At my job (The Northwest Campus of LifeChurch.tv) I’m known to my co-workers as The Swiss Army Knife. Anytime something needs to get done, whether it’s running the video switcher, leading things from stage, riding around on the lift, or simply un-jamming the copy machine, I’m right there in the thick of it.

It’s not because I’m super smart, or have several skills in my tool belt. It’s simply because I’ve learned how to learn.

I’m a lover of knowledge. Anytime I get the chance I try to learn something new. Usually if I don’t know how to do something, I won’t pass it off to someone who does. Instead, my attitude is “I will figure it out.”

This attitude has been born out of my years of homeschooling. If I ever got a wrong answer on a test or lesson, I was able to go back and figure out why it was wrong. It was more important for us to understand the work, than to have a great score or grade. It was more important to learn than to pass.

 Have you learned how to learn?

Anna

We have a God crisis over here at the Simms’ household.  In our nightly prayers my littlest guy (3) has been wanting to pray to Santa as well as God!  Yes, this truly is the season for little ones to be worried that Santa knows everything on their list, but we teach that Santa is pretend in our family. 

Somehow in all the madness of our culture with super heroes, fairy tales and imaginations galore it is more and more a challenge to teach our children that God is real.  Unless we are diligent and creative and pray A LOT we are not going to be able to direct our kids to learning about God and His Word with all the distractions of our media-frenzied world. 

Reading the Bible is a daily part of our school day.  With a 5 and 3 year old this can be quite interesting though.  We have read Bible stories, memorized a few scriptures with hand motions and all.  We have little devotional books that teach character qualities.  We even reenacted David and Goliath, and as seen below we “put on” the fruits of the spirit. 

Talking about God is part of our everyday, but I desire for my kids to really have The Word within them.  These few things listed above only take me so far.

How do you teach your children The Word?  Do you have any advice for a mother with young children that you wish you had done with your children or can you think of things you wish your parents had done with you?

Teaching A-B-C’s and 1-2-3′s are important, but getting the B-I-B-L-E in them is at the top of my list! 

Erin

Today, we’ll finish this series with some answers, hopefully, to how we can overcome hurt feelings and offenses.  We all will be hurt.  It’s a fact when you open your heart to love. 

But, can we learn to recognize our response, identify the real offense and then quickly forgive?  I think so.  And our relationships will be healthier for it. 

Here are a few of my thoughts:

*Recognize the evil spirit behind the offense.  Satan wants to destroy you and your relationships.  Be aware of how badly he wants you to take things personally.

*Know that it is unusual for someone to calculate and purposefully hurt another person.  It does happen.  But, usually it is not intentional.

*Don’t trust your feelings.  Even though we can’t help our feelings, we can take the necessary steps to prevent those feelings from fueling our emotions. (The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? -Jer. 17:9)

*Be quick to bottom-line your offense.  Don’t attach it to past circumstances, other feelings of rejection, or blow it out of proportion.

*Wait to speak about your offense until you’ve had time to sort it out. You don’t want to say something you regret.

*Quickly forgive offenses. Otherwise you’ll be dealing with a much larger issue: bitterness.  (Prov. 17:9; Prov. 19:11)

What are your thoughts on overcoming offenses?

Robin

I want to spend just a couple of more days on the “hurt feelings, being offended” subject.  I hope you’ve gotten a lot from the comments that people have left.  You guys are wise!

Next I want to discuss your reactions when your feelings are hurt. When you’re offended do you become a stuffer (you hide your feelings and pretend that you’re not hurt)?  Or are you a screamer, a door-slammer, or maybe you throw things?  Or do you just shut down, try to keep from feeling anything, and become cold, detached and withdrawn?

You know you react in some form.  It’s a natural response.  Let’s learn to recognize it.

I’ll go first.

I just shut down.  My reaction is to pull back and not talk, smile or interact.  

So?  How do you react to being hurt and offended?

Robin

From yesterday’s post here’s the breakdown of the reasons why most people get their feelings hurt: (THANK YOU to those who took the time to leave a comment!)

Past offenses and hurts, rejections

Pride, insecurity, fear

Self, ego, self-centeredness

Not  believing God—allowing the situation to become bigger than God—not being anchored in Truth

Believing lies

Taking things personally

Expectations – when we expect more than the offender gives or can give

Allowing our feelings to control us

It’s been said that the only way to never be disappointed or have your feelings hurt, is to have no expectations.  Do you think it is even possible to have no expectations of others?    

What do you think?

Robin

Your feelings got hurt. 

It happens. 

I’m sure it’s happened to you.  It’s certainly happened to me.

So, I’ve been wondering…

What causes our feelings to be hurt? 

What is the underlying issue or issues behind your hurt feelings?

I have some ideas, but tell me what you think.

Robin

Can you remember what you were doing this time last year?

It’s amazing how much changes in one year.

Last year……..

Brad was in college getting ready to graduate in December.

He worked nights at Blockbuster.

We never saw each other.

I stayed home full time with Lily(2) and Sadie(1)

I did hair out of my house.

This year…………

Brad got a real job.

He has regular hours.

We saw each other again.

My girls are a whole year older (where does the time go?)

Then, I got a job.

I worked all weekend.

I still did hair out of my house.

We never saw each other.

I got a new job.

I’m now my own boss.

I don’t do hair out of my house.

I work when I want.

We finally see each other again.

I get to spend quality time with my girls on my days off.

God is so good.  I think we go through different seasons in our lives so we can learn to be thankful for what God has blessed us with.  I know that after this crazy year we have had, I am so thankful for my family and the time we have together.

What were you doing last year?

Has anything changed this year?

Ali

After a whirlwind year with Jon being deployed and trying to stay busy and on-the-go so I didn’t go crazy missing him, we’ve recently made the choice to stay at home and cut down on outside activities.   And stay at home we do . . . A lot! 

It was a bit of an adjustment at first, but the results have been amazing.  I love to see my children have time to play and create.  Imagination just doesn’t have the time to come alive when all kids hear is “hurry up” and “let’s go” all the time.   Here are some fun things that have come of our recent at-home times.

Kaden, just out of the blue decided he wanted to make a bird feeder.  He crafted this little bird getaway from a paper towel holder, sticks and tape.  He remembered to instruct me to buy bird food when we went to town next, and now we have this “lovely” little house sitting on our front porch.  Please join me in praying for birds to come!

We go on nature walks and collect “treasure” quite often.  On one of these times Kaden and Will found bricks that they wanted to bring home.  They then decided they wanted to paint them. 

While sitting down with my little guys doing school one day, Daddy decided he was going to go shoot some water turtles in the pond so they wouldn’t eat our fish.  So forget Mommy’s lesson, off with Daddy they go.

And many times our nature walks include fun picture opportunities.  Fall is a great time to get outdoors!

So I challenge you, no matter what your schedule or calling in life:   try to stay at home just a bit more.  Learn to say no to those extra busy activities and take time to enjoy your kids and home without always thinking about that next thing on the to-go list.

I finally did, and I love it.

Erin

During this election time let’s be reminded of these words:

 
* You cannot help the poor, by destroying the rich.
* You cannot strengthen the weak, by weakening the strong.
* You cannot bring about prosperity, by discouraging thrift.
* You cannot lift the wage earner up, by pulling the wage payer down.
* You cannot further the brotherhood of man, by inciting class hatred.
* You cannot build character and courage, by taking away people’s
initiative and independence.
* You cannot help people permanently, by doing for them what they could and should, do for themselves.

 
Do you recognize the author?

 
It was Abraham Lincoln