Old Testament

Last semester I took a New Testament/Old Testament Survey class as part of SWI. Unfortunately it is a 6 week class and so we spent only 3 weeks on each part. Might I point out that that is not nearly enough time to cover that much Scripture! But it is what it is. I learned so much in that 6 weeks. I read the whole of the New Testament in about 8 weeks and portions of the Old Testament. This class seriously challenged me in the Old Testament. I have read the entire Bible at some point in my life, but like many Christians just saw the Old Testament as history and not Scripture so much. I believed it was all true but again as history. Dr. Betts pointed out to us that in the New Testament whenever they talked about the Scriptures being good for teaching, rebuking, admonishing, guiding etc, that they were referring to the Old Testament. The New Testament had not been put together! Hello, why had I not realized this before? This has challenged me to go back and read the Old Testament through thoroughly and closely to see what God has to tell us about Himself and about Christ before the New Testament existed. It has been an interesting ride thus far, being challenged and stretched. Learning how the Old and New Testaments work together. I have a lot of questions that I am reading and researching about and discovering more about our "Jewish Roots". I pray for clarity and guidance and that I would live a life pleasing to the Lord. It is a daily battle to know what all that means, but I know it comes back to the greatest commandments, Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

Biblical Homemaking

I touched a bit on this a couple of posts ago, but a friend challenged people on her blog to summarize their focus for 2012 in a work or two. Biblical Homemaking is now my focus, my theme, or whatever you would like to call it. It is a process. Some days are wonderful. Some days are painful. But ultimately I want to become more like Jesus in my home and keep my home the way that God designed. I hope as I go on this journey I will remember to post what I'm learning that it might help someone else. I know homemaking does not look the same for everyone, but I find it encouraging to hear from others on their journey to discover Biblical Homemaking. So, let the journey begin!

Lesson Learned

November and December ended up a bit crazier than we had anticipated and as a result we ended up with a "7 week vacation". By that I mean that we did not do school or have a schedule of any kind from the week of Thanksgiving until the second week of January. We learned the hard way this is NOT good for kids! We did travel and see family and friends during 2 1/2 of those weeks, and my parents visited one week, but that is only half the time that we took off. What did we do the other 3 1/2 weeks? Honestly, I don't know! I know we dealt with awful behavior, fights, excessive whining, screaming, and that's all I remember. We were all lazy and the kids reacted horribly to it. Let me say here that we have to deal with these things normally, but for some reason they seemed to be 10 times worse during this time. Just 1 week of being in a semi-routine (that is ever being tweaked and changed) has made a huge difference in temperament and feeling in the house. I cannot really give credit to routine (though it would be easy to say that as someone looking from the outside would say that was it), but it is God working in our home, Jesus's blood covering us and the Holy Spirit working in our hearts. We are having family devotionals 5 days a week, God is helping us to teach our kids grace, and our priorities are beginning to line up as they should under God's rule. God is faithful to His people, and I am thankful that He is even when we are unfaithful. I pray that we will continue to grow close to Him and that His ways will become our ways every day.

(It's been a year and a half since we came to Louisville. What a fitting post for today!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Yes, I do realize it is a couple weeks late, but what can I say, life is busy and sometimes other things just take priority. I do not do New Year's Resolutions because there is nothing magical about January 1st. That being said, I do have goals of things that I want to grow in, get better at, etc. I have seen this on a few blogs and really like the idea of things I want to do, strive for, try, or what have you in the next year. So some things that I have thought about and considered to strive for in 2012:

1. Grow closer to the Lord and learn His Word to the best of my ability to test everything I am learning and trust that His Holy Spirit will guide me to what He desires me to do
2. Making my home a priority
3. Learning more about grace: both the grace given me though Christ and giving grace to those around me
4. To become somewhat comfortable in the kitchen, not a gourmet chef, but just not freak out when I try to make something I have never made before.
5. Be diligent in scheduling. This I am sure will require constant revising, but my goal is to always begin the day with the Lord and allow Him to guide my days so that I may not accomplish everything I want, but I will accomplish what He desires for me to do.
6. Reading more! By this I mean not just a bathroom book but reading at least one book a month on top of my reading for SWI.
7. Write more! This includes journaling, blogging here, blogging for others when needed, working on my fiction works, working on potential non-fiction book(s) and songs/poetry. I really do have a love for writing and I know God wants me to use it for something.
8. Prepare lesson plans 2-3 weeks in advance (or at least think and start prep 2-3 weeks ahead) and be more diligent in preparing things that will challenge the kids and me
9. Exercise Regularly
10. Eat healthier and make better decisions in the food department
11. Begin learning how to garden and hopefully have a small one this year
12. Decrease the amount of TV I watch. With Jim working evenings sometimes I can get sucked in and waste so much time that I could be doing more productive things (see above)
13. Pick a curriculum to increase formality with Jamey for school this coming school year
14. Sew Something!
15. Learn as much as I can

This is not an exhaustive list, but it's a beginning. My ultimate goal is the first and to bring God glory with everything I do to make His name great among the nations. Please feel free to ask how things are going and hold me accountable. The Lord has already done more in me than I could imagine and I know He will continue to draw me to Himself as I seek Him. Here's to 2012 whatever it may bring!

Merry Christmas or Blessed Advent

For us it was both, but full of interesting discussions. This year, more than ever before in my life, I had many many discussions about the roots of Christmas and how it came to be a celebration with many questions especially with whether or not we should actually celebrate Christmas. I am not good with history but there are pagan roots to many of the Christmas traditions and why we celebrate Christ's birth in December when it is unlikely that He was born in December. But, we know that in Christ all things are made new and we have been given the freedom to choose how we celebrate Christ. Much of the popular American ways of celebrating Christmas are not honoring to God and extremely high in commercialism. So how do you honor God? Ask Him! This is something that is becoming more and more important to me as I grow and learn. There are so many things that are not black and white as I wish they were, but God leads us by His Holy Spirit and He can speak to us to know how we can honor Him in our celebrations. I am thankful for freedom and the ability to ask our Lord how we can honor the birth of Christ in a way that is pleasing to Him. I ask numerous times as well and check my heart, though not as often as I should.
For us, this year, we decided no tree, we will never do Santa and one gift per child. We read the Christmas story and talk to our kids about Christ and Him being the most important gift. We keep it simple. What does it look like for you? Ask God how it would please Him.

Since moving to Louisville I have learned more about Advent and I am beginning to really appreciate this aspect. We have always focused on the birth of Christ as it is the obvious reason for our celebration. But in the focus of Advent we are also anticipating the return of Christ to come get His bride and make all things new! What a blessed day that will be and I love that reminder that He came once but He is also coming again. And so next year I may add Blessed Advent to my greetings for the season.

On a slightly controversial note, I really wish the Christian radio stations would not play secular Christmas music. I do not have a problem with the music in and of itself, but there is a time and a place for those songs. If I wanted to hear the secular songs I would listen to a secular radio station, but I prefer to listen to the Christian radio stations and want to hear Christ focused music on a Christ focused station. I am sure there are people who disagree, but that is my preference. I have even debated writing my favorite station here about it. My favorite station in Atlanta did that our last Christmas there, but sadly, this year they too were playing the secularized music.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Blessed Advent season.

A Different Sort of Good-Bye

So at this time it is not yet good-bye, but the good-byes are starting. We have been in community with 4 wonderful families the past 9 months or so and knew when it started that this time would come. All of us have a heart for the nations and it is fast approaching the time for all of them to move to the next phase God has planned for them. We met Sunday night to discuss these things and it was so bittersweet. These women have become prayer partners, friends, sisters and I love them as my own family. It is difficult to get to know people for a little while and then it be time to say an earthly good-bye. I am so excited and proud of these families as they follow God's call on their lives. Knowing that no matter what happens next here on this earth we will be reunited around God's throne one day helps tremendously. Though I am not a huge technology buff, when they are gone I know that because of the technology we will be able to "see" them and talk to them no matter how far they are. I pray that God continues to grow my heart for them and their work as we support them on this side. I pray "Lord, please help me not to forget" as in our culture it is so easy to be "out of sight out of mind". Guard me from this and let me remember them everyday.
As I said, it is still not an actual good-bye yet. For 3 of them a couple more months remain, but 1 family will be going on the next phase in about a month. It's so bittersweet but a wonderful time of learning how important following God really is. It is a testimony to all around us that Jesus is more important than anything in this world.

Because He Loves Me by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick

This months book club book was wonderful and spoke right to my heart. A couple of weeks ago I came to the realization I did not love God enough, but was (and still am) struggling to understand how to love God as I should. What does that really mean? What does it look like?

Then this book was recommended for book club. I had been wanting to read some of her material anyway (I'm in the middle of her parenting book) so I was excited to see what it had so say. The title says it all: Because He (Jesus) Loves Me. Without the love of Christ, we cannot truly know love nor can we express it. I can only love God because He loved me first. What a relief!

Because I am in Christ, this is my identity and I have to remember this every day. Unfortunately this human mind forgets. She calls this identity amnesia. When we forget who we are in Christ it becomes difficult to fight sin, love God and love others. I have grown up in the message of the Gospel and it has become a bit mundane, but it shouldn't. The Gospel is all we have! Without it there is no hope. As I listened to her expound on how much God loves me that He crushed His Son and poured out the wrath I deserved onto Him, I realized how much I need to remember this every day and how it should change me. I need to hear this over and over. We all do. 

I need to go back and re-read this book when I am feeling better and can take my time, but I am thankful for a book dedicated to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a breath of fresh air. I highly recommend this book to anyone.