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Becoming a Modern Proverbs 31 Woman

~ My Journey

Becoming a Modern Proverbs 31 Woman

Tag Archives: New Year’s Resolutions

Yes, Put First Things First, But First . . .

11 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by MP31W! in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

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First Things First, New Year's Resolutions, Prayer, Priorities, Walk with Him Wednesdays

I’ve been reading 31 Days to Build a Better Spouse and have committed to spending the month of January praying for my husband.

At first I was doing great. It’s a simple read, and a simple little daily task.

One day we had a little “You’re speaking Man-Language and I’m speaking Woman-Language” spat. Nothing really.

And that night I realized, after picking up my e-reader, that I hadn’t prayed for my husband in almost three days. How in the world did it happen so fast?

Well, it’s a matter of putting “first things first.” Every single day. Over and over and over and over. That’s the part that always trips me up.

Right now, in our lives there is just so much going on, that even what we know to be first, what we know to be right, what we know to be best, doesn’t get done in the priority we know we have committed to. Tasks must still be done. Our move. Homeschooling our girls. Preparing for the packers. Making dinner. Laundry. And oh, throw in a small surgery for me and a week or so of bedrest in there.

Commitment is always so hard to reconcile with the daily calendar and to-do list isn’t it? Sometimes I feel like I’m just “fitting” my faith life in, instead of letting everything I do be influenced and permeated by my faith. I ask others how do you do it, and the stock answer of “putting it on my calendar” or “scheduling a time”, sounds great and all, but really, let’s face it. It doesn’t work! If y’all could just see my calendar, color-coded, long lists organized to the nth degree. (I am not exaggerating.)

It’s so much easier to say, “Tomorrow, I’ll ________” or “When I _________, then I can __________.” And mean it. Truly mean it. And then allow the defeat and self-condemnation swallow you up when of course it doesn’t happen.

On Sunday, we heard two different groups of missionaries speak at Church, and I really felt the need to help sponsor children to attend school in Honduras. The missionary mentioned how she was able to use Bibles in school, to teach the children English! How awesome is that? And yet when I came home and balanced the checkbook, I thought, “Oh, maybe when we pay off that debt we can afford the extra $30-$40 a month.” And once again I realized I was falling in that same “if/then” trap. 

So, no. I am not going to let that happen to me this year. I choose to complete what I start. I will put God first. I will put relationships before the task-master to-do list. I will reach out to others and seek for ways to use my purpose.

I will stop everything I’m doing, even writing this blog post and pray for my husband. (Realizing that yet again, I’m behind because I’ve lost track of what day it is!) What’s more important, the deadline or the “task” well done? And better still, I’d like to change my mindset because it’s not a “task” or a duty to pray for my spouse. It’s an honor.

It’s a gift that God has given us, the ability to pray for those we love.

I will not groan inwardly with the phone rings because someone has called yet again to check up on me, I will thank God for the chance to reconnect. I will look forward to those interruptions, because life happens in those interruptions.

And I will pray. I will pray for my spouse, so he can start his year off in the right place and on the right path that God has created for him this year, and I will pray for my children, that they will learn of God’s love and of God’s world, and of the place that God has created for them in this world. I will pray for all those that cross my path, because God can use that crossing to lay them on my heart at that moment.

The act of prayer, is my way of putting my wish for the movement of God in that person’s life first.

And this is the change I pray for in myself, that the movement of God happens in my own life, metamorphasizing my view until I can see like Him.

And I will see not a year filled with lists and tasks and duties, but a year filled with blessings and gifts and promises.

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My New Year’s Priorities. Not Resolutions

04 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by MP31W! in Uncategorized

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New Year's Resolutions, Priorities, Walk with Him Wednesdays

I have to confess to all of you.

My focus with this blog has gotten completely out of whack. And it’s a picture of how my life has gotten out of whack as well.

Lately, all I’ve blogged about here has been homeschooling. I have left homeschooling pretty much take over our home life as well. With my husband being gone, and then adding homeschool to the mix, I basically did just enough to survive and get through the day. My health went into the toilet and my stress levels went through the roof. And my original goal, to use this blog to chronicle my journey becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman, went by the wayside.

I just wasn’t spending enough time in the Word and with God. And frankly, I think that alone is why, when my husband did come home last month, my body decided to fall apart two days later.

There is only so much living through your own willpower your body can handle. You just can’t live through your own strength and do anything more than survive this insane world. If I have learned anything this past year, it’s been that.

Look at our society. Aren’t most of the health issues of our country reportedly due to stress? And really, how much of that stress is truly necessary if we were living and abiding in the will of God? If we truly trusted in His provenance and His grace? If we waited on the Lord and allowed God to do His work, instead of pushing to do it ourselves?

Now I’m left to deal with the health repercussions of living with my spiritual life out of whack. According to my chiropractor, my spine isn’t in alignment and my mineral levels are depleted. According to my gynecologist, my hormones are “psycho” (My words. He’s much too polite to actually say that.) and the only recourse left seems to be to “shut down the factory.” My ENT doctor tells me my immune system is run down which is why I need horse-pill antibiotics to get rid of a sinus infection. In short, I’m a mess.

In the midst of all of this, our pastor’s sermon this Sunday was very timely.

Bay Community Church – “Out of Order”

Basically, we spend our time where our priorities lie. And if we look at our goals and resolutions, you’ll see where our true priorities are. As he mentioned, why do our New Year’s Resolutions focus on the temporal items which won’t last, instead of the spiritual, which is forever? We (and I do mean “I” in this case) give great lip service to living for Christ, and yet we don’t really live like that. Or worse, we say, I will be able to ____ for Christ after I ________ (lose 30 pounds, pay off that debt, get that raise) which of course never happens. We become hypocrites of our faith, and slaves to our taskmaster – success by the world’s view.

Is that any way to live? Is that the legacy I want to leave to my children? A life of struggle and stress?

This year, I am going to do things completely different from I have ever done them before. My “New Year’s Resolutions” are based on the spiritual. I want to reboot my focus and put my priorities in order.

My first New Year’s Priority/Resolution is simple: Put God First. Give him the FIRSTS of my life. I’m still working out what that will end up looking like, but my current ideas are:

  • Have my first thoughts awake be prayers and thanksgiving to God.
  • Be sure that my last thoughts before napping or sleeping are prayers for others and praising God.
  • Make a real focus to spend time in deep study of the Word, and reading books about the Word.
  • Get back to focusing on the girls’ spiritual development with prayer, learning Bible stories, verse memorization, and character development.
  • I need to stay involved in group Bible Studies, both for accountability and spiritual connections.
  • More conscious effort in praying for others.
  • Get back to the original message of this blog and write more about my spiritual journey, not just homeschooling or other topics.

My second New Year’s Priority/Resolution is: Put Relationships First.

I think I have a tendency, as a SAHM/WAHM and now a homeschooling mom is to stay.at.home. It’s just so much easier to never leave the house! But I know that my soul longs for human interaction. I’m really more of a people person than I have I let myself be in the past few years when I’ve been focusing so much on dealing with kids and “getting things done.” Yet, that’s not what God has called us to do! If we are to be His hands and feet, what good are we to Him if we don’t get out and reach out? So this year, I resolve to:

  • Make sure I spend time out of the house, interacting more and reaching out to connect more.
  • Focus on spending more quantity and quality time with my husband and our children, especially outdoors.
  • Take care of my health, so that I will be able to get out and have the energy to actually do things.

And my third New Year’s Priority/Resolution is to: Reach Out to Others. Use my Purpose.

This is pretty self-explanatory. God has commanded us to “Go;” not to “Sit” or “Stay.” So trying to keep that command, yet stay with the first priorities of putting God and relationships first, I plan to:

  • Use my spiritual gift of hospitality when possible. Willingly and cheerfully host coffees for groups, or functions for my husband’s office group, and perhaps host a Bible study group in my home if needed.
  • Look for small ways to serve. Meals to share, donating items to charities, or volunteering. Or perhaps a special note to encourage a friend.
  • Work my personal business with the mission to help others. Reach out and connect more using this business as a tool for sharing God’s provision.
  • Blog more. Use the internet to reach out, connect, and share God’s love with those I might never meet in person.

Of course, there are still things I’d like to accomplish this year. However, I’ve decided that I refuse to call them a Resolution, as that puts the wrong emphasis on these items, and gives them too much power over my life. So, instead, I’m going to call them “projects.” These are my “projects” for 2012:

  • Lose 20 pounds. Gain back my health. Get back to working out regularly once medical issues are resolved, and end the year strong and fit.
  • Scrapbook. I’d love to catch up (I’m about 3 years behind at this point) and I want to have fun doing it. I’d like to finish about 150 pages this year.
  • Complete our moving nightmare adventure. Get the family unpacked and settled in our new home, and happily adjusted. Pay a really nice chunk of our mortgage, keep our financial situation in control, and focus on living within our means!
  • Help us get out of debt! I really would like to actually make some money this year (normally I break even or just under).
  • Practice the guitar and play more, and finish my recipe book project that I’ve been staring at for a few years now!


 

 

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The Proverbs 31 Woman (nasb)

Description of a Worthy Woman

An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
And he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good and not evil
All the days of her life.
She looks for wool and flax
And works with her hands in delight.
She is like merchant ships;
She brings her food from afar.
She rises also while it is still night
And gives food to her household
And portions to her maidens.
She considers a field and buys it;
From her earnings she plants a vineyard.
She girds herself with strength
And makes her arms strong.
She senses that her gain is good;
Her lamp does not go out at night.
She stretches out her hands to the distaff,
And her hands grasp the spindle.
She extends her hand to the poor,
And she stretches out her hands to the needy.
She is not afraid of the snow for her household,
For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
She makes coverings for herself;
Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates,
When he sits among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them,
And supplies belts to the tradesmen.
Strength and dignity are her clothing,
And she smiles at the future.
She opens her mouth in wisdom,
And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and bless her;
Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:
"Many daughters have done nobly,
But you excel them all."
Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
Give her the product of her hands,
And let her works praise her in the gates.

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