Spiritual Refreshment

As essay deadlines are coming (and going!), its proving to be a busy time! And as things are getting busy it is easy to get distracted by deadlines and work and become a bit tired and in need of some spiritual feeding.

As I was thinking about this I was reminded of some talks I listened to a year or so ago which really fed me helped and encouraged me in my walk with Christ.

The seminar is by John Piper and is on TULIP, the 'five points of Calvinism', but it is not about a system or a mere man (Calvin) it truly is about the doctrines of Grace and of Christ's Lordship and Gods Sovereignty.

There are 9 sessions, so they are quite long, but I cannot recommend them enough to you, please do listen to them, or you can even watch them.

TULIP, Part 1 - Introduction

TULIP, Part 2 - Assumptions - Irresistible Grace

TULIP, Part 3 - Irresistible Grace - Total Depravity

TULIP, Part 4 - Total Depravity - Unconditional Election

TULIP, Part 5 - Unconditional Election

TULIP, Part 6 - Unconditional Election

TULIP, Part 7 - Limited Atonement

TULIP, Part 8 - Perseverance of the Saints

TULIP, Part 9 - Ten Effects of Believing the Five Points of Calvinism

I pray that you will be blessed through these talks.

And then there were four....

Rachael is pregnant!

Well, glad to get that off our chest!

We found out just before i left York to come down to Wales (leaving Rach and Jacob there) and it has been really hard keeping it quiet until now. Partly because there isn't much space to hide a baby in Rachael's tummy, and partly because we wanted to tell people so they could be praying for us.

We just had the scan this Wednesday (02/11/11) and wanted to wait until we knew everything was ok before we told you all. But everything seems to be developing just as it should - praise God!

Needless to say Rachael being pregnant has not made moving down and getting settled any easier, for one Rach has been suffering from really bad sickness, especially on an evening (go figure!) and so this has put a bit of a strain on my studies (thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it!) and on just getting settled in. Also baby is due to make an appearance on the 12/05/12, one day before my dads birthday - which he is very happy about, and slap bang in the middle of end of year exam week - which I am not so happy about!

So we would really appreciate prayer particularly for Rach and 'bump' as the pregnancy progresses and for all the implications of it! 

We praise God for this blessing, and know that all things happen in his good time.