Thrift Schooling

    Esther is a hero and rightly so. We can glean so much from her life, experience, and faithfulness to her calling. Yet today I want to focus on the unsung hero of the book of Esther, Mordecai. Though not her parent, per say, he was her guardian and he took that charge seriously. If we have foster kids, adopted children, or children of our own, it is no small task. Sometimes our past, our fears, and our insecurities can get in the way—but they don't have to. The Lord has equipped us with all that we need to parent those in our care and looking at the life of Mordecai can help us know how to do that.  The most quoted text from the book of Esther is: Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this. Esther 4:14 Though spoken to Esther who needed the courage, strength, and wisdom to take this advice, Mordecai needed to be strong in order to give such advice.  Older men and women do not just become wise and strong in the Lord. This is dev...

  Any homeschooling mom will tell you that fear has hindered her from making the right choice at least once in her homeschooling journey. The lies come in from naysayers, well-meaning family members, social media, and even our own minds—leading us to doubt and ultimately towards making fear-based decisions. As resilient as we are, we bounce back after finding support from other homeschooling moms, our spouse, and most importantly the Lord.   What about when we don't? What about when fear cripples us? What about when we stay in the place of doubt, fear, and confusion because it seems like we are in a dark room—grasping into nothingness—not knowing what is right in front of us? I want to talk about when Jesus was sleeping in the boat while the disciples were fearful and how that can help us today . Before I do, I will address several unhealthy ways to approach fear.  Ways that are just as crippling as fear itself.  If you are attempting to battle fear using the f...

  Psalm 101 is a powerful passage where David promises his faithfulness to the Lord. He promises that he will behave wisely, walk perfectly, and destroy slanderers. Sounds noble, doesn't it? At first glance, this can look like an unattainable requirement for Christians. Is this passage saying that, like David, we must always behave wisely, walk perfectly, and (gulp) destroy our slanderers?  My suggestion is to look at this passage from two angles.  1) What is this Old Testament passage foreshadowing about the New Testament? 2) What is the heart of this passage? 1) As I mentioned earlier this week. It is important to read the Old Testament  through the lens of how it points to the New—primarily Jesus. Otherwise, we can fall into religiosity and legalism like the Pharisees, which I am definitely guilty of at times. The biblical commentary written by Matthew Henry states that this passage was a declaration written when David became king. Just like when a president in t...

  When snow hits our area I usually let out a sigh of relief. My kids generally live outdoors so when it is bitter cold, with no snow, they tend to get stir-crazy. As soon as the snow hits (the days can be counted on one hand usually each year—zero last year), then they are outside for hours. Time for me to warm up a hot cocoa and snuggle up with a good book (I read The Hidden Hand by E.D.E.N. Southworth during this last snowstorm—my new favorite piece of literature!) This year, the snow has been seeming to last a little longer than normal. One day, my youngest asked me in passing if I would go out to have a snowball fight with him. His older siblings were worn out. To his surprise, I said, “Yes”, while grabbing my winter coat and gloves. You should have seen his face. I'm from upstate NY living in Southwestern Virginia. I miss snow!! Of course, he doesn't really understand that. He doesn't know about the hours spent sledding down the hill at the end of my road, ice skatin...

  Being a Christian in our world today is just as relevant now as it was during the book of Acts. Many Christians at that time had seen Jesus at one point in their lives or had possibly heard stories of those who had yet it was still difficult to be a servant of Christ. Fast forward to the present day and we now live in a time when Christians have lived their entire lives from beginning to end without physically seeing the Lord yet served Him in faith. Do you ever wonder what life was like for them? Maybe they lived during the time of a fiery preacher like Jonathan Edwards or Charles Finney. Maybe they were moved by the teachings of Martin Luther or experienced the direct effects of the Latter Rain movement  ( which I do not endorse ). Maybe they simply had a Bible in a cabin out on the homestead, living miles away from any church and waited for the circuit pastor to make his rounds and bring encouragement and comfort to the family once a year.  Here we are, serving the L...