31 days of Infusing Faith into the Home- Day 2

I'm super excited to share with you all some ideas on infusing faith into your home!  I joined the 31 day link up challenge being hosted by www.thenester.com  which is taking me WAY out of my comfort zone to blog THAT much, but this is the season of my life right now.  A season to be stretched...all for His glory.

After prayerfully considering where to even begin, I feel the Lord led me to start right at the beginning with prayer.  Imagine that?!  You may be thinking "I got this one in the bag- easy breezy!"  Or you may be thinking "Pray for my family...what does that even look like?"  Which ever camp you are in- I invite you to join us on this journey for the next 30 days to learn, grow and maybe even teach!  I plan to share ideas that we do as a family in our home, ideas I have learned from others and share new ideas I plan to try.
Feel free to comment or contact me with ideas that you use to infuse faith into YOUR home.  We are all in this together after all!  *if you are new to the blogging world, the comment box can be a little tricky if you don't have a blog or gmail account so don't get frustrated- just hit my contact me tab and shoot me an email if your little heart desires!

So what does prayer look like to you?  To me it is very simple...it is just a conversation between me and God.  Or, if I'm praying with others it is a conversation between all of us and God.  (Matt 18:20)  God wants us to have a RELATIONSHIP with him and we can not do that with out conversing with him.  Amen?  This conversation is a two way street.  We have two ears and one mouth- so you may say we are supposed to listen twice as much as we are to speak.  I have never audibly heard the voice of God, but I have heard from Him many many times.  He speaks to us through many ways: the living word- the Bible (2nd Tim 3:16), through other believers (James 3:17), through nature and our surroundings (Rom 1:20) and through His spirit that resides in us as believers (often known as that small inner voice- John 14:17, 1 Corin 3:16).

In Matthew 6:9-13 Jesus gives us a GUIDE on how to pray which we commonly know as The Lord's Prayer.  I say this is a guide because Jesus never intended us to ONLY pray those same exact words over and over again.  Just imagine if you had the same exact conversation with your husband over and over again- day after day or multiple times a day.  That will drive you batty!!  Of course, The Lord is soverign and not on the same exact level as our spouse or anyone from that matter- but He desires to have a relationship with us just as our spouse or friends do.  We can certainly pray the Lord's prayer together on occasion as it is a beautiful prayer, however, we are also to use this as a guide.  In fact, I taught my daughter Kaylee The Lord's Prayer this summer- it just melts my little heart hearing her say it...even when she does get goofed up a bit!

Let's take a quick look at The Lord's Prayer and see what we can learn from it

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, which art in heaven,   we recognize here that He is King of Kings and resides in Heaven

Hallowed be thy Name.   we can bless his righteous name.  I often use many of The Lord's names when in prayer such as Abba, Sovereign Lord, El Shaddai, Yahweh etc

Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
As it is in heaven.  Here we learn to pray for His will to be done on this earth.  That doesn't always mean that He won't give us something NOT in his will...he gives us the free will and the ability to make our own choices.  We should however, pray that His will be done.  Even in the daily task.

Give us this day our daily bread.  There is simple peace in only praying for what we need TODAY.  Worrying about the future is exhausting. 

And forgive us our trespasses,  yes friends, we need to repent of our sins

As we forgive them that trespass against us. and also ask for hearts to forgive others that have wronged us

And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil. Temptation is ALL around us.  We are constantly advertised to and surrounded by temptations.  Part of our daily prayers for our self AND for our family can be to lead us not into temptation.  I love 1st Corinth 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

For thine is the kingdom,

The power, and the glory,

For ever and ever.  We pray to our Lord, our King because it is His world.  It is His power that can deliver us and all of the glory goes to Him for getting us through day by day- every single day for ever.  He wants us to be fruitful (successful- in all areas of life), He is glorified when we are set apart from the world.  How humbling but also how powerful this is. 

Amen.


By simply using The Lord's Prayer as a guide to pray for not only our self, but also for our family we can create a strong foundation for our family to be built on.

Other ways to incorporate prayer into your home

• Pray at dinner or before a meal (again, doesn't have to be the same 'ol prayer day after day so that it looses its freshness). 
• Invite your children to lead the prayer *see printable examples below
• Prayer at bedtime with your children and/or your spouse
• Family devotional time.  If your children are little- you can read a story from a Children's bible as a family.  If they are bigger you can find an age appropriate devotional to do together and discuss as  a family.  Or maybe even bonding time between mom & daughter and dad & son or vise versa

Here are my daughter and son's personal bibles.  (Well, we love us some bibles up in this house so we have several- but these two are special as they received them on the day we dedicated them.)  Children like having something they can "own" so I encourage you to invest in one for all of your children...age appropriate of course
 

• Pray as a family before a big event (job interview, first day of school, road trip, vacation etc)
• Pray FOR your family before a big event
•  A great book is The Power of a Praying Parent or The Power of a Praying Wife both by Stormie Omartian

Printable Prayers

Until we meet again.....I'll be praying for YOU! :)

31 Days of Infusing Faith into your Home

for the next 31 days I'll be finding creative ways to infuse faith into my home, 

and sharing it all here with you!

INFLUENCE

INFLUENCE...

This one word will never mean the same thing to me again.  What a powerful world it already is, but now- for me, there is so much more meaning behind it.  I was able to attend (kind of on a whim) this year's "Influence Conference" in Indianapolis for three short days.  My siesta sister KK 

has pretty much everything to do with how I got here but there are actually a lot of spokes in the wheel of why I ended up at this conference.  However, I don't think I can transpose all of that into words right now...maybe for another day.  I have learned I actually don't love blogging- it doesn't come easy to me.  With that said, sorry I never finished my Luke series ;) The Influence Network puts on this conference- and let me tell you, they do it well!  I took many notes for my own mini retreat I do here in Michigan every year with my local community.  Read more about Ripple Retreat here!  One common thread I noticed over the weekend is that women were made for community. (scripture even tells us so in Gen 28:3, Heb 10:24, Rom 12:3-13)

I am SO Blessed I have a great local community with like minded women right here in my town via the Princess Posse, MOPS at my church, my on-campus women's ministry bible study group, and my HUGE church family that feels very small b/c I know many of them on a deep level :-)  I never take for granted that I am blessed to have such great women right at my fingertips, but it was also GREAT to walk with women from all over the country who share similar hopes & hearts with all different backgrounds.

Towards the beginning of September, I posed a FB status with something along the lines of "whoa, I was exposed to a new world today.  I need to find time to invest in this world- something will have to give."  That is truly where this all began.  I was exposed to the online community of HUNDREDS of like-minded woman who were blogging about so many different things that were SO relateable to me.  First and foremost, these women LOVE Jesus more than anything.  Next, many of them are moms and LOTS of them are hilarious sharing mom stories.  

Here are a few of their info cards (first of all- this idea is brilliant for this community, just sayin...)

and here is a copy of mine- thank you again KK for the digital help creating this (sooo not my talent)

 

(oh, and you may notice this matches the new design of my blog...again, hats off to my KK! My head was literally SPINNING as she coppied this code here, and that code there.  She did teach me how to do a lot, but will I remember is the question, lol)

Some of these women have passion to give back to their local community or communities over seas that so badly need help.  What a fresh reminder that we, as Americans, are sooooo freakin' spoiled we are often oblivious to what is going on NOT in our own backyard.  < I'm sure that sentence is not grammatically correct, roll with it anyway...

Here is a quick pic of just a few of the oganizations we were exposed to over the weekend.  My heart pounded for every single one of them:

 

 Here are their links if you have some extra time on your hands and want to see how you can HELP make a difference in this giant world:

• UMBA
• Two Little Fish Baby/Toddler bedding
• MOCHA CLUB
• Center for Global Impact (CGI)
• adie's lovelies 

 just to name a few...

But one that literally brought me to tears was Sole Hope.  You may have heard of them before, their mission is to create shoes which are shipped to communities in Africa.  Many children here get jiggers in their feet which lead to so many issues, this is one easy and simple way we can help.  Check out their link above to learn more.  I also bought a shoe making kit (for only $10 ya'll...) for my family to participate in at Christmas- what a great way we can serve others during a time of year where we will receive so much.  Lord, let me have a servants heart all year round!

This is KK and I on night one at the welcome party where we got to meet the founder of Sole Hope, actually participate in a shoe making party and watch videos of the entire process from start-finish.  A-MAZE-ING.

we were making shoes out of jean fabric. Recycling at it's finest=awesome!

 

You can get involved by having a party with a purpose too if you want, more deets here

I have been exposed to serving the less fortunate first hand on two separate global mission trips- you can read about those here.  SO right away my heart started to beat loudly at the desire to do.  Before I type one more sentence let me be very clear that I have been learning lately that we can NOT do 1000 things well.  We are not created to be superwoman or superman.  So don't sink down in your chair right now thinking this is going to be one of those posts where I try to inspire you to do more.  In fact, I am at a place in my journey where I need to start doing less.  I need to do less so that I can do what is on my plate VERY well.  But more importantly- I need to do what I am led to do.  I learned this weekend that no where in the Bible do we hear "follow your dreams" in fact, that is very self centered and the exact opposite of how we are taught in the word.  There are MANY scriptures that direct us to just simply follow Him.  I'm sorry if you are super bummed out right now, but that is the truth.  Culture tells us to do more for our self all the time so that is ultimately why we have that mindset, and of course because we are living in the flesh and have a natural tendency to be self focused.  All of us.  Let me also throw out a little disclaimer before I get any hate mail, that I am a believer in taking care of yourself SO THAT you can take care of others.  There is just certainly a distinction between taking care of yourself (mentally, physically & spiritually) and being self centered.  I am not perfect, I have a very bumpy past but one thing is for sure- I strive to be a better person daily.   

Alright, let's get to the fun stuff...

So at the  The Influence Conference I was able to meet some of these women in real life.  Shake their hands, hug their necks, cry with some of them, laugh with a LOT of them, drink lots of coffee (the goodstuff, we had bottomless Starbucks ya'll...) and learn with them.  I learned SOOOOOOO much I am still processing it all.  I took SO many notes- Lord knows I barely remember what I ate for lunch two days ago- I need to keep refreshing my memory with these notes.  

The conference wasn't only about exposure to ways in which we can help, it was about teaching some good truths!  It was about the power of YOUR influence.  Everyone has influence- but what will you do with yours?  My cup was filled up, my heart was broken, my world was changed.  I came home so grateful for not only the opportunity to even attend this conference, but so grateful for my sweet sweet family who was waiting for me at the airport and for a heart that knows my Jesus.  I have learned over the years how to hear his voice.  In fact that is one of my scripture memory cards right now- see:

yes, i'm very aware that I have 3rd grade (at best) handwriting

Yep, I have a direct dial.  So can YOU- message me if you want some tips on how to get started.  Alright, where was I?  I swear sometimes I think I chase shiny objects like a cat....

I roomed up with 2 siesta sisters whom I have NEVER met.  

Jenny from Oklahoma & Amanda from San Diego-

Talk about leaving your comfort zone & walking blindly by faith.... even if we were hardly in our room except to sleep and wash up.  I lucked out, these two ladies were FAB!  We were a perfect blend representing women who come to this conference.  Jenny is a blogger and has a large "following" at http://jennycollier.com/  Amanda is not a blogger and has NO intention of starting one- she just loves reading others :-) and I am somewhere in the middle as far as blogging is concerned...I just love to go anywhere I know Jesus is gonna show up! (Matt 18:20)

Roomin up with strangers is the norm at a conference like this- people are going WAY out of their comfort zone just to get a glimpse into the life He has designed for us.  Whatever that looks like- whether it be how to bring Him into your own business, or the career you already have, into your family and parenting techniques, into your heart, into your marriage...the list is never ending.   I think I sprinkled into all of those buckets as the speakers & ladies I met poured into me.

One of the most profound for me (although I seriously LOVED every single session) was from Hailey- check out her blog here.  Her message 

here she is in action!

spoke to me on SO many levels but if I had to pick just ONE takeaway to share with you it was the illustration of the rope.  I need to get better at trying to bring the rope to myself, instead- let God push me forward towards that rope.  I am a control freak by nature.  Sometimes that makes me win in life- other times, it makes me fail.  I often try to (subconsciously) control myself in or out of situations.  Sometimes this works- other times I just end up creating opposition for myself and/or others.  Hailey described this as pulling the rope towards us.  If we rest and have peace that God will do the work- He will make things happen...according to His great timing!  Note to self: don't pull the rope towards me!

I have a sick baby girl today so I won't have time to write about ALL that I learned but hope that YOU can join me at the conference next year to see first hand how AWESOME this was!  Don't even get me started on the swag bag we received too- so much fun stuff!

A few more quick takeaways in bullet style ...

• Lara Casey of http://laracasey.com/ is amazing and puts on a separate workshop called MAKE THINGS HAPPEN ...this kind of relates to my idea earlier about DO'ing.  She gave us a short version of her intensive workshop and I had a MAJOR breakthrough that I would bet, will get its own post one day as it spoke about my God Size Purpose and relates directly to my adoption story.
• Jeff Goins book "the IN BETWEEN" is amaze so far.  At first, I brushed it off like "oh, this is not where I am in life..." but little did I know this is EXACTLY where I am!  Ck it out here
• Getting to meet Shauna Niequist in person was so cool, I love her book Bread & Wine and am grateful I snagged a free copy at the conference!  http://www.shaunaniequist.com/
• our work can become simple...which means success can become simple too.  WHEN you let the Lord direct your steps.  But, with all that said- nothing in this world that is great is easy.  Simple and easy two separate adjectives.
• Your father does NOT want you to fear at all.  Especially about the gifts he has blessed you with.  One of those gifts being His dream for Your life.
• We can strive to be like the Proverbs 31 girl but know that we are human and all make mistakes...keep striving forward and don't look backwards (unless it is to learn) and don't look sideways to compare (unless you look sideways to pull someone along w/ you)

speaking of Prov 31 girl, I have time to post two more quick pics from Jessi's session which was nothing less than spectacular.  Jessi is HILARIOUS check out here blog here

blowing these up so you can actually see them

blowing these up so you can actually see them

• You never "arrive" at your promise land- life is a constant journey.  Embrace & cherish those in between moments.  Keep living while you wait...
• The more I take in the less I experience.  Be great at some things, not good at many..go ahead and think about that one for a sec
  
• let my core be my compass and keep my eyes on Him
• WE ALL HAVE THE POWER TO INFLUENCE- GO AHEAD AND LET TODAY BE THE START!

ps all photos were taken with my iPhone so don't hate if they aren't that good ;)

Luke Chapter 2

LUKE CHAPTER 2

Chapter two begins with the story on The Birth of Jesus.  Familiar or not, I still found new little nuggets of gold through out this story.  Through out the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke & John all tell their perspective on events going on at the time.  A reading from the Book of Luke at Christmas time is a favorite in many households...including my own.  We still read the story right from Kaylee's preschool Bible because A) her attention span is about 3 seconds and B) she loves the pictures.  If you have children and don't already have a children's bible for them, I highly recommend picking one up.  Scripture tells us "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it." (Prov. 22:6)  This is one easy way to encourage your children and teach them at a level that is relevant.  In Luke Chapter 2 vs. 10 I love when the angel told the shepherds "Do not be afraid."  I mean, can you imagine if an angel appeared to you whether it be broad day-light or under the moon-lit sky?  I think I would be a bit freaked out as well!  Comforting to know God cares about our human fears!  Whew!  I checked the study notes for this verse just out of curiosity and it said "Fear was the common reaction to angelic appearances and encouragement was needed."  (Zondervan study Bible, 1985, 1995, 2002.)

A Journey Through the Book of Luke

A Journey Through the Book of Luke- chapter by chapter

After a recent talk from one of our pastors, (watch the talk here) I was inspired to take a journey through the Book of Luke chapter by chapter.  Although this may seem boring on the outskirts, I was actually quite surprised how much was coming to life off of the pages of my seasoned study Bible.  Many of the stories I have heard a million times, but when I was actually paying attention to the details- it was that which was captivating!  Pastor Paul Black encouraged us to journal our journey (...say that 5x fast) so I started doing just that.  Then I thought- why not publicly post this for anyone else who may want to follow along.  The entries will be short and sweet but full of goodies.  I am not and never was, a history lover (if there was ever a way to get out of extra history courses in hs or college- trust me, I found a way!) but something about studying the history of biblical times is just inspiring, encouraging and it just helps you to kind of understand this thing called the bible a bit more- and we could alllllll use a little of that, right?  Oh and one more thing- I am also not a grammar lover- I mean, I want to love it, but I am just not a natural.  So I'll per-apologize if I have all kinds of grammatical errors in these post.  One of these days maybe I'll get an editor- HA!

So, let's begin! (disclaimer- this is going to totally be a copy of my notes therefore, very raw and probably a bit all over the place)