Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Home~Makers





In May of this year my youngest daughter graduated from our school at home.  Sixteen years and four daughters later I was faced with life without the hectic schedule of school.  I was honestly overwhelmed, I loved our school time together. I had been so satisfied in those years doing what I knew the Lord had called me to and now I felt swallowed up with no direction of purpose.  My daughters also were facing similar struggles with the need for purpose.  I began to seek the Lord, fervently.  I wasn't interested in finding something to 'fill' my time, but needed to hear His voice about what His will was for both myself and my daughters.  I had long read opinions from every source out there about what was labeled "right and wrong", but I needed to hear for myself what steps to take from here and how to lead my girls. 

"But, speak thou the things which become wholesome doctrine, The elder women likewise, that they be in such behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not subject to much wine, teachers of honest things.  That they may instruct the young women to be sober minded, that they love their husbands, that they love their children, that they be temperate, chaste, keeping at home, good, and subject to their husbands, that the word of God be not evil spoken of."  Titus 2:1,3-5

Not very popular of an idea in today's culture...I was floored and needed to get before the Lord.  My calling was already written out and I had been missing it.  Over the next months the Lord began to do a work in my heart and re~create my ideas and solidify who I am exactly in Him.  I first must be living these things out and then teaching them to those around me. 

~Keeping at home~  Guardians of the home   This is my call no matter what the stage of life I am found in.  The Lord has called me, as a woman, to be at home.  The conviction was now solid and it is so, "that the word of God be not evil spoken of." 

I have committed to read and study Proverbs 31 with Nancy Leigh DeMoss from "Revive Our Hearts" radio for 30 days.  I am on day eleven now.  I must admit the first few days were very repetative, but after a few days the verses began to come alive and I began to see deeper into this "virtuous woman."  She is very industrious...in every aspect.  As long as I am being led by the Lord with my industry and under my husband's leadership and my home is not slack, I also can be industrious, but we, as women, cannot forsake our first and true calling as ministers to the Lord, our children and our husbands. As single, widowed or divorced women, Isaiah 54:5 says, "For thy Maker is thine husband: the Lord of hosts is his name."  As young, unmarried women learning the ministry of helpmeet, mother, overseer of the household and even being the very industrious woman is a call that will fulfill. 
Let us seek the Lord, to know Him and His ways. ~It is a beautiful path~


"Homes are the springs among the hills, whose many streamlets, uniting, form like great rivers society, the community, the nation, the Church.  If the springs run low the rivers waste;  if they pour out bounteous currents the rivers are full.  If the springs are pure the rivers are clear like crystal;  if they are foul the rivers are defiled.  A curse upon homes sends a poisoning blight everywhere; a blessing sends healing and new life into every channel.  Homes are the divinely ordained fountains of life.  It is not by accident that men live in families rather than solitarily.  The human race began in a a family, and Eden was a home.  The divine blessing has ever rested upon nations and communities just in the measure  in which they have added to these original institutions and have kept marriage and the home pure and holy; blight and curse have come just in the measure in which they have departed from these divine models, dishonoring marriage and tearing down the sacred walls of home."  Rev. J.R. Miller from his book Home-Making written in 1882. 



Thursday, October 25, 2012

Change My Heart...

Change my heart oh God, make it ever true,
Change my heart oh God, may I be like you,
You are the potter, I am the clay,
Mold me and make me,
This is what I pray...




Courageous truly describes our Rachel
Rachel is our special needs daughter.  Her life has examplified courage and strength.  She has been very downcast lately, which is not like her.  During our talk last night I felt to remind her of our eternal hope that in heaven there will be no more sickness, sadness, burdens, pain...the list goes on;
....no more curse.  I would like to think about having: no more politics, wars, abortion, slavery and evil in general. 
II Corinthians 5:4-5
"For indeed we that are in this tabernacle, sigh and are burdened because we would not be unclothed, but would be clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.  And he that hath created us for this thing, is God, who also hath given us the earnest of the Spirit."
Clothed upon~with immortality...life.
Earnest money or property holds the purchase until the rest of the money is paid.  No one can legally buy or take the property while the earnest is in place.  God has given us the "earnest of the Spirit" as a security for the eternal.  We are "being held" by this earnest until the eternal is complete.  I thank God for this truth and realization. 
Eternity holds the truth of no more evil...
Psalm 37:11  "But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." 
Whatever burdens (cross) we carry now will seem worth it all....there.  Is this why Paul said, "We sigh and are burdened" to be clothed upon with immortality?  What is your burden, your cross?  Lay it down in the light of eternity and know; it will be worth it all when we see the other side. 



Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Teach Us...

"Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."
"Let thy work be seen toward thy servants, and thy glory upon their children.
  And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and direct thou the work of our hands upon us,
  even direct the work of our hands."  Psalm 90:12, 16-17



Teach us oh Lord...   My prayer oh Lord, is that I will live my life according to your ways and your original plans of creation so that when I stand before my God you can be pleased. 

Apply our hearts unto wisdom...as you teach me I will (with your strength) apply it to my life.

Dear God, let thy work be seen upon thy servant and my heart's cry...upon my children and
grandchildren. 

Direct thou the work of our hands oh Lord, so that the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.

This is my prayer today for my home and my posterity. 







Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Meditation

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of mine heart be acceptable in thy sight , O Lord my strength, and my redeemer."  Psalm 19:14


Meditation- to think about something deeply; reflection; contemplation.

Proverbs 22:17-19

v. 17  "Incline thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge."

There are three different instructions in this verse:
1)  Incline thine ear-  bend away; including moral deflection
2)  Hear the words of the wise
3)  Apply thine heart unto my knowledge-  place your mind, will and emotions under His knowledge
      Proverbs 23:19 "...guide thine heart in the way."

v.18  "For it shall be pleasant, if thou keep them in thy belly, and if they be directed together in thy
           lips."
v.19  "That thy confidence may be in the Lord, I have showed thee this day: thou therefore take
            heed."
       Confidence-  refuge, security, hope, trust

As we apply these instructions, intentionally, to our lives we will see that the Lord becomes our refuge, security and hope.  Our trust in Him will grow and we will become more like the woman of God that He has created us to be.  In a world of  "easy" choices to be whatever we would want to become it is increasingly difficult to "see"  what it is that the Lord wanted when he created us.  It has to be "on purpose" that we find Him and when we do His beauty is overwhelming and all the confusion from the worldview of a woman is not to be compared. 

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of mine heart..."  If we will turn our ear, hear the words of wisdom and apply them to our heart, then it will be pleasant (sweet) to our belly, which is the place of healing and life in every aspect; in our body, our soul and our emotions.  This will lead also to our lips being directed in His knowledge and wisdom. 

What do we meditate on?  I found that the Lord wants me to clear my mind of the things that everyone is doing...that He wants me to live according to the call He has placed on my life and not clutter my walk with Him.  He wants me completely; to be able to hear from His heart and not be affected with the daily clutter of...things.  He wants me to be set apart and declutter to be able to serve Him; to rebuild my trust.  I have found that when I am consistently seeing all the busy-ness of others that I am not building my faith to be able to give to anyone.  I had almost let my feet slip...

I have been working through a devotion on Psalms and in studying Psalm 73 discovered that as long as David's focus was either on, everyone else or himself, that he ws struggling and almost completely let his faith slip away.  It wasn't until he turned his focus to God that he was helped and his faith and vision were restored. 

Let's be very prudent in what exactly is filling our time and energies.  If the Lord calls us to a cleansing, to step aside and examine our lives and hearts, it is because of His great love for us and eternal preparations. 

"Love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment."  Matthew 22:37-38