patience

Be patient under the enmity of the gates of hell. It is all working together for your good. It tends to sanctify. It will keep you awake. It will make you humble. It will drive you nearer to the Lord Jesus Christ. It will wean you from the world. It will help to make you pray more. Above all, it will make you long for heaven. It will teach you to say with heart and lips, 'Come , Lord Jesus. Thy kingdom come'. J. C Ryle

a Pastor's prayer

(I got this on my e mail and thought it was really good)

It seems prayer still upsets some people.

When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard;

"Heavenly Father,We come before you today, to ask your forgiveness and To seek your direction and guidance.We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good' But that is exactly what we have done.
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbour's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and Pornography and called it Freedom of speech and expression.
We have ridiculed the time honoured values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!'"

Hard lessons

How easy I find to trust in my own abilities or simply in my self and forget that is God who decides it all. That is US , walking in those ways that He prepared in advance for us to walk on and that our desires are subjected to His will. A lesson that it has been good to receive is this, on how God works in us to will and to act according to His good purpose. He puts desires in our hearts that we may act on them and then and even after we have that desire given by Him, he does not give what we desire... why?.. It is , at least in my life and experience, to work in me. To make me holy and search my heart. To understand that whether God does something or not, He is still God and He is enough.. my obedience is what he requires regardless of the end result, and to learn to trust in Him alone. And that it is He who governs my life. It is at this time that I find that I was trusting in the circumstances, my attributes, my emotions, obeying because of what I wanted, not because of my desire to simply obey my Saviour. But as God works, He is showing me how His sovereignty is in my life. And how He does as He pleases and no one can go against His will.

He is sovereign, He is my King and because obedience is better than sacrifice, I needed this good lesson of obedience, patience and contentment. And for as long as it will last this lesson, I with God's help will be transformed in another area that for many years I have cherished to be mine, forgetting that it is He who lives in me and not me anymore, so nothing in my life, belongs to me, and He has the right to do as He pleases with what is His.

He is enough, His love is sufficient to me, and there is nothing I desire apart from God. And I know I can say this not because I live a life of perfect contentment or holiness which I am still far from it, but because it is a gift of God who enables me to praise Him and glorify Him with my obedience which also was His doing in my life. Thanks be to God for His great mercy.

Shark

My son M, dissected a small shark today in our science class. His presentation was simply amazing!!, and with no problem he dissected the little shark. We saw its heart, liver, stomach, brain, intestine. It was really fun. The smell was not as bad as you can imagine, but the experience was unforgettable!.

Go cart

This HAD to be part of my blog.... M&S worked so hard at it and they were very proud of their end result. They raced it and did very good!. Daddy was the hero in this project!!!.

Volcano

And this is one of the reasons I home school... looking at this faces, makes it worth it all the "clean up " involved in the process of teaching.

quotations

"A man's state before God may always be measured by his prayers. "-J.C Ryle

"No time is so well spent in every day as that which we spend upon our knees. "-J. C. Ryle

"My brethren, let me say, be like Christ at all times. Imitate him in "public." Most of us live in some sort of public capacity—many of us are called to work before our fellow-men every day. We are watched; our words are caught; our lives are examined—taken to pieces. The eagle-eyed, Argus-eyed world observes everything we do, and sharp critics are upon us. Let us live the life of Christ in public. Let us take care that we exhibit our Master, and not ourselves—so that we can say, "It is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me." —Charles Spurgeon

"Divine sovereignty is not the sovereignty of a tyrannical Despot, but the exercised pleasure of One who is infinitely wise and good! Because God is infinitely wise He cannot err, and because He is infinitely righteous He will not do wrong. Here then is the preciousness of this truth. The mere fact itself that God's will is irresistible and irreversible fills me with fear, but once I realize that God wills only that which is good, my heart is made to rejoice. "—Arthur W. Pink

“The anvil is not afraid of the hammer.”- Charles Spurgeon

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him" -John Piper

"How different is the God of the Bible from the God of modern Christendom! The conception of Deity which prevails most widely today, even among those who profess to give heed to the Scriptures, is a miserable caricature, a blasphemous travesty of the Truth. The God of the twentieth century is a helpless, effeminate being who commands the respect of no really thoughtful man. The God of the popular mind is the creation of a maudlin sentimentality. The God of many a present-day pulpit is an object of pity rather than of awe-inspiring reverence. To say that God the Father has purposed the salvation of all mankind, that God the Son died with the express intention of saving the whole human race, and that God the Holy Spirit is now seeking to win the world to Christ; when, as a matter of common observation, it is apparent that the great majority of our fellow-men are dying in sin, and passing into a hopeless eternity: is to say that God the Father is disappointed, that God the Son is dissatisfied, and that God the Holy Spirit is defeated. We have stated the issue baldly, but there is no escaping the conclusion. To argue that God is “trying His best” to save all mankind, but that the majority of men will not let Him save them, is to insist that the will of the Creator is impotent, and that the will of the creature is omnipotent. To throw the blame, as many do, upon the Devil, does not remove the difficulty, for if Satan is defeating the purpose of God, then, Satan is Almighty and God is no longer the Supreme Being."- A.W. PINK


"The winter prepares the earth for the spring, so do afflictions sanctified prepare the soul for glory. "—Richard Sibbes

"Afflictions are light when compared with what we really deserve. They are light when compared with the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. But perhaps their real lightness is best seen by comparing them with the weight of glory which is awaiting us." —Arthur W. Pink

"The custom of sinning takes away the sense of it, the course of the world takes away the shame of it”- John Owen

"Be patient under the enmity of the gates of hell. It is all working together for your good. It tends to sanctify. It will keep you awake. It will make you humble. It will drive you nearer to the Lord Jesus Christ. It will wean you from the world. It will help to make you pray more. Above all, it will make you long for heaven. It will teach you to say with heart as well as lips, 'Come, Lord Jesus. Thy kingdom come'. -J. C Ryle

“Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? Be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you”- John Owen

Remember the Sabbath day

At school we were studying the Ten Commandments, we got to the Fourth Commandment which talks about the Sabbath, the Lord's day. I started with God's grace teaching my kids and learning about it, explaining to them what does it mean to keep it holy and ways to do so.

One of the things we discussed, was watching no TV on Sundays, unless it was some movie about the Bible, instead of one just to be amused by. Among other things, which I have no intention of listing since God is working in us.

Both my sons, came a few mornings after the lesson, and watched a movie early in the morning soon after they woke up that had nothing to do with God. They were not keeping it holy. When I realized what happened I asked: what did you watch? they told me and I reminded them of what the Bible talks about in the Fourth Commandment and if they considered watching that movie something worth watching on the Lord's day. Their answer was ....... No, But we forgot!

Do you realized that is exactly the commandment? REMEMBER the Sabbath day, keep it holy. The commandment could have easily been: keep the sabbath day holy. But clearly says "remember the Sabbath". That is our job, to remember it.

Why is it easy to forget it then?. Because of the pressure of the world to do social activities on Sundays, because the game or movie is on, because that is the day I can do this or that... because of million things and we forget to keep it holy.

I have found in our lives that it becomes idolatry when we put other things before Him, other activities before His commandment, and our amusement before His service. This is the day to give to the Lord for our benefit and His glory. This is the day to put our pleasures, desires, traditions and excuses aside and serve Him, obey Him and REMEMBER the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

So with God's grace, I pray He'll help me to remember it. To do it in a way that is pleasing to Him......in a holy way.

Prayer

It was really hard specially when the kids were younger to find the time to be alone with God, I was tired most of the time and they demanded a lot of my time. As soon as I would try to sit down and pray, either I fell asleep or I would use that time to do other things that "needed" to be done. Now that they are a bit older it is easier, but other things arise, like homeschooling, extra curriculum activities, laundry, friends... and many other. So my time has not changed, I am just as busy as I was before, the only thing that has changed is the age of my kids and the activities that surround me. But, the truth is that there are many excuses in life why I was not faithful then and why I was not faithful now. I read and pray with my kids and in my mind I justified that that counted, since God knew how busy I was. But that was just how bad habits formed in my life.

How many times are we going to excuse ourselves to not go before the father every day, alone with him, crying out for Him, more than here and there during your day. How are we expect to grow, be godly wives and moms, have a quiet and gentle spirit, if we do not talk to Him privately.

Well, I don't want my kids to get into this bad habit that I got into of not having private prayer, excusing myself behind the business of life. We decided to include as our daily activities, private prayer time, we started with 15 min. to give to the Lord in the middle of our day it has gradually increased, at this time, the kids and I have a list of prayer requests and reading Bible time. There are days where it seems virtually impossible to do this, but if we have time to eat lunch, we have time to spend with the One who gives us that food. We start our day with Bible reading and prayer before any school starts, in the middle of the day, we give the Lord our private time and at night, we have Bible reading and prayer as a family. But that private prayer is probably one of the most treasured time in my day..... because it is there where He teaches us to pray. There is no one to impress or no one hearing your most intimate prayers.. it is there, where you can say the desires of your heart, and be changed. It is there, where my strength has been renewed like the eagle, it is there, where I get the self control I need to talk to my husband or kids, it is there, where He works in me.

There are a few things that are important in life, and while we are here we need to work on our soul above all things. That is something I tell my kids often: " when the teen ages come, you have to have good habits of private prayer and self control, or it would be three times harder to try to pursue them then. It is now that you need to work in your soul if you want to avoid pain and struggle in the days to come". And that I saw in my own life, how hard it is to have the time with God as a priority, but the more I do this, the more I want and miss my time with Him when I do not have it.

There are habits that are good for your body, good for your mind, but few are good for your soul. If we care for the state of our soul, lets work on those habits first that will last for eternity. Since heaven will be a place where we will be with God forever, then we need to spend time with Him and practicing communion with Him, and if we do not have that as our priority here on earth, then how are we going to know the One who we'll spend eternity with.

A day at the farm

Today, we had a great opportunity to help a lady from our church who lives in a farm because she broke her ankle last week. We went early this morning and the kids got to feed the cows, sheep, lambs, tied up a ram, they got the eggs out of the chicken house, they fed the rabbits... it was a very busy morning, but it was great!!...... when we came home, we needed a long shower though!.

It was a nice experience for me too... if you know me, you know I do not like animals... I do not like the smell of them, touching them or looking after them... farm life is just not for me.... so when I heard there was a need for this, honestly, I did not want to jump at the "opportunity"..... but after a while, I did. There I had, right in front of me a chance to serve the Lord in places where it was definitely not in my comfort zone, where I would most rather bake something for her or shovel her driveway than do this... getting my boots with cow manure, getting inside the animal pens and grab them ....... but there we were!!.... Besides, now I have 2 boys looking at me and I'm trying to be a good example of what it is to work hard for someone in need.. so as a "good mom", I try to look my toughest, without complaining about the smell or the "dirt" under my boots.

It is great to see the boys having so much fun feeding the animals and getting dirty. Feeling useful in some tough jobs.

A good lesson for all. They loved it so much, that they are asking when are we going to help again... so for the next Tuesdays and Fridays God willing we'll be there until she gets better.. so as you can imagine, I really am praying for a fast recovery!!...

Me... last?

When I got married, I thought it would be very easy to be a good wife. I had a good role model, I wanted to have a family, kids, a husband a house with a nice backyard to entertain, it seemed to me like anyone could do this, if they were just "good wives"..... until I got married!. All of a sudden, my dreams and desires, became third and forth on the list... not that they were bad in the first place, but my desires were wrong in priorities. My first priority was a selfish one........ ME!, to have all this, because it was nice, because I would look really good having the perfect happy family. My priority was not my husband, but me... be happy. After all.. I deserved it!.

How wrong I was. Putting myself first was completely opposite to what God considers a good marriage. I had to die to myself. Die, even to this desires, that may seem not bad to the rest of the world. Dying to self it is probably the hardest thing to do. Not that I have died to myself completely yet, but I am working at it. I thought that we needed to have the same interests, same hobbies or for that matter lots or some thing in common. Funny enough, my husband and I are the Sun and the Moon, the East and the West, we have not much in common that the world would consider important to have a good relationship. But that's when I had to stop looking at the standards of this world to measure my marriage, and take the standards of my God.

These were to my surprise very different. Our opinion on what it means to have fun, our interests, our activities.. none of that makes a good marriage... What is it then, that is and should be enough to keep us together?... that we are both saved. Isn't that enough?.. isn't that more than the pleasures of this world can offer? It is not in what we like or not or in what we need or not but in what Jesus did in the cross for us.

Very often, I forget what is important in life, and I in my pride think I deserve things, forgetting that He is sufficient to me. And that my happiness does not depend on the circumstances, but in
obeying Him by obeying my husband, making him my priority to love him and respect him since it is a good practice when I need to obey and respect my Lord. In my obedience, He is glorified. And being able to see my husband for what he really is........ a wise man who fears the Lord, gives us the best bond a marriage could have.

Now with this I give thanks to God for giving me the desires of my heart. That with time, they have changed....... to see my family walking in the truth.