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Hiding the Word…To Shepherd the Heart…

30 Nov 2008 by sypace

Right now my husband and I are leading a class where we are looking at the book, “Shepherding a Child’s Heart” by Tedd Tripp.  This book has caused me to re-examine many of my parenting practices with our two precious babies.  This book has challenged many of the popular and conventional approaches to child-rearing.  Some of the things the author says I agree with totally.  Others, not so much.  The one thing that I will say, is that it has really made me conscious of the fact that to parent in a Biblical manner and with God’s glorification in mind my own heart has to be following after God and I have to know my Bible.  Without the word of God to direct my parenting choices I am following the world and not God.  I am giving control of directing my children’s growth and development over to “the masses” and to popular cultural views.  We have examined many of the popular ways to discipline that are un-biblical and are getting ready to examine how to do it bibilically.  

For me it is boiling down to what Psalm 119:11 says: Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. For me to be the very best parent I can be, when the going gets rough, when I don’t know the answers off the top of my head, there is a great place to look.  And when we find what we are looking for we need to bury those words deep into our very souls so that we can know the path to take.  When we “treasure” the word of God it allows us to make decisions with the right heart, a heart that holds scripture to be the ultimate guide and not let our “feelings” guide our direction.

Tripp tells us it is our job as parents to “shepherd” our children’s heart’s.  It is our job to help them love God and glorify Him.  We see in Luke 6:45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil thingsout of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.   If our intent is to help ourselves and our children have hearts that show our overflow in a positive and glorifying way we MUST follow the tenet of Psalm 119:11.

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Homeschooling… What a Blast!!!

25 Nov 2008 by sypace

A week ago this past Monday I started home-schooling my oldest daughter Mia.  Her first day was Great!!!  (She took a sick day.)  Bless her little heart.  She laid on the couch coughing up a storm and I had to laugh at us because we both had been so excited about her first day of home-school and she didn’t fell like doing a thing.  Tuesday morning, however, was a totally different story.  We used a kids cook book by Paula Deen for our lessons that morning.  It is amazing how many subjects can be taught by cooking!  We did several things last week, including visiting the PARI Institute in Rosman, NC for a cancelled field trip.  (Click the link to see what I mean by cancelled.) You can click here to see the pics… But I have to say that the best thing we’ve done since we started was having her memorize scripture and reading from the Bible.

We have focused on Psalm 89: 1 – 8.  Hearing her little voice recalling Psalm 89:2 “I will tell everyone that your love stands firm forever.  I will tell them that you are always faithful, even in heaven itself.”(NIrV) Having her read those verses and then tell me that they were all about praising God and how mighty and faithful He is was tremendously touching for me.  We looked up the word “faithful” and have had several conversations about what the word truly means and have talked about what the verses mean to her as a new believer.  

I know that there is much controversy about home-schooling and it’s impacts on kids, but from my perspective it is so sweet a connection to be able to sit down anytime of day and answer questions about God’s faithfulness and to know that God can be spoken about during ANY lesson makes it worth whatever the cost to have that privilege.  And having her tell my Mom that the best part of home-schooling is the time she gets to spend with me makes me want to do a little dance.

I know that we are going to have a huge learning curve this first year, but as my little one so eloquently told me after reading these verses.  ”He’s an awesome God, Mom and we have to praise Him.  We can trust Him to do anything.”  I am hanging on to that as we tackle each day together.

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I Think I Hear the Clorox Calling…

20 Nov 2008 by sypace

The other day I was cleaning the house and was thinking about a conversation I had with one of my friends, Sara, about cleaning and we were both laughing at her descriptions of the morning because we have a mutual friend,  Jen, who had gone to Sara’s house to give her a hand with some “Deep Cleaning.”  Jen had helped Sara pull her stove out to clean behind it.   I did not know that it was possible to pull a stove out.  I know, you’re probably laughing like a hyena right now at my lack of what some would say was just common sense.  However, growing up we had a cook-top that was set into the counter and the two previous homes my husband and I have owned were the same, so I just didn’t know you could pull a stove away from the wall.  Anyway, a couple of days ago I decided to pull the stove away and clean around and under the stove.  It was nasty.  Just imagine 4 – 7 years of non-attention and neglect.  As I was cleaning, I got to thinking about how in our own lives we do a lot of surface cleaning and don’t get down and dirty cleansing away all the really grimy stuff in our lives.  I think we are too often overwhelmed at how sinful we really are.  We don’t really want to confront and clean out the junk in our attitudes and actions because often it is just too easy and too “fun” to really commit to following the path that God wants in our lives.  We have a tendency to pursue our own happiness rather than holiness.  And we too often don’t want to give God the control of our lives and let Him show us the grime in our souls.  We also don’t want the pain that goes along with accepting the detergent and scrubbing that accompanies deep cleaning.  We have to remember however painful and difficult cleansing is, it is imperative that we do it.  We read in Matthew 7: 13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Our challenge in life is to find the small gate and narrow path that is ours, as God’s children, to walk and as hard as it often is, to joyfully walk our path.  We all must do what is commanded in Psalms by asking God to  ”Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” Psalm 51:2  even when the cleansing is painful.

 I think I hear the Clorox calling…

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God’s Plans.

14 Nov 2008 by sypace

Today is a huge day for our family.  Today is the last day of public school for our daughter, Mia.  She is in first grade and after much prayer and family discussion we decided it was the right choice for us as a family.  I must say that, on my part anyway, there was a lot of doubt in mind about whether it was the best thing for her and if there was any way that I could do her education justice.  I have a BA in English Education, but my certification is at the high school level; not elementary.  But lately everytime I think about bringing her home for school it gives me such joy and anticipation and the verse Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”  lets me know that he is in control.  I have such peace that homeschooling Mia is in God’s plan for her at this time and have such joy that God has put our family in a situation where it is possible to do it logistically.  I am so grateful that God has given us such a tremendous blessing in this area.  

Often in this culture children are viewed as a nuisance or an obligation but according to God’s word  “behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.”  Pslam 127:3  I count my children with all their whines, temper tantrums, selfishness, grins, hugs and love a true gift and reward from a most marvelous and wondrous God.  There is nothing like a child to show you what is really important in this world.  If you have children, take the time today to hold them close, whisper your love in their ears and shout from the rooftops how proud you are of them.

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I Need My Daddy.

12 Nov 2008 by sypace

As I sat at the dinner table tonight I watched as my husband held and fed our almost two year old.  Her face was feverishly flushed and her eyes red-rimmed and instead of saying, “I do it myself,” she was saying, “feed her  Daddy.  Hold ‘er Daddy.”  It made me think of how often in our daily struggles to “do it self” we forget to sit in our Heavenly Father’s lap, lean back and say, “feed me.”  We think that we are the ones in control and that we can handle anything coming our way and it is often only the sickness of our sinfulness that brings us to our Father’s lap and makes us ask for His help.  To often we blame God or those around us for our own problems and fail to accept our own role in the consequences of our sins. I so often stew and worry about things that I can’t control and don’t have to.  A counselor once told me I didn’t need to try to be the CEO of the universe.  That job was already filled.

It is as simple as 1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Man, ain’t it great?  My Daddy cares so much for me that He will carry all my burdens, my fears, my questions, my anxiety, my guilt, my shame, and most of all my sin.  I don’t have to carry those things myself all I have to do is sit in His lap and say, “Feed me Daddy.  Hold me Daddy.” I don’t know about you, but I need my Daddy so much.

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Hope for Things to Come.

09 Nov 2008 by sypace

This past weekend was a wake-up call for me.  I have not been where I should be in my walk with God.  It is a sad, but true fact that a situation in my life has become, as Beth Moore says, “a stronghold” for me.  There is a situation in my life that has consumed many hours of my thoughts, baffled my heart, hurt my feelings and often crushed my spirit.  I have let that situation cause me to be more focused on earthly problems and my own desire to “fix it,” that my focus on my Lord has fallen to the side.  Carol spoke on Saturday and she focused on a passage from Titus.  She chose to present Titus 3: 3 – 7 “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures.  We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.  But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

These verses hit me right to the core.  The pull to sin and keep sinning is extremely powerful and strong for peopld.  Satan has so many tools at his disposal to tempt us with and we so easily become enslaved to those things.  We let that ache for a relationship with God be filled with earthly things rather that God.

Then last night as I came home and was smacked in the face (and heart) with this situation I did the only thing I knew how to do.  I talked to my God.  I told Him I couldn’t handle this alone, it just hurt too much.  I didn’t want to talk to anyone else about it, I just needed my Daddy.  I felt so much better just knowing that God was present with me and felt my pain too.  I got up and reached for my Bible, needing the comfort of His word.  Everywhere I turned last night what I read was the command to love and to endure.  God, in his infinite wisdom, showed me that right now all I can do is to love and to just keep on loving and not quit the race.

This morning as I got up, I decided it was time to do what I blogged about yesterday and start the transformation (again today).  The place I needed to go was back to the Word.  I took my Bible and went downstairs and asked God where should I read today?  I heard Philemon.  In Philemon, Paul is writing a letter to Philemon concerning Onesimus.  Onesimus was Philemon’s slave who had run away, but had become a Christian under Paul’s teachings.  Paul is asking Philemon to accept Onesimus back as a brother in Christ.  The verses that hit me the hardest were 1:15 – 16 “Perhaps you could think of it this way:  Onesimus ran away for a little while so you could have him back forever.  His is no longer just a slave:  he is a beloved brother, especially to me.  Now he will mean much more to you, both as a slave and as a brother in the Lord.”  Now as strange as this may sound, these verses gave me so much joy this morning.  I thought about the situation I am dealing with and about my own life choices in the past and then I thought about how these verses are so true for all of us.  Don’t you think our Lord feels the pain of our lose when we walk away?  How often do we walk away (or run) from Him and His commands for our lives.  How often do we hurt His heart with our disobedience.  How often do we cause Him to shake His head with disappointment.  I know I do on a daily basis.  It is the nature of humankind to sin and it is so damaging.  What then must the joy be like for God, when we turn from our sin and say “You are worth it.  You are the love of my life and only you can fulfill my hearts desires.”  What must the rejoicing in Heaven be like when one of us turns from our sins and chooses to follow Him.  I got to the end of Philemon and the last verse states: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”  and my heart felt such peace.  God is in control.  He is an all-powerful God.  Only He can give us the grace that we so need as we continually turn from Him and then must re-turn to Him.

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Transformation Renovation Time.

08 Nov 2008 by sypace

I just spent an incredible two days with some amazing women at the first annual Girlfriends Getaway retreat for Grace Community Church. (www.graceforall.org)  What a time of renewal and growth.  I want to say a HUGE thank you to Carol Davis for being our guest speaker for the event.  Focusing on Romans 12:2 Friday night started the night off in a very personal way for me.   This is one of my favorite, if not my very favorite, verses in the Bible. The verse states: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  This verse means so much to me.  I have for many years desired to commission a stained glass window for my front door with this verse and an image of an ugly caterpillar crawling onto the foot of the cross and then a beautiful butterfly flying away from the cross.  This image is the visual depiction of what accepting Jesus as our Saviour can do for us.  But the decision to follow Christ also asks that we commit fully to stepping away from the world’s standards of abundant life and reaching for the abundant life we are promised when we renew our minds and serve the one true God.  We cannot settle for what this world says will give us happiness.  According to James 4:14 - Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.  We cannot be content to go with the flow to settle for what those around us says are what will make us happy.  We have to focus on transforming ourselves and applying our lives to following the will of God that is perfect.  Our lives are so short; as we see in the above verse.  It is like nothing more than a vapor in time and I don’t know about you but I want to meet the challenge of focus my efforts to eternity not to here.  Here is just too painful.  Thank you God for your eternity and thank you Carol for pointing it out this weekend!!!!


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Hearing the Voice of God.

02 Oct 2008 by sypace

Last night was our First Wednesday service at Grace Community Church and Josh Hayes brought the word of God to us and then we had communion.  Josh said some things last night that really hit home with me.  He was talking about our prayer life and particularly he was using Paul as the example.  He asked the question “How well do you know God.  If He told you to go do something, would you hear and recognize His voice?”  I was thinking about my own life and the peaks and valley’s of my prayer life and my own relationship with my Saviour.  I had to admit to myself that I have not really felt like I am hearing the voice of God lately.  I know that this revelation, spurred on by Josh’s pointed question, was like an arrow in my heart.  As I sat there contemplating where I was(am) in my walk I felt such despair and pain.  Knowing that God is right there with His hand out willing to walk with us as long as we will let Him and that we are often too busy and self-absorbed to get it is terrifying and painful. 

I don’t know about you, but for me, this world is an overwhelming place and trying to control everything myself is not working out very well.  I want to be like Josh said last night.  I want to talk to God about man as well as talking to man about God.  I want to be fruitful.  I want tthe true wisdom of God.  I want to be a woman with a heart for God.  I want to be all that God intends for me to be and lean on Him totally to do that.  I am tired of trying to be the CEO of the universe. 

The Bible tells us in Isaiah 30:21 – “Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.”  I want to be committed to listening to that word.  To making it the most important thing in my life.  I want God to direct me when I am straying off the path that He has planned for my life.  Forging my own path is too hard and painful.  My pryaer today is that I will be quiet and hear the voice with an obedient heart.

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My Heart is Breaking.

17 Sep 2008 by sypace

I’m sitting here listening to Mercyme singing “God with Us,” and all I can do is feel so much sorrow that God has not been at the center of my life for the past two months.  I have been so caught up is self and personal desires that I have been unable to focus on THE ONE who is always with us.  I have been constantly reminded in the last few weeks that we all choose how close we allow God to be in our lives.  He never leaves us, nor forsakes us.  He never holds Himself away from us, denying us the comfort and care that we need.  Today I was reading and came across the following scripture: Phillipians 4:19 – But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” What hit me about this verse is that God does supply all that we need, just not all that we want.  There is a huge difference.

I have been struggling the last two months with being content to live where we live, be a stay-at-home mom, and not be able to afford to do all the things that I want to be able to do.  I had a goal to go to seminary and to adopt a child from China; I want my girls to have a Christian education.  Right now I feel that God is telling me to wait, be patient and He will supply all that I need.  So, for the time being I am going to sit quietly and wait to see what it is that God wants from me.  I am post-poning Seminary and Barry and I have not pushed forward with the adoption plans.  I don’t know what God has in store for us yet, but I do know this, it is time to stop feeling depressed because we are where we are at this time and I am who I am, because God created and worked all of the plan for our lives and I have to find joy and blessings in that.

It’s time to not just speak the truth but live the truth and be content with all that God has blessed me with.

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God’s Got My Number.

08 Jul 2008 by sypace

Our trip to San Antonio was beyond description.  I learned a ton there and Barry and I had the chance to spend some real quality time with each other.  One of the things that I did while I was there was to go to a session at the edubloggercon unconference.  I went to a session called Web 2.0 Smackdown.  The format was one in which anyone could present the latest (and in each person’s own opinion) and greatest new Web 2.0 tool that he/she used in the classroom.  The only caveat was that each person could only have 3 minutes to demonstrate the tool.  OK, so for me, being a 2.0 newbie this was information overload.  I was overwhelmed by all the information and the WAY COOL new tools that can be implemented in the classroom to keep kids engaged.  I started copying and pasting links into a favorites folder so I can now go back and do some exploring on my own.

I also had the opportunity to have some down-time while I was there.  It was a chance for me to soak up some sun, read many books, exercise until I dropped and only have to worry about myself.  I decided to wait until I got back to continue blogging.  By the end of our stay I did not know what to do with myself.  ;-)   I was so ready to be home and back with my girls that I could hardly stand it.  We video-conferenced sometimes 3 times a day by those last two days!!  I am such a mommy and I love it.

Our flights on the way home, as opposed to on the way to Texas, were fabulous.  Everything was on time, we had refreshments, we had our bulk-head seats and a very short lay-over.  It could not have been better.  What hit me, however, on the way home was how infintesimally tiny we are.  We have this own bigger-than-life self-image most of the time in this world.  As I was looking down from the plane at all the farm land and on the Ohio River, I thought to myself, “I wonder what God really sees?”  It was mind boggling for me.  We have this self-absorbed outlook on life where we don’t think of ourselves in an analogous way as an ant.  But in my own thoughts in looking at the vastness of our planet, we are probably smaller than ants compared to God.  And the coolest thing is that he knows the very number of hairs on our heads Matthew 10:30, “And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”  How awesome is it that God knows us to the extent that even the hairs on our heads have been counted.  As I looked around me, I was so thankful that God in His greatness still chose me to be His daughter and that He has adopted me into His family.  What a blessing.  If you have not had the joy of experiencing that love for yourself please seek Him.  He will love you when no one else can, listen to you will no one else will and He will never leave you alone.

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