Help or Hinderance?

We all like to be helpful, we at least we believe that we like to be helpful. How often does our ever so well meaning 'help' turn into a hindrance for the person we are trying to help?

How often do we stop and assess if this person really needs our help. Is it more that we don't like the way this person is doing something so we try to override it by offering our 'well meaning help' aka your way isn't working so how about we do it my way approach.

As a married woman I know this scenario all to well...

According to Scripture we are called to be our husbands 'help mate'. So doesn't that give me a license to 'help' him by telling him when he isn't doing things right (and yes by right we all mean our way).

Because as women we are wired to help, how do we most effectively be our husbands 'help mate'.

HELP...

I think a lot of it comes down to our reasons for helping. Have we been asked to help or are we offering unsolicited advice? We may think our way is best and it may be the best way for us to complete or accomplish something. But it doesn't necessarily mean it's the right solution for someone else.

Obviously this is not limited to spousal situations. It can happen in all walks of life, whether it be friendships, relationships with parents, siblings, family members, people in authority.

The challenge we all face is learning to determine when we are offering to help out of pure concern and a desire to see the person we are trying to help succeed. If this is our motive then that's great. However too often I believe motives can become self focused and we offer to help to make ourselves feel needed and therefore better than the person we are trying to help or at least feel that our way is better than their way. This is when we become a hindrance and we need to admit to this (at least to ourselves) and make a conscious effort to be a help and not a hindrance.

HINDRANCE...

Today, are we going to be a help or a hindrance....The decision and outcome are completely up to YOU and ME!

A year of Discipline...

I don't know about you, but that sounds super scary to me, and also like a lot of hard work. Not that there is anything wrong with hard work. Most rewards are reaped when hard work is required first!

So what do  I want to be disciplined in?...

Everything of course!

As possible as that may be, I know that I first need to narrow it down to a few things to start with.

Firstly, I want to be more disciplined in my relationships, both Heavenly and Earthly. Without a strong relationship built on prayer, reading God's Word and meditation, I know I am unable to build my earthly relationships with both family and friends. I want to be the friend that people want to confide in and spend time with. In order to do this I want to be more disciplined in reaching out to my friends, whether it be a text message, email, snail mail (who doesn't love receiving real letters in the mail? I know I do) and of course organising to do more with each person, be that coffee, movies, dinner or day trips/holidays.

Secondly, I want to be more disciplined in my personal organisation as I know it is somewhat lacking. In order to do this I need to spend dedicated time to organising the things I often neglect, such as paperwork. I seem to have it spread out all over the house. I need to be more disciplined in creating and maintaining my filing system. I also want to be more organised in decluttering my house as I know that I have more than enough possessions and I'm sure there are a lot that I don't use that I could donate to someone who may need them and would use them.

Thirdly, I want to be more disciplined in taking care of myself (as selfish as that may sound) so that I can better look after my family. This includes discipline in what I eat, making sure it is good for me and that I am setting a healthy example for my children. It will also require me to be disciplined in regular exercise. I can't stand exercise, but I know it is good for me and therefore good for my family. So I need to commit to exercising on at least a weekly basis, if not daily basis.

Please consider joining me in a year of discipline...I would love to hear other ways of becoming more disciplined.

"I can do all things through him who strengthens me" Philippians 4:13

Sunday, The Day of REST

Sunday is meant to be a day of rest, right?

The Bible tells us to rest one day a week. How then is a wife and mother meant to get this much needed and well deserved rest?

Does it mean that I don't have feed, bathe and entertain my children on Sundays? What about the washing and tidying up after the family?

Obviously as a mother I have responsibilities that don't dissapear just because I need and want some rest. So that leaves me to ponder the question of much needed balance.

As I am a wife and mother, but I am also more than just those roles to my loved ones, I have needs for myself. How do I  find time for my needs? We all need to recharge so we can accomplish all we need to during the week.

I would love to take a day off and know that my children would be well looked after and my house would be clean when I return.

Ahh it is lovely to dream...

However back to reality, I have a crying child to tend to and another one to feed and get into bed.

Grateful to be a wife and mother among many other things.

True Contentment

Content with what I have!

It is such a powerful statement. Can I claim true contentment in my current circumstances?

I desire to say yes wholeheartedly, but something is holding me back. I can't quite define it. I know as I search deeper into true contentment. The contentment that Christ gives when we lay all our dreams and desires at His feet and honestly say to him "God you are more than enough for me". I know then I will find complete contentment in everything.

So to begin this journey, I first need to determine what it is that I am holding on to. What dreams and desires, even though they may be good, am I clinging onto tighter than my desire for a personal and fulfilling relationship with my Lord and Saviour. A relationship that says "I will abandon my desire for anything other than my love for You. For your grace and mercy. For your gift of salvation."

I sit here waiting impatietly for our baby girl to arrive, not long now as as she is due this month and I can't help but wonder how I am going to cope with two little babies to look after. I know I need to find contentment it in, knowing that I am meant to be a mother and that this is the current season of my life. However it is so easy at times to look at my friends carefree lives (the ones without children), who don't have to think about a little persons needs and how I am going to meet them. I love staying at home with Theodore and can't wait for our princess to add to the bundle, however I do have to stop myself at times from thinking the negative things.

Life, finanically would be so much easier if I was still working, we wouldn't be scraping the bottom of the barrel each month to make ends meet, and some months not even manage that. I would still be dreaming of holidays that I could plan or the house we would be saving for. Even the luxury of eating out doesn't really happen for us at the moment. I am not complaining. I love my husband and know that the career he is pursuing is the right one for him and us as a family. I love my Theodore and the joy that being at home with him, being able to nuture him, spiritually, physically and emotionally. I don't overly miss the working world. I do love being able to get up of a morning and plan what we will do for the day.

I just wish I could have it all.

I am well aware that this is a complete contradiction from being content with what I have. Obviously I am not there yet but I am working on it daily. It's moments like this that I stop and look around to find the things I can be thankful for. Surprisingly there are quite a lot of things I can be thankful for when I really stop and think about it.

God Is Excellent

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Psalm 8:1

Do we really appreciate how excellent our heavenly father is? Do we comprehend all that he does for us as his children? Does the glory of God intimidate you? 

God doesn't want his children to have an earthly fear of his excellence. He does however want us to live our lives with a holy reverence for his majestic greatness.

Even as Christians we can be caught out complaining about circumstances that haven't gone the way we would like them to. How often in times of despair do we stop to praise God in all his glory knowing that he knows what's best for us and will work all things to His glory. 

Let us come to God with a heart of praise and thanksgiving at all times! 

God Is Great

For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Psalm 86:10

God's greatness is uncontainable. He is so very powerful and amazing. His love for his children is incredible.

God is capable of doing so many wondrous deeds. He alone created heaven and earth. He doesn't need our help to be great or to do wondrous things.

God loves us so very much that he gave mankind dominion over all other creatures.

Thankyou Lord Jesus that you are great and do wondrous things.

God Is Powerful

But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:24

God Is Powerful, what does it mean to be powerful? Most of the time when we think of power we think of corruption.

God's power however is not a corrupt power. His power is pure.

To be united with Christ, is to be united with the power and wisdom of God. We all need God's power and wisdom working through our lives each and every day. Without the power of Christ we are nothing and unable to accomplish anything.

God's power is also a power of love. God loves his children dearly and he chooses to impart his wisdom to those he has called his beloved.