Friday, January 29, 2016

The Devil--the Father of Lies


I've been going through some things lately and God has really been ministering to my heart.  How it's easy to fall into the hands of the Devil and sometimes not even realize it.  God has called me to be a Mom to 5 children...4 have special needs.  One of my children has been a very hard child to parent and they keep me on my knees.  Someone who is supposed to love me and care about me and my family, has said some very critical and judgmental things for quite awhile now and is constantly dragging me down and making me doubt myself.  I'm not going to go into all that this person has said, but some of it is not so nice and some of it is not something I even consider appropriate and they refuse to allow me to educate them on the things that we are dealing with and why.  They put it back on me and try to insinuate it's my fault...I don't have control, we must not be good parents if we can't even control our child, we must not be good parents if the police have been called on our child.  This person has said a lot of stuff that has caused many tears and lots of heart-ache and I finally had no choice, but to put a boundary out there.  I can't continue to allow this to go on any longer. Our child struggles with reactive attachment disorder (we have 3 with varying degrees of RAD) and life isn't always easy, but we are trying to help them through this.

 God has been ministering to my heart though.  I was listening to "Our Daily Bread" on the Laudate app the other day and the priest mentioned that a lot of us have been called to do hard things.  God doesn't always promise that we are going to have things easy in life.  Sometimes He calls us to do hard things.  However, He promises that He will be here with us, He will see us through it, He will give us grace, and He will equip us with what we need to go on.

In my Revelations study, we have been talking a lot about the Devil the last couple of weeks and how he wants to devour us and take us away from what the Lord has in store for us.  He uses the people around us to speak lies into our lives and take our eyes away from God.  It hit me this week, that I just needed to continue doing the work that God has set out for me to do and to keep my focus on Him.  Yes, my days are not always easy, but God will see me through them.  I will not allow the Devil to steal my joy and I will keep pressing on.  I'm anxious to see how God uses this one day as I strongly believe that even my child's story will give God all the glory one day and God will use this all for good.

I say all of this to let you know that if God has called you to do a tough job...keep your eyes focused on Him, and don't allow the Devil to speak lies into your life and make you feel that you don't matter.  I'm still trying to work on feeling respected, feeling like I am good enough, and feeling like I am making a difference...feeling like I do measure up...however I am going to start focusing on who I am in Jesus and that I am doing all of this for Him and that He loves me.  It doesn't matter what others think of me, even if they are supposed to be people who love me and my family.  It only matters that I am doing the work that Jesus called me to do and that I am obedient to His will.

The Life Giving Home by Sally Clarkson...Thoughts on January


I am so excited to get this book.  It doesn't come out until February and I knew it was broken down into months and it was just bugging me that here we are in January and I didn't know what the January section said.  I went over to Amazon to view the book and I discovered that they had some of the January pages that you could read.  I found some things that I definitely want to incorporate.  We do some of her suggestions already, but I really want to work on getting the kids to set the table and lighting a candle at dinner time.  And I want to get back into reading out-loud with them at night and praying together.  With so many distractions going on around here, I've gotten away from that one and as a lover of reading myself, I want to get back into that.  I also got some ideas for play-dates for the kids and although this is the last week of January, it gives me ideas to plan into our days and make into routines.  Gosh, I am SO excited to receive this book.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Hard day...

We had a really bad afternoon yesterday.  One of my children chose to run off and we wound up having to call the police to help locate them.  Thankfully, about an hour later they were found.  They chose to cross a major high way on their bike.  Very very scary and I am so glad that they were not hurt.  Today, I am pretty shaken up still.  Having a runner sometimes is very hard.  Staying in front of their thought process and all this stuff is very hard as this child is very smart and can be very manipulative.  The thing that really gets me is that the child had gotten angry, I thought they were over it, and just a few short minutes later they were gone.  I had 3 people looking for them and we couldn't find them.  After 15 minutes and asking another older child walking down the street and asking them if they seen my child and finding out that they were seen by the field behind our neighborhood that can lead back into some stores or some other neighborhoods and driving back there and not seeing any sign of them...we decided to call the police.  Another citizen, called in to report a small child that was riding their bike on a side of a very busy highway and they matched my description that we just gave the police disbatcher.  They found my child about an hour after they left!  So thankful for another citizen's call in as that helped us find them.  They had stolen money from one of their siblings and had spent the money in one of the shopping strips.  The cops major concerns was that they had crossed a major highway.  My child still doesn't seem to understand how serious all of this could have been.  He almost ran at school on Tuesday at recess and we had this problem a few weeks ago and the cops had to be called to locate my child as they got into a neighborhood behind the school.  Now, this happened and I had to go inform school that they may still be a running risk.  I'm having a hard time getting my head around all of this still, but I am just so relieved that my child is ok.  However, I'm going to spend the day trying to bless others and spend a lot of time in prayer and self-care today.  Taking time to not focus on my problems and just be thankful that my child is safe, but I'm just going to get out there and try to help someone else and bless others.  I have a headache too, so I see some self-care in my near future too until the kids get home from school later.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Own Your Life Chapter 10


We are in chapter 10 of Own Your Life and are discussing Tending Your Heart and Investing In Your Soul and Owning Your Emotional Health.  She convicted me right away with "You cannot pour out what has not first been placed inside."  Then she goes on to say "Women who grow more lovely with time have practiced pouring into themselves all that is excellent, wise, graceful, good, and true."  I loved her story of her grand adventure and that she said that "creating memories, planning times of grand celebration, and placing myself in the pathways of great people fill and enrich my soul, so that when others draw from me, they find interest, insight, fun, and wisdom."  It makes me want to plan fun adventures and take my family on fun memory making trips all the more.  It even allows me to dream big.  Memories can never be taken away from us and it always gives us something to look back to and share with others.  We were meant to enjoy life and this chapter just spoke to me and got me dreaming of places to visit and things to do and see all of God's creation.

"Owning the boundaries of what fills our hearts and minds must be a commitment that we honor every day.  When we constantly pour out our energy, time, service, and work for the sake of others, we must realize our need to fill back up so we can maintain our spiritual vibrancy, hope, and emotional health."  Here God speaks to me again, I must practice self-care.  It is a must with all that I have going on every day.

"Music actually improves the ability to concentrate, lowers blood pressure, and just brings a whole lot of fun."  I need to listen to music more often than just in the car.  I love it.  As a matter of fact, last week at BSF, I had a ton of fun singing with the girls around me.  We were in such harmony together that it brought a smile to my face.


"Building mental strength comes from developing a habit of reading every day...Reading is the primary way our brains take in ideas, build paths, develop connected thoughts, and expand our vocabularies and nuances of knowledge."  This is why I encourage my children to read 1 chapter a day and I want to get back to reading to them before bed.  One of my goals this year...



Lord, I praise you because You came to restore life to our bodies, souls, and minds.  May we be refreshed by Your Word, Your Creation, and all that we take in through our senses.  Lord, help us to become life givers within our homes, neighborhoods, and churches for Your glory.  Amen.

Monday, January 11, 2016

Cancer Novena


I am starting a novena today through the next 9 days and am praying for those with cancer.  If you have any prayer requests, please leave it in the comments and I will be glad to pray for your intentions.


Friday, January 8, 2016

Own Your Life

Just a quick note to say that we will continue discussing Own Your Life by Sally Clarkson next Tuesday.  I'm going to start doing book club posts on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  :-)

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Just had to brag on my hubby for a minute...

We've been passing all sorts of sickness around our household over Christmas break.  I had the kids go take their showers and baths last night after dinner and then I had them come down and I did an Aromatouch Technique "massage" on them last night.  It focuses on relaxation, building immunity, inflammation, and reaching homeostasis.  I just felt like they needed an immunity boost and they really enjoy getting them.  I put the nature radio station on Pandora while they get them and they just love it.  After they were all done, my hubby asked me if I wanted him to do one for me...it was nice and relaxing and completely unexpected.  I returned the favor and gave him one too as he stayed home sick from work today.  It was nice though and I got a few minutes to feel pampered and loved too.  That is my healthy habit #2 that I am working on.

Decluttering

One of my goals is to spend just a few minutes a day to declutter.  Today, I tackled the kitchen sink area.  I set the timer for 15 minutes and this is what happened.

Before:
 

and....

AFTER:


Makes me smile!

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

The Life Giving Home

I plan to finish up my bookstudy on Own Your Life throughout the month of January.  However, I just pre-ordered The Life Giving Home by Sally Clarkson as well as the companion 12-month guided journey that goes along with the book.  It's something that I really want to do and am truly excited about.  I have a lot that I want to get my act together on in 2016 and I really want my home to be a blessing to all who enter.  I discovered  Sally Clarkson a few years ago and really have gleamed a lot from her.  I plan on posting on this book monthly throughout this year.  If you want to join me, I'd love to have you.  My affiliate links are posted in case you need help finding the books.

Look Great Feel Great by Joyce Meyer

I am developing some habits out of reading this book Look Great Feel Great 12 Keys to Enjoying a Healthy Life Now by Joyce Meyer and the first was spending time with God daily.  The 2nd habit I want to develop is learning to love myself.  She says "Never forget that God wants you to love your body and yourself.  He expects it no matter what the world has given you.  As the Bible says "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).  I am determined to be the best "me" that I can be and quit trying to be what everyone else things I should do or shouldn't do.  I'm going to quit focusing on the fact that I'm overweight.  I'm going to start viewing my body as a friend and doing what I can to support my new friend and know that it's going to be a journey that I need to embrace and enjoy.  I really feel that God is calling me to eat healthier and that is one way that I can truly support my body (my new friend.)...so that is one way that I'm going to be friendly to myself.  I also need to really start focusin on self-care.  I've put myself on the backburner for so long that I know that I really need to start taking care of myself...I have high blood pressure, diabetes, am very overweight, thyroid is majorly out of whack.  I did get my knee fixed so I am very happy about that.  My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner.  Darn insurance anyway.  I'm getting off track...but I know that if I start treating myself as a friend and I do what I can to support myself with healthy eating that my health problems can only improve.  So my daily challenge in learning to love myself is going to be choosing to eat more healthy.  It will do my family good too and they all deserve to have a healthy wife and momma.

Will you join me for 21 days of learning to love yourself?  You could focus on self-care or on something that God is telling you that you need to let go of the world's view of what you need to look like or be.  Just pray about it first and I'm sure God will speak to your heart as He did me.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Joining Declutter 365

I'm joining Declutter 365 this year and am going to focus on decluttering this house 1 small step at a time.  This morning, I tackled the silverware and the utinsel drawer.

Before

After

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Praying for my children

My Mom got me this as a Christmas gift this year.  I woke up early and decided to come downstairs to pray and I opened up this book.  Oh, how it truly spoke to my heart and I love that the person that wrote it is also an adoptive mom.  I plan on making this a daily prayer book as I try to improve myself in the area of motherhood this year.  I loved it so much that I felt like I needed one for my marriage too.  When I get that one in the mail and have a chance to look at it, I'll write a post on that one.  I really did love this prayer book though and you don't necessarily have to be Catholic and say the rosary to gleam anything from it.  It just reflects on the life of Jesus and shows how as a mom, we can take things from Jesus' life and apply it to motherhood.