Adventures in Faith: Thankful Thursday

Sometimes I get caught up in life. Does that ever happen to you? Each day is filled with tasks that I need to get done. Right now it is things like laundry, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, making sure Rebekah doesn't eat something she shouldn't... 

And at the end of the day, my head hits my pillow, and my brain is filled with the thoughts of the tasks I didn't get done. Feelings of frustration about having to push things to the next day. Anxiety about not getting enough done...and I forget to be thankful. 

I forget to be thankful that God has provided us with more than enough clothes to wear and a washing machine to clean them in. 

Lord, help me to be thankful for laundry. 

I forget to be thankful that God has provided us with more than enough food to fill our tummies...and even extra for Rebekah to throw on the floor...but I'm trying to teacher her not to do that!

Lord, help me be thankful for cooking. 

I forget to be thankful for the house God has provided for us to live in. Thankful that I have a bathroom to clean, and that Rebekah has toys that I can pick up. 

Lord, help me be thankful for cleaning. 

However, most nights, before I drift off to sleep, I do remember to thank God for my wonderful husband and our sweet Rebekah. I am so thankful that He has allowed me to have a hard working husband who supports me staying home to raise our daughter. 

I am SO thankful that He has entrusted the sweetest little girl there ever was to her daddy and I. 

I am thankful for the smiles and giggles we all share every day. 

Lord, thank you for my family. 

I am so thankful! 

Adventures in Faith: He Knows My Path

Did you ever search for the end of a rainbow, when you were a kid? 

I can clearly remember the 'big kids' in my neighborhood going off after a rain to 'search for the end of the rainbow'...and I couldn't go because I was to little. So I sat in my back yard, looking up at the sky, wondering where that rainbow ended, and what the big kids would find when the got there...a treasure? gold? a leprechaun?

This is a rainbow that we got to see from the front window the other day. As I looked at it, I did not find myself wondering about the end of it, or if there was a pot of gold. Those are kid things. I found myself wondering about grown up things. 

What is God doing in our lives?

Are we being tested?

Ok, I know we are being tested,

so WHY are we being testes?

How long will it last?

Do you hear the cry of our hearts, Lord?

And when I get into a funk like this, God always brings to mind Job. 

On the particular day of the rainbow my KLOVE Word of the Day e-mail had been the verse above 

Job 23:10

(Well done God! Don't you just love how He plants His word with perfect timing!)

After all the trials and losses in Job's life,

how AMAZING is if for him to be able to say "I will come forth as gold".

He knew and trusted God's plan for his life.

Even though Job couldn't see the end of the rainbow,

he knew in the end he would come forth as gold.

Purified by God.  

Lord, fill me with faith like Job's that I praise you through the testing, and come forth as gold. 

Adventures in Faith: Coffee Chat & Beth Moore

How about a little coffee chat? I made us some home made pumpkin spice lattes....

Have you heard of Beth Moore? She is totally on my list of people that I want to meet someday. If you don't know, she is an evangelist, teacher, author, and founder of Living Proof Ministries. My cousin Leah posted a series of videos on her blog {HERE} of a message from Beth. You should go and watch these videos. The message is called "The Alabaster Box" and God keeps bringing different parts to my mind after watching the lesson, and I just need to share them with you. In the videos she is teaching on Luke 7:36-50 and the account of a sinful woman washing and anointing the feet of Jesus when he was eating dinner at the house of a Pharisee. 

If you watch the video, Beth does a great job of explaining the scene that is written in Luke 7. This sinful woman comes into the Pharisee's house with an alabaster jar of perfume and with her tears washed Jesus' feet. The Pharisee (on his high horse) is looking down on this woman and her actions (both now and previously) when Jesus utilizes a teachable moment. He tells the Pharisee (Simon) a story about 2 men, both in debt (one a little and one a lot), both unable to pay their debt, both men get their debts forgiven. Jesus asks the Simon who would love the one who forgave their debt more - the one who owed little, or the one who owed much? Simon has a "duhhh" moment and answers correctly that the one who was forgiven much would love the forgiver more, at the same time realizing how ridiculous he has behaved in the presence of the Son of God. You see, Beth points out that Pharisees were characterized by what they did NOT do out of reverence to God. They loved to be know for what the do not do. They loved to be 'better' than everyone else because they did not have many sins to be forgive - or so they thought. And a Pharisee thinks "I'm right. I can act this way because I am right and the sinful woman is wrong!"

The sinful woman was more than just that when she left - she became a forgiven woman. Someone who is forgiven is characterized by what she DOES out of her love for God. She was so thankful she got down on the floor, used her tears and hair to clean Jesus' dirty, filthy feet. (Think about that for a minute. Jesus pretty much walked everywhere. On dirt roads. In sandals. No pedicures. Yuck-o!)

This next part that Beth said has been running through my mind all day - How much different would our witness as Christians be if the thing known about us the most was what we DID DO out of love for GOD. 

So often today Christians are know for what they "don't do". No drinking. No smoking. No drugs. Don't have sex outside of marriage. Don't tell lies. No cheating. No bad language/swearing. The list goes on and on, different then the Pharisee's list, but I know I am guilty of thinking I am better than other people because I don't do these things (or at least try not to in some cases). 

Jesus challenge to the Pharisee and to us is to be like the forgiven sinful woman. We are all sinners. EVERYONE! Therefor the forgiven should be SO thankful, and showing that thankfulness though actions. Serving others. Taking care of things that others have left undone like washing dirty, stinky feet! (*Side note: I do believe in salvation through faith, not works. But I also believe that those who are forgiven of their sins are changed from the inside out and can't help but to show this new love to others through acts.) 

So, what if Christians today were know for what the DO and not what they DON'T DO? 

What do you think? 

 

Adventures in Faith: Ephesians 2:10

We have been doing a lot of work with our hands around the house lately, so when I was reading in Ephesians 2, verse 10 really stuck out to me. We are all created by God. And not "just created", take a look at what we are to our creator...

Ephesians 2:10

New Living Translation (NLT)
10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

New International Version (NIV)
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

New American Standard Bible (NASB)
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

The Greek word ποίημα means several similar English words. 

Masterpiece

Handiwork

Workmanship

These 3 acts all take great skill, thought, concentration, passion for what is being created. When God created you he made a masterpiece! He didn't finish half way and then say "hmm, that's good enough". No way! God's workmanship is perfectly designed and made exactly the way He wanted it. As we are working on what we can only hope will be able to be described as a masterpiece in our basement {click here to see our progress}, we are spending hours, days, months planning, working, and building. LOTS of work goes into a masterpiece. I am so thankful that God used His great workmanship to create us in His image, and sent Jesus to be our redeemer when the handiwork needed a fresh coat of paint! 


Have you ever created a masterpiece? How much time and effort did you put into it?

Adventures in Faith: Romans 12:2

 First, let me remind you about the 100 followers giveaway we are doing! Click {HERE} for details and to enter to win a great prize. 

OK!

A few years ago I signed up to receive KLOVE's Encouraging Word of the Day e-mails. If you have never heard of KLOVE, chances are they have a radio station in your area, and you can listen to them on-line. It is a Christian radio station that has everything from music to Focus on the Family minutes. ANYWAY I have been getting daily e-mails from them for a few years, and if you would like to sign up to get them too just go {HERE} and enter your info. (Don't worry, they wont send your spam!) 

This morning the verse that was in my inbox was this:

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.Romans 12:2 (NLT) 

When I was in college I took Greek as my foreign language...not the "go to Greece and talk to people" kind of Greek. Nope! I learned the "dead language for over 1,000 years, cant talk to anyone, but can translate really old manuscripts including Old Testament" kind of Greek. So, often times I like to compare the English words used in different translations to express the original Greek word. In Ancient Greek it only took one word to say a whole phrase of English words. I am a NIV girl, so I usually grab my NIV Bible, peel off the rubber band that is holding it together (I totally need to get a new Bible, but this one is so nice and worn in, and has all my good notes and underlining...I just cant bring myself to switch to a new one)

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 (NIV)

And our pastor usually reads from the NASB so for good measure I look up one more:

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 (NASB)

As I was reading this passage and praying about it 2 things really stuck out to me:

(1) God transforms me internally (mind/heart) when I let Him in to do the job of renewing me, transforming me. Changing the way I think, therefore changing the way I act and react to situations in my life. 

(2) If I am not letting Him renewing me, then the opposite is happening - I am being filled up with the world. Conforming to what I see around me every day. Even if I don't mean to. If I don't have God on my mind, then I am going to slowly but surely be conformed to this world. 

I can alway tell when I have been failing in this are - when I am driving. in. traffic. On the days when traffic makes me so frustrated, and the idiot driver in the slow car driving in the passing lane is driving me CRAZY and I just want to give his/her back bumper a little tap or honk to get them out of my way!...I switch on KLOVE and turn up the volume. And sure enough, a song about God's grace, forgiveness, and greatness comes on and my mind is transformed! I don't know about you, but I don't want to be like this world! I want that which is good, acceptable, and perfect ~ God's will for my life! So this week, let me encourage you (and at the same time challenge myself) to not be conformed to the patterns of this world. To be in the word more, listen to that Christian radio station, pray more, whatever you need to do to keep your focus on God, so that your mind may be continually renewed by Him, and not conformed to the patterns and behaviors of this world! 

And because no post is complete without a picture...

I found this little beauty at the flea market yesterday and knew it would be perfect on my new shelves! I am hoping to reveal them this week...but I may need to take a poll to help me decide how to arrange the items I have collected to display on the shelves...

Sharing these thoughts at:

Adventures in Faith: Love

Adventures in Faith: Counting to 1000

I was thinking in the car this weekend (something I had plenty of time to do on the 7 hourS drive to and 7 hours back from Minnesota) that it has been a while since I posted about counting 1000 blessings in 2012. And to be perfectly honest I have not been doing much counting since our vacation in April. But today I am back to at it, and I can feel my focus shift towards thankfulness when I make my daily list of 3 things. 

 things that bring me joy, 

 gifts from God,

ways HE has blessed me...

Writing these things down reminds me how truly blesses I am. I like to use the monthly prompt list so today I looked up the May Joy Dare List. The idea for today was "3 things about your home". Since I just spent the weekend at my home (well, my home when I was growing up) I knew this was the perfect day to pick back up counting to 1000.

391) Celebrating a great achievement together at my little brother's graduation.

392) A sound roof over our heads as family gathered to celebrate and the rain came pouring down!

393)  Celebrating another great achievement at my Great Grandma Mae's birthday party ~
 She turned 96!

Adventures in Faith: Just For Me

Sometimes I just sit and meditate on the awesomeness of God.

I mean, He knows what's around the next bend in the highway of life.

He knew before we were even born. 

He knows what is at the end of the hallway...

(This is a hallway in the hotel I stayed in in Puerto Rico)

These words from Jeremiah are so familiar to me.

But God knew that I would need to be reminded. 

He knew that when I was in high school, and wondering what college life away from home would bring, that I would need to hear this scripture from my pastor. 

He knew when I was in college, wondering what life after graduation would bring, that I would need to hear these this scripture from my coach.

I like to think God put these words in the Bible

just 

for 

 me.

But they are in there for you too!

Adventures in Faith: He is Risen!

(This is a picture of a flower that was all over the island of Granada...our tour guide told me the name, 

but now I can't remember what it is.)

Happy Easter to you all!

He is Risen! 

Adventures in Faith: Good Friday

One of my all time favorite hymns is "Before the Throne of God Above" by Charitie Bancroft. It is the hymn we sang at our wedding. And it brings tears to my, and makes me lift my hands to praise God.

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!
With Christ my Savior and my God!

Such powerful words - even if you have never heart the melody. 

Take a listen...

Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Thank you Jesus for taking my place on the cross! 

Adventures in Faith: Palm Sunday

Our pastor actually preached about Palm Sunday a few weeks ago. He is taking the 5 Sundays before Easter Sunday to take us through the last week of Jesus before He was crucified...and well, that starts with Jesus entering the city on the back of a donkey (what we celebrate now as Palm Sunday). So that's where we started. It has been so good to study about Jesus' last week. So much of the 4 Gospels are devoted to chronicling the actions and words of the last week of Jesus. But most years it is Palm Sunday and then skip over everything in between and straight to Good Friday/Crucifixion and then Easter Sunday when Jesus rose from the dead. There are so many lessons and fulfillment of prophesy between these 2 events that we should be paying attention too. 


Back to Palm Sunday. We studied Mark's account of the Triumphal Entry in Mark 11. I always thought it was kind of funny, that after walking all over the countryside, Jesus stops outside the city and tells 2 of the disciples to go and get a donkey from the city so He can ride into the city. Not just any donkey, "a colt, which no one had ever ridden" Mark 11:3. I'm sure the disciples were a little skeptical about the whole deal. I would have liked to hear their conversation as the walked to the the city! But sure enough, "they went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway." Mark 11:4. They brought the colt to Jesus. 
Why did Jesus need a colt? Were his feet tired? Did he break a sandal? 
Nope! Well, maybe, I wasn't there.
But I do know Jesus entered the city on the back of a colt to fulfill the prophesy found in Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!

Shot, Daughter of Jerusalem!

See, your king comes to you,

righteous and having salvation,

gentle and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 

ALL people in Jerusalem were very familiar with the Messianic prophesy. They all knew that The Messiah would ride into the city in this fashion. They got the message when they saw Jesus. Can you imagine being there! Seeing Jesus on that donkey! Knowing what the prophets had said years ago! I would shout HOSANNA too. Hosanna is a Hebrew word meaning "save us". What a beautiful sight to imagine and a beautiful word to say. 

{image}

Hosanna in the highest!

Adventures in Faith: Let Your Kingdom Come

Do you ever hear a song and just feel God speaking right to you?

Today, one of the worship songs we sang at church really spoke to me. 

It was "Let You Kingdom Come" by Bob Kauflin.

Here are the words

Your glorious cause, O God, engages our hearts
May Jesus Christ be known wherever we are
We ask not for ourselves, but for Your renown
The cross has saved us so we pray
Your kingdom come


Let Your kingdom come
Let Your will be done
So that everyone might know Your Name
Let Your song be heard everywhere on earth
Till Your sovereign work on earth is done
Let Your kingdom come


Give us Your strength, O God, and courage to speak
Perform Your wondrous deeds through those who are weak
Lord use us as You want, whatever the test
By grace we’ll preach Your gospel
Till our dying breath

Let Your kingdom come
Let Your will be done
So that everyone might know Your Name
Let Your song be heard everywhere on earth
Till Your sovereign work on earth is done
Let Your kingdom come

And if you have never heard the song, here is a version of it. 

The whole song is great, but this time when we were singing it, 

the 2nd verse almost brought me to tears. 

"Lord use us as You want, whatever the test"

Thinking about those words. 

Whatever the test.

God is going to use us.

God is going to test us.

His gospel will be preached. 

Let HIS kingdom come.

Let HIS will be done. 

Adventures in Faith: Luke 6

Jesus teaches. 

The disciples listen.

The crowd listens. 

Luke 6 is FILLED with lessons. 

Many of them are hard lessons.

Lessons that can only really sink in and take effect with the power of the Holy Spirit. 

The one I am pondering this morning, is one that we have all heard. 

Since I was very young, I have been learning this lesson. 

I can't remember a time when I didn't know these words.

It may be the first verse I ever memorized.

God has whispered it to my heart over and over again.

And yet, to often, I still fail to follow the teaching. 

I do not treat others the way I would want to be treated if I were in their place. 

It sounds so simple, 

just a short phrase,

but a long lesson to learn.

Lord, teach me to think before I respond. 

Please help me to treat others the way I would want to be treated. 

Adventures in Faith: Dealing with Disappointment

I have a loooooooong list of weaknesses. 

On that list is dealing with disappointment. 

Truth time: Dealing with disappointment = BIG weakness for me.

 I am a total mountain maker out of mole hills. I'm talking Mt. Everest sized mountains sometimes. Without God's grace and power, I am completely unable to deal with disappointment in a Christ like manner. This past weekend, God gave me an opportunity to let His grace and power work in my heart as I was dealing with a disappointment. I say work in my heart, because my brain knows what to do. 

My brain knows that the disappointing situation was:

1) out of our control

2) not the end of the world

3) just the way things turned out.

But my heart was still hurt. I was still disappointed.
In situations like this weekend I have a choice to make.

 I have a choice as to how I deal with the disappointment. 

I can either: 

A) Accept God's grace and power to calm my heart, heal my hurt, take away my bad attitude, not letting this disappointment leak into other areas of my life. Show understanding in the situation. To let God's sufficient grace to overflow from my life into the life of the person/situation that caused the disappointment. Look for a blessing in the disappointment. 

B) Do the exact opposite of A. Toss grace aside. Let the disappointment and hurt leak from this one situation into other relationships, conversations, and experiences. Place blame. Make others feel guilty. Pout. Feel sorry for myself. 

I wish I could say that I chose A right away this weekend. 

My brain knows to choose A. 

But I can't choose A on my own. 

Disappointment is a weakness for me.

Only by God's power and grace can A be a reality for me. 

My default is B. 

Thankfully, God knew this was going to be a weakness for me.

And He laid this verse on my heart

And every word of this Scripture is God's truth and grace whispering to my heart! His grace IS sufficient ~ if I let it in to do it's work. God's power IS made perfect in my weakness. You see, I like to think I can do things myself. That I can handle things on my own. (Cue God chuckling and shaking His head at me ~ Oh, when will I learn it is only by His power!) This is yet another example of my human weakness, and God's all powerfulness.

 Lord, I realize that my weakness in an opportunity for Your strength to be revealed. Through You alone can I have peace, understanding and grace when disappointments arise. Help me to rely on Your strength and grace when disappointment arises this week. 

Happy Monday! 

Adventures in Faith: Forgiveness February

God has been laying the topic of forgiveness on my heart for a few weeks, and I just wanted to share some of my thoughts with you today...so apologies in advance if the following is a bit scattered. In the mornings, Daniel and I are reading Charles Stanley's book Pathways to His Presence. 

It is a great daily devotional that has a Bible verse and a one page reading for every day of the year. Each month has a theme. February's theme (as you may be able to guess) is Forgiveness.

Forgiveness is something that I often struggle with. Actually it is unforgiveness that is an on going struggle for me. You see, for me, unforgiveness is easy to hide. It is easy to smile and be pleasant, but underneath that smile is a bitterness and resentment...

The reading yesterday really hit home for me. 

Stanley wrote that "an unforgiving spirit is like an insidious cancer that eats away at a person until it has a devastating impact....the cancer of unforgiveness often steals a person's joy for years." 

To anyone reading this ~ It is so true! 

Unforgiveness steals joy with the snap of a finger. I lie to myself and say that I have a right to be angry, or that I have a right to complain to others about a time when someone wronged me. I was wronged after all, I deserve to tell other people and have them sympathize with me. I lie to myself and say that I will forgive when I get an apology, or when enough time has passes...

But that is not the way God wants me to live. 

Every pain I have felt, Jesus has felt it.

Every sin that I have committed, God has forgiven.

He doesn't say to me "Well, if you are really sorry, and don't do it again, then I will forgive you."

NO! He says 

{you can read more about that here}

Stanley went on to outline 4 "R"s of the healing process of forgiveness. 

Repentance

I must assume responsibility for my unforgiving spirit and ask forgiveness for my unforgiveness. Then I have to forgive. Not just think it, or say I will do it. I have to really, truly forgive.

Release 

No longer should I hold over anyone the debt I feel they owe me. No waiting for apologies, no mulling over things that have happened in the past. They do not owe me anything, because I forgave them.

Recognition

The acknowledgment that someone wronged me exposes weaknesses in my life. My resentment, hostility, and bitterness are areas that God wants to transform in me. To whittle them away from the person I am, to turn me into a person more like Jesus. 

Remembrance

When ever I feel myself slipping back into unforgiveness, I remember how often God forgives me. I remember how many times I have had to ask His forgiveness (um, a lot!). And how many times He said No (zero times!) 

If Jesus can forgive the Roman soldiers even as they led Him to be crucified, with His help, I will be able to break the bonds of unforgiveness and give all that bitterness and resentment to God. 

Lord, your forgiveness has set me free!

Happy Thursday! 

Adventures in Faith: Joy Dare

3 gifts found behind doors:

130) Clean dishes when I open up my dishwasher.

131) Girl Scouts delivering Thin Mints.

132) My wonderful, hardworking hubby home from his day at work.

Adventures in Faith: Atonement and Propitiation

I know, big word, right?!? Try teaching what those words mean to elementary students. Well that is what I tried to do last Wednesday night. Backing up a bit...Our church has a Wednesday night program for elementary aged students called Kids 4 Truth. It is an awesome program, and I love the way it is implemented. There are a group of core teachers that work with the children every week, and each week there is a guest teacher and a guest game leader for the group time. I do the guest teaching a few times a year (and Daniel does the guest games leader). Having a 'special guest' really changes things up each week for the kids, and I think it helps them remember the lessons better. Also, for the people with an interest in helping with kids programs but cant make a weekly commitment - it is perfect. 


So back to atonement and propitiation...I got my lesson a few weeks before my teaching date and started reading over it to get an idea of how I wanted to present the lesson in my alloted 15 min. God really used a story in the curriculum (and then one in real life) to help me understand and explain these theologically packed words to the kid-os and I just wanted to share them with you!


The story from the curriculum (slightly adapted by me) went as followes: 

Once upon a time there was a boy who lived on a farm. This boy was a hard working boy and every day in the summer he worked on his family's farm. He worked in the fields and he worked with the animals. He worked in the garden and he worked in the barn. 

At the end of the day his shoes were filthy. 

(There is lots of yucky stuff to step in on a farm!!!) 

We was ready to go inside at the end of the day, but when he walked up to the door, 

he had a problem.

 He couldn't wear his dirty filthy shoes into the house. 

His father couldn't stand dirt in the house. 

So, he stood outside the door, thinking maybe he could clean his shoes off and then go inside.

 But try as he did, the shoes were still dirty. Just then his father came outside and told him,

 "Son, I will take your dirty shoes for you, and I will wear them myself. And I will give you MY nice, clean, new, shoes to wear." So the father took the dirty shoes and put them on and the son put on his new clean shoes!

Now, to explain: The dirty shoes symbolize out dirty sinful lives. No mater how we try, we can not clean ourselves of our sin. My own personal story about this comes from my wonderful hubby! He wears work boots to work and often they get quite filthy. The other day he put on his boots to get ready for work and then remembered he needed something in the living room...well it was not to much later that he walked past me with a broom to clean up all the dirt that had fallen off his boots onto the living room floor! Sin is the same. Just a little bit can get everywhere! 


God made a way for us to be cleansed of our sins! He sent Jesus to die on the cross be our atonement - to take away our old muddy shoes and to wear them as His own. He doesn't just go poof and make our dirty sins disappear. Oh no, He took those dirty shoes (our sins) and he wore  them as His own. Taking the punishment for our sins and paying the price in full by dying on the cross for us. Jesus is also our propitiation, because of His sinless, perfect life that he lived and gave up on the cross He gives us His new clean shoes. His death is our peace offering as He was the Perfect sacrifice. 


We drew pictures of new shoes and wrote the words atonement under one shoe, and propitiation under the other. We also read 1 John 2:2 

"He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, 

and not only for ours but also for 

the sins of the whole world."

The kids seemed to understand (which I have to give total credit to the Holy Spirit on that one! These are some hard words!) and even the other adult teachers said the lesson helped them!

Do you have any favorite stories that help explain complicated words/ideas? I would love to hear about them!

Adventures in Faith: 1000 blessings in 2012

Counting to 1000 blessings in 2012
88) A song heard ~ It Is Well With My Soul 

1. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
   When sorrows like sea billows roll;
   Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
   It is well, it is well, with my soul.
   • It is well, with my soul,
     It is well, it is well, with my soul.
2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
   Let this blest assurance control,
   That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
   And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
3. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
   My sin, not in part but the whole,
   Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
   Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
4. And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
   The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
   The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
   Even so, it is well with my soul.
   
   
   89) A soft word~ the last words I hear every night and the first I hear every morning "I love you" from my hubby
   
   
   90) Where I saw light ~ A snowy sun rise this morning 
   

   

   {here}