Wednesday, October 29, 2014

SOME OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES

 
 “The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian makes me a different kind of woman.”  ~Elisabeth Elliot
 
I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble.~Helen Keller
 
 What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow.~ Martin Luther
 
“The modern challenge to motherhood is the eternal challenge--that of being a godly woman. The very phrase sounds strange in our ears. We never hear it now. We hear about every other type of women: beautiful women, smart women, sophisticated women, career women, talented women, divorced women. But so seldom to we hear of a godly woman--or of a godly man either, for that matter. I believe women come nearer to fulfilling their God-given function in the home than anywhere else.” ~Peter Marshall
 
“The woman who makes a sweet, beautiful home, filling it with love and prayer and purity, is doing something better than anything else her hands could find to do beneath the skies.” ~ J.R. Miller
 
 “A true home is one of the most sacred of places. It is a sanctuary into which men flee from the world’s perils and alarms. It is a resting-place to which at close of day the weary retire to gather new strength for the battle and toils of tomorrow. It is the place where love learns its lessons, where life is schooled into discipline and strength, where character is molded." ~J.R. Miller
 
“Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is place in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no others hands the sacred and holy trust given to her.” ~J.R. Miller
 
“People ask me how it happens that my children are all so promptly obedient and so happy. As if it chanced that some parents have such children or chanced that some have not! I am afraid it is only too true, as someone has remarked, that "this is the age of obedient parents!" What then will be the future of their children? How can they yield to God who have never been taught to yield to human authority? And how well fitted will they be to rule their own households who have never learned to rule themselves?” ~Elizabeth Payson Prentiss, Stepping Heavenward
 
“She says I shall now have one mouth the more to fill and two feet the more to shoe, more disturbed nights, more laborious days, and less leisure or visiting, reading, music, and drawing. Well! This is one side of the story, to be sure, but I look at the other. Here is a sweet fragrant mouth to kiss; here are two more feet to make music with their pattering about my nursery. Here is a soul to train for God; and the body in which it dwells is worthy all it will cost, since it is the abode of a kingly tenant. I may see less of friends, but I have gained one dearer than them all, to whom, while I minister in Christ’s name, I make a willing sacrifice of what little leisure for my own recreation my other darlings had left me. Yes, my precious baby, you are welcome to your mother’s heart, welcome to her time, her strength, her health, her tenderest cares, to her lifelong prayers!”
~Elizabeth Payson Prentiss, Stepping Heavenward
 



Monday, July 7, 2014

Trusting Him

 
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." ~Proverbs 3:5-6
 
When we are going through difficult times in our lives, we can be bombarded with many different emotions:
Sadness
Anger
Grief
Hatred
Bitterness
Hopelessness
Despair
 
But thankfully, we do not have to rely on our own emotions or understanding. God tells us just to trust in Him alone, but this can be a hard thing to do for many of us. We pray about a situation, but then we go on worrying. Or, we turn it over to God for a little while, but then pick it back up, because we are just not sure what will happen in that situation if we are not there to fret over it. This, however, is not what we are called to do. We are to cast our cares upon the Lord and to rely on Him completely. 
 
"We put our worldly affairs and interests into the hands of men, and feel that they are safe. We commit our sicknesses to the skill of our physician. Business complications we confide to the wisdom of our lawyer. A broken machine we turn over to a mechanic. Is not God wise enough to manage the complications of our lives, and to bring order and beauty out of them? Has He not skill enough? Is He not our Father? and will He not always do the very best and wisest thing for us? Should we not trust Him, and cease to be anxious about anything that we have committed to Him? Is not anxiety doubt and unbelief? and is not doubt and unbelief sin?  We are to commit our way to the Lord, trust Him and be at peace." ~ J. R. Miller
 
As Christians, trials that we go through can bring spiritual growth and maturity to our lives. God may be teaching us patience, growing us in wisdom or strengthening our faith. We may not always get the outcome that we want, but God uses all things for His honor and glory.
 
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. "Romans 8:28
 
"The little troubles and worries of life may be as stumbling blocks in our way, or we may make them stepping-stones to a nobler character and to Heaven. Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things." ~Henry Ward Beecher
 
Whatever circumstances we may be facing in our lives right now, and no matter how hopeless things may feel, nothing is impossible for God! It is time to take ourselves out of the equation, just to let go and place everything into God's hands.
 
 


Saturday, March 15, 2014

"Abundant Life"


"Christ's servants have the spiritual power to use the Name of Jesus only insofar as they yield themselves to live only for the interests and the work of the Master. The use of the Name always supposes the surrender of our interests to Him Whom we represent."~ Andrew Murray
 
Many popular evangelists tell us that "God will give us the desires of our heart" (wealth, health, happiness...) if we have enough faith, give enough money, think the right thoughts and say the right words. People flock to these teachers because they tell them what they want to hear: they can have it all!
 
But is this what the Bible teaches?

-"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers." ~ 2 Timothy 4:3
 
-"Useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself." ~1 Timothy 6:5
 
-"And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses." ~Luke 12:15
 
-"For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." ~ Ephesians 5:5
 
-"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you." ~Hebrews 13:5
 
-“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." ~ John 14:12-14
 
- "But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.  For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there." ~ James 3:14-16
 
-"Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself." ~ Philippians 2:2-3
 
-"Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass." ~Psalm 37:4-5


When we make Jesus Christ the Lord of our life, His works become our works, His ways become our ways, His desires become our desires. Christ was never self-seeking but sought only to glorify the Father. The Christian life is a life fully surrendered to Christ.

It is not the promise that "you can have it all" that the world needs. What they need to see is a life that reflects Christ: a life of love,  joy and strength that comes from our relationship with Jesus Christ. One that doesn't tell them that all your problems will go away, but that God is sufficient to see them through every circumstance they face.
 

Thursday, March 6, 2014

"TRUE LOVE"






 
"Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins."
~James 5:19-20
 
Our society today equivocates love to tolerance, but in actuality nothing could be further from the truth. If a parent allowed their child to climb up on a rooftop and jump off, because they really wanted to fly, would anyone say they were showing love? Absolutely not! In the same way that the parent above would be standing by as their child plummeted to their physical death, when we condone a sinful, destructive lifestyle in our fellow man, we are standing by as they plummet to their spiritual death. All in the name of love, of course!
 
Jesus never showed love by being accepting of sin. Many people use the example of the woman caught in adultery to spread their message of tolerance:

“If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” ~John 8:7 
 
But, what they fail to do is finish the story:

“Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.”
~ John 8:11
 
Jesus showed love by forgiving her and turning her away from her sin, not by leaving her in it.

 “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.”~ Romans 12:9-10
 
True love means loving others enough to uphold the truths of God's Word, to want what is best for them and not just what is easy or comfortable for us.
 
"Tolerance is the virtue of those who don't believe anything."
~ G. K. Chesterton
 
 
 



Tuesday, January 14, 2014

"No Place Like Home"

 
"The woman who makes a sweet, beautiful home, filling it with love and prayer and purity, is doing something better than anything else her hands could find to do beneath the skies.” ~J.R. Miller
 
 
 

"An ideal Christian home ought to be a place where love rules. It ought to be beautiful, bright, joyous, full of tenderness and affection, a place in which all are growing happier and holier each day. There should never be any discord, any wrangling, any angry words or bitter feelings. The home-life should be a harmonious song without one marring note, day after day. The home, no matter how humble it is, how plain, how small—should be the dearest spot on the earth to each member of the family. It should be made so happy a place, and so full of life, that no matter where one may wander in after years, in any of the ends of the earth—his home should still hold its invisible cords of influence about him, and should ever draw resistless upon his heart. It ought to be the one spot in all the earth, to which he would turn first, when in trouble or in danger. It should be his refuge, in every trial and grief." ~J.R. Miller
 
 
A place of full of love, joy, beauty and peace; a refuge from the world's troubles. This is what we should envision when we think of home. But for many this is far from the image that comes to mind. For many people home is full of disappointment and strife and little more than a place they go to eat and sleep.
 
 
"If you would have your children turn out well, don't turn your home into a lunch counter and lodging house." ~Billy Sunday
 
 
As a Christian woman my home and my family are my ultimate ministry. When I put my efforts into providing an atmosphere of love, joy, peace and beauty in my home, I am serving God as well as my family. 
 
What are some of the ways I can cultivate this atmosphere in my home?
 
I can fill my home with love by SHOWING LOVE. Doing thoughtful things for my family, providing nourishing meals, being patient, kind and understanding.
 
I can fill my home with joy by BEING HAPPY. Joy is contagious; a husband is much happier when he sees a happy, smiling wife waiting at the door; children are happier when you take the time to laugh and play with them and create joyful memories.
 
I can fill my home with peace by BEING PEACEFUL. By being compassionate, slow to anger and quick to forgive.
 
I can fill my home with beauty by CREATING BEAUTY. A neat orderly home, flowers, candles, or a special meal. All of these can create a beautiful welcoming environment.
 
Contrast a woman striving for these qualities with one who is harsh, irritable, miserable, always complaining, quickly angered, bitter and puts little effort into meals or housework . How is that going to affect the atmosphere of her home?  If my home is full of disorder, conflict and strife, I have no further to look than to myself. If I can't show Christ's love by loving and serving my own family, how can I ever convey that love to others.
 
Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.
~Proverbs 14:1