Blessed Beyond Belief

Eph 5:33 says 33 Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to ( S ) love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she ( T ) respects her husband. phobeo ̄ - to be alarmed ; by analogy to be in awe of, that is, revere: - be (+ sore) afraid, fear (exceedingly), reverence. So practically it is an awe and reverence that causes one to follow another. And specifically it is displayed in a wife who admires & esteems her husband so much that her behavior and words convey the esteem she feels in her heart & she joyfully follows his authority. Now with that definition in mind: Raise your hand if you excel in the area of respecting your husband. So as you can see by looking around , this is an area where we as women tend to be especially weak and tempted in. Because we often need to inspired pay attention to this area, we are going to go over a list of practical ways you can show respect to your husbands, and after that...

Teaching in the Mileu (In the midst of life) continued: Last year another advertisement that came up was “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”. Yeah, we had the pleasure of ride alongside this baby for weeks as it was pasted to the sides of buses for every kid in the world to see. And it wasn’t long before a sweet little innocent voice from the back said “Mommy, what’s a porno?” My heart sank because of the utter depravity of our society and pride of our utter depravity to wear it on our sleeves. Even so I had just been presented with another opportunity to teach in the mileu. “Sweetheart, pornos are pictures or movies of people being immodest & committing immorality” (The only reason I could explain it this way was because I had already laid the foundation for defining the word immorality at a previous time, if I had not, the moment would have been awkward and fearful for me) “And God hates pornography, and we should too. When we see it, we must turn our eyes away from it. When w...

Last year a mom approached me and asked me about how we approached the topic of sex with our girls. From that conversation we planned to have a informal moms night where I would teach how we did it in our home and provide an opportunity for moms to share what has worked for them. Last night, a mom mentioned to me that she noticed how open we are about talking to our kids about the topic of sex, love & relationships. She asked me some questions and it got me to thinking about this topic again. What we are doing in our home is STARKLY different from how I was raised and how this subject was broached by my parents as a young person. Many parents find this topic intimidating and awkward to say the least. And because it is so awkward they postpone bringing it up. Moms, I want to challenge you to rethink waiting and ask yourself if now might be the right time to begin to introduce your children to the topic of God's view on sex. I pulled up the file I had written and wanted ...

Written on 7/23/07 Two nights ago before dinner Maddie and I were talking about how we missed the rain, and wished it would rain. Right before we began to pray she said "Mommy can I pray that God would make it rain?" I said yes you can, but Maddie, it probably won't rain. So Maddie prayed, "...and God can you please make it rain?" Tim and I told her don't be dissapointed if God doesn't make it rain, because it would have to take a real miracle for it to rain in the middle of July. God will probably answer your prayer with a no. Last night while Kayla was taking out the trash cans, I felt a wet thing hit my arm. I looked up and saw nothing. I felt another, I said "Kayla I felt a raindrop! It is raining! Let's run to tell Maddie" All the way home (she takes the neighbor cans out) we felt drops, and I couldn't stop from tearing up and felt as if my heart was going to burst. We celebrated in the front...

Joshua 4 Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, ..... and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever. I have often pondered the Old Testament ritual of setting up memorials for remembrance of what the Lord has done in the lives of His people. I ponder this because I so easily forget the mighty things that God does on a regular basis in my life. I wish that I had memorials to remind my feeble sin laden mind of the wonderfully kind and personal God I serve. In the thick of the day to day when life is hectic for me and it is difficult for ...

1 Cor 10:23 All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Maddie was given an Alvin & the Chipmunks Christmas Cd recently. The old unreformed legalistic me would have promptly thrown it into the trash because it is not Christian, and thus inherently evil. The new reformed non-judgmental me thought it through and decided there was nothing inherently immoral and evil about the CD and allowed it into my home. After a few weeks of playing it, I found many members including myself were having the songs repeating in our minds when our minds were idle. Christmas, Christmas time is near Time for toys and time for cheer We've been good, but we can't last Hurry Christmas, hurry fast Want a plane that loops the loop Me, I want a hula hoop We can hardly stand the wait Please Christmas, don't be late. We would sing in our minds and out loud. It was something our brains just went to when they we...

Today I had one of those moments when I got to get a glimpse of what my life might have looked like without Jesus Christ. Of what my children might be like if I had not received good teaching that taught me that the Bible has the foundations for Christian parenting in it. That God's way in parenting as in all things is the BEST way. I have to give a disclaimer here. I am about to boast. But I am not going to boast that I am a wonderful parent. I am not going to boast that I have wonderful children. I am not going to boast that I was smart enough to figure out how to do it right. I am going to boast in the Lord. 1 Cor 1:31 says “L ET HIM WHO BOASTS , BOAST IN THE L ORD .” And I have to tell you that I am boasting in the fruit of Biblical parenting. Today we stopped by Walgreens. The minute the door opening I heard this piercing scream and I instantly turned to see who was being assaulted. Surely someone's life is being threatened! And my eyes met an all too familiar site...