Two Thousand Ten {in pictures}

This year has been bursting with growth, blessings, trials, joys, and lots of ways to see His faithfulness and tender mercies.

Here are some glimpses into what we have been up to in the year 2010.

Enjoy :)

As you have read, we have the blessed opportunity to have the Hood family live with us.

Nate is one of the reasons we smile during the day--he's a cute, silly monkey.

Mr. and Mrs. H celebrating Mom's birthday.

Thanks to some dear friends being out of town for the holiday's, Mica was able to experiment with a dehydrator, we're still enjoying the delish coconut macaroons.

See her account for more yummy details!

You wouldn't know that we were in the Sleepy Hollow cemetery in the middle of November would you?

Times Square

This was one of my favorite parts of our visit to Virginia.

Naturally we had to take a picture with the shoe :)

This time with my sweet friend Maria is something I treasure.

We also went camping this year--with the Webbs!

Although, I'm afraid it will take some more time for Dom to get accustomed to getting dirty.

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend a few weeks with the

Apodaca's after the birth of Rebecca.

Group pictures can be a challenge but here is our best attempt!

So many faces :)

Our cousin Emily spent her Spring holiday with us and helped us model all of the cute scarves Dad got us from his trip to the UK (We were thankful that he was able to take quite a few trips that year, so many fun pictures and memories that we were vicariously able to make through him :)

Dom also got the chicken pox that year :(

But you can't really tell.

We also spent sweet time with the Neals!

Their friendship is treasured and we love when they make their annual visit from Dubai.

As I am thinking about this past year, Isaiah 58 is a strong representation of the hopes I have for the coming year. Naturally it's difficult to sum up all of the little things that God has shown you over the year but that passage is a good representation of what I've learned and what I strive for this year. Isaiah 58 has been both encouraging and convicting for me, I'm sure there will be future posts about it but in any case I hope that you will read it and that the Lord would use it to humble you and show you His great mercy.

May He bless you this coming year.

Verse of the Week make-up

So, I haven't really kept up with the Verse of the Week lately. Things have been busy at the Marques home and I don't always have time to post a verse.
I've been reading through Isaiah these past couple of weeks and I thought I would share some of what I read this morning.

In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. For the Lord GOD of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: "O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. And the LORD of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt.

~Isaiah 10:20-26

Verse of the Week

O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night," even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.
Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain! Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

~Psalm 139

Verse of the Week

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

~Psalm 119:9-11

Verse of the Week

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only,

have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will return to you.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,

O God of my salvation,

and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;

build up the walls of Jerusalem;

then will you delight in right sacrifices,

in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

then bulls will be offered on your altar.

~Psalm 51

Verse of the Week

"Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction."

~Malachi 4:4-6

Verse of the Week

"Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem." Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

~Zechariah 2:10-13

Verse of the Week

"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

~2 Timothy 4:1-5

Verse of the Week

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor the fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.

~Habakkuk 3:17-19

Verse of the Week

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the seas. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

~Micah 7:18-20

Verse of the Week

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

~James 1:19-27

Verse of the Week

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise), "that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

~Ephesians 6:1-4

The Sin of Gossip ~Part Two

“Don’t be the Devil’s bellows any longer to blow up the fires of strife. Leave off setting people by the ears. If you do not cut off a bit of your tongues, at least season them with the salt of grace. Praise God more and blame neighbors less. Any goose can cackle; any fly can find out a sore place; any empty barrel can give forth sound; any brier can tear a man’s flesh. No flies will go down your throat if you keep your mouth shut and no evil speaking will come up. Think much, but say little; be quick at work and slow at talk; and above all, ask the great Lord to set a watch over your lips.”

~Charles Spurgeon

A few suggestions on how to handle gossip:

~Keep quiet. You don't always have to be the one talking. Ever heard that phrase, "If you can't say something nice, don't say it at all"? Well, here's where you get to apply it. Holding your tongue is a valuable tool for anyone to acquire.

~Leave the conversation. Nothing will end that conversation quicker than stepping away from it. Don't listen to gossip.

~Don't consider it your mission in life to warn the world about everyone else. Sounds silly but it is true that we can be so busy with other people's lives instead of our own.

~You don't always have to pray for someone else in a group. Prayer is not effectual just because you're in a group setting. If you truly have a burden for someone, pray for them by yourself.

~You don't always have to answer questions about another person. The answer could very well be gossip.

~Don't always share your pain and feelings. The world cries out to us in a loud voice, "Tell me how you feel! I can fix the symptoms!" and "Just follow your heart!". Sadly, sometimes we listen to that voice. But the world can only temporarily fix our symptoms. The problem still lies within and only Jesus Christ, by His saving grace, can fix that. Also, if we know the heart to be "deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?", then why follow it? Follow, instead, the One who created you.

When you run into gossip, either yourself doing the gossiping or someone else, think about and ask these things:

~"Have you gone to them to speak privately about this?"
~"If so-and-so knew you were talking about them like this, wouldn't they be hurt?"
~"You know, I'm feeling uncomfortable with this conversation."
~ Vigilance is required because you will be challenged in your heart and by your fellow church member or friend.

Part of this is knowing when to speak, what is appropriate to say, and when to listen. Jasmine wrote a post a while back about having a gentle and quiet spirit, and she state three important questions we should ask ourselves before we speak, "Is it kind? Is it true? And is it necessary?".

But this isn't just about holding your tongue and not gossiping. It's so much more than that! It's remembering that we are ambassadors for Christ when we speak. Remembering who we are and who we represent. We should gladly and consistently speak for Him and His glory. Boldly proclaim the Gospel but be self-controlled when we speak.

Paul states it beautifully when he says in Ephesians 4:29-5:2,

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Consider this question: what are the thoughts and meditations of your heart? What are you filling your heart with? This is the key to speaking for the glory of God. If we fill our hearts with every good perfect thing that can only come from God, then our words, among other things, will show a pattern of that.

As Psalm 139 says,

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Finally, repentance is required for past and perhaps, present sin of gossip. Gossip is a hard thing to deal with; it is hurtful to the body of Christ. But remember that there is forgiveness at the Cross. We serve a God who forgives His children.

In Christ,

Micaela

The Sin of Gossip ~Part One

"Did you hear about the new pastor's wife? Well, I don't want to gossip, but you should probably know what's going on with her before you meet her. Let me tell you ALL about it... it all started when..."

Ok, an unrealistic example and so maybe you haven't been gossiping about the pastor's wife. But gossip easily and quietly slips into everyday conversation. Sometimes you don't intend to gossip. But you do.

I recently listened to a CD on gossip and would like to share what I have learned (and am still learning) about gossip.

To start off, what is gossip anyway? Is it merely talking about someone with another person? Or maybe it's just when you're talking rudely about another person... right?

Well, Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines gossip as:

To prate; to chat; to talk much. To run about and tattle; to tell idle tales.

My favorite definition is from Scott Brown, in his lecture Gossip: The Plague of the Church. Mr. Brown defines gossip as:

a person who habitually reveals personal or sensational facts, a rumor or a report of an intimate nature.

This is closely related to slander:

A false tale or report maliciously uttered, and tending to injure the reputation of another by lessening him in the esteem of his fellow citizens, by exposing him to impeachment and punishment, or by impairing his means of living; defamation.

Sounds pretty terrible. It is shameful to think how each one of us is guilty, in one way or another, of gossiping or slandering another person.

Be guarded; it is hard to believe how often the sin of gossip takes on different forms and then quickly slips into your life. Besides the obvious part, gossip can be disguised as seeking counsel, as bearing one another's burdens, or even as a prayer request.

Here are a few insights about gossip from scripture:

It's an abomination to the Lord (Proverbs 6:16-19);

Sows discord among the brethren (Romans 16:17-18);

It kindles and then sustains strife (Proverbs 26:20-23);

It is equivalent with judging the law (James 4:11);

It goes on the list with really gruesome sins (Proverbs 6:16-19);

the opposite of love, brotherhood, compassion, tenderheartedness, courtesy, and blessing which we are called to in 1 Pet. 3;

And it is fueled by arrogance and ends in separation (Titus 3:10).

In addition to that, these verses and more say to reject or not keep company with a person who cannot guard their tongue. Families, churches, companies, and homes have been destroyed by hearing and then doing gossip.

However, we are frail human beings and we are sinful. No one can tame the tongue. We sure won't be perfect at guarding our tongues but, through God's grace, it's better today than it was yesterday and tomorrow will be better than today.

In Christ,

Micaela

Verse of the Week

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

~Psalm 73: 25-28

Verse of the Week

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.
One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.
For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.
And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me,and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD.
Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, "Seek my face." My heart says to you, "Your face, LORD, do I seek." Hide not your face from me.Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in.
Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

~Psalm 27

This is my favorite Psalm. My hope chest will have this reference on the front. I love how you can see just how much David loved the Lord, trusted Him, was devoted to Him, and had such a close and personal relationship with Him. I pray that my relationship with the Lord will be like David's one day.

In Christ,

Micaela

Verse of the Week

"Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

~Deutoronomy 6:1-9

Verse of the Week

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith.Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

~1 Timothy 6:11-16

Verse of the Week

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

~Philippians 4:8-9

Verse of the Week

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

~Ephesians 1:3-6