Attack of the Junk Food!!

I am sick! Like sick to my stomach, sick.  As I sit and write this post I'm drinking water to try to cleanse my insides... let me explain.

For four days I drank nothing but water and a few cups of coffee.  My first meal off my period of drinking water was Frosted Flakes... and that's when my senses were attacked!  It was as if I took a bowl of sugar, mixed it with some milk, and just swallowed it for breakfast.  It never hit me how much sugar is in this cereal until this morning.  I vow to never buy it again (though I can't say the same for my husband, whose favorite cereal it is).


Then I had an American cheese grilled cheese sandwich for lunch (one of my favorite meals) and again my stomach turned.  Suddenly this once delicious sandwich left a sour taste in my mouth and my stomach.

Then, because I like to torture myself, we had chinese food for dinner.  I will save you the gory details of how I felt after just eating half of my meal.  And to top off this attack on my poor stomach, my husband came home with what is usually a treat for me: a pack of M&M's!  Trying to be the loving wife that I am, I graciously accepted his gift and ripped open the little yellow bag and swallowed two before they had a chance!  But I only ate two more after that and I was done... my body has shut down and refuses to eat/smell/think of food.

So now I reflect on all this and think that maybe God is trying to open my eyes to my unhealthy eating habits.  I'm definitely going to do some research and see how I can change my eating habits... maybe challenge myself to eat more raw veggies and cut out the junk.  We'll see where this leads, but somethings GOT to change!

In Christ,

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Back to the Basics...

God has opened my eyes during this season of prayer.  When I entered into it, I thought that there would be a great breakthrough for my husband.  Pastor's message kept centering around giving up this world, and the Holy Spirit spoke to us about giving up this world, and then a missionary came and his message was the same as well.  And all the while, I kept thinking these were great things for Juan to be hearing.

But then my eyes were opened.  

I'm the one who needs these messages. Yes, maybe I'm not into the world like others are... but I'm still doing my fair share in my own life.  All the attention I pay to facebook and trying to get my blog known. All the Bible studies I signed up to lead and be a part of.  All of that and I don't feel any closer to God.  I see all these other bloggers that are homeschooling 7 kids, have beautiful homes, great blogs, and still have time to get their hair and makeup done in the morning - and I try to emulate them. So I pretty up my blog and try to post positive things going on in my life and cover up the dirty stuff. Try to do some giveaways and write up a post to give advice to someone, anyone... to show I have it all together too.

 But God called me out and said NO. 

It's all leading you away from Me.  And the one thing I want more than anything in the world is to feel God. Like to REALLY feel His presence in my life.  And so with God leading the way, I'm backing out all my other online commitments and trying to make my blog up to par with the most popular blogs (that I really do cherish and love and will continue to read!).  And I'm going to go back to why I left the workforce in the first place: to be who I am in Christ Jesus and take care of my husband, my children, and this household.  My blog will be my journal, because I love to write and so God laid it on my heart to start a blog. But that's all I'm making it to be. If you like to read it, great. But I'm no longer out for readership - just a place to de-stress and write about my journey and reflect upon later on.  I may come across something to giveaway and that's fine, but I won't search it out.

I am confessing now that I will stop trying to grow my readership like I was doing before.  

I'm going to concentrate on my relationship with God and on taking care of my family everything else is secondary.  I want to live my life intentionally, not always trying to catch up.  So many times I've missed appointments or paid something late or caused someone else problems because  I'm not organized enough to know what's going on around me. I'm done with it all.

This is a season of growth in the Lord. I'm going to seek Him out and break away from everything else. It's time to step up my relationship with my King and bring it to a completely different level. I'm ready. Lord here I am! Send me!!!

 In Christ,

Yasmin

"The Good Wife's Guide" Giveaway!

OK Ladies!

I am super excited about this giveaway because this book is so inline with my goal of being a Proverbs 31 woman and the author is one of those Titus 2 women I truly look to as a role model.  The book is called The Good Wife's Guide by Darlene Schacht over at Time-Warp Wife.

I was blessed to receive a copy of this new ebook and it really is a treasure of good advice backed by scripture.  Darlene's writing style draws you in as if you are sitting across the table from her, drinking a cup of coffee with a friend.  Her passion for God and helping wives prioritize His role for us as helpmeets to our husbands and mothers to our children is evident on every page.

And now Darlene will bless three of you with a copy of this new ebook! 

I'm so excited about this as the book was truly a blessing to me and I know it will bless the hearts of three women out there!

To enter, just complete any of the options below in the Rafflecopter! The giveaway ends next Wednesday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Refining Fire

Wow - can I tell you that God is GOOD?!  It is amazing what He has shown me these past few days... it's almost too much for me to even grasp.  He is so good.

This past year, my prayer to God was for Him to empty me of me and fill me with Him. To break me down and get rid of all my iniquities, and fill me with His Holy Spirit.  I prayed for God to use me and all that I have for His glory.

The one thing I have always struggled with was my temper and my patience (or lack thereof).  It's gotten me in trouble since the first grade!  But God has shown me that all the things that have been going on in my life, He has allowed - for His glory.  He is working out of me these bad things that hold me back from fully being that Proverbs 31 woman I so desperately want to be!

God has been at work refining me with fire - removing my impurities!  Zechariah 13:9 says "This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, 'The Lord is our God.'"

I know He has my family in His hands, He has Marissa in His hands.  I know she will be OK, because He is using this situation, that maybe the enemy meant for evil, for a good thing and I am coming out of it refined and tested.  So I thank the Lord for all He is doing and I will continue to daily lift my voice and my hands in prayer and praise to the One who loved me enough to put me through a fire!

To read more about God's refining fire, please read The Refiner's Fire, by God is Love.  It really blessed me this morning.

In Christ,

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Joyce Meyer's New Day, New You Devotional Giveaway!

I've heard opinions of many people regarding today's TV evangelists... but Joyce Meyer holds a special place in my heart.  The Lord used her TV program to lead me into a relationship with Jesus Christ one early weekday morning and so I will be forever grateful for what she does.


And so since we have begun a new year, I thought it would be great to give away a copy of Joyce Meyer's daily devotional "New Day, New You".  I love this devotional because it is full of scripture and is a great way to start your day - with a word from God!

To enter, go to the bottom of this post and follow the three easy ways to submit your name to win!  This is my first giveaway!  I hope you enjoy it and please share with others so they can enter! 
This giveaway will be open through Friday, January 20th.

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Marissa's Journey - Homeschooling, YES!

So if you've been following my blog, you know about the journey Marissa is going through with her stress and anxiety.  In my last post, we were thinking about pulling her out of public school and homeschooling her.  I am happy to say that we have gone in this direction!

My hubby is still very much against homeschooling, though he's laxed a bit on thinking all homeschooling is wrong.

A dear sister from church invited me over and shared some of her homeschooling wisdom, as well as some of her resources and books (for which I will forever be grateful).  I've even enrolled Marissa in a french class through the local homeschooling co-op!

I'm super excited and can't wait to start next Monday (I took the suggestion of many of my blogging friends who said to take a week off to relax!).  But I have to say this: in the ONE DAY that Marissa has been out of school, she has been eating like crazy, slept all the way through the night and took a nap this afternoon, and has been reading almost non-stop!  She was all smiles all day and there was NO melt down at bedtime!  None!! Granted, I'm allowing her to sleep in the living room with me in order to just give her body some rest.  I know many people will think I'm giving into her (including me), but she is RESTING and I think that's more important than anything.  She knows this isn't a permanent situation, but for now it's working fine.

I'm praying that all will go well and hubby will let me homeschool the other two starting September, but for now I'm enjoying God's blessing on Marissa.  He is so good and I know if I give it all to Him, everything will be fine.  All I want in my life is His will - whatever that may be!

Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement!

In Christ,

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Marissa's Journey - Homeschooling?

So last night was the last straw for me. Marissa went through another meltdown and so did I. And I didn't like what I saw in me or what my children were seeing in me. So I sat down and began to pray and seek God's direction and right away homeschooling popped into my heart. I pushed it aside because my husband isn't for homeschooling - I mean he is strongly against homeschooling for our children. But as much as I pushed it aside, it kept resurfacing.

Then Marissa woke up from her sleep (at midnite) and started crying all over again because she felt sick. My husband, who never has patience for this, actually called down to her and told her to sleep in bed with him. He's very worried about her health and for the first time since this started just wanted her to sleep with him and rest her body. She refused and kept right on yelling. So I yelled up (since I was in the living room with her) to him that we were doing homeschooling and I was pulling her out of school this week (Lord forgive me for being demanding to my husband!). To my surprise he called back a resigned "we will talk about it tomorrow". That's never his reaction to my talk about homeschooling. He always rejects the idea and tell me it will never happen. But not last night.

And so I am now resolved that we are pulling her out of school and homeschooling her. I pray that this will heal her anxieties, bring peace to our family, and help Marissa do better in her education (I really believe she needs more attention than what she's currently getting from her teacher).

Of course hubby and I still have to talk about it tonight, but I feel such a peace about this and pray that he will allow it for now. If not, he is my husband and I will send her back to school with an obedient spirit and will continue to pray for God's will in this situation. If he says yes, thank God I have a good friend (sister from church!) who has been homeschooling for years and is more than willing to help and guide me through this process.

I also covet any advice from all you Christ-centered homeschooling moms out there. How did you start out in this journey? Did your husbands support you? Do any of you home-school one child but not others in the home? I have two who would continue to go to public school.

I would appreciate any advice and all your prayers!!

In Christ,

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Marissa's Journey - Peace

Today was a really good day for Marissa, praise the Lord.  Since it's the first Sunday of the month, the children didn't have Kid's Church and were with us.  After Pastor's message on the parable of the wineskins (Luke 5:36-38), he asked for those who needed prayer to go p to the altar to be prayed for by the deacons, their wives, and other church leaders.  Marissa told me she wanted to go up for prayer and so we went.

The deacons wife that prayed over Marissa is such a precious woman of God & knows about what Marissa has been going through.  Her prayer was like my own in that it was straight from the heart and full of tears.  I can't explain how beatiful it is to have a godly woman pray over my daughter with tears flowing down her beautiful face, as if she was crying out for one of her own children.  God is so good.

Later in the evening, Marissa decided to go take a shower before going to bed.  When she came out her face was visibly different.  She came to me and said that she had spent her time in the shower talking to God and asking Him to forgive her of her sins, to remove them far from her, to step on them, and to let the Holy Spirit come and help her.  Her prayer was that the Holy Spirit would live in her heart so that He could help her with her fears and anxieties.  Then Marissa looked at me with her big beatiful eyes and said that at that moment she felt His presence!  She felt as if a peace just came into her body and she just wanted to cry for joy.  She honestly couldn't stop talking about her experience!  At bedtime she took out her new Bible and we read a few chapters of Matthew together, then we prayed, and she fell asleep.  She is now sleeping in her bed peacefully.

I'm just so grateful for a God who never leaves us!  Marissa has always had a heart for God; she loves to ask great questions about our faith and she loves her Christian music as well.  I pray that this is just the first step of Marissa's journey with her King and that she would grow closer and closer to her each passing day.  Thank you for all your prayers and responses regarding Marissa and this journey!  Please continue as they are truly big help to me!  Thank you all!!

In Christ,

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The Gentleness Challenge

Well, if you've been following along with my blog, then you know the struggles I'm having with Marissa and her night time anxieties.  It's been a real challenge for me and I find myself losing my patience on many nights because of her screams and dramatics.

I really feel that God is trying to grow me in this situation, but sometimes I feel like I'm not prepared or equipped to be that patient, kind, sweet mom in all situations (especially with a screaming, kicking child!).

I don't want to be this crazy mother that yells at her children and have them afraid of me in any way.  I also don't want to see them grow into mothers who have short tempers with their own children and on and on it goes.

So when I saw that Women Living Well was having a Gentleness Challenge for mothers like me (who lose their tempers!), I knew it was a Godsend!   I look forward to taking part of this challenge and blogging my way through it!

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