I was reading in Acts and came across Barnabus and Paul. I started wondering about him because I’d only ever thought of him as Paul’s “side-kick” so to speak. So I did a quick Bible study on him and I thought I’d share my process with you today, even though it is quite simple. Sometimes the simple things are easily overlooked.

• Step One:  look up the person’s name in the appropriate Bible concordance (I believe there are different ones for different versions of the Bible). I think there are others but I use the Strong’s Concordance or sometimes I’ll use the referencing system in my Sword Bible. At any rate, look up all the verses with the name of the person you are studying in it. Be sure to read before and after the stated verse to get the context and find any scriptures that use a pronoun to refer to your character.

Be thorough! You never know what small piece of information you may glean.

Well, that can be the end or if there isn’t much information, you can move on to other resources and see what Bible scholars and historians have to say about your character of choice. Be sure to read your Bible’s information about the book(s) that have verses containing the person you are studying. My Bible has an introduction to each book of the Bible and sometimes has good information there.

For my study of Barnabus, I found that he was actually the one that brought Paul to the disciples (in Jerusalem, I think) and stood up for him in the very beginning. I found that quite interesting. There were a number of things I found interesting but I’ll share that another time.

As you read each passage for the character chosen, be sure to take notes. I took notes and since I haven’t done this in a while, they weren’t precise enough and now I’ll have to go back and look at it all over again. But that is a good thing because it will give me time to look at the passages again with fresh eyes.

I know this is pretty simple but it really is that easy. Just let the Bible speak for itself and read enough of each passage to be sure you understand all of what is going on in the passage.

I hope this helps you and your children as you study God’s Word.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

I wish I would have known what I know now, when my kids were young. Tiffany has learned in recent years that she fights anxiety and depression and has for many years. Of course, I feel horrible that I was oblivious and that she suffered so much.

I asked her how I can help others. We talked about it a bit and have some ideas for future help but I felt the need to bring this topic up now. I am not a very observant person. I play hidden object games to help me in this area but I’m not sure it is helping. Any way, she said what she recommends is just simply observing your child.

Observe your child

Watch them. See how they react under different situations, different times of day, after eating different foods. Even take notes to refer to later. Observe how they act or what they do in social situations, as well as before and after being social. Do certain social situations make them nervous or anxious? Do they get ‘drained’ by being with certain people or all people? Do they need to recharge upon leaving a social situation?  And for girls, as they approach puberty, you will need to observe them over longer periods of time, looking for hormonal cues.

After taking time to really see your child, you can ask questions–kindly, inquisitively–be sure they understand that there are no right or wrong answers and that you really care about them and their answers. Are they in physical pain? Is it more than growing pains? Do they sit in a way that causes pain?

Gently Ask Questions

If your child is old enough, consider having him/her keep a journal, noting their feelings and any physical symptoms. Keeping a food diary can be a good idea. Then ask your child to share it or some of it with you, so that you can better understand them and what they are dealing with, as well as hopefully provide some insights or help in some way.

Noticing trends of behavior can help you help your child.

Please! Take some time (a week or so), pray about and for your child, and really observe him/her. I wish someone had advised me to do this; maybe I could have helped Tiffany deal with anxiety and depression earlier in her life.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

I bought this inductive Bible study several years ago when I went to a homeschool convention. It was $10, which I thought was a bit pricey but my sister bought one too so we figured we could each do both of them, so not such a bad price then.

The one I got was Psalm 103. I’ve loved this psalm, or at least the first several verses , for a very long time so I thought it would be nice to delve into a study of it.

As I read through the psalm again, I found myself singing an old song with that first verse as its basis. Then I looked at the next lesson and was directed to listen to some other songs with this psalm in it. There was supposed to be a webpage on their website with links to all the ones she listed but alas, the page was no more, nor could I find it on the archive. So, I set out to locate them myself and decided to share it here with you. I hope you find some you like.

This first one is THE one I hear in my head when I read verse one. It is the one I grew up with. Bless His Holy Name by Andre Crouch. (Here’s one from Your Living Manna broadcast that included the Crabb Brothers, which is my favorite part of this one. It is unrehearsed/impromptu and includes a few bits of a few other good songs.)

This one is probably my favorite in the whole group--I Won’t Forget by Anthony Evans.

Of course this one is another favorite, 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman.

Clint Ross put this version together with Matt Lavender, which I also like a lot. The study mentioned a good video to put on in the background while doing other things but this one isn’t long enough for that, in my opinion, so maybe she meant this one which has around 30 songs on the playlist.

Here are some more:

Don’t Forget His Love sung by Ellie Holcomb

This one is a bit more folksartsy: Psalm 103 by Sons of Korah

This one is from Brush Arbor. I loved that group back in the 80’s.

Here is a men’s glee club singing the arrangement by J.Q.Mulholland. There was another college men’s choral group singing it too.

Although this one is a bit . . . it has the entire chapter included in this rendition and is KJV. It’s not that great but it is all there. They have over 50 of the psalms put to music.

This one has the words and chords to this version by Sovereign Grace.

Here is the same song by Zach Jones on the album Fuse, with lyrics; I have to admit I like this version better than the previous rendition. I really like this one a lot.

So that’s it, the list of a dozen plus songs with Psalm 103 in it. I was really surprised to see so many. It makes me want to search youtube for songs for more scriptures now.

Until next time, Bless the Lord,

Michele ºÜº

I just stumbled upon a very interesting website that I want to share with you. The particular page I’m sharing today is about read alouds. You may be aware that I love read alouds and find that they have a wonderful place in home education. I know that some of my children’s favorite memories of homeschooling include our read alouds.

One of my keys when reading was to give each character their own voice. When I read The Wilder King Triology, which I highly recommend, and I got to the third book, I came up to another new character/group of characters, and was at a loss as to what voice to give them. I ended up going with a very southern twang. Tiffany says that is how she reads it every time still.

This page has some ideas on how to keep kids attention and quiet during read alouds. I intend to spend some more time looking over the website, it looks interesting.I hope it is helpful to you.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº