Changed By Love

Changed By Love

Following the Lamb wherever he goes… Revelation 14:4

Our Favorite Quick, Easy, Cheap Meal

I just made this last night when we ran out of time to make hamburgers and french fries, like we had planned.

I was commenting on how this is the quickest, cheapest meal I make, and we all love it, when my son said, “You should share that on your blog!”

So here it is:

Creamed Dried Beef (adapted for a family of 12)

6 packets of Carl Buddig’s dried beef (2.5 oz packets)
1 stick of butter
8 T flour
5 c of milk
3 t worcestershire

Melt butter in a skillet. Shred dried beef and put it in the butter. Stir the flour into the butter mixture when the edges of the dried beef curl. Add the milk. Stir it until it is thickened like gravy. Add the worcestershire and salt to taste, pepper if you like.

Serve on toast.

We all really like this. It fills us up, and only costs about $10.00 or less!

The Civil War, an Allegory about God’s Plan of Salvation, Constantine and Creation Science

Those are a few of the topics we have been reading about during the last several weeks.

We are planning a trip to Gettysburg since it’s only about a half hour away from here, and we now have a van to get there.

So I got a bunch of books from the library about Gettysburg, Lincoln and the Civil War.

I chose a couple of them to read aloud to the older kids.

I even had the twins (7 years old) listen to a biography of Abraham Lincoln. It was the Childhood of Famous Americans’ biography of Abraham Lincoln.

Then I read a book by Jim Murphy called The Long Road to Gettysburg. It told the story before and after the battle of Gettysburg, using journal entries from a Union soldier and from a Confederate soldier. It was interesting. I enjoy the way he simplifies army movements and puts a personal touch on historical stories.

There are a few more Civil War books I would like to read to the kids before we go.

A wonderful follow-up to that, besides our trip to Gettysburg, will be our trip to South Carolina to see Gary and Patrick. While we are there close to Charleston, we are planning to go see Fort Sumter. So we’re getting to take some neat field trips.

We are still reading The Wormling Series. We’re on the fifth book, the last one of the series, called The Author’s Blood. We are still enthralled with the story. Morgan, especially, can predict what is going to happen next. He is very engaged with this story. We are now at the End Times in the allegory, and many parts of the mystery have now been revealed, such as the mystery in Ephesians 1:10 of “that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him.” We’ve also gotten a better understanding of the mystery in Colossians 1:27 “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory”.

Speaking of mysteries, I’m reading The Mystery of History, vol. 2 and we are now at the part about Constantine. I’m reading it as a continuous story, not really stopping to go in-depth. I think I will order Diana Waring’s History Revealed for the same time period, Romans, Reformers, Revolutionaries and go back over it in more detail.

I read a book about Eleanor of Aquitaine last week. The kids were not crazy about her personally, but the book gave us a taste of the time of Henry the Second and the relationship between England and France during the 12th century. I thought she would be the perfect person to study to get an overview of this period and these countries since she was queen over France and then queen over England, married to two different kings! Her story is very interesting. The book is a very entertaining book called “A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver” by E. L. Konigsberg. A good follow-up for this is the Disney movie, Robin Hood, since it covers the same time period and mentions King Richard and Prince John, both of whom were Eleanor’s sons.

Another book I’ve been reading aloud to the kids is a book by my friend Felice Gerwitz. I know her through Cindy Rushton. Yes, she is an online friend, but I have listened to her a lot, and I feel like I know her. I was attending a Mommy Jammy night online and won Felice’s mystery series that she wrote with her daughter, Christina. I started reading the first book and enjoyed it so much that I read it all to myself. I couldn’t put it down. Then last week, I read the second book to myself. I finally decided to share these good stories with my kids, so I’ve started reading the first book to them. It is called “The Missing Link: FOUND”. Felice has sprinkled lots of Creation Science facts throughout this exciting mystery. I plan to write a review of this series on my blog, so be watching for it.

So, as you can see, Safe Haven Academy is still going strong. Yes, we continue school through the summer because if we didn’t we wouldn’t be living. Homeschooling is our life and our lifestyle. But school is so interesting and fun that I don’t feel like a slave driver or abuser of my children. Family time is education time. Shouldn’t it be?

The Father’s Kiss

David Wilkerson Today
June 21, 2011

A great blessing becomes ours when we’re made to sit in heavenly places. What is this blessing? It’s the privilege of acceptance: “He hath made us accepted in the beloved [Christ]” (Ephesians 1:6). The Greek word for “accepted” means highly favored. That’s different from the English usage, which can be interpreted to mean “received as adequate.” This signifies something that can be endured, suggesting an attitude of, “I can live with it.” That’s not the case with Paul’s use of the word. His use of “accepted” translates as, “God has highly favored us. We are very special to him because we are in our place in Christ.”

Because God accepted Christ’s sacrifice, he now sees only one corporate man: Christ, and those who are bound to him by faith. Our flesh has died in God’s eyes. How? Jesus did away with our old nature at the Cross. So now, when God looks at us, he sees only Christ. In turn, we need to learn to see ourselves as God does. That means not focusing solely on our sins and weaknesses, but on the victory that Christ won for us at the Cross.

The parable of the Prodigal Son provides a powerful illustration of the acceptance that comes when we’re given a heavenly position in Christ. You know the story: A young man took his inheritance from his father and squandered it on a sinful life. Then, once the son became completely bankrupt—morally, emotionally and physically—he thought of his father. He was convinced he’d lost all favor with him. And he feared that his father was full of wrath and hatred toward him.

The Scripture tells us that this broken young man was full of grief over his sin and cried out, “I’m unworthy. I’ve sinned against heaven.” This represents those who come to repentance through godly sorrow.

The Prodigal told himself, “I will arise and go to my father” (Luke 15:18). He was exercising his blessing of access. Are you getting the picture? The Prodigal had turned from his sin, he’d left the world behind, and he’d accessed the open door his father had promised him. He was walking in repentance and appropriating access.

So, what happened to the Prodigal Son? “When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). What a beautiful scene. The sinful son was forgiven, embraced and loved by his father, with no wrath or condemnation whatsoever. When he received his father’s kiss, he knew he was accepted.

http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/node/13741

David’s ministry team and I are on the same theme this week! The same Holy Spirit is directing us. This article expands on who we are in Him and how He feels about us, the two-step in my last article about Five Steps to a Supernatural Life. Read about all five steps by going to Five Steps to a Supernatural Life in the categories in the right side bar.

Currclick Back to Beach Sale and Scavenger Hunt!

Here are some freebies that you get to have some fun finding on Currclick’s site. Look for 8 hidden beach creatures, each containing a freebie. HINT: Like Currclick on Facebook and get hints for finding the freebies. They’re hard to find!

I have used so many resources from Currclick and a majority of them have been freebies. I have so many unit studies in my account there that I could do almost all of my homeschooling for the rest of my homeschooling years just by using the resources that I have stored there. And, like I said, most of them have been free.

What a great resource for homeschoolers Currclick is! Please check out this sale and support them, as well as stocking up on some more freebies. I’ll see you there!

We Are Family

I had missed this when it came in my email. I just now read it, but I think it makes a good follow-up to yesterday’s post about the fifth step in the Five Steps to a Supernatural Life. It really describes the first half-step, knowing who we are in Him. Read this to help establish your understanding of your right to expect answers to your prayers. As surely as God answered Jesus’ prayers, He will answer yours.

David Wilkerson Today
June 17, 2011

Claiming the power that is in Christ’s name is not some complicated, hidden theological truth. In my library are books written solely on the subject of Jesus’ name. The authors wrote them to help believers understand the deep implications hidden in Christ’s name. Yet, most of these books are so “deep,” they go right over readers’ heads.

I believe the truth we’re meant to know about Jesus’ name is so simple, a child could understand it. It’s simply this: When we make our requests in Jesus’ name, we’re to be fully persuaded that it’s the same as if Jesus himself were asking the Father. You ask, How could this be true? Let me explain.

We know that God loved his Son. He spoke with Jesus and taught him during his time on earth. And God not only heard but answered every request his Son made. Jesus testified to this, saying, “He heareth me always.” In short, the Father never denied his Son any request.

Today, all who believe in Jesus are clothed in his Sonship. And the heavenly Father receives us as intimately as he receives his own Son. Why? It’s because of our spiritual union with Christ. Through his crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus has made us one with the Father. “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us…I in them, and thou in me” (John 17:21–23).

Simply put, we are now family—one with the Father, and one with the Son. We’ve been adopted, with the full rights of inheritance possessed by any child. This means all the power and resources of heaven are made available to us, through Christ.

Praying “in the name of Jesus” is not a formula. It is not the phrase that has power in simply speaking it. The power is in believing that Jesus takes up our cause and brings it to the Father on his own merits. He is the Advocate—he is doing the asking for us. The power is in fully trusting that God never denies his own Son and we are the beneficiary of the Father’s utter faithfulness to his Son.