I heard this poem many years ago as a very new mother. I don't even think I had Mason yet. It spoke to me powerfully back then and I have wondered where to find it for years since. I'm not sure these are the exact words as I copied and pasted them from another blog/forum. I hope it speaks to you as deeply as it does to me.


JESUS MAKES GOD VISIBLE

He is enduringly strong.
He is entirely sincere.
He is eternally steadfast.
He is immortally gracious.
He is imperially powerful.
He is impartially merciful.
He is the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizons of the globe.
He is God's Son.
He is the sinner's Savior.
He is the captive's Ransom.
He is the Breath of Life.
He is the centerpiece of civilization.
He stands in the solitude of Himself.
He is august and He is unique.
He is unparalleled and He is unprecedented.
He is undisputed and He is undefiled.
He is unsurpassed and He is unshakable.
He is the lofty idea in philosophy.
He is the highest personality in psychology.
He is the supreme subject in literature.
He is the unavoidable problem in higher criticism.
He is the fundamental doctrine of theology.
He is the Cornerstone, the Capstone, and the stumblingStone of all religion.
He is the miracle of the ages.
Just give me Jesus! He makes God visible!

Our women's ministry at church had pancakes Tuesday night and we were asked to bring our favorite pancake topping. I usually only eat syrup on my pancakes, so I tried to think of something that sounded yummy. I decided I wanted to make a butter pecan type sauce and began to look for a recipe. This is what I came up with and it was super yummy. It tastes a lot like pecan pralines.

1 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 c. chopped pecans
1/2 tsp. vanilla flavoring
1/8 tsp. cinnamon

Melt the butter and sugar together and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add remaining three ingredients.

That's it. It's that simple. Of course you want to make sure your sugar is disolved, so you may need to continue to stir for a bit after you remove it from the heat. It was really good on pancakes. I think it would be really good on french toast, ice cream and maybe even as a sticky bun topping. You can also leave out the pecans if you wish.

I heard this song today. I may have heard it before, but if so I'd forgotten. I love the words and these are questions I ask of Him often. I so want others to see Him in me. I want to exude His presence. Hope you enjoy the music and the lyrics and I pray that they will inspire you as they have me.

(You will need to pause the music player at the bottom of the screen to hear this song.)

Is the face that I see in the mirror
the one I want others to see
Do I show in the way that I walk in my life
The love that You've given to me
My heart's desire is to be like You In all that I do, all I am
Do they see Jesus In Me
Do they recognize Your face
Do I communicate Your love, and Your grace
Do I reflect who You are In the way I choose to be
Do they see Jesus In Me
It's amazing that you'd ever use me
But use me the way You will
Help me to hold out a heart of compassionate grace
A heart that You're spirit fills
May I show forgiveness and mercy
The same way You've shown it to me
Now I want to show all the world who You are
The reason I live and breathe
So You'll be the One that they see When they see me

I heard this song today. I may have heard it before, but if so I'd forgotten. I love the words and these are questions I ask of Him often. I so want others to see Him in me. I want to exude His presence. Hope you enjoy the music and the lyrics and I pray that they will inspire you as they have me.

(You will need to pause the music player at the bottom of the screen to hear this song.)

Is the face that I see in the mirror
the one I want others to see
Do I show in the way that I walk in my life
The love that You've given to me
My heart's desire is to be like You In all that I do, all I am
Do they see Jesus In Me
Do they recognize Your face
Do I communicate Your love, and Your grace
Do I reflect who You are In the way I choose to be
Do they see Jesus In Me
It's amazing that you'd ever use me
But use me the way You will
Help me to hold out a heart of compassionate grace
A heart that You're spirit fills
May I show forgiveness and mercy
The same way You've shown it to me
Now I want to show all the world who You are
The reason I live and breathe
So You'll be the One that they see When they see me

I grew up in a very judgemental home and have really had to work at becoming different and not judging people. I will not begin to say that I succeed at that everyday, but I am at least to a point that when I am being judgemental I feel the Lord's conviction and am able to repent and learn from that mistake. That being said, I have realized recently how guilty many of us are of judging other peoples convictions and walk with the Lord. Especially in the area of family planning or lack thereof. Why do we think that it is okay to judge people about the size of their family if it is something they feel like they are called to. Would we judge someones calling to be a Pastor, Missionary, Worship leader, etc. What if someone is called to adopt, do you judge that? The Word does not speak of modern day forms of birth control, so did we all just deccide that since it is available we must all use it? I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with using birth control. We to some degree planned the size of our family (although now that we are living for the Lord I have some regrets about that). God designed things a certain way and if he enables people to get pregnant and give birth many, many times, maybe that was His plan for their lives. I was unable (because of a miscarriage and difficult pregnancies with pre-term labor and delivery) to have a large family (although the four children that we have is large by many peoples definition) so maybe that wasn't His plan for me. I'm not trying to be on a soap box or say that everyone is wrong. I just hope that people will begin to think about what they are thinking or saying and how God would feel about those feelings or words. I happen to be friends with or aquainted with many large families and several people that desire to allow the Lord to determine the size of their families and I'm telling you I respect them greatly. For the most part these families bear good fruit. You can see Jesus in them and their children. They typically lack selfishness and have the heart of a servant. They tend to be very polite and respectful and have the kind of children that you want your children around because they are such good examples. I guess I'm just saying, look at your attitude about such things, commit it to prayer and ask the Lord if you've had a right heart in that area. I know I haven't always, but I'm sure glad that He has and is changing my heart in that and many more areas and that He has brought some of these families into my life, they truly sharpen me and I am blessed immensly by them.

Here is another great parenting resource. It is a very thorough approach to parenting. The gist of it is, as in probably almost anything that I would advocate, that the goal in parenting is raising godly adults, not good children. So, everything that you do should be to that end. These people (Michael and Debi Pearl) have practiced what they preach and their children are the fruit of that labor and the proof is surely in the pudding. I recommend their books "To Train up a Child" and all of the volumes of "No Greater Joy". You can read the Introduction and first chapter of "To Train Up a Child" HERE and sign up for their free magazine HERE .

I came across a very good article from Focus on the Family about communication in marriage. It has some really good points. Will cause you to think for sure.

Read it HERE.