Jan. 20, 2008
Blessings The Lord Adonai Jehovah has been workin' on ...
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Is He yours?
Jeremiah 33: 3 John 15: 4-5, 7-12, 14-17
I Corinthians 13 Ephesians 1: 15-21 and
2: 1-10 and 3: 14, 16-21 Colossians 1: 9-14
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...I bow my knees unto The Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah,
of Whom the whole family in Heaven and earth is named, that He
would grant you, according to the riches of His Glory, to be strengthened
with Might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Messiah may dwell in
your hearts by Faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in Love, may
be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length,
and depth, and height; and to know The agape Love of Mesiah, which
passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God
. ...He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to The Power (of The Spirit) that worketh in us, unto Him be
glory in the believers by Messiah Yeshua throughout all ages, ....
Ephesians 3: 14-21
God our Father, Almighty, sure is a busy One! He has been workin'
overtime, on behalf of our family, recently. Since our family began a
full-time evangelistic and teaching ministry early in 2007, God has been
workin' in the hearts of every member of our family. Our oldest son,
while serving with No Greater Joy's ministry since January of 2007,
is soon to return to Texas, and even he has been well aware of what
urgings and pullings God has been doin' in all of us.
The Good Lord works in each one of His children the specific will
He has for that one, and He urges each one to do certain things
according to the giftings He has put within each of us. He also pulls
at our hearts at various times and in various ways, according to how
He has wired each of His children.
He teaches each one differently, because some of us catch
"facts and information," while others of us catch "dramatic
moments" or "paintings God paints in the sun-setting western sky.
He teaches each one a different story to tell, about Him.
Each struggle we go through tells a new part of our story. God
is using some very special people in our family's life to share God's
generous Heart with us, in recent months. Here is some of the rest
of the story I began telling on another blog at:
http://kasayeshua.multiply.com If you are interested, please read
more about it there.
While my husbad was in a large city for a while, applying
for full-time work for ministries or corporations, not long ago, and
though he was qualified for every one he applied for, and though
he applied for many, many job positions, it became quite clear that
The Good Lord had a plan to use that time to confirm to him and to
us that he is to put his time into full-time evangelistic and teaching
work, for this season of our lives.
God has been, before that time, and since then, bringing generous
help to our family, through close friends and relatives, who have all
made some sacrifice to give to us. Some of them understand all that
we do, as home educators, because they also home educate their own
children. Others who gave to us have never homeschooled their
children, so they wonder what, exactly, we are up to, in beginning
an IRS-approved 501(c)-3 non-profit, charitable organization, called
Life in the Bible Institute.
We all have been watching, daily and weekly, seeing God meet all
our needs, and often so much more! When yet another loving child
of God gives us food, or helps us in some other way, we see it as a
very real answer from God to prayer. God has, in a way that only He
could do (and by that, it gives Him, alone, the glory for what He has
done), paid all our family's expenses (trust me, they are not small,
though we have no financial debts and we hope we owe no debts to
anyone in any other way). The rent we pay at this house where we
now live (though temporary; we trust God will be moving us on from
here in about 2 to 9 weeks from now) is much higher than what we
used to pay to the old mortage, before 2001 ended, when we got to
throw away our mortgage papers, when God sold the last house we
had a mortgage on, late in 2001. After that, we paid cash for a
house, ... and later sold it. Then, The Lord lent us a house to use
while we served full-time at the International ALERT Academy,
from late in 2003 until April 1, of 2007. Now, we live in a lovely
house in east Texas, ... but it is not ours. All we have is God's own.
We stand amazed at how God can pay all our bills each month,
no matter how much they are. Higher or lower, He still comes
through, and provides just enough for them all to be paid. We
have seen Him provide the money (as we Americans say) "just in
time." More than twice! Over and over!
During recent holyday times, and recent birthday celebrations,
God has been teaching us some lessons that hit us hard. We felt
quite inadequate and humbled by our dear Father in Heaven, when
we were unable to do what we "used to do," to share our own
generosity with others, in our family, who were generous with us.
God has shown us that we do not have to spend lots of money
on gifts for our children to know that we do love and appreciate
them, ... on special occasions. We can show them we love and want
them to know how special they are to us, by writing them personal
notes and letters, painting pictures, or by drawing something they
like as a gift for them.
We can make them a special meal they choose, or do
a puppet show to make them laugh, or sing a special song they
like, together as a family, or as a "performance" given by one of
us, especially for them. We can act out a skit that shows them
we had been thinking about a way to show them "love" for days
and days! We can make a shadow play, with paper characters,
behind a sheet, with a light from the back, so it makes the paper
figures appear real large on the 'sheet screen.' Three of our
children have done this, as a special treat for us. It always
brightens our days!
God has done so much to encourage our hearts (!), during this
time of waiting on Him, while He shows us each new peek into His
window of direction and leading, on the pathway He has chosen
us to travel on, with Him. He has used His Word, His children /
His followers, our own children, His true ministers, and His true
missionaries on foreign fields and on the home front, plus many
who home educate, to edify us, pray for us, help us, give generously
to us, and to encourage us. As we begin to sing more, in public,
as a harmonious family of singers, in any place where folks ask us
to come, we will remember all those who gave to us, shared with
us, and loves us ... all the way there!
God is so good to us! When His children think they have a
lack in one area, God makes up for it in another area. When any
of God's children think they do not have enough, all they need do
is look at all that God has so richly blessed them with, and then
try to find someone else who has "less," ... and willingly give to
"their new friends" something they realize they really could do
without. And it will bless the receivers, as well as the givers!
Without giving all the specifics, I hope this has given those
who read this blog some idea of what God has been up to, in our
family, as we travel this home educating journey, down The Path
of Life, with Yeshua our Lord, Redeemer, Deliverer, and our
Mighty One, our Strength, our Joy, our Refuge and Help in
"trouble," and the High Tower to which we run, for safety from
danger, and the Safe Haven of Rest, where we can lie down and
sleep in Peace! No worries! No anxiety! Only Rest and Shalom
Peace! He is our Haven of Rest and our Shalom Peace!
In Isaiah 26: 1 b - 4, The Lord shares this: "... in the land of
Judah; We have a strong city; salvation (Hebrew, Ye'shua)
will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates,
that the righteous nation which keepeth the Truth may enter in.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect (real) peace, whose mind is stayed
on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in The Lord
YHWH forever: for in The Lord (YHWH) Jehovah is everlasting
Strength:"
And verse 7 shares this: "The way of the just is uprightness:
Thou, Most Upright, does weigh the path of the just." God always
has you on His mind, if you are just. We are made just through
believing in and trusting our lives to the Lamb of God, Ye'shua,
Who suffered, taking the punishment for our sins, on the Roman
execution stake. Our Father in Heaven, Who pities us as a father
pities his children ... cares for us, provides for us, and loves us
more than we know .... He does so much for us, while we are busy
doing all we know to do, trying to let Him live His Life through us.
Isaiah 30: 15 reminds us: "For thus saith The Lord YHWH
God, The Holy One of Israel; In returning (to where God wants
us to go or be) and rest (in Him, in Ye'shua) shall ye be saved /
delivered; in quietness (trusting hope) and in confidence (in
YHWH) shall be your Strength: ...."
Isaiah 32: 17, He continues to encourage us by saying: "And
the work of Righteousness shall be Shalom Peace; and the effect
of Righteousness quietness and assurance forever." God is able
to bring good out of every "bad" circumstance. He just wants us
to stick to Him like glue, and keep listening to Him at least as
much as we talk to Him. He wants us to worship Him in spirit and
in Truth. Let's learn how to do that more and more!
He wants us to remember that He "is able to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according
to the (His) power that worketh in us. Unto Him be glory in the
believers (church) by Messiah Ye'shua throughout all ages ...."
-- from Ephesians 3: 20-21
In Jeremiah 32: 27, the Lord YHWH said: "Behold, I AM
The Lord YHWH, The God of all flesh: is there any thing too
hard for Me?"
While our family walks through this time in what may
appear to be a wilderness time of testing and proving our hearts
and souls, ... He is showing us that He will remain The Faithful
One and The True One, Who always keeps His promises and Who
will never leave us nor forsake us. We need only examine our
selves, and continue letting Him purge from us all our ill manners
toward Him, and our unholy attitudes.
He wants us to give Him all our rights, expectations,
hopes, dreams and plans, and rededicate our lives to Him
every day. That is a big price, we think, at times. But
once we give those to Him, He pays us with so much
more than we could imagine: riches that no moth can
destroy or pestilence take away! Riches that last for
eternity! Treasures that are worth more than rubies
and diamonds, and gold and silver have no value next
to the value of living forever with Him in our Father's
House in Heaven, for ever and ever! Hallelujah!
Home education gives us the chance to live "outside
the box," that so many never get to try to do, or else just
don't realize they could, if only they would choose to.
It is a great adventure! Families are some of the hardest
things to break apart... though I've had a hard time breakin'
open some nut shells, before. And geodes are quite a
challenge, ... unless you are a growing boy who has his
Dad's hammer (with permission), and Mom is teachin' him
geology. hee hee! I am so glad God is letting us learn
how to learn, better than our first time around (when we,
as parents, attended public school). Learning can be lots
of fun! It is up to what we are willing to try, right?
Hope your journey today will bring you back home with
a big smile on your face, after some "real learnin'" has
gone on, around your family's home front. ;o)
... from east Texas, where there still isn't any snow on the
ground. Anyone up north, who is finished using your snow,
will you please send us some that is still cold enough to
last for at least a few hours. That's about how long snow
lasts in our area of Texas, anyway. God is good! ... even
when He does not choose to have snow fall where we live.
;o)
