She Burnt Them Again! - A Dose of Encouragement

Do you ever ask your kids for the password?


Do your kids think you are mad?


We had a little password in our family which I would often ask for as any of our kids were coming into the house.   And they all knew what it was - Sausages.  


You may ask:  What does this have to do with Encouragement?

But as often happens here at Sandra's Ark - Let me tell you a little story about us.

So we had this little password in our family and everyone knew what it was - Sausages. 

They would humour me and say it as they were coming into the house

And I would then repeat it in a silly bass voice and kind of draw out the word

A silly little thing that as the kids got older they would frown at.

There was never anyone else around when I would ask for it so why would they be embarrassed by it?


They also frowned and muttered at the fact that whenever I would grill sausages I would burn them.
Well they and their dad would say I had burned them but I would just cut off the really hard bits and eat away quite happily.

But I have to tell the truth - I had burned them!

I burned them because I could never have enough patience to wait for them to cook nicely but always went off to work on the computer or to read a book or even do some housework (ok not too often for that last one) and then - well - the sausages just got burned because I would forget about them.


I tried baking them in the oven too but even then I would forget about them and burn them.

You see I'm always looking for shortcuts to things because I don't have enough patience, or because I get bored doing any one thing for too long.

I love to make nice meals if there is someone else around to help or talk to me while I do it but when I'm preparing & cooking on my own - no!

I want the quickest way to provide the meals.

I have been known to make easier, quicker versions of meals like the 10 Minute Chicken Korma
and sometimes I have even made the desserts so easy that they hardly even really qualify as desserts such as my Ginger & Pineapple Log (Super Short Version) which basically is not a log!

I promise you I really do know that microwaves are not just for reheating coffee  -  oh yes this is another one of my little quirks or one of the "Oh No Mum!" things that the kids would frown at but I see nothing wrong with reheating my mug of coffee two or three times during the day.

I Love Coffee!

I really Love Coffee!

and

I Love my Coffee Mug!

I Love my Other Coffee Mug!

I really Love my Coffee Mugs!



And then we come to the big, big, bad thing that I did to our middle child

Fred & I went to live in Belgium and left him behind in Northern Ireland 

because he had started university there.

I know this is something that people outside the family probably found more strange than the family did.  I felt I could sense people saying:  "What kind of a mother would leave her child on his own?"

So there you have it I am not perfect and never have been a perfect mother.

I would rather read a book than do the ironing.

I would rather do a word puzzle than clean the oven.

I would rather write my blog than hoover the house.

I would rather write a list than actually do the things on the list.

I would rather go sit watch a dvd 
than 
finish up the mess I made because I had started to try to organise the study 
& 
boy can I make a mess while trying to organise things.

I am not perfect and never have been a perfect mother!

But Mostly

I would rather have a coffee and sit & chat with my now grown up kids about how 

Jesus has worked in our lives.

He has redeemed us, healed us, kept us safe, 

answered our prayers, never left us alone, helped us in everything

 and 

we are all thankful that He is still doing so 

no matter what country we may have lived in 

or are in at the moment

because 

He is the Perfect One.

You see I can't be perfect because I am human but thankfully with Jesus I have the help to do all the things He has planned for me.

If you like you can visit my about me section and see the poor hubby and kids who had to put up with me not being a perfect mum - oh and the middle child is the tallest one with his arms around us all in the snow.

Pondering The Psalms - Psalm 27

Each Sunday I choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on it.


Today I'm looking at Psalm 27 

This is one of the Psalms of David.

This Psalm falls into five parts:

V. 1
Declaration

V. 2-3
Confidence

V. 4-6
Praise

V. 7-12
Teaching

V. 13-14
Hope


Declaration.
We need to physically say these words.
We need to speak forth the truth, to truly grasp that we need not be afraid
       
                        He is our Light

                              and
                                        He is our Salvation 

                                              and
                                                        He is our Stronghold


Confidence.
The speaking out as in the last two verses and the knowledge that there is no need to be afraid leads on to being confident about what we know God has promised  -  this makes me think of Psalm 34 
He has promised that He is on our side.

Praise.
The result of seeking God, wanting to live in His ways and being in His Shelter can only lead to us giving Him all the praise and thanksgiving we can.

Declaration, Confidence, Praise, Teaching, Hope.

Teaching.
Crying out to God, seeking His face and accepting His gracious help leads us to listen and pay attention to Him to learn what is the good and acceptable will of God   (Romans 12:2)
All because we are not leaning to the way of others or to our natural instincts but we are being focused on His way.


Hope.
Knowing God's promises, having gained confidence in knowing God's will and His way and being prepared to wait on Him has all come to the point where we know we have hope for now and for the future.

A Lighthouse and a Lifeboat

illustrations

of 

His Love stretched out to us.

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 136

Each Sunday I choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on it.


Today I'm looking at Psalm 136 

This Psalm falls into 5 parts:



V. 1-3
God


V. 4-9
Creation


V. 10-22
Redemption


V. 23-25
Love


V. 26
Hope

This Psalm starts and ends with two almost identical verses - verse 1 and verse 26

However they are each placed specifically at those important points.

We Start with God's Goodness

God.
He is the God of gods and the Lord of lords.
 He is Good, He is Merciful and He is Love and His goodness, mercy and love will never end.
 How could we not be thankful?

Creation.
He is full of wonder and creative power.
All that is on, above and around the earth was made by Him.


Redemption.
He provided our Salvation right from the start.
Our lives should be a witness to that.


Love.
He is the one who always sees, cares, and acts on behalf of His people.


Hope.
Even though we have not seen Heaven or can properly understand Heaven we believe in God so we believe in Heaven because we know His love is not going to end.

The Psalm is a portrait of our lives with Him.

 How He is good to us and draws us 

through our knowledge of 

His Greatness, Salvation and Love 

to the culmination of a 
Home 
perfectly prepared for us by Him.

We end with Heaven.

This is a Psalm which some might say is simply repetitive.

But

this is really a Psalm of recognition on our part of how worthy God is to be praised 
over and over again.

This is a Psalm which uses the history of the world to highlight the Love of God
to His people

and

to lead us to 

the Eternal Hope we have in Heaven - our home with Him! 

Pondering The Psalms - Psalm 141

Each Sunday I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on it.


Today I'm looking at Psalm 141 

This is a Psalm of David


This Psalm falls into 4 parts:


V. 1-2
A prayer up to God


V. 3-4
My influences on my heart


V. 5-7
Outward influences on my heart


V. 8-10
My refuge

A Prayer up to God.
A plea to be heard by the Lord but respectful and offered in a reverential, sacrificial, form of worship.

Our influence on our hearts.
David is asking for God's help so that he can control his fleshly attitudes and not be enticed into any evil ways.


Outward influences on our hearts.
David is well aware of the evil around him and knows that he can trust God for protection from others and that God's Word is more powerful than man's.

Our Refuge.
David knows exactly where his help and refuge is.  They are in the Lord.
He can seek God for all the protection and help he needs.

Where is our help?

Is our prayer to God offered respectfully?

Is our prayer a reverential,  sacrificial form of worship?

Is our prayer for the protection of our hearts from ourselves and from others?

Our we as sure as David that God is our true help and refuge?

How to Help Others Love The Word of God - A Dose of Encouragement

I work with kids in our church and think it is important to help them learn God's Word and hopefully they will come to love it and love God.

However I think sometimes we are not wise as to how we try to help younger people get to know the Bible.

Some time ago I saw a young girl make an appeal on Google+ for help as to how to go about learning bible verses.


Firstly
I was glad that she was looking to learn verses because doing so is storing up God's Word in your heart and mind and is something we are instructed to do from God's Word.


Secondly
I was sad that she needed to request help on Social Media because I would love to think that any young person would have someone they can personally talk to for this type of help and not have to appeal to strangers.


Thirdly
I replied offering to help by posting my Bible Verse Graphics and giving her permission to copy them to use to learn the verses.  Also with some advice on how to learn them.


BUT 
then I saw other replies by people who just did not read properly what the young girl had written.


This is what the girl wrote

Hey there My name's XXXXX I'm a 13 year old Christian girl who LOVES GOD, and is trying to live it! I need some advice on how to study the bible/memorize verses. I really want to memorize verses but what am I suppose to do? Choose a random book and then Read the same verse a million times till I memorize it? Thanks soooo much ya'll!!! Means a lot. Would ya'll mind praying for me to accomplish reading, and memorizing the Bible please? Thanks again!!!!


and this is part of what I wrote

Hi  XXXXX,  I teach a lot of kids bible lessons and bible verses and would be happy to help you.

followed by

XXXXX
Thanks Sandra Black   What do you suggest?

Me
I put various memory verses on our church website and I write a blog in which I put some Kid's songs and bible verses.
Will you please ask your parents to agree that it would be ok for me to help you.
They can find out about me here on G+ and then they can find my blog and check me out there too.

there was a little conversing back and forward followed by

Me
XXXXX I have publically posted a picture of a simple verse and linked your name to it so you should be able to find it ok.  If you can copy the picture (you have my permission to take my pictures although others do not) and print them out you can stick it up on your wall or pinboard and every time you go past it just read it out to yourself and you will know it in next to no time.

and I posted this

XXXXX

And thanks sooooo much +Sandra Black!!!

Now during this some other people were responding to this young girl


Woman 1:
Pray and wait with your eyes closed. You'll get a book or verse in your soul

Wait for how long?????

Man 1:
Gave a Link to his website which is 100 verses everyone should know by heart: study guide
and it continued for 26 pages.
plus a link for another guide which went on for 6 pages

This was a teenager he was talking to, but even for me it was way too long and too boring.


Woman 2:
Try memorizing the responsorial psalm each Sunday and one verse from the Gospel and Epistle.  That way you have just three things to focus on each week.  That should keep you busy for three years.  

There was more but that was about reading a chapter a day....  and who wants to be thinking of 3 years when you are trying to get started?


Woman 3:
Hello XXXXX  how lovely that you have posted on knowing Jesus.
I see that you have asked about memorizing bible verses - that is wonderful.
Now Katie... if you love the Lord Jesus you will know he died on the cross ..........

and she continued to speak out against the Catholic Church but said nothing about bible verses.


Woman 4:
One of the best ways to begin is to learn scripture verses and more importantly to know them in your heart to be true ..........   Did you know that 51 Things True of Every Christian .........

she continued about a link to a post on the 51 things but nothing about bible verses


Woman 5:
She mentioned music to help you learn verses and then told all about her wonderful journey to knowing God

 but nothing else about bible verses


Man 2:
Try "You version - The Bible" app on Android the give lots of plans to study the bible.

This was a teenager asking about learning bible verses not studying the bible - can we stick to the topic???



Woman 6:
Ask Jesus to come into your heart and reveal His Word (the bible) to you.

This was a girl who told us she was a Christian so we should respect her and believe her


Woman 7: For the reading part, I started with Matthew and have been reading a chapter every night before bed.  If you find a passage which you might like to memorize, read the first few words until you have memorized them, then add a few more and keep going until you have memorized the whole thing.

She is a teenager asking about verses - a passage would be daunting to me let alone her!


Woman 8:
Read the bible with love not as a book to memorize.  If you love it you will memorize automatically.

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:"2 Timothy 3:16 (KJV) 

Yes at least she gave a scripture - But NO, you will not learn it automatically!

There were many more people trying to give advice but all in a similar vein.

I was so disappointed that people had not read carefully before giving their advice.

Think before you give advice

Advice or help does not have to be long-winded a short answer directly related to the question is best with teenagers.

If we are in the position to help then we need to help by keeping their attention focused on what are the important points.

Every single one of those people (if they had thought about it for a little while) could have given a short helpful answer; but if while thinking about it, they had realised that they were not really suited to working with teenagers or had a true helpful suggestion, then they could have ended up a wiser person and not complicated things for her.

I believe as Christians we should all wish to help others love God's Word and to encourage them to read and memorize His Word.

I also believe that we should be willing to help others in any way we can but to remember to stay on the subject and not digress to our other interests.

Let's help others know God's Word

That teenage girl now follows my posts on Google+  so she can read articles on my blog or can use the verses I post to help her memorize scripture.  This is not something that takes a big effort on my part but is just one simple way of helping and encouraging others like her.

I and many other people post bible verses on facebook & google plus and other social media 

because 

for any of us, just to be reminded of a scripture can 

lift our spirits, 

turn our minds back to God in our busy days 

and 

encourage us.

I'm also reminded of something I used to hear older Christians say years ago and it is true today

Invisible Reins - A Dose of Encouragement

One time a few years ago while a group of us were praying for a friend I had this impression of how she was being held back, constrained, as if a set of reins were attached to her back and being pulled quite taut.

Something was keeping this lady from having the full enjoyment available in her Christian life.  She was being restricted from advancing because of some tie.

The restriction I was sure was coming from some incident in her past, something that was keeping a restraint on all she was to experience in God.  I also felt that she wasn't aware of this but it actually was something she was allowing to hold on to her when God had forgiven her and all she had to do was to forgive herself.

          

There are many things in our past that can still affect us even when we believe we have left them behind.  

When we moved to live in America for three years everyone would have thought that things from the past in a different country could not have gone with me and been a hindrance, but they did.  

In fact one of the reasons God moved us was to help me be free of a person from the past that always wanted to rein me in and curb anything that I felt God was doing in my spiritual life.

However moving thousands of miles does not offer the solution in itself.  

I still had to come to the point where I put certain things behind me and only then could I open myself to let God make a real change in me.

In America I was seen in a different light from the way people (who had known me most of my life) had viewed me.

I was freer to step out and do as God was leading me which meant a change in me.

Yet there still remained the feelings of hurt and restraint that I had from before.

But God is gracious and during that period away from the previous environment I had time to develop without the distractions and restraints.

We need to fly free from all restraints

Also things changed back at home as well so that on our return to Northern Ireland I was not thrust back into the exact same setting as before to suddenly have that same pull put on me.

No matter what stage of life we are in or where we are God can provide us with the circumstances and setting we need to help us move on in Him.

The important thing is to move on with God

In my case He used a move to a different country but in other cases He will use the right thing at the right time to work in any of our lives - we just need to be ready to let Him remove those reins and be freer for His use.

The devil will always love to see us tied up and bound by anything at all so that we are not free to be used properly for God's glory but God is always in control of each situation and we need to keep in step with Him and allow Him to work in us.

          

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 37

Each Sunday I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on it.




Today I'm looking at Psalm 37

Many of the verses in this Psalm exhort us to do something and then we will see God work in us or around us.


V. 3
Trust in the Lord
We will dwell safely


V. 4
Take delight in God
We will gain the desires of our heart


V. 5-6
Commit our ways to God
He will act on our behalf


V. 7-11
Be still and wait patiently on God
The wicked will be cut off and we will possess the Land


V. 16-17
Be righteous
God will uphold us


V. 23-24
Walk in the steps that delight the Lord
He will establish us


V. 27-29 &  32-33
Depart from evil and do good
We will abide forever because God will not forsake His saints

It is important that we know how God desires that we live our lives

V. 30
Speak as a righteous person
God will give us the wisdom to be just


V. 31
Keep the law of God in our hearts
Our steps will not slip


V. 34
Wait on the Lord and keep to His Way
He will exalt us to possess the Land


V. 37
Be a person of peace
God will prosper us


V. 40
Take refuge in God
He will help, deliver and save us

It is important we know how God desires to work in our lives

but 

it is more important 

that we know how God desires that we live our lives.

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 126

Each Sunday I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on  it.


Today I'm looking at Psalm 126

This is one of the shorter more well-known Psalms



This Psalm falls into two parts:


V. 1-3
Surprise at the change of events
Rejoicing by the children of God
Acknowledgement by onlookers
Proclamation by the children of God


V. 4-6
Expecting more from God
Proclaiming the joy that is still to come.




Surprise.

Are we prepared for the great things God will do among us, or is it all a shock when it happens?

Sometimes we get used to not seeing our prayers answered straight away and can get into a state of asking but not totally believing and expecting daily.

Are we prepared for the great things God will do among us?

Rejoicing.
Do other people notice how we are rejoicing over great answers to our prayers and what has been happening to us?
We need to make sure others can see just how God is working in our lives.

Acknowledgement.
It is wonderful when others can see and admit that the events in our lives are ordered by God.


Proclamation.
Do we say and proclaim what God is doing among us?
Others need to see the way we know the hand of God in our lives and also how joyful we are because of it.


Expecting.
When we see God working we are encouraged to look for more of the work of His Hand on our lives and the lives of others.


Proclaiming.
We know the goodness of God and we know what He has said He will do, so we can look forward to further rejoicing and we should encourage others by reminding them of this.

It is not always easy, we do not see our prayers answered immediately and in exactly the way we would hope for.

Sometimes there is distress, anguish & sorrow as we pray for others 
and as we try to witness to them.


Tears of :
sorrow for sin
sympathy with others
tenderness in prayer.



But

there will be harvests of joy after the sorrow

We need to encourage others that there is joy after the sorrow

because 

those who sow in the tears of godly sorrow

shall reap in the joy of a sealed pardon

& a settled peace

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 32

In this series I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on  it.

Today I'm looking at Psalm 32

I'm looking at this Psalm in 6 parts:



V. 1-2
Here we are told who the "blessed" are

V. 3-4
Here we see the condition we have due to the guilt of sin


V. 5
Here we see how to deal with sin


V. 6-7
Here we see the only one we can turn to


V. 8-9
Here we learn how God will look after us & guide us when we turn to Him


V. 10-11
Here we have the great example to end with

The Godly Man.
Basically those who are blessed are those who no longer are condemned by sin.
It refers to openly sinning and also sinning in your heart or spirit.



The Ungodly Man.
Before we renounce our sin our condition is dead to spiritual things.
So we need to know how to deal with our sin.
We need to be responsive and willing to turn from our sin and not be stubborn like a mule.

Is our sin covered in the right way?

God.
We need to know that God is the only one to turn to when we are ready to repent & renounce our sin.
Then we can be like the Psalmist who ends with a note of Praise and thankfulness.

The one things we must not overlook is dealing properly with our sin.

Changing our life from 
ungodly 
to 
Godly.

Only Jesus is the one who can take our sin and give us His righteousness.