Applying Learning

The past year my oldest daughter and I have been studying sentence structures and diagramming. 

Fun, right? 

Actually, we rather enjoyed it and are looking forward to digging deeper next year, but I totally understand if you find such a study to be tedious, useless, or any other possible negative adjective. No matter your opinion on sentence diagramming, studying structure, style, and all that grammatical "stuff", follow with me as I share something God has revealed to me through it all.

We all know that language is the main way we communicate with other people. There are many different spoken languages, then add the written word, sign language, body language.... Language is important because proper communication makes a big difference in the way we understand others and are understood ourselves.

God's Word is given to us in such a beautiful way. The language used in the Bible is special. We are blessed with a translation in our own language, but also with access to the original languages and dictionaries.

I've been one to look into definitions for a while, mainly because often we misunderstand each other due to not truly knowing the meaning of words. For example, if you say the word "love" in English, many possible definitions come to mind - so if we want to understand the Biblical definition(s) of love, we must look at the original language and the context to truly understand. Because, let's be honest, the modern saying that "love is love" is simply not true. But I digress and will get back to my original thought.

With what I learned about conjunctions and sentence structures this year, I have begun to read scripture with a renewed interest. I have learned to apply my knowledge of the English language to deepen my understanding of the Word of God. Learning conjunctions that their purposes has helped me to see more in the epistles. Those introductions that used to just seem like *r e a l l y*   *l o n g* rambling sentences now come to life with meaning.

What a valuable lesson God has taught me in allowing me to teach my children!

What a valuable lesson to be able to pass on to my children, that the study of the English language isn't just so that we can sound intelligent and impressive, but is also that we can grow closer to the Lord our God.

 

What have you learned recently? Can you take that knowledge and use it to grow closer to God? If you have learned anything true, it can help you see God because God is truth. All truth points to Him and can draw us closer to Him.

I challenge you to use what you learn in teaching your children
to see God more clearly.

Nevertheless

And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

Matthew 26:39

 This is a prayer that is quite possibly one of the hardest prayers for us to pray.

It is also most likely one of the most needful.

 

 We struggle through hard times as women, as mothers. We feel the weight of all those around us. We naturally bear other's burdens. We want to nurture, heal, yet are often unable to truly produce the desired change.

Sometimes it's the health of a parent - we don't want our parent to suffer, get sick, or die, nevertheless, not our will but the Lord's. We have to walk through that valley and depend on His strength.

 Sometimes it's the health of a child. Children get sick all the time, but what about when the sickness is life-threatening? What if it's especially painful, or one of those things that drags out for along time with no known ending? We want the child healed! Nevertheless, not our will, but the Lord's. We have to lean on Him.

 Our health, or the health of a spouse. How can we provide for our children, financially, emotionally, spiritually, if we fear losing our life or the life of our spouse? 

A job, the house, there are so many situations where we find ourselves praying for relief, praying for escape. We know what we want and we don't want to have to suffer through potential loss.

 Our prayers are "Lord, don't make me go through this."

I don't say this to condemn. I also struggle.

But there is a peace when we can truly see that all our hope, all our peace, lies in Jesus Christ. His Spirit is what gives us life.

When we finally get to the point where we can truly say "nevertheless", there is a freedom. There is peace that can only come from the Lord.

Lord, I don't want to go through the pain I see coming my way. I don't want to deal with this, but I know Your Word is true. I don't feel confident, but I know You are true. I know You love me, You work all things for my good. I know nothing can separate me from Your love, that Your grace is sufficient. Please, take this cup from me, nevertheless, Thy will be done. If I must, please give me Your peace that passes understanding, Your joy that is not the world's joy, and help me to trust in You. Nevertheless, Thy will be done.

I prayed this prayer recently (admittedly, the words were probably not as clear, but the meaning the same) and I can not describe the peace that flowed over my heart when I said amen.

We can trust God.

💕    💕    💕

I'm going to leave you with a few songs that have helped me in the past.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAmh3yvmzXs - Thy Will by Hillary Scott

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgFgOZOL9aA - Lay it Down by Jaci Velasquez

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nyG29JJoGk - Even If by Mercy Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyJuyJuJz-s -It Is Well

 

I didn't expect that.

This is going to be a piggy-back off of my previous post, so if you missed that feel free to click over and read.

Today was a day that Alexander could have called a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." Absolutely nothing went as planned, and actually many of the plans I had made were completely ruined - much to the distress of my children.

This situation allows me, as the mother, to teach my children how to properly handle the unexpected.

This is part of what being a parent, called to train my children in the way they should go, is all about.

Today, God allowed me to teach by good example - He gave me the grace to help show what good can come of a terrible, horrible, no good situation. I was allowed to talk my emotional pre-teen through the disappointment of not being able to do all the fun we had planned and still see that God is good. I was able to be calm in having to find new childcare, missing lunch, and finding the grocery store closed, all within 30 minutes. 

Homeschooling, I have found, is primarily non-academic. Truly.

Let me encourage all my mom friends: homeschooling or not,  from little babies all the way up to adult-age children. Life is non-academic. What is most important is non-academic.

We often face the unexpected. Our children need to learn how to face the unexpected. Will we teach them to react to the unexpected like Alexander, in frustration? Or will we teach them to face the unexpected with a reliance in God.

Our God is never caught off guard. What is unexpected to us is just part of how He is going to move in our lives. He created everything, knew my frame before I was formed in my mother's womb, and knew this day before time began.

We can trust Him. We NEED to trust in Him.

We need to teach our children to trust in Him.

I am praying for you. I am praying for grace and peace through the expected and the unexpected.

When Home Education is Not Academic

We are taking a break from school in May.

At least, that's what I tell people. My children are fairly convinced this is a fact also, simply because we aren't doing math worksheets nor getting out the science book.

Yet, truly, most of our days are spent the same way they are always spent.

We read the Bible - the girls and I are going through the history books of the Old Testament.

We create things - they wanted to build a house for some cat figurines out of pop-cycle sticks. 

We wrestle with our hearts and attitudes towards each other.

 

Most of the education I give my children is non-academic. Yes, math, history, spelling, science, all that is good - but if I fail to teach my children what it means to follow Christ, to be godly women... if I don't teach them diligently to love the Lord God first and then to love others as themselves, then what am I teaching them? 

You have to decide what God has called you to focus on as a homeschool mom. I'm learning that the journey is way more than academics. Even when we are "doing school", the majority of my day is focused on teaching my children nonacademic lessons.

Life lessons that will impact every aspect of their life.

Some verses that influence our journey:

Children, obey your parents in all things for this is well pleasing to the Lord (Colossians 3:20)

Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you (Ephesians 4:32)

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Matthew 22:37-39)

God bless.

Imperfection

 We made our first batch of strawberry jam for the year this past Saturday. 

I love making jam. Fresh, local fruit preserved in sugary goodness. We've been "jamming" and processing fruits for over a decade now, I think, and we've only had one batch that went bad due to the lids popping open after they were sealed and stored (had to be a manufacturer's defect).

I say that because that shows how practiced my girls and I have become. We have learned much. Even so, we still are prone to imperfections.

This weekend, the imperfection was caused by my attempt to use fewer dishes and impatience. I used the immersion blender to puree the fruit (not a time saver, but fewer dishes) then became impatient when it was time to skim the bubbles/froth off the top.

The results? Three beautiful jars full of jam, and one jar that's obviously imperfect. Will the jam still set and taste good? Most likely. But, I now have a jar that I cannot give away.

Now, I could take pictures of the jars at the perfect angles and brag on how wonderfully everything went. I could beat myself up over the mistake and become frustrated.

What I should do it be thankful that I have three good jars and simply enjoy the ugly one with my family.

Because, imperfect does not mean trash.

Imperfect isn't unusable.

God created humans perfect in the beginning, but since we sinned, we became imperfect.

God still uses us. He still finds it a pleasure to fellowship with us.

God still loves us. Better yet, God loved us and showed His great love when we were as unusable as a piece of trash. Romans 5:8

So we also have a choice. We are imperfect. Do we wallow in our imperfections, our struggles, or do we purpose in our hearts and minds to do our best to follow Jesus Christ.

 Romans 6:12-18

 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
  13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
  14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
  15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
  16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
  17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
  18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

God bless, my friends. Fight the good fight, keep looking toward the end goal, the prize of Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. When we keep our eyes on Him, He will show us the way - for He is the Way.

🍓🍓🍓

What do you mean?

What do you mean?

Y'all, this has been a question I find myself asking my children ALL THE TIME. See, we have a very interesting family dynamic when it comes to communication. 

My husband is very literal and exact, both in the way he interprets what people say as well as how he communicates. This has been passed on to my oldest daughter, though her skills is not nearly as well developed yet...

I struggle to communicate well. I pause often and in odd places when speaking, and have learned that I often do not know the right word to use (unless I look up a word or two, then I can figure it out.) I'm more apt to speak in figurative language, or just flat out misspeak and not realize it until confusion has nearly reached the point of chaos. This has been passed on to my middle daughter.

My youngest is only three years old - enough said.

 So, we learn to clarify. "What do you mean by ________?" This helps my middle realize she may not have spoken clearly. It helps my oldest realize that her sister didn't understand what was said. It helps us all to take a step back and make sure we are communicating well with each other.

This leads me to think more about the messages, the sayings, that we hear often and repeat to ourselves.

"You are good enough." Boy, as moms we really need the reminder that we can do this parenting thing. But, what do we really mean by "you are good enough"?

Let's look at that phrase Biblically. I am not good enough. I am a sinner who struggles against the flesh all the time. I'm not good enough to teach my children. I'm not good enough to train them in the Lord. I'm not good enough to even have the right to care for these little blessings/terrors, these wonderful sinners. 

But, God says "I will give you strength." He reminds us that if we ask for wisdom, He will give it abundantly. He tells us His Spirit is with is, to comfort us when we fail, to bring His Word to resemblance when we need it, to give us a peace that passes understanding. He will uphold us with His righteous right hand.

 

As we walk through this next week, I encourage you to look at the phrases that we so readily grab a hold of to boost us through the day. Encouraging quotes, song lyrics, or memes that make us smile, nod our heads, and say "yeah, sounds good."

Pick one and put it up against Biblical truth. Seriously look as it. What does the saying mean? Is it pointing us to the Gospel truth that we need Jesus and that Jesus is all we need? If it doesn't tell the Truth, throw it out and replace it with scripture.

I have found that when I replace "encouraging" quotes with scripture straight from the Bible, the joy and peace that flows through me (mentally and spiritually) is so much more powerful.

His Word is powerful. His Word is truth. When I want something meaningful, the Bible is the best place to turn.

God bless, dear friend. 

Ephesians 4:29

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Don't Give Up

 This will be short.

We had a youth rally this week at our church. For those of you unfamiliar with that term (as I was for most of my life), it's basically a series of church see I es held with youth as the focus.

Wednesday through Saturday, we gathered at church.  The youth sat in front and the preacher preached messages geared mostly to them and their life - but it was also full of so much that I needed to hear as well.

My immediate take-away is this thought: don't give up.

Anyone can quit, and quitting is often easier.

But God called us from darkness into light. He made us soldiers in His army, gave us armor, and has been training us to wage spiritual warfare. 

As moms, we are also called to train up the next generation. 

There is a great need. We need to not grow weary in welldoing. We need to reply on the strength of Christ.

James 1:25

... whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

I am looking for the blessings of God.

I trust He will bless you also.

All we have to do is Not Give Up.