I Will Boast in God ~ He Can Even Use a Frog

I’m excited to introduce Laura to you! Her boast is a great example of how God can use little things to teach big Truths. Be sure to click on the link to her blog and visit her. Here is her boast in God! Enjoy!  ~ FFS

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The other day I was having attitude problems. I was upset with something someone else wrote. I felt hurt, upset that they would be so careless. I wanted to confront them. I vented to my husband, for quite a while. I wanted to have a facebook debate, or at least leave a smart comment. I wanted to be witty and rude, all at once. Yes, my sin nature is alive and well!

I waited, counted to ten. Prayed for guidance.

I decided to get going with our school day and deal with it later, simmer down a bit. My sweet little, blond-headed, freckled boy grabbed his kindergarten* lesson book and crawled into the rocker with me. I opened the page to the day’s lesson: on frogs.

F is for Frog: “I will use my tongue wisely.” *wham* *palm*to*forehead*

A Question: What is your favorite thing about the Bible?

Homeschool Conference Top 13 List (or Convictions, whichever)

I went to a homeschool convention this past Thursday and Friday. It was so wonderful to sit, listen, and learn from people who are experts in their fields. I’m still processing through my brain all of the information I soaked in. I think I have 4 new books to read. And it was interesting because I would go and listen to one person speak about one subject and then go to a different person speaking on a similar topic and they would recommend two different things. So the question is…who is right? How do you know?

Over the next few days as I process information, I’ll be sharing some of the stuff I learned. I’m hoping to put some of this into practice soon. Other tips, theories, or philosophies I may need to chew on for a while before I decide anything. I’m also planning on hashing all of this out with my husband. He’s pretty smart.

I will say I learned some Truth, or was reminded of Truth, while there. It’s funny how God prepares us to hear from Him. He’s been preparing me for the past 3 weeks for some of the lessons I needed to learn. Here’s my Top 13 Things I Picked Up From the Homeschool Conference.

13) On average, people watch 7.5-10 hours of TV a day. (This includes computer screens, ipad games, phone games, video games, etc.) For an average lifespan this equals 10 years of life in front of a screen. For the average lifespan, people will have watched 1.5 million acts of violence and 360,000 murders. How are we any more civilized than the Romans who sat in the Colosseum and watched Christians be ripped apart by lions???

12) What would happen if that 10 years was spent in the Word of God?

11) Don’t let distractions rule your life.

10) Get serious about God.

9) Teach the pursuit of excellence, not perfection. There was only 1 perfect Person in this world and it wasn’t me or my children.

8) Am I willing to break mediocrity even if it means getting “dirty” and involved in the lives of others?

7) Use more mercy than judgement. God does.

6) I need to trust God to govern my kids and my husband. I don’t run the show.

5) We cannot see our true selves without the help of others and scripture.

4) EVERYTHING is used by God to teach me about Who He is and who I am in Him.

3) When disciplining children, don’t get rid of the spiderweb, get rid of the spider.

2) Don’t be too arrogant to apologize and ask for forgiveness.

1) You’ll be the same in 5 years as you are now except for the people you meet and the books you read.

I have a lot to think through. What do you think about these statements or questions?

Truth in the Race

I went to a Women’s Conference this weekend. Jesus was praised, ladies cried, and hopefully souls were saved. It was good. It was good to be in the Word of God. It was good to sing in a room full of Sisters. It was good to be encouraged. It was great to come home and hug my husband and kids.

But the mountain top experiences only last a moment, do they not?

We are given a precious glimmer, a slice, of what heaven might be like. We SO need those times because it is hard to run this race, called life.

We need to hear that Jesus is greater than any problem we face.

We need to hear that Jesus IS who He says He IS.

We need to hear that Jesus is on our side.

We need to hear that Jesus has overcome this world.

We need to hear that Jesus is victorious.

We need to hear that Jesus restores purity.

We need to hear that Jesus loves us no matter what.

We need to hear that Jesus is at the finish line cheering us on as we run the race the best we can.

And we need to hear that we have a Daddy, our Abba Father, who created us just so He could love us.

He wants so much for us to climb up into His lap, put our head on His mighty chest, and allow Him to say, “My child, everything is going to be fine. I’m in control of it all.”

It only took me about 3 hours to roll to the bottom of the mountain and to be back in the trenches. But I think I am going to do something different this time. For one thing, I am going to throw off some sin and baggage that has been holding me back. I can’t run a race if I’m heavy with junk. And secondly, I’ve got my focus back on Jesus and I cannot allow that to waver. It’s going to mean work, sweat, tears, self denial, self sacrifice, and surrender on my part.

But I know I’m not alone. I know I have other Sisters and Brothers who are running this race with me. AND we have a great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us who are cheering us on.

Are you with me?