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.

Praying the Psalms- Psalm 90-

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Psalm 90
 
BOOK FOUR
 
From Everlasting to Everlasting
 
A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
 
 
1. Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
Lord, remembering how your hand has been upon us all these years
should make me raise today full of faith,
knowing that YOU, You the mighty One has been our dwelling place all these years.
Where else can I be secure?
Where else but in your  dwelling place.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
You never fail God, You never change.
You, my dwelling place never move.
You are the same for ever and ever;
I praise You for your immutability today!
 
3 You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
You said, “Return…”
You called me by name and I could resist
Your irresistible Grace.
4 For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.
 
 
5You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
 
Lord, you are not bound to time,
the brevity of my life is always in contrast with Your Eternal Being.
Teach me, O teach me, please,
to live beyond this timeline that frames my days,
help me remember that the squares in the calendar
should not rule my life;
help me live with my heart fixed on eternity…
 
7 For we are brought to an end by your anger;
by your wrath we are dismayed.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
10 The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11 Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?
Father, I bow my head now to repent for all my sins;
Forgive me for I live at times without considering Your Word;
I toil and trouble and do not take pauses to pray to You.
Forgive all those secrets sins that cannot remain hidden.
Thank you because Your Word points to my sin,
and your Holy Spirit leads me to repentance.
Thank you, Father.
12 So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
Yes, O yes, Lord .
Teach me to number my days;
not to live a busy life,
not to be able to say,
“I have lived well today”
but to get a heart of wisdom;
a heart who fears You;
a heart full of your Word.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
Today I come to drink at your feet,
to eat from your hand;
satisfy my souls’ deepest needs…
Let Your love be all I long for;
be your love the joy of my life.
16 Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
Father, now I pray,  let your work, your glorious,
transforming power that is
working in me, be known in my family;
change me more into your image that they may  be able to see
those changes,
day by day,
morning after morning.
Let your favor be upon us,
establish the work of your hands upon us, your saints;
yes, establish the work of your hands!
In Jesus’ name, I pray today,
Amen

 

 

>Eucharisteo -P2R Week 2-

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We are just finishing week two of the Partnering To Remember Memory Project; and it is my joy to tell you that I have been able to keep up with it. (I was two verses behind… but yesterday, God helped me memorize them!)

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I walk into the kitchen, get the eggs and ham, count eight measures of coffee in the coffee maker, and pour the water… I mutter the verses; I stop, I pray. I look at the verses on the fridge; the smallest words are important, I can’t skip any of them. Prepositions are full of meaning; I don’t want to get them wrong.  My son comes in; he smiles at me, hugs me. I am so happy that he will grow remembering  his mom muttering the Word, chewing it, bite after bite; tasting it slowly.

Few of my reflections are here:

v. 1 Paul and Timothy servants of Christ Jesus.… O that I may introduce myself like this; not as “Daughter of the King”, but as a servant of Christ Jesus.

v. 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ… The only way for us to have grace and peace is through God, we cannot find them anywhere else.  For us to have these two things, grace and peace, Jesus had to go the cross. We cannot say we have grace and peace without looking at the cross; it is there where we find them.

v. 3.- 4 Eucharisteo –to give thanks– Thanks for all my remembrance of the saints; always in every prayer with joy…

Joy…
Joy in my prayers
Joy in giving thanks.
Joy in the intercession.

v. 5 How do I partnership in the gospel with those who Servants of Christ who are in need? The Philippians gave money and supported  Paul in a real way. What about me?

v. 6 Joy again. He who began a good work in me, in my husband, in my children will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ! Grace called me and through Grace I will walk in my sanctification daily… until the day of Christ Jesus.

v. 7 I can not repeat this verse without praying for the saints who are today being persecuted. It is my desire to be partakers with them, so I think one tangible way of  becoming partaker with them is through this organization.

v. 8 God is my witness of all my longings, my yearnings, my heart’s desires, my emotions. He is witnessing every single thought that lies deep within my heart.

v. 9- 11 This has been my prayer these  two weeks… Lord, that I may abound in love with knowledge and all discernment; I repeat the Word, each Word… I pray. I mediate.
What for? 
Why would I want to abound in love?
That I may approve what is excellent.
Why do I want to approve what is excellent? 
So that I may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.
TO THE GLORY AND PRAISE OF GOD!

Yes! To give glory and praise to God is the chief end of man. I smile, I thank God, and keep on preparing our morning breakfast.

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Leslie Wiggins also shares her reflections on P2R week 2, here.
Aaron Armstrong is one week ahead and he shares his reflections here
My friend Anne in Europe is in this too, read her thoughts here. 

A suggestion:
I bought John MacArthur’s Commentary on Philippians and I am reading his commentaries on the verses of the week. It has proved to be an amazing blessing.

Maybe you are in this project too or are memorizing other parts of the Scripture, would you mind sharing your thoughts with us today?

>Friday – Having Friends Over-

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>Today some friends of ours with their children will be coming for lunch, we are very excited about that! It is a great thing to do before mid-term exams start on Monday, don’t you think?

I will make something simple, but very yummy. It is something like a pizza with goat cheese, mozzarella, pretty slices of tomato, olive oil and rosemary.

Do you get the idea? I use puffed pastry for the base, very simple but we all love it!

To be true, I wish you could come too!

Now, I also found this these pretty nice project projects to do this weekend, hope you like it them, and find it them fun to do.

A pretty fabric origami box …

How About Orange

A fun calendar (a free download) to keep record of ALL the books we will read this year, right?

For my friends living where white snow is everywhere, I read these ideas on how to “Beat the January Doldrums” (Read the comments, too!), maybe you will find some inspiration there!

I would love also to share with you how my P2R project is coming along, but… I am running late, so if I have time later today, I will be back to share with you about that. (We are already on week 2!)

Thank you for visiting,  
for your kind comments this week, 
for sharing my journey!

Under His sun and by His grace,

>Carnal Christians?

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>Today is Thursday, the day I like to share words I have read through the week.

These are borrowed words from R.C Sproul, on his book Romans; in which he talks about the doctrine of the “carnal Christan” which has spread so widely among Evangelicals.

“We cannot receive Christ as Savior without at the same time bending our knees to his lordship. This does not mean we believe we are perfect, but it does mean that at the moment we believe, we are changed. Our lives are turned around, and the beginning of the process of sanctification has taken place. Justification does not produce the fullness of sanctification, but it initiates it immediately. If we have made a profession of faith but there is absolutely no evidence of change in our hearts and lives, then we need to ask whether that profession of faith was genuine. True faith always and immediately produces change.

Yes, indeed, the battle with sin goes on for our whole lifetime. We do not believe in instantaneous sanctification. Justification is instantaneous. The second we believe, we are fully justified. We will never be any more justified than we are at the moment we believe, but sanctification is a process that begins at our justification and is completed in our glorification in heaven. If we are believers, we are in that process of sanctification.”



 
I remember I grew under this kind of teaching; the only fruit that I saw, even in my own life, was that of living a double life. We all “understood”; we never expected holiness in the church because “being a carnal Christian” was a doctrine we all believed.

Sproul also says,

“We all sin, but if we have been born of the Spirit, we are no longer slaves to that sin. We can no longer say to God, “I cannot help it. I am dominated by the power of sin.” If we are still in a condition of slavery to sin, then we are not regenerated”

I encourage you not only to read the Scriptures as you would read any other book, instead, study them meditate, on them, memorize them; let them change you today!

Under His sun and by His grace,

>Giuseppe Arcimboldo – Adam and Eve-

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>My little one and I are truly enjoying this year our studies on Botany; we are currently studying about fruits and I wanted to introduce her to the paintings of this quite exotic and imaginative Italian painter from the XVI century, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, who loved to make portrait heads using objects like fruits, vegetables, flowers and others.

Well, while looking at his work, two paintings stood out, (none related to our fruits’ study, though) The Portrait of Eve and the  Portrait of Adam.

Source
Source

These are definitely not my favorite representations of Adam and Eve, but one thing I do like and find quite interesting is that the artist portrayed each one of us, all human kind, in Adam and Eve.

What are your thoughts?

>Changes Can Be Beautiful -thoughts on homeschooling-

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>Changes come into our lives every year, every day; changes do come and we must have eyes to see the beauty they bring.

We have been homeschooling our children for 10 years now and several changes have happened along the way. Today while I was enjoying teaching my little one, I saw from afar my oldest children taking their online classes and thought of these changes and how much they used to scare me when I  thought about them 10 years ago and how the Lord has faithfully removed them  and has helped me see the beauty in each one of them.

I want to write this post to encourage those families who are today where we were 10 years ago. These words are for you:

Don’t fear the changes; God is faithful indeed!

Choosing curriculum seems like an titanic task; there are  too many options, actually, too many great  options; but you want to know a little secret I have learned along the way? When I did not know of all those great options out there and I prepared my classes from scratch; we learned a lot, had a blast and built great memories. My almost 17  years old son still likes to see his old binder with all his notes and drawings; my 14 yo son remembers everything we did together… My daughter recalls every single project we made together… they still love to talk today about all the books we enjoyed together.

And then the day came when I saw all those great and different options and I wanted to use them all, so I bought some resources that we never used, and returned some others that were not as nice as they sounded. So here is the secret…

Don’t try to change what is already working for you today. 

No matter how wonderful the rest of the options seem to be, take a deep breath, and if what you are doing with your kids is already working, then don’t change to try something else.

Some of the things that used to scare this mama who struggles so much with Math and has survived  all these years using the “rule of three” for every single math problem in her life, were the ones you can easily imagine, “What are we going to do with Algebra, and Science and Logic?”  My kids grew and changes came and the day arrived when we were ready to tackle those; what did we do then?

The Lord walked ahead of us, and the Lord brought to our lives (literally) something we did not know about… a way out to all our fears through such season of changes: A great online school with lots of friends included and teachers that have influenced our children to live godly lives.

Yes, this is a greater miracle than what you might think because, just in case you have forgotten, we live in Mexico and are Mexicans! And here, in our country, very few families homeschool their children and we don’t have Christian schools either. So changes did come and the Lord gave us a way to walk through them and also gave us eyes to see the beauty in them.

Alteration… yes, that word that my fiends at three chose for the photo play this week has me thinking…

We have had to alter our initial plans several times; it never occurred to us the option of an online school for example, but through each change, we have seen how the Lord has always been ahead of us preparing  the doorways we would need to walk through.

So, my friend, if you are to change anything this year in your homeschool, be sure you don’t change just to have the other option that seems super great if what you are doing is working in your family; but at the same time know that changes will definitely come, sooner or later, without you even noticing them; and when they come remember that the Lord has been walking ahead. He is our faithful Father.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

 Lord, teach us to see that changes can be beautiful!

Note: The second picture on this post is “playing” at You Capture. 
This week’s theme is “Doorways”

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