Weblog
Friday, July 11, 2008
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I have moved!
For those of you who didn't know or guess already, I have a new blog at: www.momof2.wordpress.com
I hope to see you and hear from you on there.
Have a blessed one!
Friday, June 06, 2008
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My 2008 To Do List
Finished
In Progress
1. Learn to Knit (in Progress: learned to cast on and the knit stitch)
2. Knit a dishrag (for a beginner project)
3. Crochet a scarf for Rachel
4. Crochet a scarf for David
5. Crochet a scarf for Joel
6. Finish afghan for Alex
7. Finish afghan for Mom
8. Make 2 more prayer shawls/afghans
9. Get my bedroom and living room organized. (In Progress: 1/2 done)
10. Memorize 25 verses of Scripture
11. Study the book of Revelation (In Progress)
12. Study the book of Daniel (In Progress)
13. Lose 50 lbs.
14. Get an exercise plan down that allows for cardio, strengthening, flexibility
15. Eat healthfully
16. Do 10 pages on Family Scrapbook
17. Write 10 chapters of a novel I'm working on
18. Begin homeschooling Rachel
19. Get desktop computer fixed.
20. Do something outrageous and fun
21. Write a love letter to my husband
22. Finish the book of the things I love about Joel I started years ago
23. Do 10 pages on Rachel's Scrapbook
24. Do 10 pages on Benjamin's Scrapbook
25. Start an afghan for Rachel (In progress)
26. Start an afghan for Benjamin (In progress)
27. Make a poncho
28. Read 10 books
29. Help in an adult mission project
30. Create and complete a mission project with my kids (In Progress)
31. Paint on items to sell
32. Sell painted items on Ebay
33. Write 3 short stories (In Progress: started on 1st short story)
34. Learn to play guitar
35. Make a hat for Rachel
Friday, May 23, 2008
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Holiness - Part 2
I hope all of you had a blessed weekend. Mine was very full which I will post on later.
When I last left you, I had discussed verses 5-7, so let's look at verses 8-12:
"5- Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own
insight or understanding.
6- In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain
your paths.
7- Be not wise in your own eyes; reverently fear and worship the Lord and turn [entirely] away from evil.
8- It shall be health to your nerves and sinews, and marrow and moistening to your bones.
9- Honor the Lord with your capital and sufficiency [from righteous labors] and with the firstfruits of
all your income;
10- So shall your storage places be filled with plenty, and your vats shall be overflowing with new wine.
11- My son, do not despise or shrink from the chastening of the Lord [His correction by punishment or
by subjection to suffering or trial]; neither be weary of or impatient about or loathe or abhor His
reproof,
12- For whom the Lord loves He corrects, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights."
Proverbs 3:5-12 (Amplified Bible)
Verse 8:
"It shall be health to your nerves and sinews, and marrow and moistening to your bones."
It should be a given that if we are trusting in, leaning on, being confident in God that we would be healthy. Obviously not all illnesses are the result of mental or emotional problems, but it is true that sometimes physical illnesses are a manifestation of mental or emotional stresses. How interesting that the Bible should touch on something that is rampant in our society today. Who said that the Bible is just an outdated manuscript? Certainly not I!
I think it is interesting that some claim to trust in God, but then turn around and add that they are just "professional worriers", to coin a phrase from my pastor. How can you be a worrier and be trusting in God? You can't! Sometimes I think the worrying comes from an unbelief in what God can do or maybe not believing that He will do it for us. I know that personally I have, at times, examined my own heart and found that while I believed that God could do what I was asking, I didn't believe that He would do it for me. How arrogant!!! How prideful!!! Who am I to presume what God will and will not do? HE ALONE is Sovereign!!! HE ALONE has the big picture!!! It is HIS world, HIS plan, not mine.
If we would just trust Him, believe Him and then come to Him with an expectation, a desire, a longing for Him to do something, show us something of Himself without our own expectation of what that should or should not look like, then I believe we would see more of God and we would experience more of His working in and through our lives. If we confess to Him our own sinfulness and acknowledge His Sovereignty and our need for Him and be willing to let go of ourselves and our expectations and allow Him to work in whatever way He willed, then we would be "eyewitnesses to His majesty". It would be health to our bones. We would not have the physical manifestations of stresses such as anxiety attacks, depression, etc.
Verse 9:
"Honor the Lord with your capital and sufficiency [from righteous labors] and with the firstfruits of all your income;"
Before anything else, put Him first! Whether it is time, talents or treasure, we should look to give Him the first and best of everything. So many think only of money, but it's more than that. I believe this verse speaks very definitely to have a morning devotion. It doesn't have to be a long Bible study, but just a verse or two and time spent with Him in prayer - not just talking, but being silent and listening as well. Singing praises to Him. Just being in His presence.
If we are able to do anything for Him, it should be our very best. And, of course, the issue of whatever we honestly earn in income, should be given to Him first.
Verse 10:
"So shall your storage places be filled with plenty, and your vats shall be overflowing with new wine."
What a wonderful promise! He will not just take care of us, provide for us, but He will do so abundantly. He is so very good!!!!!
Verses 11 and 12:
"My son, do not despise or shrink from the chastening of the Lord [His correction by punishment or by subjection to suffering or trial]; neither be weary of or impatient about or loathe or abhor His reproof,
For whom the Lord loves He corrects, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights."
We have assurance of His love. We know that we are His children by the simple fact that He chastens us. Parents don't discipline other people's children; they discipline their own, likewise, God does the same.
If we are His, then we should act like we belong to Him. Sure we'll sin, but we confess it, we ask for forgiveness and then repent or turn away from our sin. We don't allow ourselves to be put in compromising situations, we don't look at inappropriate movies, books, internet sites, tv shows, etc. We don't gossip. We love what He loves; we hate what He hates. We put ourselves in places of opportunity. Places where His light can shine in us, where He can work in us and through us.
As always, I welcome comments, thoughts, opinions from any and all who wish to express them.
Blessings!
Friday, May 16, 2008
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Holiness
One of the things I've been thinking about is the holiness of God. It started with my Bible study in Matthew, which I've now finished, and has continued with some of my pastor's messages and several other sources, one being GermanWrench's wonderful blog entitled What It Is To Be A Christian. Anyway, it has gotten me thinking and praying a lot. After this past Sunday's sermon, I knew that I had to blog about this. In thinking about all of this and going back to GermanWrench's aforementioned blog several times and watching the full length version of Paul Washer's sermon on YouTube, one of the scriptures I have read (also was my pastor's sermon last Sunday) is Proverbs 3:5-12, which says,
"5- Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own
insight or understanding.
6- In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain
your paths.
7- Be not wise in your own eyes; reverently fear and worship the Lord and turn [entirely] away from evil.
8- It shall be health to your nerves and sinews, and marrow and moistening to your bones.
9- Honor the Lord with your capital and sufficiency [from righteous labors] and with the firstfruits of all your
income;
10- So shall your storage places be filled with plenty, and your vats shall be overflowing with new wine.
11- My son, do not despise or shrink from the chastening of the Lord [His correction by punishment or by
subjection to suffering or trial]; neither be weary of or impatient about or loathe or abhor His reproof,
12- For whom the Lord loves He corrects, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights."
I chose the Amplified Bible so that I would be able to elaborate on the verses more easily.
Taking verse 5 apart:
"Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind..."
What does this look like? To me, it's best described in a song called Trust His Heart by Babbie Mason. The chorus is: God is too wise to be mistaken. God is too good to be unkind. So when you don't understand, when you don't see His plan, when you can't see His hand, trust His heart. Because of my relationship with Jesus Christ, I know I can trust Him because He has always been faithful to me. He's given me a peace, often times a verse to reassure me or a song that speaks to what I'm going through. I've been through too many things where He has given me those things to doubt that He is really there.
The second part of verse 5 is:
"...and do not rely on your own insight or understanding."
The most damaging thing to our relationship with God is pride. God never intended us to be alone in this world, to try to do everything or handle everything on our own. He is the giver of wisdom (Prov. 9:10, Ps. 111:10, Prov. 1:7) and we should not reject that wisdom and use our own.
Verse 6:
"In all your ways know, recognize and acknowledge Him and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths."
Is there something hindering God from directing your path? This question has been one that I've been asking myself the last few days. Are my actions pleasing to Him? Are my motivations?
Verse 7:
"Be not wise in your own eyes; reverently fear and worship the Lord and turn [entirely] away from evil."
Here is that pride again. My pastor expressed on Sunday that pride in its greatest expression is to live like we want to and believe that we have access to God's promises. We cannot expect God to bless us when we are living unholy lives. As Christians we are accountable to God for the way we live our lives. Yes, we still sin, but we need to realize our sin right away, confess it and turn from it. This is the only way to live in true freedom.
We as a nation, as a Church (collectively speaking of all Christians) have lost our fear of the Lord. How can we truly worship God if we are gossiping about someone or looking at inappropriate material on Saturday night and then going to church Sunday morning, praying that God will be blessed by our praise and worship time. He won't! How can He? God hears our prayers all the time, but He can only truly work in our lives if our hearts are desiring to live holy lives.
Because of the length of my post I'll continue the rest of the verses on another day, but in the meantime I would love to hear feedback from anyone who is interested in leaving it.
Have a blessed weekend!
LoriBMom03
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- Name: Lori
- Gender: Female
- Member Since: 9/25/2006
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About Me
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I'm a mother of two precious preschoolers and a wife to a wonderful husband of 10 1/2 years. I write for an online magazine called HeartBeat. www.heartbeatthemagazine.com
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According to my son: "I'm just standing here looking pretty!"
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Trouble is not a toy!
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You just can't be Superman in a parking lot!
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