In today’s society the outside appearance is idolized! If you don’t believe me, hashtag fashion (220,000,00+) or hair (110,000,000+) or even makeup (72,000,000+)!
I’m not saying it’s wrong to use those hashtags, I might have used them myself at one time, but what I am saying is, don’t get consumed with the outer appearance!
Charm can be deceiving, and beauty fades away, but a woman who honors the Lord deserves to be praised. Prov. 31:30
Guilty as charged! I noticed this week feeling irritable, but ignoring it like everything was okay. To be honest, I tried filling that grumpiness with Iced Caramel Macchiatos and large chocolate bars! Yes, I’ve had cravings out of this world and no, I’m NOT pregnant!
You see the problem with ignoring red flags is, eventually you will run off a cliff! The Holy Spirit has a subtle way of saying, “hey you aren’t acting nice, maybe you should take a break and spend sometime with me?” If we don’t listen, our family or friends could step in and they aren’t as gracious as God.
I like how Courtney Joseph explains it in Women Living Well…Remember how the crowds pressed in on Jesus everywhere He went? Everywhere He turned, there was a need unmet, and though there was so much to do . . . He withdrew to rest. Luke 5:16 says, “But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” If Jesus needed alone time with God, then certainly we do. Just think of the wisdom He wants to impart to you, the strength and the peace you may be missing out on. Give yourself permission not to have your to-do list all checked off in order for you to rest and get alone with God.
We must make it a priority to rest and spend some alone time with God or there will be ugly consequences.
My heart smiles as I watch them run and play. In these moments I feel alive and peace rains down! No screaming, no attitudes, no tattle telling, just giggles and hair blowing in the wind. I store this picture in my heart, then when chaos erupts, I close my eyes and visualize our happy place.
The funny thing about this “happy place” is, the lack of growth. We rarely grow in times of peace, but rather in times of struggles. Friend, don’t rush to always be at your “happy place”, learn to grow and thrive in the chaos. Accept the chiseling, the chipping away of bad, that God is performing on your life and make a choice to persevere. It took over 15 years for Leonardo da Vinci to paint the Mona Lisa and he wasn’t even working with her heart or soul. We are God’s masterpiece, a continually work in progress, and the fire is what releases the impurities of our heart. When you feel the heat today, take a moment to exhale and know He’s creating His Mona Lisa or Sally Sue or Maria Gonzales (you get the point) in you.
A youth leader once told me, many years ago, “tell me what your room looks like and I can tell you how your spiritual life is.” You have to know she was talking to a group of high school students, we all know high school students aren’t the cleanest bunch, but I personally think this can be true for adults too.
We have an abundance of “stuff” in our house, to the point it’s hard for us to focus and to manage our daily activities efficiently. I would love to purge our entire house in a day’s time, but that’s not possible. So, today we started with the school, gathering bags, and bags of trash (three little girls equals lots of random art work, did I say LOTS). We also, bagged items to give away. I dusted the fan, blinds, desks and the air vent. Taking this time to invest in our house and get things in order, brings clarity and productivity back into our home. The room looks amazing and my spirit is beaming inside.
Don’t allow that overwhelming feeling, like where do I even start, come over you as you look around your house. Take one room at a time, a day or even a week at a time.
The same goes for your spiritual walk. We allow “distractions” to sit on the shelves of our heart and negative thoughts to take over our minds, like dust and cobwebs, making everything filthy. It’s time to clean house, spiritually. We must spend time with God, purging the “stuff” of worthlessness out of our heart and mind. You know what I’m talking about…anything that speaks against God’s word…
I can’t forgive…THROW IT OUT!
I’m not good enough…THROW IT OUT!
My marriage will never change…THROW IT OUT!
I’ll never find a job…THROW IT OUT!
What are you waiting for, it’s time to clean house literally and spiritually.
“I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.”
~Phil. 4:13
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
~Romans 8:37
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;”
~1 Corn. 6:19
You’re halfway through the month, which means you’ve been working out for two weeks. This is around the time you want to see microwave results. You know, the kind of results that are instant. As much as I would like my gym to go back to normal, I also want to see you succeed! Fitness doesn’t happen over night or even in two weeks. Now is not the time to start slacking.
Prove others wrong, keep going, make this fitness thing more than a new year’s resolution…make it a lasting commitment to a better you.
Your body is a temple, honor God by taking care of it.
This man in the picture below, has been a friend of the family for a very long time. Three years a go he and his family obeyed God’s call to start a church and be missionaries to PR.
Our kids were ecstatic when they heard we were having a “missionary” over for dinner tonight. When I was thinking…what will I cook, I need to clean the house, what if the dinner taste terrible….thankfully, those thoughts settled as quickly as they rushed in!
Hosting is not about a special dinner or decorations or even a perfectly clean house, it’s about the fellowship! I can read stories to my child about missionaries, but to hear the stories first hand is powerful and life changing.
In this picture they are blocking the door, they are protesting Arnel leaving. Every now and then they will do this when certain family members or friends try to leave. It touches my heart every time I see them do it!
~My prayer is that the “me” never allows negative thinking to hinder fellowship. God help us to keep our doors open, may all that enter feel your love and comfort and leave refreshed. Amen
Patience is not about waiting, but your attitude while you wait.
Is your marriage struggling? Do YOU feel like you are the only one putting any effort into the relationship?
Friend, don’t grow weary…seek God and He will give you the strength to push through, because it is His will for your marriage to succeed. But he doesn’t desire for you to just wait with a spirit of hastiness and irritation. He wants you to wait with love, peace, faith, and patience (with a good attitude).
You won’t be able to do this alone. Your attempts will only lead to frustration. Call on God and allow him to fill you with new hope and love everyday.
Honor your father and your mother…it’s the fifth commandment and we hold it high in our house. It’s a commandment we remind our children of weekly, maybe even daily. However, remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy…is one we often forget or choose to ignore.
We need breaks from the chaos, to do lists, appointments, and events. God doesn’t ask, but commands us to REST.
If we expect our children to keep the fifth commandment, even more does our Heavenly Father expect us to keep the fourth one.
Will you honor God’s word? Fight the urge and REST…God commands it because he knows we need it.
Our little ones are growing quicker than we care to realize. Monday through Friday, I teach them about the three R’s, writing, reading, and arithmetic, but I know that is not the purpose of life.
I regretfully admit I have not conquered looking past my own chaos daily, to see others that are suffering. However, God has begun to clear my vision. In Mark it says, Jesus took a blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
At times this is how I view others, as walking trees and not as peers struggling with soul-searching battles. I have allowed the busyness of life to fill my surrounds with pollution, so much that others become like mummies just roaming around me. Instead of viewing them as a life with importance, my actions demonstrate as though they are already dead. My desire is for God to remove the toxic “my-life”, so that I will be an effective tool for God to use and example to my children.
I don’t want to just tell my kids what is right…I want to live it before them. I don’t want to just tell our children how to love…I want to demonstrate it.
God clear my vision I pray. Eliminate all distractions; open my eyes to the big picture, your picture. Help me to see past my own mess, remove self, so I can be full of grace, mercy, encouragement, and most of all LOVE. In Jesus Name, Amen.
“She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” Proverb 31:25
I love my new shirt from “She Is Clothing“…I wore it today to our second ladies small group meeting (From The Committed Heart). I shared, in today’s group, what it means to be committed to your spouse. Our culture relates submission and self-control as a weakness, but it is actually the opposite. Let me ask you, “does it take more strength for a woman to give a piece of her mind to her husband” or “does it take more strength for a woman to remain silent?”
No good can come out of a woman screaming and yelling at her husband when she doesn’t agree about something. Instead, I encourage you to pray, ask God to give you self-control and strength. Then allow God to take care of your spouse, but at least you kept your dignity, while honoring your husband and God.
From The Committed Heart 