It has snowed on our beautiful mountains!
I love that first snow.
The boots, gloves, hats, and snowpants are out and anxiously waiting to be used by some little people. But so far, it’s only been a skiff on the ground.
Mr. Fat Squishy got his first real hair trim. Notice I said “trim”, not “cut”. The sappy mom in me still can’t quite do the whole haircut thing! But after I had typed and previewed the Baby Football post, I stopped and almost cringed. He really had begun to look rather, um, girlish. So that was all it took to get out the scissors.
Here is my punkin’ sitting like a big boy.
And here is the finished product.
I refuse to cry.
On a side note . . . I bet you don’t enjoy your blueberries as much as that, right?!
Articles for you this week!
I know it probably seems like we warn quite a bit about contemplative practices entering the church. And if you think that because you are of Anabaptist heritage, that it won’t reach your church . . . I have a true story to tell you someday soon. But here at the Shoe we have issued cautions against Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling. Then this past week I received this email and knew it needed to be shared with you.
If you love the book Jesus Calling, please take a moment to read this lady’s testimony and the rest of the special newsletter. And if you know of someone, especially one in authority or selling the book, please send them the link to this newsletter. It contains pertinent information regarding Jesus Calling.
Special Edition of Lighthouse Trails Newsletter
Jesus Calling
Excerpt from Special Edition on Jesus Calling:
We’ll call her April, but that’s not her real name. Although we have received many calls since we released “Another Jesus” Calling last year that contain elements of what April told us, her story is the essence of all those stories put together. We have paraphrased her comments below as we do not have them word for word, but we have maintained the accuracy of what she told us and captured a close rendition of how she worded her comments.
April began reading Jesus Calling many years ago, and soon it became a part of her every day devotions time. You see, April loves the Lord and spending time with Him praying and reading His word have been very important to her.
As the years passed, April shared readings from Jesus Calling with others, and in time even bought and gave copies away.
But after awhile (she didn’t notice it at first), April found herself less and less interested in reading the Bible and more and more drawn to reading Jesus Calling. In fact, she told us she got to where she had to read Jesus Calling everyday. “Did you feel somewhat addicted to it,” we asked her (we asked this because other callers had told us they had felt addicted to the readings).
“Oh yes, that’s a perfect way to describe it,” she answered. “I had to have my Jesus Calling fix.” Eventually, she hardly picked up her Bible at all. But she continued to be more and more drawn into Jesus Calling.
When we asked her what attracted her to the book when she first started reading it, she said, “From the very first time I read it, it made me feel so good about myself . . . and one day, after reading it for some time, I realized that Jesus wasn’t just my Lord and Savior . . . he was my boyfriend!”
As April faithfully went to her prayer closet, she began practicing meditative contemplative prayer (which Sarah Young promotes) and started having mystical experiences. She told us she went into altered states. She told us that she often, especially the last few years, felt a restlessness and uneasiness about these experiences and even about reading Jesus Calling, but she couldn’t put her finger on anything and thus ignored these troubling thoughts.
One day, April did pay attention to those restless uneasy feelings she was having and began researching Jesus Calling on the Internet. She came across Warren Smith’s writings, and her eyes were opened to the deception she had fallen under. She told us she realizes she had been seduced by what the Bible calls “seducing spirits” (1 Timothy 4:1).
We are happy to say that today April has become a discerning believer and realizes just how easily it is for even a sincere Christian to become spiritually deceived when she takes her eyes off of God’s Word and begins following a different voice. However, we have received many other calls of similar nature related to Jesus Calling, and we continue to be concerned about these other men and women.
It is to April and the many other women out there like her that we dedicate this issue.
{Continue reading full special edition newsletter here.}
Lowell also shared an excellent article on facebook about contemporary music in church. I enjoyed it and so here it is!
Shoe Recipe Tester
Logan turned eight a couple Sundays ago. While he was hemming and hawing about what cake he wanted, I did some rather manipulative reasoning with him. “Don’t you want a chocolate cake? I have this really awesome recipe of Chocolate Mousse Cake that is four layers tall with chocolate, creamy mousse filling in it!! Doesn’t that sound good?”
It worked. 🙂
I got my Chocolate Mousse Cake. Now to defend myself a bit, Logan is the one child that actually likes chocolate cake pretty well. So I knew he’d probably be game to try it.
Well we baked the quadruple layer cake full of creamy mousse filling, but by the time we’d all tasted it, we decided it was too rich. As in really, really rich. So rich we had to have company over after church that evening to help us eat it up!
That’s what I get for all my manipulative reasoning with an 8-year-old.
If you wish to try it, click here for the recipe. I’d say we gave it probably 3 stars. Which is saying alot since I like chocolate!
One more thing before I sign off.
We have a fun, surprise giveaway coming in December! Just in time for Christmas and just from us here at the Shoe.
We’re calling it “Just For Mommy” giveaway.
And that’s all I’ll say! 🙂
Let’s be a blessing to our neighbors this week, a light to the lost, and a true reflection of Christ’s love!
- The Adventum CD Collection – Sale Now - March 27, 2021
- Alternative To Facebook Option - January 30, 2021
- The Beauty of the Hoary Head - January 2, 2021
Carolyn Miller says
And we are off to the funeral service for Sam Yost 🙂 blessings on your day!
Living In The Shoe says
And you too!
Sandra Miller says
Appreciate your article on “Jesus Calling”. I had no idea it was THAT bad. I seldom read inspirational books because so many are either a little bit off the wall to entirely off the wall. Get tired discarding writers with their books. The safest book is still the WORD…makes me wonder why it is not loved..?
Kendra says
Oh, I SO agree! Why is it that our own Holy Scriptures are not more loved? I’ve often heard folks say it’s dry and boring. But I guarantee you they haven’t spent enough time digging really deep into them. I’ve often found that the more time I spend studying, the richer my spiritual life is!
Sandra Miller says
AMEN!
Kim W says
Thank you Kendra for you blog. I get a lot of inspiration here.
I haven’t read the book and probably never will. I don’t tend to read spiritual books other than devotionals. I prefer to read the Bible. That said I have a question about the objections to contemplative prayer. Why is it wrong? I am asking because I am Roman Catholic and was taught that contemplative prayer is either meditating on the life of Jesus and how to better imitate Him or reading Scripture slowly, and prayerfully, and thinking about how to apply what Jesus said to my daily life. I am not trying to start a debate. I am trying to understand. It could be that my perception of contemplative prayer is wrong.
Kendra says
I am so glad you asked, Kim! It is very important that we define contemplative prayer. The definition you have is how I would define contemplating/thinking on the life of Christ and Scripture. However, this is not the definition that I’m referring to! Hope that makes you feel better. 🙂 The contemplative prayer that is fast becoming a fad in Christian circles today is one where the person praying picks out one word and repeats it over and over and over – with the purpose of emptying one’s mind. What this does, once the mind is emptied, is it then allows the spiritual realm to contact them. This is also the way eastern religions pray and contact the spirit realm – only now it is in Christian circles. Very scary stuff! I have an article for you that is packed full of information regarding this practice. http://christianresearchnetwork.org/topic/contemplative-prayer/ If you get to the bottom of the article, there are also several different articles they link to with even more excellent info on it. Once again, thanks so much for asking!!