Joyfull Living

Today I am over At the Well answering a question about prayer!  Come over for a vist!

Over At the Well today there is a fantastic post about Parenting While Thinking Ahead.   It is an encouragement to all parents to prepare their children and also themselves for the children to be independent one day.  There were some discussion ideas to ponder:   What do YOU do to prepare your kids for their future, and to prepare yourself for your kid’s growth into adulthood? How do you keep yourself from thinking of them merely as your kids or babies, but as separate people who will one day leave their father and mother (you) and cleave to a husband or wife? Isn't it amazing how fast time flies?  It seems like just yesterday I was holding a newborn son.  Then the busyness of life set in and my life turned into chasing a toddler, pre-school library trips while juggling a new baby, the beginning of school, sports activities, another baby and then out of nowhere that little guy is walking on a stage receiving his high school diploma.  WHERE did ...

As we gather At the Well today, we are encouraged to share goals, prayers or things strived for in the New Year. As we begin this new year, I am energized and renewed by change and want to charge ahead with many changes and enhancements in my life! But the Lord has been speaking one word to me that I need to heed - BALANCE. If you are a wife or mother, multi-tasking is not a new term to you, but probably one that you understand quite well. We balance families, homes, work - whether at home or outside the home, friends and extra activities. I thrive on being active and love having many activities going on at one time...until I can't juggle them all anymore and they start crashing down around me. As an example, I am currently reading three books to enrich my mind and spirit: A Positive Plan For Creating More Fun by Karol Ladd *A book about ways to create family fun. Created To Be His Help Mee t by Debi Pearl *A book filled with encouragement to be a godly wife. Captured By Grac...

Today's discussion At the Well encourages us to be transparent in sharing about discontentment and how we can be satisfied in Christ alone. Discontentment: What an appropriate season to call attention to discontentment. During the year, I am an avid bargain shopper. I love consignment shops, yard sales and clearance racks! During the Christmas season there is always a trip or two to the mall. While browsing through all the things that catch the eye with their beauty and the lure of convenience and luxury, my mind quickly races to see "what I need". By the time I leave the mall, I can sense a spirit of discontentment begin to brew in my heart as I do an evaluation of what I have at home and all these things that I just found out that I may need to keep my life running smoothly! Contentment: A sure cure for discontentment is to learn to be content. Contentment begins in the mind as we train ourselves to think with thankfulness about our many blessings and learn to li...

The discussion At the Well centers around Carefree Living - Is It For Me? There are abundant blessings to the Christian life. It is a life filled with peace, joy and hope. But it is also a journey or a daily walk where each of us as individuals freely make our own choices. Often times we choose how far we want to follow and trust the Lord. Do we surrender all or hold some back? Giving up to Him the parts we choose to give over is easy, loving Him with all of heart, mind, soul and strength is a greater challenge. Consider these questions for today: What do you do to live a more challenging life in Christ? What areas in life are you tempted to take the easy way out? How can you overcome those thoughts and desires? What Scriptures have you found to help develop your character in your God-given role in life? The Challenges: The Bible defines Faith as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1. In a world where we like to see, experience a...

Today At the Well - the topic is " Holy is His Name". This topic offers the opportunity to look within our hearts and ask ourselves "are we a reflection of the Holy God that we serve?" This is the perfect time of the year to do a deep soul searching and cleansing. God sent His only begotten Son into this world to redeem, sanctify and cleanse us. Each of us are born with a sinful nature. God is a holy God and while He longs for a relationship with us, there is no way we can become holy on o ur own with our sinful nature. God sent His Son to earth to redeem us from the curse of sin and give us a new heart, cleansed and forgiven. He makes all things new and calls us to holiness. We are commanded to " be holy in our conduct for He has called us to be holy as He is holy." I Peter 1:15. Holiness is not something we wear like a garment, but it may consist of putting some things off and on: "If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by ...

The Titus 2 mandate is a familiar passage to many of us. As Christian women begin to mature in age and wisdom, the lessons learned through life and growing in God can be a blessing to younger woman - as God directed. Titus 2:3-5 "the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed." Many time we are eager to share lessons learned on how to keep the house, love the husbands and children. But every now and again a phrase pops out that demands closer examination. "To be discreet" would be one of those phrases that make us stop and contemplate. What exactly does being discreet mean? Is there a line between what is okay to talk about online and what is not okay? Where is that line? What does running ...

Do you ever wish that you could keep something in your house clean for more than 2 minutes? Do you ever wonder why the kids can't keep their sticky hands off of the walls or their muddy shoes off of your newly mopped floor? Are you ever incredulous as to why your husband has to rifle through the neatly organized sock drawer looking for a pair of socks that were on top to begin with? It is so easy as we attempt to keep our home to focus on the daily work that is there day in and day out. Today we are challenged to look beyond the chores that must be done around the house and look for the blessings and rewards of keeping a home. The woman of the home is usually responsible for the bulk of the household tasks, the cooking, cleaning and maintaining of the home. What a lot of work and what a lot of responsibility, but oh, what a great opportunity to minister to our family! How we view our daily chores can greatly affect our attitudes about our home. I know that no one "enjoys...

The topic for today's At the Well is God - The All Sufficient One. One of the Hebrew names for God is El Shaddai which means: The All Sufficient God. God revealed this name to Abram along with the promise that He would multiply Abram exceedingly. Genesis 17. The obstacle was that Abram's wife Sarai was barren and could not have children. God revealed through this name that He is the one who supplies and satisfies. When we don't have what we need - strength, hope, provisions - He is the All Sufficient One who alone can provide. I enjoyed doing a little research to learn more about this name for the Lord. This information is good to know and included valuable knowledge for me to store in my head. But there is a huge difference in head knowledge and heart knowledge. Many of us read God's Word, we know about Him and have a relationship with Him. We trust Him, obey Him, strive to live moral, holy lives and may consider ourselves "good Christians". Bu...

Marriage is the joining of lives, hearts, interests and ourselves to our spouse. It is a beautiful mesh of his and hers that blends into ours. Through marriage we learn about our spouses and learn to live with them and share everyday life with them. We share our thoughts, dreams and struggles and live in unity toward reaching goals and dreams. One vital aspect of a godly marriage is marital prayer. Many of us pray for our husbands, but may find it a challenge to actually pray out loud with our husbands. Years ago my husband suggested that we pray together before bed. For me it was a bit intimidating and awkward at first. For some reason, I was afraid of saying the wrong thing or sounding foolish etc. But as I persisted, our marital prayer has grown and flourished and we have taught our children by example the habit of nightly prayer. Prayer together opens a couple up to share what is in the heart. An observant spouse notices what is important when they hear what the other pr...

Motherhood is a forever constant that is always changing! Once you are a mother, you will forever will have the heart of a mother. There is a love so strong and fierce ignited in the heart that commands our emotions and actions. There is a compassion, care and tenderness that may never have surfaced until the children came along. Motherhood is one of the greatest responsibilities and God given assignments we will ever have. But also, motherhood comes with abundant joy and unspeakable blessings. God's Word tells us that children are a blessing from the Lord. But just as the children grow so quickly and change, motherhood comes with it's own growth changes. For every mom, there are "seasons of motherhood" and they are always changing. SPRING: Spring is the season of new life. Beauty is everywhere and it is a time to bask in the new flower buds, blooms and pure beauty of this season. For a mother, spring may be the time when the babies arrive. Excitement abou...

Today I am over At the Well sharing about how to speak loudly in the home...in a good way!! Come on over for a visit!

Do you find yourself taking part in godless living and sinful pleasures? How is that for a deep discussion topic for today's At the Well? If so....What steps are you going to take to gain strength in wisdom, righteousness and devotion to God? I personally enjoy more sharing about purity, self control, virtue and godliness and good things, but I also understand that each person is a sinner and Christians are simply sinners who have accepted God's forgiveness . As Christians we are living in an evil world. The world beckons for us to indulge in sinful pleasures and then offers excuses (if we were to feel guilty) such as "everyone does it", "you deserve some fun", "is this really wrong?" etc. Many Christians are tempted daily and at times fall into this temptation to do things not pleasing to the Lord. When I was raised as a child, there was not much supervision to what I saw or watched on television. Some of my earliest memories were watchi...

I'm excited to get this new week started off with a great discussion over At the Well! The discussion centers around Happiness and Joy and the question is: Why do you think it is important to experience joy, happiness, and contentment as a Christian?How can you create a home filled with laughter and joy? Many times the Christian life is portrayed as a life of strict, staunch people grudgingly following their Lord. Perhaps that conclusion is brought about by the call to live soberly and righteously. We are called to be people who live a purposeful life - to glorify God and to love one another. God's Word encourages us to be diligent, hard working, focused, faithful and committed, but not dull, deary and void of joy. The difference in serving with drudgery and serving with joy is when we realize Who we serve. We are called to be a peculiar people living different from the world, submissive to our Lord. Our Lord who loves us with an everlasting love. Who watches over ou...

"When Motherhood Is Stressful " is the topic in which all women - mothers or not, can relate! The discussion centers around what stresses we face and what we can do about them. In our home, we strive to keep things calm and peaceful which helps things run smoothly. We have learned through the years to adapt to my husband who works different shifts. Many times he is at work when things come up - holidays, family gatherings and other meaningful events. Several events recently occurred where our kids needed to be somewhere EARLY in the morning and...he was at work! Part of our family stress can come from this, but since this is the reality of our situation, we must deal with it. Many times I must prepare myself to go alone, or be the one who has to do the job. I can stress over it, but it still must be done! Learning to anticipate zones where stress is about to overwhelm me, helps me be prepared to face the situation calmly. At night, I get tired and little things seem t...

Today At the Well, the discussion is about the Titus 2 Woman - with a spin! With the world of Technology growing by leaps and bounds, a majority of our communication takes place via email, blogging, twittering, facebooking etc... How can we make sure that we are living out Titus 2 in the cyber world so that the Word of God is not disgraced? How do we keep a balance between grace and hard truth? Women love to feel connected with one another. By nature, we love to share, compare, model after and just have fun with our friends. Women are a very important part of each other's lives. A Christian woman has some special instructions in God's Word on how to relate to other women: "the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine.teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God ...

Today I am over At the Well with a fantastic list to share about ways to be a woman Far Above Rubies! It's not a check list, but a pursuit in the journey to being a gracious wife and woman. Come over for a visit!

Over At the Well today, the topic is Change. The opportunity is open to reflect on the goodness and faithfulness of God through all (good and bad) times and to share a verse or encouragement for changes. The Lord has been speaking into my heart about no hesitation . The other day in the grocery store, I saw a girl I had went to school with over 20 years ago. Back then we had a squabble over a boy, but have since retained our friendship. She didn't see me and for whatever reason, I chose not to speak to her. Later, it became evident that I missed an opportunity to minister grace to her. The grace that God has placed in my heart to extend to others. I hesitated and missed out. Changes are all around us. Our oldest son graduated this spring. It is tempting to stop and think and lament on how fast the time went, how I was not ready to enter a new phase of parenting, etc. But, if I were to hesitate, I would miss the opportunity to walk this new path with him. Changes will ...

Today I am over At the Well talking about ways to keep an eye out on the homefront. Come over to At the Well for a visit!

Quiet Times: How do you spend moments with Jesus? Do you have a set quiet time? If you have children, how has your time changed from when you didn't or over the years as they have grown? "Having A Quiet Time" is a common phrase used in Christian circles. The importance of a quiet time is often stressed, but what is not so widespread is the how or why of a quiet time. To grasp the importance of a quiet time is to understand that what we are on the inside reflects on the outside. What we take in our hearts, comes out in our words, actions and attitudes. I love the verse Jeremiah 17:8 that says , "For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit." What a beautiful parallel this gives to our spiritual lives. Our quiet times which are simply times focused on Jesus, wheth...