A few of my favorite Christmas things…

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It’s Friday, I just feel like talking about some of my favorite things…

Waking up before everyone else in the house, plugging in the Christmas tree, and reading my bible. Did I mention, my fabulous blogging friend, Rebecca from 2heartsdesire.com gave me this amazing coloring illustrated bible? I’ve been reading from it in the quiet of the morning and then later in the day I read it to my girls and they color some in it for me.


There is just something calm and quieting about a Christmas tree. Since I was a little girl, I’ve felt this way.

It’s like I can feel the peace and calm of the very night Christ was born when I’m sitting in a quiet room with a shinning Christmas tree. 

Am I alone in this? Do you feel it too, friends? I’m sure it’s the nostalgia of the story of Christmas. I’m talking about the first Christmas. The reason we are sitting in a room with a tree indoors anyways.

Looking at the tree makes me ponder the story.

The manger.

Mary.

The Holy Spirit.

The baby. The King.

The Lord of Lords, lying there, humble and beautiful and perfect. I seriously could go on and on. ( And I hope to send out some devotions during the next few weeks, so be on the lookout).

Another must- have for my early morning “Christmas Tree Devotions,” (as I’ve named them 🙂 is a Christmas song streaming in through my headphones. Here’s my number one favorite. You have GOT to give it a listen, friends!

>>>>>Last, of course is the big stack of Refocused Bible Study books on my shelf that I’ve started mailing and handing out. >>>>>>

Grab one for you and a friend, I promise, you will LOVE it!

Looking for an inspirational gift for any girl on your list? Refocused Bible Study pre-order has launched just in time to get the perfect gift! Act fast, they are on the way and   I EXPECT THE SHIPMENT TO SELL OUT! 🙂

Do you need to refocus on what’s most important for the road ahead? Refocused will help you remember who God is, who you are, and what he’s called you to focus on in this season.

This illustrated, coloring book bible study takes you on a visionary journey through scripture to remind you of your treasured identity in Christ.

Each day has a scripture reading, reflective questions, visionary planning with purpose, and a prayer prompt to engage you in as you color an illustration that brings the scripture to life.

*I’ll be leading this bible study starting New Year’s Eve on the FB page with weekday discussion questions and weekly teaching videos!*

There is an edition available for every woman in your life, and for every age!

*These are all beautiful paperback books, with coloring book illustrations for each day of study.
I will be leading women through this study at a powerful time of the year to Refocus – starting New Year’s Eve! The study is also suited to do in a small group, in person. The study lengths vary based on the edition:

MARRIED WITH CHILDREN EDITION:

Refocused: Fixing your eyes on Jesus for the road ahead: married with children edition

$15.99
Buy Now Button

This four week study will help you REFOCUS on:

God and Me

Marriage

Parenting

Home


MARRIED WOMAN EDITION:
Refocused: Fixing your eyes on Jesus for the road ahead: married edition (perfect young couples without kids or empty nesters) 

$12.99
Buy Now Button

This three week study will help you REFOCUS on:

God and Me

Marriage

Homemaking

SINGLE MOM EDITION:
Refocused: Fixing your eyes on Jesus for the road ahead: single mom edition

$12.99
Buy Now Button

This three week  study will help you refocus on:

God and Me

Parenting

Homemaking

SINGLE WOMAN EDITION:

img_5131

Refocused: Fixing your eyes on Jesus for the road ahead: single woman edition

$6.99
Buy Now Button

This short, six day, one week edition will help you purposefully pray over your dreams and make plans to look confidently ahead with your eyes fixed on Jesus.

I believe this book is truly a work of the Lord that will enrich your study of his word, give you hope, and help you  plan your near future.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments! ❤

Looking forward to REFOCUSING on his goodness together,

Amy ❤

Order Refocused Bible Study & join our online group! 

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The books are in!

FREE shipping on all orders continued this week!!!

Order one for you and a friend! 🙂

Then join the Facebook group here: Refocused Bible Study Facebook Group The Study starts December 31st!

Looking for an inspirational gift for any girl on your list? Refocused Bible Study pre-order has launched just in time to get the perfect gift! Act fast, they are on the way and   I EXPECT THE SHIPMENT TO SELL OUT! 🙂

Do you need to refocus on what’s most important for the road ahead? Refocused will help you remember who God is, who you are, and what he’s called you to focus on in this season.

This illustrated, coloring book bible study takes you on a visionary journey through scripture to remind you of your treasured identity in Christ.

Each day has a scripture reading, reflective questions, visionary planning with purpose, and a prayer prompt to engage you in as you color an illustration that brings the scripture to life.

*I’ll be leading this bible study starting New Year’s Eve on the FB page with weekday discussion questions and weekly teaching videos!*

There is an edition available for every woman in your life, and for every age!

*These are all beautiful paperback books, with coloring book illustrations for each day of study.
I will be leading women through this study at a powerful time of the year to Refocus – starting New Year’s Eve! The study is also suited to do in a small group, in person. The study lengths vary based on the edition:

MARRIED WITH CHILDREN EDITION:

Refocused: Fixing your eyes on Jesus for the road ahead: married with children edition

$15 FREE SHIPPING

Buy Now Button

This four week study will help you REFOCUS on:

God and Me

Marriage

Parenting

Home


MARRIED WOMAN EDITION:
Refocused: Fixing your eyes on Jesus for the road ahead: married edition (perfect young couples without kids or empty nesters) 

$12.99 FREE SHIPPING!

Buy Now Button

This three week study will help you REFOCUS on:

God and Me

Marriage

Homemaking

SINGLE MOM EDITION:
Refocused: Fixing your eyes on Jesus for the road ahead: single mom edition

$12.99 FREE SHIPPING!
Buy Now Button

This three week  study will help you refocus on:

God and Me

Parenting

Homemaking

SINGLE WOMAN EDITION:

img_5131

Refocused: Fixing your eyes on Jesus for the road ahead: single woman edition $6.99 FREE SHIPPING!
Buy Now Button

This short, six day, one week edition will help you purposefully pray over your dreams and make plans to look confidently ahead with your eyes fixed on Jesus.


I believe this book is truly a work of the Lord that will enrich your study of his word, give you hope, and help you  plan your near future.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments! ❤

Looking forward to REFOCUSING on his goodness together,

Amy ❤

Holiday To-Do Anxieties Squashed by Christ’s Generosity

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Does anyone else get anxious with all the stuff we are expected to do during the holidays?  Here is a word I received from the Lord that moved me from anxious to freely generous.

Listen to the audio devotion HERE:

The Generosity of Christ

This led me to a challenge to trust in the Lord for my needs and desires. So that I can look around and open handedly give when it is asked of me.  Not in grand ways, but in small needs.  And to actively pray and watch for him to provide.  And ya’ll He has blown me away at gifts of provision for not just needs but desires, wants.

Take the #generosityofChrist challenge.  It means anytime a need is brought in front of you, give.  Give what you have.  Every time the cashier asks if you want to donate a dollar, say yes.  When you are approached in a parking lot for gas money, give.  When you pass the red Salvation Army kettle, give.  Give, give, give.  And watch the Lord open your eyes to His generous heart.  Jesus is the author of generosity.  We will experience Him as we let His love flow freely through us!

When we take our eyes and minds off our to do list and put them on Him, He will be faithful.   He will be faithful to provide and faithful to let us be his vessels of provision for others.  This is true freedom from holiday anxiety friends.  He came to bring peace to our hearts. He has already given us the greatest gift- our salvation.  He can surely help us not get caught up in stress of giving earthly gifts to one another.

So breathe, make the  to-do list, and ask Jesus to keep your eyes fixed on Him as you work through it.  Be generous as He reveals needs, and watch him meet yours as well.  He is good!

I asked my friend  Brittany Bryant to create an illustration of the verse:

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Praying we will all be moved to be generous instead of stressed this holiday season!

Amy

Living With LESS To Give Them MORE

Motherhood

The other day I was making a list of some things I needed to buy for our family. For a minute it put my head into a spin of anxiety.  I thought, I am never going to get around to doing all these projects or the  have the funds to get all of this done.  A moment of discouragement overcame me in which I labeled myself a terrible home manager.

Then I remembered.

We have chosen to live with less to give our family more. I’ve chosen not to work so that I can give more of me to my children.

Friends, I want you to know I am having difficulty writing this post because I don’t want you to feel inferior to me as a mother if you work outside of the home.  I believe that the Lord has a different plan for every family. If he has asked you to work outside of the home, please know I do not think any less of you, and I applaud you for doing what is best for your family.  I am all about cheering other women on to walk the road that God has asked them to walk.  And I truly believe each of the plans he has for us are different.  I would just like to share my journey  down the road of stay at home, homeschooling mom.  I’d love to hear your journey to working mother, and how the Lord is proving himself faithful in your family.

If you are thinking of staying at home, going into ministry (and therefore taking a pay cut),  or downsizing on purpose in anyway, lean in close because I’d love to share the blessings you can expect, along with some of the honest challenges ahead.

Know your “WHY.”  

This is so important, because you will circle back around to this one, even when your feet are planted fully and contentedly in the land of less.

My Why:  I want to make the maximum investment possible in their eternal lives.

I believe my continuous presence and active involvement in their daily lives is more profitable to my family than a paycheck.

 19“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19-21

Instead of storing up money in a retirement account, I am storing up time, love and teaching little souls that will last forever. What a gift we have as mothers to see their little hearts and minds mature and take their own personality. We get to witness their God given gifts emerge and then watch the Lord grow his kingdom through our kids before our very eyes.

Look Past the “Less.”

To keep walking strong down the path of less material stuff to have eternally more, you need to stay detached from the worldly stuff you are missing. Because you will have to sacrifice. I don’t go get Starbucks everyday.  I don’t go shopping a few times a week.  My kids wear mostly hand me downs with a few nice brand new outfits mixed in.  But I’m not a martyr.  You just have be me smart and intentional.

Don’t neglect yourself of everything.  There is one favorite clothing boutique I love that I treat myself to shop at every other week.  That same afternoon of the week, it’s half priced coffee right down the street and I pick up a latte. This is a rhythmic treat for me to help me keep updating my wardrobe and from becoming resentful of the whole thing.

Here’s the secret I have learned:  when you delight yourself in the Lord and what he’s given you, he will shower you with unexpected, amazing blessings that you weren’t expecting.  When you keep your eyes fixed on the list of things you need, you will get stuck thinking you need to run out and find a job again.

 If you know with confidence at home is where God wants you, then you have to quit looking at this list of things your family needs as a to-do list, and start looking at it as a prayer list;  As a “Lord, provide this” list.

I’m telling you from experience, friends, when you do this, he comes through on what is needed every. single. time.

Since he is the God of the universe and all, sometimes he provides later or differently than you had envisioned; but he always provides.

Count the “MORE.”

The other day, I found a little testimony written on a small piece of notebook paper by my son, now 8 years old. I taped it up above my coffee maker (a place I knew I would look frequently! 🙂 This is what he wrote:

“You take little seeds and water them with your word and then they grow into a big tree.” 

I taped this up because it is proof:  God is faithfully fulfilling my “why” for staying at home.  Eternal investment.  He’s getting it. Glory to God, because I haven’t been perfect, that’s for sure. My children aren’t perfect either, but they are learning they don’t have to be, because Jesus was and he died in their place. And since he rose and lives in us, it’s his Spirit sanctifying us everyday until he returns to take us home.

Counting your more will keep your feet firmly planted and your arms raised in praise in the land of less.

Know your why, look past the less, and count the more.  


Next week:  Keeping the holidays simple to have more Jesus and less stress.  

-Amy

Being Thankful Instead of Wanting More 

Thanksgiving

I walked through the parking lot, stepped into Target and literally wanted to vomit in my mouth. My kids cheered for slushies, popcorn, and the dollar section with little “treasures” that would turn into trash a few days later. But all I could think about was the man we saw bathing in a puddle on the roadside in Africa. I was going through culture shock, and realizing that term meant exactly what it sounded like.

Shock.

I saw through different lenses, and they weren’t rose colored ones. They were through the perspective that had seen third world poverty. Through the eyes of a mother whose daughter had lived third world poverty for the first three years of her life.

Our family had the privilege of hearing the joy in her cackles during her first indoor shower. We had responsibility of teaching her to stop eating when she was full, because her next meal was going to be a sure thing. We were able to teach her how to care for her toys because she only had to share them with two other kids now, instead of thirty, and they stood a fighting chance of not being destroyed.

But it’s what she taught US that changed our family for the better. She was the first to offer a lick of her lollipop (gross, right?!) or a bite food at the table. The orphanage she had lived at cultivated a culture of caring that translated to sharing. They sang songs about the “Lion of Judah” who would provide for them “hallejuiah, DAY by DAY.”

She lived in daily dependence on her Heavenly Father to give her what she needed that day, that hour.

This is the kind of dependence God wants from his children.

“Give us today the food we need.” Matthew 6:11

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

But as we walked through the aisles of abundance and luxury at Target, I saw this beautiful realiance on the Lord slipping away, as surely as the trail of popcorn falling from our cart. 

I knew we needed to act fast and be intentional or her beautiful heart was going to get lost in a culture that teaches children entitlement instead of self sacrifice.

It’s been challenging, and we haven’t done it perfect, but here’s a few things we’ve done to keep Christ our treasure and reward in a culture that tells us He’s not enough: 

  • We don’t keep up with the Jones’s.

How can you be thankful when you’re comparing what God’s given you to what he’s given the good ‘ole Jones’?

I’ve caught myself looking at pretty houses and commenting on them as we ride in the car together. I realized it was creating a desire in my daughters for a “two story house” (obviously, because stairs are cool).  So I started saying, that is a pretty house, but the house I love the best is OUR HOUSE, because it’s where our family is, and that’s my favorite place to be.” OR “I’m thankful for the house God gave us, because there are many people in the world who have no house at all.” 

I don’t want to get caught up in the Jones’ stuff, because to someone,

  • You are the Jones’s. 

That’s right, if you live in America,  you are the Jones’s to someone in the world. I realized this in a very humbling moment. I caught myself judging another woman for wearing a very expensive bracelet. (That’s right, I’m a sinner, too! Glory to Jesus for taking me off my high horse). In an insta-second he reminded me that someone in the world was hurting because they owned no shoes, yet I have twenty pairs or more. Ouch. We remind our children of this, “someone  would love food right now, and you have choices of different cereals in the cupboard and entrees at our table!”

  • We teach them what the Word says about those blessed with abundance:                

This looks different in each season, but God always places people to give to and serve in our path, and it’s our job to choose obedience and love. We are looking forward to serving together as a family this holiday season.

Our goal for our daughter:

to move from depending on God to provide her needs to being used by God to provide other’s needs in the name of Jesus, through His abundance in her life.

 

THIS is how we treasure Christ. We keep our hands open to receive from him, and hold what he’s given us loosely, to let it flow where he wills it for his glory. ❤

Please, hear me say I haven’t mastered this. At times I have an awakening & realize I’m clutching so tightly to earthly treasures that my knuckles feel sore & my eyes burn with repentant tears. But then, beautiful Jesus… always faithful, reminds me that all of this will pass, and only his Kingdom will endure. He helps me tear my fingers away and hold loosely to temporal things again so I may lift my hands in praise & thanks to him for the eternal things.

Thankfulness for eternal blessings cultivates joy in every corner of the earth, in every season.

This is the beautiful truth my friends in Africa planted in my heart that won’t fade. They are rich in God. They are quick to count their blessings that will never be shaken: their salvation,  their eternal inheritance, and their constant fellowship with Jesus.

They are also quick to pass on blessings through their hands to another’s, in the name of Jesus. I challenge us to do the same as this holiday season approaches. Let’s be simply thankful. ❤