Good morning.

I don't normally do these kinds of entries.  I'm not sure why.  Perhaps it is because I don't normally appreciate them when I read them on other blogs.  I should, but at this point, I don't usually value them.  I will try to rectify that.

As I was reading, praying and meditating on God's Holy Word this morning, a passage from Simon Peter's second letter has been challenging my mind.  I can see that my mind is not clear, and as I often experience, I struggle to get the real deep meaning of the scripture that can change my soul.  I offer it up to those of you who want to dig deeper into it with me, that we can munch on it together for the building up of one another.  I have made comments on each italicized portion in footnotes below the passage.

2 Peter 1: 1-11 (NKJV)

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:  Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as (1)His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him, (2)who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given have been given to us exceeeedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.  But also for this very reason, (3)giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, (4)to virtue knowledge, (5)to knowledge self-control, (6)to self-control perseverance, (7)to perseverance godliness, (8)to godliness brotherly kindness, and (9)to brotherly kindness love.  For if these things are yours and abound you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For He who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.  (10)Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things your will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I pray that my thoughts from the italicized portions of the above scripture will help to build you up in your faith:

1) His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him  Is this not precious and powerful?  God has given us EVERYTHING we need that pertains to life and godliness through the knowledge of HIM!  It isn't something we do ourselves, but we receive it from God Himself.  This is through the precious "relationship with God" that everyone refers to that sets Christianity apart from other religions.

(2) who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given have been given to us exceeeedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.  God is calling us to glory and virtue.  What does this mean?  I am still trying to fully understand.  (Let me know if you have any insight.  I understand that He desires for us to be virtuous, but what about the glory part?).  Through glory and virtue He wants us to receive the divine nature (to become like Him) by escaping the corruption that is in the world through lust.  Lord, may we ever seek to escape the corruption that is in this world from the desires of our flesh!  Thank You, dear God, for giving us what we need to do this, and bring it to pass.

3) giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue  Diligence is hard work with faithfulness.  Setting your mind to doing something and doing it with all that you've got.  With this committed gusto, we are to build up our faith with moral excellence.  Did you know that moral excellence (virtue) will help build up your faith?

4) to virtue knowledge  We are to add to virtue knowledge.  Where should this knowledge come from?  From our time on the internet or in good books?  I believe it comes from time spent with the Holy Spirit in His inspired Word (the Bible).

5) to knowledge self-control  Self control comes as a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:23).  In this letter from Peter we are commanded to add to this godly knowledge the power of the Holy Spirit to control our flesh.  How do we do this?  I believe we ask God to give us control over our flesh through His Holy Spirit.  I don't claim to understand this, but I receive it with faith.  Remember in the previous parts we talk about, that He has given us everything we need pertaining to life and godliness - and that includes the power to rule over our flesh!  Hallelujah.  Lord, help us!

6) to self-control perseverance  We need to endure in these things.  Hold fast to what is given us.  Don't weary or lose heart in doing good and ruling the flesh.  Oh Jesus, we need You to help us hold on!

7) to perseverance godliness  We must seek to take on godly habits, to become like Jesus Himself in all that that means.  Lord, help us to pursue godliness.  We want to be like You, and we can only become godly through Your help.  Thank you for Your blood and Your Holy Spirit, Whom You have given us in Your great love and unselfishness.

8) to godliness brotherly kindness  Brotherly kindness seems so easy and straight-forward.  We are to be kind to our neighbor.  Do we really do this?  Do we forgive the one who cuts us off in traffic or be gracious to the one who cuts in line at the potluck?  Do we reach out to our sick neighbors or to the new family next door?  Do we bring food to the family who just lost a dear mother or had a new baby?  Or do we give dirty looks to those who do not live in the grace which we have obtained, and condemn the ones whose faith is not the same as our own?  Is my blog full of grace, or judgment?

9) to brotherly kindness love  Love goes beyond brotherly kindness.  Love is the choice of choosing the highest good for another in spite of the cost to ourselves.  Love is what Jesus did for us on the cross and each day He lived on the earth.  Love is waking early to spend time in intercession for our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Love is caring for our children with no expectation for recompense.  Love is the patience that we must hold onto in order to do the things we know we must do in order to raise our children, respect our spouse, honor our parents, and serve our Lord.  Love comes from God.  LOVE IS WHO HE IS.

10)Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things your will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ  This is another of those exceedingly great and precious promises that Simon Peter referred to in verse 4.  All I can say is wow.  God gives us the knowledge, the grace and the power to do what He calls us to do.  Thank you, Father.  Help us.

P.S. Writing this out has helped me to dig deeper and to understand this passage more.  I hope it helps some of you who read it.  Let me know if you have any further understanding or comments regarding this passage, or any other word that might be edifying to other readers.  God bless you today.

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A sweet young Lady in Waiting asked some very important questions.  When I began telling her what the Lord has done in my life in answer to her questions, I realized this was a blog entry that had to be posted.  If you want to answer these questions too, let me know.  I would find your answers very interesting.

What dreams did you give up to be a stay at home mom?

None.  I always wanted to be a wife and the mother to my children.  I spent the first five years of my life out of high school doing mission work and waiting for God to bring me a husband.  I had had a dream of becoming a medical missionary, but I laid that on the altar as I followed Jesus step-by-step. 

After five years of working as a missionary, God called me to go back home and go back to school.  I was anxious by then because He hadn't given me a husband yet, but His timing is best.  (I had also grown up in a family with no father, so I had been trained that you should go to college to have something to fall back on in case you ever became a single parent).  By this time, I decided that doing training as a nurse would be more practical than training as a doctor because of the time requirements (eleven years of school/residency versus 2-4 years as a nurse).  I started back to school with this goal, but then I found out about physician assistants (PA's) and finished school as a PA in 4 1/2 years.  While I was in school, God brought me my husband.  I was 26 when we married.  When I finished school, I started working as a PA full-time. 

When I was 29, after a year of working as a PA, my first daughter was born.  I still had a commitment to work for another year at this location in northeast Kansas, but it was terrible.  I realized that my heart was to be home with my daughter.  My husband stayed home with her and did a wonderful job, but I was very jealous!  I began to pray that God would allow me to stay home with my children, and that my husband could support us.  Nineteen months later I gave birth to my second daughter.  By then I had finished my commitment in Kansas, and we had moved to Illinois, but I still had to work full-time while my husband stayed home with the girls.  Anyway, when my second dd was 4, I found out I was pregnant with my 3rd dd.  I cried out to God to make it possible for me to be home at least a year with my girls, so I could breastfeed without pumping, and homeschool both girls. 

To make a long story short, by January of that year, my dh had a full-time job and I was able to cut back my hours to 1 1/2 days a week!  I was thrilled!  By April, I was able to bring my first dd home from a very unhappy private school experience to homeschool her.  In July my third dd was born, and I began what I thought would be a year's maternity leave.  The next fall I was able to homeschool both girls and be the stay-at-home Mom I longed to be.  A year later, the Lord called us as a family into full-time mission work again (which had been another of my dreams all along). Last November we moved to where we currently live and work full-time for God. 

I have no desire to go back and work full-time in the secular world, but God's dreams He placed in my heart have grown and come to pass.  I am a full-time Mom to three lovely girls with a boy on the way; I homeschool my children; I am a medical missionary; and I live in the most beautiful place on earth serving the Creator of the world.

What was your first idea that you wanted to HS?

When my first dd was in private school (public schools in our area were overcrowded and never were an option for us), she was miserable.  She hated school and cried everyday we drove her to school (Fortunately she only went to school 3 days a week).  I decided that if we didn't listen to her and stand up for her needs, no one would.  One month before school was out, we pulled her from school and I began homeschooling her.  I knew I'd be able to stay home with her for a year to homeschool, while I was off for maternity leave with my youngest dd, but since then the Lord has made it possible for us to continue.  Now I am in my 3rd year of homeschooling, and I hope never to turn back.

I hope this encourages someone whose dreams still linger in the future.  Trust in God!

Carol

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