Praying the Psalms- Psalm 59

Jenny has begun a journey of praying her way through the Psalms that I have decided to join. Each weekend, we will pray through one psalm and post our prayer and/or meditations on that psalm as the Lord leads. Check out her journey and join us in Praying the Psalms.

Psalm 59

"O my Strength, I watch for you; 
   you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God."  Psalm 59: 9-10a

"But I will sing of your strength,
   in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
   my refuge in times of trouble.

O my Strength, I sing praise to you;
   you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God."  Psalm 59: 16-17

I am learning how to watch for You, O Lord.  Learning how to see You even in the dark and painful places.  And how to understand the holes in my life as seeing through to You places, as Ann so beautifully puts it.  I am also learning how to come to You in the morning to sing of Your love and strength.  There are times, Lord, when my eyes are sharp and I see You everywhere.  There are times when my heart is steadfast and I faithfully meet You in the morning.  


There are still too many times, though, when I fail to watch for You and instead fix my eyes on the circumstances.  And there are too many times when I value my comfort over my time with You in the morning.  I ask for Your strength to be made perfect in my many weaknesses.  Help me, Lord, to be faithful and obedient.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Praying the Psalms- Psalm 58

Jenny has begun a journey of praying her way through the Psalms that I have decided to join. Each weekend, we will pray through one psalm and post our prayer and/or meditations on that psalm as the Lord leads. Check out her journey and join us in Praying the Psalms.


Psalm 58


Since Saturday afternoon, I have been trying to understand this Psalm, to meditate on it and to walk away from it with some sense of how to apply it to my life.  David's prayers, while full of a raw honesty that I admire, are sometimes such a far cry from Jesus' teaching on loving those who hate us, blessing those who curse us, etc. that I have a hard time relating to them.  Psalm 58 is just such a prayer.


So, now it is Wednesday and I am still not sure what to take away from this desperate prayer.  Perhaps because I have never been in such dire circumstances, I cannot understand David's cry.  What I do understand, though, is my own sinfulness.  I am aware of how I can harbor bitterness and ill will in my heart toward others.  And I have the full counsel of God.  I know what Jesus has said about these sins.   


I also remember how His love covers a multitude of sins and how He looks at our hearts and how He sees the need hidden beneath the sin.  And I receive the same grace that He gave David.

My Homeschool Mission Statement

Our reasons from homeschooling, I believe, are a little different from many.  We are arriving on this path after having had a mainly positive school experience for many years now.  Our decision to give homeschooling a try was made primarily with an eye to the future for our children, given our assessment of the current state of education in America.  


With all this in mind, as well as the awareness that homeschooling will be a journey with highs and lows, wonderful and messy moments,  I wanted to create a mission statement for our home school that reflected our values and would guide our day to day activities.  I'm hoping to have it written in calligraphy on some nice card stock to frame and display as a reminder to all of us of our goals and aspirations for homeschooling.


Without further ado, here is our Homeschool Mission Statement:

• To create a learning environment that is engaging and interesting, inspiring inquisitiveness and a love of learning.  
• To provide our children with a high-quality and interesting literature based, classical education that seeks to impart knowledge while also piquing curiosity, leaving room for delight directed study and developing critical thinking skills.
• To give our children time to explore their interests, develop their creativity and discover their unique giftings and callings from God.
• To give us more time with our children to sharpen them as iron sharpens iron, to encourage them and to support and guide them as they discover the path God has planned for them.

If you've been reading here long, you may have seen my other Mission Statements.  I just re-read them and eek!  I think I may need to have those framed and displayed as well.  I'm not quite where I want to be with some of goals laid out in those Mission Statements.  Just keepin' it real!

Multitude Monday

 

Here are some of the things I was thankful for this week:

955.  Still on track with Bible in 90 Days- working our way through the prophets now!

956.  Wrestling with who God is- to reconcile His love with His justice

957.  Preparing for a new book club at church

958.  Co-leading the first meeting with Andrea

959.  Discussing Not So Fast in community

960.  Recalling my original commitment to slow down and discovering where I have slipped back into old habits

961.  A Valentine's breakfast for moms hosted by a sweet friend

962.  A beautiful bouquet of roses from T waiting for me when I returned home
963.  And a poem he wrote and posted on Facebook!
964.  Out little man's self-inspired and homemade Valentine's Day card to the family

965.  More confirmation about our decision from a recent meeting at school

966.  Finally an opportunity to tell my sister who was surprisingly not negative about the idea

967.  Another opportunity to meet with a veteran mom and learn about curricula options I hadn't considered yet

968.  MP3 teachings and podcasts


969.  A four year old's sweet, sweet prayers

970.  Planning the boys' upcoming birthday parties- a pool party and an ice skating party

971.  Celebrating our little cousin's first birthday

972.  Little cousins playing together and enjoying each other...

973.  Allowing the big cousins to sit around a table and chat

974.  Afrin, Motrin and Mucinex (yes, I've finally succumbed to the bug)

975.  Husband and daughter finally feeling better

You can read why I got started counting the gifts here.

Weekend Encouragement

This post from my friend Trisha is so, so good.  If you struggle with parenting a challenging child, go read it now!

Curricula Fun

O.k., I admit it.  I'm a little weird.  Researching home school curricula and planning a year (or a summer) of learning is actually fun for me.  As I mentioned in this post, I have many friends who have been homeschooling for many years that offered me support, guidance and wisdom in putting this curricula plan together.  


Here is what I have come up with so far.  Some of it may change as I continue to learn about homeschooling and maybe even after we start and need to make adjustments.  If you are a homeschooler and have any comments about any of these curricula or any others you love, please share!

Humanities Core:

Daily

Both- Tapestry of Grace- Year Two

Both- The Story of the World Year 1 (SUMMER)

Language Arts- Spelling, Grammar, Vocabulary, Writing, Handwriting:

Daily

5th Grader- Growing with Grammar (3x a week)/Soaring with Spelling (daily) OR IEW Spelling

2nd Grader- Explode the Code Online, A Reason for Handwriting (daily)

Both- Writing Aids within Tapestry of Grace or IEW Writing for 5th Grader

Both- Critical Thinking Workbooks (SUMMER)

Math:

Daily

Both- Math U See and Drills Online

Science:

Twice Weekly (possibly with dad)

Both- Apologia Exploring Creation Through Astronomy 

Bible:

Daily

All- Family Devotional- The Children’s Daily Devotional Bible

5th Grader- Precept Ministries How to Study Your Bible*

2nd Grader- Studying God’s Word

Both- Scripture Memorization- AWANA

All- A Child’s Book of Character Building (SUMMER-Early Fall)*

Foreign Language:

Twice a Week

Both- Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America)*

Keyboarding:

Twice a week

5th Grader- Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing for Kidz

Art/Music/PE:

Activities within Tapestry of Grace

Weekly Co-op

Community Sports

*The starred links are affiliate links through Amazon.  

Victory March

Photo Credit

This is the sixth post in a series I'm writing about what I gleaned from Beth Moore's Breaking Free Bible study.  If you'd like to read this series from the beginning, click here.  Or here is a list of the first five posts in order:  

• Freedom Road
• Taking the First Step
• The Path to Grace
• Walking Through Brokenness
• A Solitary Trek?

The first two posts give some more background information on my story and the tools I am using to have victory, so be sure to check them out if you are new to this series.  The rest of the posts might not make much sense without the context from the first two.  

The next category of lies that God revealed to me through this study have to do with experiencing freedom and victory.  These lies are a bit different from the others I've shared in that they usually emerge after I've vented my anger not before, in moments of dejection and sorrow.  Here's how these lies sound in my head: 

• Victory is not for me
• I'll never be able to overcome these obstacles
• I've tried all this before, why would it work now?
• I'll never break free from this sin
• Freedom is not for me

An honest look at these lies revealed the following:

• I have not truly believed what God's Word says about my position in Christ- victorious and free
• I am doubting God's power to set me free and to empower me to be "more than a conquerer"
• I'm allowing setbacks and defeat to overwhelm my hope

Here's what the Word has to say about my lies (for the sake of brevity, I'll list only the references here):

• Romans 8:37
• Isaiah 61:1
• Philippians 1: 6
• John 8: 31-32
• John 8:36
• 2 Corinthians 3: 17
• Galatians 5: 1
• Hebrews 7: 25

These are the verses I have been praying  and meditating on to fill my mind with truth about my inheritance from Christ- freedom and victory.  And He has been faithful to bring them to mind in moments of stress to tear down the lies I mentioned above, which would otherwise lead to defeat.  


Last week was hard and I must admit to living in defeat for much of it.  My index cards remained in their pretty case while I vented my anger and held bitterness in my heart.  My heart is not yet steadfast but He is.  And because of Him, I can get back up and get back to fighting for freedom.

This is the sixth in a series of posts.  You can find the first five posts by following the following links:

• Freedom Road (the first post in the series)
• Taking the First Step (the second post in the series)
• The Path to Grace (the third post in the series)
• Walking Through Brokenness (the fourth post in the series)
• A Solitary Trek? (the fifth post in the series)

And a related post:

• What's in a Name?

Multitude Monday

 

Here are some of the things I was thankful for this week:

940.  A fun, field trip with our girl's class
941.  An evening family night at school
942.  Watching our big guy reading to and hanging out with his Kindergarten reading buddy


943.  High Tea with the Home School Support Group Moms
944.  How they shared their honest experiences- both sweet and hard


945.  Peapod grocery delivery 


946.  Knowing right away what was wrong with our girl when she woke coughing and crying at 11:30 p.m.
947.  How a steamy bathroom relieves croup
948.  Access to medical care and medication early the next morning
949.  Motrin and humidifiers
950.  And finally a fever free day complete with the return of her perky, chatty self
951.  A brother who could step up to lead worship for my husband when he succumbed to the nasty bug in our house

952.  Another weekday visit with my parents

953.  The end of another fun basketball season
953.  A little break from sports before baseball starts :)


954.  Still on track with Bible in 90 Days- now we're halfway through Psalms!

You can read why I got started counting the gifts here.

Praying the Psalms- Psalm 57

Jenny has begun a journey of praying her way through the Psalms that I have decided to join. Each weekend, we will pray through one psalm and post our prayer and/or meditations on that psalm as the Lord leads. Check out her journey and join us in Praying the Psalms.


Psalm 57

"My heart is steadfast, O God, 
   my heart is steadfast; 
   I will sing and make music. 
Awake, my soul! 
   Awake, harp and lyre! 
   I will awaken the dawn."  Psalm 57: 7-8

I've not been around this place much this week.  I've been struggling with circumstances and challenges in our family that seem to wax and wane.  When I seem them waning, my spirit soars and I am hopeful and I can taste freedom.  When I see them waxing, my spirit dips low and I lose hope and accept defeat.  My heart is not steadfast.  I forget to sing and make music.  My soul is downcast.  With shame, I admit that I justify my sin.


Father, give me a heart that is steadfast- one that sings in praise to You regardless of circumstances.  One that hopes and perseveres in the face of challenges.  Forgive me for my complacency and justification of my unrighteous displays of anger.  Through your Word, transform me and renew my mind.  Lift up my downcast spirit and keep my feet on the path you have marked out for me.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Multitude Monday

 

Here are some of the things I was thankful for this week:

919.  Safety in icy road conditions

920.  The beauty of ice covered trees

921.  Early dismissal for the kids

922.  Snow- or I should say- ice day

923.  Evidence of the kids' creativity strewn throughout the house

924.  Catching the kids doing "laundry" in the bathroom sink and hearing how they just knew I'd be so happy at how they were helping

925.  Seeing their hearts and not the mess

926.  A really hard day...

927.  and how it teaches humility...

928.  and reminds me of my very real dependence on Him

929.  Preparing for an upcoming women's event at church...

930.  with a woman who is willing to share in the leadership

931.  Telling more people about our decision...

932.  and receiving encouragement and support 

933.  Rising early on Sunday morning...

934.  and reaping the benefit of a smooth morning before church

935.  Serving in Children's Worship

936.  A timely word during the sermon

937.  Hosting a houseful of friends and their children for the Super Bowl

938.  Fun for the kids

939.  Sweet fellowship for the adults

You can read why I got started here.

Praying the Psalms- Psalm 56

Jenny has begun a journey of praying her way through the Psalms that I have decided to join. Each weekend, we will pray through one psalm and post our prayer and/or meditations on that psalm as the Lord leads. Check out her journey and join us in Praying the Psalms.


Psalm 56

"Record my lament; 
   list my tears on your scroll— 
   are they not in your record?"  Psalm 56: 8

The tenderness of God.  All grace.  Will He allow suffering, pain, sorrow tears?  Yes.  But He will not be callous or forgetful.  He sees each tear that falls.  He records them, lists them, bottles them and soon, will wipe them away.  He is tender with us.  We can trust Him with our tears.


Father, thank You for Your compassion, which never fails.  Thank You for your tenderness with me.  Help me to never forget to trust You with my pain and my brokenness.  In Jesus' name, amen.