A few thoughts for our world while we’re quarantined!
Our Heavenly Father is so good. Sometimes He takes away those things that we’ve made idols. We may not be making idols with our hands, but we’re making them with our hearts. God is good and He is on His throne!
Today, April 4th, 2020, my oldest daughter, My Sunshine Girl, had planned to be married. God had other plans. She and her Sunshine Guy got married a couple weeks early and I couldn’t be happier for them.
But … I tell you what, I miss her like crazy. “Social distancing” is nothing compared to “daughter distancing!”
Emily and I grew up together. When she was born, I was a baby Christian. I didn’t know Christian nursery songs, so I sang, “You are my Sunshine,” to her night after night as I rocked her to sleep. She has brought light and sunshine into my life like no other.
And now that she’s living in another state in the midst of COVID-19 lock-down, I feel like a part of me is missing (and it is), but that little girl was never meant to be the source of my joy or the light of my life. Jesus was.
Look at these references to light in the Psalms:
In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Jhn 8:12 ESV) In Heaven, there will be “no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” (Rev 21:23 ESV)
Would you join me in praying right now?
Father, Help me to be grateful for the good gifts that You have given to me. I pray that I would be a spotlight, pointing people’s attention to You and not to me. I pray that my little light would shine like a city on a hill with nothing hindering it. I pray that you would use each of us as candles shining in a dark world that people would see something different in us, that we would live daily as children of light. I pray your blessings on our children, that they would shine for your glory and that we as parents would not make idols of these precious gifts, but that they would be straight arrows for Your kingdom rather than our own. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
In 1 John 1, Jesus’s beloved apostle shares about his eyewitness experience with Jesus. John is bursting with excitement about having seen, heard and touched the Messiah, the Word made flesh.
John wants others to know Jesus, so they, too, can enjoy fellowship with our eternal God the Father. This is what John says he needs to fill up, to complete, his joy. (See 1 John 1:1-4)
John wants others to know the joy of Jesus. John is not content to just enjoy Jesus for himself. John’s joy is somehow incomplete if others don’t share in his joy.
In 3 John 1:4, John reiterates this idea, writing, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” John’s greatest joy is hearing that those he has shared Jesus with are continuing in the faith.
All too often we as Christians are content to keep Jesus to ourselves, content to hide God’s Word and our personal testimonies in our own hearts, while all around us are people devoid of hope, peace and joy.
In honor of the fifth anniversary of the “Memphis Exalts Jesus” worship celebration, the Kindle version of my book “God is Real: The Eyewitness Testimony of a Former Atheist” is on sale for $0.99 this weekend April 4-6 at Amazon. I hope you get a copy for yourself, and share a copy with a friend. Be encouraged and equipped to share your own testimony of the joy available through faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Like Paul, “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”
“‘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. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
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.” Revelation 2:2-5 ESV
I’m 33 days into my second “40-day Sugar Fast.” Wendy Speake’s book is really encouraging me to see fasting as a spiritual discipline focused on Jesus, rather than merely a dieting mentality.
Over the past 73 days, I am beginning to recognize the stronghold that sugar has been in my life. I’m trying to tear down that wall, to free myself of its grip.
But there are other walls that God has given to us for our good, for our protection.
According to Speake, “Our job is to yield to the good structures that the Lord has protectively placed around us, as we continually invite Him to bring down the strongholds that have held us back…. So often, we tear down the WRONG WALLS….” (pg. 172-73)
Am I building up or tearing down others with my words and actions? (Ephesians 4:29)
Am I building hedges for protection or am I building strongholds for sin?
Am I building my house or tearing it down?
Another word for ME today.
– TWIG
“I will fight the lies with the truth. Keep my eyes fixed on You. I will sing the truth into the dark. I will use my fighting words.” -Ellie Holcomb, “Fighting Words”
Right now when everything around us is focused on the hopelessness of life, I pray that we would fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. When fear threatens to overcome you, fight back with the TRUTH. Remind yourself of what you know.
God is still on His throne.
He is good. Always.
He is worthy to be trusted.
He is for us.
He has demonstrated His great love for us in sending His Son to die the death that we deserved, and He has triumphed over death, raising from the dead and ascending into heaven.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Romans 15:13 ESV
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.
To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”
Ephesians 6:10-20 ESV
We are told that we deserve death because of our sin. (Romans 6:23) Aren’t you thankful that Jesus took your place?
Now we can love others because He loved us first. (1 John 4:19)
We can love others even when they hurt us. We can completely trust God, the only Righteous judge, the only one who is perfectly wise, perfectly good, and perfectly powerful.
A word for me today.
– TWIG
In 2001, I began my homeschooling journey. My oldest daughter was just starting kindergarten and my son was two. Since then God has blessed us with two more children and we’ve moved three times, but we’ve continued plugging along.
My heart goes out to those who suddenly find themselves with a whole family at home … all the time. This isn’t the regular reality of homeschooling. My regular homeschooling lifestyle has involved plenty of field trips and social time with others. Normally, you’d have time to plan out your school year and you’d be in charge (not your school district). This is harder. If you can do THIS, you can homeschool. (Hint. Hint.)
Here are a few tips to help you in your homeschooling journey, whether this is your first week, your first year or your tenth.
1-Make a loose schedule for the order of your day.
Plan out what to do first, second, third, etc … Intermingle your schedule with some breaks and switching up activities. If there’s plenty of screen time, then mix in some exercise. If there’s plenty of book work, add in some screen time. You don’t need to watch the clock, rather watch the order of things.
For example: First, we get up and get ready for the day. Then, we eat breakfast. Next, we sing a song together led by someone on YouTube, read a chapter of the Bible, work on memorizing scripture and pray for our day. Then, Mom does math with big sister, while little brother reads by himself. When Mom is done with math, then sister reads and book while little brother works on math with Mom. etc…
Write out this schedule on a piece of paper and each day have your child put a check next to it. If you have a laminator, laminate it so you can reuse it week after week. If you don’t, you could tape it on the back side of a glass door/window and cross it off with a dry erase marker. Or, you could write the whole list on a dry erase board glass surface and check it off as it goes.
2-Schedule the most important things first.
When you’re making your schedule, put what is most important first. We are committed to giving God His time first. Then, math and language arts. If that’s all you accomplish in a day, then … so be it. First things first.
3-Have some time together and some time apart.
We go back and forth between time together and time apart. We have Bible time together. We read aloud together. We eat lunch and play a board game together. We walk the dog together.But we also spend time apart. What that looks like has varied based on the ages of the kids – sometimes an older sibling takes some time with a younger one, sometimes the kids are alone in their rooms, sometimes there is one-on-one time with Mom, sometimes Mom needs some time to herself.
4-Use a timer.
I love timers. Timers help hard tasks to feel lighter, and easy tasks to done more diligently. “We will work on math for 30 minutes right now,” is easier to stomach than we will finish this whole lesson no matter how long it takes. “You need to clean up your bedroom for ten minutes,” is easier to manage than, “Don’t come out of your room until it’s spotless.” “You will stay in your room quietly for fifteen minutes,” can gradually be worked up to thirty minutes to sixty minutes. (This is how I taught my three year old to keep napping until he was six.)
5-Make the most of this time.
The days go by slowly, but the years go by quickly. Somehow my “Sunshine Girl” and my “Little Man” grew up and met those spouses we’d prayed for since they were little and got married.
Don’t lose sight of the great blessing it is to be home and to be together today.
Read a book or two or three. Play a board game. Learn a song. Memorize scripture.
Take pictures. Make a video. Clean something. Start a blog.
Discover a new hobby or learn a new skill. Better still, learn a new hobby or skill with your kids!
Have you considered keeping a family journal for this time? Write down (or have one of your children write it down) what you did each day. Make note of your prayer requests and praises. Write down what you read in the Bible and how God spoke to you through it.
Did you know you could read the whole New Testament in the next sixty days by reading one chapter in the morning, one at lunch, one at dinner and one at bedtime? Check out this 60-day reading plan on YouVersion.
I’d love to answer any questions you have.
How can I pray for you?
How are you using this time at home?
TWIG
Don’t have a dry erase board? Write on a glass door or window, or on a mirror.
I’d love to hear from you!
Teach What is Good 
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