Do you like music?

Have you ever written a song?

Do you like to sing?


If you answered yes to any of the above...

Then I encourage you to write your own songs.
If you don’t know how then start by taking something right out of the Bible and making up a
tune to it. Or take a tune you already know and make up new words.
For example; take the tune of “Happy Birthday To You”  (I picked "Happy Birthday To You"
because I thought almost everyone would know it).

Then you pick a topic you want to sing about. This song
is about writing songs!

This is my new song
I sing all day long 
I’ll sing while I hop...
Until Dad says to “stop”!

The Bible says...
 
"Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and
his praise in the congregation of saints.” Psalm 149:1

“Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to Him
with tambourine and lyre.” Psalm 149:3

“O Elohim, a new song I sing to You; On a harp of ten strings I
sing praises to You,” Psalm 144:9

“Oh sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things!
His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.” Psalm 98:1

"Sing unto the LORD a new song, and
his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all
that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. “ Isaiah 42:10
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
As you can see there is plenty of scripture that says to make a new song to YHWH.

 Making a new song to YHWH is one of my favorite ways to praise and worship Him.

Do not try to make a song by yourself I found that  it is  hard to make a song sound
good without the help of YHWH.

I hope this encourages you to write your own song!

Lydia
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 In this day and age, many people have not realized the
importance of encouragement, thoughtfulness, and consideration.

 Here is a short story to illustrate Thoughtfulness;

 In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10
  year old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a
  glass of water in front of him. “How much is an ice cream sundae?”

 “Fifty cents,” replied the waitress. The little boy pulled his hand out of his
  pocket and studied a number of coins in it. “How much is a dish of plain ice
  cream?” he inquired. Some people were now waiting for a table and the waitress
  was a bit impatient. “Thirty-five cents,” she said brusquely. The little boy
  again counted the coins. “I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said. The waitress
  brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy
  finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and departed. When the waitress came
  back, she began wiping down the table and then swallowed hard at what she saw.
  There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies –
her tip.

Romans 16:1-16
"I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant a of the church in
Cenchreae. So you should welcome her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assist her in
whatever matter she may require your help. For indeed she has been a benefactor
of many—and of me also.
 
Give my greetings to Prisca and Aquila, my coworkers in Christ Jesus, 
who risked their own necks for my life.
Not only do I thank them, but so do all the Gentile churches.
Greet also the church that meets in their home.
Greet my dear friend Epaenetus, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia.
Greet Mary,who has worked very hard for you. 
Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow countrymen and fellow prisoners.
They are noteworthy in the eyes of the apostles, and they were also in Christ before me.
Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord.
Greet Urbanus, our coworker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.
Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ.
Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus. 
Greet Herodion, my fellow countryman.
Greet those who belong to the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.
Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who have worked hard in the Lord.
Greet my dear friend Persis, who has worked very hard in the Lord.
Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother—and mine. 
Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them.
Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 
Greet one another with a holy kiss.

All the churches of Christ send you greetings."


In these verses,
Paul was thoughtful and considerate of many fellow Christians by recognizing
them. He even remebered many of them by name.


  1 Thessalonians 5:14-18
   14 My friends, we beg you to warn anyone who isn't living right.
Encourage anyone who feels left out, help all who are weak, and be patient with everyone.
15 Don't be hateful to people, just because they are hateful to you.
Rather, be good to each other and to everyone else. 
16 Always be joyful
17 and never stop praying.
18 Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ.
This is what God wants you to do.


 
Matthew 14:13-21
  Feeding the 5,000
13 When Jesus heard about it, He withdrew
from there by boat to a remote place to be alone.
 When the crowds heard this, they followed Him on foot from the towns.
14 As He stepped ashore, He saw a huge crowd, felt compassion for them, and healed their sick. 

15 When evening came, the disciples approached Him and said,
“This place is a wilderness, and it is already late.
Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 
 
16 “They don’t need to go away,” Jesus told them.
“You give them something to eat.” 

17 “But we only have five loaves and two
fish here,” they said to Him. 

18 “Bring them here to Me,” He said.
19 Then He commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass.
He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,
He blessed them. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave
them to the crowds.
 20 Everyone ate and was filled.
 Then they picked up 12 baskets full of leftover pieces!

21 Now those who ate were about 5,000 men, besides women and children. 
 
Yeshua was thoughtful toward the needs of the people who wanted to learn from Him.

Don't forget to be thoughtful and pray for others.
In Acts 12:6-17, Peter's friends prayed for him in prison with amazing results.

So, we can be thoughtful of others in person, and through prayer.

 Psalms 115:12 
Yahweh has been mindful of us: He will bless us; He will
bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of  Aaron.

 Yahweh blesses us with his thoughtfulness, so shouldn’t we strive to bless others
through our acts of thoughtfulness?

 Here is a passage from a book I have read by Sarah Bryant of KBR ministries titled “The Family Daughter” this
passage’s title is “Acts of Thoughtfulness”

“My younger siblings, Mom, and I attended a monthly science class for homeschool
families a few years ago, and most of the children in the class were under ten
years old. The second month we attended class, I was having a rough day. As I
stood in the shade of a tree watching the children eagerly catch butterflies, a
little girl shyly walked up to me. She reached for my hand and said, “You look
beautiful!”
 
Immediately my day was brightened by this girl who did
not even know me, who was a fraction of my age. I smiled and replied, “Thank
you!” She happily told me her name was Emma. At seven years of age, she was the
oldest of four siblings. I can only imagine what a blessing her thoughtfulness
is to her family and others around her. How often does a seven-year-old go out
of her way to bless others? For that matter, how often does anyone
joyfully reach out to everyone
around?

During the rest of the class, little Emma tagged along
beside me. She was so happy and full of life. I noticed that when the other
children needed something, Emma considerately helped and encouraged them. Once,
another child made a guess about a chemical reaction. When his answer turned out
to be correct, Emma exclaimed, “You’re a genius!” I had to laugh. The next month
as we arrived at class, I heard a joyful shout as Emma came running toward me,
arms open to embrace me. 

When we look around for ways to bless others we know-even if they are just
acquaintances- what a light for Jesus we can be! The little acts of
thoughtfulness can mean so much to someone-a happy smile, a kind word, a
birthday card, bouquet of wild flowers, Scripture bookmark, just a hug- these
seemingly “little” acts of thoughtfulness cost us little or nothing, but can go
a long way in witnessing to others of Christ’s love in our life. Let us ask
Jesus to make us a more selfless image of Himself, looking for the need of
others, giving to others who are hurting.”

So we can see that there are many ways to be thoughtful to others.
In our family, thoughtfulness can range from asking a younger brother what kind of iced tea he would like for supper,
to freezing in the car for the sake of car sick family members (no experience here, I am one of the car sick ones :) ).

Naomi

Our family has pizza every Sunday night. We have been using this
recipe for about nine months. This recipe is gluten free and very easy to put
together but not so easy to put on the pans. 
 
There are two ways you can put the dough onto the
pans;

 1) Put parchment paper onto a pizza pan and grease with olive oil
or
  2) Oil the pizza
pans and roll them out with a greased rolling pin. 
 
Our family prefers the second way because, doing it this way
helps the crust to become crunchy. 

Do not, and I repeat, do not use aluminum foil because when you
try to get your pizza off the pan you will get some aluminum foil with your
pizza. Yuck!

 The crust is the hardest part because it can be sticky when you
try to put it on the pans. This is also my least favorite part because it can be
difficult to work with.

 We have tried other recipes but so far this one tastes best to
our family. 

When we make pizza almost everyone helps, some of us prepare
toppings, some the crust and some the sauce.  We like to put lots of toppings on our
pizza, like; mushrooms, garlic, artichokes, peppers, onions, spinach, and of
course CHEESE. 

With all this being said- our whole family really enjoys this
recipe, and we hope you will too. 

Here is the recipe if you would like to try it. 
 
Gluten Free Pizza Dough 

4 Tablespoons yeast
 2 teaspoons sugar
 2 2/3 cups water
 1/4 cup dry milk 
4  teaspoons guar gum
 4 teaspoons beef gelatin
 4 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
4 teaspoons Apple cider vinegar
 4 teaspoons olive oil
2 cups tapioca flour
4-5 cups brown rice flour
2 teaspoons salt

 1) In a bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Add the tapioca flour, milk powder, guar gum, gelatin, Italian seasoning, vinegar, oil and salt. Add 2/3 cup brown rice flour, beat until smooth.Stir in enough remaining brown rice flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky).

2) Preheat oven to 425*

3) Divide the dough into three equal pieces. Roll the dough onto
the pans 
a) oil your pizza pans and your rolling pin, roll it onto the pans till
it reaches the edges or b) Put some wax paper onto your pans and oil them. Roll
out the dough onto the pans till it reaches the
edges.

4) Bake them for 10-12 minutes each. This recipe makes 3
pizzas.

Enjoy!

Emily

Crust Ingredients

All the dry ingredients in the bowl

Add water and mix

Pressed out on the pan and ready to go

Baked and ready for toppings!

Tomato Sauce (With seasonings)

Garlic

Plenty of Mushrooms (you can never have too many!)

Artichokes... I have not aquired a taste for these yet

Fresh vegetables! What you see here is; Onions, Yellow bell pepper, and Zucchini

Add the spinach and cheese! Looks good...

Here is a picture of me with one of the pizzas

Fresh out of the oven

On the plate and ready to eat

1Corinthians 10:31
"Whether you eat,
or drink, or whatsoever you do, do
all to the glory of
God."
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What are some ways you write these on your doorposts?

-Bethany-
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When you think of your family playing a game, you may
think as I did; “It’s going to be so boring”. At least that’s what I used to
think.

 You think you would much rather read or something like
that but just try it, because once you start playing you have a lot of fun! 

You can serve YHWH by the way you speak and act.
To me it is very important to spend time with your family
and have a cheerful attitude even though you may not want to. It is a lot easier
to grow closer and get to know each other better when you have a good attitude.

Also don’t only gather together to play games but to
pray, talk and study. 

As Joshua 24:14-15 says “Now
fear YHWH and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your
forefathers worshiped beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve
YHWH. But if serving YHWH seems undesirable to you, then chose for yourselves
this day whom you will serve, weather the gods your forefathers served beyond
the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for
me and my household, we will serve YHWH.”  
 
Serving YHWH as a family could include praying and doing service
projects together. One of my favorite ways to spend time as a family is on feast
days (Leviticus 23) for example, Sukkot takes a lot of time being together:
packing, planning, getting along, worshiping, laughing, eating and playing
together.


Lydia

Proverbs 31:13 “She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.”

It was about 6:30 in the morning and I was pretty far into my quiet time when I came across this verse. It was mainly the second part of the verse that had caught my attention. Of course we know that the Proverbs 31 woman works but she sets about her work with eager hands.

The word eager here comes from the Hebrew word; Chafets (Strongs H2656) it can also mean; purpose, desire, willingly, and pleasant.

She works with purpose and desire!

Another example of Chafets is in Psalm 1:2. The blessed man of Psalm 1 delights in the law of Yahweh.

He is eager and desires the law of Yahweh.

Our hands should be as eager for our daily work as they are for the works of His commandments.

So many times I have failed to handle my daily tasks. So many days I have set about my work with
unenthusiastic, half-hearted hands. My hands have to be corrected in their ways once again because 
Proverbs 31:13 brings to mind a handful of other verses.... 
 
Ecclesiastes 9:10
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with
all your might…”

Colossians 3:23 “Slaves
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your
heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” 
 
Deuteronomy 6:5
“And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”

1 Corinthians 10:31 “So
whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 
 
When we love God and want to please Him our work should reflect just that. Also having an eternal perspective 
makes the everyday tasks more enjoyable. Knowing we are to do everything as unto the LORD  should keep us
from doing things with a selfish or indolent attitude.

Digging a little deeper on the work aspect brings a few more verses to view. All of these verses are from the book of Proverbs. Can you think of any more?  

Proverbs 12:11 “Those who work their land will have abundant food,
but those who chase fantasies have no sense”

Proverbs 12:14 “From the fruit of their lips people are filled with good things,
and the work of their hands brings them reward.”

Proverbs 20:11 “Even a child is known by his actions by whether his conduct is pure and right.”

Proverbs 20:13 “Do not love sleep or you will grow poor;
stay awake and you will have food to spare.”

Proverbs 21:25-26 "The craving of a sluggard will be the death of him,
because his hands refuse to work. All day long he craves for more,
but the righteous give without sparing.”

And finally the reward of our Proverbs 31 woman's well done work?

Proverbs 31:31 “Honor her for all that her hands have done,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.”

Until next time,

Bethany


 H2656
חפץ
chêphets khay'-fets

From H2654; pleasure; hence (abstractly) desire; concretely
a valuable thing; hence (by extension) a matter (as something in mind):
- acceptable, delight (-some), desire, things desired, matter, pleasant
(-ure), purpose, willingly.

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