Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Wow it seems like I have forgotten that I have a blog. At least, I don't update it often enough. Life is a lot busier now that I am a mother. Emma has grown up so much and keeps me very very busy! The latest skill that she is trying to master is talking. It seems like I hear new words come out of her mouth every day.

So, I guess I'll just update on what's going on in my life.

Jake and I are now members of Grace Baptist Church of Essex! We have been for about a year and a half now, but because I haven't written much on here I guess this is new news for my blog. We absolutely love our church family, and our pastor as well! My brother-in-law also made a profession of faith this past year and now he and my sister-in-law (who has been a believer for a while) are in fellowship with us. This is such a great cause for rejoicing, because it is the answer to much prayer seeing them walking with the Lord. And also to see how God has gifted them to serve others, and such a blessing they are to our church.

Our church's website is http://www.gbce.org. We're an independent Baptist church that holds to the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. The website is not updated that often, but the messages are posted each week (I found last week's Thanksgiving message to be really convicting and also really encouraging). You can also listen to my husband's testimony here.

Some of you may have seen me and wondered why I always have a hat on all the time, or a scarf, or whatever. The reason for this is because I have wrestled with the conviction for a while about the head covering (see 1 Cor 11), and whether it was only meant for corporate worship or if it was meant for all the time. After studying the passage with my husband, looking at historical understandings of the head cover, and much prayer, we've arrived at the conviction that the head covering is for all times.

The main things that convinced me is because when Paul talks about head coverings in 1 Corinthians 11, when he makes the transition from talking about coverings in the first half of the chapter and then talking about the Lord's Table in the second half he seems to make a transition (v 18) about "coming together as a church", which could honestly be taken either way but to me implies that Paul was not just talking about corporate worship earlier in the chapter. Also, because women don't generally prophesy in church because they don't speak (see chapter 14). I've heard the argument "well, women teach Sunday school so it must be talking about that", but back in the early church, as far as we know they didn't have Sunday school (the men were generally the ones doing the teaching, and the wives were quietly learning). The other thing that really convinced me is the fact that if you look at the history of women wearing head coverings, generally they were worn (especially by married women) at all times all the way from the beginning of the church up until this last century. And it seems that the only reason our society strayed from that is because of liberalism creeping into our churches and culture (embracing liberal theological doctrines, the feminist movement, etc.).

So in case anyone has seen me wearing a covering and been too shy to ask why I have it on my head, there you go :). That's why I wear it. Though I'll be honest and say that I'm still not used to wearing it all the time and I frequently leave the house and forget to put it on. Some probably see it as me being legalistic. Let me just clarify that I don't think that I am earning any brownie points or and kind of merit with the Lord, or making myself seem more pious by wearing a head covering. I wear it because I love Jesus. Not because it does anything for me or for Him (honestly, does it even bring him glory because even as a believer everything I "do for the Lord" is still riddled with sin?)

Anyway, so moving on...2011 has been sort of a rough year for us as a family. In February, I lost my aunt to a very aggressive cancer. Jake's aunt is also sick with cancer and was told that there is nothing more they can do for her. Please pray for her...as far as I know, she doesn't profess to know Christ as her Lord and Savior. Both Jake's parents and my parents are splitting up. Honestly, I saw it coming a long time with my parents because I was aware of what was going on before pretty much everyone else was, but it still makes it hard. Though, I try my best not to get involved with it. The economy is picking up a bit here in Windsor, but the job situation is still pretty unstable. We're praying that Jake will be able to find a stable job in a much more stable industry. I'm just glad that I have Christ as my rock and fortress through tough times like these. He's definitely used this year to grow me in my faith and to teach me to trust him more, especially in hard, uncertain times.

But there's a lot to be thankful for too! Emma is healthy and thriving. That little girl has such a personality!! She's going to be outgoing, just like her daddy. God always provides for our needs...we always have food, clothes, and shelter, which if you think about it is all we really need. But God went above and beyond for us in that we were able to buy a little house just before Emma was born, and it has a nice back yard for me to grow vegetables and a butterfly garden. I've always loved gardening. My current project is stratifying sugar maple seeds in the refrigerator so that I can plant a sugar maple in the back yard (I mean, I guess I could always go buy a tree but where's the fun in that?). I'll be sure to post updates to let you guys know whether or not I was successful.

I'm really looking forward to my trip to Asheville next week! I haven't been back in 2 and a half years, and I really miss my friends there!! It's going to be so good to see them!! Emma is coming too...I can't wait for them to meet her!