02 Thursday Feb 2012
This is just a little insert - but have y'all seen these?! So CUTE!
Happy February
Scripture commands believers – God gives His children instruction to follow – to love Him with your all & to love others well. And with new year’s resolutions still sticking out like a sore thumb, I think I’ll start here.
01 Wednesday Feb 2012
Posted in To Live
So throughout this month of January, I’ve written about
purpose.
plan.
prepare.
now we are at the final aspect of a life that is lived intentionally, for the Lord. and that is “pray.”
31 Tuesday Jan 2012
Posted in To Live
Tags
Arm and Hammer washing soda, borax, DIY, Harris Teeter, how to make your own laundry detergent, Ivory soap, laundry detergent, moving saving
I’m not really a DIY kind of girl. I like all of the girls that are – soon I will share with you in blog posts to come some of my friends’ great DIY work around my own home! – I’m just more of a ‘find the perfect thing after waiting a long time for exactly the right price’ kind of girl. Both are an art, I think.
After getting sick to my stomach when I was pregnant over the smell of our laundry detergent, I switched to a free & clear brand. Sensory relief! Then, on Pinterest – where I learn a lot of little tips for around my home – I discovered it is EASY to make your own laundry detergent. And cheaper. Well, I already knew that – but I thought it would be weird and messy and I’d have to have a Sam’s Club size bucket of laundry detergent that I made it my back yard while wearing a bonnet and apron. Stereotypical, I know, but that’s what I thought.
Thankfully, I made this powdered detergent in my kitchen with the supplies that I ordered from Harris Teeter and picked up (for free with a promo code) in the Express Lane.
24 Tuesday Jan 2012
Posted in To Live
Tags
baking soda, bath, borax, clawfoot tub, cleanse, epsom salt, fur blanket, indulgent pleasure, serene day spa
Yesterday I was sick. It really started Sunday evening. I just could not get warm. I drank a cup of hot cocoa, snuggled into bed underneath all the covers and my winter fur blanket. I still was chilly.
Tyler brought me the thermometer and I checked my temperature. Sure enough, I had a low-grade fever. With Tylenol in me, I fell asleep.
In the morning I let my sweet friend, Lauren, know I had a fever. She has been nursing everyone under her roof back to health. Even her parents and the in-laws came into town, promptly fell ill, and she became nurse to them, too.
She immediately offered all of her loving care and help. Yesterday afternoon, she brought over a cleansing bath potion. It wasn’t hard to follow her advice : Take a hot bath in a calming, cleansing solution. No problem!
19 Thursday Jan 2012
Posted in To Live
Let me continue with the same thought from yesterday’s post. I wrote, “When you are prepared, this is the truth, you are available to help and to love others around you.”
Preparation – the physical conditioning of life – provides you with the flexibility and freedom to love and to help others around you well.
When you are prepared you can open your arms, your home, your lives, to those around you – family, friends, neighbors, strangers.
If you are not prepared – if you are not ready – if you do not have any of it all together, then you cannot easily help anyone else. You are the one who needs help.
18 Wednesday Jan 2012
Posted in To Live
Tags
purpose. plan. prepare.
here we are at the prepare part of life.
we’ve stated our purpose.
purpose – to glorify the Lord and to enjoy Him forever. to love Him most and to love others well.
plan – JOY – Jesus, Others, You.
prepare.
When I think of preparing, I think of packing for a trip. We know why and where we are going, what we are going to do. With packing, you are getting ready what you want to talk along for the ride. When you pack, you have your essentials. You take a few what-ifs. You fold your clothes well, you remember your toothbrush. I pack all of my books on top.
Preparation is packing for life. I think that sounds funny – like you are carrying a gun.
16 Monday Jan 2012
Posted in To Live
Tags
Yesterday’s sermon was so inspiring. The word of God was preached over me – Russ went through scripture and talked about doing what the Lord has called you to do. All of the message was right in line with and added even more to all that the Lord has already been teaching me, walking me through. With ease I planned out my Monday.
12 Thursday Jan 2012
Posted in To Live
Sometimes your relationships and your planner can collide. This is when it is so very important to let the Lord take the front seat, to remember who comes first in your personal “OTHERS” aspect of JOY, and to remember that your planner is to help you keep your relationships in order.
Here’s a very recent real life example in my life ::
11 Wednesday Jan 2012
Posted in To Live
Planning includes dealing with hierarchy of priorities. Do you know what I mean when I say this? It may seem like a mouthful, but it’s a discipline that once you get under your belt, it’s simple to maintain. Please realize that when I use the word simple, I do not mean “easy.” Relating to yesterday’s post, running is simple – but running is not easy. Especially not at first!
Ohk, so hierarchy of priorities has to do with ordering your world, ordering your relationships. We look to Scripture to know order – God is the God of order – and to know what our world should center around. Scripture tells us from the very beginning – in Genesis before the Fall, that our worlds should be ordered around
10 Tuesday Jan 2012
Posted in To Live
Part of fulfilling your purpose is planning your life before the Lord, as you listen and obey Him. This is simple – and a life long practice. Just like running- which honestly, I don’t do much of, I just know it’s an easy to understand analogy – it’s a simple exercise; you just have to train yourself to do it and be good at it. Soon, you are going miles and miles.
With planning, you must start with the Lord, before the Lord, surrendered to the Lord. I begin most of my mornings early and in the Word. Many times with a cup of coffee in hand, too. I read the Word, pray for my husband and son, journal, and ask the Lord how I can love Him and love my family in this day.
Like the book of James says, it is important to say ‘as the Lord wills’ as you plan. This is not a magical blanket statement; this is a truth that you understand that a man makes his plan and the Lord orders his steps (that’s from Proverbs).
