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Home schooling is growing in the United States. There is a great article on A-Z Home’s Cool with statistics showing the number of home schooled children by state. The estimated number of home school students in the United States is … Continue reading
“See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.” Isaiah 49:16
Did you know that God does not wish for His people to be discouraged? God has such tender affection for His church. As a mother rushes to her child when the child is hurt, the compassion of the mother’s heart for her child is revealed. How much more God the Father exceeds this compassion toward His children.
In this passage in Isaiah, the Lord shows His love for His chosen people, Israel. He is ever-mindful of them. During this time, the Jews adopted a pagan custom of puncturing or tattooing on their hands and arms to show their zeal for their city, the temple, false gods, or even striving to reach the True God. God the Father, however, stated, “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands…” The Jews and pagans made sacrifice toward God, or the false gods, through inscription on their bodies. Man sacrificed himself. But here, God tells His people that He engraved Himself for man! God wanted His people to know that they were always in His sight, as with anything bound in the hand.
Even more, God revealed His sacrificial love and beautiful fulfillment of His promise in the nail-scarred hands of Jesus. When we see the nail-scarred hands of Jesus, we see how He has written us on the palms of His hands. The scars of the wounds of Christ remain for eternity upon His hands, His feet. He remembers continually His beloved.
Today, as I work with my daughter and a friend in their home school studies, we focus on how special they are to God. I share with them about the nail-scarred hands of Jesus, inflicted for their sin, for my sin. I share with them how God knows their names, how He knows all about them, how their names are written in the Lambs’ Book of Life, and because they received Him as their Lord and Savior, their names will never be blotted out. We speak of God’s love and how to share His love with others.
For artsy fun, we write our names: fancy and whimsical! We plan to
write our names in this way all week. Why don’t you write your name in a special way? When you give someone else a card, take the time to write their name in a unique way. I have done this for years. It is a simple and effective tool for showing others how special they are and how uniquely they were designed by God. We are so busy in our culture, that we give a gift, and forget to attach a card or neglect to fill out the gift tag. Everyone loves to see their own name hand-written, especially in a fun way!
I praise the Lord that through His scars, my name is engraved upon Him! Yours is too! Have you accepted the nail-scarred hands of Christ reaching out to you?
Posted in Artsy Tip Today: What Is In Your Name?
Tagged Art, artsy tip, Christ, Christianity, God, Jesus, Love, name
In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise. Proverbs 10:19 (NKJV)
Today, friends are visiting for lunch, and there are many activities on my agenda. No wonder the Lord led me to this verse during my morning Bible study! Any day of the week, as a female especially, it is difficult to choose the right words…ones that glorify God….but having placed my life in Christ, I have a Helper.
As a wife, it is easy to fall into the trap of complaining to my husband, or criticizing him, or forgetting to ask him respectfully to do certain things that are needed in the home or that pertain to meeting family needs. As a mother, well, I mastered the ability to lecture! There are times that I do need to discipline my daughter and help her to see where she needs to grow, but there are times that I could correct her and receive the same response without using so many words. As a friend, it only takes a simple sentence to lead another into gossip. Unfortunately, the more I talk, the more likely that I fall into sin myself. Grumbling, nagging, gossiping, and attempting to control are sinful actions…all done with the tongue. However, the action begins in the heart.
When the sound waves going to my radio are interrupted and signals from two stations occur, there is a jumbled noise that is just a weird mix of two different songs breaking in and out. Immediately, I seek to fix the problem. I cannot stand the clatter. Two great Christian songs may be playing, but with the words and tune in the wrong order, what was once lovely, sounds horrid. That is how I think my words sound to those I love the most when I attempt to push for my way…to change those persons according to my wishes on my time-table. Only God can change a heart. Often, I need to exercise some patience and remain silent and pray. At other times, I need to speak and “give orders,” but with a loving tone. I am guilty of speaking too harshly. As wives, we can share our needs with our husbands with a correct tone. As mothers, we can be firm and gentle at the same time. As friends, we can learn to pray to God for help and wait in silence until we know the compulsion to “share” has passed.
Won’t you ask the Lord to help change your heart and guard your tongue today?
Dear Father, I am sorry when my words displease You, when my tone is harsh, and I hurt the ones I love the most. Please set a guard over the door of my lips today. Let not sin abound in my heart that I may speak only words that glorify You. Please let Your light shine in and through me that others may know that You alone are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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How many days per week does your family eat together? Do you prepare a meal? Do you enjoy cooking or is it a dreaded chore? When you do eat at the same time, do you sit at the table or around the television?
It is so easy to fall into dinnertime ruts within families. For me, the worst part of mealtime is planning the meal. I don’t really mind the preparation, but the planning wears me out. There are days that I cringe when I hear the words, “What is for dinner?” “I don’t know. I forgot to thaw the meat.”
There are days that it is impossible for our family to eat together. Responsibilities pull us in different directions. With my husband’s current employment situation, long work days and a random work schedule make meal time especially challenging. While we have a family commitment to eat together, it can be difficult to get it to happen.
Being that our family has been through seasons of crisis and seasons of rest, I understand the desire to bring everyone together, but the exhaustion and total lack of energy when it comes to getting dinner together and pulling the family together hits when it is time to eat. However, one thing I have learned is that family meal time does need to happen. It brings the family closer together, and with prayer, it brings the family closer to Christ.
Here are some things I have learned through the years about mealtime:
1. Whether you work or stay home, the wife/mother should not wait on Dad to initiate family mealtime. Women are the nurturers, and the family often responds well to moms who bring everyone together. Sometimes, the rest of the family is waiting on us to give them a plan or some guidelines for mealtime. Dads might be willing to help, but could use a plan of action…not nagging…just a gentle word…”Would you mind cutting this cucumber for the salad?”
June, acting as if you can cook in pearls!
2. Everyone should sit down together, and there may or may not be a devotion at that time. Dinner time devotions rarely work for our family. We have to find another time to read God’s Word together. (That is another topic for another post.) Dinner does begin with prayer, and continues with no television. For us, there are days that we eat with the TV turned on, as there may be breaking world news or inclement weather on the way. This is not our habit, and it is an exception to our norm. But we don’t make meals rigid, and I certainly don’t wears pearls like June Cleaver!
3. Sometimes, mealtime is served on paper plates. Sometimes, mealtime is served on fine china. An older friend told me years ago that every now and then, she set a formal table for her family. She lit candles and used the dishes that God blessed them with at their wedding. She taught her children how to set a formal table during that time, and let them use fancy glasses when they were little. I do this, too, when we get in a rut.
4. Mealtime is not long, but it is together. There are occasions that we have large meals, and we sit for longer periods at the table. Most days, our meals are short, and everyone (who is old enough) takes their dishes to the sink. We may or may not clean up right after dinner. Sometimes, we need to be somewhere and the dishes must wait. I don’t let a temporary mess keep us from having meals together, or cause us to eat too many meals on-the-go.
5. Fish sticks, peas, and applesauce with everyone together works! We don’t always have time to plan a fancy and formal meal. Make sure you have easy meals in mind when you grocery shop for the days that you need something on the table in a rush. Do take the time to plan some nice meals. Planning ahead, maybe for just one day per week for a really great meal, sets a consistent time that the whole family can look forward to each week.
6. Don’t fret if you cannot eat together as much as you would like. Stick to trying family mealtime as much as possible. Be deliberate about it. Don’t let the day roll away without thinking of your family members first. Consistency will make more of an impact on your children, and your marriage than anything else.
7. Everyone should share something during mealtime. Again, I think the woman can be the initiator. Ideally, husbands lead and make this an important time to ask each family member about their day. Too often, dads are not present during meals. Mom can do this with the children without dad, and when dad is there, she can help dad with the conversation with the children. Don’t use mealtime as a personal husband/wife time to discuss problems and marriage issues. Make it pleasant for everyone. You can hold your thoughts until later.
8. If you cannot meet together for dinner, choose another meal during the day. We will make a big breakfast if my husband works from 11 to close. We home school, so that works for us. The key is to do what works for your family. The Lord is ‘for’ your family. If you pray and seek His guidance, He will lead you to areas where you can make adjustment so that everyone can meet together for meals. We must start with making family mealtime together a priority.
Does this mean that we should never eat fast food, go out to dinner, eat separately? No, of course not. Women can do much to make good family memories, and so many of these are formed while gathering around the table and “breaking bread” together. If you are falling into dinnertime ruts, perhaps you need to pray and ask God to renew your focus and energize you to pull everyone back to the table daily.
Posted in Dinnertime Blues, Moment by Moment with God
Tagged Christ, Family, God, Grocery store, June Cleaver, Meal, Mealtime rut, Television
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places in Christ” Ephesians 1:3.
Yesterday, I received an email that really challenged me. It read, “Tell us about what MS means to you.” Having been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis for four years now, I stopped and pondered. I prayed, too. What does it mean to me, dear God?
When I was first diagnosed, MS meant shock and grief. As I suffered with symptoms, it meant pain. It also represented uncertainty. It was as if a blanket of ignorance was removed from my world. There is truth to the saying that “ignorance is bliss.” I liked thinking that I might be healthy until the Lord graciously takes me to Heaven in my sleep. The thought of having an illness that is progressive, and not knowing when it will attack or the severity of the attack, seriously challenged my foundation.
By foundation, I mean that I questioned whether or not my faith and confidence rested in Christ and His Sure Foundation or in the outcome of this illness. A friend encouraged me during the dark days of receiving the news that I would never be the same health-wise for the rest of my life. A grandmother figure, who walked through much hardship herself, said, “Brooke, are you worshiping God for who He is or for what He can do?”
I knew suffering. My dad left when I was nine, and I did not see him for 20 years. I was in a severe auto accident. I lost a child. Two, in fact. A four-year-old daughter, and a baby girl at 20 weeks of pregnancy. And my dreams did not come true. After all of that, I thought that I learned how to surrender and put the Lord first in all things, saying, “whatever Your will is, Lord, I will trust you and obey.” But each trial is different. We do not surrender ONCE to the Lord, we surrender DAILY, every hour, every minute. It felt as if this diagnosis was a curse. Intellectually, I knew it was not. As a daughter of His, my Heavenly Father was not cursing me. But the nitty-gritty of receiving bad news, going through crisis, enduring suffering, is that sometimes what is meant for our good and His glory FEELS like disfavor from God, a curse.
Because I am a born-again Christian, a follower of Jesus, I have the Holy Spirit working within me for my benefit. As the Lord drew me to His Word, reminded me of His faithfulness through the years, and filled my mind with Truth, rather than the lies of the adversary who seeks to defame God’s character always, He led me to a sweet surrender of my desire to be well. Please do not misunderstand my statement there. I am not asking to be sick, and I still desire healing. But what if God chooses to leave me “broken?” What then? Shall I spend all of my days in anguish, crying out for and begging for an outcome that may not be His best plan for me?
“His thoughts are not my thoughts. His ways are not my ways” (Isa. 55:8). Who can know the mind of the Lord? There is a precious peace that comes through accepting that we are not in control of the outcome. Whether we feel like we are in charge or not, God is the One calling all the shots. He is the One in charge of every situation. Our difficulty with that fact surfaces when we begin to believe lies about our Heavenly Father. We hear that He is not good, that He is not just, that He shows partiality, that He delights in punishing His children.
Meditating on Scripture allows us to know that these are lies propagated by the evil one to harm us, God’s people. Only through meeting with Jesus, and pouring my heart out to Him with honesty, giving truthful confession that, “I simply do not understand,” did God grant me the “peace that passes understanding.” It is through a regular diet of the nourishing Word of God that my mind is transformed from false, negative, despairing thoughts, from worry, anxiety and fear. I have found true comfort and peace in no other Person than the Lord Jesus Himself. He is mysterious. It can not be explained how the Lord grants His strength, His comfort, His peace, but He promises that He will do it. He can and will transform our thinking into rejoicing in His character and resting in His sovereignty, no matter what the situation.
So, yesterday, I found myself clicking the orange button on the email and filling
the blank, “MS=a gift of suffering from God that He will use to His glory.” I trust Him to do that. I trust Him to grant me what I need TODAY to walk in Him. My younger sister, Brenna, has MS, too. She has been diagnosed for 13 years now. I read her orange button yesterday, “MS=a way for me to share how God sees me through MS daily.” God gave Brenna what she needed to trust Him, too!
What is your struggle today? What are you challenged with handing over to your Father who loves you so? What have you viewed as a curse that God meant for blessing? Have you considered your present sufferings a gift? Have you asked the Lord to use them to His glory that others may know Jesus and inherit eternal life? Might God use you to encourage another who faces the same difficulty?
Perhaps you have surrendered hardships or present trials to the Lord, but you just needed to be reminded today that He is working it all to His glory, and you are His instrument, a part of His perfect plan for eternity. May the Lord be praised in each of your hearts and lives today!
Posted in Moment by Moment with God, MS=?
Tagged Christianity, God, Jesus, Lord Jesus Christ, Religion & Spirituality
Hello! I'm Brooke.
God fashioned me with an artist personality...as one who loves turning something that appears to be a waste into something beautiful. Jesus did that for me! He purchased my rotten heart, cleansed it, and transformed it into His useful vessel.
Thankfully, the Potter continues to refine this piece of clay, and although sometimes I feel like a thread about to break, I know the Master Weaver sees the final tapestry of my life.
My prayer is that something on here will benefit you in your knowledge of Christ and that God will use you to bless others.
Please feel free to contact me. I am happy to chat with you!
