Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Photobucket An Example....

Below is an example of how devotional reading of the Word, the quickening of the Holy Spirit, my tryst journal and worshiping God with my mind, all work together in my life. Many fear that doing word studies will somehow make their walk with God dry or intellectual....I hear this in my workshops. I thought it would be helpful to show you how it worked on one a.m. in my tryst.

I try to read a Proverbs a day. This is devotional; not an in-depth study. I sometimes focus on one topic a month...currently I'm simply reading.

Proverbs 28:13 , "He who concelas his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion."

I grabbed my journal and jotted the verse in the Proverbs section of my tryst journal. I knew from past word studies that "sin" is translated into at least three Hebrew words and each means something a bit different. I knew that "transgression" meant rebelling against the standard.

Holy Spirit Zinger - "De'Etta have you been rebelling against my standard in your life?" OUCH. I haven't been changing to keep up with a relationship as fast as I should. God has given me some clear instructions and I am TRYING but I keep "falling" right off the wagon....and really it is a case of rebellion. My standard is the "golden rule" - well do unto others as they've done unto you? ::snort:: In a book I read a few months ago the Aurora Colony lived by the "diamond rule" - making others' lives better even at your own expense. God has told me to quit defending my rights. Phil 2:3-8 - I'm to look out for others and be concerned for their welfare, more than I'm concerned about my rights.

This thought led to me flipping to a prayer page in the tryst journal. You don't need to know my specific prayer....and confessions.

Then my "mind" took over (though I believe that is intertwined with the Holy Spirit at this point) and I thought, "well I shouldn't cover or hide my rebellion...there's a list here." I should confess, forsake and then find compassion. "

I did a few quick word studies. These notes went in my reading page of the tryst journal (and I've learned to jot the date and section of other spots in the journal that relate to the same passage - my own "chain")

confess - #3034 yadah - acknowledging what is right about God and what is not right about myself and my sin.

You need to know that in the past few months the Holy Spirit has clearly dropped into my spirit on this one issue over and over the phrase "don't go there". Mainly I want to go to a place where I can bathe in self-pity and feel sorry for myself. It's rebelling against His clear standard.

forsake - #5800 leave, abandon, go to a new location (don't go THERE), ONLY ONCE but in Nehemiah this word is used to mean restore/repair This means that the most common use of the word is leave....abandon...go to a new location....but it isn't beyond imagination that it includes the concept of restoration and repair

compassion - #7355 compassion - mercy, the word pictures a deep kindly sympathy and sorrow for another who has been struck with an affliction or misfortune - and a desire to relieve the suffering

I need this. God offers this...if I confess and forsake my rebellion. Hmmm.....wonder what prosper means. I KNOW what prosper means. Well, I have the tools here....maybe I should check.

prosper - #6743 - made mighty and powerful through the Holy Spirit's presence, victorious, a successful person.

Wow - there was more there than I thought.

So what? Does it matter? Why spend all this time doing this? Because God pressed me to understand this verse deeply. That it would help me in my goal to be a victorious, powerful, mighty person due to His infilling presence.

It's time to take the definitions back to the verse. This is what it spoke to me this a.m.

Rather than covering or hiding my rebellion agasint God's standard, which will lead to me not prospering, not being the victorious Spirit-walking person I desire to be - I must acknowledge what is right about God's standard and what is wrong about my actions, I must leave my action; go to a new location, restore and repair what I can and THEN I will find compassion and mercy. God is one who sympathizes with my affliction and has a desire to relieve my suffering. He may even send other Christians to do the same.

Then I realized this had applications in my parenting....not just in my own struggle with rebellion against the standard.

*A child who rebels against God and/or his family's standard won't be victorious/mighty/successful

When he/she rebels I must lead him/her to

~acknowldege what is right about God's/family's standard

~abandon the place he is in and restore and repair what he can of the mess his rebellion has caused. Help him go to a new location.

~That child will then find from God compassion and mercy. *I* MUST be sure to extend cmpassion, mercy and sympathy for his plight...and I must pray that I am filled with, and communicate with the child, a desire to relieve his suffering.

It's not a formula....but it is an easy process of principles for me to remember.

Oh, I also added the verse to the Memorize section of the tryst journal.

It mattered a lot in my personal struggle. It also mattered in my parenting today. You may find it hard to believe but I had opportunity to help a child acknowledge his rebellion against God and family standards.....I was able to explain that he needed to go a new direction....and I was sure to remember to show compassion and mercy.

It all works together to help me on the path to being transformed into His image......Mark 12:30, 31...I worshipped God this a.m. with my heart, soul, mind and strength...and I loved a child exactly in the same way I had been loved earlier in the day. It doesn't have to be one or the other...emotionalism or legalism....it can be balanced....as we worship God as He calls us to - with all that He has given us.

I didn't make it to the gym this a.m. That is FINE - this was more beneficial.

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©2008 D.R.G.
Photobucket Wednesday Already?

I didn't make it to the gym. I got carried away this a.m. in my tryst time.

I attended Nolan's ARD appointment. This meeting is held annually for the school district to make their recommendation as to what services Nolan needs. I accept or reject the offer. We HAVE to do this as our insurance won't pay a thing for speech unless we do this. I knew they were evaluating speech yesterday. It appears they also evaluated a few other things. I accepted their offer of 30 min a week of speech therapy at the school with a few other students.

I rejected their thoughts that Nolan has vocabulary problems. I couldn't quite believe they thought that. This child talks all the time! We read a LOT of GOOD books to him. I asked for examples and it cracked me up. We evidently haven't been studying the typical course of study. He could talk at length about the social strata of Ancient Egypt, he can explain parental rights/child rights in the Spartan society, he can tell you more than you want to know about Ancient Greek warfare and weapons, he can explain Passover, he can explain the mummification process, he can explain Japanese fish prints....but they are right, he doesn't know that a trumpet should never be called a horn and that a compas is not a funky clock. I'm not overly worried. This is bound to happen when your methods do not match the traditional scope and sequence.

They kept saying how great the socialization would be for him to have group therapy at the school. "He'll make friends and be able to play soccer with them after school." Well....HE HAS FRIENDS NOW. I DON'T KEEP HIM LOCKED IN THE HOUSE!" ::snort:: Hmmm.....maybe that shirt yesterday (see below) wasn't a good thing. I'll be sure to check his clothes very carefully before therapy next year. ::snort::

We got a lot of school done today. Isn't it funny that we are getting more school done in the summer because we don't have HoF, speech, Bible Study, drama class and whatever else we were keeping busy with? I plan to do extra work on vocabulary this summer. I'm a good homeschooler. I jumped right to and put in an order of vocabulary and spelling material from Rainbow Resource. ::snort:: ::chortle:: We'll get started with it now - because you know we homeschool sorta year round like. ::giggle::

I got produce ordered and the group email sent out.

We ate a few times.

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GREEN BAGS!

I can't possibly be accused of sounding like an infomercial because I don't own a television and hadn't even heard of these gems until Linda left a comment on one of my posts. I happened to see a set of these in a clearnace aisle somewhere around town. It was worth a try......

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I put some produce in baskets. I think this is going to be most helpful for the extra cauliflower that everyone left me at produce co-op (and really we don't like it much - though you can sneak it in with other veggies it's sort of the sponge of veggies).

The key test was the bananas. We LOVE bananas but we get 4 shares of produce a week and with the weather warming up were finding we couldn't eat them fast enough. This photo is pretty convincing. All the bananas were the same green color at the start. The ones on the top were left out. The one on the bottom was stored in a green bag. YES! We are going to have perfect, slightly green bananas all week long. My family doesn't like to eat them when they start to have spots - which is silly - but true nonetheless.

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Note - if you store your bananas in a green bag; they grow ipods. ::snort:: Thanks for the tip Linda. We NEED this many bananas but didn't want them going bad at once. I don't need 6 heads of cauliflower but now I know they'll stay until I use them.

For more of my WFMW posts click here (there ain't many yet). To view hundreds of this week's tips from others go here.

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