As we enter a new year, a large part of the people I know have discussed various resolutions that they plan to conquer. Losing weight, reading the bible in a year, exercise more and so on. I am not much for setting resolutions as I often feel it sets you up for failure and why wait by putting off what you can start today? One of the things that I have gradually been struggling with over the last few years, maybe longer, is all the noise! It is everywhere. You may be asking what noise I am talking about. I am talking about the constant flow of information that we get at every turn in life. Smar ..read more

We wanted to recap some of the great articles we previously wrote on Advent. We hope that you enjoy them once again this year. Preparation and Pray: The Advent of our Lord Advent Candle of Peace Advent Candle of Joy Advent Candle of Love Advent Candle of Hope May the Lord bless each of you this holiday season. The Ladies of Rhubarb & Rubbish The post Advent in Review first appeared on Rhubarb & Rubbish ..read more

As we approach the upcoming holiday season, we are taking a bit of a different approach this year at Rhubarb & Rubbish. God is always calling us to give of our time and talents to glorify his kingdom. In 1 Peter 4:10-11 we read, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies–in order that in everything God may glorified through Jesus Christ.” For the month of December we will post the Random Acts and reading calendar perio ..read more

I mentioned in a previous post that our youngest dog had to have knee surgery. As a young, active black lab, the injury he sustained is quite common. The surgery is only an hour or so long and has been done so many times that it’s almost routine, with a 95% success rate. We have the resources to do the surgery and my husband didn’t want to lose one of his hunting buddies at 4 years old. No one warned me how much work it would be to keep an 85-pound four-year-old trained hunting black lab who loves to jump calm and quiet for four months! Even with sedation, the energy level was difficult, espec ..read more

I am sitting in one of my favorite spots, a little sofa where I do my morning devotionals and my evening journaling. I am a mix of emotions right now. On one hand, I am excited as another one of my children will get married this weekend. The first got married just a few short months ago. It seems only yesterday that I was running around taking them to school, music practice, Cub Scouts, and hoping that they wouldn’t get the next nasty flu bug going around school. As I think about the years that have passed, I fondly remember the good moments. I remember with chagrin the times I wasn’t my best ..read more

2 Corinthians 6:14–“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness.” (ESV) Fall is an amazing time of the year. All of the beautiful colors, the cooling temperatures and the preparations of putting things to rest. It is also a time when we start to think of the upcoming year, goal planning and budgeting. Some of which are not the most exciting topics. I have an amazing broker that is always giving words of encouragement, thoughts and challenging each of us to be the best version of ourselves. We wi ..read more

The value of reading the Bible with your child is so rewarding. The post Value of Reading the Bible with Your Child first appeared on Rhubarb & Rubbish ..read more

Live according to God’s will. My life is what it is in spite of my efforts. God’s will is done regardless of my support or efforts. However, when I actively seek God’s will and strive to live it out in my life, things go much better.  The struggle, I suppose, for most of us is that we fail to feel confident in knowing God’s will. I don’t know that there is a magic formula to having complete confidence in this—we are after all livings as sinners in a fallen world. However, I do think there are things we can do to support our understanding and assurance. Pray. Study the word. Fellowship wit ..read more

Stop judging I confess, I can be a judgmental person. I never used to think so. Perhaps because I grew up in a judgmental church and, subsequently, a judgmental family. We were the “good Christians”. You know the ones. Go to church every Sunday. Sunday school. Vacation Bible School. Parents worked and paid bills. Kids behaved and did well in school. It was okay for us to judge since we had it so together, right?  And, it’s not like we went out of our way to publicly judge people or tell them to their face they were bad or doing things wrong. Nope, we sat around the table on Sunday after c ..read more

Scripture: “Not only that, but we rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope.” (Romans 5:3-4 ESV)  Thought: These verses focus on the attitude and orientation of man. However, the way they are presented infers that God and his promises are worthy of both our patience and our suffering. He does not create circumstances for our suffering, but he certainly see us in our suffering and calls us to him. We can grow stronger in character and faith through our challenges and suffering.  Application: Seek hi ..read more