Lux Vent Reading Group

The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace
Chapter 1: The Excellent Wife: Who Can Find?

For those of you who don't know, Leslie at Lux Vent is hosting a book study of this wonderful book. Please go to Leslie's website to find out the details and join us if you can.

I started reading this book about a year ago and was ruffled by just about every chapter I read. I was really reading it on my, and tried to talk to a few women about the things that were on my mind but discovered that it was difficult for them to know where I was coming from not having read the book. I think I made it to chapter 4 and then put the book down for another time. I was so excited when I saw that this was the book that was chosen.

What struck my heart the most was the prayer of confession that Martha has at the end of chapter 1 (page 7).

"Dear Lord I confess that I have not been the wife that you want me to be. I need your help..."

This truly opened my eyes to the fact that I need help; and I have help in Jesus Christ. I started reading the chapter over again as Martha revealed to us Gods plan for the Christian wife. She says that "Gods will for every Christian wife is that her most important ministry be to her husband (Gen 2:18). After our own personal relationship with the Lord, our husbands should be our very next priority. That is something that I must repent of day in and day out. After spending time keeping my home and taking care of my son and daughter, my husband often gets what is leftover.

The author then gives us a glimpse of what the excellent wife is like. She gives a beautiful illustration of a flower; it's pedals representing the traits of an excellent wife. She gives us these traits not for us to say, "that can never be me"... but to show us what God requires of us as Christian wives. Martha Peace says (page 6),

"A wifes responsibility is to learn to put her confidence in the faithfulness of God and His Word...She can become what He wants her to become if she does what He wants her to do."

Our struggle in being Excellent Wives to the glory of God is because of our sin. Martha Peace gives us many examples of what our sin may look like in that area, from not trusting God to not wanting to do what God has told us to do. But be of good cheer, God has provided a a remedy for our sin.

"He (God) made Him (Jesus Christ) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him". 2 Corinthians 5:21

Our loving heavenly Father has given us everything we need to become godly wives, and when we stumble and fall we can call on Him, confess our sins and gain forgiveness. This is just the beginning.

The Mercy of God

I saw this on Mandy's Blog and had to pass it along. Thank you Lord for your great love and mercy.

Ephesians 2:1-10
2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Spring Reading Thing 2008

Katrina at Caterpillar Days is hosting the Spring Reading Thing 2008, and I am joining in the challenge. The challenge runs from March 20th through June 19th 2008. My reading list is going to be small because I really want to accomplish it and I know how tough it is for me to complete a book.

Katrina says

"Spring Reading Thing 2008 is simply an opportunity for you to set some reading goals, share them with the blogosphere, and work toward them this spring. Perhaps you want to add some variety to your fiction reading. Or maybe you've had very good intentions as far as reading that book on budgeting or marriage or starting a home business, but...you haven't even cracked the cover yet. Some might want to read more with their children... Or maybe you just love to read and want to share your reading list and check out everyone else's."

I'm excited about it and I'm looking forward to reading what other women will be reading this spring and what they have to say about the books they will be reading.

My Reading list is:

• The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace (you can read along with Leslie and others at Lux Venit. Find out more here)
• Lets Study the Ephesians by Sinclair Ferguson (our womens Bible Study is working through the book of Ephesians... this is the book we are using)
  
• Ida Scudder: Healing Bodies, Touching Hearts by Janet and Geoff Benge (This is a Christian Hero's biography. I'm reading it to my 3 year old daughter)

I would love to add one more book, but I think that these 3 are a good way to start. I'm going to try to add a few comments about what I'm reading along the way. Come join in. As Katrina says "Ready, set, read..."

Who Trains Our Children

This weeks Menu is pretty simple:

• Monday – *Leftover Minestrone/Chicken Soup
• Tuesday – Baked Ziti
• Wednesday – Tuna Casserole
• Thursday - Leftovers
• Friday - Pizza

These are my “old stand bys.” I will be taking a trip with my daughter to Ohio to go pick up my son from College. We leave on Thursday. I wanted to have enough leftovers for hubby to choose from on Thursday night.

* This is a Crock Pot Recipe for Minestrone Soup that I added chicken too:

1 chopped onion
2 chopped carrots
1 diced zucchini
1 cup shredded cabbage
2 cloves garlic
1 15 ounce can of white beans, drained
3 ½ cups of beef broth
28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 ½ tsp of Italian Seasoning
Salt
Pepper
1 cup Pasta (any that you like)
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded chicken

Combine all the ingredients into Crock Pot except macaroni, chicken and Parmesan cheese.
Cook on Low 7-9 hours or on High 4-5 hours. Stir in the macaroni, Parmesan, and chicken in the last hour.

Hymn of the Month

Come, thou Fount of ev'ry blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise,
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of God's unchanging love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand'ring from the fold of God:
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be;
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
Bind my wand'ring heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for thy courts above.

My Morning Devotions

This is my morning Devotion with Tabletalk Magazine, a daily devotional by RC Sproul.
Matthew 5:4-5, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed is to be approved by God. In the prior verse, Jesus has just said the Father approves of the poor in spirit , those who know their need for divine forgiveness. Keeping in that line of thinking He also says that the Father approves of those who morn (mourning over their own sin and it's effects on themselves and others) and those who are meek (persons of gentle and mild dispositions that are not easily provoked. They are prepared to do anything rather then do as the wicked do.)

The poor in spirit, the mourner and the meek are all the qualities of the believer that is approved by God. On our own we are no where near this, but with the grace and mercy of God, and the word that He has given us to learn from and grow, we can walk in his approval each day. And if we fail, and we surely will at times, we know where our help comes from.

Sinclar Ferguson Teachings on Ephesians

Sinclair Ferguson (born 1948) is a reformed Scottish pastor known for his outstanding expository teaching and writing. This is one of his messages on the book of Ephesians.
This message is entitled, The Riches of Our Inheritance; we are studying the book of Ephesians in our womens bible study using Sinclair Ferguson's' Lets Study Ephesians as one of our resources. Take some time to listen to the message along with me.