I was working on my WDW (weigh down workshop) workbook yesterday, studying the notes listed from the video and looking up the scriptures listed. I came to Mark 12:29-31 when the Holy Spirit began to teach me.
29And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
I have been a Christian for 37 years and as you can imagine, I am very familiar with this scripture. I even made a song out of verse 30 for my children when they were little. But yesterday the Lord brought somethings to my attention in order to make some "course corrections" in my life and I wanted to share them with you.
The first thing that He brought to my attention was that this is a commandment and not just any commandment but the FIRST commandment. AND this is from Jesus Himself! So I began to wonder, what would this look like in my life. What would it look like to love the Lord with ALL my heart, ALL my mind, ALL my soul, and ALL my strength? I pondered this for a few moments and then decided to move on to the next verses in the list. The list actually had Romans 8:2, 5-8 but Romans 8:5 hit me.
5For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
It was at this point that I decided to stop and think about my day. I began to specifically think about the evening hours, from dinner until bed. I asked myself how I spend those hours. I realized that my evening hours are spent with my family and entertainment. We are talking about 5 hours every evening. Does that show Mark 12:30? I had to admit that it did not, much to my shame. I was focusing my evening hours on the flesh and not the Spirit. Then Romans 8:8 says that those that are in the flesh cannot please God. Oh! I really want to please God! Needless to say, I have decided to make some changes.
So, with all that in mind, I challenge you to inspect your day. Does it show that you love the Lord with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Would others see your life and know that you love God by the things you do and the way you spend your time?
I take being a friend, very seriously. I do not lightly say that I am someone's friend. I also realize that although I may consider someone MY friend, I may not, necessarily, be their friend. I came to terms with this years ago when I realized that the person that I considered my best friend at the time had someone else that she considered her best friend. At first that hurt a bit but, as I said, I came to terms with it.
Since that time, I have had many friends, to whom I was very close, that were in turn closer to other people but that is okay with me because I had asked God to give me the friends that He wanted me to have. I have tried to be a good friend to all the people that God has put into my life.
With all of that in mind, I think that you may now understand where I am coming from with the rest of what I want to share today. You see, I consider God my friend but I have wondered if He considers me His friend. I have not just wanted to assume that He did because I have learned that it isn't necessarily true. Consequently, I had a hard time singing songs like I am a Friend of God because I just wasn't sure what He thought about it.
Thankfully, He is an awesome friend and He showed me what He thinks, a couple of Sundays ago. I was listening to a pastor in our church preach a very good sermon and in it he had us turn to John 15. I have read this portion of scripture many times before but God wanted to show me something that day and I'm very glad He did. In John 15, Jesus himself tells us what the qualifications are to being a His friend!!! I had never seen it that way before but right there it was. It says:
12 This is My commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends, if you do whatsoever I command you. 15 Hereafter I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known to you. 16 You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another. (KJV er)
Did you see it? He said that if you do whatsoever I command you then you are His friend! And what was it that He was commanding us to do? Love one another!!! I cannot tell you how much these verses set me free! To KNOW that I AM a friend of God really excites me!
I hope that this gives you as much comfort as it has me. May God richly bless you!
Today I am feeling very humbled about who I am and what I do. As I have mentioned before, I have been visiting Ann V.'s blog, AHolyExperience for a while now. Today I read about Mega Memory Month on her blog. In truth, I have been wanting to commit some passages to memory and have asked my children to do so as well, but I have not been working toward this at all. So, today when I read about this challenge, I knew that the Lord had directed me to stumble upon it and desired for me to participate.
The Mega Memory Month is actually the inspiration of Ann Kroeker. I had never visited her site before Ann V.'s mentioning it today. I enjoyed visiting it and the blogs of the other participants of the MMM. It was in doing so that I was really humbled. When I first started this blog I had so many thoughts about my studies in the Bible and biblical things but, to be honest, I didn't want people to think that I thought I was something. It is almost as if I failed a test or something, because I have had very little along those lines that I felt like sharing since then. After visiting these dear leadies' blogs, I feel that I really missed it back there in the very beginning when I put a hamper on the things I wanted to share because of being concerned about my image or how people would perceive me. Truth be told, there is much I don't share, so as not to be perceived poorly. And here I thought I wasn't a "people pleaser". What an eye-opener!
So, I am going to participate in the Mega Memory Month but I am going to take this to prayer before starting. I want to memorize exactly what God wants me to memorize, especially since I know that He has led me to do this. So, I may not get my passage memorized by the end of the month, but I will work diligently to get it memorized, whatever it is. AND I will post about it, as I go.
I am thankful for the encouragement of these ladies to take on this challenge, and the majority of them (okay, all but Ann V.) don't know me and have never heard of me before and yet, they have been an encouragement to me. I'm going to pray for these ladies as I begin this venture and throughout the month. I'm so glad that God can lead us and guide us by people that we don't even know in person. So to the 9 participants of MMM, Thank You!!!
I feel as if I have had a course correction and am very thankful to God for His correction. I pray that my blog will be a blessing to you; that has always been my intent. So, if there are some reading this, that have yet to take on the MMM challenge, Come On! Join Us! Leave me a comment to let me know that you too are joining in this endeavor.
I was talking to my children today about learning how to spend their money the way God wants them to spend it. All of a sudden, God dropped something in my spirit that I just knew was Him and a God thing. Here's what I told them:
Seek the Lord each day about how to spend your time. Ask Him what to do with your 'free' time during the day. Then 'spend' it as He would have you spend it. In this way, you are learning how to listen to God and obey Him.
Then when you have money, you will already be skilled at listening to the Lord and have a relationship with Him. So it will be easy to ask Him what to do with the money He has provided to you. We have already discussed, in depth, that there is no formulas for this, although there once was and others would have you believe there is. It is all about relationship!!! Ask God what to do with the money you have and then obey Him. He will meet all of your needs if you put Him first in your life and have a relationship with Him.
I hope this gives you something to think about. If you'd like more information on this, visit Gary Carpenter's website. He has some awesome, God-inspired information. There are MANY audios/sermons in the Media section.
I am so full! God truly works in mysterious ways!!! Let me slow down and tell you why I'm full and so encouraged.
Back in December, Cindy Rushton had an online seminar entitled, "Quiet Times Seminar". I have been a Christian for 36 years and have spent time with the Lord for a long time. I've studied the Word and listened to many good preachers. All that to say, I didn't really think I'd get much out of the seminar. BUT when she offered free attendance, I decided to check it out.
As I previously posted, I forgot about it the whole first day but I remembered the second day. I was amazed! I was so encouraged and, to be honest, challenged. All of a sudden, my quiet times weren't quite what I thought they should be. I decided that I needed to purchase the ticket for this event.
See the really cool thing about her seminars and such, is that she records them and if you purchase a ticket, you get access to the a special website set up for 'members'. At this website are all of the audios, the text chat of the members from during each session, links to all the doorprizes and special giveaways, plus extra goodies reserved for subscribers.
Well, as I said, I knew that I needed access to these audios and the missing day of sessions, as well. One problem, I didn't have any money for it right then. BUT Christmas was coming and I put it on my wish list. Well, my dear 94 year old granny sent me some money for Christmas; what a blessing. Soooo, I was able to purchase the 'ticket' to this seminar.
Now it doesn't stop there, because Cindy is such a dear, sweet, giving person, she had a really special bonus running at the time, which I mentioned before. The deal was, first, the ticket to the Quiet Times Seminar was 1/2 off—so I could get it for $25. BUT she also had a special bonus that if you spent $25, you could get a free ticket to another seminar or Talk-a-Latte (TAL) of your choice, past or present.
Since I have so many of her things, I wasn't sure what I really wanted for my bonus. The new TAL didn't really seem like they would be all that helpful to me but I wanted to experience the weekly 'meetings'. I didn't think the first, Running on Empty, would be very beneficial for the same reasons as why I didn't think I needed the Quiet Times Seminar. The second, Just Wish I'd Known, I didn't think I could really benefit from because this is my 12th year homeschooling. I finally made my decision based on how many sessions there were in each. So I took the Just Wish I'd Known TAL as my bonus.
Well let me tell you . . . this has been absolutely awesome!!! Last night was the 4th session and the quest speaker was Jill Novak of Gift of Family Writing. I have enjoyed each night's session but I have to tell you that I came away last night sad, uplifted, encouraged, challenged, and desiring some change. It was amazing. You could really sense Jill's love for God and desiring to do what He wants her to do. Of course the same was true of Lisa Hodgen of Me and My House; it is amazing to 'meet' someone that believes so much the way you do about raising children and home education and not use the same curriculum. Once again, I was very encouraged!!!! I also thoroughly enjoyed JoJo and Felice's talks; all have been wonderful and well worth the time!!!
I highly recommend this special time of encouragement, challenge, support, information, and fellowship. There are still 10 weeks left AND you get access to ALL of the sessions via audio. Plus there is 'Mommy Homework' that is usually something very easy . . . the first week it was give your favorite salad recipe . . . which earns you points that can be 'spent' on reducing the price of future TAL's or weekend seminars or however you want to 'spend' it.
I guess I should tell you how you can find out more. You can find out more about the current talk-a-latte and weekend seminar offerings by going to this webpage. If you decide to join, please drop me a note, so I know to look for you on Monday nights!!! We have such a great time! You can find out about the Quiet Times for the Busy, Stressed, Distracted, Dry Gal semniar and other past TAL and seminars here.
This week we have been studying Genesis 12-17 in our homeschool. I've been thinking about chapter 16 a lot. It says in 16:1-4:
"Now Sarai Abram's wife bore him no children: and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, Behold now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing: I pray you, go in to my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by (i.e. build a family through) her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes."
The first thing that I was thinking about was that Sarai had a problem and was trying to come up with a solution to that problem. How many times have I done that? Too many to count. But then, Abram just goes along with her. The Bible doesn't tell us that he consults God or that he even discusses it much with her.
The next verses (5 & 6) state:
"And Sarai said to Abram, My wrong be upon you: I have given my maid into your bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord (Jehovah) judge between me and you. But Abram said to Sarai, Behold, your maid is in your hand; do to her as it pleases you. And when Sarai dealt hardly (harshly) with her, she fled from her face."
Here it seems as if it doesn't matter at all to Abram. He was 86 when Ishmael was born. They'd been in Canaan for 10 years. It can be very difficult to wait on God's timing, especially for us women, as you will remember it was Sarai who got antsy and came up with this brilliant plan.
So now, all this reminds me of Adam and Eve. It was Eve who was deceived by the serpent and gave to her husband to eat and thus disobeyed God. It tells us in Genesis 3:6,
"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband with her; and he did eat."
She had thought this through and yet the Bible tells us she was deceived. (I'd always had it in the back of my mind that Adam had been the one deceived because she gave it to him and he ate it. I had always thought that she didn't tell him what it was and that he was 'duped'. But the Word clearly states that Eve was deceived; 2 Cor. 11:3 backs this up. And maybe he was but it wasn't by the serpent.) I guess she was deceived because the serpent lied to her.
At any rate, part of God's 'judgement' on Eve was that "he shall rule over you." I think this is to protect us from going astray. Look at what the reasonings of Eve and Sarai produced. (Pain in childbirth, husbands ruling over wives, and two nations against each other for all time.)
So as women, we need to be careful to take EVERYTHING to the Lord in prayer and seek His wisdom. We also need to take things to our husbands, who are a covering for us, and ask their thoughts but also ask them to seek God on the issue as well. We need to be careful that we don't try to persuade our husbands to do something that they don't feel they should do; it just may be that they are right and we are not. (Remember the lessons we learn from Eve and Sarai.)
I am reminded of something I heard in a movie. The daughter was telling the mother that the father was set against her doing something. The mother said she'd talk to him about it but the daughter didn't think it would do any good because his mind was made up. The mother responded by saying that yes the father is the head of the house but the mother is the neck and can turn the head to look at things in any direction she wants.
This has some truth to it. We need to be careful that we don't do this but that we bring things to our husbands and ask them to seek the Lord about it with us, so that the RIGHT decision can be made (not our own decision).
One final thought on this passage dealing with Abram: I remember it always being mentioned that Sarah laughed when she heard that she would have a son (Gen 18:12). But if you look at it, it says that she laughed within herself. Look at Gen. 17:17, "Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed,". I picture one of those cartoons where the toon thinks something is so funny that he falls down laughing. It could be that Sarai did NOT laugh out loud because she was eaves dropping and it would give her away if she did. At any rate, Sarai's laughter has been given much attention, whereas Abraham's has almost been overlooked. It seems to me that they both had the same reaction to the news.
Well, I guess that wasn't my final thought, because I've got another one that keeps coming to mind. In Genesis 17:1, it says that the LORD appeared to Abram. I've heard people (ministers) say that it must have been an angel of the Lord that appeared to him but I take the Word at face value . . . so it seems to me that some how, the LORD, Himself, appeared to Abram. (Please don't be confused with me going back and forth between Abram and Abraham. It just so happens that this passage is where God changes his name, as is true of Sarai to Sarah as well.) How can this be? I'm so glad that some day we will have ALL the answers. Until then, the thoughts that come to mind are that: In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (being Jesus). So, in some form, the Lord appeared to Abram.
Well, I hope my ramblings today have been a blessing to you. All scripture quotes are from the Sword Bible—KJVER.
(Me and my dd, Tiffany on an easy to climb tree limb on vacation in VA in 2007.) These are my ramblings on homeschooling and whatever else comes to mind.
Counting Down
The Holidays are over and I'm not quite ready to start a new count down yet. Maybe I should start a counting up the number of days I've stayed on my "diet".
When I first started this blog I had so many thoughts about my studies in the Bible and biblical things but, to be honest, I didn't want people to think that I thought I was something. It is almost as if I failed a test or something, because I have had very little along those lines that I felt like sharing since then. After visiting these dear leadies' blogs, I feel that I really missed it back there in the very beginning when I put a hamper on the things I wanted to share because of being concerned about my image or how people would perceive me. Truth be told, there is much I don't share, so as not to be perceived poorly. And here I thought I wasn't a "people pleaser". What an eye-opener!
So I took the Just Wish I'd Known TAL as my bonus.
You can find out more about the current talk-a-latte and weekend seminar offerings by going to this 