Forever Beloved

Faith, Love & Truth

a proverbs 31 woman

She watches over the affairs of her household 
and does not eat the bread of idleness. 
Proverbs 31:27

this noble lady truly is the heart of her home.  as women, wives and mothers we need to know what is going on in our home. we need to know what is going on with our husbands and children, how were their days, what are they struggling with. we really need to make an effort to find those things out. not just to be nosy either, but to know what they need help with, what they need prayer for and what we can do to help. where is the best place to catch up? over the dinner table. this world of ours is soooooooooo fast. many times we are just off and running in different directions. we truly need this time with our family to reconnect and slow down.

i also think we are to watch over the affairs of our household in another way. as wives, we are to manage our household. we are to love on everyone in our household, keep it clean and organized, have food bought and prepared, have clothing for our family and so much more. we are to watch over all these other tasks and make sure the household is running smoothly.  delegate responsibilities and chores as needed.  being a homemaker is a great and privileged responsibility.

So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander.
I Timothy 5:14
i don’t think this noble lady never allowed herself any downtime but i do believe that her downtime was productive.  as women, if we let our mind become idle (inactive) it becomes easier to take our eyes off glorifying God and off our own family’s needs and end up looking at what others are doing. normally this ends in us becoming jealous or discontent. i’m not sure about you, but i have no desire to spend my free-time making myself miserable. we need to really be mindful that even our free-time is productive. i looooove to read and have found some simply amazing, inspiring Christian books. spend time chatting with your husband or call a friend. i actually spend some of my free-time blogging 🙂 or spend some time creating something.
as a homemaker, i can tell you first-hand how easy it is to let time get away from you.  becoming idle is soooo easy!  there isn’t anyone here to tell me what i need to do, it’s up to me to see that for myself.  it’s easy to just hop on your laptop and think “oh, i’ll just be 5 minutes”.  and before you know it, you’ve been nosing around facebook for an hour.  what i try to do is only allow myself computer or tv time while i’m eating my lunch.  once i’m done, it gets shut off and i get back to work.
this week, look over your life and make sure you take that time out with your husband and children this week. don’t allow your eyes to wander, keep them firmly placed on God. and make time in His word a priority.
out for now
~kisses

ouchie mama moments

old home movies, something my kids have always loved.  it seemed as soon as i would shut the camcorder off they would instantly want the tape put into the vcr and replayed.  i have to admit, i loved watching them too.

until now.

while watching an old home movie of me dancing around the living room like a crazy fool with two littles in tow, a particular disturbing scene came across the screen.  one of them did something naughty and i completely overreacted.  my voice changed.  my tone changed.  tears were shed.  and the camera was turned off.  i winced, lowered my head and sat there with my mouth hanging open.

i had ruined my children’s lives.

that moment would definitely not have been michelle duggar approved.  i could just see her shaking her head at me in disgust.  the guilt swirled around me and i could feel the tears welling up in my eyes.  i felt as if i should run over, grab my kids off the couch, hug them and apologize a million times and beg for forgiveness.

i lifted up my head and glanced around the room.  the littles, unphased from the scene, were still watching the home movie.  giggles and laughs abounded.  why are they not upset?  why are they not looking at me with disgust?  though this was a big ouchie mama moment for me, to them it was no big deal.  and guess what?  they still love me.

i am so thankful that His grace covers the nitty gritty and sometimes ugly of parenting.  just as He is perfectly happy to give our kids room to grow, He also gives us room to grow. most of the time we learn from our mistakes and we’re better because of them.  i’ve came a long way since the day of that horrid video.

{breathe}

fast forward to present day.  i have two amazing littles.  they are respectful, God-honoring and truly have servants hearts.  i actually didn’t ruin their lives.  i know i made some mistakes, but i did some things really really right.

out for now
~kisses

{semi} wordless wednesday

out for now
~kisses