The Importance of Herman Who?

"As Christian women, we must repudiate the worlds agenda for women and seek to understand the Words agenda for women... we must determine to be obedient to the the Word of God no matter what is says, with no compromises. This is what is means to be a woman of the Word. We must find out what the Bible teaches about marriage, about children, about men and women and their roles, and then we must be obedient with no apologies, no matter what the cost. Is this radical Christianity? No. This is basic Christianity."

-from The Fruit of Her Hands by Nancy Wilson.

Most definitely, Christian women should find out what the Bible teaches and obey it, even if it goes against our popular culture. However, I'm realizing that many Christians don't really understand what the Bible is instructing them to do. They read a section of the Bible and make it fit their situation. Some Christians interpret the Bible based on our modern culture, our current meaning of words, and even the policies of our church.

One of my pastors, Pastor Doug, loaned my husband and I a DVD called Herman Who? It is a hermeneutics primer - about the importance of interpreting the Bible properly. Oh boy, did that open my eyes. I realized that I was guilty of misinterpreting the Bible.

That DVD was one of the things that motivated me to start digging into the Bible and really studying it. The other motivator was my head pastor - Pastor Rick. He told us in a sermon that if we really are wanting to get to know the Lord better and to grow closer to Him, then we should be wanting to read His Bible more than anything else. That would be more than the latest Christian best seller or listening to what a pastor on the radio or TV has to say. He wasn't discrediting these resources, because they are important. However, a lot of times Christians skip over or skim through the Bible and give greater amounts of time to the other Christian things.

So, with the proper motivation and conviction, I started studying the Bible. Even though I've been a Christian since I was a pup and I even went to a Bible college for a year, it's like I'm discovering the Bible for the first time. I'm understanding what many of these ancient stories really mean and how their lessons apply to us today.

I like to listen to the commentary of J. Vernon McGee of Thru the Bible. He has a 5 year Bible study plan. Then I like to read that section of the Bible and compare the text in some of the different versions at BibleGateway. For even more detailed insight, I read the online notes or listen to the audio sermons of David Guzik. Understanding what the Bible really means is something that we all can do. It doesn't even require that we buy materials. All of the ones that I use are online for free.

In order to obey what God has called us Christian women to do, we need to read the message of the Bible correctly. It doesn't please God if we live our Christian lives based upon misunderstandings. I don't think that our ignorance impresses Him one bit. He expects us do dive in and find out what His Word is really calling us to do.

Married to an Unbeliever

My heart goes out to the many Christian women who are disappointed in their marriage because their husband is not a Christian. I've read some of your blogs and emails and I've learned about the daily frustration that you face. Please don't give up. Your situation isn't hopeless.

Ephesians 3:20 says that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or can imagine.

While you're waiting on your husband there are things that you can do:

• practice scriptural marriage principles
• pray for your husband
• trust God to work in your husband's life
• get Jesus centered, instead of being self-centered
  

Scriptural marriage principles are for all Christian women - those in Christian marriages and those married to unbelievers.

Ephesians 5:33 tells us that men are to love their wives and women are to respect their husbands. I heard Dr. Emerson Eggerichs talk about this verse on a radio show. He pointed out that the verse doesn't say anything about respecting your husband only if he deserves it. We are to show respect to our husband despite his spiritual condition and lack of spiritual leadership.

1 Peter 3:1 tells us that wives should accept the authority of a husband. A woman's godly life can speak to him without any words as a Christian witness. A husband will notice if his wife is respecting him, honoring his family leadership, and if she is growing as a Christian.

31 Days of Praying for Your Husband is a prayer calendar that many Christian women are using right now. It can be useful to you as you pray for your non-christian husband. Prayer is so powerful and I've seen God do dramatic things because I prayed for my husband.

I really enjoy the radio ministry Revive Our Hearts. Nancy Leigh DeMoss talks to women about many different subjects, including being married to an unbeliever. You can listen to her past programs online:

When He Doesn't Believe Series -
Choosing Love
Demolition Queen No More
The Lip Zip Principle
How to Pray for Him
Hope in God
An Obnoxious Christian Wife
He's Still a Guy
Staying Commited to an Unbeliever

Love and Respect Series with Dr. Emerson Eggerichs
The Crazy Cycle
The Energizing Cycle
Unconditional Respect
When He Won't Respond

Spiritually Unequal Marriage is a blog for women who are married to unbelievers. The blog offers help and encouragement so women can thrive in an unequally yoked marriage.

I hope these resources are helpful to you as you wait and pray for your husband's salvation. Please remember - even if you don't see any evidence of it, God may be working in your husband's life. Keep trusting the Lord and drawing close to Him.

Help Send Bibles to Asia

Donate to Send Bibles through Gospel for Asia $3 Each

Temptations Can Mess Up God's Will

We can learn a lot from Samson. Last week, I read some stories about him in Judges 13-16. God had big plans for Samson. An angel even announced to his mother that he would be born. However, Samson made some decisions that keep him from fulfilling God's will for his life. Although he didn't save the Israelites from the Philistines, we can still learn lessons from Samson.

If Samson had realized his temptations and protected himself against them, I think things would have turned out much different for him and the Israelites. His temptation seems to have been women. Though my big struggles aren't with lust or seduction - I have other temptations that could get in the way of God's will. We all do. Right?

So, I need to admit to myself where I am easily tempted and stay on guard. Because that is what the enemy is going to probably use to get at me. I'm really excited about living in God's will and doing what He wants me to do. I've been learning about how God likes to strengthen weak people and use them to do His work. Here I am, weak and poor in the eyes of the world. But I feel so honored that I am valuable to God. I just have to stand strong, with His strength, against any temptation that comes my way.

I don't want people to say of me - Oh, what she might have been.

I want people to say - She made the best of the abilities God gave her.

2 Milestones This Week

There are 2 milestones being celebrated right now - Revive Our Hearts ministry turns 7 and Nancy Leigh DeMoss turns 50. For the past 3 days, Bob Lepine has been interviewing Nancy about herself, the Revive Our Hearts ministry, and plans for the future.

If you haven't been listening to these past 3 shows, you can listen to them online. If fact, many of the past shows are available online at the Revive Our Hearts site. Nancy talks about many subjects that will help Christian women grow spiritually. Here are some of the topics that are available to still listen to:

• marriage
• a non-christian husband
• mentoring
• forgiveness
• biblical womanhood
• Christian living
• modesty
• parenting
• revival
• suffering
• relationships
• singleness

You may also be interested in Nancy's challenges:

31 Days of Praying for Your Husband

30 Day Husband Encouragement Challenge

Are You Good Enough for Heaven?

Interview with Kirk Cameron

Unplanned Pregnancies

Unplanned pregnancies can be very inconvenient and stressful.

There are different reasons why a baby may be unwanted:

• a premarital pregnancy
• an extra-marital pregnancy
  
• a crisis pregnancy - financial stress, health problems for the mother or baby, rape and incest
  
• an inconvenient pregnancy - due to the woman's age, college plans, career, marriage, family size

However, babies can be a wonderful blessing. We have no idea what God has in mind for every human being, even unplanned babies. God has plans for each human that He has formed in the womb.
Maybe you know a woman who had an unplanned pregnancy.
I've known of a few women in this situation:

• A young woman who was raped during her college years. She kept the baby and that baby was a special blessing and helped her to heal.
  
• A woman who was told that she had to have an operation and the baby wouldn't survive. If she didn't have the operation, she would die. Well, she kept her baby and had the operation after she gave birth. Both the mother and child are just fine today.
• A woman who had no health insurance or way of taking care of a baby financially. But, she found community and government resources that were available and God provided for her and the baby.
• An unmarried Christian woman became pregnant and was worried about what her family would think. Her parents ended up inviting her to live with them and they helped her take care of the baby.

Some women believe the lie that a human fetus isn't a baby until it is born. But, once she has an Ultra Sound, she will see that the baby is fully alive. Very early in the pregnancy, she can hear the baby's heart beating. Here are some places that can help you, or a woman you know, that is pregnant with an unplanned baby.

• Unplanned Pregnancy Website
  
• Your Local Pregnancy Care Centers (they offer free services, counseling, pregnancy tests, and Ultrasounds
• Book: I'm Pregnant...Now What?
  
• Unplanned Pregnancy Resources by Hope for the Heart
  
• Baby Center Site - The Everything Site about Pregnancy and Babies
  

John 16:21 It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world.

Thankful Thursday: Modern-Day Christian Heroes

Thankful Thursday Meme

For this Thankful Thursday, I want to express my appreciation to some modern-day Christian heroes - those Christians who are so serious about living out their faith that they are willing to sacrifice their comforts or safety to serve the Lord.

I appreciate what you Christian heroes are doing to help people. You aren't doing it for fame or for an earthly rewards. You are doing it to serve Jesus, and with a sincere compassion for others.

I am thankful for:


Native Christian missionaries witnessing in their own countries - living on low incomes, using bicycles and their own feet for transportation, risking ridicule and physical abuse in countries where Christianity is not the norm. Gospel for Asia



Christians who go to places like Sudan - to bring comfort and relief aid to persecuted Christians, and to help them rebuild after their villages were attacked by Muslim soldiers. They go despite The Department of State warning them that it is too dangerous to travel in Sudan.
Voice of the Martyrs




Christian students working as modern-day abolitionists to end slavery - raising awareness, motivating students to do their part, and participating in activism. Yes. Slavery still exists. There are 27 million slaves worldwide - more people are in slavery now than during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Zach Hunter author of Be the Change



Christians who dedicate themselves to helping orphans by preparing them for adulthood - providing academic opportunities, life training skills, mentoring, career placement, and health programs. When orphans turn 16 many of them are kicked out of orphanages and state institutions. They are expected to fend for themselves. An estimated 60% of orphan girls turn to prostitution and 70% of orphan boys to crime. Orphan's Promise

13 Easy Recipes

I like meals that are quick and easy. Then, I have more time with the kids and for blogging. If it isn't easy, then I probably won't make it. My husband will agree to that. He ends up making the time consuming recipes like fettuccine or Chinese food.

These recipes really are easy and they don't use many ingredients. All 5 of my kids enjoy eating the recipes that I have listed.

1. Easy Tater Tot Casserole
   
2. Easy Chili Enchiladas
   
3. Easy Chicken and Fries with Gravy
   
4. Easy Chicken and Rice Soup
   
5. Easy Chili Mac
   
6. Easy Chicken Noodle Casserole
   
7. Easy Homemade Pizza
   
8. Easy Chicken and Rice
   
9. Easy Italian Rotelle
   
10. Easy Potato Soup
    
11. Easy Sloppy Joe Casserole
    
12. Easy Salmon Fillets
    
13. Easy Double Chocolate Chip Cookies (using a cake mix)
    

Free Online Bible Study Materials

Thru the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee
This is a complete 5-year audio Bible study. You can join in any time. He usually rotates between an Old Testament book and a New Testament book.

Searchable Online Bibles at Bible Gateway
There are over 50 versions and 35 languages available to use. Search by keywords, phrases, or scripture reference.

Online Audio Bibles at Bible Gateway
Listen to the entire Bible online. Choose from 7 translations and 4 languages. Pick the book and chapter you want to listen to.

Classic Bible Commentaries at Bible Gateway
Choose from famous commentary writers: Calvin, Darby, Geneva, Gill, Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown, Lightfoot, Johnson, Luther, Mathew Henry, Spurgeon, McGarvey and Pendleton, McGee, and Wesley

I Am - So You Don't Have to Be online Bible study at The Preacher's Wife Blog You can begin this online Bible study anytime and work at your own pace.

When Mama Prayed

Then Sings My Soul Saturday

My 11 year old loves this song and so do I.

Over the last year, I've been trying to pray consistently for my husband. Now it's time for me to get busy praying for my kids. I just love how Randy Travis expresses the importance of a mother's prayer in this song. Prayer does change things.

31 Ways to Pray for Your Children





Lyrics:
Daddy never went to church on Sunday
He said that's one thing I'll never do
But mama never gave up she said one day
He'll be sitting here beside of me and you
I can still hear mama softly talking
With her tears falling on her folded hands
So that Easter Sunday Daddy walked in
That's when I began to understand

When mama prayed, good things happen
When mama prayed, lives were changed
Not much more than five foot tall
But mountains big and small crumbled all away
When mama prayed

Seventeen and wild I hit the bottle
Doing anything I dang well please
Burning down life's highway at full throttle
While mama burned a candle on her knees
Then one night I came home half sober
I saw mama kneeling in the den
As I listened she and Jesus talked it over
And I knew my restless days were 'bout to end

When mama prayed, good things happen
When mama prayed, lives were changed
Not much more than five foot tall
But mountains big and small crumbled all away
When mama prayed

It isn't like every one of them got answered
But the times they weren't it seems to me were rare
You almost felt sorry for the devil
'Cause heaven knows he didn't have a prayer
When mama prayed

Not much more than five foot tall
But mountains big and small crumbled all away
When mama prayed
They crumbled all away
When mama prayed

Ministry Idea - Growing Vegetables

You and the kids can help people by growing vegetables. It isn't too late to get your seeds in the ground. Radishes, bush beans, bush peas, and lettuce are easy to grow. Plus these vegetables grow quickly.

You can share your homegrown vegetables with your local Christian soup kitchen, neighbors, church workers, and food pantries (check first to see if they will accept fresh foods).

If you're unable to grow vegetables, then you can also participate by collecting canned food to donate. It doesn't take a big plan. Get the kids together and take along a box or pull a wagon. Just spend an hour going door to door and you'll be amazed at how much food you will be able to collect.

At harvest time, the family can go U picking and give away the fresh produce. Wouldn't it be special for people to eat fresh strawberry shortcake or freshly sliced peaches at a soup kitchen?

Lessons from Deborah

Deborah, Judge of Israel by Lakesia L. Bell

My Walk Monday

Yesterday, I was reading about Deborah in the book of Judges. I got curious as to what others thought about this story. So, I searched and read some blog posts about her.

It was very interesting to see so many different interpretations of the story. One post even said........ Deborah led, but only to promote male leadership. She actually wanted to keep herself in a subordinate role. Deborah's leadership role isn't portrayed as a good thing to be imitated by women later in history. (I'm not saying who said this, because I don't want to cause trouble.)

Hmmm. I didn't get that same message out of this Bible story. I think that God could have promoted male leadership through a man if He wanted to. Instead, God chose this woman to be a prophetess and a judge to the Israelites. Deborah made herself available to God and He used her. It was part of His will. It doesn't matter whether He chooses to use a woman or a man. If He is calling you to step into a Christian leadership role, then you'd better do it.

There is a lot of Christian work to be done, many leadership roles that aren't being filled. Is it possible that God has called Christians to fill these roles and they are not obeying? Why would He leave these important church and ministry positions vacant? I'm thinking that there may be a lot Christians ignoring the calling of the Lord.

Deborah was a good example for us. She yielded herself to God. As Christians, we just need to make ourselves available to Him. We don't need to be perfect, because He can do wonders with us when we are weak and ordinary. When God uses an imperfect nobody, He gets all of the glory for what is done.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 Paul tells us - Each time He said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

The story of Deborah is found in Judges 4 and 5.


Join Carolyn for the My Walk Monday Meme. Write a post about your walk with the Savior - what you learned in your devotions, what you are struggling with, a new worship song you learned, a prayer request, a new Bible study you started, a praise report … anything that is helping you grow in your relationship with the Lord.

Carry You to Jesus

Then Sings My Soul Saturday Meme

I imagine most of you have already heard about the Chapman's tragedy, but for those who haven't...

Please lift up the Steven Curtis Chapman family in prayer.

They are hurting deeply. Maria, the youngest child in the family, died Wednesday. I can't even imagine the pain they are feeling.

"At approximately 5pm on the afternoon of Wednesday May 21st, Maria Sue Chapman, 5 years old and the youngest daughter to Steven and Mary Beth Chapman was struck in the driveway of the Chapman home in Franklin, TN. Maria was rushed to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville, transported by Life Flight, but died of her injuries there." (from the official Steven Curtis Chapman site)

It is suggested that in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Maria's Miracle Fund at Shaohannah's Hope.

Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife Mary Beth founded The Shaohannah’s Hope Ministry after bringing their first adopted daughter, Shaohannah, home from China. The ministry’s goal is to help families reduce the financial barrier of adoption, and has provided grants to over 1700 families wishing to adopt orphans from around the world.

We all know that God can bring good out of the bad. We don't see the whole picture, that's where our faith is strengthened.
Let God be glorified despite this tragedy.

You Tube Video: Carry You to Jesus by Steven Curtis Chapman