I am excited to share a fun opportunity with you!

To celebrate the release of Hearts at Home’s newest book: Living With Less So Your Family Has More, by Jill and Mark Savage, the Hearts at Home blog is launching the Living with Less Contest.

Email Hearts at Home a story or money-saving tip that gives a peek into your daily experiences representing the humor, richness, or spiritual aspects of what it’s like to live with less.

Better yet, blog readers will benefit as many of the money-saving entries will be posted on the Heart’s blog throughout the month of February!

For contest details go here!

Have a great day!

Living fearlessly in Christ

Christie

Good morning my bloggy friends! I've missed you! This working full-time has really but a damper on my blogging! Yep, I said it, I'm finally working full-time after 5 months of not having a job and to boot, I love my job!! :) I'm here blogging today because the preschool that I'm working at is closed today. The other teachers and I spent most of our day yesterday cleaning up vomit and diarrhea as we sent many children home with the stomach flu. I got the call this morning that the owner and 1/2 of the teachers have it now. I'm praying that I don't get included!!

I've begun a new class at school called "Dynamics of self-leadership" and I'm learning alot about how to choose important things over urgent things and how to make more time for spiritual disciplines like study, submission, service, prayer, fasting, simplicity and solitude. I'm beginning to realize that I need to keep myself in strong connection with God if I want to help others connect with Him. I tend to give so much of myself to others that I become spent and burnt out because I don't take any refueling time for myself.

We also have been learning about how to keep an eternal perspective on the choices that we make. There are so many things that I get worked up over that have no eternal impact - they just really don't matter in the long term. I want to live a life that truly focuses on the eternal since I am currently living my eternal life and so are you if you are a Christian.

One last note, cause this is a biggie - Gossip is a symptom of not feeling full in Christ. We gossip about others because it makes us feel better. We want worth and when we don't feel worthy, we focus on the faults of others so that we feel better about ourselves.

Our worth doesn't come from how we feel or from what others do, our worth comes from the fact that we are created by God in unique and magnificent ways. Our worth comes from knowing that, as Christians, we are children of God - princes and princesses of the King.

Are you willing to make the commitment not to gossip? Are you willing to find your worth in God and not go searching for it elsewhere?

I've loved having the time to catch back up with you! I hope that your day is wonderful and that we can talk again soon!

Keep your faith - we win in the end!

Living fearlessly in Christ
Christie

Check out this song by Sanctus Real -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06AgY5Xoavw

This song explains how I feel many times when I feel overwhelmed, afraid and desiring answers for my questions. I've learned that its during these times that God is working on my heart and preparing me for the changes He wants to make in my life and in myself.

Times of change are not fun and can spin me quickly into my own little pity party but its keeping my eyes focused on God and not myself that brings me through.

I'm reading a book for my current class on spiritual disciplines. One discipline that we are studying is the discipline of solitude, or taking time to just be still and be quiet. Those times come few and far between in our busyness crazed world but I think its time for just that - some quiet time with my God.

Have a great day and a great weekend.

Living fearlessly in Christ
Christie

Our God is an awesome God! I continue to rejoice over our son giving his life to Christ and then being baptized on Sunday. I can't use words to explain the joy that I felt when both of our children accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior - it is just unexplainable.

Accepting Christ as your Lord means that you want Him to be the center of your life - your focus.

As I read in Exodus 34 today, I thought about something - God told Moses to come up on Mt. Sinai so He could give him a new set of tablets with the Ten Commandments inscribed on them since Moses had broke his other set in anger. Moses had went up on Mt Sinai the first time for 40 days and 40 nights, when he returned he stayed 40 days and 40 nights. Verse 28 says "Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water."

Now, that is some major focus!

I have a hard-enough time taking a few minutes out of my day to read the Bible and pray but to spend 40 days and 40 nights in the presence of God would be an amazing experience!

What is taking your focus from God?

Has busyness consumed your life and kept your focus somewhere else than where it should be?

Make the choice to take time to readjust your focus today

Living fearlessly in Christ

Christie

Good morning and happy Friday my bloggy friends! :) Looks like the night added a couple more inches of snow to our count of 6 from the day before. Although the snow causes inconveniences, there is nothing more beautiful than watching it fall and covering everything with a blanket of sparkling white. It reminds me of God's grace and how His sweet forgiveness covers all my sin. I was writing about how even though we sin so many times, God still loves us for an upcoming speaking engagement and came up with:

We make mistakes, big and small, but the grace of God covers them all.

I guess I'm a poet and didn't even know it!! :)

I start a new class on Tuesday and as I was working on homework yesterday, I read some very thought-provoking things. I was reading about different spiritual disciplines that need to be a part of all our lives.

Here's a section on study:
"Many Christians remain in bondage to fears and anxieties simply because they do not avail themselves of the Discipline of study. They may be faithful in church attendance and earnest in fulfilling their religious duties, and still they are not changed. I am not here speaking only of those who are going through mere religious forms, but of those who are genuinely seeking to worship and obey Jesus Christ as Lord and Master. They may sing with gusto, pray in the Spirit, live as obediently as they know, even receive divine visions and revelations, and yet the tenor of their lives remains unchanged. Why? Because they have never taken up one of the central ways God uses to change us: study. Jesus made it unmistakably clear that the knowledge of the truth will set you free. (John 8:32)" Celebration of Discipline by Richard J Foster

Hope that gives you something to chew on til we meet again.

Have a great day and a great weekend!

Living fearlessly in Christ
Christie

Doing hard things is worth the effort.

It would be easy to give up on purposeful parenting when my children continue to behave badly.

It would be easy to give up on prayer when God doesn't answer the way I want Him to.

It would be easy to quit school when the assignments are overwhelming.

It would be easy to leave a marriage that felt like it was falling apart.

It would be easy to quit a job when the boss or co-workers are very annoying.

It would be easy to skip church when I want to sleep in on Sunday.

It would be easy to only think of myself and what I want.

Taking the easy way out may seem like the best thing to do today but it is so important to look past today and consider what the future would look like if we do.

Did Jesus take the easy way out in any of the situations He faced while on this earth?

Absolutely not!

Not only did He not take the easy way out but reminds us that in following Him, we too must daily take up our cross and follow Him.

As Christ Followers, we are called to do some hard things and doing hard things goes against everything we are taught in this "feel good" world.

Will you follow Christ or will you follow the world?

It is up to you.

Living fearlessly in Christ
Christie

I'm officially in a winter-time funk. I find myself knowing that I should be doing something, only to put it on the back burner because "I don't want to". I am normally a very focused and motivated person so when I get into an "I don't want to" or "I don't care" mode, I know something has to change. I've read that more sunshine helps winter time blues and I'm going to try getting some (if that sun ever decides to shine) but I've decided that there is really only one way to truly get back to myself - spend time seeking what God wants me to do and then do it whether I want to or not.

I've been reading in Exodus about God's directions to Moses on the exact specifications of the sanctuary where He will dwell with His people. As I read, I wondered how all these directions could be important in my life. I realized that the point of these verses was that God's people needed to obey Him. Whether they understood why, or even understood at all, was not what was important - what was important was that they obeyed.

In the end of John, after receiving instruction from Jesus, Peter asks Jesus about John and what His plan is for Him. Jesus answers "...what is that to you? You must follow Me." Again, Jesus spoke to my heart - don't worry about what others say, don't worry about what others do, don't wait until you understand, don't try to use human understanding when seeking something so much bigger - just obey.

So, it is time to put on my big girl panties and obey.

Obey the leading in my heart even if I don't want to.

Obey what I know to be true even if I don't feel it.

Obey even when I have an I don't care attitude.

Obedience is what will bring us all into closer communion with our Father.

I hope and pray that 2010 will be a year that we can all make a decision to obey.

Happy New Year!
Christie
A Sweet Aroma
31 Dec 2009
Tracie Miles

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness." Galatians 5:22 (NIV)

A sweet thing happened recently. It was Sunday morning at church, and the congregation was standing, singing hymns. My precious little boy was beside me with his arms wrapped around my waist.Every few minutes, he pressed his face into my shirt. After several times, I finally determined he was sniffing me, so I leaned down and quietly asked why. He stood on his tip toes, put his face close to mine and whispered, "Because you smell like fruit, Mommy! It smells really good!" I smiled and knew what he smelled was one of my favorite perfumes which has a clean, sweet, fruity aroma.God turned my thoughts to how we're to be a pleasing aroma to Him, through thoughts, actions and behaviors carried out in the Spirit.

Ephesians 5:2 encourages us to "…live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (NIV).What does that really mean? How can we offer a fragrant offering that is pleasing to God and be a fragrance to those around us?There is a Hawaiian saying, "Tiny is the flower, yet it scents the grasses around it." What a great illustration of how the smallest things can have impactful results. The fact that the flower is small and seemingly insignificant, does not keep it from spreading the fragrance it was created to share. In fact, often the smallest flower can have the most potent fragrance!Sometimes we may feel like a tiny flower. We wonder if we are really capable of doing anything big or important for Christ. Insecurities, feelings of unworthiness or life challenges prevent us from seeing how God can use us to bless Him and impact others. It is not the size of the actions that matter, but the aroma that is created by those actions. Each time we do something in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness we offer a fragrant offering to God. And we help others learn how to be a little fragrant flower too, in a big world that can be pretty stinky.Each one of us can choose what fragrance we exude. It might be a good idea to ask from time to time, What type of fragrance am I leaving behind? How am I affecting the world around me with the gifts God gave me? Am I exuding a spiritual aroma that is a fragrant offering to Christ? Our lingering fragrance should be one of love and kindness, not anger and harshness. Patience and faithfulness, not intolerance and selfishness. And lifting people's spirits with joy and peace, not leaving them discouraged and broken. Our fragrance should be sowing seeds that point to the goodness of Christ.When God created flowers, He intentionally created them to give off a sweet aroma. And He created us just the same.

So, what fragrance are you wearing today?

Dear Lord, teach me how to smell like You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Related Resources:Sharing Grace: Recipes - Family Traditions - Gift Ideas by LeAnn RiceScared: A Novel on the Edge of the World by Tom DavisVisit Tracie's blog today Application Steps:"Spritz" on a sweet fragrance today that is pleasing t o Christ.Consider how you can "scent the grasses" in your life with God's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness.Reflections:Think about the spiritual fragrance you have been wearing lately, and the impact it has on others.Do you think God is pleased with your lingering fragrance?Power Verses:2 Corinthians 2:15, "For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." (NIV)© 2009 Tracie Miles. All rights reserved.