Hot Chocolate - We Got It!

The Polar Express movie ushered in the Christmas season for us on Thanksgiving night. Today we decorated the house inside and out. Since our first married Christmas Jeff and I have saved all of our cards we have received and written the year on the back. We spent the morning hanging up the cards as a family and then went outside to put up the lights.

Since Jayelyn was "fweezing" we came in and made some homemade cocoa! Delicious.

4 tsp baker's cocoa

8 teaspoons sugar

1 1/2 cups marshmallows

4 cups milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix the first four ingredients in a pot until the marshmallows are melted. Take off heat, add the vanilla, stir and ladle into cups.

Enjoy!

Today’s Thoughts

Choose to be cheerful

“A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
Proverbs 17:22

By acting in love

“Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Matthew 22:37-39

By being like-minded with Christ

“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.”
Romans 7:18b

“You however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.”
Romans 8:9

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”
Philippians 2:1-3

In order to walk in peace and joy
“And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
Romans 5:2-5

A New Start (part 2)

Where to begin in my endeavor to recommit – at the beginning. There has been a gradual priority shift in my life and a restructuring was long overdue.

So in order to start making the corrections necessary I had to get down on my knees and ask the Lord for his help and guidance. I have to daily submit to him and release my desires and my will and strive towards aligning my heart with God's. That means spending TIME in the word. Not just reading to say it has been done, like another check on my to-do list, but for growth. To spend time discerning what God wants to say to me through his word, to be still and to listen. Also, spending time in prayer. So often my prayers go something like this, "Lord, thank you for this day and all I have. Help me to be more like you. Help me to serve you and seek you in all I do. In Jesus name, Amen." Now there is nothing wrong with that if it wasn't what the extent of my prayer life had become, but sadly it had – and usually as I was drifting off to sleep.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

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

Words cannot express the impact that having that continual dialogue with the Lord can do to help change my heart and my perspective. Leading me to the second part of my transformation, submission and service to my husband and my children. I had been practicing this whole heartedly at the beginning of the year. But honestly the outcome I had expected did not IMMEDIATELY take place and I lost heart. In my efforts to speak softly to my husband, anticipate his needs (thirsty, hungry, tired) and act on them, allow his answer to stand without argument, things along those lines – I had hoped to win my husband over and motivate him to deepen his walk with the Lord. In the beginning these sincere changes in my mindset and attitude led to peace and happiness in our homes (surprisingly with no bitterness from me). I stopped asking him to pick up after himself, stopped asking him to do things and you know what happened? He started doing them without being asked! He started taking the initiative to help on his own because he wanted to help me. Eventually the new behaviors of mine became expected and caused friction if I didn't live up to them at all times. I know now that this was Satan trying to discourage me because it was working and I needed to push through. But slowly though I gave up.

So – back to what worked. Knowing full well that Satan will try to sabotage my good efforts, and to anticipate and prepare for that.

"Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives." 1 Peter 3:1-2

Next on the list, my children. They have been severely lacking discipline and correction and positive attention. I have not been consistent with them and had been paying for it. Now I am prayerfully moving things in the right direction, with the full support and help of Jeff. We are putting practice "tomato staking" and it has made an amazing difference in my children in a matter of a few days. I look forward to seeing it through.

"Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death." Proverbs 19:18

"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." Titus 2:3-5

That's all for now. I believe I might need to conclude with a part 3 soon. J

Mastering Your Emotions

by: Martha Matthews

"How dare he tell me I'm blowing things out of proportion? They are my feelings. No one is going to tell me how I should feel!"

Does this sound familiar? The wife gets her feelings hurt and she lets her husband know in no uncertain terms all about it. She feels justified in her actions because she doesn't think it is wrong to express how she feels. Of course her husband has no idea where all the emotion came from. He is puzzled because he didn't even realize that he hurt his wife's feelings. He wonders what he did that upset her so much.

Emotion--it is something we all struggle with as women. Sometimes we feel trapped by our emotions, unable to express how we feel, and other times we feel out of control and unable to keep our feelings inside. We say and do things because of our emotions that later we wish we could take back. Our emotions are complicated and definitely a challenge to control.

As Christians we want to do what pleases the Lord but our emotions are always right there pulling us in a direction we don't want to go. As the Apostle Paul said in Romans 7:15, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." (NIV)

If you could use some help controlling your emotions in a godly way, then read on for some biblical guidance and encouragement.

Get the Big Picture
Genesis 1:26 "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.'" (NIV)

God created us in His image. That doesn't mean we were created to be physically like Him. Instead God created us to be spiritually like Him. His desire is that we would imitate His heart and His character in every way. He gave us a soul so that we could connect with Him spiritually and He gave us emotions so that we could understand how He feels about things.

God also gave us emotions so that we could experience life in all its beauty and fullness. Our emotions allow us to experience feelings such as love, joy, peace, hope, compassion and gratitude.Yet, because we live in a fallen world we can't always trust our emotions to guide us. Just as Satan deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden, he plays on our emotions to distort the truth and cloud our judgment.

Get a Clue
1 Peter 5:8 "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (NIV)

So how do we master our emotions so that we are not lead into sin as Eve was? One way is to be aware of how we react in our flesh. We need to understand our own sinful nature in order to be able to recognize how and when Satan will attack us. When we feel an intense emotion, such as we might in the middle of a heated discussion with our husband, we need to pay careful attention to how our flesh is reacting. It is precisely at times like this that Satan can get a foothold in our heart. We have a choice to make. We can be weak-willed woman that are swayed by all kinds of evil desires (2 Timothy 3:6) or be spiritually strong woman who are clued-in to Satan's schemes.

Get a Grip
2 Corinthians 10:5 "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (NIV)

Satan is the Father of lies (John 8:44). He rejoices when we believe the negative thoughts he plants in our minds. Get a grip on your emotions by taking captive every negative and ungodly thought that Satan throws at you and make them obedient to Christ.

Get Prepared
Feelings do not always equal truth. We may have feelings of hopelessness, jealousy or anger which are clearly not what God desires. That is why it is so important to have a deep knowledge of the Bible. Let God's Word guide you, not your feelings.If you struggle with a particular emotion, study it out in the Bible. Then memorize scriptures that will help you to fight off Satan's attacks. Jesus fought off Satan with scripture (Matthew 4:1-11). God's truths are our weapons against Satan's arrow. It worked for Jesus and it will work for you also.

Get Real
Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (NIV)

When you are overcome with emotion, be open with God about how you feel. Go to him first, before you say or do anything. If you do this you will be in very good company. Consider the prayers of King David, the Apostle Paul and Jesus. They all poured their hearts out to the Lord in times of great difficulty. Jesus poured out his heart to God with loud cries and tears (Hebrews 5:7).

Getting your emotions out in the open before the Lord will help you get the healing you need (Psalm 55). Often our first thought is to go to a friend to discuss things under the guise of "getting things off our chest". A friend may give good advice but the Lord is the only one with the power to change a situation. Let us not make the same mistake as Judah did (Jeremiah 17:5). We must rely on the Lord first and foremost.

Get a Life
John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (NIV)

Jesus came so that we could have life to the full. God wants us to rely on Him, not on our feelings. Through faith in Him, prayer, Bible study and an honest appraisal of our sinful nature we can master our emotions. All things are possible with God.

Heart Challenges
How do I usually handle my emotions?
Do I pray to the Lord first or go to a friend first?
What are the emotions I struggle with the most? For example: anger, hopelessness, distrust.
What are some scriptures that I can memorize to help me fight against Satan's attack on my emotions?