“When I was young, I was sure of many things;  now there are only two things of which I am sure:  one is, that I am a miserable sinner; and the other , that Christ is an all-sufficient Saviour.  He is well-taught who learns these two lessons.”  John Newton (1725-1807)

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

T’was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed. ~John Newton

Rarely do we see a worthy commercial anymore.  This  one which gives honor to motherhood,  shows how valuable and important a job it is…..the best career in all the world.

Psalm 139

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain!
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!

Something has happened to our America since we have turned our backs on our godly heritage, traditions and values. The truths taught in the Bible influenced our society and even those folks who did not attend church, often had respect for God and the Bible…many followed “The Golden Rule.”  America was great because America was good.  If we cease to be good, our greatness will end.

Renowned French thinker Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)  made some interesting and noteworthy observations when he visited America in 1831.

     I visited their manufactories, their commercial markets and emporiums  of trade;  I entered their judicial courts and legislative halls; but I sought everything in vain until I entered the Church.  It was there as I listened to the soul-elevating principles of the Gospel of Christ, as they fell from Sabbath to Sabbath upon the masses of the people, that I learned why America was great and free and why France was a slave…..America is great because America is good.  When America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

“Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.”
“Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.”

Alexis de Tocqueville

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Millet (1814-1875)

If you pay attention, occasionally the President slips up and we get a look at his real agenda. Perhaps his most famous “honest moment” was his comment to Joe the Plumber, “We’ve got to spread the wealth around.” Or more recently when he told the president of Russia that he could be much more accommodating after the election. Sometimes you have to read the lines to truly understand Obama’s true agenda.

Recently his Labor Department published new regulations limiting the work children could do on their family farms…it caused an uproar and was withdrawn, but think about what the president was actually attempting to do:

Kids, especially farm kids, with a good work ethic are self reliant, reject the victim card and do not desire to become dependent on the government…to Obama, those America virtues are to be eliminated. He obviously wants the hard working, industrious parts of our population to emulate his adoring masses…the Occupy Wall Street crowd…the inner city welfare crowd, and all the citizens who prefer a government handout to working for a living. That’s his real base and he is doing everything he can to destroy anyone independent, self reliant and opposed to the government nanny state he is effectively imposing on America.

Thank God for the home schooled and farmers’ kids who are being taught true American virtues!
For more inspiring thoughts go to www.inspireandignite.com

Sadly, this sobering video describes what is happening in our America today.  The coal industry is being destroyed even though we have an abundant supply and it is 90% cleaner than it was.  Small businesses are stressed under all of the new regulations and paperwork.  Taxes will be going up next year.  Utility bills will triple as our President promised us. Every area of of lives will be controlled.  We will pay $60 for a light bulb as light bulb factories close down.   I don’t understand how we Americans can be so ignorant and support anti-free market leaders.  Our children will suffer because of our foolishness…and America will not ever be the America we were privileged to grow up in.  We only have ourselves to blame.  Praying for God’s mercy and forgiveness.

Several years ago our family had the pleasure of visiting a civil war display with over 200 civil war re-enactors. We examined authentic Civil War cannons, infantry and cavalry equipment, and many “living history” presentations.  There were cooking demonstrations, military drills and period music. 

One particular display caught my attention. During the civil war there were folks just as there are today who have hearts that burn to share the gospel.  This particular gospel tract by J. C. Ryle was given out to the soldiers and many came to know Christ.  I was so moved by this tract and wanted to share it with you.  I’ve heard the gospel message over and over again and still it brings me to tears.  I can never get over His grace towards us. I hope you are blessed by this message and receive it with JOY!

If you really want to be saved, I give you an invitation this day.  If you want to have peace with God now, and glory in heaven hereafter, I invite you to come to Christ at once, and both shall be your own.

I invite you boldly because of the words which Christ Himself has spoken.  He says, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. “  “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” (Matt11:28, John 6:37.)  Reader, are you tired of your sins?  Are you laboring and heavy laden”  I invite you this day to come to Christ, and you shall be saved.

I know not who you are, or what you have been in time past, but I say boldly, come to Christ by faith, and you shall receive pardon.  High or low, rich or poor, young man or maiden, old man or child – you cannot be worse than Manasseh and Paul before conversion – than David and Peter after conversion:  come to Christ, and you shall be freely forgiven.

Think not for a moment that you have some great thing to do before you come to Christ.  Such a notion is of the earth, earthly; the gospel bids you come just as you are.  Man’s idea is to amend, and turn over a new leaf, and so work his way up to reconciliation and friendship with God: the gospel way is first to be friends with God through Christ, and then to work.  Man’s idea is to toil up the hill, and find life at the top; the gospel way is first to live by faith in Christ, and then to do His will.

And judge ye, every one, judge ye, which  is true Christianity?  Which is the good news?  Which is the glad tidings?  First the fruits of the Spirit, and then peace, or first peace and then the fruits of the Spirit?  First sanctification and then pardon, or first pardon and then sanctification?  First service and then life, or first life and then service?  Reader, your own heart can well supply the answer.

Come, then, willing to receive, and not thinking how much you can bring.  Come willing to take what Christ offers, and not fancying you can give anything in return.  Come with your sins, and no other qualification but a hearty desire for pardon, and so sure as the Bible is true you shall be saved.

You may well tell me you are not worthy, you are not good enough, you are not elect.  I answer, you are a sinner, and you want to be saved, and what more do you want?  You are one of those who Jesus came to save.

Come to Him, and you shall have life.  Call on Him with your words, and He will hear you graciously.  Tell Him all your soul’s necessities, and I know He will give heed.  Tell Him you have heard He receiveth sinners, and that you are such.  Tell Him you have heard He has the keys of life in His hand, and entreat Him to let you in.  Tell Him you come in dependence on His own promises, and ask Him to fulfill His word, and do as He has said.  Do this in simplicity and sincerity, and, my soul for yours, you shall not ask in vain.  Do this, and you shall find Him faithful and just to forgive your sins, and to cleans you from all unrighteousness.

Reader, I am deeply anxious to bring you to the point of actual application to Christ.  I see many who are conscious of sin, and want to be saved, but never get beyond this.  They hear of Christ with the ear, and believe all they are told about Him.  They allow that there is no salvation except in Christ.  They acknowledge that Jesus alone can deliver them from hell, and present them faultless before God.

But they never seem to get beyond this general acknowledgment.  They never fairly lay hold on Christ for their own souls.  They stick fast in a state of wishing, and wanting, and feeling, and intending, and never get any further.  They see what we mean.  They never know it is all true.  They hope one day to get the full benefit of it. But at present they get no benefit at all.

Reader, if you are a man of this kind, I warn you plainly, you are in a bad state of soul.  You are as truly in the way to hell in your present condition, as Judus Iscariot, or Ahab or Cain.  Believe me, there must be actual faith in Christ, or else Christ died in vain, so far as you are concerned.  It is not looking at the bread that feeds the hungry man, but the actual eating of it.  It is not gazing on the life-boat that saves the shipwrecked sailor, but actual getting into it.  It is not knowing the believing that Christ is a Saviour, that will save ;your soul, unless there are actual transactions between you and Christ.

Take the advice I give you this day, and act upon it at once.  Stand still no longer, waiting for some imaginary frames and feelings which will never come.  Hesitate no longer,  under the idea that you must first of all obtain the Spirit, and then come to Christ.  Arise and come to Christ just as you are.  He waits for you, and is as willing to save as He is mighty.  He is the appointed Physician for sick souls.  Deal with Him as you would with your doctor about the cure of a disease of your body.  Make a direct application to Him, and tell Him all your wants.  Tell Him you want to be saved, and ask Him to save you.  Rest not till you have actually tasted for yourself that the Lord is gracious.  Cast yourself wholly and unreservedly on Christ, and your soul shall be saved.

Reader, once more, I invite you.  The Lord grant that the invitation may not be given in vain!

By The Rev. J. C. Ryle, B. A.

Evangelical Tract Society, Petersburg VA. No. 146

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1.     Social cohesion is not possible through other means than government schooling; school is the main defense against social chaos.

2.    Children cannot learn to tolerate each other unless first socialized by government agents.

3.     The only safe mentors of children are certified experts with government-approved conditioning; children must be protected from the uncertified, including parents.

4.     In order to dilute parental influence, children must be disabused of the notion that mother and father are sovereign in morality or intelligence.

6.     Families should be encouraged to expend concern on the general education of everyone but discouraged from being unduly concerned with their own children’s education.

7.     The State has predominant responsibility for training, morals and beliefs.  Children who escape state scrutiny will become immoral.

8.     Children from families with different beliefs, backgrounds and styles must be forced together even if those beliefs violently contradict one another.  Robert Frost, the poet, was wrong when he maintained that “good fences make good neighbors.”

9.     Coercion in the name of liberty is a valid use of state power.

John Taylor Gatto

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This powerful video describes my king.  I can hardly watching it without crying.

Do you know Him?………………………………………………………Turn Music off……….>>>>>

Time is running out for my friend.

We are sitting at lunch when she casually mentions that she and her husband are thinking of “starting a family.” What she means is that her
biological clock has begun its countdown and she is considering the prospect of motherhood.

“We’re taking a survey,” she says, half jokingly. “Do you think I should have a baby?”

“It will change your life,” I say carefully.

“I know,” she says. “No more sleeping in on Saturdays, no more spontaneous vacations…”

But that is not what I mean at all.

I look at my friend, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes. I want to tell her that the physical wounds of childbirth heal, but that becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will be forever vulnerable.

I consider warning her that she will never read a newspaper again without asking “What if that had been my child?” That every plane crash, every fire will haunt her. That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will look at the mothers and wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die.

I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think she should know that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will immediately reduce her to the primitive level. That a slightly urgent call of “Mom!” will cause her to drop her best crystal without a moment’s hesitation.

I feel I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood. She might successfully arrange for child care, but one day she will be waiting to go into an important business meeting, and she will think about her baby’s sweet smell. She will have to use every ounce of discipline to keep from running home, just to make sure he is all right.

I want my friend to know that everyday routine decisions will no longer be routine. That a visit to Mc Donald’s and a five year old boy’s desire to go to the men’s room rather than the women’s room will become a major dilemma. That right there, in the midst of clattering trays and screaming children, issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that danger may be lurking in the rest room.

I want her to know that however decisive she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself constantly as a mother. Looking at my attractive friend, I want to assure her that eventually she will shed the pounds of pregnancy, but will never feel the same about herself. That her life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child. That she would give it up in a moment to save her offspring, but will also begin to hope for more years, not so much to accomplish her own dreams, but to watch her child accomplish his.

I want her to know that a cesarean scar or stretch marks will become badges of honor.

My friend’s relationship with her husband will change, but not in the ways she thinks. I wish she could understand how much more you can love a man who is always careful to powder the baby or who never hesitates to play with his son. I think she should know that she will fall in love with her husband again for reasons she would never have imagined.

I wish my modern friend could sense the bond she will feel with other women throughout history who have tried desperately to stop war and prejudice and drunk driving.

I want to describe to my friend the exhilaration of seeing your son learn to hit a baseball. I want to capture for her the laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog for the first time. I want her to taste the joy that is so real that it hurts.

My friend’s quizzical look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes.

“You’ll never regret it,” I say finally.

by Dale Hanson Bourke
Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul

This story is in honor of Democratic strategist, Hilary Rosen, who said that Ann Romney who raised five sons while battling MS and Cancer, has not worked a day in her life.

One afternoon a man came home from work to find total mayhem in his house. His three children were outside, still in their P.J.’s, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers thrown all about the front yard. The door to his wife’s car was open, as was the front door to the house. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess.

A lamp had been knocked over, and a throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, Breakfast food was spilled on the counter, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand lay piled up by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and other piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried that she might be ill, or worse!!

He found her lounging into the bedroom, still in her pajamas, reading a novel.

She smiled, looked up at him and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, “What happened here today?”

She again smiled and answered, “you know everyday when you come home from work and ask me what in the world did I do today?”

“Yes”, he replied reluctantly.

She answered, “We’ll, today I didn’t do it!!”

“Humanism is anti-biblical through and through. It permeates today’s schools, media, and political debates. Almost daily you can read or hear something that provides an opportunity to point out to your children how it differs from the Bible. This may be difficult at first if you have not practiced it yet. Humanists are skilled at communication. They make their views sound so good that Christians can be lured into agreeing. Watch for the tricky use of words like dogmatic or intolerance. Watch for political or societal issues that your children can understand well enough to compare with the Bible. After the news or other opportune occasions, point out something unbiblical and have a brief conversation about it…

The roots of humanism go back at least to the beginning of anti-God religion – to the people who believed the serpent’s promise that they could become wise like God. That religion spread everywhere. The Greeks embraced it in their thinking. Plato, Socrates, and other famous philosophers though they could find truth by their own reasoning. They asked important questions like what is mind, what is soul, and is there life after death. What is the origin of man? What is evil? Greek philosophers tried to solve those big questions by human reason alone. This sharpening of the human intellect was a major aim of Greek education, and modern humanism descends from those Greek roots.

On its way to us from ancient Greece, humanism passed through the Italian Renaissance. The Italians coined the name humanism. Latin umanisa was equivalent to “classicist” or “classical scholar.” History textbooks present this humanism of the Renaissance as a major turning point in western civilization, and this thinking still lives today.

To bring this humanism into Christian education is to try to merge paganism with Christianity. Humanist thinking opposes biblical thinking and unless we can push it back, our children’s generation will be promoting it even more stridently than ours.”

- Ruth Beechick

from “Worldviews to Match the Bible”
quote obtained from Whatever State I Am

“Good teachers are independent souls, and they do what works for them.” ~Ruth Beechick

When I first began homeschooling I was blessed to stumble  upon a few books from Dr. Ruth Beechick.  She was one resource that God used to give me the confidence to homeschool and teach my children the basics…the 3 R’s.  She understands that parents are the very best teachers.

Unfortunately, I’ve always had what I call “the grass is always greener syndrome,” and often compare my homeschool activities, successes and failures to others around me.  Because of this tendency, which is very unfruitful,  I find the words of Ruth Beechick to be both comforting and encouraging.

“I meet teaching parents all around the country and find them to be intelligent, enthusiastic, creative people doing a marvelous job of teaching their children. But, sad to say, most of them do not know what a great job they are doing. Everyone thinks it goes smoothly in everyone else’s house and theirs is the only place that has problems. I’ll let you in on a secret about teaching: there is no place in the world where it rolls along smoothly without problems. Only in articles and books can that happen.”

Some of the wonderful materials by Ruth Beechick include: Teach your child successfully, The 3 R’s, Heart & Mind and more.  For more information check out her website here. 

I received this letter in my email box recently.  Perhaps I’m not comprehending this correctly, because I am hearing very little outrage…where is the condemnation?  Could it actually be describing what I think it is describing?    Shouldn’t we be alarmed?  Why isn’t this all over the news and on the front page of our newspapers?  Have we already been under a dictatorship that was not implemented during past administrations?  If so, this is news to me.  Please comment on this one….indeed this is something we should be talking about around our kitchen tables…tonight!  Praying for our America.

This song written by Don Francisco describes the moments and days after the death of Christ..from Peter’s perspective.

(Be sure to turn off the website music before beginning this video. )

B-I-B-L-E  Basic-Instruction-Before-Leaving-Earth

This video of Kirk Cameron speaking at the Bible Bee conference is worth listening to. I appreciate his explanation about being in God’s will.  How do you know you are in the will of God?  Listen and share with your children. (turn the music off)

Last Spring on a Sunday afternoon we took one of our “nowhere” drives thru the country. My husband was quietly driving along some back roads. I was occupied in the front passenger seat watching out the window as the scenery went by.

I noticed out of the corner of my eye that my husband was straining to lookout my window. This startled me, since his eyes should be on the road in front of him. I asked him what he was looking at out the windows, and he quietly replied, “Nothing. ” He could have said he was looking for pine tree crosses for Easter. His eyes went back to the road in front of him.

After a few minutes, I looked over at my husband and noticed a tear running down his cheek. I asked him what was wrong. This time he told me, “I was just thinking about Pop and a story he had once told me.” Of course, because it had to do with his Pop I wanted to know the story, so I asked him to share Pop’s story with me.

He said, “When I was about 8 years old, Pop and I were out fishing and that’s when he told me that the pine trees know when it is Easter.”

I had no idea what he meant by that, so I pressed him for more information.

He continued on… “The Pine trees start their new growth in the weeks before Easter. If you look at the tops of the Pine trees two weeks before Easter, you will see the yellow shoots. As the days get closer to Easter Sunday, the tallest shoot will branch off and form pine tree crosses for Easter. By the time Easter Sunday comes around, you will see that most of the Pine trees will have small yellow crosses on all of the tallest pine shoots.
I turned to look out the window and I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a week before Easter, and you could see all of the pine trees with the tall yellow shoots stretching to Heaven.

The tallest ones shone in the sunlight like rows of tiny golden crosses.
Author Unknown

found @ mrspriceisrighthomeschooling