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Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

I think I mentioned this scripture here recently, but this Bible verse is the favorite of both my son and my hubby.  Today, for several reasons, including both natural and relationship disasters, I want to remind myself of why it is an important verse to me as well.  Maybe you can relate to sometimes being discouraged, or to having an overwhelming sense of injustice when bad things “happen”, or to disagreeing with God’s plans from time to time?

I love Proverbs 3:5-6 for reminding me that things won’t always be easy to understand or explain.  It dovetails with another verse that I love:

For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are My ways higher than your ways
    and My thoughts than your thoughts.

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Don’t do anything only to get ahead. Don’t do it because you are proud. Instead, be free of pride. Think of others as better than yourselves. None of you should look out just for your own good. You should also look out for the good of others. You should think in the same way Christ Jesus does (Phil 2:3-5, NIrV).

This summer the kids and I have begun to review all the memory verses we derived from our two previous Family Mission Statements (that makes 24 verses total).  This week we are still on the first list, and this scripture is our third family verse under the Value called “Love Others“.

Today I wanted to discuss Bible translations.  Many people are loyal to a particular translation of the Bible – I know I am.  I love the ESV, the English Standard Version.  The ESV is well known for the accuracy of its translation of the original language. There are many differences between the original Hebrew and Greek and our English translations.  Translators have many English synonyms to choose from in order to give meaning to original words – sometimes the meaning can get lost in translation.  We often visit Biblegateway.com to compare translations to better understand the verse.  I still like to always look at the NIV, the New International Version and I often check the NAS, the New American Standard and the KJV, King James Version too.  My mom and I really like the NLT, New Living Translation, too for a more accurate modern language translation.

All of that being said, I think that when we are teaching our kids, we must use wording that they can understand.  When mine were little, I tried this two ways.  First I read to them from the “grown up” Bible and translates it for them myself – but this was cumbersome and disjointed.  It was hard to teach the meaning when I was stopping so many times to explain something.  Then I began to use the NIrV, New International Readers’ Version (cue the sound of angels singing).  Then when they could read, I bought them their own Bible in this version.  This year, they both have advanced enough in their reading skills that they graduated to the ESV, Student Study Bible.

In teaching your children, there is no substitute for the actual Word of God.  Bible story books are a great adjunct, or additional resource for teaching, but they are NOT the Bible.  Even toddlers benefit from hearing God’s Word, from the Bible.  The verses you choose to share with them must be simpler, to be sure.  But if you delay giving your kids the Word until they can read it for themselves, you will miss great opportunities to build a biblical foundation for their understanding of the world.

For memory work, I would often read to them from the NIrV and then we would memorize a grown-up version of the verse.  Today’s Bible verse was first taught to them in the NIrV when they were 3 and 5 years old, but we memorized the NIV 1984 because I thought it was a beautiful translation that was still easy to understand:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus (Phil 2:3-5, NIV 1984).

What is your favorite translation of the Bible?  How do you use Scripture to teach your children?

Hugs,

Britta ~ I am justAgirl…just like you!

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I am teaching a Bible study that began this week and will run for six weeks.  It is so exciting to open the Word of God with new friends.  And yesterday, someone was asking me for a book recommendation.  I listed a few of my favorites, especially the ones I have used to prepare for the class I am teaching.

But what came to me was this: I have learned a lot of things from a lot of really good books; but I have learned the most from the Good Book.  

When I think of it, I have spent years and years reading the Bible.  Some here, some there.  Some years more than others.  Sometimes doing memory work, sometimes reading and just listening…waiting to hear something, something that was meant for ME.

And there were times I did reading plans, Bible studies and all those countless sermons I’ve heard.  I always take notes.  Funny, I do not keep the notes.  But, if I don’t write it down, I can’t keep it in my head – this is why I write – because it makes things stick.

All that time, I was looking for glimpses of…evidence of…Him in my life.  And somehow in all that looking, I found Him.  You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13).  

The Word has come alive for me in the sense that it is like a family member, like an old friend, like my favorite teacher.  It has become part of me, as I have come to know it.  And I have seen it for what it is: an invitation to know Him – the Great I AM, the Triune God, The Creator/Elohim…the One who exists outside of time because He created time.

Taking the Word into my heart has transformed my Worldview…the way I see life.  I have found that when God’s Word became my compass and my measuring stick and my lens, this began to happen: Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect (Romans 12:2, NLT).

Having a Biblical Worldview makes you different than many people.  A lot of people in this life don’t put much stock in God’s Word.  Believing it can make you stick out like a sore thumb.  I can even think of some churches where I felt that way!

I feel convinced, now more than ever, that this feeling of  ”otherness”, the being “other” than those around us – as one called and set apart from the World…this is what I am supposed to teach my children.  Here is what Jesus taught His disciples: If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you (John 15:19).

I don’t mean we should teach our kids to pull away from the world…just that we should teach them not to be swallowed up by it.  Because we were made in His image and when our lives do not reflect Him, we have lost sight of our purpose.  

So now, we read the Bible together voraciously.  We talk about the connections we see – how the ideas fit together, how the larger story (of the love of the Father and the rescue mission of Christ) is woven throughout the books.  We do our memory work together.

We look for Him in our lives.  We try to do things the way He teaches us to do them – this is how we know Him.  And when we start looking, we see Him everywhere and in everything.

Tell me, where have you seen Him lately?

Hugs,

Britta ~ I am justAgirl…just like you!

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Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;
    bind them around your neck;
    write them on the tablet of your heart.
So you will find favor and good success
    in the sight of God and man (Prov 3:3-4).

I love this verse!  It is followed by one of the most famous proverbs – which will examine next time – so it can be easily overlooked.  That’s a teaser for next Wednesday, but if you can’t wait you can find the “famous one” here.

The first line is covenant language.  Faithfulness (trustworthiness/Truth) and steadfast love characterize God’s behavior toward His people.  And in return, since covenants are reciprocal, His people are expected to return faithfulness and steadfast love to Him.  Whenever you see covenant language, remember that the analogy God uses to teach us about covenants is marriage.  As a husband shows love and faithfulness to His wife, so a wife should show love and faithfulness to her husband.  God is the husband and His people are the wife/bride.

His faithfulness results in our trust in His character; knowing Him allows us to put our faith in Him.  Putting our faith in God is life changing!  Trusting in God’s character means that, because we know Him, our allegiance is with Him.   Because our allegiance is with Him, we desire to please Him and honor Him above others.  Because we desire to please Him, we will obey, walking in His ways.  This is the life-changing part – the Holy Spirit grows our love and faith and trust in Him.

And our love, faith, and trust in God should be obvious to others, like a beautiful necklace which would adorn our necks (v. 3).  This reminds me of another Proverb: Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised (Prov 31:30).  This is another time where we cannot chase the product (in this case approval of others).  Instead, as we live a life pleasing to Him, this is perceived as something precious and beautiful, that can seen by all.

I LOVE this image: write them [steadfast love and faithfulness] on the tablet of your hearts (v.3).  Maybe this appeals to me because I am a writer.  I love words!  Writing makes meaning, creates connections.  And writing something on your heart means (1) it touches you deeply, (2) you are marked by it, and  (3) you will always remember it.

Finally, in verse 4 (So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man), we are reminded of one of God’s basic principles: Sowing and Reaping (Gal 6:7-8).  He is telling us that if we obediently covenant with Him, we are choosing the path that leads to favor and good success.  God is teaching us, for our good, how He set things up in the world.

To me this is something very powerful about the Word.  So in this proverb (in both verses 3 and 4), He is demonstrating that by seeking after (sowing) relationship with Him, we will find (reap) favor with Him and the change that is wrought in our lives will bring us favor with others.  This is NOT “quid pro quo”, not transactional, not “I scratch your back and you scratch mine”.  We don’t see this everyday, in every situation, immediately.  Instead, this is a guiding principle that orders all life: reconciliation with God brings peace.

That is the Good News!  This is in keeping with what Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt 6:33).  This is something to tell everyone about – especially our children!  I hope you can ponder this is your heart to day and find peace.  :)

Hugs,

Britta ~ I am justAgirl…just like you!

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Our family Memory Verse this week is Matthew 22:37-40:

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

I have found that if you want to live a life pleasing to the Lord, it can be very frustrating!  On the one hand, here Jesus has said there are only two things to worry about.  That seems easy enough.  Yet, He also said that all of the laws and the prophets hang on these two things…so these are not small things!  How do we do this??

Searching the Bible for answers can reveal so many “good” things to do.  It seems there are  endless words of wisdom in the Bible for us; and then it can be very overwhelming when we turn to look at our own pitiful attempts to lead a “good life”.

Me?  I am often just one computer glitch or traffic jam away from pulling my hair out…where is my patience?  At the end of too many days, I have a bowl of Blue Bell ice cream and – truth, here?  I am not training for a marathon – I don’t need the calories and I am not truly hungry…where is my self-control?  When I struggle to keep a good attitude because things don’t go according to my plans…where is my joy?

But the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).  I used to chase the Fruit of the Spirit, rather than the Spirit.  And a verse like this would be my measuring stick for the day.  And I always fell short.  This led to discouragement and despair, and with good reason: we were not made to do this on our own.

As Paul reminds us “None is righteous, no, not one…no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10, 12).  In fact, Christ says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in [your] weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9) and Paul agrees, saying “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10).  Knowing our weakness, demonstrates our need for Him.

I think that the second part of Jesus’ answer tells us what it looks like when we love God above everything else.  Loving God, enables you to: Love your neighbor as yourself (v. 39).  We simply are not able to love others (which often requires love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) without God.

Too many people “love”, expecting something in return (like respect, honor, love, mercy, affection, kindness, etc.).  This is not love because love is not transactional.  Love is an action and a free gift.  We know this because we see how Jesus loved.

I used to chase the Fruit of the Spirit, rather than the Spirit.  But then I learned, the hard way, that He was right all along.  I can’t do anything good without Him.  And so, as for me, the nearness of God is my good (Psalm 73:28).  

How about it?  Can you feel the Lord singing over you (Zeph 3:17)?  Do you feel Him leading you beside still waters (Psalm 23:2)?  Remember how He redeemed your life from the pit (Psalm 103:4)?

He is good for us, and to us.  He is Worthy…worthy to receive praise and honor and glory (Rev 4:11)…and worthy of our love.  And loving Him, enables us to love others.

Hugs,

Britta ~ I am justAgirl…just like you!

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Last Friday, I shared how our family created a Mission Statement and list of Values; then developed a group of 12 scriptures which supported our goals.  This became our scripture training program.  Here’s how we did it:

• Monday mornings, we read that week’s verse and talked about its meaning.
• We thought of ways the Word applied to our daily lives.  When I used the New Living Translation for Phil 2:3-5, this caught Gracie’s attention: Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others.  She remembered “that boy Jake” who dared her to sneak off the preschool playground; she got in trouble because she was trying to impress him.  People, she was four then!  Thankfully, she is not so interested in impressing boys these days.
• We practiced each morning.  We repeated the verse four or five times at breakfast, and then a time or two in the car, as I drove Gracie to preschool.  We took one verse per week.
• I have a terrible memory for the citations of verses.  I can tell you a verse – but not where it came from.  So I drilled the kids on this; they practiced knowing the verse if I asked the citation.  They also had to know the citation if I asked them the verse.
• We regularly reviewed the previous weeks’ verses too (two-three times per day).

These scriptures were our own personal, and modern, version of Deut 6:4-9:  We talked about them when we were at home and when we were on the road, when we were going to bed and when we were getting up.  We looked for application of the Word in everything that we put our hands to, and in everything we thought about.  We posted the memory verses on the refrigerator and hung them on the bathroom mirrors.  We brought them in the car via flashcards and sticky notes on the dashboard. All of this was teaching, intentionally.

But God always provides other wonderful opportunities to teach about His Word, in the midst of living.  I read in Lou Priolo’s book, Teach Them Diligently, (my favorite book on biblical parenting) about the term “teaching in milieu”.  It means teaching “in the middle of” or “surrounded by” life circumstances.  He says:

[address] from the Scriptures the actual situations your children are facing morning, noon, and night…discuss with your children the relevancy of Scripture not only to all of life’s situations, but while you and they are actually in the midst of those situations  (pg. 16).

Some people call these types of events “teachable moments”.  I used to call them my “last straw” or my “getting on my last nerve” moments.  Then, I learned to de-personalize.  I began to see teaching appointments and opportunities to apply scriptures we learned, to problems or other life events.

This was a stunning realization: God was providing me with opportunities.  My outlook on “behavior problems”, “discipline issues”, and “character development” was forever changed.  Knowing God plans my parenting and gives me specific opportunities so I can teach (or learn!), has given me more patience than I ever had before.

This knowledge shifted the focus off the kids, and me, to Him.  And it reminds me that, in every situation or encounter, I am accountable to Him.  Parenting my kids was shaping my character!  This was an epiphany for me: God’s age-old plan of parents teaching children about Him is meant to draw the whole family closer to Him.

Next time we’ll talk more about the application of Scripture.  But now, tell me: how is God drawing you closer to Him now?

Hugs,

Britta ~ I am justAgirl…just like you!

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Whoever listens to Me will dwell secure
    and will be at ease, without dread of disaster (Proverbs 1:33).

Here, “listens” comes from the Hebrew Shama meaning: to hear, listen to, to obey.  Doesn’t it always come to this?  When we obey the LORD, we draw near Him.  We acknowledge His right-ness (His righteousness) and our un-righteousness – this is walking in His way.

In a life of walking with Him, we feel the security of His presence.  When we face difficulties, we are are not facing them alone.  Jesus said, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).  Notice He doesn’t promise peace and security due to the absence of trouble – but in the midst of it!

In the Fall of 2011, there were two times I experienced peace in the midst of extreme difficulties, because I felt the presence of Jesus:

• When my mother was unexpectedly diagnosed with late stage ovarian cancer, I was very sad, but strangely at peace.  I was not worried about her.  I knew that times ahead would be hard, and could end her life, but her tremendous faith meant she was already in the arms of Jesus.  What a gift she gave her family – her faith enabled her to dwell secure, at ease, without the dread of disaster (vs. 33), which was a comfort to the rest of us

Now, about a year after the end of her chemo treatments, she is doing very well.  Today, some sadness lingers for me, because we have moved about 2000 miles away from her, and expect to be here for 4 more years.  But I know this is God’s will and when I feel sad, that comforts me.

• When my son Josh had a terrible bout with asthma, that was exacerbated by GERD, he constantly carried a trashcan.  Every time he coughed, sneezed, or cleared his throat, he would gag or vomit.  This was all day and all night.  I slept in his room for 2 months, before we got the right diagnosis and treatment.  When I had to go to the store and run errands, he carried an emesis bag.  It began to feel like a horrible “new normal”.

This was different than my experience with Mom.  While I had peace in knowing that Josh was in God’s hands, I still lived in constant dread.  While I knew that God was in control, I felt responsible for fixing the problems since the doctors were failing us.  It was terrible, but I was never alone.  Such a gift!  I cannot imagine walking through that time without Him.

I still fight worry – about relationships, about choices, about my loved ones’ health, and more…  But worry is the absence of faith.  Faith believes and hopes.  Worry doubts and fears.  Faith knows God is powerful and good.  Worry says that God can’t or won’t help.

From childhood, worry has been my constant companion, but now it is more like that old friend who was a bad influence – someone to be avoided.  I know that, in spite of circumstances, I must always obey God.  I must hear and do this: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:6-7).

How about you – do you fight with worry?

Hugs,

Britta ~ I am justAgirl…just like you!

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Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails. 1 Cor 13:4-8

In Family Mission Statement and Values, the first Value was Above All Love and Honor God; last month’s Memory Work was taken from the supporting Scriptures from this Value.  The next Value on our family chart is Love Others.

Our first two Values coincide with Jesus’ description of the greatest commandment:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets (Matt 22:37-40).

Jesus weaves these two commands together – because we cannot do one without the other.

But, looking at the “Love Chapter”, 1 Corinthians 13, we see many areas where we can stumble.  To do all of these is complete love, and isn’t that what we all want?

Yet I know people who are full of envy and pride – they are so hard to love.  And I know people who frequently put themselves first, they can be hard to love.

I am hard to love sometimes.  I have struggle with keeping a record of wrongs.  It goes along with a history of knowing those difficult people, the ones who were hard to love, and not knowing how to deal with their behaviors. They were people who took advantage, who manipulated, who were careless with my heart.

And I had a hard time forgiving those who were supposed to protect me, but didn’t.

Our broken ways of living and loving make it impossible to always trust and hope – and then – love does not persevere.

But God’s way in loving is the opposite of the World’s way.    We are commanded to love; this is not optional.  A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:34-35).  And even this: But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matt 5:44).

So here is the shift that helps me when my mind goes back to dark places – our love of other people is not for them, not for us, but for Him.  To choose another way is to rebel against Him.  Jesus commanded – there is no real wiggle room here.  And that may not be the warmest, fuzziest place to go – but it really frees you from the feelings that imprison you.

So my personal feelings aside, here is how this helps me when I deal with my children: I am teaching them that they must forgive and show respect to others out of their love for God and that being unloving to others is a sin against God, first.

I am teaching them that their feelings can be the enemy that drags them down, into sin.  So they should compare their feelings to scripture and see if they match up…if not, then they must remember the goodness of God’s love, the authority of God over all aspects of our lives, and the loving sacrifice of Jesus for all of us and then…they must obey Him.

 And if their heart still rebels against Him – we go to the Word and read about the Perfect Way and we pray.  The Holy Spirit, in concert with the Word, can do miraculous change in our hearts.

Loving difficult people is how God teaches us about His love for us, His difficult people.  And loving difficult people is how we practice loving – and learn to love, God’s Way.  If we remember that, we can see that they are in our lives for our good.  Tell me, are you like me?  Do you ever have a hard time loving, God’s Way?

Hugs,

Britta ~ I am justAgirl…just like you!

Last week I posted about using a Family Mission Statement to guide the teaching of the Word to our children.

Here is how we did this, in our family.  We started with a statement: The Lafont family seeks to glorify God in all that we do, remembering that each thought, word and action is our offering to God.  My husband and I wrote this.  Maybe if our kids were older at the time, we would have gotten their input, but they were 3 and 5.  This took some negotiating.  What resulted was a compromise we could both support.  We knew the LORD was at work in the process too.

Then, we made a list of important values that supported those statements.  They were very simple:

• Above all, Love and Honor God
  
• Love Others
• Pursue and Demonstrate Excellence
• Practice Gratitude 

We listed 3 supporting scriptures under each Value.  I am posting about each scripture on Mondays.  These verses were the very things we wanted our kids to know.  We love all of the Word – but you have to start somewhere!

By applying the Word to the specific areas where we saw a need for growth, or where we had an important goal, we were addressing behavior problems, heart issues, and wrong thinking patterns that we had observed in our children (and in ourselves).

I stumbled onto this “method” out of necessity, but I am sure that many others have done something similar, some where, some time.  As we all know, What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun (Ecc 1:9).

In order to track our progress, I made the checklists in the pic above.  We used the flashcards to carry with us in my purse or to have out at the table for breakfast.  At 3, Josh was not a reader yet, so I was really quizzing both of them together.

Initially, I did not expect Josh to learn Scripture very easily, since he could not read yet.  My expectation was that he would pick up parts and get the general idea.  I was amazed that he was able to memorize just as well as his older sister.

Younger minds are primed to learn language and memorize words – what a perfect time to plant the Word!  For some difficult verses, I selected the wording from a “kid’s version” of the real Bible, the NIrv or I used the New Living Translation.  These versions explain the Word to kids in language that they can understand because it is more like we talk in our everyday interactions.

I know some people disagree with using “simpler translations” like this, but I loved the result.  It freed me from trying to paraphrase everything that I read to them while using the “real Bible”!  And before that, we had Bible story books for them, but they needed to learn what the Bible had to say.

Then to mark the achievement of learning to read, each got his/her very own Adventure Bible For Early Readers, NIrV, with a little inscription on the inside from me.  They loved getting a Bible of their own!  It was a really big deal. They have spent hours reading it for fun. They always have it in church. This year, they each received an ESV Student Study Bible, because they are more mature readers.

Next Friday, I will share about the specific techniques I used to teach the kiddos!  How about in your house – do your little ones have a Bible yet?  What version of the Bible do you prefer for them?  For you?  Do you own more than one version?  Please do share!

Hugs,

Britta ~ I am justAgirl…just like you!

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Because they hated knowledge
    and did not choose the fear of the LORD,
would have none of my counsel
    and despised all my reproof,
therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,
    and have their fill of their own devices. (Proverbs 1:29-31)

Today’s passage is spoken by Wisdom, personified.  In Proverbs, Wisdom calls out, daily, in the streets to those who will hear her.  Some respond to her, while others reject her.  Proverbs are meant to instruct.  So here is what the LORD is teaching me today:

• We must not despise knowledge.  Knowledge here is translated from the same Hebrew word, Da’at, that is used in this verse: For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6).  This is not a “head knowledge” but the sort of deep, intimate knowing that exists in the covenant of marriage, between husband and wife.  Despising intimacy with God is rejecting Him, personally.

• We must choose to fear Him.  We’ve talked about having a “healthy fear” of the LORD recently.  To fear Him, is to remember that this is how He speaks of His enemies, “I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I lay My vengeance upon them” (Ez 25:17).

• We must respond to the counsel and reproofs of Wisdom.  The Holy Spirit and the Word act, together, to teach the believer.  In order to grow in Wisdom, we must hear the Word, and do it.  Our hearts are remade in His image as we conform to the Word.  The Holy Spirit enables this to happen.  Intimate relationship with the LORD, changes us.  We cannot come close to God and remain the same – encountering the Holy One rescues, renews and repurposes us.

• Rejecting the LORD and the gospel, means God will give us over to the consequences of our own choices.  For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries…For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:26-27, 30-31).

God gives us His Truth and His Wisdom, because He loves us and wants to instruct us so that we can know Him better, so that we can glorify Him and so that we can participate in His plan of reconciliation.  Growing in the love and knowledge of Him brings us the peace and hope that rise above the noise of this life.  Isn’t He good to teach us His ways?

What is He teaching you today?

Hugs,

Britta ~ justAgirl…just like you!