Train up a child...

     One of my favorite scriptures is "train up a child in the way he should go and when he is older, he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).  This is an area where I have needed to be reminded that my husband and I brought our children up to serve the Lord, to walk with him and to rely on HIS will over their own. 
     When we have witnessed some of our children walking a road that is not reflective of their upbringing, my husband and I are saddened and sometime we have even wept at the thought that they have turned from the Lord.  The Word says, "Cursed is the strong one who depends on mere humans, Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone and sets God aside as dead weight.  He's like a tumbleweed on the prairie, out of touch with the good earth. He lives rootless and aimless in a land where nothing grows."  (Jeremiah 17:5 MSG).  
     The reality is that we can only last so long on our own without God.  As parents, the time we have been given for teaching and training our children is but a drop in the bucket of their lives.  Although we are heart broken over our lost children, we also rest in the Word reminding ourselves that when our children grow older the Word of the Lord will come back to them and that our whole house will be saved.
     This week, let's pray that the hearts of our lost loved ones will be softened; that they will receive wisdom and seek after the Lord; and that the Lord would restore and reconcile our families!!


Have a blessed week!

The Trouble with Blogs...

     I am a writer.  I am also a mother, a home educator, a Pampered Chef consultant, a blogger, an account executive, a student, a wife, and a homemaker.  I enjoy telling others about Jesus and sharing the love of the Lord with the lost, unsaved and unbelievers.  When I started my blog, I thought it would be relatively simple to write a quick paragraph or two about life lessons the Lord was showing me each day or, at the very least, each week!  What really happens is that I find myself often spread too thin to concentrate on my blog or my writing or my lesson plans for the week or my contact calls for clients or to be the wife and mother my family needs me to be. 
This week, I am working on prioritizing my work.  Everything I do this week will be with my family in mind first, and the work will be done to the best of my ability as unto the Lord.  I've been reading Darlene Schacht's book, "The Good Wife's Guide" and have been so inspired to seek the Lord in serving my family.  Whether we work outside the home or not, God has called wives and mothers to certain roles within their family, and we need to realize our jobs once again.  (I will be reviewing this book soon, so be sure to check back for that post!)
      One of my favorite verses is Proverbs 32 (Kerri Pomaroli)..."She rises late and her children make her breakfast!"  The reality is, there IS no Proverbs 32.  And I have been commissioned by the Lord to be diligent in all I do.  I can't take on as many tasks as I want, but if it's not what the Lord would have me do, I'm going to burn out quickly and accomplish little in the things He has called me to do.
     As wives and mothers, we owe it not only to our families but to our Heavenly Father to do the best work we can and not take on more than we can successfully complete with a degree of excellence and completeness.  What will you do this week for your family?  For your Lord that will allow you to humbly work with the best job you can do?
Read Proverbs 31 and Titus 2 this week.  Don't be intimidated that you aren't out making clothes and buying land and guiding older moms into lives of reverence.  Concentrate on the last part of each scripture...Her children respect and bless her; her husband joins in with words of praise: "Many women have done wonderful things, but you've outclassed them all!" (Proverbs 31:28-29, The Message);  "Tell them all this.  Build up their courage, and discipline them if they get out of line. You're in charge.  Don't let anyone put you down." (Titus 2:15, The Message).