Patience is something I’ve had to continually ask God for help with. When irritations towards other people, things, and circumstances arise; patience is sometimes not an immediate response. One of the things I have also learned in this area is that usually when I¹m frustrated with someone, and impatient with that person, it generally comes back to that I¹m lacking patience with myself.

I have a very close relationship with my older sister, but as relationships between sisters usually go, we are very different. She is the type of person who can immediately jump into the middle of anything and flourish. I on the other hand, like to take a slower approach to things.

Processing everything, and taking it step by step before I can reach the same level of enjoyment or ability that she has right at the beginning.

Before we realized our differences, there was no end of frustrations between us. It would usually end with me feeling frustrated with myself, and thinking that I would never be able to do the things she was able to do so easily. When I came to the understanding of how God had made me different from her in this area and was able to accept it; I was then able to build on that, by learning how to have patience with myself and others.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience),

kindness, goodness, faithfulness…”Galatians 5:22

The Creative Power of God’s Word

When ever I study the character quality of creativity I always think of God’s creative power.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” it does not say he made or built the heavens and the earth but instead “God created the heavens and the earth”. The difference between creating and building is pretty obvious. Building something engages only the hands while creating involves the heart and the soul…Now, imagine Gods creative power in just mere words.

As He called upon light, history began. Existence became measurable. And a mighty hand went to work. Canyons were carves. Oceans were dug. Mountains erupted out of flat lands. He must have had a blast. Painting the stripes on the zebra. Hanging the stars in the sky. Putting the gold in the sunset. What creativity! Stretching the neck of the giraffe, putting the flutter in the mockingbirds wings, planting the giggle in the hyena. And then as a finale to a brilliant performance, he created man. With his typical creative flair, he began with a useless mound of dirt and ended up with an invaluable species called a human. How original were his thoughts! A human who had the unique honor to bear the stamp “in His image”. At this point one would be tempted to jump and clap.

“BRAVO!” “UNMATCHABLE!”

But the applause would be premature. If you thought He was imaginary with the sea and stars, wait until you read what creative ideas He had to get His creation to listen to Him:

A ninety year old woman gets pregnant.

Another woman turns to salt.

A flood blankets the earth.

A bush burns ( but doesn’t burn up!)

The Red Sea splits in two.

The walls of Jericho fall.

The sky rains fire.

A donkey talks.

God, still the compassionate creator, woos His creation. Man, the creation, alternately reaches out in repentance and runs in rebellion. It is within this simple scrip that God’s creativity flourishes to this day. There is no other perfect example for creativity besides our God. He has set the standard for creative thinking, planning and speaking.

Through and through, He is the creator. A tireless dreamer and designer.

The father of modern missions, William Carey was born at Northamptonshire, England in 1761, and became a cobbler at the age of 14. Neither hands nor brains were idle. On his cobbler’s bench was a book. Before he was 20 years of age, to his store of Greek were added French, Dutch, Latin, and Hebrew. "With little teaching, he became learned; poor himself, he made millions rich; by birth obscure, he rose to unsought eminence; and seeking only to follow the Lord’s leading, himself led on the Lord’s host." Two years later, at the age of 22, he joined the Baptist church, and began preaching immediately, mostly on the theme of missions. He helped organize the English Baptist Missionary Society and was one of its first missionaries to India. His services there were remarkable for their range and depth.        

In April, 1789, Carey was called to the pastorate of Harvey Lane Church at Leicester. Here he was  brought into association with men of culture, and books were freely placed at his disposal. The course of events was now rapidly moving toward the formation of the missionary society. At the annual meeting of the association held at Nottingham, Carey was one of the preachers. He chose for his text Isa. 54:2-3, which was paraphrased as follows: "Expect great things from God," "Attempt great things for God." The impression made by the discourse was so decided that the following resolution was passed: "That against the next meeting at Kettering, a plan should be prepared for the purpose of forming a society for propagating the gospel among the heathen.

William and his family sailed June 13, landing at Calcutta November 10, 1793.The Moravian method of self-support in missions was known to Carey, and he wished to practice it. "At Bandel, on the Hugli, at Calcutta itself, and amid the tiger swamps of the Sunderbund tracts to the east of Calcutta, he made three attempts to preach and toil with his hands at the same time." In addition to soul-winning, Carey founded the Serampore College, and, with the aid of other linguists, he translated the Bible into 44 languages and dialects. In 1817 was begun the missionary training institute, which afterwards grew to a college, and was placed upon the same basis as other colleges of Europe. Through his efforts, the Bible was made available to 300,000,000 people before the American Civil War. He was also instrumental in developing grammars and dictionaries in Bengali, Sanskrit, and other native tongues.

For forty-one years William Carey was spared to labor for the good of India. He outlived nearly all who were associated with him in his prolonged residence, unbroken by any return to England. He died June 9, 1834.

Dear ATI families,

We want to share our excitement with you!

On October 24th, more than 50 young people will go to Peru to continue the work that was started this past July, on a one week expedition. The team going to Peru will meet with some of the same government officials and doctors, and will have the opportunity to return to several schools and hospitals the first team initially visited. But now with more than double the number, they will also meet new people and reach more Peruvians.

We want YOU to be part of what the Lord is doing in South America, for more information on the past trip or how to participate and pray for us in general or a specific young person, visit our IBLP web site.

This year, thousands of ATI families and seminar alumni assembled together at the 2010 ATI Regional Conferences to learn and apply the truths that unlock God’s richest blessing.

Dynamic messages were given by various speakers including Tom Harmon, Roger Magnuson, Phil Downer, Steve Dulin, and Jim Sammons. Families around the world discovered primary causes of marriage and family collapse, learned God’s purpose for a “one-accord family”, and discovered new and exciting ways to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

As you listen to these messages, you and your family can gain a whole new perspective on how to enter, enjoy, and excel in God’s Kingdom.

Visit our IBLP Store!

“And (Jesus) said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’ So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”(Mathew 19:5-6)

The commandment “Honor Marriage” is a radical life changing commandment. Many people may think that “honor marriage” begins in the altar by saying the phrase “I do” when, indeed, it begins since our youth, with a preparation, many years before even before knowing our future wife (husband).

I’m a football player, I know that if I get into a football game without having prepared myself fiscally and mentally, I will end up injured and without enjoying the game. In order for this not to happen, first I have to let someone who knows football more than I, prepare me several months before, and also go to the gym, so I can get stronger (even if it hurts) to be ready for the hits of the game and not get injured. Also, I must learn the playbook so whenever I come out to the field I know what to do.

When we apply this commandment, God does these same things for us. God, knowing everything, prepares us and gives us the ability and the power to have a godly marriage and therefore, to have further godly seed. Even if it sometimes hurts us to be trained by Him, (let’s keep in mind that He just wants what’s best for us) He is making us ready for the “hits” of the marriage life. God, during the training, shows us how to conquer several giants in our lives that will damage our marriage if we don’t conquer them now. Such as: anger, lust, greed, bitterness, envy, fear, and guilt. He also gives us the weapons to conquer them. I would like to touch on just two of them.

· Vow of Singleness: helps us not be trying to figure out who’s the person God will give us as wife (husband) and thinking about the other sex in the sensual manner. Instead, this enables us to give God all our youth and strength until He shows us the correct person. Keeping us from fighting against temptations that would become very attractive and difficult to control, enabling us to give God all of ourselves to serve Him with our best; knowing that the rewards He gives are even greater.

· Principle of Authority: in this case, we refer to it as living under the authority of our parents (living under the same roof). When Jesus stated “a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife” (See Mathew 19:5) He said “shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife.” He didn’t put it this way: “shall leave father and mother and go to college”, neither did He say: “…shall go live by his (her) own”, He put the things CRYSTAL CLEAR, “AND SHALL BE UNITED TO HIS WIFE (her husband)”.

Why did He say it so? What happens when we don’t live under the authority of our parents?

1. We are not under God’s protection through our parents.

2. We loose the opportunity to receive their wise counsel.

3. We don’t receive the training that God gives us to be ready for marriage, (because this is normally transmitted through our parents).

4. We don’t receive God’s blessings through our parents, which is fundamental for our lives.

5. We won’t know who the person God designed to be our wife (husband) is. Because God uses our parents to counsel us and confirm who that person is.

So, if we don’t live under the authority of our parents, we are not living the abundant life God wants us to live.

This commandment of Honor Marriage was designed by Jesus so perfectly, that if we follow it the way He indicates, it will prepare us to have a powerful godly life.

One of the many reasons we decided to home school our children was for ALL of them to receive a Godly education.  It is our desire as parents to see our children grow in wisdom and stature, building in them Godly character and wisdom that will both bless them now and in their future.

Raising children with different learning abilities, or special needs of sorts, doesn’t change that.  We still want the same things for them.  The path to that end sometimes looks VERY different.  Whether your child has ADHD, Autism, Down Syndrome, Dyslexia, or anything else you could add to the list–  we know first hand that YOU WANT THE VERY BEST FOR YOUR CHILD.  You want God’s best for them and their future.

It is for that reason that we chose to use the Wisdom Books for home schooling over other curriculum. It is built on Godly character.  The focus isn’t on how well you can do long division, instead the focus is on Godly character from the inside out.  Deepening your understanding of what it means to live a life of service, or virtue, or joyfulness, or….a long list of many other character qualities.  This is true “success” and can be “achieved” by any individual NO MATTER WHAT THEIR LEARNING ABILITY. Of this we are confident.  Yes, it might be a bit more challenging to get there, but it is possible!

This brings us to the reason for this blog entry.  We feel selfish keeping it to ourselves.  We have so loved our Wisdom Books and have labored over the past year “finding” a way to help ALL of our children glean the most from them.  We love their “journaling pages” contained within, but have found them hard to apply with many of our children. So……  we prayed, we brain stormed, we discussed, and prayed some more.  This is our end result.

We share it with all of you.  Please pass it on to ANYONE who you know would be blessed by it.

We should add that these would be applicable to families with young children as well- they don’t have to have a “special need”, they can just be an early learner joining in the joy of journaling what they have learned through the Wisdom Books.

We have “modified” all the journaling pages in the Wisdom Books and added a few extra as well.  This way ALL of our children could learn to journal, record what they have learned, and hopefully learn how to communicate it better to the world.

Attached you will find 8 different journaling pages. Each has a “Modification #1” and “Modification #2”. The #1 is for the intermediate learner who is able to write at least some sentences on their own or with guidance.  The #2 is for the learner who has yet to master all their writing skills, but is still learning the concepts being taught.  Each page has a small box in the upper corner with “directions” on when and where to use it in correlation to the Wisdom Books.  We print all of ours and make them into a little book for each kid.  Please use them anyway you see fit for your children. We will link them either here or to the right. But we are working on the link and our “technology skills” 

Enjoy & pass it on!