Hello, Again!

I have decided to start using my blog again. I'm not sure exactly how often I will post but I did want to start back.

Thou Excellest Them All - Proverbs 31 Conclusion

I was cleaning and tidying and organizing in the house before the holidays and began thinking about the virtuous woman we have been studying.  Would she have had to hurry around like I do or would she be ready all the time?  My personal theme for the year will be organized and successful throughout all aspects of my life.

I believe Proverbs 31:25-29 tells us that she was organized and successful.  She had time to do what she needed and also time to do what she wanted.  She was always busy. She helped others. She helped family and she took care of herself. She had strength and honour. She had wisdom and was kind.  Her children called her blessed and her husband praised her. 

She had the ultimate gift, her children called her blessed and her husband

praised her.  One cannot ask for anything better.  The family is a woman’s number two responsibility. The responsibility behind her salvation.  As long as a woman is taking care of her family then she is doing God’s will.  We do not need to shirk our responsibilities. 

              A woman’s number one responsibility is to “fear the Lord” (Prov. 31:30).  We each have to work out our own salvation. We cannot go in to Heaven on the coat tails of our loved ones and they cannot go in to Heaven on ours.  It is our responsibility to study and come to know God through His word and obey him. Obey him by keeping the commandments found throughout His inspired word.  The virtuous woman kept the commandments.

Proverbs 31:31 states, “Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.”  Our actions speak louder than words.  We will be known by our actions.  

 

Proverbs 31 Part 2 verses 17-22

We are continuing with our study of the virtuous woman. She has been a true role model for us and she will continue.

         Proverbs 31: 17-22, “She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.

She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant”.

 

       First we notice the eth endings like last month. She is continually doing these things. She is continually doing: girdeth, strengtheneth, perceiveth, goeth, layeth, stretcheth, reacheth, maketh, selleth, delivereth. These are all continual acts.

               She dresses herself in modest apparel for the type of activities and weather she is facing. She is dressing her household and no one is in want due to her seeing and meeting the needs of her family.

She is capable and ready for anything that is put in front of her.  Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “A woman is like a tea bag, you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water”. The virtuous woman is strong and ready for that hot water.  She takes care of herself so that she can take care of her family. We need to remember that in order to take care of our families, relatives, friends, members of our congregation, and to work and help out that we must first take care of ourselves. Remember that in a plane if the plane goes down we are to put our mask on before we put on someone else’s because if we do not then we won’t have the chance to help others. The same for our every day lives. We must first take care of ourselves before we can help others. That may mean taking medicine, exercising, doctor appointments to make sure we are in good health. If our health isn’t where it should be then we are risking our opportunity to help others.

She works diligently and does not waste time working into the night hours.  She makes her own cloth that she uses to make the clothes for herself, her family, the needy and the merchants. She doesn’t just make any old thing as she makes herself coverings of tapestry using silk and purple. Silk and purple in Bible times were the expensive color and materials. The Tabernacle was made of purple color. The Tabernacle only used fine things as it was for God. We need to remember that we are for God.

Her husband is able to be known in the gates because she is able to look to the household and be a savvy business woman. When we take care of our responsibilities then our husbands can take care of their responsibilities and vice versa.

Neely

 

Expressed Love

                 February is considered the month of love. Children exchange cute notes and have parties at school. Many propose marriage or are married. Many couples plan dates from the very simple to the extravagant. Why? Because they want to express their love and friendship.

                  So, how do we express our love and friendship? Let’s start by looking at love. There are four different types of love and each are expressed differently.

                  The first we will discuss is Storge. This is the love of family: dad, mom, children, brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles.  This expression of love is met with how we treat each other, helping around the house, teaching, and discipline.  The Bible speaks about this type of love in Eph. 6:1-4, and 1 Tim. 5:8.

                  The second we will discuss is Philia. This the love of friendship. Friendship is very important as children and as adults. We need to choose the right friends as we grow up. Our true friends will not ask us to choose between being obedient to our God or parents or doing something we shouldn’t. If we have friends asking us to choose to do wrong then maybe they are not our friends. Just remember, if we choose to do wrong it is our choice, they didn’t force us. The Bible speaks of friendship in Prov. 17:17. Also, look at the book of Job and his friends. They were good for a while, but then they opened their mouths.

                   The third type of love we will discuss is Eros. This is romantic love we have for husband and wife.  This is a special love between two people. This is the love that brings two people together and keeps them as one. The book of Song of Solomon speaks of this type of love.

                   The last type of love is Agape. This is our love for God. God, the Father sent His only Son to die on the cross for me and you, for sins we have committed.  Jesus did not sin but He took our sins and suffered that cruel, agonizing death on the cross so we could live with Him in Heaven for eternity.  The love we have for God is the ultimate love. This love for Him will cause us to study His Word—the Bible and to want to obey His Word. His Word tells us simply, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” John 14:15 and John 15:10, :If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” His commandments are found in His Word and we will express our love  for Him by following those commands.

                     The first thing we need to do is to believe that the Bible is God’s Word and has all authority 2 Tim. 3:16.  Then we need to hear the word of God Rom. 10:17. That Jesus left Heaven and came to this earth and lived and died on the cross  for our sins and was buried and rose on the third day and went back to Heaven to live. Then we need to believe that Jesus is the Son of God John 6:69. Then we must repent, which means to have  a change of heart and turn toward God 2 Pet. 3:9. Then we are to confess that Jesus is the Son of God matt. 10:32.  Then we are to be baptized. Baptism is full immersion into water for the remission of sins.  Baptism is burying our sins in the water (full immersion) and coming up a new, clean body  I Pet. 3:21. We do not become a Christian, a true follower of God until we are baptized (fully immersed in water) for the remission of sins. Then we live according to God’s word in faithful, active, loving service to God.

 

Neely

 

P.S. if you are interested in a personal Bible study please let me know.

The Heart of Her Husband

                  Last month I decided to write on the virtuous woman. I sincerely believe that she is a good role model for women and our daughters and that we should strive to be like her.  She teaches us this month about marriage.

                  Marriage has been under attack since the beginning. God instituted marriage in Genesis chapter 2. He instituted one man and one woman for life.  Man changed things, not God.  Instead of one man and one woman for life, now we have divorces running rampant, people living together without marriage, and homosexual marriages. If we followed God’s way, then maybe 50, 60, and 75 year anniversary celebrations would be the normal and divorces would be the occasional. Unfortunately today, that is not the case.

                  So, how do we change that? We could start by putting Proverbs 31:11-12 into our memory. “The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.” Our husbands need to be able to trust us. When he goes off to work, he needs to be able to trust that we will be true to him and our marriage. He needs to trust that we will not cause difficulties of any area of our marriage; financial, marriage bed, or even rearing our children. These are usually the areas that are the most causes of problems. We need to be able to trust him also, but we are only talking about us now. If he can trust us, then he will have no need of spoil. This means no lack of gain, lack of honest gain.  There is a saying “that behind every good man, is a good woman.” So true is this statement. If we want him to be good, we need to be good too.  We will do him good all the days of our lives. I think this is self explanatory. Simply put we are to always do good for him.

                  How else can we change the marriage problem in this country? We need to make sure that  the man we marry is a Christian man who puts God’s word first and into practice.  We need to make sure that we treat our husband well.  We need to make sure that he is the head of our house and that we each abide by our God given roles. God gave us those roles for a reason and expects them to be followed. 

                 The marriage problem in our country won’t change over night, but if we begin with our marriage and teach our daughters the proper way of marriage and they teach their daughters and so on we can begin to change our country. Our country didn’t get into this situation over night and it won’t change over night.  Let’s start at home and then grow to our congregation and then to community. That will be a good start.

 

Neely Dean

 

Who Can Find A Virtuous Woman?

             Miley Cyrus’ performance at the VMA Awards was not role model material. I did not watch the VMA Awards, thankfully, but the reports I have seen are appalling. What is this world coming to?

             Miley Cyrus is not the first, remember Brittany Spears, Lindsey Lohan, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen? The boys aren’t any better wither.  Hollywood does not offer good role models for us or our children.

              So, where do we find a role model for us and our children? The Bible.  Our loving, heavenly Father has given us what we need as women to be the role model for our children and ultimately our community—the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31.

             Proverbs 31:10, “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.” Webster’s dictionary defines virtuous as “morally excellent, having virtue.” Webster’s dictionary defines virtue as “conformity to a standard of  right, morality.” Where do we go for our standard? Yes, we go to the Bible. The Bible is God’s Word to us of how He wants us to conduct ourselves. Immorality is rampant: abortion, alcohol, dancing, dishonesty, drugs, gambling, homosexuality, immodesty, lying, pornography, television/movies/videos, tobacco, just to name a few.  The Bible answers all of these. We do not have to fall to these. We need to conform to God’s way.

             Proverbs 31:10, “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.” A ruby is considered one of the four precious stones with sapphire, emerald, and diamond. The price of a ruby depends on many factors including shape, size, and color (Wikipedia). As of August 29, 2013 when writing this article, a ruby ranged anywhere from .28 carat at $2,000.00 ~ 7 carat at $50,000.00.  This from the Awesome Gems website at www.awesomegems.com. This is what the price is for this time.  The ruby in the time of the writings of the Proverbs would have been comparable to that price in that era. 

             A virtuous woman being compared to an expensive, pretty gem is grand, but to be considered far above rubies is the ultimate compliment a woman could be given.  This verse should make our personal thoughts of ourselves excel. This should give women a wonderful self esteem. We are valued far above rubies if we are virtuous. 

Neely Dean

 

JEWELS Widow's Spa Day

Wow! Today was an exciting day.  Our youth girls put on a Luau themed spa day for our Widow's.  We had a light luncheon, played a game, and gave manicures to our widow's. All the ladies had a wonderful time. Watching the older ladies and the young ladies bonding and getting to know each other over manicures was just heart warming. I do believe that new friendships and the beginning of lasting bonds were made today.  Here are some pictures from the night before decorating to the spa day.  We gave them lei's (I hope I spelled that correctly) and made a flower for their hair.  The goody buckets were in the theme of a flower. We used Styrofoam cut in half and taped to the bottom of the bucket of a green bucket (grass).  A bamboo skewer to hold the body pouf on top.  We put in some brown shreds (that represented the dirt). The body pouf pink and white represented the flower. The widow's received: a Kleenex packet, an emery board, body lotion, body spray, a facial scrubber, and some peppermint and butter scotch. Bath salts (recipe found on pinterest) were also made in different colors with the sent of cucumber melon and the ladies got to choose which colors they wanted to take home. A candle was the game prize. We had 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes. The hair flower was made from the flower material confetti that came in the decoration kit from Party City. I added a sparkle with glue dots and then used glue dots to glue the flower to a hair clip. So simple.