Saturday, March 14, 2009

Marriage~ Submission







Submission...a heavy topic to be sure! I could never begin to give my advice on this, or any topic apart from the Word of God. For me, the Lord used, and continues to use this matter of "submission" to draw me into a deeper relationship with Him.
In order to become submissive as a wife, we must first be submissive to the Lord. To try to do so any other
way would be to come in through the back door. Submission as man would define it is, "the act of yielding to power or authority, a yielding of one's will to the will of a superior without murmuring, surrender of the person and power to the control or government of another, obedience, resignation." While all this is true, we also need God's perspective on submission as laid out in His Word.
1 Peter 3: 1-6 has greatly ministered to my heart in this matter. "Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also WHO TRUSTED IN GOD, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement."
In case you hadn't noticed, our outward beauty fades day by day, but submission is an inward beauty that never fades. The Lord sees and places great value upon this inward beauty called submission, a meek and quiet spirit as the Bible defines it. This is what He would desire us as wives to excel in above our outward beauty. It is a tool in the hands of God to perform surgery on the heart of your husband to mold it and shape it into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ.
It is through your submission to the husband that God has placed over you that you are in reality submitting to God Himself! We need to let the character of God determine the kind of wives we will be, not the character of our husbands! By submitting first to God, we can master this completely... Submission to your husband provides a pleasant atmosphere in your home for which the Holy Spirit can do His work of conviction in the hearts of those that live there. It is a work that the devil seeks to destroy in many homes, for he does not want to see men becoming more like Christ and he most definitely does not want marriages to stay together! He is in the business of breaking up homes... That is why submission is of great value to God for His voice can't be heard when there is stubbornness and arguing and pride present. It may seem a vulnerable position for us to be in as wives, but as Sara trusted in God, you and I need to trust in God as well and not be anxious about so many things. God will honor our submissive spirits by giving back to us tenderhearted and loving husbands who have responded to the Lord's moving in their hearts. What a special calling we have in being submissive. We are laborers together with God for the good of our homes!
Don't let the devil get you to believe that you are going to lose out or get taken advantage of if you submit to your husband....he is a great deceiver. He tried in Genesis 3 to get Eve to doubt God's Word and God's way, and he will try to do the same to us as wives today!
As a young Christian, I made the mistake of marrying an unsaved man and then found myself in the position of having to submit to one who did not care about the things of God at all. So began my rough and bumpy journey into submission and a deeper understanding of who God is... What looked to be the worst road to travel has become the road that has led me closest to my Lord. Don't be afraid to travel down this road called "submission" for you will miss out greatly on knowing the God of this universe in a most intimate way! I encourage you to trust Him and lean upon His Word for the strength, understanding, and guidance that only He can give to those who truly desire to be submissive wives. Do we submit then to anything at all our husbands ask of us?
In Colossians 3:18, God lays the boundaries out for women when it comes to submission. "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord." If our husbands ask us to go against what God would clearly consider sin, then we are not to submit to this, but rather to God's Word. For instance, if your husband is asking you to watch pornography, you would decline because God clearly calls looking on the nakedness of another sin (Mt. 5:27). In this case, Acts 5:29 would be the verse to obey, "...We ought to obey God rather than men." It is a delicate subject to be sure and one that should be sought out with much
prayer!

By
Pam R & S
Copyright 2009

Friday, March 13, 2009

It's In The Valleys I Grow





So fitting....I love this poem...God is so good!!!


Sometimes life seems hard to bear,

Full of sorrow, trouble and woe,

It's then I have to remember

That it's in the valleys I grow.
If I always stayed on the mountain top

And never experienced pain,

I would never appreciate God's love,

And would be living in vain.
I have so much to learn,

And my growth is very slow,

Sometimes I need the mountain tops,

But it's in the valleys I grow.
I do not always understand

Why things happen as they do,

But I am very sure of one thing ...

My Lord will see me through.
My little valleys are nothing

When I picture Christ on the cross

He went through the valley of death;

His victory was Satan's loss.
Forgive me Lord, for complaining

When I'm feeling so very low

,Just give me a gentle reminder

That it's in the valleys I grow.
Continue to strengthen me Lord,

And use my life each day,

To share your love with others

And help them find their way.
Thank you for valleys Lord,

For this one thing I know ...

The mountain tops are glorious,

But it's in the valleys I grow!
~ Jane Eggleston ~

Marriage 1 Peter 3 VS 1 Through 5








The wife is like a mirror. If she complains, the mirror becomes blurry. He can blame all the troubles on her and forget his own problems. But if she is humble and responsive then the mirror is clear, and he can see his own faults. He might not admit them, but be assured he sees them.


1 Peter 3:1-5
Likewise, ye wives, [be] in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;


While they behold your chaste conversation [coupled] with fear.

Whose adorning let it not be that outward [adorning] of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

But [let it be] the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, [even the ornament] of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:




101 Reasons to homeschool your kids

The world we live in ........

1. Teens Bare All on Phones
January 13, 2009
Cincinatti, OH
"If I were to go through the cell phones in this building right now of 1,500 students, I would venture to say that half to two-thirds have indecent photos, either of themselves or somebody else in school," said Jim Brown, school resource officer at Glen Este High School. Turpin High School Principal Peggy Johnson thinks that the results would be similar - about 50-50 - in her building.
2. NEA's radical plan for your kids
July 25, 2008
Washington, DC
The nation's largest teachers union, the National Education Association, attracted 9,000 delegates to its annual convention in Washington, D.C., over the Fourth of July weekend. Delegates sported buttons with provocative slogans such as "Gay marriage causes Global Warming only because we are so hot!" "Hate is not a family value," "The 'Christian Right' is neither," and "Gay Rights are civil rights."
3. Sex Scandals May Cost Helix High Its Charter
July 12, 2008
San Diego, CA
Grossmont Union High School District Governing Board President Larry Urdahl still can't believe that four Helix High School teachers violated students' trust by allegedly engaging in inappropriate relationships with them.
4. Teacher lets Morningside students vote out classmate, 5
May 24, 2008
Port Saint Lucie, FL
Melissa Barton said she is considering legal action after her son's kindergarten teacher led his classmates to vote him out of class. After each classmate was allowed to say what they didn't like about Barton's 5-year-old son, Alex, his Morningside Elementary teacher Wendy Portillo said they were going to take a vote, Barton said.
5. 1 in 4 Teen Girls Has Sexual Disease
March 11, 2008
Chicago, IL
At least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease, or more than 3 million teens, according to the first study of its kind in this age group. A virus that causes cervical cancer is by far the most common sexually transmitted infection in teen girls aged 14 to 19, while the highest overall prevalence is among black girls—nearly half the blacks studied had at least one STD. That rate compared with 20 percent among both whites and Mexican-American teens, the study from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.
6. Anti-Union Group Will Offer Nation's 'Worst Teacher' $10K To Quit
March 11, 2008
Washington, DC
Critics who say unions block education reforms and make it virtually impossible to fire bad teachers will offer 10 instructors it deems the nation's worst $10,000 to quit their careers. The Center for Union Facts, a Washington-based nonprofit, will launch a campaign Tuesday spending $1 million on ads and a billboard in New York's Times Square. It also says it's starting a Web site with data documenting how far unions go to protect bad teachers.
7. Assistant Principal Charged With Lewd Acts Involving 13-Year-Old
March 6, 2008
Los Angeles, CA
An assistant principal of a South Los Angeles middle school was charged Thursday with lewd acts involving a 13-year-old girl on and off the campus. Steve Thomas Rooney, 39, was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday afternoon at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse, according to Deputy District Attorney Darci Lanphere. Rooney -- the assistant principal at Markham Middle School -- is charged with three counts of forcible lewd acts upon a child and two counts of lewd acts upon a child. All of the charges are felonies.
8. Teacher caught yelling at kids
February 26, 2008
Houston, TX
A teacher is caught on tape yelling at 4 and 5 year olds by Texas parents told their daughter had behavior problems.
9. 8-year-old boy returning to class as girl
February 8, 2008
Castle Rock, CO
An 8-year-old boy is preparing to return to his home school district in Colorado as a girl, so school officials are designating two school restrooms as unisex facilities, and preparing to counsel other students on the issue of transgenderism.
10. Judge blesses teaching students homosexuality is innate
February 5, 2008
Montgomery County, MD
A member of the school board in Montgomery County, Md., which has been working for years to overcome obstacles to its program that teaches students homosexuality is innate, has told members of a group objecting to the lessons to go away. "To the other side, I say get out of town, shut up, quit costing Montgomery County taxpayers money for litigation, and we're right and parents believe we're right," board member Pat O'Neill said in a report in the Portland, Ore., Examiner.
11. Sex-ed curriculum includes field trip to buy condoms
February 2, 2008
Port Saint Lucie, FL
A campaign has been launched by concerned parents and others in Florida where a school board has adopted an explicit sex ed curriculum that includes various how-to lessons for students as young as fourth grade, and in one incarnation proposed field trips for children to purchase condoms and then talk about their experience.
12. Schools worker pleads guilty to sex charge
January 29, 2008
Nashville, TN
A former Metro schools employee pleaded guilty Monday to sexual battery and misconduct charges stemming from accusations that she inappropriately touched two teenage students. Erica Keyonta Bell, 33, was an in-school suspension monitor at Gra-Mar Middle School in 2005 and early 2006, when Metro police began investigating complaints that Bell had fondled a 13-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl several times on school grounds over a monthlong period.
13. School counselor charged with having sex with student
January 28, 2008
Lexington, NC
A counselor for Thomasville City Schools has been charged with having sexual contact with a student. Stanford L. Ray, 50, of Browning Drive, was charged with sexual activity with student by school personnel other than teacher, school administrator or student teacher, which is a felony. He had not been arrested as of late Monday afternoon.
14. Former school sentry on trial for sex abuse
January 28, 2008
Rochester, NY
A former school sentry in the Rochester City School District is on trial today for sex abuse. Andre Johnson faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted of sexually abusing ten boys. Police say some of the abuse happened on school property.
15. Principal Removed Following Sex Allegations
January 28, 2008
San Antonio, TX
A South San Antonio Independent School District elementary school principal has been removed from his post in the midst of a sex investigation involving a student, police said. Michael Alcoser, 41, was recently relieved of his duties at Carrillo Elementary, school district officials said in a letter sent home to parents.
16. Sex acts in school alleged
January 28, 2008
Lancaster, PA
A teenage girl told investigators how she and a teacher kissed and had intimate sexual contact inside Warwick High School over a two-year period, according to police documents filed today. Todd Nicholas Sheerer, 29, of 3471 Coronet Ave., Lancaster, the Warwick High School band director, was charged late Thursday with corruption of minors by two area police departments for his alleged relationship with a 17-year-old girl.
17. Teen Suspended For Sex Offender Warning
December 14, 2007
Gig Harbor, WA
Last week, Raydon Gilmore found a 16-year-old fellow student at Gig Harbor High School listed at the Washington State Sex Offender Information Center, a Web site that lists the state's level 2 and level 3 sex offenders. "Then it hit me that I was in P.E. freshman year, and this kid was there for a while and he was my neighbor at my locker," Gilmore told KIRO. The 16-year-old was convicted of indecent liberties and using force.
18. Teacher of the Year Convicted for Child Porn Possession
November 16, 2007
San Diego, CA
A former history teacher at a San Diego-area middle school has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a charge of possessing child pornography. Forty-year-old Tyrico Tyler was also ordered Friday to register as a sex offender.
19. Neb. teacher in student sex case fired
November 13, 2007
Lexington, NE
The Nebraska middle school teacher accused of having sex with a 13-year-old student and fleeing to Mexico with him has been fired. Without public comment, the Lexington School Board voted 6-0 Monday night to terminate Kelsey Peterson's contract. The sixth-grade teacher had been put on administrative leave late last month after allegations surfaced that she was having an inappropriate relationship with the student. Peterson, 25, fled Lexington with the boy, a former student of hers, on Oct. 26. They were found in a mall parking lot in the border town of Mexicali, Mexico, on Nov. 2.
20. Tutor: 'I've taken to fondling' the students
October 16, 2007
Cleveland, OH
Two-and-a-half years later, the mother learned the numbing truth: Former tutor Phillip Distasio had molested about a dozen boys during the three years he worked at PEP Harbor School in Cleveland. "Now, when I walk into a school, I wonder what's the motive when I see a guy in the school -- because of Mr. Distasio," the mother told a judge before the confessed pedophile received 26 life sentences last December. "This guy made my son into a freak." Distasio's case is one of 246 that the Ohio Department of Education has labeled "confidential," keeping secret the details of what he did. The state will disclose only that Distasio was convicted of a sex crime.

Read the rest at www.101reasons.org

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Spring Blog Header 'Personalized' Offer



Ok... I am offering this new spring header for your blog. I will personalize with your Blog Name and a verse you would like. For this offer I will need up to a week to complete :)



Casting My Care




As I struggle I have to remember...God is in control.




Casting My Care
Lord I continually set before you


My requests and all my needs


With thanksgiving I come unto you


My concerns unburdened to thee


I wait for your intervention Lord


In quietness of soul and mind


And worship at your footstool


Leaving my cares behind


And Lord I express my thanks for you


For all you are to me


I thank you Lord that I matter to you


Though at times I cannot see


Because of the circumstances in life


The things that I go through


I find my eyes are on the storm


When they should be looking to you


So help me Lord each precious day


No matter what life brings me


To carry on with hope and faith


And to rest in you with peace.


© By M.S.Lowndes.