I know I'm supposed to be on a holiday blogging break and I am ... but this morning during my Bible study time I came across the following statement that I just had to share ...

The only things that really matter aren't things at all. (author unknown)

... just a little something for us to think about, especially during this time of the year.

Hope you are enjoying the holiday season ...

I hadn't planned to take a holiday blogging break just yet, but things have gotten really busy all of a sudden ... we need to be at the hospital on three different occassions with with those who are near and dear to us that are having surgery and other procedures done between now and Christmas ... we're going to try to get our house roofed (we're doing it ourselves) before the holidays, plus I still have a few Christmasy things to complete and there's still the holiday baking to do.

Sooooo, I'll be beginning my holiday blogging break with this post.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Until January 2010 ...

One more thing ...
I'm making plans for this blog for the upcoming year and would like to have your imput. Please take a moment and fill out the survey/poll on the top left hand side of this blog. If you have any comments regarding the writings on this blog or things you would like to see in 2010 please email me at likewiseyeolderwomen @ yahoo.com (remember to take out the spaces)

Today I watched my youngest daughter get her Masters Degree in Library Science ...

tears of joy ...

heart bursting with pride ...

lots of love for our 'little ray of sunshine' ...

wondering where time has gone, how did she get so grown up in such a short period of time ...

we are so blessed ...

wouldn't have missed the day for anything.

I thought I would give you a close up look at the quilt I'm currently handquilting. I find such contentment in working on projects such as this while my husband and I sit and watch TV in the evenings. A slower pace ... a quieter life ... simple things ...

that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands ... I Thessalonians 4:11

My Homekeeping Notebook …

by patsy norwood
(c) 2009 All Rights Reserved

It's the time of year when I start thinking about updating my homekeeping notebook.

What is a homekeeping notebook? For me, it's the nucleus of running my home and something that I refer to often.

My homekeeping notebook is a bit different than most I’ve seen online in that I no longer have small children at home nor do we homeschool anymore so those sections are no longer needed. I’m not one to stick to a rigid schedule either so that’s another section you won’t find in my notebook because in order to survive in my world, one must be willing to be flexible. Therefore, my homekeeping notebook is more of a personalized made to order resource for the way we live and function in our home and like I said earlier, it is a bit different than what you’ll normally find online.

Over the next several weeks, I’ll be taking you through my homekeeping notebook update and giving you a peek at how I, an older woman, still use this valuable resource.

Ruth

by patsy norwood
(c) 2009 All Rights Reserved

Lesson 1

It helps when beginning a study to find out what the background is surrounding the situation or event, what led up to it and who the people are that are involved. That’s what we’re gong to do in this first lesson.

The Background
The book of Ruth was written during the period of the judges, at a time when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25) In other words the people did what they thought was right instead of following God’s teachings. Dear readers, our thoughts can lead us away from God if they don’t follow God’s teachings and that’s exactly what was happening to Israel. A sin cycle developed that looked something like this:

Israel would disobey God
God would send punishment
Israel would cry out to God
God would send deliverance and peace

Over and over Israel would repeat this cycle. The people did what they wanted, worshiped the way they wanted and made decisions based upon their own desires and opinions. As stated earlier, everyone ‘did what was right in their own eyes” letting him or herself be the sole judge of what was right or wrong.

What is a famine? … the inability to grow/produce food

Famines were a recurring problem in this area due to:

Less than adequate rainfall - not enough rain means crops will fail

Invading armies – they would come in and destroy the crops as well as kill all the sheep, oxen and donkeys

Plagues – locust would swarm in and destroy all crops in a matter of days

Some famines were punishment from God for Israel’s unfaithfulness (remember the sin cycle) while others were nature taking its course.

Scripture does not specifically tell us the reason for the famine that we find in the book of Ruth, only that there was one and that it was so serious that Elimelech and Naomi along with their two sons moved to the land of Moab in order to escape it.

Who are the Moabites?
Genesis 19:37 tells us that Moab was the son born through the incestuous unions of Lot and his oldest daughter after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. (Genesis 19:30-38) The Moabites were descendants of Moab.

Next week ... lesson 2

In the midst of the busyness of this time of year I found celery on sale for 50 cents a bunch. I bought 4 bundles, came home and canned them right up. These will be great to use in soups, stews and casseroles.

Eve … the devil made me do it

Patsy Norwood
© 2009 * All Rights Reserved

Eve …

Was a helpmeet/companion for Adam; designed to assist and complete him. (Genesis 2:18; I Corinthians 11:8-9)

Was the final creative act of the first week on earth. (Genesis 2:21-22)

Believed Satan when he tried to get her to doubt God’s truthfulness and believe that God was withholding something good from her. (Genesis 3:1-6)

Satan operates through deception and disguise. (II Corinthians 2:11 – satan uses trickery on us); (I Peter 5:8)

When dealing with the devil/evil, we must remember that things are not always as they seem.

Satan was successful in getting Eve to doubt the truthfulness of God’s word and the goodness of His motives.

When we set ourselves up to judge whether God’s word is true or not, we are headed for trouble. (John 12:48; Hebrew 6:18 – it is impossible for God to lie)

Questioning biblical authority is a dangerous thing.

Strayed from the truth of God’s word causing sin to enter the world. (Genesis 3:6)

Sin has consequences that reach for generations and the more public the sin, the greater the consequences (Ezekiel 18:20 – we don’t answer for other peoples sins, but we often are affected by the consequences.)

Sin can affect us directly and indirectly

Directly: personal consequence of the sin

Indirectly: through the loss of what might have been had one continued walking with God.

Every time we sin, someone is affected. Either they share in the bad that results, or they are robbed of the good that would have come if the sin had not occurred.

Our unwillingness to deal with sin God’s way, brings additional consequences.

If people could look into the future and see the consequences of their sins, there would be more dedication and diligence to know and obey God’s Word.

Christians often bear consequences because of disobedience; however God doesn’t hold a forgiven Christian accountable for that sin. Hebrews 8:12

The key word here is forgiven. We have to be truly sorry and repent of the sin. Just giving lip service to ‘I’m sorry’ is not true repentance.

Placed what she wanted above God’s will (Genesis 3:6)

Selfishness (Me ‘itis’): when ‘I’ am the most important person and what ‘I’ want is the most important thing. (James 3:16)

Selfishness on the part of one or more people is the root cause of every personal, marriage, family, or church problem.

Selfishness will drive Christ out of a person’s heart

Bad consequences come when our decisions are motivated by selfishness/fleshly desire. (Gal. 6: 7-8; Romans 2: 5-11)

Wasn’t content with what God had given her. She wanted something she wasn’t supposed to have. (Genesis 3:2-3)

Eve (author unknown)
She had the perfect husband.
She had the perfect home.
She would have had the perfect kids.
She was not going to have hard labors.
She had the perfect yard.
She had the perfect diet.
She had the perfect body image.
She had all her food ready for her.
She had the perfect relationship with God, He WALKED with her.
She was going to live forever in that perfection…
And yet it was not enough.

Contentment:
Phil. 4:11
Hebrews 13:5
I Timothy 6:6

Hid from the Lord (Genesis 3:8)

It’s natural for us to want to hide when we sin.

Pride never wants to be found out.
Humility takes responsibility for the failure/mistake.

Humility chain reference/mini-study
Psalm 131 … humility defined in this chapter. Humility is not demanding.
Humility’s focus is on God.
Philippians 2:3 underline lowliness of mind
Philippians 2:8 Christ humbled Himself
Psalm 138:6 … God notices the humble
Psalm 9:12 … God does not forget the humble
Proverbs 18:12 … humility brings respect from others
James 4:6-10 … bookends, from humble to humble … the words between tell us how to be humble. (the word laughter refers to how casual they were viewing sin.)

Hiding sin alienates us from other believers and from God. We tend to not want to be around other Christians in the midst of our sinning nor do we want to have anything to do with God.

Blamed her sin on someone else. (Genesis 3:13)

“It’s not my fault.” Our human tendency is to blame someone else instead of taking responsibility for our own sins.

When we stray from the truth of God’s word, there are always consequences.

Let's Spread Some Good Cheer …

Make a heart out of red construction paper and attach a ribbon to it. Tie it around a bag of goodies and secretly leave it where your co-workers, friends, family, acquaintances, etc will find it. Here's the poem that goes on the heart:

Grinched!

adapted by patsy norwood

The Christmas Grinch has come to your town!
He creeps around without making a sound.
A step or a sigh, that’s all you might hear.
It's just the Christmas Grinch, so there's nothing to fear!
You're now the Grinch, in this mysterious game!
It's your turn! Sneak around! Three people you must find to do the same.
First tape the heart to your desk or door.
So you’ll not be "grinched" anymore!
Next, you must prepare some yummy treats,
For your "grinched" victims, they will need to eat!
Don't forget to add a heart,
That's the one thing they will need the most!
Attach this poem, do the same....
And watch as those you grinched, continue this delightful game!
For you will see before your own eyes,
Good cheer being spread beneath the magical skies!

Introducing a new Bible Study …

Ruth

Elimelech, Naomi and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, moved from Bethlehem to Moab due to a famine in Judea. While there Elimelech died … Mahlon and Chilion married Moabitess wives … and then Mahlon and Chilion died leaving their wives childless. One of those wives was Ruth.

Where was God during this heart breaking 10 year period? Does God care that we hurt, that bad things happen to us? How should we react when our world falls apart? That’s just a few of the questions we’ll be answering as we take an in-depth look at Ruth and at how she continued to hold onto God when her world lay crumbled at her feet.

Join me next week for lesson 1