Category Archives: Daily Life

Opening Your Home and Heart

Posted on by
11

The way the Lord plans all things is beautiful. He is sovereign and we can see how He, as if working in a magnificent play, arranges all things for His glory and the good of our souls.

My sister sent me an email few months ago saying that a friend of her from the Netherlands was coming to Mexico, she asked me to host her friend for a night or two. What a great privilege for me it was to be able to host my sister’s friend; we agreed and started to email back and forth. To make this story short in a moment I was also emailing back and forth with the tour guide of the group (15 Reformed Christian backpackers), they wanted to join us for our Church service on Sunday and were looking for a hotel near to our home…

We had to have a “meeting”, so we sat at the Family Table one night and talked about the possibility of hosting them all. “They are backpackers, so we need not to worry about beds, they have their sleeping bags, and we have enough floor space for all of them”, we reasoned, and by opening our home to them we would be able to bless them. We all voted yes.

They came in Saturday night driving one big van and one car; it was night and it was raining, but  our home was warm, and the tables were set. Pasta night was awaiting.

They stayed with us until Tuesday morning; we thought we were going to bless them with a place to sleep, yet they blessed us greatly.

Every morning and evening we read the Scripture; English was the language where we met in every conversation; at nights we sang hymns and Psalms in Dutch, Spanish and English. Our home was filled with the sound of a beautiful choir, and every room with glorious praises.
 
We thought we were opening our home to them, but really, can you open your home without opening your heart?

We felt sad as they left, but we know that every Lord’s Day we will be singing to our God who has brought people from every tribe and nation to worship Him, until the day we will see Him face to face and again feast at the Family Table with Him.

May you open your home and heart to many this season… you will find blessings you never expected, and your heart will overflow with joy.

Today I am playing with my true photographer friends Kelly and Claire. I could not choose only one picture and I know these are not the best pics at all (it is hard to be the hostess of so many and still try to take good pics.) but they surely tell a lot about how our home in Mexico looked this past weekend.

My Birthday Present

Posted on by
4

What do you think of this BEAUTIFUL blog design? I love it! and soon you will see some changes in my Spanish blog too…

And I am thankful to my Beloved husband and children for giving me this gift!

Lena, at Premades For a Purpose designed it, and I am so thankful to her too. She is an incredible person to work with; you can also find her here. (note: be sure to check her websites she even has some freebies ready for you! )

Also, I want to stop and thank my friend Lisa, for sending me a beautiful gift, a book, Heaven by Randy Alcorn. She thought I should read it, because I am …On My Way to Heaven… So, expect some posts about Heaven soon!


Tomorrow, remember to come to this place, Christina will be sharing more about Prayer. Believe me you do not want to miss it!

Much love to you all!

P.S. My birthday is this coming Sunday… I am so grateful!

Living a Simple Life

Posted on by
3

It was a windy, sunny day, just  perfect. We stood on the top of a pyramid built around 700 BC, and we enjoyed the view. My little girl picked some wild flowers,while  the rest climbed a tree.

We lived a simple day…

When simple, beautiful days like this one happen, I often think on how we started it, and how we continued through it.

I woke up early had my devotions, made breakfast, {still thinking about the Bible verses I read}, had coffee and a biscotti, took the book we are reading at the family table. We read, we talked about it, we prayed.

And we stood up, and off we went.

How we start our day means a lot, but that is not all.

My prayer lately has been, “Lord, as I leave my quiet morning and devotions at the family table, help me live a life of prayer; let all I do bring glory to your name; let all my words be spoken with the certainty that you hear me always, let me not do my labor without consciously living  for you. I am so prone to wander”

Just as the wind blows over our faces, let us be aware of your presence all day long, let us draw near to you, O Lord.

But for me it is good to be near God
Psalm 73: 28

How can we draw near to Him all day every day?

How can we enjoy His presence all day and not be terrified by it?

It is because of Jesus, our Mediator. Jesus opened the way for us to the Kingdom of Heaven through His incarnation, through His death, through His resurrection.

Peace, true peace has a price, and Jesus paid for it with His blood. (Col 1:20)

How can I not love my Saviour?

How can I not long to draw nearer to Him everyday?

If I can enjoy simple days like this one, is because of His grace.

Well said:

A great sermon by Thomas Watson, The Happiness of Drawing Near to God. I recommend it to you!

If you love Church History, read about this wonderful woman, Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) over at my friend Diane’s place, Theology For Girls

Our Homeschooling Goals

Posted on by
5

 This time of the year is planning time for Moms who homeschool, but most of all, I think Summer should be a time for us to make an effort to examine our motives, (obviously this is best when done with your husband, the headmaster of your homeschool!)

Why are we homeschooling our children?
What keeps me up and going every day?  

There is one book in particular that I have read many, many times now, always in the summer, and it helps me focus on what I believe is the heart of homeschooling, it is entitled When You Rise Up. a Covenantal Approach to Homeschooling, by Dr. R.C Sproul Jr.

If you are homeschooling and haven’t read this book, I would love to encourage you to read it, it will be like honey to your soul.

Besides reading and searching my heart, and praying, and organizing shelves with books  and shopping online for more, and register my children for new online classes, I take the time to go through the goals our husband and I  have set  for our homeschool.

So here they are, from the archives (September 17, 2009) some have been added later.

****************************************************************************

My husband and I drafted some of these goals in the year 2006, we have been updating them since then; now I want to share them with you.

Maybe you are thinking about starting to homeschool, or maybe you are weary after some years of doing it and need to be reminded of all the goals, that I am sure , you set before your eyes one day. I am sure I will come back many a  days to add more goals as my children keep on growing.

May God help us achieve them!

1. Raise men and women who honor God and fear his commandments.

2. Raise men and women with godly character qualities, virtue, honor, responsibility, truth, love, faithfulness, honesty, hard workers, merciful, generous.

3. Raise men and women who will know by heart the Scriptures, that can make them wise unto salvation.

4. Raise men and women prepared to make right  decisions and stand firm on them.

5. Raise men and women who marry Christians, and build godly families.

6. Raise men and women who  love to study, read, learn; capable of teaching.

7. Raise men and women able to love and appreciate aesthetics; music, arts, literature.

8. Raise men and women capable of expressing clearly  their thoughts and defend their beliefs, both, verbally and  written.

9. Raise men and women who will leave a heritage of godly principles to their children and   grandchildren.

10. Raise men and women who’d love their Mom and Dad until the day they’d be taken away to their home in Heaven.

11. Raise men and women who will be able to understand that God’s Sovereignty has shaped our world and our history up to this day.

12. Raise men and women able to communicate in more than two languages, to be able to share the gospel in different places, and different circumstances.

13. Raise men and women willing to serve others, willing  to live with open hands, always ready to give.

14. Teach our children that their best friends will always be at home.

15. Teach them to be godly fathers and mothers. Our young men need to be taught how to be providers and our women need to be taught how to be homekeepers.

16. Love the elderly and come to them. Be wise enough to listen to them and take their advice.

17. Do not walk in the way of the sinners.

18. Be able to discern sound doctrine from false teaching.

19…

 What are some of your main goals when raising your children? 

Please share!

A House of Prayer

Posted on by
2

“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?

Posted on by
8

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!