The Momma Knows » Faith http://themommaknows.com From homeschooling to grandbabies and beyond Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:38:52 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 All We Like David http://themommaknows.com/2012/01/all-we-like-david/ http://themommaknows.com/2012/01/all-we-like-david/#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:00:24 +0000 Dawn http://themommaknows.com/?p=13976 Twenty-five percent. That’s how far we are into the Bible now! I never thought I would love it this much, on my third time through. It is all familiar now, the stories. The telling. Falls from grace. Provision and miracles. Repentence. God’s anger and second, third, fourth (and more!) chances. It is amazing.

Continue reading All We Like David

]]> Twenty-five percent. That’s how far we are into the Bible now! I never thought I would love it this much, on my third time through. It is all familiar now, the stories. The telling. Falls from grace. Provision and miracles. Repentence. God’s anger and second, third, fourth (and more!) chances. It is amazing.

David is the key character right now, as I read through 2Samuel. David, the man after God’s own heart, of whom was said “And he became more and more powerful, because the LORD God Almighty was with him.” (2Sam 5:10) A man with a fallen, sinful heart so much like mine. He willingly followed the Lord and his prophet. He also saw something he wanted, took it, hid the sin, committed another sin to cover it up, and then tried to make things right again. How familiar this is to me! So often it is that we hide what we did wrong, which is wrong too, and then try to make it right somehow. Marrying Bathsheba was his attempt at righting the wrong, but God knew.

God knows us. He sees our downfalls, our cover-ups, our justification for wrongs committed, and he just shakes his head. I’m sure he is like an irritated father, wondering when I’m going to figure it out, that His way is best. I fall. I justify. I hope no one saw/noticed/finds out. And I cover it up. “Good Christians don’t do that,” or at least I like to tell myself that.

But wait? Good Christians? Most Christians I know are just people. Oh. Okay, all Christians I know are people. People aren’t perfect. We’re all works in progress. If I were perfect, I’d have no need for Christ. Imagine! No need for Jesus. The man I could never live without. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be that perfect.

David knew that God was for him. The consequence of his sins was that his newborn son, just seven days old, was taken from him. The son conceived in sin, causing an avalanche of sin to follow. And yet when his son died, David worshiped God. 

May my heart be soft and open enough that even when I know I’m wrong and God calls me on it, that I will worship only One who can bring me through!

]]> http://themommaknows.com/2012/01/all-we-like-david/feed/ 0 Setting Stones http://themommaknows.com/2012/01/setting-stones/ http://themommaknows.com/2012/01/setting-stones/#comments Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:30:21 +0000 Dawn http://themommaknows.com/?p=13941 Reading through the books of the Law again, this third time around, was tough. It was tough, but the Lord always has a plan when we turn the pages of his Word. He always speaks, if we just take the time to listen. As in years past, finally coming through the Law, seeing

Continue reading Setting Stones

]]> Reading through the books of the Law again, this third time around, was tough. It was tough, but the Lord always has a plan when we turn the pages of his Word. He always speaks, if we just take the time to listen. As in years past, finally coming through the Law, seeing Joshua come forward as God’s prophet was a relief. Joshua was a man’s man but more than that, he was God’s man. He didn’t waver but was steadfast in his faith and it showed in his leadership.

As Joshua was giving his final instructions to the Israelites before he was going to pass away, he wanted to enforce what they had already done, in promising faith in God. The Word says he set up a stone, but I imagine it was a big rock, more like what we might consider to be a small boulder, that could be easily seen.

“See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard everything the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.” Joshua 24:27

Do you have something visible, something concrete that declares your faith in such a way that it would be a witness against you when you turn the wrong way?

The Israelites may have made a lot of promises that they didn’t keep, but they did do one thing right. They believed in setting up stones of memorial, reminders of what God had done for them so that everyone would see and know.

What stone have you set up as your witness and reminder of what the Lord has done in YOUR life?

]]> http://themommaknows.com/2012/01/setting-stones/feed/ 1 Transition: My Word for 2012 http://themommaknows.com/2012/01/transition-my-word-for-2012/ http://themommaknows.com/2012/01/transition-my-word-for-2012/#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:00:26 +0000 Dawn http://themommaknows.com/?p=13903 The posts, the tweets, and the Facebook updates are popping up all over. “What’s your WORD for the new year?” and “MY word for the new year is…” It made me think, hmm. A word? I have no idea. Why would you pick a word?

Then I began thinking back over

Continue reading Transition: My Word for 2012

]]> The posts, the tweets, and the Facebook updates are popping up all over. “What’s your WORD for the new year?” and “MY word for the new year is…” It made me think, hmm. A word? I have no idea. Why would you pick a word?

Then I began thinking back over this past year. On many occasions I mentioned in posts about how the Lord has made me really aware of the seasons of life and how they have changed over time. I realize now that my word for 2011, even though I never chose one, was seasons.

This feeling, this awareness, has not lessened for me at all. In fact, I am becoming more and more aware and with this feeling bordering on  urgency I have come to my word for 2012: Transition.

Yes, our seasons are changing. Our feelings are changing. And our lives are changing. We have another new grandbaby, a senior in high school/college, and growing boys. There is a possibility we may be moving sometime this year, too. The where hasn’t been decided yet, although we do know the two possible places, but it depends on what E’s boss decides to do with his business expansion. One place is within 45 minutes from here, and the other place is several hours away.

We have also been feeling this season spiritually. Without going into details, I will just say that we are feeling led to look beyond our church. Things have changed drastically there, and we are feeling a bit disconnected. We haven’t attended a small group or Sunday school class in years because we serve in the cafe, and that has been our main ministry for over 7 years. We’ve loved it, but we feel this transitional time and know that the Lord is directing us.

I’ve seen quite a few posts in the blogosphere lately about people leaving churches, or leaving organized church completely. I don’t think that is where we are headed, but I am open to where ever the Lord directs us. Honestly, I just want to have a solid year where no one expects anything from me, where I can just receive. I’ve given just about all I have.

Transition can be scary, but it can also be very liberating.

]]> http://themommaknows.com/2012/01/transition-my-word-for-2012/feed/ 2 Offering http://themommaknows.com/2012/01/offering/ http://themommaknows.com/2012/01/offering/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:05:03 +0000 Dawn http://themommaknows.com/?p=13905

Burnt offerings, grain offerings, fellowship offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings: These were God’s way of providing a way of atonement for us. He couldn’t look at us, couldn’t have anything to do with us, but he wanted to. So he provided a way. As I delve back into the Books of

Continue reading Offering

]]>

Burnt offerings, grain offerings, fellowship offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings: These were God’s way of providing a way of atonement for us. He couldn’t look at us, couldn’t have anything to do with us, but he wanted to. So he provided a way. As I delve back into the Books of the Law again, and Leviticus especially, I am continually reminded…

There was no way that the Law could be kept, not even by the Priests! Trying to avoid sinning is like deciding to stop breathing. It just happens, and sometimes there is nothing you can do to stop it, because we haven’t yet attained perfection. That doesn’t happen until we’re with Christ in Glory.

God cares, oh SO MUCH, about the details of your life. He cares about what you think, feel, have, and do. The things that you think are insignificant are significant to God! He will always provide a way for you.

We don’t give those burnt offerings any more, those blood sacrifices to atone for the sins we have committed “whether he realizes it or not”… so what do we bring Him?

A heart of flesh, open, willing…

A spirit surrendered, seeking, loving…

A sharp mind, thinking, praying…

Hands for serving, touching, helping…

Love for the lost, unloved, disconnected…

These are my offerings to the Lord. We can’t sit idly by and be spiritual hoarders! I do not seek nor offer religion, rules taught by men. The further I walk down this road of faith the more I realize that being zealous for the Lord does not mean being zealous for religion or for the rules and expectations that the Church enforces.

It has nothing to do with what you walk in the door wearing, how much to give in the offering, whether you serve coffee or usher or go to Bible study, volunteer with the children’s ministry, or stand on a street corner witnessing.

I read somewhere that religion is man’s attempt to reach God, and Christ was God’s way to reach man.  Which one works? I’ll let you decide. Check out this video that illustrates it so well!


There is only One Way to receive the Grace and forgiveness that God provides. Aren’t you glad for the final, once and for all atoning sacrifice God provided for us?!

]]> http://themommaknows.com/2012/01/offering/feed/ 6 Bible in 90 Days, Threepeat http://themommaknows.com/2012/01/bible-in-90-days-threepeat/ http://themommaknows.com/2012/01/bible-in-90-days-threepeat/#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:11:42 +0000 Dawn http://themommaknows.com/?p=13853 It’s that time of year again.  The time when I put aside all “fun” reading and just… focus. I have discovered the way to start my year off right, and it may sound intense or even a bit crazy, but it works for me. For the third year in a row, I

Continue reading Bible in 90 Days, Threepeat

]]>
It’s that time of year again.  The time when I put aside all “fun” reading and just… focus. I have discovered the way to start my year off right, and it may sound intense or even a bit crazy, but it works for me. For the third year in a row, I am reading The Bible in 90 Days.

I began this morning, and I smiled as the Lord once again showed me things that I had read before but hadn’t really noticed. Specifically, buried in the midst of the early geneaologies there was this nugget:

Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Gen. 5:22

Enoch was the very first person to have said of him, he “walked with God.” What must this have looked like? He was born hundreds of years after Adam, the first man who actually WALKED with God in the literal sense, and the following generations followed him too… but Enoch? He was special.

Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. Gen. 5:23

Then he was no more. Enoch never died. (This I have already known, and it is an awesome thing to ponder! How? Wow!) He just walked with God until God decided his time was up, and he took him. No death. No pain or illness. No crying or mourning. What a legacy to pass on to your children!

I love the Bible in 90 Days. It has encouraged me and strengthened my faith in ways I can’t even explain. This isn’t a reading plan that you do just to say that you’ve done it. It isn’t a task that you want to take on for fame or glory, because you won’t get any. Instead you will get strange looks and comments amounting to “You’re crazy!” You may not even have the support of pastors or church leadership. They don’t know what they are missing out on.

If you want to grow in your understanding of God’s plan for us, this is why to do it. If you want your faith to get a big jump-start, then you’ve found a good way. Would you like to join me? I’ll try to post weekly about the reading. My Day One was January 4th and I am reading along with Jezamama’s online group. Download the reading plan bookmark from Mom’s Toolbox.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links which help support this site if you click the link and make a purchase.

]]> http://themommaknows.com/2012/01/bible-in-90-days-threepeat/feed/ 0