Daniel week 3 Trials

I don't like trials. There I said it. I hate suffering and I especially hate watching those around me suffer. It is hard but I realize that those trials are a necessary part of life.

1 Peter 1:7 (New Living Translation) says "These trials will show that your faith is genuine." Ok, so trials show that my faith is genuine. Genuine means authenic, real, not counterfit. I like the first part of the definition authenic and real sound good. Not counterfit kind of stings. If trials show that my faith is genuine then does my lack of faith during a trial show it as counterfit. Again it seems that God (with Amber's help) has striped away my comfort zone with this Bible study.

God used Josiah to show that even when things happen outside of my control that he will redeem the tragedy. One of the unexpected benefits of our experience happened during the memorial service for Josiah. We had a friend who attended our church. We had shared with her But one of the issues she struggled with was guilt from an abortion. She had made the decision years before she was married and had children. This decision shadowed her life and as she began to experience who Jesus was it was the one thing that continued to haunt her. God had given me the priviledge of sharing with her before we were even pregnant with Josiah. I shared how God loves us and that his forgiveness covers all our sins. At our memorial service we shared our grief but also our hope. One of the priveledges of being a Christian is that our hope doesn't end on this earth. As this friend left the service she shared how she had used the time to accept God's forgiveness for her abortion and as a memorial for her baby. It was poignant as she asked us if it was "ok" with us. OK? We rejoiced in the acceptance of God's grace and forgiveness. It was precious to us to see how God was already using our experience to draw others to him.

Even though I am honest about not liking trials, I know that they cause me to draw closer to God. When I suffer through trials then I draw closer to God because he is my help. When I watch my friends go through trials I draw closer to God as I pray and intercede for their situation. It is amazing to see how God answers those prayers and uses that to strengthen my faith.

Safari through Daniel

I have to admit that when I suggested to my friend Jen that we do this Bible study together I really didn't think it would be so up close and personal in my life. I figured that since most of Daniel is prophecy it would be an interesting study but on a more intellectual level rather than personal introspective level.

How utterly foolish of me to forget God's promise that His Word is a "two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit." This study has already began "exposing my innermost thoughts and desires."

I have been a Christian for over 30 years. The truth of that statement is humbling because I know that at this point in my Christian life I should be showing more maturity than I do. The reality is that God has used the last year to show me how I have been half hearted in my relationship with Him. How I have laid claim to the name of Christ without taking on the full responsibility of the name. I have talked about who God is (irl and on my blog) but my personal relationship was stale at best.

This past year as I began examining my life I realized that it had been a long time since I had been consistently in God's word. I would pick up my Bible and read here and there but had no consistency in my spiritual life. I was dissatisfied with my personal life on many levels and God began to strip away a lot of excess. He began to reveal sins and confronted me with the truth that if I wanted to have a full, deep, meaningful relationship with Him then I would to live a holy life.

I decided that if I wanted my life to be different then I needed to start doing different things. God has promised us that we can live an abundant life in Him. I realized that for that to take place I needed to do three things. I needed to be honest about sin. I needed to find some accountability. And I needed to get close to God.

For me it was easy to gloss over sin and even fall back on the thought that "we are all sinners." That attitude doesn't line up with what God says. First Thessalonians 4:7-8 says "God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you." God has called me to live a holy life.

I began to deal with sins that were common downfalls for me. The ones that Satan used to continually trip me up. I asked that God reveal the root of those sins and then I began to "weed them out".

When we were first married, we served a church in Tulsa, OK. Many of our members were already at retirement age. One day we were talking with one of the members about yard work. I was moaning about the dandelions in my yard. This beautiful older lady told me that she had a small shovel she used to dig out each dandelion in her yard. I will admit that my first thought was "you have too much time on your hands". God has used that lesson in yard work to show me what I have to do with sin in my life.

Sin is like a dandelion. It takes root and makes a small flower. Eventually this flower goes to seed and then either the wind (or a child) comes along and blows the seed and it spreads. If this cycle continues eventually dandelions will take over an entire area. I found that sin was the same way, once it took root then it would continue to grow and spread. So I began to deal with sin the same way. I sought out the root and dug it out the same way you would with a persistent weed in your yard.

The Bible tells us that if we confess our sins to one another then we will be healed. I know that this verse is often used when dealing with physical sickness but I believe that it can also be seen in light of spiritual sickness. I knew that I was spiritually sick and I needed someone to remind me to take the medicine. I talked to a friend and I confessed the sins I was continually dealing with and then I asked her to pray for me and also to hold me accountable.

It is impossible for me to spend quality and quantity time with God and spend time with sin. Carl Sandburg said "There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, but there is also a hippo in me that wants to wallow in the mud." I found that I needed to spend time every day with God's word. I need to know what He is saying to me today. I need to do it multiple times a day. I began to put some things into place to ensure that this was happening. I began to start and end my day with my Bible. I also put scripture in my phone and refer to it throughout the day. I find that I must be proactive about God or the distractions around me cause me to lose focus.

Daniel was sure about who God was and what God was able to do. I know that if I want that assurance in my life then I must spend time with God and lots of it.

Updated workbox system

I have spent the last week revamping my lesson plans for the rest of the year and also my workbox system. We were only using parts of this system from Sue Patrick. This past week I decided that we needed some more structure in our day and that we are going to give this system another try.

Here are some pictures of our boxes. We do school in our living room and this bookcase holds all our school books and supplies we use daily.



This is a close up of W's box and the contents for this week. I am using file folders to divide their activities/school work up (instead of plastic shoe box containers). There is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and a game for W and J to play together, HWT wooden pieces and the letter F for W to build, Brown Bear, Brown Bear and activities, also included but not pictured is a sheet of stickers, color wonder sheet with markers and a Zootle magazine I will read with W and J.






This is J's box and activities for the week. The first thing in J's box is his schedule card. I labeled his file folders with numbers which match those on his schedule. His schedule card also has some extras scheduled. To save space I am only putting actual work in the folders and then extras get put on the card for him to work on. The next item is his clipboard which he uses to do work since we don't usually sit at a desk or table and on it is his morning routine list. These are things that need to be done before we start school. Then you see a file folder with the number on the outside and his Explode the Code book, a folder with his 100 chart and finally a folder with a reading game. He has a total of about 6 folders with 6 additional items on his schedule. Some of his extras include riding his bike, playing a game with his brothers (Hi Ho Cherry O), reading (which isn't in a folder because I use the same phonics book with E and J right now, and playing a game with W (Chicka Chicka Boom Boom). I expect that he will also participate in some of the things I do with W.








I didn't take pictures of G and E's boxes but they are similar in contents. I have used the schedule cards to add in computer typing games, math drill and art to their daily schedule. So I am hopeful that this will help us complete more work and have fun at the same time.

I am going to post some more photos later this week of our reading area and centers that are also in our living room to give an idea of how we do school and live in the same space.

God has all authority.

When we were in Arkansas for the Global Impact Conference one of the speakers was Walker Moore with Awe Star Ministries.

Here is the podcast of his message and it was exactly what I needed to hear. God Has All Authority.

When we got to Jonesboro we realized that we had a problem with the power cord on our laptop. I called Dell tech support and they said they would send us a new power cord, too Texas in about a week. That really didn't help us while we were at the conference. We were planning to run powerpoint from our computer for our display. We had been talking about getting a second laptop for the church and decided that this would be a good time to do. Tim went to BestBuy and bought us another laptop and we were able to use the power supply with both computers. While in BestBuy Tim talked with the manager and found out his brother lived in our area of Texas. Isn't that interesting.

When we got back to Texas we had a new family at church that had several children. Last night they came to our Open Door with the pastor event at the house. Super neat family, they homeschool, have great kids (seven of them) and they are from Arkansas. His brother is the manager of BestBuy in Jonesboro, Ar.

Isn't it neat that God has all authority over even computer equipment.

Want to read another episode of Jesus sightings? Check out CPQ's blog post jesus-loves-me and while you are there hang out a little while and browse her other posts, she has some great ones.

Jesse Tree Advent ornaments

This is a sneak peek at a few of the ornaments in the Jesse Tree Swap I just completed.

Fiery Furnance


Nativity


Light "Jesus is the Light of the world"


Wheat "Ruth and Boaz"


Dove and Crown "Prince of Peace"

Jesse Tree Advent Ornaments

I love Christmas and we like to start the celebrating, decorating early in the Fowler household.

One of my favorite traditions with the boys is a the Jesse Tree. Now I had never heard of this until about 5 years ago. It was mentioned on a parenting forum I am on and it has become a favorite around here.

A Jesse Tree represents the family tree of Jesus and tells the story of salvation from Creation in Genesis through the Old Testament until the coming of the baby Jesus. It is a beautiful way for us to focus during the holiday season on the true meaning of Christmas.

We use this book of devotionals The Advent Jesse Tree . I like it because they are written for both adults and children, there are hymn options and scripture readings. It has 25 devotions so we do one every day during December.

After we read the devotional the boys take turns adding an ornament that represents the scripture to the tree. When we first started this someone on the parenting board suggested that we do a swap for the ornaments. We each agreed to do a certain ornament (or two) and then we made 25 of the same ornament. We sent them to one person and they sorted them and then we got back a box of 25 different ornaments. It was lovely to see the different ornaments that everyone made and how creative they were. It makes a lovely addition to our tree every year and there are a few favorites.

So what are your favorite holiday traditions. What do your kids look forward too? Do you do a Jesse Tree or some similar Advent tradition? I am hoping to share some other neat traditions in the days to come.

This week I will upload photos of our Jesse Tree ornaments for a new swap I am hosting. Come back and take a look.

We have a bouncing baby CHURCH!

Yesterday we grand opened Church @ Skyline Valley. I will be posting photos in a few days, when I get some from the missions team that was here. (I will admit I was going crazy and did not even remember to get my camera out.)

We have an unofficial count of 125 in attendance. We had a missions team from Central Baptist Church and In His Steps Church in Arkansas helping this weekend. They passed out flyers on Saturday and then helped us host a block party. Sunday morning they were on the front lines, helping with set up/tear down, greeting, and working with the children. We could not have pulled this off with out this mission team. They were such a blessing. We had 23 in our children's programs yesterday so I have a feeling we are going to be busting at the seams soon next week.

I am amazed that over three years ago we were in Copperas Cove meeting with a group of pastors that had a heart to start a church here. I don't understand God's plan. I am humbled that God allows me to be a part of that plan. I can't wait to see what happens in the days ahead.