January Bible Readings

January The Bible in 1 year with 3 readings per day
1 Genesis 1-2 Psalms 1-2 Matthew 1-2
2 Genesis 3-4 Psalms 3,4,5 Matthew 3,4
3 Genesis 5-6 Psalms 6,7,8 Matthew 5
4 Genesis 7-8 Psalms 9-10 Matthew 6
5 Genesis 9-10 Psalms 11,12,13 Matthew 7
6 Genesis 11-12 Psalms 14,15,16 Matthew 8
7 Genesis 13-14 Psalms 17 Matthew 9
8 Genesis 15-16 Psalms 18 Matthew 10
9 Genesis 17-18 Psalms 19-20-21 Matthew 11
10 Genesis 19 Psalms 22 Matthew 12
11 Genesis 20-21 Psalms 23,24,25 Matthew 13
12 Genesis 22-23 Psalms 26,27,28,29 Matthew 14
13 Genesis 24 Psalms 30 Matthew 15
14 Genesis 25-26 Psalms 31 Matthew 16
15 Genesis 27 Psalms 32 Matthew 17
16 Genesis 28-29 Psalms 33 Matthew 18
17 Genesis 30 Psalms 34 Matthew 19
18 Genesis 31 Psalms 35 Matthew 20
19 Genesis 32-33 Psalms 36 Matthew 21
20 Genesis 34-35 Psalms 37 Matthew 22
21 Genesis 36 Psalms 38 Matthew 23
22 Genesis 37 Psalms 39-40 Matthew 24
23 Genesis 38 Psalms 41,42,43 Matthew 25
24 Genesis 39-40 Psalms 44 Matthew 26
25 Genesis 41 Psalms 45 Matthew 27
26 Genesis 42-43 Psalms 46,47,48 Matthew 28
27 Genesis 44-45 Psalms 49 Romans 1-2
28 Genesis 46-47 Psalms 50 Romans 3-4
29 Genesis 48,49,50 Psalms 51-52 Romans 5-6
30 Exodus 1-2 Psalms 53,54,55 Romans 7-8
31 Exodus 3-4 Psalms 56-57 Romans 9

Where are You?

Are you racing around, frantic, hectic and missing your calling? Are you right where God will have you? There is no better place to be than in God's hand. It doesn't have to make sense but when He tells you GO! then go! I have been thinking about this for a few different reasons. The New Year, a few testimonies I have heard recently and a book I am reading. I also turned 38 this month and have been reviewing my life.


I am really happy. I am not perfect. I married the right man for me. He is gentle, understanding, funny, fantastic and for some reason head over heels in love with me. I am thrilled to be his wife.


I am doing the job God has asked me to do. I want to quit and not have the demands of a 40 hour work week but I do work from home and I am good at what I do.





I am blessed to have 3 healthy children. I am thankful for homeschooling. It seems like a big clan from this only child to go from a small home to one with 5 people. I enjoy all the children coming through our home.



I love teaching piano and consider this a ministry not a job. This year I prayed about continuing or not and left it up to God. I went from 4 students to 11 in one week! I had to turn students down for the first time ever.





My home is still cluttered but improving.



My spritual life is weaker than I would like. My faith is strong but I tend to skip my devotional time, quiet time with God. I will talk all day to Him and with Him but as far as sitting at His feet, I really struggle with carving that time out for Him.





My health: I am very overweight and do not eat healthfully. I drink too much Coke and am really addicted to it. I have recently read about not allowing anything to master me and feel convicted about my cola drinking.



I feel I am using my talents / giftings to God's glory. I have been able to minister to people through singing and am still hoping for financing for my CD entitled Be Still.


With all this I want to make 2 commitments and 1 plan.


Commitment #1 No cola for 1 year.







Commitment #2 Read through the Bible in one year. I have a 3 readings per day plan for reading and will share the New Testament with the children, The middle reading which is Psalms, Proverbs etc with Mike and do the Old Testament on my own. I will also have a bask at His feet time each day no matter what.


Plan #1 I want to go into turbo drive as far as decluttering my home. I will go on a weekly plan for our home.







Week 1-Entry-still looking good but we just removed the Christmas tree and everything needs to be cleaned and replaced from the holidays.
Week 2 Downstairs bath and homeschool closet
Week 3 Downstairs closet and Living Room
Week 4 Dining Room
Week 5 Family Room
Week 6 Landing and Linen Closet / hallway
Week 7 Lauren's Room
Week 8 Kids room
Week 9 Kid's bathroom
Week 10 Master bedroom
Week 11 Master bathroom
Week 12 Perimeter of house

I am not doing the laundry room or the kitchen as these are already done and still are great!

Week 1 will begin January 6th as we are returning from Washington the night of the 3rd and need time to unpack. I will try to post before and after photos but my daughter does the pictures and I don't want to uphold the progress waiting for pictures.

Is the Mountain Out?

This is the strangest phrase I have ever heard."Is the Mountain Out today?". I am visiting my Mom in Olympia Washington. To the Southeast of her is Mount Rainier, the elusive magical mountain. You can see it from Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia. You can see it from most of Western Washington. It is huge. The thing about this mountain is that most of the time it is there but you cannot see it. It has its own weather system and has clouds around it. There is a lot of fog, low clouds, rain, snow, etc.
This is my 4th trip to Washington and today is the first time I have been able to see Mount Rainier!!! I have seen it from the plane when we fly in and out of the Seattle- Tacoma airport but I have never seen it live.
We have had a running joke about it being a conspiracy to get people to Washington by telling us about this huge mountain, putting it on their license plates, naming everything after it...Rainier Road, Mountain View school, etc. I joked there simply was no mountain because I have never seen it. Well today we were driving home from church and there it was huge, huge, huge. The funny part was my ipod was on shuffle in the car and playing over the radio. As we starting screaming that we could see it, Handel's Messiah came on the ipod.... you know the famous song of Hallelujia, hallelujia, .....It was so funny.
If you go the the Cascade Mountains website it even says, Is the mountain out today. It is apparently the thing they talk about up here.
We are having a great visit. It is very cold for us but we love it. Except Lauren, she hates everything below 75 degrees. The high yesterday was 35 but today will be 40. The first day we were here the lake was iced over and the kids had a great time playing with the layer of ice.
From the airport on Wed we went Lazer tagging (watch out for Emily, she is brutal) and then looking at a wonderful holiday lights display.
Thursday we went to Ocean Shores, a beach on the West Coast of the Pacific Ocean. It is a Tsunami zone and has sirens and evacuation roads through it. It was a strange beach. You could drive your car on the beach and the ocean was higher than the sand so you were looking up at the waves. It was very eerie. Emily threw mud balls at our car until it was covered. It was really funny. We ate at a restaurant called the Rusty Tractor but we kept calling it the Rusty Trailer by accident. They served real Rattlesnake Eggs and Yak! I had a Patty Melt.
Friday we went to the movies and saw Night at the Museum-great movie and the kids loved it as well. We also went shopping and to the Olympia seaboard. We went to a Children's museum. Emily wound up playing the Vet's office and Matthew attracted a crowd of 25 men with his architectural feat in the Water room.
Yesterday, we went out for more shopping and were rather worn out. We watched Christmas with the Kranks and went to bed a bit earlier.
Today we were up early to go to church. We went to Living Water Church in Olympia. The kids had a great time. We heard from a Mexican missionary who has followed God's calling on his life. Very inspirational. Today is the only day I have to work. I am working 4pm until Midnight so that's all for now.

Lord take my....

Lord, Take my...

Eyes, That I might see good in others. Help me to turn my eyes away from bad influences.

Mind, Cleanse my mind and keep my thoughts pure. Help me to think according to Your Word.

Heart, That my heart would be filled with Your love and Your joy, grace and forgiveness.

Mouth, That I would speak only words that encourage and bless others. Help my mouth to tell your great story to others.

Feet, that my feet would be made strong to remain on Your narrow path.

Hands, make them strong to do Your work. Make them gentle to touch with healing and love. Bless my hands as I hold my family and care for others.

Body, That my body would be used in service to You and Your glory.

Lord I trust that you will provide shelter, clothing and food according to Your perfect and pleasing will.

New Edition

Here is my new ticker. It is counting down my weight loss. Watch the butterfly flutter across as I drop the pounds. This is a new feature that can be found at the top of my blog.

We're back!!!

We're Back!!!
It is so good to take a warm shower and to sleep in my cozy bed. Boy I really take things for granted. There is nothing like 6 days in a tent by a river to get you focused.

We had a wonderful time. My husband got us to the Kern River safely. We unloaded and set up camp with the help of our kids. They are working on their camping and fishing badges so it was super easy to motivate them this trip.

We went fishing the first day but caught nothing. The second day Lauren found a trout hiding spot and tried to catch them for hours to no avail. These were very crafty fish. We went back to our camping site and she thought she saw some more fish. So Lauren and Emily went fishing from our site and bang, bang, bang Lauren caught three rainbow trout in a row. Within seconds of each other. A man and a teenaged boy came over right away and started casting just a few feet from Lauren. They desperately tried to catch some more trout. Emily, 6 yrs, was standing on a rock in her bathing suit and patiently continued to cast out for about 30 more minutes. Her patience paid off as she finally caught the biggest rainbow trout of the trip. The man gave such a look of disgust to the teenager. They still had not caught a fish and a cute little girl aced them!

The next day I was feeling terrible with a migraine so Mikey took the younger kids out on a hike up a rock mountain while Lauren studied her Government homework - so dedicated!

The next day was more fishing and for our last full day we drove further north in the Sequoia National Forrest. We drove about 30 more miles up and really enjoyed the scenery. We even tried fishing off of the highway.

Mike grew a beard and hasn't shaved it off yet. Hmmm. A first for him. We had a beautiful drive home with no traffic at all. Pretty much a miracle for us.

I have been doing laundry non stop since we arrived home and still have about 10 more loads to go. Otherwise I am back on track with work, school and home.

We started back to school today and completed our full day of school by 130pm. So I had a nice break until my piano students show up at 300pm. I will be working tonight and attending a Bible Study in the morning so I will not blog again until mid week.

Wonderful news. Mrs Christie Probst from AWANA had her baby on November 21st. Samantha Grace Probst has arrived. Woo Hoo!!

We started a unit study today on Christmas and will be studying some carols. Today we started with Good Christian Men Rejoice. What a wonderful song! I never really focused on the words before. Here they are for you.

Good Christian Men Rejoice : Lyrics

Good Christian men rejoice
With heart and soul and voice!
Give ye heed to what we say
News! News!Jesus Christ is born today!
Ox and ass before Him bow
And He is in the manger now
Christ is born today!Christ is born today!

Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice
Now ye hear of endless bliss
Joy! Joy!Jesus Christ was born for this
He hath ope'd the heav'nly door
And man is blessed evermore
Christ was born for this
Christ was born for this
Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice
Now ye need not fear the grave:
Peace! Peace!Jesus Christ was born to save
Calls you one and calls you all
To gain His everlasting hall
Christ was born to save
Christ was born to save

Merry Christmas

Gone Fishing

We are outta here! My family are gone-zippo-zionk-kabam! We'z gone fishin. Our long awaited family vacation has finally arrived. We are going on a 6 day camping trip. Please pray for us. Our radiator broke yesterday so now we are renting a van for our vacation. Please pray for safe travel and that our hearts would be focused more on God.

As for my dear laundry room. It is completed. I do not have photos yet. We removed all the extra furniture and shelving and painted the entire room deep lavendar. It looks great! I will post photos from the laundry room and our camping trip when we return. So = in advance = HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

Laundry Room Before

These are very embarrassing photos but the first step is admitting it right? OK. I resisted the urge to clean up a bit before allowing the "BEFORE" photos. Here the room is as it was the moment we were to start.

This is the view from the front door. When you walk in our home you enter the Entry. As you walk forward through the Entry you enter our laundry room. You also need to go through the laundry room to enter our downstairs bathroom.



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This is the view straight on and looking up. The shutters you see are on our door window.

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This is the table under the door and angled a bit to the right. You can see the shelf we have on the right side wall. That's why it looks like towels are hovering.

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This is the straight on shot. AHHHH!!! To see it all there before my eyes. Oh please hold me accountable. The clutter monster is so rampant in my home.

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This is a cabinet on the back wall and to the left. We can only open the right door because the dryer is blocking the left.

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Here is the washer and dryer. My satin robe is on the washer. It is pink with white polka dots.----Love it!

The good news is that it took so long to get the pictures up that this room is already completed. Surprise ! We painted too! Look for the photos soon. They should be up within a day or two.

Entry After

FINALLY!!! This project was completed two weeks ago! I had great difficulty with the photos but Lauren set me up. Now we are good to go. Soooo..... Here is the view when you walk in our front door.



Here is the view straight on and a bit to the left

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This is the view if you walk in and take a direct look to the right.

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Our floors still leave a lot to be desired but we are only talking about decluttering right now. New flooring is a long term plan.

OK----on to the Laundry Room!

You know you have had too much coffee when....

You Know You've Had Too Much Coffee When . . .
* You can type sixty words a minute with your feet.
* Instant coffee takes too long.
* You chew on other people's fingernails.
* You answer the door, before people knock.
* You sleep with your eyes open.
* You go to sleep, just so you can wake up and smell the coffee.
* You don't even wait for the water to boil anymore.
* You're the employee of the month at Starbucks - and you don't even work there.
* You help your dog chase its tail.
* You lick your coffeepot clean.
* You go to AA meetings just for the free coffee.
* You're so wired you pick up FM radio.
* You have a picture of your coffee mug, on your coffee mug.
Thank you for "Today's Clean Laugh" by Crosswalk.com

Entry Before

OK-After much ado, here are my before pictures. You walk through my front door and this is what you see. So your back would be to our front door. I just woke up and had my daughter take the pictures. No cleaning or messing it up to look better.

OK now cock your head to the left to see the rest of the pictures....

Sorry about the sideways pictures. I had such a hard time getting these on the blog that I was happy with anything.

This is looking a tad left from the front door.

This is looking to the right from the front door.

It is a hatrack that has been overtaken.

Also you can see our floors. We ripped out all the carpeting about 2 months ago. We are saving for hardwood flooring.

Here we are standing on the left side of the entry taking a sideways shot. You can see the white front doors on the right. You can see the wooden entry table on the left for reference. There is the same hatrack on the left as well. We have marble flooring right when you walk in so that is the beige you see at the base of the front door.

Entry Update

AHHH. I have been holding off posting this because I wanted to get before and after pictures posted with it. I have been having great difficulty so I decided to update you now and get the pictures posted as I am able. The entry was in great dissaray. It is now tidy and welcoming.
Yay!

Home Making Challenge-The Entry

OK Ladies-Our first Home Making Challenge is THE ENTRY

Walk in your front door with the eyes of a stranger. How does your entry look to you? Cluttered, fingerprinted, jackets, umbrellas, the dog leashes?

Take notes of everything that needs to be done for maintainance such as repainting, tightening door knobs, hanging a picture.

Now go around and declutter. Get rid of everything that does not have a purpose for that area. It either graces your home or is useful. Everything else-out! Now put all that other stuff away. Dog leashes-away! Mail-away! Shoes-away! Empty gum wrapper-throw away!

Now clean whatever is left. Dust, spit and polish all that remains behind.
Sweep and mop or vacuum. Look up and remove cobwebs...yes before Halloween!

Step back and review again through the eyes of a stranger. Does your entry reflect what you want it to. I want my entry to say "You are welcome here. This is a cozy, safe place and we are glad you are here."

Now put your long-term list in your home making notebook. You will be referring to it shortly.

Don't have a Home Making Notebook? Well go choose a binder and put your list in it. Now you have a HMN. I have one that has a blank cover. I have put all kinds of silly photos of my family on the cover. It helps me remember who I am doing this for.

Now enjoy your new entry. You may enter and exit your home as many times as you prefer so as to maximally enjoy your newfound cleanliness.

I am so thankful to know, love and serve such a wonderful, glorious God!! He is so involved in our lives it amazes me. I see this a lot in our homeschooling. He leads and guides us in our studies and lets us know He is on our team or I guess we are on His team.

We had changed curriculum this past September away from what we have been doing for years to something a bit new. Just last week it became obvious to me that we needed to go back. I realized it one afternoon as I was talking to a friend who was using our old curriculum. I told my husband that evening I thought we needed to go back and then prayed about it that night. Now we have everything we need to go back. It's not a matter of money but of knowing the plan. If we would go back I would need to know soon. We were finishing one area of study and moving on to another this Monday. I would have to buy more books if I were to stay with the newer curriculum.
I woke the next morning and attended a brunch pot luck. At the woman's home I entered the kitchen and there on her fridge was a verse about JOY. (Joyfulness would be the unit study we would study if going back to KONOS our original curriculum we used for years) At one point this friend and several others were trying to remember the lyrics to a song and everyone kept getting stuck at the same point..."Fill me with your.....what? Love, Word? One of the ladies suddenly throws her hands up and yells JOY! The word was joy. Ok God had my attention but He usually confirms things to me in 3s. I guess two could be a coincidence but 3 is a God-incidence.
Fast forward to Saturday. I am at my Father's house in Oceanside and am looking for a magazine to read. There were only 3-two Rachel Ray and one more....what does it say?...Oh it has the word JOY!!!! written across the top. I think it was a Good Housekeeping or something of that sort and it was a Christmas special. So there it was, just in time, for you know that God is never late.
I looked over the Joyfulness unit that we will start tomorrow and am very excited. We will be focusing on JOY for the next four weeks. It fits in perfectly with our schedule as just as we are finishing that unit, we will be going on a 6 day fishing trip.

Here is a short devotional from The Women's Devotional Bible 2. This devotion is written by Mother Teresa of Calcutta

JOY
"Joy is prayer. Joy is strength. Joy is love. Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. God loves a cheerful giver. One gives most who gives with joy. The best way to show our gratitude to God and people is to accept everything with joy. A joyful heart is the normal result of a heart burning with love. Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of Christ risen. This I tell my sisters. This I tell to you."

Who am I??

Who am I?....
Today I was speaking with a very dear friend and she posed this question..... "I recently realized that I am nothing like I really want to be. And my life is nothing like I want it to be. It doesn't really reflect who I really am. What do I do about that?"

At first my mind flashed to a lot of books about excavating your authentic self, writing out your goals and setting up routines to get you closer to the life you want. It was just a flash of ideas. I felt her desperation and wanted to support her. Just the flash of human responses and then the Truth was there...bolder and brighter than any idea or plan.

God knows you more than anyone else. He knows you better than you do. He created you to be a particular person at a particular time. If you have gotten off His path then step back!! Get on His path. It requires you get on your face before Him. Confess your self-centered ways. Let Him know He is your Potter and He can mold you and make you any which way. He can get you to your authentic self faster and more accurately than any human plan. He gives us His Word which is living and the breathing Word of God. He speaks to us through His Word. He can convict us, encourage us, bless us, guide us with His Perfect Word.

My prayer is for all of us wherever you are. If you are lost I pray you would find Him quickly. If you seek Him with all your heart you will find Him. If you have strayed...turn your heart to Him. He is the Author and Perfector of your faith. If you realize you are not what you were created to be....His mercies are new every morning. May He plant your feet firmly upon His path.

Home update

OK I am really behind on my declutter. I need to push the restart button. Actually, I have maintained the work I have done but I haven't done anything in a week or so. My dear friend is visiting from out of state and I have been taking time out to visit with her and her family. We also attended a fabulous Bible study yesterday morning. I have had a large amount of new students for piano (9 total). So now that everything has settled I need to do a "super clean". What is a super clean? Well see SuperCleaner up there at the beginning of this post. I need to be that person. Every room in my home needs some major loving care. Today I will do the laundry room and van.
Thursday the Family Room, Living Room and Kitchen. Friday the Dining Room, landing, kids room. Saturday the outside and the stairs.
My plan is to quickly go through each room for about 15 minutes and pick up any trash or items that don't belong. I will rotate 3 15 minute cycles and then take a break. Then rotate again, the second time, doing a better cleaning (wiping, washing etc). This way every area gets attention and I don't burn out on the first room I'm in.
Sooooo.....How is your house looking? Remember we are doing this to create a loving home environment that is a safe haven for your family and any visitors that wander by. We want to bless them and attend to their needs, not be embarrassed and apologize for the condition of our homes. We are not looking for perfection but progress...

Wonderfully Made

I am reading a wonderful book and wanted to share some pearls with you. The chapter title is "Free to Enjoy God's Lavish Love" by Judy Halliday

"The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."-Zephaniah 3:17

Oh what a privelege it is to serve a God who is so attentive to us. So aware of our needs. More aware even than we are. At times we think we know exactly what we need but it is that very thing that may become our undoing. God knows our hearts. He knows our desires. He knows best.

"No matter where you have been or how you have fared, we rejoice that God has allowed our paths to merge. Our Mighty Way Maker will direct our steps as we continue down this path of discovery and adventure. During this time you will find yourself drawn closer to God, the lover of your soul and the designer of your body, the one who purchased your liberty. He longs for you to see his handiwork displayed in a most miraculous masterpiece-you." -Halliday

"He wants to impress deeply into the soft clay of your heart His unfathomable love for you. This love is not based on your performance."-Halliday

"The simple fact is God is crazy about you. There is absolutely nothing you can do to make Him love you more or less."-Halliday

I take great comfort in knowing God never changes. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. You are wonderfully made. It is true that God does not make junk but we can certainly turn his masterpiece into junk. It is never too late, though. He is always just a prayer away. Pour out your hearts to Him today. Tell Him all the ways you have mistreated His masterpiece. Repentence means to turn away. So after you have told Him all, turn away. Turn away from speaking poorly about His creation. Turn away from bad habits that mar His masterpiece. Do all that you can to live a holy life. Ask Him to help. He wants us to live a life that glorifies Him. Call on Him and He will rescue you. What a mighty God we serve.

God's Garden

A scientist once said that a thorn on a rosebush is flower that hasn’t bloomed yet. Some of us a christians go through the growth process and develop into beautiful roses. Some don’t (Don’t worry I won’t name names) and become thorns in the Body of Christ, always sticking and hurting people if they are touched wrongly. People go out of their way to deal with them in a certain way so they won’t get upset or hurt another person. So you can see this growth process is very important. 2 COR 5:17 says Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!



When you are born again 9 seeds were planted. These are the seeds for growing the fruit of the spirit. The nine seeds are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are found in Galatians 5 and are referred to as the fruit of the spirit. I will be focusing on one aspect of these fruit over the next few postings. Today we are going to consider the growth process. "Gardening"
Once a seed is planted it goes through a process from
seed
tender sprout
young seedling
Tree with leaves
Tree with blossoms
Tree with fruit
flower and vegetable seeds as well as our Holy Spirit Seeds need four types of nourishment to continue growing.





The first thing a seed needs is SOIL or a -Good heart to receive God’s Word
a seed also needs WATER . Water keeps the soil of your heart soft and pliable in God’s hands. Water is the-Holy Spirit and The Word which cleanses us in(Eph 5:26) says Jesus gave himself for the church to make the church holy, cleansing the church with water and the WORD
a seed also needs light- which is the Word of God (Ps 119:105) Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. and Light is also fellowship with Christians as their light or testimonies can be sunshine to your heart.
A seed also needs TIME-Eccl 3:11 He makes everything beautiful in its time.
A seed does not become a full blooming tree overnight. Growth is a process









There is another picture that God gives us in the Bible to understand how we are designed. John 15:1-8.
Jesus is speaking here-I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the Word I have spoken to you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
So We are the branches and the vine, which is Jesus, is what brings the nourishment out to the branches.
If you are walking and find a branch lying on the ground would you expect to be able to plant it and have it grow into a full blossomed tree-no way! It just stays a broken branch.
If even a TINY branch stays on the vine IT continues to grow into a strong, thick, healthy branch.

Can a branch by itself grow fruit-no it has to stay on the vine. Do not allow yourself to be broken off of the vine. Without the vine you can do NOTHING.
Now once you have a plant you need to be careful of a few things. If you get too dry-you have to be watered of course , we talked about the four things you need to GROW, but also there are pests-bugs, slugs and wormy things that can chew your leaves. There are weeds that can choke your healthy plant right out of there. So For bugs and slugs you need a pesticide. For each of the fruits there are several bugs and slugs like discouragement-the pesticide would be Joy. Impatience- the pesticide would be patience. Anger, gossip, critical speech, behaving out of control, buying too many shoes, laziness, pridefulness, bitterness, unforgiveness, jealousy, worry -all these are bugs and slugs and need to be taken care of with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Weeds are much the same. They can choke out your beautiful roots and kill your plant or your tree. Weeds are sins that need to be uprooted. Now the only way to get rid of sin is to confess it and to turn a way from it. But one way of turning from it is to apply the word of God. One weed is fear. The bible says perfect love casts out fear. So you apply the love and the fear is uprooted and thrown out.
Just like an abundant garden which takes good earth, sunshine, water and time. We don’t become mature the moment we are born again. Maturity is sure come but it will take a process of time. Keep pressing on to maturity, but remain in peace and rest during this season of growth. Pray to be content at each stage of your growth in the Lord, pressing upward and onward daily.

Update

My goodness, I can't believe almost 2 weeks have passed since I last posted. I intend to post a minimum of once per week but am aiming for 2-3 times per week.
I have been trying to find balance in my life. It is always a bit difficult the first month of a new school year as we all jostle with new schedules. I am now homeschooling a 1st grader, 3rd grader and an 11th grader. I now have 9 piano students who come through our home blessing us with their personalities.
I am continuing to teach an online class of Fascinating Womanhood. My husband and I are volunteering at our local AWANA club. My husband is the secretary and I am the "Red Team Leader". We work in the 5th and 6th grade girls class. This is our 6th year with AWANA. Matthew and Emily attend AWANA in their appropriate classes and love it!
We are also starting a new Keepers at Home girls club. Our first meeting is on Monday. We will be working towards our Butterfly and Flower Arranging badges. Matthew just bridged up to Bear Scouts in his Cub Scout pack. I am continuing to work full time (at home) as a telephone triage nurse for hospice.
I am continuing to work on the vocals for my CD that we hope to release in the next year. We are saving money now to pay for the copyright fees. The title is "Be Still" and is a Contemporary Christian CD that I hope will bless many.
I have been attending a weekly Bible Study at my home church, Hope Chapel Hermosa Beach (www.hopechapel.org) We just started the Beth Moore study named "The Patriarchs". I am super blessed already by just the first week's study. It is amazing to realize how intricately God has organized generations, meanings of names and all types of blessings for obedience from day 1. I am so thrilled to love and serve this Mighty God!!

Discipline of Submission

The Discipline of Submission: The Posture of Godliness
an excerpt from Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Hughes

"At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." -Phillipians 2:10-11

Submission is yielding to the authority of another. Puritan preacher Jeremiah Burroughs wrote:"To keep under, that is to submit. The Soul can submit to God at the time when it can send itself under the power and authority and dominion that God has over it."
Of course the authority to which we must yield is God's authority. The Gospel reveals the truth that Jesus is Lord. Christians know this. These words express the very essence of the Gospel.
The message of the Bible is clear: Jesus Christ is Lord! It is a fact. Bringing our lives into submission to His will in everything is the key to being a godly woman. It is also the path to joy.
Jesus, our Lord, is a different kind of king, and we submit to Him, in part, by patterning our lives after His example. As Lord, Jesus behaved in a way that was different from any king the world has ever known. Rather than assume a prideful position of dominance, Jesus humbled Himself. In the Upper Room shortly before His crucifiction, Jesus silenced an argument among His disciples about which of them was the greatest by doing an amazing thing. He washed his disciples feet. We see from that passage that Jesus Christ had no identity crisis. He knew exactly who He was. He knew that all power belonged to Him. His humility on that day and throughout His life was born of this confidence.
Part of our rebellion against God is the desire to ignore God's plan for order in creation. But living in submission to God's order is essential to living under His rule.
Our instinct is to please ourselves. We naturally wish to define our own boundaries, rebelling against outside authority. So submission is something we need to learn.
When we teach our children to obey us, we are actually giving them their first lesson in submission to God's order for the family. They are learning to align their stubborn wills with their parents' will and, ultimately, with God's will. We do children no favor if we don't teach them to be respectful of boundaries and God-given authority.
Submission applies to every area of our lives, and we begin by restoring the Gospel to its rightful place at the center of our thoughts and deeds in everyday life. This submitting is an ongoing, daily choosing of God's ways over our own ways. We'll go on having to choose all our lives.
Look at all the roles we have to fulfill that require us to submit in a godly way to authority: child, employee, citizen, wives, church members, and children of God. And the Bible addresses each of these areas with teaching to help us submit.
Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane is a beautiful model for how we should submit to God's will. We learn two things from Christ's example. First, that even the sinless Son of God had to pray in order to obey! How much more must sinful people need to depend on prayer to come into obedience.
Second, the Father heard His prayer because of His reverent submission. Isn't this stunning? Even within the Godhead, submission was essential.
Is the will of God more important than our lives? It's so natural to get caught up in the ways of the world. We want so desperately to hang on to control of our lives that we forget Jesus' warning in Luke 9 "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it."
In reality most of us will not physically lose our lives for our faith in the Gospel. But we will be faced again and again with the choice between God's will and our own will. What we "lose" is getting our own way! So we must understand that practicing the discipline of submission will not happen without fervent prayer.
Does the word submission feel uncomfortable to you? Put it back into your vocabulary. All the disciplines of a godly woman are about submitting your will to God's loving rule in daily life. Resist the popular voices that entice you to put your needs first, to protect your self-interest and rights, to push at God-given boundaries. Search the Scriptures to understand how Jesus did it-and then follow His example- because Jesus Christ is Lord!

Master Bedroom Update

OK I completed the large bookshelf. It looks so nice. I also went to the next area which was the fax machine on top of a file cabinet.

Next assignment continuing clockwise is my desk. Oh my!! I will have to wait until the weekend for that big project. I will be out of town for the next 3 days for a nurses conference. Pray for my family. They will be doled out around town with precious family. God bless my family.

Master Bedroom Update

Master Bedroom Update.....

OK I haven't forgotten about it. It just took a while and diligence on my part. I finished it tonight. I completed the TV area and have a bookshelf where I placed all our videos and DVDs. I labeled all the videos. There is a white curtain I close over the bookcase. I placed two candles and 2 ceramic pieces on the TV. There is a red Capidamonte rose I inherited from my Grandmother and a sweet Precious Moments figurine. On top of the bookcase is a bunch of cherry blossom flowers and a toy Papillon (stuffed) from my husband. One bonus is I was clearing out under the TV unit and found a rented video that is 3 weeks over due. We have been looking everywhere for it. Apparently it got kicked deep under the unit. We would never had found it. Whew Hew!!!

My dresser drawers are still very tidy. I get a thrill everytime I open the drawer and see all my neat little piles..The top of the dresser is still fairly cleared off. I have put a little laundry to disperse to the rest of the house.

Next assignment is my bookshelf. I have a 6 shelf bookcase with a CD player, audio tapes, books, CDs and a plastic drawer organizer with 3 drawers. I need to tidy this all up. Ok where are you in your rooms? Just go around in a clock wise motion it will all get done eventually. Remember we are creating a restful haven for ourselves and our loved ones. A place to retreat to , relate in, be inspired in.

Bible Memorization

“Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
-Ps 119:11

It is important to hide God’s Word in our hearts. We need to read God’s Word, meditate on God’s Word, and apply God’s Word to our lives. We need to memorize God’s Word so that we never forget it.

If we truly desire to know God and do His will daily, we must spend much time with Him, and find what He considers to be obedience. It does not matter what we think or what other tell us, is obedience. We much know from Him what He considers obedience. We must apply His Word to every area of our lives. We must read the Bible for what it says, and never try to make it fit our own actions or interests. God’s Word is the absolute truth by which we must live. We must change our lives according to it, and not, as is so commonly done, interpret it to fit us.
-an excerpt from The Joy of Womanhood by Keepers of the Faith

Discipline of the Gospel

DISCIPLINE OF THE GOSPEL:The Source of Godliness

excerpt taken from Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes

By this gospel you are saved...Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. I Corinthians 15:2-3

"Why do I get so excited about the Gospel? Because it reveals God's loving plan for this world and for humanity - men, women, and children. It's good news-the best news anyone can ever receive. When a person understands God's love in Christ Jesus, life finally makes sense.

Jesus Christ is the central figure of God's Gospel. Paul said if we believe any other Gospel, we have believed in vain. In a day when everything (including theology) is decided by popular opinion, how easy it is to believe another gospel. How easy it is to shape our god according to what we think he should be like and not allow the whole of Scripture to explain Him.

Our part is to believe. But we must believe in THIS Jesus- the Christ God has revealed in the holy Scriptures and not one of our own imagination. Here I must ask: In what gospel do you believe? Is your Jesus a messiah defined by your own imaginings or the promised Messiah defined by the Scriptures? The Jesus of the Bible is utterly wonderful! And His Gospel is the only path to godliness.

When we are born again, life starts to make sense. Within the pages of Scripture, we find the blessed answer to the age-old question, "Who am I?" Beginning in the opening pages of the Bible, we learn that we are MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD. We learn also that as women, we are made distinctly female as opposed to male. Most importantly, we discover that we are of great value to God, as demonstrated by Christ's death on the cross. The Gospel, therefore, not only brings dignity and value to our humanity, but it brings purpose and meaning to gender distinctions.

The gospel is motivating; it gives us purpose in life: "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17) The scriptures show us where we fit into God's plan for the world and detail what we are to do with our lives.

The gospel satisfies us. As a pastor's wife, I have often had Christian women express to me their longing for something they do not possess. In their search to find what is lacking, they casually diminsh and even dismiss what they have taken for granted- the knowledge of God and His gracious provisions for us discovered in the pages of Scripture.

Here's the gospel truth: " His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ( 2 Peter 1:3) God's provision for His children is astonishing! We have everything we need! "

Gleanings

My husband and I attended a leadership retreat in July of 1999. Jim Tolle was the speaker and I recently came across some notes from his lesson. Here are some quotes by Jim Tolle:

Skepticism lets you see the miracle but not partake of it.

You are God's poem

When you are worn out it is easier to sin.

God sometimes takes our best away so it doesn't become idolatry.

Speaking on the level of living in day to day comfort but not living in victory he says...At this level everyone eats well, sleeps well-run to win-be willing to experience the pain for the victory.

Allow God in your junk drawer

God chooses lepers, liars, prophets and adulterers.