Announcing a A New Website

When we brought our firstborn son home from the hospital nine years ago I could scarcely take my eyes off him. I remember silently creeping into his room when he was sleeping just so I could take another look. He was so very beautiful. After nine months of discomfort (read: misery) and and the excruciating pain of labor, I now had this perfect little child in my arms and he was everything I could have ever hoped for.

That’s pretty much exactly how I feel about MY NEW WEBSITE.

Not to be dramatic or anything, but seriously y’all, I put some hard labor into this thing and now I LOVE IT.

I love it and I want you to be a part of it.

As I began preparing to (very soon!) publish workbooks to accompany my book, His Word Alone; A call to put down your Bible studies and pick up your Bible, I realized I needed a more expansive site to fit everything in, so I got to work.  After countless hours on chat with tech support, and YouTube instructional videos galore, I can finally introduce you all to the finished product…

www.HisWordAlone.com

Well?!  WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!  Go ahead and take a peak!!  I’ll wait right here.

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Ok, now be honest.  Do you love her, I mean it, as much as I do?!

That would be pretty weird if you did, because I’m strangely obsessed with it right now, but do you at least like it a lot?!

So, what does this new website mean to all you faithful earlymorningmama.com subscribers?  If you elected to follow earlymorningmama by email, then you should be good to go.  I will transfer all earlymorningmama email subscribers over to my new website address.  HOWEVER, if you follow through any other means (such as only via WordPress), then you’ll need to sign up to receive email notifications from the new site.  It’s super easy.  Just scroll down to the bottom of the home page – http://www.HisWordAlone.com – fill in your email address and voila!  You and I can stay in touch just like in the good ole’ days.

If you’re not sure which way you signed up with me initially, then go ahead and sign up at the new site.  I’ll make sure to delete any duplicate email addresses and no harm done.

I really can’t express to you how sincerely grateful I am to you all.  There is no shortage of people clamouring to be heard in this big world of ours, and I don’t take for granted the fact that you have elected to hear me.  That is significant.  And I am so deeply encouraged by you.

If you enjoy the new site, I would love for you to share it with your friends.  I believe the workbooks my publisher, Rockenbaugh Mountain Revival, and I will be putting out soon will be incredibly beneficial to those hoping to grow their understanding of Scripture.

And that is my heart in all of these efforts – that people would come to know and love God through the determined study of Hiw Word.

I would appreciate any help you can offer by directing people to my site and the resources I offer.

Ok, friends, I think that’s it for this small little corner of the internet I have had the great honor of hosting these last three years.  I’ll see you over at HisWordAlone.com!

Early Morning Mama, signing off.

 

 

Discipling your Children “as you go”.

As a stay-at-home mom of three young boys, I’ve spent a large majority of the past 9 years in the presence of my children. I’ve gone through phases where this felt good, and right, and the very place I wanted most to be.

I’ve also gone through phases where I felt as if my whole life was passing before my eyes as I changed diapers, calmed tantrums, and wiped little noses.

I’ve cried tears of joy as I watched another little one take his very first steps, and I’ve cried tears of frustration at the end of another day where nothing seemed to have been accomplished.  (And I may have, on occasion, cried for both of these reasons on the very same day.)

To be a mother is to be capable of feeling all of these conflicting feelings all at the very same time.

But through it all, the Lord has graciously grown within me an understanding that what He has put before me at this very stage of life is by far the most important work I’ll be given in this life.  The work of discipling my children. 

As followers of Christ, we are called to make disciples.  To spread the good word of God’s good work far and wide (Matthew 28:19).  And as parents, our children are our primary disciples.  They are the very first ones we usher toward Christ.

But in the hustle and bustle of everyday living, how do we do that?  How do we live out the Lord’s command that we teach our children to follow Him in the midst of diapers, dinner, and toy dinosaurs?

Read the rest of the post over at RockThis.org by clicking on the image below…

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3 Book Giveaway!

Hi Friends,

Here’s some good news on this beautiful Palm Sunday!

This week, the church turns it’s attention to the days leading up to Christ’s death and resurrection. We intentionally set our eyes on who Jesus is and what He accomplished for us. So I’ve got three {3!}books to give away to one of you that point us to the goodness and faithfulness of God and His Word.

Neely Beattie’s new hand-drawn coloring book, Bloom.
My book, His Word Alone. (Signed!)
And Abby Rike Rockenbaugh’s book, Working It Out; A journey of loss, love and hope. (Signed!)

All three of us do our teaching/writing/Bible-journaling thing together over at RockThis.org and we’d love, love, love for you to be part! {Join our FB group @ www.facebook.com/groups/RockThisRevival/ }

Go to my Facebook page HERE for details on how to enter.  Winner will be announced on Good Friday!

 

Learning to Pray the Jesus Way (A blog series on The Lord’s Prayer) Part 6: On Temptation and Evil

The human condition is fraught with all manner of frailties and dependencies.

Chances are you’ve lived enough life to know this to be true.  I, for one, can barely stumble from my bed to the bathroom during the middle of the night without stubbing my toe, let alone successfully maneuver my way through life unscathed.

In Part 1 of this series, we discovered that this inescapable fact of the human condition establishes our need for prayer.

Because we are frail, because we are dependent, because we need, God gave us prayer.

Prayer is the means through which God answers our deepest need.  Our need for Him.

In The Lord’s Prayer, Jesus, recognizing the many ways in which we are dependent on God, draws our attention to who God is to us.  And it just so happens that who He is coincides beautifully with what we need.

Read the first four verses of Jesus’ prayer with this in mind.  Look specifically for who Jesus reveals God to be in light of our frailties, dependencies, and needs.

Matthew 6

9Our Father in Heaven,

hallowed be your name.

10 Your kingdom come,

your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us today our daily bread,

12 and forgive us our debts, 

as we also have forgiven our debtors…

Although the answers may not immediately jump out to you, sit with the text long enough, and here’s a bit of what you’re likely to discover:

As humans we are desperately dependent on God

as our Father  {v.9},

as our King  {v.10},

as our Provider  {v.11},

and as our Savior  {v.12}.

And now in the last verse of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus introduces to us God as our Protector.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.  Matthew 6:13

Protector.  Because it is part of who He is, it must be something that we desperately need.

{Read the rest of this post over at Rock This by clicking on the image below.}

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Learning to Pray the Jesus Way (A blog series on The Lord’s Prayer) Part 5: A People Forgiven

As we move forward in this series on The Lord’s Prayer, we come to what may well be one of the most daunting topics of all–forgiveness.

9 Our Father in Heaven,

hallowed be your name.

10 Your kingdom come,

your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

11 Give us today our daily bread,

12 and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors…

Forgiveness is a topic that lies at the very core of Christianity.  We believe that as sinful human beings we are unable to reconcile ourselves to a holy God.  But relentless in His pursuit of us, God sent us One who can reconcile us to Himself.

Ephesians 1:7 explains how Jesus secured sinful humanity’s forgiveness before a holy God.

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace…”

That verse makes a connection for us that we absolutely cannot miss.  It’s the only way that this forgiveness thing is ever going to work out right.  Go back and read the verse again, this time more slowly.

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace…”

Because of Jesus God extends us forgiveness according to grace.

As this verse from Ephesians so clearly proclaims, from a Biblical perspective forgiveness is always a matter of grace.

God’s forgiveness of us is inextricably linked to His lavish grace, and as Christians, our forgiveness of others must be inextricably linked to grace as well.

Grace is fundamental to the life of believers because our entire faith rests upon it completely.  Grace is where our journey with God begins, and as we travel this road with Him, it’s the home we keep coming back to.

Here are 3 Biblical truths about grace that will help us work our way through the importance of forgiveness:

1) We need grace.

2) God gives us grace.

3) Now we extend that grace to others.

Click on the image below to read the rest of this post at RockThis.org…

 

I’d love to hear more from you!  Follow Early Morning Mama on Facebook HERE.  Connect with an amazing community of Christian women on the Rock This Facebook group HERE.

Learning to Pray the Jesus Way (A blog series on The Lord’s Prayer) Part 4: Our Daily Bread

This is the fourth installment of this Learning to Pray series. Be sure to check out Part 1,  Part 2, and Part 3.

9 Our Father in Heaven,

hallowed be your name.

10 Your kingdom come,

your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us today our daily bread…

When I began writing a study on The Lord’s Prayer several years ago, I expected verse 11 to be one of the simplest verses of the entire prayer.  “Give us this day our daily bread” seemed pretty straightforward to me.  After the mammoth challenge of unpacking verses 9 and 10 on God’s name, kingdom, and will, I was hoping to coast for a bit.  I may have even muttered the words, “Oh, finally!  Thank you, Lord, for an easy week of Bible study!”

Little did I know that verse 11 would unveil some of the most difficult heart-work of the entire prayer.

As Jesus encourages us to ask God for the things we need, He also leads us to consider those needs.

What are we asking God to give us?

What is it that we really want more of?

In this verse, Jesus exposes our desires.  Ultimately, He begs us to consider all the things we want instead of (or maybe just in addition to) God.

At first glance of Matthew 6:11, it’s difficult to anticipate the richness laying below the surface of those 7 words.  (Needless to say, it was not such an easy week of Bible study.)

Here’s a quick peek of the profound truths embedded within those 7 words broken down one small phrase at a time…

Give Us:  God wants us to ask Him

This Day:  God wants us to trust Him

Our Daily Bread:  God wants us to desire Him.

Now that you’ve got a general idea of where this verse takes us, let’s go back and take it one phrase at a time…

Read the rest of post over at RockThis by clicking on the image below!

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Learning to Pray the Jesus Way (A blog series on The Lord’s Prayer) Part 3: His Name, His Kingdom, His Will

Jesus was the kind of guy who got straight to the point.

When Martha came to Him complaining that her sister, Mary,  wasn’t putting in her fair share of work, He quickly redirected Martha’s priorities,

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.  Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”  Luke 10:41-42

When the crowds of Capernaum closed in around Him, begging that He would stay and heal their physical maladies, He drew their attention to His greater work and their greater need,

“I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”  Luke 4:33

When His disciples cried out to Him from the boat, fearful that the squall would take their lives, He sternly corrected them,

“Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”  Mark 4:40

Jesus never shied away from cutting through our insecurities, ignorance, or fear to get to the heart of the matter.  And nowhere is this as apparent as in His teaching of The Lord’s Prayer.

Click on the image below to read the rest of this post over at RockThis.org!

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Learning to Pray the Jesus Way (A blog series on The Lord’s Prayer) Part 2: A Father in Heaven

In Part 1 we established a fundamental truth about prayer that will place the rest of this series in its proper context.

The truth about prayer is this:

God gave us prayer in response to our very great need for it.

It is something He did for us, not something we do for Him.

Yes, the God of heaven and earth, who made and designed everything–who knows how everything fits together and works-  tells us to pray.  But not because He is lacking something we can somehow provide Him through prayer.

He tells us to pray because He designed us to work this way–to function and thrive in relationship with the God who created us.

We need prayer not because it’s the means through which we get more things from God.

We need prayer because it is a means through which we get more of God.

And through prayer, because of the great work Christ accomplished on our behalf, we have full access to Him.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Hebrews 10:19-22

Through prayer, we get to draw near to God.  This is no small thing.

What’s more is that within the Lord’s Prayer Jesus reveals exactly how we are to approach God when we pray.  And the one detail that should rock your world even more than being given full access to God is that Jesus says when we do so, we should approach Him first as our Father.

Read the rest of the post over at Rock This by clicking on the image below…

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Learning to Pray the Jesus Way (A blog series on The Lord’s Prayer) Part 1: A Disciple’s Request

Several years ago I wrote a 6 week study on The Lord’s Prayer.

I wish I could say that it was divinely inspired.  That I felt a particular calling to write this particular study at that particular time to the specific group of women I taught that spring.  The truth however, is that I was more inspired by the practical demands of the situation than the Holy Spirit of the Lord who ordained the whole thing anyway (unhindered as He was by the last minute coming together of details that had me on the edge of my seat.)

There are times when the Lord works in the least convenient way possible, demanding that we drop everything and make a complete about-face to follow Him in a particular situation.  Fortunately for me,  He can also be quite sympathetic to the many practicalities of our everyday lives and graciously meet us even when we’re flying by the seat of our pants.

I’m grateful for His ability to weasel His way into even our least inspired choices, because the truth is I chose to write the study on The Lord’s Prayer not because I was particularly interested in it, (sounds horrible, I know) but because it was…short.

And I was in a time crunch…

 

Continue reading at RockThis.org by clicking on the image below…

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Merry Christmas!

I’m truly grateful for you all who read and follow Early Morning Mama.  Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year from me, Chris, and our boys!

Follow Early Morning Mama on Facebook HERE.  Connect with an amazing community of Christian women on the Rock This Facebook group HERE.