Sunshine On My Shoulders

A Heart for GOD

 

"God Searches For a Heart Fully HIS," the current Precept Bible Study being held for ladies in my church, is course #2 in the Old Testament Kings and Prophets series. As Precept leader, God teaches and admonishes me as I study and prepare, and blesses me as the precious gals in my group respond to the living Word of God, and share insights and applications from the study. Studying the Old Testament reveals the nature and character of God. And the more we know Him and His ways... the more we can trust Him!

 

"Stay tethered to God's Word!" was the constant admonition given by Nancy Leigh DeMoss at the Total Woman Conference I was privileged to attend in Forth Worth last weekend. Online, you can watch, listen to, and read the messages that impacted thousands of women's lives. Such a moving of God's Spirit I will not soon forget.

 
Keeping our Bibles open must remain a priority each day. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:21)
  

*** The photos were taken outside on my patio. Don't you love the pages forming a heart shape inside the Bible?

It's OWL good!

"Honey, as much as you love nature, why don't you experiment turning our acre into a bit of a sanctuary?" I asked my hubby sometime ago.

And as a teaser, I handed him a set of plans to build a Screech Owl Nest House. Knowing him as I do, I knew it would be only a matter of time before he would be building the house for hooters. AND, also, knowing him as I do, he would have his own ideas how it should be built, and would revise the plans.

There have been many owl sightings where we live, and though it is not the season for nesting, last week my hubby had a free Saturday morning, and sure enough, I found him in the garage building an... OWL HOUSE. Fancy that!

 

When he finished, he climbed 20 feet up into one of our big oaks, and hung the house.

 

 

The house has a neat little door that can be raised for cleaning, but I don't think I'll be volunteering to make the climb for that job!

 

It cannot be painted or stained, so will need to weather naturally.

Now, we just have to wait for nesting season... and hope all the crows around here, arch enemies of the owls, do not keep them away from their cozy little house.

Life with my hubby is always interesting... but hey... it's OWL good!

Peanuts & Potato Heads Teach ATTENTIVENESS

 

"What would Mrs. Potato Head and George Washington Carver have in common?"

Glad you asked. They both were used to teach children the quality of Attentiveness, while studying a unit on "Hearing God's Voice."

I used Mrs. Potato Head to show how to keep...  feet and hands from distracting... mouths quiet... ears listening... and eyes looking at the speaker. To gain attention at times, I will say, "Children, if you're not looking, then I know you're not"... (and then children will call out the answer), "LISTENING!" That quiets them immediately.

Available from Child Evangelism Fellowship, "Discovering With God," the story of George Washington Carver is a perfect one to focus on "Hearing God's Voice." To reinforce the teaching, we planted peanuts! After soaking raw peanuts overnight, they are ready to plant.

Children planted 3 peanuts in a paper cup full of potting soil.

I made labels to tape to the cups, and included instructions to care for their plants at home.

The kids were thrilled to take their planted peanuts home, and I've heard back that they did indeed grow. My own children did this one year, transplanting to a flower bed, where they harvested quite a crop.

 

By Google-ing "George Washington Carver coloring page," you can find a number to choose from. On the one I chose, I added appropriate text for our lesson.

 

Yes, George Washington Carver spent a lifetime being attentive to God, rising at 4 AM each morning to ask God's orders for the day. Studying his life through the years has caused me to place him in the top ten of my personal "Heroes of the Faith!"

And who could resist the charm of Mrs. Potato Head? She was a weekly reminder to the children to remain attentive.

So... go for it! Use those peanuts... and Potato Heads... and teach memorable lessons!

Entrance of HOPE

 
My friend is serving... somewhere in the vast country of India. She deals with the extreme heat and humidity... power cuts and open sewers... exhaustion and discouragement thinking of the coming holidays so far from family.

And then a child, a precious little girl, enters her life. And once again my friend is able to push on through the hardships, being washed with the joy of seeing a life transformed.

This child had lost her right arm... the loss of a right hand placing her lower than the lowest untouchable... and erasing any hope of future marriage. She and her mother were in such poverty, they picked peanuts daily to buy food. The child never in her life owned a pair of shoes... or a toy of any kind. She had no concept of sleeping in a bed.

Then hope entered her life, as a servant of God reached out to her with Christ's arms of love. She was placed in a good English speaking school, and, though never having studied English before, only two months later, reads the Bible with my friend. She has lovely school clothes and shoes.  She feels she has a great life ahead. Her mother and this child are thanking Jesus, Whom they know sent help.

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." ~ Jeremiah 29:11