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Upside Down, Spinning Around… Ah, Life With Boys!

December 30, 2010

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Evenings around here are often spent wrestling and rough-housing.  We have boys, after all!

The littlest one has an affinity for Daddy's feet, though, and also for hanging upside down. 

Is he a monkey or a possum?  You decide!

Do your children do this, too?!  Please tell me they do!

Have a wonderful and blessed weekend, dear ones, and I'll see you in the new year.  There are many challenging posts ahead!  Thank you so much for all of your encouraging words; I'm thankful for you, and I'm humbled that you take the time to write and comment here! 

           Warmly,
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Filed Under: Frugal Living, Nurturing Family, Simple Pleasures 8 Comments

Commit to Bible Reading in 2011, and Five Tips to Help You Begin

December 29, 2010
"The Bible was written not to be studied, but to change our lives."
- Dr. Howard Hendricks



On Monday, I shared my heart about the importance of reading the Bible, and I asked if you'd join me in making an increased commitment to Bible reading in 2011.

Today, I'd like to share something with you that made reading the Bible from cover to cover much easier for my husband and I, and that is the 90 Day Bible:

The Bible in 90 Days: Cover to Cover in 12 Pages a Day (New International Version)
 
One year it took me four months to complete this Bible, and another year it took me six months.  Some actually do complete it in the advertised 90 days, but sometimes being a mama means that days aren't perfectly planned out.
 
By reading only twelve pages a day, it is possible complete this entire Bible in 90 days.  Most days, I can read the twelve pages in about 45 minutes time.  I usually do it in the morning, but you can break it up and do six pages in the morning and six pages at night, or whatever works for you.
 
If you don't want to purchase the Bible, you can find a similar reading plan available here and here, and you can simply print it from your computer (for free) and use it with your own Bible.
 
The objective is to read the Bible.
 
Some will complain that reading it through this quickly doesn't give you a chance to really study it, absorb it, meditate on it.  I know.  I've heard the arguments, and I beg to differ.  I enjoy the "big picture" aspect of reading it through this way, and then pausing to study in more detail when I come across an intriguing passage.
 
Reading the Bible through, whether you're reading it in 90 days, one year, or five years, will change you.  Period.
 
You will learn and you will grow; you will become a student of the Word and not merely a spectator.  You will be a participant in the Word and no longer a passive observer.  You will discover firsthand the truths that He has revealed in His Word.  Your spiritual life will grow and mature.  You will begin to crave that special time in the Word each morning!
 
Five Tips To Help You Begin:
 
1.  Choose a reading plan, and then set a time aside each day to read.  Do not say that you will read here and there as you can find the time.... the time will never come. 
 
2. Commit to waking 45 minutes earlier each morning, and set your alarm. 
 
3.  Get the coffee or tea ready the night before so it's easier to grab a cup and stumble over to the armchair. 
 
 4.  Do not do a "quick" check of your email before you complete your day's reading, and don't open Facebook, either.  Stay focused!  No computer time until you are done!
 
5.  If you are unable to finish your reading goal that morning (perhaps the children awoke earlier than normal), then commit to finishing the reading during naptime or just before bed.  Don't put it off until the next day; it will quickly become overwhelming.
 
In twenty years, will you still be wishing you had done it?  Or will you make this year the year?
 
I'm praying for you - I know you can do it!
 
 
Warmly, 
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Filed Under: Books Worth Reading, Practicing Faith, Reading the Bible 12 Comments

When Your Bible Is Dusty

December 27, 2010

 

"Dusty bibles lead to dirty lives."

I've heard this - read this - a dozen times or more.  To me, it's one of those thoughtful, impacting little nuggets that makes reading a whole book just to stumble upon it, well... worth it.

Sometimes the book I'm reading may not be spectacular, but there's one thought in it that changes the way I think, and this is one of those thoughts.  It convicts me.

Is your Bible dusty?  Is is reflected in the way you live?  In your relationship with Him?  With others?

Ouch.

As my dear husband and I begin planning next year's Bible reading, I stumble upon this, from Dr. Hendrick's book Living by the Book: The Art and Science of Reading the Bible:

"You see, a lot of people nowadays are making all kinds of claims about what the Bible supposedly teaches - claims that are simply not true.  A closer inspection of Scripture reveals that the Bible doesn't, in fact, teach what they say it does.  Likewise, there are a lot of things that the Bible does teach that many people don't even know about, because the truths are deemphasized or ignored altogether."

Dear friend, beautiful mama, do you know what the Bible teaches?  Have you read it for yourself?  Studied it?  Poured over it? 

Have you felt His love, His story in it?

Have your tears ever washed over its pages?

It is for you.

Many of us want a word from God, but not the Word of God.  We may own a Bible, but the Bible does not own us, it's not in us, not in our hearts and minds.

If you were without face-to-face communications with your husband for many years, and he carefully wrote you a book out of His  tremendous love for you, and you longed to be reunited with him again someday, wouldn't you read that book over and over again, savoring every sentence? 

Surely you would.  How could you not?

"Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the Word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation." - 1 Peter 2:2

Later this week, I'll share some tips and a tool that we use in reading our Bible through, cover to cover.  We've done it in years past, and plan to do it again this upcoming year. 

Would you prayerfully consider reading the Bible through with us in 2011?  Or perhaps at least one testament? 

It will change you.

   In Passionate Pursuit,

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{You can read part two of this post here.}

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Filed Under: Biblical Womanhood, Books Worth Reading, Practicing Faith, Reading the Bible 8 Comments

To All Of Our Dear Friends ~

December 25, 2010

Wishing each of you a very merry and blessed Christmas ~

From our family to yours,
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Filed Under: Simple Pleasures 2 Comments

What I Think I Deserve

December 20, 2010

I'm thinking of Mary today.

How, just a few days before Christ's birth, she must have been feeling stretched and sore, not only from being so heavy with child, but from her time of distant travels.

How I might have felt, in her place, after such a journey.

How, in my humanity and utter imperfectness, I would have felt when my husband could not find an inn with room for us.

No room?  In any inn?  Can they not see that I am in desperate need of a warm room, midwife assistance, a soothing hot drink?  My child is coming.  How could you not make room for me?  For my little one?  Sir, what about you, would you give us your room, if even for one night? 

My flesh cringes.  I'm ashamed.  Any ounce of righteousness I think I have is truly... filthy rags.  They cling to me, and I want to rip them off.

Oh, who am I to think I would deserve such things, such luxuries, such compassion? 

And yet sometimes we go about life that way.

I deserve that nice car, or that big house, or steak for dinner.  Or.... my children deserve more toys, an ivy league education, or the latest video game.  After all, everyone else has it, right?  Are they any better than I am?  Worse yet, who are THEY to have it, and why shouldn't I?

Yet Mary, about to give birth to the Saviour of the world, did not even have a proper room to give birth to him in.  Did that mean she was not special, not loved, not anointed for His purpose?  No!

We know this about Mary: "Hail, thou that art highly favored... blessed are thou among women" (Luke 1:28).  Highly favored!  Blessed among women!  No, her circumstances were not ideal, but she was right in line with the divine will of God.

What we have - or do not have - it not a measure of our worth.  And what others appear to have can be deceiving.  We are in grave danger when we begin to compare ourselves to others and think we deserve more than what we have, more than what He has provided, more than what we can comfortably afford.

Sometimes what we think we deserve is not the plan God has for us.  And, even when it's hard, even when we can't see why, His plan promises to be better than ours.  When we live life outside of His plan, believing we somehow deserve more, we lose our peace, sometimes we lose our families, some even lose their relationship with Him.

Born in a manger - a feed trough.  Yes, this was the King of kings and the Lord of all lords.

In our pride, our ambition, our ignorance, we continue to think we somehow deserve more, deserve better, that we have a right to "it," whatever "it" may be.

I lie prostrate, with my face to the floor.  Help me to be content with what You've provided.

He gives me the greatest of gifts: abundant life, salvation, grace, His Word, hope, real peace.

Teach my Thy ways, even when they look different than the world's ways, even when it may be hard or unpopular, even when I don't understand, even when it's uncomfortable.

Give me a Mary heart.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Psalm 51:10

           

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Filed Under: Biblical Womanhood, Contentment, Homekeeping, Nurturing Family, Practicing Faith 19 Comments

How (and Why) We Paid Cash For Our Home

December 17, 2010

I'm guest posting over at ChristianPF (Christian Personal Finance) today, sharing our story about how (and why) we paid cash for our home.  Won't you join me there?

When you are done perusing the ChristianPF site, which I highly recommend, pop back over here and read how Crystal and her family paid cash for their home recently, and also how God prompted Smockity and her family to downsize their home and expenses so that she could be home to raise their children.

I think you'll find their stories inspiring!

If you are popping by Like a Bubbling Brook from ChristianPF, then welcome!  I'm so glad you are here.  Please consider subscribing via email or facebook before you leave, and you'll never miss a post!

            Warmly,
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Filed Under: Budgeting & Frugal Living, Contentment, Nurturing Family, Practicing Faith Leave a Comment