"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory."
Ephesians 1:3-14 ESV
"See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure."
1 John 3:1-3 ESV
These verses are full of astonishing truths of my inheritance from God. Out of the riches of His grace, He chose to adopt me... He made me an heir with Christ... I am called a child of God. It is impossible for me to fathom why God would choose to make a rebel His daughter, but that is the beautiful mystery of the gospel: those who were once called enemies
(Romans 5:10-11) are called children
(Ephesians 5:1); those who were once called sinners
(Romans 5:12) are called saints
(Colossians 1:24-27); those who were once slaves to sin are slaves to righteousness
(Romans 6:16-18); those who were once dead in sin are alive in Christ
(1 Corinthians 15:22),
(Ephesians 2:1-10); those who were once haters of God
(Romans 1:29- 2:1) are heirs of God
(Galatians 3:29). And to add to the wondrous mystery of it all, consider this:
The God from whom sinners need to be rescued is the same God who provided a means by which we may be rescued (Zephaniah)! This means was His own sinless Son
(2 Corinthians 5:21). This same God is my gracious heavenly Father. What a reason to rejoice on Father's day!
"He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"
Romans 8:31-32 ESV
I am so grateful that along with the unfathomable gift of being called a child of God, God has chosen, in His incomprehensible kindness, to give me a godly earthly father whose view of our heavenly Father has been used to shape my view of our heavenly Father. I told my dad last weekend that by the grace of God and the power of Christ in him, he is a dad worthy of my admiration. It is very true. I cannot express how thankful I am that God saw fit to bless in ill-desearving sinner in this way.
We were able to celebrate both my dad's birthday and Father's day this past weekend. Here's a look at what the weekend was like around the Witte home...
...Hehehe... I'm glad they like each other so much. :)
She is very talented... a woman of grace to be sure.
Katelyn and Rosy... Emily and Ruby
It was a happy day to be sure, as evidenced by the photo above. Mom and Dad are clearly quite fond of each other... what a gift! Mom celebrated her birthday today with her fantastic family and one of her favorite friends: Mrs. Jump, at one of her favorite restaurants: Pizza Hut. 
I am exceedingly thankful for both of these women! It's about time they had a decent photo together!
Katelyn has always been pretty good about finding a solid balance between practical and heartfelt in her gift giving... but I think this may be pushing it just a little.
One of the pups chewed up a book that Grandpa borrowed from the library, but Emily saved the day and drew the rest of the cover for Mom's birthday! Watch out... that thing could be worth a lot of money some day.
Awww... warms my heart! What a great birthday!
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