Ephesians 1:11-12 (NKJV)

11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

Its been a crazy couple of weeks in our household. We purchased our first home, my oldest is finishing up his first year of preschool, my 2nd potty-trained and my baby girl started wiggling her little self all over the place! I do believe she will be crawling as soon as we move to the house and she has the space to move around in!

My friend Christy has been encouraging me to "lighten my ship" as much as possible. This has been a hard thing to do. We've been living out of boxes the last few weeks because we took advantage of someone's early offer to help us pack. We've been using mostly paper plates and cups and living off of sandwiches, salads and take-out. I think we are all craving a home cooked meal about now! We are behind on laundry and recycling the same few outfits because its more convenient. Gasp! We're using disposable diapers instead of cloth! Mornings are spent packing and the afternoons have been spent at the new house unloading the car, cleaning and then enjoying our big backyard. Rain makes things a bit more difficult around here. lol We are currently sleeping at both our apartment and our house. The kids don't know which end is up right now.

Its hard during these chaotic times to be focused on our relationship with God. I have been testy, emotional and crying at the drop of a hat over things that really shouldn't be a big deal. Trying to fit in time for daily devotionals is a struggle.

Matthew 11:28 says ²⁸ Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Its at times when we are the busiest that we really need to lean on God and spend the most time with Him.

Psalm 119:43 says ¹⁴³ Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, Yet Your commandments are my delights.

I think its important too to remember not to lose sight what our goal on earth is. When life is crazy and overwhelming it is important to continue to follow God's commands to honor Him. He delights in that and His delightment will draw us even closer to Him.

Spending daily time with God will ease your stress and anxiety. Praying with your children will help keep them calm and stress-free. Remember that they feed of your stress - often times exhibited in less then desirable behaviors.


PRAY WITH YOUR CHILDREN! My kids love praying before each meal - its just a habit they've developed and its ingrained in them to do so now. Pray with them at night before bedtime. We were lax about this for a while, but after my 2 y.o. developed night terrors we just added it to their bedtime routine and now they won't go to sleep without us praying. Let your children see you doing your daily devotional... even if its just by redirecting them during your devotion time by telling them "Mommy is praying and reading the bible right now" Have a pile of books and coloring pages available in a basket near by with a Christian focus so that they make the connection. Children are SPONGES!! Now is the time to teach them so it is natural and normal to them.

This week I challenge you to take time out of your hectic daily schedules to open your bibles and dive into God's word. You don't need to have a specific place to go or any particular goal in mind... just open the bible and start reading. A daily devotional will work too if you need a little guidance. Spending time with God daily will rejuvenate you and help you not to lose focus on our ultimate mission which is to honor and glorify God.

This is actually a repost from my own personal blog that I chose to re-visit this week. Our family is in the process of a big move and once again I need to remind myself that its okay to ask for help.

Orig Published Jan. 9, 2010

I've never been the world's best housekeeper. It drives my husband bonkers as he is also a pack rat and the two of us together are just a recipe for domestic disaster.

I'm constantly behind on housework, laundry, dishes - just like most moms I guess. Our situation tends to get worse then others because the more anxious I get about the mess the worse it seems to get until it snowballs so far out of control that even when we manage to clean - to an outsider it still probably looks very cluttered.

When I was pregnant for my 2nd child, our household was a nightmare as I was on bedrest and suffered from hypermesis. The initial few months after Billy was born I managed to keep the house in an organized but cluttered shape. However as pumping for my preemie took up more and more of my time my house fell to complete disarray. I avoided visits from the few good friends I had and made excuses for my family NOT to come over.

Add in PPD and it was just a mess.

As many of you know this summer I had a renewal of faith and accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. With this big step I developed some new strong friendships with families in church and developed even stronger bonds with a few friends I had developed over the last year through some moms groups I'd connected with. Looking back at it all I realize that when I joined my church I was blessed not to just join a new church, but I entered into a relationship with my church family which aided me in building lots of good solid relationships.

Fast forward - the whole time I'd been at this church I feel like I've receiving but not giving back to them. It was hard to help with anything except bring meals for fellowships, etc. In hindsight, I'm glad they really encouraged me to just sit back and soak in the Word for a while before jumping into different ministries.

I was invited to everyone's home at least once - a few more than once. I tried to return invitations, but each return invite was just so stressful for me as it involved so much work for me at home because I am just plain disorganized at home.

We found out we were expecting #3 before #2 was a year old... and well any semblance of an organized house I had completely fell apart. I don't know that our home had been this bad EVER. I have major anxiety about the state of my home (although my true friends don't care and are sensitive to this fact). The mess had been growing worse and worse until one day I looked around and realized that this was no way to live. I was only able to clean enough to keep it safe for my kids. I was so behind on laundry and just doing small loads each day jut to have clean clothes to put on. (I'm anal about being in clean clothes and well-groomed).

And then my worst nightmare happened. A good friend came over unexpectedly. She is just one of many friends from church who have been so wonderful to our family over the last couple of months. She along with a couple of other dear friends invited me into her home so my kids would have friends to play with and she pumped me full of fluids and made sure I ate every few hours. At the time I was terrified I was developing hypermesis. I really believe that had she (and others) had not opened her home to me that I would've lapsed into the hypermesis again because of my own inability to care for myself and health needs when pregnant.

I of course was horrified at her arrival. She called to give me some warning, but that was it. She lives a few towns over from me and was delivering food for our church's meals ministry and was only about 5 minutes away at the time of the call.

She brought with her bathroom/kitchen cleaner and trash bags and immediately went to work without being asked. She never said a word to me about the mess other than "stop apologizing and get to work" or "stop apologizing and sit down and have some tea" or "have you eaten lunch yet?"

And what kills me is that had I just accepted the offers of help from my church family weeks ago - I could've avoided the disaster of house I was living in. (and there were MANY offers to help) Nevermind offers for help - had I just asked even without those offers I know I would've received the help I needed whether from my church family or my friends and family.

There is sunshine in my soul today,
More glorious and bright
That glows in any earthly sky,
For Jesus is my Light.

Chorus:

O there's sunshine, blessed sunshine,
When the peaceful, happy moments roll;
When Jesus shows His smiling face,
There is sunshine in my soul.**