Several months ago, my son Matthew wrote me an email asking one simple question… would I do for him what I had done for his older brother many years ago… would I write a series of letters giving him specific advice as to what to look for in a wife?

Matt was seven when I first started writing those letters. His big brother was away at school in the days before email and Facebook and Twitter. For over a year I wrote letters, folded the paper, licked the envelope, and dropped those missives in the mail.

I tried to explain to him how women differ and what I saw as his greatest need. I painted a picture for my firstborn son of a woman whose life would mesh with his— of a helper, a partner, a lover, a friend for the rest of his life. I knew, in that way that mothers know, that John Mark would be a leader.

And I knew John Mark.

I called those letters, “In Search of Eve” – I know, I know, it does sound incredibly corny now, but this was back in 1998 when baggy jeans and white-bleached-sticking-in-every-direction hair was in style too.

It made sense back then.

And it sure seemed to work for John Mark. Those letters mystically coincided with his discovery of Tammy. There in black and white was a handwritten description of the woman who had captured his attention. As he read those letters from his mom he was astounded at how accurately I was describing a girl I had never met.

Well, you know the rest of the story. John Mark and Tammy have been married for ten years now. They have two of the most intelligent, amazing, engaging, handsome boys in the world (okay, maybe I’m just a tiny bit biased) and have just adopted a beautiful African daughter into the Comer heritage. There is no doubt in my mind that Tammy is God’s gift not only to my son, but also to me. I love her like my own daughters and she fit my son in ways I could never have envisioned while laboring at my desk over those letters.

And now Matthew wants letters of his own.

And so, over the next few weeks and months, I will be sharing with all of you what I write to my son. He’s agreed to forego his privacy just a bit in order to allow his friends and people neither of us know— but both of care about, to learn alongside him. I’ll be using the last chapter of the book of Proverbs to guide my advice to my son.

Proverbs 31 has long been studied by women hoping to learn how to be the perfect woman and the “ideal wife”. But that was never the purpose of this oft-maligned chapter of God’s Word.

It is simply a letter from a mother to her son.

Now, granted, included in the middle of that letter is a description of woman of such beauty it fairly takes our breath away.  And leaves us lowly less-than-perfect women more than a little intimidated.

But that, I would argue, is not what this mother intended. She was writing to her son, not to women. And she knew her boy. She’d studied him and prayed for him and watched over him since before he emerged from her womb.

Now he is a man, a leader, a king. His vocation as ruler/politician/warrior puts Lemuel under intense pressure to perform and provide. And his mother knows he needs a godly woman to come alongside him and bring balance and wisdom and grace to his leadership. A woman who will fill the empty places of his heart, while bringing him honor and immeasurable help.

And so she writes her letter to her son. And I write to my own son.

And both of us beckon you to read along. To think and ponder and imagine what a truly good wife can do alongside a truly good man. And what a truly good man should know about women. And what women should know about what it means to be truly good.

But while you’re reading, will you do one thing? Will you forget the idea of “ideal”? Will you set aside the fairy tale notion of “perfect”? Instead, will you look with me at what God has to say about the value of a good woman?

And will you give me lots of grace in these next series of posts? I’m writing to my son, not studying for a commentary.

I’m the mom of a man-boy who is preparing for his future of leadership and mission.

And I’m the wife of a leader— a truly good man who has taught me and corrected and protected me for just shy of 34 years.

I’ve learned most of what I know the hard way. By making mistakes and coming up short and being disappointed in my self-centered self. And then by turning to the Scriptures to find a better way of being.

This is my answer to my son’s question—

Mom, what should I look for in a wife?

From my heart,

Diane (aka Mom)

P.S. Why don’t you take some time this week to slowly read through Proverbs, chapter 31? Allow yourself to think through the wisdom in God’s words to you. Go ahead and jot down a few notes and send me any questions that come to your mind.

 

 

After a whole pregnancy of craving nothing but Mexican food, two weeks of quick and easy meals, and wonderful friends and family cooking for us… I have made my way back into the kitchen to work on some new, non-Mexican, recipes!

As I am learning to juggle my two little ones, keeping up with laundry and brushing my teeth before my husband gets home from work…. My goal with most meals has been to have enough for leftovers for lunch the following day.

Leftovers are a mama’s best friend.

With Spring finally making it’s way to us, I am getting so excited to grill up every type of colorful vegetable I can get my hands on! Yet for this recipe, my stove had to suffice… as well as the veggies I happened to have in my fridge.

Feel free to get creative with this meal and use whatever type of veggies you and your family like. Really anything goes with this one!

ENJOY!

Elizabeth

CILANTRO LIME PEANUT SAUCE + VEGGIES + RICE 

(apple cider vinegar not used)

PEANUT SAUCE:

• ½ C natural peanut butter
• 1 T Braggs amino acids (or soy sauce)
• 2 T limejuice
• 1 T coconut oil
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1 t minced ginger
• 1 T brown sugar
• ¼ C cilantro
• ¼ C water
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper (optional – just adds a bit of a kick but not too much)

(kale and zucchini not pictured) 

VEGGIES + RICE:

• 2 C cooked brown rice (I cooked mine in vegetable broth for added flavor)
• 1 can water chestnuts – chopped
• 1 bell pepper – chopped
• 2 C steamed kale – chopped
• 3 carrots – pealed and chopped
• ½ C green onions – chopped
• 1 zucchini – chopped
• ¼ C chopped cilantro
• Coconut oil

TOPPINGS:

• Chopped peanuts
• Green onions
• Sriacha Hot Sauce

TO MAKE:

SAUCE:

Combine all ingredients in a high-speed blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Add more water to reach desired consistency if necessary.

VEGGIES:

Heat a bit of coconut oil in a large sauté pan on medium heat. Add carrots and peppers and cook for a few minutes until they soften. Then add water chestnuts, steamed kale, green onions, zucchini, cilantro, salt and pepper and cook all together for a few more minutes. I tend to like my veggies on the crispier side so turn up the heat to medium high and let them brown up without getting soggy.

*Steaming the kale prior to sautéing it will soften it and makes it much better! You can use a steamer or just put a bit of water in a pan with the kale and cover. Cook for about 5 min on a high heat. You just want it to soften a bit and wilt.

TO COMBINE:

In a large mixing bowl, combine cooked brown rice, sautéed veggies, and peanut sauce. Stir until combined. Give it a taste and add more salt or pepper if desired.

TO SERVE:

Add toppings and enjoy!

 

…and all the people in that region begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone…

Luke 8:37

…the crowds received Jesus with open arms because they had been waiting for Him.

Luke 8:40

I sat before the fire this morning with a cup of steaming tea in one hand and my Bible in my lap. Groggy from sleeping too late, restless and needing real rest, I felt all unsettled inside.

The words caught me.

The story of a whole town pressuring Jesus to leave after He’d done good— rid a crazy man of his demons.

Why weren’t they okay with that?

And then right up against that question, rose the story of a whole town pressing in around Jesus for help and healing.

How did they know?

On one side of the lake an immense crowd gathered to beg Jesus to go away. To leave them alone.

On the other side of that same lake, equally insistent crowds waited with open arms to invite Him right into the midst of their stories.

Why?

Why would one person push Him away and another pull Him close?

And aren’t I just a little spiritually bi-polar too?

On some things down right rigid in my strict adherence to His Word…

and on others clearly disobedient and mostly unapologetic.

Why do I ramp up the intensity of my words in order to get my own way… when I well know that what God relishes in a woman is a gentle and quiet spirit?

Why do I lay awake at night worrying about my kids… when He has so clearly stated that He loves them with a greater love than I could ever grasp?

And why can’t I help myself? Why don’t I stop?

Fully awake now, I scoot forward, lay aside my tea and sniff around these stories. What I find gives me much more than a caffeine jolt.

The ones who wanted Him away were afraid. Not of the stark naked, demon filled, manic man who broke through chains and dominated the countryside. They were used to him. Had it under control.

What scared them witless was Jesus’ undeniable power to bankrupt their undercover pig operation. Here was a kosher Jewish town making a killing on hogs.

They had a secret that Jesus knew about and they thought by pushing Him out of the picture they could keep stockpiling all that lovely stash without the whole world knowing.

And maybe I have secrets too. Secret pride. Secret fears. Secret things that feel safe to me. And I don’t want Jesus to have anything to do with my hog business.

Mmh.

Then there’s the other guys. They welcomed Jesus. Held open their arms and fairly wrestled Him into their lives.

A leader fell flat on his face before Jesus, blithefully ignorant of what everyone else might think. His daughter was dying and by golly this guy was going to do everything in his power to get the help he needed to save her.

He was desperate.

A woman grabbed onto the tassle at the bottom of His robe and held on for dear life, stopping Jesus’ journey through the crowds. Nothing and nobody was going to stop her from getting from Him what she wanted more than life itself. Weak and weary and tired of the isolation of illness, this woman would go down in history for her insistence that Jesus help her.

She was sick of being sick. 

I think there’s a treasure to be unburied in these side-by-side stories.

Something about fear and faith. And how you can’t have both. One cancels out the other.

Faith overrides fear and fear deletes faith.

I chew on this all day. Keep coming back to the stories. What am I missing?

I don’t want to be a bi-polar believer.

Moving from crisis to crisis, one season all good and peace-filled and other’s centered…

Too soon swinging to anxious, overwrought, ready to burst into tears because life is hard and how come that happened and why me?

Jeez.

And while I am praying and seeking and wondering, words jump out at me:

Faith.

Peace.

Believe.

Trust.

I know those words. And I know something else—

that the life I long for cannot be had as long as I insist on holding God to my way…

and

the life I long for is mine for the taking if I’ll only refuse the fear by fully entrusting every single teeny tiny facet of my life to Him.

Everything.  Everyone.  Fully.

And so I get up to face my day with three treasures tucked into my heart, stored in my mind, settled into my soul…

1.  It’s usually when I’m up against death and desperation- really scary stuff— that I come begging for Him.

2.  Not until I get sick and tired of being sick and tired will I live the life I long for.

3.  Fear is what gets in the way of what I really want.

These are three things I cannot afford to keep forgetting, and neither can you. But I’ll need the help of other women who want what I want.

Women who’ve declared themselves all His.

Women who are daring to trust Him even when they’re really not crazy about all that desperation and dying talk.

Women who are willing to call me out when I start hiding hogs again.

Women like you…

From my heart,

Diane

PS:  Can you write us some stories of times you fell on your face in full on faith that only He could fix those broken places?  We need to hear your songs of deliverance to help build up our own wobbly faith.

Some time ago a young woman I am close to asked me that haunting question,

 “How do I know he’s the one?” 

She’d thought the decision to get married should have been easier or at least clearer. Here she was, after months and months of dating a really great guy, still unsure, still not knowing if he was the one.

Why didn’t she know?

Did that not knowing constitute an answer in itself?

Shouldn’t she know by now?

On and on the confusion spilled out in a frustrating and peace eluding expression of angst.

My young friend wanted to know and the not knowing had left her paralyzed, uptight, and anxious.

It strikes me that those of us who live and move in the midst of our ultra-romantic, destiny driven church culture have some really crazy ideas about marriage.

We’ve got Prince Charming standing in for this elusively named The One and we expect him to come charging into our lives on his white steed.

Crazy as it sounds, rather than feeling kidnapped, we’re supposed to miraculously know he’s HIM!

No wonder the world thinks we’re nuts- maybe we are!

A century or so ago, a wise Amish woman came up with a simple saying to help people who want to know. 

Choose your love

Love your choice.

And that, my dear friends, is reality. We get to choose. As in, make a decision.

And as with every well-made decision, we need to ask ourselves questions—lots and lots of questions. The kinds of questions that make us think and utilize that often-neglected left side of the brain God gave us.

A little less romanticizing and a lot more reasoning.

And so I went about writing down some questions for my friend. Questions meant to probe her heart and her mind.

Questions to help choose her love so that she could spend the rest of her life loving her choice.

If you’re contemplating that How do I know? Question right now, why don’t you peruse these questions? There is no such thing as two perfectly suited people, but there is such thing as two really mismatched people. These questions are designed to make you think, to force you into honesty, and to help you choose well.

From my heart,

Diane

Dear ******

These questions to ask yourself- not some sort of interview form. They are meant to probe your heart and gauge the potential for oneness in every area of your lives. And because I believe that oneness is God’s goal for marriage, these questions are intended to help you discern how easy or how difficult that might be for you and ****.

Oneness is never easy. And conflict is inevitable, no matter how hard we work to avoid it.

If the conflict is not harmful to your soul, and if both of you are softened by it, then the conflict can actually be good.

If the areas of conflict require too great of changes in your personalities and goals and in the vision you each have for your lives, then it ruins that trust-filled haven your lives together must be in order for you each to flourish.

And yet two people can be vastly different in their personalities and approaches and yet “just click” in such a way that it is as if two broken pieces come together to make a whole.

That is what a great marriage looks like— two distinctly different people fitting together to become one.

But because marriage is about more than logic, first I think you need to ask your heart a few questions…

• Are you flat out head-over-heals, can’t live without him in love with him? As in… the rest of your life no-matter-what?
• Are you at home with him? At rest? Able to show your whole self without shame? Confident? Real?
• Do you trust him? To cover for you, to be faithful to you, to be transparently honest with you, to hide nothing from you?
• Are you “more yourself” with him in his presence or do you shut down certain parts of you?
• Do you flourish with him?

If you’re still on board, here are some real life areas where people rub up against each other on a daily basis.  Use this as more of an over all check list than a test to gauge that impossible ideal of perfection.

Vision:

• Does he have some sort of vision for his life? If not, is he on the way to discovering that vision by actively seeking God and asking people and looking at his strengths and passions?
• Can you embrace that vision? Pouring all of who you are into it?
• Can you see yourself as a help to him? Can he?
• How much involvement will he want of you in his career/calling?
• Are you okay with that? Excited?
• Would you be willing to lay aside your own ambitions to help him succeed?
• Would he respect and value your part in God’s plan for his future?

Spiritually:

• Do you track with his insights?
• Does he understand yours?
• Do you love to pray with him?
• Does he bring out the best in you spiritually?
• Encourage you?
• Remind you of the Truth and right thinking?
• Does he know more about doctrine (Truth) and theology (who God is and how He works) than you do?
• If not, is he learning so ferociously that he will soon by-pass you in knowledge?
• Does he take from his storehouse of Scriptural truth and apply it to problems, concerns, and purposes?
• Are his goals Scripturally based?
• Are you excited at the prospect of throwing yourself behind his goals and helping him with all your intelligence and creativity and gifts?
• Does he respect your viewpoint? Welcome your input? Listen to you?
• Will you have a common goal? What is it?

Financially:

• What are his financial aims? Is he taking steps now to achieve those aims?
• Do you trust him to lead in the financial/budget area?
• Do you trust him to put you and your children’s financial well-being above his own personal needs? To lay down his life for you?
• Do you trust him to do whatever it takes to provide for you so that you can pour every effort into caring for your family while your children need you at home?
• Or will he view you as necessary to produce income for your family? Are you okay with that?
• Does he see his paycheck as both of yours? Making all financial decisions together no matter what?
• Would he abstain from making a financial decision without your support?
• Does he see himself as a steward of all that God provides?
• Can the two of you blend your ideas of an ideal standard of living?

Emotionally:

• What does he do when he gets upset? When he’s under intense pressure? When he’s tired?
• How does he handle defeat? Discouragement? Obstacles? Disappointments?
• Can you live with those responses without being hurt/rejected/defensive or brought low by them?
• Can you live with his flaws without trying to change him?
• Can you allow him to be fully himself?
• Can he live with who you really are? Or does he pressure you to be more______ or less ______?
• Does your way of expressing yourself delight him or does he try to shut you down?
• Does he humble himself and apologize?
• Does he freely forgive you when you apologize?
• Is he transparent with you?
• Does he admit need?
• Does he allow you to carefully and respectfully correct him?
• Does he correct you with gentleness?

Socially:

• Are you proud of him?
• In social settings do you feel the need to prompt him, lead him, explain him?
• Do you relax in similar ways?
• Can you allow each other to be different?
• Do you enjoy the way he celebrates the highs? Can you enter into his joy?
• Can he enter into your joys?

Life:

• Can you solve problems together in a satisfying way?
• Can you make decisions together in a satisfying way?

Physically:

• Are you attracted to him? Do you find him appealing?
• Are you drawn to the way he is made-the way he smells, the way he looks, the way he expresses affection?
• Could you give your body freely to him?
• Could you delight in him? Could he delight in you?
• Is there anything about him that repels you?
• Is he affectionate enough for you? (I’m not talking about passion here, but that day-to-day affection most women crave)
• Do you feel free and confident in his view of your beauty?
• Could you grow old with this man and still find him compellingly attractive?
• Could you grow old with this man and still feel absolutely lovely?

Random considerations:

• Does he share or at least encourage your kind of learning?
• Will he continue to educate himself? To learn and grow?
• Does he look forward to having children?
• Do you share common goals for what you want to see happen in your children’s lives?
• Does he have a burning conviction to raise his sons and daughters to love God with passion?
• Do you have similar ideas about discipline?

A few weeks ago, my dear friend Michele posted a photo on Facebook of some homemade hummus she was planning to make. Her pile of ingredients sounded so good that I asked her to share her creation with you all.

She is delightful and fun and truly finding cooking to be a beautiful form of art… a women after my own heart!

ENJOY!

Elizabeth

PS: I will be back next week with a new recipe. All the ingredients are waiting in my fridge… I just need to figure out how to find time to take a shower with two little ones… then I will be back in the kitchen!

LENTIL HUMMUS: by michele fordice

For some families, cheese, bread, or meat may be a staple at the dinner table.

The staple in our home is hummus.

Some would even say it’s become an obsession around here.  With minimal complaints from my 4-year-old son, he eats just about anything you put in front of him. But my 2-year-old on the other hand, he lives and breathes because of his hummus consumption.  For the past two years we have consumed more hummus containers from Costco than one might think humanly possible and we’ve experimented with many hummus recipes.

We have discovered that Trader Joe’s has the best flavor, but because of the amount we consume, we had to switch over to Costco’s more economical version.  In an effort to switch things up now and then, I tried making it myself.

In the end…this recipe has proven to be one of our favorites.

Traditional Hummus is usually blended with a chick pea bean (aka garbanzo bean). For this recipe, I’ve chosen to use a sprouted bean trio of lentils, adzuki, and mung beans. Ok, I’ll be honest. The reason why I chose this group of beans was because of the color. They looked pretty in the store and I wanted to take them home!

Using this sprouted bean trio was a first for me, and despite the initial vanity in my purchase, we really liked the way the hummus turned out. It had a more earthy/hearty flavor.

Unbeknownst to me, sprouted beans are said to be easier to digest and loaded with micronutrients.  Who knew?  Allowing the beans to sprout (aka: germinate) has been used in food preparation for centuries, and for those who are sensitive to certain grains and beans, this might be a viable option.  Ezekiel bread (hyper link to this website:  www.foodforlife.com), is a commercial example of sprouted grain bread.  Most Trader Joe’s carry Ezekiel breads and tortillas.

If you are feeling adventuresome and have never made your own hummus recipe, try it!  It’s actually really easy, nutritious, and a fun recipe to do with kids!  And, if you are not up for cooking your own beans, grab a can of garbanzo beans.  Be sure to rinse the beans in a colander in order to remove the excess sodium that has been put in the can as a preservative.

Put away that Hidden Valley Ranch dressing and bust out a healthy alternative to eating raw veggies!

LENTIL HUMMUS

INGREDIENTS: 

• 1 cup of dried lentils or any kind of bean of your choice
• 3 cups of water (used to boil the beans)
• 3 tbsp tahini (sesame paste)
• ½ cup lemon juice
• 2 gloves minced garlic
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp Tamari soy sauce or Braggs Liquid Amino
• ¼ cup olive oil
• Salt to taste

TO MAKE:

• Cook dried lentils or beans according to package directions.  If you have cooked canned beans, pour contents into a colander to drain juices and rinse beans of any excess sodium.

• Pour the rest of the ingredients into your choice food processor and blend.  Depending on your food processor you may need to add a bit of water or olive oil to create a more creamy texture.

• Serve with fresh vegetables, pita, and or as a sandwich spread.

• Now enjoy!

This is just ONE of many renditions you can try.  Cook up some spinach and add it into the food processor for some extra micronutrients.  You can also add or delete the amount of lemon juice, garlic and tamari sauce to make it more or less flavorful.

Cooking has become an art form for me and food is the canvas.  I love throwing in a pinch of this or a dash of that and see how it changes the consistency or flavor of a dish.  As you get to know the flavors of the world you really get to see HIS creativity, not just the science behind the food.  He sure is creative!

Hope this inspires you too to get creative!

Love, Michele

I DANCED ON HIS FEET

Growing up, I was an awkward girl.

Stocky and shy in an era of willow thin Twiggy and man-eating aggressiveness.

I should have been born on the praire- bumping along the back of a covered wagon with a bonnet to hide my too-much hair and gingham dresses to cover my too- thick calves.

My mom let it slip in one of those adult conversations that the kids aren’t supposed to hear, that I was built like my Grandma Waterman.

No woman in the world wants to be shaped like my Grandma Waterman.

She was… thick. And strong. And old.

I wanted to look like my Grandma Stewart, who had tiny ankles and skinny legs and wore a Dolly Parton sized brassiere (that’s what nice girls called a bra in those days).

I’ve got to give my mom credit- she tried her best with me.

Wrestling my mass of stick straight hair into a double ponytail at the top of my head each school day morning, making bows and home-sewn dresses to make me look cuter than I was.

She tried valiantly to steer me from styles that I loved but looked ridiculous in. Things like go-go boots and white fur coats.

She tried, she really did.

And she knew that ugly ducklings eventually grow into, if not graceful swans, at least decent ducks.

But my Dad looked at me from behind his thick-rimmed glasses and saw something no one else did.

He saw beauty.

I remember getting ready on a Sunday morning and coming out to the living room to wait for my family to go to church. My dad was there, loading his favorite 33’s into his treasured multi-player record player.

Burt Bacharach, Glenn Campbell, Johnny Cash, Glenn Miller.

He took one look at his decidedly less than lovely little girl and held out his hand. Without a word, my dad swung me into his arms and taught me to dance.

Or at least he tried to teach me to dance. But my feet kept getting in the way of his and I couldn’t seem to stop falling and giggling and getting it wrong.

So awkward.

So not what I wanted to be.

That’s when my dad did what every dad of every awkward little girl ought to do—

He let me dance on his feet.

Not because my feet wouldn’t go where they were supposed to, but on purpose.

Dad just lifted me onto his feet and proceeded to dance me around the room. And I felt like a princess— like Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Lauren all wrapped up in a little girl moment.

My Dad made me beautiful when I didn’t know how and couldn’t be and wasn’t.

And he kept it up for years and years of far-from-beautiful awkwardness.

When he paid for ballet lessons to see if maybe someone could teach me to walk a little less like a boot clomping farm boy. And when he graciously let me quit because the lovely ballerina teacher shook her head in sad dismay.

And when he bought me just-right riding breeches and elegant long boots and paid for me to try to sit the back of a horse without falling in the mud.

And then kept paying and kept watching me ride and kept taking me to buy books about horses and listening to me chatter endlessly about bits and bridles and Morgans and Arabians.

He made me feel beautiful when the mirror told a different story.

I remember once overhearing him tell my mom that I looked like his sister. My heart about stopped.

Oh my gosh!

My Aunt Carol was gorgeous! As in stunningly-glamorous-Hollywood-worthy-gorgeous.

She had that very much in style in the late 60’s red bouffant hair… mine was brown and straight and growing in places it shouldn’t.

Her eyes were crystal blue- almost transparent and so big they dominated her sculptured face. Mine were brown and boring and topped by bushy eyebrows.

And she dressed like a beauty queen. Flamboyant and elegant and always perfect.

I wanted to look just like her. I wanted to be beautiful and elegant and sophisticated.

My dad thought I did and that I was and that someday I would be.

And I believed him.

Now sometimes I’ll see a girl like I was— just a little too hairy and awkward and shy and embarrassed.

And I’ll remember how I felt inside when my dad told a different story. And how I believed him because, after all, dads know more than daughters at that age.

I wish every one of those little girls had a dad like mine. A dad who would redefine beauty to match the mirror.

A dad who called brown eyes hazel and stubby noses adorable. Who thought my legs looked longer in riding boots and made sure I had the confidence to think so too.

Because…

every girl ever born wants to be a Beauty

and every dad of every daughter has the power to make her believe she is.

From my heart,

Diane

THINGS MY DAD DID RIGHT:

1. He told me, all my life, that I was beautiful.
2. He paid attention to me.
3. He bought me riding boots.
4. He saw something no one else could have possibly seen.
5. He told my mom what he saw.
6. When I couldn’t be who I wanted to be, he let me dance on his feet.

 

 

 

GENERATIONS…what every woman ought to know about

BEAUTY.

Just a few days ago the daughter of my daughter was born… Scarlet Ruth Mosser…

She is beautiful and wanted and prayed for. Brook is sure she looks like him… Phil thinks that’s hogwash… she looks like his mom, Ruth… I think she looks just like Elizabeth as a baby…

Two weeks ago my first granddaughter arrived from Africa.

I think she looks just like me!

I’ve hoped for her and prayed for her and longed for this little girl for so many months that when she finally arrived and John Mark called to say Come on over, I was all in a dither.  Torn between wanting to jump in the car and defy all speed limits to get there as fast as I could… and wanting, needing, to take the time to fuss and polish and paint and curl and spray myself into just the right first impression for this little woman who will be in my life for a long, long time.

I wanted to be beautiful.

Of course.

And even though I know that great sages from who-knows-when say that…

Beauty is more than skin deep.

And…

Beauty is as beauty does.

And…

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I still wanted to be beautiful.

And so does every other woman I know.

That’s why the women of Solid Rock are going to gather together on Saturday, April 21rst to talk about Beauty.

Because beauty matters.

Because every one of us wants to be beautiful.

And because God’s Word has a lot… and I do mean a lot, to say about Beauty.

And I think its time we talked about it.

And… time you all met my beautiful grand-girls. Sunday and Scarlet are going to be there with their mamas… and with me. Hope you can come too!

From my heart,

Diane

Oh, the details…

When?

Saturday, April 21

What time?

Westside 9 am – 11 am

Downtown 7 pm – 9 pm 

Where?

Solid Rock Westside 10500 SW Nimbus Ave, Tigard, OR (no sign ups necessary)

Solid Rock Downtown 1233 SW 10th Ave, Portland OR (space is limited, please sign up via the church office)

Cost?

$5      

We cannot offer childcare but nursing babies are always welcome.