"Who can find a virtuous wife? For her price is far above rubies." Proverbs 31:10

Oh to be a virtuous wife! I know what she looks like, how she speaks, how she loves her husband, and yet, reaching through the ages, I can still feel the kindred curse of Eve's desire to control...to know better than God, and lead her husband.

Labels: Christianity, Conservative, Courtship, Encouragement, marriage

Labels: Christianity, Sermons, Videos

In honor of the great reformer John Calvin's birthday, Ken from the Doorkeeper's Delight has created a new holiday. This new holiday is the International Hug a Calvinist Day. All of the details are on his Facebook page which you can get to from the Doorkeeper's Delight.

Here are a few of the details.....

Time and Place
Date:Thursday, July 10, 2008
Time: 12:00am - 11:55pm
Location: Anywhere you're predestined to be that day

So stop and smell the TULIPs on July 10 and hug your nearest Calvinist. We don't bite.


This year on John Calvin's birthday, hug a Calvinist and tell them how much he/she means to you.

Labels: Christianity, Conservative, Laughter

This video is a little bit long (about 8 minutes) but is so worth watching! You will be absolutely amazed at the glory of God! God has written his perfect plan of redemption upon the very cells of our body! This is absolutely amazing! Our great God, our Creator, indeed has his fingerprints upon his creation! Praise be to the Lord God Almighty! May you be moved and blessed!

Labels: Christianity, Videos

Thanks be to God: the Gospel does not allow us to live divided lives. Our education, our careers, our relationships, and our worship are all bound up together in our calling to submit to the Lordship of Christ—that is, our calling to live as Christians. These six talks by Pastor Wilson encourage us to strive after a Gospel-filled life, always seeking to embody the doctrines and beliefs we confess.

This set includes:

- Education that's Christian All the Way Down
- God and Everything Else
- What Is a Christian Worldview?
- Christ and Your Calling
- The Integrated Life
- What Worship Is; What Worship Does

For your free MP3 downloads visit Canon Press. I do not know how long these will be available so hurry!

Labels: Christianity, Conservative, Encouragement, Family, Homeschooling, worship

Father Walking with Child in the Park

What we want to do with our children, is not merely to control them and keep them in order—but to implant true principles deep in their hearts which shall rule their whole lives; to shape their character from within into Christ-like beauty, and to make of them noble men and women, strong for battle of life. They are to be trained rather than governed. Growth of character, not merely good behavior—is the object of all home governing and teaching. Therefore the home influence is far more important than the home laws; and the parents’ lives are of more significance than their teachings. Whatever may be done in the way of governing, teaching or training—theories are not half as important as the parents’ lives. They may teach the most beautiful things–but if the child does not see these things modeled in the life of the parent, he will not consider them important enough to be adopted in his own life.

J. R. Miller’s classic book, Home-Making, originally published in 188

Friends—fathers, we must forsake the pharisaical desire for trophy children, children who obey so that we can look spiritually successful. We must, by God’s grace, seek to be spiritually successful – not so we can look good, but so that we can teach our children the way of wisdom – by being an example that authenticates our rule. And when they fail, and they will, we should show them that their sin can only be overcome by the power of the Cross. Use every failure—every sinful action, not as a time of discipline or anger, but a time of discipleship! These are God-ordained opportunities to share the richness of the grace of God in Christ.

If we not only teach Christ, but live Christ, we will not be concerned about having “trophy children;” we will see the promises of God manifested in the hearts of our children, for generations.

excerpt from Trophy Children: A Father's Day Challenge from Family Reformation

Labels: Christianity, Family, Train Up a Child

Close-up man's hands resting on Holy Bible

• I do not need a teacher, God is my teacher.
• I have my Bible, I am not to be influenced by the mere teachings of men.
• All I need is my Bible and the Holy Spirit.
  

These are phrases that have often come to the forefront of conversations in recent years. Often times it is when someone disagrees with something that these statements are vocalized. They are often used as a tool of avoidance or rejection. There is a semblance of truth mixed into each of these statements but partial truth really isn't truth, is it? I have often struggled with how to approach these statements in conversations. It is often easier to write about these things than to translate them into actual dialog. The Thirsty Theologian recently wrote a post concerning this and I was so glad to see someone else who understood this subject not only in the same manner but was vocal enough to address it.

Here are a few excerpts.

All a man really needed, I thought, was his Bible and the Holy Spirit. If a man just knew his Bible inside and out, and was filled with the Holy Spirit, what more could he need?

Seminary was a place where men filled their heads with the philosophies of men. I definitely didn’t want that. Of course, it was alright if I chose some books to read on my own. That was different. What I certainly did not need, however, was Bible commentaries or systematic theologies. I didn’t need men to tell me what the Bible meant! That was the Holy Spirit’s job.

This is really a matter of humility, isn’t it? “Just me and God” says “No man is my superior. I am equal to all those who have gone before me.” In fact, it says more than that. It says that I am their superior. They learned from others, but I can do it on my own. What audacity. How foolish. We all need teachers; it is few of us who will ever become their equals, and fewer still who will exceed their knowledge, skill, and wisdom.

Read the rest : Dumb Things I Have Believed

Let me address the three statements I listed above.

1. I do not need a teacher, God is my teacher.

Well, yes, God is our teacher. He gives us His Holy Word, prayer, and His Spirit. He ALSO calls some to be teachers, He gives us those teachers to learn from. They are to diligently teach others. Who are we to tell the Lord we do not need His teachers?

2. I have my Bible, I am not to be influenced by the mere teachings of men.

First, there is an assumption here that the teachings are merely the teachings of men. What an assumption to make! Where is humility in that?
Secondly, I would like to simply share a quote from Charles Spurgeon (also found over at Thirsty Theologian).

I am amazed that those who think so much of what the Holy Spirit can teach them often think so little of what the Holy Spirit has taught others.*

3. All I need is my Bible and the Holy Spirit.

This is really already addressed with the first two. God in his word tells us that there are other things we need. Yes, he is the provider of those things but that does not mean that we reject the way in which those needs are met. We need teachers, we need church elders to exercise church discipline (where has that gone these days?), we need others to spur us on to good deeds.

I find it a disturbing trend today that if there is an individual that uses a catechism, a confession, or the dreaded systematic theology that they are reduced to someone who is merely following the teachings of man, is a Pharisee, is legalistic, is lacking the Holy Spirit, or just doesn't know their Bible. Or if there is an individual who thinks that we should be fruit inspectors and hold each other accountable to the truth of sound doctrinal teaching and thinks church discipline is a good thing, that the individual is just prideful, judgmental, and unloving.

This type of thinking within the Christian community is a scary thing. It is about feeling good and being comfortable. This is the heart of the culture but the Christian has learned to mask it in spirituality. The heart of the Gospel however is not all about feeling good or being comfortable. It is the truth of the depravity of man before a holy and just God. It is about the rescue and redemption of a people for God's own glory, not our own. It is about being conformed to the matchless image of Christ; being disciplined, refined and molded and that is rarely a feel good and comfortable thing. This takes surrender, submission, humility, and God-ordained teachers.

Labels: Christianity, Conservative, Conviction

Since starting the Quiverfull blogroll several months ago, several ladies on the roll and myself included have been under spiritual attack of one sort or another. Sadly, some of these attacks have even come from within the Christian community. I had several commenters wanting me to "stretch" my convictions to cover what they felt comfortable with or to "not be so rigid." Through prayer and council with my husband and the other ladies on the blogroll I have been encouraged to stand firm. I consider others opinions and weight them against the scripture and consider them with prayer and obey the voice of the Lord concerning these issues. I had at one point even come to the place of wondering if I should just dismantle my efforts in building this ministry. I do consider it a ministry. It is a ministry for like-minded believers. God has also shown me that this is a ministry because we have had so many occasions to support and lift each other up in prayer. We have had several members go through the loss of a child (before and after birth) and several who have lost their husbands to affairs. This has been a heartbreaking and unforeseen result. I am saddened and privileged to be able to support the others on this blogroll in prayer. I ask that if you would to please pray for those on the Quiverfull blogroll. That they would hold fast to the great calling God has placed upon their lives to bring honor and glory to Him alone. That God would strengthen them and bring comfort and healing to those who are hurting. That God would grant us wisdom as we support, pray for, advise, and minister to each other.

Labels: Christianity, Encouragement, Quiverfull

This post has been swimming around in my head for almost a year now. I decided I should finally tackle the task of trying to write it out.

The great grandeur of the Lord lies in who he is! Describing the Lord is an endless task but I would like to focus on two attributes. Ones that are often out of balance. He is transcendent and he is eminent. Both terms are 16th century Latin terms. Transcendence means God is the supreme and majestic ruler of the universe. He lives beyond ordinary understanding, he is beyond us. Eminence means to remain within, being nearby and not far away, able to be approached.


There is a disheartening trend in many churches and in the lives of many Christians today. Many have failed to find the balance between the two. Some will see and focus on his transcendency and see God as an unapproachable and uninvolved being. Other focus on his eminence and develop a peer view and become to casual. The culture we are in today takes more of the eminence to the extreme approach. It seems to me the great grandeur of the Lord has been lost.

This trend is very evident to those who are willing to open their eyes and look. Yet for those who are caught up in the modern movement of making God more "relevant", accommodating individual styles of entertaining (movie clips & bumper sticker theology) rather than directing pure worship, trying to be "Be a Better You" type of philosophy will most likely not be able to see this.

God is eminent; this is true. If we are believers, we have been adopted into the family of God. We are children of God. We are co-heirs with Christ. Yet, we should not forget our meager beginnings and become too comfortable and spoiled. We must remember that Jesus is God. We must not minimize his divinity. We may be brothers and sisters to Christ but he is still God and we are not. The human family is designed to be a picture of the heavenly one, but we live in a fallen state. God himself uses the earthly family to show us how to relate to Him. But, we must not loose site of our fallen state in humanity. In our fallen condition our earthly families (siblings) fight, hate, slander, and even attack with violence against one another. This may be why in scripture God tells us there is one who sticks closer than a brother.

Have we become too familiar with Christ? Before your red flags fly, please hear me out. Do we really see and know him as GOD? Or have we reduced to him to the level of a buddy, just a friend, a confidant when convenient? As an example, I received a flyer from a local church in the mail. Let me share with you what it said. On the front were the words, "You won't believe this is a church!" It was covered with all kinds of casual shoes each labeled with a different staff position. The flip-flops were labeled pastor. On the back were the times of the services. All of the children's ministries were in conflict with the church services. Under the youth department were these words, "Get to know this Jesus dude. Playstation, Wiii, X-Box, .....".

Many have taken the eminence of God to the extreme and the reverence, the righteousness, holiness, and the great grandeur of the Lord has been lost. Even the children of the king should approach him in a way that recognizes and honors the fact that he is the king. How much more reverence, awe and humbleness should the children of the King of all creation have in their approach? Yet, more than not, the children have become to comfortable and overlook their position before him and in doing so bring disrespect and a lack of honor before the throne.

Labels: Christianity, Conviction

As mothers there is so much that we do. Often times when we allow ourselves to become discouraged we wonder if anyone notices or if we are making a difference. I would like to encourage you to continue on and refocus during those times when you might feel invisible or unappreciated.

Labels: Christianity, Encouragement, Homeschooling, Train Up a Child, Videos

While waiting for my children to finish with AWANA, I sat at the secretary's table (a congregating place). There were 4 or 5 of us ladies just shooting the breeze. One lady spoke up and posed a trivia question. This would be fun, I thought! "What is the greatest number of children born to one woman?" Here is the answer and no it is not the Duggar family.

"The greatest number of children produced by a mother in an independently attested case is 69 by the first wife of Fyodor Vassilet (1816-72) a peasant of the Moscow Jurisdiction, Russia, who in 27 confinements, gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets and 4 sets of quadruplets. Most of the children attained their majority. Only two of the children born to Mme. Vassilet in the period 1725-1765 died in infancy. Mme. Vassilet became so renowned that she was presented at the court of Czar Alexander II"
"The Guinness Book of World Records"

The conversation quickly turned to scorn. After the initial shock at the woman revealing the information of Mme. Vassilet laughter and snide comments were made. Please remember the following conversation came from a Christian woman, taking her grandchildren to the children's ministry, and was stated within the church walls. This is only a portion of the conversation.

Lady 1 (who offered the trivia question) : So what do you think of that? Crazy huh?

Lady 2: Wow! That is unbelievable!

Me: She was definitely blessed!

Lady 2: She must have loved children!

Lady 1: (half chuckle/snort) Well, no one loves children THAT much!

Me: I know God does.

Lady 1: (ignoring my comment) Someone definitely should have put out the "free puppy" sign! (laughing hysterically)

Yes, I know this is an extreme example of a large family. But let me ask a few questions.

• "At what number are children reduced to unwanted puppies to give away rather than being a heritage and blessing of the Lord?"
• "Why do people think it acceptable to ridicule others for accepting those blessings?"
• "Why are people so stuck on numbers rather than what scripture says about life?"
• "Why are so many Christians at ease with dismissing what God places such a high value upon?"
  

I left church that evening heart broken for how little value was placed upon the life of children even while being in the midst of children at AWANA. It is a sad testimony when we cannot even value life within the church. The sermon I posted yesterday was made more than evident during this encounter at this church function. If you have not listened to the sermon I would encourage you to do so. See the post previous to this one or click on the title of the sermon to go directly there. Sermon: We Hate Children.

Labels: children, Christianity, Quiverfull

Many people claim to love children yet so much of our culture has seeped in that our words and our actions do not match up. Pastor Wilkens shares a thought provoking sermon entitled, We Hate Children. Here is a small quote from that sermon. I would highly suggest you take the time and have a listen to the whole thing.

"In spite of all the professed concern for children in our day, the truth is, we hate children...We hate children because we see nothing wrong with killing those that are inconvenient, untimely, disruptive or who have physical defects or even are not the sex we desired...We hate children because we refuse to have them...We hate children because we love ourselves...We hate children because we hate God and distrust Him."

Labels: children, Christianity, Quiverfull

Creation of Adam (detail)
1510 Fresco Cappella Sistina, Vatican

As of late, I have had many conversations with people and have read even more here in blogland. I have noticed an unsettling trend in Christianity of late. Many, many people have begun to take situational ethics and call it relying on the sovereignty of God! Sounds totally unbelievable huh? Amazingly there are so many who do this and do not even realize they have bought into this way of thought.

Many when confronted with scripture after scripture on a teaching they are not TOTALLY comfortable with, begin to offer reasons why they do not think it applies to them, or at least not to the same degree as it does to others, even though they believe it to be truth. They continue to live the way they have been without feeling the need to make any changes (or only tiny adjustments) in their life because if they are not correct in doing so God is sovereign and will intervene.

Did you see that?

1. believe it is truth
2. not comfortable making the change
3. God is sovereign & will intervene if I am wrong

First, if we truly believe something is the plan of God for life then we will follow through with action.

Second, if truth is revealed to us in scripture our action is to adjust our lives to live that truth!

In Titus 2:14 and 1 Peter 2:9 we are called "peculiar". Just for fun, here are some of the synonyms of the word "peculiar":

uncomformable, exceptional; abnormal, abnormous; anomalous, anomalistic; out of order, out of place, out of keeping, out of tune, out of one's element; irregular, arbitrary; teratogenic; lawless, informal, aberrant, stray, wandering, wanton; peculiar, exclusive, unnatural, eccentric, egregious; out of the beaten track, off the beaten track, out of the common, out of the common run; beyond the pale of, out of the pale of; misplaced; funny. (adapted from Roget's Thesaurus)

Thank you Lady of Virtue for the list.

Third, who are we to assume that God will intervene even though we have justified our disobedience? This keeps the individual in control, as if they know better than God. Who needs submission right, after all if God is sovereign He will change things. Even partial obedience is still disobedience. Yes, God can and sometimes does intervene when we are disobedient yet, this is not what we should be resting in. This is saying God bless me in spite of my actions rather than because of my actions. Are we testing God and asking for Him to sovereignly overrule us or are we submitting to his sovereignty? There is a difference. A big difference!

Labels: Christianity

Genesis 1:26-27a
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him.

Psalm 8-6-8
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

Often times it seems as if the environmentalist and the Christian are at odds with each other. This is a big frustration for many Christians, I know because I have spoken with them. It is not that Christians are anti-environment. On the contrary, if Christians are honest, they will tell you it is our responsibility to care for the creation. We were created to have dominion over creation. Adam and Eve were caretakers of the Garden. We should be good stewards of all that God has entrusted to us, including creation. We are to govern creation not be governed by it. The problem lies in the fact that the face of the environmental movement seems to place every other aspect of creation above man. They say we must care for the animals and the trees but it is okay to kill an unborn baby! Man is the crown of creation, we are to care for the rest of creation, but we are not secondary to it.

So I recycle, I pick up abandoned dogs and take them to the shelter, I don't litter, I conserve energy. I am not a dark shade of green but I do my part. I do not however, place environmentalism above the sanctity of human life. We are to care for crown of creation with as much, if not more diligence.

Labels: Christianity, enviroment

I have been pondering all day what to share with you. I kept coming back to one thing. I will share a few concluding sentences from our Bible study last night. It gives us something to ponder and brings tremendous blessing when realized and applied in our lives.

It is important to remember that the Lord's dealings with His people have had single ultimate purpose. And, the shocker though it may be, man is not the center point of that purpose.

God's plan throughout history is not one for the glorification of man, but for the glorification of God. That's why it is so important not to discern what God's plan for your life is; it's to discern what God's plan is, and then align your life with it.

Our glorification in the end will be a reflection of His glory being manifested; we will bask in the glow of His glory and thereby be glorified ourselves. Think: If the perfect life on earth is one that reflects Christ's life perfectly, then the perfect glory in eternity must be one that reflects God's glory.

Thank you Bruce for teaching such a powerful study.

Labels: Christianity

There has been a lot of of talk lately about the "Church of Oprah." Her statement about how there couldn't possibly be only one way has received much attention. How arrogant a people who would say God has not done enough! Here is the Gospel message presented by one of my favorite teachers of the Word, R.C. Sproul. What a sweet message the Gospel is!

Labels: Christianity, Sermons, Videos

I Corinthians 10:13b
God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

This verse is so very often taken out of context and used to the discouragement of those who are struggling and suffering. How many times have you heard someone say, "God will not give you more than you can handle?" Maybe you have even said it yourself, I know I often said this when I was a young Christian. The fact is that sometimes we do have more than we can handle! This verse is the one often referenced when people make that statement. But LOOK at what it really says! It says the Lord will not let us be TEMPTED beyond our ability. It does not speak to circumstances of life, it speaks to temptation. Sometimes our circumstances are more than we can handle. What a discouragement to tell someone in the midst of overwhelming circumstances that they CAN handle it. There are things that are too much for us but nothing is too much for our great God!

So then when in these overwhelming circumstances what temptations arise? We are often tempted to become angry with God, grow bitter, give up, curse others. But these sinful temptations are not more than we are able to overcome. God provides a way of escape. That escape is God himself. Rather than indulging in the temptations of wrong responses we can cry out to the Lord of Creation and he will help. Often times God allows circumstances beyond our ability to bring us to a place of greater dependence upon him rather than relying on ourselves, others, or our societal system.

When in overwhelming circumstances ourselves or when we see someone drowning in their circumstances. Rather than using the phrase, "God doesn't give us more than we can handle," deceiving and discouraging them or or ourselves, we should be saying, "Cry out to the Lord for strength to endure and a possible rescue! Cry out to God! He alone is our rock, our refuge, our strength, our shield, our hope and our salvation! Praise be to God! May he be glorified!"

Labels: Christianity, Encouragement, hope

It is that time once again to share more testimonies and stories from others. I pray that you are touched and blessed by those who are sharing the work of the Lord in their lives.

TF at Made from Scratch shares her journey. She says "I told J what I had been reading, and we read scriptures in the Bible together that concerned having children and trusting God completely, we talked about it and we both knew this was the way we wanted to live. We wanted to show God how much we loved him, We wanted to trust Him in every aspect of our life. Having children shouldn't be any different. I refuse to make excuses anymore. No matter if I have 2 children or 10, I will accept them joyfully, and I won't forget for one second how blessed we are." Read more of her article, Living a Quiverfull lifestyle.

Lisa shares, "One of our family's passions is letting others know about our conviction to let GOD plan our family. Of course our beliefs must always be Scripturally aligned with our convictions, which is why we seek out GOD’s opinion on the issues first and foremost." Take a moment and read the rest of her post, Obedience Results in Blessings of Children.

One of our newest blogroll members is Raani. She addresses several questions often asked of those who hold this conviction of God's sovereignty over the womb. Stop by and see what she has to say as a means of Answering the Questions.

Quiver Mamma shares, "Early in our Christian walk we also learned that walking in obedience to the word of God brings blessings. People often say that life does not come with an instruction manual, but it does, and it is called the Bible! And when we step out in obedience and apply the word of God to our lives, great things happen. When we trust in Gods promises for us and our lives he fulfills them. And this was the backdrop for what became our quiverfull conviction." Read the rest of her story, Yes, We are Quiverfull.

Labels: children, Christianity, Quiverfull, Quiverfull Carnival

This past Sunday evening there was much rejoicing. Two of our children were baptized!

Acts 2:38-39
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

They were asked several questions in front of a small congregation and gave their testimony in that way. I video taped the questions EXCEPT for the first two questions (I couldn't remember how to work my camera). The questions not on the video are:
1. What is the sign of baptism? Answer: Washing with water
2. What does the washing with water represent? Answer: that we are untied with Christ and cleansed from sin by his blood.
You can listen to the rest....


Here are a few pictures.....

The service was concluded with someone playing Amazing Grace on their trumpet, which of course, brought tears to my eyes.

Labels: Catechism, children, Christianity, Family, Sacraments