gospels again about Jesus going to the cross for our sins, taking our burdens and guilt, and rising again to give us new life in Him. His Word is true, and it offers hope, eternal hope. Yes, thank you, Jesus, for giving us new life, eternal hope, and the promise of heaven and life with you forever.

Lift Up Your Eyes and See

Carolyn

I’ve been reading through Genesis and loved reading again story after story of God’s faithfulness to His people.

It’s always surprising how a new reading of an old book can reveal new things. While I am no scholar, I do enjoy tracking certain themes like “covenant” or “be fruitful and multiply” or “descendants.”

One phrase I’ve been reflecting on is “lifted his eyes and looked” or “I lifted my eyes and saw.”

  • In Genesis 18:2 “Abraham lifted his eyes and looked” when three men stood at his tent door, one maybe being the LORD, to tell him he that Sarah would have a child in their old age.
  • When Abraham had Isaac on the altar, after God stopped him from sacrificing Isaac, it says in Genesis 22:13-14, “Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns.” God provided a substitute sacrifice (and a picture of things to come through Jesus’ sacrifice for us)!
  • In Genesis 24:63-64, Isaac went out to meditate in the field and “lifted his eyes and looked“; Rebekah also “lifted her eyes” as God had provided a wife for Isaac.
  • In Genesis 31:10, Jacob said, “I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream. . .” and in the dream, the Angel of God said to Jacob, “Lift your eyes now and see. . .” as God provided and increased Jacob’s herd and blessed him with continued wealth.

It has made me wonder what I would see if I would just lift up my eyes and look, if I would remove my eyes from the circumstances around me and look up to God and allow Him to provide for the need at hand.

I’ve been sensing His leading so clearly lately: “be quiet, be silent, be still, look up at Me, I will act for you, I will provide, wait for Me, trust Me.” It’s hard for me to sometimes do these things, but I look forward to seeing what God will do as I look to Him for His power and strength. In the midst of it, He also convicts and draws my heart. I am thankful.

The Gift

Carolyn

My husband’s second book in the Chiveis trilogy has been released this month: The Gift.


I enjoyed reading The Gift even more than the first book (The Sword). Click on the links to learn more!

It’s been fun to watch the journey my husband has been on from professor/scholar and author of more academic books to writing fiction. It was one of those moments of being awakened in the night with lots of ideas and then seeing them put into stories and books. I’ve always known he was creative, but never could have pictured this! I think the Lord has given him the ideas to write, though, and I love seeing the biblical and theological themes flowing out of an adventurous story.

I’m also glad I have him to describe for me what everything means (from names chosen to locations) or I would miss a lot of interesting points that aren’t necessary to enjoy the story, but fascinate me nonetheless. If you like Christian fiction, you might enjoy this series!

Blackhawks Game

Carolyn

We went to our first Chicago Blackhawks game (ice hockey) last night with my husband’s family.


It was fun to watch, though they lost! I have to give thanks that when a hockey puck was shot forcefully over the glass barrier, it just missed my daughter! Sadly, it struck the woman right in front of her on the head (she had to leave because of her head injury), then it bounced over my daughter to the man behind her who hurt his hand. I think it would have knocked my daughter out!

We were seated by the penalty box. See the empty seat in front of us that the woman had to leave after being hurt?


Lots of fun wearing a new Blackhawks’ jersey:

Our spring break officially ended, and we started back to school today!