The Word Woven into the Code

Evie interlining her Braille assignment.

Just last weekend I attended a breakout session at my church for volunteers to help re-fuel us and our "servant-hearts". During the break out session, I learned about the impact the translation of the Bible into English had on literacy rates. According to the Washington Times: 

...in a period of 100 years reading and writing English among males in England went from about 5 percent of the population to 25% eventually reaching 40% of the population. By 1770, shopkeepers were 95% literate. Literacy in England is directly attributable to the Bible. (Creason, Washington Times, 12/11/14).

My Oversized Poster of Strong Groupsigns

Scripture certainly does give us something worth reading, and at that time it may have been some of the ONLY stuff to read. Now we are bombarded with all kinds of leisure reading options, some worthy and others not...but the Bible, unfortunately finds itself all too often resting on a lonely shelf collecting dust and cobwebs.

Fast forward a few days to today, and my daughter and I working on her Braille lesson. She was brailling Psalm 27: 1-2 which is part of our scripture memorization. As she was doing this, she recognized that she was making mistakes and wanted to fix them. I told her to just keep going and that she could interline her work (print the translation above the brailled symbols) after she was finished, and then we would make corrections the next day.

While she was working on her Braille, I was also working on mine. I was using large paper to create giant posters with CONTRACTED Braille on them so we could continue learning where she left off last year. (She was in public school, but we started homeschooling just this fall). As I was preparing a poster and reading through the various contractions, I started to take note of some unique words that I had no IDEA would be a part of the contracted Braille code.

lord

spirit

world

rejoice

rejoicing

character

ought

knowledge

shall

thyself

Of all the words that could have been transferred into a shortened code in order to make Braille easier to read for its audience...these were worthy enough to be part of that pool.

These beautifully Biblical words were suddenly a part of our lesson plan. 

Evie's Braille assignment with interlining notes,
corrections she made, and new contractions for her to work on
as she continues to practice brailling Psalm 27: 1-2

I was flabbergasted...I was moved almost to a point of tears as I felt relief wash over me. One of the toughest parts of the decision to homeschool my daughter was knowing that we were not going to have access to Braille lessons in the district anymore and I would be responsible for continuing her Braille literacy. I didn't know quite where to begin-but something in my gut today said, "Tammie, just have her start with something she knows...her memory verses."

We will begin to learn those contractions because they will occur over and over again in the scripture that we will be proclaiming in thought, word, deed...and now in Braille. For sure, God's plan is always better than my plan, and His word is a light unto my path.

For the word of God is alive and active...

Hebrews 4:12 NIV

No One Can Understand You (Part 2) ~ Guest Blogging Day

Image Courtesy of Pansa/freedigitalphotos.net

When he has brought out all his own, 

he goes on ahead of them, 

and his sheep follow him 

because they know his voice. 

John 10:4 NIV

Have you ever had the embarrassing experience of carrying on a telephone conversation with someone who you THOUGHT was someone else?

Perhaps it doesn't happen quite as much now with caller ID and the use of cellular phones, but there were many times that people would call our house when I was a teenager and mistake me for my sister or mother.

Our voices can get distorted, and there can be noise on the "line" which makes it difficult to tell one voice from another. 

Similarly, my daughter struggles with her speech, and has always had a speech delay. She was diagnosed with speech apraxia at five years old and developed a stutter as recently as 2012. When she was five and received her apraxia diagnosis, the test results showed that she was only understood by a naive listener 12% of the time. Can you imagine that? A five year old who goes through her day being MOSTLY misunderstood?

I still find that I will "translate" her statements to people if they don't know her well because even with years of speech therapy, her communication is something one has to grow accustomed to.

Where am I going with this? 

Continue reading on Comfort in the Midst of Chaos... 

Let the Word be Recieved ~ Guest Blogging Day

Photo "Heart of Book" Courtesy of anat_tikker/freedigitalphotos.net

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, 

you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, 

which is indeed at work in you who believe.  

1 Thessalonians 2:13 NIV

As I sat in church last Sunday and listened to a message on what a transformed Christ follower looks like, my mind jumped to an image quite foreign to me.  I saw in my mind, as I pondered this particular portion of scripture, a mother reading the Bible to her child who laid in a nursing home bed, immobile, and unresponsive.

Now, I, personally, do not have a child who is unable to converse with me.  I do not have a child who is confined to a bed.  I have a child who talks (a bit too much, on some days) and who responds, and who can communicate with me on a variety of subjects.  So, I really am not a likely candidate to be writing about this topic.

But, the Holy Spirit gave me this image regarding this verse.

Why?

 Continue reading on Comfort in the Midst of Chaos...

You Are Here...Guest Blogging Day

Photo Courtesy of Serge Bertasius/freedigitalphotos.net

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever Isaiah 40:8 NASB

Ah, the holidays.  Have you ventured out into the malls yet?  Have you managed to get lost between the anchor stores in some random corner of the mall which may be lined with independent kiosks in December, but will hardly be traveled the rest of the year?

I once worked in the Mall of America; yet, here, I find myself all turned around in the Meadowood Mall which doesn't remotely compare to the MOA in size.  It's unfamiliar territory, as is most of Reno, but it is becoming home now that we've been here for six months.

Isn't our life's journey very much like a trip through the mall?  Some stores are intriguing and enjoyable, as are some stages in our life.  Some stores are crowded, crappy and overpriced...as are some stages of our life.  Some stores are downright overwhelming...um-hmmm...just like life.

Continue Reading on Comfort in the Midst of Chaos...

The Hostage

I was trapped; held hostage in a repetitive cycle of sin.  I would tell myself it was not my fault, that they had chosen to eat from the Tree; not me.  Why should I suffer for what they had chosen to do?

I was captured; held hostage in a prison of fear.  There was sickness, pain, and death everywhere I turned.  But wasn’t it Cain who killed Able?  So long ago that it was the Genesis, yet now we see it all around us. 

I was corned; surrounded by walls of hopelessness, doubt, and confusion.  He stood there staring me down with vicious eyes. “You will follow me…” he sneered, “Bow down, I’ve arrested thee.”

I raised my bound hands, and silently dropped the mustard seed that I held pinched between my fingers.  I knew it was my only hope. The seed shattered on the barren cement floor of my prison cell, and what had once been a tiny seed became hundreds of eagles.  They beat their wings; creating a wind that would have blown down even the strongest trees.  I had to close my eyes against the force of the fierce wind, but I heard the eagles’ shrieking cries as they clawed at my captor and crushed his head.  

Then suddenly I was free.  My hands were no longer shackled.  In fact, I raised them high; extending them toward the man who hung in my place.  He wore the crown of a king, but hung lifeless where I had once hung.  I saw the blood which poured out from him when he had made the exchange; Him for me. 

My captor had fallen; he lay lifeless on the floor of the cell. 

My ransom had been paid; although all I had was a mustard seed, it was enough.  I was no longer a prisoner, I was free.  Now my mission would be to tell the world of the man who became a hostage in exchange for me.

Written in response to the One Minute Writer prompt~The Hostage

On Truth, Trust, and Temptation

http://stoptalk.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/shhh2.jpg

We have all been there.  We are pros at rationalizing that it's NOT what we are doing.  We simply tell ourselves, "I'm talking through it so I can understand it," or "I would totally say this to this person's face, so this is not gossip..."  However, in reality, we know gossip, and we know WHEN we gossip.  The fact of the matter is, gossip eats away at the reputation of the gossiper just as quickly as it eats away at the reputation of the person being gossiped about.
 
I have found myself unable to trust people after I know that they have been saying things about someone else.  The reason I lose trust is I start to think, "Well, what is that person saying about ME when I'M not in the room?"  So, naturally, that person becomes less trustworthy and it starts to eat away at my relationship with them.  This is ESPECIALLY true when I see the gossiper turn around and be totally sweet to the person about whom they were gossiping.  Ouch!~that hurts ME to see how two-faced that can be.
 
Now, this topic and my feelings on it would lead one to say, "So, Tammie, you never gossip?"  WRONG.  I have totally been the gossiper as well.  It's a common sin, and commonly I have struggled with it, as most people do.  But I have recently seen my friendships falling apart when gossiping becomes the basis, and I find it hard to steer the conversation away from it.  That tells me that my friendship might not be on a solid foundation. 
 
Paul wrote to the church at Corinth about gossiping and slander:
 

2 Corinthians 12:20 For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.

 

Don't those issues usually go hand in hand?  Jealousy and gossip; we try to get others to look poorly upon someone of whom we might be jealous.  Disorder and gossip; when things might be chaotic and messy, we look to place blame on others by gossiping.  Anger and gossip;  we feel slighted and we just have to go tell others so they will be on "our side." 

 

Quite frankly, Paul had reason to be afraid of that!  What else can so quickly shake up a church than some nasty gossip? 

 

So, how do we keep this all in check?  It feels to me, a girl of many insecurities, to be quite a trial to avoid gossip!  We do it so naturally, and we fall into those conversations so naturally and they spiral out of control.

 

I had a friend one time who inquired about a third party and how things were going in a situation that I and the other person were in.  I didn't think anything of it; I responded with how I thought things were going and that was the end of our conversation.  However, my friend followed up with me and apologized and said, "I realize that I was gossiping, and I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that."  I was floored.  That was the most unexpected message for me to get because I hadn't considered it gossip.  BUT IT WAS!  I'm so glad my friend held herself and myself accountable by apologizing to me and helping ME to see how naturally I accepted the urge to "gossip."  Gossip doesn't have to be saying something "wrong" about a person...it can also be telling information about that person without them there to make sure the information is accurate. 

 

I think the best way for ME to avoid gossip is by daily meditating on the verses in the Bible about gossip, and how God sees it.  Then, the help of our friends holding us accountable to NOT gossip will help eradicate the commonness of it.  Wouldn't it be great if we lived in a world where gossip was UNUSUAL and felt out of place rather than "common?" 

 

Here are some more verses to consider:

http://khanya.wordpress.com/2010/03/13/fasting-and-gossip/
Some ways that we might "mask"
(unsuccessfully) our gossip:

 

Jeremiah 6:28 They are all stubbornly rebellious, going about with slanders; they are bronze and iron;  all of them act corruptly.

 

Proverbs 11:13 Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.

 

Proverbs 26:20-22 For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.  As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.

 

Romans 1:28-32 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

 

That last example from Romans gets me every time.  Not only should I not participate, but I shouldn't give approval to the practice of it.  (That means I need to speak up when I see it happening too!) 

 

I'll make a list of things I might say to get the gossipers to stop gossiping (at least while I'm around):

 

• I don't feel comfortable talking about this when ____person's name_____ isn't here.
• I'm trying to avoid things that might be considered gossip, so I'd rather not talk about that, or even hear it.
• I'd hate to say anything about this situation because I know how bad I'd feel if others were talking about me when I wasn't there.

Again, I am certainly not guilt free in this area; but who better to hear about a sinful-struggle, and attempts to free myself from that struggle than me, the sinner?  Let's all go boldly forward and try to end the temptation to gossip~if it's a habit, then we need to make the commitment on a daily basis, and go to bed at night having really looked into ourselves and honestly determine whether we made it through the day without gossiping or lending ear to gossip. 

 

Today is Day 1.