Passport2Purity Get-Away

For my daughter's 12th birthday, I planned a little get-away for just the two of us. We didn't go too far away from home, but I planned things I knew she'd enjoy and make her feel special. While we were away, we went through five sessions of the Passport2Purity curriculum by Family Life. 

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We left on a Thursday afternoon, but she was all packed and prepared to leave by Wednesday afternoon. She was very excited. 

Before leaving town, we stopped by Starbucks for one of her favorite drinks, and enjoyed some laughs over a few mad libs. 

I knew I had to reserve a hotel with a pool because this girl loves to swim. Plus, she needed to practice all the new things she learned at her recent swim lessons. 

You know how Jesus said we can't live on bread alone? Well, I think this girl could and that's why I took her to Fazoli's for dinner because she loves pasta and bread. 

In between listening to the sessions on CD, we did an art project and we also did our nails. 

On our final morning we ate breakfast at the hotel, finished up our last session together, checked out of the hotel, did some shopping, enjoyed a lunch at a place of her choosing, and then headed back home. 

We were only gone for about 26 hours, but we learned so much, had a lot of fun, and made a lot of wonderful memories. We had some wonderful, tough conversations and she made it through all the sessions like a champ.

I highly recommend this product to all parents of adolescent children. It was a great guide to help me have some intentional conversations with my child now before it's too late.

My Tuesday Morning with Jesus

We spent the weekend out of town for a niece's birthday party, came home Saturday night to no water because the water pipes leading to our home froze. I spent Sunday at home instead of going to church so I could wait on a call from the water district to come fix the situation. Monday was a holiday, so my husband got to stay home and we decided to not do any school so we could have a family day and catch up on laundry and things around the house. So, when Tuesday morning came I felt behind. Very, very behind.

Tuesday is our co-op day and I have certain goals I want to reach before we head over to church around 10:45 a.m. This Tuesday morning was quite simply chaotic and stressful. I had to discipline a child, I couldn't find a school book, I needed to finish packing lunches for the day, and my sink was full of dirty dishes. The missing school book was what caused me to fall apart. I began speaking out loud for both of my girls to hear things like...

"If I could get the house organized better. I wouldn't lose school books. I am a terrible homemaker."

"If I would have gotten up earlier this morning I'd have these dishes done and the lunches packed. I am a terrible homemaker."

"If I had more self-control and patience, I wouldn't get angry so quickly at my children. I am a terrible mother."

I probably spewed off 2-3 more negative labels about myself in the course of this meltdown, but I stopped when I saw Lauren and the tears streaming down her face. I sat down in a chair, reached out my arms, and she came and sat on my lap. My negative self- talk, my self-focused pity party had hurt my daughter's heart. She said, "Mommy, you are a good mommy and you take good care of us. I don't like it when you talk like that." My heart broke for so many reasons at that moment. Instead of crying out to God to calm me and strengthen me, I chose to explode in a self-focused tirade and it did not help me and it hurt my daughter's heart in the process.

We went to co-op and the 2nd period I have free. I sat in a classroom all alone and ate my lunch, pulled out my Kindle to read the 3rd chapter of Lysa TerKeursts' book, "Unglued." Some ladies at my church are reading this book right now and meeting to discuss a few chapters at a time. The 3rd chapter of the book literally brought me to tears because it basically described my morning and how us women tend to speak to ourselves in a way we would never dare to speak to someone else. We beat ourselves up and let our messes define us and how that enslaves us and makes us "prisoners" as the chapter is appropriately titled.

My mind is constantly in a battle. Focused on the Lord one moment and focused on myself the next. Letting God reign one moment and the in the next moment self rears its ugly head again.

Do I need to work on some organization projects in my home? Absolutely! But does that make me a failure in life? Nope.

Do I need to sometimes get up earlier in the morning? Yes. But that does not make me a failure on those days.

Do I need more self-control and patience? Oh yes. But thank the Lord His mercies are new everyday and He is faithful to prune me so I can grow the fruit of patience and self-control in my life. Not in my own power, but in His power (Lamentations 3:22-23 and Galatians 5:22-23).

So, I am going to break free from these labels I put on myself and exchange them for the labels Christ has given me. I am His child, He has a plan for me, He is the author and finisher of my faith, and He has given me everything I need to live a godly life for His glory.  Grace, grace, grace, how thankful I am for grace.

I am thankful for my Tuesday morning with Jesus -- mess and all. I am thankful He met me in my mess, cleaned me up, put me back on my feet so I can walk away from my sin and forward with him. I'm thankful for TerKeursts' reminder in the first chapter of her book that "There is a beautiful reality called imperfect progress ... progress wrapped in grace ... imperfect progress."

Philippians 3

The first Friday of each month, I lead a Bible study for a small group of ladies. We are working our way through Philippians. This month we studied chapter 3. If you're interested, you can go back and read our study outlines from chapters 1 and 2 as well. 

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Confidence in Christ, not Flesh - 3:1-11

Verses 1-11 Shows how the confidence of a Christian should not be the result of things we DO, but rather from our relationship with Christ and Him alone.

Verses 1-2

• Judaisers teaching falsely that Gentiles must be circumcised in order to receive God’s salvation.

Verse 3

• The true meaning of circumcision in this passage is not a literal cutting of a piece of flesh, but rather a spiritual cutting of the heart which reveals believers their need for a Savior. Confidence of salvation cannot be placed in something physical, like circumcision, but only in the work of Christ. When Christ came, he freed us from the bondage of doing and offered us a relationship with Him.

Verses 4-6

• If anyone had reason to boast in the flesh, it was Paul. He followed the law perfectly, but it did not save him. He was not saved until He came face-to-face with Christ.

Verses 7-11

• Paul calls all those “things” rubbish/dung/garbage (vs. 8).
• Righteousness comes from faith in Christ, not the law (vs. 9).
• KNOW Christ and BECOME like Him (vs. 10).

Application: Am I more centered on DOING (following rules and doing things to “serve”) rather  than BEING in relationship with Christ?

• Focus on knowing Christ and becoming like Him. This is harder than doing, because this requires us to be still, listen, and come face-to-face with God.  Doing is easy because we can stay busy, preoccupied with ourselves and others and avoid God altogether if we are not careful.

Goals With an Eternal Focus

Verses 12-21 - Teaches us how to press on toward eternally focused goals.

Verse 12 - Christ has made me his own and therefore I will keep pressing forward.

Verses 13-14 - Forget the past because it is paid for, done, and settled. Dwelling on past (forgiven) sin will only hinder you and hold you back from reaching the goals Christ has for your life.

Verses 15-16 - Christians who still beat themselves up about their pasts are immature. Mature believers recognize their past is covered by the blood of Jesus and press on to live victorious lives for Christ.

Verse 17 - Paul followed Christ’s example. Look for people around you who are following Christ and learn from them (but give them grace because they are not perfect). Strive to be a follower of Christ so someone else can live by your example as well.

Verses 18-19 - We live in a world with many “enemies of the cross” who do not follow Christ. Their life’s focus is on the here and now rather than God’s eternal Kingdom.

Verses 20-21 - Paul reminds us not to live with our focus on earthly things because this is not our forever home. Our earthly sinful bodies will one day transform into heavenly glorious bodies. A body no longer affected by the curse of sin, which means it will not give into weakness, death, decay, or sin.

Application: Am I more centered on earthly or eternal goals?

• How do I spend my time and money? What do I spend a lot of time thinking and talking about and actually doing?
  
  

photo credit: zen via photopin cc

Jesus Wells

Our AWANA club recently raised money to buy wells for villages in Asia. The boys and girls competed against one another to see who could raise the most money. The children's grand total came to $2,032.80, which is enough to buy TWO wells for two separate villages in India! We sent our money to Gospel for Asia so they can give two Jesus wells to villagers who are in great need and since missionaries and pastors will be involved, the people won't simply have a physical need met, but they will have an opportunity to hear about Jesus - the true and living water (John 4:10).

Father & Son Scripture Memory Challenge

My 11-year-old son just finished up an 8-week scripture memory challenge with his dad. He participated in AWANA through his 2nd grade year, and gave T&T a try as a 3rd grader, but quite frankly he was miserable in that environment. It was too much sitting down, being still and quiet, writing, and studying independently. It was too "schoolish" for him. He probably would have done better if there would have been an adult in there who got his personality, gave him a little extra attention and encouragement, but that wasn't the case. So, my husband decided to let him skip AWANA and stay home with him, while the girls and I continued to participate in AWANA. AWANA is a good fit for our girls and I'm sure it would have been a better fit with the right male leader for our son, but that's okay because the church is not solely responsible for the discipleship of our children. The bulk of the responsibility lays on us as parents and that's why my husband spends time each night reading through books of the Bible with Tyler and does things with him like this recent scripture memory challenge. Tyler was rewarded with a special day out with his dad at the end of the 8 weeks and they are continuing to memorize scripture together even though the initial challenge is over. 

Do you memorize scripture with your children?