Man, it feels good to sit down for a moment….
So yes, it's been a crazy day and I need a breath of fresh air, for my heart and my lungs!
Isn’t this a refreshing sight? This picture was taken at 9:30pm.
Beautiful, huh? This was taken off our front deck.
Ok, so now that my lungs have been refreshed, let’s move on to the heart.
I apologize for getting a late start on this post. It has been a day of inconsistencies—and that is bound to happen once in a while when you are only able to talk to husband on weird Japan time, then not get to bed until LATE, then wake up in a rush… Not a preferable way to start the day, but hey, you have to be okay and roll with these kind of challenges in our crazy lifestyle sometimes.
Speaking of challenges, today’s challenge was a bit of an expansion on yesterdays: Being a life giver!
Here is what the author suggests as ways to bring life into your home (I added some questions that might provoke you to apply these suggestions):
1) Retrain that tongue of yours to be ENCOURAGING, COMFORTING, and EDIFYING!
• Can you identify the times more negative comes out that positive? If you can, that’s great! Now you can pray that you catch them in the moment and tweak it to a more positive note, by God’s grace!
2) Let your words be grace-filled towards your husband and children
• If you were to mock a conversation of you and your husband/child, what does your tone of voice sound like and how do they walk away from your conversation? Are they encouraged? Does their face reflect a kind of hope that we have after coming away from being before the Lord?
3) Make the home a place of sanctuary so mistakes and sins are met with love and hope.
• When your child/husband are bearing the troubles of the day, can you lovingly put aside the things on your schedule and tend to them properly?
4) Decorate to make it a place of beauty (Remember: beauty raises life above mere existence)
• I know the areas in my house that need DEFINITE beautification!! But it doesn’t mean you have to shovel out your savings to accomplish that! One sight that I love to use is Tipjunkie.com. Great ideas there—and super frugal!
5) Develop cleaning habits, skills and clutter control—reduces stress!
• Where are your messiest areas?? I know mine usually fall in the downstairs area and the kitchen… shesh!
6) Face angers, anxieties, fears and depressions with the Lord and ask him to replace those emotions with faith and hope: helps our keep the mental/spiritual/emotional aspect of home healthy!
• For me, this is getting in the word and learning to apply it in these situations in whatever way I can- scripture memory is a good start, so is worship music
7) Plan regular times away from home to rejuvenate and regain perspective.
• This can also be a basic walk or an outing with a friend/ by yourself. Keeps you sane in my opinion!
8) Persevere in planning fun activities for your family on weekends or ordinary weekdays.
• I fail HORRIBLY in this. Partially because we have very little consistency in our lives right now… if you do a good job at this, you should share the ideas!!
9) Play praise/worship music to lift everyone’s spirits (Remember how King Saul was also refreshed in the same way when David played worship music for him? Yea, same affect today.)
10) Ask the Lord: What areas of my home are causing stress or dwelling in spiritual/emotional/mental “deadness”? What can I do to bring light to those places instead to make them a place of refuge?
For better direction, why not ask your family what makes them feel the most loved when it comes to the home?
“If you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
11 And the LORD will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.”
Isaiah 58:10-11
This has been an encouraging and thought provoking exercise for me. I hope it encourages you to pick out the areas that need a good spring cleaning as well! One of the areas I cannot WAIT to give life to is little baby girl’s room! Right now, it is quite the storage facility, but I cannot wait to change this.
Yes, it needs A LOT of help! Here are some of the ideas I have for it:
Isn't this the cutest?? I LOVE the curtains and want to make some just like it!
The colors that she mixed and matched were just what I have been looking to do as well--
It's PERFECT!
My question is how do you make a little gig like this?? It's super cute, but I guess I would have to do some research on how to assemble it. Ashley Ann, you are truly a creative genius!
Thus, this is my dream nursery (with my own tweaks and personal touches, of course!). I really love how this lady used the yellow/oranges and pinks! My plan would be to add some blues and yellows in there too, but overall, I really like the warm feel of this nursery (and in Alaska, you are happier with WARM ANYTHING!! Haha). If you are just loving this gals style, you can look her up. Here blog is called 'Under the Sycamore' and her name is Ashley Ann. Great ideas and more!
Well, that is about it. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow afternoon and another busy day, so I really need to cut it off here. If you get a moment, try to look over these questions and really pray on how to change and apply them. You and your family will not regret doing so.
So here’s to cleaning both the inside and the out!