Category Archives: Family Table

Food: A Gift from Above

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A feast to the eyes,  a joy to share, a good gift from Above: Food.

Isn’t it amazing all that happens around food?  It is wonderful to consider all the goodness that comes when we feast together around the table and share God’s goodness, God’s bounty, His mercy to us as we come together and share a meal.

I want to give thanks today to my God for our family and for all our friends (old and new) who have opened their homes, their kitchen to us; for each family that has welcomed ours around their table. Thank you!

 

Coffee and fruit, and blueberry coffee cake; zucchini bread early in the morning and fresh hand picked cherries, burgers and  ice-cream and homemade pizzas. My mom’s best dishes,  and my sister’s best pic-nic food. All good, all a gift, each one a joy to share!

 

And we bow our heads each time, and hold hands and give thanks to our God who gives, and gives, and gives… because there is simply no other way to fully enjoy a meal but with a grateful heart. We give thanks to Him three times a day around the table not because of an empty custom, but because our hearts overflow with thanksgiving. Every meal is a gift, and every meal reminds us that one day, we will feast around a table in Heaven with Him and with all the saints who have gone before us.

Next time you look for a new recipe and prepare a dish for your family, for your friends; next time you set the table, do it with a joyful heart, remembering that every time we come to the table, we come to feast, to celebrate God’s goodness and His never-ending mercies toward us; let us do it pretty, delicious, and joyfully.

Let us bow down, hold hands, give thanks and feast!

 

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An Address to God before a Meal.

O Lord our God, in thee we live, and move, and have our being, and from thee receive all supports and comforts of our being: Thou spreadest our table and fillest our cup and comfortest us with the gifts of thy bounty from day to day. We own our dependence upon thee and our obligations to thee, pardon our sins we pray thee; sanctify thy good creatures to our use, and give us grace to receive them soberly and thankfully, and to eat and drink not to ourselves, but to thy glory, through Jesus Christ our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.

An Address to God after a Meal.

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with his benefits and gives us all things richly to enjoy, though we serve him but poorly. O Lord, we thank thee for present refreshments in the use of thy good creatures, and for thy love to our souls in Jesus Christ, which sweetens all. We pray thee pardon our sins, go on to do us good, provide for the poor that are destitute of daily food, fit us for thy whole will, and be our God and guide and portion for ever, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

From Matthew Henry’s A Method for Prayer

May your home be a place for feasting!

Becky

All pictures in this post were taken by my daughter.

Daniel’s Prayer

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The Prophet Daniel, Michelangelo Buonarroti

Daniel was reading Jeremiah and the inspired words he read brought him to his knees in prayer.

Now I read what Daniel, under the inspiration of God wrote, and I am brought to my knees in prayer.

God speaks through His Word, and I respond in prayer; and yet, some times, like Daniel, my response should be accompanied with fasting.

I read and I pray, I read and I see my sin and repent, I read and I find promises and I find rest.

We kept on reading at the family table the book of Daniel, my son knew I love this chapter and asked Dad if I could read it. I did, and I found in his prayer, my prayer.

“Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.  O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.” (Ch 9:16-20 ESV)

Jesus had not come yet, however, Daniel, through the Holy Spirit knew why he could present himself  before the Almighty God in prayer. It was not because of his own righteousness; he knew this would be impossible, but because of God’s  great mercy, because he had been called by God’s name. This was the ground on which he stood firmly before a Just and Righteous God.

We can come to God, to our Father, because of Jesus’ name; if He has called you by your name, if you have heard his voice, do not delay your coming to Him in prayer; find His voice in the Scriptures, pray, see your heart in the light of the Word of God, and repent of your sins. His mercies are new today, His grace never ends, He is delighted in hear us calling on His name.

While Daniel was still praying, the Lord sent an angel to assure him that his prayer had been answered, that he was greatly loved!

An angel will not come to us anymore. We have  now a greater assurance that our prayer has been heard, we have Jesus’ precious words:

“In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”         John 16: 23.24 ESV

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”     Matthew 7:7-10 ESV

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours”     Mark 11:24 ESV

  “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”     John 14: 13- 14 ESV

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7 ESV 

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”      John 15:16 ESV

May you hear his voice today through the reading of His Word and fall on your knees in prayer, to find His grace and never ending mercy.

Take God’s Word with you, Praying God’s Promises @ Challies
Read it Very Much, a great article by George Müller, find it at Penned Pebbles.

Keeping up Family Worship

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It is the husband’s responsibility to lead the family worship, however, we, wives,  are called to be his perfect helpmate.

How can I help my Beloved with this task?

I can help him by preparing our home, our children, the room, the table. Just as the Shunamite prepared her home to receive the servant of the Lord, Elisha, with a bed and a table, a stool and a candlestick. (2 Kings 4:10), so we need to prepare our home for our family worship.

While our husband is away toiling and fighting against thorns and thistles, what are we doing to receive him and have everything ready for our family worship? Is our home in peace or our husband walks through the door only to find out complaints and bitterness? As he walks through the door, what are the first words he hears from me, sweet words of life or words that taste bitter and are hard to swallow?

We ought to prepare the heart of our home, as well as the table and candlestick.

Let us have all the Bibles ready; let us make sure that all the children have whatever our husband wants them to have at hand. We want to avoid all the unnecessary running around the house to find the one missing Bible or book. We should also have our little ones ready; I like to give my little one her night shower before our family worship, just because I do not want to feel “the pressure” of having to give her a shower when it is late! (You know how we, moms, choose to worry about simple things like this one!).

Some families like to make every reunion around the family table  memorable and special by lighting up some candles (nothing superstitious here, I am just talking about creating a beautiful ambiance); I love this idea, but it might not be the best option if you have little ones who would fall asleep! Ask your husband what would he prefer. My husband likes to turn on the lights after dinner so we can follow our Bible reading better.

Take a closer look at what you can do to prepare your home to receive your husband after a long day of toiling, and how you can help him direct a peaceful and joyous family worship.

Pictures taken at my friend’s home as she prepared her home for her family and guests. Thank you, my dear friend, for your kind hospitality. I love you!

Opening Your Home and Heart

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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.

Living a Simple Life

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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

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!