View Video Clips from The Art of Marriage - FamilyLife.com

This post is mostly for my local followers. Our church, Victory Dream Center (607 E College) is going to host an Art of Marriage event at our church on March 18-19, 2011.  Early Bird registration of $45 per couple ends this Wednesday, February 23.  Regular registration is $55 per couple.  You can register online with a credit card at https://www.victorydreamcenter.webconnex.com/art_of_marriage.

If you are interested in an event in your area, check out other locations across the United States HERE.

If you have never been to one of Family Life's Weekend to Remembers, you do not want to miss this event.  The teaching is so anointed and powerful.  Check it out at the links included in this post.

View Video Clips from The Art of Marriage - FamilyLife.com

Is My Worth Far Above Rubies? Part III

This post is a continuation from Part II HERE 

So, is my worth far above rubies?  What must I do to be worthy?  Am I expected to be perfect?  No.  We can best get our definition of what God calls us to be from the Proverbs 31 woman (Proverbs 31:10-31).  “Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.” Prov 31:10-12

We are called to be trustworthy to our husbands.  We should not hold secrets or be deceptive or manipulative.  Our husbands should be able to trust us.  They should be able to trust that we have their best interests at heart in all that we do and say (or don't say, i.e. gossip).  We should do our husbands good, not evil. Be careful about how we talk about our husbands.  We should not be pouring out our troubles or differences for others to have a bad view of our spouses.  Praise should always be on our lips.

Women, I exhort you to find something to praise your husband for every day.  I know I have not done this and God is calling me to a higher level TODAY.  Do we argue?  Yes, we have many ‘disagreements’, but we always know that Jesus is our rock.  He is our strong tower.  If we have humble hearts that are willing to be molded by the potter’s hand, we will become willing vessels that He can pour Himself into that we can then share His love and wisdom with our mates.

Our direction comes from the Lord.  We must be willing to repent when we step over the boundaries that He has set so that we can remain victorious in Him and advance His kingdom.  Our son is a testimony of what faith in God can do.  We tried unsuccessfully for almost 8 years to conceive and after dedicated, anointed prayer and God’s timing, he was our blessing.  Why have there not been any more pregnancies?  Only God knows.  Perhaps for such a time as this.  We are getting ready to step into another chapter in our life.  We are now licensed to be foster parents and are eagerly waiting to see what God will do in this new season.  Keep your faith in God and what He can do in you and through your marriage and you will stay on the right track.  Is my worth far above rubies?  God thinks so!

Photo courtesy andreyutzu via stock.xchng

Rejoicing in the Day!

This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. 
Ps 118:24 NKJV

Wow, when sickness hits the house, it sure does change things doesn't it?  Routine becomes survival at times.  I have been down for a week now and am just getting back into a routine and getting caught up on some household stuff that just got behind.  Sweat Pea has struggled off and on with cold type symptoms and now Homestead Dad seems to be fighting off something, hopefully not what I had!  Believing for complete healing all around in our household.

I had planned on a nice Valentine's Day posting but it came and went.  Hope everyone had a nice day and some special times too.  Our local church will be hosting an Art of Marriage conference in March and I will be posting about that soon.

It seems we may be getting an early spring.  Our weather here in Southern Illinois has become suddenly warm!  It is such a welcome change to the cold.  Made me realize how I may now be behind on the garden prep and haven't even started any of my seeds yet.  Last year I gave up on starting any early and just went to a local garden shop to get my starters.  I hope to get at least some items started ahead of time, but time is running out!
  

A friend of mine shared an awesome link recently from a blog that had a post on starting seeds in makeshift greenhouses made out of plastic milk jugs.  It looked very promising and I would like to try it.  Hopefully I can get something accomplished this weekend.  If you are interested, here is a link to the post.  http://www.gardendesign.com/seed-sowing-snow

Do you have any neat garden prep ideas to share? 

Photo courtesy elkfish via stock.xchng 

No Ordinary Blog Hop

Joining up with No Ordinary Blog Hop this month.  Found them through another blog link somewhere and thought it would be fun.  Come join us in this month long blog hop.  It's so fun to meet new people and share our stories, talents and lives.

Is My Worth Far Above Rubies? Part II

This post is a continuation from Part I HERE.

When Jearl and I got married, it was a union that would be forever.  God knew it and so did we.  We were committed to the end.  It was easy the first 3 to 5 years.  We NEVER argued, if you can believe that (we really didn’t).  Then I would have to say that the spirit of familiarity must have set in and the road started to get bumpy.  Over the years, it got pretty rough and we had times when we wondered if we could pull through.  The fact is, WE couldn’t.  We must always remember that marriage is a threesome, not a twosome.  Man, wife, and Holy Spirit.  Without God’s merciful grace, we don’t stand a chance in today’s world.  We must always do our part, and then God will do His part.  Men are asked to love their wives as Christ loved the church.  Women, we are asked to submit to and honor our husbands.  Submit?!  What do you mean submit?!  Yes, God means what He says, but let’s not get caught up in the world’s definition of submit.  Submitting has nothing to do with allowing someone to abuse you or being under or less than someone else.  Submission by God's standards is more of a reverence.  An honoring of those we love and serve ( Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. Eph 5:22 NIV).

until next time. . . may your day be blessed!

Photo courtesy Zela via RGBstock.com

Stand Out Saturday Blog Hop

 

Meet my new friend Andie over at Ours + His + Mine = Nine!  She is starting a Stand Out Saturday blog hop.  She will choose two Stand Out blogs each Saturday to spotlight on her blog.  Looking forward to meeting new friends.

Why Do I Homeschool?

If  you homeschool, then you know that we all have our reasons.  Perhaps my strongest is that I wanted to be able to impart to my son that he is fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps 139:14, NIV).  I want him to know of his Godly heritage.  I want him to know and serve the very God who gave him life (Ps 139:13, NIV).  It is our prayer that we would be able to impart to our son that Jesus is his everything.  That everything he is and will be is because of who he is in Christ (Eph 2:10, NIV).

I am including homeschooling in this blog because it is near and dear to my heart and because I come across so many neat resources I want to share with you.  Visit here often if you want to stay updated on new and interesting links and ministries to check out.  Hopefully I will get the Facebook page going and be able to also provide links there.

My first link I want to share is an awesome ministry that provides a plethora of free homeschool resources.  You should sign up for their newsletters to get notified of what freebies they have for each week.  I encourage you to visit http://www.homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com.  You must check out their post for February 10.  It links to a site that has some really neat charts that you can download and save yourself for free.  They also have a sister site at http://www.homeschoolradioshows.com that offers tremendous mp3 files to download for free that are GREAT home school resources.

Until next time, enjoy the blessing of learning at home with your kids!

Alphabet 3D photo courtesy of srbichara via stock.xchng

Is My Worth Far Above Rubies? Part I

Once, when asked to give my testimony on our marriage I thought, “How could I?”  After all, we certainly haven’t had the perfect marriage, nor has it been perfected to this day.  But, then I was reminded (by the Holy Spirit) that God calls us to complete and immediate obedience.  I was asked to provide something that I did indeed have, and must praise God for!

My husband and I have been married 17 years.  We have four children.  The three older children are my husband's from previous relationships (including two marriages).  I also have been divorced.  God hates divorce and I have first hand experience as to why he does.  However, we serve a mighty God who is in the business of restoring lives.

After a nightmare marriage (to my first husband) of mental torment and infidelity, I found myself wanting to be alone and had no desire to marry again.  I was not saved at the time and did not understand God’s desire for oneness and that He has a plan for each of our lives.  My marriage to my now (and forever) husband was not God’s perfect plan.  God does not desire that anyone be divorced.  However, because He is an all knowing and all loving God, He knew about the restoration that would occur in our lives.  Come back later for more of this story! 

Rubies in the rough photo courtesy of GlennPeb via stock.xchng