Forward Focus

Photo credit:  http://liveholiness.com/2012/02/the-path-of-prayer/

This morning I found myself penning the following words in my journal....

"I'm realizing when I play the comparison game I am just asking for a battle.  When I look to the left or right or behind me...I'm setting myself up for attack.  I really truly just have to keep my eyes on you Jesus."

I am a planner.  A list maker.  I pencil in dates on my calender for the year 2050.  To be honest ladies before the holidays I actually had myself so stressed out about by life that I literally made myself physically ill.  To the point where I marched myself to the doctor and he looked at me with genuine concern and said "Bridget, I'll run tests, but I am not sure its a physical problem.  I think you might be struggling with anxiety/depression from so much stress in your life."  

And right he was....tests came back.  Everything was normal, but I was not.  I was stressed.  Anxious.   Strung out.   Overwhelmed at all that I had on my plate, but God brought peace.  He always provides it when we sit at His feet and ask Him for it.  It's when we refuse to rest in His presence that life gets overwhelming.  

This morning as I penned these words "I really...truly....just HAVE to keep my eyes on you Jesus,"   I realize...it is the only way.  When I look to my right or my left....oh the comparison that happens....she is prettier, thinner, has a cleaner house, has a better job, is more successful  has a better car......when I look behind me the lies that satan throws at me are almost unbearable "Remember that time you failed, lost, were made fun of, didn't make the team, made a fool of yourself....the list goes on.....the past haunts me.  Immobilizes me.  Enables him, the enemy to make me utterly useless in the kingdom of God, but when I keep my eyes on Jesus....I'm not distracted by my past.  I am not focused on what she has and I don't have.  I am focused on one thing.  My Savior.  My Maker.  And it is to Him that I give all glory. 

As I spent time with Jesus this morning He whispered sweetly such wonderful truth to me from Philippians 3:

"....one thing I do:  FORGETTING WHAT LIES BEHIND and STRAINING FORWARD to what lies ahead, I PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

I pray that each of you too will forget what is behind you.  Let Jesus use your past as a way to mold you for the present and the future, not as a way that the enemy gets to immobilize you.  Instead press on toward Him.  Towards life.  Towards his amazing call....that He wants for you.  All of you.  Not just a part of you.  All.  Of.  You.

Blessings,

Life Lessons in a Pie

I've always been kind of old fashioned and like many women I set the bar high when I first got married to what kind of homemade meals should be put on the table on a daily basis by my willing hands.  Time out while I let you in on a secret:  Before I left school for college I had all of made about 2 meals in my life which consisted of macaroni and cheese in a box, and spaghetti (aka boil noodles and add a jar of sauce :)  I quickly became disappointed that no knowledge of cooking left for a pretty disappointing, unrealistic reality, not too mention the fact that my husband is a real chef.  I was already a failure before I even tried to cook!

Well I finally started to get over the whole fear of not being the best at cooking in our home and finally started appreciating the resource I was married to.  I still have so much to learn but I can say my ability in the kitchen far exceeds my macaroni and cheese days, but I am far from chef status as well!  Well I started making somewhat of a bucket list in my mind...you know the "Things I Must Do Before I Die" type of list and on that list was "Make a Homemade Pie."  Terrifying.  I know.  I loathed the thought.  The only women I knew who made homemade pies were much older than I.  No one my age (at least that I knew) did such a thing.  All I ever heard about was how hard it was too make a homemade pie and that they all resorted to using premade piecrusts.  This made my heart sad.  Do I need to have a homemade pie crust?  No, but knowing that I would never try based on fear was really saddening to me and so I went to the best resource I know.  My mother-in-law.  She makes a pretty amazing pie and I know how much she loves baking and to be honest I really love hanging out with her.  She has one of the most beautiful hearts of any women I know and I am so blessed to call her my mom (my second one at that!).  So without further ado, I give you the "Never Fail Pie Crust" generously given to me by Dave's mama, which she learned from her own mama "Granny Smith." (don't miss my closing words at the bottom...I have a challenge I don't want  you to miss!)

Never Fail Pie Crust

                                                                    By Granny Smith 

3 cups flour

1 1/4 cup shorterning

1 tsp salt

1 egg beaten

7 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp vinegar

1.  Cut shortening into the flour and salt.

it should look like this....

2.  Combine egg, water and vinegar in separate bowl. 

3.  Pour the liquid into flour mixture all at once.

4.  Blend with spoon just until flour is all moistened.

5.  Shape into ball and wrap with saran wrap.

6.  Let dough sit wrapped in refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.  

7.  Now you are ready to roll out your pie crust.

8.  Sprinkle plenty of flour onto your counter top and place dough ball

in the middle.  Sprinkle some more flour on the dough 

so it won't stick to your rolling pin (you can be pretty liberal

with the amount of flour)

9.  Roll your rolling pin back and forth in one direction a few times and then go back and forth a few times the other direction like you are rolling out a repeated "X" on your dough (see pictures below).

10.  Rolling your dough this way will help you to make a large circle/square of flattened dough instead of one long piece.  You need to roll it out so its wide enough to fit the diameter of your pie plate with a little excess.

11.  My mother in law was being my photographer so she wanted to catch one of me in there too :) 

12.  Hold your pie plate over the area once in awhile to make 

sure the dough is large enough to cover the pie plate.

 13.  Once your dough is a wide enough diameter to fully cover your pie plate you need to carefully take both hands and gently work them under one half of your pie dough, fully supporting the underside of that half, then bring it over and gently lay it on top of the other half of the dough like in the picture below (you may need to use a spatula or something to help you lift the dough carefully off the counter).

14.  Now you will fold the dough in 1/4 piece, again be very careful and gentle or you can rip the dough.  Fully support your sides at all times or the weight of the dough will rip itself.

15.  Now take your folded up 1/4 size pie dough and lay it in your pie plate only 

covering 1/4 of the plate (see picture below).

16.  Continue to gently unfold your pie dough onto your pie plate so its covering half of the plate.

17.  Then take your last half of the dough and cover the other half of your pie plate.

18.  Fully covered pie plate!  Just smoothing out the edges and

        gently pressing the dough into the seams of the pie plate.

19.  Cut off the excess edge of your pie crust with a knife (using a sharp one prevents it from tearing).

20.  Then pinch edges or use other design tools (you could use some sort of cool decorating stamp or just use a fork....I always just pinch).

There you have it!  A  ready to fill pie crust!  You don't need to bake this crust before filling and this crust can be used  with any type of pie filling.  Just follow the instructions on your chosen pie recipe and bake accordingly.  And just for kicks here is a picture of me taken over 2 years ago when I made my very first pie with my mother in law.  You can't really tell but I am about 17 or 18 weeks pregnant with Abbie here.  

My challenge to you this holiday season is to try something new.  What have you always wanted to do but are just too afraid to try?  Fear of failure standing in your way?  What about the fear of not being perfect which always just keeps you from trying?  God does not desire for us to live in fear.  He wants us to fully breath in his goodness.  2 Timothy 1:7(ESV) says:

"For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self control."

What is fear holding you back from today friends?  Whether it be as simple as being too afraid to bake a homemade pie, or it's letting go of the fear of failure in finally pursuing your God given passion, it's time to let go, and let God.  Step out in faith sweet friends and really breath in the goodness God has for you!

Blessings,

Serving in Action

Do you remember back a month or so ago when I wrote this post on Serving Others?  Well I just wanted to share with you a way we put serving into action in our home.  I don't say this to make anyone feel guilty.  I just want to share with you what we did and how simple helping another really can be on tight budgets and tight schedules.  We chose to participate in our churches Baby Bottle Fundraiser.  This fundraiser raises money for a local pregnancy center called Pregnancy Resource Center.  It's so simple.  You are given a baby bottle to be returned by a certain date, and during that time you fill it with your spare change to donate back to the center.  We happen to have a large change jar in our house so we kind of cheated and just used money out of that instead of the accumulating day to day pocket change that we had, but regardless it was a more tangible way for Abigail to see how we could help other people.  Here she is filling up our baby bottles...

To give hope to many...

By being His hands and His feet!

How about you guys?  Any fun serving ideas out there??  

We are having a missions/service week at our church coming up and I am so excited that they would dedicate so much of their time into teaching others how Christ calls us to serve one another!!

Blessings Friends and Happy Friday!!

Bridget

From God's Heart to Mine: James Chapter 3

Sometimes its hard to see past myself. I get so caught up in my own life, my own struggles, my own hardships, my own busy-ness, that I forget about everyone but me, myself, and I.

I had one of those days the other day. Satan was planting little seeds of doubt, greed, and selfishness in my mind and I in turn was letting these untamed thoughts run rampant in my head instead of taking them to God the moment they started.

You know the thoughts I'm talking about. We've all had them. They start with things like:

"I am just too busy right now to help out my friend (insert name here). Doesn't she know I have a million things to do too?"

or maybe

"Well no one helped me when I went through the same thing, so why should I give up my time to help them?"

(ugh that last one just gets me....and really shows how many lies fill our head when we don't continually give the stuff satan tries to fill our heads with, to God)

Do you recognize either of those? Maybe you have your own selfish thoughts in your head that will require a little clean up?

As I struggled through these thoughts and tried to justify my way of thinking, I finally reached for my bible (which I should have done in the first place) and opened up the book of James.

James 3:13-18 says:

^"13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. ¹⁵ This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸ And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."

To hear the words earthly, unspiritual, and demonic being used to describe my current state of mind was a slap in the face. Each are things I strive to run from, not toward. It was only in that moment that I reached for the word of God and he let me face the cold hard truth in his loving and gentle way that I finally felt my insides give a bit and realize how wrong my bitterness and selfishness really were. That none of my feelings were justified at all. That these feelings, according to this passage are never justified.

So how about you? Do you struggle with these same feelings sometimes? Friends we must run this race together and spur one another on to not let these feelings overtake us, but again and again take them to the cross and lay them at Jesus feet where they belong. His desire is for our hearts to look more and more like his, and he cannot do a good work in us if we continue to let Satan distract us from His will. He will give you strength, just ask him...

Philippians 1:6

^"6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

One of the hardest things to understand sometimes in life is that God doesn't promise comfort. Some people mistake lack of comfort for lack of God's presence. I can tell you that God has asked me to do many uncomfortable things. The last 10 months being one of the hardest of them all in my entire life, and yet I know, standing here on the other side that He called me to this. That had he not brought me through the refining process of the hardships of the last 10 months, that I wouldn't have learned half of the stuff He taught me had I gotten to skip it and it is in that alone that I sing His praise. He is a good God. He is faithful and he alone will sustain me forever and ever.

Romans 8:28

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

So what about your heart? Are there sometimes seeds of ungodly selfishness and bitterness harboring there? Take them to the cross and let God's grace wash them away. Use these moments even in the busy-ness of your own life to set yourself aside and be used by God to serve another.

I can hardly believe that I get to post this on my blog wall.....

Ahhh!!!! I am so excited about going to this years She Speaks Conference. God is just blessing my socks off right now as he provides affirmation after affirmation to me confirming that He so wants me there.

Satan is trying his hardest to implant doubt and fear in my mind and stomp on my confidence.

Here is just a little part of my story that I sent out to some friends requesting their prayers and support:

So I am pretty much forcing myself to ask for prayer on this because I am really nervous, scared, excited, fearful of what people will think, and fearful of not being good enough, or not doing the right thing...blah blah blah etc
So for a long time now I have been pretty passionate about ministering to women in general. Some of you may not know that, some of you may....for years I have been hiding behind a part of me that really isn't very recognizable as a woman who would want something like that, but the real me....the real me somewhere along the line tossed aside a huge part of who I am. It's funny because I really am an extroverted person but I've become way more introverted only because of fear, doubt, shame, but its not really who I am at all.

Starting back in high school after I became a christian I had some opportunities to speak about my faith in front of others- a few times in high school to my peers in a few different situations, to my youth group, helping be a core student leader on my college campus' Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and speaking in front of that group as well as at some of our annual retreats with students from other chapters. I've since written a few things and all along the way I can now remember looking back and many times I would hear from people...wow you should be a writer, or a speaker, or you should write a book etc. Some of my strongest spiritual gifts are in administration/shepherding, and wisdom, being very closely followed by encouragement and one or two others but those are my main ones.
Since college I have not pursued much with women's ministry. It's always been close to my heart, but because of various circumstances I kept closing my heart off to it- I was in a huge church for awhile where it was hard to become a part of anything, and my current church doesn't have a women's ministry. I've listened to so many lies that Satan has told me "Your story isn't very profound...who would want to hear it" You don't have any training why do you think anyone would listen?" and the list goes on....
I write this now because a few years ago I learned about a conference held in North Carolina every year through Proverbs 31 ministries. At the time I thought about going but it's a lot of money and I just felt like it was too much for me to justify it. Well over the past few months I have grown so much through a bible study I have been doing and have just felt speaking and writing being on my heart again, and even again this morning someone randomly mentioning something about this conference on their blog and they aren't even a part of Proverbs 31 ministries. I can't help but wonder if I missed something....so long ago. If I had really stopped to pay attention would I have seen something, but on the other hand, if the past few years hadn't of happened God wouldn't have been able to grow me like he did.

My prayer requests are the following:

#1 Is this even something God wants for me/us? That God would make it clear whether He wants me to pursue this or not, and then to be confident and bold to follow his prompting

#2 That he would reveal specifics to my heart in his timing- that doing things for his kingdom are both big and small....whether this would be helping train and mold me to speak into women's lives in a small way, or in a bigger way with speaking and writing....its all important to him and all he asks of me is to be obedient to him.

#3 Cost
I need to make a decision quickly before the conference is sold out and cost is going to be about $1000 for hotel, conference fee, and plane tickets. They recommend trying to raise money for support, and we don't have a lot of money right now but in order to secure my spot we would have to pay the fee for registration. Proverbs 31 ministries recommends trying to get people to sponsor you- kind of like when people ask for short term missions support

#4 For my heart- for so long I have felt Satan lie to me again and again and again and I believed him. For so long he held me back from being usable by God for his glory and his kingdom because I listened to what he was telling my heart. Would you pray for continued strength to push forward by God's strength alone to finally be free of the chains Satan tries to hold me back with.

Thanks so much for taking the time to listen! I so badly desire your prayers! Also, I know I need to rely on God alone but I am a words of affirmation person....if anyone has anything encouraging to say to me that would help get rid of the lies Satan is trying to tell me to hold me back then please send me a message! I would love to hear anything God puts on your heart!

In Him,
Bridget

And then today I updated them all on things that had happened in the last 48 hours since sending them the above message:

So excited to share some updates- after much prayer, I know God is asking me to go. So I am going! I am so excited! My heart was in so much turmoil- so much fear, doubt, flooding my mind and I continued to get one affirmation after another in addition to all of your kinds words- including a personal email from one of the speakers who will be at the conference saying if I did end up coming that she would take me under he wing and introduce me to lots of people (cause I shared with her how scared I was, how inexperienced I was, and wondered what God could possibly want with me...plain ole Bridget Bareither at a conference where there will be hundreds of successful christian authors and speakers...some of which I am already shaking from knowing that I will be able to shake their hands!, and also confirmation in the form of an anonymous donation. I still need more to go but it was such a blessing from God to be given anything in the first place. I am so at peace with this decision. The last time I felt this peaceful about something was when Dave and I felt God asking us to trust Him with starting a family and a month later, we found out we were expecting Abbie.
Thank you all so much for your encouraging words! They mean so much to me. Please keep praying as I do feel like the enemy is definitely trying to burden my heart with doubt and fear about going.
I am just waiting on an email back from one of the women at Proverbs 31 so I can process my registration and then I'll need to focus on booking my plane ticket.
Keep praying!
In Him!
Bridget

Since then.....I am officially registered and purchased my plane tickets. Still praying for more financial support to help cover these costs!!

So pumped and in awe of what God's done so far. I can't imagine what he has in store for me at the conference!!!

Mission Minded

Time has not been very existent in our house lately. I think everyone's lives are like that and some seasons are busier than others. I haven't been appearing as much on my blog as I would like. I have so much to share with all of you! I've been busy in the kitchen making homemade whole wheat tortillas, sour dough starters, whole wheat baguettes, reading a book on consuming more whole foods and less processed foods, reading an amazing book written by a Godly woman that is changing my life, chasing after an almost 1 year old, planning a birthday party, working on a home management binder, a recipe book specific to our household, DIY household product recipes including some insanely hippie body products :),meal planning, natural childbirth info, breastfeeding advice, baby product recommendations, and fitness and nutrition info... I want to share all of my tips with all of you! The more time I spend tweaking them the more my life is actually getting easier and I want to bring that to you....in due time I suppose. I have to have time to write all the blog entries first!

Today I want to focus on something else....some people who are so very dear to my heart. I contacted my friend Callie recently at her blog through clouded glass. She has many more blog followers than I do so I thought she would be able to get the word out more quickly for me. My friends are trying so hard to be obedient to follow after God's call for them going into missions. Would you please take a moment and head over to Callie's blog today and hear their story. Even if you can't give would you pray? Would you consider posting their story on your blog? Or maybe you know others who would want to post it on theirs? My friends covet your prayers. They are seriously one of the most amazing couples I have ever met and I love them dearly!

My hubby and I's hearts have been talking a lot more about missions lately and even more personal missions of potentially adopting or fostering children someday. My heart hurts knowing orphans don't have what Abbie has. No one to love on them and call their own. No one hugging them close and kissing their hurts away. No trust in an adult to know they are safe for forever and never to be tossed aside. They only know conditional love. Not unconditional love. My friends will be working at an orphanage and doing just that....providing these things to those children in the best way they know how.

Whether it be in the spiritual sense of being adopted into God's family, or in a physical sense of forever bringing a child into your home, the bible does promise this...

John 14:18

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."

May God bless your work all of your days Dan and Christi as you are obedient to God's call in your lives! I love you both and am so proud of your faithfulness!

What God's Shown me of His Heart about working moms

It's been hard. No that is an understatement. Its actually pierced me to one of the deepest parts of my soul. So deep that I didn't even realize the anger, and resentment it was causing.

You see once I graduated vet tech school, and got married my goal was no longer to really be in the working world. It was to one day be a stay at home mom. I couldn't think of anything else I would rather do. So my husband and I set that as our goal. We wanted for me to be able to do that. I don't think Dave fully understood until Abbie arrived how much he wanted that, but nevertheless it was what we worked so hard for, strived for, were motivated by, and then the summer of 2010 came. We both felt God just break our hearts....to let go of this control that we had over our family of preventing children from coming until all our ducks were lined up in a row, and just trust Him, our creator with His plan for His timing...not ours. One month later we found out we were expecting. We were excited, scared, joyful, and at times during my pregnancy had moments of anger, distrust, and sadness. We prayed for me to be able to stay home. Dave applied for jobs. Got interviews he had never had at places he'd applied to for years...we thought surely this is God....you are going to find a new job before this baby comes and I will be able to stay at home.....none of those interviews yielded a new job. Instead the lack of new job brought on anger, distrust... and questioning God's sovereignty. Flash forward- Abbie arrived....still hoping that maybe something would happen while I was on maternity leave....nothing. I had my first day back at work, and now in almost March of 2012....I've been working for almost 9 months.

What's funny is, though I've had my moments of questioning God's sovereignty throughout this whole time, is that it wasn't this that pierced me to my innermost being. God is still sovereign. He always does things for His glory and my good. Though I may not get how this is good for me at the time...it is. It's his perfect plan.

No, what pierced me was the judgement. Judgement in statements that were said before I was ever even pregnant. Judgement that was said in statements when I was pregnant. Things I realize now were so wrong of me to ever agree with other woman about before....now that I understand God's heart more about me as a working mom.

I heard things like "Why would you even have children if you weren't going to raise them yourself." This one came well before I ever had children but when I faced not being able to stay at home when I had kids myself.....this statement reared its ugly head and Satan used it in every way possible to make me feel not worthy, wrong, unable to provide for our families needs. I heard things about how people thought every family could really make this decision if they wanted to, they basically are just too selfish to do it.....another thing I agreed with. Until I faced this decision myself and realized I wasn't being selfish. Although Satan filled my head with lies...telling me how selfish I am. How unworthy of a mother I am. Making me feel like I wasn't doing my part to provide by doing something out of my home etc. I heard things like "Have you done the math?" Meaning....I think you can do it, you should cut something else out. Yup. Yup I have done the math. It still doesn't work. We've tried.

I started to believe the lies. I started to believe I was judged....by everyone. I felt segregated at church cause most of those ladies are stay at home moms. I assumed they judged me. I'm sure they didn't, but I thought they were. For a person who already struggled a lot with trusting people this just made me close off my heart more. I clung to the few friendships I had that I knew were safe.

Just a few weeks ago Dave and I were talking about the future, and in my head, once I stayed home, I didn't want to go back. I was going to stay home for forever. He told me he would love to solely provide this for us, but we were going to have to periodically evaluate. It was hard to hear but I needed to hear it. I was holding on so tightly to my hope in never working again. Even now as I say it I realize how lazy that is to think. Maybe I will get to, but the point is, that our lives aren't always constant. Just when you get comfortable, something uncomfortable happens, and the main thing I need to do is do what God wants for us. He may very well ask me to work again. Maybe in a small form. Maybe not at all...I pray not full time but you never know.

The more I started to believe the lies of feeling "unworthy and wrong for being a working mom" the more God has just healed my heart. He has shown me how loved even working moms are. He has shown me that his word doesn't say working outside of the home is wrong. He has shown me that he loves me still so much and shown me that being right here, working part time is exactly where he wants me. He does give me certain jobs as a woman, wife, and mother and I am called to do those. I am called to make them a priority and not put my job first, and I believe I do that. I believe he has given me grace right here in this moment to do that well and I thank him for that. The more he blesses my heart with just realizing that I am exactly where He wants me, the more I seem to run across story after story, or meet another woman who is working outside of the home and she isn't wrong. Most of them are some of the most godly woman I have ever met. God has given them a job to do within their work that brings him more glory. That grows these woman more.

I have come to realize that me working right now in this moment is no mistake. God always does what brings him the most glory and what is best for us. He loves his children. Whether I get it now or not....this is his best plan for me, and its beautiful. My hubby and I both feel like God is blessing our path of working towards me being home. We will continue to work towards this, but me working outside of the home at certain points during our lives will never mean I am not good enough, that I am disobeying God, or not following his plans. It could mean that for some. It could mean that for us, if we are not seeking out God's provision and following hard after his will for our family. Others families will look different than ours and that is ok. If its one things that I have learned its that I shouldn't put words in God's mouth....as Paul says...if God wills it....we will be here, or we will be there, or do this or do that....only if God wills it. I could sit here and say I hope that I am able to stay at home for the rest of my life. Who knows....homeschooling is something we are strongly considering, but even in that....God may ask me to go back to school, God may ask us to go into missions, God may ask us to move to a state I don't want to move to....all because it brings him glory and its his best for us. He makes no mistakes.....I know that for sure.

It isn't my hope in writing about this to hurt someones feelings. Some people reading this may feel like they were one of the people who hurt my heart in what they said. Please remember that many of the things said were before I was ever even pregnant and I myself agreed with them at the time. I thought that's how God felt too. Until he taught my heart good things about how he really sees women. It's sad, and yet so clever that Satan took things that were said to me so long ago and turned them into lies that he used against me to tear me down, to make me focus so much on these non truths that I couldn't see God's truth through it. God is working on my heart. Realizing it is the lies of the enemy and not other woman saying these things that really hurt me. Instead it is my hope that this will open up peoples eyes to see a different perspective on the working mother topic. It is my hope to bring affirmation to those other working woman out there to know that they need to follow hard after God's plan in their own lives and in their own families...and not compare themselves to others.

Lord I pray for a more willing heart. I pray that as your people our hearts would be broken to not judge others but to love them. To love as you love.

Priorities: Balancing Family and Ministry

It's hard to keep up with all the blogs these days but I came across this blog called Passionate Homemaking awhile back and really liked it. I follow it as often as I can, which sometimes might be every few weeks but tonight the entry caught my eye. It was on Balancing Family and Ministry. I must say as a mom who is still trying to figure it out it was a great reminder that we daily need to seek out God's will. To be in communication with him throughout our day everyday, not just on Sundays. Sometimes I want a quick answer. I am so structured. I need a plan. Ground rules and a to do list. God isn't like that. Doesn't mean he doesn't like order....we just need to be open to what he has for us everyday....I've been enjoying letting him be more of my day lately instead of just making it through everyday on my own. I've been trying to keep an ear open as I go about my day to day things...looking for moments to include Abbie in my day to help these typical mundane chores become teachable, quality time moments. Opening my ears up to what he has for me in helping out friends or speaking encouraging words. My cup feels more full than I've let it be in a long time. This season of my life is the busiest I have ever been, and yet letting God finally take control of it...it's given me more joy and fullness than I've had in a long time. Anyway...go check out the link. It's a good read in a good perspective!