The Chief End

Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
-Westminster Catechism

How does one enjoy God?

How do you personally enjoy God?

Happy Thanksgiving Indeed!

We have a special announcement! We are now onkel and tante (uncle and aunt) to Emily Muresan!!!! She was born Thanksgiving morning at 6am. Angie, Jeremy's sister, did a WONDERFUL job from what we hear. :)

We had lots to be thankful for this thanksgiving!!! :)

Congratulations Angie and Alex!!! :)

Sweet Little Emily Sleeping....

Praises...

So often, I write about the trials of being ill and such. I wanted to write today about the wonderful weekend I had...and how thankful I am for having a few days where I felt decent and was able to be with people I love being with!
Friday was excellent...I got to go to Nathaniel's Birthday Party and hang out with great people...
Saturday was quiet, but I did a lot of Christmas shopping and didn't pass out while doing it!
Sunday I enjoyed church, had a nap that was three hours long and actually refreshing this time!
After that Jeremy and I enjoyed a great dinner with Rachel and Kyle and then went to Life Group where we discussed a great section of scripture and learned a lot.
All in all, I was able to be social...something I truly enjoy! I praise God for blessing me with a great weekend and wonderful people to spend it with. I know that the coming days may bring more exhaustion and weakness, but for a time I was able to feel almost normal! :)

Love you all!

-Kate

Where we find ourselves today...

Good afternoon! I hope everyone is well! I appreciate the e-mails and calls I've gotten requesting a new update. Thanks to everyone prayers...I need them and can feel them!
This last week was pretty rough. I got a cold with fever and this impacts me more than "normal" people as my Doctor said. Yes, I am abnormal for all of you who hadn't figured this out yet! I am just starting to feel a little bit better now.

I went to my general Doctor on Monday and she referred me to more specialists and I am going back to one I have seen in the past. All together, I have 4 Doctor appointments with 4 different Doctors coming up. I am still clinging to the hope that they will find out what is wrong with me... and soon! After those visits, we are going to head to Mayo if no diagnosis is made. I am thankful for my husband being so patient and supportive during all of this uncertainty.

My days now, are the least busy I have ever been...by a vast amount! It is crazy to go from a life of college, wedding planning, being involved in many clubs and working to ....well, being a wife and focusing on taking care of myself. It has been humbeling to say the least. So often our identity is based on WHAT we are doing, not WHO we are...not until all of it was stripped from me have I fully realized this sad truth. An average day for me is e-mailing, sipping on green tea, watching a movie, reading a lot, hanging out with a friend if I'm up to it and enjoying the evening with my husband. This would be lovely if I was not feeling utterly exhausted and ill.

Well, I will end with a wonderful set of verses Tressa pointed out to me recently...how applicable!

"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."
-Isaiah 40:28-31

Much love, Kate

Happy Birthday Jeremy!

Today is Jeremy's 23rd birthday! I wanted to write to him and express my love for him on this special day...

You are the greatest blessing that our wonderful God has ever bestowed upon me besides the cross. Never did I imagine I would have such an amazing husband. You are my best friend, you are my husband, you're my love, you're my help... you are so many wonderful things wrapped in one. I thank God for you Jeremy. I thank God for who you are and who you will grow to be. I thank God for these past 4 years you've been in my life, and these past 6 months you have been my husband. No matter how difficult the day, you brighten it by being you.

I look forward to growing old with you. Happy Birthday to the love of my life... Happy Birthday Jeremy!

Your wife, Katey

ps: you also happen to be the most handsome man I have ever seen.... :)

Reviews of the John Owen Book!

We will begin Thursday, November 15th with Chapter One.

“The editors of this volume have worked hard to make Owen’s unrivalled insight into the Christian’s inner war with sin accessible to all, and the result is truly a godsend.”

-J. I. Packer, Professor of Theology, Regent College

“To read Owen is to mine spiritual gold. Unfortunately, as in mining, reading Owen is hard work. Now, Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor have made Owen’s work accessible to modern readers while still retaining his unique writing style.”

-Jerry Bridges, Navigators Community Ministries Group

“With brilliant editorial efforts and insightful introductions by Kapic and Taylor, John Owen’s magnificent treatises on sin and sanctification have been made available for a new generation.”

-David S. Dockery, President, Union University, Jackson, Tennessee

“Sin is tenacious, but by God’s grace we can hate it and hunt it. John Owen provides the master guide for the sin-hunter. Kapic and Taylor bring together three of Owen’s classics, clarifying them in simple ways—but all the substance, the careful, hounding arguments are still there.”

-Mark Dever, Senior Pastor, Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.

“John Owen understood how the gospel makes us well. Three cheers for Kapic and Taylor for introducing a new generation to Owen’s peerless works.”

-Sinclair B. Ferguson, Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, S.C.

“John Owen is a spiritual surgeon with the rare skill to cut away the cancer of sin and bring gospel healing to the sinner’s soul. Apart from the Bible, I have found his writings to be the best books ever written to help me stop sinning the same old sins.”

-Philip Graham Ryken, Senior Minister, Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia

“No writer has taught me more about the dynamics of the heart and the deceitfulness of sin than John Owen. Read this book carefully; it will help you understand your heart and experience God’s grace.”

-C. J. Mahaney, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Gaithersburg, Maryland

The Book Club - Overcoming Sin and Temptation

I wanted to let everyone know that there is a great online "book club" that will be starting in about a week and a half.
Click the link below to join me and many others in reading and discussing a Classic together!

www.challies.com/archives/reading-classics-together/reading-the-next-classic-together.php

Who's with me? :)

Kate