"Training Up a Child" - Family Raising

I wanted to share this for my Child Training Tuesday. I agree totally with what this article has to say about training our children not just to obey, but to do everything with excellence and to the Glory of God! What do you think about this? Have you observed the downfall of this idea in society today? What are some ways that you work on this with your children? Just today I was talking to my boys about doing everything to the Glory of God. It definitely takes training, because our sin nature wants to be lazy, and give up when something gets hard! But..we do our children a disservice when we allow them to quit before a job is done right. I'd love to hear your thoughts...

"Training Up a Child" - Family Raising

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Saturday Steps of Faith- God's love

Join Lisa today for more Saturday Steps of Faith!

Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, neither angels, nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height or depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

These are my life verses. It is always so comforting to realize that no matter what is happening, or what I do, I cannot be seperated from His love. His love has no begining and no end! That is difficult to wrap your brain around when you live in a world where love is so fleeting. I hope that this verse will bring comfort to you today as we walk this sometimes weary road!

Thank you Jesus, that nothing can take your love from me!

Loving Your Husband Friday- Laughter

It's Friday again...and today was the day for loving our husbands. I spent most of my day at the Right to Life Booth at the fair, and so, again, a late post!

But I wanted to be sure to talk today about laughter. I can't tell you how many times laughter has been the medicine to help heal wounds in our home. I can't tell you how often Rob and I have laughed together, and subsequently forgotten what we were upset with each other about. I believe that God gave us laughter to comfort and heal us.... and it is so important to a marriage. We are all going to fall, we are all going to let each other down. Marriage is about committment. You stay with someone even when they are unlovable, because that is what it means to be committed. Sometimes that committment is really hard, when times are hard, and when that spouse lets you down. Our husbands are going to let us down, and we are going to let them down. But, one thing that I know of that can help to heal the hurt in our marriages is laughter! When my children come to us for advice about whom they should marry, one of the first questions Rob and I would ask them about that person (other than the obvious, are they a believer, do they have the same goals), would be if you can laugh together! If you can't laugh together, and have fun together, you will be hard pressed to make it through the hard times together!

Now, obviously, a good laugh cannot undo all the pain and hurt of your spouse hurting you or letting you down, but it's a good start. If your marriage is hurting, find something to laugh about! Think about the good times you had in the past....reminisce. What did you laugh about when times were good? Spend some time thinking about those times. It might just help you start to heal and move on! I can't tell you how many arguments that Rob and I were so serious about, were forgotten simply because something else made us laugh!

This is one thing that I love about my husband, that I can still laugh with him, even in the hard times!

I hoped you joined Shannon today for more Loving your Hubby Fridays.

In His Word Wednesday- Persecution

I apologize for my post being so late today...it has been a busy day!

Matthew 5: 11-12 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

In the course of the last several months, I have often thought of these verses. We have personally experienced this in our family. We were insulted, persecuted, and had many false, evil things said about us, because we chose to do what we believe is right and biblical for our children. Not to get into too many details, but we were humiliated, and we even lost a (foster) child through this whole process. It has been very painful for our whole family! It has often been dificult to rejoice in this circumstance, but I know that is what Christ tells us to do! I so often think of those believers in other places in the world, who are daily persecuted and even have their children killed because of their faith! Here in America, we have no concept of what that is really like, but Christ rejoices with these dear believers who keep plugging away, never denying Him. It's just not always easy to stand up for what we know is right, and to claim Christ, and it can sometimes mean tremendous pain and loss, but we can rejoice. I pray that I will always have the courage to stand up for the name of Christ, no matter what kind of suffering I may have to endure because of it!

Please continue to pray today for our dear friend Lenore, as she is still fighting infection. She does seem to be showing improvement, but still needs lots of prayer, as does the family, who has been riding this roller coaster of emotion for over a month now!

Pray for my dad also that he will be healed of his pancreatic cancer!

Join Megan for more In His Word Wednesday!

Saturday Steps of Faith- From the East to the West

Today I join Lisa for Saturday Steps of Faith. The idea is to focus on the promises of God in our lives.

This morning as I was working on folding my laundry and listening to some music, I was thinking about Psalm 103:11-12 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

This is a stunning picture to me of what the sacrifice of my Jesus has done for me. How the sins that I have committed, which are a stench in the nostrils of our Holy God, can be thrown so far from us, that God no longer sees them. It's a concept that our finite minds cannot even fathom. That's how great His mercy towards us is! I love the way that Casting Crowns puts this in their song.

Jesus can you show me just how far the east is from the west?, cause I can't bear to see the man I've been come rising up in me again. In the arms of your mercy I find rest, cause you know just how far the east is from the west........From one scarred hand to the other!!

There is another part that says that in the arms of your mercy I find rest...because you know just how far the east is from the west....from one scarred hand to the other.

What an awesome thought! Once we have repented of our sins, and accepted the sacrifice that Christ made for us....our sins are cast away, as far as the east is from the west! It is only through the scarred hands of Christ that we can fathom that! We can rest in his mercy, without fear that He will keep bringing up those sins, that is the Satan's job. It is Satan that wants to continue reminding us of our sins. He is the deceiver. He doesn't want us to remember that God has thrown our sins away! I don't know about you, but I don't want Satan to have his way. I want to rest in the knowledge today that my sins have been thrown as far as the east is from the west!

If you are reading this and you don't know how to have your sins thrown away. If you aren't sure how to obtain this mercy and peace.....I would love to share more with you about our savior and what He has done for me.....and what He will do for you dear one! My email is rebabler@comcast.net, if you want to discuss it privately!

Rest in His promise today!

Family Vision

On Monday for At the Well....there was discussion about Family Visions. Although at the time I didn't have time to put down what our family visions are.. I wanted to come back and take the time to do that. If you missed the original post, it was here. Here is a statement page that we have developed that contains the vision for our family.

Family Mission

To Serve Him

Bible

Prayer

Loving each other (kind, edifying, treating each other as most importatntly)

Loving others (volunteering, ministering, evangelizing)

Educated (knowledgable and critical)

Exhibiting Christian conduct In life

Study and meditate on the Word of God daily, both individually, and corporately.

Educate our children in the ways of God and in

The Mission of the Babler family is as follows:

1) Authority:

Love God with all our heart

Prayer and Bible study

Live within the Biblical structure of the family

2) Relationships:

Love one another

Serve one another

Encourage one another

Serve others

3) Possessions:

Thankful

Content

Generous

Responsible

4) Work:

Diligent

Take initiative

Cooperative

Take responsibility

5) Attitudes

Humble – thinking of others before ourselves (actions – even what we wear,

Joyful

Peaceable

Patient

Gracious

6) Choices

Do right

Ask before acting

Exercise self-control

Tell the truth

Again, I highly recommend sitting down together and thinking about what your goals and "visions" are for your family. This will help you when you have even minor decisions to make about your family. Does it fit into your plan for your family, or will it detract? Will it help to facilitate your vision, or bring you farther away from it. I've always liked the saying..."if you aim at nothing, your bound to hit it." In these days, we need to be clear about what we seek to accomplish for God with our families. We cannot afford to aim at nothing! I hope this will somehow help someone pin down what their family vision is.

Loving Your Husband Friday- Selflessness

It's Friday...and that means time to focus on our marriage, and things that we love about our husbands.

This last week, Rob decided that we should go on a trip to Michigan's Adventure ( an amusement/water park) in Muskegon. It is something that I had requested to do. Since we can't go on a regular vacation this year, I was hoping for just one day of fun. So we went and took the five oldest kids. One reason I wanted to go to the amusement park was because the last two or three trips that we have made to an amusement park...I have been pregnant. It is no fun to go to an amusement park when you are pregnant. It's hot, you are miserable, and you can't ride anything! But, I've gone and watched Rob and the kids have fun (which I do enjoy). So, Rob informed me on the way to Muskegon, as we were kind of planning out who would ride what when, that this trip was for me, and he wanted me to be able to fit in all of my rides, even if it meant he didn't get to ride anything. Now, this is a big deal, because Rob is a bigtime rolller coaster enthusiast. He stuck to it the whole time we were there. He did get a chance to ride his favorite coaster, but for the most part, he stuck with Elias, while I rode rides with the other kids. Once again....thinking of me above himself! I so greatly appreciated that, knowing that likely the next time we get to an amusement park...I may very well be pregnant again!

Be sure to link up with Shannon, for more Loving Your Husbands Fridays.