New Braunfels Bible Church Women's Ministry

Yes, the time of year approaches when many families will pile into their car, stuffed to the brim, and head off on a family vacation. This is, for sure, a time for making memories—of one sort or another. If we want happy memories, we need prayer, planning, patience, and a whole lot of grace.

There are many variables such as the age of your children, the distance you will travel, your budget, the size and condition of your vehicle, and your family’s different temperaments.

Some of us tend to like detailed plans, others not so much. Regardless, early reservations at popular spots during peak seasons are important. One advantage to lesser known destinations is smaller crowds. An advantage of down-to-the-wire reservations is that bargains are often available. If you experience an unforeseen delay, and you will be late for check-in, be sure to call to guarantee your reservation with a credit card. If you are staying with family or friends, call them right away with any changes in your ETA.

Depending...

Last week I wrote about the importance of input. We cannot input immoral garbage into our hearts and minds, and still enjoy the blessings of fellowship with our holy God. One of the tips said, “Guard your children’s input, but also start teaching them to discern and choose good instead of evil.”

How do we do this? Well, we need to start by being a good example, by consistently choosing good input for ourselves. This is powerful. Of course, at the same time we need to teach them about the Lord, His ways, and the connection between our obedience and His blessing. If we also are faithful in disciplining our children, they will be learning what is good and what is not.

Unfortunately there is a tendency among children, as among adults, to believe that boundaries keep them from something good. This was Satan’s first lie to us. If we nix something for our children that their friends are enthusiastically enjoying, they are not likely to appreciate our loving protection. There are many times when we just...

This term was originally coined to apply to computer data input and the resulting output, but I have always thought of it in regard to my mind. If I input garbage in a moral sense, it will come back out in my thoughts, my dreams, my words and my actions. That’s plenty of reason to be careful about input, but there’s more.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians, chapter 4 that we should meditate on things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, of virtue, and worthy of praise. That’s quite a list. The promise is that when we think on these things, “the God of peace will be with us.”

When we aren’t careful about input, our fellowship with the Lord is impaired. Our pastor is currently preaching on the pursuit of holiness. If we want the joy and peace of abiding close to our Lord, we must pursue holiness. We need to focus on Him and on the good things listed above.

Even if we are careful, many things that do not make the list grab our attention. Think about the daily news. Most...

How do you feel when you read about women hauling their laundry to the river bank and pounding it against stones? If you’re like me, you probably have conflicting thoughts. I feel guilty that I ever complained about the challenge of laundry. But then I’m likely to mutter, “I bet we have a lot more laundry than they do.” This is undoubtedly true, but maybe not the best attitude. One must be grateful for plumbing, hot water heaters, washing machines, dryers, detergent, stain removers, etc. Even so, laundry is a big job and a frequent one. If you have young children, teens, or a big family, it may seem like you’re constantly moving mountains of it.

Here are some suggestions that you may find helpful:

Deal with mess and spills promptly before they become stains. Know the best approach to your most likely challenges before you proceed. The wrong approach can set some stains. Have a reference book handy, maybe Field Guide to Stains or Natural Stain Removal Secrets. Or google the best solution. Test the...

Our daughter Evie teaches at an elementary school east of Dallas. This school has had its share of challenges, but interestingly the Lord has gathered a good number of Christians to teach and work in administration there. They have done a good job of meeting various challenges. This past Tuesday this school lay in the path of the largest of many tornados that ripped through north Texas. This was a God-sized challenge, and He—no surprise—met it well.

School had just been dismissed, and Evie and her friends were preparing to leave when they received the tornado warning. They quickly decided that they were safer there than on the road. They gathered in the library along with a number of students. Then the principal opened the back door of the school and saw the huge tornado close by coming straight at them. He flew toward the library yelling and frantically ushering everyone to a safe windowless room next to the library. One mother ran into the school barefoot just before the tornado arrived. Her car was tossed...

This week we remember the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His death should never be too far from our minds. But glory, we also celebrate His resurrection! Have you thought lately through the reasons why His resurrection is such an important foundational truth? You might want to take time to enumerate some reasons before you read on. This can make them more personally yours.

As I thought about my reasons, the first thing that came to mind was “He’s alive, and I’m forgiven!” This is from a powerful song written by Don Francisco in the early 80’s. It’s about the crucifixion and resurrection from Peter’s perspective. But just the refrain is a great truth that we can claim personally.

Jesus died for our sins, and His resurrection sealed the deal. In other words, when the Father raised Jesus from the dead, He agreed with His Son that, “It is finished!” The sinless, perfect life of Jesus was the acceptable, once-for-all sacrifice for our sins. When we receive by faith the gift of His sacrifice...

No, this isn’t about Goldilocks. It’s about the strong protective instincts of Mama Bear, and about ours as her human counterpart. These instincts are natural, God-given, and necessary when your cub is very young. The rub, however, is that it is also necessary to gradually let go and let your cub fend for himself, which is scary in today’s world. It is challenging to decide just when to protect and when to back off.

A safe environment is essential to your young child, especially once he or she becomes mobile. Your pediatrician will probably talk to you about childproofing your home. I suggest that you also talk to your parents about chemicals under the sink and pills within the reach of a young one. Pills, purses, coins and small objects will continue to present a potential hazard for quite a while. Water safety is another serious matter. Never leave your little one in the bathtub alone. Pools and ponds require extreme caution.

Then there is the child that climbs. Thank the Lord if yours doesn’t....

I just attended our ladies’ retreat. It was wonderful in all respects. One of our speakers shared that she constantly emphasizes to her children that obedience brings blessing. You could almost say that it’s a mantra… no, a motto? Maybe a maxim, which is pretty much a proverb. Whitney: “Obedience brings…?” Whitney’s kids: “blessing.”

I applaud this emphasis. I wish I had words to express how very important I feel this is. Every child needs boundaries, rules, and expectations of acceptable conduct. And every child needs correction, discipline, and consequences…yes, unpleasant consequences for disobedience. This is such a basic need that scripture tells us that the parent who spares the rod hates his child, but the one who loves him is careful to discipline him. (Proverbs 13:24)

Another proverb says “Discipline your child while there is hope.” (Proverbs 19:18) I have seen disastrous results when a parent or parents did not discipline. These include: a lack of social skills, bullying, lying, uncontrolled...

Years ago when I was working with MOPS, we had a speaker on genealogy. She did not lack enthusiasm for her topic, but somehow her enthusiasm was not contagious. Eyes glazed over, heads drooped; thankfully no one snored. While much of this type of research can be done on-line today, our speaker definitely lost her audience in old cemeteries and dusty courthouse record rooms.

Young moms generally do not have the time and energy for such digging. But I told the group that at some stage their children would be likely to show a surprising amount of interest in their roots. Our daughters would spend hours in old family photo albums when they visited their grandparents.

Children also like early photos of themselves. Our younger daughter was sad because she thought we had never taken photos of her. We did, but on slide film, and we never got around to ordering prints and putting them in an album. One day, we pulled out an old forgotten suitcase full of slides. Both our girls were very happy.

I encourage...

Do you have tea time at your house? If not, I’d like to encourage you to try it. Our family is over-the-top crazy about coffee. One son-in-law is a barista and has roasted commercially. My husband roasts coffee beans which he buys green on-line. Yet tea has also had a special role.

A teapot and teacup are symbols of comfort and cozy conversation. The Brits in particular tend to reach for the tea kettle whenever trouble strikes. I took my cue from them, and when our daughter had a disappointment or a trauma, I put the kettle on. We also had a tradition of sharing a pot, as we shared our days, when she got home from school. A thermos of tea once accompanied us to the ER.

Little girls love tea parties, even with only their dollies or teddy bears as guests. Our daughters and granddaughters started with plastic tea sets, and enjoyed graduating to china. If a brother is interested in joining the party, just give him a cup or mug that doesn’t require him to extend his pinky finger.

Inviting a friend...

Maybe you recognize this expression as a Mary Engelbreit theme.  I have a cute mug with this on it, as well as the image of one very frazzled gal.  Some days I intentionally reach for it.  Do you sometimes feel like this?  Housework is very daily.  You skip a day, and the dishes and laundry multiply exponentially.  Parenting is totally daily.  There is no time off.  If you have a job outside the home, a daily job...eek-a-meek!

How to cope?  Well, Scripture tells us that, “Through the Lord’s mercies, we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”  (Lamentations 3:22)

What are some of these mercies?  Some are pretty basic.  The sun comes up each day.  We can get up.  Coffee can be a daily morning blessing. 

Another mercy is a home, a place of shelter which can be a pleasant, orderly haven.  Did I say, “orderly?”  Sigh!  Do you need inspiration in this area?  Invite someone over.  There is no better inspiration for order than...

Michelangelo said this when he was 87 years old.  I believe he said it in regard to his art.  He is considered by many the greatest artist of all time.

It is fair to say that knowledge is worthy of life-long pursuit.  I am not saying that it’s good to pursue knowledge for knowledge‘s sake or just to appear knowledgeable.  That can become a prideful pursuit...definitely not good.  However, the Lord can give us not just knowledge, but wisdom, exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart.  That’s what I want. 

How do you best pursue knowledge for good reasons?  Here are some things that come to mind:

Michelangelo had a good, humble attitude.  He didn’t say, “I have arrived.  I’m the best.”  He said, “I am still learning.”

Knowledge can help us do a better job ... to God’s glory.

There are many practical applications of knowledge.  Our food at Thanksgiving was very tasty, but we had some chaotic moments in the kitchen.  Before I serve that menu again I’m...

One important courtesy that is often neglected these days is the writing of thank you notes.  This is too bad.  A well written thank you is a blessing to receive.  If you have taken much time and trouble with a gift, receiving warm thanks makes you glad that you did. 

I have a sister who feels thank you notes are so important that only nieces and nephews who write them continue to receive gifts, usually well-chosen books for their children.  Our daughters know this and manage to get their thank you’s off to her promptly.  I hope this is not just because they want to keep receiving those delightful books, but because they know it is important to her.  They aren’t always quite so good about notes to us.  Our younger daughter has been known to write a note, but then squirrel it away in her purse for quite some time.  Life is very full for her and her sister.  For many of us.

Thus, if we struggle with this matter, we need to be more intentional about it.  We should plan ahead.  Choose note cards that...

This blog is called “Good Things”, and today it is about one of the best things: thanking the Lord.

“It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord.”  Psalm 92:1

We should thank the Lord every day, all day, but the day our nation set aside for thanking Him is just around the corner.  In the process of writing this, I googled the history of Thanksgiving in this land.  I found it extremely interesting and somewhat checkered.  

Here are two tidbits of interest to Texans:

1) Texas is one of four states claiming the first feast of thanksgiving and praise.  In 1541 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado held a feast with the Teya Indians in the Palo Dura canyon near Amarillo.  This predates the Plymouth feast of 1621, but it was not at a permanent European settlement. 

2) In 1939, following a stressful decade, American retailers asked FDR to move Thanksgiving back a week (from the last Thursday in November) to provide more shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  President Roosevelt...

Mary Poppins gave us this bit of wisdom.  The following quote from Miss Piggy seems to contradict it, but actually both are true: “Too much is never enough.” 

Any time we have enough we should consider ourselves blessed as if by a feast, and we should thank the Lord.  As Americans we often slip into the realm of “too much,” and this is not a good place to be.  It is never satisfying.  Thus Miss Piggy is right, too.

Have you ever not asked yourself after overindulging, “Why didn’t I stop?”  This can apply to more than eating.  We can get carried away with the number of items on the Thanksgiving menu or the number of gifts we put under the Christmas tree for our children.  The holidays seem to have this effect on us.  The result is not good.  Troubling words like overspending, fatigue, stress, unrealistic expectations, grumbling and discontent come to mind.  It’s not a pretty list, definitely not what we want as we welcome family and friends into our home. 

In Luke 10, Martha is trying to...

Are you familiar with this concept?  I first read about it in Laura’s Kitchen, an “earth mother” book published in the late 70's.  I am not an “earth mother.”  I do not grow our produce, grind our flour, or bake our bread, but I do like this concept.  Traditionally “the keeper of the keys” was the woman of the house.  She was responsible for the efficient management of the household resources in good times and bad.  She wore a ring of keys at her waist, keys to the pantry, linen closet, storeroom, cupboards, and chests.  It was a position of great responsibility, authority, and trust?

I’m afraid that we have pretty much lost this concept, which is too bad, because it is biblical.  The Proverbs 31 wife is a very good keeper.  Thus she not only has adequate food for her household, but enough to share with the poor and needy.  Today we don’t have all those keys, and I am glad.  But we are still very much key to the efficient management of household resources.  Your husband may manage your finances overall,...

If you are involved in a church, a small group or a Bible study, you never know when the Lord may put it on someone’s heart to pray for you.  Most likely it will be at a time when you really need it.

Yvette, a young mom, was struggling with postpartum depression.  She would only rouse herself to change and feed her baby.  The laundry and dishes were piling up, but she could not face them.  She had been involved in a large Bible study before her baby came.

One day the assistant director of this study whose name was JoAnn was ironing.  She asked the Lord, “Who needs some prayer?”  Yvette popped before her eyes.  She didn’t really know her, but she knew her Lord did, so as she ironed she held this young mom up before the Lord.  Later she was moved to call her.  The young mom was so blessed and encouraged.  She shared that at the time JoAnn started praying for her, she found the energy to get up and start dealing with the laundry.

The young mom above was pediatrician.  She had things together...

Some of us seem to lack the gene for order and tidiness.  It doesn’t come naturally for us to pick up, put away, stack in tidy piles, or close cupboard doors and drawers.  We may have an abundance of creativity and fun ideas, but some of these result in more mess.

This can easily reach the point of chaos.  It becomes difficult to find things.  We forget an important date–because the date book was buried. That’s why the operative phrase in our house is always, “Oh, it’s under...”  The thought of friends dropping in, not to mention one’s mother-in-law, nearly brings on an anxiety attack. 

But “God is not a God of disorder, but of peace.”  I Corinthians 14:33  Yes, I confess that I yanked this verse out of context, but it’s true and applicable here.  I have experienced the connection between peace and order in our home.

I struggle with order, but I long ago decided that it’s a desirable and worthy goal.  I bought The Messie Manual, a book of tips for confirmed but repentant “messies.”  I applied...

There was once a young mom who was feeling very overwhelmed.  She had some serious health issues, including an auto-immune disease which caused fatigue and muscle weaknesses.  She had two little girls and a very helpful husband.  However her husband was in the Navy reserves, and he was doing his two week annual stint of active duty.  He’d been gone about ten days.  She was very tired.  The house was in need of cleaning.  The laundry was piling up.  So were the dishes.

She stood at the kitchen sink wishing she had a helpful Christian mom nearby.  Then she was moved to pray, “But Father, if You think I need help, You can send it.”  Not five minutes later the doorbell rang.  There was a friend from church who, with her husband, hosted their small group.  She said, “I’ve come to clean your house.

The young mom was a little embarrassed, but also very overwhelmed.  There was, in clear sight, a pile of leaves under a Boston fern that begged vacuuming, so she could not protest. 

The cleaning was quick and light, but so very significant.  Yes, I was that young mom a long time ago.  I decided that a much greater blessing than a Christian mom nearby is a heavenly Father who sees, hears, and sends help.

Tip:    There are many good reasons for being in a small group.  In the above case, it facilitated the Lord sending help, but it was also easier to receive help from a friend.  Find a group.

    “Before a word is on my tongue, You know it completely, O Lord.  You hem me in behind and before.  You have laid Your hand on me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.”  Psalm 139:4-5