Category Archives: Proven Path Ministries

Children's Ministry, Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries

My New Challenge

 

Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
(Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

 

Last night was the Awana registration at my church. This past Saturday several on my Awana team attended the Awana leaders conference. Which I highly recommend by the way. It is so very easy for us to forget how important it is to receive training, to see things in a new way, to get new ideas from each other, or simply to be encouraged because you discover you are actually doing somethings right.

Anyway, at the conference one of the speakers went over the verse above. As I listened to the speaker I knew that God wanted me to share this at our Awana parent meeting. It was something that I needed reminded of as well…

If you follow my blog, you possibly read my post from yesterday. If you didn’t just look to the right and click on the Proven Path Ministries link and read “Stop Pointing The Finger At Them” (or click this link).

As the Awana speaker shared he broke Deuteronomy 6:4-9 down and I am going to do that as well, but with a little more detail.

Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 

Okay: Hear, O Nicole (put your name here, God’s word is personal, remember its a relationship not a religion, go face to face with God, I always replace my name with whoever God is addressing when I am seeking Him for guidance)! The Lord is your God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.

Okay God, what words? What words shall be on my heart? If I need to know what words then I look back… As I begin to scan Deuteronomy 5 I see that it is filled with the Ten Commandments. So I go back to Deuteronomy 5:1 and begin reading… then I get to the very last verse in chp 5 and read…

You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.

Deuteronomy 5:33

Now I think, okay God “all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you” now when Moses delivered this to the people they had the Law only the Law… I have Christ. So what this says to me is that I have the awesome privileged  of not only having the Law on my heart but in my heart. And so I need to go and see what my Lord Jesus has commanded me also.

Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 

Matthew 5:17-19 

Well okay God… I need the whole counsel of God on and in my heart. the Law, the Prophets, and the New Covenant. So I am going to start with Commandment #1 and learn how to obey it… but wait there is more. What were my instructions after you told me to “Hear“?

You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them… Deuteronomy 5:7

Okay God, I am to hear and then I am to teach. Well who am I to teach? And how am I to teach?  I am to teach them to my sons… well I don’t have sons, but I have daughters, so I am to teach my children, I am to teach the generation under me and I am to teach them diligently. What exactly does it mean to teach them diligently God? Diligently in the old testament Hebrew means to sharpen, whet, to be pierced, to teach incisively(penetrating clear and sharp).

For the word of God isliving and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Hebrews 4:12-13

(it’s nice to be on this side of the cross)

Well okay God, I take my child to church faithfully every Wednesday and twice on Sunday and I make sure they attend every special event… is that not teaching them diligently?

You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house

Oh okay God, I am to hear and to have your Word on my heart and then I am to diligently teach my kids when I sit in my house. Okay got it.

and when you walk by the way

Okay… and also when we walk by the way… so as we do life I am to teach them. As we drive to soccer practice, on our way to school, when we are standing in line at Wal-mart, while sitting in the Playplace at McDonalds… I am to look for opportunities to teach them how your commands apply to their every day life. Like when they get cranky and stubborn in the playplace because I said it was time to leave… that’s a perfect opportunity to remind them that they are to honor me and thier father and obey us. Or when they are playing at school and they want a new game that so-and-so has… a perfect time to teach them that we are not to covet our neighbors things but be content with what we have… okay God keep my eyes open to these opportunities.

and when you lie down

Okay God… bedtime goodnight prayers would be a great time for this… or even at the dinner table. We could just read a Psalm or a Proverb to them and talk about it a bit… Winnie the Pooh and Wiggles are nice and all that but good manners will not help my child stand against the attacks on their soul and mind…

and when you rise up.

alright that’s morning. So we can leave our Sunday school books or awana books or at least one Bible at the breakfast table and read and talk about God that morning and pray for You to help us honor you this day. And on those crazy mornings when we oversleep we can listen to a christian music station on the way to school and we can pick a song we are listening to and discuss how the lyrics line up with what God’s commands and how singing them throughout the day could keep us connected to God…

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

Okay, this one is a little confusing… but I think You are wanting me to remember something like

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father (Colossians 3:17)

and 

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8) 

So before we do it with our hands or let it enter our mind as truth we need to see if it lines up with what You would want us to do or what You say is truth… because Your Word is truth (John 17:17)

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Okay God. It’s my responsibility to guard my home. Before anyone or anything enters in my home I need to see if it lines up with Your will for me and my family. That means the books we read, the magazines we buy, the internet sites we visit, the tv shows we watch, the friends we have in our home and around our children, the things we allow in our home… they have to be cleared by You first. If I wouldn’t have it in the church I shouldn’t have it in my home…

And what I see God is that no one in my church can fulfill this command but me. My Pastor, my Sunday School teacher, my kids awana leader or Sunday school teacher, they are not there to teach in my home, or along the way, or when I lie down, or when I rise up… (unless of course you are married to the pastor  🙂)

So there is only one person who can fulfill this command of Yours in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and that is me.

Now precious ones, if you did go back and read my post from yesterday you saw how I believe that our nation is where it is because the church, those who profess to know Christ, have not obeyed God’s commands, or walked in His ways, or kept His statutes…

So this is my new challenge to you.

I challenge you right now to stop.

Stop trying to fix whatever you are trying to fix about you.

Stop and focus on just fulfilling this one command of God.

Beginning today Hear the word and put it on your heart. Read Deuteronomy 5&6 at least three times today.

Then go home… don’t make a big announcement… just tonight at the dinner table or at bedtime sit down with those in your home and open the Word. After your reading Deuteronomy 5&6 today is there something you need to talk about or teach your kids about… are their things that need to be removed from your home… a little at a time (don’t go for the book burning, trash all the video games and mags all at once, just purge a little at a time as you teach… that’s how God usually does it in our hearts isn’t it…)

Stop looking at your list of self-improvements you think you need to be a better parent, spouse, christian that you never seem to reach, and just focus on this one command to… Hear and  teach and let the Word of God do what you could never do no matter how hard you tried.

 

 

Proven Path Ministries

Stop Pointing The Finger At Them

 

I am currently studying through the book of Ezekiel and teaching through the book of Revelation and also writing the Judgment Scene and Hell Scene for my church’s annual Fall drama, The Judgment Seat… so here’s your fair warning that for the current season my posts might be a little “harsh” for some… but nevertheless bathed in prayer and full of the Word.

I am an American. I am a southern girl, born and bred in the Heart of Dixie Alabama Bible belt. However I did not wrap the Bible around my own waste as the belt of truth until I was twenty-four years old.

So please know that I understand and offer and am bathed in the grace of my God first always and foremost… but I cannot ignore the wrath of God because it is just as much a part of Him and salvation as is His grace. If the wrath of God had not fallen on Christ it would have fallen on me… I am offered grace only because someone else took my fully deserved wrath.

That said…

We are in a political battle at the moment in our nation. Our nation to the reasoning of others is going to Hell in a hand-basket because of the choices of a political party… just pick one depending on which side your own. People who profess to know Christ point at the laws made and the “freedoms” given to certain individuals and we assure ourselves that the wrath of God is going to fall on our nation because of them.

I dare say that I disagree with you…

I believe God’s Word is clear and we who profess to know Christ need to stop pointing the finger at them.

Thus says the Lord God, ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands around her. But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes more than the lands which surround her; for they have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.’ Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you,’ therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.

Ezekiel 5:5-8

 

Now let’s read it again…

 

Thus says the Lord God, ‘This is the church; I have set her at the center of the world, with the lost around her. But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the world and against My statutes more than the lost that surround her; for the believers have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.’ Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have more turmoil than the world which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the world which surround you,’ therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the lost.

We the church, are supposed to be the light on the hill. Yet we the church have spent the last fifty plus years more engaged in our American goods than our God. We have chosen sports over the spiritual. Money over the mass. Concession over conviction. Sin over sanctification. We the church have found ourselves right back at Romans 2-3. We are either legalistic fist pounders or we are so drunk on the idea of grace that we could care less about our sin grieving our God.

You see God is judging Israel not just because they “knew better but messed up, hey nobody is perfect right?”

He is judging them because He set them at the center of the nations to lead the nations to Him. They were commissioned to be the light of the nations, the salvation of the peoples, they were to show the nations watching them how to get to the One True Living God. So the whole world had their eyes on them for direction…

Now that Israel chose to worship their blessings instead of their Blesser. Now that they chose to point people to idol instead of to God, and now that they were leading people away from God instead of to Him… He had to judge them or all those watching them would be lost and follow their rebellion right into the pits of hell.

So here we are today in the American church.

This is what the lost see.

They see the church tell another person how they will go to hell without Jesus for their sin while they are having sex with whatever person they are dating at the moment, because, well, they are forgiven, so when they feel bad enough about what they are doing they will go to Jesus and pray a prayer and He will forgive them. Or they tell a person that they will go to hell for their one particular sin, because God said it was an abomination, so somehow that makes their sin worse than theirs.

In case you’re wondering what God calls abominations…

There are six things which the Lord hates,
Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that run rapidly to evil,
A false witness who utters lies,
And one who spreads strife among brothers.

Proverbs 6:16-19

For some reason it seems that male/female sex is the sin of choice in America, it’s apparently okay, after all look at all the temptation that surrounds us, God understands we can’t resist, and look how hard it is to say no…. right? Just preach no sex in one hand but stand their with condoms and Valtrex in the other hand.

It seems we will give up any sin but this one. We will love others, we’ll try not to lie, try not to steal, we won’t worship other “gods, we will honor our parents, we’ll go to church, we’ll teach Sunday school, we’ll tithe faithfully… just don’t make me give up my orgasm. Don’t make me resist him or her, after all they will find someone else if I say no, and then I will be alone… because God even though I tell others that You are enough and as long as I have You I am never alone… I really don’t believe that and I don’t really trust You to meet all my needs like Your word says You will.

We want to judge our nation and we want our nation to “act right” but we don’t want any of our individual actions to be judged by anyone and we don’t want anyone pointing out to us when we don’t “act right”. I have to wonder how many of the people who stood in line for an hour to buy a chicken sandwich were having an affair with a co-worker or neighbor or “friend” or shacking up with someone. These actions do not represent traditional marriage anymore than homosexual marriage does.

Go back and read Proverbs 6:16-19 and look at your plans for this week… check your calendar for the month… how many “plans” have you made that honor your God and how many plans have you made that are wicked, and setting your feet to run rapidly to evil… how many lies are you having to speak to make your plans work… and how many innocent eyes might perish if they are watching and follow the way that you go?

Precious one, it is not our political choices that will bring God’s anger upon our nation…

Thus My anger will be spent and I will satisfy My wrath on them, and I will be appeased; then they will know that I, the Lord, have spoken in My zeal when I have spent My wrath upon them. Moreover, I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations which surround you, in the sight of all who pass by. So it will be a reproach, a reviling, a warning and an object of horror to the nations who surround you when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath and raging rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken.

Ezekiel 5:13-15 

 

God’s anger, wrath, and raging rebukes didn’t come because of Jerusalem’s political choices. It was the apathy, the arrogance, and the abominations of the priest. It was because of the defilement of His temple and His holy name.

Let’s read Ezekiel 5: 5-8 one more time in one more different way…

Thus says the Lord God, ‘This is Nicole; I have set her at the center of her home, family, and community, with the lost around her. But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the world and against My statutes more than the lost that surround her; for she who professed to be a believer rejected My ordinances and has not walked in My statutes.’ Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have more turmoil than the world which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the world which surround you,’ therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the lost.

You see that was me.

That is me.

I professed to know Christ… but I lived in great sin. I have fallen at the altar of my God and wept more times than I can count not just over my sin… but over the sin that I encouraged in others… some of those who went down a path much worse than mine… and I helped them get there.

I profess to know Christ now… and know Him I do… but I still sin. I would be a liar if I spoke otherwise  and even worse I would make my God a liar (1 John 1:10) and my God doesn’t lie (Numbers 23:19).

The difference between then and now is that then I pursued sin.

Today I pursue Christ.

Then I sinned much.

Now I sin-less.

Precious one, our political leaders are who they are because our spiritual leaders have been who they have been. The choices of our nation are just a reflection of the choices in our church. The choices of our church are a reflection of the choices in our homes.  The choices of our home are a reflection of the choices in our heart.

 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good;

and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; 

for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.

Luke 6:45

Stop pointing the finger at them and start pointing the finger at yourself.

 

Do you hate your own sin enough to go boldly before the throne of grace and seek God’s divine power to defeat it (2 Corinthians 10:3-5, 2 Peter 1:3)?

The true grace of God is the divine power to defeat sin and to live a godly life (Titus 2:11-14).

It’s not about self-condemnation… but Spirit-Conviction.

Don’t be the excuse that another has to brush off the call of Christ… be their reason to hear loud and clear (Acts 20:26-28).

 

 

Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries

I’m Hoping

 

We toss around words like faith and love all the time. And most of us can describe both with minimal difficulty.

But hope? What in the world is it? And is it really that essential?

Webster defines hope, “to desire with expectation of fulfillment.” To hope is to anticipate. It is more than dreaming, however.

It is possessing within ourselves an expectation that someday there will be the fulfillment of that desire. It will become a reality.

Hope always looks to the future, it’s always on tiptoes. It keeps us going.

It makes a dismal today bearable because it promises a brighter tomorrow. Without hope, something inside all of us dies. . . .

We can live several weeks without food, days without water, and only minutes without oxygen, but without hope—forget it.

~ Swindoll

 

During our summer housing dilemma the word “hope” was used a lot. I mean A LOT. It was in fact used to the point that my husband and I began to sarcastically joke about it when we said it.

Our summer was filled with “well we hope that…” (just fill in the blanks with any house closing term)

The reason why “hope” had become a joke was because  we had no faith in the one’s whose word we were “hoping” in.

When we put our hope in anything or anyone beside our God… we will be disappointed. We lived a summer in disappointment. We lived in this state of disappointment because we simply put our hope in the wrong place. It’s so very easy to do.

You are at the doctor and the doctor says I don’t think it’s cancer… so you put your hope in his word… and then you are slammed with disappointment when you discover he was wrong.

You have a loved one call and say they hope to be their tomorrow… but they never show. You put your hope in them and they failed and now you are disappointed.

What I have learned this summer is that we have to put our hope only in the word of the One who has the power to keep it. There is only One who can do that.

God.

The first time the word hope is used in Scripture is found in Ruth 1:11-13

 But Naomi said, “Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown?

Ruth is quick  to let her daughter-in-laws know that she could say she has hope in another husband coming along… but it would be an empty hope… putting her hope in a possible second husband and possible sons, when God had not promised her either would be foolish.  She knew if she said as such she would cause her daughter-in-laws a lifetime of disappointment as they hoped in her word.

There is no where is Scripture where God has said “I promise you that I will give you a good husband till death do you part.” I have read the book, it’s not in there. But what He does promise is that He will always be a husband to us, if we put our hope in Him.

For your husband is your Maker,

Whose name is the LORD of hosts;

And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,

Who is called the God of all the earth.

Isaiah 54:5

If we put our hope in anything or anyone apart from God it is a false hope.

A horse is a false hope for victory;

Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength

Psalm 33:17

It doesn’t matter how strong the person. How secure the structure. How high the character and integrity of the man… if it’s not the promise of God, the word of God, if your hope is not in God… disappointment will be the result. Yes God will use all the above to do His work, to work out His plan, but He alone is the One to hope in.

Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us,

According as we have hoped in You.

Psalm 33:22

My soul, wait in silence for God only,

For my hope is from Him.

Psalm 62:5

I did not too good about waiting in silence this summer. I am after all an American… waiting is not a strong area in my life. I hate red lights, because they make me stop even when nothing is coming. And I have to sit there and watch nothing coming the whole time it is red.

Of course now with the whole “no texting while driving” thing… I can now fill my red light wait with the text.

You see this is how I work.

Doing Nothing. Waiting. I have always been a person who has to be doing something. I need movement… forward motion… let’s please get somewhere with this… Results please!

So the words “I’m hoping so” were very easily and quickly mocked after only a few times of lack of results.

Yes I can soooooo see why Sarai did what she did when waiting on that promised son from God. I cannot condemn her, I have made plenty of messes, probably hurt plenty of feelings, rushed plenty of results, settled for less than God’s best… simply because I would not tolerate the wait any longer.

I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait,

And in His word do I hope.

Psalm 130:5

When you put your hope in the proof of results instead of the promise of God… disappointment and wrong decisions and bad attitudes are sure to follow every time.

God knows that we need hope.

For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD,

‘plans for welfare and not for calamity

to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

God knows that we need hope. He gave Adam and Eve a promise to hope in at the very beginning. When the curse’s consequences would come and the evidence of their choices and their sin would fall upon them and those they loved… God knew they, we, would need a hope to hold on to or we would seek death to end our misery… but death in death is just an eternal place of misery. So God gave us a promise, a future and a hope, to hold on to.

And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations,

knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 

and perseverance, proven character;

and proven character, hope; 

and hope does not disappoint,

because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts

through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 5:3-5

If we put our hope in hope… we will be disappointed. If we put our hope in man or the things of this world, we will be disappointed. We can buy a lottery ticket and put our hope in it… disappointment will be the result… even when/if you win the lottery… you will discover that hope in financial security still disappoints.

If you put your faith in faith apart from the Word of God, apart from Christ… that faith will disappoint.

If you put your hope in love apart from God… that love will disappoint and you come to believe that even love fails.

The only solid foundation.

The only hope that does not disappoint.

The only Word that alone can be rested upon is that of our God. And my friend any thing we choose to hope in or for outside of the Word will eventually disappoint us if we expect them to bring us joy or peace or happiness.

The promises He has made us and recorded for us in written form are the only one’s we are to hope in. I have learned that hoping in anything added to them usually leads to me getting into a place of fleshly ick that I just do not like to be in.

The worst part was… that we both became sick of “hoping”.

But the thing was, there is nothing in God’s Word that promised us this house, this closing. It looked to us that God had lined it all up… but that was it. We in fact were actually presuming on God’s will.  It looked good to us, it was what we had peace with, so it had to be of God… right?

What I have learned this summer is that I am to hope only in the clear promises of my God given me in His Word. This is what of life He guarantees me. I am not to add to it nor take away from it. This life after all is not about what all I can get out of it before I check out. It is about lifting up my Lord and becoming conformed to His image so that I might be used by Him to draw others into the Kingdom of Light.

Yes, in the end we got the house. We do believe it was right. One reason being that we sleep here. Neither my husband nor I could sleep in our last house. Two hours max and we were awake tossing and turning, looking at the clock, dozing off and on, until finally we just got up. But here we actually rest…

Not sure what that means… if anything… I just know that it is.

 

 

Proven Path Ministries

First Fruits

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I had forced myself on because of the Googled reassurance:

“Pick off all first blooms to ensure subsequent harvests are more plentiful.”

If I ever intended for the everbearing berries to produce heavily throughout the season, I had to choose to sacrifice the first harvest so that all the growth and energy could be more efficiently invested into producing later crops.

So that is what I do:  Trim. Pare. Cut back. 

It’s like a song:

Pick, Prune,  Pluck.

Cut out that which seems good to invest in the best.

That’s what the garden needed in early spring.

And come late summer, looking out into the fall, the calendar, it needs the same.

The law of the garden is the law of life: Early sacrifice for later bounty.

~ Ann Voskamp

 

It never ceases to amaze me how God gives the “ah-ha” moments to us…

how He gives us the “oh yeh” times in our lives.

I read the above quote this morning and my mind immediately went to the Feast of First Fruits, to the laws and precepts and statutes and commands that God gave the Israelite when He brought them out of Egypt… into the wilderness and began preparing them for the promised land.

 

  “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them,

‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest,

then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.'”

Leviticus 23:10

They were to enter the land and they were to plant the seed and they were to work the soil and then when they finally saw the benefits of their work they were to give it away… to the priest… to God. I wonder if they knew? I wonder if they knew that God commanded this because by giving Him this reaping He would ensure them an even greater harvest later? Did they know?

On this side of the cross do we know?

After thousands of years of having the benefit of the truth of God in written form… do we get it?

If we will offer this life…  if we will give God this birth, this body, this day… He ensures us an even greater life later.

Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it,

and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

Luke 17:33

This morning I also read this from John Piper’s blog digest,

John G. Paton and his wife set sail to the islands in 1858. But this decision didn’t come without criticism. On one account before leaving, a respected elder chided the couple, “You will be eaten by cannibals!” To which Paton responded,

“Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms.”

Paton didn’t play. He was a courageous man who understood how to do missions when dying is gain. God is sovereign, and Paton knew it. He endured one threat after another and put it all on the line for the glory of Christ.
We have a choice to make very day. We can choose to give our life to God or we can choose to keep it for ourselves. If we keep the first fruits, if we refuse to pluck off what we see is good… we can not receive God’s best. Yes we will get some pleasure from the good. But it won’t last… and then what follows will only get worse… not better.
I agree with Mrs. Voskamp and I too believe that the law of the garden is the law of life.

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of lights, 

with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 

In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth,

so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. 

James 1:17-18

Will you be a first fruit?

Will you sacrifice the things in this world that you deem as good and trust God for the best?

What “good” thing have you been holding on to that you know God has told you to bring to the altar?

Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries

Just A Woman

 

You come to the end of your patience. You lose your temper. Then you feel worse.

The last thing you consider yourself to be is a “good mom.” And you think to yourself, It’ll be a miracle if my kids turn out okay.

And – surprisingly – that’s right where God wants to meet you. The place where you admit your powerlessness and your need for Him.

It’s only by God’s grace that any kid grows up to be a force for the kingdom.

You see, there are no perfect kids and no perfect mothers. No matter what you read in blogs, see in magazines, and learn in books. There are sinful kids and sinful moms and dads.

And the only thing greater than both is the grace of God. The God who says “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The God who loves to forgive, to transform, and empower.

God loves you – not because you are a good mother but just because you are His precious child.

God loves you – not because you’ve mastered all the skills of parenting but because He has.

It’s divine grace that will transform your parenting – not guilt.

It’s grace that will keep you going and serving and scrubbing when you’re exhausted and worn out.

It’s grace that will conquer your feelings of inadequacy and remind you of God’s love for you in Christ.

It’s grace that goes for the heart of your kids, not just their behavior.

~ Trevin Wax

 

I don’t know about you, but I needed to read that today.

The letter is addressed to “Stay-At-Home Mom’s”, but I believe it is accurate for “Every Mom”. It seems like every time I click on my homepage the news feed is letting me know just one more way that I am, or have, or will, scar my children for life. It pushes me into a guilt fest and it’s crazy. I can even experience the same thing as I read Christian blogs and books and magazines.

Yes, I want to learn to be a better wife, a better mother, a better woman of God… but all these above articles have one huge thing in common… they are opinions of mankind.

Not only are they opinions of man, not one of them lives in my life. Not one of them bore my children, or loves my husband, not one of them cleans my house or goes to my job, not one of them walks in my shoes.

I can learn from them.

I can learn from others.

I should.

However, there is only One who does walk in my shoes, loves my husband, bore my children, and does all of life with me… and that is Christ.

I have learned that  everything I need to know to be a better mom, a better wife, a better woman of God is found only in one place, the Word of God. If I keep my nose first buried in this Book, in His news feed, then I am able to better filter the opinions of man. I am able to guiltlessly laugh at some of the things that work for other families that would be an epic fail in my life and home.

I have come to learn in this decade plus walk as a believer, wife, and mother that all I need to know and remember to be better is grace, grace, and more grace, to walk by the Spirit not by the flesh, to rest in forgiveness (received and extended), and to love without exception. If I can simply learn to choose the fruits of the Spirit over the desires of the flesh… well, I believe God will take care of all the rest.

Yes, I will still read the blogs, the books, the mags… and may even glance at the homepage news feed article… but the bottom line is I know that I love my God, my husband, and my children with all that is within me… and I have to trust that love is enough and all the rest will flow out of that love.

I am after all just a woman.

Just a woman who is madly in love with one God, one man, and the children they have given me.

If love lived out was enough for the sin of the world to be covered at the cross, then love lived out most certainly should be enough to cover any scars that I might give my children as I try desperately to raise them in a godly way in this ungodly world.

I have to remember and remind them and myself that I am a work in progress just as they are… but hey, at least we’re in this thing together 🙂

 

 

 

Children's Ministry, Proven Path Ministries

Just a Child

 

Children’s Ministry is more than just babysitting. It is more than just keeping the kids occupied and alive long enough for their parents to get “fed”. It is not something that should just be thrown together, taken lightly, or done half-? (well if your southern you know what goes there).

There are a few things that will get this red-head fired up… one big one is short-changing our children. Let me tell you, many of these kids are carrying the weight of the world upon their shoulders. Many of these kids are surrounded by so much artificiality they have no clue what real looks like. They live in a world of hypocrisy and lies like many of us have never known. They live in a world where “reality” tv is scripted and cut and edited and more fake than any sitcom because it is played off as “real”. They live in the land of saying what you need to say to get what you want and never meaning a word of it… and the truth is they know it. They are learning not to trust anyone because so many treat them like they are stupid and unaware of the hypocrisy that is fed them.

I could share story after story… but let me share just one.

A young girl’s parents divorce when she is still pre-school/kindergarten age. Mom remarries and so does Dad. Mom’s new man sexually abuses her. She tells Dad. Dad takes her away from Mom and puts Mom’s new man in jail. Now Mom and new man have young kids. Now little girl who was sexually abused and told what happened is upset because her half-brothers and sisters don’t get to see their dad and she thinks its her fault. Now Dad is supposed to be getting child support from Mom and Mom’s not paying so Dad has Mom put in jail. Now the young girl is upset and believes it’s her fault that Mom’s in jail and she defends Mom to me about how she has has to take care of her little brothers and sisters and just doesn’t have the money to pay for her too. Now Dad’s new woman physically abuses young girl, breaking her bones and clawing her up and Dad tells young girl that he’ll knock her teeth out if she tells what is really happening.

This is just a piece of one child’s story. Just one of many that I have heard. Just one of many that I know about…

And yes this young girl was a church member at a church. So just because a child is “in church” every Sunday doesn’t mean that they do not live in hell Monday through Saturday. We make many mistakes and cause much damage by presuming that all our “church kids” have happy homes.

This girl is just a child.

Just a child and this is the burden she carries.

And we think that sugar coating the wrath and vengeance of our God by convincing her that Noah’s Ark is about rainbows and cute little animals floating in a boat is going to give her the strength to live with this burden.

Just a child?

I sat and listened to this child’s story and then how she said she had no friends at school because she didn’t like to talk because she stuttered and she didn’t want people to know what her life was like…

Just a child.

Let’s get real church.

This child needs to know that God hates the way she has been treated. This child needs to know that God is angry about this. This child needs to know that God loves her with a real love and that His wrath will fall on those who hurt His children. This child needs to know that it is okay to still love this Dad and Mom who have hurt her so and she needs to know how to forgive them and how not to carry the weight of this conflicting emotional turmoil that is tossing within her.

This child needs the whole counsel of the Word of God. This child needs the real Jesus. The One who says “Woe to those…”! The One who has the double edged sword in His mouth. The One who loves hard and stands strong and lives to fight for her.

So children’s ministry stop sugar coating the truth. These kids don’t need a spoon full of sugar to help the medicine go down. Just give them a straight shot. They need healing to get into their veins now. They need hooked up to the iv of truth. Trust me they are getting enough sugar with the lies.

Stop worrying about having to step out of your “comfort zone” when we have a world of kids out there who have no clue that a zone of comfort even exists.

 

 

Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries

In The House

I awoke in our new house the morning of August 4th and I came down the stairs and located my Bible and my current spiral notebook journal and walked around the house searching for my new sacred spot…

We slept in our new house for the first time the night of July 29th, but the next morning was Sunday morning, the following day, Mon July 30th began WinShape camps (which I will share about in a separate post). So Saturday August 4th was my first uncommitted morning in our new house.

I was like Goldilocks searching through every room for the spot that was “just right”. I finally settled for our make-shift breakfast table so I could look out the window into the back yard.

I sat down with my coffee and Bible and notebook and I sighed a thankful sigh. It was the morning of August 4th, 2012. The 4th day of our 8th month so Psalm 84 came to my mind… so I opened my Bible and flipped through the Psalms and stopped at Psalm 84.

How lovely are Your dwelling places,

O Lord of hosts!

My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord;

My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

The bird also has found a house,

And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,

Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts,

My King and my God.

How blessed are those who dwell in Your house!

They are ever praising You.

Psalm 84:1-4

I read these words from my God and my heart stopped… He always knows.

The journey into this home has been a rough one. It seemed that with every turn the house was trying to be taken away from us. The struggle came because my husband and I were so sure that this was the house that God was giving us… but with every wall that we hit along the way we struggled with our assurance.

Were we wrong?

Was this God telling us “NO!”?

Or was this the enemy trying to keep us from God’s purpose?

This was where our struggle lied. It wasn’t the house per say… but our ability to discern the will of our God in our life’s situations. How hard were we to fight for this house? If we lost this house did it mean that God did not want us to leave our current house or was it just that He didn’t want us moving into the house we had a contract on?

We finally came to the conclusion that we knew that whether we got the house we had a contract on or whether we lost it… we knew we had to leave where we were. Nothing was right about staying. Staying in our current house was not an option. It was time to leave the mountain.

In the end God gave us the home we have had under contract since March.

So when I sat down my first morning opportunity to be still before my God and read

The bird also has found a house,

And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,

Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts,

My King and my God.

How blessed are those who dwell in Your house!

 

God had given me my nest. He had given me a place to lay my young. This was indeed His house for us. I knew it the moment I walked in it the first time… and so did my husband and so did our girls. This is where I saw my grand kids coming to visit. This is where I saw our home filled with children that I would lay on the altar of my God. I met my first at WinShape camp last week… her name has been layed on the altar of my God without ceasing since she shared her story with me.

So this bird has found a house. This swallow a nest. This wife and mother a home.

The sacred spot is still in search, the nest is still being put in order, but the new journey has already begun…

Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries

Left Behind

So far, it appears as though this house selling thing is really going to happen. Plans are that this coming Tuesday, as in 5 days, we will be passing our current home to another family. As I sit here now and walk around in our home… my feelings vary. I am partly dreading the packing and unpacking, partly excited to be moving into our new home, and partly feeling very sad about the moments, memories, and milestones that will be left behind as we say goodbye.

The horsey swing. It has been with us since for at least ten years. I cannot count the children that I love that have swung on this swing. Every child of mine, every niece and nephew, and every guest under 100 lbs that has ever been to our home. It will stay to be swung on by another little boy and I am sure more little boys and girls to come. May it be as good to them as it was to us.

 

The trampoline. Shelby and Bekah saved their own money to make this purchase. They were so proud of themselves for saying no to all the little spending’s in order to save their money to make this big purchase. We were very proud of them as well. Our new home will not have the yard room for a trampoline, so they have sold it with the house and will be purchasing water park summer passes with the profit.

 

The swing-set. My dad built this for the girls. I have enjoyed the many moments I have watched them outside swinging on it. I laugh at the countless fights I refereed over who got what color seat.  I sigh as I recall the moments that I, myself, sat in one of those swings and enjoyed a still, quiet, afternoon in the breeze…

 

The clothesline. My husband built this for me. I have loved it. I will miss the smell of the sun dried sheets and towels and I will miss watching them dance on the line during the strong spring winds. I always looked forward to that first spring day that was warm enough to put the towels on the line but not yet warm enough to begin the pollen season. I also will never forget our neighbor who walked over with a news article about the tradition of hanging clothes on the line when she saw my girls out helping me. She has her own clothes line and was tickled pink to see me teaching this to our girls. Who needs a dryer on a warm sunny day?

 

The rosemary bush. I killed at least three of these things trying to keep them in the house. Finally out of frustration I dug a hole and stuck this bush in it. It has thrived. I cannot tell you the meals that this rosemary bush has made absolutely delicious. It will be missed… an herb garden will be one of the first things planted in our new backyard. There is no yard too small for an herb garden. Fresh herbs simply are a must for any great meal.

 

The tree. This is one of two maple trees that I planted. I hope they continue to grow and one day offer the beautiful shade and contrast that I hoped they would as they stood in the midst of the pines.

 

The crepe myrtle. My Shelby gave this to me. It was one lone sprig when I planted it… one day I hope it will mature and be a beautiful tree with gorgeous blooms… I have the same hope for the one who gave it to me. God blessed me with my Shelby and I pray that she matures and becomes a beautiful tree of life with gorgeous gospel declaring blooms.

 

The rose bush. It’s small, but it faithfully blooms every year. This was a gift from my church for Mother’s Day. My girls were so excited to present it to me. I have looked forward to it peaking up through the mulch every spring. It would remind me that life is there, even when sometimes we can’t see it. It has given me hope when I have struggled with whether or not a loved one really new the LORD. When I struggled with whether or not they had eternal life… because to my eyes all I saw was left over dead sprigs… but underneath life was there… and when God called it to spring forth and break through the mulch and reach up to the glorious sun and soak in heaven’s rain… it would. My girls have prayed to receive Christ. They have admitted their sin, believed in Him and His Word, and have confessed Him as their Lord and Savior… but life has taught me that many times a young believer gets lost for a while in life and looks as dead as any son of Adam. So if this one day happens to them (though I pray desperately that they remain faithful to their God and His Word) the memory of this Mother’s Day’s rose will be there to give this mother hope.

 

My sacred spot. This is where I have had my quiet times with my God. Here is where I have leaned on Him and the truth in His Word. Here is where He would meet with me and I with Him. Jesus went up on the mountain to pray… I came here. This is where I sit now as I type out these words. Here is where God birthed Devotions From Genesis and Devotions From Exodus. Here is where God birthed just about every Bible study lesson I have taught in the last five years. Here is where I would pour out my hurts and anger and frustrations and doubts. Here is where I would break out into songs and tears of joy as I experienced Him and His presence. Here is where I would say “yes” and “amen” to my King.

Into this sky I would look as I hashed out my hurts and shared my joys with my God. Into this sky I would look with hopeful expectation for the return of my Savior.  Into this sky I would look and I could almost feel the eyes of my God upon me as I searched for Him. I would watch the wind in the tops of the trees and remember Elijah on the mountain and John 3… and how the Lord was in the quiet wind. Other times I would come out and watch the storms and I would remember Job and Psalm 18 and Revelation and how thunder and lightning surround His throne and how the LORD speaks through the whirlwind…

 

These tangible things will be left behind as we move to a different place… but the memories will go with me. I look forward to finding my sacred spot in our new home. I look forward to planting new trees and new plants and herbs. I look forward to making more memories. I pray that God will use our family in this new home to be a light of the gospel of Christ. I pray that He will go before us and place those in our path that need the seed of life sowed in their hearts, or watered, or tended, or even harvested. May our move not be in vain, nor simply for our own pleasure… but may He be able to use us for His divine purpose.

In the same breath… all these tangible things, and the neighbors that surround them, makes the chance of the “not sold” for whatever unforeseen reason not so disappointing or devastating. We are actually at a place that if we stay it is good and if we go it is good. I like this place of peace. This place of remembering that He is in control. I hope I stay here wherever we go…

Children's Ministry, Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries

Sink or Float

 

Oh my today was a day…

I woke up at 6am and started towels to put on the line and washed the dishes and made my morning coffee, took the dog out, and while outside my husband pulled into the driveway home from the night shift. I started to grab my Bible and laptop and come outside with my coffee, but I came in with my husband and watched a DVR’d episode of Master Chef.

After he had fast forwarded through all the commercials and we got in touch with the termite bond man and found out he would not be here until after 3pm, my husband headed to the shower and bed. I then switched the tv to the christian music channel and opened my Bible and notebook.

It seemed to be a pretty good morning. The appraiser and the termite bond guy would not be here until after 3pm. I had spent some time with my husband and my God and now I woke my Shelby and began to clean the floors. The plan was to be at the church by 10am to get my work done so I could be home by 3pm after picking up my Bekah at 2:30pm.

I made it to the church by 11am and had spent another hour on my Wed night Zapped lesson and got several other things accomplished and was heading out the door by 2:15pm to pick up my Bekah and be home by 3pm.

About 3:01pm I pull in the driveway and the termite bond guy comes in not far behind me. So I yell for him to come in as I am putting some wildflowers I cut, out of the woods from the side of the road on the way home, in a vase for the dining room table (that you could actually find until the second we walked in the door from church tonight).

I leave the termite bond guy to my husband as I go on to make beds and put away clothes before the appraiser gets there to take pictures. By 3:50pm the termite bond guy is gone and now my husband finally manages to connect with me that the appraiser had already been there… thus the reason he was awake before I woke him at 3pm… so the appraisal pics were done without my made beds or beautiful wildflower bouquet.

By 4:15pm I am headed back to church because our internet is still non functioning and I still need to take care of some things before church services begin.

By 5:30 I realize I am going to have to take my Shelby to her youth pool party and so I mad dash her to the pool party and then mad dash myself and Bekah back to church to fight with the computer some more.

Yep that lesson plan I had worked on… finding and uploading just the right videos and pics… I can’t get it to work. Our youth minister who knows how to do all this stuff is at the pool party… so after fighting with this computer and tv for about 30 min… I have a room full of kids and by now I am fighting frustration tears…

I am swaying between anger and frustration and dissappointment and well it’s just not good. I am ready to either crawl under the floor or have a good ole fashion southern girl hissy-fit. Yet, all my babies are watching… and so is my Jesus. He has allowed this for some reason. So I breathe.

I kick into plan B and pull out the DVD’s and we wing it. I begin with prayer and let God and His Spirit get my priorities and purpose back in focus and after a little “Happy and You Know It” and and getting a little “Zapped” and then some “I Will Follow”, me on my own knees and watching these hearts on theirs… I take some more deep breathes and actually am ready to share the Bible lesson with these beautiful ones even without the picture slide show I had put together.

Fearing that this night’s lesson was going to be an epic fail, I finally realized that quite simply Satan just did not want someone in that room to here what God’s Word had to say tonight… so with determination the night went on… and tonight I had the privilege to share the truth and love of God with eternal souls, one on one with three children who came to me to share their struggles and fears.

So tonight I was reminded who was in control. I was reminded that I am dependant upon God’s power every second… I was reminded that I can’t let myself focus on all that’s going wrong. I can’t get caught up in fear and worry or frustration. Just like Peter had to keep his eyes on Christ when he stepped out of that boat to obey his Master’s command, I have to as well.

Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand

and took hold of him, and said to him,

“You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Matthew 14:31

Proven Path Ministries

Where Are You Men of Courage?

 

Our pre-teen daughter bought the movie Courageous yesterday with a gift card that was given her by a very special woman in our church. She bought this movie because she wanted to watch it with her Daddy. The first time we saw it her Daddy was at work and was not able to see it. That was well over six months ago. From the moment she saw it she has thought of nothing but watching it with him.

Last night she did.

She claimed she wanted him to see the funny parts… but she doesn’t know that I could see past that… and when the moment came in the movie when the Daddy took his daughter out and asked her to trust him with her heart and trust his approval over any boy that would want to pursue her… I was watching and I saw what I knew I would see… her looking to her Father to see if he was watching the movie at that very point. You see deep down I knew that was why she wanted him to see that movie with her.

Every girl wants a man she can trust with her heart. A man she can trust to protect her. A man she can trust to provide and care for her. It should be her daddy… and her daddy should introduce her to her Heavenly Father so that she will know that if something ever happens to him, if he somehow fails her, her Heavenly Father never will.

Sadly we live in a day where instead of me telling my girls they can trust a man to protect them… we have to warn them that men will hurt them. Instead of us telling them, don’t get on this elevator unless there is a man on there who could stay calm and strong and help them if the elevator was to have trouble, we have to tell them never, ever, ever get on an elevator alone with a man. Instead of us telling them that they can trust a man to protect them, we have to warn them that many men carry a perversion in them and that perversion will lead these men to hurt them in ways we cannot even describe to them.

I was blessed to grow up with a Father that I knew would die for me. I was blessed to marry a man that I know would die for me… and therefore my girls also have a father that I know would die for them. He would stand before Goliath himself, in a split second, never hesitating a moment, should Goliath attempt to hurt one of his girls.

We need men to raise men. We need more men like my Father, like my husband, who can teach a boy to be a man.

So as he asked in the movie… where are you men of courage?

Where are you men of courage who will step out of the comfort of the pew that your head bobs back and forth fighting sleep in… and get down on your knees in the children’s wing and lead a 2 yr old little man who has no father to lead him?

Where are you men of courage who will stop complaining about the music, about the length of the service, about how no one goes out their way to talk to and will step into the life of a young man, a pre-teen, a teenager, who has no one at all?

Where are you men of courage who will stop using the heart of a woman to meet your own fleshly lust and will instead sacrifice yourself to protect her mind, body, and soul?

You want to be wild at heart?

You want to serve and protect and fight the good fight?

You want to battle evil and stand up for good?

Then stop living out a fantasy on a tv/computer screen and invest in what’s real and eternal. Do it. Do it right. Lay down your life for another.

Stop allowing the lives of these little hearts to be the prey to the evil one while you bob and nod your head in the service.

Stand up.

Come out of the corner with your fists raised and bob and weave, bob and weave, bob and weave in the ring of life. Get in the real cage that our children have been cast to the prowling, roaring lion in, and fight for their eternity.

It’s not about being perfect… it’s about being fierce, intentional, diligent and determined.

How many of you have watched that movie and like he said in the movie… your spirit stirred… but you have not?

What are you waiting for?