Preparing for the Future {Digging into God's Word}

  From many different sources of reading and hearing I feel like the possibility of our country facing some hard times is very likely. Our country is in bad shape economically as are many of the people as well. I don't know what will happen nor do I know when but I personally want to be prepared.

 Being prepared is generally how I try to live my life but I am feeling (as is Ken and the kids) that maybe we should try to be a little more prepared so I plan on writing about various ways of preparing. I am not promising to write a "preparing" post every Monday but most likely I will do one fairly frequently on Mondays.

  Something that has been on my mind for a while and I have been working on but was reminded again lately of the importance of and want to work harder at is being prepared for any life situation by being grounded in God's word. And I mean God's word - not nice little devotional books that maybe mention a verse here and there and then have a lot of the author's thoughts and not listening to inspirational speakers that might expound on a verse or two. Those are quite likely well and good (though there are of course false teachers out there that we need to be careful of) but what I really need for life is to know what God's word is. If I am going to have the foundation that I need to be able to stand strong in troubled times I need to know and apply God's word.

  God is the Creator of the universe - He knows everything about everybody, He knows all of history and He knows what is yet to come. He has written instructions on how to live life in the Bible. Our job is to know what it says and to do it.

   I believe God's word is completely true and it is relevant for us today. The Bible is not something we should go through and pick and choose what we want to believe. We need to read and know it as a whole and follow it. We should go to it with a heart open to doing what it says and not trying to match it up with what we already believe. I don't think it is appropriate to start throwing things out just because we think "it doesn't apply to us today". There are parts of scripture that Jesus fulfilled and nailed to the cross (The law) but that is explained in scripture if you read the whole thing.

  Why do I feel that we need to know God's word to be prepared?

• We never know when we might be done with this earthly life and face eternity and the Bible tells us how to be prepared for that.
• God's word is a guidebook for life. Things will go smoother for everyone if we follow it.
• God's word is a comfort for us.
• God's word helps us to not be afraid.

How can we incorporate God's word into our everyday life?

Some things we currently do.....

• Set aside times for reading it alone and as a family. I have set aside a time right after I get up to read and pray by myself in the morning and then we also read a chapter together right after breakfast and another one right after lunch. It helped a lot for me in developing habits to combine it with something that we already do such as a meal. Supper time doesn't work so well for us because many times we might have to rush to get somewhere afterwards.
• Memorize Scripture. This is something that we do best when doing together at our house so the kids and I work on our memory work every morning during our school day starting activities. We work on or review at least one chapter a day.
• Spend time studying it with others at church. The church that we go to is very careful to search the scriptures and we have adult and children's classes that have the main focus of studying through God's word.
• Share it with others. I try to share God's word here on this blog and other places.
• Have it written out and hanging throughout our house.

Some things I want to work on doing....

• Putting up more scripture on the walls throughout our house. A lot of what is up now has been there for a long time and I honestly don't notice it very much now. I think I need to refresh what is there.
• Studying God's word. This is something I do some but not nearly like I should. I usually do it most when I need to teach a class or something like that. I am trying to figure out how to fit more study time into my daily routine. I have been reading some of the prophets lately and I admit that I don't understand quite a bit. I need to really work at studying so that I can understand better. In study I will plan on using my concordance a lot so that I can compare similar verses together and I will probably look at writing of others as well - but always aware that those writings are not inspired!
• Another thing I have been thinking about and praying about it hosting a lady's bible study in my home. This is still in the praying process but it is something that I might do.
• I would also like to get the Bible on CD so that we could easily listen to it while in the van.

Something that inspired me again on this topic was a video we watched last night at church featuring Francis Chan. It is a little long but good. I hope you enjoy it too. (Caution - if children are watching, he does address a few times some of the horrors that are going on in our world today in the first part of the video. He really gets into the topic of knowing your Bible a little ways into his message.)
 

How do you incorporate Bible into your life and family time? I would love to hear what you do!

I am linking this up at the Homestead Barn Hop.

Seeking Solitude - Having Compassion

Thanks for joining me today as I continue my mission of truly exploring God's word and noticing Jesus' actions while here on earth....

The verse that I thought I would write about today isn't one that so much makes me think " okay there is something I should do, let's go get busy!" but more of one that makes me notice that though Jesus is fully God He was also fully man as well.

 Matthew 14:13-14
 "Now when Jesus heard about John, (this is referring to John's death) He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. When He went ashore He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick."

  I have to admit that this just reminds me a whole lot of being a Mother to young children. Sometimes (and some people more than others - for the most part I am not the sort of person that needs a lot of alone time) we just feel the need for some time to ourselves but often when you have young children that seems to be fairly impossible.

  Jesus also at least at this time would have liked a little time to Himself - quite likely He wanted to spend time in prayer and just some time to think.

 So wanting some time of quiet solitude is normal and it is okay and we can strive to figure out some ways to make it work - Some things that I would sometimes do (it really isn't to much of an issue now that my kids are older) is to leave the kids with Ken and go do something outside or maybe even go grocery shopping by myself. Another thing when I was feeling a bit overwhelmed (and this was fairly rare but it did happen) was that Ken would suggest my going in my office/craft room and shut the door and he would keep track of the kids. The only problem there was that they still felt they needed me (as much as they loved their dad and he them, they were used to coming to me if they had little problems like needing a snack, etc. ) He would try to keep them otherwise occupied but there was something about me going into a closed room that made them really want to be there too. Jesus too was surrounded by people that didn't want to leave Him alone.

I think Mother's of young children can learn a lot from these verses. Yes we may try to have some solitude but when we are done (or even interrupted) to then go forth with compassion and love for those we need to minister to.

Are you the sort of person that needs solitude? Do you have any practical tips for young mothers?

My reaction to the election

This has been a busy and challanging week.
As I am sure you probably know- the election is over. It didn't go the way I had hoped for. My prayer had always been that God's will would be done and I do realize that I don't know or see the big picture and I believe that He can work through every situation.

 Wednesday was a day of a lot of thinking and praying on my part. It is so comforting to know that we have a God that hears our every prayer and who is truly looking our for us and can handle ANY situation.

I also did something that I often do whenever I am feeling stressed, worried, sad or happy - I sat down at the piano with my hymn book and I played and sang. Singing songs of prayer or worship to God can truly help to get my focus back on track.

Some of the songs that really touched me were "Count Your Many Blessings" and "Teach me Thy Way, O Lord" I found some videos on Youtube of them so that you can enjoy them as well.
 

 I am not sure what is going to happen with our country, though I think there will be difficulties, but I do know for sure that God will be with us every step of the way.

  What I plan to do now is seek Him completely, share the good news of salvation with others, enjoy my simple life with my family and strive to prepare for possible difficulties (a financial crash, etc). I do feel that more than ever now we should work on preparing for emergencies. I will probably be blogging on that subject a bit more now. I will also be doing a lot of praying - including praying for ALL of our elected leaders. I hope you will do the same!

May you have a blessed weekend!

A Handmade Christmas - Week 4 {Rose Scarf}

I have to admit, I have election day a bit more on my mind that Christmas today so this will be short and sweet. (And I chose to do something red today as it is a patriotic color and I am hoping that my state will finally be a "red" state this year!)

  Last week was a very busy one of crafting for us and one of the projects that I finished was a felt rose scarf. This was an idea that I found on Pinterest and I think it is very pretty!

 We are still working on photography around here. I requested that my photographer include my face too (just because I think it makes the picture look a little more normal - not because you necessarily need to see me) but in the pictures taken none included my face - oh well! :-)

 

This is a project to do if you enjoy a lot of cutting out (put it is not hard as you just cut a bunch of wavy circles in different sizes) and then like to do a little (it really isn't much) hand sewing. Truthfully this is a pretty quick project and I think the result is quite neat.

 

Here is the Tutorial that I followed.

 

I think I will make more of these scarves. I want to experiment with using various kinds of fabric.

 

Have you been making anything for Christmas lately? I would love to hear about what you have been doing! If you have a post on your blog then please leave a link in the comments and then I will highlight it in this post!

 

Have a great day!

Our Family and Politics {Please Vote!}

 I know many people who just can't wait for this election to be over because they are tired of hearing about politics. I am eager for the election to be over too but not because I am tired of politics but rather because I want to know the result!

  I think our family might be strange but we really rather enjoy the election cycle and getting involved. This Sunday was even took an 8 + hour round trip just for the fun of attending a political rally.

  Paul Ryan flew in to MN this weekend and we were there along with over 6,000 others. It was pretty fun. We did also go down to the cities in time to go to the church of Christ in Fridley, MN where we saw a bunch of friends.

 In the picture above Chip Cravaak, Michelle Bachman and John Kline (all MN representatives) were walking by where we were sitting.

 Paul Ryan brought his family along. I always like it when I see the family involved. It looked like his kids were having a great time.

I do feel that it is very important that we as citizens of the United States take the time to educate ourselves about those running and then go out and vote!
Yesterday I saw this on facebook and I think it fits pretty well along with what I think (and I am hoping you might think) so I thought I would share it....

1. I will vote for the most pro-life candidate, because God hates the shedding of innocent blood. Proverbs 6:16-17
2. I will vote for the most pro-Israel candidate, because God blesses those who bless Israel & curses those who curse them. Genesis 12:1-3
3. I will vote for the most pro-man-and-woman-marriage candidate, because God clearly establishes and defines marriage in Genesis 2:21-24.
4. I will vote for the candidate who most closely believes that the purpose of government is to reward the good & punish the evil. Romans 13
5. I will vote for the most pro-debt reduction candidate, because the borrower is servant to the lender. Proverbs 22:7
6. I will vote for the most pro-work candidate because God says if a man does not work, neither shall he eat. 2 Thessalonians 3:10
7. Finally, I will vote based as close as I can on God's Word, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, knowing that whoever gets elected, God is the one who puts men in authority. Daniel 2:21
I WILL VOTE THIS WAY BECAUSE MEN AND WOMEN OF ALL FAITHS HAVE FOUGHT AND GIVEN ME THIS RIGHT!

 

I think it is important that we as Christians strive to use God's word as the guideline for everything that we do!

 

One more thing....

 

While we were down in the cities and attending the Paul Ryan event I was hopeful that we might get to see the Bills family. Kurt (the dad) is running for US Senate here in MN and over the course of this election our families have had the opportunity to get to know each other and we have truly enjoyed spending time with them.

 

  When we were sitting up in the bleachers we did see them walk by but it was to noisy and so crowded we couldn't get their attention. But when we left we went out to the parking lot and it just so happened we were parked pretty close to them and they came out just as we were getting ready to leave so we were able to visit a little bit. It was very fun to see them again, tell them we were praying for them and try to encourage them a bit.

 

Jonathan and Megan in front of Kurt's bus after a parade this summer.

  Kurt has an uphill battle for this Senate race here in MN but he would be a simply excellent Senator. He feels strongly that government needs to be smaller and he is not afraid to tell the truth and act on it. We need people that don't always wear blinders to the realities of life and try to avoid the real issues. We need people the understand economics the way he does (he is a high school econ teacher), as well as understanding history and who have a strong faith in God.

Kurt speaking recently in our town.

If you haven't voted yet and are in MN would you please go and vote for Kurt and would you tell others about him too?

If you would like more information please visit his website or his sweet wife Cindy's blog.

I hope you have a great day and that you pray for wisdom and go out and vote!

Jesus wasn't influenced by peer pressure

As I have been reading through the gospels while keeping my focus on what Jesus did and how I should then act to follow in His steps, I read this story:

"At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?  He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.  Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent?  I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.  If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.  For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"

 He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?  How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.  But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus." Matthew 12:1-14

The lesson that I learned from this passage was that Jesus did what we right no matter what peer pressure He had to do otherwise. Peer pressure can be hard to deal with especially at various stages in our lives but we can remember that Jesus dealt with it too.

 So go out and do what is right - no matter what everybody around you might be saying!