Impact

If you were driving at 35mph and suddenly hit a deer in the roadway, you would undeniably feel the impact of the collision. When Jesus came into the world, He made an everlasting impact. Even those who do not believe that He is the Messiah know that Jesus made an impact. Jesus wasn't just a little bump in the road; He is the road.

Maybe you are going through your days at the speed of life waiting for things to happen, waiting for some impact to be made upon your life. You're washing dishes, doing laundry, cooking meals, caring for children, and yet you are longing for something else... You feel no impact in the life you are slowly pacing your way through.

Hebrews 12:1 tells us "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (NIV).

A GREAT CLOUD of WITNESSES--- Consider that the entire world looks upon you and sees you waiting for some impact to take place in your life. Do you know what your actions say about Jesus?

Waiting for something else tells the world that you have NOT been impacted by Jesus.

When Jesus makes an impact on you, it's not like hitting a deer while you're driving. You would walk away unscathed if that were the case. No--- When Jesus makes an impact, everything changes; you are changed from the inside out. You don't spend the rest of your days awaiting something else; No-- He IS the something else. HE is the impact.

So what do you do? "Run with perseverance the race" marked out for you... Whether it's around your own neighborhood, your school, the grocery store, the post office-- wherever it may be-- you are now there to let the world, that great cloud of witnesses, know that Jesus, Jesus is the Redeemer, Jesus is the Prince of Peace, King of Kings, Name Above All Names, Messiah, Savior ---

Jesus IS the impact.

Bored and Unproductive?

Today's article on the Domestic Kingdom blog begins to tackle the issue of being a bored and unproductive mother. I have recently come across this blog after meeting Gloria Furman at The Gospel Coalition's 2012 Women's Conference, and I highly recommend the site as a place to find tips and encouragement.

Today's post gave me much to consider. I understand where Chasity is coming from, because not long ago, I was in the same spot... sitting home with tiny children, wondering what to do next. Today, I cherish my time at home. I am certain that partially, at least, I cherish my time at home because there is never enough of it. Nevertheless, here's my response:

1) Allowing our children to work side-by-side with us through the day teaches them not only practical life-skills (washing dishes, making beds, doing laundry, preparing meals), but it also teaches them a Christlike life of service to others.

2) Opening our homes to show hospitality to others teaches our children that home is a safe, loving, warm place to be and to rest in the fellowship of Christ. So, invite others to your home as a way of sharing the blessings in your life with them and in order to bless them with friendship as well.

3) While schooling and formally educating our children is important, little ones learn best through playing and doing. Don’t feel obligated to do arts and crafts with them everyday, as this is not necessarily a natural part of living for most people. However, crafting a meal, reading, counting and measuring ingredients, etc.– these are simple examples of necessary lessons for little ones.

4) Finally, being away from home should be seen as a way to contrast the sanctuary that home should provide. Out in the world, there is hurry and there is often too much noise to hear the Lord’s whisper in our hearts. At home, we slow down, we rest, we read, we spend time together, we serve one another, we pray and we worship. Of course, we do other things as well, but these are the marked differences between home and away.

5) Sometimes, home is not the sanctuary we would love it to be at all times. However, when we keep our focus on Christ and have the goal to keep a Christ-centered home, He will always bring us back to Himself. The restless moments will come to a halt, and the noise will subside. At these times, we must keep in mind that were it not for the valleys, we would never see the mountains. Without sin, we would never see the cross.

Don't Think Porn is a Problem? Think Again.

Some would say this has become a pervasive epidemic in our culture. Others would say it's no big deal. With God's standard being the standard we should all try to achieve, clearly, we must do more to counter-act the common acceptance of a practice that murders true intimacy and destroys marriages. Dave Dunham makes this notion clear in his article, "Pornopoly."

In Response to Amy Simpson's, "Why I'm Not Shocked by Fifty Shades of Grey"

In college, I majored in Literature. My intent was to make a career out of reading and someday writing best-selling fiction. The day God gave me sight to see through the saving power of Jesus Christ, I stopped reading fiction. This book and the so-called success of its sale is a blatant illustration as to why I changed so drastically in this regard. I will be sharing this link with others, because many people seem clueless when I tell them vehemently that I no longer read fiction.Why I'm Not Shocked by Fifty Shades of Grey

Purity in Poetry

Wings of Doves

Innocent dream of spending forever together.

Purity of one mind, one body, one spirit.

Remembrance of a picture-perfect summer wedding day.

A child’s first breath of life.

Tastes like butter-cream coated cake tiers, encircled by roses, embraced in passion.

Smells like something new, something borrowed.

Sounds like bleating wings of doves.

Feels like together forever and ever, Amen.  
Like shining glory, Angels’ shielded eyes, blinded by its brightness.

Makes me love until there is no more love to give, stand true and fall to my knees.

Eternal peace.

What is Titus 2 Missions?

Titus 2: 3-5 provides the Biblical mandate that "older women" train and instruct the "younger women" to be the women who God intends them to become. Indeed, God's Word has much to say about what God desires women to be, how we should live, how we should act, how we should treat others, and how we are to live out His commands.  This blog, Titus 2 Missions, is my effort to be and become the Titus 2 woman that I am commanded to be. This blog is the culmination of many nights of ceaseless prayer. I have begged and cried out, searched and wondered, "Lord, what will you USE me for? Lord, please show me what it is that YOU want me to do!" He has been working this plan out in His way probably since eternity past and knows the end of the plan into eternity future. However, I have been feeling His tug at my heart since 2007.


Having just returned home from the The Gospel Coalition's 2012 Women's Conference in Orlando, Florida, I am absolutely thrilled to share what the Lord has been doing in my life. Today's post is simply intended to be the overview, and I will add more updates along the way. Although I have dabbled in blogging in the past, today's blog represents my renewed effort to get serious about expressing the gracious work God is doing in my life. Before I can get to work, I must introduce the entire situation. I want you to understand exactly where I am coming from.

My husband and I have three children together, and we have been married for ten years. He works in the financial industry, and I am employed as an English teacher in a public high school and as an adjunct instructor of English at a local community college (I teach online college classes and face-to-face high school classes). In the largest part of my heart and soul, I have long desired to be a stay at home wife and a homeschooling mother. In fact, shortly after I placed my faith in the Lord, I grew an enormous faith that He would make those dreams into a reality at some point in time. I was pregnant with my now 4-year-old when I began praying that He would make the homeschool, stay-at-home-wife dream into a reality. I have spent endless days and nights crying in disappointment that my plan has obviously NOT been the Lord's plan for my life so far.


Sorrowfully, I can now admit that I have lived day-to-day believing that God has been silent in answering my prayers. In fact, there have been days, the worst and most upsetting days, when I have actually felt condemned and abandoned by my Lord. I have struggled to keep my faith, but HE has continually brought me back to HIS promise that HE will never leave me nor forsake me. HE has continually reminded me that there are no heights of mountains nor depths of the sea, nothing, that could separate me from HIS love. And though HE has written HIS words upon my heart, I have truly struggled many days to see and truly believe and to love Him with all my heart, all my soul and all my might. 


What I see now, ever so clearly, is that all this time that I have been waiting, I was simply NOT seeing that God has already answered my deepest prayers. I see now, in fact, that He has not only answered my prayers, but He has answered in a MUCH BIGGER way than I ever could have expected. Not only has God protected my children, blessed my home, delivered me from the evil of the world, but He has also provided me with a Mission Field. When I asked that He allow me to stay home in order to spend more time doing His work with the church or to become involved in local missions, He went BIGGER and brought me all the way into the Mission Field. 


My Mission Field includes anyone reading this blog, any woman I have spent time with, invited into my home, planned playdates with, or any one who has ever been my student online, in the classroom, or even here on this blog today. The Lord has gifted me as a teacher, and He has given me a teachable spirit. I am just as interested in learning as the Titus 2 "young woman" as I am in instructing as the Titus 2 "older woman." 


I would like to encourage you to ask questions, provide insight, and simply to comment on my posts. If you are an "older woman," please do not hold back your wisdom. You have valuable wisdom that the rest of us need to hear. If you are an "younger woman," please ask questions; let me know where your struggles are. Not only will you be encouraging me to remain faithful to this mission field, but you will also help our sisters in Christ to know they are not alone, since most of us share the same struggles and are frequently too ashamed to ask for help.


As a final thought, please note that I have used the terms "older woman" and "younger woman" with quotations around them to indicate that these terms are in relation to spiritual maturity and not necessarily chronological age, as Susan Hunt pointed out at the conference this past weekend. 

"But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?"-- Romans 10:14, NLT