Our prayers are an influence in our home...

No one can intercede for the man of God, pray for his protection from the "destroyer" or set the mood by prayer like we can. This is spiritual warfare, and the battle is on for our husbands, our home, our families...
"Happy the man, called to go forward in any pathway of faith, who has in his life-companion ony sympathy and help....frail in health and only twenty-eight years in age, Mrs. Taylor's... hands were full with the care of four young children, yet from the moment she learned of her husband's call to the great, the seemingly impossible task of evangelization of inland China she became in a new way his comfort and inspiration. Her hand wrote for him, her faith strengthened his own, her prayers undergirded the whole work and her practical experience and loving heart made her the Mother of the mission..." -Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret
"Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses." (Neh. 4:14)
Our families have souls, let's fight for them in prevailing prayer today!

The first priority....just one thing!

  We all have priorities rather we acknowledge it or not.  In our heads we have to decide what we're going to do first in our day, where our time and money will go first, who will get our attention first....and that list could go on and on! 
  In Matthew 6 the Lord is preaching and He talks about those things that want our attention first.  I guess we could also say that they are what our "old man" or our flesh desires to put first, so He gives us a warning and a command.

  He talks about "treasures" and tell us not to become consumed with the earthly treasures that want our attention and love first.  That word "treasures" He used is talking about a storehouse or a place that we keep the things that matter most to us.  It is talking about the literal treasures we might lay up or the treasures that we store up in our heart and soul.   We are told that wherever our treasures are we will find our heart.  Things consume our time and our attention.  As a wife and mother we should always remember that our things are to be there to serve us and not the other way around!  A good way to test where your treasure is would be to pay attention to what uses up your time and your money.  If we really want something bad enough we'll find the time and the money for it.  It's good to review on a regular basis and see if something is consuming us! 
   Another good checkpoint that I use is to ask myself if I am neglecting any God-given duties. If I am then I know that I have something in my life I am "treasuring" more than Him.  If I can't find time to spend time with the Lord then I have another god in my life that is consuming the time that should be His.  It's time to see what "other love" has kept me from the Lord. If I can't seem to find time to care for the needs of my husband and children then I need to see what is more important to me than those I'm given to care for by the word of God.  Why can't I find time to cook their meals, wash their clothes, teach and train them like I should?  If I don't have any time for that I need to be removing another earthly treasure from my life. 
  I read a  and I find in books  and articles on taking care of yourself physically they always are death on the excuse "I can't find time."  They give statistics on how much time is spent in front of the tv or the computer and they explain that you do have the time, you're just not using it for the right thing!
  It is true that if we truly love something we don't find time we make time!
   In verses 22 and 23 the Lord talks about the single eye versus the evil eye.  The best definition I ever read for the word single was "to look away from all else".  That is the way to get your priorities in order.  We have to look away from all else but the Lord Jesus Christ.
(Hebrews 12:2)  As much as I desire to keep first things first it won't happen without the indwelling Holy Spirit.  He's the One that gave me the desire in the first place and He's the One that enables me to keep my priorities in an order that glorifies and magnifies Him.  "For  it is God  which worketh in you both  to will and to do  of his good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13)
  There are so many things that are wanting my attention and begging me to look at them instead of what the Word of God (Christ) says.  If for even a short time I turn my head and begin to give them my attention things will fall apart in the spiritual world for me. 
  The evil eye is defined as "being full of labours, annoyances, hardships, being harrassed by annoyances and hardships, perils to my Christian faith and stedfastness."  That is exactly the opposite of the single eye where we are steadfastly looking to Christ for the truth and the ability to live the truth.  It goes right along with the different hearts the Lord talks about and what is used by Satan to destroy them.  It is so important to keep what He says as most important and to not listen to all the questions and doubt that our flesh and Satan hurls at us. 
  You know the questions, "What about....?" and "What if....?"   Sometimes he uses people we don't know and sometimes he uses very real people that we love to make us question what we know the word of God teaches us. 
    If you want a real good thumping just listen to the media.  All the Lord teaches us is questioned, critiqued and mocked.  After you've spent any amount of time watching tv, reading the news, reading their books and their self-help material you can really question the Lord and lose your stedfast faith!
  He ends the discussion of the single eye and the evil eye with the warning that we cannot have two masters.  One will always have our loyalty over the other.  If He is not our Master and doesn't have our loyalty then "mammon" has our love and loyalty.  And we're told in I John 2:15-17 that if we're friends with the world we're not friends with Him and His love is not in us.
  The last point the Lord makes before telling us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness is telling us not to make food, drink and clothing a matter of focus in our lives.  He tells us that He can take care of all that and when we focus on fretting over where it is going to come from then we're not making Him first in our lives. 
  He says the Gentiles seek these things and as His children we're not to do that.  The word seek there means to "crave, demand, clamor for, seek diligently for, enquire for".  Sounds like it was important, doesn't it?
   Then we have the verse that our first priority is in.  Matthew 6:33, "But  seek ye first the kingdom  of God , and his  righteousness ; and all these things  shall be added unto you ."
 This verse promises us that if we keep first things first then He'll take care of all that the flesh, the world and Satan would have us fret about. 
  I can be the queen of fretters.  Worry seems to be second nature to me.  But the Lord has faithfully taught me in the last few years that if I'll keep my walk and fellowship where it ought to be with Him I won't have to even fret about fretting!  Walking with Him makes the life He offers to live in me, through me and for me so simple.
  It's hard to believe it's as simple as having a daily time with the Lord to keep your priorities where they ought to be, but it works.  I'm not talking about just grabbing your Bible, your Bible reading chart and your prayer journal and rushing through it so the conscience is soothed.  I've done that many a time! 
   I'm talking about recognizing that you're in His presence and talking to Him like you would the best friend you have on earth.  Reading the Bible and asking Him to impress on you what you need today.  The word seek in Matthew 6:33 has a different meaning then the one in verse 32.  It means "to seek for, to seek (in order to find out) by thinking, meditating, and reasoning; to strive after, to inquire into". 
  I've not found one thing that I had a question about that when I turned to the Lord and seriously asked Him about that He didn't give me the answer and I never questioned it again.  That was true of my role as a woman, my place and purpose in life, my full surrender, my dress, my lifestyle as a Christian and I could name more that I've brought to Him.  The will has to be yielded though, you have to say, "Thy will be done." and then do it when He answers. It's always brought me joy--not a feeling of being deprived. 
   During my "wilderness years" when I struggled with depression I read my Bible but my prayer life suffered terribly.  Over and over I asked Him to please show me the path out of my darkness and confusion.  (This is a story in itself that I won't try to tell here.)  It wasn't like a single lightbulb moment but the only verse He ever gave me that I knew was concerning my illness was "He sent his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." (Psalms 107:20) 
  I began to realize that when my husband took his pastorate that I went from being a Mary who set faithfully at the feet of the Lord each day soaking in all He had for me into being a Martha--busy serving tables and meeting the needs of others but neglecting my sweet fellowship that I'd once had because I was just too busy!
  Did I read my Bible and pray?  Yes, but it wasn't what I'd had with Him before and as I gave and gave and never took from Him as I should all the joy was drained from me.
  I know now that I had to go back to where I left my first love (and we don't lose it we leave it) and once again sit with Him and find sweet fellowship in our relationship.  I now have on the first page of my prayer journal "But  one thing is  needful: and Mary hath chosen that good  part, which shall not be taken away  from  her."   (Luke 10:42)  I have it there to remind myself that if I'll keep that one thing  -the first thing in its proper place then I'll be just fine no matter what comes my way. 
  What about you?  Does the word "overwhelmed" fit your life?  Does there seem to be so many tasks and responsibilities that you don't know where to start?  Are you questioning that maybe, just maybe you need to adapt to today's culture and fit in and then possibly things will go better?  Does it seem that more money would solve your problems?  Maybe you're tempted to think that life would be better if you could get out of your marriage?  Maybe you should give the children away to someone else to teach and train you're so overwhelmed with the task?  Are you feeling weary of not looking the way the world dictates you should look?  Are you embarassed of being different in what you have, where you go, what you wear?  Are you to the point you'd rather fit in with the world than be classified with the Christians of today?   Are you envious of what "they" have that you seem to be doing without?
  When I was in my early Mary years I was totally unaware that I didn't fit in I was so full of joy in my relationship with the Lord.  People would often comment on the sweet spirit in our home or the peace and there were four little bodies running around the house and we were living on an income that didn't begin to pay our bills! 
  Now He has me there again.  And it all came from keeping that first priority in order, from making that one thing have its proper place in my life.  If you're overwhelmed I beg of you to make the time in your day to sit at His feet and commune with Him in the Word of God and prayer.  Don't fret about rather you're doing it all right--just do it.  Find a closet (like I had to do during my children's naptime when they were all toddler) or a place on your porch or even the kitchen table but find a time and a place and get that first priority in its place.  The Lord will work the miracle in the rest of your life for you then!

 
  
 

  

What Is Your Occupation?

  As a young mother I had my times when I had to sit before a receptionist at the hospital with a sick baby on my lap and answer questions before they treated him.  In the early years I remember them saying, "Do you work?" 
  "Well, yes at least 16 hours per day and sometimes more--like tonight." 
   I would get two responses usually, the head would go down with a slight smile of amusement or the cold glare of "come one now, let's answer this the way you should" and then it would be rephrased, "I mean, do you have a job?"

  "Yes, I'm a full time homemaker."
   That was carefully worded so they couldn't say, "Then you don't work."  That point had been established in the first question.
   Now the question is, "Do you work outside the home?"  Much better put.  But they still don't use the answer that I wish they would use--"What is your occupation?"

  That would be in interesting question to use if for one day people had to be completely honest.  It really got me to asking myself that question.  I would answer "I'm a keeper at home, or I'm a homemaker." but then I have to think about if I'm am truly occupying myself during the working day as a homemaker or keeper at home.
   I first looked up the words "occupation" and "vocation" in the word of God and found their definitions.  I also looked up the word where Paul told us to "occupy till he came".  I think the context there is "keep on doing what you're supposed to be doing faithfully till the Lord returns." 
   In Genesis 46 and 47 the occupation of Joseph's family was being discussed. Joseph had instructions for them on how to answer Pharoah in what their "occupation" was.  That word meant:
1. deed, work

    a) deed, thing done, act

    b) work, labour

    c) business, pursuit

    d) undertaking, enterprise

    e) achievement

    f) deeds, works (of deliverance and judgment)

    g) work, thing made

    h) work (of God)

   i) product

  You can see there that this was a work, business that had something made out of it or a product. It was a deed with a purpose. 

   When Jonah was asked what his occupation was the definition was slightly different.  His was a question involving more of a product itself or who had commissioned the work to him.  They were more interested with why he was one their boat and what he was headed to do that might be bringing on them what they were experiencing the terrors they were going through.

  

1) occupation, work, business

   a) occupation, business

   b ) property

   c) work (something done or made)

   d) workmanship

   e) service, use

   f) public business

   1) political

   2) religious

  Aquilla and Priscilla were involved in a certain trade.  When Paul lived with them he was able to earn some money because they were of the same trade or occupation.  That was the trade of the tentmaker.  That word occupation simply means "of the plastic art, or trade".  (Acts 18:3)

   Later, in Acts 19:25 men are having losses to their occupation because of people becoming Christians.  That word simply means "such as this".  It could be used by gamblers, people who sell Satanic items, liquor dealers, etc.  People who would be in an occupation "such as this" would take a loss if we had revival.  This happened to be silversmith who was losing business in making false gods.

   Now that takes me back to my occupation, or may I say in a broader sense what should the occupation of a godly woman be.  Webster's1828  dictionary lists occupation as "That which engages the time and attention; employment; business." or "The principal business of one's life; vocation;  calling; trade; the business which a man follows to procure a living or obtain wealth."

   This causes me to think about what occupies my time and attention and what is the product I desire to produce at the end of my life, what is the calling I have from God to spend the time He's given me?  They are sobering questions. 

  "What a terrible thing to have to answer, (If we had to tell the complete truth to the Lord.) "The thing that consumes most of my time is books, the tv, the internet, games, shuttling my kids to the babysitters so we can make money and have everything our neighbors have, working for another master who has a different goal for me than You have." 

  This thought is for me the "keeper at home" just as much as the "working mother" or the "aged woman".  Am I carrying out the occupation and vocation that God wants me doing that I will produce the product He wants to see at the end of my life?

   Proverbs 31:10-31 is the role model the Lord gave me for how He wants me to "occupy my time".  It's beena 37 year pursuit for me and I still have much to develop.  

   Let's look at what consumed my role model's time.

   *She spent time making sure her husband didn't need being spoiled (shamed) by what she did with her time.  I can think of a man walking into a home that has obviously been neglected-it spoils him and shames him.  I can think of a man finding out his wife has used up too much money out of the checkbook.  It spoils him.  He wants everyone to think good of him because of how his wife cares for his home, his money, his clothes, his children and him!  (The word spoil means to plunder or to make money by dubious means.)  He is the breadwinner but he wants (and needs) our assistance in seeing that what he's worked hard for isn't spoiled by us.

    *She spent time gathering supplies in to make things with her hands.  It said she went afar to get just the right merchandise to run their home smoothly. 

   *Every day of her life she did good to her husband and not evil.  (That takes time and a controlled tongue.)

   *She gets up before the sun to feed her household and her maiden.

   *She takes time to go find and purchase a field that she intends to plant a vineyard in.

   *She spent time keeping her physical body strong.

   *She has merchandise she's making to sell and that requires working after the sun goes down.  Today we call that a cottage industry.  There is nothing wrong with it but do you see where it is in her day.  Everyone else is down and she's staying up to work on it.

   *Nor only is she making merchandise to sell, she is covering the needy and she has her own household clothed with scarlet and herself with tapestry.  (This is fine clothing that had hours of needlework involved)

   *Her work obviously helps to make her husband be a man of reknown. 

   *She takes her fine linen that she's made and sells it and delivers it to the merchants.  (No, she didn't set up shop with the merchants.)

   *Because she opened her mouth with wisdom we know she had to have an active relationship with the Lord.  That takes time, it doesn't just happend.

   *She doesn't sit around eating the bread of idleness--this is a busy woman!

  * Her children rise up and call her blessed, her husband also and then God praise her-  I CALL THAT A PRODUCT WORTH SPENDING THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE IN!

   Another lady whose priorities and time management has always captured my interest is "the widow indeed".  I hope I never have to turn to the church to take care of me, but I see here that this woman had lived a life that was so pleasing to God that He commands she's cared for.  What had she spent her time on?

   *She had one husband.  (Being a godly, biblical wife involves time seeking God's commandments for you and it takes time to live them.)

   *The widow indeed spends time in prayers and supplications day and night. (it says she's trusting in the Lord alone--that requires a lot of prayer)

   *It says she was well reported of for her good works.  That got my curiosity up- what did good works mean? 

1) business, employment, that which any one is occupied

a) that which one undertakes to do, enterprise, undertaking

2) any product whatever, any thing accomplished by hand, art, industry, or mind

3) an act, deed, thing done: the idea of working is emphasised in opp. to that which is less than work

  

     Here we are again with the things that we spend our time on and let ourselves become occupied with that produces the right product.  It also is called "work".
   *She was to have brought up children.
   *She was to have lodged strangers in her home.
   *She was to have washed the saints feet.
   *Relieved the afflicted.
   Sounds like a busy woman doing the right thing before God.

   The Titus 2 woman is my last role model that I seriously look to as a pattern God has given me for how He wants me to occupy my time.
   *I am to be discreet
   *I am to be chaste
   *I am to be a keeper at home (That little word 'at' has a position involved with it.  Some position words would be under, over, in, above, beside, by, etc.) You can't be "at Walmart" and be "at home" at the same time. You can't be "at work" and "at home" at the same time.  The word keeper involves the care of the home and the watchman of the home.  If we properly prioritize our days we can make our WalMart trips, our phone calls, our time on the internet, but we must never, never let them keep us from being the keeper at our home.  If we don't keep it someone else will.  Be on your guard!
   * I am to be good.  That word means to be useful, to be pleasant, to be agreeable, joyful and happy.
    If I'm fighting God's design for my life but yet I decide I have to or get in trouble with God and I grit my teeth and do it, I have skipped this one.  When we yield to the Designer and decide to live life the way He planned it to work best for us, we find great joy and happiness.
   *We ar to be obedient to our own husbands.  That word obedient means:
  

1) to arrange under, to subordinate

2) to subject, put in subjection

3) to subject one's self, obey

4) to submit to one's control

5) to yield to one's admonition or advice

6) to obey, be subject

   He is to be the one who is in charge, and I'm the subordinate.  I am to be subject to his wishes, I am to subject myself to his control, yield to his admonition and advice and obey and be subject to his wishes. 

   I have found that whenever I agree with God and embrace what He has commanded me to do He gives me wings and I find great freedom and joy in it.  Tr

 Try it--it's much better than being an angry woman with a sign getting your picture in the paper!

 When we refuse to take the occupation that God has given us as women in the Bible we are told in Titus 2:5 that the Word of God is blasphemed.  That is a serious thing.  It makes people take the word of God lightly because they see professing Christians taking their "occupation" lightly.  In Titus 2 He directs that at young women who will not take on their God-given occupation and are trying to get the fruit and blessings of a godly woman (I want my children to go to heaven!  I don't want my children to get involved in sin.  I want my marriage to last.) without carrying out the commands to women.

   The word "blasphemed" means :

1) to speak reproachfully, rail at, revile, calumniate, blaspheme

2) to be evil spoken of, reviled, railed at

  We're there.  So many people have no use for God's word.  They are confused at all the multiple messages coming from professed Christians.  But God is not confused and He's never wrong.  We have a map to follow and it is His word.

  He has much, much more to say to young and older woman but today I want to impress on you how you spend you time.  What your real occupation is.

  I tell the story of when I first learned to do heirloom sewing.  I loved it!  I was consumed with it.  I couldn't wait to get breakfast done so I could pull out my work for the day.  I got irritable with the kids while they were doing school because I wanted them to get done so I could do what I wanted to do.  I dreaded cooking supper, or doing laundry--anything that kept me from what I wanted to do--heirloom sewing. 

  One day, (after another frustrating day at home for everyone) it was just like the Lord said, "You're no longer a keeper at home, a home maker, you're an heirloom seamstress now."  Oh, my how that convicted, but I knew it was true.  That's why my duties as a keeper at home had become frustrating.  I realized I had become an heirloom seamstress that did homemaking on the side and I had to go back to being a homemaker that did heirloom sewing on the side.  When I obeyed the Lord our home became the sweet haven it had always been before that.

  What occupies your time?  What fruit is watching the tv going to give you in eternity?  What fruit is reading novels (and I'm not against either in their proper priority) going to give you in eternity?  But what about a very happy huband who praises you in the gates, or children who rise up and call you blessed?  Pour your heart and life into the occupation that God has given we women!  I'm old enough now that I see much fruit from my labor.  Prov. 31:30,31 says "Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.  Give her of the fruit of her hands: and let her own works praise her in the gates."  Make that your goal!  Let that pull you through the days you think you can't keep doing it.

   On my headstone when I die I have instructed my children to put, "I HAVE NO GREATER JOY THAN TO HEAR THAT MY CHILDREN WALK IN TRUTH.'  III JOHN 4

  I hope that is able to sum up the occupation of my life and the product I desired to see.  That the children (physical and spiritual) that the Lord allowed Gary and I to raise for Him are all walking in truth.  That's worth it all!

******************

  Today you will influence someone---that's another word for leadership.  How are you going to influence them?  I ask the Lord daily to bring good influences into my children's lives and to protect them from evil influences.  Today-why don't we each make a choice to influence someone that there is joy and freedom in carrying out our lives as women by God's authority and God's design.  You never know who you may influence--it might be your own son or daughter, it might be the neighbor, it might be your mate.  But let's each one be an influence to do what is pleasing before the Lord!

Love,

Mom

  

Laundry Day!

  I remember my mother talking about Monday being her mother's laundry day, rain or shine!  She said her mother always cooked a pot of beans on Monday. (We were from the North and she made Northern beans!:) If it was sunny the laundry was hung outside, and if it was rainy she said their clothes were hung on the line that criss-crossed their small kitchen!  She said it was one of the sweetest memories of her childhood--something that they knew was going to be the same each week.    I remember the copper boiler in my grandparents garage that laundry was heated in.  We certainly have progressed when it comes to laundry!

  Their was a little quote that you sometimes see embroidered onto tea towels:
   Wash on Monday,
   Iron on Tuesday,
   Mend on Wednesday,
   Churn on Thursday, (some say Market on Thursday)
   Clean on Friday,
   Bake on Saturday,
   Worship on Sunday...
*Want to embroider some little tea towels to show this?  Go to http://tipnut.com/household-chores-towels/ and you'll find some beautiful ones.  Just download them in a file and save them for printing when you're ready to embroider!

  I believe in and love a life of order and so I like following the footsteps of homemakers before me.  My life is reasonably close to the little ditty above.  I do a large amount of our laundry on Monday.  I like to get as much done that day beginning with the towels used by everyone on Saturday. 
  Since our financial belt has been tightened in the last year I am making our own laundry soap.  I have found that whenever a change is required in my life if I embrace it I fall in love with it!  The other day I went by my laundry room and it brought back a sweet memory.  The smell of my laundry room was just like the smell of a laundrymat when I was a girl.  I would go there with my Grandma Nelle if she had a really large load and I loved the clean smell there.  Grandma said it was the Oxydol detergent.  Well, that's what my laundry soap smells like when the clothes are drying.  Other people might hate it but the Lord has given me a love for it!  You can wash 64 loads of clothing with one batch and it costs about .01 cents per load! 
  So, here's the recipe:
1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap (bars of soap like Zote or Ivory found in the laundry aisle of our Krogers)
1/2 cup washing soda (NOT baking soda)  This is also at our Krogers and it is Arm and Hammer but it's in a large box and is a white powder.  It will be on the laundry aisle, usually near your oxygen cleaners or other soaking powders.  This is a degreaser and removes dirt and other odors.  (I also use it on our bathtub drains when they get slow and it does a wonderful job!)
1/2 cup Borax (also found on the laundry aisle and it is a powder)  Our Kroger sells the 20 Multe Team box.  Borax us a whitener and a deodorizer. (It also will kill roaches!)

Here's what to do:
Grate the bar soap.  Make sure you grate it really fine.  Put it in a sauce pan and add 6 cups of water.  Heat it till the soap melts.  Then add the washing soda and the borax and stir it till it is dissolved.  Remove from heat.
Now pour 4 cups of water into a large bucket or a large pot.  Add your soap mixture to the bucket and stir.  Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir.  Let the soap sit for 24 hours.  It will become a soupy gel.  Pour into containers.  (I use ice cream buckets.) 
  Someone said that you shouldn't use your old detergent containers because you need to stir it before using and they will spill over and make a mess.  I just stir mine at the beginning of the day and then measure it out. 
  This soap is not meant to make a lot of suds but it will clean! 
  Use 1/2 cup per load of laundry.  Enjoy the savings!!

    I have always enjoyed hanging clothes on the line and for Mother's Day my children bought me a clothesline for our back yard.  Our sheets always hang on the line because I love the smell of a bed that is made up of line-dried sheets.  Even Martha Stewart encourages using a clothesline!  I have always said that hanging out clothes and kneading bread are as good as a visit to a therapist for me.  They both are very calming.

  Tuesday is my baking day.  I make three loaves of bread almost every week and we share some and eat the rest!  I love baking and I thoroughly enjoy baking the bread and baking goodies for my family  and friends.  I love being outside with the kids and stepping into the house right after the bread has baked....what a wonderful welcoming aroma!

   Wednesday is my ironing day.  I focus almost entirely on the basic chores on Wednesday so we have a stress free preparation for church.  Since we're getting everyone's clothing ready for church it's a good time to press two or three shirts for other days.

   Thursday is my sewing day.  I sew on other days too but it seems I sew clear through to the evening on Thursday.  Many times I'll use the evenings to do my fun handsewing.  I love smocking and I love shadow embroidery so Thursday evening I treat myself after sewing on the "have to" projects!  Right now I'm sewing five little nurse's costumes for my cousin's grandhchildren.  I hope they enjoy them as much as I've enjoyed sewing them.  I've also been sewing several teddy bears lately.  That's fun, too because it seems no two turn out the same.

   Friday is my "beginning to clean" day.  I used to do all my cleaning on Saturday.  My husband would fuss at me because I also cooked Sunday dinner, did all the handwork for my Sunday School lesson and other pastor's wife projects on Saturday.  I kept telling him that I didn't have time on the week days to do my heavy cleaning.  Then I realized I was really being obstinate and decided to pick one major cleaning project for Friday.  I have since learned that I can actually get two and sometimes three projects done on Friday and we now do our (the kids do their rooms) vacuuming on Thursday!  I save dusting and cleaning bathrooms for Saturday so they are polished and pretty on Sunday.  Works like a dream!
  Saturday is my "get ready for Sunday" day.  I like a big Sunday dinner but I cook it on Saturday.  Everything is oven ready when we walk out the door and all I have to do is heat vegetables and dinner is ready.  At the end of the week I like looking at my chore chart that I made on Monday with each thing crossed off!  It is a very satisfying feeling.

  How I love, love, love being what God designed me to be.  Woman, wife, mother, keeper at home, laundress, cook, teacher, seamstress, and the spirit of my home.   When we yield ourselves to God's authority and God's design a great peace and satisfaction dwells within us.  It spreads to our family too! 
  Whenever I read Proverbs 31 I am painfully aware that after over 37 years of using her as my role model I still need improvement!  Early in my married years I decided that she would be my guide and I would do my very best to become skilled at each area the Lord held her up like a beautiful ruby gem to be admired.  It's been a wonderful adventure and if I died today I am a deepy fulfilled woman. 
  It is my prayer that each woman reading this will kneel before the Lord and ask Him to teach them their biblical role and to give them great joy in it.  That is what I pray over the women on my prayer list because I desire them to find the joy the Lord has given me.  May God grant each reader that joy!

Love,

Mom
  

Hit the Reset Button!

   Today is the Lord's Day, the first day of my week!  It has been a day that has cooled some because of the rain and this afternoon my precious husband and I sat and enjoyed a cup of coffee on the front porch and talked and listened to the steady patter of rain on the oak leaves.  So comforting.
   Each Monday I sit with my notebook and plan my week.  I give each day to the Lord in the mornings, but I am a firm believer in the old adage "Fail to plan-plan to fail."  I have found that even with fun things like reading to the children, taking a walk, playing a game together if I don't give it a specific time in the week it just won't get done!



   Tonight I sit and look at last week's plan.  At the top I have my list of my "streaks".  I got this wonderful idea from Sparkpeople.com.  You set a goal that you would like to have as a habit and then see how many days you can go without missing!  So I have there:
* 8 glasses of water  (then I put abbreviations for each day so I can circle them as I accomplish them)
*1200-1500 calories daily
*5 fruits/vegetables
*Walk-5 days/week
*Strength Train-5 to 6 days/week
  You could even include spiritual goals like memorize scripture, read Bible daily, go through prayer list daily, etc.  The idea is to get a good thing going and you won't want to miss!  It works for me.
  I look at last week's list and I thought it was workable when I made it.  However, I didn't plan on several "unplanned" events. (A doctor's visit I didn't plan on having in Nashville and then a sick day!)  In the past that would have thrown me for a loop and I would have stewed and fretted and been completely overwhelmed. 
  I also worked very hard at keeping up my month long staying on my diet and doing my strength training and cardio workout 5 times per week.  Much to my surprise after losing weight for about two weeks (and I know how to hang on to the fat!) I had gained 2.3 pounds this morning.  In the past I would have beat myself up and then out of frustration and anger had me a little binge party tonight.
  However, because I've gone through several experiences with depression I have learned that those responses only make me "feel" worse about the whole situation after the fact.  So what's the answer?
  Well, I call it hitting the reset button!  I love Lamentations 3:22 and 23.  "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."
  If the Lord gives me a new chance every morning then I can do the same thing when I look at my very human failures.  Just hit the reset button and go after the goal again and again and again until I meet it!
  Every week of my life I look back and say, "I wish I had spent more time with the kids, I wish I had been more gentle in my reaction, I wish I had got more windows cleaned, I wish I had spent more time with the Lord, and the list could go on and on and on...."  If I focus on what I didn't get done I lose sight of what needs done for the Lord today! 
  It truly makes a difference when you get on the scale and see the number go up when you thought it would go down to become introspective and angry and decide who cares anyway? (at least for an hour or two)  However, it has changed everything for me to say "Well, how about that?  Maybe all that strength training is making muscle and it weighs more than fat!  Maybe I should add a few more minutes to my cardio, shuffle when I eat my snacks and see if I need to try some different foods to shake up my metabolism!"  Then I feel hopeful instead of condemned!
  It also made a difference when I looked at my list on Thursday morning (Tuesday and Wednesday being shot.) and said to myself, "Ok, let's put these down by priority.  What has to be done or we're not going to function as a family?" 
  I had planned on reading a large portion of a book to the kids and I did that as we drove home from Nashville.  I had planned on doing a lot of sewing and so I put the most important on the top and worked my way down.  I had planned on cleaning the living room windows, preparing a table for painting and getting the kids final grades ready to send to the school we're enrolled in.
  I was completely shocked when on Saturday not only had I completed almost everything on my list I also had Sunday dinner planned and ready!  My attitude definitely made a difference (Along with giving my family a pleasant wife and mother instead of a fretful one!)
  Here's some tips to help you be a happy homemaker instead of a fretful one:
1)  Be a Mary first--choose to spend time with the Lord if nothing else gets done! "But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:42)
2)  Break down your week's work into a plan.  I put what I want to get done for the week in one list and then break it down into each day.   I only write down one day at a time what I hope to get done and then what doesn't get done goes to the next day.
3)  Divide big jobs into workable pieces.  For example, I'm working on trying to get rid of excess out of our garage (half our life is still packed away!) and also am trying to get all the windows washed.  I have on my list a goal of 1 window per day and 3 boxes per day.
4)  Give each day to the Lord.   Think of placing it on an altar and giving it to Him and telling Him you want His will for your day and not yours.  That way if unexpected company shows up or your neighbor comes over and has an emergency where they need you, etc. your not going to fall apart because your planned day got changed.
5)  Plan time with your husband and children.  Ask the Lord to show you how to minister to them.  Keeping clean laundry in your husband's drawer and closet at all times is ministering to him.  A good hot meal on the table is ministering to your family.  Sitting on the porch and reading to your children is ministering to them.  Taking a walk with them is ministering to them.  Plan to do work together with your children.  I learned from my toddlers that they don't mind a job at all if mommy is right there with them making it fun.
6)  Learn to be a Pollyanna.  See the best in everything.  Don't just talk nice to your husband and children, talk nice to yourself!  Have little mantras you say to yourself like, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!"  "Don't put it down, put it away!"  "Make every trip count!"  "Let's give that the 5 minute clean-up!"  "No, I won't let you in, devil!" (I say that when I'm tempted to get frustrated with my husband and say something I'll regret!)
7)  Remember that anything worth having has a price tag on it.  Ask yourself, "Am I willing to pay the price to..."  For example, "Am I willing to pay the price it takes to see my children trained for the Lord?"  "Am I willing to pay the price to make my husband pleased with me?"  "Am I willing to pay the price to keep my health?"
8)  At the end of your work week enjoy the Lord's Day.  It is the first day of the new week.  Make it a very special day for your family.  I love Sunday dinner.  I love my family looking forward to what's going to be on the table and what dessert I'll be serving.  I love the quietness of our Sunday afternoons and I love being with the Lord's people.  Start your week right by obeying Isaiah 58 and not doing what please you on His day but what ministers to others in a very real way.  At the end of the Lord's Day prepare to plan your new week and when looking back at last week put it behind you and
HIT THE RESET BUTTON! 
  I pray the Lord blesses you greatly in this new week!
Love,
Mom
 
  

Post-Mother's Day Thoughts...

  I had a wonderful Mother's Day this year.  The celebration began on Saturday morning when at 8:15 a.m. a florist delivered me a beautiful hanging basket of bright peach geraniums!  I was curious as I opened the card, and to be truthful, Nevin has always been the one that has sent a rose to plant or flowers as a gift so I half-expected them to be from him.  I was already chiding whichever child did it in my head for "spending extra money they didn't have" but yet thrilled that I was that important!  When I opened the card it said, "I love you.  Alicia"  I had had a rough night physically but it was all forgotten in a second as that warm feeling of being special and loved went through me.  She couldn't have picked a better gift at a better time.  Thank you, my dear Alicia. (and family)
  Then the mail arrived and John knocked on the bedroom door with it behind his back.  He said, "You got this" and handed me an envelope, "and you got this!" and handed me a package!   They were both from Niki.  The envelope held new pictures of our precious grandbabies and the package was a coffee mug with pictures from the last year of the Lott family!  The pictures are on my dresser and the cup has the perfect place in my Hoosier cabinet!
  My next blessing was a visit from my mother-in-law which I thoroughly enjoyed.  We had asked her to spend the weekend with us as this was her first Mother's Day without Charles.  I love her as if she were my own mother and am so thankful for her.  We all went "flower shopping" for a while and found beautiful hostas at K Mart.  She and I both benefited from that trip because Gary went back later than evening and got us each two of them for Mother's Day.
  We bought the food for a simple Mother's Day lunch of hoagies, oven fries and fruit and cheese.  Cierra made brownie bites and Gary  bought chocolate ice cream and low calorie/low fat chocolate syrup so we could have sundaes  I was thrilled that we found the exact things on sale at UGO for my Mother's Day lunch I had asked for.  (They even had chicken and turkey submarine [a.k.a. long strips of deli meat] for $1.59 a lb.!  All we had to do was load the sandwiches!) 
   John bought me the clothesline I had requested so I could freshen my drapes this summer and hang out my sheets weekly.  Cierra bought me the can opener that was on my "wish list" and Gary bought me two hanging baskets of ferns and two hostas.  I'm a blessed mother, with or without gifts--but it sure is nice to have them express their love by showering you with gifts!
  I talked to all my children on Mother's Day and the crowning glory of a present was a personal letter written to me from my son Nathan.  It arrived by e-mail and when Gary came to see why I hadn't come to bed at 11:37 p.m. I was sitting there crying for joy at the sweet letter of gratitude from my son.  It was the perfect gift.
  His letter made me think about the choices I'd made as a mother.  Most of my choices were made from watching the example of my own precious mother and from believing the Bible is true and if we do what it says we will reap good fruit in our lives.  My choices were also a conscious decision on the part of my husband and myself being very serious about raising our children for the Lord.  I remember both of us being very nervous about the huge responsibility we had taken on when we had our first little baby girl! 
  I remember our discussions about the seriousness of being responsible for living souls and us making a definite choice for me to be a stay-at-home mother even if we had to "sell the furniture out from under us" for me to do so.  I also remember when Niki became school age many conversations about her education and once again we made the decision to see to it she got a Christian education and together "counting the cost" of this and deciding that whatever the cost our children would have a godly Christian education not a Christless one that challenged all we believed to be true.
   The Lord always sent the right sermon, the right book, the right person into our lives when we were "paying the price".  I remember reading the book Growing Up God's Way by John Stormer and reading about Susanna Wesley saying that the reason she hesitated to give advice to other mother's about child-rearing was that "so few mothers would take the center of their life and dedicate it to rearing godly children". (not a direct quote but how I remember it!)  I decided then that I would take the best part of my life and dedicate it to raising children for the Lord. 
  I remember another friend handing me the book, What the Bible Says About Child Training  by Richard Fugate.  After reading it I had an even deeper sense of responsibility to obey the word of God above all else in rearing children because God Himself held me responsible for it.  It changed my thinking and my life as a mother in a positive way.
   The last few days I've pondered all of this in my heart and yearned for the Lord to continue to use me as a godly woman, wife and mother till the day I die.  Today I was checking e-mails and a blog entitled "What's Been Easy About Losing 25 Pounds" caught my eye. http://www.dailyspark.com/blog.asp?post=how_to_pay_the_price_for_weight_loss_and_win.  In this article he talked about "paying the price" to lose weight and get fit.  I had been thinking about "paying the price" but in the spiritual realm for two days now!  Every thing he said fit hand-and-glove with what I'd been thinking about concerning my role as a godly woman.  He talked about making a daily decision to "pay the price" and the long-term benefits you would reap.  He asked you to join his Spark group and list as a comment how you paid the price that day.  It inspired me and made me want to become a part of "paying the price" in the area of health, nutrition and fitness.  But it also inspired me to renew my commitments to "pay the price" in my spiritual life, and to think about it on a daily basis.
  An hour or so later it was time to exercise.  I don't hate exercise, I hate the time it takes out of my busy day.  Each day the man that wrote the book 8 Minutes in the Morning (by Jorge Cruise) has a little self-talk he wants you to do before you exercise.  Today's was about "Loser Zones".  In his book he had the quote, "You will never find time for anything.  If you want time, you must make it." -Charles Buxton, American writer.  That went right along with my philosophy that you will find the time and the money for anything you truly love and want.  He asked the question, "What are your Loser Zones, and how many hours per day do you spend Loser Zone activity?"  The number one loser zone he listed was television viewing--up to 30 hours a week for the average American!  He also mentioned aimless phone conversations, surfing the internet, etc.
  Once again my mind ran to the spiritual realm.  Where were my Loser Zones that kept me from spending more time with the Lord in His word and in prayer?  I could name a couple right off the bat.  Was I willing to "pay the price" so I could reap the benefits?  Who might I see saved this year or rescued spiritually if I was willing to "pay the price"?  What might happen in my own life and that of my family if I was willing to "pay the price" and move forward with the Lord to a higher plane than I've been on? 
  Today I was motivated in the spiritual area and in the physical realm to be a better mother this year than I was last year.  To yield what I wanted to see stronger bonds, sweeter relationships and spiritual fruit in my life and the life of my family.
  Because I'm a mother of older children and younger children I am already reaping some precious fruit from my children that lets me know it was worth every ounce of "paying the price".  My son's heartfelt thank you letter left me knowing it was worth every sacrifice I'd ever made as a mother.  Knowing your children are safely in His flock and fold givs you a good night's rest. 
  I thank the Lord for giving us a guide book and for His faithfulness in sending instructions when we are yearning for them.  I thank Him for letting me have the privilege and responsibility of being a mother, and I thank Him for entrusting those precious little souls into my care for a few years. 
  I pray that you too will count the cost and decide that it's worth every precious sacrifice you make to see your children "spiritually" healthy and satisfied.  May the Lord use this to encourage you to not be "weary in well doing" but to keep on keeping on as a wife and mother separated "from the world unto the Lord".   May God strengthen and encourage each one of you as you raise your family for Him.

Love,

Mom

January is here...and so are resolutions....

Dear Daughters,

I'm sitting here with my new prayer journal open and comparing it to last year's. Going through my new prayer journal always gives me a a look back. That in turn makes me want to further my obedience and spiritual victory for the new year.
The first week of January I keep pencil and pen close at hand so I can write down projects, goals, etc. for my new year. The Lord's mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:23) and for that I am so very thankful. I am also thankful for the new year. It's like having a clean slate handed to you from the Lord to use as a springboard to "start anew".
The BIGGEST (and really only) lesson I learned from my depression, wilderness years was that all the good that I do can only be performed with joy and energy when the Lord does it for me and in me. I have realized that most of what I was doing in obedience to the Lord (for many, many years) was being done in the power of my flesh. The flesh cannot do it and either rebels or becomes so exhausted it lays down on us. That's what happened to me and when I broke I did a bang-up job of it!
I never really realized how powerful my flesh was until the depression hit and I couldn't stop the fear, worry, unbelief, and emotional pain no matter how I tried. I also never realized how completely Calvary set me free from my every sin till I learned to turn to Him in the midst of my battle and confess to Him my guilt, my complete turning from those sins to Him and His resurrection power and then resting in Him to fulfill the work of Calvary in my life by His work.
Now I have had my BIG battles. I still have my BIG battles. My flesh likes things its own way and when it's got its own way for a long time it doesn't lie down easily. I just recently had a two week battle with the flesh over an issue. However, when I faithfully turned to Him and told Him I wanted no part of that wicked sin and I was relying on Him to give me the victory and freedom that were mine He was right there to meet my need. For about two weeks I had to come to Him over and over when the temptation would hit, but He won the victory for me with Calvary and the flesh lost.
Now that was what seemed to be a diversion from the main topic, but it's really the foundation for resolutions that work. YOU CAN"T keep resolutions in the power of the flesh! In January when every one is in the mood for a "new me" you're surrounded with the support of friends, media hype, and your own brand new gust of energy. However, after just a few days of the flesh rising up and telling you it's always had it's way in that area and does not intend to lie down and do right without a fight you'll be glad I wrote those last few paragraphs! :)
Since my depression I try to stop about twice a year (New Year's and my birthday) and make what I call my "guilt list". These are things that drive me crazy about myself. You could call them my besetting sins, my hard-to-break bad habits, or whatever you want to call them.
After I've made my original list, (and that list includes health habits, use of time, irritations, people problems and how I deal with them, etc.) I mark the ones that I have the power to change. You know there are some problems that we have no authority to change and there are things that are totally out of our control to change. If I cannot change it I must simply give it to the Lord. I use Colossians 4:12 in those situations and pray that all involved will allow the Lord to do a work in their hearts (me included) to stand "perfect and complete in all His will" in the situation.
Then I go through and ask myself on each of them if I have a Biblical reason to feel guilty. Satan loves to accuse the brethren and he will try to make you feel responsible and guilty for everything he can. Make sure you have a specific verse that counts you guilty. If that is true go to the Lord with it, confess it, ask Him to show you His solution and then begin to carry out the plan.
With what I have left that I am responsible personally for and I have a Biblical reason that I need to change then its time to obey.
Let's take our prayer life for example. If my prayer is half-hearted, sounds like a child repeating the alphabet, ("Lord bless mom, dad, sister, brother, all the missionaries, etc., etc., etc.) there's plenty of Bible to let you know things need to change!
Memorize those verses that tell us to pray and pray seriously. Get a good book on prayer and start reading it. Get your spiritual engine fueled up. May I recommend reading Prayer, the Greatest Force on Earth by Thomas Payne as one of the first ones to read. Take your Bible and as you're reading through it start marking the prayers in the Bible with a special color of pencil. Take note of the men God loved and made comments on their prayers. Take note of the mighty works of God that happened as a result of prayer. But most of all, begin praying. Just like any thing else that you want to become an expert in the way to do it is to practice it!
Now let me assure you your flesh will not want to pray. But the Lord has taken care of all that and you are free, free, free from the flesh being in control because of the finished work of Calvary. You don't need to try, strain or endure. You simply need to obey the written word and the Spirit's little loving urgings by His power poured out to you from the mercy seat.
Another thing I strongly recommend you do with all your new resolutions, goals, ideas, etc. is to get them on paper and then lay them out before the Lord and ask Him to take them all and show you which ones are your ideas and which ones are His ideas.
I'm an idea person. For every suggestion I have hundreds of wonderful little ideas pop into my head. I know where the book, article, or online page is to feed my ideas. However, I've wasted a lot of precious time by not thinking through a project I started. In carrying out many of my projects I got my priorities out of order and I neglected God-given responsibilities to do a Tami-project.
You can only spread yourself so thin becoming the "new you". Look very carefully at your goals and make sure they're going to make you spiritually stronger, that you'll be ministering within your God-given realm (our ministry heart is our home) and that as a result of carrying out your goals you'll be a better child of God, wife, mother, homekeeper, and church member.
If getting yourself in shape means you'll be leaving the children to go to a gym 5 days a week you might want to consider rethinking the thing. You can get yourself in shape with two milk jugs with water in them for weights and toddlers laughing as they try to do workouts with mom.
However, the checking account, the babies, and the Lord will all be in better shape if you do it His way--keeping at home! (Titus 2)
If you've set a goal to help your husband with the tight finances but you choose to neglect that he is worse than an infidel if he doesn't provide for his family, that you are to be a keeper at home (with a full list of duties that will keep a saint working from daylight till dusk) and that your children's Godly training is you and your husband's responsibility not the local church's or the government's, than you've not only made matters worse but you also will have to do the entire thing in the power of your flesh because the Holy Spirit will not minister Christ to you for that new job you took to help with finances!
It would be far better to take a hard look at what the Bible gives a woman to do and learn to be a thrifty wife and mother. You also need to ask the Lord to give you His value system and not the world's! The Lord is totally unimpressed with rather you have the newest cell phone, the right brand of purse, or the "world-approved" year and make of car! My husband often says that we don't need more money we need to learn to make sure we've learned to live within the budget the Lord has given us.
All of the above are just some motherly cautions. Some of them I've learned as I searched the scriptures and applied them to my life and some I've learned by trying it my way over and over until I finally figured out that somewhere I wasn't listening to Him and His word. It's much better to hear the truth and apply it before the sin has left a scar in our life or the lives of those we love.
As an older woman I see so many young women with good desires and goals but they try to carry them out the way the world does. It is in all of us to try to find an escape to our sins and the curses that accompany them--but there is truly only one cure---Calvary!
I pray that each of your resolutions that the Holy Spirit has put in your heart come to be a truth applied in your life this year.

Love,

Mom

This Week's Focus....Physical/Spiritual Health

This week our girls class is focusing on two things in our physical fitness. In the area of nutrition we're trying to 1)cut back 500 calories per day if we need to lose some weight. If they don't need to lose weight we are working on making better choices for snacks. Choosing an apple with some peanut butter on it or a piece of fruit rather than an oatmeal cake, for example.
I've equipped our Health Shack in Sunday School with healthy snacks to give them some ideas.
In the area of exercise we're working on strength training at least two days per week. This means finding an exercise program. We're using a book by Kathy Smith called Fitness Makeover. It's my favorite strength training book because it only requires light and medium weights and a chair! Each week it focuses on a different area of the body.
You also can become a member (it's free) on Sparks.com and they will give you your own personalized strenth training program that you can do at home with no more than weights if that's what you want. http://www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/fitness2.asp (I don't know if this will let you see my fitness schedule but if not just go to Sparks.com and do some reading!)
In our spiritual areas we are working on not missing a time of daily Bible reading and prayer every day of the week. We are also working on giving it a specific time in our day just like we would a meal, a show on TV we never miss or a habit we have like brushing our teeth and showering. We are looking for time that we're wasting or misusing to find time to spend with the Lord.
These are basics, but so many of us have never made those basic important things a part of our life that is as sure as getting up each day. It takes 21 days to build a habit and three days to break it! Let's build new and healthy habits!

Spiritual/Physical Fitness

Since I just posted about my Sunday School class and since it's Saturday night how about a peek (and an invitation) to join us in our next quarter's theme?
This quarter we've decided to work on our physical fitness and our spiritual fitness. Right now in our Sunday School class we're taking an exam to see where we're at in our health in these two areas! Each week we're going to focus on a different aspect of each one of these areas.
Our bulletin board has a triangle on it with the word "nutrition" on one side, the word "exercise" on the second side and the word "cleanliness" on the third side. Can you guess where this is going? The bulletin board is divided in half at the top with the word "Physical" on the left and the word "Spiritual" on the right. I will be adding the areas we're working on as we get to them. This might take longer than a quarter before it's over!
We're going to cover spiritual nutrition and physical nutrition, spiritual exercise and physical exercise, spiritual cleanliness and physical cleanliness.
Right now we're hitting the basics. We're trying to encourage each girl to read her Bible each and every day. I'm sending home a calendar with suggested Bible reading on each day of the month. We're working toward developing a prayer journal or prayer list and encourage the girls to set aside a specific time each day to spend with the Lord.
This week our physical focus is on beginning to do strength training for at least two days a week and preferably three. I thoroughly enjoy strength training and do not enjoy the aerobic! So, I've told the girls I'm working on me right along with them! I've given them a sheet of paper with their own workout that requires only a chair, some weights, (which could be cans of soup!) and a willingness to do the workout. NO expensive gym membership required!
We're also focusing on wasted calories this week and trying to cut our calorie intake down just 500 calories a day if we have a weight problem. That will allow us to lose 1 lb. this week! An example I gave them is that a Big Mac is 590 calories but a 6-piece McNugget is 290. You just saved 300 calories by making a better choice. A Caramel sundae is 360 calories at McDonald's and their low fat ice cream cone is 150 calories. There's 110 calories saved with a right decision made.
How about you? Would you like to join my girls in taking a step forward both physically and spiritually?
May I encourage you to sit down and make a list of what regularly makes you feel guilty both in the physical and spiritual world. Then let's work together to take some steps forward irregardless of how small they may seem.
What's on your list?

• Being faithful in prayer or Bible reading?
• Keeping your priorities straight?
• Your tongue (with your hubby or children)
• Eating a healthier diet
• Your bedtime/rising time
• Exercising for a healthy body

Make a note on how you can change what you don't like. Don't make it monumental. Make it workable. For example:

• Prayer and Bible reading- 3:00-4:00 p.m. daily. (or what works with my personal schedule)
• Focus this week on meeting hubbies needs/wants before others.
• Memorize a verse on tongue control this week. Put verse in kitchen window where I see it!
• Make a better snack decision at least three times this week.
• Go to bed 15 minutes earlier/get up 15 minutes earlier.
• Strength train 2 times this week.

Ask the Lord to remind you. Put a note in your Bible or on your bathroom mirror with your goals. My main excuse for not exercising is that I don't have time. I asked myself when I had any extra time to do it. The first thing I thought of was our one hour lunch break. So I recruited my kids to exercise with me. They love it! (John actually pesters me if I hold off one day because of phone calls or company.)

I hope you're able to move up a notch in your spiritual life. My girls and I would like hearing from anyone that has decided to join us in our journey! Together always makes the journey easier!

Planning your week....

One of the most important things I think we can do is to plan our life and our time. The older I get the more I sense how my days are truly numbered and I want to spend them with as little waste as possible.
There are certain duties I have every day and I know that if I don't do them then our family life is going to get a "kink" in it. Things like cooking meals, doing laundry, maintaining the cleanliness of my home, teaching the children school, or keeping an appointment.
I am a list person and I am an advocate of lists. I firmly believe if you don't plan something and give it a time slot it probably won't get done when it should.
I have a daily chore list that is slid down into a sheet protector. On it I have my Bible reading, prayer, a place to mark what laundry needs done that day, the menu for the day, how much water I drink, emptying the dishwasher, cooking meals and taking time to sew or write. I use
a dry erase marker on it that I can wipe off each day. It makes life so much easier to see what I need to get done in the morning, afternoon, and evening and to be able to circle that little dot or fill in the amount and see my work load being lifted as the day goes on.
On another paper (in a sheet protector) I have my daily diet plan. I can write in what I ate,
the calories and I even circle proteins, calcium, vegetables, grains, etc. At the end of the day
I can just clean it off and be ready for my next day.
This week I plan on making curtains for my daughter's bedroom as a sewing project, last week
the plan was to make her a new black dress skirt, and the week after next I plan to start a Christmas sewing project for a grandchild.
There is a sense of control in a planned life. I have become a firm believer in having a planned life for a family. Children should know that we do morning chores, then we eat breakfast, then we do school, then we eat lunch, then we have a time of rest, then we play outdoors, then we eat supper, then we....and their list should be predictable for them.
In the same way, if you develop a schedule or routine for your own life you soon will just go through it without even having to think about it. By midmorning your washer will be humming away, you are dressed and ready for anyone to knock at your door, your family has a nice warm breakfast in their tummies, dishes are done, the children are working away at school and the house is presentable. It's a good feeling.
So this week make a plan. Plan your meals, plan your projects, and plan your daily routine. It makes for a calmer homemaker and a happy family! You'll be shocked at how much more you will have accomplished at the end of the week.
If God gave us the role of being the keeper at our home let's determine to do it and do it right!
Have a good and Godly week!

Love,

Mom

Saturday night in a pastor's home...

Dear Daughters,

It's Saturday night in the pastor's home. Time to get all those last minute chores for Sunday tidied up. All the clothes are pressed, the last load of laundry is washed, folded and put away and the baskets are empty, (well, almost!) and the treats for mom's Sunday School class are sitting on the breakfast bar, (tomorrow is yummy fall cupcakes with an orange cream cheese topping). Usually dinner is precooked and in the refrigerator but tomorrow's schedule is a little different, and now mom is going to spend just a little time for herself before bedtime.
Saturday's can be a pressure cooker day for the pastor's family. Satan knows that and tries his best to get us at odds with one another. After years in the ministry you learn not to let him have his way by using you as a pawn in his wicked plans. There are days I'm right in the middle of falling into his trap and it hits me what's going on. Those are the days I have to march in and apologize for allowing myself to yield to the flesh and hinder the Holy Spirit's work in our lives and ministry.
My husband preached a message not too long ago on how to pray for your pastor. May I encourage you to bow your head and pray for your pastor right now. The man of God carries a heavy burden if he's doing what he's called to do. Weekends are when his mind is a whirl of all that he hopes to accomplish on Sunday, his message being just what the Lord wants, and his mind is on his church members and how they are doing. He's hoping for visitors and fruit from his visits during the week. He's praying everyone will be in their places on Sunday to sit at the spiritual dinner table.
Here's the outline to "How to Pray For Your Pastor". Mine's written in the back of my Bible so I can hold the precious man of God I live with up to the Lord faithfully and as I should.

I. Pray for his Protection (II Thess. 3:2)
A. From unreasonable men.
B. From wicked men (I Tim. 1:18-20, II tim. 2:15-18, II Tim. 4:14,15, II Tim. 3: 1-9)
II. Pray for his Personal Walk (Heb. 13:8)
A. That he always does the right thing.
B. That his provisions are met. Pray that his every need is met. (spiritual, emotional, and
physical needs)
III. Pray for him to Have a Profitable Ministry (Heb. 13:17,18)
A. A profitable ministry concerning his flock
1. people that follow
2. people that understand pastoral leadership
B. A profitable ministry concerning getting the gospel out, (Col. 4:3,4, Acts 14:27) and
that he will give the word in power. (Col. 3:4, Eph. 5:18,19)
C. A profitable ministry with the word of God having free course. (II Thess. 3:1)

Because I've spent most of my life in a pastor's home I know the burdens that they carry. When my husband took his first pastorate I remember how overwhelming the responsibility seemed to him at the time. He took his job very, very seriously before the Lord.
Today in a time when many churches are lowering the bar to try to draw in new members or keep those that don't want qualifications for service put on them it takes a man with a firm determination to please His Saviour above all else to take the pressures of leadership. How thankful I am for a husband I can look up too because his first priority is to please His
Saviour above all else.
If you have such a pastor tell him so. I've read in several places that this month is supposed to be the month you show your appreciation to your pastor. Do it! Be faithful, be grateful, and express your thanks to your pastor for being there for you.
Get to bed dear ones so your fresh on the Lord's day!

Love,

Mom