Can I have a Redo!?!

I am getting more and more sporadic about posting on my blog - we'll just say I am hibernating! (It is winter after all, right!?!)  We had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas with our families.  How about you?  Was this holiday season hectic or relaxing?

This is what it looks like around the Farm here lately!

Todd and F.J., our new calves.

Salty.  She was the only horse that cooperated for pictures!

Coconut, Babe, Susie, & Benny!  We have had them for a few months, but they haven't visited the blog yet.

We were super excited to do a little decorating for Christmas.  It's so exciting!  This picture is of the basketballs and footballs our Home School Co-op purchased for our local Christian Care Center's toy drive.  We used some of the proceeds from a garage sale we had in October.  I am proud of all the kids who helped.  (We might have got carried away when we were adding icicles to the tree! LOL)

So Friday, December 6, was a big day for me.  It was my first time to go to a prison to minister.  I was looking forward to it as much as I was anxious about it.  The unknown is always a little scary.  I am going to write about my experience soon, but let's just say, I will definitely be going back again!

My sister-in-law, Ruth Anne, and I took our girls to see The Whimsical (Seussical the Musical) for the first time.  It was really cute and, as you can see from the picture above, decorated very festive for pictures.

What a great holiday season!

I have had something on my heart for a few weeks.  I keep writing a post about it, then deleting it.  Here is the problem, I hate confrontation with everything that is inside me.  I have a feeling some might see this as confrontational, but I suppose anything could be confrontational because everyone will not agree on everything.  I am simply trying to obey the Holy Spirit, even when I am unsure of the outcome.  I pray this is received that way. 

I have had the opportunity for mothers of young children to ask me for advice about mothering.  Not because I'm good at it (Trust me, I know my failures well!), but because I am very passionate about it.  My greatest desire in life is to please God in my marriage, and raise children who know Jesus Christ as their Savior and know the Word of God.  It seems simple, but I guarantee you it is very hard work!  You have to have vision and determination, because there is a constant pull on your life to be just like the rest of the world.  That road would be so much easier to walk down, because that road is wide.

The thing is, when women have asked me for advice on how to raise children who honor their parents and love God, I have skirted the one thing that I felt like I should really say.  I'd rather avoid confrontation and keep the peace.  Shame on me because the mothers were sincerely seeking advice!  Honestly, if I could go back and redo some conversations, this is more what it would look like.

If you want Godly children who trust that you have their best interest and future at heart, you have to raise them.  Y-O-U!  Not someone else.  Not the television or the gaming system.  Y-O-U!  I mean working day in and day out, putting every bit of effort you have in to helping them form a relationship with the Lord and cultivating a passion for His Word.

Here is a staggering thought: From Kindergarten to 12th grade, a child who attends public school is being taught by someone else for 14,000 hours.  Did you get that?  This gives them thousands of hours being taught a purpose for their life that someone else has come up with.  Our children are immersed in a society that says that education is all that you need in life to succeed, but THAT IS A LIE. 

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.  Acts 4:13

As far as I can tell from scripture, what we need to succeed in life is just to be with Jesus.

Here are some scripture to ponder on.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
⁶ “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.

1 Corinthians 11:1
Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
(They need to see God's commandments walked out day after day.  Children learn by example.)

Proverbs 23:26
My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.

I have many women in my family who are public school teachers that I love and respect.  (As a matter of fact, they are some of my dearest friends!)  I know these women are good at their job and care deeply for their students.  We can agree to disagree about our educational choices, but we do agree on one thing and that is this: not everyone can or will home school.  This is not an attack on public school teachers or anyone who sends their children to school.  This is a suggestion for a mother who may have never thought about this option before.  I WANT TO MAKE THIS POINT VERY CLEAR.  (Keep in mind that this is my response to someone asking for advice.)   

I was listening to a sermon one day on how to disciple your children.  The preacher said that there is a call for Christian women to rethink the outcome of someone else having as much, or in some cases more, influence on your children than you and your husband.  This was very thought provoking to me.  If you are a Christian, who desires with all your heart to gain your child's heart as in Proverbs 23:26, one of the greatest way to do that is to be with them everyday, see their struggles, and help them grow into Godly men and women by training them in the Word of God.

Just to be fair, on the other end of the spectrum, you can have homeschooling parents who don't spend time in the Word with their children daily, or spend time giving them an education or Godly character, and that path is not effective either.  Maybe the parents think they are sheltering their children, but that is not what they need.  They need you to equip them for a life of serving Jesus Christ.   

So to the moms of young children who have asked me what I think I could share with them about raising children, this is my answer.......EMBRACE YOUR PLACE AS A WIFE and AS A MOM.   And, have you ever considered homeschooling?  No one cares more about your children's future than you do! 

Insurance Agents!

This post is by Jessica Honc!  She is so creative.  I guarantee you this will put a smile on your face!

 

 

TO MY FELLOW INSURANCE AGENTS:

Romans 8:38-39 (NIV) 

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Our time on earth is too short to not have a sense of humor. J

I took advantage of the early morning peace today to clean out my wallet.  Soon I discovered that I have been carrying around an expired insurance card.  Oopps.  As I got up from my desk to get a more recent insurance card from my “Insurance Information” binder (I am a little organized), I noticed that my daughter’s goldfish had also expired.  Suddenly all of these puns began running through my head regarding the fact that all of us will eventually “expire”.  Our earthly bodies will someday die & then what?  Well, if you are smart enough to grab the FREE INSURANCE OF JESUS, then you are in the clear.  Your insurance policy will never expire, even after your earthly body is caput!  What a good deal!  I love a good bargain.

Like a good neighbor, JESUS is there. (State Farm)

When Mr. Mayhem / Satan appears, are you in good hands? (AllState)

15 minutes (of accepting the Lord as your Savior) can save you……forever. (Geico)

It’s at times like this, that you can set yourself apart. (MetLife)

Our business is salvation, and our customer is you. (Wellpoint)

Jesus brings peace of mind. (Chubb)

Let Jesus be your rock. (Prudential)

Helping people live an eternity in heaven. (United Health Group)

Here is my thought this Christmas season, we should all become insurance sales people for JESUS.  Now, I know insurance agents can sometimes get a bad rap for being too pushy, so we should keep that in mind while we are trying to sell the policy we currently have.  A good sales person can convince other people that they not only want, but they NEED the policy that is in front of them.  By showing others the light of Jesus that lives in us this holiday season and all year long, we can become the greatest insurance agents ever, and we won’t even have to have a cheesy commercial to do it.

Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”