Preparing for Worship

*I love practical theology - when what I believe about God and redemption through Christ alone can be lived out in real, tangible ways. Sometimes though, connecting theology with real life is difficult. It usually helps me to write it out, so I'm going to do a few posts about "real life faith". I hope it will help others think through these ideas as well.

"God wants His people to prepare in advance to tell everybody He deserves to be worshiped."
Stones & Their Story 3/16/14 Sermon by Ben Wright
High Pointe Baptist Church, Austin, TX

These thoughts has been running through my mind all week:

• God deserves to be worshiped.  As a follower of Christ, my purpose in life is not to worship myself by seeking my own comfort and interests, but to worship the Triune God who created me to reflect His glory by obeying His Word.
• If  I am going to be prepared to tell others this truth, then I should know what true worship is and how to do it well. I need to prepare and practice at worship so I can demonstrate and explain it well to others.

What is worship?
Louie Giglio said, "Worship is our response, both personal and corporate, to God for who He is, and what He has done; expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live." (For more on "What is Worship?" Read: TGC Worship)

How should I prepare for corporate worship?
Being prepared in advanced for Sunday morning is not usually a priority for most people. We just show up to church and expect the preacher or worship leader to entertain us. But that's not worshiping God, that's worshiping ourselves. We need to take steps to ensure that our hearts and minds are ready to hear the truth of God's word that will teach us how to respond to God and how to share Him with others.
Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list, but here are a few ideas from Pastor Ben's sermon and books on the topic (see resources below):

• Read the Scripture that will be preached during the week prior to Sunday, before hearing the sermon - this will help us be ready to listen and understand the Bible better
• Get plenty of rest on Saturday night - this takes discipline, but is respectful to our pastors, our church family and most importantly, God. We need to be ready to give our full attention.
• Eliminate distractions - set phones to silent before entering church, don't text or email right before church begins
• Prepare children to be in "big church" with sermon notes, paper, pencils, quiet snack, etc.

Other Helpful Resources:

Helping Johnny Listen by Thad Bergmeier












Listen Up by Christopher Ash

Sermon Notes for Kids by Jill Connelly









Finally, a song that always helps me create an attitude of worship:

 Speak, O Lord by Keith Getty

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
To receive the food of Your Holy Word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us
All Your purposes for Your glory.

Teach us, Lord, full obedience,
Holy reverence, true humility;
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radiance of Your purity.
Cause our faith to rise; cause our eyes to see
Your majestic love and authority.
Words of pow'r that can never fail-
Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us-
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time
That will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we'll stand on Your promises,
And by faith we'll walk as You walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory. 

Book Review: True Beauty

The newest book by mother-daughter team Carolyn Mahaney and Nicole Whitacre is wonderfully encouraging and a helpful resource for discovering the source and purpose of True Beauty.

What this book is not:

• This book is not about "inner beauty". In fact, the authors give a very clear explanation why this line of thinking is unhelpful.
• This book is not prescribing a certain dress code or diet and exercise plan for Christian women. The authors expect us to think carefully about how our beauty reflects God's beauty and decide what is most appropriate and God-honoring as individuals.

What this book is:

• An encouragement to think neither too highly or lowly of oneself. We all have value but apart from Christ, we are all ugly sinners who need to be rescued from sin.
• It is an explanation of how beauty is a gospel issue. Through the beautiful sacrifice of Jesus, we have a way to understand our Creator's design for us and we can desire to reflect Him.

In seven chapters, the authors discuss how we should view True Beauty in relation to our culture, God, our hearts, our bodies, clothes, our trust and works.

Examples of great take-aways from this book:

Our Culture: Our culture has it all wrong. The standard is unrealistic and fake plus it is constantly changing.

God: God is the only perfectly beautiful being. He designed beauty and created us to reflect His beauty.

Our Hearts: Our hearts are jumbled and confused about what true beauty is. It can only be found in the redemptive work of Christ on the cross.

How we view beauty can have a large impact on our priorities and desires. Every woman would greatly benefit from reading this book to gain a godly perspective on True Beauty.

*Special thanks to Crossway through NetGalley.com for providing this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Monthly Menu : March

Here are my dinner plans for 31 days of March.
*We keep breakfast and lunch simple. Cereal or toast for breakfast. Sandwiches/soup or leftovers for lunch. 
*We usually only eat-out once a week. The rest of my meals are homemade, mostly from scratch.

 Week 1 Menu
1. Sausage & Sauerkraut
2. Vegetable Soup
3. Eat Out: Pizza
4. Italian Roasted Chicken with carrots
5. Chicken Caesar Salad
6. Baked "Fried" Chicken with Beans, Mac & Cheese
7. Pork Chops, Coleslaw and fried potatoes
Snacks: granola bars, oranges, apples, yogurt

Week 2 Menu:
8. Spaghetti with meat sauce, corn and rolls
9.  Beef Fajitas with peppers & onions, chips & salsa
10. Beef & Peppers over rice
11. Leftovers
12. Crockpot Hawiian BBQ Chicken
13. Hawiian Bacon BBQ Chicken Pizza (use leftovers)
14. Eat Out: Burgers & Fries
Snacks: apples, peaches, peanut butter cookies, cheese & crackers

Week 3 Menu:
15. Reuben Sandwiches & Fried Pickles
16. Cheddar Bacon Potato Soup
17. "Party" Chicken (chicken wrapped in bacon with sour cream and cream of chicken soup, put in crockpot on low 4-5 hrs.)
18. Sesame Chicken with veggies over rice
19. Baked Potato Bar
20. K's Bday: Cheesburgers & homemade fries
21. Eat Out: Sandwich Shop
Snacks: cheese & crackers, peaches, bananas, carrot sticks

Week 4 Menu:
22. Taco Night
23. Enchiladas
24. Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato sandwiches
25. A's Bday: Grilled Shrimp with Apple Mango Salsa & Garlic Mashed Potatoes
26. BBQ beef sandwiches with beans and coleslaw
27.  Leftovers
28. Eat Out: Burgers & Fries
Snacks: yogurt, berries, cereal trail mix

Week 5:
29. Breakfast for dinner: Pancakes & Eggs
30. Grilled Chicken, corn, green beans
31. Chicken Quesos (chicken, onions, cheese cooked inside a tortilla)

Snacks: no-bake cookies, bananas, blueberries, chips & salsa


P.S. I linked up with List It {Tuesday} over at Many Little Blessings today. Check it out for lots of good ideas and interesting facts.

Apple Mango Salsa

This quick and easy side dish is yummy and healthy!

1 mango
1 medium apple (I used Jonagold)
1 medium cucumber
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon cilantro

Core/peel mango, apple and cucumber. Finely chop all three and mix with lime juice and cilantro. Makes 3-4 cups.

This salsa goes great with fajitas, tacos, quesadillas, grilled chicken or shrimp or just serve with chips!

Monthly Menu: February

February is not only a short month, but a busy one for the Raulston family with 3 birthdays to celebrate this month. We are also trying to make healthier choices - however, buying healthy food during the winter on a budget is challenging, so with much dollar stretching and planning, here are our dinner plans for the month:


 Week 1 Menu:
1. Grilled Chicken, Steamed Carrots & Green Beans
2. Superbowl Party: BBQ Wings & Cheesesticks (not healthy, just fun)
3. Grilled Shrimp with Apple & Mango Salsa
4.  Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, Apple/Blackberry Cobbler
5. Leftovers
6. Beef Fajitas with pepper and onions, Corn Salsa, Rice & Beans
7. Beef Quesos (leftover beef and veggies with cheese toasted in a tortilla)
snacks: popcorn, pears, apples, graham crackers

Week 2 Menu:
8. Spaghetti, Salad & Breadsticks
9.  Dinner out with friends
10. K's Bday: Order Pizza, Cake & Ice Cream
11. Baked "Fried" Chicken, Sweet Potato Fries
12. D's Bday: Eat Out, Ice Cream Cake
13. Saugage and Sauerkraut, steamed carrots
14. Chicken Fried Rice with squash, zucchini and broccoli
Snacks:bananas, homemade granola, yogurt, oranges

Week 3 Menu:
15. Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos
16. Eat Out: Sandwich Shop
17. Roast & Mashed Potatoes, Strawberry Shortcake
18. BBQ Beef Sandwiches, Mac & Cheese
19. Beef Stew
20. Grilled Chicken on Caesar Salad
21. N's Bday: Cheeseburgers, Cake & Ice Cream
Snacks: pretzels, carrot sticks, strawberries, string cheese

Week 4 Menu:
22. Roasted Chicken with Carrots and Broccoli
23. Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
24.Chicken Salad Sandwiches with
25. Really Good White Chili
26. Egg & Sausage Bake
27. Leftovers
28. Chicken Tortilla Soup
Snacks: apples, peanut butter crackers, fruit smoothies

Book Review: The Beauty of Broken

The Beauty of Broken is the personal story of Elisa Morgan, former CEO of MOPS International.

Although I disagree with her on several theological issues, I greatly appreciate the depth of how her faith has been tested and refined. The raw honesty in which she shares about her life and the difficult situations and circumstances she has lived through will surely be a great encouragement to many who have also experienced similar trials in life. This book should also be read by those superwoman moms who think they have life perfectly planned out - just to be prepared if it all doesn't turn out as planned.
This is an inspiring story, however, I don't know how often I would recommend this book, simply because I think there are better resources for women to be encouraged in life and faith. It was a good read that gives clarity to the mission and motivation behind MOPS International. 

*Special thanks to Thomas Nelson Publishers through NetGalley.com for providing this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

OREOS: Our Family Rules

When our family was doing foster care several years ago, I wanted to come up with an easy way for kids who came into our home to know what our expectations and rules were. So I came up with an acronym for OREOS:

Obey - Obey all the way, right away, with a happy heart.
       Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Ephesians 6:1 (ESV)
Respect - Treat others the way you want to be treated.
      And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. Luke 6:31 (ESV)
Effort - Give your best effort in everything you do.
      Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. Colossians 3:23 (ESV)
Organize - Take care of your things by putting them away.
       A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. Proverbs 10:4 (ESV)
Safety - Is this a safe choice? If not, don't do it.
     Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding.
     Proverbs 10:23 (ESV)


I found that almost all of my specific rules and instructions, like no jumping on the furniture or put your toys away, fell into one of these five categories. So any time we had a specific issue, we could point the kids back to our poster on the wall that stated our expectations and more importantly point them back to Scripture.

Whenever new foster children came to us - we would have an OREOS party after dinner, usually the first or second evening they were with us. We would give each child some milk and cookies and explain our family rules and expectations while they were staying with us. We included our biological children in the party because it was always a good reminder for them about the house rules.

Even though we are no longer doing foster care, we still use these rules in our home and occasionally have a cookie party with our kids to remind them our how we conduct ourselves in this family.