Verse of the week

Last week's verse was 1 John 3:18. We are going to kick this week off with Joshua 24:15 .

A few years ago my home was without The Lord. My life was without The Lord. Now it's hard to even think about living a life without God. But a few years ago when I found my way back to Christ and he accepted me fully and whole heartedly into his loving arms, I began to pray daily for my family. That The Lord would help me to raise my children in a way that would bring Him glory and in such a way that they would always truly love and know their Father in Heaven. I asked for prayer for my husband too, that he would come to know Christ. I prayed and I prayed and I prayed. And I questioned and worried and cried and then I prayed some more. Those days of being a wife to a non-Christian were tough. We got into some heated debates. But God is so good. Are you familiar with Philippians 4:6?

"do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."

Mmm, yes. That. He answers prayers. I am proud and blessed and honored to say that my husband is now a Christian. He's not fully 100% there yet but he knows he is a Christian. He loves Jesus and thanks Him for all that we've got.

This doesn't stop me from praying for my family. I will continue to pray for as long as I have breath. (Psalm 116:2)

Dear Heavenly Father, You are a generous, loving and faithful God. We are all so blessed to be able to come to You with anything and everything, good or bad. Be with us this week and always as we find ways to serve you better and make you proud. I will serve you all the days of my life. Please help me instill the same love and appreciation for You in my children, those sweet, tender souls that You entrusted us with. Help me to help them love you to the fullest. Amen.   

Why WE do Halloween

 

I can understand why some don't "celebrate" Halloween. And I think its really a personal choice. We all know its a historically evil day that has become tradition, even if it's somewhat strayed from its original celebratory acts. There is still evil done on this day. Even today witchcraft practitioners declare October 31 as the most favorable time to practice their arts. So, with that being said I can completely see why people wouldn't want anything to do with it.

But WE - we do. Not to practise witchcraft or celebrate the devil or do evil deeds. We don't do monsters or demonic beings.
I remember dressing up as child every year, I never understood the evil background and that's not even close to the reason why I went out every year. It was fun to dress up. To have a cool costume. A princess or a power ranger. It gave my parents a reason to buy me new dress-up apparel. And I got to stay up a bit later and get candy. Hello.

Small children, like Leah, have no idea what its really "about". She just enjoys dressing up -this year (the same as last year) a pirate - and the idea of trick-or-treating, getting candy, for free. James is being Batman, in case you were curious. Really, the whole history of Halloween is one that I'm not going to sit down and explain to my 4 year old. One day, she'll know about it, when she can understand it. But for now, its not about anything else but dressing up and candy to her. And we enjoy that.

Personally, I have nothing wrong with the whole Halloween thing. Its fun. We don't do scary here but hey, if that's your cup of tea then that's you're choice. There are alternatives to handing out candy as well. You could hand out a pencil (yay) with a verse on it, or hand out scriptural messages with the candy.

We love God and this day doesn't change how we feel and what we know in our hearts to be true. Its just a day. God is bigger than one day.