The Well-Rounded Mama: PCOS Series Resumes
Helping homeschooling and stay-at-home moms make well-functioning homes of peace, joy, beauty, and contentment.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Saturday, September 27, 2014
A ruby is hard. This means it is a tough job to
break one. You can't just toss it on the floor and break it apart. It takes
work.
How hard are you? Can the devil
just toss you around and make you shatter? Or do you know what the Bible says
and stand fast by it no matter what?
A woman should be like a
chocolate covered peanut; soft on the outside but hard on the inside. We should
be feminine on the outside but hard as a ruby (that is, harder than steel) in
our faith in God.
A ruby is brilliant. This doesn't
mean it can pass the SAT test with a perfect score, though I do believe we
should strive to build our intelligence.
"The fear of
the LORD is the beginning of wisdom:" [1]
"The fear of
the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and
instruction." [2]
"The fear of
the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of The Holy is
understanding." [3]
God wants us to use and build on
everything He has given us, including our brains.
"...thou hast
been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord." [4]
We should be trying to increase
our intelligence by starting with God's Word.
But brilliant in terms of a ruby
means it shines out.
We should have the love of God
shining out in our every action.
"And
whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God and the Father by him." [5]
Jesus should be a light that
glows from you out to the world, including the world in your own home.
The rareness of a top quality
ruby makes it more valuable than a diamond. It is known as the “King of
Gemstones” to many. An 8x6mm (that is much smaller than the tip of your pinky),
1.8 ct stone just sold for $137.07; and God said a virtuous woman is worth MORE
than a ruby.
A ruby is made of a combination
of aluminum oxide and chrome. This is interesting. These are relatively common
minerals, yet when combined under the right conditions, they create this
valuable stone.
God made us out of dirt, born to
common humans. There is nothing special in our chemical make-up. Yet, like the
ruby, we are valuable beyond comparison, if we are virtuous.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014
Breaking the Silence: Redefining Marriage Hurts Women Like Me – and Our Children | Public Discourse
Breaking the Silence: Redefining Marriage Hurts Women Like Me – and Our Children | Public Discourse: I tried to convince him to stay, to stick it out and fight to save our marriage. But my voice, my desires, my needs—and those of our two young children—no longer mattered to him. We had become disposable, because he had embraced one tiny word that had become his entire identity. Being gay trumped commitment, vows, responsibility, faith, fatherhood, marriage, friendships, and community. All of this was thrown away for the sake of his new identity."
ANYTIME a divorce happens, someone has broken their promise.
Divorce happens because of selfishness.
ANYTIME a divorce happens, someone has broken their promise.
Divorce happens because of selfishness.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
LillaRose
I would love to have you on my team:-) http://www.lillarose.biz/BeSTClips/
Of all the things I have tried (owning a milk cow, chickens, and rabbits, making and selling my own salve, doing mending for other people, mowing lawns, building websites, etc) I have made more in the last six months with LillaRose than all of them put together. Or, to put it more accurately, I have lost less once you figure in what I have spent on my own family. I mean, goodness! I have five daughters with long blonde hair!
No, I am not getting rich. But I am enjoying myself:-)
It cost $50 for the cheapest starter kit and the annual minimum to stay active is $29. I'll meet that with Christmas for my girls alone!
The company is fine with people signing up to just get the consultant discount for what they want to buy for their own family and never selling to anyone else. They call us "casual consultants."
That's why I signed up. I am very broke but have to buy something to control all this hair! These clips work, are sturdy, and are beautiful! What more could I ask for?
How about 30% off any I want to buy?
And the $50 starter kit came with 5 clips, so I started with one for each of us (I bought one before signing up as a consultant).
I have sold a few to other people. In fact, they practically sell themselves. I have heard many stories of women going into Wall-mart to do their weekly shopping and coming out with no clip in their hair (sold it right off their own head!) and a big order to boot!
I, personally, have made enough commission to pay for my starter kit and then some, and I haven't done any shows or home parties. I've just sold to ladies in our church, some family, and the nurses at my mom's chemo treatments.
This is a young company, and they are Christian. Customer service is great, and they are fun people to work with. Why not give it a try?
http://www.lillarose.biz/BeSTClips/
Monday, September 15, 2014
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Anytime you need the music for a "new" song, check the foot tall stack of ole books you have under the piano first. Just sayn'
Chapter 8
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, “Go unto
Pharaoh, and say unto him, ‘Thus saith the LORD, “Let My people go, that they
may serve Me.
2 “‘“And if thou refuse to let them go,
behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:
3 “‘“And the river shall bring forth frogs
abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy
bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy
people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneadingtroughs:
4 “‘“And the frogs shall come up both on
thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.”‘“
Can you imagine having frogs everywhere? Even
hopping into your food? Yuck!
5 And the LORD spake unto Moses, “Say unto
Aaron, ‘Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the
rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.’
“
6 And Aaron stretched out his hand over the
waters of Egypt;
and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.
7 And the magicians did so with their
enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.
How could they tell Moses’ frogs from the
magicians’ frogs? Anyway…
8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron,
and said, “Intreat the LORD, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from
my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the
LORD.”
Obviously this “LORD” that Moses is talking
about is more powerful than the Egyptian goddess Heqt. She had the head of a
frog and because of her, it was illegal to kill frogs (a symbol of fertility
and life.)
So, God gives the Egyptians all the frogs
they could possibly ever want to worship. Even when the magicians duplicate
this plague, they don’t make the frogs go away, but bring forth MORE frogs,
(which didn’t really help any.)
9 And Moses said unto Pharaoh, “Glory over
me: (other
translations say “You can have the honor over me.”) when shall I intreat for thee,
and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and
thy houses, that they may remain in the river only?”
10 And he said, “Tomorrow.”…
If I were sleeping with frogs, I would want
them removed right now. Pharaoh is trying to maintain a sibilance of control.
…And
he said, “Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none
like unto the LORD our God.
11 “And the frogs shall depart from thee, and
from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; they shall remain
in the river only.”
12 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh:
and Moses cried unto the LORD because of the frogs which he had brought against
Pharaoh.
13 And the LORD did according to the word of
Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of
the fields.
14 And they gathered them together upon
heaps: and the land stank.
The sudden death of so many “holy” frogs
would have been seen by the Egyptians as a very bad omen.
15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was
respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had
said.
16 And the LORD said unto Moses, “Say unto
Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become
lice throughout all the land
of Egypt.”
This time there is no announcement
beforehand.
17 And they did so; for Aaron stretched out
his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in
man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
Individuals who were lice-infested were not
allowed to worship in any Egyptian temple. Nor were lice-infested sacrifices
allowed. God has totally stopped all worship to false gods. If these gods were
real, they would have been able to fight back and keep worship going for
themselves. Obviously they have no power whatsoever.
18 And the magicians did so with their
enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon
man, and upon beast.
Maybe they were too busy scratching to bring
forth lice?
I don’t know whether their reproduction of
the previous plagues was through “smoke and mirror” slight of hand, or through
satanic power, but either way, they have met their match in the LORD God of Israel!
19 Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, “This
is the finger of God:” and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not
unto them; as the LORD had said.
The magicians had figured out they were up
against the Real Thing. But Pharaoh won’t even listen to them.
20 And the LORD said unto Moses, “Rise up
early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the
water; and say unto him, ‘Thus saith the LORD, “Let My people go, that they may
serve Me.
21 “‘“Else, if thou wilt not let My people
go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and
upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be
full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are.
Ewwww!
This was probably a mixture of different
kinds of biting flies.
As with the lice, fly covered people could
not worship, nor could fly covered sacrifices be offered in the Egyptian
temples.
They also worshiped the scarab beetle as a
god, and had a separate “Lord of the Flies” they worshiped. But obviously they
had no control over insects.
Some commentators have translated this as
“swarms of animals.” In other words, large numbers of wild, dangerous animals.
This would make this plague more distinct from the lice, and Egyptians worshiped
many different animals, including ones that would love to have them for supper.
22 “‘“And I will sever in that day the land
of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to
the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.
23 And I will put a division between My
people and thy people: tomorrow shall this sign be.”‘“
The previous plagues had affected Israel also.
Now God is making it even more obvious who His people are by not allowing them
to be affected by all the remaining plagues.
24 And the LORD did so; and there came a
grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants'
houses, and into all the land
of Egypt: the land was
corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.
There have been similar occurrences to these
plagues in history, all following earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. God is
telling Moses when to predict each event and then bringing it along just in
time to prove He is controlling them.
25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for
Aaron, and said, “Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.”
Pharaoh permitted them to worship their God,
but only in their homeland.
26 And Moses said, “It is not meet so to do;
for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God:
lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and
will they not stone us?
The animals God wanted sacrificed were gods
to the Egyptians. They would not be happy to witness this ceremony. Compromise
was not possible.
27 “We will go three days' journey into the
wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as He shall command us.”
28And Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that
ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go
very far away: intreat for me.”
“Whatever! Just get rid of these flies!”
Pharaoh really knew who was in charge.
29 And Moses said, “Behold, I go out from
thee, and I will intreat the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from
Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow: but let not Pharaoh
deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the
LORD.”
30 And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and
intreated the LORD.
31 And the LORD did according to the word of
Moses; and He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and
from his people; there remained not one.
32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this
time also, neither would he let the people go.
I don’t know if he lied or just changed his
mind, but either way, he is setting his people up for more trouble.
Remember, God has already told Moses He will
destroy Egypt and kill their firstborns. Since that hasn’t happened yet, Moses
must know that they aren’t done, though he can hope Pharaoh will yield and God
will change His mind.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
My daughter's Etsy shop. Check it out:-)
Chapter 7
1 And the LORD said unto Moses, “See, I have
made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
He doesn’t mean Pharaoh will worship Moses,
but that Moses appears mysterious and powerful.
2 “Thou shalt speak all that I command thee:
and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of
his land.
3 “And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and
multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.
4 “But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you,
that I may lay My hand upon Egypt, and bring forth Mine armies, and My people
the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
If Pharaoh had let them go worship when they
first asked, nothing permanent would have been accomplished. Israel would
have returned to slavery. Even if they had gone to worship and never come back,
there were lessons Egypt and Israel both needed that would not have been
learned.
5 “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the
LORD, when I stretch forth Mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of
Israel from among them.”
God intends to not only free Israel, but to
teach Egypt
about the One and Only True God.
God has always cared about all nations and wanted
them all to serve Him.
6 And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD
commanded them, so did they.
7 And Moses was fourscore years old, and
Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.
Moses was 80 and Aaron 83 when they begin
this mission.
There are some who think Moses’ ages are just
round dates. That “forty years” just represents a large span of unknown time.
If that were true, this verse would read “And Moses AND AARON were fourscore
years old.” Since it is very specific about Aaron’s age, we can assume it is
being specific about Moses’ also.
8 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto
Aaron, saying,
9 “When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying,
‘Shew a miracle for you:’ then thou shalt say unto Aaron, ‘Take thy rod, and
cast it before Pharaoh,’ and it shall become a serpent.”
They are to repeat the wonders God had Moses
do in the desert.
10 And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh,
and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before
Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and
the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner
with their enchantments.
I understand there is a snake in Egypt that can
be charmed or drugged to lay straight and stiff like a walking stick, and then
released to act like a snake on command. This would have very much appeared to
be what Aaron did.
12 For they cast down every man his rod, and
they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.
Guess which snake/rod was the most powerful.
13 And He hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he
hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.
It seems strange to us that God would harden
Pharaoh’s heart, but He had a specific lesson He wanted to teach the Egyptians.
14 And the LORD said unto Moses, “Pharaoh's
heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.
15 “Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo,
he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river's brink against
he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine
hand.
16 “And thou shalt say unto him, ‘The LORD
God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, “Let My people go, that they
may serve Me in the wilderness:” and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear.
17 “ ‘Thus saith the LORD, “In this thou
shalt know that I am the LORD:” behold, I will smite with the rod that is in
mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to
blood.
18 “ ‘And the fish that is in the river shall
die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the
water of the river.’ “
The River Nile was the life-blood of the land of Egypt. Now it is going to be literal
blood.
This was a direct attack on the Egyptian gods
Khnum (the guardian of the Nile), Hapi (the
spirit of the Nile), and Osiris (who had the Nile as his bloodstream). They obviously did not have
power against the God of Israel.
We got some insight into the physical
mechanism God likely used to accomplish this a few years ago. There was an
earthquake and volcanic eruption above a small village. The earthquake released
iron ore which not only turned the local water the color of blood, its chemical
makeup was nearly the exact match to our blood; mostly water with iron and
other minerals. It is entirely possible that God caused an earthquake upstream
that had this exat same result in the Nile; the river literally, chemically
became blood.
19 And the LORD spake unto Moses, “Say unto
Aaron, ‘Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon
their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their
pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood
throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of
stone.’ “
20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD
commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the
river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the
waters that were in the river were turned to blood.
God timed the earthquake so that the water
would turn at the exact moment Aaron lifted his staff.
21 And the fish that was in the river died;
and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the
river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
22 And the magicians of Egypt did so
with their enchantments: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he
hearken unto them; as the LORD had said.
I’m not sure what water they would have had
left to turn to blood after God’s very thorough job.
23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his
house, neither did he set his heart to this also.
24 And all the Egyptians digged round about
the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the
river.
The dirt would have filtered out the parts of
the blood that were undrinkable.
25 And seven days were fulfilled, after that
the LORD had smitten the river.
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