Forgiveness and Peace

I am humbled today.  I have been dealing with a lot of things in my walk with God.  I have had many convictions lately regarding different areas of my attitude. One of which came in the form of hearing something repeated back to me, that was said by another...about me.  Ouch!  That didn't feel good.  I had to swallow my pride and let go of the hurt that started to stir up inside of me.  By God's grace, I can honestly say that I now feel a peace in a place that would have drove me up the wall with bitterness before.  I am so thankful for God's forgiveness and mercy in my life.  I am in awe of the greatness of our God!  He is always there when we call on Him, ready to guide us and love us through it all! 

Therefore we do not lose heart.  Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.  ~2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering: bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.  ~Colossians 3: 12 - 13

Cleaning Challenge

Since we moved to this house last spring, I have been organizing and de-cluttering little by little.  I have made progress, but never actually, completely finished what I have started.   In light of desperately wanting to restore order to our home, I have decided to have a little fun with it and create a challenge for myself.  The procrastinator in me seems to make me an excellent go getter when I have a deadline to meet.  ;)
My goal is to have the ENTIRE house clean and organized by the end of this week!  Can it be done?  I sure am counting on it!   My prayer is that in doing this, I then will be able to keep up on our home much more effectively each day with a routine.  I figure that blogging about this will not only keep me motivated, but accountable.  For added good measure, I have invited friends over for dinner this coming weekend.  :) 

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
~Romans 8:37 

House Keeping

As much as I don't want to admit it, I have been feeling defeated in the area of keeping our home.  Our house is not terrible, but it can go from clean to messy in no time flat.  I long for a more orderly home.  How great it would be to wake up and have a clean house to start our day with.  Or to invite company over on a moments notice.  For me, I notice how different I feel when our house is in order...it is therapeutic!  So, I figure what better way to conquer this, than to get a schedule in order!  I found a house keeping schedule from The Time-Warp Wife blog.  http://time-warp-wife.blogspot.com/2010/09/home-maintenance-schedule.html
I plan to start implementing it into my daily routine today.  I am so excited to start seeing the results of keeping to a schedule!

Link up!

Today I am linking up with Raising Homemakers, and Women Living Well!
<a href="http://raisinghomemakers.com/"><img src="http://raisinghomemakers.com/images/RHbutton.jpg" border="0px" alt="Raising Homemakers"></a

<a href="http://womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/search/label/Women%20Living%20Well%20Wednesdays"><img border="0" src="http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq297/courtneylivingwell/LivingWell.png" /></a>

Today is the start of week 3 for praising our husbands.  The focus this week is on intimacy.  Here is an excerpt from Courtney's blog:
Within our God given femininity, we have the power to make our men feel stronger, more capable, more confident and loved in all areas - simply by responding to his initiatives with desire.

I am noticing so many positive things in my marriage as a result of this challenge so far!  Let us strive to put the needs of our husbands above our own.  I know our marriages will be blessed!  Don't forget to check out the link pasted above.

The Joy Of The Lord

The joy of the Lord, is my strength!  I am learning to be joyful in all circumstances.  
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  ~James 1:2-3
I started the James bible study, (a little late), with hopes of being able to catch up!  One thing that really stood out to me in starting this, was the word JOY. 
Today I will be looking to the Lord - to be joyful in all things.  To remember that God is doing a work in me!
You will show me the path in life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. ~Psalm 16:11
Here is the link for the James Bible Study: http://www.goodmorninggirls.org/2011/01/introducing-our-james-book-club/