truths from the Word

Isaiah 46

There is no other like God.

God declares the end from the beginning.

God's purpose will be established.

God will accomplish His good pleasure.

He will bring it to pass.

God planned it and He will surely do it


Daniel 2

God's name is to be blessed.

Wisdom and power belong to God.

God changes the times and the epochs.

God removes and establishes kings/

God gives wisdom and to wise men knowledge to men of understanding.

God reveals the profound and hidden things.

God knows what is in the darkness.

The light dwells with Him.

In doing our Bible time today, I was blessed with these truths from God's word. Such wonderful comfort and strength. Blessed be His name. I love this new Precepts book we are doing. Studying the names of God. El Elyon - God Most High.

************************************************

My passport came today. Another thing off the list. =) And a big thanks to my Mom who has been helping me work on the yard sale. She is a wonderful support and encouragement. We have been up to our elbows organizing and sorting in the garage. I am grateful for our time together and all the donations of things that we are able to have in our sale. God is so good.

The Lord Provides

His mercies are new every morning.

His timing is perfect.

He is trustworthy.

He is faithful.

I will trust in Him.

Again, I am blown away by God's provisions. I just want to give HIM the glory. Yesterday I was blessed by a devotional from this site (HERE). It was a great reminder that stepping out in faith requires a risk. Part of it read: If we could see every detail about where God was leading and how He would provide, we wouldn't need faith.

How true is that? We can not see every detail of how life will turn out and that keeps us depending on God. We need to continue to have faith in our Mighty GOD. And as we step out in faith to follow where He leads, we don't have all the plans worked out. We will need God to provide in His timing and in His way.

I was blessed by a mailbox moment. You know the kind, you open a card and out drops a check for the exact amount you need. That is right, for now, the exact money that we needed to continue on showed up as a delivery from God. How fantastic that a member of the body of Christ was tuned into the Spirit and responded in obedience.

I have been trying to figure out how to come up with this particular sum of money and God had it all worked out. He knows our needs and if it is His will, He will bless.

What an amazing thing to be blessed in this way. May God only receive the glory in all that we do.

JEHOVAH-JIREH:



The Lord will Provide

I must share the truths from His word

I have shared before of how blessed I have been to have found Precepts Bible studies. If you have followed the Peapod for awhile, I have mentioned before (HERE) how much we appreciate these study books. I just started a new book with the girls for our Bible time for school. This year we decided to study, God, What's Your Name? by Kay Arthur (found HERE). We are learning about the importance of calling on the name of God. Today we studied Psalm 20 and I wanted to share the truths that we wrote down about God.

• May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble.

• May the name of God set you securely on high.

• May He send you help from the sanctuary and support you from Zion.

• May He remember all your meal offerings and find your burnt offering acceptable.

• May He grant you your heart's desire and fulfill your counsel.
  

• May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.

• The Lord saves His anointed.

• He answers from His holy heaven.

• May the King answer us in the day we call.

I found incredible comfort in these truths today. I can stand on God's Word and know that He is faithful. God's name is my victory and my salvation. I will call upon His name. As we spend this year studying God's names, I am sure I will share what I have learned and hopefully this will also bless many of you.

CAMP PEAPOD

Last week I had the joy of having 3 extra kids around the house. I offered to watch some friends kids while the Mom and Dad were in Ethiopia picking up their new daughter. I wasn't quiet sure how the week would turn out, so I did myself a favor and treated the week like camp. We named it CAMP PEAPOD, and we had a blast.

Each day was full of fun activities and I had an organized schedule so everyone knew what was expected at each part of the day. Our daily schedule included (this is for you Tiffany)...

7:00-8:00 Rise and shine
8:00-9:00 Breakfast and get ready for swimming
9:00-11:00 morning activity (some kind of water activity - swimming at the pool, water slide...)
11:00-12:00 return from swimming and get cleaned up
12:00-1:00 prepare and eat lunch
1:00 - 2:00 rest time on beds (reading or games but no talking)
2:00 - 3:00 craft time in the basement
3:00 - 4:00 project time (we made an Ethiopian lapbook)
4:00 - 5:30 free time (this included a TV show, or free play or hand held video games)
5:30 - 6:15 dinner prep including kids helping set the table
6:30 - 7:15 dinner
7:15 - 8:00 outside play on playset or in the yard or catching fireflies (coolest part of the day)
8:00 - 8:30 group bible time and recap the day
8:30 -8:45 jammies on and tuck in
9:00 lights out

It really helped me to have a schedule and it prevented me from being on the computer or getting distracted by other time wasters. I think it helped the kids know what was expected of them too, and they knew that there were expectations of each part of the day. And to be honest, we were able to get those lights off each night by 9 (the youngest kid was 6 and everyone needed rest).

For our bible time each night, we learned a name of God and talked about how in order to praise God for who He is, we need to know His character. And these were names that all kids can relate too. Jehovah-Shammah -- The Lord is there (present). It was neat for the kids to learn that God is with their mom and dad and their new sister in Ethiopia. Jehovah -Raah -- The Lord is my Shepherd. We studied Ps. 23 and talked about how God cares for us as a shepherd cares for the sheep and comforts us. El Elyon -- The Lord Most High. God is above all and over all. He is in charge of every detail on earth and none of it is a surprise to Him. Jehova - Jireh -- The Lord who provides. God provides everything we need, including a savior. God provided the money that it took to complete this adoption for their family.

During this same time, the kids either wrote or drew a picture on a card of a favorite part of the day. That way when they get back together with their parents, they would be able to share highlights about their time apart. It also helped the kids focus on positive things and not focus on just missing their parents.

On the last day, I took the kids to a nature center and we explored around and then did some nature rubbings. I had little pieces of paper and peeled crayons and they each did 3-5 rubbings, and then we had to try and guess what they were. Even though most of them looked like a bumpy sidewalk, the kids had a good time sharing their discoveries.

Lastly...a few pictures of the week. It was a blessing to serve part of the body of Christ in this tangible way. And to see theses friendships blossom was great to witness.

Craft time

Water time

Just having fun.

Precepts for Kids

I was asked by a friend to share some information on the Precepts books that I use with our kids. So instead of just sharing with her...I thought I would post about it and let you all in on it.

Just a year ago, we (the girls and I) took our first Precepts class at a local church. I didn't know a soul there and I dove right in and took the plunge on that opportunity. It turned out to be a pivotal circumstance for me. It opened the door to the one of the best Bible study tools I have ever used. Although studying God's word wasn't new to me, using this method (of marking the text with key words) was new. I felt a little "green" as I started and I wasn't quite sure what I was to be marking, but after a little while, I quickly caught on (the lessons tell you which key words to mark and how to mark them).

This post is more specifically about the Precepts for Kids books. We have now completed 3 different ones. We are finishing up with Lord Teach Me to Pray (HERE). (HERE is the list of different book choices). This book uses the Lords Prayer as a model of how to pray. It takes the Lord's prayer and breaks it down to different categories : Worship, Allegiance, Submission, Petition and Intercession, Confession and Forgiveness, Deliverance and then Worship again.

In studying this we learned some names of God so when we worship we know who we are worshiping. This part was one of my favorites. It was such a blessing to call out to Jehovah Jireh (the Lord who provides) as we were trying to sell our house last year. Or to lean on Jehovah Rapha (the Lord who heals) as my dad was recovering from heart surgery. We made a booklet about His names and use it during our prayer time.

The Precepts for Kids books are geared toward mid grade school and up for ages. We use them together for school and I do most of the reading but the kids do the marking of the texts (observation worksheets). They have really gotten into this step. It can be a little slow and lengthy but they really enjoy it and I think for kids who are visual learners it helps to remember what you have read.
The books also include fun pages with games and puzzles on it that are fun too. Just different ways to learn what the lesson is teaching. The books re broken up into weeks (chapters) and then each week is broken up into days. Though we often take more than one "day" to finish a "day". The book we are on is 4 weeks with 7 days for each week. We have been working on it for a few months though (helps to stretch it out).
Another tool that is used in the books is to sketch or draw a picture that relates to a passage. Of course the kids really like this too.This passage was learning about the man who trusts in the Lord and how he is blessed. He is like a tree planted by the water.

Just a few notes on this particular study...my kids (and myself) are praying in new ways. We spend more time praising God for who He is. Once Tally noted that she thought we would never pray the same after this study. We are more aware of praying according to God's will.

These books have been a blessing to us. The truth is...it takes an effort to teach your kids the most important things. Yes, school is very important, but teaching my kids the Word of God is the most important investment I can make. And to teach at this young precious age is worth the time it takes. These books have been a consistent in training our character. The reading and writing and arithmetic will all come...but character is KEY.