Undivided Mom Launch Week!

Undivided Mom: Finding Christ in the Chaos of Motherhood by Kayse Pratt
Visit the launch page!!
Amazon Description:

If you’ve got motherhood all figured out, this book isn’t for you. Carry on.

If you’re one of the rest of us, struggling through the miracle, you’re in the right place, friend.

Undivided Mom is a devotional for moms who feel distracted, pulled in a million different directions, and really just desperately need Jesus to keep them from losing their ever-loving minds. It’s about mothering with a vision, with a purpose, for His glory, and through His strength.

This is a book for anyone who is longing to find a glimpse of Christ in the chaos of everyday motherhood.

It’s for you. For me. For all of us.

 I was a part of the launch team for this ebook! Purchase the ebook on Amazon for $4.99. (10/913)

My Thoughts:
Let me first state: This book is WAAAY too short!! Kayse Pratt does a fantastic job in this devotional. She easily covers all bases; Biblical devotions mixed with life devotions 50/50. This 14 day devo uses it's odd days to study verses from the Gospel of Luke and it's even days to help moms glimpse God in the everyday chaos. The odd days also include some "Think it Over" points to help you carry God's Word throughout the day, this is a MUST for a great devotional. I just fell in love with Pratt's writing and wished for more!

Personally, this devo was a challenge for myself.

 

Grab a cup of coffee and join me over at Sunrise Avenue to check out my review on this fantastic resource from Kayse Pratt!

Psalm 19:14

Join the GROW linkup with Faith at Faith, Fun, and The Fergusons!! This past week we spent time meditating on Psalm 19:14
May the words of my mouth
    and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,    O Lord, my rock and my redeemer (NLT)

Last week we looked at how our tongues can misbehave and 'ruin everything'. This week is the complete opposite side of the coin. Our words do have heavy power over our lives, but they can bring good and blessings just as well as curses and hurt. After feeling the conviction of misusing my words, it is relieving to turn around and find a positive way to use them instead.

In this verse we are reminded that our words are like an offering to the Lord. We want our words to be pleasing to the Lord. This should be a daily prayer! "May the words of my mouth be pleasing to you today, God. Let me speak sweet, soft words the encourage and uplift." Ugh. How many days do we regret something that we have said? How many days do we find ourselves wishing we would have whispered this prayer before getting out of bed? 

Doing this for my family, is hard. Let's face it family can get on your nerves like no one else. It can be incredibly easy to snap at them when they day is loud and hectic and the house is chaos. Speaking pleasing words for my own sake, doing it for a challenge or just doing it on my own, would be even worse. I wouldn't even last one day. But our motivation is this: "..be pleasing to YOU, O Lord.." My motivation for speaking soft words instead of sharp words in the moment of chaos, is to please the Lord. When we can do that we are truly emanating Jesus, because only by the grace of God is it possible. Choosing kindness in a heated moment is contrary to our human nature. It is not natural, it's supernatural. 

Is this still a challenge? Heck yes! But once I look at it as a way to please the Lord, I am much more willing. Our heart's cry should be to pursue holiness and please the Lord; to hear God say "Well done, faithful child" when we reach our earthly end. If by choosing my words more carefully can make God smile down on me, I know I must do my best, I must take it seriously. 

Again in this verse, we see the mouth and heart connected. What comes out of our hearts will lead to our mouths so both must be pleasing to God. We can only speak these pleasing words, if we place pleasing words in our hearts. Spending time in God's Word is essential. This one, simple, profound fact is what is at the root of all our word verses. Tongues flowing with honey is simply not.possible. without first planting the Word of God in your heart. 

Conclusion? We've already learned that our tongue can easily ruin our lives. Now we see how what we say can bring a smile to God's face. Quite obviously, the tongue is something we really must quick a tight bridle on! The importance of these verses is hitting me smack in the face and I know this is something I need to pray for stat. Psalm 19:14 is going to become my morning mantra. I pray it becomes yours as well. 

Thanks for stopping by friends! Do you pray over your word choices? Will you start now? 

Proverbs 13:3

This week's GROW verse was Proverbs 13:3 "Those who guard their lips preserve their lives,

    but those who speak rashly will come to ruin." (NIV). This week, I really enjoyed a mash up of NIV and NLT verses. I will add the whole NLT here:" Those who control their tongue will have a long life;
    opening your mouth can ruin everything."

Zech Mash Up Translation: Those who guard their lips preserve their lives; opening your mouth can ruin everything.

This month as GROW focuses on the words of our hearts, I am feeling particularly convicted. I don't want to admit to myself, much less a lovely group of women, how awful my tongue is. There is no guard on my tongue. I get angry, I try to bite my tongue, but it builds up inside and end up spewing even worse. I need a guard, and that guard is the Living Word of God, so this month I am challenging myself to listen. To not shy away. To not avoid. God may convict, but He does not condemn! 

What is the importance of guarding my lips?? It preserves my life!!! This doesn't mean that if I speak a harsh word I will keel over on the spot. I am sure we have all referenced Luke 6:45 at least once "A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of." (NIV).

When I speak harshly, I am displaying what is really in my heart. If my heart is really full enough of anger to speak harshly, I do not have enough Jesus love in my heart. If I do not have enough Jesus love in my heart, I am sinning, sinning, sinning and thus slowly dying, dying, dying. The Word of God brings life! Yet if I do not have that stored in my heart I am not truly living. I guess that makes me some sort of zombie!!

So guarding my lips preserves my life, both here on earth as I work to keep my lips and thus heart clean, and in the afterlife, 'storing up treasures in heaven'. THAT seems rather important. 

The second part of the Zech Mash Up Translation seems pretty apparent to me. "Opening your mouth can ruin everything". Everything. Everything. Your children, stung by harsh words. Your friendships, over in a blink. Your marriage, slowly corroded by bitterness. Your walk with God, losing life with anger instead of gaining life through storing up the Word. Everything in your life will be touched and affected, unless you can guard your mouth. 

If this week's GROW verse doesn't show us the importance of watching what we say, I don't know how we will ever get the message. Watching what we say will be hard at first, sometimes we may literally need to put our hand over our mouth to keep from saying what comes up. But by replacing those words with His Words.....slowly, but ever surely, we will get there. Our first response will one day be soft, gentle, God-filled words. And they will bring life.

Anyone else further along the path on this than me?? Share your tips, helpful verses, or other thoughts below! Meet you there!

Hebrews 10:24-25

Hello, all my lovely GROW friends! I missed you all last week! I got pretty sick and didn't do much of anything Internet related for the whole week. Even still I am under the weather. I am also trying to draft this post with Hubby and Baby Girl hanging on me, so please bear with any incoherent thoughts. This will also probably be short! But, I didn't want to miss out on another GROW linkup, especially in light of this week's verse!!

The verse this week was Hebrews 10:24-25: "Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near." 

Uff-da! Is it just me or are these verses just heavy?!

Verse 24 is just fantastic. I feel like it should be the motto of my life. Let us think of ways to motivate one another. Okay. Let's get real, friends. How can I motivate you to acts of good works?? In which ways can I help you in acts of love?? God didn't want us to just say "Ah, what a mighty good verse. We should do that" and part ways.

Let's get practical. 

I feel that the GROW link-ers are pretty close. Each week we spend our time contemplating the same verse, looking at it from all angles, growing close to God, and sharing our thoughts and insights with each other. GROW is one way to motivate each other. But who is willing to take it the next step? Our GROW posts motivate us to think about God and grow in our walk, but how can we motivate each other to acts of love and good works? This is where God really wants to take us.

I am dying to read everyone else's posts on this verse!!

Verse 25 is just as involved. We cannot neglect meeting with each other. It's why I am here, writing brief thoughts to share with you. I didn't want to neglect meeting with you again. The importance of meeting with other Christian friends hides in the last bit "especially now that they day of his return is drawing near".

I think we all know how much of a struggle this life can be. Motherhood is tough. The world is changing so fast. Our children will be growing up in a world where videos like Miley Cyrus' latest is the norm. We need to be meeting together and encouraging one another. As the day of God's return draws near, it is going to get worse. As Christians, we will have nothing but each other to turn to on this earth, to look to for parenting help, homemaking help, work place help, educational advice... But if we become wrapped up in our own little busy worlds, if we neglect our time together, we miss all of that, and we miss community that God intends for us.

We need to stick together, we need to be a team, we need to be community. Not where we just check in, get something for ourselves, but where we check in, connect, spend time, pray, and pour into others.

This verse motivates me! I hope it motivates you as well :)

How can we get practical?  Share some ways I can help motivate you to acts of love and good works!! 

September 2013 Goals

First, a review of August!!!

Ten Goals for August 2013

1. Read at least 5 fiction books.

2. Read at least 3 non-fiction books. Read 2: 50 Fridays Marriage Challenge and Desperate. 

3. Workout at least 2x a week.  I did once a week! Go me. I went on frequent walks with hubby, but don't consider it a workout per se, because we bring baby in stroller and stroll around. 

4. Have "mommy time" 1x a week.  Not even close ://

5. Complete 1 ''big'' cleaning project each week.  mostly :D 

6. Finish season 6 of Doctor Who with Hubby.  And beyond! We should be finishing season 7.2 soon!

7. Complete the "Anything" study from GMG (although I finished the book I didn't finish the study. Oops.)

8. Try 2 new recipes. I tried a new banana bread glaze and an orzo recipe. 

9. Choose 5 signs for Selah and really focus on them all month long. (I have been signing with Selah since 6 or 7 months old. She recognizes "eat" and kind of "more", but I really want to put more focus on this to cut out some frustrations) I stuck with the two signs, 'eat' and 'more', but when I do other signs like 'book' or 'ball' she watches intently.

10. Complete one large craft.   I did some glass painting on my tall drinking glasses. I will try to remember to share a picture soon! 


So, five of my ten goals were completed. Others made good progress and came close. Others weren't even touched. In lieu of this, I think I am going to cut back on my September goals, setting only 5. 

Five Goals for September 2013

1. Workout 2x a week.

2 . Read 3 non-fiction books.

3. Plan and craft for Baby Girl's 1st Birthday Party

4. Complete one large craft.

5. Try 1 new Crockpot Recipe

A short list mayhaps, but hefty goals. #3 will require lists upon lists of its own! Since it is her first and it is really just for me :) I want to plan something nice. Her birthday is in October, so if I can get some of the craftiness done in September, I know I can do some nice things by hand to keep costs down. 

Tell me, what are your September goals? Have any End of the Summer plans? Any Fall Bucket list items you can't wait to check off??