This May Be Surprising To You...

So, I am about to share something that may be surprising to a lot of you! 

I first want to say that I love the Lord with every ounce of my being. I spend time with Him every.single.day! My hubby leads our family spiritually in every way possible. Every evening he leads a devotional with our children, he teaches Sunday School for fourth graders and is the leader for 3-5th grade boys at Awana. I am a youth group leader and the leader for K-2nd graders at Awana. We are very involved with our local orphans, spreading awareness, and doing what we can to take them in.

We DO NOT feel that we deserve any praise, we are simply where God has called us to be - something we all should be doing, right?! We will always take prayers and continue spreading awareness.

With that being said, we are sinners! We are in church three plus times each week and we sin every day. I spend time with God every day and I still need to ask for forgiveness before my time with Him. I know that I'm going to sin - I can't stop it from happening! I can change what I can with God's help, but I can never stop sinning. 

This big debate over gays is hard for me (this is not a blog about gays, but rather our hearts as Christians)! You see, I have an aunt (whom is the best aunt in the history of aunts) and she is gay. She has loved me selflessly, my husband and now my kids. She is humble and funny!

So many people are afraid to talk about it and I don't understand why. I don't believe "Christians" act the way they are supposed to when it comes to gays - at all! We are called to LOVE! In the New Testament, Jesus said to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul. Next is to love your neighbor as you love yourself. There is no greater commandment than these. (Mark 12:30-31) 

You see, Jesus does not put exemptions on these commandments - there are no "ifs". I do not agree with the gay lifestyle, I do believe it goes against all of what the Bible teaches. However, I also know that lying, pride, lust, jealousy, love of things, selfishness, women leaders in the church also go against what Jesus teaches.

I am not saying it is right to sin in any of these areas, gay, pride, jealousy, etc. It is not and we should not be content in any sin! I do believe that marriage is meant to be between a man and a woman! But, just because I believe these things to be wrong and am convicted many times when I forget, does not mean I have to judge and bring wrath down onto others who choose to sin. 

God speaks of love so much in the Bible and that is what we sometimes forget. We are so caught up on what this world has in the spotlight that we forget what God put in the spotlight - love! We don't have to agree with people to show love to them. We don't have to make people exactly like us! We just need to love, stand firm in our faith in God and let Him do the rest! He will change hearts if He wants, He will judge each of us when our time comes! Don't give satan any hold on you! 

I have prayed for you! As you read this, I have prayed that God softens your heart to loving our neighbors! Love is selfless! Love is NOT arrogant or rude! Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in truth. Love believes all things, bears all things, and endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13)

Matthew 5:14-16 (this is actually my homeschool group's verse) says we are "the light of the world" and that we are to "let our light shine so others may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in Heaven".

I just ask that we start a revolution of love! A revolution that shouldn't have to be mentioned, but surely it does! Let's unite to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Love our fellow sinners, the gays, the selfish people, the murderers, the liars, the thieves, those whom are jealous! Let's invite them to fellowship in the house of God! Let us not judge - it is clearly not our job.

In John 8, Jesus is with an adulterous woman and He said, "let any of you who is without sin be the first to throw the stone".  In Luke 6, Jesus says, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?". We do not have to agree, but we are called to love!

Love People!!!!

What will you choose to see?

What do you see when you see this face? 

I see a sweet, blonde hair, gorgeous blue eyed boy! I see a boy who had a rough start to life and needs a helmet to get things set right. I see a boy whose family obviously loves camo and Da Bears! Haha 

What we don't see when we look at these pics is this:

The yucky yellow parts around the helmet where the foam is separating from the plastic because the glue is getting old (or the basketball team running around like crazy in the background and the floor that needs swept) -

What we don't see is the piece of foam that has been clawed at because he gets so sweaty and so itchy inside (or that I don't have any makeup on, hair pulled back, and the dishes in the sink) -

 

What we don't see is the string and fuzzies stuck to his velcro or the smell! Wow! The smell sometimes, haha. And, I wash that thing every single day! 

Facebook can be one of those places where we see a lot of good things, a lot of proud moments! I used to think that I was bragging or being prideful when I said how awesome my child did, so I refrained a lot. I don't want to make other women doubt themselves (because I would feel this way at times). However, I think it is also really good that we choose to see the good, awesome moments!

It is SOOOOO hard for me to listen to negative talk. Anyone close to me knows that this is not fun for me. I see the silver lining in the worst of circumstances...it is sometimes a fault.

It is a good thing that we choose to post the awesome moments in our life, but we as the viewers have to remember that there are other things that we can't see. Everyone has fuzzies stuck to their velcro, we just can't see them. Those posting pics, I pray, are doing so as a way to encourage and share proud moments with their friends that love, support and are truly happy alongside them (I mean, that is why we are friends right?!). And, we must know that outside of these happy moments, they are regular, normal sinners just like the rest of us. Hahaha. For real though!

I have let satan get in my head with Facebook more than once, God tells us to protect our hearts in Proverbs 4:23 - "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life". I realized it had nothing to do with the person posting their achievements, but from my discontent heart. I would become dissatisfied with my friendships, my parenting, my home. I would think I needed to look like my friends. I would get so hard on myself thinking I wasn't doing a good enough job. I wasn't seeing their fuzzies, only mine.

Please don't think that our friends are all perfect. Whether it is canning season, gardening season, the mom who gets down on the floor and plays with her child all day, the one who has dinner on the table every night when her hubby gets home with candles lit and food garnished with fresh picked herbs or the one who has a very successful career. Whether it is the husband who spends every evening with his family leading devotionals or the man who surprised his wife with a surprise getaway.

We ALL have our fuzzies and our glue might be separating. Be content and love what God has given you with a joyful heart. You may not do anything I just mentioned, but that DOES NOT MEAN IT'S WRONG!!!  I read a post before that said, "A Christian Home Can Look A Thousand Different Ways!" So true!!! Rejoice when our friends are rejoicing and weep when they are weeping ~Romans 12:15. Remember that a picture is just a snapshot of a couple seconds in a person's life.

Here is to looking at our family and friend's lives and loving them!!! Here is to having pure joy! I choose to see the blonde hair, blue eyed boy who is being raised to love the Bears, camo, and currently a pacifier! How 'bout you? What will you choose to see?

31 Days of Zero Spending

Today was our first day of zero spending. I actually wanted to run into the store as I needed tissue paper for a gift, but resorted to using wrapping paper from my basement. So it begins...

I stumbled across this blog about spending zero! At first, I read it and ignored it thinking it was not feasible. I kept thinking about it! I then shared it with my husband! Of course it went just as I expected - he loved the idea! I seriously think he would've got up and started dancing if it wasn't presented to him as a guest was making his way to our door.

So, we are going through the month of January with zero spending. Just to clarify, this is zero spending outside of necessities. If you are interested in doing this now or another month, I'll go over our necessities and what made the cut!

Exceptions:

• Tithing
• Bills
• Milk, bread, eggs
• Diapers
• Gas
• Christian concert and home party already planned
• Animal food
• Toiletries

We will not be buying any additional food until we use up everything possible in our pantry. We have a lot of food (and I'm sure most of us do) that we don't use. We either don't feel like it or get bored with it. Either way, we will be using up everything in our pantry. As far as meats go, we have enough for a year as we get whole hogs and beef from our farmer friends. If you don't have a stock, I would suggest going shopping or put food into your exceptions.

We will not be eating out or going shopping. We will not be getting paper towels when we run out or syrup and ketchup when it is gone. I will not be buying a Starbucks after I drop my boy off to see his birth mom every other week or that creamer I love :( 

Our goal this month is to reflect on how little we truly need and how blessed we really are. We hope to save more than we normally do and clean out our pantry. Our kiddos are excited and so are we. We are not doing this because we secretly have spending issues or because we got our credit card statement. Haha. In fact, we don't use credit cards and are very good at saving. We simply want to live simply :)

If you want to take this challenge, then I would encourage you to sit down with your spouse and figure out your necessities. If you already have something planned (like birthdays, etc), then do as you see fit. We just set a budget for said events.

I am really excited to get this going and hope we stay strong throughout. I know I will need to get creative with meals to completely use what we have, but it will be good :)  So, here goes 31 Days of Zero Spending. 1 down, 30 to go :)

Joy

I am a very optimistic person (sometimes to a fault)! Yes, someone you probably want to punch on occasion :) You would be surprised by the amount of people who think of it as a rude way to feel and actually tell me, "I don't want to hear that it will be okay." So in those times, I just sit and pray. It is hard for me to put it aside. Don't get me wrong, I am sad and weep for them and their family, but I fully trust that God knows exactly what needs to be done. Moments of sorrow and pain make my heart ache. It is hard regardless of our faith and joy in the Lord!

How do we get this joy? When we have faith in God! I find happiness in my family, spending time alone with my husband, laughing with my children, being goofy with friends. I find happiness in cheesecake and the smell of a farmhouse basement. God gave us these things for our enjoyment, yes, but true joy is absent when we don't have a relationship with him. "The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing." ~Proverbs 10:28

Our faith in Him is our salvation with Him! "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,  for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." `~1Peter 1:8-9

I find great joy in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When a "bad" thing is happening, I can see good! I know that our "bad" things are not intended to bring us harm or hurt us in any way, but to teach us something. Our trials teach others around us about God's glory and point them to Him. God sees the good in our trials and so should we. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." ~James 1:2-3

No one can take away our joy! It is from God and Him alone! I see so many amazing people going through cancer, adopting children, caring for the elderly, sick parents and friends, have a slew of children, whom all have joy! This is not something they can do alone. This joy is from God! It is indescribably beautiful to witness! I am not saying we should not be sad or grieve. Jesus wept and so should we. In our moments of sorrow cling to Jesus and He WILL give us rest! (Matthew 11:28)

My prayer for you is that you see this goodness from God! You see the JOY in the difficult times, in the moments when a friend hurts you, when your children are screaming, when a friend is struggling. When we see with this perspective, we will see His good, we will see God's hand at work, we will forgive, and we will shine His joy for all to see.

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." ~Hebrews 12:2

How I Intentionally Pray For My Husband

Prayer is one of the single most important things in a marriage. When you pray for your spouse, you are inviting God to join your marriage. If you don't pray for your spouse, I urge you to start NOW! This is vital! If you are not praying for your husband's heart, character, relationships, who is? The relief is knowing that it is not our job to change our spouse (only God can do that), but we are called to pray for him on a daily basis.

I spend time every single day praying for my children, their spouses, and their present and future. I pray for their husbands and wives as they are living their lives as we speak and God is preparing them for my children. I love journalling my prayers, sermons, studies, etc. I want to be a prayer warrior for my family and all of you! I love seeing how God works through our prayers by changing others hearts and myself.

One thing that God laid on my heart this past year was to pray for my husband with intentionality and purpose. God laid a different form of prayer on my heart this year. You see, Dan gets up to go to work at 5:15 and I like to sleep a bit longer, so our mornings haven't been spent praying for each other's day. We would pray in the evening, but there is just something about starting your day off with your spouse's heart open before God and praying for you!












We started a prayer journal! Everyday we write a prayer for each other. Dan starts off every morning, then I read his prayer for me and I write one for him. This journal is just between him and me, nothing else makes its way into it. Of course, his work, being the light to his coworkers, etc enter because that is how his day is spent. For me, the kids, homeschooling, etc makes its way in because this is what my day consists of. There are no notes from sermons, friends, or Bible Studies - simply a journal between husband and wife.

The cool thing to see this past year is how our prayers have began to visibly change. We went from thanking God for each other (which we still do write, because we are) to thanking God for calling each other to Him so we can spend eternity together.

Not only is this something we will always have that shows our CONTINUAL thanksgiving and love for each other, but a HUGE testimony to our children. These prayers aren't made up or assumed, they are tangibly there, written in our handwriting, to the one person that God has gifted us to love more than anyone else on this earth.

I urge you to consider starting a prayer journal for you and your spouse. If your spouse is an unbeliever, then journal all the more. Satan will make you feel like you should give up, but fight harder. If you are not married, then start one anyways. God already sees you with that person and what a gift to give them on your wedding day. My husband and I have always had a strong marriage. We really are best friends and I know, without a doubt, he would claim this victory in Christ as well. Invite God into your marriage!

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ~Ephesian 5:31