Pondering Your Testimony

Today I want to ask you what you think about the testimonies that people give of their conversions to Christ. Personally, I love to hear these. In fact, if you are a Christian, to hear the amazing works of God in the lives of his people should bring you great encouragement and a new humility each and every time. One thing that I have often pondered is the weight and rank that people place upon the testimonies of others.

I have found that often there is pressure to have that “great” testimony. Sometimes it seems that if God has not saved an individual from the total devastating destruction of this world in the form of drugs, abuse, prostitution, homosexuality, or any number of other depraved acts then their testimony is diminished in the eyes of others. If an individual is one who has “grown up” in the faith and maybe does not have a distinct day of conversion but rather a growing realization that they believe then people tend to doubt them. Often people tend to place too much emphasis on how grandiose the testimony is and make that the determining factor on how much the Lord is at work in one’s life. If the testimony is not as dramatic we minimize the work of the Lord. People often place too high a value on the degree of depravity rather than realizing that we are ALL depraved and ALL need the saving grace of Christ. Total depravity does not mean that we are as bad as we could be but that we are corrupt in every part of our being.

In his book “A Summary of Christian Doctrine”, Louis Berkhof put it this way: Total depravity “doesn’t mean that every man is as bad as he can be, but that sin has corrupted every part of his nature and rendered him unable to any spiritual good.  He may still do many praiseworthy things in relation to his fellow-beings, but even his best works are radically defective, because they are not prompted by love to God nor done in obedience to God.” 

My children are those Christians that are growing up in the faith. My husband is one who has grown up in his faith. There is not necessarily a distinct day or moment when they realized the magnitude of their sin, their lostness and need for salvation and had what some might call a “conversion experience”.  By being raised in a godly home where these truths were part of their everyday understanding they simply came to the realization that they couldn’t remember a time when they hadn’t believed. Does that make the saving work of Christ any less in their lives just because they did not lead a life of destruction and sudden conversion? I find it to be the blessing of how God works in godly families and households. It is a blessing of God to bless the descendants of believers to the thousandth generation. To minimize that is to see with worldly eyes.  I love to hear those testimonies of how God has saved people from the clutches of devastating sin, but that is not the only way He works.  We must remember that ALL sin is devastating!!  Therefore, each and every testimony is grand even if it may seem boring by the world’s standards!  If only the children of God would see his grand work in the lives of others without the trappings of what this world might see as being great.

Roll Baby Roll!

Our baby girl is growing up! Within the past two weeks she has learned to roll from her back to her belly! Way to go Mia Bella! (that’s her nickname)

Random Ramblings

Today is the day for a post on the random ramblings of my life.  I am having such a hard time focusing that randomness is all I can offer.  So here is a list of what is going on around me and running through my mind.  I slept in today and have only been up for half an hour and am already wanting to shout, “Calgon take me away!”

• I have about ten great blog posts (with substance) running through my mind.  I just cannot seem to get them typed.
• Our house guest of 2 1/2 months left last night and I need to move my daughter back into her room.
• The song from Bolt keeps running through my head…”there is no home like the one you’ve got cause that home belongs to you…ooo..ooo..ooooo”
• My two year old stuck a sticker in her nose yesterday and we could not get it out….worry…..
• “there is no home like the one”—- FOCUS!!!!
• Somehow I hurt my shoulder and upper arm yesterday and it I move the wrong way..PAIN OH SUCH PAIN!
• We are remodeling the study and I am thinking of what we have to work on in there tonight.  Build pony way, dry wall, prime, texture, paint, build the built in bookshelves and desk, then wood flooring, change lights, curtains, and then move back in.
• We bought blinds the other day (KILLER DEAL) and have all of those to hang.
• We have new neighbors, I hope they are better than the last ones.
• Mt. Redoubt is erupting again…wonder where the ash is falling today.
• oh, we bought a new to us car this past week, a red jeep Cherokee.
• We paid off a bill, yeah..party party!
• Busy with the ultimate blog party: there are so many great blogs out there!
• Today is piano day, not too much school work to accomplish.
• I need another coke!
• I am struggling with either post partum depression or am just overly anxious about my hubby leaving soon for 5 weeks.
• My baby began rolling over in the last two weeks.
• She is sleeping through the night!
• I am having a homeschool giveaway here on my blog and there are not very many names in the hat, so sign up!
• I need to go for a walk today.
• As I go for my walk, I wish I didn’t have to smell the marijuana from the building at corner.  Maybe I should call it in.
• I am planning in my mind our summer leave time, where to go and what to do.
• I am already planning next school year.
• Oh wait…I still need to finish this school year but cannot seem to find the motivation for that! Go figure!
• I talked to my grandmother this week and there are so many big stressful things going on.
• My grandmother told me she was at the doctor and when a guy came in the office another man asked him how he was doing.  His reply? ” I am above the dirt.”  LOL- well at least he was looking on the positive side of things! Sorry, I had to share that because for some scary reason it DID make me feel better!
• Only one more week of skating.
• Only 3 more weeks of Awana.
• Only 6 more weeks of piano.
• Wow, what will we do with all of the time?
• I am already loosing track of time….daylight is returning so quickly.
• I wonder if I should do a meme month where every day of the month I post another meme.  It might be interesting.  hmmm….

As you can see I have too much rolling around in my head.  It feels a little clearer now though so this post was a good vent!  I can go away singing!

“I will sing of my Redeemer and his wondrous love to me!”

Ah, much better than that silly song from Bolt!

Thanks if you stuck with my random ramblings for this long and I didn’t scare you away by showing just how jumbled my mind really is. LOL

Our Middle Child

Our middle child is celebrating a birthday today. She is growing up so quickly and whether she realizes it or not, she is turning into a young lady. She is the one who is the life of the party, she is funny, silly, and a little bit crazy. She has a sweet and considerate heart. Today was extra special for her because she had the opportunity to go out with mom and dad without everyone else and enjoy a morning of shopping. She LOVES to shop and had almost $100 burning a whole in her pocket and she spent almost every dollar. We had a nice lunch and enjoyed being able to focus on just her. Cake and icecream with the family and a few friends is on the menu for this evening. Happy birthday Sarah, we love you!

Ultimate Blog Party

It is that time again!  Time for the 2009 Ultimate Blog Party.  This year it snuck up on me and I am just now getting into the party mode.  I will be blog hopping and meeting new friends.  Why don’t you join in on the fun.  There are lots of moms to meet and great prizes to win.  I think my three favorite prizes are the Gobaby Outmat, the $50 gift certificate from Happy Pandy, and the $50 gift certificate to Hatley.  There is a whole boatload of other prizes to win; for a full list visit The Prizes Page.  Click on the banner to get in on all the fun!  The party runs from March 20-27.  Don’t miss out!

For those of you stopping by for the first time I would like to introduce myself. I am a Christian, a minister’s wife, and a homeschooling mom of nine. My hubby is currently serving in the Air Force as a chaplain and we are living in the Last Frontier of Alaska. I blog about all kinds of things but mostly about my family, my faith, homeschooling, living a quiverfull lifestyle, and living in Alaska. I also started my own meme on Mondays called Ponderings. I post about something I am pondering or question to think about and ask you to join in with your thoughts. I hope you will take some time to get to know me, browse my blog, and hopefully even come back for more than just a party intro. You can subscribe in a reader, via email, and twitter using the links at the bottom of the sidebar. Even if this doesn’t become a place for you to hang out; I am so glad you stopped by! Enjoy the rest of the blog party!

Homeschool Giveaway — Lyrical Life Science Vol.2

Lyrical Life Science Volume 2

These are “singing science texts”. The complete program includes the text, tape or CD, and reproducible workbook. Each chapter in the text begins with a song. Memorization of scientific terms and concepts should be fairly painless as students sing such memorable lyrics.

Setting important science concepts with old, familiar tunes, they have created songs teaching the science topics of  mammals, ecology, and biomes.

The reproducible workbook has exercises to reinforce the lyrics and textual information and ensure comprehension of the material. The first exercise in each chapter set has students fill in missing keywords from the lyrics. The second quizzes on information from the chapter. This exercise varies somewhat in format. The third exercise is in short answer/essay format and concludes with some “Digging Deeper” questions which require some critical thinking. A complete answer key is provided at the back of the workbook.

DETAILS FOR THE GIVEAWAY:

1. Included is the complete kit(teacher book, workbook, cd) plus an extra workbook.
2. The final day for entries is March 31.
3. Please place a post about the giveaway on your blog.
4. Return here and leave a comment with the URL of your blog post.
5. For an extra entry, browse my blog and choose one of your favorite posts that I have written, blog about that post linking back to my blog again.
6. Winner will be announced on April 1st.