The Lord is Close to the Brokenhearted

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those crushed in Spirit.

Psalm 34:18

Isn't wonderful to know that of all the many things God is, close to the brokenhearted is one of them? It doesn't matter why we are brokenhearted, God draws near to us. It might be a seemingly small reason that can set you off; a tough day at home with your children, a day where nothing goes right, unfulfilled expectations or the pangs of loneliness. It doesn't matter how we got to this point, to God, a hurting heart is a heart that needs love, a heart that needs Him.

If today you find yourself brokenhearted or your spirit broken down, run to Him. He won't minimize your pain, expect justification, explanation or a promise to be stronger tomorrow. He just wants to hold you, His dear child.

Let God hold you. Let Him love you. Let Him save you. No strings attached.~

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Whirlwind

So, lately I feel as if my "Spiritual Life" has been lacking. I know that quite alone time with God is only one part of being close to God, but to me it feels like a big part. I feel that setting aside enough time everyday to read at least a little bit of the bible and then spend some time in prayer is not only essential to give myself some time to hear from God, but to show God that He is important enough to me for me to make time for Him.

Almost exactly a year ago today I was spending about an hour almost every morning with special prayer time. It would consist of bible reading/prayer/devotional reading and some journaling. I had about and 1 1/2 - 2hours every morning before the girls would wake up and that hour for me was essential.

Lately though, in these past months, the girls have been getting up much earlier. Sometimes they wake up with hubby and I and other times I might only have 45 minutes or maybe even an hour before they are up. So not only are my chances of getting some quite time before the kids get up slim, let me tell you, I am TIRED. Really TIRED. I eat right, exercise, get almost 8 hours of sleep, but let me tell you there is no cure for being a mom. I feel as if my feet hit the ground running in the morning and I keep it up all day, trying to keep our home clean and running around playing with two toddlers all day. Then in the evening, as everyone is winding down, I'm still busily whisking around the house getting kids ready for bed and finishing all those last little things that accumulate for the end of the day.

So, as soon as hubby leaves in the morning, I will read maybe a verse, sometimes a single verse, sigh a breathless prayer to God and fall asleep within seconds. I feel myself fall over on the couch and just hope God understands how exhausted I am. I usually am woken up 30 minutes later around 6:00 with kids jumping on me.


Today, after hubby left, I sat down with my bible. I already felt defeated and somewhat rushed because I know the girls could wake up any moment. and said to God "Ok Lord, I'm going to try to come to that place today. That place where I am completely enveloped in Your presence and can hear Your voice. Help me to not fall asleep and teach me more about who You are."
My bible is a devotional bible, so peppered in between the pages are little devotions and poems. I opened my bible at random and my eyes fell on this poem:

Once I worked at whipping up a feeling I could

call "worship." No more. I have lived

consciously in His presence long enough to know

Him, to recognize His pressure on my heart and

mind. We've been together long enough so that

fixing supper, changing the ribbon in my

typewriter, and riding a bike around my shell

road have become almost sacramental. This

does not indicate my "holiness." It indicates

His - His holiness and His drawing power for my

heart or for yours

----- Eugenia Price

Wow! I felt as if God was speaking to me directly and that this poem was written just for me. All of the sudden all these "mini memories" of God speaking to me throughout all of my busy days these past few weeks just came back at once. Like all the different people He has laid on my heart to pray for.

When I'm building block towers or sweeping, He has put so many different people on my heart and I just pray for them. I don't always know what to pray for, but I pray for them. This is worship.

While listening to music while chasing the kids around the house a line of music touches my heart so deep I can't help but to feel Him there. I say a quick prayer of thanks for the ability to serve such a Mighty God. This is worship.

I'm tired and just want to spend 15 minutes on the computer, but instead I listen to my girls and spend 15 minutes tenderly and joyfully reading them a story. I pray for God's help to be the mother He desires for them. This is worship.

Although not all at once, all these things work together for the glory of God and in turn worship Him. I can't define "worship" or "holiness" by my terms, I can only go by what He says in the Bible and offer my self as a living sacrifice.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's

mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and

pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.

Romans 12:1

Only by being led by the Holy Spirit can I following God's will and worship Him. A year ago that was spending an hour in the mornings with Christ. Since then, I have entered a new season in life and now God makes sure to clearly and precisely speak to me throughout the day. Of course, I do try to set aside even 2 minutes in the morning to dedicate my day to Him, but sometimes 2 minutes is all I have. I know that's ok now.

My two toddlers are up now! Have a wonderful day and know that even if you don't always feel near to God, He is near to you. :)

Sweet Hour of Prayer

Although I have been a Christian my whole life and have a general knowledge of the Bible, I have never read it cover to cover. I probably have read most books, some several times. I also know a fair amount of scripture verses and many Bible stories and have a pretty good general understanding of the timeline of the Bible. But I have wanted to learn more. Not just learn more about the Bible, but really understand who God is and what His will and plan for me is.

So last year, the day before my birthday (on September 25th) I decided I was going to read through my Bible, cover to cover, in a year. I started that morning in Genesis 1:1.

Since then, I have attempted to spend one hour every morning alone with God. Let me say, that some of the sweetest and best moments of my life have been spent in those one hour mornings. What started as a simple plan for one hour alone with God to read His word, has turned into a life giving and heart renewing experience!

Now, It hasn't' happened every morning. For those of you who know me know that my morning start very early, 4:00am. By the time hubby is at work and I go to sit quietly on the couch it is 5:00. The girls wake up about 6:30. That gives me a good solid hour in peace and quite to read and meditate. Now of course, some days I am so tired I fall asleep only to wake up when the girls do, or sometimes the girls get up at 5:00 and don't go back to bed... everyday life sometimes just happens and that's Ok! I know God hasn't taken me on this journey for me to be super strict with my schedule and be legalistic about times. Just the opposite! I believe He wants me tolearn how to go with the flow a little bit and realize that although every morning isn't perfect, I can always make a little time for Him. I like it to be an hour, but sometimes it's 5 minutes. Sometimes it's a single verse that I read in 30 seconds.

Anyway, I am only about a month and a half away from my one year and I am not quite even halfway through the Bible. I'm sure I could still finish in my one year time frame if I wanted, but I don't think I am going to. My goal has changed and now includes no time frame. I think I needed the incentive for me to make the commitment in the beginning, but now that it is part of my daily routine I want to read at a slow and steady pace and soak up everything I can!

I have kept a journal since I started. In there I will sometimes record my thoughts on different subjects, write out questions on things I don't yet understand and write out verses that touch my heart.

Sometime I spend as much time writing as I do reading! I usually pray in the beginning. I just ask that God would revel His word to me and teach me. I then will pray for my family and anything else on my heart. Sometimes 45 minutes of my hour is in prayer and I only read for about 15minutes. There are days where instead of the bible I will read from a devotional book instead. Sometimes after 45 minutes of reading I stop right there as I feel I have more than enough to meditate and ponder. Other times, after I pray, I will sit and listen to hymns almost the entire time. The words and the music will touch my heart in such a way that the tears will just stream down my face, in awe of God's great love for me. His love overwhelms me!

The reason I am sharing this is because if I would have just stuck to my original goal of reading enough of my Bible to finish in a year, I think I would have missed out on a lot. I have learned a lot just about being ready and willing to change your plans! It's more important to follow where the spirit leads you, instead of your own plans. Whether it be concerning morning reading time, or anything else in life. Our plans may not be what's best and I want to always make time to hear God's gentle and quite voice because I want to Go where He leads me. I believe that it's imperative to make a time for hearing God's voice. God knows us and He knows our hearts. He can speak to us in an hour, and He can speak to us in 5 minutes. But, He won't speak to us if we don't invite Him in to do so. Won't you make some time this morning to let Him speak to your heart? He is waiting.... I know because I found Him!

She Wears Skirts... Some of the Time!

This is my post where I am participating in a week in skirts link up!

Amy, the blogger, talks about both modesty and femininity, two issues close to my heart. Especially now that I have two young daughters of my own! Now, I don't believe that women have to wear skirts to be modest, but I must say that I myself notice a difference on how I am treated in public when I wear skirts. I firmly believe that if you dress like a lady (along with a lady like attitude) that you will be treated like a lady. I think a Godly attitude (love, patience, kindness, gentleness, patience, ect...) is far more important than anything we put on our bodies. But, the world sees what is on the outside first and how we look sends a message. When people look at us do they notice our kind attitude and our love of the Lord, or are our pants so tight and our skirts so low that that is the first thing they notice?

I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and proprietary, not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls or expensive clothing.

1 Timothy 2:9

There are many different views on modesty, but I believe the first part of the above verse is our guideline "I also want woman to dress modestly" A lot of this is common sense, if you shirt hangs far too low or if when you bend over you have to be afraid of your bottom showing, that's not modest. When the verse talks about not braiding hair or wearing pearls or expensive clothing, that doesn't mean God does not want us to wear jewelry or braid our hair, but that should not be our main focus. When we walk outside we should be confident not because of how we look that day, but because we serve the Lord our God, the creator of the universe! Now that should give us confidence!

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I think nice fitting jeans or shorts can be just as modest as a skirt, but after reading many of the posts about femininity in general, I am inspired more now than ever to embrace my femininity and wear a skirt every once in awhile!

Anyway, we are posting a week's worth of skirts! Not necessarily a photo of everyday the past week when we have wore a skirt, but photos from when we have wore skirts. Thankfully they don't have to be terribly recent, because in most photos I could find I'm wearing maternity jeans or sweat pants. With 2 babies in 2 years, what I wear really has been the last thing on my mind, most days I look just look for the sweat pants that look the cleanest, lol :)
Anyway, here goes!

Day 1:This is one of my favorite dresses! I found it at a walmart in Missouri for only $10.00! I used to wear it a lot, even while going fishing as seen here. Since having my babies it doesn't quite fit, but my goal is to lose enough where I can fit back into it this summer in August when we go to Texas for vacation!


Day 2 :Hhmm.. another walmart dress. :) When you find a cute dress at walmart for $15.00 you can't go wrong! This is another favorite! I have not been able to wear it the past two summers because it made breastfeeding impossible, but I plan on being able to wear it lots this year! It's pretty, flowey and not to dressy. I always feel so feminine when I wear this :)

Day 3
I honestly don't remember where I got the black skirt from or the white one underneath it. But when I do where a skirt, this is the one I normally wear. It's flowly, not to dressy, matches anything and I can easy move and not feel restricted. This one is probably my favorite!


Day 4
My summer dress! I bought this dress from a boutique store in the mall the day I met my husband for the first time :) So it's extra special to me. I have not been able to wear it for the same reason as the above mentioned dress, but I look forward to wearing it this summer:)




Day 5
The new dress! I found this at Target for $12.00. I love the vintage look! It is a tad on the shorter side, but I can always add a bit of a longer skirt undernith it (like I do with my black skirt) or I can add a pair of capri leggings. Whenever I get a new anything I try it for the hubby and ask him his opionion. He is always so great with helping me pick out the perfect thing :)




Day 6
My brown skirt, another favorite!!! This photo was yesterday. Try not to look at the couch in the background. When we got married I picked out white couchs... I know.... we even knew we planned on having kids right away... I still wanted the stinkin white couchs. Silly in love newly wed bliss :)




Day 7
Same dress, different day. I just love white cotton dresses! So summery and pretty! Hubby and I have a secret favorite place we like to go to down by Lake Michagan. We were there this day :)



So there is my week in dresses!