Sep. 30, 2007 Missionary Monday
Well, technology is a wonder and for all the evil spread by it there are wonderful, awesome things that happen, too. As with anything, it's all in the hands (and hearts) that use the tool. For instance, my friend Eileen is able to see digital photos of the children  they are going to be bringing into their family from Ethiopia. Friends in a dangerous country are able to get messages to family and friends at home that they are doing well and even having a chance to witness among the chaos! And thirdly, I have learned that the friend of a friend has a real heart and burden for the millions of lost souls in Japan. Since my oldest son just returned from a trip there and my second son's best friend has been learning Japanese for several years it just drew me in (and Audrey does a great job on her blog!). Start HERE to learn how her journey has progressed since she arrived in Tokyo in July and spend the day praying for her today. Follow her journey and look at her pictures (I love pictures!) and Audrey - May the Lord lift you up and bless you as you bend your knees and heart for the Japanese people today and every day. Today we pray this scripture for you: "For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:14-21 |
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Jun. 13, 2007 From a friend
A friend emailed this to me this week from a study she is doing in Isaiah. Neat.
Our Christian Calling. And what are the servants of God called to? We need a strong dose of Isaiah 6 to counter the ‘prosperity gospel’ of these days. Which of the true prophets were wealthy and comfortable? Where was the palace Jesus Christ lived in on earth? Which of the apostles died in his own bed? It is amazing that contemporary followers of Jesus and the apostles and prophets can speak of their Christianity as though it were a stock investment. Jesus did not call his followers to take up their portfolios and follow him. Neither did the Father of the Lord Jesus call Isaiah to worldwide success with millions of followers trailing after him wide-eyed, pressing cash contributions upon him.
Where are the Christians today who will leave their worship palaces and their luxury automobiles and their stock options to take up the cross of Christ even in sacrificial giving to the cause of Christ? Where are the young people who will stop looking for careers in sports and entertainment and rather choose, like the gifted cricket player CT Studd, to become nobodies in order to tell the broken and the outcast of the holy God who has died for them because he loves them? Of course there are such persons today, and there will be until the Lord returns. But in Christian America there are not enough. The fire has not touched our lips so that we can taste the candy better. Nor has it touched our lips so that we can become golden-tongued orators. Rather, the burning sacrifice of Christ has been laid on us so that we too will be able to lay down our lives for the gracious God and for those who will hear whenever that becomes possible.
Taken from Oswalt’s commentary on Isaiah, chapter 6.
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Mar. 28, 2007 Prayer Requests
Pls pray for a sweet couple who are serving in China (the two my dd stayed with earlier this year). The wife has had to unexpectedly return to the US because she has medical problems and her sister is in ICU (for 21 days now) with a strange infection following surgery. Pray for: 1) peace for the husband left in China and that the opportunities to share will continue to grow, 2)doctors' wisdom for treating both the wife and her sister, 3) healing for both if it is God's will, 4) peace and strength for the elderly parents while their two daughters face these problems and 5) all financial burdens will be provided.
Thank you!!
-F
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Our state "recommends" annual standardized testing and "most" homeschoolers comply since we have a very good law currently on the books. So next week we will spend three full days "testing". Personally I don't mind because it helps me to evaluate where we might need to spend less or more time although I really disagree with lots and lots of things someone thinks a "standard" second-grader should know. Wouldn't it be something to see questions about Biblical characters, books of the Bible, how to treat your pesky older brother with love, etc. on a "standardized" test? What would be "profitable for reproof and correction" on a test? I think maybe Deut. 6:5-6, Leviticus 19:18, John 3:16, 1 Corinthians 13:13, Philippians 4:13, and for vocabulary and English let them list all ten commandments in their own words. As an essay question (or "social studies") maybe they could tell of a time when it was hard to show love to a "neighbor" but they did it anyway. And for math they could count their blessings, name them one by one.... hmmm.... That's my idea of a "good" test!
-Faye |
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Ever so often I get reminded of the Bible story about Joshua and the Israelites placing the 12 stones on the other side of the Jordan to remind their children of what the LORD had done for them.  So ever so often I'm going to blog here about a "stone" - some of them recent, some a little older, but all of them reminders of how gracious and good our GOD is and always will be!
Isaiah 57:17-19
I was enraged by his sinful greed;
I punished him, and hid my face in anger,
yet he kept on in his willful ways.
I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will guide him and restore comfort to him,
creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel.
Peace, peace, to those far and near,"
says the LORD. "And I will heal them."
Eleven years ago this spring the LORD accepted my greedy, selfish half-hearted decision to leave behind a very lucrative career and come home to be the wife and mother HE had created and called me to be. It meant our family went from a high income to below "poverty" level, it meant selling our home, a car and anything else of value just to help pay off debts and still we would be left with some debt and take a major step down in the size and quality and location of our home. We closed on our "new" 50+ year-old home needing major repairs and were due to close on our other home in 3 days. The night before our home we were selling was to close, Hurricane Fran made her abrupt and destructive appearance. We were left with two homes with damage, the one we just bought now having an oak tree of over 8' in diameter smashed into the front of the house. Insurance would pay a maximum of $1000 to remove it and the lowest quote was for $8000!! So we took the $1000 from the insurance, purchased a nice chain saw and paid a friend to help my hubby for the next 4 weeks to remove the tree (amidst many prayers of mine to keep them safe!!). The purchasers of our other home backed out and for the next 17 months we struggled to make two mortgage payments on less than $10k a year income! The LORD had to purge our greed and HE had to do it in a major way because our whole lives (about 35 years) had been lived to worship the dollar and what it could buy. Over and over I was tempted by job offers to return to my previous work and leave the home, leave behind our commitment to follow the Lord and homeschool. Over and over I struggled with sticking to that commitment when bills looked impossible to pay. Over and over the LORD proved faithful and true to provide (always at the last moment so that I would remember that it was HIM providing and not of ourselves!!). SO stone #1 represents what the LORD did to bring me home. For a "Type A", always-in-control, always-vowing-to-have-what-my-poor- parents-never-could-give-me person it was a tough lesson. I like to remember it, though, so that I am not tempted to slide gradually back into that old "what can I get" way of thinking. And I want to set it as a stone to my children and grandchildren to see what the LORD can do - even with stubborn, greedy, very self-centered people HE WILL use us for HIS will and HIS Kingdom if we just submit to Him. So easy to say, so easy to know, so often too hard to accept - just submit. But He IS faithful and provides in ways we cannot imagine and will "never leave us or forsake us". As the scripture above says, He knows our wicked hearts BUT He heals us anyway! Praise Him for that and so many other things He does for us that are undeserved...............
Only one life, will soon be past,
Only what's done for Christ will last!
-F
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Feb. 17, 2007 Ok, I need rehab...
I am definitely a "book-aholic". Our library system allows each card to have 100 books checked out at a time and yep... you guessed it... I hit the limit!! Now before you think I'm completely crazy let me explain that we live less than 2 miles inside the county line of a rural county and we pay a fee to have a public library card inside the other "urban" county. Of course we have only one card for the whole family - but 100 books??!! Well, I just think I need therapy (or more time to read!).
Speaking of reading, one of the best books I've read in a while is "Messy Spirituality" given as a gift to us by good friends at Christmas. 
Here's an excerpt from part of it (chapter 6):
"Spiritual growth is not running faster, as in more meetings, more Bible studies, and more prayer meetings. Spiritual growth happens when we slow our activity down. If we want to meet Jesus, we can't do it on the run. If we want to stay on the road of faith, we have to hit the brakes, pull over to a rest area, and stop. Christianity is not about inviting Jesus to speed through life with us; it's about noticing Jesus sitting at the rest stop..........Sin does not always drive us to drink; more often it drives us to exhaustion. Tiredness is a equally as debilitating as drunkeness. Burnout is slang for an inner tiredness, a fatigue of our souls. Jesus came to forgive us all of our sins, including the sin of busyness. The problem with growth in the modern church is not the slowness of growth but the rushing of growth. Jesus came to give us rest......... Rest happens when we say one simple word, "No!". Rest is the ultmate humiliation because in order to rest we must admit we are not necessary, that the world can get along without us, that God's work does not depend on us. Once we understand how unnecesary we are, only then might we find the right reasons to decide to be with Jesus instead of working for Him......."
Wow. I needed to hear that!!! May you have a day of rest IN Jesus, too!
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Feb. 7, 2007 Blessed be the Name
Here's a song that you've probably heard on the radio or even sang yourself, but last week this "familiar" tune suddenly struck my heart. It was written after the writer had been studying the book of Job and crying out to the Lord in "hard places". I have sung it (in my car with my poor children having to listen to me at full volume!) and focused on the "plentiful/sun shining days" but was convicted that my praise should be even louder on those dark days. Amazing that the LORD can give us the ability to do that, isn't it? Because it's not "human" or "normal" for us to praise Him in the dark or hard times, but it IS so very easy to give Him praise in the hard times if we only ask HIM to put the praise there - He really does!
Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name
Blessed be your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name
Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name
Blessed be your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's all as it should be
Blessed be your name
Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be your name
Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, Blessed be your name
(All photos above were taken by my son and are on his website )
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Feb. 6, 2007 Confessions of a Reluctant Helper
I have to admit something. Last Saturday I was scheduled to help at a "Homeschooling High School" meeting. I had an 18yo who had spent Friday night throwing up (I can only remember one other time in her life she had done that; usually she just suffers through a stomach bug looking like Yota or some other green thing). Anyway, we had run out of firewood during the end of the week, needed to split and stack wood for us and my MIL, my 4yo was still having "runny potty" from the same crud my 18yo was battling, my dirty laundry had somehow bred like rabbits overnight, my floors were strewn with toys and dust bunnies and we were supposed to have friends from out of state coming later in the afternoon. So I was very reluctant, and even resentful, as I headed out the door a little after 9am on Saturday to help explain SAT/ACT/CLEP/AP testing to other Homeschooling Moms. But I went. And, well, you know what happened, it's what always happens when we do what's right. Yep, it was the biggest blessing to me. Over and over the 8 Moms who were there were telling the 2 of us who had brought what little wisdom we have to give to them (and lots of handouts with website addresses!) that they were so thankful and so uplifted. They really talked with each other more than we talked with them, and so each of them got encouragement in an area she needed. Two Moms gave me big hugs at the end of the meeting with tears and said they felt like they could "do" High school now, they knew the Lord was calling them to do so but just felt inadequate. And when I got home, what do you think happened? Two other people had "just happened" to go by my MILs while my hubby and BIL were splitting and stacking wood and they helped the whole time (each of them twice as strong and fast as me!). And before we could get started on splitting here at the house my 20yo son returned home earlier than expected and was able to help here, too. My 4yo had no further umm.... accidents, and our friends from out of state decided they weren't coming since they didn't want to be exposed to the bug my 18yo had. All in all, not only was I truly blessed but my time was more than redeemed. Isn't God good to do that? Makes me ashamed to think of the times I don't go the extra mile to help out someone, a fellow homeschooler, a neighbor, a friend, a stranger. Lord, help me remember that laundry and dust bunnies will wait.
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Jan. 24, 2007 Just three weeks into a new year...
and I'm struggling to keep up with my motivation to stay on schedule, feeling a little overwhelmed. In the past 6 weeks we've dealt with the major decision of my son to leave West Point after 18months of grueling challenges (which was after two years of working every day to get in), my MILs scare with an abnormal mammogram (PTL - everything is fine!! no recurrence of lymphoma or any new problems), me passing a kidney stone 3 days before Christmas, regular Christmas and New Year stress and joy, sending my daughter off half-way around the world for 3 weeks and her return, changes in curriculum since her college classes were full, death of one uncle, cancer battle with another, death of a dear friend's father, death of a college roommate of my son's, more diabetes problems with my hubby, several upsetting incidents with our homeschool support group, and then there's laundry, teaching children, grocery shopping and cooking, church nursery and Awanas to help with, college applications and graduation stuff still not completed, taxes to be filed....... Anyway, I know you have a similar list but do you know what? Just writing it all down helps me to understand why I feel tired already! And most of all it helps me see that my Lord knew all these things before they happened - no surprises to HIM!! And I can see how He has prepared me to meet these things, has helped me to deal with each of them, has allowed me to see His Hand in each and every one of them!! Isn't it just mind-blowing to think that the God and Creator and Sustainer of the universe with its millions of stars and minuet atoms and vast power has taken the time and love to worry about these little things in this little life? Amazing. Absolutely amazing. He is ................. I don't know - you fill in the description because it's beyond me!!
-F |
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Jan. 2, 2007 In sorrow or pain...
We are grieved at the sudden and unexpected loss of a 21yo friend. I didn't know how to express my sorrow and yet my trust in the sovereign will of our LORD and happened to check Juldos' blog today. What a sweet reminder that we cannot see or understand His ways and yet we know in our hearts that even a deep, grievous heart can remain secure in His hands. Please keep the family in your prayers as well as this young man's friends and fellow students.
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