Day 5: Fix Your Eyes on Christ

We've made it to Day 5 of the 31 Days to Hallway Praise challenge!

Today's goal is a big one:  Fix your eyes on Christ.

It might seem odd that I've kept this one for Day 5 instead of using it on Day 1.  I mean, isn't fixing our eyes on Jesus the number one goal in our Christian faith?  Yes, it is, but I've saved this gem for today for a purpose.

On the first day of our challenge, we made it a goal to pray every day.  On Day 2, we decided to memorize Scripture.  (By the way, what passage did you choose to memorize?  Leave a comment and let me know!)

Prayer and Scripture memory are two excellent ways to help keep our eyes focused on the Savior.  Now that we've had a few days to start making these part of our daily routine (for those who weren't already doing them), we've built up some spiritual tools to help us fix our eyes on the cross and not the crisis.

Friends, it is so - SO - easy to do what Peter did in Matthew 14:28-33 and let the storms of this life prevent us from looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2).  We need to spend time in prayer and in God's Word in order to forget about the wind and the waves and to think only of the Lord.  It's not an easy task.

My trials loom largest when I'm staring them in the face.  They seem most overwhelming when I fully focus on them to the exclusion of everything else.  And I feel the most overwhelmed when I allow them to engulf me.

How about you?  When are your hardships the most difficult to handle?  I'd guess that the same is true for you: when they take your complete focus, they appear to be insurmountable.

Thankfully, there is a way to combat the overwhelm:

Fix your eyes on Christ.

Take your gaze away from your trials and look to Jesus.

But we can only do this through the help of the Holy Spirit, through prayer, and through feasting on the Word of God.

Today's action steps:  Start focusing on what God can do and stop worrying about what you can't.  Continue to immerse yourself in prayer and the Scriptures.  Fix your eyes on Christ.

Day 4: Make Your Bed

Note:  Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  You can read my disclosure policy here.

We're on Day 4 of the 31 Days to Hallway Praise challenge!

A year or so ago, I watched an incredible graduation speech given by Admiral William McRaven.  Not surprisingly, it was well-thought-out, concise, and expertly delivered.

What surprised me, though, was his first point:  make your bed every morning.

(You can fast-forward to 4:35 on the video if you want to get straight to his 10 points.)

It seemed so simple, almost too lowly.  But as he explained his choice for this first recommendation, I saw the wisdom in it.

Will making your bed every morning change your mood?  Perhaps not.  But what it will do is give you a reason to get out of bed in the morning.  It will teach you about routine.  It will help you take pride in your environment.  And it can set a precedent for the rest of your day.

Because of all those benefits, I'm recommending it now.  There is a lot in life we cannot control.  We don't know what tomorrow holds; we don't know what the Lord has planned.  But we can choose what we do with the time we have today, and we can choose to make our beds.

In full disclosure, I'm terrible (TERRIBLE!) at making my bed in the morning.  (Please don't tell my mom.  She definitely taught me better than that.)  I think it started way back when Jon worked nights - he was rolling into bed just as I was getting up, and making the bed wasn't really an option for many years.

But I'm also bad at keeping routines, too.  I think if I were to start making a conscious effort to make my bed, it would naturally lead to an improved morning routine, which would then, in turn, help my evening to go more smoothly.

So, for this challenge, making my bed every morning is something I am aiming to do.  Will you keep me accountable?  You can leave a comment asking how I'm doing, you can fill out the blog's contact page, or you can send me an email at julie(at)hallwayinitiative(dot)com.  I'm going to need all the help I can get!

If you're a veteran bed-maker, today's assignment will be really easy.  Maybe you could add in something else just for this challenge, like wiping down your bathroom mirror or cleaning out under your bed.  And if you already routinely do those things as well, just write down in your gratitude journal how thankful you are to have this assignment already completed!

Making your bed is just a small step, but it is a pretty easy one.  Let's commit to making our beds every morning for the next week and see if there is any improvement in our day.

Today's action steps:  Start making your bed each morning.  If you're feeling really ambitious, you can begin by washing your sheets.  Clean sheets lend themselves toward easier bed-making.  Why, I don't know; the just do!

Related:  If you've not tried either the Make Over Your Mornings or Make Over Your Evenings courses, I highly recommend them.  At just $17 each, they are a fantastic investment in streamlining your day.  They would go a long way toward helping you remember to make your bed!

Linking up at Faith 'N Friends, Grace and Truth, and Sitting Among Friends.

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Day 3: Keep A Gratitude Journal

Note:  Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  You can read my disclosure policy here.

Welcome to Day 3 of the 31 Days of Hallway Praise challenge!

Developing a consistent habit of prayer and memorizing Scripture are two great ways to help you as you seek to praise the Lord during hardship.

Another excellent step is to keep a gratitude journal.  (You can choose something as fancy as this, or you can do what I did and just grab a $0.50 composition notebook from Wal-Mart.)

I started keeping a gratitude journal for the first time this year, and I've loved it.  But I'll be honest:  while many days (maybe even most) I find it easy to think of multiple things to be joyful about, there are days where I'm scratching my head, searching for even one thing to be thankful for.  But without fail, if I take time to really think through my day, I can find at least one thing to write down.

If you're going through an extremely trying time, the first few days of your gratitude journal might be really, really hard.  But if you've eaten that day, you can be thankful for nourishment.  If you have a roof over your head - even if it's not your own or even if the bank is threatening to take it away - you can be thankful that you have it today.  If you've lost a loved one, you can rejoice that you had the time with your loved one before he passed away.

Start small if you have to.  But do start.  It may not be easy, but cultivating an attitude of gratitude will go a long way toward helping you choose to praise the Lord no matter what your circumstances are in life.

If you're not in the middle of a trial, this is a great time to get into the habit of writing down things you're grateful for!  Chances are good that you'll have more struggles down the road, and if you're already in the practice of looking for the blessings in life, it will help buoy your faith during a later hallway.

If you need more encouragement or just want something uplifting to read, I'd love to introduce you to Laura Coppinger's Gratituesday.  She comes up with amazing things to be thankful for!

Today's action steps:  Get or create a gratitude journal.  You can even start jotting down things on the back of an envelope (I use junk mail envelopes) if you don't have the resources for an actual journal right now - just snip out your words and collect them in a glass jar to read over.  You might want to mark down the date for reference.  Try to write down at least one thing every day this week!

Linking up at Faith 'N Friends, Grace and Truth, and Sitting Among Friends.

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Day 2: Memorize Scripture

Note:  Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  You can read my disclosure policy here.

It's day 2 of our 31 Days to Hallway Praise challenge!

Yesterday, we talked about the importance of prayer, especially when going through a hardship or trial.  Today, I want to encourage you to memorize Scripture.

Maybe you're new to the concept of memorizing Scripture.  Maybe you've been memorizing verses since childhood.  Wherever you're at in your Christian journey, you can never memorize too much of God's Word!  In the missionary story The Heavenly Man, Brother Yun taught new believers to memorize the entire Gospel of Matthew in just 30 days.  I was both blown away and convicted by that.

If you've never memorized Scripture before, I'd recommend starting with a few short passages that deal specifically with hardship.  A few of my personal favorites are James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6-7; and 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.  There are hundreds of verses that apply to testing and difficulty, so spend some time searching and choose verses that are applicable to your current situation.

If you're a memory verse veteran, I'd also highly recommend committing to memory one or two longer passages in addition to verses on hardship.  Doing so helps us to get a clearer understanding of God's Word.  It helps us guard against taking Scripture out of context.  And it challenges us to go deeper in our spiritual walk.

For those longer passages, I'd suggest texts that focus on Heaven (Revelation is an excellent place to look); passages that demonstrate God's power and work; and/or passages that worship the Creator.  Because while trials might last for a moment, we as believers will spend Eternity with God.  We shouldn't be so focused on the difficulty at hand that we lose sight of God's majesty.

Some years ago, a close friend of mine asked if I wanted to memorize God's Word with her.  I loved the idea, and we've been doing so for many years now.  Having her accountability has been key for keeping myself on track to memorize Scripture.  If you're not sure you can do it alone, find an accountability partner.  It's definitely worth it!

Today's action steps:  Choose a passage of Scripture to memorize.  Write out your selection on a 3x5 card.  Read your passage aloud 5 times in the morning and 5 times in the evening.  At the end of the week, see if you can recite it by memory!

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Day 1: Pray Without Ceasing

Welcome to Day 1 of the 31 Days to Hallway Praise challenge!  I'm so thankful you're here.

If you've been around my blog for very long at all, you know that prayer is my number one recommended action when it comes to handling hardship.  So it should come as no surprise that it's the first step in our challenge.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 we're commanded to "pray without ceasing."  That seems like a huge undertaking, and it is.  And when put into the context of praying without ceasing during a time of crisis, well, it seems insurmountable.

But my goal is to encourage you, not to overwhelm you.

If you're new to prayer, start small.  Pray first thing in the morning when you wake up; before your meals; and before bed.  Those are pretty standard routines for almost everyone, so they're easy places to start adding in prayer.

If you have an active prayer life already, you can always go deeper.  If you need some ideas, there are some excellent pins on my prayer Pinterest board.  Or you can read about my new discovery on prayer right here.  I pray a lot throughout the day, but for this challenge, I want to commit to purposeful prayer every morning instead of my usual way of praying haphazardly as prayer requests come to mind.

I would also challenge you to start your prayers with praise and thanksgiving to God for Who He is and what He's done for you (sending His Son to die in your place, giving you life, caring for you) before asking Him to remove the trial at hand.  Or, if He's already brought you through your most recent trial, praise Him for sustaining you and for what He taught you during the hard season.

Even though the commandment to pray without ceasing may seem impossible, we can cultivate a constant attitude of prayer where we're willing to pray at a moment's notice.  We can develop the habit of turning to the Lord in prayer for any and every circumstance.

If you need more inspiration, be sure to visit ArabahJoy.com.  Arabah encourages Christians to pray through the promises of God's Word.  A pop-up should appear on her page where you can sign up for her next Praying the Promises challenge.

Prayer is an amazing gift that the Lord has given to us as believers.  Because of Christ's work on the cross, we have direct access to the Father through Jesus!  We no longer need a priest to intercede on our behalf, because Christ has done it all.  That right there is cause for celebration, and it's the first step toward praising God during a hallway.

Today's action steps:  Choose a time to spend in prayer.  This could be in the morning when you first get up, in the afternoon when your little ones are asleep, or whenever it fits into your schedule.  Remember to thank the Lord for His blessings!

Don't forget to check in tomorrow, when we'll talk about the benefits of memorizing Scripture.

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31 Days to Hallway Praise Challenge

Rejoice always.

Give thanks.

Be content in all circumstances.

At first glance, these Biblical mandates might seem simple enough.  But for those going through tremendous hardship, it can seem impossible to find joy of any kind, let alone being able to praise the Lord through it all.

If you're a Christian struggling with a trial right now and feel like you've lost your joy, may I offer you some encouragement?  It may not seem like it right now, but with the Holy Spirit's help, you can find joy in Christ.  In fact, during the month of October, I'm going to tackle this very topic with my newest blog series:  "31 Days to Hallway Praise."

My goal is to offer you 31 ideas to help you praise the Lord during hardship.  It won't necessarily be easy, and it will require a lot of work, but I'm convinced that no matter what you're facing right now, you can choose joy.  You can choose to praise God.  You can choose to give thanks, not only for what appears to be good, but also for the very trial itself.

I'm not an expert in praising the Lord during hardship - far from it.  But with the Holy Spirit's help, I know it can be done.

Are you willing to join me on this journey?  If so, I have just one challenge for you today:  decide that you'll finish the challenge, all 31 days.  Some of the assignments might seem simple, especially if they're already part of your normal routines.  Other tasks will be more difficult, but none will be impossible if you rely on the Lord for the strength to do them.

If you're in a season of life where things are going well and you're not facing hardship at the moment, I would still invite you to join us as well!  There is always room to deepen your faith, prepare for the next trial, or become better equipped to help out someone else who is suffering.

This is the post where I will be adding each day's link.  Feel free to check back here any time you want to re-read a day's post or catch up if you fall behind.

One last thing:  will you pray for me as I write out this challenge and go through it with you?  Sometimes it's easy to think that bloggers have everything together, and maybe a few really do.  But I'm not one of them!  I've worked in advance on this project, but it's far from finished.  I'm eager to see how the Lord uses this in both your life and my own.  But I'm also nervous about committing to writing each day for 31 days straight, too.  Your prayers mean the world to me and will help me to stay diligent to this commitment.

I'm so excited about this 31-day challenge.  Let's do this together!

Day 1:  Pray without ceasing

Day 2:  Memorize Scripture

Day 3:  Keep A Gratitude Journal

Day 4:  Make Your Bed

Day 5:  Fix Your Eyes on Christ

Day 6:  Drink Water

Day 7:  Stay in Church

Day 8:  Make Time for Exercise

Day 9:  Read the Psalms

Day 10:  Participate in A Bible Study

Day 11:  Do Something Lovely

Day 12:  Find Your Paul

Day 13:  Find Your Timothy

Day 14:  Find Your Barnabas

Day 15:  Clean Something

Day 16:  Be Thankful for Your Glass

Day 17:  Know Your Enemy

Day 18:  Find Bible Characters You Resonate With

Day 19:  Serve In Some Capacity

Day 20:  Try Something New

Day 21:  Read Revelation

Day 22:  Remember Christ's Sacrifice

Day 23:  Sing Out Loud

Day 24:  Declutter

Day 25:  Read Missionary Stories

Day 26:  Read Uplifting Books

Day 27:  Read Uplifting Blogs

Day 28:  Read Through Hymns

Day 29:  Remain Faithful

Day 30:  Choose to Wait Well

Day 31:  Track Your Progress

Linking up at Faith 'N Friends, Fresh Market Friday, Grace and Truth, and Sitting Among Friends.

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Has Healthy Living Become Your Savior?

Note:  Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  You can read my disclosure policy here.

When Turbo first got sick, it was only natural that I started researching healthy living in the hopes that it would heal him.  We were told over and over that Type 1 Diabetes is incurable, but I thought surely there were ways we could help him manage his disease in addition to his injected insulin!

I'm not actually sure what it was I hoped to find when I started looking into natural remedies.  I read incredible stories of people being miraculously healed from all manner of illness that people attributed to this diet or that essential oil.  And I desperately longed for the same for Turbo.

I honestly love the concepts behind healthy living and natural remedies (though I'm just as grateful for Western Medicine, too - it saved Turbo's life).  The minute we start putting our faith into healthy living instead of the One who gives us life, however, we give it too much credence, and we begin to look to it to save us.

Trying to live as healthfully as possible is a great ambition.  Especially when we remember that we are God's temples and should treat our bodies with great care and respect (see 1 Corinthians 6:19), it only makes sense that we should pursue natural options whenever possible.  I fully embrace the desire to use natural remedies and encourage others to embark on a journey toward a healthy lifestyle.

But we can't forget that God is the ultimate healer.  He may choose to work through natural remedies; He may choose to work through pharmaceuticals; or - as difficult as this may be - He may choose not to heal.  We need to be prepared to accept whatever it is that the Lord has for us.

So, I would encourage you:  yes, pursue a lifetime of healthy living.  Study it; research it; learn about it.  But don't put your faith in a type of lifestyle over your faith in the Lord.  Only He can save, both physically and spiritually.

Related:  Food Is Not Your God

Linking up at Faith 'N Friends, Grace and Truth, and Sitting Among Friends.

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Is Your Prayer Life Missing this KEY Ingredient?

Prayer is my number-one go-to for everything.  When my marriage is suffering, I pray.  When financial crisis hits, I pray.  When I'm struggling in my parenting, I pray.  When I offer a list of suggestions to my readers, you can bet that the first item is prayer.

I would consider myself somewhat of a prayer warrior, not because I pray well or long (so-called 'Nehemiah prayers' my usual style), but because I have an active prayer life.  I'm willing to pray about anything, any time, and anywhere.  And I know that many other Christians are right there with me in their eagerness and willingness to pray.

But even though I've prayed frequently for many years now, it wasn't until very recently that the Lord opened my eyes to the fact that my prayers were missing a key ingredient.  Honestly, I was shocked to learn that I was neglecting something so important!

You see, when people asked me to pray, whether it was for healing from an illness, for respite from a financial squeeze, or for something that they needed, I was only too happy to rush into prayer and as that God would heal/provide/supply.  And I would try to pray frequently for those same needs until the Lord took care of the situation.

But there was something clearly missing from my prayers.

I had neglected to pray that, until the Lord chose to remove the hardship, He would deepen their faith in the waiting.  Maybe you've been faithful to pray for people's spiritual growth in addition to asking the Lord to remove their thorns, but I never thought to do so until just a few months ago.

If God allows us to go through trials to refine us (and He does - see Zechariah 13:9), and I don't pray that the trials at hand would work in us the refinement He has planned, I'm missing a crucial part of prayer.  Hardships are, by far, the biggest cause of spiritual growth in my own life, and I've heard others say the same.

So, I've started praying differently.  While I still ask that the Lord would bring relief from hardship, I first ask that He would bring about increased faith, spiritual growth, and a closer relationship with Him before I ask for Him to remove the trial. 

I pray this way both for myself and for others.  And you know what?  It's transformed both my prayer life and my entire spiritual walk.  I now look forward to seeing how the Lord will increase my faith and the faith of those I'm praying for.  That doesn't mean I enjoy trials, but there's a new sweetness to trials when they come that helps to cover the bitterness of hardship.

Maybe you've been praying only for the removal of difficulty, just like I was.  Will you be bold with me and ask for the Lord to bring about spiritual growth while He allows your hardship to last?  It's not an easy way to pray, but I've been amazed at how the Lord has grown me as a result of this way of praying!

Your turn:  How do you normally pray?  Are you like I was - just asking for the removal of a hardship - or are you already going deeper and praying for spiritual growth while the trial lasts?

What Will You Do with Your Mites?

I've always been fascinated by the unnamed woman in Luke 21 who put two mites into the offering.  Jesus tells us that in doing so, she gave all she had to the Lord.  She kept nothing back.

What fascinates me most about her - beyond the fact that she would willingly give her life's savings to God - is the fact that she didn't consider the meager amount as being too small to be used by God.  I'm sure she had no idea that her Savior was watching or that her story would be told in God's Word for thousands of generations to come.  She simply obeyed in faith.

Last week, my blogging friend Jen shared that her family is facing serious medical trials which are resulting in a financial need.  When she asked if I would be willing to donate anything to an online fundraiser, I truly wanted to help - especially since our own family and friends had put together a fundraiser to purchase Turbo's insulin pump a couple of years ago.

As I thought about what I had to offer, though, my excitement waned.  I didn't really have much.  I've only written one ebook, and it's not very long.  Although I put my best effort into it, it seemed as if it were too small to be used by God.  And so I hesitated.

In other words, I did the exact opposite of the widow with her two mites!

Thankfully, the Lord can work around our shortcomings and hesitancy.  Another blogger with more capabilities than I have suggested that we all contribute to an ebook bundle to offer for the fundraiser.  She put everything together, and now several of us can contribute more collectively than we ever would have been able to on our own!  (Isn't that how the Body of Christ is supposed to work?)

Each of us is given different gifts, abilities, and talents.  There are no two of us alike in capabilities.  It's easy to convince ourselves that we don't have anything of value to offer or that because we're not as gifted as someone else, we can't contribute to a need.  This is what I did when my friend first asked me about helping her family.

But God is greater than our limitations and isn't held back by what we can't do.  Just as He worked it out for me to help my friend in a way that I never would have thought of on my own, He can use your abilities for His glory, too.

I did pray and ask the Lord to show me how I could help, but I didn't pray in faith.  I didn't really expect Him to open up an opportunity, yet that's just what He did.  Next time I want to serve someone, my goal is to pray in faith that God will make it possible.

Do you struggle to believe that the Lord can use you?  Do you hesitate to offer help simply because you're unsure of what you can offer?  We can ask the Lord to use our mites just as He used the widow's.  As my friend loves to say, "we serve a loaves and fishes God."  He can take the smallest offering and enlarge it to God-sized proportions. 

What an amazing God we serve!

Related:  If you have means and feel so led, here is a link to my friend Jen's fundraiser.  (All proceeds go directly to the family's medical needs.)  You can click through to learn more about her son's medical needs.  Although this fundraiser is for a different son, one of her children also has Type 1 Diabetes, which, of course, is very dear to my heart!  Please keep this precious family in your prayers, that God would grow their faith as a result of their trials, and that they would fully lean on Him.

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Are You Making This Biblical Parenting Mistake?

Are you making this biblical parenting mistake?

Jon and I have tried to Biblically parent our spark plugs from the day our oldest was born.  We've shared the Gospel with them.  We've taken them to church consistently.  We've worked hard to train them diligently.  We've interacted with each of them on a daily basis.  And we've prayed over them.

From the above list, you might start thinking that we've gotten this Biblical parenting all figured out.  That we're doing a great job with our kids.  That we're super-parents in the Biblical-parenting world.  But we're not - not at all.

But a few years ago, the Lord opened my eyes to the fact that I was making a HUGE Biblical parenting mistake.

I thought I had to prove to the world that Biblical parenting works.  And I mistakenly believed that I had to prove it by forcing my kids to behave.  All the time.  In every situation.  At home and outside.

Friends, this is not Biblical parenting.

Sadly, I know of several parents who are not parenting Biblically because they're either too lenient with their children or aren't investing the needed quality time in their kids.  But I also have a feeling that I'm not the only parent who's gone too far in the opposite direction under the misguided notion that we somehow have to prove that God's parenting methods as taught in His Word really work.

In trying to get my spark plugs to behave all the time, my parenting was lacking grace.  And in not giving grace to my little ones, I also wasn't giving them a correct view of the Gospel.

The good news of the Gospel is full of God's grace.  If there were no grace, there would be no Gospel, no redemption, so salvation from sin.  If the ultimate goal of Biblical parenting is to reach our children's hearts for Christ, then we must be sure we're not letting our parenting get in the way of the Gospel.

So, what do you do if you realize that you're making a parenting mistake in your attempt to train up your kids Biblically?  When the Lord opened my eyes to my lack of grace, He also gave me the tools I needed to begin changing my habits (prayer, His Word, and the Holy Spirit's help).  He's given you the exact same tools as well.

Two of my favorite written resources at the moment are Proverbs and Count to Nine by Ruthie Gray.  They both have been helpful in my journey toward becoming a more gracious mom.

Parenting with grace doesn't mean that I give up on disciplining them when they disobey.  But it does mean that I'm trying to be more understanding of things like illness and fatigue that might cause a child to act out.  I'm constantly reminding myself that my kids aren't going to behave every moment of every day because we're all still batting our sin natures, myself included.  And I'm working on speaking more kindly instead of being sharp-tongued.  I still fail at this often, but I am improving.

Adding more grace to my parenting hasn't been all smooth sailing, but I have made strides toward parenting with grace.  I'm trying to relax and enjoy my children, understanding that they're going to make mistakes as they learn and grow.

It's probably pretty natural to swing between being too lenient and being too strict with our kids.  Each of us will need to keep praying about our parenting efforts, asking the Lord to guide us and correct our own mistakes on either side of that parenting pendulum.

Raising children in a Biblical manner is hard, hard work.  But the end result is completely worth it - not because it guarantees saved kids, but because when we reach Heaven, the Lord will have found us faithful with the little ones He lent us during our lifetime. 

Are you making this biblical parenting mistake?

Why My Heart Wasn't Ready for the Homeschool Year

Note:  Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  You can read my disclosure policy here.

As much as I love homeschooling, I love my summer breaks equally as much.  And for some reason, I just didn't feel ready for the start of the 2016-17 homeschool year.  I changed my mind over and over again on when we'd dive into our studies.  I got all of our curriculum out and ready, calculated dates and holidays, and talked with other homeschool moms.  No matter what I tried, though, I simply felt unprepared for the start of school.

Although I didn't do as much lesson planning this summer as I have in the past, I don't think my hesitancy this year had much to do with a lack of physical planning.  In fact, I think it had everything to do with a lack of spiritual planning.

Truthfully, I didn't adequately prepare my heart.

I didn't pray enough over the start of the year.  I didn't seek the Lord's leading like I should have.  I expected everything to work out on its own without much spiritual effort on my part.

I went into the start of our homeschool year (I finally settled on beginning the day after Labor Day) with some trepidation, but we ended up having a fabulous first day.  Despite the spark plugs' insistence that they don't like studying, the structure, routine, and freshness of the day went a long way toward limiting sibling squabbles and bad attitudes.  And it felt wonderful to me to be actively involved in their day.

As we worked through our Bible curriculum and discovered that our science book from a completely different publisher both started out with the exact same verse, my heart felt light.  Reading aloud to the kids was something I hadn't done much of during the summer, and I found a renewed energy and joy as we journeyed through the first chapter of Prince Caspian.

I may not have prayerfully prepared my heart as I ought to have, but the Lord still worked in all of us to give us an amazing start to this next chapter in our homeschooling journey.

I'm so thankful that God's goodness isn't dependent on our works.  It's true that things are much easier when we choose to actively obey, but He isn't limited by our shortcomings.  I could have avoided several weeks of fretting about the year had I been praying and spiritually preparing, but the Lord still quieted my heart when it came time to begin.

I'm praying that the next time I'm facing a challenge and feel unprepared, I'll remember to spiritually prepare my heart for the situation.

Your turn:  What are you struggling with right now that you simply need to give to God?  Have you been diligent to prepare your heart for the coming season, whatever that might bring?

Linking up at Faith 'N Friends, Fresh Market Friday, Grace and Truth, Moments of Hope, Under the Tree, and Sitting Among Friends.

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How God Enables Us to Forgive After Hardship

Hardship can either help us grow spiritually or make us bitter. What we do with difficulties in our lives is up to us, but how beautiful when we allow God to use hallways for our good!

Today, I'm excited to introduce blogger Jessica Cornell.  She's sharing how God enables us to forgive after hardship if we're willing to let the Holy Spirit work through our trials.

Hardship and Forgiveness - by Jessica Cornell

What do I know about forgiveness and hardship?  I'm only 26, after all.  What would I know about overcoming obstacles and staring fear in the face and moving past pain?

Well, my childhood, in a nutshell, would be described as lonely.  No one was ever there.  Lots of doors were shut to keep us from bothering anyone.  Separate rooms for the adults (if they were there).  My brothers, sister, and I usually had to break into our own home when we got home from school.  There was never any physical abuse, but there were lots of things I had to overcome from trying to figure things out on my own.

And over time, my heart naturally hardened from the lack of life and love I was surrounded by.  I had to become someone who didn't need anyone else to survive.

Funny enough, we grew up in church.  I always believed in God, but He always seemed so far away or like this God who demanded worship within four walls.  After Sunday, just do whatever you want.  Go ahead and judge.  Go ahead and look down on others for not following certain rules or expectations.  Go ahead and gossip.  Be sure to look nice in service.  In regular life, work as hard as you can to get ahead and leave everyone else behind.

One day, I heard a message that was different than anything else I had ever heard before.  I don't remember what was spoken.  But for the first time, my eyes were opened to how close and personal our precious Father wants to be.  For the first time, I understood how The Lord has been pursuing me from the moment I took my first breath; how He wants to walk with me through everything.

One of the most important things, I believe, that a Christ follower needs to know is that God wants to walk with you in every moment of your life.  You don't have to be a certain way for Him to love you.  You don't have to do certain things for Him to be more pleased with you.  It doesn't mean you can do whatever you want.  The key is getting to know His true nature and things will naturally fall off.

A long time ago, Jesus died on the cross and bore that pain you've been holding on to before you were even formed.  He died and took on the suffering that we really deserve, so that we can have life and peace and joy.  Death couldn't hold Him down and Scripture says that He's sitting at the right hand of the Father, praying for us, on our behalf.  He did it all for you!

It doesn't mean we won't have hardship or go through things.  But we do have a Father that can replace pain with joy and fear for peace that passes all understanding.  So when we understand the heart of the Father, we realize that whoever has caused us pain doesn't know the true nature of our God.  This is where forgiveness comes in.

If we want people to know the Lord, we have to be a mirror image of Him who forgives and loves people exactly where they are at.  This does not come easily, but God is so much bigger than we are and can guide your heart and ways.  You don't even have to do it in your own strength.  It will truly set your heart free of bitterness and pain.

There's nothing better than releasing your hardened heart to the Father.  He knows exactly what to do.  He knows exactly how to heal.  He knows exactly how to love.  And He is everything you need in every moment of your life.  Just ask Him.

Jessica Cornell is fascinated with frugal fashion and has a heart for helping women see themselves as the Lord sees them:  timeless.  You can learn more about the Father's heart for you at You Are Timeless or follow her on Instagram here!  

Linking up at Faith ‘N Friends, Grace and Truth, and Sitting Among Friends.

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When Your Salvation Story Seems Like Nothing Special

Note:  Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  You can read my disclosure policy here.

On the surface, my testimony seems kind of uninspiring.  I grew up in a Christian home.  I was saved when I was five.  I never rebelled and wasn't a terribly difficult teenager.  I met Jon, a nice Christian young man, when I was in high school.  And I "got married and had babies in the proper order," as author Emily Freeman likes to say in her book Grace for the Good Girl.

My story doesn't have elements of an outwardly-dramatic change when I got saved.  I wasn't a hardened criminal or severely depressed or living in deplorable sin before Christ rescued me.  There wasn't a clearly-defined moment when the light suddenly went on about Christ's death and resurrection on the cross.  And while I'm thankful that I didn't have to endure extreme situations before my salvation, it does mean that I sometimes feel as though my salvation story isn't anything special.

But it is.

And if your testimony is similar to mine, maybe you need to know why our stories still echo of a wild rescue that only God could orchestrate and that no man could ever fathom in a thousand lifetimes.  Maybe you need to hear that your story is uniquely special and that God can use it mightily in another person's life.

When I was younger, I told my mom that I felt like my testimony lacked excitement.  That it seemed kind of...boring.  Unexciting.  Dull.

My mom shared a story with me that I'd never heard before.  The pastor of the church we attended at the time, along with another man from the church, went to the local prison to share their testimonies with the inmates.  Our pastor had lived a rough life before he was saved, so his testimony was one of those amazing, dramatic stories of God rescuing someone from deplorable conditions.  But one of the inmates was completely unmoved despite hearing how the Lord had miraculously rescued our pastor from his sinful life.

So, the man who had accompanied the pastor shared his testimony, too.  "I don't have anything spectacular to tell you," the man said.  "I grew up in a Christian home.  I attended church with my parents every Sunday.  And when I was little, I gave my life to Christ.  I've tried to live a Godly life ever since."

At that, the prisoner asked how to be saved.  "I've heard that God can save someone like me," he explained.  "But I needed to believe in a God who could save someone from ever becoming like me in the first place."

I loved hearing that story as a child, because it opened my eyes to the fact that God really can use anything for His purposes.  But even so, there's a bigger reason why no salvation story is ever mundane, flat, or boring:  No matter how "good" you think you are or how "decent" the world views you, you are still a sinner on a direct line to hell whose only hope of rescue is Christ's shed blood on the cross.

If your salvation story seems uninspiring, it's because you have too grand a view of yourself and too small a view of God.

That might sting a little.  It did when I realized that it was true of myself.  I thought of my self-righteousness as somehow meriting me more favor with God than someone who had lived a very wayward life.  Thus, my salvation seemed less amazing in my own eyes.  Praise the Lord, though, that He doesn't base His salvation on our works but solely on His mercy.

When it comes to God's standard, I fall just as short as anyone else.  And when I contemplate my fallenness in light of His perfectness, I begin to see just how much I needed to be saved.  I begin to understand the absolute miracle that my salvation truly is.

And suddenly, my salvation story takes on a magnificence and brilliance I've never fully grasped before.  I know yours can do the same.

Your turn:  What is your salvation story like?  Is it easy to see God's miraculous hand in your life?  If you've not placed your trust in Christ's work on the cross, I'd invite you to learn more here.

Related:  Kara shares her struggle with testimony envy.

Linking up at Faith 'N Friends, Fresh Market Friday, Grace and Truth, Moments of Hope, Under the Tree, and Sitting Among Friends.

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What's Your Inner Susan Boyle?

Some years ago, an unknown, homely spinster stepped onto the stage of Britain's Got Talent.  Her awkward personality didn't help the audience expect anything amazing from this quirky, unattractive woman.  And when she confessed her inner dream to sing like Elaine Page (please tell me I'm not the only one who had to look up Elaine Page on Youtube!), everyone laughed at her.

Until, that is, she sang her first note.

No one would have ever guessed that underneath the cheeky, socially-awkward demeanor was a voice so stunning that she would receive a standing ovation and become a world sensation.  By now, most people have at least heard the name Susan Boyle even if they've not heard her sing.  (You can see her "I Dreamed A Dream" debut here.)

I don't think it was Ms. Boyle's singing talent alone that got everyone's attention.  I think what really drew people to her was the possibility that perhaps they, too, had a dormant inner talent just waiting to bloom.

Last month, I had the amazing privilege of guest-posting for Money Saving Mom.  My article was great fun to write, and I was over the moon when she accepted it.  But what really caught my attention was one of the comments someone wrote at the end of the post.

One reader asked, "If we've paid off debt, are saving for the future, and living comfortably, what do we do next?"  It was a fantastic question.

My response to Sarah was this:  "What is your secret dream?  What is it that you really want to do but are afraid to start?  Do that."

Many of us, if not most, have a tiny dream that we'd love to do "someday."  But we laugh at ourselves for even thinking about such a silly-sounding, crazy idea.  And if we're laughing at ourselves for being so outlandish, surely everyone else would laugh at us, too, if they knew what we really dreamed about doing.

Or would they?

A more important question than asking if the world would laugh at you about your secret hope, however, would be to ask, "What if God gave me this desire?  What if He's the One prompting me?"  Because if the Lord is behind it, why are you ignoring it, squelching it, or saving it for the inevitable 'someday'?

Jon and I have a dream, too:  we want to start our own business so that he can work from home.  There's more to it than that, but that's the basic passion that the Lord has given us right now.  It sounded silly when we first said it out loud, and truthfully, it seemed impossible that we could build our own business without going into debt.

But guess what?  Today is launch day!  We built a company called Canvas Gadget that provides affordable 3D marketing (Jon's a 3D modeler, so it makes sense that we'd design something in the 3D world) to small businesses.  We couldn't be happier.  While it may or may not be the job that lets Jon work from home someday, just the fact that we finished something is completely amazing to us.

Your dream probably isn't to start an online 3D business.  It probably isn't to sing on a stage in front of thousands of people.  But I would bet that you do have a dream, and it's quite possible that it's something the Lord has been laying on your heart.

It's not silly.  It's not crazy.  And it shouldn't stay dormant.

We never would have known who Susan Boyle was if she'd' never decided to try out for a well-known talent show.  I'm sure she was nervous, but she did it anyway.  It's not always easy to step out in faith.  And just because Ms. Boyle saw immediate success doesn't mean that you and I will.  But I believe it's still worth the risk.

Your turn:  Do you have a goal or dream that you've kept to yourself?  If you're willing to share it, I'd love to hear about it!  Need help with planning out steps for that dream?  The Brilliant Business Moms group on Facebook is a great place to start!

Related:  Kali from Joy for Each Step asks, "What's Your Olympic-Sized Dream?"

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When Your Mama Heart Hurts

Three weeks ago at his endocrine appointment, I had to sit and watch as two nurses spent an agonizing 7 minutes trying to insert a blood-draw needle into Turbo's vein.  It was awful.  They took turns twisting, pinching, poking, and prodding, and all I could do was wait until they finally were able to obtain the needed blood samples.

It wasn't that they were bad at their jobs; sometimes, pediatric veins just don't cooperate right away.  I understand that.  Even so, it was almost unbearable for me to watch.  I can't even imagine what it would have been like to be him.

Watching your child go through a hallway of his own brings pain unparalleled by anything else (well, watching your spouse hurt is pretty gut-wrenching, too).  You want nothing more than to ease his pain, to take his pain yourself, to do anything to help.  And often, there's nothing that we as mothers can physically do.

What to do when your mama heart hurts

Even when we can't intervene physically when our children are going through a hardship, there's a lot spiritually that we can do.

Pray for and with your child

We can always pray, no matter what the situation.  When your child is sick or hurting, pray for him.  Pray with him.  And ask other believers to join you in prayer.

When Turbo was first diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, we desperately needed prayer.  I'm not the biggest fan of social media, but I do know it can be used for good.  Even though I dislike making big announcements on Facebook without telling close family and friends something in person first, I knew I just needed people to start praying.  So, I left a status update, briefly explaining his diagnosis, and asked for prayer.

Within seconds, people started flooding my page with support, Scripture references, and notes letting me know that they were praying.  I felt a weight lifted.

Encourage your child with Scripture

Once Turbo was home from the hospital, I shared with him Psalm 39:14 - "I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well."

I wanted Turbo to know that God makes no mistakes.  He still made Turbo just as He wanted even though Turbo's pancreas no longer functions the way God originally designed it to.

Scripture is an excellent source of encouragement for believers.  Even if your child is young, reading God's Word to him can be incredibly uplifting.  Our little ones need to find hope in God, too.  Scripture isn't just for adults.

Use the opportunity to share the Gospel

Can you use your child's hardship as an opportunity to either share the Gospel with him or remind him of the glories of Heaven?  Not all trials will naturally lend themselves to this kind of discussion, but many of them will.  Why not take the opportunity?

One of my little ones hasn't handled my grandpa's death very well.  Honestly, I still struggle with missing him, too.  It's opened up room for conversations about salvation, Heaven, and what the Bible teaches us about life after death.  Losing a loved one is always difficult, but it can bring about good things, too, if we look for them.

Remember that God gives grace to your child, just as He gives grace to you

One of the awful side effects of diabetes is frequent nausea.  I have an extreme phobia of all upset-stomach-related issues, so when I see my kiddo suffering from what is absolutely deplorable to me, it's really, really hard for me to watch him suffer through it.

Scripture isn't for adults only, and thankfully, neither is God's grace.  Just as God gives me grace to endure through difficulties, He gives the same needed grace to my little ones.  Turbo handles almost all of his medical issues like a champ.  That's the Lord's grace at work, and God can do the same for your child, too.

Be thankful that mercies are new every morning

I'm beyond grateful that the Lord gives us new mercy each and every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).  When we've had a bad day due to illness or hardship, it's such an encouragement to think that God is giving us new mercy.  I've had to cling to that promise over and over again, and He has always come through with just what I've needed for the day.

We can remind our children that His mercy is new every morning, too.  Together, we can have hope that the Lord will give us renewed hope, encouragement, and energyto face whatever the coming day will bring.  We are never without the Lord's care and protection.

Watching one our children hurt is one of the hardest things we have to face as parents.  When your mama heart hurts for your son or daughter, you may not be able to offer physical comfort.  But you can pray for your child, encourage him with Scripture, share the Gospel, cling to God's grace, and thank the Lord for His daily mercies.

Your turn:  What do you do when your mama heart hurts?

Note:  this post is the first in a series called "When Your Mama Heart Hurts."  You can find the other posts in the series here:

• 3 Ways to Pray When Your Mama Heart Hurts
• 6 Things to Do When Your Mama Heart Hurts
• Verses to Memorize When Your Mama Heart Hurts

When your mama heart hurts

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What Phil Robertson Taught Me About Biblical Parenting

I'm on the fence about the (in)famous hit TV show Duck Dynasty.  I love that there's a family show where every episode ends with prayer.  Even though it's touted as a Christian show, though, a lot of the content is not family friendly, in my opinion.  But despite my hesitancy to endorse it, I was surprised to find a few hidden Biblical parenting gems in this odd television series.

3 Things About Biblical Parenting that Phil Robertson Taught Me

1.  You don't have to be limited by your past failures

Many people know about Phil's rough past:  how he nearly abandoned his wife and kids in favor of drinking and homelessness.  His parenting skills were deplorable, at best.  And yet, when the Lord mercifully saved him, Phil turned his life around completely with the Holy Spirit's help and is now loved and respected by both his kids and grandkids.

This should be great news for any of us who have been less-than-stellar parents in the past.  I personally have been too critical and too apt to yell at my kids.  I haven't encouraged or praised my little ones nearly enough.  But praise the Lord, I'm seeing growth in myself as I turn over my frustration to Him and lean on the Spirit's leading.

2.  Pray in front of your kids

During one episode of Duck Dynasty, Phil goes on an outing with one of his grandsons and his grandson's girlfriend.  I don't remember much about the episode except for one part where Phil prays for his grandson's purity...right in front of his grandson.  Actually, I would have completely missed that parenting moment had Jon not mentioned, "wow, I bet that's powerful to hear your parent or grandparent praying like that right in front of you."

Maybe this isn't a new concept for you, but for me, it was huge.  Not only was Phil faithful to pray for his grandchildren, but he prayed right in front of them.  His grandson wouldn't have any misunderstandings of what was expected of his conduct, and I have a feeling that Phil's prayer would be ringing in his ear if he were ever tempted to try something that wasn't in keeping with God's view of marriage.

So, Jon and I have been making it a habit not only to pray for our kids, but to pray in front of them, too.  We'd always prayed with them - teaching them how to pray themselves - but when our kids hear us praying for them to be sensitive to the Lord's leading, to obey, and to be gracious, we hope it even further encourages our children to follow the Lord.

3.  You never know who is watching

As I mentioned, I'm not sold on the Duck Dynasty show, and I've not seen every episode.  But I happened to catch this particular one.  Phil Robertson doesn't even know I exist, and yet the Lord used him to teach me several valuable parenting lessons.  The point is, Phil wasn't aware of how far-reaching his parenting (or, in this case, grand-parenting) would be.  He was simply doing what he felt God leading him to do.

In all likelihood, we won't know the far-reaching effects of our own parenting, either.  But if we're faithful to do what the Lord has called us to do, He can use our meager attempts at obedience to reach the world for Christ.

I learned three valuable parenting lessons from Phil Robertson, of all people: not to be limited by past failures; to pray in front of our children; and to realize that we don't know who is watching.

Phil wasn't the most stellar example of a Godly husband and father, at least not in his early years.  But God used him, broken and all.  That means that the Lord can use you and me, too, no matter how many times we mess up in our parenting attempts.  He is God, and He can fix our brokenness and use it for good in our own lives, in our children's lives, and in the lives of those around us.

What Phil Robertson taught me about Biblical parenting

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Is Your Hallway Stealing Your Joy?

Note:  Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  You can read my disclosure policy here.

Hallways.

Hardships.

Trials.

Waiting.

I've noticed that whenever I'm going through an unpleasant season, my positive outlook on life tends to dim.  But as a Christian, I should be joyful.  My sins are forgiven and I get to spend Eternity in Heaven.  And I'm commanded to rejoice always (1 Thess. 5:16).  Even so, sometimes the cares of this world seem so big that I lose sight of all my blessings.

When I take my eyes off Christ and focus on the waves instead, I instantly lose my joy.

Is your hallway stealing your joy, too?  Although this is still an area I struggle in, here are three things I'm doing to help combat the loss of joy during a hallway:

Memorize verses on joy.

The Bible is full of references to joy.  In Galatians, we learn that joy is a fruit of the Spirit, meaning that believers should be growing in joy.  1 Thessalonians 5 commands us to rejoice and to give thanks in all circumstances. These are probably the most well-known verses on joy, but have you ever gone through the Bible to see how often the words "joy," "joyful," and "rejoicing" appear?  There are hundreds of references to joy!

If you're going through a really, really hard time where your joy is severely squelched or almost nonexistent, I'd encourage you to memorize 5 verses on joy.  Read them daily.  Write them out on index cards to carry with you.  Study them.  Dwell on them.  Put them into practice.  Even if you don't feel very joyful, memorizing Scripture that talks about joy is a great first step toward cultivating joy.

James 1:2 is one of the best verses to memorize about cultivating joy during hardship.  "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience."  Although it doesn't come easily to us, we can count even our trials as joy because the Holy Spirit helps us to do it.  I really should write this one on my bathroom mirror where I'll see it every day!

Keep a gratitude journal.

Although I kept journals on and off throughout grade school, I mostly jotted down random things that happened during the day.  There really wasn't much purpose or direction to my journaling other than helping me to write consistently.

More recently, I've started keeping a gratitude journal.  As the name implies, it's just a place to record things I'm grateful for.  I simply keep a daily record of one or two things I'm thankful for each morning.  Some days, it's easy to come up with numerous things to write down, but on the tough days, this practice forces me to find at least one benefit even when one isn't immediately apparent.

Another benefit to keeping a gratitude journal is that on those hard days where I don't feel very joyful, I can read through previous days and remember God's goodness toward me.  This almost always inspires me to find something good about the hard days, too.

For my gratitude journal, I simply picked up a $0.50 ruled notebook from Wal-Mart during a back-to-school sale.  If you need something prettier, you might want something like Crystal Paine's Gratitude Journal.  What you use isn't important - you just need to use it consistently.

Choose to be cheerful.

At my bridal shower a couple of months before Jon and I got married, my great aunt gave me some of the best advice I've ever received.  "There will be hard times in life," she wrote on the inside of a card.  "You may not always be happy, but you can choose to be cheerful."  I knew that my aunt had been through several devastating life experiences.  If she could choose cheerfulness, almost anyone could.

It's not easy to deliberately decide to take on a positive disposition, especially when life hurts.  But the Bible commands us to rejoice, and the Holy Spirit will enable us to obey.  If we choose to focus on the blessings instead of the brokenness, we will reap joy.  We can choose to be cheerful, but for many of us, it must be a conscious choice.  It won't happen by accident.

In this life, we will always have hallways of one sort or another.  But as we grow spiritually, we can learn to rejoice through them by keeping our eyes on Christ.  Memorizing verses on joy, keeping a gratitude journal, and choosing to be cheerful are three great ways to rejoice in the hallway.

Your turn:  What do you do to choose joy when life is hard?

Related:  Need some help managing your time while you're waiting for a hallway to end?  Subscribe below to get your copy of The Waiting Well Planner!

Christian Blogger, Are You Making These Fatal Mistakes?

Note:  Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  You can read my disclosure policy here.

Dear Christian Blogger,

When my friend Kristin from The Peculiar Treasure shared how blogging is not just her hobby - it's her passion - she struck a chord with me.  I've fallen in love with blogging and hope to make it my long-term ministry.  It really is an amazing platform.  I mean, what else gives you the open-ended opportunity to share about your faith, strengthen other believers, and encourage people around the globe?

As much as I love this amazing thing called blogging, though, I've begun to notice the traps it creates in my life.  As my little blog grows, even slowly, I'm seeing the demands it's placing on me.  And I'll bet other bloggers are struggling with the same things.  So, I have three heart-felt questions to ask you today:

Christian blogger, are you skipping personal time with the Lord in order to meet all of your blogging obligations?

Dear sweet sister in Christ, nothing, absolutely nothing, should ever get in the way of your daily quiet time.  If you're not filling yourself with God's Word, how can you hope to edify others?  If you're not spending time in prayer, how can you encourage your readers to do so?

Spending time with our Savior must come before any blogging endeavor, no matter how noble your post topic might seem.  Ironically, we can't be good mothers without spending time in God's Word for the same reasons.  If we're not filling up on God's Word, we won't be able to fully help our little ones grow in Godliness, either.

Christian blogger, are you shortening quality time with your family due to blogging deadlines?

I hate to admit it, but I find it really easy to just tell my kiddos to play a game or watch Curious George while I finish "this last blogging task" that inevitably leads to "just one more" and then "just one more after that."  I'm finding that I need to consciously set hours - preferably when my littles are napping - to work on my blog.  Once I've used up my time, I need to be done for the day.

Because I enjoy writing so much, this is SUCH a struggle for me!  I love all things writing- and faith-related, so when I get to combine those two things with blogging, choosing to willfully set that hobby-turned-ministry aside is really, really difficult for me!

But my spark plugs need me to be mentally present, not just physically seated in the same room with them.  They need my full attention when they ask me questions and show me their accomplishments.  There can and should be time for me to work on my blog, but I have to limit it in order to be fully present for my kids.  After all, they are my greatest mission field!

Christian blogger, are you evading your Sabbath rest just so you can keep up with the social media demands that blogging brings?

It has become so, so easy today to skip God's commandment to rest.  Stores are now open on Sundays; Amazon will even deliver many items on Sundays via the United States Postal Service!  No one blinks an eye when we work on Sundays.  Not many people notice if you don't take that commanded day of rest.

But God sees.  When we honor Him by taking a day of rest once a week, He is glorified in that.  When we skip this rest, we miss out on something beautiful that God designed as a gift for our benefit.  We're stealing from ourselves a blessing that He longs for us to enjoy.

I recently began setting aside one day a week where I am completely free from my computer (including my phone).  I spend the day reading, napping, and catching up on things that I'm normally too busy to enjoy.  Sure, I'm not being productive in the sense that I'm not writing blog posts or growing my social media presence, but that day of rest has been beneficial in ways I would 't have dreamed of.

I'm able to catch up on reading that encourages my spiritual growth.  I'm catching up on physical rest that I don't get during the rest of the week.  When I return to my blog the next day, I'm more eager than ever to accomplish my tasks.  Most importantly, I'm setting an excellent example for my children to follow.

So, Christian blogger, I have to ask: are you making any of these mistakes?  If so, they may cost you much more than you ever realize right now.  I'm struggling right along with you, and I know that none of us is going to perfectly overcome these stumbling blocks all the time.

But let's work together to keep one another accountable in these areas.  Let's aim for a deeper walk with Christ by being faithful in reading the Word, giving our best time to our families, and in taking our Sabbath rest.  Let's take the blogging world by storm, knowing that we're well-rested and that we have our priorities in order!

Your turn:  What good things in your life get in the way of what's best?  What are your best strategies for overcoming them?

Bonus!!  Are you looking for an affordable, comprehensive blogging class for beginners?  If so, you'll want to check out Abby Lawson's Building A Framework course.  I've taken a few classes from Abby, and I love her heart, her authenticity, and her clarity.  Everything she does is expertly done and highly valuable.   I love that this course is affordable and geared for the beginning blogger.  Abby shares a wealth of knowledge on finding your niche, earning an income, improving your photography skills, and much more.  If your budget doesn't have a lot of wiggle room but you really want someone to walk you through the important components of blogging, this just might be the class for you!

How To Implement Biblical Parenting

How to implement Biblical parenting

"Be consistent.  Follow through.  Be diligent.  Don't give up." Most of us have probably been told one (or all!) of the above in relation to parenting.  We know we're supposed to be consistent and thorough.  But how do we go about doing it, exactly?

Even if you know what Biblical parenting is, it may not be as easy to figure out how to implement it.  It wasn't for me, anyway.  I knew that the Bible commands parents to train up their children in the admonition of the Lord, but I wasn't sure how to do that.

It took a lot of prayer, reading God's Word, talking with Jon and other mature Christian parents, and consuming Biblical parenting books before I started to truly understand how to implement Biblical parenting.  Now that I have a clearer picture of what God' Word teaches about parenting, I want to share several keys for implementing and following through with Biblical parenting.

3 keys to help you implement Biblical parenting:

• Require immediate obedience
• Require complete obedience
• Require a good attitude

"Obey right away, all the way, with a happy heart" is a popular saying among Christian parents today.  It sums up pretty well the things we hope to teach our children, and all three points come right from God's Word.

Require immediate obedience

The Lord requires immediate obedience.  We see this over and over in the Old Testament when God led His chosen people Israel to the Promised Land.  If God is that serious about immediate obedience, we as parents should be serious about it, too.  After all, our goal in Biblical parenting is to help train our children to be sensitive to the Lord's leading, so this is a perfect place to start doing just that.

Require complete obedience

Not only does God require immediate obedience, but He also expects complete obedience.  King Saul lost the kingship when he didn't fully obey God's command to put all of the Amalakites to death!  Partial obedience is disobedience, so we need to train little ones how to obey fully.

Require a good attitude

The Lord longs for us to have good attitudes.  "Rejoice always...in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thes. 5:16, 18).  Keeping a good attitude is not easy, but we are commanded to do it.  So, again, we need to train our kids to have good attitudes even when they have to do things they may not like.  Most children aren't born with a love for picking up, but we can teach them to have a good attitude even when they'd rather be doing something else.

While having well-behaved children might be a perk of Biblical parenting, it should never be the sole objective.  Does that sound weird to you?  If so, let me explain.  The greatest objective of Biblical parenting is to teach children to be sensitive to God's Word.  And the way we do that is by requiring immediate and complete obedience, coupled with a good attitude.

Teaching our kids to obey right away, all the way, and with a happy heart is a great goal, but we still haven't really addressed how to do this.  Again, there are three keys for teaching them.

3 keys to help you follow through with Biblical parenting:

• Use a motivating consequence
• Reward obedience
• Set a Godly example

Use a motivating consequence

Using a motivating consequence isn't a popular choice in today's parenting strategies.  But God's Word - specifically, Proverbs - is very clear that Biblical parenting involves consequences for actions, specifically negative correction for disobedience.  A few things I've learned over the years:  the consequence should be quick and fitting.

The goal for negative reinforcement should be immediate repentance.  Because sin and disobedience break fellowship with the Lord (this is true for adults as well as children), it also breaks fellowship with other believers.  So, when a child disobeys, he injures his relationship with God and with his parents.  Because repentance can restore those relationships, we want our kids to repent as quickly as possible.

Note:  remember that the child's disobedience, not the parents' subsequent punishment, is what breaks fellowship.  If we choose not to properly punish our children's sin, we as parents are disobeying God's direct commandment and are in sin ourselves.

Reward obedience

Rewarding obedience is the other half of using motivating consequences.  The Lord rewarded those who obeyed Him: Abraham was given the Covenant; Joshua was allowed to enter the Promised Land; and David was given the kingdom - all for their faithfulness.  When our children are obedient, we need to reward them.  Sometimes the rewards can be big, but many times just a simple hug or word of affirmation does the most good.

Set a Godly example

Above all else, the greatest thing we can do for our children is to set a Godly example for them to follow.  We need to live in such a way that our kids see us obeying the Lord right away, all the way, and with a joyful spirit.  And when we sin by not doing one of those things, our littles need to see us repenting before God.

Even though Jon and I have learned a lot about Biblical parenting and now have many years of parenting under our belts, that doesn't mean we always lead our kids in a Christ-honoring way.  We're both still very human and still very prone to our own sin natures.  My point for writing this post is NOT to say that we've got everything down perfectly or that you need to do exactly what we do in your parenting efforts.  My hope is to share with you the Biblical guidelines that we follow to offer encouragement and clarity as you raise your own little ones.

There is so much that goes into Biblical parenting, but the Bible really does give us clear-cut advice on how to raise our children in a way that pleases Him.  We are to require immediate, complete obedience and a good attitude.  We can motive our children with negative consequences, positive reward, and Godly examples to follow.

And we can do all of this with Micah 6:8 in mind: "He has shown you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"  If we keep this verse at the forefront of our minds as we parent out little ones, we can be confident that we are raising our kids the way the Lord wants us to.

How to implement Biblical parenting

It's Here: The (FREE!) Waiting Well Planner!

Do you have a hard time managing your minutes?  I certainly do.  I'll hop onto Face Book "just for a minute," and before I know it, 20 minutes or more have gone by.  When I know I need to leave for an appointment in an hour, I end up wasting most of that hour, knowing that I have to leave soon.  Both of these are prime examples of how poorly I plan my time.

I've long loved the idea of using a planner, but I haven't found one that met my specific needs.  Namely, I needed something that covered homeschooling, business, and homemaking.  More than that, I wanted a daily planner - one that gave me a fresh sheet to use each day instead of one that had the entire week squashed into a page.  But I also needed something simple; I've seen planners that cover so much that I'd get overwhelmed and just give up using it all together.

Since what I was after didn't seem to exist, I decided to create my own!  Had I known how much time and effort I'd need to put into creating even a simple planner, I might never have started this project, but now that it's complete, it feels great to have created something that will be invaluable to me.

And I'm super excited to share the new Waiting Well Planner with you!

This planner is an academic, daily time-block style planner, meaning that it runs August 2016 to July 2017 with daily pages for planning out your schedule by the hour.  Other benefits of the Waiting Well Planner include:

• Simple:  Keep track of all your basics like goal setting, menu planning, and daily events without getting overwhelmed with unnecessary fluff.
• Affordable:  It's FREE!  Printing costs are your only investment.
• Biblical:  Set spiritual growth goals in addition to academic and business goals.  Keep track of weekly Bible verses and hymns to learn.  Jot down daily gratitudes.
• Versatile:  Print the pages that work for you and skip the ones that don't.  Two options for the daily sheets make this planner easy to tailor to your needs!

If this planner sounds like it would be a blessing to you, it's yours, totally free.  Just fill in the subscription box at the end of this email or the bar at the top of my site, and I'll get it sent right over to you.  It's in a PDF format - all you have to do is print it out.  I've made it as printer-friendly as possible so that you won't spend an arm and a leg on ink.  Pop it into a binder or get it bound at Kinko's, and you'll be set for the year.

Let's make this coming school year our best yet!

Related:  Need a prettier planner or one that covers different items than mine does?  See my post here for other options (and learn about some of my struggles while composing this planner, too!).

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