Learning From Our Failures

On the 3rd of this month my husband and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. We didn't do anything ostentatious, just dinner out the weekend before and a quiet dinner at home with our daughter the day of because it was in the middle of the work week. We are usually pretty low key on "non-milestone" years. So that means about once every 5 years we celebrate with a party of some sort.  

Over the years I have often felt like I was not good enough to deserve the life I have been blessed with. I have felt inadequate, lazy, sloppy and down right depressed about how I behaved as a wife and mother.  I have struggled with depression since I was a teen and have had a long road sometimes and over the years have learned how to "pull myself up by the boot straps" and move forward. 

I have utilized anti depressants in the past (before our daughter was born) and since she has been in my life I have struggled tremendously.  What makes it even worse it that I feel bad for being depressed! I feel like I should be a better mommy, be more fun and more playful. You see I was 32 when she was born. I've always been over-weight and I keep saying I'm going to loose the weight to be a better more fun mommy but I keep going back to the same old patterns. 

Well today at church our pastor preached on how those patterns when we keep doing the change from being a bad habit to being a way of life! How God wants to sow His seeds in fertile soil so we can serve Him and live a blessed life but that those habits that become a way of life are separating us from God so that He cannot plant seeds. You see God won't plant seeds in ground that is not prepared. Pastor talked about how we need to prepare ourselves to receive the seeds God wants to plant so that we might bear fruit. 

God is committed to the fruitfulness of our futures. He is asking if you would commit to His commitment. 

John 15:4 says " Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and  you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me." 

John 15:8 " When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to the Father." 

John 15:16 "You didn't choose me, I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for using my name."  (emphasis mine) 

So you see the habits we have are sin and we all know that sin separates us from God. Pastor says we should Identify the "thorns" in our life. Boy that hit me right in the heart! My refusal to take care of my home and husband over the years has been me being disobedient to God. The bible says that God created me to be his Helpmeet. He works hard to provide for his family and I am supposed to be diligent here at home providing a haven for him. Teaching our child, making sure my family has food and clothing and are well respected. I am meant to HONOR ( aka RESPECT) my husband. I made that vow! 

The word goes on to say 

"Plow up the hard ground of your hearts! Do not waste your good seed among thorns." Jeremiah 4:3

Our prayer should be:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offend you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life." Psalm 139:23-24

We should let the Holy Spirit filter us completely. I sat in church with tears streaming as I hear the spirit speaking to me. 'You have strayed daughter, you don't spend time in My word anymore, You only come to church, but you forget to hear with you whole heart.' I was truly and fully chastised. 

As I prayed and cried and repented of my obvious sin. I begged God to give me a renewed vigor and hunger for His word and for teaching my daughter how to live according to Proverbs 31. I had wanted that for us since before she was born. I always wanted to teach my daughters how God intended us to live. 

My 7 year old struggles to accomplish any one task because I have allowed her to become slothful, like me. So tonight after my husband went to work (he's on nights for a few weeks). I sat down with my bible and my little princess and I apologized to her for neglecting to teach her what I knew in my heart God had instructed ME to teach her. I showed the the biblical characteristics of a wife and mother. I explained to her that this week we are going to focus on a different one each day and possibly extend it to one week on each Character trait. 

I prayed and asked to God to forgive me and to guide my steps as I step up to the challenge of working through the pain ( because with significant change comes pain {mental and/or physical}) . 

Starting tomorrow I'm getting dressed to my tennis shoes, and taking my daughter and dog for a nice long walk. We are going to get active every morning and then crack the books starting with bible study. So I'm asking for any and all of my mommy friends to help me stay accountable! 

We are going to have a clean house daily, a clean kitchen before bed each night and fight the war on clutter. I have a week planned including the evening meal! 

Well If you have made it this far thank you. I knew earlier I was going to make this post and I was asking God what to say and I felt that I needed to just share the ugly truth. 

I would love you feedback, especially if you have tips on how to stay motivated to keep your home tidy! 

I want to be organized even though I was not born that way! 

Be Blessed! 

G...

Living my life for Jesus

I am so excited that my hubby and I Are both now officially ordained ministers! We are working to follow God's call on our lives! I am actually working on a bible study. I am praying about this and ask God to annoint me to spread his word!

I have always felt called into ministry and since I was a child wanted to be a pastor/minister like my grandfather. I have always been told I couldn't be because I am a woman! I kept praying and praying and now I know that I can and will fulfill God's call on my life!

I KNOW God has a plan for us and I'm excited to find out what it is!

Lifestyle changes for Good

Last Friday I was diagnosed with diabetes! This has really been a blow to me because I have been working on making changes to they way I eat and live.
I was not exercising at all and I have started trying to walk everyday!
I am going to see what it will take for is to get a gym membership so we can workout no matter the weather!
I'm monitoring my blood sugar levels and watching my carb intake!

This is probably the hardest thing I've had to do because I love food! However if in want to be around for my little girl I HAVE to make the necessary changes and pray that God will lead me every step of the way!

Stepping Out In Faith!

Recently my husband and I have been praying about a ministry position that has been brought to our attention. We will be able to live at the lake year round and it will take a lot of hard work but I believe we can do this!

I am really excited to get a chance to serve God in any capacity He will allow us to. I always felt called to be a missionary and I never followed God like I should have. Maybe this will be that chance I've always needed to serve Him in a greater capacity.

I pray this will be a life changing opportunity for our family and give my darling husband the chance to serve God he needs and deserves. My husband has always wanted to serve in a more hands on way and I am praying God will guide us and give us this chance to be apart of the Resort Ministry!

We will still be able to homeschool and we will be able to work out there full time as chaplains.



We covet your prayers fellow believers!


From our Clan to yours!

Mrs. G

Top 5 Things I Admire Most About My Husband....

First let me say that I'm working on learning how to build up my spouse. I feel that this will make for a better marriage and a healthier one at that.
5. He is a hard worker who strives to provide for his family.

4. He takes the time to read to our daughter.

3. He is thoughtful and tries to help if I need it.

2. He is loving and kind.

1. He takes his family to church and prays over us.

Favor

Galatians 6:9-10
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

I have been reading the book The Force of Favor by Dr. Dave Martin
This is a small excerpt...
" You have the ability to sow favor into the lives of others just as God has sown favor into your life, and you have the right to expect favor to come back into your life as the appropriate harvest for the favor you have sown.
Favor therefore, is reciprocal. It is part of the ongoing cycle of spiritual life. "

Do we make it a routine part of our lives to sow favor into to those around us? Are we kind? Do we show mercy? Are we giving to our church or ministries who need sown into?

Recently my husband and I took a 90 day challenge to tithe faithfully to secure God's favor. We know that the word of God says " I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you" Leviticus 26:9.
We know that obedience to God's commands will bring favor and blessing!

We know that through obedience and sowing the proper seed we can grow in favor and stature with God and Man as seen in 1 Samuel 2:26 " And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with men."
There are times when what we simply need to do is be humble. Take for example the story of Manasseh in 2Chronicles 33. He did not listen to the Lord and God destroyed him. However we see in verse 12  " In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseah knew that the Lord is God."

Sometime things need to happen in our lives to show us that the "Lord is God". We often lose favor before we realize that we need it or desire it. Sometimes we are so stuck in our own disobedience that we can't see that if we will just trust in God's word and in His will we can walk in the favor and admonition of the Lord!
The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 90:17 " May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us- yes, establish the work of our hands."

So let us strive to sow favor so that we might reap what we sow. Good for good, blessing for blessing!

~The Rest of My Life, Will Be the BEST of My Life!~
                            ~*G*~

Desires of My Heart.....

Paslm 37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

This is something I have been clinging to for 15 years.
One of the desires of MY heart was always to be a mommy.
Another is to be a Godly wife, and homemaker.
To have a place where everyone who enters feels like they are welcome, comfortable and blessed.

I love the vintage homemakers who looked pretty and ready to receive guests at anytime. That is why women in the 30's, 40's, and 50's got up and got dressed, did their hair and looked presentable at all times. It was rude to be indecent when people came to call. Remember they didn't all have phones back then so they had to look their best in case someone popped over.

As a Christian mother I should be following this example. These women were modestly dressed and presentable to the public at all times. I am still confounded by some of these young mothers who think it is okay to dress like a common "street walker"  with their young children in tow. Even in our churches we see women and girls with skirts so short they leave little to the imagination!

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with decency and propriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; 1 Timothy 2:9

I want to encourage my daughters to feel like this is a Godly calling to serve their family, and later their husbands and families. My beautiful girls are created by our amazing father the King of all and it is with a humble heart that we should desire to serve him by serving our families! 

Making Simple Adjustments and Expelling Worry..

There are things we all have to adjust to. We have to adjust when a new baby is born into our homes. We adjust when Grandma comes for an extended visit. We adjust to new situations each day. Our problem with adjustment is WORRY. 

Worry often comes for very good reason, however most cases we cause ourselves unneeded health problems, stress, illness and so much more. Let's see what God's word says about worry.

                                       Matthew 6 25-34

                                        New International Version (NIV)

                                                                       Do Not Worry

    ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

 ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

 ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?

 ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow.

They do not labor or spin.

 ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

 ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

 ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or

 ‘What shall we wear?’

 ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly 

Father knows that you need them.

 ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, 

and all these things will be given to you as well.

 ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. 

Each day has enough trouble of its own

What is the point of worry? NOTHING! Our Father G-d Clearly wants us to trust in him for all our needs and he will provide. We are not to worry about tomorrow period! We are to SEEK G-d's kingdom. 

So let's allow G-d to "worry" about our adjustments, our finances, feeding our families, our clothing, and whatever else is keeping us from functioning fully in His will. 

When we are taking these on ourselves we are not able to be 100% for the Kingdom or our families! 

Many Blessings, 

Mrs. G

Learning the true meaning of Titus 2

 ¹ But you must speak what is consistent with sound teaching. ² Older men are to be self-controlled, worthy of respect, sensible, and sound in faith, love, and endurance. ³ In the same way, older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not addicted to much wine. [They are] to teach what is good, ⁴ so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and children, ⁵ to be sensible, pure, good homemakers, and submissive to their husbands, so that God's message will not be slandered.


As I read this passage I first thought, "Wow! How much responsibility that is to be responsible to the young women in my life to be able to teach them how to be good at all those things." Then it dawned on me. If I am living this life, being Biblically submissive to my husband, being a good homemaker and loving my husband and children then it should not be so hard. 

    ⁶ Likewise, encourage the young men to be sensible ⁷ about everything. Set an example of good works yourself, with integrity and dignity ^[a] in your teaching. ⁸ Your message is to be sound beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be ashamed, having nothing bad to say about us.

I was always told growing up that I should be careful of the friends I choose and the activities I participate in because it reflected back to my grandparents (they were raising me). I never understood this until we had teenagers in our home. Now I truly understand that regardless of what is instructed about being judgmental people always will be. Our actions and words will help others form opinions of us as humans and Christians. 

    ⁹ Slaves are to be submissive to their masters in everything, and to be well-pleasing, not talking back ¹⁰ or stealing, but demonstrating utter faithfulness, so that they may adorn the teaching of God our Savior in everything.

I realize we no longer have slaves, however we have "jobs". If we are submissive to our managers and do our work without talking back, stealing and by being on time and dependable we are showing our true Christian spirit. 

    ¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, with salvation ^[b] for all people, ¹² instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age,¹³ while we wait for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. ¹⁴ He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for Himself a special people, eager to do good works.

    ¹⁵ Say these things, and encourage and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard ^[c] you.

As modern day Christians we tend to find it difficult to live in a Godly way. We MUST remember that Christ came to die for us. He came to save us from all unrighteousness and evil. We have been given power over these things through the Blood of the Lamb. 

As a woman and a Gen X-er I can now more easily see what applying Titus 2 to my life really means. Living as an example to the young women around me and teaching my daughter the godly art of homemaking and mothering. Teaching the other young woman in my home how to be a godly wife, mother, sister, and friend. Also keeping my patients and cool when something is not done the way I think it should be.. In other words dying to my perfectionism. 

Putting God first in my life and keeping to His commandments and loving others before myself! 

Change Me

This morning while having coffee with a friend in my dinning room NikiRhe came in looking for hugs and attention. I picked her up and sat her on my lap and I loved on her and we cuddled for  a moment when I noticed she stank... lol ...

I put her on the floor and told her to go tell daddy 'change me'... sure enough she walked strait to the living room and said rather loudly " CHANGE ME"!  It was the most precious thing I'd heard in a while! She was such a little blessing. This was even after she had gotten her first hair cut and was a little miffed at her mommy for making her sit still.

Well this got me to thinking. "Change me" What a phrase. I once heard that this is the most powerful two word prayer a Christian can pray. When we are constantly asking God to change people around us, our circumstances and other things. If we could just sincerely pray to God " Change ME" I believe we would see a WORLD of change.

I experimented with this a few years ago when I was feeling like things in my marriage needed to change. I felt we were stagnant and not moving forward or growing as a couple. So I prayed "Lord, Change ME". I found over the next two years that not only did He change my outlook, He changed my heart, my in-look and they way I view my spouse, myself and my fellow man.

God also allowed me to see that being a stay at home mom or even a work at home mom was the path in life I desired the most. So when our daughter was born I prayed for God to provide for me to be able to be home and to teach her to be a graceful homemaker and seeker of Christ.

To this day I have to remind myself at times that I need to ask for God to 'Change ME' because I can't control every aspect of life but I know the plans He has for me!

Be Blessed
~G~

Making Some Changes....

Well I've done it! I ordered The Total Gym! I can't wait until it arrives. Over the last year Ernie and I have tried to change our eating habbits so that we can promote healthy living and eating in our home for our daughter. We don't want her to struggle with her weight her entire life like either of us has.

I'm looking forward to being able to get my energy back and having a longer life to spend with my beautiful baby girl!

I plan to keep our menu as healthy and home made as possible. I'm going to teach myself to bake bread and to help my baby girl learn to be a lovely, godly spirit!

Almost an entire month into the new year....

I'm still working on getting my continuing education courses completed. It's kind of difficult getting it completed with a toddler roaming around and needing to keep an eye on her.
That's okay. God gave me that little miracle for a reason! I'm going to enjoy each and every minute with her.
I'm determined to do all I can to bless my family by contributing via my insurance sales and working as a homemaker to keep things together here.

I am so excited to be working from home so that I still have the chance to home school my daughter, and be at home to raise her and teach her that there is nothing wrong with homemaking. I want her to have a godly beauty, from the inside out. I want her to desire to serve God and her family and to honor God by having a servants heart.

Lord, help me to show my daughters by my actions that being a servant is not degrading to women or men. Father, give me the knowledge and wisdom I need to convey your love to them as each one finds her way in the world. Help me with the oldest to have a firm but loving and patient hand. Open her heart to guidance, and give her a willingness and heart to want to learn to be the servant YOU want her to be.
Thank you Lord for you blessings. In Jesus name, Amen.

Living in love and making changes...

I Love my husband, my children and my family and friends! We are looking forward to making some positive changes in our lives. Ernie and I are working on loosing weight to make our lives better. We have an amazing baby girl to raise and be here for many more years for.

I'm excited to be getting to know some of my friends even more! I love our Tuesday night chats with the girls!!!
We are learning to follow God's will and be obedient to His call on our life and the direction it will be taking in the future. We are excited to be getting our inusrance business up and running... It's been a long time coming and I'm praying that God will bless it.

God is so very amazing and I'm so glad that we are trying our hardest to listen to his voice!

Learning to Raise a Homemaker!

I have been at home with my daughter since the day she was born. Granted she is only 12months old however I have discovered that she is most certainly a girl! She wants to do everything mommy does. She likes to watch me cook, clean, put groceries away, and blog. We read together, we watch her phonics and reading DVDs, we say prayers, poems and wrestle with daddy.

She loves to look at books and read her bible stories.She is just learning to walk and I have already seen how quickly she learns. She knows that dishes go in the dishwasher and that the cascade goes in the door of the dishwasher. She knows that there is cheese in the bottom drawer of the fridge and she knows that her toys go in a certain bin.

God has been amazing in allowing me the joy and pain of having this little treasure in my life. She came so unexpectedly and quickly that we didn't have time to think.

As Christmas approaches and my little one gets to experience Christmas for the first time through the eyes of a child that is learning more and more every day I am great full to be having the chance to teach my daughter to be a homemaker!

Making an Effort for the Future

I have been following a friends blog and through her God spoke to me this week about living a Godly, truthful life. When I say truthful I am not just referencing telling lies but Living according to God's Word!

God has been speaking to me about dressing in a more feminine and modest way for quite sometime. I have been reluctant to because for one thing we have been living on a limited income, and two I wasn't sure I would like it.

Now that I have a daughter to raise from birth I want her to grow up loving her femininity. I want her to be confident in the Lord and be living a Godly righteous path.

I borrowed these from Tara.....

A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this. (NIV, Deuteronomy 22:5)


Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. 5 And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is just as though her head were shaved. 6 If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. (1 Corinthians 11:3-6)

and

Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, 15 but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. (1 Corinthians 11:14-15)




I want to teach my children to be humble, well behaved, modest Godly children!  If I don't have any more well then Niki will be well taught!