A Different Sort of Post

Ok, I'm gonna get real on ya'll. Not that I haven't been real in the past, but today is a blah day and this post may reflect that. I have a few different topics that I thought I would post, but didn't get to, and so now they will be rolled into one.

This may not be of interest to my non-believing readers, but this is where I am right now with some things. I have a new conviction that I would like to share with you, but first I'll get to the really depressing stuff. Well at least it depressed me, which isn't saying much due to my high maternal hormones at the moment. And of course anyone who knows me, knows that I am a worse case scenario person. I mean when Jeremiah told me he was losing his job, I jumped clear to the worst end, thinking about having to move. Ok, so the depressing thing was our sermon yesterday. I absolutely love our church, and have really been enjoying this break from studying the book of Romans for a series on child raising. However, yesterday's sermon was depressing in more ways than one. It was a heavy topic (as child training in general is to be sure), on imparting an inheritance. We are not talking monetary here, but spiritually. Wow, do I feel inadequate! Which I am sure is where the Lord wants me, as He would rather I turn to Him and not my own strength. However, he hit on some topics that have been swimming in my mind here and there, and just brought me to my end (of hormonal sorts). The sign of the times. You see, God makes it clear how He wants us to live. He also makes it very clear what will happen when we don't. This is spelled out for individuals and nations. You see our nation has every sign of being under God's curse. Let me tell you people.....this ISN'T good. BAD things happen when people do not turn from their sins and repent as a nation....BAD things. Now God can bring about a revival....or He can hold His hand of wrath out to us instead. Again, God's wrath is a bad thing. It's good in that it is meant to bring people to their knees and turn to Him, but that means a lot of bad things need to happen to make people turn from their wicked ways. So here we were being encouraged to train our children for this future. We need to prepare them for the possibility of living in a country under God's wrath, as that is the sign of the times. And if we repent before that happens, well our children will be stronger for it. But I have a hard time getting excited to train my children for persecution, destruction, poverty, and the like (please remember I am worse case scenario here). It is hard to school when you have to think in this manner. It has me in a "why bother" attitude. Which I assure you is the absolutely WRONG attitude to have! I never did say I was perfect! But that is where I find myself today. So I encourage you, entreat you, beg you.....to get on your knees for our nation! Call out for God's mercy, to turn back his hand of wrath. To instead impart the grace to transform people's hearts to turn to Him. Our nation is in a sad, sad state, and it will indeed take a miracle to bring this change about. Thankfully God is still in the business of miracles.

Ok, enough depressing stuff. I don't even remember what I was going to write next! Silly me. Oh, ok, I reread the above and that made me remember! Now before I write the next thing, which goes hand in hand with praying, I want to make something black and white. Now granted, I do believe the people who have to most difficulty in thinking I come to some of these decisions on my own and have not been forced by my husband don't read this blog. But they do have the link, and in case any of them stops by, I wanted to put this in here for them. As an example, homebirth. I can't tell you how much arguing..um, I mean discussion it took about the safety of homebirth before Jeremiah would think about it being a possibility. It was something *I* wanted. He was totally not on board. So I can totally seeing this issue fall under...."He's (Jeremiah) is making Kerri do this...." And I assure you it is not. Although this time I didn't' spend a lot of time arguing. This is a conviction on what the scriptures say about a woman praying. Here is the passage that is "at stake":

1 Cointhians 11:1-16

IMITATE me, just as I also imitate Christ.
Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you.

But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head.

But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved.

For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered.

For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.

For man is not from woman, but woman from man.

Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man.

For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord.

For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God.

Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?

Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?

But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering.

But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.

Now there are many good articles out there that would explain this much better than I, so if you are interested, you can Google the topic "Christian head covering". I don't' have a lot of time to devote to an explanation right now, so I may not do it justice. But we will start way back, some 7 years ago when I read this passage for the first time. Whoa! I never heard about this before. I brought it up to Jeremiah who said, (in short), nah, it's not for us, that was for their culture. Oh, ok, then. But I had a hard time getting around the verse that says "because of the angels". As far as I know angels are still around, not just in their culture. So years went by. We have had a few women here and there in different churches who would where a cover (could be small, bandanna, or shawl type covering). At the church we are at now a couple of other women wear a head covering during the service. I didn't say anything about it, and then one night Jeremiah came home after having conversation with one of the woman's husbands who covers. He brought it up, said we should look into it again. We did, and it seemed very clear that it was something that was to continue today. But that last verse kind of stumped us. That was 6 months ago. And then I had something weird happen to me. Jeremiah called me from work last week and needed prayer (you all know he's losing his job, and this can make some days more stressful than others). So I went into my bedroom to pray for him. I had this absolutely overpowering need to cover my head as I was calling out to God. This was not some little thought in the back of my head. This was a "I had to stop myself from pulling the bed covers over my head" kind of thing. I couldn't explain it. But after praying, that night I reread those 1 Corinthian verses. By golly it is hard to get around. I mean, if our hair is our covering (as the last few verses *seem* to say) then that means our men need to shave their heads as they are not to have a covering before God. Ok, so what does this mean? Well it means I have been searching the web for a covering to use during church and other prayer times. I am making one right now. One with cloth and another I will crochet. I plan for now to have a bandanna type covering. I found a crochet pattern on line to make a bandanna. And I have fabric here to make a bandanna style covering.

Now in light of that I also want to make this very clear (as I have seen many women get upset about this), covering your head is an obedience issue. It is not one that will make you more spiritual, or Godly. There are many, many other issues in the Bible that are by far weigh in with much more importance. This is just a time when God chose to bring this matter to my attention and to ignore it would be sin for me. I am sooooo bad about knowing the exact scriptures (something I am trying to remedy), but there is a scripture that says something like this:
For someone who is convicted that something is sin and does it anyway, it is sin to them. But for others who do not, it is not sin.

I am sure I butchered that scripture. I hope my hubby can point the right verse out for you all. Ok, we got schooling done, and lunch done. Right now it's time for Jedidiah's nap and some massive cleaning. Although the girls are really, really hoping to go to the dog park today and they have taken it upon themselves to clean up. So there is a lot less work to be done. But the kitchen is a mess (my fault), the laundry room is multiplying clothing like bunnies, and the floors need some vacuuming. So have a great day. Sorry if this was such a heavy post, but hey, this is supposed to be about our life, and this is where life finds me today :-)

PS I talked with Jeremiah briefly as he literally called right after I wrote this post and I know there are some additions I need to make to better clarify. Also you just HAVE to check out Jeremiah's blog (Sola Deo Gloria on the right side bar of my blog)! He has an amazing post on entertainment. Ha, ha, if you think MY posts are heavy......I'm a lightweight!