Author Archives: Becky Pliego

About Becky Pliego

I am grateful because God, in His grace, called me out of darkness and into his admirable light. When I did not look for Him, He found me. When I was in a pit of sin, He rescued me. I am not walking this road alone, my family is always with me, and we love Him, because He loved us first.

A House of Prayer

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“The Ten commandments are the rule of our life, the creed is the sum of our faith, and the Lord’s prayer is the pattern of our prayer”
Thomas Watson

    “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
     Your kingdom come, your will be done,
     on earth as it is in heaven.
     Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,
     as we also have forgiven our debtors.
     And lead us not into temptation,
     but deliver us from evil.”
                                    Matthew 6: 9-13 ESV

Summer is beautiful here, the Lord has sent rain to clean the air we breath, the grass is green and the flowers are all in bloom. But the highlight of our summer has been taking the time to study more in depth about prayer.

I have been reading about prayer, and have been meditating about it. I still have more books on the shelf to read, but one thing is certain:

The only way we can truly learn how to pray is by praying.


When one of the disciples asked Jesus “Master, teach us to pray” Jesus’ answer was in form of a prayer. He prayed and so he taught them about prayer. His life was a life of prayer. 

We teach our children about the importance of praying, we are learning to teach them how to pray, but we must pray together, with them too.

We must build a house of prayer…
or should I say…
We should long to build a house of prayer…
What else could be more beautiful than that?


Charles Spurgeon says that in the times of the Puritans, if someone was walking by the home of the Christians at certain hours of the day, or evening, one could hear a Psalm being sung or read, because there was not a Christian home which lacked family prayer.

I firmly believe the only safe way to look “inside” of us is to examine ourselves whether we are in the faith, as Paul says in II Corinthians 13:4-6, so I must ask myself this: 

Am I building a house of prayer? 
Am I being an example to my children in this area?
Do I dare to call myself a Christian and live without praying?

“If we only tried seriously to live up to our praying—it would have a powerful effect upon our character and conduct!.. If our lives were as good as our prayers, we would be saint-like in character.”  J.R. Miller


Let the rain, the many prayers, be poured in our hearts by the Holy Spirit;  let the life and renewal that prayer brings, be as the life and renewal that rain is bringing this summer!

“We often wonder . . .
  why we fail,
  why so little comes of our efforts,
  why we do not get along better with people,
  why we are not happy,
  why joy is so lacking in our experience,
  why we are so easily fretted and vexed,
  why we are so discontented,
  why we fall so easily into surliness and bad temper.
It is because we cease to pray!” J.R Miller





Related posts you can read in the former blog:
Day by Day
A Mom’s Prayer
From My Bible Reading -Nehemiah-
Would You Join Me in Prayer Today? –Bakwé Missions-
New Year’s Prayer

The beautiful photographs you see were taken by my precious daughter. 
Such an amazing gift the Lord’s rain has brought!
We don’t know the name of this flower, it grew over on the road to our house, so if you know the name of this flower , please share it with us.

Time Flies…Does it Really?

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Time flies… everyone says so, but does it really? or is it just us using that phrase as an excuse not to live doing what we should be doing?

Days have always had twenty-four hours; and even now our days really last more because of electricity. We have light even before the sun comes up and light even after the sun goes down.

Our calendars still have twelve pages, and the hours we live are still made of sixty minutes.

We say “time flies…” when?

When we see our children growing older…and we wish we could hold them more, we wish we had played more with them.

We say such phrase, when we see areas of our lives we have been wanting to change and have not done anything practical to bring that change.

When we see our marriage, and wish we had not sleep through so many nights…

We say “times flies…” when we live for the calendar, instead of using the calendar as a tool in our lives.

I wrote about redeeming the time, (in October, 2009), and that day after clicking “publish”, I resolved not to live in a rush, but to live slowly. To purposely live each day of my life for God. And He has helped my heart which is always prone to move, to slow down.

This slowing down for God’s glory means that some changes had to take place… but it has been worth every one of them. I have not heard myself saying, “time flies”…rather, I have found myself saying “I have not made the best use of my time today to glorify God where I am” 



Some changes I have made so far are these…(with some I still struggle…my heart is so quick to move!)

1. Do not say to my children “Hurry Up!”… that is exactly what I do not want them to do, I do not want them to hurry up…

2. Cut off some extra classes…and yes we have survived without them!

3.  If we are going late, I take a deep breath, and remember number one… This particular moment is not the best one to instruct about the importance of being on time.

4.  I use the calendar, but do not let the calendar rule over my life.

5. Being a family of six (Amy, I know that is not a big number to you) and having all sorts of online classes, trips, meetings, friend visiting, etc… I try to remind my children not to live longing for what is yet to come, but to enjoy the day we are living in. This day will never come back again.

6. Make the most of every moment. Do not complain about God’s given plan for you today. Enjoy cooking, enjoy setting a beautiful table, enjoy the conversation after dinner even if that means that your little one will skip a bath that day!  Leave your books  (or computer) on the side as you listen to your husband’s heartbeat. Stay up late on the side of your teen age children’s bed to listen to him. Take time to read a book out loud. Sing. Smile. Be quiet.

7. And this one I am still learning to do…setting aside what I love to do for the sake of the ones I love.
Less time for me, most of the time means, more time to be able to hold my dear ones closer to my heart.

8. Live with the calendar hanging on the wall and a timeline on your classroom wall, but keep in mind that calendars and timelines frame the time in which we are just like vapour… let us live with our eyes set on eternity.

“As adults who have learned the concept of time, timelines, and references to past, present and future, we sometimes need to rather unlearn the natural in order to fully appreciate the supernatural; in this case, eternity.

Jon J. Cardwell

As I wake up every day I remind my soul of this Bible verse:

“This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Psalm 118: 24

I will not let time fly away, I will not let it escape (tempus fugit); I will live it purposely  and wisely for my God.

“Fit me to be totally resigned to the denial of pleasures I desire,
            and to be content to spend my time with Thee.
Fit me to pray with a sense of the joy of divine communion,
            to find all times happy seasons to my soul,
            to see my own nothingness,
            and wonder that I am allowed to serve Thee.”


The Valley of Vision

Great resources that say it better than I:
The Precious Importance of Time (And the Importance of Redeeming it) by Jonathan Edwards.
Time’s Shortness by Thomas Watson (1676)
What is the best way to spend your leisure time? Charles Spurgeon’s response.

“Try to count  blessings instead of minutes”

Ann Voskamp

Related posts from the former blog:
Don’t Rush, Take Time!
Redeeming the Time. 

Thank you, Ivonne, for setting my mind into thinking about this, again!

What I Have Learned Through Gratitude.

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It has been 10 months since my friend, better known as a “Farmer’s wife dealing with lots of dirt”, introduced me to the idea of keeping a gratitude journal; and I am thankful for her life (and she knows it, and I love her!)

Today I was pondering over this journey and all that I have learned trying to do the impossible, “count” the endless gifts which we have received from our Heavenly Father, (our family list is reaching #1400, and my personal one #636) and there is one lesson that I want to share with you.

As I take the journals (mine and our family journal) and read through them; I think of all these moments which did not just disappear. All these gratitude moments in which we, consciously, stopped to jot down with a grateful heart  blessings flowing from his hand to us. These moments are recorded. These gifts won’t be forgotten. We wrote them down, one by one; we lived through them. We are grateful.


God’s people did the same; they wrote down and remembered all the times God rescued them from their enemies; they kept records on how the Lord had delivered them with out-stretched arm from the evil nations; they wrote on how the Lord had been merciful to them over and over again in spite of their disobedient and rebellious heart. It was written, and they took time to read over those records and their faith grew, and their hope was renewed.


When I see how his love has sustained us through all these past months, I cannot doubt His faithfulness today, or tomorrow. He never changes. He is immutable, and that is a doctrine which I love to bring in the kitchen.  


Looking back with a grateful heart helps me pray “Lord, just as you have delivered me in the past, you  sustain me today, and you will tomorrow; because YOU NEVER CHANGE”

Paul wrote to the Corinthians about this:

“He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. ” 2 Corinthians 1: 10



Keeping a gratitude journal helps us in those times where our heart faints and we see no hope, and our soul seems to forget, to remember the mighty deeds of our God in our everyday life. We can turn the pages and count one by one, again, all those “little gifts” which have made up our life. And you remind yourself in Whom you have trusted all these days; and how He never changes…and you will find yourself smiling and giving thanks, again…


 You may ask, “but why do you mind publishing part of your list?”


This is one of the reasons why:

“My soul makes its boast in the LORD;
   let the humble hear and be glad.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
   and let us exalt his name together! “
Psalm 34: 2-3



I want to make known the deeds of the Lord, because I want to stir up your heart, so you may magnify the LORD with me,  and we may exalt His name together!



#615- 636


Thank you, Lord, for the city in which we live and how you are teaching us to live with a content heart in it.

Thank you for fresh fruit.

Flowers on the table.

Green grass.

Traffic, which means more time to talk.

Late conversations.

Planning a trip.

Tired feet.

Headaches which help us see how easily we worry.

Books that help us learn about prayer.

Family conversations.

Bubbles and girls.


Boys, paintball guns and lots of dirt on happy faces.

Clean towels.

Big cookies which did not turn out as the photo… lots of laughs.

Time to ponder over the gratitude journals.

Watercolors and ink.

Self-dominion to wake up early to pray.

A prayer guide which has helped me to stay focused when I am tired. 

Sharing the Gospel over the table.

My children’s music.

Thank you, Lord, because YOU Never change!


What are you grateful for today? 
Let me hear and be glad; let our hearts magnify the Lord together!

Words on a Saturday

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Words and words.
Here and there, words in a book, words in a blog.
Words that come and stay; and words that just fly away.
A book full of words here, another one there, and yet one more is coming in the mail.

Words and words. 
Here and there, words in a letter, words sung in a song.
Words that come and fill my day; and words that rob me time from you.
A blog full of words here, another one there, and yet one more is starting today.

Let my words, O Friend, never steal from you, time with the ones you love.
Let my words, O Friend, never rob from you, the time with the One whose Word is faithful and true.
My words always fail, but His Word will always sustain, and it never fails.
I know you not, yet He knows you by name.

Words and Words
Here and there, words in the Gospels, words in the epistles.
Words that come and heal and bring life;
Those Words, my Friend, are the ones you do not want to miss.

What about today?
Have you read the Words, the only words breathed by Him today?
Have you heard His voice in the quiet of the day?
Do not read other words if you have not read His Word first.

Friday is For Visiting Others

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Friday is here, and I would love to invite you to take a look at these:

What about sugar cookies wrapped around a brownie? Sounds like a great idea for this weekend, right?
You can find the recipe at Bakerella

Bakerella

If you are not in the mood to bake, but would rather start a new art project…(I am planning on doing this with my daughter!) Check out what Geninne is up to; and remember that she has a beautiful shop you can visit here.

Geninne’s Art Blog

And while baking or drawing, you can listen to Karen Moore, a Latin teacher and author, about the benefits of studying Latin. Or you can read in my former blog, what Joanna Hensley wrote about Why Classical Languages Matter, the BEST article I have ever read on this topic!

You can also print a beautiful Weekly Menu Planner here.

Ollibird

And finally, you can visit the most creative place to find “artistic” and easy recipes here. 

And if you want…you can find me here today, Reaching Out… In Your Home

Have a most blessed weekend!

The first four pictures belong to the pages I am linking to. The last one is mine…

To Our Children – On Loving your Siblings-

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Many people today assume many things that are not necessarily Biblical; for example, they assume that you will not get along with your brothers and sisters. They expect that the natural thing for children living under the same roof to do, is to fight all day.

However, I want you to know that fighting and not getting along well is not what God expects from you. God expects from you a loving relationship with your siblings. He is sovereign and He has chosen every one in our family with a purpose. He knew you needed a Mom such as the one who cooks you breakfast all days, and a Dad just as the one who kisses you good-night every night; but God also knew you needed the brothers and sisters you have.

Keep on reading here…(A place which my sister put together for us to write letters to our children)