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In Love for 63 Years

Posted in A Song to Sing with tags , , , , on Thursday, March 11, 2010 by Becky

My grandfather turned 91 years old, and has been married to my grandmother for 63 years.

They are the most beautiful couple, in love, always holding hands, always talking about their memories and present love. Always laughing and looking for opportunities to kiss and hug.

They live their moment with passion and joy. They laugh of the future, they hold hands in such a way that it seems that they don’t want to be apart, not even for a moment.

Their story of love is not a fairy tale, is a love story that has happened in real life. They came into this marriage knowing, believing that it was a covenant forever.  They have walked through valleys and mountains, but haven’t given up on their love.

This is an example of grace that we behold, and want to follow.

This is the way my children long to live their marriage.

Forever in love.

This is Real, this can happen.

Marriage is a Covenant for life.

Love and kisses and holding hands are part of being in that covenant.

It is not a fairy tale.

TOMORROW, MY FRIEND EILEEN WILL BE SHARING IN THIS SPACE ABOUT HOMESCHOOLING ONE CHILD. THE THEME WILL BE “PLAYS WELL WITH OTHER CHILDREN”…YOU ARE MORE THAN WELCOME TO COME. SHE IS A DELIGHT.

This post  -with a twist- can be now found at my New Blog

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It’s Saturday Already, Have You Sung?

Posted in A Song to Sing with tags , , , on Saturday, March 6, 2010 by Becky

Yes, this is question I am asking to myself today..“it is  Saturday already, have I sung?”

Has my song of love been heard in my home?

Has my song to the Lord been heard in the Heavens?

Have I raised my voice this day in prayer?

Has my mouth been  filled with a thousand songs?

What has been my song this week?

What is the music that I have followed?

What is the dance I have pursued?

It’s Saturday already and I want to sing, I want to dance,

Dance with my Beloved Husband, my children, my friends,

Following the sweet melody of love that I have received from Him.

It’s Saturday already, and I want to sing,

A never-ending song of praise and thanksgiving

To Him who has set my feet free from the bondage of sin.

That’s why now I can sing,

Now I can dance,

Now I can fill the air of my home with a thousand songs,

and dance,

and praise,

and rejoice.

It is Saturday already, have you sung?


Are you homeschooling “The Classical Way”?

Maybe you’d like to start following my friend’s new blog, The Classical Experience.

Have you stopped lately at Pixels and Stories? This week I posted another  picture: Light Bulbs in the Air.

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A Thankful Monday

Posted in Endless Gifts, Lenten Season with tags , , , on Monday, March 1, 2010 by Becky

So Monday is here, and so is my favorite list. So much to thank the Lord, so many little things that have filled our lives, our days, our life under the sun. And yet, because it is under the sun all is like vapor, quickly fades away.

But not a grateful heart, a grateful heart will not fade away. Will not boast,but will be humbled.

The heart that is grateful to the Lord is yielded to worship Him acceptably, with reverence and awe.

Gratitude has taken the form of a list that keeps on filling pages of a family gratitude journal, more than 1000 and not everything is there.  I take it in my hands and read back, so many precious times, so much help in time of need, so many friends walking beside us, so much mercy…such a grace.

It humbles me…and I worship Him.

I take my pen, and add some more…my husband always loving me, my kids all safe under His wings, a nice dinner, more books coming in the mail, fabric and scissors, glue and markers, watercolor and paper, a kitchen and a fridge.

Thank you, because with all those gifts You humble me, You test my heart. In giving me so  much You see where I have set my treasure. In  giving me all these good gifts, You see my heart not my list.

Help me to have a heart willing to leave all those gifts at your feet and see you,only You.

Thank you, O Lord.

Amen.

How Not To Ruin Your Penitential Season at Credenda.

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So Here I am Now

Posted in Food, Lenten Season with tags , on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 by Becky

So here is where I am now…learning, reading, pondering, listening sermons, and praying. So what about fasting?

Fasting?

It has always been in my vocabulary but never in my practice.

These are some quotes that I am chewing, swallowing little by little.

“During this season, don’t just give up soft drinks; mount a concerted campaign against impatience.  Don’t just put aside your favorite TV show; subdue your anger.  Don’t just fast; kill your self-centeredness.”

Peter J. Leithart


“Normally, we meet God in his good gifts and turn every enjoyment into worship with thanksgiving. But from time to time we need to test ourselves to see if we have begun to love his gifts in place of God”

John Piper in A Hunger for God.

Now, am I drawn to fast? Yes, because I have so many gifts, an endless list that I need to put to test…many times I must confess, I prefer all those gifts, some invaluable, others that are simple things from my daily life; and  the end of the day, when I recollect my journey, laying in bed, I know that those gifts are becoming little by little, deceivers , “deadly substitutes of God” as John Piper says.

So here is where I am now…longing to see how much I love Jesus.

 

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Journaling; Why I Want To Do It

Posted in My Thoughts with tags , , , , , on Saturday, February 20, 2010 by Becky

I shared with you why I am not looking for when I journal (here ). But now I want to share why I love journaling and why it is a great idea considering to set apart some time to do it.

I bought this book that the Mahaney ladies recommended here, and I bought here, it is called “Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life” by Donald S. Whitney. A great book. I really recommend it…you won’t be pushed to “find yourself” through meditation, contemplative prayer.

The author starts encouraging us to have a disciplined spiritual life for the “purpose of godliness” as Timothy exhorts us:

“(Rather) train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”

I Timothy 4:7-8

He talks about several disciplines in the Christian life and among those he teaches about journaling.

What a different teaching than Cepero’s book! and Whitney gives reasons, which I  want to make mine, as for why journaling is a blessing. (As I said before I have kept journals many times before in my life, but this past year has been on an almost daily basis and I have just started a beautiful visual  journal with my family)

The author’s list on the value of journaling is this:

1. Help in Self-Understanding and Evaluation.

“The practice of keeping a diary would promote vigilance…Journaling is not a time for navel gazing, however. Nor is it     an excuse  for becoming self-centered at the expense of a needy world” p. 207

2. Help in Meditation.

“The discipline of writing my meditations on my journal helps me concentrate” p.209

This is so true for me!

3. Help in Expressing Thoughts and Feelings to the Lord

4. Help in Remembering the Lord’s Works

“A journal helps us to be as Asaph in Psalm 77:11-12, who said “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds”    p.211

“Francis Bacon put it bluntly, “If a man write little, he had need have a great memory”   p.211

I thought I had a great memory until I found that I did not remember a lot of things, things that were so pretty and valuable, great places in far away lands, beautiful children’s words, loving conversations with my husband, great times with my family and friends; you know, those times that seem so special that you are sure you will never forget but now they are gone because I did  not write them down. This is one of the main reasons I do not want to stop writing, and I am planning on writing more…I want to capture moments and make them mine forever.

5. Help in Creating and Preserving a Spiritual Heritage

“Journaling  is an effective way of teaching the things of God to our children and transmitting our faith into the future”

6. Help in Clarufying and Articulating Insights and Impressions

“An old adage says that thoughts disentangle themselves when passed through the lips and across the fingertips. When reading makes a full man, and dialogue a ready man, according to Francis Bacon, writing, makes an exact man.” p.213

7. Help in Monitoring Goals and Priorities

“A journal is a good way to keep berfore us the things we want to do and emphasize….it’s a way of reminding myself to do some things  I want to do as part of pressing on toward the goal of Christlikeness (Phil. 3:12-16)”

I liked how he explains this point and how uses the diaries of Jonathan Edwards to go deeper…Oh, I want to do this! I need to this this, to keep myself accountable. So many godly desires…how many of them are  actually being accomplished?

8. Help in Maintaining the Other Spiritual Disciplines.

“Unless we labor to put to death the misdeeds of the body (Romans8:13), our progress in Godliness will be very slow. Unless we find practical ways to cooperate with the Holy Spirit against our congenital tendency towards spiritual sloth, we will not build ourselves up in the faith (Jude 20); we will drift toward spiritual entropy instead”  p. 216

So here I am, in a journey that needs to fall in love with words, with lists, with memories that I do not want to lose and some others that are not so beautiful but are there and need to be dealt with, because my Sovereign God, in his perfect wisdom allowed them to happen with an eternal purpose.

Have a happy journey…and why not start recording it, just so you won’t forget?

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Repentance and Forgiveness

Posted in Just Us, Pondering, Prayer with tags , , , on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 by Becky

I need His forgiveness more and more every day.

More because as I grow closer to Him I see my sinfulness, my heart full of me and in such a big need of Him.

As I reflect about repentance and forgiveness I can not but think about my hardness. I was taught from my childhood that parents ought be firm when disciplining their children. But my sinful nature has made this an excuse for the hardship I have laid over my own children at times.

I am not like my Lord has taught me to be. I  only point the sin, the grievance, but I am slow to forgive.

The day I will remember always, was when after correcting her and talking to her asking why she would not come to ask forgiveness, she said, hands over her face, “because you don’t forgive, you hold it too long”

I was afraid, scared. We hugged. We cried. We prayed.

Why I grew up thinking that “I forgive you and I truly let it go” were words so hard to say? Maybe just to see how my nature wants to hold back, and still see how great is His love towards me and how He truly  lets it go. He does not hold my sins to bring them out some day in he future. He Forgives me. He is my Father.

I have been praying and asking Him to change this sinful heart. But I must, now that I have been called out of darkness into His light..  do something, I must seek His face and repent.

He is quick to forgive. And through forgiveness is that we come to know light.

James says,

“My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”

It is not anger that will bring my children to know the way of life, it is love and repentance that will bring life. My anger, my lack of forgiveness will not bring the fruits of righteousness that I desire to see in their lives.

My walk has been improving by His grace, not that I have overcome..but I keep up pressing, battling, wrestling with my sins, holding more and more to the Word of God. depending on Him, growing in grace…daily on my way to heaven.

From my prayer-book, The Valley of Vision.

“Thou blessed Spirit, Author of all grace and comfort,
come work repentance in my soul;
Represent sin to me in its odious colours that I may hate it;
Melt my heart by the majesty and mercy of God;
Show me my ruined self and help there is in Him;
Teach me to behold my creator,
his ability to save,
his arms outstretched,
his heart big for me…
Help me not only to receive him but
to walk in Him,
depend upon Him,
commune with Him,
be conformed to Him,
follow Him…”

Oh Lord, let my arms be always outstretched to love and hug my dear children, to receive  them openly. To forgive.

and again, I am learning to pray,

“Sanctify and prosper my domestic devotion,
instruction discipline, example,
that my house may be a nursery for heaven…”

Amen.

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“Big” Books

Posted in Learning at Home, Noble Words, The Word, Uncategorized with tags , , , , on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 by Becky

As I was talking with a friend of mine recently, we saw the need of encouraging Christian women, to start reading  “big books”… Why, what do I mean by this?

Plainly said, we are too emotional most of the time, and we live in a world that loves to do that; it is always trying to deceive us by our emotions.

I am not against emotions at all, I just know from the Bible, that we must bridle them, or they will “drive us crazy”, in a never ending roller coaster of ups and downs that will lead us no where but to our own self-pity, or our own self- exultation.

Even in our prayer time, emotions without bridle, can lead us to pray wrongly, to ask for the wrong things, and with false motives. Do we pray according to what the whole Bible teaches? or according to our emotions, picking one verse here and another one there?

We need to bridle our emotions, but how?

1. Through the Power of the Holy  Spirit.

2. Studying the Bible, and I mean, studying it, not only reading it.

We need to start reading not only books about “How to Homeschool Efficiently” or “God and Managing our Time” or so on… (and I love those, I also read them) we need to start reading and studying doctrine.

Doctrine is the body of beliefs and teachings that make up our Christian Faith.

If you have been here, in this corner of “who knows where”, you probably have figured out that I am a Reformed Calvinist. I have learned to love doctrine. The teachings of our Forefathers. It was not easy, I had to make an extra, a conscious effort.

I have now learned to buy “big books”, and read them, sitting on a table, with an open Bible and a notebook. It’s a learning time. It’s a time to learn what do I believe and why do I believe so and so doctrine-

It has been rewarding.

When I pray, when I talk to friends, I can bridle my emotions. I can ask the Holy Spirit to bring to my mind and mouth the right words, the correct doctrine…

What do you say to your friend going through a financial problem? “God will make it alright, He wants you to be rich?” (Believe me, I have heard that more than once!) Well, doctrine, the Bible as a whole teaches differently.

So, in our prayers, in our conversations, in our meditations, in our going into the world, we need doctrine.

Let’s start reading “big books”.

Monergism, my favorite online Christian bookstore, offers a Reader’s Guide to help you choose “big books” from Introductory Reading to Advanced Reading.

I have also found that an easy way to choose what to read is by asking myself some little questions…foe example, Is Jesus God? Can I prove it with the Scripture? ….of course I couldn’t, so I found a book, I read it, studied it and my soul was richly blessed.

I have also bought  some commentaries and I have read them along with my devotions every night. Oh, what a blessing! Esther and Ruth, came alive; Summer was a refreshing time to study the Psalms,I grew more and the Lord opened my eyes to see more of Him. Studying in-depth the Five Points of Calvinism, was a treasure.

Monergism’s homepage is also full  free resources, archives,and free mp3 dowlnoads to study. Jump in the pool…be refreshed!

May the Holy Spirit give us a deep desire to study, to read, to ponder, to eat, to grow.

Only He can do that.

“To suppose that whatever God requireth of us that we have power of ourselves to do, is to make the cross and grace of Jesus Christ of none effect.”

John Owen


P.S. The picture on top seems to have nothing to do with the theme, however, I was eating in that place with the friend I mentioned at the beginning of my post.

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