Welcome to my weblog! I'm a home-schooler finishing 12th grade. Here I want to share thoughts and info - mine or ones I've gathered, that I believe will benefit others http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Sat, 26 Aug 2006 14:14:01 -0500 Sat, 26 Aug 2006 14:14:01 -0500 Since I have finished highschool as a homeschooler, and I am now neither a homeschool student or homeschool parent, I have decided to bid farewell to this blog.  I have a replacement though! It is www.alyssathoughts.blogspot.com. I'm even backing up the archives over there with all the good posts from this blog that I wanted to keep.  So I'd be glad if all of you who read my entries here would check out my new site sometime! I will continue to check on you my homeschool blogger friends!  Also (for some reasonI have Eleanor Joyce in mind ) in my Notebook, I have posted a photo essay about our recent VBS! I hope you will find all of these posts encouraging to your soul pointing you to Christ. THE END   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/190996/ Sat, 26 Aug 2006 14:14:01 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/190996/ It is important to eat - eat regularly, eat the right food, eat sufficient amounts of it (and chew it thoroughly!) It is also important to exercise - exercise regularly, exercise according to what your body needs, and exercise for a suitable length of time. It is important to do both of these things -  -Eat without exercising and you will probably become bloated, heavy and lacking in energy.  -Exercise without eating and you will get overly thin, malnourished and lacking in energy. Why do I say such (painfully) obvious things? Because I like analogies, and perhaps this is a good one. It is important to read God's word - read regularly, read a right translation of it, read sufficient amounts of it (and chew it thoroughly!) ...but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. -Ps 1:2-3 ESV It is also important to pray - pray regularly, (1 Thes. 5:17) pray for yours and the other's needs, (Lk. 11:1-4) and pray according to the will of God. (1 Jn. 5:14-15) It is important to do both these things: -Read God's word without praying and you will become puffed up with head knowledge, unable to understand its spiritual meaning, (Ps. 119:25) and lacking in spiritual energy. "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” - Matt. 26:41 ESV -Pray without reading God's word and your prayers will become shallow and trite, your soul will be malnourished and unable to stand up in trials of daily life, (Mat. 7:24) and you will lack spiritual energy. (Ps. 119:28) Isn't it interesting how the physical often parallels the spiritual? ________________________________________________________ A good read on prayer And a good (and not-too-long) read on God's word http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/175715/ Mon, 31 Jul 2006 08:59:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/175715/ I was looking in my blog archives today when I realized that today is the one-year anniversary of my blog! In commemoration, I decided to re-post my very first entry - posted July 27, 2005.   It was entitled "A Thought from A.W. Tozer" ________________________________________________________ I like to read Tozer's writings. This is an excerpt from his article, "To be Understood, Truth Must be Lived": "At what point, then, does a theological fact become for the one who holds it a truth?  At the point where obedience begins. ...Theological facts are like the altar of Elijah on Carmel before the fire came, correct, properly laid out, but altogether cold.  When the heart makes the ultimate surrender, the fire falls and true facts are transmuted into spiritual truth that transforms, enlightens, sanctifies." The reason why we must be doers, and not hearers only, of the Word of God.  Before I read this, I never thought of truth in that way. Comments:? Is this Biblical? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/174036/ Thu, 27 Jul 2006 09:39:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/174036/ The other day we were playing a DVD of John Piper (which I highly recommend, especially for those involved in evangelism, which should be all of us.) As I watched I thought three thoughts: - I want to be just like him. - You cannot be just like him, because you are a woman. - If God wills then, I want to raise a son to be just like him. Now that goal is pretty long term, seeing that I'm not even married, nor do I have any plans of being so in the near future, but if in the plan of God I am ever a mother, I want to women and men who will love Christ enough to lay down their lives for Him. What makes a holy, spiritually powerful man or woman?  The Holy Spirit, who I am not! But, with God's help, I can raise a shell for God's Spirit to fill. And as mother said, "You can fill that shell with alot of Scripture." Today, though, I have - today!  I want to look to Christ and point others to Christ  "whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption." (1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV) And I must look to God to sanctify me to be a person holy, useful to the master, and prepared to do any good work.  I still have too many cold spots and hard corners of my heart that must be melted by His love. But He will do that work, for He has promised, and in this I rejoice: "that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6 ESV) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/168150/ Mon, 17 Jul 2006 09:02:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/168150/ If you like beautiful flowers or fabulous desktop backgrounds (like I do) check out this picture.  It displays the glory of a wonderful Designer. All things bright and beautiful All creatures great and small All things wise and wonderful The LORD God made them all. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/166407/ Thu, 13 Jul 2006 14:08:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/166407/ As a young child, I loved watching movies and videos.  There was probably nothing that I would rather do than settle down in front of a lit-up TV screen. The TV in the basement rarely came on, but when it did light up with Mary Poppins, Chitty-chitty Bang-bang, Sound of Music, or some other video, my delight could hardly be described.  Mother and Daddy were always good about not letting us watch too many videos  (for which I am glad)  Somewhere in between here, I was brought to faith in Christ. Then, a year or so ago, someone sent us two DVD's - not Christian, just secular, old family movies.  We watched one of them one evening,  and the next morning at my devotions, I found myself fighting desperately to keep my mind on God's word.  Scenes from the movie came back again and again. They weren't necessarily bad scenes, but they filled my mind.  In anguish, I thought, "So help me God - I never want to watch a secular movie again."  That is the foundation of life experience on which this blog post is written: My heart is burdened these days about the amount of television and movies many Americans view, including some Christians.  I am not concerned about it as if it were outright disobedience (there is no command, "Do not watch television").  I am sad because so many people forfeit God's best for their life by frittering their time away on legitimate, but worthless things. I am sad that Christians want to watch secular movies. To set the affections of our hearts on things above is humanly un-natural, yes humanly impossible, and thus requires much grace from God, prayer and meditation on Scripture.  It seems that a God directed state of heart is so fragile, it can be swept away by the smallest thing.  And television can crush it so quickly!  It's hard to be spiritually-minded - why make it harder with secular tv shows and movies? Of course, R-rated movies and trash TV are terribly destructive to holiness, but so-called clean and "family" movies or tv shows can also be detrimental to the fervency of devotion that Christians desire to have. I'm not talking about a law.  Clean TV programs are not necessarily a sin to watch.  It's desire I'm talking about.  Do I desire to have a deep awareness of the presence of God, a rich fullness of His word?  Or do I desire to be entertained and have an hour of fun, even at the expense of an hour of growth in grace.  (It is important to remember also, that our desire is fueled by being fed what it wants)  Can I say after watching a movie or tv program, "Oh how I love Thy law! It is my meditation all the day!" It may be true of a few movies and programs, but it is not so with most of the media available today, including the "family" shows.  What makes them so spiritually dulling? The comfortable absence of God. What is immoral? Is it violence? Is it nudity and immodesty? Is it bad language? Yes, yes and yes.  But it is also immoral to neglect God. "Whether you eat or you drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (I Cor. 10:31) Secular movies simply ignore the Glorious Creator of the World, andthat is evil.  Unlike the sodomy and violence that fills many tv screens, this evil is subtle and creeps into the households of a sadly large number of people.  God is not acknowledged, and as far as the people on the screen are concerned, it's just fine that way. Just test yourself after you watch a secular movie. Where is your hunger for God?  Where is your desire to read His Word? I have found at such times that holy desires are far away .  Is it a wonder so many Christians lack holiness, fervent devotion and spiritual power when their brains are tuned to entertainment? Why starve your poor soul? Why feed on that which makes you spiritually malnourished? I pray for people that God would cause them to lose taste for the things of this world, that he would do as the psalmist says, "Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word."  I got this quote from Horatius Bonar on a blog, and though it speaks of reading, it applies very well  to television: "Specially beware of light reading…The light literature of the day is working a world of harm; vitiating the taste of the young, enervating their minds, unfitting them for life’s plain work, eating out their love of the Bible, teaching them a false morality, and creating in the soul an unreal standard of truth, and beauty, and love. Don’t be too fond of the newspaper. Yet read it, that you may know both what man is doing and what God is doing; and extract out of all you read matter for thought and prayer…Let your reading be always select; and whatever you read, begin with seeking God’s blessing on it. But see that your relish for the Bible be above every other enjoyment, and the moment you begin to feel greater relish for any other book, lay it down till you have sought deliverance from such a snare, and obtained from the Holy Spirit an intenser relish, a keener appetite for the Word of God (Jer. 15:16)." Well, that was a long post, but I hope that whoever reads it is encouraged by it, to more wholeheartedly pursue God's word, God's kingdom, love and good deeds. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, -Hebrews 10:24 ESV http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/160901/ Mon, 3 Jul 2006 07:18:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/160901/ I listen frequently to Desiring GOD Radio with John Piper, downloading programs from the internet.  These have been greatly used of God in my life.  I have learned so much truth, and my faith has been greatly strengthened from the sound doctrine he teaches. These programs are biblical!  They have been my "seminary", my theological pattern and my doctrinal mold.  They have encouraged me deeply, and grounded my faith. If you all were nearby I would have probably passed you a CD already, but since I can't do that,  I would highly encourage anyone to listen to Desiring GOD Radio  Here are a few past programs that are really good: I Will Be Gracious to Whom I Will Be Gracious The Faith Grace Certainty Connection Faith and the Imputation of Righteousness The more recent ones are, I'm sure, very good, but I haven't listened to them yet! So if you go to the link, I'd love to hear what you learned from other programs, too! "Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." - Hebrews 13:7-8 ESV http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/160103/ Sat, 1 Jul 2006 08:37:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/160103/ Here's another noteworthy statement from Ed Welch's book, "When People are Big and God is Small" "The object of God's greatest affections is God himself: the Father, Son, and Spirit. He wants his glorious holiness to fill the earth. Therefore, our prayer should be 'Hallowed be your name.' People are most similar to God when he is the object of their affection. People should delight in God, as he does in himself...Instead of the image of God in human beings taking the form of a love cup or a hollow core of longings, the image is more accurately that of Moses literally reflecting the glory of God (Ex. 34:29-32) like the moon reflecting the light of the sun..." We need God. But He was not made for us. We were made for Him. He did not make us to be little need-cups, but little mirrors, little moons, facing Him, the radiant Sun of Righteousness, and reflecting His glory. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. - 2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/159222/ Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:00:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/159222/ There's a gospel song called, "There's a new name written down in glory"  I'm not sure who wrote it, but they didn't know their Bible very well! I was listening to it the other day on a tape (yes we still use those ancient mechanisms called cassettes! :-) and I thought, "That doesn't sound right.  God isn't so subjected to man's will that he waits until someone accepts Christ to write their name in the book of life.  Can you imagine God sitting in heaven and waiting for people "dead in transgressions and sins" to come to him of their own accord so he can write down their name? "Oh look, the white-robed angels sing the story - a sinner has come home! Now,write it down in the book of life." I knew that was not so, but I was having a hard time finding the Scripture text that proves it.  Well, on Sunday mornings in church, we are reading through the book of Revelation, just reading a chapter each week as a Scripture portion.  Last Sunday - Eureka! There it was! The text I'd been searching for: Revelation 17:8 "...The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come." Here is the foundation of my salvation:  "Written in the book of life from the creation of the world." Decided before-hand,  "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 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..." - Ephesians 1:4-7 My salvation was worked outside me in the finished work of Christ, and then worked  inside me when God gave me new birth by the Holy Spirit and called me, enabling me to believe in the work of Christ.  At the moment I was justified by faith in Christ (saved) I was not then recorded in the book of life - I was proven to already have been in there from the creation of the world.  Or as Romans 8:28-30 more aptly puts it: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,  for those who are called according to his purpose.  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." There's an old name written down in glory And it's mine, oh yes, it's mine In God's perfect plan for His own glory To bring this sinner home! There's an old name written down in glory And it's mine, oh yes it's mine With my sins forgiven, I am bound for heaven Never more to roam! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/156261/ Sat, 24 Jun 2006 11:07:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/156261/ These days I'm reading two extra-biblical books - Fox's Book of Martyrs and When People are BIG and GOD is Small by Ed Welch.  In the latter book, I read the most interesting statement: "our lives proceed out of our theology" That statement struck me because it is so true.  What we do is a result of how we view God and what we believe about him.  This theology is not necessarily a stated creed (though such things can be very good) or what we would write on a theology examination; it is what we really think of God in our deepest heart.  Our lives proceed from this. It doesn't matter if I can say God is good, or can quote Romans 8:28 to hurting people, if I don't believe in my heart that God really is good.  Do I believe firmly that He keeps His promises?  Are they my rock in difficult circumstances? Or do I think they are nice-sounding words that can't have meaning when my heart is aching? My life will show it. Do I really believe that since the righteousness of God in Christ is mine by faith, that my righteousness cannot fluctuate, and that God looks at me as righteous in Christ all the time?  Or do I think that when I sin He gets angry at me?  Do I really believe that if I confess my sins, he is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse?  Or do I think that Christ's death was not enough for my sins, and I have to feel morbid and guilty for at least a whole day to "make up" for my failure?  Do I really believe that "If God is for us, who can be against us?" and "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)  It will make a difference in how I live.  What I believe about God is the basis of my life, whether I realize it or not. Do I believe that God is great and awesome - really? I could sing "I Stand in Awe of You" on Sunday, but unless I believe in God's all-surpassing might and value in my heart, on Monday I could go to the mall with one thought pre-eminent in my mind: "What are people thinking of me?" and care more about that then about God. What is my theology then? What about being in awe of God?  If I claim to stand in awe of Him, why doesn't His presence consume my every thought? This is the aspect of  life that Ed Welch's book deals with.  Here is the context of the first quote:  "Perhaps you weren't expecting a theological excursion on the path to dealing with the fear of other people, but our lives proceed out of our theology - our understanding of God and ourselves." Sometimes...we have pretty bad theology, and sometimes we supress good theology.  I believe those are the times we sin. So what I desire to do (and encourage anyone reading this to do) is to fix in my heart and mind who God really is - what He has really done and what He is really like.  And that comes through His Word. Wow - it comes back to reading the Bible. "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence" (2 Peter 1:3 ESV) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/155014/ Thu, 22 Jun 2006 08:23:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/WhiteHibiscus/155014/