Like a Weaned Child

But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.” Psalm 131: 2

Have you ever weaned a nursing baby? My children were never bottle fed. Those babies were totally dependent on me for all their sustenance.

When it came time, not one of them wanted to be weaned. They fussed and complained when they didn’t get exactly what they wanted, when they wanted it.

Being weaned is often the first real trial in a child’s life. Does a weaning baby reject his mother in anger when she withholds what he is sure he needs? Of course not!

My children clung to me all the more as they learned to turn to me for comfort, instead of to what I could provide for them. Although I didn’t gratify their desire to be nursed, they began to feel their need for comfort was satisfied in my loving presence alone.

This is how a Christian should respond in times of suffering. We know that the Lord is sovereign over everything that happens. He could choose to prevent painful trials, and yet He often allows them.

When He doesn’t answer our prayers the way we want Him to, where do we go? We must press in to Him even more. Where else can we go? He is the source of our comfort and encouragement.

Even when He withholds the very thing we are convinced that we need, we must still and quiet our souls like a weaned child with its mother.

“Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.” Psalm 73: 25-26

Love & Respect for a Lifetime Winner!

Love and Respect for a Lifetime, Gift Edition

Congratulations to Kat Hight!

You are the winner of Dr. Emerson Eggrich’s new Love & Respect for a Lifetime book.

Love & Respect in Marriage

Love and Respect for a Lifetime, Gift Edition

Love and Respect for a Lifetime by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2010)

As the title of this small gift book hints at, and the front cover of the book plainly states, author and founder of Love and Respect marriage conferences, Dr. Emerson Eggerichs’ emphasis is on a verifiable difference between women and men: “Women absolutely need love. Men absolutely need respect. It’s as simple and as complicated as that….

The author backs up the philosophy on which the book is based through his own poll of 7000 people whom he asked, “During a conflict with your spouse, do you feel unloved or disrespected?” The answers:  83% of men said they feel disrespected and 72 % of women feel unloved. He goes on to explain why that basic difference dictates how spouses should understand and treat each other. Backing up his theory biblically, he cites Ephesians 5:33 which says a husband must love his wife (as himself) and a wife must respect her husband.

Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, who had been Sr. Pastor of Trinity Church in East Lansing, Michigan for nearly 20 years, and his wife Sarah (they’ve been married since 1973) travel the country conducting Love and Respect marriage conferences. He credits this background for his insights: “After more than three decades of pastoring, counseling married couples, and conducting marriage conferences, I have learned that, in fact, the wife speaks a ‘love language’ and the husband speaks a ‘respect language.’ They don’t realize this, of course, but because he is speaking one kind of language (respect) and she is speaking another (love), there is little or no understanding and little or no communication.

Although I read nothing new (after 45 years of marriage and reading a lot of books on family relationships, I rarely do), the author has good insights into the dynamics of marriage and gives helpful reminders about things most of us know but sometimes fail to practice. He writes: “Marital researchers agree that a huge percentage of communication problems between husband and wife are due not to what is said but to how it is said—the attitude and tone of voice.”

Probably the best thing about the book is its solidly Christ-centered basis. Eggerichs’ affirms: “Marriage is a test of how you unconditionally love and respect your spouse as you obey, honor, and please the Lord. Primarily, you don’t practice love and respect to meet your needs in your marriage, as important as these are. Your first goal is to obey and please Christ. When you try to do this, often (but not always) your needs are met, and these are wonderful by-products and blessings. But your first goal is to obey and please the Lord. The road to a lasting Love and Respect marriage is a lifelong one, and there is no way you can travel it in your own strength. The task is overwhelming, and you need help from your heavenly Father, who knows your heart. If you want to do your marriage as unto Christ, you must ask Christ for help.”

My only criticism of this gift book is that there is not a lot of there, there. It is small (7” x 6”) and some of its 155 pages contain only one sentence or a graphic element—choices no doubt made by an editor who pulled from Eggerichs’ larger book, Love & Respect to create this gift version. Because of that, if I wanted to delve deeper into this author’s writings, my choice would be to buy the original book or his The Language of Love & Respect, rather than this partial-text gift edition.

For more information see the author’s website at: www.loveandrespect.com or facebook.com/loveandrespectministries.

Mentoring Moments is giving away a copy of Love & Respect for a Lifetime. Between now (Friday, February 11th, 2011) and Monday (February 14th, 2011) leave a comment to this post and one person will be chosen randomly. The winner will be notified via email.

To leave a comment:
• If you are reading this post in email form, click the article headline. This will take you to the article on MMCW’s website.
• Scroll down until you see the box entitled ‘Speak Your Mind’.
• Enter your name, email (it will not be published) and your website or blogsite if you have one (you do not have to have one).
• Click on the big empty space and then begin typing your comments.
• When you are done, click ‘submit comment’. That’s it! We look forward to hearing from YOU!

Vicki Huffman was provided with a copy of Love & Respect for a Lifetime for review purposes.  No compensation was received by Vicki or MMCW for this book review.

Blog Carnvial: School Room Tour Update

MMCW is hosting a School Room Carnival! Share your blog posts and photos of how you organize your home learning environment. We will all be inspired by tips and ideas! Simply send the URL of your blog post to me at mentoringmoments@aol.com by Friday, July 30th. Yes, we’re extending the deadline to give everyone a few more days. You do not have to be a homeschooler to participate. The carnival will run on Thursday, August 5th.

School Room Carnival

MMCW is hosting a School Room Carnival! Share your blog posts and photos of how you organize your home learning environment. We will all be inspired by tips and ideas! Simply send the URL of your blog  post to me at mentoringmoments@aol.com by tonight. You do not have to be a homeschooler to participate. The carnival will run on July 28th.

Favorite Summer Recipe Carnival 2010

Do you need something new  for dinner this week?  Today we’re going on a blogging tour to add some fun, fresh, and yummy recipes to our menus. Gals from across the web submitted their favorite summer recipe for us to try out. Come one, let’s get going…

Our first stop is Molly’s mouth-watering Vietnamese Chicken Salad at CounterCulturalMom. Molly says the combination of chicken salad, rice noodles, and veggies is the perfect girl’s night out meal.

Carla at Married Single Moms shares not only her wonderful Tomato Feta Salad but tips on garnishes and pretty plates.

Katharine at Just a Thought shares her beat-the-heat Summer Fruit Crock-pot Cobbler.  Fresh berries combined with nuts and a lemon cake mix sounds like a winning combination!

Ms. Baker at The Better Baker shares her winning recipe for home-made from scratch Strawberry Pizza.  Cool, refreshing and sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Nothing says summer better than a smoothie. Cyndejoy at Cyndejoy’s Blog shows us how to make her refreshing Summer Cool StrawPeachy Smoothie.

Wrapping up our tour of favorite summer recipes is some of MMCW oldies but goodies. If you haven’t had a chance to check out our Recipe Box you may want to. Our Recipe Box contains all the recipes posted on MMCW. Some of our favorites are:

Lori’s Maple Glazed Salmon, perfect for summer grilling.

Loi’s Marinated London Broil is super-simple and marvelous.

My mother-in-law’s Apple Dumpling recipe is one of the top viewed posts at MMCW. This is perfect for a summer evening with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

What’s your favorite summer recipe?
Let’s keep the carnival going–share your recipe via our comment section!

Join Our Summer Recipe Carnival!

Do you have a favorite go-to summer recipe? Share it with us! We’re looking for your summer recipe blog posts for our Favorite Summer Recipe Blog Carnival.  The deadline for submission is tomorrow (July 7th).

It will be fun and yummy as we visit one another’s blogs to read about favorite summer recipes. This can be anything from appetizers to main dishes, dessert to beverages.

If you have never done a blog carnival before, it’s easy! Just write a post on your blog sharing your favorite summer recipe, and submit the URL of your post to mentoringmoments@aol.com. Blog post links must be submitted by Wednesday, July 7, 2010. This carnival will run on July 12, 2010.

Favorite Summer Recipe Carnival

We’re looking for your summer recipe blog posts for our Favorite Summer Recipe Blog Carnival. It will be fun and yummy as we visit one another’s blogs to read about favorite summer recipes. This can be anything from appetizers to main dishes, dessert to beverages.

If you have never done a blog carnival before, it’s easy! Just write a post on your blog sharing your favorite summer recipe, and submit the URL of your post to mentoringmoments@aol.com.  Blog post links must be submitted by Wednesday, July 7, 2010. This carnival will run on July 12, 2010.

Be sure to check back so you can read about all the delicious summer foods  our readers are concocting.

To leave a comment:

• Scroll down until you see the box entitled ‘Speak Your Mind’.
• Enter your name, email (it will not be published) and your website or blogsite if you have one (you do not have to have one).
• Click on the big empty space and then begin typing your comments.
• When you are done, click ‘submit comment’.  That’s it!  We look forward to hearing from YOU!

Chocolate Cafe’ Blog Carnival

What’s February without a bit of chocolate? Settle in with your favorite tea or coffee and come with MMCW on a tour of staff and reader blogs. They have opened up their ‘online’ homes to us, sharing their favorite recipes and thoughts on chocolate.

As you visit with everyone, feel free to leave a comment. I know they will appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Dawn at Olive Plants is our first Chocolate Cafe’ Blog stop to sample her delicious Chocolate Napoleons a la Dawn. Looking for a quick and easy dessert to take to church, Dawn adapted a complicated recipe to receive 4 out of 5 stars from her family. You probably already have the ingredients on hand to make this one tonight!

Sampling Jan’s Mocha-Walnut Bars with Dark Chocolate Ganache over at A Tiny Little Ripple is our next stop. Jan’s bars have three distinct layers with gorgeous photos to take you step by step. It’s amazing what a simple refrigerated sugar cookie dough can be transformed into!

Could anything be better than a good Tiramisu? One with a twist of course! Molly at Counter Cultural Mom shows us what to do when we can’t find ladyfingers–just make Tiramisu Bread Pudding. Molly says her family now loves this version more than the original!

Renee at Add More Chocolate dedicated January and February to, you guessed it, chocolate.  Her Texas-size family favorites: Best Brownies and Cowboy Cookies look marvelous. As an added bonus, check out her previous January and February posts for even more chocolate favorites!

We’ve come full circle. Back at MMCW you’ll find one of my favorite chocolate concoctions–Kisses Coffee Cake. You know any recipe using Hershey Kisses is a good and this one will not disappoint. In addition to Kisses Coffee Cake, check out MMCW’s many chocolate sweets in our Recipe Box. A few of my personal favorites are Loi’s Mississippi Mud Cake and Molly’s Peppermint Chocolate Pie.

To leave a comment:
• If you are reading this post in email form, click the article headline. This will take you to the article on MMCW’s website.
• Scroll down until you see the box entitled ‘Speak Your Mind’.
• Enter your name, email (it will not be published) and your website or blogsite if you have one (you do not have to have one).
• Click on the big empty space and then begin typing your comments.
• When you are done, click ‘submit comment’. That’s it! We look forward to hearing from YOU!

Chocolate Cafe Blog Carnival

We’re looking for blog posts on everything chocolate for our first Chocolate Cafe Blog Carnival. It will be fun and yummy as we visit one another’s blogs to read about favorite chocolate concoctions. This can be anything from dessert to beverages.

If you have never done a blog carnival before, it’s easy! Just write a post on your blog about the topic Chocolate Cafe, and submit the URL of your post to mentoringmoments@aol.com.  Blog post links must be submitted by Saturday, February 6, 2010. This carnival will run on February 10, 2010.

Be sure to check back so you can read about the loads of chocolate goodies our readers are concocting for Valentine’s Day.

To leave a comment:

• Scroll down until you see the box entitled ‘Speak Your Mind’.
• Enter your name, email (it will not be published) and your website or blogsite if you have one (you do not have to have one).
• Click on the big empty space and then begin typing your comments.
• When you are done, click ‘submit comment’.  That’s it!  We look forward to hearing from YOU!

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