The true heart of discipline is relationship-a relationship with God. John Wesley's words express this relationship beautifully:
O God, fill my soul with so entire a love of Thee that I may love nothing but for Thy sake and in subordination to Thy love. Give me grace to study Thy knowledge daily that the more I know Thee, the more I may love Thee. Create in me a zealous obedience to all Thy commands, a cheerful patience under all Thy chastisements, and a thankful resignation to all Thy disposals. Let it be the one business of my life to glorify Thee by every word of my tongue, by every work of my hand, by professing Thy truth, and engaging all men, so far as in me lies, to glorify and love Thee.
This is from my current bible study, Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes. I just liked it and wanted to share it:)
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Laugh at yourself
I just had one of those moments...ya know, the ones where you could get angry, cry, let it ruin your day, and control your mood. I laughed, well not out loud, but too myself.
Let me paint the picture for you. Last night I bought a new pitcher for sun tea, the kind with a tapper on it. Our old one kept leaking, so good by!
I don't like tea, but my husband does. So, I made a pitcher of sun tea for him:) It is sitting outside soaking up the suns rays. I"m putting kids down for a nap, which is a chore because Naomi just keeps popping back out of her room. In between trips taking her back to bed I bring in the tea pitcher and put it in the fridge. Aww, a pitcher that doesn't leak. Continue on with the trips back to bed. Then Jake, who is in the kitchen, says 'Uh, mom, what is that?' and points to this brown liquid all over the floor around the fridge. For a moment a just stand there, staring, with my mouth hanging open (nice image, uh). I'm trying to think...what in the world is that! Open the fridge to find...you guessed it...tea. All down the inside of the fridge, floor, and the best part. You know the trays on the fridge door, completely filled one of those! What the world!!
So, I began the task of cleanup. Meanwhile, Naomi gets up...whatever, don't even care anymore. It seems that when I put the pitcher in the fridge, the tray on the door pushed the tapper down which then lead to a waterfall of tea. Oh well, what are ya gonna do?!
Laugh, just laugh!
Let me paint the picture for you. Last night I bought a new pitcher for sun tea, the kind with a tapper on it. Our old one kept leaking, so good by!
I don't like tea, but my husband does. So, I made a pitcher of sun tea for him:) It is sitting outside soaking up the suns rays. I"m putting kids down for a nap, which is a chore because Naomi just keeps popping back out of her room. In between trips taking her back to bed I bring in the tea pitcher and put it in the fridge. Aww, a pitcher that doesn't leak. Continue on with the trips back to bed. Then Jake, who is in the kitchen, says 'Uh, mom, what is that?' and points to this brown liquid all over the floor around the fridge. For a moment a just stand there, staring, with my mouth hanging open (nice image, uh). I'm trying to think...what in the world is that! Open the fridge to find...you guessed it...tea. All down the inside of the fridge, floor, and the best part. You know the trays on the fridge door, completely filled one of those! What the world!!
So, I began the task of cleanup. Meanwhile, Naomi gets up...whatever, don't even care anymore. It seems that when I put the pitcher in the fridge, the tray on the door pushed the tapper down which then lead to a waterfall of tea. Oh well, what are ya gonna do?!
Laugh, just laugh!
Thankfulness
Last night as I knelt to pray, as I was physically exhausted, as I was on the verge of complaining about grocery shopping late at night...I was struck with a thankful heart.
Thankful I am able to go to the grocery store and fill my cart and then go home and fill my cabinets.
Thankful for a husband who has a desire and is physically able to provide for us.
Thankful for the little ones.
Thankful for my vision, health.
Thankful for my families vision and health.
Thankful for a cool/warm home.
Thankful for a comfortable bed.
Thankful I get to stay home each day to care for our children and maintain our home.
Thankful for clothes to wash.
Thankful for a support group of friends.
I could go on and on, but I'm sure at some point you'd get tired of reading. My heart is just filled to overflowing with thankfulness. What amazes me about all of this is that just yesterday morning I was struggling with "the grass is greener" syndrome. I was talking to my sister and complaining about my dissatisfaction with this or that (mostly my home). She started doing the same about her home, and I said, "What! I love your home", and she said the same about mine. That's when we realized...no matter what/how/where/when we can fall into that mindset that someone else has it better. Myabe they do, maybe they don't. So what!
It's time we look around and really see all that God has blessed us with. He gives us what WE need.
I remeber the day we first looked at our house. We were living in Tremont (3 hours from here). I saw it online one morning and it was everything we said we wanted in a house and more. We drove the three hours after Adam got off work one day. As we pulled in the drive we were like kids at Christmas. As we toured the house, we could hardly contain our excitement! We wanted a ranch house in the country, a basement, a yard for the kids to play, 3 bedrooms. That's what we wanted, that's what we prayed for. We signed the contract that night! We got all we asked for and more...two more bedrooms downstairs, a shop for Adam, and more living space than we even thought of and all in our price range!
But the other day, as I pulled in my drive I realized that the excitement and joy was no longer there and in it's place was discontentment. What had changed? Our home has only gotten better with improvements, so it's me. Somehow, I became dissatisfied. My guess would be that I forgot what we had prayed for, and how God had blessed us! I forgot ALL the blessings! I had been looking at other people's blessings and asking God, 'Well, how come I don't have that?' He says, 'I gave you what you asked for and more!' Awww, yes. I am truly thankful!
Thankful I am able to go to the grocery store and fill my cart and then go home and fill my cabinets.
Thankful for a husband who has a desire and is physically able to provide for us.
Thankful for the little ones.
Thankful for my vision, health.
Thankful for my families vision and health.
Thankful for a cool/warm home.
Thankful for a comfortable bed.
Thankful I get to stay home each day to care for our children and maintain our home.
Thankful for clothes to wash.
Thankful for a support group of friends.
I could go on and on, but I'm sure at some point you'd get tired of reading. My heart is just filled to overflowing with thankfulness. What amazes me about all of this is that just yesterday morning I was struggling with "the grass is greener" syndrome. I was talking to my sister and complaining about my dissatisfaction with this or that (mostly my home). She started doing the same about her home, and I said, "What! I love your home", and she said the same about mine. That's when we realized...no matter what/how/where/when we can fall into that mindset that someone else has it better. Myabe they do, maybe they don't. So what!
It's time we look around and really see all that God has blessed us with. He gives us what WE need.
I remeber the day we first looked at our house. We were living in Tremont (3 hours from here). I saw it online one morning and it was everything we said we wanted in a house and more. We drove the three hours after Adam got off work one day. As we pulled in the drive we were like kids at Christmas. As we toured the house, we could hardly contain our excitement! We wanted a ranch house in the country, a basement, a yard for the kids to play, 3 bedrooms. That's what we wanted, that's what we prayed for. We signed the contract that night! We got all we asked for and more...two more bedrooms downstairs, a shop for Adam, and more living space than we even thought of and all in our price range!
But the other day, as I pulled in my drive I realized that the excitement and joy was no longer there and in it's place was discontentment. What had changed? Our home has only gotten better with improvements, so it's me. Somehow, I became dissatisfied. My guess would be that I forgot what we had prayed for, and how God had blessed us! I forgot ALL the blessings! I had been looking at other people's blessings and asking God, 'Well, how come I don't have that?' He says, 'I gave you what you asked for and more!' Awww, yes. I am truly thankful!
Monday, July 11, 2011
Menu Monday
Well, we arrived home late Saturday night from a week long vacation, but by the looks of my posts it seems longer:] We had a wonderful time making memories with family and friends!
Now, it's back to reality...we have a busy week this week, so creativeness has been tossed out the window and replaced with easy and practical.
Monday- Hotdogs, mac & cheese
Tuesday- BBQ Pork Steaks, mashed potatoes
Wednesday- Eggs & toast
Thursday- Cheesy Beef Enchiliadas
Friday- Cereal
Saturday- Pizza, salad
Sunday- Church Potluck
*I feel I need to add that we do eat fruits/veggies...I just don't post alot of side dishes because I usually don't know what I'm gonna do. Thankfully, sidedishes are simple and whatever I have on hand:)
If you'd like a recipe feel free to ask.
Now, it's back to reality...we have a busy week this week, so creativeness has been tossed out the window and replaced with easy and practical.
Monday- Hotdogs, mac & cheese
Tuesday- BBQ Pork Steaks, mashed potatoes
Wednesday- Eggs & toast
Thursday- Cheesy Beef Enchiliadas
Friday- Cereal
Saturday- Pizza, salad
Sunday- Church Potluck
*I feel I need to add that we do eat fruits/veggies...I just don't post alot of side dishes because I usually don't know what I'm gonna do. Thankfully, sidedishes are simple and whatever I have on hand:)
If you'd like a recipe feel free to ask.
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