As I was looking back over the last week of posts, I realized that I threw a lot at you guys (actually vomited might be a better word). So, I've decided to make my Saturday posts something called "The Church Lady Recommends". This will be a listing of all the resources that I suggest each week. Some weeks may be a lot and some weeks maybe one or two items just depending on what was posted that week.
So here goes....
1. Pick up a copy of Ruth: Loss, Love and Legacy by Kelly Minter If you can join us at Cumberland for Bible study on Thursday nights we'd love to have you, if not do it on your own because it's a GREAT study!!!
2. Love Talk for Families by Gary Chapman and Ramon Presson
It's great for dinner time conversations and helps calm the troops as well. You can purchase this online at Christianbook.com
3. Start a daily quiet time. Some very manageable suggestions are:
Believing God by Beth Moore
Whispers of Hope by Beth Moore
No Other gods by Kelly Minter
Me, Myself and Lies by Jennifer Rothschild
A note about the Beth Moore selections, many of her studies have been published in 90 day devotions which is a great way to try one of her studies without the hour a day commitment. While the devotionals can be purchased on her site, the in depth studies, if you choose that route, can only be purchased at LifeWay stores or on their online site.
If you choose to purchase from living proof, click on the store tab on the homepage and then click on the specific category that you need.
4. Donate to the relief efforts in Haiti. There are organizations listed under the Haiti link on the sidebar of the blog.
5. The Power of the Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian is a fabulous resource for praying for your husband!!! In addition to the book, you can purchase prayer cards that have specific topics and corresponding verses already printed on them. Click here to go to Stormie's site.
When you go to her site you will need to click on the bookstore tab, then click on the products tab which will pull down a menu. On the menu, click on the books tab then prayer.
I have personally used all of these resources and they are fabulous!!! They have all been valuable to me at different stages of my life.
If you can't find what you're looking for, please let me know so I can fix my mistakes!! Happy shopping!!!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Simple...
OK, today it's simple. Ladies, if you're married or are in a relationship, this is for you. Times are tough these days and stress levels are high for everyone it seems. SO.... pray for the man in your life!
This is something that I usually do for my husband but never with so much intensity as I have over the last few months. To put it simply, things have been a little crazy stressful at the Brady house.
Depending on the temperature of your marriage at the moment this will either be an easy task or an extremely difficult task. Trust me, I know some days are easier than others. But do it anyway, you'll be glad you did!
At the bottom of this post are the scriptures that I am currently using for my prayers for my husband, please feel free to use them if you want. If you can,find some that are more specific to what your husband is dealing with at the moment, that will make it more meaningful for you.
If you need some help in getting started go to BibleGateway. There is a search bar at the top of the page. Type in a phrase and it will give you Bible references that you can read that pertain to that particular topic. Once you find what you're looking for memorize it and pray it over your husband. Write it on the bathroom mirror or on an index card, basically where ever you'll see it and remember it!
Here are my verses:
"Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men." Proverbs 22:29
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as for working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ that you are serving." Colossians 3:22-24
Good luck and know I'm on my knees right along side you!
This is something that I usually do for my husband but never with so much intensity as I have over the last few months. To put it simply, things have been a little crazy stressful at the Brady house.
Depending on the temperature of your marriage at the moment this will either be an easy task or an extremely difficult task. Trust me, I know some days are easier than others. But do it anyway, you'll be glad you did!
At the bottom of this post are the scriptures that I am currently using for my prayers for my husband, please feel free to use them if you want. If you can,find some that are more specific to what your husband is dealing with at the moment, that will make it more meaningful for you.
If you need some help in getting started go to BibleGateway. There is a search bar at the top of the page. Type in a phrase and it will give you Bible references that you can read that pertain to that particular topic. Once you find what you're looking for memorize it and pray it over your husband. Write it on the bathroom mirror or on an index card, basically where ever you'll see it and remember it!
Here are my verses:
"Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men." Proverbs 22:29
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as for working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ that you are serving." Colossians 3:22-24
Good luck and know I'm on my knees right along side you!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Cheerful givers NEEDED!!!!
I am in the middle of previewing Kelly Minter's study on Ruth for the Bible study that starts on January 21st, (shameless plug, I know!). Anyway, something caught my eye this morning that goes hand in hand with the disaster that has just rocked (no pun intended here..) Haiti.
I have hit the part in Ruth's story where she is gathering grain from Boaz's field so that she and Naomi can have food to eat. This passage hit me in a "punch me in the stomach" kinda way on many levels. So here goes....
"Up to this point we've seen Ruth as committed, loyal, hardworking, and gutsy, but she was very much at the mercy of Boaz and Naomi." In other words, Ruth is poor and doing all that she can in addition to what Boaz has provided her so that she and Naomi can have food. In today's language: they didn't have two pennies to rub together! Go with me here it's kinda complicated but stay with me...
Kelly continues...
"We've focused on the generosity of Boaz who gave of his wealth, but now we see Ruth giving out of her poverty! ...this means we all have something to give even if we're broke or broken." Ruth had brought home the grain that she had gathered PLUS her leftover grain that she didn't eat from her afternoon meal. If that doesn't hit you where it hurts, there's more...
2 Corinthians 9:7-8
"Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."
Here's my tie do everyday life here....
So, I know that things are tight these days especially coming out of the holidays. I get that, I'm living that to be perfectly honest with you. But that being said, please pray about giving to the people in Haiti. That may not be what you want to hear from me right now because you've already heard it from countless sources already. But just hear me out for a second!!! It may be that you can only do a $1 and if that's your case then give it but don't give it out of compulsion or because it looks like the right thing to do. Do it because in your heart you know that "God loves a cheerful giver" and in the grand scheme of things we have been blessed with far more than what we need (we're all busting at the seems with all the things that we wanted or "needed").
One of my friends commented on his Facebook page that if "we donated $10 to the American Red Cross that is the cost of two Starbucks lattes" (thanks, Heath!). That puts it in perspective. Brew your coffee at home for a week instead of making your Starbucks run and donate that to Haiti. That's hard 'cause I LOVE me some Starbucks!!!! If you're one of my Sonic tea drinkin' friends...go without your happy hour tea for a week (I can feel the stares right now!!!) Every little bit helps!!! You don't have to donate wads of cash to make a difference.
So pray about it, decide your amount and then give it away!!! I've posted some links that are taking donations if you need somewhere to give. They're legit, we donate to these organizations as a family.
YOU CAN DO IT CHEERFULLY!!!!! I'll be praying for you!!!
I have hit the part in Ruth's story where she is gathering grain from Boaz's field so that she and Naomi can have food to eat. This passage hit me in a "punch me in the stomach" kinda way on many levels. So here goes....
"Up to this point we've seen Ruth as committed, loyal, hardworking, and gutsy, but she was very much at the mercy of Boaz and Naomi." In other words, Ruth is poor and doing all that she can in addition to what Boaz has provided her so that she and Naomi can have food. In today's language: they didn't have two pennies to rub together! Go with me here it's kinda complicated but stay with me...
Kelly continues...
"We've focused on the generosity of Boaz who gave of his wealth, but now we see Ruth giving out of her poverty! ...this means we all have something to give even if we're broke or broken." Ruth had brought home the grain that she had gathered PLUS her leftover grain that she didn't eat from her afternoon meal. If that doesn't hit you where it hurts, there's more...
2 Corinthians 9:7-8
"Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."
Here's my tie do everyday life here....
So, I know that things are tight these days especially coming out of the holidays. I get that, I'm living that to be perfectly honest with you. But that being said, please pray about giving to the people in Haiti. That may not be what you want to hear from me right now because you've already heard it from countless sources already. But just hear me out for a second!!! It may be that you can only do a $1 and if that's your case then give it but don't give it out of compulsion or because it looks like the right thing to do. Do it because in your heart you know that "God loves a cheerful giver" and in the grand scheme of things we have been blessed with far more than what we need (we're all busting at the seems with all the things that we wanted or "needed").
One of my friends commented on his Facebook page that if "we donated $10 to the American Red Cross that is the cost of two Starbucks lattes" (thanks, Heath!). That puts it in perspective. Brew your coffee at home for a week instead of making your Starbucks run and donate that to Haiti. That's hard 'cause I LOVE me some Starbucks!!!! If you're one of my Sonic tea drinkin' friends...go without your happy hour tea for a week (I can feel the stares right now!!!) Every little bit helps!!! You don't have to donate wads of cash to make a difference.
So pray about it, decide your amount and then give it away!!! I've posted some links that are taking donations if you need somewhere to give. They're legit, we donate to these organizations as a family.
YOU CAN DO IT CHEERFULLY!!!!! I'll be praying for you!!!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Practice makes a habit
I am sitting at my daughter's gymnastics practice watching them stretch, hold the "superman pose", and do some killer Pilates core strengthening exercises among other things. They do this each week all to get their bodies warmed up to practice their budding gymnastics skills. This goes on for the better part of 30 minutes before they ever get to the fun parts of getting on the beam, and swinging on the parallel bars. The class is an hour and a half, quite a long time especially when the coach yells: "no sitting down!!"
This stretching and learning, I believe, is the beginning of what a gymnast must endure if she or he desires to be the best. She must practice daily in order to move up in the ranks; to improve enough to move to the next level and that only comes when your coach approves and recommends it. (I am learning all of this as we are new to gymnastics so if you have any input on the gymnastics world please leave me a comment so that I know exactly what this insanity is that my kids have gotten me into!!) Anyway, so the quicker a gymnast improves the quicker she moves up and then the higher she moves up the more hours per week she spends at the gym perfecting her skills. So eventually to be among the best, she is spending the better part of her life at the gym and she's committed to this sport in a way she probably never thought was possible. Quite the commitment if I do say so myself!
Practice makes perfect....or does it? How about practice makes a habit that gradually ebbs and flows into a routine or a way of life? That's essentially what she's done, right? She's made gymnastics such a vital part of her life that it has become more of her life's daily routine instead of just a simple practice session that she attends each day or week.
That's kinda what God wants... He would rather you strive to practice more not to be perfect but to eventually come to the place where your practice has ebbed and flowed into a heart felt daily routine. A routine that does not have you concerned with striving for perfection but instead with sitting at the feet of true perfection! His feet.
I had a friend comment this week that she knew how to pray but didn't know how to have a quiet time. I am beginning to find that some people have been led to believe that these two things are one in the same. In my opinion, they are not. The way I see it is that there is a prayer time and a quiet time (some people may also refer to this as their devotional time). Prayer time, for me, is strictly what it sounds like, a time of prayer. But we'll discuss this later!
For me, a quiet time and how I explain it to others is this, it's a time to get into your Bible whether you pick a book to start with or you have a devotional book to guide your time. This time is going to require some effort on your part. You have to open the pages of your Bible and begin to explore what's on the inside. The pages are full of stories that you wouldn't believe unless you read them yourself! Once you begin to read it you begin to see the way that God desires for us to live out our lives. You begin to see that He had a plan when He created each one of us and that we weren't just dropped here on Earth to fend for ourselves. Isn't that a relief?! It's amazing the things you'll find when you finally pick it up and begin to read.
So how does gymnastics relate to a quiet time??
They both require practice and this practice can produce some pretty amazing results over time. Just like a beginner gymnast can't do a full layout (I don't even know what that is but it sounds really hard!) her first day in the gym, we can't experience everything there is to know about God the first time we open our Bible. It's simple, the more we get into God's Word (practice) the more we learn (or move from level to level). The more we learn scripture the more we are able to pray His words (scripture also called the written word) over the situations that are going on in our lives and the lives of those people around us. Someone once said that there is power in the spoken Word and during this season of my life I have never believed it more!
So how do I get started?
It's easy, I promise! First, find a time in your day that you can be alone without distraction. It may help to put it on your daily calendar for a while until it becomes a part of your daily activities.
Bring your Bible, a pen/pencil and a notebook (a good cup of coffee is an added bonus if you can swing it!). I would start with the Book of Proverbs because it's very easy to understand and it's divided up into 31 chapters. With 31 chapters, you can do a chapter a day for a whole month which is just about how long it takes to incorporate something into your daily schedule.
From there, read a chapter a day and as you come across bits of scripture (I call them treasures, corny I know!) record them in your notebook. You may even want to include the date that you found it as well as the chapter and verse. From there take the treasures that you found during that time and gradually incorporate them into your prayer time, again another discussion for another day.
Hope this helps, if you want more recommendations there are many suggestions online that you can look at. There are also Bible reading plans listed in most Bibles, so you may want to check yours to see if you have one.
Find your place and time of day and get started! It's too simple not to do it, if you've got 15 minutes you can do it!!!
This stretching and learning, I believe, is the beginning of what a gymnast must endure if she or he desires to be the best. She must practice daily in order to move up in the ranks; to improve enough to move to the next level and that only comes when your coach approves and recommends it. (I am learning all of this as we are new to gymnastics so if you have any input on the gymnastics world please leave me a comment so that I know exactly what this insanity is that my kids have gotten me into!!) Anyway, so the quicker a gymnast improves the quicker she moves up and then the higher she moves up the more hours per week she spends at the gym perfecting her skills. So eventually to be among the best, she is spending the better part of her life at the gym and she's committed to this sport in a way she probably never thought was possible. Quite the commitment if I do say so myself!
Practice makes perfect....or does it? How about practice makes a habit that gradually ebbs and flows into a routine or a way of life? That's essentially what she's done, right? She's made gymnastics such a vital part of her life that it has become more of her life's daily routine instead of just a simple practice session that she attends each day or week.
That's kinda what God wants... He would rather you strive to practice more not to be perfect but to eventually come to the place where your practice has ebbed and flowed into a heart felt daily routine. A routine that does not have you concerned with striving for perfection but instead with sitting at the feet of true perfection! His feet.
I had a friend comment this week that she knew how to pray but didn't know how to have a quiet time. I am beginning to find that some people have been led to believe that these two things are one in the same. In my opinion, they are not. The way I see it is that there is a prayer time and a quiet time (some people may also refer to this as their devotional time). Prayer time, for me, is strictly what it sounds like, a time of prayer. But we'll discuss this later!
For me, a quiet time and how I explain it to others is this, it's a time to get into your Bible whether you pick a book to start with or you have a devotional book to guide your time. This time is going to require some effort on your part. You have to open the pages of your Bible and begin to explore what's on the inside. The pages are full of stories that you wouldn't believe unless you read them yourself! Once you begin to read it you begin to see the way that God desires for us to live out our lives. You begin to see that He had a plan when He created each one of us and that we weren't just dropped here on Earth to fend for ourselves. Isn't that a relief?! It's amazing the things you'll find when you finally pick it up and begin to read.
So how does gymnastics relate to a quiet time??
They both require practice and this practice can produce some pretty amazing results over time. Just like a beginner gymnast can't do a full layout (I don't even know what that is but it sounds really hard!) her first day in the gym, we can't experience everything there is to know about God the first time we open our Bible. It's simple, the more we get into God's Word (practice) the more we learn (or move from level to level). The more we learn scripture the more we are able to pray His words (scripture also called the written word) over the situations that are going on in our lives and the lives of those people around us. Someone once said that there is power in the spoken Word and during this season of my life I have never believed it more!
So how do I get started?
It's easy, I promise! First, find a time in your day that you can be alone without distraction. It may help to put it on your daily calendar for a while until it becomes a part of your daily activities.
Bring your Bible, a pen/pencil and a notebook (a good cup of coffee is an added bonus if you can swing it!). I would start with the Book of Proverbs because it's very easy to understand and it's divided up into 31 chapters. With 31 chapters, you can do a chapter a day for a whole month which is just about how long it takes to incorporate something into your daily schedule.
From there, read a chapter a day and as you come across bits of scripture (I call them treasures, corny I know!) record them in your notebook. You may even want to include the date that you found it as well as the chapter and verse. From there take the treasures that you found during that time and gradually incorporate them into your prayer time, again another discussion for another day.
Hope this helps, if you want more recommendations there are many suggestions online that you can look at. There are also Bible reading plans listed in most Bibles, so you may want to check yours to see if you have one.
Find your place and time of day and get started! It's too simple not to do it, if you've got 15 minutes you can do it!!!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Dinner Time Conversation
If your house is anything like ours then you know dinnertime can be CRAZY!!!! Our conversations frequently consist of: "PLEASE, sit in you seat the right way!!! Please eat your dinner!!" "Stop messing around at the table!"
Sound familiar??
To put it lightly, dinnertime is one of the most stressful parts of the day for me. Partly because I spend all this time cooking and preparing dinner that may or may not be eaten but more than that is the chaos that ensues when we actually sit down to eat it. It would get so crazy some evenings that our kids would actually have to get up from the kitchen table and run the stairs. Yes, you read that correctly, we would make our kids run the stairs to get out all of their extra energy so that hopefully they could sit and eat!
Don't think that this is some inhumane punishment that we inflict on our kids they actually really like it and there's laughter and craziness the whole time, so in other words it totally backfired! Nuts, I know! Clearly it became a game the very first time we did it because the next night they actually asked if they could run the steps in the middle of dinner. Brings new meaning to the term "the witching hour."
So the other night, I tried something new. Instead of trying to get them to settle down and eat, I began to ask them questions. The key was that they couldn't answer unless they were eating and they had to wait their turn. A friend had given me a book of questions called "Love Talks for Families" by Gary Chapman and Ramon Presson. It had been sitting in the top of my closet for years waiting for the perfect opportunity to make it's appearance. To be perfectly honest, I think it moved with us from Atlanta to Dothan and then from Dothan to Franklin. The copyright is 2002 so I have clearly had this treasure for quite some time!
So last week it made it's debut at the Brady dinner table and it was quite the success. It was such a success that they have asked for it each night. We ask two questions a night and everyone has a turn to answer each question. The questions have for sure sparked our creativity and imaginations and have made for GREAT conversations that all six of us can participate in.
Everyone is sitting in their seats, no one is getting in trouble and everyone is eating their dinner. It's total dinner bliss to say the least! Who knew something like this could restore such order?! Amazing!!!
Here's just a sample of what you'll find in this little book:
"If you had to give up sight, hearing, the ability to speak, or the ability to walk, which would you choose?"
"If at the end of every day you were granted an extra hour to do anything you wanted, how would you regularly spend that hour?"
There are so many more questions, 101 to be exact, these are just a few that we have talked about so far. The answers have been anything from funny to totally creative in explaining why they would give up the ability to speak (shocking because they are constantly talking ALL the TIME!).
If you can get your hands on this book, I highly recommend it! It could be just what your family needs to make it through the chaos of dinner and who knows what you might learn from your kids in the process. They're sure to blow you away with the things they say and this book has the questions to make sure they do!
Sound familiar??
To put it lightly, dinnertime is one of the most stressful parts of the day for me. Partly because I spend all this time cooking and preparing dinner that may or may not be eaten but more than that is the chaos that ensues when we actually sit down to eat it. It would get so crazy some evenings that our kids would actually have to get up from the kitchen table and run the stairs. Yes, you read that correctly, we would make our kids run the stairs to get out all of their extra energy so that hopefully they could sit and eat!
Don't think that this is some inhumane punishment that we inflict on our kids they actually really like it and there's laughter and craziness the whole time, so in other words it totally backfired! Nuts, I know! Clearly it became a game the very first time we did it because the next night they actually asked if they could run the steps in the middle of dinner. Brings new meaning to the term "the witching hour."
So the other night, I tried something new. Instead of trying to get them to settle down and eat, I began to ask them questions. The key was that they couldn't answer unless they were eating and they had to wait their turn. A friend had given me a book of questions called "Love Talks for Families" by Gary Chapman and Ramon Presson. It had been sitting in the top of my closet for years waiting for the perfect opportunity to make it's appearance. To be perfectly honest, I think it moved with us from Atlanta to Dothan and then from Dothan to Franklin. The copyright is 2002 so I have clearly had this treasure for quite some time!
So last week it made it's debut at the Brady dinner table and it was quite the success. It was such a success that they have asked for it each night. We ask two questions a night and everyone has a turn to answer each question. The questions have for sure sparked our creativity and imaginations and have made for GREAT conversations that all six of us can participate in.
Everyone is sitting in their seats, no one is getting in trouble and everyone is eating their dinner. It's total dinner bliss to say the least! Who knew something like this could restore such order?! Amazing!!!
Here's just a sample of what you'll find in this little book:
"If you had to give up sight, hearing, the ability to speak, or the ability to walk, which would you choose?"
"If at the end of every day you were granted an extra hour to do anything you wanted, how would you regularly spend that hour?"
There are so many more questions, 101 to be exact, these are just a few that we have talked about so far. The answers have been anything from funny to totally creative in explaining why they would give up the ability to speak (shocking because they are constantly talking ALL the TIME!).
If you can get your hands on this book, I highly recommend it! It could be just what your family needs to make it through the chaos of dinner and who knows what you might learn from your kids in the process. They're sure to blow you away with the things they say and this book has the questions to make sure they do!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
