Laundry lessons

Yesterday was one of those crazy "gotta-find-clothes-for-everyone" mornings. Believe me I do lots of laundry (usually at least two loads a day). But over the weekend I hadn't had much time to keep up. Sunday night I was able to wash one load.

Come Monday morning this is what I was thinking:

• There has to be a clean pair of underwear for Patricia somewhere in this stack of clean clothes.
• Seth can wear the same pants twice, right?
• I'm sure glad kids don't mind wearing mismatching socks these days!

All the while I was kicking myself for not washing a "better" load of laundry the night before. Most of the load was bedding and not very useful on a frantic school day! Washing sheets almost made me feel like I needed to apologize. Have you ever felt like that?

These verses popped into my head:

Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread." But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?" Matthew 16:6-9

The disciples forgot bread and they were afraid that the Lord would reprimand them for it. He didn't. Instead He basically said that He would supply all of their needs, even if they forget things sometimes.

The thought of it gave me peace during my rushed morning. The Lord wasn't mad at me for doing the "wrong" load of laundry. In the end everyone got off to school just fine and I was able to get quite a bit of dirty clothes cleaned throughout the day.

Its nice to have Scripture in your head and heart so the Lord can bring it to mind just when we need it.

Teach by example

Today I caught Ian "reading" a book. It was a board book... you know, the ones with cardboard pages. I noticed that before he turned the pages he would give his finger a quick lick.

It was SO cute I had to take his picture.

I had to laugh, knowing that his finger licking wasn't doing a lick of good! You only need to wet your finger if you're turning a regular sheet of paper.

It immediately brought a Bible verse to mind:

"But be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity."

I Timothy 4:12

I never once told Ian he had to lick his fingers if he wanted to turn a page in a book. As a matter of fact, I didn't even know I was doing it so frequently! Ian didn't know why he was doing it, he just saw me do it and thought that is how you're supposed to read a book.

If he's learning how to turn pages in a book by watching me, what else is he learning? Ian is two now and we noticed that his "terrible two's" have started. He likes to break out in screaming... especially when we walk into stores. Where did he learn that? Maybe I'm not always in control of my actions, so he hasn't learned to be in control of his.

This verse in I Timothy is a gentle reminder to me of how to teach others. I don't have to tell everyone (namely my kids) what they should be doing, but they will learn if only I will live the way Christ has taught us. 

How can we know and live what Christ taught us? There is no short answer. In fact, the answer is long... we have to spend lots of time with the Lord in prayer and reading His Word. Lots of time is the key. I'm trying to learn this.

"And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full."

After my big read I had to find a portion of the Bible to study. This morning I began with First John.  There are two main reasons that I decided on this particular book. 

The first is that its small enough. Small enough to read in one sitting and small enough to study in a reasonable amount of time.

The second reason is my fascination with love. The love of God has always amazed me. That's what brought me to Christ as a teenager... I was searching for love. I knew that First John spoke quite a bit about love, so that played a part in my choice.

ANYWAY, all of this to say that when I started reading this morning I was thrilled to read the above verse: "These things are written that your JOY may be full." I John 1:4

I feel like joy has been missing in my life lately and I've been looking for it. I know that if we seek, we shall find and so, I am excited to study First John and restore the joy in my life. The deeper I dig the more joy I will find! (Today I just read through the book once to start with.)

Where are you studying?

Spring is on its way!

 On March 20th we were informed that Spring has sprung. Since then the weather has been quite cold. In many areas people had snow storms. In our area we missed lots of snow this year and it even managed to stay away during Spring so far. This past week seemed to be particularly cold. Some days, when the wind blew it was bitter cold.

But you know what??? When the cold was making me want to run inside and snuggle under a blanket, I often found myself smiling. A true joyous smile even. Why? Ultimately it was because of the hope that I had set before me. Not hope in the sense of something I think may happen, but hope in something I know will happen, but just hasn't happened yet.

Listen to this scripture:

"While the earth remains, 

Seedtime and harvest, 

Cold and heat, 

  Winter and summer, 

And day and night Shall not cease." 

Genesis 8:22

Just about a month ago Japan suffered from a terrible earthquake and tsunami. Now the whole world is

wondering and possibly fearing, what is going to become of the nuclear reactors. As of right now there is highly radioactive seawater that is leaking out of one location and they are trying to plug it up.

When natural disasters of this magnitude strike its easy to get caught up in irrational fears. I am SO thankful I have the Bible to turn to. Global warming threatens many things, but the Bible is clear that as long as the earth is around we WILL HAVE summer and winter. So, have no fear, it won't be too long before we find ourselves seeking relief from the overbearing heat.

This verse was written after the flood, which occurred about 5000 years ago (correct me if I'm wrong on the date!). I think its interesting to note what this verse doesn't promise.

It doesn't say that the land as we know it will remain or the mountains. Think about it, the earth's land masses do change over time. Islands are formed, coasts are taken off the map, mountains erupt.

It doesn't say that the animals we know will still be here. Species go extinct, others are discovered and others adapt and change over time.

It doesn't even say the stars as we know them will remain. Did you know that over a 70 year period the whole stars as we know them slowly shift one degree? (So, it actually makes sense that the wise men saw and new star and were able to follow it, because the stars that we see shifted at that point.) Anyway, my point is that even the stars change.

It does say, however, that seedtime and harvest will remain. Famines have come and gone and yet during the dust bowl, when it seemed as though things would never grow, they were growing in other parts of the world and they started growing again in the USA later. The potato famine? Did you know there were other crops growing in Ireland at the time, but they had to deport them to England?

It does say cold and heat, winter and summer will remain. All these thousands of years later and it has still remained. God IS faithful who promised.

It does say that day and night not shall not cease. Joshua made the sun to stand still for one day, there was darkness over the whole land for three hours during the Lord's death and at a time during Revelation there will be darkness at one point, but do they cease, end forever? No.

Take heart in God's promises which will NEVER fail!

Bible in 90 Days

I am ecstatic right now, so forgive me when I SHOUT WITH JOY in this post! I haven't told many people that I was doing this, but now that I'm DONE... on-time even, I thought I might be able to encourage others out there to take time to read their Bibles. Amy, over at MomsToolbox, hosted a challenge to read through THE ENTIRE BIBLE in 90 days. I finished less than an hour ago. She's currently hosting a "celebration" and she has asked some questions. Here are my answers:

Why did you read with us? I was saved 14 years ago. Every year for the first 4 or 5 years, I read through the Bible. After that life seemed to be constantly changing (read: kids kept taking root in my life) and I couldn't seem to finish the Bible. I still read, but just not all of it. My most recent attempt was a one year Bible plan. By the end of the second year I still hadn't made my way through. That's when I saw this plan. I tend to do well at tasks for a short period of time and then taper off. I figured three months was a short enough time frame for me to attempt. I also started off thinking that I don't have to finish in 90 days, I can do it in 100 and still be happy, but somehow I managed to do it in 90!!!!

How has it impacted you? I feel like I have a better understanding of how the Bible fits together. Currently, I also feel JOY, which hasn't been around in quite some time. I just finished reading Revelation, at the beginning and the end it says, more or less, that he is blessed who keeps the words of this book. Ending with that gives me a renewed desire to serve the Lord with all my heart.

I want to know how you kept reading: Not sure how to answer this one. I guess it was all God. When I first started reading I kept questioning why I was even trying. Was I trying to prove something? Wouldn't I be reading too quickly? Didn't I have housework to do? By the end, though, I realized that God sacrificed all for me. Why can't I sacrifice some of my time to get to know Him? That can't possibly be wrong. God wants us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice and this is an opportunity to do that. (BTW- each day's reading takes just about an hour.)

How did you catch up? I guess Amy asks this, because most people must fall behind at some point. I know I did. When I was finishing up the OT I was about 2 weeks behind and I was going to give up. Then Amy wrote an inspirational post that was just enough encouragement to keep me going. I started reading two readings a day in the NT. Some days I only did one, but that allowed me to finish just in time!

What got in your way? Taking care of sick children, too many outside activities, sleeping in and some days I just didn't feel like reading for an hour!

What did you overcome? I guess I overcame my own doubts. And I overcame my handicap of not being able to read through the Bible in recent years.

What are your next steps? Now I know that I can spare an hour a day. I'd like to go back over some areas that I took note of and study them more in depth. I'd like to pray more fervently. I'd like to put to practice a lot of what I read (in particular showing love to the brethren in practical ways). I'd like to read through the Bible at least once a year.

Anything else? Reading the Bible fully in 90 days has made me appreciate some pillars of the faith. Off the top of my head I can think of George Muller and Charles Macintosh... both of whom read through the Bible over 200 times (I think!). They were used mightily of God and maybe that has something to do with the fact that they gave their time to God.  Now I don't want to suggest that every mother out there try this challenge, but I do want to encourage you to try to read and pray MORE. We can all benefit from more time with our Lord.

A Healthy Diet

I really want to follow up yesterday's post with something of greater importance. I think we can all agree that what you eat can directly effect your health... for the good or bad. I'd like to propose, that likewise, what we feed our minds and souls, directly effects our spiritual health.

Note: this post is written for those who have already put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to be their Saviour. If you haven't but would like to, you can leave your e-mail in the comments section or read this article.

Let's look at three aspects of health:

1. Weight: In our day to day lives we want to see people that are at a healthy weight. The same holds true in our spiritual walks. Healthy people can eat a lot of food... as long as they choose healthy options and exercise enough. Job said, "I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food." (23:12) Imagine hungering for the word of God like that?? Job had a healthy spiritual weight indeed! In order for us to have that same healthy weight we need to feast on the Word of God throughout our free moments. And tell others about what we have learned (that's the exercise part)!

2. Overall health/cancer: If we hear of someone who has advanced stage cancer, generally we would say they are in poor health. Can you think of spiritual cancer? What about sin? Sin, just like cancer, starts off small. But if it is left alone it has the potential to ultimately kill us! Only the Lord Jesus Himself was able to lead a perfect life. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I John 1:8, 9

3. Behavior: Some people may not agree with me on this, but I believe that what we eat, can at times effect our actions (hence yesterday's post). Most of you are probably familiar with the fruit of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." (Galatians 5:22, 23) Just because we have the Spirit dwelling in us does not mean that these fruits will be manifested. If we fill our mind with "junk food" on a regular basis, we aren't leaving much room for the Spirit of God to shine forth. Again, reading the Word is essential as also is praying without ceasing.

The Lord Jesus Himself said, "Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? (i.e.- the toilet gets it!) But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man." Matthew 15: 17, 18

I stated yesterday that food is important to me... and it is, but what is MORE important is what goes into my spiritual walk. Some days feel more junk filled than others, but that should motivate me (and you!) to keep pressing on.

"Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things." Phil. 4:8 

God's provisions

Yesterday I had the privilege of reading several chapters of Matthew's gospel. One concept that I kept noticing was God's provision. 

"Ask and it shall be given you." (7:7)

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (7:11)

"Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you?" (6:30)

My husband and I are at a point in our life where finances seem overwhelming. We're always wondering where our money goes. So, after reading these portions I prayed that the Lord would provide our needs and that we wouldn't get into debt over things. Is it any surprise that the Lord answered my prayer? 

It was brought to my attention that Ian's shoes were starting to split in the front. I had seen a good deal at Walmart the day before, so I thought I'd pop in and see if it was still available. I didn't find a pair of sneakers for Ian, instead I found four pairs of sneakers for all of the kids. Get a load of this:

The total came to $22, as opposed to the $59 it would've been at full price. I love coming across good deals. I usually always walk away feeling like I accomplished something. But in this situation it wasn't just a good deal I walked away with.  It was a clear answer to prayer. Yes, the Lord would provide my needs... for these, I didn't even need to spend coupon clipping time.

Patricia is showcasing three of the pairs that the kids are crazy about:

All of them fit perfectly. Ian doesn't want to part with his. Last night and tonight he cried when I got him ready for bed, because I had to take them off:

Have you proven God lately? It is a wonderful feeling to do so. Find a promise given by God in His Word. Pray, with faith and with pure intentions, that the Lord give/show/reveal His promise to you. Let me know!