bread and water

Women everywhere were reading Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis last year but it took me awhile to get the book. I had read an article criticizing her and her website so I was leary of reading her book. Finally a friend told me to read it and make my own judgments about it. So I did. And I am. Rachel says on page 125, “I appreciate wisdom wherever I can get it. No one person can be your source for all the answers, but you can glean a handful of powerful thoughts here and a dash of insight there. I donʼt for one moment believe that youʼre going to take every single thing in these pages as gospel.” Ok, but when you write a book it will influence people. When we read books we must be mindful of what the Bible teaches. We must take every thought captive and line every piece of advice up with Scripture. There are a lot of good tidbits in this book like on page 17: “If you choose today not to break another promise to yourself, you will force yourself to slow down. You cannot k

A few days ago we started this new thing with our budget. I learned it from a blogger who is a mother of six. She said to take an envelope and write Groceries on one side and Other on the other side. I wrote Spending on the other side but you could write Entertainment or Eating Out , etc. Then you budget $100 per person per week for groceries. So that means for our family of six it would be $150 a week to spend on groceries which includes Hello Fresh and diapers, wipes, shampoo, etc. The other side of the envelope is the amount of money leftover after tithing 10% to God, giving offerings for missions , paying bills and saving. There have been times in our lives when that number didnʼt even exist! But God always supplied our needs and paid the bills on time without going into debt! Praise His Name! So on your envelope you divide it in half and then draw three lines across to give you four weeks. Write your budgeted numbers at the top of each box and each time you spend money subtra

There is peace in knowing that Jesus is the one with the pen and he is the one writing our story. Hebrews 12:2 says he is the author of our story and he is the finisher or the completer of it. Hebrews 12:2 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. He is the beginning and the end. The Alpha and Omega. Nothing exists without him. He spoke things into being. Genesis 1:1 says he spoke and created the heavens and the earth. 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. We c

My parents had 4 children and Iʼm the oldest. That meant I had to babysit my siblings a lot. I wasnʼt what you would consider a “baby person” although I loved my cute baby brother that is 12 years younger than me. I used to say I wanted 6 kids. Then I kind of forgot about that when I was in high school and college. I became more focused on myself and my plans. Maybe more self- centered? I still thought I was a godly good Christian girl though. One plan I had was to be a cheerleader at The University of Georgia.  I never thought Iʼd move away and I had cheered all throughout middle and high school. Plans changed and the Lord led me to a small Bible College that didnʼt have cheerleaders but I met my husband there. I got on birth control right before we got married because “thatʼs what most people do”. A few months into marriage my hubby and I were driving our huge maroon Aerostar van and he looked in the back of the empty van and said lovingly, “Just think, one day there will be ou