I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2

In this article, we hope to do two things: 1) demonstrate that parents (or some responsible adult) should bring little children to the Sunday morning worship service rather than send them to a "children's church"; 2) give some practical advice about how to do it.

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children.  (Deuteronomy 6:6 NIV)-emphasis mine

Grandmother is fading fast. My heart feels heavy at the prospect of her no longer being with us.

I was explaining to Chase that his Great-Grandma is going to be in Heaven soon. "Wow! Can we go and watch her go up to Heaven!" Chase said with a most excited and joyous smile.

My first instinct was to explain how this was actually a sad event and people will be sad so he should not be so happy about it.

Wait! The Holy Spirit clamped my mouth shut as I realized that Chase was right and I am wrong. This is a joyous moment. Grandmother is going to be enjoying the presence of her Glorious Savior for the rest of eternity! Just as if she were going on a luxurious cruise around the world, how much happier should her send-off be as she will be spending Eternity in a place so wonderful we can not conceptualize it.

Thank you Lord for adjusting my attitude towards this passage of a life well-lived on Earth to a life with You for the rest of eternity. Help me to avoid selfish thoughts of wanting to keep someone among the living so that I do not miss them. Thank you for Your comforting presence as I and the rest of our family undergo our mourning over missing Grandmother and turn our tears into joy as we accept the fact that she is now with you, Creator of the Universe and a good God indeed.

What a silly thing to say- Life gets in the way. Of course, living life, everyday life with its triumphs and sorrows, is what we are here for, right? In the past few weeks, I feel that I have set many goals for myself and then "life" gets in the way. Or does it? Even as I am writing this, I feel God tugging at my heart reminding me that He is the orderer of my steps and my life and He has planned it all for my good. So I make my plans, and He amends them. That should not upset me! He is omniscient, not I. I should rejoice that He loves me enough to take my life and make it into what He wants.

Out-of-town trips, kid's classes, a sick toddler all combine to make my "to-do" list completely irrevelant. If I fight the "distractions" and get upset and frustrated, that does not do me or my family any good and I am sure that is not pleasing in God's sight. Rather, I pray to God to help me to always remember what is most important in life and to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit as I plan each day. Of course, I believe in goals and plans but I also know that my wisdom is limited compared to that of the All-knowing Creator and ultimately, I must place every day and all of my schedules at His feet as a living sacrifice.

Thank you God for your blessings and for your continual provision for me and my family! Amen.

I reviewed many of the comments on Spunky's blog about why most would not choose to participate in the Wife Swap show. For me, I was not too compelled by most of the reasons given for wives who did not want to participate. What God is telling me is that it is wrong to subject my children to such a drastic change in their daily lifestyle, particularly at such young ages. The experience could be quite traumatizing for them and leave them with emotional scars and nothing is worth that.

I am glad that I listened to my husband's urging and investigated the issue on my own and did not just rely on the opinions of others. I feel confident that God knows our financial needs and He will meet them in a way that is consistent with His will for my life and the life of my family.

This is a response that I penned to a parent dealing with a trouble teen. I based this advice on advice I have given to many families with success over the years I worked with teens and their parents. When I opened the homeschoolblogger.com homepage I came across another parent looking for advice so I thought that I would share. What works for each family may not be what I recommend so I always advocate parents seeking the Lord's guidance and then see if my advice confirms what the Lord has revealed to them about their specific case. Read my advice below. (details have been altered to protect the privacy of the family involved.)

For most kids addiction or other problem behaviors are usually feeding a much more important need that is probably not being met for your child. Usually these needs are affection, emotional intimacy and spiritual longings. I would urge you to try to discover which of these may need attention in your child.

 

I do not know everything about your case but I can say that in many similar cases some variation on the theme of bringing the family closer together and bringing the family closer to God has been most helpful while I have not found traditional counseling therapies to be as helpful in part because they often oppose the first two strategies.

 

 I NEVER advocate sending children in these situations away from the home for any reason (whether you call it a wilderness camp or a military academy). Instead, families grow and heal best when members muddle through the tough stuff together.

 

Again, I am aware that I do not know everything about every home situation but here are some tips that seem to work in many cases:

Start spending large amounts of focused with your child. Do not talk about the problem behaviors. Get to know the other parts of him without distractions. Pretend that you are the wilderness camp staff. Set aside large amounts of time specifically to be with and talk to your son. Take off work or make some other drastic gesture to show how serious you are about this. Consider a long camping trip. Do not look for youth pastors, counselors or any other party to build your relationship with your child. It always backfires in the long run.

Start seeking out opportunities to praise your child and speak postively about him and his future. This will incredibly hard and forced at first but please, persevere. Several times each day, catch him doing something right and praise him for it. No matter if he is sullen and unresponsive to your comments at first, just persevere. Say out loud that you have high hopes for him and for his future and God does too.

Pray. Pray as a family, pray with your spouse and pray alone. Ask your child to pray alone and with you. Ask God for His guidance in this difficult situation. Ask him to protect and comfort your child. Pray that the only legacy your child will receive from you will be a godly legacy and his legacy as  a child of God according to Scripture. Pray that he will not repeat patterns found in you or your spouse as you were growing up and that he is not exhibiting problem behaviors that may have become problems in your own life.

Ask the Lord to search your heart for actions, attitudes and thoughts that you have that are contributing to the problem and not reflecting the heart of Christ who died for the forgiveness of our sins and the sins of our children. Pray that the mercy and grace of the Lord will be manifest through you as you deal with your difficult child. Pray for the Lord to reveal any rebelliousness and disobedience in your life as you train your child. Pray that you and your child will be able to hear the whisperings of the Lord as he guides each of you.

As you read this post would you please send up to Our Heavenly Father a prayer for our family. My husband's grandmother is not doing well. Since we have planned this trip down to Alabama to see her beginning last week she has detiorated. We are rushing down today (a 13-hour trip) to try to see her before her condition worsens any further as she has never met Alyssa.

Please pray for Granny and her health and pray for our safe passage to Alabama. Also pray for my husband's family, especially his parents.

Prayer works and I covet yours. Thank you so much for intercession.

I have a lot to do in the next few days. A doctor's appointment, laundry, housecleaning, library, soccer, church, planning Chase's birthday party and so much more. Last night I woke up a few times worrying about how I am  going to get everything done. Now I know from experience that this is not helpful. I know that things go so much better when I have a more positive outlook and do not allow myself to worry. So what do I need to do? That's right, pray and pray some more and meditate on God's Word. Bible writers knew that we are prone to worry  so worry gets addressed directly in the Bible.

One of my favorites is Proverbs 3:5,6:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

I also am comforted by Philippians 4:5-7:

Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

My prayer this morning is this:

Dear Lord, You are a Mighty and Awesome God! I praise you for who you are in all of your glory. King of Kings, the One True Light, you alone are worthy to be praised. It is you who order the Universe yet it is you who watches over me and my family as well. I lay all of my cares at your feet, Precious Lord. I will turn to you throughout this weekend as I am planning schedules, running errands and planning our homeschool. Help me to remember to attempt no task without your input Lord. I can do nothing without you, Lord. You alone are the Most High and you alone know the best path for me and my family. I will let you direct my paths, Lord. My own understanding is so limited that I feel overwhelmed. I am right to feel overwhelmed for I am worrying about things that are in your dominion, Lord, not mine. What stresses me is no problem for you. Help me to be a good example to my family as a woman who truly trusts in the Lord and places all of her cares on Him. Thank you, Sweet Lord for your eternal watch over me and my family. Answer all of the prayers in my heart as I prepare my heart to follow You today.

The Lord has been working with me on pride and I thought I would share some of my struggles with you. First of all, most shocking to me was God's revelation that I had a pride problem. Yep, that's right- I had so much pride that I could not see that I had a pride problem. I have learned since that this reason is why pride can run so rampant in our lives. It is because it is so tricky and deceptive it's very presence can go undetected for many years. Of course the fruits of a prideful spirit will be seen. However, in my case I did not know that the fruits were stemming from a root of pride.

Here are some of my problem behaviors that the Lord showed me were unequivocally rooted in pride:

• Irritability-things are not going exactly my way so I am frustrated
• Impatience-why do you have to move so slowly?
• Anger-I am so mad that things are not going my way
• Selfish-do this my way because my way is best
• Judgemental- how could you? I would never...
• Disobedient-not heeding the voice of God or godly authority figures in my life such as my husband
• Headstrong-My way, not the Lord's way-my way just makes more sense!
• Unforgiveness-how can I forgive after what they have done

Basically the self-talk behind all of these behaviors is "My way is the best way and the only way and those who do not follow my way will be judged harshly by me." From dealing with my children to commenting on items in the news, I had allowed a spirit of pride to become a part of much of my life.

I had a serious, chronic, progressive illness and I needed healing!First, I had to undego surgery to cut the pride out of heart. Next, I was placed on a medication regimen that I will need to be on for the rest of my life. My medication cocktail consists of humility, forgiveness, patience, love and immediate obedience.  Some days I wake up and decide that I will skip my forgiveness pill or I will only take half of my patience pill. I am still a work in progress in this (and many other!) areas.

Thank God that the Lord's mercies are new every day.

Ephesians 4:2
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Romans 12:10
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Mark 12:28-31
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

 "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.³¹The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.There is no commandment greater than these."

Lord, I pray to you that you keep a spirit of pride far from me. Fill me humility as I seek to serve you better and follow your commandments as given to me in your Word. You tell me that I am to love you and my brother. I can not love if I am serving pride. Continue to surround me with women who are humble, patient and kind so that I may learn to live a lifestyle of humility and love. In Jesus name I pray.

Do you ever feel like you are falling, weighted down with the concerns of a thousand days and nights? I know that I do. It is at those times, more than ever, that I must remember that my God is a lifting God. He is a soaring God. Once I rest myself on His wings, I will soar far higher than I would have with my own attempt at flight. He will lift me up. He will lift me higher than my transgressions, higher than my doubts, higher than my fears, higher than my own limiting thoughts about any situation. Oh yes, I serve a mighty, Heavenly God who soars high above His creations. How blessed I am to serve a high-flying God!

Come on in to the HomeschoolBlogger Chat room for a prayer chat. Let us encourage one another and lift each other up in prayer. Come on down!

Join us today for a prayer chat at HSB Chatters TODAY at 11 am. Click on the Chat button on the HomeschoolBlogger.com home page to the right above the headlines. We will pray for the site and all the bloggers here and take prayer requests. We will Scripture to meditate on and to stimulate prayerful discussion.

Join us if you can!

I am in the mood to praise Him this morning!

Sing to the Lord! Give praise to the Lord! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked. (Jeremiah 20:13)NIV

I have been meditating on this Scripture as part of my regular routine for about six months now. For some reason, today, it means so much more to me than when I first began.

Lord, I do indeed praise your Holy name, today and everyday that I live. May my meditation be pleasing to you. I am so happy to have you dwelling in my house and in my heart. Mighty is the name of Jesus who does rescue us from every bondage and every stronghold. I keep my eyes upward, Lord, toward the You. You are the only true rescuer, the only source of Light, Life and Truth. Oh how I praise your magnificence and I am so very humbled before you. May the Lord my God reign forever and ever!

Have a blessed day everyone!

I have been so blessed by this site! I have watched with such joy as the number of bloggers has grown so quickly. I continue to be wowed by all of the cool features these dynamos keep introducing. Right at the time I joined this site, I had been praying about finding an online, Christian homeschooling community. In fact, the day I posted for the first time on this site, I also started my own blog portal for Christian homeschool moms. This site is obviously so much better but I was desperate. God heard my desperation and answered my prayers in ways I never would have expected. Since I have been blogging here and reading blogs here, my prayer life and creativity have soared. Being around so many faithful believers has encouraged me more than I ever thought it would.

So in gratitude and praise to God for this site, I will be praying for the continued success of the site and the creators and administrators of the site. I will also be praying that the bloggers here will continue to be a source of the light of Jesus Christ shining through our collective keyboards as we encourage one another to do His will in the raising of our families.

I humbly suggest that all bloggers here add the site HomeschoolBlogger.com and the families of those reponsible for it to our prayer list. Whenenver there is a powerful ministry at work, the forces of Evil will rise up to try to impede its progress. The only protection from these influences is prayer protection and I would like to contribute to that.

Everytime I log on, I will say a quick prayer something like this:

Dear Lord, I thank you for the opportunity to blog for your Glory. Thank you for this wonderful forum for fellowship and encouragement in You. Help  me to be a blessing to others who visit my blog and may I continue to be encouraged by the other godly homeschool bloggers here. Bless all who work with HomeschoolBlogger.com to keep it running smoothly. May they continue to prosper even as their souls prosper. Thank you God that we live in a country of freedom to worship you, write about you and praise you, even over the Internet. You are a Mighty God and I will worship you forever!

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

I will also include a brief prayer for this site during the prayer chats that I host here on Wednesdays at 11am. Hope to see you on Wednesday!