Friday, June 1, 2012

2012 Scripture Memory Verse 9

Hopefully, summer break will have some moments of peace amidst the {almost} certain busyness.  Our family tries to have a sabbath each week~no school, no work, only what builds us up and encourages us as a family {and that looks different from week to week}.  Only we don't refer to the day as a sabbath, we call it our family day {it was much easier for our boys to understand when we began this discipline} and it falls on a Friday because that's what works for us.  We surely are not perfect and don't always get it right, but it sure feels good when we take time to step back and enjoy the blessings God has given us.

I hadn't planned on sharing that when I hopped on here tonight, but thoughts of summer don't usually sound all peaceful and slow to me.  Perhaps it's because we're not but two summers removed from 10 years of youth ministry and a whole lot happened in the summer.  Now our boys are in baseball and a whole lot still happens in the summer.  Needless to say, "summer break" isn't always too much of a break, but it can be very good if we take time to take breaks :)

Alright, now that I've almost confused myself (and hopefully haven't left you too dumbfounded), I'll move on to the purpose of this post...the next memory verse for the year!  I'm going to continue in 1 Corinthians, adding the next few verses:

Audrey, Ohio
1Corinthians 1:22-24  ESV
"For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." {emphasis mine}

Thank You, Jesus, that we do not have to rely on our own power and our own wisdom, for they are far too frail.  Thank You for filling those who follow You with Your Holy Spirit and transforming us with Your glorious power and wisdom!!!

May you seek an intimate relationship with your Creator as you enjoy some moments with and in His creation over these next weeks ~ He if faithful to respond to the hearts of His children!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

2012 Scripture Memory Verse 8

I am loving what our church is learning from Romans 12 ~ what discipleship looks like, what sacrifice means (you couldn't just sacrifice half an animal...we can't just offer God half of ourselves), the fact that we are constantly either transforming more and more into Christ-likeness or conforming more and more into the image of the world.  God truly is wise and His ways truly are better ~ I so wish we could grasp this truth and not have to find out the hard way.

I'm choosing to begin a passage from 1 Corinthians (in segments) that sounds profound to me every time I read it, so here goes:

Audrey, Ohio
1 Corinthians 1:20-21  ESV
"Where is the one who is wise?  Where is the scribe?  Where is the debater of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe."

The things this world holds dear don't amount to anything in the end, but praise God, He uses the "foolish" of the world (who are willing to open their mouths to speak His Truth) to save those willing to hear and follow!  May we walk forward in His Truth.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

2012 Scripture Memory Verse 7

Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy!

Several months ago, I found this particular phrasing of James 1:2 quite profound.  I was familiar with the verse, but it was spoken in a new way.  I cannot remember if I read this in a Bible translation (I couldn't find it any translation when I looked later), if it was someone else's paraphrase, or if this is how God formed the words in my head as I read it, but I love the gentle reminder that trouble doesn't have to be earth-shattering--we can choose to see it through a different light.

I don't know about you, but I know I have difficulty getting my feelings to change when they're negative. Like when I ask our boys to do something and it becomes a battle and I get frustrated.  It's hard for me to say, "It's alright.  Let's just move on," and mean it.  Sometimes I do say something like that and although I'm not feeling it, my actions eventually change my attitude.

A few years back, while still in youth ministry, my husband came to a profound realization:  If we expect that bad things may happen, we're not quite so surprised when they do and we can deal with them in a healthier way.  I'm NOT saying we should live in fear that bad things will "certainly" happen to us.  It worked out like this...We leave for a youth trip with 50 high schoolers, so we prep ourselves by saying, "You know what, someone may get hurt, a couple may break up, one (or more) of our kids may choose to break our rules, BUT we'll deal with each scenario as it comes and we'll still have a great trip!"  It was more of an attitude shift--instead of allowing one or two incidents to ruin our trip in our own minds, we were choosing to enjoy the trip, even with its hiccups.

Many of us can look around and see how we are facing trials of various kinds (and to various degrees).  May we choose joy in each trial and allow ourselves to be teachable as each scenario allows us to learn something more about our God, His children and ourselves.

Audrey, Ohio
James 1:2-4  ESV
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.


Sunday, April 15, 2012

2012 Scripture Memory Verse 6

I am sticking with my original goal and working on Hebrews 12:15 out of the ESV.
"See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;"

May your mind continue to be amazed at God's holy words as you purposely plant them there!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

2012 Scripture Memory Verse 5

God is teaching me more about living with grace...especially with my boys, so these verses will be my focus for the next few weeks...not sure whether I'll get it down in two weeks, or if I'll just focus on verse 14 this time and then work on verse 15 beginning April 15th, but I wanted to print the verses together to have better clarity.


Audrey, Ohio
Hebrews 12:14-15  ESV
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.  See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;


May we extend grace to everyone~acquaintances, friends and especially family.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Valentine Cookie Extravaganza

HOW 300 COOKIES CAME TO LIFE LOVE
dough was mixed...in several batches :)
then it was rolled, cut out, baked, iced
after being laid out on a table...
...they were ready to be given away!

We are so blessed to be lavishly loved by our God and then to be so loved by the people of RushChurch, where our family serves!  I wanted to give a gift to the church family we have the privilege of serving with and love so much and this was it!!

By the way, if you'd like the recipe, it's here, modified a bit from the allrecipe.com one:

Thursday, March 15, 2012

2012 Scripture Memory Verse 4

I started a post with pictures of the Valentine's cookies {from one MONTH ago!} and will hopefully get that up over the weekend, but for now we are working on planting our 4th scripture in our hearts!!

I know I'm not the only one who has trouble controlling her tongue; after all, James (ch. 3) teaches of the incredible power our tongues possess over our whole bodies.  And although God and I have done some work in this area before, I feel a need for a fresh work.  Over the last few weeks my words with my boys have been less than encouraging on several occasions.  There have been plenty of times where I've felt God speaking to my heart, calling me to patience and gentleness through His strength, and I've obeyed and a war is avoided.  But there have also been plenty of times when I've felt that same call and I've trumped it with my own fleshly desires of being right and being in charge and being respected.  Thankfully those times are growing fewer, but they trouble my heart so much and take so much more time to mend.  I've found I can stand my ground in patience, peace, and gentleness if I lean on Him and His strength, rather than my own.  Often my words fail me, and I have to ask God to help me out, so I chose a verse to remind me to be gracious in my speech.

Audrey, Ohio
Colossians 4:6  ESV
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.


A couple other scriptures that are helpful in taming our tongue:

 Psalm 139:4  TNIV
Before a word is on my tongue
You, LORD, know it completely.


 Proverbs 21:23  NLT
Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut and you will stay out of trouble.

Continue to cultivate the words of life you are planting down deep in your soul~God's Word will never return to Him empty, but will accomplish His good purposes in your life!!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

2012 Scripture Memory Verse 3

Do you ever feel like you're in the dark sometimes?  Like you'd really like to know the reasons behind certain events, but they remain elusive?  We studied Joseph's life in church recently and I was reminded once again that it's not our job to know everything {nor our privilege}.  BUT, some things are revealed to us and the verse I've chosen to memorize now will be a great reminder to me of that.

Audrey, Ohio
Deuteronomy 29:29  ESV
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Keep pressing on~His Word brings so much peace into our hearts!

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Pardon?

This past Sunday we talked about the great forgiveness Jesus extended to us from the cross.  One illustration that was shared recalled a man on death row who refused a presidential pardon {after murdering a federal worker}.  This sort of refusal had never before occurred, so the courts had to decide whether or not he had a choice to receive the pardon.  This is what they ruled:

    "A pardon rejected is no pardon at all; unless the recipient of the pardon accepts the pardon, then the pardon cannot be applied."

God extends the same type of pardon to you through Jesus' sacrifice, but have you accepted it?  Will you accept it?  Because "the pardon cannot be applied" unless it is accepted.  He loves you so much.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

2012 Scripture Memory Verse 2

I so hope you are already seeing fruit from hiding God's Word in your heart. I am overwhelmed again this morning at the profound way God's Word never grows stale or stagnant ~ it is always ready to teach us something new or remind us of a truth we once learned but need to learn again, or perhaps is the encouragement we need for the moment we are in.

We have just finished studying some lessons from the life of Joseph {at church} and the suggested memory verse is what I'm taking in this time around. Here it is:

Audrey, Ohio Genesis 50:20 ESV (version) As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

May your eyes be open to see God's blessings today!

PS-You can choose your own verse to memorize, or join me in memorizing Genesis 50:20 if it resonates with you. You need only to work on memorizing your choice, though, and not those of anyone else :) We'll continue to choose a scripture on the 1st and 15th of each month throughout 2012 ~ feel free to invite friends and family to join us; they can begin right where we're at with no need to catch-up. Using index cards in a spiral is a great way to keep your memory verses all in one place and makes it handy to carry them with you so you can be meditating/thinking upon them while you are away from home.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Scripture Memory for 2012, anyone???

January was a month to review my memory verses and really be sure I had them since I knew I'd be saying them to a siesta at the Siesta Scripture Memory Team Celebration {aka SSMTC} on January 21st.

Then along comes February...there is no event to encourage memorization of Scriptures at the end of this year, however I cannot believe I made it through the last three years on my own strength. My word, it has been a ride!

SO, I will begin my 4th year of memorizing God's Word~I would LOVE for YOU to join me!! I'm going to follow the method I've used over the last few years with Beth Moore's blog ~ I'll sign in on the 1st and 15th of each month with my verse, its location and translation and you can leave your verse {of your own choosing} in the same manner as a comment.

Obviously, I'm a little late for the 1st of February, but the verse I chose came from the teaching Beth brought at the SSMTC. We learned so much through 2 John and were challenged to memorize verse 8. Since I don't want to lose any spiritual ground that I've fought to gain, I find it so appropriate!

Here's mine:

Audrey, Ohio
2 John 8 ESV
Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.

So 2012, bring it on, but know we'll be ready with our sword {of the Spirit~the Word of God} in the right hand and our shield {of faith-Ephesians 6:16-17} in the left!

Friday, February 3, 2012

Any sugar cookie lovers out there???

I've been looking {very casually...definitely NOT hunting} for a good cut-out sugar cookie recipe and this is one I will definitely use again. The icing was a great recipe, too. Both were found on allrecipes.com "Thick Cut-Outs" and "Sugar Cookie Icing"

We had extra icing, so we went a little crazy...


Here's Isaiah's Cowboy he created from different cookie cutters, as well as his dinosaurs and basketball


And Ezekiel's Cowboy created a similar way, with his star and puppy


And our names :) The two flowers turned out really well~the purple one was the first cookie I decorated and it turned out the best!


I'm looking forward to making Valentine's cookies next week!!!

Funny Faces




Guess who he learned that from???????


2011 Re-Cap...2012 Resuscitation

This here space has been long neglected and although the reasons are good, I'm hoping to resuscitate my little corner of the blogging world.

Before I can move forward though, I feel like I need to finish what I started. I finished my commitment of memorizing Scripture with hundreds of other siestas through Beth Moore's Living Proof Ministries blog. Many of us got together in Houston, Texas, over January 20-21, to celebrate this accomplishment that only God's strength and enlarging of our mental faculties made possible. While I failed to post my verses I was working on here, I did post them on Beth's blog {that was one of the requirements of the challenge}. But to have a record of what the Lord enabled my mind to dwell many, many minutes on, here are the remainders:

May 15 ~ 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

June 1 ~ Acts 3:19-20 TNIV "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that He may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you--even Jesus."



June 15 ~ Ephesians 1:4 HCSB "For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight."

July 1 ~ Ephesians 1:7-8 HCSB "We have redemption in Him through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."

July 15 ~ Ephesians 1:11-12 HCSB "We have also received an inheritance in Him, predestined according to the purpose of the One who works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will, so that we who had already put our hope in the Messiah might bring praise to His glory."

August 1 ~ Ephesians 1:17-19 HCSB "I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength."



August 15 ~ Psalm 103:13-14 NLT "The LORD is like a father to His children, tender and compassionate to those who fear Him. For He knows how weak we are; He remembers we are only dust."1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT "This is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him."

September 1 ~ Exodus 14:14 TNIV "The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

September 15 ~ Deuteronomy 23:14 NIV "The LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that He will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you."

October 1 & 15 ~ Isaiah 55:6-11 TNIV "Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD, and He will have mercy on them, and to our God, for He will freely pardon. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My Word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent It."



November 1 ~ Matthew 13:11-12 TNIV "{Jesus} replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Those who have will be given more, and they will have an abundance. As for those who do not have, even what they have will be taken from them.""

November 15 & December 1 ~ Hebrews 10:19-25 TNIV "Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

December 15 ~ John 6:67-69 TNIV "You do not want to leave, too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that You are the Holy One of God."


May we press on, learning and doing the Word of God, and may He find us faithful!