Hearthstone Companion

"'Then neither do I condemn you,' Jesus declared. 'Go now and leave your life of sin.'" John 8:11 (NIV) " Hey! I want a do-over!" she screamed. The sun was clearly blinding her as she struck the volleyball with her fist to serve. She didn't see the serve fly straight into the hands of the opposing team. It was interesting to watch the reaction of her teammates. Some agreed to offer her grace, others muttered, "Tough stuff! Too bad!" Middle school volleyball resembles a story that Jesus lived. In the middle of an ordinary teaching day Jesus shared a revealing truth about our Savior. The Pharisees interrupted His lesson by dragging in front of the crowd a woman who had been caught in adultery. This woman had obvious, visible sin in her life. She was caught red-handed. It was easy for the lawgivers to snatch this life and display it before the crowd. They had their motives for bursting onto the scene, but Jesus flipped their inte...

As Easter approaches, I ponder more on the sacrifice Jesus made for me, and for everyone. I was reading a book, and it mentioned Heaven being our default destination. For every 1 American who believes he is going to Hell, there are 120 who believe they are going to Heaven. Matthew 7:13-14 says, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. " What keeps us out of Heaven is universal. Romans 3:23- "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Because we are sinners, we are not entitled to enter God's presence. In fact, we cannot enter Heaven as we are. Unless our sin problem is resolved, the only place we will go is our true default destination..... Hell. Almost all funerals paint the picture that the person is in Heaven, but we know that is not the case. Not everyone who lives on the earth, has had their sin issue resolved. Some refuse, but some have never been told...

This story is SO powerful...... One night in a church service a young woman felt the tug of God at her heart. She responded to God's call and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. The young woman had a very rough past, involving alcohol, drugs, and prostitution. But, the change in her was evident. As time went on she became a faithful member of the church. She eventually became involved in the ministry, teaching young children. It was not very long until this faithful young woman had caught the eye and heart of the pastor's son. The relationship grew and they began to make wedding plans. This is when the problems began. You see, about one half of the church did not think that a woman with a past such as hers was suitable for a pastor's son. The church began to argue and fight about the matter. ...

The history of Cathedrals...now if cathedrals do not interest you...please read through anyway, you will see how it affects you as a mom. A craftsman could begin the building of a medieval cathedral and sometimes even that man's grandson wouldn't see it finished. In a period of 3 centuries, from 1050 to 1350, several million tons of stone were quarried into France for the building of the cathedrals and churches. In some cases, there is as much stone below ground as can be seen above. Some of the architects and bishops behind a few of these great buildings are known, and much credit is given to them for their work, BUT the vast majority of the labor, the masonry, the carpentry, the stained glass was all done by people whose names history will never reveal. If you look through books about Cathedrals, under most of the pictures it will read, "Builder Unknown" . Many of the cathedrals took over 100 years to complete, which meant that many builders devoted their enti...

The 2nd workshop I went to was called Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God! The workshop speaker was Mary DeMuth, here is her website. http://www.marydemuth.com/ We actually got to talk to her a little bit at her table- sweet sweet lady!! She talked about 3 things we need to let go of- in the same way you would just "release" the string of a balloon, we need to release these things to God. First being: Let go of busyness....... A lot of times, we are so busy, we don't set apart time to spend with God. Busyness can also lead to stress, and let's be honest, what kind of mom's are we when we're stressed??? But God knows how we feel and Jeremiah 31:25 says: "I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint." If we let go of busyness, and really spend time with God, he will refresh us and energize us!!! The second thing we need to let go of is idols...... Now you may be thinking, I don't have any idols. Idols are stone statues. But the definition of...

My first workshop was called Measuring Up As a Mom. We all do it. Peer pressure doesn't end in high school. We compare ourselves to our friends, to other moms, to women at church, to actresses and even to tv moms, and we even compare our husbands with other husbands. It is a vicious cycle. The first measurement mentioned was Counterfeit Measurement- which would be when we listen to the media, or when we compare ourselves to tv moms/wives. We forget those are fake, pretend roles- made to look like a nice picture. At the left I have a picture of a "perfect mom". I don't know about you, but I do not clean house, and care for my children in heels. LOL!! It is not real life. In Deuteronomy it says, "You must have accurate and honest weights and measurements so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you." The land God is giving us is MOTHERHOOD. But, we have to remember that just as God gave some people certain talents, and others,...

I have 42 pages of notes from my weekend at the Hearts At Home conference. My mind is whirling with all of the wonderful words spoken this weekend. I have decided to go back over my notes, one workshop at a time, and as I do, I will write in my blog about what I learned. So, my friends and I got to the conference first thing Friday morning. I did not know what to expect. We walked into the huge auditorium, and it was already almost full. There were 4,667 women there this weekend. From those women, 11,500 children would be affected by positive changes in their mom. WOW!!! The first topic I am going to tell you about, wasn't a workshop, per say , it was from the 1st main morning session. It was called, The Power of Words- by Jill Savage/Nicole Johnson One of the passages of scripture that was shared was Proverbs 12:18- Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Positive words bring life, and the opposite of that, is negative words bring dea...

Well, Later this afternoon, I will be heading to Illinois with 2 of my friends, for a conference. We are attending a Hearts At Home conference. It should be a lot of fun!!!! I am super excited!! However, I deal with lots of anxiety over safety on the way there and home, and I won't see Bill again until Saturday evening when I return. I will miss my boys (all 4 of them) horribly!! Please pray for travel safety and our safe return! Alsop pray that God will teach me lots of things through the workshops, and show me areas of my life I need to change or improve. :) Can't wait to get back and blog about all I learned!!! :)

I have decided to start a blog, to put my journey in words. I have been learning so much, about how God wants me to be a wife to my husband, and a mother to my boys. I love to share what I have learned, and so I thought this would be a great place to do just that. I also want to be real here in this blog. So many people put on a smile, and and as if their life is perfect, which we know no one has a perfect life. How can a person help others, as mothers, wives, or Christians, if we don't admit our failures, and how we learned or are learning from them. We will not "arrive" to where we should be. We will be learning, and will continue to be sanctified until the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (Or until our life on this earth has come to an end). My name is Amanda, and I have been married to my husband, Bill for 11.5 years. We have 3 boys together, Christopher is 10, Spencer is 7 , and Ethan is 5. So, onto what I learned in my devotions today. I already sha...