Boys

Boys

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

21-Day No-Complaint Challenge

I've been reading, "What's It Like to be Married to Me?" by Linda Dillow, and I have to say, it is really eye-opening!  She has so much insight and helpful advice to change your attitude about your husband and truly concentrate on changing yourself rather than focusing on what is wrong with your him.  I don't think I've ever had so many notes and challenges in any book I've read!

So what is the 21-Day No-Complaint Challenge?  You wear a bracelet, any bracelet, and switch it to the other hand whenever you complain.  Do you think you can live twenty-one days without griping, complaining, murmuring or nagging?  The average person takes 4-8 months to string together twenty-one straight days of no complaining!  

What does this mean for your marriage?  Nagging and complaining show that you do not accept your husband the way he is.  This sends a message to your husband:  "I don't like who you are."  


Maybe you gripe in response to his complaints against you.  Maybe he has legitimate faults that he doesn't recognize without you pointing them out.  Is that how God intended your relationship to be?  Are your criticisms helping to shape his character in a helpful way?  Linda says to give your gripes to God.  In Psalms 142:1-2, David goes right to God and shares his heart.
"I cry out loudly to God, loudly I plead with God for mercy.  I spill out all my complaints before Him, and spell out my troubles in detail."
God listens, he wants to hear what is troubling your heart.  The answers may not be easy, your husband maybe strong-willed and stubborn, but you need to change your attitude to that of gratitude, even on the sore-subjects.   You need to change yourself.

Want to join in the 21-Day No-Complaint Challenge?  I dare you to change your heart!


Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Do you ask?

I have really been enjoying my quiet time with God each morning.  Sometimes it is rushed when I can hear the babies playing in their cribs, but I get to read my devotionals and pray, confident that God knows what is on my mind.  

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time asking God for the desires of my heart, it makes me feel selfish.  Do I want my husband to get a raise?  Do I want to be successful with Plexus?  Yes.  But those are my wants.  Of course I am tempted to make deal with God, "Hey, I promise to raise my donation into the pot if we can make more money," but is that why I want us to be successful?  Partially.  That new purse would make a nice anniversary present.  More than that, cleaning up our credit and starting our savings is high priority.  So is it ok to ask then?

The Bible says yes.


God knows the desires of my heart, whether I ask Him for them or not!  Is it right to have these desires and not bother asking God?  He knows what you want, what you need, why aren't we sharing our feelings with Him?  We share these things with our husbands or girlfriends, how much more intimate is our relationship with God?  By sharing these things with God, my eyes have been opened as to how important our financial responsibility is.  

What are the desires of your heart that you need to share with God?


Friday, August 9, 2013

Keeping It Alive



My husband works on a computer all day (and let's face it, so do I).  Often times I see posts on Facebook that are inspirational, scripture-based, "I love you" pictures, "You're the best daddy" type things.  I like to share these with my husband but I don't want to flood his wall, or sometimes they are too personal.  We have a secret Facebook group just for the two of us to post only inspiring messages, photos or prayers for each other.  We will both share throughout the day and it gives us more to talk about at dinnertime without having to try to remember all the posts we've seen on our walls.  It may sound silly, but this has greatly helped our marriage!  Not only does it let each of us know that the other is thinking about us, but it is a great fight-stopper.  Nothing is more humbling than being in the middle of an argument and one of us will post a reminder of what is important.



Keeping things spicy is important, but it is also important to let each other know how much we mean to each other.  How do you let your significant other know you are thinking of them?  

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Listening to God



We have so many changes that could possibly be happening for our family, we have been praying day and night!  The one thing that I have been wondering is, how do you know if you are following God's will?  I struggle with this a lot.  Do you just lay it in God's hands and say, "if it's meant to be, it will happen", or do you work for it?  Surely God would still want us to work towards our goals.  In Genesis 29, Jacob worked worked for seven years to earn Rachel's hand.  But how do you know if you are just hoping it will happen so you do everything possible to make it work?  Is all this confusion a lack of faith on my part?  What I do know, is this change would require a greater responsibility on our part.  The patience God is requiring of us is most likely to consider what other changes that we would need to make to our lives, we would need to better ourselves, rely on God, and grow in faith.  What I also learned, is that it is ok to say, "Lord, I want this.  Show us what we need to do to make this happen, if it is your will.  But if it is not your will, spare me of the disappointment."  So we're praying.  We are trusting.  We are ready to accept God's will, even if it doesn't align with what we want.  

What decisions do you need to give to God today?  

Friday, August 2, 2013

Blossoms


I've been working on a new blossom.  I can feel that I'm blooming, although I will admit that I've been slacking this week.  I do need to clean the crock pot from the weekend, its been sitting since Sunday with the cover on it, but after falling down the stairs on Monday morning cleaning has been pushed to the side.  I've been working since I was 14 years old, I worked when Gary and Benny were little (a lot!), and the past three years have been my first experience as a stay at home mom.  I haven't always enjoyed it, I've never been very domesticated, so the cooking and cleaning was a lot to take in.  It seemed like, with each new baby, it got a little easier, if that makes sense.  At first I wouldn't cook anything that didn't come out of a box, and even that didn't turn out very good all the time.  I'm happy to say that I am now cooking from scratch almost every night, except for the occassional pizza here or there, or Rick cooking on the weekends.  I've actually been enjoying cleaning with homemade, natural cleaners, knowing how much safer it is for my family.  Am I bragging?  Absolutely not!  I know that I spend too much time on Facebook and too little time concentrating on my chores.  There are so many changes coming in our family and I'm ready!  We will start homeschooling Aidan and Gavin for preschool in a few weeks, and I've even chosen an infant curriculum to work with Isaac.  God has been calling us to make changes, concentrate on the most important things, getting involved in church, working with the babies, taking care of the house.  Every day is a chance to improve, a set of new challenges to accept, and having young children you get to experience the rewards daily.  Yesterday I decided to work on "please" and "thank you" with the babies, and Gavin surprised me by signing "thank you" all on his own, I didn't even know that he knew the sign for it!  Hopefully our next challenge of using the new potty will be as rewarding!

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for the changes God is making into our lives.  He has been calling us to Him for quite some time but we just hadn't been ready to listen, until now.  He is so faithful and gracious, being so patient with us when we push Him to the side.  Raising babies brings daily struggles, but I am starting to see that there are daily rewards, as well.  While we worry about their development, they are making progress, and even if they only use a handful of words, that is a handful of words they weren't using a short time ago.  Aidan sits on my lap and decides he wants tons of kisses.  How I've waited for those!  Even if they make each other cry, only Mommy can bring them comfort.  How blessed am I!