{Life} A Thanksgiving Prayer

A Thanksgiving Prayer

O My God,

Thou fairest, greatest, first of all objects, my heart admires, adores, loves thee, for my little vessel is as full as it can be, and I would pour out all that fullness before thee in ceaseless flow.

When I think upon and converse with thee ten thousand delightful thoughts spring up, ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed, ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart, crowding into every moment of happiness.

I bless thee for the soul thou hast created, for adorning it, for sanctifying it, though it is fixed in barren soil;

I bless thee for body thou hast given me, for preserving its strength and vigour, for providing senses to enjoy delights, for the ease and freedom of my limbs, for hands, eyes, ears that do thy bidding;

I bless thee for thy royal bounty providing my daily support, for a full table and overflowing cup, for appetite, taste, sweetness;

I bless thee for social joys of relatives and friends, for ability to serve others, for a heart that feels sorrows and necessities, for a mind to care for my fellow-men, for opportunities of spreading happiness around, for loved ones in the joys of heaven, for my own expectation of seeing thee clearly.

I love thee above the powers of language to express, for what thou art to thy creatures. Increase my love, O my God, through time and eternity.

{Life} Gather Me

Oh God, gather me now to be with you as you are with me.

Soothe my tiredness;
quiet my fretfulness;
curb my aimlessness;
relieve my complusiveness;
let me be easy for a moment.

O Lord, release me
from the fears and guilts which grip me so tightly;
from the expectations and opinions which I so tightly grip,
that I may be open
to receiving what you give,
to risking something genuinely new,
to learning something refreshingly different.

Forgive me
for claiming so much for myself
that I leave no room for gratitude;
for confusing exercises in self-importance
with acceptance of self-worth;
for complaining so much of my burdens
that I become a burden;
for competing against others so insidiously
that I stifle celebrating them
and receiving your blessing through their gifts.

O God, gather me to be with you as you are with me.

--Ted Loder, Guerillas of Grace

{Faith} 31 Ways to Pray for Our...

Check out these links from Time-Warp Wife 

• 31 Ways to Pray for Our Husbands Part 1

• 31 Ways to Pray for Our Husbands Part 2

• 31 Ways to Pray for Our Children 

Practical Suggestions Concerning Contentment

Practical Suggestions Concerning Contentment

“If we wished to gain contentment, we might try such rules as these: 

1. Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even of the weather. 
2. Never picture thyself to thyself under any circumstances in which thou art not. 
3. Never compare thine own lot with that of another. 
4. Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than thou dost thyself. 
5. Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God's, not thine. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. "The Lord will provide.” 

― Edward Bouverie Pusey

{Faith} Wise Hearts

"If we want wise tongues, we need wise hearts. Here are a few ways to get there.

1. Don’t be wise in your own eyes (Prov. 3:7). You may be wrong, incorrect, mistaken. Admit it.
2. Heed God’s Word. When you hear it or read it, do it. Apply it. (Prov. 16:20).
3. Be teachable (Prov. 10:8). Don’t assume you have nothing to learn.
4. Receive correction yourself (Prov. 10:17). Even when you don’t like the way the correction comes.
5. Seek knowledge and store it up (Prov. 15:14 and 10:14).
6. Let your heart be taught first, and it will teach your mouth (Prov. 16:23).
7. Don’t fake love (Prov. 10:18). Ask God for supernatural love; don’t rely on your own supply of human, fallible love.
8. Don’t talk too much. Weigh your words! (Prov. 10:19)
9. Feed people (build them up) with your mouth, and you will be fed yourself (Prov. 13:2).
10. Guard your mouth (Prov. 13:3). Pray with the psalmist: “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and keep the door of my lips.” Psalm 141:3"

via Wise Hearts « Femina:

{Life} Without Love

If I talk to my children about what is right and what is wrong, but I have not love, I am like a ringing doorbell or pots banging in the kitchen. And though I know what stages they will go through, and understanding their growing pains, and can answer all their questions about life, and believe myself to be a devoted mother, but I have not love, I have nothing.

If I give up the fulfillment of a career to make my children's lives better, and stay up all night sewing costumes or baking cookies at short notice, but grumble about lack of sleep, I have not love and accomplish nothing.

A loving mother is patient with her children's immaturity and kind even when they are not; a loving mother is not jealous of their youth nor does she hold it over their heads whenever she has sacrificed for them.

A loving mother believe in her children; she hopes in each one's individual ability to stand out as a light in a dark world; she endures every backache and hearthache to accomplish that.

A loving mother never really dies. As for home-baked bread, it will be consumed and forgotten: as for spotless floors, they will soon gather dust and heel marks. As for children, right now toys, friends and food are all-important to them. But when they grow up, it will be their mother's love that they will remember and pass on to others. In that way, she will live on.

So care, training and a loving mother reside in a home, these three but the greatest of these is a loving mother.

~Anonymous

{Faith} Spiritual Growth in our Kids

Here are some things we are using to grow spiritual awareness in my kids.

• World Prayer Maps

• 6 month Bible reading plan for kids
  I have copied this & give it handwriting lines

• Teaching Kids to Pray
  This article has been very helpful in order to help with focus, (for my kids & myself.)

{Faith} Supernatural Love

From Femina...


1. Love is longsuffering. Moms will have plenty of provocations in this world, so they need to be able to suffer for a long time. Some of this longsuffering involves putting up with people who degrade motherhood and despise children. Moms need to think long term, give themselves a good job description, and adopt God’s view of the high calling of motherhood.
2. Love is kind. “She openeth her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness” (Proverbs 31:26). Much kindness (and unkindness) comes via words. Pervasive kindness means listening, forgiving, anticipating, speaking, and doing. It includes physical comforts for your kids: giving them clean beds, warm food, soap and water. It is a LAW of kindness, which means it includes discipline and instruction that is given kindly.
3. It is not envious. Not of other mothers, not of other people’s children or their accomplishments or grades or personality. This means no comparisons with the other siblings, no complaining. Children feel their parents disapproval and it can crush them.
4. It does not vaunt (parade) itself. Moms should be careful not to provoke others to envy (or disgust or weariness) by putting their children on display in a bragging way, hijacking every conversation back to the report card or the clever cuteness. This does not mean that moms should not praise their children and rejoice in their accomplishments. But the Christmas letter should not be full of vaunting.
5. Love is not puffed up. This implies being full of oneself. And this is the kind of mom who cannot be taught by her own children because the kids are never right, and mom is never wrong. This kind of parent is full of her own authority and looks to lord it over the kids rather than love them. She demands attention.
6. Does not behave rudely (unseemly). This means improper or inappropriate behavior. We’ve all seen this at the grocery store: “You are driving me crazy! I am going to count to three and then I’m leaving you here!” Love does not threaten. Love takes responsibility. Love doesn’t over-share about her children’s needs, failures, weaknesses, or sins.
7. Seeks not its own. This kind of mom gives herself away. Home is for the family, and the schedule is for the kids, not the kids for the schedule. This means family night is not the night the kids dread.
8. Not easily provoked. This kind of supernatural love doesn’t react. It sees the big picture and doesn’t flip out over spilled milk or muddy shoes.
9. Thinks no evil. She hears both sides of the story first before making a judgment. She doesn’t believe everything she hears. She does not attribute motives.
10. Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. When someone else’s child fails or flunks or loses, she does not do a victory dance.
11. Bears all things. Sickness. Slowness. Messiness. Childishness. She can bear these things if she has supernatural love.
12. Believes all things. She loves the truth! She lives it out and she teaches her children to believe.
13. Hopes all things. This kind of supernatural love can believe that God is in control of all things, even this sickness or this frustration or this loss. This kind of mom hopes in God and knows He is writing her story and her children’s stories.
14. Endures all things. Who can do this without the supernatural love and power of God?
15. Love never fails. This love sees the kids to the finish line with faith and courage.

via Supernatural Love « Femina.

{Faith} Hide Them In Your Heart and Watch Them Change Your Life

Our children deserve our patience. Even when we don’t feel that we have any left. We do.

Responding in anger may affect their actions for the moment, but responding in love will affect their hearts for a lifetime.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths,
but only such as is good for building up,
as fits the occasion,
that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29

via Hide Them In Your Heart and Watch Them Change Your Life | Passionate Homemaking.

{Faith} She Delights Him

"She delights him with her company and conversation,

sustains him with her strength,

stimulates and sharpens him with her wisdom and intelligence,

emboldens him with her praise,

bolsters him with her cheerfulness,

comforts him with her love,

and heartens him with her courage."

-The Botkin Sisters, Biblical Femininity

via A Wise Woman Builds Her Home: She Delights Him.

{Faith} A Mothers Influence

Mothers, be faithful.

Dont get discouraged.

Pray for your children, and do not forget to talk to them:your words will settle down in their hearts.They never can, they never will forget them.They may appear not to heed what you say;they may put on an appearance of thoughtlessness and levity,which look as though your words were disregarded;

but persevere---

those words are there, and never will be forgotten:but may be called up in years to come when you are dead and gone,

and like seed cast in the earth, germinate and produce fruit

that shall flourish in immortality.

-Jabez Burns, Mothers of the Wise and Good

via A Wise Women Builds Her Home: A Mothers Influence.

{Faith} Be still, my soul

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on

When we shall be forever with the Lord.

When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past

All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.

via ROH Radio :: Facing the Future with Joy :: Laughing at the Time to Come.

{Faith}My Part/God’s Part in the Psalms

As I look at the Psalms, I’m amazed at how little we do and how much He does.  For example:

Psalm 23:1-3

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me besides still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Psalm 40:1-3

I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and [he] heard my cry
He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog,
and [he] set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.

Psalm 55:22

Cast your burden on the LORD,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

Psalm 91:14-16

Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and [I will] honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
and [I will] show him my salvation.

In summary, all I need to do is come poor and needy because He comes to me rich in mercy. Hallelujah!

Written by Doug Wolter - Visit Website

via My Part/God’s Part in the Psalms | Life2gether.

{Faith} How Shall We Fight for Joy

How Shall We Fight for Joy?

Download:

---

By John Piper January 1, 1995

---

1. Realize that authentic joy in God is a gift.

2. Realize that joy must be fought for relentlessly.

3. Resolve to attack all known sin in your life.

4. Learn the secret of gutsy guilt - how to fight like a justified sinner.

5. Realize that the battle is primarily a fight to see God for who he is.

6. Meditate on the Word of God day and night.

7. Pray earnestly and continually for open heart-eyes and an inclination for God.

8. Learn to preach to yourself rather than listen to yourself.

9. Spend time with God-saturated people who help you see God and fight the fight.

10. Be patient in the night of God's seeming absence.

11. Get the rest and exercise proper diet that your body was designed by God to have.

12. Make a proper use of God's revelation in nature.

13. Read great books about God and biographies of great saints.

14. Do the hard and loving thing for the sake of others (witness and mercy).

15. Get a global vision for the cause of Christ and pour yourself out for the unreached.

//

---

via How Shall We Fight for Joy? :: Desiring God Christian Resource Library.

© Desiring God

{Free} Free Online Books From Desiring God

Desiring God has free John Piper books online! You can access it here: http://www.desiringgod.org/library/onlinebooks_index.html

{Faith} Revive Our Hearts Challenges

• Husband Encouragement Challenge


• Trus Woman Make-Over


• TV-Free Challenge


• Praying for your Pastor


• Praying for Your Pastor's Wife

Sign up @ Women's Ministry: Revive Our Hearts.