the prayer of Jabez

I read the book The Prayer of Jabez in 2000 and I prayed and meditated on the prayer, looking forward to the Lord leading me to new territories. Only a few days into my new prayer focus, I was talked into teaching a children's Sunday School class for a month each quarter. Now, I love leading women's Bible studies, and I love my own children, but teaching other people's kids is not something I find enjoyable. In fact it puts me in a panic. So that was not a very pleasant new territory.

I began meditating on the Prayer again a few months ago, and suddenly found my father's financial details dumped into my lap. I can manage our family finances...usually...but my father's are rather complicated and I found myself telling my friend that I was through with the Prayer of Jabez if it's only going to lead to uncomfortable new territories!

My friend encouraged me not to give up. And I thought about new territories and pioneers and God's unfathomable wisdom, and I realized that the expanding of one's boundaries is always going to be a stretching experience.

Here are my thoughts on the prayer today (interspersed with the prayer itself):

I Chronicles 4:10
If only You would bless me
Lord, keep me in the center of Your will, where I can expect Your guidance and blessing.
Extend my border
Lord, I'm not sure I'm ready for "extending"; please enable me to care for my current territory.
Let Your hand be with me
Keep me aware of Your presence.
So that I will not cause any pain
Keep me kind and gentle and pleasant
with the children
with my husband
with my Dad.

tea cures everything

My back is giving me a lot of pain this week, so I've spent a lot of time in bed listening to my children play in the next room. I heard six year old Faith telling Rose, "You're the most beautiful girl in the world. But don't get proud about it. Don't be all 'I'm the prettiest girl in the world!' But...you are."

In addition to being beautiful, Rose is affectionate and sympathetic. She was concerned about me at breakfast today. My back would not allow me to sit in a dining room chair, so I was on the floor next to a chair while my family had breakfast. Rose told me I should drink some tea. "Remember when I got my head stuck in the closet? Then I had some tea and I felt better. So you should drink some tea, Mama. It will help your back."

"my dress hurts"

Three year old Rose was fussing repeatedly this afternoon but she wouldn't tell me what was wrong. Finally she said that her dress hurt. I was a little puzzled but she came close to me and lifted up her dress...to show me that she was wearing a swimsuit underneath. A swimsuit in 12 month size.

Well, yes, that would be uncomfortable! It's too small for her little sister, why did she squeeze into it herself?

Product of the Week: Laura's Lathers Body Butter

Laura's Lathers

Laura is a homeschool mom who makes lovely soaps and lotions and other bath products. This week I received some Body Butter in Cool Mint and also in Sleepy Time (lavender and vanilla). The kids love these and so do I -- thick lotions that are great for eczema. The fragrances are long lasting (and helpful for migraine days).

I also bought some Lavender Foaming Sugar Scrub; it lathers and exfoliates with a very natural lavender fragrance.

a hiccup in my dad's move

My Dad was supposed to move from one assisted living center to another this weekend. Ten days ago, the administrator of the new place said the room would be ready today and he could move in.

Friends packed his stuff in a uhaul and drove the four hours to the new place...only to be told that the administrator isn't there today, the room isn't clean, and they won't admit him without an assessment.

Meanwhile he's all checked out of the previous place and was halfway between the two when we heard the news! Thankfully, there are friends in the new area that my dad can stay with for a couple days.

I was sick with stress when I first heard about this hiccup, but I realized the stress wasn't my burden to carry. I remembered a line from Amy Carmichael's writings: "If precious to you, how much more precious to Him?"

Book: Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog)

In The Heart of the Family, Adrian Plass mentioned P.G. Wodehouse and Jerome K. Jerome as two of his favorite authors. I think Wodehouse is delightful, but Jerome was a new name to me. I checked out his Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog) this week. The book was written in the 1880s and it has aged well. Humorous in a dry British style, it describes a boating vacation taken by three friends and their dog. Sprinkled through the story are descriptions of the historical sites they float past, and recollections of the friends' earlier boating journeys. My only complaint was that the book was not long enough.

Summary at Wikipedia (but I don't agree that the historical bits distract from the plot; I thought they were fun!)

distractions

What's distracting me from blogging?

1. my dad's move this weekend. Yes, I'm a thousand miles away, but there are little details I need to take care of, little details I want to take care of but can't yet for various reasons, and big details I can do nothing about....except worry and try to turn that worry into prayer. Dad is stressed about the move and there have been some stressful phone conversations.

2. a writing project. I'm writing another Bible study, and doing a lot of Bible reading in preparation for this project. I need to get back to my "Praying with the Psalms" posts, but I'm in the middle of reading the Epistles in 20 days.

3. reading books! Reviews coming soon.