acts

A while back, I realized that I had never gone straight through the book of Acts. There are actually many books of the Bible that I have never gone straight through, but that’s another story. Recently I have felt compelled to understand the first century church and to learn from their example.

God has so blessed my time spent in Acts. I still have a few chapters to go, but I thoroughly look forward to reading from Acts every day! I have highlighted like I have never highlighted in any other book of the Bible and John MacArthur has helped me to understand some things that I never would have understood otherwise. A few things I have learned:

• What God expect of a teacher/pastor
• What God doesn’t expect of a teacher/pastor (though the church often does)
• the beauty/significance of elder leadership
• what God did in Saul/Paul…how amazing!
• on that same note, the significance of Saul becoming Paul. I had always thought it was a God-changing-his-name-much-like-Abram-kind-of-deal, and maybe it partly is, but the impression that I got (in the study notes and otherwise) was that Saul was his Hebrew name and it changed to Paul (his Roman name) so he could be a better witness to the Gentiles. Does that sound right?
• and Timothy! Timothy is like so many of us, but God used him in such a powerful way! He was the perfect companion for Paul, given his ancestry. He was half-Jew, half-Greek, which gave him much credibility with both groups. This even more reinforced to me the importance of watching our methodologies and being mindful of the culture that we are bringing the Gospel to.
• what happens when we lie to the Holy Spirit (umm….hello, Ananias and Sapphira)! It’s a little frightening what the God who is in our midst still today is capable of doing, especially when put on an act of spirituality to impress others.

I would encourage each of you, if you have never done so, to take a month (28 chapters) and read through this book!

If The Lord Had Not

It will probably become very apparent in the coming weeks that I am currently working through Beth Moore’s Stepping Up. It is fabulous! If you don’t know of the study, it is a journey through the 15 Psalms of Ascent and in the two weeks I have been in the study, I have learned so much!

Our studies this past week focused in on Psalms 122-124. I am starting to look at the Psalms like I never have before. I am now seeing a journey. A pilgrimage, if you will. I am seeing afresh a God who is ever-present, ever-loving, and always able to be trusted. Psalm 124 especially ministered to my heart this week.

¹ If the LORD had not been on our side—
let Israel say—

² If the LORD had not been on our side
when men attacked us,

³ then they would have swallowed us alive
in their burning anger against us.

⁴ Then the waters would have engulfed us;
the torrent would have swept over us;

⁵ the raging waters would have swept over us.

⁶ Praise the LORD,
who has not let us be ripped apart by their teeth.

⁷ We have escaped like a bird from the hunter’s net;
the net is torn, and we have escaped.

⁸ Our help is in the name of the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

Amen! Amen! Amen! We were encouraged this week to ask ourselves personally “if the Lord had not…” in our own lives. Do you ever think about what your life would be like today had God not rescued you? What did he rescue you from? I love to look at this in terms of God rescuing me from me!

I believe this is a crucial question for every believer to answer and even more imperative that they meditate on from time to time. My own testimony of what God rescued me from is enough to burst out in praise every single day!

I would be honored to share with each of you where I believe I would be today “if the Lord had not…“:

Before God rescued me from me, I was walking down a path that I had no idea at the time would have led to destruction. It seemed innocent enough. I didn’t have the looks to get attention from the people around me and, looking back now, I can see the beginning of a young woman who would have eventually done just about anything to make someone notice her- had the Lord not.

I look at the people who attended my high school. Given time, if the Lord had not rescued me, I believe with all my heart I would be embracing much of the same belief systems that many of them do today. I can easily see how I might have been engulfed in a sea of moral relativism, feminism, etc.

If the Lord had not, I can see myself married to a man who doesn’t die to himself daily and follow the Lord whole-heartedly. I am nearly brought to tears imagining what a marriage would even be were it not a holy and sacred covenant between my husband and myself that God had put His hand of blessing upon. The Lord rescued me and gave me a Godly husband who loves me, encourages me, challenges me, and helps me grow. Praise be to God for that alone!

What would my family look like? I have always desired to be a mother, but I shudder when I look at my precious children at the thought of their upbringing, were Jesus Christ not the center of that! It nearly brings me to tears to see other people’s children who are not being brought up in a home that loves the Lord. I get nauseous at the thought of that being true of my own children.

Lastly, had the Lord not rescued me, my life would be about me. Were I to tell you that I don’t wage a war against myself on a daily basis…I would be a liar. However, because Christ dwells in my heart and I try to live each day obedient to Him, my life is about Him, for Him, in order to bring glory to Him.

I am in awe today. Why, might you ask? How awesome is it that God saw fitting to choose, use, and grow lowly little me for His kingdom? WOW! I am completely and utterly unworthy, but that’s just even more the beautiful example of His grace. It is based upon nothing I do…and thank God for that!

So, what about you? I encourage you to ponder the question “if the Lord had not?” in your own life today. You will be glad you did and God will get the glory for it!

Let me pick your brains for a moment…

Suppose I could only read one book a year for the rest of my life. Being that we have no idea when Jesus might decide to take us home, what book would you tell me to read? I know…it’s hard. You can only list one top book, but you can list 3 honorable mentions as well!

I am excited to see your responses!

Wonderful Afternoon of Reading

First of all, I just finished chapter 2 of Stepping Heavenward. I am really enjoying it! Like I said earlier, I see so much of Katherine in myself at times. Let me share an excerpt from chapter 2 that nearly floored me. It is what Dr. Cabot shares with Katy as she fumbles to articulate her attitude concerning love for God:

“…You cannot prove to yourself that you love God by examining your feelings toward Him. They are indefinite and they fluctuate. But just as far as you obey Him,just so far, depend upon it, you love Him. It is natural to us sinful, ungrateful human beings to prefer His pleasure to our own, or to follow His way instead of our own way, and nothing, nothing but love to Him can or does make us obedient to Him.”

I love it!

Secondly the idea of schooling actually becomes fun once you stop obsessing about it! I am very much more confused than ever, but I am learning, and that is all I need to be doing right now. Regarding Noah, whether I like it or not, it just makes more sense to hold out on anything formal until I can start Sam too. I hardly think he is going to suffer and I think it would be just plain silly to not “kill two birds with one stone” so-to-speak. A few things I have learned this week:

1. I L-O-V-E 100 Top Picks! It is so helpful and I know it isn’t the end-all to selecting curriculum, but it is great for a novice like me who needs to learn more about her own learning styles as well as her children’s!

2. I am so relieved that the more I read, the more I find out that most homeschooling programs do not even suggest schooling your children til at least 4. Classical education, in most cases, doesn’t even begin formal schooling until around 6 years old!

3. I am starting to get a better idea of what my goals are for the boys in the beginning. For example, what I am capable of teaching them and what I may need some help with.

4. I am finally actually looking at curriculum. I am going to write The Well-Trained Mind into our next budget… or perhaps Teaching The Trivium as I am not exactly sure how I feel about the “Great Books” lists and that might help. I know that Classical is where my top interest is right now so I would love to learn more about it. It does help that mine and David’s close friends in Louisville teach at the Dorothy Sayer’s school!

5. I am also learning more about all-in-one programs, which would be phenomenal for me I think. Sonlight is what has been suggested, but I am sure there are others. Is Sonlight very Charlotte- Mason-y? LOL. I don’t hate the whole idea of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy, but it is SO not me at all. Maybe my boys would like it though.

6. Which brings me to my next point…coordinating my teaching style with their learning style. I have learned that I may need to stretch my comfort level a bit to better accomodate them, not the other way around. And also, Duffy said to keep in mind that it is pretty difficult to peg the learning style of a 2 or 3 year old so don’t even begin to try it yet. I kind of agree with that. I can definitely see a lot of the analytical/control-freak learner in Noah and the hands-on learner in Sammy. We’ll see. That could all change!

That’s all I can think of right now. But I am super excited!

The Treasure of Psalm 119

I have always steered away from Psalm 119 because of its length, but yesterday’s study asked me to read it so I willingly obliged. I was amazed and humbled by what I had missed out on for so long. In not many other parts of the Bible do you find such a beautiful depiction of the necessity of God’s word in the life of the believer. I thought I would share a few of my favorites:

9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.

28 My soul weeps because of grief;
Strengthen me according to Your word

50 This is my comfort in my affliction,
That Your word has revived me.

98 Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies,
For they are ever mine.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the aged,
Because I have observed Your precepts.

130 The unfolding of Your words gives light;
It gives understanding to the simple.

165 Those who love Your law have great peace,
And nothing causes them to stumble.

This goes on to remind me how amazed I always am by others who tell me that it (the Christian walk) is just all about a relationship with Jesus. They then go on to say that they rarely read their Bible. How can one read this Psalm and deny the need for consistent time in the Word?

In these passage we find that the Word brings purity, strength, comfort, wisdom, understanding, and peace. And I could go on!

I hope this finds you encouraged and challenged to get into God’s Word today. I know each of us will be changed by it!

Rave Reviews

I have been reading a book for a while now. I am still working through it, but it isn’t the greatest thing I have ever read. However, I am working on two others that I am very much recommending to you. The first is Wayne and Elliot Grudem’s Christian Beliefs. It is a condensed version of Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, which David had to read in Seminary. I am really enjoying a refresher course of why I believe what I believe. David is preparing to go through it with the kids and I wanted to freshen up on the basics. One recent chapter was on sanctification and perseverence. It was a “renewing of my mind,” so-to-speak, as I read what I already knew, but learned more that I needed to hear. On the issue of sancitification, the authors explained:

“Sanctification is a progressive work of both God and man that makes Christians more and more free from sin and more and more like Christ in their actual lives.”

It sound so simple but my faith was strengthened just by these few words and I found myself humbled before the Lord and so thankful for the process of sancitification.

My second book that I would recommend is Wayne Mack’s Down But Not Out. My husband has recommended it to me is regards to the season of life that I am in and I have been so blessed by it. The two chapters I have read have kind of given me a kick in the pants as to how I approach life’s circumstances and situations and what needs to be done to combat the sin of worry. It is by far my favorite “worry read”…so far.

 I have 3 new books coming in the mail. Two by MacArthur and one by Sproul. I’ll let you know how they turn out.