Spurgeon Quote on the Bible

Why, the Book has wrestled with me;

the Book has smitten me;

the Book has comforted me, the Book has smiled on me; the Book has frowned on me;

the Book has clasped my hand;

the Book has warmed my heart.  

The Book weeps with me, and sings with me;

it whispers to me, and it preaches to me;

it maps my way, and holds up my goings;

it is the young mans best companion, and is still my morning and evening Chaplain. 

~Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Book Review: Fresh Encounter by Henry & Richard Blackaby, and Claude King

This fall our Wednesday night Bible study went through the book "Fresh Encounter, God's Pattern for Spiritual Awakening."   I highly recommend it, especially if you are in a dry place and want a revival in your own life with the Lord.   It describes what revivals are, why God's people depart from Him, the Biblical record of revivals, the history of the Great Awakening and other revivals, worship and revival, and so much more.   It's a great read. 

Fresh Encounter

I'll end with a great quote from the book.  "God's people cannot continue doing business as usual and expect something extraordinary to occur.  For an extraordinary work to happen, our commitment and the caliber of our walk with God must also be extraordinary  Oh that it would be so!"

Some Goals for 2013

I LOVE planning.   I love making charts, filling up calendars, spreadsheets, etc.   In fact, I tend to over plan.  At the same time, I find if I didn't schedule as  much as I do I wouldn't accomplish nearly as much even if it's only a smidgen of what I planned.   Life happens.   Someone gets sick (like me last year with cancer), the car may break down, a new baby, children may need work on other areas, you name it.   You have to be flexible enough to change things without feeling like a failure, or getting yourself upset trying to reconfigure your plans.   The next few posts will be things I am planning for the coming year.  I will also keep you updated with how we do, what we adjust, and what just doesn't make it.  Prayers appreciated :D!

• Daily Bible reading with the family.   Old Testament at breakfast, Psalms/Proverbs at lunch, New Testament in the evening
• Memorize scriptures and catechisms (Titus 1 in January)
• Other memorization in January:  Preamble to the Constitution and Classical Conversations memory work
• Audio cds in January:   Dave Ramsey (from seminar I went to), Tour Guide Latin, Greathall productions "Sherlock Holmes", Focus on the Family Radio Theater Drama:  Les Miserables
• Gardening chores:  from a week by week in Georgia throughout the year website.
• Geography in January:   review States, capitals, and major features.
• Home chores in January:   touch up paint from painting in the fall, and pack up all supplies.
• Videos to watch in January:  Raising Godly Children; Culture Wars by Voddie Bauchum; Knights, Maidens, and Dragons; The Art of Breadmaking; Cells and Tissues, Principles of the Constitution
• Start back habits I had before I was ill:  homemade bread, yogurt, tortillas, etc.
• Personal Reading Goals in January:   "Tally Ho the Fox," by Herb Hodges, "Charlotte Mason Companion," by Androlea, "For the Family's Sake," by Shaeffer-Macauley, finish "Saving Leonardo," by Pearcy. 
• Family Reading Goals in January:  "Les Miserables," by Hugo, IBLP Oswald Chambers, IBLP How to Develop Attentiveness, Lamplighter's Buried in the Snow, American Adventure Series (4 books), reading "The Hobbit" with Michael (the olders already read)
• School reading  in January:   Plutarch's: Life of Pericles, Hymn Study:  "For all the Saints", Poetry younger "Linguistic development through Poetry Memorization", and Child's Garden of Verses, Poetry olders:  Edna St Vincent Millay, Composers:  Robert Schumann, Artist:  Charlotte Mason's Portrait Study:  Michelangelo
• Little's Bedtime books:  Missionary Stories with the Millers

I have other goals I'll add in a few days such as my marriage goals, ministry/friendship/extended family goals,  financial goals, business blogging goals, trip plans, sewing/craft plans, and other school goals.

Happy New Year

It’s always exciting to start a new year.      When I was younger, I always made all kinds of plans that seemed to slowly fall by the way side as the excitement faded.   As I’ve grown older, I didn’t make too many resolutions on January 1 so I wouldn’t be too disappointed in myself.   We’d just work on things as we went.  Somehow, we still have made some pretty good habits, but still have areas that need work.   I have that excitement again this year like I did when I was young, however my goals may be tempered a bit by experience of what I can realistically accomplish, and what will be setting myself up for failure.   I think the excitement was sparked knowing I could have not made it to 2013 facing cancer a year+ ago.  Because the Lord gave me more time here with my earthly family, I want even more to live purposely.  Over the next week, I’ll be posting different areas of goals I’ve set out for our family. 

Today’s goals will be our Bible reading plan.    I have a laminated picture I made and placed on our refrigerator years ago that says, “Do Not Feed Your Face until You’ve Fed Your Spirit.”   So, we've worked on being consistently reading the Word in the morning.

We will be reading through the Bible this year.   We read it daily last year at the breakfast table (or from my sick chair) reading 2 chapters a day.   I let the children read when they want to.  When they don’t, we go to Biblegateway.com and choose to listen to the KJV Dramatized audio.   Then I use “Balancing the Sword” from Vision Forum by Allen B Wolfe to ask questions to check their comprehension.   This year they want to be sure we do the entire Bible in a year.  Our plan is to do Old Testament readings in the mornings, New Testament readings in the evenings, and the Psalms/Proverbs at lunch.   Here is what our first week looks like.

1-Jan	B'fast:    Gen. 1-3	Lunch                  Psalms 1, 31, 61, 91, 121,  Proverbs 1	Dinner:    Matthew 1
2-Jan	Gen 4-6	Psalms 2, 32, 62, 92, 122,  Proverbs 2	Matthew 2
3-Jan	Gen 7-9	Psalms 3, 33, 63, 93, 123,  Proverbs 3	Mathew 3
4-Jan	Gen 10-12	Psalms 4, 34, 64, 94, 124.   Proverbs 4	Matthew 4
5-Jan	Gen 13-15	Psalms 5, 35, 65, 95, 125.  Proverbs 5	Matthew 5:1-26
6-Jan	Gen 16-17	Psalms 6, 36, 66, 96, 126.   Proverbs 6	Matthew 5:2-48
7-Jan	Gen 18-19	Psalms 7, 37, 67, 97, 127.  Proverbs 7	Matthew 6:1-18

Stay tuned, my next post will be on our family’s reading goals.   Hope you have a great week.