Tuesday, October 25, 2011

A Four Step Plan to Experiencing Spritiual Success!

I am always excited to share with you what God is placing on my heart and teaching me. But this week I am especially excited! God revealed to me the other morning during my alone time with Him the very truth that I have been in search of for a long time now. I have asked God and pondered many times in the past the following question: Why do some Christians experience the abundant life that the Bible talks about, having joy and peace and contentment in life, and other Christians never reach that point? I have pondered this question because I want that life and I have made the decision to not settle for anything less. This particular morning God showed me something amazing. He showed me in His Word a 4 step plan to experience spiritual success and He the reason that most Christians never experience a life full of the fruit of the Spirit and contentment.

Romans 5:3-4 says this: “Not only so,” this refers to the fact that was stated before in verse 2 that we can rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. But it goes on to say this in verse 3, “but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that...” now pay attention to this part closely. This is what I will be discussing and expanding on. “...suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Now, if you are like me, you have read this a million times and it just kind of got lost on you. It did me. But God in His goodness and grace opened my eyes to the deep importance of this verse! He has given us in this verse a simple 4 step plan to experience spiritual success! How exciting is that! Okay, stay with me and I will explain. We are going to take each step one at a time. Each step is one of the words listed in the above verse, suffering, perseverance, character and hope. My prayer is that when you are finished reading this God will have opened your eyes to see the sufferings of life in a different and new way and that you will be more aware of the importance of following God in all situations. Here we go!

Step 1) Suffering. This word in other areas of the Bible is translated as anguish, affliction, tribulation, persecution, trouble, distress. A more literal translation is a pressing, or pressure. Every one of us experiences sufferings in this lifetime. The Bible assures us that we will (John 16:33). So the question is: What do we do when we experience the pressures or sufferings of life? Do we worry and become anxious. Get scared and live for awhile in great fear. Do we exhaust every effort we have in trying to solve our own troubles, or do we turn to God and seek Him for guidance, strength and comfort. People who do not call themselves Christians and do not follow Christ may not believe that seeking God is the best thing to do. However, I would imagine that most Christians would say that seeking God is the first and best thing we should do. But is that what we do? Try to remember the last trial or suffering that you experienced. What was your first reaction? For me, it was just yesterday when I experienced conflict between me and my husband. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a normal disagreement between spouses. But my first reaction was to become defensive and get angry. Even though I did see the error of my ways fairly quickly and turned immediately to God for forgiveness then guidance and strength, that was not my first reaction. I could have saved my self and my husband some high blood pressure and stress by just turning to God first. By saying “God, show me how to handle this conflict in a manner that honors you and shows love toward my husband.” By not seeking God first and relying on Him during our trials and hard times we complete cut God out of that situation and in a way are saying to Him that we trust ourselves and our own abilities more than we trust Him and His abilities. After all, when we trusted God to save us for eternity, we also received His salvation for a life free of fear and worry here on earth. He does not want us to try to handle things on our own, even if we brought the trouble our way all on our own. It is never to late to turn to God and let Him guide us down the right path. I want to add some encouragement here. By correcting my actions when I realize that I am not turning to God, I am coming closer and closer to making turning to God be my first reaction. And, actually, often it is my first reaction. So, once we are faced with this trouble and turn to God, be it eventually or from the beginning, then we will be enter into our second step, a time of perseverance.

Step 2) Perseverance. To not give up. To keep on keepin' on! A remaining behind. I am going to camp out on this step more than the others because there is a lot involved in this step. So hang in there with me and I think you will be as blessed as I have been. If we are going to have spiritual success, meaning that we experience God here on earth, to sit in His presence and fellowship with Him now, not wait until we get to Heaven, there are a few things that we need to be aware will likely happen during the step of perseverance. Notice I said be aware of and not beware of

    We first need to be aware that we must be intentional and consistent in seeking God. If we don't make sure that we seek Him though time in the Word and prayer everyday, we will slip right back into our old habits of being lazy in our relationship with Him which will in return lead us right back into the worry and fear that we once lived in. If you have still yet to experience the release of fear and worry in your life, it may be because, like I discussed in the first step, you were not turning to God in times of trouble. If you do turn to Him during times of trouble, but you have still yet to experience a life free of worry and fear, it may then be because you have failed to ever push all the way through the time of perseverance to the end. I know, because that is what keep me from it, til now! Perseverance is hard and at times it will seem easier to just give up. But if you do, you will not receive the good that is waiting at the end. If you are realizing, as I did, that you do give up when it gets so hard to push on, don't loose heart. You've got what it takes. Continue reading because I hit on this area more in the “be awares” to come. It is because it will be hard that the intentional and consistent effort of spending time with God is so important. It is through spending time daily with God, always, but especially during the perseverance step, that God will give us the strength and courage we will need to see this thing though to the end.

  • Second, we need to be aware that during this period God will begin to show us areas in our life that need change. Alright, this is a “be aware” moment but not a beware moment! This gets hard and can be scary but trust God that He is taking you to a much better place. Change is not listed in the verse that we are studying, but I know from my personal journey and watching others grow in their relationship with God as well that anytime we seek God and are looking for His will in our lives, He will begin to show us the areas in our life that are not part of His will for us. When God reveals these things, you may be tempted to think that change will be too hard, that you can't do it or it may even be an area that you really enjoy and don't want to change it. But know that God has a plan for your life and it is good (Jeremiah 29:11). He also knows the very things that are keeping you from experiencing that good plan that He has for you. Trust Him when He shows you that there is something in your life that needs to go and let Him help you, in the words of my pastor, to give it the Holy boot!
  • Third, be aware that you got what it takes to make the change, to persevere, and to keep on keepin' on! I know that change and perseverance is easier said than done, but push forward and do so holding fast to this truth, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. ” (2 Timothy 1:7 NLT) When we accept Christ, God gives us His Holy Spirit and with it comes power, love and self-discipline. You already have within you what you need to see this thing through!
  • Fourth, be aware that you very likely will experience fear and timidity, or cowardice, but at the same time, be aware that, like the verse above says, it has not come from God. Satan wants to implant fear and timidity in you and if you allow Him to do that, you let him win. KNOW that Satan is working hard to get you to give up, to get lazy once again in your relationship with God, and to keep you from receiving what God has in store for you and leading others to Christ as well. If we have accepted Christ as our Savior then our salvation is guaranteed and Satan knows that he can not take that away from us. The only thing that he can take is our witness and testimony to that salvation. Do not let Satan win. God says to us in His Word that “no temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) Fear is a temptation that is very common to man. So when we are tempted to fear and coward away from following God into the unknown, that is what is unknown to us (very known to God) call out to God to provide you a way out and He will be faithful. All you must do is obey.
  • Fifth, be aware that if we persevere we will receive the reward in God's perfect time. The Bible says that “ If we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us” (2 Tim. 2:12) “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12) “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9) “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” (Hebrew 10:36) I could go on and on listing verse after verse of God's promises to bring us good if we just endure, continue doing good, do not give up, remain steadfast. As someone who has has finally, after many times of giving up during the perseverance step, by the grace of God began to seen these things through to the end, I can tell you that the rewards He gives is better than a bonus check of all the money in the world! Not only that but looking back now I can see that the things that God wanted me to change were the very things that were bringing me a lot of the sufferings that I was experiencing. Therefore, when we choose not to persevere and we give up, go back to the way things were because we think it will be easier, we have been deceived! Because in doing so we not only keep God from bringing us into the abundant life He has planned for us, where we find an ease in life, but we also choose to hang on to the very thing that is causing us trouble over and over again. For this reason, many Christians never get victory over anger, selfishness, additions, etc. But, OH!!!, when we do the hard thing and follow God to where He wants us to go, then we can have victory, which brings us joy!

Step 3) Character. The third step of character is actually more of a reward than a step and it is intertwined with step two because it is something that we obtain through perseverance. As a matter of fact, the same word translated as character in the NIV is translated as experience in the Kings James Version. Character received though experience. I believe that perseverance through times of sufferings is one way that God prunes us, rids us of the things that produces no good (John 15:1-8) and makes perfect the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, Galatians 5:22-23) that is within us, or makes us more fruitful. When we obtain these traits through endurance and experience they become who we are, hence the word character. It becomes our new norm. Where before we would react with anger to a situation, we now react with patience. Or before, worry, we now have peace! This will bring glory to God and people will want the love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that we have. That is when we can share with them that we received these traits through giving our life to Christ and then following Him to the life He has for us through obedience and perseverance. This is, after all, the ultimate purpose for every Christian here on earth, to bring honor, glory and praise to God and to lead others to Jesus Christ.

Step 4, Hope! Just like character, hope is also more like a reward than a step. The way that the world sees hope is as wishful thinking that one day, when all is said and done, maybe, just maybe, we will come through this thing called life with some kind of happy ending. However, that is far from the definition of the hope that the Bible speaks of here. This hope that we see in Romans 5:4 and we are told that we receive out of our new character is the ability to know that we will have that happy ending. God places hope in our hearts so that we can see that the future is good for those that love God and keep His commandments. In this hope we can also see the struggles of life for what they truly are, a temporary suffering that God will use to bring us good. Before we persevered and received character and then hope, it was hard to see through our struggles to the good that could come from them. However, God is so good that He allows us to have hope, so that, when the next struggle comes, and it will, although we may not be able to see the exact good that will come through the suffering, we can have hope! We can know that good will come, if we persevere.

God does not bring us any bad. Satan has made that his job. But God can and will take that bad and put it to good use if you will allow Him to do so (Romans 8:28). Only God can take a bad thing and use it to give us a lasting character that brings contentment and hope. And that is only the good that it brings us. Even when we begin to handle new sufferings and trials in the Romans 5 four step way, we may still have pain and troubles that are left over from something that we suffered in our past. It may have been a suffering that was forced on us by someone else or suffering brought upon us by our own sinful actions. But the same 4 steps still apply. Give that suffering and pain to God and ask Him to begin to heal you from that pain and help you to move past it. Although God is very capable of taking that away in an instant, I think the majority of the time we are called to a time of perseverance because as we have already learned, it is through that time of perseverance that we receive character and hope. Genesis 50:20 says, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” God will use our struggle, perseverance, character and hope not only to give us a full life but to most importantly lead others to Him through His Son Jesus Christ. WOW! God is great! However, many people face the troubles of this life without believing that our God can do all this with their pain. I can not imagine living without the hope that God's Word gives us and thinking that the pain I have endured is for nothing. This alone is enough reason to take courage and persevere to the end when it gets hard, so that others can witness what wonderful things our God can do. To conclude, I want to revisit the question that I presented earlier: Why do some Christians experience the abundant life that the Bible talks about, having joy and peace and contentment in life, and other Christians never reach that point? Hopefully by now the answer to that question is clear. I pray that God has made this personal for you. Not because I wish to condemn you for what you are doing wrong, but because in order to receive a life of joy, peace and contentment we have to examine what it is that is keeping us from it. This type of life is not just available to preachers and preachers wives. God has intended this life of abundance for every single Christian. I pray that from this moment on, every time we are tempted to give up and go back, that God will make me and you keenly aware of what we will be missing out on if we do and then that He would give us the strength to push onward! Don't give up, my sister or brother in Christ. Don't give Satan even a tiny sliver of pride that he was able to take from you any part of what God wants to use as a witness to His love and what He can do with a hurting heart. Recognize your suffering for what it is, temporary pain for an eternal good. Persevere, and I guarantee that it will be worth it!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Calling all Christians

What would you say is your most important job as a mother or father? Before you answer: to love or to provide, let's look at what the Bible has to say about this matter. Malachi 2:15 says “Has not [the LORD] made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.” While this verse is referring to the oneness of man and woman as husband and wife, it also makes reference to what God is seeking out of marriage, godly offspring. Every good mother and father that I know teach their children to work hard at school and make good grades so they can get a good job and be successful one day. It is important to instill hard work into our children, godly even, but God showed me that is not the #1 thing I should be focusing on in my home.

It seems to be a common thought process among mothers and fathers today that our most important responsibility to our kids is to love and provide for them or just to make sure they don't kill themselves or someone else! I say that halfway kidding but in reality that is the extent of parenting within some homes today. Obviously loving, providing and protecting them is important, but we must not neglect the very important job of teaching them the Word of God and providing them with an example of how to live a godly life so that our godly offspring may one day also produce godly offspring and so forth and so forth. Maybe your kids are grown and now have kids of their own. Maybe you feel like you fell short in this responsibility to your kids. Let me encourage you by saying it is not too late. If we still have breath, then God still means for us to be teaching the Word of God to others. Psalms 71:18 says “Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.” Just because your children are grown and have children of their own is not a reason to throw in the towel. On the contrary, I think this is a very crucial time to be continuing to pass down the the truths of God's Words to your adult children and your grandchildren. As a young mother of 3 young children myself, I can attest to this. I need the spiritual guidance of my mother and father just as much now as I am trying to raise my own godly offspring as I needed it when I was a child. However, parents, we have to take full responsibility of raising our children in the ways of the Lord. We have to be careful not hand this off to anyone else.

Sadly, parents, I especially, have been guilty of thinking that it is the church's job to teach our children the Word of God. While we should make sure that the church we attend does teach the Word of God, we can not give to the church the full responsibility of training and molding our children to reflect Christ. My pastor said the other night that we have 500 families in our children's department alone. My church is somewhat of a big church so it is easy to see that there is no way that the church can provide the time and attention to each individual child that is required to teach and guide them effectively. But you might be thinking, “We go to a small church. We have only 5 children in our entire church! Surely the church can handle those 5?” Whether you are at a big church or a small church, I want you to consider this. If you go to church every time the door is open, usually Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night, that is still only somewhere around 6 hours a week. There are still 162 more hours in a week that our children are being influenced and soaking in teachings everywhere from school or daycare to what they see on TV. I think that most people would agree that what our society teaches us about beauty, happiness and success is not what we want our children to grow up believing. True beauty is not on the outside and does not depend on the shape of our body or the color of our hair. Happiness does not come by working 60 hours a week in order to become wealthy only to find out that you have neglected your family in the processes. And success is not defined by how much money you have. We parents need to be weaving into the hearts of our children what the Bible says about beauty, happiness and success. “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” (Proverbs 31:30) In regards to happiness and success the word of God says “If they obey and serve Him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment.” (Job 36:11) We can not take this job of discipling our children lightly. You can be assured that Satan is not taking lightly what he has made his job, to lead them away from God. Let's live by the following words and teach our children to do the same, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) (emphasis mine) If we long for all of these things for our children (success, financial stability, wonderful spouses, etc...) we must teach our children to seek first God's righteousness and He will add unto them all these things in accordance to His will.

Traditions are something I really enjoy. I love the idea of doing something that my mom did, and that her mother did and so on, and then passing that down to my children. Maybe, hopefully, they will one day pass it down to their children as well. But over time, traditions change. I wanted to share some examples of this with you so I enlisted the help of my mom and dad. I asked them to think about a tradition that they did when they were little, that their moms and dads did with them, and that is still carried on today or maybe not. They both gave wonderful examples. My mom remembered that every year on Easter, mothers went to church wearing a corsage. She said that usually the husband gave the corsage to the wife, and if he was a great husband, he would make sure that the corsage matched the new Easter dress!
Mothers day was another time that women or girls got corsages. This time, however, it was normally bought by the woman of the house. Usually just a red or white single rose but, if affordable, a red or white corsage. The red rose was worn by the women or girls whose mothers were still alive and white was worn if the mother had passed on. I remember doing this as a child. I have memories of my mother pinning the red rose on my dress and explaining to me what it represented. I also remember her wearing a white rose, as her mother had passed on to be with the Lord a few years before that. We still attend at that same church today and that tradition is no longer recognized there. As a matter of fact, I had forgotten that we ever even observed that tradition until my mom reminded me of it today.

Here is another example of a tradition that my father gave. He said that when he was little, everyone ate at the dinner table together, no exceptions. He said that from as far back as he could remember until the day he left his parents house, he could not remember one time not eating dinner that way. Also, he said, you ate what was cooked. If you didn't eat what was cooked and put on your plate, you didn't eat. And adults got their food first, then the kids. I assume this was out of respect for the elders of the family. Today in our society, many families do not eat together anymore and many parents cook to cater to the kids liking rather than what would be the most nutritional or affordable meal. When we go to my grandmother's house today, the kids still eat what has been prepared, but one tradition has been turned upside down, the kids go first, then the adults.

Why do you think all these traditions have changed or have ceased to be recognized? It is because generation after generation, and slowly throughout the years, we have allowed small changes to our traditions. Maybe we only taught the parts that we liked or just what we thought applied to our generation. Maybe sometimes we were too tired to teach them correctly so we let some things slip through the cracks. Can you see where I am going with this? Throughout the years, the way that the Word of God is being taught in the home has changed. When my grandmother's mother was alive, the Bible was known as truth, nonnegotiable. Now, many people either believe only the parts that they want to believe or just things that they feel apply to our generation or they completely disregard the Bible altogether. I am not implying that the Word of God is just a “tradition.” It is the truth by which we should all live our lives. What I am saying, however, is that we have to step up and start to teach our children the whole truth of God's Word. Not just the parts that we like or agree with. Not just the parts that we think apply to our generation. We can't let being too tired keep us from taking the time to teach God's precepts to our children in everyday situations. If we do not do as Psalms 71:18 says and declare God's power and might to the next generation, just like the examples of traditions that I gave, one day, and not too long from now, there will be little to no evidence that the principles of the Bible were ever taught or practiced or ever even existed in our nation. That is where we are headed.

The teaching of God's Word has to be number one priority in a Christian home. If you feel inadequate or too tired to put this into practice, realize that that is a lie that Satan wants you to believe in an attempt to keep you from living the life God has planned for you. Hold tight to the truth of this verse where God says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9) and rely on God to be your strength and give you the ability to teach your children. If you say that you are too busy, then, sister, I must say in love that you should rearrange your priorities and place God at the top. Then kick something that is on the bottom of the priority list to the curb! If we must, we can go to sleep a few minutes earlier in order to wake up a few minutes earlier and spend time with God. I know this is easier said than done but please hear my heart on this. My intention is not to make you feel guilty. I have been on both sides of this and since I stopped making excuses and started making time with God and discipling my own children a priority, I have seen God work mightily in my family! I want you to experience the same thing in your home and for generations to come to experience that as well.

Okay,” you say, “I want to teach the whole truth of the Bible to my children but I myself don't know the Bible. How can I teach something that I don't know?” The answer is simple. You learn the Bible. As I just mentioned, I have been on both sides of this and I asked the same question. And because I was and still am determined to leave a godly legacy for my children and their children and not let “good enough” be “good enough”, I sought God as to what I should do. God revealed to me that I should learn, then I teach them what I learned. How simple is that really?! In technique it is no different than teaching them what we have learned about the rules of our favorite sport or how to make a ponytail. But the result of teaching God's Word is far more rewarding than any other teaching we can give our kids.

But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15)

Monday, October 10, 2011

Pursuing Goals God's Way

I shared with you last week that there were some things God had placed on my heart and that I felt Him calling me to focus on praying through those things for a few days. And that is exactly what I have been doing. God was calling me to Him to reveal to me a specific thing that He wanted me to do. I am so excited about it, but, at the same time I know it is going to take a lot of hard work, discipline and prayer.  He also revealed that in order to accomplish this task He has for me, I must change the way that I pursue my goals. I must pursue them God's way.

In the past, I have not been successful with the goals I have set. God has shown me why those have failed and has shown me how He wants me to pursue this goal, and I believe all goals, that He has for me. While there are many things I was doing wrong, I want to share with you three of the ones that I struggle with the most.


  1. I must wait on the Lord. Many times throughout Scripture we are told to wait on the Lord. One verse in particular reads “In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.” (Psalm 5:3) I was real good about laying my request before God. I was not too good about waiting expectantly. I must wait for God to tell me if what I want is what He wants and if so, then how to do it and when to act. I need not rush out but to be patient but to “wait expectantly” to hear from God. We can expect His response.  We just have to be patient and trust that when His time is right He will respond. But until He does, we wait on the Lord.  God does not give us the whole plan in detail from the start. He tells us in Psalm 119:105 that His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. The thing about lamps is that they only illuminate for us our next step on the path, not the complete journey or even 5 steps ahead. God wants us to take that next step when He reveals it to us trusting that He is leading us in the right direction. That is called walking in faith which is difficult at times because we don't know what lies ahead.  However, walking in faith can come much easier when we realize that the One leading us is the only One that is able to see the path from the beginning to the end. Knowing this should give us peace because from God's viewpoint, He can see which paths will lead to life and which will lead to death. God will always lead us down the path that leads to life. All we have to do is follow the next step that He reveals to us.

  1. In order to reach God's goals for me I must realize that rewards are received by sowing and reaping, and not expect instant gratification. Again, I must be patient and wait on God's timing. God desires that I work hard in doing His good work so that in His time, I will reap the reward. The good I do today may not always bring me a reward today. We are told that we should “not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9) When we do not see our goals through, the problem can be found in either one of two places: our goals or our expectations. Failure to do the first step of laying our request before God and waiting expectantly for His response can lead us to pursuing goals that are our own, not God's. This can consequently lead to us giving up before we reap the reward. And here is the reason. Jesus says in John 15:5, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (emphasis mine) If we can do nothing apart from God, then it makes sense that the goals we set apart from God would lead to failure.
    Sometimes, the problem lies in our expectations. Often times even when we are doing the will of our Father in Heaven, we are still tempted not to see things through. To start things and not finish them.  If we are tempted to do this, it likely that we are thinking we should have already seen the fruits of our labor, but no harvest has come. If a farmer sows a seed and then reaps the harvest before the proper time, before the crop is ripe, he will miss out on the best possible harvest. Only God knows when the harvest is ripe for the picking. If we follow God's Word, do not grow weary in doing good and do not give up, then at the proper time, in God's perfect timing, we will reap the full and compete reward. We can not even begin to imagine the wonderful ripe harvest God has in store for us if we remain faithful.
  2. Lastly, I must have balance. Now, I don't know for sure that this is required necessarily to reach a specific goal God has set before us. However, I do know that God is making it clear to me that I must seek balance in my life if the goal He has set before me is a long term goal. Let me explain. I have a tendency when I am excited about doing something to start and not want to stop or do anything else until I am finished. However, by doing this, I often neglect the other parts of my life. For instance, if I am not careful, I will spend the majority of my day writing a blog post I am very excited about sharing in an attempt to get in on the blog that day. Consequently, my work and/or housework gets behind. The Word of God says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) I'm sure you have heard the saying “A place for everything and everything in it's place,” Well, I have made up my own version. “A time for everything and everything in it's time.” I have to make sure that I set aside a time to do all of my responsibilities that I have as a working wife and mother. I also must try, as much as possible, to keep my tasks within the time frame I have set for it. You may not struggle with this like I do and I hope that you don't. But for me, without this balance, I end up putting too much energy and time into the one thing I am most excited about and then I am left without enough energy and time for all the other jobs I have.   I also realize that sometimes God places unexpected things or people in our daily lives.  In these cases, I must always be ready to say yes to God at any time and in any situation and not let my schedule keep me from doing the good work that He may place in my life today.  My schedule is meant to help me keep balance in my life with everyday chores and task, but it should not be so set in stone that I am too busy to love on someone that God places in my path to help or share the gospel with.

Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. “ I do not know all the plans that God has for me in the future. I also do not know all the details for the plans that He has revealed to me now. I do know, however, that all He has planned for me is good. I so long to do good, to honor God in my life. Even in the things that seem mundane. Picking up toys a million and one times a day can seem very unrewarding.  However, we are told in 1 Corinthians 10:31 that in whatever we do, we should do it to the glory of the Lord.  God also says that if I do not grow weary and give up, then in due time I will reap my harvest. Proverbs 31 describes a woman of noble character. She makes it her lives work to tend to her husband, kids and home. She works hard to seemingly no reward. But at the end of the chapter it says...”Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.” That, my friend, is reward if you ask me. However, I have made a choice to always strive to do what is good even if I never see reward this side of Heaven. My hope lies in the promises of God and that He is faithful to fulfill those promises. Payday is coming soon, sister! Keep up the good work!

Monday, October 3, 2011

I'm taking a break

I am so grateful and humbled that people would come here to read the things that I write about what God is teaching me.  I am thankful for the opportunity to share these things.  I am, however, going to take a short break for a few days.  There are some things that God has placed on my heart and I feel like He wants me to take a few days to focus on praying through them.  They are not bad things, very good things as a matter of fact.  I intend on continuing the blog. I just wanted to let people know that I have not stopped writing and I will be back.  I want to leave you with a question.  I am going to take a "poll" that will be located on the right side of the home page of this blog.  I have a reason for doing this.  I'm not sure how well it is going to work because as I have found out, some of the features on here do not work like it says it is going to. When the page loads, if the poll is not working properly, try reloading the page.  If that still doesn't work, if you would please take time to post a comment here or send an email to learningonourwayhome@yahoo.com and give me your answer to the poll. If you leave a comment on this post, it will not be anonymous.  However, voting on the poll is.  If you send an email, I will be the only one to read it.  In any case, please answer honestly.  I will start the poll by admitting that it would be hard for me to think of the one area that I need the most counsel in because there are so many areas in which I need help.  Thank you so much in advance for participating in this poll. 
I can't wait to meet with you here again very soon!

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Good Practices for Reading God's Word

I was recently presented this question, "Do you use a daily devotional and if not how do you go about reading your Bible?" She then asked me if I had any advice about that. I told her that in fact I do because the same question played over and over in my mind as well for along time. As I began to ask God about this, He showed me few things that I was doing wrong!

Devotional books and study guides are just fine, however, when I first began to read them, I used them in the wrong way. Instead of using them as tools to help me better understand the Bible, I let it replace my Bible. Since most devotional books and Bible studies have the Scripture written at the top of the page or out in the margin, out of laziness, I would not open my Bible to read the verse straight from the source. That was not wise.

The Word of God says that all Scripture is God breathed (2 Timothy 3:16) meaning that although it was written by men, we can trust that God, in His sovereignty, inspired these men to write down the words that He had for us. And since God is in control of all things, we can rest assured that what is in our Bible is there because He wanted it there and He allowed for it to be there. Therefore, the Word of God should be the truth by which everything else is compared. While God can still inspire people today to write and speak about the truth of His Word, He also tells us in Matthew 24:11 that "many false prophets will appear and deceive many people." I believe this is one reason the perfect Word of God tells us to test everything. (1 Thessalonians 5:21) While devotional books (as well as Bible Study books and blogs like this one) can be encouraging and useful to help explain the Word of God, we should only trust the Word of God for complete truth. Therefore, we should ALWAYS compare everything next to the Word of God to make sure it lines up with what His Word says. I have made it a habit to go into every book that I read or every sermon that I hear with skepticism, especially if it is the first time I have read or heard this particular author or speaker. For example, I have listened to my pastor preach the Word of God for a long time now. But, the first few times I heard him, I listened skeptically, making sure that He spoke and taught the truths of God’s Word. And he did. Because of his consistency in teaching God's truths, I have grown to trust his teachings. However, I still open my Bible to read for myself the Scripture he is speaking on that day. We should not rely on our teachers to read the verses for us. If he or she accidentally says aloud “does” when the verse actually reads “doesn't” that would completely change what that verse is saying.

When we read the Word of God everyday, we learn more and more about the truths of God. We are then better able to decipher God’s truth from Satan’s lies. I heard once that the people who are trained to identify counterfeit money do not study the different ways that money can be counterfeited. They study the real money so that when the fake ones come along they can recognize it. In the same way, we should study the real truth in God’s Word so that when the “fake thing” comes along, we will recognize it.

Psalms 119:18 says, "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." (Don't take my word for it, go look it up!) :) This is another very important part of Bible study: asking God to open our eyes. God showed me that I should always ask Him to open my eyes before I read His Word so that I can understand it. With out Him doing this for us we can not understand the "wonderful things" He has for us. God's thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are His ways our ways. (Isaiah 55:8) His thoughts and ways are on a level so far beyond what we could ever understand by ourselves. We need Him to help us understand His Word.

God, please open my eyes and show me the wonderful things you have for me in your law. Show me how to put these things into practice so that I can honor you with my life. In Jesus name! Amen

Friday, September 30, 2011

Refreshing Reminder!

Matthew 12:46-50

46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” 48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

As I read this passage the other day it gave me a fresh reminder of who I am in Christ. Jesus knew that His disciples were not perfect men. He knew their past sins and He knew their future sins. Yet, He still called them His mother and brothers because they were doing the will of His Father in Heaven. It amazes me that such a powerful and awesome God wants me, a sinner, to seek Him and His will. How He gives me an opportunity to participate in the will of the Most High God! And on top of all those wonderful and amazing things, I know from this passage that when I do the will of His Heavenly Father, Jesus calls me His sister!

As I pondered what it meant to be called a sister, I thought about how I feel toward my sisters. I love my sisters. There is nothing I wouldn't do for them. I pray for them. I hope they are well. I enjoy spending time with them. If I could I would ease their pain, take away their suffering and give them everything they need. If I as a flawed human being feel this way toward my sisters, how much more then does the perfect Son of God, Jesus Christ, feel these things toward those He calls His mothers, brothers and sisters. While I love my sisters, He is love. (1 John 4:8) While there is nothing I wouldn't do for them, there is nothing I can do apart from Him. (John 15:5) While I pray for them, He sits at the right hand of His Heavenly Father and makes intercession for me. (Romans 8:34) While I hope for them, He is our hope. (1 Tim. 1:1) While I enjoy spending time with them, He wants to spend eternity with me. (Romans 6:23 ) While I wish I could ease all pain, take away their suffering and give them everything they need, He can and will one day if they put their trust in Him! (Rev. 21:4, Matt. 6:31-33) I long to do and be these things for my sisters but I am not able in my human strengths. I need these things myself everyday! Jesus, on the other hand, is capable and willing to always do and be these things for us. Now I have a fresh reminder of what it means to be a sister. It puts joy in heart to know that I am a sister of the only person in history capable and willing to perfectly do and be all these things for me, Jesus Christ!

If you have not put your trust in Jesus Christ and therefore can not be called a sister, brother or mother of Christ, please do so now! He longs be and do all these things I've talked about for you too. You can find joy in this life through Christ! Ask Him now to forgive you from your sins and invite Him into your life! He loves you so much!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Problems with posting comments

Many people have told me that they are trying to post comments on the blog and it is not letting them.  I have done some research as to why this may be and I have found some possible solutions.  However, I will not know if it is working until someone tries to post a comment and gives me feed back about it or the comments begin to come in.  If you are trying to post comments and are not able to you can post them on my Facebook page "Learning on Our Way "Home" or send me an email at learningonourwayhome@yahoo.com.  Thank you for your patience while I try to get this fixed!

To Build, or to Tear: That is the question.

"The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down." Proverbs 14:1

Why is it that in times of anger I can cut my husband in two with some of the words I say to him!  With unkind words, I can make my child feel like he/she has greatly disappointed me when in reality, I have made the same mistake a million times. I would never speak to a complete stranger that way!  So why then do I speak that way to the ones I love! Instead, shouldn’t I ask God to help me find a way to share my feelings to my husband or to discipline and guide my children in a way that will effectively make my point and not tear down their spirits while doing it?! 

Titus 2:5 gives women the command to be kind. I have spoke to my husband and kids with unkind words more times than I would like to admit. When I did, I could see the discouragement, sadness and sometimes anger in their faces and attitudes.  What would happen if I always said only kind things to my husband and kids.  If I only spoke kind words to them all the time no matter the nature of the situation I am addressing? No matter how angry or sad I feel in that situation. I believe that if I asked God to help me respond out of love and then rely on His strength to follow through with that, I would start to see encouragement and happiness in them and in their attitudes toward others.  What a wonderful ripple effect!  What a privilege it would be to know that because I followed God’s command to be kind, my whole family’s attitude toward each other and toward others changed to honor God!  I pray that God would fill me with the fruit of the Spirit so I would be capable of always speaking to my husband and kids in a way that builds them up, not tears them down.  To start a trend of being kind in my household!.  Then, I can be like the wise woman that builds her house and not like the foolish woman that with her own two hands tears hers down.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Shhh! I need quiet time...with God!

God has shown me time after time how important it is to spend time with Him everyday in prayer and reading His Word.  He has also shown me that it should be top priority over everything else I have in my busy schedule. When we spend time with Him everyday, we become like the water bottle I talked about in my post titled “My Heart is Overflowing.”  God fills us up more and more every day with His love and Holy Spirit until we begin to spill over onto everyone that surrounds us!  But, doing what God tells us is right hardly ever comes naturally.  As a matter of fact, if we do not make a conscience effort to do what God calls us to do, we will most likely always do what is wrong.  It is the nature of our flesh to be sinful. (Galatians 5:17) If we are going to live as godly women, it will not be by accident and it is going to require discipline. 

God has shown me specifically 4 ways that I can put this discipline into practice that will benefit me spiritually and I have found that it also makes my day run smoother!  My intentions for this list is not to say that this is the only way. I am simply sharing what God has placed on my heart for me to do and I do think they are good habits to put into practice.  However, if you are not spending time praying to God and reading His Word everyday and it seems impossible for you to find time to do so, just start out giving God some time each day, regardless of when that time is. You will be so blessed. Okay…here they are:

1) Everyday Time! I must make it a point to spend time with Him everyday. To be conscience of not letting one day slip by without sitting down with Him.  Some days I may be tempted to read a verse and then pray throughout the day because I’m so busy rather than taking time to sit down with Him. We are called to pray without ceasing, so that should always be done.  But when I don’t sit down to meet with Him and give Him all of my attention I miss out on the blessing of communion with Him, sensing His presence and hearing the Word He has for me that day.

2) Alone and quiet time!  When I try to have my personal time with God and my home is filled with the noises of the kids playing or my husband watching TV , I can not fully focus on what I am reading or what God is trying to tell me.  And again, I miss out on all the blessings that I mentioned above.  I have to find time each day to be alone with God when the house is quiet!  If you are a mother, wife or just a busy woman like myself, I am sure you can agree that is not easy to do.  I have found a way however.  Read on! J

3)First thing in the morning time!  Every morning God has new mercy and compassion for us. (Lamentations 3:22-23)  It is there for us to receive every morning.  Not that it is not available the rest of the day but I personally, and maybe you too, need that mercy and compassion from the minute the day begins.  So the earlier I go get it, the better!  I have found that God uses the quiet time I spend with Him to teach me and equip me with what I need for that day!  Receiving what God has for me before I am faced with any situation that day allows me to respond in a way that honors and glorifies God!

4) Early Time!  There is Biblical basis for this.  Many of the godly men we read about in Scripture rose early to spend time with the Lord. (Psalm 63:1, Genesis 19:27, Psalm 5:3)  Jesus also rose early to pray to His Heavenly Father. (Mark 1:35)  I believe that I should follow this example given to me in Scripture and rise early to be with the Lord.  In addition to that, I have another reason for wanting to rise early and be with the Lord… I may not have any other quiet time or time by myself all day!  When I rise early before the rest of my family, as did the woman of Proverbs 31, I can pretty much count on the fact that that time will be quiet and I will be alone.

I would like to add that I have a baby that wakes up some times up to 3 to 4 times a night.  The morning after those nights I may not be able wake up at 5am and that is okay. God made my body to need rest and He gives me that rest through sleep to be ready to do the good work He has called me to do that day. (I must be careful not to be a sluggard and sleep to much though.)  Even on these days, I still make sure that I get my quiet and alone time with God as early as possible.  It may not be as long of a time as I would like, but with the time that I do have, I bring myself before God, humble and ready receive a Word from Him.

I am a very busy woman theses days, but I must make this the #1 priority.  Without this daily dose, like that water bottle I talked about before, I will be lacking in God’s Holy Spirit, which brings with it the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.)  I will not be filled to overflowing and unable to extend these things to others!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

My Testimony

It may not surprise some people who read my blog to see me writing about what God has done and is doing in my life.  On the other hand, I know that there are a lot of people that might be thinking something like “What happened to her?  This is not the Melinda that I once knew!” or “Who is she to do anything good for God?  I know her past!”  The answer to those questions is actually the subject for today‘s post.

I am absolutely not the person that I once was. Without getting into the details of my past, I will just say that for many years I was living in a pit of sin.  I tried many times to get myself out of that pit.  I knew that God was calling me out of that lifestyle of sin. But I thought to myself “I will come to God when I get myself cleaned-up.”  I read a story this week in a book called “Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother” (There is a link to this book at the bottom of the Home page of this blog under Good Reads!…FYI, it is a great book!) The story is about a father that asked his young son to lift an object that was obviously far beyond the what the boy was capable of lifting.   To paraphrase the story, after many attempts to lift the object, the son tells his father he is using all his strength but he is still not able to lift it. The father tells the son that he has not been using all his strength. "You haven’t asked me to help!”  he tells the boy. Just like this young son, I was trying with all my strength to climb out of that pit and clean myself up.  However, I couldn’t do it in my own strength.  I needed the strength of my Heavenly Father to get me out.  Once I realized this and admitted to God that I needed His help, He came to the rescue. I asked Him to forgive me and to replace my sinful desires with His righteous desires. In His wonderful grace, He has replaced those sinful desires that brought me guilt, shame and pain, with ones that bring peace, love and joy! Still to this day, God continues to show me sinful desires in my heart. When He does, He is also faithful and provides a way out so that I can stand up under it! (1 Corinthians 10:13) 

“Who is she to do anything good for God?  I know her past!”  I have listened to this lie Satan’s tells me about myself too many times! But God has shown me in His Word that the lies Satan tells me is far from the truth about who God says I am in Him.  It is true that I am no one apart from God.  I am a sinner that has been saved by grace from guilt and condemnation in this lifetime and for eternity.  When I put my trust in Jesus Christ, confessed and repented of my sins, the Word of God tells me that I was saved by God’s grace! (Ephesians 2:8)  That I am a new creation, the old has past away! (2 Corinthians 5:17) That there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus  (Romans 8:1) It also says that I will receive power in the Holy Spirit to be God's witness to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8) Out of gratitude to God for the salvation He has given me, I want to live in a way that points others to Him! (Matthew 5:16)

Praise God that “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” (Psalm 40:2) And then, not only did He do that, but I also “know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (Romans 8:28)  He has shown me time after time, that if I allow Him to do so, He will put my painful and shameful past to good use according to His purposes!  That truth never ceases to amaze me!
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If you have not placed your trust in Jesus Christ, please do so.  Confess to Him now that you are a sinner. That you need His forgiveness and strength to turn your life around and to receive the eternal life that is available to us through Jesus Christ. Please do not make the same mistake that I did and think that you can get yourself out of your pit.  It will only leave you in that pit even longer.  God, I pray that You would always, until the day that I die, reveal to me the areas in my life that do not honor You.  I pray that if someone is reading this and has not accepted Your Son Jesus Christ as their personal Savior that they would do so now.  I pray that they would find the courage to reach their hand up out of that pit and grab on to Your strong and loving hand.

I know that giving up control of our life and giving that control to God can be a scary thing. But, when we realize that God, in His sovereignty, is able to take better care of us than we are able to care for ourselves, it proves to be a very wise decision.  If you have prayed to God and accepted His Son as your Savior today, I would love to hear about it and be able to encourage you on the next steps in your walk with God.  Please either leave a comment here or feel free to email me at learningonourwayhome@yahoo.com.  To God be all the glory and praise!

Monday, September 26, 2011

What is on YOUR mind?

Thanks everyone for taking time to read my post!  I am so humbled that God has called me to do this and so thankful at the same time.  Please leave comments and let me know what is on your mind.  Or, if you are following on Facebook, I invite you to leave comments there as well.  I would like to remind you to also read the "About Me" section on the blog page. (It is also on my Facebook page "Learning On Our Way "Home" under the info tab on the right side of the page then in the General Information section.)  If ever you have any questions or comments please feel free to ask by leaving a comment or by contacting me by email, learningonourwayhome@yahoo.com.  Thank you again and I pray that we would always give God the first place in our hearts and that He would continue to give us great opportunities to be workers in the kingdom of God, that we may point others to Him!

How can I help?

As I started on my journey trying to get organized and get things done in my house and in my life, I found myself working really hard but I was still all over the place.  It still seemed no matter how hard I worked I was still left at the end of the day scrambling to get done what needed get done.  There was just not enough hours in the day!  I thought that to be organized, first I needed to make sure that everything in my house was organized.  I would work on projects that usually took all day in an effort to get my house in order.  Getting organized is a wonderful thing and I know I will get there eventually, at least somewhere close, but I realized that the answer to my problem of to much to do and not enough time was a lot easier then I thought!  My answer was actually in a question!

How can I BEST help my husband today?

I was created to be my husbands helper. (Gen. 2:18-25)  (If this sounds like a very strange concept to you, please continue reading.  I think that after you read the whole post, you may see that it is actually a very good thing!) So, what I needed to do, instead of getting sidetracked by all these projects, was to use my time THAT day for things that my husband most needed help with THAT day!  Instead of cleaning out every drawer in my house, maybe that day he needed me to work a little more to help out with finances.  Or, maybe, instead of scrubbing the floors til they shined,  he would have liked me to spend my time baking him some of his favorite banana bread.  This is when I started asking him what it is I can best help him with today.

When I did this, I started to see that it cut out a lot of my busy-ness because I was able to schedule my day according to what my family really needed done.  Before, I would be busy all day doing these projects and then in the evening, when the kids were home and my husband was home, I was running like crazy trying to get homework done, cook supper, tend to the baby, get baths, etc…and then, in the middle of that, he would either remind me of the things he had needed me to do that day or I would see him doing things that I should have already had done.  I would then scramble to fit those into my night as well. This always left me tired, cranky, frustrated and usually with a feeling of inadequacy because I was not able to do everything that my family needed me to do that day.  So, now, every morning, I make out my schedule for that day and I start out by writing at the very top, “How Can I BEST Help My Husband Today?”  Then, I make out a to-do list according to the answer to that question.

I know that sometimes I may be tempted to feel that this title of “husband’s helper” makes me somewhat less important, however, when I look to God’s Word, I see it should make me feel quite the opposite!  1 Corinthians 11:7 tell me that “…woman is the glory of man“.  I looked up the definition of glory in the dictionary at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glory and this is two of the definitions it had:

a) Great beauty and splendor
b) Height of prosperity or achievement

When I put those definitions in place of the word glory in that verse it gave me a clear picture as to what that verse is saying.

Woman is the great beauty and splendor of man.
Woman is the height of prosperity or achievement of man.

Regardless of if my husband’s attitude towards me always speaks to this truth, I am going to choose to strive to live in a way that shines light on this truth, that I am the glory of my man! 

I must admit that I don’t live up to this perfectly each day, but my efforts have not gone unnoticed.  My husband says that he see the difference.  However, I do not do this ultimately to please my husband. Although I hope that he is pleased and I love him dearly, I do this because ultimately I want to please God and live in obedience to Him.  I pray that God continues to show me ways that I can honor Him in my life.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

My Heart Is Overflowing!

…For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. (Matthew 12:34)

My daughter said to me the other day while we were eating supper “ Mommy, I love God more than Hunter (her brother)”  I replied by saying “That is actually the way we are supposed to love, Ivi” and I used my water bottle to try to explain to my 6 and 10 year old one reason I believe that loving this way works so well.  It is because of this verse above.

I began by explaining that if I need just as much water as my bottle will hold in order to survive and flourish then when it is only half full that is not even enough for me so I surely don’t have any to share with anyone else!  Even if it is filled to the rim, that is still only just enough for me.  I still don’t have any to share.  Then I told them, “If it is full and then it is continued to be filled, what is going to happen?  It will overflow, right?”  They both agreed.  “Then that is when we can share it with others right?”  They both shook their heads in agreement again.  I explained to them that when we seek God and allow Him empty our hearts of sinful things and let Him fill it to the point of overflowing with His good things, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, then and only then will we be overflowing with His love and really be able to love those around us the way that He wants us to love them.

God has taught me that when I am tempted to speak negative things to or about people it is because there is a heart issue.  In those moments, I need to check my heart, go before God, confess my sin, ask for forgiveness, repent and let Him fill me with His goodness!  God is so good!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

I have an attitude!?

I want to share about an area in my life that God has revealed to me was not honoring Him.  It was my attitude, in many areas, but more specifically, my attitude toward my husband.  For years, I would focus on what HE needed to change and what HE was doing wrong and doing the wrong way.  I would talk til I was blue in the face to my husband about things that I thought he should do differently.  And I prayed.  Man, did I pray!  AND, God answered me…just not in the way I had expected.  He showed me that I am not my husband’s Holy Spirit, that is God's job. He showed me that the real problem was my attitude about the things that my husband did.  He showed me I can not change one thing about my husband.  Not his mind, not his heart, not his ways.  However, I could change the way I viewed his mind, his heart and his ways.  I could choose to see him the way God sees him…and me!  God showed me that my husband, no different than myself, was a sinful human being in need of God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness.   That I should extend grace, mercy and forgiveness to my husband even when, and especially when, he messes up because God has done the same for me.  God also showed me that while He is working with me in a specific area of my life, He is also working just the same with my husband in his life, it just may not be in the same area at the same time.  He also showed me that His timing is always perfect and that He has promised that the good work He has started in us, he will finish (Philippians 1:6).  So, I can rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4:4) despite the fact that everything is not always perfect in my marriage and know that every change God is making in my life and my husbands is right on time according to God’s perfect will.

Friday, September 23, 2011

"Introduction"

(I do not plan for all my post to be this long.  But to introduce my blog and the purposes behind it, I found it necessary for this one to be a little longer.)

For the past few months, I have been in a transitional state.  Let me explain...


I have 3 kids.  My newest, Jackson, will be 10 months at the end of this month.  Since I had him in November, I have felt like my brain is frazzled and I haven't been able to get anything done!  Now, it wasn't the new baby's fault.  He is actually a very good and easy going baby.  My mom told me that the 3rd child made things harder.  And boy was she right!  I had just not done anything to prepare for this and at the time was not aware that I needed to prepare.  Besides, I already had 2 children.  I had this parenting/mothering thing down, right?  HA!  Not the case, as I so quickly realized.  My house was a mess, me and my kids were a mess (Literally, finding time to bathe them AND myself was a challenge) and I had forgotten to put time spent with God and my husband at the top of my priorities.  I felt like I was always running but accomplishing nothing.  I got to the point that something had to give. My life was spinning out of control.  I was not managing my home (1Ti 5:14) the way that God intends for me to and because of that, I was lost! I had to make a change and I looked to God and His Word as to how to make that change.  He has shown me and taught me so much since I determined to live my life in a way that honors and glorifies God.  He is so faithful and good!

I shared this new found treasure with a few lady friends of mine and they found it as true and useful as I did.  I feel like God is leading me to share with even more women what He has in His Word for us ladies!

The idea of blogging has never crossed my mind until now.  I prayed for God's direction in this and believe that He is calling me to do this.

I have 3 main goals in my heart for this blog that I believe was placed there by God.
1) To spread the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible.
2) To share with women what God has shown me about who we are in Him, not who the world says we are.
3) To share practical ways that we as women can organize, arrange and live our lives in a way that honors and glorifies God so as to make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.(Titus 2:10)

I will not pretend to have it all together or pretend that I know everything there is to know.  On the contrary, I still have much to learn and long to absorb everything the Word of God has for me.  I am not perfect, only one man that walked this Earth was perfect, and that is Jesus Christ. If we look to anyone else for perfection, we will be disappointed.  I have asked a lady, who is a Christian and who I trust will do a good job, to proof read everything I write before I post it in an attempt to weed out grammatical mistakes but more importantly to make sure that what I write lines up with the Word of God, HOWEVER, make no mistake about this, I am not doing this in my own knowledge and strength.  I write in complete humility and dependency on God to teach me daily and show me what it is He wants me to share.  Without Him, I can do nothing! Please join me and let's seek God's plan for our lives as women of God. Let's commit to "Learn on Our Way "Home" (to Heaven that is!) every new day that God gives us  breath!