Job Description

Ahhh.......I love my job, don't you? Read Genesis 2:20-25 below. Isn't our God so good to us. He gave us a job description. Amen!

Genesis 2:20-25 (King James Version)

²⁰And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

²¹And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

²²And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

²³And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

²⁴Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

²⁵And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Choose to love

Kelly at Generation Cedar has really struck a cord with me today. Marriage is not about being in love, it is about choosing to love. My dh and I could not be any different. Our personalities, our likes and dislikes and our love languages are totally opposite. This can cause some real issues in our relationship, but our marriage works. I choose to love him. I choose to see God's will for my marriage and make it work. Is it easy? No! Kelly says:

Three responsibilities of Christians concerning marriage:

1. Understand the gravity of what your marriage says to the world about our Savior and purpose to say it well.
2. Pass the baton of marital faithfulness to your children and grandchildren.
3. Teach others around you–anyone and everywhere–about God’s design for marriage.

Please read the whole article here .

Make it work ladies!

Blessings, Tracylea

Children's Behavior

"Many parents have a struggle between their hopes for their children's behavior and what the children actually do. This is more easily solved than the parents think. There are three key elements to doing this.

(1) The authority of the parent enables the parent to act. Without this understanding, the parent will feel reluctant to make their child obey their wishes. They might try different means of persuasion, but they will feel powerless to do anything.

(2) Discipline with its accompanying chastisement makes sure the parents' desire for their children comes to fruition.

(3) The setting, communication and implementation of boundaries for the children. In other words, what are we going to tell our children to do and how do we get them to do these things?"

Biblical Foundations For Freedom
http://www.foundationsforfreedom.net

Every little bit counts

Ladies, I am starting a new weekly blog post called "Every little bit counts". Each week I will post a helpful tip for saving money. Here is the first one:

Have you heard of SwagBucks?

Swagbucks is a search engine that pays you to use it with 'swagbucks', which are electronic money you can use to buy things from their store (anything from amazon credit to guitars). All you have to do it sign up and search: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/slink1211 .

I want to say this does really work and so far I have had no ill effects from it. I have "won" enough points each month to buy two $5 Amazon gift cards per month. I wanted to do this for at least 4 months before I mentioned it. If you haven't already, maybe give it a try.

Blessings, Tracylea

Being a good friend

I am a very opinionated person.
Yes, I am.
And sometimes that offends people.
And it should.
But mainly I know it is not pleasing to the Lord.
And I want to stop.

I am very black and white in my thinking. And because I have a very strong opinions I can often seem closed minded or judgmental. I like to argue, too much, and am sinful in this area. When I tell a story, or my opinion, I seldom appear like there is room for a difference of opinion or facts. This has, over the years, caused me some problems. Problems with family and friends alike. In reality I am very open minded. I like to hear others thoughts and can easily be swayed on non-sinful things. I do think I admit when I am wrong and truly appreciate others pointing errors in my thinking out to me. But is that how I am presenting myself?

I have a friend who had to, very painfully I must add, pull me aside in Christian love and tell me she felt like I was trying to sway her feelings about people. What??? I was just telling you the facts. Or was I. She was right, I do try to sway people my way. I do add my opinion when not asked. I don't always tell the facts. I am opinionated and sinful. And He knows and forgives me. And has sent others to help me grow away from this behavior and to readily forgive me.

Praise the Lord for a friend who cares. Friends who see the need to help you grow in the Lord. I can only imagine how hard it is to speak to someone who is as strong willed as I am, in love. Yikes. I am so blessed to have friends who will do this. Thank you Lord for loving me enough to send this poor soul to help me mend my ways before it became out of control.

Do you have a friend like me? Is there something you have been trying to tell her and just can't get around to it? Friend I would encourage you to seek the Lord and with His guidance do it!

I may not always agree with others, but I love you Lord and want to glorify you in all I do. I pray that how I disagree or discuss with others can always be loving and make You proud. I praise you for your words and for bringing others into my life to hold me accountable. I thank you dear Lord for remembering my sins no more:

Hebrews 8:12 (King James Version)

¹²For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

Blessings, Tracylea

Homeschooling

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. - William Butler Yeats

We have some concerns that our ds, age 11, is a pail being filled. We have, for the last few years, played with the idea of homeschooling. Now we are seriously praying about it. My son attends a wonderful Christian school, but he has a momma who really wants to homeschool him. We don't like what schools, public and not, have become. No one told me being a parent was so hard. I can only imagine how our God feels.


Blessings, Tracylea

Idols

"wives have many idolatrous affections. For example, how her husband behaves or treats her can easily become an idol even to the point of displacing the Lord Jesus Christ as her deepest affection and longing" Martha Peace in An Excellent Wife

We all have idols don't we: exercise, physical appearance, husbands, marriage, children, money, success, our homes. But our hearts should always be set on our Lord. We all look and try to get things we want and do not need, or should I say the Lord knows we do not need. Daily we should be devoted to pleasing, serving and seeking the Lord. There should be no room for idols.

If you are worshiping something other than the Lord, it is an idol. If you are willing to sin to get it or sin to keep it this is an idol. Is how your husband treats you becoming an idol? Is how you look in the mirror an idol? Repent and turn to God. Some of us may have to do this daily...........I do!

Ezekiel 14

¹Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.

²And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

³Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?

⁴Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;

⁵That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

⁶Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

Blessings dear one, Tracylea

Budget......what stinkin budget??????

Again today I read in the paper of local government/schools having to close locations because there is not enough funding.

My local Library system announced this week that they "had" to close 6 branches of the library because of a funding deficit. Yet they have over spent their budgets in the past and just within the last two year built a huge library downtown that had many unnecessary luxuries added to it. (Not to mention that it was built wrong and had to be fixed.)

Can we say BUDGET?

Earlier this year our local school system announced they had to close two of our school and consolidate others, plus start charging for riding the bus and sports activities, because they too had a deficit. This school corporation built a huge football stadium a few years back, that sits empty most of the time, at a price of over $4 million dollars.

Can we say BUDGET?

Hmmmm.....this is starting to get out of hand. Just this week Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke out about our growing national deficit, here. I don't think I need to even go into the overspending of our government.

What if we ran our households like this.......oh, many of us do. But it is time for all this to stop. Stop incurring debt at home, schools, churches, cities and finally our nation.

I really like Dave Ramsey and his take on things: "Debt is dumb and cash is king". Dave has some wonderful free advice at his website and he has many books that you can check out from the local library. His baby steps are a wonderful start! But we all need to start.

If you are debt free, great, how about talking to others about how you got there. If not, the time to start is now.

Blessings, Tracylea

Our lives are real

There are many days when I feel utterly inadequate as a home-keeper, mother, wife and God worshiper. I was struck by the honesty I found in this article at Ladies Against Feminism. This statement from the article is so true:

Life is not picture-perfect, but the work is worth doing. Pretty touches are needed and wonderful, but when little ones are around, it is more important to teach and live than it is to have a home where nothing can be touched or put out of place. Our lives are real, and so is the mess… but, more importantly, so is the love.

Can I get an Amen sister!

http://www.ladiesagainstfeminism.com/?p=503

Blessings, Tracylea

Great Authors Webinar Series

~~Gather your family for seven engaging evenings of learning online as part of Vision Forum’s exclusive Great Authors Webinar Series. Hear live lectures from seven leading authors discussing their timely books, and engage in interactive Q&A — all part of an intimate online discussion with your favorite Christian authors. A valuable supplement to any home school program, this special webinar series offers a great opportunity for families to study important subjects together — a powerful educational tool for home education, church, and family.~~

Our husbands

1 Peter 3

¹Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;

²While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.

³Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

⁴But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

⁵For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:

⁶Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.

Resurrection Sunday

Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Savior,
waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave he arose;
with a mighty triumph o'er his foes;
he arose a victor from the dark domain,
and he lives forever, with his saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Vainly they watch his bed, Jesus my Savior,
vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord!

Death cannot keep its prey, Jesus my Savior;
he tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord!

Quite Peculiar

Romans 12:1,2

¹I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

²And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

This bible verse is so clear isn't it? Not in, of or for the world but in, of and for our Lord God. You can find a wonderful article here, on At The Well, that addresses this verse. The article asks the questions, Are you peculiar? Are you? I know at times I am. It seems we are called to be. But am I peculiar enough? Probably not.

I am going to print off this verse and place it where I will see it each morning. Then each night I am going to ask myself if I am true to it, to the Lords request.

I'll let you know my progress. Maybe you can join me.

Blessings, Tracylea