To Renew A Vision
Photo courtesy of Dan/Freedigitalphotos
To renew a vision of the generation I’m raising is my goal each and every day. To look in little faces and see men and women as world changers and Christ followers. To resume, restart, to take up again, to come back to, to begin again, to start again, to recommence…yes, this is what I want for my vision.
I must not lose sight in the mundane and ordinary. I must look past the here and now and invest in the eternal. I must delay my gratification and sow the seeds carefully in order to reap the fruitful harvest of children well invested in….yes, I must renew my vision.
I have been entrusted with souls. I have been equipped through Him who called me. I have been given a privilege to fight for them for a short while on this earth. I have been given the mighty job of raising warriors in a complacent world…yes, I must renew my vision.
The band aids, the sips of water, the diaper changes, the discipline, the breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, the songs, the tantrums, the books, the games, the fights, the crying, the midnight feedings, the sickness, the sleep deprivation, are all pieces and tools to model patience and perseverance…yes, I must renew my vision.
The hugs, kisses, I love you’s, kindness, sharing, toothless grins, swing sets, walks, snuggles, first words, first steps, first laugh, the ride without training wheels, loose teeth, the nights slept through, the fever breaks, are all pieces and tools to model the gratitude and thankfulness…yes, I must renew my vision.
For it is in the little things of life my vision is blurry, focus gets shifted, my eyes get off the prize. However it IS in the little things of life where these little souls can catch their God-given visions when I stay focused on mine.
Let’s start today by renewing our minds and hearts and therefore the vision to keep at it. It starts with us.
What is your vision for the day? Subscribe and Share!
Let Go of Control! (The overdue stigma)
In this day in age we have the presumed assumption that we can control outcomes. In fact, people go crazy when you DON’T TRY to control a situation.
For instance, the birth of our fourth chid. God has taught us so much through this past year of what trusting in God is all about. I am trusting that his birthday was planned at the very beginning of time for a purpose. My plans will always fail, but His are always perfect. I also am trusting the knowledge God gives me of my body, what it is capable of, and how it is meant to work.
We may not always understand it all. Are we supposed to? I’m thinking no. Why would trust be necessary if I knew all of the answers?
This goes for anything and everything in life you are going through…this just happens to be my particular trust situation right now.
Don’t underestimate this God we serve…He’s got this.
Surrender
Obviously, my post recently have had the common trend of waiting, contentment, and trying to not let my mind take over all of the truths in my heart.
Nevertheless, this is where God has me at this point in time. Surprisingly, my anxious heart has given way to absolute surrender to God. Not by my might I can guarantee you of that , but of God’s consistent work. I am amazed over and over at how I think I know best of when and how something should happen. I quickly forget the big picture and all of the spiritual things going on around me in the major tapestry of life. It so isn’t about me. To surrender to God’s will is pretty easy in my case when I don’t have a choice but to sit and wait for the Baby boy to make his arrival. What about surrendering when I can still tweak outcomes? Surrender is to cease resistance and submit to God’s authority. That is not in our nature until our choices are taken from us.
Is it possible to surrender when we feel the ball is in our court and our backs aren’t up against the wall? I would venture to say yes, but we must be intentional about the surrender. We must place it all in His hands every second of the day INTENTIONALLY because it is the only way to truly feel freedom.
What are you surrendering today?
The Wait
40 weeks tomorrow.
…Good gracious!
And so…we wait. Sometimes letting go and being content is easy, other times it’s not, and you have to fight for it.
The past couple of days I have had many swaying emotions. One minute, I am so aggravated I have to go upstairs by myself and have a pep talk with God, the next I want every child cuddled on my lap. One minute, the thought of food is unappealing, then the next I want a cheeseburger. One minute, I am organizing a cabinet, then the next can’t get my butt off the couch.
This waiting for labor thing is new to me. Really, I don’t like waiting for anything in life. But man, how sweet it is when your waiting efforts are rewarded.
How many of us have heard patience is a virtue? Virtue’s meaning is a behavior showing high moral standards, goodness, honor, dignity, respectability, and purity. THIS is what I want to be. It’s so easy to be that toddler kicking and screaming when things don’t happen right now, when we want it, in our own time frame. The lessons learned in waiting are often the most relevent in life. To be able to emotionally give over control to God through something that belongs to Him all along.
This is where complete trust in God’s sovereignty keeps being compelled in my heart. It’s His sovereignty that started that precious heart beat. It’s His sovereignty that knows the very second I will hold him in my arms. He is sovereign in all and every circumstance we are waiting on. How awesome is that? It is in waiting where we are sanctified. He stretches us and reveals nothing is ever by our own power. It’s easy to feel trapped in our own waiting games, in actuality there is freedom in knowing that our creator knows best when to deliver what we are waiting on…the pressure is off.
I encourage you today to wait with contentment, when you’re not feeling it, fight for it! Every second is a step closer and all part of a master plan by God. In a period of waiting? Subscribe and share!
Lamentations 3:5 The Lord is good to those who WAIT for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
Psalm 27:14 WAIT for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; WAIT for the Lord.
Psalm 40:1 I WAITED patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry.
Against the Grain (Feminism)
I am fully prepared for some backlash on this post. My only request is that you read it with an open mind and consider alternatives to what has been put in our face on a daily basis.
What if we as a society of women became truly submissive to our husband and families? We know that this is what the Bible says and God only wants what is best for us. Is it true that we can really be happier and get something out of this too besides our husbands and families?
Over my yeas of marriage and having children I have become more and more passionate about the subject of our roles as women. I have found that the more I try to mimic how a woman in the Bible is supposed to act that is when I have been most happiest and fulfilled. The idea of submissiveness goes completely against society. I have seen the benefit from it and that makes me want to share with others this radical viewpoint in hopes someone else can feel the same peace and fulfillment as their role of a woman the way God intended it.
The definition of submission is to unresistingly and humbly serve others. For me the key word is unresistingly. How often do we here of women today who are resisting the type of label such as the cook, the cleaner, homemaker, or the one who takes care of the kids etc… We resist because we deem it unimportant. The opposite is true. It’s not only about submitting to our families but to our God-given roles and not resisting. No wonder there are so many unhappy women today. Any one who is in a constant state of resistance is bound to feel frustrated.
Let’s take a look at submission as a woman for her family in action. She is a nurturer, caregiver, and the rock where her family can find rest. When she is in her role (if married to a Christian God-fearing man) he will treat her above all others because of how well he and his children have been taking care of. Ladies, that is what is in it for us. We give and empty ourselves out on a daily basis only to be refilled by a well taken care of husband, children, and therefore we all glorify God. A submissive woman is NOT a doormat. She is strong and takes care of her household in ways no-one else can. Is it always easy? Nope, but that is what keeps us calling on the name of the Lord.
Lets take a look at the typical woman today. She is out working outside of the home. She and her husband share an equal partnership of household chores, cooking, and taking care of the children. This can seem all fine and dandy but what if the other isn’t taking up their end? It’s usually not the people at work that suffer, it’s family life that suffers. That is exactly where satan wants us. Before my husband and I had children this was the way we were. I thought at the time that it worked perfectly and that it was the way marriage should be. Looking back it seems there was always something that wasn’t being done or taken care of assuming the other one was going to do it. There was confusion. God isn’t a God of confusion. He is a God of order and efficiency.
There should be eyes on the home front at all times protecting it. Homes are being shattered all around us and I strongly believe it is because we have lost the art as woman of making it a priority. Let’s get back to what true feminism really is. Not the kind where we burn our bras, but we burn the mentality that there is any job more important than building up our homes.
I want to be the backbone, the pillar, and the soft place to land. Yes, I want to be the cook, the cleaner, and the teacher. I want to be that hug, that smile, and the eyes that says everything is ok. I want to be the protector standing with guns loaded against the wiles of the devil that seeks to destroy my family. I want to be the hands, the heart, and the confidence of Christ.
Who is with me? Let’s start a new feminist movement! Subscribe and share!
Here are my other Going Against The Grain Series:
Going Against The Grain (Birth Control)
Going Against The Grain (Industrialized Food)
Going Against The Grain (Debt)
Photo credit Pixabay
Circumstance and Conviction
Have you ever been praying and dreaming for something then get a whisper from the Lord that you’ve got it all wrong? I’m sure a lot haven’t. I have always felt that God plants dreams and ideas for a greater purpose and to lead us somewhere. The Lord spoke to my husband this past Wednesday night at church, we HAVE had it all wrong. When we got home that night he shared His God given, “Ah hah,” moment with me and it gave me great perspective.
Ever since we were in high school we dreamed of owning land someday, the simple way of life. This post is my heart for our country dream. We came very close this past August to purchasing an old rundown 26 acre farm. Needless to say, due to many complications from the people buying our house the deal fell through. Looking back, the entire process wasn’t easy. We had many self doubts, were stressed beyond belief, and felt as though we wasted our summer away. From that point on we have been committed to praying that God would show us that piece of land or that property where He wants us (already having our own specifications in mind.) Let me clarify, there is nothing wrong with praying for your dream and God’s leading. For us, we were forgetting to pray about all of the other amazing dreams God had placed on our heart.
So here comes my husbands, “Ah hah,” moment…Instead of praying for the perfect piece of property we should be praying that our circumstances will follow our convictions. Let me try to explain what I mean. Over the years God has given us many convictions, and has put before us a path we feel He is leading our family. It can be so easy to be tempted to push those convictions aside when you see a piece of property that you have dreamed about. Instead, we want to pray that He will help us to keep our situation and circumstances true to all of the convictions He has shown us.
Some examples of our convictions are:
To be 100% out of debt.
For momma to stay home as much as possible raising our children and keeping our home. (I currently work 1 12 hour night shift a week at the hospital)
To joyfully accept all of the children God gives us.
To feed our family food in the most natural state as possible (raw milk, grass-fed meats, homegrown vegetables, etc…)
Home school are children.
Slow down and soak up God’s blessings.
To help others.
With all that being said, if we are always praying for the perfect piece of land then we are missing the point. The PLACE is not our answer or our dream. It’s following God’s will and staying true to the above convictions. I want to be wherever my circumstances will help me live out my convictions. God knows what is best and all we want is to follow Him.
Our new family prayer looks something like this. Lord Jesus, thank you for opening our eyes to the path you have set before our family. Please lead us in whatever direction you may have us go to stay true to what you have placed in our hearts. If that means staying in our current home we gladly accept it knowing that none of it is wasted time as long as we are living the way you have called us to.
How about y’all? Ever had an, “Ah hah,” moment from God that shifted your perspective to see the big picture? Share your thoughts!
Just Follow
I want to thank every one for all of your support and prayers y’all gave me when I wrote about how I was loosing it with my crazy hormones. That night I poured my heart out to God, cried, and was determined to feel better. I did feel some relief as we left church that night but still woke up the next morning in a bit of a funk. I think I prayed all day long for God to help me and to calm me down. It wasn’t instant but as I spoke to Him all day I could feel my heart beginning to soften and some joy returning in its place. I have had to remind myself over and over to let go and let God.
At church this weekend God sent a very powerful message to me. It was about the verse in the Bible where Jesus is calling His disciples. He says Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men. The pastor shared that it has been said by many scholars (rather true or not I’m not sure) that the disciples didn’t truly believe Jesus was the Son of God until they had been following Him for nearly two years. He explained that it is easy as Christians to simply say “Yep I believe”…but we never truly follow. We want to still do things our own way.
He made a profound statement. Sometimes you just have to follow and the believing will come later. I know this seems absurd, but I could completely relate to that. I am constantly questioning God about His ability to take care of us financially when more children come, questioning my ability to care for them the way they should be cared for, questioning if He is really there. But… I do follow, blindly actually. My husband and I have felt so many convictions and we know we are where He wants us but we have a hard time always believing that we are going to be OK. He said that if you just follow where He leads than you WILL believe. He will make a way and always walks side by side hand in hand with us.
So I want to shout from the rooftops…Its OK to be scared and wonder if it’s all going to work out, follow God anyways. You wont be disappointed. Your faith will be richer and He will make you something better than you could have ever imagined. He said “FOLLOW ME AND I WILL MAKE!”
Sharing this with: The Prairie Homestead, A Mama’s story, Raising Arrows, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Growing Home, Time Warp Wife, Thankful Homemaker, Mamal Diane, Teaching What is Good, Mom’s the word, A proverbs 31 wife, Some of the best things in life are mistakes, Let this mind be in you, A Wise Woman Builds her home, Deep Roots at Home, Graced Simplicity, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, Jill’s Home remedies, Our simple country Life, Raising Mighty Arrows, The Purposeful Mom, Happy and Blessed Home, My Joy Filled Life. New Life Steward, Hometead simple,
Against The Grain (Industrialized food system)
Photo courtesy of Dan by Free Digital Photos
*disclaimer* Please don’t fuss at me and call me phony if you see me eating a double stuffed Oreo:) Being against the grain is my goal.
Let me start from the beginning and share with y’all where God has taken me to give me the disgust and rebellion I have for our industrialized food system. About 3-4 years ago I took my husband to a farm tour for his birthday. (Seems random but he and I are fascinated by them) It was a dairy farm in SC called Happy Cow Creamery. On the tour he explained where our supermarket milk came from and why they were different. They fed their cows GRASS. Huh? We looked at each other and thought, well don’t all cows eat grass? I know to a lot of people reading this are thinking how could you have not known all of this. Basically comes down to how you are raised, your education, and what is available to you. We knew no different. He began to explain that the milk from the supermarket was from cows who ate a diet of corn feed, received antibiotics due to their confinement and diseases, and were given hormones to increase their milk production. (Though most claim this isn’t true) It’s not just in milk but in all dairy products we use every day. He explained that cows were made to eat grass and the health benefits increase dramatically when the milk is from grass-fed cows compared to corn-fed ones. They gave samples of the milk and oh my word, no comparison, delicious!
This was a huge eye opener for us. We wondered who else knew about this secret. Nobody in our family did. When we got home I began to research where I could buy that same quality of milk around here locally. Turns out there are a lot of people out there who do know about this, it’s just not easy to get your hands on. If any of you are research queens like me than you know one thing always leads to another… Turns out there are also select places with grass-fed beef, pasture raised chickens, grass-fed hogs..etc WHAT??? You mean to tell me this whole time I’ve been eating food that is sub par. My risk of getting food borne illness, heart disease and cancers is all increased due to what these animals are consuming including chemicals, antibiotics, and hormones. I thought I was eating real food that was good for me!
As we all know with most things done the right way you have to pay for it. All of these grass-fed meats and foods that have the least intervention cost the most. As a society we are constantly penalized for going against the grain, rather that be financially, emotionally, or even educationally.
Turns out even a tomato from the store has been chemically altered to give it its shelf life, color, and vitality. It really blows my mind at how much the food system feeding our country is able to get away with, yet it is illegal for me to buy raw milk in NC. Just about every week there is some sort of recall on these foods deemed safe to eat.
We all need to start questioning our own food safety and be our family’s advocates. It is no secret that the leading cause of death is heart disease. This is REVERSIBLE by our diets. It is my opinion that we are being tricked and schemed into a money market as what “healthy” really means. I can remember a time when I used to buy lean cuisines and key lime flavored low-fat yogurt. Unless you have educated yourself these labels look like they are healthy options. THEY ARE NOT! They are horribly processed.
Through all of my research I have had times of being completely overwhelmed at where to start to gain me and my family’s health back. The conclusion I have come to is that this is the most basic and easiest diet to follow. REAL FOOD! I need to mimic not what my grandmother fixed at her supper table but my GREAT grandmother. This includes fruits and vegetables grown in season with no interventions. Meats raised on what they were born to eat and milk from the town near by. They had no minute rice or cream of mushroom soup. They used what was available, local, and what they grew. This may sound difficult but it was an art. To be truly creative in the kitchen and put real ingredients together to make a masterpiece. (Even if that masterpiece was a simple homemade biscuit.)
There is the issue of time spent on gardening or money spent at farmers markets. When you think about it… it sure does cost a lot of money for your stent or cancer treatments and it’s an awful lot of time wasted in the hospital or not feeling the way we were meant to feel.
God didn’t design us to eat the way we have been eating. We know what to do but we put our heads in the sand just because it’s easier. It’s time we go against the grain and feed our bodies what it is meant to have, REAL FOOD! The good thing is we can start off small and work our way up. Start by not having fast food. We all know how terrible it is for you and you can save money. Dig in and start finding information to encourage you and show you the benefits of eating real stuff you can pronounce. The truth is we have all been starving ourselves. Not of calories but of vitamins and minerals essential for living, this is all a form of malnutrition. Let’s feed ourselves again!
Did I mention the food from real ingredients taste 100 times better? Even the Oreos don’t taste as good anymore:) Any one else with me? Interested in joining the food revolution? Did you have a moment like we did that stopped you in your tracks and got you thinking? If so, subscribe and share!
Here is part I of my series: Against The Grain (Birth Control)
I will be adding more to this series, so subscribe so you won’t miss it!
Sharing this with: The Prairie Homestead, A Mama’s story, Raising Arrows, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Growing Home, Time Warp Wife, Thankful Homemaker, Mamal Diane, Teaching What is Good, Mom’s the word, conerstone cofessions, A proverbs 31 wife, Some of the best things in life are mistakes, Let this mind be in you, A Wise Woman Builds her home, Deep Roots at Home, Graced Simplicity, Raising Homemakers, Women Living Well, Hope in Every Season, Jill’s Home remedies, Little Natural Cottage, Our simple country Life, Raising Mighty Arrows, The Purposeful Mom, Happy and Blessed Home, Homemaker by Choice, Your Thriving Family, My Joy Filled Life. New Life Steward, Hometead simple, Let this Mind Be in You,
Stop Entertaining Your Children!
Society tells us to do this craft, take them here and take them there. Don’t get me wrong these are all great things to do with our children. I have found that all of this activity may not be very beneficial. After a lot of entertainment my kids don’t know what to do with themselves when I’m not there throwing fun in there face. Honestly, I don’t like it. We may be young but my husband and I are pretty old school in how we raise our children. I want them to be creative and independent enough for me to open up the back door let them run out barefoot. I want to be able to yell, “Have fun, I’ll call ya when lunch is ready!” In the summer we do have days like that. They are wonderful. I think that all of the entertainment we feel forced to give our children is why so many women feel like they can only handle one or two children. They are running themselves ragged trying to keep them happy. It’s hard enough to keep up with children in general but nearly impossible to keep throwing excitement in their face all the time.
It’s easy to see it in adults every day. They are constantly looking for something to get into and can never seem to be satisfied. I often wonder if this is because of the endless activities they had as a child. It is sad to see someone never be content with just sitting or using their brain to be creative. I don’t want this for my children. I don’t want to have that kind of relationship with them to were they look to me to provide them with their entertainment. I also don’t want their fun to depend on rather they have friends around or not. I have very social children. I love them playing with their friends but the problem comes when they don’t know what to do with themselves when no one else is around.
A hard lesson for parents to learn is when you should say yes in order to encourage their creativity and let them find their own fun. It’s very easy to sit them in front of the TV or computer so we can have our eye on them all the time and know they are safe. What if we said yes to climbing the tall tree? What if we said yes to them being on the swing set learning how to climb the ladder and go down the slide by themselves? Are they gonna fall? Yep, probably so. But they are figuring it out for themselves and I am there in the distance if needed. I want to facilitate the learning and imagination not feed it to them with a spoon.
Yes, some days are long and tiresome. But when you have the ability to let them pretend, play, fall, run, and climb your job as the parent is the facilitator of them finding their own capabilities. I am not run ragged or filled with guilt because I didn’t take them to the movies or to a friend’s house. When we have days like that everyone unanimously says it was a great day even if there are a few more bruises:)
What do y’all think? Do you see the trend in constant entertainment in children too? It’s hard not to fall in the trap, but I am convinced it is the way childhood is meant to be. FREEDOM to figure it out and have fun the old-fashioned way! Subscribe and share!
Against The Grain (Birth Control)
Are any of you the, “Going against the grain kind of people,” like me? As a teenager many people referred to me as rebellious. I can see why they would say that:) As I look back over my life I can see God’s hand in my rebellion. He gave me that stubborn personality to go against the grain at times…well, most of the time. I used to feel guilty about always bucking the system and wondered why I couldn’t just be like everyone else.
A truth I have slowly started to process is that we all aren’t supposed to be the same. There are some systems that are meant to be questioned, bucked, and rebelled against altogether. This blog is an outlet for me to raise awareness about things we go along with every day and test them to see if we are really making progress.
One issue that is near and dear to my heart that God revealed to me almost two years ago was the value we place on life. I think most Christians would agree that abortion is wrong. We get in an uproar when the Roe vs. Wade anniversary comes around. We rally and give opinions, which are all great. But…what about birth control? When we question this normal practice the facts are clear to see that they are abortifacients in themselves. We get statistics on the amount of abortions every year, but what about all of the chemical ones that go unknown because our bodies are having a heavier period than usual due to our birth control method?
When I found out this information I was floored!
The majority of birth control methods including the pill, IUD, the patch, and Depo Provera all effect the lining of the uterus enabling the newly fertilized egg to implant thus it is starved and dies. Of course the birth control industry denies that their product can cause an abortion because of their definition of when life begins. To them it begins once implantation occurs.
This is simply not true.
When the egg and sperm unite (fertilization) is when life begins. When they meet, immediately there is a genetically different human being than the parents. It is ridiculous how they try to over analyze the definition of life. This is not discussed in our OB/GYN offices. I could have ignorantly killed children all because I was going with the norm. I blame a lot of this on being uneducated. I hate to use it as an excuse, but it is the only one I have for the reason I was on the pill and IUD for so long. You get married, get on birth control, and have sex. No questions asked, it’s just what you do. WE MUST START ASKING OURSELVES QUESTIONS. When we can line up our decisions with God’s word then that will open up the door for other people to ask. No need to force anything in their face, but offer information and let God do the rest.
Another reason why this means so much to me is the fact that many of women’s cancers along with other health issues have stemmed from the use of birth control. There are many lawsuits going on right now against some of the birth control companies. When we mess with our body’s natural, God-given design we are bound to run in to problems.
Whenever you go on a new type of birth control you are taking hormones. When we start to complain of headaches, fatigue, breast tenderness, break through bleeding, nausea, and decreased sex drive our doctors tell us this is normal and if it doesn’t go away after a few weeks then we can try a new kind.
What? Why aren’t we concerned about this?
We fuss over hormones in our chicken, but are rarely upset over the hormones we take in our bodies to prevent babies. Birth control has been linked to blood clots, stroke, heart attack, glaucoma, breast cancer, and many other health risk. It is a known scientific fact that women who have a baby, breast feed, then get pregnant again significantly drop their risk for cancers. This is due to the fact that the estrogen in our body is reduced because we have fewer menstrual cycles. Birth control contains estrogen and progesterone. Is the prevention of children worth the risk of our health?
On to sexual intimacy. No wonder most women never want to have sex! (Don’t mean to be so blunt) The birth control methods out there mess your hormones all up. God made our bodies so that when ovulation occurs you and your husband are more sexually attracted to each other than other times of the month. Why? We were made to reproduce. But what if we stop that ovulation process or keep normal acting hormones at bay? We are missing out ladies on that intense desire that happens for our husbands at that time. How fair is that?
The list goes on and on about the dangers of these contraceptives, but it is the norm. It is reported that 4 out of every 5 women who have sex have been on some type of hormonal birth control at some point in their life. In fact, people assume you are crazy and weird if you don’t use any and let nature do it’s thing. Let me tell ya from experience, ever since I stopped using birth control over two years ago my body has never felt better and I have never felt more free.
Am I making you raise an eyebrow? I encourage you to do your own research about the exact mechanism of the contraceptives we use every day. You may find yourself very surprised at how pregnancy is prevented, and all of the side effects we deem normal.
Go against the grain with me! Are there topics that you rebel against? Subscribe and share! I am planning on making a series about all kinds of topics God has prompted me to question;)
Against The Grain Series
Against The Grain (Pharmaceuticals)
Against The Grain (Industrialized Food System)
Photo credit Pixabay
Hey Y'all! My name is Brittany Styron. Sweet Country Roots is a place I hope to encourage, inspire, and bring a chuckle. Grab yourself a cup of coffee and join conversations about marriage, babies, homeschooling, frugal living, good food, and an old fashioned way of thinking.
