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

What is God preparing us for?

The last of the three topics that I am hearing so much about in the Christian world is: The End Times.

From the time that the Left Behind Series came out over 13 years ago all the way to the present I personally have been hearing speakers, pastors and teachers speaking on the topic of Christ’s return being soon.
 
This is a corny picture but I wanted to give you a visual.
All throughout history Christians have been looking for the signs of Christ’s return.  But until now not all of the signs have been there like now.  You can research this all yourself but I know I have done a ton of research and listen to many teachers on this subject and it will not be long. 

No one knows the hour or the day but we sure can know the season.  Jesus left us lots of clues throughout the Bible just as God did before Jesus’ first coming.  I do have to say that there is no need to be scared or worried about this.  If you are a believer in Jesus Christ this is a reason to celebrate. 
The three topics that I have been hearing so much about, I think are all linked together.  If the second coming is near then we need to be strong and ready. 

God’s design for the family was designed to make a holy life attainable.  When men and women are practicing their biblical roles, then our children are able also to follow theirs.  I know when my husband is leading our family it makes me want him even more and I hope vice versa.  When we love each other in this way it makes sinning against each other much harder to think about.

My prayer for all of us after reading this series is that we will really seek God in prayer for what we can do to claim our biblical role for ourselves and live it.  Also, to lead our children to know what their individual roles, as children now are, but also what their roles as a man or a woman in the future will be.

Jeannie

Being a Woman of Virtue and So Much More.

My last post was about Husbands/Fathers standing up and taking the lead in their family.  The next topic in this three part series is asking the question, “What are you hearing in the Christian world today?” Is it what I am seeing all over the web?  We did a series about Proverbs 31 along with twelve other women, but I have also seen post after post and blog after blog dedicated to this idea of the Proverbs 31 woman and her virtues.

What is this idea focusing on?  Basically, the same thing we talked about with the men - roles.  Proverbs 31 focuses on the roles that a woman plays in her household. 

Wow!  What do you think God is trying to get across to us.  Maybe that we need to return to the roles His word has planned for us.  We have tried to redefine those roles and even Christians fell into these redefined roles.  Take a look around at our society.  These redefined roles are not working, in fact they are destroying our nation.  You can read all about those roles if you visit our series and look in on what the other bloggers had to say as well.

I know men are not reading this blog so I didn’t write the last post for them.   I wrote it for us.  To remind us that if we want our husbands to be the leaders in our homes then the change needs to start with us.  We need to give that lead back to them. 

Many years ago, the Lord pointed this out to me.  My husband was a good man but he was not a strong leader.  Every decision about the kids and the home and many other things, I made.  Once I realized this was stressing me out and God pointed out it was wrong, I began to take the problems to my husband and give them to him and ask him what we should do.  Of course I didn’t always like his choices and I questioned God at times, but I just bit my lip and pressed on.  Today, my husband is a strong and courageous man that I think could handle anything that God sent his way.  I am so proud of who he has become.  It all started the day I let go of the control and placed it in his hands. 

You may think there are things you are wiser about and that you should continue to make final decisions on but, trust God’s design.  His will is perfect and it is his will that your husband lead your home.  Can you give your opinion and suggestion? You bet, they need that?  But you have to trust God will honor your obedience and give your husband wisdom. Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all of your ways acknowledge Him and he will make your paths straight.

As for us, it seems the message is that we need to turn our attention back home.  We need our focus to turn to our husband’s needs first, our children’s needs and then to making a home that is welcoming and warm for your family to be in.  Can you work and do all of this?  Yes and no.  Go on over to this post and see what Proverbs 31 has to say about that and how to seek God’s will on this one. 
Jeannie

Courageous

Many of you have probably heard of or seen the movie Courageous.  The message of that movie is -- fathers need to stand up and lead their families. 
This message is very familiar to me.  Three years ago, a woman I had just met was in our church office as I was walking through and she was talking about putting together a Purity Ball.  I said “let me know if you need some help with that”.  Well, she did.  One week later I was sitting at a table with eight other ladies and we started planning.  I had pictured a small church event but she and another woman had a bigger vision. 

We all had daughters and this was a very important virtue we wanted to instill in our daughters, the fathers were kind of an accessory.  As we started to plan and pray, God revealed to us that this is not about the daughters,  but primarily about the fathers and their role in the family.

From that this same group put together a “Fireproof” marriage ball for couples and a “Calling of the Knight”  integrity event.  Every one of these events is calling the fathers to be in the role that God intended, as leader of the home.  Leader meaning, emotionally, spiritually and physically being their for your wife and children, leading them in the ways of the Lord, as instructed in the Bible.

Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament and speaks to fathers about this very thing.  God was going to be silent for 400 years at this point in the Bible and knew that if the fathers failed to lead their families according to the Word, then we would not have been ready for His Son to enter the world.

I have to wonder if God is preparing Christians for something in which we must all be as strong as possible.  Strong people can best come from strong families led by strong men and our men have been beat down by society for the past few decades.  They need to be reminded that they have all that it takes to lead, they just need to do it.
Jeannie