Word-filled Wednesday!

I have been feeling slightly (or not so slightly) nervous about homeschooling the children. Our official first day is less then a week away and there are just things that are causing me to become nervous. I have been pretty confident up to this point. I have had a few points where doubt has crept in, but God has stepped in and reassured me with His word! I love it when He does that! And that is exactly what He did today on this wonderful Word-filled Wednesday!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. -- Philippians 4:6

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. -- Romans 8:28

My Writing: Then and Now

This post comes just as most of mine do, my mind has been focused on my writing. As I mentioned in a previous post I volunteer writing devotions for teen girls for FindYourTrueBeauty.com, and the first edition of the devotional book was recently published. These devotions have been available for free online for sometime now, and I love that I am able to help these teen girls and I really just enjoy writing them.

I originally started writing them because I volunteer with another website Circle of Moms, more specifically their Christian Mommies community, and a mom had asked for recommendations for devotions for their teen daughter. Well, after an internet search I found nothing that was really suitable for a teen girl! I found tons of sites saying they were devotions for teen girls, but after reading a few I thought back to my high school years and they really would have been boring and not relative to me at all. I was already volunteering for Shelley's ministry, and suggested to her that she added a devotional segment to her website. I never dreamed that she would ask me to head it up! I have been working with her on this project for about 6 months now, and it has been wonderful. I haven't been able to put nearly the amount of time into that I want to, but I am hoping that with homeschooling I will be able to schedule time for writing into my day.

That's where my writing has been, now where is it going? I have this growing desire to write devotions for moms. The more I write for teens, the more my desire to write for moms grows. Much like my search for teen devotions, I have been searching online, and in book stores for devotions for moms that I can refer other moms to who have been asking me, and I am coming up short. I have found a few that are okay. I have a book that I am enjoying that came with my homeschooling curriculum, but it would only work for homeschooling moms. I get several devotions e-mailed to me, and they are all wonderful and different days, however I rarely have time to read through all of them to find the one that speaks to me. I guess that is the problem with devotions. You have to find one that is a match to you, and I haven't found one that works for me. So my solution is to write my own. I haven't started yet, but I am seriously thinking about it. My husband is encouraging this idea. He thinks that I am an amazing writer (though I'm not sure if he has ever read anything I have written, lol). It's wonderful to have his support.

I would love to hear your thoughts... Do you know of any good devotional books or sites for moms?

To read a sample of a devotion for teen girls that I wrote click here and scroll down.

My Pink Porch

We live in a rental house, and this past summer they re-sided it. Which was fantastic. When we moved in the house was this pinkish color... Anyway, we loved the location, layout, and back yard so the color really didn't matter. Well, when they re-sided it they changed the color! We were so excited! Not only did they change the color, but it is now green, my favorite color, bonus! And it has white trim... Anyway, so after they were done with the siding we spoke with the landlord about the front porch... it was still pink. She totally agreed that it needed to be painted white, as did the main maintenance lady that was here with her that day.

So we have been waiting, and waiting, waiting, all summer. (This was back in April.) Well they finally showed up yesterday to paint our front porch!! Woo hoo! I am not a nosy person, so I didn't look out the window until close to 5 to check on them, and only then because I wanted to check the mail. Anyway, to my surprise our porch was freshly re-painted pink! AHHH!!! I called my husband almost in tears, and he asked me to go out and ask them if it was suppose to be white. Good idea.

So I went out onto the porch and mentioned that I thought they were going to be paining the porch white, and they said no, the primer was white... So I clarified, that the reason I thought they were painting the porch was because they re-sided the house and it was now green with white trim and having a pink porch made no since. The lead painter replied that he thought they were painting the porch 'beige' because the paint was chipping and peeling off, and he thought it was a great accent color... Sigh, I went back in the house, and my husband said he would call the landlord. She came out and spoke with the painters. But at this point they were basically done. She said she would speak to the maintenance office in the morning and see about having it re-painted again... white.

God has really been speaking to me about this today. I knew yesterday that I was more upset about it then I should have been, but today, God has just really shown me that I have been coveting a white front porch. I honestly think He had a hand in the painters painting it the wrong color. I need to learn to be content in whatever the circumstance of my front porch... I thought that I was, but I wasn't. I was only content because I was looking to the future. They might come out and paint it white next week, or next year, or never. What God has really shown me today is that in light of eternity the color of my front porch is insignificant. It doesn't matter at all, perspective changes things.

Modesty stumbling blocks

Most of the time when we think about modesty being a stumbling block for someone, we automatically think of someone of the opposite gender. But is that always the case? What about the fact that my body type and build are completely different than that of other woman’s and clothes that look perfectly modest on me, would be 100% immodest on someone else? By wearing clothing like that are we being stumbling blocks to our sisters in Christ? I think the answer is sometimes yes.

For instance, I use to believe that it was okay for me to wear spaghetti strapped tank tops because I have a very small chest. It shows zero cleavage, and my husband agreed that they are very modest on me. However they are not modest on most women. (I have since come to realize that they probably were never really that modest on me either because they still show off tons of skin up top, even if it isn’t cleavage.) I’m sure there are other clothing choices that are along the same lines though.

I know we can’t go around wondering how everyone in the entire world would look in every outfit we put on, that would be absurd, but I think that I personally need to be a bit more sensitive to those who surround me. Modesty isn’t about me, it’s about pleasing God. It would please Him more if I wasn’t only concerned about the opposite gender, but also my fellow sisters in Christ. If I was able to be a good example not just for those with the same figure as me, but for all who share my desire to live modestly.

I would love to hear of any outfit or clothing choice that you know of that would fall into the category of modest for only one body type.

Wordless or Word-filled?

It's Wednesday and here in cyberspace that usually means seeing tons of Wordless Wednesday posts, but one caught my eye today. It wasn't a Wordless Wednesday post, but a Word-filled Wednesday post. This is something that this woman had done in her blog every week, and I love it!

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13) On this wonderful Word-filled Wednesday!

Adam and Eve and Modesty

I have been reading a ton of articles and blogs about modesty lately, and I found one that brought up the question: does God care about what we wear? (You can read the article here) Her thoughts took her back to the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had just realized they were naked and sewn themselves loin coverings out of leaves, God comes on the scene and says this won’t do, He makes them garments out of animal skin to cover them. Why? Because God does care! That was where she skipped to the next topic. My mind doesn’t move that quickly, and I can’t help but dwell on this situation with Adam and Eve.

In the past I have often said that modesty was relevant to what culture you lived in, but when I think about this event with Adam and Eve that doesn’t make any since. At this time there is one man, and one woman on the face of the earth. If the “culture” was all that mattered, than I’m sure that their leaf outfits would have been perfectly acceptable. Or for that matter, I know cultures that run around ¾ naked and don’t think anything of it. Why didn’t God just tell them that being naked wasn’t an issue? Because to Him, it is. Once we gained the knowledge of good and evil, and sin entered the world, modesty became an issue that God took serious. Which is why, I believe, He went so far as to make clothing for Adam and Eve. He didn’t just instruct them on how to do it, He did it for them! That tells you how important this was to Him.

I have been thinking about it for a while now, little things bring it back to my mind. Once it was while I was down town with my family. My husband runs a Quiznos in the heart of down town Denver. I saw this girl walking down the street and I couldn’t help but wonder if the clothing that Adam and Eve had sewn out of the leaves had looked something similar to the outfit that she had on… That’s the way that our society is headed…that’s what our husbands, sons, and other men have to see every day when they go out of our homes. I am deeply saddened that I use to be part of that problem. The fleshly part of me is grieved by the thought that with everything that my husband sees every day that he has to come home to someone as boring as me, but one quick conversation with him eased my mind. He is very thankful that first and foremost that he doesn’t have to share me with the world’s eyes, and secondly, he doesn’t find me boring in the slightest! I love my husband!

I don’t know what your stand on modesty is, but I know that God is working in my heart. He wants me to make sure that my clothing choices are what He wants them to be. Choices that don’t cause others to stumble in their walk with God.

Author of humility

Yesterday I officially became a real published author. (I had a few poems published back when I was in school, but I really think they published all of them that were sent in, so I don’t think they count…) I volunteer writing devotions for teen girls for FindYourTrueBeauty.com and yesterday the first edition of the devotional book was published. I have mixed emotions about this. Part of me wants to jump for joy and shout from the roof tops… and part of me knows that I don’t write these devotions for me, but because I enjoy writing, and I want to share about what God has taught me with others. The mixed emotions come in because of the fact that I could want to take any credit for this at all. All the glory for this should go to God. It is for Him that I write these devotions, but at what point are we allowed to take pride in our earthly accomplishments for Him? Then again, it is not me that is truly accomplishing anything good, but Christ in me. Do you see where I am?

This great accomplishment for Christ is being overshadowed by a battle of the flesh. My flesh wants to take credit for something that it doesn’t deserve. Christ deserves all of the credit and it is so humbling to step back and realize that I could write a million books, and become a top selling author, and the credit would still belong to God. So I must admit that I pray that never, ever happens. I never imagined that having the devotions published would be such a humbling experience for me, but it has been. However, it has also been rather freeing, now that I know where the mixed emotions are coming from, and to know that it isn’t something crazy going on in my head. The world may think so, but we are not to be of the world, just in it.

God is truly the author of humility. I can write anything, but He can use anything to teach us what He wants us to learn. Today my lesson was humility. This isn't a new lesson for me. It's something that I have struggled with over the years. Each time I think I have it mastered it seems to come up again... It's funny how that works isn't it?

He leads the humble in justice,And He teaches the humble His way.
Psalm 25:9

You can see a sample of my devotions online by clicking here or click here to purchase a copy of the book.