Sunday, April 27, 2008

What have we learned?

I have finally given up on a full review of my time offline. If I have to catch up before I can blog again, I will never blog again. Some things don't change... I will attempt to hit the highlights.

Enter the Tomato...

And so what we have learned applies to our lives today,
God has a lot to say in His Book...

Larry, you know how I feel about that song... (the tomato is disgruntled)

You see, we know that God's Word is for everyone and now that our song is done we'll take a look!

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Let's start with what we've learned.

Internet addiction is real. It affects everything in one's life. And I was held captive by it.

The internet is not inherently bad. Using it is not generally a sin. But using it as an escape from your real life and an alternative to seeking God is, at the core, idol worship. As much as I hate to admit it, I was worshipping internet forums. It sounds ridiculous, but anything that replaces God is idol worship. The time away gave me perspective. I discovered this passage:

Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me.
I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;
but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.
Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!

~Psalm 66:16-20

We (I) must reject the cherished sin in our lives!!! God wants to listen, to hear, and to answer us, but we need to give Him our praise & worship!

Lesson 1, check.

Lesson 2: Avoiding the internet saves me money!!

Part of what I was doing was looking at "neat things" online. And buying them. Lots of them. A lot of money has gone to diapers over the years, and currently it is yarn that has my affections. I can spend hours online just looking at yarn. I don't intend to buy any, but it somehow falls into my shopping cart. If I'm not online, I don't buy yarn.

Lesson 3: My children are interesting!

Having more time to focus on my family, I discovered how interesting it can be to have a conversation with my kids. They really are quite wonderful! And they get into less trouble when you don't have your face glued to a screen.

Let's move on to things that have changed since March 1...

Hosanna is 4 months old, teething, and eating solids!
Winter is gone and spring has finally arrived!!!
Everyone is finally healthy!
I took on the Sunday School Coordinator job at church!
Our pastor is leaving! :-(

My husband is learning Biblical Hebrew! And I can say the first 6 letters of the Hebrew alphabet! (Aleph, Bet, Gimel, Dalet, Hay, Vov!)

I'm sure there was more, but those are the big things.

I got a few things done while I was gone. I...

Finished knitting some socks.
Read 2 books!
Started organizing my craft/utility room.

So, those are the highlights & lowlights. Now I can blog again without feeling guilty!

2 comments:

Partyhouse 4 God said...

I am proud of you!!! Glad to have you here as long as it isn't causing you to sin. Gotta run- VERY BUSY DAY (when do I ever not have a busy day- oh, that's right when I went to play with a calf on my down time and got hit by a cow now I have to be off and running)

Bekah said...

Good job, Sharmista! I'm so glad you had a lovely break and that you were able to spend time with Jesus!