Karla Thor > Recent Status Updates

“I saved her only to hear her die.”
This book has some good writing!

“My hand in Father’s! That meant the windmill on the Spaarne, or swans on the canal. But this time he was taking me where I didn’t want to go!(School)” I can’t help but see this as a foreshadowing in the story and how Our Heavenly Father takes us places we don’t want to go, for our good and His glory. This book has me 🤧 and I’m only on chapter 4! 🫠 very very good.

“Christ, who said to his disciples, ‘Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,’ can truly say to every group of Christian friends, ‘You have not chosen one another, but I have chosen you for one another.’”
We shouldn’t boast in our friends, in a way that focuses on pride and exclusivity, but acknowledge them as a gift from God and for the purpose of growing closer to Him.

I had this same question while reading Screwtape… how is he (CS Lewis) so acquainted with all these aspects of the human experience to write so accurately about them?! Did he experience all this or was he a good observer?! Does anyone feel the same???

“The deeper into weakness and suffering and testing we go, the deeper Christ’s solidarity with us. As we go down into pain and anguish, we are descending ever deeper -into- Christ’s very heart, not away from it.
Look to Christ. He deals gently with you. It’s the only way he knows how to be.
Looking out to Christ, we can anticipate only gentleness.”

The most content person is also the most unsatisfied. They can be content with as little as a piece of bread and a cup of water yet not all the riches in the world can satisfy their longing for God. Their heart has been enlarged to love God and only God can satisfy them. And because they are satisfied in God, they are content in God’s sovereign provision for them, whatever it may be.

I’m being reminded over and over of how important theology is.

A page turner!

My husband’s recommendation 😊

Glad I picked this back up, so so practical

“As we are increasingly impressed with him (Christ), we lose that clawing, aching need inside to be impressed with ourselves, and press others in the service of helping us to believe it.”

“Not everyone who fast is humble. But humble people fast.”

CH 2 TA: God takes the initiative in producing humility in his people. Also, “we have never been treated unfairly by God.” Boom. When difficultly arises, we must have the faith to recall that God allows it and ask “how might God be humbling me in this frowning providence?” Although God is the one who humbles us, we can also learn from the times God humbled those around us and who came before us.

CH 1 TA: Humility is not an award, not something you achieve. Its living acknowledging God’s highness. He is God, I am not. God works through trials, words, and people in our lives to humble us, the question is, will we surrender and humble ourselves or will we continue in pride? Note: when the next humbling trial happens, just humble yourself, repent and trust God.

“Humility is not, then, preoccupied with oneself, and one’s own lowliness, but first mindful and conscious of God and his highness. Humility becomes conscious of self only with respect to God.”

“I don’t have to pull back to be myself, I have found that I am most myself with my family

“We teach our children that the Lord delights in them, I (Danielle, mom of 7) also want them to have that borne out in their experience, to have that unwavering sense of like “I’m for you, I’m for you!.” Ultimately the kids weren’t just for her… rather, she was for them, she was *for* them.”
“Children give love but they also call forth love, and the latter is the greater gift.

“They had adopted a posture of openness to children as a way of life and not a mere season.” Enjoying it on Spotify :)

Going through this for Family Worship :) Really enjoying the writing; kid friendly, simple but still hitting the important details and big points.

Chapter 9: Refer to this chapter if I ever need to confront a friend, it gives a step by step including examining my own heart so I don’t have a log when helping someone’s speck. And when a friend does confront me in my sin, that means that they care more about my pursuit of Christ than their personal comfort and that’s a friend worth listening and keeping.

Ch 8 TA: When we need help from friends, we can’t assume that they know, we must ask for it. We also can’t assume they can or are available to help, don’t let the fear of rejection paralyze you. We don’t need a *specific* person, we need a people, and that’s the church. Therefore, be also ready to step in when you see or are asked to fulfill a need. We are instruments in which God gives grace to others.

Chapter 8 takeaways. Because our satisfaction and fulfillment comes from being a friend of Christ, we should no longer seek those things in our earthly friends. We can be a friend to all, not a friend OF all, we are limited people. Befriend the poor, widows, and the elderly. Seek to befriend the unbeliever, not because they are people to fix but because they are people to love. This is what God desires of me :)

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