~From My Mother's Heart:Been There, Done That~

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. (Titus 2:3-5)

Whole books have been written on these verses, so obviously a little ditty on a blog is not going to do them justice, but I would just like to give you a few thoughts about them to think on for a moment.

Who is this “Titus 2 Woman,” as we call her? If you go out seeking a perfect older woman with all of the answers and all of her ducks in a row, you will probably go home disappointed. The woman in this passage is not a perfect woman. She has struggles, disappointments, and bad days just like you. She can be of help to you, not because she has never stumbled and fallen, but because she has.

You’ve heard the saying, “Been there, done that, and got the T-shirt.” Well, she has a whole dresser drawer full of T-shirts from all of her life experiences. If she hasn’t personally experienced what you are presently going through, she has been around long enough to have observed someone else that is going through just what you are. She may know of a Bible passage that can help you. She has dealt with trials in a right way, and in a wrong way, and the older she gets the more storage space she needs for all of those T-shirts.

As a young Christian woman, it would be prudent to be seeking the friendship of older Christian women, and you should be becoming a woman yourself, that is able to help and encourage women coming along behind you.

So, who needs mature, godly Christian women in their lives? I think we all do. And who should be striving to be a godly Christian woman that is able to be a blessing and encouragement to other women? Again, I believe that would be all of us.

Perhaps you’ve been wondering why you have so many seemingly useless T-shirts all over the place. Well, now you know. Don’t toss them aside; carefully fold them, store them, and be a blessing to someone else when they need to hear about them.

Written by my mother, Mrs. H.

From My Mother's Heart: The Gift of Salvation

It was a simple thing. We took a pie to the people across the street. Neighbors do things like that. But a while later as I was working in my yard, the little girl from that house came to me and reached out her hand to me. “Here,” she said. I looked up to see some folded bills in her hand.

“What’s that for?” I asked.

“It’s for the pie.” She responded. I assured her that I was not selling the pie to her family, that the pie was a gift. But she said her dad insisted on paying for it. We went round and round, and finally she jammed the money into my hand, and I knew that if I didn’t take it, I would be insulting her father. My heart sank. What was supposed to be a gift became merchandise. Rather than blessing this family, I became a peddler to them.

Then it hit me. How must God feel? He sent His Son as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He freely offers us salvation, a home in heaven. The Bible tells us it is a gift. And what do we do? We try to pull out our wallets and pay for His free gift. Oh, it may not be with money, but we try to pay for a home in heaven by doing good things. By being nice to our neighbors, by going to church. You name it. Nobody really wants to go to hell, and many of us try to come up with our own way to pay for our sins so we don’t have to go there.

I don’t know why it was that my neighbor wanted to pay for the pie. Maybe it was pride. After all, he was not a charity case, and he could pay for the food his family ate. Sometimes people get so proud they think they have a better plan of making it to heaven than God has. But until we accept His free gift, we simply can not make it. That is the only way for anyone to get to heaven.

I have met people who say they pray everyday for God to save them. You are not saved by repeating prayers over and over. That can become your way of doing it yourself. You can not save yourself. What would you do that would be enough? How would you know when you had done enough? How then can you be saved, and sure that you are on your way to heaven when you die?

Realize you are a sinner. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23.

Realize there is a penalty for your sins and that God wants to give you the gift of salvation. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” Romans 6:23.

Realize that you do not need to do anything to clean up your act for God. He wants you to come to Him just as you are. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.

Do what I wanted my neighbor to do with the pie. Just reach out and accept it as a gift.

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” Romans 10:13. We accept God’s free gift of salvation by calling out to Him in prayer, believing He alone can save us, thus, accepting His free gift.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

If you believe that you have ever sinned, that you can not save yourself, and that Jesus has paid for your sins on the cross of Calvery, as the Bible says, pray a simple prayer like this:

“Dear Lord Jesus, Thank you for paying for my sins on the cross with your shed blood. Thank you for proving you have power over death and hell by your raising yourself from the dead. I accept your free gift of salvation. Please come into my heart and life and save me today. Thank you, Jesus! Amen.”

Mere words do not save you, but remember Romans 10:13. It says “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” God can not lie. His Word is true. Accept His free gift today, and then you can know for sure that you will spend all eternity with Him in a wonderful place called Heaven!

Does that seem too easy? Consider this verse. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” 2 Peter 3:9. God did all the work, all we have to do is believe Him and accept Him. Won’t you trust Him today?

~By Mrs. H

From my Mother's Heart: That's not a Bible verse?

When my older children were young, they would do unkind things to one another from time to time, as children sometimes do. I would knowingly tell them, “The Bible says to ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you!’” Then one day, I was writing an article, and I wanted to use that verse of scripture. I searched high and low and couldn’t find it, so I called my mom and asked her if she knew the reference. She said, “Well, I don’t know that that is in the Bible. It’s the Golden Rule.” Oh...I had been telling my children it was a Bible verse! They will probably not remember any of the other “real” verses I taught them, but they will not let me forget that one!

Well, the good news is that even though those exact words are not in the Holy Bible, the truth taught in those words is a Bible truth.“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” You can look it up for yourself! You will find it in Matthew 7:12. I have memorized this verse to teach my younger children.

And here it is again.
“And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” Find this verse in Luke 6:31.

Can we know our Bible too well? No, of course not. We must always be studying, learning, and growing in the Word. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

By Mrs. H

From My Mother's Heart: Words Matter

Have you ever said something you regretted? Well, join the club! How many times I have said something and wondered, “Why did I even say that?”

The saddest story I recall was that of a childhood friend. She and her family were riding in the car when a discussion between father and daughter turned into an argument. My friend, agitated by her dad, said to him, “I hate you!” Just then, a drunk driver crashed into their car. My friend’s dad got out of his car to see if the man was alright, and when he did, he dropped dead on the road, right in front of his family. Her last words to her dad were, “I hate you!” She didn’t hate her dad.

Words matter.

I want the last thing I say to those I love to be, “I love you!” It is very important to me. My family has gotten into the practice of expressing love to one another many times a day. I like it. It’s not corny. It is a blessing. The phone rings. It is one of the kids saying they will be an hour late coming home. “Thanks for calling,” I say. “I love you”. “I love you, too. Bye.” Our family members always end our phone conversations with “I love you”. Even siblings!

When one of my family members drives out of the yard, they tap their horn, toot, toot, toot. You know what that means? It means, “I love you!” And though they don’t hear me, I say from the house, “I love you, too!” They all know I say it though, because they have all heard me say it when someone else is driving away.

If you are not in the practice of telling your family you love them, I encourage you to start now. No one gets tired of hearing they are loved!

There are plenty of other things we could go without saying. Because words matter, the prayer of my heart is this: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

~By Mrs. H~

From My Mother's Heart: Think about who God is today

I have asked my mom, "Mrs. H" to write guest posts from time to time. I feel as a young woman, I am not equipped to "teach". Now, my mom is not "old", but she has way more wisdom and experience than I do! I hope her posts are a blessing and encouragement to you!


Isaiah 40:25 is a favorite verse of mine. “To whom then will ye liken
me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.” Certainly, as mere
humans, we can not understand our wonderful God completely, for there
is nothing or no one with which we can compare Him.

Here are a few things God is:
God is true. John 3:33
God is faithful. 1 Corinthians 1:9
God is holy. Psalm 99:9
God is my salvation. Isaiah 12:2
God is my strength. 2 Samuel 22:33
God is gracious and merciful. 2 Chronicles 30:9
God is mighty. Job 36:5
God is great. Job 36:26
God is for me. Psalm 56:9
God is mine helper. Psalm 54:4
God is my defence. Psalm 59:17

This God deserves our worship, praise, and admiration today. He won't
chase us down for it. He won't make us worship, love and adore Him, but
if we will offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving to Him, we will find
that we are greatly blessed for doing so.

By Mrs. H