By Cindy Nabb

My husband is a strong advocate for purity in our home.  He has taken steps to ensure purity in his own life and is actively teaching our children.  He has mentioned before in an earlier post that our sons know when to look away from certain billboards and certain establishments.  Well it occured to me the other day that our daughters need to have their eyes set on the prize as well.  They know that they too should turn their eyes from these same things but I don’t know if they know why.  While women do struggle with pornography, I would venture to guess that  women struggle more with being discontent.  Discontent with our spouse, our children’s behavior, our looks, our financial situation, our quality of life…well, you get the idea.

It seems almost daily we receive some sort of magazine, advertisment or catalog trying to sell us something.  My daughters have taken a liking to looking at these.  Harmless right?  As I was watching the little girls ooh and ahh over the latest dolls or the newest princess toys, it occurred to me how much discontent these items are bringing into our home and into the hearts of our children.  They were saying, “Oh Mommy isn’t this one lovely?”, “Do  you think Daddy will get me this one for   Christmas?”,  ”I don’t like this dolly (pointing to the one in her hand), I want this one! ”

Don’t we, as wives and mothers, do the same thing?  ”Her house is so much bigger, and she has it decorated so nicely, we need to do that to our house.”, “Look at the Jones’ new car!  Isn’t it beautiful?  Oh our car is fine, it’s not as pretty or as new but it’s fine.”, “Their kids are so obedient, they don’t have the same problems we do with our kids.”   “Wow, your husband took you on a trip for Valentine’s Day!”  These  statements may not sound like out and out discontent, but they are.  If we are comparing ourselves with others or comparing what we have to what others have it is the beginning of discontentedness.

I have found that if I don’t watch the home channels on TV, look through the ads in the Sunday paper or even peruse Craiglist the longing to have more or want more is lessened.  These things are like candy to my soul, they sweeten it for a time but in the end just make it rot, leaving me feeling empty and longing for more.  It isn’t feeding my soul like the water and nourishment I receive from God’s word, where I get filled up with a lasting food.

I challenge you (and myself), to fill yourselves with the real food of Jesus Christ and not with empty calories of this world.  Reading our bibles daily, more than once a day, and keeping our eyes on the prize, which is an eternity in heaven, where there’s nothing more to need, want or desire.

By Cindy Nabb

I ran into a old school friend of mine the other day in the parking lot after shopping with my daughter.  We stood and chatted for a while and inevitably the questions come up;  “How many kids do you have now?” And, “Wow, you have six, what are their ages?  Oh, so how many are in school, then?”  Then she found out that we homeschool.  In my experience, this either intrigues people or they are ready to walk away.  She was neither fully engaged in the conversation nor standing outside of it.  We chatted a bit more about it and she made a comment that we (meaning her and I) survived public school.  This got me to thinking.  I want my kids to do more than just survive.   I want my kids to succeed, to have the better than I had, to make learning a lifestyle.

As homeschoolers, we have to fill out paperwork to register with the state.  In that paper work, we have to declare what hours our kids will be “attending school.”  In our school, we feel that learning takes place from the time we wake to the time we go to bed.  You never know when a “teachable moment” will happen.  We have had math lessons at 10 pm and we have had history lessons at 8 am.  Even bad dreams in the middle of the night provide opportunity to teach.  You have to take those moments when the questions arise or something happens in life that you can use to teach.  Use those moments, as well, to teach and train in character as well as facts.

There are many reasons why we homeschool but one of the top reasons is to create life long learners.  We desire to have our children be people that, throughout their life, will enjoy learning and know where to go to find out information and look back at their education as one of the greatest times in their lives.

No matter your educational decisions for your children I encourage you to have them do more than “survive.”  Take the time to get to know their likes, dislikes, learning styles  and their strengths and weaknesses.  Whether they’re in public school or your dining room every day, they are depending on you to help them learn how to learn.  You are in the best position to influence their learning style.

I have to say I’m very frustrated with health insurance today.  It’s nothing new, pre-existing conditions, raising premiums, etc.  I’m certainly no fan of the reform this current administration is offering.  It’s freedom crunching and somewhat socialist.  Downright scary, if you ask me.

I received an “offer” from a health insurance company today.  I applied a couple of weeks ago through my financial advisor for a new health insurance policy because the premiums were going up on my existing plan.  I remember sitting there with him and saying, “okay, so, basically, they raise the premium every year on all of their clients and don’t offer them the opportunity to change their coverage.  It’s ‘take it or leave it?’”  ”Yep.” He said.  So, I said, “so, you have to apply with another company, fill out all the paperwork, give the blood, wait for them to pour over your records and then take whatever the new company offers?”  ”Yep.” He said again.  So I said, “Well, what if they just didn’t raise the premiums every year and saved all the man hours it takes (for the insurance co. and for me) to go through this process annually.  Would they maintain their profit margins just by saving trees and labor?”  ”Yep.  Probably.”  He said.  ”If you just sign here, I can get the ball rolling.”

So, I get the call today that my health and the health of one of my sons have “exclusion riders” written into the policy.  So, there are conditions in our health that the new policy won’t cover (it doesn’t really cover much now anyway.)  I could go on and on, but I’m sure my story is not the most heart breaking one ever told.  To me, it’s been very annoying.

I got fed up and I called an organization that I had looked into several years ago, but, regrettably, never participated.  It’s called Samaritan Ministries.  It’s really great and I think my wife and I are going to take a leap of faith and get involved.  What they do is organize Christians so that they can help support needs of the body directly.  You have a monthly committment and each month the organization sends you a notice of a need somewhere in the body and you’re to send your monthly committment directly to that person or family, along with prayers.  Then, if you have a need, you apply for it to be met and they do the same for you.  It’s refreshing to see this non-profit working to help Christians support each other.  I highly recommend you look into it.

By Cindy Nabb

I walk and I run.  Not very far, not very fast but I do it.  I know it is good for me and good for my heart, I feel better so I keep  doing it.  I get up early before the house is a buzz and quietly tip toe out so that no one is disturbed.  This morning as I was walking to get started, listening to music I realized I was watching myself put one step in front of the other instead of looking up and watching where I was going.  Quickly I looked up to make sure I wasn’t about to run into anything but then unconsciously resumed looking only at the pavement right in front of me.  As I walked it made me think of my walk with the Lord.  There have been times in my life when all I can do is put one foot in front of the other, I need God to do the rest.  Right now is one of those times.  For one reason or another I am struggling.  Struggling to let go, struggling to be content, struggling with selfishness, struggling to keep satan’s lies at bay.

But I have to keep going.  Keep walking the walk.  I have a God who loves me and to show Him I love Him I want to be obedient.

⁶And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

Walking in love.  My walk with the Lord needs to be in love, in obedience.

Different to walking, when I run my head is up, I don’t have time to look down at my feet.  I am constantly setting new goals for myself.  ”Make it to the next block”, “Get to the next stop light”, “The next tree, at least the next tree!”  In 2 Timothy he calls our christian walk a race that we run.  God knew that we’d be walking and staring at our feet at times and He knew that at times we’d be running head held high and setting goals.  When I run I need perseverance.  Being a Christian requires perseverance.  We’ve got to keep going, keep growing.

My little ones have a song that they learned in Sunday School the lyrics are this

Read your Bible pray everyday and you’ll grow, grow grow…

Don’t read your Bible, forget to pray and you’ll shrink, shrink, shrink…

Out of the mouths of babes comes the answers to my struggles and yours.

Please check out the article I wrote for “Breaking Free.”  It’s a blog about purity for men hosted by Covenant Eyes.  This particular article deals with how our sexual sin can affect our children and what we can do, as men, to battle with the everday bombardment of images in our world.

Covenant Eyes is great online accountability software that protects your office or home computer (and you!) from internet pornography.  If you sign up for it, click on this link and you’ll receive 30 days free!  (Or, you can use promo code “purelight” when you join.)  God bless!

By Jason Nabb

Well, last week we finally paid off our last credit card!  Hallelujah!  It was so great to hit “Pay Now” on the last payment.  I was at work one morning and looking over things, and I realized that if I just move this money here and squeeze a bit more out of the budget, we could knock out our last payment.

I’m not bragging.  I’m writing this more to encourage me as I just had a meeting with my health insurance guy.  It’s hard to see that bill climb an extra $100/month.  I’m hoping to encourage myself and you with this victory over debt.  We still have some school loans to work on and some medical bills, but with this payment, we are consumer debt free!  It’s hard to lose sight of the goal when you’re in the trenches counting your dollars and trying to get ahead.

If you haven’t considered your financial situation, your debt and how you honor God with your money…you should.  Dave Ramsey is a great resource.  If you feel like you’re in over your head, start small.  Line up your debts and pay the smallest one off first.  That way you’re encouraged to continue.  Roll over the money you were spending on that debt into the next one, and so on.  Stick with it!  Dave says “You need a plan…Visa has a plan.  That’s why they have your money!  I’m a big fan of Dave Ramsey and can tell you, when we’ve stuck to the plan, it’s worked!

We’re reducing our household stuff, selling off unnecessary items and things like that.  It’s tight…it’s been tight for awhile, but we’re getting there.  We’re getting ready for a garage sale.  It’s good for the kids, I think, to see us simplify our lives and put material things in their place.  ”It’s just stuff,” I tell them.  We dine heartily on beans and rice regularly and try to, as Dave says, “Live like no one else, so you can live like no one else.”

I have to say, though.  Sometimes, it feels like we’re not getting anywhere.  There’s times when we get a bit ahead (like right now) and then BLAM!  We’re hit with some expense that knocks you’re feet right out from under you.  It can be really frustrating.  We are very thankful that we can chip away at our debt and we are praying for guidance always.  I found a great article focusing on five verses in the bible about money.  It’s a blog article on, what I think, is a pretty good site.  It’s called Christian Personal Finance.