Come join The Vine!

Hi Everyone!

I am super excited to share with you a new Bible memory project that is coming up.  I am not coordinating or leading out in any way--just jumping in to soak myself in God's Word and inviting you to join me.

We will be memorizing John 15.  All of it.  Starting on June 2 with verses 1 and 2 and continuing at a slow but steady pace through the rest of the summer, ending on October 5 with verse 27.

Yes, I know.  The thought of memorizing an entire chapter of the Bible intimidates me as well.  I have been successful once--with Isaiah 55--but that chapter is only 13 verses long.  John 15 scares me, with it's 27 verses.

So if I stay safe and do not even try, I will memorize nothing.  Or if I jump in and at least try, even if I fail, I will at least have memorized something.  And I would count any hiding of God's Word in my heart as a win, even if it is "only" one verse.

I would love to have you join me, and we can encourage each other.  I will try--as my busy life allows me--to update here on my blog.  And there are a ton of free resources to help you be successful.  Check out this link here:  http://donotdepart.com/register-memorize-john-15

You will find verse cards, first letter helps, and much more to help you in this project.  And what has been most helpful to me in memorizing Isaiah 55 has been the wonderful Facebook group.  So if you are on Facebook, make sure to hop over when you are on the "Do Not Depart" web site, and click on the icon to join the FB group as well.  I have found that group to be filled with wonderful encouraging people!

Still think you can't do it?  Well, you can't.  Not by yourself, certainly. But with God--well, there is no limit.

". . . He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit. . . "  John 15:5

See you over in the vineyard--you know, the place where fruit grows!

~Susan

Scripture Scrapbooks

Hi Everyone!

Thought I would share a little bit about a fun little project my daughter and I have started on.  It is our "Scripture Scrapbooks!"  I confess--like most of my best ideas, this one was not original with me.  But in my opinion, the next best thing to HAVING a great idea yourself is RECOGNIZING someone else's great idea and doing it! ;)  Thanks to Pinterest, I had occasionally seen a nice illustrated Bible verse.  Then a friend of mine did several pages of verses scrapbook style, and I just loved them! 

So with coupons in hand, my daughter and I headed out to our nearest JoAnn's store.  I liked the 

smaller 8" x 8" size book, because it didn't feel like it would be as difficult to "fill" each of the pages with illustrations--and I am NOT the most creative person out there!  My daughter and I both choose the same light purple color for our books.  I liked the purple because it represented royalty in the Bible--and Scripture verses are special messages from the King of Kings to us.  That makes it royalty in my book--the highest kind of royalty!

My local Christian book store sells these little prints of Jesus knocking at your door.  I LOVE this print--most likely because my mom has this in a large wall picture, and it has been hanging in her house ever since I can remember as a little girl.  It is in one of those deep frames, the kind with a light you can turn on above the picture.  When I was a child, I was in awe of this picture.  Guess I still am, and truly, how awe-inspiring is it that King Jesus would even want to come to MY house to see ME?!  Anyway, so I purchased this little tiny print to go in my Scripture Scrapbook and put it on the first page.  It reminds me here how Jesus wants to be with me.

I copied this idea from my friend's scrapbook.  I love the book of Isaiah!  If you have been around this blog for any length of time, you already know that!  I recently finished memorizing Isaiah chapter 55, and really want to make a page or two illustrating a couple of those verses.  Sounds like a trip to JoAnn's to find some special scrapbook paper to me! ;)

One day we had a little "a-hem," problem in our house with our words.  A small "mother lecture" just bubbled up to the surface and spilled out quite before I could stop it.  This page was my illustration for that lecture.  A little reminder for my children (yes, it's good for me as well!) that their mouth is speaking whatever is in their heart--so they need to keep their thoughts sweet and kind. as God would want them to.

This is my most recent page--just made today as I stayed home with my sick daughter.  In a week or two I will be starting on my next whole chapter memory project--only my second one ever, so I was looking at John 15 today and trying to get a little mentally prepared for it.  This well known verse is from that chapter, and the easy idea for illustrating it just popped into my head.  Not super unique or creative, but it's really good for me and it was fun besides!  And on top of all that, it was a good way to meditate on that verse just a bit! ;)

I have told my daughter that I would like her to memorize John 15 with me.  While she moaned a bit, I have no doubt that she will learn it better and faster than I will!  It will simply be part of our home school assignments, and this way we can quiz each other on the verses.  Built in study partner--works for me! ;)  Anyway, when she saw what I was doing in my Scripture Scrapbook, she illustrated John 15: 5 & 6.  It's hard to see in the photo, but she drew grape vines with little leaves all the way around her page and put grape clusters in each of the four corners.  She has many more verses in her scrapbook that I do not have pictures of at this time--will try and share more as I have a change to.

And there you have it--our Scripture Scrapbooks!  I am no artist by any means--but God doesn't require that of me.  But He does ask me to meditate on His Word, and to hide it in my heart, and I have found this to be a fun way to help do that.  Hope it has given you some ideas for having fun with Scripture verses!

~Susan

Children have Strokes too!

Hi Everyone!

If you have been around my blog for any length of time, I am sure at one time or another I have probably mentioned that our son Austin has a disability.  What many people do not know--even people who know us in "real life" for years and years--is that Austin had a stroke before he was born.

Yes, you read that right.  In utero.  A stroke.  And it wasn't from an event such as being in a car accident or anything that one could explain.  I had the absolutely perfect pregnancy--no problems at all.  No problems, that is, until Austin suddenly arrived two months early.

Even with being born premature, after weeks and weeks in the pediatric intensive care unit, we thought we were "done" and went home to live a normal life.  Wrong!  Even with adjusting for milestones and accounting for Austin's "adjusted" age as doctors do for babies born premature, it started becoming obvious that Austin was not doing things that babies should start doing.  Things like rolling over, sitting up, and walking.

It was then that a brain MRI revealed what none of us knew up to that point--Austin had experienced a stroke.  A large stroke.  Based upon the scaring and other things he could see on the MRI, the pediatric neurologist identified it as having happened around month three of pregnancy.

Thus began our journey.

With May being Pediatric Stroke Awareness month, I asked Austin if he would be willing to make up a short video sharing his perspective on growing up as a stroke survivor.  He had a bit of free time today, and the video above is the result of his project.

I hope this video will help as many people as possible to realize that babies and children can have strokes too--and that if YOU ever meet a family who has a pediatric stroke survivor, please tell them about www.chasa.org

~Susan

Free Mother's Prayer Journal

Happy Mother's Day Everyone!

May this special day find you spending time with those you love--those given to you by Him.

May you remember "why" you do everything that you do--because of Him.

May you not forget in the business of everything, to do what is MOST important--spend some time with Him.

To help you with your quiet time, I am linking below to a free prayer journal for moms.  Hope it is a blessing to you!

~Susan


http://teachthemdiligently.net/blog/2014/05/happy-mothers-day-prayer-journal/

Five Favorite Bible Verses

Hi Everyone!

I thought I would share with you today my absolute top favorite Bible verses. . . This idea is going around on Facebook--not sure who started it, but my dear friend listed her top five, and a friend of hers listed her top five, and I so much enjoyed reading theirs, so I thought I would join in.  There is only one problem.  I am too wordy.  I went to list out my top five Bible verses, and couldn't contain myself to just the verses--so I thought I would move them over here to my blog where I can add as many words about them as I want to! ;)

So here they are--in order--my absolute favorite near and dear to my heart Bible verses:

1.  You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trust in You.
      Isaiah 26:3  NKJV

What I LOOOOOOVE about this verse is who the emphasis is on.  Who is the "you" that the verse is talking about?  Not me!  None other than God Himself!  That's right, GOD will keep me in perfect peace--that's HIS job, not mine.  The next part is "my" job--to keep my mind stayed on Him.  Of course, I cannot even do this part without His power, but I really love this verse because it reminds me of what my priorities need to be.  To keep my mind on God.  To trust in Him.  And then HE will keep me in perfect peace.  That doesn't mean all the circumstances around me are going to be what I want them to be.  In fact, they might not be good at all.  But if I trust Him, REALLY trust Him, I can accept that He is in control, not me, and that He is well able to take care of things. . . Which leads me to my next favorite verse!

2.  Surely the arm of The Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear.  Isaiah 59:1  NIV

No matter what the circumstance may be, God is able.  He is able to save.  It is people who choose not to be saved--not God.  There is nothing that is too hard for Him.  There is no circumstance that He does not know about.  I personally have hearing loss, and there honestly are times that I do not hear someone calling me--but not God.  His ear is NOT too dull to hear the smallest cry for help, the faintest whisper.  And when He hears that whisper, He is strong enough to save.

3.  Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils.  Of what account is he?  Isaiah 2:22

I love this verse because it reminds me to place my trust in the right place.  I am super blessed in that I have a wonderful father.  I know my Dad would do anything he could to help me if I was in trouble. But you know what?  No matter what may be in my dad's heart, he is still only a human.  There are circumstances he cannot fix.  A grandchild born with a disability is beyond my dad's "fixing" capability.  But not God's.  I may not always see God change a situation at the moment I wish He would, but this is where that number one favorite verse comes into play--I need to trust in Him.  In His time--at the right time--it will happen.

4.  He tends His flock like a shepherd:  He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart;  He gently leads those that have young.  Isaiah 40:11  NIV

He gently leads those that have young.  Can't you just imagine that?  God isn't dragging us kicking and screaming.  He is gently leading, and He especially understands those that have young.  He understands the weariness because you were up most of the night with a sick little one.  He understands when you can't sleep because you are so worried, and you spend the night in bleary-eyed prayer.  You can trust Him with your loved ones--He will gather them in His arms and carry them close to His heart.  And you know what?  He is big enough and strong enough to gather you up, and to carry you there too, even if you are not a little one any more.

5.  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes;  there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.  There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.  Revelation 21:4  NKJV

Surprise!  I actually chose a favorite verse that is in a different book other than Isaiah!  Bet you didn't think I could do it, did you? ;)  I DO love Isaiah--there are a million more beautiful promises in there that I couldn't share here if I was going to limit myself to only FIVE verses. . . But I couldn't leave out my final favorite verse, this one in Revelation.  I love this verse because once again it is about my God.  It is about what HE is going to do--and about what He is able to do.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. . . not just some tears.  Not just most tears.  But EVERY tear.  That is only going to happen if our circumstances are fixed--otherwise those tears just keep on coming.  But there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.  Our old, sinful world will be passed away, and the new, sinless one will be made new and there for us.

In the beginning of our story--in the beginning of the Bible--there is God.  He creates a beautiful, sinless place for mankind to live in.  But we mess it up big time.

In the middle of our story--in the middle of the Bible--there is God.  He saves us.  He hears us.  He keeps us in peace if we trust in Him.

In the end of our story--at the end of the Bible--there is God.  He fixes all that is broken, and wipes away every tear.  And there will never be any more.

And it is all because of God.

Have a beautiful day with your Saviour!  And I would love to read what YOUR five top favorite Bible verses are!

~Susan