The Heart of It All

Just wanting to share what my heart has been wrestling through the past week or so.

The root of every action, thought, word, and attitude is in the heart. The things that frustrate, annoy, & upset me- reveal where my heart is. My worries, fears, & anxieties- reveal my heart. What brings me joy, how I spend my time, how I view God, how I view other people, how I view myself- reveals my heart. This is no ground-breaking revelation, nor am I trying to "spiritualize everything". But it is reality, and I think a lot of times we fail to go as deep as our hearts. We try to clean up our behavior, which is only a symptom of our true problem. We define and judge people based on their outward actions, which is very inconsistent with what Jesus did. This is demonstrated in the standard that Jesus brought in the New Testament (Matthew 5:28, Matthew 15:18-19). While, yes, He saw their sinful actions- He loved and saw the sinful heart beneath it in need of His cleansing. And He loves us enough to desire the removal of sin from our hearts and lives; not a false love by ignoring it or overlooking it...as sometimes we wish He would (when we're loving our sin more than Him). Instead of us trying to change ourselves by "not doing this" anymore or to "start doing that more", we ought to recognize that change only occurs when we are transformed by His Holy Spirit. It is possible to take on a form of godliness (proper actions, proper activities, proper words, proper abstentions, etc...) and deny it's power by not allowing Him to totally transform us from the INSIDE out. Why do we so often resist that? Because we are not willing to give Him full control. There is something that we are not letting go of; something we do not think we can trust Him with.  Instead of rationalizing my sin and coming up with reasons that justify it, I need to call it what it is- SIN, which is committed in the heart, manifested in our behavior, and an offense to the Most High God. It is me-in my heart of hearts- desiring something more than I desire God and His will. God is calling us repentance, which IS true change! God wants our hearts first & fully. I love that this is a message of hope, not failure. That when we look on our hearts and we DO see sin, we do not need to be discouraged, for He has made a way. Go to Him right now! Where is your heart?

Once he loses his heart for "self" the believer can be wholly God's.

 -Watchman Nee

Mommy Monday

Well in honor of my very first Mommy Monday, I will post something that I thought would be kind of fun for a while now! A while back my friend, Robyn White did a post called "A Day in the Life of Us". It was basically just an outline of what a normal day in her life looked like with her famly! So I will give you all sneak peek into a "normal" day in my life......

7:00am

When I wake up (most days! :-/) in order to have my quiet time with the Lord before   

                Evelyn wakes up and the day gets away from me :-)

8:00 am

Wake up time for Evelyn! Quickly followed by breakfast.

8:30-10:00 

 Playtime! She is usually in her excersaucer or just playing on the floor with her toys

                      independantly for a little while as I get a couple things done around the house. But most

                      of the morning is spent playing together. Her favorite activity as of right now is 

                      walking around and around and around the house (while holding my fingers of

                       course :)). But she also spends time on her tummy pushing up on her hands and knees

                      figuring out this whole crawling thing!

10:00-12:00

 Morning Nap! And I finally get to take a shower, get ready, and get things done around

 the house. Or spend some refreshing time chatting with a friend!

12:00

Lunchtime. Evelyn loooves her baby food. We are also very blessed to have Daddy home for

   lunch most days!

(She doesnt make this face anymore, but come on this is a great picture!)

12:30-2:00

This is when we would usually go out if we needed (or wanted!) to. If not, more 

                      playtime. Reading books, playing with toys, & all kinds of fun stuff. Oh, and we have to play outside at some point!

2:00-4:00

Afternoon Nap! I usually either work on a project I'm doing (like how I am wanting to do some serious organizing this winter!), do some baking, reading, or just whatever needs done :-)

4:00

Evelyn's Dinnertime. With more baby food.. then usually time to play in her Pack n' Play while

           Mommy makes dinner! Evelyn sits in her high chair with some finger food to keep her

           occupied while we eat 

4:00- 7:30

This time usually varies depending on what we have planned for the evening. We either go out and do something together, visit someone, or we just get to all hang out as a family! If Evelyn didn't nap well during the day I may lay her down for a short evening

         nap to get her through til bedtime. Oh and of course there is bath time.

And, playtime with daddy!

7:30

 Evelyn gets a bottle and we get ready for bed! She is usually in bed fast asleep by 8:00.

The rest of the evening is spent enjoying time with my hubby! Then it's off to bed for us, and wake up and do it all again the next day :-) I do realize this may seem too boring, too structured, too predictable to some people. But each day is marked with it's own character of laughter, fun, joy, and love...and at times also struggle, tears, and frustration. God is so good and I am in awe of how He chooses to bless us. On top of the love and salvation He extends to us, He blesses us even further each day.

                   

My life as a blogger

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, I have been on vacation! Oh, it's been TWO MONTHS, you say? I was only on vacation for a week..... I guess I have no valid excuse for the rest of the time :-) About a month ago I was talking with a friend (shout to Carmen in I-OW-A!) about blogs and about how they say the most important thing about a starting a blog is that it has a specific purpose/focus. Ehhhh... Well the focus of my bog has kind of been: "Random-ramblings-of-my-brain-sweet-things-God-has-taught-me-good-recipes-to-try-oh-and-here-is-a-picture-of-my-cute-baby". Sooo if anyone googles that- no doubt, my blog will be the first result on the list :-) So I decided I wanted my blog to be better identified with one thing! Something that is pertinent to everyone: Matters of the heart! Not only it's relevance, but it's immense importance. I want this blog to be filled with truth and hope; to be exposed and vulnerable, as we focus on our hearts, which are the very things that Christ desires and is in the pursuit of. But I still would like to post about recipes, and mommy things, because I enjoy writing about those things! But I want to majority of the overflow of my head and heart to be concerning eternal things! So maybe I will do like "Mommy Mondays" and "Wifey Wednesdays" and post about those things on the specific days. No, that's cheesy. And doing that would mean I need to post like 4-5 times a week. Which is a far cry from my usual schedule. ha! So basically it's all up in the air right now :-) Surprisingly enough this is NOT what I intended to blog about this morning. Maybe the focus of my blog really should be "how-to-write-lengthy-disclaimers-before-you-actually-get-to-the-point".  Maybe if I blogged more regularly, I wouldnt feel the need to explain myself every time :-) That being said, I will post in the next couple days what I wanted to actually post about and we will go from there. Thank you, oh patient souls, for listening!

"Keep your heart with all diligence,  For out of it spring the issues of life."

Proverbs 4:23