If That Isn't Love...

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My husband and I stopped in at a church this afternoon to pick up some extra Sunday School materials that were about to be tossed out with the recycling.  It had been drizzling lightly when we pulled in, and after spending a few minutes of fellowship with the Sunday School teacher, we were on our way back to the car when we met Al, aged 86.

As we exchanged hello's I had my eye on the clouds rolling overhead and was really more concerned about not getting wet than with explaining why we were only in the area for a few months.  Al was there to lead a weekly Bible study (complete with covered dish!) and he began to share with us about a trip he'd taken to the mission field of Panama years ago.  He had such vivid memories of one moment in his life when he had been impacted not just by praying and giving to missions, but by going.  He mentioned that he wished everyone could have that experience.

Al went on to tell of how his wife of 69 years was in a nursing home and had not been able to eat or even drink much over the past three weeks.  He had just come from taking care of her to lead the Bible study, and I could see his eyes moisten as he told of the failing health of his beloved.  While we gathered in a circle and prayed for him and his wife my heart was breaking for him.  69 years of marriage!  What a love they must have for each other.  In the words of Al, "I got married when I was 17, and I've never regretted it for a moment."  He was not saved, but she was, and it was because of her that he came to Christ.

As we hugged and said goodbye he added, "I love you.  I've only just met you, but I love you both, and appreciate the work you all are doing."  I'm praying for Al and his dear wife tonight and thinking of a greater love, a Love that loved enough to die.  How long did Christ wait for me to come to Him?  How much time did I waste not giving my all to Him?  When Al has to say goodbye to Melba, his sweetheart, he can rest assured that she is going to a far better Lover who will never let her go.

He is my All in All!

New Bible Study!

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I am starting a new Bible study on September 17th, in Colossians in conjunction with the Good Morning Girls online group. GMG is a "tech accountability group" where we can encourage one another in the study of God's Word even though we live miles apart.
 The Bible Study will be 8 weeks long and will follow the S.O.A.P. method used by Good Morning Girls.  Basically, you write out the verses (two or three per day), then record your observations about the verses, record an application for your life today, and then a prayer for God to help you apply what you have learned in His Word.  As we travel, it is difficult to fellowship with other women around the Word of God, so I am excited about forming a group of girlfriends who are interested in studying God's Word together!  So fill up that cup of coffee and head on over to the Good Morning Girls website to find out more information. If you are interested in joining my group, please leave me a message!

Homeschool in a Minivan

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As we travel on deputation our Turbo Tots seem to store up energy quickly.  No energy drink in the world could give me as much energy as they have!  My high flying Buzz has a great love for books, letters, numbers and all things related to learning something new.  As a teacher I am thrilled to see his thirst for knowledge, but the downside is that since we are always on the go the plans for building the "schoolroom of my dreams" have been put on hold.  Instead of stock piling materials and filling shelves with books I have to carefully plan what we can and cannot take with us in the van. 

While I would love to open the trunk and see a miniature classroom, more important things like clothes, shoes, our display, the stroller, and office supplies get crammed into the back of our minivan.  When we stay in one place for any length of time my heart soars with the freedom of spreading out my treasures and organizing books and materials becomes my favorite past time.  I have studied many different styles of home school organization and am saving my favorite designs for when we are finally on the mission field in Peru, but until then I have come up with some simple strategies called "Homeschool in a Minivan" that I am compiling into an e-book to help other moms who find themselves in the same situation.  These strategies help make our lives on the road easier and still allow me to provide my sons with a way to put their energy to good use!

Submissive or Subversive? Part 3

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His and Hers

Ephesians 5:22-23 "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body.  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing."

I remember washing our first load of laundry in our new home.  My wonderful, new husband was helping me fold towels.  He wanted to fold the towels one way, and I wanted to fold them another way.  Needless to say, it all went down hill from there.  Neither way was technically wrong, but sides had been taken and the battle was intense!  There came a point where we had to sit down like rational human beings and decide which method of towel folding was "best" for our new home.  We can look back now and laugh about it, but I remember thinking even then how something so trivial could have become a stepping stone to bitterness and resentment in our marriage.

Ephesians 5:22-23 presents two analogies to help us understand our God-given roles in marriage.

                                                husband: wife as Christ: church
                                                                    and
                                                 wife: husband as church: Christ

The husband is to be the head of the wife just like Christ is the head of the church.

The wife is to be subject to the husband just like the church is to Christ.

In the fallen, sinful world that we live in both of these pictures are often warped, but that does not mean that God's Word or His plan for our lives has changed.

His Responsibility-

• Be the head of the home (like Christ)
• Love his wife (like Christ) Eph. 5:25
• as his own body
• nourish and cherish her
• be one flesh

Her Responsibility-

• Be subject (Yeah, that means submit!)
• to your own husband (as unto the Lord, like the church is supposed to be) Eph. 5:22 
• Be one flesh (leave and cleave) Eph. 5:31
• Reverence your husband Eph. 5:33
• respect him 
• don't waste time humiliating him, degrading him, and complaining to others
• build him up with praise (Prov. 31:23)
• listen to his advice/seek it
• accept his final word in decision making
• pray for him to be a godly leader in your home
• pray for your own attitude to line up with God's Word

Eye to Eye Q&A- How do you measure up your God-given responsibilities?

The world's image of the home so often degrades the role of the husband to the point that we are tempted to believe that our lives were meant to be in the same constant state of turmoil that we see around us.  Men are portrayed on television as being simple, inefficient, lazy, womanizing, selfish, etc., which is far from the Biblical image of the leader of the home.  It's time to change your WORLDVIEW!  God's commands to us as husband and wife are not based on conditional "if/then" circumstances.  God expects us to obey His Word.

What areas of God-given responsibility toward your husband do you struggle with the most?  Get it settled today!

Submissive or Subversive? Part 2

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Don't forget your umbrella!

 "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, 

as unto the Lord."

Ephesians 5:22

        As I pondered this verse I could picture in my mind a younger version of myself standing in the doorway of a store looking out on a crowded street as rain poured down from a sky that minutes before had been clear blue and full of sunshine.  The wiser people I see scurrying by have umbrellas, but I do not.  I hate getting my hair wet (especially if I've taken the time to make it look nice!) and I think to myself that it does not matter how ridiculous I look or how embarrassing it is, I am willing to do most anything to stay dry.  Being a quick thinker I decide to combine my purchases into one bag and streak across the parking lot like a crazy person with a plastic shopping bag tied around my head.  Was I able to salvage my hair style? Kind of.  Did I receive strange looks from others? Definitely.  Could I have prevented it? Yes!  If only I had remembered to bring my umbrella, underneath it I would have had all of the protection I needed!

        God has a safe haven of authority that He has designed for each of our lives and the Biblical mandate given in Ephesians 5:22 makes it very clear that wives are to submit themselves to their husbands in the Lord.  God's commands are just that, commands.  Not suggestions to ponder or things you might want to try to see if they work before you keep them.  A command is a command.  "No ifs, ands, or buts about it!"  So let's break it down and really digest what God wants us to do.

Submit basically means to yield your power to the authority of another.  Sometimes we believe, no...deceive ourselves into thinking that we ARE submissive because we have given up a little bit of our time and talents to do what God or our spouse desires but we have not fully yielded ourselves.  It is easy to submit when it is something I was already willing to do.  The true test of submission comes when what my authority chooses is is different from my own will and desire in that situation.  However, just as partial obedience is not obedience; partial submission is not submission.  It's all or nothing!

Submit to whom? To our own husbands.
Sometimes we are eager to please, obey, follow advice from, and respond kindly to other men whether it be in church, at school, at work or throughout our daily interactions.  We even pray for the Holy Spirit to guide our responses, but we fail to do so at home.  Submission must begin at home!  The submissive wife is under her husband's authority.  Why? Because that is the way God organized the home.  The subversive wife is always undermining her husband's authority.  How?  By speaking disrespectfully of him to others, by clinging to mom and dad's advice and wishes instead of "leaving and cleaving" as Genesis 2:24 commands, by assuming an "I'm in charge" of my own destiny attitude (which is actually a lie from the devil).

Submit how? As unto the Lord.
I love how verse 22 ends, because just as the fleshly side of you starts to puff up with pride and you are about to utter all of the 897 reasons why you cannot submit, or you are about to self righteously describe how you have tried and tried with that impossible man, it goes right to the heart of the matter.  God's chain of authority in our lives, starts with God Himself.  As a child of God, He is my ultimate authority.  As a child of my parents He placed me under their authority.  As a married woman, a transfer of authority took place from my father, to my husband.  God has the BEST plan, He knows the beginning from the end, and His design for marriage is perfect.  It is the sinful, fallen world that we live in that has warped and twisted what God intended for good into less than God's best.  If I am "walking in the light" of God's Word, and yielding the authority in my life to Him, and in turn to my husband, then I am seeking God's best, and He has promised to meet my every need.

Eye to Eye Q&A: As you hold up the mirror of God's Word to your life and you see yourself in God's eyes, what does the reflection hold?

1.  Fold a sheet of paper in half and list the times when submission is easy for you on one side and the times when it is not easy on the other side.  Pray over both sides, giving thanks to God for the good times, and begging for help to overcome selfish pride in the others.

2. Write a note to your husband thanking him for taking his God given responsibility to be the leader in the home.  Slip it somewhere he will notice it in an unexpected moment.  Then hide and wait for the surprised look on his face. Note: If he passes out from the shock, you have a lot of work to do! ;)

3.  Copy Ephesians 5:22 onto a note card and read it throughout the day asking God to show you ways that you can show a submissive spirit in your home.

Submissive or Subversive? Part 1

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When a woman walks down the aisle as a blushing bride her life changes in many ways.  Maybe before she was under the authority of her father living in his home, or maybe she lived on her own assuming she was in charge of her own destiny.  No matter the case, "with privilege comes responsibility" as the old adage says.  It is a privilege to stand and make a pledge before God and man to "love, honor, cherish, and obey".  However, we need to remember that with that choice to marry, according to God's Word, we are also choosing to submit to a new, God-ordained authority in our lives, our husband.  Ephesians 5 is one of those chapters in the Bible that we would sometimes like to glance over swiftly.  You know, you read it, you acknowledge it, but you rarely take the time to really study it out and apply it to your life.  Well why not?  It's time to look at yourself in the mirror and ask the question, "Am I a Submissive or Subversive Wife?"  Come along with me and take the test!

Defining the terms:

Submissive means that you are ready to submit.  You obey humbly and without resistance.
Submit means to give over or yield to the power or authority of another. (dicitonary.com)
Subversive means that you have a habit of subverting or promoting subversion.
Subvert means 1)to overthrow (something established or existing) 2)to cause the downfall, ruin, or destruction of 3)to undermine the principles of; corrupt  (dictionary.com)
 Ephesians 5:1-2 COMMANDS us, "Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour."

Eye to Eye Q&A:  

As you hold up the mirror of God's Word to your life and you see yourself in God's eyes, what does the reflection hold?
1) Am I following God and His Word as quickly and humbly as a child would?
2) Am I responding in Christ-like love to every situation in my life?
3) Does my life bring a smell "sweet" to God or stinky?

VBS with kids

Pin It This summer we have been in four different VBS programs!  For any normal person who has run the gamut of VBS preparation, planning, and execution this may seem like taking an unnecessary dose of insanity upon yourself, but we have our reasons.  First of all, we love working with children, sharing the gospel with them, and seeing the light of understanding dawn in their eyes as they hear God's Word.  Second, it's a great way to get to know the people in our supporting churches.  Nothing brings you closer together than working together for God's glory!  We have made many lasting friendships and gained new prayer partners this way.

"But what about your kids?"  This is a question that we often hear.  They do what we do!  One of the "best" excuses people use for not serving God is their children.  "Oh, Johnny has to go to bed early." "Well, I would, but my children are still so small."  We want our children to love the ministry, so for us this means getting them involved at an early age.  Of course, this also means that I must sacrifice some of my own "ministry moments" along the way for nursery duty!  However, this is also a ministry. 

Me too!  Me too!

Coloring our Bible verse

For example, during VBS this week, several of the workers have nursery aged children, and our program is only for first through sixth grade.  With five toddlers on the loose we were going to have a difficult time keeping things under control!  This was definitely a problem that needed solving.  We were able to find a few volunteers to watch them in the nursery, but I decided to take it one step further and plan some mini-Bible lessons, memory verses, songs, and crafts just for them. 

Jesus Himself said in Mark 10:14, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kindgom of God."

Let the adventure begin!

Pin It Whew!  I finally made it into the world of blogging!  It has taken much prayer and much wading through computer jargon to get started, but here I am!  I am so thrilled about this new adventure that God has opened up for me, and pray that it will be useful for others as well.  My family is currently in the US traveling on furlough/deputation.  I have several ladies Bible studies in the works and will be posting about them as they become available.  Visit my Women of Wisdom page for a free download to get you started!