One Thing – Remember, Repent & Return

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This is an excerpt from a talk my dear friend (Diane Drees) and I shared on our church’s ONE THING retreat this fall.  You can listen to the complete audio from the talk here:

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When we finished our study of Hosea this spring, I was led to study next the book of Jeremiah.  They are very similar books, really.  Both Hosea and Jeremiah were warning the people (Hosea to the nation of Israel and Jeremiah to the nation of Judah) to return to the one true God from chasing after idols.

Look with me at Jeremiah chapter 2:1-2 and verses 11-13

The word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. …

Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

God’s people had forgotten the devotion of their youth and their love as a bride.

They had committed two evils: (1) they had forsaken God – they had left Him, abandoned Him, deserted Him, turned their back on Him and they had (2) dug their own broken cisterns.

Basically, a cistern is a way to hold water of any kind to accumulate and store water for future use.  It could be used to catch rainwater or water from a well or stream.  Ancient cisterns could be huge and used for a whole community, or small for a household.  God’s people were getting their water from cisterns of their own creation, and turning their back on God, rather than going to Him, the living well, the eternal spring.

Which reminds me of the word picture of a tabletop waterfall fountain that I described on the spring retreat.  We are only able to love others as we are filled up to overflowing with God’s love.  We love others because He first loved us.

And what was God’s encouragement to his people in Jeremiah 3:22a “Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness.”

God had been warning His people in the Old Testament, over 500 years before Christ’s time on earth, but what about after Christ’s coming, did His people still turn their backs on Him?

In the book of Revelation, the final book of the Bible, the apostle John was inspired by God to write letters to seven different churches.  The first letter he wrote was to the church in Ephesus which is found in Revelation, chapter 2.  Here John writes a nice “grace sandwich” to this church, beginning with verses 2 and 3, “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.  I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake and you have not grown weary.”  I believe that those words might be spoken of our church today.

But John follows that encouragement with some hard-to-hear words in verses 4-5, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.  (Sounds like Jeremiah 2:2, doesn’t it?)  Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.  If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”  And I’m afraid that these words might be spoken of us as well.

What did God have against this church?  They had abandoned the love that they had at first.

And now what do they need to do:

  • Remember – They needed to remember where they used to be. They needed to remember their FIRST love, Jesus, and the love that they once had for Him.
  • Repent – They needed to turn away from their sin, turn away from the things that have held them captive, turn away from the idols and distractions of life and turn toward God. They needed to do an about face.
  • Return – They needed to return to their first love and to those works that they did at first.

Let me add one little aside here, the prefix RE- means AGAIN, it indicates repetition, going back to something.  RE-member, RE-pent, RE-turn all these words indicate going back to something you once had and doing it again – thinking of it again, turning away from where you were and going back the other way, turning again to where you once were.  You can only RE-turn to something if you had it at first.  You cannot RETURN to a place you’ve never been; you can’t RETURN a book you never checked out in the first place.  If God has never been your first love, you cannot RETURN to Him.

God invites you even now to come to Him as your first love, the well of living water, your Savior, Deliverer and the Lord of your life.

Remember your first love.  Repent of your wayward heart.  Return to your God.

Total Eclipse of the Heart

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In looking forward to the solar eclipse tomorrow, I began praying for what lesson the Lord would have me to learn from this physical phenomenon.  Here it is:  God wants my whole heart.

Living in the Memphis area, I found out online that I could stay home and experience a 93% eclipse and I thought, “Great!  93% is awesome!  Why would I drive 3 ½ hours to get a total eclipse?  That is not worth the trouble!”

Well, read what Dan, an eclipse chaser, had to share on the Eclipse 2017 website in response to a woman who wanted to know if it was worth driving to get to totality, rather than staying at the 98%:

“I know you are not wanting to do the move, but there’s really no way I can in good conscience tell you that the experience of a 98% partial eclipse will be remotely comparable to being in the path. Seeing the corona, experiencing that last second extinguishing of the light, seeing stars in the middle of the day, and the overall impression of totality, are not things that it is possible to describe.

If you see a 98% partial eclipse, then the maximum coverage the Sun will get is about the same as what someone in the path will see about 2 minutes before totality. The crescent won’t shrink, you won’t see Baily’s Beads, it won’t get really really dark. The best I could say is that you will get a feeling of some eerieness of the light, and the temperature may drop a couple of degrees. Your shadows on the ground will get a bit sharper. The real thrill of a total eclipse, outside of totality itself, is those last 5-10 seconds when the Sun completely disappears. People literally lose it when they experience that, and that experience will not be yours even 5 miles outside the path. 98% sounds like a lot, but it’s kind of like being at a restaurant – if you’re just outside the door, it SMELLS really good… but only the folks INSIDE are actually eating. …

Totality is awe-inspiring – literally the most wonderful thing your eyes can see. I know it sounds like evangelizing, and I can’t make the decision for you, but I will tell you that if you go (and the weather is good), you will not in any way be disappointed.”

As a follower of Jesus Christ, I fear that I’m too often content with giving Jesus my 93%, or my 98%.  It is not worth the trouble, the loss of comfort, to give Him my all.  It reminds me of a song my kids learned when they were little that goes like this: “Do you have a whole heart, a half heart or no heart at all, to give to the King when you hear him call?”

If God is not Lord of ALL, He is not Lord AT all.

He doesn’t want to be one of many gods. He will not share His glory with another.  He wants it all and He deserves it all.

He wants my whole heart.  He wants to have full, total, preeminent significance, power and prominence in my life (type in “eclipse definition” in Google and check out the definition of eclipse).

He wants to eclipse my whole life.

Which reminds me of our ONE THING women’s retreat coming up September 22-23.  I’d love you to come!  Click here for more information.

TWIG

Love more than sacrifice

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There are too numerous things to count that I’ve learned about God specifically through being a mom. One of the most breathtaking is the idea that God desires love more than sacrifice, and the knowledge of Him more than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6).

 

I have trained my children to obey me. Ever since they could speak (or in my youngest son Daniel’s case, before they could speak), I have taught obedience as rule #1 in the Endraske house. The first Bible verse my kids learned was “Obey your parents in the Lord for this is right, Ephesians 6:1.” I taught them to obey promptly and fully, without complaining, arguing or questioning. (I’m not saying they did this … I’m merely saying this is what I taught them.)

Now that  my two oldest are young adults, I’m finding myself in a trap here. If I ask them to run an errand for me, or do a chore around  the house, or even say have lunch with me …. I don’t want them to do this out of a sense of obedience and/or sacrifice. I want them to WANT to. I want my kids to WANT to help, to serve, to give, and I especially want them to want to be with me, to love spending time with me, to value my relationship. And I fear that in all my drilling and discipline on obedience, they missed having the opportunity to choose to demonstrate their “just because” love for me, because it was all about doing as they were told. 

So, when I was recently asked by an unbeliever why God would create mankind when He knew that some would reject Him and suffer the eternal consequences of that choice, it reminded me of my life as a mom, and how I want my kids to want me.

When my kids were younger and they’d pester me to buy them something, or take them somewhere, I’d try to explain to them how they were stealing my joy of giving them a gift, that I wanted to give to them freely, and not under compulsion, being nagged and cajoled into giving them something.

I wonder if God ever feels like that. He loves us, with His incredible love. He demonstrates His love for us in that while we were still sinners, He sent Christ to die for us.  (Romans 5:8)  He does this as a free gift by His Grace through faith and even gifts us that faith in the first place, that none of us can boast or tell Him that He’s “got to give it to us” because it’s our wages due. (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:4-5)  Because, in fact, our due wages is death (Romans 6:23).

God Himself is a cheerful giver, a good Father who loves to give good gifts to His children (Matthew 7:11). If He forced us to love Him, if there were no alternative BUT to love Him, I wonder if that would limit the joy that He receives from our grateful hearts full of thanksgiving to Him for the blessed gift of faith and love.

To the only Worthy One, my Savior and Redeemer and Friend.

TWIG

Sometimes you can’t understand until you’re there

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Today my amazing husband turns 47 years old. Where have the years gone?

20th anniversary – 2004

As I’m aging, I’m beginning to see that though I look older on the outside (only a very, very little bit older), on the inside I’m really the same person — just a little more experienced and wiser, hopefully. (Thank You, Lord!) But as a young person I really couldn’t understand that, even if someone explained it in the simplest of terms.

There are some things you just can’t understand until you’re there. When my kids were little, I had older women tell me repeatedly to enjoy these years because children grow up so quickly. Well, I couldn’t understand. I didn’t think they were growing up quickly. I couldn’t wait for them to sleep through the night, to talk, to be potty trained, to read. And now it’s gone in a flash. Those women were right! Where did my babies go?

It’s like that when I’m trying to explain my faith walk to someone who doesn’t know God. How do I explain how real God is to me? How can I explain how scriptures jump off the page when I read them? How can I explain that I literally hear verses echoing inside my mind at just the moment when I need them? How can I explain that I hear a small, persistent voice calling to me, saying, “This is the way, walk in it”? How can I make someone see something that they can’t see? How can I explain to someone something that was once so foreign to me, too, but now is as normal as taking my next step or my next breath?

God is real. He’s real. He sees me and He knows me and He cares for me and about me. He is with me wherever I go and whatever I do. He walks with me and He talks with me. Though I cannot see Him, I know Him and He has made me His own. His love is as real to me as the air that I breathe. I wish everyone could know Him like that.  Praying.

TWIG

 

5 Lessons I’m Learning during some Major, Major Yard Reconstruction

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Four years ago, the last week of July, 2013, our family moved to a beautiful home on 2 acres of land.  We were looking to escape some of the hustle bustle of the subdivision neighborhood lifestyle, and hoping to enjoy a more peaceful life with a fruitful garden and backyard chickens.

“Before”

But, as is true in most things of life, nothing is without trials.  You can read more about our experience moving in my blog post titled “A Thorn in the Flesh” here.

Over the past four years, we have battled with our yard in a myriad of ways – fighting poison ivy, ticks, yellow jackets, mice, more poison ivy, more yellow jackets, more ticks, and more mice.  This summer we finally decided that our best bet was to do a major overhaul of the backyard.  This overhaul included hiring a landscaper to remove over 2 dozen trees, along with all the weeds and shrubbery, and lay thick green sod (still a work in progress), thereby turning our backyard from a “wilderness” into a “manicured lawn with abundant large trees.”

So, I was blown away when our women’s Sunday school class this morning’s lesson was from an essay by A.W. Tozer titled “The Hunger of the Wilderness!”  Here are a few lessons I’m learning through this yard reconstruction that were reinforced during our morning discussion:

  1. That beautiful backyard that we just spent thousands of dollars to create will naturally go right back into a wild forest if we don’t diligently keep back the weeds and bramble. In the same way, our hearts and minds can be drawn back to the world if we do not keep focused on the Lord.
  2. Weeds don’t need to be watered and fertilized, but lush, green grass does. If you want your backyard to look like a golf course, you have to put in the work.  2 Timothy 2 refers to Christians living like a soldier, an athlete and a farmer.  When I reflect on what these three professions have in common, I think that they all have a prize in mind that they’re working toward and they all have to remain diligent and steadfast in their work.  Are we fixing our eyes our Jesus with eternity in view?  Is He our greatest prize?  Are we growing weary of well doing?
  3. We have to dig out the weeds from the roots, rather than just using a “weed whacker” to chop the tops off of them. In getting bids on the backyard, I kept saying that I needed the poison ivy removed, not just chopped up and spread all over the yard!  Too often we are just treating the symptoms of our sin, rather than going after the roots.  Are we just “pruning our sin,” grooming it to look prettier on the outside, without ever getting to the true heart of the problem?
  4. With time, we can grow so accustomed to our weeds, that they start to look normal, maybe even pretty. When we first saw our newly transformed yard, we actually missed all the greenery of the weeds.  How often are our hearts like that?  We choose the comfort of our sin over the beauty of righteousness.

    “After”
  5. It can take days or weeks or even months and years of neglect for the weeds to come to the surface. If we’re not keeping our hearts with all diligence (Proverbs 4:23), and abiding in the living vine of Christ (John 15), we can wake up one day shocked at sins that we thought we’d conquered years before.  When that sin keeps returning, rather than losing heart, we can be thankful that it keeps us on our knees, that in our weakness we are forced to depend all the more deeply on Christ, our advocate and redeemer … which reminds me again of that “thorn in my flesh” that I originally wrote about 4 years ago.

13 Life Lessons I’m Learning from the Beach

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  1. Every minute counts. Grab the opportunity when it comes, it might not come back. 
    Sometimes I would see a beautiful shell wash up on shore and think, “I’ll get that in a minute,” but by the time I got around to picking it up, it was too late.  I’d missed my opportunity.  Don’t assume you can “do it later.”  Later might never come.
  2. My kids want me to be WITH them, not just watch them.
    Isn’t that so much like our God? He wants us to be with Him, to live in fellowship and relationship with Him, rather than just knowing about Him.
  3. But, sometimes it’s ok to watch. We don’t always have to be the ones in the water.
    Over the years, God has grown my faith both in the doing and in the watching.  God’s hand has been visible to me both while I’m at work and while I’m standing on the sidelines.  I am thankful for both.  Sometimes my kids just want me to watch them and cheer them on from my comfy chair in the sand.
  4. When we’re called, we’ve got to get in the water, even if it’s scary.
    This reminds me of 1 Peter 3:6 where we are admonished to “do good” and “not fear anything that is frightening.”  The unknowns of the water terrify me.  There might be sharks, jellyfish and flesh-eating bacteria living in that water.  And yet, there’s also a beautiful starfish lying just out of reach and fun memories with my kids to be found in that same water.  God frequently is calling me to “get out of the boat” to do something that grows my faith and shows off His power.  If I don’t follow His calling, I’ll miss out on the unknown joys awaiting me.  This reminds me of the “Oceans” song.
  5. The battle doesn’t end just because we wade out into the water.
    As mentioned in lesson #3, it’s easier for me to stay on the beach than to make the jump into the water. I wish that once that battle to get the water was won, that the war was over.  That is not the case.  Getting in the water, begins the new battle of staying in the water.  How often has God beckoned me to get in the ocean, only for me to retreat back to the safe shore?
    This reminds me of a talk that Priscilla Shirer gave titled “Don’t Abandon Your Boat.”  I’d encourage you to be blessed to listen to it for yourself.
  6. Life is safer in groups.
    When I see people out in the deep water all by themselves, I wonder about their sanity. When God calls me to go out into that water, He is going to send people to be by my side for my encouragement and protection.  I’m thankful for the safety provided through the covering of my husband and the joy of my children.
  7. Doing hard things gets easier with practice.
    The first time I went out into the water, I was terrified, but I went. I trusted and I went.  The fear was less the second time I went out and the third time I was able to enjoy the experience more because the terror had become less.  This is life.  Sometimes we have to force ourselves to take that first step and trust that the Lord will help us keep going.
  8. Sometimes we mess up someone else’s plans without even meaning to.
    While working on making a sand castle, I saw a nice big pile of unattended sand and started scooping it up into my bucket. A few minutes later, a sweet young mom humbly asked that I leave it there as her son had worked to make that ramp.  I apologized sincerely and thought to myself, “How often have I thought someone else was ruining my plans on purpose?”  I wondered if he thought I was intentionally tearing down his ramp, when I was simply unaware of his plans.  Lord, help me to be humble like that gentle mama and ask kindly for someone to go find their sand somewhere else.
  9. There’s an awful lot of sun-worshippers out there.
    I am amazed at how many people are tanned, and I mean tanned from head to toe. How did this happen?  This had obviously taken countless hours of near-naked time spent in the sun.  Why?  This was clearly more than a week’s vacation at the beach or many hours spent gardening or watching their child play baseball.  This was a lifestyle of sun-worship.  Why?   What is our purpose in life?  Can that purpose be fulfilled through innumerable days and weeks of nothing more than laying on a beach or in a tanning bed?  Food for thought.
  10. You can work on something for hours and one big wave can wipe it all out.
    Enough said.
  11. Our ways are not necessarily His ways, and our plans are not necessarily our friend’s plans.
    When I began working on that sandcastle of mine, my husband jumped in to help. Within minutes, he was creating a sandcastle that far surpassed anything I could have built.  If I had clung to the measly plans that I had made and the paltry vision that was in my mind, if I had argued with him about what that sandcastle was “supposed to look like,” I would have missed out on the grand project that he had in store for me.
  12. When we’re afraid of something, it can seem real, even when it’s not.
    Last summer at a beach just a few miles up the way from here, my daughter Noelle was stung twice by a jelly fish. This year at the beach, even though we have not seen one single jellyfish, Daniel has repeatedly removed himself from the water to ask his dad or I if there was a mark on him because he kept feeling like he’d been stung.  Or for me, because of my ridiculous allergy to poison ivy, I am frequently overwhelmed by fear when I feel the slightest itch or see any three-leaved green thing.
    Shortly after returning home, a friend emailed me about a struggle she’s been going through and she shared this acronym with me: FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real.  Wow!  How timely and true.
  13. God answers prayers, but we need to keep our eyes open for those answers.
    As I was sitting on the beach, watching the endless waves, I was prompted by the Spirit to ask God to send a dolphin for me to see.  So, I prayed.  And I sat with my hand shading my eyes scanning the horizon.  Sure enough, minutes later, I saw several large white splashes of water with something cresting over the waves.  This was a gift to me.  I knew that if I hadn’t asked, I wouldn’t have received this gift.  And I knew that if I hadn’t watched, I would’ve missed the answer.  Once again, I’m reminded that we need to both ask and watch.  My faith was grown even in this little answered prayer.
    God sees me.  He knows me.  Which reminds me of a cheesy little song I learned when I first became a Christ-follower.

What life lessons has the Lord been teaching you, whether on the beach or doing the mundane daily work of life?

For Him and through Him and in Him,

TWIG

More Than a Homeschool Mom in 3 minutes

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God has indeed called me to homeschool and it is indeed an enormous blessing in my life, and yet, is there where my “identity” comes from?

Click here to hear my thoughts in 3 minutes on what it means to be “More Than a Homeschool Mom.”

Feel free to share!  Please link back here.

To God be the glory,

TWIG

 

Boredom Busters – part 2

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Lest you think that I only assign my children chores when things are a little slow over the summer, let me share a few of my other ideas.

I am incredibly thankful for the blessing it is to home school, but I do look forward to a summer break!  Our goal is to work on schoolwork from August 1 – May 1, but this doesn’t always work exactly.

When the majority of our schoolwork finishes up, I sit down with the kids to help each of them write up a list of about 10 summer goals.  (I admit this is the first summer in many years that my adult children have not done this with me!)

These goals include family activities (like going swimming or to a movie), as well as getting together with friends and projects (like cleaning out a closet or painting a picture).   Each week I try to make time to accomplish at least one of each of the kids’ goals for the summer.

During the school year, I keep my own list of goals for the summer dated in May on my Google calendar.  Then, when summer comes I can start working on them.  These goals range from house upkeep and cleaning projects to writing projects to field trips to homeschooling prep to lots of catching up with friends that I’m unable to do during the school year.

In the summer, we continue our daily Bible study as well as math and book reading, plus plenty of outdoor play.  But the kids are still frequently at a loss for what to do when I’m busy on one of my many projects.

So, this year, I’m trying a terrific idea a friend posted on Facebook.  The kids and I each wrote several activities on popsicle sticks and marked them with a time (like 30 minutes or 60 minutes or 2 hours) .  That way when we had a little time or a lot of time, we could pick one out.  This has worked well so far!  Thank you, Suzanne!

What do you do in the summer???

TWIG

 

 

What to do when you hear, “MOM! I’m BORED!”

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This DARLING little girl feeding a bottle to a baby pig, is none other than my very own mom.  I like to imagine that when she was growing up on a working farm, she didn’t have many opportunities to sit around with nothing to do, though I imagine that’s probably not true.

But, in today’s American entertainment culture, I find my children often “bored” and looking for something to do.  Are any of you like me where you can’t think of something quickly for your kids to do when they’re “BORED?”  This is particularly prevalent in the summertime when our days are not quite so filled with schoolwork.

So, several years back I came up with this list and posted it inside a kitchen cabinet.  Do you have any ideas you’d like to add?  I’d love to hear them!

You can download the list in Word format by clicking here:  BOREDOM CHORES LIST

BOREDOM CHORES LIST

Computer desk

Straighten and dust Fireplace/Mantle

Dry sink

Kitchen cabinet fronts

Inside fridge

Inside microwave

Vacuum 1st floor

Foyer

Pick up stairs

Vacuum Stairs

Mop tile

Sweep floor

Ceiling fans

Front porch and walkway

Clean outside patio

Pick up backyard

Dog poop

Laundry room

Baseboards

Doors

Light switches

Refill soap and toilet paper

Organize bathroom cabinets

Clean windows

Fold Laundry

Sort & wash laundry

Clean laundry room

Take out ALL trash

Clean under beds

Clean closet

Sharpen pencils

Organize school bookshelf

These are a Few of my Favorite Things – Part 5 – Games and Websites

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GAMES

  • If we’ve kept pretty close to our schedule, we’ll play a game after lunch.
  • Each of our four children and I have our own “day” where get to pick things like the board game or what we eat for lunch or who opens with prayer, etc.

Cards

  • Uno
  • Sleeping Queens
  • Ruckus
  • Sushi Go
  • Five Crowns

Word Games

  • Apples to Apples Junior
  • Blurt
  • Balderdash

Strategy Games

  • Risk
  • Catan
  • Ticket to Ride

Other

  • Hedbanz
  • Whoonu
  • Clue
  • Dominos
  • “Farkle”

WEBSITES

http://www.RainbowResource.com

  • Best prices on homeschooling supplies. Free shipping at $50.  They have everything.  Great place to look for educational gifts.

http://www.GraceandTruthBooks.com

  • Good prices on books.
  • More selective than Rainbow Res./Amazon – they only carry what they like.

http://www.BlueLetterBible.com

  • My favorite Bible website AND “app”
  • Great for looking up cross-references and original language def’ns
  • Great for printing off verses or chapters for inductive study or memorizing
  • Consider printing off a chapter or book of the Bible and have your young reader read along with an audio Bible of the same translation.

And my personal website: TeachWhatIsGood.com