Be blessed my friends!
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
LIFE
Ah...life! Homeschool and co-op are in full swing. We're at church three times a week, and now I'm writing a book! I've also been much more tired lately. So, there's my update on my life. Much more to come. Just hope I can take more breaks to write more and share more life with you! Sorry, I know this is SO not exciting. But I just wanted to say hi real quick before I crash.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
CONNECT WITH OTHER HOMESCHOOL FAMILIES
If you homeschool and you keep running into non-homeschoolers who just love giving you unsolicited advice, then I have created a facebook group that is just for you! A year or so ago, I created Homeschool Families on facebook. My purpose for the group was to get encouragement from other people who are walking the same walk as I am. People who understand what homeschoolers go through on a daily basis. I was so tired of posting my frustrations on my normal facebook wall, just to get comments from non-homeschoolers that would say stuff like, "Maybe you need to send them back to public school". Now, with Homeschool Families, if I'm having a terrible day, I can vent on there and I will find the encouragement that I need from others who have been there. They are there to push me through to the finish line. To tell me that these days are okay and actually quite common for many families. This group is also to share resources. It's a great place to find free material, or items for sale that other homeschoolers might need. If you are interested in joining this group, it is open to ALL homeschoolers, whether you currently homeschool or have in the past. The majority of the current members are from Kentucky because that's the state the group originated from. However, there are homeschool families from all over the United States. I can't wait until the group expands over seas. To join, you must have a facebook account. Just click HERE and then ask permission to join and you will be added shortly. It is a closed group to help me keep out all of the unwanted advice from non-homeschooler. I hope to connect with you there soon!
Be blessed my friends!
Friday, September 7, 2012
CONTROL FREAK
I will be the first to admit that I am very guilty of being a control freak. I won't let anyone else do the laundry in our home (which I'm sure my husband doesn't mind). It's an extremely rare occasion that I will be a passenger in the car with anyone, including my hubby. I feel really sick if I'm not driving, but when you get to the heart of the matter, it's because I have absolutely no control. It's also a very rare occasion that I will allow my children to ride with anyone other than myself. The few times that I have allowed this to happen, I have to check in and make sure they made it to their destination. I could go on and on about the many areas of life that I feel like I have to be in complete control.
My desire to control everything was brought to my attention yesterday during my alone time with the Lord. I was reading Deuteronomy, chapter one. I paused to read the side note that said, "The people rationalized their unbelief by using the safety of their children as an excuse for not entering the land at the Lord's command. However, God was more concerned for the children than they were; therefore, He promised that the children would enter the land.".
I had to stop dead in my tracks and repent for all the times I thought I was in control. And I prayed, "Lord, please don't let my ignorance make me miss out on Your full blessings that You have planned for me. I know that You love my children even more than I do. And now I realize that even if I keep them home with me, that doesn't mean that I can shelter them from all bad things. Help me to hand over the reins that I so tightly grip. Help me to trust You more with my children and with my own life. I pray God that I will get to walk through to the promise land alongside my children. In Jesus name, Amen.".
You and I must deal with the fact that we are not in control. He already has our days planned out, from the beginning to the moment when we take our final breath. There is nothing we can do to change that. I will admit that I often have thoughts of dying. I'm not afraid to die. I know where I'm going and I can't wait to meet Jesus face to face. But I fear what life would be like for my children without having a mommy. Today I have a little more peace about this issue because the reality is that God has a plan for all of us. His Word says He'll never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6). If something ever does happen to me, I know I can rest assured that the Lord will work it all out for His good and He will take care of my children.
Be blessed my friends!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Obedience or Wandering, You Choose
I am reading through the Old Testament and today I began Deuteronomy. In the first chapter, Moses is reminding the Israelites that their initial journey from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea should have only taken 11 days. However, their refusal to believe the good report of Joshua and Caleb transformed an 11 day journey into a 40 year wandering.
Anyone who knows about Moses, probably knows this part of the story. But, for some reason when I read this today, it really spoke to me. I just sat back and thought, "Wow!". How many times have I received a Word from the Lord and didn't respond with quick obedience? I wonder how my life would be different right now if I had listened to the Lord several years ago, but I didn't because I was too afraid, or I doubted that it was really God's voice I was hearing, or because I got distracted. So many times we make excuses for not following through with what God puts on our hearts to do. When we do this, we are no different than the Israelites, so our delay to obedience could be costing us extra years before we reach our full blessing that the Lord has for us. I know one thing, I sure don't want to miss out on it altogether. I believe that since Jesus came and died for us, we have an opportunity that the Israelites didn't have. We have the chance to repent for our disobedience and then the slate will be wiped clean. You can start fresh, right now!
Is there something you are putting off, that you just know God has been calling you to do? For me, one of the biggest things is writing a book. I've started several times, but never got into a good routine, therefore I've gotten distracted (there's that word again) by other things that this world has to offer, and I haven't finished the first book that the Lord has put on my heart to write.
What is it for you? Maybe you need to step out on faith and quit your job, go back to school, or maybe you were called to write books too. Do you have an ache in your heart to go on a mission trip? Maybe you need to walk away from a bad relationship, or forgive someone who has hurt you. It doesn't have to be big things like this. God wants our obedience in ALL things. It all counts! If He tells you to go check on your child. You better get up and run to your child because He is telling you this for a reason. If He tells you to read His Word everyday, then you need to do it. The more you read His Word, the more you'll hear Him speaking to you too, so if you don't know what it is He's calling you to do, start with reading the Bible more and I'm sure He'll help you figure it out.
Lets end our wandering and enter into the full blessings of the Lord!
Anyone who knows about Moses, probably knows this part of the story. But, for some reason when I read this today, it really spoke to me. I just sat back and thought, "Wow!". How many times have I received a Word from the Lord and didn't respond with quick obedience? I wonder how my life would be different right now if I had listened to the Lord several years ago, but I didn't because I was too afraid, or I doubted that it was really God's voice I was hearing, or because I got distracted. So many times we make excuses for not following through with what God puts on our hearts to do. When we do this, we are no different than the Israelites, so our delay to obedience could be costing us extra years before we reach our full blessing that the Lord has for us. I know one thing, I sure don't want to miss out on it altogether. I believe that since Jesus came and died for us, we have an opportunity that the Israelites didn't have. We have the chance to repent for our disobedience and then the slate will be wiped clean. You can start fresh, right now!
Is there something you are putting off, that you just know God has been calling you to do? For me, one of the biggest things is writing a book. I've started several times, but never got into a good routine, therefore I've gotten distracted (there's that word again) by other things that this world has to offer, and I haven't finished the first book that the Lord has put on my heart to write.
What is it for you? Maybe you need to step out on faith and quit your job, go back to school, or maybe you were called to write books too. Do you have an ache in your heart to go on a mission trip? Maybe you need to walk away from a bad relationship, or forgive someone who has hurt you. It doesn't have to be big things like this. God wants our obedience in ALL things. It all counts! If He tells you to go check on your child. You better get up and run to your child because He is telling you this for a reason. If He tells you to read His Word everyday, then you need to do it. The more you read His Word, the more you'll hear Him speaking to you too, so if you don't know what it is He's calling you to do, start with reading the Bible more and I'm sure He'll help you figure it out.
Lets end our wandering and enter into the full blessings of the Lord!
Be blessed my friends!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
MY PSALM 91
Back in April when we put our home up for sale, God led me to one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, Psalm 91. I've read this chapter many times, but this time God spoke to my heart and told me to make it my Psalm 91. He told me to make it real for my life; so I did. I'm going to share mine with you below, and then I challenge you to write out Psalm 91 as it relates to your life. I encourage you to just get alone with the Lord for a little bit and allow Him to minister to you. There will be areas of your life where you know you have to rely on Him more, and those are the areas you can add to your Psalm. For example, I dealt with a strong fear of tornadoes, so instead of just saying nothing will harm me, I got specific and mentioned tornadoes and other fears that were taunting me. I also included bees because of a severe allergy that I've had that almost killed me when I was 13. I've had to deal with the fear of dying from getting stung for over 20 years now, but going back and reading my Psalm gives me the peace that I need, just to go outside with my kids during the summer.
I also want to add that as I was writing this verse, "Others may die all around me, but no harm will even graze me or my family. We will stand untouched, watching it all from a safe distance.", my husband was in a car accident that totaled his car. I actually had to stop writing my Psalm to take his call. He walked away from the accident without a scratch! Praise the Lord! This personal Psalm gave me so much peace and whenever I get anxious now, I get my journal out and reread these wonderful words:
I will sit down in the High God's presence and spend the night in His shadow. God is my refuge. I trust in Him and I am safe! He rescues me from hidden traps like people who don't have my best interests in mind. He shields me from deadly hazards like traffic accidents, diseases and all other forms of harm that are invisible to my own eyes. His huge, outstretched arm protects me. Under them I am 100% safe. I fear NOTHING ~ not robbers during the night, not tragedy during the day, not disease, not tornadoes, or any other form of natural disaster.
Others may die all around me, but no harm will even graze me or my family. We will stand untouched, watching it all from a safe distance. God is my refuge, the High God, my very own home. Evil can't get close to me, harm can't even get through the door. His angels have been ordered all around me, to guard me wherever I go. If I stumble, they'll catch me; their job is to keep me from falling. I'll walk unharmed among snakes and bees and all wild animals. The Lord says that if I will hold on to Him for dear life, He will get me out of any trouble, He'll give me the best of care if I get to know and trust Him. I will call Him and He will answer. He'll be at my side in bad times; He'll rescue me, then throw me a party. He'll give me a long life!
I also want to add that as I was writing this verse, "Others may die all around me, but no harm will even graze me or my family. We will stand untouched, watching it all from a safe distance.", my husband was in a car accident that totaled his car. I actually had to stop writing my Psalm to take his call. He walked away from the accident without a scratch! Praise the Lord! This personal Psalm gave me so much peace and whenever I get anxious now, I get my journal out and reread these wonderful words:
My Psalm 91
I will sit down in the High God's presence and spend the night in His shadow. God is my refuge. I trust in Him and I am safe! He rescues me from hidden traps like people who don't have my best interests in mind. He shields me from deadly hazards like traffic accidents, diseases and all other forms of harm that are invisible to my own eyes. His huge, outstretched arm protects me. Under them I am 100% safe. I fear NOTHING ~ not robbers during the night, not tragedy during the day, not disease, not tornadoes, or any other form of natural disaster.
Others may die all around me, but no harm will even graze me or my family. We will stand untouched, watching it all from a safe distance. God is my refuge, the High God, my very own home. Evil can't get close to me, harm can't even get through the door. His angels have been ordered all around me, to guard me wherever I go. If I stumble, they'll catch me; their job is to keep me from falling. I'll walk unharmed among snakes and bees and all wild animals. The Lord says that if I will hold on to Him for dear life, He will get me out of any trouble, He'll give me the best of care if I get to know and trust Him. I will call Him and He will answer. He'll be at my side in bad times; He'll rescue me, then throw me a party. He'll give me a long life!
Be blessed my friends!
Saturday, September 1, 2012
A HUGE DECISION
I just realized that I never shared the news with my readers who may not know me personally. About a month ago or so, I wrote about a decision that would change my life and other lives. If you haven't read it, take a couple of minutes and read about it HERE.
So without further ado, my decision was to retire from direct sales. When I joined Scentsy Wickless Candles in November of 2008, I was so excited (and pretty scared too, because I had no previous sales experience). I started building a great team and before I knew it, I was a Director and had a team of over 100 members. Everything was going great for me. I was making new friends, breaking out of my shell and finding a side of me that I never realized was there, making extra money so we could pay our bills and even have extra, and actually using products that I believed in and that were great for my family.
Somewhere along the way though, this business that once brought me so much joy, began to be a burden to me and my family. Joy turned to tears from the countless times I had to drag my boys out with me to host parties and events. Customer orders (candles) melted in the car. People would always be late. No one would show for parties that I spent hours preparing for. And then, here I was trying to balance this huge team of people who looked up to me for direction and encouragement, while running my own business and taking care of my family. It all became so overwhelming to me.
One day after the typical frustrations, I just broke down. I was SO sad and SO mad at myself all at the same time. I was sad because I realized that I couldn't go on anymore. I had envisioned being a SuperStar Director with a team of thousands, but in this moment, I realized that it just wasn't going to happen. I was finished! The madness came from feeling like a failure. I felt like I never finish anything I start. This was a VERY difficult day for me.
My husband gave me the idea of selling my business. After some prayer, we both quickly knew who we would give the business to. It was someone on my down line who was striving to become a Director. She hadn't been on the team as long as some others, but she works hard on her business and it was the Lord who directed me to her. Seeing her reaction to my decision and having someone at church pray with me that Sunday and speak over my life, really gave me the peace I needed to move forward and just trust the Lord.
So here we are in September. This is my first month without a commission check from Scentsy. I sat down the other day and wrote out a budget. I felt so discouraged when I had figured it all out. After paying for our basic needs (and $9 for Netflix), we have around $25 to spend on gas and groceries for the month of September. In August we spent $362 on gas alone. This budget has NO room for savings, NO room for eating out, we don't have cable and we no longer have a home phone and one other monthly expense that we had in our old house.
I sought the Lord over our finances again; and again I found His peace. I have blessed someone else with my business and therefore I can stand on His word, knowing that I will reap what I have sown. I am not worried about the bills. In fact, I believe that we will have extra. God has ALWAYS provided for us in supernatural ways. He has carried us through so many difficult times. His hand has not been shortened! I wanted to run out and find another way to earn income, but each time I tried to find something, He gave me a strong NO! So, I don't know where the money is going to come from, but I know that we have been faithful and obedient to always do what He tells us to do with our (His) money and I know that His Word will not return void. I have tested Him and I know He will open the windows of heaven up and pour out a blessing on us that we cannot contain. I can't wait to update you to tell you how He provided for us!
So without further ado, my decision was to retire from direct sales. When I joined Scentsy Wickless Candles in November of 2008, I was so excited (and pretty scared too, because I had no previous sales experience). I started building a great team and before I knew it, I was a Director and had a team of over 100 members. Everything was going great for me. I was making new friends, breaking out of my shell and finding a side of me that I never realized was there, making extra money so we could pay our bills and even have extra, and actually using products that I believed in and that were great for my family.
Somewhere along the way though, this business that once brought me so much joy, began to be a burden to me and my family. Joy turned to tears from the countless times I had to drag my boys out with me to host parties and events. Customer orders (candles) melted in the car. People would always be late. No one would show for parties that I spent hours preparing for. And then, here I was trying to balance this huge team of people who looked up to me for direction and encouragement, while running my own business and taking care of my family. It all became so overwhelming to me.
One day after the typical frustrations, I just broke down. I was SO sad and SO mad at myself all at the same time. I was sad because I realized that I couldn't go on anymore. I had envisioned being a SuperStar Director with a team of thousands, but in this moment, I realized that it just wasn't going to happen. I was finished! The madness came from feeling like a failure. I felt like I never finish anything I start. This was a VERY difficult day for me.
My husband gave me the idea of selling my business. After some prayer, we both quickly knew who we would give the business to. It was someone on my down line who was striving to become a Director. She hadn't been on the team as long as some others, but she works hard on her business and it was the Lord who directed me to her. Seeing her reaction to my decision and having someone at church pray with me that Sunday and speak over my life, really gave me the peace I needed to move forward and just trust the Lord.
So here we are in September. This is my first month without a commission check from Scentsy. I sat down the other day and wrote out a budget. I felt so discouraged when I had figured it all out. After paying for our basic needs (and $9 for Netflix), we have around $25 to spend on gas and groceries for the month of September. In August we spent $362 on gas alone. This budget has NO room for savings, NO room for eating out, we don't have cable and we no longer have a home phone and one other monthly expense that we had in our old house.
I sought the Lord over our finances again; and again I found His peace. I have blessed someone else with my business and therefore I can stand on His word, knowing that I will reap what I have sown. I am not worried about the bills. In fact, I believe that we will have extra. God has ALWAYS provided for us in supernatural ways. He has carried us through so many difficult times. His hand has not been shortened! I wanted to run out and find another way to earn income, but each time I tried to find something, He gave me a strong NO! So, I don't know where the money is going to come from, but I know that we have been faithful and obedient to always do what He tells us to do with our (His) money and I know that His Word will not return void. I have tested Him and I know He will open the windows of heaven up and pour out a blessing on us that we cannot contain. I can't wait to update you to tell you how He provided for us!
Be blessed my friends!
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