Journey to a Gracious Woman

We must assess our thoughts and beliefs and reckon whether they are moving us
closer to conformity to Christ or farther away from it.
~ by John Ortberg ~

This comes at a wonderful time to speak about because I have been reading “Battlefield of the Mind” by Joyce Meyer. She talks about being mindful of our thoughts and what to do to change our thinking. She says that having constant, negative thoughts create a negative life. There are some wonderful things she has to say that I would like to share to add to this wonderful quote that Amy has chosen.

We must think and speak in agreement with His will and plan for us.

The idea is that we must learn to become the kind of person who plans
things but who doesn’t fall apart if that plan doesn’t work out.

Any time we don’t get what we want, our feelings will rise up and try to
get us into self-pity and a negative attitude.

As Christians, we need to learn to decide to believe.

…the mind refuses to believe what it cannot understand.

It frequently happens that a believer knows something in his heart (his
inner man), but his mind wars against it.

Note especially the promise that the amount of thought and study we devote
to the Word will determine the amount of virtue and knowledge that will come
back to us.

These quotes from the book “Battlefield of the Mind” by Joyce Meyer. What volumes each one speaks!

It goes wonderfully with the verse that says “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he…”(Prov. 23:7).

Many times I don’t think we realize just how much power our thoughts and in turn our words have. They carry much weight. Entertaining any thoughts of negativity only breeds more negativity. However, if we recognize the negative thought and immediately replace it with God’s Truth and God’s promise, that negative thought flees and the truth sets us free!

For quite a while I was picking up women’s “self-help” books to figure out how to be a better mother and wife. I had read some excellent books on the subject in the past that were saturated in scripture – in Truth -, yet somehow I came to believe that “those kind of books” tear me down, not build me up. Instead, I needed to read more about getting more “me-time” and learn how it’s all about me. I actually started believing these lies! I am in no way saying that “me-time” is bad, however, when you begin to center your entire life around “me-time” and “when’s the next time I can get some”, suddenly the family that God has blessed you with becomes a burden, not a blessing. This very same family in which God has entrusted to me has suddenly become a bother! So, in essence, I became miserable. Imagine that! Selfishness didn’t make me happy because I could never get enough “me time”. Yet, the couple of books I read, those that were saturated with scriptures, in context, telling me how to live as a wife and mother motivated me and excited me more because I was reading and living in the Truth. You know how the old saying goes, “You are what you eat”? Well, so it is, “You are what you read (or watch, or play)”. The more of these books I read, the more I believed them and the more miserable I became.

I recently picked up another book that broke down all these walls and revealed to me, once again, the Truth of God’s Word and I can’t begin to tell you how freeing it has been already. After reading the Preface and the first chapter, I was already motivated to bless my family and I suddenly saw them in different light! Instantly, they were no longer a burden, but a blessing, because the Truth of God’s Word knocked down the lies of the enemy.

I will do an unofficial review on this book later, once I finish it. But I will reveal the title just incase you’ve never heard of it. It’s called “Passionate Housewives Desperate for God” by Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald.

I will warn you right now, if you have a hard time with the Truth and self-denial, this may sting a bit if you are resistant to it. However, if you are hungry for the Truth and want freedom in your life, you will instantly have that weight lifted and be free to serve in a much better capacity and with more enthusiasm then before.

Check back in the next week for a complete review.

We must be careful what we are allowing into our minds – whether they claim to be Christian authors or not, doesn’t make them right. What you read becomes a part of you (this is why it’s so important to be in the Word everyday), and if we’re reading things that are false, they will keep us in bondage and pull us away from Christ, not in conformity with Him.

Please be sure to visit Amy @ In Pursuit of Proverbs 31 as she is hosting this week’s wonderful quote for “In ‘Other’ Words”. See what she and other women have to share about this wonderful saying. Thank you Amy for hosting this week!

This week’s quote is:

“Throughout the history of God’s people as given to us in the Bible, we see that
life is a test. We have before us the option to trust God “no matter what,” or
to walk away from Him. To walk away from God is to leave the fragments of our
dreams in pieces on the floor, but to trust Him is to let God pick up the pieces
and make us whole again. When we choose to let Him make us whole again, he will
make our lives more beautiful than before.”

~ “What I Learned from God While Quilting” by Ruth McHaney Danner & Cristine Bolley~

My husband and I frequently compare our situations, any testing situations, with that of the Israelites, from the time they were freed to the time right before they took over Jericho. We remembered how much God had brought them through and yet how much they complained about their situation. Even after all the miracles they saw, they didn’t trust Him. How true that is with us at times!

How often does God bring us through the storms of life, and yet when another one hits, we panic!? We worry God won’t be there that time. We start to think, “What if, what if?”. Where is our faith?! How much are we like those silly Israelites whom we ourselves critisize for complaining and not trusting God? These are just examples of going through the “storms” of life….but isn’t all of life a storm? Isn’t all of life a test? Oswald Chambers says it well in My Utmost for His Highest:

“God’s training is for now, not later. His purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future. We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it. What people call preparation, God sees as the goal itself.”

We aren’t preparing for the next test – we are always in the next test. That’s what life is. God has called us to a life of worship to Him. With worship comes trust. Trust is a form of worship. We need to learn to trust Him in all areas and aspects of our lives – not just try really hard when the storm rises, but to invite Him in while there is a “break” in the storms. When we choose to trust Him and give Him control over our lives, as the quote states, He can make our lives more beautiful then we ever imagined. Remember, God says,

“I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give
you hope and a good future. Jeremiah 29:11 (NCV).

**Please be sure to visit Nina at Waiting *For*Grace as she is hosting this week**

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It seems, every time I get to a point where I’m trusting God with the housing aspect of our lives, something new comes up to test my faith and take that trust up to a new level.

The bank which owns this home is Countrywide and they have already tried to pull a fast one on us – telling us the only way we can get this house is if we apply and get a mortgage through them–which is absolutely false and against the law. We have a purchase agreement that states we can choose our own lender.

I also stopped by the house today to clean up a water mess in the basement when I found another agent there showing the house to someone else. I was under the impression that couldn’t happen because we had paid $1000 to secure the house and signed a purchase agreement. It seems that is only for the benefit of the bank. As long as we haven’t signed any closing papers, agents can still continue to show the house to potential buyers – even though, according to this agent, they cannot take the house from under us. However, who is to say they do not put in an offer better then our own and the BANK backs out of their offer? We have no protection against that unless we turn around and sue them. Will we really take the trouble to do that? They’ve already tried scamming us into getting a mortgage through them…who is to say they won’t back out of the deal?

It’s a matter of trusting God – my faith must be bumped up a notch and I need to believe and know that God is bigger then all of this. He will see justice done and I really need to rest in Him. Everytime I begin to feel peace, another road block comes our way – and it seems they get bigger every time. Yet, every time, God has smashed them to pieces. I need to get back to that point where I would have peace even if we didn’t get this house – because then my hope is in God, not this house. I can’t say it’s not stressful – but I wish it weren’t. It’s hard sometimes not to worry – I want to trust God, not worry. I am choosing to trust God.

There is so much involved in all this! It’s crazy. I just want to get the closing done and we still haven’t heard when that day will be. We thought it would be sometime next week, but still haven’t heard.
I want to rest easy before that – I want to rest in God’s peace tonight – because He is God. Period.

“No matter how many good friends I had, there were aspects of my
life I needed to deal with alone – heart issues and attitudes that could not be
wrestled with in a Bible study…They had to be confronted by the Holy Spirit in
the privacy of my own soul.”

How true this has been in my own life. Nothing can replace the council or understanding of the Holy Spirit – our very own, personal comforter. There were times I’d made the mistake of sharing with friends my deepest struggles only to find they just didn’t understand. It was really no fault of their own because it is very difficult to understand anything you haven’t been through yourself. The problem comes when the opinions given just aren’t helpful, but in fact hurtful. When people don’t understand, they draw their own conclusions and judgements begin to rise. This only adds to my problems. There are times when Jesus just wants us to approach His throne alone and deal with the issues. He knows others won’t understand. He knows ultimately He is the only One who can heal me.

Friends are wonderful treasures, but they cannot be a substitute for the Holy Spirit’s council.

Please visit Michelle at Because I Love You…as she is hosting this week and her blog will take you to other’s who have shared their heart on this quote.

…..to discuss this week’s quote:

“No matter how many good friends I had, there were aspects of my life I
needed to deal with alone – heart issues and attitudes that could not be
wrestled with in a Bible study…They had to be confronted by the Holy Spirit in
the privacy of my own soul.”

This week’s In “Other” Words is hosted by Michelle at Because I Love You….. . Please join us and tell us your thoughts on the quote she has chosen from “A Glimpse of Grace” by Mary Forsythe, with Beth Clark.

**LIVE WELL WEDNESDAY post is below**

I just felt this urge to blog about this real quick.

After going through, what I felt was a rough first three months (nothing unusual, just dealing with lots of morning sickness while trying to take care of 3 children), I thought for sure this would be my last baby. I wanted to say, “in my flesh” that we would be done. Even when people ask, “How many children do you plan on having”, I’ve been saying, “I don’t know. If I spoke in my flesh, right now, I would say I’d like to be done.” But now that I’ve come out of the storms (or continue to come out of the storms), my mind is already changing. Well, and the truth is, it’s not really up to me to decide. I gave this part of my decision making life to God to handle. When He speaks, we want to be obediant. We want to be open to His plans for us, even if they seem unrealistic. If God were to tell us to have another baby, even after this one, I’d want to be better prepared. I’d want to be able to fight the morning sickness head on, if need be, so that I can better care for my family. All it takes is a little education on my part to know what to do – and then do it.

So, would I mind having more? Definately not. Will that change? It might, but most likely it’d be based on my emotions which is not what I want to base my life decisions on.

Looking at this picture I took today, I feel refreshed. I actually feel beautiful and I think reality clicked a bit more that YES! we’re going to have another baby – another daughter!

Thank you Jesus for your abundant blessings and for carrying me through, even though in the midst of it it was hard…..you carried me and continue to fulfill my life.

Lately, I have been doing my best to keep up on my vitamins and drink plenty of water.Over the past several years, I’d have to say; since my second child was born (July, 2005), I have been battling crazy hormones, mood swings, depression, etc., etc. Everything that goes with being a pregnant and lactating woman. Just a year after having Ben, I got pregnant with Jeremiah. Here come the hormones all over again…I had just stopped nursing about 4 months before. Seven months after Jeremiah was born, while still nursing, I am pregnant again – and now, being nearly 5 months pregnant and still nursing 1-3 times a day, my hormones have been at their peak!One thing people keep asking me is “Are you taking your vitamins?” For weeks I wasn’t because I was so sick, but now that the sickness has finally let up, I have been making the conscience effort to take my vitamins. I have also put myself on a B Complex to help balance things out more. They help with energy and keep your immune system strong.Water is another area of importance. Staying hydrated in a caffiene infested society is such a challenge; and I love my coffee! So I have really been limiting my coffee intake and trying to drink more water. At first, the water was actually giving me a belly ache. I’m still not quite sure if it’s because my body isn’t used to drinking it so often or because it’s from the tap. I have never had a problem with our tap water – in fact, it’s some of the best tasting tap water I’ve ever had! But yesterday, after having some, I didn’t notice the belly ache, so perhaps it was just an adjustment. (I hope!)I am praying the consistency of these two things will help balance me out so that I am more patient and focused for my children/family. There were more days then not that I just got stuck in a funk or rut, unable to dig myself out. I don’t want that – I want to enjoy everyday life, not see how fast I can get through the day. That is certainly no way to liveI can honestly say that I have felt better this past week then I have in months – several days in a row in fact. So it must be making a differenceI think sometimes I try to overanalyze or overspiritualize (if you can) things. I thought it was all in my head and I was solely fighting a spiritual warfare. Well, the only war I was fighting was taking care of my own body. God created our bodies to function a certain way – one of them is that we require a lot of water intake. When the world offers us hundreds of thousands of other choices for drinks (if you include all the diff. flavor combinations, etc.), drinks that are, yes, better tasting then water, it is very tempting and very easy to get away from our needs and strive for our wants. It certainly takes discipline, but after you realize the difference in how you feel and what it does to your body, it just doesn’t compare. I think it’s worth it to skip that can of pop for water just so you don’t crash an hour later in your day. Is it not more worth it to make the day count? I certainly think so!

“”We leave something incomplete everyday, whether it’s an area of
housework, school, work, friendship, ministry ~ because we are finite.”"
~ from The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer~

There is one thing I don’t like about this quote: how true it is. It always seems I am so focused from day to day on what was left incomplete rather then what was accomplished. Why do I tend to focus on the negative rather then the positive? Without thinking much on it until now, I feel like I try to out-do God, like everyday! I don’t know why I believe I need to complete everything in one day. Some days I get so overwhelmed I end up doing nothing at all because I don’t even know where to start.

Thankfully God is more concerned with my relationship with Him rather then all the “stuff” I do. Granted, faith and works go hand in hand, but works with no faith is useless (and vice versa). Setting my priorities seems to be a challenge because everything seems to be shouting out at me.

I loved Lori’s thoughts on this because she is able to accept that she is finite. Please, Lori, tell me your secret! Why do I try to fill the role of trying to be “perfect” because I know it just isn’t possible. My first goal is to accept that fact!

Unfortunately I have not had a whole lot of time to sit down and ponder this quote, as things are always busy around here. But if there is one verse that I try to lean on it is this:

Philippians 3:13-14I know I have not yet reached that goal, but there is one thing I always do: Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead. I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to the life above.

Be sure to visit Lori’s blog as she is hosting this week!