Preparing for Sunday: Thursday

Even if you are the kind of person who plans your meals an hour before the meal, you will greatly benefit on Sunday if you plan your Sunday menu today. 

Take time to decide what you are going to eat for breakfast, lunch, and supper on Sunday.  If you are missing any ingredients. make sure you go to the store today or Friday to pick up the extra items you may need.  Sundays with children are hectic enough, you don't need to be rushing around the kitchen trying to throw food on the table.

Here are some of my favorite Sunday meals:

Breakfast
Cereal
Crockpot Oatmeal
Cinnamon Rolls (made with a bread maker)
Donuts (made the night before)

Lunch
Roast, Carrots, and potatoes - all cooked in a crockpot (for lunch, you would need to cook on high).
Eating Out - great, if you aren't trying to watch the finances
Chili (warmed in the crockpot) - all children must change clothes first :)
Spagetti - again, all children must change out of Sunday clothes first
Any other one pot meal made in the crockpot, especially if you can assemble the night before.

Supper
I must confess, we rarely eat supper on Sunday's.  Growing up, Sunday supper was always fend for yourselves, so we typically will have a snacky supper - popcorn, cheese and crackers, hotdogs, lil' smokies, sandwiches, cereal, or even leftovers from the week prior.  However, if your family eats supper on Sundays, any of the lunch ideas would also work for supper.

I would love to hear some of your favorite Sunday meals.

A Weary Week

I'm desperate.  I feel as though the wave is coming and about to crash over me and knock me down.  Today, I am in a desperate state for my Savior.  I need his love, his gentle voice, and his incredible strength to finish the day.

My chores have fallen to the wayside as I have had to spend extra care discipling my children this week (being stuck inside for multiple days tends to bring out this extra time of care).  I am also moving slower because of the weariness of my body.  I am longing for the day when I can have perfect rest.

Let me describe the current state of my home, I have laundry stacked in front of the washing machine, toys and papers litering the living room floor, dishes to pull out of the dishwasher and dishes to put back in.  The weeds are on the verge of taking over my garden and flower beds. The babe is screaming his heart out (he has a full tummy and a clean diaper - so he is not being neglected), my other son is fussing because he doesn't want to take his nap, and the other three children are spread out around the house reading books.  Why is the babe crying?  Because he has chosen this week to not sleep unless he is concurrently nursing.  Therefore, mommy has not had sleep.  Thus, my great desperation for Christ.  I am trying, Really I am.

Today I must fall back.  I must take extra care to guard my lips.  Weariness is Satan's opportunity to cause me to become angry at my children, to hurt them and tear them down with my words.  I must take extra care to keep moving.  It is important for me to get to doing the next thing that needs to be done.  Today is not the day to start a new project, but a day to bathe in prayer and communion with my Lord.  Only in Christ can I accomplish that which needs to be completed. 

What joy I find in knowing that God is my strength, and my help when I am in need.  He is the lifter up of my soul, and he gives rest for the weary soul.  Without Christ, I would be as other moms, upset with my husband because I think I need a break, rushing out of the house to get out with friends as soon as he returns home.  Leaving the house a mess to irritate him. I would be seeking refreshment in friends and in drink, only to have all the struggles return the next day.  As a believer, I can find perfect peace in Christ knowing that nothing has been given me which we cannot face together, even if it means facing it without sleep :)

Jesus is a rock in a weary land!

Weary land! Weary land!

Jesus is a rock in a weary land!

Shelter in the time of storm!

Now that I'm done writing, the babe has ceased his crying, and I must go on to the next think - loading the laundry.

1000 Gifts

I have been given so many gifts of late.

12. I am thankful for the sunshine to be outside
13. I am thankful for a husband who is able to change the oil in our car.
14. I am thankful for God's wisdom preventing us from buying a new vehicle.
15. I am thankful for the sermon I heard Sunday.
16. I am thankful for visitors in church the last two weeks.
17. I enjoyed the privilige of getting up early with my husband to start our day in prayer for our family, missionaries, and church family.
18. I rejoice that God's Word gives me the little reminders to think always upon the truth and not my own feelings and perceptions.
19. God has gifted me with the opportunity to get my hands dirty and dig in the earth HE created.
20. The blessing of visiting with family on several occasions over the last two months.
21. Free coffee from Starbucks :)
22. Finding joy in visiting and weeding the flower beds for a friend.
23. The blessing of seeds planted bursting forth from the ground erupting into plants that will later feed my family.
24. The uniting of a man and woman yesterday- the daughter of good friends from college, and another union to be made later this week.
25. A baby who just might be starting to sleep throught the night!!!

Contentment is vital for the Christian walk, but even moreso for the Pastor's Wife.  Without gratitude and contentment, we can destroy the ministry of our husbands.  Whether it be a complaint about the parsonage not being modernized (or falling apart on you), or having to get creative about affordably feeding your family, or even about having your vacation cut short because of a funeral your husband is being called home to perform.  Remember, the ministry is not your husbands.  It's not even yours.  The ministry is God's ministry, and He will take care and provide for us.  Rather than complaining we need to be thankful and rejoice in the little crumbs we are left and for the priviledge of serving such an awesome and loving God.

Gardening for Life

I glanced out the window, and noticed two solitary roses blooming on the row of rose bushes.  Those bushes have been a blessing and a curse to me.  The roses on the bush are beautiful and fragrant.  I love using them to grace my table throughout the entire summer.  They make a beautiful centerpiece around a trifle bowl set at the table for company. However, the bushes grow a lot during the summer.  They grow until they are nothing more than a tangled overgrown mess of thorns.  During the winter months I see them in their barren scraggle, and dread the coming pruning.  I don't like pruning the bushes because I am afraid I may cut them too short, uneven, or find myself covered in thorns.  But, for the roses to be healthy and beautiful they need to be pruned.

My life is very much like the row of roses.  Daily I must be pruned.  The pruning in my life takes many different shapes and forms.  Some days I am being pruned, and somedays I am the pruner.  Somedays the pruning involves preventing a favorite food from entering the mouth.  Other days it comes in the shape of a child's imitation that causes me to realize another area to prune out.

Anytime you discover that you have elevated something to greater importance than our Lord and Savior, you must get out the pruning shears.  Not because that "something" is bad and wicked, but in order for your spiritual health.  For example, all of my children love food.  However, one of my children has a passion for eating that far exceeds the normal desire to eat.  So we have established a new rule.  If mommy offers a snack, you may have a snack.  If you ask for a snack, then you will not eat anything until the next meal.  This may sound harsh, but for a child that has made food god, it is a necessity.  Some days I have to be purposeful in not opening the computer until all my morning chores have been accomplished.  Not because the computer is evil or wicked, but because at times communicating via electronics pulls me away from dealing with the reality of my family.  I am being pruned.  Pruning does not mean complete removal of the plant, but a cutting back for fullness and health. 

I want my life to be full of God's goodness and joy.  Not full of the idols I so easily build up in my life. 

What areas of your life has God been pruning?

Eric Ludy - The Gospel

The Gospel is powerful. More powerful than either you or I can fully understand. Salvation does not just free us from death and eternal separation from God. The power of the Gospel gives us the ability to obey and serve our Savior.

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things

This verse is probably the most powerful verse in my tool belt (they are all powerful, but this is the one I return to most frequently).  I struggle with my thought life so much.  At times it frustrates me because I feel like I should be able to just flip the switch and end the struggle.  Yet, this is not how we as humans opperate.

As women, I think it is so easy for us to read into situations and behaviors more than what is truly there.  For example, we have one couple in our church that after every service, they rush out of church (they are also usually one of the last to arrive).  I have tried to visit and get to know her on several occassions, even inviting to take her to lunch.  Yet, each time I feel like I am met with  a cold shoulder and the answer of I'm too busy.

It never fails, I always start wondering "Have I said or done something to offend her."  This has been my battle since we moved here, and one that I am fairly certain is just because of being such a small church.  In a larger church in the city, I would believe that she was just too busy.  We also probably would not notice as much the quickness with which someone left the church each week.  Since this started, I have been quoting this verse over and over to myself and reminding myself to believe her and to focus on what I know to be true.  I have examined my relationship with her, and I do not believe that I have wronged their family in any way.

And now, this week I have been encouraged.  On two different occassions she has shown interest in my children and visited with them.  Even picked one up and giving him a hug when he was being goofy.  I was greatly encouraged by this.  I am trusting God to bring to light if their is an issue between us, and if not, I have to accept that this may simply be her personality and busyness of life. 

By focusing on what I know to be true, it gives me freedom from the worry and anxiety of second guessing my actions and my words.  Isn't God's Word wonderful!  It gives us the tools we daily need to live a life of godliness.