SPIRITUAL SUNDAYS

When I saw this graphic on CrossDaily.com I thought "What an important lesson this picture illustrates. I should share this for Spiritual Sundays," so here it is.

And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).

Obviously the teaching of each generation is of highest importance. We teach our children many things, but the most important is to teach them about God, his Son, his love and his laws.

I was impressed with this account of his early teaching written by Phillip Johnson.

"My earliest childhood memory is a pre-kindergarten Sunday school class. I suppose I was four years old—maybe even younger. Our church was an old, imposing building that smelled like someone's attic. The windows in our classroom were huge, and I loved the way the sun shone in. I was mesmerized by those little particles of dust that dance in the sunbeams in a dusty room.
I clearly remember one Sunday sitting in that room and learning the song "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam." Our teacher eagerly pointed to the huge streams of light coming in the windows, and she tried to make them an object lesson.

The only trouble was, none of us understood anything about metaphors. All I could think of when we sang that song were those shiny little specks floating in the shaft of light, and I couldn't figure out why Jesus would want me to be one of those. I loved the song, but I have to admit it made no sense to me.

That memory is so deeply etched in my mind that even today when I hear "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam," I am immediately transported back to that old room with the big windows, and those little flecks of sunlit dust come to mind.

My own kids are now older than I was then, and one day several years ago it suddenly occurred to me that the earliest memories they would carry to adulthood had already been formed. Nearly everything they are learning now will stay with them for the rest of their lives."

I'll bet a lot of you are believers today because of what you were taught at a very young age. The first remembrance I have of hearing about God and Jesus was when I was about 7 years old. A lady in the neighborhood where my cousin lived held a little class for the neighborhood children. I remember telling my Mom I wanted to be baptized. She said I was too young to know what I was doing. We were not attending church anywhere at that time. When we did start going to church I was about 10 and the reason we started was because I told my Mom I wanted to ride the church bus to a Methodist church in our town because it came to our neighborhood. She told me that if I wanted to go to church we would go to the Church of Christ (the church she had been brought up in) and guess what? That church also had a bus so we started riding it. From that time on my mother and I never missed a service unless we were sick or as they say "providentially hindered." I asked my Mom why we had not gone to church sooner. She said that she took me to Sunday School when I was really small. I don't remember it at all but I have a feeling that the things I learned back then even before I could remember it had an impact on my life. As I look back, God had a purpose for my life and he has led me all the way until this very day. And I am so thankful for that.

I hope you will visit our Spiritual Sundays blog and click on the links to see what others have shared today. Of course you are invited to share as well. For instructions on how to participate, you can click HERE.

AZ BLOGGERS MEET

Phoenix blogger Michele is moving to Pennsylvania in a few days. That's Michele at the head of the table. She has lived in the Phoenix area for many years and has met a lot of bloggers in the area through the internet. So, she thought it would be fun to meet some of us before she leaves the area. I felt so honored to be included with this wonderful group of ladies. It was such fun to get acquainted over a lovely luncheon at Gooseberries on 7th St. in Phoenix.

Left to right is Debbie of Heart Choices, Mary at Piles of Smiles, Michele at Beelieve You Can, Sherry of Country Wings in Phoenix, Donetta of A Life Uncommon, and Marty of A Stroll Thru Life. I took this picture so am not in it. Marty took the picture below and that is me on the left next to Debbie.

A lot of pictures were taken. I'll be posting some more later, but wanted to go ahead and post these two. If you are not acquainted with their blogs, you should go visit them. We found that we all had a lot in common besides blogging. The best tie we had was our Christian faith and the special ways God has worked in all our lives.

Myra of Respice, Prospice and Ceekay of Thinkin' of Home had planned to attend but both were unable to because of health problems. Hopefully we can all get together again in the future. Of course Michele will not be around our area. But maybe Myra and Ceekay will be able to meet with us next time, and I'm sure there are others in the area that we don't know of right now.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY

Sissel is a famous Norwegian singer who comes from Bergen. She has a beautiful voice and is accompanied by the Oslo Gospel Choir. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.

BLUE MONDAY

Since I recently changed the look of my blog, I thought it would be fun to post this old picture of how the area looked several years ago. For the first few years we lived here the windows just had mini blinds and then one day I decided to make the blue valances for them. After awhile I got tired of the blue and made the tan ones that are still up (as in the header picture). And of course the barstools are partly blue. At the time we had white tile in the kitchen and as you can see in the header picture, we replaced it plus some of the carpeted area, with Travertine stone. We also had the stone added to the backsplash area which was a great improvement.

This picture was taken as it was getting dark outside.

Lots of blue in this old picture of me that was taken about 18 years ago, not long after we moved here. Even the rims of my glasses were blue although you can't tell it in this picture. The wall behind me is where we have book cases now.

Be sure to visit Sally for more Blue Monday posts. Just click HERE to go there.

HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD

I had already done a Spiritual Sundays post on my other blog but when I received an email from James Robison this morning I knew I had to share it. I think it is so good.

- Charlotte

Can We Really Know The Voice Of God?
by James Robison

"And so, my children, listen to me, for all my ways are joyful."
(Proverbs 8:32)

Anyone who owns a dog knows that they can often run. Some bolt any
time the door opens, some stray too far when on a walk, and some get
distracted by natural distractions, like other dogs or potential prey,
and end up lost.

Princess, our dachshund, loves her Mimi and Papaw, but her natural
instincts drive her to run at times. If I open the front door and she
smells a squirrel, she's off. Her intense focus to fulfill her desires
can get her in serious trouble. She could run into traffic and get
sideswiped by an unseen car. She could catch her prey and find that
it's not a squirrel, but something more vicious and powerful. Or she
could simply pursue her quarry to the point where she no longer knows
where her home is. Oftentimes, it is only my voice that keeps her from
getting into trouble. If she listens and obeys, she will come back to
the safety and provision of her home. If not, all manner of trouble
awaits.

The prophet Isaiah pointed out, "All of us, like sheep, have strayed
away. We have left God's paths to follow our own." (Isaiah 53:6)
In his time, the people understood the analogy of a sheep. That is why
shepherds were so important. Not only did they fend off predators, but
they led the sheep to green pastures for food and clean water to
drink. Smart sheep (relatively speaking) learned to listen to their
shepherd for their own good. Even so, sheep had a tendency to wander.
The same is true with people. Really, the question is not whether or
not we will stray; we will, because it is in our very nature to do so.
But what will we do when God calls us back into his care? Or even more
importantly, will we know God's voice when He does call?

I can promise you that if Princess took off to pursue something that
she should not be pursuing and you called her, she would not respond
to your call. She does not know you and does not recognize your voice.
I suppose there is a small chance that she might pause, look in your
direction and wonder, "Who is that?" But then she would turn and continue down her own path.

You might think that if your voice is similar to mine deep and
booming then you might be able to get her attention and convince her
to follow your instructions. Not so. Princess knows my voice. She does
not know yours.

Jesus, in identifying himself as one with God, also related to the
shepherds of His time. "My sheep listen to my voice; I know
them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will
never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has
given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father's hand. The Father and I are one." (John 10:27-30)

Our pets, like a shepherd's sheep, learn our voices. We, too,
can learn to hear the voice of God. The first step is to enter His
fold. This is salvation. We become new creations and, in the process,
get "new ears." Our spiritual rebirth enables us to hear
things we did not hear before. Like a baby born into the world, new
sounds reach our ears. But like a newborn, we cannot always discern
the noises. We must mature, learn and develop a keen sense of hearing.

Jesus laid down this principle when he defended His use of parables
and quoted the prophet Isaiah:

To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given,
and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are
not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken
away from them. That is why I use these parables, for they look, but
they don't really see. They hear, but they don't really listen or understand. This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says, 'When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see
what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are
hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their
eyes--so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and
their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me
heal them.' But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and
your ears, because they hear." (Matthew 13:12-16)

So we learn to hear His voice by hearing his teachings, found in
scripture, and understanding them. Just like Princess'
familiarity allows her to discern my voice, familiarity with our
spiritual shepherd allows us to discern His voice. If we choose to
ignore His voice, we become dull of hearing. When we choose to listen
and act on His words, we are blessed, because we hear.

So clearly it is possible to discern the voice of God in our lives. If
an animal can hear the voice of its caretaker, people can hear the
voice of our heavenly caretaker! When we know and respond to His
voice, He promises to lead us down the path of life. When we stray, He
calls us back and we return to his security and care. Nobody can take
us away from His protection and presence, if we will only learn to
hear and heed His voice.

This Week
Learn to hear God's voice by becoming more familiar with His
Word. Ask Him to supernaturally open your ears so that you can better
follow Him.

Prayer
"Father, thank you for speaking to me. Help me learn Your voice
above all others. Give me the gift of wisdom and understanding as I
seek to follow Your ways."

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

If you have not viewed the video in my last post, I hope you will watch it. We need God in America again.