Body Image in Little Girls

My seven year old came up to me the other day and told me, "Mommy, I'm fat." I was struck speechless for a moment. She is so tiny and cute that it took me a few minutes to realize that she was serious. After assuring her that she is absolutely perfect I began to wonder when I first started to have issues with my body image. I don't remember being so young. In fact, I think I was in high school before I was even somewhat concerned with my appearance. Since when do 7 year olds look at themselves in the mirror and declare themselves overweight? I would like to believe that we have taught our daughter's that their value is in their relationship with Christ and not in their physical appearance. Something in her life though is making her question her beauty.

The Bible tells us that we are wonderfully made and that God made us in our mother's wombs. I tell my girls every day how much I love them and how beautiful they are. Then they sit down to watch a t.v show or a cartoon, and they are flooded with images of near perfect women. The girls that don't fit the movie perfect image are made fun of and looked down on. How did it take me by such surprise that my little second grader is beginning to question her looks? I can look everywhere and find advice on how to help a teenager understand her beauty, but what about a 7 year old? What about my 5 year olds? How do I assure them that they are wonderful just the way they are and that what they see on t.v and on the magazine covers in the grocery store is just not realistic? How do I teach them to find their worth in Christ and not in wordly appearance, while at the same time teaching them to be healthy and take good care of their bodies? I am wrestling with these questions now, and looking forward to sharing what answers I come up with.

Feeling Sorry For Myself

I woke up depressed this morning. My husband headed out to help a friend move and I sat down on the couch while my three daughters went outside to enjoy the sunshine. I began to think about how lonely I was and how I was becoming tired of sitting at home all the time with just the kids for company. I allowed myself to lay on the couch for about 20 minutes, then realized that I was not going to shake my slump while laying there feeling down. So, I got up, got dressed and booted up my computer thinking I would look around for someone to talk to. I realized that I have a friend always available to talk to, to spend time with, and to love. That friend is Jesus. He wouldn't want me laying around feeling sorry for myself when He blessed me with another beautiful day on this earth with my wonderful children. While I was sitting there thinking that I needed more interaction than a seven year old and two four year olds, those very children were outside laughing at how the wind made the trees dance and how bubbles float away carelessly on the breeze. So I went out in the yard with them. They were quick to show me the house they had built in the dirt for thier make believe friends. They helped their baby dolls go down the slide and giggled when they landed in the dirt. I found myself smiling. The slump that I had woken up in began to fall off of my shoulders. Psalm 118:24 says, "This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." The Lord has made every day that I am blessed to be upon this earth. He wants me to rejoice and be glad in every day. He has given me three beautiful examples of this rejoicing. Things that I take for granted, those precious young souls delight in. So now that they have decided to come inside and explore how much their dolls like to play a matching card game, I am turning on some praise music and enjoying another day that the Lord has loved me enough to give me.

Random Acts of Kindness

On Thursday night we were the recipients of a random act of kindness. We went to get some ice cream after doing some grocery shopping. When we ordered we were told that our total was about $18.00. When we pulled up to pay she said that it was only $14.00. When we asked what the difference was we were told that the person in front of us had donated her change for us. We continued the pattern and donated ours to the person behind us. It was such a simple thing but it made me think about the command to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our daily life. I often fall into the habit of trying to think of how I can feed starving children, provide wells in foreign countries, or somehow make an impact globally. I forget that I need to serve people in my home neighborhood as well. I am blessed to live in an area where I do not see the effects of poverty around me every day, but that does not mean that there are not people who need help. Just because there is not a homeless family down the street does not mean that there is not a family at my daughter's school that could use some extra groceries or even just help cleaning up their yard. I want to make it my goal to see the need around me, and if it is not evident, to look a little deeper to find it. Jesus asks us to serve others all the time, even if I don't feel like I am making a difference. God knows the needs the needs that I can fill, and when I help someone in need I am actually helping Jesus.

Forgiveness

Lately I have been thinking a lot about forgiveness. Having recently reconciled with my husband after a 3 month separation, forgiveness has become a very important topic around my house. We are working through forgiving each other for the things that brought us to the brink of divorce as well as discovering where unforgiveness has tainted our relationships with God. Something that struck me was when it says in the Bible that God will forgive us as much as we forgive other people. I want God to forgive me for every sin that I commit, whether willingly or subconsciously. I don't want anything to jeopardize my relationship with God or the eternity that I have to look forward to worshipping Him in Heaven. Think about it, if God will pour out the same measure of forgiveness to us that we give to other people, shouldn't that motivate us to forgive others regardless of the seriousness of their crime?
This train of thought led me to remember the Amish community whom so willingly offered forgiveness to the man who entered their school and murdered some of their children a few years back. Not only did they verbally profess their forgiveness publicly, but they demonstrated it by taking care of his wife and children in their time of need. Now that is God honoring forgiveness! How do I incorporate that into my life?
An interesting fact to ponder; when Jesus told us that we are to forgive "seventy times seven", that number means to forgive 490 times in one 24 hour period, the same person, for the same offense. That is mind boggling to me. How can I forgive someone that many times in one day if they keep committing the same sin against me? Wouldn't I want God to forgive me in that way?
I am searching my heart for people that I am harboring unforgiveness against, and am surprised by what I am finding. I thought that I had forgiven everyone in my life, but on further soul searching I am finding that their are people that I am still bitter towards. I wonder if I will ever fully overcome that tendency to be angry and bitter to other people. The only way to do that is to go to God in prayer every time it comes to my attention that I am being unforgiving.
I think I am going to be spending a lot of time on my knees.

Is God Your Savior or Your Judge

I was in Bible study this morning and the speaker asked the question, "Is God your Savior or your judge?" I have spent most of the morning thinking about this question. God is my savior because he provided his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for my sins. It is only through Jesus that I know I will have eternal life in heaven. But the Bible also says that we will sit before the judgement seat of Christ and he will measure out the works that we have done in this life to determine our reward in heaven. Doesn't that make God both my savior and my judge?
I know that I already have been given the gift of eternity because I accepted the amazing gift of the blood of Jesus. There is nothing that I can do that can earn my salvation, but I can do good works here on earth to bring glory to God. That is, after all, what he has asked us all to do. Every time I serve the poor, help the hungry, or visit someone who is ill, I am spreading the love of Christ and storing up treasures in heaven. I love my savior, I have an amazing respect for my judge and what he has asked me to do. Thank you God for being my savior and for allowing me to know that you will be my judge, so that I can do good works for you now and celebrate them later in heaven.

Feeling Beautiful

Today I got my nails done. It is such a silly little thing but I really enjoy it. I was feeling guilty about indulging in this pleasure since I am recently out of work. My husband did the budget last night and tole me to go ahead and have them done. He told me, "I love doing things for you that make you happy."

As I left the salon this morning I noticed how different I felt. I have a beautiful new french manicure and I see that I hold my hands differently when they feel beautiful. I toss my hair back differently. I even carry my purse differently. I was able to spend an hour at the salon with a friend and talk about things that did not involve baby talk. It was a little bit of time where I was just able to be a woman instead of mommy, wife, house cleaner, and taxi.

I am so grateful that my husband understands that I enjoy things that make me feel beautiful and that it is important. He understands that when I feel good about myself I feel better about what I do every day. He wants me to feel good about myself and I love that it makes me feel spoiled.

I have a goal to do one thing every day that makes me feel good about myself. Granted it won't be a manicure every day, but maybe once a week I can give myself a facial. I can spend just a little bit of time when my children have gone to bed reading a book just for fun. I feel better about myself and better about my goals as a mother, a writer, and a Scentsy consultant. This is going to be a good day!

Giving it all to God

My husband said something the other night that really struck me. He asked, "If I have really released everything to God, then why I am so tired?"
God tell us not to worry about tomorrow or to worry about what we will eat or wear. We are to trust him in everything. This is a moment by moment battle for me. Now that I am no longer working outside the home, I find myself worrying about our bills and about how we will afford to do some of the things that we enjoy to do with our kids. My husband says that he still finds himself worrying about our finances as well. But our God wants us to trust him with everything.
All of the resources that we have come from God. He knows how much we need to live and He will provide that for us. It might not be exactly the way that we had planned, but how much better will God's plan be than any that our finite human minds could think up?
I am excited to see where God is taking my family now and I will, moment by moment, trust the Lord with everything in my life.

Glorifying God in Good and Bad Times

It is easy to glorify God when things are going well. We shout his praises to the rooftops when everything is working out the way that we want it to. What about those times though, when things aren't quite the way that we had planned? I am sitting here at home today, on a day when nomrally I would be at work. I no longer have a job outside of the home. I have spent some time as a stay at home mom, but I always figured that I would have a career. Now I see years ahead of me with no job to speak of. Can I glorify God now that I am lost and confused?
Of course I can! God is still in control! He still know everything that is happening and has a plan for my good. He wants me to have a hope and a future. I have a wonderful family and my children are very excited that mommy is home with them after school now. To tell the truth, I am pretty excited about it myself. My littlest ones are having a tea party in the living room with their dolls right now. My oldest will be home from school in a few hours and she will tell me all about her day. I will get to hear it first, not after she has already shared it with the people at daycare and forgotten about some of it. There is joy in that experience, and now that joy is mine.
While I may not always understand why things happen in this life, I do understand that I serve an amazing God and that He loves me at all times. I am never out of his hands.

God Is In Control

I know that, no matter what happens in my life, God is in control. I find it hard somtimes though, to remember this fact. This has been a rough week for my family. I have been diagnosed with a medical problem that is causing us to make some serious changes to the way that we approach things. Due to this issue, I might be facing the loss of my job. I carry the health insurance for my family. We are nervous to see where our road is going to take us now. We are trusting that God will only lead us where he wants us, and that no matter where we are He will give us the strength to handle it. I am learning what it means to truly depend on my husband to care for me. I am discovering how to reach out to my friends for help when what I really want to do is just handle things on my own.

I have always been that woman who can handle everything and fight my own battles. It is quite the wake up call for me now to have to rely on my husband to drive me where I need to go and to help me so much around the house. I can't just decide I want to go somewher and pick up and go. I have to put more planning into things now, and I have to trust in the Lord for provision much more.

I am excited to see how He will provide for us in this scary time of transition.

A Beautiful Day

I woke up this morning to fresh snow falling and two inches of fluffy whiteness already on the ground. I opened up my devotional to read about an amazing woman holding onto her faith when she was in prison in China for bringing Bibles into the country. It reminded me of what an amazing God we have! No matter what trials we might be facing, He is always there with us. Even when we feel like we are all alone and there is no one who can understand our pain, He is holding our hand. It was such an encouragment to me after the long, difficult week that I have had. Our God is amazing! His love for us is never ending and it does not depend on anything that we do. All that is required of us is love and faith! How incredible is that?!?

Sometimes I slip into the thinking that I need to "do something" in order to "earn" my way into heaven. It is nothing that I can accomplish on my own. Only Jesus' work on the cross can bring me into everlasting life with my heavenly Father.

What a wonderful way to begin a beautiful day!

Rejoicing in Affliction

2 Corinthians 12:7-9 "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

This week we received some upsetting news about my health. We learned that I have an affliction that most likely will be with me for the rest of my life. It is going to mean some changes in the basic way that we live life as well as greatly decreasing my independence. My first reaction was to wallow in sadness and bury myself under my pillow. I came home and pulled out my Bible. I cried, I yelled, I prayed, and I begged the Lord to take it away from me. Then I remembered this verse in 2 Corinthians. Paul was a great messenger of Christ, yet he had a "thorn in his flesh". The Bible never says exactly what that thorn was, but it was something that tormented him greatly. Even such a great minister of Christ had to deal with a weakness, trusting that God's grace was sufficient for him.

As I embark on this new journey that God has placed in my life, I know that His grace will be sufficient for me. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

Feeling Dry

I woke up late this morning. When I rolled over to look at my alarm clock I realized that we had to be out the door in 45 minutes. That meant getting myself up, dressed, and ready for work and my 3 daughters ready for school. I rushed around pulling out clothes for the girls and grabbing them poptarts so that I could go get dressed and brush my hair. When we flew out the door only 3 minutes late, I realized that I did not take the time to read my morning devotional. By the time I got the kids delivered to where they needed to be and myself to the office, I was feeling stress build up in my neck.

Once I arrived at work I had to jump on a conference call then head to the bank... all before 9:00 when I had to unlock the doors for customers to come in. During all of this time the knot in my neck grew increasingly tighter. When I was finally able to take a moment to breathe, I realized that my sould was crying out for connection with my creator.

I thank the Lord for the internet. I logged on and pulled up the Women of Faith daily devotional and the Charisma daily devotional. Sitting at my desk, I took a few minutes to read those and bow my head in prayer, thanking the Lord for another beautiful day.

How wonderful to realize that the knot in my neck is now gone and I am ready to work through another amazing, blessed, day!

Winter Colds

My husband almost never gets sick. I can't remember the last time that he stayed home from work because he was not feeling well. This weekend the poor guy was hit hard. Fever, chills, sick stomach, the whole bit. He is the type of man who is not happy unless he has ten projects going at once. This weekend was extremely hard for him because he was unable to do anything but rest on the couch under a blanket.

On Thursday, our oldest daughter was sick. I got a phone call to go pick her up at school because she wasn't feeling well. When we got home I gave her some tylenol, made some soup, and put her to bed. By that evening she was back to her normal, cheerful self again.

All of this just made me start to think about how it sometimes takes an act of God to make us slow down and rest. With our busy schedules, my husband and I hardly take any downtime. If we aren't working, we're going to church, taking the kids to a function, or trying to cram in financial discussions between the children going to bed and us finally passing out for the night. It seems like we never slow down enough to enjoy just spending time with each other.

Yesterday afternoon, with my husband wrapped up in a blanket and drinking cold water for the fever, I settled in beside him on the couch. Our daughters came and curled up close and we all watched a full two hour movie sitting together. I thoroughly enjoyed that time. There was no hurry to answer phone calls, no rush to get one last page edited, and no rushing off to respond to an emergency on my husband's part. There was just the five us, wrapped under blankets, watching a movie and enjoying some quiet, quality time.

I want more weekends like that, without the sick part of course!

No More Being a Hermit!

So I have a nasty habit of cocooning myself in myself and not wanting to venture out. I find myself spending days just hanging out in my sweatpants and working on my computer. Last night we had some friends over. It was the first time in a few months that we have had anyone over just to hang out and play games. It was so much fun! They have children about the same age as ours so all of the kids were playing together which gave us parents some much needed adult time.
We spent a few hours eating pizza, cookies, and playing Yhatzee. I really enjoyed having a conversation with someone that did not revolve around pink tutus and imaginary friends. When our friends left my husband and I smiled at each other. We had both truly enjoyed the evening. As I headed to bed I started to think about God's design for us. He did not create us to live our lives in a vacuum. He wants us to interact with other Christians and to experience fellowship with them. A very important part of our Christian walk is to establish relationships with other Christians and to allow them to hold us accountable to our own walk with God.
As our friends left the house last night we decided that we would spend more evenings together. I am excited to spend more time with people who will help me to break out of my comfort zone and develop truly Christ centered friendships.

Following the Way That Seems Right

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." (Proverbs 14:12)

Sometimes in this world it is easy to just go along with what we think is the right thing to do. I have learned in the last year that it is best to stop and pray before making any big decisions, probably any little ones too. It says in Proverbs 16:9 "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." We might have ideas about where we want to go and what we want to do, but it is the Lord who will determine if those things will occur.

Last March we decided that we wanted to move to Cody, Wyoming. We made plans and plunged forward, but all of our plans fell apart. It was only after we stopped and sought God's guidance that we actually found our way to Cody. We discovered a lot about the strength of faith in that time of our lives.

Now we are faced with a life decision again. Do we take a job opportunity that might make us move again, or do we stay here in Cody, where we have come to love. Before we even begin to consider this decision we will seek God's guidance. Only with his direction will any move that we make be successful.

Controlling Sinful Desires

"Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." (Romans 13:14)

Do you ever find yourself thinking sinful thoughts? I have been struggling with my thoughts. I have made a decision in my heart to follow God and to obey all of his commands. There are days though, when my mind wants to go a different direction. In the last few months I have found myself considering ending my marriage. I know that the Lord does not approve of divorce. I allowed my thoughts to enter the realm of sin by considering seeking a divorce. I was trying to gratify the desires of my sinful nature rather than following God.

After spending much time in prayer and reading my Bible, I realized that no amount of rationalization could make it all right to end my marriage. I chose to clothe myself with the Lord Jesus Christ. Rather than thinking about how to gratify my sinful desires I am focusing on how to honor God. And as I choose to follow God's commands for my relationship with my husband, I am seeing my thoughts come under God's control as well. I am finding myself thinking of ways to bless my husband and to show him the love of Christ.

My life goes much smoother when I am controling my thoughts in ways that are in honoring to God rather than seeking to satisfy my own sinful desires.

Reining In Your Thoughts

In Kay Arthur's book Lord, Give Me a Heart for You she says "... when it comes to a path, a direction, a conviction that's contrary to God and His Word, you cannot compromise your relationship with God under any circumstances."

I struggle with this the most in my thought life. I find myself thinking about ungodly things and desiring to fill my life with material possessions rather than the treasures found in God's kingdom. I am meditating on this verse: Philippians 4:8 "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."

I live in Wyoming and am surrounded by God's miraculous beauty. All around me are things to praise the Lord for, from majestic mountains to peaceful wildlife. I often get so busy trying to keep up with my busy life that I just zoom around and take no time to enjoy the beautiful things around me. I will find myself thinking about what things I want to aquire, new activities to do, and my to do list. While these things are not in themselves ungodly, allowing them to come between me and my relationship with God is.

I am not going to allow worldly thoughts to compromise my relationship with God. I am going to meditate on my verse from Philippians and allow that to consume my thoughts. I will take time to notice the beauty around me and appreciate the amazing place that God has chosen for my home. I will deny any desires that are contrary to God's word and instead focus my energy on glorifying him in all that I do and think.

Give Me A Heart For You, Lord

This is my prayer today. As I enter my day in the world I want my heart to reflect God at all times. I want my thoughts, actions, and prayers to be truly honest and rhiteous. The Bible says that none of us are rhiteous, not even one. The only way that I can be rhiteous is through the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. I talked to my daughters about this last night. We talked about how the only way to get to heaven is to believe that Jesus died for us and that is how we can get to God. I am constantly amazed by the hearts of young children. My oldest, 7, told me that she loves Jesus more than anyone else because he loves her. My little ones, 4, said that God loves them and that when they read the Bible and pray every day the grow, grow, grow!

I want to grow, grow, grow. I want to read my Bible and pray every day. I want a heart for God!

Dear Lord, please be with me today, help me to live my life with your son living through me. I want to be a completely commited Christ follower and I want the people around me to see that in my actions. I love you God. I am humbled and eternally grateful for the awesome sacrifice you made for me in your son, Jesus Christ. I am still a sinner Lord. Every day I sin. Please forgive me. Work in my heart, clean out all of the dark corners and make them shine for you. Through your wonderful son, Jesus, amen.

Good Morning, Lord

I heard it said once that there are two ways to greet the day: Either, good lord, it's morning or Good Morning, Lord. I have made it my goal to greet each day with Good Morning, Lord. So, how do I do that when my natural inclination is to grown and crawl back under my covers? My Bible sits right next to my bed and the temptation to ignore it in the morning and just jump into my day is sometimes impossible to resist. When I don't start the morning with God, then I notice my mood is darker, I am easily irritated by my daughters and I just plain don't have a good day.

So, my new goal: to greet every day with time in the Bible. I usually end my day with Bible study, but now I want to begin my day that way as well. With three busy daughters and a husband as well as myself to get off to work in the morning, this is going to be a daunting task. I know I can do it! I know my relationship with the Lord will grow and I will experience his blessings in my life in ways that I have yet to see.

Good morning, Lord. I am ready for a new day!