Storms of life

 

Gray clouds fill the sky. 

Thunder rumbles in he distance. 

A storm is coming through. 

We hunker down, prepare for the worst. 

Now it's over the sun shines through. 

-Kristin Gross 

Very much like the storms of our lives sometimes we see the storm coming and sometimes we don't. When storms come we always try to prepare for the worst. Sometimes we are prepared what is coming and sometimes we are caught off guard. The times we are caught off guard we are scrambling around trying to figure out what we need to do. That is when we need to cast our fears and worries over to God. I realize that it might be daunting to let go of our storms and hand them over to God but He cares. 

1Peter 5:7- Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. 

When we neglect to hand our troubles over to the Lord we open ourselves up for the devil to try and devour us. If we humble ourselves and go to the Lord in prayer, He will lift us up. 

1 Peter 5:6- Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift                 you up in due time. 

When trying times occur we sometimes want to run and hide. We can run all we want from our troubles but they still follow us. There is an answer to our troubles if we turn to God for healing and redemption. Our troubles are then covered by God's love and mercy. 

Isaiah 63:9- In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. 

What are your troubles? Are you ready to turn them over to God or hold onto them and try to run and hide? Turn to the Lord and cast your troubles on Him. See what the Lord will do for you when you turn to Him.

                       -Kristin

Forgiveness

    I was doing some reading today while sitting at my computer when the Lord grabbed my attention to do some further studying on forgiveness. While growing up most of us are told to forgive someone or something for one reason or another but most of the time we are not told why we should forgive. So, that is something I'd like to write about today. In Isaiah 43:25 we are told a promise God has made to us.

     Isaiah 43:25- I, even I, am He who blots our your transgressions for My own sake;
        And I will not remember your sins.

   He forgives us of our sins when we come before Him and confess what it is that we have done. Just like He expects us to forgive others for what they have done, not hold it over their heads and remind them of their heads and remind them of their wrong doings. God forgives us and then chooses to forget the sin we have done. We should follow His example and do the same with others. We shouldn't be so quick to condemn others for their sins and wrong doings. God tells us time and time again throughout His Word that He is a forgiving God. So, how can we say we are following God's word if we are unwilling to forgive others for what they have done? Here are some scriptures about His forgiveness and about us being forgiving to others.

     Colossians 3:13- Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man                             have a  quarrel   against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

     Mark11:26- But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your                           trespasses

     Matthew 18:21-22- Then Peter can to Jesus and asked, "Lord how many times shall I forgive               my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, " I tell you,                      not seven times, but seventy times seven.

  All the verses above led me to thinking about what our family is going through and how some are more willing to forgive transgressions than others. Our family is struggling with a spiritual warfare and over the years it has taken it's toll on us. My husband does not have a strong spiritual walk with our Lord and that makes our walk more challenging. We are told by God's Word not to be unequally yoked but I'll save that for another post. What we are going through is a spiritual warfare, where something was said that caused my husband to doubt the Lord and himself. I know the tongue is a double edged sword and has the power to bless or curse. But the topic I want to share with you is about forgiveness.

 Sometimes we say or do things that hurt others and once these things are said or done we cannot take it back. What we can do is ask the Lord for forgiveness and forgive those that have transgressed against us. If we don't go to the Lord and ask for forgiveness and forgive our transgressors we end up filling up our spirit, mind and body with bitterness and hate. Bitterness and hate are not of the Lord for the Lord is Light but these feelings come from the darkness, Satan. If we allow these feelings to consume us then we are not doing what the Lord has asked us to do. All it takes is a small seed of doubt, fear, hate and bitterness to distract us from our Lord and open the door to Satan to lead us further astray.

  Being unwilling or unable to forgive is not what the Lord wants from us. He (our Lord) has forgiven our sins when we confess them and has forgotten about them. So, my question to you is " Are you willing to go before the Lord, ask for forgiveness and forgive others that may have transgressed against you?
  


 

Blogging

  I am still trying to get the hang of blogging. So, any suggestions or hints you may have on how to improve it, I more than welcome to any help you may want to give. Thank you so much and have a blessed day.


Kristin

Missing In Action

I know as you search this blog you'll notice that I haven't posted a blog in quite a while. It was partly by choice and partly because life got in the way. Since the last blog our family has been through many changes. Everything from job changes, financial changes, to expected a new little one and relationship issues. Over the past year the Lord has both blessed and tested our family. We still have our everyday struggles and trails but we place it in the Lord's hands and know He will work it out.

My plans for this blog are to keep it up to date and reach out to readers. I feel this is one of the ways the Lord is leading me. As we grow and learn I pray that this blog will be inspiration and encouragement to you the reader. This new path that we are being lead down is scary but very exciting. I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us.

I thank you for taking the time to read this blog and post. I pray the Lord works miracles in your life today and everyday. Remember through good times and bad the Lord is always with you, just call on Him to see you through.


Have a wonderfully blessed day,
   Kristin

Our First Day of Home School 2012-2013

   Our first day was spent with myself and Bug looking through all the books that we'll be using this year. I think it made her feel special knowing what books we'll use and how they differ from what we used last year.
After she finished looking through the books she asked me how to make a "Miracle Flag", she meant an American Flag. So we looked through one of the geography books she has and found a picture of  the flag. We took construction paper, red,white and blue of course and made the flag and glued it to cardboard for stability, added a dowel and string and we were done with that. We briefly talked about what the stripes, stars and colors stood for. Bug insisted that she use her own decorations instead of stars.

We also played around with a slinky. We tried the slinky on the back steps but found that the steps were too wide for our little plastic slinky. So we decided to use books and make steps out of them. We found the books worked much better than the steps outside. We also made other observations about the slinky, if we pushed the slinky at the bottom instead of the middle it walked all the way down the books. She had fun exploring and playing with the slinky.

Still shot of the slinky

Bug pushing the slinky near the bottom of the slinky

We reading a couple books together and played a few card games as well. Oh, and like every Monday evening from the beginning of this month till next year some time she had karate lessons. That was our first day of  Homeschool!

Our new Daily Schedule

With the new curriculum we'll be using for the upcoming school year, I figured we would try to stick with some kind of schedule and I'm praying this one will work for us. If it doesn't we can always change it up until it does work. This is what our schedule will look like:

8:30am-Breakfast

9:10am-Bible

9:30am-Preparing for lessons

9:35am-Phonics

9:50am-Reading (A.M)

10:00-Snack break

10:15 am- Seat work explanation

10:20am-Seatwork

10:50am-Seatwork check

11:00am-Break

11:10-Writing

11:25am-Math

11:55-Math Combination Practice

12:00-Lunch

12:30-Recess

1:00-Reading(pm)

1:15-Activity Time

1:35-Poetry

1:40-Additional Seat work time

2:10-Homework reading

2:20-Break

2:30-Activity Time

3:00-Class over

Since we will be using A Beka Curriculum this is for the most part the schedule they suggest with some modification from me of course. If it works, we'll stick with it, if not no big deal.

I only have  a few more books to order and I will have what we need to get started come the middle of August. Until then we still have a lot of work to do to make sure Bug has the basics down.

A week to recover

I had intentions of starting back with schooling this week but we had an unexpected visitor, the spring bug. Everyone in the house has been affected by the spring bug in one degree or another. With me and my little bug down for the week trying to feel better, I've tried to get things done around the house and for our schooling adventure. Usually when we get sick around here our moods are less than desirable, so you can imagine the extra headaches we've had this week. I'm hoping, now that I'm starting to feel better than previous days that I can get caught up with Bug's school work and prepare next weeks. I am also trying to make more of an effort of blogging just so I can get used to and in the habit of doing it.