Sweet Fellowship: Duggars and Friends (aka the Bates Family and Other Featured Families Thread)

[lianau]

Another fun Landmark course you really need to  take 

SC-202 Geology I

"This is a study of the Earth, its present characteristics, and its history, as made evident by the Earth itself. Special emphasis will be given to the mechanisms and effects of the Great Flood of Genesis."

[ginger90]

[louannems]

3 hours ago, ginger90 said:

Crammed in the RV trying to study!  Imagine all the other eleventy kids squished in every inch of floor space trying to homeschool.  What a joke.

[Marshmallow Mollie]

6 hours ago, ginger90 said:

Boobs. All I see in this picture is boobs.

So I guess the Bible College doesn’t care what happens as long as you are paying tuition.

[PradaKitty]

My God, Jill’s English is horrendous! 

[Jenilane6]

Both girls look so pretty without their usual clown makeup.

[doodlebug]

8 hours ago, ginger90 said:

I am sure the instructors AT the school the girls are enrolled AT are so glad that Nurie and Kaylee had Jill as their teacher since she is so skilled in the language arts.  Can you imagine being an instructor at Bible College and having to read and grade essays written by an entire classful of kids whose educational level is that of Jill R or the Duggars?  The only consolation is that the instructors at the church school the girls attend were probably homeschooled by a semi-literate parent too and don't know the difference.

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

Nurie is really a pretty girl without all that make-up on her.  Kaylee is, too, but this is the first time I feel like I've actually seen what Nurie actually looks like. 

[Temperance]

Joshua Bontrager has a new blog post up. It's about the ten things they did in their courtship that prepared them for marriage. (He's been married 1.5 years.) It includes making Jesus the center of the relationship, praying together, fasting, getting to know each other, not really touching each other, doing farm chores and his "learning to lead" his wife. He reminds me of Derick only younger, fundier, etc.

[Sew Sumi]

Joshua Bontrager is so full of himself it's not funny.

[Churchhoney]

1 hour ago, Sew Sumi said:

Joshua Bontrager is so full of himself it's not funny.

How wonderful for the person he's now "learned to lead." smh

[awaken]

4 hours ago, Temperance said:

Joshua Bontrager has a new blog post up. It's about the ten things they did in their courtship that prepared them for marriage. (He's been married 1.5 years.) It includes making Jesus the center of the relationship, praying together, fasting, getting to know each other, not really touching each other, doing farm chores and his "learning to lead" his wife. He reminds me of Derick only younger, fundier, etc.

Blah, blah, blah. It’s always the same stuff with them, over and over. We could all recite it by heart without even reading his blog. 

[satrunrose]

On 2/27/2019 at 4:26 PM, doodlebug said:

I am sure the instructors AT the school the girls are enrolled AT are so glad that Nurie and Kaylee had Jill as their teacher since she is so skilled in the language arts.  Can you imagine being an instructor at Bible College and having to read and grade essays written by an entire classful of kids whose educational level is that of Jill R or the Duggars?  The only consolation is that the instructors at the church school the girls attend were probably homeschooled by a semi-literate parent too and don't know the difference.

Considering that they are thoughtfully and piously studying the One True King James Bible with what appears to be a fill in the blank worksheet, I'm guessing academic rigour may not be high on the list of priorities for this fine institution. 

[Churchhoney]

17 minutes ago, satrunrose said:

Considering that they are thoughtfully and piously studying the One True King James Bible with what appears to be a fill in the blank worksheet, I'm guessing academic rigour may not be high on the list of priorities for this fine institution. 

Well, of course true education demands the use of fill-in-the-blank worksheets.

If you gave students any other kind of homework, you would put them in grave danger of wondering whether there might be more than one right answer. And that is opening the door wide to the devil, doncha know?

The devil invented the essay test and the science project.

Edited March 2, 2019 by Churchhoney

[Ohiopirate02]

On 3/2/2019 at 8:22 AM, Churchhoney said:

Well, of course true education demands the use of fill-in-the-blank worksheets.

If you gave students any other kind of homework, you would put them in grave danger of wondering whether there might be more than one right answer. And that is opening the door wide to the devil, doncha know?

The devil invented the essay test and the science project.

Satan definitely invented statistics and then made every college and university require it to get a degree. 

[Zella]

15 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Satan definitely invented statistics and then made every college and university require it to get a degree. 

I changed my major in college to get out of taking statistics. 😂

[DangerousMinds]

1 hour ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Satan definitely invented statistics and then made every college and university require it to get a degree. 

And my university only offered it at 8 AM on Mondays.😂

[madpsych78]

1 hour ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Satan definitely invented statistics and then made every college and university require it to get a degree. 

I've taught statistics, so now I feel like I did Satan's work! 🤣🤣

[Ohiopirate02]

13 minutes ago, madpsych78 said:

I've taught statistics, so now I feel like I did Satan's work! 🤣🤣

I had to take a statistics class in order to get both of my degrees, and I have never used the formulas outside of class.  The first degree was in public history and no one needs statistics to interpret history at a museum.   I think we were all forced to take a class only because a professor wanted to teach.  My library school got rid of the requirement after I took the class.

[Zella]

I was going to be a poli sci/pre-law major. And I took one look at that stats requirement and was like, "You know, I've always really liked English and history too." 😂

[PradaKitty]

Yeah, I had to take statistics too and my major was journalism! 

To this day I have never used any of the info from that class. I sure didn’t need it once I graduated and moved on to law school, 

I also got an A in the class which came as a massive shock to me and all who know me. 

[Sew Sumi]

I changed majors after I took stats. I got a 96, so it wasn't a big deal. 

[cdp73]

On 2/27/2019 at 5:08 PM, MyPeopleAreNordic said:

Nurie is really a pretty girl without all that make-up on her.  Kaylee is, too, but this is the first time I feel like I've actually seen what Nurie actually looks like. 

Agreed.  If Jill posted more pictures of her looking like this, she'd probably have a line of suitors.

As for statistics classes, my professor taught us using roulette as an example.  I don't remember much other than always bet red or black.

[Fosca]

3 hours ago, madpsych78 said:

I've taught statistics, so now I feel like I did Satan's work! 🤣🤣

Me too, and when I took it myself it was the only college math class I ever earned an A in.

Now that I think about it, that explains a lot.  Muahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa!

[Churchhoney]

I think we'd all be better off if we started teaching statistics in grade school. 

In this world of massive numbers, powerful data, science and all sorts of lies and damned lies done with statistics, if we started giving as many kids as possible the intuitive feel for statistics that nature apparently didn't quite equip us with, we'd have a much stronger citizenry, seems to me. And it can be done. That way of thinking can be imparted and, if it happens young, the anxiety and the boredom that get in the way of doing it later could be overcome because the method of learning it would be so different.. 

As with just about everything taught, the problem with people learning statistics is bad teaching that comes at entirely the wrong time, seems to me. 

And I think satan invented something very important when he invented statistics. ;  )

It's really depressing to think of Duggars and math. 

Edited March 4, 2019 by Churchhoney

[riverblue22]

On 3/3/2019 at 1:13 PM, Zella said:

I changed my major in college to get out of taking statistics. 😂

I took statistics in college to avoid taking public speaking.  

[Zella]

4 minutes ago, riverblue22 said:

I took statistics in college to avoid taking public speaking.  

So, I seriously lucked out on that one because it terrified me too. I took it as a night class at a community college at an off-campus location, so there was literally only 6 of us in the entire class, and the professor was crazy, so we did very little actual speaking in class because he was a motormouth. It in no way prepared me for public speaking, but as a very nervous freshman, I thought I'd hit the jackpot. 😂

[Tasya]

Cynthia Jeub has an article out that appeared on HuffPost about the reality behind the "reality tv" families. It was a great read and I'm glad that she got out. I hope that some of the Duggars end up doing the same. Cynthia Jeub Article

[toodles]

43 minutes ago, Tasya said:

Cynthia Jeub has an article out that appeared on HuffPost about the reality behind the "reality tv" families. It was a great read and I'm glad that she got out. I hope that some of the Duggars end up doing the same. Cynthia Jeub Article

Very interesting and sad.

[ginger90]

[Zella]

Jill is really hung up on these creepy-ass incest-esque dates for poor Nurie. First, Nurie gets to go out on a date with her brother and then she gets to go on a date with her parents. Jill needs to be introduced to the word "outing". . . .

[Churchhoney]

2 hours ago, Tasya said:

Cynthia Jeub has an article out that appeared on HuffPost about the reality behind the "reality tv" families. It was a great read and I'm glad that she got out. I hope that some of the Duggars end up doing the same. Cynthia Jeub Article

Thanks for posting the link. Haven't read anything from Cynthia in quite a while. Hope she can move upward and onward from this eventually. Heartbreaking story. For the kids who leave the grip of it and the ones that remain in the grip.

Glad she stresses the stuff about her parents basically weaponizing the siblings against each other. That happens a lot, although not always as blatantly as with the Jeubs. But it seldom gets mentioned or even seen, I think. 

Edited March 6, 2019 by Churchhoney

[cmr2014]

1 hour ago, Tasya said:

Cynthia Jeub has an article out that appeared on HuffPost about the reality behind the "reality tv" families. It was a great read and I'm glad that she got out. I hope that some of the Duggars end up doing the same. Cynthia Jeub Article

I was just coming here to post a link to the article -- it's really good, and I'd encourage everyone to read the entire thing. There were a couple of things that stood out to me:

"Kids by the Dozen” led to a staged “reconciliation” between my parents and Alicia. In the eyes of our tight-knit Christian community, a rebellious child is a great shame and failure on the part of the parent. To address and compensate for the show’s strict depiction of their parenting, my parents self-published a book called Love in the House: Filling Your Home With the Greatest Commandment. In it, they highlighted Matthew 22:36-40, in which Jesus says that the “greatest commandment” is to love God and others. For us kids, this meant we had to give unconditional love to our parents without questioning their beliefs or authority. For our parents, it meant that God wanted them to have more children. I know, that’s not what love is at all, but, sadly, I didn’t know that for the first 23 years of my life.

Once born, children were welcomed as blessings but brought up, above all, to be useful and to honor every whim of their parents. Our home was often filled with chaos ― children scattered everywhere; piles of laundry and toys and dishes deep enough to wade through; one child or another practicing piano or riding through the house on a Big Wheel; my mother yelling and sometimes wielding a heavy cutting board or pizza paddle to dole out spankings. I was put to work early and quickly learned to do everything from bathing five children at a time to waking up in the night to tend to fussy toddlers while I prayed for the strength to handle my Sisyphean workload. My parents convinced me that my work was a duty to God, so it was impossible to view it for what it was: exploitation."

I think that these quotes absolutely apply to the Duggars as well, and when we wonder why the kids endlessly praise J'chelle and obey all of the ridiculous rules, etc., we forget the depth of the brainwashing that they have endured. This young women got out enough -- she took some classes at a local college -- to get some perspective and realize that her life wasn't normal. IT really does show how very tight the control is, and how little it takes to shatter the bubble -- I'm sure the Duggars know about the "tragedy" of Cynthia Jeub, and I'm sure that they've clamped down even more to prevent any of these "sinful" influences from infecting their family.

[Churchhoney]

23 minutes ago, cmr2014 said:

I was just coming here to post a link to the article -- it's really good, and I'd encourage everyone to read the entire thing. There were a couple of things that stood out to me:

"Kids by the Dozen” led to a staged “reconciliation” between my parents and Alicia. In the eyes of our tight-knit Christian community, a rebellious child is a great shame and failure on the part of the parent. To address and compensate for the show’s strict depiction of their parenting, my parents self-published a book called Love in the House: Filling Your Home With the Greatest Commandment. In it, they highlighted Matthew 22:36-40, in which Jesus says that the “greatest commandment” is to love God and others. For us kids, this meant we had to give unconditional love to our parents without questioning their beliefs or authority. For our parents, it meant that God wanted them to have more children. I know, that’s not what love is at all, but, sadly, I didn’t know that for the first 23 years of my life.

Once born, children were welcomed as blessings but brought up, above all, to be useful and to honor every whim of their parents. Our home was often filled with chaos ― children scattered everywhere; piles of laundry and toys and dishes deep enough to wade through; one child or another practicing piano or riding through the house on a Big Wheel; my mother yelling and sometimes wielding a heavy cutting board or pizza paddle to dole out spankings. I was put to work early and quickly learned to do everything from bathing five children at a time to waking up in the night to tend to fussy toddlers while I prayed for the strength to handle my Sisyphean workload. My parents convinced me that my work was a duty to God, so it was impossible to view it for what it was: exploitation."

I think that these quotes absolutely apply to the Duggars as well, and when we wonder why the kids endlessly praise J'chelle and obey all of the ridiculous rules, etc., we forget the depth of the brainwashing that they have endured. This young women got out enough -- she took some classes at a local college -- to get some perspective and realize that her life wasn't normal. IT really does show how very tight the control is, and how little it takes to shatter the bubble -- I'm sure the Duggars know about the "tragedy" of Cynthia Jeub, and I'm sure that they've clamped down even more to prevent any of these "sinful" influences from infecting their family.

While Cynthia notes that her home schooling didn't equip her for college, in fact her parents are of the more educated variety of these cultists. And her dad has been a big name in the fundie-high-school-debate-and-speech world. And he educated his kids to be able to participate in that. They traveled around winning super-Christian debates and speaking contests and so on, and those debate-and-speech skills weren't that dissimilar from secular-world ones, either, although of course the stuff they said at their speech tourneys was.

Thus -- while their schooling still wasn't up to college standards, in some ways it was way more expansive than that of the Duggars and others. 

And I'll bet that those non-Jeub parents -- like JB and M -- have been thinking "Told ya so!" since it's turned out that an "over-educated" Jeub is one of the loudest and most rebellious of escapees of that whole generation. And a girl escapee -- who'd done research for debate tournaments and gone out there and participated (albeit with other brainwashed fundies -- but, still, the readers and logicians among those brainwashed fundies.) 

I'm betting Cynthia's been used as a warning by some of these families to proudly keep your kids ignorant and shut away from even fundie-type academic events and logic and research, lest ye give 'em ideas that turn them into evil Huffington-Post-author-type apostates, bisexuals and non-father-and-mother-honorers like her. 

Long Live the Godly Duggar Academy -- where nobody learns nuttin'.

Edited March 6, 2019 by Churchhoney

[awaken]

Wow. Chilling how her description fits the duggars so closely!  Especially with what we just saw of the bedroom renovation.

Thanks for the article. 

[BitterApple]

52 minutes ago, Churchhoney said:

I'm betting Cynthia's been used as a warning by some of these families to proudly keep your kids ignorant and shut away from even fundie-type academic events and logic and research, lest ye give 'em ideas that turn them into evil Huffington-Post-author-type apostates, bisexuals and non-father-and-mother-honorers like her. 

I always said the same about Susannah Keller. I guarantee she was held up as a cautionary tale against straying from the fold. "See what happens girls, when you don't listen to your parents? You end up pregnant and dumped!". Unfortunately it seems like a lot of escaped Fundies go through rough patches on their way to independence, giving their parents plenty of fodder to use as scare tactics.

[Churchhoney]

10 hours ago, BitterApple said:

I always said the same about Susannah Keller. I guarantee she was held up as a cautionary tale against straying from the fold. "See what happens girls, when you don't listen to your parents? You end up pregnant and dumped!". Unfortunately it seems like a lot of escaped Fundies go through rough patches on their way to independence, giving their parents plenty of fodder to use as scare tactics.

Yeah, quite unfortunate. It seems as if it'd be easy to leave a bad situation. But it's actually really really hard. For one thing, this kind of situation was created for the purpose of making it hard to leave.

I'm hoping -- and if I believed, I'd be praying -- that Cynthia eventually comes through okay. She's had a very tough time, and is still having it, really. It's heartbreaking. 

EMLTA: Terrible to have to fight so hard against such hostile forces just to be the person that you are. And the person she is is obviously smart, strong, thoughtful, full of good will for others. And yet she's been put under terrible pressure to be someone else just because that someone else is who her parents prefer. Their beliefs are so damaging to humanity. 

Her efforts did get some of her younger sibs liberated from their destructive homeschooling, though. Seems likely that'll pay off at least a bit for somebody down the line. This is why I've so wanted to see a real Duggar defection. When somebody makes a real break it does tend to put at least a small crack in the ugly prison walls. 

Edited March 6, 2019 by Churchhoney

[cdp73]

11 hours ago, ginger90 said:

David's face in that picture doesn't make it appear that he really thinks Nurie deserved a special date.  Less food for him.

[BigBingerBro]

Rick Arndt has really put is heart and soul into providing ministry via Facebook live.  He does at least one stream a day from his car and then a "Sunday service" from home. The group is called "Conversations with Dad" . Only about 20 people view these things and half of them are the Ardnt children.  It's all very rambling and unorganized, however the boys seem to rallying around this new outlet providing technical help and setup with cameras and microphones, etc. for dad.  I'm not sure what happened with Vine Valley.  As always the boys seem to be doing a lot of work on their property and it sounds like several of the oldest manchildren will be moving into a different house just down the road.  Does anyone else know more about that?

[anna0852]

I really want to help Cynthia in some way, I just don't know how.

I lived in St. Augustine for 12 years. Rodrigii being there is nauseating. Hopefully the historic non fundie churches on every corner makes their heads explode. Or the regular Catholic festivities in the middle of town.

[bythelake]

23 hours ago, Tasya said:

Cynthia Jeub has an article out that appeared on HuffPost about the reality behind the "reality tv" families. It was a great read and I'm glad that she got out. I hope that some of the Duggars end up doing the same. Cynthia Jeub Article

This article is so incredibly sad. At least she had the insight to realize what her parents were doing and got out.

It sounds as If she is still suffering emotionally and physically. Her blog is interesting; she is a talented writer. I hope she can make a career out of it. She deserves the best.

[Ohiopirate02]

4 hours ago, anna0852 said:

I really want to help Cynthia in some way, I just don't know how.

I lived in St. Augustine for 12 years. Rodrigii being there is nauseating. Hopefully the historic non fundie churches on every corner makes their heads explode. Or the regular Catholic festivities in the middle of town.

I read somewhere that while St Augustine was a Spanish colony, a group of French (I think) protestants attempted a colony nearby.   The Spanish destroyed the colony and you have one of the first group of Christian martyrs in America.   Apparently the site of this colony has now become a pilgrimage site for certain types of Christians.   

[anna0852]

22 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I read somewhere that while St Augustine was a Spanish colony, a group of French (I think) protestants attempted a colony nearby.   The Spanish destroyed the colony and you have one of the first group of Christian martyrs in America.   Apparently the site of this colony has now become a pilgrimage site for certain types of Christians.   

St Augustine was established primarily to protect the gold and silver laden Spanish ships on their route back to Spain from Central and South America. Getting the Catholic religion established in the New World (and limiting French raiding abilities) was a bonus for the Spanish. They did wipe out a French Huegnot colony but it was about 20-30 miles north in what is now Jacksonville. If they're going on some sort of anti-Catholic pilgrammage they picked a *very* wrong place to do it. Two of the showpieces of the city are the cira 1700's Catholic cathedral downtown and the Mission of Nombre de Dios heading north on San Marco Avenue. The city still holds Catholic events such as the Blessing of the Boats down at the marina to kick off Easter Week.

It's a pretty Catholic city. 

1 minute ago, anna0852 said:

Edited March 7, 2019 by anna0852

[queenanne]

4 hours ago, anna0852 said:

I really want to help Cynthia in some way, I just don't know how.

I lived in St. Augustine for 12 years. Rodrigii being there is nauseating. Hopefully the historic non fundie churches on every corner makes their heads explode. Or the regular Catholic festivities in the middle of town.

She's got a writing "tip jar", as it were, if you like what you read you can give her some money:

https://www.patreon.com/cynthiajeub

[Heathen]

10 hours ago, BigBingerBro said:

Rick Arndt has really put is heart and soul into providing ministry via Facebook live.  He does at least one stream a day from his car and then a "Sunday service" from home. The group is called "Conversations with Dad" . Only about 20 people view these things and half of them are the Ardnt children.  It's all very rambling and unorganized, however the boys seem to rallying around this new outlet providing technical help and setup with cameras and microphones, etc. for dad.  I'm not sure what happened with Vine Valley.  As always the boys seem to be doing a lot of work on their property and it sounds like several of the oldest manchildren will be moving into a different house just down the road.  Does anyone else know more about that?

Are ALL the Arndt "children" still unmarried, living at home, and under Dad's thumb? 

[lianau]

All of them . And the oldest is almost 40 .

[ginger90]

Long read.........

Choosing JOY in the midst of Hardship.

Posted on March 3, 2019 by Rodrigues Family

She looked at me and said, “Jill, I WISH I was living YOUR life!”  

Now, I truly take that as a compliment.   But, can I be real here? I strive VERY hard to focus on the positives in my life. To post on social media the good, the joyful, the happy. 

I even had a lady (with disdain and hate) tell me once that I smile too much and just seem to think that life is one big ball of happiness and fun!  (Not her exact words…but you get the point). 

It hurt. Yes, it hurt to the core of my soul, because I FEEL hurt. I FEEL pain. I FEEL sorrow. I FEEL trials. I FEEL stress. I FEEL weary. I FEEL persecution. I FEEL frustration . 

YET…my JOY in the Lord and His goodness to me is greater than all that!  

I have highlighted in my Bible in SO many places about how the children of Israel (in the Old Testament) complained their way through hard circumstances. I have tried to PURPOSE in my life to try NOT to be like that!  

Lest any of you think my life is perfect, let me be honest. 

 Hardship: I have suffered through 5 devastating and hard miscarriages…one I almost bled to death and had to have several units of blood transfusions. 

 Choosing Joy: I have 13 beautiful, healthy children that God allowed me to keep.

 Hardship: My husband and I had a rough marriage that took a LOT of work in our early years. It is still not perfect.

 Choosing Joy: We renewed our vows on our 20th anniversary and we continue to fall more and more in love. 

 Hardship: We travel and sing in an RV motorhome. It wears on my patience. I am a homebody and one that thrives on home life…NOT being a “sardine” for Jesus. LOL.

 Choosing Joy: I LOVE serving my Saviour full time! Any sacrifice made for Him…HE IS WORTHY OF! I LOVE ministering to God’s people and meeting new friends along the way. I LOVE the sites we get to see and enjoy. 

 Hardship: I homeschool my children and never get a “break” from the noise, busyness, chaos, and demands of motherhood. 

 Choosing Joy: I live in a FREE country where I have the HONOR and joy of being with my children, teaching them, molding them, loving them and protecting them from the counsel of the ungodly. What an honor. 

 Hardship: My husband gave up 2 nearly full-time jobs to go into full time ministry. It stretches both of our faith to the limit several times. 

 Choosing Joy: It is a JOY watching God provide and we honestly have more now than we did back then. Figure that one out!….that’s our God for you! 

 Hardship: We have “hateful” people that follow our family and say all manner of evil against us….falsely! It hurts…it’s NOT true! They don’t even KNOW us!

 Choosing Joy: It is an HONOR to suffer this small form of persecution for the name of our blessed Saviour- Jesus Christ! 

 Hardship: The world views the role “stay at home mom” as hard and this would be their description of it… “I lose my ‘identity’ by being known as diaper changer, cook, wife, cleaner, laundry washer, etc. I have LESS money and have to live frugally. ” 

 Choosing Joy: I LOVE having the HONOR of being a stay at home mom. I embrace the challenges as an honor to raise up warriors for Jesus! I don’t mind living frugally and LOVE thrift stores and Dollar Tree! LOL. I appreciate hand-me-down clothes and am not too proud to wear them.

 Hardship: I get VERY sick with my pregnancies. I have varicose veins that throb and leave my legs a little more worn and “ugly” every time I birth another baby. I get stretch marks. I get uncomfortable and lack sleep. I lose my “shape” over and over. LOL. 

 Choosing Joy: I (and my husband) look at those imperfections as “beauty” marks from bringing another life (to raise for Jesus) into this world. I realize that favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. 

You see, I have CHOSEN a smile. I have CHOSEN a giggle instead of a gripe. 

No, my life is not a bed of roses, but it is the ONE that God gave ME to live! 

How about you? What life did God give YOU to live? Are you living it well? Are you content? Or, do you look at others’ lives with envy. 

I battle with keeping my attitude always right. However, when you find yourself complaining, fall to your knees in GRATITUDE for ALL the blessings He has done for you! 

“Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings see what God has done. Count Your blessings, name them one by one…and it will surprise you what the LORD hath done!”  

We need a generation of women who rise up with JOY and embrace the God-given Biblical role God put in place for them. I believe it could bring revival to our land. 

Choose JOY in the midst of your hardship.  

Love you all and cheering EACH of you on for the GLORY of God!   Jill Rodrigues

[questionfear]

1 hour ago, ginger90 said:

Long read.........

Choosing JOY in the midst of Hardship.

Posted on March 3, 2019 by Rodrigues Family

She looked at me and said, “Jill, I WISH I was living YOUR life!”  

Now, I truly take that as a compliment.   But, can I be real here? I strive VERY hard to focus on the positives in my life. To post on social media the good, the joyful, the happy. 

I even had a lady (with disdain and hate) tell me once that I smile too much and just seem to think that life is one big ball of happiness and fun!  (Not her exact words…but you get the point). 

It hurt. Yes, it hurt to the core of my soul, because I FEEL hurt. I FEEL pain. I FEEL sorrow. I FEEL trials. I FEEL stress. I FEEL weary. I FEEL persecution. I FEEL frustration . 

YET…my JOY in the Lord and His goodness to me is greater than all that!  

I have highlighted in my Bible in SO many places about how the children of Israel (in the Old Testament) complained their way through hard circumstances. I have tried to PURPOSE in my life to try NOT to be like that!  

Lest any of you think my life is perfect, let me be honest. 

 Hardship: I have suffered through 5 devastating and hard miscarriages…one I almost bled to death and had to have several units of blood transfusions. 

 Choosing Joy: I have 13 beautiful, healthy children that God allowed me to keep.

 Hardship: My husband and I had a rough marriage that took a LOT of work in our early years. It is still not perfect.

 Choosing Joy: We renewed our vows on our 20th anniversary and we continue to fall more and more in love. 

 Hardship: We travel and sing in an RV motorhome. It wears on my patience. I am a homebody and one that thrives on home life…NOT being a “sardine” for Jesus. LOL.

 Choosing Joy: I LOVE serving my Saviour full time! Any sacrifice made for Him…HE IS WORTHY OF! I LOVE ministering to God’s people and meeting new friends along the way. I LOVE the sites we get to see and enjoy. 

 Hardship: I homeschool my children and never get a “break” from the noise, busyness, chaos, and demands of motherhood. 

 Choosing Joy: I live in a FREE country where I have the HONOR and joy of being with my children, teaching them, molding them, loving them and protecting them from the counsel of the ungodly. What an honor. 

 Hardship: My husband gave up 2 nearly full-time jobs to go into full time ministry. It stretches both of our faith to the limit several times. 

 Choosing Joy: It is a JOY watching God provide and we honestly have more now than we did back then. Figure that one out!….that’s our God for you! 

 Hardship: We have “hateful” people that follow our family and say all manner of evil against us….falsely! It hurts…it’s NOT true! They don’t even KNOW us!

 Choosing Joy: It is an HONOR to suffer this small form of persecution for the name of our blessed Saviour- Jesus Christ! 

 Hardship: The world views the role “stay at home mom” as hard and this would be their description of it… “I lose my ‘identity’ by being known as diaper changer, cook, wife, cleaner, laundry washer, etc. I have LESS money and have to live frugally. ” 

 Choosing Joy: I LOVE having the HONOR of being a stay at home mom. I embrace the challenges as an honor to raise up warriors for Jesus! I don’t mind living frugally and LOVE thrift stores and Dollar Tree! LOL. I appreciate hand-me-down clothes and am not too proud to wear them.

 Hardship: I get VERY sick with my pregnancies. I have varicose veins that throb and leave my legs a little more worn and “ugly” every time I birth another baby. I get stretch marks. I get uncomfortable and lack sleep. I lose my “shape” over and over. LOL. 

 Choosing Joy: I (and my husband) look at those imperfections as “beauty” marks from bringing another life (to raise for Jesus) into this world. I realize that favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. 

You see, I have CHOSEN a smile. I have CHOSEN a giggle instead of a gripe. 

No, my life is not a bed of roses, but it is the ONE that God gave ME to live! 

How about you? What life did God give YOU to live? Are you living it well? Are you content? Or, do you look at others’ lives with envy. 

I battle with keeping my attitude always right. However, when you find yourself complaining, fall to your knees in GRATITUDE for ALL the blessings He has done for you! 

“Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings see what God has done. Count Your blessings, name them one by one…and it will surprise you what the LORD hath done!”  

We need a generation of women who rise up with JOY and embrace the God-given Biblical role God put in place for them. I believe it could bring revival to our land. 

Choose JOY in the midst of your hardship.  

Love you all and cheering EACH of you on for the GLORY of God!   Jill Rodrigues

1) If you're such a goddamn homebody, stop singing for Jesus. No one asked you to.

2) David had two "almost full time" jobs? Well damn, he clearly sacrificed a lot to pursue his RV dreams. He could have been making $0.50 above minimum wage by now!

3) Did she really just say she tries to live her life the opposite of how the bible describes people? So close to the truth...

[Absolom]

What joyful little martyr she is. 😉

[JoanArc]

Quote

I have highlighted in my Bible in SO many places about how the children of Israel (in the Old Testament) complained their way through hard circumstances. I have tried to PURPOSE in my life to try NOT to be like that!  

You whine to the internet every time you need something, and grift like hell until you get it. We haven't forgotten about the new car.