HeartThoughts – Pursue the Beauty!™
Welcome to HeartThoughts™, a ministry by and for young women pursuing beauty through the darkness. We hope you are blessed by your visit; please help us spread the word!“Death Trap” and “90 Days to a Fantastic Marriage”
We have two books from Tyndale to review today. Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of these books books, which I appreciate–especially considering one of them is receiving a negative review.
Let’s start with the good one. The Robot Wars series of books by Sigmund Brouwer were a favorite back in my early teen years. Tyndale is re-releasing them and I enjoyed them enough I may :whispers: read them all again. The first book, Death Trap, which is actually a compilation of what used to be books one and two is great reading for anyone aged 10 or older. Younger children might even enjoy them if they were read aloud.
Death Trap is about a boy named Tyce who lives on Mars. He is paralyzed from the waist down and is the first child to be sent to live off of Earth. In Death Trap Tyce and the scientists who live at the science station are running out of oxygen. Tyce also discovers evidence that points to other creatures living on Mars. Brouwer’s writing is creative and suspenseful. He really is an excellent storyteller.
Death Trap: 4 out of 5 stars
The second book I’ve been putting off on reviewing for months. It’s 90 Days to a Fantastic Marriage by Dr. David Hawkins. I will admit it–I couldn’t get through most of it. I’ve read some really good marriage books and this is not worth your time, in my opinion.
To give a bit of information on it… it’s pretty cliche and standard in the topics it covers. The material is divided into 12 weeks with each week focusing on a specific topic like Bringing Out the Best Qualities of Your Spouse, Nurturing Your Mate’s Dreams, and Maintaining Mutual Admiration. They have practical application ideas at the end of each chapter. I can’t honestly find anything else that stands out to me to mention.
90 Days: 1 out of 5 stars
Nurturing Intimacy in a Facebook Generation
- Originally published on the Young Ladies Christian Fellowship exactly two years ago. A new piece in this series will be published next Wednesday…
With the conclusion of the GodBlogCon conference this past weekend, now seemed an opportune time to publish this piece I wrote back in June. There is so much that could be said on the topic and I know this barely scratches the surface…but it is an attempt to begin the conversation.
I’ve been hesitant to post this–wanting to be careful that it was done thoughtfully and with care. JM Reynolds published a brief piece yesterday of which one line convinced me to go ahead. He wrote:
“It is now simpler to multi-task with a virtual friend, rather than go to the bother of going to see a real friend . . . who will demand that I pay attention and not do five other things while talking to him.”
Our generation is in danger of forgetting the depth and quality of relationships, all in the name of instant communication, “efficiency,” and networking. While the rest of the world texts, pokes, and relates in thirty second intervals, let’s not go along with it. Let’s live for something better.
Perhaps it is the romantic, day-dreamy, lover of all things old-fashioned in me that balks at hearing of a friend’s engagement on Facebook. I do not relish the idea of learning such news from text on a computer screen instead of through the joyous tones of her own dear voice.
What happened to the days when a couple would call, write, or visit their family and friends, celebrating their engagement and upcoming marriage through many evenings of conversation, food, and laughter? How old fashioned. How…satisfying. Engagement announcements on Facebook are just one example of the instantaneous, information-overloaded culture mediums such as the Internet promote.
Whether typing on a website or in a word processor, every misspelling or grammatical error is pointed out with red lines and suggested corrections. (Is spelling even taught in schools anymore? What about handwriting?) Instead of unique facial expressions, mannerisms and tones of voice, everyone is restricted to the same smiley, black and white text, and the attempt to communicate in cold silent words when 90% of communication is nonverbal.
The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it. – Edward R. Murrow
Effort is required if one desires to nurture authentic intimate relationships in our culture. It does not come about as naturally as in ages past when life centered around the family unit. We are better connected than ever before and yet…perhaps more disconnected than ever before from what really matters. What might those things be?
We are disconnected from others.
It may be ironic that an article on the limitations and hindrances of the internet will be published online and distributed via RSS feed to thousands of readers. In this day and age one of the most powerful methods of communication is an online blog post. People often do not have or take time for full-length books. How many today would sit down to read Shakespeare, Dickens, or Hugo? Is it really too hard to understand or are we just indifferent to anything requiring more effort than skimming a website? Read the rest of this entry »
A Day with the Ferences
James and I are still by all accounts newlyweds, and it’s a wonderful season of life. James works at a music studio and I work for a conferencing center. We share custody of Tommy (6) and Sarah (3) and thus are unable to post pictures of them. Simplicity and beauty are the threads I strive to weave into every part of our life. I pursue beauty even in the mundane or unpleasant things. I don’t always succeed but I never stop trying.
5:45 am finds me awake before the alarm. Since I have a few minutes before I need to get up and ready for work, I take advantage of the quiet and peace to snuggle with James. Then our morning routine begins. Our chocolate lab, Haley, is dancing around me as I walk down the hallway. After I let her out to run in our big backyard I prepare for work. At 6:18 am I settle down at my computer, phone and headset in hand and water within reach, to begin the day.
From 6:30 am-3:30 pm my day is primarily controlled by my job, with other to-dos, needs, and pursuits fitting in during moments of downtime. For two and a half years I’ve been blessed to enjoy working full-time from home. Over time I’ve moved up through the company and am now on a specialized team that services a computer software company. I enjoy my job and am thankful for God’s provision to us through it.
As I ease myself into the flow of the conference calls, Haley comes bounding back into the house with her tennis ball begging for someone to play fetch. James is starting his workout but he takes a few minutes to throw the ball down the hallway. Haley hurtled her 67 pound body toward the bedroom and bangs into Tommy’s bedroom door. Like I said, just the usual morning routine.
After James works out he fixes breakfast for us. Yes, I know I am very blessed, maybe “spoiled”. We eat scrambled eggs and fruit smoothies, talking between my calls. He doesn’t leave for work until 8:30 and I enjoy the time with him before being separated for eight hours.
For me, my best time of day to have devotions is not first thing after I wake up, but sometime mid-morning when I am fully alert and have the first rush hours of work behind me. Today around 9:30 am I pull out my Bible study, a ring of index cards with memory verses, and new journal/memory book. Read the rest of this entry »
The inauguration of Dr. J. Paul Nyquist
My dad was inaugurated as the ninth president of Moody Bible Institute on October 23, 2009. The weekend of festivities was wonderful on many levels. Our whole family together is always trademarked by sweetness and laughter. I’m proud of my dad, proud to be his daughter, and increasingly amazed that God blessed me with such a precious family.
Read the Moody Ministries article on the inauguration.
Beauty of peace
Drop thy still dews of quietness
Till all our strivings cease
Take from our souls the strain and stress
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace
Hope in God
James is an amazing husband and daddy. I’m more tired than usual this weekend. So this morning he set up the kids with modeling clay and paints at the kitchen table. I joined them for awhile, but he supervised. Then he popped them in the bathtub. Then he took them with him to run to the grocery store. And as he leaves with both kids and a 65 pound chocolate lab in tow he leans over to give me a kiss and says, “Just relax.”
I’m not writing this because it is an astonishing rare occurence, but because it happens all the time and such an amazing husband and daddy should be recognized. So while I was curled up on the couch having my devotions I decided to write and tell the world how blessed I am.
This coming Friday is my dad’s innauguration and everyone will be together in Chicago. I am about jumping out of my skin in anticipation. But for now….rest….so I can keep up with my family next weekend.
“Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation” (Psalm 42:5).
The darkness is lifting
I can breathe again. It’s still difficult and there is a very long road ahead but God is healing me. Two steps forward, one step back. He has provided in so many ways.
I just wanted to say a quick hello. Life will be very different now than it was even a month ago. There is no going back. But with my husband’s help, I hope to return to “a new normal” life very soon.
Thank you, my love, my husband, for your unwavering support, patience, hope, and tenderness. I could not have survived this without you and my parents. But especially you. I am yours for the rest of our lives.
I will be sharing more at some time; I feel strongly that good can come of being open about what God has brought me through. And it truly was Him that kept me alive. He is so merciful. But all that will be slow in coming.
For now…may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord cause His face to shin upon you and give you peace.
My heart, and letter to my Bride.
I have not written in quite awhile and I am sorry for my absence. I have had many things occupying my mind and my time. Right now, it is the health of my wife. She is such an amazing young woman and I truly love her with everything in me. My prayer right now is for her to be restored and made whole.
I thank God for His love, and for His mercy. The strength He has given to us will help us to persevere through this intense trial. Please be praying for Natalie, and for I. That is the greatest help and gift that you could possibly give to us right now.
I love you Natalie, in sickness and in health. You are my bride. I adore you and miss you. God is our strength and our rock. We will lean on Him sweetheart, and when you are weak, I will go to Him for you. I will carry you through in any way I can…my beautiful and precious wife. I love you.
Joy in darkness
The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen pages 113-117
God rejoices. Not because the problems of the world have been solved, not because all human pain and suffering have come to an end, nor because thousands of people have been converted and are now praising him for his goodness. No, God rejoices because one of his children who was lost has been found. What I am called to is to enter into that joy….
I am not accustomed to rejoicing in things that are small, hidden, and scarcely noticed by the people around me…somehow I have become accustomed to living with sadness, and so have lost the eyes to see the joy and the ears to hear the gladness that belongs to God and which is to be found in the hidden corners of the world….
I have to learn to “steal” all the real joy there is to steal and lift it up for others to see. Yes, I know that not everybody has been converted yet, that there is not yet peace everywhere, that all pain has not yet been taken away, but still, I see people turning and returning home; I hear voices that pray; I notice moments of forgiveness, and I witness many signs of hope. I don’t have to wait until all is well, but I can celebrate every little hint of the Kingdom that is at hand.
This is a real discipline. It requires choosing for the light even when there is much darkness to frighten me, choosing for life even when the forces of death are so visible, and choosing for the truth even when I am surrounded with lies. I am tempted to be so impressed by the obvious sadness of the human condition that I no longer claim the joy manifesting itself in many small but very real ways. The reward of choosing joy is joy itself….
People who have come to know the joy of God do not deny the darkness, but they choose not to live in it. They claim that the light that shines in the darkness can be trusted more than the darkness itself and that a little bit of light can dispel a lot of darkness…every moment of each day I have the chance to choose between cynicism and joy….that divine joy does not obliterate the divine sorrow.
Seasons of blogging
- by Jessica Telian
I well remember when I first started this blog about four years ago. I was a very young nineteen and full of high hopes of blogging several times a week. My idea of what a blog should be was an up-to-date account of the doings of my life, interspersed with random musings and such. And for awhile, my blog was that. When I was living and working in Wisconsin I blogged frequently. When I moved to Thailand I was able to continue that (after we got the Internet figured out).
My time in Florida working as a mother’s helper was probably the time when I blogged the most; I was incredibly lonely and in the evenings I didn’t have much to do other than read or be on the computer. I wrote quite a bit and oftentimes I would go throughout my day composing a post in my head.
Then I started at Bible college and my blogging habits changed drastically. I went from three to five posts a week to that many a month. I was incredibly busy with school and working and people and hardly had time for any writing outside of school assignments. When I did get around to posting, most of those posts were desperate attempts to “catch people up” with my life. I certainly wasn’t keeping people very “up-to-date” and as such felt like I was failing as a blogger.
It sounds ridiculous but unnecessary self-inflicted requirements are often the hardest to recognize. Weeks would go by with nary a blogged peep from me and the thought of trying to summarise in a post or two all that was going on was too intimidating. So my blogging continued to wane.
Things picked up a bit when I moved to New Zealand. The writing part of me was recovering from two years of Bible college, I was surrounded by beauty, and God was teaching me many new things. Then, in September of 2008, my blogging went once again to almost nil as most of my Internet time was now taken up by being courted by a wonderful man. When wedding planning started, my blog completely fell by the wayside. I was discovering more and more that some things are just beyond words. Read the rest of this entry »
