Change is coming in my 2014

Well Hello There Friends! 

It's been a while since I was on here. Welcome to a New Year! I hope your holidays treated you well. Ours was fun and exhausting, full of friends and family and yummy treats. And gifts....! 

So.... 2014

Here we are a couple days in to the new year. Do you create resolutions or goals with the new year? Some say, 'bleh!', to making goals with the new year. I love it! I need it. I am always revisiting it, adding to it, marking things off and rolling things over to my new Goals list. I think it is good and healthy to think back on what you can improve on and to look forward to what you would like to do and learn and invest energy into. And, I like to pick a word for the title of my New Year's Goals. This year's word: 

Change. 

First change that came for my new year: we turned off our Dish service and are going back to bunny ears. That change came two days early! Why? Well, looking back over the past year, I realized God was talking to me through different avenues telling me that it was becoming too important in my life. I realized I had become addicted. I loved my television time. I have my favorite shows and would even watch reruns over and over again, wasting precious time and getting angry if my T.V. time was interrupted. My addiction was effecting our family life negatively. 

Second change to work on this year came to me after I read a post at Hands Free Mama. In her post, About Hands Free, Rachel writes, 

"Finally after years and years of over-commitment and meaningless information overload, I began to see those things for what they were: Daily Distractions. And with much regret, I realized I’d been holding on to “distractions” tighter than I had been to my own family, my own health, my own happiness–my own “things that matter.”

After reading this post and others on her site, I broke down in tears. God was speaking to my heart. I needed to hear this. I had to take a hard, close look at my daily life and swallow that I am not allowing much time for God or what He desires to be important in my life. And no matter how hard it was to read it and admit it [to myself and others], I needed to make some big changes in my life and choices. Thank God for people like Rachel to share these things and Thank God for his perfect timing!

So.... 2014 for me is Change!

Change how I spend my time. Change who I spend my time with. Allow Change to happen naturally and gracefully. Change.....

What is this New Year for you? What is your word for the year? Let God speak to you and stop long enough to truly hear what He is saying. 

Matthew 6: 19-21

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

(musings on) A Life Worth Giving - Part Two: Giving Generously, a Month Challenge!

So, Part Two: How do we take this God given grace and our joy-filled, thankful hearts and be more generous with our blessings?

Take a moment and think about YOU. Yes, think about you and the gifts God has given to you. What physical, relational, and/or spiritual gifts has God given you? What about the talents and passions you have? How can you take any and every thing God has given you and bless others with it? What has God given to you that makes your Life Worth Giving away? 

Psalms 139: 13-14 ~ 13 

For you created my inmost being;

    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

    your works are wonderful,

    I know that full well.

Me, well, I like to share knowledge that I have picked up along the way that might improve others lives in some way. I like to help, in what ever menial task I can. I like the detailed work others don't so much. I like to garden and cook. I like to throw parties. : ) I love bargain shopping. I don't like to see bad things happening to kids. 

Where do I go from here? How do I give back based on just that little bit about myself. Well, here are just some ideas but I am sure you can take these ideas and come up with so much more.......

• Listen. Really listen to your kids' (or loved ones) stories
• Coach          
• Offer to watch a busy mom's kids
• Do a family member's chore for them
• Borrow a friends car and return it detailed and with a full tank of gas
• Teach your favorite hobby to a child
• Throw a birthday party for an underprivileged child (or adult) 
• Donate games to a local senior citizen center 
• Visit an elderly person
• Donate blood
• Weed a neighbor's yard
• Buy a gift card and give it to someone you hardly know
• Organize a block party
• Bring a treat into your office for everyone to share
• Give a big, genuine hug
• Give a fresh flower bouquet to your favorite store clerk
• Take a box of toys to a homeless shelter
• Pay for a single mom to get a mani/pedi
• Help a neighbor or friend build a garden box and teach them to grow their own veggies and fruits
• Have a garage sale and donate all the money earned
• Take dinner to a couple with a newborn
• Buy lunch for a coworker
• Volunteer at the hospital
• Send an anonymous encouragement card to someone in the 'snail' mail
• Turn off the t.v. and computer and phones and have a face to face conversation
• Look up and smile to that person walking by. Maybe even say, "Hello!"
• Say to all those you love, "I love you!"

Well, there you go! There is so much more you could do to live a generous life and give back with joy. And, you don't have to have a bunch of money to give generously. Many of the best gifts in life given and received cost nothing but your willingness to be open enough to give. So, here is my challenge to you. Take this list and whatever you have come up with to add to it and give once a week for the next month! Let's see how God works in us and through us. 

2 Corinthians 9: 6-7 ~ 6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

(musings on) A Life Worth Giving - Part One

We started a new series at church on Sunday. It's called 'A Life Worth Giving.' James 1: 17 says this: Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Every good thing in your life came and comes from God. You didn't pick your family, country you were born into, the natural resources around you, the type of education you would receive or the brain to learn it all with. You didn't give yourself your talents and skills or spiritual gifts and you don't know what the future holds or which paths you will take. God gave you and still gives every good thing in your life. 

So, when was the last time you stopped to thank God for the the blessings in your life? When we stop and say thanks and praise him for ALL he has given us, we realize just how blessed we are and how big his love for us is. When we realize our blessings, I believe it stirs in us a passion to be more generous. What do you have to be thankful for which you have been blessed with that others may not have? A Car(s), a job, a home, food to eat, your family, friends, pet(s), sight, hearing, speech, free time to spend on hobbies and sports, a garden to grow flowers and food, new clothes and shoes, a phone, computer, IPad...... the list of his blessings goes on forever. 

God is good and is love and gives us our blessings freely not because of anything we have done but because of who he is. Give thanks to him for every good thing in your life because he gave it all and still gives what we don't deserve. This is called Grace. 

In Part Two: How do we take this God given grace and our joy-filled, thankful hearts and be more generous with our blessings? 

Life... busy, busy life

Hello All! I couldn't believe how long it's been since I wrote last when I logged in! Life...busy, busy life. That's the reason. Lots going on lately. I have been getting ready for the Pick Pocket Molly Event. A weekend consignment sale of women's clothing. I consign items {this year over 130 items!}for sale at the event but I also work at it with my friend, Alice, who puts it on! Man, she can put on a great event! Check her out here, http://pickpocketmolly.com/.

Also, I got a very part time job. I am an Operations Assistant with Fit2B Studio. It is an online gym with a workout video library of over 50 videos and she also is trying to spread Diastasis awareness. I love that I can work from home and help a friend grow her business while she works from home! And it is nice to contribute to the household budget again. : ) Learn about Diastasis and Fit2B Studio here, http://fit2b.us/.

And then there is all the everyday, in-and-out's of a stay-at-home mommy of two young children. Household chores, gardening to do, birthday parties to attend, meals to cook, friends to connect with, basketball to watch { : D }, church to attend, parties to host, small town parades to participate in, workouts to do, wife to be to husband, sunshine to enjoy. It's a good {and busy} life that I love to be living. I try to remember how blessed I am and not take it for granted. At the end of the day, I may be tired and may not get to lay in the hammock like I wanted but I wouldn't trade it in. 

Whatch ya been doing?

Where this woman's heart and mind are at at this moment......

sad                            depressed                     joyless         

      

heart-aching                  lonely                    hurting               

unmotivated 

  

angry                 overwhelmed                  tired

         

I want to cry                I want to yell                    

I want to curl up into a ball with a blanket and movie and not be bothered                          

I want to scream out my every thought about every thing on my mind with no care what other people think

                          

I want to do nothing                    

I want to actually enjoy something                     

I want peace                            I want to feel joy                                      

I want to feel beautiful                                 

I want to feel needed                             I want to feel appreciated          

 I want to be respected                       I want my soul to be on fire               

I want to accomplish every thing I dream about doing and enjoy it                          

I want to be a good mommy                       

I don't want to screw up my kids                                                      

I want to be 'that' good wife                                   

I want to not feel all of this at the same time, all the time, every day                                       

I want to stop complaining about my great life and be able to truly appreciate what I have                                      

I want to be joyful                   I want to be happy 

I want to unabashedly love and be unabashedly loved back

A Discontent Spirit

uuuggg 

I hate days like today. 

Woke up this morning with a discontent spirit. This happens every once in a while. I just wake up discontent and I am frustrated all day. 

Discontent in my home. 

Discontent with where I am at in life. 

Frustrated that the desires of my heart are not met. 

Frustrated that I feel like I am doing things right and getting no where while others who are not doing things right get what they desire. 

gggrrrr 

Just so discontent and frustrated!

And while I am at it, I feel irritated at the fact that I am so discontent and frustrated about these worldly pursuits! 

You know better, Erika! 

That is why I hate days like today. I try to keep my mind and hands busy doing chores around the house and try to fit in something I enjoy like making cards. But the only thing that really helps on days like today 

(and, well, always) is praying to God about my discontent spirit and giving it over to Him. He is the only one that gives us true joy. On days like today, when I feel like I only have a single, little shred of joy left, I cling to it and my God with all I have!