Who Says You Can’t?

A mom shared with us the following:

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My husband and I started on the book, Buying a House Debt-Free, during the kids’ nap time, and we are ALREADY filled with fresh vision. Without vision, we’ve been feeling like we’re perishing (Proverbs 29:18).

Houses in our city average $1.5 million, so we won’t be buying a single-family home here any time soon (although I do believe that God could chose to do a miracle, if He wanted). We feel God led us to our condo where we put 50% down, and with rapid market appreciation and paying down extra, we’re now up to 75% paid off in 3 years. We didn’t want to get into debt, but the property was about 50% of what other, comparable places were selling for and our monthly expenses worked out to be only $70 more than renting. It has enabled us to continue to be generous givers (if you want to give like a rich person, you’ve got to develop the heart to give when you’re not rich), and for me to stay home with the kids. We are keen to owe no one anything except love, so that we can truly be obedient to every one of God’s commandments. Pray for us to obey His EVERY word.

Let’s build each other up in faith.

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I find this testimony exciting. This couple has a “can-do” attitude, they were creative in figuring out a housing solution since single-family homes were too high, and are working quickly to pay off debt.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he” (Proverbs 29:18).

Steve

Money is Cheap

When you think of things in terms of cost, may I encourage you not to think in terms of dollars, think time. We can always get more money, but we can never get more time. Do you value your time? Do you use it as if it were a non-renewable commodity?

“He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich”  (Proverbs 10:4).

Steve

In Need of Rest or Labor?

I once heard a description of a football game: fifty thousand people who need exercise watching twenty-two men who desperately need rest.

Have you observed something similar in some churches? There might be several hundred spectators who need spiritual exercise watching a core group who desperately need rest.

Finally, have you also noticed some homes where one person is greatly overworked, while the other family members desperately need to learn what it means to serve?

“Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men” (Proverbs 22:29).

Steve

One Good Habit

Form one, just one, good habit before school starts. If you begin school after Labor Day, you still have 8 habit-forming weeks left. I looked at the twenty most read books on Amazon this week. In the first fifteen, I noticed 2 on habits.

Sometimes a good habit replaces a bad habit. Other times it stands on its own. As Christians, we experience power in positive habit formation that others lack—the power of God. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Romans 15:13). 

What if you prayed right now and asked God to show a habit He wanted you to develop in the next 8 weeks? What do you struggle with that would be easier with a habit to help you accomplish it? Perhaps recently, He whispered it to you, but you resisted. What if you committed right now to make that habit a priority through the rest of the summer? What would your life look like going forward if that habit was in place? We are often robbed of joy by something that might not be so hard, with God’s help, to put in place in our lives.

God wired us for habits to make our lives simpler with fewer decisions and less thought. A habit automatically moves us through an action without having to consider whether we do it or not, when we do it, or how we do it. It just happens.

The homeschool mom finds it easier to focus and work on a new habit during the summer than at New Year’s because generally she doesn’t have homeschooling responsibility during June, July, and August.

Habits that come to my mind that most of us would like to have would be:

  • Consistent bedtime and wake up time
  • Time in the Word each day
  • Daily exercise
  • Meal planning
  • Consistent meal times
  • Consistent laundry time
  • Consistent cleaning time
  • Consistent home organization and dejunking

 

Most of you know that my early mothering did not start out well. I was angry, worried, and depressed. Over the years as I began each of those habits (I listed) they had a direct positive impact on my negative emotions.

In order to implement a new habit, make a plan. Write down specific steps toward your habit. For example, “Read my Bible daily” makes a perfect good habit if it isn’t already in place. For that habit, you want to determine:

  • How long to read your Bible.
  • When to read it.
  • Where to read it.
  • What distractions to eliminate.

 

To tap into the spiritual power God gives us for doing what He calls us to do, pray. Pray throughout the day that God will enable you to form the new habit. Pray that you don’t choose the flesh over the new habit. When you fail, repent, asking the Lord’s forgiveness, and go at it again. That’s extremely simple but terribly hard all at the same time.

What habit will you tackle in the next 8 weeks? If you e-mail me and let me know, I will pray for you. Then I will e-mail you in September and ask how you did.

Trusting in Jesus,
Teri

Posted in: Mom's Corner

Hundreds of Times a Day

Decisions — we make hundreds of them each day. How blessed we are with freedom that allows us to make our own decisions.

Freedom might be best defined by what it cost to acquire it and what is done with it. Our freedom was expensive. It was bought by blood – the blood of servicemen and service women and the most precious blood of all, the blood Jesus Christ.

Are we using our freedom to do what we want or to do what we ought?

What will we have to show for our freedom when we stand before the Lord one day?

“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not” (1 Corinthians 10:23).

Steve