Resolutions for 2016

I asked myself what I really wanted to work on this year...God brought me some things as well...and I also asked my husband and my children too.

For me...I want to pray about anything and everything and learn to be quiet.  I need to quit complaining and getting upset about things I cannot control.  I just need to learn to be quiet and go to God in prayer.  I want to work on my business.  I want to be a better wife and mom and I want to get back on track spiritually, physically, and emotionally.

Hubby says he wants to work on being more diligent and better at time management.

We had some marriage goals of spending more quality time together and to have a date night once a month.

We wanted to work at being consistent with our business endeavors.

As a family we wanted to work on reading more, eating out less, daily Bible time, and choosing peace.  I also want to be more intentional about sending out cards and texts and spending more time with other family members.

Deidra said that she'd like to work on being more positive.

Emma said that she's going to work on having a better attitude.

Josiah said that he's going to work on his anger.

Tracie says that she is going to work on not ignoring me and Dad.

Melins says that she is going to work on not having any more accidents.

With all that being siad...we have a lot to keep in prayer this year...

What are you going to work on this year?

Daily Habit of Spending Time with God

How have you been doing with your daily habit of spending time with God?  We were supposed to be working on that challenge daily.  Things got really crazy around here with Christmas and sick kids and I quit updating daily, although I tried daily to spend time in prayer, reading God's word, and reading through our daily prayer book at the breakfast table with my family each morning.  I'll post about my next daily habit that I'm going to focus on soon....but I just wanted to check in and see how your challenge went.  I definitely love that God speaks to me and makes my paths clearer when I take the time out of my day to truly spend time with Him.

Spending Time with God Day 6

I woke up feeling very overwhelmed again today, but I prayed and asked God for His peace and I prayed with the kids.  As I was walking into Bible Study today, one of the ladies took my hand and told me "you are always so faithful."  I squeezed her hand and tears came to my eyes.  I like to think of my compliments as coming from God Himself.  I felt His peace come over me while at Bible Study today.  I have some things I'd like to share...but I will try to share those tomorrow.  I took myself out to lunch at Panera and Christmas shopping at Uptown and I need to get the gifts out of the car before the kids come home.  I just wanted to take a few minutes of quiet before they come home to take a few minutes and blog.

Spending Time with God Day 5

I woke up this morning feeling very overwhelmed.  My kindergartener didn't want to get up (not usually like her) and she started crying this monring about not wanting to go to school because she hates to write and doesn't write well and writing hurts her hands.  My 3rd grader had a meltdown after getting caught doing something that she was told not to do twice now and got grounded after school.  My 4th grader had a bad afternoon after school yesterday with some behaviors towards Mom and his sister and tried carrying that over into this morning.  My 5th grader was basically caught lying after several times of Mom asking about why she had no homework lately and basically told on herself at dinner last night and when I caught it and asked her about it she totally shut down.  After we were in bed my husband discovered that her math teacher had send us an email basically concerned because she had a math test today that she was sent home to study with and she was refusing the one-on-one help from her at school and didn't know what was going on and how best to help her.  I've seen similar things here at home lately, but I did tell the teacher that math is very difficult for her and I think she truly doesn't grasp the concepts and in her mind if she just ignores it or just refuses help then nobody will know.  She has a teacher to go to for content mastery, but it's a struggle to get her to go there too.  I just don't know how to advocate for her right now.  We keep telling her that her teachers and us are here to help her, but she just blows us off.  I felt very overwhelmed and God brought me to Psalm 23.  I love that He tells me that He will care for us and gently lead the mother.  The kids and I prayed together before school and I sent some e-mails to the teachers and I am just going to tackle it one step at a time.  Thank you for caring for us, dear Lord.

Spending Time with God Day 4

I got up to read my BSF notes this morning and do my prayer time before the kids get up for school.  We were reading about the final judgment day and the day of the Lord.  All who believe in Jesus will be saved from God's day of judgment and all the terrible things that will happen that day.  One passage in my notes that I loved too was "In His sovereign purpose and time, God will bring the present order of things to an end.  God is not powerless or passive about His world and its people.  He is supremely real and intensely involved, and evil will not stand."  The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem.  But, I love the promise that Joel reveals to us "Though the earth and the heavens will tremble, the Lord will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel."

This message does 2 things for me...it makes me want to pray for the people I know that are unbelievers all the more that they will accept God and make the choices necessary to live for Him.  And it also makes me happy to know that I am a child of God and that He is my refuge and I have nothing to fear.  I am His and He is my refuge and my stronghold.  I am so thankful for His promises to us and that I am redeemed and renewed through Jesus.

Spending Time with God Day 3

Andy and I went to bed feeling nauseated last night.  Shortly after I fell asleep, Melina came running into my room saying she felt like she was going to throw up.  I sent her in my bathroom and she made it just in time.  Andy wound up having the opposite problem all night.  Add the storms into the mix, and we barely got any sleep and I've got a headache and tummy pains.  Feeling like it could come out one end or the other...I guess it's a waiting game.  I just pray that if we're going to get a stomach virus, that we all get it at once and get it over with.  I don't want the kids to miss their Christmas parties and Andy has major stuff to do at work at the end of this week before his vacation starts.

With all that being said, we went through our little prayer service and learned that God wants us to share with others when we have an abundance of things and take only what we need.  Some of my kids have had a problem with not wanting to share or take turns lately, so that was an applicable message.  Going to buy a few extra groceries today to offer to those in need as well so that they see that it's not just them that are asked to share.

Spending Time with God Day 2

I read with the kids out of the Children's Daily Prayer book.  We learned that when we do the right thing, God blesses His people with quiet, and a peaceful habitation.  The Devil must have been trying to prevent us from hearing that message as my kids were anything but peaceful during our prayer service this morning.  Disobeying Mom, arguing with one another, and just trying to interrupt each other constantly and I'll be real that I lost my temper when one of my children started talking over me and trying to rush me through the prayer.  I had to ask for forgiveness for all of us at the end.  Going to go spend time in prayer and take a bit of a time out from my kids.