Time

This school year I have been going through the devotional "Christian Manhood" with Caleb and Zachary. In our study a couple of weeks ago, we were studying about time. Don't you love it when you are teaching your children a spiritual truth and it seems to hit you more than them?  I never thought this lesson would impact me the way it did....but I won't think of time the same anymore!

Time is such a precious thing, a valuable gift, yet we tend to take it for granted. Our time here on earth has been measured out by God. We don't know how much time we have here on earth. We don't know if we will even wake up tomorrow morning. We don't know how many breaths we have left in us. I find that to be a very sobering thought. Not because I am scared of dying, because I know where I will spend eternity, but because I want to know that I know that I have accomplished all God has put me on earth for.

Once time is gone....it's gone!! We can never get last year, last week, yesterday, or even the last minute back! It's gone, forever!

I think about my free time and how I use it.  I look forward to those times where I can just relax for a few minutes in the evening. Those times where all the littles are tucked into bed and I can just sit and do nothing if I want! But lately I have been asking myself....what would God want me to do with this free time? Now, don't get me wrong. I am not against relaxing....we need rest and relaxation to be refreshed. But I think that even in my relaxing moments I can use my time wisely or unwisely. What do I spend those moments doing? Fulfilling the lust of the flesh or renewing my mind and spirit?

Here's a quote from the devotional book that really made me think. "Will what you are going to do with your time affect your affections? Will it in any way block your sense of the presence of God? Will it take away your desire for spiritual things? Will the way you use your time cause you to become more materialistic? Is your first concern for lost people or for the things money can buy? If what you plan to do with your time will in any way cause you to be less interested in spiritual things, then don't do it! Many people have set their affections on things, and they have little time or interest for those who are unsaved or for helping other Christians. Are you seeking only pleasure throughout the way you use your time?"

Then there is how I manage my time. As the years went by and we had more and more children, I realized the importance of using my time wisely in our home. I found that if I didn't have some kind of a schedule in my day I would tend to waste too much time and things just wouldn't get done! There are so many things that can steal my time. Internet, books, videos, visiting friends, texting or talking on the phone....not that these things are bad, but it is too easy to get lost in them and loose all sense of time. I have a responsibility to God and to my family to manage my time wisely. If day after day the laundry isn't getting washed/folded, if we are eating too much fast food, if my house is always in a state of chaos, if my kids are undisciplined....I need to re-evaluate the way I am spending my time because more often than not, my energies have been put into the wrong places.

It takes self-control to manage my time wisely. It would be easier many days to sit on the couch and read a book rather than doing laundry, cleaning house or making meals. It would be easier to spend time on the internet and ignore the children who are running wild around me. It would be easier to watch a movie and get lost in the moment rather than address what needs to be done around me. But if I choose to do these things, I am not using my time wisely. I am being a time waster. Of course there are some days where there are just not enough hours in the day and I just have to ignore the work around me and do some relaxing but this isn't what I am talking about. I am talking about being characterized by wasting time.

So these days I have been finding myself thinking a little bit more of how I use my time. I want to use my spare time to do something that will not just be chaffed burnt up one day, but will things that will affect my eternity in heaven. I only have a short time here on earth for my life is but a vapour, it's here today but it could be gone tomorrow.

How are you spending your time?

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Eph.5:15-16

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25 Years

This fall marks 25 years that Mark and I will be married. Sometimes it seems like just yesterday that we said our vows to each other, and then I look around at all of our children and realize it's obviously been a few years :)

Getting married to my husband was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I feel so blessed that God brought us together. I never dreamed that we would be where we are in life 25 years later! The journey we have been on has been an exciting one. And I can say with all my heart that I hope we will be together AT LEAST another 25 years!

So since this year marks a very special milestone I thought it might be a good time to do a series on marriage from the perspective of me, a wife.  I would like to do 25 posts on this subject, but realistically I don't think I will get there! But I will try! And because I am a wife, I am going to talk to the wives paticularily. But I believe that many of these principles can apply to both husband and wife.

So here's where you come in. Are there any particular subjects you would like me to cover? Is there a question about us (marriage related) that you have been wondering? Leave me a comment and tell me what it is :) I can't promise that I will answer every one, but I will try my bestest!

When Mark and I got married I was 18 years old. People thought we were too young.....we thought we were mature, responsible and ready for marriage. I have never regretted getting married at 18, although I wish that I had been taught a few more things about being a wife. My mom was an amazing wife to my dad, but there were many principles that she had never learned, therefore she wasn't able to pass down to me. So I had to learn as I went along and am so grateful to God for teaching me how He did. In those early years there was no one to mentor me to be a Godly wife.  No one to take me under their wing and teach me what it meant to be a help meet to my husband. That's why it's so important for me today to be that woman to other wives who are searching. I know what it's like to struggle, fail, pick myself up and cry out to God for answers. I don't regret those days, for I know that I drew closer to God while I searched my heart and His word for answers. And I am thankful that after a few years God did bring someone into my life to mentor me. Someone who took the time to listen and give advice. (thanks Helen!!!)

God has taught me many things over the last 25 years. And it is only by His grace that I am the wife that I am today. And even though I look back and see how far I have come, I look forward and see how much I can improve. I am so grateful for His constant teaching, nudging, and pruning in my life. I always want my heart to be pliable so 'He who has begun a good work in me can complete it'!

Anyway, what I am going to share is something that I think is a real important principle for a wife to practice. NEVER SPEAK BADLY, NEGATIVELY OR COMPLAIN ABOUT YOUR HUSBAND BEHIND HIS BACK OR TO HIS FACE AROUND OTHER PEOPLE.  I cringe when I hear wives put their husbands down, or complain about them in a group of people or even just one on one. And if a wife comes and starts to do this to me, I quickly shut down the conversation, change the subject, or encourage them to honour their husbands by their words. And sadly, do you know where I have seen this happen the most? In a woman's bible study or get together. I know....I've been there....I've participated.  Really ladies, this is cheap and I don't believe it is honoring to God. Your husband has been place by God as your head. Respect that!

God's word tells us in Ephesians 4:29 "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." I quote this verse often to our children because  it is often needed. But  I realize how I also need to live this every day in our marriage. What purpose does putting my husband down serve? NONE!!!

 I know there are some woman who will say, "But it's just in fun!" Well....find another way to have fun....and don't let it be at the expense of your husband.

I have made sure to teach this truth to my children as well. I am very careful not to talk negatively about their Dad to them. Not that I have never done it, I am human, I have slipped. But this is something that I have been very diligent to try and live every day. I have told my girls that one day when they are married (Lord willing) if they call me up and start complaining about their husband, I will hang up on them!!!! And I mean it!!! I will not be a third party to something that should be between a husband and a wife. Not that I don't want to be there for them....I do! But all they have to say is, "Please pray." That's all I need to hear! And if they need advice on how to work on their own hearts, I will gladly give that to them to. But that's where it will end!

So I just want to encourage you ladies, speak positively about your husband....to his face and behind his back. If you have a complaint about him, don't announce it to the world. First check your own heart and then pray for his. And if we are ever talking together and you complain about me to your husband......you know what I'll do :)

Family Pictures 2012

 I thought I better post our christmas family pictures 

because come April/May they are going to be out of date!!!!!

But, getting family pictures done with this CRAZY family 

is quite a challenge!!!

For there are SOME who never seem to co-operate.

 

Some who never seem to be paying ATTENTION!!!

And they seem to think that taking a family is just a big JOKE!!!! 

 Ya, you know who you are...

trying to act all INNOCENT like!!!!

Our beautiful GIRLS

And our handsome BOYS

And here's the reason why we are getting GRAY hair!!!

And the reason why we feel so INCREDIBLY blessed!

Mark and I and our precious GRANDCHILDREN

The WELL BEHAVED married couple :)

My HONEY and I

And finally.... a picture where everyone CO-OPERATED !!!!

(Actually if the truth be told, this was one of the very FIRST pictures we took!!! 

Would have save us a lot of SMILING if we would have know that :)

 “Your children are the greatest gift God will give to you, 

and their souls the heaviest responsibility He will place in your hands. 

Take time with them, teach them to have faith in God. 

Be a person in whom they can have faith. 

When you are old, 

nothing else you've done will have mattered as much.” 

― Lisa Wingate

A Walk Of Their Own

We sometimes have to chuckle at the questions that people will ask us concerning our children. Are you ever going to let them leave home? Are you going to make them all have as many children as you? Once they are married are you going to get them to all live together on your farm (I wish!). Or are you ever going to let them get married? As if we are going to dictate what they do and say for the rest of their lives!!!

We know that some people think we shelter our children too much. We also know that they think we are often a little "radical" in the way we raise our children. So we are not surprised when we get questions like this.

We would be the first to admit that we shelter our children...and we don't see as a bad thing. We would also be the first to admit that we hope that our children will take on the beliefs and standards that we live by. We feel that is what our calling as parents is all about!

Every day we deposit things into our child's lives. Some are positive and unfortunately some are negative.  Every day we share our faith/beliefs with them....sometimes with words....mostly without. Every day our children's personality, character and beliefs are formed.

We have always made a point that our children would know why we have the standards that we do. We don't just have a bunch of rules that they need to abide by, rather we have standards that we believe God has called us to uphold.  We teach them things like contentment, love, purity, trust, submission, leadership, servanthood, generosity.  All of these things are taught knowing that it will equip them for the path that God has for them. We don't know all of the things our children are going to face in life. But we know the tools they there comes a time in their life where it all clicks. Sometimes it happens over a period of years, sometimes it is an "ah ha" moment. A time where God reveal Himself to them personally. These times are so exciting for us as parents.

I make it a point to tell my children often that God placed them in this family for a specific purpose. To equip them for the life that He has for them. He could have chosen to place them in a family with one or two siblings, but He didn't, He chose them to be born into this family. And every time their character is tested, every time things seem overwhelming or unfair, they need to remind themselves that this is exactly where God wants them to be and to know in their hearts that His ways are perfect.

Our goal as parents is so much more than making sure our children have food, clothes and education for years they live under our roof. No, our goal is to equip them to become all that God has created them to be and to give them the spiritual tools that they need to face whatever it is that God has planned for their lives. What a challenge...what a privilege!!!

“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 

You shall teach them diligently to your children, 

and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, 

when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, 

and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."  Deut:6:6-9