Fly Baby Fly! ✈

My daughter became interested in being a pilot earlier this year.  I had no idea that you can fly solo at 16 and get a pilot's license at 17!  She has no interest in having a "career" but she wants to fly, so we talked about how useful being a pilot would be for the ministry.  You never know, she may marry a missionary and be the one to fly from village to village.  So, we went ahead and let her pursue her passions.



We had a revival and a preacher from California was preaching a powerful message about trading in your ashes for beauty.  He had a bucket of ashes and said quit carrying around what others did to you and then what you may have done.  He then laid a bunch of roses at the altar and said who's going to trade in their ashes?  I was the first one to go balling like a baby but I didn't care!  I picked up my rose and knelt down and gave it all to God!  It was life-changing to say the least.




The next morning was my daughter's graduation flight, she had took flight lessons and was ready to take the controls.  I presented her with my rose that I got the night before to take with her on this flight.  I was beaming and as she took off, I said, "FLY BABY FLY!" 😀  She flew for an hour to another airport and then came back but got to do some maneuvers in the air.  My husband was videoing from the backseat, I was safe on the ground LOL!!

She has been taking high school courses this past year, so I'm the mom of a high-schooler now.  I can't believe how far we have come - it really does seem like we just started this homeschooling journey not too long ago.  Thanks be unto God for His help through the training of our children!

Children Learn What They Live

Someone told me about this poem yesterday and I had never heard of it. It was very popular many years ago and it really lays out how we should raise and treat our children.  If every mother would love their children as this poem says, we may not have kids killing one another and all the issues we see today in the schools.  God help us love and care for our own children as He does us!


Children Learn What They Live
By Dorothy Law Nolte


If a child lives with criticism,
he learns to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility,
he learns to fight.

If a child lives with fear,
he learns to be apprehensive.

If a child lives with pity,
he learns to feel sorry for himself.

If a child lives with ridicule,
he learns to be shy.

If a child lives with jealousy,
he learns what envy is.

If a child lives with shame,
he learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with encouragement,
he learns to be confident.

If a child lives with tolerance,
he learns to be patient.

If a child lives with praise,
he learns to be appreciative.

If a child lives with acceptance,
he learns to love.

If a child lives with approval,
he learns to like himself.

If a child lives with recognition,
he learns that it is good to have a goal.

If a child lives with sharing,
he learns about generosity.

If a child lives with honesty and fairness,
he learns what truth and justice are.

If a child lives with security,
he learns to have faith in himself and in those about him.

If a child lives with friendliness,
he learns that the world is a nice place in which to live.

If you live with serenity,
your child will live with peace of mind.

With what is your child living?

When Men Abuse Power & Weaponize Authority


You may have heard about the MeToo movement and how so many women are finally brave enough to come forward and call out their abusers.  The world has been shocked as each story has unfolded and revealed that men, some famous and some in high positions have abused their power and authority to harm the weaker; women.  It isn't limited to one category or group, abuse has infiltrated every place imaginable, including the church.

The Southern Baptists have recently been exposed and found out that one of their top leaders have counseled the abused in such horrible ways as to keep them abused!  It includes such things as telling the victim to stay with the abuser.  It is a tragedy to have a man of God not protecting those who can't protect themselves.  God has heard the cries of the women and children, and His wrath has come to rip the blanket off the hidden things.

Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, of which I have always admired his steadfastness and stand for God's word, has spoken out and declared God's wrath has come.  The Bible tells us that judgment must first begin at the house of God. Here are some of his words that I wanted to share:
There is no excuse whatsoever for abuse of any form, verbal, emotional, physical, spiritual or sexual. The Bible warns so clearly of those who would abuse power and weaponize authority. Every Christian church and every pastor and every church member must be ready to protect any of God’s children threatened by abuse and must hold every abuser fully accountable. The church and any institution or ministry serving the church must be ready to assure safety and support to any woman or child or vulnerable one threatened by abuse.

The church must make every appropriate call to law enforcement and recognize the rightful God-ordained responsibility of civil government to protect, to investigate, and to prosecute.

A church, denomination, or Christian ministry must look outside of itself when confronted with a pattern of mishandling such responsibilities, or merely of being charged with such a pattern. We cannot vindicate ourselves. That is the advice I have given consistently for many years. I now must make this judgment a matter of public commitment. I believe that any public accusation concerning such a pattern requires an independent, third-party investigation. In making this judgment, I make public what I want to be held to do should, God forbid, such a responsibility arise.
In the words of Albert Mohler, God's judgement is here.  We haven't seen the last of all that God is going to expose with those who have abused their authority and power and have harmed so many.  May God set all the captives free!

Read More:
https://albertmohler.com/2018/05/23/wrath-god-poured-humiliation-southern-baptist-convention/

From Tragedy to Destiny


God has given us examples in the Bible to show us things that will help us make sense of life.  One that I can relate to, is that of Joseph.  If you don't know the account, you can find it starting in Genesis 37.  Joseph had a hard road that eventually brought him into his destiny.  God allowed Joseph to go through what he did and we sometimes wonder how could a loving God ALLOW such things!?  Yet, when we see where it brought Joseph to and how it ultimately saved his people from famine, we understand.  In our lives, we can't see the end.  We don't know how things are going to work out.  When tragedy knocks on our door, it can feel like God is against us or that He has forsaken us.  God wants us to trust him and have faith through whatever He is allowing us to go through.

Joseph was a favorite of his father, Jacob, and was the wearer of the coat of many colors.  From the beginning he was clothed with a gift, of which, his brothers despised him for and hated him.  If God has given you a spiritual gift, you can rest assured you WILL be despised and hated by those whose hearts are full of jealousy, envy and bitterness at what God has given you.  Having a spiritual gift is really a lonely thing, as many people who possess such gifts will tell you.  They come with a price and it isn't something that the recipient necessarily even asked for, just like Joseph and his colorful coat.  Rather, you will become a target of the true enemy, Satan, and he is bent on using others and circumstances to discourage you, discredit you and ultimately destroy you and thereby, destroy the gift as well.

We can see this played out among Joseph's family in the next part of the story.  Joseph has dreams of his brothers, and even his parents, bowing to him and he shares them with his brothers and then later another one, which he shares with his father (v.6).  This only makes his brothers despise him even more!  His own father rebukes him!  How dare Joseph dream such things and have the gall to think that his brethren, even his father and mother, would bow down to him.  What a super spiritual nutcase right!?  Who does he think he is they probably surmised among themselves as their hatred and envy only grew worse.

The tragedy begins as we read further.  Joseph's brothers conspired to kill him (v.18).  See, when envy sets in, especially in the spiritual sense, it will eat someone alive until they go so far to even contemplate murder!  Thankfully, one of the brothers protested that they not kill him but rather just throw him into a pit.  Joseph shows up and they immediately strip him of his gift - the coat of many colors.  It must have felt so pleasing to them to tear apart that which represented that Joseph was so special.  There will be those that will want to strip away your gift!  Next, they throw him in a pit that had no water and they sat down to eat.  How could someone eat after doing such a horrific act?  When you allow Satan to come in to your mind and direct your thoughts and actions, you will do the unthinkable.

Along come some merchantmen and they decide to sell Joseph instead of killing him.  They are left with the coat, so they devise a deception and dip the coat in blood to fool their father into thinking Joseph is dead.

Joseph's tragedy doesn't end there.  You would think, my God, that is enough to bear, right?  Be patient Joseph I can hear the Lord saying, your destiny is ahead, I have a plan for your life!!  So, Joseph ends up in Potiphar's house, who is an officer of Pharaoh (v.36).  (Ch. 39) It says the Lord was with Joseph and he was prosperous there, until the wife decides she wants him.  He refuses, she is angry and lies on him and he's thrown into prison!  There will be those that will lie on you when they can't control you!  If they can't keep you under their thumb, they will devise lies to destroy and discredit you.  I've found that a lot of times, if Satan can't get you any other way, he will have others lie on you.

Joseph in prison.  I guess its over now.  Yet, we find that God NEVER left Joseph, He rather reminds us in the passage over and over again that He was with Joseph: "But the LORD was with Joseph (39:31)."  During your darkest times and your tragedies, God is still with you!  When your family forsakes you, you are rejected and despised and lied on and it seems like God must have turned His back on you - just remember, He's doing something in all of this.

Joseph interprets two dreams in the prison, which both come true.  He simply asked the chief butler to remember him when his dream comes true and get him out of this prison, because he has done NOTHING wrong.  The chief butler sadly forgets all about Joseph.  Do you know how it feels to be forgotten?  Do you know how it feels to have others see your gift and know it is God and then when they rise to their place, they forget all about you.  And you wait, patiently, for one day they will remember and you will be delivered.

Pharaoh has two dreams (Ch. 41).  He is so disturbed by these dreams and no one can interpret it!  Is there not a man that can reach God and tell him what his dream means?  Finally it comes - the chief butler remembers Joseph!  Joseph ends up interpreting Pharaoh's dreams and Pharaoh appoints Joseph over all the land of Egypt!  ENTER DESTINY.  We almost all know the story of how in the time of famine, Joseph's brethren come to buy food and they eventually realize his dreams were not only true, but of God to save their OWN souls!  Oh, how wonderful the mercy of God!  He will take that despised and rejected one and use them to save the very ones that despised and rejected him!  Jesus our Lord suffered the same but it was all to bring Him to His destiny - to save OUR souls!

Joseph went from tragedy to destiny.  His family was given their own area to live in, a place called Goshen.  Truly, Joseph didn't regret a thing he went through that brought him to such a place and even restored his family.  I sometimes wonder what his brothers thought of Joseph's mercy and love?  I'm sure it was humbling and I imagine it changed them forever.  It will take a heart like Joseph's to go through tragedy, arrive at your destiny, and still have compassion on those that hated you.  But isn't that the ones that God loves to use for such restoration?  If Jesus bore the shame, guilt and rejection from those He loved, what makes us think that we won't?  We have a destiny to arrive at and we must always keep our eyes upon the eternal goal, and fully trust in faith the one that will always be there by our side in our darkest tragedies.