Seamless - Week 4 Day 3

Today we're learning about Solomon.  We've seen two other kings and they are basically opposites.  From my understanding, all three of these kings are believers.  All three will be in heaven one day.  But they all lived different lives.

Saul started out great, but because of unconfessed sin and pride in his heart, he ended up a madman who committed suicide.

David saw God's hand in his life from the time he was young while he was tending sheep.  It gave him confidence to kill a giant.  But he sins and commits murder.  He confesses his sin and has a right relationship with the Lord, but the consequences of his actions lead to many family problems.

Solomon asks God for an understanding heart.  He had listened to his father's charge to him and it seems took it to heart.  He did well in the beginning and God allowed him to build the temple.  But he took foreign wives to marry and built for them altars and temples to worship their own gods. This caused a downward spin that Solomon never was able to fully pull out of.  He probably wrote Proverbs early in life and Ecclesiastes is a testament to a life that is not closely in tune with God.  He ended up having the kingdom split in two after him and here is where the kingdom divides. It divides after Solomon's death.

Then they were captured at different times.  Israel sooner, they had no good kings.  Judah later by Babylon - they had a few good kings.  Below is a timeline showing approximate years.

Tomorrow we'll look at the prophets.

Keep pressing on,
Steph

Seamless Week 4 Day 2

DAVID

David humbles himself before God.  He recognizes that it's not far that the God of the universe lives in a tent while he has a regular house.  Then God tells him that his kingdom will be forever.  David responds in humility saying "Who am I?"

Next though David does some of his worst stuff ever.  He proves that God still uses weak and frail people.  He shows us that confession is the thing that keeps us right with God and that was the distinguishing difference between him and Saul.

Did you read Psalm 51?  What an anguished cry from a man who recognizes his sin!  I know my heart often cries out under the weight of my issues, the sins I struggle with.  But our realness and honesty before the Lord is what keeps us in right relationship with Him.  It keeps us growing in Him.  It keeps us alive.  When we hide it and embrace it as Saul did we turn into evil, grasping and even at times dangerous people. 

I hope you are enjoying this study as much as I am.  Being in the Word is invigorating.  Maybe all you have is time to read the passage of Scripture.  Today would be 1 Samuel 11 and Psalm 51.

Keep pressing on
Steph

Seamless Week 4 Day 1

I decided to blog about our walk through Seamless to help inspire us all to spend time in the Word everyday.  If all you do is get the blog read you'll at least know the gist of the story. 😊

Today's lesson is about Saul

Remember how the Israelites didn't obey when God told them to go into the land and take over.  They let the other groups stay and in turn were sucked into their ways of life and their beliefs.  It probably wasn't a quick turn of events, but rather a slow fade as the song from Casting Crowns is titled.

The Israelites had been walking through the desert for more than forty years, in the course of this time their sandals did not wear out, they had water and manna from heaven.  God had proven Himself over and over again.  And yet, here they are demanding a king.  How heartbreaking it must have been to a God who had been faithful over the years, knowing He knows better than any human king.  And yet, He gives in to their demands.

Saul starts out as a pretty great guy.  He's not sure about being a king.  He hides for starters.   But then he embraces the role and does a good job.   Until he got a big head...he thinks he can do the prophet's role and the king's.  But they were distinctly separate for a very good reason.  This is when Saul finds out that the kingdom will be torn from him.

God chose a different person to be king...someone after His own heart.  We don't see Saul admit wrongdoing very often and when he does it seems nothing changes.  He goes right back to doing those things he shouldn't, i.e. chasing David and being jealous.  We will see things happening differently with David though.

Outward appearance is meaningless to God; the heart is what matters.  Performance means nothing; faithfulness means everything.  Samuel learned this lesson when he met Jesse's sons. 

Saul doesn't seem to know much about trusting God.  We don't read about any experiences he may have had, but David does.  He talks of how God killed the bear and the lion and surely could take care of the giant.  He's not looking at his circumstances, but he's looking at his God.

Saul hears the women singing David's praises and turns jealous.  Now, instead of rejoicing that the giant is dead, he wants David dead.  One thing that I think is very cool about David is that he is given several opportunities to kill Saul and he doesn't take them.  He doesn't believe it's his right to take the life of the "Lord's annointed".

Day 1 is done!
Keep pressing on!
Steph

School room clean up

So I'm slowing down on my purging but still have so far to go.  I worked on the school room the other day.  It was a mess as it always seems to be.  I can only keep it clean for a week or two before it becomes a mess.  This time it was a mess as we had to completely move out of one room to make room for our new gentleman who moved in.  Everything was put in the school room so that we could get his room ready.

I found a lot of things that I'm just ready to be done with.  I just want to have less to move from one place to another.  A huge box went into the back of the van to take to donate at the thrift store downtown.  Less is better.  Less is easier to clean. 

Keep pressing on,

Steph

Laundry - Week 8 Day 5

While doing laundry today, I found many items that were too small or stained to continue using.  So I thought that I would just discuss my method for paring things down during laundry. 

I usually go through the children's clothes every few months, specifically when the seasons change.  But in the meantime, I sort things when I'm going through the laundry. 

I also have the children put clothes that are too small on my bed, but that doesn't always happen. 

Today I found 12 items that needed to find a new home.

For the last day of the 8 week challenge: My total is 723 items.

I will continue to sort and purge in our house.  There is always much to do here.

Keep pressing on,
Steph

My room - Week 8 Day 4

Today I worked on my room.  I found quite a few things that I don't need and really like the look of my room better now.  I wanted to make it more cozy with a space for everything and not a lot of clutter.  I want it to be a haven rather than a place to throw the things that don't have a place.

What a pile of things to remove from my house?  It makes me happy to think that some of this will be able to be enjoyed by someone else and some of it will be thrown away, but I won't be moving it around my house from one spot to another.  

This helps me to keep things clean when the things in our house have a place and the things that don't  have a place are given to someone who can use them, or thrown away.

Today's number of items: approximately 20 items; goal for the day - 390 items

Total items for the challenge: 711 items

Keep pressing on,

Steph

More on kids' toys - Week 8 Day 3

Today, I cleaned, thoroughly, the boys' room.  We are missing an AWANA book and we decided that we should fully clean the room in order to find it.  No such luck! But! We did find a lot of things to throw away and give away. 

I spent the afternoon watching a movie and sorting legos from all the other junk in the Lego box.  I found 100 things to throw or give away. 

The last few days are assigned to areas that don't need work in my house, so I will continue to work on the areas that need it.  It took a lot longer than 15 minutes. 

Our house has way too much stuff in it.  Way too much.  And my husband and I are ready to pare it down a lot.  We moved a lot of things to the garage that will be ready for a trip to the dump and/or to be donated. 

Today I found 100 things.  The goal for the day is 380 items.

Total for the challenge is currently 691 items.

Keep pressing on,
Steph

Kids' Toys Day 1 and 2 - Week 8 Day 1 and 2

Today we worked on kids' toys.  My girls have boxes that they keep under their bed and they get filled with junk.  We worked on one today.

Total items thrown away: 6 items

Total items for the challenge: 575 items; Goal for the day - 360 items

For Day 2 we did another box:
Total items thrown away were 16 items

Total items for the challenge: 591 items: Goal for the day - 370 items

Keep pressing on,
Steph

Garage Day 2 - Week 7 Day 5

I'm back!  I've been busy with some new changes in our household.

After our loss last year of the precious 81-year old lady who lived with us for over 2 years, I wasn't sure I'd ever want to add another person to our household in the same way.  It was so tough losing her and the loss is still felt throughout our household.

Just before Christmas, I was approached by my boss to see if I would be willing to take another person into our home.  A gentleman needed a home in two weeks.  His care giver was moving and he couldn't move with her.

I spent last week painting and cleaning out this room, in preparation.

I'm still not done painting.  I have some touch-ups to do and pictures to be hung, but it's live-able.

This week is beautiful and I can get out to the Garage and do that other side that I've been planning to work on for over a week.  

There wasn't a lot to throw away, actually all the trash bags that must go to the dump are in this side of the garage.   But that has already been designated as trash.  

I simply straightened up in this area - moving the saw where it goes and putting all the trash in one pile.  Then we swept the floor, dumped the sand that was in the wagon in the garage. 

Nothing was thrown away today.   So the total remains the same at 569 items and the goal for today was 350.

Keep pressing on and stay encouraged even with small steps,

Steph