Magic moments with our daughters

Last week I had a meeting in a friend's house. I had to bring Jivan, our toddler, along. And the older sisters wanted to go with us too. So I was glad that they can baby-sit our young explorer as I had my meeting. While I was deep into the meeting I got distracted when the sisters were arguing over showing a cartoon show to their brother as I can hear their voices getting louder. One of them was also responding to me with rude remarks.

That night before going to bed I called their attention. The correction/discipline session turned into hours of mom to daughters talk and I was even amused that in the course of our discussion it seemed like an integrated homeschool lesson. All throughout our talk we covered different subjects: 

• Bible (I would quote the Scriptures and explain to them what each means and just allowed the sharpness of God's word to convict their hearts which later led into confession of sins and repentance as they prayed in the end);
• English (whenever I mentioned words, I had to simplify it, or sometimes, Issa would explain the meaning to Abbie);
• Filipino (some English words needed to be translated to Filipino and defined so they can understand better. Sometimes, it was elaborated with another story or illustration);
• Science (at some point we touched on Astronomy. But I forgot which part in the correction in came :));
• History/Civics (in the course of illustrating to them I needed to tell stories from our childhood which we all found very funny that we were all laughing. This was towards the part that they already understood my points of correction. The stories also showed them how families in the province during our time lived);
• Character (I had Abbie review a portion from her Character book: Character First so she will remember what gentleness entails).

We ended with them praying to God and confessing their sin, repenting. Then I prayed for them too. We were actually too engrossed into talking that we did not notice it was more than an hour already.

I thank God for opportunities to teach and train our children in moments like these.

We need the deep water experience

Sometimes God takes us into the deep waters of life for an extended time. Joseph was taken into deep waters of adversity for 17 years. Rejection by his brothers, enslavement to Pharaoh, and imprisonment were the deep waters for Joseph. During those deep waters, he experienced dreams, a special anointing of his gifts to administrate, and great wisdom beyond his years. The deep water was preparation for a task that was so great he never could have imagined it. He was to see God's works more clearly than anyone in his generation. God had too much at stake for a 30-year-old to mess it up. So, God took Joseph through the deep waters of preparation to ensure that he would survive what he was about to face. Pride normally engulfs such young servants who have such access to power at such a young age.

If God chooses to take us into deep waters, it is for a reason. The greater the calling, the deeper the water. Trust in His knowledge that your deep waters are preparation to see the works of God in your life.

An excerpt from:

Today God Is First (TGIF) devotional message, Copyright by Os Hillman, Marketplace Leaders.

What really matters?

What really matters?

What if you missed hearing the best part of your child’s day because you were on the phone?

What if you missed a chance to inhale the sweet scent of your energetic child because you insisted on folding that basket of laundry before bedtime?

What if you missed a chance to console your worried spouse because of your mile-long to-do list?

What if you missed hearing an unknown childhood memory from your aging parent because you were too busy to call?

What if you missed a divine cloud formation in the sky because you were racing to the bank, the post office, and the dry cleaner before you had to pick up the kids?

What if one day you realized that all the opportunities you missed couldn’t be retrieved?

But it was already too late.

What if one day you realized the best moments in life come in the mundane, everyday moments? But you were only fully present on special occasions.

What if, instead of rushing through the minutiae of your daily life, you occasionally paused and offered your presence?

What if you turned away from the distractions that monopolize your time and attention and grasped the sacred moments passing you by?

- Turn off the music in the car.

- Sit next to your child as she plays.

- Lie in bed with her after you say good night.

- Hug her and don’t let go right away.

- Tell her something you have been meaning to say.

- Bend down and look her in the eye when she talks to you.

Do these things and see what might unfold. And once the moment is over, reflect back on that moment and realize this painful truth: If I had not paused, that precious moment is what I would have missed.

- An excerpt that moved me, alerted me and challenges me to seize every moment in our family's daily events.

My Child Cannot Kiss a Moving Target 

by Rachel Macy Stafford from her new book Hands Free Mama. She also has a blogspot of the same title.

They rejoiced!

"So at daybreak the apostles entered the Temple, as they were told, and immediately began teaching. When the high priest and his officials arrived, they convened the high council —the full assembly of the elders of Israel. Then they sent for the apostles to be brought from the jail for trial..."

As the apostles were being tried, Gamaliel, one member of the council, a Pharisee, who was an expert in religious law and respected by all the people, stood up and ordered that the men be sent outside the council chamber for a while as he discussed with the Council the repercussions of holding the apostles further. This man had witnessed the power of God in earlier times saying that they may be fighting against the power of God and suffer the consequences.

"The others accepted his advice. They called in the apostles and had them flogged. Then they ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go. The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus. And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the Messiah.” (Acts 5:21, 34, 40-42 NLT)

What stood out for me in this passage was that eventually Peter and the other apostles were flogged before they were set free. And yet the Bible says, they left REJOICING, and continued even bolder to preach. In other translations it said HAPPY (CEV), OVERJOYED (MSG). Amazing! How could it be? So I looked up how exactly flogging was done in the Roman times, and this is what I found (let your imagination take you back with the graphic definition):

In the Roman Empire, flagellation was often used as a prelude to crucifixion, and in this context is sometimes referred to as scourging. Whips with small pieces of metal or bone at the tips were commonly used. Such a device could easily cause disfigurement and serious trauma, such as ripping pieces of flesh from the body or loss of an eye. In addition to causing severe pain, the victim would be made to approach a state of hypovolemic shock due to loss of blood. The Romans reserved this torture for non-citizens, as stated in the lex Porcia and lex Sempronia, dating from 195 and 123 BC. The poet Horace refers to the horribile flagellum (horrible whip) in his Satires, calling for the end of its use. Typically, the one to be punished was stripped naked and bound to a low pillar so that he could bend over it, or chained to an upright pillar as to be stretched out. Two lictors (some reports indicate scourgings with four or six lictors) alternated blows from the bare shoulders down the body to the soles of the feet. There was no limit to the number of blows inflicted— this was left to the lictors to decide, though they were normally not supposed to kill the victim. Nonetheless, Livy, Suetonius and Josephus report cases of flagellation where victims died while still bound to the post. Flagellation was referred to as "half death" by some authors and apparently, many died shortly thereafter. Cicero reports in In Verrem, "pro mortuo sublatus brevi postea mortuus" ("taken away for a dead man, shortly thereafter he was dead"). Often the victim was turned over to allow flagellation on the chest, though this proceeded with more caution, as the possibility of inflicting a fatal blow was much greater. Ref: http://flagellation.askdefine.com/

This account humbles me. If put in the same situation, after suffering extreme beating, i.e., flogging, because of persecutions, will I still rejoice, be happy, be overjoyed and continue to proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah? I wonder. I am just overwhelmingly amazed and inspired by what the apostles did- to be strong for the Lord. Whatever it takes.

"At once..."

"At once.." This phrase means immediately; right now.

This is the response of Simon Peter and his brother Andrew when Jesus saw them for the first time and called them to follow Him in Matthew 4:20.

The other day, it was Joseph's gesture of instantly doing what God told him in his dream concerning Mary.

I am observing that for these past few days, the words: immediately, at once, instantly, are literally jumping out of the Scriptures to glaringly point out to me a response similar to what Joseph and Peter and Andrew did.

So my response? Yes, Lord! yes, Lord!

It also means I should be quick in responding to my family's requests, particularly my husband's. Sam has once complained that I do not obey him instantly. That means I am not modeling proper obedience to our children. And as their teacher, I have been teaching them that obedience is done instantly and cheerfully. Ok I get it! And now I am connecting yesterday's revelation... As I repent, fruit should be produced. God just touched a disobedient heart to be more obedient and do it instantly and cheerfully. (Redundancy is needed for emphasis!)

Fruit in repentance

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Matthew 3:8 NIV

God's revelation in my quiet time this morning which might also speak or encourage others:

It's a new year. It's a new season. Are there things, acts, attitude, wrongdoings, anything, God is convicting, leading me/us to stop doing, confess to Him or to anyone I/we have wronged and strongly repent from?

The verse clearly tells me/us that producing fruit is the mark that true repentance is taking place. For example if I/we have issues with sins of the tongue, I/we need to acknowledge and confess it before God and apologize if I/we have offended someone and ask God's help to repent from it. The fruit that will come out is becoming gentle and speaking life or encouragement unlike being the opposite before.

God will always be gracious to me/us and will strengthen and grant me/us the blessing to be Christ-like.

Notes from my Journal
January 4, 2014

Meeting Joseph, the husband of Mary

This year 2014, I am starting a Bible reading plan from my You Version app. It allows you to read 4 chapters a day and in one year you will be able to read the whole Bible (again). I started today and I am too excited to share with you the highlight of what i gleaned from the readings. I encourage you to go through your preferred Bible reading plan and hope we can share with each other what we are learning.

Today I read Genesis 1, Matthew 1, Ezra 1 and Acts 1. 

Here is the highlight from Matthew 1. It tells us the prologue of Jesus' birth. In this section, Joseph was just engaged to be married to Mary yet she was already found pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Being a gentleman and not wanting to disgrace Mary, he made a plan to just quietly divorce her later. But God talked to Joseph in a dream, and then he knew the whole story behind Mary's pregnancy. And here is the part that impressed me most about him: as soon as he woke up from the dream, immediately he followed/obeyed what he was told to do. 

Joseph is one Bible character who did not have much "airtime". After Jesus was born, nothing much was mentioned about him unlike Mary who was in the picture until Jesus' death and resurrection. However it is remarkable how Joseph modeled true obedience to us even before he married Mary, even before Jesus was born. And obviously he knew God's voice to obey Him that instantly. He must have had an intimate relationship with God. 

I desire to be like him: to distinctly know God's voice when He speaks to me and to obey Him instantly and cheerfully. To trust that God knows best always.

Notes from my Journal

January 2, 2014