I learned this saying as a child. For most children growing up in Christian homes, it likely holds true most of the time.  But even well-meaning Christian parents don’t perfectly execute blessing for obedience and trouble for disobedience.  As a general rule for teaching children to obey, though, it works.

Costly Obedience in the Bible

In a world growing increasingly hostile to Christianity, the exact opposite of this saying is what is becoming more true. Sometimes the cost of obedience is high. But this isn’t a new phenomenon.  Obedience to God cost many people in the Bible in many ways.  For example, Joseph in the Old Testament chose to obey God and flee the temptation of Potiphar’s wife, and he ended up in prison.  Obedience did not bring him blessing from a human standpoint.  He eventually ended up being blessed, but things didn’t look too great for him for a while.  You can read more about his story in this post.

Most of us also know the story of Job.  His faithfulness to God did earn God’s blessing for many years. Then it cost him much suffering as God allowed Satan to put him to the test.  He lost his children, his wealth, his status, and his health.  God did return to blessing Job afterward, but for a time, Job’s obedience did not bring blessing.

Then there’s David.  We initially think of him as being blessed because God chose him to be the next king of Israel. However, that calling caused him much distress for many years as Saul hunted his very life.  David remained faithful to God during that time, but this faithfulness was costly as he ran from Saul, hiding in the wilderness and caves and among other pagan nations.

New Testament Examples

There’s many more Old Testament examples of prophets who faced hardship as a result of obedience, but what about New Testament examples? Many Christians in the early church faced severe persecution for their faith in Christ and obedience to Him.  Of course, we know of Paul who suffered much for his obedience to God’s calling on his life to preach the Gospel.  He faced beatings, shipwrecks, and imprisonment, to name a few.  And the people who inflicted these things upon him seemed to be the ones who were blessed. They continued to live comfortable lives while Paul faced trouble upon trouble.

The book of Revelation was written by John, Jesus’ disciple, while he was in exile on the isle of Patmos.  Let’s just say this wasn’t a vacation to the Bahamas.  Why was he there?  For preaching the Gospel.  He was obeying what God had called him to do, and it landed him in exile. The bright spot of this part of his story is that God gave him the vision of the book of Revelation that we now have to read and give us hope for the future.  But for John, his obedience was costly.

Evaluating Our Expectations

You may wonder if I’m just trying to depress you.  But that’s not my goal at all.  For some, not all, but some Christians who have grown up in Christian circles all of their lives, we can sometimes live in a false sense of reality thinking that if I obey God, everything should be wonderful in my life. I shouldn’t have struggles. It’s only those who rebel against God or don’t follow Him who have problems, trouble, and conflict.  

The problem is that’s not true.  So when troubles and conflicts arise in our lives, we can feel upset at God as if He’s not holding His end of the bargain.  “I obeyed You, God, but I’m not being blessed.  I’m actually hurting.  I’m facing financial hardship or extreme conflict with someone. My health is suffering. What’s the deal?  I don’t know how to walk through this.” 

Then we read God’s promises in the Psalms and other places in the Bible, and things don’t seem to be adding up.  “God, You’re supposed to bring down the wicked and raise up the righteous.  Why is the opposite of that happening in my situation?”  “Lord, You promised to heal, but I’m struggling with chronic illness.”  “God, no matter how I try to follow the principles in Your Word, I can’t seem to find reconciliation with this person.”  “Lord, You promise to provide, but we’re barely making ends meet.”  And on it goes.

So what’s my point? We need to be careful in our Christian circles not to unintentionally create false expectations in our children and other believers.  Should we teach our children to obey? Definitely. The Bible says to. Should we teach them to honor their parents so that it will be well with them? (Eph. 6:2-3). Yes. The Bible teaches this. But obedience can be costly.

Teach Your Children the Cost of Obedience

We must also teach our children about the cost of obeying God so that it doesn’t shock them when trouble happens.  Sometimes we can so cushion their lives that when hardship comes, they can become completely lost in their Christian walk.  Teach your children the stories of the people I mentioned above along with others in the Bible.  Read to them about people who stood for God at great cost.  I’m not saying you should always focus on hardship. However, at the same time, we shouldn’t create the expectation that they will never have trouble as long as they obey God. 

Obedience does bring the blessing of God, but sometimes it doesn’t look or feel like blessing at the time. Sometimes the blessing might not come until later.  And sometimes obedience will cost them and us dearly. We always have the blessing of maintaining a right relationship with God and knowing He is with us through everything we face, but earthly blessing might not come when or the way we expect it to.

Teach them to obey and honor, yes.  But teach them to obey and honor God, no matter what.  “If we win, we praise Him. If we lose, we praise Him,” as a character in the movie Facing the Giants states.  No matter what, we praise God.  No matter what, we stay faithful to God.  No matter what, we follow God.  No matter what, we trust God. 

Practice What You Teach

This might be easy to say, but it’s no picnic to practice at times.  Practice it, though, as parents.  It’s ok if your children know about some of the struggles you face as a family, whether that’s financial or losing loved ones, etc.  Use discernment, but realize they will learn how to walk through hardship from you as their parents.  Let them see how you may struggle to keep trusting, but you still choose to keep trusting.  Let them see you digging into the Word to find hope.  This is how they will learn to do it for themselves.

May we say with Job at the end of each trial, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You.” (Job 42:5, NKJV). That is our aim…to truly see and know God more and become more like Christ.  Someday, for those of us who have trusted Christ, we will be eternally blessed in Heaven. “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great god and Savior Jesus Christ,” (Titus 2:13, NKJV) We will have the true rest we long for.  Until then, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23, NKJV)

The post The Cost of Obedience appeared first on Honeycomb Blessings.

Lamentations 3:24-26

The Lord is my portion, says my soul, Therefore I hope in Him! The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

This passage reminds us to keep hoping in the Lord because He is good, no matter what. It also challenges us to keep seeking to know Him more through life’s challenges and to be quiet in our spirits rather than complaining about our circumstances. He is my portion…He is enough for us to be content even when we feel we are lacking something we need.

Psalm 27:13-14

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!

David is sharing his own struggle with waiting. We don’t know what specific circumstance prompted him to write this psalm, but his story contains several instances where he could have felt this way. I know that I have definitely felt like losing heart over the past couple of years of waiting. However, David’s hope was in God’s goodness in his season of waiting, and he reminds us that we can hope in the goodness of our God as well. He challenges us to wait on Him, to have courage as we continue facing the trial, and to rely on God’s strength for each moment.

Psalm 62:5-8

My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, and my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah

There is a lot in this passage, but some key thoughts are, again, to wait silently (so hard!), yet the end of the passage invites us to pour out our hearts to Him. Being silent isn’t necessarily refraining from talking to the Lord about our struggle, but stopping ourselves from looking to someone or something else for refuge. As David points out, God ONLY is my rock, salvation, defense, and refuge…not anything else we may try to look to. We should trust in HIM at all times…not anything else. It is so easy to turn to other things for comfort and help. But nothing else will fill our longing. He is a refuge for us. As we seek to faithfully endure our waiting season, we can pour out our hearts to Him and know that He will give us the comfort and help that we so desperately crave.

Psalm 130:5-7

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning–Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption.

This passage reminds us once again to wait for the Lord, and to find our hope in His Word. Sometimes it will feel as if we are waiting on someone or something else to act, but God is ultimately in charge of everything, and we really must realize that He will cause the thing we are waiting for to happen in His time and way. Our hope is in Him, not someone else. The encouraging thing is that He does give mercy and abundant redemption. He can “buy back” what feels lost while we are waiting and provide the mercy we need to cope with our circumstances.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Finally, we must remember that this life on earth is but a vapor. When we are in the midst of a waiting season or any other trial, time can feel endless. But one way or another, the trial will end, whether it be here on earth or when Christ returns. We must keep our eyes on the eternal and allow God to prune and grow us through our struggle. I don’t say that lightly…I know it is hard. I’ve wrestled through this myself because no one likes to go through hard things. We wonder why God can’t grow us some other way, but if we’re honest, we know that the greatest joys are often borne out of great struggle.

In your season of waiting, be sure to look for the beauty in every day…the small things that you might often overlook, the little things that God does to encourage you along the way and keep you going. Keep a journal or list of these things. When this season ends, it will be a great reminder of what God did as well as an encouragement when the next trial comes your way. You may need to use it to encourage someone else in their trial. Check out my post on God’s amazing love for us and this one on Joseph’s season of waiting for some extra encouragement. I would also recommend the book Trusting God by Jerry Bridges. It is an excellent study.

The post 5 Bible Passages For Seasons of Waiting appeared first on Honeycomb Blessings.

Last week I was feeling very overwhelmed with all. the. things. I was behind on some things, and homeschooling is starting up soon. We have company coming for several days, and on and on it goes. My head was spinning a bit. My husband saw the overwhelm and offered to take the kids elsewhere for a day so I could get some focused time to catch up on some things. It only ended up being for the afternoon instead of the whole day, but it was super helpful!

A few ideas to reduce overwhelm

If you’re feeling a bit “under it all,” perhaps a friend or family member could take your kids for a morning or afternoon to allow you to get some things done uninterrupted. If not, I know that doing a brain dump can be super helpful…just write everything down that’s swirling around in your head. Getting it on paper or in a to-do app where you can try to make some sense of it can be a great stress reliever. (I recently started using an app called Planmore, and I’m really liking it!) When you’re feeling overwhelmed, remember you only have to face today, or even the next few minutes. God’s grace is there for today, and it will be there again for tomorrow. The following verses remind us where to keep our focus as we go through each day. Pray a lot, meditate on the following verses, and have a sweet day!

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:33-34, NKJV

The post Just Enough Grace for Today appeared first on Honeycomb Blessings.

This verse popped up in my You Version Bible app today, and it’s such a great reminder for us all—especially us Mommas as we deal with our children each day. We all need to strive to use pleasant words! Since it’s also the theme of my blog, I couldn’t help but share it with you. Hope it’s a blessing to you today!

The post Pleasant Words appeared first on Honeycomb Blessings.

The post Bridging the Gaps appeared first on Honeycomb Blessings.

Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.

We sow seeds with our eyes on the harvest. The sowing is hard work, but we do it because we have the hope of the reaping. The sowing seasons of life can sometimes get long, and we can lose sight of the harvest time. Raising children is hard. Homeschooling is hard. But we don’t give up if we keep our eyes on the One who brings us the harvest. I don’t know what you’re facing today, mama, but don’t give up. There is always hope in Christ, and the harvest will come. Until then, keep on keeping on!

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…

Hebrews 12:2a

P.S. If you’re looking for a great language arts option, check out my post about IEW.

The post Keep Your Eyes On The Harvest appeared first on Honeycomb Blessings.

Before Joseph’s Birth

Genesis 29:21-30 takes us back before Joseph’s birth to the marriage of his parents.  Jacob worked for 7 years to be able to marry Rachel, but then her father sneaked her sister Leah into the wedding instead.  Can you imagine being in Leah’s shoes?!  She knows this man loves her sister, but her dad is making her marry him for the sake of tradition.  And then poor Rachel?  She does love him, but her dad gives her sister to him instead and makes her wait a week to then marry him, too.  And he now has to serve her father another 7 years besides.  This is a bit of a rough start to married life!

But we see in verse 31 that God had mercy on Leah and allowed her to bear 4 sons, but He closed Rachel’s womb.  At this time, bearing children was very important to a woman.  Leah hoped that bearing these sons would cause Jacob to love her, but to no avail.  In chapter 30, the story goes on to tell us that Rachel becomes jealous of Leah and is obviously emotional because she can’t bear children.  I just can’t imagine being in a home with two wives, can you?  Talk about asking for trouble!  However,  having many sons to carry on the family name was important, so marrying more than one wife was a common practice at this time.  So Rachel takes matters into her own hands and gives her maid, Bilhah, to Jacob to try to bear children through her.  So now, there’s three wives.  (This is getting better all the time!)  But it did make Rachel feel vindicated (verse 6), because Bilhah bore him 2 sons.  But Leah is not to be outdone, so in verse 9 it says that Leah goes ahead and gives her maid, Zilpah, to Jacob as well. So now there’s four wives!

I don’t know if these men just left home all day long or what, but I don’t know how they put up with all these women! But Zilpah did bear Jacob 2 more sons.  Then, Leah’s son Reuben finds some mandrakes and brings them home to her.  Rachel asks for some, but Leah says no way. So Rachel bargains with her and says she can have Jacob for the night if she’ll give her the mandrakes.  So Jacob goes to Leah, and she gets pregnant again and has another son. She also has another son later on, but yet Rachel still hasn’t had any children of her own.  Finally, in verse 22 it says God remembered Rachel and opened her womb.  She becomes pregnant and has Joseph.

God’s Faithfulness to Abraham

One thing the study points out is how God made a covenant with Abraham to multiply his descendants and make a great nation of his seed.  Abraham is Joseph’s great-grandpa.  (So God is definitely multiplying Abraham’s seed through Joseph’s father, Jacob!)  As you probably know, Joseph and his brothers become the fathers of the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel.  So even though this family is rather dysfunctional, God still used them to fulfill His promise to Abraham.  My study book highlighted the fact that God’s faithfulness to His promises is not dependent on people’s faithfulness to Him.  In the same vein, His faithfulness to you and me is not dependent on our being perfectly right in all that we do.  What a great, comforting truth!  God is perfectly faithful in spite of us!

Joseph’s Childhood

Growing up in this home would even have been hard for the children—four mothers, at least two of whom are at odds with each other most of the time, 11 half-brothers and at least one half-sister.  As Joseph’s story goes on, we see that his father, Jacob, shows favoritism to Joseph and gives him a special coat.  This definitely couldn’t have helped things in the home at all.  We later learn that his brother’s hated him because of it, and Joseph has some dreams that don’t help his situation either.  It’s not clear why he shared the dreams with his brothers, but he did, which again didn’t endear him to his brothers.  So they eventually devise a plan to sell him to merchants headed to Egypt and made up a story for their father that Joseph had been killed.  Joseph is then sold to Potiphar as a servant.

I know this is may be a familiar story to some, but I hope that you can try to imagine being in Joseph’s shoes.  How would you feel or react to all of this?  I’m not so sure I would have held up quite as well as Joseph did.  But in Genesis 39, verse 2 it says that “The Lord was with Joseph.”  This is the key.  We really can’t do life unless God is with us in our day to day.  We need Him, and that’s ok.  That’s how He made us!  Remember this:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)

God is with Joseph in Egypt

Joseph is promoted well in Potiphar’s house until Potiphar’s wife tries to tempt Joseph, who flees, so she lies about him, and he’s then thrown in prison.  I wonder what Joseph is thinking about now.  “God, did you forget about me?  I’m just trying to make the best of my situation here, but now I’m thrown in prison for something I didn’t even do.”  But we see in verse 22 that God was still with Joseph, and gave him favor in the eyes of the chief jailer who sets him up as an overseer of the prisoners.   So God helps Joseph again to rise above the challenge and be a man of integrity. Joseph is eventually taken out of the prison to interpret Pharaoh’s dream and then made ruler of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself.  He marries, has two sons, and eventually saves His brothers and father from starvation in a severe famine.  (There’s a lesson here on forgiveness, too, but that’s for another day.)  Today, I want to just focus on how God remained perfectly faithful through all of these challenges and mess-ups to accomplish His plan.  He blessed Joseph for staying true to Him even in a foreign land.  So take this with you today:

• 1. God’s faithfulness is not dependent on us getting everything right. Praise the Lord!
• 2. God can work good even through our messes.  We don’t have to feel hopeless.  God is still God at all times and in every thing.  Things may seem bleak sometimes, but we can always trust in His faithfulness.  God is perfectly faithful!

In case you want to check it out, here’s the link to the study I’m doing: Finding God Faithful. I am not using the video sessions, and I’m still able to do the study without any issues. I just skip the session notes pages. Also, check out this link for more about God’s faithful love.

The post God is Perfectly Faithful appeared first on Honeycomb Blessings.

“The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” 

God and His Word are where true sweetness is found – even sweeter than honey!  I hope to use this blog to be a blessing to you by helping you see God’s beauty in our every day lives. I will definitely share things God has taught me in His Word, but I may also share different things that have been a blessing to me in my homeschooling, health, homemaking, church, or even music journeys.  Proverbs 16:24 says,

“Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”

I want to bring these pleasant words to your days! I hope you will strive to do the same with your children, family, and others you have opportunity to encourage. These blessings bring sweetness to life, and I hope to add a little sweetness to your life through my blog, hence the name “Honeycomb Blessings.”  Have a sweet day, my friend, and enjoy a little honey in your tea or coffee today!

The post Honeycomb Blessings – Why this name? appeared first on Honeycomb Blessings.

God’s love is patient.

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

~He’s patient with our shortcomings and spiritual journey, but this verse speaks of His patience in regard to His return.  For us, this world seems to be getting pretty rough in many ways, but God desires that all who will be saved will have the opportunity to do so.  I know I’m anxious for His return, but His timing is best and we can trust that and be thankful for His patience with lost souls…and be challenged to be busy telling others about Him.

God’s love is unchanging.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17

~This is such a comforting truth in a world that is constantly changing.  God’s love for me and you will never change, regardless of anything that goes on around us or even anything that we do.  We can always count on His love and know that He is there, even when it may not seem like it.  God never changes, and His Word never changes.  

God’s love is faithful.

Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; Deuteronomy 7:9

~God is faithful to us even when we’re unfaithful to Him.  I’ve had times in my own life where I have questioned His faithfulness because my circumstances were so bleak that things just didn’t make sense, and I didn’t know where He was.  This is where our faithfulness and trust in Him and His Word is tested.  It’s not easy.  Life can be just plain hard and painful sometimes.  But if we don’t have God, we have nothing.  My dad quoted someone else once who said “If you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on!”  Sometimes life feels like that…like we’re hanging on for dear life.  But God is still faithful, whether we feel like it or not.  The “knot” we have to hang on to is His Word and the promises and truths we find in it.  I’m sure Joseph in the Bible felt pretty abandoned being sold into slavery and sitting in that prison for such a long time.  He didn’t know how the story would end like we do.  But he remained faithful, and God did bring about a pretty amazing ending to his story.  God is always faithful to His Word, and we can trust in that.

God’s love is everlasting.

The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Jeremiah 31:3

~I have this verse on my wall in my bedroom, and I love having it there.  I’ve looked at it often and it’s been such an encouragement at different times.  God’s love will last forever.  All of these aspects of His love we’ve looked at will always be true, both now and for eternity.

God’s love is inseparable.

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:39

~Nothing will separate us from God’s love.  Did you notice what it said there?  “Nor things present, nor things to come”. This helps us face the future because we know that no matter what comes, nothing separates us from God’s love.  Whatever happens now and whatever happens in the future, God will still be there with us, loving us and giving us the strength to face it.  When we worry about future things, we’re trying to imagine handling them without God’s grace.  But God isn’t giving me grace for that thing right now because I’m not facing it right now.  If whatever it is does actually come, God’s grace will be there for us in that moment, guiding us and leading us and loving us.  Nothing can ever separate us from His love.  This is truth we can rest in today and every day.

The post 5 Ways God’s Love is Like No Other appeared first on Honeycomb Blessings.