Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Who are you?

Just some thoughts from Grandma......
   What is in your heart?
    Are you trying to become like Jesus, or just pretending?  Does his very  heart touch yours? Do you keep it in the back of your mind that , "This is just the way I am"?  Do you make excuses for how you act? Do you treat others the way Jesus taught or the way you want? Do you think life "owes" you? Do you believe in the "saving" power of Jesus, or do you want to stay where you are? 
   Are you yearning to be more "CHRIST LIKE"???? That is what the word Christian means, not to stay where you are, but, want to change and be more like HIM!!
   In the next few years, perrilous times are coming, will you be ready Spiritually?

Love to all who read....
~~~~^^^TERRI^^^~~~~

Friday, December 17, 2010

I dont wanna be like MaMa...................

     I would like to share my story with you...It is simple but probably common, and it needs telling. When I was a child, I was always aware that my mom was distrustful of my dad. If one of us children did a bad thing, she was quick to deal with us,"so Daddy will not whip you too hard,"  If Dad was giong out to buy something, she would worry outloud that "he will be foolish in how he spends his money." When he got laid off, I remember her saying over and over,"I guess I need to learn to trade. Someone in this house has to work." I cannot fault her in any area of motherhood. She kept us fed, clothed, and warm. But when I think of my mother, I think of a worried, fretful, woman who was always ticked off at Dad. Our Home was tense. I have a few memories of her smiling. I cannot remember a time when she sat on Dads lap or danced around the room in playful fun. He was not a mean man. I remember hard whippings, but not any harder than the neighbor kids got. I remember him being interested in me. He taught me how to do simple things, fun things, but because of her, I always avoided Him. Us kids are grown now.
   My brother did great in his life. His marriage has been good, and his children seem well adjusted. When he was growing up, he was gone to work with Dad all the time. Us girls never went with Dad, and so we were at home listening to mom talk about how hard her life was.
   All of us girls had terrible youths, and we have all had bad marriage troubles. Our kids have not done well. , but we know Mom played a big part in our misery.  She still lays all the blame on Dad, although we all know he was just an average guy. I always knew I did not want to be that kind of wife and MaMa. I wanted my children to remember me as loving their dad and enjoying life. I did not care if we lived in the back of an old van and ate junk food. I wanted my children free of tension and the feeling that their dad was a jerk who had to be tolerated. My first marriage ended after a few short months. I determined when I married again that I would do it right. When I got married the second time, I lost my way and didn't even know it. When I realized that we would have to move becaus  my husbands company was down sizing, and he was out of work, I packed in bitterness, while silently accusing him of not being a good provider and forcing me out of my lovely home. Then one day I looked up at him and saw the same lost look on his face that I had seen on my dads face a thousand times when Mom was "taking care of the family". I was just like my mother!!! Something inside me broke, and I hated the "wonderful person I was", It was then I remembered my promise to myself to never be like my "condeming" mom.
   I had bought your "Joy in training" DVDs and marriage tapes months before our move, but had not watched them. I knew the time had come. I settled doen in the living room among the boxes, and before long the whole family had joined me. We laughed and laughed at the big old mountain man telling the funny stories.
   We sent the children to bed and finished the "Wives honor your husbands" tape. My laughter turned to weeping, and my kind husband held me in his arms while I begged for forgiveness. I cannot tell you how changed our family i! . My husband is thinking of starting a business. He has wanted to for years, but my fear of failure has held him back. NO MORE!! If we end up living in a van, thats ok. I am  sad for lost ground with my children. More then anything, for my daughters, I want to break this ugly chain, of bitter, critical womanhood. I have asked their forgiveness and found they were glad to be over this tension. They know that from now on, theyr are going to have a a mama who thinks their daddy is the greatest, guy. I am so ashamed when I think of all the earthly hell I have put him through. Our children are going to grow up secure in love, NOT insecure in a spotless house, insurance paid, and name-brand clothes. Life has never been sooooo good. Better late then neve I guess...
From all of us, a great big thanks!!
Shelia

This woman is obeying the Word Of God; she is loving her children by loving their Daddy. 

Are YOU????


Love to who read....
~~~***TERRI***~~~

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Crayons....

  There are lots of crayon colors in one box, there are dull ones, shiny ones, quiet ones and loud ones.. ..but they all get along in the same box..How do you get along with all the other crayons that are in the box where you live/work, or go to Church????


Love to all who read.........
.~~~***TERRI***~~~

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

DO NOT DISTURB?!

I just had a thought,............. is that "Do not disturb" sign still on your heart, so when the enemy of our souls comes to whisper in your ear, "...go ahead and gossip, tell little white lies, a 1/2 truth, cheat on your taxes...."  He CANNOT get those thoughts in?,
   Are you Dear Sisters ..."taking EVERY thought into captivity, unto the obedience of Jesus Christ...?

Love to all who read...
***^^^TERRI^^^***

Have you made the kingdom committment?

   When foreigners desire to become citizens of the United States of America, they are required to take an oath the United States, like most other governments, will not allow those who wish to become citizens  apply for citizenship. To straddle the fence. Naturalized citizens can't claim that their loyalty and allegiance belong to the United States if they retain allegiance to some foreign government. Our government wont allow that. It wants undivided loyalty from any who apply for citizenship.
   So it should come as no surprise that Jesus the King requires similar loyalty from those who wish to apply for citizenship in His kingdom.  In fact, He demands an even greater degree of loyalty:"He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.    ...He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses life for My sake will find it....whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disiciple"(Mt. 12:30, 10:37-39; Luke 14:33).


   The United States does not require persons to forsake all they have to become citizens. But Jesus does. In His Kingdom, there can be no divided loyalties. Jesus will not be relegated to a subservient role by anyone or any thing. He requires all or nothing. In fact, thats the very reason Jesus tells us to count the cost before deciding to join His kingdom. "For which of you intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it---lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, "This man began to build and was not able to finish."(Luke 14:28-30). Jesus has no desire for us to start something we wont finish."No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God"(Luke 9:62).
   If we truly understand the kingdom and grasp what it means, it will be more precious to us then anything we own. : The kingdom of Heave is like treasure hiddden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells al lthat he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, went and sold all that he had and bought it"(Mt. 13:44-46).
   Actually, in times of war, even earthly governments expect their citizens to put loyalty to their country ahead of every other loyalty, including their own families. It sometimes happens in times of war that fathers an sons fight against each other and that soldiers kill their own brothers. In fact, during war, earthly kingdoms expect their citizens to lay down their lives if necessary for the good of their country. Any real government expects this type of loyalty from its citizens.  
   Jesus expects no less. Why? Because His kingdom is a real kingdom. And unlike earthly kingdoms, the kingdom of God is always at war(Eph. 6:12). As Jesus said, "Do not think that I came to bring peace but a sword. For  I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a mans enemies will be those of his own household. (Mt. 10:34-36).
   Jesus requires of His citizens the same level of loyalty, love, and commitment that fervent patriots give their countries during times of war---if not higher. Being a citizen of the kingdom of God is not fun and games---its serious business. "He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life"(John 12:25).  


More later this week...
Love to all who read...
~~~***TERRI***~~~

Monday, December 6, 2010

Chapter 3.....To Love their Children...VERY important!

Ladies.
This takes a whole lot more time than I thought going chapter by chapter...were only on Chapter 3.....
Todays is probably the most important of all, without this, none else matters ....PLEASE READ ON!!
Do we really know How To Love?
Titus 2:4-5:"That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to LOVE their children...."

  Let the children lead them....
  The most important thing a mother will dofor her children is to create an atmosphere of peace and how?... by deeply loving their Daddy and being satisfied with life.
   Several years ago, my husband did a Family Life Seminar for homeschooling families at a large, very conservative Church. The people were given age appropropriate questionnaires before we got there. Each Homeschool child(from every child who could write, up to single adults still living at home) was asked 2 questions:
   1.   Is your home happy?
   2.   What one thing would you like to see chang in your home that would make you a happier
          person?
   We were not expecting profound answers. We thought the children would say that they wanted name-brand clothes, or more freedom, or maybe more access to video games. We hoped we would get a few serious answers, like some kids saying they wanted to spend more time with their parents or they wanted to be trusted. Their responses shocked and saddened us.
   Out of 75 responses, only 2 or 3 children considered their home happy. Nearly all 75 answers of the second question were basically the same. 10 year olds (who could barely spell) to single colleg -age adults had the same hopes and anguishes. They all said something to the effect of, "I wish Mama and Daddy would love  each other", and the younger the writers wrote their answers like these, "Our home would be happierif Mama and Daddy would not fight","I would make my Mama and Daddy like each other,""We would have a happy home if Mama would not talk bad about Daddy," and "I wish Mama would not talk back and make Daddy get mad and yell."   OOOPS!!!
   The older ones wrote along these lines, "Our house would be a more peaceful place if Mom did not walk around with this frozen bitternes,"" I feel like we live in a war zone."
   LADIES...HOW DO YOU LOVE YOUR CHILDREN??????????????
 Let these 75 Homeschooled children/young adults lead you to this important truth:
LOVE THEIR DADDY, HONOR THEIR DADDY,OBEY THEIR DADDY AND FORGIVE THEIR DADDY!

Ladies...Friends...Loved Ones...Sisters.. DO YOU???

Until later...
Love to all who read...
~~~***TERRI***~~~

Thursday, December 2, 2010

The Kingdom that turned the world upside down............

   The kingdom of God is within you...
    If all of this was not astonishing enough, Jesus told the Pharisees something even more startling: "Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, "See here!", or "See there!", For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you"(Luke 17:20,21).  
   What kind of kingdom is this? A kingdom thats within you??? Jesus was truly introducing something marvelously new---something revolutionary. This was not just a new kingdom. It WAS a new TYPE of kingdom. It was a type of kingdom that was totally different from what anyone---Jew or Gentile---had ever heard of before. A kingdom that is "within you".
   "Oh, I see," you may  be thinking. "Jesus was talking about a spiritual kingdom, not a real one." No, Jesus was talking about a real kingdom. The ancient kingdom of the Israelites was definately a real kingdom, wasnt it? It had real kings, real subjects, and real laws. The kingdom of God is just as real as the ancient Israelite kingdom. It too has a real king, real subjects, and real laws. It's domain encompasses the entire earth, even though most of the earths population are not citizens of this kingdom.
   What did Jesus mean whne He said that the kingdom of God is within you? Tertullian, an early Christian writer, commented on this phrase, "Now who is there who does not understand the phrase, "within you", to mean in your hand or within your power? That is, if you hear and do the commandments of God?" Anybody can choose to be a citizen of the kingdom of God if he is willing to make the needed commitment. A person doesn't have to travel anywhere or pay any sum of money to become a citizen.
   Now, many greek scolars today that Luke 17:21 should be translated, "The kingdom of God is in your midst," rather than "within you". In other words, the  King and some of His subjects were already standing there inthe midst of those religious leaders who asked Jesus when the kingdom was coming. The kingdom was in their midst, but they didn't realize it.
   Whichever significance Jesus intended by the phrase,"within you" or "in  your midst", the principle is still the same. His kingdom has no national boundries, no earthly king, and no military forces. His subjects live within the midst of the peoples of this world, yet the world cannot see this kingdom. Becoming a citizen of Gods kingdom is within reach of everyone. In fact, what makes Gods people the subjects of this kingdom is something within them---the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.


More later...

Love to all who read.....
~~~!!!TERRI!!!~~~