Being a Phillipians 4:8 Kind of Woman

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable --if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things.   Phillipians 4:8

This will be my focus for January.

Too many times I think I have

a conversation in my head that

goes something like this:

"This sucks."

"Why is this happening to me?"

"Why can't my life just be easy for once?"

"Does He really hate me?"

"Why can't I just do what I want"

"Why do I never get to have pretty things"

"I can't handle this"

"I give up!"

Okay, I lied. 

I don't THINK I have those

constant, on-going, TOXIC

thoughts...

I KNOW IT.

I know it too well,

and even while I'm having them,

I know they need to stop.

JUST STOP.

So my focus at least for January

and hopefully through the year

will be to stop the

toxic monologue

in my brain.

I follow a podcast through

iTunes that offers guided

meditation.

One of the things the lady says

that is supremely helpful for me

is that beginners mistakenly

think that the goal of meditation

is to stop thoughts

and just

"be".

But she says in her meditations:

"thoughts don't matter"

and

"do not get involved in making up a

story about your thoughts"

When my toxic train get's going,

that's exactly what I am doing!

I am making up a story about those

negative thoughts...

telling myself God doesn't love me

or God wants me to suffer

or God is unreasonable and expects

WAY too much from me...

But if I take away the story,

I'm just left with thoughts.

And if the thoughts just aren't TRUE,

then they are not from God.

Because God is Truth.

If I take away the story,

I'm just left with thoughts.

If the thoughts aren't LOVING,

then they are not from God.

Because God is Love.

If I take away the story,

and I am left with TRUTHFUL,

LOVING thoughts,

eventually, I will become

a truthful and loving person

Because

As water reflects a face,

so a man's heart [thoughts] reflects the man.

Proverbs 27:19

...as water reflects my face,

so my thoughts reflect who I am...

or, to be cute and new-agey...

What you think about you bring about!

Just Amy

How To Save Your Pennies

Here are my thoughts on how to make

this year THE year you finally

save some money!

1. Do not buy anything new, unless absolutely necessary!
2. Keep a running list of things you think you "need".
3. When you've decided you "need" something, wait for a good deal. If you can't find a good deal, keep waiting.  I bet you will realize half the stuff you think you need, you really don't.
4. DO NOT BUY IMPULSIVELY!!
5. If it's not on your list...don't buy it. Deh.
6. If you see something you want, wait a week...if you still remember that you want it, put it on your list and revert to #2. I've heard this tip given as "wait a month" but I find that sometimes by then, you DO still want it but it's nowhere to be found...at which point I guess it could be argued that you don't NEED it if it's that fleeting...so go with what's comfortable for you.
7. Try to buy in the off-season.  So get your spring clothes in the fall, winter clothes in the spring, etc.
8. Barter.  Will someone till your garden in exchange for some of those peaches you put up every year?  You won't know 'til you ask!  Value is in the eye of the beholder.  lol.
9. Re-think those items you feel are necessary.  Do you really need a power mower? Or can you use a hand mower?  Can you borrow your neighbor's? Get a cow or goat?
10. Make it yourself with materials you have around already. Need a blanket? Take that box of old shirts destined for the Salvation Army and make a quilt! Need lined drapes?  Do what I do: hang quilts in the window. Seriously. Very cozy.

These are obviously just very basic ideas

for general penny pinching.

I'd love to hear your specific ideas

on ways you "make-do"

Without getting overly preachy,

I really feel as a wife and mother,

my job centers around assisting

my husband in this area. 

As the manager of the home, it is

important for me to use the money

my husband makes to the best of

my ability...and that means

stretching it as much as possible.

That makes my husband happy...

and makes him look good!  ;-)

Is God Calling...or Am I Just Crazy?

Ever have a completely

HAIRBRAINED

idea and wonder if

you're losing your marbles

or

if God is calling you to

do something odd?

I HAVE

Then I start wondering:

If I did it, would it not end up

being odd at all?

I really hate when people do weird

stuff and say God called them to do it.

But here I sit wondering if I'm

about to be one of them!

What is this hairbrained idea, you ask?

Well, it's like this...

This crazy idea keeps surfacing.

It keeps coming up.

I keep wanting to research it.

I keep wondering if I could do it...

If I SHOULD do it...

GO ON A MILK AND JUICE FAST

I'm not sure if that's what I would call it.

Milk and juice FAST

makes it sound like I am going

to abstain from milk and juice.

What I'm considering is

ONLY consuming milk and juice

UNTIL CHRISTMAS.

Before you go weird on me,

I want you to know I've already

gone weird

on myself!

One reason I am wondering if God

wants me to do this is because, well,

I kinda LIKE FOOD.

I have NO SELF CONTROL.

and

I can't imagine being able to

actually do it - NOT EAT

for almost a month.

THERE IS NO WAY.

I've looked into it a little bit.

There is a diet out there called

the Milk Diet

where people literally only drink milk.

But they drink raw milk, which is

not practical for me, so I would

need to drink O.J. to compensate.

The other important part about the

"diet" is that I am supposed to rest

as much as possible while on it;

as if recovering from illness.

This piqued my curiosity.

This is the point where my engines

started working overtime and the idea

started getting obsessive.

WHAT A MARVELOUS IDEA!

What better way to prepare my heart

for Christmas!?

REST and reflection

on the past year.

REST and single-minded focus

on the year to come.

I've often admired various

religions for their emphasis

on

NO DISTRACTIONS.

The Amish

and

Tibetan Monks

for example.

Without having to wonder what I'm

going to be eating every moment of the day

I will free up that part of my brain

to focus on God

and the birth of his only son.

By AGGRESSIVELY resting, I am

taking care of and listening to

my body,

which (in theory) should help me

to differentiate between my own

HAIRBRAINED

ideas...

and God's.

I think I may have just

talked myself into this

CRAZY JOURNEY.

I'll start December 1,

and I'll end with Christmas Eve dinner

(because no way am I missing

potato dumplings!)

Maybe I'll blog about it.

Maybe I won't.

So what do you think?

Hairbrained?

Or God?

What would YOU do?

Just Amy

We Are Called To Love. We Are Not Called To Harass.



I am going through something...

CORRECTION:  I am not going through it.

I am witnessing someone I love

very dearly go through it.

It just FEELS like it is happening to me

sometimes.

As a Christian (a follower of Christ and his teachings), I am called to "love others as myself".  He even went so far as to call this the greatest commandment only after putting him first and foremost.  So:

1. Love God first and most
2. Love others AT LEAST as much as you love yourself.

Seems simple and straightforward, right?

Love is all we need

Love makes the world go round...

I'm feeling very loving and fluffy now.

It CAN be very straightforward and simple.  But it can also get complicated.  For example, under the "love umbrella" I am called to do some pretty hard, often unpopular things.

Like point out to my fellow Christians when they are sinning or about to sin.

Ouch.  That feels a little like a

picker in my fluffy cotton ball.

I dislike conflict.

But I'm all about the love...

Doing this should never assume or imply that I am sin-less myself, or that I am "better than" anyone.  We quite literally are all equal in God's eyes. 

If you mull that over a bit...

it's a hard pill to swallow.

I want to be SPECIAL!

I want to be MORE special than...

SOMEone...

I feed the poor. 

Surely that makes me

"BETTER THAN"

Someone, right?

So, where do you draw the line?

I'm supposed to point out when my sister in Christ is sinning.  Fine.  I'll do it.  I'll be grudgingly obedient to my Lord and Savior.

But how many times do I point this out?  Once?  Twice?  Do I point it out every time I see her commit this sin?  Do I call her in the middle of the night when I have another example/argument/idea about how to MAKE HER STOP this train wreck?  Do I text her this one last time to DRIVE THE POINT HOME?

Does this remind you of any

Christians in your life?

Bible thumpers?

Jesus Freaks?

STOP THE MADNESS!

Here is what I think.  Take it or leave it...or you can comment and pass this along to your friends so someone will actually READ this blog...and we can discuss.

1. I am to love others as myself.
2. I am NOT to point out to a non-Christian her sins (that is a whole other rant, my friends)
3. I AM called to point out the sins of my fellow sisters in Christ
4. The above point assumes that I have a RELATIONSHIP with said sister that is intimate enough to have any business opening such a discussion in the first place.
5. IT IS NOT UP TO ME TO SAVE MY FELLOW CHRISTIAN FROM THE SIN!!!
6. Repeat number 5 while banging your head into a wall because it is THAT IMPORTANT to remember.
7. Maybe repeat number 4 too...and think about that.  Hard.

My own interpretation of people who continually bring up the same sin over and over again?



visions of rabid pit-bulls

are dancing in my head

now.  So much for

fluffy love.

1. It is harassment
2. It demonstrates a complete lack of faith in God
3. It takes the focus off God and puts it on you.

Just FYI, #3

is a no-no.

To God be the glory

and all that.

(Christian etiquette 101)

Hold on a minute!  Harassment is a pretty strong word to be using, don't you think?  Where do you get off?

Harass:  –verb (used with object)

1.

to disturb persistently; torment, as with troubles or cares; bother continually; pester; persecute.

2.

to trouble by repeated attacks, incursions, etc., as in war or hostilities; harry; raid.

 

Thank you Webster's Dictionary.  I love you.  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Harass

 

Hey!  Love is a verb too!

Funny.

 

Do you think harassment fits the bill now?  I thought so.

 

Have the discussion.  Then let it go, and let God do what God does.  It is not up to you to stop the sin...it is up to God.  Get out of his way.

 

...and get out of MY way

'cause I'm looking

for the fluffy

love.

Just Amy

Longsuffering

Perhaps you will need to have longsuffering when dealing with me!



Long-suffering means that we have patience with people.
God expects that we will have difficult people in our lives and He knows that it will sometimes be painful. So He calls us to suffer a long time with people, be patient with them, while He is working out His plan in our lives and in their lives. He is working out a plan in their lives! Who am I to mess with that?

This week’s Homekeeper’s Journal is all about Long-suffering ….

God has worked in my life regarding patience and long-suffering in these ways …………Long answer: I have never considered this question before.  I'm pretty sure I have always looked at long-suffering as a punishment.  Why should I have to suffer through this?  What have I done NOW?  *enter grown-up temper tantrum complete with foot-stomping* Short answer: He gave me children and a husband. :-)  PAHLESE do not read that to mean that I look at marriage and mothering as a punishment! Not so! (most days, anyway) I mean to say that I am an extremely selfish person who wants what she wants when she wants it...HOW she wants it...and this selfishness creates the need for God to use my very own family blessing as a lesson in long suffering sometimes.  That's all.  Maybe I'm supposed to be long suffering with myself!

The hardest part of showing long-suffering is …………. Keeping "that tone" out of my voice and not exhibiting "that posture" that gives my thoughts away EVERY TIME.  I am not being long-suffering if I am letting everyone around me know how irritated I am that I have to put up with this.  In fact, I once read a definition of long-suffering that hit the nail on the head: "Enduring provocation long and patiently"    http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/longsuffering?&qsrc=
PATIENTLY is the key.  I am not enduring provocation patiently if I am tapping my foot and snapping my fingers while sighing every five minutes...
 

The most rewarding part of showing long-suffering is ……….. Knowing in my heart of hearts that god is thinking "very well my good and faithful servant" when he sees me do it well...which I don't think he's seen yet.  Teehee.

The one kind situation that I have the most trouble showing long-suffering in is ………I'm not sure this is a situation as much as it is a time of day.  Every day.  Of every week...  all year long. lol.  But from the time I start making dinner until the children are in bed.  Those four hours are what I call the "witching hour" here because I'm tired.  I'm cranky.  I cannot see over myself to even care what anyone else is needing.  The tank is running on vapors. I want to hand the reigns over to the husband, but he doesn't want to take 'em because he's been working all day.  I want to change my name and move to Bermuda.  I'm making it a goal to work on this horrendous attitude from 4-8pm.  Maybe it can be a blog thing!  Basically, until this moment, I did NOT show long-suffering at this time of the day.  I'm going to work on that.

I see how kindness goes hand in hand with long-suffering because ………. It's just nicer to accept people, warts and all, than it is to point out how irritating their behavior is to me.  It's not all about ME!  lol. 

I want others to show long-suffering to me when ……… Well, when I am selfish and cranky and am running my mouth too much about things that, frankly, do not build anyone up or encourage anyone at all.  So...all the time? ;-)  Suddenly my husband is looking mighty attractive!  He's the KING of long suffering, apparently.

God shows long-suffering to me in these ways ……….. Well, he hasn't SMOTE yet, so, he shows me long-suffering all the time.  He shows me when I ignore him yet again.  He shows me when I say harsh words to my loved ones...especially when I say them to His darling babies.

Ephesians 4:1-4 says …..   ¹ Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. ² Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. ³ Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. ⁴ For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.

This week I will begin to ask God to ……….. Teach me how to be long-suffering. Fix my heart so my attitude reflects His love and willingness to make allowances for His children.  Get me through the witching hour without sinning!

Until next time, my peeps!

Just Amy