Raise 'em Up God's Way

>> Friday, May 30, 2014

Our Ben's baby dedication: Mother's Day, May 8, 1983
(Middle family: me holding baby Ben and Phillip holding Rebecca)


"Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it." (Prov. 22:6)


            In the 1980s, First Baptist Bogalusa, Louisiana was our church home where baby dedication was celebrated only one time each year: Mother's Day. Since our Benjamin Phillip Glassco debuted May 3rd, the Tuesday before Mother's Day, we publicly dedicated him to Jesus at 5 days old (the only family who had participated in baby dedication two years in a row).

        Bar none, hands down, without exception, the most important thing a parent will ever teach a child is the way of eternal life by faith in God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. When's the last time you talked to your children about God?

O Jesus, please use The Schoolhouse, Secrets of Shiloh, Hoot Owl Hollow, and other stories You will give me to help bring my grandchildren and multitudes of other children up Your way and for Your glory! Amen and amen. 

From soon-to-be-released Hoot Owl Hollow:

           Every evening, Nonie had supper waiting for Andi when she got home from work, and every Sunday morning, the old woman urged the girl to come with her to worship services at Bethany Primitive Baptist Church.
           “Thank you, Miss Nonie,” Andi said, “but not today. I think I’ll just stay home and rest. It’s my only day off you know.”
            “I know, but I promise thangs’ll go a whole lot better if ya spend the first day uv the week a restin’ in the house of the Lord,” Nonie said.
She patted Andi’s hand and then climbed into the old chevy. “Honey, you jest chew on what I said fer a spell, and ya might jest come to agree I’m right.”
            “Yes, ma’me,” Andi said. 

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It's a MYSTERY!

>> Thursday, May 29, 2014

The "phantom" of Hoot Owl Hollow
(illustration by my Ben)

"This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it's out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's glory. It's that simple." (Col. 1:27 The Message)

        Do you love a good mystery? I do! As a little girl, Nancy Drew mysteries were my favorites.
      While writing storybooks #2 and #3, I had tons of fun developing clues  to uncover the Secrets of Shiloh and the plot to  identify the mysterious phantom of Hoot Owl Hollow. (Yesterday, 5th grader and avid reader, Hannah, blessed my socks off by saying Secrets of Shiloh is one of the best books she's ever read!)

         The greatest mystery ever made know to man, however, is that Father God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, Jesus - God in heaven became man on earth. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone, regardless of background or religious standing, can have a whole and everlasting, eternal life (John 3:16). 

      As you read over (the Bible), you'll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our [long-ago] ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God's Spirit through His holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of Him all their lives... stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board. (Eph. 3:4-6 The Message)

         Are you "in the know" on the #1, best-selling mystery - Christ in you the hope of glory?
       

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Beauty in Time

>> Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Two of my sweet boys, 2014

"I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart." (Jer. 24:7)

           What sometimes happens when a sweet, little boy collides with adolescence? At our house, it was chaos, pandemonium, bedlam, and commotion, to say the least. I wanted an instant cure for this strange disease called rebellion; but, it would be over a thing called TIME that God would "heal", restore, and return hearts to Himself.

"I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord." (Psalm 27:13-14)

          O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, resolve to wait on the One who makes everything beautiful in its TIME (Ecc. 3:11).


June Women's Bible study: The Prodigal's Mother
For more information contact me at: misjill413@aol.com for times and locations.

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Healing Salve for a Stomped Heart

>> Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Our newest baby-grand, 2014 

Jesus said, "I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world." (John 16:33)

        Nothing is sweeter than a newborn baby against his mother's cheek, and nothing's more painful, than a prodigal child. When my children were small, a Sunday School teacher told me, "Jill, when they're little, they'll step on your toes, but when they're older, they"ll step on your heart." As the mother of teenagers, I often remembered those words on the days when it felt like my heart had been stomped in the dirt. 

         Jesus warned that we will suffer in this world; however, He encouraged His own to have peace and courage because He has conquered the world (and is even more powerful than a prodigal's attitude)! Through the Bible, the Lord offers hope, strength, courage, and instructions to lovers of prodigals. 

June Women's Bible study: The Prodigal's Mother
For more information contact me at: misjill413@aol.com for times and locations.

        

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Koinonia

>> Thursday, May 22, 2014

"Team Colton"
May 20, 2014



"All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you." (2 Cor. 12:13-14)

        Last Tuesday, aunts, cousins, and grandparents gathered at the hospital and waited and waited and waited and waited to welcome baby Colt into our family. Our singular focus on one little guy "gave birth" to perfect unity and wonderful fellowship - sweet koinonia!

        "Koinonia" means communion and joint participation and is a transliterated form of a Greek word which identifies the idealized state of fellowship and unity that should exist within the Christian Church - the family of God. Perhaps fellowship and unity have broken in churches because we failed to focus on the One and Only Lord Jesus Christ!

          Who are you focused on today?

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face!
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace. 

(Lyrics by Helen H. Lemmel, 1922)

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It's a Big Boy!!!

>> Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Colton "Colt" Alexander Glassco

"Every thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights." (James 1:17)

Colton Alexander Glassco
Born: May 20, 2014, 5:52 p.m.
8 pounds 12 ounces
21.5"

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for our beautiful GIFT!

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Faithful Friends

>> Monday, May 19, 2014



Debora, Dawn, and me at Debora's son's wedding, 2014
(Two of our many wonderful friends)




"... a real friend sticks closer than a brother." (Prov. 18:24)

        This week is big for our family - Phillip's nephew, our Rebecca, and our grands are here, the new grandbaby's birth is scheduled tomorrow, our other sweet daughter-in-law is having surgery on Friday, and through it all, precious friends are praying for us! 

         Thank You, Lord Jesus, for faithful friends! Have you thanked God for your friends today?

         

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Crazy Friday

>> Friday, May 16, 2014

Bullseye
My favorite son-in-law and 2 of the grands, 2010ish


"But God is not the author of confusion but of peace." (1 Cor. 14:33)

        This morning, I went with my Ben and Gabbi to an ultrasound appointment (babygrand is due TOMORROW, by the way!). For hours,  the decision volleyed back and forth, back and forth, between inducing labor today or next week, today or next week, today... until finally the decision landed in the next week court.

        I imagined God looking down and just smiling, because He has known the day, hour, and minute of Colt's arrival since before time began. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world." (Eph. 1:3-4)

       I'll keep you "posted" on our blessed event! Please help me pray for a happy and healthy delivery! Thank you!!!!

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Editing, Editing, Editing

>> Thursday, May 15, 2014

photo by my talented, sweet Rebecca



"And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Jesus Christ returns!" (Phil. 1:6)


           "Sunlight kissed the cool, morning air changing dewdrops to diamonds on the spider webs crocheted through the night." I can't tell you how many times I've reworded that sentence from chapter 3 of Hoot Owl Hollow. In fact, I edited it again today to use on  this post and will continue editing the manuscript until it is finally finished on that day it goes to print.

           Oh, how marvelous, oh how wonderful that God erases, changes, and rewrites our stories over and over and over again until we are finally finished on the day Jesus Christ returns! 

         Made mistakes this week? Repent and rejoice, O Christian! The Author of our Faith is at work - blotting out and re-scripting our do-overs!

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Your Own Generation

>> Wednesday, May 14, 2014

My Dan, my little nephew, and my brother
Three Generations

"For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid among his fathers." (Acts 13:36)

          When God endowed my son, Ben, with incredible artistic ability, it was not  so he could merely draw and sculpt well. His God-given talent is so he can serve God's purposes in his own generation.




Ben's "Hand of God", 2005

"But now, O Lord, You are the Father, we are the clay, and You our Potter; and all of us are the work of your hand." (Isa. 64:8)

Ben's "Joe" for Hoot Owl Hollow


                O Christian, we are God's masterpieces, created for good works to serve God's purposes in our own generations and bring glory to Him! So what's on your "to-do" list today?

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Tossed About

>> Tuesday, May 13, 2014

My little nephew and my Dan. May 2014

"But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind." (James 1:6)

        Okay, this snapshot may be stretching it a bit as a photo illustration of James 1:6 - but it is by the sea and Dan had tossed a ball! (Besides, I love just love the picture.)

          Yesterday, I lost anchor in what I believe God said and was blown and tossed by the winds of man's voice. This morning, the Word of God reminded me: "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and He is the rewarder of those who seek Him" (Heb. 11:6). "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me (Jesus)" (John 14:10). "Do not be unbelieving, but believing" (John 20:27).
          "Yes, Lord Jesus, no matter what I see, feel, or others say, I choose to believe You."

          O Christian, I pray that today you will be firmly anchored in God by faith and not tossed by the winds of the world!




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Two Thumbs Up! for Moms' Night Out

>> Monday, May 12, 2014

My grands, all dressed for piano recital
(Princess is dressed in her cousin's flower girl dress from her parent's wedding. My how time flies!)

"An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels." (Prov. 31:10)

          Although alike in many ways, my daughter and I are complete opposites when it comes to celebrating Mother's Day. Each year, Rebecca's sweet husband makes her a reservation at a beautiful state park for a 24-hour get-away - a time of rest, reflection, refreshment, and renewal alone. (If my family ever drops me off at a state park all by my lonesome, they'll see this mama in the rearview mirror chasing after the car crying, "Come back! Please don't leave me!")

          For my Mother's Day celebration, my hubby, boys, and daughters-in-law took me to the movie: Moms' Night Out. This hilarious comedy is well-done, God-honoring, kid-friendly, and sends a great message. Definitely a two thumbs up and must see!!!

(Moms' Night Out: filmed in our own Birmingham, Alabama and produced by the Erwin brothers - makers of October Baby. Now in theaters near you!)

Happy belated Mother's Day!

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Save our Children!

>> Friday, May 9, 2014


My Rebecca, Stephen, and first baby-grand, 2006

Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world!



       Several years ago while talking to my children about kids at church, I said, "Those are the sweetest children. I wonder what they'll be like as teenagers." Dan answered with insight beyond his eleven years, "You just never know. They can be sweet as anything as children, but when they get to be teenagers...you just never know!"
      Something that makes me madder than a wet hen in a rainstorm, is seeing a sweet, young life lured by the devil, the world, and the flesh into a garbage pit of sin and destruction! We hear save the whales! Save the ivory-billed woodpecker!  But what about save our children!?!?  

"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour! But resist him firm in your faith..." (1 Peter 5:8-9)

        The Lord is fanning into flame a passion to safeguard as many children as possible through fervent prayer, unconditional love, and the powerful Word of God! 

Father God wants YOU!  Join the "save our children" crusade today!


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The Real Hoot Owl Hollow

>> Thursday, May 8, 2014





The real Hoot Owl Hollow, 1975

"Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever! Amen!" (Heb. 13:20-21)

         I'm bursting with excitement over my next storybook in the making. Although the book, Hoot Owl Hollow, is fictitious, our friend, Liz, lives in the real Hoot Owl Hollow tucked beneath the North Georgia Mountains near the small town of Hiwassee. Years ago, I first laid eyes on this lovely cove as a college student with my boyfriend's (later husband's) family.
            
Me in one of the many mountain creeks, 1975


               Phillip was enamored with the fresh water spring piped out of the mountains.


Phillip's niece

       In the picture below of my Phillip drinking from the spring, you see a trailer in Liz's cow pasture where her visitors stayed. (In the book, Andi rents the trailer from Nonie Baskin.)



        Forty years ago as a college student, the Lord was equipping me to do a small work that only recently came to fruition: writing  Christian storybooks for families. But in forty years on the back side of a desert in Midian, God prepared Moses to do a great work: deliver an entire nation from slavery!
       Hebrews chapter 13 teaches that our God, the One who raised Jesus from the dead, will indeed equip His disciples to do His will and accomplish that which pleases Him if we remain devoted to Him. Oswald Chambers once said, "One life totally devoted to God of more value to Him than one hundred lives simply awakened by His Spirit."

O Christian, stay devoted to Jesus and just watch to see what valuable works God will accomplish through you for His glory!

         

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Graduation Day!

>> Wednesday, May 7, 2014




My Senior Portrait, 1974

Senior Prom
My Phillip and me, April 1974


Senior Play
Me as "Miss Spindle"
May 1974



Valedictorian, Class of '74
 (me)






"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith." (2 Tim. 4:7)

         Forty springs ago, I graduated from Fort Payne High School. Today, I graduated from radiation treatments. 
  
          Whatever course life brings, stick with Jesus. He'll see you through to the very end. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!




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Fortitude!

>> Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Beaver Dam on our farm

"Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus." (Heb. 12:1-2)

        A couple of weeks ago, my Phillip broke up a small beaver dam on the north end of our fishing pond. Five days later, we discovered that those busy-beavers had rebuilt a stronger and much larger dam!       

        The dictionary defines fortitude as: mental and emotional strength in facing difficulty, adversity, danger, or temptation courageously, or the strength of mind that allows one to endure pain or adversity with courage!
         In resilience, endurance, backbone, and true grit, beavers truly are creatures of fortitude.

O Lord Jesus, in my readers' difficulties, adversities and pains, please give them the fortitude of the beavers! (And in the burns, rashes, and fatigue of final radiation treatments, please also help me to be courageous and resilient!)

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Constant Presence of God

>> Monday, May 5, 2014

Saturday's fiery sunrise over the Coosa River
(photo by my superman)











"The Lord spread a cloud above them as a covering and gave them a great fire to light the darkness." (Psalm 105:39)











           At our  river cabin early Saturday morning, my Phillip captured this fiery sunrise through the thick morning mist over the Coosa River - a heavenly reminder of the constant Presence of God.

         O Christian, the Lord is your Keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The Lord will guard your going out and coming in from this time forth and forever (Psalm 121:5,7-8).
         Therefore, be anxious for nothing (Phil. 4:6), because the Lord is your Refuge and your Fortress, your God in whom you trust. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark (Psalm 91:2,4).
   


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God Loves 5th and 6th Graders!

>> Friday, May 2, 2014

"Samba"
(Photo by my Rebecca)



"Get up and stand up on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you my minister and witness..." (Acts 26:16)

         While my Ben draws the illustrations for my soon to be released Hoot Owl Hollow, my Rebecca hunts down and shoots (with a camera that is)  models for some of the pictures. Samba is the perfect model for "Joe", the chocolate lab sleeping at Sam's feet, don't you think?
       Yesterday, my trip to Cornerstone Christian School was a real "ah-ha!" moment for me. Why am I working day after week after year writing Christian storybooks? It's because God loves 5th and 6th graders, and He's creatively drawing children unto Himself  through stories! Wow! Now how cool is that?

      Dear Christian, are you up? Are you standing on your feet? God has appeared unto you, as well, for the purpose of being His minister and witness to somebody! Time's a wastin', so let's get going!

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:19-20)


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Potential!

>> Thursday, May 1, 2014

5th and 6th graders
Cornerstone Christian School



"Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!" (1 Cor. 9:24)


      Today, while visiting 5th and 6th graders at Cornerstone Christian School, I stood before a bright sea of potential - God's masterpieces, created in Christ Jesus for good works He planned long ago (Eph. 2:10).


       In the race of life, each of these children will encounter the crossroads between the narrow way with Jesus which leads to abundant life and and the broad way of the world - a certain road  to potential's death.

O Lord Jesus, Son of God and Great Shepherd, 
       Please lead every precious boy and girl I met today down Your path of righteousness for Your name's sake. I pray they will love You, obey Your voice, and hold fast to You all the days of their lives! Help them to serve You with whole hearts and willing minds. Empower them with every good thing to do the good work You've assigned to them, and enable them to stay the course, keep the faith, and finish well the race of life for Your glory! 
                                           In Jesus' name I pray. Amen and amen. 








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