Friday, April 30, 2010

Last Day to Save!

Just a quick reminder that today is the last day to save on Vision Forum's sale! This a great time to stock up on some of Vision Forum's best products, like the R.M. Ballantyne books, John Calvin's Commentaries, or the Moody Science DVD Collection-- all of which are on sale!

Kathleen Norris on Home

"Home ought to be our clearinghouse, the place from which we go forth lessoned and disciplined and ready for life."

- Kathleen Norris, author of Mother

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Now Available: The 2010 European Online Tour!

I'm excited to tell you all that Vision Forum now has available the 2010 European Online Tour & MP3 collection! If you, like my family, simply couldn't afford to go to Europe this year, why not do this? If you are interested, find out more here.

"To stay at Home is Best"

"Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest;
Homekeeping hearts are happiest,
For hose that wander they know not where
Are full of trouble and full of care;
To stay at home is best."

-Longfellow

More Reccommendations

I thought I would share some more of my "favorite" products from Vision Forum:

Another of my favorite books is Glory, Duty, and the Gold Dome, just published last fall by VF. It is a wonderful story about a home-educated young boy who works alongside his father in the defense of life and liberty. I read it in one night! (It is that good!!)

Also, I'm sure that most of you have listened to Jonathan Park before, but if you haven't, they are really good! I have been an avid fan of the audio series for many years now, and when I took Biology, I would tell my Mamma, "Oh, I knew such-and-such, because it was on Jonathan Park!"

As far as films go, VF sells many films that my parents and I have enjoyed, like The Widow's Might (produced by Christian, Independent, Home-educating filmmakers),The Return of the Daughters, and Homeschool Dropouts. However, probably The Mysterious Islands would be my favorite, though. If you haven't seen it, the film chronicles the journey of a 16 year old young man (Joshua Phillips) to the Galapagos Islands with his father and other Christian men,like Dr. John Morris who show that Darwin was wrong, and that the islands are not a "labratory for evolution", but rather a "showcase for creation". It is REALLY good! :)

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A few Reccommendations...

Hello, everyone! I thought since I told you about the Vision Forum sale, it would be a good time to reccommend some of the VF products that I have so thoroughly enjoyed in the past, and still love. So here goes...

Probably one of the best (and easiest) books I've ever read is John Calvin: Man of the Millenium. An old book that has been edited and expanded by Vision Forum, it was published last year in honor of the Great Reformer's 500th Birthday.

Recently my parents and I have been going through the Reformers and Revolutionaries dvd series and it is very good!! I really enjoyed the dvd on John Knox- "Spare No Arrows".

Continuing on the reformers, last December my parents and I were blessed to be able to attend the 2009 Sufficiency of Scripture Conference by the NCFIC (National Center for Family Integrated Churches) in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was amazing! The cds and dvds from the conference are available at Vision Forum, both individually and as a set, and they are definitely worth the price... it was an amazing conference. I particularly enjoyed Dr. Joe Morecraft's talks (I attended them all), but everything I heard that week was inspiring, encouraging, convicting.

Courage

"Courage inspires courage. Lack of courage inspires timidity."

-Doug Phillips

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Save on Vision Forum Now through April 30!

As many of you know, the Lord has greatly used Vision Forum to impact my life, and change my heart in many areas. In fact, if it were not for the influence of Mr. Doug Phillips and many VF products, such as this, my blog would not exist, and if it did, it would look very different!!!

That is why I am so excited to let all of you know that Vision Forum is having a wonderful sale now through April 30, where you get a $50 gift certificate for every $95 you spend! To see some of my recommended products, click here, here, here, here, here, and here!

And, don't even think of mentioning that I'm slightly addicted to Vision Forum products! :)

God Bless, and happy shopping!

God's Will...

As last night marked the end of Mrs. Victoria Botkin's Monday Evening Webinars, I wanted to share with all of you what I consider to be one of the best statements she made over the course of her nine-week webinar:

"God's Will is more important than your will."

Over the past nine weeks, I have been encouraged, as well as convicted, and have learned so much! This webinar was timely for me, and helped me get my priorities straightened out, because it is so easy for me to sidetracked, or shortsighted, and lose sight of a true, godly Vision for my life. Even worse, it's so easy for me to slip back into the old paths of disrespect towards authorities, and an independant, feministic attitude! Thankfully, our God is a gracious and merciful God, who is always there to guide our steps, and send people into our life (whether our moms, godly women in our church, or people like Mrs. Victoria Botkin) to encourage us, and set examples for us!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

My Favorite Hymn

Okay, I wanted to start this post with a question:

What's your Favorite Hymn?

If you are anything like me, that can be a tough question! There are so many hymns that contain wonderful doctrinal truths, and personally, I just like hymns!

But there is one hymn I love more than all the rest. It speaks so well the words in my heart. And it is...

Be Thou My Vision

In case some of you've never heard the hymn before, it's an Ancient Irish hymn, with a beautiful Irish tune, and here are the words-

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart-
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best thought, by day or by night-
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word-
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son-
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise-
Thou mine inheritance, now and always;
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart-
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's Sun!
Heart of mine own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

So, what's your favorite hymn?

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty!

I've been thinking alot lately on the words of this hymn, by Joachim Neander, and wanted to share the words with all of you.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation!
O my soul praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear,
Now to His temle draw near;
Join me in glad adoration!

Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen
How thy desires e'er have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, who with marvelous wisdom hath made thee!
Decked thee with health, and with loving hand guided and stayed thee;
How oft in grief
Hath He not brought thee relief,
Spreading His wings for to shade thee!

Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life, and breath, come now with praises before Him!
Let the Amen
Sound from His people again:
Gladly for aye we adore Him.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Modesty and Christians

I know that modesty is a difficult issue in modern Christian churches (as a whole- there are some exceptions). Recently, I read a couple of excellent articles on modesty and Christians, and wanted to share them with ya'll. Read them here and here and here.

If you are interested, some other resources I would highly reccomend can be found here and here.

May we all become modest daughters, who reflect the beauty of our Heavenly Father!

Joyfully at Home's Giveaway!

Jasmine Baucham, over at Joyfully at Home, is hosting a giveaway on a full set of What He Must Be Conference DVDs! Click here to register for the giveaway, and let her know I sent you!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

I'm still here...

Most of you have probably figured out by now that I'm not a consistent blogger!! :) So, I thought I'd just tell you all what I've been doing lately.

We've been doing the Evenings with Victoria Botkin webinar, which has been very good, and we just started the Great Authors Webinar, as well. (see banner above)

But I've also been doing alot of reading. ALOT! Recently I've been reading things as varied as J.C. Ryle, Nutrition books, with a little bit of John Calvin, Louisa May Alcott, and (smile) Driver's Ed thrown in, too!

I've also been busy researching different doctrines of the church. I have learned so much, but I think the most rewarding thing has been discussing different Confessions, Scriptures, and viewpoints with my parents, particularly my Daddy.

I thought I'd share with everyone my family's "Hymn of the Month", too-- Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing by Robert Robinson.

Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tounges above;
Praise the mount- I'm fixed upon it-
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer-
Hither by Thy help I'm come;
And I hope by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand'ring from the fold of God;
He to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee:
Prone to wander- Lord, I feel it-
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart- O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Isn't that a great hymn? It is so convicting when I read that section of the last verse where it says, "Prone to wander- Lord, I feel it- Prone to leave the God I love". What a great reminder that I must daily give my heart to both my fathers- Heavenly and earthly!

Oh, and by the way, I passed the Driver's Permit exam! :D

Friday, April 16, 2010

Definitions are Important

"He who defines, wins. He who defines the language, defines the culture."

Doug Phillips

Why Poetry Matters

Last night we gathered with some friends to listen to the first of the Great Authors Webinar Series. This first webinar was given by Mr. Doug Phillips, and was entitled, Why Poetry Matters, and was an overview of both his book, Poems for Patriarchs, and Poetry as a whole.

Something Mr. Doug pointed out that I had never thought of before, was that “Poets, as artists, are motivators of culture. A great poet carries a lot of weight, not only because of the words of the poem, bu because they are theological in nature. Poetry is designed to be theological in nature. It is a form of communication of the poets’ religious beliefs.”
He went on to say, "The absence of manly poetry trivializes manhood." And daughters, when the manhood of our fathers is trivialized, the family is compromised.

This has a trickle effect-- and we daughters don't escape!

Mr. Phillips pointed out some characteristics of Good Poetry:
... it inspires manly bravery.
...it points us to God.
... it inspires a love of our nation.
...it can inspire the godly love for women.

Poetry always inspires a love of something.

Mr. Phillips even went into some of the foundational elements of poetry:
-Theme
-Theology
-Lines & Stanzas
-Rhyme Scheme
-Meter
-Illiteration
-Exaggeration
-Similes
-Metaphors
-Idioms
-Symbolism
-Mood
-Tone

God Bless!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Ah, the Life's Giveaway!

Ah, the Life! is having a giveaway on the Great Authors Webinar, and I wanted to let all of you know about it! To register for the giveaway, click here, and let them know I sent you!

Click here to find out more about the Great Authors Webinar.

Friday, April 9, 2010

The Baby Conference!

My parents and I are looking forward with great anticipation to Vision Forum's July 2010 Baby Conference in San Antonio, TX, and I wanted to let all of you know about it!

Click here to find out more!

Quote on Daughterhood

"Love your daughterhood. Rejoice in it!"

Doug Phillips

Biblical Daughterhood

One of the messages Mr. Doug Phillips gave at the 2010 Father and Daughter Retreat was A 21st Century Vision of Biblical Daughterhood. This message really made me stop and think about the sad shape our families and churches are in (and that's why our country's in the shape it is in!)

First, Mr. Phillips pointed out that we are the first generation...

... to have MORE mothers in the workforce than in the home.
... to have professing Christians choose not to have children if it is "inconvenient".
... to have conservative Preachers who are advocates of androgyny in Church leadership.
... to see the presumption of Christian parents to prepare daughters for singleness.
... to have Marriage now validated for "Adam & Steve", not 'Adam & Eve'.

What is truly sad is that "our culture is a reflection of the things we love", because "culture is religion externalized". And, unfortunately, because "fish don't know they're wet", we often have humanistic and feministic mentalities, that we didn't even know we had.

"How can we rebuild the Church of God with rebellious families? We must first experience family reformation."

Mr. Phillips then went on to cast a Vision for daughters, by stating that "the Picture of Biblical Daughterhood has never changed"

... we have.

He exhorted us to have a Vision...

... for rebuilding the culture of the Christian family.
... for the expansion of the ministry of our father's house.
... for reinforcing the infrastructure of the local church, so we can be free from slavery.
... for defending the culture of life in the midst of a culture of death.
... for modeling the virtues of femininity and womanhood in a culture of androgyny.
... for perpetuating a multi-generational vision of faithfulness.
... for learning and communicating God's Providential history so the Kingdom work of God will be known and perpetuated.

He also gave the 7 Biblical Missions of the Christian Home:

-Worship
-Industry
-Education
-Evangelism
-Hospitality
-Culture
-Care

God Bless!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

True Heroes

"How desperately we need true heroes! The influence of example can hardly be overestimated."

Joshua Harris

Saturday, April 3, 2010

About a Giveaway!

I wanted to let everyone know about a giveaway over at Content in Christ for a purse and half apron... So skip over there now and enter for the giveaway! God Bless!

Friday, April 2, 2010

March's Best Books

It's so hard to believe that March is over! It seems like I was just posting about the best books I read in February... time sure does fly!

I don't know how many of you are fans of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables Series,or have seen the film, but the Best Fiction book I read this past month was Chronicles of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery. (It was a first edition copy, too!)

And I've been having a hard time trying to decide the Best Non-Fiction book I read in March. I finally got it narrowed down to two books, and so I'll just tell you about both. They were The Sermons of Robert Murray M'Cheyne (All those quotes didn't give me away did they?!) and Leading Little Ones to God by Marian M. Schoolland.

I had never heard of R.M. M'Cheyne before I read the book of some of his sermons, but he was a truly amazing and inspiring man! Although he was only 29 when he died, he had great insight and wisdom into the Word of God.

The other book was, as the subtitle called it, was "A Child's Book of Bible Teachings". It explained in simple language some basic points of Christianity (such as salvation, baptism, etc.), without being "dumbed-down".

Have any of you read any of these books? If so, what were your thoughts on them? Anyway, I'd love to hear about what ya'll have been reading!