Be the Light

Storms will come into each of our lives, and it's so easy to lose sight of all that God has for us when the wind and rain are threatening to overwhelm.  This can be personal circumstances or discouragement over how the world is as a whole.

And I am so guilty of this.  I tend to talk about the hard stuff a lot, and it can come across as pessimism.  It also threatens to steal my joy sometimes. 

Now, there's nothing wrong with dealing with the hard stuff.  Sin needs to be addressed.  We should definitely be concerned about the state of our world and the souls in it.  But we can't let that overshadow God's promises. 

Christ took our punishment and has redeemed us.  (Gal. 3:13)

He has promised to be with us always. 
(Matt. 28:20)

He will provide for all our needs. 
(Matt. 6:31-32, Phil. 4:19)

He is our hope.
(Psalm 39:7, 1 Peter 1:3)

In times of hardship, we also must remember Christ's command:  to love one another (John 13:34-35).  Love is so much more than a feeling, so much deeper than words.  It is being there for others, in whatever form that may take. 

At times, this might look like providing for their physical needs.  At others, it may be lending a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on.  Sometimes, this may even mean saying some things that are hard to hear that they may repent and make the necessary changes.

My hope is to be a light shining in the darkness, showing God's love to others.  To be a friend to someone who needs it, to love on someone when they feel there is no hope.  To be someone's rainbow amongst the clouds. 

Let's follow Christ's command to love each other.  Let's help to ease each other's burdens and lift each other up, that others may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.  (Matt. 5:16)

 

I'm an idolater (and you probably are too)

The title may sound harsh, but it's true.  And it's something I feel like we can fall into more easily than we realize. 

When I think of idolatry, I usually think of being power or money hungry.  Or of the classic praying-to-statues-type of idolization.  And I've always felt that I do a good job of steering clear of those. 

But God recently showed me myself, and I wasn't at all what I thought I was. 

You know those times when you're in the thick of an argument, or you're crying out to God about the injustice of it all, only to have your sails deflate as your heart stands convicted?

That's what I felt.  I was praying to God, feeling justified in my hurt and anger as I cried out to God to convict someone's heart for how they'd wronged me.  I asked God to help me forgive because I didn't feel I could, not after how many times it had happened.

I poured out my frustrations, and in the midst of my pain, I felt my own guilt.  I was worshiping an idol fashioned by my own hands.  I was so wrapped up in my feelings, and how I deserved to be treated, that I was totally neglecting God's command that I love and forgive.





It's true.  I've been an idolater, worshiping at the alter of Self-Esteem and Feelings.  I was allowing my perception of being wronged to dictate how I felt about myself and how I treated and forgave others. 

I would be hurt, and so I would withhold forgiveness or withdraw.  I would be kind to peoples faces, only to hide resentment in my heart.  And I would hold my husband prisoner to my emotions, keeping him at a distance or being short with him, because he or someone else had hurt me. 


I internalized the situations, making them about who I was rather than listening to God's word as the authority in my life.  I allowed my feelings dictate my self-esteem, rather than resting in who God says I am in him.


I just broke down, asking for forgiveness and help.  To forgive those that wrong me.  To rest in God's word and the knowledge that I am his.

It hasn't been perfect since that day that I sat on my bathroom floor, crying out to my Father. I still have the tendency to internalize offences and get my feelings hurt, and it's a struggle to forgive.  But God is refining me. 

I've made it a habit to read or recite a verse whenever the thoughts pop into my head.  And I've noticed an improvement.  I'm still sensitive, but I have noticed that I don't stay in my hurt feelings as long.  I've also started looking at issues in a new light, on how I can reach out and show love and grace to people more intentionally.
 

I'd like to encourage you to ask God to reveal any areas of your life in which you are placing too much importance.  It may be your emotions, your finances, your relationship or friendships, your image, or something else entirely. 

Then, after God has revealed this to you, dig into his word.  Let it renew your minds, to mold your thoughts and feelings, so that you can address the issue when it arises. 


In what areas has God been working to refine you in?  How has your life changed as a result of listening to his voice?  Let me know in the comments!

 

II. The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing

Mathew 5:3"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

In Chapter 2 of A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God, we find what lies at the heart of the issue in many of our lives:  putting anything else in the place where God ought to be.

Whenever sin entered the world, the right order of things became scrambled.  We became rebellious towards God and put idols on the thrones of our hearts. 

Whenever we have accepted Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin, but are now slaves to righteousness--to Christ himself (Romans 6:18). He has taken back him throne in our hearts.  Our lives--every moment and each and every action--belong to him now.

In The Pursuit of God, Tozer addressed the story of Abraham and Isaac.  I had always looked at this story to be more about obedience to God that anything else, but Tozer says that whenever Isaac was born in Abraham's old age that "his heart knit closer and closer with the life of his son, till at last the relationship bordered upon the perilous."

Of course, Abraham must have been terrified by God's request.  Offer my son, who I've waited for so long for, upon an alter as a sacrifice?  I'm sure his heart was anguished at the thought.

Obviously, God never intended for Abraham to actually slaughter his son, but he requested his obedience anyway.  Why is that? 

Tozer states "God could have begun out on the margin of Abraham's life and worked inward to the center; He chose rather to cut quickly to the heart and have it over with in one sharp act of separation.  In dealing thus, He practiced an economy of means and time.  It hurt cruelly, but it was effective."

God chose to removed Isaac from the throne of his father's heart swiftly, so that he could be put back in his rightful place in Abraham's heart.  Abraham had come to making everything about his son, and out of love God turned his world upside down with a single command.  This wasn't done to separate father and son, but in order to have Abraham face his priorities and rearrange them.

And we do the same as Abraham did today.  We worry so much about our reputations, our children, how we homeschool, our jobs, etc., that we don't even realize it when we've shooed God off the throne of our hearts and put all of these other things in his place.

So why do we cling to our idols?  Money, possessions, people in our lives, jobs, security, entertainment, etc.?

If Christ lives in us, then we shouldn't be ruled by the stuff in our lives.  Jesus referred to how much control things have in our lives when he spoke to his disciples in Mathew 16:24 "If any many will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it."


Within American Christianity today, there is this unsettling sense of entitlement.  It's taught in many churches as well as over television, that if we will become a Christian that we can prosper, have our best life now, and that all is apparently sunshine and rainbows. 

Most people refuse to speak about what God says concerning things out of fear of being labeled as homophobic, a hatemonger, or the like. 

To speak out on the issue of abortion, even other "Christians"  will criticize you, saying to "judge not" or ask you "where is your grace?" 

We need to wake up.  Christ did not redeem us so that we could have our best life now.  In fact, if we are truly submitting to Christ and following his charge to make disciples (Mathew 28:19), chances are that we will face adversity.  We may lose our stuff, the security of having extra money, our home, our friends and family, and our reputation to those still in the world.  Yet, we can count it all a blessing whenever we face persecution, because our reward is in heaven. 

One of the benefits of when God puts us through the refining fire, and we lose everything, is that we depend fully upon him.  Suffering strips away all of the superficial, and reveals the truth.  His grace is sufficient for us, and in the end God's thoughts and laws is all that matters.

Romans 5:3-5
"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured our his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."


We all must count the cost of following Christ.  We will lose some peoples esteem, relationships with friends and family, and may suffer financially if we are adhering to the Gospel.  But in the end, the only one that matters is God.  If we have done as he has charged us, though many people may hate us and say all types of slanderous things about us, it is all worth it.

We all place too high an importance on things from time to time.  Pray that God rips them from the thrones of our hearts so that we can turn, repent, and follow him once more. 

{Easy} Memory Verse Book on the Cheap!

One of the things I absolutely LOVE about My Father's World is that it is Gospel-centric.  We're doing MFW Learning God's Story right now with Squirrely Girl (6) and Miss Bear (4).  And I have nothing but good things to say about it!

Something that starts in Week 3 is the memory verses from the book of Proverbs.  I had already written all of the verses out on index cards for the year, and I had initially planned on putting them into a storage box to follow the Charlotte Mason Scripture memory system. 

Instead, I decided to implement something I'd seen others using for other cards and such:  a photo album.


You can find photo albums pretty cheap at dollar stores.  We happened to have a couple empty ones on hand, so this ended up being a free project for us!



I let the kids pick one out, and we just added a monkey name tag to the front. 








I'd already printed our memory verse for the school year out and laminated it, so I added some Velcro onto the back and stuck it on the inside cover.  That way, we can change it out next year.  There are enough pages in this photo album to last us for at least a few  years, if we're only including one verse per school week.  If we need to add more, I still think we can manage 2 years worth of verses in this one book.

For now, I'm writing the dates for the week the verse goes with on the memo lines.  I'll also add ways that it's applicable and such later on. 

This takes up a little less space than a memory box would, and I think its also a little easier for us to do.  We can read our verses that we are reviewing from the album, and I can pull the weeks verse card out to hang on the fridge.  I'm loving this so far. 

How do you store your memory verses?  Does a scripture box work for you?  I'd love to hear how you make your cards more accessible in the comments!

I. Following Hard after God

In a previous post, I talked about how I had just finished reading "The Pursuit of God" by A.W. Tozer.  It was really a great book on pursuing a deeper, more meaningful relationship with God.  This is something that every disciple of Christ desires and strives for. 

I'm finding so many ways that Tozer's writing is applicable to my life today. Hope you enjoy.

 

 

I.  Following Hard after God

"My soul followeth hard after thee; thy right hand upholdeth me."
Psalm 63:8

• "Before a sinful man can think a right thought of God, there must have been a work of enlightenment done within him; imperfect it may be, but a true work nonetheless, and the secret cause of all desiring and seeking and praying which may follow."
  It's amazing to me how much importance we tend to put upon ourselves.  We seem to think that all of our efforts are somehow credited to us.  But it is not so. If we think of God, it is because He has done a work in our hearts.  When we accept him, it is because He first pursued us. We wouldn't even be able to comprehend a single verse from His word if He hadn't first opened the eyes of our hearts. 
  
  Out of His amazing love for us, he has chosen to work in our hearts so that we might know him. 

• "Being made in His image we have within us the capacity to know Him.  In our sins we lack only the power.  The moment the Spirit has quickened us to life in regeneration our whole being senses its kinship to God and leaps up in joyous recognition."
  
  Whenever we have truly become regenerated in Christ, our souls leap for joy in the recognition of our Creator.  A sense of rightness, a familiarity that is instantaneous. 

• When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself.  The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation.  In the "and" lies our great woe.  If we omit the "and" we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing."
  
  Pursuing only God is extremely fulfilling.  We are all guilty of adding our own desires onto God, but when we strip all of that away we are left with only the longing for God Himself. 
  
  This may seem detrimental to some:  to make our God our all at the expense of all else.  However, when we forsake everything else, we are able to find the deep joy in knowing that God is our everything.
  
  It's so easy to misplace our priorities.  If our main motivator for pursuing Christ is to prosper, or gain peace, or be free from trouble, what happens when we achieve our goal?  Or, what if we fail to find what we're looking for? 
  
  In life, we will have trials and suffering.  There will be days that everything goes wrong and our patience has been worn over thin.  What do we do when we aren't living "our best life now", despite all of our efforts?  (Don't worry, I'll be addressing the unbiblical ministries of many of today's leading teachers in the future)When we pursue God simple to be close to Him, we find that even when we are sick, even when we are suffering, even when the kids are testing our patience and we feel like giving up, we still have God.
  
  When we are sick, we know that God is caring for us and waiting for us at the end of the road.
  
  When we face persecution for following God, we are able to know that He is fully there and fully understands.  In the end, our reward is in heaven.
  
  And when our patience is gone, we know that we have a Heavenly Father that we can run to.  How wonderful to know that when I am at my wits end, my God can fill me up with his love and patience! 

These are just a few of my thoughts about the first chapter of The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer.  What are your thoughts on the book?  How is the wisdom found in this chapter applicable to your life? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Our Family's Favorite Bible resources

The most important aspect of our homeschool is our relationship with God.  It's one of the main reasons that we felt led to homeschool.  It's also the reason that we decided to go with the curriculum from My Father's World.  We love how it is all bible based.

My Father's World: Learning God's Story includes My Big Book of 5-Minute Devotions as well as the Bible Reader and Bible notebook, so we will be using those as needed throughout the year.  We are also memorizing the Proverbs along with the lesson plans.

As great as I think these resources are, our family still likes to include more Bible time.  In the mornings, we usually read from 365 Read-Aloud Bible Stories if there isn't a reading from the Devotional book.  These stories are short and sweet and include a couple of questions at the bottom. 



In the evenings before we go to bed, we like to read out of one of our other bibles. We've been reading through the Jesus Calling Storybook the past few months.  They kids seem to really enjoy the stories, and the illustrations are captivating. 

We recently bought The Rhyme Bible Storybook, and have been reading from it some nights as well.  It's a joy to read and keeps all three of our young children's attention.

We also bought The Mystery of History Volume I: Creation to the Resurrection.  Although we haven't done much out of this yet, what we have read has been wonderful.  Our kids loved the lessons and we also did some crafts to go along with the stories.  

 

 

Do you use any of our favorite bible resources?

What does your family use?  Let me know in the comments! 

Circle Time

I love how our "circle time" starts our school day off.  It gets the kids into learning mode in a gently way, and I am able to knock out some of our books that we are reading together.  I love that we will be able to do part of our learning together before breaking apart to do age appropriate work. 

I had read numerous blogs about what they were doing for their "circle time", but none of them seemed to be exactly what I was wanting our morning to look like.  Then, I stumbled upon The Unlikely Homeschool.  This seemed to be just what I was looking for! Instead of the traditional circle time we think of with preschool, her family uses a "Start the Day Together Basket". 

I immediately fell in love with the ideas presented in her post, and went to work putting our own version of the basket together.   This is also where we keep the book basket books pertaining to the weeks topic.  I love that I have everything that I need for starting our day all in one convenient, portable place.

What does circle time look like for our family?

• I usually begin with a few songs. 
  These include hymns/worship songs, learning song, and game songs. 
• Following singing, we work on our memory work.This includes our verse for the homeschool year as well as the Proverbs we will be learning each week.
• We then read out of our devotional or bible storybook.
  
• Next, I read aloud from one of our read-alouds.This includes folk tales, fairy tales, poetry
• Then, we read a book about our science topic.On Mondays, we read from the Usborne Science books from MFW.  The rest of the days, we read various books about the topic from the MFW "book basket" suggestions and others we find.
• Finally, I go over any instructions needed for the day.

 

So, what exactly is in our Start the Day Together Basket?

Every week the contents of our basket change a bit since we are using this as our book basket as well.  I include books on topics we will be covering and some pertinent flashcards as well if we have them.  Even so, a few things remain in the basket.

•  Science with Plants
• Science with Water
• Things Outdoors
• Fun with Nature: Take-Along Guide
• The Big Book of 5 Minute Devotionals
• Folk Tales from Many Lands
• 365 Read-Aloud Bedtime Bible Stories
• Index cards with our memory verses on them.
• An activity to keep little hands busy.  (I really like these and these.)
   

As the kids grow, I'm planning on adding composer and artist studies along with map work in the mornings.  For now, this is just enough for a 6 year old, 4 year old, and 2 year old to handle.

 

 

Does your family have a circle time to start the day?  What all do you include during this time?

I linked this post to

Hip Homeschool Moms

The Pursuit of God

I recently read The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer.  I had actually never read the book before, but I had seen some great quotes from the book and decided that it was time to read it for myself.  And I'm so glad that I did!

I read the book on my Kindle, and if the pages of notes and the amount of highlighting I did say anything, its that the book is just wonderful.  Tozer's insight and writing highlights a way to a deeper relationship with God.  It's a book that I think can be of tremendous help to Christians that aren't satisfied with the status quo of Christianity today.

Having been written by Tozer in the late 1940's, the style may not be what many are used to reading, but I definitely think that it's worth the effort.  I loved how Tozer addressed the issues pertaining to the Christian's walk with God.  Each chapter also ends in a prayer, which I enjoyed. 

The Pursuit of God  isn't just some formulaic outline promising to bring us closer to God.  It is more an explanation of how we go about living this.

“We have almost forgotten that God is a Person and, as such, can be cultivated as any person can.” 

When Chris and I began dating, we wanted to be near each other all the time.  I wanted to know what his hopes and dreams were, what his favorite food was, and what made him feel happy and loved.  Through all of this, we forged a strong connection and grew closer and closer to one another.

It is the same with God.  When we become a Christian and are regenerated, we should desire to pursue a deeper understanding and relationship with God.  He has drawn us to himself, and now he is waiting for us to pursue Him just as he continues to pursue us. 

Over the coming weeks, I am going to be writing about each chapter in detail.  I'd like to share my thoughts about the writing as well as share how I find it applicable in my everyday life.

 

Please, join me on this journey!  Grab your own copy of the book, a cup of coffee, and let's pursue our God together!