Sunday, March 31, 2013

The Tomb Is Empty


We can walk in newness of life because the tomb is empty.
We are dead and freed from sin because the tomb is empty.
We have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and
put into the Kingdom of His dear Son because the tomb is empty.
We can live without guilt and condemnation because the tomb is empty.
We are sons and daughters of the King of Kings because the tomb is empty.
We will someday live on the new Earth where there will be no more pain,
sorrow, or suffering because the tomb is empty.
We are new creatures in Christ because the tomb is empty.
We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us
because the tomb is empty.
For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish,
but have eternal life.
John 3:16

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Powdered Vs. Liquid Laundry Detergent


We have been using the powdered detergent for the past year and I have decided I don't like it.  I always have to wash my clothes in warm or hot water or else the detergent doesn't dissolve.  I am going back to the liquid version.
 
It only costs pennies per load and it washes the clothes very clean.  When heating the soap and other ingredients together while making it, the key is to make sure everything is completely dissolved or you won't be able to wash your clothes in cold water.  Cold water just doesn't dissolve it well enough.
 
Here is my recipe for liquid laundry detergent.  It is so easy to make and doesn't leave a scent on your clothes which I don't like.  Scents are just another chemical that your body doesn't need to have to deal with.
 
In the summer time, I dry my clothes in our backyard.  It is usually windy from the ocean breezes and sunny since we face the west.  The sunshine is a great sanitizer and bleaches clothes naturally.
 
We also have a large wooden drying rack.  I keep it in a bedroom with a western exposure so it is warm and sunny.  This makes perfect conditions for drying clothes quickly.  I love these wooden drying racks made by the Amish because they are very well made and last a long, long time.  They are more expensive but you will definitely get your money's worth.  You usually get what you pay for!  Here is an informative post on how to care for your drying racks.
 
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
 

Friday, March 29, 2013

Bad Company Corrupts Good Morals


Having my children set apart from the bad influences of foolish children and ungodly teachers is certainly one of the greatest blessings of homeschool.  Negative socialization and peer dependency can be almost completely eliminated by home schooling if parents stalwartly combat the invasion of their home by ungodly media and are wise in choosing outside activities and friends. 
{Helen Aardsma}

The Bible is absolutely correct, bad company does corrupt good morals.  We must choose our friends carefully and be vigilant about the friends our children are hanging around with.

The main reason we decided to homeschool our sons through junior high was to protect them for pornography.  This is the age most boys have it thrown into their faces and become addicted.  The Bible warns to flee the evil desires of youth for a reason.

Look at what is on television these days...filth.  There are no family friendly television programs anymore.  Look at what movies are playing at the theater.  Having sex with someone you just met and are attracted to is normal.  Look at the way other's dress.

Do you want your young children exposed to peers who are continually being exposed to all this garbage?  It WILL corrupt their morals no matter how much Bible you teach them for the Bible says this will happen.

Sending your children to public schooling is getting more and more risky.  Parents spend huge amounts of money going deep into debt to send their children to universities only to watch their children walk away from the faith.  Allowing them to go to sleepovers is risky.  Few people share our morals and values, even many Christians.  We walk a narrow road few are willing to walk.  However, there will always be a remnant whose hearts are fully devoted to Jesus.

Protect those precious children the Lord has blessed you with.  Seriously consider homeschooling them.  There is so much good material out there now with the Internet.  Raise a part of the remnant.  They will be happy you did when they see so many of their peers walking in rebellion and suffering the consequences.

Do no be deceived;  
Bad company corrupts good morals.  
I Corinthians 15:33

***No, Emma doesn't usually eat with her mouth open showing us her food!
I just thought it was the cutest picture.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

The Family Church Or Church Family?


Some of Lori's recent posts and responses that speak about constructive criticism and accountability have me thinking. Do you realize how similar the scriptural model is for the church and the family? It is not surprising that the Christian family is to be the basic building block of the church, the body of Christ.

Father: The Elders who are to shepherd their flock with leadership by example, ruling over the sheep without lording it over them, and ultimately growing up the church into Christ Jesus. How are you doing Fathers? Measure yourself against the reciprocal commands below and ask yourself how you are doing as the elder of your home who "is worthy of honor and a double portion."

Mother: The Deacons of the church look a lot like Mom does in a family. The term comes from the word diakonos, which means "servant" or one who ministers to others. The deacons are said to have served lots of food, which may imply they actually cooked it, and they kept the church and its finances well organized. They were looking out for the least of the saints and insuring that all in the family of God were taken care of. Perhaps most of all the deacons saw as their role to do anything and everything they could to free up the time and energy of the Elders so they could do their work.

Children: It is obvious that our church pews are filled with the children of the church, all of varying ages who are using their own talents and gifts to minister to those within the church. Similarly, most children participate in the proper running of the home and add their unique gifts to the family. Each child is at a different stage of life with varying needs and they learn and grow from the Word of God given to them by the Elders and others with the gift of teaching.

The most important point is that all within the church, or family, are responsible for doing three main things:

1. Growing up into the image of Christ by learning God's Word and living it out on a daily basis in the church, and in the family.

2. Creating a body of Christ that looks like Him in how we think and behave, living with all of the fruit of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance and faith. We are to live out the reciprocal "One Another Commands" to:

Accept one another (Rom. 15:7)
Admonish one another (Col. 3:16)
Bear one another's burdens (Gal. 6:2)
Bear with one another (Eph. 4:2)
Build up one another (Rom. 14:19)
Care for one another (1 Cor. 12:25)
Comfort one another. (1 Thess. 4:18)
Confess faults to one another (James 5:16)
Be Devoted to one another (Rom. 12:10a)
Encourage one another (1 Thess. 5:11)
Fellowship with one another (1 Jn. 1:7)
Forgive one another (Eph. 4:32)
Greet one another (Rom. 16:16)
Be Honest with one another (Col. 3:9)
Honor one another (Rom. 12:10b)
Be Hospitable to one another (1 Pet. 4:9)
Be Kind to one another (Eph. 4:32)
Love one another (Rom. 13:8)
Members one of another (Rom. 12:5)
Pray for one another (James 5:16)
Be of the Same Mind with one another (Rom. 15:5)
Serve one another (Gal. 5:13)
Spur one another on (Heb. 10:24)
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Eph. 5:21)

Developmental social scientists believe that without reciprocity between and among developing persons, normal human development is impossible. If our families are not practicing Reciprocal Living our children will grow up to be dysfunctional in some, or many, areas of life.

3. Making disciples of Jesus Christ! There is no greater or more important role of the Christian family, or the church, than to make as many disciples as possible for Jesus. The whole idea that I will only have two children, and we will all live a fun and enjoyable life, is so foreign to both God’s command to be fruitful and multiply and the Great Commission. We should all be having as many children as God will give us and raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord to go out and start their own families for Jesus… their own little church.

The comparisons between the church and the family are probably endless because the family should be the basic building block of the church. It is no wonder that our churches are so dysfunctional when our families are not providing good building blocks upon which the church can grow up into Christ.

So take a new look at your family and ask yourself how much it emulates the church, as described in the Word of God. You might also ask how your church looks like a family?  The family is to have specific roles for specific persons; Father as Elder and Mother as minister or servant, and children as members, all functioning as one body.  We must teach and practice Christian living and grow up our little disciples to love and serve God, and in turn to make many little disciples of their own.

Don’t leave to your church the responsibility to make your children into disciples, but instead model the church for your children as your family IS the body of Christ. 

“You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; ... You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. ..., so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land ...."
Deuteronomy 11:18-21 

Ken

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Becoming A Holy Wife


My mother-in-law always told young women preparing for marriage that it was their job to make their husbands happy, not holy.  After pondering that statement for many years, I have come to the conclusion that if you try and make your husband holy, you will become more unholy and if you try and make your husband happy, you will become more holy.

In order to make your husband more holy, you must use control, manipulation, nagging, pouting, cold-shoulder, emotional outbursts, arguing, and stubbornness to try and change him.  I tried that route for many years and it didn't work.

Sure, Ken would try and please me.  He would always ask for forgiveness after a quarrel.  He would try to eat healthier and read his Bible more but our relationship got worse and worse.  A huge wall was being built between us that was getting thicker and thicker.

Ten years ago, I started trying to make him happy instead of holy.  I asked him what I could do to please him.  I started smiling at him and stopped arguing with him.  I tried to figure out what made him happy and started doing those things.

He started being more happy!  He wanted to start doing devotions regularly with me.  He wanted to start eating healthier.  He enjoyed being with me and started bragging about me to his friends.

My eyes were opened to the truth.  God's Word has a way of doing that.  God does a much better job at making my husband holy when I started cooperating with Him.  He told me to please my husband but for some reason I couldn't see it for many years.

It is never to late to change your marriage around.  I have witnessed it countless times in all the years I have been mentoring women.  Here is part one and here is part two of a woman winning back her husband even after being divorced.  Begin to make it your mission in life to make your husband happy and I bet you'll end up being a lot happier!

She does him good, and not harm, 
all the days of her life.
Proverbs 31:12 

P.S.  The picture is Priscilla with her precious family.  
You can visit her blog at Gracefully Refreshed.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Michelle Duggar Vs. Oprah Winfrey


"Contributing to the population isn't the same as contributing to society. Oprah Winfrey has done a lot more to help others than Michelle Duggar." This was a comment left on my post She Doesn't Want More Children where I wrote about childbearing being something God has ordained for women to do.

I responded with this answer, "Oh, I so disagree with this statement. Michelle is raising many godly children who work hard and love others spreading the love of Christ wherever they go. This world would be a much better place with more women like Michelle raising godly offspring. God tells us that the purpose of marriage is to raise godly offspring and she is obeying His command and being blessed abundantly."

Ken responded with this answer, "How about contributing to the Kingdom of God? Michelle Duggar has done far more for God and His Kingdom than any movie star or talk show host can ever do. Any Christian stay at home Mom who raises one godly child for the Lord is so much more important to God's economy than an Oprah Winfrey type. One is entertainment, maybe some humanitarianism, but eternity is about creating a family of God. 'and I will be their God, and they will be my people' trumps even the nicest of Hollywood's Stars and their attempts to do good towards society."

I am not sure if Oprah has led one person to Jesus Christ, in fact, I think she may be leading them away from Him as she pursues all different types of religions. She lives with a man who is not her husband and has abundant wealth. Yes, she is generous and seems to have a deep love for people which is admirable but she has left behind her Gospel roots which is normal for all those who go to Hollywood.

Ray Comfort wrote this about Hollywood. "Hollywood leads its actors into temptation. It delivers them to evil. If they had a spark of faith when they arrived in the dark town, it is soon put out by pressure to conform and by the extracurricular celebrity lifestyle."

Michelle Dugger, on the other hand, has given her life to raising 19 children in the wisdom and knowledge of God. (Yes, one has lived in rebellion since I wrote this post but he has returned to his wife who accepted him and forgave him as Christ has done for her and now they are expecting another baby; something those of this depraved world will never be able to understand.)

 Before their television show, the Duggars lived in a very small home with one bathroom and many children. She has a strong, happy marriage and her children are very well behaved. The whole family was on Dr. Oz recently and all 19 children sat quietly the whole time the parents were talking to Dr. Oz.  It was an amazing sight to behold! They preach Jesus wherever they go through their obedience and love for others. I would much rather have Michelle's life any day over Oprah's because I know nothing can compare with living for Him!

As Erica commented about this post, "I'm surprised no one has mentioned the multiplication factor. Oprah will die with no descendants to continue affecting society after she is gone. The Duggars will have many, many descendants to carry on a godly legacy, affecting the world for God's kingdom and preaching salvation, as well as putting God's principles to work here on earth and affecting many people for humanitarian good.

It reminds me of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards, who had 11 children. Who would have known that they would have 929 (!) descendants including 13 college presidents, 86 college professors, 430 ministers, 314 war veterans, 75 authors, 100 lawyers, 30 judges, 66 physicians, and 80 holders of public office, including three U.S. Senators, seven congressman, mayors of three large cities, governors of three states, a Vice-President of the United States, and a controller of the United States Treasury. 

Praise the Lord for godly offspring with good character!"

 Then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve— 
But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.
Joshua 24:15


Monday, March 25, 2013

Her Poor Little Dog


When I was about 10, my brother and I were playing with our dog in our large, wooded backyard. For some reason I don't remember, we threw our dog down a 20 foot hill. We thought it was kind of funny. She came walking back up the hill toward us with her big brown eyes but head held low with tail slightly wagging.

We threw her down the hill again thinking her stupid that she would come back to us all meek and still seeking our affection. She came right back up the hill to us again, meekly but obviously wanting our approval/affection. I think we pushed her down one more time.

When she came back to us the third time, my brother and I burst into tears and hugged her profusely and told her how sorry we were even though she couldn't understand our words. We were never cruel to our dog again

This was a comment left on my post Being Falsely Accused to illustrate a point I was trying to make.  Before I make my point on this story, I want to make sure you all know if any of you are being physically abused by your husband, call the authorities and have him locked up.  A husband should never hit his wife.  I also don't endorse animal abuse in any way.  This is a true story about children and children will do very stupid things.

There are women I have mentored who feel like they are being "beat up" emotionally and mentally by their husbands.  They can relate to this dog.  These are the women I am writing to today.

If the dog would have run up the hill and bit them every time it came up, the children would have wanted to throw the dog down the hill over and over again.  Because the dog didn't act out of anger but out of meekness and sorrow, the boys quickly understood that what they were doing was wrong and repented {stopped doing it.}

In the same way, when wives are being treated harshly and in anger by their husbands, instead of reacting in anger but with gentleness and meekness, they will go much further in convicting their husbands of their wrong behavior.

Here is what the Bible says ~

But if your enemy {your husband} is hungry, feed him,
And if he is thristy, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:20,21

We are told not to take revenge but leave it all the Lord's hands.  Anger does not achieve the righteousness of God.  We are called to pursue peace with all men.  If your husband is angry and harsh with you, respond in meekness and love and watch how God will work in his life. 

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, 
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
Psalm 34:19

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Does This Describe You?


But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 
James 3:17

Are you pure?  Do you set your mind  {what you watch, read, and think} on what is pure?  Do you think the best of others?  Are you polluted by the world?

Are you peaceable?  Do you pursue peace with all men?  Do you allow others to be right and not force your opinions on others?  Do you allow others to be who they are?

Are you gentle?  Are you kind and thinking about other's needs before your own?  Do you have a gentle voice when you speak to your husband and children?

Are you easy to be entreated? Do others feel free to ask you when they need your time, money, or help?  Are you a willing servant who wants to serve others and make their lives easier?

Are you full of mercy? Do you forgive others freely and easily or do you hold onto grudges?    Are you longsuffering with other's faults and bad habits, not critical and impatient with them?

Are you full of good fruits?  Do you use your gifts and talents to serve others?  Do you wake up in the morning thinking how you can make someone else's life better?  Are you making the world a more beautiful place?

Are you without partiality?  Do you favor the rich over the poor? The beautiful over the ugly?  Anyone over anyone else?  Do you love all people, even your enemies?

Are you without hypocrisy?   Do you practice what you preach, especially in front of your children?  Can others see Jesus living in you?

The Bible tells us to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith.  Are you in the faith?  Are you producing good fruit.  If not, study God's Word faithfully and pray. Believe what He says about you.  You are a new creation who is free from sin.  Walk in the light!

Making Your Home Sing, A Return To Loveliness

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Get Some Sunshine!


Have you noticed the flu hits in the dead of winter?  Colds are prevalent then also.  They are discovering that it is due to a lack of Vitamin D.  The best way to get Vitamin D is from the sun, imagine that!  They keep discovering what God made is the best for us.

One woman told me about her two grandmothers.  One never went in the sun, had beautiful skin, but always struggled with ill health.  Her other grandmother was always outside in the sun, had wrinkled skin, but was full of vitality and good health.

Florence Nightingale is known for saying that the patients who were on the southern side of the hospital building got well while those on the northern side did not.  When looking for a home, I always looked for a sunny one with a western or southern exposure.  I always keep all my window coverings up during the day to allow the sun to permeate my home.

Ken and I walk outside every day. We love being outside in the sunshine. When we walk on Saturdays along the beach, there are a ton of people walking, running, and riding bikes. Few people in San Diego are out of shape. Most people exercise a lot and eat fairly healthy. Children should play outside as much as possible.  It is conducive to staying healthy. 

When my mom had colitis and went to health resorts, they always had the sick people sit in the sun for an hour a day in the morning or afternoon. Whenever my children got sick, I would encourage them to go in the backyard and sit in the sun.  I never encouraged sunscreen. I just don't trust putting a ton of chemicals on your skin. Now, whenever I have a sore that doesn't heal, I use Black Salve and it works great!!

Here is another great article by Dr. Mercola and the benefits of sunshine and the importance of vitamin D in the fight against infection. Do what you can to stay healthy and leave the rest in God's hands.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:105

Friday, March 22, 2013

Our Church's Mentoring Program


Our church has been doing a mentoring program for many years.  I joined it about four years ago.  The first night, all the mentors and mentees gather in a large circle and have three minutes to share a little bit about their lives.

The next day, the leaders get together, pray, and match a mentor with a mentee.  A few nights later, we all gather again and are matched with our mentee.  We agree to meet for six months with our mentee, mentoring them on things of the Lord.

The leaders have agreed to give me more than one woman since my passion is teaching the younger women to love their husband, love their children, etc.  This time I have three women.  I have mentored many women through this program and love it!

I have decided this is the only ministry I want to put my time into.  There is such a huge need for older women to be mentoring younger women.  It seems the majority of women are floundering in their marriages, in the process of getting divorced, or divorced.

I have mentored young women in their early twenties all the way to women who are almost 60 years old.  I have mentored women whose husbands were having an affair, deeply involved in pornography, wanting to get divorced, and women who simply wanted to improve their marriages.

Not one of the women I have mentored in the past ten years has gotten a divorce.  I am not saying this to brag about my mentoring ability but to brag on God.  His ways work.  He commands the older women to teach the younger women.

When I showed up the night after we all shared our three minutes, one of the leaders came up to me and told me they wanted to give half of the mentees to me.  There is SUCH a need for older women to teach the younger women...such a need.

I would encourage any of you who have a desire to start such a program at your church.  Both the mentor and the mentee learn so much from the experience and I am sure it pleases the Lord.

That they may teach the young women to be sober,
 to love their husbands, to love their children, 
to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, 
good, obedient to their own husbands, 
that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Titus 2:4,5

Gratituesday
 

Thursday, March 21, 2013

The Power Of Money


So maybe you struggle with pornography or arguing with your spouse. Maybe you eat too much and would love to lose some weight. Maybe you watch too much television or waste time reading novels instead of playing with your children and cleaning your home. Maybe you wish you didn't argue so much with your husband and treated him with respect. 

If I were to offer you a million dollars to not act like that for one month and instead read your Bible daily and pray, do you think you can do it?  I bet you could!  We all have self-control.  We all do what we really want to do. We make time for what is important to us.

So you can change you behavior for lots of money, but you can't for God and because you know it is best?  He is the one who cleansed you from your sin, promises you eternal life, gives you everything for life and godliness, spares you from the wrath to come, and lives inside of you, but you can't walk in obedience to Him?

We truly are lovers of money more than lovers of God.  Money has way too much power over us  The thing is that if we were to get a million dollars, it wouldn't make us happy for long but if we walk in obedience to God, our happiness and joy would last.

We have it all backwards.  Instead of living for money, begin living for God.  Do your work, heartily, as to the Lord and not unto man for it is the Lord we serve and want to please.  Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.  Yes, it is a narrow road of self-denial, but it is the good and pleasant road which few are willing to travel.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy and
where thieves break in and steal,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys
and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-20

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Is Raising Godly Offspring God's Ultimate Purpose for Marriage?



Many times I write that the purpose of marriage is to produce godly offspring.  I get comments telling me I am wrong.  "What about infertile couples?"  "What if a child dies young?"  Ken and I were pondering these questions and these are words penned by Ken on this topic ~

Imagine it is the end of time and gathered around you is generation after generation of your family. Along the path comes Jesus who walks up to Grandpa and says,

"The Falk family... all 383 for grandma Ellen! Well done, all my good and faithful servants, enter into the joy of your master. The family of God is complete because of your faithfulness with Art to raise godly offspring."

Certainly marriage has a number of purposes including companionship, intimacy and to prevent lust and fornication, but nothing comes even a close second to the ultimate purpose of marriage than to create godly offspring. Where do Lori and I get this concept from? What verse exactly besides the clear verse of Malachi 2:15? I submit it is found from cover to cover of the Bible, and in hundreds of verses all strung together where God sets and achieves His purpose with creation.

  I see in the scriptures the fundamental purpose of God as Making All Things New. There can be little doubt for the student of the scriptures that God had no interest in creating a world without humankind. Beyond this, that no matter how fun it would have been for God to have walked the garden each day with two perfect humans in Adam and Eve, the thought of God having just two children for eternity makes little sense when God can have millions or perhaps billions of children who are called by His name, the sons and daughters of God. 

Imagine just for a moment that no offspring came forth from Adam and Eve and it becomes much easier to begin to feel that perhaps, just perhaps, the creation of a family of God IS at the very center of all that God is doing with His creation and why he commands “Be fruitful and multiply.”  This command was not a command to fulfill man’s interest, but the design and purpose of God in creating His eternal family.

If one looks at the overarching purpose of God it can be summed up in a set of verses repeated over and over again in the beginning and middle of scriptures then summed up at the end of time ~

For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." 
2 Corinthians 2:16

 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” 
Revelation 21:7

One must look at the end of time to see the “why” of God's purpose. God certainly cares about Adam’s need for a help meet and a companion, and He certainly cares about mankind’s sexual needs being met through marriage, but really, these are very secondary issues to what God is doing with His creation, and mankind in particular. Actually, one could probably conclude that companionship, intimacy and sex for mankind is barely on God’s radar compared to the creation of godly offspring, because none of these things would even be necessary if God’s fuller and more complete purpose was not the creation of godly offspring.

Jesus seems to say {Matt 22:30} that there is no marriage in the heavenly or eternal state. If the other purposes for marriage are important, they pale in comparison to the lasting purpose of marriage, the purpose that stands the test of time, to create the family of God.

So what about those marriages who cannot produce offspring? God makes no mistakes and such couples are not left out of participating in God’s family. They can participate by adopting children and training them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, thus indeed fulfilling the ultimate purpose of marriage. They can also participate in evangelism and birth new believers into the family of God.

In conclusion, we are all sojourners here created “for good works which God has prepared in advance for us” {Ephesians 2:10}. Our gifts of love, time, money, and mercy are small gifts compared to the children we can personally help birth into the family of God. We have but one life to give and no amount of companionship, intimacy or sexual righteousness that marriage provides can compare in value to just one little soul birthed into the kingdom of heaven. This is God's greatest desire and how we can best be part of God's greater purpose for creation and mankind.

Children are what God is all about with His creation. Children, who will love and serve God, and complete God’s family, with Christ the first born amongst many. The statistics are clear that the vast majority of believers {85%?} are born into Christian families making the raising of godly offspring primary in the ultimate purpose of God.  God is Making All Things New for the purpose of walking once again among His many children in the New Jerusalem and beyond . Christian offspring are the fundamental building block of God's eternal purpose.

This is why I believe Lori is right when she says that “the purpose of marriage is to raise godly offspring.” All other purposes for marriage pale in comparison as marriage will cease at the coming of eternity. Yet, our little treasures, those we helped birth from our seed, and by conversion, will live on glorifying God, with us, throughout eternity, as one big, happy, family of God. 

Has not [the LORD] made them one? 
In flesh and spirit they are his. 
And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. 
So guard yourself in your spirit, 
and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. 
Malachi 2:15

Ken

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Teach Your Daughters To Be Homemakers


Virgina Fugate was born in 1940 when it was generally accepted that a mother's home was her workplace...No one that I knew was rich, but our mothers were still able to make meals from simple ingredients and we never went hungry. They also found ways to turn even modest houses into warm and comfortable homes. 

It was a time in our history when women understood that homemaking was much more than just cleaning a house and cooking meals. Although material possessions were few, home was where family and friends gathered for fellowship and children were trained for life. The typical American home was not rich in prosperity, but for the most part the people within it were rich in character and moral values...Modern homes may be rich in prosperity, but so many children today are poor in character...

Several generations of mothers have neglected to teach their daughters the joy of homemaking.  Therefore, the fulfillment one can receive from creating a pleasant home is virtually unknown to most modern young women
{On The Other Side Of The Garden}

Instead of having a peaceful home, stay-at-home moms are upset if their husbands, who have worked hard all week to provide for the family, don't help around the home and with the children. They grumble and complain about their husbands all the time instead of creating a home of peace and relaxation for them when they are home.

Mothers, the greatest gift you can give your future sons-in-law is to teach your daughters how to be a good wife and homemaker from the time they are young. Model to them what a submissive wife looks like by serving and pleasing your husband.

When you are cleaning, have your daughters cleaning by your side and sing a tune while you do it. When you are cooking, have them cooking with you. While you are cooking and cleaning tell them how thankful and blessed you are by having all this good food and a nice home to clean.

Let them grow up with thankful and happy hearts. Their husbands will love being married to them! Homemaking is a lost art today but we, as Christian women, need to bring it back for it is a very important job. Our society has suffered greatly for it so let's make sure our children don't suffer.

By wisdom a house is built, 
and by understanding it is established.
Proverbs 24:3