Are you Ready for the New Year?

I don’t know about any of you, but I feel so unready for this year that has already come.

 

I should have a list of resolutions and goals and plans for this new year.  But, I don’t. 

 

What happened?  I know that there is plenty that I want to change and do, but have no idea what to do next. 

 

I even had a whole list of plans for the blog and can not find the notebook I keep them in.  I always have that notebook handy. 

 

Is this God’s way of saying keep your options open and wait for my plans? 

 

Isaiah 40:31

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.

 

 

Well this was a cool discovery.  I had part of this verse come to mind, I looked it up and it fits my situation so well.  I need my strength renewed.  I would love to learn to mount up with wings, I want to run but I am weary.  I would even walk but I am faint. 

 

 

God is always so good.  He gives us what we need, right when we need it and not a moment before.  So that is what I will do, I will wait and listen. 

 

Jeannie   

20 Beautiful Children Stormed through Heaven’s Gates

I received this in an email a few days ago and it gave me a new perspective.  I thought I would pass it on to all of you.


 Twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38 when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate. Their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air. They could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there. They were filled with such joy; they didn't know what to say.

   They remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day. “where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse. “This is heaven" declared a small boy. "We’re spending Christmas at God's house”.

   When what to their wondering eyes did appear, but Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near. He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same. Then He opened His arms and He called them by name. And in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring, those children all flew into the arms of their King and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace, one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face. And as if He could read all the questions she had He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad.“

    Then He looked down on earth, the world far below He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe.  Then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand, “Let My power and presence re-enter this land! “May this country be delivered from the hands of fools” “I’m taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!“ 

    Then He and the children stood up without a sound. “Come now my children let me show you around. “Excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran. All displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can. And I heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight, “in the midst of this darkness,” I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Jeannie

A Day of Mourning

Today, I have been just shaken.  I am sure that most of you have read or heard about the school shooting in Connecticut.  This school is a school filled with 450 K-4th grade children.  We are talking about kids just 5-10 years old. 

Photo Credit

 

Not only did this man kill many little children, but he committed a heinous act of violence in front of all of their friends and classmates. I have heard story after story this year of shootings.

Photo Credit

What in the world is going on in our country?  I don’t know the reason this man decided to do this and I guess I really don’t care.  There is no imaginable reason for an act of this kind.

All I can say is Jesus please come soon.  How horrible will our world get before He says that is enough?  How far will he let us go?

Dear Lord,
You are almighty, sovereign over all creation.  I come to you, mourning the lose of children I do not know and will never know until I see them in heaven.  In the name of Jesus, I lift up these families.  I can not even fathom what this community is going through.  Lord I know you can take evil and use it for your good and glory.  I pray that you will do that right this minute.  I pray that the hearts of the people in that community will turn to you and seek your face.  Lord I also pray that the spirit of evil that has been unleashed in this country would be stopped.  I pray that you will bind it and throw it into the pit of hell where it came from.  I ask you to open the eyes of this nation and not let this be just another tragedy that comes and goes and gets filed away in our mind and as just another sad day.  Lastly Lord I ask you to wipe the minds of those little children who witnessed this horror.  I pray that you will protect their innocents and not allow it to penetrate their hearts and minds.
In Jesus Name I pray
Amen

Tamar- Woman Blessed by God

I just got this great book called All the women of the Bible.

I thought it might be fun to do a couple of posts about some of the women of the Bible.  I started with the first woman listed in the Genealogy of Jesus, Tamar.

To start read Genesis 38.  This is the story of Tamar. 

In studying Tamar I had a hard time figuring out what to draw from it.  Well I had forgotten to pray first so once I realized that and did it, God showed me something.



So many Christian woman are married to unbelievers, either they became Christians after marrying or made the decision to marry an unbeliever in hopes of changing them.


Can we still be blessed when we are in an unholy union?  Tamar was given in marriage to a man so evil that he was the first man recorded that God killed.  We don’t know what he did but it must have been pretty bad.  Then Tamar, by Levitical Law-Hebrew Law, was given to the next brother in line, he too was evil in the eyes of the Lord, directly towards Tamar, and was killed.  Judah, the father of the two brothers had one more son but refused to give him. 


Judah himself was the only one left in the family who could then be her Kinsman-redeemer, click to read about that.
She would have been rejected by him as well because of incest.  So she tricked him into following Levitical Law.  After Judah realized what she had done he said, “She is more righteous than I”, because he had refused her his last son.


Because of the one time that she and Judah came together, God blessed Tamar with not one son but 2, one of which is Perez, whose name along with his mothers is found in Matthew 1, the Genealogy of Christ.


Tamar did her best to follow God’s law as we do our best to be obedient to God and have a relationship with Him.  Because she was committed to obedience, God blessed her.  Her life may not have been peachy but she was recognized in the eyes of God and her name was placed in a place of honor, in God’s very own Holy word.

Side note:
Do you remember John 1, “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God  and the word was God.  Jesus is the word (hard for our human mind to understand, I know).  So in two ways Tamar was placed in a place of honor in God’s own Holy Word.  One, in writing and also she was literally in His bloodline.


We too can be blessed when our husbands are unbelievers, by being obedient to God’s word, loving God and being in a relationship with Him.


God Bless

Jeannie

Eyes in the Back of Your Head

We have all heard and maybe even used the Phrase “I have eyes in the back of my head”.  We don’t of course, but I know how we can seem like we do. 


For years, I have prayed that God would show me when my kids we getting into something that is wrong so that we can catch it early and nip it in the bud.


Since my older kids we little I have always tried to listen to that voice inside of me that prompts me to do something.  Have you ever been in another room from your child and you get the sense that you should check on them?  Do it!  Listen to that voice! 


I can not tell you how many times I have been thankful I listened.  If you check and find nothing, make sure you don’t disregard it the next time.  You never know what you averted that you were unaware of. 


I will refer to the famous Proverbs 31 for guidance in this area.  Proverbs 31:27
She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.


This is key:  She watches over the affairs of her household.  We need to be actively looking after what is going on in our homes; what our children are watching, listening to, who they are playing/hanging out with.


God even knew what would keep us from doing this all important job.  Eating the bread of idleness.  What is that?  Occupying our minds with other things, examples: TV, the internet, the Phone.  Oh how my mind gets cluttered and totally absorbed when I focus on these things.  I have to be intentional about when I focus my attention on the TV, Internet or the Phone, so that it does not interfere with my watching over the affairs of my household.


What I have learned:  Pray daily, listen and act.  Keeping an ear open to the next room and to that little voice inside.  Take note, I have even had that voice wake me up in the middle of the night for a good reason.  Be ever vigilante.


Jeannie

Follow Up to Girl Power

Last week I wrote a post titled “The Dangers of Girl Power”.  The post talked about how this message of self reliance and strength, that is being taught to our girls. 



I had a comment given on that post and wanted to write a post in response to it.  Her comment was that she learned a great deal of good things also from the girl power message.

Comment:

I'd just like to point out that the Girl Power movement isn't necessarily all bad. I got the Girl Power message - learned to fix stuff, build stuff, get myself out of jams, think for myself...the whole bit.
When I met the guy that is now my husband, he actually found these to be appealing qualities in me.  
My point is that the Girl Power message doesn't have to mean disregarding the contributions of the men in our lives. Like anything else, we need to train our daughters to take it with a grain of salt and evaluate it for themselves.

  I don’t want anyone to think that strength and skills are better left to men.  Oh no!  I just think that we need to find our guide for living a life of strength and courage in the word of God rather than from the world, who has tainted the message.  Proverbs 31:10-31 is the best example of a woman of many talents, strengths and abilities.  The difference is that she was also guided by selfless motives as oppose to the self-centered motives being taught to girls today.  The P31 woman was motivated by a love for God and her family in everything that she did.   


 Just wanted to clear that up!  


Jeannie  

7 ways to get more Bible in your day!

So many of us run, run, run.  How many of us are running on empty.  We need more of God’s precious word filling us.  Here are some ways to get more of God’s word into your life with out carving out hours of your day.



1.  Listen to a Christian Radio Program in the car or while you make lunch or dinner.  You can also find radio programs here.



2.  Post Scripture around your house.  Especially in your bathroom, to read while you get ready in the  morning. 



3.  Place quick reading devotional books around where you spend time.  For instance, in your car, in the bathroom to read while small children play in bathtub, in your kitchen-a quick read while eating breakfast or stirring sauce.



4. Get up 30 minutes before your house does.  When it is quiet you can read the word and hear the Lord.  I know little ones get up.  Put a clock in there room and explain that they can’t talk to you till such n such a time. 

 5.  Join a bible study that meets outside of your home.  The fellowship will be fun and good for you as well.



6.  Sign up for a devotional email.  The site will send you daily devotions straight to your email. Try this one.



7.  Talk to a friend, your mom or your husband, ask them to text scriptures that they run across that make them think of you and you can do the same for them.


God Bless!!
Jeannie

Rest for the Weary

(This was originally written by me 3 years ago.) I have often wondered what the passage, Matthew 11:29-30 "for His yoke is easy and His burden is light", looks like in real life.  We have been extremely busy this summer, especially the last month. Also, a new thing for me,  I now have a garden and everything is coming in, so I have spent lots of time canning and preserving those fruits and vegetables. I felt that this was all very worthwhile work for my family. We also just moved, so I have been getting our home in order along with preparing and preserving food.  Because of all of this, I have let my time with the Lord and His ministry go by the wayside.

  Last week, I was an absolute bear to be around, even I knew it, but didn't know what to do about it. I prayed constantly, while I was busy, that God would give me peace and patience with my family. Almost nothing had gone right and I kept getting bumps, burns, cuts, you name it.

 Today, God revealed to me that I was out of His will, after I bruised my leg and cried out to Him saying " I am tired of hurting”. During my devotion God took me straight to the verse in Matthew I mentioned. I have been carrying my heavy, awkward and clumsy yoke. No wonder I kept getting hurt. As soon as I read this I realized what this verse looks like in life. When we go about our days doing our thing and not looking to be in God's will or asking for His will, life gets hard. Carrying Jesus' yoke means taking Him by the hand daily and walking in his will.

 Taking Him by the hand involves, saying here I am Lord, here is my hand, please guide me through this day. Part of that is daily reading His word. Now, was I wrong in doing all of the work that I was doing for my family? No way! I was wrong to not include making time for the Lord along with that other work.

 As for our other ministries, that takes getting things balanced. We need to set our lives up so that when extras come along, like Garden harvest, we aren’t over extended. Involving God in our lives, as we say Yes and no to different opportunities is key. Pray, Pray, Pray! Put down that heavy yoke you carry and seek out the lighter one. Then you will find rest.

Jeannie

Dry Crusty Bread

How many days do you, make dinner or purchase shoes for you kids and, feel like if you were a full time working mom or a working mom at all you could help to provide more or better things for your family. 

I feel that way almost daily but I remind myself that this is what God has call me to do with my family.  So, that keeps me going.
 
This morning during my devotion time, I read in Proverbs 17:1- Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.


If I were working there would definitely be strife during our feasting.  Our lives just go smoother when I am not working and we do have peace and yet we do have more than just a dry crust of bread.  So, I am thankful.  I hope this verse inspires you the way it did for me.

Jeannie

Simple Faith

This morning while riding a bike along side my running daughter, we had a great discussion about talking to others about God.  I think that I gain the most wisdom as I am talking with my children.  It is so amazing how God uses my mouth to speak His wisdom to their ears.  My husband and I can not take credit for the great kids that we have.  The only contribution we have had is, being willing.  Being willing to be, do, or say anything He asks us to.

                                                                                                 My running Daughter and I.  I got this from Facebook
where she had posted “one of my best friends”  I agree.

Simply being willing goes back to the Simple faith that we discussed this morning.  She talked about having a hard time talking to unbelievers about her faith and what it means to her.  I told her that two things prevent us from doing that 1) Fear and 2) Our thought that we don’t know what to say.  She is a Sophomore at a Christian College, getting a ministry degree and minoring in Bible.  Obviously, it is not only head knowledge that is needed, to know what to say to an unbeliever about your faith.  If you have a willing heart and ask God to use you, then it doesn’t matter what head knowledge you have.

God created our way to Salvation to be simple, so that everyone could find Him.  He does not want that anyone should perish.  So in sharing with others, including our own children, we just need to have a willing heart, God will do the rest.  We can just sit back and be amazed by our great God.

Jeannie

Marriage Moment- Why don’t we need a break?

The other day we were watching Little House on the Prairie, the episode was about The Olesons.  They were having marriage trouble.  Nels the husband was feeling taken for granted and from the looks of things I would agree with him.  So, Nels decided to start a business that involved travel to get a break from his ungrateful family.  While gone he stayed in the boarding house of a lovely young single woman and started to fall for her.  But then he was convicted and returned to his wife who then was missing him and acted more appreciative. 


(We are not in a bar, it is a bowling alley.  This was at Christmas)

During that show, Isabella said “how come you and Daddy don’t need a break”, meaning from each other.  I told her it was because Daddy and I take care of each other, we try not to take advantage of the other and we also try to make the other feel special. 

So, many marriages break apart because of selfishness.  If we are looking out for the others best interest in all that we do, we will not push each other away.  Instead, we will draw each other closer.  This is not just my idea, I can’t take credit for it.  I got this straight out of the Bible, Ephesians 5:21-33.  These verses say it all. 

Think of something special that you can do for your hubby today.  Make him feel appreciated.

Jeannie

Prayer Challenge

A little over a week ago, I told you about the trip to a youth conference I attended with the youth from our church. 

I also mentioned that I would have a prayer challenge for us to do.  I wanted to make sure that I did it at least once before I presented the idea to you. 

So, here is the challenge:

To wake up 30 minutes earlier one day a week and spend that time, not in the bible, not reading a book, not doing laundry, but in total silence, waiting on the Lord.  Now, if you do not have a newborn this should be attainable for most of us.

In our family room, where there is no TV, we have a wall writing.  I love what it says!


Let us be silent that we may hear the whispers of God.

That is my challenge to you and to myself.  To get up at a time when no one in the house is awake and just be silent, waiting on God to speak to us.  I suggest to have a journal in hand just incase you like what he has to say and you want to write it down, or if he puts something on your heart to pray. 

I am going to do a linky party on this next Tuesday.  So, some on back here and link your post about the prayer challenge here.

Here is my button:

The rope in the button relates to the verse

In Ecclesiastes:“Two are better than one, because they have a good
return on their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

When we don’t have each other and God then we become as weak as the fraying rope above.

Jeannie

How do you get connected?

This weekend I went on my first youth conference as an adult.  My teens have gone for years, but having little ones also, has made it difficult for me attend.
I had a blast,  I really didn’t realize how much I would enjoy the kids.  I love mine, but normally get irritated by others.  I think that God is changing my heart.

The theme of the the conference was “Connected”.  The speaker taught them all about staying connected to God, through prayer and about how that is as essential to our life, as plugging in our ipad is to its use.  If you don’t plug in the pad you have no power when you need it.  If we don’t plug into God, through prayer, we also won’t have the power when we need it.

It was so amazing, through the whole weekend the kids and leaders did 6 hours of prayer.  Not once did the kids complain or get tired of doing it.  One speaker said “We can bring in the best speakers and the best bands but nothing can change your hearts like God can through the power of prayer”.
Isn’t that so true.  We can talk and talk but only God can change the hearts of those we love.  I am going to set up a weekly time at our church for the kids to come as they are and have a quiet place to pray, starting this week. 

God also convicted me on my prayer life.  I pray almost constantly, daily but I don’t spend very much time waiting on the Lord.  I normally do all of the talking.  So, I am going to, next week present a prayer challenge for you all to join me in.  More details on that later.  But for now I just encourage all of you to take a look at your prayer life.  How well are you connected to the King of the Universe?

Recognizing The Lies and Saving Your Relationships

Last week I talked about Spiritual Warfare.  Our family has been in the midst of warfare for 2 weeks now.  I so appreciate God allowing us to experience this with our eyes wide open.

I am going to share something with you that has happened a thousand times in 20 years of marriage and so I know that it will speak to some of you.  Mike and I were blessed with a date night, thanks to our oldest Allie.  She offered and we jumped at it.  All that day we had been fine, work went as usual for Mike and my day was busy but good.  He asked me where I wanted to go for dinner, I said that I didn’t care.  He said he didn’t either.  Seeing that one of us had to make some suggestion, I said that I would like to go to the little Mexican place in town.  Mike did everything he could to talk me out of that place so I said that again, I didn’t care where we went.  (I know you have been here, why does this happen?)

Anyway, he wouldn’t make up his mind but wanted me to and yet talked me out of the one place I did suggest.  So, up till here is just normal stuff, I suppose.  All of a sudden in my mind, I was this beat down wife who was never able to speak my own mind, who sacrificed everything for everyone with nothing in return.  O.K. well that is all a big fat lie! Where was all of that coming from.  I even had vindictive thoughts toward the love of my life.
 
Thankfully, the Lord opened my eyes and instead of becoming the victim of whatever was going on here.  I simply talked to Mike about what I thought was going on.  I said  “I think that Satan in lying to me”.   I explained all that has gone through my mind.  He agreed that I must be under attack but also admitted to being partly at fault. 

In the past I would have given in to the lies and pouted and ruined our night.  I am so glad that God helps us to grow and get stronger in our faith.  So, next time you feel beat down by someone or circumstances, reach out to the Lord and ask him to lead you through so that you can conquer those lies.  It seems like a daily occurrence for us, that we are seeking God to help us to be more than conquerors.
Rom 8:37
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jeannie

Spiritual Warfare

From very small I was taught about the spiritual warfare.  My mom understood it and spoke about it in prayer or about different situations. 
I didn’t really have a very good understanding about what she meant until years later as an adult I read the book This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti.  This book gave me a visual, at least in my mind, of what the spiritual realm is about and how it can effect my life. 

Just recently I was reading Hinds' Feet on High Places [Illustratred] by Hannah Hurnard.  I started to read one version that was forwarded by Jars of Clay but I just got lost.  The book that I am now reading is the Illustrated version.(I am a visual person)  I started by just reading it to my children, but found it very interesting.  The book talks about things like fear and doubt as people.  It gave the spirit of fear a face and sort of opened my eyes a little more to the spiritual world around me. 

Now, I don’t see demons and things, I just see that the anger that may come out of nowhere in me or the unexplained fears that rise up in my children, are not just part of life.  They are a part of a life that we can not see, but affect us greatly.

The wonderful thing about all of this is that the part of Spiritual Warfare that I did understand as a child, was the fighting it part.  I was raised to know that, I as a believer, had power through the name of Jesus to get this evil out of my life. 

The demons shriek at just the name of Jesus. (I have not heard this sound.  I just read about it in the bible.)  If you say “In the name of Jesus, spirit of fear get out of here”  it has to leave you or the person you are praying for.  We see an example of Paul doing this in Acts 16:18.


I really recommend taking a look at these two books and researching from the word of God, to learn to understand the power that you have over things like fear, doubt and depression in your life and the lives of those in your family.

Jeannie

On American Motherhood

I found this speech from Theodore Roosevelt the other day when I was looking for material for my son’s schooling.  As I read it I knew that I needed to share this.  He puts, the way that I feel about Motherhood and what I feel is the problem with our society today, so well.  It's just amazing, this was written in 1905.  It is a little long but so worth reading.
Head over here to read.
Enjoy!!

Jeannie

An Internet Surfing Accessory

As I was writing a post the other day I was about to put a link into the post to a scripture verse, which I forgot to do, because I was thinking about…

What a great internet surfing accessory- The Bible.

So many of us look around at the inspirational blogs and run across a post that has a reference to God’s word.  Many times the person who posted will put a link or will even write out the verse they are speaking about.  I want to remind you of how God works.  You all know this but I’ll say it anyway.  God teaches us through things that we run across in our daily life, a song, a radio program and also a blog posting.  So, if a post or verse really jump out or speak to us then what a better time to pull out you Bible and see what else God has to say to you.



You may not need it every time you poke around the web, but you just never know and if you have it handy you are more likely to grab it and surf the Bible as well.  This is just a tip on making you internet time purposeful and meaningful.





Happy Blog Hopping!!

Jeannie

What do you Put on your Face in the Morning?

I have been reading in I Peter this month.  Today I was in chapter 3, it was about wives submitting to their husbands and I won’t get into all of that today but after that part it talked about not adorning yourself with braids and gold jewelry.  Does that mean I can’t wear jewelry? No!  What it says is that we can’t have our beauty come from our adornments. 


A woman with eyes that sparkle with the love of Jesus, cheeks that glow from being madly in love with your husband and smiles that send messages of love to your children.  Those are the adornments that make us beautiful. 
If your face is unable to display any of those things, turn your heart towards Jesus and ask Him to clothe you with the character necessary to possess such lovely adornments.
Ladies, those last two paragraphs are straight from the Lord to you.  All of that came to me this morning and I just knew I needed to share it with you.  I hope it blesses you on this possible bad hair day. 
Ask anyone what they remember most about their favorite Grandma and I tell you, it won’t be her earrings or her lipstick. 
Thank you Lord for that reminder. 

Jeannie

Monumental- The Movie

I just saw this over at Time-warp Wife and wanted to share it with you.  I can't wait to go and see it.  Hope you all can get out and see it as well.  This goes along with the info I was talking about in my Listen people of God series.  I think this may explain things better than I ever could.

Jeannie

Three Generations Loving the Lord

Hi everyone, 

I wanted to share this post with you from my Mom's blog.  By the way the granddaughter is my daughter who was doing her favorite thing ever, bake cookies.  My little ones miss her cookies.  Check it out!  You can find this post here.

What do you think it means?

See the question at the end of the post.

My eighteen year old granddaughter was baking cookies yesterday and out of the blue said, “Grandma, I want to read you something I read this morning that really made me think”.

She went to get a book who quoted A.Z. Tozer. He wrote,

“Sometimes God gives us the desires of our hearts to teach us that it is possible to famish while we feed, that these desires gratify self but send leanness to the soul. In fact, if we ask God for anything, only desiring to get pleasure out of it, we are asking on a low level. For prayer is God answering His own desires: that is, desires begotten in the soul by God the Holy Spirit which are presented in the name of God the Son and answered by God the Father”.

First, I was so thankful that she understood it and that it made her pause and meditate on it. I had to have her read it again. It is pretty deep and I was a little slower than she was to get it. It helped me to break it up into separate sentences.

1)“Sometimes God gives us the desires of our hearts to teach us that it is possible to famish while we feed, that these desires gratify self but send leanness to the soul.

2)In fact, if we ask God for anything, only desiring to get pleasure out of it, we are asking on a low level.

3)For prayer is God answering His own desires: that is, desires begotten in the soul by God the Holy Spirit which are presented in the name of God the Son and answered by God the Father”.

How profound.

1)That the Lord gives us what we “our” desires are to see that they don’t satisfy like we thought they would.

2)That when we ask for things we want to get pleasure out of, we are asking on a “low level”.

3)That our desires need to line up with His desires and they will be answered.

How do we get out desires to line up with the Lords?

Matthew 6:32-33 says to, “ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Seeking God and His righteousness.

Question: What do you think that means? How would you go about seeking Him?
Please send a comment! I will share it with our readers. Thanks so much!

Blessings, Pat
A.W, Tozer, “Missing Jewel,” Essays on Prayer (Downers Grove, Ill.A: Inter Varsity, 1968),9-1