Smorgasbord Tuesday

Since I'm new to blogging, I've been looking at other people's blogs to see how to effectively do this thing. It seems a popular thing to do with blogging is to have a Theme Day. It gives the readers something to look forward to and gives the bloggers something to blog about. So I've decided to start a theme day called: Smorgasbord Tuesday.

As I've looked through my posts I have seen a food theme emerging. I had Everlasting Gobstopper, Cream-filled Doughnut and How do you Taste. As you can tell I enjoy food and I like God's Word, so I guess I also like putting the two together hence the emergence of Smorgasbord Tuesday.

Smorgasbord Tuesday will simply be "delicious Scripture" passages for you to meditate on during the week. I will probably add a few comments, etc. I do recommend if you enjoy the Scripture that you write it down on a 3x5 index card and post it somewhere for you to look at later.

Finally, you are always invited to "feast" with me. Food is always more enjoyable when shared with others. So there is an "open invitation" on Tuesday's for you to add your two cents to the Scripture shared or if you have a Scripture burning on your heart to post it, too. So thanks for joining and enjoy!

Isaiah 59:16-20 (a combo of NCV &NKJV)

And He saw that there was no man,

and wondered that there was no intercessor;

therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him,

and His righteousness, it sustained Him.
for He put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and a helmet of salvation upon His head;

and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing,

and wrapped himself in the coat of his strong love.

According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay,

fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies;

to the islands He will repay recompense.
So shall they fear the name of the LORD

from the west and His glory from the rising of the sun.

When the enemy shall come in like a flood,

the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.

I love the book of Isaiah, because you see Jesus so clearly portrayed 300 years before He was even born on earth. The Jesus who is described here is the same yesterday, today and forever! Our Saviour is our Intercessor and he intercedes for us daily (Hebrews 7:25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them).

And guess what, do you remember Ephesians 6 (discussed in Put Your Clothes On), don't these clothes Jesus dresses himself in sound familiar? Jesus offers to dress us in the same clothes that He wears when He goes out to battle!

One of my favorite parts from this Scripture is that "he wrapped himself in the coat of his strong love." Wow, what a beautiful picture. Our Redeemer is coming cloaked in love and not just any love but his STRONG love and He is wrapped up in it ~it is not going anywhere!

He will be paying back our enemies!

My last favorite part is "When the enemy comes in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against Him!" I don't know about you but sometimes I do feel like the enemy comes in like a flood. I am going to rest (or hide) behind the standard the Lord lifts up against him.

Back to Eph 6 it says after we've done everything we are to just stand. I believe we are in a battle but I also believe we have the ultimate Warrior fighting for us and sometimes He asks us just to stand firm wrapped up in His clothes while He steps out and fights on our behalf.

If you find yourself in a battle against the enemy this week hide yourself this week in the Man described in this Scripture and allow Him and His strong love to take vengeance against your enemies.

Enjoy, I'm full!

Self-righteousness vs God's righteousness

I've been a Christian for as long as I can remember. In fact, I don't remember when I accepted the Lord but I do remember getting baptized; it was the day before my eighth birthday. While I do love the fact that I've always known the Lord and there are a lot of benefits from this; there can be a few drawbacks. One of those drawbacks is that we are susceptible to developing self-righteous and judging spirits.

When you grow up in Christianity you learn what "to do" and what "not to do" to be a good Christian. This can cause a spirit of judgement towards others, which can end up being very unhealthy. I'm grateful for the Pharisees in the Bible and for Jesus speaking straightforward to them, because sometimes I think I start to look a lot more like a Pharisee than a follower of Christ.

A couple years ago I was reading Matthew 9:10-11:

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house,

many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him

and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples,

"Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor,

but the sick. But go and learn what this means:

'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'For I have not come to call the righteous,

but sinners."

As I read this, I was asking myself why we as the church have lost sight of this perspective. Many times we in the church, look down on the "sinners" and would rather not associate with them but we would love to associate with those who "have it all together" and we forget that we too are the sick! Jesus said, "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners." That's pretty convicting for me even now. This passage helps me to keep in mind who I really am.

Anyway, I do believe we are called by God to live in holiness and righteousness but I wanted to know how to live like that without becoming like a Pharisee and so God gave me two phrases that have helped me to clear the muddy waters:

Self-righteousness breeds pride, which leads to a judging spirit.

God's righteousness breeds humility, which leads to a loving spirit.

These phrases have been helpful for me to keep my heart in check. I could expound on the phrases but I think if you reflect on them you will get enough out of it on your own. I so love God's ways because they are much more beautiful than our ways.

Familiar Places

Old familiar places.

Old familiar faces.

Why do you return?

To open doors that have been shut?

You lead me to a place I did not want to return.

You leave me in a place of

desperation.

So Lord I return to you with my head hung low

asking for you to RISE

again against those old familiar places.

To speak your words of truth to those

old familiar faces.

To close the doors that they shall not open again.

Then you take my by the hand and lead me to

a place I did not know before.

A place of your glory, a place of your light.

You lift my face and I gaze into the eyes of the

One who holds me tight.

So whether this fight ends today or not

I thank you for holding me by your side.

You never let me go or out of your sight.

You are my Saviour, the One I love and need.

Show me your grace again tonight.

Let your arms take me to the new familiar place.

Let your eyes be the new comforting face.

May I never leave this place.

Why I Homeschool

I thought you might be curious why I homeschool but before I start I want to say there is no judgement if you don't homeschool. I certainly don't believe homeschooling is the only way or that it is for everyone. In fact, in our home we are taking homeschooling one year at a time and it might not be the only way we do our kids education. However, I would like to clear the air a little on behalf of homeschooling because when people hear the word "homeschool" a lot of preconceived notions jump into their heads of what "homeschooling" is and why people homeschool. Part of me wants to come up with a new word for homeschooling because there are so many negative thoughts attached to it (any suggestions?). If we lived in Europe I could say my kids were taught by a private tutor and everyone would be in awe and think we were rich!


I think most people believe that the primary reason people homeschool is because they are scared of the "world" and are being "over-protective." While the world is an issue for me it is not the primary reason I homeschool. I am homeschooling not because I am trying to run away from something rather I am trying to run towards something.

As you probably gathered, I think my kids are pretty special (in fact I think all kids are special). As a former teacher I have had experience in traditional classroom settings. As a result, I personally have some issues with the current education set-up in America. In a classroom of 20 plus kids the individual can not be fully appreciated. Maybe I wasn't a fantastic teacher but I always felt like I was teaching to the "middle kids" the "advanced" kids suffered because they were held back waiting for the others and the "lower" kids suffered because they always felt like they were behind. If you were a "middle kid" school was probably okay for you.



The other problem with a traditional classroom setting is that all kids are being sent through the same filter and all the gifts and talents of the individual are being lost or at least they are not being cultivated to their full extent. As I said earlier, I think all kids are special and have gifts and talents that are individual to them. Our current education system leaves a lot of people feeling invaluable because their personalities don't excel in a traditional classroom setting.


What I love about homeschooling is that we can take the time to cultivate our kids individual talents. I only have two kids but let me tell you they can be as different as night and day. James would fit well in a traditional classroom because he loves books, learning and producing "the right answer." Mercea is only 3 but I can already tell she would probably struggle in a traditional classroom. She is very kinesthetic and a dramatic individual (even as I write this James is on the computer and she is dancing around the room on her tippy toes singing and dancing). I already think it will be "difficult" trying to teach their 2 very different personalities and there is only 2 of them not 20 of them!


My hope and plan with homeschooling is that I will be able to allow time for them to develop what they are good at. James has already shown a bent towards writing. He has already written a book called Darby Goes on Safari and now on his very own idea he is currently "writing" the Bible. One day he asked me for a journal and started writing in it the Creation story, then he retold the story of Cain and Abel and he now has started Noah. It thrills my heart but I honestly did not tell him to do this, he asked to do it and he is the one who pulls it out whenever he wants to write. I know if I had him in school, he would not have the time to do these things because by the time he got home, we would eat dinner, then there would be homework... We do have official "school time" at our home but my kids do have plenty of opportunity to be creative and to pursue and cultivate the desires of their heart.


Another reason I homeschool is because I think life is about a lot more than what we spent 12-16 years learning about in our current educational system. The perspective I learned from the educational system was to get good grades so I could go to college and become a successful career woman. What I did not learn in school was what it would take to be a good wife and a stay-at-home mother. I did not learn that I would be spending 90% of my time caring for other people and doing monotonous activities such as laundry, cleaning and helping kids grow up. I did not learn that when I had kids my life would turn upside down and I would be filled with an incredible love for these kids that would make all the things I thought were important not nearly so important anymore. If I had done college the way a lot of people had I could have ended up with $30,000 in school loans that would have forced me to need to work to pay them off. I wouldn't have been able to afford to be home with my kids. "Luckily," I was able to work and pay my way through college and I chose to live at home so I didn't rack up a ridiculous amount of debt before the majority of my life began.

I now have the opportunity to speak into women's lives and it is very sad to see how many women are unhappy right now. Those who choose to stay at home often feel invaluable because they are not "producing" something seen as valuable in our society. They went through a school system where they were rewarded for what they produced and now they are at home, where the rewards can be few and far between. They are now confused on how they are valuable in the this world. Then there are those women who choose to work and they feel guilty because they have a huge heart for their kids (which no one told them about) but they either don't know how to be home with their kids or they can't afford to be with their kids and so they live in turmoil everyday.

Homeschooling is beneficial to breaking this negative cycle because we time to can place other values in our kids. It is my sincere hope that James will allow his future wife to stay at home if she desires. He will have seen a model for this and he will have learned the financial planning and sacrifices that need to take place in order for this to happen. I hope Mercea will also desire and be able to stay at home and this won't be a foreign, scary or overwhelming concept to her. It is not that I am against college or that I don't expect both of my kids to attend college but I do want them to have a full perspective on life and not to think that having a job and making money defines success. The large amount of America ~ I guess even the country itself is in huge debt trying to achieve those ideas of success we learned about having in school but what has been lost in America is what really matters ~ relationship.

Well, I could go on and on with more reasons but I hope you noticed that there are many life-giving benefits to homeschooling and that it is not all about hiding in fear from the "ideas of the world." People state that homeschoolers are being sheltered and won't be prepared for the real world. While I do hope that one benefit will be that they were spared some unnecessary heartbreak I do not intend for them to be ignorant about the cruelties of this world. Rather I view one of the benefits of homeschooling is that they will be training for battle in the real world. An analogy that I have come up with is a homeschooler is like being trained to be a professional boxer. How is a boxer trained? By throwing them into a ring with other people who don't know what they are doing and let them keep swinging at each other until one is left standing ( and hopefully it will be my kid still standing)? Or is a successful boxer trained by working with an expert for hours on end and by practicing on inanimate objects? Then when the boxer is fully trained he is released into the ring and he fights and fights well. I hope my kids will be well trained fighters because I believe we are in a world at war but I don't believe that they have to fight in the "ring" until they been well trained to fight.

So that is some of the reasons why I homeschool. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest!

Breaking the Cycle with TRUTH

I decided to do a little word search on the word "truth" in the Bible. I decided to see how many times it was used. Thanks to Bible Gateway this was a very easy thing to do! In the whole Bible, the word truth is used 228 times. Of those 228 times 104 times it is used in the Gospels. Most of the time it is used by Jesus.

So what, you may ask? Well what started my curiosity was John 8:32 "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." Jesus is all about speaking the truth and He states that truth is really that powerful ~ that it can set you free.

I then stumbled upon John 16:13 "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."

Who is the Spirit of truth = the Holy Spirit and He desires to guide you into all truth!

I've had some major "breakthroughs" in my personal life over the last month. I really attribute it to revelation by the Spirit of truth. Have you ever been caught in a cycle? It seems like you work through something but then a month later the same issue rises up again then you bury it, but it rears its ugly head again a month later and on and on and on....

How do we break these cycles? I really believe it all comes down to finding the Truth. If you are stuck in a never ending cycle then you need to get to the root of the problem ~ the truth of what is causing it. Often the issues we acknowledge and the emotions that surface are the junk we spend our time swimming in. We are not noticing the source which is way down deep. The only way to find the source is to invite the Spirit of truth to guide you into all truth.

For me, it was simply inviting the truth to be revealed. I acknowledged that what I was "understanding and seeing" was not the truth and that there was more to it. I then prayed that it would be revealed. Next I waited and watched (a good thing to do when you make a request). The next time I was approached with the situation, I invited the Holy Spirit to help me not react in my self-defensive ways and to help me to listen and hear the truth. It took a couple of different times of me doing it and it didn't happen as "beautifully" as it sounds in a blog post but when the root was revealed it was an "Ah, ha moment" and it made all the difference in the world. It was like the blinders were lifted off and now I can see. When you understand the TRUTH than you can attack problems at the real source.

So beloved ~ you have within you the Spirit of truth who will guide you into ALL truth. Give Him the chance to guide you, invite Him and then listen!

How do you taste?

How do you taste?

Maybe I'm a little slow but the verse "Taste and see that the Lord is good" got a whole new meaning for me last year. I always thought this verse was referring only to the Word of God. If you read His Word, you will taste and see that the Lord is good and it will make you want to come back for more! Now this is partly true but most non-Christians and even Christians don't spend a lot of time in the Word and so if this were only true they would never have the pleasure of tasting the Lord and seeing that He is good. So then what is this verse referring to? It is referring to US!

People are supposed to be able to "taste the Lord" through us! Jesus says that He is the vine, we are the branches. What grows on branches? Fruit! What do people do with fruit? They eat it! Guess what, our taste to others is often the only experience that they may have of the Lord. So what exactly is our after-taste when people leave our presence? Delightful and wanting more, or nasty and they'd rather not be with us?

"Nasty"

If you still are not convinced we are the taste of the Lord, here is another question for you, "What is the evidence of the Holy Spirit being in our lives called?" It is called the fruit of the Spirit. What is the fruit of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. The majority of people do enjoy these traits and are looking to experience these things in their lives and in their relationships.

"Delicious"

So how do we know if we are tasting good? If you are brave a good place to start finding out is at home, by asking your spouse and kids what your presence leaves them feeling like. Often times, we save our very best for others and we leave those closest to us with the leftovers (ps I am talking to myself ~ no judgement or condemnation here).

So if we realize we don't taste so good what do we do? Revelation 3:20 "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Matthew 25:29 "For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance." It is essential for us as Christians to spend time with the Lord on a daily basis. Not as drudgery or routine but because Jesus wants to eat with us! He wants to look into our eyes and remind us of who we are in Him. Then, because He is a generous God, He always gives us a doggie bag to take out of the abundance of being in His presence. What is the abundance for? It is for us to share with others and by us sharing it with others it should cause them to see that the Lord is good and leave them wanting some of the first hand stuff for themselves.

I am notorious for allowing food to sit for too long in my refrigerator. My husband has come to me more than once and asked if the food should look like this or if we are conducting a science experience in the refrigerator. The food was at one time good and delicious to eat, but if it has been sitting for awhile it begins to lose its desirability and gets gross. This is an example for us why Sunday mornings alone do not cut it. By Saturday, you are handing people moldy pieces of bread and saying, "Here, try this" and they walk away cringing. Sunday is important but do not rely on that alone to be your food.

So beloved, how do you taste?

Cream Filled Doughnut

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonnipink/527237340/

This morning I read Psalm 16. It was filled with so much good stuff I couldn't help but share it with you. Enjoy, it reminds me of a cream filled doughnut except it not only tastes good but it is good for you too!

Psalm 16

Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge. I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing." As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips.

LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.

I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

These verses speak to me about the beauty of being with the Lord. You, Oh Lord, I take refuge in. Whether you are in a good place in your life right now or not the only safe place to be is in the hands of the Lord ~ He is our strong tower and portion forever!

Apart from you, Oh Lord I have no good thing. Look around your life today, what are the good things that you see? Praise the Lord for those good things!

We are the "saints," do you see how we are viewed? "As the glorious ones" and "in whom is all my delight!" Live everyday as a glorious son or daughter of God and know that you are delighted in by God and by others.

Walk today in the portion that the Lord has assigned for you. He has made those lines secure.

We do have a delightful inheritance awaiting us!

The Lord is our Counselor ~ He has given us the Holy Spirit to speak to us and instruct us through everyday. Cling to Him. The Lord is always before me and He is at my right hand (He also hems us in from behind)! I woke up this morning and the word I described for how I was feeling was "shaken." After I read these verses I realized where I wasn't resting. Invite the Lord to have His full place in you which is before you, beside you and behind you. His Word promises us that when we are in that place we will not be shaken.

Thank you Lord for making known to us the path of life ~ I invite the fullness of joy that only exists in your presence to fill me today and to have your eternal pleasures in my life. I love you Lord!

The Power of Love

I've been thinking about the power of love over the last few weeks. It started after I read Song of Solomon 8:6-7:

Place me like a seal over your heart,

like a seal on your arm;

for love is as strong as death,

its jealousy unyielding as the grave.

It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.

Many waters cannot quench love;

rivers cannot wash it away.

I could take this in a variety of directions but I think where I want to go with is with the strength of love. God created love to be strong because He knew that this life would try to do whatever it could to squelch it. So how strong is love? It is as strong as death. Water cannot put it out. This is the imagery that I've been caught up in; that love is as strong as a fire and that it cannot be put out.

One of my favorite stories is Elijah on the mountaintop showing the power of God (I Kings 18). He continually drenches an altar with water till it is filled to overflowing. Then Elijah prays and God sends down a fire that devours the sacrifice, the altar and even the stones. Even the water was unable to stop it.

The third Scripture that has been brought to my mind when thinking about the power of love is 1 Peter 4:8 "Love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."

So here is the picture I have from tying all 3 of these Scriptures together. If you've been in a marriage or any sort of relationship you have seen what time and life can do to it. If you don't put 1 Corinthians 13 into practice very well that love may seem to die down and maybe in your mind not even exist anymore. But I believe that the power of love is stronger than what the weeks, months and years can do to try and destroy love. There is an unquenchable power behind it. Like Elijah, we can pray and ask God to send His fire upon our altars (perhaps where the flame of love no longer seems to exist). When God sends His all consuming fire it burns up everything even the stones (the things that we think will always be and can never be moved).

What is the result of a fire? Ashes. What then is God's promise to us? Isaiah 61:3 I will bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes.

If you think a love has died in your life ~ it hasn't. Invite our All Consuming God to send His fire down. Let the power of His love and what Jesus did burn up the stones of what has been built over the years and then let Him take the ashes and turn them into a thing of beauty.

Who I Am

Dearest Child,

What is it that you need? What is it that you are searching for?

Do you feel like your life is a mess?
I am your Redeemer.

Do you feel unloved?
I am the Lover of your soul.

Are you filled with sorrow?
I am your Comforter.

Do you feel alone?
I have promised to never leave you or forsake you.

Do you feel your story is incomplete?
I am the author and perfecter of your faith. Fix your eyes on me.

Are you afraid?
I am your Defender and Protector.

Are there situations in your life that you need to be rescued from?
I am a Warrior; I fight for you daily and will save you.

Do you feel unknown?
I have numbered even the hairs on your head ~ I know you.

Do you need to rest?
I have asked you to come to me when you are weary and I will give you rest.

Whatever it is you are facing ~ I AM.

I AM here for you to be your strong tower, a refuge. I AM mighty and the one who can and will and does fight for you daily. I AM full of love & provide a place to receive mercy and grace in your time of need.
Ask me your questions. I will answer you for
I AM.

Love,
Your Heavenly Father



References:
Redeemer: Isaiah 48:17, Jeremiah 50:34
Lover: Song of Solomon 2:14, 1 John 4:10
Comforter: Isaiah 49:13, 2 Corinthians 1: 3-5
Never leave: Deuteronomy 31:6, Hebrews 13:5
Fix your eyes: Hebrews 12:2
Defender: Isaiah 19:20, Proverbs 23:11
Warrior & Savior: Exodus 15:3, Isaiah 42:13, Jeremiah 20:11, Isaiah 43:11, Isaiah 45:21
Give you rest: Psalm 68:19, Matthew 11:38
Numbered hairs on your head: Luke 12: 6,7
I AM: Exodus 3:14
Refuge: 2 Samuel 22:3
Mighty One: Psalm 50:1
Gracious: Exodus 34:6, Psalm 116:5, Isaiah 30:18, Romans 8:32
Merciful: Deuteronomy 4:31, Micah 7:18, Luke 1:50, Titus 3:4-7

In the Dreams of God

I am absolutely amazed that people can look at children and not believe in God. I was staring at my son yesterday as he was just standing there stretching and smiling. I was captivated by the color of his eyes; they are a dark with a beautiful swirl of green and brown. I then began thinking about how he was five and how not so long ago he used to be a tiny baby that I would just hold kiss and snuggle and now he is so full of life and ready to take on the adventures of this world.

Children are filled with so much personality it is almost shocking how someone so little could be filled with so much... and to believe it all came to be through random chance? Yikes! Yesterday, I moved my three year old's radio down so she could reach it and turn it on and off by herself. Later in the day, she asked me when she was getting her own computer (her brother has one in her room so I guess she figured she was old enough now to now have her own.) I told her, "I don't think that's going to be happening." She said, "That's okay, then you can just give me a little thing like Weston has." In other words, a Nintendo DS. I just had to laugh. The way her little mind works just amazes me.

When I look at my children it is hard for me to imagine that they never existed. If you asked them, they have always existed, "They just lived in heaven before." Now I don't believe that's true in the way they are thinking but in another sense it is true. We have always existed in the mind of God, even before time began (Titus 1:2-3). We have always existed in the heart and dreams of God and what a beautiful place to be. And as a mother, there is something about my kids that always has been ~ it is like I've always known them and that they have always been a part of me ~ and though I can't put a verse to it I know God was behind it. I believe He was so excited about who they were and who they would be that He implanted a piece of them always in my heart and whispered to me about them without me even knowing it. I thank you God for my kids and the gift they are to me everyday.

Today, I would encourage you to get caught up in the beauty of others. In our society today, we are so focused on what is wrong with others and how they need to be fixed. Yet hidden in the eyes of others, and the creases on people's cheeks, the veins on their hands and in the power of their personality are little pieces of our great God and not only His great love for them but His great love for us and His desire to bless us through others.

Rock Bowl

So here is the rock bowl I've been telling you about. I was inspired to create this after I read

Joshua 4:1-6

When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, "Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight."
So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."

It is also inspired by Deuteronomy 6:4 "Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."

Throughout the OT there are numerous examples of the Israelites creating memorials with stones. The purpose of the memorials was to serve as a sign to their children of the faithfulness of God. When the children saw the rocks they would ask, "What do these rocks mean?" This would give the Israelites a chance to share what God had done and would serve as a reminder to both themselves and their children of the awesome power of God.

One of my favorite verses to think about as a parent comes from Deuteronomy 6. I think God shows how a family should be able to have their faith should be a natural talking point throughout our days.

The rock bowl for me then was inspired by both of these passages. Anytime I consider God has done a significant answer to prayer I pick a new rock and write on it with a black sharpie pen. I also date the rock for when the event took place. My kids have been a part of adding rocks to our bowl and I hope when they are older they will begin to ask me what each rock represents. It will be an opportunity for me to share what God has done in our lives and how he has shown himself to be faithful time and time again.

It has also served another purpose for me personally. Before I had my rock bowl I usually would find myself panicking every time a new "crisis" arose. The rock bowl for me has been a reminder that God is faithful and comes through even though there can be dark times in the process.

One of my rocks has the word money on it. There was a time in our lives where we needed money for tires and to finish remodeling a bathroom. We did not have the money. By the end of the month we had gotten a thousand dollars in a couple different ways and the we were able to pay for both of them. There was another time where we needed to do landscaping because our basement was leaking but we did not have the money to pay the landscaper. After praying, in faith I called the landscaper and asked him if he would be willing to wait 6 months to get paid. He said..... Anyone?..................

Yes! I am still shocked and amazed. He let us wait 6 months to pay him and he didn't charge us a dime in interest. I still thank God for him and his company.

As a result, it is pretty hard for me to panic and doubt God when finances get a little tight. I just look at my rock and remind myself how He has been faithful in the past and say "thank you" that you will be faithful to me again.

So if this idea inspires you I would encourage you to start a rock bowl in your own home. I picked out my rock bowl at a Paint your Own pottery place and painted it myself. That way I could pick the colors and make sure it went with my decor ~because I am such an artistic person (not).