Complaining only makes things worse

Today's Tea Time Thursday focus was on the root of whining (or complaining, grumbling, murmuring or also known as belly aching) really is.  I found an article that was perfect  for this topic just this morning.  This was appropriate since we are finding that there is more whining going on in our home in this season... meaning the cold winter months.  Seems being locked in because of the weather tends to bring about a discontent spirit, so to nip it in the bud I put aside our Bright Lights for this week and made a couple of copies of this article, along with lots of scripture refs on complaining/whining to help us combat this bad spirit threatening to turn into a bad habit!  Here is a portion of the article it's copyright so I couldn't post the whole article but did add the link, it's worth the click.


Complaining Only Makes Things Worse
By Dr. Dale A. Robbins

We may know it by different terms -- such as griping, grumbling, whining, or belly-aching. In the King James version of the Bible, the common term used was “murmuring.” But regardless of the word we use to describe it, complaining always has the has the same symptom. The dictionary defines it as “an expression of unhappiness, dissatisfaction, or discontent.” Complaining is the outward expression of discontent from within... 

to read the article in full go here.  I did copy and paste it in my word and then edited it by replacing the names then made three printed copies to keep in our Bright Lights notebooks.

Shalom,

Understanding the Fear of YHWH

Mishle (Proverbs) 23:17  Do not let your heart envy sinners,
But be in the fear of יהוה all day long;

This was the memory verse for this week in
Bright Lights.  We are entering into our fifth

study in Bright Lights and I tell you today

the girls came alive in this study! 
I don't think it's because it was such

and outstanding study (which it was) but

they have spent every morning this

week seeking, praying, fellowship
with their Heavenly Father and His

Son Yahushua the Messiah.

When spending time in his presents the 

word will come alive and then it 

ignites our hearts for the things

of  Truth...Torah!

The lesson covered:
Invisible Obstacles (or 'fear of man')

How would the fear of YHWH change your life?

Evidences to Watch For
What if People Think I'm Strange
How Do You Fulfill Your "Approval Drive"?

What if Others Dont' Understand?

Several Testimonies of girls within their age range

Study to Kings

Who Pleases Elohim?

This week I'm going to focus on one particular part of the

study, Evidences to Watch For.  This was a

chart that compared the whether or not one

is Fearing man or Elohim. This is just a partial listing of what

was in the chart.

Fearing Man

Will be concerned with your own reputation

Will be self-conscious

Will try to wear the latest fads and brand names in order to 'fit in'

Will not be able to stand alone

Will draw attention to yourself by exaggerating, bragging, talking about yourself, etc

Will dress and act differently according to the group of people you're with

Fearing Elohim

Will be concerned about YHWH reputation

Will remember that you are a representative of YHWH

Will dress and look in a way that pleases YHWH even if you look different that others

Will speak for the edification of others

Will be committed to standing with Messiah for the truth

Will do what is right no matter who you are with

Needless to say this comparison brought

on a thought provoking discussion in which

I was surprised at my girls responses.

They are realizing that they need to stand alone if need be

and that everything about their lives is centered 

around YHWH.

As it should be.

Developing a Disciplined Walk with Elohim

This post is a little late, we had another TTT last week on

12/09/10 we are now on lesson four of Bright Lights.

This is a true story of a young boy of eleven who

was oyster hunting with his family.

Mid morning he came across a complete oyster

shell, it was dead and empty except

 for a foreign object in it.

The boy was able to remove the the object and  threw

it out in to the waters.  Midway through the air he realized

what it was he thrown away and frantically searched for

the pearl, his family joined in but alas it was gone, never

to be found.

This is how our lesson began, a young boy focused on a

common shell throws away something of

much greater value.

And often times this is how it is with us, the

people of YHWH, we're so focused on

worldly things that we end up throwing away

the most precious thing of all...

a relationship with YHWH and his son Yahushua.

The lesson goes on to explain how Yahushua is

our one true friend and that we should

make a set time to meet with him on a daily basis to read,

study and pray.  The only way we will know his

voice is if we spend time with him.

There assignment was to keep a record of their daily

time with the Master.

Suggestions for daily time:

• set a specific time 
• find a quiet, private place
• use your own scriptures
• use a scripture reading plan 

Simple suggestion for Study:

• pray and ask YHWH to enlighten you to his truth
• ask YHWH for  a verse for the day
• ask questions while reading
• be alert while reading
• record thoughts and scriptures
• use Scriptures as prayers
• dont' be just a hearer of the word, but a doer

Memorize the word:

• start with just a verse or two and work up to paragraphs and finally try to memorize a whole book.  It's possible many people have done it, why not you!

Suggestions for Meditation:

• personalize it by adding your own name
• pray scripture
• quote scripture, emphasizing different words each time
• put music to a verse
• picture each word in your mind
• meditate at night as your going to sleep

My girls have already started their quiet time.

We read Torah together, but they are to seek

YHWH to show them what to read during

their fellowship time with Him.

AbbyYah is reading through Proverbs

and YahChanna is in the book of Revelation

and both are excited about what he is showing them, so far

he has given them a scripture each day to meditate on...

oh how exciting it is!!

Clearing Your Conscience

Acts 24:16
 “And in this I exercise myself to have a clear conscience toward Elohim and men always.

This was the Lesson for Bright Lights this week, gaining a clear
conscience before El and men.

They girls learned that there are three main

reason to clear one's conscience:

1. Because we all must stand before the Creator
2. To avoid failure
3. To maintain a good name before men

They also learned there are three types of conscience:

1.  A dead conscience; one who doesn't seem to
   see that they have done wrong
2. A guilty conscience; this one knows they've done
   wrong, but make excuses for the wrong
3. A clear conscience; this one humbley excepts their
   responsibility for the wrong they committed and
   humbly confesses their wrong.

There are wrong and right ways to clear one's conscience let's

start with the right way:

• Start with listing all the people you can remember offending including El
• Confess these offenses to Yahweh, agreeing with him that they
  are indeed sins.
• Resolve to make it right by seeking forgiveness from those you hurt.
• Set a time period when you want to do this and keep it... the sooner the better
• Be sincere with a humble spirit, people can see through
  the pretence... if you don't have a sincere heart about this don't
  do it till you do.  Pray and ask Yah to help you in this. 
  Take responsibility for your actions, don't blame them for
  any of it.  It's good to plan your words beforehand.  And
  sometimes they won't forgive be ready for that too. 
  If they choose not to forgive you, you have done what is
  required of you, you have gained your clear conscience.

Here are  the wrong ways:

• "I was wrong, but you were wrong too..."
• "If I was wrong, I'm sorry."
• " It wasn't my fault, but I'm sorry you got hurt." 
• "Sorry"
• "Since you get offended to easily, I guess I'll have to ask our forgiveness"

In these example the person is not taking ownership in the

wrong they committed, they are blaming the other person.  To gain

a clear conscience one has to take responsibility for their actions, be truly repentant, which in turn

will manifest it's self through a humble spirit. 

Finishing the lesson up with a few audio testimonies of girls

their own age who discovered that exercising

a clear conscience  helps to resolve conflicts,

renew relationships, give opportunity to

practice humility, strengthens one to
overcome the next temptation to offend,

and when exercising a good conscience one

become a bright light in a dark world.

The girls made their own list and are learning

how to exercise a clear conscience before

Yahweh and other people!

Excellent Lesson, I too learned a lot from it and will

begin to exercise a clear conscience in my life!!

Obey Your Parents for this is GOOD

Today's lesson in Bright Lights was about developing a relationship with your parents.

We learned that being under authority is not a 'BAD' thing, actually
we find in the word it was considered a 'GOOD' thing...

Romans 13:1-5Let every being be in subjection to the governing authorities.
For there is no authority except from Elohim, and the authorities that exist are appointed by Elohim.

 So he who opposes the authority withstands the institution of Elohim,
and those who withstand shall bring judgment on themselves.

 For those ruling are an object of fear, not to good works, but to evil.
Do you wish to be not afraid of the authority?
Do the good, and you shall have praise from it,

for it is a servant of Elohim to you for good. But if you do evil,
be afraid, for it does not bear the sword in vain. For it is a servant of Elohim,
a revenger to execute wrath on him who practises evil.

 Therefore, it is necessary to be subject, not only because of
wrath but also because of the conscience. 

They learned that being under authority brings

many benefits, protections from harm and evil in both the natural and spiritual.

• Provision
• Protection
• Training
• Correction

  
  All these are the responsibility of the parents.

The scripture, "Children obey your parents in Yahweh; for this is right.

Honour your father and mother; which is

the first commandment with promise;

That it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth."

ends with a promise, that is will go well with you, that

your life will be blessed!!

We listened to a couple of testimonies as well as read a

few.  This is always an encouraging time

to hear and read about struggles, trials,

and test that other girls their age goes through.

There were several suggestions on how to

give their hearts to their parents:

• Look for ways to Honor them
• let them know your thankful
• welcome them in your life, pray together,
  share your dreams, failures, and hopes with them.
• Ask them for their advice and opinions, listen
  and follow their directions and cautions.
• Never keep secrets from them (well except for gift giving type)
• Trust them, don't fear them
• keep a clear conscience with them
• obey cheerfully
• look for ways to serve them
• be available when they need you

One of the most important points she makes in this lesson

is the difference between submission and obedience:

Submission being the attitude of the heart

and

Obedience being the action.

If we are obeying with a bad attitudes this is

not good; this grieves our parents and

then brings chaos rather than shalom.

Happy homes are where all the family members have

learned to serve each other cheerfully.

We talked about this quite extensively today.

As we examined our lives we did find that when
we were quick to obey in a cheerful spirit we
felt the rewards of joy, compared to the
the drudgery of disobedience, which brought forth strife, frustrations
and over all sour feelings.

We learned that Yahweh's beauty is not measured by

the outward adorning of ourselves but is the meek and

gentle spirit that is of a great price in the sight of Yah
1 Peter 3:4

The world often calls beauty the ornaments that one wears,

make-up, jewelry, clothes, and the like.  Where as
Yahweh says beauty is obedience with a submissive spirit.

1 Peter 3:5 says it like this:

For in this way, in former times, the set-apart women who trusted in
Elohim also adorned themselves, being subject to their own husbands,

Their adorning was being submissive to their

own husband which was their authority.
And we are to use these women of old as

our examples.

Obedience with submission doesn't come easy. 

It has to be practiced and there is not

no better way to practice than to be

tested in this area.  She admonishes

the girls to gird their minds up and

to begin to prepare themselves for these

test to come.

At the end of the lesson their is a commitment sections for

the girls to commit themselves to obey in a submissive manner

and there is an extra project to go with this.

Oh yeah, we had a lunch/tea time, today. 

Baked potatoes, green salad, ice water and
apple turnovers with a dab of
maple whip cream on them
.

We left the tea party

physically and spiritually satisfied!

Be an example...

This weeks TTT focused on 'being an example of the followers of Messiah' based

on 1 Timothy 4:12
Le no man despise your youth; but be an example
of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit,
in faith, in purity.

We talked about how the world typifies and expects

the average teenager to go through a rebellious stage and

how we as the people of Yahweh don't have to

fit into that mold, but we are to allow Messiah to

shine through us, or die to our own selfish ways, and

allow Messiah to live in us.  So in doing

 we don't have to conform to this world but are

transformed by the renewing of our mind, or thought

patterns.  If we think we have to go through

a rebellious stage we most likely will.  But if  we

think or discipline our minds and flesh to walk

in the light as he is in the light we can be

bright lights in a dark world, we can be

examples of the followers of Messiah.

We also learned that the enemy of our souls

will lay traps for us, not just any o'trap but

one like barbs in a fishing hook.  Once you've

found yourself in his trap it's very hard to loose

yourself... like a fish caught on a hook, the more the fish

struggles to get free the more the barbs are set into the fish's flesh.

We discussed how it is so much easier to recognize the traps

and avoid them, rather than struggle to get

free from them.

We also read and listened to a couple of

testimonies from young girls who committed

their live to Yahweh to follow the Messiah and

how their lives were changed.

This lesson was taken from Bright Lights Lesson One
We continued to talk, laugh and pray

enjoying fellowship and bonding our

love and relationships with each other.

A Sisters Tea Party

Our 'Sisters' Tea Party

We chose a pink and brown color scheme.

Our menu was finger sandwiches: p & j, smoked turkey with cheese, mao & avocado, philly strawberry cream cheese. We baked tea cakes, dipped Marciano cherries in chocolate, and fresh sliced oranges.

This is our "AbbyYah" & "YahChanna" in their mob hats and colonial dress...our little gentle women in the making!

This is Jenna, we are making party hats out of newspaper, masking tape, and silk flowers...

This is Ashsten my oldest...this was her first tea party...she had a blast...

peek-a-boo...yes I even got into the fun...
As lovely as a rose...this is 'YahChanna' my babySisters Forever...no wait...

Sisters Forever!!!

Mom and lovely daughters...wonderful memories in the making *smile*

Whoohoo!

Praise Yah! I found a tea pot, sugar bowl, and creamer. Last week we went to the second had store to find a tea pot, sugar bowl, and creamer, but only found a couple of tea cups and saucers. So we made another trip there today and we were blessed to find a matching set.

I also picked up some pink with white pin striped bandanna's to use for

napkins. Brown chiffon ribbon and pink silk flowers...it's all coming

together...the girls are so excited...(so am I *wink*)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

An Invitation

We have started having Tea Time on Thursday and thought it would be fun to invite the girls oldest sister, Ashsten. So today we worked on an invitation and this is the envelope for it. This is the actual invetation...

and this is inside of it...

We wanted to have a 'footman' to deliver it but we couldn't think of anyone...so the girls just gave it to her. She really liked it...

I've been doing google searches all evening to find fun idea's for this Tea Time...I've found some really cute ideas but won't post about them till after the party, I don't want to ruin the surprise for my girls.

Thursday's Tea Party



We are starting to have Tea Party's on Thursdays. So we now refer to Thursdays as Tea Party Thurdays. I've been working on making the girls some colonial type dresses and have finshed the Mob Caps and shoulder capes, so needless to say they wanted to wear them to the Tea Party...We are learning how a 'gentle woman/virtueous woman' is to behave herself at the table.

We also tried a new Tea Cake Recipe from www.allrecipes.com. What a great find! The cookies came our so light and airy, wonderful flavor, such a treat. We modified the recipe a bit by adding a little more sugar and vanilla.



Tea Cakes

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened (we let the butter soften in room temp for several hrs)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt


DIRECTIONS
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture (the dough will be soft). Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees F for 7-8 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.