Psalms Sunday - Psalm 59

Psalm 59
To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.”[a] A Michtam of David when Saul sent men, and they watched the house in order to kill him.
1 Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;
Defend me from those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity,
And save me from bloodthirsty men.

3 For look, they lie in wait for my life;
The mighty gather against me,
Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O LORD.
4 They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine.

Awake to help me, and behold!
5 You therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel,
Awake to punish all the nations;
Do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah

6 At evening they return,
They growl like a dog,
And go all around the city.
7 Indeed, they belch with their mouth;
Swords are in their lips;
For they say, “Who hears?”

8 But You, O LORD, shall laugh at them;
You shall have all the nations in derision.
9 I will wait for You, O You his Strength;[b]
For God is my defense.
10 My God of mercy[c] shall come to meet me;
God shall let me see my desire on my enemies.

11 Do not slay them, lest my people forget;
Scatter them by Your power,
And bring them down,
O Lord our shield.
12 For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips,
Let them even be taken in their pride,
And for the cursing and lying which they speak.
13 Consume them in wrath, consume them,
That they may not be;
And let them know that God rules in Jacob
To the ends of the earth. Selah

14 And at evening they return,
They growl like a dog,
And go all around the city.
15 They wander up and down for food,
And howl[d] if they are not satisfied.

16 But I will sing of Your power;
Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning;
For You have been my defense
And refuge in the day of my trouble.
17 To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises;
For God is my defense,
My God of mercy.

Look at verses 9 and 17, they both call God, O my strength.
In fact throughout the Psalms, we can see David address God in that way. Here are a few examples:

I love you, O LORD, my strength. Psalm 18:1

But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. Psalm 22:19

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. Psalm 28:7

The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. Psalm 118:14

You are God my stronghold. Psalm 43:2

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

the Lord is the one who sustains me. Psalm 54:4

It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.Psalm 18:32

As I studied the word, strength, found throughout the Psalms, I found that in some instances, it meant rock. In others, it meant
refuge.

In Psalm 59, it is used as might.

David knew that he couldn't handle his enemies with his own strength. He knew that God is all mighty and all powerful.
He found his strength in bringing it all to the feet of God and trusting in Him to take care of it.

Not only do you have to believe and know that God is your rock, refuge and might, but you have to also TRUST.
And when you are taken out of those pits, by His mercy and His love. When the time has passed and you see how God handled things, how God helped you, how God used the circumstances for His glory, it is incredible.

Don't fight it on your own, for you are not strong enough. Let God fight for you, let Him sustain you.

More Educational Children's Links

I may just have to start a weekly post with fun and educational links for kiddos. Maybe I'll make a cute little button for them each week too. Hmmmm, we'll see. I think that I like to pretend that I have a lot of free time for such things.

Anyway, I was looking around online for things to do with the miss in the coming weeks, and here are some things that I found.

First, let's have some fun with snow.
I found these fun ideas HERE

- Target Practice
Cut three or four holes, each about a foot in diameter, in an old sheet or blanket. Fasten this target with lots of clothespins to a rope strung between two trees or posts. Have each child stand about 10 feet away and throw snowballs at the holes. Score one point for each snowball that goes through a hole. The first player to score a set number of points is the winner. A child playing alone can see how many snowballs it takes to score a certain number of points.


- Shoveling Snow
Your child will really enjoy this activity because it will make him feel big. Buy your child a child-size shovel and let him "help" you after a snowstorm. Not only will your child benefit from the fresh air and exercise, but he'll also feel proud for helping you with the work.

- Catch Me
Follow around in each other's footprints in fresh snow. When fresh snow isn't packed, it will take double the effort for both you and your child to walk in. Take turns running after each other in the snow. If you have many children over, bring out noisemakers and have a parade

- Bubbles
Have you tried bubbles outside in the winter? Let your child jump up and try to burst them. The bubbles stay a little longer because of the cold air.

- Snow Shake
Fill a ziploc bag with one scoop of vanilla ice cream and 1/2 cup of milk. Seal the bag and hand it over to your child. Make sure they hold the top closed with one hand while they smoosh the bag's contents with the other. Once it has been blended well, hand them a straw, open the bag and let them enjoy a snow shake.

Here are two sites with free file folder games printables.

Childs Place

Early Learning Activities

And lastly,
This is a really fun number rhyme, to help your child learn how to write their numbers.

My Super Girl

I was in a creative mood last night and since I was running to Joann's anyway for fabric for a cuddlebug quilt I am making for a friend's baby, I decided to get the items I needed for THIS.

It's an awesome reversible superhero cape. And the tutorial, that I just linked to above, is wonderful. This was my first time doing something other than straight line sewing that you do for a quilt. This was my first time using an appliqué, using heat bond fusing, cutting fabric and such from templates and doing a zig zag stitch.

It took me 2 hours, so I only got the cape for the miss done. Hers has Super Woman on one side and a princess crown on the other.

I may do the one for the mister today. He will have superman and batman, and I am sure it will be darling. And of course there will be pictures, if I do.

Now, I must admit, I skipped a few of the last steps. I didn't iron it or do the final stitching around the edges, but it looked okay to me without doing those steps and it was after midnight, so I was ready to be done. Plus, it's just a little dress up thing, so it doesn't really matter.

So, here's the finished cape, that my little miss sadly wasn't too thrilled about, although it's all she talked about last night before going to bed. And she was actually crying when I made her put it on to take pictures of it. But it was the very first thing I had her do when she got up this morning. And I think she woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Maybe tomorrow she'll be excited about her mama's efforts.

Today's Small Thing

So, I have participated in other Small things since my last small thing post, but it was things like doing a load of laundry, which I didn't feel I needed to post about.
But today ironically, I was talking to my friend, Andrea, about how the shoe area of our coat closet had become a disaster area and I needed to do something about it. And sure enough, when I visited Home Sanctuary for today's small thing, it was to organize your shoes/shoe area.

So, lookie lookie, Andrea

Little Friends

I watched a friend's daughters today, while she went to wash and clean out her car to prepare for her hubby's return from Iraq tomorrow.

Above, are pics of the miss and Z. When they first met over a year ago, they fought constantly. But they play pretty nicely now and are pretty darn cute.

So Excited

I am sooo excited because tomorrow, I start this:



It's the Beth Moore, Daniel Bible Study. It's my first time going to a women's Bible Study at our church. I am excited to meet other women and spend time with God...and it's Beth Moore!!!!!!!!!!!! I love her!!!!

And it's for 2 hours. Yes, from 9:30 A.M. - 11:30 A.M., my kids will be playing with other kids and supervised by other people, while I have some mommy time.

I can't wait!!!!!

Psalms Sunday - Psalm 58

Psalm 58
To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.”[a] A Michtam of David.
1 Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones?
Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men?
2 No, in heart you work wickedness;
You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.

3 The wicked are estranged from the womb;
They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent;
They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear,
5 Which will not heed the voice of charmers,
Charming ever so skillfully.

6 Break their teeth in their mouth, O God!
Break out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7 Let them flow away as waters which run continually;
When he bends his bow,
Let his arrows be as if cut in pieces.
8 Let them be like a snail which melts away as it goes,
Like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun.

9 Before your pots can feel the burning thorns,
He shall take them away as with a whirlwind,
As in His living and burning wrath.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
11 So that men will say,
“Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
Surely He is God who judges in the earth.”

I see this Psalm as discussing sin nature. Upon first read, it just sounds so harsh and cruel, maybe in a sense how we can be toward friends or maybe others around us who are living a fallen life.
But as I read it more, it makes me sad for those who are lost, consumed in their sin.
And that is the way we should feel about it. We should want nothing more but to help those to find Christ and to help the prodigals to find their way back to their Father.

The verse that really spoke to me, is verse 8...
"Let them be like a snail which melts away as it goes"

I may be off on my assessment, but I took it as how when we are consumed in sinful ways, when we are focused on our own pleasures, no matter how they hurt others.....when we are doing what we feel in our hearts is wrong, yet we do it anyway, because at the time it's fun or what not, in a way, we lose a piece of ourselves each time. Our faith, our fruit, our relationship with God, our joy, it all begins to melt away.
I have been there before, so wrapped up in the world, that I didn't realize how much of myself I was leaving behind at each turn. I was becoming someone else. And it's so easy to have it happen.

We need to keep a hold on our hearts to make sure they are focused on what really matters. We need to keep a hold on our tongues, to make sure they are speaking good, not evil. We need to keep a hold on our hands, to make sure they are in worship to God, not in worship to the world.

Don't let yourself melt away.