I AM CROWNED!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits:

who forgives all your iniquities,

who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from destruction,

who crowns you with loving kindness

and tender mercies." (Psalm 103:1-4).

What a loving, tender-hearted and compassionate God we have. Every day He crowns me with loving kindnesses. Every day He crowns you with loving kindnesses.

Do I hear you say, "When was the last time God crowned me?" Stop and think about it for a moment. God crowns you with His loving kindnesses through people around you. When your baby or your little child smiles at you, in fact when anyone smiles at you, you are crowned with God's loving kindness. Every time your husband embraces you, you receive another one of God's loving kindnesses. Every time he helps you with the dishes or baths the children, it is God's blessing to you. When someone says an encouraging word to you, it is God's loving kindness to you. He has not forgotten about you. You are graven on the palms of His hands. He has forgiven your sins. He has healed you manytimes.

When you sit down at your table and eat the bountiful food God daily provides for you, it is His loving kindness to you. When you reap the harvest from the garden you have planted, it is His loving kindness. When you look up at the clouds and are reminded of His faithfulness, you are crowned. You look at the mountains, the ocean, the undulating hills and trees and you are blessed that He has given you all these things to freely enjoy. And you don't have to pay a cent. The world is yours to enjoy, no matter how little money you have in your pocket!

Start looking for God's loving kindnesses. They are all around you. They are happening to you throughout the day. Instead of focusing on your problems and disappointments, look out for God's blessings. Learn to be aware of them. Do not forget one of His benefits. Not one! Gratefully thank the Lord for every tiny one. I am starting to do this more and more. In fact, when I read this Scripture about being crowned I was very convicted. I realized that I had been taking God's blessings for granted. Now I seek to thank the Lord for crowning me every time I receive a blessing-a hug, a smile, a word of encouragement, the blessingof children around me and the joy they give with their antics and funny things they say. The blessings of God's creation-the flowers, the birds, the butterflies and the beautiful colors of the fall which I am beholding as I look out of my window now.  It makes such a difference to your life when you become grateful for every little crowning from the Lord.

Because God is crowning me through His people (and maybe even those who are not His people), am I letting Him use me to be his vehicle through which he can crown others? This is a challenge for us, isn't it?

Recently my daughter, Serene faced a difficult trial, a little more difficult because her husband was overseas fulfilling a contract with the military. In the middle of being weighed down by the problem, her car ran out of gas in the middle of a busy lane of traffic. She had all the children in the car and the car wouldn't budge another inch! She put on her blinkers and decided to call the police, but her phone suddenly went dead! She was stuck!

She cried out to the Lord. He nudged her to try the car again. Miraculously it started and she managed, weaving through traffic, to get to the side of the road. She was still stranded, but then God showed her His loving kindness. People stopped their cars to help her. She had more help than she could use. Some were people she would normally be scared to talk to.

One big burly guy with tattoos all over him drove to a service station and bought gas for her and filled up her car. She knew God was sending His angels to her. Not only did she get gas for her car, but the loving kindness of strangers and this big, scary tattooed "angel" caused Serene to feel God's loving kindness pouring all over her. She forgot all her problems and filled the van with praises the rest of her journey.

We can be used by the Lord to crown our husband, our children and many others with the loving kindness of the Lord. Let's be on the offensive to give love-hugs, smiles, affirmation, encouragement and practical help wherever needed. What a blessing to be the instrument of God's loving kindness.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL, of Above Rubies

PRAYER:

"Thank you, dear Father, for constantly crowning me with your loving kindnesses. Help me to be aware of them and full of gratefulness to you. And please anoint me to be a messenger of your loving kindnesses to others around me. Amen."

AFFIRMATION:
I will not forget a single blessing!

Blessings

"Saviour, Saviour, hear my humble cry. While on others thou art calling, do not pass me by."  

Words I heard being sung by my daughter as she was doing her ironing. What a beautiful thing to sing while she is working.

Thank you, God for the tender heart of my daughter and the beautiful lyrics to that hymn.

We Don’t Love Children, We Love Drywall

by Kelly Crawford, LAF
My brother and his wife just announced that they were expecting their third baby.  (Welcome to the world of “the large family”, bro!)

Someone asked about our parents’ reaction to the news.
“Oh, they’re very excited!”

To which the (Christian) someone responded,
“They have 50 grandchildren and they’re still excited?!” (That was sarcasm, by the way; they have 14.)

We know the reality behind the joke–“more is only better if you really value the thing multiplying in your life“.  Money, accolades, vacations–we can’t get enough.  Cavities?  No more, thank you.

We say we love children, but we don’t put our money where our mouth is.

“How do  you afford all those children?” Is that question an attempt to relieve the conscience?  Or do we really dislike multiplication so much we want to make the parents feel guilty? All the while, we’re borrowing money for bigger houses and get high fives for that.  As Kevin Swanson says:  “We LOVE drywall!”

“The very analogy of Christian marriage is to demonstrate fruitfulness just as we expect the church to multiply and fill the earth.  How can we wish for our churches to grow and our families to shrink?”

I’m not talking here of splitting hairs over when and if it’s ever OK to prevent children; we’re way beyond that.  I’m asking, “do we share the heart of God about children or don’t we”? Do we echo what Scripture says about a growing family?  We’ve got to ‘fess up to the idea that generally speaking, Christians do not act like they believe in the blessing of children, nor do they act like they believe that God is the author of life.  Because once we do, it changes what we say and how we live.

If we value life over material things (to which any Christian would attest), why don’t we live like it?  Or talk like it?  After all, we don’t call ourselves “pro-some-lives Christians”.

“Honey! We’ve got to do something!  Our watermelons are growing prolifically–I mean there’s like 15 or 20 of them!  What will the neighbors say? “

Isn’t it reasonable to assume that we try to accumulate more of what we value?

Conversely, it’s reasonable to assume that we try to avoid things that we don’t value, or that cause us pain. That’s why we take medication to get rid of headaches and have surgeries to alleviate unwanted ailments.

We want bigger tvs, more square footage, more cars, more vacations, more money, more free time.  We will do anything for it. Work longer, harder, borrow money that isn’t ours, sacrifice relationships, even when it directly opposes the wisdom of Scripture.

“Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have.” Hebrews 13:5

We tend to ignore a lot of what the Bible says.

“Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.”

If Christians believed this, what would their response to a large family really be?

Comment after comment reveals our abhorrence of multiplying children, despite what the Bible teaches to the contrary.  We love one or two; After that, they decrease in value. And not just for our own families.  We abhor it in other families. I know.  I’ve seen their faces too many times.  I’ve heard people take the Lord’s name in vain upon hearing how many children I had. I’ve seen them look at my other children with sympathy–my children who ask almost daily, “When are we going to have another baby?” I’ve heard them question how we’ll feed them, as if they’ve never read Matthew 6.  These are Christians!  They all want to know if I know how to stop *it*….that “horrid multiplying of those things we don’t want more of”.

(No, it’s not just a personal choice or an issue of neutrality; what we believe about children and the womb has profound implications for a society, and those who don’t conform to the “new standard” feel that lack of neutrality like no one else.  It may be easy to believe that people think of birth control as a personal choice if you’re on the “controlling” end.  But those of us who aren’t know better.)

Since the Bible compares the fruitfulness of the womb to vegetation, why don’t we apply our logic there: “Honey! We’ve got to do something!  Our watermelons are growing prolifically–I mean there’s like 15 or 20 of them!  What will the neighbors say? ” (Hey, don’t you know what causes that?)

And to think, we talk thus of eternal, immortal souls–not watermelons–that God has graciously given from His hand to populate His Kingdom for His glory.

We don’t turn visitors away from our churches. Is it because we are really concerned with more souls in the Kingdom?  Because if that IS our main concern, there should be nothing more glorious to a saint’s ears than to hear that a Christian family has received another child to bring up for His glory–a treasure stored up for Heaven!

Is not a family the basic building block of a church?  The very analogy of Christian marriage is to demonstrate fruitfulness just as we expect the church to multiply and fill the earth.  How can we wish for our churches to grow and our families to shrink?  It’s illogical.

Yet we find every reason under the sun to avoid growing disciples in our homes–and to help others avoid it as well.  Shame tactics, scare tactics, insults, “advice” about being responsible ensure that the average Christian family will cut off the godly heritage before it’s “out of control”….hmmm…sounds like the work of an enemy to me.

As I’ve suggested many times before, the burden of proof shouldn’t lie upon those who receive their children.

Excited about another child or grandchild?

“Like arrows in the  hands of a warrior…”

A Kingdom-minded Christian is!

Andrea Bocelli tells a "little story" about abortion

Listen to this beautiful story about a mother who chose life for her unborn child and see what the world would have missed had she chosen to abort instead.

The song at the end says:

I want to live like this with the sun on my face, and I sing happily, gracefully. I want to live like this, with the air of the mountains, because this enchantment doesn't cost anything.

Duggars: Baby 19, born premature, is ‘precious’ - TODAY People

Read about little Josie and see a video of her family and some photos of her. She has doubled her birth weight.

Duggars: Baby 19, born premature, is ‘precious’ - TODAY People

I AM DANGEROUS!

by Nancy Campbell, Above Rubies
Exodus 1:12, "But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel."

The first chapter of Exodus tells us about the children of Israel living down in Egypt. Verse 7 says, "And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." They were fulfilling the first commandment that God gave to man. Something powerful always happens when we obey God's commandments. They are not ordinary words to be discarded; they are life-giving decrees.

What happened in Egypt? The children of Israel became "more and mightier" than the Egyptians. (v. 9). They became a threat to them. And the Egyptians were grieved. The word grieved is the Hebrew word qutsand it means "disgusted, abhorred, horrified, afraid--actually vomiting is the primary understanding of the word."

This same Hebrew word is used in another passage where the children of Israel became a threat. In Numbers 22:3 it tells us, "Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were many and Moab was distressed (quts) because of the children of Israel." Why was Moab so very afraid? Because the Israelites were multiplying! When a people multiply, they become scary. When they multiply, they take dominion.

Now here's the question. Are we, the people of God, a threat to the enemy in our nation today? Sadly, we have to answer no. For the last seven or eight decades, instead of multiplying, God's people have been diminishing. They have turned away from the infallible, immutable Word of God and followed their own desires. They have limited their number of children to the worldly 1.6 average. They have sacrificed bringing God's children into the world on the altar of careerism and modern culture-ism. And now the humanists and socialists are taking over.

There are thousands and millions of precious godly offspring who are not here! God has been deprived of His intentions. The world has been deprived of the godly offspring who fill the nation with His love, righteousness. truth, salvation, wisdom and justice. And of course, although many do not realize it, the parents themselves have been deprived.

But all is not lost. There are a growing number of families who are listening to the heartbeat of God. They are hearing His desire for family and for children. They are turning from their deceptions and opening their hearts to the children that He has destined for them to have, whether it is one or ten! As they obey God's first commandment something amazing is happening. The liberalists are starting to get scared! They are so horrified, they want to vomit!

Very recently a book was published by a radical feminist and published by Beacon Press, which promotes homosexuality and anti-Christian dogma. She wrote this book to expose Biblical patriarchy and fruitfulmotherhood. In this book she states that the parents who embrace children are "a movement we ignore at our peril." In a message to Barack Obama, she writes, "Fearless Leader--forget the fundamentalists in Iraq; these prolific Christians are the real bad guys!" In other words, fruitful mothers, embracing the children God wants them to have are dangerous! They are scaring the feminists!

The enemy, who hates life, who comes "to rob, kill and destroy" is scared of the godly seed! Mothers who are not deceived by the delusions of Satan, the robber of life, and who still believe in God's very first mandate to mankind are dangerous people! Isn't that exciting? You may think you are insignificant as you care for your children in your home each day, but mother, lift up your eyes! You are doing a powerful work. You are doing God's work. You are dangerous to the enemy. He is scared of you, because he is scared of the godly seed coming into this world who will hate evil and love righteousness, who will destroy the works of the devil and lift up the name of Jesus. And those who walk in deception and follow the devil's ways are scared of you too!

Don't you love being dangerous? Look out! Here we come--holding on to the Word of Life, walking in God's commandments, embracing the Godly seed and training them to be mighty warriors for God who will impact this world and fill it with His glory. Never forget--the more children a godly mother brings into this world...
The more scared the liberalists will become!
The more evil will be defeated in the land!
The more the kingdom of God will be advanced!
The more the gospel will be spread across the earth!
The more the image of God will be revealed in the earth!
The more the economy will boom in the land!
The more righteousness and morality will pervade the land!
The more righteous leaders will arise in the nation!
The more justice, honesty and truth will flood the land!
The more God will be glorified in the earth!
The more the nation will prosper and be blessed!
The more dangerous she will be!
And the more the statists will fear and tremble! Keep being dangerous!

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL, ABOVE RUBIES

PRAYER: "Oh God, please help me to see clearly. Help me to realize the power of motherhood and the power of every child you give me to fulfill your plans in this world. Save me from holding back children whom you have destined to accomplish your mighty works. Amen."

AFFIRMATION: I am a dangerous woman!

When is a Fetus a Baby?: Twice-Born Macie

http://www.americanvision.org/article/when-is-a-fetus-a-baby-twice-born-macie/

A Blessing!!

Children are considered a blessing to the Lord.
Children really are a blessing.
I love being with children! I love watching them play together.
I enjoy watching little girls pretend to take care of there little babies.
I also enjoy watching little boys play with their cars and trucks.
God loves children.
Jesus loves children as well, "He said, Let the little children come to me."
I thank God that he created and blesses us with children!!

Children are a Blessing, not a carbon curse

"A leader in the Southern Baptist Convention says the argument that the world's carbon footprint should be limited by the number of children couples have is faulty and godless."

Click here to read the entire article.

The Royal Treatment

One of many Happy Birthday greetings waiting for me when I came out of the bedroom

My queenly crown

A quilted pillow I had begun over 20 years ago that my daughters completed (great job ladies!!)

I had a birthday this week and received the royal treatment. My daughters made Happy Birthday signs and put them all around the house. They made me a crown to wear all day, so I would feel like a queen. The banished me from the kitchen and fixed all my meals and snacks for the day (they even did a pretty good job of cleaning up too:) They made me a blueberry cheesecake that tasted wonderful. They found a quilting project that I had started over 20 years ago and finished for me and gave it to me as a gift. One of them also made me a cloth bag to put some of my hand work in (I am always looking for something to put my projects into). They made me a beautiful card with photos of me as a baby, a teenager and one when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, they were very creative.

My new Food Saver (Thank you, VERY much Son)

My husband and son are very practical (which is one of the things I LOVE about them). My husband bought me a stick blender and camera (both of which we really needed). My son bought me a new Food Saver (the last one he bought me died from using it soooooo much). I received a very nice email from my oldest daughter in CA. So the day was a very wonderful day, even if I did turn a year older. I am thankful for my family and their thoughtfulness.

Now we can take more photos (Thank you, Honey, you are the BEST!!!)

Conference & Retreat

A week ago I attended the Christian Heritage Conference, with Voddie Baucham as the main speaker and workshop speakers such as, Ken Carpenter, Mike Riddle, Scott and Deborah Brown. The Theme was, "Passing On the Faith, In a Faithless World". Voddie is an awesome speaker, he knows God's Word and is able to speak in such a way as to engage the people. He does not beat around the bush, but tells it like it is. I so appreciate his style of preaching.

The workshops we attended or picked up the cd's for were: Mike Riddle's-Astronomy, UFO's, Science and the Bible; Cloning, Stem Cells and Life; God's Amazing Creation. Ken Carpenter's-Films, TV, & My Homeschooling Family; Lights, Camera, Action!. Scott Brown's-How the Church & Family Are a Blessing to One Another; Protecting Your Daughters. Deborah Brown's-Raising Daughters/Raising Helpmeets; Keeping Going: Living by God's Priorities.

It was an amazing experience. In all my years of attending conferences, this was by far the BEST. I can't say enough good about it. God was glorified and the family was equipped.

This past weekend, I attended a retreat for mothers who home school and for daughters who are over 12 years old. We have our daughters attend so they can be introduced to being a part of the world of godly women and helpmeets. We want them to interact with godly women and godly young ladies. We call them MIT's (mother's in training). It was such an AWESOME time! God blessed our time together so much.

We had times of prayer, reading God's Word, playing games and LOTs of talking. Our young ladies were so helpful too. They helped with meals, cleaned the kitchen, fed and changed babies, rocked babies to sleep. They also had plenty of time to walk, talk and sing together. I thank God for new friends and becoming closer to ladies I have been friends with for awhile.

God is so good!!!!

Ready for a new week

I am back from an awesome Easter weekend. God truly blessed us, as we gathered yesterday with our home church. We shared a meal together, had a great time of fellowship and worship, and shared communion together. We were missing one family, but we still had 22 children and 8 adults present. I am thankful for the wonderful family that hosted us, it was truly a blessing.

Now it is time to start a new week. I wonder what God has in store for us this week....?

We Are Seeing Green already!!

The girls were so excited this morning. When they got up they went and checked on our seeds and discovered that there were two kinds of onions coming up already and one of the tomato plants. Tonight the tomato plant already has two leaves on it and more "green" is popping up in the other pots. It is truly a miracle that we are watching unfold, as these little seeds become plants which will bear vegetables and fruit that we will use to nourish our family. I am so thankful that God has blessed us this way.

Gardening Time Again!!!

Last years garden, something to look forward to this year.

Well, it is that time of year again. Our seeds arrived about six weeks ago. We have separated them according to when they should go in the ground. This year, we purchased a heating mat and grow light, so we can give some of our plants a head start inside. This weekend, we will begin planting those seeds that need that head start. We also picked up a soil thermometer so we can keep tabs on the temperature of the soil. Our soil is waaaaaay too cold right now, it is about 40 degrees in the mornings. We are talking about making another raised bed and adding some pots for our tomatoes, potatoes and herbs this year. We are so excited about getting our garden in and watching those beautiful little seeds become green leaves, then grow blossoms and have vegetables to enjoy when they are completed. It truly is a miracle that we can put a little seed in the ground and out comes healthy vegetables. God has truly blessed us with this ability.
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Selfish Choices?

Saturday, February 14, 2009
Jennifer

"...and in this world at this time large families are selfish choices that are everybody's business and everybody's problem." Mary Wells

"It is obvious to me that anyone who'd make such a statement has never cared for a large number of children at one time. Selfish? I beg to differ.When God gives you children, He not only wants them to be raised for Him, He gives us the opportunity to be crafted more distinctly in to His image. We have to pick up our cross daily, continuing to follow Him. There are very few times when you focus on yourself as a mother of young ones. I would call that an act of selflessness."

To read the rest of the article please go to my dear friend's blog Fresh Thoughts From the Laundry Room.

Pay It Forward Invitation is Closed

I want to thank the three ladies, Grace, Carrie and Jennifer, who chose to be a part of the Pay it Forward. I look forward to blessing them with the talents and abilities God has given me.

For those who like to participate in something like this, just invite people like I did and keep it going. This is going to be great fun!!

Pay It Forward

On one of my favorite and most inspirational blogs to read, Paula has posted a fun activity that is going around the blogs called Pay It Forward. How it works is that the first 3 people who sign up for it are sent a handmade item from me. After signing up, they post about Pay It Forward on their own blogs and do the same, making and sending a handmade item to 3 people who sign up. And so it continues on with each person.

Pay It Forwards can be any handmade item or craft that you choose to send. The items do not have to be large, just something that you have made. According to the rules, you have 365 days to make & send the PIFs but most send them out much sooner. If you are interested in signing up, send an email or post a comment saying so. Once I contact you to let you know that you are one of the first 3 to sign up, you can then go ahead and post on your own blog about Pay It Forward. It sounds like a lot of fun and I am looking forward to doing this.

Anyone interested in signing up? I can't wait to begin making and sending these items out.

Wonderful Daughters

We just came through a very wonderfully, productive week. And I have my daughters to thank for it. My awesome husband drove down to Southern California with our son, helping him to move down there for a new chapter in his. While he was gone, the girls and I decided to over haul the house. We literally cleaned every room and rearranged each one.

We first started with what had been our son's bedroom. We turned it into our new school room/sewing room/soap supply room. I was able to move ALL of my sewing supplies (which are MANY, and that is an understatement) out of the master bedroom and closet and hall closet. We moved a book shelf down stairs for the girls' school supplies and put their double desk (which their daddy built for them when we first started home schooling them 7 years ago) in the room. We moved all of the soap making supplies out of daddy's den and the upstairs hall closet. By emptying out the master bedroom of all of the sewing "stuff" I was able to make a wonderful haven for my dear husband and myself.

The next day, we worked on rearranging the girls' rooms. They decided that they didn't want their own bedrooms any longer and since they had a trundle bed we would be able to just fit the two beds in the same room. (there is about 6 inches to spare between the bottom bed, when it is pulled out, and the wall). We then turned the "extra" bedroom into their own little "living room". They each have a book shelf and their toys in their. They get to see what it will be like to be responsible for two rooms now, plus their other chores. They love the freedom to be able to sit in there and play, work on a puzzle, read or whatever they decide to do in their spare time (which isn't much). I found them the other day reading the Bible together and discussing what they were reading. It was an awesome thing to over hear. We also cleaned all three of our bathrooms and reorganized them.

The next day, we empty out all of our kitchen cupboards and the pantry, scrubbed them and reorganized. They even alphabatized our jars of herbs (which are plentiful).

The last day, we swept and mopped all the floors in our three level home (we have all hardwood and tile floors) and cleaned the baseboards. Then we spent the rest of the day baking for daddy and waiting for his call for us to come pick him up.

I am so thankful for daughters who are such hard workers. They didn't complain even a little bit. They didn't wish they were doing something else. The oldest one even said that it felt like we were having a retreat together with daddy gone. It just goes to show that you don't have to leave home to retreat with your family.

The Seat of the Scornful

by RC Sproul Jr.


There may be nothing more soul damaging about the whole postmodern thing than its snarkiness. Sure, post-modern epistemology is immediately and obviously stupid, so much so that not even they believe it. No one believes it true that there is no truth. But this attitude, this mood, this posture, where we’re all too cool to care about anything, where sincerity is the high crime, that’s bad news. It’s corrosive, destructive, and likely lurking in your heart. (One of my favorite titles for something I wrote was a piece for Every Thought Captive touching on this theme called “The Impertinence of Being Earnest.”)

As I write it is snowing outside. Snow is one of my great joys. It is, as I have described before, liquid manna. It is God behaving as a grand Tom Bombadil, whistling and singing as He walks across the globe, tossing snow as fairy dust out of His pockets, for the sheer extravagant delight of it. This is what the scornful miss. This is how our sophistication poisons joy. The modernist sees snow as a problem to be solved. The postmodern can’t even see the snow.

Snow was a prominent part of my childhood, growing up in the mountains of western Pennsylvania . I wrote of its glory first when writing a friend from my childhood a letter. She was, at the time, studying art at a university. As a girl she had been my next door neighbor, and had shared in the joy of being raised in the context of a covenant community, at the old Ligonier Valley Study Center . I waxed eloquent about those blessings, those precious memories of shared life. She wrote back, explaining how utterly embarrassed she had been when, reading my letter, those memories reduced her to tears, right in front of her friends. I wrote her once more, and explained that if she had any hope of being an artist, she must aspire to beauty. And beauty cannot survive scorn. If she had not the courage to enter into beauty, she would never be able to capture it on canvas.

The Psalmist promises that he will not sit in the seat of the scornful. We, however, having drunk deep from the world around us, are ashamed of sincerity, embarrassed by earnestness. We would rather argue over the nature of beauty than to be carried away with it. We would rather complain about shoveling snow than make angels in the snow. We would rather be thought of as worldly than be thought of as uncool. We would, because God is true and every man a liar, rather not be the blessed man who does not sit in the seat of the scornful.

There is, according to God’s Word, blessing for the earnest. There is delight for those brave enough to delight. If we would put away such foolishness, we have the promise, the unassailable promise that we will bring forth fruit in its season, that we shall prosper. If we would no longer heed the counsel of the ungodly, if we would instead delight in the law of God, He will bless us. If not, the way of the ungodly will perish. Go play in the snow, not ironically, but sincerely. Blessing will come.

Our Flourshing Garden

Fresh Sweet Peas

Fresh Broccoli