How to raise a spoilt child

Here are the links to two great articles that I read earlier today. I hope you enjoy them.

How to raise a spoilt child.

Ask yourself this question if your children don't obey.

"Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman" by Anne Ortlund

I bought the book "Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman" a few weeks ago and read it through in a couple of days. Written from a Christian perspective, it offers encouragement and practical ideas to help women plan their time and activities to be most effective in their work for God.

This book is easy to read and the author has a friendly and humble style of writing. It's not a to-do list that details one way for every Christian woman to live, but includes stories from the author's life that show what has and hasn't worked for her in regards to time-management, keeping up with different roles and responsibilities, maintaining a positive and hard-working attitude, organising Bible study notes, influencing and encouraging other women for Christ, and even taking care of our appearance.

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My favourite part of the book has to be the author's passion for being a good witness, remaining accountable to other Christians in her own walk, and looking for opportunities to share the Gospel with unbelievers. Here is a quote where the author is describing what our life will hopefully become once we have been saved:

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"Let's presume (and I pray it's really true) that all of us now, I writing and you reading, are safely one the bank. Here's where "cream-puff religion" - no strain, no pain - has deceived many, leading new Christians to believe that once they're out of the canoe onto land, they're in heaven! So a few months later when they still have problems, they're disillusioned.

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Actually this is the time when we brush ourselves off, set our eyes on that distant City, and start walking. Cross country, woman. Realise what you were saved from, and know that that place is so fabulous it's worth hiking over over hills, through thorns, through rivers up to our lipstick, over cliffs - anything to get there."

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Over the last few weeks I have read this book from start to finish again and also opened it up to read just a chapter or two when I had a few minutes to spare. Every time I read some of it I come away feeling inspired and encouraged.
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I'm not sure if this book has been re-printed recently as not all online bookstores sell it but you can find it at Amazon, The Book Depository and Booktopia.

Website of the Week

If you love ordering books online but hate paying huge shipping costs then have a look at The Book Depository. They have FREE shipping on all books to anywhere in the world. Most of the books that I've looked up have also been cheaper to buy than at other websites. Enjoy!

Radical

About a month ago I started listening to a series of sermons online from a pastor at a church in Brook Hills, Birmingham Alabama. The title of the series is "Radical" and it's about the radical choices Christians are called to make. The sermon titles include:

* The Gospel Demands Radical Sacrifice.
* The Gospel Demands Radical Compassion.
* The Gospel Requires Radical Urgency.
* The Gospel Requires Radical Giving.
* The Gospel Requires Radical Abandonment.

It's an excellent series and I recommend it to all Christians. Click here to listen to it yourself.

If you think you will go to heaven because you're a good person .....

then you really need to watch this video. (It's the first video on the page).

The Way of the Master

http://www.wayofthemaster.com/

This website has a lot of great resources that teach Christians how to share the gospel with non-Christians. There are free videos that show you how to answer difficult questions and how to point people to their need for a Saviour. You can also buy tracts and books and even get personal training at the Evangelism Training Academy.

I've been so inspired after watching some of the videos on this site that I decided to write down a few points about the gospel and give it to a neighbour across the road who is moving to another state this weekend. I have to admit that I was pretty nervous but when I saw his car pull up yesterday afternoon I ran out of the house with Baby Bee on my hip and called out to him. At first he looked a little wary when I told him that my husband and I were Christians but he seemed to be okay with me giving it to him and said he would read it. If you could pray that God would use it to lead him on the path to salvation I would appreciate that.

Six Years Ago

Last night I was laying awake in bed at 2am and for some reason I remembered that it was about this time six years ago that the Lord started turning my heart to Him. I had just returned from a trip overseas and had such a strong feeling that I needed to find out what it meant to be a Christian. I went to a few churches in the area until I found one that I felt comfortable with. Previous to this time I had only been to church about 5 times in my life and had grown up in a non-Christian home. Over the next few months God put other Christians in my life to teach me and encourage me and at the end of September 2004 I was baptised.

Since then God has taught me a lot and of course I am learning so much more every day. I feel like God is leading me down a new path that involves sharing my faith with others so hopefully I'll be able to talk about that a bit here on this blog and get some ideas and encouragement from others who know so much more than I do in this area. And maybe eventually I'll be able to encourage other Christians to share the gospel too.