Priority #3 - My Children - Bronze Award Recipient

It cannot be easy being the youngest in a family of ambitious children. Our firstborn, Dancing Angel, had her own dance ministry at 12 and was a member of two other ministry dance teams before YHWH called her home 21 days after she turned 13 years old.

My Diva, was the longest standing member of Teen Court, achieving the position of Judge, was the president of her Girl Scout troop, and was the first of our girls to get a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. She also successfully transitioned from being homeschooled all her life to one of the state of Texas' most prestigous universities.

Our son, Boy Wonder, is only two ranks away from working on his Boy Scout Eagle, is striving for the coveted Spaatz award in Civil Air Patrol, and in addition to being the first child in our family to obtain a 1st degree Black Belt, will be testing for 2nd degree in the fall. Last night, I got his grade from his first academic class taken outside the home. He earned a 90.9% in General Science for 7th grade!

Along comes Princess Butterfly, following in her siblings' footsteps, but trying to find her own nich as well. She was the youngest child in our family ever to have a Black Belt, having earned it at 10 years old. Today, she comes into her own. This afternoon, she and three other members of her Girl Scout troop will be awarded the highest honor given to a Girl Scout Junior, the Bronze Award. "The Bronze Award is the highest recognition a Girl Scout Junior can achieve. It helps girls improve the community around them while building leadership skills. To earn this award, a Girl Scout Junior will do a project that shows she understands and lives by the Girl Scout Promise and Law. If a girl decides to earn the Bronze Award, she must complete it before she bridges into Girl Scout Cadettes." With her troop, they set of a health fair for Girl Scout Brownies (younger girls) that allowed them to earn three Try-Its. We had over 100 Brownies attend. She will also be bridging to Cadettes. I am SO proud!

"Intelligent children make their parents proud; lazy students embarrass their parents." Proverbs 15:20 The Message

Blessings!

Priority # 2 - My Husband - Red, White, Blue, and Green

While attending a graveside service at a Veteran's cemetery a couple of years ago where the husband and his widow were both veterans, they gave an opportunity for those who had served to salute. I was so moved to see the widow stand at attention and solute but I was even more moved because the man who stood beside me took a step away from me to make clearance so he, too, could salute. That man was my Friend Hubby. I am more than a little proud to have been married for 12 of his 20 years of service to our country in the United States Air Force. I am also thankful to have him here with me. My heart goes out to those whose veterans have paid the ultimate sacrifice. I am also so proud of our niece who is serving as well. She has had some difficult times during deployment this past year and we are so grateful to have her home.

Last night, I got bit by a green-eyed monster - JEALOUSY! Friend Hubby was invited to go fishing with a friend this morning. He has never been fishing before and was so excited to get the invitation. I confess, I was so jealous. I didn't even take off from work today. Now I'm sad that I was jealous because my computer has a virus and instead of going fishing, at the moment, he is trying to fix my computer. He is NOT a happy camper. I pray that Adonai will give me creative ideas to make his day better from this point AND pray I get my computer fixed!

Blessings!

Priority #1 - My God - Commands, Statutes, and Laws

We listened to another good word preached by Rabbi Ralph Messer this Sabbath. This was a scripture that he highlighted:

"For Abraham listened to and obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commands, My statutes, and My laws." Gen. 25:6 AMP

We as "New Testament" believers have rarely taken the time to break down what each of these separate words mean, and thus, have become poor in our heritage as children of God.

My Commands = This is the Hebrew word mitzvot. It has been translated as commandment, precept ("pre"- before the foundation of the world, "cept"- thoughts of God. In other words, the way He intended for us to walk from the very beginning). It has also been translated as law and ordinances.

My Statutes = This is the Hebrew word chukot. It has been translated in our Bibles as statute, ordinance, custom, appointed times, manners, and rites.

My Laws = This is the Hebrew word torah. It has most often been translated as "law." Unfortunately, we have a Pavlov's conditioned response to the word "law." Something in us automatically screams "rebel!" However, if we were to correctly translate this word, it would come out as the "instruction and teaching of the mind of God." This is the way in which, before the very foundation of the world, He desired His children to walk.

I gave one of my children an instruction one day. "Don't run in the house." I even gave a reason for the instruction. "The floors are slippery." My child ran in the house. To this day I still have the note that I wrote to my husband instructing him to meet us at the dentist's office for this child who transgressed my commandment and subsequently chipped their tooth.

If we would learn to go back to the original meanings of some of our culturally mistranslated scriptures and view them, as closely as possible in the light in which they were written, we would have the abundant life that the Messiah spoke of BECAUSE we follow the instruction and teaching of our Father BEFORE the consequences come.

Psalm 119:1-8 AMP

BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, to be envied) are the undefiled (the upright, truly sincere, and blameless) in the way [of the revealed will of God], who walk (order their conduct {customs} and conversation) in the law of the Lord (the whole of God's revealed will).

Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are they who keep His testimonies, and who seek, inquire for and of Him and crave Him with the whole heart.

Yes, they do no unrighteousness [no willful wandering from His precepts]; they walk in His ways.

You have commanded us to keep Your precepts, that we should observe them diligently.

Oh, that my ways were directed and established to observe Your statutes [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them]!

Then shall I not be put to shame [by failing to inherit Your promises] when I have respect to all Your commandments.

I will praise and give thanks to You with uprightness of heart when I learn [by sanctified experiences] Your righteous judgments [Your decisions against and punishments for particular lines of thought and conduct].

I will keep Your statutes; O forsake me not utterly.

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John 14:15 AMP "If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands."

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Matthew 5:16 AMP "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds {mitzvot} and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven."

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Ephesians 2:8-10 CJB "For you have been delivered by grace through trusting, and even this is not your accomplishment but God's gift. You were not delivered by your own actions; therefore no one should boast. For we are of God's making, created in union with the Messiah Yeshua for a life of good actions {mitzvot} already prepared by God for us to do."

I am full from the word this Sabbath! Now, Father, help me to mix the word with faith and walk it out in my life this week!

Blessings!

Priority # 6 - My Ministry - Tick! Tock! I'm on the Clock

Time and I have never been good friends. It's like an untrained dog. It won't stay where I put it and if you turn your back on it, once you turn around again it has turned your life upside down. In front of my keyboard I have a little chart that lists how much money I could make as a medical transcriptionist. The variables are typing speed versus hours worked per week. On the bottom right under typing speed of 80 wpm and 40 hours per week, the figure quoted is $39,520. There are 2080 work hours in a year so that comes to about $19 per hour. Since I'm paid by the line, that averages out to a little more than 200 lines per hour. There are days that I CAN reach 200 lines per hour and there are other days that I'm lucky to be moving at half that speed.

I have been doing MUCH better than I used to. I credit a couple of things. First in learning to keep the Sabbath. One day I was reading something about Sabbath keeping and it said, "Not only has the Lord commanded us to rest on the seventh day, but He has commanded us to WORK on the six other days." Could I say with all honesty that I was working when I was supposed to be working on those other 6 days? How could I keep the sabbath if I hadn't kept the "work"?

It has been about a year since we have been keeping the sabbath consistently. What started off rocky has turned into something -- well, less rocky. I can now get off work on Friday afternoon, look back on my work week, and say, "It is good," and enjoy my weekend with family and friends. No more am I sitting at the computer until all hours of the night pretending to work because I'm already depressed because I have squandered my time this pay period and there is no way I can possibly make it up.

Secondly, I have also learned a LOT about productivity from reading blogs. One of my favorite is called Working Naked, for people who work from home like me (but choose not to be naked).

Yesterday's, blog was called 9 Ways to Increase your Productivity at Home. It has been INCREDIBLY helpful and I reward myself for my productivity by spending time with my favorite people on earth. :-)

"Six days you shall do your work, but the seventh day you shall rest and keep Sabbath, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your bondwoman, and the alien, may be refreshed." Exodus 23:12 AMP

"Blessed, happy, and fortunate is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold of it and binds himself fast to it, who keeps sacred the Sabbath so as not to profane it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil." Isaiah 56:2 AMP

"If you turn away your foot from [traveling unduly on] the Sabbath, from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a [spiritual] delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor Him and it, not going your own way or seeking or finding your own pleasure or speaking with your own [idle] words, then will you delight yourself in the Lord, and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage [promised for you] of Jacob your father; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." Isaiah 58:13-14 AMP

"And hallow (separate and keep holy) My Sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord your God." Ezekiel 20:20 AMP

Blessings!

Priority #5 - Me - God Save the Queen

I have been through a transition year and I haven't been able to catalog it. I miss blogging on Yahoo! 360. I had it down to a science and it was part of my life's routine. I was faithful, and popular. Since Yahoo! shut it down, I have been wandering in a sort of blogger's wilderness. I switched to Multiply but didn't like the format. I switched to homeschool blogger, but that homeschooling mom doesn't encompass the sum total of who I am. So, I'm back to blogging here (hopefully consistently).

I ran across a work-from-home productivity blog that mentioned getting out old habits and routines that worked for you in the past. That works for me! When I blogged on 360, I limited myself to 15 minutes of whatever came off the top of my head in that period of time.

Monarchy has become a popular thing around my house lately, with the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. We also watched "The Young Victoria" on Netflix too. We are reminded that the scripture calls us a nation of kings and priests ["And You have made them a kingdom (royal race) and priests to our God, and they shall reign [as kings] over the earth!" Revelations 5:10 AMP], but given that we live in a democracy, we are not, as a body of believers, as a nation, even as families, not quite sure what that looks like. We try to have a say in everything. We, like the Romans of Julius Caesar's day reject anything that looks like a king. They rejected the thought of King Caesar and ended up with Emperor Nero. Rejecting godly authority is never a good thing.

But those who recognize authority in others learn to recognize it in themselves. I am the queen in this palace. My position is secure and I must learn further what it means to walk that out. While the king runs the country, the queen runs the royal household(s) and if she does her job correctly, it should run seemlessly. Like Will Smith's character in "Men in Black" says, "The difference between you and me is that I make this look good."

Proverbs 31:27 AMP, "She looks well to how things go in her household, and the bread of idleness (gossip, discontent, and self-pity) she will not eat."

I Timothy 5:14 AMP, "So I would have younger [widows] marry, bear children, guide the household, [and] not give opponents of the faith occasion for slander or reproach."

Titus 2:5 AMP, "To be self-controlled, chaste, homemakers, good-natured (kindhearted), adapting and subordinating themselves to their husbands, that the word of God may not be exposed to reproach (blasphemed or discredited)."