A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

christianity

The Excellent Wife – A Wife’s Understanding of Sin

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I’ve been going through The Excellent Wife by Martha Pearce, you can find the rest of the series here.
This week we are on Chapter Three: A Wife’s Understanding of Sin.

In this chapter we learn about God’s provision of sin and Four Characteristics of it. 

1. Sin is universal.  No one is exempt.  Romans 3:23

2. Sin may be open and obvious to others. Galatians 5: 19-21

3. Sin cannot be hidden from God. 1 Samuel 16:7; Hebrews 4:13

4. Sin justly penalized.  Romans 6:23; Isaiah 53:11

 If we trust the Lord God for our salvation, our sin is covered.   We’ve repented, our sin is cleansed and removed from us  Even horrible sins of the past.   The sins of the present will continue to need to be dwelt with.

If we have a long-standing sin we must be diligent about putting off the old self and putting on the new.  Making choices to change what we do and how we respond.   Changes thoughts, actions, patterns etc by making CHOICES that fit with the new nature we are putting on.

Our goal as believers is to be godly.  To show God in the things that we say, do or even think.   God is the image that we seek after, the image that we want to emulate.  So understand that sin is NOT being godly.  Turn from it.  Seek after God and his ways. 

Confess.  Repent.   Seek.   Do.  That’s the calling up on us.  

This chapter seemed very straight-forward to me.  No hidden mysteries.  Just a call to recognize that if we want to be an excellent wife to our spouses, it really starts with having faith, and living according to the higher calling God has placed on our lives.   Seeking him, seeking to be kind, seeking to be more than what we sometimes want to be.

Middle, a poem with thoughts

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The
Homeschool Review Crew does word prompts for Instagram fun, I think
it’s great to have these words prompts for doing quick posts.  🙂   I
find them fun as sometimes it surprises me where my brain goes.  🙂   The word for today is Middle.  

I am a middle child… family with six children, three boys, three girls.  the order was Two boys three girls and one boy… so I was a middle child and a middle girl.  Therefore when I saw this word prompt I wanted to do it.  🙂

What does the word middle mean?   Has so many synonyms eh?  My brain pathways:

Middle
Central
Median
Midway
Halfway
Mean
Medial
In-between
Monkey-in-the-middle
Game
Chase
Tag
Teasing
Fun
Not Fun

 No Middle Ground
Make a Choice
One or the Other
Lukewarm
Neither One or the Other
Caught halfway
The Lord tells us that he doesn’t want people caught halfway between one world and the other.  That the lukewarm believer he will SPEW out of his mouth. (Revelations 3) Can you imagine that?  To be spewn out of the mouth?   The forceful ejection that you do of something you can’t stand having in your mouth.  A bug, bad tasting food, sand … all those things that you just know you shouldn’t ingest..you spew them out violently.
It’s not a bad thing to be a middle child (though it had it tough moments) but it is bad to be a person who wants to walk a middle ground between good and evil.  You can’t do it well.  It’s like trying to serve two masters and it can’t be done.  Make up your mind… be one or the other …or at least strive with all your might eh?!
Don’t be one that the Lord spews out of his mouth.

Review: Really Woolly Easter Blessings

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Really Woolly Easter Blessings is a sweet board book to introduce your littlest ones to the joys of Easter. and the truth of the resurrection.

Bonnie Rickner Jensen has written a cute little devotional to use with your littlest children, it is a sturdy board book, just a lovely size to stick into an oversized pocket or your purse. 

20 pages of lovely illustrations, carefully filled in with bright colours, each page containing an image of a woolly lamb doing different things with his friends. 

Each two page spread has a simple bible verse (including the reference), rhyming verse (generally two verses) an a simple prayer to say with your children.

It is easy enough for an older child to read with a younger sibling, with much one the page to draw the eye of a child.

 
 As you can see…. beautiful illustrations carefully added by Donna Chapman, that fit well with the verse and poem.

Simple prayers that you can easily teach your children, starting them along the way to a great relationship with God.

 A sample two page spread.   See how the colour covers the whole page, giving you loads of things you can point out to your children.   Cute figures that should appeal to most children.

Really Woolly Easter Blessings.
Author: Bonnie Rickner Jensen
Illustrator: Donna Chapman
Publisher: Tommy Nelson
Pages: 20
Age Range: 2-5

Reviewed for: BookLookBloggers.

Oh to be Slow

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Oh to be slow

To not be in a rush.
To take my time.

To listen.
To watch.
To see.
To really observe.

The flight of a bird.
The sound of my son’s voice.
The labour of my man.

The squeak of baby mice.
The thump of a nervous rabbit.
The crunching of food.
The chirp of a budgie.
The squeak of a wheel.

To listen.
To hear the sound of the Spirit.
To know fully the cost of the cross.
The awareness of that quiet voice within.
The roar of the lion of Judah.

Take the time.
Let it sink in.

To be slow
To take the time.
To not be in a rush.

Slow

————–

This is a five minute Friday post. the word prompt is brought to us by Miss Kate.  Today the word is Slow. 
What is Five Minute Friday?  Well it’s a party of a group of like
minded folks who gather on Friday to do a five minute free write around a
singular word.  AND THEN we take the time to offer up encouragement to
each other on this writing journey.  It’s fun, though it’s not always
easy, but it is always good.   Come join us won’t you?  You are always
welcome.

Book series: The Excellent Wife – A Wife’s Understanding of God

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This chapter’s focus on on what a wife understands about God, talking about who God is, and what God wants for them in their lives and work.

First off, What wives need to know about God.
1. God has planned a ministry for you.
2. God is gracious, righteous and compassionate.
3. God’s strength and understanding are unlimited.
4. God is purposefully working in your life.
5. God wants you to be a joyful and fulfilled wife.

Second,
What wives need to know about their works and themselves.
1. God has prepared good works for the Christian wife to do.
2. The Christian wife’s good works have eternal worth.
3. The Christian wife does not have to be afraid.
4. The focus of the Christian wife is to be on God rather than herself.
5. A Christian wife does not have to sin… which means we are putting ourselves under God’s protective authority.  

Why does the wife need protection?
1. The influence the world has on her.
2. The Devil
3. Women are often more easily deceived.

The study guide questions:
I won’t go through them all as some are true/false questions or just asking to rehash the lessons of the chapter.

5. Does the husband ever have absolute authority over his wife?
  … you know.. before reading this chapter the answer could easily have been yes…but really he doesn’t.  God does give him authority over his household, but this doesn’t mean he can ask us to do something that is against God or God’s ways (aka to sin).

6. Why does a wife need protection from the influence of the world?  Examples?
….one of the things that I am grateful to is my husbands ability to figure out what it is about something that I am uncertain about.   I can say.. something about this feels wrong but I can’t figure out why… and he’ll be able to put his finger on it, if not immediately (though often that’s the case), then quickly.  It gives me a sense of security to know that my radar is working even if it’s not always correct.  🙂

Hymn Study: Have thine Own Way Lord

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Lyrics:
1 Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after thy will,
while I am waiting, yielded and still.

2 Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
as in thy presence humbly I bow.

3 Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me I pray!
Power, all power, surely is thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!

4 Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway.
Fill with thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!

United Methodist Hymnal, 1989

Written by Adelaide A. Pollard, a woman who wrote hymns, but we can’t be sure how many as she seldom signed them.   Her devotion was to furthering the cause of God, not to seeking recognition for her own work. 

This particular hymn was inspired by the prayer of an elderly woman who asked God to simply “Just have your own way with us”. 

“As Adelaide left the prayer meeting that night the phrase from that
prayer, “Have Thine own way”, rang in her mind. On the way home she
formed the lyrics in her mind and before going to bed that night, she
wrote the words on paper.” (source)

The tanbible includes this tidbit “Upon
returning home that evening, Miss Pollard mediated on the story of the
potter, found in Jeremiah 18:3-4.


       Then
I went to the potter’s house, and behold, he wrought a work on the
wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of
the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the
potter to make it.”
Some hymnals have altered verse two to say 

 2 Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Search me and try me, Savior today!
Wash me just now, Lord, wash me just now,
as in thy presence humbly I bow. 

The reason for that change being found here.   Personally I think she’s meaning how our hearts are changed from being dark with sin to be being white with the light of being cleansed by God’s work in our lives.  
 
      

You are my strength when I am Weak

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“You Are My All In All”

Na na na…holy

You are my strength when I am weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all
Seeking You as a precious jewel
Lord, to give up I’d be a fool
You are my all in all

Taking my sin, my cross, my shame
Rising again I bless Your name
You are my all in all
When I fall down You pick me up
When I am dry You fill my cup
You are my all in all

Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name

You are my strength when I am weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all
Seeking You as a precious jewel
Lord, to give up I’d be a fool
You are my all in all

Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name

Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name

Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
Worthy is Your name
Worthy is Your name 

This song immediately popped into my head when I saw the word Weak was our word prompt for the day.
It’s funny you know.
The older I get the more I realize that God is my strength.
When I was young I knew that God could move mountains if he so desired.
I knew this.
I didn’t count on it though.
I counted on my strength and ability to see me through by the end of the day.
But as I mature… I’m a whole 51 years old eh… I see more of God in action.
As  he helps me through a day when I feel grumpy because my body is yelling at me.
His strength keeps me from yelling at the lad or making hubby feel horrid just because I do.
Knowing that he has my back helps me from feeling discouraged when an highly anticipated litter of bunnies proves to not come about, or dies, or a possum gets into the rabbitry and wrecks havoc. 
These small things help me to rest secure when bigger things happens like church closures and job searches begin.   
I can’t say that I always rest easy (because that would be a lie) but it helps me to rest more secure that in the end, God will work it out.

————————————————- 
This is a five minute friday post 
Hosted by Dear Miss Kate. 
Today the word prompt is Weak. 
Five minute free write.
 Link up.
 Encourage others.
 Join the community.