Accepting God's Gifts

Today's devotion comes from Job 2:9-13. 

Job 2:10

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁰ But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Job's faith is so very clear in this verse. He's rebuking his wife, but rather than calling her a foolish woman, he is telling her she speaks like a foolish woman. He's not attacking her but suggesting that this is a temporary lapse of faith on her part. He is saying she has begun to repeat the words of stupid, foolish women with no knowledge of the grace and glory of God. You see a tenderness in his faith by that gentle rebuke. He reasserts the sovereignty of God by saying, "Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" Job's wife thought life should be pleasant and that without that it was not worth living. Even today, that philosophy is widespread.
But the book of Job, I believe, is here to show us that life is not to be lived on those terms (our terms). The reason we are here is not to have a good time, well not all the time at least. Despite when life brings us challenges, there are still meaningful objectives to be attained. Even though living is not always fun, life is still worth living. Job reaffirms that. We take God's joy and His pleasure, the pleasant things in life, with gladness and gratitude. If God chooses to send something that is difficult or hard, do we then abandon that gratitude and begin to curse Him in protest because life is suddently not what we thought it would be?

The reason we are here is not just so we might have a good time, and this is taught everywhere in the Scriptures, not just Job. God, provides us so many hours of joy and gladness and pleasure and delight, and it is right to give thanks. But do not abandon that when the going gets tough because that is what Satan wants us to do. He wants us to complain and protest to God; to be upset, angry or resentful; to stop going to church or being in the Word. That's Satan's plan- his attack on our lives.

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you, in good times and in bad. No matter what the day brings that might try to push me down. I pray that you strengthen my faith in You, that I can accept both good and evil from Your hand, as Job did. Thank you that Your purposes for me, though sometimes painful, are always good.   In Your Son's Name, Amen.

Family Rules

My sweet husband and I try to teach our children right from wrong in our daily activities, but have found over the years that saying no to everything that was wrong just didn't quite work. Having rules is so very important with children, but I have always found it difficult to have those don't do this or don't do that rules. Yes, and I used to teach in an actual classroom ;-)
We found the Biblical route was the way to go that helped to support what we were already trying to teach our children. I don't have rules, per say, but the boys (and soon Sofia now that she is getting older) know when Momma says something in particular, I'm referring to the Fruit of the Spirit. I had a friend years ago that recommended the use of these rules and encouraged me in my walk to enforce them. She was invaluable to the growth of my children and a great example for me to follow which is always greatly appreciated.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

—Galatians 5:22-23

But Kim, this isn't the Family Fun I tuned in for today, you say? No, discipline is never fun. But it can be peaceful and a way to keep family time fun without the bickering or the battle that sometimes ensues. A gentle reminder of a broad topic is sometimes so much easier to handle than a firm no. I find the children are more responsive when we are softer with our discipline. I'm NOT saying by any means that we don't ever have to be tough on the kids. It's never easy, but with God as your family guide, you can make it less challenging.

I encourage you to adopt our rules as needed for your family and adjust as you see fit. I have used so many different methods with these rules that I would love to see what ideas you can come up with them.

Household Rules

LOVE- Show LOVE and RESPECT to God, your family, and your neighbor.

JOY-  Be JOYFUL and APPRECIATE what God has blessed you with.

PEACE- Be PEACEFUL with one another, do not aggravate, quarrel and tease.

PATIENCE- Show PATIENCE and UNDERSTANDING.

KINDNESS- Show KINDNESS in helping others.

GOODNESS- Show GOODNESS by doing everything with RESPECT and HONOR.

FAITHFULNESS- Honor God with your actions and words. FAITHFULLY go to Him in prayer.

GENTLENESS- Be GENTLE and kind in spirit, show MERCY and COMPASSION.

SELF-CONTROL- Always CONTROL your words and actions to glorify God and to honors others. Take RESPONSIBILITY for all you have and do.

We have used a fruit basket with pretend fruit. The children get to fill their basket as they do good things and follow the Fruit of the Spirit, but they lose fruit when they  misbehave. We would end each day with a special treat if that was earned for the day. And by ending the day as such, we were able to talk about the "rules" that were broken and what kind of changes we can make the following day to improve. My kids have flourished with this and while we don't have it up and showing all the time, we bring it out when we find it is needed. This might be one of those weeks ;-) 

Please remember to share with me how this works for your family.