A DVD Review - God of Wonders

Our family enjoys integrating educational DVD's into our homeschooling days from time to time, and one of our absolute favourites is God of Wonders. It is absolutely incredible! 

What I love about this DVD the most is that it truly does foster a sense of 'wonder' of our amazing God! Bible verses are used along side beautiful images, interesting facts and lovely narration so that we can see how the Bible lines up with the stunning creation that God has made. There is absolutely no way that this DVD supports or provides evidence for evolution; it's all about glorifying our amazing God, His power, authority, wisdom and creativity.

It's a DVD that's really enjoyable for all ages, whether child or adult. I can see it also leading into further 'topic studies' for science curriculum or nature studies.

There are 18 topics covered and it has a running length of 85 minutes. 

Topics Covered ... 

1. Introduction
2. God of Power
3. Thunderstorms
4. Sun/Stars
5. Universe
6. E=mc2
7. God of Wisdom
8. Snow Crystals
9. DNA
10. Seeds
11. Flowering Plants
12. Sea Creatures
13. Birds 
14. Hummingbirds
15. Butterflies
16. Mankind
17. God of Justice
18. God of Love

I would highly recommend this DVD to anyone. It's approach is very informative, but also very compassionate and therefor would make a great gift for anyone who might be confused or believing of evolution. I would rate this DVD 

If you're wanting to purchase this for your family or friends you can here, here and here!

Also, if you know any other DVD's that we could watch, please be sure to let me know, I'm always on the look out for anything that can teach my children about our marvelous God!! 

Have a beautiful week!

Splendid Majesty

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

Psalm 19:1

I praise you Father. You are so beautiful, so powerful. 

My hearts swells with thankfulness when I think of Who You are. 

You are sovereign, faithful to keep your promises, never ending, never failing love. 

Creator of everything, Father you are splendid Majesty. 

I love you. 

What Will You Choose?

My heart is heavy. It's sorrowful. And I think God's heart might be that way too. When He sees His people living lives that aren't His best for them. Sees them making choices that have eternal consequences and it's as if they don't even care. Don't care about the destination of their souls. Don't care that they are shutting out His goodness, His love. Choosing to put the things of this world above the things of Heaven. I'm guilty of all of this. Guilty of wanting my own way, of being relentlessly selfish and worldly. Of thinking I know best. How His heart must break. 

His people choosing to ignore His Word, not even feed on the Words of life that He so freely and perfectly gave us. To let them soak into the core of who we are, so this world and all of it's filth just ricochets off of us. Seeing His people needlessly suffer and stress and worry and live in turmoil, when we're the ones who stand in our own fickle pride and act as though we can make it on our own. Are we serious? Do we really think that we can survive this life without drawing from the Author of Life? 

He puts before us life and death; His plea? 

Choose life! Choose Me! Forget this world with it's quickly passing standards, with it's quick fixes and worthless solutions and just CHOOSE ME! I'm everything. I hold everything. I've made everything. I know everything. I know you. Children of mine, be mine. Live as mine. Breathe as mine. Stand out, stand up, speak out. Let your life be a mirror image of me. 

And it's not about methods, or routines, or formula's, or schedules. It's not about any of this. It's about whether we want it enough. All the methods in the world won't change a thing if you simply don't want to. If you simply don't want to pray, don't want to pour over His word, don't want to thank Him for every blessing, don't want to take every horrible, hard, seemingly impossible situation to Him and leave it there for Him to work out in His perfect way. It's about choices. 

He's given us every answer to every dilemma. He's suffered through every single thing known to man when He hung on that Cross. And yet the walls of the box go up and He is placed so safely and comfortably inside of it, having access to only what we let Him. It's not about anything other than our choices. Are we going to choose Him or not? Choose Him fully or not? Are we going to listen to the world or not? Follow the way of death, or life? It's not complicated. His ways are easy. His ways are perfect. His ways are more than enough.

(Photo Credit)

The Quiet Time Basket

So many things have been changing and happening around here lately, that I haven't found the time to be able to sit down and write a single thing! I've missed you all and missed writing here in this little space! With that being said, I would like to share with you a little something practical that has given me a 'boost' in my times with the Lord. 

My husband and I enjoyed a lengthy conversation the other night about habits. We talked about healthy ones, unhealthy ones and new ones that we would like to create. We realised that we're all creating habits each and every day, whether we notice them or not, and whether we intentionally choose to or not.

So, if habits are formed regardless, isn't is much wiser to choose healthy ones in the first place? 

To focus on what we spend our time on, what we read, listen to etc, and make sure that we are choosing that which is good? Time is being spent every second of every day; time that is irreplaceable. Habits are formed each day, and unhealthy ones are hard to break.

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. Duet 30:19

I want to choose life. We must choose life!

In my day to day life I want to deliberately choose the healthy habit of spending time with the Lord. Of praying, giving thanks, reading His word, journaling, keeping a thankful list and so on. Putting all the materials together for these activities makes it so much easier for me to keep this healthy habit. Anything to make habit forming easier, right?

Enter the Quiet Time Basket.

What is that you ask? It's very simple. It's a basket that I picked up from a local garage sale (for 50c) that I have filled with all my essential quiet time materials so that it's really easy to grab it in the morning (with my cup of coffee of course) and head outside for some time with my precious Saviour.

Here's what's in my Quiet Time Basket ...

• My Bible
• Highlighters
• Pens
• Lead Pencils and colouring pencils
• My journal
• My thankful journal
• a small tin of solid watercolour paints and brushes
• rubber and sharpener
• fine tip coloured felt pens
• the book that I'm currently reading

What I really enjoy about this is that it's something that's so simple, but it's effects are so good for the soul! And if I have a spare few minutes throughout the day, I can just grab it again and off I go! How easy is that?!

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Phil 4:8.

I pray you all have a beautiful week choosing to spend time with the Lord!

Heart Stories: Sufficient Grace

Her eyes were blurred slits when she heard the discomforting noise of siblings bickering in the kitchen. She wished for mornings that began in still, quiet peace. The clanging of dishes woke her fully and she drew in a deep, burdensome breath. Another day. She felt weak, unequipped, unfocused. How can she possibly complete all she needed to do in a day? It was all overwhelming her. The Bible verse on her iPhone app gave her a glimmer of hope. 

"My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in your weakness". 

It's not her strength, she remembered, but His. It's not her wisdom, but His. Not her joy, but His. Her soul felt renewed as her feet began daily tasks and her heart was thankful for His daily, moment-by-moment, sufficient grace.

Six Things I've Learnt As A Home School Novice ... So Far!

If you're a newcomer to the home school world, and like me still finding your way, then I have some pointers for you to hopefully help steer you in the right direction! These are the things that I've found to be very helpful so far for my family and I!

#1  Begin each day with a quiet time and prayer ...

Each morning I try to rise before the kids do, which is very hard sometimes when you have two children who mostly get up at the crack of dawn. That and the fact that I'm not naturally a morning person, means that sometimes I don't get out of bed early at all! On the mornings that I can, I make myself a hot cup of coffee and sit back in bed, or at the kitchen table and pour over my Bible in the peace and quiet of the early morning home. It sets the tone for the rest of the day. I pray for His wisdom and strength, His peace and joy. I thank Him for His goodness, His love and everything else! Sometimes it helps to journal as well, especially if there's a special scripture that has really stood out to me that day. The days where I don't have this time ... I really notice it. Everything seems to be that bit more stressful and unproductive.

#2  Get yourself dressed and ready for the day ...

It sounds simple, I know. It's not like any of us would just spend the day trudging around in our nighties or anything?! As simple as this sounds, it really makes a huge difference. Showering and dressing in clothes you love, be it a dress, or a skirt and top, pants, bathers, old clothes, whatever you prefer, is a great way to make sure you are beginning the day prepared, awake and ready to be productive! Do your skincare routine if you have one, put on a bit of makeup if you like, do your hair neatly, etc. It helps me to feel good about myself.

#3  Invest in new stationary ...

It's so good to create, write and learn using brand new stationary that actually works! Our last lot of felt tip pens looked like mini chimney sweep brushes! So, I tossed out the three year old hard crayons, chimney brushes and split pencils and stocked up on new ones! They were on special too, which is a bonus! It's a great incentive for the kids to work well and they've been busy creating beautiful artworks too!

#4  Have your school space as organised as possible ...

Your school space doesn't have to be expensive or fancy if you don't want it to be. Ours is quite basic (the above pic is only a little space of our books etc.) and simple as it's also the main dining room of our home. At the end of every school day we make an effort to put things back where they belong. It makes the whole space available for other activities and family meals, and also ensures that everything that is needed for the children's school work can be easily located when needed, saving time and frustration! Having my children be responsible for their own tidy up is important for many reasons; teaching them tidiness, organisation, respect of their parents home, being productive etc.

#5  Make time for yourself each day ...

I have learnt that if I want to be the best mother I possibly can (with God's help) than I need to take some time each day to just relax. I've learnt that the amount of time in which I have to do this is irrelevant to the benefits that we all receive from it. Even just 15 minutes of lying on the lounge resting, or having a hot cup of tea outside in the cool of the garden while the kids play is a very easy way to 're-charge' for the rest of the day ahead. Looking after ourselves is not selfish when we spend each day looking after the many needs of the ones we love, it is vital if we are to look after them well.

#6  Make time for your marriage ...

I have already posted on this point and you can read about it all here. You and your husband were a family before your children became a part of your story; make sure you take the time to cherish him, hug and kiss him, and build up his self-esteem. Of course, we don't always get this right, but it's important that our men still see that we are making an effort for them and not just our children.

#7  Clean as you go ...

I start some mornings when needed, by putting on a load of washing and asking a couple of my children to put away the clean dishes if they weren't done the night before. Our floors are swept in the morning, our cats fed, and our beds made with rooms relatively tidy. I find that with these basic chores done first thing, I can then go about the day doing other odd jobs in between helping children with school work and other daily activities. We all know what it's like to get to the end of the day and have the house look like a storm's hit. Cleaning as you go really helps to minimise end of day cleanup. Do the dishes at breakfast and lunch, sweep the floor as needed, stock the bathroom with clean towels, take out the rubbish, tidy the bookshelves. You can even fill the sink up with very hot water and detergent and just pop in your dishes as you go, if that works for you! Find ways to clean as you go and you'll find you gain more time at the end of the day!

I know that as our home schooling journey continues, there will be many more lessons to learn! I know that God is leading our journey, and for this I am so thankful! 

Have a beautiful week! 

Intimacy With God - A Different Bible Study Method

Digging deeper into God's Word is something that I really want to do more of on a daily basis. My pastors wife and I were discussing this one day and she gave me a great idea of how to draw more out of verses that I love!

We all know about 'thought bubbles' when it comes to writing, but she suggested using this same method for learning more about scripture too! I immediately loved the idea, because, as you know, I love anything and everything to do with writing (even using a dictionary and thesaurus!)

It may seem like a less personal way to study the precious word of God, but I've found that it adds more depth of meaning to the verses and more of a handle on how to apply it to my life. Which is what we all need to do more of, I'm sure!

So, here's the process ...

• find a favourite Bible verse that you want to memorise and dig deeper into
• write this verse in the middle of your page with a circle around it
• circle/highlight/underline the most significant words of the verse for you
• using a dictionary and thesaurus find meanings of selected words and write them branching off each word
• find other Bible verses that are about chosen words and write them branching off definitions

Easy to understand? I'll show you ...

 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, 

but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 

2 Timothy 1:7

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Philippians 4:8

This is definitely something that I will continue to do as a part of how I study God's Word. I desire to be a women who pours out the word of God; living words that refresh, guide, encourage, correct. I know that I can't live this life and fulfil all that God has given me to do at each stage, without the guidance that comes from His Word. God's Word is life to us; it should be our priority. 

Our most valuable possession in this life is our intimacy with God. 

We have to determine how intimate we are going to be with Him. 

Your word is a lamp for my feet,
    a light on my path.

Psalm 119:105

Enjoy being intimate with God this week!