retro wednesday

Retro Wednesday 2013: A Prayer for Your Home

 

 

I love this prayer written by Ann Voskamp and wanted to share it with you!

 

Bless this nest, Lord,

of fragile things,

encircling the breakable and broken

in grace,

 in the ever warmth of Your wing,

 in the sheltering shadow of Your face,

us the clinging ones,

You our clutch of hope,

singing to us the song

of home.

 

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/02/a-prayer-for-a-home/

Family Matters

Family Matters: Family Pride

By Amy Gentry

Pride is a noun.  It’s not a person, it’s not a place, it is a thing.  I Googled the definition of pride and found it could refer to satisfaction and sense of your own self-worth or a feeling of superiority.  Some of the synonyms for pride were arrogance, conceit, smugness, self-importance, egotism, vanity, immodesty, superiority. 

Unfortunately pride can be found in most homes just as commonly as a coffee table.

The remedy for pride is grace.  By extending grace to others within your own home you become increasingly less full of pride.  Grace is love undeserved.  “Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” Colossians 3:13

Pride Versus Grace – What is The Real Difference?

Quoted from http://www.itakeoffthemask.com

 

The difference between pride and grace
is also the difference between pride and love,
for love is grace,
GRACE is love undeserved.

Pride is saying, “I deserved this, I alone worked for it!”
Grace is saying, “I deserved none of this, but ye have given me all.”

Pride is saying, “I owe nothing to anyone.”
Grace is saying, “I owe much, and yet I was forgiven.”

Pride is reaping exactly what one has expected.
Grace is astounded by the great harvest one has reaped.

Pride is saying, “I am God.”
Grace is saying, “God loves me and lives in me.”

Pride delights in judgment.
Grace uplifts the lowly with understanding.

Pride is always envious, because it sees itself more worthy than the rest.
Grace invokes only thankfulness, because it gives to those who deem themselves unworthy of it.

Pride is impatient with faults, because it fears rejection.
Grace is patient and kind, for the love it gives is without condition.

Pride is prone to greed, because it is afraid of poverty.
Grace fills those who are poor in spirit, and they shall lack nothing more.

My Name Is Pride, I Am A Cheater

Genesis Bible Study

Genesis 16

By Amy Gentry

Hagar was an Egyptian, probably one of the slaves Pharaoh gave to Abram when he and Sarai left Egypt (referred to in Genesis 12:16.) The name Hagar is the Hebrew word for “uncertain.”  Since the name Hagar is Hebrew and not Egyptian, she must have been renamed by Abram. 

Imagine if when you were born your parents named you, Uncertain Jones.  What kind of identity would you have?

“When she (Hagar) knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.  Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”  “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.” Vs. 4-6

Both Hagar and Sarai could be described as warring, bickering, spiteful, disrespectful and hateful.

The LORD looked for Hagar in the desert to find out what she was doing there, why she was leaving the family where He had put her.  Basically, in layman’s terms, He instructed her to go back to her family and work it out.  To put herself back into her proper roll inside of her family and THEN all would go well for her.  She would be ultimately blessed.

“She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”” Vs. 13  Her eyes were opened to the truth, the Lord had seen her in her pride against Sarai for barring a child for the barren, and He had also seen her while she endured suffering at the hand of the same mistress.  

Uncertain Hagar found out who she was to the Lord.  She was not “Uncertain.”  He was certain to bless her and her descendants, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” Vs. 10

Application: Do you have family relationships that could be described as warring, bickering, spiteful, disrespectful, or hateful???  Or maybe not even to that extreme, but obviously a relationship that is not pleasing to the Lord? 

We hurt or become hurt by the ones the Lord has put in our very own families.  Maybe we are also supposed to put ourselves back into our proper roll inside of our families and THEN all will go well for us too.

For you to be more than someone else in your family, they have to become less than you.

They become “Uncertain.”

 

 

 

 

Sharing Sister Sites

Sharing Sister Sites - IBelieve.com

“Real Women – Real Faith” is the motto of IBelieve.com. This site is full of inspiration, daily devotionals, great articles and sister bloggers. Today's highlights:

Compromise Not

Compromise Not

Compromise will always be the most prevalent when we think no one is looking. It’s always a good idea to be accountability partners with a trusted friend. Who do you have in your life that can be an encourager and accountability partner?

The difference in your spiritual life, marriage, and achieving goals in fitness or career could be substantial.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom..”  Colossians 3:16

www.titus2women.org

Scattering Seeds

Scattering Seeds… From the Mouths of Children

By Carri Pratt

My daughter has a darling little friend that comes by our house, before school, a few days a week. It is a great opportunity for us to share our breakfast and Bible time with her.

The other morning we were talking about Revelation and I had said, “Jesus is coming back.” Well she was completely shocked and looked at me in disbelief.

“Jesus is coming back?!” she exclaimed.  “Yes” I answered, “He is coming back.”

She looked at me with wide eyes and answered with the sweetest reply, “Well, I hope He lives close to me!”

I had to laugh and hugged her tight. “Me too!” I said. Her reply stayed with me all day. It really made me realize how little many of our children’s friends know about Jesus, who He is, how He saves, and how very much He loves them.

Challenge: Take a moment to share Jesus with your children and their friends. You just might be the only one who does.