Win Big with Vision Forum!

Remember when I posted about the chance to win gift certificates from Vision Forum on a blog?! Well, you can also go to Generation Cedar to enter for more chances!

As I said before, Vision Forum is a great place to go to fulfill your Christian book needs! I have ordered school books as well as a number of Christian books from them and have never been disappointed. They have great customer services and good prices.

Head over to Generation Cedar for your chance to win!

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations."

~ Psalm 100

Today I am so very thankful for my husband, my girls, and my family. The Lord has truly blessed me by making me a part of a family that loved and served the Lord from before I was born and blessed me with a wonderful husband that also serves and loves Him so that we can raise children who will prayerfully do the same.

I'm also so very thankful for all the ways the Lord provides not only for our needs, but also for some of our wants. We serve a Lord who wants the best for us and desires for us to live an abundant life!

Most of all, I'm so very thankful for the Lord sending His one and only Son to die on the cross for my sins. He took the punishment upon Himself so that I may one day be in glory with God. It is only because of His great sacrifice that I will not spend eternity in hell as I should. His gift of salvation is a free gift that anyone can enjoy!

To God be the glory for all He has done!

Vision Forum--A Great Resource for Christian Books

I was introduced to Vision Forum products a couple of years ago and have been wanting almost everything in their catalog every since! Every time a catalog arrives in the mail, the girls and I look over the products and make a wish list of what we would like to get. I watch the site through out the year for sales and often find some really good deals. I encourage you to visit Vision Forum for your Christian Book needs!

Right now, you can enter to win a gift certificate to Vision Forum by visiting A Wise Woman Builds Her Home.

The Blessing: A Look at Chapter 3 of Be Fruitful & Multiply

"Fruitfulness is God's blessing." I am just going to share some of the scripture references Campbell gives to support her statement.

Genesis 28:1-3, "God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people."

Genesis 48: 3, 4, "And Jacob said . . .God Almighty appeared unto me and blessed me . . . and said unto me, Behold I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people."

Leviticus 26: 3, 9, "If ye walk in my statues and keep my commandments and do them . . . I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you."

Deuteronomy 30:5, "He will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers."

Psalm 107: 38, "He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly."

Psalm 127: 3-5, "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is His reward. As arrows are in the hand of the mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate."

Psalm 128, "Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord: that walketh in His ways. . . Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord."

Jeremiah 30:19, "By my blessing they will increase in numbers."

Spiritual Food from Proverbs 31 Ministries

I'm behind in reading my emails, but this morning I read two past devotions from Proverbs 31 Ministries. I was spiritually fed by both and wanted to share them with you.

You Don't Like Me
A Divine Interruption

God Love Increase--A look at Chapter 2 of Be Fruitful and Multiply

This chapter supported some of my already held beliefs and gave further scripture to back those beliefs up as well as discussed issues that I am still seeking answers for.

One reason why God commands us to be fruitful and multiply is for His people to become mighty in the land. "He wants the godly seed to be a threat to the devil. . . The devil is frightened of the godly seed, for it is they who will destroy his works in this world." Campbell also says,

The enemy knew that God would need an army in this hour to fulfill His great purposes. He knew that if he could diminish God's army, he could thwart God's plans. It is the strategy of Satan to minimize the holy seed. The sad thing is that the Christian church has unconsciously fallen into this trap. As Christians in the last few decades have decided to have fewer children, they have limited the power of God on earth. God's plan is to fill the earth with His glory. God calls the increase of children our "glory" (Hosea 9:11).

What is the highest blessing God gives? Look at Deuteronmy 28:11, "And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock and in the produce of your ground. . ." The thing He blesses before the increase of property or increase of the fruit of the ground is to increase the fruit of the body.

God is glorified through the increase of the womb. Jeremiah 30:19b says, "I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small." When Christians multiply and grow, God receives the glory!

One of the greatest reasons for marriage is to represent the picture of Christ and the church. What does God want for the church? He wants the church to grow and multiply. "When we are fruitful in our marriage, we are revealing a true picture of Christ and the church to the world."

Christians are called to live as Christ. Jesus was part of a big family. According to Mark 6:3, Jesus had four brothers and "sisters". If we even go with the minimum meaning of "sisters" and count only two, that means there were seven children in the family. God could have created any type of family for Christ and He chose a large family!

Why have we seen a decrease in the number of people standing for God's will? It is because Christians are not multiplying enough to even replace themselves. Many will argue that by having two children, people are doing their "job"; however, what about those who are naturally childless or never marry? According to Theodore Laetsch, "At least four children to a family to prevent this dying out, five children to bring about an increase in population."

The issue that I have struggled with for a while and still struggle with is the issue of barrenness and miscarriages. The Word of God shows us in many different places that barrenness is a curse. What I struggle with is that I know many strong, devoted Christian women who experience barrenness and/or miscarriages. I just can't believe that God is cursing them.

A few thoughts I have on the topic is that it could be the consequence of something as simple as not eating the right foods (example: gluten can cause sterility in celiacs), or from taking hormone based birth control (either currently or in the past), or even a side effect to a disease. The problem with these thoughts is that they still don't explain the situations of all the women I know who suffer with an empty womb.

I will continue to seek God's wisdom in this matter, but it might just be something I won't know until I reach Heaven. One thing I do know is, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." ~ Romans 8:28.

The Birth of a New CHRISTmas Tradition

Check this out!  The Birth of a New CHRISTmas Tradition

Why I Need Grace

When we make mistakes as mothers, we need to humble ourselves and admit it to our children and ask for their forgiveness. I struggle with this.  I don't want to be humble.  I don't want to be wrong.  I want to say whatever I do is justified because "I'm the mommy."  But that isn't true.  If I can learn to be humble and ask them to forgive me, then they will grow to do the same thing.  They'll know it's okay to make mistakes, and better to ask for forgiveness.  And they'll know they are loved even when they make those mistakes.

I think, when we are raising children who are also imperfect people, that this lesson is even more important than trying to be perfect all the time in the first place.  We're not.  What does it teach our children if we pretend that we are?  I think it makes them see us as hard, unfair, proud.  It also could make them feel like they are the only ones who fail.  Whatever happens, it's not good for their relationship with us or the Lord.

I'll be imperfect, I'll thank the Lord for His grace, and I'll strive to do better everyday. That's all I can do.

The above is an excerpt from a blog post that I needed to hear. If you would like to read it in it's entirety, head to Keeper of the Home. 

Avoiding Target

This is why I don't shop at Target anymore and haven't for a while!

Wasn't it last Christmas that Target refused to let the Salvation Army ring their  bells  in front of their stores?

Dick   Forrey of the Vietnam Veterans Association  wrote.      

'Recently   we asked the local TARGET store to be a proud sponsor of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall during  our   spring   recognition event. We received the following reply from   the local TARGET management:    

'Veterans do not meet our area of giving. We only donate to the arts, social action groups, gay & lesbian causes, and education.'    

So I'm thinking, if the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall  and veterans in general, do not meet their donation criteria, then something is really wrong at this TARGET store.  We were not asking for thousands of dollars, not even hundreds, just a small sponsorship for a memorial remembrance.   .

As a follow-up, I, E-mailed the TARGET U.S. Corporate Headquarters and their response was the same...That's their national policy!!! Then I looked into the company further.. They will not allow the   Marines to collect for 'Toys for Tots' at any of their stores.  And during the recent Iraq deployment, they  would not allow families of employees who were called up for active duty to continue their insurance coverage while they were on military service... Then as I dig further, TARGET  is a French-owned corporation.     Now, I'm thinking again.. If TARGET cannot support American (or Canadian) Veterans, then why should my family and I support their stores by spending our hard earned American (or Canadian) dollars in their  stores???   And, have their profits sent to France ... Without the American (and Canadian) Vets, where would France be today? 'They, most likely would be speaking German and trading in Deutsch Marks'      

Sincerely, 
Dick Forrey
Veterans Helping Veteran